You’re Worth It (Lisa Harper)

0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:06.200 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:09.280 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:11.600 Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:13.680 new sermons every week. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:27.160 I hope you're blessed today. 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:28.160 Kidness gracious, If I had any estrogen left in my body, 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.320 I would have shot straight out at that point. I'd 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:36.680 like to take just a moment, a moment of silence 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.239 for those of you who are grieving the fact that 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:45.600 Pastor Holly and Pastor Stephen are not preaching this morning. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.400 When I was here last summer, I got to go out. 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.680 Some people were being baptized, and so I was meeting people, 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:57.680 and I met a saint who had driven thirty hours. 0:00:58.000 --> 0:00:59.920 It wasn't a Volkswagen bus, but it could have been 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:04.800 driven thirty hours because their whole family just wanted to 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:08.240 come here Holly or Steven preach. And I was just like, 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:12.520 I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. You have an old 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.440 white woman from Nashville, Tennessee who just I don't know 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.360 what it is about Elevation, but I always feel inclined 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.040 to wear leather here. So there will be a lot 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.400 of perspiration and squeaking going on in the next few moments. 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:31.520 But they could have anybody, y'all could have anybody from 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.920 across the world would be honored to get to be 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:38.400 in this house. And I'm not sure why other than 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.840 your friendship and your grace chunks that I get to 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.440 come every year. But this is the highlight of my 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.480 daughters and I. We love, we claim you as cousins, 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.360 even though some of you might think differently in a 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:54.400 few moments. So we need to start with prayer. Reach 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:56.920 out and touch that saint next to you. That's not rhetorical, 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.160 touch them, touch them appropriate leap men. If you're sitting 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:04.240 next to a woman, I've heard it said that it's tea. 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.480 Is that right? If she's cool, if she's hot, just be. 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:14.400 Very very careful. This is a Liviticus kind of prayer. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:16.880 thank you. I was so reminded last night of what 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:18.960 a gift it is that we still exist under the 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:23.440 common grace of free worship in this country. 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.280 So Lord, I pray that for all. 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.000 Of us, the things that have become just wrote to 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.639 us getting to drive to church on Saturday or Sunday 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:39.880 and not worried about hiding, not worried about being arrested. 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.320 Oh Lord, what a glorious gift it is that you 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:46.440 allow us to come together to your house to bring 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:50.640 you the first breads of our attention and our affection. Freely, Lord, 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.000 forgive us when we are quick to complain and slow 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:54.639 to say. 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.880 Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.560 For two hundred and fifty years of freedom of worship. 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:07.240 We are so grateful, We are so grateful, We are 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:11.520 so grateful. And Lord, sometimes we are so dumb and 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:14.880 so preoccupied, and so Lord, for those of us who 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.160 have come into this house of faith, and our minds 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.760 are distracted or tired, and our hearts are numb or 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.080 just barely put one foot in front of the other. Lord, 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.120 we pray through your spirit that you would give us 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:33.000 eyes to see and ears to hear, and hearts that 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.840 would be pliant to understand at an even deeper level 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.600 what it means to be your beloved sons and daughters. 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:40.320 Lord, we pray that. 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:43.960 You would reamaze us this morning, just as Holly said, 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:48.680 Pastor Stephen is being reamazed as he has time to 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.480 just marinate in the truth of who you are, who 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:53.360 you called us to be Lord, Would you quicken us 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.160 to Would you quicken. 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:55.680 Us this morning? 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:55.960 Lord? 0:03:55.960 --> 0:04:00.800 Would we would we leave this building more than ever 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.960 convinced of who you are as a perfect, holy, transcendent 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.440 God who chooses to be close to us, and more 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:12.000 than ever secure in the fact that on our worst 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:13.160 day you said you. 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.960 Matter to me, You're beautiful to me. 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.000 I still can't quite conceive of the fact that I 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.800 was the joy set before you as you walk to 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:31.599 the cross. So Lord, I need your spirit to pierce 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:33.839 the places in my heart that I agree with that 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:38.200 man in March's Gospel. I believe, But O, King Jesus, 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.280 help me am unbelief. Do that for all of us 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.280 this morning, Jesus, and we'll be careful to give you, 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.120 and you alone all the honor and all the glory 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.880 and all the praise for what you do in this 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:49.560 living room this morning. 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:51.719 We love you, Jesus, We need you, Jesus. 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.120 We ask these things by the perfect authority of your name. 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:58.280 Amen and Amen. I thought, with. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.600 I fought, with last night being so historic, I would 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:09.080 start with a historic tale of my own, something that's 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.560 very rare, and so I'm not going back two hundred 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:14.280 and fifty years. It wasn't quite that long ago, but 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.280 I'm going to tell you about my last good date, 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:24.120 and it was quite some time ago. I came to Nashville, Tennessee, 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.080 from Florida to work for an athletic ministry called the 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:31.520 Fellowship of Christian Athletes Graham, you know FCA, And so 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.680 I ended up being set up with a lot of 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.080 athletes because I had some friends who were the guys 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.320 played in the NFL. Didn't have any World Cup guys 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.240 friends back then because they have cute legs in those 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:43.840 little shorts. 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.520 But anyway, sorry, that was ungodly. 