Make A Difference // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // Oct. 19

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
So I'm ready to preach God's word.
Are you ready to receive ittoday?
The year was 2016, and it was myfirst attempt.
Urshana and I and a few friendsran the Chicago Marathon for the
first time.
And we got started and trainingand training.

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Listen, nobody runs a marathonbecause they like running.
We ran a marathon in order toraise money for children and
clean water around the world.
And so we started training, andthen on race day, it turned out
to be like one of the hottestrace days ever in the history of
the Chicago Marathon.
And so we started running.
And I will just tell you, likethe first seven miles, well,

(00:43):
seven's God's number anyway, sothat's what they say.
And like the first seven mileswere like the greatest seven
miles of my life.
I had my running jersey on, andI had my name plastered across
the shirt, and people were justgoing, Go Chuck, Chuck, you
rock.
You got this, Chuck, go Chuck.
And they would try to readUrsana's name, which she had

(01:03):
Ursh on there, and they werelike, Go, you go, girl.
You go.
So she was mad for the firstseven miles, and I was like
living in this euphoric heavenmoment of like everybody knew my
name and was cheering me on, andI felt great, and I felt like I
just my feet were light.
And then the eighth mile hit,and I was like, oh man, I guess

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I've been running for a minute.
And then number nine and number10, and by the 10th mile, I saw
Arshana just starting to leaveme in the dust.
And then I started to get mad,and then I started to get
worried.
And by the 12th or 13th mile, Iwas like, oh no.
And at the 16th mile, I sawsomebody from the church.
I said, Have you seen Arshana?
I haven't seen her in a while.
He said, Oh yeah, she's wayahead of you.
And then I was like, Well, I'mgonna have to just buckle in and

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finish no matter how I feel.
And so there were moments whereI was like, I want to quit, I
want to give up.
And about the 19th mile, uh,somebody came out of the crowd
with a giant Gatorade and gaveme the Gatorade and said, Drink
this whole thing and let's keeprunning.
I was like, I don't think I canmake it.
And they said, just keepdrinking.
So I started drinking this giantGatorade and started kept

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running, and that personactually ran with me for the
next mile.
And then he said, Listen, you'reso close.
You're gonna run up to that.
You'll see just a little bitdown the way, and then you'll
turn right, and then you'll hearthe crowd again, and then you'll
be inspired to finish.
And sure enough, that's exactlyhow it happened.
And as soon as I crossed thefinish line, Ushana wanted to
hug me and congratulate me.
And I said, Don't touch me.

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It was because I was mostlytired, but mostly I was mad she
beat me.
And it was in that moment Idecided I'm running next year
and I'm gonna train harder andI'm gonna beat her.
By the way, I did.
Which is really not that much ofa flex, but it is for me.
But it's the year I learned oneperson on your journey can make

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a difference.
So why don't you lean over andjust say, hey, you can make a
difference.
And then look at back at the oneyou've been ignoring and just
say, I'm ready to keep running.
So I'm gonna start this newseries, a little mini-series,

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get us into November, and it'sreally gonna look at different
stories of Bible characters thatI think if they if they could
run with us, they wouldencourage us and they would help
us.
And I'm gonna title it Make aDifference because Make a
Difference is really the fourthpillar of the mission of this
church.
You know, we're all here to helppeople know God, and we do that
on Sunday, and we're here tohelp people find freedom, and we

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do that through small groups.
And man, I just heard so manywonderful stories and
testimonies of small groups ofwhat they've been accomplishing
in our life, and we know thatrelationship leads to
discipleship, and so it'spowerful, powerful for us to
have that community around usthat knows us and knows us.
K N O W knows us and N O knowsus.

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Like, no, that's not a good ideafor you to do that.
You need to be in the house ofGod.
Oh, it's raining.
You should say, No, you shouldbe in God's house preaching to
the choir.
I actually said that foreverybody watching online right
now.
A little bit of rain can't keepyou out of God's house.
Come on, somebody.
Because look what you would havemissed.

