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When God Puts You On Hold | Chris Ball · Reach Church Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey everyone, welcome to the Reach Church Podcast. This is
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  Speaker 1: Dave Snyder, pastor here at Reach Church. Each week we
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  Speaker 1: share messages from our Sunday gatherings to help you discover
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  Speaker 1: the love of God, be empowered for purpose, and impact
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  Speaker 1: your world. We pray this message encourages you and helps
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  Speaker 1: you grow in your walk with Jesus. Let's get into
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  Speaker 1: today's message.
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  Speaker 2: I feel so welcome here every time by Pastor Dave.
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  Speaker 2: He is such a, it's an honor for me to come.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, I pray and fast and hope he invites
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  Speaker 2: me back, you know, because it's so fun to be here.
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  Speaker 2: It's a great church. I have a friend that just,
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  Speaker 2: I texted him while we were in worship. You're not
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  Speaker 2: supposed to text during worship, but I did. And I
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  Speaker 2: texted him and said, hey, I'm in a church. I
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  Speaker 2: want to introduce you to this pastor because he's moving
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  Speaker 2: to North Carolina. And he's an Assembly of God pastor
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  Speaker 2: that I'm very, very close to up in New York.
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  Speaker 2: So we live near Rochester, New York, about an hour
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  Speaker 2: from Niagara Falls. So when people think New York, they
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  Speaker 2: think New York City. But that's six hours from us.
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  Speaker 2: But it's just a thrill. Thank you for inviting me.
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  Speaker 2: I really mean that. I love you. And I got
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  Speaker 2: to go over to Liberty yesterday and see and meet
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  Speaker 2: with Pastor Daniel. And talk with him a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: And that was so fun. And may the Lord bless
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  Speaker 2: that church in Jesus' name. Amen. That congregation there and stuff. Well,
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  Speaker 2: I can't wait to get into this message. Because the
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  Speaker 2: Lord put it on my heart when Pastor Dave invited me.
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  Speaker 2: And we talked about this several months ago, me being here.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know about you. I had two open heart
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  Speaker 2: surgeries yesterday. And on the second one, as I was
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  Speaker 2: leaving the hospital, I had a valve put in a
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  Speaker 2: second time. And the first time, I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they didn't do a good job. They messed up. I
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  Speaker 2: had a bypass surgery. And then when I went in
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  Speaker 2: to check what's going on, five years later, I'm still
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  Speaker 2: in serious pain all the time. And finally, the doctor said,
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  Speaker 2: we need to do a redo. I said, can I
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  Speaker 2: get a reimbursement? And they didn't do that. But anyway,
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  Speaker 2: they gave me this phone number. And they said, if
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  Speaker 2: you have any problem, just call this number. And I
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  Speaker 2: was a little nervous, you know, having the experience I
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  Speaker 2: had had before. And I came out of the hospital.
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  Speaker 2: I was worried about one thing. And I called that number.
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  Speaker 2: They said, it's directly to this place. And when I
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  Speaker 2: called them, they put me on hold. Now, if there's
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  Speaker 2: something I don't like, it's being put on hold. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not impatient. Well, I am, if you ask Carol. But,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know if you're like me, but
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  Speaker 2: when you call, like, the electric goes out, and you
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  Speaker 2: call your company, and they put you on hold. Or
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  Speaker 2: you call, you know, something. But this was a doctor call,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm being put on hold. Nowadays, you end up,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you get music, and you say, push one,
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  Speaker 2: and push four, push plus one. And nowadays... This is mind-boggling.
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  Speaker 2: The other day, I called this guy, and I was
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  Speaker 2: put on hold. And a few seconds later, I'm talking
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  Speaker 2: to somebody and found out halfway through the conversation, it
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  Speaker 2: was AI. And that's still being put on hold. Come on,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you know what I'm saying? I'm not talking
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  Speaker 2: to a real person yet. And it's frustrating. I was
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  Speaker 2: thinking about that concept about being put on hold. Sometimes
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  Speaker 2: it feels like I'm put on hold by God. Sometimes
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  Speaker 2: it feels that way. And I looked in the Bible
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  Speaker 2: and Jesus actually did put people on hold. Jesus put
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  Speaker 2: people on. He put Mary and Martha on hold. If
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  Speaker 2: only you had been here four days ago and we've
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  Speaker 2: been holding. David was anointed king. 16 years later, he
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  Speaker 2: became the king. He was put on hold from the
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  Speaker 2: day he got anointed to the day he became king.
