Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: Be sure to.
Speaker 2: Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week.
Speaker 1: I hope you're blessed today. Elevation Elevation SARTs Wow wow wow.
Speaker 1: So first of all, well, we're not going to do
Speaker 1: is act like you don't have the greatest pastor in
Speaker 1: the world. Come on, can we get real noisy in.
Speaker 3: This building and all around the globe.
Speaker 1: For the Pastor Stephen Ferdick, Holly Rijah Graham aps love you.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be here. I'm black, and that's just
Speaker 1: how we're gonna start. We're gonna start there. And my
Speaker 1: roots are Pentecostal, and Pentecostal that like as a fraternity
Speaker 1: or something, they'd be like, that's my dog, it's not
Speaker 1: a friend. But I was going to use a headset
Speaker 1: today so I could dribble with my left hand. But
Speaker 1: I woke up feeling preachy, so I told him give
Speaker 1: me a handheld because we about to go up Elevation.
Speaker 1: And I love Pastor Stephen. He is a songwriter, he
Speaker 1: is an architect. He is the greatest communicator in the world.
Speaker 1: And so to be on his platform is beyond a blessing.
Speaker 1: Something funny happened to me. I told myself that I
Speaker 1: would be validated as a good preacher when he invited me.
Speaker 1: And let me tell you how gracious God is he
Speaker 1: refused to allow me to be invited. As long as
Speaker 1: I believe that, because when Heaven wants to affirm you,
Speaker 1: it doesn't use opportunity and use opposition. I know you're
Speaker 1: annoying it, not by the stages, but by the star
Speaker 1: that you got. I need you to hop up your neighbor,
Speaker 1: but like you and Valentine and tell them I know
Speaker 1: I'm annoying it. The struggles that you overcome reveal your anointing.
Speaker 1: We know that the all on David worked not from
Speaker 1: the throne he sat on, but by the giant that
Speaker 1: fell at his feet. And if open doors can make you,
Speaker 1: then closed doors can break you. Quit waiting on man
Speaker 1: to validate you. And I'm afraid that in our churches,
Speaker 1: Heaven believes in us. And I'm gonna tell you something
Speaker 1: you never heard before. Hell believes in you. This is
Speaker 1: why the devil and all his imps and whimps have
Speaker 1: been coming against you because he know how much you carry.
Speaker 1: He doesn't bother you if you're not a threat. But
Speaker 1: if the devil's been trying to come against you and
Speaker 1: your family and your neighborhood, I need you to give
Speaker 1: God ten seconds of praise like.
Speaker 3: You know, no weapon for him against you. Jem, prosperous,
Speaker 3: come on, plat them like you and over come up
Speaker 3: praise them. Ain't no des already over I'm not playing
Speaker 3: apart victory.
Speaker 1: I'm flighting up from a place of Victoria in Jesus' name,
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name, and so I have a very prophetic
Speaker 1: word for elevation. It's really for the Columbia campus because
Speaker 1: they up the street from me. But if the shoe fit,
Speaker 1: you can wear it and hear Orlando or Greenville or
Speaker 1: wherever you're watching from. I told him to send me
Speaker 1: a list, it was too long. What y'all do have
Speaker 1: is some campuses. My God, we're gonna be a market.
Speaker 1: It's my custom to share the title after I read
Speaker 1: the scripture, but today I'm gonna share it before because
Speaker 1: I believe God is about to bring your name up.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it happened for me. I was
Speaker 1: minding my business, and Chunce texted me and said, are
Speaker 1: you available? And I'm wondering how did my name get
Speaker 1: brought up? God's about to bring your name up because
Speaker 1: this is the season. Hear me that God ain't looking
Speaker 1: for gifts. I got degrees, but I'm gonna talk how
Speaker 1: I want to talk. God ain't looking for gifts. He's
Speaker 1: after heart. There's so many people that can sing. Man,
Speaker 1: we don't need another song. We need hearts like Chris,
Speaker 1: and hearts like Jen and hearts like John south Man.
Speaker 1: We need hearts. And God's about to bring your name up.
Speaker 1: Here's the title for today. How did I get here?
Speaker 1: How did I get here? Let me preach because my
Speaker 1: wife tell me I'll take too long to transition. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna show a family picture there all on the ground,
Speaker 1: but my wife is a dying piece on the front row.
Speaker 1: I love you, Mark ten, Mark ten forty six. Then
Speaker 1: they came to Jericho. I teach at Ford City that
Speaker 1: you can't just read the Bible. Oh snap, you gotta
Speaker 1: read the Bible. It's a second read. Then they came
Speaker 1: to Jericho as Jesus and his disciples together with the
Speaker 1: large crowd. We're leaving the city. A blind man, Bartimaeus,
Speaker 1: which means son of Tomais, was sitting on the roadside begging.
Speaker 1: When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. He
Speaker 1: began to shout, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
Speaker 1: Many rebuked him. I hate when you're sitting next to
Speaker 1: the loud one. You're like, okay, I get it, you grateful.
Speaker 1: I am too. But my God, they told him, be quiet.
