WEBVTT - Try Higher 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:06.280 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.360 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:10.000 Be sure to. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:13.720 Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:20.040 I hope you're blessed today. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.200 Holly said to tell you about my hype track. But 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:28.560 it's not a hype track. It's a hope track. I'm 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:30.920 actually gonna use it to get into my sermon today. 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:36.080 I used to do these videos at the beginning of 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.279 every year. I did it a few years, and it 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:42.519 was designed to help you when you need motivation from 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:45.559 God's word and you need to listen to something that 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.480 will fire you up, but also at the same time 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:53.440 not make you feel like unspiritual. So I started making 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.680 these and then I quit for years, and this year 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.920 my oldest son, Elijah, who just went to college last week. 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.440 He and I had been talking for years about working 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:05.880 on one together and that he would make the beat 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.000 and that I would do the track, and so I 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:10.200 was like, I really don't want to do these anymore. 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:11.600 I'm too old to be doing those. People think I'm 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:13.400 trying to be a rapper. They start calling me eminem, 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.800 they start making fun of me, and so he's like no, no, no, 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:18.160 let me just try to make a beat. So he 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:19.720 and Josh got together made a track and they brought 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:21.080 it to me. And when I heard the track, I 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:26.080 was like, I'm on it and I put this together, 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.080 so I want to use it if you want to 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:28.400 hear it. 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:29.839 I mean I could play it for you right. 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:34.559 Now, just to get us into the message. Because last 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.200 week we said He's the God of Away. We were 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:40.759 singing he will make away, and this track says, with God, 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:41.959 there's always a way. 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:45.240 With God, there's always a way. 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:50.400 Nod your head like this and say always Now, look 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.760 at your neighbors, say by faith, I will find it. 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:56.440 All right, y'all, take a seat and watch the screen. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:56.960 Let's go. 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.680 To the Great. I am No limits exist. 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:08.799 Therefore my potential to glorify him is endless. I'm moving 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:10.560 forward in the light of what. 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:14.880 He's spoken, and every other voice must let go, because 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.800 I know with every step he gives me strength. 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:20.400 Almighty God is fighting for me. 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.320 His spirit is my guide, his strength is my supply, 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.960 and every need will be provided by his hand at 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:29.000 just the right time. 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:30.560 I don't need to. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.160 See it to believe it. I know the truth, and 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.720 I will do it, and do it, and do it 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.560 until my life becomes the proof. See he hid me 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.760 at his quiver, prepared me in his shadow for such a. 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:43.560 Time as this. 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.680 I'm a weapon, not a hostage. 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:50.120 I'm on an assignment. Nothing can stop it his time. 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.840 Take back my mind, take back my life, and break 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:58.239 every lie with the promise of God gos. 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:04.799 With God, there's always away. By faith, I will find it. 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:12.079 With God, there's always away. By faith, I will fight it. 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.960 What is a challenge with a giant waiting to fall? 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.760 What is a mountain to a God who does impossible? 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.040 What is an obstacle to a God whose word turns 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:24.840 sees to walls? 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:25.919 What is a set down? 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:28.079 What a set up for a miracle? 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.280 What is an enemy to a God who shuts the 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.600 lions mouth? What is a fire to a God whose 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:39.160 hand can sets me out? A thousand angels surround me. 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.400 Now speak to the stronghold and. 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:43.480 Watch it come down. 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:49.280 A thousand angels surround me. Now speak to the stronghold, 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:50.880 and once it come down. 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.760 With God, there's always away. 0:03:55.120 --> 0:04:00.880 By faith, I will find it with God, always away 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:03.000 away my faith. 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:04.040 I will fight it. 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.160 If CoP's got power, I've got power. 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:12.960 If God's got strength. I've got strength. 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.080 If God got victory, I've got victory. 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:19.880 If it's in him, it's in me. 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:23.800 Because what's his is mine? 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:29.880 What's his it's mine. It's time gous. What's this it's mine? 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:30.560 What's this? 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:31.719 It's mine? 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:32.400 What's this? 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:33.559 It's mine? 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:34.880 It's going God. 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.240 With God, there's always away. 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:40.880 My faith. I will fight it. 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:43.640 With God. 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:48.719 If there's always away my faith, I will fight it. 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.839 I gotta sleep. I gotta sleep. I got an army. 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.200 I gotta God, the Creator than North, it's already. 0:04:58.120 --> 0:04:58.920 I gotta hoping. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:04:59.960 I gotta call him. 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.640 I got someone to be How about you lose? 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:04.680 I don't look get behind it. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.839 With God, there's always a way. 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.039 They will find it. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:14.719 With God, there's always a way. 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:17.760 They will find. 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:20.480 My pay. 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:21.320 I will find it. 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.159 There's always pay. 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.080 I will find it. There's always away. 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.200 Iday I will biden God. 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.560 There's my pay. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:32.440 I will find it. 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:36.920 With God. There's always a way. 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:39.000 By faith. 