One Thing- Turn Aside

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Everybody hold up one finger

and say one thing. One thing. Now if you've missed

the first two weeks, I encourage you to take

some time this week and go to our podcast or

go to YouTube and watch those services. Because

it builds. I mean, I can't re -preach everything

over the last two weeks. Because then I'd have

to preach for about three hours. And you probably

don't want me to preach for three hours today.

Even though I would have a good time. I'm not

sure that you would have a good time. Okay. Everybody

say one thing. We began the series by looking

at the account of Martha inviting Jesus into

her home. That's found in Luke chapter 10. So

Luke 10 · chapter mention

let's look at that together. As Jesus and the

disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem,

they came to a certain village where a woman

named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her

sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening

to what he taught. But Martha was distracted.

Everybody say distracted. Martha was distracted

by the big dinner she was preparing. She came

to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair

to you that my sister just sits here while I

do all the work? Tell her to come help me. But

the Lord said to her, My dear Martha. Most English

translations say Martha, Martha. Everybody say

Martha, Martha and shake your head. Martha, Martha.

But the Lord said to her, Dear Martha. You are

worried and upset over all these details. There's

only one thing. Everybody say one thing. One

thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered

it. And it will not be taken away from her. So

there was one thing worth being concerned about.

One thing necessary. One thing needed. One thing

not to be left undone. Does anybody have a to

-do list? I haven't completed my to -do list

in about 12 years. Some of you are looking like,

I've tried. It's not because I haven't worked

at it. But there's just always things that...

We feel need to be done. Every Monday, Jeffrey

and I sit down and we write out our to -do list

for the week. And that's just for the church

stuff, not for personal stuff. And most weeks,

there's still things on the list. We've had some

things on the list since before Thanksgiving.

But we have to decide what's most necessary,

what's most important. What is needed? Look,

all of us have to decide what we're going to

do and what we're going to leave off the list.

What we're going to not do. And I just want you

to look at this story this way, because if you're

going to leave something undone, don't leave

this one thing undone. This needs to be top priority.

If Jesus said one thing is necessary, then each

one of us need to... Sit up and pay attention.

Would you agree with me? He said one thing is

necessary. Here's what was necessary. Here's

what Mary chose. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and

heard his word. The most distinguishing characteristic

of Jesus was his words. The Bible says that when

people would hear him speak, they would just

say, wow. They never heard anyone teach or speak

with that kind of authority and even use those

words. Sometimes he used words that other people

would say and other teachers would say, but there

would be something a little different about it.

Like in the story that we're looking at today,

the next story that we're looking at. But Mary

sat at Jesus' feet and she heard His word. The

Koine Greek word heard, here's the definition,

there's a word, a kuo, you can pronounce it however

you want to, it doesn't matter. None of us walk

around talking in Koine Greek. Here's what it

means, to hear, to listen. I shared this last

week. We have a friend named Ken from Texas and

he preaches. He does a lot of school assemblies

and all that kind of stuff. And this is what

he always says. If you're listening, say I am.

And then he goes, I know you can hear me, but

there's a difference between hearing and listening.

So when people start daydreaming and wandering

off, He'll say, if you listen and say, I am.

And he'll keep saying it until everybody says,

I am. But this is more than just hearing. It's

listening, and it's more than just hearing and

listening. It's understanding. It includes both

the physical act of hearing and the deeper understanding

of what is heard. It's beyond just noise. It's

beyond just auditory reception. It's also an

attentive and obedient response to what is heard.

That's the one thing. That's the one thing that

you need. That's the one thing that I need more

than anything else. That's what we do not need

to leave on our to -do list undone. How many

of you know that the Word of God can make a difference

in your life? It really can. I mean, I'm not

just talking about just some kind of religious

duty to come here, the preacher preach, so that

you can rub a little bit of Jesus on your week,

like rubbing on some sunscreen or something if

the sun's out. That's not what we're doing. We're

not just rubbing a little Jesus on our week because

if that's all we're doing, then our lives aren't

going to be transformed. We're here to meet.

