Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 1: gives your.
Speaker 2: Perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3: Let's give the Lord twenty seconds a praise that he
Speaker 3: gave Jesus the name that is above every name, and
Speaker 3: he gave us that name to call on today.
Speaker 1: What a beautiful name it is the name of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: Star King.
Speaker 3: Well, you might want to turn around and introduce yourself
Speaker 3: to five people.
Speaker 1: Tell him your name. Hello, my name is.
Speaker 3: Let's get on a first name basis. If you're watching online,
Speaker 3: put your name in the chat.
Speaker 1: Who are you? Where you come from.
Speaker 3: I'm pulling out my phone right now to see who's
Speaker 3: joining us across all of our streaming platforms. Just go
Speaker 3: ahead and put your name in the chat. If you're
Speaker 3: watching this at a later time, put it in the comments.
Speaker 3: An Elevation Church, Let's thank God for our e fam
Speaker 3: watching all over the world right now.
Speaker 1: As I heard somebody say, you can do better than that.
Speaker 3: One time I heard a preacher preaching out in the country,
Speaker 3: and he didn't like the response he was getting from
Speaker 3: the church.
Speaker 1: He said, you can do better than that, and somebody
Speaker 1: in the crowd shouted, so could you don't do that? Today?
Speaker 3: We have trained security who know martial arts. I'm so
Speaker 3: glad you're here today. I'm so thankful, not only for
Speaker 3: the sermon that I'm about to preach to you, but
Speaker 3: the sermon that.
Speaker 1: You've preached all week long.
Speaker 3: Everybody who served during Love Week, large or small, Thank you,
Speaker 3: everybody who gave so that we could.
Speaker 1: Be out there. Thank you man.
Speaker 3: I wish you could have seen me and Holly and
Speaker 3: your campus pastors and your outreach staff just giving out
Speaker 3: checks left and right this week to feed the hungry,
Speaker 3: to lift up the broken hearted, to bind up the wounded,
Speaker 3: to make a difference in somebody's life. I wish you
Speaker 3: could have seen my son Graham with a power tool
Speaker 3: in his hand. I told him, son, I can't teach
Speaker 3: you what to do with that. The only power tool
Speaker 3: I ever held was a microphone to preach the gospel.
Speaker 3: But so many people this week made a difference. And
Speaker 3: if you are one of them, I say thank you.
Speaker 3: And if you were not one of them. It is
Speaker 3: never too late to get in on a good thing.
Speaker 3: I said, It's never too late to get in on
Speaker 3: a good thing. So may today be a day of
Speaker 3: new beginnings. It's also a day of continuations, because I
Speaker 3: have started a series called That's what I thought.
Speaker 1: Look at your neighbors, say that's what I thought.
Speaker 3: That's what I thought. That's what I thought. You want
Speaker 3: to say something, now, That's what I thought. I like
Speaker 3: that energy. When we run up on the devil on Sunday,
Speaker 3: versus when he runs up on us on Monday.
Speaker 1: Come to church, come.
Speaker 3: About jamespray, job, bones, sway. And the key to all
Speaker 3: of this is that when we are not together like this,
Speaker 3: you are able to take what you get here and
Speaker 3: apply it there wherever you're there may be that is
Speaker 3: my desire for you, and that there would be no
Speaker 3: place that the Word of God cannot make the difference
Speaker 3: in your life.
Speaker 1: Today, I'm excited to share.
Speaker 3: A message with you, and I'm going to use for
Speaker 3: a foundational scripture First Corinthians thirteen eight through eleven. As
Speaker 3: you're looking in your bible, let me welcome a few
Speaker 3: epham from around the world.
Speaker 1: We've got Rebecca, Shriika, Sheryl.
Speaker 3: Anne, Dianelesia, Laura. We got Bremerton, Washington, Bremerton, Washington, Flagstaff, Arizona,
Speaker 3: VICKI from Texas. God bless you from all over the world.
Speaker 3: Just keep letting us know where you're watching from. We
Speaker 3: want to connect with you. And today, as I share
Speaker 3: a principle and then a picture, I love to teach
Speaker 3: that way. That's my favorite way to teach a principle
Speaker 3: and then a picture. A principle and then a picture,
Speaker 3: so you can hear a sermon and see a sermon.
Speaker 3: And we're going to do both today First Corinthians, chapter thirteen,
Speaker 3: which is normally a scripture you.
Speaker 1: Only hear at a wedding.
Speaker 3: I don't know if somebody's getting married today or if
Speaker 3: the Lord sent me to prophesy, but I'm preaching from
Speaker 3: First Corinthians thirteen, and specifically from verse eight through eleven,
Speaker 3: which is not commonly what they read at the weddings.
Speaker 3: But this is one of the most powerful I thoughts
Speaker 3: in the Bible. I talked last week about a God
Speaker 3: thought and an I thought, and an I thought can
Speaker 3: sometimes leave you in isolation. It can lead you to
Speaker 3: do things that are impulsive. It can lead you to insecurity.
Speaker 3: I although start with the letter I, so we're exchanging
Speaker 3: that now for God thoughts. And the most famous I
Speaker 3: thought in the Bible is in one Corinthians, chapter thirteen.
Speaker 3: Let me start with verse eight to give context. And
Speaker 3: we don't stand the whole time. We're just standing for
Speaker 3: the reading of God's word because it's his word, and
Speaker 3: he's holy, and he's amazing, and he deserves it.
Speaker 1: We give him our full attention.
Speaker 3: So everyone standing, clear your feet, listen to the word
Speaker 3: of God. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,
Speaker 3: they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled.
Speaker 3: Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we
Speaker 3: know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when
Speaker 3: completeness comes, what is in part disappears. Here's the verse
Speaker 3: I want to reach you. When I was a child,
Speaker 3: I talked like a child. I thought like a child.
Speaker 3: I reasoned like a child. When I became a man
Speaker 3: and got this hair on my chest, when I became
Speaker 3: a man and got these grays in my beard. When
Speaker 3: I became a man, I put the ways of childhood
Speaker 3: behind me. And the title of this message is a
Speaker 3: declaration today. So turn your neighbor and say, I don't
Speaker 3: know what you're going through. Looked right at him and say,
Speaker 3: but the hardest part is behind behind you.
Speaker 1: I knew it. I knew that was the word of
Speaker 1: the Lord.
Speaker 3: The devil fought me all night last night, telling me,
Speaker 3: you can't stand up and preach that. What if they
Speaker 3: have something negative in their future this week? What if
Speaker 3: they have something disappointing in their.
Speaker 1: Future this week? You don't know what they're going through.
Speaker 1: But the word of the Lord is the hardest part
Speaker 1: is behind you. Tell three people it's behind you.
Speaker 3: Put it in the chat on your way to your seat,
Speaker 3: tell them it's behind you.
Speaker 1: It's behind you, it's behind you. Where credit is due.
Speaker 3: I stole that title from Holly. Is something that she
Speaker 3: says when we go out on elevation Nights, which we
Speaker 3: are coming to a city near you soon in October.
Speaker 1: So go to elevation night.
Speaker 3: And usually after a few songs, Holly and I will
Speaker 3: take the stage and welcome to people and greet them,
Speaker 3: and it's always so excited, and we thank them for coming,
Speaker 3: and we make a few little jokes, and then she
Speaker 3: always tells to people something like this. I may not
Speaker 3: get the wording exactly right. She's like, I don't know
Speaker 3: what you had to go through to get here tonight.
