Give Me Also | Pastor Earl & Oneka McClellan

God is going to move. He's already moving. Welcome to Shoreline City. Again, all of our locations, we love you so, so very much. Today is going to be special. Every Sunday is special. Every time we get together is special. But today, I'll be tag-team preaching with the most amazing human being on the entire planet. Her name is Onika McClellan. Yes, so for a few minutes, let me be the appetizer before the main course gets up here to share and open up God's Word. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me to the book of Joshua, chapter number 15. Joshua, chapter 15. And I want to do something interesting here. I want to do something interesting. So team, put up Joshua, chapter 15, beginning in verse number 16. But I also want you to put up side-by-side the book of Judges, chapter number 1, beginning in verse number 12. Twelve all the way through verse number 15. So I want you to see these two passages of Scripture right next to each other. One from Joshua, one from Judges. I'm going to read from Joshua because we've been at Summer Strong. It's ending here. We're ending with the book of Joshua. Here we go. Joshua, chapter 15, verse number 16. It says, And Caleb said, I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Curiath Sephir. Othniel, son of Canaz, Caleb's brother, took it. So Caleb gave his daughter Aksah in marriage, to him in marriage. One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, what can I do for you? She replied, do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water. So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. Do you see these two passages of Scripture right next to each other? They're almost identical. Joshua, chapter 15, and in this Judges, chapter 1. I saw this and it jumped off the page at me. I did not know. I knew of the story. I had read it before. I did not know the story was repeated two times in Scripture. Two times, almost verbatim, this story is shared. This is telling me, and obviously the whole of Scripture is important and vital, but this is telling me God is trying to get our attention here.

There's something that he's wanting us to see. There's a way he's wanting us to grow. There's some truths that he's wanting us to extract out of the text here. So today, would you open up your ears and open up your hearts as we dig in a little bit and trust that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the Word of God and our hearts will be captured. First and foremost, there are some things you read in the Bible that would be prescriptive and descriptive. Prescriptive is, I want you to do this. Descriptive is, this is what was done. So you've got to make sure you're understanding what you're reading. Because you can read this and be like, wait, who married who? Aren't they cousins? That's not right. I'm not from, I almost put it in a little state joke right there, but, you know, we got people from a lot of the southern states in our church, so I don't want to, that might be legal where you are, but you're not allowed to do this. Prescriptive, descriptive. This is not something the Bible is prescribing. The Bible is explaining this is what happened. It's just like if you read about somebody in Scripture who committed adultery, the Bible's not saying do that. The Bible is saying this is descriptive, this is what they did, not what I would want you to do. So let's not get in too much of that minutia. What I want you to see is Caleb, this is the guy we talked about last week, dog, loyal, fierce, tenacious. Caleb is looking at this land and he says, I'm looking for someone, I'm looking for someone,

this again, go with me to verse number 16, I'm looking for someone who will attack and capture. Attack and capture. And whoever attacks and captures, captures this city, what I'm gonna do for them is they get to have my daughter in marriage. Attack and capture. I read that, and one of the first things that I thought of is I want somebody who will not just start, but somebody who will also finish. I'm looking for someone who is willing not just to begin the fight, but also to end the fight. Someone that won't just know how to start a marriage, but someone who will know how to be in the marriage all the way to the end. Someone that will not just know how to start the company, but be willing to fight all the way to the end. Somebody that just won't start in faith, but someone who will endure in faith all the way to the end. I want somebody who will not only attack, but also someone that will capture. We live in a day and age, friends, you know this like I know this, where people wanna start a lot of things, but then they don't finish a lot of things. But that's not the picture that we get from our Savior at all. We serve a Savior that didn't just start something, He finished something. Go with me to Hebrews chapter number 13,

