Latest / Faith Church Podcast / Wells and Altars – How We Steward Heavenly Encounters | Abigail Collins | Faith Church

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Wells and Altars – How We Steward Heavenly Encounters | Abigail Collins | Faith Church · Faith Church Podcast

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It's so good to be home. That's how it feels
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when I come here. Lord, we just pray for your
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presence to be near, so near. Lord, that my words
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wouldn't be mine, but they would be your words
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to your people. Encourage hearts tonight, Father.
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Refresh hearts. Speak to your people. We just
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invite you to linger, Holy Spirit. We don't want
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to be in a hurry when we're in your presence.
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Would you stay and linger with us? Linger with
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us, Lord. I'm just curious. How many of y 'all
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were here last year when we were here? Okay.
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Okay. I want to have a little confession to make.
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The Lord began to stir my heart. Coming to Illinois
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was one of the first ministry trips I took with
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dad or otherwise last year. And he began to stir
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my heart when I was here about altars and wells.
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Half the time, I don't remember what I've said,
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so I don't expect you all to remember, but there
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was this word that the Lord gave about re -digging
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wells. I think someone made a t -shirt. Cammie
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messaged me after I left, and one of the interns
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had made a t -shirt of, dig another well, dig
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another well. And the Lord has not let me go,
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has not let that go since last year. And I don't
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want to be redundant or try and, you know, there's
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a saying about in Texas, everything's about horses
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in Texas. But, you know, we don't want to run
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that horse too far. But when I tell you the Lord
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hasn't relented all year, speaking to me about
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altars and wells and altars and wells. And there
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have been the coolest testimonies and signs that
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have come. I was speaking at a church in Cleburne,
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Texas, back in November. And I was speaking,
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but the Lord gave me this word for the pastor
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and his wife. And all of a sudden, I looked down
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from the pulpit. I began to prophesy from that
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same word about Rehoboth when Isaac is redigging
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the wells of his father. And they keep being
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contentious, and he has to dig another well,
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and he has to dig another well. And I looked
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at him and I said, and there's going to be a
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broad place and it's time to dig another well.
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And the pastor's just looking at me. And I'm
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thinking, okay, you know, the Holy Spirit's touching
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him or something. But he just looked like, and
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he looks at his wife and he says something and
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he looks back at me. And I'm like, what's happening?
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We had lunch after. He said, you don't understand.
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We just came into this property. We just came
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to this building. And we're on well water. And
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we share a well with our neighbors. And legally,
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the well is ours. But our neighbors came this
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past week angry and contentious with us, angry
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about the water in the well. And legally, it's
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ours. And I was thinking of fighting them over
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the well. And as you were prophesying, I leaned
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to my wife and I said, honey, we're just going
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to dig our own well. And so they're now literally
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digging a well. I had no clue what was going
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on. So I tell you, like, the Lord has not let
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this thing go. And we were also in Nebraska a
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couple months after we were here. And I won't
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go into all the details, but there has just been
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these redemptive wells, particularly across the
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Midwest, that I feel the burning and burden of
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the Lord to redig. There are revival wells hidden
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in the plains that the Lord is redigging. And
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there are altars of sacrifice and worship that
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the Lord is rebuilding. I'm going to go through
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several scriptures, but y 'all thought y 'all
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finished the reading through the Bible today.
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You didn't know it was just practice for me tonight.
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I have a few messages, but I mean a few scriptures
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to get through. But I want you to hear this message.
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not just as an expository on the word, but as
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a prophetic message to your church, to the Church
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of Lincoln, to the Church of Illinois, that the
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Lord is looking throughout the earth. He's seeking
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those that will stand in the gap. He's seeking
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those who will rebuild the ancient altars and
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re -dig the ancient wells. It's a time of rebuilding
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and redigging, rebuilding and redigging, rebuilding
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and redigging. So hear it in your spirit tonight.
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The word does not return void, but hear this
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as a prophetic commission, if you will. If I
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had to title this message, it would be Altars
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and Wells, How Do We Steward Heavenly Encounters?
