Latest / First Love Revolution / Where Is Your Strength? | January 24, 2024

Transcript

Where Is Your Strength? | January 24, 2024 · First Love Revolution

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another Revolution Church message.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: You can find our entire library of messages in video and podcast format at firstloverevolutioncom.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Now here's Pastor Moses.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Let's just get into God's Word and we're just going to start rolling in to what God has For, honestly, y'all can stay right there, that's just fine.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: The verse on my heart that I want to just share is from Psalms 84, verse number five.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: It says Blessed is the person whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the roads to Zion Going through the valley of Baca.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: They make it a spring.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: The early rain also covers it with blessing, and they go from strength to strength.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Every one of them appears before God in Zion, and the verse that has been burning in my heart since we have been in worship this evening has been this verse Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you, church, today, where does your strength lie?
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Where does your confidence lie?
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: The verse goes on to say Blessed is the man who passes through the valley of Baca and makes for it a spring.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: The scripture tells us that the valley of Baca is the valley of weeping.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: It's the valley of brokenness, it's the valley of tears.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: So it's interesting that the psalmist points out here that it's a blessing to pass through the valley of weeping, the valley of brokenness.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you today.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Have you ever been in a valley of weeping?
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Have you ever been in a broken place?
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I think, because of the reality of the human condition, many of us can say that we have Been in broken places in our life.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: I can remember, and I just wanted to share some stories of where I've been in some broken places.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Many years ago, when we had gone to India on a crusade, my mom and everyone, our family, we had gone out there, we finished the crusade and we came back home or finished the meeting, and we were about to leave India, and my grandfather, who was hail and healthy for many, many years, maybe in his 80s at that point he fell sick.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: He fell ill to the point where the doctors put him in the ICU and they said that nothing could be done.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: And so we went there and I can remember it was so hard because that whole time that we were in the crusade we didn't really get a chance to be with him.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: And so we had gone to India after many, many years.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: We had had this crusade and all of a sudden he was in the ICU and it was so bad that the doctors came out, and I'll never forget the conversation that the doctors were having with my mother at the time because and she was going and asking them, is there anything that could be done?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: And the doctor was saying no, nothing can be done at this moment.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Nothing can be done.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: And I can remember my mom asked this you know, we live in America, maybe we can go and get him some medicine or some type of new drug that is there.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: And the doctor responded to my mom.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: He said there's no new drug.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Unless you can get him a new lung, unless you can get him a new heart, there's nothing that can be done.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: And he was on the ventilator tube and they would not let anyone go into the ICU unit.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: It had all been blocked off.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: But they had this one room I remember that you could walk into.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: It was our valley of Baca.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: It was a valley of tears.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: We were so crushed and I could remember walking into that place and I was asking myself God, where are you?
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: You've just spent days, weeks ministering.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Why this valley?
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Why this weeping?
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: There's something interesting about the valley that I've found.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: The valley is the lowest place right, but in the valleys are the richest soil, where things actually produce and grow are in the valleys of our life and sometimes the Lord allows us to pass through valley places.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: But you know, something else I've found out about valleys the valley of baka, the valley of weeping, the valley of crushing, that when the crushing is happening, that when the weeping is taking place, that Christ himself will come into that valley place.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: In the wounded place, christ himself will come in, like I was sharing about Psalms 22, in the broken place, when David is crying out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: He has a revelation of the cross.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: He has a revelation of Jesus.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: And into the midst of his valley of weeping, in the valley of the shadow of death, even in the Old Testament the cross can be found.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: And in that place why?
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Because in the valley Jesus himself appears.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Jesus himself comes, he reveals himself.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: And I remember we were just weeping in that one room.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: We were not even able to go into the room with my grandfather and my mom was asking the doctor.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: She was saying is there any way that we can talk to him?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: And I remember there was like this television screen and on this television screen there was this microphone and I was thinking, mom, please don't do anything weird Mom today, but if you know my mom, she's prone to weirdness and that's exactly what she did.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: She was like I'm going to pray for him.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: And what I didn't tell you was the rest of that room was packed full of people and they weren't Christians, they were all Hindus.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: So in the back of my mind, I'm trying to defend the faith.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I'm like Mom.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: The doctor just said that he needed a new lung and a new heart to survive.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Please do not put shame to the Lord.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Can I tell you, the Lord is capable of defending himself.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: He really is.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: But my mom, she went straight up there, she took that mic and she began to pray in the name of Jesus, she began to plead the blood, she began to ask for a new heart and a new lung for my grandfather and I just had my head down thinking, oh Lord, help us.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: And then she put the mic up and she just came and sat down and every eye in that room was just like turned on us, just looking.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Maybe 10 to 15 minutes goes by and that hospital explodes and the nurses and the doctors are just running everywhere and they come quickly to get my mom and my mom was like hey, what's going on?
