October 11, 2024 • 53 mins
Ever feel like you’re fighting a losing battle with your thoughts? Discover how changing your perspective could be the key to living a more meaningful life.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. Welcome to church.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome to the final installment of Bars and Battles. Yes,
I know how tragic it is for you to learn
that this is our final week of this series.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
How many of you have enjoyed it and then.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Got to stop somewhere. I learned that, and you got
to start somewhere. You got to stop somewhere. It's usually
harder for me as a preacher to know where to
start the sermon than where to stop it, because usually
usually I know where I'm going.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
When I start.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
When I start preaching to you, I know where I'm going,
but I don't always know how to get you into it,
because well, when I first started.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Preaching, I just assumed that at.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
The beginning of my sermon, everybody was as excited as
I was about what I had been learning all week.
But I found out they had real lives, and so
you got to start somewhere, and sometimes it feels like
we have to get our energy to match up. When
I first started preaching, I came in so, I came
in so hot. I've just come up screaming and yelling
(01:26):
and hollering at the people in the first five minutes.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
But I find out sometimes you got to give them time.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
To merge into traffic and got to let the caffeine
kick in. My pastor, Pastor Mickey, he used to always
start his sermons the same way. Every time he started
the sermon. Well, he would read his scripture, and then
he would pray, and at the end of his prayer,
he would end his prayer the same way. Every single
time he would he would pray, read scripture, he would pray,
(01:55):
and then he would say, lit the words of my
mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
And I thought he made that up.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I didn't know he was plagiarizing Psalm nineteen fourteen. I thought, well,
that's so deep and profound, And one day I looked
and it was right there in the Bible. But I
kind of thought, maybe that was like a good luck
thing to say before you preach, you know, let the
words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart
(02:26):
be acceptable in your sight. I thought it was like saying, God,
help me not to mess up, and help them to listen,
help them to pay attention. That's a good thing to
pray when you start a sermon. Let the words of
my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable
in your sight.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Oh Lord, my Strength and Redeemer. It's kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Because it means that anytime I preach, there are two
sermons happening, the one that I'm preaching and the one
you're hearing. And sometimes those two are not the same.
So I want to talk to you for a few
moments today about silent sermons. Silent sermons, and what we'll
(03:13):
do is we'll read the whole Psalm Psalm nineteen.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
We'll read the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I'm want to ask you to stand to your feet
in honor of the reading of God's Word at all
of our locations. Many say this is David's greatest hit
of all of his psalms.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
This is to some of his finest work. C. S.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Lewis said it's one of the greatest lyrics in human history,
and who are you to argue with C. S. Lewis
touch somebody say this must be a good one.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Listen to all fourteen verses. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day, they pour forth speech, night after night
they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words,
No sound is heard from them, yet their voice goes
(04:11):
out into all the earth.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
What a paradox this is, he said. They have no vocal.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Cords, no esophagus, no larynx, yet they speak so loudly.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
The skies declare the glory of God.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And the heavens show forth his power in such a
way that it reaches the end of the earth. It's
a silent sermon. Their words go to the ends of
the world. In the heavens, God has pitched a tent
for the sun. It's like a bridegroom coming out of
his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
(04:48):
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes
it circuit to the other. Nothing is deprived of its warmth.
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wives the
simple touch.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Somebody say, God's word works.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to
the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving
light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and
all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold. They are sweeter than Krispy Kreme
(05:33):
North Carolina translation. Then honey from the honeycomb. By them,
your servant is worn in keeping them, in keeping them,
not just in hearing them, but in retaining them. In
keeping them, there's great reward. But who can discern their
own errors? Forgive my hidden false Keep your servant also
(05:59):
from willful sins.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
May they not rule over me.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. And
here comes Pastor Mickey's verse.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Made the words of my mouth, he said it in
the King James English.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Because Pastor Mickey is seventy eight, made the words of
my mouth and the meditation of my heart. Take it
down be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord, my strength
and my redeemer. And now that I said the scripture,
we can get the sermons started have a sea. It
(06:37):
matters where you start. It matters where you start. You
agree with me, it matters how you start your day.
Let's use a few examples with your spouse. Holly and
I were very happy on our honeymoon night and the
next morning, I'm not going with this where you think
I'm going with this.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
When she looked at.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Me and I looked at her, and we had both
been up, and we had both brushed our teeth, and
we had both been awake for fifteen minutes, and we
had not said a word, And she looked at me,
and I looked at her, and we knew that we
had made the right decision because she looked at me
and she said to me, you don't like to talk
in the morning either, And I said, no, I hate
(07:24):
people in the morning.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
And we knew it was meant to.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Be because we can start our morning without saying a word.
We could start our morning without saying a word. And
I found out that you can preach a sermon without
saying a word. Some of the loudest sermons I will
preach will be with my life, not with my lips.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
In fact, if.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I've preached one sermon with my lips and another with
my life. It won't be long before nobody wants to
hear what I have to say, no matter how loud
I say that silent sermons, there's the one that I preach,
and then there's the one that I live. My grandfather
(08:19):
was a preacher. I only heard him preach one time
that I remember. Probably heard him preach other times that
I don't remember, but I remember only one sermon that
I ever heard him preach. Can't remember what he preached,
but remember hearing him preach one time. I saw him
preach hundreds of times. There's a difference. I saw him
(08:40):
comb my grandmother's hair when she didn't even know his
name anymore because Alzheimer's had completely erased her memory of him.
But it didn't matter, because, like you've heard so many
times before, he would say, she might not know who
I am, but I know I.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Know who I am even if she doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And so I am the kind of husband that will
comb her hair and show up every morning when visiting
our start and not leave until they kick me out,
and take her to Wendy's every day for lunch. And
he had no integrity because they would share a diet
coke every day at Wendy's and get free refills and
only pay for one instead of two. But see, he
(09:28):
was preaching a silent sermon.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
He wasn't the first one.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
He wasn't the first one to preach a silent sermon,
because Moses was a man that God wanted to use,
but he wasn't very good with words. So God said,
don't worry about what you're going to say.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I'm going to give you a stick, And if you take.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
The stick and stretch it out, touch somebody, say stretch
it out. It's always in the stretch that you discover
the supply. It's always in the stretch that you discover
the strength. It's always in the stretch that you discover
the supernatural. You'll be get warmed up by now somebody
shall stretch. God said, Moses, if you'll stretch your staff
over the waters, you won't have to say a word.
(10:11):
I'll make the water's part and the people will know
what kind of God I am, not by the words
that you speak, but I'll make the waters free for you.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's a silent sermon.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Moses wasn't the only one who preached a silent sermon.
One woman in the Bible was so taken by the
presence of Jesus Christ that she's snuck in a room
with some perfume, some really expensive perfume.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
The Bible says it was worth a year's wages.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
And people knew that she loved Jesus not because of
her speech, but because of the smell of the fragrance
that she poured out at his feet. Now, I can't
find one time where she said a word in the passage,
but Jesus said, wherever the Gospel has preached, the memory
of what this woman has done will be told. Because
some sermons are preached through smell rather than by sound.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I'll prove it to you.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Shadrackneeshak in a bed and a go went down.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
In a fiery furnace. I'm preaching now.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
We passed the introduction, and they turned up the heat
seven times hotter than normal, and.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
They thought it would kill them.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
But when they came out, they didn't even smell like smoke.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And when you don't smell like what you've been through,
and when you've been.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Through the fire but you're not bitter about.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
It, it's a silent sonon Jesus got down in the
dirt one day and a woman who had been.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Caught in the act of adultree was about to get stone.
Jesus said, if you've never done anything deserving of becoming human, target, practice.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Goliad and fire away.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And then he knelt down in the dirt, said not
another word. And everybody started walking away.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And he said not a word. He was writing in
the dirt.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I think he was writing their names and what they
did on prom night, But I don't know what he wrote.
Maybe just the essence of his presence was enough that
his perfection became a reflection of their need for grace.
