"He's Picking Us Up" Psalm 33:10-22

Transcript

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thunder last night was really loud [Music]

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everyday

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one oh

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is [Music]

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foreign [Music]

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okay just real quick couple things in case you weren't aware we are now uh

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at the fast track it's it's may it's a may already and so we're heading toward we have our anniversary celebration just

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three weeks away from today praise god and so we'll have promotions off that stuff and

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that day i don't know the exact schedule but i'm church that day it's a block party celebrating anniversary and like

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that which if you're a team leader and you're in the room remember you're supposed to be preparing to talk to folks about your ministry or if you're

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for that matter if you're a especially if you would if you know somebody else is not going to do it pick up the slack and let's get that done be

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prepared to talk to people about chasing be prepared to talk to people about the

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ministries that are going on the church and so on because hopefully we'll have lots and lots of visitors that day and we want to kind of

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be prepared to share and then at the same time one week after that is our all family fellowship at pearson park so we

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have the shelter house near the tennis courts there near the playground and we'll be out there

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uh sharing fellowship for eating food and that kind of thing we'll hear more

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about it as far as what we need to bring and make sure we have everything as we get a little closer block out those

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dates and be prepared to spend some time together with the church family and do some exciting things and that's coming

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fast more to come we have a uh the plan is yet in may uh

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hopefully in may we're having trouble picking a date but either in may or in june have our first spiritual gifts

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fellowship and it will surround the spiritual gift of exhortation so if you have the spiritual gift of

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exhortation then you are going to be invited to that to come share in a meal and talk about

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what that gift is how to use that gift and we're going to kind of polish each other hopefully and move that forward

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okay so that'll be coming up uh yet in may or toward the beginning of june and then at

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the end of june we're going on the 28th of june which is a tuesday night we're going to have a

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human trafficking event here on tuesday night opposite team kit and so team kid

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will go a half an hour longer that night and the leadership will have already committed that prepare for that whatever

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and in this room we'll have a detective who is an svu detective from you know what that is it's okay um talk about it

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later but anyway uh that will be here that night to speak and then also a person from the daughter

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project which is rescuing people from human trafficking and then and then i will speak and the whole thing will take an hour and a half

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so 6 30 to 8 ending with the last 15 minutes light refreshments like cookies and stuff like that and fruit in the

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cafeteria or if we anticipate too many people then we'll do that differently to make sure that we have space for

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everything okay so that's coming off the engine and then july 4th the night of july 4th opposite the fireworks downtown

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on main street main street in the citizens bank parking lot unless something changes we'll have our big

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block party again like we did last year and again that will be promoted and as you saw last year we do have a lot of

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names to pull from potentially have people come out to our events and stuff like that and we share the gospel and we

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saw people getting saved and he was professing christ and so we'll be doing that and that's going to

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be a lot of fun when you stack it all up but it's also a lot of work and so we

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and as you can see we need all our parts all our engine parts firing working

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together to get this done and i'm excited about that and if you're if the person are listening online or on the podcast they want to plug in and help we

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sure would love that but we really just need to honor god with these opportunities so block those things out

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in your schedule prepare to spend some extra time before during and after those events to glorify god i want to thank

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you to those of you who volunteer to invite folks who are looking for a new church home those we have sent out some of those and

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there will be more there's a lot of them but we bet right now we're keeping up with every week from the new heights

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pantry and then we'll also have folks in these toledo from the light station so it's going to be a lot and we'll just

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start kind of burning our way through them and catch it up and basically it's just inviting people to church and so we've

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had some good experiences with that some good stories and uh also some pretty happy prayer

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requests so as i pray this morning to open our service i'll be praying for a man named stephen

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who has been a client at a life station for years off and on and he is disabled he has uh

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i i would get it wrong to tell you but it's his lungs that are messed up might be bad copd or whatever but he's his

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lungs are messed up and he's not real uh physically able to do and um so he is

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technically disabled and currently homeless and so we're praying for him this morning and just remember we are so

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blessed if you're here you're blessed beyond what you know that's for sure because you're in just the right place

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for god to force you this morning but some folks are disabled and some folks are homeless and some folks are

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hungry and we want to do everything we can for them and we're going to lift them up this morning in prayer okay all right so

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pray with me if you would pray along in your head or out loud your seed or how the lord leads you and let's pray

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together here we go father in heaven i praise you i thank you for our many blessings you are a

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great giving god you have showered down on us in our worst hour when we thought we were in

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our worst place ever we realized now we were uh your

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instruments of righteousness in a difficult time that means we had things to do that were right in the what we

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thought was the worst time we were also being poured into by you you were taking care of us you were seeing us through i

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think about the things i did before i got saved and how some of them led me to have questions

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led me to be willing led me to be the person that you could work in you were at work from the moment i left the womb

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even before you woke everything together to be just right so that i could come

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into contact with you and you can save me and that's true for every person in this room saved or not

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you have blessed us you have given us so much and we praise you for being that loving

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giving father that you are at the same time lord we confess to you that we have made mistakes and even

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true errors of judgment we've pursued something gone after something loved something that wasn't you

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can confess our weakness maybe even today lord we've done things that did not honor you and we ask your

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forgiveness we know that it's available because jesus paid for it because the living word which could

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never die died and rose again because our god came and took on flesh

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because you would not stand for us being apart from you

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and we are so grateful no lord i thank you for the things that we have thank you for this place the

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building the chairs the carpet the muscle the minds attitude the perception the youth the

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strength the lord the encouragement your holy spirit salvation being

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available the ability to praise you and sing even for those who feel like they can't it's just not true

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lord we just praise you in every way and thank you for all that you've done gloria asking for those who are hurting

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there may be someone in this room right now it's hurting thinking about man there's that part of my life that isn't right i need a solution

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and i pray lord that you will provide them the solution and they will realize that that the solution isn't the

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solution it's the provider that's the solution and so father we ask you to

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work in us as you see fit and continue to bless your people call us to yourself but pray for stephen this morning lord

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he's homeless by his profession anyway and doesn't have a phone even and so it's that we can't call and can't even

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call him to encourage him but lord emailed me yesterday from the library and i just pray lord you watch

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over him and provide him you've done it before he miraculously intervened and i know he might not be right but lord we're all not right

