Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: I want to share today from the same subject that
Speaker 2: I began last.
Speaker 1: Week, about functional faith.
Speaker 3: About functional faith.
Speaker 2: Now, judging from your response to my announcement of part
Speaker 2: two of the teaching.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you don't remember my sermon let's review.
Speaker 2: We were saying that faith doesn't always guarantee the outcome,
Speaker 2: but it establishes the outlook.
Speaker 1: All things are possible to him who believes.
Speaker 2: And so we want to take some time today in
Speaker 2: a very famous passage of scripture, and I would ask,
Speaker 2: if you don't mind, just stand while I read the scripture.
Speaker 1: And then the seat is yours. Somebody tithe good money
Speaker 1: so you could have that seat.
Speaker 3: So I want you to use it.
Speaker 2: And we will give you that opportunity today. But just
Speaker 2: stand for one more month, and I'm gonna be reading
Speaker 2: the scripture from the King James version of the Bible,
Speaker 2: because it's the one that I memorized it in Now
Speaker 2: I don't still have it memorized, but at one time
Speaker 2: I did.
Speaker 1: You can believe that or not is absolutely true.
Speaker 2: But we're just gonna read like a little sandwich real quick,
Speaker 2: from Hebrews eleven and Hebrews twelve. And some of you
Speaker 2: who are really churchy, you're gonna be tempted that while
Speaker 2: I'm reading the scripture to start getting excited. Don't do it, Okay,
Speaker 2: just let me read my scripture. These nice people don't
Speaker 2: want to hear you shouting while I'm reading my scripture.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: But Hebrew's eleven one says, now, faith is the substance
Speaker 2: of things hoped for.
Speaker 1: What did I tell you? I told you to sit still?
Speaker 2: And the evidence of things not seen by it? The
Speaker 2: elders obtaining a good report by faith, we understand what?
Speaker 1: Do we understand?
Speaker 2: That the worlds were framed by the word of God,
Speaker 2: so that things which are seen were made of things
Speaker 2: are not made of things?
Speaker 3: Can I do that whole verse over? Through faith?
Speaker 2: We understand that the worlds were framed by the word
Speaker 2: of God, so that things which are seen were not
Speaker 2: made of things which do appear. Now look at Hebrews twelve,
Speaker 2: verse one and two, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed
Speaker 2: about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
Speaker 2: lay aside every weight and the sin which does so
Speaker 2: easily beset us, and let us run with patience.
Speaker 1: Tell somebody we're getting fit. We're getting fit, and look
Speaker 1: who our trainer is.
Speaker 2: Let us run with patience the race that is set
Speaker 2: before us, looking onto Jesus, the author and finisher of
Speaker 2: our functional faith, who for the joy set before him,
Speaker 2: endured the cross, despising the.
Speaker 1: Shame, and is set down. Now.
Speaker 2: He didn't sit down because he was tired. He sat
Speaker 2: down because it was done. Touch somebody say it's already done.
Speaker 1: It's already done.
Speaker 2: I have to clarify faith, it's already done. Sat down
Speaker 2: at the right hand of God. Now here's what we're
Speaker 2: gonna do today. As a sermon title, I'm going to
Speaker 2: teach you how to do an exercise. This also an experiment.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about the Frame game. The Frame game.
Speaker 2: Touch somebody on your way to your seat and said,
Speaker 2: we're going to have a great time today.
Speaker 1: You may be seated. Thank you, Worship team.
Speaker 2: Hey, keep touring, Mac, keep singing, Stay strong, we believe
Speaker 2: in you.
Speaker 1: And now to go to this passage that I am.
Speaker 2: So excited to preach, like way more excited to preach
Speaker 2: it than you are to hear it. Where I read
Speaker 2: you two little passages that are so well known. If
Speaker 2: these passages were an exercise, they would be the push
Speaker 2: ups of faith, because it's just a really well known
Speaker 2: passage where it says, not for in evidence and things
Speaker 2: I've seen, and fix our eyes on Jesus, Author and
Speaker 2: perfective of faith.
Speaker 1: Those are well known.
Speaker 2: In the middle of those verses, there is a picture
Speaker 2: that the author of Hebrews provides to encourage perseverance for
Speaker 2: anyone who is fatigued in their faith. And to do
Speaker 2: it he mentions people who now he calls a cloud
Speaker 2: of witnesses, and he's establishing what we might call a
Speaker 2: framework of faith. Interesting thing is that that list I
Speaker 2: didn't read it to you. It is bookended by these
Speaker 2: two descriptions of faith.
Speaker 1: Faith is the substance of things.
Speaker 2: Hope for, and that Jesus is the author and finisher
Speaker 2: of our faith.
Speaker 1: And in between that he gives a picture.
Speaker 2: And these two passages they serve as the frame and
Speaker 2: the picture. Here's the thing you got to know, sometimes
Speaker 2: the frame is even more important than the picture.
Speaker 1: Can I explain that a little bit.
Speaker 2: Sometimes the way you say something is even more important
Speaker 2: than what you say. You can say something to your
Speaker 2: kids meant to develop them, that will destroy them all
Speaker 2: because of the way that you framed it.
Speaker 1: You can put your.
Speaker 2: Kids in a competitive mindset with their siblings, trying to
Speaker 2: get them to act right and then kind of create
Speaker 2: this dysfunction that they have the rest of their life.
Speaker 1: Framework is important any married people, married people, any married.
Speaker 2: People, your phraseology in marriage is really important. I just
Speaker 2: want to give you this quick tip because sometimes sometimes
Speaker 2: it's not what you're saying to your husband, is how
Speaker 2: you're saying it that he can't hear it.