(12:26):
Some of the greatest sermons are silent sermons. Silent sermons.
Those guys preached one today. Before I ever opened my mouth,
the preaching started. Sam and Brian you don't know him.
They brought my pulpit out. They said something before I
said something. First of all, they said that this is
(12:50):
a heavy pulpit they've been lifting. By the way, when
you're really strong, you don't have to talk about how
strong you are.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Real strength show, and when you.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Really love God, sometimes it's something that's a seemingly insignificant
act of service. I wonder if their sermon will actually
mean more to God than mine because nobody will download
Sam's podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
But he preached it's.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
A silent sermon. People ask me off, and when are
you gonna let Holly preach more? Well, first of all,
she told me two times a year. Any more than that,
and she's leaving me. She don't liked it that much,
but she preaches every week. Every week, she preaches every week.
If you don't believe me, just look over at her
right now. She's got her notebook open and this is
(13:38):
the second time she's heard this sermon and she's still
pretending to take notes and writing a grocery lesson. That's
not true. She gets something new out of it every time.
It's a silent sermon, a silence sermon. Can you preach
a silent sermon? Lazarus did? The Bible says that Jesus
(14:04):
needed some way to reveal that he was not only healer,
but he was resurrection. But if he said it, people
might doubt it.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
But if he did it, somebody had to die.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Sometimes the greatest sermon of.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Your life will be by the things that you went through.
In fact, I love it because that same passage where
the woman broke the perfume.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Her name was Mary.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
She was lazarus sister, And while she was pouring out perfume,
Lazarus was chilling lean back at the table. He didn't
have to say a word. The fact that he was
dead and now alive, the fact that.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
He was in the ground and was now sitting at.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
The table, was proof of the power of God.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
How many don't. Just the fact that you showed up.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
To church today makes the devil sick.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
He can't s the singing in the House of God.
I'm preaching by my very presence, but it's a silent sermon.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
So when David says the sun makes it circuit, he's
not giving us a science lesson. He's showing us something
about how creation preaches silent sermons day after day and
night after night. He said, they pour forth the glory
of God. They speak, but you can't hear it. Some
(15:35):
of God's greatest work is seen, not heard, not heard.
The skies preach a silent sermon. The consistency of the
solar system says something to us about the nature of
life that it is cyclical. Some of the things that
(15:57):
you think are circumstance your life are actually cyclical. I
think that's a big part of maturity is learning what's cyclical,
and not just running around from situation to situation, but
understanding the cycles that create the situations, because if you
(16:18):
don't understand the cycle that creates a situation, you will
be dealing with situation after situation after situation after situation.
I don't need to be a science teacher to explain
to you that the solar system operates on cycles. You
understand we're making a trip right now. We do it
(16:39):
every three sixty five. Sometimes it takes us three sixty
six on those leap years, but we're making a cycle.
David said that the heavens are declaring the glory of
God and they keep on doing it consistently in the cycle.
And although we know that technically he's not a explaining
(17:00):
how the universe works, he's giving us a picture of
the Sun in its circuit.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
The whole text kind of has.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
This theme of it that we're going round and round
and round and round. He ends the Psalm saying, may
the words of my mouth and the meditations of my
heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength
and my Redeemer. He starts with the solar system, the
(17:29):
heavens declare the glory of God, and he ends with
his soul. So from the solar system to his soul,
everything is on a cycle.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
It's a cycle.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Whatever you're thinking about right now, it's because of a cycle.
In fact, I think it's very very good to start
your day with God because it starts the cycle from
the right place. I think that's why it's really important
if you can read a Bible verse before you read
a Facebook post, because it's just a better, purer cycle.
(18:06):
If it's possible before you check email, check your n email.
I just threw that in for the corny people. I
would never say that. A lesser preacher would say something
like that.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
To somebody, say it's a cycle, and he uses this phrase.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
The meditation of my heart. You'll get it together. Wasn't
that bad? Meditation is not a hot yoga term. Meditation
is not a term reserved exclusively for Eastern religion. Meditation
(18:48):
actually in Hebrew is a musical term.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
How beut you didn't know that. That's why I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
It's like, David, here's where I learned about what meditation is,
because for years and years and years and years I
thought that what I said to God was my prayer life,
as I say a lot of stuff to God, and
I would say all the stuff that I need God
to do, and sometimes I would lose focus, and I
had prayer lists and prayer thoughts and all that, and
it felt real boring. I didn't realize that there were
(19:19):
some things that God wanted to say to me. I
didn't understand the power of the silent sermon until I
went to see Ed Shearon in concert.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And I have nothing against Ed Shearon.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
In fact, I think Ed Shearon has written some beautiful songs.
How many would agree that Ed Shearon has written some
beautiful songs three of you.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
But I'm just saying this is not a rant against
Ed Shearon.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
But I went to see Ed Shearon because Holly likes
boring music and.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Ed Shearon had an interesting way of.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Doing a concert. And it was surprising to me because
Ed Sheeran did a whole concert without a band, a
whole ninety minute set in an arena. When I say
it was boring, now, maybe I'm just spoiled because I
passed her at church with the greatest musicians you will
(20:25):
find anywhere.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
In the city.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
The Saint come on GTA the continent.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
To not ed no not ed ed.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Shearon didn't even have a band, no bass player, no
kick drum, no electric guitar. Ninety minutes of him with
his guitar and his accent, and he had this little pedal.
Come here, David's gonna help me. Yeah, give it up
(20:59):
for David. This is the other.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
King, David. This is David, David.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Liota, the king of the strings, the king of the
six string guitar. David's going to do his best at
Shearon impersonation because what that Shearon.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Did, Now, I had to ask somebody.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
The first time I saw I'd do this, I didn't
know what it was because I've saw him. He would
play something and then he would stop playing it, but
it kept going. And that's because he had one of these, right.
It's called a loop station. If you're taking notes, you
look like you're waiting for something to write down. At
some point in this sermon, write down the word loop, loop, loop,
(21:43):
and shows how the looping station worked. Because he doesn't
have a drummer because apparently he's cheap, so instead of
instead of hiring a drummer, he made his own drums
on the guitar. Just give him an example. See what
(22:07):
he did. He looped it. Now we gotta beat See
you can move to that a little bit. But he's
not doing anything. But he set something in motion and
there it is. Now put something on top of it. Loop,
something else. Oh that's a nice David. I like that
(22:40):
jazzy Major seven stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
That's pretty soulful for a white boy. That's good, David.
There's something else on it. All we're doing stack in
the loops. That's all we're doing. Come on, that's too
sexy for church, David. Take it all the way back down.
(23:06):
Take something out, Take that out.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
All started, all these layers started with a loop.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
With a loop.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Now what I found out, David, how you make it stop?
Because sometimes I wonder that about my heart? How do
I make it stop?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Because I get stuck in a loop. You ever been
stuck in a loop. I'm talking about it in.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Your mind now, not at the guitar or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
You've been stuck in a loop where you find yourself
in an absolute state of panic.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
That started Watch this with a silent sermon.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Mosses isn't the only one who preached silent sermons. Lazarus
isn't the only one who preached silent sermons. Jesus isn't
the only one who preached a silent sermon. David isn't
the only one who preached a silent sermon. Not only
do the stars and the sun, and the skies and
(24:36):
the solar.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
System preach a silent sermon. I got bad news for you.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
The devil preaches silent sermons.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
He gets you in a loop.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I'm done with you, David, thank you so much. Give
him a hand our very ownette searing. You ever been
stuck in a loop of lives?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
He's talked to me.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I feel awful, lonely up here concord.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
They're giving me no law. You don't admit it, but some.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Of your relationships went off track, not because of what
was said in the relationship, but because of what was
not said, what you started saying to your self.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
He said within himself.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
That's what the.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Rich man did in the parable when he said to himself,
I'll build many barns, I'll take life easy. He didn't
know that very night his life would be required.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
He said to himself. It matters where you start with
what you.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Think about, and self is a very small sun for
your life to orbit around. It's a very limited loop.
