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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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