Hot Seat Part 2 | Disabilities & Disorders? with Stephen Dunn

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We hope this message encourages you, challenges

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Now, let's hear the message. Well, this is awkward.

Hey, everyone. How are you? I'm Stephen. I'm

the youth pastor here. This is Nevaeh. If I die,

she'll take over. Hopefully. Okay, good. Now,

I'm going to shut up. She's going to pray. Because

better a strong, independent woman pray us in.

Because behind every strong man is an even stronger

woman. Am I right? So she's going to pray for

us, and we're going to lock in, and we're going

to see what the Lord has for us. Sound good?

Okay. Holy Spirit, come. Thank you for this Sunday

and everybody that was able to make it. We pray

for Stephen as he gives the message. Lord, just

speak through him to... like for everyone to

receive it and open our hearts so we can listen

and receive what he has to say this morning.

In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank

you, Nevaeh. Thank you, Nevaeh. How is everybody

doing? Hot seat. Hot seat part two. This is the

hot seat. It's autumn colored. This series is

based off of the hot seat. The person in the

hot seat has to answer a question that somebody

from our community of faith had given. About

a month ago, we sent out a piece of paper and

we said, hey, if God was right in front of you,

standing right there, what would you ask him?

What would you ask God? Would you ask him if

your loved ones are in heaven? Would you ask

them if your dog's in heaven? Would you ask them

if you're doing enough? Would you ask them if

this person is the one I should marry? What are

you asking them? And then each of our pastor

team this month is going to be assigned one of

those questions and we're going to answer it.

I was delighted when I got my question. A lot

of people don't know this, but before I was the...

handsome youth pastor that I am today. I was

a special education teacher for a local middle

school. I taught Summit, if you don't know what

that is. It's kids who think emotional differences.

A lot of chairs thrown in my classroom. And my

degree is in special education K through 12.

So I was... whenever the question that was given

to me was, how does God view my disability? How

does God view my disability? I'll be honest,

when I first got this question, I was like, bro,

that's such an easy question. God views your

disability the same way he views my sin. He looks

past it and he sees you for you and he says you're

a child of God and you're loved. Well, have a

good weekend, everyone. I think that's good enough.

But no, I think what I really wanted to talk

about wasn't the question, because I think I

just answered it. The answer, spoiler alert,

is God views your disability as something you

have, not something you are. That's the answer.

But we're asking the question now. I have a counter

question. You had one question, my friend. One

question. And you asked about your disability.

You had one question. Finances. How do I get

a Lamborghini? How do I forgive my mom? How do

I stop watching this or stop drinking this or

stop doing this? How do I know I'm going to get

into heaven? God, are you even real, bro? And

you're asking about your disability. And see,

I would say that's how culture taught us to view

you. You see, 100 years ago, we were ashamed

of people with disabilities. Put them on an island.

Hide them away in a facility, bro. They're cursed

by God. And our culture nowadays does a much

better job at supporting people with disabilities,

but we've been so focused on the disability,

we don't see the person. You see, I have jumper

cables in my car. I carry them around on me in

case somebody need them. But people don't refer

to me as the jumper cable guy. It's just something

I got on me. The disability is just something

you got on you. It ain't Bob in the wheelchair.

That's what people refer to you. Oh, it's Bob.

It's Bob in the wheelchair. I'll never forget.

We did this like... sensitivity training and

happy just rolled your eyes when i said this

but we did this sensitivity training at school

when they threw up this picture and it was a

young black man in in a wheelchair holding a

diploma and he just graduated from hcc and the

school was like behind him because you know where

you graduate you you uh go to like the gym area

you know and then but anyways they flipped the

picture and they had a show for about three seconds

one mistake two minutes three minutes and then

turn it off And then we're supposed to discuss

in groups. Describe the picture to someone in

simple terms. Most people said, hey, that's the

kid in the wheelchair. They showed a picture

of another young black man at front of HCC holding

the same diploma. Showed up the picture. They

said, describe the picture. Oh, that's the kid

that graduated from HCC. See, culture has taught

us to view the disability. and has taught us

that our sole interaction with that person is

to accommodate. We look at the disability, we

spot out the disability, but we don't go past

the disability. Our love for people is based

on the disability, not of the person that they

are. Would you agree with me? I mean... We have

groups for disabled people. Where's the groups

that just have normal people? We're all normal.

