Latest / Top Churches / Elevation with Steven Furtick - He Hasn’t Forgotten You (Stephen Chandler)

Transcript

Elevation with Steven Furtick - He Hasn’t Forgotten You (Stephen Chandler) · Top Churches

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Furtick.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Y'all, I'm struggling because I'm trying to pull myself together.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I was sitting on this front row crying my eyes out,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't want y'all to see me cry because
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: thugs don't cry, but I'm telling you, I'm so grateful
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: for the presence of God. Come on, anybody can testify.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Who am I? If you knew my story, if you
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: knew my journey, if you knew my detours, if you
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: knew my mistakes, but God has been faithful. Can anybody
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: testify that God... has been faithful. Well, I'm pumped. I'm excited. Y'all,
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  Speaker 1: I'm at the Elevation Church, y'all. I'm ready to jump
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: out of my skin. It is such a privilege and
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: an honor to be in this house. And as you
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: guys know, y'all are just the most blessed people on
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the planet because you have some of the greatest leaders
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: on the planet. Can you honor Pastor Stephen and Pastor
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  Speaker 1: Holly Furtick? We love you. Pastor Stephen has been a
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  Speaker 1: giant in my life, a general in my life, a
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: role model, and has become a mentor and a friend.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: And his impact on this generation, his name will go
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: down with the Spurgeons and the Wesleys and those that
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: have shifted the course of our faith in the kingdom
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: of God. I couldn't decide which message to preach, so
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I'm going to preach both. Is that all right? I'm
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: going to give you the first one in 30 seconds
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to honor your pastor, and then I'll give you the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: long one. I was reading Exodus chapter 15. In Exodus
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: chapter 15, you don't got to turn their way. This
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: ain't the real preach. This is just Exodus 15. Watch this.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: It's the first song ever recorded in Scripture. They sang
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and worshiped God, but it's the first song that was
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: ever recorded in Scripture that we could sing after the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: writer wrote it. And it was Moses saying, who is
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: like our God? There is no other God like our God.
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  Speaker 1: He has defeated the horse and the rider. He's defeated
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  Speaker 1: the Egyptians. This was Moses, watch this, on the other
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  Speaker 1: side of the Red Sea. Somebody say it's time to preach.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: It took crossing through a death valley to be able
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to pen a song that a nation can sing to
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  Speaker 1: honor the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody say amen. And as I was thinking about this
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  Speaker 1: house and the songs that your pastor has penned and
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the worship that has come out of this place, This
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: isn't just a song. There's been a crossing over of battles.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: There's been victories. There's been travailing. And one of the
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: things I love about your pastor is he has walked
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  Speaker 1: through some things that we will never have to walk
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  Speaker 1: through and has written songs on the other side that
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: can give us faith and give us hope and give
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: us inspiration of who is like our God. So Pastor Stephen,
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  Speaker 1: we thank you for what you've walked through, that you
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  Speaker 1: can see a side of God and give us words
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  Speaker 1: to describe our gratitude.
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  Speaker 3: Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Y'all ready to preach for real? Hey, before you grab
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  Speaker 1: your seat, high five three people. Tell somebody buckle up.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to be a bumpy ride.
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  Speaker 3: Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: Turn your Bible to the book of Psalms, Psalm chapter 105,
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  Speaker 1: Psalm chapter 105, verse 16. While you turn, normally I
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  Speaker 1: would show you a picture of my family. I am
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: married to my beautiful wife, Zai, of 13 going on
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  Speaker 1: 14 years. And we have three amazing... Come on, can
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: you give it up for my wife? And we have
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: three amazing children, a 10, an 8, and a 5.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: And I always say, I don't have three kids because
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I like kids. I have three kids because I like
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  Speaker 1: my wife. And that's what happens. You know, when pastors travel,
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  Speaker 1: they have their spiel and they all deal. So I
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  Speaker 1: usually do this whole deal and I'll show you a picture.
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  Speaker 1: And I tell you, my kids are back in Maryland
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  Speaker 1: and I'm well rested. So it's going to be a
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  Speaker 1: three hour message because I haven't slept like this in
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  Speaker 1: 10 hours. The only problem is this time I didn't
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  Speaker 1: leave them home. I actually brought my children with me.
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  Speaker 1: All of them are sitting right here. Come on. Can
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  Speaker 1: you honor my family? I'm grateful. So here's the difference.
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  Speaker 1: I am not resting. I'm exhausted. Somebody might have got
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  Speaker 1: whooped last night. So if that message feels a little aggressive,
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  Speaker 1: just understand I've been persevering all night. Psalm chapter 105
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  Speaker 1: verse 16. If you have it, somebody say yeah. It
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  Speaker 1: says this. Moreover, he called for a famine in the land.
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  Speaker 1: He destroyed all the provision of bread. He sent a
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  Speaker 1: man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
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  Speaker 1: They hurt his feet with fetters. He was laid in irons.
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  Speaker 1: Until the time, here's the whole message, until the time
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  Speaker 1: that his word came to pass, the word of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord tested him. Come on, look at your neighbor and say,
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  Speaker 1: God's word will test you. Oh, I know it's not
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  Speaker 1: great to say there's certain things that I don't like
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  Speaker 1: about the Bible. But one of the things I don't
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  Speaker 1: like about the Bible is it does not just encourage you.
