1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:03,360 Well, good morning Crossing Church. 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:08,280 How are you doing today? I got a question for you. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:10,480 This is how I want you to answer it. 4 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,400 If you believe that God is good, can I get an Amen? 5 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:17,320 You believe that God is good, can I get a Hallelujah? 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,120 If you believe that God is good, will you just say God is good? 7 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:25,600 He certainly is. He certainly is. 8 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,200 I want to welcome all of you today. 9 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,440 I'm glad to be here with you want to welcome all the campuses 10 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:33,640 that are joining with us across the region. 11 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:37,800 If you're inside and or online, We are so thankful for each and 12 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,760 everyone of you and I. I don't think I'm much different 13 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,280 than than any minister that gets up to preach. 14 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:48,360 There's, there's always some sort of thing that preachers do 15 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:52,720 to psych up to stir up the fire before they get up. 16 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,880 And I have a prayer that I pray. I've been doing it for decades. 17 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,920 And, and that prayer is God give me the faith of Abraham, the 18 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:03,280 humility of Moses, the strength of Samson, the wisdom of 19 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,560 Solomon, spirit of Elijah, the heart of David and the love of 20 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,440 Jesus. I believe that with all my 21 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,120 heart. And I'll tell you why I pray 22 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,040 that prayer because I have a problem with a hard heart. 23 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,880 Any of you have a problem sometimes with a hard heart? 24 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,840 You know, I grew up in the city. I grew up on the West side of 25 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,120 Indianapolis. So I'm a city boy. 26 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,600 And but for some reason, God had it in mind that I would spend 27 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,440 most of my ministry years in areas that are more on the rural 28 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:39,240 side. And so I grew up talking about 29 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,280 the horsepower of my car, but everybody else was talking about 30 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,960 the horsepower on their tractor. And so I'm kind of an immigrant 31 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,280 when it comes to rural things, but I've learned an awful lot 32 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,920 from the agricultural community. And one of the things I learned 33 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:58,280 about farming in soil is that one of the things that's a 34 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,360 problem with fertility of the soil, something called 35 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,960 compaction. See that tractor goes back and 36 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,760 forth with carrying implements, you know, pulling implements. 37 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:13,560 And over a period of time that constantly driving over the soil 38 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:19,440 creates compaction and there's a subsurface of soil that gets 39 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:23,000 really hard underneath. Now the topsoil, they disk that, 40 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,480 they cultivate that. But underneath that is something 41 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:32,680 that farmers call hard pan and they have a particular implement 42 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,720 to solve that problem. And it requires a lot of 43 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,200 horsepower. They have tines that go down. 44 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,160 They're made a very heavy heat treated steel. 45 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,800 They go down like 18 inches in the soil and they break up that 46 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:48,560 hard pan. They call it the Ripper. 47 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,120 Everybody say Ripper. Yeah, you said it like you mean 48 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:53,120 it. That's pretty good. 49 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:55,120 And it requires all this horsepower. 50 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,200 You can tell when a tractor's pulling it because all that 51 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:02,240 diesel smoke is rolling because they've got that throttle all 52 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,800 the way down. And when I pray that prayer, 53 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:07,520 that's what I'm praying that God would do. 54 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:09,280 He would just take the Ripper down. 55 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,520 When I compare myself to those people that I mentioned, the 56 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:19,000 seven I mentioned, I fall way short and I realize that the 57 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,320 soil of my heart can really be compacted, that I can be hard 58 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:26,640 hearted and I, I want God to change that. 59 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:32,560 So I pray God give me the faith of Abraham, Mother Teresa said. 60 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:34,720 I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. 61 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,680 I just wish he didn't trust me so much. 62 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:39,920 You probably feel the same way sometimes. 63 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,200 And that's one of the reasons I pray for the faith of Abraham, 64 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:47,240 because when God told him to go, he just went, didn't even ask 65 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:48,960 for directions. Of course, men don't do that 66 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,200 anyway, but he just went and he just figured that God would tell 67 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,720 him if he needs to turn this way or that way or backward or 68 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,720 forward. It says in Hebrews 11/8 by 69 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,280 faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later 70 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,800 receive as his inheritance, he obeyed and went, even though he 71 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:12,200 did not know where he was going. Pretty amazing when Abraham and 72 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,920 Sarah were both beyond childbearing years, God told him 73 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,480 he would father a nation and he believed God. 74 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:23,320 Pretty amazing faith. When God told him to do 75 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:26,320 something completely out of the character and the nature of God, 76 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:31,680 to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering to him, he obeyed and 77 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:36,840 he went by faith. Abraham it says in Hebrews 11/17 78 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:41,760 when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice, he would 79 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,680 embrace the promises, was about to sacrifice his one and only 80 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,280 son. Abraham was willing to obey God 81 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:54,200 against every logical conclusion. 82 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:56,440 Where do you get that kind of faith? 83 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:00,840 If you read more in Hebrews, it says that Abraham believed that 84 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:04,680 God could raise the dead, so he fully expected to kill his son 85 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:07,320 and that God would raise him back from the dead. 86 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,480 You know that story, how that story goes? 87 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:17,040 So Isaac goes with Abraham to this mountain, Mount Moriah. 88 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,280 And when they get to the base of the mountain, they need wood. 89 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:23,560 They need wood for the sacrifice to burn the offering. 90 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:26,360 They have fire and they have a knife. 