Search the transcript 0:00 every week. You know, I come in here every week. I say that. Somebody said that to me a couple weeks ago. They say, you say that every week. It's true every week. I'm excited. And today, I am looking forward to what Holy Spirit has prepared for you and for me to receive. And I'm going to ask you, you know, one of the things that we have, my wife and I have three children that are alive with us. We have one that's with the father today, but we have three living children. 0:30 biologically that are with us today and all three of them we have this testimony that all three of them love God with all their heart soul and mind they are passionate about the things of the kingdom they are uncompromising in every way now that had always been truth they had to come to terms they had to make our God their God at some point and each of them did that and I'm thankful for the day that they did 0:55 And it's a joy when I get up every day and I don't have to worry about the condition of my children's lives. It is neither Kim nor I have to worry about the condition of their lives, nor do we have to worry about the condition of our grandkids, because while we have three living biological children, 1:13 We also have three living, grafted-in children. Our sons-in-laws and our daughter-in-law, they are grafted in. They are our children, and I am thankful that they love God. I'm thankful that they have chosen to raise their children to honor the Father uncompromisingly. Well, one of my children is coming today, and she is going to bring a word to you and me today. 1:40 I want you to stand to your feet, if you would, please. And listen, her and her husband are celebrating six years of marriage today. But would you please welcome my daughter, my eldest daughter, my eldest child, Kaylee Parker Shoff. Thank you. Good morning. So as my dad said, my name is Kaylee Shoff. 2:25 And I am so excited to deliver what he put in me for you today. I did not sleep last night because I was thinking about it all night long. It's like Christmas. It feels like Christmas today. I'm very excited, but it's an honor to stand here. I love you all with my whole heart. I thank Yahweh for you each and every day. So let's go on a journey together today. Amen. Amen. 2:52 So who here can testify that God is faithful? Yeah? Me too. How many have encountered the unconditional love of the Father? Should be everybody in this room. Can you think of a time where you've been completely, not a little bit, but completely covered by His grace? Yeah? Yeah. 3:17 How many times, this is for you to answer within yourself, I just want you to consider this morning, how many times have you experienced Yahweh, God's divine intervention? It was undeniably Him. It was impossible, and then suddenly it was not. What a God we serve. Amen. I'm going to talk about His courts for a minute. I'm going to read Psalm 84, 9 through 12. Behold our shield, O God. Look on the face of your anointed. 3:51 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For Yahweh God is a sun and shield. Yahweh bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. 4:18 Amen. So the message version of a part of this says, I'd rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin. I'm going to read that again. I'd rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin. Amen. 4:44 Because one day in his courts is better than 1,000 days anywhere else. So what I want you to consider, what might you experience in his courts? Better is one day in his court than 1,000 anywhere else. So what might you experience in his court? Let's say love. Give me some examples. Purpose. Peace. 5:25 Protection. That's a good one. Joy. Forgiveness. Okay, wait. Hold on. Okay, wait. Protection. Joy. Forgiveness. Mercy. All of those are true, but I'm only going to write these because I'm running out of room. So better is one day in his love than 1,000 days anywhere else. Better is one day living in his purpose. 6:07 Than 1,000 days anywhere else. Better is one day in his peace than 1,000 days anywhere else. Better is one day in his protection and under his covering, in the safety of the Father than 1,000 days anywhere else. This one's great. Better is one day in his joy than 1,000 days anywhere else. And the joy of the Lord is our strength. So in his joy, you are also made strong. 6:38 Better is one day in his forgiveness, right? Because where forgiveness is, shame is not. Better is one day in his forgiveness than 1,000 days anywhere else. And better is one day in his mercy than 1,000 days anywhere else. So continue to consider that. What might be in his courts? What might you experience in his courts that makes it better, one day better than 1,000 anywhere else? 7:07 So I've come today to tell you, Rock of Central Florida, that today can be that one day for you. Today, right now, can be that one day. There's an invitation. I've come with an invitation. He sent me with an invitation for you to encounter him like you never have before. What do you have need of? 7:32 There's only a few things listed here, but maybe there's other things that you have need of that we could add to that list that you would experience in the courts of God. There's an invitation to step into that courtroom today before the Father and say, Here I am. Better is one day in your courts. Better is one house. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand else where. 8:14 And better is one day your courts. And better is one day in your house. Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere. So much better and better is one day your courts. And better is one day your house. Better is one day 8:43 your courts than thousands elsewhere. Come on. And better is one day in your courts and better is one day in your house. Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere. So much better and better is one day in your courts. Come on. Better is one day 9:11 ♪ Better is one day in your courts ♪ ♪ Than thousands elsewhere ♪ Now sing this. ♪ And there's nothing better ♪ ♪ There's nothing better ♪ ♪ There's nothing better ♪ ♪ Than this right now ♪ ♪ There's nothing better ♪ ♪ No there's nothing better ♪ 9:43 ♪ Better and there's nothing better than this right now ♪ ♪ 'Cause better is one day in your courts ♪ ♪ And better is one day in your courts ♪ ♪ Than thousands else ♪ Come on, sing it one more time this morning. ♪ And better is one day in your courts ♪ ♪ And better is one day in your house ♪ 10:16 one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere. Come on, lift up a shout in this place this morning. Thank you, Yahweh, for the invitation into your courts. We come before you. Have your way, Holy Spirit. 10:37 Better is one day in your presence than 1,000 days anywhere else. Thank you for everything that you have prepared for us. Let me tell you, people, I've seen marriages restored in the courts of God. Let me tell you, I've seen sicknesses disappear in the house of God. 10:57 Let me tell you, I've seen deaf men here in the house of God. I've seen blind men see in the house of God. And it all started with a son coming before the father saying, here I am. May that be our posture today. Here I am. Lift your hands in this place and repeat after me. Here I am, Yahweh. Have your way. Better is one day in your presence than 1,000 days anywhere else. 11:30 Amen. You may be seated. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Teach us, mold us, change us. That is my prayer today. Thank you for this flow, Yahweh. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What can't he do? What can't he do? When you just take a moment and you think about what he's done for you, think about what he's done for someone that you know. What can't he do? Hallelujah. 12:08 So this morning I want to talk to you about the molting process. I want to talk to you about the molting process about the bald eagle specifically. And it might sound funny, but Holy Spirit's been teaching me through the eagle for several weeks now. 12:28 I had chemical burns in both of my eyes, pretty bad chemical burns, and a tear in my right cornea. And long story short, that landed me in the chair of a specialist at Eagle Eye Clinic. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that online, but that's where I was. You were great. But throughout my healing process, Holy Spirit began to teach me through the eagle as he was healing my eyes. 13:01 So maybe today you're the best version of yourself you've ever been. And yet, there is still a place of maturity in him beyond where you are today. And there's a call, an invitation to ascend to new heights. So molting, what is molting? For a bald eagle, this is when the old feathers are shed and new feathers grow in, simply put. Bald eagles are born with dark brown feathers. They're completely dark brown feathers. 13:37 and each molt transforms their outer appearance. The eaglet, or a baby eagle, as I would say, the eagle molts once a year, and as they shed their immature feathers, they begin to take on the appearance of what you and I would recognize as a bald eagle with the white head and the white tail. So one season at a time, through letting go of what they have been, you gotta hear me this morning, one season at a time, 14:12 Through letting go of what they have been, they make room for what they will become. If an eaglet doesn't shed its old feathers, it will never look like what Yahweh created it to look like. The process of maturity is happening through the shedding. I can't personally even begin to list how many seasons of shedding I've been through, how many molts I've gone through personally. 14:47 Just when I think the pretty little feathers that I have can carry me to the heights that he's calling me to, it's time to let one go. Just when I feel like I've made it, I'm better than I've ever been. I hear Yahweh clearer than I ever have. I see him clearer than I ever have. He says, come up here. It's time to ascend to new heights. And the only way there is to shed what got me to that point so that I can grow what will get me to the next point. 