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.400 Y'all can strike that from the record, although it is 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:51.040 kind of song of Solomon esk Right, we. 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:52.480 Can leave it. We can leave It's in the Bible. 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.440 So anyway, one of my friends who worked for the 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.880 NFL said, Lisa, I have got the perfect guy for you, 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:02.280 all the old dead theologians you love. 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.280 He reads C. S. Lewis. It's a really good guy, 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.559 really serious about his faith. He plays on the line. 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:10.280 And when he said he plays on the line for 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.039 an NFL team, he just had me it plays on 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.200 the line. Because I'm not a small girl and I 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.080 really want to date or possibly Mary, if you know 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:21.920 someone between fifty five, I'll go younger. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:26.680 I'm sixty two and death somebody who's bigger than me. 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:27.280 You know. 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.960 I just sometimes I get set up with really tiny 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:31.280 men and I'm. 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.520 Like, Hi, I'm Lisa from the Large Planet. So I 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:36.279 was like, he plays in the line. I mean, he's 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:37.880 a biggin. So I was really excited. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.240 And so I'm not going to tell you his name 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.520 because you can google him and spoiler alert, he married 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:43.000 someone else. 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:44.279 But it was a good thing. Just stay with me 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.400 on the date. Are you still with me on the date? Okay? 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.560 So we start talking on the phone, no zoom, no FaceTime. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.880 All I had seen is him from the distance on ESPN, 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.320 and I knew was a biggin. And I won't tell 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.080 you the team he played for, but it's north of here. 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.480 We started talking. He had a great voice. You know 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.240 how voices are just you go, I can just kind 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.120 of sense a little bit of their hearts, their voices 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.680 connected to their heart. And then after two weeks of courting, 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:14.680 he called and said, hey, Lisa, our team rhymed with 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:19.000 Hilly is north of here. He said, our team we're 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.679 playing the Falcons, And I know Nashville's about four hours 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.200 from Atlanta, but if you would be willing to drive 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.480 to Atlanta, we could meet face to face. I'd love 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.760 to meet you face to face. And I was like, well, 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.480 that would be great. And so our meeting was a 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.360 week away. So I went on a fast and. 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.240 Then I bought like a really cute new outfit. 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:48.120 Are any of y'all I'm sixty two, any women over fifty? Okay, 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.200 do y'all remember when like giant shoulder pads were in 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.360 So anyway, I bought this pink dress for feminine with 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.880 like football player shoulder pads because it's so in back then. 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:01.440 And I drive from Nashville to Atlanta and we didn't 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:01.960 have any. 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:02.680 BUCkies back then. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.200 I had to stop at a rest area to fruff 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.040 my hair. And I get to the stadium and he said, 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.239 one of the other wives in a NFL player's wife, 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:14.080 she'll meet you at will call to bring you up 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.240 to the wives section. I was sitting in the wives section. 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:22.520 Do y'all know any NFL wives? They are tiny, just tiny, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:30.600 tiny little women. They're beautiful but so petite. And so 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.280 this tiny girl came and met me and she takes me. 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:34.280 Up to the wives section. 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:36.360 So we're up, I don't know, we're like on the 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.760 fifty yard line, just a few rows up. And I 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:40.640 come up and all the other teeny girls were very 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:42.800 kind to me, and I was the only brunette, and 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.560 so I'm meeting all the tiny blonds and then I 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:47.480 look out on the field. The game hadn't started yet. 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.840 I look out in the field and there he is, 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:55.040 my date, and he has his back to me. And 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:56.680 I don't know how to say this in church, but 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:02.880 those pants are awesome. And I'd never until that point 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:07.320 like football pants, and suddenly I just love those little 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.360 pants on a big man. And so he turned around, 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.720 and you know, I'm like from here to where y'all 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:16.640 are in the theater seats. I'm about that far away 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.000 he turned around, but y'all, it was like a love stories, 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:24.840 like our eyes met and I was like, I love him. 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:29.600 And the game started and he did really, really well. 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.600 He made a couple of key blocks, and the team 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.160 that rhymes with Hilly beat the Atlanta Falcons sor if 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.760 you're a Falcons fan. And then one of the teeny 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:39.600 girls said, hey, we'll just. 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.400 Call him Bill. That's not his name. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.280 She said, hey, Bill would like to see you before 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.559 they fly back to Hilly, and so if you'll go 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.599 with us the team that was about. I don't know 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:54.040 if they still do this, but that was back in 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.440 the day when all the players would shower and change 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:01.800 into suits, not pajama pants, actually suits, and then they'd 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:03.439 get on a charter bus and then they'd go to 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.120 the airport and get on a charter flight and go 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.720 back to whatever town they were from. And so she said, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.560 he actually wants to see you because now we've still 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.400 been fifty yards separated. She said, he wants to meet 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:15.679 you face to face before he flies home. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:16.760 And I was like, okay. 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:19.480 So I traped down with all the teen heat tribe 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.680 down to it's like in the belly of the arena, 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.360 and all of a sudden, all the players start coming out, 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.320 and you know, they're just big guys, and they all 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:32.240 smell like polo and they all start boarding the bus 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.800 and then here comes Bill and he comes right and 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:38.600 I can't use you, chunction, you're a good pride. He 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:40.720 comes right up to me, and I mean like right 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.360 up to me, and he goes hey, and then he 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:44.160 picks me up. 