91 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,960 They get part way up the mountain and Isaac says, hey, 92 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,960 dad, where's the sacrifice? Doesn't know he's the sacrifice. 93 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,160 Abraham says God will provide the sacrifice. 94 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:41,320 They get to the top of the mountain and they assemble a an 95 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,280 altar out of unhewed stones. And at some point in that 96 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:47,560 experience, Abraham must have told his son. 97 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,000 Now listen, we think of Isaac is a little boy. 98 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,720 He wasn't a little boy. He's about 2021 years old. 99 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:59,200 Abraham was 120. You might think that a 2021 year 100 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:03,240 old kid would say, hey dad, I think there's a nursing home 101 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:04,720 with your name on it, man, Did you? 102 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:09,560 I don't know what you're talking about, but he was so obedient to 103 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,160 the faith of his father. He allowed his father to bind 104 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:17,720 him, probably had to help himself on that altar to submit 105 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,480 to what his father had said. And when Abraham lifts the knife 106 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:26,040 to kill his son, God stops him. Now I know that you love me 107 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:31,840 because you are willing to not withhold your only son. 108 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,840 There was a ram caught by its horns in the horns in the 109 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:43,120 thicket nearby and so God gave a a substitute when it comes to 110 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,720 that. Wow, this, this guy has faith. 111 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,520 Maybe that's what I need to do. Maybe I need to pray for more 112 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,480 faith. God, give me some more faith. 113 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,720 I bet some of you have prayed. God, I need more faith. 114 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:58,880 Do you know what? That's an ignorant prayer. 115 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:02,240 It's an ignorant prayer, and I'll tell you why. 116 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:04,640 Because everyone that's listening to the sound of my 117 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,680 voice right now has exactly the same amount of faith. 118 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:10,320 You know that you're going. I don't believe that, Jerry, but 119 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:12,040 you do. Here's the deal. 120 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:13,640 It's not about having more faith. 121 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:18,520 It's about taking faith out of the Bank of yourself and placing 122 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,960 it in the Bank of God. It's about transferring faith. 123 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:29,320 Oh, we all have faith, but do we have faith in ourselves or do we 124 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,040 have faith in him? And that's what I learned from 125 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,840 Abraham is that he had faith in him. 126 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,320 Let me give you just three things I see reflected in 127 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,520 Abraham about faith #1 faith is always a response. 128 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,960 It's always a response. God is the one who always 129 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,880 initiates, not, not us. The Bible says it's not that we 130 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:54,000 loved him, but that He loved us. In Romans 5/8 it says God 131 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,000 demonstrates His love toward us in while we were still sinners, 132 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,200 Christ died for us. We didn't care look about Jesus 133 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,160 or God. He was dying for us. 134 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:08,200 We were on His mind. He always is the one who 135 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:13,680 initiates and we respond. Secondly, walking by faith is 136 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:15,760 like walking through life backwards. 137 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:21,040 Can you just see that? It makes sense, doesn't it, that 138 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,560 we walk through life backwards. We can't see where we're going. 139 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:27,760 Walking by faith is about trust. Here's the good thing. 140 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,600 You can see when you walk through life backwards, you can 141 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,480 not see where you're going, but you can see where you've been 142 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:35,799 and you can see where God has been there with you. 143 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:42,039 Actually, walking by faith is more about listening than it is 144 00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:45,000 by seeing. The Apostle Paul in 2nd 145 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:49,960 Corinthians 5 seven said for we live by faith and not by sight. 146 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:53,320 Thirdly, faith is a relationship. 147 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,680 If you want to be a faithful person, you need to be in a 148 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:59,400 relationship with God. That's why we say you need to be 149 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,920 in an intimate personal relationship with God through 150 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,000 Jesus Christ. And this story is all about 151 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,680 relationship. The Bible says that Abraham was 152 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:11,840 called the friend of God. Why would Abraham do such a 153 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:16,920 cruel thing to tell his friend to sacrifice his son? 154 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:21,680 You know, I've thought about that a lot and this is what I 155 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:25,000 think. I think it was father to father. 156 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:30,840 I think it was Abraham as a father and I think it was God as 157 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,120 a father. Why do you think God had him go 158 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:37,880 to Mount Moriah? Why do you think that God had 159 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,240 Isaac carry the wood up that mountain? 160 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:47,200 Maybe it was because 2500 years in the future, God's own son was 161 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,520 going to be at the base of that same mountain and someone was 162 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,720 going to put wood on his back and he was going to carry it up 163 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,320 that mountain. And they were going to nail him 164 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:01,120 to that wood and he was going to die alone on a cross for you and 165 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,840 me. And maybe father to father, God 166 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:08,920 was telling Abraham, listen, I'm here to provide a substitute. 167 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,600 I am here to stop you from killing your son. 168 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,520 But there's going to come a day where my son is going to walk up 169 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:21,000 this hill and my son is going to carry this wood, and I'm going 170 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:22,600 to have all the power to stop them. 171 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:25,400 But I'm not going to do it. I'm going to let them kill my 172 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:30,400 son because that's how much I love you, Abraham, and that's 173 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:35,920 how much I love your son Isaac. So I don't want to see them 174 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,200 separated from me for all eternity. 175 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:40,880 So I pray for the faith of Abraham. 