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  Speaker 2: The children of Israel were traveling around the desert. Only
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  Speaker 2: a little ways to get to that promised land. But
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  Speaker 2: they were put on hold 40 years, walking around. So
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  Speaker 2: there is this principle of being on hold. As I
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  Speaker 2: travel around, Carol and I, as we go from church
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  Speaker 2: to church, and we're not in church every weekend, but
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  Speaker 2: most weekends we're in the church. I told your pastor earlier,
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  Speaker 2: we've been traveling in and out of Pennsylvania the last month.
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  Speaker 2: And I was somewhere every single weekend. And I took
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  Speaker 2: off last week and came here this week. And I've
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  Speaker 2: noticed the Holy Spirit is really wanting to do something
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  Speaker 2: in churches, right? But some churches are on hold. But
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  Speaker 2: I sense this one's not on hold. Because when I,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, even the experience today in the worship, it
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  Speaker 2: was just presence of God was really there. You don't
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  Speaker 2: get that everywhere. You get a performance sometimes. But the
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  Speaker 2: presence was in that worship. And then the, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the dedication I wanted to come up. I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 2: everybody else did. And so, you know what I'm saying?
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  Speaker 2: Here's the thing I want to share with you. The
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  Speaker 2: title of my message today. Is this, when God puts
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  Speaker 2: you on hold, don't hang up. Because I'm on hold.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm waiting, I'm waiting, and I just kind of
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  Speaker 2: want to hang up. Are you with me? Say that
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  Speaker 2: with me. Here we go. You finish it for me.
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  Speaker 2: When God puts you on hold, don't hang up. That's right.
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  Speaker 2: And there's a tendency for us to do that. There's
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  Speaker 2: all kinds of holding patterns that I think we have.
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  Speaker 2: You know, God often prepares people in private before he
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  Speaker 2: promotes them publicly. And he puts us on hold because
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  Speaker 2: if we jump ahead of him, we mess things up.
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  Speaker 2: And he puts us on hold. Some of you are
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  Speaker 2: still single and you wish you were married. I wrote
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  Speaker 2: some things down and then a couple more came to
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  Speaker 2: me during worship. That might be here. Some grandparents are saying,
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  Speaker 2: I've been praying for my grandkids to come home. And
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  Speaker 2: they're still not. I've been praying for that job. I
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  Speaker 2: keep getting promised it, but somebody else gets it. And
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  Speaker 2: it feels like I'm on hold. I heard a prophetic word.
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  Speaker 2: God spoke to me through a service, maybe in this church,
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  Speaker 2: maybe a prophet, maybe somebody just had a word for
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  Speaker 2: you in the audience here today, and it still hasn't
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  Speaker 2: come to pass. David waited 16 years from Samuel prophesying
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  Speaker 2: he was going to be the king Sometimes we've been
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  Speaker 2: praying for healing. I have people in my church back
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  Speaker 2: home that they, I don't pastor anymore, but we go
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  Speaker 2: to a church and they're sick and they've been praying
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  Speaker 2: that they can get that cancer out of their body.
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  Speaker 2: And they're still on hold. It's difficult to be put
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  Speaker 2: on hold. But here's my challenge. When God puts you
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  Speaker 2: on hold, say it. Don't hang up. There's a story
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  Speaker 2: in the Bible that that I want to tell you about,
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  Speaker 2: and you're going to go there. It's in Jeremiah chapter 29.
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  Speaker 2: My wife's favorite verse is in that, and I'll read
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  Speaker 2: it in a minute. But this is a story of
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  Speaker 2: a whole people of God who were put on hold
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  Speaker 2: for 70 years, not four days, not 16, not 40 years,
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  Speaker 2: but 70 years. And there's this guy named Jerry. He's
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  Speaker 2: a prophet, Jeremiah. And Jerry's been released, and he's over
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  Speaker 2: in Jerusalem, and he's sitting there thinking about the people.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the people have actually been released out of there,
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  Speaker 2: but there are elders who have remained in captivity, in
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  Speaker 2: Babylonian captivity. And then there are prophets and priests over there.
