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 3: I'm standing on the promises of Christ, my King. I'm
Speaker 3: standing on the promises of God. How about you?
Speaker 1: How about you? The storm came, but.
Speaker 3: My house stood because it was built on the rock.
Speaker 4: And I come to the end of this year saying
Speaker 4: thank you Lord.
Speaker 3: I could complain, but I won't.
Speaker 1: Thank you Lord. I could be afraid, but I refuse.
Speaker 5: I refused the spirit of fear.
Speaker 3: I have faith.
Speaker 4: Hi, run.
Speaker 1: In God.
Speaker 4: Wow. Kind of caught me off guard, right there. Now,
Speaker 4: a little praise service. It is good, in fitting for
Speaker 4: the upright.
Speaker 1: To praise him.
Speaker 4: It is appropriate for you to praise him.
Speaker 1: It's appropriate for you to praise him. Grab a hand
Speaker 1: next to you. Would you repeat after me?
Speaker 4: Father, I pray for the person on my right and
Speaker 4: on my left. Bless them today, Bless them so good
Speaker 4: that it makes every curse irrelevant. In the name of Jesus.
Speaker 4: Bless them so good that they have faith and confidence
Speaker 4: for whatever they're facing. Jehovah, Jirah, meet their need. Jehovah
Speaker 4: Nissi fight their battle. Jehovah Shahlom be there peace. Thank
Speaker 4: you Jesus. Amen, Amen, Amen again clapped us as in
Speaker 4: the house.
Speaker 1: It's offering weekend. I have a break giving sernon prepared
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 4: Today, and today you're gonna help me preach in just
Speaker 4: a few moments.
Speaker 1: Those who are here physically and those who are online
Speaker 1: are going to be bringing their offering. And whether you're
Speaker 1: doing that online or whether you're doing that in person.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the first fruits belong to the Lord.
Speaker 1: We are stewards, not owners of anything.
Speaker 4: I have my offering ready as I have prepared this
Speaker 4: offering for every twenty years. I never prepared the offering
Speaker 4: and God didn't tell me to bump the number up
Speaker 4: a little bit. I didn't tell Holly yet, but that
Speaker 4: happened again this morning. There are two checks in this envelope. Man,
Speaker 4: I'll talk to you about it later. There was the
Speaker 4: one that I planned and then the one that God spoke.
Speaker 1: You know, God will speak to you.
Speaker 4: I have never asked anyone in this church to give
Speaker 4: a specific amount of money. I just told you to
Speaker 4: ask God and do what he tells you. And that's
Speaker 4: what I'd like to talk to you about for a
Speaker 4: few moments today, remain standing and turning your Bible to
Speaker 4: John chapter two. I need to be a little bit
Speaker 4: quicker today, So y'all listen fast. We're going to have
Speaker 4: bonus worship at the end. You picked a great day
Speaker 4: to come today. These people are going to help me
Speaker 4: preach God's word. What a privilege it is. In John
Speaker 4: chapter two, the Bible says, on the third day, a
Speaker 4: wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there,
Speaker 4: and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to
Speaker 4: the wedding.
Speaker 1: When the wine was gone, Jesus's mother said to him,
Speaker 1: they have no more.
Speaker 4: Wine, woman, Why do you involve me Jesus for great
Speaker 4: mother's day?
Speaker 1: Verse Hall, you might want to preach that my hour
Speaker 1: has not yet come.
Speaker 4: And his mother said to the servants, do whatever he
Speaker 4: tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind
Speaker 4: used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from
Speaker 4: twenty to thirty gallons Jesus said to the servants, fill
Speaker 4: the jars with water.
Speaker 1: So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them.
Speaker 4: Now draw some out and take it to the master
Speaker 4: of the banquet.
Speaker 1: They did so, and.
Speaker 4: The master of the banquet tasted the water that had
Speaker 4: been turned into wine.
Speaker 1: He did not realize.
Speaker 4: Where it had come from, though the servants who had
Speaker 4: drawn the water new. Then he called the bridegroom aside
Speaker 4: and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first, and
Speaker 4: then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too
Speaker 4: much to drink. Look at this verse for the end
Speaker 4: of our year. But you have say the best till now.
Speaker 4: What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the
Speaker 4: first of the signs through which he revealed his glory
Speaker 4: and his disciples believed in him. I read you eleven
Speaker 4: verses just for the sake of reading you one. Go
Speaker 4: back to verse five, and I'll give you my message today.
Speaker 4: His mother said, to the servants, do whatever he tells you.
Speaker 4: Do whatever he tells you. I want to use as
Speaker 4: a subject today for this sermon. Mary's prayer. Mary's prayer.
Speaker 1: Father, I ask now that you would answer this prayer.
Speaker 4: Speak to your people give them courage to obey in
Speaker 4: the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Amen, you may be seated.
Speaker 4: That's not exactly a Christmas scripture I read you, but
Speaker 4: it features the main character of Christmas, so it counts Mary.
Speaker 4: And Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was, in many ways,
Speaker 4: you could say, the initiator of the first miracle that
Speaker 4: he did. Let's give it up for Mary. Everybody clap
Speaker 4: those hands and thank God for Mary. Now we don't
Speaker 4: pray to Mary. We pray to God the Father through Jesus.
Speaker 4: But Mary's prayer is what I want to talk to
Speaker 4: you about today.
