Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the message. We're focused this week on the word
Speaker 2: of salvation. You know, when Jesus was dying on the cross,
Speaker 2: he said to a thief that was crucified with him. You,
Speaker 2: of course would know that the crucifixion was not an
Speaker 2: anomaly in Jesus' time. It was a common form of
Speaker 2: capital punishment. And so Jesus died the death of a
Speaker 2: common criminal beside two common criminals.
Speaker 3: One of them mocked him.
Speaker 2: Said, if you were really who you say you are,
Speaker 2: you would get down off that cross, and you would
Speaker 2: get us down to save us. And while one mocked him,
Speaker 2: the other one, who was on his right side, recognized
Speaker 2: the distinction of his divinity, or at least his innocence,
Speaker 2: and said, we deserve this and you don't. And sir,
Speaker 2: I'm not quite sure who you are, but when you
Speaker 2: come into your kingdom, remember me. And Jesus said today
Speaker 2: somebody shout today, I'm going to wake you up. You're
Speaker 2: going to talk back to me today, least at Valentine.
Speaker 2: I can't do anything about concord. I'm not there. But
Speaker 2: somebody at Valentine in the back of the room from Jackson, Mississippi,
Speaker 2: or Toronto, Canada, or Charlotte, North Carolina, shout today, today
Speaker 2: you will be with me in paradise the word of Salvation.
Speaker 2: I had the privilege this weekend to perform my brother's
Speaker 2: wedding ceremony. I don't do a lot of weddings, but
Speaker 2: I'm good at them. I just typically preach on Saturday nights.
Speaker 2: Our campus pastors do such an excellent job with the
Speaker 2: wedding officiating, so I was kind of nervous doing his ceremony.
Speaker 2: I don't want to mess up my man's wedding because,
Speaker 2: hey man, he's got this girl here at the altar
Speaker 2: and he might not get this chance again.
Speaker 3: She might change her mind, so we got to get
Speaker 3: this done.
Speaker 2: It's my little brother, but he's a lot taller than
Speaker 2: me and he serves in the United States Air Force.
Speaker 1: And they honored me. Yeah, praise the Lord.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's cool.
Speaker 2: He could beat me up but I got mind game
Speaker 2: on him, so he doesn't He doesn't know that. But
Speaker 2: he asked me to do his wedding and his fiance
Speaker 2: brook and they asked me to come, and I was.
Speaker 2: I was privileged to do it. Holly said I did
Speaker 2: a good job. In fact, she said exactly this. She said,
Speaker 2: you did so good officiating that wedding. She said, I
Speaker 2: kind of wish I could marry somebody else so you could.
Speaker 1: Do the wedding.
Speaker 2: Wasn't sure how to receive that compliment. I rebuked her
Speaker 2: a twisted compliment. But anyway, I only bring it up
Speaker 2: because truth be told. Although I really love the opportunity
Speaker 2: to do the wedding, I kind of have a problem
Speaker 2: not with weddings. I'm not anti marriage. Do not send
Speaker 2: me emails. Send them all to Jonathan Joseph' your Valentine
Speaker 2: campus pastor. It's not that I'm against love. I'm nothing
Speaker 2: against it. It's just that can we all agree, especially
Speaker 2: those of us who have.
Speaker 3: Been married for more than ten years.
Speaker 2: That marriage has very little to do with the flower
Speaker 2: arrangement that you choose, or how many layers of cake.
Speaker 1: That you can roll.
Speaker 2: Out that you're not going to eat anyway, because only
Speaker 2: the top one is real and all the other stuff.
Speaker 1: Is just decoration.
Speaker 2: Come on, it doesn't matter how many shades of magenta
Speaker 2: your bridesmaids are standing there dressed it. What happens in
Speaker 2: marriage happens in the middle. Somebody shout us in the middle.
Speaker 2: That's my sermon today. I want to say, it's in
Speaker 2: the middle that a marriage is made. It's in the
Speaker 2: middle that a Christian grows. It's in the middle that
Speaker 2: you find out what you're made of. This sermon is
Speaker 2: like a TUTSI rull pop.
Speaker 1: What you bought it for is in the middle.
Speaker 2: And I admire the thief, and I'm thankful that he
Speaker 2: was saved on the cross. But most of us don't
Speaker 2: get to be in paradise the day we get saved.
Speaker 2: The fact of the matter is we don't get raptured
Speaker 2: up to Heaven the moment we make Jesus Christ the Lord.
Speaker 1: Of our lives. We are left here on.
Speaker 2: This or so that we can bring Heaven into our situation.
Speaker 3: It's in the middle.
Speaker 2: And the way that we typically focus.
Speaker 3: On the moment.
Speaker 2: You know, I believe that God can save you in
Speaker 2: a moment. I really do. If you're here today, and
Speaker 2: you're thinking that you have to you have to memorize
Speaker 2: some Bible verses, or there's some certain habit that you
Speaker 2: have to correct in your life, or y'll tired of
Speaker 2: hearing me preach.