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:44.279 I will find it. With God. There's always a way 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:47.280 by faith. I will find it. 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:53.479 You like it. 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:56.760 All right? 0:05:58.760 --> 0:05:59.039 Good? 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.839 Oh man, y'all like it real. 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:07.800 Well? 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.040 I hope you can use it. You can go stream 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:13.240 it or whatever like that. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.239 Do some push ups, or some burpies, or some kettlebell 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:21.800 swings or some Bulgarian split squads come more special. Thanks 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.320 to Jalen Ramsey for being in our video. Appreciate that 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:27.960 praying for you that God will bring you back better 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.960 than ever. David, I think I want. 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:32.720 You in it. Next year, you do the next one. 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:34.000 Can we sign a contract? 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.160 I want to preach right from that thought, look at 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:43.240 your neighbor and say, with God, there's always a way, 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:46.040 and by faith. 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:47.640 I will find it. 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.760 The beginning of this year, I was making myself a 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:57.000 bunch of little statements affirmations that were scriptural, and then 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:58.840 I started sharing them with people, and that was one 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:03.840 of them, just to encourage myself past the hurdles and 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.719 discouragements that life offers us, and sometimes the. 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:07.800 Hurdles in my own head. 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:13.040 You know how many of you have hypothetical hurdles that 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.200 you create, as if the challenges that life gives you 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:17.000 are not enough. 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:21.480 You just make some in your spare time. And that 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:22.440 one came to me one day. 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.400 I was driving somewhere and I was thinking about something 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.200 that I couldn't do, and I said, with God, there's 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:31.080 always a way, and by faith I will find it, 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.080 and it felt like both parts were important. The first 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.920 part lets me know that even right now in my life, 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.600 God is clearing a path for his purpose to be 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.360 accomplished concerning me and my family and our church and 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:48.400 our ministry, and your family and your seed and everything 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:49.880 that God has called you to do. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.880 He's right now working on your behalf. Give God praise 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:53.600 if you believe that. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:00.040 The harder part for me to get out of my 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.400 mouth is and by faith, I will find it, because 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.480 sometimes I just want Him to make it so obvious 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:07.000 and so easy. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:09.600 And the scripture that I want to share with you 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:10.679 very familiar story. 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:12.960 I won't be long today because what I want to 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.040 say is actually very clear to me. God gave me 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.600 a word for this moment for your life. It's in 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.600 Luke chapter five, and you can sit. We don't have 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.000 to stand back up. But let me read you the 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.000 whole story and then show you something. In two verses, 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.800 say it again with God. There's always a way, I say, 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:35.720 by faith, I will find it. This story in Luke 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:40.400 chapter five, Verse seventeen was probably the most vivid illustration 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.080 of that confession that I could find. The Bible says 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:49.079 one day Jesus was teaching, and pharisees and teachers of 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.200 the law were sitting there. They had come from every 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:56.719 village of Galilee, and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:04.240 power of the Lord was with Jesus. The power of 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:10.480 the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:15.599 men came verse eighteen, carrying a paralyzed man on a 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.439 mat and tried to take him into the house to 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:26.120 lay him before Jesus, when they could not find a way. 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.559 When they could not find a way to do this 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:37.640 because of the crowd, they went up on the roof 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:46.640 and lowered him on his mat, threw the tiles into 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.320 the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:56.600 And when Jesus saw their good intentions, when Jesus saw 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:02.600 their hearts, when Jesus heard their pretty songs, No, when 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.400 Jesus saw their faith. And incidentally, this is the first 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.520 time that the noun faith is mentioned in Luke's gospel. 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:11.800 It didn't say faith when Peter put his nets down 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.520 for a catch. It didn't say faith about the man 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.640 who was cured of leprosy just before this. It didn't 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:19.560 say faith about the man who had a demon driven 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:21.959 out in the synagogue. But here it says when Jesus 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:30.720 saw their faith, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven. Now. 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:32.760 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.560 to themselves, who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.680 can forgive sins? But God alone. Jesus knew what they 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.040 were thinking and asked, why are you thinking these things 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.800 in your hearts? Which is easier to say your sins 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.280 are forgiven, or to say get up and walk, But 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.760 I want you to know that the Son of Man 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:56.680 has authority on earth to forgive sins. So he said 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:02.360 to the paralyzed man, I tell you get up, take 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:08.240 your mat, and go home. Immediately he stood up in 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.360 front of them, took what he had been lying on, 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.360 and went home, praising God. Oh I just saw a 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:22.800 preview of somebody's future. He went home praising God. You know, 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:24.960 you came in kind of slow today, but you're going 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.960 home praising God. Just elbow your neighbor in their rib 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:30.960 cage and say you're going home praising. 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:33.360 Wlim reverse. 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:35.840 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:41.920 filled with awe and said, we have seen remarkable things today. 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:44.360 Thank you Lord for your word. 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:51.959 Now, this encounter between Jesus and the paralyzed man is 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:56.880 really hiding a deeper encounter between Jesus and the religious system. 