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Better Together

Prepare to Receive God's Promise - Episode 1122

December 16, 2025 | S7 E1122 | 52:34

Prepare to Receive God's Promise - Episode 1122
Only our good, sovereign Heavenly Father can turn our seasons of grief, disappointment, and waiting into open doors of renewed hope! We are tempted to rush through difficult times, but God wants to open our eyes to see miracles and His promises fulfilled. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000
#Christmas #Jesus #PromisesofGod #WaitingonGod #Disappointed #Anger #Prophecy #Adoption #Faith #Worship #Emmanuel #WomeninMinistry #Testimony #Believe #LaurieCrouch #CeCeWinans #SheilaWalsh #LisaHarper #KalleyHeiligenthal

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Better Together | Prepare to Receive God's Promise - Episode 1122 | December 16, 2025
  • - when god has a plan, he always prepares the way for
  • 00:00:00.023 --> 00:00:04.427
  • His promise to be fulfilled.
  • 00:00:04.427 --> 00:00:06.529
  • Today we're going to learn how to prepare our hearts for a
  • 00:00:06.529 --> 00:00:09.065
  • Holy visitation.
  • 00:00:09.065 --> 00:00:10.500
  • Come on, join us.
  • 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:11.901
  • ♪ (music playing)
  • 00:00:11.901 --> 00:00:38.995
  • - today, i want us to talk about how do you prepare your
  • 00:00:38.995 --> 00:00:42.699
  • Heart for something that god is going to do?
  • 00:00:42.699 --> 00:00:44.701
  • I was thinking about it last night, and i remembered barry
  • 00:00:44.701 --> 00:00:47.337
  • And i had just got married, but i was invited to speak at
  • 00:00:47.337 --> 00:00:50.440
  • A conference with a man called george otis, but it was a
  • 00:00:50.440 --> 00:00:53.843
  • Closed conference because it was all people who were in
  • 00:00:53.843 --> 00:00:55.812
  • Countries where they would lose their life if they were
  • 00:00:55.812 --> 00:00:58.047
  • Exposed as believers.
  • 00:00:58.047 --> 00:01:00.016
  • And at first i said, i could not go because i was busy.
  • 00:01:00.016 --> 00:01:02.552
  • And he said, how long have we been friends?
  • 00:01:02.552 --> 00:01:04.621
  • Which is an unfair question.
  • 00:01:04.621 --> 00:01:06.523
  • And then he said, have i ever asked you?
  • 00:01:06.523 --> 00:01:08.491
  • And i said, no, george.
  • 00:01:08.491 --> 00:01:09.826
  • And he said, i want you to come.
  • 00:01:09.826 --> 00:01:11.327
  • So i was like, yes, sir, and i loved it.
  • 00:01:11.327 --> 00:01:13.530
  • There was maybe only 40 people there.
  • 00:01:13.530 --> 00:01:15.198
  • It was small, but it was powerful.
  • 00:01:15.198 --> 00:01:17.500
  • The presence of the lord was phenomenal.
  • 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:19.068
  • Two weeks later, i get a letter from a woman.
  • 00:01:19.068 --> 00:01:21.871
  • And she said, while i was flying back to turkey, god
  • 00:01:21.871 --> 00:01:24.541
  • Told me 10 things about your life.
  • 00:01:24.541 --> 00:01:26.609
  • I mean, i went to seminary before, so i've had words from
  • 00:01:26.609 --> 00:01:29.112
  • God that you think, you know, you just had too much pizza,
  • 00:01:29.112 --> 00:01:31.214
  • You know, it was just.
  • 00:01:31.214 --> 00:01:33.750
  • But as i'm reading this letter, i felt i had to read
  • 00:01:33.750 --> 00:01:35.919
  • It on my knees, it was just weighty.
  • 00:01:35.919 --> 00:01:38.188
  • But the last thing was god is going to open
  • 00:01:38.188 --> 00:01:42.759
  • A ministry to women.
  • 00:01:42.759 --> 00:01:44.060
  • You will have the ability to speak to women all
  • 00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:45.728
  • Over the world.
  • 00:01:45.728 --> 00:01:48.031
  • The first nine were things that god had done or things
  • 00:01:48.031 --> 00:01:50.400
  • That god was going to do, the last one was the only one
  • 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.203
  • That demanded a response from me.
  • 00:01:53.203 --> 00:01:54.971
  • The last one said, if you say yes.
  • 00:01:54.971 --> 00:01:58.107
  • To be honest, i kind of toyed with it for a while because my
  • 00:01:58.107 --> 00:02:00.443
  • Understanding of women's ministry was not something
  • 00:02:00.443 --> 00:02:04.147
  • That was appealing to me.
  • 00:02:04.147 --> 00:02:05.515
  • I was always a bit of a tomboy growing up.
  • 00:02:05.515 --> 00:02:07.317
  • And even at seminary, my best friends were guys because they
  • 00:02:07.317 --> 00:02:10.787
  • Would sit and debate things and talk things through.
  • 00:02:10.787 --> 00:02:12.855
  • And i always felt that girls could be mean to each other.
  • 00:02:12.855 --> 00:02:15.758
  • So i was like, lord, i'm not so sure about that bit.
  • 00:02:15.758 --> 00:02:18.561
  • But because i sensed god's presence on it,
  • 00:02:18.561 --> 00:02:21.497
  • Then i said, yes.
  • 00:02:21.497 --> 00:02:24.701
  • I don't know what that's going to look like, but yes.
  • 00:02:24.701 --> 00:02:27.503
  • So maybe, i don't know, a year later, i get this call from
  • 00:02:27.503 --> 00:02:30.807
  • Steve ardeburn.
  • 00:02:30.807 --> 00:02:33.309
  • And i know it's something to do.
  • 00:02:33.309 --> 00:02:35.178
  • I know he started this new thing called women of faith.
  • 00:02:35.178 --> 00:02:36.779
  • So i'm thinking because i have to call him back, well,
  • 00:02:36.779 --> 00:02:39.382
  • This is it.
  • 00:02:39.382 --> 00:02:40.617
  • This is the big thing.
  • 00:02:40.617 --> 00:02:43.052
  • And he said, you know, i wonder if you would like to
  • 00:02:43.052 --> 00:02:45.154
  • Join us as the worship leader.
  • 00:02:45.154 --> 00:02:46.489
  • And i know that's not my calling.
  • 00:02:46.489 --> 00:02:48.725
  • I mean, i can sing, but i'm not a worship leader.
  • 00:02:48.725 --> 00:02:51.694
  • And that's not my anointing.
  • 00:02:51.694 --> 00:02:53.563
  • I didn't know what to do.
  • 00:02:53.563 --> 00:02:54.731
  • I said, you know what, i have to say no.
  • 00:02:54.731 --> 00:02:56.299
  • I'm really grateful, but i, but that's, the right person
  • 00:02:56.299 --> 00:03:00.937
  • Will be out there, but it's not me.
  • 00:03:00.937 --> 00:03:02.739
  • And i remember that night, barry and i, we were living in
  • 00:03:02.739 --> 00:03:06.843
  • Laguna niguel in california, and we took our dog bentley up
  • 00:03:06.843 --> 00:03:09.345
  • Onto the top of this hill where we could look
  • 00:03:09.345 --> 00:03:11.481
  • Over the ocean.
  • 00:03:11.481 --> 00:03:13.182
  • And it was just this, lord, i don't quite understand.
  • 00:03:13.182 --> 00:03:16.085
  • I know you asked me to say yes, but then when the
  • 00:03:16.085 --> 00:03:19.355
  • Invitation came, it was the wrong thing.
  • 00:03:19.355 --> 00:03:21.424
  • So i don't really know what to do.
  • 00:03:21.424 --> 00:03:24.961
  • So i remember so clearly barry and i sitting there, literally
  • 00:03:24.961 --> 00:03:28.331
  • With our hands open on the hill that night and saying,
  • 00:03:28.331 --> 00:03:30.733
  • Lord, we're just going to give this back to you.
  • 00:03:30.733 --> 00:03:33.069
  • And whatever you want to put in our hands, we'll be ready.
  • 00:03:33.069 --> 00:03:37.940
  • A week later, he called back and he said, you know what, i
  • 00:03:37.940 --> 00:03:40.843
  • Got it totally wrong.
  • 00:03:40.843 --> 00:03:42.111
  • You weren't supposed to be the worship leader.
  • 00:03:42.111 --> 00:03:44.881
  • You were supposed to be one of the speakers.
  • 00:03:44.881 --> 00:03:47.016
  • And it was just this saying, yes.
  • 00:03:47.016 --> 00:03:50.420
  • And yet, the interesting thing was saying yes doesn't always
  • 00:03:50.420 --> 00:03:54.924
  • Make you feel equipped.
  • 00:03:54.924 --> 00:03:57.327
  • Because i really didn't.
  • 00:03:57.327 --> 00:03:59.662
  • I'll never forget the first conference feeling, i said
  • 00:03:59.662 --> 00:04:01.931
  • Yes, lord, but maybe it said yes too soon.
  • 00:04:01.931 --> 00:04:04.667
  • Maybe i needed longer to prepare.
  • 00:04:04.667 --> 00:04:06.803
  • I had never spoken in public before, never.
  • 00:04:06.803 --> 00:04:09.505
  • I was in television or music.
  • 00:04:09.505 --> 00:04:11.841
  • And i think people thought, because they were vaguely
  • 00:04:11.841 --> 00:04:14.310
  • Familiar with my name, she must be a speaker, no.
  • 00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:18.214
  • I'd once given a speech when i was 12 years old when our girl
  • 00:04:18.214 --> 00:04:19.849
  • Guide leader was getting married and i had to present
  • 00:04:19.849 --> 00:04:24.287
  • The gift to her.
  • 00:04:24.287 --> 00:04:25.555
  • It was a silver tray and coffee pot.
  • 00:04:25.555 --> 00:04:26.756
  • And i stood on the platform and said nothing.
  • 00:04:26.756 --> 00:04:29.058
  • I was just, and i had rehearsed in front
  • 00:04:29.058 --> 00:04:32.395
  • Of the mirror.
  • 00:04:32.395 --> 00:04:33.963
  • I had this great speech.
  • 00:04:33.963 --> 00:04:35.164
  • I'm just like, here.
  • 00:04:35.164 --> 00:04:37.433
  • It's just awful.
  • 00:04:37.433 --> 00:04:39.135
  • So the thought of saying yes to that was so strange.
  • 00:04:39.135 --> 00:04:41.371
  • But i've discovered the importance of saying yes to
  • 00:04:41.371 --> 00:04:44.407
  • What god asks, whether it makes sense, not just in terms
  • 00:04:44.407 --> 00:04:48.911
  • Of outside circumstances, but internal circumstances.
  • 00:04:48.911 --> 00:04:53.015
  • Because i remember the very first conference thinking, oh,
  • 00:04:53.015 --> 00:04:57.053
  • I think i maybe got this wrong.
  • 00:04:57.053 --> 00:04:59.088
  • But knowing if god has called me, then that's it.
  • 00:04:59.088 --> 00:05:03.059
  • I just, i show up and then better together, you know?
  • 00:05:03.059 --> 00:05:07.263
  • I mean, the impact, when god put the vision for better
  • 00:05:07.263 --> 00:05:11.167
  • Together in your heart, laurie.
  • 00:05:11.167 --> 00:05:13.236
  • When jan passed this baton to you and said, you know, do
  • 00:05:13.236 --> 00:05:17.740
  • Something for the women, it's just, it's amazing to me.
  • 00:05:17.740 --> 00:05:20.843
  • But when he first spoke it, i was like, i have no idea that
  • 00:05:20.843 --> 00:05:24.247
  • I think it's one of the greatest things about the
  • 00:05:24.247 --> 00:05:27.150
  • Kingdom of god, that he doesn't look at her and say,
  • 00:05:27.150 --> 00:05:29.719
  • Okay, well, she's clearly a gifted speaker and he's been
  • 00:05:29.719 --> 00:05:32.355
  • To, you know, whatever.
  • 00:05:32.355 --> 00:05:34.190
  • Let's, no, he looks at our heart and says, i think i
  • 00:05:34.190 --> 00:05:37.660
  • Could work with that.
  • 00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:39.695
  • - i think the key to saying yes when god asks us to do
  • 00:05:39.695 --> 00:05:44.200
  • Something is just to realize you're never going to feel
  • 00:05:44.200 --> 00:05:47.537
  • Perfectly brave about stepping into what god's called you to.
  • 00:05:47.537 --> 00:05:51.808
  • So you do it scared.
  • 00:05:51.808 --> 00:05:53.543
  • You say, lord, give me the grace to lean into this.
  • 00:05:53.543 --> 00:05:55.778
  • And i'm going to trust you even when i can't see around
  • 00:05:55.778 --> 00:05:58.414
  • The corner of my circumstances.
  • 00:05:58.414 --> 00:06:00.149
  • The longer you walk with god, the easier it gets.