Speaker 1: Not to hail Mary or anything like that, but I
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about Mary's prayer today.
Speaker 4: In order to illustrate this, I want to tell you
Speaker 4: two unusual things that happened to me this week. Now,
Speaker 4: I not only study the scriptures, but I study my life,
Speaker 4: and I think that sometimes God preaches through ordinary events.
Speaker 4: One thing that happened to me this week that was
Speaker 4: kind of unusual. The Lord prompted in my heart to
Speaker 4: give a specific amount of money to a church that
Speaker 4: is just getting started, a brand new church. I know
Speaker 4: what that feels like. And I saw the budget for
Speaker 4: their launch of their church. And I know the pastor
Speaker 4: pretty well, and I knew how hard it was going
Speaker 4: to be to transport all of the families that are
Speaker 4: going to start and all of that, and I said,
Speaker 4: you know what, I want our church to help their church,
Speaker 4: because when you're starting out, every little bit matters. And
Speaker 4: so what we did we sent ten percent of their
Speaker 4: entire budget from our church to help them start their
Speaker 4: church this week.
Speaker 1: Now we do that all the time. Millions of dollars
Speaker 1: go out through this ministry. There are pastor after pastor
Speaker 1: after pastor.
Speaker 4: Who would stand on this stage and tell you thank
Speaker 4: you for your faithfulness and your generosity.
Speaker 1: But what made this one unusual was.
Speaker 4: I got a text from the pastor after I told
Speaker 4: him the gift was on the way, because I wanted
Speaker 4: him to know. I wanted to know he could count
Speaker 4: on us, and I thought that might help him sleep
Speaker 4: better at night if he knew he was just at
Speaker 4: least moving towards the goal. And I sent him the
Speaker 4: number and he text back and said, this is insane.
Speaker 1: You are not going to believe this.
Speaker 4: And he sent me a voice memo that he had
Speaker 4: sent me back in March.
Speaker 1: Now it's December so back in March, he had sent.
Speaker 4: Me a voice memo, and on the voice memo, I
Speaker 4: listened to it again and I checked the date in
Speaker 4: the timestamp. And this was before he knew he was
Speaker 4: starting a church. This was before, definitely before we decided.
Speaker 1: To give him any money.
Speaker 4: And he had left me a voice memo saying, I
Speaker 4: had the craziest dream. I dreamed that you gave me
Speaker 4: the exact It was the exact amount of money that
Speaker 4: we did give him.
Speaker 1: And I didn't remember the voice memo, and.
Speaker 4: Maybe he like did a mind game on me and
Speaker 4: planted that, like maybe it was inception, maybe he's.
Speaker 1: Just that smart.
Speaker 4: But even so, I thought it was crazy. It was
Speaker 4: the exact amount, and it wasn't a round number. You're like,
Speaker 4: it was probably like twenty thousand dollars or fifty thousand. No,
Speaker 4: it was fifty five thousand dollars. So who just why
Speaker 4: fifty five? Why did he dream fifty five in March?
Speaker 4: Unless he's the biggest manipulator of all time. I think
Speaker 4: sometimes God will prompt your heart in order to provide
Speaker 4: for somebody in a way that you can't predict.
Speaker 1: And I'll give you the second story.
Speaker 4: The second story is not quite as dramatic, but it's
Speaker 4: still kind of cool. I was on a date night
Speaker 4: with Holly over at Lomma's the other week.
Speaker 1: We ordered the mozzarella. We ate the appetizer.
Speaker 4: The warm mozzarella is very, very worthwhile for all of
Speaker 4: the calorie counters. You definitely should spend some now between
Speaker 4: the appetizer and the main course. I got up just
Speaker 4: for a quick bathroom break, and on my way back
Speaker 4: from the bathroom, I don't know what told me to
Speaker 4: do it, but something was like check Graham location. I
Speaker 4: knew where Abby was, I knew where Elijah was, but
Speaker 4: it was like, check on Graham, where's Graham at tonight?
Speaker 4: Not because I don't trust him, I was just curious.
Speaker 4: So I pulled up on my phone checked his location.
Speaker 4: He was at a Mexican restaurant just right next door.
Speaker 4: So I told Holly, I'll be right back. I'm gonna
Speaker 4: go see Graham real quick. I'm gonna surprise him.
Speaker 1: And it worked out so great because.
Speaker 4: I saw through the window as I was walking by
Speaker 4: this neon yellow beanie that he wears, so I knew
Speaker 4: it was him.
Speaker 1: So I sneak around. There's five guys sitting.
Speaker 4: At the booth, and I just popped my head right
Speaker 4: over the booth and I say, what's up? And his
Speaker 4: face looked like like I had been off at war
Speaker 4: for a year and he gotn't seen me, and he's like,
Speaker 4: what are you doing here? I'm like, I'm on a
Speaker 4: date with Mom, just st the mozzarella.
Speaker 1: Want to come check on you? Saw you on the phone.
Speaker 1: How'd you know I was here? I checked you on
Speaker 1: the phone. Don't you ever forget I can find you anywhere.
Speaker 4: But then just something prompted me as I was leaving
Speaker 4: the restaurant.
Speaker 1: And it's a small thing.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying it's huge, but it was just like, hey, hey,
Speaker 4: for their meal, and I had some cash, so I said.
Speaker 1: Have y'all paid yet? They had already eaten. I said,
Speaker 1: have y'all paid yet?