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I want to go first to... Elijah in Mount Carmel.
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So I'm going to go. Lord bless Nick. We just
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bless Nick. I have my falling apart binder with
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scribbled notes, and he was very gracious to
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try and put them up here in a second. But in
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1 Kings 18 and 30, when I tell you, let me just.
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Let me just preface what I'm about to read. I
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looked for a good week. And when I tell you I
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love a good bunny trail, rabbit hole, whatever
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you want to call it, sometimes you follow them
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and sometimes you fall in them. I have friends
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in this room who can vouch for that fact. I was
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like a dog with a bone, as they say. I wanted
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to find out. Did I hit something? What am I doing?
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Okay. why the altars were torn down in the first
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place. We all know the story. I'm probably going
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to read it somewhat quickly, but I believe we're
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all familiar with the story. I don't want to
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take that for granted necessarily, but knowing
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many of you in the room, I'm confident. So turn
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with me to 1 Kings 18. And, you know, we've got
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Jezebel and Ahab. It's not a good season in Israel's
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history. They're worshiping Baal. They're worshiping
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idols. They've torn down the altars of the Lord.
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And Elijah challenges Ahab. He says, bring your
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prophets. Bring the prophets of Baal. Bring all
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these to Mount Carmel. Meet me there. And bring
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all the assembly of Israel. Call everyone, all
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the nation, all the people. Bring them. And we're
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going to see who's God, the God of Israel or
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Baal. And we're going to put it to a test, right?
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We're familiar with the story. And I love the,
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how can I say this? I love the feisty confidence
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of Elijah. He is literally teasing the prophets
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of Baal. Oh! Maybe your God's napping. Maybe
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he's gone on a journey because they're crying
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out. They're doing all the things. Again, we
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know the story. Baal does not answer. He's not
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a living God. We serve the living God. Amen?
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Amen. So I'm just giving a brief review of that
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for us to bring us back into the context of the
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story. But I want to start in verse 30. So after
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Baal has failed to answer, Elijah's taunted the
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prophet, says, then Elijah said to all the people,
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come near to me. Again, hear this in the spirit.
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So all the people came near to him, and he repaired
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the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And
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Elijah took 12 stones for each tribe, excuse
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me, of Israel, and he rebuilt the altar of the
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Lord. I spent more than a week trying to find
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out when and why was this altar torn down? Lord,
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how did these things happen? And I don't know
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why I was so fixated on it. I was Googling. I
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was asking biblical scholar friends with 40 -plus
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years in the Word and MDiv. And I'm just, what
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is it? And the Lord, all of a sudden, it was
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like he just came up to me in my quiet time and
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he said, I'm more worried about the rebuilding.
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than why they were torn down. And I suddenly
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had this moment of realizing how often do we,
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I can speak for myself, but I feel like in America,
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in the church, we We're watching the news, and
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we're trying to analyze. I see parents, they're
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so worried about their kids and trying to figure
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out, what happened to my kids? How did they walk
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away from the Lord? What should I do? How can
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I fix them? Why has America turned from the Lord?
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Why is this happening? And there's wars and rumors
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of war, and we get so caught up in, Lord, what
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has happened to our nation? We were built on
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biblical principles, and we get so caught up
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in... Why was the altar torn down? What's happened
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to our society? What's happened? And I had felt
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that in my spirit all week. I'm like, I want
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to find out. If I'm going to preach on rebuilding,
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what happened in the first place? And it was
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like the Lord was like, honey, that's not the
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point. It's the rebuilding. So again, I want
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to challenge us to look up, to look forward,
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to look onward. There's a rebuilding taking place.
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And he rebuilds the altar and the Lord answers
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with fire. I think we get immune to some of these
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stories if we've grown up in the church. The
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Lord answers with fire. And I just want to say
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he's still the God who answers with fire. My
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God, our God, the living God is still a God who
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answers with fire. And I've seen him do it. And
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you can't convince me otherwise. He's a God who
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answers with fire. Now, I want to point one thing
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out before I move to the next scripture. When
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we're fixated on the problem, we want to lay
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blame and we want to do all the things and we
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want to find our own solutions and we'll look
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later at how that does not work. But it does
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say that Elijah called the people. There's something
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to be said about the people in our sphere of
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influence that witness our lives. We don't just
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contend for breakthrough closeted away. Yes,
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we pray in the secret place, and he who hears
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in the secret place will himself reward you openly.