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: And they can't talk right now.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: All of a sudden they came to her and they said Do you have a toothbrush?
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: And my mom was like why would I need a toothbrush?
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: She said Because your father has gotten up, he has pulled the tubes out of his body and he wants to go brush his teeth and he wants a bite to eat.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: So, glory to God.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: In the valley of weeping, jesus came.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Can I tell you what a revival service that was.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I had never seen a line of non-believers line up for prayer like that ever in my life.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: We prayed late.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Like it was amazing to see that.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Because Jesus will show up in your valleys.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Can I tell you another story?
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: It's my grandmother and we were praying and she was old, amazing, amazing woman of God and we really felt like we had a word from the Lord that God was going to heal her.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: What you don't know, and just to provide some context to the story we had, the Lord had called my parents to establish schools.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: In amazing ways.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: God had done that and I'm not going to go into the whole story, but my grandmother was a educator by profession and there was just an anointing on her life and I remember she left India in her old age and God told her you need to go help your daughter and your son-in-law to establish these educational institutions.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: And at that time it was a really difficult time and we needed a new building and we didn't have much funds.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: And I remember my grandmother she was such a woman of faith, she would go there and the Lord spoke to her one day and she said and she took my mom and they both went and my grandmother began to say you see this property right here.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: I believe the Lord has this for the school.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: And even my mom, who was prone to weirdness, was not that weird, because that was about a 300 acre plus property.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Our budget could not cover it.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: There's no way that we could even dream of it.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: There was 13 other institutions that were competing for it, millions and millions and millions of dollars.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: And my grandmother, this woman of faith, goes and she is believing in faith, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: And if you know God church, if you know God, you know that he's a God who speaks and if you know his people, you know that his sheep will hear his voice.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Young people, I'm telling you this is real, this is, and she begins to hear the impossible.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: And I looked at both of them and my mom comes back and my grandmother comes back and they're saying this is the place that God has for us, this 300 acre university.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: I said, mom, you don't even have a school.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: What are you thinking about a university right now?
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: I said you're both weird.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: And I can remember in the midst of that, god had done so many breakthroughs and we were at this place of stagnancy that was taking place and I'll never forget my grandmother called my mom over and she said Sheba, she says God's going to do this and when I leave, you don't get discouraged.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: You don't get discouraged.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: You know that the Lord is in your midst.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: About that time, a sickness hit her and we were really believing, church, that God was going to heal her and we prayed, and we prayed and we prayed and she got better and she got worse, and she got better and she got worse and then she passed away and I really struggled with that.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: It was a valley of weeping and I couldn't understand it.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I had seen Jesus appear in the valley of Baca with my grandfather and I had seen resurrection power hit his body and God give him new lungs and a new heart.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: I was in the valley of weeping with my grandmother and I couldn't understand.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: But sometimes, church, I'm realizing this.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: You know what Jesus said Right before he dies the Greeks want to come and they want to talk to him and they basically come to him and they want to talk to Jesus and they tell the disciples can we talk to Jesus?
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Can we get to?
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: We've heard some things about him.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: We know he's a miracle worker and he says this really strange thing.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: He says unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, unless a seed fall into the ground and die, how can it produce fruit?
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: How can it produce fruit?
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: See, jesus was saying that there was a spiritual principle that was at play at that moment.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: There was something that couldn't be fully understood that there's some designs in the kingdom, there is some fruit that only comes about according to the scripture, that unless the grain dies, unless the seed goes into the ground and is crushed you know where the seed is crushed?