With the living God. We're here to hear a word

from him. One thing is necessary. To spend focused,

intentional, intimate time with God. And receive

a word from him. Now. There's a difference between

proximity and intimacy. You can have 14 Bibles

on your coffee table. You can even go through

the motions. Oh, got to pray. I'm about to eat,

so I have to pray. So I just spit off this memorized

thing that really means nothing to me. It's just

rehearsed repetition. Oh, the preacher said we're

supposed to read one chapter a day out of the

Bible five days a week. I got to read it as fast

as I can and get to my business. You know, preacher

said, try to come to church every Sunday. So,

you know, got to get up and go to church. You

can do all those things and still just be in

proximity and not have intimacy with God. That's

a good place to start. If you've never experienced

intimacy with God, it's a good place to start.

But you need to be desiring and expecting more

than what you've been experiencing. One thing

is necessary. The difference is desire. Everybody

say desire. The difference is expectation. Everybody

say expectation. God will meet you. Let me tell

you something. God will meet you at the point

of your desire and the point of your expectation.

He will. So here's the question. Do you really

desire to actually spend focused, intentional,

intimate time with God? If you don't desire it,

you're not going to do it. Because something

else is going to distract you, just like... Hey,

and it can be a good thing. Everybody say good

thing. Good things can distract us. Good things

can distract us. How many of you have been distracted

by something good? Doesn't have to be some kind

of evil thing to distract us. How many of you

know that the fried chicken and banana pudding

that Martha was fixing was a good thing? Hallelujah.

It was a good thing. But it wasn't the most important

thing, the necessary thing. See, Martha was working

in the house. She could hear Jesus' voice, just

the noise of His voice. But she wasn't receiving

what He was saying. She was distracted. But Mary

sat at His feet. And intently listened. She was

expecting something. Martha invited Jesus and

some of the disciples into her home. If you are

in Christ today, you have invited the Holy Spirit

to tabernacle in you. Your body is the temple

of the Holy Spirit. He's there. He's here. He's

here. Just because he's here doesn't mean that

I'm spending intimate time with him. It's just

proximity. We need to spend focused, intentional

time, intimate time with God. You have to desire

that. And here's the deal. If you understood

what a difference it would make in your life

to have that desire, I believe. your desire would

increase. Expectation. Do you expect? Did you

come to this place expecting today to experience

the manifested presence of God? If you're not

expecting it, see, here's the strange thing.

The person sitting beside you could have come

expecting it, and you come not expecting to encounter

God? that person beside you can walk out and

say, I didn't get anything out of this. And if

they told you that, you would say, what do you

mean? That was an amazing experience and encounter

with God. How did you miss it? Expectation. Expectation.

When you read your Bible, do you expect God to

speak to you? Do you ask Him to speak to you?

If you need some help, last week we focused in

on a prayer from Ephesians 1 where Paul was praying

for the believers in Ephesus and he was praying

that they would have spiritual insight and understanding,

revelation. And I talked about how important

that revelation is to our lives. So that paper

is still back there on the back. That'd be a

good place to start is praying that prayer for

yourself before you even open up God's Word.

Okay? Now, today we're going to look at a very

familiar story. And when the preacher starts

reading a very familiar story, sometimes you

just check out because you've probably heard

ten good sermons on this story. I've preached

a couple of them since we've been here. How many

of you know God's Word is living and powerful?

God can speak to our hearts today. Jesus gives

us an illustration. He gives us a parable. And

in this parable, see, it's an earthly story,

but it has a heavenly meaning. And here's what

He's wanting us to see. He's wanting us to see

who God is, who the Father is. And he's wanting

us to see, get this, who we are prone to be.

Just our natural bent. Who we're prone to be.

Now, we're only going to look at one of the sides

of who we are prone to be because that's the

one that fits in with the message today. But

I ask you to go home and read the rest of the

story and see. who else we might be prone to

be. Luke 15, verse 11. A man had two sons. The

Luke 15:11

younger son told his father, I want my share

of your estate now before you die. So his father

agreed to divide his wealth between his two sons.

A few days later, The younger son packed all

his belongings and moved to a distant land. And

there he wasted all his money in wild living.

Now, I want to point this out because normally

when we look at this story, we don't think of

it this way. But this son's desire, you can see

it easily in the story, his desire. was to get

all his father would give him. Right? That's

what he wanted. Give me all you can give me.

He didn't desire to be with his father. That

wasn't his desire. He desired to experience all

the world had to offer. Think about that a minute.