176 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:46,200 I pray for the humility of Moses, Ted Turner, the media 177 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,360 mogul, said. If I only had a little humility, 178 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:52,000 I'd be perfect. I think humility is escaping him 179 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:56,320 there. Humility is rooted in an 180 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,600 understanding of identity, particularly who you are and who 181 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,000 God is. And until you get that right, 182 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,080 humility will escape you. But I love that God is in the 183 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,320 business of changing us. He certainly was in the business 184 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,480 of that with Moses. You know the back story on 185 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,080 Moses, right? He was born at a time when the 186 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:22,000 Egyptian Pharaoh was killing all the babies of the of the 187 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:25,080 enslaved population of Israel inside of Egypt. 188 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:30,200 Fearing their overpopulation, Amram and Jochebed, Moses mom 189 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:34,000 and dad, weren't willing to let their child die that way. 190 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:38,360 And so Jochebed made a basket out of reeds, and then she 191 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,800 waterproofed it with pitch and placed this priceless son of 192 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:47,720 hers into this basket and put him symbolically in the hands of 193 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:51,200 God when she set him down in the Nile River for the current to 194 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:55,920 take him away. God was faithful. 195 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,200 Pharaoh's daughter was taking a bath in the Nile River. 196 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:04,920 She sees this basket, maybe heard a baby's cry and pulled 197 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:06,520 him out. That's what the name Moses mean 198 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:08,760 to be means. It means to be drawn out. 199 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,800 And he was raised in the palace, raised as a Prince of Egypt, 200 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,240 raised as a child, a grandchild of the pharaoh. 201 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:25,360 Pretty interesting his human identity. 202 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:30,120 Born as a child of slaves, born under sentence of execution, and 203 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,600 yet raised as a Prince of Egypt, definitely a place of privilege. 204 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:36,680 And he was that way till he was 40. 205 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:41,760 And he started coming into tune with this idea of how his fellow 206 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,160 Hebrews were being mistreated. You see, God had put all of 207 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:51,560 these abilities inside of him, but he wanted to use them on his 208 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:53,840 own terms. We're the same way. 209 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:57,120 And So what does he do when he's 40? 210 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,560 He sees a an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew and he 211 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:03,440 looks that no one is looking this way and that the Bible 212 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:08,240 says, and seeing that no one was a witness, he sneaks up on the 213 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:12,240 Egyptian and murders him and then buries his body in the 214 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,320 sand. Well, he finds out later that 215 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:20,000 it's become known that he did it, and Pharaoh puts out an 216 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:24,600 execution warrant on Moses and Moses flees for his life into 217 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,120 the wilderness of Midian. That's where he spends the 218 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,600 second 40 years of his life. You see that first 40 years, the 219 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:36,200 problem was even though Moses had a hype of view of himself, 220 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,920 he actually was a man full of pride, needed humility. 221 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:46,160 And those next 40 years, that was God's Crucible of humility. 222 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,200 Matter of fact, he did such a good job on Moses that when 223 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,880 Moses was 80 years old and he sees something off in the 224 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,560 distance and he goes to see what it is and he sees that it's a 225 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:01,560 Bush that is burning, but it's not consumed. 226 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:05,440 And as he comes up close to it, he hears the voice of God 227 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,720 saying, take off your sandals, Moses, because the place where 228 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:14,600 you're standing is holy ground. And he tells Moses that he's 229 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:18,320 going to go to Egypt and God's going to use him to deliver the 230 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,680 people of Israel. But by that time, Moses has lost 231 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,920 all ego. He's lost all pride. 232 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,760 And he begins to make excuses. And he made a lot of excuses. 233 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:34,600 My favorite one is I'm slow of speech and slow of tongue. 234 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:38,600 And then God answers him by saying, who made your mouth? 235 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:43,600 Moses? Eventually Moses says, please, 236 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:48,560 God, send someone else. God said, no, I'm sending you. 237 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:51,400 And you know, you might think, well, he's lost his mojo. 238 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,240 He's lost it all. You know, he no, he hasn't. 239 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,960 He's just in a place where he realizes that it's all going to 240 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:00,080 be about God and it's not going to be about him. 241 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:06,560 And that's a place where God can really use his people, because 242 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:08,880 it was God who gave Moses his true identity. 243 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,200 Sure, he had a human identity, had a broken identity because of 244 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:18,280 pride, but God gave him his true identity, and he led that nation 245 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,640 of 2 million people out of slavery into freedom. 246 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:27,360 In Deuteronomy chapter 34, verses 11:50, this is what it 247 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:29,920 says about him. Since then no prophet has risen 248 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:34,200 in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did 249 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,800 all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt, to 250 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,200 Pharaoh, and to all his officials and his whole land. 251 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:44,240 For no one has ever shown the mighty power performed the 252 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:48,520 awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. 253 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:53,880 I need the faith of Abraham and I need the humility of Moses, 254 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:58,120 and so do you. The third one that I pray for is 255 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,880 the strength of Samson. Now, praying for an attribute of 256 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,880 Samson seems out of place because so much of his life was 257 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:09,920 a failure, certainly a failure in faith and in humility. 258 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:12,960 But you know what? I think I learned a lot more 259 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,480 from failure than I do from victory. 260 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,440 And if I can learn from somebody else's failure, maybe I don't 261 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:23,720 have to repeat it myself. You know, maybe I can just take 262 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,200 that win instead of have to learn it the hard way. 263 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,800 Samson's abilities were God-given. 264 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:34,840 Notice that I call them abilities. 265 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:40,560 I don't call them gifts because abilities don't become gifts 266 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,960 until you give them back to God. You see, it's God who gave you 267 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,280 those abilities, and he gave you those abilities so that you 268 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,800 could see how you could impact His Kingdom with them, because 269 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:53,920 that's the purpose of those abilities. 