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  Speaker 1: It will encourage you. It doesn't just convict you. It
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  Speaker 1: doesn't just give you wisdom. God's word will also test you.
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  Speaker 1: So the king sent and released him. The ruler of
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  Speaker 1: the people let him go free. He made him lord
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  Speaker 1: of his house and ruler of all his possessions to
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  Speaker 1: bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his elders wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: I have a message today entitled, and I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: need you to look at your neighbor and give them
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  Speaker 1: the title of the message. And you may not want
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  Speaker 1: to talk to your neighbor. You may be an introvert. Pastor,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't come for all of that. I'm telling you,
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  Speaker 1: somebody sitting next to you, their life depends on what
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  Speaker 1: you're getting ready to tell them. Look at your neighbor.
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  Speaker 1: Pick your favorite neighbor, not either neighbor. Just pick one neighbor,
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  Speaker 1: the one you like the most, and tell them, he
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  Speaker 1: hasn't forgotten you. Come on. Come on. You have no
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  Speaker 1: idea how much they need to hear that today. Pick
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  Speaker 1: that neighbor and tell them, he hasn't... We're God's in you.
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  Speaker 1: Father God, we're grateful. We're overwhelmed that you would meet
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  Speaker 1: with us, speak with us, encounter us. God, you're here today,
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  Speaker 1: and because you're here, miracles are going to break out
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  Speaker 1: in this place. So we say, have your way, heal, deliver, transform,
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  Speaker 1: do what only you can do, and we will be
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  Speaker 1: ever so careful to give you all the glory, all
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  Speaker 1: the honor, and all the praise. In the matchless name
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus, we pray. Come on, somebody shout. Amen and
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: amen and amen. Anybody, I'm sure everybody in the room has,
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  Speaker 1: grew up playing hide and go seek in college. Come on,
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  Speaker 1: wave at me. Y'all remember that old school stuff, hide-and-go-seek?
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  Speaker 1: This was before tablets. This was before YouTube. When kids
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: were kids, we had to play without electronics, without Wi-Fi.
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  Speaker 1: My favorite place growing up to play hide-and-go-seek was my
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  Speaker 1: grandmother's house. We live in Maryland. My grandmother lived in
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, and we would go up for the holidays,
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  Speaker 1: for Thanksgiving, for Christmas. And my grandmother's house was, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it was like a movie. Think about this stereotypical 100-year-old
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  Speaker 1: creepy house that you were terrified to go down in
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  Speaker 1: the basement because you saw one of your uncles go
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  Speaker 1: down there one time and he never came back up.
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  Speaker 1: And we haven't seen him since. And we're like, what happened?
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  Speaker 1: And she had the front porch out front that creaked
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  Speaker 1: and every stair in the house made noises. And you
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  Speaker 1: were hearing, it was terrifying. Come on now. The best
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  Speaker 1: place to play hide-and-go-seek and I grew up in a
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  Speaker 1: massive family. I had a million one cousins So every
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: time Christmas or Thanksgiving would come around. Hey, let's play
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  Speaker 1: hide-and-go-seek and I never wanted to be the seeker. I
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  Speaker 1: always wanted to be the one who hides. Now I
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  Speaker 1: was prepping this message I gotta figure out how I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna preach this because my family's watching this and I'm
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  Speaker 1: getting in trouble for what I'm about to say next
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  Speaker 1: but I knew which family member in that house was
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  Speaker 1: the dirtiest one. That's the statement that's gonna get me
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  Speaker 1: in trouble. So I knew which bedroom to go in
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  Speaker 1: and hide because there was going to be clothes piled
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  Speaker 1: up to the roof. There was going to be VHS
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  Speaker 1: cassette tapes, I mean, eight feet tall. And I knew
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  Speaker 1: I'd go in the room, in the closet. They would
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  Speaker 1: never find me behind all of that junk. So they said,
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  Speaker 1: go hide. You know, one, two, three, four. And I'd
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  Speaker 1: run up right to the room in the closet. Got
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  Speaker 1: all the dresses. That'll let me know who it is too.
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  Speaker 1: And all the VHS cassette tapes. And I'm sitting in
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  Speaker 1: the closet. And I'm just like, they're never going to
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  Speaker 1: find me. Then I'd hear my cousin say, here I come.
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  Speaker 1: He'd go creaking up the stairs. And I'd hear my
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  Speaker 1: brother get found. I'd hear a cousin get found. I
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  Speaker 1: found you. And I'm sitting there like, they can't find me.
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  Speaker 1: Two minutes will go by. Five minutes. Eight minutes, 10 minutes, 15.