How many times do we want everything that God

has made available to us, everything that He

wants to give us? We want all of His stuff. We

want all of His blessings. We really don't want

to be with Him. We just want His stuff. What

we really want, what we really desire is all

the world has to offer. But we want everything

of God to give us just so we can experience everything

the world has to offer. Because life is short.

Eternity is forever. I'm just going to throw

that in there. That's that son. Sometimes that's

who we're prone to be. Now when we come to church

and we're sitting here at church talking about

it, you're like... Everybody puts on their little

Sunday school halo and it's like, oh no, not

me, never. Not me. Might be some of these other

heathens sitting around me, but it's not me.

Right? What you talking about, preacher? Let's

keep going. About the time his money ran out,

a great famine swept over the land and he began

to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire

him, and the man sent him to his fields to feed

the pigs. That's low. That's low. For a good

Jewish boy to have to feed pigs is lower than

low. And get this, the young man became so hungry

that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked

good to him. But no one gave him anything. Has

anybody ever had pigs before? Anybody ever had

a slop bucket under the sink and you throw all

the leftovers that you don't want to eat anymore

in a slop bucket and then you take it out to

the pigs and put it in a trough? Have any of

you ever said, Boy, I'm so hungry. I would love

to get a ladle and scoop something out of this

pig trough. I mean, you've got to be hungry for

that, right? You've got to be hungry. You've

got to be real hungry. That's how hungry this

boy was. When he finally, everybody say finally.

When he finally came to his senses, he said to

himself, at home, even the hired servants, Have

food enough to spare. And here I am dying of

hunger. He came to his senses. And he realized

something. Being with his father. Was what he

needed most. Now it took him to get to the bottom.

Before he got to the point where he realized.

That if I was with my father. I wouldn't be experiencing

everything I'm experiencing right now. Have any

of you ever got to a point in your life where

you seem like you are at the lowest low and it's

like you come to your senses and say, I need

God. Has anybody ever been there? See, it's who

we're prone to be. His desire changed. Here's

what he said. I will go home to my father and

say, Father, I have sinned against both heaven

and you. And I am no longer worthy of being called

your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.

So he returned home to his father. And while

he was still a long way off, his father saw him

coming. Listen. Listen to who God is. Filled

with love and compassion. That's God. Filled

with love and compassion, he ran to his son,

embraced him, and kissed him. Let me give you

a little side information here. The Pharisees

used to tell this story, but at this point in

the story, the Pharisees would say, how mad the

father was. And it's like he punished him. Yeah,

you know, I'm not bringing you back in because

you ran away. That's not God. That's who the

Pharisees told people who God was. Don't be messing

up because God will get you. God will get you.

I've heard some preachers say things like that.

Bless their hearts. One guy's whole message was,

God will set your fields on fire. It's not God.

Jesus is telling us who God is. The boy came

to his senses. Came back home. His father saw

him coming. I bet you this wasn't the first day

that the father walked out on his property and

looked at the horizon saying, it's today the

day that my son's coming home. It's today the

day that he comes to his senses. If the one thing

is not the one thing that you're after. This

is who God is. I wonder when my kids are going

to come to their senses. I wonder when they're

going to realize how good I am. I wonder when

they're going to realize how much I love them.

I wonder when they're going to realize how much

I've done for them. I wonder when they're going

to realize All the promises that I've made to

them. I wonder if today's the day that they're

going to come home. That their desire is going

to change. That their desire is going to be about

me. For me. I wonder when they're going to realize

how awesome and how much better Their situation

can be that they've been going through, if they

will just come to me, I wonder if today's the

day. The father, filled with love and compassion,

he ran to his son, he embraced him, and he kissed

him. See, his father desired that relationship

all along. He wanted to be with his son. But

he didn't force that relationship with his son.

It had to be, From his son's heart. Because if

you force love. It's not really love. That's

why God will let us go our own way. If we want

to. But he desires. For intimate fellowship with

you. His son said to him. Father. I have sinned

against both heaven and you. I'm no longer worthy

to be called your son. See, he just wanted to

be in a servant relationship, a hired hand relationship.

Because of all the things that he had done, he

ran away, wasted his inheritance. Listen to what

the father said. His father said to the other

servants, Quick, bring the robe. Everybody say

the robe. Bring the finest robe in the house.

