Go Back For Your Benefit

TL;DR Summary

In this engaging sermon, the speaker delves into the theme of reflection and growth through past experiences. The message encourages listeners to revisit their past not just to relive memories but to extract wisdom and strength from them. By revisiting previous experiences, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of how far they have come and how much they have grown, which can be both enlightening and empowering.

The core message is illustrated through the biblical story of King Hezekiah, as found in Isaiah 38. When Hezekiah was gravely ill, the prophet Isaiah told him he would die, but after Hezekiah prayed, God granted him an additional 15 years of life. This miraculous extension was symbolized by the shadow on the temple steps moving backward. The sermon highlights how Hezekiah’s reflection on his suffering led him to realize that it was ultimately for his benefit, as it brought spiritual growth and a deeper relationship with God. This story serves as a powerful reminder that even in times of anguish, there can be profound lessons and blessings.

Listeners are encouraged to adopt a perspective of grace and gratitude, recognizing that God is present in their past, present, and future. By reflecting on past challenges with a mindset of growth, individuals can transform pain into wisdom and strength. The sermon challenges believers to confront their past, not with regret, but with an understanding of the divine purpose and growth it has facilitated. This reflection can lead to a more resilient and hopeful outlook on life, reinforcing the belief that God can use all experiences for good.

Full Sermon Transcript

It’s like June and I don’t care are we rolling welcome to a special edition of The Basin but not in the Basin this is like a new thing that I’m trying it’s it’s another effort to put God’s words in people’s hearts that’s right in a beautiful space so yes this is one of our Studios and um this is one of my wives my favorite you know how in the Bible it says like do I have a sister wife no but isn’t it always funny in the Bible where it says like where you’re reading about that in the Old Testament and you just gloss over it yeah like they just did yeah no big deal lots of wives yeah no his other wife no no that’s just that was his other wife okay so I actually don’t gloss over it because I watched this reality show about Sister Wives yeah I remember it uh-huh and so I preached a sermon called Sister Wives about Rachel and Leah you did it was a brilliant title you’re so good at titles but anyway okay so I always think about sister wives so speaking of titles that’s what I want to do right now okay um I throw away more titles per sermon are you gonna give us some of your titles from this past weekend yeah I want to do a cutting I love that I want to do a Cutting Room floor title okay and tell you where the sermon started okay okay so we’re talking about this past weekend’s sermon I preached a message called challenge the shadow which was phenomenal thank you and it was pretty obscure because Hezekiah is a king that you don’t hear about too much right and the prophet Isaiah who you hear about a lot comes to him and says you’re gonna die and he has these painful boils all over his body and Hezekiah prays and cries and God says okay you’re gonna live 15 more years gives him an extension on his life right and to prove it he makes this shadow that had stretched on the steps of the temple go back 10 steps and so challenge the shadow was the idea that just because it seems to be going one way just because it seems like you’re all out of time just because it seems like it’s too late for you just because it seems like this is the way you’ve always been just because it seems like everybody in your family just because it seems like doesn’t mean that that’s the reality right so I got obsessed early in the week studying about this idea of go back okay all right because Isaiah asks Hezekiah you can look it up if you want to look it up I promise it’s in there but he asks Hezekiah do you want the shadow to go forward or back right and forward was the way it was already going right but for it to go back well God would have to do that right yeah so that would show him that God was going to heal him right all right so I got obsessed with the idea go back because it’s over and over in the passage where Isaiah tells Hezekiah you’re gonna die there’s nothing I can do and then it says that the Lord spoke to him go back and tell Hezekiah I’ve heard your prayers and then he tells the shadow go back okay you left all this out of the sermon yeah so this is this is why when I’m done preaching and you say yeah you feel good about it I’m like oh there’s so much I didn’t get to share which is why I’m doing the Basin which is why I’m doing things like this yeah um because I think there’s there’s power in going back and I almost called the sermon uh go back for your benefit go back for your benefit and it’s the idea that not only did God tell Hezekiah you can live and send Isaiah back but the shadow went back but also and this is what I thought was so cool in Isaiah 38 and we’re reading through the book of Isaiah right now with our Bible Club we’re definitely not at 38 no but we got to six today holy holy holy in this I haven’t read it yet seraphim and cherubim yeah I already did already sent the key version I know I haven’t read it yet yeah yeah it’s great 38 I