Elevation with Steven Furtick - Life Between Two Gardens (Lysa TerKeurst)

Episode Date: March 25, 2019

What if something good can come from your disappointment? To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://ele.vc/TI55jRSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. It's been a great morning already, and we are so excited about what we have in store. I was talking to Pastor Stephen yesterday on the phone, and he was telling me, he's really excited about about two things right now. Number one is he can't wait to be on this stage preaching next weekend at his favorite place in the planet. So when he's excited, spoiler, you should be excited because next weekend is going to be incredible. Are you excited to have our pastor

with this next weekend? And then he was also telling me he was very excited that we have Lisa Turquhart in the house this weekend to preach to us. Lisa and Art have been elevating. is part of our church for close to a decade now, very faithful and committed, just participants in our church. We love them. Their family, their dear friends of Pastor Stephen and Holly. And if you didn't know this, Lisa is a New York Times bestselling author, many, many, many times over. In fact, her new book is it's not supposed to be this way. It's out now. She's the president. She's the founder of Proverbs 31 ministry. She preaches and teaches all over the world, inspiring the church. globally, and we are very, very blessed and honored that she is preaching at her church home this

weekend. So at every location, can you please put your hands together and celebrate as we welcome Lisa Turquhart to the stage. Boy and honor, it is to be able to be in my home church, and this is very exciting. There's two things about elevation that I have seen across the world as I'm out preaching and teaching and different environments and different facilities. And it's this. Number one, elevation worship is in every church conference I go to. And what a gift it is that we get to hear it in our home church. Can we thank God for elevation worship? And the second thing is when people find out that I get to sit under the teaching of Pastor Stephen Ferdick every single week, they kind of wish they could move to Charlotte

and do the very same thing. Can we thank God for our pastor? Amazing. Pastor Stephen and Holly are good friends. And so that gives me a unique opportunity to be able to see something that I'm so blessed by. And that is that you guys are incredible people, whether you're on the stage or behind the scenes, you're good people. And I thank God for that. Can we thank God for the gifts that we have in Pastor and Holly? Well, stay standing for the reading of God's word. We're going to be. going to read first off from Revelation. In case you haven't been to the Revelation in a while, I'm going to unpack a little bit for you, but let's read God's word and be encouraged by it this

morning. Revelation chapter 21, starting in verse 3, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will be with wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things has passed away. Come on somebody. We have a lot to look forward to, right? You can be seated. And for those of you who are note takers, and I hope that means most of you, you'll want the title of the sermon right away. And that is Life Between Two Gardens. and that may sound like a strange title, but by the end of my message, I promise you will understand life between two gardens.

You know, as I read these verses in Revelation, that gives me great hope for one day. But I want to make sure that I have great hope and great fate to live out what I need to live out today. Because sometimes life can be hard. A couple weeks ago, pastor preached an incredible message from a message entitled, Invisibilized, prisons, and he said something that really grabbed my heart. He said, what God uses to develop your faith is disappointment. And what the devil uses to destroy your faith is disappointment. I want to dive into disappointment today because I think it's something that we can all relate to. I want to identify where does disappointment come from and what do we do about it. And I'm also going to share from my

heart some very personal, deep, devastating disappointments that my family and I have walked through the past three years. And I think, and I pray, you'll be able to relate to today's message. Here's the deal. We've all either just been through some stuff, or we're in the middle of some stuff, or we're headed toward being in some stuff. And you may say, well, Lisa, that's not very positive. No, I'm positive. We either been through some stuff, we end some stuff, or we about to go through some stuff, right? And so I like to open up God's word and discover what do we do about the disappointments that we all face every single day? But first, let's discover where disappointment comes from. And to do that,

we're going to turn over to Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, starting in chapter two, verse five. Now, no shrub had yet appeared on the earth, and no plant had yet sprung up. For the Lord God had not sent the rain on the earth, and there was no one to work the ground. But streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life. And the man became a living being. Now the Lord God, verse 8, planted a garden in the east in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground.

trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Skip down to verse 15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it, and the Lord God commanded the man. You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.