270 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,520 But they don't become gifts until you give them back to God. 271 00:16:57,520 --> 00:16:59,360 Well, Samson had a problem with that. 272 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,400 He wanted to keep those abilities for himself. 273 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,160 And you know, God, he had great patience with Samson. 274 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:11,680 When Samson was born, his parents made him a Nazarite, 275 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:15,680 like a it's a vow that people would take. 276 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:20,640 And so this vow was spoken over his life when he was still an 277 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,319 infant. Now, to be a Nazarite meant 278 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:27,040 meant to be set apart. And it was set apart in three 279 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:31,000 specific ways. There were 3 rules #1 you 280 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,480 weren't supposed to have anything that came from a grape 281 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,520 that included wine and anything like that. 282 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,880 You also weren't allowed to be around anything dead, and you 283 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:43,000 weren't allowed to cut your hair. 284 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,080 Now, we've heard about Samson and the cutting of the hair 285 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,040 Delilah, right? What we don't seem to think 286 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,000 about is that, yeah, he broke the other two parts of the vow 287 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:58,920 long before he had his hair cut. And yet God had patience with 288 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:04,640 him until he had absolutely destroyed every vow he had made. 289 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:11,160 You know, God gives us these abilities, so we turn them into 290 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:17,080 gifts because we can experience His pleasure when we use them 291 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,960 for God. And that's the ultimate tragedy 292 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,440 of Samson's life. God has an UER story plan for 293 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,240 all of us. We live down in this lower 294 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:29,960 story, in the difficulties and the stresses and the challenges 295 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,280 of everyday life. But God has this beautiful upper 296 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,800 story plan. If we could just walk in that 297 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,400 plan. And when we do walk in His plan 298 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:43,000 and He unleashes the power of those abilities that become 299 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,920 gifts inside of us, we feel His pleasure. 300 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,280 God wanted Samson to feel his pleasure. 301 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,120 But understand this God's upper story is going to happen whether 302 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:58,600 we contribute to it or not. It's just so much better if we 303 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:02,000 want to be a part of it. So that's why I pray for the 304 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:06,360 strength of Samson, so I can learn from his mistakes and I 305 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:10,200 can be a part of that blessing and feel his pleasure. 306 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:14,000 I pray for the wisdom of Solomon, Abraham Lincoln said. 307 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,040 I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming 308 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:22,840 conviction I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom seemed inefficient 309 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:28,880 for the day. Solomon sets the course of his 310 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:33,040 book Proverbs. It's book on practical wisdom in 311 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,640 chapter 1 verse 7 where he says the fear of the Lord is the 312 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:40,240 beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and 313 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:44,840 discipline the fear of the Lord. Some people trip over that like 314 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:46,440 what does it mean to be afraid of God? 315 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:50,600 The fear of the Lord is a recognition of who God is and 316 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:57,560 who I am, and more accurately that I'm not God and Sam, not 317 00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,560 Samson. But Solomon has that right in 318 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:03,280 his early life. In First Kings chapter 3 verses 319 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:07,520 7 to 9, he prays this prayer which shows incredible wisdom. 320 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,640 He said, now Lord my God, you have made your servant king in 321 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,240 place of my father David, but I'm only a little child and I 322 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:17,280 don't know how to carry out my duties. 323 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:20,320 Your servant is here among the people You have chosen a great 324 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:22,560 people, too numerous to count or number. 325 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:26,240 So give your servant. A discerning heart to govern 326 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,680 your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. 327 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:33,240 For who is able to govern this great people of yours? 328 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:38,360 He had a recognition of who he was and who God is and that he 329 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:42,400 wasn't God. After that recognition, the next 330 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:48,240 step to wisdom is to trust God. Maybe you've heard or you've 331 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,040 said, I need to give up control of my life. 332 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:53,480 I need to learn to turn control over. 333 00:20:53,480 --> 00:21:00,080 I need to give up control. You know, I had a good friend. 334 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,480 He was up here on this stage a few years ago, Randy Frazee, and 335 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,640 he said something to me and to all of you back then that I 336 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,440 think is critically important. He said we don't give up control 337 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:11,840 of our life. We give up the illusion of it. 338 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,280 And I was confronted with a truth in my life that a lot of 339 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:22,520 what gives me anxiety is out of this idea of control. 340 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:25,120 Like, I'd like to control what other people are thinking of me. 341 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,000 I would like to control the state of the world. 342 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,280 I would like to control my health that I would like to 343 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:31,960 control my my financial circumstances. 344 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:33,480 I would like to control a lot of things. 345 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,480 But the truth is there's a lot of that that is completely out 346 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:44,440 of my control. So to trust in God is to rest in 347 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,600 God. I don't know about you, but I 348 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:53,960 have a hard time resting when my life is full of anxiety and I 349 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:58,680 need to learn to trust and rest in God. 350 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,680 I think it's happens when we give up our perceived right to 351 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,080 make decisions of right and wrong and we defer to the 352 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,640 Lordship of Christ. You realize when you became a 353 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:12,200 Christian, he didn't just become your savior, He became your 354 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,000 Lord. That means he determines what is 355 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,760 right and wrong, and you live in obedience to that understanding, 356 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,840 right? So I'm giving up that right as 357 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,080 if I ever really had it in the first place. 