  • 00:06:00.149 --> 00:06:03.386
  • Because when i look back over my life, i'm 62.
  • 00:06:03.386 --> 00:06:06.989
  • I came to know jesus when i was five.
  • 00:06:06.989 --> 00:06:08.991
  • When i look back over my life, i see over and over and over
  • 00:06:08.991 --> 00:06:12.562
  • Again the faithfulness of god, even when i was faithless.
  • 00:06:12.562 --> 00:06:19.035
  • So now it's not nearly as difficult for me.
  • 00:06:19.035 --> 00:06:20.937
  • When he says, i want you to do something you're not
  • 00:06:20.937 --> 00:06:22.905
  • Going to understand.
  • 00:06:22.905 --> 00:06:24.173
  • I'm like, yes, sir, i'm ready to step into the adventure
  • 00:06:24.173 --> 00:06:26.075
  • Because it's always been so good to me.
  • 00:06:26.075 --> 00:06:30.346
  • When you're new in the faith takes a little more risk, a
  • 00:06:30.346 --> 00:06:33.883
  • Little more bravery, but psalm 84:11 says, no good thing,
  • 00:06:33.883 --> 00:06:36.085
  • Will he withhold from him or her whose walk is upright, in
  • 00:06:36.085 --> 00:06:42.024
  • Other words, if you're walking with god, he's your front
  • 00:06:42.024 --> 00:06:44.627
  • Guard, he's your rear guard, your boundary lines will fall
  • 00:06:44.627 --> 00:06:47.430
  • In pleasant places.
  • 00:06:47.430 --> 00:06:50.566
  • - i think where people maybe watch, like if they watch you
  • 00:06:50.566 --> 00:06:52.435
  • On singing and they watch you teach your bible study and
  • 00:06:52.435 --> 00:06:54.670
  • They watch you faithfully sitting here and they listen
  • 00:06:54.670 --> 00:06:58.140
  • To your new music, you think, well, i mean, of course god's
  • 00:06:58.140 --> 00:07:01.210
  • Using them because they're so equipped and so gifted.
  • 00:07:01.210 --> 00:07:03.613
  • But they don't see the path that we have come for.
  • 00:07:03.613 --> 00:07:07.383
  • And also what it has cost.
  • 00:07:07.383 --> 00:07:10.253
  • When i think of elizabeth and how she must have prepared her
  • 00:07:10.253 --> 00:07:14.323
  • Heart, it cost her for a lot of years.
  • 00:07:14.323 --> 00:07:16.792
  • Look at other people having babies, celebrate them, be
  • 00:07:16.792 --> 00:07:19.328
  • With them.
  • 00:07:19.328 --> 00:07:21.564
  • She and zechariah loving one another, staying
  • 00:07:21.564 --> 00:07:24.634
  • Faithful to god.
  • 00:07:24.634 --> 00:07:26.502
  • Staying faithful for the long haul.
  • 00:07:26.502 --> 00:07:29.405
  • - it never looks like the way we want it.
  • 00:07:29.405 --> 00:07:31.674
  • God will tell you something.
  • 00:07:31.674 --> 00:07:34.677
  • Has it ever worked out your way?
  • 00:07:34.677 --> 00:07:35.912
  • No, no.
  • 00:07:35.912 --> 00:07:38.080
  • - and i'm glad it didn't.
  • 00:07:38.080 --> 00:07:38.848
  • - it's never our way.
  • 00:07:38.848 --> 00:07:39.682
  • It's god's way.
  • 00:07:39.682 --> 00:07:41.017
  • And that trust and belief, the bible says that the righteous
  • 00:07:41.017 --> 00:07:45.421
  • Live by faith.
  • 00:07:45.421 --> 00:07:46.122
  • - yeah, right.
  • 00:07:46.122 --> 00:07:47.290
  • - this is our road.
  • 00:07:47.290 --> 00:07:48.357
  • This is what we live.
  • 00:07:48.357 --> 00:07:49.525
  • We have to live our faith.
  • 00:07:49.525 --> 00:07:51.294
  • Live trusting god.
  • 00:07:51.294 --> 00:07:54.897
  • Live believing.
  • 00:07:54.897 --> 00:07:56.832
  • And it is a walk of faith.
  • 00:07:56.832 --> 00:07:59.535
  • - it is.
  • 00:07:59.535 --> 00:08:00.736
  • - it never looks like the way i would have planned it.
  • 00:08:00.736 --> 00:08:02.038
  • And that's why i think god's always, he gets humor i think.
  • 00:08:02.038 --> 00:08:05.541
  • - clearly he does.
  • 00:08:05.541 --> 00:08:07.643
  • - i hope you do.
  • 00:08:07.643 --> 00:08:09.045
  • Just watching his kids, i remember when i got a call
  • 00:08:09.045 --> 00:08:12.949
  • From my son's school when he was in kindergarten, and i
  • 00:08:12.949 --> 00:08:15.952
  • Dropped him off and i get home.
  • 00:08:15.952 --> 00:08:18.921
  • And my phone's ringing when i walk in the door.
  • 00:08:18.921 --> 00:08:22.925
  • And she says, laurie, she said, this is linda from the
  • 00:08:22.925 --> 00:08:26.462
  • School office.
  • 00:08:26.462 --> 00:08:27.663
  • Well, you know, your heart just, you know, you what,
  • 00:08:27.663 --> 00:08:29.665
  • What, you know.
  • 00:08:29.665 --> 00:08:32.568
  • And she said, laurie, she said, i have caylan in here
  • 00:08:32.568 --> 00:08:34.203
  • Right now.
  • 00:08:34.203 --> 00:08:35.571
  • And she said, everything's okay.
  • 00:08:35.571 --> 00:08:37.406
  • She said, but he doesn't think you're going to come
  • 00:08:37.406 --> 00:08:40.176
  • Pick him up.
  • 00:08:40.176 --> 00:08:41.777
  • And she said, you need to talk to him because he doesn't
  • 00:08:41.777 --> 00:08:45.648
  • Think you're going to come pick him up.
  • 00:08:45.648 --> 00:08:47.950
  • And i get him on the phone.
  • 00:08:47.950 --> 00:08:51.320
  • And i go, baby, what's wrong?
  • 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:53.055
  • And he's been crying.
  • 00:08:53.055 --> 00:08:54.523
  • I just, i don't know, i don't know if you're going to pick
  • 00:08:54.523 --> 00:08:58.361
  • Me up.
  • 00:08:58.361 --> 00:08:59.362
  • And i said, when have i ever forgot you?
  • 00:08:59.362 --> 00:09:03.566
  • I have done it every day.
  • 00:09:03.566 --> 00:09:05.267
  • I haven't been late yet, you know.
  • 00:09:05.267 --> 00:09:07.303
  • And it was a thing that took my heart, of course.
  • 00:09:07.303 --> 00:09:11.907
  • It was just, and it was something that he
  • 00:09:11.907 --> 00:09:15.177
  • Was going through.
  • 00:09:15.177 --> 00:09:16.445
  • And he had this separation anxiety for a few months that
  • 00:09:16.445 --> 00:09:20.850
  • Was unbelievable, but he didn't think daddy and i were
  • 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:25.154
  • Going to come home.
  • 00:09:25.154 --> 00:09:26.989
  • Well, i thought as god, the one who created us and our
  • 00:09:26.989 --> 00:09:29.925
  • Doubt in god, our unbelief.
  • 00:09:29.925 --> 00:09:36.032
  • - and i think in the kindness of god, he has distilled, you
  • 00:09:36.032 --> 00:09:39.568
  • Know, acts says we have, you know, the hope in our hearts,
  • 00:09:39.568 --> 00:09:44.607
  • But we don't really know what that means because we believe,
  • 00:09:44.607 --> 00:09:48.611
  • I love that cece always talking about time with god,
  • 00:09:48.611 --> 00:09:51.914
  • Time with god, time in his word, but there are still
  • 00:09:51.914 --> 00:09:55.418
  • Things that i just can't see because i'm bound by time and
  • 00:09:55.418 --> 00:09:59.221
  • Space as a human.
  • 00:09:59.221 --> 00:10:01.724
  • And so there's things that, you know, he has inaugurated
  • 00:10:01.724 --> 00:10:05.361
  • Redemption in our hearts through the first advent, but
  • 00:10:05.361 --> 00:10:08.364
  • We haven't experienced the second advent yet.
  • 00:10:08.364 --> 00:10:10.966
  • We're in the already, but they're not yet.
  • 00:10:10.966 --> 00:10:13.169
  • So when you see a woman who's as old as elizabeth and god
  • 00:10:13.169 --> 00:10:16.138
  • Says, stay the course, we go, well, i mean, she's just old.
  • 00:10:16.138 --> 00:10:20.009
  • And i can totally identify with that.
  • 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:23.212
  • - i've never felt like one of those people when it comes to
  • 00:10:23.212 --> 00:10:26.682
  • The calling or the path ahead of me, the purposes of god
  • 00:10:26.682 --> 00:10:30.419
  • Over my life.
  • 00:10:30.419 --> 00:10:31.687
  • Like, i have the dream or i know what it is, and i know
  • 00:10:31.687 --> 00:10:34.123
  • All the steps that are going to get there.
  • 00:10:34.123 --> 00:10:36.492
  • I feel like i've kind of gone in blind, and i think there's
  • 00:10:36.492 --> 00:10:39.328
  • Been some reasons why it's been that way.
  • 00:10:39.328 --> 00:10:41.163
  • What the lord communicates to me often in those moments is,
  • 00:10:41.163 --> 00:10:44.633
  • Hey, i am the path.
  • 00:10:44.633 --> 00:10:46.869
  • Jesus saying, i am the way, the truth, and the life.
  • 00:10:46.869 --> 00:10:48.771
  • If you stick with me, you're not going to miss it.
  • 00:10:48.771 --> 00:10:51.307
  • So stay close, step by step by step, and the beautiful thing
  • 00:10:51.307 --> 00:10:54.877
  • About a process like that is i've walked with him, and i've
  • 00:10:54.877 --> 00:10:59.181
  • Found contentment with him in each of those steps.
  • 00:10:59.181 --> 00:11:02.084
  • And then one day you look up and you see the thing that you
  • 00:11:02.084 --> 00:11:05.321
  • Couldn't have imagined in front of you, but that's not
  • 00:11:05.321 --> 00:11:08.190
  • The goal.
  • 00:11:08.190 --> 00:11:09.291
  • The goal is i walked with jesus to get there.
  • 00:11:09.291 --> 00:11:11.393
  • - i remember going to the gynecologist.
  • 00:11:11.393 --> 00:11:15.297
  • I was 44 years old, single, always been single.
  • 00:11:15.297 --> 00:11:19.502
  • And my doctor is a believer.
  • 00:11:19.502 --> 00:11:22.204
  • And he thought i wouldn't be surprised.
  • 00:11:22.204 --> 00:11:24.373
  • And he very graciously, but kind of almost like it was
  • 00:11:24.373 --> 00:11:29.245
  • Just in a just kind of a regular, like you have this
  • 00:11:29.245 --> 00:11:31.447
  • Type blood.
  • 00:11:31.447 --> 00:11:33.582
  • He goes, lisa, you know, i know this is, you're probably
  • 00:11:33.582 --> 00:11:35.618
  • Not even thinking this with you not being married, but you
  • 00:11:35.618 --> 00:11:37.453
  • Are now based on your exam, you are past the biological
  • 00:11:37.453 --> 00:11:40.990
  • Window for bearing children.
  • 00:11:40.990 --> 00:11:46.095
  • And i acted really normal sitting there.
  • 00:11:46.095 --> 00:11:47.296
  • Just like, oh, sure, that's just a regular tuesday.
  • 00:11:47.296 --> 00:11:48.798
  • And i went out to my car in the parking lot, and i mean, i
  • 00:11:48.798 --> 00:11:53.435
  • Probably wept for 45 minutes.
  • 00:11:53.435 --> 00:11:56.772
  • I couldn't leave the parking lot because i'd held out this
  • 00:11:56.772 --> 00:12:00.209
  • Hope that even though i was a train wreck in my 20s and
  • 00:12:00.209 --> 00:12:04.947
  • Drawn to abusive men, somehow, some way, god would
  • 00:12:04.947 --> 00:12:08.384
  • Make a way.
  • 00:12:08.384 --> 00:12:09.585
  • And i remember just that deafening, and then you start
  • 00:12:09.585 --> 00:12:13.622
  • Doing the, well, maybe god meant it metaphorically.
  • 00:12:13.622 --> 00:12:16.625
  • - right, right.
  • 00:12:16.625 --> 00:12:17.827
  • - that i would have children, and i'll help with other
  • 00:12:17.827 --> 00:12:20.729
  • People's children.
