July 30, 2023 • 55 mins
Get ready for what’s next.
In “The God of Again,” Pastor Steven Furtick reminds us that God isn’t against us — He keeps coming back for us over and over again.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr
To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/
Scripture References:
John 21, verses 1-17
Hebrews 11, verse 6
Luke 15, verses 21-24, 31-32
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Be sure to.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week.
I hope you're blessed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Today.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We want to welcome our EPAM around the world, our
global community of men and women, boys and girls, cats
and dogs, fish and lizards. Whoever's watching, all of y'all welcome, Welcome.
Let us know where you're watching from in the comments.
I have a word for you today. God has really
been speaking to me. I shared last week a message
(00:43):
about how God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
and then I said he's the God of also also,
meaning that God is bigger than your box, whatever you
have seen him as so far. He's more than that.
(01:05):
Your past is not greater than your potential. He's the
God of also who you are still unfolding, you're still becoming,
and that God's purpose is bigger than your plan.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And so we talked about the God of also.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
This week, I'd like to continue in that same theme
and so also, not only is he the God of also,
but there's another thing I want to show you and
the Holy Spirit showed me how to do it.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
He told me to use one verse and that this
one verse would help me launch my talk.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
And then we'll talk about it, and we'll talk about
some more, and we'll talk about some more. But the
verse I want to show you to get started is
John chapter twenty one, Verse one.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Just real quick, setting this foundation, the writer says.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea
of Galilee.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
It happened afterward Jesus appeared again.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So today I want to talk to you about the
God of Again, the God of Again. I think this
is going to help you with some of the heaviness
you've been feeling from regrets and fears. He's the God
of also, and he's also the God of again, Spirit
(02:27):
of the Living God. Have your way now. I yield
myself to you. You are the music. I am the
instrument reach your people through me. I offer myself to you.
Speak to them through me. You get the glory, you
get the praise.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
In Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, and they be seated. Just
something I don't normally do.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I'm going to give you all three of my points
at the beginning of my message. Number one God is
really into repetition. That's point number one. I'll give you
a minute to write that down. God is really into repetition.
(03:12):
All right, you got that number two, God is really
into repetition.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And point three, God.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Is really really really really really really really really into repetition.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Prove it to you.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
We'll go to Jericho and ask the Israelites if God
is into repetition. When they had to walk around those
walls not only seven times, but seven days, Boom taking
a lap seeing nothing happen, Boom taking a lap seeing
nothing happening. Boom taking a lap seeing nothing happen, like
(03:59):
on that fourth day. Are you sure you heard from God, Joshua?
Or are we marching around the right walls? But God
is really into repetition?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Or if you don't.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Believe those people that God is really into repetition, ask
name in the Syrian commander who had leprosy.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
You know I'm going with this. He had to dip
in the Jordan river seven times to be healed of
his leprosy.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
You know about the fifth dip, you'd be kind of
embarrassed if you still had the same spots on your
skin that you had when it got started. But God
is really into repetition. Or ask that servant of the
Man of God, Elijah. Now this story is in one
(04:50):
King's eighteen. There's been a drought and Elijah, the prophet, says, hey,
there's a cloud starting to fill up with rain. And
the man is like where. He's like, go look, He's like,
there's nothing there. It's like look again, It's like there's
nothing there. It's like, look again, there's nothing there. Seven
times he looked seven times. God is really into repetition.
(05:14):
I bring it up because maybe you're frustrated that you're
still going through something in your life that you thought
you would have gone through by now.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
No zero percent frustration at Elevation Church today, just me.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I'm gonna repeat that again. Maybe you're frustrated because there's
something in your life. Maybe you're like Graham. Graham's real picky.
Holly is such a good cook that our kids have
gotten really picky.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Let me think how that works. She's too consistent in
the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I told her to clear the pantries and shut down
the kitchen for a month to get Graham to shut up,
because she said the other day, we're having chili tonight,
and he goes really again chili, and I'm like, yeah,
really again, chili. The chili is good if she wants
(06:24):
to cook it every night. But he's gotten picky because
she's too consistent. She's so consistent that he's gotten picky
with it. And the truth is, some of us God
has been too good to us, if I can say
(06:44):
it that way, that he's so consistent and he's so
good at being God that it's hard for us to
stay grateful because of all the stuff he just did.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
They're like the sun came up the morning and nobody
praised him for it. I mean, most of us walked
into church today.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Our legs got us in here, and you know, and
then three songs in my feet are hurting.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
When are we gonna sit down?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Are we gonna sing the same thing over and over
and over?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
How much more? Does he know? Much more? How much more?
Much more? I don't know much more? Tell me how
much more are we gonna sing?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
But God is into repetition, So sometimes I think it's
good when we just sing and give thanks to the Lord.
You know, Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always again.
I say rejoice, And sometimes we have to rejoice again
and again in order to remind our souls that God
(07:54):
has been good again and again. I mean, how many
have the testimony that he kept on blessing me. He
kept on blessing me many times. I even tried to
push God away, but he kept on blessing me. Sometimes
I ran so far I thought I couldn't receive it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But he.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
A lot of times, I was actually living a life
that was completely contradictory to the character in his word.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
But he.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I'm using repetition to talk to you about the repetitious
nature of the grace of God. I mean, thank god,
he's into repetition. Thank God he's into continuing to wake
me up every morning and start me.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
On my way.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Thank God, he's into just over and over again. Watch
this breathing out so that I can breathe in. And
that's why I don't mind praising him, because let everything
that has praise the Lord, and I figure that if
He's good enough to give the breath, I ought to
be grateful enough to give it back. I don't mind
(09:05):
giving him glory. I don't mind singing it one more time.
God is really into repetition.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
If you don't ever know what to say to God.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Just start saying thank you Jesus, and then just say
it again, thank you Jesus. And then if you can't
think of anything to thank him for, it to say
thank you Jesus for your love, thank you Jesus for
the cross, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Because God is into repetition.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Now I don't just mean vain repetition where we just
say a lot of stuff, but I mean that kind
of I need to slow down. God is into repetition,
and I'm glad that he is because the fact that
he's into repetition means that he will keep on sustaining
me and keep on blessing me over and over again.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's why I read you the scripture that I read you.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
That afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples. I prayed
today that he would show up again to you. I
assume that you want to be his disciple and that
you want to see him, so I prayed that he
would show up again.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Everybody say again, that's the thing about it.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
He's resurrected from the dead, and he already showed up
two other.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Times to his disciples.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
They were kind of scared, so they were hiding behind
locked doors and he just walks through.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So he shows up.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Again to see Thomas because Thomas wasn't there the first time.
And then John said afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples,
which kind of makes you wonder, how many times do
you have to show up after you're raised from the
dead to get somebody convinced that you're the son of God.
(11:00):
We remembering in a funny memory with Elijah this week
because he turned eighteen and we're to my lawlest birthday
parties in the past, and that guy was talking about
family pictures and that made me traumatized. I hate nothing
more than taking family pictures. I'm telling you, man. I Well,
I'll just tell you one example. There was one time
(11:21):
when they were real little and Elijah kept picking on
Abby and Holly looks at him. And you know, when
Holly's in front of y'all, she's very sweet, there's another side.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
She looks at him, and I was scared. And she
wasn't even talking to me.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
She said, how many times do I have to tell
you keep your heads off your sister? He's terrified. He's
only like, you know, seven at the time. He's terrified.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
He looks at her goes three times.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Well, it's so funny. Three times, Like.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
How many times will it take for you to hear
the words that are coming out of my mouth?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
He's like, oh no, maybe three red.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
And I wonder how many times does God have to.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Tell us certain things? Why'd you just squeal? Maybe God
has been trying to tell you something. And this is
a central question I really want to ask.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
This will probably send some of you off and you
won't hear anything else in the sermon, But it's fine
because I want to give it to you. What does
God keep repeating that you keep resisting?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
He said, say it again. I love when people say
that in my sermon. Like sometimes they'll say say it again,
and I'm like, I don't know what I just said.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I'm just following the Holy Spirit, but I will say
that again. Ask God been repeating that you have been resisting.