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So we help people know God onSunday, find freedom in small
groups.
We help them discover purposethrough the freeway, which is
today.
And if you've never been throughthe freeway, I would encourage
you to take the opportunity.
You can just DM Renee right now,forward slash freeway.
We serve you a light lunch.
It is our path to membership,and you can still come and

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attend and give and not reallybe formally a member.
That's fine with us, but we'dlove you to go all the way in
with us and help us carry thevision I shared last week about
vision.
And you know, vision's not heavyif we all carry it together.
So we want you to join us in thejourney of helping people know
God and find freedom anddiscover purpose, make a
difference is the last one.
This is the fourth one.
We do that through the dreamteam, and I'm always amazed this

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morning while we were fightingthrough the Frank Lloyd Wright
course, trying to find our wayto church this morning and
couldn't park close to thechurch, and people were walking
in the rain and parking up northof Chicago so they could get to
church this morning at the 9a.m.
service.
I'm always amazed at our dreamteam who shows up early, some of
them here as early as six in themorning, and we're just so

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thankful for our team thatserves.
And um, you know, and and reallyI can tell you that you may
think, oh, we have a we have agreat team.
Look at all the things they'redoing.
They are great, but you knowwhat?
One more person can make adifference.
And I'm just gonna share thismessage today about Noah.
And I think the big lesson wewould learn from Noah is really

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that just what's on screen rightnow.
One person can make adifference.
Let's look at God's word.
Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5,it says this.
The Lord saw how great thewickedness of the human race had
become on the earth, and thatevery inclination and thought of
the human heart was only evilall the time.
It kind of sounds like soundslike today.
It doesn't sound much differentthan today, right now, honestly.

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If you pay attention to what'shappening in culture and we'll
pay attention to what'shappening on the big screen,
it's just like it just seemslike that is the verse for our
day and age right now.
But the Lord regretted that hehad made human beings on the
earth and his heart was deeplytroubled.
That's a another whole message.
I'm not going to get into thatwhole sentence right there.
It's a deep thought, but I'mjust going to tell you, it gets

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better.
Wherever there's trouble, italways gets better.
So the Lord said, I will wipefrom the face of the earth the
human race I've created, andwith them the animals, birds,
and creatures, and move alongthe ground.
That's why I sometimes think,uh, this is probably a verse in
there so that you can say, youknow what?
Maybe I'm not so bad after allwhen I want to just say, let's

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then let's just get rid ofeverybody.
Let's like, come on, mom, youknow you've been there when the
kids are going crazy, you'relike, that's it.
Taking y'all out.
And the dog.
No, just kidding.
So that says, I regret I madethem.
But then here's the hope.

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Because wherever there's a storyof uh disaster, there's always a
hope you can find in it.
And here's the hope.
But Noah found favor in the eyesof the Lord.
Noah found favor in the eyes ofthe Lord.
And my compelling thought todayis for you to be the person that
decides, no matter what you'refacing, no matter what's around

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you, because of your journey offollowing Jesus, that you live
in the favor of God and that youstand in the favor of God, and
you recognize because of thatfavor of God, you can make a
difference right where you'reat.
So you can make a difference.
Here we go.
Ready, making a difference.
Number one, you can make adifference for your family.

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You can make a difference foryour family.
Genesis 7 1.
Then the Lord said to Noah, Gointo the ark, you and your whole
family, because I have found yourighteous in this generation.
Now, it's an incredible thing tome that Noah had lived his life
and led his family in a way thatit caught the attention of God

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and it caught the favor of Godso much so that God says, You
know what?
I'm gonna save humanity throughyour family.
And he says, get yourself inthat boat because because of
your righteousness, yourfamily's gonna be saved.
And I just want to preach tosomebody that feels like you're
alone.
You might be the firstgeneration Christian, you might
be the only one attending churchtoday in your family.

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But listen, because of the favorof God on your life, you can
make a difference in yourfamily.
In Acts 16, Peter said this,believe in the Lord Jesus and
you will be saved, you and yourhousehold.
It was actually Paul and Silas.
They were ministering to the guythat was the jailer.

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And the deer, when they sang inthe night, the doors were open,
and Paul's sitting there and thechains are broken, and the
jailer thinks everybody's left.
And Paul says, No, we've notgone anywhere.
And then the guy inquires, Well,why would you stay if you were
set free?
He said, Because you and yourwhole family can be saved in
this moment.
And I'm just going to tell you,I want to encourage you that you

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can make a difference in yourfamily.
The second thing Noah encouragesus is this you can make a
difference in your generation.
You can make a difference inyour generation.
So in your whole family, yourcircle of influence, and then in
your generation, you can have anamazing reach because of your
willingness to stand and declarethe favor of God in your life.