15:26 shedding the old will always everyone say always will always be necessary for you to become who you create who he created you to be so it's going to happen over and over and over and over again it's not just a one-time thing let's say that again shedding the old will always always be necessary what are some examples of shedding the old old thought processes old identities old habits old 15:57 Maybe even old dreams or old goals, old reference points, sometimes old relationships, old standards, old you fill in the blank for you. See those feathers that carried you at one time, they got you to this point. But those old feathers cannot carry you to the heights he's calling you to next. Those old thought processes, old identities, old habits, old dreams, old 16:32 Old standards, they won't carry you where he's calling you to next. Even after the eagle has molted enough times to look mature, to look like what it was created to look like, if the eagle doesn't shed its old feathers, it puts its survival at risk. The eagle never stops molting. There are a lot of sons unwilling to shed the old, and that puts your survival at risk. 17:08 Once the sun, I don't believe it's true of anyone in this house, maybe perhaps, but once the sun feels they've reached maturity, it becomes easy to stop shedding the old to make room for the new. But the thing is, those old feathers on the eagle and on the sun, they take a beating from flight, weather, sunlight, water. I would summarize it and just say life. 17:36 Those old feathers take a beating from the eagle doing exactly what it was created to do. It's not a mark against it. In fact, it's a sign that it's doing what it was created to do. But as that eagle functions the way that Yahweh created it to function, those old feathers become frayed and damaged, and they affect the eagle's ability to fly. So if that eagle is holding on to the old, if it can't fly, it becomes difficult for it to hunt. So it's not able to feed itself. 18:15 If that eagle holds on to the old, it becomes almost impossible to avoid predators or threats. In the same way, if we try to hang on to what has served us well up to this point, though it's been good, right? I'm not talking about a bad thing. It's been good. But if we try to hold on to it, it puts our survival at risk. I'll break that down a little bit. So if we aren't willing to let go of the old... 18:50 Let go of, or shed rather, what carried us this far. Shed what once empowered us. I want you to hear this. What once empowered you will become the very thing that destroys you. One of the most incredible things to me personally about the eagle's molting process, I've really thought about this a lot, is that they never lose their ability to fly. 19:19 Even as they're shedding their feathers, they can still fly. So it's not like they have to go hide somewhere while they're going through the process of transition. They're still able to soar. Even as they shed their feathers, even in the process, because Yahweh designed the molting process that way. So what happens is when an eagle loses a primary feather on the right wing, a flight feather rather, it will drop the same exact feather on the left wing. And that keeps it balanced, right? 19:50 So even in the process of transformation, the eagle is able to fly. The shedding of the old doesn't bring death. It would be choosing to hold on to the old that would bring death. You hearing me this morning? So as sons, when we are shedding the old, Yahweh is transforming us into who he created us to be, into what he created us to look like. 20:17 Like the eagle, while we are in that process of transformation, there's opportunity for us to still be balanced. We are still equipped to do what we were created to do, even in the process of shedding. I want to talk about it for a minute. I don't want to lose you in this, but I want to tell you what Holy Spirit showed me. So I want to talk about balance for a second. And I may not pronounce this correctly, but the word balance in Hebrew is meh-uzan. 20:49 And Jenny said yes, she knows Hebrew. It also means in equilibrium. And that word, that Hebrew word, traces back to the word ozen, which means ear. And the reason that balance and ear are linked is because the ear plays a major part in regulating our physical equilibrium. 21:14 Keeping us balanced. So what Holy Spirit showed me through this is if you do not hear the preceding word of God, you will find yourself unbalanced, unable to soar, unable to continue doing what he created you to do. Well, Kaylee, I heard the word of the Lord. I know I heard the word of the Lord. And that's good. I believe you. But there's a preceding word. And have you positioned yourself to hear that? 21:44 Perhaps that first word has become a feather that needs to be shed so that a new feather can grow in its place. Those who are willing to hear with their ear the preceding word, he empowers to soar right in the middle of your transformation process. He keeps you balanced, just like the eagle. So that's why I say there's an opportunity for us to remain balanced. 