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I'm not contradicting that point, but there is
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a place of holy moment, of holy boldness that
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comes in moments of history on the body of Christ,
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and I believe we're on the threshold, and there's
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this call of the Lord and the Spirit for us to
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be bold once again and say, no, come watch what
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my God can do. It's not a time to hide away in
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the caves. It's not a time to tuck tail and run.
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It's not a time to simply survive. It's a time
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to call the people and say, oh no, I am so confident
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God is going to come. I am so confident he is
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going to answer. Come watch him do it. Won't
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he do it? Won't he do it? I want to say one other
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thing. Elijah, in this instance, he did this,
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but he got a little bit in his head after. Sometimes
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we have these bold moments, and then all of a
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sudden, we realize, what did I just say? What
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did I just do? Jezebel's pursuing, he's going
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to die. And he gets a little in his head, and
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he goes and he's hiding. And he's convinced he's
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the only one left. And the strategy of the enemy,
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when God wants to pour out breakthrough, one
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of the strategies is always to try to isolate
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us. And if there's ever a time for unity in the
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body of Christ, it's now. We have to model that
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for the world. Where else are they going to see
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it but in us? And when we try to isolate ourselves,
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when he was hiding and being fed by ravens, and
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the Lord comes and speaks to him, and it wasn't
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in the fire, it wasn't in the wind, it was the
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still, small voice. We know the story. He said,
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Elijah, what are you doing? He said, well, I've
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been zealous for your name. I've been zealous.
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The people, they tore down the altars and they've
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killed the prophets and I alone am left and they
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seek my life. The enemy can get us so trapped
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in our thinking that we literally think we're
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alone. God does not call us alone. He sets us
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the orphan in families. So if anywhere in your
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life, I just, I feel this in the spirit. I don't
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know who this is for, but I think there's a few
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people in the room that need to hear this. This
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was not in my notes. Well, some of it, but not
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this part. You're not alone. I feel the Lord
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wanting to break isolation off people tonight.
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You're not alone. Because when we get in that
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place, it renders us in hiding, fearful, and
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is often accompanied by a self -righteous, escapist
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mentality. If we were to have a list of the churches,
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I could say in America or the globe, and you
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wanted to put a checkbox by how many that described,
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I believe it grieves the heart of God. We are
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not meant to survive and hide away in isolation.
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We are not called to walk this life of faith
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alone. So I encourage you, plug into community,
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plug in, reject the lie that you're alone. Okay.
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I gotta keep moving, because yes. The other thing,
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is though that when we build altars, it affects
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nations and generations. It doesn't say that
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the people that he called to watch helped him
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build it. He obeyed the Lord and he built it.
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Though none go with me, still I will follow.
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But they saw it and it drew an entire nation
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back to the Lord. The simplest, smallest acts
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of obedience are always met with a heavenly response
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and an outcome beyond what we could ever expect.
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It's not about us. It's about God working through
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us. And when we walk in obedience, great things
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can happen, and it affects nations and generations.
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All right. I want to look in also in Genesis
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chapter 26. Now, I know I shared part of this
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scripture passage last year, but I want to revisit
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it again. In Genesis 26, I'm going to start in
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verse 15. You guys still with me? It's too quiet
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in here for me. See, I'm from the South. We like
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interactive preaching. So if I get an amen, sister,
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I will feel right at home, okay? All right, there
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we go. Okay. All right. The Philistines had stopped
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up all the wells which his father's servants,
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so this is Isaac. He's going to be re -digging
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the wells that Abraham dug. Again, this is multi
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-generational, altars and wells. It affects generations.