See, I'd say we're all disabled. Won't that preach?

We're all disabled. Here, the Cambridge Dictionary

definition of disabled is having an illness,

injury, or condition that makes it difficult

to do some things that other people do. Some

people know when to stop after two drinks. Some

people know how to go a week without watching

that thing. Some people know how to self -regulate

without smoking. Some people fill in the blank.

We're all different in some ways. So if you thought

you got a free pass on this message, you're beat.

Because we're all a little disabled. We all have

abilities and disabilities. We all have things

we struggle with, whether it's a disabled or

a disorder. We're all struggling, man. Am I right?

But is your identity the disability? Is your

identity in the disorder? You introduce yourself,

hey, what's up? I'm bipolar depressed. Thanks

for the warning, yo. Do you introduce yourself

as the autistic guy? What do you introduce yourself

as? What is your identity? When you look in the

mirror, do you see your disability? Or do you

see a person? See, if you go throughout the Bible,

there's very hints and whispers at how God views

people with disabilities. And I want to go into

one of my favorite stories from the Bible, and

I really want to pick it apart and show you how

God... views individuals with disabilities and

how God challenges individuals to view themselves.

Make sense? So in the forefront of your mind,

I want you to start thinking, what is fighting

for your identity? Whenever you introduce yourself,

if I said, write a sentence right now saying,

I am what goes before child of God. That's what

we're talking about today. Make sense? So I'm

in Judges 3. If you got a Bible, go to Judges

3. If not, it'll be on the Sky Bible. I'm going

to be going crazy back and forth, so shout out

Miss Katie and the camera team for trying to

keep up with me. If you're currently watching

at HHC, what's up? Judges 3. Judges! Guilty,

not guilty. That's not what we're talking about.

Judges are military leaders. They're assassins.

They're the Navy SEALs. And God chose them to

step up and take over Israel. Because at the

time, we see the Israelites turned away from

God. God said, all right, Ben, if that's what

you want to do, go ahead. I ain't going to punish

you. I'm just going to let you face your own

consequences. People come in and enslave the

Israelites again in their own promised land.

And then they say, God, I'm sorry. And then God

gives them a judge to step up and recapture Israel.

That is the book that we're reading. This is

happening in the 14th century BCE, also known

as the Late Bronze Period. If you know what that

is, you need to touch grass and stop reading

so much books. Judges 3, verse 12. We know that

Judges 3:12

the judge that we're reading about is one of

the most honorable judges because it is a literary

design of the book of Judges that there's a small

downslope of the integrity of each judge, ending

with the last judge of Samson. You see, starting

with the first judge, going all the way down,

we see that their heart and their character and

their faith is slowly going away from God. We

see in the later book, there's a judge who sacrifices

people, saying that it's for God. And God's looking

at him like, bro, is you stupid? I don't believe

in child sacrifice like the Moabites do. Anyways,

I'm going to shut up. Judges 3, verse 12. Again,

Judges 3:12

the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Don't forget, this is God's word. This is 4 ,000

years old. If I can prove to you God's viewpoint

on your disability through this, I think you

have to listen. Because I'm just a guy, bro.

I'm just a guy. Let's dive in. Again, the Israelites

did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Because of

this, the Lord gave Eglon, Eglon, king of Moab,

power over Israel. They took over. Eglon, in

the original language, means cow -like. That'll

make sense later. Put that in your cap. 13, getting

the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join him.