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:02.959 The Pharisees, the teachers of the law, these ruling class 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:07.640 elites in Judaism had come to not necessarily learn from Jesus, 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:14.160 but maybe they came to see if he was doing 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:18.440 things the right way according to the law. And Jesus 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.920 did not come to abolish the law like it was bad. 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.920 He came to fulfill it because we can't. One of 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.959 the scriptures I memorized in college said that what the 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.319 law was powerless to do in that it was weakened 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.560 by the sinful nature. God did by sending his son 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.959 in the likeness of sinful man, to be a sin offering. 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.600 So whenever you read about Jesus doing. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:44.320 Something in the Bible where he's healing or feeding or teaching, 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:48.240 remember his primary purpose for coming to the earth was 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:52.280 to pay the price for your sin, to establish his 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:57.880 kingdom so that we could be forgiven and free. In 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.959 the process of this, he taught amazing things, and he 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.760 healed people who were indeed very grateful for their healing, 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.079 but his primary purpose was to demonstrate that he was 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.360 the son of God so that he could die, rise again, 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:15.560 and be forever glorified and exalted. This passage of Scripture 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.200 always got my attention because I'm a person who's prone 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.000 to extremes, and that's why I don't do many things 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:24.559 in life, because if I do it, I want to 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.200 really be good at it. I don't want to suck 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:31.240 at anything, and that's kept me very limited in my life. 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:32.439 I don't hunt, I don't fish. 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:36.120 I barely even watch TV because I don't know if 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:37.880 I can find the best show to watch. 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.079 I'll shop for three hours and not watch anything, just 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.079 because I wanted to be the best one, the right one, 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:46.200 the good one. I don't think I've ever really been 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:50.160 short on effort and drive, so that's why I was 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.280 drawn to this particular verse. I don't know what part 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.880 caught your attention in the passage, and I don't know 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:57.760 if you've ever heard this story before, but the thing 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:01.319 that really got me this time around eating it was 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:05.280 in verse eighteen, where it said some men came carrying 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.360 a paralyzed man on a mat. 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.040 And tried to take him into the house to lay 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.440 him before Jesus. So like I have the. 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.400 Benefit of having preached this passage many times, I know 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:23.120 that it's recorded in Mark's Gospel, Matthew's Gospel, and Luke's Gospel. 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:28.240 In Matthew's Gospel, it doesn't say anything about the removal 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.080 of the roof, because that wasn't really the whole point 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.560 of the passage. You know, roofs come and go, apparently, 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:40.160 but the righteousness of God endures forever something like that. 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:45.040 The passage in Mark is a little bit more exact. 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:50.600 It talks about how many men there were. There were four, well, 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.720 there were five, well, there were six. There was the 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:55.560 four men that carried the one man to bring him 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.280 to the other man, who wasn't just a man, but 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.440 he was God in the flesh. His name is Jesus. 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.480 Somebody shout, he's the man. Okay, let's don't get it confused. 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.480 He's the man. Jesus is the man, and he's so 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.320 popular he's preaching and nobody can get in the room. 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:16.680 And that's what got me, okay, because if you be honest, 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:20.320 there are certain things in your life right now and 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:22.440 areas of your life, and I don't know if you're 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:24.160 gonna look at me with that really confused look like 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.080 you do sometimes where you pretend like everything in your 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:27.840 life is working and everything in your life is straight 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:29.720 and organized and together. I don't know if you're gonna 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.120 do that to me on this particular sermon, or if 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:33.000 you're gonna be honest with me. 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:35.920 There are some areas of your life where you are blocked. 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.680 There are some areas in your life where you are 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.440 running your head up against the same habit, the same wall, 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:48.800 the same way of doing it, over and over again. 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:52.120 And even if you experience short term victory, it seems 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:53.840 to be just a precursor to a deeper point of 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.080 disappointment when you fall back into the same thing again. 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.840 So y'all are gonna do like that today, that real 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:02.080 confused thing. Okay. 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:08.040 So I have areas in my life where at certain 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.600 times before I have been blocked. And that's exactly the 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.400 scene here, right, They're trying to bring this man to 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.920 Jesus and they are blocked outside the door. Now Here, 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:21.560 I should differentiate what the Bible says here is really 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:22.640 important because this is. 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:23.640 A specific word. 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.240 This is not just a generic Bible sermon on you 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.880 can do it. You can make it tin up. You 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.320 know this is not a go get them tiger kind 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.400 of sermon. This is a custom tailored message to a 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:38.840 certain type of block. 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.480 Because in verse eighteen put that back up there for me. 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.520 It says that some men came, four of them, carrying 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:51.720 a paralyzed man on a mat, and tried to take 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:55.640 him into the house to lay him before Jesus. They 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.000 did what they came, carr well back all the way up. 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:03.240 They came carrying a paralyzed man and. 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.119 Tried. They tried. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.920 There have been times in my life where I said 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:20.720 I tried, but I only kind of tried. There have 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:25.320 been certain things that certain tasks, certain responsibilities, certain. 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:29.520 Goals that I kind of tried at. And you know 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.800 exactly the kind I'm talking about. You know, Oh, I 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.760 I tried to call them. You didn't want them to 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:38.280 pick up. 