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The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now the
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Philistines had stopped up all the wells which
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his father's servants had dug in the days of
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Abraham his father, and they had filled them
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with earth. And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away
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from us, for you are much mightier than we. Then
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Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent
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in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there. And Isaac
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dug again the wells of water, which they had
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dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the
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Philistines had stopped them up after the death
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of Abraham. He called them by the names which
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his father had called them. I want to pause.
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I grew up traveling all across the Midwest with
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my family. I have personally seen miracles in
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this state. I have personally watched more miracles
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and salvations and deliverances than I literally
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have. If we took the rest of tonight and tomorrow,
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there are more than I could convey to you. And
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I have seen it. I have touched it. I have witnessed
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it from my earliest years. I think I was about
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five years old when we started coming to Illinois,
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and I am now 36. So 30 years of miracles I've
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witnessed in your state. And the enemy would
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love nothing more than to fill those up with
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the things of this world, with the earth. And
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the wells and the rain and the water and the
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river that Pastor Darren was singing about earlier,
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the move of the Spirit of God all throughout
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Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, we see
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water used as analogy, if you will, by God of
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a moving of his Spirit and of his presence. And
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the enemy would love nothing more than to stop
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at the wells. In my own soul, spring up, oh well,
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David says. We each have a well of living water
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inside of us. I don't care if that sounds crazy
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and Pentecostal or whatever to you. It is in
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scripture, so you cannot argue with me tonight.
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Okay? You have a well of living water in your
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belly. Look at your neighbor and say, you have
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a well of living water living in your belly.
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Now just look at them and say, spring up. Spring
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up a well. Spring up a well. Speak to your city.
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I encourage you regularly. Speak it as a declaration
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over your schools, over your city, over your
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family, over your place of business. Spring up
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a well. Spring up a well. There are redemptive
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wells that the Lord has in you, but also we know,
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again, through Scripture, there are... If the
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blood of Abel can cry to him, the blood of innocence,
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how much more the redemptive well of the spoken
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promises and covenant of God, how much more are
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his ears listening and attending that cry of
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the things that he has been waiting decades to
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break loose in your heart, in your family, in
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your state? So he called them by the names which
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his father had called them. So see, when we dig
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wells, we don't rebrand it and say, oh, renewal
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was wonderful. I'm saying nothing against the
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things that happened in the past, but we're not
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going to just live in an old wine scale, an old
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wine skin and slap a new label on it. What does
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scripture say about that? Does it work out? Well,
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no. He called them by the names his father called
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them. We honor the testimony, but the testimony
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of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Last time
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I checked, the prophetic moved forward, not backwards.
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Are you hearing me? We are, when we lean into
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the testimonies, when we re -dig the wells of
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what he's done, we're saying, God, do it again.
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We're not going back to relive in the past and
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call it the present. So he called them what his
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father had called them. Also, Isaac's servants
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dug in the valley and found a well of running
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water. It's significant. It's living. It's living
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what is running water. When water doesn't move,
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it becomes filled with disease. Water was meant
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to flow. I served under a pastor. And he said
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something I'll never forget. He said, you know,
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in the more charismatic things, we always like
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to talk about the river of the Lord, the river
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of the Lord. Most of us are just sitting in jacuzzi.
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So we just like it to stir the waters around
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us and come and hit. Oh, that's the spot. Oh,
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yes, Lord. Just come. Just come move on us. Move
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on me, Lord. Oh, move on my friend here that
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I like and actually get along with. Oh, and then
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come move on me again. And then, oh, that felt
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so good. Would you do it again, Lord? and there's
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not an outflow. We are meant to be rivers of
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living water, not stagnant jacuzzis called churches.
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I might not be back next year, so love y 'all.
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Okay, good, there's laughter. I might see you
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again. Okay, all right. I get a little feisty
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sometimes, just a little. It was running water.
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But herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac. It's
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a good thing I wasn't here this week. I can't
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pronounce stuff. Quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen,
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saying, the water is ours. I'll never be able
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to read this without thinking of Cleburne again.
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So he called the name of the well Essek, which
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means quarrel, because they quarreled with him.