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  Speaker 2: And he writes a letter, and he says to them,
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  Speaker 2: you might be on hold, but don't hang up. In
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  Speaker 2: so many words. Let me read the letter to you.
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  Speaker 2: It's Jeremiah Chapter 29, verse 1. Now these are the
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  Speaker 2: words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent to Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 2: from Jerusalem, excuse me, to the remainder elders who were
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  Speaker 2: still carried away captive. To the priests and the prophets
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  Speaker 2: and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive.
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  Speaker 2: Now scoot on down to the letter, verse 4. Thus
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  Speaker 2: says the Lord of hosts, this is the letter that
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  Speaker 2: Jerry sent. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God
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  Speaker 2: of Israel, to all who are carried away captive, watch
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  Speaker 2: this now, whom I cause, God, I cause you to
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  Speaker 2: be carried away. Sometimes it's God protecting you from getting
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  Speaker 2: into something you have no business getting into. We blame
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  Speaker 2: the devil for putting us on hold when God's the
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  Speaker 2: one to put us on hold. When God puts you
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  Speaker 2: on hold, don't hang up. Hang up on the devil
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  Speaker 2: every day. But we've got to be discerning that. Whom
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  Speaker 2: I caused you to be carried away. Here's what he
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  Speaker 2: says in verse 5. This is what I want you
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  Speaker 2: to do. Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens
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  Speaker 2: and eat their fruit. Take wives. I recommend only one wife.
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  Speaker 2: And beget sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons.
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  Speaker 2: And give your daughters to husbands. So that they may
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  Speaker 2: bear sons and daughters. That you may increase there. And
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  Speaker 2: not be diminished. In other words. While you're on hold.
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  Speaker 2: I want to see growth. Seek the peace of the
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  Speaker 2: city where you've been caused. I think sometimes America feels
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  Speaker 2: like it's on hold. And I just seek the peace
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  Speaker 2: of this country, man. God, help move it along. Seek
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  Speaker 2: the peace of the city where I've caused you to
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  Speaker 2: be carried away captive and pray for the Lord in it.
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  Speaker 2: For it's peace. Then you'll have peace if it's peace.
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  Speaker 2: Verse 8. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the
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  Speaker 2: God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your
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  Speaker 2: diviners who are in your midst deceive you nor listen
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  Speaker 2: to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For
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  Speaker 2: they prophesy falsely. Not every prophet's real in the midst
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  Speaker 2: of a holding pattern. When you're in a holding pattern,
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  Speaker 2: you get anxious. And you listen to everybody. For they
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  Speaker 2: prophesy falsely in my name, and I have not sent them,
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  Speaker 2: says the Lord. For thus says the Lord, after 70
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  Speaker 2: years are completed in this holding pattern. This is me
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  Speaker 2: adding to the Bible right there, just to make sense
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  Speaker 2: of it here. I will visit you and perform my
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  Speaker 2: good word towards you and cause you to return to
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  Speaker 2: this place. Now this is the verse that my wife loves,
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  Speaker 2: and many of you have heard this verse and put
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  Speaker 2: it on your t-shirt. For I know the thoughts that
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  Speaker 2: I think towards you, says the Lord. It's all in
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  Speaker 2: this context. I know the thoughts that I think towards you,
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  Speaker 2: says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil.
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  Speaker 2: To give you a future and not a hope. Then, then,
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  Speaker 2: then you will call upon me and then go and
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  Speaker 2: pray to me and I will listen to you. While
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  Speaker 2: you're on hold, pray. And you will seek me and
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  Speaker 2: find me when you search me with all your heart. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Four things that I find in there instead of hanging
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  Speaker 2: up what we need to do. I believe that the
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  Speaker 2: Lord gave me this word. In fact, I wrote this
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  Speaker 2: word when I was in Africa. I was sitting on
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  Speaker 2: a couch. And when I go to churches, I wrote
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  Speaker 2: four sermons in a week on that couch in Nairobi.