Speaker 1: Sam Jesus, you ever brought your mama to church? I said,
Speaker 1: mama preaching the elevation, Do not come my mom be
Speaker 1: tearing the whole row up in the back. I said,
Speaker 1: be quiet, man, but he shouted all the more. I
Speaker 1: love that son of David, have mercy on me. I
Speaker 1: really want to preach this next verse, but I got
Speaker 1: something else to preach. But the next verse says, Jesus, stop.
Speaker 3: Woo.
Speaker 1: There is a dB. If you're in the audio, there
Speaker 1: is a frequency. There is a shout that is packed
Speaker 1: with enough desperation to get a busy Jesus a focus
Speaker 1: Jesus to stop. Oh my god, are there any praises
Speaker 1: in the room that know how to get them to stop?
Speaker 3: By? Come on?
Speaker 1: The only reason I'm in church today is because he
Speaker 1: stopped by.
Speaker 3: The only reason I'm in my mind right mind because
Speaker 3: he stop The only reason I.
Speaker 1: Ain't cutting nobody in this week is because.
Speaker 3: He stopped bye.
Speaker 1: He stopped by. He stopped by. He stopped by. When
Speaker 1: he stops anything is possible. Who am I to deny
Speaker 1: what the Lord can do? Whatever's impossible for you? It's
Speaker 1: easy for him when he stops by. All right, let's
Speaker 1: keep reading. You're ready to sit down. He stopped by
Speaker 1: and said, call him. I like that. So they called
Speaker 1: the blind man. Cheer up on your feet. He's calling
Speaker 1: gibble now. The way my imagination works, I wonder if
Speaker 1: these are the same people who just told him to hush.
Speaker 1: I say, you can't listen to people. One second they
Speaker 1: said hush. That second they saying cheer up, cause what
Speaker 1: do you want from me?
Speaker 3: Dog?
Speaker 1: I mean throwing his cloak aside. He jumped to his feet,
Speaker 1: came to Jesus. He's Jesus. Jesus is really funny. He said, Hey,
Speaker 1: what do you want me to do for you? Blind
Speaker 1: Man's like, let me see he said, rabber, I want
Speaker 1: to see you man. I like this. Go, Jesus said,
Speaker 1: your faith has hewed you. Your shout has healed you,
Speaker 1: your resilience has healed you. Somebody took your last twenty
Speaker 1: to get to church today. That's the thing that healed you,
Speaker 1: the fact that you believed in spite of what you
Speaker 1: were facing. And the Bible says, I like this word immediately,
Speaker 1: I feel it coming all of a sudden, immediately. This
Speaker 1: ain't for everybody. This is just for fifty people and
Speaker 1: a two year old that can give off a prayer
Speaker 1: to say that thing about to happen quicker then you
Speaker 1: can't even imagine. Immediately immediately he received this site followed
Speaker 1: Jesus along the road. How did I get here? Lord Jesus,
Speaker 1: I'm a prayer, prayer? You ready? How did we get here? Amen?
Speaker 1: You could take your seats all right? How did I
Speaker 1: get here? How did I get here? How did I
Speaker 1: get here? This past week I went to Northmortal Beach,
Speaker 1: that's where my dad is buried, where my mom is from,
Speaker 1: and we went there to visit my grandma. My grandma's
Speaker 1: ninety two years old. Yeah yeah, her classmate was Harriet Tupman.
Speaker 1: My grandma is so old she seen many presidents. And
Speaker 1: I walk in and my grandma. She's like Isaac. Her
Speaker 1: side is felling hers because she you know, she's up
Speaker 1: in age and she's sitting there with her snuff. You're
Speaker 1: not from the country if you don't know what snuff is.
Speaker 1: No teeth but snuff, I said, Grandma. My grandma had
Speaker 1: fourteen kids, y'all. After ten you don't even feel them
Speaker 1: no more. There's another child. They just she got fourteen
Speaker 1: over forty grandkids. And I walk in and I'm like grandma,
Speaker 1: and she's like, wow, hold dad, get over here. And
Speaker 1: I go over to her and I said, grandma's me
Speaker 1: and I can't talk, y'all. I got speech impediment. If
Speaker 1: you laugh, you laughed, and that was not a joke.
Speaker 1: So I thought it was just me and my speech
Speaker 1: marks me. So my grandma she knew it, and she
Speaker 1: was like, try.
Speaker 3: That's you.
Speaker 1: I spent some time with her, something about when your
Speaker 1: sight is feeling, your senses are heightened. And what's interesting
Speaker 1: about this text. I learned this from Pastor Furd. You
Speaker 1: preach every line in the text, and so the first
Speaker 1: thing I want to acknowledge in this text is that
Speaker 1: the blind man is in Jericho. The word Jericho means
Speaker 1: fragrance or to smell. Isn't an interesting that he's blind
Speaker 1: but he can still smell the roses. So I want
Speaker 1: to tell you, don't allow your low place cause you
Speaker 1: to mister beauty of the season. You're in he's in Jericho.
Speaker 1: This is not a mountaintop message because most of the
Speaker 1: people were asking how did I get here? Aren't on top?
Speaker 1: You feel like you're at the bottom. You're asking how
Speaker 1: did this happen to me? How did I get here?