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he's not deserving we're not asking you to do it because he's deserving we're not asking you to do it because he's an awesome guy or kind of pretty or

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something like that but we're asking you to do it because you are an awesome god and then lord we pray for our concerns

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and the concerns of our friends and our family we pray rebuking human trafficking and i'm saying i'm so

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i'm so sick and tired i know it's necessary but i'm so sick and tired tired of seeing those posts come up looking for this young person who just

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disappeared look at this young person has been missing now 48 hours lord and i'm not afraid because you or

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god and you know exactly what's going on but at the same time i'm asking you to review that in our city and across the

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world i ask you to review court this terrorism aspect where everybody's trying to make

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everybody else afraid so they'll buy this or that i'm just trying to make everybody else afraid i'll do this or that that we could be bold

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we could be real and we could be serving you shine in our light as brightly as it

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could possibly shine so that when they look they'll see our god help us lord and that this morning that

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would play itself out in this place praising you singing songs lifting up

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the name of our god we pray we'll do that here today ask you lord

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honest focus us and let us pay attention to the one thing in the entire universe that

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matters and that's you we pray all this in jesus name amen

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you switch the first two so ronald is

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another word was [Music]

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two heard three days

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could it be that jesus

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could it be

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oh is

Isaiah 14:8

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all right [Music]

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foreign [Music]

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is

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is [Music]

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so loud

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all right [Music]

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[Music] no more

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where are you [Music]

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is

Isaiah 17:9

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wow [Music]

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what is [Music]

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what if his people pray

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and what would

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oh

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people praying [Music]

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one of these [Music]

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speech

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oh [Music]

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all right everybody on their feet children can come to the front it's

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activity time [Music]

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you all my praises

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i will bring you

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is

Isaiah 23:17

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is

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me [Music]

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is

Isaiah 24:21

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is

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is [Music]

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oh

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is [Music]

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of faith it takes [Music]

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[Applause] is [Music]

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is [Music]

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oh [Music]

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oh [Music]

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reminding me

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is [Music]

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is [Music]

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[Applause] jesus

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and the point is

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[Music] the boys

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[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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your face [Music]

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waiting for you

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[Music] we're waiting here for you

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oh [Music]

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we're waiting here for you [Music]

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me

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you want to have [Music]

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is [Music]

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hey

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i am [Music]

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waiting um hear me

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is

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[Music] oh

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okay

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so last week i had a tiny little piece of paper like this and this week i got two pages i don't

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understand it doesn't make any sense to me either but here we go so have you ever considered

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that when you're in a difficult spot you pray for what you need have you

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thought about that uh i'll never forget uh some time ago i was coming home from

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bowling green and actually i was at a wic appointment this was when alicia and amalia

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were very young and alicia was at school

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and amalia was at home with me no i got that backwards i'm sorry mai was at school and aaron was about one and he

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was with me and we were coming back from the wic appointment and my van broke down on the side of the expressway

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and uh i had the stroller in the back of the van and i was about i was about two miles from perry lake and it was about

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85 degrees outside and i uh didn't have anybody to call

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and so i got the stroller out of the back of the van

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and i prayed lord just get us home safe and i put aaron in the stroller and i took an apple with me because that was

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the only thing i had that was that would constitute his food and i took aaron's a diaper bag and his bottle

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and i put the stroller on the side of the road i began to jog down the side of the expressway pushing the stroller in

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front of me and i was praying lord just get us home safe and a man pulled over and stopped and he

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was a city inspector but he did his car wasn't marked he that was his job but he wasn't on the job at the time and he

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said do you need a ride somewhere and i said yes and he said we can put that stroller in the trunk which we did and

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it didn't quite shut but we got it in there and he gave me a ride back to prairie lake where my other vehicle was sitting and so i was able to get the

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parts that i needed and they would get the van taken care of and blah blah and everything and i was praying lord just

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get us home safe and the lord sent somebody to pick me up and take me home

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not not a safe trip home but somebody to pick me up and take me home which cut the mild the two-mile jog down to like a

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mile and a half or so another time a car broke down and and we

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were like stuck in the middle of the road and i had no it was really early in the morning it was like 7 15 in the

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morning i was on woodville road and i had nobody to call i had my cell phone we had nobody to call 7 15 in the

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morning would go right down there by um the gas station right by what used to be called sun oil now whatever it's called

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the refinery anyway sunoco i think that's the gas station and i'm i'm just past the gas station my cars broke down

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and and so i get out and i'm going to push my car into the gas station i said all right lord give me the strength give me

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the strength to get this into the gas station and i'm 7 15 in the morning streets are

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empty and all of a sudden a car comes along and this guy pulls over he stops in the turn lane and he jumps out and

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said you need help get that in the gas station i said well yes i do and he jumped he jumped we pushed it into the gas station and i'm praying lord just

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give me the strength to get into the gas station and the lord sent me a person to help me push it in the gas station then

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ironically he said uh do you believe in pay it forward which is the thing if you remember pay

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it forward based on a movie and i said uh yeah i was really based on this or true story but then the movie came out

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everybody started doing it and i said yeah i believe in that not even knowing about the movie and i said in fact i'm a

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christian i follow the lord jesus christ and i try to help people all the time and things like that and we i wound up talking to him about jesus and and he

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was not a christian and he didn't accept christ but he did give me his little pay it forward bracelet so i could help somebody else later and give them the

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bracelet and i was praying lord just give me the strength to get in the gas station the lord sent somebody and we pushed it in

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the gas station another time the car broke down and it was also very early morning this was like

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really like before 6 a.m and like i was afraid to call anybody sherry was at home and it wouldn't have done me

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probably any good to call her and i and so this was way back in the day and i called i called stuart and i said lord

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just somebody said who could i call the lord put his name in my head this is sherry's grandfather and he was really good with

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cars and this and i said lord put give me somebody give me somebody to help me give me something i need somebody to

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help me and i knew it wasn't gas i knew it wasn't anything simple it was something major and um

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and so i called stuart and sure enough he was out of bed and he answered the phone his house phone down not his cell

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phone he didn't have a cell phone and he answered the phone and he said i'll be right there in like five minutes he was right there and and we got the car

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started enough to get it off the road and he said it's not going to run you're going to need a tow truck and so i got