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.880 He picks me off my feet, and I was like, 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:51.040 this is like, this is glory, this is just glory. 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.959 I expected Jesus to come through and the white horse 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.040 and it was amazing, look to the east. He picked 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.200 me up and then I don't remember what he said 0:10:59.200 --> 0:10:59.960 because I was in a calm. 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.880 And then we talked for like three or four more minutes, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.320 and then they made the announcement the bus is about 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:06.680 to leave. 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:08.199 Guys, you got to get on the bus. We're going 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.640 to the plane. And he goes just like this, he goes, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.640 wait right here, as if I was going to leave. 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:18.160 I'm like, I'll be here three months from now, just 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.719 standing right here. It's all downhill from now. For me, 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:23.959 it was just I was like okay, and he goes, 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.040 wait right here. He turns around and the lets the 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.400 bus is right here. And then NFL coach and y'all 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.520 would know this. In NFL coach, he's dead now, but 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:33.480 he was a big deal, and he said this inn 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:34.080 LFL coach. 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:35.240 He's standing on the stairs. 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.880 Bill's right where you are, Chunks, and Bill starts talking 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.320 to the coach. Bill has his back to me, and 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.520 the coach is facing me from the stairs, and he 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.200 keeps kind of looking around Bill's shoulders. He'd be like, 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.400 so I knew they were talking about me. They talked 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:56.880 for like, I don't know, three minutes, and then the 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:01.640 doors of the bus shut and Bill comes like this, 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:08.920 I know, I know, And the bus is driving away, 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.760 and guys are hanging out the windows just ragging him, 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.160 saying things like she's already got you reptuted, and you 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:16.719 can hang on. 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.480 To the ball, bru. I mean, they're just ragging him. 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.720 He is completely oblivious to the teasing, only has eyes 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:25.000 for me. 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:26.760 Comes up to me. I'll never forget what he said. 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:31.600 He said, Lisa, I hope it's okay if you let 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.800 me ride with you back to Nashville. I just told 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:39.640 Coach that I really wanted to spend this time driving 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:41.240 back to Nashville to you, because that would give us 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:43.520 four hours face to face to get to know each other. 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:45.960 And I'll get a hotel in Nashville. Then I'll take 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.040 a commercial flight in the morning to go back home 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:58.640 to Hilly, because I told Coach, you're worth the fine. 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:04.439 Your worth the fine. Has anybody ever said that to you? 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:05.760 Oh? 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.800 Yes he did, Oh yes he did. 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.880 We've just been singing about it. Oh, yes, he did. 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:18.480 The God who breathed this universe into existence looks at 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:23.520 us on our worst day, when we're not singing elevation songs, 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:26.120 when you're saying something that's not in the Bible in traffic. 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.439 He looks at us even in that moment and says, you. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:34.400 Are worth the fine. That is the gospel. That is 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:40.000 the gospel. When that man who barely knew me ascribed 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:45.559 worth to me, he said, you are worth the merciless 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.960 teasing of my teammates. You are worth the lack of 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.040 physical rest that I will experience driving with you through 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:57.120 the night back to Nashville. You are worth a hefty 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.600 monetary fine from my team in the NFL. Well, you 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:06.520 are worth so it cost him to subscribe worth to me. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.240 I have a definition for the word worth. You probably 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:18.400 know this. Worth tells us the value, the importance, and 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:20.800 or the usefulness of something. 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:22.880 However, when worth. 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:28.920 Is used in a predicative used as a predictive eject 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:35.200 adjective I didn't pay much for my doctorate. When it's 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:39.560 used as a predicative adjective, as in your worth the fine. 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.760 It is entirely subjective. 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:48.280 That means worth, as it is proclaimed, is based on 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:53.520 whoever is proclaiming its value. In the context of that 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:59.240 football player, he decided I was worth the fine. In 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:03.440 the O so oh bias perspective of our creator, redeemer, 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:07.840 he has ascribed worth to us, and he says our 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.560 worth is predetermined. 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.280 Turn to Psalm one thirty nine. You'll know this. 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:17.120 Many of you, I hope memorize this when you were kids. 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.240 So one of my favorite of the songs. All of 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:23.200 the one hundred and fifty psalms. Ps Alms were originally 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.800 written as songs sonngs. So this is like God's Spotify list, 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.240 these one hundred and fifty songs in the middle of 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.360 the Bible. And this is how David starts this song. 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:35.920 You have searched me, oh Lord, and you know me. 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:37.520 You know when I sit and when I rise. You 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.760 perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.280 and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:46.120 Before a word is on my tongue, you, oh Lord, 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.520 know it completely. You hem me in behind him before, 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.680 and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:55.680 too wonderful for me. It blows my hard drive. It 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.720 is too lofty for me to attain Where can I 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.480 go from your spirit? Where from your presence? If I 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.080 go up to the heavens, You're there. If I make 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:04.800 my bed in the depths, you're there. If I rise 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:06.400 on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.320 the far side of the sea, even there, your hand 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:09.920 will guide me. 