Invisible Prisons

two and three. When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, are you the one who is to come? Or should we expect someone else? And really let's focus on the first part of that, When John who was in prison, You'll find my message right between those commas in that little clause. When John and here's the phrase, who was in prison him? Today, I'd like to speak to you about invisible prisons. Invisible prisons, and let's pray

one more time. God, you hold the keys, you have all authority, your sovereign, and we believe that you can do anything. Now enable your servants to have the kind of faith that will connect with Heaven, get us past the point of our own perspective, and help us to see things like you see him for a few minutes. We believe that if we do, things will change in our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen, you may be seated low ocd. My Bible was on the wrong side of the thing. I have to keep it a

certain way. And you know, it's funny when you're married to somebody, you notice all these little things about them. Now listen, this is not hyperbole. Holly Ferdick is pretty much the perfect wife. We don't have the perfect marriage, but she's like, you know, nine point nine out of ten on the way, and even look at me, Look at me. I'm not just earning points up here trying to get something started in the afternoon after I preach.

I promise you she really is. And even when we miss each other just by that point zero zero zero zero zero one, it's usually just she's even trying. And sometimes it's just like she loves me so much and messes things up, you know, like she she used to

introduce me. We would go to the different campuses and have a campus vision night, and so we'd be like at University City or at Riverwalk the artist formerly known as Rock Hill, and she get up to introduce me like she'd she'd read a scripture, greet the people, and she would tell them, now, in a few moments, our pastor is gonna come preach and let me tell you it's going to be a good one tonight. And they cheer a little bit, and she'd say, I mean, I'm

telling you he's been studying all day. I mean to tell you he hadn't come out of his room. I went in the room and he was on his face on the carpet, seeking God and worshiping God. And then he and then he on the way over, he had a napkin out and he was writing his sermon notes on a napkin. And he's just fired up. And I've never seen him this fired up. And I think tonight might be the best message that he's ever going to

preach in his life. And I'm like, shut up. This is too much pressure, Like I cannot take the expectations. And it's like ah, like everything she says, it's like I can't possibly make it this good, you know, get up and tell him I've been sick and and the kids have been crazy, and it's just a miracle that I'm here. And then, you know, I could just jump over that. You know, I could dunk on that. Just set the goal about five feet, I could dunk on that. You know what I'm saying. She puts it up so

high I can't possibly reach it. It's about expectations. Marriage is about expectations. I could I could preach a seminar on that. Let's do another time, because it's just the idea of when you don't understand someone's expectations, you can't make sense of their disappointments. And faith when you get to the essence of it is an expectation, a confident assurance that a negative circumstance still holds the potential to produce great purpose in my life. Come on, shout on that.

I'm gonna teach y'all where to shout. Y'all been coming to church too many years to not know where the shouting part is. That's the shouting part means I can walk into something dark and light it up because of my faith, because the light of the world lives in me. You say, Jesus is the light of the world. Absolutely he is, but guess where he lives. It's an expectation.

Faith is an expectation to know that, even if the sequence of things doesn't make sense in my life, that God, who lives outside of time, because he is eternal, knows the end from the beginning. So then I have to trust him with element op if he is Z and A, and if A is related to Z, because he is Alpha and Omega beginning in the end, the first and the last. My faith is an expectation that before the

movie even starts, he's already shot the closing scene. It helps me to know today that I don't have to live in suspense as to whether or not I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Because faith is an expectation. Faith enables me to wake up in the morning knowing that surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And since this is one of the days of my life, Goodness and mercy are my bodyguards, one on my right

and one on my left. You can't see them there invisible, but if you look real close, I've got security. Tell somebody, say I got security. Goodness and mercy. The favor of the Lord is the filter through which I view the fights of my life. Knowing this that he who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. Don't know when, don't know how, not even sure what he's doing yet. But my faith gives me an expectation.

Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that works mightily in us, not according to my preference, not according to my understanding or the finite finite you know, small, little, puny way that I tend to come at situations. But my faith is an expectation, and this expectation is contagious.

