Elijah Calls Down Fire

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Great things going on in our kids and youth ministries.

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God is faithful. Welcome to Spring House. Are you glad to be here this morning?

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Glad to see you. If you're joining us on Livestream. Thank you for joining us

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today. I just got back from a

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trip to Seattle. This is Shari and me in Seattle. And

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yes, we are wearing hoodies and coats, but because it was a

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nice 65 degrees in Seattle, which caused

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me to go, somebody here today needs to repent. So the Lord will open

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the windows of cool air in Smyrna, Tennessee.

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But the weather was fabulous. Well, why were you in Seattle, Kevin? Well, we were

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there celebrating Shari's mom and dad's 50th anniversary.

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50 years is something to celebrate because

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it has all the markings of faithfulness. And Rich and Robin

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have moved to Tennessee and they are now part of our Spring House body

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here. So I do encourage you to get to know them. Very dear,

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sweet people. And we just celebrate them

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in their 50 years together.

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Today we're gonna talk about a real wonderful character

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in scripture. His name is Elijah. And actually

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we're gonna talk about Elijah today, next week, and the

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going to take three weeks. And this probably is one of the more

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familiar passages of scripture, if

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you know the Old Testament. And so we're going to see what the Lord has

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to speak to us through this story. Do

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not mind the man with the bandana on his head as he

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rolls the. Oh, it's not a bandana, it's a hat.

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The flame on your shirt, that's how I feel. And

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Smyrna heat. We're

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going to read one verse of Scripture today, and it is not from 1st Kings

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17 through 19. Would you stand with me and would you read as if

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you're so thankful? We're only reading one short verse today

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together. Here we go. Let's read. Without faith,

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it is impossible to please God because

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anyone who comes to him must believe that he

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exists and. And he rewards those who earnestly

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seek him. Father, I thank you for your word. It brings us life.

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And Lord, I pray that your word would come to life today in us. Lord,

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it's not happenstance that we are here. Lord, I pray that you would

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move, that you would give us boldness and faith, Lord, today to

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believe you are who you say you are in Jesus name. And everyone

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said, amen. You may be seated.

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Well, today, next week and the week after, we're going to talk about Elijah. And

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for the next two weeks, or for today and next week, we're going to talk

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about faith and fear. Faith and fear we're going to

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major a little bit more today on faith. But the bulk of the teaching is

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actually going to happen next Sunday because we're going to do something a little unique

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and interesting here in just a little while. So the bulk

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of it will be next week. But over the next two weeks, we're going to

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be taking the story of Elijah. Today we're going to take it

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from his introduction through the encounter at Mount Carmel.

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And then next week we'll go beyond that.

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So our story in First Kings starts with. Actually

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starts in the middle of a narrative about

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a man named Ahab. Ahab was the king of

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Israel. Not just any king. He was a bad king. Everybody say bad

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king. He was a bad king. And he was not just a bad king, but

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the Bible tells us that he did more evil in the eyes of the Lord

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than any other king in Israel. So this was a really bad

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dude. But as I've unpackaged the story and I've

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studied King Ahab, what I've come to realize is

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Ahab, yeah, he was certainly an evil king, but I think it was because he

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was a very insecure king. If you read Ahab and you

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look at his interactions with everybody, he tends to just do whatever

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everybody else tells him to do. And so, you know, I'll tell you, the

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one thing you don't want in leadership is somebody who's insecure.

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Especially in Christian leadership. In Christian leadership, you gotta be secure.

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Because guess what? Lord is the one who appoints you. And the people when

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they come against you, especially those of the world, you gotta have your strength and

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know your call. Is that true? Cause that thing, well, that booger will chase you

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away. But if you're in Ahab's case, he was connected to a

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lady named Jezebel. Now, Jezebel, I'll tell you, she was not insecure. She was

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actually over secure. She was very confident. And in fact, if you crossed her,

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she'd kill you. She was a

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force to be reckoned with. And these two together were leading

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Israel. And Jezebel was somebody that he could

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sic on people that he didn't want anything to do with. And she would certainly

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take care of them because she was a ruthless warrior

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and she worshiped false gods. So you have this powerhouse couple

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here who everyone fears, and God raises

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up a man by the name of Elijah.