In the passage that I read you, Peter has gone fishing,
even though God is going to call him to be
a great apostle, Like Peter is going to go on
(13:16):
to be kind of like a pope to the.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Church in that day. You would have seen it that way.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Peter is going to go on to preach on the
day of Pentecost.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
None of that has happened yet. The Holy Spirit hasn't come.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
He's already seen Jesus, but Peter still needs something else,
and it's called.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Restoration. Restoration.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Not only does he need to see that Jesus is resurrected,
but he needs to personally be restored. The Holy Spirit
said that I would be ministering to people today who
you have seen the revelation of God, meaning that you
know you've experienced Him in your life. He has seen
(14:04):
you through certain seasons, but you are finding yourself in
a season today as I speak this message that things
have been so different and so difficult that you need
to see Him again in order to go forward. And
the good news is he is the God of again.
(14:28):
He's the God who will show up once and walk
through locked doors, show up twice, so doubting Thomas can believe.
And if that's not enough, he'll show up.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
How many times? Three times? Three times? If that's what
it takes.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
To get Peter to see not who Jesus is. Peter
already saw that, But what if what Peter needs to
see in this moment is who Peter is? There are
times in your life where God needs to show you
again who you are.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Because you forget.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
God needs to show you what you're capable of because
you've talked yourself out of it. God needs to show
you that there's a future ahead of you, greater than
anything that is behind you. He's the God of again,
and he will tell you as many times as he
(15:30):
needs to tell you in order to get you to
see this truth. And that's because he's full of grace
and he's full of mercy, and he will bless you
again and again.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
The same thing that is.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
True of the blessing of God is also true of
the lessons of God. He will do it over and
over again until you get it. God will teach you
things over and over again until you learn them.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Now.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I don't know if you want to hear that or
not he will.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
God will allow certain things in your life to stay
that way until you finally learn what He actually wants
you to learn.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
God doesn't cancel the class because you burn the books.
God doesn't avinst you to the next level because you're tired.
There are certain things in our lives that God will
teach us over and over again.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
In this passage.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Here is a pretty cool example of that, because let
me read a little bit more of it. It said, afterward,
Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the sea of Galilee.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
It happened this way. I read you that verse. But
let's hear what happened.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Simon Peter Thomas, also known as Didamus Nathaniel, from cana
and Galilee. The sons of Zebedee and two other disciples
were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them,
and they said, we'll go with you. So they went out,
got in the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but
the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
He called out to them, friends, haven't you any fish?
Speaker 3 (17:03):
No, they answered. He said, throw your nets on the
right side of the boat and you will find some.
When they did, they were unable to haul the net
in because of the large number of fish. Then the
disciple whom Jesus loved as John, who's riding this gospel,
said to Peter, is the Lord you think? As soon
as Simon Peter heard him say it's the Lord, he
(17:25):
wrapped his outer garment around him, for you're taking it off,
and jumped in the water. The other disciples followed in
the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they
were not far from shore, about one hundred yards.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And when they landed they saw a fire of burning coals.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
There with fish on it and some bread. And Jesus
said to them, bring some of the fish you have
just caught. So Simon Peter climbed back in the boat
dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish,
one hundred and fifty three. But even with so many,
the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come
and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask who
(18:00):
are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came,
took the bread, gave it to them. This wasn't the
first time they'd seen him do this. By the way,
Jesus came, took the bread, gave it to them, did
the same with the fish. This was now the third
time Jesus appeared to the disciples.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
How many third time? Three times?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
This was the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples
after he was raised from the dead. When they finished eating,
Jesus said to Simon Peter. Now here's the moment, Simon,
son of John, do you love me more than these?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Lord, he said, you know I love you. Jesus said,
feed my lambs verse sixteen. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son
of John, do you love me? And Peter said, yes, Lord,
(19:06):
you know that I love you. Is this like a
riddle or something? Pete and repeat, We're on a boat,
Pete fell off?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Who was left? Pete and repeat? Were on a boat?
Pete fell off? Who was left? Pete and repeat, We're
on a boat. Are you messing with me? Jesus? Is
this a riddle? No, it's not a riddle. It's a restoration.
(19:36):
Paul me follow me.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
How many times did Peter deny Jesus? So how many
times does Jesus restore.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Him to his first love? Somebody shout again.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
I hear God saying again, over your life again, We're.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Going to do this until you get it.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I'm going to prove that I'm powerful until you believe
me to be faithful. I'm going to show you that
there's nothing too hard for me. Until you stop worrying
about stuff that I'm already working out in your life.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Shout again, Shout again, shout again.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
I'm using the message to preach the message because I
want you to get.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
This word in your spirit. He's not the god of
one time. You better get it right.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
He's not the god of Well, if you haven't learned
it by now, I guess.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
You're just stupid. I mean, in that what we tell ourselves.
That's what I tell myself sometimes. How do I not
know this by now? How am I not over this
by now? How can I not do this by now?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
That's usually why we stop getting smarter, because we stop
asking stuff because something in us thinks I should know
this by now.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
That's why we stay.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Broke, because we think we shouldn't know this about money
by now, so we pretend like we know, rather than
admitting that we don't know. And because we think we
should know by now, we never know because we won't
ask because we think.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
That God is frustrated with us.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
And you know, we get this for a good reason,
because we're frustrated with us. So then we project the
same attitude on God that we carry within us. And
for many of us, the figure of God that we
have is an exasperated father saying, really again, you're praying
(21:58):
to me about this again. You lost your temper again? Really,
you're asking me to help you with this again. That's
kind of how God sounds in my mind when I'm
in a bad place, when I haven't been spending time
in his presence, when I've just been letting the devil
(22:19):
get the best of me.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
It's like I.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Almost want to go to God for stuff, but I
almost picture him going again. You need me to feel
you again. You mean to walk you through this again?
How many times are you gonna come to me and
ask me to forgive you for this? But I found
(22:43):
out that every time I come to God, it's a
compliment to him.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
This changed my life.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Because when I come to Him and say, oh, I
need more grace, he goes, I'm good at grace, And
when you ask me for grace, you presume my power
that I'm.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Good at what you asked me for.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
High five the preacher jed Johnny some encouragement out there,
because when I come to God, he's not up there
going again.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I gotta show you again how to go and apologize.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I gotta show you again how to work through this insecurity.
I've been teaching you this since you were fifteen. Are
you stupid. That's not the language of Heaven. God goes.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Again. You hear the difference. Jesus appeared again again again.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
One of my kids, who shall remain nameless, asked, probably
when they were really little, she was telling them, when's
the last time.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You changed clothes? They said four days ago? And she said,
does that include your underwear? And this particular kid of
ours said, you.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Mean I have to change my underwear every day. When
you do something over and over again in behavior, it's
called a habit. When you do something again in music
(24:33):
and it's a pattern that is pleasing, it's called a hook.
When you do it again and again and again and again,
it's a hook. And it just so happens that I'm
preaching today about fishing, and they weren't fishing with a hook.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
They were fishing with a net.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
The principle is the same, is that God wanted Peter
to know I've hooked you, I've got you.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I'm not letting you go. I'm not letting you off
the hook. And you keep coming back to God, telling
him over and over again in your mind.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Why he should choose someone else, And as many times
as you give him an excuse, he's going to give
you a truth again and again and again and again
and again and again and.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Again and again. How many times are you gonna say it, Preacher?
As many times as it takes for you to respond
to this word that I'm feeling in my heart, and
again and again and again.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Oh there's a famous quote that they attributed to Albert Einstein,
but I looked into it and I don't think he
really said it, but still a great quote. Insanity is
doing the same thing over and over again expecting a
different result. Okay, I got a different version of that quote.
Immaturity is doing something once in a while and wondering
(26:20):
why it didn't work.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
If God is the.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
God of again, what makes you think you're gonna quote
one scripture and the Devil's gonna run off of everything
in your life you need.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Him to leave? Come on?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
If God is the God of again, what makes us
think we could just come to church once on Sunday
and put a space of six days between us and
God and just be Okay, I'm gonna need God to
get in the gaps between Sundays for me to fight
against the stuff that I'm struggling with, because he's the
(26:59):
God again. That's not put these messages on YouTube for
free so you can get it.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And and some.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Of you don't like you talk to you fast when
you firally need the slow down. No, you need to
rewind to get it again.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
YouTube even has a slowdown flumption.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
There's no excops, slow me down and get this world.
Speaker 6 (27:34):
I'll go as slow as you need me because I
got something for you and I want you to get it.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Oh, sometimes he will leave you in a season a
little longer, and you'll think that he's being slow. But
what you call his slowness is actually his love, because
his slowness, as you perceive it, is his steadiness to
prepare you, by his sovereignty for something that your eyes
(28:08):
cannot see. I'm preaching he's the god of Again, don't
be so discouraged by what you're still working through, because
I guarantee you it takes all of us time. It
takes everybody time. In marketing, they used to have a
rule called the rule of seven.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Have you ever heard of this?
