Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and.
Speaker 2: This is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 3: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 1: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 1: in your life.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: How many are ready for the Word of God. I
Speaker 1: just have a Christmas devotional thought today from Hebrews eleven,
Speaker 1: verse three. It is not customarily seen as a Christmas scripture,
Speaker 1: but let's look at the picture of Jesus Christ through
Speaker 1: this frame today. Hebrews eleven three. King James version. Y'all
Speaker 1: thought I was playing this holiday season, but I am not.
Speaker 1: King James version, Hebrews eleven three. Ready, through faith, we
Speaker 1: understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,
Speaker 1: so that things which are seen were not made of things.
Speaker 3: Which do appear.
Speaker 1: Through faith, we understand, how many know there are some
Speaker 1: things you can only understand through faith. Through faith, we
Speaker 1: understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,
Speaker 1: so that the things which are seen were not made
Speaker 1: of things which do appear. Lord, I thank you that
Speaker 1: your word is already blessed open our hearts to receive
Speaker 1: it now in Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated.
Speaker 1: A couple of years ago, I took all three of
Speaker 1: the kids on a carriage ride downtown Truston, and I
Speaker 1: took them on the carriage ride because I'm a good
Speaker 1: good father and Holly wanted to shop. And also another
Speaker 1: reason I took them on a carriage ride is because
Speaker 1: I'm an idiot, and because Abby begged me too.
Speaker 3: She was about five. Big brothers told her this is
Speaker 3: a bad idea. You're not gonna like it. It's going
Speaker 3: to be boring, but she insisted. We walked by this
Speaker 3: picture of a carriage ride. She said, can we go?
Speaker 3: I bought the tickets.
Speaker 1: I told the woman of God, I'm going to give
Speaker 1: you about an hour of shopping, childless shopping. And she said, oh,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you Men of God. She said, I
Speaker 1: receive it in Jesus name. Got on the carriage ride.
Speaker 1: Within three minutes, Abby had a full scale meltdown on
Speaker 1: the carriage ride.
Speaker 3: She was bored, she was.
Speaker 1: Restless, she was disappointed, and her brothers, whoa her brothers,
Speaker 1: took the opportunity to remind her, we told you that
Speaker 1: this would suck. Of course, we don't say suck in
Speaker 1: my family. It's a preacher's family. But we were all
Speaker 1: kind of embarrassed because of course we weren't the only
Speaker 1: ones on the carriage ride. And within ten minutes she
Speaker 1: was crying so loudly that I had to go into
Speaker 1: my You know, if your parent, you have a yelling
Speaker 1: voice that's quiet. It's louder than a scream, and you
Speaker 1: have to use it in public when you want to
Speaker 1: convey urgency without raising decibels.
Speaker 3: And I said, baby girl, with a smile.
Speaker 1: I said it too, baby girl, you're the one who
Speaker 1: wanted to come on this carriage drive, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: need you to dry it up and enjoy this carriage drive.
Speaker 1: We got thirty more minutes and you're the only one
Speaker 1: who wanted to come on the carriage drive. So whatever's
Speaker 1: going on right now, I need you to deal with
Speaker 1: it and listen to this man tell us the history
Speaker 1: of all these houses on this carriage drive.
Speaker 3: She goes, she's trying to stop crying, and she goes.
Speaker 1: But this isn't what I'm pictured. The title of my
Speaker 1: sermon is, this isn't what I pictured. Sometimes life takes
Speaker 1: you on a ride. Come on, who's going to be
Speaker 1: real with me?
Speaker 3: Today?
Speaker 1: Looks like we got all angels in this section. Let
Speaker 1: me turn over here. Have you ever had life hand
Speaker 1: you a whopper? But it didn't look like the commercial?
Speaker 3: This isn't what I pictured.
Speaker 1: And it is a very difficult thing to adjust your
Speaker 1: perspective when you pictured it one way and the product
Speaker 1: turns out to be another. Some of you came to
Speaker 1: church crying today is.
Speaker 2: What I picture?
Speaker 1: Because when we started twenty nineteen or whatever year, you
Speaker 1: happen to be watching this in the time capsule in
Speaker 1: the future on the internet.
Speaker 3: Just want this sermon to have a long shelf life.
Speaker 1: And you started the year with a picture of transformation,
Speaker 1: new beginnings, restoration, And this isn't what I pictured, you know,
Speaker 1: so it's.
Speaker 3: A real thing. Even to this day.
Speaker 1: We'll tell Abby it's going to be like the carriage ride.
Speaker 1: It's a way when she wants to do something we
Speaker 1: don't want to do, we remind her carriage ry, carriage ry,
Speaker 1: which is fine when you're only out of eighty five dollars,
Speaker 1: But what about when it's your relationship and it isn't
Speaker 1: what I picture, or even your relationship with God. Maybe
Speaker 1: you're saying, you know, I started one way believing that
Speaker 1: God would do certain things for me because He is
Speaker 1: my provider, and yet I came into deeper relationship with God,
Speaker 1: and this isn't Is there anybody in the whole church?
