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so the reason why we go to the
scriptures the reason why we have quiet
time the reason why we fellowship with
other believers we’re going to help us
remain encouraged in our faith is
because we’re just trying to get to know
God if you do not make it a pattern
to make time to spend with God then you
miss the nuances of the pattern that God
wants to give you trust the vidner who
is God our Father to take me through
this process my latter days will be
greater than my former days
in the Priscilla Jerry world
yeah uh does God Speak audibly
does he only speak through his word does
he speak how how what are the different
ways that you certainly know of that God
speaks to you
um I’ve never heard the audible voice of
God babe have you I missed something I
have not no no not yet but I think there
is something internal yeah in you that
you that you feel the presence of God
and it lines up with scripture which
confirms okay this is what I’m hearing
that’s right so the holy spirit of God
illumines Scripture the book is alive
and he causes the the old presets of
scripture to have a now-ness and a
newness that applies and intersects with
our personal experience so as Jerry
mentioned the holy spirit in US confirms
and corroborates and connects with the
the word of God and causes it to
intersect with our experience so that
that verse that has something to do with
David and Goliath all of a sudden it’s
not about David and Goliath it actually
applies to what you’re facing right then
in your life and you understand it as a
directive straight straight from God and
then there’s the conviction you know the
conviction of the holy spirit that that
green light of ease and peace that says
go that that yellow light of warning and
uneasiness that says hold up a minute
till you get clarity and then that red
light that is a straight up no there’s
no peace there’s confusion there’s
dissension that’s the holy spirit’s way
of telling you no don’t go there there’s
a better yes for you if you’ll just wait
and be patient have you ever heard the
still small voice of the Lord in a
phrase and an impression what describes
some of what is in Discerning the voice
of God how how the Lord speaks or how
this conversation unfolds with you yes
well most of the time MO most of the
time God speaks to me through his word
it is exactly what I described it is
reading through a portion of scripture
and on that day it’s like the Holy
Spirit has taken out a highlighter and
has highlighted this verse you have seen
a million times before but on that day
it leaps up off the page and it grips
you that’s the only way I can really
describe it is that it grips you in the
depths of your soul and causes you to
pause for a moment because it seems to
be literally speaking to something
that’s happening in your life most of
the time that is the voice of God we
have discounted I think the power of
scripture because if we say we want to
hear from God and we never actually read
the love letter that he wrote to us we
don’t want to really hear from God and
we rarely will because the Canon of
scripture is not only it not only
provides the boundary into which
everything God says to us will fall
because he’ll never say anything that
manipulates the scriptures or his
character as revealed in the scriptures
so it not only gives us the boundary but
it also provides for us the number one
mechanism through which we have the
privilege to hear him in the first place
beautiful I hate to be so secular but
remember that remember that that moment
in on TV back when we were kids do you
remember remember the I Dream of Genie
where she’d kind of do like that you
know okay so uh I have from one moment
to the next I mean this is like one
heartbeat to the next cart beat I’m
remembering some kind of conversation
that was a longer conversation for
instance
and I felt like that was something that
got communicated to me a big subject
matter communicated to me in a blink
yeah so what the voice of the Lord
sometimes feels like to me is like I’m
remembering a conversation not like I’m
talking and and going Hello Lord and he
says well hello Matthew it’s nice to
have you here with me today it’s been a
long yeah it’s been you know okay so
I’ve never had any kind of an experience
like that at all every time I felt like
volumes of information get communicated
in a in a snap of a finger and then it
just feels like you’re remembering
when we’re done with this conversation
today and we’re out of this studio we’ll
be able to remember this conversation
and we will be able to ultimately think
back on it that’s that is a way the Lord
has communicated I have heard
the still Small Voice say one word to me
or two words one time Hillsong Channel
um
six months later the Hillsong channel
was on the air yeah okay uh we’re
sitting here today Lori and I
um you know have often heard the story
but just just because of what we’re