Speaker 4: After I adapted everybody up, have y'all paid yet?
Speaker 1: No, sir, and I just put.
Speaker 4: The money down on the table, probably twice as much
Speaker 4: as they needed, and said, here you go, love.
Speaker 1: You see and going back to see Mom, I walked out.
Speaker 4: I came back home later and I'm gonna let him
Speaker 4: tell you the rest of the story. Come on up here, son,
Speaker 4: y'all give it up for Graham. Now, this is kind
Speaker 4: of crazy. This is kind of crazy. See what you think,
Speaker 4: he fan, But to me, this was kind of crazy.
Speaker 4: Grab that mic and tell them. When I got home,
Speaker 4: I said, what did you think when I popped up
Speaker 4: at the restaurant. He said it was crazy. I said,
Speaker 4: you didn't expect me. And then you said, no, there's
Speaker 4: even more to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: The reason why it was so crazy is because I
Speaker 6: guess probably won't even believe it. But when we were
Speaker 6: there at the restaurant, you can ask Evan. We were
Speaker 6: talking about generosity and one of my friends was talking
Speaker 6: about how one of his favorite things that he's been
Speaker 6: preaching about telling people about his generosity, and it just
Speaker 6: sparked that conversation. We were talking about how if you
Speaker 6: don't if you're not generous, if you don't trust God
Speaker 6: with your money, what you're really saying is that and
Speaker 6: we said this, Exactly we were saying is that you
Speaker 6: don't view God as a father because everyone knows that
Speaker 6: a father provides for his children. And so as we're
Speaker 6: saying that, we have that whole conversation and then we
Speaker 6: wait a little bit, and then a couple of minutes later,
Speaker 6: we just see a head top above the booth and
Speaker 6: we were tapping him up. It was crazy. And then
Speaker 6: he puts the money on the table and he walked away,
Speaker 6: and we kind of paused for a second. We were like,
Speaker 6: when we're just talking about a father providing for his children,
Speaker 6: and so we just thought it was really cool that
Speaker 6: we got an in real life illustration of how a
Speaker 6: father provides for his children.
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm a good good father. Who you are? That's
Speaker 1: who I am? Who were the Jeane Jacket better vote
Speaker 1: on line? I thought that was crazy. I thought that
Speaker 1: was crazy.
Speaker 4: Actually going into our Giving weekend, in just a few moments,
Speaker 4: thousands of people all over this church are going to
Speaker 4: come forward and make a declaration.
Speaker 1: I have a father. He's faithful, he cares for me,
Speaker 1: he provides for me. I just want to remind you
Speaker 1: for two seconds.
Speaker 4: Or maybe like twenty five minutes, two things about God.
Speaker 4: One is God provides for you, and the second is
Speaker 4: God prompts you. God provides for you, and God prompts
Speaker 4: for you. God prompts you. God provides for you, and
Speaker 4: God prompts you, so you may be surprised where God
Speaker 4: provides for you and how God provides for you. He
Speaker 4: might pop up at a Mexican restaurant. Next time, he
Speaker 4: might do it at a Chinese buffet. He could do
Speaker 4: it anywhere. Tell somebody he could do it anywhere. And
Speaker 4: now look at your other neighbor. You've ignored every time
Speaker 4: I've said, touch your neighbor today and tell him. He
Speaker 4: can do it through anyone.
Speaker 1: You don't believe me.
Speaker 4: God prompted Elijah in the Bible to go to the
Speaker 4: brook and prompted a bird to bring him bread. God
Speaker 4: can do it anywhere. He can do it through anyone.
Speaker 4: A bird isn't even a person. And God is my provider.
Speaker 4: I want to build your faith a little bit today.
Speaker 4: Just say it out loud. God is my provider. Say
Speaker 4: God provides for me. He's a good father. He provides
Speaker 4: for me. He provides for me in the strangest of places.
Speaker 4: If it takes him bringing water from a rock in
Speaker 4: the wilderness, God provides for me. If it takes him
Speaker 4: sending a shepherd with a stone to bring down a
Speaker 4: giant because the whole army is too afraid, God provides
Speaker 4: for me. If it takes him using a stick over
Speaker 4: a red sea to make a way for me to
Speaker 4: my freedom. God provides for me. Put it in the
Speaker 4: chat for me. God provides for me. If it starts
Speaker 4: with a little bit of oil and I borrow a
Speaker 4: few jars, the capacity will never be on God. The
Speaker 4: capacity will be on me because God provides for me.
Speaker 4: You're saying, is this prosperity theology. No, this is just
Speaker 4: gospel belief, faith in a God who gave his son
Speaker 4: for me. How should he who gave his son not
Speaker 4: also freely give us all things.
Speaker 1: God provides for me. He meets my needs.
Speaker 4: He opens doors for me, He closes doors for me.
Speaker 4: He brings people into my life. He shows people out
Speaker 4: of my life. He yanks stuff out, he plants stuff in,
Speaker 4: He waters stuff, he calls forth stuff.
Speaker 1: God provides for me.
Speaker 4: I'll know who is for But you got a lot
Speaker 4: of needs at the end of this year. But your
Speaker 4: needs are not greater than Jehovah Nissi.