Speaker 1: And if not, I can come to Gascon next week?
Speaker 1: Is there anybody in the whole church that is living
Speaker 1: in a scene that you did not picture in this season?
Speaker 1: And that's why Hebrews eleven three gives a contrast between
Speaker 1: what God sees and what you see to let you
Speaker 1: know that the things which are seen were not made
Speaker 1: of things which do appear.
Speaker 3: But I'm getting ahead.
Speaker 1: Of myself, because the fact of the matter is everyone
Speaker 1: has a picture of how life is supposed to go.
Speaker 1: When you are supposed to get married, when you are
Speaker 1: supposed to get a promotion, what kind of career your
Speaker 1: children were supposed to be interested in. Some of you
Speaker 1: you had your child's whole career. They were going to
Speaker 1: go to an ivy league school, be a starting quarterback
Speaker 1: and a Magnasuma Kumalatti and all of that. And they
Speaker 1: don't even like sports, and they don't even want to
Speaker 1: go to community college and study and this isn't what
Speaker 1: I picture. Didn't you get the memo? So let me
Speaker 1: just ask you a question. Where did you get your picture?
Speaker 1: Where did you get your picture? Did you get it
Speaker 1: from the Instagram? Because if you did, I'm praying for you,
Speaker 1: real hard Catholic Pentecostal, I'll do it all because if
Speaker 1: you got your picture for what life is supposed to be,
Speaker 1: light from the little glimpses that other people give you
Speaker 1: when they are posing perfectly, you will always be frustrated.
Speaker 2: And while I'm on it, let me.
Speaker 1: Say something about the show This is Us, which I love.
Speaker 2: Jack Pearson isn't real. He's not real.
Speaker 1: I told Holly the other day, I said, and please
Speaker 1: don't be offended. I hope you didn't bring a relative
Speaker 1: for this to hope you're not bringing the relatives until
Speaker 1: next weekend for the Christmas program. But some shows that
Speaker 1: we watch, I call it emotional porn because it is
Speaker 1: perfectly airbrushed. And then when you compare the real thing
Speaker 1: to a picture that was surgically altered and cropped and filtered,
Speaker 1: how in the world are we supposed to feel fulfilled
Speaker 1: about our real lives when we spend so much time
Speaker 1: getting our picture from other people's pretention. Come on and
Speaker 1: help me preach five seconds. If you know he's a
Speaker 1: real God, He's the real thing.
Speaker 3: So it means.
Speaker 1: That there are all these things that I see and
Speaker 1: all these things that I don't see. And God operates
Speaker 1: from an invisible picture. While I am trying to make
Speaker 1: sense out of my life from what is visible, God
Speaker 1: sees something different. Enter Jesus, Matthew, Chapter one, verse eighteen.
Speaker 1: This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
Speaker 1: Matthew is done with the genealogy.
Speaker 3: Now the part of the Christmas story that would put
Speaker 3: you right to sleep.
Speaker 1: If I read all of those names, not only would
Speaker 1: you be praying for my pronunciation, but you would.
Speaker 3: Lose your focus.
Speaker 1: Yet all of it is important because it is all
Speaker 1: the backstory to help us understand how Jesus came into
Speaker 1: the world. Now, if you don't understand how Jesus came,
Speaker 1: you will misunderstand.
Speaker 3: Why Jesus came. If we think he came.
Speaker 1: Like our superheroes that we pay ticket prices to go
Speaker 1: and see, we will expect him to come in a
Speaker 1: certain way, and we will picture him in a way
Speaker 1: that will cause to miss him. When he really shows up.
Speaker 1: Where did you get your picture? Where did you get
Speaker 1: your picture of God? What do you picture when you
Speaker 1: worship God? Where did you get that picture? Is he white?
Speaker 1: Is he black?
Speaker 3: Is he?
Speaker 1: Is he perfectly dialed to be an exact representation of
Speaker 1: every ethnicity?
Speaker 3: Is he a man?
Speaker 1: Is he not a man? It is is your God?
Speaker 1: King Triton? Off the little Mermaid? Just zap and stuff?
Speaker 1: Where did you get your picture? And what if he
Speaker 1: isn't what you picture? Now, I'm gonna I'm really going
Speaker 1: to create some empty seats for next week.
Speaker 3: Is going to be crowded for Christmas. Heaven is not
Speaker 3: going to be like you picture it right now. Let
Speaker 3: me tell you why.
Speaker 1: Some of the people that you can't stand are going
Speaker 1: to be there, some of the people who don't believe
Speaker 1: the right stuff, some of the people who didn't share
Speaker 1: the same denominational dogma as you.
Speaker 2: When we get to heaven, a lot.
Speaker 1: Of us are going to be surprised because it won't
Speaker 1: look like the picture. And so this is how the
Speaker 1: Birth of Jesus Christ came about. Matthew says, John starts
Speaker 1: it differently. He says, in the beginning was the word
Speaker 1: and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Speaker 1: And he was there with God in the beginning, and
Speaker 1: all things were made through him collussion and says by
Speaker 1: him and for him.