never read before it records more in detail oh it’s like it’s like the parallel to that story or the prophecy that remember that story yes it’s a parallel so like when you read Second Kings right when you read the Bible like sometimes you can get a Bible on your phone where it’ll put the reference and it’ll show you oh this is also recorded in this other book and that will give you a different point of view or this is quoted by Jesus or Jesus is quoting Isaiah right can I ask you a dumb question is that in the column of the Bible all those little references is that what that is well cross-references in the center of your Bible can show you also related verses so if you’re reading something about shadow it may say another shadow yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death or these things were just a shadow and when Christ came the reality you know there there are there are so many ways to use the the tools that we have so I was clicking around and I found how Isaiah’s book which is you know written about many events and different kings that he prophesied to has what Hezekiah wrote after he recovered okay and he starts pouring out his heart to God okay not when he was still sick but after he was made well okay so it’s another example of going back yeah he’s going back and he’s looking at what he went through through the experiences of what he learned because he went through them wow so he is looking at what he’s been through through the lens of the benefits now watch this this is cool he says and this is Isaiah 38 verse 17. surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish isn’t that a crazy statement wow surely it was for my benefit wow that I got a new house surely it was for my benefit that I got a promotion surely it’s for my benefit that God gave me the child that that’s that’s that’s great too but this is different surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish in your love you kept me from the pit of Destruction you have put all my sins behind your back that’s amazing yeah so the question that it makes me ask huh did you know all this like before you got up to preach this is yeah yeah so I had the scripture ready to go and I preached but it was just a time issue wow yeah and I think a lot of times the enemy attacks us and we survive the attack but we don’t go back and get the benefits through reflecting and healing yeah and so we just walk around with the trauma of what we’ve been through but we don’t grow wiser from the wounds so another potential title that I wanted to use was wisely wounded like when you go in for surgery yes they wound you right but they use wisdom they create a wound have you ever been wisely wounded that at the time it felt like God was allowing something to be taken out of your life that you couldn’t live without you look back and realize if you had kept living with it it would have killed you wow that could be a relationship or that could be a a certain responsibility you thought you were ready for and you really weren’t right or maybe sometimes God lets you go back a little bit because if you don’t learn what you’re doing wrong and you just keep going forward in your life yeah you’ll keep repeating those mistakes right so I think this applies I’m thinking about like a lot of the painful things that I’ve been through in my life and how even the ones that you can’t even make sense of you still can say I came away stronger my prayer life is stronger yeah uh a relationship that I leaned into at the time is stronger you know uh the I started going to church more during that time because I was so like even the things that you still can’t make sense of when you look back you can think about how they benefited you yeah wow this is great yeah I used to say um about a few things in my life I wouldn’t choose it but I wouldn’t change it yeah and that really helped me because it’s acknowledging you want to go through that again no if God gave you door number one door number two door number three and the suffering was door number one would you choose door number one no I wouldn’t choose it right but after you’ve been through something that you can’t really control anyway it’s good to take that perspective like all right what are the benefits so to me that looks like going back for my benefits accepting it it’s it’s it’s it’s what it is you know this is what it is right now um but then after you accept it you kind of glean the good from it that you can you know you glean the good from it right and this is not a a psychotic charge to you to just suffer as much as possible and the more you suffer the more benefit like no pain no gain no sometimes just no pain no pain right like watch this I like that one much better uh oh oh no pain no gain like no stop being stop being stupid right so we’re not like gluttons for suffering and we think that all suffering leads to growth some suffering it’s just a stutter stuffer suffering suffering some suffering in your life is a symptom of something that you won’t deal with right and so when we get into those situations that’s when it’s time to challenge the shadow and and change our course okay because that’s what I was gonna ask you because you were just talking about acceptance and then and now you’re talking about challenge because the message was challenge the shadow and one of the things that you said was there are some things that we accept and there are some things that we challenge so how do