Speaker 1: My last great memory was a wedding photo, and now
Speaker 1: I'm a widow. That was my mom at the age
Speaker 1: of twenty nine. When my dad died on a Sunday morning,
Speaker 1: I was five years old. How did I get here?
Speaker 1: How did I get in the back of this police car?
Speaker 1: How did I get in divorce court? Come on, y'all,
Speaker 1: don't look at me in that tone of voice? How
Speaker 1: did I get here? My life was heading in one direction,
Speaker 1: and then one decision, one thing, caused me to get
Speaker 1: into an uncertain, unfamiliar, and unexpected place. How did I
Speaker 1: get here? How did I get here? How did I
Speaker 1: get addicted? How did this happen to my child? How
Speaker 1: did I get here? And you may think. You may
Speaker 1: be sitting here thinking like, man, my situation is rough.
Speaker 1: Listen to me. Your situation cannot compare to being blind
Speaker 1: in the first century fam that was the lowest of
Speaker 1: the lowest. They had nothing. There was no brain for reading,
Speaker 1: there were no guide dogs to help them, there was
Speaker 1: no eighty a compliance. You were just stuck begging. And
Speaker 1: that is the circumstance that this man is in. But
Speaker 1: I want to preach to the people who feel like
Speaker 1: your place that you're in is a surprise to you.
Speaker 1: The good news is that what is new to you
Speaker 1: is old to your God. Your future is his cast,
Speaker 1: Your life is a rerun to him. Just watching a
Speaker 1: movie with a friend of mine named Carlin, clearly his wife.
Speaker 1: There's no black people named Carlin and Carlin. And I
Speaker 1: was watching this movie years ago, years ago called Avatar,
Speaker 1: the first Avatar, and this thing, you know, people were
Speaker 1: bragging about how beautiful it is. God, I'm scared of everything. Okay,
Speaker 1: all creatures here below, don't invite me to your house.
Speaker 1: So if you got a dog I hate come to
Speaker 1: your house, you'd be like, Oh, I forgot to tell
Speaker 1: you I got a dog. You don't forget to tell
Speaker 1: somebody black, you got a dog, first of all, second
Speaker 1: of all, second of all, you don't forget. Let me
Speaker 1: just and man, don't tell me he don't bite. No,
Speaker 1: he don't bite you. He don't bite. He's just nibbling.
Speaker 1: Get he got taste for dark meat. And this is
Speaker 1: so I'm scared. I'm scared of all animals.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: So I'm watching an avatar. I'm freaking out. These are just creatures.
Speaker 1: They blue and running around. It's supposed to beautiful. I'm
Speaker 1: freaking out. I got my hat, I'm covering my said.
Speaker 1: Carling grabs me. He says, wait, don't leave. I said
Speaker 1: call him. You wait, because when black folks get scared,
Speaker 1: we get violent. That's what happens. We don't know. We
Speaker 1: just and calling told me. He said, trap, trap, don't leave.
Speaker 1: It gets better. What qualified calling to tell me? This
Speaker 1: is because he already saw the movie before. So when
Speaker 1: God gives you a word, I don't care how it looks.
Speaker 1: He's confident in the world he gives you because he
Speaker 1: already saw your life before. Do you hear what I'm
Speaker 1: telling you? He's not just Alpha, he is Omega, my God.
Speaker 1: And so there's nothing that you face that's new to him.
Speaker 1: He saw it coming. Tell somebody he saw it coming.
Speaker 1: He saw it coming. He saw it coming. And so
Speaker 1: here's this blind man. And maybe he didn't know this
Speaker 1: was gonna happen in his life, but God did, and
Speaker 1: he had a plan for him anyway. Even in the
Speaker 1: low place, there is a plan. Even in the low place,
Speaker 1: there is a plan. There's another story in John chapter
Speaker 1: nine about another blind man. This story is interesting because
Speaker 1: this man was blind from birth right and the disciples
Speaker 1: here's something that happened in the first century because they
Speaker 1: didn't have medical understanding, so they thought. They thought this,
Speaker 1: if you were blind, you were cursed. Clearly you did
Speaker 1: something wrong. This is what they believed. They believed this
Speaker 1: so much so that Jesus is twelve thought the same thing.
Speaker 1: They walk up on this blind man and John nine
Speaker 1: and they asked him. They say, hey, who's him? Are
Speaker 1: his parents? He was blind from birth. That's a dumb question.
Speaker 1: How he gonna sin? For he was born dumb? And
Speaker 1: so Jesus answered them. He asks them in verse three,
Speaker 1: he says, hey, man, no one sind We get this
Speaker 1: verse right here. But this happened so that the works
Speaker 1: of God might be displayed in him. Can I tell
Speaker 1: you something. What this means, ladies and gentlemen, is that
Speaker 1: it's all a set up. I had this thought in
Speaker 1: order for a way to be made. That means that
Speaker 1: a way has to be blocked. And if something is
Speaker 1: standing in between you and promised, then it has to
Speaker 1: be a setup. If there's something that you see that
Speaker 1: does not match what he said, it has to be
Speaker 1: a setup. The rat see from Moses was a setup
Speaker 1: for God. Jericho's war for Joshua was a set up
Speaker 1: for God. Goliath for David was a set up for God.