Talk about talk about expectations. Man John, the Baptist who we just read about, he was he was really, really familiar with the pressure of high expectations because he was a miraculous, miraculously born baby, and an angel prophesied his birth, and in fact, when his mother, Elizabeth got pregnant, you know, his father Zacho, was so shocked by it that he told the angel it couldn't happen because they were kind of old, and so his expectation, you know with age,

one thing can happen with age. That's good. You can get experience, but it can diminish expectation. Do you know what I mean by that? I'm looking for over forty because I'm not there yet. I'm familiar with this. But John was born. Before he was born, you have to understand that he was the voice that prepared the way for the Lord that the entire nation was expecting to deliver them from oppression. That was their expectation of the Messiah.

They looked for for hundreds of years, in centuries, so that this generation that was alive at the time the birth of Christ had heard the stories, the rumors, and the rumblings about the possibility and potential of his coming into the world, and this expectation from their heart was that he would then set them free from oppression, whether economic or political, or deliver them from their their circumstantial containment.

There's an expectation, and one thing you got to do when you have an expectation is make sure that you connect yourself with people who have a similar expectation. And this is important because expectation is contagious. Say that out loud, expectation is contagious. Those of you watching this message, you

didn't get to be with us in worship. I had everybody in the church turn to each other, and I had them check with their neighbor and make sure that their neighbor was the right neighbor, because I don't want them sitting next to anybody who's not expecting God to speak today, just going to play something on their phone, you know, candy Crush or whatever game is popular. Now, play that stuff. I read my Bible in my free times. Kidding, I was kidding, read my Bible, watch YouTube in my

free time. But but I was just having them check, you know, because expectation is contagious. Here's how contagious it is. When John the Baptist was still in Elizabeth's womb, an angel appeared six months after Elizabeth got pregnant with John the Baptist to Mary, who was a relative of Elizabeth. Now you know, Mary, Mary, did you know from Christmas? She was told that she was going to have a

baby and she hadn't had relations. And it's kind of hard to believe a revelation that completely contradicts the circumstances surrounding it. So the first thing that she did when the angel left was going to the Hill country to see her relative named Elizabeth, because the angel said, she's also expecting. The best thing you can do when you are expecting is to get around somebody else who's expecting. If you get around somebody who's expecting, your expectation will rise.

That's why I come to church, to be honest with you, because you know what, I could watch it on my phone, but there's something about being in an atmosphere with people who are also expected. You know what, if you're watching this message in your house, next time you watch it, invite somebody over and you'll drink some coffee together and get some expectation between the two of you, and get a Bible and break out your Bible and stand up

on your feet while I'm preaching. Even if you're watching in your kitchen, if you got somebody next to you, grab them right now and tell them I'm expecting something, and what I need is somebody who will help me with this expectation, because if I don't get around somebody

who's expecting something. This is so real. This is so real that we've got worship leaders in this church who lead worship and don't even have a microphone, because when we're pulling in today, Graham, who's eleven, said to me, we listened to hes Ki Walker on the way to church today, So I had, I had, I had the car bumping on the way in the parking lot. And then we moved over into Israel Hoten circa. Two thousand and six, and and then we pulled by the parking team.

And do you know my son said to me when we pulled by the parking team, he said, I love that guy. Now this is Graham. Graham doesn't has never even said he loved me, but he he was like, I love him. You can tell he's excited. Graham never said I love Chris Brown. He never said it once ever. But that parking attendant, Graham said, he does so much for our church. What could we do for him? But it was a childlike faith. And I promise I'm gonna

talk about John the Baptist in a minute. But it's the craziest thing that when somebody is also expecting, you know, it created an expectation. Even in the parking lot, my son felt something. What he felt though he didn't know, it was the Holy Spirit in that man. The Holy Spirit in that man who didn't need a microphone. He had an orange baton, and he was expecting that when you pull in my parking lot, you're pulling up on the holy ground. So get ready something good. I'm expecting something.