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:11.360 Your right hand will hold me fast. 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.960 If I say, surely, the darkness will hide me, and 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.680 the light become night around me, even the darkness will 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:19.360 not be dark to you. The night will shine like 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.360 the day, For darkness is as light to you. Listen 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.640 to this, For you created my inmost being. You knit 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:27.920 me together in my Mama's womb. I praise you because 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:29.240 I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.120 Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.520 My frame was not hidden from you when I was 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.400 made in the secret place. When I was woven together 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.200 in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:43.600 unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.200 in your book before one of them came to be. 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:54.800 In other words, our worth precedes any accomplishment or merit 0:16:55.480 --> 0:17:01.160 on our behalf. Long before your Daddy wink in his eye, 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:07.600 our creator, redeemer predetermined that he would subscribe priceless value 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:12.080 to you. There's nothing we earn. We just sang that. 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.000 But I think for most of us we can sing it, 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.040 we can say it. But to grasp in a world 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:22.640 that says you're only as valuable as your last performance, 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:28.720 in a world where we are entirely judged by how 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.879 we perform and how much we produce, it is really 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.840 hard for us to wrap our dinky human minds around 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:41.320 the concept that this perfect, holy, trinitarian God ascribed invaluable 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:43.800 worth to us. Before anybody would have said we were 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.720 worth anything, we hadn't done anything yet to be considered worthy. 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:52.800 And yet David makes it clear before any of us 0:17:53.000 --> 0:18:00.440 breathed our first breath, our heavenly father said worse describing 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.240 worth to you. Flip forward to the Book of Isaiah. 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:12.159 I love Isaiah's prophecy, and Isaiah underscores this idea of 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:17.119 predetermined worth and priceless. 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:20.240 Value that God ascribes to us Isaiah forty three. 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:22.920 But now this is what the Lord says, he who 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.320 created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel, do not fear, 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.280 for I've redeemed you, I've summoned you by name. 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:29.960 You are mine. 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:32.520 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.440 When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:36.440 over you. When you walk through the fire, you will 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:39.440 not be burned. The flames will not set you a blaze. 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:41.280 For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:45.040 of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt for your ransom, 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.919 Cush and Siba in your stead, since you are precious 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:52.440 and honored in my sight, and because I love you, 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:57.720 I give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange. 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:02.840 For your life. So that's God's scales. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.639 We just got back from two weeks in Europe, and 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:09.280 while we were there, we were at the Tower of London, 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:12.199 where the Jewels of London are kept, and then we 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.479 went to where the jewels are kept, the Crown Jewels 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.320 in Scotland, in Edinburgh, and of course you've got the 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:20.920 guards with the fuzzy Q tip black hats. We kept 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.920 trying to make them laugh and they wouldn't. They're guarding 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.320 those jewels, the crown Jewels of. 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:28.320 The UK. 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:34.439 Those are priceless, estimated by histories to be priceless. But 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:37.959 that's just the jewels of the country. That's not the land, 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:43.480 that's not the gross national product. That's not everything. That's 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:48.639 Scotland or England or Ireland. That's not everything. And God said, 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:52.639 the entire nation, not just the jewels. I'm not just 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:57.120 exchanging you for a Tiffany bracelet. You are more valuable 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:03.920 to me than entire nation with all their wealth. Right 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.679 before I came out here, because I'm always a hot mess, 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:12.080 just looking for bluep of real to begin, I was 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.959 in the restroom trying to make my hair look not 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.399 look like roadkill on this humid day, and I thought, oh, 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.720 I need some lotion, and I squirted the lotion in 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.919 the bathroom and just said, shot straight all over me, 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:28.280 just gobs of white on my pants, on my shirt, 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.600 on this, on my arm, and my watch. And I 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.760 was like, you just can't take me anywhere. I mean, 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.440 you just can't. I'm just a walking yahoo. 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:37.639 And yet the. 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:45.280 God, the only true God, the God of the universe, transcendent, holy, trinitarian, perfect, 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.400 perfect in and of himself, he didn't even need. 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:51.120 Relationship with us. He chose for us to be his treasure. 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:55.199 He's perfectly sustained by fellowship with each other. Augustine one 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.160 of my favorite old dead guys. I have a crush 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.480 on him too. Augustine said, only the Christian God is 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:05.879 a perfect community unto himself, perfectly sustained, perfectly satisfied. 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:07.879 And yet he chose. 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:15.480 For us to be his treasure. And he said, you're 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:19.800 worth so much to me, I'll give entire nations in 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:25.679 exchange for you. So our worth is, Our worth is predetermined. 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:34.479 It's not. There's no earning on our behalf. Our worth 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:35.680 is priceless. 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:41.200 We are invaluable from God's estimation. And then if he'll 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:45.600 head to the right to Ephesians, one of my favorite 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:49.040 passages in all of the New Testament, our worth. 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:53.920 Is permanent Ephesians one, beginning with verse. 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:56.560 Three, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.000 Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:02.680 with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he chose us 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:06.000 in him before the creation of the world, to be 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:09.119 holy and blameless in his side and love. He predestined 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:13.760 for us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:17.560 accordance with his pleasure. Some translations shake good, pleasure and 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:20.879 will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:23.840 has freely given us in the One He. 