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Then they dug another well, and they quarreled
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over that one as well. So he called its name
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Sitna. which means enmity. And he moved from
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there and dug another well. And this is what
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I was hearing the Spirit last year, it's time
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to dig another well. It's time to dig another
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well. See, when disappointment happens, we dig
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another well. When offense comes, and surely
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they will come, that's one of the promises of
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the word that you don't hear preached very often,
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we are warned, we are told, offenses will come.
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We dig another well. When church hurt happens,
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we dig another well. When we don't, when there's
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contention, when the enemy tries to still kill
23:13
and destroy, which is his very purpose, do we
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get distracted? Do we get discouraged? Do we
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stop and just be satisfied? Well, we'll just
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survive with what the generations before us.
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We'll just settle. We'll survive. There's enough
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water. If I just get a little taste of his presence
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every two, three months, I'll survive. We're
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not meant to survive. He kept digging wells.
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Hear me in the spirit. When Isaac came back to
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this place, the generations had multiplied. What
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was enough for generations past is no longer
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enough. If you want more than just you to survive,
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if you want the well of God, the move of God
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to stop with you, if you are satisfied with that,
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then be prepared to watch as the generations
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fall. I'm not trying to speak doom and gloom
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here. I'm just telling you what is at stake.
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He needed more wells because there was more need.
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Nothing in the kingdom of God ever shrinks. Of
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the increase of his government and peace, there
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shall be no end. If it's not increasing, test
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it and see if it's real. If it's not increasing,
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is it really God? If it is stagnant and there
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is no life in it, if it is stable and survivist,
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test it. Test it for life. Check for a pulse.
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Is this really God? God is always, he is triune
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in nature and he is the God of generations. He
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is always so far beyond what we could think or
25:04
imagine. He's thinking 10 steps ahead. He's thinking
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a thousand years is but a day to him. He sees
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the bigger picture. And we have to, if we're
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going to partner with him, we have to expand
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our hearts and our vision. And he moved from
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there and dug another well, and they did not
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quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,
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which means a wide or broad place. Because he
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said, for now the Lord has made room for us,
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and we shall be fruitful in the land. Then he
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went up from there to Beersheba. And the Lord
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appeared to him on the same night and said, I
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am the God of your father Abraham. Do not fear,
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for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply
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your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake.
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So he built an altar there and called on the
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name of the Lord. And he pitched his tent there.
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And there Isaac's servants dug a well. Surprise.
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I'm not through with this passage yet. There's
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more. But wait, there's more. So he digs another
26:09
well. And then we see through verse, I'm not
26:13
going to read it all, but from verse 26 down
26:17
through about 30, 31, Abimelech, the king that
26:22
had said, get out from here, you're mightier
26:24
than us, go out, go out. The same king whose
26:26
servants had filled those wells comes and says,
26:30
make a covenant with us because you're mightier
26:32
than us and we don't want you to destroy us.
26:34
The Lord will set a table before us in the presence
26:37
of our enemies. But they come and they say, oh,
26:39
cut covenant with us because we now fear you've
26:42
become a great nation. But here's what I want
26:45
you to hear. At the end of verse 25, it says,
26:52
and there Isaac's servants dug a well. After
26:54
his enemy comes and is like, hey, you're more
26:57
powerful. Then they come back. After that, he
27:00
finds out. that they say in verse 32, at the
27:04
end of verse 32, it says, we have found water.
27:06
And so he called it Sheba. Therefore, the name
27:09
of the city is Beersheba to this day. The Lord's
27:18
already providing more resource before we even
27:20
recognize it happens. When our enemies are like
27:28
recognizing, wow. God is with you. Don't hurt
27:33
us, please. The Lord's already, when he was faithful
27:37
to start digging again, the Lord was already
27:39
ready with more and more and more wells, waiting
27:42
before he even had a chance to see them. Okay?