Speaker 1: God provides for me. Shout it out loud. God provides
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 4: Now we're used to sermons about God providing for us
Speaker 4: in the wilderness, that is the drastic, dramatic situations in
Speaker 4: our life. But here we find the first demonstration of
Speaker 4: the provision of Jesus in the Gospels is not in
Speaker 4: the wilderness, but at a wedding.
Speaker 1: He can do it anywhere.
Speaker 4: He can bless you just as good in the high
Speaker 4: times as the low times. The Bible says that they
Speaker 4: were at a wedding and the wine ran out, but
Speaker 4: Jesus was on the scene. And you'll notice that Mary
Speaker 4: prompts Jesus to do.
Speaker 1: Something about it.
Speaker 4: She doesn't exactly pray to him, She just makes him
Speaker 4: aware of the situation. Have you ever just made God
Speaker 4: aware of a situation? Like?
Speaker 1: God, you see how they're treating me right.
Speaker 4: And I'm not saying you should smite them or anything
Speaker 4: like that or give them a hernia, But God, you
Speaker 4: see how they're treating me.
Speaker 1: Right. I'm not telling you to give them a flat tire.
Speaker 4: But you see how they just cut me off right?
Speaker 4: And you saw it and flip I'm off right. God,
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to give you any ideas. But Mary
Speaker 4: says to Jesus they have no more wine, and he says, woe,
Speaker 4: and why do you involve me?
Speaker 1: My hour has not yet come. But the Bible says
Speaker 1: in verse five that his.
Speaker 4: Mother watched this interesting strategy, said to the servants, do
Speaker 4: whatever he tells you. Now she's talking to Jesus. They
Speaker 4: have no more wine. Jesus talks to her. That has
Speaker 4: nothing to.
Speaker 1: Do with me. She turns away from Jesus to the servants.
Speaker 3: And says, do whatever he tells you.
Speaker 1: God provides.
Speaker 4: So if God provides, why didn't Jesus say yes when
Speaker 4: she asked him the first time?
Speaker 1: So here's what I think about it.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of times in my life recognizing
Speaker 4: that God is my provider and that he is my father.
Speaker 1: I mean, you heard Grandma here, I'm his father.
Speaker 4: When I showed up with my head over the booth,
Speaker 4: he didn't know what blessings I brought.
Speaker 1: With me, but I was happy to do it.
Speaker 4: Yet, isn't it true that sometimes you treat God more
Speaker 4: like your phone.
Speaker 1: Than your father. I hope y'all got all your shout.
Speaker 4: And done before I got to this point, because I
Speaker 4: realized that many of us.
Speaker 1: Treat God like chat gpt on our phone.
Speaker 4: And when we say I sought the Lord and he
Speaker 4: heard and he answered, what we mean is I told
Speaker 4: God what he needed to do for me, and he
Speaker 4: did it.
Speaker 1: And so we end up.
Speaker 4: How many of you use chat GPT regularly and you
Speaker 4: out of shame to admit it. But you would never
Speaker 4: use it in a class. You would never use it illicitly.
Speaker 4: You would never use it to prepare a sermon. I
Speaker 4: would never do that, but I might ask chat GPT, Hey,
Speaker 4: what's the weather going to be like in Charlotte tomorrow?
Speaker 1: You know, oh, it's going to be cold tomorrow. It's
Speaker 1: going to be real. How cold? Give it to me
Speaker 1: in degrees not celsius fahrenheit.
Speaker 4: I heard of one student, not a student who goes
Speaker 4: to this church, but I heard of one student who
Speaker 4: regularly uploads their math worksheets to chat GPT and tells
Speaker 4: chat GPT answer these problems for me.
Speaker 1: Give them all in number form.
Speaker 4: Don't show your work, don't try to teach me how
Speaker 4: to do it.
Speaker 1: Just give me answers. Not a student in this church.
Speaker 1: This is a revival generation in this church. But think
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 4: When you talk to chat GPT, you prompt chat GPT
Speaker 4: according to your preference to meet your purpose.
Speaker 1: I would demonstrate it for.
Speaker 4: You right now, but I don't trust chat GPT.
Speaker 1: Enough to say the right things back. What I am
Speaker 1: telling you is that when.
Speaker 4: We begin to think that we prompt God like we
Speaker 4: prompt chat GPT, because some of us do our entire
Speaker 4: prayer life is pretty much like we're just prompting God. Hey, God,
Speaker 4: I need you to provide for me. I got this
Speaker 4: meeting at nine o'clock. I need you to help me
Speaker 4: through this meeting. In Jesus name, Amen, God, I need
Speaker 4: you to give me a new job. I don't like
Speaker 4: my job and I need a new job and when
Speaker 4: that's not going to be really hard, but it's going
Speaker 4: to pay really well.
Speaker 1: And I don't be gone from my family very much.
Speaker 4: Lord, But if you could give me a job that
Speaker 4: will provide for me above the amount of time that
Speaker 4: I'm willing to spend working in it.
Speaker 1: And God, I would like to have a lot of.
Speaker 4: Authority, but I don't want to lead any people because I.
Speaker 1: Don't really like people.
Speaker 4: So I'd like to be able to be an introvert
Speaker 4: but still have a lot of authority within the organization.
Speaker 1: God in Jesus' name, Chat God.
Speaker 4: But God is not GPT.
Speaker 7: You don't prompt God. God prompts me. God prompts me.