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.040 So when they didn't pick up, it was a sigh 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.240 of relief, just enough to say when your boss asked, 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:45.960 I tried. 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.359 Or as me as a teenager, I only had one 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:52.119 or two chores. 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.200 My parents didn't make me work very hard around the house, 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.159 but I didn't need to cut the grass sometimes and 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:57.880 then guess. 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.719 What I tried to cut the grass down, but there 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:02.600 was no gas. 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:08.280 In the lawnmower. And that man showed me. He showed 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:15.960 me the difference between trying and trimming the grass. You 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.639 like that because he showed me this is where the 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:22.040 gas is. This is how you put it in. Until 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.320 you put the gas that I bought in the first 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:27.200 place in the lawnmower that you claim as empty. 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.680 Don't say I tried, but I was only twelve. Now 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:31.680 now I'm much more responsible. 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.840 I'm much better at this and this passage of scripture. 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.280 It's not about a teenager who said, well, trug do 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:43.040 the test. 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.120 Put my book at the thing, and then the dog 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.280 and the thing, and the dog ate my dog ate 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:55.400 my mom, so I couldn't do my homework. These men, 0:18:56.280 --> 0:19:00.200 I just need to give you this. These men carry. 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:07.840 Another grown man who knows how many miles to. 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.320 Try to get him to Jesus. 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.760 So this is not They said, oh, yeah, I'll pray 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.000 for you about that problem in your life, knowing good 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:20.680 and well, you're not going to pray. You're just trying 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.159 to wrap up the conversation. You just don't want to 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:25.160 give them any money. You just don't want to help 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.399 them get in rehab. You just say I'll pray for you. 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:29.840 This is not that type of situation. 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:31.159 And I want to point that. 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:35.200 Out because there are some times in your life where 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:36.399 you haven't really tried. 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:40.000 Reading the first. 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:41.359 Chapter of the book about. 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:42.960 The diet is not trying the diet. 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:52.320 Comeing to church three times in twelve months is not 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:58.520 really trying to build your relationship with God. That's a 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:03.440 frequent attender right there. She's got the membership guard. And 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:05.359 I'm not saying it to shame you, because I'm telling 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.320 you there are areas in my life where I say 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:09.399 I tried did I? 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:12.560 Where I say I listened? 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:17.920 Did I. I have this friend who coaches professional athletes CEOs. 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:21.000 He does all this mental coaching, and he says when 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:24.320 he hears somebody say this phrase, he loves it because. 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.399 He sets them up. They say I want to do it. 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:34.040 I've tried everything, And when they say that, he goes, oh, everything, 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:36.560 you've tried everything. 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:41.840 Okay, let me see the list and they go what list? 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:44.920 And he goes, well, I mean if you tried everything, 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:50.600 certainly you kept a spreadsheet of everything you tried, because 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.880 if you really tried everything, then you had to list. 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.119 Everything so you could evaluate what worked and what didn't. 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.280 So if you tried everything, bring me the list, because 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.000 if you tried everything, then you had to combine certain 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:07.960 things in certain sequences to say I tried everything. So 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.280 you tried this and that and that didn't work. So 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:14.120 then you tried this, then that, so then you tried 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.320 this and that. Let me see the list where you 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:21.960 tried everything, and he said. At this point, they crumble, Okay, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.040 not everything. Not everything. 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:30.760 There are some things in our lives where we have 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.199 a desire. I like to call it a cycle. 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:39.639 It's a cycle where I get inspired, I try, I 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:45.440 get tired, and now, well I tried. Let me walk 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:47.879 you back through that real slow. Y'all can do this 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:51.000 on digging deeper and you can break this down. I'm inspired, 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:55.399 I'm trying. I'm tired. 0:21:56.680 --> 0:21:57.160 I tried. 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:00.440 I talked to a lady. I said, you should to church. 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:04.560 She said, oh, I tried. I said, you tried. She said, yeah, 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:05.920 I can't. They made men go in a different room. 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.639 It was like the room was full. I said, what 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:10.840 time did you get there? She said ninety three. I said, 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:14.800 you know it starts at nine thirty, so you know 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:17.520 if you had tried, like even ten minutes earlier, you 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:18.840 probably could have snuck in the top. 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:20.600 But she tried. 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:25.400 Do you do you have an area of your life 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:30.480 right now where you have said I tried, or you're 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:34.000 telling yourself. I tried everything to get through to my kid. 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:38.320 I tried everything to make that better. I tried everything everything. 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:43.640 Show me the list, and yet for those. 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:45.400 Of you who are like God, I should have skipped today. 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:51.159 He's making me feel terrible. The message that I came. 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:54.160 To bring you today is not that I don't think 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:59.560 you're actually trying, or that you just need to try harder, 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:02.560 because that's where we take this a lot of times, 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:05.760 right Like, all right, I'm gonna work out eight days 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:08.879 a week, nine days a week with God. There's always 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:11.639 a way by faith, I will find it. I'll make 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:14.399 another day in the week. I'll put another star in 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:21.080 the sky. I'll do another one, y'all. I don't think 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:25.560 you can try much harder than these men try. 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.680 They carried a grown man all. 