27:48
I'm not going to turn there for time, but I just
27:54
want to say, back in Genesis 46, verses 1 and
27:58
5, I've been looking at so many scriptures, and
28:17
I just want what I feel prophetically to come
28:19
across right, so bear with me. But Abraham, when
28:23
he first dug those wells, before they had been
28:29
stopped up. This is scriptural proof that the
28:43
Lord can use dysfunctional families because Abraham
28:46
lied about Sarah being his wife and Abimelech.
28:50
There was a whole issue of it and he says, you
28:52
know, get out from us. And he goes and he digs
28:54
wells. And Abimelech again says, You're too great
28:58
for us. Hey, cut a covenant with me. And he cuts
29:01
a covenant with his enemy. Then Isaac does the
29:05
same thing. He goes back and he's there with
29:07
Abimelech. He lies about his wife. Gets in trouble.
29:10
He gets kicked out again. Okay, so what's my
29:14
point? My point is we can pass on generational
29:18
sins or we can pass on generational wells and
29:21
altars. If we don't, if we cut unrighteous, If
29:28
we get friendly with sin and tolerate it and
29:33
make friends with it, okay, you don't hurt me,
29:35
I won't hurt you, we'll just live in this stalemate,
29:38
it's going to come back to the next generation.
29:43
And even if we, in our own strength, try and
29:46
dig a few wells, if we're not willing to deal
29:49
with the things that God wants us to deal with,
29:52
they're going to keep coming back and haunt our
29:54
children. So Isaac had to work double hard to
29:59
re -dig those wells and then dig more because
30:03
they had been making friends with the enemy.
30:07
Are you hearing me? And an interesting thing,
30:15
too. It says Abimelech and the commander of his
30:19
army, Philco, came the first time. When they
30:22
come back to visit, with Abraham, when they come
30:25
back to visit Isaac, they bring another friend.
30:31
So what do you want to multiply in your legacy?
30:36
Enemies or wells? Again, I'm not trying to be
30:45
doom and gloom tonight, but I feel this word
30:47
so strong in my spirit because my dad's a gardener.
30:50
I grew up doing weeds with him. And every spring,
30:54
we have, it's always a surprise and a joy to
30:58
see what blooms again. Oh, it lasted the winter.
31:00
It came. Its roots are deep. We've nourished
31:03
the soil. It's good. It's come back. There's
31:05
fruit that's coming back. There's also weeds.
31:09
And when you pluck up weeds, you don't break
31:11
off the head, you pull it up from the root. And
31:15
there's things that as we dig, the Lord wants
31:19
to uproot. Yeah. So, I'm going to come in for
31:34
a landing, but a beautiful thing that we see
31:36
is So we see Abraham dug the well, Isaac redug,
31:40
he dug more. And at the end of Jacob's life,
31:43
when Joseph has called his father from Egypt
31:47
and he's bringing him home, the Lord speaks to
31:51
Jacob, Aga Israel, and says, hey, stop, stop,
31:57
he stops at Beersheba. And the Lord begins to
32:01
speak to him. It says in a night vision, your
32:04
young men will have visions, your old men will
32:06
dream dreams. He began to dream a dream, and
32:09
the Lord began to speak promises over the generations
32:11
after him. So by the time that generation had
32:17
come, there was just living water coming out,
32:21
and it was a place of life and encountering the
32:24
Lord, and where generations past then would be
32:28
blessed. Yes. Thank you, Lord. How are we doing?
32:33
I meant to bring my phone up here for a time.
32:37
All right. So I'm going to blow through just
32:38
really fast a couple more. So are y 'all still
32:42
with me? We got 10 more minutes? Five more minutes?
