# Filled By Faith!

An episode of [Elevation with Steven Furtick](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/216015753), 23 Aug 2026, 50 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/cbb40a38-726f-4243-a86e-b0ed01477640/2305e9ce-8e05-4fd9-bfeb-b4af01474ccf/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=ff9164b2-aa64-410d-9ee1-b0ed0147765c

You don't have to feel ready to move forward in faith. Sometimes growth looks like grieving what was, trusting God with what's missing, and still choosing to take the next best step. If you're carrying both blessings and burdens right now, discover how God can lead you forward even when life feels mixed. If you’ve been feeling grateful AND sad, excited AND anxious, or blessed AND overwhelmed, this message is for you. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr Scripture References: 1 Samuel 16, verses 1-13 – Samuel anoints David as future king 1 Samuel 3, verses 4-5 – The Lord calls out to young Samuel See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:04] Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
[0:06] Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
[0:09] Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
[0:11] Speaker 2: new sermons every week.
[0:13] Speaker 1: I hope you're blessed today. This is the final week
[0:22] Speaker 1: of my series. I know that voice your clapping because
[0:29] Speaker 1: you're ready for me to be done with it, or
[0:31] Speaker 1: you've enjoyed it so much. Come on, somebody, champ One
[0:34] Speaker 1: more week, one more week, one more week. This is
[0:39] Speaker 1: gonna be it this week, and I believe the Lord's
[0:42] Speaker 1: gonna give us a great grand finale. To prepare your
[0:46] Speaker 1: heart for what God wants to say this week. I
[0:48] Speaker 1: want to show you a highlight video of how He
[0:51] Speaker 1: spoke to some people last week. Last week we had
[0:55] Speaker 1: a powerful encounter in the presence of God in this
[0:58] Speaker 1: place and so encouraged as I saw some of the takeaways,
[1:03] Speaker 1: I thought it would set the tone for what God
[1:05] Speaker 1: wants to do. On your way down to your seat,
[1:08] Speaker 1: touch your neighbor and say death by echo, echo, echo, echo,
[1:11] Speaker 1: you may be seated. Check out the clip. One highlight
[1:17] Speaker 1: I took away from today was that sometimes when we're
[1:19] Speaker 1: in the cave season, it leads us to isolation and
[1:22] Speaker 1: the anchor.
[1:22] Speaker 3: I'd listening to our own voice instead of God's voice.
[1:25] Speaker 1: What are you doing here in these destructive patterns that
[1:28] Speaker 1: promise you safety but only make you a shame, and
[1:31] Speaker 1: the shame leads to the same behavior. What are you
[1:34] Speaker 1: doing in this cave? Sometimes my business is you know,
[1:39] Speaker 1: it's a lot of pressure. Sometimes I will go without praying,
[1:41] Speaker 1: but God always shows up. I want you to thank
[1:44] Speaker 1: God for the times you didn't even really pray, but
[1:46] Speaker 1: he came. The times where you thought, what if I
[1:49] Speaker 1: got it wrong? But God said, what if I got
[1:50] Speaker 1: it right? The threats are empty unless you let it echo.
[1:54] Speaker 1: So I gotta stop caving in on all the voices
[1:57] Speaker 1: inside of my head. We can be so focused on
[1:59] Speaker 1: like you're like the eggles back and the works like divorces,
[2:02] Speaker 1: that we can even here God like speaking to us,
[2:05] Speaker 1: because when you start with I have had enoughing. I
[2:10] Speaker 1: I see I was filling the case. I was filling
[2:12] Speaker 1: the rooms, and now I can't hear the whisper from
[2:14] Speaker 1: the whisper. When Pastor Stevens told me all I have
[2:18] Speaker 1: to do is run it back, I could have gotten
[2:20] Speaker 1: up and run out of that church at that moment.
[2:23] Speaker 1: Run back the time that he fed you. Run back
[2:26] Speaker 1: the time that he led you. Run back the time
[2:28] Speaker 1: that he did come through. Run back the ones who
[2:31] Speaker 1: put their arm around You've been replaying the wrong things,
[2:35] Speaker 1: hadn't you. You've been replaying stuff that the devil can't
[2:38] Speaker 1: even bring up against you because it's nailed to the cross.
[2:42] Speaker 1: If you just gotta replace something, replay the resurrection, and
[2:46] Speaker 1: remember that nothing is dead till God is done with it.
[2:50] Speaker 1: Nothing is over till God says so try poems, hear
[2:55] Speaker 1: the word of the Lord. Run it back. He's been
[2:57] Speaker 1: good to you. Run it back. He's more than enough.
[3:01] Speaker 1: Run it back. Jehovah Jiro always provides. Run it back.
[3:05] Speaker 1: You're not alone, all right?
[3:11] Speaker 3: All right?
[3:11] Speaker 1: Touch ten? People say, run it back, run it back,
[3:15] Speaker 1: run it back. Thanks, h'all. Run it back, run it back,
[3:18] Speaker 1: run it back. We are going to run it back
[3:21] Speaker 1: all the way to the first scripture that we started
[3:23] Speaker 1: this series with in one Samuel sixteen. Please open your bibles,
[3:27] Speaker 1: and we're going to bring this full circle. I know
[3:30] Speaker 1: that voice. One of the things I've most enjoyed about
[3:33] Speaker 1: teaching you this series is that hopefully we have broadened
[3:38] Speaker 1: the way that you expect to hear God in your life.
[3:41] Speaker 1: We found out that God can speak not only to people,
[3:44] Speaker 1: but he can speak to storms. And so if he's
[3:48] Speaker 1: not speaking to you right now in your life in
[3:49] Speaker 1: a way that you can discern, maybe he's speaking to
[3:52] Speaker 1: your situation, doing things that only he can do in
[3:55] Speaker 1: ways that only he can understand. We've understood through this
[3:58] Speaker 1: series that this not only speaks to storms, but sometimes
[4:02] Speaker 1: he speaks to stones, the condemnation that is in our life.
[4:06] Speaker 1: We talked about a woman who was caught in the
[4:07] Speaker 1: act of adultery and Jesus said, I don't condemn you,
[4:09] Speaker 1: go and sin no more. And this whole thing started
[4:12] Speaker 1: with a prophet named Samuel. So for Samuel sixteen, we're
[4:17] Speaker 1: gonna do a little first Samuel sixteen Sandwich the first
[4:20] Speaker 1: week of the series. In the last week of the
[4:22] Speaker 1: series will come from this passage. Not because I ran
[4:25] Speaker 1: out of Bible passages and stories to talk about God speaking,
[4:30] Speaker 1: but as we revisit it today, I want you to
[4:33] Speaker 1: I want you to take note. Every time you hear
[4:36] Speaker 1: the word of God, an opportunity for faith to be
[4:38] Speaker 1: born presents itself to you. Faith comes by hearing hearing
[4:42] Speaker 1: comes by the word of God. The title of this
[4:44] Speaker 1: message today is filled by faith. Say it. Filled by faith.
[4:51] Speaker 1: That's how I want you going back to school this year, students,
[4:54] Speaker 1: filled by faith. That's how I want you to deal
[4:57] Speaker 1: with these doctor bills you got to pay. Filled by faith.