There's so much picture here. It's the family

robe. It's not just a robe that any of the servants

would wear. This is like the robe that shows

who my boy is. See, he said, you know, I've messed

up. Just make me a hired servant. Daddy's saying,

no, put the family robe on him. Because I want

to restore him. I want to bless him. Did he do

wrong? Yeah. But that's okay. That's all forgiven.

In your case, in my case, you know, my son, Jesus,

died on the cross for that. Bring the finest

robe in the house. Put it on him. Get a ring.

Ring symbolizes authority. Bring a ring for his

finger. Signet ring. During this time, you know,

the government officials and even the family

would have a ring and they could seal something

with that ring by putting that symbol on it.

This boy's being restored. Get a ring for his

finger and sandals for his feet. Kill the calf

we've been fattening up for a good party. We

must celebrate with a feast. For this son of

mine was dead. He wasn't physically dead, but

he might as well have been dead because he was

completely separated from a relationship with

his father. His father had no idea if he was

alive or dead. This son of mine was dead. He

has now returned to life. He was lost, but now

he's found. So the party began. That's God. Jesus

wants you to know who the Father God is. Most

of the time we look at the story to see how bad

the boy did and all that kind of stuff, but I

believe we find out more about God in this than

we do ourselves, but I do believe we can see

a picture of ourselves. And then just to give

you a heads up, the other brother got all jealous

and mad. Because he hadn't ran away. He's been

there the whole time. He's been serving, but

he's had no parties. Sometimes we're prone to

get a little self -righteous, right? I did better

than they did. Why are they getting blessed?

Why does it seem like they're getting blessed

and I'm not getting blessed? Here's the Father.

It's all yours. It's always been all yours. It's

all yours. If you wanted to take a calf and have

a party for you and your friends, it was always

here and always available. But you didn't take

hold of what I had made available. So sometimes

we're prone to that. We're not taking hold of

the great and precious promises that God has

made for us. We're not reaching out by faith

and taking hold of it. So the Father says, that's

on you, that ain't on me. Look, he's talking

to his older boy. He says, basically he's saying,

I haven't held out on you. God's telling you

today, I haven't held out on you. You think I'm

holding out on you? You missed it. Because it's

all yours. I'm about to take off running. Here's

the deal. Being with his father, abundantly provided

everything the son would ever need or want. I

need to say that again. Being in relationship

with his father, being with his father, abundantly

provided everything the son would ever need or

want. Matthew 6, 33. Jesus said this, but seek

first. Everybody say first. Seek first. Everybody

say seek. Seek first the kingdom of God and His

righteousness. And all these things shall be

added to you. Doesn't that fit just right with

that story that we just said? Seek first. You

can't seek the kingdom of God without seeking

God. It's God in His eternal rule and reign.

Seek that first. His righteousness. It doesn't

mean that you need to bump it up a notch in the

flesh to try and try and try and try and try

again. You are the righteousness of God in Christ

Jesus is what the Bible says. If you're in Christ,

you're right with God. If the boy was back with

his father, he was fully restored. You're right

with God. I spent so many years in my relationship

with God just beating myself up every day because

I just couldn't be good enough. Talked about

that last week. I rededicated and rededicated

and rededicated so much that my rededicator wore

out. Because I thought it was about my ability

to keep the rules and to be good. And if I didn't

do it, then God was going to be disappointed

in me. Here's the deal. God knew you couldn't

do it. That's why Jesus... came and died for

your sin in your place on the cross. That's why

Jesus came and died for you, because you couldn't

do it. Some people might say, well, preacher,

when you talk like that, people think that they

can just do whatever they want to do and live

their own way and live their own life. Listen,

if that's what you get out of what I just said,

you don't even know what grace is. Seek first.

I didn't write down the Greek words, but I wrote

down the definitions. Seek. It means to seek.

It also means to worship. It means desire. Everybody

say desire. Everybody say aha. Aha. To seek.

To worship. To desire. First. First in time,

first in place, first in order, first in importance.

Before you desire anything else, this should

be your one desire, the one thing. Jesus told

Martha the same thing. He said, Mary chose the

one thing that was most needed, most important.