talking about and I wanted to set a
little bit of the stage and by the way
what a thrill to have you guys seriously
I mean it’s like I’ve known your parents
and I was like what’s the matter with us
man I mean so we met actually at TD
Jake’s church not long ago sat behind us
and made us laugh through the whole time
I’m sorry for that I was cutting up and
the kids thank you for sure thank you
for that because they were like okay
when is this gonna be over
you realize you’re making fun of a TD
Jake service that’s okay it wasn’t
and just so that they wouldn’t freak out
I gave a little money
kind of bribe okay anyway
uh so for me one
okay so one of the the things that I
think is pretty interesting about
Discerning the voice of God my mom and
dad were working for somebody else in
the 60s
it was a TV station
and after one very successful night they
were leaving the parking lot and the
Lord said I’ve released you from your
work here
now my parents believe it was almost
like one of these moments where you look
in the back seat make sure that
somebody’s out in the back seat but they
were in their car
and my dad
didn’t recall it as being an audible
voice but it might as well have been
because he looked at my mom and said
you’re not going to believe what the
Lord just said to me and she said no I
will he said the same thing to me he’s
released us from our work here
very very unique thing they quit that
job
I’m 11 years old my dad doesn’t go to
work anymore this is you know here in
Southern California in the early 70s
and then a few months later praying the
Lord said had to say these words somehow
because my dad heard call Angel Lerma it
was a gentleman that owned a TV station
here in SoCal
he called and he said to he said to
Angel he said I’m just calling you today
checking on your Channel
and there was a long pause on the phone
Paul I just came from the boardroom we
just had a board meeting just now we
just voted to sell this channel did you
know that
and he said no sir I didn’t know that
but based on that I’d like to come see
you by the end of that day there was a
deal worked out which was the birth of
TBN which was this channel here in Los
Angeles Channel 40. channels actually
change now because of digital but that
was channel 40 back in the day
so here’s the here’s the thing we’re
sitting here today because of a couple
of
moments that the Lord was wanting to
communicate to someone to see if they
would respond to it okay so now 40
something years later we’re sitting here
there’s 31 television networks on the
air in 13 or 14 different languages and
we are literally ultimately uh now
communicating to the globe as we’re
sitting here okay yeah so if everyone
can realize it’s kind of an important
subject that we’re talking about okay
okay and so if everybody moved on
something that God spoke to them there
it is you know take another generation
what would that become what God had done
if we would have obeyed at that and
we’ve had that we’ve had that in our
life I’m thinking about when we first
got married babe where you’ve had these
these moments where like you said there
is almost like a huge conversation that
has already happened and the wealth of
it download it just downloads to you in
an instant
um and one of those things happened when
we were married for our very first year
of marriage very first year what
happened
we were at a family reunion on my
father’s side of the family
and uh I remember one of my cousins said
Jerry do you realize that if you and
Priscilla don’t have any boys the
Chardonnay will die with you
I’m like and I looked around I’m like
wow
and at that moment I felt like the Lord
said to me
you’re you have nothing but boys wow and
so I looked at Priscilla and I told her
what I said you have nothing but boys we
have nothing but boys and I remember
when our first son was born Jackson a
boy
uh the Second Son Jerry Jr a boy
and it was so funny the third child
everybody you know
oh the way she’s carrying it it’s a girl
it’s a girl I’m like no it’s not it’s a
boy and everybody asks me how confident
was I that I knew that it was a boy wow
and I told him years ago the Lord told
me I had nothing but boys because what
he’s doing
is starting a new generation wow of
Shire men wow and I remember being in
the delivery room and uh uh when when
when Jude was coming out and his head
was out uh I said oh I bet you a
thousand dollars that’s a boy the doctor
said we haven’t seen everything yet I
said if that’s a girl she’s going to be
with me for the rest of her life that’s
a boy
but you know what and some of the
details of that that you have to know is
that some of the well most of the men in
Jerry’s Legacy did not live well they
didn’t honor God they didn’t stay with
their wives they didn’t honor their kids
nothing and so in that moment where he
felt like the Lord said that to him he
really felt like the Lord was saying I’m