  • 00:12:20.729 --> 00:12:22.064
  • And, you know, the first time i went to haiti after i'd lost
  • 00:12:22.064 --> 00:12:25.167
  • Two adoptions, i was two years through menopause, and this is
  • 00:12:25.167 --> 00:12:30.005
  • Probably tmi, so sorry for the gentlemen who are listening,
  • 00:12:30.005 --> 00:12:33.008
  • But something happened when i was in haiti, and i thought,
  • 00:12:33.008 --> 00:12:35.878
  • Well, that's weird.
  • 00:12:35.878 --> 00:12:37.913
  • I've been in menopause for two years, and ant flow came back,
  • 00:12:37.913 --> 00:12:40.216
  • That's odd.
  • 00:12:40.216 --> 00:12:41.851
  • Maybe it's because it's 115 degrees.
  • 00:12:41.851 --> 00:12:43.752
  • The second time i went to haiti, same thing happened.
  • 00:12:43.752 --> 00:12:45.487
  • Well, i just so happened to be having my annual appointment
  • 00:12:45.487 --> 00:12:48.657
  • With my doctor.
  • 00:12:48.657 --> 00:12:50.392
  • And so i told him, hey, this weird thing is happening.
  • 00:12:50.392 --> 00:12:54.096
  • And he said, lisa, there's actually been quite a few
  • 00:12:54.096 --> 00:12:57.299
  • Medical journal articles written on this, that women
  • 00:12:57.299 --> 00:13:00.769
  • Who are post-menopausal who start the adoption process or
  • 00:13:00.769 --> 00:13:04.206
  • Fostering their bodies kicked back into a regular cycle.
  • 00:13:04.206 --> 00:13:09.278
  • And if you know, i kicked back into a completely
  • 00:13:09.278 --> 00:13:12.014
  • Regular cycle.
  • 00:13:12.014 --> 00:13:13.349
  • When i brought missy home, i was 50 years old at a regular
  • 00:13:13.349 --> 00:13:17.786
  • Cycle for two years.
  • 00:13:17.786 --> 00:13:19.321
  • And i so identified with elizabeth, i'm not as faithful
  • 00:13:19.321 --> 00:13:24.360
  • As her, but i could only see through time and space.
  • 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:27.096
  • And it's like god was going, don't limit the fact.
  • 00:13:27.096 --> 00:13:31.233
  • Even though you're not married, i'm
  • 00:13:31.233 --> 00:13:33.903
  • Quickening your womb.
  • 00:13:33.903 --> 00:13:35.137
  • My doctor said, your body knows you're about to
  • 00:13:35.137 --> 00:13:39.108
  • Become a mom.
  • 00:13:39.108 --> 00:13:40.976
  • And i thought, only god, only god is something.
  • 00:13:40.976 --> 00:13:42.912
  • So the preparation, i think sometimes we just have to go,
  • 00:13:42.912 --> 00:13:46.882
  • I can't see it, lord.
  • 00:13:46.882 --> 00:13:51.153
  • It's like it's the valley of dry bones, prophesied
  • 00:13:51.153 --> 00:13:53.255
  • Of the bones.
  • 00:13:53.255 --> 00:13:54.456
  • I will, because you tell me to i can't see it, that
  • 00:13:54.456 --> 00:13:56.592
  • Breathe on these dry bones.
  • 00:13:56.592 --> 00:14:02.031
  • - sometimes it's the how that's different.
  • 00:14:02.031 --> 00:14:04.833
  • Sometimes the what is different and the process is
  • 00:14:04.833 --> 00:14:07.903
  • What we thought, but it's like at the end of the day we're
  • 00:14:07.903 --> 00:14:09.939
  • Surrendered and available to the lord and he cares, he
  • 00:14:09.939 --> 00:14:12.274
  • Cares and that he would come and in the midst of that sort
  • 00:14:12.274 --> 00:14:16.278
  • Of hardship and disappointment that he would come and
  • 00:14:16.278 --> 00:14:22.785
  • Validate and be near in that sort of intimate way.
  • 00:14:22.785 --> 00:14:25.888
  • Thank you for sharing that.
  • 00:14:25.888 --> 00:14:27.189
  • I find so much encouragement in the story of elizabeth and
  • 00:14:27.189 --> 00:14:30.292
  • Zechariah because this promise was given and it's looking
  • 00:14:30.292 --> 00:14:34.163
  • Like the odds are not good.
  • 00:14:34.163 --> 00:14:36.065
  • This isn't looking like this is going to come to pass.
  • 00:14:36.065 --> 00:14:38.434
  • And there's been times when i've waited and thought, maybe
  • 00:14:38.434 --> 00:14:43.539
  • I heard wrong, maybe this is a denial of the thing that i
  • 00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:49.712
  • Thought god was saying yes to.
  • 00:14:49.712 --> 00:14:50.913
  • These stories strengthen me so much, because there
  • 00:14:50.913 --> 00:14:54.216
  • Can be delays.
  • 00:14:54.216 --> 00:14:56.018
  • It's not a delay when it's the timing of the lord.
  • 00:14:56.018 --> 00:15:01.190
  • But he's not so concerned about it being this immediate
  • 00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:03.225
  • Gratification, this immediate moment like we are.
  • 00:15:03.225 --> 00:15:07.229
  • And so sometimes it's the long burn, and i want my heart to
  • 00:15:07.229 --> 00:15:10.733
  • Be faithful in the meantime, looking to people like
  • 00:15:10.733 --> 00:15:13.469
  • Elizabeth and zechariah and knowing god's still in it, i'm
  • 00:15:13.469 --> 00:15:17.406
  • Holding on, and i'm going to firmly believe until i
  • 00:15:17.406 --> 00:15:20.676
  • See it happen.
  • 00:15:20.676 --> 00:15:23.145
  • - god created us to be in community, and we want you to
  • 00:15:23.145 --> 00:15:25.314
  • Join ours.
  • 00:15:25.314 --> 00:15:27.616
  • - follow us on social media and join our conversation.
  • 00:15:27.616 --> 00:15:30.007
  • - follow us on social media and join our conversation.
  • 00:15:30.007 --> 00:15:31.788
  • ♪ (music playing)
  • 00:15:31.788 --> 00:15:37.861
  • - i think about elizabeth and zechariah, and i know that
  • 00:15:37.861 --> 00:15:40.630
  • That story, and zechariah had his own journey, and i think
  • 00:15:40.630 --> 00:15:42.832
  • It's understandable, though.
  • 00:15:42.832 --> 00:15:45.135
  • You know, you look back at abraham and you have a promise
  • 00:15:45.135 --> 00:15:49.639
  • There too, you know, and sometimes in the
  • 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:51.441
  • Disappointment or in the, this isn't going the way i thought,
  • 00:15:51.441 --> 00:15:53.543
  • And i'm kind of past the deadline and past time, i
  • 00:15:53.543 --> 00:15:55.879
  • Think sometimes the knee-jerk reaction is we can be like,
  • 00:15:55.879 --> 00:16:00.316
  • No, no, no, we're good, i still believe.
  • 00:16:00.316 --> 00:16:01.618
  • But the behavior that tells a different story is we go and
  • 00:16:01.618 --> 00:16:05.288
  • We take matters into our own hands.
  • 00:16:05.288 --> 00:16:07.857
  • And you have an ishmael and an isaac, you know, and we kind
  • 00:16:07.857 --> 00:16:11.528
  • Of create, manufacture a promise, because it looks
  • 00:16:11.528 --> 00:16:14.531
  • Like, well, it's not happening that way, and maybe you
  • 00:16:14.531 --> 00:16:18.334
  • Forgot, or maybe i should go and make this happen.
  • 00:16:18.334 --> 00:16:20.904
  • And i just think how steadfast and beautiful for, again,
  • 00:16:20.904 --> 00:16:25.475
  • They're in their process, but elizabeth and zechariah to
  • 00:16:25.475 --> 00:16:28.912
  • Have held to that and for the lord to come through, you
  • 00:16:28.912 --> 00:16:32.348
  • Know, and to not go create something that wasn't the
  • 00:16:32.348 --> 00:16:35.585
  • Intended way that the lord had asked.
  • 00:16:35.585 --> 00:16:39.022
  • I remember it was really early on.
  • 00:16:39.022 --> 00:16:41.591
  • My husband and i moved out for a school of ministry, and i
  • 00:16:41.591 --> 00:16:43.793
  • Didn't have any, like, big, grand vision for my life.
  • 00:16:43.793 --> 00:16:47.297
  • Just was kind of insecure and, you know, small, and somebody
  • 00:16:47.297 --> 00:16:51.568
  • Gave me a word, and they said, the lord has hidden you in the
  • 00:16:51.568 --> 00:16:57.807
  • Womb of heaven.
  • 00:16:57.807 --> 00:16:59.476
  • And it's up to him if he decides to, like, put you on a
  • 00:16:59.476 --> 00:17:02.846
  • Screen, like an ultrasound and how big that screen is.
  • 00:17:02.846 --> 00:17:06.883
  • That's all up, what kind of clarity all of that is
  • 00:17:06.883 --> 00:17:10.687
  • Up to him.
  • 00:17:10.687 --> 00:17:11.821
  • All you do is you abide in the nutrients and in the
  • 00:17:11.821 --> 00:17:15.024
  • Hiddenness of this womb of heaven, that's your job.
  • 00:17:15.024 --> 00:17:18.261
  • And i think sometimes when we have this story of like,
  • 00:17:18.261 --> 00:17:21.631
  • There's these promises and how are we gonna get there,
  • 00:17:21.631 --> 00:17:23.666
  • There's these overarching principles.
  • 00:17:23.666 --> 00:17:25.935
  • And then i think the lord does come in very particular ways
  • 00:17:25.935 --> 00:17:28.371
  • And tell us, this is how we wait for isaac.
  • 00:17:28.371 --> 00:17:31.074
  • This is how we wait for the promise here.
  • 00:17:31.074 --> 00:17:33.877
  • And because for me, what going and taking matters into my own
  • 00:17:33.877 --> 00:17:37.814
  • Hands would have looked like is i try to set up the screen
  • 00:17:37.814 --> 00:17:40.717
  • And i try to get myself out there.
  • 00:17:40.717 --> 00:17:42.085
  • For me, it's been a networking thing where i know the lord's
  • 00:17:42.085 --> 00:17:44.687
  • Saying that is not how we're doing it.
  • 00:17:44.687 --> 00:17:46.456
  • Now, for other people, that might actually be okay.
  • 00:17:46.456 --> 00:17:49.692
  • And the lord gets to address that in my heart, where i take
  • 00:17:49.692 --> 00:17:52.061
  • My grid to everybody else and want to hold them to it.
  • 00:17:52.061 --> 00:17:55.532
  • No, no, no, no, you don't know what we've talked about.
  • 00:17:55.532 --> 00:17:57.834
  • You don't understand the promise.
  • 00:17:57.834 --> 00:17:59.335
  • You don't understand the process that i have them on.
  • 00:17:59.335 --> 00:18:02.572
  • The one i have you on, kalley, is you abide in the womb of
  • 00:18:02.572 --> 00:18:05.475
  • Heaven, you take in the nutrients in the dark, that
  • 00:18:05.475 --> 00:18:08.111
  • You rest with me.
  • 00:18:08.111 --> 00:18:10.246
  • And it's up to me what i do with that.
  • 00:18:10.246 --> 00:18:12.182
  • That saved my life so many times over because i could
  • 00:18:12.182 --> 00:18:14.384
  • Feel like i'm missing it or maybe i should be, maybe i,
  • 00:18:14.384 --> 00:18:17.453
  • This and that.
  • 00:18:17.453 --> 00:18:18.888
  • And in a world where we can make things happen, we can
  • 00:18:18.888 --> 00:18:20.590
  • Push our own agendas, we can get ourselves out there.
  • 00:18:20.590 --> 00:18:22.825
  • It's so much more precious when it's his way.
  • 00:18:22.825 --> 00:18:26.262
  • It's so much more wonderful.
  • 00:18:26.262 --> 00:18:28.565
  • Why he adds no trouble to it.
  • 00:18:28.565 --> 00:18:30.433
  • And i don't have to sit and wonder if i'm qualified.
  • 00:18:30.433 --> 00:18:32.635
  • I know i'm not.
  • 00:18:32.635 --> 00:18:33.836
  • But it's up to him when he wants to do it and how he
  • 00:18:33.836 --> 00:18:36.439
  • Wants to do it.
  • 00:18:36.439 --> 00:18:38.741
  • And i just think this is the god that can go in and
  • 00:18:38.741 --> 00:18:41.044
  • Beautifully grow this word into like, oh, it's not
  • 00:18:41.044 --> 00:18:44.414
  • Worship leading, it's speaking.
  • 00:18:44.414 --> 00:18:46.783
  • And he made that come to pass.
  • 00:18:46.783 --> 00:18:48.351
  • The god who would do this in haiti the way.
  • 00:18:48.351 --> 00:18:50.653
  • I'm just so moved by that testimony.