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it off the road and god gave me exactly what i asked for somebody to help me so

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are you asking for exactly what you need when you're in trouble or um or maybe you just asking god to do

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his will that's the question so if you would turn with me in your bibles we're going to go to a unique place today and

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see a unique thing about the way god helps us and what we really should be asking for before we're through all

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right so it is psalm 33 amen

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amen this is god's word now every bit of god's word is useful for more than one purpose

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right as paul described to timothy this particular part of god's word god's word

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could be used in a lot of different ways for a lot of different purposes and we're going to hit several of those

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today so psalm 33 and i'm going to begin reading in verse 10. now before we're done we have to hit one other fairly

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long passage of scripture so if i go too fast i apologize make a note or raise your hand if you don't understand

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something and we'll and we'll hit it more intentionally okay so psalm 33 beginning in verse 10 this is what it

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says it says the lord nullifies the council of the nations he frustrates the

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plans of the people in other words if you make a plan you figure out how it needs to be done

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and you do it in your own strength or your own way or by your own intellect or even if you use the giftings and skills

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that god has given you right if it's your plan god will break it

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to nullify something is to make it useless okay so if you make your plans god will

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wipe them out now if you make plans that honor god that might be a completely different thing but

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basically saying human plans come to naught he frustrates he

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intentionally frustrates the plans of the peoples he says the counsel of the

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lord stands forever i counsel that direction or wisdom from god the vision

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would be the same kind of thing the picture that god has given you in the direction you should go that stands

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forever the plans of his heart from generation to generation

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so understand that god has the way things should go and if you are in line with the way god wants things to go that

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will stand and if you're not it will not bottom line that's what those two verses to get together say

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notice that he says his plans stand from generation to generation we often think

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about like okay what should i do okay i'm going to do that i think it's what god would want me to do and we go maybe it works and maybe it

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doesn't like maybe it ends in martyrdom or it ends in a terrible accident or it ends in a terrible

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financial situation or whatever and you're like oh well that that didn't work that didn't work for me you know i did

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what i thought god wanted me to do and it didn't work that's not the way what we're talking about it says god's plans continue from

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generation to generation job went through a terrible trial and literally lost everything except the woman who

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would tell him to curse god and die who was his wife he lost everything but her and in the worst moment of his life in a

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pile of ashes scraping the sores on his skin with a broken broken piece of a ceramic pot because it itched so bad and

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it burned so bad and it hurt he's trying to heal and he's scraping open his own skin and she says just curse god and die

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the only thing he didn't lose was that woman and i submit to you he never had her

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okay and so the bottom line is we see him later recover out of all of

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that and he's more blessed than ever god's plans succeed and continue from

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generation generation which means if you take them down to a moment in time a microcosm if you will look at the

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minutest of things and ask yourself did that work you might say it didn't work because you don't understand the plan of

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god the plan of god to take you through a moment in time that will strengthen you and make you a better person god's plans succeed

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continue will not be thwarted generation to generation over the span of your life

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your his plans will not be thwarted in the short term you might look at his plans i don't like his plan i don't

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think his plan works for me and that would be a huge mistake because his plans

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are not thwarted generation to generation it says blessed is the nation whose god is the lord

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well spoken of receiving good things taken care of is the nation the people the group and we now know the kingdom of

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god is those who trust in the lord through jesus christ right through god through the lord jesus christ there we

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go blessed is the nation whose god is the lord the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance

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blessed doesn't matter if you think you're blessed if you are in that group of people you are blessed the lord's plans

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will not be thwarted generation to generation 13 says the lord looks from heaven he sees all the sons of men

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from his dwelling place he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth god sees everything that's going on

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internally externally he understands the inner workings and weavings of everything that's going on with people

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everywhere he is not mocked we will get what we sow we will reap

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what we sow the lord looks from heaven he sees all the sons of man from his dwelling place he looks out on all the

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inhabitants of the earth he who fashions the hearts of them all there is god wove it together god put you together

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intricately he who understands all their works listen here and this is this is where it

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really gets meaty the king is not saved by a mighty army

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a warrior is not delivered by great strength a horse is a false hope for victory

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nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength see we think about the resources that

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god has put in our lives you have strengths such as it is whatever you have you have intellect such as it is

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whatever you have and we go well i've got a problem i need a solution we propose a solution and we

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think the solution saves us we enact the solution we do it well we manage our

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finances for retirement we save for preparation for something's wrong with our house

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we learn skills so we can fix something when it goes bad we

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discipline our children so that they will do well the reality is the psalmist is

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recognizing it's none of those solutions that actually solve the problem you can

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look at it and go well two warriors met in the street one day one guy was six foot four and four twenty and all muscle

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and had a short sword while heavy armor and a shield the other guy was five two

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skinny as a rail had a dagger and leather armor and no skill whatsoever they beat each other up and guess what

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happened the great big guy killed the little guy and we might observe that that when the great big guy kills a little guy that he did it because he had

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the better armor because he had a sword because he was stronger because he had more training right

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you might observe that and say that guy was definitely ready that guy was definitely not ready and so this guy

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turns that guy that just makes logical sense knights would go into battle on horseback and they would have heavy

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armor and swords to swing those long swords when they would swing a long sword down like that a man in leather

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armor or chain would literally be split into chopped right in half

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spear severed if he tried to parry armor ripped wide open destroyed in an instant

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by the swinging of that great heavy sword and you might say well that's not fair that night that his armor his training

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his sword that little guy coming against him because of that that night his training his sword his armor his

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strength his capabilities of course that little guy was gonna die he stood no chance whatsoever

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and the psalmist is saying no that's not how it actually works

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you're observing it yes you're seeing it with your eyes reason would dictate that you're saved by your strength or your

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finances or a mighty army saves the king or whatever but is that is not how it

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works behold he says verse 18 the eye of the

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lord is on those who fear him on those who hope for his loving

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kindness god is looking on and that means he's giving his attention to and you could even say applying his

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resources to to those who fear him of those who hope for his loving kindness

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continuing the thought to deliver their soul from death he is hoping that they will they were hoping that he will do

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something and it says his eye is on them to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine so in other

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words he will give you the basic sustenance of what you need in this life but really his eye is on you for

