Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Come on, clap those hands all over the house. God
Speaker 1: bless you. Is so good to see you today. Welcome, welcome, Yeah, hey, hey,
Speaker 1: hello to you online. Our etham is joining us all
Speaker 1: over the world. Can y'all get me just a second.
Speaker 1: As our EPAM tells us where they're watching from right
Speaker 1: there in the chat and the comments, I want to
Speaker 1: appreciate our worship team and the reason the reason I
Speaker 1: want to do it. You know, it can be easy,
Speaker 1: if you're a good singer, good musician, to just come
Speaker 1: for a performance and to lock into that. But when
Speaker 1: you sense that your team is not just here for
Speaker 1: performance but for presents. And I sense that today while
Speaker 1: each and every one of you were ministering, So thank
Speaker 1: you for showing up, for showing up, and while our
Speaker 1: e fam is joining in and telling us where they're
Speaker 1: watching from right there in the comments, look at your
Speaker 1: neighbor and say, you did good to show up today
Speaker 1: driving through all that fog. Was it still foggy when
Speaker 1: you came. See? I shouldn't say stuff like this because
Speaker 1: it localizes the message, but I was praying for you today. Lord,
Speaker 1: help them to direct their paths. Lord, it is foggy.
Speaker 1: One thing about fog I just want to point out.
Speaker 1: Remember year over my house the other day, Chunks, and
Speaker 1: I said, it's so foggy outside, and you said, no,
Speaker 1: it's not. You said, that's just on the windows. So
Speaker 1: sometimes it's not foggy you are. And what I noticed
Speaker 1: about the Lord. A lot of times when we come
Speaker 1: together and worship like this, it's like I'll go all
Speaker 1: week long and just feel like I'm just stumbling around
Speaker 1: in the fog. You know, can't think straight. And I
Speaker 1: don't know about you, but I get foggy. And it's
Speaker 1: amazing how worshiping wipes the windows. And I realized, like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, God really is still in charge. Oh wow,
Speaker 1: somebody say, wow wow, it stands for wipe our windows.
Speaker 1: I'm just freestylic I'm happy to be here. This year,
Speaker 1: I started praying a different prayer before I preached. I
Speaker 1: still prayed that the Lord would help you. But I
Speaker 1: start praying every time that he would let me have fun.
Speaker 1: Not that I wasn't having fun before, but I just
Speaker 1: don't ever want these moments to pass by without appreciating them.
Speaker 1: I have a word for you today that I believe
Speaker 1: will will hit you right in your heart and help
Speaker 1: you with some of your habits. I started last week
Speaker 1: and by the way, the chat is going crazy was
Speaker 1: telling us where they're watching from. Everybody put a wow
Speaker 1: in the chat. Somebody say wow, wow, wow, wow wow.
Speaker 1: And what was I saying? How last week I told
Speaker 1: you that in this year of your life, some of
Speaker 1: the greatest things that will happen in some of the
Speaker 1: hardest things that will happen, will not be in your
Speaker 1: strategic plan. So my challenge to you was this, to
Speaker 1: make presence your plan this year. Somebody say presence is
Speaker 1: the plan. I don't know what all I'm walking into
Speaker 1: this year, but I'm showing up for it. And to
Speaker 1: do that, you'll have to show up from time to time.
Speaker 1: You have to show up hurting from time to time,
Speaker 1: and you have to show up sometimes when you wish
Speaker 1: you could pull up the covers and hide. But in
Speaker 1: this passage in Deuteronomy chapter twenty I want to read
Speaker 1: you verse one, and I want to pair it very
Speaker 1: briefly with the scripture from Ephesians chapter six, verse thirteen.
Speaker 1: And in Deuteronomy chapter twenty, verse one, Moses is giving
Speaker 1: a speech to the people of Israel to prepare them
Speaker 1: for what God has positioned them for. So I think
Speaker 1: this might be relevant to us as well. Deuteronomy chapter
Speaker 1: twenty verse one. When you go to war against your
Speaker 1: enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater
Speaker 1: than yours, do not be afraid of them, because this
Speaker 1: is where you got to be very careful if what
Speaker 1: you put after because is something that you can do.
Speaker 1: Your courage will melt when you face opposition. But Moses said,
Speaker 1: when you face something and you know it's greater than you,
Speaker 1: do not be afraid of it. Do not be afraid
Speaker 1: of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you
Speaker 1: up out of Egypt, will be with you. He will
Speaker 1: be with you. So touch your neighbor and say, He'll
Speaker 1: be with me. Whatever it looks like, whatever it feels like,
Speaker 1: wherever it goes either way, He'll be with me. And
Speaker 1: now for Ephesians, chapter six, verse thirteen. Put it on
Speaker 1: the screen. Please, you might have heard this one before. Therefore,
Speaker 1: put on the full armor of God, so that when
Speaker 1: the day of evil comes, you may be able to
Speaker 1: stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand,
Speaker 1: after you have done everything to stand, Sometimes standing is
Speaker 1: the victory. Sometimes being here is the victory. So last
Speaker 1: week I talked to you about where you meet with God,
Speaker 1: and this week my thought is a little bit different.
Speaker 1: And uh, well hold on, let me read it to
Speaker 1: you how I wrote it down. Yeah, I want to
Speaker 1: talk to you about something that you might be feeling
Speaker 1: in your heart when you just can't win, when you
Speaker 1: just can't win. And we'll talk about that for a moment. Father,
Speaker 1: I thank you that I since, even as I look
Speaker 1: into the eyes of the people who are in this room,
Speaker 1: that this message will not just live and die in
Speaker 1: this room. It's going forth, not only into our week,
Speaker 1: but it's going forth into the rest of our year.
Speaker 1: We lean in now listening to you speak, Lord in Jesus' name. Amen,
Speaker 1: you may be seated well for the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: You'll probably hear me use illustrations from the sport of wrestling.
Speaker 1: It's not because I'm going through anything. Man Pastor's talking
Speaker 1: about wrestling a lot lately, he must really be going
Speaker 1: through a battle. No, it's just because every Saturday I'm
Speaker 1: in a gym watching Graham and while I'm thinking about you,
Speaker 1: I'm watching him wrestle. And so this is usually January.
