WEBVTT 00:00:01.419 --> 00:00:04.440 Sharing good news of great joy to all people. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:10.240 Elation Church. Everybody hold up one finger 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:15.839 and say one thing. One thing. Now if you've missed 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:19.420 the first two weeks, I encourage you to take 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:24.280 some time this week and go to our podcast or 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:29.010 go to YouTube and watch those services. Because 00:00:29.010 --> 00:00:31.390 it builds. I mean, I can't re -preach everything 00:00:31.390 --> 00:00:33.729 over the last two weeks. Because then I'd have 00:00:33.729 --> 00:00:36.549 to preach for about three hours. And you probably 00:00:36.549 --> 00:00:38.570 don't want me to preach for three hours today. 00:00:39.289 --> 00:00:41.289 Even though I would have a good time. I'm not 00:00:41.289 --> 00:00:45.070 sure that you would have a good time. Okay. Everybody 00:00:45.070 --> 00:00:48.030 say one thing. We began the series by looking 00:00:48.030 --> 00:00:51.329 at the account of Martha inviting Jesus into 00:00:51.329 --> 00:00:54.490 her home. That's found in Luke chapter 10. So 00:00:54.490 --> 00:00:57.020 let's look at that together. As Jesus and the 00:00:57.020 --> 00:00:59.700 disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, 00:01:00.020 --> 00:01:03.020 they came to a certain village where a woman 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:07.239 named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:12.239 sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:16.280 to what he taught. But Martha was distracted. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:19.299 Everybody say distracted. Martha was distracted 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:24.239 by the big dinner she was preparing. She came 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:28.170 to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair 00:01:28.170 --> 00:01:32.409 to you that my sister just sits here while I 00:01:32.409 --> 00:01:37.489 do all the work? Tell her to come help me. But 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:43.590 the Lord said to her, My dear Martha. Most English 00:01:43.590 --> 00:01:46.829 translations say Martha, Martha. Everybody say 00:01:46.829 --> 00:01:48.989 Martha, Martha and shake your head. Martha, Martha. 00:01:49.909 --> 00:01:53.349 But the Lord said to her, Dear Martha. You are 00:01:53.349 --> 00:01:59.750 worried and upset over all these details. There's 00:01:59.750 --> 00:02:02.430 only one thing. Everybody say one thing. One 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:06.590 thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered 00:02:06.590 --> 00:02:12.590 it. And it will not be taken away from her. So 00:02:12.590 --> 00:02:16.250 there was one thing worth being concerned about. 00:02:16.349 --> 00:02:21.599 One thing necessary. One thing needed. One thing 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:26.699 not to be left undone. Does anybody have a to 00:02:26.699 --> 00:02:33.139 -do list? I haven't completed my to -do list 00:02:33.139 --> 00:02:40.139 in about 12 years. Some of you are looking like, 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:43.379 I've tried. It's not because I haven't worked 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:47.460 at it. But there's just always things that... 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:53.500 We feel need to be done. Every Monday, Jeffrey 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:55.599 and I sit down and we write out our to -do list 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:58.939 for the week. And that's just for the church 00:02:58.939 --> 00:03:02.479 stuff, not for personal stuff. And most weeks, 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:06.599 there's still things on the list. We've had some 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:08.580 things on the list since before Thanksgiving. 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:14.020 But we have to decide what's most necessary, 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:20.500 what's most important. What is needed? Look, 00:03:20.620 --> 00:03:23.580 all of us have to decide what we're going to 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:25.439 do and what we're going to leave off the list. 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:29.900 What we're going to not do. And I just want you 00:03:29.900 --> 00:03:32.159 to look at this story this way, because if you're 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:36.860 going to leave something undone, don't leave 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:40.740 this one thing undone. This needs to be top priority. 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:44.139 If Jesus said one thing is necessary, then each 00:03:44.139 --> 00:03:46.389 one of us need to... Sit up and pay attention. 00:03:47.270 --> 00:03:51.969 Would you agree with me? He said one thing is 00:03:51.969 --> 00:03:56.449 necessary. Here's what was necessary. Here's 00:03:56.449 --> 00:04:01.370 what Mary chose. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and 00:04:01.370 --> 00:04:07.110 heard his word. The most distinguishing characteristic 00:04:07.110 --> 00:04:15.389 of Jesus was his words. The Bible says that when 00:04:15.389 --> 00:04:18.290 people would hear him speak, they would just 00:04:18.290 --> 00:04:23.250 say, wow. They never heard anyone teach or speak 00:04:23.250 --> 00:04:29.209 with that kind of authority and even use those 00:04:29.209 --> 00:04:33.129 words. Sometimes he used words that other people 00:04:33.129 --> 00:04:36.209 would say and other teachers would say, but there 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:37.829 would be something a little different about it. 00:04:39.050 --> 00:04:41.529 Like in the story that we're looking at today, 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:44.930 the next story that we're looking at. But Mary 00:04:44.930 --> 00:04:50.629 sat at Jesus' feet and she heard His word. The 00:04:50.629 --> 00:04:53.509 Koine Greek word heard, here's the definition, 00:04:53.750 --> 00:04:56.949 there's a word, a kuo, you can pronounce it however 00:04:56.949 --> 00:04:59.910 you want to, it doesn't matter. None of us walk 00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:03.930 around talking in Koine Greek. Here's what it 00:05:03.930 --> 00:05:10.509 means, to hear, to listen. I shared this last 00:05:10.509 --> 00:05:14.829 week. We have a friend named Ken from Texas and 00:05:14.829 --> 00:05:17.449 he preaches. He does a lot of school assemblies 00:05:17.449 --> 00:05:19.930 and all that kind of stuff. And this is what 00:05:19.930 --> 00:05:24.129 he always says. If you're listening, say I am. 00:05:27.149 --> 00:05:30.949 And then he goes, I know you can hear me, but 00:05:30.949 --> 00:05:32.970 there's a difference between hearing and listening. 00:05:34.310 --> 00:05:36.810 So when people start daydreaming and wandering 00:05:36.810 --> 00:05:39.819 off, He'll say, if you listen and say, I am. 00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:42.120 And he'll keep saying it until everybody says, 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:47.959 I am. But this is more than just hearing. It's 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:50.420 listening, and it's more than just hearing and 00:05:50.420 --> 00:05:55.319 listening. It's understanding. It includes both 00:05:55.319 --> 00:05:58.139 the physical act of hearing and the deeper understanding 00:05:58.139 --> 00:06:03.959 of what is heard. It's beyond just noise. It's 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:08.529 beyond just auditory reception. It's also an 00:06:08.529 --> 00:06:13.689 attentive and obedient response to what is heard. 