Speaker 3: But Matthew is.
Speaker 1: Starting with the human perspective of how Jesus Christ came about.
Speaker 1: Of course, in verse seventeen, he says, thus there were
Speaker 1: fourteen generations in all, from Abraham to David, from David
Speaker 1: to the Babylonian exile, and then fourteen from the exile
Speaker 1: to Christ fourteen fourteen fourteen public school math. There's forty
Speaker 1: two generations of faith that brought Gesa into the earth.
Speaker 1: And yet the logos or the Word was with God,
Speaker 1: pre existent, pre incarnate God, was the Word of God.
Speaker 1: I promise you this is important, so please stay with me.
Speaker 1: Because before Jesus was seen, he existed. Before he appeared,
Speaker 1: he existed, just like everything in your life.
Speaker 3: Before it is seen, it exists.
Speaker 1: By the time it becomes a behavior, it was a
Speaker 1: belief for a long time. By the time it becomes
Speaker 1: a feeling, it was a thought. So just like there
Speaker 1: is a genealogy of Jesus, there is a genealogy of
Speaker 1: our emotions. There's a genealogy of our habits. There is
Speaker 1: a pattern where where knowing how something started can help
Speaker 1: you to trust when you don't see it in the process.
Speaker 3: I'm preaching real good today.
Speaker 1: This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
Speaker 1: His mother, Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph,
Speaker 1: but before they came together, she was found.
Speaker 3: To be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did
Speaker 1: not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had
Speaker 1: in mind, Now I love this phrase. He had in
Speaker 1: mind to divorce her quietly or to put her away quietly.
Speaker 3: He had in mind. So much of the decisions.
Speaker 1: That we make in our lives that cause us confusion
Speaker 1: are because we do what we had in mind before.
Speaker 1: We consult God to see what he has in store.
Speaker 3: Now, can I keep going?
Speaker 1: But after he considered this, now, why because the Angel
Speaker 1: appears to him? But why did the Angel appear at
Speaker 1: this point after Mary was already bound to be pregnant?
Speaker 1: In other words, why did God let Joseph go several
Speaker 1: months without knowing what he wanted to do and what
Speaker 1: it was all about, and then appear after he had
Speaker 1: already made his plan and had in mind what he
Speaker 1: wanted to do. After he had considered this, an angel
Speaker 1: of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
Speaker 1: Joseph's son of David, do not be afraid to take
Speaker 1: Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in
Speaker 1: her is from the Holy Spirit. Why couldn't you tell
Speaker 1: me that six months ago? Why couldn't you have told
Speaker 1: me that before I.
Speaker 2: Got the papers drawn up.
Speaker 1: Why does God wait until after you have made a
Speaker 1: plan to interrupt it?
Speaker 2: And this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
Speaker 1: The greatest hope that the world was ever given, came
Speaker 1: through the greatest disappointment that Joseph would ever know. And
Speaker 1: I wonder is that happening in somebody's life today. This
Speaker 1: is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When
Speaker 1: Joseph had made up his mind how he needed to
Speaker 1: handle the situation, and yet God interrupts Joseph's plan to
Speaker 1: fulfill a greater purpose. Now, if you go by your picture,
Speaker 1: you will make your plan. The only problem is God
Speaker 1: might have a different picture than you. I know y'all
Speaker 1: don't like it, but it's the facts. This is how
Speaker 1: the birth of Jesus Christ came about. You know how
Speaker 1: we have our nativity scene.
Speaker 3: It's got a.
Speaker 1: Baby Jesus and the wise men. Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: no record that there was three of them, three gifts,
Speaker 1: but I don't know how many how many magi were there,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you this. They didn't get there when
Speaker 1: Jesus was born. Jesus could have been two years old
Speaker 1: by the time they got there. But two year old
Speaker 1: Jesus is and is cute on a nativity scene in
Speaker 1: precious moments can't sell it, you know, toddlers aren't so adorable,
Speaker 1: so they had to put little baby umbilical cord Jesus
Speaker 1: on the major scene, but he was older than that.
Speaker 1: Now the shepherds are there in your nativity scene too,
Speaker 1: aren't they.
Speaker 3: The wise men and the shepherds weren't there at the
Speaker 3: same time. Let's see.
Speaker 1: Now they want to sell you extra figures, so they
Speaker 1: have to put them all together at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's a profit margin issue, right, It's not.
Speaker 3: An accuracy thing.
Speaker 1: And how you pictured Christmas is probably wrong. He wasn't
Speaker 1: even born in a manger. That's how we translated English.
Speaker 1: It was more of a guest room that would have
Speaker 1: looked more like a cave. But how are you going
Speaker 1: to sell a manger scene with a cave? You know,
Speaker 1: what if it isn't how you pictured it? What if
Speaker 1: how God wants to use you is in how you
Speaker 1: pictured him? What if the way he's going to work
Speaker 1: in your marriage is and how you pictured him. And
Speaker 1: Joseph has this word from God to go from to
Speaker 1: understand by If he understands by his eyes, his sight,
Speaker 1: he's going to miss it.