[5:01] Speaker 1: That's how I want you approaching this next challenge in
[5:04] Speaker 1: your business, filled by faith. This employee you've got to
[5:07] Speaker 1: go fire this week, I want you filled by faith.
[5:11] Speaker 1: This boss that's about to fire you this week, filled
[5:14] Speaker 1: by faith. You know there's both in the room, right.
[5:17] Speaker 1: It's a big church. First. Samuel sixteen versus one through thirteen,
[5:23] Speaker 1: epic scripture with an everyday application. Now, I never want
[5:26] Speaker 1: my sermons to be image rich and principle poor, meaning
[5:30] Speaker 1: that I just give you a lot of symbols abstractions,
[5:34] Speaker 1: but never get to the application. Today we're going to
[5:37] Speaker 1: talk very plainly about your feelings, and we're only gonna
[5:44] Speaker 1: talk about for a little while, because the main things
[5:46] Speaker 1: is not your feelings, it's your filling. On Samuel sixteen,
[5:54] Speaker 1: verse one, the Lord said to Samuel, how long will
[5:58] Speaker 1: you mourn for Saul? Since I have read rejected him
[6:00] Speaker 1: as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and
[6:04] Speaker 1: be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse
[6:06] Speaker 1: of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to
[6:10] Speaker 1: be king in Bethlehem. This will not be the last
[6:14] Speaker 1: king to be found in Bethlehem. By the way, I said,
[6:18] Speaker 1: keep an eye on Bethlehem. Unexpected kings come from Bethlehem. Okay,
[6:25] Speaker 1: I'm getting ahead of myself. Huh. Verse two, But Samuel said,
[6:30] Speaker 1: how are you gonna argue with God? God told you
[6:31] Speaker 1: what to do. Just do it. Aren't you a prophet?
[6:34] Speaker 1: But Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears
[6:36] Speaker 1: about it, he will kill me. The Lord said, take
[6:39] Speaker 1: a heffer with you and say I have come to
[6:41] Speaker 1: sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and
[6:44] Speaker 1: I will show you what to do. I am claiming
[6:47] Speaker 1: that as my verse for the rest of this year.
[6:49] Speaker 1: God said, I will show you what to do. Somebody
[6:52] Speaker 1: pray it. God, show me what to do. Show me
[6:55] Speaker 1: what to do about this diet, Show me what to
[6:58] Speaker 1: do about this debt, Show me what to do about
[7:00] Speaker 1: this dysfunction. Show me what to do about this disease,
[7:03] Speaker 1: Show me what to do about this divorce. Show me
[7:05] Speaker 1: what to do that's a great verse. God said, I'll
[7:09] Speaker 1: show you what to do, but you've got to go
[7:12] Speaker 1: to Bethlehem to see it. See, God can't show you
[7:16] Speaker 1: if you don't show up. He said, I will show
[7:21] Speaker 1: you what to do. You are to anoint for me
[7:24] Speaker 1: the one I indicate. Well, Samuel did what the Lord said.
[7:29] Speaker 1: When he arrived at Bethlehem. The elders of the town
[7:31] Speaker 1: trembled when they met him. They asked, do you come
[7:34] Speaker 1: in peace? Samuel replied, yes, in peace, I have come
[7:38] Speaker 1: to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to
[7:43] Speaker 1: the sacrifice with me. Then he consecrated Jesse and his
[7:47] Speaker 1: sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they arrived,
[7:50] Speaker 1: Samuel saw Eliah and thought, surely the Lord's anointed stands
[7:58] Speaker 1: here before the Lord. Side note, don't believe everything you think.
[8:04] Speaker 1: Don't believe everything you see, don't believe everything you hear,
[8:07] Speaker 1: and don't believe everything you think. Because he saw the
[8:11] Speaker 1: tall son, and he thought, because he reminded him of Saul,
[8:15] Speaker 1: who was the former king, this is the one. But
[8:19] Speaker 1: the Lord said to Samuel verse seven, do not consider
[8:22] Speaker 1: his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
[8:26] Speaker 1: The Lord does not look at the things people look at.
[8:29] Speaker 1: People look at the outward appearance. Ain't that the truth? Way?
[8:33] Speaker 1: Can I tell you how many times I preached and
[8:35] Speaker 1: somebody came up to me and I thought they were
[8:36] Speaker 1: going to compliment my sermon, and they're like, I just
[8:38] Speaker 1: wanted to tell you this past Sunday. I love your shoes.
[8:43] Speaker 1: Where did you get those boots? I'm like my shoes,
[8:48] Speaker 1: shoes to my shoes. I'm trying to teach you the
[8:51] Speaker 1: eternal truth of God, but I usually just say thank
[8:53] Speaker 1: you because it is nice to hear you like my shoes.
[8:58] Speaker 1: But one thing, you got to be very careful about
[9:00] Speaker 1: his surface interpretations, because the Lord does not look at
[9:05] Speaker 1: the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance,
[9:07] Speaker 1: but the Lord looks at the heart. If you lose weight,
[9:12] Speaker 1: people will say, hey, congratulations, you look like you're losing weight.
[9:15] Speaker 1: But if you forgive somebody, nobody can see that, so
[9:17] Speaker 1: they don't know to compliment you. Hey, you lost resentment,
[9:23] Speaker 1: you lost bitterness. Well, Jesse called a Benadab, another one
[9:29] Speaker 1: of his sons, and had him pass in front of Samuel.
[9:31] Speaker 1: But Samuel said, the Lord has not chosen this one either,
[9:34] Speaker 1: and he had Shamma passed by. But Samuel said, nor
[9:37] Speaker 1: has the Lord chosen this one. Jesse had seven of
[9:40] Speaker 1: his sons passed before Samuel, but Samuel said to him,
[9:43] Speaker 1: the Lord has not chosen these, none of them. So
[9:46] Speaker 1: he asked, Jesse, are these all the sons you have?
[9:51] Speaker 1: Now watch this. They're still the youngest. Jesse answered, well,
[9:56] Speaker 1: where is he? He's tendon sheep. He's in the field
[9:59] Speaker 1: tending sheep. He's not even in the house. He's in
[10:01] Speaker 1: the field tending sheep. Samuel said, send for him. We
[10:05] Speaker 1: will not sit down until he arrived. So he sent
[10:10] Speaker 1: for him and had him brought in. He was glowing
[10:13] Speaker 1: with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.
[10:19] Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor that sounds like you. Did you know
[10:22] Speaker 1: you were in the Bible? Then the Lord said, writhe
[10:26] Speaker 1: and anoint him. The one that wasn't even in the house,
[10:30] Speaker 1: the one that was in the field. This is the one.
[10:33] Speaker 1: So Samuel took this last verse I want to read.
[10:37] Speaker 1: Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in
[10:41] Speaker 1: the presence of his brothers. And from that day on,
[10:46] Speaker 1: from that day on, the spirit of the Lord came
[10:52] Speaker 1: powerfully upon David. It filled him from that day on,
[10:57] Speaker 1: and Samuel then went to rama. Everybody say my title again.