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: In the valley of Baca, in that weeping place God begins to crush things and in fact, peter comes to Jesus because he's starting to wonder if he's not talking about himself and he says Jesus, you're not going to go to the cross.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: And Jesus has get behind me, satan, because he knew that he had come for a purpose in a mission and his mission was to lay his life down and to be a seed, and the cross would take place.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: And Jesus said this when the seed is planted, there will be much fruit.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Then there will be much fruit after the crushing, and I want to encourage some of you today.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: I remember, as I looked at my grandmother's story right when she died, and this is why I said I just want to talk to you guys, I just want to pastor tonight.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Something that I have seen is this Because when the seed is crushed, there's things that we cannot understand.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: If you think that I understand the fullness of the counsel and the glory of God, I do not.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: If you think I understand why he does some things and he does not do other things, I do not understand it.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: If you think that I understand the fullness of the problem of pain, I do not understand it.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: But this I know that in the midst of the valley of Baca he shows up and sometimes his resurrection power raises things from death into life.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: And sometimes, in the valley of Baca.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: He will take the seed and he'll plant it in the ground for a greater harvest.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: And today I want to encourage you with that.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: I want to encourage you that in the valley of Baca, he is there.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: But, number two, we're not called to camp out in that valley.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: It's as blessed as the man who passes through the valley of Baca.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: And today I want to tell us, for those who are transitioning in a valley place, I don't know what kind of valley you're in today, I don't know what kind of weeping place you're in today, but this is the one word that's been burning on my heart he's with you, he's with you, he's with you.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: His resurrection power is with you.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: For my grandmother let me finish that story.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: This is what happens when you don't have your sermon notes in front of you that 300 acre property.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: After she died, boy, it just it came.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: It was miraculous.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I personally believe there was a connection with her being placed in the ground and God birthing something.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Hey, I'm not the senior pastor.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: If my doctrine is off, shame can come and correct it.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'm just wanting to tell you something came alive there.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Today.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: They have nine, 10 campuses in the state of Texas, that 300 acre college campus, that they're about to start a college on open schools in Vietnam, singapore, india, africa.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: I could go on and on, but there's a seed.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: There's a seed.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: A lot of people say this there's a cost to some things in our walk with the Lord and sometime that cost comes to us.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I've heard people say you know, I want to be used mightily by God and the reality, at least that I have found, is if we're just to talk, we say I want to be in the hand of God.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: That's a wonderful and precious thing.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: There's nothing like being in his hand, and in his hand is also a place of crushing, because it's only broken bread that can be fed to the people.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: And it's true for Jesus and it's true for his disciples and it's true for the Christian walk that if we are to fulfill the role and purpose of the kingdom, god will take us to a divine place called the Valley of Baca and in that place we will experience his resurrection power, we will have a revelation of the cross and of Jesus.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: We will also experience his crushing.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: And today I want to encourage you to say have courage, have courage, strengthen yourself, stand firm, because in a moment like this.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: The reality is that the adversary of our soul will come and he'll begin to whisper and he'll speak and he'll say are the promises and the truths of the Lord real Is, can God be trusted?
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: And to that I just want to encourage you, church, young people, have courage, stand firm, have courage, stand firm.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Many years ago I went to Africa to go preach in Kenya.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: I finished the sermon, thank you Side note, the only people I have seen dance more than us we have to compete was the Kenyans.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: We still have a little bit to go until we catch up with them.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: I'll never forget I was sitting like they'll make the preachers sit up front and I was sitting up front in like a coat and tie and these people were like worshiping Jesus and at some point like all over the front and at some point I felt so convicted I was like you better get off that stage and get down there and start worshiping.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: But anyway, that's not the story I'm trying to tell, but the bishop of this thing.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: He finishes this particular meeting and he goes do you want to see Africa?
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: I said, yeah, I want to see Africa.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: What I didn't?
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: You have to be careful when you're in Africa and you tell them you want to go see Africa.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: What I did not know was that that was a 10 hour lorry ride.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: You all know what a lorry is.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Have you all ever seen a lorry?
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: A lorry is like this truck bed looking thing that has no sides, that you can fall out of any moment.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: You can't sue anyone and there are like and we're going on this lorry, the road is so bumpy and we get to a place where there's literally like giraffes and zebras all running beside us.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I'm like you were serious when you told me you were going to go show me Africa.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: And that's what they did.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: He took me to the Maasai.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: How many of you have ever heard of the Maasai before?
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Anyone?
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Okay, if you don't know, they are a fierce lion killing tribe in Kenya, tanzania.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: They're fierce man and I never forget.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: He wanted me to go spend a few days with them and we got yeah, must have not preached well.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: And so he takes me out there and we get out to that one camp and there's two things that I immediately see.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: One is the Maasai chief.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: His name is chief Timothy.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: That was his Christian name and I don't know why, but all the Maasai are like six foot plus tall, you know, and chief Timothy was a lion killing chief with this six foot three plus with, like the scar down his face.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: So I see him, I'm like that's an imposing figure.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: And then I look over on the side and then I notice all of these tents and then I see this one thorn bush fence around all of these tents and so I asked the chief.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I said, chief, what are these tents there and what is this thorn bush fence around the tent?
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: And he said oh, brother Moses.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: He said there are 42 lions in this area.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: I said 42, what, sir?
