How Great Is Our God?
Pastor David T. Elms 8/31/2025
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Summary
Pastor David T. Elms explores the infinite nature of God's goodness, urging believers to move beyond mere habit and 'mission drift' to a place of high praise for God's excellent greatness. Using illustrations from 911 memorials to college football, he encourages the church to remember the price paid for their freedom and to continue 'climbing the wind' in their pursuit of an incomprehensibly good God.
Key points
- •The danger of 'mission drift' or 'collective amnesia' where believers continue religious activities but forget the core reason why they serve God.
- •Gratitude for those who labor behind the scenes, drawing a parallel between Labor Day and the spiritual 'offensive linemen' who make ministry possible without seeking the spotlight.
- •The distinction between God's 'mighty acts' (miracles, deliverance, and past works) and His 'excellent greatness' (His inherent nature and infinite majesty).
- •The necessity of 'climbing the wind' in life, adjusting one's sails and perspective when facing opposition rather than giving up.
- •Acknowledging that even our best worship is an 'ignorant' praise because God's goodness and the future He has prepared are far beyond human comprehension.
Scripture
God's Greatness
Remembrance
Perseverance
Worship
Spiritual Growth
Life application
This week, perform a 'heart audit' to see if you are operating out of habit or 'mission drift.' Take five minutes each morning to specifically praise God not just for what He has done, but for who He is-His excellent greatness that exceeds your understanding.
Reflection questions
- Have you ever found yourself 'going through the motions' in your spiritual life? What caused that drift, and how did you refocus?
- Who are the 'offensive linemen' in your life or church who work behind the scenes? How can you honor them this week?
- What does it mean to you that God is 'greater than the greatest'? How does that change your perspective on your current problems?
- When the 'wind is in your face' (adversity), do you tend to pull the covers over your head or 'retrim your sails'? What does retrimming your sails look like practically?
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Full transcript
0:01My subject today is how great is our
0:03God?
0:11David said in his Psalm 145 that men
0:15will speak of your terrible acts,
0:18but I will declare thy greatness.
0:22And it ends by saying, "And the saints
0:24shall bless thee."
0:28We can do a lot of things for the Lord
0:33and in the atmosphere of pleasing him.
0:38We can do it so much that we forget why
0:40we do it.
0:43Put on your crash helmet. We're going to
0:45go fast today, okay?
0:48But a collective amnesia
0:51can sneak over the people of God
0:57unless we decide. Which by the way, it's
0:59great to see brother Gay and sister
1:01Caitlyn and the beautiful one Ivory Edoo
1:06with us in the house of the Lord today.
1:09Brother GD, I want you to meet Brother
1:11John before his service is over.
1:15And we can do so much we forget why we
1:17do it. You can get involved
1:20in way. This is something I always worry
1:22about with leadership.
1:24People who pour out, give of their time,
1:27their effort, their heart, their very
1:29soul.
1:30This past week, we had a wonderful
1:33homegoing service for brother Sanford
1:35here on Thursday,
1:37and it was a great afternoon, but I am
1:41even more grateful for all of the church
1:43that showed up and worked and served and
1:46loved on people that maybe at one time
1:49were a part of this church and no longer
1:51are. You showed grace and mercy and
1:54kindness. The house was filled with
1:57backsliders.
1:59And uh yet we're going to show
2:02>> that we have not forgotten why we do it.
2:08>> An amnesia can slowly creep over us
2:11unless we decide to resist. It's called
2:14mission drift.
2:17911 2001 over 3,000 people died on the
2:23day of and the aftermath from working on
2:26the site of two planes that went into
2:29buildings.
2:31And I don't care who you said did it.
2:35Innocent people died because of it.
2:39>> And our nation suffered through it. and
2:43New York was changed forever because of
2:46it. 10 years later on 911 2011 a
2:51memorial opened
2:53and that memorial if you've ever been
2:55there if you haven't been I exhort you
2:57to go sometime
2:59because we have a way of having a
3:00collective amnesia
3:03>> of why we have been through stuff.
3:06That memorial consists of two reflective
3:10pools
3:12that are there for tranquil remembrance.
3:17That two towers once stood there in
3:19which people's lives were intermingled
3:23with love and hope and dreams
3:26and passion.