Speaker 3: I don't know if the parking deck was a mess.
Speaker 3: I don't know if your babysit or canceled. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you had the stomach flew earlier this week,
Speaker 3: but you decided to come contagious anyway, But just relax
Speaker 3: now because the hard part is behind you. You're here,
Speaker 3: and I can kind of see when people sit down
Speaker 3: after she says that that maybe they're glad to hear that,
Speaker 3: or maybe they're a little skeptical because you can't really say.
Speaker 4: That to them because they still have to get out
Speaker 4: of the parking garage after the concert, so they know, like, Okay, well,
Speaker 4: the hardest part is not behind me technically, because I
Speaker 4: have to actually like leave and then I have to
Speaker 4: go home where I don't have.
Speaker 3: An amazing worship team singing songs of praise to me,
Speaker 3: and where everybody is not a Christian. I have to
Speaker 3: go back to a job where not everybody believes like
Speaker 3: I believe. But yet there's something about when she says that,
Speaker 3: I think it's so important She's just letting them know
Speaker 3: that everything that the enemy could have done to keep
Speaker 3: you from getting here tonight, you made it. And now
Speaker 3: just take it in and just receive it. And I
Speaker 3: want to say that to those of you at elevation today,
Speaker 3: you got here.
Speaker 1: You got here. You got here.
Speaker 3: Bought a plane ticket or took a scooter, but you
Speaker 3: got here, bummed a ride, paid for an uber, but
Speaker 3: you got here. Is something encouraging about when she says
Speaker 3: that the hardest part is behind you.
Speaker 1: Now just receive, just sing just worship God.
Speaker 3: Where you're like, yeah, that's so good to hear, whether
Speaker 3: you're in the middle of a worship service or a workout.
Speaker 3: I used to do this thing called P ninety X
Speaker 3: with DVDs, and the man would tell you about forty
Speaker 3: minutes through the workout, now the hardest part is behind you.
Speaker 1: It's all downhill from here.
Speaker 3: And it was good that he said that because I
Speaker 3: was just about to hit stop on the DVD and
Speaker 3: get a partial credit for the day. But there's something
Speaker 3: about hearing that, like, the hardest part is behind you.
Speaker 3: You're done with the hardest part. Everything from here on
Speaker 3: out is just to cool down. Everything from here on
Speaker 3: out is gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: The hardest part is behind you.
Speaker 3: Of course, there are parts of your life and parts
Speaker 3: of my life that the other one doesn't know.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not sure what.
Speaker 3: All the parts of your life that you are considering today,
Speaker 3: or the parts of your life that have led you
Speaker 3: to this moment, have been, But I do know that
Speaker 3: the apostle Paul says something so profound in First Corinthians thirteen,
Speaker 3: verse eight, which is a wedding scripture. Remember, and then
Speaker 3: the people getting married after they read First Corinthians thirteen
Speaker 3: and the wedding is over, they think that when the
Speaker 3: wedding is over, the hard part is over of the relationship,
Speaker 3: after they have sailed and blissed to their honeymoon. So
Speaker 3: it's kind of ironic that I'm using this chapter to
Speaker 3: teach this principle. But he says something about love never failing,
Speaker 3: and then he says, where there are prophecies, they will cease.
Speaker 3: Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there
Speaker 3: is knowledge, it will pass away verse nine four. We
Speaker 3: know in part, everybody say we know in part. Use
Speaker 3: your mouth and say it we know in part. And
Speaker 3: to me that scripture keeps me humble to me, that
Speaker 3: scripture keeps me open, That scripture keeps me aware that
Speaker 3: there are some things that I know about God, but
Speaker 3: I know in part in part, and anything that I
Speaker 3: know about God is a thing that is a part
Speaker 3: of a thing, that is a part of a thing,
Speaker 3: that is a part of a thing, that is a
Speaker 3: part of a thing, that is a part of a
Speaker 3: thing that encompasses all things.
Speaker 1: So, for example, I like to use musical examples. E.
Speaker 3: Turn the guitar volume up and just play really quickly.
Speaker 1: And I may do this illustration more in depth.
Speaker 3: Next week, but just to set the table, play the
Speaker 3: high E string of that guitar. That string is a thing.
Speaker 3: It's a thing. Play it again, the high ees string.
Speaker 3: Now I want you to play an entire E chord,
Speaker 3: including the high et string, but not limited to play
Speaker 3: the high et string. That's a thing. Play the E chord.
Speaker 3: It's a thing that's a part of a thing. It's
Speaker 3: a string that's a part of a guitar. Okay, now
Speaker 3: the guitar is a thing that's a part of a thing.
Speaker 3: Zoom out and get the whole band real quick. I
Speaker 3: want the whole band to swell like the majesty and glory,
Speaker 3: and the holiness of the Lord is about to enter
Speaker 3: the room, and I want the whole band when I
Speaker 3: say three, play a beautiful e chord with symbol swells,
Speaker 3: but not too much symbols because it'll get tinny and
Speaker 3: it'll be unbearable to our ears and it'll ruin my illustration.
Speaker 3: But just on the counter three, everybody swell on the
Speaker 3: e chord one, two, three and.
Speaker 1: Beautiful.
Speaker 3: I felt very powerful doing that, by the way she tried.
Speaker 1: Sometimes that's amazing.
Speaker 3: The string is a thing that's a part of a
Speaker 3: thing the guitar, and the guitar is a part of
Speaker 3: a thing that's called a band. And the thing that's
Speaker 3: a part of a thing that's a part of a
Speaker 3: thing is a part of a thing.
Speaker 1: Called elevation worship.
Speaker 3: And elevation worship is part of a thing called the
Speaker 3: Body of Christ, and the body of Christ is part
Speaker 3: of a thing called the Kingdom of God. It's a
Speaker 3: thing that's a part of a thing that's a part
Speaker 3: of a thing, that's a part of a thing that's
Speaker 3: a part of a thing. I'm preaching this week about
Speaker 3: a thing that's a part of a thing that's a
Speaker 3: part of a thing, that's a part of a thing
Speaker 3: in your life. And it may be a hard thing,
Speaker 3: or it may be a good thing. But if it's
Speaker 3: a hard thing, I want to remind you that even
Speaker 3: a hard thing is just a thing that's a part
Speaker 3: of a thing, that's a part of a thing, that's
Speaker 3: a part of a thing, that's a part of a thing.
Speaker 3: Tell your neighbor, it's a part of a thing, that's
Speaker 3: a part of a thing, that's a part of a thing.
Speaker 3: So never judge an incidence in isolation, because it may
Speaker 3: be a bad thing that's serving a bigger purpose. We
Speaker 3: know in part, we prophesy in part, and so we
Speaker 3: can never judge a God who has purpose that is
Speaker 3: eternal by the part that we know that is not permanent.
Speaker 3: First Corinthians thirteen is not not really a chapter about love.
Speaker 3: It uses love as an example, but it's really a
Speaker 3: chapter about pride.
Speaker 1: The Corinthian church that Paul is writing.
