Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: How many are ready for the Word of God. I
Speaker 1: just have a Christmas devotional thought today from Hebrews eleven,
Speaker 1: verse three. It is not customarily seen as a Christmas scripture,
Speaker 1: but let's look at the picture of Jesus Christ through
Speaker 1: this frame today. Hebrews eleven three. King James version. Y'all
Speaker 1: thought I was playing this holiday season, but I am not.
Speaker 1: King James version, Hebrews eleven three. Ready, through faith, we
Speaker 1: understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,
Speaker 1: so that things which are seen were not men of
Speaker 1: things which do appear. Through faith, we understand how many
Speaker 1: know there are some things you can only understand through faith.
Speaker 1: Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by
Speaker 1: the word of God, so that the things which are
Speaker 1: seen were not made of things which do appear. Lord,
Speaker 1: I thank you that your word is already blessed open
Speaker 1: our hearts to receive it now in Jesus' name. Amen,
Speaker 1: you may be seated. A couple of years ago, I
Speaker 1: took all three of the kids on a carriage ride downtown.
Speaker 1: Trust him, and I took them on the carriage ride
Speaker 1: because I'm a good, good father and Holly wanted to shop.
Speaker 1: And also another reason I took them on a carriage
Speaker 1: ride is because I'm an idiot, and because Abby begged
Speaker 1: me too. Was about five. Her big brothers told her
Speaker 1: this is a bad idea. You're not gonna like it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be boring, but she insisted. We walked by
Speaker 1: this picture of a carriage ride. She said, can we go?
Speaker 1: I bought the tickets. I told the woman of God,
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you about an hour of shopping,
Speaker 1: childless shopping. And she said, oh, thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: Men of God. She said, I receive it in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: Got on the carriage ride. Within three minutes, Abby had
Speaker 1: a full scale meltdown on the carriage drive. She was bored,
Speaker 1: she was restless, she was disappointed, and her brothers, whoa
Speaker 1: her brothers, took the opportunity to remind her, we told
Speaker 1: you that this would suck. Of course, we don't say
Speaker 1: suck in my family. It's a preacher's family. But we
Speaker 1: were all kind of embarrassed because of course we weren't
Speaker 1: the only ones on the carriage ride. And within ten
Speaker 1: minutes she was crying so loudly that I had to
Speaker 1: go into my You know, if your parent, you have
Speaker 1: a yelling voice that's quiet. It's louder than a scream,
Speaker 1: and you have to use it in public when you
Speaker 1: want to convey urgency without raising decibels. And I said,
Speaker 1: baby girl, with a smile, I said it too, a
Speaker 1: baby girl. You're the one who wanted to come on
Speaker 1: this carriage rye, and I'm gonna need you to dry
Speaker 1: it up and enjoy this carriage drive. We got thirty
Speaker 1: more minutes and you're the only one who wanted to
Speaker 1: come on the carriage ride. So whatever's going on right now,
Speaker 1: I need you to deal with it and listen to
Speaker 1: this man tell us the history of all these houses
Speaker 1: on this carria drive. She goes, she's trying to stop crying,
Speaker 1: and she goes, but this isn't what I'm pictured. The
Speaker 1: title of my sermon is, this isn't what I pictured.
Speaker 1: Sometimes life takes you on a ride. Come on, who's
Speaker 1: gonna be real with me? Today? Looks like we got
Speaker 1: all angels in this section. Let me turn over here.
Speaker 1: Have you ever had life hand you a whopper? But
Speaker 1: it didn't look like the commercial? This isn't what I pictured.
Speaker 1: And it is a very difficult thing to adjust your
Speaker 1: perspective when you pictured it one way and the product
Speaker 1: turns out to be another. Some of you came to
Speaker 1: church crying today isn't what I pictured. Because when we
Speaker 1: started twenty nineteen or whatever year you happen to be
Speaker 1: watching this in the time capsule in the future on
Speaker 1: the internet. Just want this sermon to have a long
Speaker 1: shelf life. And you started the year with a picture
Speaker 1: of transformation, new beginnings, restoration, and this isn't what I pictured,
Speaker 1: you know, So it's a real thing. Even to this day.
Speaker 1: We'll tell Abby it's going to be like the carriage ride.
Speaker 1: It's a way when she wants to do something we
Speaker 1: don't want to do, we remind her carriage RYE carriage ry,
Speaker 1: which is fine when you're only out of eighty five dollars,
Speaker 1: But what about when it's your relationship and it isn't
Speaker 1: what I picture or even your relationship with God. Maybe
Speaker 1: you're saying, you know, I started one way believing that
Speaker 1: God would do certain things for me because He is
Speaker 1: my provider, and yet I came into deeper relationship with God,
Speaker 1: and this isn't Is there anybody in the whole church?
Speaker 1: And if not, I can come to Gascon next week.