00:06:15.910 --> 00:06:19.589 That's the one thing. That's the one thing that 00:06:19.589 --> 00:06:21.850 you need. That's the one thing that I need more 00:06:21.850 --> 00:06:24.629 than anything else. That's what we do not need 00:06:24.629 --> 00:06:31.569 to leave on our to -do list undone. How many 00:06:31.569 --> 00:06:35.750 of you know that the Word of God can make a difference 00:06:35.750 --> 00:06:43.529 in your life? It really can. I mean, I'm not 00:06:43.529 --> 00:06:46.089 just talking about just some kind of religious 00:06:46.089 --> 00:06:50.230 duty to come here, the preacher preach, so that 00:06:50.230 --> 00:06:52.149 you can rub a little bit of Jesus on your week, 00:06:52.230 --> 00:06:54.709 like rubbing on some sunscreen or something if 00:06:54.709 --> 00:07:00.490 the sun's out. That's not what we're doing. We're 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:02.550 not just rubbing a little Jesus on our week because 00:07:02.550 --> 00:07:04.949 if that's all we're doing, then our lives aren't 00:07:04.949 --> 00:07:08.370 going to be transformed. We're here to meet. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:13.259 With the living God. We're here to hear a word 00:07:13.259 --> 00:07:22.699 from him. One thing is necessary. To spend focused, 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:27.420 intentional, intimate time with God. And receive 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:34.699 a word from him. Now. There's a difference between 00:07:34.699 --> 00:07:43.180 proximity and intimacy. You can have 14 Bibles 00:07:43.180 --> 00:07:49.420 on your coffee table. You can even go through 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:53.939 the motions. Oh, got to pray. I'm about to eat, 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.040 so I have to pray. So I just spit off this memorized 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.819 thing that really means nothing to me. It's just 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:06.220 rehearsed repetition. Oh, the preacher said we're 00:08:06.220 --> 00:08:08.040 supposed to read one chapter a day out of the 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:11.860 Bible five days a week. I got to read it as fast 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:18.100 as I can and get to my business. You know, preacher 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:21.759 said, try to come to church every Sunday. So, 00:08:21.779 --> 00:08:26.399 you know, got to get up and go to church. You 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:30.240 can do all those things and still just be in 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:37.519 proximity and not have intimacy with God. That's 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:41.620 a good place to start. If you've never experienced 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:45.240 intimacy with God, it's a good place to start. 00:08:46.940 --> 00:08:50.080 But you need to be desiring and expecting more 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:55.419 than what you've been experiencing. One thing 00:08:55.419 --> 00:09:02.120 is necessary. The difference is desire. Everybody 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:05.600 say desire. The difference is expectation. Everybody 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:09.870 say expectation. God will meet you. Let me tell 00:09:09.870 --> 00:09:12.809 you something. God will meet you at the point 00:09:12.809 --> 00:09:15.350 of your desire and the point of your expectation. 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:25.190 He will. So here's the question. Do you really 00:09:25.190 --> 00:09:28.710 desire to actually spend focused, intentional, 00:09:28.809 --> 00:09:31.570 intimate time with God? If you don't desire it, 00:09:31.570 --> 00:09:34.929 you're not going to do it. Because something 00:09:34.929 --> 00:09:38.080 else is going to distract you, just like... Hey, 00:09:38.179 --> 00:09:40.019 and it can be a good thing. Everybody say good 00:09:40.019 --> 00:09:46.039 thing. Good things can distract us. Good things 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:50.639 can distract us. How many of you have been distracted 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:56.700 by something good? Doesn't have to be some kind 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:00.679 of evil thing to distract us. How many of you 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:03.200 know that the fried chicken and banana pudding 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:11.309 that Martha was fixing was a good thing? Hallelujah. 00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:18.230 It was a good thing. But it wasn't the most important 00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:22.809 thing, the necessary thing. See, Martha was working 00:10:22.809 --> 00:10:25.909 in the house. She could hear Jesus' voice, just 00:10:25.909 --> 00:10:31.350 the noise of His voice. But she wasn't receiving 00:10:31.350 --> 00:10:36.509 what He was saying. She was distracted. But Mary 00:10:36.509 --> 00:10:42.450 sat at His feet. And intently listened. She was 00:10:42.450 --> 00:10:47.049 expecting something. Martha invited Jesus and 00:10:47.049 --> 00:10:51.389 some of the disciples into her home. If you are 00:10:51.389 --> 00:10:55.870 in Christ today, you have invited the Holy Spirit 00:10:55.870 --> 00:11:00.490 to tabernacle in you. Your body is the temple 00:11:00.490 --> 00:11:07.250 of the Holy Spirit. He's there. He's here. He's 00:11:07.250 --> 00:11:12.049 here. Just because he's here doesn't mean that 00:11:12.049 --> 00:11:15.289 I'm spending intimate time with him. It's just 00:11:15.289 --> 00:11:20.850 proximity. We need to spend focused, intentional 00:11:20.850 --> 00:11:24.509 time, intimate time with God. You have to desire 00:11:24.509 --> 00:11:30.789 that. And here's the deal. If you understood 00:11:30.789 --> 00:11:34.990 what a difference it would make in your life 00:11:34.990 --> 00:11:38.960 to have that desire, I believe. your desire would 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:47.559 increase. Expectation. Do you expect? Did you 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.419 come to this place expecting today to experience 00:11:51.419 --> 00:11:56.279 the manifested presence of God? If you're not 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:59.899 expecting it, see, here's the strange thing. 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:01.960 The person sitting beside you could have come 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:06.120 expecting it, and you come not expecting to encounter 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.679 God? that person beside you can walk out and 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:14.519 say, I didn't get anything out of this. And if 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:17.120 they told you that, you would say, what do you 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:21.019 mean? That was an amazing experience and encounter 00:12:21.019 --> 00:12:29.679 with God. How did you miss it? Expectation. Expectation. 00:12:31.220 --> 00:12:34.220 When you read your Bible, do you expect God to 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:36.519 speak to you? Do you ask Him to speak to you? 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:41.480 If you need some help, last week we focused in 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:45.740 on a prayer from Ephesians 1 where Paul was praying 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:49.299 for the believers in Ephesus and he was praying 00:12:49.299 --> 00:12:52.759 that they would have spiritual insight and understanding, 00:12:53.100 --> 00:12:57.440 revelation. And I talked about how important 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:04.220 that revelation is to our lives. So that paper 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:06.220 is still back there on the back. That'd be a 00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:08.679 good place to start is praying that prayer for 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:13.679 yourself before you even open up God's Word. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:20.440 Okay? Now, today we're going to look at a very 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:23.360 familiar story. And when the preacher starts 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:26.159 reading a very familiar story, sometimes you 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:28.659 just check out because you've probably heard 00:13:28.659 --> 00:13:32.000 ten good sermons on this story. I've preached 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:38.519 a couple of them since we've been here. How many 00:13:38.519 --> 00:13:40.500 of you know God's Word is living and powerful? 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:47.659 God can speak to our hearts today. Jesus gives 00:13:47.659 --> 00:13:52.259 us an illustration. He gives us a parable. And 00:13:52.259 --> 00:13:55.379 in this parable, see, it's an earthly story, 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:59.820 but it has a heavenly meaning. And here's what 00:13:59.820 --> 00:14:03.879 He's wanting us to see. He's wanting us to see 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:09.100 who God is, who the Father is. And he's wanting 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:15.360 us to see, get this, who we are prone to be. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:21.580 Just our natural bent. Who we're prone to be. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:27.399 Now, we're only going to look at one of the sides 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:30.539 of who we are prone to be because that's the 00:14:30.539 --> 00:14:33.820 one that fits in with the message today. But 00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:35.840 I ask you to go home and read the rest of the 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:39.679 story and see. who else we might be prone to 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:50.740 be. Luke 15, verse 11. A man had two sons. The 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:55.039 younger son told his father, I want my share 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:59.779 of your estate now before you die. So his father 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:04.100 agreed to divide his wealth between his two sons. 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:10.009 A few days later, The younger son packed all 00:15:10.009 --> 00:15:15.190 his belongings and moved to a distant land. And 00:15:15.190 --> 00:15:19.210 there he wasted all his money in wild living. 00:15:20.929 --> 00:15:24.529 Now, I want to point this out because normally 00:15:24.529 --> 00:15:26.769 when we look at this story, we don't think of 00:15:26.769 --> 00:15:32.830 it this way. But this son's desire, you can see 00:15:32.830 --> 00:15:36.610 it easily in the story, his desire. was to get 00:15:36.610 --> 00:15:40.690 all his father would give him. Right? That's 00:15:40.690 --> 00:15:44.049 what he wanted. Give me all you can give me. 00:15:45.210 --> 00:15:49.629 He didn't desire to be with his father. That 00:15:49.629 --> 00:15:54.649 wasn't his desire. He desired to experience all 00:15:54.649 --> 00:16:00.789 the world had to offer. Think about that a minute. 00:16:04.009 --> 00:16:09.409 How many times do we want everything that God 00:16:09.409 --> 00:16:11.350 has made available to us, everything that He 00:16:11.350 --> 00:16:14.470 wants to give us? We want all of His stuff. We 00:16:14.470 --> 00:16:20.309 want all of His blessings. We really don't want 00:16:20.309 --> 00:16:28.450 to be with Him. We just want His stuff. What 00:16:28.450 --> 00:16:30.669 we really want, what we really desire is all 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:35.179 the world has to offer. But we want everything 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:38.259 of God to give us just so we can experience everything 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:42.080 the world has to offer. Because life is short. 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:47.500 Eternity is forever. I'm just going to throw 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:54.899 that in there. That's that son. Sometimes that's 00:16:54.899 --> 00:16:58.500 who we're prone to be. Now when we come to church 00:16:58.500 --> 00:17:00.000 and we're sitting here at church talking about 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:01.830 it, you're like... Everybody puts on their little 00:17:01.830 --> 00:17:03.809 Sunday school halo and it's like, oh no, not 00:17:03.809 --> 00:17:08.250 me, never. Not me. Might be some of these other 00:17:08.250 --> 00:17:10.950 heathens sitting around me, but it's not me. 00:17:11.549 --> 00:17:18.589 Right? What you talking about, preacher? Let's 00:17:18.589 --> 00:17:23.029 keep going. About the time his money ran out, 00:17:23.289 --> 00:17:26.970 a great famine swept over the land and he began 00:17:26.970 --> 00:17:31.369 to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire 00:17:31.369 --> 00:17:35.230 him, and the man sent him to his fields to feed 00:17:35.230 --> 00:17:43.650 the pigs. That's low. That's low. For a good 00:17:43.650 --> 00:17:47.470 Jewish boy to have to feed pigs is lower than 00:17:47.470 --> 00:17:51.109 low. And get this, the young man became so hungry 00:17:51.109 --> 00:17:55.130 that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked 00:17:55.130 --> 00:18:03.210 good to him. But no one gave him anything. Has 00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:06.849 anybody ever had pigs before? Anybody ever had 00:18:06.849 --> 00:18:08.910 a slop bucket under the sink and you throw all 00:18:08.910 --> 00:18:12.210 the leftovers that you don't want to eat anymore 00:18:12.210 --> 00:18:14.430 in a slop bucket and then you take it out to 00:18:14.430 --> 00:18:17.730 the pigs and put it in a trough? Have any of 00:18:17.730 --> 00:18:22.309 you ever said, Boy, I'm so hungry. I would love 00:18:22.309 --> 00:18:26.170 to get a ladle and scoop something out of this 00:18:26.170 --> 00:18:29.740 pig trough. I mean, you've got to be hungry for 00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:34.019 that, right? You've got to be hungry. You've 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:38.380 got to be real hungry. That's how hungry this 00:18:38.380 --> 00:18:44.220 boy was. When he finally, everybody say finally. 00:18:44.819 --> 00:18:51.200 When he finally came to his senses, he said to 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:57.299 himself, at home, even the hired servants, Have 00:18:57.299 --> 00:19:01.900 food enough to spare. And here I am dying of 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:07.980 hunger. He came to his senses. And he realized 00:19:07.980 --> 00:19:12.160 something. Being with his father. Was what he 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:20.200 needed most. Now it took him to get to the bottom. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:23.720 Before he got to the point where he realized. 00:19:24.299 --> 00:19:28.609 That if I was with my father. I wouldn't be experiencing 00:19:28.609 --> 00:19:37.450 everything I'm experiencing right now. Have any 00:19:37.450 --> 00:19:39.910 of you ever got to a point in your life where 00:19:39.910 --> 00:19:42.910 you seem like you are at the lowest low and it's 00:19:42.910 --> 00:19:49.029 like you come to your senses and say, I need 00:19:49.029 --> 00:19:56.700 God. Has anybody ever been there? See, it's who 00:19:56.700 --> 00:20:01.539 we're prone to be. His desire changed. Here's 00:20:01.539 --> 00:20:04.220 what he said. I will go home to my father and 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:06.960 say, Father, I have sinned against both heaven 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.599 and you. And I am no longer worthy of being called 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:14.400 your son. Please take me on as a hired servant. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:18.599 So he returned home to his father. And while 00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:21.900 he was still a long way off, his father saw him 00:20:21.900 --> 00:20:27.319 coming. Listen. Listen to who God is. Filled 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:36.000 with love and compassion. That's God. Filled 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.700 with love and compassion, he ran to his son, 00:20:38.900 --> 00:20:43.700 embraced him, and kissed him. Let me give you 00:20:43.700 --> 00:20:46.380 a little side information here. The Pharisees 00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:50.819 used to tell this story, but at this point in 00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:54.450 the story, the Pharisees would say, how mad the 00:20:54.450 --> 00:20:58.230 father was. And it's like he punished him. Yeah, 00:20:58.329 --> 00:21:01.529 you know, I'm not bringing you back in because 00:21:01.529 --> 00:21:08.930 you ran away. That's not God. That's who the 00:21:08.930 --> 00:21:14.710 Pharisees told people who God was. Don't be messing 00:21:14.710 --> 00:21:19.430 up because God will get you. God will get you. 00:21:20.940 --> 00:21:23.160 I've heard some preachers say things like that. 00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:28.740 Bless their hearts. One guy's whole message was, 00:21:28.819 --> 00:21:35.619 God will set your fields on fire. It's not God. 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:47.859 Jesus is telling us who God is. The boy came 00:21:47.859 --> 00:21:51.670 to his senses. Came back home. His father saw 00:21:51.670 --> 00:21:54.150 him coming. I bet you this wasn't the first day 00:21:54.150 --> 00:21:56.309 that the father walked out on his property and 00:21:56.309 --> 00:21:59.710 looked at the horizon saying, it's today the 00:21:59.710 --> 00:22:04.450 day that my son's coming home. It's today the 00:22:04.450 --> 00:22:17.230 day that he comes to his senses. If the one thing 00:22:19.079 --> 00:22:23.700 is not the one thing that you're after. This 00:22:23.700 --> 00:22:28.700 is who God is. I wonder when my kids are going 00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:31.920 to come to their senses. I wonder when they're 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:38.420 going to realize how good I am. I wonder when 00:22:38.420 --> 00:22:40.380 they're going to realize how much I love them. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:43.039 I wonder when they're going to realize how much 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:45.779 I've done for them. I wonder when they're going 00:22:45.779 --> 00:22:49.000 to realize All the promises that I've made to 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:54.799 them. I wonder if today's the day that they're 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:59.519 going to come home. That their desire is going 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.980 to change. That their desire is going to be about 00:23:02.980 --> 00:23:12.259 me. For me. I wonder when they're going to realize 00:23:12.259 --> 00:23:18.660 how awesome and how much better Their situation 00:23:18.660 --> 00:23:20.940 can be that they've been going through, if they 00:23:20.940 --> 00:23:24.220 will just come to me, I wonder if today's the 00:23:24.220 --> 00:23:29.559 day. The father, filled with love and compassion, 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:32.319 he ran to his son, he embraced him, and he kissed 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:37.440 him. See, his father desired that relationship 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:43.680 all along. He wanted to be with his son. But 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:46.059 he didn't force that relationship with his son. 00:23:46.180 --> 00:23:51.630 It had to be, From his son's heart. Because if 00:23:51.630 --> 00:23:57.569 you force love. It's not really love. That's 00:23:57.569 --> 00:23:59.930 why God will let us go our own way. If we want 00:23:59.930 --> 00:24:06.670 to. But he desires. For intimate fellowship with 00:24:06.670 --> 00:24:11.470 you. His son said to him. Father. I have sinned 00:24:11.470 --> 00:24:14.869 against both heaven and you. I'm no longer worthy 00:24:14.869 --> 00:24:19.390 to be called your son. See, he just wanted to 00:24:19.390 --> 00:24:24.230 be in a servant relationship, a hired hand relationship. 00:24:25.470 --> 00:24:28.289 Because of all the things that he had done, he 00:24:28.289 --> 00:24:32.450 ran away, wasted his inheritance. Listen to what 00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:36.589 the father said. His father said to the other 00:24:36.589 --> 00:24:40.250 servants, Quick, bring the robe. Everybody say 00:24:40.250 --> 00:24:42.849 the robe. Bring the finest robe in the house. 00:24:45.970 --> 00:24:54.940 There's so much picture here. It's the family 00:24:54.940 --> 00:24:59.960 robe. It's not just a robe that any of the servants 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:05.259 would wear. This is like the robe that shows 00:25:05.259 --> 00:25:10.099 who my boy is. See, he said, you know, I've messed 00:25:10.099 --> 00:25:13.019 up. Just make me a hired servant. Daddy's saying, 00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:18.380 no, put the family robe on him. Because I want 00:25:18.380 --> 00:25:22.529 to restore him. I want to bless him. Did he do 00:25:22.529 --> 00:25:26.349 wrong? Yeah. But that's okay. That's all forgiven. 00:25:26.890 --> 00:25:30.509 In your case, in my case, you know, my son, Jesus, 00:25:30.609 --> 00:25:38.750 died on the cross for that. Bring the finest 00:25:38.750 --> 00:25:41.549 robe in the house. Put it on him. Get a ring. 00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:47.630 Ring symbolizes authority. Bring a ring for his 00:25:47.630 --> 00:25:53.680 finger. Signet ring. During this time, you know, 00:25:53.700 --> 00:25:57.039 the government officials and even the family 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:00.039 would have a ring and they could seal something 00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:02.200 with that ring by putting that symbol on it. 00:26:02.599 --> 00:26:07.700 This boy's being restored. Get a ring for his 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:13.279 finger and sandals for his feet. Kill the calf 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:18.609 we've been fattening up for a good party. We 00:26:18.609 --> 00:26:23.130 must celebrate with a feast. For this son of 00:26:23.130 --> 00:26:27.910 mine was dead. He wasn't physically dead, but 00:26:27.910 --> 00:26:29.490 he might as well have been dead because he was 00:26:29.490 --> 00:26:32.410 completely separated from a relationship with 00:26:32.410 --> 00:26:34.529 his father. His father had no idea if he was 00:26:34.529 --> 00:26:39.690 alive or dead. This son of mine was dead. He 00:26:39.690 --> 00:26:44.890 has now returned to life. He was lost, but now 00:26:44.890 --> 00:26:56.289 he's found. So the party began. That's God. Jesus 00:26:56.289 --> 00:27:00.450 wants you to know who the Father God is. Most 00:27:00.450 --> 00:27:02.349 of the time we look at the story to see how bad 00:27:02.349 --> 00:27:05.130 the boy did and all that kind of stuff, but I 00:27:05.130 --> 00:27:07.910 believe we find out more about God in this than 00:27:07.910 --> 00:27:10.549 we do ourselves, but I do believe we can see 00:27:10.549 --> 00:27:12.710 a picture of ourselves. And then just to give 00:27:12.710 --> 00:27:15.029 you a heads up, the other brother got all jealous 00:27:15.029 --> 00:27:18.410 and mad. Because he hadn't ran away. He's been 00:27:18.410 --> 00:27:20.690 there the whole time. He's been serving, but 00:27:20.690 --> 00:27:31.130 he's had no parties. Sometimes we're prone to 00:27:31.130 --> 00:27:39.450 get a little self -righteous, right? I did better 00:27:39.450 --> 00:27:45.420 than they did. Why are they getting blessed? 