WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.399 Welcome to Gateway Church's podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.959 Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:11.199 Glad everyone is here tonight. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:13.359 We're gonna have a great time together. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:16.399 Love Gateway Church so, so very much. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:22.719 So honored and excited to be here to spend these few moments with you at all of our locations. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:24.000 Isn't there one in Wyoming? 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:24.399 Is that right? 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:26.000 Is there a location in Wyoming? 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.719 What is Gateway doing in Wyoming? 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:30.000 Dang. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:31.839 Probably one on Mars too. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:32.799 Who knows, you guys? 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:36.320 Doing some stuff with Elon Musk, working on Mars as well. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:39.119 But every location, we love you so much. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:48.320 Every person who's here for the first time, maybe a friend invited you and you have not been to Gateway before, but we're glad, thrilled uh that you are here. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:52.880 Uh yes, we do pastor church here in Dallas, but I love we all get to be together. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:55.920 So we're not in competition uh as a body of Christ. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.679 We are all coming together to make it on earth as it is in heaven. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:10.799 Uh so uh we drive past the Dallas campus uh pretty often, uh my wife and I, and we stretch our hands uh towards that location and just pray God's blessings over Gateway Church. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:15.359 So I feel like you guys are already in my heart and I already feel like I'm in yours. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:21.200 So let's just go ahead together tonight and just grow and walk with God and become who he's call become become who he's calling us to be. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:22.159 You guys good with that? 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:23.280 You ready to get home? 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:24.480 You ready to get home? 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:25.439 Come on, we ready to get home? 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:26.239 We ready to get home? 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:27.200 Come on, come on. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:30.799 Let me show you a picture of my a sexy piece of dark chocolate. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:32.239 It's my wife. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:35.359 We've been married for 27 years. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:38.480 Uh it is going by incredibly fast. 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:39.920 Uh, this is all of my family. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:41.359 My wife uh there. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:43.599 She looks like she's 27 years old. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:45.840 Uh, but we've been married 27 years. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:50.239 We have our oldest son, uh, Parker, who is just about to turn 20. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:51.519 Cannot believe it. 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:57.599 And then we've got our 14-year-old son, Grayson, and then we have my favorite child, uh, who's my daughter. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:01:59.519 Come on, dad. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:04.400 Girl dads, come on, help me out here. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.680 We we understand how this works, okay? 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:13.360 I tell my sons all the time to their face, I'm like, listen, fellas, I like your sister more than you. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:17.520 Okay, so whatever you're saying to me doesn't even matter right now. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:19.520 I choose her side right now. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:23.039 But she's wrong that it doesn't matter, okay? 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:24.560 That's my little girl. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:26.879 Uh, so have a hard time disciplining her. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:29.439 So pray for me and uh pray for a whole family. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:32.080 Uh, but love my family so, so very much. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:34.400 What a gift it is to have a family. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.840 I always dreamed about being a husband and a father. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.120 So I honestly feel like I'm living my dream already. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:45.120 God has been so incredibly kind and gracious uh to me. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:47.280 But if you have your Bibles, why don't you open up with me? 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:49.199 Pick any verse of scripture you want to go to. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:53.759 No, go to the book of Jeremiah, go to the book of Jeremiah. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:03:01.599 I'm not kidding, I know this is the weeping prophet, uh, but hopefully this message will be encouraging and life-giving for all of us. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:13.759 You can go to Jeremiah chapter number 38, Jeremiah 38, and if you're taking notes, the title of tonight's message is He Found Me. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:16.319 He found me. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.719 Turn to your neighbor, say He found me. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.840 Turn to your second choice, say He found me. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:24.080 He found me. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:28.719 Jeremiah 38. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:31.039 Begin reading in verse number one. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:35.759 This is going to be the hardest part of this message without a without any shadow of a doubt. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:37.360 Shepatiah. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:41.039 I don't know. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:43.280 Son of Matan, Gedaliah. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:44.240 Am I getting this right? 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:45.439 Who knows? 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:51.680 Peshur, Jehuakel, come on, come on, come on, Lord, help us out here. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:57.120 Son of Shelamah and Peshur, son of Malkaih, heard. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:03:57.599 There we go. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:03:58.400 What Jeremiah? 00:03:58.560 --> 00:03:59.919 All right, there we go, there we go. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:08.000 What Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, This is what the Lord says. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:13.039 Whoever stays in the city will die by the sword, famine or plague. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:18.079 But whoever goes over to Babylon, to the Babylonians will live. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:23.199 They will escape with their lives, they will live. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:30.800 And this is what the Lord says, This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:36.879 Then the officials said to the king, This man should be put to death. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:48.879 He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in the city, as well as all the people by the things he is saying to them, This man is not seeking the good of these people, but their ruin. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:53.439 Verse number five, He is in your hands, King Zedekiah answered. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:56.000 The king can do nothing to oppose you. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:07.279 Verse 6 So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkaijah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:11.040 They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:14.319 Remember that, by ropes, by ropes into the cistern. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.000 It had no water in it, only mud. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:24.160 And Jeremiah sank down into the mud. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:26.639 He found me. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:32.240 Uh, Jeremiah, uh, for those of you who don't know, is an old testament prophet. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:37.519 We actually have a lot uh on his life, and we get a lot of his emotion as well. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:41.199 As I referenced earlier, he's known as the weeping prophet. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:46.480 The book of Lamentations is also a book written by him. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:48.879 That's where we get great is thy faithfulness. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.120 It comes from that book of Lamentations. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:54.879 It's kind of one of the really there's like four great things that are said in the book. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.439 It's a lot, it's very, very, very heavy. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:00.240 I appreciate it because it's very honest. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:07.680 It's like God, things are tough, things are difficult. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:12.560 The thing about Jeremiah, when you read the very first chapter, he didn't even want to be your prophet. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:16.879 The Lord came to him, Shannon goes, Hey, hey, uh, you're gonna you're gonna be a prophet. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:18.000 I want you to speak on my behalf. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:20.000 And he goes, Nah, bruh. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:21.439 Not exactly. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:23.759 He said, Lord, I'm too young. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.000 I I can't do this. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.319 Why would you ask me to do this? 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:31.759 Why would you ask me to step up and to speak to your people? 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:33.680 I don't want to speak to your people. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:40.079 I'm too young, and God has to rebuke them and encourage him and remind him, hey, I'm the one calling you. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:42.079 I put you here on this planet. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.319 I'm gonna put my word in your mouth. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:48.800 I'm calling you to go into the nations, I'm calling you to speak on my behalf. 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:57.839 Have you ever had a moment in your life where you feel like God was asking you to do something that you were intimidated and afraid to do when you gave God excuse after excuse? 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:03.839 God, I'm too old, God, I'm too young, God, I'm too big, God, I'm too little, God, I got too much hair, God, I got too little hair. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:10.240 God, give me this there's so many reasons we can't do or we think we can't do what God is asking us to do. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:25.360 And Jeremiah's like me, and he's like you, and he's giving all these excuses to God, and God says, I did not call you uh because of you, I called you because of me, because greater is he that is in me or in you than he that's in the world. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:48.879 I am telling you, I'm bigger than every insecurity, I'm bigger than every fear, I'm bigger than every doubt, I'm big bigger than every problem, I'm bigger than every sin, I'm bigger than every difficulty, I'm bigger than every problem, I'm bigger than your past, I'm bigger than every generational curse, I'm bigger than what your father said about you, or what your mother said about you, I'm bigger than what your coach said about you. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:51.680 I called you for such a time as this. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.319 I'm the one that put you in your mother's womb. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:58.560 And since I put you in there, I know what I put in you when I put you in there. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:01.839 So I want you to speak on my behalf. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:07.439 And here, Jeremiah, he says that to Jeremiah, he says that to you as well. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:09.120 I know you're like, I'm just at first conference. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:10.160 Man, this guy's fired up. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.680 Yeah, I'm fired up because I feel like God has a call on your life. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:16.160 I feel like he didn't put you on this earth on accident. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:20.240 If you're gonna take the time to come to church on what is it, Monday night? 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:20.720 What? 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.439 Y'all at church, you guys are extra saved. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:38.000 You're at church on a Monday night, if you're gonna take the time to take the step to get dressed, to show up at church on a Monday night. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:50.000 You don't want to stay the same, you're not interested in just coasting, you're not interested in just barely making it. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:53.120 You want to become all that God has called you to be. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:58.879 You are here because you're saying, God, I want you to pour out your spirit on me. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:01.679 The good news is he wants to. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:09.120 So Jeremiah, this prophet, has been tasked, and he this guy, if you read through his life, he doesn't even have a lot of friends, honestly. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:12.080 You know, so it's a rough life for him. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:18.000 And I mean, he barely even sees any of the miracles that other prophets get to see. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:22.000 I mean, this guy has a hard go of it. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:31.120 So here he is, and he's telling the people if you stay in this city, Babylonia's gonna come, you're gonna die, you're better to go to Babylon. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:44.480 And does it make sense to some people and those names that we didn't know if we're saying them correctly, those guys go to the king and they say, Hey, this prophet here, he doesn't have our best interest in mind. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:10:00.159 And they get permission to take someone who's doing the right thing, speaking on behalf of God, and he gets put in what we would all consider the wrong place. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:05.279 A throne and a sister there's no water in it. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:10.799 Only so feel this for a second. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:26.000 Feel it when you're at your job and you're doing the right thing, and you're showing up on high, you're honoring God, and they still come at you and say, You're fired. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:36.080 When you're trying to honor your wife, honor your husband, honor your friends, and still your money's not right. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:41.279 When you're going the right direction, but you're getting the wrong coming at you. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:44.159 You're like, What? 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:48.799 I'm praying, I'm trusting God. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:53.200 Here I am doing what I think God wants me to do. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:54.799 I I saw it in my mind. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:59.679 I'm not asking for a perfect life, Lord, but I'm surely not asking to be in a pit. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:04.799 I don't need everything to be right all the time. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:08.000 I recognize good things happen to bad, I mean bad things happen to good people. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:08.720 Yeah, yeah. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:31.679 But I know for sure there is no way with me doing what you've called me to do, and me trying to honor you, and me going to church, and me being on the serve team, and me trying to volunteer, and me giving my money, and me giving my time, I'm doing all the things I know to do, and still I'm in a pit. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:37.519 Still, I'm I'm in a spot that I don't want to be in. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:40.639 This is where Jeremiah finds himself. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:45.120 You don't have to raise your hand, but have you have you have you ever found yourself there? 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:48.879 Whoo man, oh man, those are some frustrating times. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:55.840 You know when you're in a pit and uh you're trying to find out, you know, if you need to repent of something? 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:58.799 Like, Lord, just tell me. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.919 If you tell me what I did wrong, I'll repent right now so I can get out of this spot right here. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.960 And you're like, Lord, I repent from when I was four. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:10.159 I knew I shouldn't have taken that candy. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.200 Uh forgive me, Lord, when I was 19. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:20.720 I mean, you're trying to think up stuff as if it's just sin that puts us in tough spots. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:29.200 Sometimes it's living a righteous life that puts us in a spot we don't want to be in. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:32.399 And this is where Jeremiah finds himself. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:36.240 Go with me to verse number six again. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:43.360 So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Mokaijah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:51.279 They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern, and it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.600 I was doing some study on this. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:59.440 One commentator mentioned that maybe Jeremiah would have been up to his neck in mud. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:05.519 So he's looking up, stuck. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:08.639 Stuck. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:12.159 Can't jump out of it. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:14.960 Can't get out of the spot, he's in. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:23.120 They load him down by ropes, and and when you're in mud, some of y'all know this, you don't go down quick. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:25.679 Go down slow. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:28.799 And here he is sinking slow. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:32.000 Some of us feel like that in our marriages. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:34.320 Just sinking slow. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:38.639 Feel like that in our physical bodies, like we're sinking slow. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:42.240 Feel like that even on our spiritual lives, sometimes, like I'm just sinking slow. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:45.440 It's like I I'm stuck, I'm stuck, I'm stuck. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:47.440 How how do I get out of here? 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:50.159 This where this is where Jeremiah finds himself. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:51.919 But keep on reading with me. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:54.240 Verse number seven. 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.279 But Ebed Melech, everybody say Ebed Melech. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:00.000 Come on, say it like you got some stank, y'all. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:01.200 But Ebed Melech. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:08.000 A Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.720 Ebed Melech heard. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:12.799 Ebed Melech. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:14.240 I was reading this. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:18.879 Uh, I was crazy with some guys at the church, and we read through the whole Bible in a month. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:20.080 Not kidding. 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:27.519 My wife, she loves me, we're best friends, but she was not happy with me reading through the Bible in a month because you can't do anything else. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:31.519 So I couldn't help with the kids, I couldn't help with the dishes, I couldn't help. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:33.600 I mean, but I was doing the work of the Lord. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:40.559 Uh, so I mean, because you gotta read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read. 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:44.879 Some of our pastors on staff, they were cheating, they were just listening to the Bible. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:49.600 But hey, it's the word of God anyway. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:51.039 But I'm reading through, I'm reading through. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:15:02.080 And I came to this passage of scripture and I read this Ebed Melech, and I saw that this Ebed Melech went and he talked to the king on Jeremiah's behalf, and he says, King, what they're doing to Jeremiah, this is not right. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:07.919 We got to pull him up out of here, and the king gives him permission to go and get Jeremiah and pull Jeremiah up out of this pit. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:11.440 And I'm like, oh my goodness, this guy Ebed Melech, this guy's awesome, this guy's amazing. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:13.440 And then I look up his name. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:18.080 And the name Ebed Melech, you're not gonna believe this. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:19.440 Some of y'all you already know. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:20.399 I didn't know this. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:21.679 I'm a pastor. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:29.440 I did not know that this name, he Ebed Melech, is two Hebrew words put together. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:31.600 Servant and king. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:35.600 Servant and king. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:49.759 So I read this that Jeremiah's in a pit that he can't get out of, and then somebody named Ebed Melech comes who's servant and king to pull him out of a pit that he cannot get out of. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:54.320 Well then I thought, huh, we have a savior. 00:15:54.879 --> 00:16:02.960 That in Mark chapter 10, verse number 45, we find out that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:03.840 Huh? 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:05.120 Servant. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:17.039 Then I realized in in Revelation chapter 19, verse number 16, that when Christ returns, he's all tatted up and on his thighs, it says King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:28.559 So now I realized that what was going on with Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 38 was really a type and a shadow of what Jesus Christ would be doing for every single one of us. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:38.240 That when we found ourselves in the pit, we would have a servant king that would speak on our behalf and would find us in the pit and pull us out of it. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.840 That's what our servant king does. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:45.440 What types of pits does he pull us out of? 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:47.120 Oh my goodness, what type of pit? 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:52.559 I mean, as many people as we have here, and as many people as we have at all of our locations, even people in Wyoming. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:53.919 I know y'all are sinning too. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:00.720 We know we've got issues, we've got problems, we've got things that we're dealing with. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.360 We know that there's addiction in the church. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:07.920 We know that this is why we have a freedom ministry here at Gateway. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:19.680 This is why we have an opportunity for people to say you don't have to be fake here, you don't have to wear a mask here, you don't have to act like you have it all together, you don't have to act like you're perfect because none of us are perfect. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:22.160 Take off the mask, find the freedom. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:33.359 Alcohol does not have to run your life, pornography does not have to run your life, and eating disorder does not have to run your life, uh, vaping does not have to run your life, drugs does not have to run your life. 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:43.279 Uh, you can be free because you have a servant king that will find you in the deepest pit, and he's not afraid of any mud. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:18:08.160 As a matter of fact, our servant king is so amazing that when he got on that old rugged cross, the Bible tells us in Ephesians that he who descended, also unscended, so as far down in the pit as you have been, Jesus has gone that far as well, and the blood that he shed was good enough to pull you up out of every single pit that you find yourself in. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:13.119 This is the savior that you and I have. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:19.920 The addiction that you might find you're in right now, I just don't want you to feel shame. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:22.799 Know that there's freedom for that. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:26.000 I was thinking about some other pits that we find ourselves in. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:28.799 Uh, can I talk about the pit of religion for just a quick second? 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:30.480 Religion. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:32.079 Uh, this this one popped into my head. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:35.759 I was praying for y'all, and uh this one popped into my head. 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:37.839 The pit of religion. 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:48.160 That uh what I mean by religion is the uh like the self-righteousness. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:58.160 Kind of like I know what the Bible says, I know what it means to be a follower of God. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:04.160 No one can teach me anything because I kind of have it all together. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:08.400 I'm kinda I'm kind of perfect. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:11.440 I'm not gonna say I'm perfect, but I'm kind of perfect. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:25.519 And Jesus, when he was walking the earth, had someone that would be, I mean, it was basically like the supreme court of all religious leaders, a guy named Nicodemus. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:26.880 Come to him. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:30.880 And this guy was in religion. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.400 And he had to have a conversation with Jesus. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:36.720 He was in a pit, didn't even realize it. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.440 And Jesus said to him, You must be born again. 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:41.759 How can I be born again? 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.240 He's like, fool, you don't even understand what I'm talking about right here. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.640 Here you are teaching everybody, you don't even know what I'm talking about. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:53.200 He's saying you're so blinded that you have it all together. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:58.799 You're so blinded by all the rules and regulations that you're following. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:10.240 You're so you're so blinded by what's in front of you, and you trying to earn your way to God that you can't even see that there's a savior right here in front of you. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:11.440 Might that be you? 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:19.440 Did you grow up in a church that told you that you only you only got made right with God based on your behavior? 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:25.039 Did you hear that you lose your salvation if you make a mistake? 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:33.200 Did you hear that God is only proud of you if you're doing the right thing, but the second you mess up, God turns his back on you? 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:34.079 Did you hear that? 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:41.279 Did you hear that somehow, somehow, God's love for you is fickle, that your salvation can be on and off? 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:42.960 Did you hear that lie growing up? 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:48.400 Maybe you have been in church for a long time, but you're still trying to figure out am I really safe? 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:50.480 Have I really been forgiven? 00:20:50.559 --> 00:21:06.799 And I just need you to know that the servant king that came and got on an old rugged cross for us, that the blood that he shed was good enough for every single sin you could ever commit, both now and in the future, and everyone in the past. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:13.839 And the reality is this, and this might blow your mind for a second, God even dies for the sins that you did on purpose. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:18.160 Yeah, yeah. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:20.319 If you don't like it, that's religion. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:26.400 Well, well, what about well, no, no, no, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:27.680 I'm telling you, everyone. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:30.559 I'm not saying there's not consequences, I'm not saying that's not wrong. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:35.440 I'm saying that the blood of Jesus is big enough and strong enough to cover every single sin. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:49.119 Because if the blood of Jesus is not big enough and strong enough for the sins you committed on purpose, then you're gonna tell me that there's somehow you you can I you and I can quantify, and you and I can somehow diminish his power. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:56.640 There is no way that you and I can diminish one ounce of the power of our glorious Sailor Servant King. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.200 And that does not lead you to sin more. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:05.839 It leads you to worship more. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.240 It doesn't lead to more pride. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:12.720 It leads to more gratitude. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:15.920 Oh my goodness. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:18.000 Amazing grace. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:20.160 How sweet does that? 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:23.440 That would save a wretched like that. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:29.200 Because I was in a pit that I could not get out of. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:36.480 But my servant King found me in the pit I could not get out of. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:47.519 When you and I start thinking we were never in a pit, you start thinking, oh no, I kind of did God a favor when I gave my heart to him. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:50.079 You're welcome, Lord. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:51.039 You're welcome. 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:51.920 You needed me, Lord. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:52.640 You needed my voice. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:57.920 You needed my voice, Lord, because there's no way you're gonna be able to advance the kingdom of God without my voice. 00:22:58.079 --> 00:22:59.359 Lord, you needed my leadership. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:01.839 Oh, I'm telling you, I'm such a good leader. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:03.279 Lord, you needed me. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:09.440 Because if I didn't say yes to you, where would your kingdom be right now, Lord, if it were not for me? 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:19.839 You start thinking that you start living that way, you start having that mindset, it will so distort and mess you up. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:34.960 But when you understand that even if you have never done any of the big sins, anything that you and I have ever done that has hurt the heart of God, that put us in a pit that we could not get out of, and we were in desperate need of a savior. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:42.400 So if you're a teenager here and you have never done any big thing, you didn't have to do a big thing in order to hurt the heart of God. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:48.720 You and I were born, we're messed up, we've sinned, we've made mistakes, we've done all these things and have put us in a pit. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.680 But God said, I'm not keeping you there. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:58.079 I am the Ebed Melech, I am the servant king that will come and pull you out. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:01.039 So look at this, look at this, look at this, keep on going with me. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:02.880 Am I preaching too hard? 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:03.920 Am I preaching too hard here? 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:04.720 Am I preaching too hard? 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:05.519 Okay, okay, okay. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:07.519 It's Monday, it's Monday night. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:09.759 Come on, come on, let's do this. 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:11.359 Okay, okay, verse number seven. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:16.480 But Ebed Melech a Kushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:31.359 While the king was, while the king was sitting in the at in the Benjamin gate, Ebed Melech, there's his name again, the servant king went out of the palace and said to him, My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:36.880 They have thrown him into a cistern where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city. 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:49.200 Then the king, verse number 10, commanded Ebed Melech to Cushite, take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.599 So Ebed Melech took the men, okay, she got 30 boys. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:56.799 Well now it's rolling deep. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.079 Okay, he's rolling deep, okay? 00:24:58.240 --> 00:24:59.759 These are some friends that you want to have with you. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:01.119 You want he's got some friends? 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:05.119 They're packing, they're strapped, okay? 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:05.599 Okay. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:16.319 You wanted to get these 30 friends, but some would say because uh some of the people that were wanting to kill Jeremiah, he needed to have these 30 friends that would have his back as Jeremiah was being pulled out of the sister. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.759 So Ebed Mela took the men with him and they went. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:21.359 Watch this, watch this. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:26.640 They went to a room under the treasury in the palace. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:32.319 He took some what kind of rags? 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:46.160 He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the city. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:47.680 Can I have my little basket, please? 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:50.319 Thank you, sir, thank you. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:53.200 Thank you, sir, thank you. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:54.000 Okay. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:01.440 I got some I got some old rags and some worn out clothes. 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:02.559 Oh right here. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:03.200 Okay. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:14.880 So even Melanck goes to the treasury, goes underneath it, and the thing that he takes out is not clean. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:18.000 It's not new. 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:24.720 And worn out clothes. 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:28.000 And these are the things he takes. 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:29.680 Keep on reading with me. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:32.799 He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:34.640 This is verse number 11 still. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:39.839 And let them down with ropes to Jeremiah and the cistern. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:49.279 Ebed Melech the Kushite said to Jeremiah, put these old rags and worn out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes. 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:52.480 Jeremiah did so. 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:58.160 And they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:01.759 And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the garden. 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:03.680 Okay, y'all. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:04.559 Okay. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:09.440 He goes to the treasury and he doesn't get a clean racket. 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:11.759 He gets a dirty rack. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:14.240 He gets an old rack. 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:33.920 When you're in the bed, you don't get too uh too pinky. 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:42.799 It's like, I'm here, I'm about to die. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:51.759 And you look up and you see some ropes, some old dirty ropes, and old dirty rags. 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:54.160 Hey, I'm grabbing it. 00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:55.920 Because you're trying to get out. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:57.839 I was thinking about this. 00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:07.359 If Eb and Melich is a picture of Christ in this story, and the old rags are used to help pull Jeremiah out. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:14.240 Sort of thinking that this is what Jesus uses to pull us out of this. 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:22.799 Like we like to think all of our friends and leaders and spouses and all that stuff. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.799 Everybody's just squeaky clean and everything's perfect. 00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:25.759 They're not. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:28.400 They're not. 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:40.240 All Jesus has ever had to use every time is old rags and worn out clothes. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:51.440 There's not been a time in human history where he's been able to use someone who's perfect and clean to pull somebody else up out of the out of the pit. 00:28:52.240 --> 00:29:00.640 Every single time he speaks to you through someone, the person that he's speaking through, old rags, worn out clothes. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:05.440 Here I am with this beautiful red sweater that my wife put me in, and I'm sweating up here all hot. 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:14.000 I'm just telling you. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:20.079 I'm telling the worship team, beautiful. 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:22.480 They're up worshiping on their knees, crying. 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:24.240 Oh Jesus, I love you, Jesus. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:24.880 Yeah, beautiful. 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:25.440 Yeah, thank you. 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:26.160 Yes, indeed. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:29.920 Old rag, worn out clothes. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:31.440 Your small group leader. 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:32.480 Oh man, I'm so thankful. 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:33.440 Oh, they're so wonderful. 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:34.720 Oh man, they've changed my life. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:38.160 Old rag, worn out clothes. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:40.880 Oh man, I'm telling you, I love I love that album. 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:43.279 Oh man, I love I love what's going on in that church. 00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:49.920 Oh my love, old rags, worn out clothes everywhere you go, and God chooses to use anybody. 00:29:50.079 --> 00:29:54.640 It's old rags and worn out clothes because this is all the Lord has ever had to use. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:30:00.640 But the good news of the gospel is that he will use old rags and worn out clothes for his glory. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:09.119 So let's not get mad that it's old rags and worn out clothes, because that's all it has ever been. 00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:18.240 But God in his grace and his mercy knows exactly what he needs to use to get you out of the pit that you are in, and that's what he did for me as well. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:21.440 And I'm thankful for the grace of Almighty God. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:25.039 Old rags and worn out clothes. 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:28.160 Do you see that it was ropes that put him into the pit? 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:31.599 And then it's ropes that are used to pull him out. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:38.319