Speaker 3: I've been preaching to.
Speaker 2: Y'all for eleven years now, and for eleven years I've
Speaker 2: been saying this same message. God can save you in
Speaker 2: a moment. If you believe in your heart that God
Speaker 2: raised him from the dead, and confess with your mouth Jesus.
Speaker 1: Is Lord, you shall be saved.
Speaker 2: I know it because that thief did not have to
Speaker 2: enroll in a theological school, he didn't have to go
Speaker 2: through a Catechism class, he didn't have to prove the
Speaker 2: legitimacy of his faith by giving up certain things. Come
Speaker 2: as you are, don't expect to stay that way. And
Speaker 2: Jesus said today you will be with me in paradise.
Speaker 2: Part of me thinks that would be kind of nice
Speaker 2: if I could just be married and stay married without
Speaker 2: a process. Well, I'm kind of a process preacher, I
Speaker 2: really am, because one of my core is that God
Speaker 2: is in the process.
Speaker 3: Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2: He can move in a moment, something can happen in
Speaker 2: your soul. When the word of God goes forth, that
Speaker 2: is so strong that the chains are broken and you
Speaker 2: are never the same.
Speaker 3: Why not today?
Speaker 2: The apostle Paul said that today is the day of salvation.
Speaker 2: He said that to the Corinthian Church Backxlett, and he said,
Speaker 2: now is the time of God's favor.
Speaker 3: Somebody shout now, not when you get your.
Speaker 2: Act together, not when people approve of you.
Speaker 3: Now, now is the hour.
Speaker 1: Today is today.
Speaker 2: And the privilege of my life is seeing someone in
Speaker 2: a moment make a decision to follow Christ in a moment,
Speaker 2: for the weight to be lifted, for the change to
Speaker 2: be broken in a moment. Yet, what about the middle
Speaker 2: Because I know that He can save me in a moment,
Speaker 2: and I know that when I die in a moment,
Speaker 2: in the twinkling of an eye, to be absent from
Speaker 2: the body, he has to be present with the Lord
Speaker 2: I'm going to have when I die.
Speaker 3: And I'm glad about it.
Speaker 2: And I don't have to fry and burn, and I
Speaker 2: know all that, and I'm real glad about it. But
Speaker 2: one thing the thief and I did not have in common,
Speaker 2: because we both deserved the cross that Jesus died on.
Speaker 2: But I didn't get to go to Paradise the moment
Speaker 2: that I trusted Christ with my life. So this message
Speaker 2: is not about paradise. This message is about process. This
Speaker 2: message is not about flower girls. This message is about
Speaker 2: the fight for faith in the middle. And I want
Speaker 2: to present it to you in a way today that,
Speaker 2: hopefully in the next twenty nine minutes can help you
Speaker 2: to understand why it is that sometimes even though you
Speaker 2: got saved, you don't feel saved and what to do
Speaker 2: in the middle. Touch your neighbors say, I need to
Speaker 2: know what to do in the middle, because when I die,
Speaker 2: I'm dead, I'm gone, I'm in heaven. I'm there but here,
Speaker 2: and now I need God. See the thing about me
Speaker 2: is I got saved, but I still need some saving.
Speaker 1: Maybe you don't, but I still look.
Speaker 2: Look real good at the person next to you, and
Speaker 2: see if they look.
Speaker 1: Like they still need saving.
Speaker 2: See if they look like there are still some times
Speaker 2: in their lives. Come on Blakeney that they still need saving.
Speaker 2: It's a seven mile journey, and the miracle.
Speaker 1: Is in the middle.
Speaker 2: Did you notice that's not from this Amayas road where
Speaker 2: Jesus just shows up beside these two disciples held you
Speaker 2: don't put too much of this on Instagram stories because
Speaker 2: I don't want them to see it. I want them
Speaker 2: to have to watch it online later. Those of them
Speaker 2: are sitting home in the snow. Don't be putting it
Speaker 2: online right now. I want them to catch it later.
Speaker 2: And Jesus just shows up right in the middle of
Speaker 2: their conversation.
Speaker 3: It's a man named Cleopus, and some scholars.
Speaker 2: Suggests perhaps his wife, his companion, and he were not
Speaker 2: expecting the presence of Christ to show up. But he
Speaker 2: showed up in the middle of their disappointment. He showed
Speaker 2: up in the middle of their disillusionment. He showed up
Speaker 2: in the middle of there, we thought, so he showed
Speaker 2: up in the middle of the what now he showed
Speaker 2: up in the middle. God will meet you in the middle.