00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:50.420 Why does it seem like they're getting blessed 00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:55.759 and I'm not getting blessed? Here's the Father. 00:27:57.099 --> 00:28:01.259 It's all yours. It's always been all yours. It's 00:28:01.259 --> 00:28:08.359 all yours. If you wanted to take a calf and have 00:28:08.359 --> 00:28:10.180 a party for you and your friends, it was always 00:28:10.180 --> 00:28:12.990 here and always available. But you didn't take 00:28:12.990 --> 00:28:19.029 hold of what I had made available. So sometimes 00:28:19.029 --> 00:28:24.490 we're prone to that. We're not taking hold of 00:28:24.490 --> 00:28:28.750 the great and precious promises that God has 00:28:28.750 --> 00:28:32.589 made for us. We're not reaching out by faith 00:28:32.589 --> 00:28:39.789 and taking hold of it. So the Father says, that's 00:28:39.789 --> 00:28:42.640 on you, that ain't on me. Look, he's talking 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:44.859 to his older boy. He says, basically he's saying, 00:28:44.920 --> 00:28:50.940 I haven't held out on you. God's telling you 00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:53.819 today, I haven't held out on you. You think I'm 00:28:53.819 --> 00:28:56.720 holding out on you? You missed it. Because it's 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:04.559 all yours. I'm about to take off running. Here's 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:08.730 the deal. Being with his father, abundantly provided 00:29:08.730 --> 00:29:15.390 everything the son would ever need or want. I 00:29:15.390 --> 00:29:19.849 need to say that again. Being in relationship 00:29:19.849 --> 00:29:22.750 with his father, being with his father, abundantly 00:29:22.750 --> 00:29:25.609 provided everything the son would ever need or 00:29:25.609 --> 00:29:35.329 want. Matthew 6, 33. Jesus said this, but seek 00:29:35.329 --> 00:29:39.859 first. Everybody say first. Seek first. Everybody 00:29:39.859 --> 00:29:46.299 say seek. Seek first the kingdom of God and His 00:29:46.299 --> 00:29:51.900 righteousness. And all these things shall be 00:29:51.900 --> 00:29:58.599 added to you. Doesn't that fit just right with 00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:04.359 that story that we just said? Seek first. You 00:30:04.359 --> 00:30:06.500 can't seek the kingdom of God without seeking 00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:13.819 God. It's God in His eternal rule and reign. 00:30:15.980 --> 00:30:21.779 Seek that first. His righteousness. It doesn't 00:30:21.779 --> 00:30:23.619 mean that you need to bump it up a notch in the 00:30:23.619 --> 00:30:27.720 flesh to try and try and try and try and try 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:34.119 again. You are the righteousness of God in Christ 00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:37.460 Jesus is what the Bible says. If you're in Christ, 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:46.660 you're right with God. If the boy was back with 00:30:46.660 --> 00:30:50.279 his father, he was fully restored. You're right 00:30:50.279 --> 00:30:56.619 with God. I spent so many years in my relationship 00:30:56.619 --> 00:30:58.859 with God just beating myself up every day because 00:30:58.859 --> 00:31:02.380 I just couldn't be good enough. Talked about 00:31:02.380 --> 00:31:06.170 that last week. I rededicated and rededicated 00:31:06.170 --> 00:31:08.829 and rededicated so much that my rededicator wore 00:31:08.829 --> 00:31:15.690 out. Because I thought it was about my ability 00:31:15.690 --> 00:31:20.750 to keep the rules and to be good. And if I didn't 00:31:20.750 --> 00:31:22.349 do it, then God was going to be disappointed 00:31:22.349 --> 00:31:27.009 in me. Here's the deal. God knew you couldn't 00:31:27.009 --> 00:31:31.640 do it. That's why Jesus... came and died for 00:31:31.640 --> 00:31:34.779 your sin in your place on the cross. That's why 00:31:34.779 --> 00:31:37.880 Jesus came and died for you, because you couldn't 00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:43.839 do it. Some people might say, well, preacher, 00:31:43.880 --> 00:31:46.119 when you talk like that, people think that they 00:31:46.119 --> 00:31:48.900 can just do whatever they want to do and live 00:31:48.900 --> 00:31:52.099 their own way and live their own life. Listen, 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:54.920 if that's what you get out of what I just said, 00:31:54.980 --> 00:32:01.700 you don't even know what grace is. Seek first. 00:32:02.579 --> 00:32:05.519 I didn't write down the Greek words, but I wrote 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:09.740 down the definitions. Seek. It means to seek. 00:32:10.059 --> 00:32:15.299 It also means to worship. It means desire. Everybody 00:32:15.299 --> 00:32:22.299 say desire. Everybody say aha. Aha. To seek. 00:32:22.940 --> 00:32:30.440 To worship. To desire. First. First in time, 00:32:30.539 --> 00:32:34.240 first in place, first in order, first in importance. 00:32:38.200 --> 00:32:43.480 Before you desire anything else, this should 00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:47.460 be your one desire, the one thing. Jesus told 00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:50.180 Martha the same thing. He said, Mary chose the 00:32:50.180 --> 00:32:53.019 one thing that was most needed, most important. 00:32:59.210 --> 00:33:05.970 Jesus told us a few more parables that hopefully 00:33:05.970 --> 00:33:12.529 will inspire you and me to understand just how 00:33:12.529 --> 00:33:19.410 important the kingdom of God is. We live in this 00:33:19.410 --> 00:33:21.869 earth and it's like we think everything else 00:33:21.869 --> 00:33:26.930 is more important. Good things, sometimes bad 00:33:26.930 --> 00:33:28.890 things. We think it's... We think they're more 00:33:28.890 --> 00:33:33.630 important. Here's what Jesus said. The kingdom 00:33:33.630 --> 00:33:35.769 of heaven is like a treasure. Everybody said 00:33:35.769 --> 00:33:42.730 treasure. Does anyone want to find the treasure 00:33:42.730 --> 00:33:46.990 of the kingdom of heaven? Well, the one thing's 00:33:46.990 --> 00:33:51.269 important. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure 00:33:51.269 --> 00:33:55.750 that a man discovered hidden in a field in his 00:33:55.750 --> 00:34:01.769 excitement. He hid it again. He sold everything 00:34:01.769 --> 00:34:05.950 he owned to get enough money to buy the field. 00:34:07.950 --> 00:34:11.170 Because when he bought the field, he got the 00:34:11.170 --> 00:34:18.130 treasure. Here's another one. Matthew 13, 45. 00:34:18.989 --> 00:34:21.590 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant 00:34:21.590 --> 00:34:26.880 on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:33.219 a pearl of great value, the most amazing pearl 00:34:33.219 --> 00:34:38.980 that he had ever seen in his life, he sold everything 00:34:38.980 --> 00:34:46.320 he owned and bought it. You might say, well, 00:34:46.380 --> 00:34:48.019 now you're talking about treasures and talking 00:34:48.019 --> 00:34:49.820 about pearls and what's that have to do with 00:34:49.820 --> 00:34:52.260 anything that you're talking about. Please don't 00:34:52.260 --> 00:34:59.739 miss it. Please don't miss it. This one thing, 00:34:59.860 --> 00:35:09.960 spending focused, intentional, intimate time 00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:15.239 with God. I want you to see that as a treasure. 