Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Holly is going to share our anniversary message. She's never
Speaker 1: preached on the church anniversary. She always makes me work
Speaker 1: on the church birthday because here it's her turn. All
Speaker 1: over the world right now, people are joining us and
Speaker 1: they're hungry to hear from God. And God has sent
Speaker 1: us somebody today who lives the Word of God, and
Speaker 1: that's going to make it so much more powerful. Her
Speaker 1: authenticity only gets deeper the closer that you come. Matter
Speaker 1: of fact, she was all this week watching old videos
Speaker 1: of the church crying, and we were sitting around a
Speaker 1: table and shall be North Carolina getting ready to get started,
Speaker 1: even before you were here autumn, and that's how you've
Speaker 1: been here a long time. But even before that, when
Speaker 1: we were sitting around the table and shall be North Carolina,
Speaker 1: and she said, come watch some of these. It'll touch
Speaker 1: your heart. I said, I don't want to watch it.
Speaker 1: I don't you know, like there's a there's a fine
Speaker 1: line between like getting back to your core and then
Speaker 1: cringing at everything that you know, like my how my
Speaker 1: voice sounded and everything. But I stuck in and watched
Speaker 1: one of the clips. I wanted them to show it
Speaker 1: real quick with mute. I'm not going to let them
Speaker 1: hear my voice or what I was saying. But what
Speaker 1: I want you to notice is that that guy in
Speaker 1: the three size is too big, button down, who didn't
Speaker 1: deserve this, this woman that God gave him notices on
Speaker 1: August fourteen, two thousand and five, just about six months
Speaker 1: before we had our first public service. I believe that
Speaker 1: in just a moment, here comes somebody in the room.
Speaker 1: What's he doing? He's he's moving back for the person
Speaker 1: who's supposed to be sitting beside him. And there's Elijah,
Speaker 1: who's fifteen now the OG of the Elevation Core team.
Speaker 1: And what I want you to see is her smile.
Speaker 1: And I want you to see how she carried Elijah,
Speaker 1: and how you've carried well. God has put in your
Speaker 1: heart for our ministry with grace and poise and dignity
Speaker 1: for fifteen years. You did it. Smiling, and you did
Speaker 1: it kindly, and we're thankful for the word that God
Speaker 1: gave you for us today. Last year Bishop Jakes preached
Speaker 1: my anniversary. There's only one person I'd rather hear from.
Speaker 1: Let's thank God for Hollyferdick. Happy birthday Church. I wish
Speaker 1: everybody could have Pastor Stephen Verdick introduced them. That's just
Speaker 1: the best. Welcome to everyone worship being with us, happy anniversary.
Speaker 1: I know you're worshiping from your campus, or your living
Speaker 1: room or your watch party all over the world. I
Speaker 1: know you may have already typed in the chat where
Speaker 1: you're joining us from, but let's do it again. Say
Speaker 1: hi to me, give me a little way. I'm just
Speaker 1: so excited to be here today and be celebrating the anniversary.
Speaker 1: It's always one of my favorite weeks in our church.
Speaker 1: You guys worship team, thank you, You're amazing. And by
Speaker 1: the way, Maverick City, you guys have led worship the
Speaker 1: last three times that I have preached, so I just
Speaker 1: want to say we should. You know, keep going. Can
Speaker 1: make it a thing, Make it a thing. And by
Speaker 1: the way, that little collab that he was talking about,
Speaker 1: can I say collaboration I can't wait for you to
Speaker 1: hear it. It is unlike anything out there. It is anointed,
Speaker 1: it is fresh, it is incredible, and I'm so excited
Speaker 1: for it. On's it coming out soon soon. That's all
Speaker 1: you need to know. Okay, if you're in the room,
Speaker 1: you can sit down. It's been fifteen years and earlier
Speaker 1: this week I got to spend some time with our
Speaker 1: staff just listening to stories and testimonies of how God
Speaker 1: has moved in each of our lives to this ministry,
Speaker 1: and I'm just I'm so grateful that I get to
Speaker 1: be a part of this church. And as I was
Speaker 1: personally reflecting this week, I was watching old videos and
Speaker 1: looking through old pictures, I just I couldn't be more
Speaker 1: grateful for the faith of our pastor, because he has
Speaker 1: taught me about what faith actually looks like more than
Speaker 1: any other person, more than any Bible verse. He has
Speaker 1: shown me that there are two sides to faith. That
Speaker 1: there's the faith that has the confidence to speak up
Speaker 1: in the moment and declare something or decide something like
Speaker 1: he just said, this is just the foundation. I can't
Speaker 1: tell you how many things I've heard him say from
Speaker 1: the front row that I was like whoa like. One
Speaker 1: time he said that we were going to give the
Speaker 1: entire weeks offering back into our community, and we didn't
Speaker 1: have a lot of extra money or any extra money
Speaker 1: in the bank at that time. One time he declared
Speaker 1: that we would reach ten thousand people by twenty ten,
Speaker 1: and I don't remember how many people we had at
Speaker 1: the time, but it wasn't close to ten thousand people
Speaker 1: in attendance. Or when he decided that we needed to
Speaker 1: move all of our online worship experiences to YouTube. There's
Speaker 1: all these decisions that I've watched him make over the years,
Speaker 1: and that's one side of faith, and it's the side
Speaker 1: of faith that's backed by an intimate relationship with God,
Speaker 1: one that here's an act. But then there's this other
Speaker 1: side of faith. And you get to see the hear
Speaker 1: and act side of Pastor Stephen. But there's this other
Speaker 1: side of faith, and we all experience it, but we
Speaker 1: don't know that it's normal. And that side of faith
Speaker 1: is the side that actually looks and feels like fear
Speaker 1: and doubt. And you don't know how many times I
Speaker 1: have heard my husband say, do you think we're doing
Speaker 1: the right thing? Is this irresponsible? Is this going to work?
Speaker 1: Is this gonna? Is this right? Why did I say that?
Speaker 1: And you've taught me over the past fifteen years that
Speaker 1: if there's no fear, it doesn't really require very much faith.
Speaker 1: And you've taught me that faith requires work, and it
Speaker 1: requires grit and perseverance even though you're throwing up behind
Speaker 1: closed doors when no one else knows. You've taught me
Speaker 1: that it's okay when what you believe you heard from
Speaker 1: God doesn't necessarily line up with what you feel or
Speaker 1: see in your current circumstances. I think about our Matthews campus.
