Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1: In your life. Enjoy the message. Anybody happy to be
Speaker 1: in church today?
Speaker 3: When I was growing up, my parents used to always
Speaker 3: quote that scripture. I was glad when they said, unto me,
Speaker 3: let us go to the wood, to the house of
Speaker 3: the Lord. And I'm just so thankful to be an Elevation.
Speaker 3: Do you love your church today? Do you love your
Speaker 3: pastors today? I'm a preacher just the moment. But and
Speaker 3: again I want to just say I reiterate Pastor JJ
Speaker 3: did such a great job. Thank it everybody forgiving. But
Speaker 3: just in the aftermath of the hurricane, can we just
Speaker 3: own everyone that's being generous and given.
Speaker 1: Let's pray, Let's come.
Speaker 3: On, let's really stir off faith to help those that
Speaker 3: are in need right now. The devastations overwhelming, and what
Speaker 3: an opportunity. I see it as an opportunity for the
Speaker 3: church to step up and be what we're called to be.
Speaker 3: A men and so I love your church and I
Speaker 3: love your pastors, and I got to.
Speaker 1: Be with them.
Speaker 3: I live in Los Angeles and the tour Elevation Worship
Speaker 3: Nights came through Los Angeles, California. I gotta tell you,
Speaker 3: LA wasn't ready for Pastor Steven. They weren't ready for him.
Speaker 3: And I have never been to a concert where every
Speaker 3: single song that they sang when they started it, I
Speaker 3: was like.
Speaker 1: Oh, this is my favorite one.
Speaker 3: This is my favorite one, This is my favorite Then
Speaker 3: they sing another one. I'm like, Oh, put this one
Speaker 3: right here, because I got memories with these songs. I've
Speaker 3: been through some things with these songs. I cried in
Speaker 3: my part of these songs. Come on, clap and give honor.
Speaker 1: We're honoring to.
Speaker 3: Do if you're grateful for the cycle bye of Elevation
Speaker 3: Church and Pastor Stephen.
Speaker 1: And Holly.
Speaker 3: And we're we're we're called. We're called to give honor
Speaker 3: where honor is due. You know how sometimes the rent
Speaker 3: is due. Today I feel like the honor is due,
Speaker 3: and Pastor Stephen is a gift not just to Charlotte
Speaker 3: and the Elevation but to the world.
Speaker 1: To the Body of Christ.
Speaker 3: And I say, right, now just as he's resting today,
Speaker 3: I say we pray for him right now, just as
Speaker 3: a church, you know, just a hedge of protection over
Speaker 3: his family, that the blessing of God would be all
Speaker 3: over his home and his life. And Pastor Hawley the same.
Speaker 3: Come on, church, let's just pray for Pastor Stephen right now. Father,
Speaker 3: we declare in the name of Jesus, your goodness and
Speaker 3: your mercy will follow them all the days of their life.
Speaker 3: We think you that as they've refreshed Poise and Salt
Speaker 3: Lake City and Los Angeles, God, you said that those
Speaker 3: the refreshed others, will they themselves be refreshed. So God,
Speaker 3: Philip is cup. We thank you God for the pastor
Speaker 3: that he is the leader that he is. And we
Speaker 3: just thank you for a blessing today in Jesus name.
Speaker 3: And everybody said together, come on clap one more time.
Speaker 3: Anybody loved the Bible today. We're gonna jump right in
Speaker 3: in just a moment. But before you do, turn and
Speaker 3: sayhi to somebody. As you take a seat, turn and
Speaker 3: say hi to somebody. Go in your bible to Romans
Speaker 3: chapter twelve. Romans chapter twelve. It is good to be
Speaker 3: in church today. Any married people in church today.
Speaker 1: Yay.
Speaker 3: My wife and I just celebrated sixteen years of marriage.
Speaker 3: She is blessed. Come on, we have four children. We're
Speaker 3: about to be in the odds. I'm about to have thirteen, eleven,
Speaker 3: nine and seven. We like a rock band. We put
Speaker 3: them out every two years. But I stopped that years ago.
Speaker 3: I said, oh no more. I told my wife we
Speaker 3: would have been good with two. We would have dominated
Speaker 3: two kids, but we had two too many. They're dominating
Speaker 3: us now. But God has been so good to us.
Speaker 3: My wife and I we planted a church in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: We just celebrated nine years of our church in LA.
Speaker 3: And in nine years, in nine years, we've seen thirteen
Speaker 3: thousand people say yes to Jesus in LA. Come on,
Speaker 3: clap if you believe God is good. But it's an
Speaker 3: honor to be here. And I want to jump right
Speaker 3: in because Romans chapter twelve, we're gonna go to verse four.
Speaker 3: What I love about Jesus is that he has offered
Speaker 3: us the invitation of a lifetime. And the invitation of
Speaker 3: a lifetime to me is not just believing in Jesus.
Speaker 3: But I think it gets fun when you start following Jesus.
Speaker 1: But just to believe is not that fun.
Speaker 3: But the adventure of a lifetime to me is when
Speaker 3: you say yes to following Jesus.
Speaker 1: You never know where He's going to take your life.
Speaker 3: You never know what God's going to do in you,
Speaker 3: and you never know what God's going to do through you.
Speaker 3: And so I want to talk today as you discover,
Speaker 3: as you walk with God, you discover what has He
Speaker 3: gifted you to do on this earth?
Speaker 1: What is He placed in your life. The more I
Speaker 1: follow Jesus, the.
Speaker 3: More I discover my gifting, my talents, my unique makeup
Speaker 3: to go make a difference in the world. Look here Romans,
Speaker 3: Chapter twelve, verse four. I love these scriptures as Paul
Speaker 3: He's writing for by the grace given to me. I
Speaker 3: say to every one of you, do not think of
Speaker 3: yourself more highly than you ought to. That's a word
Speaker 3: for cowboy fans. Come on, somebody, helle lojah. I felt
Speaker 3: the Holy Ghost when I said it too. I felt
Speaker 3: the Holy Ghost when I said it. I was like,
Speaker 3: who is it for?