So when Elizabeth and Mary got together, Mary said, oh, I just got bumped. Mary said, what do you mean, I just got bumped? This is the new modern steam for the translation of Bible. What do you mean you just got bumped? She said, When you got here, the baby in your womb made the baby in my womb leap for joy. Now you can't see it, it's invisible. But something in you, the Jesus in you, the Christ in you. I'm gonna calm down in a minute of preach.

But somebody who's got a purpose on the inside, sound like you're expecting the greatest days of your life. Come on on, every campus. Let's take nineteen seconds and praise a minute. There. It's all right, it's all right. It's all right to be expected, it's all right, it's all right. It's all right to love Jesus. It's all right to be enthusiastic. It's all right. It's all right to lift up your eyes to the hills. And know where your

health comes from. Expectation is contagious, so is skepticism. Sit down, we gotta modulate because a lot has happened since John the Baptist was jumping up and down in Elizabeth's womb as a fetus. You know what I mean? Like a lot happens between when something gets birthed and the point now where's he started his ministry. He's like, he's been doing his job. You've been doing your job. Just remember the Titans. You've been doing your job. He's been doing

his job. And Jesus now is really really getting He's getting popular. He's blowing up, as some would say. Now this is not before the blow up. Jesus is blowing all the way up, all the way up. And John, according to the text, is in prison. When John first saw Jesus as an adult, and whether or not they had much contact during their teenage years is not recorded

in scripture. But one thing we know is that when John saw Jesus at one point when he was baptizing in the Jordan River, John identified Jesus not by the activities that he did, but he identified him based on the essence of who he was, which is really important in how we relate to God, because if we only learn to identify God by what he does and what he does for us, then our expectation will be attached to his activity. And that's dangerous. It's very dangerous to have.

It's very dangerous to have a low expectation of God. Then you just live the life at the level of your disappointments and then wonder why everything turns out exactly the way you imagined it to turn out because you didn't have any faith for anything else. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. But it's also very dangerous, isn't it, to have an expectation of God that is not congruent with his character. And this is where it gets difficult for us,

because and babies in the womb is one thing. But now when John who was in prison, not in prison for a meth laugh, not in prison because you know, not in prison for a domestic disturbance, in prison for standing up to a wicked king herod and because he wouldn't say what was expected of him to be said, because he was a prophet and he didn't operate like that and he was kind of rough, y'all. John the Baptist was if he had a Twitter account, it would

definitely it would definitely need to be suspended. He would definitely be deplatformed in this day. In this PC day, John the Baptist would not have much of an audience, but he was very popular in his time until Jesus came. And when Jesus came, he said, look, Lamb of God takes away his sins the world. Don't follow me, follow him John three thirty. He must become greater. I must become less. Follow him, not me. Whole reason i'm here is point to him. Here he is, y'all go with him.

I'm gonna do my thing prepared the way. I'm just a voice. I'm not the one. I'm just a voice pointing to the one. So I know my place. So I'm gonna fall back now so he can do what he came to do, and what he came to do watch this was to judge the unwickedness and to bring the people to repentance. That was John's favorite message. He loved that word repent. He just preached it all the time, and when they would come out to be baptized by him, he would call him names. He one time called the

Pharisees a brute of vipers. I thought that would be an interesting way to welcome the campuses one weekend. And yet there was a prophetic power to his ministry that people were attracted to because he would say things that were true, whether they wanted them to be true or not. And yet that same spirit. And I really want to isolate this. I didn't do it last night, but I was thinking the same thing that made him so great got him in trouble, the same thing that made him

able to just take a stand. And I'm not moving. And this is how it's gonna be. Repent, Repent, repent. Let me show you one example. Can I show you one example of what his message was. So he's out baptizing at the Jordan. He baptized Jesus. He said, uh, I'm not worthy to untie your thong of your sandaljes said, we got to do it to fulfill all righteousness. It's proper, it's appropriate. Stop thinking about how you think it needs to be, and I'm telling you how it needs to be.