Self is a is a very small scale to see
the world in.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
In fact, sing with me, do ray me me me me.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I'm just me singing the song me that many of
us me have been singing all week? Me me me
me me?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
What's your favorite meditation?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Me me? What are they thinking about me? Me?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
When is anybody ever gonna notice me?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I changed the key, but it's still about me. Sometimes
I can find a way to make anything about me.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Me me, me, me, me, me me. Come on, let's
acquire practice.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of
my heart.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Me me me, me, me, me, me.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Me me me me me.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Me me me.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Me me me me me.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I don't think it's a hit ella.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I don't think anybody's gonna buy the album. I don't
think it's gonna bring me joy. I don't think it's
gonna bring me peace. I don't think I'm gonna figure
out a solution if I start with myself. I need
a new loop, I said, I need a new loop.
Some of you came to church today, not just the
hero A sermon, but to preach one to yourself. Why
(27:45):
don't you start with your source and not with yourself?
Now to him, come on, who is Abel?
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Shout up town?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
To do immeasurably more than I asked for.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Imagine, I'm tired of that track.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Me me me me me me me me me me
me me me me me.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Me me me me me me me me me me.
I thought about singing it till it wasn't funny anymore,
And it sounds like we're already at that point.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I know how long it would take.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
How long will it take until you change that meditation?
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Realizing that if.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
You start with yourself, you say in yourself, and you
will always be limited by who you are.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
But when you start with the great I.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Am, David said, who's that? They said, I think his
name's Goliath. David said, I'll fight him. Saul said, you're small.
David said, I'm not coming against him in myself or
(28:53):
in my name, but I come against you in the
name of the Lord the Sky. I declare the glory
of God. Notice David did not start with what was
in his heart. You start with what's in your heart.
You'll scare yourself to death. That's a horror movie to
(29:15):
start with what's in your heart.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
I was going to preach.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
One time, and the guy who invited me, I've never
been to.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
His church before. He said, just share us on your heart.
I said, oh, no, you don't want me to do that.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I'm gonna share us in heaven because if I tell
you what's in my heart, it won't help any of us.
So I don't start my meditation with what's in myself.
I noticed that every meditation, and again, don't think meditation.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Think about the loop.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Think about the lines that loop over and over again
in the way that you think. Think about how you
have this subtle way, if you let yourself into turning
every interaction into a stage on which you.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Were the star. I don't do that. I don't like
to be noticed. I don't do that. I don't like.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
People to even look at me. I'm not that type
of person. This must be a preacher thing. No, I
promise you. You talk too much sometimes. I promise you.
Some of the stuff that you post. Oh you didn't
think I was talking about your Instagram.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Fee, did you?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I promise you some of you need to go home
and change the bio on your on your Instagram, and
it should just say what it's really all about?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Me? Me, me, me.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Me, Just give us an expectation of what's going to
happen on that fee when you're easily offended, when everything's
an insult.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Did you see how.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
They looked at me. They weren't looking at you. They
were thinking about dinner. They have not bought groceries this week,
and their mom has cancer. You get outside yourself and
think about something bigger.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
The skies declare the glory of God.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
People like this, bigger than what happens in here.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Do your neighbor a real favor, Look at him and say.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Get out your head. Get out of your head. That's
a horrible place to take your orders. Am I preaching
or am I preaching? Every meditation, every loop that starts
with self ends in one of two places. And I
(31:34):
want you to look for this in your life this week.
It's either going to end in scarcity or shame. Every
sermon that you preach to yourself, and you are always
preaching to yourself. In fact, Martin Lloyd Jones said that
(31:55):
our problem is we spend too much time listening to
ourselves and not enough time preaching to ourselves. Isn't that
what David psalms have shown us where he would say
to his soul, is time to go to school. Bless
the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me,
Bless his holy name. He's preaching to himself, and.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
So are you.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
But when you preach to yourself from yourself, your sermon
will always lead to scarcity. Brene Brown says that the
number one meditation of many of our hearts is not enough.
She says, we apply it to time, we apply it
to money, we apply it to our talent, and the
(32:42):
sermon that plays in our mind, if we would ever
stop and listen to it, it starts every morning.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Not enough.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
How much sleep did you get last night?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
How much money do you make on that job?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Graham asked me the other day, Dad, is fifty six
a year a lot of money? I said, it is
till you make it. That might be the devil's favorite sermon.
Not enough, not enough, not enough. He preached it to
(33:19):
the disciples because they looked at five thousand men and
women and children, and Jesus said, feed them. And they said, well,
we don't have a whole lot. And we don't have
a whole lot. We have five loaves and two fish.
But that's not enough because they were starting with their selves,
but they were standing next to the source. I wonder
(33:42):
how different the story would be if you would ask
the source instead of asking yourself.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Check the source.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
He's smarter than enough. Somebody shout, he's more. He's small.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
YA will never shout in the.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Back of the room.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
And I start hollering like this.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
I know y'all don't like it when.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I holler, but this is not a silent sermon. This
is a loud sermon.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Somebody shout, he's more more than enough.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Every need, every deficiency, all my failures.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
His blood is enough, his grace is enough, his word
is enough. The law of the Lord is pure, reviving
the soul. But if I start with myself, I end
with scarcity.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
It's a loop because I start down here, and so.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
By the time I've looped around through my day, I
end my day feeling completed. I wonder if you got
a new loop. I wonder if you got a new
loop and started with the source instead of starting with yourself.
I wonder how the cycle would change if you started
(35:01):
with your source. I know it's basic, but didn't David
start with the heavens and then move toward his heart.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
The skies declare the glory of God. They show forth
his power day after.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Day and night after night, and day after day and
night after night. And all I've got to do to
stay and step with God is keep the beat of
Heaven happening inside my heart. Because there's always enough in heaven.
There's always enough patience in heaven. There's always enough provision
in heaven. There's always enough bread in heaven. There's always enough,
(35:39):
always enough, always enough. My God shall supply all of
your needs according What if you got in that loop.
What if you ask God to fill your empty places
and you start with yourself, You in in scarcity. You
start with your self, you end in shame. Because I
(36:07):
look at myself and I feel like David. David does
something weird. I think he wrote this song. It's contested
he might have written it, he might have not written it.
But let's give him credit because this is a song
that embodies a characteristic known as wisdom poetry. It kind
(36:28):
of switches beats in the middle of the song. It's
going on and on about the skies and to have
his For many years they thought it was two different
poems put together as they were studying back and trying
to find out how it was written and when it
was written. It was such a sharp break at verse
seven that they thought, well, maybe this is a different thing.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know, we're talking about the skies.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
And the sun and the stars. And then all of
a sudden, David makes a break in verse seven and
he starts talking about the law of the Lord. That's
what he says, perfect refreshing the soul.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Look at verse twelve. But who can discern their own errors?
So he is an.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Imperfect man looking into a perfect law. He's looking at
what the law is and what it does, and how
it brings peace, wisdom, and joy. But yet he knows
that he has broken the very law that produces the
(37:35):
very things that he wants. I don't think it's much
of a break, because he is contemplating how the heavens
are able to effortlessly declare the glory of.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
God, but he cannot.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Because I'm stuck in a cycle called sin, and there
are secrets in my heart that, no matter how much
I dress him up with the words of my mouth,
the meditations of my heart falls short of the glory
of God.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Paul knew it too.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
He said, what the law was powerless to do in
that it was weakened by the sinful nature. Look what
God did. God started a new loop. See through the law,
man tried to reach his way to God.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
But it was a.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Cycle of shame caused by sin. So I reach and
fall short, and try and fall short, and repent and
fall short, and get up and fall down, and reach
and fall short and try and fall short, and get
up and fall down. And God broke the cycle. For
in the fullness of time, God.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Sit for his son in the likeness of sinful man, to.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Be a sin offering. For what the law was powerless
to do in the I was weakened by the sinful nature.