Speaker 1: I usually use a lot of wrestling illustrations. Yesterday I
Speaker 1: got a really good one. See, when people come to
Speaker 1: watch wrestling, it's really weird to them because it's, for
Speaker 1: most people, a sport that they're not very familiar with.
Speaker 1: And it's not like they're showing up to a basketball
Speaker 1: game or a football game. So often they have very
Speaker 1: little context for what they're watching. And I guess, because
Speaker 1: I've seen the sport of wrestling since i was a teenager,
Speaker 1: there are certain things about it that I think everybody
Speaker 1: knows or understands. But it really takes somebody from the
Speaker 1: outside coming in to remind you how weird this is.
Speaker 1: And yesterday we had a couple people with us who
Speaker 1: had never seen wrestling, so they were just full of questions. Now,
Speaker 1: Holly is nicer than me, so she'll answer the questions
Speaker 1: as they ask. I'll just kind of get frustrated, like,
Speaker 1: just watch, just watch and you'll figure it out. Sit
Speaker 1: here and watch and you'll figure it out. You some context,
Speaker 1: because people come in and they ask the dumbest stuff
Speaker 1: like or is there going to be a DDT? Or
Speaker 1: are they going to jump off the top ropes? Can
Speaker 1: you put them in a choke hold? And so I'm
Speaker 1: a little bit done with answering all the questions. But
Speaker 1: Holly's so patient. And yesterday somebody was asking her what's
Speaker 1: her favorite thing about wrestling, and she said something that
Speaker 1: I thought was so deep. She said, what I love
Speaker 1: about wrestling, and I leaned in to listen. She said
Speaker 1: that even if the person is down by a wide
Speaker 1: margin of points, and even if there's not enough time
Speaker 1: left on the clock for them to come back, it's
Speaker 1: never really over because they can always get a pin.
Speaker 1: In other sports, it becomes mathematically impossible to come back.
Speaker 1: If you are down by forty in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: of a basketball game with a minute left, you will
Speaker 1: not score forty points in a minute, no matter how
Speaker 1: nbagm on fire you get. There is no amount of
Speaker 1: on fire that can close the gap in that scenario.
Speaker 1: And the same is true with so many sports. But
Speaker 1: in this sport, there is always the chance that, even
Speaker 1: if you have been beat the entire six minutes, in
Speaker 1: the last six seconds, it is possible, oh though not probable,
Speaker 1: that if you can put your opponent on his back
Speaker 1: for just long enough for both shoulder black to touch,
Speaker 1: every point you were down by becomes irrelevant because of
Speaker 1: something that happened. When it looked like it was over.
Speaker 1: Everybody else may stop watching. But there's always a chance
Speaker 1: that even when it looks like you have been completely
Speaker 1: dismembered and dismantled, even when it looks like you have
Speaker 1: been completely outmatched and overwhelmed in that last minute, there
Speaker 1: is always a chance that something could happen. She said,
Speaker 1: I love wrestling because a pin is always possible. And
Speaker 1: when she said a pin is always possible, I thought,
Speaker 1: that is not just a wrestling lesson, that is a
Speaker 1: praise lesson, because I imagine the people who have never
Speaker 1: been to a church like ours before it must look
Speaker 1: really weird to see us doing what we do. I mean,
Speaker 1: here we are, we've got our own hang ups and issues,
Speaker 1: and yet our hands are lifted. And here we are
Speaker 1: with our own struggles, yet we're singing about the goodness
Speaker 1: of God. And here we are still dealing with things
Speaker 1: that we've been dealing with for decades, and yet we
Speaker 1: are proclaiming Jesus is our freedom. And I imagine if
Speaker 1: you just walked in, you might have a lot of questions.
Speaker 1: You might wonder, how are they praising God? I know them,
Speaker 1: but you would be mistaken to think that they are
Speaker 1: praising God because they are always ahead. You would be
Speaker 1: mistaken to think they're praising God because they always get
Speaker 1: it right. You would be mistaken to think they're praising
Speaker 1: God because the outcome is scripted. I'm praising him because
Speaker 1: anything is possible in his presence. Y'all slow down a little.
Speaker 1: We got a long way to go. But touch your
Speaker 1: neighbors say. You can still win. I don't care what
Speaker 1: the enemy says about it. You can still win. In
Speaker 1: the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses says in verse one, chapter twenty,
Speaker 1: call it back to the screen for me. Boys, when
Speaker 1: you go to war. Not if when you go to war,
Speaker 1: it's guaranteed. When you go to war, it is assumed.
Speaker 1: So if spiritual battles are assumed by the Bible, why
Speaker 1: are they surprising to you when you go to war,
Speaker 1: and really you only have two options in the Christian life.
Speaker 1: One is to stay in the wilderness and the other
Speaker 1: is to go to war. Moses is speaking to a
Speaker 1: generation that has spent years in the wilderness. Now God
Speaker 1: is bringing them out of that wilderness place and he
Speaker 1: is preparing them for a war. They've never seen war before.
Speaker 1: All they know is wilderness. And if you've never seen
Speaker 1: war before, it might feel kind of weird. Some of
Speaker 1: you who are growing closer to God, the proof that
Speaker 1: you are growing closer to God right now is that
Speaker 1: the temptation is intensifying in your life. I kind of
Speaker 1: have a problem with preachers who lie to you about
Speaker 1: what their life is like. And I hear their podcast,
Speaker 1: but I know them personally. And if there is one
Speaker 1: promise I will make to you, it is not that
Speaker 1: I will always be perfect. If there is one promise
Speaker 1: I will make to you, it is not that I
Speaker 1: will always be polished. If there is one promise that
Speaker 1: I will make to you, it is not that I
Speaker 1: will always be making progress, but I'll be present. I'll
Speaker 1: be present. A fella came to me the other day
Speaker 1: and said, I'm really sorry I've been out of church
Speaker 1: for the last three years, and I apologize, I said,
Speaker 1: you don't know me an apology. You know where to
Speaker 1: find me when you need me. If you're drunken out
Speaker 1: of the church, I'll be here. If all you can
Speaker 1: watch is an Instagram clip, be here. If I'm not here,
Speaker 1: I'll have a pretty good guest we'll be here. Somebody's
Speaker 1: gonna be here preaching for you. And watch this. The
Speaker 1: promise of presence is so much greater than the promise
Speaker 1: of performance. You cannot guarantee your performance. You do not
Speaker 1: know what your response or ability will be in certain situations.