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Now, Elijah means the Lord is my God. Would you say that

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the Lord is my God? Elijah means the Lord is my

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God. And would you not just know it would be just Like

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God, to raise up someone whose name is the Lord. Lord is my

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God. To go and tell somebody who the real living, true God

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is. And so he raises up Elijah, and he

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commissions Elijah to go and share with

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King Ahab. Now, here's the thing. I want to

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look at the introduction to Elijah, because, you know, typically you would think, okay,

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if you're going to raise somebody up to go to the most evil king, you

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probably are going to get some backstory on this dude. You're going to probably get

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some information. But guess what? We don't get any information

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on Elijah. He just shows up in the middle of passage. The Lord

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says, now, Elijah, the Tishbite in Gilead said

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to Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I

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serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years, except

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at my word. This is the first introduction we get to this man named

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Elijah. Now, that may not really. That really may not

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matter in your mind if you're just reading the story for the first time. But

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when you see what Elijah is about to do in the next few chapters and

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beyond, you'll go, man, what? This guy must have some type

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of backstory. Now, we don't have a backstory on Elijah, but I love this

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introduction. I love that we don't have the backstory. Because here's the

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thing. So many times when we share our stories, when we share our

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testimonies, we share so much more about us than we do

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our God. And let me tell you something. The power in your testimony has nothing

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to do with you. Has everything to do with what Jesus does in your life.

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Here's the point. The greatest part of your story has little to do with you

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and a whole lot to do with Him. Amen.

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The greatest part of your story has a little to do with you and a

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whole lot to do with him. I got an American

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Express card a little while ago, and I have just

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graduated last night to elite status. Okay?

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Now, I don't know exactly what that means, but they notified me that I am

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now elite status with American Express. That just means that my

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shenanigans are expensive and I still have to pay off the card. But I've

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made elite status. Here's the thing. This is what I want to tell

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you. God's not waiting for you to climb the ladder and become

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elite before he chooses to use you. He

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wants to find you right where you are. And if you have a willing

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yes on the table and you're willing to believe he is who he says

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he is. And he can do what he said he will do. He will use

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someone like you. Let me tell you, somebody needs to hear that this morning because

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somebody walked in here feeling very insignificant this morning. As if

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your story doesn't matter. As if God didn't have a plan for you or knows

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your name. But can I tell you, the God who breathes stars knows your name

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and he has a plan and purpose for your life. The enemy would be out

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to kill and steal. That dream would be out to say, you don't matter. You

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don't have a place. You don't have a place in my kingdom. You're

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insignificant. Look what they are doing, look what that's going on with their life. But

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can I tell you, if you will just lean into the Lord, if you will

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believe he is who he says he is, he'll use you. He will use you

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in a mighty, mighty way that ripples into all

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eternity. Now, we don't know what Elijah's life was before

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this point, but what we do know is that Elijah

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serves the Lord. That's the first thing he says.

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My name means I know the Lord and I serve

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the Lord, right? So we know he serves the Lord. And in an act

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of faith, Elijah decides to walk in obedience to the

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Lord. Can I tell you this morning that obedience requires faith? If

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you're going to walk in obedience to the Lord, it's going to require faith.

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Well, that makes a whole lot of sense because if God's telling you to do

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something, you're probably not going to do something from somebody you don't believe in, right?

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So obedience, right, requires a degree of

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faith when God asks you to do something.

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My best buddy John and I were in a 60 day challenge together. And one

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of the things that he prayed over me this past week is he prayed, lord,

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allow Kevin to go in and be a conduit of joy when he walks into

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different places. And so I'm in Seattle and

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that morning I got up and I went to Kroger and I got the cart

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out and you know, I'm looking for joy. And how many know that you're not

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going to find very much joy at Kroger? I was there. Now, I was

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planning on getting up to that elite status that morning, but I was there and

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I was joyful. I was smiling, I was pushing my cord, and nobody was

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joy. I mean, it literally. Everybody had something, some type of chip on

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their shoulder. Something was going on. And I was like, what is going on here?

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So I check out and I'm like, lord, there is no joy in this

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Kroger. And so I check out and I get my receipt. And

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I'm about to walk out the door, and there's a man at the door. He's

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the security officer, and he's going to check my receipt to make sure I didn't

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steal anything, right? So I'm walking by the door and he says, come here. And

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I was like, me? Yeah. Okay. So I put my card over there. And he

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said, sir, do you know what today is? And I said, no, sir, I do

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not. He said, today is Happy Face Friday.

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And I just said, yes, sir, it is. And here's my happy face.

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And he said, and here's mine. You have a great day. And as I walked

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out, the Holy Spirit said, it is so simple. It

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is so simple to render the joy of the

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Lord to people. See, some people think you gotta have a soapbox, a platform, a

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microphone. Microphone. You can render the good news of Jesus

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Christ in a simple interaction that has no words.