[11:01] Speaker 1: Filled by Faith. Now we've got two main characters. And
[11:07] Speaker 1: by the way, put that in the comments too, please,
[11:09] Speaker 1: if you're watching online, Filled by Faith. Two main characters
[11:13] Speaker 1: in the text, if you don't count God. There's Samuel,
[11:18] Speaker 1: the prophet, the priest, the judge. Samuel a prophet and
[11:23] Speaker 1: a priest and a judge, wearing so many different hats
[11:27] Speaker 1: he can't even find his head some days, dealing with
[11:30] Speaker 1: the disappointment of a failed king named Saul that he
[11:33] Speaker 1: didn't even want Israel to have in the first place.
[11:36] Speaker 1: And he's not a little boy anymore. He's not that
[11:40] Speaker 1: same little Samuel whose mom Hannah would bring him a
[11:43] Speaker 1: robe every year at the temple under Eli, where he
[11:46] Speaker 1: first learned to hear the voice of God. He's grizzled now.
[11:51] Speaker 1: He's gray now. And right alongside Samuel, who is gray,
[11:58] Speaker 1: we got David, who is green. He hasn't done anything yet.
[12:04] Speaker 1: He's a complete rookie. He's a new he doesn't know
[12:06] Speaker 1: anything about this king business. And what amazes me about
[12:11] Speaker 1: the passage reading it through another time and going through
[12:14] Speaker 1: a second pass was to realize that Samuel was gray,
[12:19] Speaker 1: David was green, but God was greater than both, meaning
[12:24] Speaker 1: that Samuel wasn't too old to be used by God,
[12:27] Speaker 1: David wasn't too young to be used by God. One
[12:30] Speaker 1: is gray, one is green, but God is great. I
[12:33] Speaker 1: like that. So how many gray saints do we have
[12:36] Speaker 1: in the room today? You consider yourself kind of gray?
[12:39] Speaker 1: God can feel you even in this season of your life.
[12:42] Speaker 1: God can make the rest of your life the best
[12:44] Speaker 1: of your life. I'm prophesying now. God can redeem the
[12:48] Speaker 1: years that the canker worm has eaten. God can redeem that.
[12:52] Speaker 1: How many of you consider yourself a little green? Right now?
[12:56] Speaker 1: I'll tell you how you can know that. If you
[12:57] Speaker 1: can do backsquats and not feel it the next step,
[13:00] Speaker 1: you're green. Raise your hand if you're green right now.
[13:03] Speaker 1: If you don't have to calculate anything when you see stairs,
[13:06] Speaker 1: you're green right now. Raise your hand. If you're green
[13:08] Speaker 1: right now. If you don't have to do any math
[13:11] Speaker 1: on getting down those stairs and thinking about getting back up,
[13:14] Speaker 1: if you don't have to figure any of that out,
[13:16] Speaker 1: you just do it and don't even know that you
[13:18] Speaker 1: did it. Raise your hand. You're green, but you're not
[13:21] Speaker 1: too young to be used by God. God will use
[13:24] Speaker 1: a student in this room this year to turn Arjorie
[13:27] Speaker 1: Kel upside down for the glory of God. Get three
[13:30] Speaker 1: of your kids off drugs. Get hey, there's somebody in
[13:34] Speaker 1: this room who is anointed to deliver your friends off
[13:37] Speaker 1: of drugs by the power of the spirit of God
[13:39] Speaker 1: on the inside of you. Because watch what the Bible said.
[13:43] Speaker 1: It said the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon
[13:45] Speaker 1: David from that day, and he was green. And yet Samuel,
[13:51] Speaker 1: who is mourning what was, receives a fresh filling in
[13:55] Speaker 1: his great years, just like David does in his green years.
[13:59] Speaker 1: Speak because God is greater than gray. God is greater
[14:02] Speaker 1: than green. God is greater than tired. God is greater
[14:07] Speaker 1: than dumb. God is greater Hey, watch this. God is
[14:12] Speaker 1: greater than your former days. Your ladder will be greater
[14:17] Speaker 1: than your past. Somebody say, filled by faith, you got
[14:22] Speaker 1: to look into your future and start speaking that God
[14:24] Speaker 1: is not done with me. And you got to realize
[14:27] Speaker 1: that every breath that you draw is a down deposit
[14:30] Speaker 1: that God is making on the destiny that He still
[14:32] Speaker 1: has for your life. This is not in my note,
[14:35] Speaker 1: So who am I saying this for that you've been
[14:37] Speaker 1: saying I'm too old, I'm too young. It's too gone.
[14:39] Speaker 1: Saul is gone. And I want you to also notice
[14:43] Speaker 1: something that ass Samuel is filling his horn with oil.
[14:49] Speaker 1: He is feeling all kinds of things as he does.
[14:54] Speaker 1: And this is why I wanted to use the passage
[14:56] Speaker 1: again today so that we can talk about how it's
[15:00] Speaker 1: not the feelings that matter, it's the filling that matters.
[15:07] Speaker 1: And I know I kind of have a little Southern accent,
[15:09] Speaker 1: so when I say fill it, you might think I'm
[15:13] Speaker 1: saying feel it like you know what Southern people say,
[15:17] Speaker 1: bowl water? You ever heard that? Holly used to say.
[15:21] Speaker 1: My brother in law, Jodie is here. She used to
[15:23] Speaker 1: say he would always talk about bowling water, and she's
[15:26] Speaker 1: like bowling water that bowl is you're using it incorrectly.
[15:30] Speaker 1: You put water in a bowl. But he wasn't saying bowl.
[15:32] Speaker 1: He was saying boil. But he said it like bowl
[15:35] Speaker 1: we bowl water, bowl penuts. If you don't know about
[15:38] Speaker 1: bowl peanuts. I want to have a membership class after
[15:41] Speaker 1: church and talk with you. We're going to teach that
[15:43] Speaker 1: in the college because this is the South now now
[15:46] Speaker 1: I understand you might not understand in translation, but when
[15:49] Speaker 1: I say phil it, you might here feel it. One
[15:56] Speaker 1: time I was talking to a very successful media personality
[15:59] Speaker 1: has achieved amazing things. You know exactly who I'm talking about,
[16:03] Speaker 1: and we were visiting the place where he grew up.
[16:06] Speaker 1: I said, how does this feel coming back here? He said,
[16:09] Speaker 1: it makes me kind of grateful, and it also makes
[16:11] Speaker 1: me kind of guilty. I said, I understand grateful, but
[16:14] Speaker 1: why guilty? He said, I feel guilty because I realize
[16:18] Speaker 1: all God has done for me, but I'm not as
[16:21] Speaker 1: grateful as I should be about it. I don't appreciate
[16:23] Speaker 1: it enough. But I looked at him and I said
[16:27] Speaker 1: something that I want to say to you today. I said,
[16:29] Speaker 1: I don't think you're ungrateful. I think you're anxious. I
[16:34] Speaker 1: think that what you're carrying in this season of your
[16:37] Speaker 1: life is something that you've never managed or maintained before,
[16:41] Speaker 1: and you feel guilty because you think you're ungrateful. I
[16:45] Speaker 1: think you're really just anxious because you feel the pressure
[16:48] Speaker 1: to maintain what God gave you. He said, Wow, you
[16:56] Speaker 1: really helped me right there. I said, that's what I do.
[17:00] Speaker 1: Only thing I know how to do is say words.
[17:02] Speaker 1: That is my only skill in life, So I'm glad
[17:04] Speaker 1: it help. One time I was talking to a big
[17:07] Speaker 1: sports we call athlete. I just told myself a little
[17:12] Speaker 1: bit right there. I was talking to an athlete, professional athlete,
[17:16] Speaker 1: and he had just won the highest honor in his sport.
