When Better Feels Backward

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:04.080 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:06.560 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.920 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:11.959 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:17.759 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.919 Just one verse to get us started today Hebrews chapter six, 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.720 verse nine. Though we speak in this way, yet in 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:29.880 your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things. Somebody 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.600 shout better things. You shouted that, like you want God 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:37.400 to do something awesome in your life. Yeah, he said, 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:40.839 because the context is some are falling away, and some 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.680 are giving up on what they first believe, and some 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:47.239 are going back to old systems of thought because it's 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:53.280 too challenging. But he said, not you, not you. You're 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.080 not going to give up or burn out or fade away. 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:03.240 We speak in this way, does happen? Yet in your case, beloved, 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:08.400 we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.240 I want to preach to you for a few moments 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.279 today with God's help, on the subject of when better 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:21.600 feels backwards, when better feels backwards? And I pray that 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:23.560 this might encourage you. In fact, let's pray one more 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:26.559 time before we take our seat. God, if I share 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:30.039 my opinion today, it will be close to worthless. And 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.720 if I share from human wisdom today, it'll have a 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.840 short shelf life. But your word is eternal. So speak now. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:41.319 We're listening. Give us open hearts to receive the things 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.600 that you desire to say. In Jesus' name, Amen, tell 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:48.240 the person next to you on your way down to 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:53.440 your seat, you've never looked better. If the Lord has 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:55.280 to forgive you for lion, you were just doing what 0:01:55.320 --> 0:02:05.280 the preacher said. Yeah, because on the enneagram, which is 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:09.120 like the personality type, it's not new, but Holla just 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.200 discovered it a year or two ago. And she told 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.680 me she studied the different nine personality types, and she 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.520 said you're number one. And I was like, I know, 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.440 it's about time you caught onto that. I said, well, 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.600 what is it? She said, A perfectionist. I thought at 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:32.160 first she said perfection but she said ist. She said 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.320 a perfectionist. She said the motto of the number one 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:41.760 on the enneagram is it could always be better. And 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:45.639 I thought about how that can be such a wonderful 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:50.560 thing if you're trying to make something great and create 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.200 something special, but it can be such a horrible way 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.959 to approach her everyday life that it could always be better. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.120 And you meet these people every once in a while, 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.239 don't you. I never forget the guy who got a 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.280 raise and I congratulated him, and he said, oh, I 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.880 wish my tax bill is about to go through the roof. 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.840 One guy he saw us doing the baptisms at the church, 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.280 and we baptized over two thousand people, remember Rick in 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:19.639 two weeks. And when I told him about it, no 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.840 listen this way, he said, Wow, your water bill must 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:29.920 have been through the roof, always looking for how it 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:35.400 could be better. And I relate to this because, honestly, 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.760 I think y'all ought to thank God for all the 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:45.480 perfectionists like me. I know we're annoying, but don't you 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.080 kind of want a perfectionist to design the airplane that 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:52.520 you fly in? Well, you want somebody who just glued 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:57.840 the wings on kind of halfway straight. Give him more peanuts. 