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And so I went to the coffee shop right after that, and it's a small

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little coffee shop. There's 25 people or so in there. And I walk in,

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and I walk in, and as soon as I walk in, there's these two guys,

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I presume they're maybe pastors or some type of leaders of church. And they've got

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this big white book, both of them, and it says, by Tim Keller,

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jesus is King. I walked right in there and I looked across the

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25 people are sitting there, and not one ounce of joy in that room,

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including the two fellas who have this big book that they're proud to be talking

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about. So I walk up to the counter and I order my coffee and order

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some avocado toast. It was great avocado toast, by the way. And I

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order my avocado toast, and I go over and I stand by there and I'm

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thinking, lord, do you want me to engage these fellows who have this book, Jesus

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is King? What do you want me to do here? And he says to me,

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I want you to wait. Okay? So I'm just waiting right there. And I'm

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overhearing these fellows conversations, and can I tell you,

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their conversation was absolutely nothing about Jesus

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being king. They were talking about so and so, did so and so and

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did so and so. To so and so and so and so was not going

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to get so and so. And it was not a very pretty conversation laden with

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gossip, fueled with frustration whilst

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holding a book called Jesus is King. I said,

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Lord, man, I wish they would turn that book over so people wouldn't be around

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them seeing that and watching Jesus as king at the same time. And the

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Holy Spirit said, just wait. I said, okay, well, in walks

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this lady and this man, and this lady and this man had these yellow fluorescent

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vests on, tattered, messed up, got oil stains on them. And they worked at

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the train depot right down the road. And they come in and can I tell

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you, they walked in and all 25 people in that store, in

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that coffee shop got a smile from that lady, said, hey, how you doing? It's

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good to see you today. Hey, I love that shirt that you're wearing. And she

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went around to every single table and just spread

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joy. The atmosphere changed. Do you know your actions

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can change the atmosphere? Your actions, the joy of the

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Lord will change the atmosphere. While I'm standing there and I'm looking at this

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stark contrast as I'm staring at Jesus as king and I'm

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seeing this lady parade around with such joy and the Holy Spirit said, get in

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front of her and pay for her coffee. So I went up there, I took

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out my American Express and I paid and I paid and I paid

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for her coffee. And she had the best smile. And you know

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what, she said, my name is Andy, it's great to meet you. And so I

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paid for a coffee. And I said, my name's Kevin. She said, why are you

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here? And I said, well, we're celebrating my wife's parents anniversary. And

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she said, do you know what? My husband died

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seven years ago this month after 25 years of

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marriage. And I felt that my role

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was to spread the joy, spread cheer to everyone I

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meet after my husband's death. And I said, andy, you are

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absolutely doing that. You changed the atmosphere of this coffee

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shop. Do you know, because of my obedience

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by faith, I was able to encourage Andy in her walk

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despite other people being in the room. Over. Here's the thing, just because

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somebody has Jesus on their T shirt does not mean that they

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know the Lord Jesus Christ. Just because they're carrying a

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billboard or a book does not mean that they've got a relationship with the

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Creator. Andy had been through some stuff, let me tell you, and the Lord

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God had touched her life. Now, we didn't have an overt conversation about the Lord

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there, but it was very apparent who was in the middle of that conversation.

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Obedience requires faith. So you may not know how it's

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going to turn out, but know that the outcome is

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God's responsibility. Obedience is yours.

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Obedience Is yours. Elijah goes before Ahab and tells him about

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the coming drought. And then the Lord instructs Elijah to go

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into hiding. To go into hiding.

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Have you ever had a situation where God calls you out, calls you up, and

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then he says, now go sit down. That's just like

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God. Let me give you the T shirt. I'll give you the position.

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I'll give you the title. I'll give you the accolade. Now get out of the

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way. That's just like the character of God. Let's look at David. David's

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life. David, he knows he's king. Now go back into the field and tend the

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sheep. Let me tell you something. God is not

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about the business of elevating you. He's in the business of elevating himself.

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And everything that you're about and everything that you're doing in your life is

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supposed to be about elevating the name of the Lord.

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Amen. So the word of the Lord tells us

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that Elijah obeyed and he drank from a brook,

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and the Lord commanded ravens to bring him

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food. What kind of God do we serve that birds obey

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his command? He tells the

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ravens to come and bring him food. Now,

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here's the thing. I want you to picture this. Elijah did

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announce the drought to Ahab. But Elijah is also

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succumbing to the drought. He's also in the middle of this drought.

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And can I tell you that his environment around

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him was everything that the Lord said. But the Lord will provide for

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you when you are obedient. And so in the

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midst of this drought, the Lord provides a brook and he provides the

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ravens to bring him food. Can I tell you something? You

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may be in a dry season of your life right now. You may be in

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a place where you have not heard the voice of the Lord. You may be

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in a place of questioning this morning. What is my purpose? What is his plan

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for my life? Can I tell you? Look for the ravens. Stop looking at the

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environment around you. Stop looking at the drought around you. Stop looking at

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what everybody else is pointing out to you. But look at. Look for how he

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provides the ravens. If you lean into the Lord. If you know the

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Lord God, he will always provide a raven to come and sustain you

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in the middle of the drought. Lean into him. It is the time to

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build your trust in the Lord, to build your faith in the Lord so that

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he. When he was ready to call you up and out, you'll be ready to

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go. The greatest development

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of your faith actually will happen in private places.

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The greatest Development of your faith happens in private places.