or rather chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. I wanna start reading towards the end of verse number one. It says, and let us run with perseverance. Let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. Everybody say Jesus. Come on, say Jesus. Yeah, we're fixing our eyes on Jesus. The pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The Bible here is telling us that Jesus endured the cross, scorned the shame, and then sat down. The sitting down is saying it's finished. It's done. It's completed. I reconciled the world back to God. I forgave humanity of their sins. My shed blood made a way for everyone to now have a relationship with God. Jesus did not just start it, Jesus also finished it. I want you to see that when you become a follower of Christ, this is the blood that is flowing through your veins. You're not just a starter, you also have the grace and the power of the Spirit to finish. Some of us are getting upset with ourselves over and over again, because we get tired of starting over. And can I encourage you, if you are tired of starting over,

stop quitting over and over. It's the quitting that forces us to have to start over. And I know, I'm living in this world just like you, and things can get heavy and difficult, and the trials and the pains and the sicknesses and the wars and the commentary and the abuse and the backstabbing and the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all of it's real. Sometimes it feels like we just wanna hide away, go away to some mountain somewhere and just live off the land, which for the record, I would probably last about four hours, and then I'd be done, I'd be done. I can't pitch a tent, I can't pitch a tent. One day, I'll learn how. With that being said, you wanna escape, wanna get away. Man, this is hard, raising kids is hard. Being single and honoring God with your body can be difficult. Shoot, just being single and living a life that's full of victory and strength and you not letting people impose on you that you're somehow less than because you don't have a ring on your finger, that can be hard. Marriage, it can be hard. Leading a company, it can be hard. Going to school, it can be hard. There's a lot of things that can feel hard.

What I can tell you is you're not just someone that was designed to go and attack. You go all the way to the end and you capture as well. You are designed to finish the thing that God put in front of you. Not because you and I are so great, but because the spirit of the living God is alive on the inside of us and our Savior didn't just go to the cross, he went to the cross, then went to the grave, but he didn't just stay in the grave, he finished it and rose from the dead and then sat down at the right hand of God the Father. This is your DNA. This, I almost messed up his name. Go back with me to Joshua, let me read it so I don't jack up your boy's name too much. Othiniel, this Othiniel, I saw his name, I looked it up, and I was feeling like I'd seen this name before. I was like, I've seen this name, not one of my cousins, but I've seen this name somewhere before. And then, when I was in the book of Judges, go with me. To Judges, it's just the next book over. Go with me to chapter number three. Look at this. I was like, I've seen this name, I've seen this name, I've seen this name. I had seen this name, but I know some names can be repeated. Is it the same person? Judges chapter three, verse number seven.

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Astros. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, so he sold them into the hands of, and I'm not gonna jack up this guy's name right here. You go ahead and read it yourself. To whom the Israelites were subject for eight years, but when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer. Look at the deliverer's name. Othiniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, who saved them. The spirit of the Lord came on him so that he became Israel's judge and went to war. You can see that the Lord gave this king into his hands who overpowered him, so the land had peace for 40 years until Othiniel, son of Kenaz, died. I saw this and I thought, well, let's connect the dots here. Caleb, who was a fighter and a warrior, is looking for someone to attack and capture. The man that steps up is Othiniel. Othiniel says, I'll do it. I looked up his name. Othiniel means God is might or God is powerful. So now you've got somebody who has this man, Caleb, who's a warrior, and this young man now steps up and he's a warrior. Now Caleb has a son-in-law who is a warrior. He's so much a warrior.

When the children of Israel ended up in a place of bondage and oppression, God raised up this Othiniel to go and attack again. This man is strong. This man is confident. This man has faith. This man has vigor. This man has passion. This man has zeal. He has all of these things. That's why I was shocked to find out what he didn't have. He didn't have the courage and the faith. To go to his wife's father and ask him for the springs. All this strength. This warrior mentality. But he was not willing to go to the father. And I wondered about us. In our day and age, with all of our activity sometimes, and we can have so much activity, but not have the intimacy to go to the father. That a lot of us are like, yeah, I'll fight. Yeah, I'll fight. Yeah, I'll fight. But when it comes to God and him as our father, actually having our hearts, we're willing to do things for God rather than actually be really connected to God. And I want you to know the enemy of our souls is just fine with us being willing to fight, but not actually having the intimacy with our father. So I'm gonna break that.