[17:18] Speaker 1: I said, man, you gotta take me back like we're on,
[17:21] Speaker 1: Like we're on the postgame interview. Tell me, how how
[17:23] Speaker 1: did it feel when you won? That? It was amazing?
[17:26] Speaker 1: I saw it on TV and everything. How did it feel?
[17:28] Speaker 1: I'm so happy for you, I'm so proud. He said,
[17:30] Speaker 1: worst night of my life? You remember he said, worst
[17:34] Speaker 1: night of my life? He said. We got back to
[17:36] Speaker 1: the hotel room, our families were fighting. Everybody started acting
[17:41] Speaker 1: crazy because one and I thought, isn't that crazy? The
[17:44] Speaker 1: moment we saw as your highlight? You were going through heartbreak.
[17:50] Speaker 1: So here's what I'm trying to say. By giving you
[17:52] Speaker 1: an example from sports, an example from media, an example
[17:56] Speaker 1: from Samuel, you can fill it even when you don't
[18:00] Speaker 1: feel it. And let me take it a step further.
[18:05] Speaker 1: When god fulfills his promise to you, it may not
[18:09] Speaker 1: feel like you think it will. God may do everything
[18:14] Speaker 1: he promised in your life, and you not even notice
[18:18] Speaker 1: that he did it because it does not feel like
[18:22] Speaker 1: you think it will. What does it feel like to
[18:26] Speaker 1: be used by God? You feel used? You ever seen
[18:30] Speaker 1: a tube of toothpaste that you used? What does it
[18:32] Speaker 1: look like? That's what it feels like when God squeezes
[18:37] Speaker 1: what he put inside of you. A full tube of
[18:40] Speaker 1: toothpaste is pretty. But once God starts squeezing your life
[18:45] Speaker 1: to release the oil that he put inside of you
[18:48] Speaker 1: for the purpose that He's called you to And I'm
[18:50] Speaker 1: still not on my notes, but I'm looking for somebody
[18:53] Speaker 1: who's been like, why does it feel like this in
[18:56] Speaker 1: my life? Now you think it feels like this because
[18:59] Speaker 1: you're for sake, You are not forsaken. You are filled
[19:03] Speaker 1: with the spirit of God. And when you are filled
[19:06] Speaker 1: with the spirit of God, you will almost certainly feel
[19:10] Speaker 1: other things at the same time. Into Samuel, he's filling
[19:16] Speaker 1: the horn with oil, but he's feeling disappointed. He's filling
[19:20] Speaker 1: the horn with oil and he's going forward, but he
[19:23] Speaker 1: is feeling a sense of regret. He is filling the
[19:27] Speaker 1: horn with oil because God is speaking to him. I'm
[19:29] Speaker 1: gonna show you something. Okay, this is so cool to me.
[19:32] Speaker 1: He's gray now, So go back to First Samuel three,
[19:36] Speaker 1: when Samuel first heard the voice of God, when he
[19:39] Speaker 1: first learned to hear God, the Lord spoke to him.
[19:43] Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you in First Samuel three what he
[19:46] Speaker 1: said in verse four, Yeah, it says. Then the Lord
[19:50] Speaker 1: called Samuel, he's just a little boy. He's green, not gray,
[19:54] Speaker 1: and Samuel answered, here I am. And then verse five
[19:57] Speaker 1: he ran to Eli, who was supervisor in the temple,
[20:02] Speaker 1: who was all washed up priest who didn't even care
[20:05] Speaker 1: about the people. And the lamp in the temple had
[20:10] Speaker 1: almost gone out, and he runs to Eli, whose light
[20:12] Speaker 1: is fading, and says, here I am. You called me,
[20:14] Speaker 1: But Eli said I didn't call you. Go back and
[20:16] Speaker 1: lie down. So when laid down, God did it three times,
[20:19] Speaker 1: and finally he realized this is the Lord calling me,
[20:22] Speaker 1: and he says, speak Lord, your servant is listening. That's
[20:26] Speaker 1: when he was green. He had to learn who was
[20:29] Speaker 1: talking to him. Wow. Go to First Samuel sixteen, verse one,
[20:35] Speaker 1: the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn
[20:38] Speaker 1: for Saul since I've rejected him as king over Israel.
[20:40] Speaker 1: Fill your horn with oil and be on your way.
[20:42] Speaker 1: I'm sending you to Jesse of Bethlam. I've chosen one
[20:43] Speaker 1: of his sons to be king. And Samuel knows who's
[20:47] Speaker 1: talking now, but watch what he said verse two. How
[20:53] Speaker 1: because I know who's talking to me, I don't know how.
[20:59] Speaker 1: Isn't it a child at the point in your life
[21:01] Speaker 1: when you know God is speaking to you about something,
[21:05] Speaker 1: but you don't know how. I don't know how to
[21:10] Speaker 1: balance all of this. I don't know how to manage this.
[21:13] Speaker 1: I don't know how to deal with it. I don't
[21:16] Speaker 1: know how to put it behind me, exactly, because the
[21:19] Speaker 1: moment I think I put it behind me, it sucks
[21:23] Speaker 1: me back. In the moment I think that I've gotten
[21:26] Speaker 1: rid of it, its head, I don't know how. And
[21:30] Speaker 1: so God speaks, and Samuel knows who, but he doesn't
[21:34] Speaker 1: know how. Am I preaching to anybody that I know
[21:38] Speaker 1: God is speaking to me about some things. I know
[21:40] Speaker 1: God is working on me about some things. Libya, I
[21:43] Speaker 1: know God is dealing with me. I know who. I
[21:46] Speaker 1: know that voice, but I don't know how. And so
[21:51] Speaker 1: you hear God speaking, you say Hallelujah. And I hear
[21:55] Speaker 1: God speaking, I say, how leilujah? Because I know that's
[21:59] Speaker 1: God tell me to move on. I know that's God
[22:02] Speaker 1: telling me to be pure. I know that's God telling
[22:05] Speaker 1: me to switch how I deal with this. I know
[22:07] Speaker 1: that's God telling me not to depend on this anymore.
[22:10] Speaker 1: I know that's God telling me to let this go.
[22:13] Speaker 1: I just don't know how. I know who I sensed
[22:16] Speaker 1: that is God, But I don't know how to balance
[22:19] Speaker 1: doing this and that. I don't know how to balance
[22:22] Speaker 1: wearing all these hats. I don't know how. And besides
[22:26] Speaker 1: being confused and anxious and fearful, Samuel is grieving. How
[22:34] Speaker 1: long will you mourn over what I have rejected? Well,
[22:39] Speaker 1: look at verse four. He did what the Lord said,
[22:43] Speaker 1: even not knowing how God was going to do what
[22:46] Speaker 1: he promised, he went. He decided, I've got to go,
[22:52] Speaker 1: even not knowing I've got to go, even unsure I've
[22:56] Speaker 1: got to go, even turned inside out, I've got to go,
[22:59] Speaker 1: even though I'm grieving. So I have taught you week
[23:03] Speaker 1: after week in this series that you can be anxious
[23:06] Speaker 1: and excited. That's called anxcited. I make up words while
[23:12] Speaker 1: you're doing your real job during the week. Okay, this
[23:14] Speaker 1: is what I do. I'm excited and you can be
[23:17] Speaker 1: anxious and excited, and the one that you lean into
[23:20] Speaker 1: the most determines where your life leads. Somebody say, I'm
[23:27] Speaker 1: excited about this giant, I'm excited about this challenge. I'm
[23:31] Speaker 1: excited about this school year. I'm excited about this battle.