God did by sending his own son in the likeness
of sinful man.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
So that we can say, there is therefore.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Now no condemn.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
There is therefore let me give you a new loop.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
No condemnation, no condemnation, no condemnation for.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Those who are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
This is the kind of gospel preaching that got me
to the cross.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
This is the kind of.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Gospel preaching that will break the change of shame off
of your life.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
This is the kind of gospel preaching that you can
preach on.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Monday morning, Tuesday nine, Wednesday afternoon. You can preach this
stuff for yourself. There is therefore now no condemnation. Why
because I'm in Christ. In other words, to seven people
that tell them, I, I got a new loop. I got
(40:02):
a new loop. That's what the gospel gives me. A
new meditation. And watch this. I no longer live by situation.
You're ready to jump up. I live by revelation. I
know who he is, I know who I am in him.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
You better touch seven more people.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Tell him I got a revelation.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
I got a revelation, or whatever I go through, I
got a revelation of who's.
Speaker 4 (40:30):
In the fire with me. I know what he did.
I know who he is. I know who I am
at him. I got a new loop. I'm losing my voice.
All shout for me.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
You get that in your heart, you'd be finishing the
devil's sermons in no time. He might start them, but
you let Grace finish them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The devil
(41:13):
will be scared to talk to you. He will because
every failure he brings up is going to trigger within
your mind a new loop. To realize that Grace is
greater than my failure.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Grace is greater.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
I don't know. Maybe you're gonna live in a new loop.
It is not the sermon that I preach to you
that determines the course of your life.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
It's a sermon you preach to yourself. That's what you
say to yourself.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of
my heart be acceptable, acceptable, accept accept, Accept.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
What God says about.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
You, reject everything else, and live your life under.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
An open heaven. And the heavens declare.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
The glory of God, and the skies declare His wonder
Day after day they pour forth speech, and.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
They don't need any words to do it. It's a
silent sermon.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
It's the silent sermon that determines whether or not you
step out on faith or stay in your comfort zone.
It's the silent sermon you preach to yourself that determines
whether you continue to live in a place of regret
and resentment, or you step forward into your tomorrow believing
that God will use all things for the good of
those who love Him and are called according to his purpose.
Speaker 6 (42:56):
It's not this, it's the second sermon. We thought it
was so weird that the.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Preacher would pray, let the words of my mouth and
the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight.
But I get it now. He was saying, there's two
sermons happening. There's what I say to you, and there's
what you say to yourself. And you've got to learn
how to be the coach of your own soul. I
(43:28):
wish Davo Sweeney was here. He could help us. I
was considering hiring a coach recently for leadership, and I
wanted somebody who could help me to analyze my own leadership.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
And that's probably a good thing to do.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
But I was praying about it, and God said, be
your own head coach, head coach, you hear me. I
thought about titling this message help. My mind is a mess,
and I don't know where to start to put it
in order that would be more accurate to our real lives.
(44:08):
But I started to call it the Silent sermon instead,
because I found out that I have a second self.
I have the self that tells me everything that's wrong
with me, and then I have this second self.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
It's not really even me.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
It's a deposit guaranteeing my inheritance is the Holy spirit
of God dwelling in me. When I say he's in
my heart, I'm not talking about an organ anymore than
David is talking about the sun as being a celestial body.
He's talking about the faithfulness of God in poetic language.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
It is theology wrapped in poetry.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
So when he said the meditations of my heart, I thought,
I need to be my own head coach. I think
that I need to let the God in me talk
to the me and me. I think I need to
start letting my second self talk to my.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Screwed up self.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
I even started doing it practically, And for me, I
have to get out of my head set to write
things down because up.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Here is whoa.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
I can't keep it straight, comes real fast, But when
I write it down, it helps me.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
To slow down a little bit and focus. Slow down.
It gets that constant me.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
Me, me, me, me.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
So that the real me can speak.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
And I write letters to me from the other me.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
I know what schizophrenic pastor is not what you always
pray for.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
I'm gonna help somebody, though, I write on the top
of my page. I write down every time I do this,
three times a week, holy ghost coaches notes.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
I write it down, and then I talked to myself,
like I like myself, believe in myself, see myself, and
know myself.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Because I figure all of those are characteristics of the
God in me. So if I can sit down long
enough to listen.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
To what Elijah heard as a still small voice, see
the wind came through the rocks, and Elijah heard nothing.
I could preach a good sermon. We can sing a
good song, you might not get it. The fire blazed high.
Elijah heard nothing, nothing reassuring. Wind blew the fire, Earth
(46:49):
started shaking. Earth, wind and fire did an opening act,
and Elijah wasn't impressed.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
But the Hebrew word is interesting. It says God was
in the whisper.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
It was in that silent sermon that Elijah realized that
what he was running from was already taken care of.
It was in that silent sermon that he realized God
had already appointed someone to put to death those who.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
Threatened his own life.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
It was in that silent sermon that Elijah realized that
there was already a successor appointed, that his ministry had
not been in vain. It was in that silent sermon
that he realized that there was still work to be done,
and I can't stay in this place of self pity anymore.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
It's the silent sermon, the silent sermon. I wonder if
that's why Joshua told the people.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Not to say anything for the first six days they
walked around the wall, because he knew they would start
saying stuff to talk each other out of going into
the land God had given him. Sometimes the best strategy
is shut up. I know you've always wanted to do this,
and you hated touching your neighbor in church until this point.
(48:01):
But look at them and say, shut off. That's the strategy.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Shut off. Well, you like that a little too much.
I'm worried about rock Hill. There might be a fight
in the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
And on the seventh day you can shout, but it's
the shout after the silence. So I write little coaches
notes to myself. No, you can't see them, they're not
for you. I don't talk to myself like I used
to as much anymore.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
I still do.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
I'll never forget asking Amy Korb, But do you always
walk around telling yourself what an idiot you are?
Speaker 1 (48:46):
She said, I've never done that in my life. Oh yeah, me, neither.
I was asking for a friend. I said, she's onto something.
I realized one time, I would beat myself up.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
If anybody else was talking to me the way I
was talking to me, I'd beat myself up.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
I would beat them up.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
If I was bigger than them, I would beat them up.
If they didn't know any moves, I would beat them up.
And I'm living in loops of shame and scarcity, and
God has really given me his grace. And it'd be
life changing for you to start some new loops. It'd
be life changing for you to pray what Pastor Mickey prayed.
(49:28):
It'd be life changing for you to change your silent sermons.
Listen to them. Do they start with me? They're going
to end in shame. Do they start with me, They're
going to end in scarcity. But if you start with
the source, I bet you'll find springs of living water
(49:51):
that had been waiting to well up within you.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
They're waiting to burst forth.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
So good. The best sermon Jesus ever preached, as far
as I'm concerned. He preached it to the woman at
the well. I mean, he said a lot of good
things to her. He said, I'm the water you've been
looking for. Where you've been running around, what's been happening
in your heart. It's like a well that can hold water.
(50:19):
But my favorite part of his sermon isn't what he said,
it's where he sat. The Bible says he sat on
a well and waited for a woman. It took me
years to see that he was a well.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
On a well.
Speaker 2 (50:45):
There is a well within you that will not run dry.
There is a God within you who does not fail.
There is a grace within you that is not ashamed.
(51:07):
But I can't give you this water.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
You've got to drink it for yourself.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
I believe God wants to whisper to us in this moment.
I want you to be very still, very quiet. Just
close your eyes, quit thinking about.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me me.
Speaker 7 (51:36):
See how good that feels. See right there is the
presence of God. See right there is the peace that
(52:02):
passes all understandable. See right there, how the blood of
Jesus speaks a better word over your life. It's the silencer.
It's the silence that can be heard. It's the part
(52:27):
of you that knows that greater is he that's in
me than he that's in the world. It's the part
of you that knows that God will supply all my
needs and be faithful.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
It's the part of you that knows, and it's in you.