00:35:16.619 --> 00:35:20.400 I want you to see that as this pearl. It's the 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:25.769 one thing, the most important. We need to seek 00:35:25.769 --> 00:35:39.070 first. Seek first. When being with the king is 00:35:39.070 --> 00:35:44.070 your priority, all the benefits of the kingdom 00:35:44.070 --> 00:35:57.079 will be available to you. It was an old hymn 00:35:57.079 --> 00:36:01.039 that I grew up singing. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 00:36:02.179 --> 00:36:06.980 Look full in his wonderful face. Listen, and 00:36:06.980 --> 00:36:11.559 the things of earth will grow strangely dim in 00:36:11.559 --> 00:36:17.559 the light of his glory. His glory is his manifested 00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:22.559 presence. Have you ever experienced the manifested 00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:25.260 presence of God? The glory means... The heaviness, 00:36:25.340 --> 00:36:31.480 not a bad heavy, but a good heavy. It's like 00:36:31.480 --> 00:36:35.280 the manifested presence of God just like sits 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:47.619 down. When being with the king is your priority, 00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:57.400 the benefits of heaven will be yours. Another 00:36:57.400 --> 00:37:05.320 story. I'm going to turn to Moses. Moses grew 00:37:05.320 --> 00:37:07.539 up in Egypt. Do you remember the story? Are you 00:37:07.539 --> 00:37:09.420 familiar with the story? Moses grew up in Egypt. 00:37:10.619 --> 00:37:15.079 He was a Hebrew, but he was part of Pharaoh's 00:37:15.079 --> 00:37:17.139 family. He got adopted into part of Pharaoh's 00:37:17.139 --> 00:37:24.880 family. He saw the Egyptian guards and taskmasters 00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:29.639 beating up. some of the Hebrew slaves. He could 00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:32.460 look at himself and see that he was a Hebrew. 00:37:32.539 --> 00:37:35.219 He didn't look like his brothers and sisters 00:37:35.219 --> 00:37:38.719 and his adopted dad and adopted mom. He didn't 00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:43.500 look like them. He knew he was Hebrew. He saw 00:37:43.500 --> 00:37:48.880 him beating some of the Hebrew slaves. He intervened 00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:52.300 and wound up killing one of the Egyptians. Then 00:37:52.300 --> 00:37:55.719 he ran off. Now that... What I just described 00:37:55.719 --> 00:37:57.579 to you was part of his first 40 years. Everybody 00:37:57.579 --> 00:38:02.880 say 40 years. His second 40 years, he was out 00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:07.300 in the wilderness taking care of what became 00:38:07.300 --> 00:38:13.599 his father -in -law's sheep and goats. So this 00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:15.000 is where we're going to pick up on the story. 00:38:15.139 --> 00:38:19.139 Moses was focused on the details of his everyday 00:38:19.139 --> 00:38:23.909 life. Everybody say, just like Martha. He was 00:38:23.909 --> 00:38:26.510 focused on the details of his everyday life, 00:38:26.610 --> 00:38:29.550 taking care of his father -in -law's flock, and 00:38:29.550 --> 00:38:32.269 that word flock in the Hebrew can mean sheep 00:38:32.269 --> 00:38:33.949 or goats. I don't know what he was taking care 00:38:33.949 --> 00:38:35.750 of that day or if they were all mixed together. 00:38:35.889 --> 00:38:40.469 I don't know. And as he was out there just minding 00:38:40.469 --> 00:38:42.750 his own business, going through his daily routine, 00:38:42.949 --> 00:38:49.670 the angel of the Lord, everybody say Christophany. 00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:52.940 I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on 00:38:52.940 --> 00:38:58.699 this, but there are times in the Old Testament 00:38:58.699 --> 00:39:04.800 where theologians have discovered that this wasn't 00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:08.699 just a regular angel. It wasn't just a messenger 00:39:08.699 --> 00:39:14.219 angel. This was actually a pre -incarnate visit 00:39:14.219 --> 00:39:19.619 of Christ. The angel of the Lord appeared to 00:39:19.619 --> 00:39:23.280 him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. 00:39:24.280 --> 00:39:26.800 I'll go ahead and tell you this. The main reason 00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:29.920 they say that is because sometimes when you see 00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:36.820 the angel of the Lord, he received worship. And 00:39:36.820 --> 00:39:43.260 angels don't receive worship. Shouldn't receive 00:39:43.260 --> 00:39:48.420 worship. And the angel of the Lord appeared to 00:39:48.420 --> 00:39:50.360 him in a flame of fire from the midst of the 00:39:50.360 --> 00:39:54.440 bush. Have you heard this story? Listen, so he 00:39:54.440 --> 00:39:57.780 looked, and behold, the bush was burning with 00:39:57.780 --> 00:40:01.280 fire, but the bush was not consumed. It wasn't 00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:04.820 being burned up like a normal little campfire. 00:40:06.679 --> 00:40:12.260 Then Moses said, I will now turn aside. Everybody 00:40:12.260 --> 00:40:16.650 say, turn aside. I will now turn aside. I want 00:40:16.650 --> 00:40:20.150 to turn aside from my sheep and my goats and 00:40:20.150 --> 00:40:23.610 my task of everyday life. I'm going to turn aside 00:40:23.610 --> 00:40:30.030 and see this great sight. Why the bush does not 00:40:30.030 --> 00:40:34.050 burn. Listen very closely to the next verse. 00:40:35.030 --> 00:40:40.050 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to 00:40:40.050 --> 00:40:52.559 look. It's just exploded in me, I hope. Now he 00:40:52.559 --> 00:40:58.019 turned aside, but then when the Lord saw that 00:40:58.019 --> 00:41:04.260 he turned aside to look, when the Lord saw that 00:41:04.260 --> 00:41:11.400 Moses turned away to turn aside to look, when 00:41:11.400 --> 00:41:18.659 he did it, God spoke to him. Do you see the connection? 00:41:18.980 --> 00:41:21.139 Or do I have to just like type it all out for 00:41:21.139 --> 00:41:26.679 you again? I hope you're with me. When the Lord 00:41:26.679 --> 00:41:29.320 saw that he turned aside to look, God called 00:41:29.320 --> 00:41:33.980 to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses. 00:41:38.079 --> 00:41:46.460 Moses. And he said, here I am. When God saw Moses 00:41:46.460 --> 00:41:49.260 turn aside from his routine tasks and concerns, 00:41:49.659 --> 00:41:53.840 God spoke to him. And I'm here today to tell 00:41:53.840 --> 00:41:59.960 you that when you turn aside, when you realize 00:41:59.960 --> 00:42:04.800 that turning to God and turning aside and having 00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:09.360 that first priority to seek first, to have that 00:42:09.360 --> 00:42:14.210 intimate fellowship with God, to spend... Quality 00:42:14.210 --> 00:42:17.989 focused time with God. He's going to speak to 00:42:17.989 --> 00:42:23.070 you. But you have to desire it. And you have 00:42:23.070 --> 00:42:33.929 to expect it. This word from God. Changed Moses' 00:42:34.170 --> 00:42:41.710 life. It led. To his becoming. And if you weren't 00:42:41.710 --> 00:42:44.659 here last week. That was the focus of the message 00:42:44.659 --> 00:42:51.059 last week. When God spoke to Samuel, that led 00:42:51.059 --> 00:43:02.380 to him becoming. I want to tell you that a word 00:43:02.380 --> 00:43:10.360 from God can lead to your becoming. Becoming. 00:43:12.269 --> 00:43:21.190 Who God wants you to be. One word from God can 00:43:21.190 --> 00:43:24.869 change your life. Let's continue in Exodus 3 00:43:24.869 --> 00:43:32.530 .5. Then he. Angel of the Lord. Said this. Do 00:43:32.530 --> 00:43:37.389 not draw near this place. Take your sandals off 00:43:37.389 --> 00:43:42.730 your feet. For the place where you stand. His 00:43:42.730 --> 00:43:46.309 holy ground. Everybody say manifested presence. 