He brought the whole gang with him. Eglon came

and attacked Israel. They took possession of

the city of Palms. The city of Palms is the city

of Jericho. This is the city that the Israelites

just fought for 100 years ago. That the promised

land of God is now taken over by the Moabites.

The Israelites were subject to Eglon for 18 years.

Again, the Israelites cried out to the Lord and

he gave them a deliverer. Miss Katie, can you

keep that right there? Whenever I picture a deliverer,

Picture some terrorist group just took over Chicago.

Whenever I picture a military leader, whenever

I picture a judge, a deliverer, I picture someone

that looks like John Cena. I picture someone

that got shooting skills like the American sniper.

I picture someone that could take out a whole

team and be fine. I'm talking Call of Duty. But

here's the interaction we get. It's not Ehud,

the decorated war vet. It's not Ehud, the trained

soldier. It's not Ehud. It's Ehud, the left -handed

man. Ehud, the left -handed man. Miss Katie,

can you show us that? It's Ehud, the left -handed

man. The son of Gerad. Benjaminite. The Moabites

were historically Egyptianized, which means that

the ancient Egyptian culture at the time heavily

influenced them through trade routes and different

things. The Egyptians, the ancient Egyptians,

believed that people that were left -handed were

cursed by God. If you're left -handed, that'll

preach. If you've ever used a spiral notebook

and you're left -handed, It feels like a curse.

But the ancient Egyptians believed that you're

cursed by God if you're left -handed. They would

often depict in their images their subjects and

their enemies holding things in their left hand

to show that they were inferior compared to the

Egyptians. Isn't that crazy? Culturally, the

ancient culture viewed Ehud as disabled. So any

feelings that you have about not fitting in a

community, any ideas that you have about identifying

yourself as a disability, Ehud feels that. Ehud

is the first person in the Bible that's referred

to as left -handed. Isn't that interesting? The

first person, Ehud, a left -handed man. There's

three times in Scripture where the Bible explicitly

says they're left -handed. This is the first

time. Ehud, a left -handed man, the original

translation says he was restricted in his right

hand. So we don't know for sure if he was left

-handed or if he actually was crippled in his

right hand. We don't know this. But either way,

we know he was viewed as disabled. The people

that took over Israel at the time viewed him

as cursed by God, as disabled. He would have

been looked at using his left hand, and they

would have said, oh. That's Ehud, the left hand.

And I would argue his own people even thought

that because the tribe of Benjamin translates

into the tribe of the right hand. So we have

Ehud, the left -handed man, who's from the tribe

of the right hand, meaning the right hand of

God, which Chris talked about last week. The

right side of God is the side that has power.

The side that has favor. The side that has love

and the ability to change the world. That's the

tribe he's born in, bro. But he's left -handed.

Can we agree? However the story of Ehud unfolds,

we can use it. to change our perspective on our

own abilities and disabilities. Can we agree

with that? So we see right here a man growing

up, 18 years, enslaved by the Moabites. Let's

keep reading. Judges 3, 15 through 16. So the

Israelites sent him, sent Ehud, with tribute

to Eglon. A gift. It was a Trojan horse, if you

will. Ehud is an assassin. He's an assassin.

Have you ever played Assassin's Creed? This is

who we're talking about. The Israelites sent

Ehud with tribute to Eglon. Now, Ehud had made

a double -edged sword about a cubit long, which

he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.

See, it doesn't say this here, but notice how

it says the Israelites sent him. They had a meeting.

I picture about ten dudes. in some basement somewhere,

talking about how are we going to kill this king,

man? You got any plans? They ain't have guns

or snipers then. How are we going to get into

Jericho, one of the most heavily guarded and

defended cities in the history of the world?