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
no or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (53:09):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (53:15):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. Welcome to church.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome to the final installment of Bars and Battles. Yes,
I know how tragic it is for you to learn
that this is our final week of this series.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
How many of you have enjoyed it and then.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Got to stop somewhere. I learned that, and you got
to start somewhere. You got to stop somewhere. It's usually
harder for me as a preacher to know where to
start the sermon than where to stop it, because usually
usually I know where I'm going.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
When I start.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
When I start preaching to you, I know where I'm going,
but I don't always know how to get you into it,
because well, when I first started.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Preaching, I just assumed that at.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
The beginning of my sermon, everybody was as excited as
I was about what I had been learning all week.
But I found out they had real lives, and so
you got to start somewhere, and sometimes it feels like
we have to get our energy to match up. When
I first started preaching, I came in so, I came
in so hot. I've just come up screaming and yelling
(01:26):
and hollering at the people in the first five minutes.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
But I find out sometimes you got to give them time.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
To merge into traffic and got to let the caffeine
kick in. My pastor, Pastor Mickey, he used to always
start his sermons the same way. Every time he started
the sermon. Well, he would read his scripture, and then
he would pray, and at the end of his prayer,
he would end his prayer the same way. Every single
time he would he would pray, read scripture, he would pray,
(01:55):
and then he would say, lit the words of my
mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
And I thought he made that up.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I didn't know he was plagiarizing Psalm nineteen fourteen. I thought, well,
that's so deep and profound, And one day I looked
and it was right there in the Bible. But I
kind of thought, maybe that was like a good luck
thing to say before you preach, you know, let the
words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart
(02:26):
be acceptable in your sight. I thought it was like saying, God,
help me not to mess up, and help them to listen,
help them to pay attention. That's a good thing to
pray when you start a sermon. Let the words of
my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable
in your sight.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Oh Lord, my Strength and Redeemer. It's kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Because it means that anytime I preach, there are two
sermons happening, the one that I'm preaching and the one
you're hearing. And sometimes those two are not the same.
So I want to talk to you for a few
moments today about silent sermons. Silent sermons, and what we'll
(03:13):
do is we'll read the whole Psalm Psalm nineteen.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
We'll read the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I'm want to ask you to stand to your feet
in honor of the reading of God's Word at all
of our locations. Many say this is David's greatest hit
of all of his psalms.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
This is to some of his finest work. C. S.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Lewis said it's one of the greatest lyrics in human history,
and who are you to argue with C. S. Lewis
touch somebody say this must be a good one.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Listen to all fourteen verses. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day, they pour forth speech, night after night
they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words,
No sound is heard from them, yet their voice goes
(04:11):
out into all the earth.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
What a paradox this is, he said. They have no vocal.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Cords, no esophagus, no larynx, yet they speak so loudly.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
The skies declare the glory of God.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And the heavens show forth his power in such a
way that it reaches the end of the earth. It's
a silent sermon. Their words go to the ends of
the world. In the heavens, God has pitched a tent
for the sun. It's like a bridegroom coming out of
his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
(04:48):
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes
it circuit to the other. Nothing is deprived of its warmth.
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wives the
simple touch.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Somebody say, God's word works.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to
the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving
light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and
all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold. They are sweeter than Krispy Kreme
(05:33):
North Carolina translation. Then honey from the honeycomb. By them,
your servant is worn in keeping them, in keeping them,
not just in hearing them, but in retaining them. In
keeping them, there's great reward. But who can discern their
own errors? Forgive my hidden false Keep your servant also
(05:59):
from willful sins.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
May they not rule over me.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. And
here comes Pastor Mickey's verse.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Made the words of my mouth, he said it in
the King James English.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Because Pastor Mickey is seventy eight, made the words of
my mouth and the meditation of my heart. Take it
down be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord, my strength
and my redeemer. And now that I said the scripture,
we can get the sermons started have a sea. It
(06:37):
matters where you start. It matters where you start. You
agree with me, it matters how you start your day.
Let's use a few examples with your spouse. Holly and
I were very happy on our honeymoon night and the
next morning, I'm not going with this where you think
I'm going with this.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
When she looked at.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Me and I looked at her, and we had both
been up, and we had both brushed our teeth, and
we had both been awake for fifteen minutes, and we
had not said a word, And she looked at me,
and I looked at her, and we knew that we
had made the right decision because she looked at me
and she said to me, you don't like to talk
in the morning either, And I said, no, I hate
(07:24):
people in the morning.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
And we knew it was meant to.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Be because we can start our morning without saying a word.
We could start our morning without saying a word. And
I found out that you can preach a sermon without
saying a word. Some of the loudest sermons I will
preach will be with my life, not with my lips.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
In fact, if.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I've preached one sermon with my lips and another with
my life. It won't be long before nobody wants to
hear what I have to say, no matter how loud
I say that silent sermons, there's the one that I preach,
and then there's the one that I live. My grandfather
(08:19):
was a preacher. I only heard him preach one time
that I remember. Probably heard him preach other times that
I don't remember, but I remember only one sermon that
I ever heard him preach. Can't remember what he preached,
but remember hearing him preach one time. I saw him
preach hundreds of times. There's a difference. I saw him
(08:40):
comb my grandmother's hair when she didn't even know his
name anymore because Alzheimer's had completely erased her memory of him.
But it didn't matter, because, like you've heard so many
times before, he would say, she might not know who
I am, but I know I.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Know who I am even if she doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And so I am the kind of husband that will
comb her hair and show up every morning when visiting
our start and not leave until they kick me out,
and take her to Wendy's every day for lunch. And
he had no integrity because they would share a diet
coke every day at Wendy's and get free refills and
only pay for one instead of two. But see, he
(09:28):
was preaching a silent sermon.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
He wasn't the first one.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
He wasn't the first one to preach a silent sermon,
because Moses was a man that God wanted to use,
but he wasn't very good with words. So God said,
don't worry about what you're going to say.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I'm going to give you a stick, And if you take.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
The stick and stretch it out, touch somebody, say stretch
it out. It's always in the stretch that you discover
the supply. It's always in the stretch that you discover
the strength. It's always in the stretch that you discover
the supernatural. You'll be get warmed up by now somebody
shall stretch. God said, Moses, if you'll stretch your staff
over the waters, you won't have to say a word.
(10:11):
I'll make the water's part and the people will know
what kind of God I am, not by the words
that you speak, but I'll make the waters free for you.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's a silent sermon.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Moses wasn't the only one who preached a silent sermon.
One woman in the Bible was so taken by the
presence of Jesus Christ that she's snuck in a room
with some perfume, some really expensive perfume.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
The Bible says it was worth a year's wages.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
And people knew that she loved Jesus not because of
her speech, but because of the smell of the fragrance
that she poured out at his feet. Now, I can't
find one time where she said a word in the passage,
but Jesus said, wherever the Gospel has preached, the memory
of what this woman has done will be told. Because
some sermons are preached through smell rather than by sound.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I'll prove it to you.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Shadrackneeshak in a bed and a go went down.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
In a fiery furnace. I'm preaching now.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
We passed the introduction, and they turned up the heat
seven times hotter than normal, and.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
They thought it would kill them.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
But when they came out, they didn't even smell like smoke.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And when you don't smell like what you've been through,
and when you've been.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Through the fire but you're not bitter about.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
It, it's a silent sonon Jesus got down in the
dirt one day and a woman who had been.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Caught in the act of adultree was about to get stone.
Jesus said, if you've never done anything deserving of becoming human, target, practice.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Goliad and fire away.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And then he knelt down in the dirt, said not
another word. And everybody started walking away.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And he said not a word. He was writing in
the dirt.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I think he was writing their names and what they
did on prom night, But I don't know what he wrote.
Maybe just the essence of his presence was enough that
his perfection became a reflection of their need for grace.
(12:26):
Some of the greatest sermons are silent sermons. Silent sermons.