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  Speaker 1: I don't hear any screams anymore. There's no creaks on
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  Speaker 1: the steps. No one's laughing, no one's screaming. I said, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I think I won. They'll never find me. And this
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  Speaker 1: always happens when you play hide and go seek. You
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  Speaker 1: got to tinkle every single time. And I'm sitting there
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  Speaker 1: doing the pee-pee dance in the closet just... I got
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  Speaker 1: to go, but I don't want to be found. And
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  Speaker 1: 20 minutes goes by until I realize, hold on. I
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  Speaker 1: think they forgot me. There were so many cousins. It's
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  Speaker 1: like you find eight of them and then you just
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  Speaker 1: quit because it's too many. And I'm sitting there in
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  Speaker 1: turmoil saying, have they found everybody else and forgot to
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  Speaker 1: find me?
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  Speaker 3: Me?
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  Speaker 1: I'll be your neighbor and say, the message just started.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever felt like God found everyone else and
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  Speaker 1: forgot to find you? Have you ever been in the
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  Speaker 1: position where you said, God, I'm hiding. I'm in the
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  Speaker 1: secret place. I'm seeking you. I'm praying. I'm living a
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  Speaker 1: life that's honorable to you. I ain't out in these streets.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not hanging out with people who are out in
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  Speaker 1: these streets. God, I'm following you, but yet it seems
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  Speaker 1: like you've forgotten me. It seems like you have not
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  Speaker 1: looked for me lately. It seems like you're never going
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  Speaker 1: to find me. Have you ever felt Like not only
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  Speaker 1: God has forgotten you, but he's found everyone around you
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  Speaker 1: and forgot to find you. You're going to hear me
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: say I get irritated a lot. I do. And I
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  Speaker 1: promise you, I love God. I honor God. But I
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  Speaker 1: get so irritated when I pray for something and God
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  Speaker 1: gives it to my friend. Has that ever happened to you?
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  Speaker 1: You pray for an open door. You pray for a miracle.
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  Speaker 1: You pray for this. You pray for that. And I
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  Speaker 1: know God is faithful. I know he's going to do it.
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  Speaker 1: And next thing you know, your friend calls you and says,
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  Speaker 1: you won't believe what God just did for me. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, wow. I'm so happy for you. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how it is where you live. Up in Maryland,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to get in trouble for everything I say today.
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  Speaker 1: We got some ghetto delivery people. I don't want to
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  Speaker 1: call any companies like Amazon or DoorDash or anything like that,
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  Speaker 1: but folks in Maryland, they're not really committed to delivering
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  Speaker 1: your package to your front door. So we'll have a
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  Speaker 1: delivery coming. You know how they take the picture and
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  Speaker 1: they put it on the app of where you could
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  Speaker 1: find your package. Multiple times they have taken a picture
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  Speaker 1: of our neighbor's house three houses down with our package
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  Speaker 1: on their front step saying package delivered.
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  Speaker 3: No.
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  Speaker 1: Wrong address. I paid for it. I don't live over there.
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  Speaker 1: There was one time we had a.
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  Speaker 3: Food delivery driver who left my food three blocks away
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  Speaker 3: on a curb on a main road and had a
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  Speaker 3: nerve to take a picture.
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  Speaker 1: And say, here's where you can find your food. And
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  Speaker 1: you know what I did because I was hungry. I
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  Speaker 1: got in my car. I drove three blocks away. I
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  Speaker 1: grabbed my food. I heated it up and I still
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: canceled the order. Pray for me. Have you ever felt,
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  Speaker 1: that one's going to get me. Have you ever felt
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: like God was a disgruntled delivery driver who couldn't be
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: bothered to deliver your miracle where you asked it to
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  Speaker 1: be and yet delivered it three friends away? And it's like, God,
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  Speaker 1: have you forgotten about me? You may be familiar with
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the story of Joseph. Psalm 105 is the same story,
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  Speaker 1: just a different vantage point or different lens. If you're
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  Speaker 1: not familiar with the story of Joseph, Joseph was one
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  Speaker 1: of 11 brothers, 11 sons. He unfortunately was declared to
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  Speaker 1: be his father's favorite child. And like any father who
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  Speaker 1: wants to ruin all of his children's lives, he said, hey,
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  Speaker 1: let me tell everybody who my favorite is and let
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  Speaker 1: me buy him a Gucci coat so everybody knows That
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  Speaker 1: may not be in your translation, but it's definitely in
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  Speaker 1: my translation. So everybody knows who my favorite son is.
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  Speaker 1: So he puts this coat on Joseph and now all
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  Speaker 1: of his brothers hate him. To make matters worse, God
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  Speaker 1: gives Joseph a dream that one day he would be
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  Speaker 1: a prime minister and all of his brothers, his mother,
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  Speaker 1: his father would all bow down and worship him. And
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  Speaker 1: Joseph was immature enough to tell his brothers the dream.
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  Speaker 1: Strike number one, I'm dad's favorite and you can see
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  Speaker 1: it on me. Strike number two, apparently I'm God's favorite
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  Speaker 1: and you can see that on me as well. There's
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  Speaker 1: only so much the brothers could take. So they took Joseph.
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  Speaker 1: They thought they were going to kill him, but they said, no, no, no, no,
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  Speaker 1: we're Christians. We can't be murderers. Let's sell him into
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  Speaker 1: slavery because that's so much better. By the way, if
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  Speaker 1: you think your family is dysfunctional, just read the Bible
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  Speaker 1: and you're going to realize we are doing a lot
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  Speaker 1: better than we thought we were. So long story short,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph gets sold into slavery. He gets sold into a
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  Speaker 1: house by the name of Potiphar, a noble, the Egyptian royalty.
