WEBVTT - An Ordinary Day 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:02.360 Hey, don't start clicking off. I promise we're going to 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:04.440 get to the preaching in just a moment. But I'm 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:08.799 excited about this. This is a very special tradition at Elevation, 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:10.560 and we want to speak to all of you who 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:13.960 call our church home, especially our extended family, our EPAM 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.759 around the world, because once a year we have a 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:21.040 special series. It's really more than a collection of teachings. 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:24.000 It's a faith experience for all of the people who 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.680 are part of our ministry at Elevation, and this year 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.840 our theme is game Changer. I think one of the 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.360 most exciting things that God is doing in our ministry 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.800 is to open the doors of our ministry beyond our walls. 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.159 What I mean by that is we are amazed at 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.440 the thousands and thousands and thousands of you who are 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.199 letting us know that you're impacted by this ministry in 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:50.840 another zip code, in another state, in another country, maybe 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.600 eventually on another planet. But what I wanted to mention 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.840 to you is that you can be a part of 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.760 this beyond just consuming. Many of you have been blessed 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:02.320 by God to be a blessing, and I wanted to 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.400 ask today would you be willing during this special time 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.520 of year to make a one time donation to the 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.920 ministry or maybe partner with us on a monthly basis 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.400 through recurring giving. I believe God could use your gift 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.679 to enable this ministry to continue to reach, to continue 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.000 to break paradigms, to continue to lift up Jesus. And 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:24.560 I wanted to ask you personally to go to Elevationchurch 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:26.880 dot org and you can see the ways to give there. 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.600 But most importantly, know that we feel a tremendousness of 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.960 responsibility to minister the Word of God, not only to you, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.880 but to challenge you to partner with us in reaching 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.480 people for the Gospel. I believe your gift today could 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.360 be a game changer, so don't put it off right now. 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.640 Elevationchurch dot org you can find all of the details. 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.000 I hope you enjoy this message and thank you for 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:54.760 being a part of the family. Whoo, it feels good 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.680 here Elevation Balatime. I know it does. A Lake Norman 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:03.400 over at Blaytney, see, I know it feels great up there. Hey, 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.680 my name is Larry Bryan. I get the privilege of 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.360 opening up God's Word with you today and all my 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.480 friends call me LB at least my friends do You 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.240 could call me LB too. You can say hey, LB, 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.679 oh man, thank you, I'm glad to be here. And 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.520 a truism we learned early in our church is people 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.400 may not always remember what you say, but they'll always 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.639 remember the way you make them feel. I want to 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.639 make sure that everybody who's here that's a first time 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.200 guest feels very welcomed today. I'd like you to give 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.400 out at least three displays of affection. You can give 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:39.440 a hug, a high five, a handshake. I want you 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.600 to welcome at least three people, at least three church 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:49.400 appropriate displays of affection. Mind you. After you have done that, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:53.919 you you may be seated. Thank you, Worship team, thank 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:57.360 you so much. Hey. Have you enjoyed this season we're 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.760 in right now, Game Changer? Oh oh my goodness, it 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:03.919 has been absolutely incredible Week one. Let's do a quick 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:09.639 little review right here. Secret scorecard, My reason determines my reward. 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:11.240 How many of you are blessed by week one of 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:15.120 this series? My gosh. Now Week two for all the 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.280 warriors in the house, Pastor Stephen burned the place down. 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.320 He talked about reverse your worry worship is worry and reverse, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:25.799 like how many of you were blessed by that? Oh 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.720 my gosh. And so week one, Week two, let's call 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:30.840 it week three. This is Week three. I get the 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.239 privilege of delivering God's word today. Here's the title I 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.240 want to get for today's message. Is this? For the 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:37.560 note takers in the house, you would write this down 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:43.920 an ordinary day, an ordinary day, say ordinary. And the 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.120 text I'm going to be in today is going to 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.840 be acts. Chapter three is where I'll be. And I 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.440 remember when I came to faith. It was in my 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.520 late twenties. I just finished graduate school, and I had 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.120 grown up in a home where religion really and faith 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.000 was not really a part of it. If Jesus Christ 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:03.520 was used in a conversation, it was more for colorful 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.280 language than it was any kind of praise. And that 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:07.960 was just kind of the world I grew up, and 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.160 I grew up Catholic, so you know, I'd go to 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:15.760 church a couple times a year, and I remember, like 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.440 in my darkest moments where I'm