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  Speaker 2: And this was one of the four. And he told me,
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  Speaker 2: he said, and this is the first one I've ever
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  Speaker 2: preached here out of those four. He said, when you
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  Speaker 2: go to a church, ask me if it's one of
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  Speaker 2: these four before you create a new one. and I'm
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  Speaker 2: bringing this one to you now. So I'm telling you
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  Speaker 2: I've preached this before, okay? Because it's a word the
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  Speaker 2: Lord thought of 13 years ago for you. Okay? So
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  Speaker 2: here it goes. It's been on hold for a while,
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  Speaker 2: but it's been cooking. Okay? Number one, what do we do?
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  Speaker 2: Number one, verses 5 through 7, build houses, have children,
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  Speaker 2: become grandchildren, have grandchildren, become grandparents, live life to the fullest,
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  Speaker 2: seek peace, all that stuff's going on. Number one, live
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  Speaker 2: for Christ. Here's how I say it. Stand and live
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  Speaker 2: for Christ. In the midst of a holding pattern, people quit.
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  Speaker 2: I've passed, I've pastored with my wife 30 years in
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  Speaker 2: a church. We had people come down the aisle of
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  Speaker 2: our church, get saved. We had people pray at the altar,
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  Speaker 2: get saved. We had all kinds of things when they
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  Speaker 2: were really having difficult times. When it got better, Or
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  Speaker 2: when God put them on hold and they didn't get
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  Speaker 2: the answers that they thought, they went out that church
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  Speaker 2: and they quit and they hung up. Are you with me?
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  Speaker 2: I wish we had all the people that got saved
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  Speaker 2: in our church stay in the church. Are you with me?
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  Speaker 2: People will come into this church and they will experience
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  Speaker 2: God in his praise. But once it seems like God
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  Speaker 2: has put them on hold, there's a tendency to hang up.
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  Speaker 2: And I think the Lord is saying to the people there,
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  Speaker 2: In captivity and saying to us today, stand and live
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  Speaker 2: for Christ. Stand and live for Christ. Moffat Kilioba is
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  Speaker 2: one of my very best friends. You don't know him,
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  Speaker 2: but I'd love to. If he comes here, I'll bring
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  Speaker 2: him here. You would love him. Great man. He leads 5,000
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  Speaker 2: churches in Nairobi. Well, he doesn't. He's overseeing it. And
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  Speaker 2: he's become a really good friend of mine. I was
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  Speaker 2: sitting on his couch when I wrote this sermon. And
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  Speaker 2: he asked me, he said, Chris, do you have any
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  Speaker 2: doctor in your church? Now, I'm from South Butler, New York,
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  Speaker 2: population 127. We don't have a doctor in our church
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  Speaker 2: at the time of this that he asked this. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think we ever did have a doctor in
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  Speaker 2: our church that was a part of a church. We
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  Speaker 2: had a veterinarian. He said, I got knee problems, and
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  Speaker 2: is there a chance that you could? I said, well,
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  Speaker 2: the vet spades cats on my kitchen table, but... But
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  Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying? But no, they're not looking
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  Speaker 2: for that. And I said to him, Moffat, I will
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  Speaker 2: pray that God will answer your prayer. And I stood
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  Speaker 2: with him, and he was on hold. I'm sitting in
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  Speaker 2: my house a year later, watching the news, on news,
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  Speaker 2: and there's this doctor on the news from Syracuse, New York.
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  Speaker 2: Who just went to Nepal. And helped people with shoulders.
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  Speaker 2: Hip replacements and stuff like that. They took 90 people
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  Speaker 2: on his team. To go do that in Nepal. Christian guy.
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  Speaker 2: I said I wonder if he can help my friend Moffat.
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  Speaker 2: And I went and talked to him. And long story short.
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  Speaker 2: Because I could take a long time telling you. Here's
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  Speaker 2: what happened. I met with the doctor finally. I found
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  Speaker 2: out there was a nurse in my church. That worked
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  Speaker 2: in his office. Go figure. And she hooked me up
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  Speaker 2: with him. And I met with him, and he said,
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  Speaker 2: this is what he said. He said, I'll think about it.