Speaker 1: If you're part of our Matthew's campus and you don't
Speaker 1: know the story of your campus, you'd better ask Larry Brye,
Speaker 1: because I don't know. I have so many memories. But
Speaker 1: I'm also thankful for all the people who have come
Speaker 1: alongside us over the years and have joined their faith
Speaker 1: with ours, whether it's people who are on our staff
Speaker 1: and who have come alongside or people who've just given
Speaker 1: faithfully and volunteered week after week. And I just know
Speaker 1: that you would agree with me that as I stand
Speaker 1: here and say faith, thank you, Pastor Stephen, for letting
Speaker 1: us ride your spiritual coattails. Your faith has allowed us
Speaker 1: to see what God can do through us. Type it
Speaker 1: in the chat. If you're watching, God is just getting started,
Speaker 1: and I believe that the next fifteen years is going
Speaker 1: to be just as extraordinary as the last. I love you? Okay?
Speaker 1: Can I preach today? I cannot wait to share with
Speaker 1: you the things that God has been teaching me. I
Speaker 1: knew that I wanted to preach this when I read
Speaker 1: this story, and literally everything that Steven has been preaching
Speaker 1: for the last two months just kept leaping off the
Speaker 1: page at me, like something from every sermon. So I'm
Speaker 1: so excited. Are you ready? Okay, I got my my
Speaker 1: preaching pans. I'm gonna tighten my belt. Let's pray. Lord.
Speaker 1: We thank you for this church. We thank you for
Speaker 1: your church. Fifteen years seems like a lifetime when we
Speaker 1: think about all that you have done. Most of all,
Speaker 1: we thank you that this is the place. I thank
Speaker 1: you that this is the place where you speak to me.
Speaker 1: And no matter where we're watching from, whether it's in
Speaker 1: our living rooms or on our computers, driving in our cars, God,
Speaker 1: we're here, We're here, We're listening. Would you comfort us,
Speaker 1: would you encourage us? Would you inspire us? Would you
Speaker 1: challenge us? Today? We want a touch from you, Lord,
Speaker 1: We want to hear from you. Speak through me. Now.
Speaker 1: It's in Jesus name. I pray Amen before I read
Speaker 1: our scriptures. Judge is six. You can make your way there.
Speaker 1: It's in the beginning of the Bible. I want to
Speaker 1: take a poll, so let me know in the chat.
Speaker 1: Do you put stickers on your car? Just give me
Speaker 1: a thumbs up or a thumbs down. My dad never
Speaker 1: ever let us put stickers, you bumper stickers on his
Speaker 1: car and I so I never put stickers on my
Speaker 1: car until until this sticker. All, well, that's your folder,
Speaker 1: this one's mine. Tell this one. By the way, these
Speaker 1: are free if you ask your campus pastor from one,
Speaker 1: or you can order one online. I don't know if
Speaker 1: they're free online, but they're free, I guess. Anyway. Nothing
Speaker 1: against all other stickers, And sorry dad, but I had
Speaker 1: to put a sticker on my car, and I started
Speaker 1: thinking about other stickers that people put on your car,
Speaker 1: on their cars. It's kind of funny what made you
Speaker 1: When you see people stickers, you're like, what made you
Speaker 1: want to put that on your car? So some of
Speaker 1: them you can understand, you know, like like this, I
Speaker 1: never put one of these on my car, but let
Speaker 1: me know in the chat if you ever put one
Speaker 1: of these on your car. Most of these belonged to
Speaker 1: first time parents. Then you move up in the world
Speaker 1: and you get one of these and well, we don't
Speaker 1: have a dog. But here's the funny thing about these,
Speaker 1: like these are cute, you know, but then some people
Speaker 1: get really carried away with these, like the fish, the
Speaker 1: sound really permanent. You know, this is your car. Okay, sorry,
Speaker 1: I got a couple more. I'm gonna go a little faster.
Speaker 1: We have these, no comment, Just here's when I'm never
Speaker 1: gonna put on my car. If you have one of
Speaker 1: these on your car, congratulations, we are so proud of you.
Speaker 1: That ain't happening for me. And then okay, here's here's
Speaker 1: one more, because you know, you see these statements that
Speaker 1: people put on their cars and you just wonder, like here,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna show it to you first, see if you
Speaker 1: can the standstill, like what happened to this guy? What
Speaker 1: happened to him that he was like, I'm getting a
Speaker 1: freaking sticker. So recently though, I joined like a club
Speaker 1: of sorts and I had to put another sticker on
Speaker 1: my car next to my elevation one and it's this one.
Speaker 1: God as my witness. No one could have prepared me
Speaker 1: for this stage of parenting. I've heard people say that
Speaker 1: teaching your kids to drive is hard and scary, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of yell But guys, to date, fifteen
Speaker 1: years I've been a mom. To date, this is the
Speaker 1: hardest thing that I have done. I'm not throwing Elijah
Speaker 1: under the bus. He's doing a great job, but this
Speaker 1: is like, it's like getting in a roller coaster, getting
Speaker 1: on a roller coaster that could actually crash, and we
Speaker 1: have three kids. Thank god we stopped at three because
Speaker 1: I have to do this two more times. And I
Speaker 1: will never forget the day that we walked out of
Speaker 1: the DMV. I don't know who was more proud of
Speaker 1: Elijah or me. It was such a great moment, a
Speaker 1: little bit drama because you know, there's a pandemic going on,
Speaker 1: and let's just be honest, the DMV was rough before COVID.
Speaker 1: So this was our second trip to the DMV, and
Speaker 1: I just I'm not gonna go into deals about why
Speaker 1: it was a second trip, but it just say I
Speaker 1: did go back in. The sign said do not come
Speaker 1: in because you had wait outside, and I did go
Speaker 1: back in. I was like, I need help because it's
Speaker 1: just anyway. So Elijah gets his permit and he's completed
Speaker 1: the states required thirty hours in the classroom, he's done
Speaker 1: six hours behind the wheel with the instructor. He's passed
Speaker 1: his test, and he was ready to get behind the wheel.
Speaker 1: And as we walked to the car, I just confidently said,
Speaker 1: all right, you're driving us home. And he looked at
Speaker 1: me and he said, I don't think I'm ready for this.