Speaker 2: It's in the middle. And they walked. They they walked,
Speaker 2: the Bible says seven miles from Jerusalem to Amais. And
Speaker 2: when they got there checked us out in Luke twenty
Speaker 2: four to twenty eight. When they arrived and approached the place,
Speaker 2: the village that in their mind was their destination, the
Speaker 2: village called Amaeis. When they got to the place they
Speaker 2: thought they were going Jesus continued on I love the
Speaker 2: next two words as if he were going further.
Speaker 3: Like he's a man on a mission.
Speaker 2: He's got people to see and things to do, and
Speaker 2: only thirty nine and a half days before he has
Speaker 2: ascended to the right hand of God, the Father Almighty,
Speaker 2: from whence he shall come to judge the quicken the dead.
Speaker 2: And so he acts as if show him again, as
Speaker 2: if he were going further. And sometimes it feels as.
Speaker 1: If God is leaving you.
Speaker 2: I would suggest that some of the moments when it
Speaker 2: feels as if he's walking away from you, he is
Speaker 2: creating a desire within you so that if you draw
Speaker 2: near to him, he will draw near to you. God
Speaker 2: is trying to set your faith free from the need
Speaker 2: to feel.
Speaker 1: It, to have it.
Speaker 2: As if somebody say, as if the next time the
Speaker 2: devil tries to tell you God has left you, that
Speaker 2: God has abandoned you, look him right in the eye
Speaker 2: and say, with your hand on your hip, in your
Speaker 2: best white girl teenager voice, say as if, as if
Speaker 2: he would leave me, he said he would never leave me,
Speaker 2: never forsake me, never abandon me. He will stop what
Speaker 2: he's started high his and he is mine. And he's
Speaker 2: with me in the middle as if he were going further.
Speaker 3: And they asked him to come in and stay with them.
Speaker 2: Now, professional pointer, be careful when you ask Jesus to
Speaker 2: come in, because if he comes in, he's going to
Speaker 2: take over. So God is not going to settle for
Speaker 2: a shout out. He's not going to make himself a
Speaker 2: cot in the foyer of your heart.
Speaker 3: He's coming in the kitchen. He's coming in the kitchen.
Speaker 2: I feel God on that, and I don't know why
Speaker 2: I touch somebody say he's coming.
Speaker 3: In your kitchen. He's coming in your kitchen.
Speaker 2: He wants to get into the ingredients. Watch what Jesus does.
Speaker 2: He walks in this is verse thirty. He sits down
Speaker 2: at the table, takes their bread. Remember it's Cleo's house.
Speaker 2: But Jesus reaches right across the table, takes Cleo's bread,
Speaker 2: and he just starts doing stuff.
Speaker 3: See.
Speaker 1: I need you to know that God is.
Speaker 2: Not going to come into your life and stay on
Speaker 2: standby so that when you kind of sort of need
Speaker 2: him and maybe can fit him into your schedule. Maybe
Speaker 2: I can get a little Jesus juice when my boyfriend
Speaker 2: isn't calling me back maybe I'll see Jesus when he
Speaker 2: comes into your life. I feel the spirit of God.
Speaker 2: It's all up in me right now.
Speaker 3: I feel it.
Speaker 1: God said, I'm taking over. Today is the.
Speaker 2: Day of salvation. I'm taking over your thoughts. I'm taking
Speaker 2: over your magna. Said, I'm taken over your desires. Salvation
Speaker 2: is total surrender. This is how I used to preach
Speaker 2: when I was twenty three man.
Speaker 1: This is how I.
Speaker 2: Used to preach to people who thought that God could be.
Speaker 1: A part of their life.
Speaker 2: If God gets in your life, he's gonna get all
Speaker 2: up in the middle of it. God is gonna change
Speaker 2: who you have listed in the contacts of your iPhone.
Speaker 1: God, don't hear me.
Speaker 2: God is gonna change who you friend on Facebook.
Speaker 1: God is gonna.
Speaker 2: Change what you're doing eleven thirty on Friday night. God
Speaker 2: isn't just gonna wait for you to get to church
Speaker 2: on Sunday morning and bless you with a goosebump. God
Speaker 2: wants I know where to preach. I know where the
Speaker 2: love is.
Speaker 1: It's in the middle.
Speaker 4: Somebody shout us in the middle, anyway, Is it okay?
Speaker 2: Jesus doesn't ask any permission. He sits down at Cleo's
Speaker 2: kitchen table, takes Cleo's bread, blesses CLO's bread, breaks the bread,
Speaker 2: and gives the bread. And when he gives the bread
Speaker 2: that he broke, which is also the bread that he blessed,
Speaker 2: which is also the bread that he took. When he
Speaker 2: takes over your life, he blesses your life. But the
Speaker 2: same hands that bless your life are the.
Speaker 1: Same hands that must be trusted when your life is broken.
Speaker 2: I mean, when your heart is in a million pieces. See.