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  Speaker 2: So I called Moff, and I said, hey, Moff, listen, man,
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  Speaker 2: I found a doctor. And he said he'd think about it.
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  Speaker 2: He came to my house in a week. I said,
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  Speaker 2: I didn't say he would do anything yet. But this
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  Speaker 2: guy's hungry and believing in faith. So he came to
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  Speaker 2: live with us. This was May. Came to live with us,
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  Speaker 2: hung out in our house, ate all our food. He
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  Speaker 2: had a big appetite. Have you ever met Moffat? He's
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  Speaker 2: a great guy. And he's eating food out of our
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  Speaker 2: house and loving us, and I love him, and I
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  Speaker 2: care for him, but we're still on hold. And June
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  Speaker 2: goes by. Finally, a friend of mine said, how's Moffat?
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  Speaker 2: I know Moffat. I said, can you take him? You know,
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  Speaker 2: and go eat their food. You know what I'm saying?
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  Speaker 2: And it's a joke between he and I, but... But
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  Speaker 2: my friend, he was a part-time pastor by vocational, and
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  Speaker 2: he chopped wood for making money. He had woods and
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  Speaker 2: chopped the wood and sold the wood. Moffitt, the guy
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  Speaker 2: that is in charge of 5,000 churches, gets out there
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  Speaker 2: with bad knees and starts helping him. And he's eating
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  Speaker 2: his food. That's all I cared about. And so the
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  Speaker 2: doctor calls and says, I'd like to see Moffitt. We
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  Speaker 2: took Moffitt to the doctor and the doctor looks at
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  Speaker 2: his knees and he said, what are all these scars
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  Speaker 2: right here? And he says, I've been cutting wood. The
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  Speaker 2: doctor said, stop doing that. The long story is much longer.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the story. The doctor said, I will do the surgery.
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  Speaker 2: It'll take me a couple weeks to get everybody. I
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  Speaker 2: got to get approval from the hospital to do it
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  Speaker 2: for free. I got to get the labs done. I
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  Speaker 2: got to get the, you know, the rehab. I got
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  Speaker 2: to put all this together. It'll take me a couple weeks,
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  Speaker 2: but be ready in July. I think we can do
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  Speaker 2: your legs. He replaced both of his knees. There was
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  Speaker 2: 13 patients that day. He's one of the best doctors.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody has the best doctor. He was one of them,
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  Speaker 2: and he was the best doctor in Syracuse on knee surgery,
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  Speaker 2: and he replaced his knees, two of them, at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day. We got there at 6 a.m.,
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  Speaker 2: and he went through all these patients, 12 patients, And
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  Speaker 2: then Moffat, number 13, and had both knees replaced. Moffat's
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  Speaker 2: a warrior, man. Warrior. He gets in there in a rehab,
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  Speaker 2: and he's talking to the other people who are not
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  Speaker 2: necessary believers. And he goes, okay, we are going to
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  Speaker 2: have fun when we rehab. Ready? One, two, three, hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 2: And all these patients were doing that, you know. I
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  Speaker 2: walk in and they're all going, hallelujah. I think he
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  Speaker 2: impacted the whole hospital. I'm serious. This guy is just
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  Speaker 2: one of those guys, right? And so he went back
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  Speaker 2: to the doctor. Two knees, a week and a half later,
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  Speaker 2: he walks into the doctor's office. He says, I'm ready
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  Speaker 2: to go back. And he checked him out and he said,
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  Speaker 2: what in the world made your knees so strong? He said,
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  Speaker 2: I cut wood. See, he didn't hang up when he
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: was on hold. He cut wood. And there's things that
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: we should be doing right now to stand and live
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: for Christ, even though we don't have the answers fulfilled.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Come on, amen? So when God puts you on hold, yeah,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: don't drown on me now, okay? All right, number two.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Instead of just living for Christ, seize discernment in the
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: midst of many voices. Seize discernment in the midst of
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: many voices. When you're on hold, man, it's a crisis.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: And there's nothing like everybody's got a prophecy for you
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: when you're down, right? Everybody's got an answer for you,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: you know. I burnt my arm. I'm not going to
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: show it to you, but it's a burn. It's all
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: the way up. No, it's just exaggeration. It's just a
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: little burn right now because it's healed. I did it
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: about two weeks ago. And if I could tell you
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: how many opinions I've had of how to fix that.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Everybody's got to help. And it's coming out of help.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: But it's not all coming from God. Are you hearing me?