Speaker 3: We always will.
Speaker 1: If he understands by his senses, his feelings, his emotions,
Speaker 1: he'll miss it emotionally and mentally. He has already decided
Speaker 1: I'm done with this, And some of you came to
Speaker 1: church today and you've.
Speaker 3: Already decided to quit.
Speaker 1: I'm giving up on this, I'm given up on joy,
Speaker 1: I'm giving up on peace, I'm giving up on hope.
Speaker 1: That's why some of you aren't in the building. You're
Speaker 1: watching on a screen, because you gave up on even
Speaker 1: being a part of a church. Because when you picture church,
Speaker 1: you picture perfect people who would never hurt you. But
Speaker 1: guess what, we are imperfect, just like you. So if
Speaker 1: you want to hook up, you got to understand we're
Speaker 1: screwed up too. But if you picture it as perfect,
Speaker 1: then when this is the Lord, I hear you, Lord,
Speaker 1: I love it. When this happens, God show me exactly
Speaker 1: what he said. He said, the problem isn't your situation,
Speaker 1: it's your picture. The problem is not the situation, The
Speaker 1: problem is the picture. Mary had her dress picked out,
Speaker 1: but now she's not gonna get to wear it. She's
Speaker 1: gonna be way too big for this dress by the
Speaker 1: time she walks the aisle. Joseph had his plan picked out,
Speaker 1: but now he's not gonna get to do it, which
Speaker 1: is hard for a carpenter because carpenter's plan they make
Speaker 1: a living off of measuring and planning.
Speaker 2: But after he had measured it.
Speaker 1: In his mind, God spoke to his spirit and said,
Speaker 1: what is in her is from me. I know it's
Speaker 1: not what you pictured, but it's me. I know it's
Speaker 1: not what you expected, but it's me.
Speaker 2: I know it's not your preference, but it's me.
Speaker 1: I know it doesn't fit your tradition, but it's me.
Speaker 2: I know that you feel lonely and there.
Speaker 1: Are some missing pieces, but it's me. And are you
Speaker 1: trying to build your life by the wrong picture of
Speaker 1: what you thought it would be?
Speaker 3: Or why you think you're supposed to be.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't it be dumb to.
Speaker 1: Try to buy a puzzle to build it according to
Speaker 1: a picture that was on the cover of somebody else's puzzle.
Speaker 1: Try it if you go over to a friend's house
Speaker 1: and they have a puzzle. This analogy is a little weak,
Speaker 1: but bear with me. If you see a picture, go
Speaker 1: buy a puzzle that doesn't match the picture, and try
Speaker 1: to open that box with those pieces and build.
Speaker 3: A picture, and see how much fun you have with it.
Speaker 1: God says, I gave you the pieces for the picture
Speaker 1: that I have in mind for your life according to
Speaker 1: my purpose before you.
Speaker 3: Were ever born.
Speaker 2: So I got the right pieces, I've.
Speaker 1: Got the right gifts, I've got.
Speaker 2: The right temperament.
Speaker 1: If I submit it to the Holy Spirit and don't
Speaker 1: let it get out of control. But this isn't what
Speaker 1: I've pictured. Switched the picture. Switch the picture. When you
Speaker 1: have a picture of yourself as worthless.
Speaker 2: You will build your life according to that picture.
Speaker 1: You will sabotage yourself because you build.
Speaker 2: By what you feel.
Speaker 1: But now, if God says I'm righteous, if I switched
Speaker 1: the picture to what he sees, and if I assume
Speaker 1: that he's always working. If I switch the picture, Joseph
Speaker 1: is me, I started this. It's it's you that going
Speaker 1: to take Mary home, but it's me. And it's hard
Speaker 1: to believe as God when it doesn't feel good.
Speaker 3: Joseph is like, are you sure? Because he had to
Speaker 3: think about it, he had to ponder it.
Speaker 1: The Beautiful verse in the Bible, it says, Joseph, son
Speaker 1: of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home
Speaker 1: as your wife, because what is conceived in her is
Speaker 1: from the Holy Spirit. What's in her is from me.
Speaker 1: What's in her is from me. It's in her, but
Speaker 1: it's from me. God says, what's in you is from me.
Speaker 1: What's in you is from Me. And I'm just comforted
Speaker 1: by that because sometimes I feel pressure about what I
Speaker 1: perceive to be missing pieces. Even as a preacher, I
Speaker 1: always wish that I could that I could preach like
Speaker 1: other preachers that I see, And I tell you exactly
Speaker 1: who I want to preach like.
Speaker 3: You know, the guys that stand still.
Speaker 1: And they are just so profound, and they have one
Speaker 1: of the mics that never moves, and they just it's
Speaker 1: just so they're so calm, and I like that, and
Speaker 1: I go on Amazon looking for robes, and I think, man,
Speaker 1: that would be cool because it expends a lot of energy,
Speaker 1: all this moving around.