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:05.200 They'll never notice. But the blessing of seeking perfection may 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.320 be progress, And yet the byproduct so many times in 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:13.880 our lives is that we can often in our quest 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:18.400 for perfection fill our minds with ways that it could 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:22.240 be better when not realizing that some of the best 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.880 things in our life come through not the things that 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.680 we asked or prayed for, but the things that we 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:32.960 are currently working through. The challenge for the author of 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.320 Hebrews is that he's writing to a group of Christians 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:41.560 whose lives are getting worse. They have accepted Jesus as 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.719 the Messiah, and that caused all of their Jewish counterparts 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.920 to think that they were crazy, that they had absolutely 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:52.159 lost their minds to follow the teachings of a carpenter 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:56.640 who was crucified on a Roman cross. And so now 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:01.640 this group of Christians in Rome is being written to 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.400 to encourage don't go back and just look at somebody 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.400 next to you, because they've been tempted lately. Tell him, 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:12.320 don't go back. That's the temptation. Don't go back, don't 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.600 go back to the old way of doing it, because 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:21.240 this way is better. And the Christians in Rome who 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.159 are about to face severe persecution from Nero. This for 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.560 anybody who's going through anything right now. It might not 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.479 be Nero persecuting you, but it can just be the 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:33.080 unfamiliar territory of trying to learn to live by grace 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.120 and faith when you are constantly being tempted to live 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:40.440 by logic and calculation. And what is fair the temptation 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.760 to control? When God is calling you to surrender and 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.200 there is a temptation to go back to the old way, 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:50.800 and he's telling them, don't go back. Jesus is better. 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.760 He tells him that. Thirteen times in the Book of 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.960 Hebrews he uses this word, that a perfectionist like me 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.760 really lie. In the Greek, the word is chritone, and 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:08.960 it means better. Is translated several different ways in English superior, supreme, 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:15.000 but mostly is translated better, better in quality, better in substance, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:21.599 better by comparison. Jesus is better, and he's better because 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.800 he made a better covenant than the old covenant. A 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:29.280 covenant is an oath. God didn't make an agreement with humanity. 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.279 He made an agreement with his son. He knows that 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.919 you have a hard time holding up your into the bargain, 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.120 So rather than make an agreement with your fickle faith, 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.760 he made an agreement with his faithful son, who was 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.400 obedient even unto death death on the cross. He did 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.599 it better. He says that we have a better hope, 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.160 not the kind of hope that only works when things 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.279 are going in your direction, but a kind of hope 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:55.320 that is like an anchor for the soul. He Brew 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.880 says it is a better hope because an anchor only 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.520 works when it hits the bob. There is a certain 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.240 kind of hope that floats, and as long as everything 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:06.560 on the surface is going good, you feel pretty good. 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.280 And then there is a better hope, a crytone hope, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.800 a hope that gets down to the bottom, and it 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.520 doesn't fully function and serve its intended purpose until it 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.280 is at that bottom place. If you've bottomed out in 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.120 your emotions, if you've bottomed out in your bank account, 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.920 if your health has bottomed out, if you feel like 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.360 the worst is happening to you, I want you to 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.680 know that you have a better critone hope in Jesus, 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:36.960 because he's better. Somebody shall better, better covenant, better hope, 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:41.160 better promises. The Bible says that Jesus had a better ministry, 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.560 not only a better ministry, but that his blood speaks 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.280 a better word. So when condemnation rises up in your 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.240 heart to tell you what you're not, remember for a 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.000 moment who Jesus is, and if he went into the 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.800 Holy of Holies and shed not the blood of bulls 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.560 and goats, but the blood of his very own perfect 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.320 life for your sake. When a drop of his blood 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.400 hit the mercy seat, it spoke over your life, a 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.720 future and a hope that is better. And it doesn't 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.560 matter what has been, because what's ahead is better. But 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:22.520 I'm getting ahead of myself. And these Christians who have 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:28.480 lost so much are left wondering if Jesus is better, 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:35.400 how come my situation is getting so much worse? See 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:42.839 better is subjective, right? Some things are just better than 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:53.800 others objectively. Kendrick Lamar J. Cole. One of those is better. 