you know the difference how do you know the things that you’re supposed to accept and the things that you’re supposed to challenge you know that serenity prayer that they use in they use it in AA they use it in church it’s actually one of one of the most beautiful prayers um and it’s written a few different ways and nobody knows who really wrote it because they were like copyright disputes over it I know this because I looked it up when I was studying about what do you accept what do you try to change and the idea that God will give me the courage to change what I can the serenity to accept what I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference can only come from God yeah like God is this you wisely wounding me and in this situation I need to stay stick it out and learn what I need to learn because sometimes if you don’t learn from it you will keep losing and praying and losing and going to church and losing and wondering why am I losing because you refuse to learn so there can be times in my life that I don’t even stop to say wait wait a minute God is this you right now I assume in everything that happens in my life that even if God didn’t cause it he’ll still use it okay and that’s where my faith comes in because I think even if I cause it or my uncle caused it or my boss caused it and I’m not I’m not making light of the things people go through or an accident happened Yeah in our ministry we have people who are paralyzed because of a drunk driver people who are traumatized because of molestation our message is not well God put you through that so you could learn something because that’s how God teaches you of course that’s evil in the world that’s common to all men the difference for us as Christians is that we can put it in the hands of God so that he can make something out of it in our future okay and so I don’t always believe that everything came from his hand but I do believe that everything has to pass through his hand in the end yeah and so that’s what I mean when I say it was for my benefit that I suffered I almost see that not as Hezekiah saying God made me sick to teach me something yeah I think he’s deciding if I had to go through it I might as well grow through it yeah you know what I mean I love the way you talk yeah I mean that’s not original to me I’m sure that’s already a book and a sermon but but I like that way of thinking because it just assumes that God is for you yeah so go back for your benefit even reliving your past that can either be very destructive or it can be creative because sometimes like when you go back to your past and we do this all the time I say man you remember that person and I thought they betrayed me yeah and you’ll get kind of mad and remembering that we thought they let us down and stuff you know and and then we’ll be like maybe they didn’t betray us maybe God had something for them and he had something for us right and maybe we didn’t even handle it that good like we’ve grown too right so that’s what I mean go back for your benefit because if you just live your experiences and never reflect on your experiences you leave a lot of wisdom yeah on The Cutting Room floor and then and then it is uh so you said no pain no gain it’s it’s like the pain and you didn’t gain anything all pain no gain yeah I I don’t want to live like that right if I got to be wounded let me get wiser yes if I got to get pruned let me bear more fruit yes that’s how I feel and I think that is a choice that you can make to like you don’t have to just suffer for nothing right and I thought it was really cool how at some point in the 15 years that God gave Hezekiah to live he took the time and Isaiah thought I’m going to include this part too and he walked through what he went through and without denying how bad it felt because he says some pretty dark stuff you can go read it on your own time I don’t want to bring the mood down but then he goes surely it was for my benefit but then he said something else I don’t know if you caught it or not he said it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish in your love you kept me from the pit of destruction you put all my sins behind your back now that makes me think that there’s something that God taught Hezekiah spiritually while he was suffering physically because he says you put all my sins behind your back what was the what was the secondary title go back for it go back for your benefits go back for your benefits so there were some things that Hezekiah needed to put behind him that he was still dealing with that he wouldn’t have seen if he suffered I think you might need to preach this this weekend I will I think or we’ll just put out like this but that’s the word for you today go back for your benefit you know what else I thought about now I’ll stop after this we went back to Shelby a couple weeks ago to take uh our middle child Graham to wrestling camp we’re actually picking him up and we lived five minutes from Gardner-Webb University when we first got married and it just so happened that we were going back to Shelby going back to Boiling Springs to be exact like on probably the exact day that we had moved to Shelby as newlyweds right 21 years early cause we calculated it yeah it was like I think this was the day we were pulling in to Shelby it was right around this day yeah yeah and so which is pretty cool we’re driving around remembering uh Mi Pueblito and Monterey and you know all the restaurants where