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:34.120 The way to see this wonder working rebel priest named Jesus, 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:38.680 who was healing people and teaching the kingdom and laying 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:42.399 down the authority of the word of God in an 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:45.639 incarnate way that amazed everybody that hurt him. And they 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.040 bring this man on a mat and he can't do 0:23:48.160 --> 0:23:51.400 anything for himself, and there were only four of them, 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:55.520 and I don't care what you bench. Four people carrying 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:59.640 one grown man who can't move for any distance. 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:01.560 Counts as trying. 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:04.159 So they tried to. 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:07.200 Get in, and the Bible says something very interesting. It 0:24:07.240 --> 0:24:10.160 says because of the crowd, they couldn't find a way. 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:13.520 And so I don't think this is a passage talking about. 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:15.640 How more effort will bring greater results. 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:17.760 And I think a lot of times the reason we 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:22.240 go from inspired to trying, to tired to tried is 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:26.800 because we try harder, harder, harder, harder. What happens is 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:30.280 you try harder and harder and harder and harder, it 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:34.080 gets heavier and heavier and heavier and heavier. And some 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:36.520 of you are here today and you're going, well, I 0:24:36.640 --> 0:24:39.200 did try, or I would try, But every time I 0:24:39.320 --> 0:24:41.680 try to try, I can't even try to try because 0:24:41.720 --> 0:24:43.440 I trip on the things that I tried for in 0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:46.520 the past, and I'm trying now, But it's what happened 0:24:46.560 --> 0:24:49.040 then that makes me unable to try. You don't see 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:52.600 the injuries that I've been through to know that I'm trying, 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:58.440 say trying. Look, I'm not preaching to a person today 0:24:58.440 --> 0:25:01.800 who's not trying. Because you chose to bring your heart 0:25:02.160 --> 0:25:04.600 into an environment where you could hear the word of God, 0:25:07.040 --> 0:25:10.000 even if you did skip church and watch it later sometime, 0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:15.280 you're hearing this because you are trying. They tried to 0:25:15.480 --> 0:25:20.800 bring him to Jesus. They tried, honestly, they tried, valiantly. 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:22.000 I didn't see. 0:25:21.840 --> 0:25:27.320 Anybody else in the passage carrying a paralyzed man. I 0:25:27.400 --> 0:25:33.119 didn't see the Pharisees carrying anybody on a mat. I 0:25:33.200 --> 0:25:36.159 didn't see the religious teachers trying to help anybody. You know, 0:25:36.520 --> 0:25:39.800 the truth of it is, you haven't really struggled. You 0:25:39.920 --> 0:25:43.600 haven't really experienced struggle until you stepped in to try 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:44.960 to bring somebody else. 0:25:44.840 --> 0:25:54.040 With you along the journey. So they tried. And I 0:25:54.160 --> 0:25:56.920 want to do something right now that may seem sacrilegious, 0:25:57.680 --> 0:25:59.080 but I need to do it to get the point across. 0:25:59.240 --> 0:26:02.560 Because there's somebody I'm preaching to you and you are blocked, 0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:11.320 but you've tried. You blocked, You've been blocked, but you 0:26:11.440 --> 0:26:15.880 have tried it's very different. Then I just didn't even 0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:17.520 try it. I just didn't even do it. I just 0:26:17.600 --> 0:26:20.600 didn't It's very different. It's a different kind of tired 0:26:20.640 --> 0:26:26.400 when you've really tried. That's why I like to preach 0:26:26.480 --> 0:26:30.360 to youth sometimes, because they haven't even really tried yet. 0:26:30.520 --> 0:26:32.879 They haven't even got tired of themselves yet. They're not 0:26:32.960 --> 0:26:34.200 even sick of themselves yet. 0:26:35.280 --> 0:26:36.399 You know, I don't even have to do. 0:26:36.600 --> 0:26:38.119 It, have the work I have to do with you 0:26:38.200 --> 0:26:42.240 when I preach to you all, y'all, over thirty people, 0:26:43.040 --> 0:26:47.000 over forty people, over fifty people. I'm tired of this. 0:26:47.960 --> 0:26:50.160 I tried everything you're up there talking about. I tried 0:26:50.160 --> 0:26:52.880 all of that. And now look, they tried, and Verse 0:26:52.920 --> 0:26:58.159 eighteen says that they couldn't get in, but they tried 0:26:58.240 --> 0:27:01.199 to take him into the house, lay him before Jesus. 0:27:01.480 --> 0:27:03.000 And here's what I want to show you in verse 0:27:03.119 --> 0:27:06.080 nineteen is what they did and what they could have 0:27:06.160 --> 0:27:11.960 done when they could not find a way to do this, 0:27:12.359 --> 0:27:17.240 what to bring this man to Jesus because of the crowd. 0:27:17.440 --> 0:27:19.200 They went up on the roof and lowered him on 0:27:19.320 --> 0:27:22.040 his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, 0:27:22.119 --> 0:27:23.040 right in front of Jesus. 0:27:23.880 --> 0:27:24.440 Now, I love that. 0:27:26.080 --> 0:27:29.360 What I love about it, though, is it says when 0:27:29.400 --> 0:27:33.760 they could not find a way to do this what 0:27:33.920 --> 0:27:40.720 they originally intended to do because of the crowd, and 0:27:40.800 --> 0:27:46.200 then there's a comma. It doesn't say that they started 0:27:46.560 --> 0:27:50.360 a fight in the parking lot so their friend could 0:27:50.359 --> 0:27:53.800 get in. I love that because do something for me 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:56.160 real quick. This might disturb you, but I want y'all 0:27:56.200 --> 0:27:59.480 to take away the second part of that verse. So 0:28:00.000 --> 0:28:01.760 they could not find a way to do this because 0:28:01.800 --> 0:28:03.840 of the crowd, comma, Now take away the rest. 0:28:07.000 --> 0:28:11.600 What would you do next in that situation? What are 0:28:11.720 --> 0:28:13.920 you doing in that situation? 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:17.639 Because if we make a few substitutions here, we're not 0:28:17.720 --> 0:28:20.520 talking about four men that lived two thousand years ago anymore. 0:28:21.600 --> 0:28:26.520 We're talking about you. When they could not find a way. 0:28:27.320 --> 0:28:32.000 Because of the crowd, comma, they looked at each other 0:28:32.119 --> 0:28:39.800 and said, well, we tried and turned around and went home. 0:28:42.080 --> 0:28:46.440 This story would probably not be in the Bible. If 0:28:46.480 --> 0:28:49.200 the men brought the man all the way to Jesus, 0:28:50.280 --> 0:28:55.240 encountered resistance at the door, tried, begged, bribed, I'll do anything, 0:28:55.480 --> 0:28:57.960 don't you see this man needs help now? See you're 0:28:57.960 --> 0:29:00.760 wondering the same thing I wondered. Why wouldn't somebody else 0:29:00.840 --> 0:29:04.480 give him their spot? But paralyzed people were not given 0:29:04.560 --> 0:29:08.680 special access in this time. There were no handicapped spots 0:29:08.760 --> 0:29:11.360 in this time for people in this condition. In fact, 0:29:11.800 --> 0:29:14.440 it was often seen as a sign of God's divine 0:29:14.520 --> 0:29:17.640 displeasure on your life if you had something physically wrong. 0:29:18.160 --> 0:29:20.920 So they assumed there's something that you are not doing 0:29:21.160 --> 0:29:23.920 right that has caused your legs to not be able 0:29:24.000 --> 0:29:26.800 to work, So they would actually ostracize you. 0:29:27.400 --> 0:29:30.120 Rather than including you, they would exclude you. 0:29:30.680 --> 0:29:32.880 So the man on the mat didn't get a special 0:29:32.960 --> 0:29:35.880 spot for having no ability to walk. In fact, he 0:29:36.040 --> 0:29:39.880 had more obstacles. The one who needed it the most 0:29:40.480 --> 0:29:43.320 had the least access to it. And might I just 0:29:43.440 --> 0:29:45.880 ask a question, Church, why do we make it so 0:29:46.080 --> 0:29:49.200 hard for people to come to God sometimes? Why do 0:29:49.320 --> 0:29:51.920 we put up so many restrictions for people to come 0:29:51.960 --> 0:29:53.160 into the presence of God? 0:29:53.840 --> 0:29:55.080 Why do we judge. 0:29:54.840 --> 0:29:57.680 Others for struggling with stuff that if we were in 0:29:57.800 --> 0:30:01.360 a situation, we might have the same struggle or truth 0:30:01.520 --> 0:30:04.440 be told, why do we judge people for stuff that 0:30:04.600 --> 0:30:07.600 we haven't been even free from ourselves for five years. 0:30:08.120 --> 0:30:10.320 Why do we judge people for stuff that. 0:30:10.440 --> 0:30:13.320 If they showed everything we thought about on a movie screen, 0:30:13.760 --> 0:30:15.480 we would be embarrassed. 0:30:14.880 --> 0:30:27.160 About it too. So I'm glad these men didn't start 0:30:27.240 --> 0:30:27.760 a fight. 0:30:28.480 --> 0:30:30.560 Because if they start a fight, they go to prison 0:30:30.600 --> 0:30:31.640 and their friend doesn't. 0:30:31.400 --> 0:30:34.480 Have a ride home. How do you deal with it? 0:30:34.560 --> 0:30:36.400 Put the half verse up again, because I want you 0:30:36.480 --> 0:30:38.960 to think about how you're going to finish this sentence 0:30:39.040 --> 0:30:39.920 in your life right now. 0:30:40.360 --> 0:30:44.560 When they could not find a way because of the crowd, 0:30:46.080 --> 0:30:49.520 When they could not find a way because of the debt, 0:30:52.080 --> 0:30:56.200 when they could not find a way because of the genetics, 0:30:58.160 --> 0:31:01.960 when they could not find a way because of the addiction, 0:31:03.480 --> 0:31:06.080 When they could not find a way because of the 0:31:06.520 --> 0:31:10.640 broken heart, when they could not find a way because 0:31:10.680 --> 0:31:14.160 of the divorce, when they could not find a way 0:31:14.280 --> 0:31:18.320 because of the betrayal, when they could not find a 0:31:18.400 --> 0:31:22.640 way because of their boss. I'm coming all through this crowd. 