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:06.520 iOS Android, some things are just better. I didn't even 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:13.440 take a side, and y'all are booing me. Pharisees. Some 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:18.959 things are just better Clipson Tigers every other football team 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:30.360 this season. Chrispy krean dunkin Donuts. I won't even have 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:34.600 the conversation. You cannot beat. I'm prophesying over your future 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:40.200 after church today, an original glazed hot dozen't I prophesy 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.000 over your life. The carbohydrates won't even count. Stop buy 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:45.960 and get one and see if it doesn't melt in 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:55.840 your mouth, it will bless you. Leo horrible. Sorry, things 0:09:55.880 --> 0:10:04.439 are just better. But when it comes to things that 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.240 really matter in life, I think all of us know 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:11.719 that better is a perspective. It's very subjective. You know 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:13.760 why you think some people's lives are better than yours 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:24.040 because you see the part that they show you. They 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.120 might have a better house, but I wonder what goes 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:33.800 on inside and see, you don't know which one's better. Oh, 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.319 if you live long enough, you will find out that 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.120 some of the people you spent so much of your 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:46.920 time envying were secretly miserable. Better is a perspective. Better 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:51.000 is not necessarily something that you can measure from what 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:54.480 you can see with your eyes. But we all live 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.280 in this world. Like you gotta get the iPhone? What 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.080 is it eleven that just came out? Well, I gotta 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.320 get it. I don't even like the text I get 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:10.800 now from people on the old one. No, it's better. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:13.719 It's got a camera that can see through people, it 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:19.360 can put X ray vision, it could it's better. Oh, 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:21.840 I gotta get it. It's better. You know that's interesting 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:23.960 because the writer of Hebrews, he goes all the way 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.360 back to get the people to move forward. He goes 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.920 all the way back to get the people to move forward. 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:30.800 He knows the only way that they're going to move 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:35.320 forward in their faith is if they go backwards. Go 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:42.520 backwards better. I thought i'd be better by now you are. 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:48.640 Look where you started. You remember when you weren't even 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:55.000 going to church? Look at you? Now you gotta pin. 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.640 You're gonna steal it, But at least you stole it 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:06.520 from a church. That's better. Tellch somebody, say I'm doing better. 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:14.920 I'm doing better. If you could see my bloodline, I'm 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:20.280 doing better. If you could see the thoughts that I 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:25.679 didn't act on, if you could see the temptations that 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:32.560 I did resist, I promise you I'm doing better. See 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:38.920 a subjective, and this relative better compared to what every 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.360 time I preach. I know, because I am a number 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:48.240 one that the sermon could be better. Of course, I'm 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:52.840 speaking on behalf of God. The gap between what he 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.480 knows and what I say will always be a pretty 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:01.680 big one. So I understand that it could always be better, 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:07.520 and that torments me sometimes, Truly it does, because a 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.280 lot of times, you know, I get used to doing 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:14.560 things a certain way. Remember, these people that the author 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:19.080 is writing to so eloquently are not unfamiliar with religion. 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.800 They came from a religious system, not out of a 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.920 meth lab. They're not being tempted to go back to 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.000 the world. They're being tempted to go back to an 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.520 old religious system and to drift away, or he says, 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:38.320 fall away from grace. He makes an argument that you 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.120 should be further along by now. He says that in 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.959 chapter five that you should be teachers by now, but 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:49.040 you're still dealing with the basics. And then he says 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:53.400 that if you fall away from grace, that it's impossible 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.520 to come back. When I read that, I got depressed 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.480 until I realized what he was really saying is that 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:03.280 if you ever really get grace, you can't really fall away. 