3:28They were brought down on over 3,000
3:31just under 3,000 died from the fall of
3:34the building. But when you calculate how
3:37many perished because of trying to save
3:39others, the firefighter death role is
3:43unbelievable because of what they did in
3:47waiting through the asbestous remains of
3:50those buildings.
3:52And those two pools of tranquil
3:54reflection turn into a water cascade
4:00that goes down with a silent rebellion.
4:04that goes into a central void
4:08and it's built that way so it seems like
4:11the absence is made audible
4:14and the hole in America's heart is made
4:18visible
4:19because of an unfillable loss of people
4:23that died on that day. It is an
4:26immersive site where restoration and
4:28remembrance
4:30rejoices over the forces of wreck and
4:34ruin be they whatever.
4:38Arlington National Cemetery is another
4:40place in Washington DC I hope everyone
4:43takes the time to go and see. It's the
4:45place where there is a memorial built to
4:49the unknown soldier.
4:52An unknown soldier is one who went to
4:54fight for freedom and liberty around the
4:57soils of the earth. And yet his visage
5:00was so marred from the explosion and the
5:03fire that there was no way to identify
5:06the remains.
5:08And since there were so many that were
5:10unidentifiable,
5:13they said, "We will build a place that
5:15they shall never be forgotten."
5:18The changing of the guard is one of the
5:20most sobering things you'll ever see.
5:23And when they take their 21 perfect
5:27steps
5:29and then spin toward that tomb and for
5:3321 precise seconds stare into the void
5:38that we will not forget you. This
5:41unfillable loss, these unknown men. And
5:45then they'll twirl back and take 21 more
5:49precise steps. And every one of those
5:52steps are symbolic of a 21 gun salute
5:57for which we will honor the remembrance
6:02of the living dead or the dead that
6:05still live.
6:07Why do we do this? Tomorrow is Labor
6:10Day. And in a nation that has social
6:13media and news media that is driven to
6:16tell you all the bad and all the
6:19fracture and all the re prejudice and
6:22all the broken parts of this America. We
6:26are a nation that decided we would not
6:29just honor those who fought and died,
6:33but we will make a day at the end of the
6:35summer. The beginning of the summer will
6:38be marked by remembrance of those who
6:40fought. But at the end of the summer
6:43will be a day that is built in
6:45remembrance of those who worked.
6:49>> Labor Day tomorrow is more than a picnic
6:52and excuse to throw up your feet.
6:54It's a day where you ought to think
6:56highly about anyone and everyone in your
6:58world that ever got up before the dawn
7:01and worked all long after the sunset
7:04that wasn't afraid of sweat and heat and
7:06they had march into the cold. They did
7:09what they had to do to get stuff done.
7:16And every one of us have work in our
7:19heritage.
7:20God bless those who honor labor.
7:25Not just showing up and showing out, but
7:28being there when the spotlight's not on
7:31and sweating and cleaning and making it
7:34orderly when no one's looking.
7:37Jesus was very concerned that his
7:39disciples would forget him. So he only
7:42left two articles that you are to
7:44practice. One was the washing of feet.
7:47He said, 'If you don't do this, you'll
7:49have no part of me. And the second part
7:51was the taking of the bread and eating
7:54of the or drinking of the cup. And he
7:56said, this you shall do as oft as you do
7:59it in
8:02remembrance.
8:04See, this forgetful creep, this mission
8:07drift happens to everybody. And so
8:10sometimes you got to take a moment in a
8:13service and have a victory march.
8:18And this church is so uneducated in
8:21victory march. It was not a march. It
8:24was a traffic jam.
8:27>> I don't know which of y'all chose that
8:29the speed's supposed to be 01.
8:36That's why true soldiers sing when they
8:39march because everybody gets the same
8:42pace.
8:45Y'all were so uneducated in the victory
8:47march, you don't even know to take the
8:48wide trip around.
8:53>> But I love that traffic jam and I love
8:56that you're doing it. I'm not saying
8:58we're getting back in the victory march
9:00every time business, but we've got to
9:02remember some things.
9:06If we forget where we came from,
9:11>> you got to know somebody paid a price
9:14before you.