0:31:22.880 --> 0:31:25.440 I'm coming all through this crowd. I'm coming all through 0:31:25.520 --> 0:31:30.720 this crowd until I find that place where you've been 0:31:31.280 --> 0:31:34.040 blocked because I came with a word from God today. 0:31:34.440 --> 0:31:35.680 There's always a way. 0:31:37.080 --> 0:31:37.560 With God. 0:31:38.960 --> 0:31:44.040 Somebody shout with God. There's always a way, And just 0:31:44.080 --> 0:31:46.239 because I don't see it when I first show up, 0:31:46.760 --> 0:31:49.160 and just because I can't point to it yet, and 0:31:49.400 --> 0:31:52.400 just because it's not obvious, and just because I can't 0:31:52.440 --> 0:31:55.000 really get my truck through there, and just because I 0:31:55.080 --> 0:31:57.800 can't get there dancing, and just because I can't get 0:31:57.840 --> 0:32:00.240 there in style, and just because of m be a 0:32:00.280 --> 0:32:03.080 few years late, and just because somebody told me you 0:32:03.200 --> 0:32:06.040 can't go this way, and people like you can't do that, 0:32:06.440 --> 0:32:09.960 and people from our background can't rise there. With God, 0:32:11.440 --> 0:32:21.440 there's always a way. Yeah, high five your neighbors say, 0:32:21.600 --> 0:32:27.480 always means always. And if the first way didn't work, 0:32:27.520 --> 0:32:33.720 there must be another one, because with God, there's always. Now, 0:32:33.920 --> 0:32:36.800 imagine you show up and you're like, okay, well, I mean, 0:32:36.920 --> 0:32:38.840 this is the way we're supposed to go through, and 0:32:38.960 --> 0:32:40.760 this is the way you're supposed to work, and the 0:32:40.840 --> 0:32:41.400 fair season. 0:32:41.440 --> 0:32:43.320 The teachers in the law are more important. 0:32:43.000 --> 0:32:45.320 Than us anyway, and so if they've got the good seats, 0:32:45.360 --> 0:32:46.360 we might as well go away. 0:32:46.880 --> 0:32:47.480 This is you. 0:32:49.120 --> 0:32:58.920 Stopping your miracle, your maturity, your ministry, your legacy, your 0:32:59.120 --> 0:33:07.320 freedom because you stop mid sentence. How does this sentence end? 0:33:07.440 --> 0:33:09.760 Give me the half sentence again. When they could not 0:33:09.960 --> 0:33:12.360 find a way to do this because of the crowd, 0:33:13.600 --> 0:33:19.280 they turned around and went home, which they had every 0:33:19.360 --> 0:33:23.040 right to do, because they already did more than anybody 0:33:23.120 --> 0:33:27.959 else in the whole passage except Jesus. They already did 0:33:28.040 --> 0:33:29.960 more than the Pharisees. What were the Pharisees doing again? 0:33:30.040 --> 0:33:31.720 Let me look at verse seventeen, Verse seventeen. Up there, 0:33:31.760 --> 0:33:32.880 I just won't see what the Phiseeas are doing. The 0:33:32.920 --> 0:33:34.680 ones who filed sid an example, the one the'suplicy teaching 0:33:34.680 --> 0:33:36.880 a law. One of the Pharisee teachers of the law were. 0:33:40.680 --> 0:33:41.320 Sitting there. 0:33:44.280 --> 0:33:52.800 Like they're about to judge Jesus. Yeah, like they're about 0:33:52.840 --> 0:33:55.320 to judge Jesus, like they're. 0:33:55.120 --> 0:34:01.120 About to catch him doing something wrong. I don't know 0:34:01.200 --> 0:34:05.479 whether to say this or to say that. You think 0:34:05.520 --> 0:34:06.080 I should say it. 0:34:07.360 --> 0:34:09.879 I don't know if you could handle it. I don't 0:34:09.920 --> 0:34:14.319 know you can hand all right. It's in the same verse. 0:34:14.400 --> 0:34:15.960 They were sitting there, they were teaching the law. 0:34:16.000 --> 0:34:17.800 They had come from our village of Gali and Judea 0:34:18.000 --> 0:34:21.719 and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with Jesus. 0:34:23.200 --> 0:34:29.360 Told you you weren't ready the power of the Lord. 0:34:30.760 --> 0:34:38.120 Wasn't with them. The power of the Lord was with 0:34:44.080 --> 0:34:54.520 I think you need to take your power back from people, yeah, 0:34:56.760 --> 0:35:03.880 and bring that thing to Jesus, because the power is 0:35:04.000 --> 0:35:08.200 not with them. The power is not with them. I'm 0:35:08.280 --> 0:35:10.880 not saying God can't use people. I just told you 0:35:10.960 --> 0:35:15.120 to join any group. But what I am saying is 0:35:15.239 --> 0:35:18.759 that there have been times in your life where you 0:35:18.880 --> 0:35:24.720 have thought that people needed to give you permission, people 0:35:24.800 --> 0:35:27.320 needed to cheer you on, people needed to understand you. 0:35:27.800 --> 0:35:30.240 Do you know what I would say in this pulpit 0:35:30.400 --> 0:35:34.040 If I needed every person to vote before I said it, 0:35:35.800 --> 0:35:39.080 the sermon would be so short we wouldn't even need 0:35:39.200 --> 0:35:42.800 to come. So there has to come a point in 0:35:42.920 --> 0:35:47.960 your life where you decide that I'm not going to 0:35:48.040 --> 0:35:51.000 spend another minute trying to convince people. 0:35:52.800 --> 0:35:54.200 Of what I need to believe. 0:35:53.960 --> 0:35:54.560 Jesus for. 0:35:57.000 --> 0:35:59.000 I don't mean don't be nice. I don't mean don't 0:35:59.040 --> 0:36:02.800 make friends. I don't mean don't be congenial. I'm just 0:36:02.880 --> 0:36:05.520 saying that there's nothing that these teachers of the law 0:36:05.640 --> 0:36:12.160 can do to stop God from doing what God has 0:36:12.280 --> 0:36:16.680 made up his mind to do. The Power of the 0:36:16.800 --> 0:36:20.680 Lord is with Jesus. Jesus is the. 0:36:20.800 --> 0:36:21.520 Son of God. 0:36:22.239 --> 0:36:25.960 If Jesus is in the house, healing is in the house. 0:36:26.520 --> 0:36:29.960 If Jesus is in the house, freedom is in the house. 0:36:30.560 --> 0:36:34.000 If Jesus gives the command and faith makes. 0:36:33.840 --> 0:36:37.080 The move, then the glory of God will be the result. 0:36:37.520 --> 0:36:40.200 How many are glad that the power is with Jesus, 0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:50.520 all right? So they try to get in, they can't 0:36:50.560 --> 0:36:54.600 get in. This is me every time I try, I'm inspired, 0:36:54.920 --> 0:36:59.000 I'm trying. I try harder, I try harder. It gets heavier, 0:36:59.280 --> 0:37:01.239 it gets heavier. This is what keeping the laws like. 0:37:01.320 --> 0:37:02.719 This is what trying to be right with God through 0:37:02.760 --> 0:37:05.240 your works is right. This is what discipline without actual 0:37:05.400 --> 0:37:07.880 grace in your life. This is what not accepting your 0:37:08.360 --> 0:37:10.799 current lot in life and being grateful for it while 0:37:10.840 --> 0:37:17.160 aspiring to what you do. This is trying harder, harder, harder, harder, harder, heavier, heavier, 0:37:17.640 --> 0:37:23.239 heavier inspired. Let's take our friend to Jesus tired, he 0:37:23.520 --> 0:37:29.479 was heavy. Well, we tried give me my half sentence again. 0:37:30.440 --> 0:37:32.120 Watch what. 0:37:33.719 --> 0:37:35.520 They did. 0:37:36.800 --> 0:37:40.480 Oh, I loved the Bible. When they could not find 0:37:42.520 --> 0:37:47.600 a way to do this because of the crowd. 0:37:47.680 --> 0:37:49.600 That's what's right in front of you, and you can't 0:37:49.640 --> 0:37:52.719 push through it, and you can't go over it, can't 0:37:52.800 --> 0:37:53.040 go on. 0:37:56.160 --> 0:37:58.360 When they could not find a way to do this 0:37:59.400 --> 0:38:05.000 because of the row, now finish the verse. They went. 0:38:06.400 --> 0:38:06.520 Up. 0:38:07.719 --> 0:38:15.040 The spirit of the Lord says, don't try harder, try higher. 0:38:18.480 --> 0:38:22.440 Oh Holly, Ferdie, come preaching this thing. If it's just 0:38:22.520 --> 0:38:23.040 for me and you. 0:38:23.400 --> 0:38:29.200 I hear God saying, try higher, try higher, try higher, 0:38:30.080 --> 0:38:32.959 try higher, because see there's plenty of room on the roof. 0:38:35.600 --> 0:38:40.399 See there's plenty of room on the roof. I said, 0:38:40.440 --> 0:38:43.680 there's plenty of room on the roof. It's not that 0:38:43.800 --> 0:38:47.080 you hadn't tried hard enough. You've been trying. You got 0:38:47.160 --> 0:38:50.600 dirt under your fingernails, you came a long way, you 0:38:50.719 --> 0:38:53.360 did a lot of stuff. It's not that you haven't 0:38:53.440 --> 0:38:58.440 tried harder. It's that you haven't tried higher. And I 0:38:58.680 --> 0:39:04.799 know a man, I said, I know a man. Give 0:39:04.880 --> 0:39:08.040 me my camera so I can preach it. I want 0:39:08.080 --> 0:39:12.040 to preach it from Milwaukee to Mosambique. I'm no a 0:39:12.200 --> 0:39:15.440 name that is above every name. 0:39:16.440 --> 0:39:20.680 For God has given Jesus the name that is above. 0:39:20.760 --> 0:39:26.279 Every day that the name of Jesus, every name had 0:39:26.320 --> 0:39:27.160 Scott him. 0:39:27.040 --> 0:39:33.440 The house and Henry to them has Scott him the best. 0:39:35.360 --> 0:39:38.200 Hat five three people say I'm going higher. 0:39:39.360 --> 0:39:50.480 Higher, higher, fire, not harder, higher, not harder, hire, not harder, fire. 0:39:50.680 --> 0:39:55.280 Not harder fire. Look by my flesh, y my face, 0:39:55.680 --> 0:40:00.560 whose whip? My God? There's alway soway. Then I try 0:40:02.840 --> 0:40:03.800 not fun mine. 0:40:04.960 --> 0:40:11.520 They don't fuck brower, but find the spirit. I hear 0:40:11.719 --> 0:40:15.800 John the Revelator saying, come up higher, come up higher, 0:40:16.280 --> 0:40:23.959 come up higher, high, now. 0:40:23.920 --> 0:40:26.120 High five everybody you can reach and say. 0:40:25.960 --> 0:40:32.640 I'm going up, whether you come or not, higher, higher, higher. Oh, 0:40:32.760 --> 0:40:35.799 now I get it. It's not that I wasn't doing enough. 