Speaker 3 (28:29):
This is way back from like the thirties and stuff,
way before social media. They said you have to touch
somebody seven times with the message before they act on it.
Seven times seven times before they see the product, and
you have to show it to him. Here, show it
to them there, show it like this, show him that.
They said, on average this isn't completely scientific, but on average,
it's at least seven. The walls of Jericho, it's at
(28:55):
least seven. Name in dipping in the Jordan, it's at
least seven. There's a cloud the size of a man's hand,
it's at least seven. So do you want to dabble
in seeking God? Because Hebrews eleven six says without faith
(29:17):
it is impossible to please God. Because he who comes
to God must believe that he is, and that He
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Knocked
them that haphazardly dabble in him. They don't like me today, Hollyford.
(29:41):
Do you want me to say that again? Should I say
it again? Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete
fell off, who was left all right? Peter was following Christ.
Peter fell away who came to get him? And how
(30:03):
many times did he come back for him? How many
times did he restore him? I would suggest to you
that even if you are not diligently seeking God, He's
diligently seeking you.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Don't you see it?
Speaker 3 (30:27):
How he kept coming for you all your life? Don't
you see it? How when people gave up on you,
he was there. Don't you see it? How even when
your nets came up empty, even the empty nets were
preparation for the greater blessing. Don't you see how even
(30:51):
the rejections in your life were making room for something
you did.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Not know to expect that was next. Somebody shot next.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
What's next, but I get a sense in my spirit
that God is getting somebody ready for next, because he's
the God of again. I don't think he brought you
this far to leave you. I don't think he gave
you this much to abandon you.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I don't think he brought.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
You into this earth to step back from you and.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Have you figure it out on your own.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I think He's gonna show up in a great way
in this next season of your life. So I was
talking to this friend the other day and they were
stuck in regret, and they just kept expressing over and
(31:53):
over again their regret, and they said decision term.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
They said, I just feel like it's the one that
got away. It's the one that got away.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Now they were taking this as a sign that it
was over and they would never get it back, and
it was painful. And I could tell it was painful
because it was an opportunity that they lost, and they
couldn't get over what they lost, and they couldn't even
think about what they had.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Left because of what they lost. And I never liked to.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Just say stuff that sounds like a fortune cookie, because
I'm a preacher.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I don't talk in sound bites.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
If you ever meet me and you say I'm having
a hard day, I will not say rejoice on the
Lord always again I say rejoice. I do that up
here because I have a different roll up here. But
this was a friend I was talking to, and I'd
walked with this friend through some of it, and I
could see that while they were saying the one that
got away, they were literally.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
Like Peter fishing, fishing, fishing, like empty, empty, empty, and
they couldn't find an explanation and they couldn't find a
way forward.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
And so I let them say it a few times
and I just listened.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
But like on the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh
time they said the one that got away, something hit
me and I said it, and I don't know if
I made it up. I don't know if God gave
it to me. I don't know if it was arrogant.
I don't know if it was right or good or whatever.
But the Lord said to say it to you today,
so I'm gonna say it to you. They said, I
just keep feeling like this is the one that got away.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
And I looked back and said, stop saying that. It's
not the one that got away.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
It's the one that got you ready, got inside it.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
It's not the one that got away.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Every time you let the nuts down and it came
up empty, and you let him down, and it came
up empty, and you let him down and it came
up empty. All it was doing was holding the place.
So when Jesus shows up, you'll be.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
Ready for what's on the other side. From the boat,
somebody shot, I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
I'm ready.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
High five seven. People say you're ready.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Now you're ready.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
Now you're ready, Now you're ready.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Now your nets are ready, your heart is ready.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
You're humble.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Now you're wise, sir. Now you're with it. Now you're
wider than sill.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Now you're once, Now you're clean, Now you're open now
you're humble. Now I'm already now.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Glory to God. High five of them again and say
I'm ready now, I'm ready now. In basketball they say
nothing but net.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
And that's what Peter had as long as he was
fishing without Jesus.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
But when he got to the other side of that bone,
watch this.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
I came to say, stop focusing on the one that
got away.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
God said to tell you, don't focus on anything in
this season.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Nothing but next, because what's coming, what is yet to be?
Speaker 5 (35:11):
He's great up, Oh, somebody's shut again. He's gonna do
it again, but it's gonna be bigger. He's gonna do
it again.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
What is gonna be greater? I'm gonna preach this thing
till you believe it.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
How many times will he have to part water before
you take the step when your ankle deep?
Speaker 1 (35:44):
How many times will he have.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
To kill Goliath before you get your rock and start
swinging at everything in your life that is in front
of you. There is something that God already did will
not do it the same way, So stop expecting.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
To part seas with rocks. The rock is for Goliath,
the staff is for the sea.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
God will use different tools in different seasons. But there
is no one that got away, not with God. Prove it, Pastor.
He came back to get Thomas. He didn't let Thomas
get away, and he won't let you get away. And
(36:36):
anything that's truly for you in your life, God won't
let get away either. I think my favorite passage about
the God of again, and I probably should stop preaching
right now because I think you already got enough. You know,
one of the biggest things that God has been teaching
(36:57):
me lately is we can come back together next Sunday.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
And we could do it again. But I can't let
you go because you might. You know, you might, you might,
you might sleep in next Sunday. So I got to
give you this while I got you picture with me.
I give you this. You came all the way from
New York for this? Did you really all right? New York?
Speaker 3 (37:26):
So I'm in a reference with a familiar Bible story.
You probably heard it before, but you need to hear
it again. There were two sons, one father. The younger
son went to his father and said, I want my
inheritance now, and he left and started living wild. This
in Luke chapter fifteen. How many of you have heard this?
Story before the story of Practison, Well you need to
hear it. So this young man goes off, spends everything
(37:50):
that he has. Once he sees that his friends aren't
really his friends, but they are only with him as
long as what is attached to him is flowing.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Once that falls.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Away, he realizes, Man, I'm living way beneath what I
had back home. He goes home with the speech prepared,
and he's really worried because he's been gone a long time,
long enough for his dad to assume that he's dead.
The older brother's back home doing his job when he's
getting to the place, and I want to start at
about verse twenty one of Luke fifteen. If I don't
(38:20):
finish this today, i'll put it on YouTube this week
for you and me and Holly. I'll sit down and
break it down. I've been doing these little sermon breakdowns
on YouTube, and I might do one on this.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
And you're going to listen to the message again Monday. Anyway.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Right now, this is something that this is something that
is really pivotal to me, me explaining and unpacking to
you what I mean when I say he's the god
of again, because the contrast of it is found here
when this younger son who has run away from home
is thinking about coming back, like you might be thinking
(38:54):
about coming back today, Like I'm gonna try to get
sober again. I'm going to really try this thing again
of opening up to in my life. I'm going to
really commit to this path again. I'm gonna pick up
my Bible and to start simple reading Bible plan again.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Whatever.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
It doesn't have to be so deep, but whatever it
is that you're about to do again, this is this
boy's fear.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
He has a hurdle across because he's.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Thinking about his father and all the harm that he's caused.
So he's getting to the place verse twenty one. Please,
the son said the father, I have sinned against heaven
and against you. I am no longer worthy to be
called your son. Notice the word there in the verse against.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Against.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
In his mind, he has made his father out to
be against him, against him, against him, he has something
against me. In this case, it's true, the father could
have very easily chosen to disinherit this boy.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
He had the legal right. So he's thinking about what
his father has against him, and that's what stops us.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
We think about what's against us and if we assume
that at the heart of it all, God is actually
against us, or life is against us, then we turn
against ourselves. So we don't try again because of what's
against us. Watch the story unfold because it's shocking. Verse
twenty two. But the father said to his servants, quick,
(40:24):
bring the best robe and put it on him. Put
a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet.
Next verse, bring the fat and calf and kill it.
Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of
mine was dead and is alive.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Say it, Say it again, Say it again.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
He thought he was coming to the god of against,
but he found the God of.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Again.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Give him his road back, give him his ring back,
give him his name back, give him his seat back.