Speaker 3: To has not yet learned the lesson that the gifts
Speaker 3: God gives you are for service, not status. So they
Speaker 3: are running around trying to impress others with gifts that
Speaker 3: God gave them to edify others. Sometimes we misuse and
Speaker 3: don't steward what God gave us in service. And not
Speaker 3: only is Paul correcting their sexual immorality, but he is
Speaker 3: correcting their vision and their perspective on their priorities. They
Speaker 3: are tending to prioritize things that are temporary over things
Speaker 3: that are eternal. Now, I want to lay this foundation,
Speaker 3: and we're going to get very practical. But go back
Speaker 3: with me real quick to verse eight, where it says
Speaker 3: love never fails. Where there are prophecies, they will cease.
Speaker 3: Where there are they will be still. And where there
Speaker 3: is knowledge, it will pass away. There's coming a time
Speaker 3: when you'll go to heaven and you won't need knowledge,
Speaker 3: you won't even really need faith.
Speaker 1: You'll have sight. You'll be complete in Jesus.
Speaker 3: And when what is complete has come, everything that is
Speaker 3: imperfect or partial disappears.
Speaker 1: Until then we walk by faith.
Speaker 3: But what Paul is doing is far deeper than getting
Speaker 3: us to wait on a future day when we're going
Speaker 3: to see Jesus say face to face, and we won't
Speaker 3: need someone to interpret tongues because we'll hear his voice directly,
Speaker 3: And we won't need someone to be able to prophesy
Speaker 3: in our future because we will be seated with the
Speaker 3: one who holds the future. He's far beyond that, and
Speaker 3: he's trying to get you to see the difference between
Speaker 3: what is permanent and what is passing, what is permanent
Speaker 3: and what is passing.
Speaker 1: Let's read verse eight again. Where there are prophecies, they
Speaker 1: will cease.
Speaker 3: That's foretelling or forthtelling about the future by the spirit
Speaker 3: of God.
Speaker 1: Will need that.
Speaker 3: In heaven, where there are tongues, they will be stilled.
Speaker 1: That's a heavenly language.
Speaker 3: But if you're in heaven, you already speak heaven as
Speaker 3: your first language.
Speaker 1: It's your native language, so you will need it anymore.
Speaker 1: Love never fails, Love never goes away.
Speaker 3: But prophecies will cease, and tongues will be stilled, and
Speaker 3: even knowledge.
Speaker 1: I want to get this verse up there, in verse
Speaker 1: number eight will pass away. It will pass away.
Speaker 3: Circle the phrase for me justin it will pass, It
Speaker 3: will pass.
Speaker 1: And that's what Paul is trying to get you to see.
Speaker 3: About some of the things that you think are so
Speaker 3: important in your life.
Speaker 1: It will pass.
Speaker 3: Paul is trying to get us to understand it. First Corinthians,
Speaker 3: which is a letter to a church that was confused
Speaker 3: about priorities and was carnal in their understanding that some
Speaker 3: of the things that you're busy toning up, and some
Speaker 3: of the things that you're busy tightening, and some of
Speaker 3: the tricks that you're busy perfecting on this earth are
Speaker 3: just solving temporary problems that really have no eternal value.
Speaker 3: And although they matter, they are not supreme. It cannot
Speaker 3: be the priority. I want to stop prioritizing things that
Speaker 3: are going to pass away, don't you. I want to
Speaker 3: stop putting things first that are going to fade in
Speaker 3: the end. I want to stop giving all of my
Speaker 3: attention to things that are not assets but liabilities. Spiritually, so,
Speaker 3: the difference between what is permanent and what is passing
Speaker 3: is to me the essence of First Corinthians thirteen. If
Speaker 3: you came in this morning and said, Pastor Stephen, what
Speaker 3: is the essence of.
Speaker 1: First Corinthians thirteen?
Speaker 3: I would say to you with much confidence, the difference
Speaker 3: between what is passing and what is permanent. Write those
Speaker 3: two words down in your notebook, passing and permanent, Passing
Speaker 3: and permanent. And Paul says that love never feels, but
Speaker 3: everything else will pass away.
Speaker 1: It will pass.
Speaker 3: Maybe the Lord is saying that about a storm that
Speaker 3: you're going through in your life, it will pass. I
Speaker 3: just want to stop and minister this to somebody today.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's about the sadness that you feel and the
Speaker 3: grief in the season that you're going through.
Speaker 1: It will pass. That's why we've got to get.
Speaker 3: You somehow to keep going through this valley that you're
Speaker 3: going through right now, because it will pass. Tell your
Speaker 3: neighbor tenderly, it will pass. Put it in a chat.
Speaker 3: It will pass. Whether it's a valley you don't want
Speaker 3: to go through or a mountain that you really like
Speaker 3: standing on top of, it will pass. That trophy isn't
Speaker 3: going to last forever. It will pass.
Speaker 1: Even the greatest relationship in.
Speaker 3: Your life humanly speaking, has a time limit to it
Speaker 3: called death.
Speaker 1: It will pass.
Speaker 3: And I don't mean to depress you, but I think
Speaker 3: it is very prospective giving for me to just realize
Speaker 3: that everything I'm worried about, and everything I'm concerned about,
Speaker 3: and everything that I'm going through right now that feels
Speaker 3: like it's never going to end.
Speaker 1: The word of the Lord is it will pass. One
Speaker 1: of the greatest Bible verses.
Speaker 3: You could ever memorize would be and it came to pass.
Speaker 3: Take the good times, hold them, cherish them, hold them
Speaker 3: up high, hold them up like the lion king. Tell
Speaker 3: them about this is what God gave me. But just
Speaker 3: know it will pass. It won't always be like that.
Speaker 3: It will pass. When our kids were kids were very small,
Speaker 3: I was so sick of people telling me that the
Speaker 3: days are long.
Speaker 1: But the years are short.
Speaker 3: And I was like, but if they don't stop screaming,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna cut their years short. Don't give me a
Speaker 3: little cliche right now, But it's true. It will pass.
Speaker 3: It will pass. That these carpets are gonna be dirty
Speaker 3: and you're fussing about cleaning them up.
Speaker 1: It'll pass.
Speaker 3: One day the carpets will be so clean you might
Speaker 3: just track something in just to remember the days when
Speaker 3: you had kids to track them.
Speaker 1: And I'm in that season right now.
Speaker 3: This year, I had one boy who turned twenty and
Speaker 3: graduated college. I have another boy who's going into high
Speaker 3: school senior year this year and he's about to graduate.
Speaker 3: And I've got a daughter. This is so sad. Y'all
Speaker 3: who just this last week shout out doctor Hall, greatest
Speaker 3: orthodonist in the Charlotte area. Just this week showing the picture. Guys,
Speaker 3: got her braces taken off. Congratulations, Abby, eat all the
Speaker 3: popcorn you want. She's just gonna be eating popcorn. Ah ah,
Speaker 3: my braces are off. When I was a child, I
Speaker 3: talked like a child. Thank you so much for the picture.
Speaker 3: I think they got the point. I talked like a child,
Speaker 3: I thought like a child.
Speaker 1: Now follow me.