like in that dark 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.040 place some of you know, that dark place, like that 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.039 place that you don't feel like anybody should ever see, 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:25.839 that place, that you're like God is so disgusted with 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.039 you can never lean into it. God leaned into that 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:29.799 moment with me, and he met me in that place, 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.760 and he radically, radically saved me. And I remember getting 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.720 my first Bible. I was twenty seven, so I didn't 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:39.440 own a Bible until I was twenty steven. I remember 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.600 taking the cellophane off of it and like smelling of us, like, oh, 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.279 this is amazing. And then I went to a Bible 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.560 study with some of you Baptists, like you know you. 0:04:50.800 --> 0:05:00.040 It's like Bibles are like h oh Badiah Stephaniah. But 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.720 I heard about Matthew, Mark, Lucan, John, I can't find out, 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.160 but like and I lean over my buddy's like what 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.800 page is that on? I didn't realize then all the 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.160 Bibles have the same Like what are you doing Christians? 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.600 That makes no sense. So I remember what it's like 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.000 to get in a place that, depending upon the book 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:18.479 you're going to go to, a man may not open 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:20.839 up my Bible because it didn't want to look stupid, 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.400 because you know what, I felt very ordinary. And if 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.000 you feel ordinary today, if you feel like you're an 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.200 ordinary individual, I want you to know that you are 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.000 positioned to be mightily used by an extraordinary God. He 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.440 is not looking for the brightest, He's not looking for 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.719 the tallest, the prettiest. He's looking for the one that 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.920 makes himself available today. And anybody who says, God, I 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.880 make myself available, he will use you. That is the 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.400 evidence of the story of the Church, and it is 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.080 how he has moved throughout eternity. So I just want 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.760 to give you permission to be ordinary. Look at your 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.880 neighbor right left, which one looks the most ordinary to you? 0:05:55.720 --> 0:06:02.479 I know, don't tell him. But in Acts chapter three 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.320 is where I'm going to be. It says this. This 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.960 is one day Peter and John were going to the 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.120 temple at the time of prayer three in the afternoon. 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:12.360 No a man was lame from birth, being carried to 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.239 the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:17.480 day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.200 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.840 asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.560 did John. Then Peter said, look at us. So the 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.560 man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.040 Then Peter said silver or gold I do not have, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.640 But what I have I give you in the name 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.159 of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk Taking him by the 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.040 right hand, he helped him up, and instantly his feet 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.080 and ankles became strong. Now, this story out of Acts 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.440 chapter three is really one of my favorite stories in 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.560 the New Testament. I love it. It's really been a 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.440 story that's played a pivotal part in the history of 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.160 our church. But I love it because it has these 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.560 two words that come together one day. Oh, it's kind 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:00.520 of like dynamite. You put these two in great together 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.280 and something blows up one day, and if you were 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.200 to do a Bible study on it, just do that. 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.520 Google it later one day Bible Verse, and you're gonna 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.880 see story after story of something incredible. It's given me 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.160 like scenes in a movie where you're like what the 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.520 Southern translation, We're like, yo, check this out, Like that's 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.920 it's amazing. It's a place of potential impossibility. When you 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.160 see these two words, it needs to alert your senses 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.560 at Oh, something significant is about to happen, Something is 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.200 about to go down that's gonna change the direction of 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.440 somebody else's life. This is a game changing moment. One 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.560 day is a game changer because when one day happens 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.520 in your life, everything changes after it, and some of 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.840 you are about to encounter one of those moments today. 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.000 Today is that one day it's going to be a 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.640 game changer where whatever you walked in with is going 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.160 to look very different when you walk out, because God's 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.000 about to do something in you. And these one day 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.800 stories have less to do with God's promises being dropped 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.880 into our laps. It has way more to do with people, 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.680 ordinary people like you and me, who believe that with 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:10.400 God all things are possible, not some things, not a 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.920 couple things, not a conditional faith that says, if it 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:17.440 ever gets here, God then know all things. Because one 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.680 day is a perspective. It is a perspective where you 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.560 lean in expecting God to move. I don't know if 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.680 it'll be today or tomorrow, or next year or in 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:30.520 twenty years, but my God will move. His promises are 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:34.400 yes and amen in Jesus Christ, I believe it. That's 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.880 a one day perspective that's illustrated in the text. The 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:42.160 other perspective that's illustrated in the text is another day, 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.400 say another day, and what we get to do is 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.480 decide which one we want to live. One day potential impossibility. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.960 Another day, Hey, honey, how was work today? It was 0:08:54.200 --> 0:09:01.520 just another day. Another day becomes another week, and another month, 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.920 and another year and another decade, and now your kids 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:05.520 are grown and you're looking at each other like, what 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.320 did we just do with the last twenty years? And 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:12.280 we've just wasted it just one day at a time. 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.880 Another day is a perspective where you give up believing 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.160 that God's promises will come to pass, and you settle 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.800 into autopilot and you are just being taken down the 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.040 rivers of life, feeling like you're at the whims and 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.439 the mercies of God and you're just flowing along. No, no, 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:29.360 no no. And the reality is one day and another 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.760 day are both perspectives. One is leaning in, one is 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.760 leaning back, And the reality is both of these are ordinary. 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.120 Both of these are ordinary because the life you live 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:43.200 is your ordinary. You get to decide which life you 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.800 want to live. You have the ability through the person 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.839 of Jesus Christ living inside of you, the one who 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.079 spoke the world into existence, the one who raised Jesus 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.640 from the dead, is living inside of you, and you 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.000 get the ability to make a choice to say, I 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.560 will either live life in a one day mentality. God, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.400 I believe you're for me and not against me, or 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:05.800 I can live over here and just be like it's 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:11.400 just another day. All those other people get blessed just now. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:16.440 I mean those are for the extraordinary Christians, not ordinary folk. 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.040 Because most of these one day stories and the scriptures 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.120 are ordinary people believing in an extraordinary God. And so 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.520 when we started this ministry more than twelve years ago, 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.200 we're coming up on our thirteenth birthday Elevation Church. You'll 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:37.800 look good for a preteen. I remember when we started 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.280 this church, we were living in a little town called Shelby, 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.480 North Carolina. And you all heard of Shelby. It's about 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:44.839 an hour away from Charlotte. For those of you that 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.120 don't know, it's halfway between Charlotte, North Carolina and Asheville. 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.200 It's not a destination location. It's like a stop for 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.520 gas and then you keep going. It's Nazareth, you know. 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.080 But we were living there and pastors seems like, hey, 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:00.480 we got to get to Charlotte. We got to find 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.320 a place to meet, we got to find a location. 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.559 So I believe that God is for us. I believe 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:07.840 that God is for this ministry. And I just drove 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.480 to Charlotte and my little Ford Ranger expecting God's favor 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:12.760 to be there when I got there, I've just acted 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.360 like that. You know how you hang out with somebody 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.760 that's bigger and stronger than you, you feel tougher, Like yeah, 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.480 what you've gotten now? Boy? My God is that big 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.720 and my pastor's that strong. I believe it. I'm like, 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.960 if God said it, it's gonna happen. If pastors said 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.320 there's this facility waiting for us in Starngmuck, it's there. 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:31.760 And so I show up in Charlotte. The first place 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:33.679 to stop is at a community college. I walk in, 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:36.120 go up to the vice president's office. Meanwhile, we had 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.240 just picked the name for the church like a month before, 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.760 and I walk into the president vice president's office. I'm like, listen, 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.840 my name's Larry Bryan. I'm a part of a church 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.400 called Elevation Church. We haven't even started yet, but we're 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:49.480 gonna change the world. And you want us meeting at 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:53.160 your location. And she's like, well, the biggest room we 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.000 got really only holds about one hundred and forty people. 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.160 I said, that's way too small. God's going to do 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.360 something so much bigger than that. And she's said, it's 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.080 funny you showed up here today because this is actually 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:07.160 my last day working at this location. She said, I 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.080 start a new job on Monday at a place called 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.959 the Levine Senior Center. She said, we're actually going to 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.000 be building a building. And we were meeting with the 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.160 trustees the other day. We haven't even broken ground on it, 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.680 but we were talking about maybe it would be good 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.959 for a church to rent our facility. I said, yes today, Amen, 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.440 God wants us sen in that location. That's how we 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:32.160 found our first location. We can collap for that. That's 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.559 but the one day perspective says, whether it's at the 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:40.640 first stop, the twelve stop, or the hundred stuff, my 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.960 God is going to say yes. At some point, it's 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.520 going to happen. See one day as a persistence towards 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.079 the promises of God, you get shut down in the 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:50.320 first response, and now you give up on the promises 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:52.120 of God? Why are you so easy to push over? 