Speaker 1: So inside I was not confident at all. But I
Speaker 1: really I got in my head that I wanted him
Speaker 1: to have this memory of us, of him driving away
Speaker 1: from the DMV. So I mustered up all my courage
Speaker 1: and I said, of course you're ready. This is how
Speaker 1: you learn to drive. Let's go. So we got in
Speaker 1: the car and he adjusted his seat and we made
Speaker 1: sure the mirrors you were right, and he put the
Speaker 1: car in drive. And I just, seriously, I cannot cannot
Speaker 1: reiterate enough. Handing your child the keys to your own
Speaker 1: vehicle you've paid money for and letting them drive you
Speaker 1: is it's like a loss of control that can only
Speaker 1: be experienced. But I put on a smile and I
Speaker 1: was like, you got this. But I didn't really think
Speaker 1: it all the way through because I don't. That's I
Speaker 1: don't always think things all the way through. And we
Speaker 1: had to get on I eighty five to go home,
Speaker 1: so I'm like, it's okay, it's okay, everything's okay. And
Speaker 1: so our entrance came up, and I prayed and I
Speaker 1: stayed calm, and I talked him through it, because that's
Speaker 1: what you have to do when you're teaching a kid
Speaker 1: how to drive. You have no idea how much stuff
Speaker 1: you do without thinking while you're driving. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: speed up, not that fast, slow down, but don't break.
Speaker 1: Look to see if anyone's coming, and remerg And so
Speaker 1: we picked up speed and we're going. And just when
Speaker 1: I was at a level of threshold of fear and
Speaker 1: anxiety that I could possibly stand, it started to rain.
Speaker 1: I promise you, and I said, pull over. I'm not
Speaker 1: ready for this. That's the title of my message today.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm ready for this. Have you ever
Speaker 1: felt like you had to do something that you were
Speaker 1: not ready for, but like you're already in it. We
Speaker 1: encounter situations like this every day. Sometimes it's a season
Speaker 1: of life that you weren't ready for, but here you are.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's a pandemic and you find yourself doing a
Speaker 1: job that you weren't really hired to do. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: things beyond your control that happened. Maybe you're now caring
Speaker 1: for an elderly parent or fighting an illness that you
Speaker 1: didn't expect. How many of you would agree that if
Speaker 1: you waited until you feel ready or qualify to do something,
Speaker 1: you're never gonna do it. This is life. So today
Speaker 1: we're gonna look at the life of Gideon, a young
Speaker 1: man who was minding his own business. He was trying
Speaker 1: to survive, just like everyone around him. But God came
Speaker 1: to him and he called him out to lead his nation,
Speaker 1: even though he didn't think he was ready. Let's look
Speaker 1: at this Judges, chapter six, verse one. The Israelites did
Speaker 1: evil in the Lord's sight, so the Lord handed them
Speaker 1: over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were
Speaker 1: so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves
Speaker 1: in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted crops.
Speaker 1: Marauders from Midian Amelek and the people of the East
Speaker 1: would attack Israel in the land and destroying crops as
Speaker 1: far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing
Speaker 1: to eat, taking all of the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys.
Speaker 1: These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were
Speaker 1: as thick as locusts. They arrived on droves of camels
Speaker 1: too numerous to count, and they stayed until the land
Speaker 1: was stripped bear. So Israel was reduced to starvation by
Speaker 1: the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord
Speaker 1: for help. Stripped bear, reduced to starvation, they cried out.
Speaker 1: Sad thing about this is that it's only a few
Speaker 1: generations after Israel fled slavery in Egypt, and here we
Speaker 1: find them hungry and hiding in their own land. Have
Speaker 1: you ever been hungry and hiding when you were supposed
Speaker 1: to be flourishing and free. Maybe something happened to you
Speaker 1: and you feel stripped bare. It's funny how unexpected circumstances
Speaker 1: can just come and knock us off our feet. They
Speaker 1: just come from nowhere, and it can be a job.
Speaker 1: It could be an illness. It could be the end
Speaker 1: of a relationship, or some of us have experienced a
Speaker 1: sudden onset of anxiety, and it could It could even
Speaker 1: be a change that you thought was gonna be awesome,
Speaker 1: like maybe you went away to college, but now you're
Speaker 1: just struggling to find your place, like you thought this
Speaker 1: was gonna be amazing, and how you're like lonely and
Speaker 1: maybe maybe this isn't where I was supposed to be
Speaker 1: and could be even like Israel, a series of your
Speaker 1: own poor decisions that led you to this place of
Speaker 1: confusion and pain. And I think when things like this happen,
Speaker 1: our natural instant is to withdraw. I don't want to
Speaker 1: admit to others that I need help. I don't even
Speaker 1: want to cry out to God because I feel like
Speaker 1: I should be doing better than this. We feel like
Speaker 1: it's our own fault that we're suffering. And the thing
Speaker 1: about hiding is that it feels right at the time,
Speaker 1: but then it only makes you feel more isolated and alone.
Speaker 1: And for whatever reason that we find ourselves in this place,
Speaker 1: we start to convince ourselves that no one understands, no
Speaker 1: one cares, and so we just pull away even more
Speaker 1: and we become starved for meaningful interaction with others, in
Speaker 1: hungri or acceptance, and it makes you kick into scavenger mode.
Speaker 1: You've ever been in scavenger mode and you're mad at everyone,
Speaker 1: You're mad at the world, and you're trying to satisfy
Speaker 1: your soul and all the places that never really fulfill you.
Speaker 1: And that's where we find Israel at the moment. I
Speaker 1: just wonder if you can relate, if you've ever experience
Speaker 1: this feeling. They know they shouldn't be in this place.
Speaker 1: They know they don't have to continue to live this way,
Speaker 1: and the Bible tells us that they got to the
Speaker 1: point where they were so impoverished that they cried out
Speaker 1: to the Lord for help. And I think it's so
Speaker 1: interesting that sometimes we have to get so low before
Speaker 1: we finally cry out to God. Don't worry, this sermon
Speaker 1: is not depressing, because God hears our Christ. That's what
Speaker 1: you have to know today. And in my experience, God
Speaker 1: here is my cries. But usually relief comes in the
Speaker 1: form of action on my part, something I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to do, and that's where I want to spend the
Speaker 1: bulk of our time today. An angel comes to Gideon,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna call him to action. Gideon is going
Speaker 1: to be the one to lead the nation of Israel
Speaker 1: in a fight against their oppressors. And their oppressors are big,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna watch Gideon question and doubt, but then
Speaker 1: we're ultimately going to see him put his faith into
Speaker 1: action in an incredible way. Spoiler alert, because I'm not
Speaker 1: going to get to the end of the story. I'm
Speaker 1: just going to tell you about it now. Gideon and
Speaker 1: only three hundred men defeat the Midianite army of over
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty thousand men, and Gideon lives to
Speaker 1: be an old man today. I want to talk through
Speaker 1: the events that led up to this epic victory because
Speaker 1: you know, we love to sing I'm going to see
Speaker 1: a victory for the battle. You know, we like the
Speaker 1: battle does belong to the Lord. But that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that you get to sit up in the stands and
Speaker 1: watch like a spectator. So what do you do when
Speaker 1: you know your entery into a new season, a new battle,
Speaker 1: a new calling, a new role. How do you shift
Speaker 1: from how you're currently surviving to actually living out that
Speaker 1: faith that's inside of you. God never wants us to
Speaker 1: live in hiding. He never intended us to live with
Speaker 1: fear looking around every corner. He doesn't want us scavenging
Speaker 1: for scraps of encouragement on social media. When you cry
Speaker 1: out to him, he hears you and he helps you,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't do it for you. Because it's in
Speaker 1: that place of crying out and questioning and acting even
Speaker 1: when we aren't sure, even when we don't feel ready.