Speaker 3: Paul is saying there's a difference between what is permanent
Speaker 3: and what is passing, and to illustrate that principle, he
Speaker 3: gives a picture. When I was a child, I talked
Speaker 3: like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned
Speaker 3: like a child. When I became a man, I put
Speaker 3: the ways of childhood behind me. And wouldn't it be
Speaker 3: wonderful if that process was as automatic and as simple
Speaker 3: and as summarized as Paul makes it sound. In First
Speaker 3: Corinthians thirteen eleven, I don't know what.
Speaker 1: Age it is.
Speaker 3: Maybe when you turn twenty, maybe when you turn twenty five,
Speaker 3: maybe when you turn eighteen, But this verse happens when
Speaker 3: you reach a certain birthday. The ways of childhood are
Speaker 3: behind you. Because I became a woman, I became a man.
Speaker 1: I guess what I'm trying to say this.
Speaker 3: Is it awesome to think of the process of spiritual
Speaker 3: transformation that Paul describes, like getting your braces off, Like
Speaker 3: I went one day. I had crooked teeth. They put
Speaker 3: braces on to get my teeth straight. One day, after
Speaker 3: monitoring my teeth for several years, they said, you're ready
Speaker 3: to have your braces off, and they took my braces off.
Speaker 3: I had crooked teeth, I had braces. I don't have
Speaker 3: crooked teeth anymore. My teeth are straight, my teeth are straight,
Speaker 3: my braces are off.
Speaker 1: It all happened one day.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could get your truth straight.
Speaker 1: Like you get your teeth straight.
Speaker 3: And then one day you can just announce to everybody
Speaker 3: in your life, I have great news. I'm getting my
Speaker 3: braces off. I'm getting my behaviors off from the past.
Speaker 3: I'm getting my selfishness off today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, ask me. In about three years, the Lord's been
Speaker 1: working with me. I joined one of those e groups
Speaker 1: and I met.
Speaker 3: Some people and it was awesome and he sanctified me.
Speaker 3: So today you might notice my smile is a little
Speaker 3: different because I got my selfishness removed today.
Speaker 1: It took a while but I got it straight.
Speaker 3: Would it be awesome if the Bible could just take
Speaker 3: your braces off? That's how Paul made it sound. He said,
Speaker 3: when I became a man, I put the ways of
Speaker 3: childhood behind me. Like you just went in and had
Speaker 3: an appointment with Jesus and you said, it's time for
Speaker 3: me to stop complaining. Now it's time for me to
Speaker 3: stop being afraid of what other people think. Right now,
Speaker 3: it's time for me to stop lusting. Now I'm married,
Speaker 3: now I need to be devoted to one woman right now.
Speaker 3: And then orthodontist Holy Ghos says, yeah, let me just
Speaker 3: take those lust off of your teeth.
Speaker 1: Then you just take the oh, those.
Speaker 3: Brackets, Let me take those brackets out of your brain
Speaker 3: so that you will only be attracted to your wife
Speaker 3: ever again, because you got to put the ways of
Speaker 3: childhood behind you. Wouldn't it be awesome if all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, one day you just went to the orthodontist
Speaker 3: called the Holy Spirit and said, I need this thing
Speaker 3: that happened to me when I was twelve. It became
Speaker 3: trauma in my life. But I need you to take
Speaker 3: the trauma off of me so I can live in
Speaker 3: the truth. Oh, no problem. Let's put you through a program.
Speaker 3: If we can get you through an eighteen month program, here,
Speaker 3: memorize these twenty scriptures.
Speaker 1: These are the top twenty scriptures for trauma.
Speaker 3: And when you memorize these twenty scriptures, you will no
Speaker 3: longer feel the effects of trauma.
Speaker 1: But the trauma trace says trapped.
Speaker 3: In the body sometimes even when the spirit has been
Speaker 3: set free by the blood of Christ. Wouldn't it be
Speaker 3: wonderful if there was an orthodonist spiritually speaking, just to
Speaker 3: sit you.
Speaker 1: Down in a chair. I wish I could get you
Speaker 1: in a chair today and lean you back and numb
Speaker 1: you up and.
Speaker 3: Just yank stuff off of your life. I mean, just
Speaker 3: take it off so you can smile again. So you
Speaker 3: could say I was depressed for the last year, but
Speaker 3: I went to evolution Elevation Church and that preacher leave
Speaker 3: me back and yanked it off. And I'm smiling now,
Speaker 3: I'm singing, now, I'm dancing. Now, I'm a man, now
Speaker 3: I'm a woman now. Wouldn't it be good if you
Speaker 3: could graduate from grief? Wouldn't it be good if you
Speaker 3: could graduate from greed? I used to be stingy, but
Speaker 3: God did a work in my life. And now all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, all I want to do is give
Speaker 3: money away. I won't even let my boss take me.
Speaker 3: I just give the check back and tell him to use.
Speaker 1: It to fight cancer. Just one day I went in
Speaker 1: the chair.
Speaker 3: And the preacher preaching the truth came and now I
Speaker 3: got my truth straight. But see, it is a fight
Speaker 3: for alignment in your life.
Speaker 1: That takes time to get it straight, to get it straight.
Speaker 1: And this process of I thought like a child.
Speaker 3: But now I think like a champion isn't as simple
Speaker 3: as it seems. And you know that.
Speaker 1: You know that.
Speaker 3: If you don't know that, the people who live with
Speaker 3: you do because they are still waiting on you to
Speaker 3: get your braces off. Okay, I want to show you
Speaker 3: an example from the Scriptures of somebody who paid the
Speaker 3: price of thinking like a child, but not to be negative,
Speaker 3: not to be hateful, not to be depressing, just because
Speaker 3: this man in Second Kings chapter five had a great
Speaker 3: opportunity for his life to change, but he thought like
Speaker 3: a child. And because he thought like a child, he
Speaker 3: almost forfeited his change. That happens to all of us,
Speaker 3: you know, all of us. Something that is passing becomes
Speaker 3: something permanent. Here's what I mean. We have emotions, whether
Speaker 3: it's anger, we have emotions and feelings, whether it's self pity.
Speaker 3: We have emotions and feelings, and sometimes even just temptations
Speaker 3: that seem to come from the pit of hell, and
Speaker 3: they are passing emotions. But the temptation of the enemy
Speaker 3: is for you to take something that is passing and
Speaker 3: turn it into something permanent, so that not only do
Speaker 3: you feel anger passing, but you lash out in anger
Speaker 3: and say something to someone that you love that cannot
Speaker 3: be undone with the simple apology, what did you do?
Speaker 3: You took a passing frustration, an external expression and did
Speaker 3: permanent damage. I want you to stop sacrificing what is
Speaker 3: permanent on the altar of what is passing. I want
Speaker 3: you to stop sacrificing what is permanent to satisfy what
Speaker 3: is passing. If there is a teenager in here, I
Speaker 3: want you off of every form of addictive behavior, whether
Speaker 3: it's a substance or whether it's a website. I want
Speaker 3: you off of every form of addictive substance that would
Speaker 3: rob you of your soul, because I know that those
Speaker 3: things help us, whether we're adults or whether we're children.
Speaker 3: They help us to get through the moment. But the
Speaker 3: moment is passing, and after the anxiety has passed, and
Speaker 3: after you have trained your body to be addicted to
Speaker 3: stimuli that keep you enslaved, now you have a lasting
Speaker 3: habit that you embedded in your life to deal with
Speaker 3: a passing emotion.