How are we going to get in there? What's the

plan, guys? And I think here's how the meeting

went, right? Okay, this is going to be awkward,

but I'm moving the chair. I think this is how

the meeting went. I think all the dudes are sitting

there. They're like, hmm, what are we going to

do, guys? This king, bro, he's killing us. The

Moabites are taking our children and sacrificing

them because they want crops. Can you imagine

that? Like, we need to get rid of these guys,

bro. It's going to suck. And then I see there's

one guy there. He just got to praying. He says,

Ehud! Ehud, you're left -handed! And I see everybody

in the room. Look at them. Ehud, you're left

-handed. This is Layla who's going to pretend

to be Ehud. So this is Ehud. It is not historically

known if Ehud wore a zebra print robe. But there

were zebras in the place where they lived. So

it is historically accurate. You are welcome

for that. He's like, no, no, Ehud, Ehud, you're

left -handed. He's like, oh, thanks, bro, for

calling out my disability. And he's like, no,

no, no. And I see Ehud like sit back in his chair

like, yeah, I'm left -handed. Thank you. Thank

you for the reminder. I was like, no, no, no,

no. Ehud, I don't think I understand. You're

left -handed. The Moabites follow Egyptian philosophy.

So they believe that left -handed people like

you are cursed by God. Well, thank you. But no,

hear me out. In the tradition, we carry our swords

on the left side. We carry our swords on the

left side because the average right -handed person.

pulls the dagger from that side to fight. Because

you can't pull it from this side. If you do that,

you're going to stab yourself. Ehud, you're left

-handed. What if we put the dagger on your right

side? In your good hand, you can now pull out

the blade. Ehud. Thank you, Leila. Ehud, I think

you're the judge. Ehud, you're the only one out

of us that could possibly do this mission. We

couldn't sneak in blades, but you're the only

one that could sneak in the blade because they

won't check your left thigh. Ehud, I'm sorry

for always viewing you as less than. I'm sorry,

but we need your help now. You're the only one.

that can do this and draw the knife fast enough

to kill. Thank you, Lou. And that's how it goes.

They're like, Ehud, you're the only one. Ehud,

you're not cursed, you're chosen. Ehud, what

if your disability is unique? What if your disability

isn't a disability? What if it's for you to do

something that none of us can do? Maybe you're

different not because you're cursed. Maybe you're

different because you're chosen. And I can see

Ehud, I don't think so. I've been raised to hide

my left -handedness. I can see Ehud, how many

nights did he spend putting weights on his left

hand, trying to teach himself to use the other?

How many times did he attempt to do things with

his right hand and teach him so that he wouldn't

be viewed as less than anymore? How many nights

have you spent working on your speech patterns

because you don't want to be embarrassed? How

many nights have you fallen on the floor because

your left leg won't work? Ehud's trying to hide

his disability, and I think one of the old guys,

the old guys in the meeting were probably a lot

like Mr. Rick Vance. He was like, Ehud, Ehud,

Ehud, don't you remember Moses? This was like

100 years ago. Moses, you know? You know the

guy with the staff and he said, and the water

went like that? Moses, Moses, Moses. Moses had

a speech impediment. Moses had a disability.

He would have an IEP for this. Moses struggled

with speaking and God says, you're going to be

the mouthpiece, the prophet of God. And Moses

said, I can't do that, God. I can see the guy

explaining to Ehud. I can see Rick explaining

to Ehud. Ehud, listen. Listen to what God said

about it. He said, Moses said to the Lord, pardon

me. God, I can't do this. I know you're calling

me to something bigger, but I can't do it. I'm

slow. And then in verse 11 we see, but the Lord

said to him, who gave human beings their mouths?

Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight

or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Ehud,

you're not left -handed because God made a mistake.

Ehud, you're not left -handed because something

happened to you in the womb. Ehud, you're not

disabled because your genes are messed up. Ehud,

you're left -handed because God made you that

way. You see, in Psalm 139, verses 13 through

Psalms 139:13–14

14, we see, for you created my inmost being.

It's King David saying this. You created me.

God, you knit me together in my mother's womb.

God, don't make mistakes. He's perfect, bro.

If he knit you in the womb, hear me out. You're

not a mistake, but you're a masterpiece. Man,

sometimes I hate going to museums, man. Everything

looked the same. Like, oh, look, there's a boat.