Speaker 1: Is there anybody in the whole church that is living
Speaker 1: in a scene that you did not picture in this season?
Speaker 1: And that's why Hebrews eleven three gives a contrast between
Speaker 1: what God sees and what you see to let you
Speaker 1: know that the things which are seen were not made
Speaker 1: of things which do appear. But I'm getting ahead of myself,
Speaker 1: because the fact of the matter is everyone has a
Speaker 1: picture of how life is supposed to go. When you
Speaker 1: are supposed to get married, when you are supposed to
Speaker 1: get a promotion, what kind of career your children were
Speaker 1: supposed to be in. In some of you, you had
Speaker 1: your child's whole career. They were going to go to
Speaker 1: an ivy league school, be a starting quarterback and a
Speaker 1: Magnasuma Kumalatti and all of that. And they don't even
Speaker 1: like sports, and they don't even want to go to
Speaker 1: community college and study and this isn't what I pictured.
Speaker 1: Didn't you get the memo? So let me just ask
Speaker 1: you a question. Where did you get your picture? Where
Speaker 1: did you get your picture? Did you get it from
Speaker 1: the Instagram? Because if you did, I'm praying for you,
Speaker 1: real hard Catholic Pentecostal, I'll do it all because if
Speaker 1: you got your picture for what life is supposed to be,
Speaker 1: light from the little glimpses that other people give you
Speaker 1: when they are posing perfectly, you will always be frustrated.
Speaker 1: And while I'm on it, let me say something about
Speaker 1: the show This is Us, which I love. Jack Pearson
Speaker 1: isn't real. He's not real. I told Holly the other day,
Speaker 1: I said, and please don't be offended. I hope you
Speaker 1: didn't bring a relative for this to hope you're not
Speaker 1: bringing the relatives until next weekend for the Christmas program.
Speaker 1: But some shows that we watch, I call it emotional
Speaker 1: porn because it is perfectly airbrushed. And then when you
Speaker 1: compare the real thing to a picture that was surgically
Speaker 1: altered and cropped and filtered, how in the world are
Speaker 1: we supposed to feel fulfilled about our real lives when
Speaker 1: we spend so much time getting our picture from other
Speaker 1: people's pretention. Come on and help me preach five seconds.
Speaker 1: If you know he's a real God, He's the real thing.
Speaker 1: So it means. But there are all these things that
Speaker 1: I see and all these things that I don't see,
Speaker 1: and God operates from an invisible picture. While I am
Speaker 1: trying to make sense out of my life from what
Speaker 1: is visible, God sees something different. Enter Jesus, Matthew, Chapter one,
Speaker 1: verse eighteen. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ
Speaker 1: came about. Matthew is done with the genealogy. Now the
Speaker 1: part of the Christmas story that would put you right
Speaker 1: to sleep. If I read all of those names, not
Speaker 1: only would you be praying for my pronunciation, but you
Speaker 1: would lose your focus. Yet all of it is important
Speaker 1: because it is all the backstory to help us understand
Speaker 1: how Jesus came into the world. Now, if you don't
Speaker 1: understand how Jesus came, you will misunderstand why Jesus came.
Speaker 1: If we think he came like our superheroes that we
Speaker 1: pay ticket prices to go and see, we will expect
Speaker 1: him to come in a certain way, and we will
Speaker 1: picture him in a way that will cause us to
Speaker 1: miss him when he really shows up. Where did you
Speaker 1: get your picture? Where did you get your picture of God?
Speaker 1: What do you picture when you worship God? Where did
Speaker 1: you get that picture? Is he white? Is he black?
Speaker 1: Is he? Is he perfectly dialed to be an exact
Speaker 1: representation of every ethnicity? Is he a man? Is he
Speaker 1: not a man? It is is your God, King Triton,
Speaker 1: off the little Mermaid? Just zapp and stuff? Where did
Speaker 1: you get your picture? And what if he isn't what
Speaker 1: you picture? Now? I'm going to I'm really going to
Speaker 1: create some empty seats for next week. It's going to
Speaker 1: be crowded for Christmas. Heaven is not going to be
Speaker 1: like you picture it right now. Let me tell you why.
Speaker 1: Some of the people that you can't stand are going
Speaker 1: to be there, some of the people who don't believe
Speaker 1: the right stuff, some of the people who didn't share
Speaker 1: the same denominational dogma as you. When we get to heaven,
Speaker 1: a lot of us are going to be surprised because
Speaker 1: it won't look like the picture. And so this is
Speaker 1: how the Birth of Jesus Christ came about. Matthew says,
Speaker 1: John starts it differently. He says, in the beginning was
Speaker 1: the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Speaker 1: Word was God. And he was there with God in
Speaker 1: the beginning, and all things were made through him. Collusion says,
Speaker 1: by him and for him. But Matthew is starting with
Speaker 1: the human perspective of how Jesus Christ came about. Of course,
Speaker 1: in verse seventeen, he says, thus there were fourteen generations
Speaker 1: in all, from Abraham to David, from David to the
Speaker 1: Babylonian exile, and then fourteen from the exile to Christ
Speaker 1: fourteen fourteen fourteen public school math. There's forty two generations
Speaker 1: of faith that brought Jesus into the earth. And yet
Speaker 1: the logos or the Word was with God, pre existent,
Speaker 1: pre incarnate God, was the Word of God. And I
Speaker 1: promise you this is important, so please stay with me.