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  Speaker 1: And he serves there for a number of years and
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  Speaker 1: got caught up on false charges. I won't waste time
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  Speaker 1: with that. But then he ends up in prison. In prison,
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  Speaker 1: he is in prison with the king's cupbearer and baker.
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  Speaker 1: And he says, hey, God has forgotten about me. Let
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  Speaker 1: me take matters into my own hands. And he says, hey,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: when you guys get out, could you remember a brother?
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  Speaker 1: Could you put a word in for a homie that
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  Speaker 1: does not deserve to be here? And I love how
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the Bible gives you details that may not seem relevant,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: but it's God trying to make a point. The Bible
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  Speaker 1: says the cupbearer and the baker got out of prison.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what the Bible says. But they forgot God. About Joseph.
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  Speaker 1: God feels vindictive at this point. He's like, not only
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: will I not remember you, but I'm going to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that nobody is able to remember you. And I'm
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: sitting here saying, okay, 13 years from when God gave
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Joseph the dream and when he brought him out on
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  Speaker 1: the other side, God, why did you make him wait
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  Speaker 1: so long? And the writer of Psalm tells us, until
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the time that the word came to pass, that word
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: tested him. You may not want to hear this message.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: There's not going to be much more to laugh at
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: for the rest of the day. But let me just
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: tell you this. If there's something that you are waiting
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  Speaker 1: on from God, there's a miracle, there's an open door,
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  Speaker 1: and sometimes it's heavy things like a couple waiting to
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  Speaker 1: have their first child, I'm waiting for a healing, I'm
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: waiting for a marriage, I'm waiting for a breakthrough, for
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: a business to take off, whatever it is. If there's
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: something that God has for you and you are waiting
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: on it, hear me, it is because he is preparing
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  Speaker 1: you He is equipping you. He is testing you to
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: be prepared for what he is getting ready to bring
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  Speaker 1: in your life. God has not forgotten you. Now, I
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  Speaker 1: know nobody was going to say amen or applaud there.
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  Speaker 3: Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because nobody likes to be tested. Nobody likes to be equipped.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Nobody likes to be built up. As I was preparing this,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: I felt like the Holy Spirit gave me the analogy
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: of a boxer. I don't know if you are boxing
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: fans or anything like that, but you know they've got
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: these boxing matches, these pay-per-views at night, and millions of
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: people all over the world are watching. Tens of millions
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: of dollars are on the light, on the match. But
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: here's the deal. They don't wait for the night of
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: the match to prepare. As I was looking at it,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: 10 three-minute rounds, they are only in that ring for
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: 30 minutes max. And that's assuming they don't get knocked out.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: But prior to that 30-minute fight, eight to 12 months prior,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: they are in a gym training. Eight to 12 weeks prior,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: they go into fight camp. And I've never fought in
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: my life, but I saw the movie Creed, so I
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: know how it works. Come on now, they're pushing cars.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: They're sledgehammering on tires. I'm sure they don't do any
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: of those things, but it looked cool in the movie.
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  Speaker 2: Why?
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: They are preparing. The main emphasis is on the preparation. Yes.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: not the actual fight. Mom's preparing for a 30-minute bout. Why?
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Because that 30 minutes could forever transform that boxer's life.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Here's what you need to understand. The longer God delays you,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: the longer he's preparing you. The longer God is preparing you,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the greater it is what he has for you on
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the other side. If we could just focus flip our
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: frustration of being delayed and waiting into anticipation of, God,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: if you've waited this long, if I've prayed this long,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: it must be bigger than I thought it was. Y'all
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: want some useless information? It's literally useless information. A cat
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: is pregnant with kittens for eight weeks, and those kittens
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: come out at about three to four ounces. An elephant,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I told you it was useless information. An elephant is
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: pregnant for 22 months, almost two years. And every woman
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: in this room said, oh God, no. And when that
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: baby elephant comes out, it comes out at about 250 pounds.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Hear me, the smaller what you're birthing, the less lime
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: it takes. But when you are trying to birth something massive,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: come on now. It takes time. It takes a process.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: And what a lot of people do not realize is
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: what God is trying to birth out of your life.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: It's not small. It's not inconsequential. It's not insignificant. God
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: is looking to do something massive through your life. The
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5, I knew you.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Before you were formed in your mother's womb, before you
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: were born, I sanctified you and appointed you as a
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: spokesman to the world. Oh, if I could take the
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: rest of the message, which I want to convince you,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: you're not small. you're not insignificant you're not overlooked God
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: has an earth shaking calling and destiny on your life
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and he's got to prepare you for it here's the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: problem a calling with no preparation will crush you The
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: first thing we have to catch is that God has
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: a massive call, a massive purpose on our life. But
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: hear me, if we're not prepared for it, we will
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: forfeit it. It will crush us. This is where it
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: gets awkward because I use an analogy and a specific
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: person comes to your mind. But look straight ahead. Don't
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: act like you know who I'm talking about. But have
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: you ever seen someone walk into something that they're not
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: prepared for? It's pretty tragic to see. Maybe you had
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: a friend walk into a marriage and they were not
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: ready to be married. And you saw them not steward
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: it well, not manage it well. Maybe someone stepped into
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: a business and they were not ready for it and
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: you saw it forfeited. Hear me, it's not just to
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: have a great call, but God, I want to be prepared.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I want to be positioned to maximize that call. And
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: when I understand the magnitude of the call, hear me,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: without preparation, there's a temptation to perform. When I see
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: the call of God on my life, but I haven't
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: been properly prepared, I am now intimidated by man, and
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I don't want them to know that I don't know
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: what I'm doing. So the temptation to now perform and
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: pretend like I have it all together is now there
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: waiting for me. Not only is performance a temptation, but
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: hear me, premature launching is a temptation. So many of us,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: here's what I've discovered about God. He will tell you
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: what he's called you to do before he's called you