Those guys preached one today. Before I ever opened my mouth,
the preaching started. Sam and Brian you don't know him.
They brought my pulpit out. They said something before I
said something. First of all, they said that this is
(12:50):
a heavy pulpit they've been lifting. By the way, when
you're really strong, you don't have to talk about how
strong you are.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Real strength show, and when you.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Really love God, sometimes it's something that's a seemingly insignificant
act of service. I wonder if their sermon will actually
mean more to God than mine because nobody will download
Sam's podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
But he preached it's.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
A silent sermon. People ask me off, and when are
you gonna let Holly preach more? Well, first of all,
she told me two times a year. Any more than that,
and she's leaving me. She don't liked it that much,
but she preaches every week. Every week, she preaches every week.
If you don't believe me, just look over at her
right now. She's got her notebook open and this is
(13:38):
the second time she's heard this sermon and she's still
pretending to take notes and writing a grocery lesson. That's
not true. She gets something new out of it every time.
It's a silent sermon, a silence sermon. Can you preach
a silent sermon? Lazarus did? The Bible says that Jesus
(14:04):
needed some way to reveal that he was not only healer,
but he was resurrection. But if he said it, people
might doubt it.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
But if he did it, somebody had to die.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Sometimes the greatest sermon of.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Your life will be by the things that you went through.
In fact, I love it because that same passage where
the woman broke the perfume.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Her name was Mary.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
She was lazarus sister, And while she was pouring out perfume,
Lazarus was chilling lean back at the table. He didn't
have to say a word. The fact that he was
dead and now alive, the fact that.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
He was in the ground and was now sitting at.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
The table, was proof of the power of God.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
How many don't. Just the fact that you showed up.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
To church today makes the devil sick.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
He can't s the singing in the House of God.
I'm preaching by my very presence, but it's a silent sermon.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
So when David says the sun makes it circuit, he's
not giving us a science lesson. He's showing us something
about how creation preaches silent sermons day after day and
night after night. He said, they pour forth the glory
of God. They speak, but you can't hear it. Some
(15:35):
of God's greatest work is seen, not heard, not heard.
The skies preach a silent sermon. The consistency of the
solar system says something to us about the nature of
life that it is cyclical. Some of the things that
(15:57):
you think are circumstance your life are actually cyclical. I
think that's a big part of maturity is learning what's cyclical,
and not just running around from situation to situation, but
understanding the cycles that create the situations, because if you
(16:18):
don't understand the cycle that creates a situation, you will
be dealing with situation after situation after situation after situation.
I don't need to be a science teacher to explain
to you that the solar system operates on cycles. You
understand we're making a trip right now. We do it
(16:39):
every three sixty five. Sometimes it takes us three sixty
six on those leap years, but we're making a cycle.
David said that the heavens are declaring the glory of
God and they keep on doing it consistently in the cycle.
And although we know that technically he's not a explaining
(17:00):
how the universe works, he's giving us a picture of
the Sun in its circuit.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
The whole text kind of has.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
This theme of it that we're going round and round
and round and round. He ends the Psalm saying, may
the words of my mouth and the meditations of my
heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength
and my Redeemer. He starts with the solar system, the
(17:29):
heavens declare the glory of God, and he ends with
his soul. So from the solar system to his soul,
everything is on a cycle.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
It's a cycle.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Whatever you're thinking about right now, it's because of a cycle.
In fact, I think it's very very good to start
your day with God because it starts the cycle from
the right place. I think that's why it's really important
if you can read a Bible verse before you read
a Facebook post, because it's just a better, purer cycle.
(18:06):
If it's possible before you check email, check your n email.
I just threw that in for the corny people. I
would never say that. A lesser preacher would say something
like that.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
To somebody, say it's a cycle, and he uses this phrase.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
The meditation of my heart. You'll get it together. Wasn't
that bad? Meditation is not a hot yoga term. Meditation
is not a term reserved exclusively for Eastern religion. Meditation
(18:48):
actually in Hebrew is a musical term.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
How beut you didn't know that. That's why I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
It's like, David, here's where I learned about what meditation is,
because for years and years and years and years I
thought that what I said to God was my prayer life,
as I say a lot of stuff to God, and
I would say all the stuff that I need God
to do, and sometimes I would lose focus, and I
had prayer lists and prayer thoughts and all that, and
it felt real boring. I didn't realize that there were
(19:19):
some things that God wanted to say to me. I
didn't understand the power of the silent sermon until I
went to see Ed Shearon in concert.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And I have nothing against Ed Shearon.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
In fact, I think Ed Shearon has written some beautiful songs.
How many would agree that Ed Shearon has written some
beautiful songs three of you.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
But I'm just saying this is not a rant against
Ed Shearon.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
But I went to see Ed Shearon because Holly likes
boring music and.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Ed Shearon had an interesting way of.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Doing a concert. And it was surprising to me because
Ed Sheeran did a whole concert without a band, a
whole ninety minute set in an arena. When I say
it was boring, now, maybe I'm just spoiled because I
passed her at church with the greatest musicians you will
(20:25):
find anywhere.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
In the city.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
The Saint come on GTA the continent.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
To not ed no not ed ed.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Shearon didn't even have a band, no bass player, no
kick drum, no electric guitar. Ninety minutes of him with
his guitar and his accent, and he had this little pedal.
Come here, David's gonna help me. Yeah, give it up
(20:59):
for David. This is the other.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
King, David. This is David, David.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Liota, the king of the strings, the king of the
six string guitar. David's going to do his best at
Shearon impersonation because what that Shearon.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Did, Now, I had to ask somebody.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
The first time I saw I'd do this, I didn't
know what it was because I've saw him. He would
play something and then he would stop playing it, but
it kept going. And that's because he had one of these, right.
It's called a loop station. If you're taking notes, you
look like you're waiting for something to write down. At
some point in this sermon, write down the word loop, loop, loop,
(21:43):
and shows how the looping station worked. Because he doesn't
have a drummer because apparently he's cheap, so instead of
instead of hiring a drummer, he made his own drums
on the guitar. Just give him an example. See what
(22:07):
he did. He looped it. Now we gotta beat See
you can move to that a little bit. But he's
not doing anything. But he set something in motion and
there it is. Now put something on top of it. Loop,
something else. Oh that's a nice David. I like that
(22:40):
jazzy Major seven stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
That's pretty soulful for a white boy. That's good, David.
There's something else on it. All we're doing stack in
the loops. That's all we're doing. Come on, that's too
sexy for church, David. Take it all the way back down.
(23:06):
Take something out, Take that out.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
All started, all these layers started with a loop.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
With a loop.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Now what I found out, David, how you make it stop?
Because sometimes I wonder that about my heart? How do
I make it stop?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Because I get stuck in a loop. You ever been
stuck in a loop. I'm talking about it in.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Your mind now, not at the guitar or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
You've been stuck in a loop where you find yourself
in an absolute state of panic.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
That started Watch this with a silent sermon.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Mosses isn't the only one who preached silent sermons. Lazarus
isn't the only one who preached silent sermons. Jesus isn't
the only one who preached a silent sermon. David isn't
the only one who preached a silent sermon. Not only
do the stars and the sun, and the skies and
(24:36):
the solar.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
System preach a silent sermon. I got bad news for you.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
The devil preaches silent sermons.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
He gets you in a loop.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I'm done with you, David, thank you so much. Give
him a hand our very ownette searing. You ever been
stuck in a loop of lives?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
He's talked to me.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I feel awful, lonely up here concord.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
They're giving me no law. You don't admit it, but some.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Of your relationships went off track, not because of what
was said in the relationship, but because of what was
not said, what you started saying to your self.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
He said within himself.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
That's what the.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Rich man did in the parable when he said to himself,
I'll build many barns, I'll take life easy. He didn't
know that very night his life would be required.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
He said to himself. It matters where you start with
what you.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Think about, and self is a very small sun for
your life to orbit around. It's a very limited loop.