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You can impact your generation.
I think so many times we getoverwhelmed by the thought and
the idea that Jesus saved us notonly so we could go to heaven,
but so that we could make adifference.
And that we have thisopportunity to declare God's
faithfulness in the house.
Look at this Acts 13 and 36.

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Now, when David had served God'spurposes in his own generation,
then he fell asleep.
Then he had lived a long,successful life.
Did he have up and downs?
Yeah.
Did he have trouble?
Yeah.
But you know what he did?
He served his generation.
I'm just here to declare to youthat when you live in the favor
of God, you can impact yourgeneration.

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The next thing Noah would tellus is this.
He would tell us that you canmake a difference for God.
You can walk in the favor ofGod.
You can be a light in a darkworld.
You can be a voice amongst allthe chaotic voices around you.
You can be a voice of truth anddeclaration for God's promises.

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That God wants to use you.
He didn't save you because youwere so bad.
He saved you because he has apurpose in your life.
He has a promise he wants tofulfill through you as you make
a stand for him.
And you can be used by God tomake a difference.
And what I'm so thankful for isyou don't have to be perfect for

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God to use you to make adifference in the lives of other
people.
You just have to be availableand willing and teachable.
So Noah would tell us listen,you can make a difference for
your family and for yourgeneration, and you can make a
difference for God.
And so I'm just here to say, whydon't you just go mad?
Let's all go mad.

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Let's all go make a difference.
Let's go make a difference.
Number one, if you're gonna gomad, you gotta do this.
You gotta go ahead and standout.
And I just want to let you know,I'm a little bit tired of
everybody trying to fit in tothis world.

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Rather than deciding we're gonnabe set apart and we're gonna
stand out.
You're trying to fit in, and Godhas purposed you for a time such
as this to stand out.
He's marked you with identityand purpose just as he wished
and willed.
It was his desire and his plan.
You're born just the way he madeyou.
And he says, Listen, I'm herefor you to stand out.

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I'm empowering you, gifting you,giving you the grace to stand
out and not be afraid, not beashamed, but to stand on God's
word and declare a truth to apeople that need it.
God wants to use you, and you'vegot to decide.
I'm gonna just go ahead andstand out and stop fitting in.
We work so hard to fit in.

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Oh man, there's so many storiesgoing in through my mind right
now.
I'm just gonna pay backattention to my notes so I stay
on time today.
In most cases, God is going toask you to do what goes against
the grain.
He's gonna ask you to walk thestraight and narrow path when
everybody's walking the widepath.

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He's gonna ask you to go againstthe current when everybody's
just going with the flow.
Like he's gonna ask you, like,follow me, which means you're
gonna have to turn from thedirection you're traveling in
order to follow him the way he'sleading you.
And he wants you to stand out,and when you stand out, you
experience the favor of God inyour life.

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Look at what happens in thisidea of Proverbs 29, 25 says
this fear of men will prove tobe a snare, but whoever trusts
in the Lord is kept safe.
So you know, you've been tryingto fit in because you think it's
safe, but that's not really thesafest place to be.
The safest place to be istrusting in God for your life

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and following his commands andlifting that living after his
word and standing on his truth,making a difference and standing
out.
The second thing, if you want tomake a difference, is this you
go ahead and do something new.
Now, if you if you pay attentionfrom the early stages of

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Genesis, there there was no suchthing as rain.
And God says, Noah, I'm gonnacause it to rain.
Well, what's that, God?
I'm gonna flood the earth withwater.
But I'm gonna put you in asituation and I'm gonna save you
in a boat.
Your family, because of yourrighteousness, I'm gonna put you

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in a boat.
What's a boat?
Well, I'm gonna give you theinstructions on how to build it.
I'm gonna give you thedimensions and the size and
everything you need to know andwhere to go get the wood.
And then, by the way, you'regonna bring all the animals with
you, which by the way, don't youwant to ask Noah, Noah, why'd
you why'd you why'd you letflies come along for this
journey?

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Like, we could have made thisworld so much better.
Get rid of the flies and thespiders, and get rid of the
Chicagoland, rats and mice.
Let's go, everybody.
Who needs them?
I mean, we could have solvedthem.

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That's the first thing I'm gonnaask them.
And by the way, the thing is, Iknow they didn't bite him on the
boat because if he'd have donelike that, it'd have been over.
So they weren't biting then forsome reason, but now they do, so
go figure.
All right, see, that's justsometimes how my mind my mind
works.