Speaker 1: That's where God does some of his greatest work within us.
Speaker 1: And as we talk through this story today, I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you four things to remind yourself about God
Speaker 1: when you're facing a new situation and you don't feel ready.
Speaker 1: Not for things to remember about yourself. Yes, you can
Speaker 1: do all things through Christ's strengthens you, but when it
Speaker 1: comes time to put your faith into action, we have
Speaker 1: to remember who is really on our side. That's what
Speaker 1: I want to talk about today, So let's get down
Speaker 1: verse eleven. Then the Angel of the Lord came and
Speaker 1: sat beneath the great tree at Oprah, which belonged to
Speaker 1: joe Ash of the clan of Abiazar. Gideon, son of
Speaker 1: joe Ash, was threshing wheat at the bottom of a
Speaker 1: wine press, to hide the grain from the Midianites. The
Speaker 1: Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, mighty hero,
Speaker 1: the Lord is with you. First thing that you must
Speaker 1: remember is that when God calls you, he calls according
Speaker 1: to your potential. I don't know much about wheat, I
Speaker 1: like to eat it or wine presses, but I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure that you're not supposed to thresh wheat in a
Speaker 1: wine press. Gideon was hiding from the enemy, and he
Speaker 1: was just trying to get enough food, enough wheat to
Speaker 1: feed his family. He was just trying to get by
Speaker 1: one more day, just an ordinary day for him in hiding,
Speaker 1: and an angel comes to him, and some translations say
Speaker 1: that the angel calls him mighty warrior. There's nothing mighty
Speaker 1: or warrior about Gideon in this moment. He's hiding, he's starving.
Speaker 1: Aren't you grateful that God calls us according to the
Speaker 1: potential He sees in us, not our past decisions, not
Speaker 1: our present circumstances. Don't you wish you could actually see
Speaker 1: yourself the way God sees you? And I think back
Speaker 1: to starting this church. I remember Stephen and I dreaming
Speaker 1: and planting, planting, dreaming and planning about one day planting
Speaker 1: a church, and we would say things like, you know,
Speaker 1: one day when we're older, maybe when we're forty, maybe
Speaker 1: when we're wiser, when people would actually want to follow us.
Speaker 1: But very clearly God just spoke to us and he
Speaker 1: was just we just knew it was time for us
Speaker 1: to start this church. We were twenty five years old,
Speaker 1: and we put that into perspective. For some of you,
Speaker 1: we'd only been out of the college dorm room for
Speaker 1: three years. We were not pastors, we were not church
Speaker 1: planning experts. We were children. God doesn't see you as unemployed.
Speaker 1: He sees you as a provider. God doesn't see you
Speaker 1: as a stressed out mom. He sees you as a nurturer.
Speaker 1: He doesn't he you as insecure. He sees you as
Speaker 1: confident in your own personality, in your own skin. You
Speaker 1: might be hiding, but that's not who you really are.
Speaker 1: And God is not looking for perfection, because if he was,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have picked us. He wouldn't have picked me,
Speaker 1: and he wouldn't have picked you. He's looking for potential.
Speaker 1: He is perfectly okay with the space between who you
Speaker 1: are right now in this moment and who you're going
Speaker 1: to become. Because he sees the fighter in you deep inside.
Speaker 1: He sees a person who will fight for progress. He
Speaker 1: sees a person who will fight for their family. He
Speaker 1: sees a person who will fight to keep their integrity
Speaker 1: and their honesty even when it gets hard in their job.
Speaker 1: A person who will fight to do the right thing
Speaker 1: even when it feels like everyone else is doing that's
Speaker 1: the wrong thing. That's who you are. The thing is
Speaker 1: in Gideon's current state, he's so bitter about his situation.
Speaker 1: I don't even think he heard the Mighty Warrior part
Speaker 1: because he got caught up on the part where the
Speaker 1: Lord the Lord says, hold on, well, let me get
Speaker 1: let me bit back to it. He got caught up
Speaker 1: on the part look at what the Angel says, this
Speaker 1: is verse thirteen. Sir Gideon replied, if the Lord is
Speaker 1: with us, why has all this happened to us? And
Speaker 1: where are the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't
Speaker 1: they say? The Lord brought us up out of Egypt,
Speaker 1: But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us
Speaker 1: over to Midian. Gidding got caught up on the Lord
Speaker 1: is with you part. He's like, what kind of promised
Speaker 1: land is this that's what he wants to know. This
Speaker 1: is a Bible amazing because don't tell me that you've
Speaker 1: never spoken to God like that. Don't tell me you've
Speaker 1: never prayed? Where are you? And why is this happening
Speaker 1: to me? Have you ever thought? Have you ever prayed?
Speaker 1: Have you ever thought? Everyone else is getting a breakthrough
Speaker 1: but me and my family can be honest with you.
Speaker 1: I have prayed some prayers to God that I really
Speaker 1: hope he wasn't listening. I've said things like, seriously, God,
Speaker 1: you're gonna bless them? God, where have you been? This
Speaker 1: was supposed to be my dream job. This was supposed
Speaker 1: to be ministry, and it feels like everything's falling apart. God,
Speaker 1: where are you? This is not how I thought it
Speaker 1: would go. And you say you're with me, but I
Speaker 1: can't feel right now. Hey, God is so good because
Speaker 1: he's like that parent that completely ignores his kid's tantrum
Speaker 1: and he just moves right on with his instruction. What
Speaker 1: he says to Gideon, the Lord turned to him and said,
Speaker 1: go in the strength that you have and save Israel
Speaker 1: out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you? God
Speaker 1: says to Gideon, Let's go get up. I'm gonna use you.
Speaker 1: Yes you put it in a chat. Yes you, but
Speaker 1: I'm not good enough. Yes you but I'm not old enough.
