Mark Batterson - Double Anointing
On December 10th, 1970, Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the world food supply. If you've never heard of him, you're not alone. Most agronomists fly under the radar. Dr. Borlaug studied plant pathology at the University of Minnesota. Then he took a research post in Mexico where he cultivated a high-yield disease resistant corn and Borlaug is credited with saving a billion lives. Let that sink in for a second. But credit is complicated. In fact, I would argue, I don't think anybody can take sole credit for anything. Lemme show you four pictures and I'll connect the dots. Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize, but every story has a backstory, every dream has a genealogy, every anointing has an etymology. It's like six degrees of Kevin Bacon.
So here we got the picture on the far right is Norman Borlaug holding sheaves, which I love, and Borlaug won the prize, but to his left is Henry Wallace whose name you may not know, but is a former Vice President of the United States and Secretary of the Agriculture. It was Henry Wallace who recognized this worldwide food shortage and decided to start a research post in Mexico. And it was Henry Wallace who appointed, and I dare say anointed, Norman Borlaug to that post.
All of that to say this, is it fair to say that Borlaug won the Nobel Prize but Wallace should get partial credit. But if Wallace gets partial credit, then the most famous member of this fantastic four George Washington Carver certainly deserves some as well. By the way, if you see a turtle on a fence post, said Alex Haley, you know it had some help getting there. All of us are turtles on fence posts. Can I get an amen? We drink from wells, we didn't dig, we eat from fields, we didn't plant. We're the beneficiaries of blessings. We did nothing to deserve. We're the answers to prayer that someone long ago prayed. All of us stand on someone else's shoulders.
Well, in 1891, so almost a century before Borlaug wins the Nobel Prize, George Washington Carver broke ground by becoming the first black student at Iowa State University, and then did it again after getting his master's degree and became the first black faculty member at Iowa State. But it was during his undergrad years that a professor of dairy sciences befriended him. His name was Henry Wallace. And he had a son who was his namesake, Henry Wallace Jr. And you gotta love this because, by the way, Carver's life verse Job 12, 7, and 8, he would get up early and he would do prayer walks through the woods. But he would take little Henry Wallace on botanical expeditions is what they called them. And you couldn't hang out with George Washington Carver without an impartation of his love for nature and nature's God and his vision for humanity.
So I would say that Borlaug won the Nobel Prize. Henry Wallace gets partial credit, but so does George Washington Carver because he's the one who took that little guy on some walks. But if Carver gets partial credit, then you gotta give credit to Etta Mae Budd, Right? Because she didn't just have an eye for art, she had an eye for talent. She said to George Washington Carver, when he was a young man, painting was in him and she called it out. Fun fact. Using the skills that he learned in Etta Mae Budd art class George Washington Carver painted Yucca and cactus, which won honorable mention at the 1893 Chicago's Fair. I'm just getting you ready for Trivial Pursuit. Carver said of his teacher, Miss Budd advised me to take up agriculture in order to render a greater service to my people.
The Nobel Prize, billion lives saved, Secretary of Agriculture who went on botanical expeditions as a boy, former slave who would become one of history's most accomplished scientists. I'm not sure any of that happens without Etta Mae Budd Last week, I spoke to the Association of Christian Schools International. Several heads of school, hundred heads of school were here in DC. And as I went over to speak to them, I was having these flashbacks to teachers that impacted my life. Come on, who are they? Who are those teachers. For me, Ms. Weber, fourth grade. She was nice. There was just something that was kindly about her. And I remember it. Mr. Brown in junior high, and Mr. Rossiter in high school. It's why when I was in high school, I wanted to teach history someday.
Oh, and then Opal Reddin, Opal Reddin college professor, one conversation with Opal Reddin and she changed the trajectory of my life. I just wanna take a moment. You're a teacher. Let me see your hands. Where are our teachers in person, online. We just, we bless you, we honor you, we thank you, and we anoint you in Jesus' name. Amen. Question, who left their fingerprints on your soul? Now that question is compliments of Dick Foth. If you're online, put it in the chat. Who left their fingerprints on your soul? Now, if you're in person, maybe wait until lunch. But what a great conversation piece. Who left their fingerprints on your soul? Who saw the artist in you and pulled it out? Who took long walks and had long talks with you? Oh, who appointed you to that position? Gave you a chance maybe when everybody else gave up?