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:08.680 And what he's teaching them Jerry, is kind of like 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.600 on tennis. He has to teach them to switch their grip. 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:15.480 When I first came to get him to teach me, 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.760 the first thing he said to me was because I 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:23.520 had developed my own unique style of playing tennis. I 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.120 wasn't good at it or anything, but I had this 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:28.400 certain way of getting the ball over the net that 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.440 worked for me. And as long as the person on 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:33.960 the other side of the net was less athletic than me, 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.760 my way worked just fine. Or even if they were 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.160 more athletic than me, I would only pick people to 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.680 play against who I knew had never played. It was 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.120 good for my ego and my self esteem, but bad 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.760 for my tennis skills. And when I first came out 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.280 to Robert Stevens, if you want to look him up 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.000 on Google, get him for a tennis teacher. He's pretty good. 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:56.560 But when I first went out there, this made me 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.400 mad because he said, let me see what I'm working with. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.120 Show me your serve. So I did what I do. 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.040 You know, I had this little thing. I put my 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.160 pointer finger on the racket like that. It's my grip. Okay, 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.200 it puts the ball over the net six miles an 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.720 hour maybe, but it gets over the net into the box. 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.960 It works. And when he saw my grip, he said, okay, 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.440 now you need to hold it like this, and he 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:24.440 switched my grip. Let me tell you what happened when 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.320 he switched my grip. When he switched my grip, the 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.560 ball no longer went over the net. Instead, it went 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:33.960 over the fence. When he switched my grip. My percentage 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:37.000 shots that went in the box went way down. And 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.600 I looked at him, like, I'm paying you for this crap. 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.520 You switched my grip, but you didn't fix my serve. 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:46.360 But I didn't understand at the time that sometimes in 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:50.920 order to get to better, you have to go backwards. 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.760 Y'all help me preach if you have spiritual ears, sometimes 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:59.160 in order to get to better, you have to go 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:03.320 through bad. And I'm preaching this for somebody today who 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.680 has been feeling like things have been going backwards for you. 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.080 The thing about it is when God shows you a 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:13.520 new grip called grace for a little while in your 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:17.360 life is harder for you because you're used to controlling 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:21.200 things and manipulate things. And when you get something new. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.160 Have you ever noticed if you get something new, even 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.920 if it's better at first, it gets on your nerves 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.240 because you don't know how to use it. And the 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.160 temptation for us is watch this. God will do a 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.720 new thing in our life, and he'll be teaching us 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.840 to forgive, and he'll be teaching us to get over offences, 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.520 and he'll be teaching us to trust him, and he'll 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.280 be teaching us to find different ways to connect to joy, 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.480 and he'll be teaching us to not be so fake, 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.240 and he'll be teaching us not to live by our feelings. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.040 But then we look at what he fixed on our grip, 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.120 and we see our shot going so far over the fence, 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:56.840 and I wonder if I would actually be better off 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:00.560 doing it the old way then the new way. So 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:08.000 I go back instead of moving forward into better. He said, 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:18.000 you can't go back. You you have something better. Better. 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:27.240 When you get depressed, you stop believing that. When you 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:32.480 get uncomfortable, you stop believing that. You start trying to 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:38.320 grip life like you used to. We got to go 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:42.639 backwards to get better. We got to go all the 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.760 way back to get better. That means I have to 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:50.200 be comfortable in some seasons of my life. I'm looking 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.040 into the camera because I think this is for somebody 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.800 watching online. I have to be comfortable in my life 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.080 to accept that sometimes loss is the way to gain. 