Speaker 1: Yes you but I'm too old. Yes you, I'm not
Speaker 1: strong enough. Yes you you wherever you're watching from God
Speaker 1: wants to use you. Sit down. My second point is this,
Speaker 1: God prepares you along the way. I'm just gonna tell
Speaker 1: you right now, Yes you, but you're never gonna feel ready,
Speaker 1: and you're never gonna feel full of faith all the time.
Speaker 1: Feeling full only last momentarily, and then the fear sets in,
Speaker 1: and then the doubt, and then the hard stuff like
Speaker 1: the people come along, the baby actually comes, you actually
Speaker 1: have a roommain in college. Stop waiting to feel ready,
Speaker 1: Stop making excuses for why you can't do the things
Speaker 1: you're called to do, And let me be a little
Speaker 1: bit more clear. Most of the time, in my experience,
Speaker 1: God doesn't call me to do something new. He calls
Speaker 1: me to do something that I'm already doing with a
Speaker 1: better attitude and a bigger purpose. And the temptation is
Speaker 1: to walk away from what you're doing and start something new.
Speaker 1: I think I need a new marriage, a new church,
Speaker 1: a new job. I can't do this anymore. I don't
Speaker 1: have the strength to keep going in this relationship any longer.
Speaker 1: But God told Gideon, let's go. The strength that you
Speaker 1: have is enough for this moment. When God gives you
Speaker 1: an assignment, he makes it big enough for you to
Speaker 1: question it and small enough for you to take the
Speaker 1: first step. You have the strength that you need for
Speaker 1: the task that you've been given today. If your child
Speaker 1: is three, you have what you need to raise a
Speaker 1: three year old. And when they're thirteen, you still won't
Speaker 1: feel ready, but you'll be stronger and you'll be wiser
Speaker 1: than you were ten years before. God's not going to
Speaker 1: lay your future out in front of you. If he did,
Speaker 1: you would never come out of hiding. And it's not
Speaker 1: because there's this big, bad, terrible situation it's gonna happen
Speaker 1: to you. It's because it's more than you could ask
Speaker 1: or imagine. We're celebrating our church's fifteenth anniversary today and
Speaker 1: I've been thinking back on all the amazing things that
Speaker 1: God's done. I can't stop thinking about how we only
Speaker 1: had to have enough faith to start, not to finish.
Speaker 1: Starting faith type that in the chat Starting faith, that's
Speaker 1: all you need the courage to start this week. My husband,
Speaker 1: he already told you this. But I when I am
Speaker 1: preparing for a sermon, I get in these rabbit holes
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's I mean, it can be anything. I think.
Speaker 1: At one point I was looking at camping gear this week.
Speaker 1: I don't like camping CAMPI here and so. But one
Speaker 1: of the rabbit holes that I went in was watching
Speaker 1: old videos of our court team meetings. I think I
Speaker 1: have a picture for you. Okay, Chunks and Navy, this
Speaker 1: is your living room. This is a picture that I
Speaker 1: don't think we've ever shown anyone before. Remember that chair
Speaker 1: with the fish on it. So here's Stephen preaching. He's
Speaker 1: preaching his heart out to about fifteen people, and he's
Speaker 1: telling them how we're going to start a church and
Speaker 1: how the worship is going to draw people in and
Speaker 1: the sermons are are going to be relevant and people
Speaker 1: are going to want to invite their friends. And then
Speaker 1: with all the passion that you can imagine, Pastor Stephen
Speaker 1: Furdick at age twenty five, he says, and I believe
Speaker 1: he has this country accent back then. It's really funny.
Speaker 1: And I believe with all my heart that we are
Speaker 1: going to impact the city of Charlotte, and I watched
Speaker 1: that this week and I thought when he was like,
Speaker 1: we are going to impact them, my thinking the world
Speaker 1: and he's just Charlotte. You're telling me God gave this
Speaker 1: man a vision to impact a medium sized city in
Speaker 1: the southwestern southwestern southeastern United States. Division. Wasn't that we
Speaker 1: would be the fastest growing church plant Division. Wasn't that
Speaker 1: we would write songs that other churches would sing. Division.
Speaker 1: Wasn't that we would have a global online ministry that
Speaker 1: would impact people all over the world. He didn't proclaim
Speaker 1: passionately that we would have multiple locations. It's easy for
Speaker 1: me to look back now and just Charlotte, But at
Speaker 1: the time, Charlotte was massive to us. But today, let's
Speaker 1: just do a little experiment. Let me know in that
Speaker 1: where are you watching from, even if you're watching later
Speaker 1: in the archive, type it in the chat. Let me
Speaker 1: know if your life has been touched by this ministry.
Speaker 1: Let me know where you were watching from. Phoenix, Nigeria, Singapore, Atlanta, Jamaica,
Speaker 1: New York, Cape Town. Not to mention all the people
Speaker 1: in Charlotte. I hope you're clapping your hands wherever you
Speaker 1: are because God wants to do more than you can
Speaker 1: ask or imagine. But for today, he gives you the
Speaker 1: strength that you need right now. That's it, because the
Speaker 1: thing about strength is is developed along the way, get
Speaker 1: a little bit stronger. That's how faith grows. The point
Speaker 1: of faith is for you to look back and see
Speaker 1: how far you've come, but to look forward and feel
Speaker 1: a little bit afraid. I love that surm this past
Speaker 1: weekend from Pastor Stephens so much. He said, same devils,
Speaker 1: new levels. But he told us you might be fighting
Speaker 1: the same battles, but it's a stronger you that's fighting
Speaker 1: each time, and you're not fighting this battle alone. Over
Speaker 1: and over, God keeps telling Gideon, I will be with
Speaker 1: you Verse fifteen. But Lord Gideon replied, how can I
Speaker 1: rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole
Speaker 1: tribe of Manassa, and I'm the least in my family.
Speaker 1: Gideon is still not on board with this plan. He's
Speaker 1: still telling God that he's not the right person for this,
Speaker 1: that he's not good enough, that he doesn't come from
Speaker 1: a strong family background. And again God does not answer
Speaker 1: these questions. He simply says, I will be with you,
Speaker 1: and you will destroy the Midianites as if you were
Speaker 1: fighting against one man. See, he doesn't tell him it's
Speaker 1: he's only gonna have three hundred people helping him. He
Speaker 1: doesn't need to know that part. Gideon replied, if you're
Speaker 1: truly going to help me, show me a sign to
Speaker 1: prove that it is really the Lord speaking to me.