Speaker 1: I want you off porn. I want you off every
Speaker 1: vape pen.
Speaker 3: I don't want you having to take something in your
Speaker 3: body to deal with something in your mind, and then
Speaker 3: five years from now we're trying to figure out how
Speaker 3: to get you off of this. I want it broken.
Speaker 3: I want it choked out. I want every teenager that
Speaker 3: listens to me preach, stop sacrificing what is permanent to
Speaker 3: satisfy what is passing.
Speaker 1: It will pass.
Speaker 3: Let it pass, Pray till it passes, Praise till it passes.
Speaker 1: I'll need to hit a pin. I can hit a prayer.
Speaker 1: I'll need to.
Speaker 3: Hit a pin.
Speaker 1: I can hit a praise because.
Speaker 5: It came to pass, and God is here to say.
Speaker 1: I felt that when I was preparing.
Speaker 3: I felt that for every woman that I went to
Speaker 3: speak to you in recovery.
Speaker 1: This week at Dove's Nest, some of.
Speaker 3: Them were looking at me, like, please tell them this, younger,
Speaker 3: Please tell them this, younger. Don't sacrifice what is permanent
Speaker 3: your character, don't sacrifice what is permanent. You're calling stop
Speaker 3: giving up your relationship with God for popularity with people.
Speaker 3: They can't put you in, they can't vote you out.
Speaker 1: He is God, and him only shall you serve. So
Speaker 1: y'all sit down.
Speaker 3: This is supposed to be a love chapter, supposed to
Speaker 3: be lovely. I love you enough to tell you that
Speaker 3: stop sacrificing what is permanent. That's what the church at
Speaker 3: Corinth was doing. They were sacrificing what was permanent love
Speaker 3: for what was passing, spiritual gifts.
Speaker 1: So they would.
Speaker 3: Sacrifice their love for one another in order to show off.
Speaker 3: They were sacrificing what was permanent to satisfy what was passing.
Speaker 1: Because even if you.
Speaker 3: Do go off and say what you want to say,
Speaker 3: it's only going to feel good for about the five
Speaker 3: seconds it takes you to realize that now you've got
Speaker 3: to spend five days recovering from what felt good.
Speaker 1: For five seconds. Was the five seconds really worth it? Dude?
Speaker 1: Passing versus permanent.
Speaker 3: So this is an odd story to connect with First Corinthians.
Speaker 1: Thirteen.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna just tell you right now, but the way
Speaker 3: the Lord showed it to me was a principal and
Speaker 3: a picture. The principle is stop sacrificing what's permanent to
Speaker 3: satisfy what's passing.
Speaker 1: Okay. The picture is a.
Speaker 3: Man named Naman who was a great general of an
Speaker 3: army of the enemies of Israel called Aram Benidad.
Speaker 1: The second was the king, and naming was his man.
Speaker 3: Naming was a great man, says But now I'm going
Speaker 3: to stop right there and preach.
Speaker 1: He was a great man. But he was a great man.
Speaker 3: But how many of you I just described you in
Speaker 3: one incomplete sentence. I'm a good person, but I'm a Christian.
Speaker 3: But well, he was a great man. But he had leprosy.
Speaker 3: He had lepsy. Leprosy was an incurable skin condition. Of
Speaker 3: course you've heard of leprosy, but in this time, it's
Speaker 3: hard for us to imagine what the cost of carrying
Speaker 3: that condition would have been. Not only was it incurable,
Speaker 3: but it was completely isolating. So what is it like
Speaker 3: to be a leader who is also a leper? He
Speaker 3: commanded men, but he could not cure his skin. There
Speaker 3: are conditions in the room that confound you. You cannot
Speaker 3: understand how you can be so adept at business and
Speaker 3: so detached emotionally at home. You do not understand how
Speaker 3: you can be so good at getting everyone else to
Speaker 3: connect with you except the ones you love the most.
Speaker 3: You cannot understand why it has been possible for you
Speaker 3: to discipline this.
Speaker 1: Area of your life but not get that one under control.
Speaker 1: He was a great man, but.
Speaker 3: High position, leprous condition, And into this juxtaposition of his realities,
Speaker 3: which are both very real. The Bible says that there
Speaker 3: was a little girl living at his house that one day,
Speaker 3: perhaps seeing him change out of his armor, noticed the
Speaker 3: spots of leprosy that were beginning to spread. In fact,
Speaker 3: the Bible says that it was a spot so they
Speaker 3: caught it early. And the little girl didn't have the
Speaker 3: audacity to say it to naymen because she was an
Speaker 3: Israelite and she was actually taken as a slave to
Speaker 3: serve in this house, so it's uncommon that she would
Speaker 3: be the one to voice this idea, but she did.
Speaker 3: You might be surprised who God will speak through in
Speaker 3: your life as well. She said, if it were possible
Speaker 3: for Naman to go and see the prophet Elisha in Israel.
Speaker 3: He could cure him. Elisha is amazing with miracles. He
Speaker 3: helped this widow who was about to have to sell
Speaker 3: her sons into slavery with just a little bit of oil.
Speaker 5: Huh.
Speaker 3: I know you're not gonna believe this, But he one
Speaker 3: time called for rain and there was a drought and
Speaker 3: water came out of nowhere when he spoke the word
Speaker 3: of the Lord.
Speaker 1: If he could get to Elisha, be amazing. So Naman
Speaker 1: did it. He did it.
Speaker 3: How hard would that be? By the way, we were
Speaker 3: talking about the hard part? How hard would it be
Speaker 3: to go to your enemy for help? He has to
Speaker 3: humble himself to do that, and he makes a journey
Speaker 3: it's about two hundred miles. But he didn't just make
Speaker 3: the journey. He had to go to the king and
Speaker 3: get a letter from the king to take to the prophet.
Speaker 3: Because you can't just show up and tell the prophet
Speaker 3: you want to be healed. You've got to have some
Speaker 3: letter of recommendation, somebody to help you with entree into
Speaker 3: the course of a great prophet. And so the king says, sure,
Speaker 3: I'll write you a letter, And he writes a letter
Speaker 3: to say to the King of Israel, would you have
Speaker 3: your profit?
Speaker 1: Heal my commander. So Naman makes the journey and he
Speaker 1: loads up.
Speaker 3: And I want to pick up here in second Kings,
Speaker 3: and not just recap, but show you a little bit
Speaker 3: of this story. In verse four, please, Naman went to
Speaker 3: his master and told him what the girl from Israel
Speaker 3: had said. By all means go. The King of Aram reply,
Speaker 3: I'll send a letter to the King of Israel.
Speaker 1: So I just told you all this, but watch this
Speaker 1: part that happens next.
Speaker 3: Naman left, taking with him yeah name, and left taken
Speaker 3: with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold,
Speaker 3: and ten sets of clothing.
Speaker 1: He's traveling. Heavin the letter that he took to the
Speaker 1: King of Israel.
Speaker 3: Read with this letter, I am sending my servant name
Speaker 3: and to you so that you may cure him of
Speaker 3: his leprosy. Now, when the letter got to the king,
Speaker 3: come back to me for a moment. Church, I want
Speaker 3: you to see this moment. The king says, well, he
Speaker 3: tears his robes and says, am I God, can I
Speaker 3: kill and bring back to life?