Speaker 1: It's quiet, it's real quiet.
Speaker 2: I'm a little nervous to proceed with this illustration, but
Speaker 2: I'll do some nonetheless because I believe this has a
Speaker 2: very practical application value to your life. You know, if
Speaker 2: you really want to get your husband to change, catch
Speaker 2: them doing something right and compliment him.
Speaker 3: But you don't have to do that.
Speaker 2: You can keep critiquing him for what he's doing wrong,
Speaker 2: and he'll keep doing it because men repeat what you
Speaker 2: feed them. So to understand how to effectively communicate with
Speaker 2: your mate. Communicate with your mate, you have to learn
Speaker 2: the art of framing its framework.
Speaker 1: As a parent, the way you frame.
Speaker 2: A question to your children, especially if they're younger. Now,
Speaker 2: my kids are all under the age of eleven, so
Speaker 2: I'm not writing my parenting book yet for at least
Speaker 2: twenty years to see if any of this crap I.
Speaker 1: Tell you actually works in real life.
Speaker 2: But I think you sometimes, as a parent, are tempted
Speaker 2: when your kids are small, to give them too many
Speaker 2: choices and too many options about dinner, about clothes, just
Speaker 2: all kinds of options. And and in my personal parenting philosophy,
Speaker 2: I don't ever give my children fill in the blank question.
Speaker 2: When I'm asking them to do something for me, I
Speaker 2: give I give them multiple choice, you know. So it's
Speaker 2: it's not do you want to eat your broccoli?
Speaker 3: I don't ask my kids that.
Speaker 1: My kids, what I might say is.
Speaker 2: Uh, would you rather eat your broccoli or never play
Speaker 2: video games or see the light of day again? So
Speaker 2: now see, you have a choice. I'm not telling you
Speaker 2: you have to eat your broccoli. I'm just informing you
Speaker 2: of the consequences of not eating the broccoli.
Speaker 1: It's called framing, and I learned it from a counselor.
Speaker 2: This counselor one time was preparing me to go into
Speaker 2: a high intensity, high stress situation and he said, you
Speaker 2: get all stressed out.
Speaker 1: Every time you go around these people.
Speaker 3: I said, I do.
Speaker 2: I said, they're stressful people. He said, but what if
Speaker 2: the this time you made a game out of it?
Speaker 2: And I said, tell me more about this game, because
Speaker 2: I like to play games. I'm the kind of guy
Speaker 2: who will turn any conversation into a game.
Speaker 1: As college I like to play, would you rather? I
Speaker 1: like to play?
Speaker 2: What if I can turn any conversation into a game.
Speaker 1: And I'm competitive by nature.
Speaker 2: So when he told me I can make it like
Speaker 2: a game, that got my attention. He said, yeah, when
Speaker 2: you go into this situation, you know they're crazy, So
Speaker 2: go in like you're a sociologist, like you are studying
Speaker 2: their species of crazy, and you have to bring back
Speaker 2: a field report on the craziness of these people.
Speaker 3: So he gave me a technique.
Speaker 2: I didn't know at the time that he was teaching
Speaker 2: me cognitive framing.
Speaker 1: How fancy is that he was teaching me that I
Speaker 1: could I could take a situation or information facts, I
Speaker 1: could take it and frame it a different way.
Speaker 2: Now. Advertisers are doing this to you all the time.
Speaker 2: Politicians are doing this to you. Occasionally. It is the
Speaker 2: invisible frame by which they present the issue or the argument,
Speaker 2: and you don't even see that it's there.
Speaker 1: Which brings us to Hebrews eleven, where it says that.
Speaker 2: The worlds were framed by the word of God. When
Speaker 2: I say framed, if you're in the construction industry, you
Speaker 2: picture the raw material that builds a house and the
Speaker 2: dimensions of it when you frame the house up.
Speaker 1: When you frame the house up, well that's a.
Speaker 2: Good picture because the scripture says that when God was
Speaker 2: looking around for something strong enough to build the world with,
Speaker 2: there was no substitute for the raw material of his word.
Speaker 2: So God framed and built the world which is visible
Speaker 2: through the word, which is invisible. Now, we as his children,
Speaker 2: get to imitate Him in our life through this thing
Speaker 2: called faith. That is, we get to take the same
Speaker 2: stuff that God used to frame the world and frame
Speaker 2: our lives with it if we choose to that. The
Speaker 2: same word of God that framed the ocean can frame
Speaker 2: my situation on a Tuesday afternoon if I choose to
Speaker 2: use it. So I want to talk about it for
Speaker 2: a little while today because I want to build my
Speaker 2: life with something that is sturdy and solid. So I
Speaker 2: want to know God, can I borrow some of this
Speaker 2: raw material? The rama, the word? The rama. You've heard
Speaker 2: this before. The word of God is powerful enough to
Speaker 2: shape and create my life. Now I get to frame
Speaker 2: my life using the same substance that God used to
Speaker 2: make my world. And so I got to get a
Speaker 2: sense of focus.
Speaker 3: Would you write that word down? Focus?
Speaker 2: Some of you are playing on your phone, but you
Speaker 2: need to focus and write down the word focus and
Speaker 2: multitasking self.
Speaker 1: You need to focus.
Speaker 2: Touch your neighbors say focus, tell them focus on me.
Speaker 2: Focus on me. Now, I told you i'd do it.
Speaker 2: Here's the part about this thing called focus, Okay. Focus
Speaker 2: is a skill that must be sharpened continually, and.
Speaker 3: I get a lot of practice with.