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: to do it. And I'm like, dude, you could have
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: kept that to yourself. If it's three years from now,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: tell me three years from now. Don't tell me. I'm
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: going to get in trouble for this. Me and my
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: wife always get in arguments because, you know, our three kids.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: And we try to do special things for our kids,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: you know, take them to see a little mouse in
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Orlando or whatever it may be. And we just parent differently.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I'm the type of parent that says don't tell them
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: until the day before.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Because they're going to talk about it for the weeks
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: leading up and they're going to get on my nerves.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: And the other thing is this, if I don't like
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: their attitude, I want to be able to change my
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: mind and they'll never know what was on the table.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: My wife, on the other hand, she's like, as soon
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: as I hear it, they hear it. My wife is
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: more like God because God says, as soon as I
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: see it, as soon as I'm going to tell you,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: because I want to see how you're going to steward
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the word before you step into it. So what I
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: want to do over the next three hours of this message,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I want to give you just three quick thoughts, three.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I want to give you three lessons you need to
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: learn in that season of waiting, that season of preparation.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: The first lesson is this, write this down. Rejection is
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: a teacher. The first thing that God is going to
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: teach you in this season of waiting is that rejection
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: is a teacher. And hear me, if you do not
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: have a tolerance for rejection in your life, If you
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: don't have an immunity to people not liking you, you
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: will never walk out the call of God on your life.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Hear me. You cannot walk out all that God has
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: for you and have everybody like you and everybody believing
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: you at the same time if rejection paralyzes you. If
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: someone doesn't like you and it keeps you from walking
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: out all that God has for you, you will forfeit
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the call of God on your life. Here's what the
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Bible says. The Bible says 13 years before there was
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: a famine in Egypt, God sent Joseph because Joseph was
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: going to make sure there was enough provision for the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: entire region to eat through the famine. Somebody say 13 years. Before. Before.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: One more time, 13 years before. So imagine Joseph rolls
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: up in Egypt and says, hey y'all, there's about to
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: be a famine. Fields full, Chick-fil-A stopped, food everywhere. And
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: he's saying, hey guys, there's a famine coming. Watch this.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: They would have laughed him out of town. Why? Because
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: his calling was sent ahead of the problem. The problem
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: did not yet exist. So nobody was going to understand
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the call of God on his life because the problem
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: he was sent to be a solution to. had not
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: yet existed. Here's why your mama don't understand the path
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that God is leading you on. Here's why the people
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: around you don't understand the path that God is leading
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: you on. Because God has sent you before the problem
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: and they don't see your calling because they don't see
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the problem yet. You can't wait for them to understand.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: for you to walk out all that God has for you,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 2, 9. But as it is written, eye
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: has not seen, nor ear heard, nor is it entered
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: into the heart of man, the things which God has
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: prepared for those who love him. Those around you will
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: always misunderstand the call of God on your life because
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: you are before your time. And people just have a
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: tendency to reject God what they don't understand. Can I
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: mess with you just a little bit? Not only will
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: they not understand the path that God is taking you on,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: sometimes you won't even understand the path that God is
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: taking you on. I grew up in church. My dad
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: was a pastor my entire life. So like all pastors' kids,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I said, God, I'll do everything but be a pastor.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: So I went to the greatest university on the planet,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: University of Maryland, College Park, Fear the Turtle. Graduated graduate
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: college and I got I got I got two solid
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: job offers One of the jobs paid me $ 42, 000. It
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: was in Maryland. The other job the sally was $ 90, 000
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: with a $ 15, 000 signing bonus. I didn't even know they
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: gave non-athletes signing bonuses Yeah, when I tell you I
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: was praising God. I'm Lord. You're good Jehovah Jireh my
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: provider And I go to sign the $ 90, 000 job offer
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and the Holy Spirit, you know how you just feel,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: I don't feel good about this. And I've been walking
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: with God long enough to know that that check was
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. God said, don't take that job. I said,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: what you talking about, Willis? I know you've been in
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: heaven so long, you probably forget how numbers work, but
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: 90 plus 15 is more than 42. Clearly, God, you
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: want me to walk in abundance. And every time I
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: went to take the job, I felt this check of, no,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: that's not what I have for you. Have you ever
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: tried to convince God to let you do what you
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: want to do? I'm shady, y'all. I tried to convince
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: him by telling him I would tithe. God, I'm going
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: to give 10% of my income to the kingdom of God.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Don't you want 10% of 105 instead of... I'm trying
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: to negotiate with God. Let me... And the check never left.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Here was the problem with the $ 90, 000 job. It was
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: causing me to leave Maryland. And what the Holy Spirit
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: said is, I need you to stay in Maryland. Now
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: watch this. I had not yet even accepted the call
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: of God into ministry on my life. I had no
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: idea I'd be pastoring in Maryland for the rest of
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: my life. And I'm saying, God, this is not my path.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: And he said, your path is out of alignment with
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: the calling on your life. You may not understand it,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: but if you would allow me to lead you, you're
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: going to end up where you're supposed to be. You
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: can't expect people around you to understand what God is
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: doing in your life. And when they don't understand, they
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: will laugh, they will mock, they will manipulate, they will lie.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: And it's all a lesson. God is trying to figure
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: out whose voice do you listen to? If people around
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: you not understanding what God has called you to do
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: causes you to question what God has caused you to do,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: that means they've become your idol. Because it means their
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: voice is drowning out the voice of almighty God. Now here,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Joseph's father gets involved in verse 10. It says this
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: of chapter 37 of Genesis. He told it to his
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: father and his brothers. His father rebuked him and said
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: to him, what is this dream that you have dreamed?
