Dr. Tony Evans is known as a relevant expositor and is a pastor of pastors and a father in the faith.
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Dr. Tony Evans | Tony Evans - Releasing God's Protection | May 29, 2026
- ...
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- Tony evans: when god is getting ready to move,
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- It often won't make sense.
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- When god is getting ready to move,
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- It often will not be logical.
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- You won't be able to put it in a test tube
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- And figure it out because he's doing something
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- Different, unique, and often supernatural.
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- When god is making provision,
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- He's making provision for more than just you.
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- ♪♪♪
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- Tony: today i want to talk about releasing god's provision.
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- This is when god meets a need in your life.
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- This is when god addresses a situation
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- In your experience.
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- There is one overarching lesson here.
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- I learned it many years ago and have repeated it
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- A multiplicity of times in our gatherings.
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- And whatever needs erupt in your life,
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- There is only one source.
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- There are many resources-- that is, mechanisms
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- That the one source can and does use
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- To address needs in your life, but there's only one source.
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- There's only one great physician,
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- Although there are many doctors.
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- You can change doctors, but you can't change
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- A great physician, 'cause there's only one source.
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- The moment you and i understand this principle--
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- That there's only one source--
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- You can no longer be threatened by resources.
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- You can no longer be trapped by being held hostage
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- By a resource, because the resource
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- Was never the source.
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- It was just a mechanism used at that time
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- To provide a resource from the source
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- That is singular in nature.
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- So i want you to know that, i want you to grab that
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- Because the moment you lose it
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- And you turn the resource into the source,
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- You've created an idol.
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- In our passage of many that we could have chosen from,
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- It surrounds the prophet elijah.
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- And he's in a pagan environment with ahab and his wife jezebel.
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- And what they had done was they had brought idolatry
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- Into the land.
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- In 1 kings chapter 16, we read that "it came about,"
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- Verse 31, "as it had been a trivial thing for him
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- To walk in the sins," that is ahab,
- 00:03:07.569 --> 00:03:10.038
- "of jeroboam... that he married jezebel
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- The daughter of ethbaal king of the sidonians,
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- And went and served baal and worshiped him.
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- So he erected an altar to baal
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- In the house of baal, which he built in samaria.
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- And ahab also made asherah--" that's baal's girlfriend.
- 00:03:31.526 --> 00:03:37.833
- "thus ahab did more to provoke the lord god of israel
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- Than all the kings of israel who had been before him."
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- What you have to understand about an idol
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- Is an idol is a noun, any person, place, thing or thought
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- That becomes your source.
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- Idols weren't just things that were worshiped,
- 00:03:58.787 --> 00:04:01.523
- They were things that were worshiped
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- To produce something, to produce fertility
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- On the ground or with the animals
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- Or even with human life.
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- Idols were looked to to make it rain
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- Or to make the sun shine.
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- They were things that people look to
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- As the source.
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- We have american idols.
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- These are the more 21st-century, sophisticated idols.
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- And they come in all shapes and sizes,
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- But they are what you look to as your source.
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- Your idol could be your politics, your race,
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- Or your money.
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- Your bank can be your source. your job can be your source.
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- Your checking account can be your source.
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- The moment that source becomes your source
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- And no longer becomes a resource
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- That the source uses to resource you,
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- You have made that resource a source, and therefore,
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- That resource has become an idol.
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- Once the resource becomes the source,
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- It is now competing with god.
- 00:05:06.321 --> 00:05:10.492
- It says that baal, this idol, had been erected
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- In israel, and it brought god to anger.
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- So in chapter 17, verse 1, it says, "elijah the tishbite,
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- Who are settlers in gilead, said to ahab,
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- 'as the lord, the god of israel lives, before whom i stand,
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- Surely there shall be neither dew nor rain
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- These years, except by my word.'"
- 00:05:37.619 --> 00:05:41.323
- He says, "because you've chosen to get
- 00:05:41.323 --> 00:05:44.693
- A foreign source, it's not gonna rain."
- 00:05:44.693 --> 00:05:49.631
- So now we have a drought, we've got a dry season,
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- Because of their departure from god.