Self is a is a very small scale to see
the world in.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
In fact, sing with me, do ray me me me me.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I'm just me singing the song me that many of
us me have been singing all week? Me me me
me me?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
What's your favorite meditation?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Me me? What are they thinking about me? Me?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
When is anybody ever gonna notice me?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I changed the key, but it's still about me. Sometimes
I can find a way to make anything about me.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Me me, me, me, me, me me. Come on, let's
acquire practice.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of
my heart.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Me me me, me, me, me, me.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Me me me me me.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Me me me.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Me me me me me.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I don't think it's a hit ella.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I don't think anybody's gonna buy the album. I don't
think it's gonna bring me joy. I don't think it's
gonna bring me peace. I don't think I'm gonna figure
out a solution if I start with myself. I need
a new loop, I said, I need a new loop.
Some of you came to church today, not just the
hero A sermon, but to preach one to yourself. Why
(27:45):
don't you start with your source and not with yourself?
Now to him, come on, who is Abel?
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Shout up town?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
To do immeasurably more than I asked for.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Imagine, I'm tired of that track.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Me me me me me me me me me me
me me me me me.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Me me me me me me me me me me.
I thought about singing it till it wasn't funny anymore,
And it sounds like we're already at that point.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I know how long it would take.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
How long will it take until you change that meditation?
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Realizing that if.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
You start with yourself, you say in yourself, and you
will always be limited by who you are.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
But when you start with the great I.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Am, David said, who's that? They said, I think his
name's Goliath. David said, I'll fight him. Saul said, you're small.
David said, I'm not coming against him in myself or
(28:53):
in my name, but I come against you in the
name of the Lord the Sky. I declare the glory
of God. Notice David did not start with what was
in his heart. You start with what's in your heart.
You'll scare yourself to death. That's a horror movie to
(29:15):
start with what's in your heart.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
I was going to preach.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
One time, and the guy who invited me, I've never
been to.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
His church before. He said, just share us on your heart.
I said, oh, no, you don't want me to do that.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I'm gonna share us in heaven because if I tell
you what's in my heart, it won't help any of us.
So I don't start my meditation with what's in myself.
I noticed that every meditation, and again, don't think meditation.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Think about the loop.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Think about the lines that loop over and over again
in the way that you think. Think about how you
have this subtle way, if you let yourself into turning
every interaction into a stage on which you.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Were the star. I don't do that. I don't like
to be noticed. I don't do that. I don't like.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
People to even look at me. I'm not that type
of person. This must be a preacher thing. No, I
promise you. You talk too much sometimes. I promise you.
Some of the stuff that you post. Oh you didn't
think I was talking about your Instagram.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Fee, did you?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I promise you some of you need to go home
and change the bio on your on your Instagram, and
it should just say what it's really all about?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Me? Me, me, me.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Me, Just give us an expectation of what's going to
happen on that fee when you're easily offended, when everything's
an insult.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Did you see how.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
They looked at me. They weren't looking at you. They
were thinking about dinner. They have not bought groceries this week,
and their mom has cancer. You get outside yourself and
think about something bigger.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
The skies declare the glory of God.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
People like this, bigger than what happens in here.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Do your neighbor a real favor, Look at him and say.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Get out your head. Get out of your head. That's
a horrible place to take your orders. Am I preaching
or am I preaching? Every meditation, every loop that starts
with self ends in one of two places. And I
(31:34):
want you to look for this in your life this week.
It's either going to end in scarcity or shame. Every
sermon that you preach to yourself, and you are always
preaching to yourself. In fact, Martin Lloyd Jones said that
(31:55):
our problem is we spend too much time listening to
ourselves and not enough time preaching to ourselves. Isn't that
what David psalms have shown us where he would say
to his soul, is time to go to school. Bless
the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me,
Bless his holy name. He's preaching to himself, and.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
So are you.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
But when you preach to yourself from yourself, your sermon
will always lead to scarcity. Brene Brown says that the
number one meditation of many of our hearts is not enough.
She says, we apply it to time, we apply it
to money, we apply it to our talent, and the
(32:42):
sermon that plays in our mind, if we would ever
stop and listen to it, it starts every morning.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Not enough.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
How much sleep did you get last night?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
How much money do you make on that job?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Graham asked me the other day, Dad, is fifty six
a year a lot of money? I said, it is
till you make it. That might be the devil's favorite sermon.
Not enough, not enough, not enough. He preached it to
(33:19):
the disciples because they looked at five thousand men and
women and children, and Jesus said, feed them. And they said, well,
we don't have a whole lot. And we don't have
a whole lot. We have five loaves and two fish.
But that's not enough because they were starting with their selves,
but they were standing next to the source. I wonder
(33:42):
how different the story would be if you would ask
the source instead of asking yourself.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Check the source.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
He's smarter than enough. Somebody shout, he's more. He's small.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
YA will never shout in the.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Back of the room.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
And I start hollering like this.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
I know y'all don't like it when.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I holler, but this is not a silent sermon. This
is a loud sermon.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Somebody shout, he's more more than enough.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Every need, every deficiency, all my failures.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
His blood is enough, his grace is enough, his word
is enough. The law of the Lord is pure, reviving
the soul. But if I start with myself, I end
with scarcity.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
It's a loop because I start down here, and so.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
By the time I've looped around through my day, I
end my day feeling completed. I wonder if you got
a new loop. I wonder if you got a new
loop and started with the source instead of starting with yourself.
I wonder how the cycle would change if you started
(35:01):
with your source. I know it's basic, but didn't David
start with the heavens and then move toward his heart.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
The skies declare the glory of God. They show forth
his power day after.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Day and night after night, and day after day and
night after night. And all I've got to do to
stay and step with God is keep the beat of
Heaven happening inside my heart. Because there's always enough in heaven.
There's always enough patience in heaven. There's always enough provision
in heaven. There's always enough bread in heaven. There's always enough,
(35:39):
always enough, always enough. My God shall supply all of
your needs according What if you got in that loop.
What if you ask God to fill your empty places
and you start with yourself, You in in scarcity. You
start with your self, you end in shame. Because I
(36:07):
look at myself and I feel like David. David does
something weird. I think he wrote this song. It's contested
he might have written it, he might have not written it.
But let's give him credit because this is a song
that embodies a characteristic known as wisdom poetry. It kind
(36:28):
of switches beats in the middle of the song. It's
going on and on about the skies and to have
his For many years they thought it was two different
poems put together as they were studying back and trying
to find out how it was written and when it
was written. It was such a sharp break at verse
seven that they thought, well, maybe this is a different thing.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know, we're talking about the skies.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
And the sun and the stars. And then all of
a sudden, David makes a break in verse seven and
he starts talking about the law of the Lord. That's
what he says, perfect refreshing the soul.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Look at verse twelve. But who can discern their own errors?
So he is an.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Imperfect man looking into a perfect law. He's looking at
what the law is and what it does, and how
it brings peace, wisdom, and joy. But yet he knows
that he has broken the very law that produces the
(37:35):
very things that he wants. I don't think it's much
of a break, because he is contemplating how the heavens
are able to effortlessly declare the glory of.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
God, but he cannot.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Because I'm stuck in a cycle called sin, and there
are secrets in my heart that, no matter how much
I dress him up with the words of my mouth,
the meditations of my heart falls short of the glory
of God.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Paul knew it too.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
He said, what the law was powerless to do in
that it was weakened by the sinful nature. Look what
God did. God started a new loop. See through the law,
man tried to reach his way to God.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
But it was a.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Cycle of shame caused by sin. So I reach and
fall short, and try and fall short, and repent and
fall short, and get up and fall down, and reach
and fall short and try and fall short, and get
up and fall down. And God broke the cycle. For
in the fullness of time, God.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Sit for his son in the likeness of sinful man, to.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Be a sin offering. For what the law was powerless
to do in the I was weakened by the sinful nature.