00:43:48.010 --> 00:43:54.269 Manifested presence of God. His holy ground. 00:43:55.869 --> 00:44:01.909 He encountered the glory of God. This encounter 00:44:01.909 --> 00:44:05.070 with God and his manifested presence opened up 00:44:05.070 --> 00:44:12.110 the next 40 year season of Moses' life. And out 00:44:12.110 --> 00:44:14.630 of everyone in the Bible, I'm going to make a 00:44:14.630 --> 00:44:18.750 statement. I want you to try to prove me wrong, 00:44:18.909 --> 00:44:24.369 if you can. But out of every character in the 00:44:24.369 --> 00:44:28.809 Bible, we probably have recorded, documented 00:44:28.809 --> 00:44:37.369 words of encounters with God, with Moses. So 00:44:37.369 --> 00:44:40.849 this was the first time. And now we have a 40 00:44:40.849 --> 00:44:44.030 -year season of Moses' life where he's spending 00:44:44.030 --> 00:44:45.889 focus. I mean, he went up on the mountain for 00:44:45.889 --> 00:44:50.429 40 days. He spent time with God. I mean, he just 00:44:50.429 --> 00:44:52.449 turned us out of everything and went up on the 00:44:52.449 --> 00:44:54.429 mountain. Everybody's at the bottom of the mountain 00:44:54.429 --> 00:45:03.690 going, well, is he alive? There are throughout 00:45:03.690 --> 00:45:07.809 Scripture where after they leave Mount Sinai, 00:45:08.349 --> 00:45:11.610 Moses would go to the tent of meeting and everybody 00:45:11.610 --> 00:45:16.210 would come outside and watch as the cloud, the 00:45:16.210 --> 00:45:21.150 glory cloud would come and rest. Everybody was 00:45:21.150 --> 00:45:24.090 excited because Moses was talking with God and 00:45:24.090 --> 00:45:27.789 he was about to let them know what God was saying. 00:45:28.090 --> 00:45:32.750 Listen, now you can go directly to God yourself. 00:45:32.789 --> 00:45:36.570 You don't have to go through a priest. You have 00:45:36.570 --> 00:45:44.190 access. You have access. Come boldly. As a child 00:45:44.190 --> 00:45:49.070 of the Most High God, come boldly. Not like that 00:45:49.070 --> 00:45:56.409 son. I'm so unworthy. So unworthy. I've messed 00:45:56.409 --> 00:46:00.570 up. I've done wrong. Please, please, please, 00:46:00.670 --> 00:46:14.139 please, please. Don't come begging. Moses became 00:46:14.139 --> 00:46:20.579 somebody. The deliverer of God's people. This 00:46:20.579 --> 00:46:24.900 word from God led to his becoming. One word from 00:46:24.900 --> 00:46:31.320 God can lead to your becoming. I mentioned a 00:46:31.320 --> 00:46:35.280 part of this last week. This morning as I was 00:46:35.280 --> 00:46:38.400 studying again, I just have to tell you more 00:46:38.400 --> 00:46:43.019 details to the story. If you were here last week, 00:46:43.039 --> 00:46:45.239 you heard me talk about a day in my life that 00:46:45.239 --> 00:46:51.159 was probably the darkest day of my life. You 00:46:51.159 --> 00:46:53.659 know, Gannon and I were pulling out the Atlas. 00:46:55.019 --> 00:46:58.940 Some of you have never seen an Atlas. An Atlas 00:46:58.940 --> 00:47:03.239 is a paper book with a state on each page with 00:47:03.239 --> 00:47:09.480 all the roads. It's a map. It didn't have GPS. 00:47:13.579 --> 00:47:17.639 Pulled out the Atlas. There were three options. 00:47:19.059 --> 00:47:23.440 In my mind, three options. I was either going 00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:26.619 to be an evangelist to the nation of Canada, 00:47:26.800 --> 00:47:32.760 an evangelist to the nation of Mexico, or I was 00:47:32.760 --> 00:47:36.719 going to start a prison ministry. It was a bad 00:47:36.719 --> 00:47:42.829 day. And it was a result of doing good things, 00:47:42.849 --> 00:47:50.889 you know. Signed a bunch of contracts. Had a 00:47:50.889 --> 00:47:57.730 youth conference. You know, I had 1 ,600 seats 00:47:57.730 --> 00:48:01.050 at that first conference. All I needed was about 00:48:01.050 --> 00:48:03.190 1 ,000 of my friends. I mean, I had friends in 00:48:03.190 --> 00:48:08.409 20 states. Friends with pastors and youth pastors 00:48:08.409 --> 00:48:11.260 in 20 states. All I needed was about 1 ,000 people 00:48:11.260 --> 00:48:21.559 to show up. Less than 300 people showed up. It's 00:48:21.559 --> 00:48:26.739 like, I'm not telling anybody in the room to 00:48:26.739 --> 00:48:28.840 write a faith check because that was probably 00:48:28.840 --> 00:48:31.260 not, you know what a faith check is? A faith 00:48:31.260 --> 00:48:34.039 check, everybody's had a faith check. That's 00:48:34.039 --> 00:48:35.480 writing a check when you don't have the money 00:48:35.480 --> 00:48:41.590 in the bank to cover it. By the way, that's illegal 00:48:41.590 --> 00:48:48.909 in all 50 states. But I've been walking with 00:48:48.909 --> 00:48:51.969 God and I was like, God, every decision I made, 00:48:52.010 --> 00:48:58.929 I was led by the Spirit and I was led by God. 00:48:58.969 --> 00:49:03.429 And then now, I owe more money than I borrowed 00:49:03.429 --> 00:49:09.909 to build my first house. There was no way I could 00:49:09.909 --> 00:49:13.769 pay for it. Called the banker. Said, I wrote 00:49:13.769 --> 00:49:16.210 some checks. They're going to be coming. Please 00:49:16.210 --> 00:49:18.909 don't return them without talking to me. Had 00:49:18.909 --> 00:49:24.429 a great guy working with me at the bank. I started 00:49:24.429 --> 00:49:27.289 working. I called the bank, too, and I said, 00:49:27.309 --> 00:49:31.530 can I borrow this money? And the guy that was 00:49:31.530 --> 00:49:34.170 holding the checks for me said, Dean, I believe 00:49:34.170 --> 00:49:35.789 you're good for the money, and I believe that 00:49:35.789 --> 00:49:38.389 you'll pay it, but... I might lose my job if 00:49:38.389 --> 00:49:40.570 I let you borrow this money because you live 00:49:40.570 --> 00:49:51.349 in a motor home. How could I even find you? Well, 00:49:51.429 --> 00:49:53.349 finally one day he called and he said, Dean, 00:49:53.349 --> 00:49:58.650 all the checks are here. I'd just been, I'd talked 00:49:58.650 --> 00:50:02.050 to other people asking for co -signers. It was 00:50:02.050 --> 00:50:06.150 a bad day. And I know some of you are saying, 00:50:06.230 --> 00:50:09.409 you should have never done that. Well, I was 00:50:09.409 --> 00:50:11.969 in trouble. Has anybody ever been in trouble 00:50:11.969 --> 00:50:15.650 before? I was in big trouble. I'm going to be 00:50:15.650 --> 00:50:19.969 a Canadian or a Mexican evangelist or start a 00:50:19.969 --> 00:50:25.710 prison ministry. He said, they're all here and 00:50:25.710 --> 00:50:29.090 we've got to do something in the morning. Now, 00:50:29.090 --> 00:50:31.570 how many of you know that I was having a bad 00:50:31.570 --> 00:50:39.469 day at that point? Over $50 ,000, bad day. God. 00:50:40.809 --> 00:50:50.429 Don't drop your teeth. So I went to bed. Tossing 00:50:50.429 --> 00:50:56.010 and turning. What are we going to do? Terrible. 00:50:57.730 --> 00:50:59.590 Terrible night. Just tossing and turning. Could 00:50:59.590 --> 00:51:02.090 not go to sleep. Trying to go to sleep. So worried. 00:51:02.469 --> 00:51:06.800 Had so much fear. Fear and worry was just overwhelming 00:51:06.800 --> 00:51:19.059 me. It was dark. You think I'm crazy? I'm going 00:51:19.059 --> 00:51:20.559 to tell you this story. About 3 o 'clock in the 00:51:20.559 --> 00:51:23.739 morning, all of a sudden, it wasn't an audible 00:51:23.739 --> 00:51:27.539 voice, but all of a sudden, just, you need to 00:51:27.539 --> 00:51:31.619 go outside. Go to the beach. And we were on the 00:51:31.619 --> 00:51:33.699 front row of a campground. There was a walkover. 00:51:34.559 --> 00:51:36.400 And then the beach was just right there. Three 00:51:36.400 --> 00:51:39.239 o 'clock in the morning. I mean, it's cold outside. 00:51:41.320 --> 00:51:44.780 You need to get out of bed and go to the beach. 