Speaker 1: And that's why I want us to start this year
Speaker 1: with a plan. B. What did the Lord say in
Speaker 1: Deuteronomy twenty When you go to war against your enemies
Speaker 1: and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,
Speaker 1: do not be afraid of them, even if you did
Speaker 1: not anticipate them. Stay there for an Yes, Lord, do
Speaker 1: not be afraid of them, even if you did not
Speaker 1: anticipate them. Don't be afraid of the ambush, because before
Speaker 1: the enemy got there, God did, Before the medical diagnosis
Speaker 1: was spoken, God's word was before the sea rage. The
Speaker 1: peace speaker was already on the boat. And this is
Speaker 1: our plan for the times in our lives this year
Speaker 1: when it looks like time is running out. When you
Speaker 1: go to war and the enemy that surrounds you is
Speaker 1: greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because
Speaker 1: the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt,
Speaker 1: will be with you. So what is your plan? What
Speaker 1: is your strategy? It's a plan, be you see it.
Speaker 1: He said he will be with me, and he promised
Speaker 1: to show up if I would. He promised to show
Speaker 1: up if I would. Now, a lot of what keeps
Speaker 1: us from showing up is the feeling that we are
Speaker 1: not enough to show up. But if you show up enough,
Speaker 1: it will be. If you show up enough, it will
Speaker 1: be if you show up enough in the word of
Speaker 1: God this year, the word of God will be enough
Speaker 1: to empower you through your struggle. Tell them show up enough,
Speaker 1: your neighbor, just tell them real quick, show up enough.
Speaker 1: That's something that the Lord gave me personally. I was
Speaker 1: going into an intimidating situation recently, and he said, you
Speaker 1: keep thinking that you have to go into situations and
Speaker 1: prove yourself. But you don't have to bring proof, just
Speaker 1: bring presence. So when you show up to that situation,
Speaker 1: look them right in the eyes, and show up, knowing
Speaker 1: if you weren't enough, God wouldn't have brought you into
Speaker 1: the situation. Is this helping anybody? Come on online, put
Speaker 1: it in a chat, say show up enough. And the
Speaker 1: beautiful thing about bad odds are that is God's resting
Speaker 1: place for the Christian. When you go to war against
Speaker 1: your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army
Speaker 1: greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because
Speaker 1: the Lord, your God, who brought you up out of Egypt,
Speaker 1: will be with you. As the Lord is bringing his
Speaker 1: people into the Promised Land, there are battles that they
Speaker 1: are going to have to fight, which confuses some of
Speaker 1: us because we think that if God promised something, it
Speaker 1: will be automatic. God's promises are guaranteed, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: make them automatic. There are some things that God gave
Speaker 1: you that you didn't go for that are not in
Speaker 1: your possession now because you thought just the fact that
Speaker 1: it was promised made it automatic. And for everybody who's
Speaker 1: in a war today, and the chariots and horses are
Speaker 1: greater than yours, for everybody who's dealing with mental disorders,
Speaker 1: and that thing seems stronger in your mind than your
Speaker 1: will and resolve. For everybody who's dealing today with the
Speaker 1: challenge that has been going on so long, you have
Speaker 1: convinced yourself it is insurmountable. I want to give you
Speaker 1: a word, and I want you to listen. Good. If
Speaker 1: the battle is really the lord's, if the battle is
Speaker 1: really the lords, now, we need to stop right there.
Speaker 1: Is it his battle or is it yours? Because when
Speaker 1: we are fighting to protect our pride and we are
Speaker 1: deflecting to keep our ego intact, then the battle is ours.
Speaker 1: But see Moses is speaking to people who are taking
Speaker 1: land that God has promised to give to them under
Speaker 1: the leadership of Joshua. And so he says, as you
Speaker 1: take this new ground, and some of you are in
Speaker 1: a season where God is giving you new ground, and
Speaker 1: you've never seen it before. So it feels weird to
Speaker 1: be at war. It feels weird to be fighting these
Speaker 1: battles that you're fighting at this stage of your life.
Speaker 1: But the Lord said, when you fight these battles that
Speaker 1: you've never fought before, if the battle is truly the Lord's,
Speaker 1: watch this, the math won't matter. The math won't matter.
Speaker 1: And this is good for everybody who's more of an
Speaker 1: English kind of person, that the math won't matter. I
Speaker 1: discovered in my life that when it's God's battle, the
Speaker 1: math doesn't matter. I discovered in studying God's word that
Speaker 1: if it's his battle, the math doesn't matter. You can
Speaker 1: be five foot six like David, and he can be
Speaker 1: nine foot two like Goliath. If it's God's battle, the
Speaker 1: math won't matter. You can be a little boy with
Speaker 1: five loaves and two fish, and the crowd can be
Speaker 1: five thousand strong, just in the men department. But if
Speaker 1: it's God's battle and he wants to feed the crowd
Speaker 1: through you, the math won't matter. You can have been
Speaker 1: stuck in something thirty eight years at the pool of
Speaker 1: bethesa John chapter five, verses one through seven, and everybody
Speaker 1: around you might be quicker than you, and you might
Speaker 1: feel like I just can't win. I just can't get
Speaker 1: there when the water is stirred, I have no one
Speaker 1: to help me. But when Jesus shows up, if he
Speaker 1: wants to heal what's hurting in you, it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: how many people are in front of you that are
Speaker 1: faster than you. If it's God's battle. Hot five. Your
Speaker 1: neighbors say, the math don't matter, bad grammar, good preach,
Speaker 1: and the math don't matter. Don't care how long it
Speaker 1: was like that, One moment in his presence, one moment
Speaker 1: of his favor, one moment of his holy fire, can
Speaker 1: burn away all the dross. Because I'm coming out of
Speaker 1: this becaus the mad. Do you hear what I'm saying
Speaker 1: to you? The prophet said, do not be afraid of them,
Speaker 1: for those with us or more than those with them.
Speaker 1: Stop looking at what's surrounding you, and stop looking at
Speaker 1: let's pace ourselves. Touch your neighbors say, I'm bad at math.
Speaker 1: I'm bad at math, but I'm good at faith. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm bad at math, but I'm good at faith. I'm
Speaker 1: bad at math, but I'm good at faith. What do
Speaker 1: you mean I'm bad at math. I'm too old, but
Speaker 1: I got faith. I'm too young, but I got faith.