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: And that's why we need discernment, because when we're in
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: a holding pattern, we have a potential sometimes to jump
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: into something. When I was transitioning, the first time I
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: came here, I didn't share this with Pastor until later,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: but I was in a real difficult season of my
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: life in a transition, and it was emotional for us.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: And one of the things that Corey and Ann gave
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: us was, don't move while you're wounded. Don't jump into something.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Just wait on the Lord. For those who wait on
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: the Lord will rise up. Amen? And I'm sitting there
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: and I'm hearing this. And here's what I think we
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: need to do. Faith comes by hearing and hearing Stephen Furtick.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: You would think so. Right? Faith comes by hearing. You
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: fill in your favorite preacher. I know it's you. But
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: he would want you to have faith that comes from
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: the Lord. Amen? And you've got to have discernment that way.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we just wait on some sermon that helps. No.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Faith comes by hearing and reading and hearing the word
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: of the Lord. Amen? And when you need discernment. Now,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: it didn't help me with this. I finally went to
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: a doctor. And the doctor gave me the advice. And
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: then I still had people tell me that's not the
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: right advice. I'm like, he's a doctor. I don't go
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: into my doctor and say to my dentist and say, listen,
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: this is how you do a root canal, you know.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: But if we give everybody in Christian world advice, make
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: sure you've got discernment. It's my number one prayer, Pastor David,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: right now in my life. My life right now, I
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: constantly say, Lord, give me discernment on this. Give me discernment.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: There's so many. AI is smarter than me, but it
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: doesn't know the king of kings. Amen? And I use AI, right?
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: I use it to write sermons. No, I'm just kidding.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Are you with me? But I get discernment, right? I
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: ask for discernment, right? How do I do this? How
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: do I talk to this person different than this person?
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Speak to me. Give me a word. Oh, there's people
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: up there. Hi. All right. Bless you guys and ladies.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Number one, stand fast and live for Christ. Number two,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: seize discernment in the midst of many voices. Number three,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: savor the thoughts that God has for you. Savor the
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: thoughts that God has for you. I know, he says,
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I know. Say I know. Come on. I know. I know.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Let me tell you what that means. I'm the only
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: one that knows. That's what it means in the original.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: I know. And I'm the only one that knows the thoughts.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: You don't even know them. The enemy doesn't know them.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Your wife or husband doesn't know them. I know the
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: thoughts I have for you. Don't let anybody tell you
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: that you're going to fail. Because I know the thoughts.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: Because it doesn't say fail. It says to do good
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: and not evil. So if you're thinking thoughts that are
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: evil in the midst of a holding pattern, which can happen,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: it's not from God. He's always for you. He's always
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: for you. And he alone knows the thoughts he has. Yeah,
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: but Chris, his thoughts are higher than mine. Yes, they are.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Thank God. Right? But that doesn't mean we can't get
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: his thoughts. Because we have the mind of Christ. Hello?