Speaker 2: It in preaching because how well I think my sermon
Speaker 2: is going totally depends on which person I focus on
Speaker 2: while I'm preaching.
Speaker 3: Some of you make me suicidal.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I if.
Speaker 2: I only had you to look at while I preached,
Speaker 2: I would blow.
Speaker 1: My brains out on stage. But I'm really good at this.
Speaker 2: Now. I'm a professional, so I don't really look at
Speaker 2: the crowd.
Speaker 1: I scan.
Speaker 2: And I'm looking for love. That's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2: But I'm really good at it. I'm a professional because
Speaker 2: like we go out on video shoots, okay, and sometimes
Speaker 2: we go on video shoots to do for the church.
Speaker 1: There's all kind of crazy, chaotic stuff happening, and.
Speaker 3: I have to I have to focus and ask buck.
Speaker 3: I'm a master of it.
Speaker 2: I can lock it in when the cameras. I can
Speaker 2: have a million things going on, but I can focus.
Speaker 2: We went to Israel a few years ago to shoot
Speaker 2: an Easter presentation called seven Mile Miracle, and we were going.
Speaker 1: To different sites like Gaugatha, which is.
Speaker 2: Now a bus depot by the way, so if you
Speaker 2: ever go, you just need to know that the place
Speaker 2: where they hung Our Lord, there's buses there, so anyway.
Speaker 3: But you get yours up.
Speaker 1: And we went on the Amais Road and the Garden Tomb,
Speaker 1: which is beautiful.
Speaker 2: But when we went for the last shoot on the
Speaker 2: Via Dolorosa, the crew to me, don't even come in today.
Speaker 1: You can't do this.
Speaker 2: I said, I could do it. What's the problem. They said,
Speaker 2: it's real busy. So we shot this little video. Here's
Speaker 2: twenty seconds of it.
Speaker 1: We showed it a few years ago.
Speaker 3: But watch this.
Speaker 2: There's somebody participating in this experience that needs to know
Speaker 2: today you've got a new twenty four. His mercies are
Speaker 2: new with every rising of the sun, that his faithfulness
Speaker 2: is great, That.
Speaker 3: He walked a path where.
Speaker 2: He was forsaken, so that you could walk a path
Speaker 2: where you would never be forsaken.
Speaker 1: That God in heaven remembers you.
Speaker 2: Now, let us remember his death, let us remember his salvation.
Speaker 2: He created like a holy moment via dolerosa, the way
Speaker 2: of suffering, the path that he tried.
Speaker 1: But I asked him to go back and pull the
Speaker 1: wide shot. That's the tight shot. Here's the wide shot.
Speaker 2: I want you to see what's going on the via.
Speaker 1: Dolerosa that while I was preaching that show the clip.
Speaker 2: There's somebody participating in this experience that needs to know
Speaker 2: today you got a new twenty four. His mercies are
Speaker 2: new with every rising of the sun.
Speaker 1: That his faithfulness is.
Speaker 2: Great, That he walked a path where he was forsaken,
Speaker 2: so that you could walk a path where you would
Speaker 2: never be forsaken.
Speaker 1: That God didn't head.
Speaker 2: I see, unless our preacher would have been distracted by
Speaker 2: that Middle Eastern girl with a Hello Kitty backpack. Not me,
Speaker 2: Why I'm focused? Dot your neighbor say, I'm focused. You'd
Speaker 2: be surprised what you could do if you would get focused.
Speaker 1: Really you would.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't mean that chaos stops in your life either. Oh,
Speaker 2: I have focused if it weren't for these kids. No,
Speaker 2: you need to control your frame. You can't control everything
Speaker 2: that happens out here.
Speaker 1: You can control who walks by. But but I can
Speaker 1: give me camera one. This is what's called a tight shot.
Speaker 2: That means that this shot on camera one is only
Speaker 2: designed to show me. We can zoom in, zoom in
Speaker 2: a little bit, zoom until they can see the gray
Speaker 2: hairs on my beard. Okay, zoom in, zoom in a
Speaker 2: little bit more.
Speaker 3: It's focus. Now, that's that's a tight shot.
Speaker 1: That's a that's a terrifying shot. You should zoom out,
Speaker 1: zoom out, zoom out. Quick.
Speaker 3: Quck quick coock uick quck quick.
Speaker 2: I just wanted you to see that you choose your focus. See,
Speaker 2: they're they're directing those cameras in the back and they
Speaker 2: are making the decision in the moment, what needs the attention.
Speaker 3: So it's it's interesting coming here to JJ.
Speaker 2: JJ can be on the stage, and if we're if
Speaker 2: we're working with the wide shot, he's a distraction because
Speaker 2: what's he even doing here? What are you even doing here?
Speaker 2: But let's say I can't make him go away. You know,
Speaker 2: he's a Valentine campus pastor.
Speaker 1: Now he wants to stand on the stage. But watch
Speaker 1: what I can do camera one.
Speaker 3: I can focus.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to say, he might not leave the stage,
Speaker 2: but that doesn't mean I have to keep him in
Speaker 2: my frame. I am preaching about anxiety, ap preaching about depression.
Speaker 3: You might stand there.
Speaker 2: Well, my faith gives me Li's sten now a focus
Speaker 2: touch three people say focus, focus, focus. Faith is powered
Speaker 2: by focus, and so they're deciding back there the camera
Speaker 2: operators what to put into the frame. That's what is
Speaker 2: called the frame. The worlds were framed by the word
Speaker 2: of God. The reasons and they're watching me preach on
Speaker 2: a screen is because somebody that you can't see is
Speaker 2: running a camera and framing it. You know, it is
Speaker 2: the invisible aspects of your life that often determine the results.