Because when Jesus taught us to pray, you can read this in Luke 11. I'll put it on the screen for you. Luke 11, I think it's verse number, it's on the screen right now. Two, three, four, something like that. The disciples are like, teach us to pray. And Jesus says, okay, I'll teach you how to pray. And he starts with, father. I did some study on this. And the name Yahweh is the name of God. So holy, so pure. People began to revere the name so much that it was never really used in public. It was only reserved for sacred spaces. So I'm gonna say, I think unintentionally. Unintentionally, it seemed as if God was unapproachable because God's name was never used. So people unintentionally just started drifting, going, he's up there, I'm over here, I'll just kind of do me. And he'll be God and everything's just fine. And then Jesus says, I'll teach you how to pray. The one that you have been leaning back and away from is the one that I want you to call father. And not just father, Abba, dad. So Atheniel, with all the fierceness that he had and all the power that he had and all the calling and the anointing and the strength that he had, felt a distance between him and the father.

But he had a wife. Her name actually means anklet or bracelet. Commentators are thinking she's beautiful. Well, I got one of those. I actually call Onika anklet or bracelet sometimes. She's about to come up here in just a moment and she's going to share how Caleb's daughter was willing to connect with the father. And because she had a right understanding of her relationship with the father, God worked a miracle that the husband was not going to see, even though he was a fighter, because he was not willing to break through that wall and have a deeper relationship with the father. But thank God his wife did. And when she did, it changed everything. Give me also. Put your hands together, family, as the one and only Pastor Onika Bekele comes to you. Y'all, you may be seated. Love y'all. Give me also. I'm just going to stay in the same flow that Earl is in this morning. And God wants to do something with our hearts. He wants to reframe and reshape the way that we see our heavenly father. I know that we've heard the phrase like God loves you, but do you really know that he loves you? Do you really know that he's proud of you?

Do you really know that he has a plan and purpose for your life? Or do we only believe it when we're on top of the world? Do we only believe it when we're crushing it on our company? Do we only believe it when our kids are behaving? Do we only believe it when we're set free from addiction? Do we only believe it on the mountaintops? But do we believe that he loves us and absolutely adores us through every season? And my mission this morning as I tag team with Earl is just to continue on that same topic, give me also. And I think the reason why Caleb's daughter was able to ask her father for more is because she understood her place in his eyes. And go with me to Joshua 15, 18 through 19. One day, this is Caleb's daughter, when she came to Aphneal, she urged him, this is her husband that Earl talked about, to ask her father for a field. When she got off of her donkey, and scholars say that that was a sign of respect, Caleb asked her, what can I do for you? And I think about the fields that we stand in front of, fields for our family, fields for our companies, fields for our health, fields for things that we wanna see take place in this world. What is our posture as we stand before those fields? We can learn from her posture because she was respectful,

and she said, do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water. Say, give me also. Give me also. So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. And when I was looking at her story, and when the verse here said, what can be done for you, or what can I do for you, it reminded me of the Shunammite in 2 Kings, because Elijah said the same thing to her. And so you have these parallel stories, both saying what can be done for you. And the Shunammite, when Elijah the prophet said, what can be done for you, her posture was, I'm good. I have a home among my people. I'm good, I'm content. But really, she did have a desire. She had a desire to have a son. But she stuffed it down and just said like the robotic answer. But I think we can learn from the woman that Earl was talking about today, Aksa, who said, not just thank you for my inheritance, not just thank you for my dowry, but I also want more. I want springs to water the land that you've given me. And I feel like this morning, we all find ourselves in front of fields.