358 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:30,880 Like what I have. My opinion really matters since 359 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:32,720 God is the one who's determining that. 360 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,840 But just because you recognize that you're not God and you make 361 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,440 a decision to trust in God, that doesn't mean that you're going 362 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,680 to live it out in real time. You know what Solomon didn't, 363 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,080 you know, God told Solomon, I don't want you to allow these 364 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:50,240 three things into your life. Don't do these three things. 365 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,160 Number one, don't store up for yourself a lot of gold. 366 00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,520 How did he do with that one? You know, if you if you took 367 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:06,760 Solomon's wealth in that ancient time and you like applied it 368 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:11,320 like inflated it to our time, it would dwarf what Elon Musk has. 369 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,960 He used gold for mortar between stones to hold stones together. 370 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:19,520 So he didn't follow God that way. 371 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:22,800 He said don't store up horses for yourself. 372 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,640 Horses were a symbol of power of a mighty army. 373 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,440 And Solomon was known not just for Solomon's minds, but 374 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:34,160 Solomon's stables had more horses and Chariots than 375 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:38,080 anybody. The third one he said is he 376 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,400 don't don't amass for yourself a lot of wives or women. 377 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:48,080 Well, Solomon's epic that way. 300 wives and 700 concubines. 378 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,120 I guess he just decided to settle on 1000. 379 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:55,800 Good round Number means that you know, if you saw a woman every 380 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,080 day, you wouldn't see her for about 3 years. 381 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:03,440 Crazy, absolutely nuts. And it LED Solomon to this 382 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,160 reality in his life. The book of Ecclesiastes is 383 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,160 written at the end of his life. And do you know how that book 384 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:11,560 begins? With three words. 385 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,800 Everything is meaningless. See, Solomon had a God shaped 386 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,400 hole in his heart and he tried to fill it with every other 387 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,440 thing in the world. And do you know what? 388 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,360 Nobody that you know or have ever known had enough resources 389 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,240 to actually try everything. But Solomon did. 390 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,440 And in trying everything in his life, all he could come up with 391 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:39,800 was everything is meaningless. What a sad, cynical way of 392 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,360 looking at life. And some of you would say, well, 393 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,000 I mean, there's no way I could ever attain the wisdom of 394 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,800 Solomon. Let me tell you how wrong you 395 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,040 are. There's one word that if you 396 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,440 know this word and you understand this word, you will 397 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:59,680 be wiser than Solomon ever was. And that one word is Jesus. 398 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:04,600 Because only Jesus can fill that God shaped hole inside your 399 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,680 heart that no one else could fill. 400 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:11,000 And if you know that name, you're wiser than he was. 401 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:19,280 I pray for the spirit of Elijah. You know, I've been on top of 402 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:24,400 Mount Carmel where Elijah faced off with 450 prophets of Baal 403 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,960 and defeated them. There's a big white statue, 404 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:34,000 Scott Elijah standing up, He's got a sword over his head and 405 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,240 then under his sandal he is standing on the neck of a 406 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,640 prophet of Baal. Just has one word on the statue 407 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:45,880 and it says Elijah. It's referring to a showdown 408 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:49,680 that happened on Mount Carmel between Elijah by himself and 409 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:54,640 450 prophets of Baal. The northern Kingdom of Israel 410 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,400 had a king named Ahab, but he's not as well known as his 411 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:00,880 infamous wife whose name was Jezebel. 412 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:06,400 Nobody names their daughter Jezebel because she was as evil 413 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,240 as they come. She brought the worship of Baal 414 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,800 into the northern Kingdom, and they did so many detestable 415 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,920 things, one of which was sacrificing their live children 416 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:23,880 to this God. And God knew that he needed to 417 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,400 teach his people a lesson. And so he sent Elijah. 418 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,040 Not only did he send Elijah, but he sent a drought lasted for 419 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,600 three years. All the crops failed. 420 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,080 There wasn't any food. People were starving to death. 421 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,160 He put them in a position where they would listen and maybe 422 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:43,440 learn. And so from that Mount Carmel, 423 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:48,040 Elijah's words boomed out. He said, how long will you waver 424 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,400 between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. 425 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,880 If Baal is God, follow him. But the people said nothing. 426 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:03,240 And then it goes on to this duel that I don't have time to talk 427 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:07,720 about today. But at the end of that, God 428 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:12,200 showed himself that he was the one and only God. 429 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,320 But just because we're introduced to this mighty man of 430 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:21,440 God who celebrates his big victory, it doesn't mean he 431 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,800 isn't a man. It doesn't mean he isn't flawed 432 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,560 or even weak. Because after this great 433 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,760 victory, Jezebel threatens his life. 434 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,400 And do you know what he does? He runs. 435 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,680 He runs for his life. Are you kidding? 436 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,640 After three years, after this incredible victory, he runs for 437 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:48,160 his life, runs away, sits under a broom tree, and then begs God 438 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,520 to take his life. Well, that makes all kinds of 439 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,840 sense. If you wanted to die, why didn't 440 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:58,760 you just stay there? But I, I relate to that because 441 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,040 that's how I am as a human being. 442 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,920 Sometimes I'm so confused. I'm doing everything all 443 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:05,840 backwards. I'm doing things the way I 444 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,120 shouldn't do it. It's like, you know, something 445 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:14,560 gets messed up inside my head. So God takes him to a mountain 446 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,600 and there's this massive earthquake, but God's not in the 447 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,120 earthquake. And and then there's this, this 448 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:23,720 huge wind and God's not on in this wind or storm. 449 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,480 And then there's this incredible fire, but God's not in the fire. 450 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,640 And then there's a still small voice. 