Speaker 2: And even sometimes I come.
Speaker 1: Up and I try to preach like one of them,
Speaker 1: you know, But then something just I can't.
Speaker 2: I mean, I really, I really don't plan.
Speaker 1: To freak out and spats out, and I watch myself
Speaker 1: back and I'm like, why you have to be like that?
Speaker 2: Why can't you be dignified?
Speaker 1: But something inside of me when I start doing.
Speaker 2: It, I just gotta do it. How I do it.
Speaker 4: I gotta do it like the pieces in my box are.
Speaker 2: Meant for the picture. Y'all won't help me breathe.
Speaker 4: What's in you is from God, what's in.
Speaker 1: Me is from Him. I got every peace I God wisdom.
Speaker 1: I've got strength, I've got anointing. I've got authority in
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus to overcome every.
Speaker 2: Wicked thing that rises to oppose me. Now, show three
Speaker 2: people say, it's in you. It's in you.
Speaker 1: It's in you right now, and it's growing and it's kicking,
Speaker 1: and it's meant to be and you're not missing anything.
Speaker 2: You got it all. You got every peace.
Speaker 4: For the picture, for in the beginning, what's the word?
Speaker 2: And the word's with God? And watch this.
Speaker 1: The word was God. So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1: Let's take a vote. This is the first church vote
Speaker 1: that I remember in the history of Elevation Church. But
Speaker 1: let's be Baptist for the next thirty seconds. Who had
Speaker 1: the harder job? Mary or Joseph? Before you answer this,
Speaker 1: because in just a moment, I'm gonna call on you
Speaker 1: to raise your hand at every location. If you are married,
Speaker 1: I want to strongly encourage you to consider carefully the
Speaker 1: cost of answering this question honestly.
Speaker 3: But who says Mary had the harder job?
Speaker 1: You know? There they are, all the women who have
Speaker 1: borne children into this world. Come on, let's celebrate Mother's
Speaker 1: Day early. Thank God for you. Amen, raise your hand.
Speaker 1: If you say it's Mary, it's Mary right, because she
Speaker 1: had very little choice. She was already pregnant by the
Speaker 1: time she found.
Speaker 3: Out about the purpose.
Speaker 1: Too late if you don't like it, and then then
Speaker 1: you got Joseph.
Speaker 3: Y'all.
Speaker 1: My kids came up to me the other day and
Speaker 1: they said, do you know Joe.
Speaker 3: Now here's what's hilarious.
Speaker 1: I said, Joe, Mama, And they said, how did you
Speaker 1: know that because they think they started Joe Mama.
Speaker 2: Boy, I was doing.
Speaker 1: Joe Mama while you were still on your unframed form,
Speaker 1: was not even in the picture. Yet. I gave him
Speaker 1: a genealogy of Joe Mama.
Speaker 3: I remember Joe Mama from the Golden Girls. You remember
Speaker 3: the Golden Girls? You too?
Speaker 1: But I promise you, Joe Mama is old. This didn't
Speaker 1: start with you. I came to say that to somebody
Speaker 1: about what God is doing in your life. This didn't
Speaker 1: start with you, and this doesn't end here. And Joseph
Speaker 1: has in mind to walk away. But God has something
Speaker 1: different in store because God is building with a different picture.
Speaker 1: So who believes that Joseph had the harder job? Raise
Speaker 1: your head, I plaud your courage. It's an unpopular stance.
Speaker 1: I kind of see where you're coming from. I kind
Speaker 1: of see where you're coming from. Because verse twenty one
Speaker 1: tells us Mary's job and Joseph's job. Let's read it together, Matthew.
Speaker 1: Chapter one, verse twenty one. She will give birth and
Speaker 1: you are to give him the name. Which one you
Speaker 1: want to do? Give birth or give the name. And
Speaker 1: so physically there's no argument. But see what is striking
Speaker 1: to me about Joseph. You never heard the Christmas Carol? Joseph,
Speaker 1: did you know?
Speaker 3: Now? Mary knew?
Speaker 1: Mary knew because it was her body. Mary knew that
Speaker 1: this has to be God because she knows whether or
Speaker 1: not she has been with another man. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: leave it at that, in case you didn't get your
Speaker 1: kids to eat kids this morning. I'm not gonna kind.
Speaker 3: Of details on this.
Speaker 1: But Mary knew this has to be God because I
Speaker 1: consulted my experience, and I'm a virgent and I haven't
Speaker 1: been with a man. So if I'm carrying something, it
Speaker 1: didn't come from human means, I know it because.
Speaker 3: It's my body.
Speaker 1: Joseph didn't know, and he would never really know, so
Speaker 1: he had to believe. Maybe that's the hardest job of
Speaker 1: all to believe what you can't see, to believe what
Speaker 1: you can't be sure of, to believe what you can't prove.
Speaker 1: Joseph said, I I never knew. You know, the rest
Speaker 1: of his life, he would live probably halfway wondering.