You're just the voice. You're not You're not the message. You're just the voice. Again, You're not the message. You're just the voice. One more time. You're not the message, You're just the voice. And so he baptized Jesus in obedience, even though it didn't make sense. And now watch this. This is something that he said that shows us what his expectation was. And if you don't understand his expectation, you can't make sense of his disappointment. This was his

expectation of the Messiah. This was his expectation of the one that he gave away his ministry to. This was his expectation of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world and is found in Matthew chapter three. Watch this, he's talking to the crowds. I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, who sandals I am not worthy to carry. He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Watch this verse twelve. His winnowing

fork is in hand. Ooh, that's what you used to get the chaff owl the wickedness. You winnow it out, and you separate the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad, the righteous from the wicked. He's got his winnowing fork. He's here now, and it's about to go down. It's about to get good. The Lamb of God is here, and he's got his winnowing fork in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat to the barn and burning up the chaff

with unquenchable fire. It's about to be fire. The Son of God is here. It's about to be fire. He's got a fork and he's about to start a fire. And he's burning up all y'all that don't want to do it, and get right and get left, and you know, all this stuff he had John the Baptist had a church sign. It would have all those things about hell on it, you know, about the fire and the wicked and the righteous and turn or burn, and you know, and he's got his fork in one hand. Now watch this.

He's in prison now. He's in prison now, and something is making him doubt what he was so sure about from the time even before he was born, what he knew before he was even born, he's now doubting in this prison. Sends messengers one hundred miles on foot just to ask Jesus one question. And I get it, because you know, we're supposed to be partners. And here I am in prison, and all I keep seeing is you

healing people, blessing people. All I see, all I keep seeing is the reports of how awesome it's going for you. But I stood up to a king and I'm here in prison, And here's what he's wondering. Did you catch it? In the verse? He said, are you the one? Or should we expect someone else? In other words? Is it always gonna be like this? In other words, I thought I thought I thought you were gonna Have you ever

thought God was gonna where'd y'all go? Y'all were fired up when we had a little praise moment and all that. Have you ever thought God was gonna you? Have you ever wondered? Because John the Baptist is just wondering. He's just wondering. He's not denying Jesus. He's not. He's not. He's not turning away from the sovereign Lord who bought him. He's not. He's he's he's not contradicting what he said to begin with. He's just thinking, now, maybe God isn't what I thought he was. Maybe the one that I

trusted in, maybe I trusted in the wrong one. Now You don't say it like that, because if you said it like that, you would be scared. God would hit you with the lightning bolt. But you just send messengers. You don't say it like that directly, but indirectly. Somebody came in here wondering, and you don't talk about this. You're you're wondering. You know, God made some promises and and here's the here's the interesting thing about it. A lot of times our entire faith journey is sabotaged because

of our expectation of salvation when it gets started. And I'm not sure that as preachers we've been very responsible about it, because a lot of times we will preach that salvation from your sin is a one time event. In fact, it is you will never pay the penalty of your sin. Jesus is the lamb of God. This is what John knuw who takes away the sin of the world. But the power of sin is very different than the penalty of sin, and the patterns of sin

are very different than the penalty of sin. So when we preach that you've been forgiven of your sin, you are set free from the penalty of your sin. But if the pattern of your sin has been ingrained, not only just throughout your lifetime, but some of it is even generational, and some addictions that you are fighting against, you know, the invisible prisons that you live in, the things that you do over a over again. I was thinking about how some of us are in invisible prisons today,

even as we try to appear free to people. There is a spiritual depression on so many, so many thousands that I will preach to this weekend, and nobody can see it because we paint the walls with a smile, but we live behind bars on the inside. It's an invisible prison. It's ways of thinking and reasoning and fearing. Because when I realized John was in two different prisons at the same time, it clarified the text for me. One was the one that herod Antipus put him in

for saying what he didn't want to hear. But the other one was an invisible prison. The other one is one that I'm all too familiar with. This is the prison of your expectations, This is the prison of your plans, This is the prison of what you thought God was going to do. You know, hey, go ask Jesus, are you the one? Because uh I told everybody. You're the one I told everybody you had your fork and you're about to start a fire. Watch what the messengers say