For this son of mine was dead. Wait, no, he
wasn't dead, but I thought he was. And now he's alive.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Again.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Some of the things that God wants to bring alive
again in your life.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
They're not really dead.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
They're just waiting for you to recognize them. Sometimes it's
not about something that God needs to add.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
To our lives.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
It's about something that we need to remember again. So
as many times a day as you need to say
to yourself.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
I'm fully given by the blood of Jesus. Say it again.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
If you leave church in five minutes after Pastor Stephen.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Is preaching, your cuss and ask.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
God for forgiveness again and again and again mid cuss word,
cut yourself off between syllables and say, Father, help me
not cuss like that anymore. I know my tongue needs
to be tamed. Payment again, Taman takes time. Help me
with this again, and God doesn't go again.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
He goes again again. Let's get you walking right again.
Let's drill this again.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
If God is a good teacher, that means he knows
how to get through to me.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
That means he knows how to make the adjustments.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
If God is a loving father, that means he will
never run out of what I need more of. So
when I come to him, he doesn't stand against me.
He is there again for me as many times as
I know need so. I stumbled upon something in my
own life to help me recognize what God has already
(43:07):
done for me.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
I share it with you in the spirit of encouragement.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
Many days in my life I have a complaining and
grumbling spirit, and that leads to my anxiety, and it
leads to me feeling resentful of all of the pressures
in my life.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
I've had to learn how to deal with that again
and again and again. I thought by now it would
be easy. It still isn't. I thought by age.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Forty three I would have a permanently set perspective. Maybe
it happens when you turn forty four, but it definitely
doesn't happen at forty three in my case. So I
have to make all of these things that I say
to myself again and again and again. Now, notice what
the boy in the story was saying to himself again
(43:57):
and again walking to his father. I'm not worthy, I'm
not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.
When you walk around saying that in some form to
yourself day after day, year after year, you begin to
become what you believe, and you believe what you repeat.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
Shall I say that again?
Speaker 3 (44:16):
You become what you believe, and you believe what you repeat,
especially what you repeat within yourself. But the father gives
him a better word, and he says, come back home again.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
He was dead, and now he is alive again. Let's celebrate.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Sometimes you have to celebrate what remains in order to
move forward and what hasn't been revealed, So I go
into this place and forgive me if this is kind
of dark or weird.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Sometimes I ask myself the question, if I lost what
mattered most to me, what would I give to have
it back?
Speaker 3 (44:59):
And it's a next size that I do, and I
find it helpful because in that what matters most to me.
I start, of course with my salvation that Jesus paid
the price for me, and that I I don't have
to go to Hell, I don't have to live in condemnation.
I don't have to carry the shame of the things
that I've done.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
I can't think of a better gift, can you? Can you?
If you can come up here and tell me.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
About it, just to know that it's all paid for
by him. Yeah, And I go down the list and
I get like technical because like right behind Jesus's Holly,
they're kind of they're kind of similar. They're both always
(45:48):
there for me, they're both amazing to me, they're both
better than me. And then you see I'm earning points
multitasking up here in this microphone and think about my wife.
I think about my kids, and I think, if I
lost them, what would I give to have them back?
Speaker 1 (46:09):
And the answer is everything? So what do I already have?
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Maybe like, well, I have lost this person in my
life and I can't say that you still have his grace?
Speaker 1 (46:36):
What would you give to have that grace back if
it went away? Everything? So what do you have right now? Everything?
Sometimes you just need to remember again what you've already
been given.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
Isn't it good for us to sometimes just stand in
a situation and say, lord, I don't know what you're
going to do next, but you already did this. You
already gave me that, and if you did it before,
it stands to reason you're gonna do it again.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
But even until you do, if I already have you,
I already have everything.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
Try it sometime this week when the enemy starts speaking
to you about how you're not going to make it
and this time it's different and you can't recover from
this and it will never be the same, and they're
the one that you needed and you can't live without them,
stop and say, wait a minute, if I have him,
I have everything. That's what the father did with his
(47:49):
older son because the older son, who stayed home, he
was mad about the party. He said I'm not coming
in there to celebrate this hooligan. He spent half our inheritance.
Now you're spending money on beef patties, making them some
brisket out here. I'm not coming in to eat the brisket.
I hate my brother. And the Father said, look a
(48:11):
verse thirty one. This is so powerful, he said, my son,
you are always with me and everything I have it's
already yours.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Verse thirty two.
Speaker 3 (48:26):
But we had to celebrate and be glad because this
brother of yours was.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Dead and is alive again.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
And the God of again is standing over your life today.
I promise that he is. I don't know what you
got to walk through in this season. I don't know
what doctors have told you, lawyers have told you, what
the devil has told you, what insecurity has told you.
I don't know what any of the symptoms in your
body are saying, or any of the emotions in your
soul are saying.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
But I know what the Father is saying again again again.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
As a matter of fact, let's just walk back and
look at it.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
If he told the sun when to rise.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
And it did, he will again, how many believe he
will again? Somebody shout he will again. And if he
told the storm to be still and it did, he
will he will. I need the whole church to agree
(49:41):
with me. If he told the sea where.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
To split and it did, he will.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
And if he told the walls when to fall and
they did, he will again.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
And if he told the change winsor.
Speaker 3 (50:00):
Break and they did, he will again.
Speaker 4 (50:05):
And if he told the bones come alive and they did,
he will again. And if he told the stone roll
away and it did.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
He will again.
Speaker 5 (50:19):
And if he told the grave let it go and
it did, he will again and again and again and again.
Speaker 8 (50:33):
And again and again and again. It's not the one, no, no, no, it's.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
Not the one that got away.
Speaker 3 (50:53):
It's the one that got you ready for what's on
the other side. I speak to every lost opportunity, every
broken heart, every child of God standing in need of
restoration through the Holy Spirit because of the regrets of
your past. He is a redeemer and a rewarder of
those who diligently seek him. And if he told the
(51:19):
sun wind arise and it did, he will again. He
will again.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
And if he told the storm to be still and
it did, he will again.
Speaker 3 (51:33):
And if he told the seat where to split and
it did, he will again.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
And if he told the.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
Wall seven times, when the fall seven times, and they did,
he will again.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
And if he told the chains when to break and
they did, he will again.
Speaker 4 (51:53):
And if he told the balls come alive and they did,
he will again.
Speaker 5 (52:00):
And if he told the soul go away and it did,
he will again.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
And if he throw the gray let it brow and.
Speaker 5 (52:11):
It did, he will again and again and again.
Speaker 1 (52:16):
Had a can't hand.
Speaker 5 (52:17):
A cat and a can't had a cat and a
can't hang a cat, had.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
A cat hand jack, he's.
Speaker 5 (52:23):
A con came how gay trust.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
If he told the.
Speaker 5 (52:28):
Sun win the rots and the kid, he will again.
He will lookad.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
And if he told the sun.
Speaker 5 (52:36):
So be steep and it did, it will again. He lookin.
Speaker 1 (52:41):
And if he told the.
Speaker 5 (52:42):
Seat where the slid, and it dan and he tip
and will again he again.
Speaker 4 (52:48):
And if he told the walls you don't worry, he.
Speaker 5 (52:52):
And the kick, he will look at. And if he
tore the chase, when the bray right right, and if
they can't, we will again. If you do the falls
to shop and they did, he will look at.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
And if he tell the song.
Speaker 5 (53:11):
Fell away, he he he will look on the play many.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
Man, you come man, he go again, you get back again, you'll.
Speaker 5 (53:28):
Get he will against you.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
Can you.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
Roll eyes and you can you will again. And if
you do the sky again, he'll be steal a cat.
And he did, he will look at. And if he
don't the sea when the stick and you did, he
will look at. And if he told the walls wait
(53:59):
a did and he didn't give me he will a
kid say, say he's lead the brooks, and they did.
He will again if he call me to souls coming
to hide, and they said, he will again, and I
become a nothing the.
Speaker 1 (54:20):
Same that he can give me a again.
Speaker 5 (54:24):
And if you talk not so dang, you in let
me down a kid, leave me daddy again. Leave him there.
You can leave her there. We can live her there,
you can.
Speaker 3 (54:38):
I know we will look at.
Speaker 5 (54:39):
Leave him again him here again, live a trapic t the.
Speaker 1 (54:44):
Water's loga there are cool.
Speaker 5 (54:48):
After milto of ch after ruche here it calls, so
give day bart.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
Done one doesn't. Hey.