  • 00:18:50.653 --> 00:18:52.555
  • He is trustworthy and his way is better than the ones that i
  • 00:18:52.555 --> 00:18:56.159
  • Would make on my own, always better.
  • 00:18:56.159 --> 00:18:59.996
  • - the balance is between not taking matters into our own
  • 00:18:59.996 --> 00:19:04.267
  • Hands and really trusting god, just walking in faith, i don't
  • 00:19:04.267 --> 00:19:08.605
  • Know, because i've never perfectly found that balance.
  • 00:19:08.605 --> 00:19:12.242
  • - i think the key is to when you mess up and you go back to
  • 00:19:12.242 --> 00:19:16.646
  • This end and you take matters into your own hands, confess
  • 00:19:16.646 --> 00:19:19.382
  • As quickly as you can.
  • 00:19:19.382 --> 00:19:22.518
  • The moment i realized, oh, shoot, i was scared and i just
  • 00:19:22.518 --> 00:19:24.854
  • Followed what i thought made more sense.
  • 00:19:24.854 --> 00:19:27.924
  • Instead of trusting you and walking, as isaiah says,
  • 00:19:27.924 --> 00:19:31.628
  • Sometimes in blind faith, i've just learned to repent faster.
  • 00:19:31.628 --> 00:19:34.731
  • So i've never done faith perfectly.
  • 00:19:34.731 --> 00:19:37.367
  • That's called being human.
  • 00:19:37.367 --> 00:19:39.302
  • What i am learning is to repent faster and then just
  • 00:19:39.302 --> 00:19:45.008
  • Scurry as fast as i can toward where he told me to go in the
  • 00:19:45.008 --> 00:19:46.843
  • First place.
  • 00:19:46.843 --> 00:19:48.411
  • - i'm just so glad you brought up the point because i think
  • 00:19:48.411 --> 00:19:51.014
  • This is an issue for all of us and for those who are
  • 00:19:51.014 --> 00:19:54.350
  • Watching, but definitely in the body of christ, that we
  • 00:19:54.350 --> 00:19:57.587
  • Look at somebody else's path.
  • 00:19:57.587 --> 00:20:00.456
  • - amen...amen.
  • 00:20:00.456 --> 00:20:02.825
  • Say that, cece.
  • 00:20:02.825 --> 00:20:03.660
  • - you know, you did it this way.
  • 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:05.662
  • It's got to be this way.
  • 00:20:05.662 --> 00:20:06.763
  • And it's like, no, no, no, no, no.
  • 00:20:06.763 --> 00:20:08.331
  • He knows all of us.
  • 00:20:08.331 --> 00:20:09.599
  • He knows what we're made up of.
  • 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:11.267
  • He knows what the purpose is for each of our lives.
  • 00:20:11.267 --> 00:20:14.704
  • What is going to take for us to get to the point where
  • 00:20:14.704 --> 00:20:17.173
  • We're ready?
  • 00:20:17.173 --> 00:20:20.009
  • - you know, so he's going to clear the path different ways.
  • 00:20:20.009 --> 00:20:23.913
  • You know, and that's why sitting here and hearing
  • 00:20:23.913 --> 00:20:25.315
  • Your testimonies.
  • 00:20:25.315 --> 00:20:26.182
  • It's just like, he's so brilliant.
  • 00:20:26.182 --> 00:20:28.318
  • God is just so brilliant.
  • 00:20:28.318 --> 00:20:29.886
  • - well, and he's going to do that so that he can hold
  • 00:20:29.886 --> 00:20:31.788
  • The promise.
  • 00:20:31.788 --> 00:20:32.855
  • - he can hold the promise, right.
  • 00:20:32.855 --> 00:20:34.057
  • He knows what it's going to take for us to be able to
  • 00:20:34.057 --> 00:20:36.426
  • Stand when the time comes for the curtain to go up.
  • 00:20:36.426 --> 00:20:40.363
  • - you know, that we're all going to know that, like you
  • 00:20:40.363 --> 00:20:44.834
  • Said, no way am i qualified.
  • 00:20:44.834 --> 00:20:46.436
  • No way did i think this up.
  • 00:20:46.436 --> 00:20:48.071
  • You know, and have us so prepared inside and out that
  • 00:20:48.071 --> 00:20:52.308
  • We'll never take the glory...
  • 00:20:52.308 --> 00:20:53.943
  • We'll never take the glory.
  • 00:20:53.943 --> 00:20:55.578
  • So i'm just so glad you brought up that point, because
  • 00:20:55.578 --> 00:20:57.947
  • I just think we get stuck in trying to make things happen
  • 00:20:57.947 --> 00:21:02.685
  • In a way that we saw it happen in somebody else.
  • 00:21:02.685 --> 00:21:05.455
  • Or feel bad that it didn't happen that way for us.
  • 00:21:05.455 --> 00:21:10.093
  • But you don't have to feel bad.
  • 00:21:10.093 --> 00:21:13.196
  • God's got you in mind.
  • 00:21:13.196 --> 00:21:14.697
  • He's got the perfect plan for you.
  • 00:21:14.697 --> 00:21:16.032
  • Even in the midst of your pain, he's working the plan to
  • 00:21:16.032 --> 00:21:18.101
  • Prepare and to clear the way.
  • 00:21:18.101 --> 00:21:20.670
  • - sometimes you can feel as if god's speaking to everybody
  • 00:21:20.670 --> 00:21:22.772
  • Else and not really to you.
  • 00:21:22.772 --> 00:21:24.907
  • But i discovered that there's so many ways that god speaks
  • 00:21:24.907 --> 00:21:30.046
  • To us.
  • 00:21:30.046 --> 00:21:31.347
  • He speaks to us through his word.
  • 00:21:31.347 --> 00:21:33.416
  • It's one of the primary ways that we can read his word.
  • 00:21:33.416 --> 00:21:36.252
  • Like if you choose a psalm for a day, say you chose psalm 23,
  • 00:21:36.252 --> 00:21:41.157
  • Where it says, the lord is my shepherd.
  • 00:21:41.157 --> 00:21:44.894
  • It doesn't just say the lord is a shepherd.
  • 00:21:44.894 --> 00:21:47.296
  • It says the lord is my shepherd.
  • 00:21:47.296 --> 00:21:50.199
  • Find a couple of promises that touch you where you're at, and
  • 00:21:50.199 --> 00:21:52.535
  • Write them down and meditate on them.
  • 00:21:52.535 --> 00:21:55.705
  • And some people think, well, meditation isn't that all to
  • 00:21:55.705 --> 00:21:58.741
  • Do with eastern religion?
  • 00:21:58.741 --> 00:22:00.443
  • No, started in biblical times, the psalmist david would
  • 00:22:00.443 --> 00:22:03.212
  • Meditate on the word of god.
  • 00:22:03.212 --> 00:22:04.714
  • And there's something about meditating on the promises of
  • 00:22:04.714 --> 00:22:07.283
  • God that increases your faith to watch for god to deliver
  • 00:22:07.283 --> 00:22:10.453
  • That promise.
  • 00:22:10.453 --> 00:22:11.921
  • I think of people, too, who think ministry looks
  • 00:22:11.921 --> 00:22:17.760
  • A certain way.
  • 00:22:17.760 --> 00:22:19.162
  • You know, i remember i was walking through the mall one
  • 00:22:19.162 --> 00:22:20.897
  • Night, and this young woman who works at one of the makeup
  • 00:22:20.897 --> 00:22:22.565
  • Counters said, hey can have a word with you for a minute?
  • 00:22:22.565 --> 00:22:24.901
  • And she said, i think i know who you are.
  • 00:22:24.901 --> 00:22:26.836
  • She said, don't you do some christian tv?
  • 00:22:26.836 --> 00:22:28.538
  • And i said, yeah.
  • 00:22:28.538 --> 00:22:29.505
  • And she said, i want to be in ministry.
  • 00:22:29.505 --> 00:22:30.907
  • That's, i want to be in ministry.
  • 00:22:30.907 --> 00:22:32.675
  • And i was like, oh, awesome.
  • 00:22:32.675 --> 00:22:33.976
  • Tell me about your life.
  • 00:22:33.976 --> 00:22:35.077
  • And she's like, i'm a mom and she's got
  • 00:22:35.077 --> 00:22:38.414
  • Three young children.
  • 00:22:38.414 --> 00:22:39.615
  • And she said, but how do i get-- is there a place
  • 00:22:39.615 --> 00:22:42.351
  • I can write?
  • 00:22:42.351 --> 00:22:43.686
  • Is there something i can do?
  • 00:22:43.686 --> 00:22:45.254
  • Because i feel like i saw one of your conferences and i feel
  • 00:22:45.254 --> 00:22:47.990
  • I could do that.
  • 00:22:47.990 --> 00:22:49.325
  • And it was like, she looked at that as, that's what ministry
  • 00:22:49.325 --> 00:22:51.661
  • Looks like.
  • 00:22:51.661 --> 00:22:53.963
  • Because of how other people maybe looked at it.
  • 00:22:53.963 --> 00:22:56.766
  • As opposed to thinking, wherever i am right now, right
  • 00:22:56.766 --> 00:22:59.702
  • Now, this is it.
  • 00:22:59.702 --> 00:23:01.737
  • Lord, i want to show up today and doesn't all look the same.
  • 00:23:01.737 --> 00:23:07.844
  • You know, it just, some of it, we get to see huge impact on
  • 00:23:07.844 --> 00:23:10.813
  • Other people, and other people we get to see, well, we don't,
  • 00:23:10.813 --> 00:23:14.183
  • Maybe we don't.
  • 00:23:14.183 --> 00:23:15.885
  • Maybe it's the impacts in heaven.
  • 00:23:15.885 --> 00:23:17.420
  • - our culture applauds platform, and our god
  • 00:23:17.420 --> 00:23:20.289
  • Applauds faith.
  • 00:23:20.289 --> 00:23:23.059
  • And those are not always synergistic.
  • 00:23:23.059 --> 00:23:26.796
  • And i do think people go, oh, if i did it like that, and i'm
  • 00:23:26.796 --> 00:23:29.499
  • Like, no, if you've put your open jesus, we are all
  • 00:23:29.499 --> 00:23:32.768
  • Ambassadors of the new covenant.
  • 00:23:32.768 --> 00:23:35.805
  • And i often teasingly say those of us who have the
  • 00:23:35.805 --> 00:23:38.741
  • Undeserved privilege of being in vocational ministry, we're
  • 00:23:38.741 --> 00:23:42.211
  • The weakest ones because we have financial incentive.
  • 00:23:42.211 --> 00:23:44.647
  • Show me the christ follower who is just busting it day in
  • 00:23:44.647 --> 00:23:49.485
  • And day out as a librarian, a dental hygienist, and a
  • 00:23:49.485 --> 00:23:52.121
  • Policewoman and a policeman.
  • 00:23:52.121 --> 00:23:54.457
  • And i mean, all the, and they're in christ where they
  • 00:23:54.457 --> 00:23:56.692
  • Are, but we're all members of the body and our culture tends
  • 00:23:56.692 --> 00:24:00.162
  • To say this is the most important.
  • 00:24:00.162 --> 00:24:03.299
  • I'm like, no, that's not the most important.
  • 00:24:03.299 --> 00:24:05.968
  • That's an elbow.
  • 00:24:05.968 --> 00:24:07.303
  • And if the elbow doesn't have a hand, nothing gets written.
  • 00:24:07.303 --> 00:24:09.572
  • But i also think sometimes it's a lonely person saying,
  • 00:24:09.572 --> 00:24:12.575
  • If people would applaud for me, i would feel accepted.
  • 00:24:12.575 --> 00:24:14.911
  • And i'm like, no, you can find god's applause right at that
  • 00:24:14.911 --> 00:24:18.814
  • Makeup counter.
  • 00:24:18.814 --> 00:24:21.183
  • That's right.
  • 00:24:21.183 --> 00:24:22.251
  • Loving on those three babies he's given you.
  • 00:24:22.251 --> 00:24:23.386
  • And there may be a stage around the corner, but the
  • 00:24:23.386 --> 00:24:27.890
  • Stage you have is to an audience of one right now to
  • 00:24:27.890 --> 00:24:29.792
  • Be a good mama to those babies.
  • 00:24:29.792 --> 00:24:31.127
  • - so good.
  • 00:24:31.127 --> 00:24:32.161
  • - i remember arthur blessitt, remember?
  • 00:24:32.161 --> 00:24:34.864
  • Arthur loved him.
  • 00:24:34.864 --> 00:24:35.831
  • He carried the cross around the world.
  • 00:24:35.831 --> 00:24:37.934
  • Literally... every time he'd come through,
  • 00:24:37.934 --> 00:24:41.103
  • Florida, i just, man.
  • 00:24:41.103 --> 00:24:43.806
  • - and i remember him telling the story that he was all by
  • 00:24:43.806 --> 00:24:47.977
  • Himself in some foreign country somewhere walking down
  • 00:24:47.977 --> 00:24:51.047
  • The road.