Speaker 4: I mean the disciples were always having to learn this
Speaker 4: check it out. They were in a remote place. Jesus
Speaker 4: was teaching people. The disciples go up to Jesus and
Speaker 4: they say, hey, Jesus, you've been teaching a long time.
Speaker 4: You need to shut this down. The people are hungry.
Speaker 4: They didn't care about the people. They were hungry. So
Speaker 4: what are they doing? They are prompting Jesus.
Speaker 3: It'd be a good idea for you, Jesus, if you'd.
Speaker 4: Send the crowds away. They can go get something to eat.
Speaker 4: Send them away, Jesus said, they don't need.
Speaker 1: To go away. You give them something to eat. Now,
Speaker 1: this is what's interesting about the disciples.
Speaker 4: They already knew that Jesus could do the supernatural.
Speaker 1: They had seen demons.
Speaker 4: Come out of people, They had seen the best.
Speaker 1: They went forth in the ministry. Great miracles happen. But
Speaker 1: just because you've been discipled once doesn't mean that you're
Speaker 1: fully developed.
Speaker 4: I was talking to my friend the other day about
Speaker 4: somebody that they discipled back in college. And when they
Speaker 4: discipled this person back in college, it's been like thirty
Speaker 4: years now, and the person that they discipled, I don't
Speaker 4: know if.
Speaker 1: Y'all have ever heard that term before.
Speaker 4: It's like we use it to say, mentored them spiritually.
Speaker 4: You know, they disciple this person, and this person is
Speaker 4: so far off the map.
Speaker 1: Now this person is a mess.
Speaker 4: And I looked at the person who was bragging that
Speaker 4: they discipled the other person. I said, you discipled them,
Speaker 4: and they said, yeah, I discipled them. And I said,
Speaker 4: I think you need to reciple them, huh, because sometimes
Speaker 4: we need to be recipled. Sometimes we forget who our
Speaker 4: source is and where our help comes from. And sometimes
Speaker 4: we pray and God provides, but we start prompting God
Speaker 4: for what we want. And I came to say today
Speaker 4: God is.
Speaker 1: The prompter, not you, not me.
Speaker 4: We don't get to tell Jesus who to snd away.
Speaker 4: We don't get to tell God what to do, even with.
Speaker 1: Our own lives. I will preach this whether you like
Speaker 1: it or not.
Speaker 4: God is not your phone, He is your father. You
Speaker 4: don't give the commands he does. We don't draw the
Speaker 4: lines around our life. We don't get to tell God
Speaker 4: what we will and won't do with our gift. He
Speaker 4: gave the gift, it's his to use. We don't get
Speaker 4: to tell God when it should happen. We have to
Speaker 4: trust him with the tithing. If the timing and the
Speaker 4: tithing little slip right there. Why would we say we
Speaker 4: trust in God when we won't even bring him what
Speaker 4: he gave to us to begin with. I feel annoyted
Speaker 4: to break the spirit off of people today who are
Speaker 4: saying I'm seeking the Lord, But all I'm really doing
Speaker 4: is telling the Lord what I think he needs to do,
Speaker 4: when maybe he has a command that contradicts my own
Speaker 4: preferences that he is trying to bring forth in my life.
Speaker 4: So all that to say, I trust in God more
Speaker 4: than I trust in myself. And that's why Mary's prayer
Speaker 4: wasn't Jesus, do whatever I tell you?
Speaker 1: It was verse five, Do whatever he tells you.
Speaker 4: Most of us do the exact opposite with God. God
Speaker 4: chat God, do whatever I tell you, and I'll say
Speaker 4: it real nice and everything like that. But what I'm
Speaker 4: really saying is, God, do send me a husband. Make
Speaker 4: him not too tall, not too short, not too busy,
Speaker 4: not too lazy. God, make him able to sing, but
Speaker 4: not arrogant about his singing ability. God, as we're good
Speaker 4: Amen in Jesus' name, spin around three times, yabad abad you.
Speaker 1: Do it, Jesus, chad geot.
Speaker 4: But see see you're not holding God in your hands.
Speaker 1: He's holding you in his hands, and we.
Speaker 4: Need to be recifled. Come on, help me preach, Rosalind.
Speaker 4: You are not holding him, He's holding you. That's why
Speaker 4: I've never felt like I was doing God a favor
Speaker 4: when I gave. I never felt like I was doing
Speaker 4: God a favor.
Speaker 1: When I praised.
Speaker 4: I never felt like I was doing God a favor
Speaker 4: when I preached. God, you mean you would let me
Speaker 4: open your word, as filthy as I am, as flawed
Speaker 4: as I am, as unfinished as I am, you would
Speaker 4: let me open your word and preach.
Speaker 1: You would let me lead a church that's reaching the world.
Speaker 1: I'm honored to do it. I'm privileged to do it.
Speaker 4: You don't know me anything, God, If you never do
Speaker 4: anything else for me, just your salvation is enough. You
Speaker 4: provide for me, and you prompt me, and I don't
Speaker 4: prompt you.
Speaker 1: You don't have to do what I want you to do.
Speaker 3: You know the plans you have for me, You know
Speaker 3: the hope you have for me.
Speaker 1: And I trust in God.
Speaker 4: I trust in God, like Abraham trusted in God. God
Speaker 4: prompted Abraham, he said, go to the land, I'll show you.
Speaker 3: You would say, God, show me and I'll go.