Speaker 1: Faith.
Speaker 2: This the substance of things hoped for and the evidence
Speaker 2: of things not seen. It's a matter of focus. And
Speaker 2: so you frame up your life. You know, you do
Speaker 2: it every day. And Hebrews eleven and twelve give us
Speaker 2: a framework of faith, a focal point, telling us to
Speaker 2: fix our eyes on Jesus. Now we need Peter to
Speaker 2: come and show us how to walk on water.
Speaker 3: Whoops, he slipped.
Speaker 2: He slipped because he let the wind and the waves
Speaker 2: in his frame. We can't blame him because the wind
Speaker 2: and the waves were there. The wind and the waves
Speaker 2: were there while he was walking on the water. But
Speaker 2: when you allow things in your frame that break your
Speaker 2: focus faith this weekend, and you will never build a
Speaker 2: solid faith with a weak focus.
Speaker 3: Focus. Focus focus.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's just because my eight year old is playing
Speaker 2: baseball right now, and that's the thing I hear coach
Speaker 2: Dave Yelle more than anything to these eight year old boys.
Speaker 3: Focus focus.
Speaker 2: Focus is not real complicated when they're eight, Like, just.
Speaker 1: Have your glove on your hand when the ball comes.
Speaker 2: Okay, focus, somebody show focus. Look at your neighbor, tell
Speaker 2: them focus. Some of y'all won't even receive this word
Speaker 2: at a deep enough level to build your faith for
Speaker 2: your life, because you're not focused on what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You're thinking about who you're meeting after church.
Speaker 3: But if you would focus.
Speaker 2: On this word, the breakthrough that you need is in
Speaker 2: this word I'm preaching.
Speaker 3: All you gotta do is.
Speaker 2: Focus, focus, focus, because the frame of your faith.
Speaker 3: Let's build this out.
Speaker 2: Actually, we need focus, and then we need a friend
Speaker 2: of reference, a frame of reference. So the writer of
Speaker 2: Hebrews said that God started the world with his word.
Speaker 1: And now that same word is the word by.
Speaker 2: Which, if you receive it, you will receive a measure
Speaker 2: of faith. And then you frame your world according to
Speaker 2: the same word that God spoke the universe into existence with.
Speaker 1: He's given a frame of reference all the way.
Speaker 2: To Jesus, who endured the shame of the Cross through faith.
Speaker 2: It's a frame of reference for a suffering church. And
Speaker 2: he's given them a frame of reference, reminding them of
Speaker 2: Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. This is the picture that's
Speaker 2: inside the frame of Hebrews eleven and twelve. He's given
Speaker 2: them a picture, and it's given them a frame of reference.
Speaker 1: Like when you and Rachel took Bo to the hospital
Speaker 1: last week.
Speaker 2: Bo, their little son is prone to injuries more than
Speaker 2: most little boys. Even I would say, when you say,
Speaker 2: it's just got a bruiser. And so he bangs his
Speaker 2: head against a poll on the playground during church, and
Speaker 2: they took him to get some stitches, and the emergency
Speaker 2: room wait was eleven hours for some stitches. Now, Elaijah,
Speaker 2: if that had been you, I would have put a
Speaker 2: shoelace in your eye and tied it up.
Speaker 1: We would not have waited eleven hours.
Speaker 2: But it was a deep gash, so they probably needed
Speaker 2: to wait. I said, were you mad, buck, I would
Speaker 2: have been furious. Eleven hours for some stitches?
Speaker 1: He said.
Speaker 2: I was at first, But the more people that came
Speaker 2: into the er that night that I realized I might
Speaker 2: have to wait a little while.
Speaker 1: But some of them aren't leaving, he said.
Speaker 2: The longer I sat there, the less frustrated I was,
Speaker 2: and the more I started realizing that this might be
Speaker 2: how I'm spending my night in the hospital. But some
Speaker 2: people have spent their last six months in the hospital.
Speaker 1: Nothing changed, but the frame.
Speaker 3: Nothing changed.
Speaker 1: But the frame.
Speaker 2: That's so often what we need is a frame of reference.
Speaker 2: Sometimes white people need to have a black friend. Sometimes
Speaker 2: black people need to have a white friend. Broke people
Speaker 2: need some rich friends. Rich people need some broke friends.
Speaker 2: And what we're doing, we're trading perspectives. Hey, take a
Speaker 2: look at life through my lens, and we get wiser
Speaker 2: and we get smarter. Because it's a frame of reference.
Speaker 2: So often your perspective is developed in reverse. Sometimes the
Speaker 2: way to get through what you're going through right now
Speaker 2: is to go to the wide lens. Wide lens, camera two,
Speaker 2: camera two. The wide shot is what gives me a
Speaker 2: frame of reference. This is the tight shot. It's an
Speaker 2: important shot. But sometimes what I need is a wide
Speaker 2: shot so that when I see Goliath on the battle lines,
Speaker 2: I have a frame of reference that takes me back
Speaker 2: to the lion and the bear in.
Speaker 1: The sheep field.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I need a frame of reference to realize that
Speaker 2: I was worried last month, this time when the bills
Speaker 2: were due, God made away. It's a frame of reference.
Speaker 2: This is why we're instructed in the Bible. As often
Speaker 2: as we're instructed.
Speaker 1: Anything to remember, to remember.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you got to play the tape back, you know,
Speaker 2: because the enemy will get you so focused on this
Speaker 2: one frame, this one thing, and you will lose your
Speaker 2: whole frame of reference.
Speaker 1: What are you doing staying.