Speaker 1: Don't have money, but I got faith. If it's God's battle,
Speaker 1: I don't know who needs to hear this. Your kid
Speaker 1: is developmentally disslayd, but they are gonna bloom in a
Speaker 1: season that is just right for them. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you another one. Oh, I love this. Some of you
Speaker 1: think you aren't good at anything. That's not true. You
Speaker 1: are good at something. You just think it's a small thing.
Speaker 1: But one small thing you're good at. In the hands
Speaker 1: of God, who gave it to you, can make everything
Speaker 1: you're bad at irrelevant. Ask David what one stone can do.
Speaker 1: You can't fight a giant, Yeah, but I can kill
Speaker 1: a bear, and one one stone save the whole nation. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Because when it's God's battle, the math won't matter. You're
Speaker 1: gonna get there when you're supposed to get there. The
Speaker 1: math won't matter. God will make up for all the
Speaker 1: days that you called wasted, and the math won't matter.
Speaker 1: What you thought was a failure is gonna contain the
Speaker 1: seeds of your growth, and the math won't matter. The
Speaker 1: conflict was kind of developing your character so that when
Speaker 1: you get to a place, you'll have the fruit of
Speaker 1: the spirit called patience, and the math won't even matter.
Speaker 1: So when you go to war and you face an
Speaker 1: enemy that's bigger than you, remember your plan. B I
Speaker 1: want to give you three things today because sometimes I
Speaker 1: think when I preach, I get so excited I don't
Speaker 1: give you anything to write down. I feel bad about
Speaker 1: that that you would come all the way to church
Speaker 1: and not get a single note. So I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you three notes words today for when you feel like
Speaker 1: you just can't win. Now, that phrase you just can't
Speaker 1: win can be taken two ways. Right In Deuteronomy twenty
Speaker 1: verse one, it says, when you face an enemy that
Speaker 1: you can't be I'll be with you. So you literally
Speaker 1: cannot win this, but God still will be with you
Speaker 1: and give you the ability and the way to connect
Speaker 1: to that is number one. Remember, just remember, just as
Speaker 1: simple as that, he said, when you face an enemy
Speaker 1: that is bigger than you, more chariots, more horses, when
Speaker 1: you face something that's absolutely beyond your comprehension or your
Speaker 1: ability to deal with, and you know exactly what that
Speaker 1: is in your life right now, and do not lie
Speaker 1: to the Holy Spirit. I'm not even making you say
Speaker 1: out loud what it is. Just acknowledge it in your heart.
Speaker 1: When you face that, remember that the Lord who brought
Speaker 1: you out of Egypt will be with you. And they
Speaker 1: keep taking my scripture down, but I need it one
Speaker 1: more time. I think they think, because it's just one verse,
Speaker 1: I read it and I'm done with it. But I
Speaker 1: can preach a verse for twelve weeks. When is this good?
Speaker 1: Because he said, I'm the Lord, your God who brought
Speaker 1: you out of Egypt, and I will be with you.
Speaker 1: One of those is what he did, and one of
Speaker 1: those is what he is. He's with you. So he said, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm done with it now, thank you. He said, just
Speaker 1: remember that thing that I did for you. Then, So
Speaker 1: why is that so simple? And I suck at it
Speaker 1: so bad? Why do I constantly get into states of
Speaker 1: mind that pretend like this. This is the first time
Speaker 1: I've ever had a problem like this, And I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful for perspective. You know, one thing I love about
Speaker 1: singing songs about God is it just gives me perspective.
Speaker 1: And I need that so much in my life because
Speaker 1: for me, songs of worship are like streams that flow
Speaker 1: to my heart when it's dry. And one of the
Speaker 1: things that it helps me access in that process when
Speaker 1: I begin to remember it, is like oh yeah, and
Speaker 1: I just have oh yeah moments in the presence of God,
Speaker 1: Like you can have an Aha moment where you realize
Speaker 1: something you never realized before, and then you can have
Speaker 1: a oh yeah moment where you remember something that you
Speaker 1: temporarily forgotten. Think about all the things that God has
Speaker 1: already done for his people by the time Deuteronomy chapter twenty,
Speaker 1: verse one is spoken through the mouth of Moses. Think
Speaker 1: about how many odds they've overcome to be in this moment.
Speaker 1: Think about how many enemies God drown in the Red
Speaker 1: Sea just to bring this generation to the wilderness. About
Speaker 1: how He rebuilt their self image to see themselves no
Speaker 1: longer as slaves but as settlers. And now as they
Speaker 1: stand on the precipice of a new season, they need
Speaker 1: to remember what God did. Say God did, I wrote
Speaker 1: a song that I released on Friday, so you can
Speaker 1: walk around your house and remember, so that when you
Speaker 1: face a war, you worship because you realize that you
Speaker 1: can have your back up against the wall and God
Speaker 1: can take one stick and split a whole sea and
Speaker 1: bring a whole nation through. You have seen God do
Speaker 1: that in your life. You have seen Him do things
Speaker 1: that were once unbelievable. You have seen him align opportunities
Speaker 1: and appointments and assignments. You have seen God, time after
Speaker 1: time do things for you that the devil is hoping
Speaker 1: you will forget as you go through this. You have
Speaker 1: seen God time and time again, provide with one jar
Speaker 1: of oil and feed your whole family. You have seen
Speaker 1: God time and time again. Just when you needed the
Speaker 1: strength to come, it came all of a sudden, shout,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden. And the temptation is is that
Speaker 1: we are expecting God sometimes to come like a flood,
Speaker 1: and when it comes like a trickle, we are tempted
Speaker 1: to displace our trust because our trust was in when
Speaker 1: it would happen, not who was going to do it.
Speaker 1: So it goes like this. If I was gonna get it,
Speaker 1: I would have it by now. If I was gonna
Speaker 1: be it, I would be it by now. This is
Speaker 1: why people stop coming to church. This is why people
Speaker 1: stop going to their counselor this is why people stop
Speaker 1: trying to eat better. Because I tried to eat better
Speaker 1: for three days and it tasted bad, and I was mad,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to kill everybody on road rage, and
Speaker 1: so I decided it was better for me to be
Speaker 1: fat than to kill somebody on road rage. And if
Speaker 1: that's not enough, watch this. Everybody in here is tempted
Speaker 1: to forget where you're winning because of where you currently
Speaker 1: feel weak. Yesterday, Holly came out and spoke for just
Speaker 1: about fifteen minutes to many of the leaders in our church.