Speaker 3: Was it really God that got her pregnant?
Speaker 1: And you go into right, you go into men's group,
Speaker 1: and you're like, guys is good? I was praying the
Speaker 1: Lord told me. I was I was actually sleeping. I
Speaker 1: was in a dream, and the Lord told me, and
Speaker 1: don't worry. Mary saw a vision two and we're gonna
Speaker 1: work this out and we're gonna go home.
Speaker 2: Do you not think.
Speaker 1: Joseph spent the rest of his life looking cross eyed
Speaker 1: at people trying to figure out Now, your nose looks
Speaker 1: kind of like that long nose with checking out those ears.
Speaker 1: You know, Ronnie has kind of long years right there.
Speaker 1: I saw Ronnie and Mary because Joseph didn't know. Because
Speaker 1: faith does not operate by sensory knowledge. Because faith enables
Speaker 1: us to understand that God is with us even if
Speaker 1: we do not see him in the picture. I need
Speaker 1: you to receive this by faith. You are to give
Speaker 1: him the name Jesus, because he will save his people
Speaker 1: from their sins. Now here's the culmination of the text
Speaker 1: that I want to share with you.
Speaker 3: All this took.
Speaker 1: Place, Everything you didn't picture, everything you don't understand. All
Speaker 1: this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
Speaker 1: through the prophet. And then he quotes Isaiah seven fourteen,
Speaker 1: which says the Virgin will be with child and give
Speaker 1: birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,
Speaker 1: which means God with us. And I've been listening to
Speaker 1: a song all week that says, even when I don't
Speaker 1: see it, you're working, and even when I don't feel it,
Speaker 1: you're working. And I need you to make a declaration
Speaker 1: by faith. Every mouth in this room open up and
Speaker 1: say God is with me right now. God is with
Speaker 1: me right now. Come on, say it again, God is
Speaker 1: with me right now. Some of y'all it in other campus.
Speaker 1: You're not saying that, but you're not saying it to me.
Speaker 1: So say it out aloud for yourself. Say God is
Speaker 1: with me right now. And remember that the things which
Speaker 1: are seen are not made with things that do appear.
Speaker 1: So God does not build with carpenter material that you
Speaker 1: can see and fabricate your faith with your physical senses.
Speaker 1: When God builds something, it will not look like what
Speaker 1: you pictured. He has a different picture, and he builds
Speaker 1: according to his picture. Now, the message of Christmas is
Speaker 1: about his presence, not my picture. The message of Christmas
Speaker 1: says that the worlds were framed. Frame framed.
Speaker 3: I know they use it in a construction way, but
Speaker 3: this is a visual term. Frame.
Speaker 1: They frame it the world. Did you get your picture
Speaker 1: from the world or from the Word. Did you get
Speaker 1: your picture of what a man is supposed to be,
Speaker 1: of what a woman is supposed to be, of, what
Speaker 1: success is, of what fulfillment is of? What did you
Speaker 1: get it from the Word or the world? Because the
Speaker 1: Bible says that by faith we understand that the worlds
Speaker 1: were framed by the Word of God. Frame And are
Speaker 1: you framing this season of your life with your faith
Speaker 1: or with your fear?
Speaker 2: Honestly?
Speaker 1: Now answer and honestly as you look at what you
Speaker 1: cannot understand in your life right now, Because every hand
Speaker 1: in the room that I saw went up.
Speaker 2: When I said, is it different than what you pictured?
Speaker 2: Is it different than what you pictured? Someone?
Speaker 1: This was an insult, someone said to me one time
Speaker 1: when I walked in. They said, oh, I never saw
Speaker 1: you before I listened to your podcast. You're not what
Speaker 1: I picture. I said, what did you picture? They said,
Speaker 1: I pictured you bigger. I pictured you bigger. I pictured it.
Speaker 1: I pictured it bigger. I pictured at this age, I
Speaker 1: would be past some certain things.
Speaker 3: I picture.
Speaker 1: I pictured it different. I pictured I pictured parenting way different.
Speaker 1: I thought we'd be doing drive time devotionals From the
Speaker 1: original Greek of Philippians. I thought we'd be doing Bible
Speaker 1: sword drills. I didn't know they'd be pulling out real swords,
Speaker 1: stabbing each other with forks in the kitchen before y'all
Speaker 1: are looking at me so holy. It's different than what
Speaker 1: you picture. It's better, but it's different. It's different. Ministry
Speaker 1: is different than what I pictured. Let me go all
Speaker 1: the way. Adulthood is different than a picture.
Speaker 2: Can we be real with one another for a moment?
Speaker 2: It's different.
Speaker 1: They sold us something that is surreal.
Speaker 2: We're supposed to have it figured out. I'm supposed to
Speaker 2: have good sense.
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be a fully cooked turkey by now,
Speaker 1: and I'm coming out the oven and.
Speaker 2: I'm still wraw and I've got mouse to feet. Is
Speaker 2: different than the picture.