Jesus told us a few more parables that hopefully

will inspire you and me to understand just how

important the kingdom of God is. We live in this

earth and it's like we think everything else

is more important. Good things, sometimes bad

things. We think it's... We think they're more

important. Here's what Jesus said. The kingdom

of heaven is like a treasure. Everybody said

treasure. Does anyone want to find the treasure

of the kingdom of heaven? Well, the one thing's

important. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure

that a man discovered hidden in a field in his

excitement. He hid it again. He sold everything

he owned to get enough money to buy the field.

Because when he bought the field, he got the

treasure. Here's another one. Matthew 13, 45.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant

on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered

a pearl of great value, the most amazing pearl

that he had ever seen in his life, he sold everything

he owned and bought it. You might say, well,

now you're talking about treasures and talking

about pearls and what's that have to do with

anything that you're talking about. Please don't

miss it. Please don't miss it. This one thing,

spending focused, intentional, intimate time

with God. I want you to see that as a treasure.

I want you to see that as this pearl. It's the

one thing, the most important. We need to seek

first. Seek first. When being with the king is

your priority, all the benefits of the kingdom

will be available to you. It was an old hymn

that I grew up singing. Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Look full in his wonderful face. Listen, and

the things of earth will grow strangely dim in

the light of his glory. His glory is his manifested

presence. Have you ever experienced the manifested

presence of God? The glory means... The heaviness,

not a bad heavy, but a good heavy. It's like

the manifested presence of God just like sits

down. When being with the king is your priority,

the benefits of heaven will be yours. Another

story. I'm going to turn to Moses. Moses grew

up in Egypt. Do you remember the story? Are you

familiar with the story? Moses grew up in Egypt.

He was a Hebrew, but he was part of Pharaoh's

family. He got adopted into part of Pharaoh's

family. He saw the Egyptian guards and taskmasters

beating up. some of the Hebrew slaves. He could

look at himself and see that he was a Hebrew.

He didn't look like his brothers and sisters

and his adopted dad and adopted mom. He didn't

look like them. He knew he was Hebrew. He saw

him beating some of the Hebrew slaves. He intervened

and wound up killing one of the Egyptians. Then

he ran off. Now that... What I just described

to you was part of his first 40 years. Everybody

say 40 years. His second 40 years, he was out

in the wilderness taking care of what became

his father -in -law's sheep and goats. So this

is where we're going to pick up on the story.

Moses was focused on the details of his everyday

life. Everybody say, just like Martha. He was

focused on the details of his everyday life,

taking care of his father -in -law's flock, and

that word flock in the Hebrew can mean sheep

or goats. I don't know what he was taking care

of that day or if they were all mixed together.

I don't know. And as he was out there just minding

his own business, going through his daily routine,

the angel of the Lord, everybody say Christophany.

I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on

this, but there are times in the Old Testament

where theologians have discovered that this wasn't

just a regular angel. It wasn't just a messenger

angel. This was actually a pre -incarnate visit

of Christ. The angel of the Lord appeared to

him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.

I'll go ahead and tell you this. The main reason

they say that is because sometimes when you see

the angel of the Lord, he received worship. And

angels don't receive worship. Shouldn't receive

worship. And the angel of the Lord appeared to

him in a flame of fire from the midst of the

bush. Have you heard this story? Listen, so he

looked, and behold, the bush was burning with

fire, but the bush was not consumed. It wasn't

being burned up like a normal little campfire.

Then Moses said, I will now turn aside. Everybody

say, turn aside. I will now turn aside. I want

to turn aside from my sheep and my goats and

my task of everyday life. I'm going to turn aside

and see this great sight. Why the bush does not

burn. Listen very closely to the next verse.

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to

look. It's just exploded in me, I hope. Now he

turned aside, but then when the Lord saw that

he turned aside to look, when the Lord saw that

Moses turned away to turn aside to look, when

he did it, God spoke to him. Do you see the connection?

Or do I have to just like type it all out for

you again? I hope you're with me. When the Lord

saw that he turned aside to look, God called

to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses.

Moses. And he said, here I am. When God saw Moses

turn aside from his routine tasks and concerns,

God spoke to him. And I'm here today to tell

you that when you turn aside, when you realize

that turning to God and turning aside and having

that first priority to seek first, to have that

intimate fellowship with God, to spend... Quality

focused time with God. He's going to speak to

you. But you have to desire it. And you have

to expect it. This word from God. Changed Moses'

life. It led. To his becoming. And if you weren't

here last week. That was the focus of the message

last week. When God spoke to Samuel, that led

to him becoming. I want to tell you that a word

from God can lead to your becoming. Becoming.