  • 00:24:51.047 --> 00:24:52.348
  • And the lord said, i want you to lay your cross down.
  • 00:24:52.348 --> 00:24:56.018
  • And i want you to lay on the ground face down.
  • 00:24:56.018 --> 00:24:58.788
  • So arthur, of course, lays his cross down.
  • 00:24:58.788 --> 00:25:02.925
  • Just gets on his face, which i've seen him so many times.
  • 00:25:02.925 --> 00:25:07.897
  • And god said, i want you to take all your dreams and give
  • 00:25:07.897 --> 00:25:13.102
  • Them to me and he said all i want you to do is be faithful
  • 00:25:13.102 --> 00:25:17.340
  • And make your ministry as big as the next person you see.
  • 00:25:17.340 --> 00:25:21.444
  • - the next person that you come in contact with, that
  • 00:25:21.444 --> 00:25:28.184
  • Is your ministry yeah and all the all the dreams all the
  • 00:25:28.184 --> 00:25:32.822
  • Things that god eventually did through his life and, you
  • 00:25:32.822 --> 00:25:35.024
  • Know, it's amazing.
  • 00:25:35.024 --> 00:25:38.995
  • That's not what it's about.
  • 00:25:38.995 --> 00:25:42.465
  • It's about the next person you see.
  • 00:25:42.465 --> 00:25:44.233
  • And man, that has been in my heart ever since he said that,
  • 00:25:44.233 --> 00:25:46.402
  • You know.
  • 00:25:46.402 --> 00:25:47.870
  • Is that the platform, god will do what he does.
  • 00:25:47.870 --> 00:25:52.008
  • My job is the next person that i see.
  • 00:25:52.008 --> 00:25:55.711
  • That is my ministry, you know.
  • 00:25:55.711 --> 00:26:01.283
  • - when you live for the audience of one, one of the
  • 00:26:01.283 --> 00:26:06.589
  • Main things i think change and definitely change for me is
  • 00:26:06.589 --> 00:26:09.925
  • That you no longer live under pressure the pressure that
  • 00:26:09.925 --> 00:26:13.162
  • People can create.
  • 00:26:13.162 --> 00:26:16.732
  • When you focus on loving god you're automatically going to
  • 00:26:16.732 --> 00:26:21.003
  • Be a blessing to people when you focus on pleasing pleasing
  • 00:26:21.003 --> 00:26:28.678
  • People, you won't be the blessing that you want to be,
  • 00:26:28.678 --> 00:26:31.447
  • You know.
  • 00:26:31.447 --> 00:26:32.615
  • So please focus on pleasing god, and you will be a
  • 00:26:32.615 --> 00:26:35.785
  • Blessing to others.
  • 00:26:35.785 --> 00:26:38.320
  • One of my professors used to say the pace of jesus'
  • 00:26:38.320 --> 00:26:42.925
  • Incarnate ministry was three miles an hour.
  • 00:26:42.925 --> 00:26:46.996
  • - that's right.
  • 00:26:46.996 --> 00:26:47.997
  • - because he walked everywhere he went.
  • 00:26:47.997 --> 00:26:49.031
  • So he always had time for the next person.
  • 00:26:49.031 --> 00:26:52.601
  • His feet were where his heart is.
  • 00:26:52.601 --> 00:26:54.570
  • And i'm so convicted by that because sometimes i'm like,
  • 00:26:54.570 --> 00:26:57.473
  • How many miracles did i sprint past today to finish
  • 00:26:57.473 --> 00:26:59.341
  • My to-do list?
  • 00:26:59.341 --> 00:27:01.610
  • - and sometimes feeling like, like you're saying the
  • 00:27:01.610 --> 00:27:05.281
  • Applause or like, am i doing something with my life?
  • 00:27:05.281 --> 00:27:07.650
  • This deep need for significance, which there is
  • 00:27:07.650 --> 00:27:10.286
  • An answer for that.
  • 00:27:10.286 --> 00:27:12.354
  • That's meant to be filled.
  • 00:27:12.354 --> 00:27:13.856
  • But sometimes we can super impose the biggest thing there
  • 00:27:13.856 --> 00:27:17.026
  • And that would get it to me.
  • 00:27:17.026 --> 00:27:19.395
  • I think it's so wild that jesus, in full view, like
  • 00:27:19.395 --> 00:27:23.532
  • Heaven's watching for 30 years is completely hidden.
  • 00:27:23.532 --> 00:27:26.168
  • There's no, he himself, if he can go through the majority of
  • 00:27:26.168 --> 00:27:30.740
  • His life in obscurity.
  • 00:27:30.740 --> 00:27:34.910
  • - in a dinky-do town, not drusely.
  • 00:27:34.910 --> 00:27:37.813
  • - no, and it's hometown rejects him.
  • 00:27:37.813 --> 00:27:39.782
  • There's no, you actually just kind of see rejection all over
  • 00:27:39.782 --> 00:27:42.885
  • In this man's life.
  • 00:27:42.885 --> 00:27:45.988
  • And yes, like his public ministry happens, but then he
  • 00:27:45.988 --> 00:27:47.423
  • Dies on a cross and is mocked, a mocking sign above his head.
  • 00:27:47.423 --> 00:27:50.626
  • And everyone leaves, everyone a week before he was cheering
  • 00:27:50.626 --> 00:27:53.496
  • Him on.
  • 00:27:53.496 --> 00:27:54.363
  • Where are they to be found now?
  • 00:27:54.363 --> 00:27:56.799
  • His friends are falling asleep on their watch, you know?
  • 00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:58.634
  • And i just think, but you better believe heaven never
  • 00:27:58.634 --> 00:28:00.803
  • Stood in awe like it did in those moments.
  • 00:28:00.803 --> 00:28:07.209
  • And it wasn't the glorious big applause.
  • 00:28:07.209 --> 00:28:09.411
  • It wasn't stadiums full.
  • 00:28:09.411 --> 00:28:10.913
  • We have a savior come to do lowly things.
  • 00:28:10.913 --> 00:28:12.815
  • And it changed the course of human history and i think the
  • 00:28:12.815 --> 00:28:17.787
  • Invitation for us in a world where everything is a platform
  • 00:28:17.787 --> 00:28:21.423
  • You can put yourself up on every flat screen and every
  • 00:28:21.423 --> 00:28:23.225
  • Kind of visibility, you can force anything to happen.
  • 00:28:23.225 --> 00:28:26.262
  • But who's willing to look like a jesus who would go hidden,
  • 00:28:26.262 --> 00:28:29.198
  • Obscured, misunderstood for the majority of his life, born
  • 00:28:29.198 --> 00:28:33.135
  • In a manger, dying a criminal, and it changed everything?
  • 00:28:33.135 --> 00:28:37.573
  • I think that's the way of jesus, and i think it's the
  • 00:28:37.573 --> 00:28:41.610
  • Invitation for our generation.
  • 00:28:41.610 --> 00:28:43.212
  • I do.
  • 00:28:43.212 --> 00:28:44.914
  • I feel such conviction over that.
  • 00:28:44.914 --> 00:28:46.682
  • Who is willing to get low, to be unseen, and to feel the
  • 00:28:46.682 --> 00:28:49.418
  • Delight of the lord and the awe of heaven.
  • 00:28:49.418 --> 00:28:54.123
  • Oh, she looks like jesus.
  • 00:28:54.123 --> 00:28:56.759
  • When she does that, when she cares for that person, the
  • 00:28:56.759 --> 00:29:00.095
  • Family member, the mother, father who are making lunch
  • 00:29:00.095 --> 00:29:03.199
  • For the little kid.
  • 00:29:03.199 --> 00:29:05.534
  • Oh, look.
  • 00:29:05.534 --> 00:29:06.202
  • She looks like jesus.
  • 00:29:06.202 --> 00:29:08.204
  • She's choosing the way of jesus.
  • 00:29:07.236 --> 00:29:09.104
  • Oh, god, would you build that in us?
  • 00:29:09.104 --> 00:29:11.407
  • Would you do it in us?
  • 00:29:11.407 --> 00:29:12.608
  • - i don't know about y'all, but i think the reason so
  • 00:29:12.608 --> 00:29:13.976
  • Often we miss it is because we want somebody to say, oh, she
  • 00:29:13.976 --> 00:29:17.880
  • Looks like jesus in our earshot.
  • 00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:20.015
  • And even when you think about jesus, people, it's
  • 00:29:20.015 --> 00:29:26.989
  • Posthumously, he's worshipped.
  • 00:29:26.989 --> 00:29:29.124
  • He was rarely worshipped in his incarnate ministry only
  • 00:29:29.124 --> 00:29:32.328
  • By a few.
  • 00:29:32.328 --> 00:29:34.396
  • The crowds grew after he was crucified and resurrected.
  • 00:29:34.396 --> 00:29:38.734
  • That's when you see the 3,000 and then the 8,000 come to
  • 00:29:38.734 --> 00:29:41.637
  • Christ and that you see that huge growth.
  • 00:29:41.637 --> 00:29:43.873
  • And i think, you know, the first person who acknowledged
  • 00:29:43.873 --> 00:29:46.575
  • That he was actually lord used that word was the centurion
  • 00:29:46.575 --> 00:29:51.747
  • When he was dying he didn't see jesus heal or walk on
  • 00:29:51.747 --> 00:29:55.117
  • Water he saw him die and said surely that's the son of god
  • 00:29:55.117 --> 00:29:59.255
  • It's not caesar augustus it's jesus so i think sometimes and
  • 00:29:59.255 --> 00:30:04.827
  • I'll just speak for myself as the chief of all sinners in
  • 00:30:04.827 --> 00:30:08.764
  • This circle.
  • 00:30:08.764 --> 00:30:09.899
  • I think sometimes in my flesh, i need somebody to
  • 00:30:09.899 --> 00:30:15.938
  • Notice my humility.
  • 00:30:15.938 --> 00:30:17.072
  • Well, then it's not really humility, isn't it?
  • 00:30:17.072 --> 00:30:18.507
  • - that's right.
  • 00:30:18.507 --> 00:30:20.175
  • - you know, so to go low is to not have anybody, but jesus,
  • 00:30:20.175 --> 00:30:22.044
  • Recognize you look like me today, lisa.
  • 00:30:22.044 --> 00:30:24.647
  • - wow, yeah.
  • 00:30:24.647 --> 00:30:27.316
  • - but also, somebody's always recognizing.
  • 00:30:27.316 --> 00:30:31.420
  • - like you said, it might not be the platform, but it might
  • 00:30:31.420 --> 00:30:34.990
  • Be your children or or it might be your enemy, you know,
  • 00:30:34.990 --> 00:30:37.660
  • So you're always on a stage.
  • 00:30:37.660 --> 00:30:40.062
  • - yeah, you are.
  • 00:30:40.062 --> 00:30:41.630
  • That's so true.
  • 00:30:41.630 --> 00:30:42.331
  • - you are.
  • 00:30:42.331 --> 00:30:42.932
  • Just not always stage.
  • 00:30:42.932 --> 00:30:44.500
  • And that's why, like, everybody has a ministry.
  • 00:30:44.500 --> 00:30:46.335
  • That was so powerful.
  • 00:30:46.335 --> 00:30:48.437
  • The next person you see.
  • 00:30:48.437 --> 00:30:50.205
  • The next person, because that's the pathway.
  • 00:30:50.205 --> 00:30:52.241
  • That's the pathway jesus took.
  • 00:30:52.241 --> 00:30:55.010
  • That's who he is.
  • 00:30:55.010 --> 00:30:56.712
  • - i did a section on that at one point.
  • 00:30:56.712 --> 00:30:59.014
  • I went through the four gospels and looked at how many
  • 00:30:59.014 --> 00:31:01.116
  • Times jesus saw the one.
  • 00:31:01.116 --> 00:31:03.185
  • Because, you know, we read the stories of the 5,000 and the
  • 00:31:03.185 --> 00:31:05.788
  • Everything and all of that.
  • 00:31:05.788 --> 00:31:07.489
  • But it was really significant to me to see the number of
  • 00:31:07.489 --> 00:31:10.092
  • Times that jesus saw the one or heard the one
  • 00:31:10.092 --> 00:31:13.495
  • Above the crowd.
  • 00:31:13.495 --> 00:31:14.964
  • It was just, i've shared this before, it's become a daily
  • 00:31:14.964 --> 00:31:17.800
  • Prayer of mine, lord, today.
  • 00:31:17.800 --> 00:31:19.535
  • Give me eyes to see what i would miss without you and
  • 00:31:19.535 --> 00:31:22.338
  • Give me ears to hear what's actually going on as opposed
  • 00:31:22.338 --> 00:31:25.341
  • To what somebody is seeing.
  • 00:31:25.341 --> 00:31:27.776
  • Because so often anger is pain, you know, woundedness.
  • 00:31:27.776 --> 00:31:31.213
  • That's good.