Speaker 1: Because before Jesus was seen, he existed. Before he appeared,
Speaker 1: he existed, just like everything in your life before it
Speaker 1: is seen, it exists. By the time it becomes a behavior,
Speaker 1: it was a belief for a long time. By the
Speaker 1: time it becomes a feeling, it was a thought. So
Speaker 1: just like there is a genealogy of Jesus, there is
Speaker 1: a genealogy of our emotions. There's a genealogy of our habits.
Speaker 1: There is a pattern where where knowing how something started
Speaker 1: can help you to trust when you don't see it
Speaker 1: in the process. I'm preaching real good today. This is
Speaker 1: how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother,
Speaker 1: Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before
Speaker 1: they came together, she was found to be with child
Speaker 1: through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was a
Speaker 1: righteous man and did not want to expose her to
Speaker 1: public disgrace, he had in mind, Now I love this phrase.
Speaker 1: He had in mind to divorce her quietly or to
Speaker 1: put her away quietly. He had in mind. So much
Speaker 1: of the decisions that we make in our lives that
Speaker 1: cause us confusion are because we do what we had
Speaker 1: in mind before. We consult God to see what he
Speaker 1: has in store. Now can I keep going? But after
Speaker 1: he considered this, now, why because the Angel appears to him?
Speaker 1: But why did the Angel appear at this point after
Speaker 1: Mary was already bound to be pregnant? In other words,
Speaker 1: why did God let Joseph go several months without knowing
Speaker 1: what he wanted to do and what it was all about,
Speaker 1: and then appear after he had already made his plan
Speaker 1: and had in mind what he wanted to do. After
Speaker 1: he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared
Speaker 1: to him in a dream and said, Joseph's son of David,
Speaker 1: do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
Speaker 1: because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Why couldn't you tell me that six months ago? Why
Speaker 1: couldn't you have told me that before I got the
Speaker 1: papers drawn up. Why does God wait until after you
Speaker 1: have made a plan to interrupt it? And this is
Speaker 1: how the birth Jesus Christ came about, the greatest hope
Speaker 1: that the world was ever given, came through the greatest
Speaker 1: disappointment that Joseph would ever know. And I wonder is
Speaker 1: that happening in somebody's life today. This is how the
Speaker 1: birth of Jesus Christ came about. When Joseph had made
Speaker 1: up his mind how he needed to handle the situation,
Speaker 1: and yet God interrupts Joseph's plan to fulfill a greater purpose. Now,
Speaker 1: if you go by your picture, you will make your plan.
Speaker 1: The only problem is God might have a different picture
Speaker 1: than you. I know, y'all don't like it, but it's
Speaker 1: the facts. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ
Speaker 1: came about. You know, we have our nativity scene. It's
Speaker 1: got a baby Jesus and the wise men. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, no record that there was three of them,
Speaker 1: three gifts, but I don't know how many how many
Speaker 1: magi were there, but I'll tell you this, they didn't
Speaker 1: get there when Jesus was born. Jesus could have been
Speaker 1: two years old by the time they got there. But
Speaker 1: two year old Jesus is and is cute on a
Speaker 1: nativity scene in precious moments, can't sell it, you know,
Speaker 1: toddlers aren't so adorable, so they had to put little
Speaker 1: baby umbilical cord Jesus on the major scene. But he
Speaker 1: was he was older than that. Now, now the shepherds
Speaker 1: are there in your nativity scene too, aren't they. The
Speaker 1: wise men and the shepherds weren't there at the same time.
Speaker 1: Let's see. Now they want to sell you extra figures,
Speaker 1: so they have to put them all together at the
Speaker 1: same time. It's a profit margin issue, right, It's not
Speaker 1: an accuracy thing. And how you pictured Christmas is probably wrong.
Speaker 1: He wasn't even born in a manger. That's how how
Speaker 1: we translated in English. It was more of a guest
Speaker 1: room that would have looked more like a cave. But
Speaker 1: how are you going to sell a manger scene with
Speaker 1: a cave? You know, what if it isn't how you
Speaker 1: pictured it? What if how God wants to use you
Speaker 1: is in how you picture it? What if the way
Speaker 1: He's going to work in your marriage is and how
Speaker 1: you picture it. And Joseph has this word from God
Speaker 1: to go from to understand by If he understands by
Speaker 1: his eyes, his sight, he's going to miss it. We
Speaker 1: always will. If he understands by his senses, his feelings,
Speaker 1: his emotions, he'll miss it emotionally and mentally. He has
Speaker 1: already decided I'm done with this, And some of you
Speaker 1: came to church today and you've already decided to quit.