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: He said 42 lions, and they live right over there, right over there.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: So here I was, in the middle of nowhere, with no support, 50 kilometers from the nearest ranger station, living with the Maasai in a tent with a thorn bush fence as the only protection against supposed lions.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: If you are not a praying person, go to Kenya and spend some time with the Maasai, you will start to pray.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: And I remember that first night my friend and I we were both there sitting in the tent, in fact at daylight.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: I remember I was asking this guy that had gone with me he was like this Montana rancher type.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: We were asking are you, are you afraid?
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I said no.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: He said I said are you afraid?
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: He said no way, man.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: You can lie in the daylight all you want, but when night comes, the truth will come out.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: And I remember at night time he went out to go use the bathroom.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I went to go out to use the bathroom, he came back.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: I came back, he said did you honestly?
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: And the bathroom was on the edge of this one thorn bush fence.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: And I said did you really go all the way out there?
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: He said no way, man.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: He said did you?
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: I said no way.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: First night we're there, we're sleeping and I fall asleep and it's about 3 am and all of a sudden he wakes me up and he goes Moses, moses, get up.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: I said.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: I said, man, why did you wake me up?
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: And immediately when I woke up, I knew there was a problem.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: There was an issue outside of my tent, outside of our tent, but inside the thorn bush fence, I can hear this heavy four-footed creature walking around.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: And I told him.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: I said, bro.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: I said why did you wake me up?
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: I said if I'm going to die.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: I want to die in my sleep.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I want to get to heaven and ask the Lord, lord, how did I die?
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Moses, a lion came and ate you and that'll be well.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be awake when this beast puts his head through the tent and drags me out somewhere.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: And if you don't know the story, that place, have you all ever seen the movie Ghost in the Darkness?
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Don't watch it, like I did, before you go to Africa.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Story of two man-eating lions in the town of Savo, which was not that far from where we had 100, 200 man-eating kills that it had had with people.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: And that movie with Val Kilmer is running in the back of my head.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: And I told him.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: I said, dude, why'd you wake me up?
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Anyway, long story short.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: We find out it's not a lion, it's a zebra.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: And then, so that's the first night.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Second night rolls around and I'm sleeping, I don't know why my friend can't sleep.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: And he comes over and he goes Moses, get up.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: And I woke up and it's another depth-defying moment and we hear this noise and he honest truth.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: He said I can't believe they let their children out this time of night.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: I said, dude, that's not children, those are hyenas.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: They've smelled fresh blood and they're coming after you and me.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: So that was the second night.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: By this time I realized I'm not going to survive Africa.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: And so I went and I went and asked this chief something.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: I said, hey, chief.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Almost like a joke, I said chief, how do you kill a lion?
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: How do you kill a lion?
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: And I'll never forget.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: He turned to me and he goes, brother Moses, and he just put his hand on my shoulder, and sometimes you don't know the moment that, like when Yoda is going to talk to Luke Skywalker, you have to be ready for the moment.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: That was my moment and he spoke to me something how to kill a lion.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: That just has stayed with me all these years.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you tonight.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: I think it's relevant to what we're talking about.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: He looks at me and he goes Moses, he goes our young men.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: They'll go out.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: You know, the right of passage into manhood for a Maasai is, you know, 16 to 18 or so.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: They'll go out and they have to go kill a lion as a right of passage.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: As a disclaimer, I know that the governments don't usually allow this, but it is part of their.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: You know tradition and those types of stuff, but anyway I know that it still kind of happens a little bit.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: And so they would go out and they would literally go kill a lion.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: And he began to tell me the story at about how 50 yards was the point of no return.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: They would grow out as a group and the scouts would be watching the tall grass on where the lion might be and they would spot it.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: And once you were about 50 yards he would say that was the point of no return.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Either the lion was gonna eat you or you were gonna kill that lion.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: And he said at 50 yards that lion would start to make its approach and it would go from 50 to 40 to 30.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: And I buttered in and I said chief.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: I said when do you throw the the spear?
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: He said not yet.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: You just have to stand your ground, stand firm, have courage.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: And then it would go from 30 to 20 as a chief, do you throw the spear now?