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something so much grander so much more than what you're currently dealing with god's great plans that will not be

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frustrated from generation to generation do not include whether or not you have a dollar in your pocket do not include

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whether or not you can curl 20 pounds or 50. they do not include whether you will get beat the snot out of you by facing

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somebody who's way more powerful you than or not that's not god's great plan for you god is aware of your

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circumstances god does want to sustain you and continue you so you can continue his work right but he's not about making

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everything go right for you his plan is much grander than that and those who look to him for his loving kindness

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he will deliver their soul from death verse 20 says our soul waits for the

49:32

lord he is our help and our shield

49:37

so this the shield is not the hell the sword is not the help the muscles not the help the intellect's not the help

49:42

the solution is not the help the guy who comes along to give you a ride not to help the mechanic not the help

49:49

he is our help for our heart rejoices in him

49:55

except i submit to you that we actually rejoice

50:02

in the help that we see we rejoice in the solution that is provided

50:08

we call ourselves followers of the one true god but we practice the same idolatry that

50:15

idolaters practice because they pray to idols and say help me idols and there's

50:21

no help the little stone guy doesn't do a thing money doesn't do a thing there's no help

50:27

for your soul in idols in fact no idol ever changed the weather no idol ever provided healing

50:33

no idol ever did anything and yet they pray to the idols looking for that help

50:40

then we pray to god looking for help and then we give our gratitude

50:46

to the help and we declare the help as worthy strength is good money is good

50:52

problem solving is intellect is good spiritual gifts are good we declare them as worthy of our praise

50:59

when they are not the giver the creator the god who sent the help that's the one

51:04

that's worthy of the praise we become worshipers of the good thing in this creation

51:10

where they are worshipers of the supposed good thing we become worshipers of the good thing in this creation just

51:16

as they are we get the help and then worship the help rather than

51:21

the helper and by that i don't mean the human helper i mean the lord god

51:27

our soul waits for the lord he is our help and our shield for our heart rejoices in him

51:35

because we trust in his holy name let thy loving kindness o lord be upon

51:42

us according as we have hoped in thee but have you

51:48

have you hoped in him or have you hoped for some solution to your problem

51:54

have you seen the solution that someone else found to a similar problem and hoped in that

52:01

or have you hoped in god alone

52:07

here's how we do it this is typical and it's just a reality number one we look for grand gestures

52:14

grand gestures is what gets our attention we want miraculous interventions and

52:19

sensationalism that's what we want i want god to show up in power

52:26

god send the fire god heal my cancer heal my pain heal my

52:32

woes in my hearts oh lord if you'll save me from the artillery i'll serve you for

52:37

the rest of my days we are like the man who was falling off

52:43

the roof and he said lord save me i'm falling off the roof it's a 20-foot

52:49

fall i'm surely gonna break my neck and as he fell off the roof a little nail caught the belt loop on the back of

52:56

his pants and he's hanging there and he says lord don't worry about it nail caught me

53:04

because that's the solution and as long as the solution comes we're okay

53:10

why do you think it is that god sometimes has to send people to the darkest places of their life before they'll cry out to him

53:16

because until they get to the darkest places and mind you this is from their perception because it probably ain't the darkest place

53:22

but they go to the darkest place because until they get to the darkest place they're not actually willing to cry out to god let us cry out to anyone and

53:29

everything else for a solution we're looking for grand gestures we've

53:36

got to know that the god of heaven did something miraculous if we're going to believe and we're going to trust him if

53:41

we're going to look to him for his loving kindness that's a boatload of snot is what that is you're looking for god to do

53:47

something great he's already done it

53:53

many times over but that's what people want grand gestures

54:01

we want solutions that we see and solutions we know will do what we

54:08

want but then even if and when we get those solutions

54:15

we should know those solutions are not what they appear to be

54:22

listen to me if you are poor

54:27

if you are weeping if you are down

54:33

in any way shape or form you've been beaten accept no solution except god himself

54:42

in the early days of new heights fellowship one of the many times that i've been there i found myself at what i

54:47

perceived to be a very dark place i was in the sanctuary pre-chairs at on uh two

54:53

and uh 613 main street the little building that we had over there and we had laid the carpet and brother

54:59

tony and i had uh brothers only barista dean tony brister had and i had laid the carpet in that front room and

55:05

and uh it was brand new and the room smelled like

55:11

what is it like acetone you know like an oil product because it was brand new and nothing had been in the room we had

55:16

cleaned the building and they painted and everything so the paint smell was there the carpet smells there and i was

55:22

laying there i was in the front room and and i was telling god i was like i can't do this i can't pastor a church i can't

55:28

lead people to you i can't i can't i can't i can't do this and god was saying to me he's comforting

55:34

my soul and he was saying well in me you can i can't we in me you can do that too i

55:40

can't do that and me you can do that too and i realized that if i tried to do it on my own strength i knew i was going to

55:45

blow it up i knew it's going to fail i was going to stay the course i before i got saved i literally quit everything

55:51

but breathing i have played three instruments and can't read a note

55:56

because every time i could start to play just a little bit like that's good enough and i quit i quit more sports more instruments

56:03

more jobs more everything i just quit i'm moving on leave it behind me more

56:10

tasks

56:16

and i knew if i did it in my own strength i wouldn't be able to do it and god was saying but you're not going to do it you

56:21

know what you're going to do in mine but i knew in me there was doubt i knew

56:26

in me there was a tendency to latch on to the solution rather than onto god

56:32

and i just wasn't really ready to give it up just like you know jacob wrestling with that stranger

56:38

and so i lay on the face on my face in a sanctuary on the new carpet with a new carpet

56:45

smell in my nose and i said honestly god i just don't want to

56:53

i don't want to do it in your strength i don't know how that sounds too hard

56:58

and i said god i'm not going to get up unless you get me up that's it

57:03

if we start with that right in fact i was thinking in my mind this is where i was at like i don't want

57:08

to breathe another breath unless god breathes the breath for me i want to study the bible unless god

57:15

studies the bible through me i don't want to preach unless god does that i don't want to encourage people as

57:20

god does that i want to do anything i don't want to cash another paycheck or pay another bill unless god that was my

57:25

mentality but i literally what i said out loud into the carpet as if there was nobody there except me and god and i