[23:35] Speaker 1: I'm excited about this I'm axcited. But I'm choosing to
[23:39] Speaker 1: excited over the anks because I've got to lean into
[23:42] Speaker 1: the Lord's voice this season of my life. Now. Talked
[23:46] Speaker 1: to you a new word last week called thanks Austin.
[23:51] Speaker 1: It's when God is doing amazing things in your life
[23:53] Speaker 1: and you're too tired to go to the party. It's
[23:56] Speaker 1: when you just won the championship and all you want
[23:58] Speaker 1: to do is go to bed. It's when you can
[24:01] Speaker 1: no sooner make it down the mountain than Jezebel sends
[24:03] Speaker 1: a death threat. Now you've got to go fight another battle.
[24:06] Speaker 1: How you feeling, I'm thankful, I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted. We
[24:10] Speaker 1: need another word for what Samuel is in this passage,
[24:15] Speaker 1: because he's grieving, but he's going, what do you call
[24:21] Speaker 1: it when you're grieving and you're going, Oh, maybe we
[24:28] Speaker 1: could say it's called growing. I didn't make that one up.
[24:37] Speaker 1: But I guarantee you that's what's happening in your life
[24:40] Speaker 1: right now. Because every time you step forward in faith
[24:45] Speaker 1: when you don't feel it in your situation, somebody shout,
[24:49] Speaker 1: I'm growing. Notify your neighbors say I'm growing. I'm growing.
[24:54] Speaker 1: I'm growing because I'm still not over it yet. But
[24:58] Speaker 1: I don't have to be over it to move forward,
[25:00] Speaker 1: because I'm too grown to let my emotions tell me
[25:04] Speaker 1: what I can and can't do. I'm too grown to
[25:08] Speaker 1: let a broken heart become a barricade in my life.
[25:12] Speaker 1: I'm too grown to let a boy who broke up
[25:14] Speaker 1: with me convince me that my life is over. I'm
[25:18] Speaker 1: only sixteen. I'm green baby, and God is great and
[25:22] Speaker 1: I'm growing even though i'm grieving because I'm growing. Such
[25:31] Speaker 1: a neighbors say, I think you're growing. I think you're growing.
[25:35] Speaker 1: Put it in the chat, say I think I'm growing.
[25:37] Speaker 1: I think I'm growing because I don't know exactly what
[25:40] Speaker 1: God is doing. But I came to church anyway, and
[25:43] Speaker 1: that's how I know I'm growing because I used to
[25:46] Speaker 1: check my mood before I came to church. But I'm
[25:51] Speaker 1: growing now. When I was a toddler. I used to
[25:54] Speaker 1: have a tantrum and lay down and die. But I'm
[25:58] Speaker 1: growing now. Even when I feel angry, I don't have
[26:01] Speaker 1: to give into the anger. Okay, I'm growing. That's what
[26:09] Speaker 1: it call. It's called when you feel fear and you
[26:12] Speaker 1: choose faith. Anyway, somebody say I'm growing the growth. Growth
[26:20] Speaker 1: doesn't feel like growth. So now you're discouraged. I'm not
[26:27] Speaker 1: growing in my faith. You most certainly are. And the
[26:31] Speaker 1: reason I know you're growing is because you don't know it.
[26:37] Speaker 1: That's why you got to go visit your aunt and
[26:38] Speaker 1: your uncle every once in a while when you're a kid. My,
[26:41] Speaker 1: you've gotten so big, but you were developing in the dark.
[26:51] Speaker 1: And I just want to let you know that even
[26:54] Speaker 1: listen to me, even the fact that you are asking
[26:57] Speaker 1: God what he wants you to do, means growing. Because
[27:01] Speaker 1: there was a time you didn't care what God wanted
[27:03] Speaker 1: you to do. You cared what your hormones wanted you
[27:06] Speaker 1: to do. I'm gonna go back over here and get
[27:08] Speaker 1: in this Bible before I get in trouble. So the
[27:13] Speaker 1: Lord says, The Lord says, you're growing. You're growing, And
[27:19] Speaker 1: even though you don't know how, I remember that parable
[27:21] Speaker 1: about the man who planted the seed and he didn't
[27:23] Speaker 1: know how it grew, but it grew and it grew
[27:25] Speaker 1: and it grew. And not so much to share with you,
[27:30] Speaker 1: man about everything that you are feeling while you are
[27:36] Speaker 1: filling fulfilling your responsibility. You have a horn and God
[27:42] Speaker 1: wants you to fill it with oil. And I want
[27:46] Speaker 1: to give you a little piece of marriage advice while
[27:47] Speaker 1: we're out here. Nobody can fill your horn for you.
[28:01] Speaker 1: You know how they say, don't toot your own horn.
[28:03] Speaker 1: Don't brag on yourself. You've heard that before. That's a
[28:05] Speaker 1: Southern saying. I guess all kind of Southern stuff in
[28:09] Speaker 1: this sermon today, boiling water and tooting horns and all
[28:11] Speaker 1: this stuff. Now, don't toot your own horn, but you
[28:15] Speaker 1: got to fill your own horn. It's something interesting about
[28:20] Speaker 1: the oil gram. And maybe some of our young preachers
[28:22] Speaker 1: would like to learn this because the anointing oil that
[28:25] Speaker 1: sounds so amazing. Oh. I want to be anointed. I
[28:27] Speaker 1: want to be anointed, And even if you're not a minister,
[28:29] Speaker 1: you want to be anointed. Right. I want to be
[28:31] Speaker 1: set apart by God, and I want to be empowered
[28:33] Speaker 1: by God for his specific purpose that He's given me
[28:35] Speaker 1: to accomplish in the earth. Even if it's just to
[28:37] Speaker 1: raise my children, that's not a small thing. I want
[28:39] Speaker 1: to be anointed for that, even if it's just to
[28:41] Speaker 1: carry out my assignment, even if it's just to build
[28:43] Speaker 1: this company, even if it's just to create what I'm
[28:45] Speaker 1: supposed to create and put it forth into the world.
[28:46] Speaker 1: I want to be anointed for that. And you are anointed.
[28:50] Speaker 1: You can be anointed and annoyed. It's called and anointed.
[28:57] Speaker 1: All right, I'll stop. That's the last one. I promise.
[28:59] Speaker 1: That's the last. This week is the theories. I promise,
[29:04] Speaker 1: and many true that the anointing oil, what's in Samuel's
[29:10] Speaker 1: horn is just like what's in his heart. It's mixed.
[29:15] Speaker 1: If you ever study about the oil that made the
[29:17] Speaker 1: anointing oil, it had several main ingredients. One of those
[29:22] Speaker 1: ingredients with cinnamon. That's a sweet fragrance. It's a celebration fragrance,
[29:26] Speaker 1: you would expect it at a wedding. And one of
[29:30] Speaker 1: the ingredients was murr and murr is a burial spice.