Speaker 1: Bam? Cowboy fans. Cowboy fans are so cute. Y'all are cute.
Speaker 1: Y'all are cute because every year.
Speaker 3: I let me preest a word, okay, but rather think
Speaker 3: of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith
Speaker 3: God has distributed to each of you.
Speaker 1: For just as each of.
Speaker 3: Us has one body with many members, as these members
Speaker 3: do not all have the same function. So in Christ, we,
Speaker 3: though many, form one body, and each member belongs to
Speaker 3: all the others. You know what I love about seeing
Speaker 3: that video about what we're doing to help, is that
Speaker 3: we need Samaritans, purse, we need convoy of hope, we
Speaker 3: need elevation church.
Speaker 1: Come on, anybody, thankful. We're just playing our part in
Speaker 1: a really big thing. Verse six.
Speaker 3: We have different gifts according to the grace given to.
Speaker 1: Each of us.
Speaker 3: If your gift is prophesigned, then prophesie in accordance with
Speaker 3: your faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it
Speaker 3: is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then
Speaker 3: give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If
Speaker 3: it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is
Speaker 3: to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere
Speaker 3: hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be
Speaker 3: devoted to one another in love, Honor one another above yourselves,
Speaker 3: never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor
Speaker 3: serving the Lord. Oh, come on, clap today. That's just
Speaker 3: good reading right there. That's not even preaching, that's reading.
Speaker 3: I want to preach a message today right down the title.
Speaker 3: Is there anything I can do for you? Is there
Speaker 3: anything that I can do for you?
Speaker 1: See?
Speaker 3: I know how much God has done for me. I
Speaker 3: know what God has done in my life. God pulled
Speaker 3: me out of a pit, set my feet upon a rock,
Speaker 3: put a new song in my mouth. I don't know
Speaker 3: about you, but I was dead, but now I'm alive.
Speaker 3: I was blind, but now I see. Come on, anybody
Speaker 3: thankful today for what Jesus has done? Has God been
Speaker 3: good to anybody here today? Come on, give him a
Speaker 3: better praise than that. If you believe God is good, God,
Speaker 3: God like to say this way. God has been better
Speaker 3: than I deserve. And He has been greater than I
Speaker 3: could imagine. He has been better than I could ever deserve.
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you he has been better than I
Speaker 3: have ever imagined. God has been so good to me.
Speaker 3: God gave me his spirit. God gave me salvation. God
Speaker 3: gave me my health today. God gave me a beautiful family.
Speaker 3: God hooked me up so much and gave me two
Speaker 3: extra kids. But when I think about all that God
Speaker 3: has done for me, how could I not in return
Speaker 3: say Lord, is there anything.
Speaker 1: That I could do for you?
Speaker 3: Because I know your faith fulness, I know you're healing power,
Speaker 3: I know what you've.
Speaker 1: Done for me. But I just want to just pause
Speaker 1: for a second and say, Lord, is there anything that this?
Speaker 1: Is there anything that.
Speaker 3: I could potentially possibly do for you? When we moved
Speaker 3: to LA we left Seattle, Washington to move to Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: We got we got out of Egypt, y'all, and so
Speaker 3: it rained too much up there. So when we moved down,
Speaker 3: we had two kids in those days, just two of them,
Speaker 3: and we were driving down. We didn't we didn't have
Speaker 3: a staff, we didn't have an office, we didn't have
Speaker 3: we didn't have a house.
Speaker 1: We found our house.
Speaker 3: We were on I five in Sacramento and my wife
Speaker 3: was looking on Craigelist for a place to live, and
Speaker 3: so we found it. But we were in Sacramento, so
Speaker 3: we still had a long drive. So we sent a
Speaker 3: friend to go check out the house the neighborhood. She
Speaker 3: couldn't get in, but she could check out the house.
Speaker 3: She said, the neighborhood's fine, So we said yes to
Speaker 3: the house. We got the home on Craigslist. We rented
Speaker 3: a house to go plant the church while we were there.
Speaker 3: While we were driving, my wife mentioned to me that
Speaker 3: she has a family friend from New Zealand that was
Speaker 3: also moving to LA for a job. And she said,
Speaker 3: this home that we just rented has an extra house,
Speaker 3: extra room, and she's looking for a place to live.
Speaker 3: What do you think about renting out a room to
Speaker 3: this to my childhood friend from New Zealand, I was say, well,
Speaker 3: we're church planners.
Speaker 1: We need the money. Holley lujah.
Speaker 3: Yes. And what I remember about this girl from New
Speaker 3: Zealand when we planned a church and she helped us,
Speaker 3: there was eleven people that started in our living room.
Speaker 3: Started this church is O Way Church in LA. And
Speaker 3: what I remember about this girl the most is that
Speaker 3: she would go to everybody in the church and she'd
Speaker 3: always ask if she could help, like, may.
Speaker 1: Yeah, can I help you? Mat see anything I could do? Mate? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Shock mock blue yeah, Mike, good on you. But I
Speaker 3: remember that's what I remember. Is there anything that I
Speaker 3: could do to help? This is like me and my
Speaker 3: house with my wife. My wife runs our home, she
Speaker 3: runs our house. She is the boss at our house.
Speaker 3: I don't have a clue what's going on. So I
Speaker 3: just every day breakfast, lest your dinner. I'm like, can
Speaker 3: I do Can I help? Is there any do you need?