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: You bring Jesus in. You bring the Holy Spirit in.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: You start to get the mind of Christ. So you
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: can know his thoughts. Sometimes we interpret that because they're
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: higher than we can attain them. But you can get them.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: He knows the thoughts he has for you. Thoughts to
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: prosper for you. To bless you. To encourage you. We
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: have some stinking thinking, man. If we're not careful. Savor
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: the thoughts that he has for you. I'm glad he
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: thinks good of you. Amen? The last one. Number one.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: When God puts you on hold, that was weak, that
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: was weak, okay? Stand and live for Christ. Seize the
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: sermon in the midst of many voices. Is that relating
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: to you? Huh? Pastor Dave, you'll have so many people
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: tell you how to pastor. Seize the sermon. Amen. Savor
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: the thoughts he has for you. Man, those thoughts of God.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: My wife, we were at a church the other day.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: I think it was a church. When did you start
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: bawling during worship? When did you start crying during worship
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: the other day? Yeah, we were at an African American church.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Kojic church. African American church. Boogie church. I mean, really boogie.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Three hours long service. And they had They had brought
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: in a special singer, a guy named Travis Green. I'd
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: never met him. And he gets on the piano and
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: starts playing, and the Holy Ghost dropped in that house.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Same style of music, but not emotion, spirit-led. And I
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: look over to Carol, and she is wet with tears.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Are you with me? And why? Because the songs were
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: saying to her, this is my thoughts for This is
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: what I'm thinking about you. Took her back to when
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: she was a little girl and got saved. Little meaning 23.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: And when she got saved. And God reminded her of
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: some things that he had sang with her. It was
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: just outstanding. God knows where you are. And he knows
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: his thoughts he has for you. Amen. He knows. Not
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: the enemy. He doesn't know. Amen. Last one. Seek God
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: with all your heart and you'll find him. Seek God
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: with all your heart. Verse 12 and 13. He says,
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: after this, then you will call upon me. Sometimes we
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: call upon him before we have the then in place.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: After you've stood firm, after you're seizing discernment, after you
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: know his thoughts, then call upon him. Call upon him.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: Go and pray. And then you will find me. I
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: will listen to you. Is that cool or what? That
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: he's listening to us. My son reminds me a lot
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: that God will never leave you nor forsake you. How
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: old was Josiah when I dropped him? 11 months old.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Don't give me her. Okay. 11 months old. You know,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: the first baby, we had a little girl, and I
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: didn't touch her. I mean, I looked at her. I
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: love babies. I'm being a little bit stretching for the preaching,
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: but I love babies. I would hold her, and I
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: would not drop her, okay? But she ain't letting me
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: touch it now after that, but especially after this story.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: But that word, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: So Carol, by the time Josiah came along, she was
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: okay with me because I liked It's biblical to wash dishes,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: you know. I like washing dishes. It's biblical. It says
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: in the Bible, as a man wipes a dish, as
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: I will wipe Jerusalem. So, man, you should wash dishes, right? Okay,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: and I'm washing dishes, and she's gone to the store.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: And Josiah's 11 months old on the table behind me,
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: and I'm over here washing the dishes, and I sit,
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: and hey, boom, how you doing? And then I'm singing,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: and Hello there, baby boy. And next thing I hear,
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: and he's on the floor. I pick him up, and
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: he's got a goose egg on his head. And I
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: am scared to death of her coming home. Right? Because
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: I'm in trouble now, man. I'm in real trouble. And
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: she came home, but by that time, I'd had the
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: nurses in my church come to the house, and everything
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: was cool. I was hiding in the corner. They took over.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: He was okay. He's fine. He's just got a little
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: twitch now. He's fine. He's fine. He's a pastor. He's
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: a good guy. That don't mean anything. But anyway, so,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: but listen. I will never leave you nor forsake you.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: There's never a time that God's too busy and will
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: forsake him. He's really right now got some work to do.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's hanging out with Trump and he's hanging
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: out with the leaders of this country. He's hanging out
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: trying to figure out what to do with other nations
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: of other countries. And when he's doing that, he's still
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: thinking about you. And he's not forsaking them when he
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: talks about you. He's got the capacity to never leave
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: you nor forsake you or drop you. Are you hearing me?
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: Because he never leaves you nor forsakes you. That's why
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: when you seek him, he will listen to you. You
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: can be sure of that. Every time you pray, I
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: don't know if you're like me. I got a little
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: bit of HDAD if you haven't picked up on that.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: And it's not diagnosed, but everybody else has diagnosed me. Discernment, discernment.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: But here's the thing, and I want to end with this. Listen,
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: there's never a time you can talk to me and
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: I'll be looking behind you like this at people going by,
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: especially if I'm in my church. Are you with me?
