SPEAKER_00: This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: Helping people know.
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org's people said.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to 2 Kings chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Kings is in the Old Testament, so it's one of those books we don't read a whole lot.
SPEAKER_01: So give yourself a minute to find it, amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row.
SPEAKER_01: It's on page, I'm going to be on page 312 this morning.
SPEAKER_01: How are we doing today?
SPEAKER_01: How many of you beat your kids on the way to church this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
SPEAKER_01: There's one honest person in the room.
SPEAKER_01: There's another down front.
SPEAKER_01: Your kids probably deserved it.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I'm a house here talking about you.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest today, my name is Neil.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the lead pastor here at Grand Parkway, and we're glad you're a part of us.
SPEAKER_01: We're in a series called Better because uh Christianity and God and the Bible all calls us to get better.
SPEAKER_01: We can't just stay where we are and make up excuses and pray for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: We're always kind of called forward to get better.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible word for that is sanctification, becoming more and more like Christ and less and less like our natural selves.
SPEAKER_01: So let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to respond with a yes, or if it's you, you respond with a yes.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody here you have this sense that there's more to Christianity than you're experiencing right now, would you say yes?
SPEAKER_01: You ever have any anybody here you have this sense of, hey, I I I kind of have a low grade frustration with myself because I know what to do and I don't always do it.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, would you say yes?
SPEAKER_01: Uh some of y'all are like, well, is anybody else saying yes or yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why I asked those questions is because I want you to see this morning, relax.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not here to beat you up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not here to condemn you.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see this morning in the Bible the life that you were created to live, to experience.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, in this better series, last week we talked about we want to get better at praying, not prayer, but praying, the verb.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, you know, I want you to have a life of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And then, this is where we're gonna get at this week.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to have the life that's produced by prayer.
SPEAKER_01: What kind of person would you be?
SPEAKER_01: What does that life look like?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna show you a picture of it in the Old Testament, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it's it's not about knowledge, it's about intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: Let me distinguish between those two before we read the text.
SPEAKER_01: Knowledge is what I know, it's information about God and about myself.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes that shames us because we know more than we experience.
SPEAKER_01: Does it make sense?
SPEAKER_01: We know a lot, but we don't experience that much.
SPEAKER_01: Intimacy, there's a difference in those two.
SPEAKER_01: Intimacy, this is what happens when you experience what you know.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what you were created for.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't die for you just to know a lot of Bible facts.
SPEAKER_01: You realize that, right?
SPEAKER_01: He didn't die for you to come here on Sunday and write stuff down and kind of go, mmm, put that in your Bible, and never taste and see the goodness of the things you were created to experience.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to talk to you today about what I call the intimate life.
SPEAKER_01: The intimate life.
SPEAKER_01: And here's a picture of it recorded in the Bible, 2 Kings chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: I'll start reading in verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: It says, And when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with the servant, saying, At such and such a place shall be my camp.
SPEAKER_01: But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, Beware that you do not pass this place.
SPEAKER_01: For the Syrians are going down there.
SPEAKER_01: And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him.
SPEAKER_01: Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.
SPEAKER_01: And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?
SPEAKER_01: And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet, uh, who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.
SPEAKER_01: It was told him, Behold, he is in Dothan.
SPEAKER_01: So he sent their horses and chariots in a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
SPEAKER_01: And when the servants of the man of God arose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city.
SPEAKER_01: And the servant said, Alas, my master, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
SPEAKER_01: And then Elisha prayed and said, O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.
SPEAKER_01: So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw.
SPEAKER_01: And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, Please strike this people with blindness.
SPEAKER_01: And so he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: And Elisha said to them, This is not the way, this is not the city.
SPEAKER_01: Follow me, and I'll bring you to the man whom you seek.
SPEAKER_01: And he led them to Samaria.
SPEAKER_01: And as soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, O Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see.
SPEAKER_01: So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
SPEAKER_01: And as soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, My father, shall I strike them down?
SPEAKER_01: Shall I strike them down?
SPEAKER_01: He answered, You shall not strike them down.
SPEAKER_01: Would you strike down those who you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow?
SPEAKER_01: Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master.
SPEAKER_01: And so he prepared for them a great feast.
SPEAKER_01: And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away and they went to their master.
SPEAKER_01: And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me just tell you what you just read, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want you to miss this, all right?
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible, this is a picture of what I call the intimate life.
SPEAKER_01: It's what you were created for.
SPEAKER_01: It's why God initiated a relationship with you, so you could kind of live in connection and harmony and rhythm with what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've ever seen if there's somewhere there's music playing and people are clapping with the beat, there's always somebody's parent that's off.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's 4-4 and they're on 3-5, and you're like, stop.
SPEAKER_01: Just, Mom, stop.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the beat.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I like the music.
SPEAKER_01: Stop.
SPEAKER_01: The only thing worse than that is when you live with that sense of out of syncness with what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: Elisha is a great example of a man that just lived in sync with what God was doing.
SPEAKER_01: And it's what I call the intimate life.
SPEAKER_01: And so what happened was is that God was revealing to Elisha what was going on.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, it gets so creepy that because he was telling his king, hey, don't go there because Syria is going to send an army there.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to go the other way.