9:16>> You got to know that this thing didn't
9:18get here without blood and sweat and
9:21tears and pressing through. When you
9:24don't have enough, when you don't have
9:26any, you go on. If everybody's eating
9:29beans and we're all just trying to live
9:31on government cheese, it doesn't matter.
9:34We're gonna make it.
9:36[Applause]
9:41This was not in my notes.
9:45>> But I went to a Miami Hurricanes ball
9:47game with somebody that's sitting in
9:48this building right now.
9:51Dr. Claude Jones has
9:55four or three.
9:57>> Three national championship rings.
10:01Brother Jones, stand up and let these
10:03Miami fans know who you are right there.
10:11Is that one on your finger right now?
10:14>> Oh, you wore two of them today.
10:18You know what? The Lord knew I was going
10:20to preach on this and he put I didn't
10:22even know you had them on.
10:25He won three national championships with
10:27Miami Hurricanes. Okay. Back in the
10:29glory day, he was the starting left
10:32guard.
10:34He was a parade all-American
10:37football recruit.
10:39And he went to M and he was the one with
10:43maybe a couple of others who when they
10:45went to Dallas to play in the Cotton
10:47Bowl, he decided, "Were you a captain?"
10:52>> Okay, don't let it go to your head.
10:57He was a captain.
10:59He with a couple of others decided that
11:02when they got off the plane, they would
11:04be wearing fatigues
11:07because they were going to whip up
11:10somebody and take them down.
11:14Now, I like the Hurricanes and they're
11:17playing here this evening and I imagine
11:20he's going to be up there in the stands
11:22with all his boys.
11:23>> Yes, sir.
11:26He's honored me to take him with him.
11:28Take me with him. And he sits there with
11:31Edan James. And I can't go down the list
11:34of all the big bad boys that play for
11:36Miami that are going to be up in there
11:38tonight. But there's a bunch of them.
11:40And when you show up with Dr. Jones, you
11:42better just hold quiet and be still
11:44because among them,
11:48you don't know it because he's an
11:50offensive lineman.
11:52offensive linemen, they don't get the
11:54spotlight. That's from Michael Irvin and
11:56Edin James and those boys. But without
11:59the O line, everything is won or lost at
12:02that offensive line.
12:04Now, this has taken way too long to tell
12:06this story.
12:12>> But I was with them at a game and
12:14they've had a long time between glory
12:16years. Last year they had a pretty good
12:18year. They're hoping this year's going
12:19to be a good one. But I was with him at
12:22one of those games when
12:25he was standing up there and the canes
12:27weren't doing so good and one of the
12:30guys fell down on the grass
12:34and whether he was injured or not, we
12:35don't know. But he looked hurt. And
12:38there is a difference between hurt,
12:40being hurt, and being injured. Okay, I
12:44won't go into that. That's not in my
12:46notes.
12:48But these guys were fired up about what
12:50was happening on the field because it
12:52didn't represent what they know that's
12:54supposed to represent.
12:56And I watched that Dr. Jones, when I say
12:59doctor, he's a medical doctor, okay? He
13:01works for Cleveland Clinic right now,
13:03runs one of their uh their hospitals up
13:06in the north Jupiter area, but he drives
13:09all the way down here for church. And
13:11I'm thankful for him. I love you,
13:13Claudie.
13:16It's crazy. I didn't know who he was.
13:17And when he first came to this church, I
13:20for for months, he didn't tell me who he
13:22was. And I was getting fed up with him.
13:23If you come here very long and you just
13:25sit around, look out for this weed eater
13:27cuz I'm coming after you. I walked up to
13:30him and I laid my hands on him and I
13:32knew the Holy Ghost was touching him,
13:33but he wasn't moving very much.
13:38And I said, "If you want God, you better
13:40pray like you want him.
13:43This dead praying ain't going to get it.
13:47If I talk to you like that, you have two
13:48choices. Get offended and leave, or
13:51realize we're getting down in the soul
13:53speak.
13:54>> One of two things.
13:56>> I can't pray for your heart.
14:00>> I'm telling you what, I could tell it
14:02wasn't the first time he'd been talked
14:03rough to.