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But go ahead and do somethingnew.
Do something new.
You have to imagine.
He starts working, and as he'sworking on a boat, people are
going, no, what are you doing?
I'm building a boat.
A what?
A boat.
What for?

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Because it's gonna rain.
What it's gonna rain.
No, since you'd be doingsomething else, yeah.
No.
God told me it's gonna rain andI need to build a boat, and so
that's what I'm doing.
It's something new, but Godasked me to do it.
And I wonder how many of youkeep doing the same old thing,
expecting different results.

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But God's asked you to dosomething new.
Something new.
Stand up, stand out and dosomething new.
Make a declaration you've nevermade before.
Make do get involved whereyou've never been involved
before.
Like get out and do somethingnew because it's gonna lead to

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the salvation of God and thefavor of God and the people
around you.
Look at this in Hebrews 11:7,which by the way is the Hall of
Fame of faith chapter, so it's achapter full of people of faith.
It says that's by faith, Noah,when warned about things not yet
seen, in holy fear built an arkto save his family.

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Like that just has to be likeGod warned him of what's about
to happen, but he couldn't, hedidn't see it.
It's not like he knew what itlooked like.
It's not like he knew what wasabout, he just had, he just had
faith that what God said God wasgoing to do, and so he better
follow through with what Godasked him to do.
And sometimes I think thelimitation of us following

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through with what God asks is wedon't really see what God sees.
And I just want to pray for youreyes to be open to see what God
has revealed for you throughvisions and dreams, so that when
you see those things, you cansay, Listen, I know it's new and
I know it's different, but Igotta build a boat.
I gotta build the vehicle that'sgonna save my family and reach

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my generation and do somethingfor the glory of the Lord.
And the last thing Noah wouldsay, if you want to go mad, is
go ahead and keep declaringGod's promises.
Again, like don't let it be lostin the simplicity of reading the

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story over and over and overagain.
And you're reading it and you'relike, yeah, I read this before,
so your mind kind of puts inlike recircular fashion of like
it just kind of knows italready, so it doesn't look for
what's new in the story.
But I just want to tell you, yougot to imagine Noah is out there
and he is he's he's buildingthis boat with his family, and
his boys are there and they'reinvolved and they're engaged in

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the work, and and they're thepeople are ridiculing them and
and making fun of them.
And who's ever heard of rain?
And who's ever seen a boat, andwhat on earth is all of this
about?
Why not just put it all down andcome and party with us and come
live with uh like live afterwhat we're chasing after, which
is usually nothing.
I always say this the world isso good at being so loud about

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nothing.
They make nothing look soinviting, they make they make
nothing look so spectacular.
It's nothing.
And the only thing I think thatkept Noah and his family engaged
in the process of what God hadasked them to do was that Noah

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had to just keep speaking thepromises of God over his family.
Listen, guys, I know it's hardwork.
I know we're building somethingno one's ever seen, but listen,
God promises he's gonna save usbecause of what we're building.
Like I know it seemsoverwhelming, but God promises
he's gonna deliver us fromwhatever chaos is about to

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ensue.
He's gonna keep his hand uponus.
The favor of God is what'sleading us to do this, the favor
of God is what's positioning usto be in this situation for
salvation.
It is by God's grace and hismercy that we're here.
I'm just declaring the promisesof God.
And it's what enabled them tokeep working.
And I just want to say,families, sometimes it seems so

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difficult every seven days towake your family up and get them
to church.
But listen, I just gotta say,you've got to keep declaring the
promise of God over.
When they don't want to go, justkeep declaring the promises of
God.
When they don't want to followafter the plan that God has for
our lives, we keep declaring thepromises of God when the child

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is young.
If you train him up in the wayhe should go, he won't depart
when he's older.
You declare the promise of Godover that sickness that the
Bible says the report of thedoctor might be, it might be
whatever it is, but the reportof the Lord says you're healed
and you're free and you'refilled.
The promises of God say thathe'll be with you always.

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Look at the verse right here inMatthew 28 and 19.
It's where we get the missionand the vision of the church.
Go and make disciples, so make adifference.
Baptizing them in the name ofthe Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit and teaching them toobey everything that I've taught
you.
That's finding freedom anddiscovering purpose.

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He says, This for I'm with youalways to the very end.
You know, whenever God givesvision and mission, he always
follows it up with a promise.
Wherever there's vision,wherever there's mission,
according to God's word, there'salways going to be a promise.
Look at this.