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: I'm in my church and I'm talking to somebody, but
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: I care so much about everybody. It's not that I
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: don't care about you. I just don't have the capacity
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: that God has to listen to you and then listen
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: to somebody else at the same time. My wife can
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: do that. She can be in another room and I
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: say something about her four rooms later and she says,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: what were you saying earlier? You know, so she's more God-like.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: But here's the deal. Here's the deal. God always, always
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: is ready to listen to you. And when you seek him,
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: it says you will find him. Could you stand with
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: me for a second? I just want to say, I
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: have fun. If you didn't have fun, I have fun.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: I enjoy it. God made me a comedian. He made
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: me that way. When I first started pastoring my church,
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: there was 36 people in the church, 24 people on
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: the board. And the deacons, I started talking like I
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: did today, and one of them said, son, I think
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: you joke too much. And it shut me out down
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: for a while. He said, Stop being me, right? And
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: then I was in a meeting with a bunch of
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: pastors about a year later, and this guy calls me out,
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: doesn't know me from Adam. And he said, opening words,
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: I have made you a clown in the house of
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: the Lord so that you would bring brightness and humor
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: and love and care and joy to people. Then I
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: went berserk. Are you with me? And I became me.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Are you with me? I got a word from the Lord.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: Are you hearing me? Now, I respected people. If I
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: offended you while I was being funny today, it's too bad.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: I just don't mean to. I don't mean to. My
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: heart is to get you to just have a good
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: time in church, right? But also hear the truth. Because
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: it sometimes opens you up when you're funny. Your pastor
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: was funny this morning. She has nothing to say. I
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: thought that was cool. I'll use that in the dedication.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: So we learn. And so here's the deal. Listen, listen.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: Stand and live for Christ. Now, if you've never accepted Jesus,
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: but you sense a hunger in you today, something nudged
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: you today, and you want to say, I want to
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: do that. I want to stand and live for Christ.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: That's what it means to be born again. It means
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: I'm going to change everything and follow him now. I'm
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: going to recognize I can't do it all on my own.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: Maybe I'm in a holding pattern. Maybe I'm in a
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: holding pattern. And I've tried everything. A new job, a
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: new wife, a new husband, a new kid. You've tried everything,
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: but here's the deal. I'm not telling you to try Christ.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: I'm just saying, let him be Christ in you. Let
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: him be Christ in you. And you will have the
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: hope of glory. All you have to do is say,
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: I want you, Jesus. That simple. I admit I need you.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: I've come to the end. I feel like I'm on hold.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: And I need you to come into my life, God.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Is there anybody here like that right now? With everybody's
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: eyes open, I just want you to raise your hand
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: if you say, I want that experience with Jesus today.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: Raise your hand. First time coming into your life. Anybody here?
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: You say, I want to become a Christian. I want
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: to become a Christ follower. Just raise your hand if
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: that's you. I want to be able to see you. Okay. Okay.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: I didn't see any hands. That doesn't mean that something's
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: not going on in your heart. So you keep praying, okay?
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: And you keep knocking, and you will find it. Now
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: the rest of us, how many today feel like you've
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: been on hold? Raise your hand. Something in your life
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: you say, I feel like I've been on hold. God
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: hasn't brought my kids back. He's not fixed the marriage
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: where I need to be fixed. I just feel like
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: I've been on hold. He promised me this, and it's
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: not happening. Raise your hand real high, everybody. That says Yahweh.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: So there's a few of you here. That sermon was
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: for today. For today. And I want to pray for you.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: And for the rest of you. I want to pray
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: for you. In case it happens tomorrow. Father in Jesus name.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: Father in Jesus name. I ask you today. Not to
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: hang up. Help me not hang up. Help me not
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: hang up. Help these folks not hang up. Help them stand. Stand.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: and live for Jesus Christ. Help them, Lord. Come in there.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: Give them a new excitement, new energy, a new power,
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: and a new anointing. Lord Jesus, bring them to a
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: place where they stand and continue to live for Christ.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to today's message from Reach Church.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: If this encouraged you, we'd love for you to share
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: this podcast and leave a review. It helps more people
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: hear the good news. For more information about Reach Church,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: our ministries, or how to get involved, visit us at reachchurch.world.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: We love you, we're praying for you, and we'll see
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: you next time right here on the Reach Church Podcast.