All of us need someone who believes in us more than we believe in ourselves. Laura and I are eternally grateful for Bob and Joan Rhoden. He was the pastor to hundreds of pastors in the Potomac District. And he's the one. 'Cause you know what? I don't know that I would've given me a chance. We were coming off a failed church plant in Chicago. But he saw something in us. He gave us a second chance. And it's called National Community Church. And we are eternally grateful. All of us need someone to call out our callings. Like Etta Mae Budd. You wouldn't be who you are or where you are without them. You know who I'm talking about, don't you? That you can't tell your story without them. It would be like Batman without Robin, Sonny without Cher, Bert without Ernie, right? SpongeBob without Patrick. Probably one too many. But you get the point.
In science it's called a mentoring chain. In coaching or sports it's called a coaching tree. In the Bible, it's called discipleship. Discipleship is growing fruit on other people's trees. Legacy is not what you accomplish. Legacy is what others accomplish because of you. Success is succession. So I wanna flip the script today. Who left their fingerprints on your soul? But who does God, whose soul does God want to imprint with your fingerprints? Because there are two objectives for this series. One, no apologies for this. A fresh anointing, we need it, a new anointing for a new season. But what if all of us got one word for one person? We would change this city. We would turn it upside down. May it be so in Jesus' name.
Welcome to National Community Church in a series on the anointing called X. The anointing is the multiplier that turns us into an outlier. It amplifies and intensifies the gifts and passions that God has given to us. The anointing is the difference between the best you can do and the best God can do. The anointing is the it factor, the X factor. We've talked about the Caleb anointing last week, this weekend we talked about the Elijah anointing. You can meet me under a broom tree on the Sinai Peninsula, and I'll show you a map just so you know how to get there. Okay? After defeating 400, I still got it. 450 prophets of Baal right up there at Mount Carmel. Do you remember what he does?
He then climbs to the top of the mountain and he kneels and he prays seven times for rain. And God ends a famine, an incredible miracle. And then the anointing comes on him. It's like that Eric little anointing from chariots of fire. Remember what he said When I run, I feel his pleasure. He was anointed to win that gold medal. Well, Elijah is somehow anointed to run to Jezreel right here. And it really depends on the route he took. But best guess Elijah ran a marathon. So I'm tired at this point 'cause you just ran a marathon. But now God takes him all the way, all the way down here and off the map, like down there somewhere, kind of where, where the Sinai Peninsula does this to Mount Hareh. And and this is where Elisha, who has just defeated the 400, so he won the Super Bowl, but he is about ready to give up. And in fact he asked God to end it.
And I mean that literally, even prophets get discouraged. Even prophets lose their way. Even prophets get depressed. He says, I am no better than my ancestors. He says, I've had enough Lord, take my life. And I know that we're in, every series is a season, so we're believing for this new anointing for a new season. But I also know that there are people here today that you aren't sure how you're gonna get to tomorrow. I want to tell you, don't give up on God. You hold on. Listen, if you're breathing, God's not finished with you yet. And we wanna come around you and we wanna help you, not just see you tomorrow, but I believe the best is yet to come. That God has plans and purposes, and we're gonna step into that future together.
Listen, if you wrestle with an imposter syndrome, you're not alone. If you have an inferiority complex, you're not alone. If you feel like there's no way God can use me and I'm done, you are not alone. There's a guy named Elijah who is ready to give up. But can I suggest maybe in the lyrics of a song that God is breaking new ground. That in the pressing, in the crushing, God is making new wine, in the soil I now surrender. God is breaking new ground. Elijah says, I'm the only one left. And I think sometimes we feel like we're on an island and it's not love island, but I love what God says. I love what God does. God tells him to eat and take a nap.
Okay, this does not sound like the most spiritual instruction in the world, but this is the old acronym, H-A-L-T, Hungry, Angry, Tired, Lonely. Like if you're in one of those places, like you're a little bit more susceptible to thoughts like this. And sometimes the solution to our emotional issues is actually physical. And to me it's a testament to the fact that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. What we need to maybe think about doing is change our diet. We need to figure out ways to lower our cortisol levels. We need to actually practice the Sabbath. We need to treat sleep like it's a stewardship issue. Just putting that out there. And I'm preaching to myself because several years ago I did a life plan with a life coach. And I complained to him, I said, I just, I'm feeling this fatigue, mental, physical fatigue.