SPEAKER_01: And the king of Syria just got crazy.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, man, this guy's driving me crazy.
SPEAKER_01: What's going on?
SPEAKER_01: Who's a spy?
SPEAKER_01: How do they know our business?
SPEAKER_01: And one of his men said, Hey, that guy who lives in another city, he knows the thoughts that you think in your own bedroom.
SPEAKER_01: That's not creepy.
SPEAKER_01: And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we got to kill that guy.
SPEAKER_01: We can't have him knowing what I'm thinking, what I'm talking about in my bedroom.
SPEAKER_01: And so he sends an army.
SPEAKER_01: They surround Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: Elisha's servant comes out one morning and he's drinking his cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_01: He just drops it and goes, Hey, boss, we're in deep weeds.
SPEAKER_01: Get out here, boss, get out of here.
SPEAKER_01: And Elisha walks out with his coffee and he's like, Ma, ma, ma.
SPEAKER_01: We're about to get down to the get down.
SPEAKER_01: And he says crazy stuff like, Those who are for us are greater than those who are against us.
SPEAKER_01: And his servant is like, What's in your coffee?
SPEAKER_01: That smells like Bailey's in there.
SPEAKER_01: You've had too much of that?
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, and then Elisha prays, and then his eyes of his servant were open.
SPEAKER_01: I love this.
SPEAKER_01: Elisha prays that his eyes of his servant would be open and that the eyes of the army would be closed.
SPEAKER_01: And they close, God opens the eyes of his servants, and he sees angels on chariots of fire all around them.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, okay, I get it now.
SPEAKER_01: And then the army comes down on him and he says, God, strike these people with blindness.
SPEAKER_01: And God did.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you ever wish that God was that responsive to your prayers?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Bible, there'd be a lot of blind people where you work, wouldn't there?
SPEAKER_01: You're like, I'd be smiting some fools tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: It's good he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible says, right there, in accordance with the prayer of Elijah.
SPEAKER_01: See, we act like that God's up in heaven, kind of going, well, you know, make it worth my while and I'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: God's looking for people who want to live intimately connected with him.
SPEAKER_01: You have no idea what he'll bring to bear on that life.
SPEAKER_01: And so, hey, he strikes them blind and he says, Hey, we're going a little wall, walks them back to his city, Samaria, where the king of Israel is.
SPEAKER_01: They're inside the walls of the city.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, God open their eyes, they could see.
SPEAKER_01: And they open their eyes, and Elisha's king says, You want me to kill them?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Don't kill them.
SPEAKER_01: Let's feed them a feast.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, when it says bread and water, that's just a euphemism, that's just like a figure of speech.
SPEAKER_01: It's not like they were in jail and they got bread and water.
SPEAKER_01: It was a feast.
SPEAKER_01: They rolled out the red carpet.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't get out the mad dog or the box of Merlot that you keep in the refrigerator right now that's been there for a month.
SPEAKER_01: They got the good stuff off the top shelf and they fed these people.
SPEAKER_01: And then they walked them back home.
SPEAKER_01: It was 11 miles from Samaria back to where the where the Syrians lived.
SPEAKER_01: Now, can you imagine just for a second?
SPEAKER_01: And then we'll get I'll give you something to write down.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine being one of those soldiers?
SPEAKER_01: You get home that night and your son says to you, Dad, what'd you do today?
SPEAKER_01: By the way, one of the reasons our kids are like they are is that we don't tell stories that capture their imagination out of our own life.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine being one of those soldiers getting home.
SPEAKER_01: Dad, what'd you do today?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I went on a raiding party, still Tim 6.
SPEAKER_01: We surrounded this guy, and then all of a sudden we were struck blind and we had to march for 11 miles with our hands on the shoulders of the guy in front of us.
SPEAKER_01: And then Lisha was out front and going, warmer, warmer, come on, we're almost there.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: The guy you're looking for is right up here.
SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden we realized we were in the walled compound of our greatest enemy.
SPEAKER_01: And they didn't do what came natural because we've been killing them.
SPEAKER_01: It'd be natural for them to kill us.
SPEAKER_01: They fed us a feast.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they had a pig in the ground and the beer was on ice, and all my rabbity friends were coming over tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Hank Williams Jr.
SPEAKER_01: was there.
SPEAKER_01: It was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: And your kids are like, I want to go in the army.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, what happened then?
SPEAKER_01: And then what happened, Dad?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Israelites let you go.
SPEAKER_01: We're Syrians.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we don't really, we we hate those people.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we had roasted pig and we had chicken and we had fajitas and we had pie roast and gravy.
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, this is my last meal.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna commit heinous gluttony.
SPEAKER_01: So I got a biscuit and soft up all the gravy and just left it all in my beard and thought, kill me now.
SPEAKER_01: But son, here's the thing: it wasn't my last meal.
SPEAKER_01: It was my first meal, my first taste that there's a different way of doing life.
SPEAKER_01: And so I don't think I want to be a soldier in the Syrian army anymore, which is why the last sentence says, and the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Them crazy people live over there.
SPEAKER_01: That's the intimate life.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I'm here to tell you right up front.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna give you five things about the intimate life.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: You are capable of more than you've been doing.