Speaker 1: Why does this.
Speaker 3: Fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy.
Speaker 3: See how he is trying to pick a fight or
Speaker 3: a quarrel with me. In other words, the king is
Speaker 3: saying this is impossible. But verse eight says that when Elisha,
Speaker 3: the man of God, heard that the king of Israel
Speaker 3: had torn his robes, he sent him this message, why
Speaker 3: have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me,
Speaker 3: and he will know.
Speaker 1: That there is a prophet in Israel. In other words,
Speaker 1: turn to your neighbors, say it's not hard for God.
Speaker 3: This is not hard for God. You're tearing your What
Speaker 3: are you tearing your robes about? You think God, who
Speaker 3: creates life, can't restore life. You think God, who has
Speaker 3: power over the grave, cannot raise this man from his
Speaker 3: condition before he dies of it. You think this is
Speaker 3: too hard for God. Nothing is too hard for God.
Speaker 3: Nothing is impossible for him. Nothing makes him sweat, nothing
Speaker 3: makes him shocked, nothing makes him shudder, nothing makes him
Speaker 3: back up, nothing makes him recalculate, nothing makes him count
Speaker 3: the costs. He's got more than enough to go around.
Speaker 3: You think this is hard for God. This is no
Speaker 3: problem for God. This is easy for God. And so
Speaker 3: Elisha sends a message, bring him to me. And verse
Speaker 3: nine sounds like everything is going great. So Naman went
Speaker 3: with his horses and cheriots. I'm about to show y'all.
Speaker 3: Something blew my mind when I saw it and stopped
Speaker 3: at the door of Elisha's house.
Speaker 1: I'm about to get my miracle. This is amazing.
Speaker 3: I traveled two hundred miles else with six thousand shekels,
Speaker 3: but it was worth it. I had to get a
Speaker 3: letter from the king to the king, but it was
Speaker 3: worth it. I'm having to risk everything by being here
Speaker 3: in enemy territory, but it's worth it. I am right
Speaker 3: here at the door, and I know this man has
Speaker 3: what I need and he can do it.
Speaker 1: He said, it's not even hard for him. He said,
Speaker 1: all I have to do is come. So I'm gonna come.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna knock on the door. He's gonna come out.
Speaker 3: He's gonna do a little thing, a little dance, a
Speaker 3: little wave, a little hallelujah, a little thank you Jesus.
Speaker 3: Whatever they do over here in Israel, whatever they do
Speaker 3: over there at the Pentecostal Church, whatever they do at
Speaker 3: the Episcopalian Church, whatever they do, whatever they're sign, whatever
Speaker 3: their method, He's gonna.
Speaker 1: Do that for me and the spot's gonna go away.
Speaker 3: And verse ten says Elisha sent a messenger to say
Speaker 3: to him, go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan,
Speaker 3: and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.
Speaker 3: But Naming went away angry and said, I thought, I thought.
Speaker 3: I thought we'll put it back on the scripture, scream voice,
Speaker 3: that he would surely.
Speaker 1: Come out to me and stand.
Speaker 3: And call on the name of the Lord, his God,
Speaker 3: wave his hand over the spot. This guy had it
Speaker 3: down to a science what God was supposed to do
Speaker 3: for him. He had it down to the detail. Here's
Speaker 3: how it's gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand,
Speaker 3: he's gonna wave, he's gonna say, he's gonna pray. It's
Speaker 3: gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's gonna wave.
Speaker 3: It's gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's
Speaker 3: gonna wave. It's gonna go. And he's visualizing it the
Speaker 3: whole time. It's gonna be great. Man, I got the
Speaker 3: favor of.
Speaker 1: God, I got the blessing of God.
Speaker 3: I'm naming. I'm naming. You know my name, man, I'm naming.
Speaker 3: They tell him Naman is here. Knock, knock, knock. It's naming.
Speaker 1: You know the one that that you got the letter
Speaker 1: about from Joem. Yeah, yeah, him, I'm naming. I'm here
Speaker 1: at the door, open up, knock, knock, it's naming.
Speaker 3: He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's gonna wave, it's
Speaker 3: gonna go.
Speaker 1: And oh, what's his name?
Speaker 3: Answers the door instead of Elisha, you ever asked for
Speaker 3: the prophet, but.
Speaker 1: You got what's his name? Instead?
Speaker 3: And Naming said who are you? He said, it's not
Speaker 3: important who I am. It's important what the prophet is
Speaker 3: said you need to do. You need to go wash
Speaker 3: yourself seven times into Jordan and your flesh will be
Speaker 3: restored and you'll be cleansed. But Naming when or where angry?
Speaker 3: And said, I don't want to wash. When I became
Speaker 3: a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
Speaker 1: Naming is a man. He is a great man.
Speaker 3: So why is a great man thinking like a child
Speaker 3: talking about I.
Speaker 1: Don't want to wash. I don't want to take a bath.
Speaker 1: I don't want to do it like that.
Speaker 3: You're supposed to wave, And the messenger said, he ain't
Speaker 3: gonna wave you gotta wash. I came with a word
Speaker 3: for somebody today who has been waiting for God to
Speaker 3: wave over your situation. And God said, you can wait
Speaker 3: all day for me to wave. Already waved all I'm
Speaker 3: gonna wave. Now you gotta wash. Tell your neighbor you
Speaker 3: gotta wash.
Speaker 1: You gotta wash some things.
Speaker 3: God is not going to wave away some thought patterns.
Speaker 3: God is not going to wave away. I wish it
Speaker 3: was so simple. I wish we could lean you back
Speaker 3: in that chair, yank those braces off your teeth, and
Speaker 3: put you out of here straight. But the fact is,
Speaker 3: sometimes you gotta floss between those teeth. Sometimes God doesn't wave.
Speaker 3: Sometimes God tells you to wash, and nobody shouts when
Speaker 3: I preach like this.
Speaker 1: If I said God's.
Speaker 3: Gonna wave it away, I'd have thirty five Hallelujahs.
Speaker 1: In the back of the room.
Speaker 3: But I can't even get the front row to stand
Speaker 3: up when the word of the Lord says, you gotta wash.
Speaker 3: There is a process that I have you in. There
Speaker 3: is a protocol that I have you in. There is
Speaker 3: a stage I am bringing you through. There is a process.
Speaker 3: There is a stage for this, There is a prescription
Speaker 3: for this.
Speaker 1: There is a command for this.
Speaker 3: So the question becomes, are you mature enough that when
Speaker 3: God doesn't do magic, you will still go through with
Speaker 3: the method that will produce the miracle that you came
Speaker 3: all this way for. Anyway, Naman was just about to
Speaker 3: walk away because I don't wanna.
Speaker 1: I don't care if you wanna.
Speaker 3: You can wash even if you don't wanna, and it
Speaker 3: will work if you do what God.
Speaker 1: Told you to do. I don't want to forgive them.
Speaker 3: I don't want to wear one of those volunteer T
Speaker 3: shirts and stand out there and that's not my color.
Speaker 3: I don't wanna, I don't wanna.
Speaker 1: I don't wanna. I don't want to.