14:06That didn't bother him at all. In fact,
14:09for the first time, I heard him start to
14:11pray.
14:15If I had thrown in a few colorful words,
14:16I might have got a little extra out of
14:18him. No, I ain't going to do it. But the
14:22thing that moved me was he stood up and
14:24he was frustrated and he yelled down out
14:27of their what's the name of that club
14:29called? The Can's Club? That little
14:31restaurant area you guys have? The
14:33private club.
14:36>> It's Yeah, we know luxury. You don't
14:39have to throw that in there. Listen,
14:41don't rub it in.
14:43Hall of Champions.
14:44>> Uh, it's the Hall of Champions. That's
14:46what it is. The Hall of Champions.
14:49Listen to him. Throw in luxury. Yeah.
14:51Yeah. I'm not impressed.
14:54Luxury. This
14:58in that Hall of Champions, which is
15:00fine, man. The food, the the the stata,
15:03the status, the stature, the guys
15:06walking around. I mean, listen, if I had
15:08a piece of paper to get signatures, it
15:10would run out with all the guys that are
15:12there that been in the NFL. And uh he
15:15got up and said, "Get up off my grass."
15:26>> He knew something about the price that
15:28it takes to get on that Miami Hurricanes
15:30grass. And if the boys don't want to
15:33pay, he was he was already half ticked
15:34off because the team showed up late that
15:36day. Remember, they showed up late. He
15:38said, "Uhuh, that's not the way you do
15:40it." He was already ticked off before
15:42the game start. What's this coach doing?
15:43He wears a tie, but he won't get here on
15:46time. I mean, good night. You better
15:49watch out. But here's the thing that I'm
15:52telling you this for. The reason I'm
15:54telling you this is because we can
15:56forget
16:01where we came from.
16:03>> This kingdom is about deliverance,
16:05but it's more than just deliverance from
16:08bad things. CS Lewis tells of his
16:11departure from atheism. He was a a
16:14brilliant professor. I believe it was at
16:16Cambridge. If not there, it was Oxford.
16:18Somewhere in England, he was there and
16:20J.R.R. Tolken was his great friend and
16:23J.R.R. Tolken was a Christian from the
16:26beginning and he kept working on CS
16:28Lewis who was a proud atheist. He called
16:31himself a free thinker. He said all of
16:33you Christians are bound in your brain.
16:36You can't be a free thinker like those
16:38of us who are above all of that.
16:41But CS Lewis around 31 years old come to
16:45a realization that maybe this way of
16:48atheism wasn't as fulfilling as hopeful
16:50as he could be. In spite of his proud
16:53free thinking and he found that there
16:55was no hope in atheists atheism there's
16:58a lot of angst there's a lot of anger
17:00there's a lot of pride wasn't a lot of
17:03humility he found out that he he would
17:06he would about 31 he said well I'll
17:08believe in God I'm not saying who he is
17:11I'm just going to believe in god there's
17:12a god wherever you go you can find god
17:14in a lot of different places but JRR
17:17Tolken kept working on him and two years
17:19later uh CS S Lewis became a follower of
17:22Jesus Christ and in that he wrote a book
17:25called surprised by joy
17:30because he said being an atheist has its
17:33pride. It has its sense of
17:35accomplishment. It has its sense of
17:37wisdom. It has its power to say I'm a
17:40freethinker. He said, "But there's a big
17:42difference between being a freethinker
17:44and being a freed thinker
17:50>> because who who the son has set free is
17:53free."
17:56[Applause]
17:58>> And I I love science. I'm a little bit
18:00of a nerd to always pursue science. I'm
18:03looking for any advancement. I'm Popular
18:06Mechanics was one of my favorite
18:07magazines. I'm always looking at uh uh
18:10uh science to see what discoveries are
18:12made. Next Big Future is one of my
18:14favorite websites I go to right now
18:16every day to find out whatever the new
18:18things are that are being discovered.
18:20But science is so blind it has invented
18:23and enhanced telescopes and it has
18:25enhanced microscopes that a thousand
18:28stubborn questions are behind every new
18:32discovery. They found out that science
18:35though it is on a pursuit it cannot
18:38write the music of the soul. Great
18:40scientists know that science is like an
18:43island and it grows with knowledge but
18:46as it grows it only increases the number
18:50of unknowns that it had.