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: He said not yet, stand firm, have courage.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: He said at 15 yards, that 350 pound beast would lurch up on its back leg, would extend both its hands.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: And he said at a moan, at a vulnerable time, as it extended its claws and lifted up its head there's a vulnerable spot that would open up.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: And he said at that point you have to stand firm, have courage and throw that spear with all your might.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: He looked at me and he goes that's how you kill a lion.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: And he just like, walks off.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: I'm just astounded.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Many of us are not gonna go kill a real lion, but I can promise you this.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Somewhere also in the valley of Baca, somewhere in the valley of weeping, in the vulnerable space, because the adversary goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he made devour a church.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: He doesn't hit you when you're strong.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: He hits you at your most weakest and most vulnerable times.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: And he'll come.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: And I want to encourage you with what the chief told me today stand firm, have courage.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: He's gonna close in.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: He might be closing in on your marriage.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: He might be closing in on your life.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: I don't know what your valley looks like today, but I want to encourage you stand firm, have courage, trust in the Lord, be not afraid.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: And the last thing that you need is this Hoover's playing the piano.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: You can come up.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna close in just a few minutes, when the moment comes, when the lion is starting to attack, you have something that he did not have.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Courage is necessary to get through this face.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Standing firm is necessary to get through this face.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: A spear is necessary to get through this face.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: If you get to the valley of Baca and there's no spear in your hand, if there's nothing that you have, I'm so excited.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: This, this series that we're actually on on Wednesdays, is regarding the weapons of our warfare and how they're mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: And Today I believe that the Lord has weapons for us in the most vulnerable spaces of our life, and they're necessary to traverse the broken place and the weeping place.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: But what the Messiah even did not have, you have today church.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: He's here with us when the lion is charging.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: He's standing right there, next to you.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: He's standing right beside you.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: The only way you make it through Is if you begin to hear his voice.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Begin to walk with him, because the valley of Baca Does not need to be the place that we dwell in or die in.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: It's the valley that he's there, it's the valley that we traverse, it's the place that we grow out of and, in fact, the Bible says that those who pass through it, they make for it, they make for themselves a well in that place, a Place of strength in that place.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: And that's really all I wanted to share with you today.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: I wanted to share with you that our God is still a God of resurrection power.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: He's still a God who, in the valley, we have to understand His crushing and we have to be people of courage to traverse that place.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: When the lion starts to charge, when we pass through that, we don't come out the same Do.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: We pray together, god, we just come before you.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: We just thank you for who you are, for what you've done.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: Lord, this valley of Baca place, we just cry out to you in this place and band, I just want to invite you guys up.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: I just want to wait on Him, I just want to let Him speak to us.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: Jesus, we love you.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: Jesus, we honor you.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Thanks for letting me to pastor today.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Church, just let me talk to you from my heart, god.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: I pray courage over this congregation.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: I pray your divine strength.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: I pray your healing God.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: I pray, lord, a prayer of faith that you would begin to resurrect in the valley of Baca, that in this place of weeping in the lives of your people, they would begin to see resurrection power Healing in their bodies, healing in their minds, healing in their hearts.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: Beloved, because we know that you are here in our midst and we haven't come with anything else but just to seek you and to wait on you and to know you and to have you touch us.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: God, I pray for those that are going through the place where things are getting buried in the ground and the seed is getting buried.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: I just pray for encouragement and strength and courage for them in this moment.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: I pray, church, that your faith might stand firm in this place, that you might not be discouraged Because we're praying.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you this if you don't know Jesus tonight, I want to give you an opportunity to know him.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: The Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: To the place of our brokenness he came.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: To the place of our woundedness.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: He came To the place of our sin.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: He came, friends, the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: Sin is ways that we've been wrong, done wrong, offended God, hurt others.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: But Jesus came and he died, took at the sin upon himself so that you could have communion with God.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: And if you don't know him tonight, I don't want you to walk out of this door, out of this unusual service without knowing him.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: If that's you today, would you put up your hand?
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Is there anyone here today?
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: Is there anyone church?
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: God, we just thank you.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: Let's just wait.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: Can we wait just a few more minutes?
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: I just want to wait on him tonight.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: God, we just love you, we just thank you, we just glorify you.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: I pray you do such a work in the lives of your young people, god.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: I pray that you would make them those that are lion killers.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: I pray, god, that you would make them those who are able to traverse through the valley of Baca.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: I pray, lord, that there would be nothing deterred in their faith.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: I pray, lord, that from this place and at this hour and at this time, there would be a new song that would begin to arise.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: Blessed is the man who passes through the valley of Baca and makes for himself a spring.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: God, I pray in the broken places of your people's life, that which was crushed because of you and your cross and your person that's in the middle of it, that their valley would produce a spring of life, of life in them.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: And, god, we just give this time into your hands.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: We tell you that we love you, we tell you that we worship you, we present you.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Would you need us here, god?
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: I am Jesus, amen.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: The church is just worshiping.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Let's respond to him, even as the worship team is here.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: I pray that God would just do a work in our hearts, in the soil of our souls, that he would do something.