Speaker 2: Up late worried about this one? No, you gotta zoom
Speaker 2: out and change your frame of reference. That's why I
Speaker 2: came to church the way I needed to be around
Speaker 2: some other believers. I needed to broaden my frame of reference.
Speaker 2: I needed to remember that I'm not the only one
Speaker 2: serving God, and I'm not the only one going through
Speaker 2: And I need Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I need
Speaker 2: the whole cast of characters in Hebrews eleven. I need
Speaker 2: Jesus to remind me that if he endureed the Cross,
Speaker 2: I can make it through this crisis.
Speaker 1: So we zoom out and we zoom in in life
Speaker 1: and what they.
Speaker 2: Really got to do back on the camera to be successful,
Speaker 2: to keep me in the frame.
Speaker 1: Touch.
Speaker 2: Somebody say, keep it in the frame, keep it in
Speaker 2: the frame. Yeah, because you've got to keep joy in
Speaker 2: the frame. You got to keep hope in the frame.
Speaker 2: Faith is the substance of things hope for faith is
Speaker 2: that invisible connection point by which I reach out and
Speaker 2: grab what I'm hoping for and bring it into this moment.
Speaker 1: So that requires anticipation. I'm building something here. By the
Speaker 1: way I'm building something I'm framing something. Here, I'm framing something.
Speaker 1: You gotta are you? Are you follow?
Speaker 3: You gotta That's that's their whole job.
Speaker 2: There are camera operators who have been who have been fired,
Speaker 2: and they're volunteers because they don't anticipate my movements. Now
Speaker 2: you know these guys are professionals. We got the A
Speaker 2: team on the cameras today and they are instructed.
Speaker 1: Look, Pastor Steven doesn't stand still.
Speaker 2: And just because he preached it one way at nine
Speaker 2: to thirty doesn't meet. He's gonna preach it that way
Speaker 2: at eleven thirty. So you gotta be ready. You gotta
Speaker 2: switch quick.
Speaker 3: And God is like that.
Speaker 2: You know, you can't just you can't just set the camera.
Speaker 2: This is how some of you live your lives. And
Speaker 2: it's and it's why you it's why you don't have
Speaker 2: any faith, by the way, and it's it's why you
Speaker 2: haven't seen God do anything in your life. Take your
Speaker 2: hands off the camera. Some of y'all just set the
Speaker 2: frame and then and they say, well, where is God?
Speaker 4: But if you have faith, the substance of things hoped
Speaker 4: for and the evidence of things not seen, Jesus for
Speaker 4: the joy that was set before him.
Speaker 2: He didn't get stuck in one spot. But for the joy,
Speaker 2: watch this camera. See I'm gonna show you how good
Speaker 2: they are. I can come down here. I can come
Speaker 2: down here. I turn around, hit this camera. Look how
Speaker 2: trained they are. There's nowhere I can go in this
Speaker 2: auditorium because they know I am libel and likely to
Speaker 2: do just about anything. So if you'll sit at the
Speaker 2: front of the church, you better know that too. But
Speaker 2: they might have to follow me to the back. It's
Speaker 2: your job to anticipate where I might go. Well, I
Speaker 2: feel the anoying of winging Bretzky on me. Remember when
Speaker 2: he said, I don't skate to where the puck is.
Speaker 2: I skate to where the puck's gonna be. I don't
Speaker 2: set up camp where God was. I want to know
Speaker 2: where God is gonna be next. So God lead me
Speaker 2: by faith to somebody, say I'm moving by faith.
Speaker 3: Catch me if you can. So that's their job.
Speaker 2: It is an anticipatory spirit.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: The thing that faith and fear both share in common
Speaker 2: is they are empowered by anticipation. So you wake up
Speaker 2: in the morning and if you frame your day with
Speaker 2: the anticipation of depression.
Speaker 3: And discouragement.
Speaker 2: Some of you have framed your day to suck before
Speaker 2: it ever gets started.
Speaker 1: Got a tough week coming up?
Speaker 2: I guess you do, because you've framed it that way.
Speaker 1: I guess you do.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't want to be you this week either, not
Speaker 2: the way you're talking, because the worlds were framed by
Speaker 2: what was spoken. So when you say it's gonna be
Speaker 2: a tough week, you're speaking something that you're gonna see.
Speaker 2: But it came out of your mouth. And so the
Speaker 2: song hast had the right idea. He said, this is
Speaker 2: the day that.
Speaker 1: The Lord has made it.
Speaker 3: What's he doing? He's framing his day.
Speaker 2: I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Speaker 1: Well, what are you glad about?
Speaker 3: I don't know yet, but I will be glad.
Speaker 2: You're gonna freak people out when you start acting this way.
Speaker 3: By the way, it's gonna freak people out.
Speaker 2: You are gonna be at the same job you were
Speaker 2: at last week this week, and people gonna be looking
Speaker 2: at you like what happened?
Speaker 1: What happened to you? Do you get a promotion?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 5: I didn't get a new promotion. I got a new perspective.
Speaker 5: I got a new frame. Touch somebody saying I got
Speaker 5: a new frame. I got a new frame. That's what happened.
Speaker 5: Some of you who have been talking to.
Speaker 2: Your girlfriends about your husband and complaining about him.
Speaker 1: When you get around those girlfriends.
Speaker 2: This week and you're starting to brag about all the
Speaker 2: things he's doing, right, they're gonna look at you like,
Speaker 2: did you get a new husband?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: I didn't get a new husband, but I put him
Speaker 2: in a new frame. I started looking for something that
Speaker 2: I could be glad. I will rejoice repeat after me.