[29:36] Speaker 1: And then it amazing that the same oil that comprised
[29:40] Speaker 1: the symbol of the anointing had the ingredients for a
[29:43] Speaker 1: wedding and a death, And is God trying to show
[29:49] Speaker 1: us something about our life? Is God trying to show
[29:52] Speaker 1: you that it's going to be mixed. It's going to
[29:55] Speaker 1: be mixed. The biggest moments in your life where you
[29:58] Speaker 1: hold the trophy is going to to be mixed. The
[30:01] Speaker 1: biggest moments of your life where God is fulfilling your
[30:04] Speaker 1: every dream, It's going to be mixed. The moments when
[30:08] Speaker 1: God finally gives you wisdom, You're gonna feel too old
[30:11] Speaker 1: to have the energy to do anything with it, but
[30:13] Speaker 1: you gotta go anyway, because it's gonna be mixed. When
[30:18] Speaker 1: God gives you the energy to do something, you're not
[30:19] Speaker 1: gonna feel like you have the wisdom to do it,
[30:21] Speaker 1: but you gotta go anyway. It's gonna be mixed. One
[30:25] Speaker 1: person in your family's gonna be doing good and another
[30:28] Speaker 1: one's gonna be doing bad, and it's gonna be mixed.
[30:31] Speaker 1: And you can't wait to smile for the picture until
[30:34] Speaker 1: everybody is doing good. You gotta put that plastic smile
[30:37] Speaker 1: on and smile in that picture and go back home
[30:40] Speaker 1: and praise God for your jacked up family and praise
[30:43] Speaker 1: God for the one that's doing good, and pray for
[30:46] Speaker 1: the one that's doing bad. And keep it moving. Keep
[30:49] Speaker 1: it moving, keep it moving, keep it moving. That's what
[30:53] Speaker 1: God told Samuel. I know your mourning, but keeping moving.
[30:57] Speaker 1: I know your heart is broken, but keeping moving. I
[31:00] Speaker 1: know you don't see seven steps ahead. You only gotta
[31:03] Speaker 1: take one at a time. Keep it moving. I know
[31:06] Speaker 1: some oil is filling out of your horn right now,
[31:09] Speaker 1: but keep it moving. I know you got some murry
[31:12] Speaker 1: in your life, but keeping moving. So the message of
[31:15] Speaker 1: faith is this, I'm moving, even though it's mixed. I'm
[31:20] Speaker 1: moving even though it's mixed. My life is mixed right now.
[31:24] Speaker 1: I'm happy right now, I'm heavy right now. It's mixed,
[31:28] Speaker 1: but I'm moving. I feel God on this message. It's mixed,
[31:32] Speaker 1: but I'm moving. There are some people who like me,
[31:35] Speaker 1: there are some people who hate me. It's mixed, but
[31:39] Speaker 1: I'm moving because if God chose me, there's not anything
[31:42] Speaker 1: anybody on either side can do to stop. Buddy put
[31:46] Speaker 1: inside of me. I got some blessings, I got some burdens.
[31:50] Speaker 1: It's mixed, but I'm moving. I got some things i'm
[31:54] Speaker 1: ashamed of. I got some things i'm pretty proud of.
[31:57] Speaker 1: It's mixed, and I'm moving. And the steps of a
[32:01] Speaker 1: good man are ordered by the Lord. And every time
[32:11] Speaker 1: you don't feel it, but you feel it anyway, your
[32:15] Speaker 1: faith grows. I'm growing, I'm growing. I'm growing. I'm growing.
[32:21] Speaker 1: I'm pushing back against the cave. I'm pushing back against
[32:25] Speaker 1: the threat, and I'm growing. I'm growing. This is your
[32:33] Speaker 1: last day to have an empty horn. This is your
[32:36] Speaker 1: last day to have an empty horn. Drop by drop,
[32:40] Speaker 1: we're gonna fill you back off. Notice. Notice, Notice, Samuel
[32:45] Speaker 1: didn't even know who he was filling it for. You
[32:51] Speaker 1: ever had to pour something out and you don't even
[32:53] Speaker 1: know what it's for. I don't even know why I
[32:55] Speaker 1: took this job. I don't even know why I'm in Charlotte.
[32:58] Speaker 1: I'll tell you why you're in Charlotte, and and so
[33:01] Speaker 1: you can look at my shoes, and so God can
[33:05] Speaker 1: give you this sure word and speak to you and
[33:07] Speaker 1: get you up out of your situation. Tell your neighbor.
[33:15] Speaker 1: Feel your horn, feel your horn, Fill your horn, your horn,
[33:18] Speaker 1: your horn, the thing God gave you, your horn, the
[33:20] Speaker 1: instrument of your call, and feel it. Sit on. I
[33:25] Speaker 1: gotta show you something. But we don't realize about Samuel
[33:30] Speaker 1: as great as he was, and as great as he was.
[33:33] Speaker 1: And what we don't understand about David, as great as
[33:35] Speaker 1: he was and as great as he was, is that
[33:38] Speaker 1: when Saul vacated his rightful place as king by his disobedience,
[33:45] Speaker 1: it left an empty seat. I don't know if they
[33:49] Speaker 1: can make the camera where they show it or not.
[33:51] Speaker 1: I sure would love that because I really need this
[33:55] Speaker 1: demonstration to get my message home. When I get up
[34:00] Speaker 1: to preach, they fill this seat with someone else and
[34:05] Speaker 1: slide everyone down so we don't have an empty seat
[34:08] Speaker 1: on the front row today. I told them I was
[34:12] Speaker 1: going to be preaching about filled by faith, and I said,
[34:16] Speaker 1: so when I get up to preach, leave the seat empty,
[34:21] Speaker 1: because it represents something to everyone in this church today.
[34:33] Speaker 1: And this is the thing that Saul was grieving, the
[34:36] Speaker 1: empty seat. It wasn't even that Saul was a good king,
[34:42] Speaker 1: but he filled a seat. And even when God removes
[34:48] Speaker 1: something in your life that you don't like, it leaves
[34:53] Speaker 1: a hole. Let alone something that you love, Let alone
[35:00] Speaker 1: someone that you love. Do you know how many people
[35:02] Speaker 1: listening to me for today are grieving the empty seat.
[35:08] Speaker 1: It is not the empty throne of a king. Maybe
[35:11] Speaker 1: it's a person that you loved very dearly who was
[35:15] Speaker 1: taken away too soon. Maybe they weren't even taken away.
[35:20] Speaker 1: Maybe it represents a person who chose to walk away
[35:25] Speaker 1: and now you don't even know if they were supposed
[35:27] Speaker 1: to be in your life or not. But all I
[35:29] Speaker 1: know is I got this seat and I wanted to
[35:33] Speaker 1: leave it empty on purpose because I wanted to talk
[35:35] Speaker 1: about grieving the empty seat. It may not represent a
[35:41] Speaker 1: person at all. It may represent provision in your life.
[35:45] Speaker 1: It may be the fact that there's something that you
[35:47] Speaker 1: need God to do for you, and you are not
[35:50] Speaker 1: saying Hallelujah. You are saying how how? And I'm in church,
[35:56] Speaker 1: but I am still very frustrated waiting for God to
[36:00] Speaker 1: show me about this empty seat. I need help, and
[36:05] Speaker 1: I don't know who to call. Do you know how
[36:07] Speaker 1: many people are saying, I'm gonna get in therapy when
[36:10] Speaker 1: I figure out who to call. Y'all? I felt the
[36:12] Speaker 1: same way, and one day I just had to ask
[36:14] Speaker 1: a friend, who did you see? And go see them?