doing this on purpose I’m going to
generation I’m going to change what it
means to be a shire man wow through this
Legacy and he looked at me just barely
into our first year of marriage and said
we don’t have boys God’s doing this on
purpose and here we are 18 years later
with our three boys and so we have high
expectations that God’s got a plan for
them and you don’t have any plan for any
more kids we actually do not
you know she always says she always says
from this stage our youngest is Jude
because that’s as close as she can get
the Revelation because it is finished it
is finished that’s the end of the line
right there
oh gosh okay so start us out on um
because I know so many people wonder oh
you know how can I hear God’s voice for
ourselves and I know trust it or trust
or trust it how can I trust God’s voice
when I do hear it is that really him is
it me is it yeah well let me let me just
start by putting a little Grace over
this entire situation the reality is
that sometimes
you do not know until hindsight that
what you heard was the voice of God
there you go and the reality is that
there is grace and mercy to cover our
missteps and that the Lord in his
graciousness toward us his knowledge of
our Frailty and our Humanity for the
Willing heart who desires to do his will
even when we make mistakes he allows
them to become our greatest teachers for
hearing him correctly in the future he
does not hold it against us because
we’ve misstepped along the way so
um just Grace for those of us yes who
have ever heard God wrong
and wish we could get it get it right
one of the people I sort of interviewed
when I was first writing that book many
you know over a decade ago now I
interviewed Henry blackaby who wrote
Experiencing God yes and I you know had
my notebook out my pen I was going to
take a seminary class from Henry
blackody you know and I said how do you
know when you’re hearing God and he gave
me lots of incredible answers to that
question but really he summed it up this
way he said The more you know God the
more clearly you can hear God
there was really nothing for me to write
down because it boiled down to Priscilla
it’s simple he said The more you know
him the more clearly you can hear him so
the reason why we go to the scriptures
the reason why we have quiet time the
reason why we fellowship with other
believers who are going to help us
remain encouraged in our faith is
because we’re just trying to get to know
God when you know his character when you
know the nuances of what he does say and
what he wouldn’t say because if how he
spoke to our forefathers because of how
he handled circumstances previously with
people in the scriptures who were going
through some of the same scenarios we’re
going through now when you see his
personality and his character then you
know when you hear the voice of fear
uh-uh that don’t sound like my god when
you hear the voice of your ego Pride
jealousy divisiveness stepping in all of
that stuff that in our flesh is also
trying to get a word in edgewise we can
quickly quickly pinpoint the voice of a
stranger because if we know God the more
clearly we can discern and divide his
voice from a stranger okay now you
talked about seeking God’s provision and
His blessings on our life and then
knowing who what his character is talk
about that because I found that
fascinating yes so God’s blessing
um and I believe his Provisions are a
corroboration of his word to us so in
other words while in the Old Testament
there were external means as a primary
way for folks to hear God in the New
Testament and now in this time frame as
well we have something they didn’t have
we have the Holy Spirit so the primary
way he has speak to us is that he speaks
to us has changed but his goal hasn’t
his goal is still for his kids to hear
his voice so he’s chosen the holy spirit
of God to be the the way that we uh hear
and know what it is that his will is for
our life but he still uses external
means his provision His blessings his
aligning of Providence some people would
call it luck or coincidence no it’s the
aligning of God’s handiwork in our life
to confirm that what we’re sensing on
the inside is indeed how he’s aligning
the direction for Allah to just FB Myers
a great Theologian put it this way when
a big 747 is getting ready to land on a
Runway well well the plane better not
just be looking for one light somewhere
to land better not just look for two
lights somewhere to land there better be
several lights that are that are lining
a Runway so that that 747 knows exactly
to relent the bigger the decision that
you have to make the more you need to
trust in the mercy of God’s external
confirmation that aligns for you where
to land that plane in your life
beautiful um and and so that’s important
that we have external blessings
provision coincidence that really shows
us the sovereignty of God aligning I’ll
give you an example I was just telling