Speaker 1: God said, go and I'll show you. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: give you all the details. You don't prompt God. God
Speaker 1: prompts you. Come on. Can I talk about Moses.
Speaker 8: God told Moses go to Pharaoh and say, let my
Speaker 8: people go. Moses didn't tell God what to do to Pharaoh.
Speaker 8: God told Moses what to say. God prompts me say it.
Speaker 8: God prompts me. I don't prompt God. I don't give
Speaker 8: God my ten year plan. I don't even tell God
Speaker 8: what I'm supposed to preach about.
Speaker 1: I ask him, what do your people need?
Speaker 4: What is the fresh word from heaven that you want
Speaker 4: to deliver? What is that brother, that sister dealing with
Speaker 4: this week?
Speaker 7: That if a word comes from heaven and you prompt
Speaker 7: their heart and they follow in obedience, if you will
Speaker 7: do whatever he told you, you will see him do
Speaker 7: exceedingly unbuttonedly. I'm preaching, Graham, ah bah bah, you ask
Speaker 7: or think or imagine high five three people say I've
Speaker 7: got a father, and he'll stick his head over the
Speaker 7: booth and he will pay for your meal.
Speaker 1: He's my provider and he's my prompter. And come back, Graham.
Speaker 1: I got to show you something.
Speaker 4: This boy every Sunday night is living in the blessing
Speaker 4: of the faithfulness of the ministry of the people in
Speaker 4: this church.
Speaker 1: Because see, I want to tell you something the next meal.
Speaker 4: I want you to buy for somebody that you're sitting with.
Speaker 4: Because God is a provider, but he's also a prompter.
Speaker 1: So how can we always just want the provision if
Speaker 1: we don't want to be prompted?
Speaker 4: And I'm not saying you're cheap, and I know you're
Speaker 4: kind of broke, and that's all right for another couple
Speaker 4: of years, because I got you for.
Speaker 1: A minute, but not for that long.
Speaker 4: But every Sunday night, this boy is teaching a Bible
Speaker 4: study at this church.
Speaker 1: And I'm proud of all of my kids, but.
Speaker 4: I just wanted to use him because he has the
Speaker 4: gene jacket on. Look, this boy is preaching a Bible
Speaker 4: study every Sunday night, and it started with God prompting him.
Speaker 4: Everybody's say, God prompts me. Pray it like a prayer.
Speaker 4: Say God, prompt me, Prompt me what to do about
Speaker 4: this issue with my parents, Prompt me what to do
Speaker 4: about this situation with my kids? Prompt me what to
Speaker 4: do about this situation with the company. Prompt me, God
Speaker 4: prompt me, not like Chad, GPT like Lord, show me
Speaker 4: which city to move in, and make sure it has
Speaker 4: a good climate, and make sure it also has good
Speaker 4: economic opportunities. And God make sure there's also good friends
Speaker 4: there in a good church there.
Speaker 1: And when I get to.
Speaker 4: The church there, God make sure that the services are
Speaker 4: long enough really touch me deeply, but short enough to
Speaker 4: get me out in time for lunch, and deep enough
Speaker 4: where I can be disciple, but wide enough and broad
Speaker 4: enough so I can invite my own church friends and
Speaker 4: they can understand.
Speaker 1: This is not GPT, this is g B. God prompts me.
Speaker 4: And God prompted you to start a Bible study for
Speaker 4: your friends. And we did it upstairs in the playroom
Speaker 4: on Sunday nights.
Speaker 1: And I would watch this.
Speaker 4: Boy, and sometimes it would be five people, sometimes.
Speaker 1: It would be ten.
Speaker 4: Let me show you what a big group looked like.
Speaker 4: This was just this past summer. A big group. Look
Speaker 4: at that screen. A big group the other one look
Speaker 4: at that screen. A big group was nine kids. God prompted,
Speaker 4: and he was passionate for his friends to know Jesus.
Speaker 4: I related to that because I remember when God prompted
Speaker 4: me to run the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at our school.
Speaker 4: I said, athletes kind of slow because it stood for FCA,
Speaker 4: and some of them weren't.
Speaker 1: Living right, so they used to make fun of it.
Speaker 4: They would call it FCA Fellowship of Christian Alcoholics.
Speaker 1: But I did not endorse that. That was not good.
Speaker 4: I was trying to get them saved, and I would
Speaker 4: teach Bible studies. And so when I saw you doing that,
Speaker 4: I was like, that's good, that's good. And then one
Speaker 4: week I don't know, but twenty people came.
Speaker 1: And see.
Speaker 4: When God prompts you with something, he will give you
Speaker 4: a small prompt with a big purpose. The Lord's doing
Speaker 4: the work in this place today. The hearts are receptive.
Speaker 4: You can feel it. There's faith in the room. You
Speaker 4: can feel it. God's presence is here, you can sense it.
Speaker 1: It's the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 4: It may not be in regards to an offering, or
Speaker 4: it may it may be a Bible study.
Speaker 1: He was prompted to start a Bible study. He was
Speaker 1: patient as week after.
Speaker 4: Week as friends wouldn't come, they would come, they wouldn't come,
Speaker 4: they would come, maybe only Austin would show up, maybe
Speaker 4: only Evan would show up, maybe only Colton would show up.
Speaker 1: It would just be week after week.
Speaker 4: But God was prompting him and he was faithful, and
Speaker 4: I watched him do it.