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:04.720 I have to be comfortable enough in my life to 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:09.880 know that sometimes the most painful moments are the most 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:13.720 purposeful moments. I have to be comfortable in my life 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:18.040 to stop comparing myself so much with people who are 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:22.440 not meant to be the standard anyway. Jesus is better. 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.960 I know some of you are intimidating because you don't 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.240 know if you're as good of a Christian as some 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.280 of the other people in the room. But let me 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:35.080 tell you something about being a better Christian. You know, well, 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.119 they're a better Christian than me. Look, they've memorized all 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:44.280 this scripture. They're not better at Christians. They're better at memory. 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:46.880 They just got a better memory. That doesn't make them 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:50.800 a better Christian. The religious people that crucified Jesus had 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.080 a good memory. They could quote all six hundred plus laws. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.639 They're not better than you. I wish you would tell 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:01.960 the person next to you, you're not better than me. No, 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.200 when it comes to my purpose, See, better is relative 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.840 to purpose? Can I appreci this? So I walked into 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.760 a guitar center and I asked Jamie behind the counter, 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:14.960 which one is better? I was buying software for Elijah 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:17.760 to make beats. Which one is better? He said, that 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:22.760 depends what you want to use it for. That depends 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:28.240 how you intend to utilize the software. Better is relative 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:33.800 to purpose. Some of you think that everybody else is better, smarter, taller, 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.440 Maybe God need is somebody short enough to fit through 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.720 that door? Have you ever thought about that? Maybe God 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:45.520 needed somebody ignorant enough to display his wisdom. Maybe God 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:49.119 need is somebody harmful enough to know that it is 0:19:49.160 --> 0:20:00.560 not I but Christ in me? And besides, if Jesus 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.920 Christ walks in this room, none of us are gonna 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.879 have any fashion show to put on. None of us 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.080 are gonna roll out our righteous deeds. We all have 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:13.760 sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.920 grace is a way of life because you need Him 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.879 like I need him, and his blood that was enough 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:21.639 for you wasn't enough for me. 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:25.080 If it clints Billy Graham, it can hit me too, 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:34.640 because he's better, because he's better. 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:39.159 And the fact that he's better doesn't mean that sometimes 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:44.840 life won't get worse. So we need a new definition 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:50.439 of better. What if better is not always higher? What 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:55.760 if better sometimes is deeper? What if better is not 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.880 always a feeling? What if it's more like a foundation. 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:04.760 What if better is not always what God is doing 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.240 for you, but sometimes it's what He's doing through you. 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.400 They couldn't recognize Jesus when he came in the form 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:13.520 of a baby because they were waiting for something better. 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:18.040 They couldn't recognize Jesus when he was led away silently 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.719 and didn't say a word before his accusers, because if 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:23.080 he's really the son of God, he should say something 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.639 and come down. They expected better. And is it possible 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.040 that better is right in front of us and we 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:34.919 don't even recognize it, so we don't receive it. You 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.040 know what? Some of us are so used to bad 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:46.320 that we reject better when it comes. Sometimes backwards feels better, 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:54.720 feels familiar. Sometimes we'll go back to bad relationships because 0:21:54.760 --> 0:22:00.600 they feel better. Oh, i'm preaching now, he got quaed 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.360 when backwards I called the sermon when better feels backwards? 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:13.080 But what about when backwards feels better? I think I'll 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:14.879 just go back to this. I think I'll just go 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:17.000 back to that. I think I'll just quit trying at this. 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:19.520 I think I'll use my old grip. I'm tired of waiting. 