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: to bow down to the earth before you? Not only
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: is God trying to develop people rejection, immunity in your life.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: But God is also trying to develop the parts of you.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be mean and call you a jerk,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: but I just did. He's trying to develop the parts
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: of you that are repulsive to other people. Hear me.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: When we get rejected, we always blame the other person.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: We always assume there's something wrong with them and there's
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: nothing wrong with me. Matter of fact, we have this,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get in trouble for this. So many
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: people now, I just got to protect my peace. I
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: have to cut them out of my life because they were,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: I've got to protect my peace. I've got, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Some people you've got to cut off because you've got
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: to protect your peace. Some people were not challenging your peace.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: They were challenging your pride and they were causing you
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: to grow up and develop. And you said, no, no, no, no.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: I don't want to grow. I don't want to change.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: I got to cut you off. Hear me. They didn't
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: just reject Joseph because they were jealous. They rejected him
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: because he was arrogant. God gave you a dream. So what?
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Keep it to yourself. God never told you to declare
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that to everybody, to rub it in their face. Here's
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: what rejection will teach you. It will teach you to
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: incubate a word from God. How are you telling the world,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: and you're not even convinced it was the voice of
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: God yet. It could have just been that bad movie
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: and the bad pizza you ate last night. You're trying
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: to figure out, is this God speaking? But you're, God is,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: keep it to yourself. God, give me signs. God, lead me. God,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: guide me. Don't blurt it. I just needed to tell
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: my group. I just needed accountability partners. No, no, no, no, no.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: You need to be accountable to the Holy Spirit before
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: you can be accountable to anybody else. It's rejection that
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: teaches you to incubate a word from God. Watch this.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Rejection will teach you to celebrate other people. Here's what
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: God is trying to teach you in that season. Don't
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: just talk about what God is doing in your life.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Can you learn how to celebrate what God is doing
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: in somebody else's life? We know the story of Joseph.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Watch this. Do you know after Joseph led them through
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: the famine, it's the last time in scripture we heard
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: about Joseph? Joseph was not even the most significant brother
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: of the 11. It was Judah that Jesus came through
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: centuries later. There was God's work in every brother's life. Joseph,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: don't just make it about you. Learn how to celebrate
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: other people. Second thing God's going to teach you in
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: this season of delay is faithfulness precedes promotion. In a
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: season of delay, we've got to learn, watch this, to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: be fruitful outside of our calling. Before God puts me
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: where I want to be, can I wane where I
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: have to be? In Genesis 39, verse three, it says this,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: and his master saw the Lord was with him and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: that Joseph made all he did prosper in his hand.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Then he made him overseer of his house and all
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: that he had put under his authority. Genesis 39, 22,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: and the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: All the prisoners who were in the prison, whatever they
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: authority because the Lord was with him and whatever he did,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: the Lord made it prosper. Everywhere Joseph went, he maximized
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: the moment even though he was not in the center
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: of what God ultimately had for him. As long as
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: you are complaining, about what's not fair in your situation.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: You are not yet ready to step in to all
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: that God has for you. God is trying to teach you.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Can you be faithful with a disadvantage before I give
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: you the kingdom advantage that I have? Here's the problem.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Most people can't even be faithful at what they're passionate about.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Most people can't even stay focused on what they feel
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: called to. It is even a smaller minority of people
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: that can be faithful in something that, this isn't my calling,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: this isn't my gifting, this isn't my skill set, this
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: isn't my gift mix, but it's where God has me
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: for this season of my life, and I'm going to
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: be faithful. faithful where I am because there's something he
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: has called me to do. So here's Joe up in
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Potiphar's house. And Joe said, guess what? I'm going to
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: be the best slave they've ever had. You're going to
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: put me in here?