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:27.280 Loves, where it reads pleasure or good. 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:30.880 Pleasure in your Bible that comes from the Greek word you, dokia. 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:37.320 You involves good and dokia is thinking. So in other words, 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:41.280 when God set his affection on us, he didn't do 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:48.240 it out of pity. Our salvation is mercy, Our adoption 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:53.000 is affection. So the King of all kings didn't look 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:55.200 at us and go, oh, she's such a yahoo. 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:56.879 She's old as dirt. 0:22:57.480 --> 0:22:59.960 She lost a little weight with the help of manjarronounced, 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:05.160 he's all creepy. She ain't got no man, that poor girl. 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:09.040 Just let's love on her a little extra because she 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:11.560 probably doesn't think she's worth it. That is not the 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:15.320 disposition of our creative redeemer. He looks at me when 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:19.440 I've got lotion all over my leather pants, and he says, 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:20.600 isn't she beautiful? 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:26.119 It was my good thinking. 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:32.399 To adopt her, y'all. Even the word adoption in first 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:38.040 century context, it's crazy that Paul uses it in our 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:40.200 relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:44.800 the Holy Spirit, because in this era, no parents would 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:50.880 adopt an infant. There's too much risk in that parents 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:54.760 in Greco and Roman culture only adopted an older adolescent 0:23:55.000 --> 0:23:58.159 or an adult. Why is that young? Talkback, I'm not 0:23:58.200 --> 0:24:01.560 a pastor. Why do you think they would only adopt 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:02.119 somebody who. 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:02.680 Was older. 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:11.840 Exactly because you had proven potential. They could see their GPA, 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:14.960 they could see how hard they worked at Chick fil 0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:19.680 A after school. They could see this kid has promise. 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:23.440 And by the way, girls are never adopted in this 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:26.439 era of biblical history. Girls are not adopted because girls 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:30.439 had no financial value other than producing an air and 0:24:30.480 --> 0:24:35.400 so baby girls are rejected. But there's a possibility if 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:39.520 you are a young man who has promise that a couple. 0:24:39.240 --> 0:24:40.840 Will adopt you and say. 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:44.080 We'll give him our name, we'll make him an heir. 0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:51.359 The most famous older adoptee from this era is Octavian. 0:24:51.480 --> 0:24:53.600 And I know most of y'all like me just examine 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:56.200 your eyelids in high school history. But you remember he's 0:24:56.240 --> 0:25:00.720 the very first Roman emperor. Do you remember who proceeded Octavian? 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:04.960 I know y'all did, Julius Caesar. So Julius Caesar was 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:08.240 not the first emperor of Rome. He was a military hero, 0:25:08.359 --> 0:25:13.320 he was a dictator. He adopted his nephew he adopted 0:25:13.359 --> 0:25:16.040 this kid named Octavian at the it was actually his 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:17.040 great nephew at. 0:25:16.880 --> 0:25:17.920 The age of eighteen. 0:25:18.880 --> 0:25:24.879 Because Octavian he showed promise, and so Julius Caesar adopted 0:25:24.920 --> 0:25:28.000 Octavian and said, I will give you my name. 0:25:29.160 --> 0:25:29.960 And so after. 0:25:29.880 --> 0:25:35.440 Julius Caesar was assassinated in forty four BC, Octavian fought 0:25:35.480 --> 0:25:38.640 and became the very first emperor. He changed Rome from 0:25:38.640 --> 0:25:41.960 a republic to an empire. He became the very first 0:25:42.119 --> 0:25:45.760 Roman emperor. The senate that's kind of much like our 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:48.760 senate this cent, maybe not as much polarization, but anyway, 0:25:48.840 --> 0:25:53.800 their senate said, we're gonna name you Augustine. Augustus means 0:25:54.160 --> 0:25:57.400 one who is revered. And he said, I'm gonna take 0:25:57.440 --> 0:26:01.359 my adopted dad's last name as my first because I 0:26:01.400 --> 0:26:04.639 want to be attached to Julius Caesar's renown. So his 0:26:04.800 --> 0:26:11.320 name went from Octavian to Caesar Augustus, first Emperor of Rome. 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:13.719 That we all think Caesar is a title, it was. 0:26:13.840 --> 0:26:16.639 It originated as a surname, and then he went a 0:26:16.640 --> 0:26:20.040 step further because the Roman senate, because Julius Caesar was 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:24.159 such a great leader, they named him de wee we 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:27.440 would say DV in Latin, but their v's are pronounced 0:26:27.440 --> 0:26:28.000 as w's. 0:26:28.040 --> 0:26:29.240 If you're a redneck American. 0:26:29.800 --> 0:26:36.680 De we Phileus, son of God. So Octavian because they 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:42.080 had named Julius Caesar a god. That's what Octavian called himself. 0:26:42.200 --> 0:26:46.800 I am Caesar Augustus, I am de wee phileas, I 0:26:46.840 --> 0:26:51.800 am a son of God A little bit arrogant, right, 0:26:52.720 --> 0:26:55.879 do y'all remember the Crucifixion account. There's a Roman centurion 0:26:56.520 --> 0:26:59.720 and all he did was watch Jesus die. Wasn't a 0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:03.000 Bible study, what in a home group didn't follow Jesus 0:27:03.160 --> 0:27:07.280 wasn't Jewish, but he was there at the crucifixion. Y'all 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:09.159 remember the story in Marx Gospweall I think is in 0:27:09.240 --> 0:27:09.840 chapter fifteen. 0:27:10.640 --> 0:27:13.440 He watches Jesus die. That's all he sees. 0:27:14.359 --> 0:27:17.600 He doesn't see him raise Lazarus from death back to life. 0:27:17.600 --> 0:27:19.879 He doesn't see him walk on water, doesn't see him 0:27:19.880 --> 0:27:23.400 turn water. And when all he watches is Jesus suffer. 0:27:24.520 --> 0:27:27.600 And when Jesus dies and says it is finished, that 0:27:27.880 --> 0:27:36.960 Roman centurion says, surely, surely he is dewey phileas he. 0:27:37.520 --> 0:27:38.480 Is the son of God. 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:41.119 Do you know the coins in his pocket at the 0:27:41.240 --> 0:27:45.560 time were inscribed to promote the Roman Caesar is the 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:46.200 son of God. 0:27:46.800 --> 0:27:47.040 Y'all. 0:27:47.080 --> 0:27:50.320 The context in our Bibles drives me nuts. When people 0:27:50.320 --> 0:27:52.199 says the Bible is boring, I'm like, no, you're a 0:27:52.280 --> 0:27:53.240 lazy reader. 0:27:53.359 --> 0:27:57.440 This is so much better than Yellowstone. This is like epic. 0:27:59.040 --> 0:28:01.280 So it makes sense. 0:28:02.080 --> 0:28:06.960 That Caesar Augustus Octavian was adopted because he had promised 0:28:07.000 --> 0:28:08.159 he had potential. 0:28:08.280 --> 0:28:14.919 That makes sense. That was very uncommon. What was more common. 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:18.159 Was this practice that they still practice. 0:28:18.200 --> 0:28:19.520 They just don't call it this. 0:28:20.040 --> 0:28:24.200 In My Little Girl's Village in Haiti, it's exposed. This 0:28:24.359 --> 0:28:33.800 seo expoio comes from the Latin root exponaire, meaning to expose. 0:28:34.840 --> 0:28:38.200 What was most common in the era Paul was riding 0:28:38.680 --> 0:28:42.640 is expositzio, which meant if you had a little girl, 0:28:43.080 --> 0:28:45.080 and you already had one so you didn't need a spear, 0:28:46.120 --> 0:28:48.240 or if you had a son who was born deformed 0:28:48.800 --> 0:28:51.920 with something as minor as a cleft palate, you could 0:28:51.960 --> 0:28:56.400 take them to the edge of town and leave them 0:28:57.040 --> 0:28:58.920 so that they would die. 0:28:58.760 --> 0:28:59.520 In the elements. 0:28:59.640 --> 0:29:03.200 They still do that in My Baby Girl's Village in Haiti, 0:29:04.560 --> 0:29:07.880 that's why you rarely, rarely in a developing nation that 0:29:08.200 --> 0:29:12.480 struggles with poverty. It's interesting you usually won't see a 0:29:12.600 --> 0:29:18.720 child with cerebral palsy or an extreme deformity because it's 0:29:18.760 --> 0:29:22.120 too hard for them to feed their healthy kids, and 0:29:22.200 --> 0:29:28.440 so they still practice taking unwanted or deformed or medically 0:29:28.520 --> 0:29:32.240 challenged children infants to the edge of town and leaving 0:29:32.520 --> 0:29:33.400 them there. 