Speaker 3: Can I do anything to help? She said the other day,
Speaker 3: I finally figured out what your gift is. Your gift
Speaker 3: in this home what you do is you're good at
Speaker 3: dropping off the kids. And I was like, yeah, I'm
Speaker 3: really good at dropping I can get rid of them kids. Yes,
Speaker 3: I know how to do that. That's about all I
Speaker 3: know how to do. But I wonder today if we
Speaker 3: could get to the place where we could come to
Speaker 3: God and say, Lord, I don't know what I'm exactly
Speaker 3: gifted in, but whatever I have, is there anything that
Speaker 3: I could do for you? I'm I'm see you got
Speaker 3: to get a life with a view, in view of
Speaker 3: your mercy, in view of the cross, in view of
Speaker 3: your faithfulness. I can survey and see what you've done
Speaker 3: for me, and so God, in response of gratitude, I
Speaker 3: just want to ask, is there anything that I can
Speaker 3: do for you? See the problem is is that a
Speaker 3: lot of us we we we we find out our
Speaker 3: gift or our talent, and we fall in love with
Speaker 3: our gift more than our God. We we are mesmerized
Speaker 3: with our talents and our capabilities. And I want to
Speaker 3: just give you four things to write down today. Write
Speaker 3: down number one. Don't fall in love with your gift.
Speaker 3: Fall in love with the gift giver. Don't fall in
Speaker 3: love with your talent. Don't fall in love with how
Speaker 3: gifted you are and how amazing you are. If you
Speaker 3: got the gift to teach, don't fall in love with
Speaker 3: your teaching gift. If you got the gift to sing,
Speaker 3: don't fall in love with your singing gift. If you
Speaker 3: got whatever your gift is, don't fall in love with
Speaker 3: your gift. We live in a culture that is obsessed
Speaker 3: with their gift.
Speaker 1: They are.
Speaker 3: They are mesmerized by their talent. They are mesmerized by
Speaker 3: their ability. Vanity of vanities. Look at how awesome I am.
Speaker 3: Look at how great I am, Look at the business
Speaker 3: I can build, Look at the songs I can write. No,
Speaker 3: I want to encourage you today. Don't fall in love
Speaker 3: with your gift, fall in love with your God, says
Speaker 3: Romans Chapter one. Romans Chapter one says they started to
Speaker 3: worship creation rather than worshiping the Creator. And we got
Speaker 3: to be careful in this culture to not discover our
Speaker 3: gift and fall in love with it, to monetize it,
Speaker 3: to just make it about us and our kingdom. Know,
Speaker 3: as we follow God, he shows us what He's put
Speaker 3: inside of us. When you were born, God didn't kind
Speaker 3: of come up with a plan like, Wow, what are
Speaker 3: we gonna do with this one? No, when you were
Speaker 3: in your mother's womb, the Bible says you were fearfully
Speaker 3: and wonderfully made. God was stuff in your life with
Speaker 3: potential and capability and calling and anointing and future. Jeremiah
Speaker 3: said in Jeremiah One, before I was born, you appointed
Speaker 3: be a prophet to the nations. God has a plan
Speaker 3: for your life. God knows what he wants to do
Speaker 3: with your life. God has something for you to do
Speaker 3: on this earth. You gotta discover your gift so you
Speaker 3: can make a difference in the world.
Speaker 1: Don't fall in love with your gift, fall in love
Speaker 1: with your God.
Speaker 3: Where are the loud people at Let me just hear
Speaker 3: you if you're loud. Hey, they were waiting, weren't they loud?
Speaker 3: People can't wait to be loud. They just excited, like
Speaker 3: they just wake up loud. I'm half Mexican. Any Latins
Speaker 3: in the house, I'm underlies. Hey guess now that's end
Speaker 3: the Hons. God does not make quiet Latins. This is impossible.
Speaker 3: We come out the womb loud like Labama, Mama. We
Speaker 3: just bought us. Look us forever, Hans. That's the way
Speaker 3: God made you. Where are the quiet people?
Speaker 1: At?
Speaker 3: Quiet people don't even like to raise their hand. That's
Speaker 3: the way God made you, and we need you.
Speaker 1: To be you.
Speaker 3: Walk confident in your calling, walk confident in your grace.
Speaker 1: But don't fall in love with your grace. Don't fall
Speaker 1: in love with your gift. Fall in love with your maker.
Speaker 1: Fall in love with your creator.
Speaker 3: Fall in love with your savior, fall in love with
Speaker 3: his presence. Oh, come on clap today if you want
Speaker 3: to love God more than you love yourself. There's a
Speaker 3: story in Daniel, chapter four of King nebuk nez King
Speaker 3: nebuk Nezzer. One day he walks out on his roof
Speaker 3: and he's out on the on the on the rooftop
Speaker 3: and he's walking around.
Speaker 1: He's like, dang, you look at me, am I not amazing?
Speaker 3: Look at look at what I've look at what I've created.
Speaker 3: Around somebody that's so impressed with himself. You ever be
Speaker 3: around somebody that's just like, Wow, you're still talking about you.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. Wow.
Speaker 3: Hold on, let me just you drop that name. Let
Speaker 3: me give it back to you. Just real, sorry, you
Speaker 3: just there's another one. King Nabucanza's walking on the palace,
Speaker 3: so he's like, wow, look at me, look at what
Speaker 3: I've done.
Speaker 1: Is Danis chapter four. Well, you can't make this up.
Speaker 1: This's in the Bible Dange four, verse twenty nine.
Speaker 3: Twelve months later, he was taking a walk on the
Speaker 3: flat roof of the World Palace in Babylon. As he
Speaker 3: looked out across the city, he said, look at this
Speaker 3: great city of Babylon. By my own mighty power, I
Speaker 3: have built this beautiful city as my row residence to
Speaker 3: display my majestic splendor. So you gotta be careful, because
Speaker 3: if you don't give glory to God, You're gonna give
Speaker 3: glory to you. I always tell you, But I look
Speaker 3: at what I've built, look at what I've accomplished, look
Speaker 3: at how much money I've made, look at how great
Speaker 3: I am. He's walking In fact, God humbles King Nebukaneza'
Speaker 3: so much that he drives him out to the wilderness
Speaker 3: and makes him grow feathers and nails. And finally he
Speaker 3: gets so humble that he acknowledges who God is, and
Speaker 3: God restored his sanity. In other words, if you become
Speaker 3: a me monster, you're gonna go crazy. But the way
Speaker 3: to stay in your right place is to give glory
Speaker 3: and honor and worship and praise to an almighty God.