Speaker 1: I'm giving up on this. I'm given up on joy,
Speaker 1: I'm giving up on peace, I'm giving up on hope.
Speaker 1: That's why some of you aren't in the building. You're
Speaker 1: watching on a screen, because you gave up on even
Speaker 1: being a part of a church. Because when you picture church,
Speaker 1: you picture perfect people who would never hurt you. But
Speaker 1: guess what, we are imperfect, just like you. So if
Speaker 1: you want to hook up you got to understand we're
Speaker 1: screwed up too. But if you picture it as perfect,
Speaker 1: then when this is the Lord, I hear you, Lord,
Speaker 1: I love it. When this happens, God show me exactly
Speaker 1: what he said. He said, He said, the problem isn't
Speaker 1: your situation, it's your picture. The problem is not the situation,
Speaker 1: The problem is the picture. Mary had her dress picked out,
Speaker 1: but now she's not gonna get to wear it. She's
Speaker 1: gonna be way too big for this dress by the
Speaker 1: time she walks the aisle. Joseph had his plan picked out,
Speaker 1: but now he's not gonna get to do it, which
Speaker 1: is hard for a carpenter because carpenter's plan they make
Speaker 1: a living off of measuring and planning. But after he
Speaker 1: had measured it in his mind, God spoke to his
Speaker 1: spirit and said, what is in her is from me.
Speaker 1: I know it's not what you pictured, but it's me.
Speaker 1: I know it's not what you expected, but it's me.
Speaker 1: I know it's not your preference, but it's me. I
Speaker 1: know it doesn't fit your tradition, but it's me. I
Speaker 1: know that you feel lonely and there are some missing pieces,
Speaker 1: but it's me. And are you trying to build your
Speaker 1: life by the wrong picture of what you thought it
Speaker 1: would be or why you think you're supposed to be.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it be dumb to try to buy a puzzle
Speaker 1: to build it according to a picture that was on
Speaker 1: the cover of somebody else's puzzle. Try it if you
Speaker 1: go over to a friend's house and they have a puzzle.
Speaker 1: This analogy is a little weak, but bear with me.
Speaker 1: If you see a picture, go buy a puzzle that
Speaker 1: doesn't match the picture, and try to open that box
Speaker 1: with those pieces and build a picture, and see how
Speaker 1: much fun you have with it. So God says, I
Speaker 1: gave you the pieces for the picture that I have
Speaker 1: in mind for your life according to my purpose before
Speaker 1: you were ever born. So I got the right pieces,
Speaker 1: I've got the right gifts, I've got the right temperament.
Speaker 1: If I submit it to the Holy Spirit and don't
Speaker 1: let it get out of control. But this isn't what
Speaker 1: I pictured. Switch the picture. Switch the picture. When you
Speaker 1: have a picture of yourself as worthless, you will build
Speaker 1: your life according to that picture. You will sabotage yourself
Speaker 1: because you build by what you feel. But now God
Speaker 1: says I'm righteous. If I switch the picture to what
Speaker 1: he sees. And if I assume that he's always working,
Speaker 1: if I switch the picture, Joseph is me, I started this.
Speaker 1: It's you that going to take Mary home, but it's me,
Speaker 1: and it's hard to believe as God when it doesn't
Speaker 1: feel good. Joseph is like, are you sure? Because he
Speaker 1: had to think about it, he had to ponder it.
Speaker 1: The Beautiful verse in the Bible, it says, Joseph, son
Speaker 1: of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home
Speaker 1: as your wife, because what is conceived in her is
Speaker 1: from the Holy Spirit. What's in her is from me.
Speaker 1: What's in hers from me. It's in her, but it's
Speaker 1: from me. God says, what's in you is from me.
Speaker 1: What's in you is from Me. And I'm just comforted
Speaker 1: by that because sometimes I feel pressure about what I
Speaker 1: perceive to be missing pieces. Even as a preacher, I
Speaker 1: always wish that I could that I could preach like
Speaker 1: other preachers that I see, And I tell you exactly
Speaker 1: who I want to preach like. You know, the guys
Speaker 1: that stand still and they are just so profound, and
Speaker 1: they have one of the mics that never moves, and
Speaker 1: they just it's just so they're so calm, and I
Speaker 1: like that, and I go on Amazon looking for robes
Speaker 1: and I think, man, that would be cool because it
Speaker 1: expends a lot of energy, all this moving around. And
Speaker 1: even sometimes I come up and I try to preach
Speaker 1: like one of them, you know, But then something just
Speaker 1: I can't. I mean, I really, I really don't plan
Speaker 1: to freak out and out and I watch myself back
Speaker 1: and I'm like, why do you have to be like that?