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- In our contemporary world, it could be inflation,
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- Recession, or you losing your job
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- And so provision becomes troubled.
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- And even if you have the stuff,
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- You may not have the peace to go with it.
- 00:06:12.053 --> 00:06:15.023
- Let me state it again as i walk through this.
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- You only have one source,
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- So no resource should ever own or control you,
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- Because god can change resources,
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- As you'll see, whenever he chooses.
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- So there's a drought, there is no rain,
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- And so things have become very, very tough.
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- If you know the story, you know this drought
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- Is gonna last three and a half years.
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- If you don't have rain for three and a half years,
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- The repercussions and implications
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- Of that lack of provision is staggering.
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- Elijah comes on the scene and god tells him
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- In verse 3 of chapter 17 of 1 kings,
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- "i want you to go eastward, and i want you to hide yourself
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- By the brook of cherith, which is east of jordan.
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- And it shall be that you will drink from the brook,
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- And i have commanded the ravens to provide for you."
- 00:07:15.784 --> 00:07:21.356
- No, wait a minute now.
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- We got a dry season, there is no rain.
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- But god tells elijah, "i got a place with some water.
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- I want you to hide yourself,
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- Go to this place i'm gonna send you,
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- And i have commanded the ravens to feed you."
- 00:07:42.177 --> 00:07:48.116
- Because what you need to know is that ravens
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- Were unclean birds.
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- They were birds prohibited by god.
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- God told them in deuteronomy 14, verses 11 to 14,
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- "these are the birds you can eat,
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- But you cannot eat a raven because that's an unclean bird."
- 00:08:04.933 --> 00:08:10.472
- So what do you need to know?
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- One is that it's a bird, but two, it's an unclean bird.
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- And the reason you need to know that is
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- That when god wants to do something,
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- He can take something dirty and still provide
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- In the midst of it.
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- What you need to know is that god is not limited
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- On his resources.
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- That's why you don't wanna turn your resource into a god,
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- Because if you do, you may miss out on
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- God flying something in that you didn't expect,
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- Bringing it out of nowhere.
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- Over and over again, god says he is the source.
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- Proverbs chapter 13, verse 22,
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- God says he takes the wealth of the wicked
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- And holds it in store for when he wants to transfer it
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- To the righteous.
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- That's why you don't have to let any resource own you,
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- Because god can switch them out in a minute.
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- He can change it in a minute.
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- He can turn it in a minute.
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- The reason why israel was able to leave egypt,
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- As pagan as pharaoh was
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- And as wicked as the egyptians were,
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- Is that when god sent the plagues,
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- They wanted to get rid of the jews so bad that it says,
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- "they gave them silver and gold
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- So that they could hurry up and leave."
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- God made the sinners so miserable
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- That they paid the saints to get out.
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- When nehemiah wanted to build the walls of jerusalem,
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- It says that the pagan king of persia
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- Provided the wood,
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- Provided the letter, provided the security,
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- So that the saints could rebuild the walls of jerusalem.
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- So don't think just because you're working
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- For a dirty boss and a dirty company
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- That they are in charge of you, because god can take ravens
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- And still feed you.
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- And when you understand that,
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- When you understand that god is so comprehensive
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- In his approach
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- That even wickedness can be used by him
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- To address the needs of his people,
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- You don't have to be intimidated by the sources,
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- Because you only have one source.
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- That's why i love psalm 104.
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- Psalm 104 talks about god being your only source,
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- And he says it in a lot of different ways
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- So that--so that you get it.
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- He says in psalm 104, beginning with verse 10,
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- He says, "he sends forth springs in the valley,
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- That flow between the mountains.
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- They give drink to every beast of the field;
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- The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
- 00:11:09.284 --> 00:11:11.820
- Besides them the birds of the heavens do dwell;
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- They lift up their voices among the branches.
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- He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
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- The earth is satisfied with the fruit of his works.
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- He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
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- And vegetation for the labor of man,
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- So that he may bring food from the earth,
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- And wine which makes man's heart glad,
- 00:11:34.442 --> 00:11:37.112
- So that they may make his face glisten with oil,
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- And food which sustains man's heart.