back to John. They say, Jesus, reply, go back and report to Jarn what you hear and see. Look at this list. The blind receives sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed the deaf. Here the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. Watch what wasn't in that verse, the fork and the fire. Jesus wasn't doing any of the things that John wanted

him to do. Read the list again. The blind received site, the lame walk, those who have leprosy or cleanse the death. Here the dead or rays, and the good news is proclaimed to the fore Go tell John that, And John's like, I'm just checking, Jesus, where's the fork? Where's the fire? You know? WTF? You ever had a moment? Why y'all hate me today? You never had a where's the fork? Where's the fire? Jo? John is having a moment. John

is in a WTF moment with the Lord. Walk out if you want to, but if you'll be really honest. If you'll be really honest, there are some things in your life you're trying to figure out. Right now, come on, where is it? Where is it? What in the world is this? Somebody show what is this? What is this? Yeah? Yeah, I don't know. I just need to know because I thought you were gonna and that is the prison that we spend so much of our lives in what we thought God was gonna do. But I got a question

for you. What if He really is able to do immeasurably more than you ask her. Imagine? What if he wants to do something so much better than your mind can comprehend. Is you deopen to that? What if God didn't want to meet your expectations because he wanted to exceed them. And now I'm gonna make you sit back down because You're not gonna like this. The way he grows my faith is usually to disappoint my expectation. John's like this, This is what I gave up my ministry

for this. I gave my life to Jesus and I'm still struggling with depression and anxiety. This because it was your expectation of deliverance that is causing your disappointment. Go tell John wishes blind c the death here, the lame walk. Tell him, I'm touching people that nobody else would touch, that were quarantined because of this dreadful disease called leprosy, able to go back to their family because they're cleansed and they can live their life. Tell him all that.

But you know he's not making this upright. This is what he came to do. This is what he announced that he came to do. In Luke chapter four, he said, the spirit of the Lord is on me because he's quote Isaiah sixty one, because he is fulfilling the prophecy, not fulfilling their preferences. Fulfilling the prophecy. It's very different. He's fulfilling what he said. He was not what they thought he was going to be. That's what God is trying to deliver us from, you see it, from what

we thought he was going to be. He's so much bigger than that. He's so much better than that. His plan is so much bigger than that. His purpose is so much greater than that. And John said, are you the one? He said, go back and tell him that the death here and the blind sea and the lepers are touched, and the eyes of the blind are open, and the ears of the death. This is all from Luke chapter four. Look it up when he unrolled the scroll, when he stood up to read in his hometown, and

he said, to this day, is this prophecy fulfilled? In your hearing? Came the spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has annoyed me to preach the good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind. He sent me to open death fears. He sent me to do all this. But one thing he left out when he sent the message to John. And this is crazy, Zach, because I know how much you left the Bible, so it's gonna blow your mind. The only thing that he left out. He added some stuff to it, but he

left one thing out. Freedom for the prisoners. Look it up right now, reference me. It's in Luke for I can wait. I know I'm right about this, unless you got some weird bible that you made for yourself. Luke, For it's like eighteen nineteen something like that. What's his say? Eighteen nineteen? What was say? Spear Lord's This is Rick Parker, the one that you'll always hear on the podcast the one you hey, Rick, you know you're famous on the podcast.

He's the one always talking back to me. The country guy. He's always talking back to them. People ask me all the time, who's that country guy that's always talking back to you. That's Rick Parker. What does it saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Gospel to the poor, healed the broken heart, Liberty to the captives. Where's that? He said? Tell John, I'm doing it all. Tell John that everything I said I would do, I'm doing it. But what I said I would do

is not what he was expecting. And tell John that I need his faith not to rest in his idea of who he thought I was. I'm gonna preach this home right now. I need his faith not to rest in whether or not I fulfill his agenda. Look, so many of the things that Jesus did in the scripture, it was a hidden agenda. In fact, he even spoke in parables, not so the people would get a cute little story about a father and a son and he ran away and he ate with the pigs, and the

father welcomed him home. That isn't why he taught in parables. He taught in parables because he didn't want his wisdom to be ascertained with the human mind. He taught in parables so that the spirit of God could reveal to the unlearned not the wisdom of this world, but the things of God. So much of what he does is hidden, and yet we spend all of our time in our minds trying to figure out whether God is good, trying to figure out whether life makes sense. It's a prison.