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We tend to see the ravens and want to stand up and shout and tell

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everybody, you need to have a raven, and you need to have a raven. But

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here's the thing. There's so many things that happen in your life, in your

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private life with the Lord that is between you and the Lord. It's not

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made. Guess what? He's building a case for himself. He's building a foundation. But

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there's so many little things that happen that he wants you to focus in on

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him. He's doing in your private interactions with him,

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your private interactions in your home, the way your attitude. Here's

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the thing. You know, there are times when I wake up and I don't want

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to be joyful to Shari. I choose

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joy. But how inauthentic would it be if I

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choose joy? And then I tell Shari, I just chose joy? There. I just want

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you to know, I just chose to be joyful. I chose to

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listen to you listen. I chose to. I just want you to know. I chose

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to serve you in this moment. Just want you to know. Okay, no, The

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Lord's doing that work on the inside. He's doing it. He's calling

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less. It's less of Kevin and more

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of him. So Elijah is fed by the ravens daily,

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quietly hidden. In Romans 12, it

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says, Take your ordinary, everyday sleeping, eating, going to work life and place

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it before God as an offering. Why do we do that? Because it is

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in the mundane, ordinary things that God cultivates

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his reality in your life so that your faith can be built and be

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used everyday life. You don't need to

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wait till a moment that you need a miracle to begin to lead in. In

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fact, those are the moments when you're drawing on the bank that you've already stored

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up in those mundane moments. So we need

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to have an everyday lifestyle that

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leans in to the Holy Spirit. What God

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had for Elijah at this season, at this moment in his life,

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was not fire. See, we know the story because we have the privilege of knowing

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the end from the beginning. But at this point in his life, he didn't have

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fire. He didn't have crowds. It was just Elijah, God,

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and some birds. And some birds.

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Some of us are way too focused on the environment he's placed us in to

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recognize and acknowledge his powerful move. What ravens is

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he sending? In your life right now? God is

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preparing Elijah for something huge. And can I tell you, he's also

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preparing you for something huge. Now, huge is a

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relative subjective statement, because huge in My eyes is different than huge in his

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eyes. So when I say he's

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preparing you for something huge, it may not look like your neighbor, it may

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not look like the other huge moves of people that you saw in your life.

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But in the Lord's eyes, in the kingdom's eyes, it's huge.

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And the ripples go through eternity. And your

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quiet seasons, in your quiet seasons, the Lord preparing

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you. Because here's the thing. Public faith is built on quiet

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private trust. Public faith is built on

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quiet private trust. We rolled out on January

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1st the greatest stories ever told. We put a booklet together for a

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Bible reading plan. And so many of you have been faithful to that reading

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plan all the way through this time. But somewhere around March, April,

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February, some of you threw in the towel because you gave up reading or you,

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you've skipped a few days or you didn't get in the groove. And you said,

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man, I just have to toss in the towel because I have now lost the

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momentum. July 1st is on Tuesday. Can

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I tell you, it is never too late to start reading the Word of God.

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And let me tell you, as you cultivate this private trust, it

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takes soaking hours in His Word. Soaking time

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in His Word. And let me tell you, if you've given up, you've thrown in

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the towel, you say, I don't. Kevin, I don't have an active relationship with the

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Word of God. Can I tell you, you are missing out on one of the

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most fundamental, incredible experiences of your

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Christian journey. It is time to pick up the Word of God and

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know the Word of God. It's time to pick up and dive in. Guys.

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If you've been journeying, if you've been with us over the last six months and

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you've been faithful to read that one chapter a day, let me tell you, let

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me encourage you. It's time to ante up. Let's go to two chapters.

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Let's add to it. Let's continue to move forward. Let's lean in

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deeper because he has more for us. Us. Let's

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be a Bible reading, Bible believing church. Amen.

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Amen. We have to know the Word in order to believe it. We have to

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know the Word in order to live it. And so the brook dries

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up and there's no more water. But God

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has a plan. And isn't that just like God? Sometimes he sends us right to

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an area he begins to provide for us. And then the brook dries up and

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there we are and we go. Lord, you told me to come here and

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now look what's going on. And all of a sudden, instead of crying out

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to the same God who sustained you with the ravens, you begin to

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complain about your circumstance and your situation. And instead

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of complaining, I believe that the God is wooing us to say, draw

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deeper into me. See, here's the thing. In the 60 day challenge, I'm doing 50

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pushups every day. Can I tell you, the first day I did those push ups,

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that next day, my arms were on fire. They were

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killing me. Okay. But, you know, as I continue to do those

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push ups, each day, it gets. Can

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I tell you, as you flex the muscle of faith and trust in the Lord,

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it gets easier and easier. As you. As you. And he begins

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to be able to put more weight, he begins to trust you with

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more. You begin able to lift more. You become a warrior in the

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kingdom. See, here's the thing. Elijah, he had a story before he was raised up

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in that moment to go to king. King Ahab was the evilest king in

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Israel. Elijah had a backstory.