Speaker 2 (55:00):
I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
get you all of these new messages as soon as
they're available. I also want to take a moment and
thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
able to reach people all around the world. And if
(55:23):
you want more information on how to be a part
of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message,
and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (55:33):
God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Be sure to.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week.
I hope you're blessed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Today.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We want to welcome our EPAM around the world, our
global community of men and women, boys and girls, cats
and dogs, fish and lizards. Whoever's watching, all of y'all welcome, Welcome.
Let us know where you're watching from in the comments.
I have a word for you today. God has really
been speaking to me. I shared last week a message
(00:43):
about how God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
and then I said he's the God of also also,
meaning that God is bigger than your box, whatever you
have seen him as so far. He's more than that.
(01:05):
Your past is not greater than your potential. He's the
God of also who you are still unfolding, you're still becoming,
and that God's purpose is bigger than your plan.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And so we talked about the God of also.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
This week, I'd like to continue in that same theme
and so also, not only is he the God of also,
but there's another thing I want to show you and
the Holy Spirit showed me how to do it.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
He told me to use one verse and that this
one verse would help me launch my talk.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
And then we'll talk about it, and we'll talk about
some more, and we'll talk about some more. But the
verse I want to show you to get started is
John chapter twenty one, Verse one.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Just real quick, setting this foundation, the writer says.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea
of Galilee.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
It happened afterward Jesus appeared again.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So today I want to talk to you about the
God of Again, the God of Again. I think this
is going to help you with some of the heaviness
you've been feeling from regrets and fears. He's the God
of also, and he's also the God of again, Spirit
(02:27):
of the Living God. Have your way now. I yield
myself to you. You are the music. I am the
instrument reach your people through me. I offer myself to you.
Speak to them through me. You get the glory, you
get the praise.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
In Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, and they be seated. Just
something I don't normally do.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I'm going to give you all three of my points
at the beginning of my message. Number one God is
really into repetition. That's point number one. I'll give you
a minute to write that down. God is really into repetition.
(03:12):
All right, you got that number two, God is really
into repetition.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And point three, God.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Is really really really really really really really really into repetition.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Prove it to you.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
We'll go to Jericho and ask the Israelites if God
is into repetition. When they had to walk around those
walls not only seven times, but seven days, Boom taking
a lap seeing nothing happen, Boom taking a lap seeing
nothing happening. Boom taking a lap seeing nothing happen, like
(03:59):
on that fourth day. Are you sure you heard from God, Joshua?
Or are we marching around the right walls? But God
is really into repetition?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Or if you don't.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Believe those people that God is really into repetition, ask
name in the Syrian commander who had leprosy.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
You know I'm going with this. He had to dip
in the Jordan river seven times to be healed of
his leprosy.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
You know about the fifth dip, you'd be kind of
embarrassed if you still had the same spots on your
skin that you had when it got started. But God
is really into repetition. Or ask that servant of the
Man of God, Elijah. Now this story is in one
(04:50):
King's eighteen. There's been a drought and Elijah, the prophet, says, hey,
there's a cloud starting to fill up with rain. And
the man is like where. He's like, go look, He's like,
there's nothing there. It's like look again, It's like there's
nothing there. It's like, look again, there's nothing there. Seven
times he looked seven times. God is really into repetition.
(05:14):
I bring it up because maybe you're frustrated that you're
still going through something in your life that you thought
you would have gone through by now.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
No zero percent frustration at Elevation Church today, just me.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I'm gonna repeat that again. Maybe you're frustrated because there's
something in your life. Maybe you're like Graham. Graham's real picky.
Holly is such a good cook that our kids have
gotten really picky.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Let me think how that works. She's too consistent in
the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I told her to clear the pantries and shut down
the kitchen for a month to get Graham to shut up,
because she said the other day, we're having chili tonight,
and he goes really again chili, and I'm like, yeah,
really again, chili. The chili is good if she wants
(06:24):
to cook it every night. But he's gotten picky because
she's too consistent. She's so consistent that he's gotten picky
with it. And the truth is, some of us God
has been too good to us, if I can say
(06:44):
it that way, that he's so consistent and he's so
good at being God that it's hard for us to
stay grateful because of all the stuff he just did.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
They're like the sun came up the morning and nobody
praised him for it. I mean, most of us walked
into church today.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Our legs got us in here, and you know, and
then three songs in my feet are hurting.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
When are we gonna sit down?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Are we gonna sing the same thing over and over
and over?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
How much more? Does he know? Much more? How much more?
Much more? I don't know much more? Tell me how
much more are we gonna sing?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
But God is into repetition, So sometimes I think it's
good when we just sing and give thanks to the Lord.
You know, Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always again.
I say rejoice, And sometimes we have to rejoice again
and again in order to remind our souls that God
(07:54):
has been good again and again. I mean, how many
have the testimony that he kept on blessing me. He
kept on blessing me many times. I even tried to
push God away, but he kept on blessing me. Sometimes
I ran so far I thought I couldn't receive it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But he.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
A lot of times, I was actually living a life
that was completely contradictory to the character in his word.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
But he.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I'm using repetition to talk to you about the repetitious
nature of the grace of God. I mean, thank god,
he's into repetition. Thank God he's into continuing to wake
me up every morning and start me.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
On my way.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Thank God, he's into just over and over again. Watch
this breathing out so that I can breathe in. And
that's why I don't mind praising him, because let everything
that has praise the Lord, and I figure that if
He's good enough to give the breath, I ought to
be grateful enough to give it back. I don't mind
(09:05):
giving him glory. I don't mind singing it one more time.
God is really into repetition.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
If you don't ever know what to say to God.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Just start saying thank you Jesus, and then just say
it again, thank you Jesus. And then if you can't
think of anything to thank him for, it to say
thank you Jesus for your love, thank you Jesus for
the cross, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Because God is into repetition.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Now I don't just mean vain repetition where we just
say a lot of stuff, but I mean that kind
of I need to slow down. God is into repetition,
and I'm glad that he is because the fact that
he's into repetition means that he will keep on sustaining
me and keep on blessing me over and over again.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's why I read you the scripture that I read you.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
That afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples. I prayed
today that he would show up again to you. I
assume that you want to be his disciple and that
you want to see him, so I prayed that he
would show up again.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Everybody say again, that's the thing about it.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
He's resurrected from the dead, and he already showed up
two other.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Times to his disciples.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
They were kind of scared, so they were hiding behind
locked doors and he just walks through.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So he shows up.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Again to see Thomas because Thomas wasn't there the first time.
And then John said afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples,
which kind of makes you wonder, how many times do
you have to show up after you're raised from the
dead to get somebody convinced that you're the son of God.
(11:00):
We remembering in a funny memory with Elijah this week
because he turned eighteen and we're to my lawlest birthday
parties in the past, and that guy was talking about
family pictures and that made me traumatized. I hate nothing
more than taking family pictures. I'm telling you, man. I Well,
I'll just tell you one example. There was one time
(11:21):
when they were real little and Elijah kept picking on
Abby and Holly looks at him. And you know, when
Holly's in front of y'all, she's very sweet, there's another side.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
She looks at him, and I was scared. And she
wasn't even talking to me.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
She said, how many times do I have to tell
you keep your heads off your sister? He's terrified. He's
only like, you know, seven at the time. He's terrified.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
He looks at her goes three times.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Well, it's so funny. Three times, Like.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
How many times will it take for you to hear
the words that are coming out of my mouth?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
He's like, oh no, maybe three red.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
And I wonder how many times does God have to.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Tell us certain things? Why'd you just squeal? Maybe God
has been trying to tell you something. And this is
a central question I really want to ask.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
This will probably send some of you off and you
won't hear anything else in the sermon, But it's fine
because I want to give it to you. What does
God keep repeating that you keep resisting?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
He said, say it again. I love when people say
that in my sermon. Like sometimes they'll say say it again,
and I'm like, I don't know what I just said.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I'm just following the Holy Spirit, but I will say
that again. Ask God been repeating that you have been resisting.
In the passage that I read you, Peter has gone fishing,
even though God is going to call him to be
a great apostle, Like Peter is going to go on
(13:16):
to be kind of like a pope to the.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Church in that day. You would have seen it that way.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Peter is going to go on to preach on the
day of Pentecost.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
None of that has happened yet. The Holy Spirit hasn't come.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
He's already seen Jesus, but Peter still needs something else,
and it's called.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Restoration. Restoration.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Not only does he need to see that Jesus is resurrected,
but he needs to personally be restored. The Holy Spirit
said that I would be ministering to people today who
you have seen the revelation of God, meaning that you
know you've experienced Him in your life. He has seen
(14:04):
you through certain seasons, but you are finding yourself in
a season today as I speak this message that things
have been so different and so difficult that you need
to see Him again in order to go forward. And
the good news is he is the God of again.