Speaker 1: I think some of y'all stayed over I knew I
Speaker 1: thought something special over here. Are y'all serious? Wow? I
Speaker 1: should have come over here a long time ago. I
Speaker 1: wasted thirty minutes over there on the side of the room.
Speaker 1: When we got home, I said, that was so beautiful.
Speaker 1: I said, how did you even find the time to
Speaker 1: do that? Because I know the week that she's had,
Speaker 1: it's been insane. She was filming a study for our
Speaker 1: youth that's coming out. She filmed five sessions for that.
Speaker 1: She attended a wrestling match I already told you that,
Speaker 1: and a volleyball game. She made meals for our family. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm not up here just to get points. I'm up
Speaker 1: here to make one. But if you can do both
Speaker 1: at the same time, why not. And we just had
Speaker 1: a moment, and I want to teach you this in
Speaker 1: case you don't know how to do it. Where we
Speaker 1: listed her wins, the Lord said, to tell you list
Speaker 1: your wins. List your wins. List your wins. Ain't that bragging.
Speaker 1: It depends on who's behind it. Because when we went
Speaker 1: through all the things that she did that week. It
Speaker 1: was no doubt in my mind. Only God could have
Speaker 1: strengthened her to do all that. And then a little
Speaker 1: bit later that night, she said something kind of weird
Speaker 1: because we were talking, thinking about goals and my sermon.
Speaker 1: I was sharing a little bit of what I was
Speaker 1: thinking about preaching with her, but I didn't tell her.
Speaker 1: I was just working it out with her, but she
Speaker 1: didn't know it. And she said, you know one place
Speaker 1: I didn't win this week my workouts. Now here's where
Speaker 1: she's different than me. She has the ability to laugh
Speaker 1: at that and to rebalance it, and she realizes that
Speaker 1: that's probably not going to be the most significant defining
Speaker 1: event of her year, that she didn't get her number
Speaker 1: of workouts this week. Me, on the other hand, no,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come to this side of the room if
Speaker 1: I miss the workout. If I miss a workout three
Speaker 1: days in a row, I don't feel saved. What does
Speaker 1: lifting weights have to do with lifting them up? I
Speaker 1: don't know. But it just spills over into every area
Speaker 1: of my life. I mean, it just gets it's so
Speaker 1: quick because I realize somewhere in my mind and in
Speaker 1: my soul, an expectation was planted that I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: be winning everywhere all the time. And when you live
Speaker 1: in that kind of captivity, everything feels overwhelming. You have
Speaker 1: no strength for the enemy in front of you because
Speaker 1: you gave God no praise for the victory behind you.
Speaker 1: But when you begin to integrate these things that God
Speaker 1: has brought you through and you draw from them not
Speaker 1: as pride but as strength, when you draw from them
Speaker 1: as a sense of knowing that God promised to be
Speaker 1: present with me. And the proof of that is that
Speaker 1: he was. The proof that he will is the fact
Speaker 1: that he was. The proof that he will is the
Speaker 1: fact that he was. The proof that he will is
Speaker 1: the fact that he was. When you begin to do
Speaker 1: these things in your week and in your day, I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, it's gonna make a big difference. The truth
Speaker 1: of the matter is you are winning somewhere right now.
Speaker 1: But where you are not winning is causing you to
Speaker 1: feel weak. And where you feel weak, you become susceptible.
Speaker 1: Now I'm right where I want to bring you. Number
Speaker 1: one is remember, and number two is resist. Resist. Moses says,
Speaker 1: when you go to war, and you will go to
Speaker 1: war to take new spiritual ground, even Paul said, you
Speaker 1: gotta put on the armor. Well, I'm not putting on
Speaker 1: the armor to take a nap. The only reason we're
Speaker 1: suiting up with the armor of God, you know, the
Speaker 1: breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of peace, and the
Speaker 1: sword of the Spirit and the belt of truth. The
Speaker 1: only reason that I'm getting dressed in this armor is
Speaker 1: something is going to attack me. So the provision of
Speaker 1: the armor is the prediction of the attack. So God
Speaker 1: gets you a really good when you're gonna go through
Speaker 1: a really big war. And when you get in that situation,
Speaker 1: Moses says, there are certain stipulations for how you are
Speaker 1: to fight God's battles, and I wish I could give
Speaker 1: you all of Deuteronomy twenty, but he talks about send
Speaker 1: the priests out before the people and send everybody home
Speaker 1: who doesn't really want to fight, because not everybody can
Speaker 1: go with you into everything. I'm gonna say it again,
Speaker 1: somebody in the back just needed to have a delete
Speaker 1: party on your phone. Not everybody, come on, delete them
Speaker 1: right now. You know exactly who they are. They're right
Speaker 1: there on the recess. Do it right now, Do not
Speaker 1: pass go delete their number right now, because not everybody
Speaker 1: can go with you into this. You don't have to
Speaker 1: hate them, you don't have to flash their tires, you
Speaker 1: don't have to cuss them out, you don't have to
Speaker 1: fire them as your friend. But he says, send the
Speaker 1: people home that can't go home. And when you come
Speaker 1: up on a city, now, this is really powerful here.
Speaker 1: And I don't want you to get tired of him,
Speaker 1: because we've already said a lot. But I want you
Speaker 1: to get this thing about resist. He says, when you
Speaker 1: get to the cities that God is calling you to
Speaker 1: take over the Hittites, to Parasites, the Canaanites, the Jebucides,
Speaker 1: all of these people who are in the places that
Speaker 1: God has promised you. Just because an enemy is there
Speaker 1: doesn't mean God isn't bringing you into it. Just because
Speaker 1: it's hard doesn't mean God isn't in it. Doesn't mean
Speaker 1: he didn't speak, doesn't mean he won't do it, doesn't
Speaker 1: mean he isn't doing it, doesn't mean he's not working.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean you should turn back and go home. No, no, no.