You'll never figure it out that way. You can't get out that way, you can't solve your problems on the level of self. It's gonna take a great, big God with an eternal plan. It's gonna take a really good God. It's going to take a majestic God. And I'm gonna have to just whether or not I'm going to interpret him through the lens of my expectations or set my expectations on the basis of who he is. Now, here's what I know. I am preaching to so many different

types of people today. For some of you, you can hardly breathe right now because I'm speaking so specifically to you, because the Lord is trying to get this message to you. For others of you, you're in a much more dangerous place. You're not even listening. See, you know what God uses to develop your faith, disappointment. You know what the devil uses to destroy your faith, disappointment. And I think it's

what you do with it. Because's going to happen. It's going to happen in relationships, it's going to happen in careers, it's going to happen in churches to where what you thought it was gonna be and what it really is. You know, I don't even like the way this Bible story goes, because what I want to happen next in the story is that the Angel of the Lord comes breaks John out of prison, and John goes on to preach the gospel and he has more success and double

for his trouble like job like never before. In the Lord restores the years the kanker worm is wasting. We can have good church and all get a serotonin hit, go home, be happy, and watch a NASCAR race. But what I'm thinking is I need to tell you that the way you expect this story to end, since we're talking about expectations, is not necessarily the way that it does.

Because John doesn't get out of prison in Matthew chapter eleven, in fact, in Matthew fourteen, his head is served up on a platter because the King decides to cut it off him. And yet there's something that's even more beautiful in the text than John getting what he wants. There's something much more profound then John gets what he wants, and what it is is in verse seven and following. Now, this transitional phrase is really important. By the way, who

am I preaching to today? That there's been some things that weren't what you thought they were going to be, and it's affecting your faith now. And even in a sense, God is not who you thought he was going to be, and you're experiencing him in a different way than you have a template for and it's challenging to you. So what happens next is the part of the message that I really want you to take to heart that says, as John's disciples were leaving, what does that mean? Whatever

Jesus says next, John doesn't hear it. He turns to the crowd and begins to speak about John. This is significant because what he says next is what he wants the crowd to know about John. What he said before was what he wanted John to know about him. And it's a critical distinction because God never wants your faith to rest on you. He knows how fragile and fickle you are. He said, Go tell John that there is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that

is bigger. Say that there is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. I'm looking for one hundred percent participation on every location. There is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. Look at the person next you say there is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. Other neighbor, there is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. Tell him zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out,

zoom out. Because you've been seeing this one little thing, and when you're in the prison of your mind is an awfully small place sitting it. It's really hard to see the light of day in solitary confinement. But go tell John. We're right on schedule. Go tell John, I'm using his preparation. Go tell John. It wasn't in vain. I heard the Lord say, Ferdick. Go tell John, Go

tell the people. Go tell the discourage, Go tell the beaten, Go tell the broken, Go tell the debreast, Go tell the sick, Go tell the broke, Go tell the herding, Go tell the young, Go tell the old. Go tell him this working, Go tell him. I'm doing it, just not like you wanted me to, but I'm doing it. He turns around and says to the crowd, what did you go out into the wilderness to see a red swayed by the wind? No? John wasn't fickle. John wasn't fragile.