57:31

said god i'm not going to get up unless you get me up i didn't say make me get up because that

57:36

could be dangerous you know what i'm saying but i said unless you get me up and in my mind i had this image

57:43

of a man dressed all in white you know you know we get those pictures in the bible grabbing me by my arm and dragging

57:49

me to my feet and saying i said get up and do what i told you to do you

57:55

know and to this day i look back at the day and i don't i never got up

58:01

i didn't bend my knee you know how that is and like back then i was not as in good a physical shape as i am right now this is a long time ago but even then i

58:07

wasn't as good at physical shape as i am right now and when i get what it used to be when i'd get up you know bones and

58:13

muscle ache you know what i'm saying and i weighed more than i should have and i know i'd have known if i got up

58:19

you know what i'm saying the next thing i know i had this vision of my mind of him pulling me up like

58:24

like you pulling somebody off you're standing on a boat you reach down on the water grab by their wrist and just by the shear muscle and adrenaline lift

58:30

them up out of the water soft and wet and stand them on the boat i had a picture of that person in white grabbing

58:36

me by the wrist and picking me up and standing me there the next thing i know i was standing up

58:42

i really wanted to lay back down you know what i'm saying because i'm like that's pretty scary i'm like i wasn't quite done being down there yet but

58:51

that's a grand gesture that's what we always want we always want that flashy moment of god

58:58

clarifying with absolute certainty everything that we believed was true is actually true but look at what we just

59:05

read look at what the lord said it says the lord looks from heaven he sees all the sons of earth

59:10

from his dwelling place he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth he who fashions the hearts of them all he

59:16

understands all their works the king is not saved by a mighty army

59:22

is a mighty army a grand gesture well yes indeed it is because it isn't easy to gather a mighty army even no matter

59:28

how much money you got it isn't even easy to gather a mighty army

59:33

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength his great strength a grand gesture yeah those people in this room

59:39

are strong way stronger than me but would they consider them his self to have great strength are we talking about

59:45

bodybuilders and and great warriors power to do things you know are we is any one of us elon

59:51

musk going out to buy a 44 billion dollar company that's great strength financially by but by his own profession he's going

59:58

to hell and he knows it but he doesn't understand how to change it

1:00:04

interviewed on a christian program they asked him they asked him to be saved and he said you know well jesus is

1:00:10

saving people then you know i'm not going to tell him no but he doesn't know he doesn't trust he

1:00:15

doesn't believe he's got great strength do you have that do i have that is that what we need do we need elon musk's 44

1:00:22

billion dollars in order to be able to trust that god is doing something for us the fact is yeah that's what you need

1:00:27

it's what i need i'd love to have if i had that i believe in god absolutely i think the way it works

1:00:34

it's just not the way it works you're feeling good you're up because hey god's paying my bills right now

1:00:39

everything's taken care of that's not the way it works you don't get to be up when god is doing

1:00:45

things and down when you think god is not doing things that's not the way it works

1:00:50

you trust in the lord seek his loving kindness daily and he will watch over you

1:00:58

he will do what it is that he's promised he would do i have a video a little short excerpt

1:01:04

robert you hit the light for me this is a video from a movie called coach carter

1:01:12

it is a good movie it does have quite a bit of ball language you'll notice that the verbiage in this is going to be slightly off from what they're talking

1:01:18

looks like a chinese movie or whatever but it's because i had to cut one cuss word out so here we go

1:01:28

[Applause] [Music] [Applause]

1:01:36

[Music]

1:01:50

baby all day can't stop that can't stop that

1:01:55

hey coach your shoes on time sir oh thank you mr word

1:02:02

whoa look at that oh look at that i tied that i tried that can i get something on

1:02:08

the boat let me get some are you crazy what is wrong with you

1:02:15

what's wrong with all of you since when is winning not enough

1:02:21

playing hard not enough no you have to humiliate your opponent

1:02:28

johnny after every score you won four games last season

1:02:34

four what gives you the right to take the game that i love with trash talk and

1:02:41

time what gives you the right to wear richmond on your chest and act like

1:02:46

punks coach there with john too so you can't show some class

1:02:51

act like a champion

1:02:58

like here is the reality

1:03:04

if you are looking for the loving kindness of the lord he is going to do things in your life that's the reality

1:03:12

but is your faithfulness to him contingent on those grand gestures is it contingent on miraculous

1:03:18

interactions since when does winning

1:03:24

and playing hard become not enough heaven literally is in store for us

1:03:31

our souls are taken care of by the god of the universe he sees your heart which he wove together he is making sure to

1:03:37

seal it to regenerate it seal it and carry it through for an eternity into his presence to worship and serve for an

1:03:44

eternity in a perfect place with no tears pain or sorrow and in the meantime he has given us the

1:03:52

right to serve as part of the ministry of reconciliation to bring others to that

1:03:58

same perfect eternal end but that's not enough

1:04:04

what gives us the right to taint the game

1:04:11

the way that god designed it

1:04:17

but you're looking for solutions i get that and god gets that god recognizes that we are but dust

1:04:23

i suggest that we should trust him

1:04:30

when i was quite young i had nightmares every night

1:04:36

i i was being chased by a man through dark hallways of a place that i had never seen night after night i had these nightmares

1:04:43

and it really was affecting me and my mom would come and she would sit on the edge of my bed and she would tap her

1:04:48

knee like that like a nervous person which would rock my bed and as long as i knew she was there i

1:04:55

would sleep lightly and not go into deep sleep and i would not have the nightmare but night after night after night she

1:05:01

got tired of coming to my bed i got tired of never getting a good night's sleep she got tired of me never getting a good night's sleep parents in the room

1:05:06

can imagine how that was finally my dad who was rarely home when i went to bed one night was home and he

1:05:12

came up and he was going to sit on the bed because my mom did it every night and so he was going to do it for her

1:05:17

that night to give her a break and he asked me so what is the problem son i said well here's the problem dad and i

1:05:23

don't tell him at first because you know nobody looks like to look cowardly in front of their dad

1:05:30

finally i told him i said well here's the problem i'm having this nightmare every night and it's affecting my sleep and and um and i i

1:05:36

keep waiting for it to go away it's not going to go away and he explained to me that we can have a certain amount of control in our dreams sometimes you