And so day one, like we start charting my whole life and we identify 44 defining moments and it's so insightful. And we get to lunch and the life coach says, hey Mark, can I just make an observation? He said, I noticed that you got up this morning and you went for a run. You went for a run. I was like, yeah, I wanted to get a workout in, get the old body in motion. And he said, and then we jumped into the session and we started doing this, you know, intense mental work. And he said, I noticed that you didn't eat breakfast. I said, I never eat breakfast. He said, Mark, could it be that your fatigue is because you're not eating. Aye aye Captain Mobius. And hello Captain Crunch. Not Captain Crunch, that's not gonna help. It's not, it is not going to help.
Can I just take a moment right here, Lord, I pray for supernatural discernment, even words of knowledge, words of wisdom, that physically something is off in us. That there's a fatigue, there's some kind of feeling and we're not sure what it is. And the doctor isn't sure what it is. And Lord, I just, I pray these temples that you've given to us are so amazing and we're grateful for the healing properties. We're grateful for the senses that you've given to us. And Lord, I just pray right now that those who are struggling physically, that there would just be a discerning, and maybe it's trying a few different things. Maybe it's just shifting a few different things. Lord, help us in Jesus name. Amen.
So Elijah takes a nap and then wakes up to the smell of fresh baked bread. Hallelujah. I'm gonna come back to that loaf of bread at the very end. So God tells Elijah, get some sleep, eat some food. Then he gives him a pep talk. 1 kings 19, 15 through 16. "Go back, go back the way you came, go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram, also anoint Jehu king over Israel and anoint Elisha to succeed you as prophet". The farther backward you look, said Winston Churchill, the farther forward you are likely to see. Sometimes the way forward is backward. That hindsight gives us foresight. Testimony is prophecy and faith is a function of God's faithfulness. What gave a shepherd boy named David the courage to challenge a giant named Goliath? It's not complicated. David was better than most at connecting the dots.
By the way, A, B, C, D, it's Sir Richard Branson's kind of philosophy of life. Always be connecting dots. So what did David do? Oh, he remembered the lion and the bears that attacked his sheep. And the way that God anointed that slingshot. And he killed the lion and the bears. And so what did David say? David said the same God who helped me defeat the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears will help me defeat the New York Giants. Now I didn't, he didn't say it quite that way. But wherever you have victory, you have authority. Oh, don't miss this. And wherever you have authority, you have anointing. When David stepped out on that battlefield, it was the anointing of God.
Come on. Some of us have to go back to where God has done a miracle before. If your name is Abraham, go back to the thicken on Mount Moriah where Jehovah-jireh provided the ram. If your name is Daniel, go back to the den where God shut the mouths of lion. If your name is Zacchaeus, come on, take the grandkids, go back to that sycamore tree and climb it all over again. If your name is Moses, go back to the burning bush and take your shoes off because it's still holy ground. If your name is Peter, row, row, row your boat out onto the Sea of Galilee where you walked on water and get out of the boat all over again. The way you steward a miracle is by believing God for the next miracle. But sometimes you have to go back to the last miracle.
Listen, this is my life. I sometimes just go outta my way to drive by the mailbox at 45 L Street Southwest, where God did a miracle that I don't have time to delineate. Sometimes I'll go back to the altar and I'll just kneel next to that altar at the Miracle Theater because this is where on July 2nd, 2016, God healed me of 40 years of asthma. Sometimes I'll go back to the cow pasture in Alexandria, Minnesota where I heard that inaudible yet unmistakable voice calling me into ministry. And you know what I do on August 16 these days, I retrace my steps and I pray that 4.7 mile prayer walk. I did it several weeks ago and my faith is on fire. Because if God did it before, he can do it again. He is the same God. His arm is not short.