you guys before we started
um airing that I
that I started to to look at this
Discerning the voice of God book The
material that we’ve been privileged to
be able to develop Through The Years on
the topic and I just started you know
how the Lord puts layers of maturity on
a message the more you grow in him
aren’t we so grateful that he lets us
grow and mature and learn from our
mistakes and I thought I was just
starting to feel like you know it might
be time especially with the the video
series that we’ve done in regards to
this it was taped 11 years ago so it
kind of looks dated now and I thought we
might need to do something different
with that at some point this was going
to be my lazy year where I just kind of
sat down and didn’t write too much but
at the same time I started to sense that
on the inside maybe we need to do that
at some point one of my Publishers
called to say you know let’s redo the
Discerning the voice of God Bible study
then the publisher of this particular
book called and said hey you know what
maybe we’re going to put a reface this
and go ahead and freshen up the material
here in the new insights that the Lord
has given you so there were two things
two lights there that kind of
corroborated what I was already sensing
on the inside and then Matt Lloyd Crouch
called and said you know what Priscilla
we think that we would love to offer
this to to people who want to know how
to discern God’s leading that third
light wow was the confirmation for me
that what it was I was sensing on the
inside the Lord was very clearly clearly
giving me a light bulb to let me know
this would be his direction for me
there’s a lot of lies going on right now
and we need truth and God’s saying that
when I give my word through the holy
spirit it’s a specific word for a
specific time for a specific need
and when you live like this God speaks
everybody say God speaks this is the one
y’all not gonna like God speaks to other
people
dang
see because we wish we could judge
the type of people that God allows us to
speak through
but the person you don’t like
God can speak through them
the person who’ve been on your nerves at
your job the problem is some of your
enemies have been speaking the most
truth to you but because you won’t even
listen and see is there anything that
God has to say in the midst of that you
have now shut off the answer to the very
thing you’ve been praying for
somebody shouted me God speaks I could
go all day on all of this one on on this
one God speaks through media
God literally will speak the Bible talks
about him declaring Things to All
Nations and how does things get to All
Nations right now through media through
social media through television through
all of this stuff God is using media
right now to speak
[Applause]
okay some of y’all got real religions
not the media not the
how would you be hearing the word of God
right now
unless God was using technology and
media
I honestly believe and I say this that
we have never been fully positioned as
the body of Christ to do the Great
Commission go into all the world and
Make Disciples of every nation how can I
do that and still keep up what God says
about being the man of the house and
being stewarding in first Timothy and
being a leader in heaven how can I do
that and take care of my home unless
there’s a vehicle that God divinely uses
to spread the gospel and I can give my
babies baths at night how can I still be
and God’s saying I’m giving you a tool
that I speak through
somebody say God speaks
God speaks through creation and nature
you want to know is God real go outside
just go outside and look up
go go outside if you near an ocean we
land locked in Tulsa we only got ponds
that don’t have full water in them but
if you buy an ocean
go look at the ocean
and tell me that God does not speak
through creation
when I tell you when we watch every
season no matter the economic um
downfall or the economic rise in every
season the flowers still bloom
no matter who’s in office or who’s out
of office the uh the birds and the bees
still pollinate no matter what is going
on through every age and every Kingdom
rise in every Empire fall Bears still
hibernate God is speaking
and the last way I’m gonna talk about
that God speaks is through our
conscience
there are things that my body’s about to
do
that My Conscience Says
no
don’t do it now I’m already in the act
My My My Flesh has already decided
and then the Holy Spirit just invades my
conscience and say this is going to
delay you
they’re a setback
have you ever walked in a place about to
put the money down and say that’s bad
this ain’t your house
that ain’t your mate
at the engagement party
you ain’t getting that money back but
you’ll have your life I’m telling you
right now God is trying to help somebody
do not ignore when the Holy Spirit jumps
in your conscience
he’s trying to speak somebody say God
speaks
and and
the key is we have to learn how to