0:40:36.520 --> 0:40:39.239 It's not that I wasn't trying enough. It said I 0:40:39.400 --> 0:40:42.840 wasn't trusting enough, because I kept thinking if I couldn't 0:40:42.840 --> 0:40:44.480 get in the way I wanted to get in, it 0:40:44.600 --> 0:40:45.279 wasn't it to be. 0:40:46.160 --> 0:40:49.360 No, it's not trying harder. I don't have to force it. 0:40:49.840 --> 0:40:50.600 I can make it. 0:40:51.000 --> 0:40:56.080 Why fake trusting him who was and is and is 0:40:56.320 --> 0:41:00.320 to come. So that means I don't go by what 0:41:00.480 --> 0:41:04.760 I see. I don't try harder. 0:41:06.360 --> 0:41:09.160 If I just had to try harder than Christ died 0:41:09.200 --> 0:41:18.680 for nothing. The gospel isn't try harder, it's try because 0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:22.800 if you ever call his name, He will reach down 0:41:23.719 --> 0:41:24.680 and get you up. 0:41:25.400 --> 0:41:27.960 Do I have three witnesses in the. 0:41:28.120 --> 0:41:33.960 Whole church that if you ever humble yourself and say, 0:41:34.040 --> 0:41:35.480 Almighty Father, I need. 0:41:35.400 --> 0:41:41.719 To right now, He'll look upon you with mercy and 0:41:42.000 --> 0:41:44.640 grace and compassion and. 0:41:44.920 --> 0:41:46.920 Help for your time of me. 0:41:54.640 --> 0:41:58.040 That's the word I needed, man, because sometimes it gets 0:41:58.080 --> 0:42:03.440 heavy because I try harderhiher. But God said, try higher. 0:42:05.120 --> 0:42:07.919 Be like these dudes who said, can't get in, can't 0:42:07.920 --> 0:42:11.480 get in, can't get in, gotta go up. We'll get 0:42:11.520 --> 0:42:14.200 you a picture again. Can't get in, can't get in, 0:42:14.680 --> 0:42:16.400 can't get in, gotta go up. 0:42:17.840 --> 0:42:23.040 And you are saying to me, pastor Stephen, what exactly 0:42:23.239 --> 0:42:24.399 does that mean? 0:42:24.680 --> 0:42:25.520 Sit down? I'll tell you. 0:42:27.239 --> 0:42:30.359 Somebody say, try higher, because I know there's a way. 0:42:30.360 --> 0:42:34.120 Because with God there's always a way. By faith, I 0:42:34.160 --> 0:42:36.680 will find it. What is faith? Faith is when I 0:42:36.760 --> 0:42:39.239 get my eyes above the waves and put it on 0:42:39.320 --> 0:42:42.000 the one who can sneak one word to the waves 0:42:42.040 --> 0:42:44.319 and make them be still. You think God can't bring 0:42:44.400 --> 0:42:46.960 your kid back, You think God can't fix this thing. 0:42:47.160 --> 0:42:49.560 If you think God can't turn an industry around, you 0:42:49.680 --> 0:42:52.520 think God can't raise you up. In a famine, I said. 0:42:52.400 --> 0:42:59.000 Try higher, Try higher, try higher. Maybe ought to close 0:42:59.080 --> 0:43:01.320 a news app in a Bible app every once in 0:43:01.400 --> 0:43:01.680 a while. 0:43:01.800 --> 0:43:05.640 So hire, what does God say? What does his words say? 0:43:06.000 --> 0:43:08.480 I didn't come here to debate about it. I came 0:43:08.560 --> 0:43:12.000 here to declare it. God says, I'm going over, not under. 0:43:12.400 --> 0:43:15.120 God says, I'm the heading off the tail. God said, 0:43:15.120 --> 0:43:18.120 I'm a puffing, not beneath. He said, I'm sitting. 0:43:19.480 --> 0:43:19.880 See that. 0:43:25.719 --> 0:43:27.600 Now, high five your neighbor again, because I'm gonna tell 0:43:27.600 --> 0:43:31.320 you five things. I need some too. Come on, I 0:43:31.360 --> 0:43:32.719 need some to don't leave me out. Don't leave me out. 0:43:32.719 --> 0:43:34.759 Don't let me out, don't let me out. I got 0:43:34.840 --> 0:43:36.920 five you want to write them down? God said, I'm 0:43:36.920 --> 0:43:38.160 gonna tell you how to try hid Hi. 0:43:38.360 --> 0:43:40.080 I'm gonna tell you try higher, now, harder, so you 0:43:40.080 --> 0:43:41.480 don't just go and go. That was pretty good. And 0:43:41.560 --> 0:43:43.680 I think he blew out his vocal cords trying to 0:43:43.680 --> 0:43:45.560 tell me something and all that. I don't know what 0:43:45.640 --> 0:43:47.160 I think about preacher rapping or nothing like. 0:43:47.200 --> 0:43:48.600 That on the thing on the video. And I don't 0:43:48.600 --> 0:43:49.680 even know if he had much flow or. 0:43:49.640 --> 0:43:52.040 Anything like that. I really don't know about that Cardigan. 0:43:52.080 --> 0:43:54.440 What was that thing you're wearing. I don't know about that, 0:43:54.840 --> 0:43:57.080 So you don't leave here, just some so stupid stuff. 0:43:59.160 --> 0:44:02.279 I wrote down five thanks. I thought I had them 0:44:02.320 --> 0:44:03.960 in my pocket, but they're back there in the pulpit. 0:44:04.200 --> 0:44:08.759 Let's see if I can remember them. Once said, God 0:44:08.800 --> 0:44:15.640 said it's gonna take prayer. Now you know why I 0:44:15.719 --> 0:44:18.839 came over here. They put on my sheet. They said, 0:44:18.880 --> 0:44:23.320 the online prayer team is coming today. I said, I 0:44:23.440 --> 0:44:25.080 know I got the right word. I know I've got 0:44:25.120 --> 0:44:28.120 the right word. Forty two of y'all while we're having 0:44:28.200 --> 0:44:30.000 church y'all their online praying for. 0:44:30.040 --> 0:44:31.239 The people in the comments section. 0:44:35.600 --> 0:44:38.600 Every time I tell somebody, every time I tell somebody, 0:44:38.640 --> 0:44:39.520 put your thing in the chat and. 0:44:39.520 --> 0:44:41.040 We'll pray for you. I know they go, all right, 0:44:41.120 --> 0:44:41.600 tried to pray? 0:44:41.880 --> 0:44:47.920 Did you did you pray about it? Or did you 0:44:47.960 --> 0:44:51.520 hold on hondah? Did you worry about it and label 0:44:51.560 --> 0:44:57.400 it prayer? Because those are different. I had to sit 0:44:57.480 --> 0:44:59.200 down on the side of the bed the other day. 0:45:00.640 --> 0:45:02.480 I was having shortness of breath about some things that 0:45:02.520 --> 0:45:05.680 I was worried about, and I put my feet down 0:45:07.040 --> 0:45:10.520 and I said, they're not moving until I say out 0:45:10.560 --> 0:45:13.640 loud to my father, who I remember that he is, 0:45:15.360 --> 0:45:17.080 and begin to get myself into a condition because I 0:45:17.080 --> 0:45:20.640 don't feel that right now. And I felt blocked. You 0:45:20.680 --> 0:45:23.560 ever feel blocked, anybody let me. Sometimes you get so 0:45:23.600 --> 0:45:27.080 blocked you can't even breathe right, Yeah, yeah, So I 0:45:27.120 --> 0:45:29.040 had to put my feet on the ground. And if 0:45:29.080 --> 0:45:30.480 you had asked me, I would have said, yeah, yeah, No, 0:45:30.520 --> 0:45:33.320 I prayed about this, but I didn't pray about it today. 0:45:35.239 --> 0:45:42.000 You gotta keep praying. But you're gonna pray once and 0:45:42.080 --> 0:45:49.320 say I tried, it didn't work. You do that with restaurants. No, 0:45:49.440 --> 0:45:51.640 I ate back there in nineteen ninety seven. I'm good, 0:45:54.880 --> 0:45:56.880 And so sometimes it's heavy because I remember what they did. 0:45:57.040 --> 0:46:01.279 They brought the man before Jesus God, don't won't you 0:46:01.360 --> 0:46:02.839 just come out here and hear me preach and yell 0:46:02.920 --> 0:46:04.440 and scream and sing and all this stuff that we 0:46:04.520 --> 0:46:07.799 try to do and then go home and wonder while 0:46:07.840 --> 0:46:08.360 you're blocked. 0:46:09.320 --> 0:46:14.520 It's gonna take prayer for you to try higher. You 0:46:14.680 --> 0:46:15.120 need God. 0:46:15.239 --> 0:46:18.160 You need God in your situation. You need angels in 0:46:18.200 --> 0:46:20.359 your situation. You need the spirit of God to make 0:46:20.400 --> 0:46:22.040 it through some of the things we're going through today. 0:46:23.480 --> 0:46:27.040 You need prayer. I mean not just pray louder, because 0:46:27.080 --> 0:46:29.720 that's try harder, pray louder. Oh God, Oh. 0:46:29.640 --> 0:46:37.200 God, Oh God, God. 0:46:37.239 --> 0:46:39.120 I call on you now for peace. 0:46:40.239 --> 0:46:40.600 Peace. 0:46:44.520 --> 0:46:46.600 And it's not praying longer because all your people say, well, 0:46:46.640 --> 0:46:48.719 I try to pray, I'll fall asleep. Did you try 0:46:48.760 --> 0:46:52.879 it walking? That'll be real hard to do, to fall 0:46:52.960 --> 0:46:55.080 if you fall asleep prayer walking. Come see me, because 0:46:55.120 --> 0:46:58.360 you are a modern day Lazarus coming out like a 0:46:58.440 --> 0:47:02.040 zombie in prayer. But I'm serious. I'm talking about praying 0:47:02.200 --> 0:47:07.440 larger because number two, it's going to take. There's only 0:47:07.480 --> 0:47:09.920 five of these. I can get them quick to try 0:47:10.000 --> 0:47:16.600 higher means that God might need to deal with your priorities. Remember, 0:47:17.600 --> 0:47:20.160 it wasn't so significant who these men were, because they 0:47:20.160 --> 0:47:23.480 weren't even named in the passage. It was what they 0:47:23.520 --> 0:47:29.080 were carrying. They were carrying somebody that Jesus wanted to use. 0:47:29.840 --> 0:47:32.200 And notice something I don't know if you caught this. 0:47:33.520 --> 0:47:35.759 When they laid the sick man down, thinking Jesus would 0:47:35.760 --> 0:47:37.360 heal him like he was known to be able to do. 0:47:38.680 --> 0:47:43.080 The first thing Jesus did was say, you're forgiven. But 0:47:43.160 --> 0:47:47.399 they weren't looking for forgiveness, were they. But Sometimes God 0:47:47.440 --> 0:47:49.400 doesn't give us what we want the first time, does he? 0:47:50.920 --> 0:47:53.400 Sometimes he wants to do something deeper before he raises 0:47:53.480 --> 0:47:54.400 us higher, doesn't he. 0:47:57.800 --> 0:47:59.680 If y'all clap, I can move on to number three. 0:48:02.920 --> 0:48:06.720 Or say out or something, Because a lot of times 0:48:06.760 --> 0:48:08.800 in my life I've been more consumed with what it 0:48:08.920 --> 0:48:13.200 was costing me than what I was carrying. There was 0:48:13.239 --> 0:48:15.919 something significant about this man, and it was beyond any 0:48:16.000 --> 0:48:18.040 of their inkling of understanding what it would be. 0:48:18.480 --> 0:48:20.000 They thought, maybe our friend will get a miracle. 0:48:20.040 --> 0:48:21.680 They didn't know that he would be a sermon illustration 0:48:21.760 --> 0:48:23.480 that we'd be preaching about two thousand years later. 0:48:23.880 --> 0:48:26.759 Now, is it possible that try and. 0:48:26.840 --> 0:48:29.360 Hire is just about you saying God, I know what 0:48:29.440 --> 0:48:30.880 I think needs to happen, I know where I think 0:48:30.960 --> 0:48:31.480 is supposed to be. 0:48:31.560 --> 0:48:33.120 I know what I think was supposed to be the outcome. 