18:54Our text David is writing the last five
18:57psalms. He does not write all the psalms
19:00in the book of Psalm, but he does write
19:03the last five. They're attributed to him
19:05and they're known as the praise the Lord
19:07psalms or hallelujah psalms. And they
19:11elevate from Psalm 145 where he says,
19:14uh, "Oh, magnify the Lord, oh my soul,
19:19and all that is within me." He starts
19:22with himself, but by the time he wraps
19:24up the fifth edition of the Psalms, he
19:28says, "Let everything that hath breath
19:32praise the Lord."
19:35>> And on this journey of praise, he starts
19:38by saying, "Worship him on the loud
19:41symbols." And then he says, "Worship him
19:44on the high sounding symbols."
19:48He distinguishes that there's something
19:50that's up here, but then there's
19:53something that's bigger than that. He
19:55refers to in Psalm 149 praises, but then
19:59he speaks of high praises. He speaks
20:03about I will they will speak of his
20:05mighty works, but then he lifts it up a
20:09notch and said, but I will speak of his
20:12excellent greatness.
20:16FW Borum is my favorite author and the
20:19office devotions hear it just about
20:21every time. It's my devotion and I read
20:23him. He didn't write sermons as much as
20:25he did thoughts about the ways of God.
20:28He wrote something like 33 books backto
20:31back annually. He had a publisher that
20:33he made a lot of money for and they
20:36loved him. So he finally got to a place
20:38where the grind of writing got so tough
20:41that he said, "I've got to retire." He
20:43announced it, let them know in a long
20:46amount of time he was going to retire.
20:48He had been successful. The books had
20:50sold all around the world. And so he
20:52didn't need to write anymore. He didn't
20:54need it for himself. He didn't need it
20:56for any others. But after three long
20:59years, his publishers have come and
21:03pressed on him. Will you please write
21:06one more book? And they said this. They
21:12wrote, quote, "We have defied his
21:14insistence to retire and compelled him
21:18to write one last book." I have the book
21:21in my office, and he titled the book, "I
21:24Forgot to say."
21:27In the preface of that book, he said
21:29these words. When the soft lamp beside
21:32my bed has been switched off and the
21:35great world is hushed in stillness, the
21:39mind insists on a final flutter.
21:43One is haunted by the things he should
21:46have said but didn't.
21:49So, I have found my discarded pen to
21:53write again.
21:55He said, "In all my books, I have told
21:58of his works and of his power and of his
22:02bounty, but I have come to realize that
22:06I have not talked enough about his
22:09goodness."
22:12When Dave is about to close the Psalms,
22:14he realizes
22:17145 compiled songs about the storms and
22:21struggles and victories of my life are
22:24not enough. And so I'm going to close
22:27the chapter of my work by just saying I
22:31will praise him and I will give him high
22:34praises. I will tell of his mighty acts,
22:38but I'm also going to tell of his
22:40excellent greatness. David said, "I will
22:43tell of the things that he has done. The
22:46parting of the sea, the mana from
22:47heaven, the miracles, the resurrection,
22:50the mighty acts are worth talking
22:52about." Don't ever forget what he's done
22:54for you. They tell of the power that is
22:57brought about. They tell of a beast that
22:59is conquered. They tell of a dragon that
23:02is slain. They tell of Satan being
23:04bound. I bring his mighty acts into the
23:08report of my daily grind. I want to say,
23:11and as I said it over brother Steve's
23:13body this past week, oh death, where is
23:16your sting? Oh grave, where is your
23:19victory? That is his mighty axe. But
23:23what is greater than his mighty acts?
23:26His excellent greatness. It's not just
23:29poetry. There is an excellence about him
23:33that is higher than our ability to
23:35quantify. It's the magnitude of his
23:38majesty that I will never be able to
23:41touch. I will tell of it day after day
23:44and generation after generation, but I
23:47will fail in my attempt to tell of his
23:51mighty acts.
23:53>> Sister Elm's come.
23:56A great book I've read is entitled First
23:59You Have to Row the Little Boat.