Speaker 3: Come on, clap if you're thankful today. I don't need
Speaker 3: the glory all. Come on, not to us, not to
Speaker 3: us be the glory, but to your name. See this
Speaker 3: is the problem. This is what happened with the adversary
Speaker 3: of your life. That Satan he wants was a worship leader.
Speaker 3: He wants, was the leader of the worship in heaven.
Speaker 3: But he got so enamored with his gift, he got
Speaker 3: so intoxicated with his own ability that he stopped leading
Speaker 3: praise to God, and he wanted praise to him. This
Speaker 3: is if it could happen to him, it could happen
Speaker 3: to us. And watch what it says in Ezekiel about
Speaker 3: the enemy. It says in Ezekiel it says, you were
Speaker 3: the model of perfection. You were full of wisdom and
Speaker 3: exquisite and beauty. You were in the Eden, in the
Speaker 3: garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone.
Speaker 3: You were beautiful. What happened? See, don't fall in love
Speaker 3: with your gift. Fall in love with your God. And
Speaker 3: if you today are fall in love with your gift.
Speaker 3: What I love about God that if you're prideful today,
Speaker 3: God loves you enough like he did with Neba Canezar,
Speaker 3: he will humble you. And God says, if you exalt yourself,
Speaker 3: he will humble you. But if you humble yourself, he
Speaker 3: will exalt you. The reason why elevation is used around
Speaker 3: the world is because this church and our pastors walk
Speaker 3: humbly before the Lord, not wanting the praise to us
Speaker 3: or to a church. Come on, clap if you believe
Speaker 3: it today, Come on, this is our prayer.
Speaker 1: See what God can do through you.
Speaker 3: And and the thing about pride is the moment you
Speaker 3: stopped thinking that you have pride is when you're really
Speaker 3: gonna mess up. A couple of years ago, I was
Speaker 3: in Atlanta, Georgia, and I was preaching that passion City
Speaker 3: church for Pastor Louis Giglio, and I love Pastor Louis.
Speaker 1: He is like he is the Steve Jobs of Christianity.
Speaker 3: And so we had this great night at church, and
Speaker 3: we went out to dinner afterwards, and and we were
Speaker 3: at the valet waiting for the cars to pull up,
Speaker 3: and as we're about to leave each other, he passed.
Speaker 3: Louis got really close to me, like like up in
Speaker 3: my face, and he and he and he says to me, hey,
Speaker 3: I want you to and he's like right here, and
Speaker 3: I was like, I want you to. And he starts
Speaker 3: telling me about going low. I want you to go low.
Speaker 3: I want you to be a man of humility, a
Speaker 3: man of character. Let's for us, me and you. And
Speaker 3: he was so close to me. He could have been
Speaker 3: like he could have said, let's go rob a bank.
Speaker 1: It didn't matter. I would have been.
Speaker 3: Like, like, he's looking into my soul. So he's in
Speaker 3: my face and he's like, let's go low, let's let's
Speaker 3: be humble. And I'm like, you know Christians where they
Speaker 3: put on the Christian face. I'm just thinking, like, buddy,
Speaker 3: you better back up. So he's up in my face.
Speaker 1: He's a go lo.
Speaker 3: So he gave you know, he five ten minutes and
Speaker 3: then you know, and we part our ways. And about
Speaker 3: two three months later, I was in Atlanta and I
Speaker 3: text Pastor Louis, hey, let's get breakfast tomorrow. So we
Speaker 3: met up and we had two three hour long breakfast.
Speaker 3: We had the best time. And we're leaving and we're
Speaker 3: waiting for our ubers outside and he gets up in
Speaker 3: my grill and he goes, hey, I want to say
Speaker 3: something to you, and he goes, I want us And
Speaker 3: I almost said, let me guess, go low, but I
Speaker 3: did it. I'm respectful. You guys get it. And so
Speaker 3: and he gets me. He gets in my face again.
Speaker 3: He gives me the same speech, like word for word,
Speaker 3: verbade him. And I thought at first maybe he's older
Speaker 3: and he's forgetting. He's forgetting conversations these days, isn't there.
Speaker 3: So he's like, I want us to go low. I
Speaker 3: want us to be humble men I wanted. And he
Speaker 3: get in and I was like, yeah, thank you, one
Speaker 3: hundred percent. And when I left, I got on the
Speaker 3: airplane to fly home and the Lord, the Lord spoke
Speaker 3: to me and said, I send him to you a
Speaker 3: second time because you didn't hear it the first Now
Speaker 3: the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time,
Speaker 3: and I said, Lord, I don't deal with pride, and
Speaker 3: he said, you needed this, And the Lord began to
Speaker 3: deal with ego. The Lord began to deal with agenda, motives, pride,
Speaker 3: living on talent, and.
Speaker 1: That one messed up. Samson.
Speaker 3: Samson just just like, oh, man, long hair, don't care.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm good. Come on, man.
Speaker 3: Delilah's like, Sammy, sam.
Speaker 1: They're here again.
Speaker 3: He's like, oh, sugar, you know how I roll, man,
Speaker 3: I'll take care of it again. He didn't know what
Speaker 3: cost him his life this time. See, my problem is
Speaker 3: we fall so much in love with talent, so much
Speaker 3: in love with gifts. We're gonna live off gifting, live
Speaker 3: off talent, and we're gonna stop being dependent upon the
Speaker 3: grace and the provision. And come on, I don't know
Speaker 3: about you, but I'm not too powered to beg for
Speaker 3: the mercy and the goodness and the grace of my God.
Speaker 3: I need him. I need his daily bread today. I
Speaker 3: need his provision today. I need his power today. I
Speaker 3: need his joy today, I need his peace today. Come on,
Speaker 3: anybody thankful today I'm.