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I don't know what it is, but he had a backstory. And he was lifting

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those faith muscles. Muscles. In order to be called up and raised up by God.

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Are you lifting your muscles of faith?

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So God leads Elijah to a woman, a widow with a son, who

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has nothing to give. Seems like the situation is worse than it was

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before, initially, because she's got some flour and some oil and she's cooking her

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last meal. How many

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know that we serve a God who can make something out of nothing?

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Nothing. He knows how to make something out of nothing.

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She's gathering sticks for a final meal, but Elijah says to her,

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feed me first. Some of you may be the person who

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has just a little bit of flour and a little bit of oil,

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and you're not willing to relinquish it for the Lord. Can I tell

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you? God can take what little you have, and he can make it explode

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into extraordinary, extravagant things if you're willing to let

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it go. Landon and Kaylan were just up here talking about offerings. Some of you

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get that bank account and you're looking at the number and you say, no, I'm

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going to hold on. I'm going to control it myself, God,

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because my plan is better than yours. Now, we don't say that out loud, but

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our actions say that very loudly. And God is saying, let me tell you

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something. If you give me that negative bank account, I'll do some things in your

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life that only I can do. Do you

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trust me? Do you trust me? Because I got A raven

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that's going to come and save you. I got a brook

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for you to drink from. It feels outrageous unless you're

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walking by faith. And so the flour and the oil for the bread, they don't

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run out. Not because she could afford it, but because she trusted

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the Lord. You see, faith begets faith. And when you see faith in

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action, it spurs others on in their faith. When I was

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in third grade, I rode a church bus to Sunday school at a

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Baptist church. And there was the kid living next to me. His name was Brian.

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And I so wanted Brian to go to church with me on Sunday. I wanted

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him to get on that bus with me. And he didn't want anything to do

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with. So, you know, I would ask him week after week to ride the bus.

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Well, there was this one day he wanted. One Saturday, he wanted to go fishing

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with his dad. And it was raining outside. It was pouring. I mean, it was

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really, really raining outside. And he stormed out of the house so fast. And I

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was like, what's going on, Brian? He said, I want to go fishing with my

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dad and that stupid rain is stopping us. And I said, well, why don't you

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pray and ask that, Ask God for the rain to stop or

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whatever. And he said, I tell you what, you pray to God and ask him

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to stop the rain, and if he does, I'll go to church with you. Well,

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I took my King James Bible and I went, right now I'm a Baptist boy.

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I don't believe in the whole. This all woohoo stuff, you know, at this point.

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And so I go over there and I'm just. I get in the middle of

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the road, drench the rain, and I hold this King James Bible up to the

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sky and I say, lord, make the rain

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stop so my friend Brian will go to church with me.

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Thirty seconds later, the sky looked like that.

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I was shocked. I was like, what?

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Whoa, whoa. Now, Brian never went to church with me, but.

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But I guarantee you he remembers that

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moment. Cause we made a big deal out of it.

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God can do extraordinary things with a little bit of faith.

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But can I tell you, in that moment, that moment

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wasn't about. Listen to this, this is important. That moment

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wasn't about let the rain let up so fishing can happen. Happen.

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The reason God answered that prayer was somebody needed

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to believe. Someone needed to believe.

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And God answered this. The, the, the prayer.

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The widow's son dies in the middle of this. And Elijah calls

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out to the Lord and the Word tells us that the Lord uses Elijah

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to Bring this boy back to life. Do you see this small

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faith getting bigger? And he's seeing God is moving

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in Elijah's life. And supernatural, incredible things are happening because of

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Elijah's faith to go to the Lord. With every circumstance and

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situation. God was building Elijah's trust. So by the

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time he got to Mount Carmel, he knew God would come

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through. Isaiah 55 says this. For my

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thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the

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Lord. And many times we say, lord, my thoughts are better than your thoughts, and

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my ways are better than your ways. So get out of my way, Lord. But

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the Word tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

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And let me tell you, if Jesus is the way, I don't want to be

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in his way, because it is only through him

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that we can go to the Father. We don't want to be in the way.

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We want to be a conduit of grace. We want to be a conduit and

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an example. We want to be able to see God's display in our life

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so that others may come to know him. That is the point,

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fellow believers, when I often. When. We often think

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that the fight is between. Listen to this. We often think

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that the fight is between radical faith and radical

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fear. We got radical faith over here, and here's the fight. Lord, I can't get

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over here where I'm just believing you wholeheartedly, or

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it's radical fear. I'm over here shuddering in my bones and so scared.

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I don't think the fight is between radical faith and radical fear. For

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most of us, the real battle is between faith and doing nothing at all.

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It's not that we're paralyzed by fear. It's that we're comfortable

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with our circumstances and just want to see how everything

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plays out.