0:29:33.440 --> 0:29:33.800 Do you not. 0:29:33.840 --> 0:29:37.160 Christians became known for at the latter part of the 0:29:37.160 --> 0:29:41.200 first and second century, Christians became known for and actually 0:29:41.280 --> 0:29:44.960 vilified for this that we would go and rummage through 0:29:45.000 --> 0:29:49.520 trash dumps to find discarded infants, and we would adopt 0:29:49.560 --> 0:29:52.560 them as our sons and our daughters. 0:29:52.600 --> 0:29:53.720 We became known for that. 0:29:53.880 --> 0:29:56.520 Do you know the first brick and mortar churches in 0:29:56.560 --> 0:30:03.160 that era, small informal affairs always had a basin outside 0:30:03.200 --> 0:30:05.480 the front door of the church so people could go 0:30:05.520 --> 0:30:09.920 by and drop off an infant. Because even as early Christians, 0:30:09.920 --> 0:30:11.080 we understood. 0:30:10.640 --> 0:30:12.040 This isn't okay. 0:30:12.640 --> 0:30:15.760 It's not okay to take an innocent, beautiful. 0:30:15.720 --> 0:30:18.200 Worthy, valuable baby. 0:30:18.400 --> 0:30:21.720 And put them in a trash dump. The Christians would 0:30:21.840 --> 0:30:25.520 race the slave traders to try to get the little girls, 0:30:25.520 --> 0:30:27.320 so they wouldn't be put into prostitution. 0:30:29.320 --> 0:30:29.640 Do you know? 0:30:29.840 --> 0:30:31.320 We were in Italy. 0:30:31.120 --> 0:30:33.880 Two summers ago doing a strips of trips of Paul 0:30:33.960 --> 0:30:36.200 Tour and I saw this. I think it's called a 0:30:37.280 --> 0:30:44.400 Ruato day, Ruato day tritaria. Suddenly I have this craving 0:30:44.440 --> 0:30:48.480 for pasta. Let me see what it's called. It's called 0:30:48.840 --> 0:30:54.800 Does anybody speak Italian? Ruato day treviatelli, Trevitali, A Ruato 0:30:55.000 --> 0:30:58.520 day treviatelli. Y'all were wanting Italian now too, aren't you 0:30:58.560 --> 0:31:01.440 all go to North Italia for lunch. I have a 0:31:01.480 --> 0:31:05.520 picture of a Ruata day travitlli. This is all throughout 0:31:05.640 --> 0:31:09.400 Italian ar Okay, see bottom left. See that little box 0:31:10.320 --> 0:31:15.360 that actually is a concrete cubby, and it's on a cylinder. 0:31:15.520 --> 0:31:19.200 It rotates so you can come at night to the outside. 0:31:19.240 --> 0:31:20.840 That was an ancient church. You could come to the 0:31:20.840 --> 0:31:24.600 outside and that little Ruata day traviatelli will be open 0:31:24.840 --> 0:31:29.600 and you can put your baby in there anonymously, knowing 0:31:29.680 --> 0:31:32.720 that somebody on the other side of that wall, probably 0:31:32.760 --> 0:31:37.400 a nun, will take care of your baby. So even 0:31:37.600 --> 0:31:43.600 early Christians understanding that oh, people have value, it impacted architecture, 0:31:44.720 --> 0:31:46.880 Ruato Day Travitlli. 0:31:47.360 --> 0:31:50.160 Here's the deal for Paul to speak. 0:31:51.240 --> 0:31:57.240 To this audience of young Christians in Ephesus and say, God, 0:31:57.280 --> 0:32:02.440 the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit think you are so worth. 0:32:02.160 --> 0:32:09.640 It that he didn't just save you. He has actually adopted. 0:32:09.320 --> 0:32:15.040 You as firstborns, as co heirs, and you won't sit 0:32:15.080 --> 0:32:18.000 at the kiddie table or on the porch. You will 0:32:18.040 --> 0:32:21.760 sit to the right of Jesus the Sun in a 0:32:21.800 --> 0:32:27.440 position of honor. Y'all, that was so counter cultural in 0:32:27.480 --> 0:32:31.520 their understanding. That would be like a you and c 0:32:31.760 --> 0:32:37.680 Grad rooting for Duke, or Draking Kendrick Lamar writing a 0:32:37.720 --> 0:32:44.680 song together, or Travis and Tay having a tiny wedding. 0:32:45.440 --> 0:32:47.880 I mean that just that's not gonna happen. 0:32:47.960 --> 0:32:49.440 That doesn't happen. 0:32:49.960 --> 0:32:52.640 We read Ephesians and most of us are like, oh, 0:32:52.640 --> 0:32:54.200 that's good, that's not I kind of like that. I 0:32:54.440 --> 0:32:56.840 like from Pastor Steven preaching that we don't get the 0:32:57.000 --> 0:33:02.719 gravitas of the God of the universe saying you are mine. 0:33:03.880 --> 0:33:09.360 I didn't just save you. You're my kid. Y'all can 0:33:09.440 --> 0:33:11.800 diss me on social media. It hurts my feelings a 0:33:11.840 --> 0:33:15.640 little bit, but you dis my baby girl, I'll come 0:33:15.760 --> 0:33:21.560 find you and cut you in ribbons. And I know 0:33:21.720 --> 0:33:24.520 Holly and Pastor seven feel the same way about Elijah 0:33:24.600 --> 0:33:25.719 and Graham and Abby. 0:33:25.800 --> 0:33:27.240 I mean, these are my kids. 0:33:28.680 --> 0:33:32.640 For God to say we aren't just people he had 0:33:32.640 --> 0:33:35.120 to save because we're train wrecks who couldn't save ourselves, 0:33:36.080 --> 0:33:41.400 for God to say, there's so much more than worth 0:33:41.440 --> 0:33:44.800 the fine to me, I'm actually adopting. 0:33:44.240 --> 0:33:46.640 Them into my family. 0:33:46.760 --> 0:33:51.240 And you know, according to rabbinical law, you can disinher 0:33:51.440 --> 0:33:54.560 a biological child, but you can't disinherit an adopt a child. 0:33:56.240 --> 0:33:57.400 So he saying it's permanent. 0:33:59.280 --> 0:34:02.360 He is saying, I have ascribed this value you haven't 0:34:02.400 --> 0:34:08.719 earned to you. I've named you as priceless, and it's permanent, honey, 0:34:08.840 --> 0:34:14.200 it is absolutely permanent. I used to spend a lot 0:34:14.239 --> 0:34:18.600 of my free time volunteering at an organization in Nashville, 0:34:18.600 --> 0:34:21.600 a couple of organizations actually, who help women who are 0:34:21.719 --> 0:34:25.680 recovery addiction recovery. And I don't do it as much 0:34:25.760 --> 0:34:27.719 now because a missy and I just don't have as 0:34:27.800 --> 0:34:29.719 much time as a single mom. But if you would 0:34:29.760 --> 0:34:31.360 set me up and I could get to the baby daddy, 0:34:31.400 --> 0:34:34.360 I'd have more free time, just saying the onus is 0:34:34.400 --> 0:34:38.480 on y'all. But I used to spend a lot of 0:34:38.520 --> 0:34:40.360 time volunteering. 0:34:40.400 --> 0:34:41.640 I still get to do it a little bit. 0:34:41.760 --> 0:34:48.360 But I love, love, love, love love getting to spend 0:34:48.360 --> 0:34:52.160 time with image bears who are coming out of any 0:34:52.200 --> 0:34:53.320 type of addiction. 0:34:53.480 --> 0:34:55.080 Because the gratitude is palpable. 0:34:56.120 --> 0:34:59.320 There's just something about being incarcerated that strips your pretense 0:35:00.239 --> 0:35:03.440 have to have. Some loud preachers say that God loves 0:35:03.440 --> 0:35:05.040 you even though you haven't earned it. 0:35:05.080 --> 0:35:06.200 They're like, I get it. 0:35:06.800 --> 0:35:09.720 I mean, I know I didn't do anything to deserve 0:35:10.520 --> 0:35:14.920 this unconditional love he has lavish on me. And anyway, 0:35:15.160 --> 0:35:17.359 those of y'all who are I know we've got some 0:35:17.400 --> 0:35:21.880 elevation campuses, and y'all don't have quite as much physical 0:35:21.920 --> 0:35:24.600 freedom as we do. Some of y'all are still incarcerated, 0:35:24.840 --> 0:35:28.120 and you didn't know that. This whole team here, They 0:35:28.160 --> 0:35:30.040 talk about y'all like y'all are in the room. 0:35:30.400 --> 0:35:34.120 You are family, you fit here. We love you. This 0:35:34.160 --> 0:35:36.960 is not pity. We honor you. 0:35:37.960 --> 0:35:42.239 We can't wait to actually be face to face with you, 0:35:42.680 --> 0:35:43.880 to pray into worship. 0:35:43.960 --> 0:35:46.040 Thank you, thank you, thank you. We love y'all. 0:35:46.120 --> 0:35:51.440 Y'all are not outside campuses. You are in the house campuses. 0:35:51.480 --> 0:35:54.920 Thank you so much for listening today. The good pastors 0:35:54.920 --> 0:35:58.799 will be back next week, so stay tuned. But I 0:35:58.880 --> 0:36:00.759 used to spend a lot of time girls, and one 0:36:00.800 --> 0:36:04.319 Thanksgiving they said, miss Lisa, would you spend Thanksgiving with us? 0:36:05.040 --> 0:36:06.919 And I was so honored they asked me to spend 0:36:06.920 --> 0:36:09.320 Thanksgiving with them. I was like, oh, I'd be delighted 0:36:09.320 --> 0:36:13.800 to you, and they said, we actually have so much extra. 0:36:16.600 --> 0:36:18.640 Do you know the best job that my friends could 0:36:18.680 --> 0:36:20.400 get out of when. 0:36:20.200 --> 0:36:23.200 They stepped out of the halfway house into more freedom 0:36:23.680 --> 0:36:26.040 was at Chipolte. I had at Chipolte all the time 0:36:26.560 --> 0:36:29.040 because Chipolte will hire women who have. 0:36:30.080 --> 0:36:32.239 Federal offenses on the records who've. 0:36:31.960 --> 0:36:35.279 Come out, so that was the best job they could get. 0:36:35.320 --> 0:36:38.560 Oftentimes it was cleaning hotel rooms. So for them to 0:36:38.600 --> 0:36:44.600 say we have so much extra was countercultural. And they said, 0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:46.640 we want to take our extra and we want to 0:36:46.680 --> 0:36:49.200 just put together a Thanksgiving feast. And then so many 0:36:49.200 --> 0:36:53.799 of our friends are still home insecure, they don't have 0:36:53.840 --> 0:36:56.400 a place to live tonight that we want to go 0:36:56.520 --> 0:36:58.960 all over Nashville and find our friends who don't have 0:36:59.000 --> 0:37:01.759 homes and serve the meals. And I was like, yeah, 0:37:01.760 --> 0:37:04.279 I'd love to be part of that, and so I 0:37:04.320 --> 0:37:07.320 helped to make this feast. Somebody had donated one hundred 0:37:07.320 --> 0:37:12.560 and fifty of those you know, the styrofoam takeout trays. 0:37:12.600 --> 0:37:14.880 We actually had one hundred and seventy five, but our goal. 0:37:14.680 --> 0:37:16.360 Was one hundred and fifty, and we had turkeys, We 0:37:16.400 --> 0:37:19.040 had stuff from all over, and so we were just humming. 0:37:19.080 --> 0:37:20.839 We're in this kitchen eight hundred. 0:37:20.560 --> 0:37:23.240 Square feet is the size of their government subicize department, 0:37:23.280 --> 0:37:25.440 and there were like thirteen of us in there putting 0:37:25.440 --> 0:37:28.000 together these meals. We are singing, we are dancing. I 0:37:28.040 --> 0:37:31.080 have no rhythm, but I have a lot of enthusiasm. 