Speaker 4: Not falling in love and living on my gif I'm
Speaker 4: living for the glory of the living God, the one
Speaker 4: that died for me, the one that rose from me,
Speaker 4: the one that called my name.
Speaker 3: Give them a praise today. If you want to live
Speaker 3: for God and now yourself, you be careful with that
Speaker 3: prideful spirit. You be careful with that worldly spirit. In
Speaker 3: a narcissistic society, narcissism wins, but not in kingdom culture.
Speaker 3: Jesus said, the first are gonna be last, and the
Speaker 3: last are.
Speaker 1: Gonna be first.
Speaker 3: He said, the greatest of all of them is the
Speaker 3: servant of all of them. You want to know who
Speaker 3: I use. I don't use rock stars. I don't use
Speaker 3: people that puff themselves up. I use people that go low.
Speaker 3: I use people that humble themselves and said, I ain't
Speaker 3: nothing without your grace and less you bless me unless
Speaker 3: you touch me, unless you raise me.
Speaker 1: Give them a praise today.
Speaker 3: If you're thankful for the love of Jesus in your life,
Speaker 3: you be careful. You be careful about pride. Watch this,
Speaker 3: put it on the screen. Watch what pride does. Pride
Speaker 3: is a sinful, arrogant, haughty, self reliant attitude. Or spirit
Speaker 3: that causes a person to have an inflated.
Speaker 1: Or puffed up view of themselves.
Speaker 3: Those who are proud think of themselves as better than
Speaker 3: others and look down on others with contempt.
Speaker 1: See the problem with pride is pride is.
Speaker 3: The only disease that makes everybody else sick besides the
Speaker 3: person that has it. Pride can be recognized in others
Speaker 3: and cannot be seen in yourself.
Speaker 1: I got on that plant, Say who are you talking to?
Speaker 1: Going low? Who are you talking to?
Speaker 3: Going low? Lord said, I'm talking to you, Homi. It's
Speaker 3: a sinful, arrogant, conceited, puffed up Am I not awesome?
Speaker 3: Am I not amazing? I don't know how to tell
Speaker 3: you this. Yeah, man, we saw you. But we're not
Speaker 3: impressed with gifting. We're impressed with the one that told
Speaker 3: the sun to get up this morning. I'm impressed with
Speaker 3: the one that owns a cattle on a thousand hills.
Speaker 3: I'm impressed with the one that the earth is the
Speaker 3: Lord's and the fullness thereof.
Speaker 1: Don't you fall in love with gift? Look at the contrast.
Speaker 1: Watch humility. Humility is so beautiful.
Speaker 3: Humility is seeing ourselves as we truly are fallen in
Speaker 3: sin and helpless without God. Humility is often characterized as
Speaker 3: genuine gratitude, a lack of arrogance, and a modest view
Speaker 3: of oneself. I like to think of it as an
Speaker 3: accurate view of self. Humility is not thinking less of myself.
Speaker 3: It's thinking less about myself. Humility has that see pride.
Speaker 3: Pride walks into a room and goes here, I am.
Speaker 3: Humility walks into the room and goes there, you are.
Speaker 3: Humility walks in the room and says, I got something
Speaker 3: to give. I've got something to bless, I've got love,
Speaker 3: I've got encouragement. I'm not looking to take. Don't I'm
Speaker 3: not using you as my agenda for my ego. No.
Speaker 3: I came as the servant of the Most High God
Speaker 3: to help somebody find freedom and help somebody find salvation.
Speaker 3: And I just want to tell you, God, because you
Speaker 3: have done so much for me, is there anything I can.
Speaker 1: Do for you? Don't fall in love with your gift.
Speaker 3: I'd rather fall in love with God, the one that
Speaker 3: gave me these gifts.
Speaker 1: Right down number two. I love this.
Speaker 3: Your gift and God's mission go hand in hand. Your gift,
Speaker 3: whatever God has gifted you to do whatever, whatever it is,
Speaker 3: whatever God has gifted you to do. And by the way,
Speaker 3: I'm not concerned whether you have one, two, or five,
Speaker 3: because all of us are trying to turn our two
Speaker 3: into four and our five into ten, or are one
Speaker 3: into two. It doesn't matter how many gifts you God
Speaker 3: are your talents. None are better than each other. I'm
Speaker 3: just telling you, though, When you take your gift and
Speaker 3: you put it into God's mission, they go. It's like
Speaker 3: peanut butter and jelly. It goes hand in hand. When
Speaker 3: you put your gifting your grace, you partner it with
Speaker 3: God's mission and God's work. One of my favorite scriptures
Speaker 3: Ephesians chapter two, verse ten, put it on the screen
Speaker 3: for we are Christ workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
Speaker 3: good works, which He prepared beforehand.
Speaker 1: God has something for you to do on this earth.
Speaker 1: I think this is right.
Speaker 3: Why Pastor Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life did
Speaker 3: so well because all of us want to wake up
Speaker 3: with meaning. We want to wake up with purpose. We
Speaker 3: want to discover God. Why do I exist on this earth?
Speaker 3: You were created in Christ Jesus for good works. God
Speaker 3: prepared something for you to do to help the Body
Speaker 3: of Christ to help the Church of the Living God.
Speaker 3: You want created to sit on the sideline. God has
Speaker 3: called you to get into the game. You got to
Speaker 3: fight the good fight. You got to finish the race.
Speaker 1: You got to.
Speaker 3: Become who God has called you to become. And when
Speaker 3: you put your gift back in God's hands. It's an old,
Speaker 3: cheesy saying. I found this one because I heard it
Speaker 3: when I was a kid. This this one is called
Speaker 3: it depends on whose hands it's in.
Speaker 1: I love this one. It depends on whose hands it's in.
Speaker 3: A basketball in my hands is worth about twenty five dollars.