recognize his voice
sometimes the Bible tells us he stopped
talks in a steel Small Voice and some of
us are too busy
to hear the small voice of God
I want to normalize silence
I need you to you don’t always have to
have something going
I want to normalize meditation
not in a weird like like the Bible all
these other religions are biting the
Bible this is not new he says meditate
on my word day and night this is this is
what I need you to do and some of us are
so busy setting atmospheres
that we don’t hear answers
the candle’s right the mood’s right I
have my my mood music and the vibe is
right and I’ve done this and and God’s
saying like just sit down
just spend that extra five minutes in
the car
turn the radio off turn Instagram off
one of the most spiritual things you may
do is turn your notifications off of
your phone
[Applause]
I had to do this three years ago I’m
trying to be very practical I don’t get
a ding every time somebody hits my
social medias
because it was my invitation for
interruption
God could be speaking to me
you don’t think the enemy will help
somebody text me
you don’t think he’ll help somebody like
yeah yeah don’t send it right now and at
the moment God’s about to give a word
I don’t know what all your sounds are
but they start happening and and even if
I ignore them they have now taken up
space
I didn’t answer it but now it’s taking
up room
if you’re gonna be anchored this year
you gotta make space
for God to speak and I believe there’s
puzzle pieces to this this is the one
thing of how I got to the word anchored
this year and I just feel like teaching
I feel like being your pastor this
morning I feel like just giving you like
just practical things that will help you
be anchored if you want to be anchored
in your life anchored in your spiritual
life I told you all a few weeks ago this
will be your best year ever if it is
your best year spiritually that was not
for likes or comments that is a true
statement that is going to take you
having to sacrifice some things to get
the best thing and the best thing you
can get is a word from God somebody
shouted me God speaks
and this is how you get those puzzle
pieces to come together the first thing
that happens when I go to get vision and
this is how we got to Anchored is I get
in God’s presence
you never get a word from God without
him actually being there his presence
it’s not a gift he sends in the mail
it’s a gift he gives as he’s there with
you it is his presence my wife loves
gifts that I get her but she would take
back every person and every piece of
shoe and every gift I would ever for my
actual presence
and I feel like the church has been so
enamored with gifts
gifts they preach good
that they have settled for gifts instead
of his presence
if the note is off and he’s there it’s
all good
you see they don’t want that one because
at the minute we might sacrifice
Excellence but we get his presence do
you know some of the most amazing times
I’ve had with God had no LED screens
attached to it
had no good sound
the times when God checked me and
changed me and transformed me I wasn’t
in a Ritz call and I was at a Best
Western
79.99
do you understand I’m just trying to say
that if you do not put value on his
presence you’re missing a piece of the
puzzle
and for you to be anchored this year
you’re going to have to get in his
presence that’s why we’re spending 21
days praying and fasting and I’m not
encouraging everybody that’s still tuned
in because some of people tuned off
because the appetite went up we just
went from McDonald’s into Ruth Chris and
some of y’all have had an appetite
spiritually for fast food and what God
is saying is I’m about to change your
palate I’m about to bring you up to
steak potato shrimp and lobster and some
people can’t eat that all the time
because they’ve been used to eating
things that are processed but I’m coming
to give you the actual organic word of
God and what God has for you will not
come without his presence and honestly
you should be ignorant enough to say I’m
not good enough without his presence so
if your presence is not with me I won’t
go everything
let me stop I’m encouraging somebody
these last seven days of praying fasting
get on this
join us
170 000 plus people have downloaded this
YouVersion Bible app but 170 000 people
haven’t done it I can bet that I’ll bet
my own life on it because we would
rather have the appearance of God doing
something in our life than actually his
power moving in our life and the only
way that changes is through his
everybody say presence when I went away
and I got In God’s Presence this has
been a number two thing you need to the
puzzle piece is a pattern
see I want to be super practical right
now as a lot of people get in his
presence but they have not made it a
pattern yet
so it’s so sporadic that God’s trying to
get on your calendar
like can I get okay no I bless them too
much he ain’t got time for me okay um so