Speaker 1: Don't go away until I come back and bring my
Speaker 1: offering to you. And he answered, I will stay here
Speaker 1: until you return. You got to remember that God is patient.
Speaker 1: That's my third thing, and I want to make sure
Speaker 1: you get it. If you only hear me say one
Speaker 1: thing today, I want you to hear this. God is
Speaker 1: patient with you. In church, we love to talk about
Speaker 1: waiting on God, and we should. We should definitely wait
Speaker 1: on God. The Bible tells us wait on the Lord,
Speaker 1: be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart.
Speaker 1: And I say a forty thirty one. They will wait
Speaker 1: on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount
Speaker 1: up on wings like eagles. They will run and not
Speaker 1: be weary. They will walk and not be faint. But
Speaker 1: Gideon wasn't soaring on eagles wings. He was weary, he
Speaker 1: was hungry, he was fainting. He was out of patience
Speaker 1: for God. For seven years, Israel was oppressed by Midian.
Speaker 1: Seven years is a long time, and Gideon had given
Speaker 1: up on God. But aren't you glad that we serve
Speaker 1: a God. He never gives up on us. He's so patient.
Speaker 1: Everyone loves to quote Isaiah forty thirty one. You know
Speaker 1: what Verse twenty eight says, I gotta show it to you.
Speaker 1: It says, do you not know? Have you not heard?
Speaker 1: The Lord is the everlasting God, creator of the ends
Speaker 1: of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary,
Speaker 1: and his understanding no man can fathom. The Angel told Gideon,
Speaker 1: I al ways here for you to return. And I
Speaker 1: believe that God is waiting for you right where you
Speaker 1: left off. He's waiting for you to return to him.
Speaker 1: He's patient with your questions, he's patient with your fear,
Speaker 1: he's patient with your poor decisions. He's waiting for you
Speaker 1: to come back to him. I struggled so much with
Speaker 1: this message because I kept asking God, Gideon's he's gonna
Speaker 1: go and he's going to make this sacrifice, and God's
Speaker 1: calling him to do something, And I kept asking God,
Speaker 1: what does calling mean to us? Right now? Today in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, because calling is such a religious word.
Speaker 1: You know, I grew up in a good old Southern
Speaker 1: Baptist church and we love to talk about calling. Like
Speaker 1: when you were about to get a new pastor, they
Speaker 1: would come and preach to the congregation and it was
Speaker 1: called in view of a call. I never really knew
Speaker 1: what that meant, but I do not. But then that
Speaker 1: pastor who's preaching in view of a call would give
Speaker 1: an invitation for you to accept God's call. And usually
Speaker 1: this meant things like a call to join our church,
Speaker 1: or a call to the mission field, or a call
Speaker 1: the full time ministry, or it could mean a call
Speaker 1: to simply surrender your life to Jesus. God can call
Speaker 1: you to do a lot of things, but the most
Speaker 1: important call is the one where you decide to surrender
Speaker 1: your life to Him. And that's what I really think
Speaker 1: God was calling Gideon to do. He was calling him
Speaker 1: to a specific task, but he was also calling him
Speaker 1: out of survival mode and into a relationship with him.
Speaker 1: He keeps telling him over and over again, I will
Speaker 1: be with you, Yes, you, I have a lot that
Speaker 1: I want to do through you. And the Bible tells
Speaker 1: us that. Gideon hurried home and he started to gather
Speaker 1: up a sacrifice for the Lord, and he could the
Speaker 1: goat and he made some bread without yeast. Gideon had
Speaker 1: that flat bread faith, just like his ancestors a few
Speaker 1: generations back. Gideon didn't have time for the bread to rise.
Speaker 1: God was waiting on him. And more than that, you know,
Speaker 1: unlevined bread. It had a significance. It represented freedom from oppression.
Speaker 1: So that's the gift that he's going to bring to God.
Speaker 1: So he gets back to the angel and he brings
Speaker 1: his sacrifice. And I gotta tell you, I thought about this.
Speaker 1: I was like, God, why did Why did Gideon bring
Speaker 1: a sacrifice? What does this mean? Does God require some
Speaker 1: sort of sacrifice from us when we come to him?
Speaker 1: Does he call us to sacrifice our gifts, our money,
Speaker 1: our time? And then I remembered what Paul said in
Speaker 1: Romans twelfth. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in
Speaker 1: view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a
Speaker 1: living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your
Speaker 1: true and proper worship. What God wants for me is me,
Speaker 1: all of me. He wants my whole life a living sacrifice,
Speaker 1: one that understands that the purpose of my life is
Speaker 1: not what I accomplish, it's who I accomplish it with.
Speaker 1: That's why God kept telling Gideon over and over again,
Speaker 1: I will be with you. Yes, he was calling him
Speaker 1: to accomplish something, but I think the point was that
Speaker 1: Gideon understood that God wanted him, and that God was
Speaker 1: going to wait patiently for Gideon to accept this calling.
Speaker 1: So Gideon brings this sacrifice. It was costly, though it's
Speaker 1: costly to give God your life. He brought him a
Speaker 1: goat and bread. Remember they were starving. And to me,
Speaker 1: I think Gideon's sacrifice was saying, God, here's everything I have,
Speaker 1: because I know that you're the one who truly fills me.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you again, God is waiting for you
Speaker 1: right now, not future. You, not skinny, you, not married, you,
Speaker 1: certainly not famous you. God doesn't need you to be
Speaker 1: famous to use you. He's waiting for you to come
Speaker 1: to him with everything that you don't like about yourself,
Speaker 1: everything that you don't understand about him, and just surrender
Speaker 1: yourself in faith anyway, softly and tenderly. Jesus is calling
Speaker 1: the God of the universe he's waiting for you. He's
Speaker 1: waiting for you. Gideon offers up his sacrifice. I mean
Speaker 1: that's when he finally realizes that it was in fact
Speaker 1: an angel of the Lord all along. And the Bible
Speaker 1: tells us that the Lord says to him, do not
Speaker 1: be afraid, you will not die. And Gideon built an
Speaker 1: altar to the Lord, and there he named it Yahweh Shalom,
Speaker 1: which means the Lord is Peace. The altar remains in Ophrah,
Speaker 1: in the land of the clan of bias Are to
Speaker 1: this day. When you say yes to God, he gives
Speaker 1: you peace markers. I didn't say peace makers, peace markers.
Speaker 1: God is calling Gideon to fight, but he wants him
Speaker 1: to mark the peace that he has in that moment.