Speaker 2: I need to preach this because sometimes we think when
Speaker 2: we get saved that everything is gonna be sanitized and
Speaker 2: everything is gonna be safe. And we think that when
Speaker 2: we get safe. See, this is the kind of preaching
Speaker 2: that will help you when life is doing its best
Speaker 2: to tear you apart. You can know, beyond the shadow
Speaker 2: of a town, somebody shut up, still saved.
Speaker 5: I'm saved when i'm happy. I'm saved when i'm sad.
Speaker 5: I'm saved when they're with me. I'm saved when they
Speaker 5: walk away. I'm saved when i'm up. I'm saved when
Speaker 5: i'm down. I'm saved when i'm blessed. I'm saved when
Speaker 5: i'm broken. I'm saved in the palace, I'm saved in
Speaker 5: the pit.
Speaker 1: God is with me.
Speaker 2: In the middle. Three things I don't want to give you.
Speaker 2: Three things I want to give you about the middle.
Speaker 2: I was saved, it happened, I will be saved. I'm
Speaker 2: going to be with him forever. But I need him
Speaker 2: to be with me in the middle. This is not
Speaker 2: a moment to moment contractual arrangement with God, because we
Speaker 2: kind of think like his grace will save you, and
Speaker 2: his grace will get you to Heaven. You're on your
Speaker 2: own in between. I want to declare that the same
Speaker 2: grace that will get you there wherever you're there is
Speaker 2: is with you here. If you will believe the words
Speaker 2: coming out of this country preacher's mouth today that God
Speaker 2: is in the process, and number one, the gift is
Speaker 2: in the middle. They sat down to eat with Jesus,
Speaker 2: but they didn't even do what they sat down to do,
Speaker 2: because while he was breaking the bread, the process of
Speaker 2: the way that he broke the bread revealed his presence
Speaker 2: to them. God is in the process.
Speaker 3: And the gift is in the middle.
Speaker 2: Today, you will be with me in Paradise. What an
Speaker 2: awesome promise to that thief but I got a better
Speaker 2: one for you, because that's pretty good, right. I mean,
Speaker 2: come on, you're a dying thief and you're trying to
Speaker 2: slip in before the door closes. You're trying to get
Speaker 2: on Noah's ark and it's already halfway out in the water,
Speaker 2: and with your drowning, dying breath, you half heartedly make
Speaker 2: a request just in case it works and that guy
Speaker 2: got in. Okay, today you will be with me in paradise.
Speaker 2: But God has made you a better promise for he
Speaker 2: says to each one of us.
Speaker 1: Today, help me.
Speaker 2: Say God, not today you will be with me in paradise,
Speaker 2: but today I will be with you in the process.
Speaker 2: You see, to me, that's even better. That I have
Speaker 2: not only his statement, but I have his spirit. I
Speaker 2: am sealed with a guarantee that He is with me,
Speaker 2: not just when I raised my hand, not just when
Speaker 2: I went down in the baptismal waters.
Speaker 1: That was awesome. Your wedding was beautiful, and.
Speaker 2: We all appreciate so much the catering service.
Speaker 1: But we're not waiting, please, like God.
Speaker 2: Left you on earth to wait to go to heaven.
Speaker 1: Have you noticed that so much of what.
Speaker 2: We talk about in terms of salvation has to do
Speaker 2: with us getting out of here, like Christianity is God's.
Speaker 1: Cosmic evacuation plan.
Speaker 3: But what out.
Speaker 2: The middle? See the gift is in the middle. Can
Speaker 2: I show you something Peter said one time? Peter knew
Speaker 2: something about the middle because one time he was in
Speaker 2: the middle of the sea, in the middle of the storm.
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, in the middle of the sea,
Speaker 2: in the middle of the storm, here comes somebody walking
Speaker 2: toward him. And he's not quite sure, but he thinks
Speaker 2: it might just be Jesus. So he cries out in
Speaker 2: the middle of the sea, in the middle of the storm,
Speaker 2: if it's.
Speaker 1: You, tell me to come.
Speaker 2: And he gets out the boat and he does pretty good,
Speaker 2: and by the time he gets where he's going, God
Speaker 2: reaches down and grabs him. That's a picture of the
Speaker 2: grace to get started and the grace that will be
Speaker 2: there in the end.
Speaker 1: But what about the middle.
Speaker 2: He was walking on water above what could have killed him,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden in the wind and the
Speaker 2: waves on the right and the left caused him to
Speaker 2: lose his focus.
Speaker 3: On the man in the middle, and he sinks.
Speaker 2: And so Peter says, sometimes you are so focused on
Speaker 2: what's behind you. I'm preaching to somebody, and you are
Speaker 2: so focused and concerned and anxious about what's ahead of you,
Speaker 2: you are missing the presence of God. He is not
Speaker 2: the great I was, and he is not the great.
Speaker 1: I will be. He is the.
Speaker 2: Great I am, and his presence is not just what
Speaker 2: heaven one day. The Kingdom of God is that hand.