There's another boat. There's another boat. Oh,

it's George Washington on a boat. Oh, it's a

boat. Like, nah. That's why I love Vincent Van

Gogh, man. It's different. It's unique. There's

something about it that just, it's just different.

I feel like that's how the kingdom of heaven

is going to be like. I feel like we ain't going

to pull up to heaven and everybody look the same

and everybody walking the same. I think, I think

we're going to go to heaven and be like, yo,

look at how beautiful that is. That man can't

even move his legs, man. What are you? God used

him in a crazy way. I'll never forget. I was

doing an internship at Marshall Street School.

I was doing an internship at Marshall Street

School. And I had went in there, and in the one

classroom, there was a young man, and he was

completely paralyzed from head to toe. Completely.

The only thing that he could move was his left

index finger. That's it. Just his left index

finger. And I remember I was talking with the

teachers and the nurses and they were walking

me through how over the years, years, mind you,

they had taught this young man how to communicate

with only his left index finger. Move it yes

for yes, don't move it for no. Isn't that crazy?

Imagine that being your life, bro. And here I

am, a grown man in the school bathroom crying

like a little girl. Because God hit me in the

moment. He said, Stephen, you complain about

walking up steps, bro. This kid wishes he could

walk up steps. Stephen, you get frustrated at

your wife when you try to mansplain things. And

she's just not getting it, bro. But this kid

wishes he could have conversations, man. And

that hit me. Like, I know it's cheesy, but he

was the one teaching me. I wasn't teaching him.

And I say, like, how much of an influence did

that young man have on me? And he would have

never known. I was impressed. I was stricken

by the character of that young man. Here I am,

a grown man, with this young man. And this young

man is taking what he got. It's not much, but

he's taking what he got and he's using it. That

challenged me. What do I have that I don't use?

So let's keep reading. Judges 3, 17. Are you

all still here? Judges 3, 17. And if you see

on your main points, if you see I'm skipping

some stuff, it's because I do that. You're welcome.

Ehud's visibility is not a mistake. It's not

a mistake. God doesn't make mistakes. God is

not ashamed of Ehud's visibility. If he was,

he wouldn't have mentioned it in the Bible. Ehud,

Ehud, Ehud. He's the only one that could sneak

a dagger into there. Does he succeed? So he presented

the tribute to Eglon, the king, who was a very

fat man in verse 17. See, that's why God's funny,

bro. Eglon literally means cow -like. Bro, this

man was big, bro. He was big. Like, Zephan can't

help this man. 18. After Ehud had presented the

tribute, a gift, he sent on their way those who

carried it. Hey, thanks, my brothers, but I got

the rest of this, man. 19. But on reaching the

stone images, they used to be altars for the

Lord, but now they probably use the same altars

to sacrifice their kids. As he passes them, he

stops and he goes back to the king Eglon. He

says, Your Majesty, I have a secret message for

you. The king said to his attendants, leave us,

and they all left. Ehud then approached him while

he was sitting alone in the upper room of his

palace and said, I have a message from God for

you. As the king rose from his seat, this is

the fun part, Ehud reached with his left hand

the same hand that has taught him that he's disabled.

He's now the only one who's enabled. He grabs

the dagger from his right thigh, pulls it out,

and he stabs it so far into the fat king. That

the fat covers over the edge of the blade. He's

a big boy. He died. It literally says in the

scripture, his bowels discharged. Ehud pulls

his hand away. He leaves the blade in there and

the fat closes over it completely. That's in

the Bible, bro. Isn't that cool? It's just crazy.

It's crazy to me that we don't know how old Ehud

is, but we could probably guess he's either 15

to maybe 40 -some. It's crazy to me how all those

years of struggling with his identity led up

to two minutes. Isn't that crazy? It's just crazy

to me. If we keep reading, Ehud went out to the

porch and he shut the doors and he locked them.