Speaker 1: Death for Lazarus was a set up for God. And
Speaker 1: so if it's sitting your way, tell your neighbor, it's
Speaker 1: just a setup. I wrote a song years ago called
Speaker 1: made Away, and I wrote this song his What significant
Speaker 1: about the song? I wrote it when we desperately needed
Speaker 1: a way to be made. So my wife water broke
Speaker 1: halfway during her pregnancy of our first child. The doctor
Speaker 1: literally told me, mister Green, I'm sorry, we're gonna take
Speaker 1: the baby. You guys can go home and try again.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's not gonna make it, but we know a
Speaker 1: God who's still a healer. I know some people think
Speaker 1: his power stopped in the Bible. But we know a
Speaker 1: God who is still able to turn your situation around.
Speaker 1: We know a God whose blood still works. Does anybody
Speaker 1: know this Jesus that I'm talking about? And so we
Speaker 1: started praying God to praying. My son was born at
Speaker 1: twenty eight weeks two pounds. He was in the incubator
Speaker 1: for two months. My wife was in the hospital for
Speaker 1: two months. Her lege was with her in a way.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was a desperate situation. But this is
Speaker 1: what I need you to hear. This is where I
Speaker 1: wrote the song you Made Away. I did not write
Speaker 1: a song that said you'll make a way. I wrote
Speaker 1: it in past tense. You ready, because anything God's about
Speaker 1: to do, He's already done. Did you hear what I
Speaker 1: just said? Anything God's about to do in your life,
Speaker 1: it's already done. And ladies and gentlemen, this is the
Speaker 1: difference between reactive praisers and proactive praisers. A reactive praisers
Speaker 1: wait today, see the solution, wait today, see the victory,
Speaker 1: wait until the X ray is turned around in that favor.
Speaker 1: But a proactive praiser set I walk in with that,
Speaker 1: I into this date with that Shitn't I into this
Speaker 1: course with praiser.
Speaker 3: I got enough history with God to know that.
Speaker 1: He's able to do exceeding. Leah, Mother, Lee, Oh, I
Speaker 1: can ask them, oh to think I praise them in advance.
Speaker 1: Are there any poor hack the phrasing and elevation?
Speaker 3: Take your top ten, take this, lift your hands, lift.
Speaker 1: Your points and blifts up like it's already up.
Speaker 3: I won't wait till my doom on the door up.
Speaker 3: I won't wait till my child get queer, till I
Speaker 3: won't wait till my marriages restored. I would lift the
Speaker 3: little that.
Speaker 1: All time, and it ray more continually beat than my
Speaker 1: mouth proactive. He's not going to just make away. He's
Speaker 1: already made away because it's a center. Anybody can praise them.
Speaker 1: When you turn around and Pharaoh's army is drowning, that's elementary.
Speaker 1: Ooh the enemy gone, but it take a ride or die?
Speaker 1: Radical crazy praiser to see a sea close in front
Speaker 1: of you or army coming behind you, and say, God,
Speaker 1: you're still worthy because I know you didn't free me
Speaker 1: to leave me. God, you still worthy because if you
Speaker 1: did those ten plagues? What is this sea? Who is
Speaker 1: this uncircumcised, felistyde. What is cancer? What is the person?
Speaker 1: What is anxiety?
Speaker 3: For my God?
Speaker 1: It's easy, it's easy. So God has been conditioning the
Speaker 1: unconditional worshiper in you. Some of our worshiper is too circumstantial.
Speaker 1: If I feel like it, don't let Starbucks run out
Speaker 1: of your favorite drink on your way to church. Oh
Speaker 1: my whole day, this is ruin. That's a conditional praiser.
Speaker 1: But maybe God has had you in jered to teach
Speaker 1: you how to worship him here. It is even when
Speaker 1: you don't feel like it, even when your head hurt
Speaker 1: a little bit, even when your chald didn't show back
Speaker 1: up home last night, even when Bak of America, what
Speaker 1: are you telling me? Right now? Come on, I just
Speaker 1: need ten people. I gotta move in this message. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna be greedy. Give me ten people. I gotta
Speaker 1: lie to on top. That's all I need.
Speaker 3: I need ten.
Speaker 1: People gotta give him a praise in advance.
Speaker 3: So cause you know God's about to pick you up,
Speaker 3: hurt your fit to wait for the last. This is
Speaker 3: about to walk in your favor for out your neighbor.
Speaker 1: And tell him it's about to walk in your favor.
Speaker 1: It's about to walk.
Speaker 3: I feel this.
Speaker 1: I tell him turning it, I tell him fifting that.
Speaker 1: I feel him moving it in your favor.
Speaker 3: It's all a.
Speaker 1: Setup because man's set back, it's God's set up. Hey, hey,
Speaker 1: can you trust God in the setup? Can you trust
Speaker 1: him in the setup?
Speaker 3: See?
Speaker 1: The problem with new school Christians y'all can say that
Speaker 1: I'm about to offend you, is that we act like
Speaker 1: God owe us something. That's why I like those three
Speaker 1: Hebrew boys. They said, even if he don't, I'm not
Speaker 1: praising them because he will. I'm praising him because he can't.