32:45
Okay. Okay. All right. I told y 'all the whole
32:49
reading through the word. It was just practice
32:51
for tonight. Really quickly, in Genesis 28, I'm
32:58
going to breeze through this one because, again,
32:59
I believe we know the story. When Jacob comes
33:02
to Bethel. Oh, I just saw it there. Sorry. Thank
33:08
you, Nick. Thank you. Because y 'all can't see
33:10
this, only I can see my messy notes. He's fleeing
33:14
for his life. He's deceived. He's lied. He's
33:18
fleeing for his life. This is for someone here
33:23
tonight. If you think you need to go to Bible
33:26
college and have your life together and then
33:28
come, have had the perfect day, your coffee tasted
33:31
perfect, everything worked out, no one cut you
33:35
off in traffic, and you're going to come and
33:38
the Lord's going to meet you. I don't see that
33:41
very often in Scripture. Every single one of
33:45
the places I've referenced so far. The Lord meets
33:49
us at our most desperate. And it's raw and it's
33:54
messy and it's counter to our mind. But he meets
34:00
us at our worst and our most desperate and he
34:03
encounters us with his presence. He's a God of
34:07
redemption. He's the God of the but. But God,
34:11
nothing of our own merit. We are saved by grace.
34:17
He comes and he encounters us with love when
34:19
he knows we need it most, before we even know
34:22
we need it. So he meets Jacob, later to be called
34:28
Israel, there at Bethel. And one of the words
34:32
that stuck out to me that Jacob says is, I was
34:35
unaware. Surely this is the house of God and
34:37
the gate of heaven, and I was unaware. Now, watch
34:42
with me how this grows in our walk of faith.
34:45
I want you to think about your own walk with
34:46
the Lord. I can look back at when the Lord first
34:49
encountered me. I can tell you the story of when
34:52
I gave my heart to Jesus as a seven -year -old
34:54
girl. I can tell you when I got filled with the
34:56
Holy Spirit. I can tell you how the Lord encountered
34:59
me in water baptism. I could tell you, I could
35:02
spend days, we could have a week -long conference,
35:05
not have enough time for me to tell you the ways
35:08
the Lord has encountered my heart. In deep brokenness,
35:13
in deep sorrow, in deep joy and blessing. In
35:17
every moment of my life, he is faithful. He's
35:21
faithful to encounter us. But he's always moving
35:26
forward. And so he said, I was unaware, I was
35:30
in awe. And he names the place Bethel, which
35:33
in Hebrew means the house of God. And we know
35:37
he flees to his uncle Laban. He gets married,
35:39
he works. Again, dysfunctional family. He works
35:43
14 years, gets married twice. It's a whole thing.
35:46
And then the Lord visits him in Genesis 31, and
35:50
he says, I am the God of Bethel. Get out of this
35:54
land. And the Lord will speak to us. I've had
35:58
the Lord speak to me of, hey, remember, remember,
36:02
I'm the God who sees you. Remember. Lean back
36:07
on that testimony because I want to launch you
36:09
from it. Remember. Remember. You love me because
36:15
I first loved you. Remember how I first loved
36:18
you. Yeah. I just want you to be aware this coming
36:23
week. I believe the Lord has encounters waiting
36:25
for all of us. For so many of you, I feel specifically
36:29
just like it's heavy in the atmosphere. He wants
36:32
to encounter you. So just be aware. Be attuned.
36:37
Let him remind you. and then dig new wells. In
36:43
Genesis 31, he encounters him, and he says, I
36:46
am the God of Bethel. Get out of this land. And
36:48
then he meets him again. He meets him again,
36:51
and when he wrestles with God, again fleeing
36:55
for his life, worried about Esau coming, he's
36:59
meeting his brother again. He's walking back
37:01
into the same scenario he was in before, but
37:04
he's now a different person. Still a little freaked
37:07
out. Still walking in a bit of fear. But he's
37:09
moving forward in obedience to the same thing
37:12
he ran from before because God has transformed
37:15
him. Transformed him. And I promise I do speak
37:20
English. And he wrestles with God. See, we need
37:27
to never stop wrestling with God. Because as
37:29
long as there are things in us that resist, that
37:35
need to be melted away, we have to keep wrestling.
37:39
He wrestles with God and God changes his name
37:41
from Jacob, deceiver, to Isaac. And after he's
37:46
changed his name, after he's brought him his
37:48
own personal transformation, he brings him back.