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.200 That's what happened to Abraham. By the way. God told 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:24.640 him he was going to do it a certain way, 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:30.120 but he thought he knew better, so instead of waiting, 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:36.919 he went in and slept with the servant of his wife, Sarah. 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.840 Her name became Sarah, but Abraham went in and made 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:45.040 a baby with her because God had a promise and 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:48.600 a timetable for the promise. But Abraham, I know you 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:50.440 never did this before, but he thought he knew better 0:22:50.480 --> 0:22:56.919 than God. And the Bible even uses this illustration of 0:22:57.000 --> 0:23:01.720 Abraham in Hebrew six. He reaches backward to show them 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:04.479 how much better it is to wait for the promise 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:07.480 of God. He reaches all the way back to Abraham 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:10.439 that was like the progenitor or the father of the 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:13.760 faith of the whole nation. This is what they came from. 0:23:13.960 --> 0:23:16.080 And now as they're attempted to go back away from 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:19.880 what they're walking into, as their lives get worse, as 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:23.600 their situation seems to decrease and diminish, he reaches back 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.359 to Abraham and he talks about how he patiently waited 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:29.959 for the promise of God. But that's not the whole story. 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:35.240 See before Abraham patiently waited for Isaac, the child of Promise, 0:23:35.320 --> 0:23:38.280 to be born through Sarah, he got the word from God, 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:41.359 and then he went and did something that he thought 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:45.400 was better because he got tired of waiting. He had 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:54.280 the right word, but the wrong wombo, and so he 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:57.359 went in. Now I know why he did this because 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:01.040 Abraham was from a place called Er of the Caldas, 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:07.280 and so are we not geographically, and it's spelled differently. 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:13.439 He was from er you are, but ours is spelled er. 0:24:14.760 --> 0:24:17.840 Because anything that God does in our life, all we 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:21.399 have to do is go on our phones and find 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:27.439 somebody who is er than us, better, er, rich er, 0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:36.240 strong er, happy, er, thin er, ripped er, cute er. 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:39.919 This the one that'll break your heart. You think your 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:42.120 kids are smart, and then you get around some other 0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:46.120 kids and you realize that your kids, by product of comparison, 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:49.119 were better than their three year old brother but around 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:52.320 the same age kids, it's always this temptation. You don't 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:55.679 have to do anything but flip on a commercial and 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:57.760 they will be pulling you back to the land of er. 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:02.080 It's better is better, And there are things in your 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:04.399 life right now that you're like, it'd be so much 0:25:04.440 --> 0:25:10.040 better if would it really? Are you sure? Yeah? Yeah? 0:25:10.240 --> 0:25:13.800 If I was famous, that would be amazing. I would 0:25:13.840 --> 0:25:17.000 be significant. If people knew my name, Oh really, that 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:23.040 would be better. You never saw celebrity commit suicide? Are 0:25:23.080 --> 0:25:26.879 you sure it would be better? Is that? What better? Really? Is? Well? 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:29.199 If I had this amount of money, I wouldn't have 0:25:29.280 --> 0:25:32.760 any problems. Are you sure about that? You never met 0:25:32.760 --> 0:25:36.680 a miserable rich person. I can introduce you to a few. 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:42.800 It's not like this is new. It's not like it's 0:25:42.840 --> 0:25:45.720 only for the church here in Rome that is being 0:25:45.760 --> 0:25:49.280 persecuted for their faith. We are all drawn back to 0:25:49.359 --> 0:25:53.080 the land of earth of looking around and never feeling 0:25:53.200 --> 0:25:56.640 really enough, and comparing ourselves to things that were never 0:25:56.720 --> 0:26:00.520 meant to be our standard. The only standard worthy of 0:26:00.680 --> 0:26:04.800 your comparison is the full potential of Christ in you, 0:26:05.359 --> 0:26:10.640 the hope of glory. And I want to declare over 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:13.440 some of our lives today. We don't even realize how 0:26:13.480 --> 0:26:21.480 good it already is. We are forgiven, set free, redeemed, breathing, clapping, walking, 0:26:21.880 --> 0:26:26.320 talking examples of the miracle working power of God. I 0:26:26.480 --> 0:26:30.000 released this over your life. It's already better. You can 0:26:30.080 --> 0:26:36.360 already rejoice. You can give thanks right now for His goodness. 