can I oh no they just got in a
relationship okay so I was going to say
okay and if you do not make it a pattern
to make time to spend with God then you
miss the nuances of the pattern that God
wants to give you the reason that my
staff and my team know that we’re gonna
have a word every year is since 2015 it
has been a pattern
why is Pastor Mike gotta go for a month
and a half two months because he has a
pattern with God
that the rest of our year is different
because he keeps to the pattern
some of you in your marriage need to
have a pattern of a date night
your children are suffering because the
love in your house is sucked out because
you only are business partners now and
God says it’s because you do it without
my presence and you lost the pattern
and I’m just asking you practically
where are the areas in your life that
you have drifted away from the pattern
remember 2020 is the year of the
anti-drift and I’m gonna talk about that
next week but I gotta lay this
Foundation that we need his presence but
we need a pattern
and as I go away for that week and just
ask God what he’s trying to say
I do another pattern that’s under my
pattern of going away I always ask God
for wisdom
this is one of the things that I don’t
care who you are and if you just join
the faith today that God says that as
you are one of his children you can ask
for wisdom James 1 5-6 says if any one
of you lacks wisdom
let him ask God
not Google
wrong G
[Music]
some of y’all are so quick to ask the
wrong G
about your situation
it says ask God watch this who is faster
than a search engine and gives it
generously to all without reproach he
doesn’t factor in your past
he doesn’t factor in the last time you
didn’t listen to him he doesn’t factor
in any of that he says he’ll give it
willingly without reproach and it will
be given it will be given him but let
him ask there’s a caveat with faith
with no doubting
for the one who doubts is like a wave
ooh sounds like they need an anchor
the one who asked that doubts is like a
wave of the sea that is driven and
tossed by the wind
God’s saying if you’re going to ask me
drop your anchor in faith and know that
if you ask me for wisdom I’ll give you
wisdom for your marriage I’ll give you
wisdom for the business I’ll give you
wisdom for what house and neighborhood
to live in yeah it looks depreciated
right now but you don’t know the city’s
talking about redoing this area and the
reason I told you to buy the house now
and it seems cheaper than what you want
because it’ll be three times that two
years from now if you would just listen
I’m telling you I’ll give you wisdom
but wisdom comes from his presence and a
pattern so as I went to that hotel this
year and I asked God for wisdom then I
want to give you the third puzzle piece
to really getting a word from God a
vision from God getting anchored in your
own life is it will be practical
God does not live up in this ethereal
Realm
he says that I work in the details
of my children’s life so his presence
creates a pattern that will come out
practically
and I know this is not the teacher
because every pastor wants you to feel
like they smarter than you let me tell
you very clearly I’m not smarter than
y’all
I’m I don’t have many of you have more
actual knowledge more things in your
head than I ever will
the one thing most people can’t mess
with me on is that I am practically
looking for God everywhere
you might know about him
I know him
I can see him at IHOP
I can see him I can see him as I’m
walking down the street I can see him
and a homeless person I can see him in a
beat I can see him in a movie I can see
him in a camera I can see him the whole
earth is the Lord’s
and most of y’all look for him on Sunday
and I see him in everything
so when God gave me his presence and I
had a pattern
God spoke to me and he said Michael open
your eyes and look
I’m going to speak something in your
conscience
and I I want to show y’all I thought it
would be better today to show you how
we’re here and what God wants to do than
just to talk to you about it it was in
August August 7th I woke up and I pulled
out my phone
and I just type this down I’d never seen
this before but I God spoke to me
because I had made room in his presence
I had a pattern and then he made it real
practical this is all he said the word
for 2021 is anchored August 8th 2020 at
1 52. this is out my real phone
I literally practical I need everybody
to understand this is not mystical or
spooky or oh yeah no no practical I hit
the word anchored and there’s a thing on
the iPhone that says look up word
and I looked up the definition of anchor
and this would have said a person or a
thing that provides stability and
confidence in an otherwise unpredictable
situation
and God said he whispered this one
sentence to me and I marked his word
what you are tied to is more important
than where and then I this is how I left
it up here just like this because I was