Speaker 2: Touch your neighbors say frame it up?
Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 2: When I sit down to do a video shoot, the
Speaker 2: first thing they have to do, well, I'm getting ready
Speaker 2: and putting on a little makeup. Yeah, you gotta put
Speaker 2: a little makeup when you do the video shoot. I
Speaker 2: know it's terrible. I know you used to respect me.
Speaker 2: I'm still a man. But they just a little bit
Speaker 2: of powder, Just a little bit of powder, and they say,
Speaker 2: hang on a second, pastor, we gotta frame up the shot.
Speaker 2: Wonder what your week would be like if you framed
Speaker 2: it up before you went into it.
Speaker 1: Frame it? Oh. I like the way they say it,
Speaker 1: frame it.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 1: I think that's what worship is.
Speaker 2: By the way, it's framing it. It's framing it. When
Speaker 2: I lift my hands. You need to know what I'm doing.
Speaker 2: I'm framing it. I'm saying that come win, come wain.
Speaker 2: I'm not afraid. I got Jesus in my boat, and
Speaker 2: I gotta faith the up.
Speaker 3: Frame it up. I lift my eyes to the hills
Speaker 3: from whence come at my health. I'm sorry, y'all. My
Speaker 3: help comes.
Speaker 2: From the Lord.
Speaker 3: What am I doing it? I'm framing it up.
Speaker 2: Can't look back, can't look down, Gotta look up. I have.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: So it's anticipation. And watch this. This is good. It's motivation.
Speaker 2: It's motivation. It's motivation. Hand me the picture in my office.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I need to tell you something. I am an image
Speaker 2: driven person, all right. So faith subs and so forth
Speaker 2: the evidence of things. And I've seen I have a
Speaker 2: great imagination. So I pictured you being at this church
Speaker 2: before you came right and I preached to you were
Speaker 2: in that seat. I preached until what was not seen
Speaker 2: became the reality that I hope for.
Speaker 1: But sometimes on Wednesday or Thursday, I won't feel it.
Speaker 1: You ever, just don't feel it.
Speaker 3: I still love God, I still love you.
Speaker 1: I love this word.
Speaker 2: It's precious to me, Sweeter than the honey from the
Speaker 2: honeycomb if you want to know the truth about it.
Speaker 2: But you know, I have to have pictures, So I
Speaker 2: have pictures all around the office, people getting baptized, people
Speaker 2: raising their hands to give their life to Christ, and
Speaker 2: then just different staff members, people.
Speaker 1: That have been there along the journey.
Speaker 2: About a year ago, one of our photographers caught something
Speaker 2: and whoever this is, I would love to know who
Speaker 2: you are. I would send you a check filet coupon.
Speaker 1: In my mind, I just kept like going down until
Speaker 1: I felt comfortable with the offer.
Speaker 2: But they caught a moment in worship, and they captured
Speaker 2: this moment and this is right on my desk where
Speaker 2: I preached my sermons.
Speaker 1: You see how al I just looking at me.
Speaker 2: That might be the only time during one of my
Speaker 2: sermons that he's ever been paying attention, but in this moment,
Speaker 2: and then you see my wife that one right there.
Speaker 2: See that in my mind, that picture is it puts
Speaker 2: me in the right frame of mind to remember that
Speaker 2: somebody is looking up to me, because look how they're
Speaker 2: looking at me.
Speaker 1: They are looking at me like I am their hero.
Speaker 2: Don't you agree they sess the interpretation that I have.
Speaker 1: I draw my own. You know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: can frame it how I want to frame it.
Speaker 3: Amen.
Speaker 2: So he's thinking, Wow, I have big shoes to fill.
Speaker 2: That's what he's thinking in my mind. And she's thinking, God,
Speaker 2: how what have I done to deserve this specimen of
Speaker 2: spiritual out her?
Speaker 1: Tell somebody frame it up.
Speaker 2: So sometimes I look at it and I think, you know,
Speaker 2: I got people counting on me this week, and the
Speaker 2: way he's looking at me, it motivates me to dig
Speaker 2: down deeper. Now, if this motivates me, consider Jesus. The
Speaker 2: Bible says, for the joy set before him, what is that?
Speaker 3: That's you?
Speaker 2: It means that while he was on the cross, while
Speaker 2: he was dying, the motivation that he had to Is
Speaker 2: this what the author of Hebrews is teaching that it
Speaker 2: was the glory of his father and the salvation of
Speaker 2: his creation that kept him there. So sometimes you need
Speaker 2: what we call an establishing shot hit the back of
Speaker 2: the room camera, an establishing shot. That's what reminds me
Speaker 2: in life that sometimes I can get so focused on
Speaker 2: one moment that I can compromise everything that's related to
Speaker 2: my destiny in one moment of pressure. So I got
Speaker 2: to establish it again and realize that what I'm doing
Speaker 2: by faith isn't just for me. This is a generational faith.
Speaker 2: I want something to hand to my kids that's worth.
Speaker 3: Holding on to.
Speaker 2: Sometimes your frame is too small. That shot is designed
Speaker 2: to give a context of the whole room for The
Speaker 2: perspective is the one that we put on television so
Speaker 2: people can go, Oh, people actually show up to hear
Speaker 2: this guy preach.
Speaker 1: I should maybe listen to.
Speaker 2: Motivation. And you need all of these shots in your life.
Speaker 2: You need all of these frames of reference. You need
Speaker 2: all of these perspectives. Sometimes when you have all this
Speaker 2: stuff swirling around you, you need camera one. That's the
Speaker 2: focus shot, that's the tight shot. I'm going to deal
Speaker 2: with what I'm dealing with today, and tomorrow is sufficient enough.