Speaker 1: Yahweih shalom, the Lord is peace. This piece was not
Speaker 1: a call to the end of conflict. The fight hadn't
Speaker 1: even started yet. This is shalom. This is a sense
Speaker 1: of completeness, wholeness, and it points to the presence of
Speaker 1: something you can't put your finger on. And when Gideon
Speaker 1: experienced it, God spoke loud and clear to him, do
Speaker 1: not be afraid. You're not gonna die. He made sure
Speaker 1: he didn't want to forget that, so he built an
Speaker 1: altar right there that he could look back to. Can
Speaker 1: you think of any peace markers along your faith journey?
Speaker 1: You spent some time writing a few of mine out
Speaker 1: this week, moments that I look back to when I
Speaker 1: begin to wonder if God is really with me. Peace
Speaker 1: Markers can be an answer to prayer. They can be
Speaker 1: a timely call or a text from a friend that
Speaker 1: just felt like they must God must have told them.
Speaker 1: It can be a sermon, you know those sermons when
Speaker 1: you feel like your pastor got hijacked your pastor's mouth
Speaker 1: and just spoke directly to you when you were about
Speaker 1: to give up. I love all the stories of our
Speaker 1: church when people say I was done, and then I
Speaker 1: heard God say, and when you get one, you got
Speaker 1: to make sure you don't forget it. You got to
Speaker 1: write it down, you got to tell someone. A peace
Speaker 1: marker can be a song. Not too long ago, I
Speaker 1: came to church feeling really heavy with doubt over a
Speaker 1: decision that we had made for about one of our kids.
Speaker 1: And at the time when we made the decision, it
Speaker 1: felt right in the moment, it felt like, yes, we're
Speaker 1: going to do this. But then a series of events
Speaker 1: had me doubting and I was on the front row
Speaker 1: just trying to hold back tears. So this is why
Speaker 1: you got to come to church, because they sang a song.
Speaker 1: They sang that song, this is how you walk on water.
Speaker 1: And I know God doesn't speak out loud, but he
Speaker 1: was speaking loud and clear to me in that moment.
Speaker 1: He was telling me, one foot in front of the other,
Speaker 1: one day at a time, little by little, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: lead you. I'm gonna give you the strength that you
Speaker 1: need right now in this moment to get you through.
Speaker 1: And you know, that decision turned out to be exactly
Speaker 1: right for that child. But I didn't know it. But
Speaker 1: God spoke to me in that moment and I could
Speaker 1: go back to it. Peace markers can be an event.
Speaker 1: I remember when we emptied the bank account. We when
Speaker 1: we say we emptied the bank account, there wasn't that
Speaker 1: much in it. Did it a couple of times, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't, you know whatever, But we emptied the bank account.
Speaker 1: It was all that we had to drop eggs out
Speaker 1: of a helicopter and we found out the day before
Speaker 1: the event that the mailer wasn't going to make it
Speaker 1: to people's mailboxes in time, and this is how we
Speaker 1: were going to invite people to come back. Then that's
Speaker 1: what you did, you put junk mail in people's boxes.
Speaker 1: It was going to be our first Easter at Elevation,
Speaker 1: and we were going to use this event to get
Speaker 1: people to hear about our church and to maybe come
Speaker 1: because more people come to church on Easter, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's a story that we have told a thousand
Speaker 1: times in the history of this church, but it never
Speaker 1: gets old because I was there and I vividly remember thinking,
Speaker 1: no one's going to show up. How are they going
Speaker 1: to know about this event? We wasted all of our money,
Speaker 1: so we had a pity party in our house. I
Speaker 1: don't need to tell you what pity parties like. It's
Speaker 1: pretty quiet. And after a while Stephen came downstairs and
Speaker 1: he said, me and Chunks are going to Kinkos. We're
Speaker 1: going to pronounce some flyers. Because he wasn't gonna just
Speaker 1: sit around while there was still time to do something.
Speaker 1: So we printed off flyers and we went to Walmart
Speaker 1: and we put flyers on people's cars that night before
Speaker 1: the event. Sorry, it was all we had. It was
Speaker 1: all we could do was all we could think of,
Speaker 1: and the next day more people came than we could handle.
Speaker 1: I have no idea where all those people came from.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. Maybe thousands, hundreds, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It was a lot at the time, because we had
Speaker 1: like sixteen people at the time. But the event was
Speaker 1: a huge success. And that night we sat in our
Speaker 1: living room and we watched the story on the local
Speaker 1: news about our church, our little church, and we were
Speaker 1: blown away. We didn't know where all those people had
Speaker 1: come from. We certainly didn't put out that many flyers.
Speaker 1: How did all those people hear about our little event?
Speaker 1: We couldn't stop talking about it, and there was this
Speaker 1: peace God was with us in this. You know how
Speaker 1: many times over the past fifteen years we've wondered if
Speaker 1: people were gonna come. Every time we opened a new campus,
Speaker 1: my husband would asked me, you think people are gonna come?
Speaker 1: If my husband asked me one time, he asked me
Speaker 1: a thousand times, you think people are gonna come? Every
Speaker 1: time we started something new, and when our fear felt
Speaker 1: like more than we could handle, we focused on those
Speaker 1: peace markers. So the fear never goes away. You just
Speaker 1: get a little bit stronger along the way. And there
Speaker 1: were so many times that we stepped out in faith
Speaker 1: to do something that we thought God was calling us
Speaker 1: to do. We had to look back and remember the
Speaker 1: egg drop and remember all the other things along the way.
Speaker 1: You know, on March fourteenth, twenty twenty, when shelter in
Speaker 1: Place was declared, the fear was back in full force.
Speaker 1: The pity party was back in our house. And you
Speaker 1: can bet as Stephen Verdick was pacing the halls of
Speaker 1: our house because the doors of our church were gonna
Speaker 1: close and the people were still gonna need the message
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ more than ever. And he was afraid
Speaker 1: about preaching in an empty room with a message still translate.
Speaker 1: But our people still showed up. You showed up in
Speaker 1: the chat, you kept giving. And you know, over the
Speaker 1: past year, our campus pastors and our staff, we'd had
Speaker 1: to fight to reinvent the way that we do church.
Speaker 1: We'd had to learn how to lead us from zoom.
Speaker 1: We'd had to pastor people over Facebook groups. We'd had
Speaker 1: to figure out how to open up our buildings again safely.
Speaker 1: And it's scary, But if you're not a little bit scary,
Speaker 1: you don't need any faith fifteen years. God has been
Speaker 1: with us every step of the way, because the strength
Speaker 1: that we have is enough for today. It's like manna.