451 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:38,000 Sometimes it's hard for us to hear that voice because there's 452 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,200 so much white noise, so much pink noise around us all the 453 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:43,320 time. You know what I'm talking about, 454 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:46,760 Just ambient noise. I don't know about you, but I've 455 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,960 got an app on my phone that has a fan so that I can sleep at 456 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,200 night. But how in the world are we 457 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,680 going to hear God when there's all this noise going on in our 458 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:58,040 lives? We have to quiet down. 459 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,880 We have to be still and know that he's God. 460 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,880 And that's what God did for Elijah in that moment. 461 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:07,040 Finally, I, I really love the story of Elijah because of his 462 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:12,120 successor, Elijah. I think it's the greatest 463 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:15,840 discipleship story that we read in the Old Testament. 464 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:19,680 Elijah knew that God was going to take him up to heaven. 465 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:23,680 So he said to Elijah, look, God's going to take me to 466 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,120 heaven, so I need you to stay here. 467 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:27,760 And I'll. And Elijah said, no way am I 468 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,960 staying here. But then he said, well, get 469 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:31,920 well. They went a little farther 470 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,240 together and there was this town, Bethel. 471 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,040 The House of God is what Bethel means. 472 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,280 And he goes, why don't you stay here? 473 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:44,360 Stay in the House of God. And Elijah said, no way, I'm 474 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,560 staying with you, went a little farther and there were all these 475 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,280 prophets, a whole group of prophets, and Elijah was a 476 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:51,840 prophet too. And he goes, why don't you stay 477 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,760 with these prophets? So I'm going to go on. 478 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,320 And Elijah said, Nope, I'm staying with you. 479 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,200 And they made it all the way to the Bank of the Jordan River. 480 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,360 And Elijah said to Elijah, I want you to stay on this side of 481 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,760 the river because I'm going to go on the other side. 482 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,160 And he said, Nope, I'm staying with you. 483 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,840 And Elijah took off his cloak. He wrapped it up and he smacked 484 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,280 the water of the Jordan River and the Jordan River parks, and 485 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:19,320 there's dry land. And so Elijah starts walking 486 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:23,000 across on the dry land. And Elijah follows him. 487 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,320 When he gets on the other side of the Jordan River, Elijah 488 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,320 looks at Elijah and he says, what do you want from me? 489 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,000 And Elijah said, I want a double portion of your spirit. 490 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,400 Wow, Elijah said. That's not something I can give. 491 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:43,800 That's something only God can give. 492 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:50,400 And when he said that, a tornado comes down like a whirlwind. 493 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,280 And then there are these horses and charities of fire that come 494 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:58,080 down and separate Elijah from Elijah. 495 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:00,880 And Elijah is caught up in this whirlwind. 496 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:05,240 He goes up in the sky and Elijah is looking after me, tears his 497 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:09,800 clothes, and he says, my God, my God, the Chariots and horsemen 498 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:15,520 of Israel. And the whirlwind dissipates and 499 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,360 Elijah's gone. But there's something up in the 500 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:24,080 air that begins floating down. And as he gets close to the 501 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:28,560 ground, Elijah sees that it's the cloak of Elijah. 502 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:34,560 And he picks it up. And he walks over to the Jordan 503 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:36,360 River. And he wraps it up like he saw 504 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,640 Elijah do. And he smacks the water. 505 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,120 And he says, now where's the God of Elijah? 506 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,640 And the water parts for him. And he walks across. 507 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,920 And Elijah leads the nation of Israel for the next 60 years. 508 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,160 That's a great story. I want to have the spirit of 509 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,760 Elijah. And then I pray for the heart of 510 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,680 David. The philosopher Blaise Pascal 511 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,520 said the heart has reasons that reason cannot know. 512 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:09,880 I love that quote because it answers the question of why to 513 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,160 the statement Jesus loves me. I learned that when I was a 514 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:16,520 little kid in a song. But when I got older I started 515 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,080 wondering, well, why? Why would you love me? 516 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:26,720 Because he just does. I know that doesn't sound like a 517 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:30,600 great reason, but it's true. He just does. 518 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,160 David was overlooked by his family. 519 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:36,400 He was the youngest, the smallest. 520 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:40,240 He was ignored by his father. And when Samuel went to Jesse's 521 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:44,680 house, David's father looking for a new king, all these young 522 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,480 men were paraded before him, all of them Jesse's sons. 523 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:52,960 And every time Samuel thought, well, it must be him, God would 524 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,280 say no. God kept saying no until there 525 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,720 were no boys left. And he looks at Jesse and he 526 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:01,200 goes, Are these all your sons? And he goes, I have one other my 527 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,200 youngest, but he's out tending sheep. 528 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:08,520 Bring him in. In Acts 1322, Paul recounts 529 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,920 this. And this is what he says that 530 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:16,680 God said in that moment. I have found David, son of 531 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:22,200 Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him 532 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,800 to do. What does it mean to have a 533 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,960 heart like that? That God would give it such 534 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,640 attention, Well, David had the heart of a stranger. 535 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,120 If you read the Psalms, you'll see that he was more at home 536 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:39,400 with God and in the temple. That he was ever at home. 537 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,920 He longed to be with God. He also had the heart of a 538 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,160 warrior. When David fought Goliath, his 539 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,720 heart was turned tuned to what God would do through him, not 540 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:53,960 what he would do. And he became the warrior king 541 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,640 that God would use to establish Israel as a nation. 542 00:33:57,840 --> 00:33:59,360 He also had the heart of a father. 