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God hasn't called you to passively exist.

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He's invited you to actively believe.

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The greatest enemy of your faith may not be fear. It

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may be that you are spiritually neutral,

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that you just stand idly by and you say, I believe in this God, but

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I'm not leaning in. We'll just see what happens.

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And therefore you are utterly. Listen to this, friends. This is harsh.

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You are utterly useless in the Kingdom

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because without faith it is. Say it again.

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Impossible to do what? Who wants to please the Lord in this

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place? I want to be a church full of people who want to please the

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Lord. It's impossible to please him without faith. Faith requires

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action. Faith requires action.

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You're not shaking in a corner, but you're also not building any altars.

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You're just letting life play out. And that's not faith.

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John and I were on the way to see Sam Strong this past

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week. Philip Strong went into. Philip went into

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the hospital because he had a heat, something like a heat

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stroke. Brain activity was gone. And in

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the car on our ride up there, John and I just began to pray

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out loud. Boldly, we said, lord Jesus,

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we believe for Philip. We believe that he is your.

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We believe that you will do a testimony and a work in his

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life and in his father's life and in his mother's life. Through this, we began

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to proclaim. Before we even got to the hospital, we were proclaiming

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victory. And we walked in there and we looked at the vitals and I looked

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Sam right in the eye and Lark in the eye, and I said, hey. We

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were praying before we got here that we believe that your son's going to be

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okay. He's going to be released this coming week, I'm sure. Is that true? He's

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going to be released this coming week. The Lord's touched him. Of course he did,

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because that's the kind of God we saw.

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The truth is, passive waiting is often disguised

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as disobedience. Passive waiting is

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often disguised as disobedience. God is not asking you to figure it

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all out. He's asking you to take a step.

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When was the last time you took a step of faith?

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I'm going to ask that again. When was the last time

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you took a step of faith? I'm taking

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a step of faith and trusting you, Lord, in this new relationship.

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I'm taking a step of faith on the job front. I'm taking a

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step of faith, though things around me don't seem the way I want them to

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seem. I'm taking a step of faith that you have me right where I am.

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I'm taking a step of faith in that bank account that seems to dry up.

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I'm taking a step of faith for that healing in my body

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that you would cure me. I'm taking a step of faith of that prodigal son

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that he or she would come home. I'm taking a step

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of faith, God, I'm believing what I say. I believe because you

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are the God who breathes stars. And I can't trust you with my life.

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I can trust you with my circumstances because I don't belong to this world.

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I belong to the kingdom and I have a God who loves me.

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God hasn't called you to passively exist. He's

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invited you to actively believe

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you have access to the King of the universe, access to the God who

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breathes stars. So why would you be content standing on the sideline?

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And so the time has come for God to use Elijah in a

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powerful way. A servant of the Lord by the name of

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Obadiah, who's working for King Abel, King Ahab comes

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and meets Elijah. And Elijah says to Obadiah, go tell

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Ahab I am ready to meet with him. I've got a word for him.

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Obadiah replies, oh, Lord, please don't send me to King Ahab,

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because if I go to King Ahab and say your name, he surely will

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kill me. What do you think Elijah's thinking?

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His faith muscles are so flexed at this point. But

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can you imagine? Some of us get a situation like that. The messenger

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comes, and then we say to the messenger, go deliver the message for me.

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God didn't tell Obadiah to go. He told Elijah to go.

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And he said to Obadiah, tell Ahab I sure will meet with him

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today. So the two fellows meet up. Ahab, evil King

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Elijah, the man of the Lord, and they have this discourse with

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one another. And Elijah says, here, let's do this. Let's go to Mount

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Carmel. Now, here's the thing. Ahab's gonna do everything that Elijah says.

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Because Ahab's an insecure king. He does. He just. Whatever, that's fine. Yes, let's do

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it. Okay. But he says, okay, Elijah says, let's have the

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450 prophets of Baal come to Mount Carmel, and I'll come

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as well. And we're gonna build an altar, and we're gonna put

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a sacrifice on the altar, and we're gonna cry out 450

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prophets. You cry out to your God and see if fire comes down

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and burns this altar up. And then after you get done, I'll cry out

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to my God and we'll see if fire comes down. And whosever God answers the

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prayer, that's the one true God. They say, oh, that sounds good. Let's do that.

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Yay. Okay. So

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he says, be my guest. You start. So they build the altar, and they

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start crying out, 450 prophets of Baal. Start crying out,

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crying out, crying out, Baal, Baal, come down.

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Send fire. It's not working. So they thought, oh, well, if we start

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cutting ourselves and we start dancing, we start doing all these religious

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exercises, maybe that will help. Help. It doesn't work.

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See, you can start getting real confident in the Lord. You start to get real

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excited. Because you know the real God. Elijah starts to taunt them.

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He starts to say, where is your God? What's going on?