The upper room is Old Testament code for the

bathroom. So Ehud had such a secret message that

him and Eglon met in the bathroom. And you know,

That's why God's so funny, man. That's why he's

so funny. It mentions how the bowels discharged.

If you don't know what that means, he pooped

himself. You know what I'm saying? God made sure

this happened in the bathroom. No, no, no. Trust,

trust, trust. Because then the guards would smell.

And assume the king was using the bathroom. Just

think about that, though. Isn't that crazy? God

made sure this happened in the king's bathroom.

That's why he mentions the bowels discharged,

not because God's gross. Because God's trying

to prove a detail. He's trying to show Ehud,

Ehud, I got you. I'll put you in the right place

at the right time. I'm going to tell you when

you use your gifts. Man, they think you're cursed.

They'll see. Man, they think you're nothing but

disabled. They'll see. Ehud, you'll see there's

something special about you, man. Because you

ain't disabled, you're enabled. Someone in here,

if you're struggling with the identity, you'll

never be anything. You'll never live on your

own. You'll never have a successful wife and

life and marriage or husband or whatever. You'll

never have it. Because everything you've done.

I think Ehud changes that perspective for us.

You see, this is interesting. This is interesting.

Most, almost all of the beginning of the Judges.

So all the Judges. It starts with this one phrase.

And then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. And

we see that there is this. One judge, for example,

the spirit of the Lord came upon him and gave

him super strength. And then he takes the bone

of a donkey and he kills 400 people. I could

do that easy. He takes the spirit of the Lord.

He does supernatural things. But it never says

that about Ehud. Isn't that interesting? Every

judge it says. The Spirit of the Lord came upon

them, except for the judge that would have been

considered disabled. I would argue it's not because

God wasn't upon them or came upon them. I would

argue it's because God's been. God's been there.

God's been there, working with them, guiding

them. The same people that 100 years ago, culture

would say, we're hiding them. That's God's focus,

baby. Man, if you feel left out by community,

oh, you're in in the kingdom of heaven. If you

feel like a failure according to the world's

standards, God must think you're special. The

world hates what God loves. If the world has

told you you're nothing but a disabled person,

you're nothing but a... Person that, you're no

greater than your divorce. You're no greater

than the postpartum. You're no greater than that.

Well, God says I'm loved. God says I have a purpose.

God says everything that I've been through has

the perspective, has changed my perspective so

that I can love people differently. Let's keep

reading. Judges 3, verse 23. So see, Ehud went

Judges 3:23

out to the porch. He shut the doors of the upper

room behind him and locked them. After he had

gone, the servants came and found the doors locked.

See, this is where they thought he was in the

bathroom. They said, oh, he must be relieving

himself. Yeah, he was. They waited to the point

of embarrassment. But when he did not open the

doors of the room, they took the key and unlocked

them. There they saw the Lord. Their Lord fallen

to the floor dead. While they waited, Ehud got

away. He passed by the stone images and escaped

to the Serrera. Translates to the wooded region.

This man's escaped to West Virginia, bro. I don't

know about you Marylanders, man, but if you want

a gun, you go to West Virginia. Am I right? So

stupid. 27, when he arrived there, he blew a

trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. And the

Israelites went down from the hills and they

led them. And then the Israelites go and they

gang up together and they kill the Moabites and

they take over their country back. They're like,

let's go. And they're victorious. Remember what

I said about God being funny? God doesn't do

nothing by accident, bro. He does everything

for a purpose. Just think about this, man. Everything

you've ever done in your life has led up to this

moment. Just think about that. Just think about

that. If my grandma would have never lost a baby

in a car accident, they would have never had

my dad. And I wouldn't be here. Isn't that crazy

to think about? Everything that's ever happened

led up to this moment. And what are we talking

about? How much God loves you, man. When he arrived

there, he blew the trumpet in the hill country

of Ephraim. Ephraim, the hill country, was named

after Ephraim, the son of Joseph. If you're a

Bible nerd, you know Joseph was the coat of many

colors. He was the one that was sold into slavery

by his brothers. And then he goes on to take

over Egypt and he becomes the man. Again, we

see in Egypt here, taking another part in the

story. Joseph has sons. The one son's name is

Manasseh. The one is Ephraim. If you're curious,

I'm reading this from Genesis 48. This is way

before Ehud. Joseph took both of them. He took

Ephraim and he took Manasseh. In this culture,

if you had... Sorry. In this culture, if you

had sons... The oldest one would always, always

get the blessing. They would get the inheritance.