- 00:11:39.981 --> 00:11:43.118
- The trees of the lord drink their fill,
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- The cedars of lebanon which he planted,
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- Where the birds build their nest,
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- And the storks, whose home is in the fir trees."
- 00:11:51.226 --> 00:11:55.196
- He concludes in verse 24, he says, "o lord,
- 00:11:55.196 --> 00:12:00.869
- How great are your works!
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- In wisdom you have made them all;
- 00:12:03.138 --> 00:12:05.940
- The earth is full of your possessions."
- 00:12:05.940 --> 00:12:09.410
- What he's trying to say is all this stuff happens
- 00:12:09.410 --> 00:12:12.847
- Because every good and perfect gift
- 00:12:12.847 --> 00:12:14.682
- Comes from above-- that it starts with your source.
- 00:12:14.682 --> 00:12:19.120
- The bank is not your source.
- 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:21.823
- Your job is not your source.
- 00:12:21.823 --> 00:12:25.827
- Your income is not your-- all those are just channels
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- That god uses.
- 00:12:29.030 --> 00:12:30.832
- He says, "elijah, i am going to provide for you
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- In a way you didn't expect."
- 00:12:37.305 --> 00:12:40.942
- And nothing will make god more real to you
- 00:12:40.942 --> 00:12:44.746
- Than when he provides
- 00:12:44.746 --> 00:12:46.314
- At a time where you can't see where the provision
- 00:12:46.314 --> 00:12:50.585
- Is coming from.
- 00:12:50.585 --> 00:12:53.087
- That's when he gets to show you that he is your source.
- 00:12:53.087 --> 00:12:58.760
- That's why deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3, says,
- 00:12:58.760 --> 00:13:02.497
- "i let you get hungry," he says.
- 00:13:02.497 --> 00:13:05.400
- "i let your stomach start to churn
- 00:13:05.400 --> 00:13:08.136
- And you wonder where my next meal
- 00:13:08.136 --> 00:13:10.505
- Was coming from.
- 00:13:10.505 --> 00:13:11.873
- I let you do that so that you would know
- 00:13:11.873 --> 00:13:15.443
- That i am god,
- 00:13:15.443 --> 00:13:17.612
- So that when you cross the jordan"--
- 00:13:17.612 --> 00:13:20.915
- Read--when you get a chance, read deuteronomy 8--
- 00:13:20.915 --> 00:13:23.151
- "when you cross the jordan
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- And you build houses and you have property
- 00:13:25.053 --> 00:13:28.590
- And now you're living large, you will not forget
- 00:13:28.590 --> 00:13:32.227
- The lord your god, who brought you out of egypt."
- 00:13:32.227 --> 00:13:37.065
- So sometimes he says, "i let you get hungry
- 00:13:37.065 --> 00:13:41.102
- So that you remember i'm the one that you need to look to
- 00:13:41.102 --> 00:13:44.706
- To feed you."
- 00:13:44.706 --> 00:13:46.040
- So god says, "i send reminders along the way to let you know
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- That i am and i alone am your source."
- 00:13:51.312 --> 00:13:56.251
- And when god shows up with a raven--
- 00:13:56.251 --> 00:13:58.953
- That is, an unexpected negative--
- 00:13:58.953 --> 00:14:02.824
- A raven is unclean--
- 00:14:02.824 --> 00:14:04.626
- Negative way to meet a need is to let you know
- 00:14:04.626 --> 00:14:08.096
- I even control unclean stuff
- 00:14:08.096 --> 00:14:11.966
- To achieve my purposes for my people.
- 00:14:11.966 --> 00:14:15.403
- And when you have this view of god,
- 00:14:15.403 --> 00:14:17.872
- This huge view of god, so that you don't make man
- 00:14:17.872 --> 00:14:22.176
- Bigger than man ought to be,
- 00:14:22.176 --> 00:14:24.379
- So that you don't make yourself bigger than you ought to be,
- 00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:28.216
- It is to remind you that god alone is your provider.