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.560 Do you know here, daddy is? Do you know what's 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:56.840 living inside of you? To know what you're capable of? 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:00.960 About a week after we found this location, I met 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.720 with a church planting expert who is an expert on 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.120 planting churches and Charlie. He's like, Larry, you know, it's 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.360 virtually impossible for anyone to find a location to meet 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.240 at within Charlotte because every outhouse and doghouse and middle 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.319 school and high school has got a church meeting in it, 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.600 that says expert voice. I looked at him, said, I'm sorry. 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.040 We already found a location. My God already provided before 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:21.960 you even set it in out. And some of you 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.280 were listening to experts tell you what God cannot do 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.280 in your life. We were just ordinary people that believed 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:30.760 in an extraordinary God, and it began with eight families 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.760 selling their homes and quitting their jobs. This is my wife, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.679 Janet here. We were one of those original eight families. 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:43.120 We just celebrated eighteen years of marriage. Isn't she love me? 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:49.080 Isn't I can't sing, but my reason determines my reward. 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.720 I'm not singing for you. I'm trying to score points 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.920 with my girl. But we got the distinct privilege of 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:57.880 being one of those original eight families. So if I 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.560 take you back to two thousand and five, this is 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.160 thirteen years ago. We're all living in Shelby, eight families, 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:06.800 and we had met Pastor Stephen first time I ever 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:10.040 saw him preach. He was the only white guy in 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.120 an all gospel, Black gospel choir. He was at North 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.319 Greenville College. He was a senior at North Greenville College, 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.120 and that choir he was leading with about sixty people, 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:20.960 and he knew how to clap on the two and four, 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:22.480 but nobody at the church I was at knew how 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.120 to really do that right. And he brings the all 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:29.280 black gospel choir down and he's leading the choir at 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.360 the church we're at in Shelby there in north in 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.680 North Greenville College in South Carolina, and I saw him preach, 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:36.880 first time I ever saw him preach. He preaches serma 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.560 called God is Great, God is Good. I still have 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:45.880 the VHS tape. Bald head go tea baggy clothes and 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.000 he burned the place down. And I said, this joker 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.160 is going to change the world. And I said, that's 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:54.480 the church I want to be a part of. So 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:56.240 when I heard that him and Hollyood getting ready to 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.040 start this thing called Elevation Church, I pulled him in 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.680 my office and I'm coming with I know it's really 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.680 bad grammar. You don't end with a preposition, but it's 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.480 because it was a blank line that says, wherever you go, 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:08.920 I'm coming. And he said, what it means if you 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:09.920 want to be a part of this, you need to 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.600 sell your house, quit your job, move to an unnamed 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.320 city in an unnamed part of the country to be 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.560 part of an unnamed church. Are you in? I'm like, 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.760 who wouldn't sign up for that? No, I'm not kidding. 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.400 Who wouldn't sign up for that? It's the greatest thing 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.160 on the face of the earth. Everybody right now says 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:27.400 I wish I would have done that, and you might 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:28.600 not have had a chance to be a part of 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:30.280 the original Eight. But you can get on the original 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:34.560 eight spirit today because the spirit that launched our ministry 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.720 is the same spirit that's moving here today. And there's 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.160 so many new people coming to Elevation Church that you 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.480 don't know the history, and it's hard to understand the 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.400 story when you haven't read the previous chapters. I just 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:47.480 want to show you some of those previous chapters about us, 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.600 and all eight families are signed up. But we were 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:51.640 a part of a church there called Christ Covenant Church 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.200 February of two thousand and five. Through the end of 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.600 the year, we stayed underneath the umbrella of that ministry. 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.360 All of us were tithing to that church. That's ten percent, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.360 the first ten percent we give to God. When we 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.600 signed up to this thing called Elevation Church, Pastor said, Hey, 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.280 here's what we're going to do. We're going to sow 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.280 seeds of sacrificial generosity that will produce fruit in the future. 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.400 See the blessing you see began to sacrifices that you'll 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.560 never see. Because all eight families gave ten percent to 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:17.440 the church. Were at because we believed in being faithful 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.320 to church. But this end, this new thing called Elevation Church, 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.040 we're going to go five percent and ten percent above 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:26.000 and beyond it. So those eight families sowed seeds of generosity. 