Speaker 1: When you see the enemies there, offer them a condition
Speaker 1: of peace. But if they won't make peace with you,
Speaker 1: you will have to put everything to death that would
Speaker 1: teach you to follow anything other than God. And then
Speaker 1: we get to verse nineteen. Verse nineteen says something very
Speaker 1: strange to the people. He says, when you lay siege
Speaker 1: to a city for a long time, for a long time,
Speaker 1: when you lay siege to a city. Now, laying siege
Speaker 1: to a city meets, you can't beat them immediately. They
Speaker 1: don't just give up quick. So God gave you this land.
Speaker 1: So you come up on the land, because he tells Joshua,
Speaker 1: every place you set the soul of your foot, I'll
Speaker 1: give you. But when you get there, you'll still have
Speaker 1: to fight for it. But sometimes when you're fighting for it,
Speaker 1: you will have to lay siege to it. And you
Speaker 1: know what a siege is. I'm not insulting your intelligence,
Speaker 1: but this is when you have captured the enemy, but
Speaker 1: you haven't conquered the enemy. When you lay siege to
Speaker 1: a city and you fight them for a long time. Now,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, God, I thought you were going to
Speaker 1: give us the victory. God says, some of my gifts
Speaker 1: are gradual, and just because it's gradual doesn't mean he's
Speaker 1: not giving it. Sometimes it happens so slow you think
Speaker 1: it's not when you lay siege to a city and
Speaker 1: it takes you a long time, a little longer than
Speaker 1: you thought it was, and you just can't win. But
Speaker 1: you got them captured, but you don't have them conquered.
Speaker 1: Am I describing some of your sins today, some of
Speaker 1: your cities, some of your insecurities. I got them captured.
Speaker 1: I know what they are now, but I don't have
Speaker 1: them conquered yet. I got them identify I'm in the
Speaker 1: right place. And that's when you remember, I'm not in
Speaker 1: Egypt anymore. I'm not in Egypt yet, but I'm not
Speaker 1: fully settled in here yet either. And this is where
Speaker 1: you need a plan B he says, when you get
Speaker 1: in the city and you got it in a siege.
Speaker 1: It was so clear to me while I was studying
Speaker 1: that there are so many people who are no longer
Speaker 1: enslaved to sin. They're set free by Jesus, but they
Speaker 1: are no more free in Christ because they're in a
Speaker 1: siege season. A siege season is when you can see it,
Speaker 1: but you don't quite have it. You experience it momentarily peace,
Speaker 1: You experience it momentarily joy, You experience it momentarily selflessness.
Speaker 1: You experience it momentarily goodness, patience, self control, the fruit
Speaker 1: of the spirit. But you're not living in it yet.
Speaker 1: That's a siege season. You're not a slave anymore. You're
Speaker 1: out of Egypt, but you're not exactly free yet either,
Speaker 1: are you. It's a siege season. Now we have to
Speaker 1: be really careful. This is where my pastoral instinct kicks in,
Speaker 1: and I want to be protective of you in a
Speaker 1: siege season, because Moses says, when you are in a
Speaker 1: siege season, remember it's not them that are under siege,
Speaker 1: it's the enemy. You're right there. It's really happening for you.
Speaker 1: You really are breaking these chains. But you're in a
Speaker 1: siege season. And when you are, the man of God says,
Speaker 1: fighting against it for a long time to capture it.
Speaker 1: Do not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them,
Speaker 1: because you can eat their fruit. Don't cut them down.
Speaker 1: Are the trees people that you should be sieged them?
Speaker 1: Verse twenty. However, you may cut down trees that you
Speaker 1: know are not fruit trees and use them to build
Speaker 1: siege works until the city at war with you falls.
Speaker 1: Deuteronomy chapter twenty is over. Everybody, God bless Moses out,
Speaker 1: good night, don't chop down trees. Why'd you read that
Speaker 1: weird scripture? Because you're doing it. You're doing it when
Speaker 1: you go to war and you are in a siege
Speaker 1: season and you are frustrated because it's taking what a
Speaker 1: long time? What is your tendency when something is taking
Speaker 1: a long time, when you've been fighting something for a
Speaker 1: long time, what do you start doing? Deuteronomy twenty verse
Speaker 1: nineteen says you might start chopping down things that God
Speaker 1: wants you to leave for your future. When you are
Speaker 1: in a siege season. You might start bringing an acts
Speaker 1: to things that God is raising up to bless you
Speaker 1: at a later date. When you are in a siege season,
Speaker 1: you are frustrated and you are asking God for answers,
Speaker 1: and you are lashing out at the messengers that He
Speaker 1: sends to give you those answers, because it would be
Speaker 1: easy for you, if you're going through a siege season,
Speaker 1: to just start chopping down everything you see, because you
Speaker 1: need these trees in order to build ramps and towers
Speaker 1: and battering rams. So sometimes you get in a season
Speaker 1: in your life and well, just anything will work to
Speaker 1: make you feel better, Anything will work to knock down
Speaker 1: a door, anything will work to survive. I don't even
Speaker 1: care if it's right or wrong. I don't even care
Speaker 1: if it's good or bad. I don't even care if
Speaker 1: it benefits my future. I just want to feel good
Speaker 1: right now. But I want to tell you relief is
Speaker 1: not the same as freedom. God doesn't intend for you
Speaker 1: to stay in this siege season forever. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: said it. It's not always gonna be like this. It's
Speaker 1: not always gonna be like this, you know how I know.
Speaker 1: Verse twenty tells me everything I need to know. He said,
Speaker 1: you can cut down the trees that don't bear fruit
Speaker 1: and use them to build siege works until the city
Speaker 1: at war with you falls, until means it will. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try that again until means it will. It will.
Speaker 1: It will fall, just not when you want it to.