- 00:14:28.216 --> 00:14:33.254
- Okay, we're talking about a man of god,
- 00:14:33.254 --> 00:14:35.023
- We're talking about somebody who says,
- 00:14:35.023 --> 00:14:36.658
- "i'm standing in god's place," because in life,
- 00:14:36.658 --> 00:14:40.695
- Things dry up.
- 00:14:40.695 --> 00:14:42.964
- In life, things don't always stay the same.
- 00:14:42.964 --> 00:14:47.335
- You can be up one day and crash the next day,
- 00:14:47.335 --> 00:14:51.773
- Because things dry up.
- 00:14:51.773 --> 00:14:53.107
- It says in verse 7, "and the brook dried up,
- 00:14:53.107 --> 00:14:57.111
- Because there was no rain," because there was a drought
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- In the land.
- 00:15:01.249 --> 00:15:02.583
- And many times, the drought of life catches up with us,
- 00:15:02.583 --> 00:15:07.221
- And things dry up.
- 00:15:07.221 --> 00:15:08.723
- Things aren't like, you know,
- 00:15:08.723 --> 00:15:12.093
- The exciting times, the vibrant times.
- 00:15:12.093 --> 00:15:14.963
- You wanna know how are we going to make it,
- 00:15:14.963 --> 00:15:18.766
- Because it's dried up.
- 00:15:18.766 --> 00:15:20.468
- Well, that's his situation.
- 00:15:20.468 --> 00:15:23.671
- Now, let me give you the secret.
- 00:15:23.671 --> 00:15:26.808
- When god is providing and things dry up,
- 00:15:26.808 --> 00:15:32.814
- It's because he's changing the resource.
- 00:15:32.814 --> 00:15:37.485
- When god is providing and then it's a wrap,
- 00:15:37.485 --> 00:15:42.357
- It stops, it's over
- 00:15:42.357 --> 00:15:45.126
- And you wanna know what's going on,
- 00:15:45.126 --> 00:15:47.061
- He's shifting something.
- 00:15:47.061 --> 00:15:49.464
- And in order for you to go with the shift,
- 00:15:49.464 --> 00:15:51.699
- He has to make you uncomfortable where you are.
- 00:15:51.699 --> 00:15:54.402
- And so what happens?
- 00:15:54.402 --> 00:15:57.505
- Things dried up and god says, in verse 9,
- 00:15:57.505 --> 00:16:00.775
- "arise, get up, go to zarephath.
- 00:16:00.775 --> 00:16:05.813
- I don't want you staying here anymore
- 00:16:05.813 --> 00:16:07.515
- At the brook, which belongs to sidon.
- 00:16:07.515 --> 00:16:12.053
- And stay there.
- 00:16:12.053 --> 00:16:14.789
- Behold, i have commanded a widow there to provide
- 00:16:14.789 --> 00:16:20.495
- For you."
- 00:16:20.495 --> 00:16:22.997
- Okay, it's dry now, money is funny,
- 00:16:22.997 --> 00:16:29.704
- Needs are piling up.
- 00:16:29.704 --> 00:16:33.775
- "i want to move you, elijah, so i've dried up
- 00:16:33.775 --> 00:16:37.645
- Where you are and now i want you to go to zarephath."
- 00:16:37.645 --> 00:16:42.216
- Well, let's talk about zarephath.
- 00:16:42.216 --> 00:16:45.286
- Zarephath, if we're in the bible belt,
- 00:16:45.286 --> 00:16:48.689
- Zarephath was the baal belt, okay?
- 00:16:48.689 --> 00:16:52.827
- This is the area jezebel is from, okay?
- 00:16:52.827 --> 00:16:57.165
- So she's from this area, and it was the belt of paganism.
- 00:16:57.165 --> 00:17:02.904
- "i'm gonna tell you how to live in this pagan environment
- 00:17:02.904 --> 00:17:07.141
- Because i have some work for you to do there."
- 00:17:07.141 --> 00:17:09.811
- So if god has got you in an ungodly environment
- 00:17:09.811 --> 00:17:13.014
- And he hasn't given you a new resource to leave it,
- 00:17:13.014 --> 00:17:16.117
- He's expecting his presence to be felt there
- 00:17:16.117 --> 00:17:18.986
- Because you're in baal's territory.