Speaker 1: God gave us all the strength that we needed at
Speaker 1: the time. If He gave us all the strength at once,
Speaker 1: we never need him. You can go and read the
Speaker 1: rest of Gideon's story. He went on to lead Israel
Speaker 1: to freedom. In fact, the Bible says that the Israelites
Speaker 1: never fought Midian again. And I believe that the message
Speaker 1: today it's not about Gideon's battle with Midian. It's about
Speaker 1: his battle to restore his faith than God. It's about
Speaker 1: his fight to become that mighty warrior that God saw
Speaker 1: in him all along. And I believe that God stands
Speaker 1: before us today, patiently waiting for you to come back
Speaker 1: to him. He wants you to experience his presence in
Speaker 1: our day to day lives. He wants you to see
Speaker 1: that He's with you, even when your circumstances suggest otherwise.
Speaker 1: He waits with a great feast for you. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be hungry anymore. And all he wants from
Speaker 1: you is your life. He wants all of it, your pain,
Speaker 1: your fear, your questions, your faults, your secrets. He wants
Speaker 1: your gifts and talents too. Sometimes I think it takes
Speaker 1: more faith for me to give God the ugly places,
Speaker 1: because God would what do you possibly want with those?
Speaker 1: He delights in you. You're his child, all of you.
Speaker 1: Right now, He's going to give you the strength that
Speaker 1: you need for every situation that lies ahead. But most
Speaker 1: of all, He's going to be with you every step
Speaker 1: of the way, every single step. Let's pray. Lord, What
Speaker 1: can we say but thank you? And also God, we're
Speaker 1: coming back to right now in this moment. Some of
Speaker 1: us are coming back for the first time. Some of
Speaker 1: us are coming back for the one thousand time. We're offering,
Speaker 1: we're offering are all to you right now. God, I
Speaker 1: don't know why you want me, but if you want me,
Speaker 1: you've got me. This is all you want. I can
Speaker 1: give you that. God, would you minister to us in
Speaker 1: this moment, help us to maybe just fear your presence,
Speaker 1: to remind us of those peace markers that you've given
Speaker 1: us all along the journey. Thank you for your patience,
Speaker 1: Thank you for your strength. Just take a minute, think
Speaker 1: about it. Think about the times that He's come through
Speaker 1: for you. Think about the moments when you felt so alone.
Speaker 1: But now that you look back, he was with you
Speaker 1: the whole time. There's moments when he spoke to you.
Speaker 1: Do not be afraid, you will not die. Got you,
Speaker 1: here's my life. Thank you that you're going to give
Speaker 1: me the strength to do everything that you're calling me
Speaker 1: to do. O little, she said, She's suicide makes so
Speaker 1: she shows to suicide shore. She shot that figue gee
Speaker 1: yes you, yes you, yes you not me. Couldn't be me.
Speaker 1: He couldn't choose me, he couldn't use me. I'm not
Speaker 1: so smart like other people. I didn't come from a
Speaker 1: good home. Yes you what man rejects God selects. Yes you.
Speaker 1: You might be the littlest, you might be the loneliest,
Speaker 1: You might be in the lowest place of your life.
Speaker 1: But like Holly said, Jesus is calling right now. Would
Speaker 1: you bow your head, close your eyes, put the distractions aside,
Speaker 1: and listen to that voice. It's a whisper. You won't
Speaker 1: hear it with your ears, You'll hear it with your spirit.
Speaker 1: It'll be the voice that's been with you your whole life.
Speaker 1: Before the other voices took over the voice of the Father.
Speaker 1: Welcoming you back home right now. I want to make
Speaker 1: a call all over the world on our church's anniversary
Speaker 1: for everyone who has never made the decision to place
Speaker 1: your faith in Jesus Christ, or you made that decision,
Speaker 1: but you've been in hiding. I want to issue a
Speaker 1: homecoming invitation and tell you that the table is already spread,
Speaker 1: and the dead is already settled, and Christ already died.
Speaker 1: It's already covered, it's already done. The only thing left
Speaker 1: for you to do is receive it. So right now,
Speaker 1: pray with me out loud wherever you are, everyone in
Speaker 1: the room, praying out loud for the benefit of those
Speaker 1: who are coming to God or coming back to God.
Speaker 1: Pray with me right now, Heavenly Father, today is my
Speaker 1: day of salvation. I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Speaker 1: Son of God and the savior of the world. I
Speaker 1: believe Jesus died for my sin and rose again to
Speaker 1: give me life. I receive this new life, make me
Speaker 1: a new creation. I am a child of God on
Speaker 1: account of three. If you just pray that with me,
Speaker 1: say it in the chat. I receive Jesus one, two, three,
Speaker 1: I receive Jesus. If you're in the room. Shoot your
Speaker 1: hand up right now, shut your hand up right now.
Speaker 1: I'm coming just as I am without one. Please, but
Speaker 1: that the blood of Jesus was shit for me. And
Speaker 1: he is enough. And you are enough. Yes you, yes, now,
Speaker 1: yes here. Today is the day. You're a new creation.
Speaker 1: You're a child of God. You are love, you are accepted,
Speaker 1: you are Solecians. Come on celebrating with your hands lifted
Speaker 1: to heaven. Let's celebrate that homecoming. Thank you did. Listens,
Speaker 1: come on, let's thank God for his amazing love, his
Speaker 1: amazing grace that saved a wretch like me, a wretch
Speaker 1: like you. Yes you. I know you're not perfect, but
Speaker 1: there's grace. There's room for you and the family of God.
Speaker 1: We want you to be a part of our church.
Speaker 1: You're like who me? Yes you? Somebody say, yes you.
Speaker 1: But I don't live in Charlotte. You don't have to
Speaker 1: look at this miracle. We're all over the world. We
Speaker 1: welcome you. We call it EPHAM doesn't stand for extended.
Speaker 1: It stands for everyone. Whosoever will let him come. I said,
Speaker 1: whosoever will let him call. Thank you, Jesus, We love you.
Speaker 1: Make sure you leave us a comment this week, make
Speaker 1: sure you say there I received Jesus. If you gave
Speaker 1: your life to Christ, make sure you say that was
Speaker 1: for me, Holly. If she preached the word that you
Speaker 1: needed to hear, but you're gonna be wrong because it
Speaker 1: wasn't for you. It was for me. She preached that
Speaker 1: to me, But I'm glad you got to hear it.
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. How many receive what God gave us
Speaker 1: today through Holly? Yes you, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 1: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
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Speaker 1: again for listening. God bless you.