0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:51.520 Criton better, better, better, better. Don't let the quest for 0:26:51.680 --> 0:26:55.399 better in your life make you miss the grace of 0:26:55.520 --> 0:26:59.639 God that is already present. I'm preaching to every enneagram 0:26:59.760 --> 0:27:03.000 one right now. It could always be better, but it 0:27:03.080 --> 0:27:06.920 already is. Look what I deserved, and look what he did. 0:27:07.240 --> 0:27:11.920 He did not treat me as my sins deserve. It's 0:27:11.960 --> 0:27:16.080 already better. I'm gonna walk around saying that all week. 0:27:16.320 --> 0:27:18.840 It's already better. It's already I'm gonna declare it by 0:27:18.920 --> 0:27:21.040 faith on things that I'm waiting for God to do. 0:27:21.200 --> 0:27:24.760 It's already better. It's already better. It's already better. It's 0:27:24.800 --> 0:27:27.440 already better because once you give up the hope that 0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:31.000 it can never be better, the only option is to 0:27:31.040 --> 0:27:37.920 go back. And yet I'm so interested in how this 0:27:38.040 --> 0:27:45.359 writer constructs his argument better better. He starts the whole 0:27:45.480 --> 0:27:50.320 book of Hebrews talking about Jesus Christ in his glory, 0:27:51.280 --> 0:27:55.000 and he doesn't give an introduction. He just gets right 0:27:55.080 --> 0:27:58.560 to business. He grabs the mic, starts talking about long 0:27:58.600 --> 0:28:01.480 ago at many times, in many ways, God spoke to 0:28:01.560 --> 0:28:05.080 our fathers by the prophece. He's going backwards. He's giving 0:28:05.119 --> 0:28:07.719 them what so many of us desperately need in our lives, 0:28:07.880 --> 0:28:10.920 a frame of reference. You know, when the devil starts 0:28:10.960 --> 0:28:14.240 speaking to you, you lose all sense of where you 0:28:14.359 --> 0:28:17.320 really are in your life, and you lose all sense. 0:28:17.760 --> 0:28:21.720 You're drifting. Now, you're falling. Now you forget how good 0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:24.200 grace is, because all you can think about is how 0:28:24.240 --> 0:28:27.000 bad you are. So he brings them all the way back. 0:28:27.240 --> 0:28:30.040 He rewinds it all the way back, and he says, 0:28:30.080 --> 0:28:34.800 long ago, in various times, various ways, God spoke through 0:28:34.800 --> 0:28:38.040 our fathers, the prophets give me the next verse. But 0:28:38.200 --> 0:28:41.600 in these last days He has spoken to us by 0:28:41.640 --> 0:28:45.520 his son. Now he's beginning to construct the argument cry tone. 0:28:45.520 --> 0:28:51.480 Everybody say criytone, not cruton. But I'm gonna help you 0:28:51.480 --> 0:28:55.640 remember it, cry tone better. He's going to introduce that 0:28:55.720 --> 0:28:59.760 word for the first of thirteen times in this epistle 0:29:00.400 --> 0:29:06.240 letter declaration that he said, I'm convinced of better things 0:29:06.280 --> 0:29:09.080 concerning you. Well, how do you know. You don't know 0:29:09.160 --> 0:29:11.360 me like that. You don't know what's going on in 0:29:11.360 --> 0:29:13.800 my life. You don't know what I'm actually dealing with. 0:29:14.000 --> 0:29:16.360 You're up here preaching all this stuff. You don't know. 0:29:16.440 --> 0:29:18.760 My mom is sick and in a nursing home and 0:29:18.800 --> 0:29:20.719 I can barely afford to pay for it, and I 0:29:20.720 --> 0:29:22.840 haven't been to visit her. But once this year you 0:29:22.880 --> 0:29:25.160 don't know gup, you're talking about better? Well, the writer 0:29:25.280 --> 0:29:28.800 of Hebrew says, let's go back long ago in various ways, 0:29:28.840 --> 0:29:32.240 and at various times God spoke through the prophets. But 0:29:32.320 --> 0:29:34.680 now in these last days he has spoken to us 0:29:34.720 --> 0:29:38.280 by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things. 0:29:38.280 --> 0:29:41.880 Somebody say better, Come on, I need full participation on 0:29:41.960 --> 0:29:46.760 every location. Say better. Jesus is better. The prophets were good. 0:29:47.080 --> 0:29:49.880 Jesus is better. The old way is good, the new 0:29:49.920 --> 0:29:53.640 way is better. Duncan Donuts is good, but Chrispy Kreme 0:29:54.200 --> 0:29:58.560 is hot. Now I see the sign, preaching Pastor Fernitt. 0:29:58.760 --> 0:30:02.080 In these last days, he has spoken by his son, 0:30:02.440 --> 0:30:06.160 whom he appointed, is a better operating system because he 0:30:06.280 --> 0:30:10.200 is the heir of all things, through whom he also 0:30:10.360 --> 0:30:14.760 created the world. He is the radiance of the glory 0:30:14.800 --> 0:30:17.800 of God. It doesn't get any better, and the exact 0:30:17.960 --> 0:30:22.320 imprint of his nature. It is perfection in flesh, and 0:30:22.400 --> 0:30:26.800 he upholds the universe by the word of his power. 0:30:27.120 --> 0:30:31.160 Somebody shall better Verse four, and I'll leave you alone, 0:30:31.280 --> 0:30:36.520 says this, having become as much superior to angels as 0:30:36.600 --> 0:30:40.920 the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Now, 0:30:40.960 --> 0:30:43.960 what surprised me about that verse was not that he 0:30:44.080 --> 0:30:47.160 chose to say that Jesus is better than the angels. 0:30:47.480 --> 0:30:51.200 Of course, the creator is better than his creation. He 0:30:51.320 --> 0:30:54.680 made the angels. It stands to reason that he's better 0:30:54.840 --> 0:30:57.600 than the angels. There is nothing in your life that 0:30:57.680 --> 0:31:00.360 God has given you that he is not greater than. 0:31:00.760 --> 0:31:04.440 Don't worship the gift. Worship the giver. The giver is 0:31:04.480 --> 0:31:08.640 the source, The gift is the resource. He's better. Somebody 0:31:08.720 --> 0:31:12.440 say he's better. That's the Greek word he translates. He says, 0:31:12.480 --> 0:31:18.080 having become as much verse four, superior, cry tone better. 0:31:18.160 --> 0:31:21.960 It's the same word better, covenant, better, word, better, promise, better, 0:31:22.040 --> 0:31:26.040 ministry better, better, better. Jesus is better than the angels. 0:31:26.040 --> 0:31:28.920 And I'm not surprised whatever you put in the next 0:31:28.960 --> 0:31:33.240 blank Jesus is greater than He's better than popularity. He's 0:31:33.280 --> 0:31:36.600 better than man's praise. He's better than a high you 0:31:36.640 --> 0:31:39.360 can get from some people. He's better than what you 0:31:39.400 --> 0:31:41.960 can put in your body and feel good for five hours. 0:31:42.120 --> 0:31:45.080 He's better, better, better. That's not what surprised me. What 0:31:45.200 --> 0:31:47.880 surprised me is when it said in verse four, Pardey 0:31:48.240 --> 0:31:54.840 having become because he already was perfect, So how did 0:31:54.880 --> 0:31:59.440 he become better? I know from my study of the 0:31:59.480 --> 0:32:02.680 Word of God that he did not improve in character. 0:32:04.520 --> 0:32:07.080 I know from my study in the Word of God 0:32:07.200 --> 0:32:10.160 that Jesus didn't go into the gym and get gains 0:32:10.600 --> 0:32:18.640 bro I know from what I know about his immutable 0:32:18.920 --> 0:32:23.120 which means unable to be changed nature, that he didn't 0:32:23.120 --> 0:32:27.080 get better like people get better. So in order to 0:32:27.160 --> 0:32:30.280 understand when that shocked me, that just stopped me, I said, 0:32:31.000 --> 0:32:35.120 I know he's better, but he didn't become better. He 0:32:35.240 --> 0:32:39.920 was already better, and I had to go backwards to 0:32:40.040 --> 0:32:47.800 understand better. I'm appreciate to you all. Three. In verse three, 0:32:48.240 --> 0:32:54.240 it describes this process by which God became a man. 0:32:55.200 --> 0:33:01.800 What's better a god or a man? So right answer, 0:33:02.160 --> 0:33:08.520 ding ding ding, gold star God. But it said he 0:33:08.640 --> 0:33:14.480 became better. He didn't get better. He was revealed as better. 