SPEAKER_01: Don't beat yourself up.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be like, ah, well, I stink.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know, man.
SPEAKER_01: It's been tough.
SPEAKER_01: 2016.
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
SPEAKER_01: But you're capable of so much more.
SPEAKER_01: Five things about the intimate life right out of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, what does it mean?
SPEAKER_01: What does the intimate life involve?
SPEAKER_01: It involves, number one, being used by God.
SPEAKER_01: Being used by God.
SPEAKER_01: That's verse 8, 9, and 10.
SPEAKER_01: That's Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: And he's he's tracking with God.
SPEAKER_01: God's revealing things to him.
SPEAKER_01: God's kind of telling him things he doesn't tell anybody else because he can trust him.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, God will trust you with as much as he will entrust to you as much as he can trust you with.
SPEAKER_01: And not anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And so he realized in Elisha, I got a guy that's willing to do whatever I say.
SPEAKER_01: And so he reveals things to him.
SPEAKER_01: Elisha's telling, I mean, he's being involved in the national affairs and the war strategy of his country.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, What do you mean being used of God?
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this question.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have a sense that your life is being used for something greater?
SPEAKER_01: That you're a part of something that's bigger than you, that you're connected to what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's a better way of getting at it.
SPEAKER_01: Do you sense that you're connected to what God is doing in the world these days?
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Because here's why I say that.
SPEAKER_01: Because after a while, the disconnected life begins to rattle.
SPEAKER_01: The disconnected life, the life that's unplugged from what God's doing in the world.
SPEAKER_01: It just doesn't fit anymore.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't satisfy.
SPEAKER_01: You say, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how you know you're disconnected.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you three things.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just rattle them off.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, you have a dissatisfaction with most things.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, you're consistently angry.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, you're rarely joyful.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you women in the room are kind of looking at your husband like he's talking to you, honey.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean?
SPEAKER_01: Let me just go back.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, you have a dissatisfaction with most things.
SPEAKER_01: I don't mean bad things.
SPEAKER_01: I mean good things.
SPEAKER_01: I mean things that once brought you so much pleasure, they don't even move the needle anymore.
SPEAKER_01: You go on great vacations and you're kind of like, eh, well, we gotta go back, and the airport's gonna be crowded, and your food doesn't even taste good anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Because you have this deep sense of satisfaction.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not because you're a bad person, it's that you're disconnected from what you were created for.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, you're consistently angry.
SPEAKER_01: You turn on the TV, you got 125 channels, 125 new people to be mad at.
SPEAKER_01: And it's just pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
SPEAKER_01: It's just running commentary.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, rarely joyful.
SPEAKER_01: What I mean is you're consistently touching the edges of all you know to be, and you realize it's not enough.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to feel joyful about that.
SPEAKER_01: See, see the intimate life, and what Elisha had, he had a sense of being used by God.
SPEAKER_01: He knew I'm connected to something bigger than just me and a paycheck every two weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Second thing about the intimate life is that you're known by the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: You're known by the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: It says, And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing.
SPEAKER_01: And he called his servants and said, Well, will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?
SPEAKER_01: And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet who's in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Go and see where he is that I may send and seize him.
SPEAKER_01: And it was told, Behold, he's in Dothan.
SPEAKER_01: So he sent their horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because the enemy, the the opposition, they realized, hey, we gotta kill this guy.
SPEAKER_01: We know what the problem is.
SPEAKER_01: The problem's him.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Known by the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say it like this in modern day.
SPEAKER_01: Uh don't waste your life trying to be somebody in the religious subculture in America.
SPEAKER_01: Don't even waste your life trying to be somebody in the religious subculture of this church.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what the people sitting around you think about you.
SPEAKER_01: Stop living your life for the approval of the already convinced and ask yourself, Am I known in hell?
SPEAKER_01: Because if we can just kind of look into the portal, we can just put a open a portal into hell, and we just kind of called roll of everybody in this room right now.
SPEAKER_01: Will they have any recognition that any of us are living right now, much less having an impact on what's happening in the world?
SPEAKER_01: Because before Elisha, the enemy knew about him so much so they sent a squadron and said, send for him and seize him.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to put a stop to this guy.
SPEAKER_01: You realize that the Bible teaches that the enemy, our spiritual enemy, that all the entities of hell, they have a sense of people that live a spiritually consequential life.
SPEAKER_01: You you realize that, right?
SPEAKER_01: That there's there's a sense they understand.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Don't turn over, just write it down in your notes.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 19.
SPEAKER_01: God was using a guy named Paul in great ways, so much so that people would take handkerchiefs and aprons and they would touch Paul, his body, and they would take these handkerchiefs and they would touch people that were sick and they would get healed.
SPEAKER_01: Which is why a lot of times, if you turn on your TV late at night, you see TV preachers, uh, they're selling handkerchiefs and prayer cloths and miracle spring water.
SPEAKER_01: That's all heresy.
SPEAKER_01: Those people are heretics and they don't even know God.
SPEAKER_01: They're stealing money.