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Where's he at? Maybe he's sleeping. Maybe he's having

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breakfast. Maybe he's getting the elite status with the credit card. Something's

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going on, but he's not here. And then he

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says, okay, my turn. Not only am I going to call fire

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down from heaven, but let's take some water and

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let's pour it on this trench once. Let's pour it on this

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trench twice. Let's pour it on this trench three times.

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As if to say, I am so confident that my Lord is going

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to move. We're going to make it nearly impossible for it to be

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anything else but him. And he calls out on the

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name of the Lord and he says this incredible Praise,

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Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Let it be known today that you are

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God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things

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at your command. Answer me, Lord. Answer me. Listen to this

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so that these people will know that you, Lord, are God

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and that you are turning their hearts back again.

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Guys, the powerful move of God. The purpose of God's power is

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his glory, not our relief. The reason he called down

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fire, the reason God answered that fire, was so that 450

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people would see his power on display and that they would believe that all of

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Israel would see what was going on and they would believe. Hearts

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were being turned back to the Lord because of this display

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of God. It wasn't to elevate Elijah. It wasn't so

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that Elijah could be like, look what I've done. I'm the king. I'm a pyro.

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I'm the king. Pyro. I do all the fire. No, no. It was so

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that God Almighty could be on display, so that people would believe. And

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you know what they did? As soon as the fire came down, they all fell

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down in reverence to the one sovereign, true God.

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God is faithful,

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and so it's for his glory. Psalm says

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this, not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory

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because of your love and your faithfulness. Guys, this should be our cry

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when God's moving in our life. This should be our prayer, our cry to

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your name be the glory. Elijah didn't ask for

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fire so that he could win a debate or feel vindicated or validated.

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His prayer wasn't about him. It was about people. It was about revival. It was

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about glory returning to its rightful place. He

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doesn't answer for our comfort. He moves for his glory so

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people will believe. We also see this in the heart of Jesus. Remember the story

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in John 11 where he raises Lazarus from the dead? What does

Speaker: 00:35:58

he say out loud? He says all of the things about why

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he's there and Lazarus to come forth. And he says out loud, I said

Speaker: 00:36:05

this for the benefit of what? The people standing here. Why?

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So that they may believe that you sent me.

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God's power on display is about people coming to know

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him, that their faith may be increased in the one true living

Speaker: 00:36:21

God. The miracle wasn't for Mary and Martha. It was for the people in the

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group. God moves publicly so people will publicly

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believe. So Elijah prays not to

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prove his reputation, but to turn hearts back.

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And the fire falls. It consumes the sacrifice, the stones it licks up,

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the water, it ignites. And God was proven faithful.

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And when it comes to faith, our brother James says to us, faith by

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itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is

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dead. Guys, we do not want to be a people whose faith is

Speaker: 00:36:54

dead. He invites us to take a step. And today

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I'm going to invite you to take a step. I got some instructions that I'm

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going to give. We're going to do some movement here. It's going to get messy.

Speaker: 00:37:03

And what I need, because you guys are so excellent, you're such great listeners, we're

Speaker: 00:37:07

going to be moving quickly, and we're going to do exactly what I need you

Speaker: 00:37:10

to do to make this work. Capiche? Yes, sir. Got it. Okay, here we go.

Speaker: 00:37:14

All right. If you have a testimony,

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if you have a story, everybody here has a testimony. Let me qualify that if

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you have a fire falling from heaven story,

Speaker: 00:37:25

you have seen firsthand the miraculous power of God in your life

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in some way, shape or form, any way, shape, or form that you could

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easily tell somebody about this morning. I want you to come up right now and

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I want you to go to that tub and grab a lighter. I

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have seen. I firsthand could tell this morning of a fire moment

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in my life where fire fell from heaven. In this situation,

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grab a lighter and you can go back to your seat

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quickly once you get your lighter.

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Okay. Behind them. Everybody listen. Everybody listen.

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Because those of you with lighters may qualify for this second thing as well.

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If you are here and you are believing

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God for anything, you're believing for the prodigal son, a healing, a

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job situation, finance. You are believing God for something. You need

Speaker: 00:38:22

to have faith, to believe God to do something. I want you to come up

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here and grab A bottle of water, it's over. In that case, over there to

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the left or to your right, rather, grab a bottle of water. Now, if you

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got a lighter, you can also get a bottle of water if you need that.

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But if you are believing God for anything, I need God to move in this

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way. Anything at all. Grab the bottle of water.

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Thank you guys for being so quick.

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Now we've got good insurance. I pray that you won't burn our church down.

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Okay, thank you so much for doing that so, so

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swiftly. Here's what we're going to do.

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I'm going to ask for you all

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to gather in groups of 10.