Speaker 3: When I read that, I thought, you don't shop at
Speaker 3: Dick Sporting good and you don't know inflation. Let's go
Speaker 3: forty five dollars. But a basketball in Lebron James hands
Speaker 3: is worth about seventy five million dollars. It depends on
Speaker 3: whose hands it's in. A baseball in my hands is
Speaker 3: worth about eight dollars. Again, let's go back to Dick
Speaker 3: Sporting good inflation twenty five dollars. A baseball and show
Speaker 3: hey o Tani's hands is worth about two hundred million dollars.
Speaker 3: If his bookie doesn't touch it, it depends on whose
Speaker 3: hands it's in. A tennis racket in my hands is
Speaker 3: worth about seventy five dollars, but a tennis racket in
Speaker 3: Serena Williams hands is worth about fifty million dollars.
Speaker 1: It depends on whose hands it is in.
Speaker 3: A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal,
Speaker 3: but a rod in Moses's hands will part of a
Speaker 3: mighty red sea.
Speaker 1: It depends on whose hands is in.
Speaker 3: A slingshot in my hands is a kid's toy, but
Speaker 3: a sling shot in David's hands is a mighty weapon.
Speaker 3: It depends on whose hands it's in. A two fish
Speaker 3: and five loaves of bread in my hands is a
Speaker 3: couple of fish sandwiches, But two fish and five loaves
Speaker 3: of bread in Jesus' hands will feed five thousand people.
Speaker 3: It depends on whose hands is in. Come on, clap elevation.
Speaker 3: I'm putting my life back into his hands. Whoever wants
Speaker 3: to save his life must lose his life, totain your soul.
Speaker 1: You gotta lose the world. Come on, give your gift.
Speaker 3: GIF, you're calling, GIF, you're anointing, Give your talent and
Speaker 3: put it back into his hands. So many of us
Speaker 3: are frustrated because it's in our hands. It's in our hands.
Speaker 3: My Bible says, it's not by power, and it's not
Speaker 3: by might, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord.
Speaker 3: I'm not living off my talent or my gifting or
Speaker 3: my own intellect. I'm telling you, in your own strength,
Speaker 3: you can build a business, but you put your talent
Speaker 3: in God's hand.
Speaker 1: You could build the Kingdom of God. In your own hands.
Speaker 3: You might be able to build a family, but you
Speaker 3: put your life into God's hands, and you can build
Speaker 3: a legacy for a thousand generations. And your own strength,
Speaker 3: you might be able to make some money. But in
Speaker 3: God's strength you depend on him. He'll be able to
Speaker 3: bless people in North Carolina. He'll be able to bless
Speaker 3: people all over America and all over the world. It
Speaker 3: depends on whose hands it's in. Some of us are like, uh, well,
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know. I don't know if I
Speaker 3: have that much. And I just you know, I'm not
Speaker 3: like Pastor steven Man. Pastor Stephen was in la at
Speaker 3: the Intuit Arena and he was preaching and teaching, and
Speaker 3: I'm telling you his forearms were so big on that screen.
Speaker 3: Help me God, I said, Man, that's wild. I'm considering
Speaker 3: working out after seeing that people would make fun of me,
Speaker 3: like you skip leg day. I'm like, fam, I skip
Speaker 3: leg life. Okay, you just you chill out, you chill out,
Speaker 3: you chill out. But I'm I'm just encouraged today because
Speaker 3: I know that in my own power, I can only
Speaker 3: be and do so much. But when I surrender and
Speaker 3: I live for something bigger than myself, stop living for
Speaker 3: your name and start living for His name. So many
Speaker 3: of us are secretly in our heart we're praying my
Speaker 3: kingdom come and my will be done. But when you
Speaker 3: partner with God and you say yes to his mission,
Speaker 3: you say your kingdom come and your will be done
Speaker 3: on this earth, even as.
Speaker 1: It is in heaven. Do you understand the difference.
Speaker 3: It's pivoting, and instead of asking what God can do
Speaker 3: for me today, I start to ask, Lord, is there
Speaker 3: anything I can do for you today?
Speaker 1: Hey? Write that down number three? Is that? Ask not
Speaker 1: what God can do for you?
Speaker 3: Ask what you can do for God? Anybody today? Come on,
Speaker 3: be honest, anybody today. You need a miracle today. Let
Speaker 3: me just see your hand. You need a miracle? I
Speaker 3: got both my hands up. But you know the Bible
Speaker 3: says that before you ever say a prayer, God already knows.
Speaker 1: What you need.
Speaker 3: And if he could take care of grass and he
Speaker 3: can take care of birds, how much more can he
Speaker 3: take care of you?
Speaker 1: So one thing about God, we know.
Speaker 3: He's gonna be faithful, he's gonna be consistent, he's gonna
Speaker 3: be true. And so instead of I don't need to
Speaker 3: ask God for anything today because I know He's gonna
Speaker 3: take care of me my whole life. You ever sing
Speaker 3: that song I love the C. C. Wins version? You
Speaker 3: ever sing that song? All my life? You have been faithful?
Speaker 3: Don't you love that one?
Speaker 1: I love you?
Speaker 3: Never see anybody sing that song deadpan? All my life?
Speaker 3: You have been faithful all my life. You have been
Speaker 3: so so good.
Speaker 1: You see people sing this song. Oh they sing this
Speaker 1: song because you're like this.
Speaker 3: If I could sing right now like pastor Steven, I
Speaker 3: will be hitting those notes right now.
Speaker 1: But he didn't give me that talent.
Speaker 3: When you think about all my life, you have been
Speaker 3: so so.
Speaker 1: Good to me.
Speaker 3: Your goodness is running after it's running after me, and
Speaker 3: I know you're going to continue to be faithful. So
Speaker 3: I don't even need to ask today what Because my
Speaker 3: whole life you've shocked me and surprised me with your blessing.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's be honest.
Speaker 3: You didn't even get this far in your prayers, did you.
Speaker 3: You didn't even get this far in your dreams because
Speaker 3: God had a better plan. So I don't need to
Speaker 3: ask God what he could do for me today. I'm
Speaker 3: asking God, is there anything I could do for you?