Speaker 1: Why can't you be dignified? But something inside of me
Speaker 1: when I start doing it, I just gotta do it.
Speaker 1: How I do it. I gotta do it like the
Speaker 1: pieces in my box are meant for the picture. Y'all
Speaker 1: won't help me breathe. What's in you is from God,
Speaker 1: what's in me is from Him. I got every piece
Speaker 1: I God wisdom, I've got strength, I've got anointing. I've
Speaker 1: got authority in the name of Jesus to overcome every
Speaker 1: wicked thing that rises to oppose me. Now, show three
Speaker 1: people say it's in you. It's in you. It's in
Speaker 1: you right now, and it's growing and it's kicking, and
Speaker 1: it's meant to be and you're not missing anything. You
Speaker 1: got it all. You got every peace for the picture.
Speaker 1: For in the beginning, what's the word? And the word
Speaker 1: was with God? And watch this the word was God.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you a question. Let's take a vote.
Speaker 1: This is the first church vote that I remember in
Speaker 1: the history of Elevation Church. But let's be Baptist for
Speaker 1: the next thirty seconds. Who had the harder job? Mary
Speaker 1: or Joseph? Before you answer this, because in just a moment,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call on you to raise your hand at
Speaker 1: every location. If you are married, I want to strongly
Speaker 1: encourage you to consider carefully the cost of answering this
Speaker 1: question honestly. But who says Mary had the harder job?
Speaker 1: You know? There they are all the women who have
Speaker 1: borne children into this world. Come on, let's celebrate Mother's
Speaker 1: Day early. Thank God for you. Amen, raise your hand.
Speaker 1: If you say it's Mary, it's Mary right because she
Speaker 1: had very little choice. She was already pregnant by the
Speaker 1: time she found out about the purpose. Too late if
Speaker 1: you don't like it, and then you got Joseph. Y'all.
Speaker 1: My kids came up to me the other day and
Speaker 1: they said, do you know Joe. Now here's what's hilarious.
Speaker 1: I said, Joe, Mama and they said, how did you
Speaker 1: know that? Because they think they started Joe Mama. Boy,
Speaker 1: I was doing Joe Mama while you were still your
Speaker 1: unframed form was not even in the picture. Yet. I
Speaker 1: gave him a genealogy of Joe Mama. I remember Joe
Speaker 1: Mama from the Golden Girls. You remember the Golden Girls?
Speaker 1: You too? But I promise you, Joe Mama is old.
Speaker 1: This didn't start with you. I came to say that
Speaker 1: to somebody about what God is doing in your life.
Speaker 1: This didn't start with you, and this doesn't end here.
Speaker 1: And Joseph has in mind to walk away. But God
Speaker 1: has something different in store because God is building with
Speaker 1: a different picture. So who believes that Joseph had the
Speaker 1: harder job? Raise your head. I applaud your courage. It's
Speaker 1: an unpopular stance. I kind of see where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: I kind of see where you're coming from. Because twenty
Speaker 1: one tells us Mary's job and Joseph's job. Let's read
Speaker 1: it together, Matthew. Chapter one, verse twenty one. She will
Speaker 1: give birth and you are to give him the name.
Speaker 1: Which one you want to do? Give birth or give
Speaker 1: the name? And so physically there's no argument but see
Speaker 1: what is striking to me about Joseph. You never heard
Speaker 1: the Christmas Carol, Joseph, did you know? Now? Mary knew?
Speaker 1: Mary knew because it was her body. Mary knew that
Speaker 1: this has to be God because she knows whether or
Speaker 1: not she has been with another man. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: leave it at that. In case you didn't get your
Speaker 1: kids to eat kids this morning, I'm not gonna I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna do it kind of details on this. But
Speaker 1: Mary knew this has to be God because I consulted
Speaker 1: my experience, and I'm a virgent and I haven't been
Speaker 1: with a man. So if I'm carrying something, it didn't
Speaker 1: come from human means. I know it because it's my body.
Speaker 1: Joseph didn't know, and he would never really know, so
Speaker 1: he had to believe. Maybe that's the hardest job of
Speaker 1: all to believe what you can't see, to believe what
Speaker 1: you can't be sure of, to believe what you can't prove.
Speaker 1: Joseph said, I I never knew. You know, the rest
Speaker 1: of his life, he would live probably halfway wondering was
Speaker 1: it really God? That kind of pregnant and you go right,
Speaker 1: you go into men's group and you're like, guys, is good.