  • 00:31:31.213 --> 00:31:33.148
  • - every day, i'm still growing.
  • 00:31:33.148 --> 00:31:37.086
  • There are still things in my life that god is just sweeping
  • 00:31:37.086 --> 00:31:39.688
  • Out, sweeping clean.
  • 00:31:39.688 --> 00:31:41.223
  • But that's his preparation for me, so that we can hold the
  • 00:31:41.223 --> 00:31:44.760
  • Things that god wants to give us, that we can oversee the
  • 00:31:44.760 --> 00:31:48.063
  • Influence or whatever god hands you in this life, but
  • 00:31:48.063 --> 00:31:53.002
  • Every day there is something new to learn.
  • 00:31:53.002 --> 00:31:57.473
  • There's something probably to get rid of.
  • 00:31:57.473 --> 00:31:59.541
  • And so there's always an opportunity to grow every
  • 00:31:59.541 --> 00:32:02.077
  • Single day.
  • 00:32:02.077 --> 00:32:03.579
  • And so that's preparation for us.
  • 00:32:03.579 --> 00:32:05.881
  • We pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
  • 00:32:05.881 --> 00:32:07.916
  • I want to be ready.
  • 00:32:07.916 --> 00:32:09.485
  • You know, we talk about a personal relationship
  • 00:32:09.485 --> 00:32:12.254
  • With jesus.
  • 00:32:12.254 --> 00:32:14.490
  • I think we can all get in the crowd and
  • 00:32:14.490 --> 00:32:16.058
  • Worship jesus.
  • 00:32:16.058 --> 00:32:17.359
  • We can all, we can all come together and everybody be, but
  • 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:20.763
  • It's when you go home and you're alone.
  • 00:32:20.763 --> 00:32:23.565
  • It's that personal.
  • 00:32:23.565 --> 00:32:26.068
  • Is jesus enough?
  • 00:32:26.068 --> 00:32:27.469
  • Are his eyes enough on me?
  • 00:32:27.469 --> 00:32:31.273
  • Is his enough for me?
  • 00:32:31.273 --> 00:32:34.810
  • Because, you know, he's always clapping you on.
  • 00:32:34.810 --> 00:32:36.779
  • He's always cheering for you to do the right thing.
  • 00:32:36.779 --> 00:32:39.615
  • He's always, and is that enough for us?
  • 00:32:39.615 --> 00:32:43.419
  • - you know, when everybody else, they say
  • 00:32:43.419 --> 00:32:47.289
  • Jesus was scorned.
  • 00:32:47.289 --> 00:32:48.857
  • He was rejected.
  • 00:32:48.857 --> 00:32:50.459
  • He was despised.
  • 00:32:50.459 --> 00:32:51.894
  • That's ugly.
  • 00:32:51.894 --> 00:32:52.828
  • - that's a horrible word.
  • 00:32:52.828 --> 00:32:53.929
  • - you know, we see that today.
  • 00:32:53.929 --> 00:32:55.697
  • We see people despised for truth.
  • 00:32:55.697 --> 00:32:57.533
  • We see them scorned for truth.
  • 00:32:57.533 --> 00:33:00.202
  • But is jesus' applaud enough for us?
  • 00:33:00.202 --> 00:33:03.839
  • I just think that personal relationship with jesus, just
  • 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:07.109
  • In your daily walk and your daily meditation, down time
  • 00:33:07.109 --> 00:33:10.245
  • And busy time, is just knowing that jesus is here with me all
  • 00:33:10.245 --> 00:33:17.820
  • The time, sometimes i have to be reminded oh, jesus is
  • 00:33:17.820 --> 00:33:23.692
  • Here, hi!
  • 00:33:23.692 --> 00:33:24.960
  • You know cause he's with us, he walks beside us, the holy
  • 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:30.933
  • Spirit is in us.
  • 00:33:30.933 --> 00:33:32.634
  • We're never alone.
  • 00:33:32.634 --> 00:33:33.969
  • And so when we carry him, we have to be watchful and what
  • 00:33:33.969 --> 00:33:38.273
  • We do.
  • 00:33:38.273 --> 00:33:40.409
  • - it's like this incredible companionship on the journey.
  • 00:33:40.409 --> 00:33:43.045
  • I mean, i know when i was young and i gave my life to
  • 00:33:43.045 --> 00:33:45.914
  • Christ, so much of it was about me trying to get it
  • 00:33:45.914 --> 00:33:47.816
  • Right, to be good enough.
  • 00:33:47.816 --> 00:33:50.219
  • And then when i realized that i couldn't ever be perfect,
  • 00:33:50.219 --> 00:33:53.989
  • I'll never be, so i pursue the one who's perfect.
  • 00:33:53.989 --> 00:33:57.659
  • There you go.
  • 00:33:57.659 --> 00:33:58.894
  • But then you get this, i'm just this overwhelming sense
  • 00:33:58.894 --> 00:34:02.164
  • Of him always with you, wherever you are.
  • 00:34:02.164 --> 00:34:06.235
  • Flying in here to nashville, the airport was nuts.
  • 00:34:06.235 --> 00:34:09.505
  • And i find myself talking with the lord, the people i, you
  • 00:34:09.505 --> 00:34:13.275
  • Know, past, praying, you know, seeing somebody that looks
  • 00:34:13.275 --> 00:34:16.545
  • Harassed and praying, you know, like, throwing, casting
  • 00:34:16.545 --> 00:34:18.947
  • Prayers in their direction.
  • 00:34:18.947 --> 00:34:20.782
  • This ongoing dialogue with jesus is one of the most
  • 00:34:20.782 --> 00:34:23.552
  • Significant things in my life at the moment, you know?
  • 00:34:23.552 --> 00:34:26.054
  • - i need him more now at 62, i put my hope in jesus when i
  • 00:34:26.054 --> 00:34:32.427
  • Was five.
  • 00:34:32.427 --> 00:34:34.563
  • You know, as best you understand as a little kid
  • 00:34:34.563 --> 00:34:37.933
  • That you need jesus to clean your dirty heart.
  • 00:34:37.933 --> 00:34:41.036
  • But the need i have for jesus now, and i think sometimes in
  • 00:34:41.036 --> 00:34:46.642
  • First world christian culture, if we aren't careful, we make
  • 00:34:46.642 --> 00:34:50.312
  • Atonement all about salvation.
  • 00:34:50.312 --> 00:34:53.849
  • I'm like, it's actually 360 degrees.
  • 00:34:53.849 --> 00:34:55.918
  • I was saved, but i need the presence and the grace of
  • 00:34:55.918 --> 00:35:01.156
  • Jesus now.
  • 00:35:01.156 --> 00:35:02.424
  • I'm more aware of my need than i ever was walking up when
  • 00:35:02.424 --> 00:35:06.195
  • They sang just as i am 47 times.
  • 00:35:06.195 --> 00:35:09.031
  • He is my one true love.
  • 00:35:09.031 --> 00:35:12.167
  • He is my hope.
  • 00:35:12.167 --> 00:35:13.535
  • He is my peace.
  • 00:35:13.535 --> 00:35:14.970
  • He is my strong tower.
  • 00:35:14.970 --> 00:35:16.772
  • He is my safe refuge.
  • 00:35:16.772 --> 00:35:18.240
  • - amen...
  • 00:35:18.240 --> 00:35:20.075
  • - do you know that there's over 6,000 promises in
  • 00:35:20.075 --> 00:35:22.544
  • Scripture?
  • 00:35:22.544 --> 00:35:23.979
  • A lot of them are in the old testament.
  • 00:35:23.979 --> 00:35:25.514
  • And some people think, well, that means they're just for
  • 00:35:25.514 --> 00:35:27.249
  • Those people and for that time.
  • 00:35:27.249 --> 00:35:28.750
  • But it says in the new testament that all of god's
  • 00:35:28.750 --> 00:35:31.286
  • Promises are yes and amen in jesus.
  • 00:35:31.286 --> 00:35:34.823
  • And so for me, it's all about getting to know him.
  • 00:35:34.823 --> 00:35:38.760
  • You know, you can try and maybe just learn a couple of
  • 00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:41.296
  • Verses and try and you hold onto it almost like a lucky
  • 00:35:41.296 --> 00:35:43.765
  • Rabbit's foot.
  • 00:35:43.765 --> 00:35:44.866
  • That's nothing compared to getting to know the
  • 00:35:44.866 --> 00:35:47.035
  • Person of jesus.
  • 00:35:47.035 --> 00:35:48.770
  • The more time you spend with him, the more time you spend
  • 00:35:48.770 --> 00:35:51.373
  • Getting to know who he is, that's what really
  • 00:35:51.373 --> 00:35:54.209
  • Changes everything.
  • 00:35:54.209 --> 00:35:56.478
  • - join the conversation on our better together
  • 00:35:56.478 --> 00:35:59.414
  • Youtube channel.
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  • Subscribe today and never miss a new upload.
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  • 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:03.620
  • ♪ (music playing)
  • 00:36:03.620 --> 00:36:10.860
  • - one of the promises that i have held on to for years,
  • 00:36:10.860 --> 00:36:14.697
  • It's one of my favorite texts in scriptures in proverbs
  • 00:36:14.697 --> 00:36:17.000
  • Chapter three verses five and six and it says, "trust in the
  • 00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:19.836
  • Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
  • 00:36:19.836 --> 00:36:24.240
  • Understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he
  • 00:36:24.240 --> 00:36:27.543
  • Will make your path straight." and i have taken that
  • 00:36:27.543 --> 00:36:32.615
  • Literally since i was a young girl, believing that if i try
  • 00:36:32.615 --> 00:36:35.585
  • And acknowledge god in everything, that he will, and
  • 00:36:35.585 --> 00:36:38.855
  • Honestly, i've never applied to a book company, i've never
  • 00:36:38.855 --> 00:36:41.024
  • Applied to a record company, i've actually never applied
  • 00:36:41.024 --> 00:36:43.393
  • For a job.
  • 00:36:43.393 --> 00:36:44.627
  • My heart has been, lord, open the door, and i will walk
  • 00:36:44.627 --> 00:36:47.163
  • Through it.
  • 00:36:47.163 --> 00:36:48.464
  • And when you trust god, he is faithful.
  • 00:36:48.464 --> 00:36:50.300
  • ♪ (music playing)
  • 00:36:50.300 --> 00:36:55.171
  • - to me, that is one of the greatest blessings to be aware
  • 00:36:55.171 --> 00:36:58.741
  • That he's with you all the time.
  • 00:36:58.741 --> 00:37:00.543
  • - absolutely, it's amazing.
  • 00:37:00.543 --> 00:37:02.812
  • - to be aware of your need for him.
  • 00:37:02.812 --> 00:37:06.082
  • You know.
  • 00:37:06.082 --> 00:37:07.350
  • And i think once you, it kind of starts from the need to
  • 00:37:07.350 --> 00:37:11.688
  • The, it's still a need, but then it becomes your passion.
  • 00:37:11.688 --> 00:37:14.023
  • You know, and then your goal was just to stay in
  • 00:37:14.023 --> 00:37:19.395
  • That fellowship. - absolutely.
  • 00:37:19.395 --> 00:37:20.863
  • - and be determined that nothing's going to break off,
  • 00:37:20.863 --> 00:37:22.131
  • You know, that fellowship.
  • 00:37:22.131 --> 00:37:24.267
  • Like you said, if it's traffic, okay, how can i use
  • 00:37:24.267 --> 00:37:28.137
  • This time?
  • 00:37:28.137 --> 00:37:29.806
  • Not being angry and upset, but lord, what are you saying?
  • 00:37:29.806 --> 00:37:32.909
  • What can i get from you here?
  • 00:37:32.909 --> 00:37:34.577
  • Because he's with you.
  • 00:37:34.577 --> 00:37:35.878
  • - yeah, absolutely.
  • 00:37:35.878 --> 00:37:36.846
  • - you know, in the airport.
  • 00:37:36.846 --> 00:37:37.814
  • I think this season, this christmas season.
  • 00:37:37.814 --> 00:37:38.781
  • Oh, man.
  • 00:37:38.781 --> 00:37:39.949
  • I heard a friend saying recently, she was just kind of
  • 00:37:39.949 --> 00:37:42.251
  • A curmudgeon and saying, i get so tired of all the
  • 00:37:42.251 --> 00:37:45.121
  • Commercialization of christmas.
  • 00:37:45.121 --> 00:37:46.589
  • I was like, oh, when i hear mariah carey sing a christmas
  • 00:37:46.589 --> 00:37:49.459
  • Song in dillard's, i'm not thinking, is her heart
  • 00:37:49.459 --> 00:37:53.629
  • Really right?
  • 00:37:53.629 --> 00:37:56.232
  • I'm thinking, everybody at the perfume counter is hearing the
  • 00:37:56.232 --> 00:37:57.900
  • Name of jesus.