But you must not eat from the tree. of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die. And I'm convinced at this point that the man did not write the one rule down. Because the very next verse, the Lord says, oh, it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. And women have been making lists for their men ever since. Come on somebody. Say amen. You know it's true. You have a woman in the house today, so, you know, just a special gift for you there. And after that, a helper suitable for Adam is looked for. So Adam names all the animals, but no helper was found amongst the animals. And so then God causes a man to fall into a

deep sleep, and he takes part of a rib. And from that, he fashions a woman. And then God brings the woman to Adam. And listen to what he says. It's so poetic. It's almost like rivaling any rap song that you could hear today. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called, whoa, man, for she was taken out of a man. My friend Levi Lesko says that the original meeting of that part of scripture right there is she had apple bottom jeans and boots with the fur. I can't find that in all my research, but that's what Levi says. Verse 24, this is why a man leaves his father and his mother and is united to his wife and they become one flesh. And then one of my favorite verses in all of the Bible,

Genesis 2.25, Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. They felt no shame, though they were standing there completely vulnerable before one another and before God himself. But they could stand there, feeling no shame and being that vulnerable because they had no other opinion to contend with

but the absolute love of God himself. Can you imagine? Perfection was everywhere. There was perfection in their relationship. There was perfect communion with God. The atmosphere, the environment, all of their surroundings were perfect. Everything was amazing. But then we find Genesis 3, verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say? And don't you kind of wish that the woman at this point would have said, if you're so interested in what God had to say, go ask him yourself, right? That has saved all of us a whole lot of trouble, wouldn't it? But that's not what happens. Did God really say? And isn't it also interesting that the devil always wants to make us question God's word? I mean, God is the creator, but the enemy is the perverter.

not only does he want to make us doubt God's Word, he wants to make us believe that God's word is too difficult to understand and too hard to live out. The thing about it, though, is that the God of the universe hand-fashioned our brain, I'm convinced, with his word in mind. We were made to be able to not only get into God's Word, but for God's Word to get into us. Come on, somebody, that's amazing, right? But the enemy wants to pervert that. And then look at what he does when he quotes back what God said. His first three words, the enemy's first three words, that he said, God said, was, you must not. Now, what were God's actual first three words? God's actual first three words, or you are free. We serve a God of freedom. But the enemy wants us to believe that we serve a

God of restriction. The enemy wants us to believe that we serve a you must not God, but that's not true. We serve a God of freedom. He has woven the theme of freedom. He wants his people free all the way through the Bible. Now, he does give us some restriction, but it's for our protection. We serve a God of freedom. But look how the enemy twists that when he quotes God. He says, God said, you must not eat from any tree in the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat from the fruit, from the trees in the garden. But God did say you must not eat from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it or you will die. Now that is not at all what God said. She added that last little part. I think it's very dangerous when we add our opinion on top of God's word.

I really, really do. You know, so many times, it's like people will ask me, Lisa, what is your opinion about this issue and that issue? And I say, why does my opinion matter when God's word is so very clear? We got to get into God's word and let God's word get into us. God will give us the answers that we need. We don't need to be adding our opinion to God's word. Verse four, you will certainly not die the serpent said to the woman. For God knows when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, wait just one minute.

So I used to think, as I was reading the story, that's kind of challenging that God would put this tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and hang on at fruit that was so pleasing to the eye and good for food. I mean, was this kind of like a super fruit, like brownie a la mode fruit, how could she resist? Right? And to put that there with that amazing fruit and then say, don't eat from it, that just seemed kind of complicated to me until I kept it in the context that it's really in. And if you remember when I read Genesis 2, there's a detail about all the trees in the garden. All the trees in the garden had fruit that was good for food and pleasing to the eye. They all had the brink. They all had the Brownie all of mode fruit hanging on it, right? She was surrounded by God's provision, but she stared at the one thing God said not to have, and we will steer where we stare, right? Same thing. We want what we want.

And when we get fixated on something, even if God says no, we try to say yes. Because here's the thing. I think sometimes we do think God's withholding something from us. God's not withholding something from us. God is protecting us from all that's contained in that fruit that we have no idea. That fruit was the knowledge of good and evil. The human heart was never supposed to know the knowledge of evil. It is too heavy of a weight. God wasn't withholding from us. He was protecting us. Do you know what the knowledge of evil is? It's all those things we experience and we say, it's not supposed to be this way. A cancer diagnosis, infertility struggle, betrayal, heartbreak, devastations that we see on the nightly news. You're right. It's not supposed to be this way. God never intended for us to know the knowledge of evil. But Eve looked at the one thing she wasn't supposed to take, and she took some, and she ate it. and she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then suddenly the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked. I wonder what that moment was like. Did they look down