Speaker 2: The grace of God will cover tomorrow. Today is sufficient
Speaker 2: for its own trouble. I'm going to focus on what
Speaker 2: I've got to do right now now.
Speaker 1: Faith is the substance of things hope for so I
Speaker 1: need that.
Speaker 2: And then sometimes I need that lion, and I need
Speaker 2: that bear.
Speaker 1: I need that camera too. Shot. Give me camera two because.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I need to know that the God who was
Speaker 2: faithful in my past is no less competent in this
Speaker 2: present struggle. I need to remember that the lion went
Speaker 2: down and the bear went down. While we're talking about David,
Speaker 2: can we establish the fact that David was looking at
Speaker 2: the same giant as his big brothers, but he had
Speaker 2: a different frame. It wasn't too different, Golias. It was
Speaker 2: the same giant, but it was a new frame. I'm
Speaker 2: changing my frame today.
Speaker 3: That's it. I made my decision.
Speaker 2: I framed up my life long enough by limitation and lack.
Speaker 3: Today I'm making a.
Speaker 2: Decision that if the word of God was good enough
Speaker 2: to frame the world with, it's good enough to frame
Speaker 2: my struggle too. To seven people, tell him, change your frame,
Speaker 2: change your frame.
Speaker 1: Come on, you gotta do it.
Speaker 3: You gotta do it this week. Do it, do it,
Speaker 3: do it.
Speaker 1: Do it real quick, do real quick.
Speaker 2: Get your hands and put them like this. And this
Speaker 2: is what I want you to do to that stack
Speaker 2: of bills that you've been wondering about.
Speaker 1: Reframe it.
Speaker 3: Touch somebody, say, reframe it.
Speaker 2: All right, this is what I want you to do
Speaker 2: to the annoying people in your life. This is what
Speaker 2: faith will enable you to do You're gonna reframe them. Oh,
Speaker 2: you are no longer an annoying person. You are a
Speaker 2: part of my spiritual development program designed to bring me patience.
Speaker 2: I just reframed you and.
Speaker 3: You didn't even know it.
Speaker 2: Joshua and Caleb have faith because they had a different frame.
Speaker 2: What is your frame? My frame is this, If God
Speaker 2: is for me, who can be against me?
Speaker 3: That's his word? Right, Well, that's my frame.
Speaker 2: I'm going into every situation knowing that He's for me,
Speaker 2: and whatever comes against me, he's got it. I got
Speaker 2: a new frame, and so there are some things give
Speaker 2: me that. There are some things that if you're going
Speaker 2: to touch somebody, say change your frame.
Speaker 1: Change a frame, change your frame.
Speaker 2: There are some things that are in your life right
Speaker 2: now that need to be eliminated from your friend. See,
Speaker 2: that's the fifth thing I wanted you to get. I
Speaker 2: wanted you to realize that as you frame your life,
Speaker 2: as you reframe your situation, it's going to take focus.
Speaker 3: It's going to take.
Speaker 2: Perspective to have a new frame of reference, to realize
Speaker 2: that there are other people who have gone through worse
Speaker 2: and made it, that there's more to this life that
Speaker 2: you're living than the season that you're in.
Speaker 1: It's going to take anticipation to know that.
Speaker 2: I got to be ready for change and I got
Speaker 2: to be ready for challenge. But my life is framed
Speaker 2: by the word of God.
Speaker 3: So I'm not worried about.
Speaker 2: It because I'm more than a conqueror through Him who
Speaker 2: loved me.
Speaker 3: Because He made this day.
Speaker 2: I will rejoice and I've got a spirit of motivation.
Speaker 1: For the joy set before me. I'm going to endure
Speaker 1: like Jesus.
Speaker 2: But the writer of Hebrew says that there are some
Speaker 2: things called weight and sin that have to be removed.
Speaker 3: From the frame. See, this.
Speaker 2: Was an important part of the worship till I got
Speaker 2: up to preach. But now that it's preaching time, this
Speaker 2: thing is in my way. So it's not a bad thing,
Speaker 2: but it doesn't belong in this shot. So got to
Speaker 2: learn how that sometimes in your life there are some things.
Speaker 2: I mean, how annoying would it be if Mack would
Speaker 2: have left his stupid mic stand out like a rock star.
Speaker 3: This ain't Chicago.
Speaker 2: Come get your MIC's stand and get it out of
Speaker 2: my frame. Tech somebody say, get your down out of
Speaker 2: my frame, get your fear out of my frame. Sometimes
Speaker 2: you got to look at situations in your life and
Speaker 2: say not.
Speaker 3: Right now, I don't have time to carry this weight.
Speaker 2: My faith is a substans of something I'm hoping for.
Speaker 3: I'm headed in an upward direction.
Speaker 2: Get out of my frame. I'm sorry to get aggressive
Speaker 2: about it, but would you push five people and tell
Speaker 2: them get out of my frame? Out of my frame
Speaker 2: and looking looking see this is gonna be so freeing
Speaker 2: for you because you didn't know that you were the
Speaker 2: director of this shot.
Speaker 1: You didn't even know. But but faith is a frame.
Speaker 3: Faith is a frame.
Speaker 1: I would love for you to go by Target, Dollar General.
Speaker 6: Whatever your taste, and get get a get a frame
Speaker 6: to a picture frame, and leave it empty and put
Speaker 6: it on your desk this week.
Speaker 2: If you don't have a desk, put it on your
Speaker 2: coffee table. If you don't have a coffee table, put
Speaker 2: it on.