And I feel like many of us feel like, okay, I have what I need. But there's more that God wants to do in and through you. There's more that he has for you, not just to bless you, but to bless other people. And I'm not just talking about resources. I'm talking about grace. I'm talking about faith. I'm talking about strength. I'm talking about healing. But if we have the wrong picture of our father, we do not have that give me also spirit. I think about Earl a few weeks ago. He shared about us needing to purchase the building in San Antonio. It kept coming available to us. And I remember when we first planted our church, he was afraid to tell the church the needs that we had because he didn't want you to paint him with the wrong brush and lump him in with other people that didn't do the right thing with resources. So he would hold back in telling the needs. But then one of our mentors said, generosity is in the Bible. It's scriptural. And you and Onika are generous. You need to raise up your church to teach them the power of generosity. And so now he walks with that give me also spirit and he boldly brought it to our church,

all of our locations and said, we have the opportunity to have a lighthouse right in the center of San Antonio. And every location responded. And that is why we were able to purchase that building. So give me also is not just selfish for us and our families, but it's also to bless other people. And if we have the right frame of our heavenly father, the sky is the limit. I think about my kids. I think about there's something that we say to our kids and we've said it to them ever since they were babies. What basically is like, basically no matter what, my love for you will never change. And so when they make the best choices, we love them and we're obsessed with them. But also when they do the wrong thing, when they fail us, when they have a tantrum, when they lie, just whatever it is that they do, we need them to know that our love for them is not based on works. And that is the same way with your heavenly father. His love for you is not based on works. And I think there's things that he wants you to ask him, but you're not asking him because you think he's mad at you. You think he thinks you're a failure. You're waiting till you have it all together. Then you think that you're like pure enough to come to him. But our daughter, she's 11. She comes to Earl when she has a meltdown.

She comes to him when she gets good grades because she knows that he loves her and that his love that he has for her is not based on her works. But somehow, no matter how we were raised, if we were raised in homes with dads who adored us, who spoke life over us, or if we were raised by distance dads who were present but very distant, somehow no matter if you had it great or if you had a gap in that area, somehow we transpose that onto God or our own picture of God. And then we hold back in having that give me also spirit. But I'm here to destroy that this morning in the name of Jesus. I have out my spiritual shovel. I've been praying. I've been seeking the face of God. And some of us have an orphan spirit where no matter what God says to you or sings over you, you think I can't come to the table with that request. I'm too blessed. He's already been too good to me. I already have the family that I desire. I already have the resources that I desire. How could I ask for more? This message is for you also. This message is also for those of us that think small, that think that God is just like judging us

and that we cannot ask him for more. I am so thankful that Aksa knew that her father loved her. And even though she received an inheritance, I love that she also said, I need the springs because I need some water to handle this land because this land is dry and I'm grateful for this land, but I need some water. And I wonder what things God is waiting for you to ask him for. I wonder what blessings, what breakthroughs, I wonder what miracles are just in the attics of your heart, just like dusty and crusty and waiting to be activated, like waiting to be activated. For breakthrough to happen, you guys, like your life is not over yet. There's so much more that God wants to do through you and in you, but this morning, he wants you to reframe the way you see him. He's a loving father. Yes, he's strong. And yes, he's bold. And he's not gonna, he doesn't want you to. but like sin constantly. He doesn't want you to sin at all, but you're human. But he also doesn't want you to stop coming to him because of how you feel. Don't put your own bad habits that you have about yourself on your heavenly Father who actually wants to be a part of your healing. I'm gonna read some scriptures here

about just the love that the Father has for you. And I'm believing that they're just gonna penetrate your heart and tear down walls. In the spirit, imagine me just marching around your heart with God, just tearing down those walls that you have built up over time, walls that you don't even realize are there. Psalm 103, the Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. He's tender and compassionate towards you. Matthew 6, look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable? I underline that scripture. If you have your Bibles out, take out Matthew 6, 26. I underlined far more valuable to him than they are. You're far more valuable. John 15, 16, you didn't choose me, I chose you. He chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the Father will give you whatever you ask using my name. Romans 8, 15, so you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, everybody say instead. You have received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own. Now we call him Abba Father. We have three kids and two out of our three,