(14:28):
He's the God who will show up once and walk
through locked doors, show up twice, so doubting Thomas can believe.
And if that's not enough, he'll show up.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
How many times? Three times? Three times? If that's what
it takes.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
To get Peter to see not who Jesus is. Peter
already saw that, But what if what Peter needs to
see in this moment is who Peter is? There are
times in your life where God needs to show you
again who you are.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Because you forget.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
God needs to show you what you're capable of because
you've talked yourself out of it. God needs to show
you that there's a future ahead of you, greater than
anything that is behind you. He's the God of again,
and he will tell you as many times as he
(15:30):
needs to tell you in order to get you to
see this truth. And that's because he's full of grace
and he's full of mercy, and he will bless you
again and again.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
The same thing that is.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
True of the blessing of God is also true of
the lessons of God. He will do it over and
over again until you get it. God will teach you
things over and over again until you learn them.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Now.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I don't know if you want to hear that or
not he will.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
God will allow certain things in your life to stay
that way until you finally learn what He actually wants
you to learn.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
God doesn't cancel the class because you burn the books.
God doesn't avinst you to the next level because you're tired.
There are certain things in our lives that God will
teach us over and over again.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
In this passage.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Here is a pretty cool example of that, because let
me read a little bit more of it. It said, afterward,
Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the sea of Galilee.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
It happened this way. I read you that verse. But
let's hear what happened.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Simon Peter Thomas, also known as Didamus Nathaniel, from cana
and Galilee. The sons of Zebedee and two other disciples
were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them,
and they said, we'll go with you. So they went out,
got in the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but
the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
He called out to them, friends, haven't you any fish?
Speaker 3 (17:03):
No, they answered. He said, throw your nets on the
right side of the boat and you will find some.
When they did, they were unable to haul the net
in because of the large number of fish. Then the
disciple whom Jesus loved as John, who's riding this gospel,
said to Peter, is the Lord you think? As soon
as Simon Peter heard him say it's the Lord, he
(17:25):
wrapped his outer garment around him, for you're taking it off,
and jumped in the water. The other disciples followed in
the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they
were not far from shore, about one hundred yards.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And when they landed they saw a fire of burning coals.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
There with fish on it and some bread. And Jesus
said to them, bring some of the fish you have
just caught. So Simon Peter climbed back in the boat
dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish,
one hundred and fifty three. But even with so many,
the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come
and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask who
(18:00):
are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came,
took the bread, gave it to them. This wasn't the
first time they'd seen him do this. By the way,
Jesus came, took the bread, gave it to them, did
the same with the fish. This was now the third
time Jesus appeared to the disciples.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
How many third time? Three times?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
This was the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples
after he was raised from the dead. When they finished eating,
Jesus said to Simon Peter. Now here's the moment, Simon,
son of John, do you love me more than these?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Lord, he said, you know I love you. Jesus said,
feed my lambs verse sixteen. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son
of John, do you love me? And Peter said, yes, Lord,
(19:06):
you know that I love you. Is this like a
riddle or something? Pete and repeat, We're on a boat,
Pete fell off?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Who was left? Pete and repeat? Were on a boat?
Pete fell off? Who was left? Pete and repeat, We're
on a boat. Are you messing with me? Jesus? Is
this a riddle? No, it's not a riddle. It's a restoration.
(19:36):
Paul me follow me.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
How many times did Peter deny Jesus? So how many
times does Jesus restore.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Him to his first love? Somebody shout again.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
I hear God saying again, over your life again, We're.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Going to do this until you get it.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I'm going to prove that I'm powerful until you believe
me to be faithful. I'm going to show you that
there's nothing too hard for me. Until you stop worrying
about stuff that I'm already working out in your life.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Shout again, Shout again, shout again.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
I'm using the message to preach the message because I
want you to get.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
This word in your spirit. He's not the god of
one time. You better get it right.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
He's not the god of Well, if you haven't learned
it by now, I guess.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
You're just stupid. I mean, in that what we tell ourselves.
That's what I tell myself sometimes. How do I not
know this by now? How am I not over this
by now? How can I not do this by now?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
That's usually why we stop getting smarter, because we stop
asking stuff because something in us thinks I should know
this by now.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
That's why we stay.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Broke, because we think we shouldn't know this about money
by now, so we pretend like we know, rather than
admitting that we don't know. And because we think we
should know by now, we never know because we won't
ask because we think.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
That God is frustrated with us.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
And you know, we get this for a good reason,
because we're frustrated with us. So then we project the
same attitude on God that we carry within us. And
for many of us, the figure of God that we
have is an exasperated father saying, really again, you're praying
(21:58):
to me about this again. You lost your temper again? Really,
you're asking me to help you with this again. That's
kind of how God sounds in my mind when I'm
in a bad place, when I haven't been spending time
in his presence, when I've just been letting the devil
(22:19):
get the best of me.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
It's like I.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Almost want to go to God for stuff, but I
almost picture him going again. You need me to feel
you again. You mean to walk you through this again?
How many times are you gonna come to me and
ask me to forgive you for this? But I found
(22:43):
out that every time I come to God, it's a
compliment to him.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
This changed my life.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Because when I come to Him and say, oh, I
need more grace, he goes, I'm good at grace, And
when you ask me for grace, you presume my power
that I'm.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Good at what you asked me for.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
High five the preacher jed Johnny some encouragement out there,
because when I come to God, he's not up there
going again.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I gotta show you again how to go and apologize.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I gotta show you again how to work through this insecurity.
I've been teaching you this since you were fifteen. Are
you stupid. That's not the language of Heaven. God goes.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Again. You hear the difference. Jesus appeared again again again.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
One of my kids, who shall remain nameless, asked, probably
when they were really little, she was telling them, when's
the last time.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You changed clothes? They said four days ago? And she said,
does that include your underwear? And this particular kid of
ours said, you.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Mean I have to change my underwear every day. When
you do something over and over again in behavior, it's
called a habit. When you do something again in music
(24:33):
and it's a pattern that is pleasing, it's called a hook.
When you do it again and again and again and again,
it's a hook. And it just so happens that I'm
preaching today about fishing, and they weren't fishing with a hook.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
They were fishing with a net.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
The principle is the same, is that God wanted Peter
to know I've hooked you, I've got you.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I'm not letting you go. I'm not letting you off
the hook. And you keep coming back to God, telling
him over and over again in your mind.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Why he should choose someone else, And as many times
as you give him an excuse, he's going to give
you a truth again and again and again and again
and again and again and.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Again and again. How many times are you gonna say it, Preacher?
As many times as it takes for you to respond
to this word that I'm feeling in my heart, and
again and again and again.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Oh there's a famous quote that they attributed to Albert Einstein,
but I looked into it and I don't think he
really said it, but still a great quote. Insanity is
doing the same thing over and over again expecting a
different result. Okay, I got a different version of that quote.
Immaturity is doing something once in a while and wondering
(26:20):
why it didn't work.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
If God is the.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
God of again, what makes you think you're gonna quote
one scripture and the Devil's gonna run off of everything
in your life you need.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Him to leave? Come on?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
If God is the God of again, what makes us
think we could just come to church once on Sunday
and put a space of six days between us and
God and just be Okay, I'm gonna need God to
get in the gaps between Sundays for me to fight
against the stuff that I'm struggling with, because he's the
(26:59):
God again. That's not put these messages on YouTube for
free so you can get it.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And and some.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Of you don't like you talk to you fast when
you firally need the slow down. No, you need to
rewind to get it again.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
YouTube even has a slowdown flumption.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
There's no excops, slow me down and get this world.
Speaker 6 (27:34):
I'll go as slow as you need me because I
got something for you and I want you to get it.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Oh, sometimes he will leave you in a season a
little longer, and you'll think that he's being slow. But
what you call his slowness is actually his love, because
his slowness, as you perceive it, is his steadiness to
prepare you, by his sovereignty for something that your eyes
(28:08):
cannot see. I'm preaching he's the god of Again, don't
be so discouraged by what you're still working through, because
I guarantee you it takes all of us time. It
takes everybody time. In marketing, they used to have a
rule called the rule of seven.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Have you ever heard of this?