  • 00:37:57.900 --> 00:37:59.168
  • And maybe being made aware, maybe they walked away from
  • 00:37:59.168 --> 00:38:02.939
  • Their faith.
  • 00:38:02.939 --> 00:38:04.273
  • And that's, i think, the promises we've been talking
  • 00:38:04.273 --> 00:38:06.409
  • About this week, it's like for that person who has forgotten,
  • 00:38:06.409 --> 00:38:08.911
  • Who's not aware.
  • 00:38:08.911 --> 00:38:11.314
  • Make them aware.
  • 00:38:11.314 --> 00:38:12.615
  • Jesus loves you.
  • 00:38:12.615 --> 00:38:13.683
  • He loves you.
  • 00:38:13.683 --> 00:38:15.451
  • I know christmas is commercialized, but every time
  • 00:38:14.283 --> 00:38:17.286
  • Jesus' name is said during christmas season in a
  • 00:38:17.286 --> 00:38:20.356
  • Commercial endeavor or implied on a commercial, i'm like.
  • 00:38:20.356 --> 00:38:24.727
  • - i'm excited.
  • 00:38:24.727 --> 00:38:25.862
  • Yeah, i'll take it.
  • 00:38:25.862 --> 00:38:26.929
  • Christ jesus.
  • 00:38:26.929 --> 00:38:28.097
  • I'll take it.
  • 00:38:28.097 --> 00:38:29.065
  • - me too.
  • 00:38:29.065 --> 00:38:30.166
  • - because he can use it, you know.
  • 00:38:30.166 --> 00:38:32.101
  • He can use the most simple things to be glorified, but
  • 00:38:32.101 --> 00:38:35.338
  • Also to make people aware that he's, not only was he born,
  • 00:38:35.338 --> 00:38:38.975
  • But he's here.
  • 00:38:38.975 --> 00:38:40.543
  • He died, but he got up.
  • 00:38:40.543 --> 00:38:42.378
  • He's still with us, you know.
  • 00:38:42.378 --> 00:38:43.679
  • That would be the greatest gift for us all this christmas
  • 00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:46.749
  • To really be given a fresh understanding of his presence.
  • 00:38:46.749 --> 00:38:50.720
  • Because so often i think, well, i'll go talk to the lord
  • 00:38:50.720 --> 00:38:54.857
  • About that, but understand he is with us, always.
  • 00:38:54.857 --> 00:38:59.061
  • I remember on a trip a couple years, well, i guess maybe
  • 00:38:59.061 --> 00:39:01.964
  • Five or six years ago now, i was in africa, we were working
  • 00:39:01.964 --> 00:39:05.468
  • With a small village setting up a feeding program so that
  • 00:39:05.468 --> 00:39:07.470
  • Children would come to school.
  • 00:39:07.470 --> 00:39:09.472
  • And we were miles away from any civilization, which is
  • 00:39:09.472 --> 00:39:12.842
  • Just glorious.
  • 00:39:12.842 --> 00:39:14.310
  • And we all had a one-man tent.
  • 00:39:14.310 --> 00:39:16.179
  • So i'm in my one-man tent.
  • 00:39:16.179 --> 00:39:18.147
  • And the girl who was doing all the photographs said, sheila,
  • 00:39:18.147 --> 00:39:21.117
  • Come out.
  • 00:39:21.117 --> 00:39:22.985
  • So i dragged my sleeping bag and i came out and she said,
  • 00:39:22.985 --> 00:39:24.921
  • Look up.
  • 00:39:24.921 --> 00:39:26.422
  • And because we weren't near any towns or there was no
  • 00:39:26.422 --> 00:39:29.225
  • Electricity, there was nothing.
  • 00:39:29.225 --> 00:39:33.029
  • It was just suddenly i saw what abraham saw.
  • 00:39:33.029 --> 00:39:34.931
  • It's like the stars.
  • 00:39:34.931 --> 00:39:36.899
  • I actually spent the night outside my tent.
  • 00:39:36.899 --> 00:39:38.901
  • I laid my sleeping back and just thought, the one who
  • 00:39:38.901 --> 00:39:41.070
  • Knows every single one of those by name, you know, who
  • 00:39:41.070 --> 00:39:45.241
  • Cast them out there but knows every single one of them is
  • 00:39:45.241 --> 00:39:48.644
  • Watching over me, he knows me.
  • 00:39:48.644 --> 00:39:51.414
  • And it's just, i mean, i've known that i gave my life to
  • 00:39:51.414 --> 00:39:55.151
  • Christ at 11 but this i have a deeper understanding now of
  • 00:39:55.151 --> 00:39:58.721
  • What the whole point was, why jesus came so that we're just
  • 00:39:58.721 --> 00:40:05.495
  • With him and we don't walk through this journey alone.
  • 00:40:05.495 --> 00:40:08.030
  • - i think sometimes when things are going our way,
  • 00:40:08.030 --> 00:40:11.968
  • That's the reward.
  • 00:40:11.968 --> 00:40:14.103
  • It's like, i got what i wanted.
  • 00:40:14.103 --> 00:40:16.239
  • And that's fun.
  • 00:40:16.239 --> 00:40:17.607
  • I love when that happens.
  • 00:40:17.607 --> 00:40:19.075
  • - that's great.
  • 00:40:19.075 --> 00:40:20.343
  • - but i think sometimes that heightened awareness of what
  • 00:40:20.343 --> 00:40:23.145
  • We're talking about, the treasure that it is to know
  • 00:40:23.145 --> 00:40:25.681
  • Jesus is with me, not just in thought, not just a nice idea,
  • 00:40:25.681 --> 00:40:28.084
  • But tangibly.
  • 00:40:28.084 --> 00:40:30.286
  • With every step i take, he's with me.
  • 00:40:30.286 --> 00:40:32.188
  • I think there's a gift in when we're waiting on
  • 00:40:32.188 --> 00:40:35.358
  • These promises.
  • 00:40:35.358 --> 00:40:36.359
  • There's a gift when things haven't come.
  • 00:40:36.359 --> 00:40:39.428
  • There's a gift when i had this, you know, laid out in
  • 00:40:39.428 --> 00:40:43.566
  • Front and i haven't seen that happen yet because our
  • 00:40:43.566 --> 00:40:46.536
  • Dependency is highlighted on jesus.
  • 00:40:46.536 --> 00:40:48.771
  • Otherwise, i can just walk easily through my life with
  • 00:40:48.771 --> 00:40:52.475
  • The fulfillment of everything's going great and
  • 00:40:52.475 --> 00:40:54.277
  • Easy and just like i expected.
  • 00:40:54.277 --> 00:40:55.678
  • I think actually when we don't get it.
  • 00:40:55.678 --> 00:40:58.447
  • The other gift we get is this heightened awareness of jesus,
  • 00:40:58.447 --> 00:41:02.652
  • Where he can be enough.
  • 00:41:02.652 --> 00:41:04.687
  • And i wonder, in the easiest, best, kind of seemingly most
  • 00:41:04.687 --> 00:41:08.491
  • Fulfilled times in my life, those are the hardest ones to
  • 00:41:08.491 --> 00:41:11.794
  • Remember to turn our, to my attention to him
  • 00:41:11.794 --> 00:41:15.298
  • And remember.
  • 00:41:15.298 --> 00:41:16.532
  • It's the times where it's like, i don't know how to take
  • 00:41:16.532 --> 00:41:19.068
  • This next step.
  • 00:41:19.068 --> 00:41:20.536
  • And the gift that i have is, he's always been here, but i
  • 00:41:20.536 --> 00:41:23.306
  • Am aware now, i need him, i need him.
  • 00:41:23.306 --> 00:41:26.442
  • Sometimes these waiting periods set us up for the
  • 00:41:26.442 --> 00:41:29.745
  • Greatest treasure.
  • 00:41:29.745 --> 00:41:30.880
  • Oh, yeah.
  • 00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:32.114
  • - we can know that god is always preparing the promises
  • 00:41:32.114 --> 00:41:35.251
  • To come into full fruition in our lives because the bible
  • 00:41:35.251 --> 00:41:39.922
  • Says that all things work together for my good.
  • 00:41:39.922 --> 00:41:42.892
  • And so god is always working.
  • 00:41:42.892 --> 00:41:45.695
  • Things are not always perfect, especially while you're in the
  • 00:41:45.695 --> 00:41:49.432
  • Waiting, but because he is a promise keeper, god is not a
  • 00:41:49.432 --> 00:41:55.871
  • Man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he
  • 00:41:55.871 --> 00:41:57.607
  • Should repent.
  • 00:41:57.607 --> 00:42:00.109
  • We can stand on his word and know, in the waiting, even
  • 00:42:00.109 --> 00:42:02.278
  • Though it hurts sometimes, even though you don't know
  • 00:42:02.278 --> 00:42:04.914
  • When the breakthrough is coming, you know that he's
  • 00:42:04.914 --> 00:42:08.884
  • Working it out, and in his timing, deliverance will come.
  • 00:42:08.884 --> 00:42:12.588
  • - one of our pastors says, celebrate the no's in
  • 00:42:12.588 --> 00:42:18.160
  • Your life.
  • 00:42:18.160 --> 00:42:19.261
  • Celebrate the no's just like you would a yes.
  • 00:42:19.261 --> 00:42:21.564
  • Celebrate the no's because god loves.
  • 00:42:21.564 --> 00:42:25.901
  • Another thing i love about god is that he loves to work with
  • 00:42:25.901 --> 00:42:27.770
  • The void.
  • 00:42:27.770 --> 00:42:29.939
  • He loves to work with nothing.
  • 00:42:29.939 --> 00:42:32.074
  • That's what he gets to create.
  • 00:42:32.074 --> 00:42:34.343
  • That's what he gets to fill up.
  • 00:42:34.343 --> 00:42:36.579
  • That's what he gets to create in is our nothing when the
  • 00:42:36.579 --> 00:42:41.283
  • Angel comes and tells mary that the holy- you know what's
  • 00:42:41.283 --> 00:42:45.521
  • Going to happen, she goes, how can that be so when god speaks
  • 00:42:45.521 --> 00:42:48.424
  • Prophetically over our lives you just sit there and go how
  • 00:42:48.424 --> 00:42:53.262
  • Can that be, me?
  • 00:42:53.262 --> 00:42:56.198
  • Are you kidding right now?
  • 00:42:56.198 --> 00:42:59.669
  • You know how can that be and god says the holy spirit will
  • 00:42:59.669 --> 00:43:01.504
  • Come and so he gives her something this is going to
  • 00:43:01.504 --> 00:43:05.107
  • Happen and it's a prophetic expect this in your life the
  • 00:43:05.107 --> 00:43:11.480
  • Holy spirit is going to come you know and i love that part
  • 00:43:11.480 --> 00:43:17.219
  • Because for us to be expectant in the waiting for the promise
  • 00:43:17.219 --> 00:43:21.857
  • Just to expect that there's something good that's going to
  • 00:43:21.857 --> 00:43:25.261
  • Happen to me today, only good can happen to me.
  • 00:43:25.261 --> 00:43:29.165
  • Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days
  • 00:43:29.165 --> 00:43:33.869
  • Of my life.
  • 00:43:33.869 --> 00:43:35.504
  • So everything is intentional with god in the waiting every
  • 00:43:35.504 --> 00:43:38.507
  • Day of what we feel might be delay, or taking
  • 00:43:38.507 --> 00:43:43.112
  • Two steps back.
  • 00:43:43.112 --> 00:43:45.314
  • All of that is in the mighty hand of god because he
  • 00:43:45.314 --> 00:43:47.850
  • Is in control.
  • 00:43:47.850 --> 00:43:50.352
  • If we are believers in christ, he is in control of every
  • 00:43:50.352 --> 00:43:52.154
  • Single thing in our lives.
  • 00:43:52.154 --> 00:43:55.191
  • And so we arrest in that.
  • 00:43:55.191 --> 00:43:58.461
  • And if you feel like you don't have anything, god
  • 00:43:58.461 --> 00:44:01.530
  • Fills that up.
  • 00:44:01.530 --> 00:44:04.633
  • You know, the little widow that he said, go get all the
  • 00:44:04.633 --> 00:44:08.571
  • Empty jars.
  • 00:44:08.571 --> 00:44:12.007
  • Get the empty.
  • 00:44:12.007 --> 00:44:13.275
  • She should have went throughout the world, the
  • 00:44:13.275 --> 00:44:14.977
  • Emptiness was what god was wanting her to gather my
  • 00:44:14.977 --> 00:44:19.982
  • Emptiness so that he could fill it.
  • 00:44:19.982 --> 00:44:23.052
  • That's what he wants to do.
  • 00:44:23.052 --> 00:44:25.020
  • And so in the waiting, it's probably the most precious
  • 00:44:25.020 --> 00:44:28.991
  • Time...
  • 00:44:28.991 --> 00:44:30.392
  • Is waiting for the promises of god to be fulfilled because
  • 00:44:30.392 --> 00:44:33.729
  • The holy spirit comes.