0:37:31.400 --> 0:37:34.200 We're singing, dancing, getting these meals together. When it was 0:37:34.239 --> 0:37:36.360 all said and done, when we ran out of meat, 0:37:36.560 --> 0:37:37.520 they said, let's count it. 0:37:37.600 --> 0:37:40.400 We had one hundred and seventy two. So I was like, 0:37:40.480 --> 0:37:41.480 that is epics. 0:37:41.520 --> 0:37:43.440 So I said, let's pray and thank God for the 0:37:43.480 --> 0:37:44.360 extra and then we'll. 0:37:44.239 --> 0:37:45.160 Go to distribute these. 0:37:45.440 --> 0:37:48.920 So we had this major Pentecostal prayer and I was like, 0:37:49.000 --> 0:37:50.560 no one call me pastor, and for anybody else in 0:37:50.600 --> 0:37:53.120 Nashville get avestrated. But they all call me pastor, and 0:37:53.160 --> 0:37:55.240 so we don't call me pastor. That pee is who 0:37:55.239 --> 0:37:56.040 that's polarizing. 0:37:56.360 --> 0:38:01.360 So anyway, we prayed and then we set amen. 0:38:01.440 --> 0:38:05.080 I was like, Okay, what's the plan and they were like, well, 0:38:05.120 --> 0:38:09.560 we hadn't planned any further. And I was like, well, 0:38:09.640 --> 0:38:10.960 y'all and they were like, one, none of us have 0:38:11.000 --> 0:38:13.360 our license. Our license haven't been reinstated yet, so we 0:38:13.400 --> 0:38:16.440 don't have cars. I'm like, well, y'all and they're like, 0:38:16.480 --> 0:38:19.080 will you help us. I was like, well, yes, so 0:38:19.120 --> 0:38:21.799 I've got an SUV because prophetically, I thought God would 0:38:21.800 --> 0:38:23.360 give me a man and I would fill it with kids. 0:38:23.440 --> 0:38:26.839 And so we piled my car with like one. 0:38:26.800 --> 0:38:28.600 Hundred and thirty there's one other car. We had just 0:38:28.800 --> 0:38:31.080 boxes of food all throughout my car. One of the 0:38:31.120 --> 0:38:33.120 girls got in my car. Another girl was in the back, 0:38:33.160 --> 0:38:35.360 and we started driving around kind of sketchy parts of 0:38:35.400 --> 0:38:37.760 downtown Nashville looking for people who might be hungry. 0:38:38.080 --> 0:38:39.760 And our goal was not. 0:38:39.760 --> 0:38:42.319 Just to give somebody a meal, but was to look 0:38:42.360 --> 0:38:44.760 in their eyes and have a conversation, hopefully sit. 0:38:44.640 --> 0:38:45.600 With them while they ate. 0:38:46.280 --> 0:38:48.640 And the most memorable of those one hundred and thirty 0:38:48.760 --> 0:38:50.440 or so meals we gave away. Was the first and 0:38:50.520 --> 0:38:53.000 the last. The first was a train wreck because I 0:38:53.120 --> 0:38:57.160 chose them and we're driving down by Vandy and there's 0:38:57.280 --> 0:39:01.640 just this kid dressed in rags, so I assume he 0:39:01.800 --> 0:39:06.960 was housing insecure, and so I humped my car up 0:39:06.960 --> 0:39:07.759 on the curb and I. 0:39:07.719 --> 0:39:10.319 Was like, hey, baby, she probably gram your age. 0:39:10.360 --> 0:39:13.160 I mean just punking, and I was like, hey baby, 0:39:13.239 --> 0:39:14.560 we've got some extra food. 0:39:14.680 --> 0:39:19.480 He was so offended. And then I saw the prodist shoes, 0:39:19.520 --> 0:39:20.440 but it was rags. 0:39:20.520 --> 0:39:22.880 The rest of me was rags, so I thought he 0:39:22.960 --> 0:39:24.840 was home lesson so he was really offended. 0:39:24.880 --> 0:39:25.840 So that was memorable. 0:39:25.880 --> 0:39:28.480 We got an earfull from him because he wasn't hungry, 0:39:28.960 --> 0:39:32.440 and then we had all kinds of meals in the middle. 0:39:32.440 --> 0:39:35.640 But the very last guy was my favorite. We had 0:39:35.680 --> 0:39:38.680 talked with a fella who was living behind this building, 0:39:38.680 --> 0:39:40.560 and he said, we'll run up the road and when 0:39:40.560 --> 0:39:43.279 you see a little half concrete wall, the guy who 0:39:43.360 --> 0:39:45.520 lives in a cuppy behind that, his name is Cricket. 0:39:45.560 --> 0:39:46.799 He's a friend of mine. Go see if you can 0:39:46.800 --> 0:39:51.600 find Cricket. And sure enough, we found this man named Cricket, precious, precious, precious, 0:39:51.600 --> 0:39:54.600 twenty something year old man, and we had as the 0:39:54.640 --> 0:39:56.160 sun was setting on Thanksgiving. 0:39:56.360 --> 0:39:58.120 The I mean it was communion. 0:39:58.800 --> 0:40:00.920 It was one of the best meals I've ever shared 0:40:01.000 --> 0:40:04.040 with other christ followers. And then you know, we said goodbye, 0:40:04.160 --> 0:40:05.760 and I didn't think i'd ever see him again. 0:40:06.239 --> 0:40:07.520 And two weeks later. 0:40:07.360 --> 0:40:09.520 I was back in that same area because I'd gotten 0:40:09.560 --> 0:40:12.080 lost and I was trying to figure out how to 0:40:12.120 --> 0:40:15.040 get back to the interstate and I recognized the street 0:40:15.120 --> 0:40:17.200 sign and I thought, oh my goodness, this is where 0:40:17.200 --> 0:40:19.440 we were two weeks ago at Thanksgiving when I got 0:40:19.480 --> 0:40:21.839 to meet Cricket, and I thought, I wonder if he's 0:40:21.880 --> 0:40:25.160 still here. So I pretended like I was a ups chuck, 0:40:25.239 --> 0:40:27.280 humped my car back up on the curb again, started 0:40:27.320 --> 0:40:31.480 walking around and ran into this young man who looked 0:40:31.520 --> 0:40:34.560 like he had been living outside. 0:40:34.640 --> 0:40:36.080 And I said, sir, excuse me. 0:40:36.120 --> 0:40:38.319 My name is Lisa, and I'm looking for a man 0:40:38.320 --> 0:40:42.000 who used to live in the serranam Cricket. And he said, Lisa, 0:40:42.160 --> 0:40:46.560 I'm Cricket, and living outside for a couple of weeks 0:40:46.560 --> 0:40:47.719 can change your appearance. 0:40:47.760 --> 0:40:50.399 And I said, Cricket, I'm so sorry. I didn't recognize you. 0:40:51.120 --> 0:40:53.560 I said, I don't know if you remember two weeks ago, 0:40:53.600 --> 0:40:56.759 and he goes, I remember it was Thanksgiving, And I said, well, 0:40:56.840 --> 0:41:00.120 I found myself back in this neighborhood and I just 0:41:00.160 --> 0:41:03.759 felt this strong inclination to stop by and see you 0:41:04.719 --> 0:41:09.000 and to tell you that that God sees you and 0:41:09.080 --> 0:41:10.319 he thinks you're worth it. 0:41:10.920 --> 0:41:12.480 And I don't know why I said that. 0:41:12.760 --> 0:41:16.640 Sometimes I'll say things because of prayer and Holy Spirit, 0:41:17.400 --> 0:41:20.080 and sometimes it's insecurity or it's. 0:41:19.960 --> 0:41:22.360 Celsius, you know. Sometimes you go, I think that was 0:41:22.400 --> 0:41:24.400 a lord, and it might be and it might not be. 0:41:25.840 --> 0:41:28.160 But I said, I think I think it was the 0:41:28.200 --> 0:41:32.399 Holy Spirit who impressed me to say you're worth it. 0:41:33.200 --> 0:41:35.319 And as soon as I said that, he just beent 0:41:35.360 --> 0:41:39.440 over and began to sob like a baby, and he 0:41:39.520 --> 0:41:42.360 kind of pitched himself in my arms. 0:41:43.000 --> 0:41:46.480 And even though I'm not as petite as Holly, he 0:41:46.560 --> 0:41:47.319 was a tall guy. 0:41:47.360 --> 0:41:49.080 It was hard for me to hold him up. I mean, 0:41:49.120 --> 0:41:51.520 he just put the whole weight of his body in 0:41:51.520 --> 0:41:55.680 my arms, and I mean he was just sobbing, and 0:41:55.719 --> 0:41:58.280 the only thing I could think to do was pray. 0:41:58.560 --> 0:42:00.480 And when I'm nervous, offen times. 0:42:00.560 --> 0:42:03.680 I'll pray scripture, I'll pray the word of God, this 0:42:03.800 --> 0:42:06.360 love story we call the Bible. And so I just 0:42:06.400 --> 0:42:09.359 begin to pray. So I'm one thirty nine. Oh Lord, 0:42:09.400 --> 0:42:11.120 you have searched me, and you know me. You know 0:42:11.160 --> 0:42:14.440 when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my 0:42:14.520 --> 0:42:18.400 thoughts from afar. Every word you know before it proceeds 0:42:18.440 --> 0:42:20.720 from my mouth. You hen me and behind, and before 0:42:20.760 --> 0:42:24.600 you've laid your hand upon me. Where can I go 0:42:24.640 --> 0:42:26.720 from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 0:42:27.640 --> 0:42:30.480 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for 0:42:30.560 --> 0:42:33.040 me to attain. Where can I go from your spirit? 0:42:33.040 --> 0:42:34.560 Where can I flee from your presence? If I go 0:42:34.640 --> 0:42:36.880 up to the heavens, you're there. If I make my 0:42:36.920 --> 0:42:39.400 bed and the depth, you're there. If I rise on 0:42:39.440 --> 0:42:41.400 the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the 0:42:41.400 --> 0:42:42.840 far side of the sea, even. 0:42:42.680 --> 0:42:44.160 There, your right hand will hold me. 0:42:44.920 --> 0:42:48.359 If I say, surely the darkness will hide me, and 0:42:48.400 --> 0:42:52.439 the light become night around me, even the darkness will not. 0:42:52.360 --> 0:42:52.960 Be dark to you. 0:42:54.880 --> 0:43:04.360 For David goes on to say, for I'm wonderfully and 0:43:04.400 --> 0:43:07.560 fearfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full 0:43:07.600 --> 0:43:09.759 well my frame was it hidden from you? When I 0:43:09.800 --> 0:43:12.120 was made in the secret place, when I was woven 0:43:12.160 --> 0:43:13.960 together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw 0:43:14.080 --> 0:43:17.440 my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were 0:43:17.440 --> 0:43:20.640 written in your book before even one of them came 0:43:20.719 --> 0:43:24.839 to be, long before you met Brett, long before y'all 0:43:24.880 --> 0:43:27.040 had a baby, long before you entered ministry. 0:43:27.080 --> 0:43:30.360 He said, this is my worthy son. He's so amazing. 0:43:31.120 --> 0:43:33.280 And that's all I could think to pray over cricket 0:43:33.320 --> 0:43:35.800 when I got to verse eighteen, Cause after that David 0:43:35.840 --> 0:43:37.480 gets mad, and that's when he says, do I not 0:43:37.520 --> 0:43:38.440 hate those who hate you? 0:43:38.480 --> 0:43:40.000 And it gets a little crumpy. 0:43:40.320 --> 0:43:43.800 And so I I finished the prayer at verse eighteen. 