1:05:42

can't control what else is going on but you can usually control what you do especially if you're you know sleeping lightly

1:05:48

aware and so i said well that's very interesting i hadn't really thought about that and he said so try go to sleep and just make the man go away

1:05:56

person who's chasing you that's okay i'll try it so i went to sleep and tried to make the man go in he didn't go away

1:06:02

well that didn't work so uh i woke up crying now it's the middle of the night one o'clock in the

1:06:07

morning and uh he comes up to my my dad comes up and he says what's going on son you have that dream again i said yes i did he

1:06:13

said he said well did you try to make the man go away i said i tried to make him go away but he didn't go away and he said well

1:06:19

i told you sometimes you can't affect the other things but you should be able to affect you he said so what is the man chasing you

1:06:24

with what does he have and he said well i i was thinking about my dream and i've never seen the man or what he had but i

1:06:30

i remember seeing at one point a pointy shadow that looked kind of like a porch a pitchfork and so i said well i think

1:06:35

he's got like a pitchfork or something that's not a pointed thing and he said so the next time you go in your dream

1:06:40

you have something better to fight him with and i said okay so i so i went to sleep

1:06:46

and and uh and in my dream he had a pitchfork and i don't remember exactly how i went down because it was several steps but

1:06:52

basically he had a pitchfork and i had like a bow and arrow so i could shoot him from a distance and i chased him off

1:07:00

and then he came again the next night and he had a gun i had a bow and arrow

1:07:05

because i was already ready you know because he got the pitchfork i was going to chase him off again and he came the next night and he had a gun i had a bow and arrow he had a gun i'm like so i was

1:07:12

deathly afraid again i'm running through the halls of the place and trying to get a shot at him and he's shooting at me with a gun

1:07:18

so then i went to sleep the next night and i had like a sniper rifle or something i could shoot him from really far away with and it just gonna

1:07:23

ultimately i had a tank and he didn't have anything for the tank

1:07:28

and finally i chased him away and he didn't come back

1:07:35

i submit to you that the solution to my problem was not the tank or the gun or the bow and arrow

1:07:43

it was my dad my father who loved me explaining to me that i am in control

1:07:52

the next thing we're looking for that happens all the time is intimate interruptions

1:07:58

we want intimate relationship with god don't we we're we're waiting like our hearts are aching we're like lord come

1:08:05

into me come come caress me come make me feel taken care of

1:08:10

you know with uh in relationship there's this there's this bible study called uh uh his needs her needs and so

1:08:17

scientifically they figured out that women want affection so they want physical touch or or a gift or something

1:08:24

they want to be treated with respect and love and men want

1:08:30

intimacy i can say it in here because we don't have any little people sexual relations

1:08:36

that's generally high and people and they feel valued and it's not everybody some people are different i get that some people want both and and to a

1:08:42

different degree and i think everybody wants both like women sometimes want sexual relations that kind of thing but the bottom line is we they have a way

1:08:50

that they're going to feel loved they have a way that they're going to feel intimately cared for and we're like that with god only god you've got to come to

1:08:56

me the way i want you to come to me i want you to come in my heart take care of me deal with my issues we want

1:09:02

genuine personal particular needs met joy lasting

1:09:09

presence of god that's what we want

1:09:15

but that's not exactly what we need

1:09:22

see we're damaged goods we've been hurt in a certain way

1:09:28

what happens a lot of times with people who are hurt in a certain way as they find somebody else who can give their way and they form a codependent

1:09:36

relationship and so now i'm not able to function unless my spouse does exactly for me

1:09:41

what i need her to do in order for me to feel okay about myself and she needs me to need her

1:09:48

so that's a perfectly good relationship as far as we're both concerned but it's a perfectly unhealthy relationship

1:09:54

because every time that person is not doing for me what exactly i need i am not able

1:10:00

and i'm submitting to you today that in our desire for intimate interruptions and experiential

1:10:07

joining together with god we are becoming more like codependent

1:10:14

we say if as long as god will do this for me as long as god gives me that feeling of comfort he'll fill me up and

1:10:19

he'll lift me up and he'll do this and that that then we'll do what it is that we're supposed to do but that is not the

1:10:25

way that god designed it that is not the relation yes you're supposed to be dependent on god

1:10:31

but god is who he is not who you need him to be and the truth is it's not who you need

1:10:37

him to be because god is who he is and that's who you actually need to be but your

1:10:42

perceptions are skewed you're trying to make him be something that he's not if you're following along in your bible you

1:10:48

can go with me to titus chapter 3. we're going to read a short passage of scripture there

Titus 3 · chapter mention

1:10:54

titus chapter 3. it's in the t's

Titus 3 · chapter mention

1:11:02

i'm almost there okay so titus 3 and we're going to read beginning in verse 1. it says remind

1:11:07

them to be subject to rulers to authorities to obedient to be obedient to be ready for every

1:11:14

good deed to malign no one to be uncontentious that means not causing arguments gentle showing every

1:11:21

consideration for all men for we also once were foolish ourselves

1:11:27

disobedient deceived enslaved to various lusts and pleasures spending our life in malice and envy hateful hating one

1:11:34

another but when the kindness of god our savior and his love for mankind appeared he

1:11:41

saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but

1:11:46

according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the holy

1:11:53

spirit whom he poured out upon us richly through jesus christ our savior

1:11:59

that being justified that means found innocent by his grace we might be made

1:12:04

heirs according to the hope of eternal life this is a trustworthy statement and

1:12:10

concerning these things i want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed god may be careful to engage in

1:12:18

good deeds these things are good and profitable for men you see

1:12:24

the process between you and god is not about god being exactly what you need him to be

1:12:29

god is exactly what you need him to be and here's what you need him to be you need him to be catalytic for change

1:12:36

he needed to be correcting you internally building you up and providing you with spirit leadership providing you

1:12:44

with fruit of the holy spirit which will then change who you are outwardly you

1:12:49

are not looking for a god who will meet you intimately and overcome your weaknesses and your needs internally you

1:12:56

are looking for a god who will change you completely on the inside which will

1:13:01

flow outwardly you doing works of righteousness works of goodness

1:13:09

making a difference in the world what people are doing is i'm making a difference in the world now where's my