Speaker 1: So even if it don't happen like I wanted to,
Speaker 1: that does not change the consistency of his character. Proactive, proactive.
Speaker 1: What's interesting about this text is that every gospel account
Speaker 1: speaks about the blind being healed. Everyone over Matthew Mark
Speaker 1: and Luke John. They all talk about Matthew markat Loup,
Speaker 1: they all talk about blind Bartimaeus. But Mark's account is
Speaker 1: a little different. Mark's account goes straight from blind Bartimaeus
Speaker 1: to the triumphant entantry. This is a climatic event for
Speaker 1: Jesus hilling ministry. Next it's Passion Sunday. Next Palm Sunday.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about. Next, He's writing in
Speaker 1: What's Interesting, I didn't really come to talk about Bartimaeus.
Speaker 1: I can't talk about Mark. This god John Mark is
Speaker 1: a very interesting character. Here's why. His mom is the
Speaker 1: one who hosted the prime meeting for Peter's miraculous prison break,
Speaker 1: which means her house was big enough, which tells me
Speaker 1: Mark was privileged. Like me, you can judge me. I'm
Speaker 1: not from the hood. I'm a military brat. I don't
Speaker 1: know what government chiefs this. I have my own bathroom
Speaker 1: since I was five. I got everything I wanted for Christmas.
Speaker 1: This is Mark. Mark's cousin is Barnabas. So Mark is
Speaker 1: out with Paul on the first mission trip and Mark
Speaker 1: is like, you know, you get hiked up and you're like,
Speaker 1: I'm going.
Speaker 3: All the way.
Speaker 1: That was Mark, I'm going all the way. They get
Speaker 1: out there. Mark was like, Paul, you crazy dog. It's cold,
Speaker 1: I'm hungry, shipwreck. I ain't from the Paul talking about
Speaker 1: it's good that we suffered. Mark's like, man, I am
Speaker 1: going to the crib. I gotta get up out of here.
Speaker 1: So Mark drops out Paul gets offended. He starts calling
Speaker 1: Mark a coward. Barnabas says, hold on now, though Barnabus
Speaker 1: from University City. He's like, listen, listen, Cuse, what we
Speaker 1: ain't gonna do is be talk about my family like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you annoying it. Damascus. Listen, that's
Speaker 1: still my cousin.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: You can't be talking about a little cousin. And so
Speaker 1: the Beatles break up. This is the true story. They
Speaker 1: break up. He's like, yo, I'm out they leave. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you two reasons I'm so glad that Mark
Speaker 1: left Paul. I'm gonna give you the second one later
Speaker 1: in about ten minutes. The first reason I'm so glad
Speaker 1: that Mark left him is because Mark now it's hooked
Speaker 1: up with a man named Peter, and Mark don't leave Paul.
Speaker 1: Mark don't get connected to Peter. Why is this important.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this or not, but
Speaker 1: Mark's gospel is actually Peter's gospel. So now Marcus his student,
Speaker 1: and the whole book of Mark is Mark writing but
Speaker 1: Peter speaking. This is why it's the shortest gospel. This
Speaker 1: is why it gets straight to the point, because Peter
Speaker 1: was a straight shooter. This is why it's the only
Speaker 1: gospel to talk about Peter walking on water. Nobody else
Speaker 1: talked about it. Peter was like, don't miss this one part.
Speaker 1: Because Mark was like, gotcha, it's the only gospel that
Speaker 1: talks about Peter denying Christ three times, so telling me
Speaker 1: Peter also wanted us to know his laws. It's the
Speaker 1: only gospel that talks about getting money from fish. So
Speaker 1: Mark gets exclusive content. It is director's cut. This is
Speaker 1: straight from Peter, y'all. Peter wasn't just one of the twelve.
Speaker 1: He was in the top three. This is a man
Speaker 1: who walked with Jesus everywhere. He was in the inner circle.
Speaker 1: And so Mark now got the inside school. And he's
Speaker 1: taking all of these notes, all these cliff notes, getting
Speaker 1: them down. And this is why whoa you ready for this?
Speaker 1: This is why I'm so glad that Mark wrote this, y'all.
Speaker 1: This thing's setting me all the way up. I'm so
Speaker 1: glad Mark wrote this because you gotta understand the context
Speaker 1: of the content. Mark is actually feeling like a reject.
Speaker 1: Mark is at home scratch in his head, wondering is
Speaker 1: there any ministry left in me? Mark is like I
Speaker 1: came from a woman of faith, and here I am
Speaker 1: a ministry dropout. Is God's hand still on me? Have
Speaker 1: you ever felt like that before? It's God's hands still
Speaker 1: on me? Here I am talking about it. I believe God,
Speaker 1: and I'm pregnant and I'm not married. Is God's hands
Speaker 1: still on me? Can God still use me? I was
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur known for taking risks, but I dropped the ball.
Speaker 1: I gambled and I lost everything. Can God still use me?
Speaker 1: This is Mark. He's wondering how did I get here?
Speaker 1: And Peter sees him and says, they're still valuing you.
Speaker 1: How does Peter know that? Because Peter also was a dropout.
Speaker 1: Peter knows what it feels like to drop the ball,
Speaker 1: and so he invites Mark in and Mark starts writing this.