God did by sending his own son in the likeness
of sinful man.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
So that we can say, there is therefore.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Now no condemn.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
There is therefore let me give you a new loop.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
No condemnation, no condemnation, no condemnation for.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Those who are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
This is the kind of gospel preaching that got me
to the cross.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
This is the kind of.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Gospel preaching that will break the change of shame off
of your life.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
This is the kind of gospel preaching that you can
preach on.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Monday morning, Tuesday nine, Wednesday afternoon. You can preach this
stuff for yourself. There is therefore now no condemnation. Why
because I'm in Christ. In other words, to seven people
that tell them, I, I got a new loop. I got
(40:02):
a new loop. That's what the gospel gives me. A
new meditation. And watch this. I no longer live by situation.
You're ready to jump up. I live by revelation. I
know who he is, I know who I am in him.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
You better touch seven more people.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Tell him I got a revelation.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
I got a revelation, or whatever I go through, I
got a revelation of who's.
Speaker 4 (40:30):
In the fire with me. I know what he did.
I know who he is. I know who I am
at him. I got a new loop. I'm losing my voice.
All shout for me.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
You get that in your heart, you'd be finishing the
devil's sermons in no time. He might start them, but
you let Grace finish them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The devil
(41:13):
will be scared to talk to you. He will because
every failure he brings up is going to trigger within
your mind a new loop. To realize that Grace is
greater than my failure.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Grace is greater.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
I don't know. Maybe you're gonna live in a new loop.
It is not the sermon that I preach to you
that determines the course of your life.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
It's a sermon you preach to yourself. That's what you
say to yourself.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of
my heart be acceptable, acceptable, accept accept, Accept.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
What God says about.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
You, reject everything else, and live your life under.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
An open heaven. And the heavens declare.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
The glory of God, and the skies declare His wonder
Day after day they pour forth speech, and.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
They don't need any words to do it. It's a
silent sermon.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
It's the silent sermon that determines whether or not you
step out on faith or stay in your comfort zone.
It's the silent sermon you preach to yourself that determines
whether you continue to live in a place of regret
and resentment, or you step forward into your tomorrow believing
that God will use all things for the good of
those who love Him and are called according to his purpose.
Speaker 6 (42:56):
It's not this, it's the second sermon. We thought it
was so weird that the.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Preacher would pray, let the words of my mouth and
the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight.
But I get it now. He was saying, there's two
sermons happening. There's what I say to you, and there's
what you say to yourself. And you've got to learn
how to be the coach of your own soul. I
(43:28):
wish Davo Sweeney was here. He could help us. I
was considering hiring a coach recently for leadership, and I
wanted somebody who could help me to analyze my own leadership.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
And that's probably a good thing to do.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
But I was praying about it, and God said, be
your own head coach, head coach, you hear me. I
thought about titling this message help. My mind is a mess,
and I don't know where to start to put it
in order that would be more accurate to our real lives.
(44:08):
But I started to call it the Silent sermon instead,
because I found out that I have a second self.
I have the self that tells me everything that's wrong
with me, and then I have this second self.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
It's not really even me.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
It's a deposit guaranteeing my inheritance is the Holy spirit
of God dwelling in me. When I say he's in
my heart, I'm not talking about an organ anymore than
David is talking about the sun as being a celestial body.
He's talking about the faithfulness of God in poetic language.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
It is theology wrapped in poetry.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
So when he said the meditations of my heart, I thought,
I need to be my own head coach. I think
that I need to let the God in me talk
to the me and me. I think I need to
start letting my second self talk to my.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Screwed up self.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
I even started doing it practically, And for me, I
have to get out of my head set to write
things down because up.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Here is whoa.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
I can't keep it straight, comes real fast, But when
I write it down, it helps me.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
To slow down a little bit and focus. Slow down.
It gets that constant me.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
Me, me, me, me.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
So that the real me can speak.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
And I write letters to me from the other me.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
I know what schizophrenic pastor is not what you always
pray for.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
I'm gonna help somebody, though, I write on the top
of my page. I write down every time I do this,
three times a week, holy ghost coaches notes.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
I write it down, and then I talked to myself,
like I like myself, believe in myself, see myself, and
know myself.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Because I figure all of those are characteristics of the
God in me. So if I can sit down long
enough to listen.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
To what Elijah heard as a still small voice, see
the wind came through the rocks, and Elijah heard nothing.
I could preach a good sermon. We can sing a
good song, you might not get it. The fire blazed high.
Elijah heard nothing, nothing reassuring. Wind blew the fire, Earth
(46:49):
started shaking. Earth, wind and fire did an opening act,
and Elijah wasn't impressed.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
But the Hebrew word is interesting. It says God was
in the whisper.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
It was in that silent sermon that Elijah realized that
what he was running from was already taken care of.
It was in that silent sermon that he realized God
had already appointed someone to put to death those who.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
Threatened his own life.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
It was in that silent sermon that Elijah realized that
there was already a successor appointed, that his ministry had
not been in vain. It was in that silent sermon
that he realized that there was still work to be done,
and I can't stay in this place of self pity anymore.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
It's the silent sermon, the silent sermon. I wonder if
that's why Joshua told the people.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Not to say anything for the first six days they
walked around the wall, because he knew they would start
saying stuff to talk each other out of going into
the land God had given him. Sometimes the best strategy
is shut up. I know you've always wanted to do this,
and you hated touching your neighbor in church until this point.
(48:01):
But look at them and say, shut off. That's the strategy.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Shut off. Well, you like that a little too much.
I'm worried about rock Hill. There might be a fight
in the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
And on the seventh day you can shout, but it's
the shout after the silence. So I write little coaches
notes to myself. No, you can't see them, they're not
for you. I don't talk to myself like I used
to as much anymore.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
I still do.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
I'll never forget asking Amy Korb, But do you always
walk around telling yourself what an idiot you are?
Speaker 1 (48:46):
She said, I've never done that in my life. Oh yeah, me, neither.
I was asking for a friend. I said, she's onto something.
I realized one time, I would beat myself up.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
If anybody else was talking to me the way I
was talking to me, I'd beat myself up.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
I would beat them up.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
If I was bigger than them, I would beat them up.
If they didn't know any moves, I would beat them up.
And I'm living in loops of shame and scarcity, and
God has really given me his grace. And it'd be
life changing for you to start some new loops. It'd
be life changing for you to pray what Pastor Mickey prayed.
(49:28):
It'd be life changing for you to change your silent sermons.
Listen to them. Do they start with me? They're going
to end in shame. Do they start with me, They're
going to end in scarcity. But if you start with
the source, I bet you'll find springs of living water
(49:51):
that had been waiting to well up within you.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
They're waiting to burst forth.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
So good. The best sermon Jesus ever preached, as far
as I'm concerned. He preached it to the woman at
the well. I mean, he said a lot of good
things to her. He said, I'm the water you've been
looking for. Where you've been running around, what's been happening
in your heart. It's like a well that can hold water.
(50:19):
But my favorite part of his sermon isn't what he said,
it's where he sat. The Bible says he sat on
a well and waited for a woman. It took me
years to see that he was a well.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
On a well.
Speaker 2 (50:45):
There is a well within you that will not run dry.
There is a God within you who does not fail.
There is a grace within you that is not ashamed.
(51:07):
But I can't give you this water.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
You've got to drink it for yourself.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
I believe God wants to whisper to us in this moment.
I want you to be very still, very quiet. Just
close your eyes, quit thinking about.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me me.
Speaker 7 (51:36):
See how good that feels. See right there is the
presence of God. See right there is the peace that
(52:02):
passes all understandable. See right there, how the blood of
Jesus speaks a better word over your life. It's the silencer.
It's the silence that can be heard. It's the part
(52:27):
of you that knows that greater is he that's in
me than he that's in the world. It's the part
of you that knows that God will supply all my
needs and be faithful.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
It's the part of you that knows, and it's in you.
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
no or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (53:09):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (53:15):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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