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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
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,
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
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
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.