Speaker 3 (28:29):
This is way back from like the thirties and stuff,
way before social media. They said you have to touch
somebody seven times with the message before they act on it.
Seven times seven times before they see the product, and
you have to show it to him. Here, show it
to them there, show it like this, show him that.
They said, on average this isn't completely scientific, but on average,
it's at least seven. The walls of Jericho, it's at
(28:55):
least seven. Name in dipping in the Jordan, it's at
least seven. There's a cloud the size of a man's hand,
it's at least seven. So do you want to dabble
in seeking God? Because Hebrews eleven six says without faith
(29:17):
it is impossible to please God. Because he who comes
to God must believe that he is, and that He
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Knocked
them that haphazardly dabble in him. They don't like me today, Hollyford.
(29:41):
Do you want me to say that again? Should I say
it again? Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete
fell off, who was left all right? Peter was following Christ.
Peter fell away who came to get him? And how
(30:03):
many times did he come back for him? How many
times did he restore him? I would suggest to you
that even if you are not diligently seeking God, He's
diligently seeking you.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Don't you see it?
Speaker 3 (30:27):
How he kept coming for you all your life? Don't
you see it? How when people gave up on you,
he was there. Don't you see it? How even when
your nets came up empty, even the empty nets were
preparation for the greater blessing. Don't you see how even
(30:51):
the rejections in your life were making room for something
you did.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Not know to expect that was next. Somebody shot next.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
What's next, but I get a sense in my spirit
that God is getting somebody ready for next, because he's
the God of again. I don't think he brought you
this far to leave you. I don't think he gave
you this much to abandon you.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I don't think he brought.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
You into this earth to step back from you and.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Have you figure it out on your own.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I think He's gonna show up in a great way
in this next season of your life. So I was
talking to this friend the other day and they were
stuck in regret, and they just kept expressing over and
(31:53):
over again their regret, and they said decision term.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
They said, I just feel like it's the one that
got away. It's the one that got away.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Now they were taking this as a sign that it
was over and they would never get it back, and
it was painful. And I could tell it was painful
because it was an opportunity that they lost, and they
couldn't get over what they lost, and they couldn't even
think about what they had.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Left because of what they lost. And I never liked to.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Just say stuff that sounds like a fortune cookie, because
I'm a preacher.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I don't talk in sound bites.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
If you ever meet me and you say I'm having
a hard day, I will not say rejoice on the
Lord always again I say rejoice. I do that up
here because I have a different roll up here. But
this was a friend I was talking to, and I'd
walked with this friend through some of it, and I
could see that while they were saying the one that
got away, they were literally.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
Like Peter fishing, fishing, fishing, like empty, empty, empty, and
they couldn't find an explanation and they couldn't find a
way forward.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
And so I let them say it a few times
and I just listened.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
But like on the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh
time they said the one that got away, something hit
me and I said it, and I don't know if
I made it up. I don't know if God gave
it to me. I don't know if it was arrogant.
I don't know if it was right or good or whatever.
But the Lord said to say it to you today,
so I'm gonna say it to you. They said, I
just keep feeling like this is the one that got away.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
And I looked back and said, stop saying that. It's
not the one that got away.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
It's the one that got you ready, got inside it.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
It's not the one that got away.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Every time you let the nuts down and it came
up empty, and you let him down, and it came
up empty, and you let him down and it came
up empty. All it was doing was holding the place.
So when Jesus shows up, you'll be.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
Ready for what's on the other side. From the boat,
somebody shot, I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
I'm ready.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
High five seven. People say you're ready.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Now you're ready.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
Now you're ready, Now you're ready.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Now your nets are ready, your heart is ready.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
You're humble.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Now you're wise, sir. Now you're with it. Now you're
wider than sill.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Now you're once, Now you're clean, Now you're open now
you're humble. Now I'm already now.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Glory to God. High five of them again and say
I'm ready now, I'm ready now. In basketball they say
nothing but net.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
And that's what Peter had as long as he was
fishing without Jesus.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
But when he got to the other side of that bone,
watch this.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
I came to say, stop focusing on the one that
got away.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
God said to tell you, don't focus on anything in
this season.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Nothing but next, because what's coming, what is yet to be?
Speaker 5 (35:11):
He's great up, Oh, somebody's shut again. He's gonna do
it again, but it's gonna be bigger. He's gonna do
it again.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
What is gonna be greater? I'm gonna preach this thing
till you believe it.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
How many times will he have to part water before
you take the step when your ankle deep?
Speaker 1 (35:44):
How many times will he have.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
To kill Goliath before you get your rock and start
swinging at everything in your life that is in front
of you. There is something that God already did will
not do it the same way, So stop expecting.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
To part seas with rocks. The rock is for Goliath,
the staff is for the sea.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
God will use different tools in different seasons. But there
is no one that got away, not with God. Prove it, Pastor.
He came back to get Thomas. He didn't let Thomas
get away, and he won't let you get away. And
(36:36):
anything that's truly for you in your life, God won't
let get away either. I think my favorite passage about
the God of again, and I probably should stop preaching
right now because I think you already got enough. You know,
one of the biggest things that God has been teaching
(36:57):
me lately is we can come back together next Sunday.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
And we could do it again. But I can't let
you go because you might. You know, you might, you might,
you might sleep in next Sunday. So I got to
give you this while I got you picture with me.
I give you this. You came all the way from
New York for this? Did you really all right? New York?
Speaker 3 (37:26):
So I'm in a reference with a familiar Bible story.
You probably heard it before, but you need to hear
it again. There were two sons, one father. The younger
son went to his father and said, I want my
inheritance now, and he left and started living wild. This
in Luke chapter fifteen. How many of you have heard this?
Story before the story of Practison, Well you need to
hear it. So this young man goes off, spends everything
(37:50):
that he has. Once he sees that his friends aren't
really his friends, but they are only with him as
long as what is attached to him is flowing.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Once that falls.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Away, he realizes, Man, I'm living way beneath what I
had back home. He goes home with the speech prepared,
and he's really worried because he's been gone a long time,
long enough for his dad to assume that he's dead.
The older brother's back home doing his job when he's
getting to the place, and I want to start at
about verse twenty one of Luke fifteen. If I don't
(38:20):
finish this today, i'll put it on YouTube this week
for you and me and Holly. I'll sit down and
break it down. I've been doing these little sermon breakdowns
on YouTube, and I might do one on this.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
And you're going to listen to the message again Monday. Anyway.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Right now, this is something that this is something that
is really pivotal to me, me explaining and unpacking to
you what I mean when I say he's the god
of again, because the contrast of it is found here
when this younger son who has run away from home
is thinking about coming back, like you might be thinking
(38:54):
about coming back today, Like I'm gonna try to get
sober again. I'm going to really try this thing again
of opening up to in my life. I'm going to
really commit to this path again. I'm gonna pick up
my Bible and to start simple reading Bible plan again.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Whatever.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
It doesn't have to be so deep, but whatever it
is that you're about to do again, this is this
boy's fear.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
He has a hurdle across because he's.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Thinking about his father and all the harm that he's caused.
So he's getting to the place verse twenty one. Please,
the son said the father, I have sinned against heaven
and against you. I am no longer worthy to be
called your son. Notice the word there in the verse against.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Against.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
In his mind, he has made his father out to
be against him, against him, against him, he has something
against me. In this case, it's true, the father could
have very easily chosen to disinherit this boy.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
He had the legal right. So he's thinking about what
his father has against him, and that's what stops us.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
We think about what's against us and if we assume
that at the heart of it all, God is actually
against us, or life is against us, then we turn
against ourselves. So we don't try again because of what's
against us. Watch the story unfold because it's shocking. Verse
twenty two. But the father said to his servants, quick,
(40:24):
bring the best robe and put it on him. Put
a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet.
Next verse, bring the fat and calf and kill it.
Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of
mine was dead and is alive.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Say it, Say it again, Say it again.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
He thought he was coming to the god of against,
but he found the God of.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Again.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Give him his road back, give him his ring back,
give him his name back, give him his seat back.