Speaker 1: And here's the reason I'm glad Mark wrote it. You
Speaker 1: ready because Mark knows what it means to be marked
Speaker 1: by God. If anybody knows what it means for God's
Speaker 1: hand to still be on you, Mark knows it. Here's
Speaker 1: the significant part. You're ready for this. Mark is the
Speaker 1: only one who names Bartimaeus. Imagine with me. Mark's sitting
Speaker 1: there taking notes, Peter talking, and he leans over and
Speaker 1: said Peter, but what was his name? And Peter said,
Speaker 1: his name is Bartimaeus. Y'all this thing jumped out at
Speaker 1: the pages and hit me in the heart. Because this
Speaker 1: is God's way of telling us, when you're marked by God,
Speaker 1: he'll bring your name up. When God's hand is on you,
Speaker 1: it does not matter what hand is against you. Somebody
Speaker 1: knows what I'm talking about. When God is for you,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter who post stuff against you. That was
Speaker 1: so many haters that thought elevation was gonna close, and
Speaker 1: you're five, but look at us, not started from the bottom.
Speaker 1: Now we're here. When God marks you, it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: what giant, what disease, what famine, what hater, what devil
Speaker 1: try to rise against. I need you to put your
Speaker 1: neighbor in knee count and tell him you're marked by God.
Speaker 1: That brother Carl Wreck couldn't take you out because you're
Speaker 1: marked by God. No poet of the deeds had to
Speaker 1: stand back and wait. Because you're marked by God. That's
Speaker 1: why you didn't take your own life. Because you're marked
Speaker 1: by God. I've been marked. Don't count me out, don't
Speaker 1: call me out, don't call me out. I'm marked. I
Speaker 1: brought a prop. You can't preach an elevation without a
Speaker 1: prop marked marked. Blind Bartimaeus was marked without even knowing it,
Speaker 1: because even when you can't see Jesus, he sees you.
Speaker 1: When you're marked, he had to die on you. When
Speaker 1: you're marked, he has his eye on you. I'm so
Speaker 1: glad for the stick. Some of y'all like, oh Jesus,
Speaker 1: this can go real bad. That's how I felt last
Speaker 1: week in fort Worth. She's when God gave me this message.
Speaker 1: I was in Fort Worth with my little sister who
Speaker 1: lives there, and she said, I got to take you
Speaker 1: to stockyard. Anybody from Texas good for you? She said,
Speaker 1: I gotta take you the stockyard, y'all. We went to stockyard.
Speaker 1: I said, what in the andy Griffin?
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 1: Crispy white cowboy hats. I said, I'm one wrong move away. God,
Speaker 1: I'm this close to elevation. Don't let me get killed.
Speaker 1: I almost made it to the mountaintop. Let me at
Speaker 1: least let me get through next weekend. True story. There's
Speaker 1: an old black man blind was walking with a stick.
Speaker 1: He was just close to the road, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to pull over and help him. And right before I did,
Speaker 1: a cowboy couple came and grabbed his hand, and I said,
Speaker 1: oh my god, it's a preach because when you're in
Speaker 1: the dark, you're not picky about who help you. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: when you when you're in the dark, you're not selective
Speaker 1: about who decides to give you mercy. That's why I'm
Speaker 1: grateful for Elevation, because it's a safe place. There's some
Speaker 1: black people that's been going here, and your family like,
Speaker 1: how are you following that white man? And you said, child,
Speaker 1: I was blind so long. I'm not selective about who
Speaker 1: leading me to the light. I'm not selective about who's
Speaker 1: helping me. I'm not selective about who's value in me,
Speaker 1: as long as he believes in the blood, the only
Speaker 1: color that matters here and dread. I gotta get to
Speaker 1: the right. I gotta get out of this dark place.
Speaker 3: And here he is.
Speaker 1: There's people who think that the only darkness is sin.
Speaker 1: That's not the darkness to beware of. You Ready, it's
Speaker 1: lacking vision, and there's so many people here who's been
Speaker 1: lacking vision. You're wondering, where are you? God? What happens
Speaker 1: when I obey him and it feels like he disappears?
Speaker 1: We don't know what I'm talking about. You haven't lived
Speaker 1: long enough. I believe it's promises. But my situation don't
Speaker 1: look like what I've been declaring. And I'm wondering where
Speaker 1: do I go from here? Where do I go from here?
Speaker 1: How do I get out of this? And ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: this is blind barda Mayas. He's stuck in a cycle,
Speaker 1: He's stuck in a circle, He's stuck going lacking vision.
Speaker 1: There are people watching today from all over the world.
Speaker 1: Pastors who are trying to build a church that won't grow.
Speaker 1: Businessman who has this business plan that won't get off
Speaker 1: the ground. Parents that's believe in God. For your teenager
Speaker 1: who won't listen. Can I get an amen? Lacking vision?
Speaker 1: What's interesting about this? Let's go back to Jericho. Bartimaeus's
Speaker 1: ancestors got into Jericho with a shout, But Bartimaeus got
Speaker 1: out with a shout. He got out with a shout,
Speaker 1: and he shout until Jesus stopped. And the Bible says,
Speaker 1: my favorite part that he followed him. He followed him.