Whoa, oh man, how did A. W. Tozer say this? How did he say it? He said "Anything God promised or did it anytime in any place for anybody, God will do for us here if we will meet his conditions. If it is truth, it's true for anybody who would believe it anywhere, anytime. Two times two equals four. Whether it's 400 BC or AD 1963," when he wrote it, "whether in Russia or China or Canada. Two times two equals four. No one can get around it. Anybody can trust it". He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And if he's not, I quit. I'm not gonna play that game. I'm not gonna water down or dumb down. No, no, no. Jesus said greater things. Will you do? We are believing God for bigger and better miracles that are undeniable, that God would do things that would provoke questions that only the Gospel can answer. Supernatural demonstration of love and power.
Gifts of the spirit activating in all of us. Oh man, I better keep going. Whew. Go back the way you came. And then it's like God repurposes Elisha. If you're depressed, if you're in a place where just Lord ended, if you're in a place where you're just ready to kind of give up the ghost, focusing more on yourself might not be the solution. Don't miss what God does here. It's almost like, Elijah says, I'm the only one left. He says, I'm no better than my ancestors. And I love what, it's almost like God says, newsflash Elijah, it's not about you. He says, go anoint Hazael and Jehu and Elisha. The anointing is in us and is on us, but it's not for us. It's for everyone else around us. We are anointed to anoint. It's why we gave everybody anointing oil last week.
And can I just say that I feel like this is the season we're coming into as a church? How exciting. Last week we launched a network church, part of our dream collective. David and Missy Russell Rise Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee. More than 500 people showed up at their first service last week. Their former campus pastors here at NCC. So they have some of our anointing and we have some of theirs. Praise God. This weekend we launch Church at The Well at Ebenezer. Pastor Jamica Jones, who preached a couple of weeks ago. And listen, it's not about the name over the church door, it's about the name above all names. God is calling us to do more things that don't have our name on it. May his kingdom come, may his will be done in Chattanooga and in D.C. as it is in heaven.
Last week I spent two days with 12 pastors at dream cohort. They lead tens of thousands of people. Why? Because pastors need pastors, newsflash. And so let's grow together. Let's learn together. Let's believe that we're better together. I mean, isn't this why we do small groups? 'Cause it's a tag team sport. Community is our middle name. Like we need each other. We have had hundreds of proteges and interns over the year, and someone's listening to me, and you're a future dream fellow. It's why we started the dream collective. Hundreds of entrepreneurs, artists right here in this space three days ago. And it was unbelievable. The dreams that were represented right here.
And listen, if we can make it not about us, but about anointing to the third and fourth generation. And I would say the very same thing about NCC kids. We have hundreds of prophets. They're wearing diapers right now. We have hundreds of prophets and they're in NCC youth right now. And God is going to raise them up and they're gonna have a double anointing on their lives in Jesus' name. Amen. Oh man, I need to get where this is going. 1 kings 1919. "So Elijah went from there and found Elisha". And that map, I mean this average person never traveled outside a 30 mile radius of their birthplace in this day and age. So this is like finding a needle in a haystack. But he finds Elisha. "And he was plowing with his 12 yoke of oxen. And Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him".
Don't miss this moment because there's someone that you need to throw your cloak around. Now Elisha is a farmer. Best guess, grew up on a farm. He's gonna go on farmersonly.com, he's gonna get married, they're gonna have kids, and he's gonna grow old on a farm. And there is nothing wrong with that. But along comes a prophet who calls out a calling. You know, and I'm just thinking to myself like his whole life was lived 12 yoke of oxen. So just kind of picture it in your mind. Do you see it? The backside, the 12 yokes of oxen. He is inhaling the fumes, shall we say every single day. And it's almost like the prophet says, just raise your vision. Maybe there's something more. And he calls out a calling.
In January of 2020, remember, we hosted our very first revival, cannot wait for Dream 24. We've got Robert Madoo, we've got Dr. Anita Phillips, they're gonna be in the house with us in January. That first revival, John Tyson, pastor's Church of the City in New York City. And he shared two stories that I will not forget. As a teenager he worked in a butcher shop in Australia. And I remember him saying that when he got to work in the morning, he would take out his knives, he would kneel, he would hold them up to the Lord and he would consecrate himself to God, which I don't care what you do, whatever you do, not a bad idea to just consecrate it to the Lord. But he said he had a boss. And one day his boss said to him, are you ready for this? His boss said to him, John, you're a leader. He said, it was the first time anybody had discerned or called out of him.