- 00:17:18.986 --> 00:17:21.456
- And he wants his presence to now go
- 00:17:21.456 --> 00:17:24.225
- In that environment and be visibly recognized,
- 00:17:24.225 --> 00:17:28.329
- And so he sends elijah to zarephath.
- 00:17:28.329 --> 00:17:34.802
- He's making his way to zarephath,
- 00:17:34.802 --> 00:17:36.270
- And we find out in verse 10 that there is a widow
- 00:17:36.270 --> 00:17:40.842
- And she's gathering some sticks.
- 00:17:40.842 --> 00:17:44.812
- And he asks for some water in verse 10.
- 00:17:44.812 --> 00:17:48.282
- She goes to get him some water, and then he says,
- 00:17:48.282 --> 00:17:52.120
- "please bring me a piece of bread in your hand."
- 00:17:52.120 --> 00:17:56.524
- "so you're going to get water,
- 00:17:56.524 --> 00:17:57.892
- But bring me now something to eat."
- 00:17:57.892 --> 00:18:00.795
- "but she says, 'as the lord your god lives,
- 00:18:00.795 --> 00:18:06.033
- I have no bread, only a handful of flour
- 00:18:06.033 --> 00:18:09.937
- In the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold,
- 00:18:09.937 --> 00:18:13.474
- I am gathering a few sticks that i may go in and prepare
- 00:18:13.474 --> 00:18:16.878
- For me and my son, that we may eat it and die.'"
- 00:18:16.878 --> 00:18:21.349
- So we got a widow in a pagan place
- 00:18:21.349 --> 00:18:25.920
- Who can't even help herself.
- 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.623
- When god is getting ready to move,
- 00:18:28.623 --> 00:18:30.992
- It often won't make sense.
- 00:18:30.992 --> 00:18:33.694
- When god is getting ready to move,
- 00:18:33.694 --> 00:18:35.763
- It often will not be logical.
- 00:18:35.763 --> 00:18:39.500
- You won't be able to put it in a test tube and figure it out
- 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:42.770
- Because he's doing something different, unique,
- 00:18:42.770 --> 00:18:45.907
- And often supernatural.
- 00:18:45.907 --> 00:18:48.376
- And because he's doing that and he wants to be seen
- 00:18:48.376 --> 00:18:51.913
- As the source that's doing it,
- 00:18:51.913 --> 00:18:54.115
- Here's what you have to understand.
- 00:18:54.115 --> 00:18:56.250
- When god is making provision, he's making provision
- 00:18:56.250 --> 00:19:01.055
- For more than just you.
- 00:19:01.055 --> 00:19:06.127
- You see, you're not the only one on his mind.
- 00:19:06.127 --> 00:19:11.432
- He is looking out for somebody other than you
- 00:19:11.432 --> 00:19:14.502
- While he has not forgotten you.
- 00:19:14.502 --> 00:19:17.104
- Because that is a biblical principle,
- 00:19:17.104 --> 00:19:19.373
- Luke 6:38, "give, and it will be given
- 00:19:19.373 --> 00:19:22.043
- To you...pressed down."
- 00:19:22.043 --> 00:19:23.377
- In other words, god is gonna work for you,
- 00:19:23.377 --> 00:19:25.813
- But he wants to work through you so that he can be a blessing
- 00:19:25.813 --> 00:19:29.150
- From you for somebody else.
- 00:19:29.150 --> 00:19:32.553
- This widow has the same need as the preacher.
- 00:19:32.553 --> 00:19:36.591
- Both of them are hungry.
- 00:19:36.591 --> 00:19:38.893
- The preacher needs something to eat
- 00:19:38.893 --> 00:19:40.661
- And she needs something to eat
- 00:19:40.661 --> 00:19:41.996
- Because she's down to her last meal.
- 00:19:41.996 --> 00:19:44.865
- God tells the woman, "i want you to make
- 00:19:44.865 --> 00:19:47.268
- A spiritual decision."