supposed to say where you are
but it was unfinished
because I got distracted
what you are tied to is more important
than where might go
that’s personality
what you are tied to is more important
than where daddy
and I left this up here to let you know
that even the people that are supposed
to be the closest to God
have the opportunity to be to be
distracted
but what God had me do is go back to his
presence
and I had a pattern
and he finished this word of me and
that’s why I can finish it for you what
you are tied to is more important than
where you currently are
and that was a practical thing and I
said Okay God so so so so what are you
telling me he said Michael anytime you
do anything get in my presence get the
pattern I’ll make it practical Proverbs
3 5 and 6 is trust in the Lord with all
your heart and lean not on your own
understanding I did not understand why
you wanted it to be anchored I did not
understand what 2021 hold because I
didn’t have God’s view on it but he did
so he said anchored and he said in all
your ways acknowledge this is me that’s
why I had the audacity to put it in my
phone because I acknowledge this wasn’t
me this was God and he said if you will
do that I will direct your path
you have to give up safety if you’re
going to walk with God you have to trust
him that he is the farmer that he knows
what he’s doing and when he says that I
am the vine and you are the branches he
says my father is the husbandman and the
husband man is the farmer he’s the
Bittner he’s the one that controls the
process he knows exactly where to cut to
make you more fruitful
when I was a little boy I went out in in
the yard trying to do like my mother who
pruned the rose bushes I decided I would
help her out and go prune the rose
bushes and when she came home from work
I had almost killed the bush
almost killed the bush I was a bad
little boy
you could tell can’t you imagine just
shrink me down to about eight years old
you got trouble on your hand I was a bad
little boy I had tore the bush apart
and she was furious with me
and I said why are you furious with me
when I’m only doing what you did she
said no you’re not doing what I did
because I know where to cut
see the visitor knows where to cut it’s
not the cut alone you can’t just cut it
anywhere he knows where to cut and he
knows when to cut and he knows how to
cut to bring you to the place that you
can be more fruitful because ultimately
he wants you to have enough fruit that
we can become wise
that we can enter into that state of
being that lasts for years and years and
hundreds of years as wide
but if I remain the great power will go
bad
so it is the only fruit that is raised
to die
it is raised to be crushed
it is meant to be stepped on
it is meant to be bruised
if grapes could scream
they would cry out
from the pain of becoming wine
but if they can endure the pain of the
crushing and Trust the vidner who is God
our Father to take me through this
process my latter days will be greater
than my former days and finally I’ll be
more valuable and I’ll be worth more and
I may get shipped abroad and I may be
served to Kings and princes and set
before great men only because I’ve been
crushed
I may be served at the finest tables I
may be used in the greatest restaurants
only because
I didn’t do it the crushing
Jesus connects us to the father by
helping us to understand what his role
is in our life so that we won’t
misunderstand the knife
so that we will understand that the
knife is in the right hand
that sometimes when God approaches you
he approaches you and he looks like a
Slayer because he’s coming with
something that hurts
and you have to trust his character when
you don’t understand his methods
you have to understand his Acts by
believing in his ways
because a husbandman is our father he
cuts Us in all the right places
and we can do nothing without him
we can bead nothing without him we
cannot reach the height and the hope of
the purpose of our calling without him
because only the manufacturer knows how
fast the car will go
he has built it and designed it to
accomplish more than the foot that’s got
its pressure on the pedal
he has designed the car to exceed the
pace that you may be willing to drive
and so if you want to know how how fast
it can go you have to talk to the
manufacturer because he designed it with
enough horsepower to do more things and
you may even be capable of doing and God
pushes us out of our comfort zone by
crushing us Jesus became human so that
he could understand what it was like to
be human he experienced our trials our
Temptations our heartaches our pain so
that he would be an example for us he is
the fruition of God’s word he proves
himself in us he walks inhale right in
front of us to show us that it can be
done he he allows himself to be beaten
right in front of us and we got to see
him be beaten and we got to see him be
ridiculed and laughed at and be popular