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Watch me work. Watch God's hand of favor on my life.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: And his promotion was false charges in a prison. He
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: now is in prison. He said, I'm going to be
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the valedictor prisoner of all. I'm going to be the
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: best prisoner that you've ever had. I'm going to win
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: wherever God has placed me. I have a question for you.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Can you win as a slave? Can you win as
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: a prisoner? Can you win as an employee before you
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: become the CEO? Can you win in the background before
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: God puts you in the foreground? So many people are like, boy,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: when my door opens, I can't wait to say, listen,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: if you can't win when the door is closed, Why
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: would you expect to be able to win when the
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: door is open? It's behind closed doors that God builds
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: your confidence. When you are at a disadvantage, watch this,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: in Potiphar's house, and you still see God blessing you,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: You see miracles breaking out. You still see favor all around.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: And then somebody lies on you. You lose your job,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: end up in a worse situation, and you're still blessed.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: You're still favored. You're still anointed. Do you know the
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: confidence that comes on you? Wait, hold on. It don't
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: matter what they do to me. God is still with me.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: He's still for me. He still is going to make
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: a way where there is no way. Hear me. It
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: is in the prison that God builds a confidence. Push
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: your neighbor and say, don't skip it, don't skip it,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: don't skip it. It's easier to preach than it is
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: to live. I would love to skip a prison. I
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: would love to skip those moments of tears crying at night,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: but it's in those moments of disadvantage that God proves,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: I don't need a perfect environment. Amen. to be able
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: to bless you and open doors for you and favor you.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: All I need is a broken and a contrite heart.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: In Luke chapter 16, verse 12, it says this. If
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: you have not been faithful in what is another man's,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: who will give you what is your own? One of
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the things I learned is God will test you by
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: seeing what you will do with somebody else's dream. I've
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: been the senior pastor of Union Church in Maryland for
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: the last 15 years. but I've been a member of
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: that church for 30 years. Because before I was the
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: senior pastor, I was the pastor's son. So for 15 years,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: I woke up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: drove down to the church and turned all the lights
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: on and put all the batteries in the microphone and
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: made sure the screens were on. Y'all don't remember church
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: back in the day. Ain't no screens, ain't no light.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: This was that overhead projector, y'all. Come on, you remember?
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: Where they would have the hymn with the four verses,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: but we never sang all four verses and you gotta
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: sit there and only slide it up as they would sing.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: And don't judge me, I can't sing. I led worship.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: for seven of those years. Year after year after year. Monday,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: I would lead Bible study. Wednesday, I drive 45 minutes
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: up from college to be a part of the leadership meeting.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Get back to school 11 o'clock that night. Friday night,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: I drive back up to lead student night. Saturday morning,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I'm leading prayer in the morning. Back on Sunday, leading
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: for 15 years. Now, let me be petty and get
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: in trouble, but that's all right. So when I became
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: the pastor at 23 years old, People start to grow.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: I don't think he deserves to be a pastor. I
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: don't know. This seems to be nepotism. You're just mad
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: because your dad didn't leave you anything. I'm just saying.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying I have a right to hold a
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: microphone in my hand, but it's not wrong because before
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: I ever held it, I put batteries in these things
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: for two decades straight, building somebody else's dream and somebody
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: else's vision and somebody else's. Here's what I've learned. When
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: I serve somebody else's dream, God will give me my own.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: When I serve somebody else's kingdom, somebody else's business, somebody
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: else's car, watch you be faithful with somebody else's dream
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: and watch God give you your own. I always worry
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: because my church is used to me. Y'all don't know
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: me like that. I really love you. But sometimes I
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: come across a little cranky. Everybody got a business card.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Everybody's an entrepreneur. Everybody's a CEO. But you've never been
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: a W-2. And I'm not saying God hasn't called you
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: to own a business. I'm not saying God hasn't called
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: you to employ thousands of people. But maybe before you
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: start your own, you should serve somebody else. Amen. How
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: I steward what is not mine prepares me to steward
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: what God has for me. So this isn't a part
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: of it. I'm just being petty. How are you going
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: to live in your mama's house and not do the dishes?