For this son of mine was dead. Wait, no, he
wasn't dead, but I thought he was. And now he's alive.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Again.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Some of the things that God wants to bring alive
again in your life.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
They're not really dead.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
They're just waiting for you to recognize them. Sometimes it's
not about something that God needs to add.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
To our lives.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
It's about something that we need to remember again. So
as many times a day as you need to say
to yourself.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
I'm fully given by the blood of Jesus. Say it again.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
If you leave church in five minutes after Pastor Stephen.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Is preaching, your cuss and ask.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
God for forgiveness again and again and again mid cuss word,
cut yourself off between syllables and say, Father, help me
not cuss like that anymore. I know my tongue needs
to be tamed. Payment again, Taman takes time. Help me
with this again, and God doesn't go again.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
He goes again again. Let's get you walking right again.
Let's drill this again.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
If God is a good teacher, that means he knows
how to get through to me.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
That means he knows how to make the adjustments.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
If God is a loving father, that means he will
never run out of what I need more of. So
when I come to him, he doesn't stand against me.
He is there again for me as many times as
I know need so. I stumbled upon something in my
own life to help me recognize what God has already
(43:07):
done for me.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
I share it with you in the spirit of encouragement.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
Many days in my life I have a complaining and
grumbling spirit, and that leads to my anxiety, and it
leads to me feeling resentful of all of the pressures
in my life.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
I've had to learn how to deal with that again
and again and again. I thought by now it would
be easy. It still isn't. I thought by age.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Forty three I would have a permanently set perspective. Maybe
it happens when you turn forty four, but it definitely
doesn't happen at forty three in my case. So I
have to make all of these things that I say
to myself again and again and again. Now, notice what
the boy in the story was saying to himself again
(43:57):
and again walking to his father. I'm not worthy, I'm
not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.
When you walk around saying that in some form to
yourself day after day, year after year, you begin to
become what you believe, and you believe what you repeat.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
Shall I say that again?
Speaker 3 (44:16):
You become what you believe, and you believe what you repeat,
especially what you repeat within yourself. But the father gives
him a better word, and he says, come back home again.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
He was dead, and now he is alive again. Let's celebrate.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Sometimes you have to celebrate what remains in order to
move forward and what hasn't been revealed, So I go
into this place and forgive me if this is kind
of dark or weird.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Sometimes I ask myself the question, if I lost what
mattered most to me, what would I give to have
it back?
Speaker 3 (44:59):
And it's a next size that I do, and I
find it helpful because in that what matters most to me.
I start, of course with my salvation that Jesus paid
the price for me, and that I I don't have
to go to Hell, I don't have to live in condemnation.
I don't have to carry the shame of the things
that I've done.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
I can't think of a better gift, can you? Can you?
If you can come up here and tell me.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
About it, just to know that it's all paid for
by him. Yeah, And I go down the list and
I get like technical because like right behind Jesus's Holly,
they're kind of they're kind of similar. They're both always
(45:48):
there for me, they're both amazing to me, they're both
better than me. And then you see I'm earning points
multitasking up here in this microphone and think about my wife.
I think about my kids, and I think, if I
lost them, what would I give to have them back?
Speaker 1 (46:09):
And the answer is everything? So what do I already have?
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Maybe like, well, I have lost this person in my
life and I can't say that you still have his grace?
Speaker 1 (46:36):
What would you give to have that grace back if
it went away? Everything? So what do you have right now? Everything?
Sometimes you just need to remember again what you've already
been given.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
Isn't it good for us to sometimes just stand in
a situation and say, lord, I don't know what you're
going to do next, but you already did this. You
already gave me that, and if you did it before,
it stands to reason you're gonna do it again.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
But even until you do, if I already have you,
I already have everything.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
Try it sometime this week when the enemy starts speaking
to you about how you're not going to make it
and this time it's different and you can't recover from
this and it will never be the same, and they're
the one that you needed and you can't live without them,
stop and say, wait a minute, if I have him,
I have everything. That's what the father did with his
(47:49):
older son because the older son, who stayed home, he
was mad about the party. He said I'm not coming
in there to celebrate this hooligan. He spent half our inheritance.
Now you're spending money on beef patties, making them some
brisket out here. I'm not coming in to eat the brisket.
I hate my brother. And the Father said, look a
(48:11):
verse thirty one. This is so powerful, he said, my son,
you are always with me and everything I have it's
already yours.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Verse thirty two.
Speaker 3 (48:26):
But we had to celebrate and be glad because this
brother of yours was.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Dead and is alive again.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
And the God of again is standing over your life today.
I promise that he is. I don't know what you
got to walk through in this season. I don't know
what doctors have told you, lawyers have told you, what
the devil has told you, what insecurity has told you.
I don't know what any of the symptoms in your
body are saying, or any of the emotions in your
soul are saying.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
But I know what the Father is saying again again again.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
As a matter of fact, let's just walk back and
look at it.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
If he told the sun when to rise.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
And it did, he will again, how many believe he
will again? Somebody shout he will again. And if he
told the storm to be still and it did, he
will he will. I need the whole church to agree
(49:41):
with me. If he told the sea where.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
To split and it did, he will.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
And if he told the walls when to fall and
they did, he will again.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
And if he told the change winsor.
Speaker 3 (50:00):
Break and they did, he will again.
Speaker 4 (50:05):
And if he told the bones come alive and they did,
he will again. And if he told the stone roll
away and it did.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
He will again.
Speaker 5 (50:19):
And if he told the grave let it go and
it did, he will again and again and again and again.
Speaker 8 (50:33):
And again and again and again. It's not the one, no, no, no, it's.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
Not the one that got away.
Speaker 3 (50:53):
It's the one that got you ready for what's on
the other side. I speak to every lost opportunity, every
broken heart, every child of God standing in need of
restoration through the Holy Spirit because of the regrets of
your past. He is a redeemer and a rewarder of
those who diligently seek him. And if he told the
(51:19):
sun wind arise and it did, he will again. He
will again.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
And if he told the storm to be still and
it did, he will again.
Speaker 3 (51:33):
And if he told the seat where to split and
it did, he will again.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
And if he told the.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
Wall seven times, when the fall seven times, and they did,
he will again.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
And if he told the chains when to break and
they did, he will again.
Speaker 4 (51:53):
And if he told the balls come alive and they did,
he will again.
Speaker 5 (52:00):
And if he told the soul go away and it did,
he will again.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
And if he throw the gray let it brow and.
Speaker 5 (52:11):
It did, he will again and again and again.
Speaker 1 (52:16):
Had a can't hand.
Speaker 5 (52:17):
A cat and a can't had a cat and a
can't hang a cat, had.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
A cat hand jack, he's.
Speaker 5 (52:23):
A con came how gay trust.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
If he told the.
Speaker 5 (52:28):
Sun win the rots and the kid, he will again.
He will lookad.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
And if he told the sun.
Speaker 5 (52:36):
So be steep and it did, it will again. He lookin.
Speaker 1 (52:41):
And if he told the.
Speaker 5 (52:42):
Seat where the slid, and it dan and he tip
and will again he again.
Speaker 4 (52:48):
And if he told the walls you don't worry, he.
Speaker 5 (52:52):
And the kick, he will look at. And if he
tore the chase, when the bray right right, and if
they can't, we will again. If you do the falls
to shop and they did, he will look at.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
And if he tell the song.
Speaker 5 (53:11):
Fell away, he he he will look on the play many.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
Man, you come man, he go again, you get back again, you'll.
Speaker 5 (53:28):
Get he will against you.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
Can you.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
Roll eyes and you can you will again. And if
you do the sky again, he'll be steal a cat.
And he did, he will look at. And if he
don't the sea when the stick and you did, he
will look at. And if he told the walls wait
(53:59):
a did and he didn't give me he will a
kid say, say he's lead the brooks, and they did.
He will again if he call me to souls coming
to hide, and they said, he will again, and I
become a nothing the.
Speaker 1 (54:20):
Same that he can give me a again.
Speaker 5 (54:24):
And if you talk not so dang, you in let
me down a kid, leave me daddy again. Leave him there.
You can leave her there. We can live her there,
you can.
Speaker 3 (54:38):
I know we will look at.
Speaker 5 (54:39):
Leave him again him here again, live a trapic t the.
Speaker 1 (54:44):
Water's loga there are cool.
Speaker 5 (54:48):
After milto of ch after ruche here it calls, so
give day bart.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
Done one doesn't. Hey.
Speaker 2 (55:00):
I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
get you all of these new messages as soon as
they're available. I also want to take a moment and
thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
able to reach people all around the world. And if
(55:23):
you want more information on how to be a part
of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message,
and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (55:33):
God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.