543 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:01,800 You know. David was a passionate man, but 544 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:05,640 his passion got the best of him. His worst defeat didn't come 545 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:09,040 from some outside influence, it came from an enemy within. 546 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:11,440 His desire for another man's wife. 547 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:17,639 Result was multiple sins, lust, adultery, lying and murder. 548 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:20,840 And it had a ripple effect on his whole family. 549 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:24,440 The incestuous rape of his daughter, the death of his 550 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,760 rapist son at the hands of one of his other sons, and the 551 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:32,239 immorality and treachery of his son Absalom and Absalom's death. 552 00:34:33,679 --> 00:34:36,960 All seeds sown by what David had done. 553 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:42,280 But when he received words that Absalom had died, he said this. 554 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:48,360 Oh, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, would God, I had died for 555 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,120 you. Absalom my son. 556 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:57,360 There's the heart. There's the heart that God saw 557 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:02,240 in David. See, David wished he could have 558 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:06,320 taken his evil son's place and died. 559 00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:13,520 But my heavenly Father sent Jesus, who did die, to take my 560 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:22,640 place when he died on the cross. I pray for the heart of David. 561 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:24,960 And finally, and most importantly, I pray for the love 562 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,080 of Jesus. One of my most favorite quotes 563 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,760 comes from Doctor Seuss. That's my reading level right 564 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,480 there. You know you're in love when you 565 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:37,520 can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than 566 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:41,040 your dreams. You know, love is the most 567 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:44,440 precious, most fragile, most indestructible, most abused, 568 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:48,760 most quoted, most misunderstood reality in the human experience. 569 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:52,160 It's the one thing that fuels our hope for today, tomorrow and 570 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:55,480 eternity. Love is the word that God uses 571 00:35:55,480 --> 00:36:00,000 to define himself. God is love and Jesus is the 572 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:04,240 physical representation of God and he's the embodiment of the 573 00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:07,000 word love. Let me tell you a little bit 574 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,280 about what that love can do. It brings life. 575 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:14,200 You could ask Gyrus about his 12 year old daughter, or a widow on 576 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,920 her way to a cemetery with the body of her son, or sisters of a 577 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,680 man who'd been dead and buried for four days. 578 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,720 His love brings life. The love of Jesus also brings 579 00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:26,840 sight. You could ask 2 blind men who 580 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,720 believed in Jesus even though they never actually saw him do a 581 00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:33,760 single thing because they were blind and he let them see. 582 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:38,520 The love of Jesus brings peace to a woman on her hands and 583 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:42,120 knees in a crowd, touching the hem of his garment. 584 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:46,760 And a sickness that lasted 12 years is instantly gone. 585 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,080 Not only she healed physically, but her uncleanness that had 586 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:55,240 ostracized her from her community is gone when Jesus 587 00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:59,320 calls her daughter. And the love of Jesus brings 588 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:02,480 purpose. You could ask a paralyzed man 589 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:04,120 who was let down through a hole in a roof. 590 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:09,040 Jesus forgives his sin but then heals him for the purpose of 591 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:13,000 showing the rest of the people he has the power to forgive sin. 592 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:18,920 But the love of Jesus. It comes down to just one 593 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:23,920 miracle. 1 miracle for the whole world, for all time, for all 594 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,280 people that has a hope as dead as some of these. 595 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:31,280 When Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, 596 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:35,360 the effect of that love resurrected hope and a lost and 597 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,520 a dying world. And years ago I was reflecting 598 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:41,120 on that truth and I wrote these words. 599 00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:45,680 When I need direction, He's my narrow path, and when I need 600 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:48,160 shelter, He's my cleft in the rock. 601 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,200 When I need a way out, he's my open door. 602 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:53,920 When I need illumination, he is my light. 603 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:57,080 When I need someone to look after me, he's my shepherd. 604 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,240 When I get lost, He assembles a search party. 605 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:04,200 When I'm caught in a storm, he says peace be still. 606 00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:06,600 He's the fount of every blessing. 607 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:10,200 He's the Crimson flood that washes away my stain of sin. 608 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,200 He is the cloud from which the showers of blessing falls. 609 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,400 He wrote the songs that the birds sing. 610 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:20,600 He's the author of life, the giver of life, the restorer of 611 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:22,320 life and the resurrection and the life. 612 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,880 And he makes life abundant and joyful and purposeful and 613 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:29,640 meaningful and eternal. He is a lawgiver and the grace 614 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,280 giver. He is the judge and the defense 615 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:34,520 lawyer. He demands payment and then he 616 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:38,880 pays the price himself. He sees my sin, but he believes 617 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,480 in my potential. He has the power to condemn me, 618 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:45,040 but he chooses to forgive me. He's the source of my healing. 619 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,600 He makes a demon possessed man the town's only hope, heals 10 620 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,080 lepers even. Only one of them comes back to 621 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,080 thank him. He calms the sea. 622 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:56,280 He raises the dead. He feeds the multitudes, teaches 623 00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,080 the educators, heals the masses, notices the insignificant, 624 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,840 restores the ruin, includes the lonely, remembers the forgotten, 625 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:07,160 forgives the condemned, lives up the humble, brings down I'm 626 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:10,680 proud, mends the broken, and sets the captives free. 627 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:14,560 His power even flows through the hem of his garment. 628 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:16,960 And who in the world could ever compare to him? 629 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:20,800 That's my Lord, that's my savior, that's my king. 630 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,240 I want you to compliment. Just contemplate that as we move 631 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:36,560 to a time of decision. Years ago, I was in India and I 632 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:41,600 was doing a teaching seminar with about 75 Indian pastors. 