0:43:43.840 --> 0:43:45.560 And when I did it, it's like it gave Cricket 0:43:45.600 --> 0:43:48.319 just enough where with all the stamd back up. And 0:43:48.360 --> 0:43:50.560 he looked me in the eyes and he had no 0:43:50.640 --> 0:43:53.760 olc on his breath, his eyes weren't bloodshot, just completely clear. 0:43:53.840 --> 0:43:57.680 I just think he was he was just in one 0:43:57.680 --> 0:44:01.560 of those thin seasons. And he looked me straight in. 0:44:01.480 --> 0:44:05.839 The eyes, and he goes, Lisa, you have no idea 0:44:07.360 --> 0:44:10.160 how much I needed to be reminded that I have 0:44:10.239 --> 0:44:14.560 worth and I said, yes, Sir, I needed that reminder 0:44:14.600 --> 0:44:18.960 today as well. And we hugged and I drove away 0:44:20.480 --> 0:44:23.840 a daughter and a son from completely different stations in life, 0:44:23.880 --> 0:44:29.000 different ethnicities. And I stopped at a sudden eleven at 0:44:29.000 --> 0:44:31.080 the end of the street because I couldn't drive anymore 0:44:31.120 --> 0:44:33.600 because I was crying so hard, and I just pulled 0:44:33.600 --> 0:44:36.120 my car over and I said, God, forgive me, forgive me, 0:44:36.200 --> 0:44:40.560 forgive me, forgive me that because of my station in life, 0:44:40.600 --> 0:44:43.640 sometimes I forget what an extraordinary. 0:44:43.160 --> 0:44:48.040 Miracle it has to be your daughter to be. 0:44:48.160 --> 0:44:51.440 Adopted into your family. 0:44:52.200 --> 0:44:52.800 You didn't. 0:44:54.480 --> 0:44:56.799 You didn't just rescue me from the trash heap of 0:44:56.840 --> 0:45:01.000 my decisions. You didn't just leave me in a cubby 0:45:01.840 --> 0:45:04.280 to become someone else's responsibility. 0:45:05.680 --> 0:45:09.839 You said, she's my daughter. 0:45:10.520 --> 0:45:14.920 And she's worth everything to me, even the sacrifice of 0:45:14.960 --> 0:45:21.440 my only son, the worth the worth you and I, Carrie. 0:45:21.560 --> 0:45:27.520 If we could walk in just the minutest understanding of 0:45:27.560 --> 0:45:29.719 the miracle that that is, y'all, it would change the 0:45:29.760 --> 0:45:30.920 trajectory of our lives. 0:45:31.360 --> 0:45:34.520 Quite possibly, it would change the lives of the people. 0:45:34.560 --> 0:45:37.600 We get to rub shoulders with these precious, precious image 0:45:37.600 --> 0:45:42.879 bears around us. So many of them who think I'm 0:45:42.920 --> 0:45:45.839 not worth anything, because that's what. 0:45:45.840 --> 0:45:50.440 I've been told my whole life. Would you bow your 0:45:50.480 --> 0:45:53.480 heads and close your eyes. We're gonna close this family 0:45:53.560 --> 0:45:58.760 meeting with a prayer. And I know I haven't earned 0:45:58.760 --> 0:46:02.080 the right. I'm so great full, Stephen and Holly allow 0:46:02.160 --> 0:46:02.719 me to come. 0:46:02.800 --> 0:46:06.560 I haven't earned the right to ask you a question, 0:46:08.960 --> 0:46:11.600 but I'm going to anyway. 0:46:11.960 --> 0:46:13.879 I'm going to ask all of you to raise your 0:46:13.960 --> 0:46:15.040 right hands. 0:46:15.080 --> 0:46:17.760 I promise I'm not signing you up for a coffee 0:46:17.760 --> 0:46:21.960 club or anything. Just raise your right hands. The reason 0:46:22.000 --> 0:46:25.640 I do that is so you won't hear a hand 0:46:25.719 --> 0:46:28.600 go up next to you. Sometimes we can be a 0:46:28.600 --> 0:46:32.120 little nosy in church, and for those of you who 0:46:32.160 --> 0:46:35.360 maybe have been wounded in church, I want to assure 0:46:35.400 --> 0:46:40.400 you that you're safe at elevation. They're serious, serious about 0:46:40.400 --> 0:46:43.000 the love of God here, but you're not going to 0:46:43.000 --> 0:46:43.520 be judged. 0:46:45.120 --> 0:46:48.120 So everybody, right hands up, and. 0:46:48.080 --> 0:46:51.400 Would you just open those beautiful poems that God designed. 0:46:51.920 --> 0:46:53.760 Just spread that hand wide open. 0:46:55.640 --> 0:46:58.600 Now, if you're in a place in your life, a 0:46:58.680 --> 0:47:02.040 season in your life, or this may be the. 0:47:01.360 --> 0:47:03.840 Story of your whole life where. 0:47:03.760 --> 0:47:08.120 The idea of being having value intrinsic value, the idea 0:47:08.200 --> 0:47:11.720 of being loved unconditionally. 0:47:11.120 --> 0:47:12.920 By God, the idea that the God who. 0:47:12.719 --> 0:47:15.400 Breathed our universe into existence looks at you and says, 0:47:15.800 --> 0:47:17.520 I am so proud of this one. 0:47:17.600 --> 0:47:24.040 This is my son, this is my daughter. They're worth 0:47:24.960 --> 0:47:26.440 the fine to me. 0:47:26.760 --> 0:47:29.000 If that's hard for you to wrap your mind around, 0:47:29.120 --> 0:47:31.279 hard for you to hang on too, maybe you would 0:47:31.280 --> 0:47:33.680 be so honest as to say, I don't really believe that. 0:47:34.360 --> 0:47:36.760 Would you close that beautiful hand into a fist? 0:47:38.360 --> 0:47:38.600 Yeah? 0:47:38.880 --> 0:47:43.160 Yeah, yeah, yeah, Hey, thank you, thank you, thank you 0:47:43.200 --> 0:47:48.000 for your honesty. Can I ask you for just a 0:47:48.040 --> 0:47:51.120 moment more to keep your hands raised? Don't look around 0:47:51.880 --> 0:47:54.480 out of respect for the saints around you, But there 0:47:54.480 --> 0:48:01.480 are hundreds with fists in the air. Beautiful, not defiant, beautiful, 0:48:01.640 --> 0:48:04.960 tired fist in the air. Kind of reminds me of 0:48:05.000 --> 0:48:08.840 the Statue of Liberty. Give me you're tired, Give me 0:48:08.880 --> 0:48:13.840 you're tired. Give me your hopeless, Give me your hurt, 0:48:13.920 --> 0:48:17.560 give me your wounded, give me your abandoned, Give me 0:48:17.800 --> 0:48:20.560 your No one ever looked at you and said. 0:48:20.400 --> 0:48:25.000 You are worth the fine. 0:48:25.719 --> 0:48:29.280 I would walk across cut glass to get to you. 0:48:29.280 --> 0:48:34.000 You are precious to me all the exchange nations. 0:48:34.200 --> 0:48:38.160 For you, those of you with your fist rays. 0:48:38.200 --> 0:48:40.160 We're going to pray, and I'm going to ask you, 0:48:40.600 --> 0:48:45.759 if Holy Spirit prompts, would you pray. 0:48:45.560 --> 0:48:47.000 This prayer of salvation. 0:48:48.080 --> 0:48:50.759 Pray this prayer of maybe for the first time or 0:48:50.840 --> 0:48:53.120 for the first time in a long time, just leaning 0:48:53.200 --> 0:48:56.200 into the wide open arms of the God who has 0:48:56.239 --> 0:49:00.000 ascribed to value to you. You're not a disappointment to him, 0:49:00.000 --> 0:49:02.000 and you're not an interruption to him. 0:49:02.560 --> 0:49:05.239 He didn't save you because it's in his job description. 0:49:06.040 --> 0:49:10.680 He saved you because it was his yudokiah, his good thinking, 0:49:11.560 --> 0:49:14.120 to set his favor on you. 0:49:14.120 --> 0:49:17.200 You're not an afterthought. You were the first thought. One 0:49:17.200 --> 0:49:23.200 glance of your eyes, you captured his heart. Pastor, would 0:49:23.239 --> 0:49:24.320 you come and pray. 0:49:26.200 --> 0:49:29.799 For these image bears, some of whom have yet to 0:49:29.840 --> 0:49:30.720 believe they're worth. 0:49:37.080 --> 0:49:39.760 Father, We thank you for the word that was spoken 0:49:39.800 --> 0:49:42.120 over us today, God, to know that we were the 0:49:42.200 --> 0:49:44.640 joy that was set before you. We thank you for 0:49:44.719 --> 0:49:48.640 the spirit of wisdom and revelation resting in this place today. Lord, 0:49:48.640 --> 0:49:51.239 Would you open up our eyes to see ourselves the 0:49:51.239 --> 0:49:52.120 way you see us. 0:49:52.200 --> 0:49:52.480 God. 0:49:53.080 --> 0:49:55.760 For those with their hands up in a fist right now, God, 0:49:56.200 --> 0:49:58.360 or we pray Holy Spirit, that you would just continue 0:49:58.400 --> 0:50:02.759 to minister as your word becomes alive in their hearts. God, Oh, 0:50:02.800 --> 0:50:06.320 what an incredible manner of love that you have lavished 0:50:06.320 --> 0:50:10.640 on us, that we would be called children of God. 0:50:12.120 --> 0:50:14.080 For someone in the room today, you've never made a 0:50:14.120 --> 0:50:17.680 decision to receive the gift of God's grace, I want 0:50:17.680 --> 0:50:19.839 to give you that invitation right now. You can put 0:50:19.840 --> 0:50:22.200 your hands down for just a moment if you've never 0:50:22.239 --> 0:50:24.520 made a decision to place your faith in Christ. When 0:50:24.520 --> 0:50:26.880 I count to three, I want to give you the 0:50:26.920 --> 0:50:28.800 opportunity to throw your hand up in the air. The 0:50:28.880 --> 0:50:31.319 last one was private, but this one's public because we 0:50:31.360 --> 0:50:33.719 want to celebrate what God has done in your heart. 0:50:33.719 --> 0:50:36.160 If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, 0:50:36.160 --> 0:50:38.960 that he died on the cross and rose again so 0:50:39.000 --> 0:50:41.440 that you could be forgiven and have new life. If 0:50:41.480 --> 0:50:43.760 you want to receive the gift of His salvation today, 0:50:43.760 --> 0:50:45.719 when I count the three, slide your hand up in 0:50:45.719 --> 0:50:48.000 the air and do it boldly. Want to celebrate your 0:50:48.040 --> 0:50:52.239 new beginning on three, one, two, three, shoot your hand up, 0:50:52.239 --> 0:50:53.960 hold it up, Come on us. See you there, God 0:50:53.960 --> 0:50:57.040 bless you, God bless you, and. 0:50:57.120 --> 0:50:59.479 I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did, 0:51:00.080 --> 0:51:02.640 make sure to share it and subscribe so we can 0:51:02.680 --> 0:51:05.279 get you all of these new messages as soon as 0:51:05.280 --> 0:51:08.080 they're available. I also want to take a moment and 0:51:08.160 --> 0:51:09.960 thank all of you who are a part of Elevation. 0:51:10.440 --> 0:51:13.799 Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or 0:51:14.200 --> 0:51:16.879 just share these messages, it's because of you that we're 0:51:16.920 --> 0:51:19.839 able to reach people all around the world. And if 0:51:19.880 --> 0:51:22.359 you want more information on how to be a part 0:51:22.400 --> 0:51:26.319 of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again 0:51:26.360 --> 0:51:29.280 for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message, 0:51:29.360 --> 0:51:30.200 and subscribe. 0:51:30.480 --> 0:51:39.840 God bless you.