24:02And in that, it talks about learning how
24:05to sail. Something that is a lost art
24:08now that we've got motorboats.
24:10But there's things in life you have to
24:12learn when you have to navigate with
24:15what nature gives you. And there's this
24:17thing called in sailing, climb the wind.
24:22It's an expression that every sailor
24:24learns. At first it seems impossible,
24:28but it's something that must be known
24:31because there are times in sailing that
24:34no matter what the situation, you've got
24:36to get from one point to another. And if
24:39the wind is in your face, you cannot get
24:43discouraged. Just because the wind is
24:45blowing straight at you doesn't mean you
24:49cannot get where you're supposed to go.
24:52It just means that you've got to learn
24:54how to adjust your course. You've got to
24:58learn how to retrim your sails. You've
25:02got to understand that the shifts in the
25:04wind and an obstinate wind doesn't have
25:08the power to stop you. And so you learn
25:11how to climb the wind. And in life, I
25:15have learned in these years of living,
25:1858 years of living, 53 years filled with
25:22the Holy Ghost. April, I like the way
25:24you got out of telling us how old you
25:26were today.
25:28She said, "I got the Holy Ghost many
25:29years ago." I said, "Tell us the
25:31number."
25:33And she said, "No number."
25:36She said, "I got the Holy Ghost in
25:381975." Was that the year? 76
25:4378. See there? Yeah, she's
25:4678.
25:48She She I don't know if y'all noticed
25:50that but
25:53I caught it.
25:56We don't know which birthday it is. We
25:58just know it's a birthday.
26:02Sometimes you got to climb the wind.
26:05Sometimes the wind's in your face and it
26:07doesn't mean you're cursed.
26:09Some things sometimes everything's going
26:11against you and you're saying, "What the
26:12world is happening to me? I ought to get
26:15depressed and curl up in the bed and
26:17pull the covers over my head and keep
26:19the curtains closed." And God's saying,
26:22"Just because the wind is blowing in
26:25your face doesn't mean you cannot be
26:27propelled toward the mark where you're
26:30going."
26:31I have learned that even though it's not
26:34always easy, you just adjust the course.
26:39You deal with contrary winds. You trim
26:42your sails because
26:45he's greater.
26:49>> I know he's great.
26:52I just don't know how great. In my
26:55father's house are many mansions.
26:58If it were not so, I would have told
26:59you. It's great.
27:03I just don't know how great.
27:06Eye has not seen, ear has not heard,
27:10neither has it entered into the heart of
27:12man the things that the Lord hath
27:13prepared for them who love him. I know
27:16it's great.
27:18I just don't know how great. Oh, the
27:21depths of the riches both of the wisdom
27:24and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
27:27are his judgments. His ways are past
27:30finding out.
27:32>> He's great
27:34>> and greatly to be praised.
27:38>> I just don't know how great.
27:41And I, John, saw the holy city, the new
27:43Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
27:46heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
27:48her husband.
27:50It's going to be great.
27:53I just don't know how great. For behold,
27:56I create a new heavens and a new earth.
27:58And the former shall not be remembered
28:01nor come into their mind. In other
28:04words, this world
28:06will not even enter your mind
28:10because you will not even be able to
28:12measure how great the next one is. He's
28:17great.
28:19I just don't know how great.
28:22I was baptized in 1973.
28:26For me,
28:28that was 30.
28:32Three years ago,
28:37>> no, wrong number.
28:5058 years ago. No, not 58. 52.
28:5652 years ago. I'm so glad I've got all
28:59you mathematicians in this house. Man,
29:02it's a smart church.
29:05>> And when I got baptized, it was after I
29:07got the Holy Ghost.
29:09And I knew I wanted to serve the Lord.
29:13But I didn't know all the reasons why.
29:17And all of these years, I've been trying
29:20to tell of his goodness. And I've got to
29:23ask this church to forgive me because
29:26I've utterly failed and telling you
29:30just how great he is.
29:39He's greater than the greatest.
29:42He's higher than the highest.
29:45He's more beautiful than the most
29:46beautiful.
29:48He's more lovely than the most lovely.
29:51He is Lord.
29:54>> I've celebrated Bethlehem's manger.