In John's words, his boss cast a vision for his life. That's us. When I say one word for one person, I mean, we gotta be casting vision for people's lives. We are in a cultural moment where the dominant narrative is you're an accident. You are the result of random chance. You are the byproduct of natural selection. Scripture has a different vision. You're the image of God. The apple of God's eye, God's workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made more than a conquer, made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory. Come on. We gotta cast a vision for people's lives. And I think that's what Elijah does.
2 Kings chapter 2 verse 1. I'm gonna give kind of the cliff notes. The the Lord's about to take Elijah up in a whirlwind and they go to Bethel. And on the way to Bethel, they run into a company of prophets. Then they go to Jericho. And on the way to Jericho, they run into a company of prophets. Then they go to the Jordan and they run into a company of prophets. And this is subplot and subtext, but I just can't help but wonder. I read it this week and I just, in my spirit, every city needs a company of prophets. And I think we are that people. Is it any coincidence that God not only gives us a city block, but gives us a city block at 8th & M Street, the original gateway to the nation's capital. God is raising up watchmen and watch women who will intercede, who will stand in the gap, who will be gatekeepers.
The one thing I would say here though, is we're not just believing God for open doors. We're believing God for an open heaven, which is a whole different deal. We are the priesthood of believers. We are the company of prophets. Ah, there's so much more I wanna say, but I'm just gonna fast forward. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, "treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can be and should be, and he will become as he can be and should be". If you're a baseball fan, Trea Turner played for the Nats, right? Part of that World Series team now plays for the Phillies, two-time all-star. Lifetime batting average 296. But he had a serious slump in early August. He couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, much less a base ball. And the fan started booing him. And then one day, one guy, a radio personality. How many heard this story?
Yeah, Jack Fritz challenged the fans instead of booing. Get up on your feet and give him a standing ovation. And Trey Turner goes lights out. And he is just hitting everything. I mean a few weeks later, I think he wins Player of the Week. And it like flipped the script. Listen a cancel culture just boos people. The church gives some standing ovations. We spur one another on towards love and good deeds. I like this imagery because I think what we need to do is rally cap. And by the way, we're gonna, we got swag coming to the bookstore. Shirts, hats, and just so you know, I'm just so grateful for our creative team. They're amazing. Noreen, Dave, Caroline, Jen. This is actually St. Andrew's cross. So it's both an X for that X factor, but it's a cross as well. And I just, sometimes I like wearing my faith in a way that doesn't have to be in your face. But I'm not ashamed of the gospel. The cross changed my life. Who had a really rough week? Really, really right here. Rally cap. Rally cap.
Come on, come on. There we go. Two stories. I'm gonna go fast and we're done. Five poems hang in my office. One of them is in 1849. Edgar Allen Poe "Is all that we see or seem, but a dream within a dream". 2006 published my first book "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day". And it's kind of unbelievable to me the way that the Lord used a book with a super long title to impact a lot of people's lives. But I wanna tell you two stories about two people 'cause they changed the game. Before that book came out would've been September of 2006 I was speaking at a men's conference. And one of the other speakers was a guy named Tommy Barnett. Now Tommy Barnett and his son Matthew, started the LA Dream Center, which by the way, inspired our DC Dream Center.
How fun is that? But I'll never forget it. He talked about a multiplication anointing. I wasn't even sure what it was, but I wanted it. And I looked now, and there's good soil that produces 30, 60, 100 fold. And so I think I was the first person who responded to that altar call. I knew that only 3% of books sold more than 5,000 copies. And I just went to the altar that day and said, Lord, would you put a multiplication anointing on this book? I don't tell this story very often. I don't know how to describe it. It's a sacred story. So I'm very selective. But that book is sold more than half a million copies, which is mind-boggling to me. But hear my heart, I want to immediately say to me, a book sold is not a book sold. It's a prayer answered. Because we recruited a prayer team and said, Lord, would you put these books in the right hands at the right time?
So I am eternally grateful to a guy named Tommy Barnett who called out some kind of multiplication anointing 'cause I take no credit for any of it. But I was 19 years old. One of my favorite preachers, Sam Farina, was a calvary church. Oh, I loved it when he preached and he preached about King David's bodyguard, a guy named Benaiah who chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed it. I'm 19 and I'm like, I don't think that's in the Bible. That is just too cool a story. But I went and looked and it was there, it was there. And this singular thought, almost fired across my synapses that if I ever write a book, I wanna write a book about that story. It took 16 years, but a seed was planted in my spirit.