1:13:15

atta boy i'm making a difference in the world where's my pat on the back i'm making a difference why do i feel empty

1:13:21

you feel empty because instead of going to god saying change me in any way you see fit to be the thing that i am one

1:13:28

day eternally going to be and then out of that flows your activity

1:13:35

you're doing your activity and like an idolater waiting for that activity to be

1:13:41

the solution to the feeling of emptiness that you have and it's not going to work

1:13:47

because nothing that happens out here as a solution will ever be the solution

1:13:53

to the emptiness the bible says that the holy spirit comes and takes up residence in

1:13:59

do you know how big that means the space inside you has to be

1:14:05

think about it for a second god is omnipresent he is literally everywhere

1:14:10

all the time in all three persons of god of the trinity god the father god the holy

1:14:16

spirit and god the son are everywhere all the time they all have that trait

1:14:21

so the holy spirit is everywhere then that means the holy spirit fills the entire existence of creation

1:14:28

the furthest star that you can see which supposedly scientists believe and i'm not supporting science here today that

1:14:35

it takes millions of years for the light from that star to reach the earth that star the holy spirit's there he's

1:14:42

everywhere that's how big he is and we have this notion that when he

1:14:48

comes and takes up residence inside us he somehow shrinks down to be very very tiny

1:14:53

no or well he just sort of he it doesn't mean he fills me up it means he like

1:15:00

he's in every bit of my fiber because he's everywhere right then what is the purpose of them saying

1:15:05

of god saying that the holy spirit comes and takes up residency that would mean nothing if the holy spirit is in you

1:15:11

just the same as it is in a leaf or a piece of bark that means nothing it says he comes and takes up residence

1:15:17

in you so how big does the space inside you have to be for the omnipresent

1:15:23

everywhere god the holy spirit to come and live inside of you in his totality

1:15:30

big bigger than everything bigger than everywhere you've ever been

1:15:35

and everything you've ever seen everything you've ever imagined that's how big the space is inside of you

1:15:41

have you ever tried to have a conversation with a friend from across a really big room

1:15:48

hey ron how you doing over there 25 feet away and it echoes over there there there right

1:15:55

that's what it's like inside of you you're looking for an intimate personal

1:16:00

relationship with god and a personal relationship with god is available but you're looking for this intimate

1:16:06

thing to take place inside of you where god builds up exactly what you want built up just exactly the way you want

1:16:12

it done and what he wants to do is come in and fill every last nook and cranny of your being that's as big as

1:16:18

everything he's ever created before inside you

1:16:24

and in there is your little desire to feel better about yourself and it's infinite infinitesimally small

1:16:32

compared to what god is doing the intimate interruptions that we're

1:16:37

looking for they too are nothing but idolatry

1:16:43

when aaron was very i'm sorry when alicia was very little i had the opportunity to see a very strange thing

1:16:49

for the first time ever in my life it was made of plastic and it was pink

1:16:55

it wasn't a hat because you put it on your head it was like this wide this long not i'm not talking about like a cheese head was like this long this wide

1:17:04

and it had like a little bed in it and there was a little rubber plug on the bottom if you pulled the plug out you could see right through like it's a

1:17:10

hole and i'm looking at this thing i'm like what the heck is that

1:17:15

that's a very strange thing it's useless tonight i felt in the little rubber spot on the bottom like a

1:17:21

little grip like you put your hand you could hold you put your hand in it oh it doesn't move that's weird and then i noticed that you could set it

1:17:27

on a ledge it was designed to be set on a ledge and i thought well you could use it like on a grocery cart maybe it's

1:17:33

and then it struck me it's a baby bathtub this is a bathtub for a baby i'm like why is it what do

1:17:40

you need a bathtub for a baby for like we have bathtubs literally and every house in america just about some

1:17:46

only have showers i'll get that and see oh god maybe it's for a house that only has a shower or you want to put a baby in the shower when they're new

1:17:52

and then sherry took alicia and she laid her in the baby bathtub with some warm water and a little soft

1:17:59

rag and some soap and she washed her up and

1:18:04

she started to kick and play and water was flying everywhere on the sink on the counter on the window

1:18:10

behind the sink on the floor like this little baby which is like this long kicking in the water and the water is

1:18:15

flying like six feet away and then there was on the baby's belly a

1:18:21

little piece of look like dead meat it was the umbilical cord

1:18:28

alicia was the only child that we had that i didn't cut the umbilical cord sorry about that leash that wasn't a

1:18:34

thing back then and she had to put alcohol on it every day so it would dry up and fall off

1:18:42

and it did and we bathed her like not every day every few days i mean

1:18:48

it was a lot of cleanup after bathing her so it was like every few days we paid through but every day

1:18:53

we treated the umbilical cord and eventually fell off listen to me you got this idea we've got this idea

1:19:00

that we need an intimate relationship with god we were born again as christians and then god was treating our umbilical cord

1:19:07

and bathing us and he's teaching us again how to walk and he's teaching us again how to eat he's teaching us again

1:19:12

how to live the intimate relationship that you wanted with god if you're a follower jesus christ you've already had

1:19:18

it you've already got it and he's there every moment of every day adjusting things

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sustaining you yes going through hard times is part of that alicia did not like the end of the bath ever amalia

1:19:31

didn't like the bath to start like you put on the water and she was screaming like loud as can be like a fire siren

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and she didn't like it to start with but it had to happen right babies don't like getting their

1:19:42

diaper change you got a poop on their butt it's left there they get this nasty rash and they break out and they bleed

1:19:47

and eventually gotta go get antibiotics and stuff for them because they get super sick from it if you let that go and they'll fight and

1:19:54

kick and they don't want their diaper changed that's what it's like with god you don't want i don't want in our flesh

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in our non-jesus man we don't want to grow and advance and walk and stay away from

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dangerous things and embrace the good things of life that god really wants us to have but god is doing exactly that

1:20:11

because really compared to god we're all babies

1:20:18

babies just want the boob it's all they really want for as long as they can get it

1:20:24

but they need baths and diapers and they eventually have to learn to eat solid food and like it or not those

1:20:32

intimate interruptions three o'clock in the morning where mom gets up and breastfeeds you