29:58I've celebrated Calvar's cross. I still
30:01don't know just how good he is. And
30:04we're about to enter into a family
30:06month. And this week, this church will
30:08reach a new level of decoration as is
30:12our custom in every family month. And we
30:15do it with passion and energy. We do it
30:18with joy and flare. We do it with love
30:22and prayer.
30:24But we don't have a clue
30:28just how worth it
30:31it all is.
30:33whatever you've given him,
30:36it's not enough.
30:38>> I don't say that to condemn you. I don't
30:42say that to make you feel bad today. I'm
30:45just telling you, I stand in your very
30:47shoes. Everything I've given to him.
30:52It's not enough. Not because it's not
30:55enough for him. It's enough for him, but
30:59it's because it's not enough if I had a
31:02clue. Monday, I had to go to the grocery
31:05store early and exchange some things.
31:09Yeah, imagine exchanging stuff at the
31:11grocery store.
31:14So, I looked I'm not really familiar
31:16where the business counter was. I used
31:17to do that when I had to buy money
31:20orders. I knew right where it was, but I
31:22didn't know where it was. So, I walked
31:24into Publix and I walked I found the the
31:26counter and I went and stood in a line
31:29and I thought, "What in the world is a
31:31line for this early in the morning? Good
31:35night. It's 8:00 in the morning. I got
31:38to be at office devotion. I can't hang
31:41around. Why are these people I thought I
31:43would beat the crowd?"
31:45>> You know, every person that was there, I
31:48don't know what I must have gone on the
31:49wrong day. Monday, I thought that'd be a
31:52good day.
31:53They had these stacks of papers
31:56and they stood there as if they belonged
32:00and kept having them run these papers.
32:03And I looked over, what's going on? And
32:06I realized it was the lottery.
32:09Every one of them. And there was a woman
32:11who pulled up behind me with her purse
32:14and flowing out of the top looked like a
32:16bouquet of papers.
32:19And it's all these lotto papers
32:22like it was a family.
32:24I thought I don't belong here.
32:27I'm the only one that's here to do
32:29business.
32:31It blew my mind.
32:34My hope is not built on Florida's
32:38honesty with the lotto balls.
32:41My hope is built on nothing less.
32:48So when we pray today, I do it not just
32:53because I don't want to go to hell. I do
32:55it not just because I want to please
32:58him. No, I do it because I don't know
33:02just how good he is.
33:03>> Yes, he's good.
33:05>> So I lift my hands in my ignorance and I
33:09lift my voice in my lack of knowing. And
33:12so, Lord, I know it hasn't even entered
33:15my mind. The things that you've prepared
33:18for me, that my eye hasn't seen it, and
33:22my ear hasn't heard it. But, oh Lord,
33:25you have been better to me. And the best
33:31is yet to come. And so, I praise you.
33:35I'm baptized because I just don't know.
33:38I'm filled with the Holy Ghost because I
33:40just don't know. I'm a worshshiper
33:43because I just don't know. I come to the
33:45altar with my hands lifted up because I
33:47just don't know. I don't know. How great
33:51is our God? As we stand all over this
33:54building, I'm allowing this altar to be
33:57opened. If you feel that same sense of
34:00not being able to express it enough and
34:04you would like to just admit, "Oh Lord,
34:07I know you've been good. I just don't
34:09know how good." Lord, you've kept me. I
34:13just don't know how much you've kept me.
34:15So, I come to you in my lack of knowing.
34:19And I want to say you're better than I
34:22can imagine. I've celebrated your
34:25manger. I've celebrated your coming.
34:28I've celebrated your resurrection. I've
34:31celebrated your mana from on high. I've
34:34celebrated a crimson stream of blood.
34:37I've celebrated your love for the
34:39family. I've celebrated the empty tomb,
34:42but I'm here to tell you, I've got to
34:45tell you more and more. I will praise
34:48you more and more. I will worship you
34:53more and more. I want to get close to
34:56you because I just don't know how good
34:59you are. You're better. You're better
35:03than good. You're better than great.
35:06You're better than amazing. You're
35:09greater than all
35:11I've seen and all that I've heard.
35:14>> You're better.
35:16>> You're better. Hallelujah.