Speaker 1: I was praying, the Lord told me, I was. I
Speaker 1: was actually sleeping. I was in a dream and the
Speaker 1: Lord told me, And don't worry. Mary saw a vision
Speaker 1: two and we're gonna work this out and we're gonna
Speaker 1: go home. Do you not think Joseph spent the rest
Speaker 1: of his life looking cross eyed at people trying to
Speaker 1: figure out Now, your nose looks kind of like the
Speaker 1: long nose with checking out those ears. You know, Ronnie
Speaker 1: has kind of long years right there. I saw Ronnie
Speaker 1: and Mary because Joseph didn't know. Because faith does not
Speaker 1: operate by sensory knowledge. Because faith enables us to understand
Speaker 1: that God is with us even if we do not
Speaker 1: see him in the picture. I need you to receive
Speaker 1: this by faith. You are to give him the name
Speaker 1: Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.
Speaker 1: Now here's the culmination of the text that I want
Speaker 1: to share with you. All this took place, Everything you
Speaker 1: didn't picture, everything you don't understand. All this took place
Speaker 1: to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.
Speaker 1: And then he quotes Isaiah seven fourteen, which says the
Speaker 1: Virgin will be with child and give birth to a son,
Speaker 1: and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.
Speaker 1: And I've been listening to a song all week that says,
Speaker 1: even when I don't see it, you're working, and even
Speaker 1: when I don't feel it, you're working. And I need
Speaker 1: you to make a declaration by faith. Every mouth in
Speaker 1: this room open up and say God is with me
Speaker 1: right now. God is with me right now. Come on,
Speaker 1: say it again. God is with me right now. Some
Speaker 1: of y'all in other campus you're not saying it, but
Speaker 1: you're not saying it to me. So say it out
Speaker 1: aloud for yourself. Say God is with me right now.
Speaker 1: And remember that the things which are seen are not
Speaker 1: made with things that do appear. So God does not
Speaker 1: build with carpenter material that you can see and fabricate
Speaker 1: your faith with your physical senses. When God builds something,
Speaker 1: it will not look like what you pictured. He has
Speaker 1: a different picture, and he builds according to his picture. Now,
Speaker 1: the message of Christmas is about his presence, not my picture.
Speaker 1: The message of Christmas says that the worlds were framed.
Speaker 1: Frame framed. I know they use it in a construction way,
Speaker 1: but this is a visual term. Frame. They frame it
Speaker 1: frame the world. Did you get your picture from the
Speaker 1: world or from the Word. Did you get your picture
Speaker 1: of what a man is supposed to be, of what
Speaker 1: a woman is supposed to be, of what success is,
Speaker 1: of what fulfillment is? Did you get it from the
Speaker 1: Word or the world? Because the Bible says that by
Speaker 1: faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
Speaker 1: Word of God. Frame and are you framing this season
Speaker 1: of your life with your faith or with your fear? Honestly?
Speaker 1: Now answer and honestly as you look at what you
Speaker 1: cannot understand in your life right now. Because every hand
Speaker 1: in the room that I saw went up when I said,
Speaker 1: is it different than what you pictured? Is it different
Speaker 1: than what you pictured? Someone? This was an insult, someone
Speaker 1: said to me one time when I walked in. They said, Oh,
Speaker 1: I never saw you before I listened to your podcast.
Speaker 1: You're not what I picture. What did you picture? They said?
Speaker 1: I pictured you bigger, I pictured you bigger. I pictured it.
Speaker 1: I pictured it bigger. I pictured at this age, I
Speaker 1: would be past some certain things I picture. I pictured
Speaker 1: it different. I pictured I pictured parenting way different. I
Speaker 1: thought we'd be doing drive time devotionals from the original
Speaker 1: Greek of Philippians. I thought we'd be doing Bible sword drills.
Speaker 1: I didn't know they'd be pulling out real swords, stabbing
Speaker 1: each other with forks in the kitchen before y'all are
Speaker 1: looking at me so holy. It's different than what you picture.
Speaker 1: Is better, but it's different. It's different. Ministry is different
Speaker 1: than what I pictured. Let me go all the way.
Speaker 1: Adulthood is different than what happened picture. Can we be
Speaker 1: real with one another for a moment? It's different. They
Speaker 1: sold us something that isn't real. We're supposed to have
Speaker 1: it figured out. I'm supposed to have good sense. I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be a fully cooked turkey by now, and
Speaker 1: I'm coming out the oven and I'm still wrang and
Speaker 1: I've got mouse to feet. Is different than the picture.
Speaker 1: So when they put the sermon online for the video,
Speaker 1: they have to switch between different shots, and they have
Speaker 1: instructions to use of what shots they put on the screen.