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Gather in groups of 10. And every group, I need

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at least one person with a bottle of water and one person

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with a lighter. You can have multiple people with lighters, multiple people with bottles

Speaker: 00:39:34

of water, but I need. In every group, I need at least one person who

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has a lighter and one person who has a bottle of water. Would you

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stand? And on the count of 10, can we be in groups of. Of 10?

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I believe we can do this very quickly. You can be in these groups all

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around the room. You don't have to come down front necessarily. So

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find your group of 10. I'm going to count to 10, and we're all going

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to be in groups of 10. Somebody in your group has a

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lighter. Somebody has a water.

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1,

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2,

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3,

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4,

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5,

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6. If you see somebody around you not

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standing, it's because they don't know where to go. So help them. Invite them along.

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7,

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8,

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9,

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and 10. Okay, if you have a lighter,

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would you hold it up with the flame up high?

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We have lighters in every group? Yes.

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Excellent. If you have a bottle of water, would you hold your bottle of water

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up, please? Perfect. Okay, you may put all that down.

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Okay. When Elijah, before

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the fire came, Elijah took water and

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he poured it on the trench the water represents.

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I am confident that God will meet me where I am.

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I'm confident that he will answer this prayer. The

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fire represents the answered prayer, the fire

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of God, the testimony of his faithfulness. We're going to take 12 minutes.

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I need everyone right now to nominate a timekeeper. Raise your hand if you're the

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timekeeper in your group. That means you have a cell phone or a watch.

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Timekeeper,

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Timekeeper, raise your hand. Okay, everyone in

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your group is going to have one minute to share either their

Speaker: 00:41:34

fire testimony or the prayer that they're believing God

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for. Why one minute? Because you got groups of 10. I'm giving you 12

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minutes. But I want everyone to have an opportunity to share. So the

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timekeeper has got to be able to say, I'm sorry, your time is up. Let's

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move on to the next person. You understand? Okay, go ahead. You have 12 minutes.

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Let's share. The

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fire is the testimony of God's movement.

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We are supposed to be fire starters. When we share

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our stories with one another, it sets things ablaze in

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the kingdom. But there's also a time

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and a season where we have water, where

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we're in the position of saying, I believe God. You are who you say

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you are, and I want to believe with confidence you're going to

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answer my prayer. Three months ago, I was

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struggling with a nerve

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in my back that was being pinched. And I didn't think much of it because

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it was controllable with my neck. And

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about four weeks ago, my jaw started hurting and I started having chest

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pains. So I thought, well, I probably need to go get this checked out. So

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I went to see a cardiologist. She said my heart was

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inflamed and I needed to get a CT scan. And so I went in and

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got a CT scan. And real

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positive testimony from that is. You know, I've

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struggled thinking there's things wrong with my heart for a very long time because

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of, you know, my dad's side of family. There's a lot of heart issues and

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things like that, but my heart is completely fine. It's zero calcium. I mean,

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it's great, strong heart. But when I was in the

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CT scan, the cardiologist looking at the radiologist

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found a spot on my liver, 3.8

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centimeter mass. And so

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they said I needed to follow up with my pcp. And so I

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did. And, you know, the PCP said, we

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probably need to look at this specifically. So I did

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another CT that was specific for that region,

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and that result came back this past week. And it seems that the mass has

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grown a little bit. Bit. And so they're needing me to go in and do

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some more tests on it this week. And

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so I want to proclaim that I'm pouring water on this

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trench and I'm believing

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in the sovereign God who has sustained my

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life and given me testimony after

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testimony of his faithfulness in my life that I can

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draw from and know that if he's been good, then he'll be good

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now. But here's the step of faith.

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Even if this God of the universe chooses not to touch

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me, he is still sovereign and he is still good.

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And when you get to a place where you know he's good no matter what.

Speaker: 00:44:28

You lean into the faith of eternity because our stint

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here on earth is so short, but we have an eternity

Speaker: 00:44:36

with a God who's gonna split the sky. And the word says, in revolution,

Speaker: 00:44:40

he's gonna wipe every tear. There's gonna be no. No more death, no

Speaker: 00:44:43

more suffering. How many are waiting and excited about that day?

Speaker: 00:44:48

And so whatever it is you're believing in, he can take

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that water and he can burn it up. He can cause

Speaker: 00:44:55

a flame and a testimony. Do you believe it? Today let's

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be a church who exercises faith in

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this sovereign God. Would you stand with me? We're gonna sing this song. If you

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have something you were believing for, if you had a bottle of water this

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morning, said I'm believing for something, I want you to come down. Want all

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of our fire blazers behind them to lay hands and just begin to

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proclaim victory, Provision, healing,

Speaker: 00:45:21

whatever it is. So if you have a bottle of water, come on down. If

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you have fire, come on behind them. Don't burn anybody up for real, but lay

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some hands on them and let's proclaim this God we

Speaker: 00:45:31

say we believe in. Yes. Can we do it? Let's sing. Come on. Come on,

Speaker: 00:45:34

team. Let's go.