Speaker 1: Your window sill. If you don't have a windows put
Speaker 1: it on the floor. My point is.
Speaker 2: I don't want you to hear this message. I want
Speaker 2: you to work this message to see your life through
Speaker 2: the frame of faith.
Speaker 3: Every once in a while I will.
Speaker 2: Talk to somebody in our church who has received news
Speaker 2: that they have a very short time to live. Almost
Speaker 2: without fail, talking to that person encourages me more than
Speaker 2: it encouraged them. There are very few exceptions. Because they're sad,
Speaker 2: they're nervous, they're worried. All of that's there. But it's
Speaker 2: like when you talk to them, their frame has changed,
Speaker 2: and so they actually it's the strangest thing. I can't
Speaker 2: really explain it, but some things you can only understand
Speaker 2: by faith. It's like this wasn't a good thing that
Speaker 2: came into their life, but it gave them a new
Speaker 2: frame to see their life through.
Speaker 1: And they're not irritable.
Speaker 2: About some of the things that they were irritable about anymore.
Speaker 2: And they're not worried about some of the things they
Speaker 2: were worried about anymore. And they don't even give attention
Speaker 2: to some of the things they gave attention to anymore.
Speaker 2: And I started the phone call to pray for them,
Speaker 2: and I end up asking them to pray for me
Speaker 2: because they have a better frame, because here.
Speaker 1: I am worried about, worried about this daily stuff, and
Speaker 1: here they have a frame that lets them know that
Speaker 1: tomorrow isn't promised.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you've ever seen somebody who was about
Speaker 2: to die, and then they really started living. And it
Speaker 2: took the possibility that they might die to really start living.
Speaker 1: It took the possibility that they.
Speaker 2: Might not get to make it to see to walk
Speaker 2: their child down the aisle, to start being a good father.
Speaker 3: Don't, don't.
Speaker 2: Don't let your life get so out of focus that
Speaker 2: it takes a tragedy to change your frame. Don't let
Speaker 2: it be that it takes a funeral to make you
Speaker 2: appreciate your friends. Don't let it be that God has
Speaker 2: to take something away to make you appreciate how good
Speaker 2: it was while you had it. My advice to you
Speaker 2: is to change your frame. And I think the writer
Speaker 2: of Hebrews would agree. He would say that when you
Speaker 2: fix your eyes on Jesus, even if you haven't fixed
Speaker 2: the situation, if you fix the frame, fix a frame,
Speaker 2: bring into visibility what really matters, my God. We are
Speaker 2: so consumed with the wind and the waves that we
Speaker 2: are missing the one who is able to walk on water.
Speaker 2: And what I'd like to pray for you today is
Speaker 2: that your frame leaving this place for whatever your facing
Speaker 2: in your life, would be a faith frame. I want
Speaker 2: to pray that you would become a framer in your
Speaker 2: everyday life. And this means that you will see potential
Speaker 2: in people that other people don't see potential in. This
Speaker 2: means that you're going to stop spending all your time
Speaker 2: trying to frame everybody else's life and start framing your own.
Speaker 2: I just said a lot, and I didn't get a
Speaker 2: good response on it, so I'm gonna stay on it.
Speaker 2: Some of us are so busy trying to frame somebody
Speaker 2: else's future what they should do and what you would do.
Speaker 2: God didn't call you to frame anybody else's life. He
Speaker 2: called you, And if you'll ever get busy with the
Speaker 2: big picture of your life, you won't have time to
Speaker 2: adjust my frame. So I want you to stand in
Speaker 2: the presence of God, and I want you to do
Speaker 2: something that has been symbolic in the church for thousands
Speaker 2: of years. But put down your purse. The person next
Speaker 2: to you is completely trustworthy.
Speaker 3: Put down your pen.
Speaker 1: There's nothing more to write down.
Speaker 2: Lift your hands, yeah, lift them up. Let go of
Speaker 2: all of the things that have been in the frame,
Speaker 2: all of the shame past.
Speaker 1: You can't change all of the names.
Speaker 2: Of the people that didn't come on. Let's get in
Speaker 2: a faith frame of mind. What things are you hoping for?
Speaker 2: What are the things that you can't see right now
Speaker 2: that you believe not? Pray that the eyes of your
Speaker 2: heart might be open. I pray that the perspective of
Speaker 2: your faith might be ENLiGHT and I pray that your
Speaker 2: imagination might be awakened to see the good things that
Speaker 2: God has prepared for you. Lift your hands high. The
Speaker 2: spirit of the Lord is in this place, and I
Speaker 2: pray today for liberty and freedom in your life. I
Speaker 2: pray today that in the presence of the Lord you
Speaker 2: would find the fullness of joy and in.
Speaker 1: His right hand pleasures forevermore.
Speaker 2: I pray that whatever you've been looking at through the
Speaker 2: lens of fear would look different today when you leave,
Speaker 2: because of what the Word of God has reframed in
Speaker 2: your life. I pray today that the eternal Word of
Speaker 2: God would reframe your situation and yes, even reframe the way.
Speaker 1: You see yourself.
Speaker 2: God, we thank you today in Jesus' name that you
Speaker 2: are reframing and recreating and renewing.
Speaker 3: All things to look like your word. We declare it,
Speaker 3: confess your word over our situation.
Speaker 2: We declare it, confess your word over our insecurity. We
Speaker 2: asked that the same word that frame the world, what
Speaker 2: frame our lives this week, and we declare we will
Speaker 2: say the goodness of the Lord in the land of
Speaker 2: the Living. If you believe that, put a praise on
Speaker 2: it and clap your hands in the presence of God.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
Speaker 2: more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.