Speaker 3: So you don't want to die, but you don't want
Speaker 3: to wash? Which one's gonna be stronger? Because washing is
Speaker 3: a passing activity. Healing is permanent. So I would rather
Speaker 3: give up what is passing my pride to have what
Speaker 3: is permanent. This is a life saving word for somebody.
Speaker 3: God said you gotta dip in this. You gotta dip
Speaker 3: in this. It is not enough for you to stop
Speaker 3: at the door and wait for God to wait. How
Speaker 3: many times have I waited for God to wave something
Speaker 3: away that he called me to wash. I thought he
Speaker 3: was gonna wave. I thought they were gonna appreciate me.
Speaker 3: I thought I was getting a raise. Instead I got fired.
Speaker 3: I thought they were gonna say thank you to me,
Speaker 3: but instead they he.
Speaker 1: Cussed me out.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't it be horrible that God was trying to do
Speaker 3: stuff in your life, but you got blocked from it
Speaker 3: because of what you thought.
Speaker 1: And the worst thing would be.
Speaker 3: For you to get blocked by something that's behind you.
Speaker 3: Watch name in his reasoning, he sounds like a child.
Speaker 3: He's a champion in war, but he is a child
Speaker 3: in this moment, and that happens to all of us.
Speaker 3: He said, I thought he would come out here and wave,
Speaker 3: then the spot would go away and cure me of
Speaker 3: my leprosy.
Speaker 1: Verse number twelve.
Speaker 3: Are not Abana and far part of the rivers of
Speaker 3: Damascus better than all the waters of Israel. Couldn't I
Speaker 3: wash in them and be cleansed? So he turned and
Speaker 3: went back, headed for Damascus. When you turn and go back,
Speaker 3: you can never get better. But that's the hardest part.
Speaker 3: The hardest part is behind you. The hardest part is
Speaker 3: letting go of your expectations because of the way things
Speaker 3: have always been. Some of you have been eating manna
Speaker 3: for so many years you're surprised that it stops showing up.
Speaker 3: That just means you're on the edge of the promised land.
Speaker 3: God wants you to plant and harvest.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: The hardest part is to let go of what's behind you.
Speaker 3: I had better waters than that in Damascus, he said,
Speaker 3: And I'm so grateful for verse thirteen, because I feel
Speaker 3: like we're in a moment like this today, you and
Speaker 3: I as we talk and listen to me. All over
Speaker 3: the world, some of you are about to go back
Speaker 3: to something that is behind you. And it is not
Speaker 3: the challenge in front of you that is stopping you.
Speaker 3: It's the template of where you've been and the expectation
Speaker 3: of where you're you would be. That's what's stopping you.
Speaker 3: That's what's keeping you from being pure. That's what's holding
Speaker 3: you back from the intimacy and the victory that you
Speaker 3: desire in your life. Because the Bible says in verse
Speaker 3: thirteen that Naman servants went to him and said, my father,
Speaker 3: if the prophet had told you to do some great thing,
Speaker 3: would you not have done it? How much more than
Speaker 3: when he tells you wash and be cleansed. Now in
Speaker 3: other words, what he's saying, and I'm just going to
Speaker 3: elaborate a moment, naming, Sir, we've come all this way.
Speaker 1: We traveled seven days to get here.
Speaker 3: Now, think of all the things that had to happen
Speaker 3: for you to get to this point. The servant girl
Speaker 3: had to see the spot at the right time. The
Speaker 3: odds were against it, but it happened. The king had
Speaker 3: to agree to write you a letter and risk his
Speaker 3: national reputation in order to talk to an enemy, and
Speaker 3: he did that for you. We had to make the
Speaker 3: journey safely to a place that we have attacked and
Speaker 3: ransackedeveral times, and we made it safely. And we have
Speaker 3: been going through this dry, arid terrain for two hundred
Speaker 3: miles for seven days. We've been walking to get to
Speaker 3: this point. And you want to go back to Damascus, now, naming,
Speaker 3: just do it.
Speaker 1: Just do it.
Speaker 3: Worst case scenario, you get clean, best case you get cured.
Speaker 3: But either way, we've come too far.
Speaker 1: Huh.
Speaker 3: We traveled too much. Huh. God has arranged too much.
Speaker 3: The servants saw the spot, the king wrote the letter.
Speaker 3: We made the trip. You mean, we traveled seven days
Speaker 3: and you won't take seven dips.
Speaker 1: You better dip. Naman.
Speaker 3: Tell your neighbor you better dip all this way you came.
Speaker 3: You better dip all that God did for you to
Speaker 3: get you hear, you better dip.
Speaker 1: Out Of all the things you could be watching on live,
Speaker 1: you're watching a.
Speaker 3: Preacher in a red crop hoodie talking to you about.
Speaker 1: The Word of the Lord. All the stuff you could
Speaker 1: have clicked on, God brought you to this point. Don't
Speaker 1: you dare click off? You better dip. This word is
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 3: All the hell you went through, all the enemy's annihilation tactics,
Speaker 3: scare tactics and threats, all of the panic attacks you
Speaker 3: breathe through, all of the nervous breakthroughs you survive.
Speaker 1: The hard pard is.
Speaker 3: Behind you. We're standing at the door. All we gotta
Speaker 3: do is dip. I came to prophesy to somebody.
Speaker 1: I'll know who you are.
Speaker 3: But God woke me up at three am to tell
Speaker 3: you you're standing at the door and all you gotta
Speaker 3: do Hot five.
Speaker 5: All your neighbors is say, all I gotta do is dimp.
Speaker 5: All I gotta do is dip. All I gotta do
Speaker 5: is dip.
Speaker 1: Because the hardest part is behind me.
Speaker 3: It is not what God is calling you to do
Speaker 3: that is stopping you.
Speaker 1: It is what is behind you, that is what.
Speaker 3: You expected God to do that is stopping you. And
Speaker 3: right now I just said something that we are going
Speaker 3: to receive a testimony from in the weeks to come,
Speaker 3: that somebody thought that they were blocked by what was
Speaker 3: ahead of them. But the Jordan River isn't big, The
Speaker 3: Jordan River isn't hard to cross, The Jordan River isn't
Speaker 3: hard to bathe in.
Speaker 1: The Only thing that.
Speaker 3: Was hard about it was I thought. And the reason
Speaker 3: Namon fought it is because he thought it was beneath him.
Speaker 3: God brings us to these moments in life where we
Speaker 3: are tempted to let something that is passing cost us
Speaker 3: something that is permanent. And a man with leprosy permanent,
Speaker 3: had to do something passing that he didn't want to do.
Speaker 3: And I don't know what that is for you, but
Speaker 3: you do you do because the Holy Spirit is speaking
Speaker 3: it to you in concert with my voice.
Speaker 1: Is his voice joom, just right there together.
Speaker 3: I know that seven is the number of completion, and
Speaker 3: I know that when that which is complete has come,
Speaker 3: that which is incomplete disappears. Firs Corinthians thirteen says, and
Speaker 3: I know that we know in part, and we prophesy
Speaker 3: in part, and where there are tongues, they will cease.
Speaker 1: But love never fails.
Speaker 3: I know that when I became a man, I put
Speaker 3: childish ways behind me. But watch what happened to Naman
Speaker 3: when his servant pulled him to the side and said, naming,
Speaker 3: the hardest part is behind you do it naming verse fourteen,
Speaker 3: went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times,
Speaker 3: as the Man of God had told him, and his
Speaker 3: flesh was restored and became clean, like that of what
Speaker 3: a young boy.