Speaker 1: One week when they had that big crowd.
Speaker 4: There was a kid there who was a part of
Speaker 4: our residence program for worship, kind of like an apprenticeship
Speaker 4: or discipleship program we have for worship leaders. And they
Speaker 4: were finishing Bible study and Graham said, Dad, do you
Speaker 4: have an acoustic guitar that Daniel can play? And I
Speaker 4: have a few guitars, and some of them are real nice,
Speaker 4: So I got one of the other ones.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a bunch of boys up there. I
Speaker 1: don't really trust him like that, And I handed Daniel
Speaker 1: the guitar.
Speaker 4: Within two weeks, Look what was happening in the same
Speaker 4: playroom from a prompt.
Speaker 1: I show them the.
Speaker 9: Video, remember that, Yeah, y'all.
Speaker 3: That's the room over the kitchen.
Speaker 1: In our house. The floor was shaking so hard in.
Speaker 4: The kitchen I thought they were about to come through
Speaker 4: the roof. Remember in the Bible, when they tore off
Speaker 4: the roof to get the man to Jesus.
Speaker 5: I was like, y'all are not coming through my roof.
Speaker 5: This is not the Bible. I do not have homeowners
Speaker 5: insurance for that. Can y'all see that in the news.
Speaker 5: Wouldn't that be in news for three weeks straight? If
Speaker 5: if fasterferred? It killed the kids at the e group
Speaker 5: at the Elevation Church.
Speaker 4: But the floor didn't give way because it was built
Speaker 4: on the rock.
Speaker 1: Come on, it was a solid foundation.
Speaker 4: We were standing on the promise and the floor was shaken,
Speaker 4: and I said, Graham, this is good, but y'all gotta move.
Speaker 4: Y'all gotta go. I don't know where we're gonna go.
Speaker 4: But see, there are some people in this church who
Speaker 4: were prompted years ago. And what you don't understand is
Speaker 4: every Sunday night now, hundreds of these kids get together
Speaker 4: showing my next video.
Speaker 1: Please at our.
Speaker 4: Matthew's location and watch these kids.
Speaker 3: And how they're praising, and that.
Speaker 1: That praise, that praise y'all with me church. That praise
Speaker 1: started with a prompting Graham. Look out here.
Speaker 4: Everybody whoever gave to this ministry or serves in this ministry,
Speaker 4: stand up.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: What y'all are doing is amazing, and I thank God
Speaker 4: for it. But y'all's praise started with their prompting, and
Speaker 4: they said, yes, y'all's praise started with their prompting. And
Speaker 4: I wonder what God's going to prompt today, And I
Speaker 4: wonder who is going to be praising God.
Speaker 1: I read the strangest verse, y'all.
Speaker 4: I read a verse from Galatians one twenty four where
Speaker 4: Paul said something so unusual. He said, and they praised
Speaker 4: God because of me. What a thing to say. Every
Speaker 4: single one of you who gives today, somebody is going
Speaker 4: to be praising God.
Speaker 1: Some mom is going to.
Speaker 4: Be praising God because their kid came.
Speaker 1: Back to Christ.
Speaker 4: Somebody is going to be praising God because of you. Now, Graham,
Speaker 4: you can go sit down, and you can sit down
Speaker 4: for a moment to get out your offering card and envelope. Please,
Speaker 4: the Holy Spirit is in this place, and the only
Speaker 4: instruction from the Holy Spirit is do whatever he tells
Speaker 4: you to do.
Speaker 1: How long have we been trying to get God to
Speaker 1: do what we want him to do? But have we
Speaker 1: asked him? God?
Speaker 4: Out of all the gifts you've given me, out of
Speaker 4: all the resources you've given me, you are the source.
Speaker 1: You are g o D. You are my God. Mary's prayer.
Speaker 4: You remember what Mary said when the Angel told her
Speaker 4: that she was going to give birth to Jesus in
Speaker 4: Luke chapter one, verse thirty seven. He said, no word
Speaker 4: from God will ever fail. And Mary said, I don't
Speaker 4: see how it's going to happen. I don't really understand it,
Speaker 4: but I am the Lord's servant. May your word to
Speaker 4: me be fulfilled. That was Mary's prayer. You know, we
Speaker 4: do just the opposite. Sometimes we say, God, may my
Speaker 4: word to you be fulfilled.
Speaker 1: Here's what I want you to do.
Speaker 4: Lord. But no God can do immeasurably more than you
Speaker 4: ask or imagine. I didn't want a hundred kids jumping upstairs.
Speaker 1: In my house.
Speaker 4: That's a nightmare. But what I thought was a nightmare
Speaker 4: God turned into a revival. May your word to me
Speaker 4: be fulfilled. God is a provider. God is a prompter.
Speaker 4: He prompted Peter to go to a man named Cornelius's house,
Speaker 4: and the Gospel came to the Gentile world. He prompted
Speaker 4: a man named Anaius to lay his hands on brother Saul,
Speaker 4: and brother Saul became Paul, and the Gospel went forward
Speaker 4: to the Roman Empire. What is God prompting you to
Speaker 4: do what's the word that you want to choose? As
Speaker 4: one year ends and another begins. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 4: I'm not just speaking to people in the room, those
Speaker 4: of you all over the world who are blessed by
Speaker 4: this ministry. Now you have been blessed to be a blessing.