we shared shared chips and got water yeah we can get queso back then that was a different time you were in the queso season this was the free salsa season queso on my birthday queso on special occasions queso on Easter Christmas and Valentine’s Day but with all the memories that we had like how our our furniture that we moved in with half of it was from my my best friend’s dad who would repossess furniture out of mobile homes he would repossess the mobile home and then take the furniture and he had all this repoed furniture and we actually still have some of that furniture you brought it out the other day yes I did yeah yeah a little table but going back was so good because we’re like remember pulling up with the repoed furniture from Mr. Rob and for me like we didn’t get to share every little memory but remember when I went out to the church by myself and wrote the song who I am in in the middle of the night and like him and was learning how to write music yeah and so today we’re in this studio where we’ve written so many other songs that some of them people have heard all around the world yeah and going back and just driving past that church building in remembrance sitting there learning to lead songs in that church and how bad those songs were and how nice the people were to try to sing them along a few of them were good but my point is it helped me see and feel my development and our development and how far we’ve come and how far God has brought us it made me grateful for God’s grace it’s the benefit of going back and either physically or just in a moment mentally remembering hey man I have come a long way and sometimes we don’t get that perspective because we’re in it right but sometimes you have to just mentally or physically go back to it and go back wow God has done a lot yeah I want you to share as our closing thought what you said about what you would say to those two kids who yeah started back in Shelby you said you would go back and tell them something do you remember what you said um I think I said I’d go back and tell them you’re doing a good job is that isn’t that what I said yeah you said I’m I’m proud of those two kids that’s right yeah and I was we were just reflecting talking about us talking in the third person is kind of a weird narcissistic exercise well we were reflecting I mean like that was a it was a um a very uh monumental place for us because we just graduated college just gotten married and so it was our first apartment our first jobs I was a school teacher I was teaching fifth grade and I mean we had to we had to we had to get our own dial-up internet and set up the electricity we had a cable modem that’s dial up I was doing business dial-up is different dial-up is what we had dial up will kick you off if somebody picks up the phone dial-up would take you 44 days to download a song we didn’t have that no that was like the backup though right no no I had you on cable modem from day one of our marriage all right all right so we had to set up our own cable modem and we had to set up our own you know repoed furniture but a cable modem yeah we had priorities but like looking back we did it and we we and I was proud of of us I think what I said was if one of our kids uh in a couple of years got married and and did did exactly what we did I would be so proud of them yeah and um so it was a good moment to look back because when you’re in the moment you don’t know what you’re doing you don’t know if you’re doing it right we didn’t do everything that’s what I was gonna say because if you’re sitting there going like I don’t feel that way I didn’t do it all right neither did we yeah we didn’t do it and that’s why sometimes you need to go back from that perspective of grace and go hey look at those two kids y’all did all right yeah you know you were dumb and you were broke and you would do it differently if you did it again you can do it differently now because you’ve learned right and even things you didn’t get right you can learn from and that’s the spirit of the message go back for your benefit and so I just want you to live with the power of reflection at your disposal but not just any kind of reflection reflecting on your current circumstances with God’s presence as your lens just to know like he was with you he is with you he will be with you yeah and um I hope you go back today and some of the things that the enemy did to you go back and kind of demand you know like I refuse to let this make me weaker I am going to be stronger from this I refuse to let this turn into bitterness and resentment in my heart right I’m going to turn it into wisdom right so do what Hezekiah did no matter what you’ve been through or even if you’re still going through it go back for your benefit remember another time that God did something awesome in your life apply that same faith that you grew in that season to the current one go back for your benefit and put in the chat real quick I’m going back and we’ll see you back soon bye-bye hey thank you for watching the Elevation Church YouTube I want you to subscribe that way you can know when we go live and post new content make sure to leave me a comment let me know what spoke to you today where you’re watching from and what we can pray for you about and if you’d like to support the ministry financially you can click the give button now and help us continue reaching people around the world for Jesus Christ thanks again I’ll see you next time