Speaker 1: Even now while I'm preaching, and because I move around
Speaker 1: so much like the spastic preacher that I am, these
Speaker 1: are highly trained, competent individuals. Somehow they always keep me
Speaker 1: in the center of the center of the picture. But
Speaker 1: what if the switcher fell asleep? You know, just real quick,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do an example because I want you to
Speaker 1: see this. Imagine if the person on the switcher that
Speaker 1: goes from the tight shot to the wide shot and
Speaker 1: boost the thing on the thing that's the technical terms.
Speaker 1: What if they at first show them what you're supposed
Speaker 1: to do. Okay, let's say I do a lateral movement
Speaker 1: over here to the side. Look, you got a shot
Speaker 1: for that. But suppose they didn't put it on that
Speaker 1: other shot. Now, for the maximum benefit of this illustration,
Speaker 1: if you are at Valentine, watch the screen. If you're
Speaker 1: at another campus, you've got the competitive advantage right now,
Speaker 1: because sometimes God does this. Watch the screen. Watch the screen.
Speaker 1: Sometimes God does this. Now, the only conclusion you can
Speaker 1: come to if you are using your eyes is that
Speaker 1: the person who was in the picture is no longer
Speaker 1: in the building. The only way for you to know
Speaker 1: I'm still here is to go not by what you see,
Speaker 1: but by what you hear. So right now, those of
Speaker 1: you who cannot see me on the screen, watch the screen,
Speaker 1: y'all a disobedient watch the screen. You can't see me
Speaker 1: on the screen, but if you know my voice. If
Speaker 1: you know my voice, you will know that I did
Speaker 1: not leave you nor forsake you in the beginning. What's
Speaker 1: the word, And the word was here before you, and
Speaker 1: the word was spoken before you saw your frame. So
Speaker 1: when I don't feel him, he's with me because his
Speaker 1: name is Emmanuel. I can't see him, but I trust
Speaker 1: him because he's spoken, and I will see it with
Speaker 1: the eyes of my faith. He's with me on my
Speaker 1: good day. He's with me on my bad day. He's
Speaker 1: with me when I've got it. He's with me when
Speaker 1: I don't even know where to look. He's with me
Speaker 1: when they like me. He's with me when nobody will
Speaker 1: return my text. He's with me when I'm married. He's
Speaker 1: with me when I'm divorced. He's with me when I've
Speaker 1: got a job. He's with me when I don't see
Speaker 1: a way to pay it. He's with me when I'm well,
Speaker 1: with me when I'm sick. He's with me with a
Speaker 1: clear sky. He's with me in the storm. He didn't lead.
Speaker 1: I just got a sage my frame. If he's spoke it,
Speaker 1: you will see it. I'm gonna praise him. Let you
Speaker 1: know he's with you. He's with me. He's with me.
Speaker 1: He's with me. He's with me. What's in me is
Speaker 1: from me and my God. It's for me. He's with me.
Speaker 1: So don't be afraid to go home and do what
Speaker 1: God told you. Don't be afraid to face your fears
Speaker 1: with the frame of faith. Because the things which are
Speaker 1: seen made by the things which don't appear. I know
Speaker 1: it isn't what your picture. I know it in what
Speaker 1: you planned. You remember when we were in the nursing
Speaker 1: home for Thanksgiving. My dad was sixty to something like that,
Speaker 1: sixty two years old in a nursing home, not because
Speaker 1: we didn't want to keep It was so tense in
Speaker 1: our family that he decided he wouldn't want to live
Speaker 1: with any of us. We couldn't take care of him.
Speaker 1: He had luke Garrit's disease, and we tried to take
Speaker 1: care of him. We couldn't take care of him. We
Speaker 1: were eating microwaved Thanksgiving in the nursing home with my
Speaker 1: dad knowing good and well. We wanted him in our house,
Speaker 1: and nobody was on speaking terms. You talk about awkward.
Speaker 1: Him doesn't taste right when you try to microwave it.
Speaker 1: None of us pictured this. I know you didn't picture this.
Speaker 1: God isn't building your picture. He's building his purpose. So Joseph, Joe, Joe,
Speaker 1: did you know Joseph would say no, uh huh. I
Speaker 1: just believe I had one thing in mind, God had
Speaker 1: another thing in store. I went with God. God went
Speaker 1: with me, and I have what I need in the
Speaker 1: box to be the picture that He created in his heart.
Speaker 1: So no, I'm not trying to build somebody else's life
Speaker 1: or somebody else's idea of what I'm supposed to be.
Speaker 1: Not anymore. I tried that. It is so stressful. I
Speaker 1: can't afford the doctor bill or the stomach medicine for
Speaker 1: that kind of living. I got to build what God
Speaker 1: put inside of me for the picture that he sees,
Speaker 1: and the world's your friend. Switch the picture. Switch the picture.
Speaker 1: Be who God called you to be, Celebrate what he
Speaker 1: gave you. Pull everything close that you still have left,
Speaker 1: wrap your arms around it, and make the most of it.