and go, oh, no, bra, you got to cover that up. Like, here are you a fig and a leaf? We got to do something about all that, right? I don't know. I wasn't there. But here's what I do know. They weren't just physically naked. They were also emotionally naked. They'd never felt the weight of guilt before, but they do now. And they were spiritually naked. They'd never felt the weight of shame before, but they do now. And think of all the things now that God would have surely been justified in saying to Adam and Eve. They didn't just unleash sin that day. We're still living out that reality today. Think of the weight of that. And so while Adam and Eve are hiding, here comes God walking in the cool of the day,

and I just imagine all he would have been justified in saying, but he doesn't. He simply asked them two questions. I'm stunned by this. And I think that maybe God would like to ask us those same two questions today. The first question, he says, where are you? Now, their physical location was not a mystery to God. He's God. He knew exactly where they were located. But Adam and Eve are hiding and they are afraid. The sound that used to be such a delight to them, when everything was perfect, the sound of God walking in the garden, it used to be like, Daddy's home. And I imagine them running through the garden and being so excited. But if you were a child and you ever had your mama say this to you, you just wait until your old Daddy gets home. home, right? You know the sound of daddy getting home on those days is not so nice, right? And I imagine now the very sound that used to bring them such joy is making them so afraid. And so I think God is saying,

where are you? Because they've lost their spiritual orientation. They've forgotten where to go to when they're afraid. I think God asked me that question some mornings when I wake up and I'm in a funk. Have you ever been in a funk? Like, you just wake up, and it's like, no particular reason, but you just feel like the weight of the world's on you, and you're just kind of grumpy, you know? And you know you should listen to a praise song, you know, you should read the Bible.

But instead, you're like, no, let me just hop on Facebook for a minute. Let me just hop on Instagram. And I'll hop on Instagram and I'll start scrolling, and all of a sudden it doesn't make my funk better. It multiplies my funk, because suddenly everybody else's thighs look thinner than mine. Their marriage looks more romantic than mine. their kids are getting more words than mine, their house is better decorated than mine, and my two best friends got together and went out to dinner last night. What? They didn't even invite me,

right? And my funk is multiplied. I think God would like to say, Lisa, where are you? Where are you, girl? You need to get off of Facebook and get your face in my book because that is where hope can be found. I know what you need, right? The second question that God asked them. Who told you? You were naked. Remember that Adam and Eve and God are not the only ones in the garden at this point. The enemy is also there. And I know from reading Revelation chapter 12 versus 10 and 11, the enemy is called the accuser of the brethren. He accuses us day and night. And so I know the enemy is there. And I believe the enemy would love for Adam and Eve to believe and for you and to believe that we haven't just done something wrong, that we are something wrong. And he accuses us

so he can try to lock us in chains of shame, right? Just like pastor was saying, the enemy would love for us to be imprisoned, you know, just by all the stuff. And I think God asking, who told you you were naked, is really saying, who told you, you were anything less than the amazing child of the Almighty God. Who told you you were naked? You see, I think some of us have words that have been sitting on us for a long time in pain that we carry around with us that was from a long time ago. At some point in your life, somebody spoke a line to you, and it became a lie that you believed about yourself. And then that lie that you believed about yourself suddenly became a label that you put on yourself and your identity. And now that label, you put on yourself and your identity.

and now that label has become a liability in all your relationships of today. And somebody will say something to you today, and it'll offend you, but you have a way out of proportion reaction to the offense at hand. Why? Because you are still carrying the pain of that line that became a lie, that became a label, and now is a liability, and you are holding this person accountable for things they hadn't even done. Who told you? Who told you that you were naked? We cannot let their words become the words of our story. We got to let God's words become the words of the story of our lives.

Amen. Amen. Well, after this, then God does have consequences for them because sin always comes as a package deal with consequences. There's no sin that you commit where there's not a package deal of. consequences that come with it, and there were consequences. But sin also demands a sacrifice. Let's look at Genesis 3, starting in verse 21. Then the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and he clothed them. And with apologies to the animal activist, blood of an animal was shed here. Animals were harmed in the making of this story. But this is a pointing, really, to Jesus.

because this day was the blood of the animal that would be the sacrifice to cover their sin. And one day, it would be the blood of God's own son, Jesus Christ, that would be shed, that would drip from a cross to be the ultimate covering for the sin of the world. And the Lord God said, verse 22, the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. so the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. And I'll be honest, if we were sitting at my kitchen table right now, I would admit to you that that's hard for me to hear that God banished them from the garden. Have you ever read that and kind of thought, oh, that sits heavy on you, right?