Speaker 3: Is there anything I could for you? Is there anything?
Speaker 1: Lord? I just want to say, Lord, is there? It
Speaker 1: reminds me of this lady.
Speaker 3: She sneaks up on Jesus at a dinner party, and
Speaker 3: she is so grateful for her sins to be forgiven
Speaker 3: that she sneaks up and she starts to pour out
Speaker 3: her worship.
Speaker 1: Look here at Luke seven.
Speaker 3: I love this scripture right here put on the screen
Speaker 3: verse thirty seven. A woman in that town who lived
Speaker 3: a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the
Speaker 3: Pharisees house.
Speaker 1: So she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.
Speaker 3: As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she
Speaker 3: began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she
Speaker 3: wiped them with her hair and kissed them and poured
Speaker 3: perfume on them.
Speaker 1: She's not asking Jesus for anything.
Speaker 3: Jesus, Lord, is there anything I could do for you?
Speaker 3: You've blessed me, You forgave me my debt, you healed
Speaker 3: my body, You've been good to my family. She's pouring
Speaker 3: out her worship. I'd rather be in that place than
Speaker 3: the one that's saying I need you to hook me
Speaker 3: up today. We should just turned the tables. God has
Speaker 3: been so good. Why don't we just say?
Speaker 1: Lord? Is there anything? God? Is there? Is there anything
Speaker 1: I can do for you?
Speaker 3: One of my favorite stories about Jesus is he sends
Speaker 3: these two guys into the town right before he dies
Speaker 3: on the cross. He says, go into the town and
Speaker 3: there's gonna be a guy in town that has a donkey,
Speaker 3: and just tell the man the Lord has need of
Speaker 3: it and he'll know and and and bring it back.
Speaker 1: And so two of the disciples going to town.
Speaker 3: Could you imagine having the job of these two disciples
Speaker 3: they go, they're just going in town. They're just knocking
Speaker 3: on doors, you know, they finally see the God and
Speaker 3: they're like, hey, yeah.
Speaker 1: We're team Jesus, and uh, hey, bro, don't get mad
Speaker 1: at us. We just you know, we just messengers.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, the the Lord needs your donkey, bro, don't
Speaker 3: be mad at us. The Lord needs your donkey. And
Speaker 3: and sure enough the guy has a donkey and he
Speaker 3: gladly offers it up. Whenever I read that story, my
Speaker 3: imagination goes, I wonder if that morning that man got
Speaker 3: up this morning and that morning I just said, Lord,
Speaker 3: is there anything in my stable? Is there anything in
Speaker 3: my home? Is there anything in my life that you
Speaker 3: could you could use?
Speaker 1: See? The Lord knew go to that guy.
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe other people will say no, Maybe other people
Speaker 3: will turn your way. May maybe other people are too selfish,
Speaker 3: maybe other people are too self centered. But this guy,
Speaker 3: I know, he'll give it up. Let's just get some
Speaker 3: cultural context. That was not a donkey in his day.
Speaker 3: That was like asking for a cybertruck. This was his best.
Speaker 3: And they said, the Lord has need of it. The
Speaker 3: Lord hath needed need of your donkey, And he said, oh,
Speaker 3: it's yours.
Speaker 1: See.
Speaker 3: I wonder today what God could tap into in your
Speaker 3: life because he needs it. Here's somebody in your neighborhood,
Speaker 3: there's somebody in your family, there's somebody in your life.
Speaker 1: They need your gift.
Speaker 3: They need your talent, they need your anointing, they need
Speaker 3: your grace, they need your voice, they need your testimony.
Speaker 3: They need what you've gone through, and it will. The
Speaker 3: Lord has need of it. The Lord has need of
Speaker 3: your time. The Lord has need of your treasure. The
Speaker 3: Lord has need of your talent. And what can we
Speaker 3: do for the glory of the Living God? Have we
Speaker 3: just asked the Lord today?
Speaker 1: Lord? Is there anything that I can do for you? Hey?
Speaker 3: Man, last thing today, Worship team, you can come join me.
Speaker 3: Number four write is down. Free yourself from comparison and jealousy.
Speaker 3: Free yourself, Give free today. What do they say about comparison?
Speaker 3: Comparison is the thief of joy. By the way, when
Speaker 3: you get to heaven, you will not be held accountable
Speaker 3: for what other people do. You'll be held accountable for you.
Speaker 3: And when I stand before my Maker, That's why I
Speaker 3: love proverbs for proverbs for says, do not look to
Speaker 3: the right or to the left. Keep your eyelids straight
Speaker 3: before you, because when I get to heaven, God's gonna
Speaker 3: hold me accountable for the gifts and the talents and
Speaker 3: the anointing and the calling that He gave my life
Speaker 3: and when I show up in heaven, I don't know
Speaker 3: about you, I want to hear those words, well done,
Speaker 3: my good and my faithful servant, with whom I am
Speaker 3: well pleased.
Speaker 1: Enter into the joy, and enter into the rest of
Speaker 1: your Master.
Speaker 3: You did fight the good fight, and you did finish
Speaker 3: your race. And you were faithful, and you were humble.
Speaker 3: And we're thankful for what we put in you. You
Speaker 3: have the gift of prophesie, and you prophesied with faithfulness.
Speaker 3: You had the gift to give, and you gave with faithfulness.
Speaker 3: You have the gift of serving, and you serve with
Speaker 3: all humility. I don't know about you, but this world
Speaker 3: is not my home. I'm a citizen of a greater place.
Speaker 3: And when I die, I'm gonna die empty. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: die leaving it all out on the table. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: die say Lord, I did not live for this world.
Speaker 1: I did not live for the lust to the flesh.
Speaker 3: And the pride of life and the lust of the eyes.
Speaker 5: I live for the glory of the Living God. Oh,
Speaker 5: come on, give them a place. Is there anything that.
Speaker 4: I can do for you?