633 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:45,800 They had one pastor that was over the rest of them, and I was 634 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:47,680 trying to figure out how to build a bridge. 635 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,040 How do I build a bridge? Because our cultures are so 636 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,680 vastly different. If you don't know Indian 637 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:59,080 culture, humility is like the brightest light of their culture 638 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:01,280 doesn't come from Christianity, comes from Hinduism. 639 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:06,360 The idea of karma. So I'm contemplating that. 640 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:10,400 I'm thinking, you know, if you put Jerusalem in the center, I 641 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:13,680 am as far West of Jerusalem as they are east of Jerusalem. 642 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:15,920 As a matter of fact, you go to Chennai, India. 643 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:20,120 You can't go any farther away. You if you keep going, you are 644 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:24,320 on your way back. How do I build that bridge? 645 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,680 And I thought, you know, Jesus built a bridge by washing the 646 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:33,680 feet of his disciples. What if, what if that would do 647 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:36,320 it? And I went to the head of that 648 00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:41,200 mission and I said, would it be OK if I washed the feet of the 649 00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:45,120 pastor's? See that would kind of short 650 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:48,880 circuit them because, you know, having a white man from the West 651 00:40:49,240 --> 00:40:51,800 get down on his knees and wash their feet, that would just be 652 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,280 mind blowing to them. And they don't want to be out 653 00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:58,360 humbled. He thought about it, prayed 654 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,200 about it, and he gave me permission to do it. 655 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,240 They brought me a a basin full of water. 656 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:05,040 They brought me towels, fresh towels. 657 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:07,720 An Indian men's feet are the dirtiest feet on earth. 658 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:12,520 I mean, all their roads are dirt roads. 659 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:18,040 They defecate in those roads. They take their their sandals 660 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:22,040 off when they walk inside, but doesn't have any effect on the 661 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:26,560 dirt that's on their feet. And I got down on my hands and 662 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:31,560 knees, and these men sat in a chair before me, one at a time. 663 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:40,080 And as I began to do it, they weren't just crying, they were 664 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,000 retching. You know what I mean by that 665 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:45,240 means It wasn't just tears coming out of their eyes. 666 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:47,800 It was coming out of their nose. It was coming out of their 667 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:51,640 mouth. It wasn't quiet crying. 668 00:41:52,720 --> 00:42:05,960 It was loud, guttural crying. After quite a few of those guys, 669 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:08,480 I looked down at the water and it was the most filthy water I'd 670 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:13,560 ever seen in my life. The towels were black, water was 671 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:18,440 black. And something occurred to me 672 00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:24,720 about me that when God looks at my heart, that's what He sees. 673 00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:30,920 That's what He sees. That's the truth about me. 674 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:36,200 It's also the truth about you. But listen to me. 675 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:38,520 Here's the gospel. Here's the good news. 676 00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:44,680 It doesn't even slow him down, not for a second. 677 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:51,080 Even though He knows all of that truth of the filth that is in 678 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:57,480 and on my heart, His blood is enough to cleanse me of all my 679 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:05,160 sin and to make me new again. I guarantee you that all those 680 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,520 Indian men who had their feet washed by me, even though we had 681 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:10,480 an incredible moment together, their feet got dirty just as 682 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:14,840 soon as they left. But when Jesus washes your heart 683 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:21,960 clean, you're clean if you're here today when you don't have 684 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,280 an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 685 00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:26,440 And let me define that. That doesn't mean that you're a 686 00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:28,040 churchgoer. That doesn't mean you're a 687 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:30,160 religious person. That doesn't mean that you come 688 00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:33,120 from a religious family or even you know that you attend 689 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,280 regularly. It means that you are in 690 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:42,080 relationship with him. If that's never happened in your 691 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:46,760 life, you don't have to wait another second, another minute. 692 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:48,600 There's going to be somebody right over there by that 693 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:52,240 baptistry would love nothing more and to pray with you, talk 694 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:54,640 with you. And maybe today is the day that 695 00:43:54,640 --> 00:44:03,560 you say, here I come, Lord, all the baggage, all the dirt, here 696 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:08,000 I come. What you might not hear, but you 697 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:12,800 definitely will feel is this. I've been waiting for you, 698 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:16,600 daughter. I've been waiting for you, son. 699 00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:22,840 I have more love than you have sinned. 700 00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:27,560 You can make that decision today. 701 00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:31,120 Many of you here today have made that decision for Christ. 702 00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:34,560 But it has does not mean that you got it all figured out 703 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:39,520 right. There's a lot of times when 704 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:42,640 we're doing everything but what we need to be doing. 705 00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:48,440 We're not showing the faith of Abraham or the humility of Moses 706 00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:52,200 or the strength of Samson or the wisdom of Solomon or the spirit 707 00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:56,800 of Elijah, the heart of David or the love of Jesus because we're 708 00:44:56,800 --> 00:45:00,040 caught up in everything else. Maybe you're looking at your 709 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:02,680 heart right now. And when I was discussing what 710 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:04,880 hard pan is, you're going, Yeah, it's kind of me. 711 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:09,400 Well, come on, let him put the Ripper down. 712 00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:14,280 Let him break up that hard pan. Get down to the fertile soil 713 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:18,480 underneath. It may not feel good in a few 714 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:22,080 moments, but afterwards there'll be a blessing. 715 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:24,280 And that's what these steps are for. 716 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:30,040 An opportunity to you say, for you to say, Lord Jesus, have 717 00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:35,800 your way. Would you stand with me in Jesus 718 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:38,640 name, Heavenly Father, I pray that we wouldn't let an 719 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:42,040 opportunity go by. There's no one standing in our 720 00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:45,800 way right now, no one except ourselves. 721 00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:52,160 Help us to get out of our own way and walk straight to you. 722 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:56,280 In Jesus name I pray. Amen.