0:48:33.440 --> 0:48:34.960 Is it possible that the word of God for you 0:48:35.160 --> 0:48:39.520 today might be let go of the outcome and surrender 0:48:39.600 --> 0:48:44.399 to God in the process, Because that's how you try higher, 0:48:46.360 --> 0:48:48.520 trying harder as just you're going to force it, force it, 0:48:48.680 --> 0:48:51.240 and sometimes you can even force something through the flesh 0:48:52.040 --> 0:48:54.279 that you'll be praying for God to take away later. 0:48:56.360 --> 0:48:59.040 You hear me, I'm annoying for somebody right now, and 0:48:59.080 --> 0:48:59.800 I don't know who it is. 0:49:01.000 --> 0:49:04.040 I hear God saying, you don't have to pray louder, longer, 0:49:05.200 --> 0:49:12.000 pray larger, priority, priority. Who are you fighting for? They 0:49:12.040 --> 0:49:14.880 were fighting for their friend. So if you're not fighting 0:49:14.920 --> 0:49:16.200 for anybody, give me the hat firs again. 0:49:16.520 --> 0:49:18.360 Verse eighteen. When they could not find a way to 0:49:18.400 --> 0:49:20.200 do this because of the crowd, they gave up and 0:49:20.239 --> 0:49:20.600 went home. 0:49:20.840 --> 0:49:23.799 There was something after the comma that they cared about, 0:49:24.920 --> 0:49:26.400 and it was something they were carrying. 0:49:27.200 --> 0:49:28.040 It was somebody. 0:49:29.480 --> 0:49:31.080 There has to come a time in your life where 0:49:31.080 --> 0:49:32.560 you say, I don't even want to do it for 0:49:32.680 --> 0:49:36.920 me right now, But maybe God wants to do something 0:49:37.040 --> 0:49:38.400 through me that's bigger than me. 0:49:38.840 --> 0:49:42.040 Maybe it's not always about me. That's how you try higher. 0:49:46.800 --> 0:49:48.399 And I should come back over here because the third 0:49:48.440 --> 0:49:49.800 one I wrote down if you're going to try. 0:49:49.680 --> 0:49:57.439 Higher is partners. I said, partners. That's y'all's cue to shout. 0:49:57.520 --> 0:49:58.360 I said, partners. 0:50:00.880 --> 0:50:02.880 Put in the chat right now what you need prayer for, 0:50:03.080 --> 0:50:04.879 and they will pray for you before the next time 0:50:04.920 --> 0:50:05.239 you see it. 0:50:05.440 --> 0:50:05.960 Will you do that? 0:50:08.760 --> 0:50:11.960 I don't care how strong you are. One man doesn't 0:50:12.000 --> 0:50:15.799 get another man up on the roof like that. It's 0:50:15.840 --> 0:50:19.040 not going to happen without partners trying. 0:50:19.200 --> 0:50:20.480 And higher in this season. 0:50:20.560 --> 0:50:23.080 Isn't just you going into isolation and gritting your teeth 0:50:23.080 --> 0:50:25.920 and getting it done alone. That's why I want you 0:50:26.000 --> 0:50:27.680 in this church as much as you can get here, 0:50:28.880 --> 0:50:31.920 so we can get around each other, so you can 0:50:32.000 --> 0:50:35.120 pretend like you know how to sing because the person. 0:50:34.960 --> 0:50:39.400 Next to you can. I want that for you. I 0:50:39.440 --> 0:50:40.879 don't want you to just try harder by. 0:50:40.800 --> 0:50:42.879 Yourself and the devil just beats you half to death 0:50:42.880 --> 0:50:44.279 because you just think you can do it all in 0:50:44.360 --> 0:50:47.400 isolation and you don't ask anybody, and you don't join anything, 0:50:47.560 --> 0:50:49.520 and you don't listen to anybody that's. 0:50:49.400 --> 0:50:52.080 Not trying higher, that's trying harder. 0:50:53.520 --> 0:50:59.040 Some men came carrying a man who is your crew 0:51:00.400 --> 0:51:03.719 to help you get it done, to carry it with you. 0:51:05.600 --> 0:51:08.279 You need to find somebody in your life who has 0:51:08.360 --> 0:51:11.440 figured out something that you are frustrated with and tell 0:51:11.440 --> 0:51:14.840 them I'm coming up there. I'm coming up there with you. 0:51:15.960 --> 0:51:20.719 I'm coming up there because you know something. You know 0:51:20.880 --> 0:51:24.799 something I don't, and I'm not gonna stay down here 0:51:25.600 --> 0:51:29.080 saying I tried everything when I didn't even ask anybody 0:51:29.160 --> 0:51:32.279 to help me. I'm not doing this one more day 0:51:32.400 --> 0:51:36.600 by myself. I need some real partners. And some of 0:51:36.680 --> 0:51:40.480 the people I thought were my partners, those people were 0:51:40.600 --> 0:51:41.840 actually the problem. 0:51:42.280 --> 0:51:47.160 So I need some new friends. Sorry, I do need 0:51:47.239 --> 0:51:52.400 some new friends. Every once in a while, co Am, 0:51:52.440 --> 0:51:53.320 I gonna get down. 0:51:54.880 --> 0:51:58.400 Pray for me. I love it. 0:51:59.680 --> 0:52:02.560 And the Lord says something very interesting to me. He said, 0:52:02.840 --> 0:52:09.440 the fourth one is permission. Permission. Permission isn't going to 0:52:09.480 --> 0:52:13.719 come from the Pharisees. Permission to live the way of 0:52:13.840 --> 0:52:16.120 Christ is not going to come from the culture. They 0:52:16.160 --> 0:52:20.200 will always call you crazy. But some of the things 0:52:20.239 --> 0:52:22.680 that you're praying about right now you could make decisions 0:52:22.719 --> 0:52:27.440 about before the day is over. When Jesus told this man, 0:52:27.560 --> 0:52:30.600 take up your mat and walk, if he gave him 0:52:30.640 --> 0:52:32.600 the command but did not give him the power, it 0:52:32.600 --> 0:52:36.560 would have been cruel of Jesus. So when Jesus told 0:52:36.600 --> 0:52:39.520 the man take up your mat and walk, he was 0:52:39.640 --> 0:52:44.640 acknowledging the man's problem, but giving him the permission to 0:52:44.800 --> 0:52:48.600 live above it. I declare to you in the mighty 0:52:48.719 --> 0:52:52.400 name of Jesus that he has defeated death, sin. 0:52:52.320 --> 0:52:52.880 And the grave. 0:52:53.760 --> 0:52:58.040 Come on that sin no longer is your master, that 0:52:58.200 --> 0:53:01.960 it no longer has dominion for you. How do you 0:53:02.080 --> 0:53:04.920 know that, Pastor Stephen, Because when the man came in, 0:53:05.560 --> 0:53:08.279 he was lying on the mat. When he left, he 0:53:08.560 --> 0:53:11.879 was carrying it, and he didn't need anybody to carry him. 0:53:13.200 --> 0:53:15.279 If you're ready to get over some stuff that the 0:53:15.480 --> 0:53:18.800 enemy said you couldn't move past, give God a praise, 0:53:20.080 --> 0:53:24.239 because that's my fifth p is praise. And God said, 0:53:24.280 --> 0:53:26.719 if we're gonna do it in this season, like we 0:53:26.840 --> 0:53:29.239 need to do it in this season. If you want 0:53:29.280 --> 0:53:31.400 to see me make a way, give. 0:53:31.280 --> 0:53:35.120 Me a praise for who I am, for what I've done, 0:53:35.640 --> 0:53:37.120 for what I've brought you through. 0:53:40.239 --> 0:53:43.759 Everybody that owes God the praise, give it to him 0:53:43.880 --> 0:53:44.279 right now. 0:53:44.840 --> 0:53:49.200 I'm gonna give you thirty seconds. So open your mouth 0:53:49.280 --> 0:53:53.759 and bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that 0:53:54.000 --> 0:54:05.600 is within me. Higher, try higher, give him the greatest 0:54:05.719 --> 0:54:07.080 phrase you ever gave him. 0:54:07.120 --> 0:54:07.480 Why not. 0:54:13.280 --> 0:54:15.919 He's high and lifting up and get it right. 0:54:22.480 --> 0:54:26.840 And because I gotta tell you this, because they went higher, 0:54:27.239 --> 0:54:34.399 he got healed, and everybody praised God, and everybody praised God, 0:54:34.760 --> 0:54:39.560 and everybody praised God, and everybody from the brokest to 0:54:39.719 --> 0:54:44.400 the richest, from the shortest to the tallest, from the 0:54:44.560 --> 0:54:53.600 newest to the oldest, and everybody praised God. Because with 0:54:53.840 --> 0:55:03.400 God there's always a way, and by faith, I'll find it. 0:55:03.760 --> 0:55:06.640 You're gonna find it. You just hadn't looked high enough yet. 0:55:08.880 --> 0:55:11.920 There it's there. I see a cloud the size of 0:55:12.040 --> 0:55:12.839 a man's hand. 0:55:13.880 --> 0:55:20.399 You just gotta look off and keep looking out. Father. 0:55:20.520 --> 0:55:22.400 I thank you for what I feel in this moment. 0:55:23.360 --> 0:55:26.359 I don't know who is for, but somebody's going home 0:55:27.040 --> 0:55:32.560 a different way than they came. I establish that right 0:55:32.680 --> 0:55:37.160 now by faith, I anticipate the testimony that I'm gonna 0:55:37.200 --> 0:55:41.439 receive of people who came in lying on a mat 0:55:42.520 --> 0:55:46.600 and went home praising God, holding what used to hold them. 0:55:52.800 --> 0:55:54.800 I thank you right now that you're making ways for 0:55:54.920 --> 0:55:58.600 your children as we praise. 0:56:00.160 --> 0:56:03.680 You are making ways. 0:56:06.360 --> 0:56:29.799 Worship and worship and worship. Oh O, Jesus said, all 0:56:29.840 --> 0:56:35.600 authority has been given to me. That means the devil 0:56:35.680 --> 0:56:42.040 can't hold you. Yeah, open your mouth. Come on, this 0:56:42.239 --> 0:56:46.479 is the highway when you worship and get your mind 0:56:46.560 --> 0:56:46.879 on him. 0:56:46.920 --> 0:56:52.640 That's the highway. Isaiah said. For his thoughts are higher 0:56:52.760 --> 0:56:58.920 than your thoughts, and His ways are higher than your ways. 0:57:00.120 --> 0:57:01.520 On praise makes a highway. 0:57:02.840 --> 0:57:06.400 Praise makes a highway for y'all way, Come on listening, 0:57:06.719 --> 0:57:17.160 highway for y'all wait your waitiness, let's go. We say away. 0:57:19.360 --> 0:57:29.720 We say y'all way in the pass when it was 0:57:31.320 --> 0:57:49.040 pe way, we say allway. Well, we say y'allways at me. Hey. 0:57:49.120 --> 0:57:51.400 I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did, 0:57:52.000 --> 0:57:54.560 make sure to share it and subscribe so we can 0:57:54.640 --> 0:57:57.200 get you all of these new messages as soon as 0:57:57.240 --> 0:57:57.960 they're available. 0:57:58.360 --> 0:58:00.520 I also want to take a moment and thank all 0:58:00.600 --> 0:58:01.880 of you who are a part of Elevation. 0:58:02.440 --> 0:58:05.720 Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or 0:58:06.160 --> 0:58:08.880 just share these messages, it's because of you that we're 0:58:08.880 --> 0:58:11.240 able to reach people all around the world. 0:58:11.560 --> 0:58:14.040 And if you want more information on how to be 0:58:14.080 --> 0:58:17.240 a part of Elevation, click the link in the description. 0:58:17.800 --> 0:58:19.880 Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave a review, 0:58:20.400 --> 0:58:22.120 share the message, and subscribe. 0:58:22.440 --> 0:58:23.040 God bless you.