Speaker 1: So when they put the sermon online for the video,
Speaker 1: they have to switch between different shots, and they have
Speaker 1: instructions to use of what shots they put on the screen.
Speaker 1: Even now while I'm preaching, and because I move around
Speaker 1: so much like the spastic preacher that I am, these
Speaker 1: are highly trained, competent individuals. Somehow they always keep me
Speaker 1: in the center of the center of the picture. But
Speaker 1: what if the switcher fell asleep you know. Just real quick,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do an example because I.
Speaker 3: Want you to see this.
Speaker 1: Imagine if the person on the switcher that goes from
Speaker 1: the tight shot to the wide shot and boost the
Speaker 1: thing on the thing that's the technical terms. What if
Speaker 1: they at first show them what you're supposed to do. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's say I do a lateral movement over here to
Speaker 1: the side. Look, you got a shot for that. But
Speaker 1: suppose they didn't put it on that other shot. Now,
Speaker 1: for the maximum benefit of this illustration, if you are at.
Speaker 3: Valentine, watch the screen. If you're at another campus.
Speaker 1: You've got the competitive advantage right now, because sometimes God
Speaker 1: does this. Watch the screen. Watch the screen. Sometimes God
Speaker 1: does this. Now, the only conclusion you can come to
Speaker 1: if you are using your eyes is that the person
Speaker 1: who was in the picture is no longer in the building.
Speaker 1: The only way for you to know I'm still here
Speaker 1: is to go not by what you see, but by
Speaker 1: what you hear. So right now, those of you who
Speaker 1: cannot see me on.
Speaker 2: The screen, watch the screen.
Speaker 3: Y'all are disobedient.
Speaker 2: Watch the screen.
Speaker 1: You can't see me on the screen, But if you.
Speaker 4: Know my voice, if you know my voice.
Speaker 1: You will know that I did not leave you nor
Speaker 1: forsake you.
Speaker 2: In the beginning.
Speaker 4: What's the word, And the word was here before you were.
Speaker 4: The word was spoken before you saw your frame. So
Speaker 4: when I don't feel him, he's with me because his
Speaker 4: name is Emmanuel. I can't see him, but I trust
Speaker 4: him because he's spoken, and I will see it with
Speaker 4: the eyes of my faith.
Speaker 1: He's with me on my good day. He's with me
Speaker 1: on my bad day. He's with me when I've got it.
Speaker 1: He's with me when I don't even know where to look.
Speaker 1: He's with me when they like me. He's with me
Speaker 1: when nobody will return my text.
Speaker 2: He's with me when I'm married. He's with me when
Speaker 2: I'm divorced.
Speaker 4: He's with me when I've got a job.
Speaker 2: He's with me.
Speaker 1: When I don't see a way to pay it. He's
Speaker 1: with me when i'm well. He's with me and I'm sick.
Speaker 1: He's with me with a clear sky. He's with me
Speaker 1: in the storm.
Speaker 2: He didn't leave.
Speaker 4: I just got at sage my frame. If he's folk it,
Speaker 4: you will see it.
Speaker 2: Come praise him. Let you know he's with you. He's
Speaker 2: with me. He's with me. He's with me He's with me.
Speaker 1: What's in me is from me and my God. It's
Speaker 1: for me, with me, He's with me. So don't be
Speaker 1: afraid to go home and do what God told you.
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid to face your fears with the frame
Speaker 1: of faith, because the things which are seen were.
Speaker 3: Made by the things which don't appear. I know it
Speaker 3: is what your picture it in what you planned.
Speaker 1: You remember when we were in the nursing home for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: My dad was sixty to something like that, sixty two
Speaker 1: years old in a nursing home, not because we didn't
Speaker 1: want to keep It was so tense in our family
Speaker 1: that he decided he wouldn't want to live with any
Speaker 1: of us. We couldn't take care of him. He had
Speaker 1: Luke Gerrit's disease, and we tried to take care of him.
Speaker 1: We couldn't take care of him. We were eating microwaved
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving in the nursing home with my dad knowing good
Speaker 1: and well. We wanted him in our house, and nobody
Speaker 1: was on speaking terms.
Speaker 3: You talk about awkward.
Speaker 1: Him doesn't taste right when you try to microwave it.
Speaker 1: None of us pictured this. Now I know you didn't
Speaker 1: picture this. God isn't building your picture. He's building his purpose.
Speaker 1: So Joseph, Joe, Joe, did you know Joseph would say no,
Speaker 1: uh huh. I just believe I had one thing in mind,
Speaker 1: God had another thing in store. I went with God.
Speaker 1: God went with me, and I have what I need
Speaker 1: in the box to be the picture that He created
Speaker 1: in his heart. So no, I'm not trying to build
Speaker 1: somebody else's life or somebody else's idea of what I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be.
Speaker 3: Not anymore. I tried that. It is so stressful.
Speaker 1: I can't afford the doctor bill or the stomach medicine
Speaker 1: for that kind of living. I gotta build what God
Speaker 1: put inside of me for the picture.