and then unpopular and loved and then
hate it so that we would understand that
all of this is part
of becoming wise
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my wife is a neat freak
she wants everything in place
I think the house is clean even when she
says it’s not
and she’ll be complaining about stuff
that I think is no big deal
because she likes everything nice and
neat now don’t get me wrong I’m not a
messy person well maybe a little bit but
I like it nice even though I’m messy
I like it nice and neat I like life nice
and neat and packaged and beautiful and
smelling good and that’s not how it
happens
any wine maker will tell you that making
wine is a dirty business
it’s a messy business
it’s a business that leaves stains in
your clothes and scratches in your skin
they’re making wine happens in dirty
places not nice neat comfortable Lazy
Boy chair laid-back remote control
places that’s not how you become wide
we have a God who works in dirty places
from the very first time we meet him in
the Book of Genesis we see him stooping
down playing in the dirt
this is the first indication that God is
not afraid to work in dirty places
over and over again we get the metaphor
of him being a farmer of seed of seed
time and harvest of sowing and reaping
to let you know that God works in the
dirt
and when you pray to stay out of the
dirt you’re praying to stay away from
God because he Stoops down to the dirt
and he he makes you in the dirt and he
shapes you in the dirt and he forms you
in the dirt and he matures you in the
dirt and he stabilizes you in the dirt
like any wine dresser would if a wine
dresser is not willing to get dirty
he’ll never have the grapes and if you
don’t have the grapes you won’t have the
wine because the wine means that you got
to step on it and you got to crush it
and your feet are stained with the
pressure
until both the wine maker and the grape
have experienced the same stain
and he was wounded for our transgressors
and he was bruised for our iniquities
and the chastisement of our peace was
upon him and with his stripes
we are healed
Jesus became human so that he could be
staying with the stain that we
experience so that when we cry out to
him he can be touched by the feeling of
our infirmity he wanted to know what
that was like God had never slept not
one night until he came in the form of
Jesus he didn’t know what tired felt
like he didn’t know what sleep felt like
he didn’t know what fear felt like he
didn’t know what stress felt like and he
came so he could answer his own question
Adam where are thou and so he came
walking down from time from eternity
into time so that he could have in a
human experience so that we could have a
conversation
he is the Seed of Abraham
and God knows how to develop that seed
he knew how to take it through 42
generations and you’re trying to get
there in 42 days and Jesus came through
42 generations and you think you’re late
and you think you’re behind him you
think you’re off schedule and you think
you miss your mark Jesus came through 42
generations to be the Seed of Abraham
he grew and mature he started as a baby
and most people don’t want to start
small
the Lord Of Glory the king of glory the
Great I Am the mighty one the Holy One
the consolation of Israel came in a form
of a baby
he came small
he came smaller than the mother he would
redeem
he came smaller than the people that he
would deliver
and it is no accident that he was born
in a manger
because he was a lamb
where else would a lamb be born
and he teaches us as he grows
and as he develops
the opportunity to grow happens in your
life in your home in your heart in your
spirit
and you are being planted
but you feel like you’re being buried
have you ever noticed that there is no
difference in the motion between
planting and bearing
wow Jesus when you plant the seed it
feels buried
but it was planted to rise again
the the the fintner understands that he
is not a mortician
and even though he takes a seed and digs
a hole and puts a seed down in the hole
and covers it up with dirt he’s not a
mortician
he’s planted it and not buried it and
most of us think we are being buried
when in fact we are only being planted
and when you are planted that means
you’re going to get up again and when
you are planted that means you’re going
to come forth again and when you are
planted that means that this is not how
the story ends this is not being in
don’t run from it don’t hide from it
don’t duck from it don’t Dodge from it
don’t run trying to get away from it
because you are not being buried
you are being planted
at TBN our mission is to use every
available means to reach as many
individuals and families as possible
with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus
Christ thank you for helping make the
gospel of grace go around the world
without you we we couldn’t do it God
bless you
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