we have adopted. We knew since college that we had a call to adopt and our heavenly Father has adopted each and every one of you. And when I think about my kids that I adopted, I'm obsessed with them. I love them. There's not anything that Earl and I would not do for them. We don't think, oh, I didn't give natural birth to you so I'm gonna hold back. Actually, we give them exceedingly abundantly more they could ask, think or imagine, more love, more grace, more peace, more favor, more joy because we adopted them. And our heavenly Father has a spirit, there's a spirit of adoption for you. And some of us are living like we're in an orphanage by ourself with no food, no love, no shelter, no heavenly Father looking out for us. And I believe that by the spirit of God, he's gonna pull you from that orphan mindset, that slave mindset and say, no, this is my son and daughter. I am pleased with you. I love you. My love for you is not based on your works. Tell the person next to you, it's not based on your works. He loves you unconditionally and loves you enough to grab you by the hand or the hair and pull you out of that pit that you keep returning to. It's his love for you that will compel you to run back home.

I wonder if some of us are so stuck in cycles of sin because we don't recognize the love of our Father. So we're staying in this cycle because we see God is mad at us and we stop approaching him with humility. Second Corinthians six. And I'm passionate about this because not because I had the perfect example of a father here on earth. I'm passionate about this because God did surgery on my heart and gave me the most clear picture of what a father is supposed to be through scripture. And you can have that same clear picture. Second Corinthians six, 18. And I will be your father. And you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. I believe the spirit of adoption is just falling on this place even now and falling online. Ephesians one, three through five. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Some of us are perfectionists and we think about all of our faults and all the ways that we've messed up

and the failures that we have. But it says right here that you're a father without fault in his eyes, without fault. His eyes are not judging you. His eyes are not disappointed in you or displeased. God decided in advance, in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure. Last verse, Ephesians 2, 18. Now, all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. The reason why Aksa, who Earl talked about, was able to get off of her horse, or donkey, whatever it was, and ask her Father with that give me also mindset is because she knew her Father loved her. She knew her Father had more for her. And there's more that your Heavenly Father has for you. There's more that He wants to do for you. There's more that He wants to do in your family. There's more that He wants to do in your health. There's more that He wants to do in your heart. And today, if you are wearing glasses that are the wrong picture of your Father, I'm just gonna be bold and a little gangster, and I'm gonna take your glasses off, and I'm gonna throw them onto the floor,

and I'm gonna step on them in the name of Jesus, and believe that you're getting new eyesight, and I'm gonna replace them with a holy frame, frames that show you that you're loved, frames that show you that you're filled with love, and peace, and acceptance, and mercy. So when you put those frames on, and you look out onto your job, you say, God, I thank you, forgive me also. When you put those frames on, and you look at your family, you say, God, give me also. When you put those frames on, and you look at the school year ahead, you say, God, give me also. When you look for your son and daughter that seems like they're lost, that seems like they're not getting it, that seems like there's a wall between them and you, you put on those supernatural glasses from the Holy Spirit, and you say, God, give me also. May that old mindset fall off of my son or daughter in the name of Jesus. May my son or daughter see you the way that you see them. May they step forth boldly into their purpose, into confidence, in the call of God upon their life. You having a give me also spirit is not just about you. It's about your future children, and your future children's children. And what if we had that with our faith?

What if we didn't want to sit tight and go, I love the Lord, but what about my next door neighbor? God, give me also eyes to see my next door neighbor. Give me also eyes to pray for them, to believe God for breakthrough. What if your marriage didn't have to stay the same? What if God this morning want you to put new lenses on, don't pick up the old ones, they're broken, we don't wear them anymore. Have you ever seen anyone with broken glasses with the tape on it? It looks crazy. We're not gonna pick those back up. We're putting on new frames this morning because we have the mind of Christ, and the Bible says old things are passed away, all things have become new. I'm believing God for some holy surgery today. We've been singing this song called In Our Mist. And we sing it as a reminder to all of us that His presence is with us. His love is with us. It talks about there's healing all consuming in our midst, and we're gonna sing it for just a little bit. And I'm believing that there's gonna be an exchange, that there's gonna be new lenses and new life that is poured out upon you. You don't have to perform in order to receive a breakthrough. You don't have to dance your way into a miracle. You don't have to have it all together