Speaker 1: I like this because Bartimaeus, he refused to stay where
Speaker 1: he listen. I may be here, but I don't have
Speaker 1: to stay here. I may be in this abusive relationship,
Speaker 1: but I don't have to stay in it. I don't
Speaker 1: know who I'm preaching to. You too embarrassed, and tell
Speaker 1: your parents that that gud been hitting you.
Speaker 3: Child.
Speaker 1: You better get you and your tahuahuah and get to
Speaker 1: step in get. I might be in here, but I
Speaker 1: don't have to stay here. Bartimeea says, I'm following Jesus.
Speaker 1: Here we go, Here we go, Verse forty eight. Many
Speaker 1: rebuke to him, told them to hush, but he shouted
Speaker 1: all the more, son, no, David, have mercy on me.
Speaker 1: The haters try to silence them. I like Bartie. He
Speaker 1: didn't talk to them. He didn't speak about them. He
Speaker 1: spoke above them. When God has taken you somewhere, ooh,
Speaker 1: let me just park here just for one second. Quit
Speaker 1: feeling like you got to reply that all the haters online,
Speaker 1: the battles that you engage in reveal the level you on.
Speaker 1: That's time somebody say, did you read that? Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I'm a buff that, I'm abuff that I need you
Speaker 1: to hit somebody to you above that, you above that?
Speaker 1: And so he shout, son of David, this title, son
Speaker 1: of David was reserved. Hear me for the Messiah exclusively,
Speaker 1: So it wasn't just the fact that he shouted, it's
Speaker 1: what he said. What he was saying was that, Jesus,
Speaker 1: you're surrounding it by a lot of people, hear me.
Speaker 1: But they don't see you like I do. He says,
Speaker 1: I see you, I see the real you. They see
Speaker 1: you as a miracle worker. I see you as Messiah,
Speaker 1: they see you as a problem solverig but I see
Speaker 1: you as a promised to one. They see you as
Speaker 1: a leader. But I see you as Lord. I see you.
Speaker 1: I see you. And his title to Jesus got Jesus
Speaker 1: to stop in its tracks. He stopped because the only
Speaker 1: thing worse than physical blindness is spiritual blindness. Here we go,
Speaker 1: Verse forty nine. Jesus stopped and said, call him. I said,
Speaker 1: tear up on your feet. He's calling you. Hey. You
Speaker 1: may feel stuck, but he's calling you. You may feel disqualified, Mark,
Speaker 1: but he's calling you. You may feel under but he's
Speaker 1: still calling you. Favorite part Verse fifty, throwing his cloak aside.
Speaker 1: Throwing his cloak aside, he got up a random Jesus,
Speaker 1: you know what, It's significant because the cloak is the
Speaker 1: only thing that marked you as a legitimate beggar. When
Speaker 1: I thow this on you fall out, so they think
Speaker 1: I'm annoying it. That's where I came from, man, I said.
Speaker 1: He threw his cloak aside. He threw his cloak aside.
Speaker 1: He threw his cloak aside. He took off the thing
Speaker 1: that marked him as a beggar. Hear me, this is
Speaker 1: where it gets crazy. He took it off before he
Speaker 1: was healed. We got to crank up, just for a second,
Speaker 1: just for a second, he said, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you're about to do, Jesus, but I know I won't
Speaker 1: need this no more. I gotta take this off of me.
Speaker 1: Somebody put it on me, but it's not my identity.
Speaker 1: Somebody put this lame on me, but it's not my
Speaker 1: He put his name on me. He took what they
Speaker 1: on him. He said, I don't know where we're going,
Speaker 1: but I'm not staying here. I don't know what it had,
Speaker 1: but I'm not staying here.
Speaker 3: I don't know what the future holds, but I know
Speaker 3: who holds the future.
Speaker 1: Say this off of me. Somebody get on a plate
Speaker 1: like you're breaking out. I'm fucking freaking yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Now now I'm ament there, I'm mon there, I'm more,
Speaker 1: I'm gone now, He followed Jesus, what's this?
Speaker 3: What's this? What's this?
Speaker 1: Out of Jericho to Jerusalem for the triumphant entry PAULM. Sunday.
Speaker 1: Imagine Peter James, John, both of the James, the Dolomew
Speaker 1: Judas is still there matter, all the boys standing there
Speaker 1: watching Jesus ride in on a donkey, and the ex beggar.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry when I do that, I feel the Holy ghost.
Speaker 1: You got the Holy Spirit? I got the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1: The ex beggar is standing there with the disciples, scratching
Speaker 1: his head wondering how did I get here? How did this?
Speaker 1: Priest us? Because God wants you to know, I need
Speaker 1: everybody under the age of fifty to sit down. If
Speaker 1: you're fifty and older, I want you to stand up
Speaker 1: because this is your word. Now there's somebody here and
Speaker 1: denial you are. You've been forty nine for ten years.
Speaker 1: Stand your button. Stella got her group back. Your boyfriend
Speaker 1: thinks that you're thirty. You it's fifty two.
Speaker 3: Stand up.