- 00:19:47.268 --> 00:19:49.470
- To give to elijah meant a spiritual decision
- 00:19:49.470 --> 00:19:53.474
- Because she's doing it in the name of his god,
- 00:19:53.474 --> 00:19:56.277
- So he's gonna see whether she makes a spiritual decision.
- 00:19:56.277 --> 00:20:01.282
- One of the tests of your provider,
- 00:20:01.282 --> 00:20:04.485
- God, your only source,
- 00:20:04.485 --> 00:20:06.621
- Is will you make spiritual decisions first
- 00:20:06.621 --> 00:20:10.658
- Or will you go to your resource first?
- 00:20:10.658 --> 00:20:15.396
- Because that's your real god, so that's who you went to first.
- 00:20:15.396 --> 00:20:19.600
- He says, "give me bread."
- 00:20:19.600 --> 00:20:23.638
- She says, "i only have one meal.
- 00:20:23.638 --> 00:20:27.808
- What you're asking for is not practical."
- 00:20:27.808 --> 00:20:30.845
- He says in verse 13, "do not fear,"
- 00:20:30.845 --> 00:20:36.751
- So she's scared, she's terrified,
- 00:20:36.751 --> 00:20:41.989
- Because faith often involves fear.
- 00:20:41.989 --> 00:20:46.894
- Let me correct something.
- 00:20:46.894 --> 00:20:48.929
- Because there's a common thought--
- 00:20:48.929 --> 00:20:51.599
- "if i have fear, i must not have faith."
- 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:56.704
- It's not true, that's not true.
- 00:20:56.704 --> 00:21:01.909
- Faith will often engender fear
- 00:21:01.909 --> 00:21:05.546
- Because faith involves something you don't see.
- 00:21:05.546 --> 00:21:09.317
- And because faith involves something you don't see,
- 00:21:09.317 --> 00:21:12.119
- That means you're taking a risk.
- 00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:14.355
- And whenever you take a risk of uncertainty
- 00:21:14.355 --> 00:21:16.857
- And it's a major item, you often can't control
- 00:21:16.857 --> 00:21:20.161
- What your emotions say.
- 00:21:20.161 --> 00:21:22.129
- Your emotions tell you you're scared.
- 00:21:22.129 --> 00:21:23.764
- Now, you can be all super spiritual if you want to.
- 00:21:23.764 --> 00:21:28.569
- "perfect love casts out fear.
- 00:21:28.569 --> 00:21:30.905
- God has delivered me from the spirit of fear."
- 00:21:30.905 --> 00:21:33.374
- Well, he may have delivered you from the spirit of fear,
- 00:21:33.374 --> 00:21:35.343
- But not from the emotion of fear.
- 00:21:35.343 --> 00:21:37.878
- You right now-- you right now are struggling
- 00:21:37.878 --> 00:21:41.349
- 'cause you are terrified.
- 00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:43.584
- This woman is afraid, but what she doesn't do
- 00:21:43.584 --> 00:21:49.457
- Is yield to her fear.
- 00:21:49.457 --> 00:21:51.592
- She has it, but she doesn't yield to it.
- 00:21:51.592 --> 00:21:55.596
- That's when you know you have faith--
- 00:21:55.596 --> 00:21:57.131
- When fear doesn't win,
- 00:21:57.131 --> 00:21:59.300
- Not when fear is not there, okay?
- 00:21:59.300 --> 00:22:02.103
- You regularly see throughout the bible
- 00:22:02.103 --> 00:22:03.571
- Where people are afraid of this and afraid of that
- 00:22:03.571 --> 00:22:05.306
- And afraid of that,
- 00:22:05.306 --> 00:22:06.640
- But the question is did feet move in faith
- 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:09.577
- Even though feelings were working in fear?
- 00:22:09.577 --> 00:22:13.280
- And so she says, "i'm going to take a faith risk,
- 00:22:13.280 --> 00:22:17.551
- Even though i have a fear reality.
- 00:22:17.551 --> 00:22:20.755
- And even though i have a fear reality,
- 00:22:20.755 --> 00:22:23.057
- I'm willing to take a faith risk."