Speaker 6: He's here.
Speaker 3: In the middle.
Speaker 2: And a little later in his life, Peter was writing
Speaker 2: to a persecuted church who was going through a fiery trial,
Speaker 2: and they were in the middle of it, and he
Speaker 2: said to them, this is like one Peter one, verse nine.
Speaker 2: He said, you are receiving I've been studying this all week.
Speaker 2: I hope you'll like this as much as I did.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's tough because I've been thinking about it all week,
Speaker 2: and you have a real job and real bills, and
Speaker 2: I'll just get up here trying to tell you this stuff.
Speaker 3: And I don't know if.
Speaker 2: You see it, But he said, you are receiving the
Speaker 2: end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Speaker 3: What was he saying?
Speaker 2: One day it will be complete and there will be
Speaker 2: no need. But you don't have to wait until one
Speaker 2: day when children show us how to do this better
Speaker 2: than because adults are so goal focused, and we think
Speaker 2: that things have to be a certain way before we
Speaker 2: can enjoy God's presence, before we can enjoy what God's
Speaker 2: given us. So we set certain destinations in our mind.
Speaker 2: When it gets like that, then I'll be complete.
Speaker 3: But God wants to teach you how to.
Speaker 2: Get it in the middle. I believe this is life changing.
Speaker 2: I believe this is life changing. I was riding my bike.
Speaker 2: We don't do this much, just on vacation. I'm scared
Speaker 2: to ride my bike on the road the way some
Speaker 2: of y'all drive with elevation church stickers on your car.
Speaker 2: Scare me to death. But we were riding through.
Speaker 3: We were riding. We were riding.
Speaker 2: We were on family vacation and we had rented bicycles,
Speaker 2: and we were riding to a restaurant and it started
Speaker 2: raining outside, and I started going through all this negative
Speaker 2: cycle of emotions about the rain, and I knew it
Speaker 2: was going to rain, and I told Holly was going
Speaker 2: to rain, and she.
Speaker 3: Said it wasn't going to rain.
Speaker 2: And I was raining, and we're too far to turn
Speaker 2: around and go back home.
Speaker 1: And so now we got to ride in the rain.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, I see Elijah.
Speaker 2: He pulls around me, and he shouts at the top
Speaker 2: of his lungs, epic because he saw a mud puddle.
Speaker 2: And for him, the mud puddle looked like the perfect
Speaker 2: thing to aim at riding in the rain. Now to
Speaker 2: me it was annoying. To him, it was epic. I
Speaker 2: was already steering to go around it, and he was
Speaker 2: going right. When I thought about that picture, I thought
Speaker 2: about some of you going to work this week, and
Speaker 2: I saw you not aiming around the thing that you see.
Speaker 2: They don't want me to preach like this, because we
Speaker 2: just want to talk about heaven and the streets of gold.
Speaker 2: And when we get there one day, when I'm flying
Speaker 2: around with wings and me and Anthelm are drinking hot.
Speaker 1: Tea and the southphires.
Speaker 2: No, it's here, and now it's in the Monday and
Speaker 2: the mundane. It's in the mud, It's in the dirtiest
Speaker 2: in the See. God is a gardener. He likes to
Speaker 2: get down in the mud, down in the dirt, down
Speaker 2: in the disappointment. God is in the middle. The gift
Speaker 2: is in the middle.
Speaker 1: I see you riding your bike. I see you puddling
Speaker 1: through the puddle this week.
Speaker 2: I'm not going around it, Grace, look at me, Thirling.
Speaker 5: It's in the middle.
Speaker 1: Shout somebody.
Speaker 2: Colors so sleepy. All right, let me illustrate this. Come here, Jonathan,
Speaker 2: and I'm coming coming, Come and come and come and
Speaker 2: come here, Jonathan, Come here. Do you remember write this down?
Speaker 2: This is point number two. I'm closing real quick because
Speaker 2: I know y'all got to go and I don't want
Speaker 2: to stop. But if this is number two in my message,
Speaker 2: So if you need to leave, if you've got something
Speaker 2: to do, leave right now, because I'm in the middle,
Speaker 2: and when I get to the end, it's gonna be
Speaker 2: worth it. But this is the middle of my message. Now.
Speaker 2: I was thinking about an ill stration. Some of you
Speaker 2: will remember it that I preached this illustration. I was
Speaker 2: trying to illustrate, can you'll help me? I was you
Speaker 2: be cleo, you be cleat, and I.
Speaker 3: Was preaching on confidence, and I talked about how far
Speaker 3: I feel like.
Speaker 2: I have to go, and then I exactly sit down,
Speaker 2: sit down, he says, sit out, He's got me.
Speaker 1: Come here, come here, he's got me.
Speaker 2: You got somebody else still in this road that can
Speaker 2: help to okay, okay, come on, come on, because he
Speaker 2: said he said, he said my point before I could
Speaker 2: say it, So I figured he should help me.