37:51
In Genesis 35, he comes back to Bethel. And do
37:57
you know what the man whose name God changed
38:00
does at that place? He changes the name of the
38:05
place. from Bethel to El Bethel. And there's
38:10
a transformation the Lord continually wants to
38:13
do in our hearts from, oh, this is the house
38:17
of God to the God of the house of God. El Bethel
38:20
literally means the God of the house of God.
38:24
He wants to take us from a place of being unaware
38:27
of his presence to being aware of his presence.
38:29
And he wants to take us from being aware of his
38:32
presence to how his presence can transform us
38:35
to change our very identity. He wants to change
38:38
our identity and then let us walk in obedience
38:40
to go where he says to go regardless of circumstances
38:43
and whether it was painful the last time and
38:46
whether or not we're still fearful. He wants
38:48
to call us into obedience. And in that place,
38:50
then he wants to fix our eyes on him and say,
38:52
it's not about just my presence and coming in
38:55
and feeling my good presence and being aware
38:57
the Lord is moving. Seek the God of the movement.
39:04
As he transforms us, our focus should ever more
39:07
be transformed to seek the God of the house of
39:11
the Lord. There's continual, continual transformation
39:16
on offer. There's more I want to share, but we
39:32
have. We have tomorrow. So I'm going to bring
39:35
it in because I feel in my spirit that this is
39:38
what the Lord wanted to do tonight. To remind
39:45
you that you're not alone and that he's the God
39:53
that transforms. And it's the God that transforms
39:58
hearts. If he can change a single heart, why
40:02
not a city? Why not a nation? God, we just want
40:16
to say we're open and we're hungry. We want to
40:22
rebuild and re -dig, but we don't want to do
40:26
it. For ourselves or for survival, we want to
40:35
do it. We want to become ever more just captivated
40:41
by this God who changes names and changes nations.
40:53
Lord, would you shift our eyes off of ourselves
40:56
and onto you enough that we could be catalysts
41:01
That we would be confident catalysts in a nation
41:06
that is so hungry for transformation. God, I
41:15
ask that you would speak to each heart here.
41:18
Speak identity, God. Speak identity, Father.
41:29
Your word says that our lives are hidden in Christ
41:31
as we become ever more captivated and in love
41:37
with you. Would you tell us more of what our
41:40
purpose is here on this earth? Lord, would you
41:47
share the secrets of your heart with us and let
41:50
us run with the message and proclaim it boldly
41:52
in whatever sphere you call us to, whether it's
41:57
our next door neighbor. or a nation we don't
41:59
even know how to find on the map. There's transformation
42:07
on offer tonight. I just, if it's all right,
42:11
I just want to say, if you're, if you want to
42:18
build an altar tonight afresh, an altar of consecration,
42:24
I just want to invite you to deal with God wherever
42:27
and however that looks like for you. If you want
42:29
to come to the altar, the altar's open. And you're
42:36
saying, where do I even start? What do I begin?
42:39
What do I do? What David said, who is said to
42:42
be a man after God's own heart, he says, I will
42:45
not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing.
42:50
If you want to know where to start, ask God.
42:53
What in me has any value that I can give to you?
42:55
What cost me something? If it's my reputation,
43:01
you can have it. If it's my trust, you can have
43:04
it. If it's my money, you can have it. If it's
43:07
my obedience, you can have it. What cost you
43:11
something tonight? It might be the widow's might,
43:15
but God sees it. Moses had a stuttering lisp
43:23
and a staff in his hand. God used it. The widow
43:30
had a little oil and a little flour. God used
43:33
it. We don't hold anything back tonight, Father.
43:41
Papa, we trust you. You're a good father. You
43:45
only have your glory and our good in mind. We
44:09
don't have anything of value that we could barter
44:11
with you, but we just have, what we have is on
44:19
offer. It's not that it has any value, but to
44:21
you, it's just the sacrifice that matters. The
44:25
five loaves, the two fishes, we bring it, Lord,
44:28
we bring it freely. God of transformation, would
44:36
you meet us at the altar? and transform our simple
44:40
sacrifices, the little bit we have to give, and
44:44
would you make it something that honors and glorifies
44:47
you, Lord?