and so I decided to do a little study, taking the word banished and going back to the Hebrew to see what was the original intention of that word. And I found something so surprising. The root of that word actually means sent out, not banished. In other words, God sent them out, which tells me he was doing it for a purpose, a reason. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew derivative of sent out is closely related to the New Testament Greek derivative from John 316, when God so loved the world that he gave or he sends in his son Jesus. Again, it's appointing to what Jesus will one day be able to do for us that we cannot do for ourselves. But why did God send them out of the garden? Why did they have to leave? Look at the text. It's very clear. Remember, there's another tree in the garden, the tree of life.

They were allowed to eat from that when they were in perfection. To eat from the tree of life meant that their lives would be perpetuated for eternity, and that was good when they were perfect. But now that sin has entered in, their body is in a state of decay and they are separated from God. If God would have left them and they would have eaten from the tree of life, then they would have been stuck in that state forever, and God loved them too much to do that. So he sends them out and gives them a gift that will feel nothing like a gift at all. He will allow their physical bodies to die so that they could trade that then for a spiritual body, that through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, that could enter back into that perfect relationship with God. This was not an act of cruelty.

It was an act of great mercy. Amen. Now, let me just point out one more thing, though. From all that we've read, I now know the human heart was created in the context of the perfection of the Garden of Eden. So when Adam and Eve were sent out, God did not strip from them that awareness of perfection. The awareness of perfection is etched into the very DNA of our soul. We know perfection exists, but we can't find it. No wonder we are disappointed. This is where disappointment comes from. Have you ever been taking a picture with a group of friends and you all smile, take the picture, and then before they post it, you say, let me see it. And then you hold it and you do like this. Who are you looking at? Y'all self, right? Mm-hmm. And if you happen to be in the

middle and you had your butt out and your hips tucked behind the person beside you and you look real good, you'll be like, oh yeah, we got to post this one right away. It's good of everybody. Uh-huh. But if you were the sad fool that got stuck on the end this way and you wide-looking. You know what I'm saying? And your arms are just not good. And chin, something, something happening. You will hit the trash can on their phone. You will say it was blurry.

Everybody's eyes were shut. Now let me get up here in the middle. Let's take that picture now, right? We know perfection exists. We keep looking for it. But even then, even if the picture's real, real good of us. We still crop it and we edit it, right? We filter it. And that's not even good enough. Now we've got to post it and make sure other people think it's perfect. Refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh, how many likes do I get, right? We know perfection exists and that's where disappointment comes from. So here's my question. Why didn't God strip the awareness of perfection out from our hearts? Because it's his way of drawing our heart to him, the one. who is perfect, the only one who is perfect, the answer to every desire for perfection that we keep

chasing. And if lesser loves ever satisfied us, we would think we had no need for God. So, my friends, that's where disappointment comes from. We hold everything up to this standard, this expectation of perfection. And then our experience hits right here. And the fertile ground between those two is disappointment. Now, if our disappointment, if the worst disappointment that we face today is that we go through the drive-thru coffee line and they fray our latte and wheylay our whole day, we're like, oh, I'm just going to put a little Jesus on it and it's going to be okay and we'll handle my disappointment, right? And that's good. That's good. But a lot of us are going through disappointments that are pretty serious. Heartbreaking, actually. And it's not

just disappointment, really. It's like a devastation, a disillusionment. What do we do about that? Well, we heard in Revelation that there will be a new day. So let's turn back to Revelation, because I want to show you something else that I think is pretty profound. Let's go back to Revelation chapter 21, starting in verse 3 and read that part again, and then we'll keep going. a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. He who is seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. Then he said,

write this down. I think because he's given the revelation to a man. He didn't want him to miss it this time. write this down for these words are trustworthy and true he said to me it is done i'm the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end and then look over at revelation 22 verse three no longer will there be any curse you see let me give you a little spiritual orientation here we start out in the perfection of eden but we don't live there anymore so we live with the anxiety and of the first Eden. In Revelation chapter 22 that we just read from, my Bible says that's when Eden is restored. So we not only live from anxiety of the first garden of Eden, but we live in anticipation that the perfection of Eden will return. But right now, we're simply doing life

between two gardens. And I wonder if that could help make sense of some of the disappointments. And maybe we could stop expecting a perfection out of ourselves and others and our relationships that not even God expects. Like, I wonder if we could just give people a little more grace, right? Stop expecting our jobs to be so perfect. Stop expecting church to be so perfect. Stop, expecting your neighbor to be so perfect, your spouse to be so perfect, your kids to be so perfect. I wonder if we could just step back a little bit and just acknowledge. yep, I'm doing life between two gardens, right? It's not always going to be that way, but it is that way today. Now, what do we do about it? To do that, I want to turn to Mark