22:13 but it requires you to let go of what you think that you know and grab hold of the thing that he's calling you to. Grab hold of the preceding word. Position yourself to hear what he's saying today and let go of what he said yesterday. It doesn't make it bad. You haven't failed, but I charge you, position yourself to say, Yahweh, here I am. What is the word for me today? 22:40 And if he speaks a new word to you, let go of the old one and grab hold of what he's saying today because it is in that place that you can soar in your purpose and you can accomplish the things that he sent you into the earth to accomplish. I'm going to do an example that my dad has done many, many times. So I have a Kool-Aid packet. This is going to be Holy Spirit. Everybody say Holy Spirit. I have a Kool-Aid packet. I have a glass of water or a bottle of water. 23:28 And I also have some dirt from the construction site, which I don't know if I was supposed to do that, but I did. Actually, I asked someone to do it for me. But the Kool-Aid packet represents Holy Spirit. This water represents you. And this dirt represents the old, the things in you that you need to shed to make room for growth. Oh, no. There's a little bit of old on my table now, but that's all right. No matter how well we know Yahweh, 24:31 No matter how long we've been walking with him. No matter how much we have changed. No matter how dependable, as we sang about this morning, no matter how dependable of a son we are, there will always be another season of shedding that is necessary for you to reach your full potential in him. There will always be a need to shed the old habits, old identities, old dreams, old reference points. As long as you are breathing air of 25:06 No matter how old you are, you may say, Kaylee, I've been saved for 50 plus years. There's still a season of shedding for you because you have not reached your full potential. While you are breathing air, there is growth that is waiting for you. But it requires you to let go of the old and make room for the new. There are new heights that he is calling you to ascend to. So this is everybody in this room. 25:46 And this is Yahweh. This is Holy Spirit. The incredible thing about our Father is the need to shed the old does not separate you from him. You can be one with him in every season. You will never separate that Kool-Aid from that water again. Being one with him 26:21 is a process of maturing. It's a process, a process of shedding the old, a process of letting go of what got you to this point so that you can ascend to new heights. Yahweh designed it that way. So the dirt, the old things that need to be shed are not a mark against you. I need you to understand that today. I think a lot of people feel like they're not good enough. 26:48 They're not worthy to be one with Yahweh. If they can just, you know, get rid of this one thing, then they can invite him in. But he wants to be one with you right now. No matter what the condition of your life is, no matter what the old things are that you need to shed to make room for the new, Yahweh created the process that way. You'll never stop shedding. There will always be dirt in you to shed. The Kool-Aid packet mixed with that water just fine. 27:18 Because there will always be something that needs to be shed. But that doesn't separate us from Yahweh. As long as we position ourselves to stay balanced. As long as we listen for the preceding word. I was thinking about this this morning. Religion sees this dirt and calls it sin. But in the kingdom, the dirt looks like sonship. The process of shedding the old to make room for the new. So like an eagle, the only way to ascend... 28:04 to the new heights that he's calling you to, is to shed who you have been so that you can grow into who he created you to be. I want to read Isaiah 40, 31, and then I'm going to close. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run... 28:36 and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint, even through the shedding process. Wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, and they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. You got to hear me this morning. They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. 29:07 They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Bless you. There's a call to ascend to new heights. Yes, April. There's a call to let go. 29:30 Of what got you to this point. To make room for what will get you to the next place. So that you can come up here. And you can enter into his courts. And experience. Encounter your God like you never have before. I'm going to end with this statement. The eagle doesn't mourn what molting removes. I'm going to say that again. The eagle doesn't mourn what molting removes. It makes room for 30:05 for what will carry it forward, upward. I love you. Transcript generated automatically from the audio, so a few words may be off.