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: How are you going to borrow somebody's car and not
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: put gas in it before you return it? I'm just
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: being petty to be petty. But how about I learn
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: how to steward what does not belong to me so
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: that God can trust me with what does. Last thing
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: is this, write this down and we out. Delay is
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: a multiplier. The three things God's trying to teach me,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: he's trying to teach me how to be immune to rejection.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: He's trying to teach me, watch this, how to be
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: faithful when I don't feel like it. God's trying to
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: teach me how to manage disappointment. In Proverbs 13, verse 12,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: it says this, hope deferred makes the heart sick. But
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: This is why sermons need so much laughter. Because a
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: lot of people understand the pain of disappointment. It's easy
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: to laugh about delay, but when you've been in it
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: for three years, years, four years, five years, saying, God, why, when,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: where have you forgotten? And hear me, God knows the
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: pain of hoping for something and not seeing it come
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: to pass. One theologian said this, long delayed expectations cause
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: emotional mental, and spiritual pain? Can you deal with the
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: emotional turmoil of a calling? Can you deal with the
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: disappointment of delay? Watch this. And yet not have your
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: faith diminish even though your heart is broken. Romans chapter four,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: verse 19, it says this, without weakening in his faith,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: slow down, Stephen. Without weakening in his faith. Sometimes you
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: don't gotta preach, you just gotta read the Bible. Without
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: weakening in his face, he faced the fact that his
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: body was as good as dead since he was about
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: 100 years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Watch this. Yet he did not waver. through unbelief regarding
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: and gave glory to God. I love this phrase, being
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: fully persuaded that God had power to do what he
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: had promised to do. Here's why God keeps delaying you,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: because he's waiting for you to be fully persuaded that
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: God will do what he said he will do. Delayed
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: dreams either kills dreams or it develops faith. You decide.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: The longer it takes, I either come to the conclusion
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: God's not gonna do it, or I come to the conclusion,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: oh man, this must be an elephant type of miracle.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: This must be a lot bigger than I thought it
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: was going. No wonder it's taking so long. God is
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: cultivating something. That's bigger and greater than I could ever
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: ask for or imagine. Earlier this year, as you know,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: there's a little bit of drama in our great nation.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: Earlier this year, TSA was trying to figure out funding
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: and all that other good stuff. And the TSA workers
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: of Maryland said, hey, well, y'all figure it out. We
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: gonna be home. We ain't coming. We ain't coming. So
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: you know the delays and the long, not all airports,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: but airport in Maryland, the delays got pretty long. At
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: one point, it was three to four hours wait to
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: get through security check to get on your flight. Now,
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know how much faith you have. You probably
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: have a lot more faith than I do. If I
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: have to wait four hours to get on my flight,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: I ain't coming. I'm not driving. I'll see y'all next.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: We'll figure it out. I'm not getting on a plane.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Lines were three to four hours long and people went
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: to the airport and stood in that line being delayed
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: four hours, sometimes for a two-hour flight. They waited in
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: line to check bags longer than they were going to
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: be on the plane itself. You might have seen it
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: became this big national thing all over the news and
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: all that. So news stations started to go down to
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: the airport to interview people that were in line waiting.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: They ain't got nothing better to do, so we might
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: as well talk to them. And they went up to
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: the first person. They said, why in the world would
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: you wait four hours to take this flight? This young
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: lady looked in the camera. She said, if you knew
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: How much I paid for this trip and how much
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: it costs me, there is no way I'm gonna let
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: a little inconvenience keep me from my destination. It might
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: take me longer than I wanted it to, but based
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: on what I've had to sacrifice to go to it,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: I am not going to forfeit it based on this
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: little inconvenience. Here's what happens. When God doesn't delay you,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: you are cavalier with the miracle. When God doesn't develop you,
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: you act entitled like I deserve it. And I'm this
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: smart and this intelligent and this much charisma. But when
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: I've been through something before God gives, if you knew
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: what I had to walk through, if you knew what
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: it cost me to get here, a little delay won't
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: deter me. They go to the next gentleman. They said,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: how long have you been waiting? He said, five hours.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: Smile on his face. These people had more Holy Spirit
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: than I do. They said, so you got here five
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: hours before your flight. He said, I sure did. They said,
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: why in the world would you get here that early
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: for your flight? He said, let me tell you about
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: my destination. I'm going to the Caribbean and here's the
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: hotel I'm staying at. It's all inclusive. And he began
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: to tell them how beautiful the destination he was getting
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: ready to go to. And he said, I spent so
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: much time planning. planning and preparing and envisioning where I
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: was going, even this moment of inconvenience is not enough
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: to keep me from the amazing destination on the other side.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: This message is for that person that's getting ready to
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: give up, that you're discouraged, that you're overwhelmed, that you're like, God,
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: why me? Have you forgotten about me? If you can
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: just get a glimpse of the destination on the other side.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: If you could just see what God is getting ready
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: to take you through, your whole story would change. You
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: begin to say, you know what? I'll wait. You know what?
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: It's no big deal. You know what? They can walk
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: away from me. You know what? It doesn't even matter
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: because I've got a glimpse. what God is getting ready
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: to do on the other side and whatever he takes
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: me through it's worth it it's worth it it's worth
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: it hear me you may cry but don't you quit
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: you may be discouraged but don't you throw away your
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: faith you may be overwhelmed but you keep putting one
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: foot in front of the other because in due season
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: It will come to pass. And I'm telling you, no
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: conceive what God is getting ready to take you through.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: It will be above and beyond all that you can
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: ever ask, think, or imagine. If you believe it, can
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: you take about 10 seconds? Can you celebrate God as
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: if you are on the other side? Can you thank
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: him that he is faithful to his word? If he
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: said it, He will do it. Somebody shout hallelujah in
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: this place. God, we bless you. God, we reference you. Hey,
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed the podcast.
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: And if you did, make sure to share it and
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: subscribe so we can get you all of these new
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: messages as soon as they're available. I also want to
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: take a moment and thank all of you who are
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: a part of Elevation. Whether you support us financially or
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: serve with us or just share these messages, it's because
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: of you that we're able to reach people all around
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: the world. And if you want more information on how
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: to be a part of Elevation, Click the link in
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: the description. Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: a review, share the message, and subscribe.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: God bless you.