SPEAKER_01: My 19-year-old uh went back to college yesterday, and I'm kind of sad.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, kinda, because after about three weeks of a 19-year-old telling me everything, I was just like, shh, shut all the way up, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh so one night we're up at 1.08 in the morning watching TV, and she's lecturing me, and she comes across a guy named Peter Popoff, and Peter Popoff says little packets of Miracle Spring water.
SPEAKER_01: That's the biggest goofy thing, but it's based on, oh, well, Paul, they have these handkerchiefs and get this green prayer claw.
SPEAKER_01: And my 19-year-old snapped a gasket and bled out in our living room.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: People believe that.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, the issue is not that they believe that.
SPEAKER_01: They've lived their whole life, Madison, never experiencing the intimate life they were created for, so they're open to anything.
SPEAKER_01: They're ruled by a passion for stimulation for something bigger and better and beyond.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the deal: when you stop believing the gospel, the issue is not that you'll believe nothing, you'll believe anything.
SPEAKER_01: Those people don't believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: She's like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01: I said, let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: You need to believe this.
SPEAKER_01: You wake your mother up and you got more trouble than you can imagine.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, Dad, what do you do about something like that?
SPEAKER_01: I get up every Sunday and preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I don't worry about that guy with that bad toupee and his makeup, okay?
SPEAKER_01: God's gonna take care of him.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, I'm not gonna be able to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll be asleep in about 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_01: So say everything you want to say to me right now.
SPEAKER_01: Because your dad's on a glide pattern for the airport.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, Acts 19, that's where people like you say, why do you tell us that?
SPEAKER_01: Because those guys read about Paul in Acts 19, and hey, people, and that happened.
SPEAKER_01: People took handkerchiefs, they touched Paul, and he he touched them, and they they wouldn't touch sick people and they got healed.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean God's gonna do that nowadays, or God uses people because here's the deal: find somebody that lives the life that the apostle Paul lived and then talk to me.
SPEAKER_01: But those guys on TV are nowhere close.
SPEAKER_01: And so what they did, the Bible tells us that uh, hey, that hell knows about certain people.
SPEAKER_01: That one day, Acts 19, it says they were going around saying, in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.
SPEAKER_01: So they'd see somebody who was spiritually oppressed or possessed, and they would say, Well, I heard Paul say this, so let me try this.
SPEAKER_01: And one day there were seven sons of a Jewish priest named Skeva, and they all walked around that this would be funny, this would be funny, watch this.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, we command you to come out.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says, one day the evil spirit answered them.
SPEAKER_01: Ru-ro.
SPEAKER_01: Hear what the evil spirit said.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Jesus, I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?
SPEAKER_01: That's the wrong time to find out that hell doesn't know who you are.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible goes on to say that the man that had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered all seven of them, and beat them so severely they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
SPEAKER_01: See, it's it's not enough that you you you you know some things to say.
SPEAKER_01: Hell better know your name.
SPEAKER_01: Because people that live the intimate life, hell knows them.
SPEAKER_01: They're known by the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, they're able to see what God is doing, they're able to see what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: When the servants of the man of God, the servant of the man of God rose.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, the man of God got a servant back in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: No?
SPEAKER_01: Never mind, I'll keep going.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, uh when the servant, uh uh, that's that's what wives, my my wife is for.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, some of you are making fun of me because you're like, I got your email about, you know, you're gonna sit on your couch and eat queso, watch the game for your 24th anniversary.
SPEAKER_01: I am.
SPEAKER_01: Now you figure out why.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, in sweatpants.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go to Sam's and get a big five-gallon bucket of cheese balls, too.
SPEAKER_01: And just sit there and just eat them and watch football.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are like, oh yeah, I bet that's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: It is.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, by the way, able to see what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: When the servant of the man of God arose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city.
SPEAKER_01: And a servant said, Alas, my master, what are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, mark that in your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: This is a principle you need to never forget.
SPEAKER_01: When you can't see what God is doing, you'll be ruled by fear.
SPEAKER_01: When you can't see what God is doing in your life, in your marriage, in your kids, you will be ruled by fear.
SPEAKER_01: He says, What are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: Elisha says, Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
SPEAKER_01: Then Elisha prayed and said, Oh Lord, please open his eyes so he may see.
SPEAKER_01: So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountains are full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: See, an intimate life means that you're able to see what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: Elisha's prayer didn't create the army or send the army, the army was there all along.
SPEAKER_01: So he just prayed that a servant would see what he already knew.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this question: what's God doing all around you right now that you're not seeing?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't learn to see it, you don't train your eye to see it, you're gonna live in fear.
SPEAKER_01: And God's people have unfortunately have a history in the Bible of not seeing what God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And some of it is because God's not doing what we prefer.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're just gonna like, hmm, we're gonna fold our arms and kind of say, Well, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it sounds like in 2017.
SPEAKER_01: It sounds like this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just taking a break from church for a while.
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I I just need a break.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it sounded like in the Old Testament book of Elisha, I mean, excuse me, of Isaiah chapter 43, starting verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_01: This is exactly what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior.
SPEAKER_01: They lie down, they cannot rise.
SPEAKER_01: They are extinguished, quenched like a wick.
SPEAKER_01: And he's talking about the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_01: Did you get that?
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about parting the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_01: God says, This is what I did back then in Exodus.