So I just wanna say for the record, long before I wrote that book, Sam Farina preached that message. And isn't it just like, God, Sam texts me this week and says, I'm gonna be in church on Sunday. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? I'm just gonna give a big hug. Get over here, Sam. Oh my goodness. Just here. Come on. Stand with me. You know, here's the amazing thing Sam, that story was embedded into this message before you texted me. But for you to then show up on this Sunday and listen, when Sam preached, like, God, gimme some of that anointing. And I don't even know. And Sam's preached a lot more sermons than me, studied the word a lot longer than me.
And I don't think either one of us have totally figured out the anointing. There's a mystery to it, isn't there? There is just a, you're never gonna reduce it to a formula. But there's some kind of the anointing airdrops. There's some sort of file transfer, there's some kind of download. An atmosphere. And in that atmosphere, just anything can happen. And so I have said to Sam many, many times, I owe you a debt of gratitude and I probably owe you some royalties. Hey, I think a standing ovation would be in order in light of what we just talked about today. Much love, much love, thank you. This means a world to me that you would be here this morning. And here we are, here we are. Ooh. Half of what I wanted to preach, I just don't have time.
But what does Elisha ask for, not for a double portion of Elijah's financial portfolio. He doesn't ask for Elijah the keys to Elijah's chariot. No, give me a double portion of his anointing. It's almost like the spirit times two. And I'm believing it for all of us today. Let me close with that loaf of bread. Is that okay? I'm not a baker nor the son of a baker, but I do know that sourdough starter, where are my people? Sourdough starter is a complex community of microbes, yeast, and bacteria that combined to give taste and texture. And that sourdough starter has what is technically called fermentative power. It can convert sugars into acid and ethanol. And the obvious question is where did the microbes come from? And the truth is they come from the air, they come from the bowl, they come from the spatula.
But a recent study rocked my world because they also come from the hands of the bakers who are kneading the dough. Scientifically speaking, it comes from the skin microbiome. And the significance of that is this, that when a baker needs that dough, some of their DNA gets in the dough So long after that baker is long gone traces of their DNA remain fertile in every loaf of bread that is a descendant of that original sourdough starter. I mean, one that changes my perspective on Jesus took bread and broke it. I mean, we don't believe in transubstantiation, but that that bread is pretty powerful and pretty mysterious. And I would suggest that grace is baked into that loaf of bread that forgiveness is baked into it, salvation is baked into it.
So the oldest sourdough starter we know of is Boudin Bakery. Isidore Boudin, 1849. So this is crazy. Every loaf of bread, and I've been there, I've had one, has 174 years of accumulated DNA, some of the double-helix DNA from Isidore Boudin kind of connects to everybody. Yeah. I think the double anointing is like that. I just, what I'm getting at is that there's, Elijah is baked into Elisha. There's no other way to say it. And it's no coincidence that the first miracle that Elisha performs is the last miracle that Elijah performs, uses that cloak to part the Jordan River. And it's no coincidence that Elijah has 14 recorded miracles and Elisha has 28.
But here's the key. Those 28 miracles aren't a testament to Elisha. They're a testament to Elijah because legacy is not what you accomplish, it's what others accomplish because of you. Norman Borlaug won the prize. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Hold on. Etta Mae Budd. George Washington Carver. Henry Walt, you can't tell the story without them. Whose name if it was missing, you can't tell your story. Don and Bonnie Batterson, let's start right there. Bob Schmidt Goff, Sam Farina. And it makes me think of Rich Wilkerson.
And then I think of Dr. Bob Rhoden and I think of Bob Smiley, who just, hey, go ahead and preach as a 20-year-old. And then there are people whose names I don't even know, gave a speech as a sophomore in high school. And I look back now and realize it was my first sermon. My mom gave it to my grandma who gave it to a Bible study teacher. That Bible study teacher said, has Mark ever thought about ministry? That message got passed back to my grandma, back to my mom, to me. And the answer was no. I hadn't thought about it until now. And a seed is planted in my spirit. One word for one person can change the course of history. Let it be us in Jesus name. Amen.