Speaker 4: Is God prompting you to make a difference. I believe
Speaker 4: the next twenty years of our ministry are going to
Speaker 4: make the first twenty years of the ministry look like
Speaker 4: a startup in.
Speaker 1: A garage somewhere.
Speaker 4: I believe God is about to do something so amazing
Speaker 4: that we'll be talking.
Speaker 1: Do you remember when we only.
Speaker 4: Had twenty campuses? Do you remember back in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 4: back in the old early days. God is about to
Speaker 4: blow our mind. And it starts with the prompting Graham.
Speaker 4: You're at the living room tonight because Greg and Autumn
Speaker 4: said yes to a prompting. Eighteen years they've given to
Speaker 4: this offering. Chunks and Amy, twenty years they've given to
Speaker 4: this offering.
Speaker 1: Twenty years. Eric and Nicole have given to this offering.
Speaker 1: Nine years.
Speaker 4: Jonathan Joseph's and Anna Joseph's have given to this offering.
Speaker 1: God has been faithful to us, and.
Speaker 4: When you don't give, you say I don't trust that
Speaker 4: I have a father who can provide for me. But
Speaker 4: if you've ever seen him pop his head up behind
Speaker 4: your booth and take care of your needs, now is
Speaker 4: an opportunity for you to tell him, thank you.
Speaker 1: What more could we do? He's done everything for us.
Speaker 4: So our word for this year is going to be
Speaker 4: the word light. Jesus said, my yoke is easy and
Speaker 4: my burden is light. And a lot of times I
Speaker 4: realized that I take on things like they're all on
Speaker 4: me and not on God.
Speaker 1: And that's a sin, y'all.
Speaker 4: So this year I'm going to take Jesus at his word,
Speaker 4: and I'm going to hook up in the harness with
Speaker 4: him a little bit more, and I'm going to ask
Speaker 4: him to make my burden light this year. How many
Speaker 4: of you will agree with me this year that the
Speaker 4: Lord will make my burden a little lighter? Yeah, and
Speaker 4: I'm doing good. Don't worry about me. It's not like
Speaker 4: I'm on the verge of burnout. But that's an example. Jonathan.
Speaker 4: You said your word was come up and say it
Speaker 4: with me. Stirred. Stirred I love that word. Say it
Speaker 4: in the microphone. Jonathan's word is stirred. What a great
Speaker 4: word to talk about the water into wine. They took
Speaker 4: the water, poured it in the jars Jesus told him to,
Speaker 4: and somewhere when they stirred.
Speaker 1: It, it became what it could never be. What a
Speaker 1: great word. We ain't even plan this. Look how in
Speaker 1: tune with God? You are a mighty man of valor.
Speaker 4: In just a moment, all of our campus pastors are
Speaker 4: going to share with you, and I.
Speaker 1: Want you to take a moment and pick the word.
Speaker 1: First of all, that's the first thing I want you
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 4: And then campus pastors, you come right now as everyone seated,
Speaker 4: as everybody's preparing to worship. We've saved time. I am
Speaker 4: on my clock. Miracles do happen. But will you pray
Speaker 4: Mary's prayer today? Do whatever he tells you, and then
Speaker 4: get ready, because when you do what you can do, God.
Speaker 1: Will do what you cannot do. Somewhere they stirred that
Speaker 1: water and it became wine.
Speaker 4: You hear me, Abby, When you do what you can do,
Speaker 4: God will do what you cannot do.
Speaker 1: Pick your word?
Speaker 4: Anybody got one?
Speaker 1: Holler it at me?
Speaker 4: Do it Lord, all that put it in the chat
Speaker 4: right now online you're giving give us the word that
Speaker 4: you're believing God for. As a matter of fact, before
Speaker 4: I turn it around, let's read some of the ones
Speaker 4: that are coming through online right now.
Speaker 1: JJ. This is an amazing moment. Tell somebody the Lord
Speaker 1: is here.
Speaker 4: Lord, is.
Speaker 1: That you love This weekend, I can feel the faith.
Speaker 4: And generosity of so many people, so faithful, fearless, helped
Speaker 4: faith gez Vessel.
Speaker 1: Yeah, restore, move free light. That's my word. I can't
Speaker 1: take my.
Speaker 4: Word, bill a Boo twenty three.
Speaker 1: You can't have my word. That's to use your name,
Speaker 1: bill a Boo twenty.
Speaker 4: Three, Get off my word, move a blaze yield Provider
Speaker 4: is coming through so fast.
Speaker 1: What's your word? What's your word?
Speaker 4: May your word God to me be fulfilled, not just
Speaker 4: whatever I think. I want you to do what you
Speaker 4: want to do through my life, what you want to
Speaker 4: do through this church.
Speaker 1: This is your church. We are your people. You are
Speaker 1: our father, God. I bring the needs of all of
Speaker 1: these people.
Speaker 4: Before you today from every nation that is watching right
Speaker 4: here in this local community.
Speaker 1: You have been good to us. God.
Speaker 4: You are Jehovah Jirah and in this place this sees,
Speaker 4: in this moment of their life. Would you meet every
Speaker 4: need as we do what you tell us to do
Speaker 4: in Jesus name.
Speaker 1: Amen, 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 popodcast for
Speaker 2: more information and if you enjoyed the podcast.
Speaker 1: You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.