SPEAKER_01: I drowned Pharaoh and his army.
SPEAKER_01: And then look at it.
SPEAKER_01: He keeps going, same sentence.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
SPEAKER_01: Translation, don't lock me into doing what I once did all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I don't do it, I don't do what I do the same way.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, I'm doing a new thing.
SPEAKER_01: Now it springs forth.
SPEAKER_01: Do you not perceive it?
SPEAKER_01: I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, the wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: Rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.
SPEAKER_01: Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob, but you have been weary of me.
SPEAKER_01: Hear that.
SPEAKER_01: God says, You didn't call upon me because I was doing a new thing and you didn't see it.
SPEAKER_01: You just spiritually pouted.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't call upon me.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't worship me.
SPEAKER_01: You have been weary of me.
SPEAKER_01: You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings or honored me with your sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: And I have not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with frankincense.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, God says, Hey, I get it.
SPEAKER_01: You're mad at me because I'm doing something new and you want me to do things the way I've all I did things back then.
SPEAKER_01: God says, You can't pin me down.
SPEAKER_01: I don't work for you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the Lord God Almighty.
SPEAKER_01: I can do whatever I want.
SPEAKER_01: Can you see what God is doing?
SPEAKER_01: Are you one of those people that's kind of like, well, I want God to do the same thing the same way.
SPEAKER_01: He's always done it.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I don't, I, I, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't see what God was doing because it was new and they wanted God to keep doing the same thing so much so they protested about they didn't give an offering, they didn't worship, they didn't pray, they let it be known, hey God, we're tired of you.
SPEAKER_01: God, we're we're we're tired of uh of you not doing what we want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see what God's doing in your life these days?
SPEAKER_01: Because if not, two things are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be ruled by fear, and secondly, you're gonna have this same response they had in Isaiah.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be like, Well, I'm just gonna give up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna take a break.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, God and Jesus, church thing just not working for me.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, that's a quote I've heard out of more than a few adults' mouths.
SPEAKER_01: So church thing's not working for me.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Is church supposed to work for you?
SPEAKER_01: Is it really that small in your mind that you think this is all supposed to work for you?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you think that way, you you don't understand what church is all about.
SPEAKER_01: Fourth characteristic of this intimate life is that prayers get answered.
SPEAKER_01: Prayers get answered, starting about verse 18 and 19.
SPEAKER_01: I know this can sound simplistic.
SPEAKER_01: He prays that the eyes of his servant will be opened, he prays that the eyes of an army will be closed.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, prayers get answered.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says, when he says uh uh in verse 18, he says, Please strike this people with blindness.
SPEAKER_01: So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: What's God doing right now in accordance with your prayers?
SPEAKER_01: What do you see and sense God doing?
SPEAKER_01: Because in the intimate life, prayers get answered.
SPEAKER_01: I know people say, Well, prayer always gets answered.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, no, and wait.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not copping out on that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying for Elisha, right here in the Bible, that he said crazy things like, God, open this one person's eyes and close the eyes of a whole army.
SPEAKER_01: And it was done in accordance with the prayer of Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: You can't take that out of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Prayers get answered.
SPEAKER_01: The truth is, this has more to do with your life than with your praying.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: This has more to do with your life, how you live than how you pray.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about knowing big words and phrases.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: James, the book of James says this in James chapter 5, verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: He says the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it's working.
SPEAKER_01: See, see, see, when we when we live rightly, when we live in keeping with what the Bible teaches, there's a power that adorns our life.
SPEAKER_01: And when that person prays, the Bible says stuff happens.
SPEAKER_01: This is not about intensity, this is about intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: This is not about intensity.
SPEAKER_01: This this is about intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe this will help.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the life that we all want to live is not achieved by exertion, it's achieved by submission.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again, and I'll I'll explain a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the life that we all want to live, this this intimate life, it's not about exerting yourself.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about, man, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna try harder, and it involves some effort, but it's really about submission.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I mean: I submit myself to the things that the Bible teaches.
SPEAKER_01: It happened this past Sunday night, right in our formal dining room, which we never eat in that thing.
SPEAKER_01: I would love to turn into a man cave, get rid of that big long table, takes up that space, but my kid was home from college, so we had to eat in there.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're sitting around eating, and at about 7:20, my 19-year-old says, I thought we were going to see la la land.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, What?
SPEAKER_01: No, not yeah.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: It's a movie, it's a musical or fala or something.
SPEAKER_01: What's it called?
SPEAKER_01: La la land?
SPEAKER_01: Am I called the right thing?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, la la land.
SPEAKER_01: No, not yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And I looked at my wife like, why do you hate me?
SPEAKER_01: And my kids were like, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And my 19-year-old said, There's an 805 showing.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, not in my lifetime.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to go see dudes sing and girls sing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not against that.
SPEAKER_01: I bless that.
SPEAKER_01: You go leave me at home.
SPEAKER_01: So I threw myself on my sword.
SPEAKER_01: There was a grenade on the floor and I dove on it.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, my wife said, Oh, I gotta get all the food put up and I gotta clean the kitchen.
SPEAKER_01: The kitchen's a mess.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I'll clean the kitchen.