  • 00:44:33.729 --> 00:44:34.797
  • And it's a priceless time if we can see it.
  • 00:44:34.797 --> 00:44:38.134
  • - if we can see it.
  • 00:44:38.134 --> 00:44:39.535
  • - the roughest time sometimes, but the best time.
  • 00:44:39.535 --> 00:44:43.339
  • - but that verse in luke 1, and this is when mary's with
  • 00:44:43.339 --> 00:44:46.642
  • Elizabeth, luke 1:45 is one of my favorite verses in
  • 00:44:46.642 --> 00:44:49.411
  • All of scripture.
  • 00:44:49.411 --> 00:44:50.679
  • "you are blessed because you believed that the lord would
  • 00:44:50.679 --> 00:44:53.916
  • Do what he said." "you are blessed because you believed
  • 00:44:53.916 --> 00:44:58.788
  • That the lord would do what he said." it doesn't say that
  • 00:44:58.788 --> 00:45:03.592
  • We'll understand the timing of it.
  • 00:45:03.592 --> 00:45:04.827
  • It doesn't say that we'll understand what it looks like.
  • 00:45:04.827 --> 00:45:06.829
  • But believing, god will do what he said.
  • 00:45:06.829 --> 00:45:11.634
  • I think that's just...
  • 00:45:11.634 --> 00:45:14.036
  • - that's incredible because that's really the answer
  • 00:45:14.036 --> 00:45:16.806
  • For everything.
  • 00:45:16.806 --> 00:45:18.641
  • - everything, right?
  • 00:45:18.641 --> 00:45:19.975
  • - you're not blessed because you're gifted.
  • 00:45:19.975 --> 00:45:23.112
  • You're not blessed because you think you're successful.
  • 00:45:23.112 --> 00:45:26.315
  • - you're not blessed because you're blessed
  • 00:45:26.315 --> 00:45:29.485
  • Because you believe.
  • 00:45:29.485 --> 00:45:31.187
  • Because i believe.
  • 00:45:31.187 --> 00:45:33.355
  • - yes, oh, gosh.
  • 00:45:33.355 --> 00:45:34.757
  • That gives me chills.
  • 00:45:34.757 --> 00:45:35.991
  • - what that must do to the heart of god.
  • 00:45:35.991 --> 00:45:37.860
  • And i think, i also think it's this incredible witness to the
  • 00:45:37.860 --> 00:45:41.063
  • Angels, you know, that, i mean, i think of some woman
  • 00:45:41.063 --> 00:45:44.533
  • Who's just got the diagnosis she didn't want and she's
  • 00:45:44.533 --> 00:45:48.037
  • Looking toward christmas and it's all going to
  • 00:45:48.037 --> 00:45:49.738
  • Be different.
  • 00:45:49.738 --> 00:45:50.840
  • And yet still gets on her knees and says, you're
  • 00:45:50.840 --> 00:45:52.575
  • Still good.
  • 00:45:52.575 --> 00:45:53.642
  • - that's right.
  • 00:45:53.642 --> 00:45:54.243
  • - you're still god.
  • 00:45:54.243 --> 00:45:55.377
  • I mean, it must make the angels just, like, look at
  • 00:45:55.377 --> 00:45:57.046
  • Them, you know?
  • 00:45:57.046 --> 00:45:59.014
  • They still believe.
  • 00:45:59.014 --> 00:46:00.249
  • I think that has to be so powerful.
  • 00:46:00.249 --> 00:46:02.484
  • You're blessed because you believed that the lord would
  • 00:46:02.484 --> 00:46:05.020
  • Do what he said.
  • 00:46:05.020 --> 00:46:07.690
  • - that is powerful.
  • 00:46:07.690 --> 00:46:09.992
  • What a gift this christmas.
  • 00:46:09.992 --> 00:46:11.160
  • - i believe that if we acknowledge god in everyday
  • 00:46:11.160 --> 00:46:14.730
  • Things, everything we do just give a nod to god.
  • 00:46:14.730 --> 00:46:19.368
  • Say, ok, god, just acknowledge god in your life.
  • 00:46:19.368 --> 00:46:22.204
  • Every day, he will direct your path, and sometimes it feels
  • 00:46:22.204 --> 00:46:26.942
  • Or it looks like to others that you have failed in
  • 00:46:26.942 --> 00:46:30.379
  • Something, i want to encourage you today.
  • 00:46:30.379 --> 00:46:33.215
  • If you have believed, god will do what he said he's
  • 00:46:33.215 --> 00:46:37.987
  • Going to do.
  • 00:46:37.987 --> 00:46:39.321
  • And that's all we're going to- that's all we're called to do.
  • 00:46:39.321 --> 00:46:43.359
  • We're called to believe god.
  • 00:46:43.359 --> 00:46:44.727
  • And so today, i encourage you that even the naysayers in
  • 00:46:44.727 --> 00:46:48.097
  • Your life, people that might think you're nuts, just trust
  • 00:46:48.097 --> 00:46:51.600
  • And believe in god.
  • 00:46:51.600 --> 00:46:54.103
  • I don't believe you can ever fail and not fall forwards.
  • 00:46:54.103 --> 00:46:56.238
  • You're always going towards god, and that is such a good
  • 00:46:56.238 --> 00:47:01.744
  • Thing for you.
  • 00:47:01.744 --> 00:47:03.946
  • - i will tell you, there have been decades of christmases
  • 00:47:03.946 --> 00:47:06.448
  • Where it's hard for me to believe.
  • 00:47:06.448 --> 00:47:09.084
  • Because as an older, single woman, i felt like all of my
  • 00:47:09.084 --> 00:47:14.623
  • Friends look like norman rockwell.
  • 00:47:14.623 --> 00:47:16.425
  • They had the children and the stockings and the golden
  • 00:47:16.425 --> 00:47:19.061
  • Doodles, and i went home with a lean cuisine
  • 00:47:19.061 --> 00:47:21.497
  • On christmas eve.
  • 00:47:21.497 --> 00:47:23.565
  • And sometimes it was hard because i didn't get what i
  • 00:47:23.565 --> 00:47:26.335
  • Thought i wanted.
  • 00:47:26.335 --> 00:47:28.270
  • And it took me a while to believe that the presence of
  • 00:47:28.270 --> 00:47:31.173
  • God, that the emmanuel, the witness of god of christmas
  • 00:47:31.173 --> 00:47:35.110
  • Was enough for me.
  • 00:47:35.110 --> 00:47:36.612
  • So any of y'all watching who would honestly right now say,
  • 00:47:36.612 --> 00:47:41.917
  • I'm having a hard time believing.
  • 00:47:41.917 --> 00:47:44.453
  • This christmas, i'm singing the carols.
  • 00:47:44.453 --> 00:47:46.989
  • I'm going to the candlelight service, but
  • 00:47:46.989 --> 00:47:49.758
  • My heart is heavy.
  • 00:47:49.758 --> 00:47:51.160
  • Maybe your heart is broken, maybe your heart is numb.
  • 00:47:51.160 --> 00:47:53.228
  • If you're in a place, if you're not driving while
  • 00:47:53.228 --> 00:47:55.631
  • You're listening or on an elliptical, if you're in a
  • 00:47:55.631 --> 00:47:58.367
  • Place where you can sit or you can stand and for just a
  • 00:47:58.367 --> 00:48:01.971
  • Moment, would you put your hands, palm up in your lap,
  • 00:48:01.971 --> 00:48:04.640
  • Kind of in the posture of receptivity.
  • 00:48:04.640 --> 00:48:06.508
  • Jesus, jesus, jesus, the god who was and is and evermore
  • 00:48:06.508 --> 00:48:13.015
  • Shall be, the one who laid down a scepter in glory and
  • 00:48:13.015 --> 00:48:16.652
  • Shrugged into a suit of skin and condescended to be born in
  • 00:48:16.652 --> 00:48:19.154
  • A barn...
  • 00:48:19.154 --> 00:48:22.458
  • You became like us to save us.
  • 00:48:22.458 --> 00:48:24.793
  • Jesus, jesus, jesus, jesus, thank you that we don't have
  • 00:48:24.793 --> 00:48:27.296
  • To twist your arm.
  • 00:48:27.296 --> 00:48:28.464
  • Thank you that you incline your ear even now to
  • 00:48:28.464 --> 00:48:30.766
  • Listen to us.
  • 00:48:30.766 --> 00:48:33.235
  • And so we ask, as your sons and your daughters, those of
  • 00:48:33.235 --> 00:48:37.072
  • Us who are having a hard time carrying a hope this
  • 00:48:37.072 --> 00:48:39.708
  • Christmas, would you send your holy spirit, just as you did
  • 00:48:39.708 --> 00:48:42.778
  • To mary?
  • 00:48:42.778 --> 00:48:44.847
  • Would holy spirit come alongside us in such a way
  • 00:48:44.847 --> 00:48:48.083
  • That you give us the gift of faith, even when we can't see
  • 00:48:48.083 --> 00:48:52.488
  • What we're so desperate for.
  • 00:48:52.488 --> 00:48:54.690
  • Thank you, jesus, that your grace really is sufficient for
  • 00:48:54.690 --> 00:48:59.161
  • Whatever empty jars we're carrying right now.
  • 00:48:59.161 --> 00:49:01.897
  • Your grace is sufficient.
  • 00:49:01.897 --> 00:49:04.700
  • So god, we will give you and you alone the glory for the
  • 00:49:04.700 --> 00:49:09.304
  • Belief that you ignite in our hearts today.
  • 00:49:09.304 --> 00:49:12.574
  • Thank you that we can carry the hope of christmas because
  • 00:49:12.574 --> 00:49:16.078
  • Of your presence, not because of what we've received.
  • 00:49:16.078 --> 00:49:18.647
  • We love you, jesus.
  • 00:49:18.647 --> 00:49:21.083
  • We need you, jesus.
  • 00:49:21.083 --> 00:49:22.351
  • We pray all these things by the power and the perfection
  • 00:49:22.351 --> 00:49:24.720
  • Of your name, the name that one day, everybody, and not
  • 00:49:24.720 --> 00:49:27.923
  • Just at christmas, will bow before.
  • 00:49:27.923 --> 00:49:31.026
  • Thank you, jesus.
  • 00:49:31.026 --> 00:49:32.394
  • Amen and amen.
  • 00:49:32.394 --> 00:49:33.796
  • - connect with us on social media and let us know how our
  • 00:49:33.796 --> 00:49:37.433
  • Team can pray for you.
  • 00:49:37.433 --> 00:49:41.770
  • ♪ (music playing)
  • 00:49:41.770 --> 00:49:44.039
  • - so all throughout the christmas story, we see these
  • 00:49:44.039 --> 00:49:45.574
  • People who are given a promise by the lord and these
  • 00:49:45.574 --> 00:49:49.578
  • Different journeys of walking out that promise
  • 00:49:49.578 --> 00:49:51.647
  • Unto its fruition.
  • 00:49:51.647 --> 00:49:52.948
  • I remember receiving a word when i was just this insecure
  • 00:49:52.948 --> 00:49:55.784
  • Little kid who had given up singing, given up worship
  • 00:49:55.784 --> 00:49:59.154
  • Leading, and somebody gave a word about leading worship and
  • 00:49:59.154 --> 00:50:03.325
  • Singing at a scale that i was not prepared for.
  • 00:50:03.325 --> 00:50:08.564
  • And i was brought on this journey with the lord of him
  • 00:50:08.564 --> 00:50:12.434
  • Saying, just focus on me.
  • 00:50:12.434 --> 00:50:15.971
  • I'll bring these things to pass.
  • 00:50:15.971 --> 00:50:17.239
  • You don't make any of them happen.
  • 00:50:17.239 --> 00:50:18.440
  • You're not creating this.
  • 00:50:18.440 --> 00:50:20.209
  • I'll do in you what i have planned for you.
  • 00:50:20.209 --> 00:50:21.610
  • And the places that that has brought me to the incredible
  • 00:50:21.610 --> 00:50:26.048
  • Opportunities to see different parts of the world and
  • 00:50:26.048 --> 00:50:30.085
  • Worship jesus.
  • 00:50:30.085 --> 00:50:31.386
  • That wasn't something that i created in and of myself, that
  • 00:50:31.386 --> 00:50:32.855
  • Was something that he put inside and he caused to grow.
  • 00:50:32.855 --> 00:50:38.961
  • And it's so much better that way when he's the one who's
  • 00:50:38.961 --> 00:50:42.531
  • The author and the perfector.
  • 00:50:42.531 --> 00:50:45.334
  • - watch better together on the go.
  • 00:50:46.101 --> 00:50:48.103
  • Download the free tbn plus app to stream all of your
  • 00:50:48.103 --> 00:50:51.306
  • Favorite conversations.
  • 00:50:51.306 --> 00:50:52.908
  • ♪ (music playing)
  • 00:50:52.908 --> 00:50:52.908