00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:50.820 I've been saying, God, where are you? I mean, 00:51:50.840 --> 00:51:52.500 I've been walking with you this whole time. I've 00:51:52.500 --> 00:51:54.340 been following you this whole time. And now it's 00:51:54.340 --> 00:51:59.980 just silent. Where did you go? Why did you leave 00:51:59.980 --> 00:52:08.619 me now? I'm in trouble, God. Where are you? Go 00:52:08.619 --> 00:52:14.840 to the beach. Can you believe I was so, I'm not 00:52:14.840 --> 00:52:16.219 supposed to say stupid, but I'm talking about 00:52:16.219 --> 00:52:19.019 myself. Can you believe that I was so stupid 00:52:19.019 --> 00:52:22.739 that I was saying, I don't need to get out of 00:52:22.739 --> 00:52:25.960 bed. It's cold. At least I'm warm here. I know 00:52:25.960 --> 00:52:28.940 I can't sleep. Just over and over again. You 00:52:28.940 --> 00:52:32.139 need to get up and go to the beach. This is God 00:52:32.139 --> 00:52:39.449 talking to me. So finally. After arguing with 00:52:39.449 --> 00:52:43.329 God, I've been saying, why? Where are you? Why 00:52:43.329 --> 00:52:45.989 did you quit? What's going on? Now he's talking 00:52:45.989 --> 00:52:53.590 to me and I'm arguing. Not very bright. Finally 00:52:53.590 --> 00:52:57.530 get up, get dressed, go outside. The fog is so 00:52:57.530 --> 00:53:01.269 thick. I've never seen fog that thick before. 00:53:01.849 --> 00:53:05.909 It was so dark and the fog was so thick, I could 00:53:05.909 --> 00:53:10.739 look at my hand and not see it. I could see a 00:53:10.739 --> 00:53:13.960 little speck because there was a street light 00:53:13.960 --> 00:53:16.940 right where the walkover goes. I could see just 00:53:16.940 --> 00:53:18.980 a little round dot, but it wasn't putting any 00:53:18.980 --> 00:53:21.179 light around me. I could just see that dot in 00:53:21.179 --> 00:53:26.059 the distance. So I walk in this thick fog, can't 00:53:26.059 --> 00:53:29.300 see anything. I walk up the steps. There's a 00:53:29.300 --> 00:53:32.980 wood walkover over the dunes, and I get to the 00:53:32.980 --> 00:53:36.480 top, and then that same still small voice says, 00:53:36.519 --> 00:53:44.039 Stop. And then God asked me a question. He said, 00:53:44.119 --> 00:53:51.239 where's the ocean? So now I'm just standing out 00:53:51.239 --> 00:53:53.460 there. If anybody would have been looking, I'm 00:53:53.460 --> 00:53:57.019 just talking to myself. It's right there. I even 00:53:57.019 --> 00:54:02.579 point it. It says right there. God said, how 00:54:02.579 --> 00:54:07.380 do you know it's there? He said, you can't see 00:54:07.380 --> 00:54:16.619 it. I said, I know it's there because I've stood 00:54:16.619 --> 00:54:21.559 on this bridge before and I know where it is. 00:54:21.619 --> 00:54:25.420 I've seen it before. It's right there. I can 00:54:25.420 --> 00:54:30.800 hear the waves crashing. It's there. He says, 00:54:30.800 --> 00:54:36.260 yeah, but you can't see it. And then in a still 00:54:36.260 --> 00:54:39.340 small voice that was louder than anybody's ever 00:54:39.340 --> 00:54:51.050 spoken to me, God said, I'm here. One word. Everybody 00:54:51.050 --> 00:54:57.550 say one word. One word. Now there's so many Bible 00:54:57.550 --> 00:55:00.250 verses that say, I will never leave you or forsake 00:55:00.250 --> 00:55:05.570 you. Right? So many times God says that. And 00:55:05.570 --> 00:55:09.269 I knew those verses. But I was in a bad place. 00:55:14.349 --> 00:55:17.590 When he said, I'm here, that's all I needed. 00:55:20.190 --> 00:55:24.269 I walked back to the RV, and I went back to the 00:55:24.269 --> 00:55:27.389 back, and I got in bed, and I went to sleep as 00:55:27.389 --> 00:55:31.130 soon as my head hit the pillow. I want to ask 00:55:31.130 --> 00:55:35.170 you a question. Did I still have a problem? Had 00:55:35.170 --> 00:55:42.710 anything changed? No. Still had the same terrible 00:55:42.710 --> 00:55:46.750 problem. That it had me overcome with fear and 00:55:46.750 --> 00:55:49.289 worry to the point that I didn't know what I 00:55:49.289 --> 00:55:53.369 was going to do. But now I had a word from God. 00:55:56.710 --> 00:56:02.170 That one word from God immediately changed the 00:56:02.170 --> 00:56:07.769 situation that I was facing. Now I had peace 00:56:07.769 --> 00:56:14.519 that surpassed understanding. Because still in 00:56:14.519 --> 00:56:17.519 my understanding, I was still in bad trouble. 00:56:18.239 --> 00:56:21.079 But now I had the peace of God that surpassed 00:56:21.079 --> 00:56:23.800 that understanding because I had a word from 00:56:23.800 --> 00:56:31.780 God. The next thing I heard was a telephone ringing. 00:56:34.480 --> 00:56:36.239 Somebody on the other end of the phone said, 00:56:36.440 --> 00:56:39.900 Dean, God told me this morning to call you and 00:56:39.900 --> 00:56:44.360 ask you if you needed anything. I promise you. 00:56:45.539 --> 00:56:47.840 God told me to call you and ask you if you needed 00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:56.300 anything. See, I was still at the point where 00:56:56.300 --> 00:57:01.780 I thought that nobody could help me. This was 00:57:01.780 --> 00:57:08.000 too big. Too big. So I hemmed all around, and 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:11.039 then he said this, and I'm glad he said this. 00:57:11.059 --> 00:57:14.050 He said, If you have too much pride to tell me 00:57:14.050 --> 00:57:16.789 what you need, I'm going to hang up and you better 00:57:16.789 --> 00:57:22.429 not call me back. So I swallowed real hard and 00:57:22.429 --> 00:57:32.829 told him. Listen, within one hour, everything 00:57:32.829 --> 00:57:39.710 I needed was wired into our ministry bank account. 00:57:40.619 --> 00:57:43.280 With another thousand dollars on top of that. 00:57:43.679 --> 00:57:45.719 So that me and my family could eat that month. 00:57:52.380 --> 00:57:58.159 I've got some other words from God. But I'm supposed 00:57:58.159 --> 00:58:02.340 to share that one with you today. Because when 00:58:02.340 --> 00:58:05.260 I say one word from God can change your situation. 00:58:05.579 --> 00:58:09.639 And one word from God can change your life. I've 00:58:09.639 --> 00:58:14.719 experienced what I'm telling you about. You might 00:58:14.719 --> 00:58:18.260 not think spending focused, quality, intimate 00:58:18.260 --> 00:58:21.519 time with God is what you really need, but I'm 00:58:21.519 --> 00:58:22.920 going to tell you, that's what you really need. 00:58:25.079 --> 00:58:28.699 More than anything else, that's what you need. 00:58:28.960 --> 00:58:34.500 And Jesus said, one thing is necessary. James 00:58:34.500 --> 00:58:37.000 4 says, if you'll come close to God, He'll come 00:58:37.000 --> 00:58:40.900 close to you. If you'll turn aside and turn to 00:58:40.900 --> 00:58:44.719 Him, He will come to you. Just like that Father 00:58:44.719 --> 00:58:48.320 running with love and compassion and restoration 00:58:48.320 --> 00:58:55.940 and deliverance and freedom and life. My, my, 00:58:55.960 --> 00:59:11.190 my. The church gave me this button last year 00:59:11.190 --> 00:59:14.110 for my birthday. That's some of the people in 00:59:14.110 --> 00:59:17.190 this room saying amen. I just had to have some 00:59:17.190 --> 00:59:20.590 amen right there. I wasn't getting any. When 00:59:20.590 --> 00:59:24.090 turning aside becomes your priority, you'll encounter 00:59:24.090 --> 00:59:27.170 God and experience His manifested presence. When 00:59:27.170 --> 00:59:30.130 you experience His manifested presence, you will 00:59:30.130 --> 00:59:34.309 discover that everything you need is available 00:59:34.309 --> 00:59:40.030 to you in Christ. It's available. Everybody say 00:59:40.030 --> 00:59:44.989 one thing. One thing is necessary to spend focused, 00:59:45.050 --> 00:59:47.369 intentional, intimate time with God and receive 00:59:47.369 --> 00:59:51.909 a word from him. This online worship experience 00:59:51.909 --> 00:59:54.409 was brought to you by the friends and partners 00:59:54.409 --> 00:59:55.449 of Elation Church.