SPEAKER_01: You take your kids to the movie.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife said, Oh, babe.
SPEAKER_01: She jumped up like she shot out of a cannon.
SPEAKER_01: Woo! When started getting ready.
SPEAKER_01: And my 19-year-old who loves to compete with her dad.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, come on.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, lagger.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: You ain't no daisy at all.
SPEAKER_01: She's like, What's that about?
SPEAKER_01: See, I know more than you.
SPEAKER_01: You're in college.
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, so you're just gonna stay home and clean the kitchen.
SPEAKER_01: See, I'm I'm not telling you I don't like musicals.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, I'm demonstrating my theology of marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what does that mean, Dad?
SPEAKER_01: I said, what that means is the Bible tells me to love your mom like Christ loves the church and give myself up for her.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm gonna clean the kitchen, put the food up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm even gonna sweep and mop the kitchen floor because I notice since you've been home walking on it with your tar feet, it's a little dirty.
SPEAKER_01: So, while y'all are all doing that, going to the movie, bless that, I'll be doing this.
SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't bother you?
SPEAKER_01: Why does it bother me when I get to live out what I really believe?
SPEAKER_01: I'm submitting.
SPEAKER_01: See, I'm submitting what the Bible says about marriage.
SPEAKER_01: That produces in me things that don't come naturally.
SPEAKER_01: I am not by nature a selfless person.
SPEAKER_01: I by nature am very selfish, very self-centered.
SPEAKER_01: I want to get my way.
SPEAKER_01: I just, that's just who I am.
SPEAKER_01: But when I submit to the gospel, the gospel produces in me a life that I can never produce on my own effort.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean when I say this is not about exertion, this is about submission.
SPEAKER_01: So you got to ask yourself, what do I submit to?
SPEAKER_01: Because if your life is consistently dissatisfying, you are not submitting to the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I'll stand and die on that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying every day with the gospel is just all a journal entry, but God has so much more in store for you than what you can come up with on your own.
SPEAKER_01: Fourthly, this intimate life, uh, when I say prayers get answered, you say, Well, what do you know?
SPEAKER_01: I know that can sound simplistic that prayers get answered, but I just want to say, hey, it it's it's not about, hey, I'm gonna pray the formula they're selling at the bookstore.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Stop buying the book, the workbook, the coffee mug, the gift pack set.
SPEAKER_01: Stop all that nonsense.
SPEAKER_01: Just submit to what you know the gospel to teach.
SPEAKER_01: And the life that you've been looking for, that you've been trying to finance, the life that you've been trying to get through, listening to vicarious podcasts, all of a sudden will begin to manifest itself in you.
SPEAKER_01: Fifthly and finally, this intimate life.
SPEAKER_01: It's a you you're able to live outside of what comes naturally.
SPEAKER_01: You're able to live outside of what comes natural.
SPEAKER_01: That's the last part.
SPEAKER_01: They walk them into the city, they got them surrounded, and the guy says, You want us to kill them?
SPEAKER_01: Why does he ask that?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what you do to your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: You kill them.
SPEAKER_01: They kill you, you kill them.
SPEAKER_01: They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way it works.
SPEAKER_01: Not in the intimate life.
SPEAKER_01: In the intimate life, you bless those who persecute you.
SPEAKER_01: You love your enemies, you pray for those who despitefully use you.
SPEAKER_01: You forgive people, they sin against you.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, you forgive them so many times that you start adding up and you come to Jesus and go, how many times do I gotta forgive these people?
SPEAKER_01: Seven times 70?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, No.
SPEAKER_01: It's not math, it's music.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, What?
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: What it means is you gotta be done with the same responses to life and wondering if you're capable of more.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta be done with the natural response to everything.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody cut you off in traffic, you got one response.
SPEAKER_01: You don't get your way, you got the same response.
SPEAKER_01: Your wife gets on your nerves, you got the same response.
SPEAKER_01: Your kids frustrate you, same response.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to ask you today, doesn't it get old?
SPEAKER_01: Don't you ever wonder, hey, is that another way of doing this?
SPEAKER_01: Because this is where a lot of self-loathing and self-hatred comes in because we get the sense that there's greatness out there.
SPEAKER_01: We might even concede that we've been created for more, and on a good day, we might even say, I'm capable of more, but we know that we live in this predictable range of all the natural things.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to stop thinking about Christianity as just forgiveness for doing what comes natural.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how many people have said to me, Well, that's just in my nature.
SPEAKER_01: It's just in my nature.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's heterosexual, homosexual, immoral, illegal, is it it fattening, it's just in my nature.
SPEAKER_01: It's just in my nature.
SPEAKER_01: And I have the same response.
SPEAKER_01: Do you think God created you just to live out of what's natural?
SPEAKER_01: And they always say, Well, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I mean: intimacy with God, this intimate life, this life that's prayerfully fellowships with King Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It propels us into the realm of the supernatural, the not ordinary, the beyond now, and into then life that we were created for.
SPEAKER_01: Now I say supernatural, don't think kooky.
SPEAKER_01: I just think more than what I can do on my own.
SPEAKER_01: It exceeds exertion and it puts me in the realm of intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible calls it walking in the spirit or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Now you may be thinking, okay, this sounds great.