Speaker 1: Stay standing? Stay standing? Is there anything I can do
Speaker 1: for you? God? I know I'm not I know I'm
Speaker 1: not a Bible expert. I know i'm not the smartest.
Speaker 3: I know i'm not the most talented, and they look
Speaker 3: more talented than me. But I'll tell you, God, I
Speaker 3: came into this world with nothing. That I'm leaving with nothing.
Speaker 3: As for me. In my house, we will serve the
Speaker 3: Lord blessed to be the name of my God. I
Speaker 3: got nothing without you, Jesus. You're all I've ever had.
Speaker 1: Come on, clap today.
Speaker 3: You're all I've ever had. You're all i've ever needed.
Speaker 3: You're all I've ever wanted. As a deer paying it
Speaker 3: for the water brooks, So my soul.
Speaker 1: Longs for you.
Speaker 3: God.
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you.
Speaker 3: I'm telling you you ain't living till you start giving.
Speaker 3: You ain't living till you start dying. Come on, I'm dead.
Speaker 3: I'm dead to this world. Baba, says Glatians too. I
Speaker 3: have been crucified with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ.
Speaker 3: It is no longer I that live, but it's Christ
Speaker 3: that lives through me and the life that I come on,
Speaker 3: somebody now live. I live by faith in the Son
Speaker 3: of God, who gave his life as a ransom for
Speaker 3: me and I can't believe. I can't believe he called
Speaker 3: my name. Do you remember where you were when he
Speaker 3: called your name? Do you remember? Do you remember the
Speaker 3: metallic taste of sin in your mouth? Do you remember
Speaker 3: what he pulled you out of? Do you remember? Do
Speaker 3: you remember what he when he set your feet on
Speaker 3: that rock and put a new song.
Speaker 1: In your mouth?
Speaker 3: He didn't give you all that grace and all that
Speaker 3: talent so you can make money, so you can make
Speaker 3: a platform, so you could live for the glory of you.
Speaker 3: See what God could do through you? Ask not what
Speaker 3: God can do for you today? Why don't you just say, Lord,
Speaker 3: is there anything I could do for you today?
Speaker 1: Because you've done so much? Has God done a lot
Speaker 1: for you? Are you thankful today?
Speaker 3: Come on? Anybody got the attitude of gratitude today? All
Speaker 3: my life? You have been faithful my whole life, You've
Speaker 3: been so good? And can you believe that He uses
Speaker 3: broke desperate, not all the way putting together people like
Speaker 3: us to tell people about the glory of the living God.
Speaker 1: I like to say this way.
Speaker 3: We're just nobody's trying to tell the world about somebody.
Speaker 1: Come on, clap if you believe that today I'm a nobody.
Speaker 1: I'm a servant. Come on, clap, I'm a servant today.
Speaker 1: I'm a servant. I'm gonna die to myself. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make much of his name, not my name.
Speaker 3: We don't live for something bigger than ourselves. You know,
Speaker 3: everybody that God used in the Bible had problems. Everybody
Speaker 3: that God used in the scriptures had issues. Use no
Speaker 3: perfect people, because there are no perfect people. So if
Speaker 3: you're already coming up with excuses all past you yet
Speaker 3: I can't be used. You know, I gotta I gotta pass,
Speaker 3: I got I got, I.
Speaker 1: Got pain, I got you know, issues in my life.
Speaker 1: You know I used to be by the way. Can
Speaker 1: we just stop.
Speaker 3: Making more much of our past and make a lot
Speaker 3: more about our future. We got so many believers today
Speaker 3: that can tell me more about what you're coming from
Speaker 3: and can't hardly tell me what you're going for.
Speaker 1: Come on, your future as greater than your past. Come on,
Speaker 1: what's in front of you.
Speaker 3: And what God's got in store for you is greater
Speaker 3: than what you came out of. Everybody that God used
Speaker 3: in the Bible was just like us, not perfect people
Speaker 3: that had problems, people that had stories, people that were
Speaker 3: in process, under construction, everybody that God used, but He
Speaker 3: still used them.
Speaker 1: Amen, And so God can use you. It's an old,
Speaker 1: cheesy list, but put on the screen.
Speaker 3: I love this just to just to kind of teach
Speaker 3: you today that God can use people like us.
Speaker 1: Look at this.
Speaker 3: Noah was a drunk, Abraham was too old, Isaac was
Speaker 3: a daydreamer. Jacob was a liar. Leah was ugly. How
Speaker 3: ugly you got to be? Did the Bible call you ugly?
Speaker 3: You forever ugly? You asked an eternity?
Speaker 1: Ugly? Joseph was abused.
Speaker 3: Moses had a stuttering problem. Gideon was afraid, Samson had
Speaker 3: long hair and was a womanizer. Rayhab was a prostitute.
Speaker 3: Jeremiah and Timothy were too young. David was an adulter
Speaker 3: and a murderer. Elijah was suicidal. Isaiah preached nicked. May
Speaker 3: that never happen in this church in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 3: That's a word for pastor tim today.
Speaker 1: Jonah ran from God. Naomi was a widow, Job went bankrupt.
Speaker 3: John the Baptist Ate, Bugs, and Peter did not Christ.
Speaker 1: But they were all used for the glory of the
Speaker 1: Living God.
Speaker 3: Come on, let's just ask him today, Lord, is there
Speaker 3: anything that I.
Speaker 1: Can do for you? Come on, Elevation lift the hand
Speaker 1: of heaven. Father.
Speaker 3: We thank you today that you are good and greatly
Speaker 3: to be praised. And so we just asked today Lord,
Speaker 3: we humble ourselves. Lord, we go low.
Speaker 1: Lord. Here's my gifting, here's my calling, here's my talent,
Speaker 1: here's my time. If you can use anything, Lord, you
Speaker 1: can use me.
Speaker 3: I live for your name and not my name, in Jesus' name.
Speaker 3: And everybody said, together, come on, let's clap and worship
Speaker 3: God today.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1: God bless you.