Speaker 1: When I was a child, I thought like a child.
Speaker 3: But when I stopped thinking like a child, my skin
Speaker 3: was made new again. We take what is passing and
Speaker 3: turn it into something permanent. God took something that was permanent,
Speaker 3: naming his leprosy, and turned it into something passing.
Speaker 1: It will pass, It will.
Speaker 3: Pass, Kings and kingdoms will all pass away. But there's
Speaker 3: something about that name. It will pass. And when Naymon
Speaker 3: did it, When Naman dipped, when Naymon got out of
Speaker 3: his thought and got into the water and did what
Speaker 3: God told him to do, he was restored. I'm believing
Speaker 3: for restoration Sunday in somebody's life today, the restoration of
Speaker 3: your right mind, the restoration of your peace, the restoration
Speaker 3: of your joy. That something that you have convinced yourself
Speaker 3: is permanent is really passing, is passing.
Speaker 1: You hear me, You are not going to suffer from
Speaker 1: this forever.
Speaker 3: It will pass. And we fix our eyes and not
Speaker 3: on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what
Speaker 3: is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Speaker 1: It will pass. Right now. God has brought you.
Speaker 3: To this moment as if it's the edge of the
Speaker 3: Jordan that you are deciding whether to obey Him in
Speaker 3: this next step of your life.
Speaker 1: And I want to tell you that the heart, the
Speaker 1: hardest part, is behind you.
Speaker 3: While says in Romans five, verse seven, very rarely will
Speaker 3: anyone die for righteous person, though for a good person
Speaker 3: someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his
Speaker 3: own love for us in this while we were still sinners.
Speaker 1: Christ died for us. The hard part is behind you.
Speaker 3: Verse nine says if He has justified you buy his blood,
Speaker 3: how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath
Speaker 3: through him? The hard part is behind you. He already
Speaker 3: hung there, stopped living in your shame.
Speaker 1: He died for it. The hard part is behind you.
Speaker 3: The hard part was accomplished for you, and by the
Speaker 3: grace of God. Today I command you to be clean.
Speaker 3: I command you to allow his grace to wash it away,
Speaker 3: to wash off the residue of the regret and the failure.
Speaker 1: The hard part is behind you. Now when everyone's standing.
Speaker 3: All over this church, no one moving, no one distracting,
Speaker 3: the moment, this moment, this moment, this moment is significant.
Speaker 3: You are standing at the door and you've come all
Speaker 3: this way. And look at how much you've survived. Look
Speaker 3: how much you've endured. Look how much God has protected
Speaker 3: you from. Look how much God did in your life
Speaker 3: since the time you were a little girl, since the
Speaker 3: time you were a little boy.
Speaker 1: No, it hasn't been perfect, but He has been present.
Speaker 3: Look at all that God did to bring you here,
Speaker 3: That someone saw the spot, that you made it seven
Speaker 3: days journey. That you are standing at the door, and
Speaker 3: every time you get close to the Jordan, you walk
Speaker 3: away and go back.
Speaker 1: To something passing.
Speaker 3: What God wants to take something passing and do something
Speaker 3: permanent in your life today, For this is the moment
Speaker 3: for someone to call on the name of Jesus and
Speaker 3: be saved.
Speaker 1: The Bible says.
Speaker 3: That if you will call upon the name of the Lord,
Speaker 3: you will be saved. That if you would confess with
Speaker 3: your mouth that Jesus's Lord, and believe in your heart
Speaker 3: God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Speaker 3: Right now, I'm praying a prayer for someone who is
Speaker 3: far from God. You don't have leprosy on your skin,
Speaker 3: but there is a condition in your soul called sin.
Speaker 1: If not dealt with, it is fatal.
Speaker 3: But it has already been provided for by the person
Speaker 3: of Jesus Christ. He died for you, He did the
Speaker 3: hard part. He rose for you. You can rise with him today.
Speaker 3: This can be your moment, This can be your day.
Speaker 3: You can come to God by his grace. So right now,
Speaker 3: if that's you and the Lord is speaking to you
Speaker 3: not to wash yourself, but that he wants to wash you,
Speaker 3: and you want this to be your new beginning, I'm
Speaker 3: going to lead you in a prayer. We're going to
Speaker 3: repeat this prayer for the benefit of those who are
Speaker 3: coming to God, are coming back to God. And if
Speaker 3: you pray this and mean it with your heart, God
Speaker 3: will hear you from heaven, and he will heal you
Speaker 3: and cleanse you.
Speaker 1: This is your new beginning.
Speaker 3: Pray and repeat after me, church family, say Heavenly Father.
Speaker 3: I am a sinner in need of a savior, and
Speaker 3: today I make Jesus the Lord and savior of my life.
Speaker 1: I believe He.
Speaker 3: Died that I would be forgiven and rose again to
Speaker 3: give me life. I receive this new life. This is
Speaker 3: my new beginning. I am a child of God. On
Speaker 3: the count of three, shoots your hand up. If you
Speaker 3: prayed that one, two, three, I want to celebrate with
Speaker 3: you right now.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of hands. I praise the Lord for
Speaker 1: your commitment.
Speaker 3: I praise the Lord for your new beginning.
Speaker 1: I believe God for your hope for your future. Praise
Speaker 1: the Lord.
Speaker 3: Let's give God a break, big church wise shot of praise.
Speaker 1: Come on, lift every.
Speaker 3: Voice, live every voice, live every voice.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 3: Some orange Bibe coming around so you can have a
Speaker 3: new Bible to commemorate your new beginning.
Speaker 1: I just need to know before.
Speaker 3: I turn it over to your campus pastors, who received
Speaker 3: a word from the Lord today that was for your life.
Speaker 3: So everybody knows in this room. How we close service.
Speaker 3: We don't sneak out early. We finished together. Campus pastors,
Speaker 3: you take it at your campus, and I want to
Speaker 3: close right here at our Balentine location and online. Look
Speaker 3: at the camera, look at me. Grab your neighbor's hand.
Speaker 3: Tell them I don't have leprosy. You can hold my hand.
Speaker 3: Tell your neighbor you can hold my hand.
Speaker 1: You won't catch anything. Set the holy ghosts. Don't feel
Speaker 1: that fire, feel that fire, feel that fire.
Speaker 3: You know. Saying came to me and I didn't want
Speaker 3: to put it in the sermon for all the campuses.
Speaker 3: But you know how they say, what you don't know
Speaker 3: can't hurt you. That's a lie. That's a lie.
Speaker 1: What you don't know can actually kill you.
Speaker 3: And that's why God gives you moments like these to
Speaker 3: show you things in your life that are so important.
Speaker 1: What you don't know can't hurt you, that's not true.
Speaker 3: But this is what you won't do, can't heal you.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: And now, unto Him who is able to do immeasurably
Speaker 3: more than you ask, think or imagine, to him, be
Speaker 3: glory through Christ Jesus in the church.
Speaker 1: Now and forever, Everybody smile.
Speaker 3: At your neighbor real big say, I got my braces off.
Speaker 1: You're blessed, you're dismiss I'll see you next week. Thank
Speaker 1: 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 now,
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.