Speaker 3: With this illustration.
Speaker 1: And this guy, this is perfect.
Speaker 2: You know how perfect this is because not only is
Speaker 2: the gift in the middle, but watch my second point.
Speaker 2: You won't believe this. The goal is in the middle.
Speaker 2: And see, man, God knew you needed to help me
Speaker 2: with this. Com So come come, come here, come all
Speaker 2: the way, stay right there, stay right there, stay right there.
Speaker 2: So we were talking about in that sermon illustration about
Speaker 2: how sometimes you have to look back and see how
Speaker 2: far God has already brought you. So salvation means I
Speaker 2: am not what.
Speaker 1: I once was.
Speaker 2: How many can say that I am not what I
Speaker 2: once was. But the same time you raise your right hand,
Speaker 2: how many of you could lift your left hand and say,
Speaker 2: but I'm not what I want to be.
Speaker 1: That's you.
Speaker 3: That's you.
Speaker 1: You are what I want to be.
Speaker 2: Okay, And I chose you because you're much better looking
Speaker 2: than him, to.
Speaker 1: Be what I want to be. And so we talked
Speaker 1: about living in the.
Speaker 2: Gap and so what I expect when I hear about saltha,
Speaker 2: you know, like in a wedding ceremony, they say, and
Speaker 2: the two will be calm, one flesh. Notice they will become.
Speaker 2: They will become. But it's not going to happen there
Speaker 2: at the ceremony. It's going to happen in the kitchen
Speaker 2: when we're trying to decide who does the dishes.
Speaker 3: They won't help me preach.
Speaker 1: They just want to go to.
Speaker 2: Heaven when we all get to her the awesome. But
Speaker 2: in the meantime, here I am, and I'm not living
Speaker 2: in paradise.
Speaker 1: I'm living in process.
Speaker 2: Help me preach, please, or I will leave this stage
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: I don't need to know the third point. I know
Speaker 1: it already.
Speaker 3: And here I am in the middle and I.
Speaker 2: Look back and it's awesome because I'm not what I was.
Speaker 2: If anyone is in Christ, he has a new creation.
Speaker 2: The old has gone, the newest come. I am not
Speaker 2: what I was, And I found out that if I
Speaker 2: will walk with God, he will change me and conform
Speaker 2: me to the image of Christ. Now my expectation is
Speaker 2: watch this, that as I move toward God's purpose for
Speaker 2: my life, as I get closer and closer to God,
Speaker 2: that this guy will shrink.
Speaker 3: Guess what, Let me show you something.
Speaker 2: The Bible says that when they recognize Jesus in the
Speaker 2: process when he broke the bread and gave the bread,
Speaker 2: watch what happened next. Can we go back to Luke
Speaker 2: twenty four thirty one, The moment they recognized him, he
Speaker 2: disappeared from their sight.
Speaker 1: So this is what happens.
Speaker 2: And this is going to explain a lot of why
Speaker 2: you don't feel like a good Christian, why you don't
Speaker 2: feel like you're growing.
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2: Salvation is a gift, but it is a gift that
Speaker 2: you must grow into. My expectation is that as I
Speaker 2: walk with God, and as I make decisions to follow him,
Speaker 2: and I make decisions to eliminate certain things from my
Speaker 2: life that are causing me to drain energy and focus
Speaker 2: that could be applied towards my purpose, that this gap
Speaker 2: behind me will get bigger and the gap in front
Speaker 2: of me will get smaller. But guess what God does
Speaker 2: when you take a step, when you make a move,
Speaker 2: when I step, you step, watch this God moves too.
Speaker 1: You're going to love this gold digger.
Speaker 2: See, in my mind, the goal was stay right there
Speaker 2: that this gap goes away.
Speaker 1: Here's what God knows.
Speaker 2: If you think that you have arrived, arrogance is sure
Speaker 2: to follow.
Speaker 1: So what God is gonna do? I need to do this.
Speaker 1: This is version two point zero.
Speaker 2: God is gonna make sure that as you grow, when
Speaker 2: I step, you step, the gap stays. So you look
Speaker 2: back and you say, oh, look, I'm moving forward. But
Speaker 2: you look forward and it doesn't feel like you've gone anywhere.
Speaker 2: But I want to let you know you're right where
Speaker 2: you need to be.
Speaker 1: See, you need grace for both gaps.
Speaker 2: Here. It is the same grace that created this gap
Speaker 2: between where I was and.
Speaker 1: Where I am. It's the grace I need.
Speaker 2: I step you step to keep moving forward. So God
Speaker 2: says to everyone who's in the middle of something right now,
Speaker 2: in the middle of change, in the middle of process,
Speaker 2: in the middle of the coming, in the middle of
Speaker 2: a storm, in the middle of the fire, you step less,
Speaker 2: step gets stepping, step, stay in the middle, stem, stay
Speaker 2: in fame, step, stay in courage, step, stay least, stay.