They would get the blessing. That's just how

it was. Every Israelite culture, that's how it

was. So, of course, Joseph is bringing to Jacob.

Jacob is Joseph's dad. So this is the grandfather

to Jacob and saying, can you bless my boys? So

if I'm Jacob, I'd be old and decrepit and blind.

Like a hundred years at this point. Again, he's

blind. That's God using another person's disability.

And Ephraim, the youngest son, is sat right here

to Israel's left. Manasseh is sat right here

to Israel's right. The right side. The side of

power. Blessing. Traditionally, what would happen

is Israel would lay his hand upon the right side,

Manasseh, the oldest son. And then he'd lay his

left hand upon Ephraim, the youngest son. And

the big blessing would go to the oldest son.

But Jacob does something interesting here. He

takes his right hand and he puts it in. And then

he takes it out. You know, that's so stupid.

You got to pay attention, bro. You never know

when it's coming. He takes the right hand. And

he puts it on Ephraim's head. He takes his left

hand. And he puts it on Manasseh's head. It's

not supposed to be that way. And we see. Joseph

gets frustrated. Dad, I know you're old, bro,

but is you that blind for real? You know Manasseh's

my oldest kid. And then we see that Joseph's

like, what are you doing? And then we see that

Jacob is like, I know what I'm doing. I'm blessing

Ephraim with my right, and I'm blessing Manasseh

with my left. You see? God doesn't care about

your cultural norms. I know that he's supposed

to get the blessing, but I decide what happens.

You see, if you view something as the social

norm, God's probably the opposite. So God says,

normally I change the norm. You see, it's the

left -handed one. It's the one that's seen as,

as not good enough or less than. It's the one

that people look at and say they're not going

to receive the blessing that everyone else will.

Those are the ones that I'm blessing with my

right hand. We see here Ehud is blowing the trumpet

from where? The place that's named after Ephraim.

Told you God was funny. He's showing that the

promise That Jacob had made to Ephraim. That

the unseen will be seen. Those that are viewed

as disabled will be enabled. It's coming true

in the story of Ehud. It's not that Ehud is disabled

and he just goes and finds ways to accommodate

his disability and he lives with it. No. He asks

himself, God, why? And he doesn't. If you view

yourself as your disability. I would argue. You

haven't surrendered it to God. Maybe. Just maybe.

The postpartum depression will see you can help

other people. Hear me out. Maybe. Just maybe.

Just. Maybe. The person in the wheelchair is

supposed to encourage and have a special perspective

on life that none of us would understand. Just

maybe. I don't forget I was in an IEP meeting

and this poor mom, she genuinely believed that

if she just kept praying, her child's Down syndrome

would go away. And I just remember how wrecked

her faith must have been. How many nights you

prayed? No, he's still the same. Still the same.

What if your disability isn't an attack from

Satan? What if it's not a burden? What if it's

a part of you? It's not your identity. It's not

who you are. It's something I have. You see what

I'm saying? Isn't that... Interesting? That's

my challenge. How does God view my disability?

Well, he views it as something you have. He views

it as a tool. He views it as a difference. Just

like in the museum, he views it as something

that is different and beautiful. I want to look

at it. Oh, don't you know the name Ehud means

to praise? Because there's nothing greater than

the praise that comes from a person that identifies

as disabled being enabled to do what God said

to do. There's no greater praise than that. Man,

I'm telling you, if you struggle with anger issues,

you're in the middle of a conversation, you take

a deep breath and you control what you're going

to say, God is going to be happy. You see what

I'm saying? Man, I'm telling you, every single

time you want to go back to the bottle, every

single time you want to go back to the drugs,

and you don't, God is proud of you. Anyways,

I'm going to shut up. I hope that made sense.