[36:19] Speaker 1: And I said, if I don't like them, I can
[36:21] Speaker 1: fire them. You can't fire your kids, you can fire
[36:25] Speaker 1: a therapist. Let me just do one session but I
[36:29] Speaker 1: could have sat all the next decade of my life
[36:34] Speaker 1: knowing that I needed help and telling myself a story.
[36:38] Speaker 1: How long do you want to sit there? You know,
[36:43] Speaker 1: my dad is probably the greatest source of my sermon
[36:46] Speaker 1: illustrations these days, because now he's in heaven and I
[36:49] Speaker 1: can say whatever I want about him, and it's awesome.
[36:53] Speaker 1: It's awesome because I can tell all the stories from
[36:56] Speaker 1: my side of the story. I waited a long time
[36:59] Speaker 1: to do that, and I miss him dearly, but I
[37:01] Speaker 1: honor him in every message as I tell these stories
[37:04] Speaker 1: about him. And there's one I've told over and over again,
[37:06] Speaker 1: and I said, I can't share that story in church. Yea,
[37:08] Speaker 1: I've told it so many times, but I think it
[37:10] Speaker 1: really reflects what I'm trying to say about the full
[37:14] Speaker 1: horn and the empty sea, about the times when you
[37:17] Speaker 1: don't feel it, but you choose to feel it anyway.
[37:22] Speaker 1: Because there was a time in my dad's life that
[37:25] Speaker 1: we weren't speaking. There was a time in his life
[37:27] Speaker 1: where I thought he would die and we would not
[37:29] Speaker 1: be reconciled. There was a time in his life when
[37:32] Speaker 1: he was so violent and disruptive that I didn't know
[37:37] Speaker 1: how to make the relationship. Right. See, I knew what
[37:41] Speaker 1: I wanted God to do, reconcile the relationship. I didn't
[37:43] Speaker 1: know how. Ain't that a place to be? Samuel has
[37:51] Speaker 1: been doing this for decades and he still doesn't know how.
[37:56] Speaker 1: And so God says phil it phil it, fill it.
[38:01] Speaker 1: And after not speaking to my dad, remember he's dying
[38:04] Speaker 1: with als, I know he has a short window of time.
[38:07] Speaker 1: He won't reconcile with my mom. He won't reconcile with me.
[38:10] Speaker 1: I keep paying for people to come take care of him.
[38:12] Speaker 1: He fires people that I'm paying. How am I supposed
[38:17] Speaker 1: to help you when you fire the help by sin?
[38:21] Speaker 1: But see, he had a lot going on in his
[38:22] Speaker 1: body too. He had a lot of pain in his
[38:24] Speaker 1: body too. He was doing the best he could, and
[38:25] Speaker 1: I'm doing the best I can. How are we gonna
[38:27] Speaker 1: do this? And one Father's Day round about twenty eleven
[38:31] Speaker 1: or twelve, I was driving home with my family from vacation,
[38:36] Speaker 1: and I thought of an idea. I would be passing
[38:39] Speaker 1: nearby Monk's Corner, where my dad was living by himself,
[38:42] Speaker 1: by his own choice. At that point, we couldn't speak
[38:44] Speaker 1: on the phone because every time we try to speak
[38:46] Speaker 1: on the phone. It would erupt. Every time we try
[38:48] Speaker 1: to speak on the phone, somebody hang up on somebody.
[38:51] Speaker 1: And driving down the road that day, it was as
[38:53] Speaker 1: if the Lord said to me, how long are you
[38:58] Speaker 1: going to keep playing chicken with this? You know how long?
[39:02] Speaker 1: He asked, left? How long? How long? I said, Lord?
[39:08] Speaker 1: How to? Well? I got an idea. I don't know
[39:11] Speaker 1: if this was the Lord. Usually you don't when you're
[39:16] Speaker 1: doing it. You'd be asking all kinds of crazy questions,
[39:22] Speaker 1: like what if I got it wrong? But this seemed
[39:27] Speaker 1: harmless enough, so I asked Hollywood she drives. She said sure,
[39:32] Speaker 1: I said, I need to do something. I was too
[39:33] Speaker 1: embarrassed to tell her what I was doing, but I
[39:35] Speaker 1: pulled out whatever I could find her right with and
[39:37] Speaker 1: write on, and I began to make a list. I
[39:39] Speaker 1: decided I'd make a list at the time I was
[39:40] Speaker 1: thirty one or thirty two years old, of a memory
[39:43] Speaker 1: from every year that I had been alive, that he
[39:46] Speaker 1: had been my dad, and I would drive by his
[39:48] Speaker 1: house and drop it off, even though we couldn't talk.
[39:50] Speaker 1: Maybe I could hand him a list. And I want
[39:54] Speaker 1: to tell you that picking up my pen to start
[39:57] Speaker 1: that list, as mad as I was at him as
[40:00] Speaker 1: confused as I was. The pen weigh three thousand pounds.
[40:15] Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm carving into my flesh to try to
[40:20] Speaker 1: think of anything good, because when you're really mad at somebody,
[40:23] Speaker 1: I mean, when you're really good and mad at somebody
[40:26] Speaker 1: and the Lord is saying forgiven, you're going hell. When
[40:32] Speaker 1: I wrote one word to start the list, and it
[40:38] Speaker 1: took me twenty minutes, and I thought this is going
[40:41] Speaker 1: to take a long time, Lord, But the first word,
[40:44] Speaker 1: when I started to fill it, even though I didn't
[40:52] Speaker 1: feel it, I wrote down one word. I wrote, bunt.
[40:57] Speaker 1: Be you into as in baseball bunting, because when I
[41:04] Speaker 1: was ten, he coached my team, the Pirates, and we sucked,
[41:08] Speaker 1: and we were so bad he didn't allow us to
[41:11] Speaker 1: swing the bat the entire season. He made us bunt
[41:15] Speaker 1: every single at bat. I don't know if that's good
[41:19] Speaker 1: parenting or child abuse. I don't know whether to praise
[41:22] Speaker 1: the Lord or call child Protective Services. But he made
[41:25] Speaker 1: us bunt. So I wrote bunt. And then bunt made
[41:30] Speaker 1: me remember punk, as in punk rock, as in when
[41:35] Speaker 1: he took me to a punk rock show in Lads
[41:38] Speaker 1: in South Carolina and there were only three people there
[41:42] Speaker 1: meet him and one other person who I think was
[41:44] Speaker 1: with the band. And it was so bad in the room,
[41:48] Speaker 1: and I wrote punk rock show in lads, and and
[41:55] Speaker 1: then I wrote let the wild hog eat inside joke
[42:00] Speaker 1: I'll tell you about later. That's when we went to
[42:02] Speaker 1: that independent fundamentalist church and that preacher was up there preaching.