- 00:22:23.057 --> 00:22:26.160
- And when she does, it says,
- 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:29.597
- "thus saith the lord god of israel,"
- 00:22:29.597 --> 00:22:31.732
- Verse 14, "'the bowl of flour shall not be exhausted,
- 00:22:31.732 --> 00:22:36.170
- Nor shall the jar of oil be empty,
- 00:22:36.170 --> 00:22:39.039
- Until the day that the lord sends rain
- 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:41.876
- On the face of the earth.'
- 00:22:41.876 --> 00:22:43.644
- So she went and did according to the word of elijah,
- 00:22:43.644 --> 00:22:47.481
- And she and he and her house"-- that is, her son--
- 00:22:47.481 --> 00:22:51.018
- "and her household ate for many days.
- 00:22:51.018 --> 00:22:54.088
- The bowl of flour was not exhausted
- 00:22:54.088 --> 00:22:58.559
- Nor did the jar of oil become empty,
- 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:02.530
- According to the word of the lord
- 00:23:02.530 --> 00:23:04.732
- Which he spoke through elijah."
- 00:23:04.732 --> 00:23:08.736
- What this woman experienced was god stretching what she had
- 00:23:08.736 --> 00:23:15.509
- So it didn't run out.
- 00:23:15.509 --> 00:23:17.144
- This widow's story is not over.
- 00:23:17.144 --> 00:23:20.514
- We read the story in 1 kings 17.
- 00:23:20.514 --> 00:23:22.783
- That's the story of god being the provider for her
- 00:23:22.783 --> 00:23:26.287
- In a supernatural way.
- 00:23:26.287 --> 00:23:27.888
- But her story is not over, because hundreds of years later,
- 00:23:27.888 --> 00:23:33.327
- Jesus brings her up again.
- 00:23:33.327 --> 00:23:35.896
- And he brings her up again in luke chapter 4.
- 00:23:35.896 --> 00:23:39.567
- Jesus is teaching in the synagogue
- 00:23:39.567 --> 00:23:42.269
- And while jesus is teaching in the synagogue,
- 00:23:42.269 --> 00:23:46.173
- The people listening to his teaching
- 00:23:46.173 --> 00:23:48.309
- Begin to question him, question his authority.
- 00:23:48.309 --> 00:23:53.013
- They don't believe that this man from nazareth
- 00:23:53.013 --> 00:23:55.216
- Can be the messiah,
- 00:23:55.216 --> 00:23:56.550
- And so they question his authority.
- 00:23:56.550 --> 00:23:58.152
- And when they question his authority,
- 00:23:58.152 --> 00:24:01.055
- It says in verse 22 of luke 4,
- 00:24:01.055 --> 00:24:03.691
- "and all were speaking well of him,
- 00:24:03.691 --> 00:24:06.827
- And wondering all of his gracious words
- 00:24:06.827 --> 00:24:08.863
- Which were falling from his lips;
- 00:24:08.863 --> 00:24:11.232
- And they were saying, 'is this not joseph's son?'"
- 00:24:11.232 --> 00:24:15.736
- Who is this guy?
- 00:24:15.736 --> 00:24:18.405
- We're speaking well of him, but he's not him.
- 00:24:18.405 --> 00:24:20.374
- He's just a normal man.
- 00:24:20.374 --> 00:24:23.811
- "and he said to them, 'no doubt you will quote
- 00:24:23.811 --> 00:24:27.548
- This proverb to me, "physician, heal yourself!
- 00:24:27.548 --> 00:24:32.486
- Whatever we heard was done at capernaum,
- 00:24:32.486 --> 00:24:35.122
- Do here in your hometown as well."'"
- 00:24:35.122 --> 00:24:37.525
- We're not buying your words.
- 00:24:37.525 --> 00:24:40.361
- "truly i say unto you, no prophet is welcome
- 00:24:40.361 --> 00:24:43.264
- In his hometown."