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.320 It was not a couple of fat cats stroking big checks. 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.240 It was built upon people like Tyler and Amy Ford, 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.760 John and Heather Bishop, ordinary people like Chunks and Amy Corbett. 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.680 None of us were experts in church work, but all 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.360 of us loved God. We were ordinary people that worshiped 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.720 an extraordinary God, and we wanted our lives to count 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.920 because you know, there's a difference between success and significance. 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:55.280 Success is what you build for yourself. Significance is what 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.880 you give away for God. And you can be extremely 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:03.240 successful in life and yet have no six significance. But 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.280 I also know the opposite exists. Some of you feel 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.280 like you were not successful in life, but you are 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.600 one of the most significant people on the all walking 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.239 on the face of the earth, because your significance is 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.520 tied to your sacrifice. Now your size, now, your status, 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.320 now your number of followers, simply your sacrifice, and what 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.959 God wants is a sacrifice. And those eight families brought sacrifices. 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.200 If I were to illustrate the church, let me give 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.240 you an illustration this first row, Can you stand up 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.040 right here? And then one, two, three, four, five, six, 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.960 you six? Could you stand up right there? That's good. 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:38.000 So thirteen years ago, this is what we were, eight families, 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.600 sixteen people. You know what we are today? Thirteen years later, 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:46.080 we actually have seventeen campuses. We've got more campuses today 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.720 than we did people thirteen years ago. Look what God 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:54.320 won't do? Look what God won't do? You maybe see 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.760 you mean? And I remember there was a game changer 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.800 for us when we found the vision statement of our 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:02.800 ch it's this, It's on the screens. This is why 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.960 we started our church. So that people far from God 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.840 will be raised to life in Christ. That's it, say, 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:13.119 people far from God will be raised to life in Christ. 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.720 Say people far from God will be raised to life 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.600 in Christ. And we were praying for people before we 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.840 ever saw their faces and knew their names. And without 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:28.200 being melodramatic, we were praying for you before we ever 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.960 met you. I have no idea what you were doing 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:33.199 thirteen years ago, Melbourne. I have no idea what you 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.399 were doing thirteen years ago someone watching online from Topeka, Kansas. 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:40.440 But God knew you. God knew the steps he would 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:42.240 order in your life to bring you to the moment 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.919 you're sitting in today. And we believe so strongly that 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.400 the Gospel is real. We wanted to bring a real 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:52.560 sacrifice because faith is not just believing for it, it 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.199 is sacrificing toward it. There is a language and a 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.080 lifestyle to faith. There is a language that says I 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.760 believe that with God all things are possible. That's the 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:03.879 language of it. But that is just one part of it. 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:05.600 The other part of is I am going to live 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.520 a lifestyle that will be persistent to see that happen. 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.120 There is a language and a lifestyle, and the lifestyle 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.280 that God brought us eight families to a sacrifice. My 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.720 wife and I we sold our house, we quit our jobs. 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:19.639 We cast in our stocks or bonds, our savings, put 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:21.680 it all in the center of table. Said God, either 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.800 you get all the glory or we look really stupid. 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:28.600 I am glad option a worked out. But why were 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:30.600 we doing it? Because we loved God that much and 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.560 we wanted to see His glory on this earth. We 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:35.639 believe so strongly in the church. We weren't just going 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:37.359 to make it a weekend activity. We were going to 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:41.040 make it an everyday lifestyle. And I remember another game 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:43.040 changing moment when we're at the ministry we were at 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.240 we were moving into a new sanctuary space, so before 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.000 all the families moved in, we had a chance to 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.520 get on our knees on the cement and write names 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:54.400 on the cement of people we wanted to come to faith. 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:56.920 This was a game changer for me because I got 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.000 on the cement in the middle of the sanctuary and 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.240 my wife and I we wrote down these names. We 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:05.800 wrote down the name Luanne, it's my sister. These are 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.399 people we hope who come to faith in Jesus. I 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:13.400 wrote down Dad, that's my dad. Wrote down Lance, that's 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.200 my younger brother. He said, diabetes since he was four 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.440 years old and he's struggling right now to feel his feet. 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:30.639 My brother Lonnie, my brother Butch his real name is Leslie. Yep, 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:41.280 you would too, My mom, my niece, Caylin. I started 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:43.080