1:20:38

it's over it's time to grow up in the lord and do what it is that god has called us

1:20:45

to do the third thing i want you to see in there and then we're coming to the

1:20:50

conclusion and this has our last text oh i apologize video number two hit the

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like

1:21:13

we decided we're going to finish what you started sir yes so they must meet coach

1:21:27

[Music]

1:21:34

our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure

1:21:41

it is our light not our darkness that most frightens us you're playing small does not serve the

1:21:47

world there is nothing enlightened about shrieking so that other people won't feel insecure around you

1:21:52

we were all meant to shine as children do it's not just in some of us it's in everyone

1:21:59

and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same

1:22:05

as we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates

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others

1:22:17

sir i just want to say thank you you saved my life

1:22:29

coach carter with the talk about finishing is he requires them to be academically strong so they can

1:22:35

potentially go on to college after high school and they do most of them all the seniors did

1:22:42

and when the town steps in and tells them to end the lockout and he's leaving

1:22:47

for the day that's what he finds in the gym when he gets back there they've decided that they will be academically strong so the tom can take it away from

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us tom cannot believe in us the town cannot make us continue but we're going to continue

1:23:01

here's the reality there is a devastating deliverance

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coming god has a plan for us in the moment of

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that devastating deliverance if you're following along in your bible uh flip to isaiah 24

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our last no it's not our last text for the day i apologize but it's getting close

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okay isaiah 24

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i won't break it all down as we go through because it's lengthy but listen

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and this is what it says isaiah 24 verse 1 behold the lord lays the earth waste

Isaiah 24:1

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devastates it distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants and the people will be like the priest the servant like

1:23:56

his master the maid like her mistress the buyer like the seller the lender like the borrower the creditor like the

1:24:01

debtor in other words god god is no respecter of persons the earth will be completely laid waste and completely

1:24:07

despoiled for the lord has spoken this word the earth mourns and withers the

1:24:12

world fades and withers the exalted of the people of the earth fade away

1:24:17

the earth is also polluted by its inhabitants for the the they transgressed laws violated statutes

1:24:24

broke the everlasting covenant therefore a curse devours the earth and those who live in it are held guilty therefore the

1:24:30

inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left the new wine mourns the wine decays all the merry hearted side

1:24:37

the gaiety of the tambourines ceases the noise of revelers stops the gaiety of

1:24:43

the harp ceases they do not drink wine with song strong drink is bitter to those who drink it the city of chaos is

1:24:50

broken down every house is shut up so that none may enter there is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine all

1:24:56

joy turns to gloom the gaiety of the earth is banished desolation is left in

1:25:01

the city and the gate is battered to ruins for thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples as the

1:25:07

shaking of an olive tree as the gleaning when the grape harvest is over they raise their voices they shout for joy

1:25:13

they cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the lord therefore therefore glorify the lord in

1:25:19

the east the name of the lord the god of israel in the coastlands of the sea from the ends of the earth we hear songs

1:25:25

glory to the righteous one but i say woe to me woe to me alas for me the

1:25:31

treacherous deal treacherously and the treacherous deal very treacherously terror and pit and snare confront you o

1:25:39

inhabitant of the earth then it will be that he who fly flees the report of the disaster will fall into the pit and he

1:25:45

who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare for the windows above are opened and the foundations of the earth

1:25:52

shake the earth is broken asunder the earth is split through the earth is shaken violently the earth reels to and

1:25:59

fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack for its transgression is heavy upon it

1:26:04

and it will fall never to rise again so it will happen in that day that the lord will punish the

1:26:10

host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth on the earth and they will be gathered together like prisoners in the

1:26:16

dungeon and will be confined in prison and after many days they will be punished then the moon will be abashed

1:26:23

and the sun ashamed for the lord of hosts will reign on mount zion and in jerusalem and his

1:26:29

glory will be before his elders o lord thou art my god and i will exalt thee i

1:26:35

will give thee thanks to thy name for thou hast worked wonders plans formed

1:26:40

long ago with perfect faithfulness for thou has made a city into a heap a fortified city into a ruin a palace of

1:26:48

strangers is a city no more it will never be rebuilt therefore a strong

1:26:53

people will glorify thee cities of ruthless nations will revere thee for thou hast been a defense for the

1:27:00

helpless a defense for the needy in his distress a refuge from the storm a shade from the heat for the the breath of the

1:27:07

ruthless is like rains i'm sorry i say that again for the breath of the ruthless is like rain

1:27:13

storm against a wall that means it can do nothing like heat and drought thou dost subdue

1:27:19

the uproar of aliens like heat by the shadow of a cloud the song of the ruthless is silenced and the lord of

1:27:25

hosts will prevail a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain a banquet

1:27:30

of aged wine choice pieces with marrow and refined aged wine and on this

1:27:36

mountain he will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples and even the

1:27:41

veil which is stretched out over all nations he will swallow up death for all time

1:27:46

and the lord god will wipe tears away from all faces and he will remove the reproach of his people from all the

1:27:52

earth for the lord has spoken and it will be said in that day behold this is our god for whom we have waited that he

1:28:00

might save us this is the lord for whom we have waited let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation for the hand of

1:28:06

the lord will rest on the mountain and moab will be trodden down in his place as straw is trodden down in the water of

1:28:13

a manure pile and he will spread out his hands in the middle of it as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim but the

1:28:20

lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands and the unassailable fortification of your walls

1:28:27

he will bring down lay low and cast to the ground even to the dust listen to me

1:28:33

there is coming a devastating deliverance our salvation is the suffering of everyone who is not saved i

1:28:40

was sharing with a young believer this this week and she said to me she said i'm hurting over those who will not go

1:28:46

to heaven there are people in my life whom i love and they do not believe and they will burn in hell for eternity

1:28:52

that's what you're telling me and i said why yes that's exactly true there is a devastating deliverance coming there may

1:28:58

not be your version of intimate interruptions currently there may not be your version of grand gestures currently

1:29:06

but ultimately god is preparing you to be on the right side of a devastating deliverance we will go

1:29:13

up and all who do not go up will go down we will be built up and all who do not

1:29:21

get built up will be torn down there is a devastating deliverance coming and god

1:29:26

is not trying to prepare you for your great comfort t