SPEAKER_01: All right, I'm kind of curious about this.
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to know more about this.
SPEAKER_01: What do I do?
SPEAKER_01: I tell you the first thing, and I'll be done today.
SPEAKER_01: You still with me?
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you the first thing.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know the first thing that Elisha did when he sensed God was connecting him to what he was doing?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's in 1 Kings chapter 19.
SPEAKER_01: Don't turn there.
SPEAKER_01: But Elisha was plowing one day.
SPEAKER_01: He was just doing what he does.
SPEAKER_01: He had 12 yoke of oxen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if there's 12 yoke of oxen, that means there's how many oxen?
SPEAKER_01: 24.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, this is like algebra.
SPEAKER_01: Shut up.
SPEAKER_01: There's 12 yoke of oxen.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to picture this.
SPEAKER_01: You don't just read the Bible, see the Bible, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: There's 24 oxen, and there's a man at the back of them plowing, and along comes a guy named Elijah, and he just takes his scarf thing off, his mantle, and just throws it on him, which is his way of saying, I pick you to be my successor.
SPEAKER_01: And he just keeps on walking.
SPEAKER_01: The way we disciple people nowadays is so boring.
SPEAKER_01: We don't say anything provocative to anybody.
SPEAKER_01: It's, hey, brother, come on in.
SPEAKER_01: Let me take your coat.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah was a jagged man.
SPEAKER_01: The reason your husband doesn't want to be discipled, ladies, is we don't want to sit in a room and fill in the blanks or watch a Bethmore video.
SPEAKER_01: And that's nothing against Bethmore, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Stop worshiping Beth.
SPEAKER_01: Men want to be discipled by men who've been a place that we haven't been before.
SPEAKER_01: So Elijah comes by with a big beard, probably wreeks of whiskey, and he slings his match on him and just keeps walking.
SPEAKER_01: And Elijah's like, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, something just happened here.
SPEAKER_01: And he runs after him and he says, hey, hey, let me, okay, yeah, let me go first.
SPEAKER_01: Say goodbye to my father.
SPEAKER_01: And this is jagged discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah said, What have I got to do with you?
SPEAKER_01: You should get on your knees tonight and pray to God that somebody would love you enough to say irregular things to you.
SPEAKER_01: Stop buffing you with affirmation cream till you're real shiny.
SPEAKER_01: That's why when you say to your husband, you should get in a discipleship group, he's like, I'd rather be beat with a blunt object.
SPEAKER_01: It's Elijah cat.
SPEAKER_01: He smells like a squirrel.
SPEAKER_01: And he's just, he's like, What have I got to do with you?
SPEAKER_01: He just keeps walking.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what the first thing Elisha does?
SPEAKER_01: He goes back and he kills those 24 oxen.
SPEAKER_01: He builds a fire with that wooden yoke and he cooks the meat and gives it away.
SPEAKER_01: Put that in a blank.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why does he do that?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll shut up.
SPEAKER_01: When God go home.
SPEAKER_01: Then you can go home and kind of go, I think he's moderately violent.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why he does it.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, I ask you to do the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: He does it because he wants to give himself, he removes the option of ever going back to doing what he used to do and what he'd always been.
SPEAKER_01: If this doesn't work out, he can't go back and plow.
SPEAKER_01: I remember when I started in ministry, standing at the front of a church, a well-intentioned but stupid man came up to me and said, No, son, you need to go to college and get a like a like a teaching certificate, get it, get an elementary education degree or secondary education, so you have something to fall back on.
SPEAKER_01: Then there was an old guy in my church that had two bonfires for eyes, who kind of said crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And he walked up to me.
SPEAKER_01: He was standing about right over there.
SPEAKER_01: After that guy walked out and shake my hand, patted me on the back.
SPEAKER_01: That old man walked up and said, You need to forget that that foolish man just said that.
SPEAKER_01: I remember thinking, you scare me kinda.
SPEAKER_01: But I also want to keep listening to you talk.
SPEAKER_01: But he would say, Hey, because when it gets hard, you'll always want to go back.
SPEAKER_01: You're not called to ministry if you got a plan B.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing to go back to.
SPEAKER_01: You should have killed the oxen, slaughtered them, cooked the meat, and gave it away.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's days, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: There's days, and I just, I'm like, oh Jesus, is Walmart hiring me?
SPEAKER_01: I had a guy say this to me at a wedding one time.
SPEAKER_01: I'm being honest with you.
SPEAKER_01: He said to me, handed me his business card and said, I can make you a millionaire.
SPEAKER_01: Every once in a while, if you hear rattling in my office, I'm looking through my drawer.
SPEAKER_01: Where's that card?
SPEAKER_01: And then I realized I got nothing to go back to.
SPEAKER_01: I slaughtered all the ox.
SPEAKER_01: So, am I telling you to go home and kill your dog and eat it for lunch?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll be done.
SPEAKER_01: This is application.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: What's your first thing in response to this today?
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: What's the first thing you gotta go home and eliminate?
SPEAKER_01: This ain't gonna get more intimate.
SPEAKER_01: You try to hold on to everything.
SPEAKER_01: There's a simplicity to intimacy, it is addition by subtraction.