Speaker 1: Switch the picture. Yeah, it's going to be a different
Speaker 1: Christmas for some of us. I understand that. But God,
Speaker 1: God pictured it all along. You know when Isaiah said
Speaker 1: a virgin will conceive, he saw that hundreds of years
Speaker 1: before it happened. God was already building the picture forty
Speaker 1: two generations, and God knew the picture. If you get
Speaker 1: too tightly zoomed into this one scene, or this one moment,
Speaker 1: or this one struggle or this one issue, you're going
Speaker 1: to miss the bigger picture. God knows to put you,
Speaker 1: He knows what he put in you, and he knows
Speaker 1: what he wants to do through you. So take Mary
Speaker 1: home by faith and do what the Angel of the
Speaker 1: Lord commanded you to do. Now what you feel or
Speaker 1: what you thought, switch the picture. Everyone's standing. I want
Speaker 1: to pray for people this Christmas season who need to
Speaker 1: switch the picture. Switch the picture and put God back
Speaker 1: in the center of the frame. Put his presence and
Speaker 1: his joy and his peace. See, when you understand how
Speaker 1: he came, you can understand why he came. Please answer me,
Speaker 1: who was this message? It was just for you. It
Speaker 1: was just for you. It was just for you. It
Speaker 1: was just for you. Okay, I'm gonna tell you three
Speaker 1: things about how he came. I'll give him to you
Speaker 1: so quick. Number one, he came through someone that everyone
Speaker 1: else thought was insignificant. So the first word you need
Speaker 1: to know about how he came is insignificant. He did
Speaker 1: not come through a matriarch of royal lineage. He came
Speaker 1: through a little girl who was so scared that when
Speaker 1: the angel came, she said, how can this be? He
Speaker 1: came through someone who saw no way that what God
Speaker 1: wanted to do for the world could happen through her.
Speaker 1: And so it has always been. I know, we get
Speaker 1: excited when an actor or an actress, or a celebrity
Speaker 1: or a politician, or a rock star or a rapper
Speaker 1: gets excited about Jesus. But Christ is born in every
Speaker 1: heart that will receive him by faith. And God is
Speaker 1: using you. If you are a coach, if you are
Speaker 1: a student, if you are a businessman, you are, if
Speaker 1: you are a police officer, if you are nothing more
Speaker 1: you like, I'm just a stop saying that God always
Speaker 1: chooses to use what people deem insignificant. So there is
Speaker 1: nothing insignificant about your pieces for your picture. That's number one.
Speaker 1: Number two, it was impossible. It was a virgin womb
Speaker 1: because God wanted to let you know that impossible situations
Speaker 1: are the places where faith is born. So if that
Speaker 1: is impossible for you, it is fertile for God. If
Speaker 1: you understand how he came through a virgin womb. He
Speaker 1: didn't have to do that, but he wanted you to
Speaker 1: know if you are facing something where you don't see away,
Speaker 1: if you don't see it, but he spoke it, and
Speaker 1: you will believe it by faith, it will come to pass.
Speaker 1: That's how he came. He came for impossible situations, broken hearts,
Speaker 1: broken homes, broken lives. But what I love the most,
Speaker 1: what I love the very most, is that it was intimate.
Speaker 1: He came in the most intimate way. He was born
Speaker 1: of a virgin, and he comes into your heart when
Speaker 1: you receive him by faith. He longs to be personal
Speaker 1: with you this season. But if you get somebody else's
Speaker 1: picture and try to put something together that's not in you,
Speaker 1: you will miss his presence. He wants to speak to you,
Speaker 1: use you, bless you, help you. This is personal, This
Speaker 1: is intimate. God of all grace, God of all comfort.
Speaker 1: I have delivered your word to the best of my
Speaker 1: ability with your help, and I thank you for what
Speaker 1: you spoke in this place today. Your word is good seed.
Speaker 1: I pray that it falls upon good soil. Today. I
Speaker 1: pray for those today who are living in a picture
Speaker 1: that they never planned for. I think we all are.
Speaker 1: We're all moving through this life. We saw it one way,
Speaker 1: and now we are experiencing it another. And yet you
Speaker 1: are here, always, here, still, Emmanuel, still with us, still
Speaker 1: for us, A good father, a faithful friend, wonderful counselor
Speaker 1: Mighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Lift your hands.
Speaker 1: I receive your peace. God, I receive your assurance. I
Speaker 1: receive your presence in this season of my life. You
Speaker 1: are my King. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks
Speaker 1: to those of you who give generously to this ministry.
Speaker 1: Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You
Speaker 1: can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 1: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You
Speaker 1: can share it with your friends. You can click the
Speaker 1: share button, take a screenshot and share it on your
Speaker 1: social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again
Speaker 1: for listening. God bless you