to be able to ask your Father, I wonder what blessings are waiting for you. I wonder if we could get the right perspective of the love that He has for you. We could ask Him to fill this place, fill this auditorium, fill a line with His presence. He wants you to cry out to Him. He wants you to repent. He wants you to see Him in a new way because He's in your midst. He wants to rewire the way you see Him as a loving Father. He loves you, He adores you, He's fighting for you. But would you ask of Heaven this morning, would your ask make a difference outside of this building? Let's ask and call upon Heaven and watch breakthrough come. ♪ Rest, revival, hope in Heaven in our midst ♪ Just, come on, in our midst, we sing that one more time, in our midst. ♪ Oh, in our midst there is fire all put to rest ♪ ♪ In our midst there is oil of anointing, yeah ♪ ♪ In our midst, rest, revival, hope in Heaven in our midst ♪ Come on, Holy Spirit, we sing, Holy Spirit! Let the light through it move however you want. We're unhearing, harmless. There is fire, all consuming. In our midst, there is oil. Come and go to take it. Fresh revival, fresh revival. Oh, in our midst, just imagine what could happen. Just imagine.

And it's in our midst. You can feel the presence of the Lord in the room, can't you? Right now, you can just, you can stay focused on Him for a second. Matter of fact, I'm gonna ask everybody in the room if you could just close your eyes for a moment. What does the Lord need to do in your heart, in your mind right now? That you see Him as Father, as a good Father. See Him as a good Father. What does the Lord need to adjust in your heart right now? We're just gonna sit for a little bit. Let the Holy Spirit do some work. What are some things that maybe from reading the Scriptures or something Pastor Earl said or something Pastor Onika said that just resonated to your heart? Just let it take root. Just give it a little bit more time. Let it take root. You're a good Father. You're a good Father. He's a good Father. In this same posture, if you're here today and you found yourself trying to solve all your problems yourself, you've actually found yourself trying to be your own Savior instead of acknowledging that you need a Savior, and you're here today and you're like, I'm done doing that, and you want to give your heart to Christ, you want to surrender your life to Him, you want to take that step saying, Jesus, I accept you as my Savior. In this holy moment, while the Holy Spirit's doing different things in different people right now, if that's you today and you're like, I need to surrender my life to Christ, I'm going to ask you to do something that's very profound, very simple too. I'm going to ask you to just shoot up your hand saying, yep, that's me on the count of three. One, two, three.

Just shoot your hand up saying, yep, I need Jesus to be first. I want to give my heart to Christ. It's beautiful. I see hands all over the room. This is one of the things that I absolutely adore about the Holy Spirit is in a room like this, those online, each individual person is being spoken to in a moment like this. He's working on all of us differently. Church family, I'm going to ask you to put your hand on your heart though, and I want us to repeat this prayer. Say, dear Jesus, thank you for forgiving me all of my sins. I admit I've made mistakes, but today I give you my heart, I give you my life, give me the power to live for you. And Lord, I just pray over every single person in the room. Holy Spirit, would you continue to work on our lives? I pray that this would not stop in this moment. But God, I pray, Holy Spirit, would you continue to speak to us as we're in our car and as we're at home, as we're having brunch and lunch, and as we go about our week. Holy Spirit, would you continue to speak to us? God, I pray that we would continue to take more ground. Father, I pray that we would continue to receive the healing. Lord, I pray that we would still understand that you are a good Father, and your ear is actually attentive to every single one of our prayers. So, Holy Spirit, would you heal us where we need healing? Would you restore us where we need restoring? Would you encourage us where we need encouragement? God, would you help us to take ground where we need to take ground? God, I pray that every single one of our lives and our families and our houses Would look a little bit more like heaven I pray that they would be full of joy and peace and hope and love in Jesus name we pray and everybody said

Amen and amen