14. There's a middle garden in this life between two gardens. In Mark chapter 14, Jesus has just had the last supper with his disciples. They've walked across the Kidron Valley, and now they've gone to this place they would meet at often outside the city called the Garden of Gassimony. In this Garden of Gassimini, Gysmany means the place of the pressing of the olive. Verse 32, this is what Jesus says, knowing full well that soldiers are on the way to arrest him, and take him on the road to the cross. They, Jesus and his disciples, verse 32, Mark chapter 14, they went to a place called Gitsemite,

and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. My soul, Jesus said, is overwhelmed with sorrow. to the point of death. He said to them, stay here and keep watch. I don't know about you, but as I read these words of Jesus, I find myself saying, there are no words of Jesus I can relate to more than this.

Because I know what it's like to walk through something and feel so overwhelmed with sorrow that I say, I think this just might kill me. Have you ever been there? That's where my family and I've been the past three years. I know what it feels like to come into church and sit way back there because I feel like I'm walking in and I can barely breathe. That's another reason I'm so grateful to be sitting under the teaching of Pastor Stephen. because when you're that overwhelmed, you can't remember whole messages.

But sometimes it's sentences within messages that change people's lives. Because we can hold on to those sentences. And we can preach back those sentences. And we have a pastor who cares so much about our hearts that he writes messages with sentences that we can remember and preach back to ourselves that are inspired by the Holy Spirit, where he spends time in the text and he unearths these. truths that sometimes we can't find for ourselves and for those of us who are hanging on by a thread,

dear God, that's what we need. That's what I've needed. Some of you walked in church today and you're right there. Just hanging on by a thread. Can I tell to you, I'm so proud of you for getting to church today. This is exactly where you need to be. It's exactly where you need to be. And those of you join in online is the best way for you to spend your time. It's the best place that you could log on online. Of all the choices you have, you chose elevationchurch.org, and that was a great, great choice. You know why? Because sometimes when we can't find footing in our faith, we got to go stand on somebody else's faith.

We got to go stand on Pastor Stevens' faith. We got to go stand beside somebody who's in a different season, and they are proclaiming the faithfulness of God in a way that it shifts the atmosphere of our depression. It lifts our anxiety. We've got to get ourselves to church. We've got to get in a place where we can be reminded that our God is good. Our God is very good. You see, what my family and I have been walking through in the past several years is that in February of 2016, I found out my husband, my life partner for over two decades, was being unfaithful. It about broke me in two.

It just broke me, it shattered me. It was the hardest thing that we've ever walked through as a family. That's why I think Jesus says to disciples, stay here and keep watch. I used to think it was just because the soldiers were coming and he didn't want to get caught off guard by the soldiers, but Jesus is God. I mean, he's full divinity and absolute humanity.

He knew where their soldiers were. Now, maybe he didn't want the disciples to get caught off guard, but I think there's another meaning. I think Jesus is saying, stay here and watch how I do this life between two gardens. Stay here and watch me because you're going to need, this. You're going to need this. You're going to need this when you go through times of deep sorrow and deep heartbreak. Stay here and watch me. Keep your eyes on me. I want you to write down

some verses that this week I want you to take some time and go read for yourself. It's in Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 through 18. In Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 says this, since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death. That is the devil. Next verse, verse 15. And free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Next verse. For surely it's not the angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. Next verse, verse 17. For this reason, he had to be made like them. fully human in every way. Make no mistake. Jesus was absolute divinity and full humanity at the same time without sin, but fully human. He knows what it feels like to be human. Now, he hasn't

experienced maybe the exact same circumstances as you, but the emotional turmoil that we experience, he knows what it feels like to be betrayed. He knows what it feels like to be heartbroken. He knows what it feels like to be so very human and the weight of all of that. And the reason God sent him was not just to make an atonement for our sins, but what a great gift that was, but also so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest to us. We can trust his teaching because we can know he felt what we feel. we can't listen to Jesus's words and say well he doesn't understand because he's God after all no fully human in every way we can trust his teaching even when we're experiencing the deepest heartbreak