But I hope that made sense. I have notes and

I have main points, but I don't follow them.

That's a bad habit of mine. Last story that I'll

say real quick, and then I'm going to have Sebi

come out to pray. But don't come out yet, Sebi.

This is good, trust. This is good, trust. For

the five years whenever I taught mainly young

men with emotional disabilities, man, some of

the stories I could tell you are crazy. I could

tell you the fights that I broke up. I could

tell you the kid that brought a BB gun painted

black to school to try to pretend to shoot up

the place. I could tell you the chairs that were

thrown. I could tell you the times I thought

it was crazy, man. I could tell you the words

that I've been called, the words that I've seen

them call other people. I could tell you, if

you want to feel useless, teach. Can I get an

amen? And I remember there was this one thing.

And this kid, he had an iPad. And he threw it

on the ground because we asked him for it. And

he was like, you get it, dog. Fetch. Just the

meanest things, man. The meanest things. Obviously,

I left work frustrated, angry. Why would he say

something like that, man? This whole year, I

put my blood, sweat, and tears into this classroom.

And then the next morning I was praying. And

honestly, I was hoping he didn't show up to school

that day. I was feeling some type of way. I was

thinking to myself, am I going to treat him differently?

Am I going to ignore him? What am I going to

do? And I felt God challenged me in that time

of prayer. He said, how did I treat you after

you sinned? I didn't ignore you. I didn't say

you're not good enough. I didn't try to transfer

you out of my class. I came back the next morning.

My mercies were new for you. I love you. I'm

with you. I forgive you. I'm not interacting

with you as the young man that called me a dog.

I'm interacting with you as the young man that's

a child of God. So if you're in here and you're

like, man, God can never use me. Man, God sees

me as broken. Man, God sees me as dirty. Man,

God sees me as disabled. I want you to know.

that God used you as a child of God. Every morning,

even right after you sin, bro, go to God. He's

there and he's loving you. You went walking into

the school building with God? Mm -mm. Turn out

the other way. He says, come here. I know what

you did. I don't forget. But I forgive and I

love you. All right. I'm going to really shut

up now. Sebi, can you come out here? This is

Sebi. He's one of our high schoolers. She's awesome.

Yeah. Sebi's cool. And he wanted to end out the

night or the morning, whatever it is. Oh, yeah,

man. It's 2 p .m. right now. No, it's not 2 p

.m. He wanted to end out the night praying and

doing the salvation prayer. So I'm going to shut

up, step back, and let Sebi cook. Good morning,

everyone. May you stand with me, please. And

before I start this prayer, I just want to say

to everybody in this crowd that God is so good

here this morning. Whatever you're struggling

with, whatever disability you may be struggling

with, whether it's mental or physical, Jesus

is with you. If you feel unseen, God sees you.

He's with you. He's with every single one of

us here this morning. And especially when you

leave this building or when you go back to work

on Monday or we have school starting up soon

and that just anxiety just creeps in or that

stress may creep into you, I just pray that God

just helps you because he's with you and you're

never unseen in the eyes of the Lord. So just

close your eyes and bow your heads with me and

repeat after me. Jesus, I'm broken. I'm full

of doubt, shame, regret, sin. Change me. I believe

you're God's son. I believe you're alive today.

I believe you have died for me. Make me new.

Set me free. Fill me with your spirit, Lord.

And allow me to serve others. In Jesus' name,

amen. All right. Well, that's it. If you have

a thyroid problem, a knee problem, or a back

problem, come get prayer. Sound good? Another

word of knowledge. If you're struggling with

postpartum depression, come up and get prayer.

Love y 'all.