Speaker 1: So the test for you now is this, what do
Speaker 1: you do until and God says it's important for you
Speaker 1: not to start cutting down stuff that I am bringing
Speaker 1: forth in your life to feed you for who I
Speaker 1: created you to be. And this is kind of difficult
Speaker 1: to describe if you've been in the wilderness since you've
Speaker 1: been born, because there's no fruit trees in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: The only thing this generation has ever seen God feed
Speaker 1: them with was manna. Look at Exitus sixteen. This is
Speaker 1: an annoying the scripture. The Lord gave it to me
Speaker 1: while Zeke was singing, thank you Zee. The Israelites ate
Speaker 1: Mana forty years until they came to a land that
Speaker 1: was settled. They ate Mana until they reached the border
Speaker 1: of Canaan. They ate something until the moment where God
Speaker 1: fed them something else. And I am concerned that God
Speaker 1: is trying to feed you something better, and you keep
Speaker 1: cutting it down. And I came to tell you, stop
Speaker 1: fighting what God is using to feed you. Stop fighting
Speaker 1: the processes that God is using to mature you. Stop
Speaker 1: fighting those corrective moments that God wants to sit with
Speaker 1: you in and say, see this, do it different next time,
Speaker 1: because he will. He He will bring about everything he
Speaker 1: accomplishes in your life. He will bring about everything that
Speaker 1: He assigned for your life. He will bring about everything
Speaker 1: that He imagines and plans for your life. It's his plans.
Speaker 1: He will be with you as you face the things
Speaker 1: that are too strong for you. But notice what Moses said,
Speaker 1: don't take an axe to the tree that's got your
Speaker 1: future fruit on it. And the thing about them was
Speaker 1: they didn't know much about trees. So they don't know
Speaker 1: that this tree is gonna bring me fruit because all
Speaker 1: I ever had was nana. When you never had good love,
Speaker 1: it's easy for you to settle for lust when you
Speaker 1: never had good friendship. It's easy for you to settle
Speaker 1: for codependency when you never had real fruit. It's tempting
Speaker 1: for you to become frustrated and you say it is
Speaker 1: taken too long. I'm gonna handle this. I'm gonna handle
Speaker 1: this another way. Yeah, I'm gonna lay hands on them.
Speaker 1: Isn't that in the Bible. I'm gonna handle this the
Speaker 1: way I used to handle this. I got a Bible
Speaker 1: verse for it. Be careful. You might be chopping down
Speaker 1: something God wanted you to chew on. Later. You might
Speaker 1: be taking down a tree that is capable of bearing
Speaker 1: much fruit. But watch this, it just isn't the season yet.
Speaker 1: It just isn't the season yet. Nobody's gonna chop down
Speaker 1: a tree that has fruit visible on it and use
Speaker 1: it for a battering ram. But what if the tree
Speaker 1: was bare, not because it didn't have the ability to
Speaker 1: bear fruit, but because it wasn't the season. For fruit.
Speaker 1: And what if you've got something in you, come on,
Speaker 1: use your holy imagination for a moment. And what if
Speaker 1: there is something working in your life that Jeremiah twenty
Speaker 1: nine to eleven really is true, that He knows the
Speaker 1: plans he has for you, plans to prosper you, not
Speaker 1: to harm you, plans to give you a hope and
Speaker 1: a future. What is this really in me? But it's
Speaker 1: just not my season yet? Blessed this a man who
Speaker 1: walks not in the path of the wicked, nor sits
Speaker 1: in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is
Speaker 1: in the law of the Lord, and on his law
Speaker 1: he meditates day and night. They will bear fruit in season,
Speaker 1: You will bear fruit in season. You will bear fruit
Speaker 1: in season. Do not eliminate in a season of frustration
Speaker 1: what God intends to use to bless you in the
Speaker 1: season of your favor. So then we have a question
Speaker 1: to ask, what am I attacking that God has actually
Speaker 1: to embrace. That's why I looked at you the other day.
Speaker 1: I said it happened for a reason, because I don't
Speaker 1: know why yet. But I'm not cutting down that tree.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let God do what God wants to do.
Speaker 1: When I saw the picture, Holly, I was like, well,
Speaker 1: it makes sense if I tell them stop chopping down
Speaker 1: trees that are gonna bear your fruit for the future.
Speaker 1: And I was like, you know what, they'll know exactly
Speaker 1: what that tree is for them, because the whole Bible
Speaker 1: started when somebody didn't know what to do with a
Speaker 1: tree and Moses said, we gotta get this tree thing right.
Speaker 1: Eve Adam, y'all were buck naked all along. You're just
Speaker 1: now knowing that because you don't know what to do
Speaker 1: with the tree. We don't know how to do with
Speaker 1: a tree. Tell Jesus who took a tree and turned
Speaker 1: the instrument of death called the cross made from wood
Speaker 1: into the emblem of victory for the church that would
Speaker 1: bear his aim. You ever heard that part where Jesus said,
Speaker 1: I could call it do on legions of angels and
Speaker 1: back all of y'all up wouldn't be anything either. And
Speaker 1: at the moment where they thought he said it is
Speaker 1: finished because he lost, he was winning. What if you're winning.
Speaker 1: What if you're winning where it really matters. What if
Speaker 1: you're winning where it really counts. What if you gained
Speaker 1: twenty pounds but it's not because you're undisciplined. What if
Speaker 1: you've been running your kids around and that's going to
Speaker 1: last a lifetime and you can lose twenty pounds in
Speaker 1: three months. What if you're winning where it really matters.
Speaker 1: Resist the temptation to cut down something that God is
Speaker 1: growing because you don't have the patience to wait for
Speaker 1: it to become what it can be. I think I
Speaker 1: got to come on Coffee fam this week and break
Speaker 1: that down further. Chad, make space for me. I'm going
Speaker 1: to try, because the last thing I want to leave
Speaker 1: you with is remain, remain. Let that tree grow, Remain, remain.
Speaker 1: I just can't win. Man. If I'm making my family happy,
Speaker 1: I'm making my boss mad, I just can't win. If
Speaker 1: I'm making my boss happy, I'm making my wife mad.
Speaker 1: I just can't win. I haven't made my wife happy
Speaker 1: in twelve years. I just can't win. I've heard it all,
Speaker 1: I've thought it all, except that last thing. I make
Speaker 1: all it pretty happy all the time. But I came
Speaker 1: to you with the beginning of last year, and I
Speaker 1: taught you the power of what the one day when,
Speaker 1: and I taught you that faith is not something simply
Speaker 1: for the future. Faith is the recognition of what God
Speaker 1: is already doing right now. It's the one day, not
Speaker 1: wh e N, but the wi N of this day.