- 00:24:43.264 --> 00:24:45.666
- Now watch this, verse 25, "but i say to you in truth,
- 00:24:45.666 --> 00:24:51.138
- There were many widows in israel,"
- 00:24:51.138 --> 00:24:54.975
- Lot of widows among god's people,
- 00:24:54.975 --> 00:24:58.679
- "in the days of elijah"--
- 00:24:58.679 --> 00:25:00.748
- Oh, so he just went all the way back
- 00:25:00.748 --> 00:25:02.316
- To 1 kings 17--"when the sky was shut up for three years
- 00:25:02.316 --> 00:25:06.887
- And six months, when a great famine came
- 00:25:06.887 --> 00:25:10.524
- Over all the land," so jesus was going back,
- 00:25:10.524 --> 00:25:14.595
- "and yet elijah was sent to none of them,
- 00:25:14.595 --> 00:25:20.935
- But only to zarephath, in the land of sidon,
- 00:25:20.935 --> 00:25:26.941
- To a woman who was a widow."
- 00:25:26.941 --> 00:25:32.112
- Jesus brings her up hundreds of years later
- 00:25:32.112 --> 00:25:37.418
- To a doubting congregation.
- 00:25:37.418 --> 00:25:39.753
- They weren't buying it.
- 00:25:39.753 --> 00:25:41.488
- Jesus says, "well, let me tell you
- 00:25:41.488 --> 00:25:43.490
- About something happened in the old testament."
- 00:25:43.490 --> 00:25:46.193
- He said, "there were many widows in israel,
- 00:25:46.193 --> 00:25:49.930
- Many widows among god's people, israel,
- 00:25:49.930 --> 00:25:54.435
- But elijah wasn't sent to none of them."
- 00:25:54.435 --> 00:25:57.972
- They were in the same situation,
- 00:25:57.972 --> 00:25:59.773
- But they didn't get the miracle.
- 00:25:59.773 --> 00:26:01.809
- They were in the same situation, but they didn't get the benefit.
- 00:26:01.809 --> 00:26:04.979
- Only the widow of zarephath, the pagan woman,
- 00:26:04.979 --> 00:26:09.450
- The unbelieving woman, the woman who was--
- 00:26:09.450 --> 00:26:12.386
- Who was not part of the religious environment.
- 00:26:12.386 --> 00:26:16.290
- The man of god was sent to her and not to them
- 00:26:16.290 --> 00:26:21.128
- Because she was the only one who was gonna believe
- 00:26:21.128 --> 00:26:24.365
- The preacher's word.
- 00:26:24.365 --> 00:26:25.799
- And because she was the only one, this outsider,
- 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:29.570
- Who believed the preacher's word,
- 00:26:29.570 --> 00:26:32.072
- The insiders didn't get it.
- 00:26:32.072 --> 00:26:34.541
- The church folk didn't get it, the outsiders.
- 00:26:34.541 --> 00:26:38.012
- So you could have people outside the church
- 00:26:38.012 --> 00:26:41.315
- Better off than folk inside the church
- 00:26:41.315 --> 00:26:44.451
- Because they do something with what god said
- 00:26:44.451 --> 00:26:48.022
- Like the gentile widow of zarephath did.
- 00:26:48.022 --> 00:26:52.026
- So you can make your own decision
- 00:26:52.026 --> 00:26:54.061
- About who your source is.
- 00:26:54.061 --> 00:26:55.996
- You can decide you're gonna make all this human stuff your source
- 00:26:55.996 --> 00:26:59.833
- And when it dries up, do the best you can,
- 00:26:59.833 --> 00:27:02.736
- Or you can make the decision:
- 00:27:02.736 --> 00:27:04.571
- I only have one source, and that's in heaven.
- 00:27:04.571 --> 00:27:07.875
- So if my resource goes left, that's okay
- 00:27:07.875 --> 00:27:11.412
- Because that resource is not the source.
- 00:27:11.412 --> 00:27:14.314
- So i'm gonna watch the source give me a new resource,
- 00:27:14.314 --> 00:27:17.551
- Because i only have one source and i'm gonna follow him.
- 00:27:17.551 --> 00:27:21.255
- ♪♪♪
- 00:27:21.255 --> 00:27:21.255