Who God wants you to be. One word from God can

change your life. Let's continue in Exodus 3

.5. Then he. Angel of the Lord. Said this. Do

not draw near this place. Take your sandals off

your feet. For the place where you stand. His

holy ground. Everybody say manifested presence.

Manifested presence of God. His holy ground.

He encountered the glory of God. This encounter

with God and his manifested presence opened up

the next 40 year season of Moses' life. And out

of everyone in the Bible, I'm going to make a

statement. I want you to try to prove me wrong,

if you can. But out of every character in the

Bible, we probably have recorded, documented

words of encounters with God, with Moses. So

this was the first time. And now we have a 40

-year season of Moses' life where he's spending

focus. I mean, he went up on the mountain for

40 days. He spent time with God. I mean, he just

turned us out of everything and went up on the

mountain. Everybody's at the bottom of the mountain

going, well, is he alive? There are throughout

Scripture where after they leave Mount Sinai,

Moses would go to the tent of meeting and everybody

would come outside and watch as the cloud, the

glory cloud would come and rest. Everybody was

excited because Moses was talking with God and

he was about to let them know what God was saying.

Listen, now you can go directly to God yourself.

You don't have to go through a priest. You have

access. You have access. Come boldly. As a child

of the Most High God, come boldly. Not like that

son. I'm so unworthy. So unworthy. I've messed

up. I've done wrong. Please, please, please,

please, please. Don't come begging. Moses became

somebody. The deliverer of God's people. This

word from God led to his becoming. One word from

God can lead to your becoming. I mentioned a

part of this last week. This morning as I was

studying again, I just have to tell you more

details to the story. If you were here last week,

you heard me talk about a day in my life that

was probably the darkest day of my life. You

know, Gannon and I were pulling out the Atlas.

Some of you have never seen an Atlas. An Atlas

is a paper book with a state on each page with

all the roads. It's a map. It didn't have GPS.

Pulled out the Atlas. There were three options.

In my mind, three options. I was either going

to be an evangelist to the nation of Canada,

an evangelist to the nation of Mexico, or I was

going to start a prison ministry. It was a bad

day. And it was a result of doing good things,

you know. Signed a bunch of contracts. Had a

youth conference. You know, I had 1 ,600 seats

at that first conference. All I needed was about

1 ,000 of my friends. I mean, I had friends in

20 states. Friends with pastors and youth pastors

in 20 states. All I needed was about 1 ,000 people

to show up. Less than 300 people showed up. It's

like, I'm not telling anybody in the room to

write a faith check because that was probably

not, you know what a faith check is? A faith

check, everybody's had a faith check. That's

writing a check when you don't have the money

in the bank to cover it. By the way, that's illegal

in all 50 states. But I've been walking with

God and I was like, God, every decision I made,

I was led by the Spirit and I was led by God.

And then now, I owe more money than I borrowed

to build my first house. There was no way I could

pay for it. Called the banker. Said, I wrote

some checks. They're going to be coming. Please

don't return them without talking to me. Had

a great guy working with me at the bank. I started

working. I called the bank, too, and I said,

can I borrow this money? And the guy that was

holding the checks for me said, Dean, I believe

you're good for the money, and I believe that

you'll pay it, but... I might lose my job if

I let you borrow this money because you live

in a motor home. How could I even find you? Well,

finally one day he called and he said, Dean,

all the checks are here. I'd just been, I'd talked

to other people asking for co -signers. It was

a bad day. And I know some of you are saying,

you should have never done that. Well, I was

in trouble. Has anybody ever been in trouble

before? I was in big trouble. I'm going to be

a Canadian or a Mexican evangelist or start a

prison ministry. He said, they're all here and

we've got to do something in the morning. Now,

how many of you know that I was having a bad

day at that point? Over $50 ,000, bad day. God.

Don't drop your teeth. So I went to bed. Tossing

and turning. What are we going to do? Terrible.

Terrible night. Just tossing and turning. Could

not go to sleep. Trying to go to sleep. So worried.

Had so much fear. Fear and worry was just overwhelming

me. It was dark. You think I'm crazy? I'm going

to tell you this story. About 3 o 'clock in the

morning, all of a sudden, it wasn't an audible

voice, but all of a sudden, just, you need to

go outside. Go to the beach. And we were on the

front row of a campground. There was a walkover.