Speaker 1: This is what God told me to tell you. You may
Speaker 1: have missed some things in the past fifty years. But guys,
Speaker 1: about to open up your eyes and you won't miss
Speaker 1: his next move. Bartimaeus, I don't know what you haven't seen,
Speaker 1: but you're about to see him ride in. You about
Speaker 1: to see this thing open up. And I want to
Speaker 1: talk to everybody who's time for six three old and
Speaker 1: tell him you're about to kid. I don't know what
Speaker 1: you miss but you're about to see it. And the
Speaker 1: Lord told me to tell you you don't have a problem.
Speaker 1: Believe in God for everybody else. One of you told yourself,
Speaker 1: as long as my child make it, I'm okay. God
Speaker 1: says you have a child, but you're my child. You're
Speaker 1: gonna see it. You're gonna see it. Go back to
Speaker 1: the diary you wrote forty years ago. You're gonna see it.
Speaker 1: Get your vision back. You're gonna see it now. I
Speaker 1: need everybody to give God afraid like he's about.
Speaker 3: To open up your eyes.
Speaker 1: Ayes, I haven't seen here, Tyvin heard what God's about
Speaker 1: to do in New York, Like you're gonna see it?
Speaker 1: All right, I'm done. This is crazy what I'm about
Speaker 1: to say. This is crazy what I'm about to say,
Speaker 1: because I haven't ap preached, yet I got four minutes
Speaker 1: to really preach, and I'm gonna hit that clock because
Speaker 1: I want to come back. You ready for this till
Speaker 1: your neghbor get ready? This is crazy. The second reason
Speaker 1: I'm glad Mark left Paul is because if Mark didn't Paul,
Speaker 1: the Beatles wouldn't have broken up. If the Beatles didn't
Speaker 1: break up, Mark would have been in the Philippian jail
Speaker 1: with Paul homesick on Paul's second missionary trip. If Mark
Speaker 1: was homesick in the jail, then the right praise partner
Speaker 1: named Silas wouldn't have been with Paul. So maybe God
Speaker 1: calls it an eviction in that last relationship to Chris,
Speaker 1: vacancy for the right partner, didn't you hit what I
Speaker 1: just said? Silence had to be there because the Bible
Speaker 1: said add about midnight. Wait a minute, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, at about midnight. Hey, Matt, make it dark.
Speaker 1: I know you able make it midnight at about midnight?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, hey, hey, midnight is
Speaker 1: the darkest moment. Ain't that paulae Silas were blinded by
Speaker 1: their situation, but they refused to allow their sight to
Speaker 1: silence their shout. They never asked for freedom, because all
Speaker 1: you have to do is shout loud enough for Jesus
Speaker 1: to stop. And when he stopped, he brings everything you need.
Speaker 1: And the Bible said, watch this, watch this Waimeas took
Speaker 1: off his clothes, God took off their chains. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: count the three, and I want you to shout for
Speaker 1: your vision to come back. When I count the three,
Speaker 1: we're gonna shout. Matt, You're gonna turn the lights up,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna give God thirty seconds of a pentecostal
Speaker 1: store front praise because you're about to see again, your
Speaker 1: family about to see again, your business is about to
Speaker 1: see it again. Yeah, the light is coming back to you.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to shout? I want you to shout
Speaker 1: the name that's above every name, for the name of Jesus, deamons,
Speaker 1: trump at the name of Jesus.
Speaker 3: Can't say drinks at the.
Speaker 1: Name of Jesus.
Speaker 3: The break the back top, walk the through three. John
Speaker 3: for your business, y'all, for your family, Joh for tree,
Speaker 3: show me put this coming on this. I'm grieving. Tell
Speaker 3: your call. I'm walking into the bomings, I'm walking into everything.
Speaker 3: Got half from me? I don't know what the juice
Speaker 3: or holds them, but I know we'll hold it. I'm
Speaker 3: making it great top. I'll pushed the south the thing
Speaker 3: a wretch like me. I want what laws us?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 3: How fam what brood? But I can see clearly now
Speaker 3: the light in the back corder. I can see clearly. Now,
Speaker 3: jump this back up. I can see clearly now. We
Speaker 3: opened my eyes again, and I can see. How did
Speaker 3: I get here?
Speaker 1: Now? What's crazy?
Speaker 3: Here?
Speaker 1: Doing yourself matters because when pauland Silence shouted, the Bible says,
Speaker 1: not only their change fell, but everybody around them were
Speaker 1: standing free, wondering how did I get here? Can I
Speaker 1: prophesy some of you going back home and your child
Speaker 1: gonna be free from that addiction? Wondering how did I get?
Speaker 1: Somebody pray for me, somebody prays for me, somebody shouted
Speaker 1: for me. Lift your hands, Lord, Jesus, thank you for
Speaker 1: giving sight to the blind, given sight to the blind.
Speaker 1: I receive this vision. I'm gonna believe again, because a
Speaker 1: small vision is an insult to a big God. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna see again. I'm gonna believe again in Jesus' name,
Speaker 1: Hey man, come on, give them a praise Goblin.
Speaker 2: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world.
Speaker 1: And if you want more information on how to be a.
Speaker 2: Part of Elevation, click the link in the description.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2: Make sure to leave a review, share the message, and subscribe.
Speaker 1: God bless you.