When John made up his mind about something, that's just the way it was. And that's what's getting him in trouble because he made up his mind about what he thought God was gonna do, and when God did what God wanted to do? Is that you right now? Are you in an invisible prison? I know here. It isn't gonna cut your head off. It's not that dramatic, right, But you can't enjoy people, can you? Is that you right now? You can't create? Is that you right now? Is that me who am I preaching to? Maybe I'm

preaching to me? Is not that God didn't do anything for me? It's not that God didn't bless me. It's just different than what I thought. And as long as I'm in the prison of what I thought, I can't be a part of what God is doing. So be set free today. Be set free by the fact that God may not be conforming to your agenda or keeping all of your appointments. God might not be organizing everything to match your exact preference. But there is a greater purpose,

and there is a bigger picture. And just like John was the forerunner of Jesus Christ, some of you. God is using you to fight battles for your children and your children's children, and your children's children's children will be blessed if you don't fall away. If you don't fall away, if you will resist the urge to control God, you can serve Him and worship Him and it'll be all right. Because my faith is not the expectation that circumstances will

be blessing. My faith is the expectation that the voice of the Lord is upon the waters. Go tell John, blessed is he who does not trip over the way he thought it was going to be? Blessed is he who accepts what I'm doing in his or her life. And the Lord wants to set you free today from the way you thought it was gonna be. And that's it, and that's it because you know what's gonna happen. Once you get set free from the way you thought it was going to be, you can embrace what it is.

And you know what God's gonna do more than what you thought he was gonna do. The blind see the lame walk. God's got something better than a fork. God's got something better than a fire. The first place of deliverance is in the area of your expectation. Holy Spirit. I thank you for this moment, and I pray that this message would not fall on deaf ears, because truth be told, Lord, there is a prison that is not physical. There are captives in here today. Those chains are invisible.

To pray for him right now, Lord, that you would look into the places of their life where they've been disappointed and where they've been bruised or even worse than that, where they got their hopes up so high and they made a fool of themselves, and so now it's kind of hard for them to really have an expectation of your goodness. They're in an invisible prison of disappointment, resentment, bitterness.

But you said you came to set us free, So you didn't do it physically for John, But would you set us free, set us free from ourselves, set us free from our regrets, set us free from our sin. With everyone's thending, where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. And the kind of freedom that I mean is the freedom from the need to control your life, the freedom from the need to call the shocks and to always know the plan. John said, are you the one I just need to know? And I hear the

Lord saying today, Yeah, it's me. It's me. It's me getting you through this season. It's me that allowed some of the things in your life that you don't like. I didn't cause all of them, but I'm using all of them. It's me. Go tell John, it's me. It's me. It's me. That thing that won't let you go, that's grace. God said, that's me. I think that keeps pumping in your heart getting you back up. You fall down, seven, you get up eight. God said, that's me. That thing

in you that it can't always make sense. You know you should read the Bible, sometimes you don't. God said, that's me. I want you to wrestle with it. That's me. I don't want you to put me in a formula. That's me. I don't want you to have me in a box. I don't want you to be in this prison of your small view of me. That's me. Oh God, of every moment that come before you now, in need of your mercy, in need of your grace, we need to know that you are our shepherd, even if we

go through a valley of the shadow of death. Now thank you now, Lord, that as this word has gone forth today across multiple campuses, across multiple continents, that you are confirming your presence to your people right now. If you would just lift your hands, God said, it's me. It's me that you need to make sense of your life. It's me. Lord. I thank you that there is a bigger picture. We do not see in full. We see in part, we prophesy in part, we speak in part.

But when that which is perfect has come, that which is incomplete will be taken away. Until that time, Lord, we trust in your presence, We trust in who you are. You're still the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. You're still the king of our life. You're still the hope and foundation that our lives are built on. You're still the solid rock on which we stand all of the ground of sinking sand. It's you, God. It's you that we worship, and it's you that we trust.

It's not ourselves, it's not our circumstances. It's you. Somebody say, it's you. It's you that I need. Lord. It's you that fulfills me. It's you that completes me. It's you that makes ways. It's you that opens doors. It's you that sets the prisoners free. It's you that broke the chains. It's you that I'm looking to. Promotion doesn't come from the East or the west. Promotion comes from you. It's you I'm counting on. It's you I'm looking to. It's

you I'm leaning on. It's your everlasting arms. It's your mighty hand, it's your outstretch power. It's your grace that we need. It's you, Lord, It's nobody else. It's you. Our health comes from you. Our strength is in you, our trust is in your name, and we worship you now. 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 Elevation Church dot 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 this