And then the beach was just right there. Three

o 'clock in the morning. I mean, it's cold outside.

You need to get out of bed and go to the beach.

I've been saying, God, where are you? I mean,

I've been walking with you this whole time. I've

been following you this whole time. And now it's

just silent. Where did you go? Why did you leave

me now? I'm in trouble, God. Where are you? Go

to the beach. Can you believe I was so, I'm not

supposed to say stupid, but I'm talking about

myself. Can you believe that I was so stupid

that I was saying, I don't need to get out of

bed. It's cold. At least I'm warm here. I know

I can't sleep. Just over and over again. You

need to get up and go to the beach. This is God

talking to me. So finally. After arguing with

God, I've been saying, why? Where are you? Why

did you quit? What's going on? Now he's talking

to me and I'm arguing. Not very bright. Finally

get up, get dressed, go outside. The fog is so

thick. I've never seen fog that thick before.

It was so dark and the fog was so thick, I could

look at my hand and not see it. I could see a

little speck because there was a street light

right where the walkover goes. I could see just

a little round dot, but it wasn't putting any

light around me. I could just see that dot in

the distance. So I walk in this thick fog, can't

see anything. I walk up the steps. There's a

wood walkover over the dunes, and I get to the

top, and then that same still small voice says,

Stop. And then God asked me a question. He said,

where's the ocean? So now I'm just standing out

there. If anybody would have been looking, I'm

just talking to myself. It's right there. I even

point it. It says right there. God said, how

do you know it's there? He said, you can't see

it. I said, I know it's there because I've stood

on this bridge before and I know where it is.

I've seen it before. It's right there. I can

hear the waves crashing. It's there. He says,

yeah, but you can't see it. And then in a still

small voice that was louder than anybody's ever

spoken to me, God said, I'm here. One word. Everybody

say one word. One word. Now there's so many Bible

verses that say, I will never leave you or forsake

you. Right? So many times God says that. And

I knew those verses. But I was in a bad place.

When he said, I'm here, that's all I needed.

I walked back to the RV, and I went back to the

back, and I got in bed, and I went to sleep as

soon as my head hit the pillow. I want to ask

you a question. Did I still have a problem? Had

anything changed? No. Still had the same terrible

problem. That it had me overcome with fear and

worry to the point that I didn't know what I

was going to do. But now I had a word from God.

That one word from God immediately changed the

situation that I was facing. Now I had peace

that surpassed understanding. Because still in

my understanding, I was still in bad trouble.

But now I had the peace of God that surpassed

that understanding because I had a word from

God. The next thing I heard was a telephone ringing.

Somebody on the other end of the phone said,

Dean, God told me this morning to call you and

ask you if you needed anything. I promise you.

God told me to call you and ask you if you needed

anything. See, I was still at the point where

I thought that nobody could help me. This was

too big. Too big. So I hemmed all around, and

then he said this, and I'm glad he said this.

He said, If you have too much pride to tell me

what you need, I'm going to hang up and you better

not call me back. So I swallowed real hard and

told him. Listen, within one hour, everything

I needed was wired into our ministry bank account.

With another thousand dollars on top of that.

So that me and my family could eat that month.

I've got some other words from God. But I'm supposed

to share that one with you today. Because when

I say one word from God can change your situation.

And one word from God can change your life. I've

experienced what I'm telling you about. You might

not think spending focused, quality, intimate

time with God is what you really need, but I'm

going to tell you, that's what you really need.

More than anything else, that's what you need.

And Jesus said, one thing is necessary. James

4 says, if you'll come close to God, He'll come

close to you. If you'll turn aside and turn to

Him, He will come to you. Just like that Father

running with love and compassion and restoration

and deliverance and freedom and life. My, my,

my. The church gave me this button last year

for my birthday. That's some of the people in

this room saying amen. I just had to have some

amen right there. I wasn't getting any. When

turning aside becomes your priority, you'll encounter

God and experience His manifested presence. When

you experience His manifested presence, you will

discover that everything you need is available

to you in Christ. It's available. Everybody say

one thing. One thing is necessary to spend focused,

intentional, intimate time with God and receive

a word from him. This online worship experience

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