Speaker 1: In my hand, stay in the storm.
Speaker 2: I wh you in the time.
Speaker 1: God is in the middle.
Speaker 3: I'm in the middle.
Speaker 2: I need I need both both gaps. I need a
Speaker 2: gap that makes me grateful and a gap that makes
Speaker 2: me grow. So ye'll better sit down. I gotta start closing,
Speaker 2: and I'm I want to preach about these gaps. I
Speaker 2: don't know why it is that we think that the
Speaker 2: first gap is the grace of God and the second
Speaker 2: gap is anything but the same grace that did that.
Speaker 3: Will do this.
Speaker 2: He who began a good work and you will be
Speaker 2: faithful to complete it. So the disciples get where they're
Speaker 2: going to Amais and God says, oh, you thought that
Speaker 2: was the final stop. No, it's just the middle. Oh man,
Speaker 2: if you could see your life like God sees your life,
Speaker 2: you wouldn't give up in the middle. The good stuff
Speaker 2: happens in the middle. I love Netflix because I can
Speaker 2: just pause it. And sometimes if the tension is real
Speaker 2: high in a show, I'll pause it not to stop it,
Speaker 2: but I want to see where we're at on the timeline.
Speaker 1: Now here's what I know.
Speaker 2: If there's unresolved conflict in the show, I want to know,
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, how much time is left? Because if
Speaker 2: we're still in the middle, come on, somebody.
Speaker 1: Your dream is.
Speaker 2: Not over, your purpose is not finished.
Speaker 3: This is not the end.
Speaker 6: It's just a mass.
Speaker 1: We know what the disciples didn't know. We know the
Speaker 1: crosses at the end, we know the grave.
Speaker 3: Is it his final destination. It's just a mantle. It's
Speaker 3: just the middle.
Speaker 2: The gifts is in the middle, The goal is in
Speaker 2: the middle.
Speaker 1: I press toward the mark.
Speaker 2: Forgetting what is behind. I will not quit in the middle.
Speaker 2: Encourage somebody next to you. It's just the middle. It's
Speaker 2: just the middle. This is just the middle. This is
Speaker 2: not the end. It is just the middle. And I
Speaker 2: think it is significant that when they reached Amais and Jesus.
Speaker 3: Revealed his presence.
Speaker 2: Through the scars that he suffered for their salvation, he
Speaker 2: disappeared so.
Speaker 3: That they would turn around.
Speaker 2: And when they got to the place they thought they
Speaker 2: were going, they found out surprise.
Speaker 3: Look at verse thirty two.
Speaker 2: They got up and they start talking to each other,
Speaker 2: and they said to each other, we're not our hearts
Speaker 2: burning within us while he talked with us in the
Speaker 2: middle on the road as we went.
Speaker 3: In the mill. That's where you get it, that's where
Speaker 3: you grow. That's where he shows.
Speaker 2: Up in the middle, in the middle of the night,
Speaker 2: when it's just you and pastor pillow and nobody left
Speaker 2: the text, you will hear his voice.
Speaker 3: In the middle.
Speaker 2: Whoever this is for, and whatever you're in the middle of,
Speaker 2: I want you to look at the cross again, because
Speaker 2: the Bible says that what they thought was the end
Speaker 2: emaeis where they intended to stay in disappointment and eat
Speaker 2: some bread and go to bed. Once they saw who
Speaker 2: was with them all along and realized what had been
Speaker 2: happening along the road that seemed to them trivial in
Speaker 2: something as mundane as a seven mile walk, they turned around,
Speaker 2: they got up, and they returned at once to Jerusalem.
Speaker 2: And you thought this series seven mile miracle was about
Speaker 2: the first seven miles, and you thought salvation was just
Speaker 2: about God getting you out. But the second seven miles
Speaker 2: is when you turn back around and stop running from.
Speaker 3: What God saved you out of.
Speaker 2: And start running toward what God saved you for.
Speaker 6: And they got up at once in a moment and
Speaker 6: returned to Jerusalem.
Speaker 2: This may be the strongest message on salvation that God
Speaker 2: has ever given me, because when I looked at the
Speaker 2: cross where he died, and I realized.
Speaker 3: That he died on a hill called Galgatha.
Speaker 2: Which is the place of the skull in Hermaic, and
Speaker 2: on one side of him was one thief, and on
Speaker 2: one side of him was another and the cross that
Speaker 2: brought our salvation was right.
Speaker 3: There in the middle. I realized.
Speaker 2: That the way that he died is symbolic of the
Speaker 2: way that I now live. I am crucified with Christ.
Speaker 2: Nevertheless I live yet not I, but Christ lives in me.
Speaker 2: And the life that I now live, I now live.
Speaker 1: It is here now.