SPEAKER_01: For Elisha, it was 12 yoke of oxen.
SPEAKER_01: That's 24.
SPEAKER_01: How long do you think it takes to kill 24 ox?
SPEAKER_01: Those are the things I think about.
SPEAKER_01: And all his friends are kind of like, I think that guy snapped.
SPEAKER_01: He lost his mind.
SPEAKER_01: He's killing all his farm animals.
SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Supper's being served?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, where's the line?
SPEAKER_01: I'm in.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't sell them.
SPEAKER_01: See, because what you want to do, your flesh wants to save you.
SPEAKER_01: Your flesh wants to go, let's don't, I mean, I don't want to get crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Don't kill anything.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just sell it over here.
SPEAKER_01: Because your flesh has a plan to get it back.
SPEAKER_01: It does.
SPEAKER_01: That's just how, that's how committed we are to saving ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: So, what's your first thing response?
SPEAKER_01: When you think about becoming more intimately familiar with King Jesus and his words and ways in this world, what's the first thing that you hear him saying?
SPEAKER_01: That's got to get killed.
SPEAKER_01: We got to get rid of that.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, look at me and I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: I feel it coming up off of me, so it's time to stop talking.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You'll just chase information the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01: You read all the books.
SPEAKER_01: You highlight stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, mm, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm all for reading and highlight.
SPEAKER_01: I did something last night.
SPEAKER_01: I read a book a while back.
SPEAKER_01: It was so bad.
SPEAKER_01: I sent it back to the guy to ask my money back.
SPEAKER_01: You owe me$14.99.
SPEAKER_01: This is just a sermon.
SPEAKER_01: You turned into a book with a ghostwriter.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even sign my name.
SPEAKER_01: Four days later, I get a phone call.
SPEAKER_01: Well, so McClendon.
SPEAKER_01: Saw you sent my book back.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, man.
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to waste your life just recording information.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying don't take notes.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying this.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss out on the intimate life you were created for.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest today, just relax.
SPEAKER_01: We like to teach the Bible and then say, hey, let's think about this.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just think about it for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to think about this one thing.
SPEAKER_01: What's your first thing response to what you heard about the intimate life today?
SPEAKER_01: What's the oxen that's got to be killed?
SPEAKER_01: You can't sell it.
SPEAKER_01: You can't put it in storage.
SPEAKER_01: You can't ask a friend to hold it for you.
SPEAKER_01: No, you're going to go use again.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to go drink again.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to go cheat again.
SPEAKER_01: You got to kill it.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to eliminate that from your life.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not because of hatred, it's because of intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: It's because you want a greater intimacy with Jesus than you do with anybody and anything else in this life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wants to sit on the couch with you and eat queso and watch the game tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: And you have to kill all the other rivals to your affection.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus wears sweatpants and says crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_01: So what's your first thing response, beloved?
SPEAKER_01: Let's think about that for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: What's your first thing response?
SPEAKER_01: It's not my job to tell you what it is, nor would I even attempt to.
SPEAKER_01: But I would trust you enough, and I would trust your priesthood enough to say to you, think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: And when God puts his finger on it, you're going to be stuck at the same place spiritually that you are right now until you do something about that.
SPEAKER_01: So let me pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray for my friends in this room.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's hard.
SPEAKER_01: But I pray, Holy Spirit, that they would see the satisfying intimacy with you that awaits on the other side of obedience.
SPEAKER_01: You do not give it to us as a motivation to obey, you give it to us after we obey.
SPEAKER_01: So obedience sometimes is an empty-handed endeavor.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, I'm giving up everything.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Because everything's on the other side of this.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Holy Spirit, lead us into the truth.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus said you would do.
SPEAKER_01: That's all we ask you for.
SPEAKER_01: Slake every thirst in us that we're trying to satisfy by drinking from these shallow pools of pleasure in the world.
SPEAKER_01: We've come to slake our thirst in you.
SPEAKER_01: So, Holy Spirit, thank you for the truth.
SPEAKER_01: May it set us free.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being part of our service.
SPEAKER_01: When you came in, there's a worship folder that gave you how some information about different things in our church.
SPEAKER_01: Take that with you.
SPEAKER_01: You can read through it.
SPEAKER_01: On the far right side, we'll tear off part.
SPEAKER_01: Fill that out if you would tear it off and drop it on these boxes.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to show up at your house.
SPEAKER_01: We just want to know that you matter to us and we want to know you are here.
SPEAKER_01: Let you know we'll be praying for you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And just a second, I'll speak a blessing over us.
SPEAKER_01: And if you got anything going on in your life, you say, I'd love somebody pray with me about this, or I got a question, come up and ask us, okay?
SPEAKER_01: If this is your first, second, or third time to visit our church, all we want to do is meet you, put a name with a face, and that's it.
SPEAKER_01: We won't try to make you have a conversation.
SPEAKER_01: We just want to call you by name next time we see you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: Speak of blessing.
SPEAKER_01: Love came down and rescued you.
SPEAKER_01: Not just from some things, but for some things.
SPEAKER_01: Depart now and give yourself to what you were rescued for.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.
SPEAKER_01: You're dismissed.