[42:04] Speaker 1: That little one on the front row stood up and yelled,
[42:06] Speaker 1: let the wild hog eat. And I looked at my
[42:08] Speaker 1: dad liked that. He just talked about a hog. Who's
[42:10] Speaker 1: the hog or you the hog? Where's the And when
[42:16] Speaker 1: we got to the door, I had my list. I
[42:18] Speaker 1: filled it, but I still didn't feel it. And I
[42:24] Speaker 1: knocked on the door and he answered the door and
[42:26] Speaker 1: I said, here, that's all I had. That's all I
[42:31] Speaker 1: had because I'm forgiving him, but I'm frustrated. But God
[42:37] Speaker 1: doesn't judge you based on what you feel. You can
[42:40] Speaker 1: feel it even when you don't feel it. I said, here,
[42:45] Speaker 1: here's a list, and it's got bunting and baseball and
[42:49] Speaker 1: guitars and punk rock and hogs and everything. And he said, well,
[42:53] Speaker 1: you come in for a minute. I said maybe five minutes.
[42:55] Speaker 1: And I made at ten and I had to leave.
[42:57] Speaker 1: But it started something. It's guard is something that never
[43:01] Speaker 1: would have started if I had waited until I felt
[43:05] Speaker 1: it to feel it. And you keep waiting for a feeling,
[43:12] Speaker 1: but God is waiting for a feeling. See, God's just
[43:16] Speaker 1: asking you. Do what I told you to do. Do
[43:19] Speaker 1: the next thing that you can discern, move through the
[43:22] Speaker 1: fall the best that you can. That's all you can do.
[43:25] Speaker 1: And every time you feel it, when you don't feel it,
[43:33] Speaker 1: faith is born. And I want to tell you something
[43:37] Speaker 1: about the empty seat in your life. Whether it's relational,
[43:41] Speaker 1: whether it's a resource, whether it's provisional, whether it's a person,
[43:45] Speaker 1: whether it's a purpose. Some of you are saying, in
[43:47] Speaker 1: this season of my life, I don't know what I'm
[43:50] Speaker 1: supposed to be doing. I'm not doing what I used
[43:52] Speaker 1: to do. Yes, this message is for empty nesters. It's
[43:55] Speaker 1: for the grace. Yes, this message is for the middle
[43:57] Speaker 1: school students, is for the greens. It's it's a message
[44:00] Speaker 1: about God, who is greater than any empty seat. Because
[44:04] Speaker 1: I came to declare in the name of the Lord,
[44:06] Speaker 1: God will fill this seat. God will fill this God
[44:11] Speaker 1: knows what he's doing. God knows what he's planned. God
[44:15] Speaker 1: knows what he's purpose. God knows who to bring into
[44:18] Speaker 1: your life. God knows who to delay, God knows who
[44:22] Speaker 1: to deliver. God knows who to delay. God knows how
[44:26] Speaker 1: to do it. And so when you fill your horn,
[44:35] Speaker 1: God fels this, this is not your job, this is
[44:47] Speaker 1: this is this is. And I was by that man's
[44:55] Speaker 1: bedside when he died, reading him a Patroles Spurgeon sermon
[44:59] Speaker 1: called the Peaceful Sleep the Beloved, and my mom was
[45:02] Speaker 1: caring for him.
[45:04] Speaker 4: Even though I didn't feel it. God filled it, and
[45:09] Speaker 4: I didn't know how he would, but he did it.
[45:12] Speaker 4: The most amazing thing to me about God is that
[45:17] Speaker 4: he had chosen someone to fill sal seed.
[45:22] Speaker 1: Who wasn't even in the house. After all, seven sons
[45:29] Speaker 1: that Jesse thought would be a good king passed by Samuel.
[45:33] Speaker 1: Samuel said, is that all you've got? Well, he said,
[45:40] Speaker 1: there's still one. But he's not in the house. He's
[45:47] Speaker 1: in the field. Put my title back up again. I
[45:52] Speaker 1: want to talk to somebody today who's in the zoom
[45:58] Speaker 1: out please field by faith. And you think God has
[46:14] Speaker 1: forgotten me, That's why I'm not in the house. And
[46:17] Speaker 1: God has forgotten me. That's why they didn't call, and
[46:19] Speaker 1: God has forgotten me. That's why they forsook me. Not
[46:23] Speaker 1: God will find you in the field. I said, God
[46:28] Speaker 1: will find you in it because he's a seat filler, see,
[46:33] Speaker 1: because he's sovereigncy because he knows what he's doing in
[46:38] Speaker 1: your life. You keep feeling this, You keep feeling this,
[46:42] Speaker 1: whether you feel it or not. You keep bringing your
[46:45] Speaker 1: butt back to this church and put that butt in
[46:49] Speaker 1: this seat, and God will fill this seat. You keep
[46:53] Speaker 1: showing up in his presence. I speak to the spirit
[46:58] Speaker 1: of insecurity in your life, the one that makes you
[47:02] Speaker 1: think that there's something wrong with you. Look what Samuel
[47:05] Speaker 1: will say about David. Look what Samuel said about the
[47:08] Speaker 1: one that his dad didn't even think was worth bringing in.
[47:10] Speaker 1: It's in verse eleven. He said, send for him. No,
[47:15] Speaker 1: we will not sit down until he arrives. God said,
[47:21] Speaker 1: I'm saving your seat. I'm saving your seat. I'm saving
[47:26] Speaker 1: your seat. I know what I'm doing, and I'm saving
[47:29] Speaker 1: your seat. And all you gotta do is keep slinging
[47:34] Speaker 1: your sling. And all you gotta do is keep trusting
[47:38] Speaker 1: your God. And all you gotta do is still your
[47:43] Speaker 1: horn with ale and move move. So tho He's costs
[47:50] Speaker 1: you move. No, he's slay you move the pair all
[47:55] Speaker 1: around you move and worst of him. Come on, stand
[48:02] Speaker 1: up on your feet and worship him. Fill your horn
[48:05] Speaker 1: with oil. He hears the prayers you've answered. He knows
[48:08] Speaker 1: the needs you cannot name. He does not lack, He
[48:14] Speaker 1: does not slumber, and neither does he sleep, And he
[48:23] Speaker 1: sits down and in habits the praises of his people.
[48:32] Speaker 1: With your hands lifted, ask your father, feel.
[48:37] Speaker 3: Me, feel me, feel me to obey you when I
[48:43] Speaker 3: feel it, Feel me to obey you when my emotions
[48:47] Speaker 3: say don't, feel me to obey you. When I get
[48:51] Speaker 3: a goose bump, feel me to obey it when I'm grumpy.
[48:57] Speaker 1: Fill me. Say it again. Jesus didn't say, feel me
[49:03] Speaker 1: and I'll make you fishers them, and he said follow
[49:05] Speaker 1: me and I'll make you fishers them in. That's all
[49:08] Speaker 1: you've got to do, baby, That's all you got to do. Dude.
[49:11] Speaker 1: Quit stressing about stuff that God has already selected, and
[49:16] Speaker 1: quit grieving about things that God has rejected. This is
[49:21] Speaker 1: the word of the Lord for you today. Andy.
[49:25] Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
[49:28] Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe. So we can
[49:31] Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
[49:33] Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
[49:36] Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
[49:38] Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
[49:42] Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
[49:45] Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if
[49:48] Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part
[49:50] Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
[49:54] Speaker 2: for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message,
[49:57] Speaker 2: and subscribe.
[49:58] Speaker 1: God bless you.

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