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I mean, sometimes we call themission and the vision a
commandment.
Children, honor your mother andfather.
The mission.
The promise so that you'll livea long, healthy, successful
life.
Wherever there's vision andmission, there's always a

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promise.
And look what Peter says aboutthe promises of God.
The Lord is not slow in keepingpromises as some understand
slowness.
Instead, he is patient with you,not wanting anyone to perish,

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but for all, everyone to come torepentance.
See, wherever there's troubleand trial and chaos and
disaster, calamity, whatever itmight be, wherever all of that
is, there's always hope.
There's a promise of God.

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And God's never failed.
We just sang it.
Never failed, never will.
So I'm just gonna keep callingthe name of the Lord.
Why?
Because there's a promise.
There's a promise.
Weeping may endure for thenight, but joy comes in the
morning.
There's a promise.

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There's a promise.
In my um in my current situationin this life, I have to carry
these glasses with me.
And a lot of times I look atthem and they're super dirty, so
I like to try to clean them up alittle bit before I put them on.

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They're wonderful, actually.
I hate them.
But they're wonderful.
Because when I put them on, Ican I can read the smallest
print known to mankind.
I don't know why they makeBibles with such small print.
I would gladly carry a book ifit would be printed in a

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readable, legible size printfont.
Can I get a witness?
So if I just look at this pagewithout this, I I really I got
like there's no place, there'snowhere, there's no situation

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where I can actually read it.
But as soon as I put them on, Ican read it.
But if I'm trying to read thisand talk to you, I can read
this, but when I look up to talkto you, I can't see you.

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And it actually hurts and givesme a little headache to try to
pre.
That's why you see me with theseon.
I I think I recognize who youare, but maybe not.
Because I can't really see.
Like I I have to have them tosee this, but I can't see beyond
when I have them on.

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And you know what I'll it's aterrible thing, honestly,
getting old.
But there's something that Ijust want to relay to you in
circumstance.
That spiritually, it's almost agift to not be able to see right

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in front of you in order for youto be able to see further down
the road.
The promise is further down theroad, the problem is what's in
front of you.
But you know what?
You need to quit focusing onyour problem and start looking
ahead to your promise.

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When I take these off, Iactually see spiritually the
promise better than when I putthem on and can only see and
focus in on the problem.
And so when I'm declaring God'spromise, it is it is a type of
me taking off my reading glassesso I can see beyond what's right

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in front of me.
And so, yeah, I know, I know mykids are not living the way I
want them to live.
Or I know my job is not doingwhat I thought it would be
doing.
I know there's a sickness in mylife or my family that I didn't
count on, and I know there'sdifficulty all around me, but
you know what?

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I'm gonna I'm gonna take off thereading glasses and I'm gonna
look ahead to the promise of Godthat declares my family will be
saved, that declares my lifewill be filled, that declares my
freedom is for me, that I'mgonna declare these things even
though it doesn't look like itin front of me.
Because God is faithful and justand not slack concerning his

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promise.
Now, even though it seems like along time, what's a long time to
God?
The Bible says the day with theLord is like a thousand and a
thousand like a day.
David said, one minute in thecourt of like one day in the
house of God is better than alifetime apart from it.

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So, like, what is a long time?
I'm not gonna I'm not gonnajudge things based on the
literal time.
I'm gonna just look to thehorizon to my promise.
I'm gonna look to the hill.
There's another one.
The Bible, like we we we quotePsalms, it says, I will look to

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the hills whence cometh my help.
And so everybody says, Well, welook to the hills.
That's not what the verse says.
The verse says, I will look tothe hills, but does my help come
from the hills?
And you know why the psalmistwrites that?
Because it was in the hills andthe high places that they would
put the sorcerers and the palmreaders and and the witchcraft

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up in the hills.
And David says, I'm looking tothe hills.
My help's not in the hills, myhelp comes from the Lord.
My help comes from the promiseGod spoke long ago that He would
never leave me or forsake me.
David says, I've been young andI've been old, but he's never

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left me.
I've never been to have to begfor bread.
It's the promise of God.
And it's time for us to just geta little mad.
Go a little mad, go make adifference.
Pick up the pace and makingdeclarations, pick up the pace
in doing new things, pick up thepace in standing out in the

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world God's called us to standout in.
Can you receive that word today?