0:33:15.880 --> 0:33:18.560 And how did he do it? Because how we think 0:33:18.560 --> 0:33:23.400 of better is we climb up. But Jesus is not drake. 0:33:24.560 --> 0:33:31.280 He didn't start from the bottom. My God, this word 0:33:31.480 --> 0:33:34.440 is just blessing me enough to subscribe to the podcast. 0:33:35.160 --> 0:33:40.040 He started in a celestial space that is untouched by 0:33:40.040 --> 0:33:43.840 the temporal. He started in eternity and came into time. 0:33:44.200 --> 0:33:47.440 He started robed in divinity and glory and entered into 0:33:47.440 --> 0:33:50.920 flesh and shame. Watch verse three. It says he was 0:33:50.960 --> 0:33:53.560 the radiance of the glory of God. He didn't become 0:33:53.560 --> 0:33:56.760 that he was, that he was the exact imprint of 0:33:56.800 --> 0:34:00.239 his nature. He didn't become that he was that he 0:34:00.320 --> 0:34:03.320 upholds the universe by the power of his word. That's 0:34:03.360 --> 0:34:05.880 not what he did, that's who he is. So how 0:34:05.920 --> 0:34:11.279 did he become better? He made purification for sins and 0:34:11.400 --> 0:34:16.239 then sat down. Jesus. I need you to hear this. 0:34:16.960 --> 0:34:20.720 For everybody who is dealing with shame and you feel 0:34:20.719 --> 0:34:23.960 like you've been going backwards because you keep slipping and 0:34:24.040 --> 0:34:27.320 you keep stumbling and you feel like I'm going backwards. 0:34:27.520 --> 0:34:31.200 I want to tell you Jesus went backwards so we 0:34:31.280 --> 0:34:34.560 could see that he was better. Now, I need to 0:34:34.800 --> 0:34:40.320 seconds a phrase from the church from Nairobi to Caston 0:34:40.400 --> 0:34:45.440 County and Balentine in the back section given praise. If 0:34:45.480 --> 0:34:55.359 you'll know he came down to left there out and 0:34:55.400 --> 0:34:59.479 so if you've been going down lately, if you haven't 0:34:59.520 --> 0:35:04.000 been feeling it lately, if some things have been subtracted lately, 0:35:04.360 --> 0:35:10.280 I wanted to declare, you're getting better. Backwards, God's gonna 0:35:10.320 --> 0:35:16.640 do it in you. He is preparing you stand up 0:35:16.680 --> 0:35:19.480 and let me pray for the people. God says, sometimes 0:35:19.520 --> 0:35:23.440 you gotta get better backwards. Sometimes you gotta switch the 0:35:23.480 --> 0:35:27.080 grip and understand that it's His grace and mercy, not 0:35:27.239 --> 0:35:30.200 your effort and your ability to walk in perfect fame. 0:35:33.560 --> 0:35:41.840 I'm getting better backwards. I'm getting better through the power 0:35:42.640 --> 0:35:43.960 of the things that I endure. 0:35:44.239 --> 0:35:48.920 And I refuse to go back. I refuse to go 0:35:49.080 --> 0:35:54.719 back when what I have is better. Make that declaration, 0:35:54.880 --> 0:35:56.040 say what I have is better. 0:35:58.239 --> 0:36:02.040 D O. Moody, the Great evangelist, was talking one time 0:36:02.080 --> 0:36:06.280 to a critic. The man didn't like his preaching because 0:36:06.480 --> 0:36:10.960 he made too many grammatical errors and the man knew 0:36:11.000 --> 0:36:15.239 better English than D. L. Moody. But just because you 0:36:15.320 --> 0:36:27.400 know better English doesn't make you a better preacher. Amen. Amen. 0:36:28.920 --> 0:36:32.560 And even though the man criticized him, he responded with humility. 0:36:33.920 --> 0:36:37.040 And then the story that was told of him said 0:36:37.239 --> 0:36:40.279 that when a man approached him and said, hey, I 0:36:40.320 --> 0:36:43.919 don't like the way that you give invitations, I don't 0:36:43.920 --> 0:36:47.719 think it's I don't think it's good. And he was 0:36:47.800 --> 0:36:50.439 used to bring so many people to Christ. Right. This 0:36:50.520 --> 0:36:52.400 was back in the day when you couldn't leave a 0:36:52.400 --> 0:36:54.920 comment on somebody's YouTube. You had to tell him if 0:36:54.960 --> 0:36:58.000 you didn't like them, straight to their face. These were 0:36:58.040 --> 0:37:06.520 better times, no internet courage back then. He said, I 0:37:06.560 --> 0:37:08.520 don't like the way you do it, and dal Moody said, 0:37:08.560 --> 0:37:12.080 neither do I. I'm trying to find a better way. 0:37:13.400 --> 0:37:15.719 Then he asked the man. He said, uh, how do 0:37:15.760 --> 0:37:22.080 you do it? And the man said, I don't. I 0:37:22.120 --> 0:37:27.000 don't have a way. D L Moody said, I like 0:37:27.080 --> 0:37:36.799 mine better. Then I like mine better. I know it's 0:37:36.840 --> 0:37:41.000 not pretty sometimes, and other people's progress can make you 0:37:41.080 --> 0:37:43.520 tempted to revert to past ways of thinking when you 0:37:43.560 --> 0:37:47.840 compare yourself to the wrong standard. But in the presence 0:37:47.880 --> 0:37:50.040 of God, in the presence of Jesus, who is greater 0:37:50.120 --> 0:37:53.080 than all things, and the eternal Christ, whose word has 0:37:53.080 --> 0:37:56.120 spoken not only from eternity, but from time, from Him 0:37:56.320 --> 0:38:00.640 who knew no sin, who became sin, that we might 0:38:00.680 --> 0:38:04.920 become the righteousness of God, he says, don't get discouraged 0:38:04.960 --> 0:38:09.560 in your life. Don't get discouraged by your marriage. Don't 0:38:09.560 --> 0:38:14.000 get discouraged by another people's another person's marriage, bad grammar, 0:38:14.040 --> 0:38:18.480 good theology. I feel your dl Moody, he said, don't 0:38:18.480 --> 0:38:21.160 get discouraged by what you don't have that they do have. 0:38:22.520 --> 0:38:24.719 But instead I want you to declare over your life 0:38:24.800 --> 0:38:30.160 today that relative to my purpose, there is not a 0:38:30.200 --> 0:38:34.799 better person to be on the earth, in position on assignment, 0:38:35.400 --> 0:38:37.480 humbled before the presence of God. You know what makes 0:38:37.480 --> 0:38:40.600 you better for the job than anybody else. The fact 0:38:40.600 --> 0:38:43.440 that you know that you can't do it on your own. 0:38:44.680 --> 0:38:53.640 That's what makes you better in this world of improving, 0:38:55.000 --> 0:39:01.319 in this world of approving, and it could always be 0:39:02.440 --> 0:39:08.600 er Er. Don't miss what is on the way to 0:39:08.640 --> 0:39:12.160 a place called er. God's name is not the great 0:39:12.200 --> 0:39:20.439 I Er, He's the great I Am. I need six 0:39:20.520 --> 0:39:26.680 hundred people to celebrate this word right now. The blood 0:39:26.719 --> 0:39:33.200 of Jesus speak so better word. Thank you for joining us. 0:39:33.520 --> 0:39:35.960 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:39:36.040 --> 0:39:39.520 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:39:39.960 --> 0:39:42.480 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:39:43.080 --> 0:39:46.920 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 0:39:47.480 --> 0:39:50.600 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You 0:39:50.640 --> 0:39:52.680 can share it with your friends. You can click the 0:39:52.719 --> 0:39:55.000 share button, take a screenshot and share it on your 0:39:55.000 --> 0:39:58.000 social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again 0:39:58.040 --> 0:40:02.640 for listening. God bless you.