Speaker 2: If you're looking for the grace of God, don't look
Speaker 2: to your deathbed, and don't look to your past.
Speaker 1: He is the great I am.
Speaker 2: If you're looking for the grace of God, put your
Speaker 2: eyes on that middle cross between two thieves. On your left,
Speaker 2: you'll see your past. On your right, you'll see your future.
Speaker 2: But don't look at your past. You're not going that way,
Speaker 2: And don't even worry about your future. God is already there.
Speaker 2: If you're looking for the grace of God, it's in
Speaker 2: the middle. How need somebody to praise God right here,
Speaker 2: right now for his grace in the middle.
Speaker 1: He is with me in the middle. He is with
Speaker 1: in the middle.
Speaker 2: And maybe stand please, Maybe it's not about God getting
Speaker 2: me out. Maybe the reason he died is because he
Speaker 2: wanted to get in.
Speaker 3: Your faith is hanging between two thieves.
Speaker 2: What was is gone what will be is unknown. If
Speaker 2: you're looking for the grace of God, if you're looking
Speaker 2: for the glory of God, the glory is in the middle.
Speaker 1: I know it's in the.
Speaker 2: Middle because when Shadrak, mishak can a Beenda Gole got
Speaker 2: thrown in the fire, God didn't get them out of
Speaker 2: the fire, but lated not when the flames were at
Speaker 2: their highest, seven times.
Speaker 3: Hotter than they normally.
Speaker 2: Were, because they would not bow before the Babylonian king.
Speaker 2: The scripture says that a fourth man went in the
Speaker 2: furnace with the three who were thrown in.
Speaker 3: God didn't get them out.
Speaker 2: He got in the middle with them. Now, if you
Speaker 2: know this message is for your soul, just raise your
Speaker 2: hand if you know it's for your soul.
Speaker 3: I want.
Speaker 2: I want the same grace that got me out of
Speaker 2: my sin to lead me into everything that God saved
Speaker 2: me for. I want to learn to see His power,
Speaker 2: not just in my perfection. I mean even the thought
Speaker 2: that I'm going to reach that on this earth is ridiculous.
Speaker 3: I want God's presence in the process.
Speaker 2: When he took it, he blessed it, he broke it,
Speaker 2: and gave it. And that's where they in the middle
Speaker 2: common middle, mundane middle. The miracle is in the middle,
Speaker 2: not when you get out, but while you are in it.
Speaker 2: I know you're still struggling with the addiction man, And
Speaker 2: I know even your wife doesn't.
Speaker 3: Know because you're scared to tell her.
Speaker 2: God is with you in the middle, not just when
Speaker 2: you've been five years clean.
Speaker 1: God is with you in the pig pen. He is
Speaker 1: with you in the middle.
Speaker 3: And the same grace that stayed.
Speaker 2: With you in the pig pen is going to bring
Speaker 2: you out.
Speaker 1: Don't you dare quit. This is just the middle. This
Speaker 1: is just the middle.
Speaker 3: This is just the middle. God is with you in
Speaker 3: the middle.
Speaker 2: Well, his presence is here. John said, I looked and
Speaker 2: saw a throne in This is a beautiful picture because
Speaker 2: he said that the throne was sitting in the middle
Speaker 2: of praise.
Speaker 3: I want us to do something right now.
Speaker 2: This may be a little uncomfortable for you, but the
Speaker 2: reason you've been feeling stressed out and worn out, and
Speaker 2: the reason you've been trying to do what Jesus did
Speaker 2: not do on the cross, which is save himself. The
Speaker 2: reason you've been trying, the reason you've been so strained,
Speaker 2: and the reason that you've been so drained is because
Speaker 2: you've been trying to save yourself and you've been at
Speaker 2: the center. If you are looking for the peace of God,
Speaker 2: if you are looking for the power of God, if
Speaker 2: you are looking for the presence of God, it's in
Speaker 2: the middle.
Speaker 3: And for him to be in the middle, you can't
Speaker 3: stay there.
Speaker 2: So lift your hands, say glory and praise, power and strength.
Speaker 2: This is what they're singing in heaven around the throne.
Speaker 3: Worthy is the Lamb of God. We're singing it now.
Speaker 2: Salvation belongs to our God, to the Lamb who sits
Speaker 2: on the throne, the power to Minion, majesty forever and ever.
Speaker 2: Put him at the center for it despite grace. You
Speaker 2: have been said through faith, not of yourselves. It is
Speaker 2: the gift of God. Come on, if you're in the
Speaker 2: middle of a storm right now, I need you to
Speaker 2: lift your hands and call on in Glory'll show up
Speaker 2: in the middle of your storm, in the middle of
Speaker 2: your struggle. Come on, he's in the midst of his people.
Speaker 1: Here have it the graces of this people and thrown
Speaker 1: him out.
Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry.
Speaker 3: Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 3: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.