Speaker 1: And the Man of God said, when you go to war,
Speaker 1: and you will, you know you only got two choices, brother,
Speaker 1: the wilderness of wandering around in the same thing, or
Speaker 1: the war of trusting God to be with you as
Speaker 1: you go forward. And when you face that war, he said,
Speaker 1: I'll be with you. I will be with you. Now,
Speaker 1: that statement, as simple as it sounds, is really all
Speaker 1: you need to believe for what's next in your life.
Speaker 1: And there are trees growing right now in your life
Speaker 1: that if you don't cut them down, they will be
Speaker 1: your future food. They will be future food. Moses would
Speaker 1: not go into the Promised Land himself, but he sent
Speaker 1: a generation because some of the things that are happening
Speaker 1: in your life right now that feel like failure, they
Speaker 1: are actually just for your future. And the most beautiful
Speaker 1: thing about God's word in my life is that every time,
Speaker 1: every time I feel surrounded by the enemy, I have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to become even more connected to the vine.
Speaker 1: I read a scripture that helped me through one of
Speaker 1: the hardest seasons of my life in John fifteen, verse four,
Speaker 1: where Jesus said, remain in me as I also remain
Speaker 1: in you, because no branch can bear fruit by itself.
Speaker 1: Stop cutting yourself off from Christ when you struggle. Come
Speaker 1: to him quicker when you sin. Come to him quicker
Speaker 1: when you doubt. Come to Him before you start drowning,
Speaker 1: and say help. Ask Peter it works. Come to him
Speaker 1: quicker in this season, And no matter how long it takes,
Speaker 1: he says, remain in me as I also remain in you.
Speaker 1: As the worship team begins to play, I want to
Speaker 1: remind you that you can't bear fruit by yourself. You
Speaker 1: must remain in the vine, and neither can you bear
Speaker 1: fruit unless you remain in Jesus. There are some things
Speaker 1: in your life that are taken a little longer than
Speaker 1: you want them to take. I know. There are some
Speaker 1: victories in your life that, although promised, are not automatic.
Speaker 1: I know. And if you've never been to a wrestling
Speaker 1: match before, it looks kind of weird. If you've never
Speaker 1: worshiped through a storm before, it might feel kind of
Speaker 1: weird because you're so used to taking matters into your
Speaker 1: own hands. But I want to remind you what Holly
Speaker 1: told Khalia. She said, a pin can happen anytime. A
Speaker 1: pin is still possible. God can turn your entire life around,
Speaker 1: and every regret can become a blessing if you remain
Speaker 1: in Him. So let's stand all over the auditorium. Please,
Speaker 1: no one trying to get to the doors. Let's respect
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit enough to give a moment in his presence.
Speaker 1: Presence is to plan this year. Presence is the plan
Speaker 1: this year. I'm showing up for stuff this year. I'm
Speaker 1: staying in the vine. I'm letting the things that God
Speaker 1: has planted in my life grow this year. And you
Speaker 1: know what, every bit of fruit that's not supposed to
Speaker 1: be on my tree anyway, somebody else can grow it.
Speaker 1: I'm done being busy just to be impressive. I'm done
Speaker 1: trying to post stuff to prove that I did stuff.
Speaker 1: Not this year. This year is going to be a
Speaker 1: root system year for me and Father. I thank you
Speaker 1: for the word. Oh it's so good to me. Lord.
Speaker 1: I could stay in it so much longer. But I
Speaker 1: thank you that long after I have stopped speaking, you
Speaker 1: will still continue to speak. Now, God, I want to
Speaker 1: partner with you in this process because what I said
Speaker 1: is what I said, But what you say is what
Speaker 1: only you could say to each person in this room today.
Speaker 1: This message will mean something very different. There's an area
Speaker 1: in their life where they feel like they just can't win.
Speaker 1: I get the victory for a little bit, it slips away.
Speaker 1: I do better. For a little bit, it goes away. God,
Speaker 1: may we realize that some of the greatest growth in
Speaker 1: our life happens underground. Some of the greatest cultivation will
Speaker 1: be of our character, and some of the fruit for
Speaker 1: our future. I pray that you would give them the
Speaker 1: armor of God today and that they would stand therefore,
Speaker 1: after they've done everything that they know to do, that
Speaker 1: they would stand like a tree planted, that they would
Speaker 1: not quit, not cut it off, and not stop, but
Speaker 1: that they would stand and a bye in the vibe,
Speaker 1: bearing much fruit. Father. I even pray for those right
Speaker 1: now who are going through a pruning season where your
Speaker 1: gardenershears have been cutting back in their lives, and they've
Speaker 1: been perceiving it as a loss. But it's not a loss.
Speaker 1: It is preparation for the next stage of their fruitfulness
Speaker 1: in you. They will bear more fruit, they will teach
Speaker 1: more truth, they will have more wisdom, They will share more. Peace. Father,
Speaker 1: we are just branches. We only can grow if we
Speaker 1: are in you. I thank you that they're in your hands. God. Amen. Amen,
Speaker 1: will you do the simplest thing in the world. I
Speaker 1: know it looks weird if you never did it, but
Speaker 1: just lift your hands in worship. And before one of
Speaker 1: the singers sings, I want you to open your mouth. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all over the room. Open your mouth and don't stop.
Speaker 1: Respond to the Lord. Tell him, Lord, I'm staying. I'm staying.
Speaker 1: I'm staying in faith in this seats. And God, I
Speaker 1: trust you in this seats, and just tell him what
Speaker 1: you need to tell him. I don't want to just
Speaker 1: leave you with my words. I want you to have
Speaker 1: his spirit. Lord, I trust you in this Seatson. I
Speaker 1: thank you that you're greater. Lord. I thank you that
Speaker 1: you're greater, greater than what I faith, greater than what
Speaker 1: I fear. I thank you Lord that the is mine.
Speaker 1: I thank you that the victory is already won. I
Speaker 1: thank you has already worked out as it is in heaven,
Speaker 1: shall it be on earth. In the name of Jesus. Now,
Speaker 1: let's begin to praise him, because we know anything could
Speaker 1: happen when we do anything is possible when we praise him.
Speaker 1: Might look weird if you never saw it before, but
Speaker 1: I'm praising him because it could turn around. I'm praising
Speaker 1: him because he's growing me by his grace. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who
Speaker 1: give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that
Speaker 1: this ministry is possible. You can click the link in
Speaker 1: the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch dot org
Speaker 1: slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast,
Speaker 1: you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 1: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 1: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 1: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.