Speaker 3: That he sees, and the world's my friend. Switch the picture.
Speaker 3: Switch the picture.
Speaker 1: Be who God called you to be, Celebrate what he
Speaker 1: gave you. Pull everything close that you still have left,
Speaker 1: wrap your arms around it, and make the.
Speaker 3: Most of it. Switch the picture.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be a different Christmas for some
Speaker 1: of us. I understand that God pictured it all along.
Speaker 1: You know, when Isaiah said a virgin will conceive, he
Speaker 1: saw that hundreds of years.
Speaker 3: Before it happened.
Speaker 1: God was already building the picture. Forty two generations, and
Speaker 1: God knew the picture. And if you get too tightly
Speaker 1: zoomed into this one scene, or this one moment, or
Speaker 1: this one struggle or this one issue, you're going to
Speaker 1: miss the bigger picture. God knows where to put you.
Speaker 1: He knows what he put in you, and he knows
Speaker 1: what he wants to do through you. So take Mary
Speaker 1: home by faith and do what the Angel of the
Speaker 1: Lord commanded you to do. Now, what you feel or
Speaker 1: what you thought, switch the picture. Everyone's standing. I want
Speaker 1: to pray for people this Christmas season who need to
Speaker 1: switch the picture. Switch the picture and put God back
Speaker 1: in the center of the frame. Put his presence and
Speaker 1: his joy and his peace. See, when you understand how
Speaker 1: he came, you can understand why he came.
Speaker 3: Please answer me, who was this message? It was just
Speaker 3: for you. It was just for you. It was just
Speaker 3: for you. It's just for you.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna tell you three things about how he came.
Speaker 3: I'll give him to you so quick.
Speaker 1: Number one, he came through someone that everyone else thought
Speaker 1: was insignificant. So the first word you need to know
Speaker 1: about how he came is insignificant. He did not come
Speaker 1: through a matriarch of royal lineage. He came through a
Speaker 1: little girl who was so scared that when the angel came,
Speaker 1: she said, how can this be? He came through someone
Speaker 1: who saw no way that what God wanted to do
Speaker 1: for the world could happen through her, And so it
Speaker 1: has always been. I know, we get excited when an
Speaker 1: actor or an actress, or a celebrity or a politician,
Speaker 1: or a rock star or a rapper gets excited about Jesus.
Speaker 1: But Christ is born in every heart that will receive
Speaker 1: him by faith.
Speaker 3: And God is using you.
Speaker 1: If you are a coach, if you are a student,
Speaker 1: if you are a businessman, you are if you are
Speaker 1: a police officer, if you are nothing more like I'm
Speaker 1: just to stop saying that God always chooses to use
Speaker 1: what people deem insignificant. So there is nothing insignificant about
Speaker 1: your pieces for your picture. That's number one. Number two,
Speaker 1: it was impossible. It was a virgin womb because God
Speaker 1: wanted to let you know that impossible situations are the
Speaker 1: places where faith is born. So if that is impossible
Speaker 1: for you, it.
Speaker 3: Is fertile for God.
Speaker 1: If you understand how he came through a virgin womb,
Speaker 1: he didn't have to do that but he wanted you
Speaker 1: to know if you are facing something where you don't
Speaker 1: see away, if you don't see it, but he spoke it,
Speaker 1: and you will believe it by faith, it will come
Speaker 1: to pass. That's how he came. He came for impossible situations,
Speaker 1: broken hearts, broken homes, broken lives. But what I love
Speaker 1: the most, what I love the very most, is that
Speaker 1: it was intimate. He came in the most intimate way.
Speaker 1: He was born of a virgin, and he comes into
Speaker 1: your heart when you receive him by faith. He longs
Speaker 1: to be personal with you this season. But if you
Speaker 1: get somebody else's picture and try to put something together
Speaker 1: that's not in you, you will miss his presence. He
Speaker 1: wants to speak to you, use you, bless you, help you.
Speaker 1: This is personal, This is intimate. God of all grace,
Speaker 1: God of all comfort. I have delivered your word to
Speaker 1: the best of my ability with your help, and I
Speaker 1: thank you for what you spoke in this place today.
Speaker 1: Your word is good seed. I pray that it falls
Speaker 1: upon good soil. Today. I pray for those today who
Speaker 1: are living in a picture that they never planned for.
Speaker 1: I think we all are. We're all moving through this life.
Speaker 1: We saw it one way, and now we are experiencing
Speaker 1: it another. And yet you are here, always, here, still, Emmanuel,
Speaker 1: still with us, still for us, A good father, a
Speaker 1: faithful friend, wonderful counselor Mighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince
Speaker 1: of Peace. Lift your hands. I receive your peace. God,
Speaker 1: I receive your assurance. I receive your presence in this
Speaker 1: season of my life. You are my king.
Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 1: this ministry.
Speaker 3: Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 1: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 1: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends. You can click
Speaker 1: the share button, take a screenshot and share it on
Speaker 1: your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks
Speaker 1: again for listening. God bless you.