especially when we're experiencing the deepest heartbreak going through the hardest stuff because Jesus knew what it felt like look at the very next words that he says verse 36 going just a little farther so they could still see him, he fell to the ground and prayed, if possible, the hour might pass from him. Aba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Dear God, I know. I know what this feels like. To know that our God, is possible and capable of doing everything. God, everything is possible for you. Change this circumstance in my life. After I see, you changing it for other people. So dear God, change it for me. And isn't it at this exact moment where our fate comes in

conflict with our feelings? And it's so hard, isn't it? But never forget, these aren't the last words that Jesus uttered. After he says, take this cup for me, change this God, make a different plan. I don't want this to be my life. I've uttered those words. But now look at these nine earth shaking, hell, shattering, demon quaking words, he says. Yet not what I will, but what you will. In other words, he had a marked moment before going to the cross where he exchanged.

His will, take this cup from me for God's will, because he knew God's will was better. You see, here's where I get in trouble sometimes with my faith. I know, even if God doesn't change my circumstances, I know, my hope is that God will do or bring good from even this. I know that. The scripture teaches us that. But here's where I get in trouble. I then like to run ahead of of God and write the script of good that he should surely do, right? And people will sometimes say, Lisa, have you prayed about this? Oh, you know I prayed about it. When in reality, I have stressed about it, I have fretted about it, I have called my friends about it, I have cried in my bed about it. And then if I actually did pray about it, I was so busy making suggestions to God of all the

ways he could fix it that I didn't really stop to listen to God revealing to me what he was actually doing. and I think it's so helpful for us to stop holding God accountable to a good that he never wrote. He will do good, but it will be his version of good, and his version of good is always better. Amen. Here's how I have marked moments where I trade my will for his will. I stand in the middle of my circumstance, and I say, God, you are good. God, you are good to me. This doesn't feel good.

And it doesn't seem good, and I might not be able to even see any good that's going to come from this, but God, I know you are good, and you are good to me. Other people might not be good to me, but you are good to me. And God, you are good at being God. So I'm going to lay down all my suggestions, and I'm just going to sit here and realize my job is to be obedient to God. God's job is taking care of everything else. everything else. Marked moments of trading my will for thy will.

Can I tell you, I had to do that the past three years, not just one time. Not just sometimes. I had to do it every day, sometimes hour by hour. And God has absolutely worked a miracle in my family, but it wasn't that he ever listened to any suggestion I made.

We serve a good God with good plans, and his plans are always better. And the miracle that God worked in my family was so much bigger and so much better. He wasn't just after changing behavior in my husband. He was after giving him a brand new heart. And can I just acknowledge today? My husband is sitting on the front row and I thank God. I thank God. Thank God. Thank God for you. It is a miracle. It is a miracle. Some people say, Lisa, you're so courageous for sharing your story. I don't really think I'm the courageous one.

I think you're the courageous one, art. Because you were man enough to humble yourself before the Lord. And in the face of so many people knowing you came home, God for you, I think you're a shining example to many. And I do thank God for you. I remember one time we were in counseling. And I was supposed to write an impact letter talking about the impact that this had had on me. And at that point, I was not very hopeful that things would work out.

And so I remember writing this impact letter, and I remember saying that sometimes when you walk through broken times, you look around and there's broken pieces, you glow them back together, and then God's light and love can shine through the cracks of that brokenness. We all love that story. We sing kumbaya and yay, everything, right? But in this impact letter I wrote, but that's not our story. Because I look around and I don't just see broken pieces. I see nothing but dust and you can't glue dust. I put a period, I signed it, I folded it up, threw it on the counter and intended to end it just that way. Here's the miracle though. Getting in the moment, to God's word and letting God's word get into you, he'll chase you around. He'll remind you there's a

different ending with him. And he reminded me from Genesis 2 of all the ingredients that God could have chosen to make his favorite creation. And he had access to it all. God chose dust. And he picked up that dust and he breathed into it. And life came from that dust. Oh, my friends, no matter where you are today, dust does not signify an end. Dust is often what must be present for the brand new... Thank you for joining us. 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 now or visit elevationchurch.org

slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button. Take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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