Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God has moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3: We're about to jump into the message, but before we do,
Speaker 3: I wanted to let you know that Elevation Nights is
Speaker 3: back September twenty fourth through October third, and if you
Speaker 3: live on the West Coast, we might be coming to
Speaker 3: a city near you. We're going to be in Seattle, Vancouver, Sacramento,
Speaker 3: la Anaheim, Boise, Salt Lake City, and Denver. It's going
Speaker 3: to be an amazing night with Elevation worship and a
Speaker 3: message from Pastor Stephen. So go to Elevation Nights dot
Speaker 3: com to get your tickets. We cannot wait to see
Speaker 3: you there. Now let's go to the message.
Speaker 1: Come on, keep your hands going. Let's take a moment
Speaker 1: and praise Him for every time he's made away in
Speaker 1: our lives, for every time he's roxy group an. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at some people with a testimony this morning, miracle
Speaker 1: after a miracle and last week, our pastor taught us
Speaker 1: what a miracle sometimes feels like. How many of you
Speaker 1: want to give God praise for super natural rest in
Speaker 1: your life. The enemy was throwing arrows at you, and somehow,
Speaker 1: by his hand, he gave you a peace.
Speaker 4: Come on, let's praise God one more time for his
Speaker 4: hand in our loves.
Speaker 1: Man and man and man, Oh, it's so good to
Speaker 1: be in God's house together, Amen and men. Right about now,
Speaker 1: a concerned spouse is nudging her husband. She said, I
Speaker 1: told you to check and make sure Pastor Stephen was
Speaker 1: preaching on this Labor Day weekend. And if you're that husband,
Speaker 1: nudge your wife. Say you're in the right place. You're
Speaker 1: in the right place. And I believe God has a
Speaker 1: word in the house for us today. I'm so grateful
Speaker 1: to be able to open up the scriptures. I know
Speaker 1: many of you here at Valentine, but if I haven't
Speaker 1: got a chance to meet you, my name is John,
Speaker 1: and I get the privilege of serving here as the
Speaker 1: campus pastor at our Balentine location. At stay stand in
Speaker 1: for just a moment till we get to the scriptures.
Speaker 1: But someone reminded me of this the other day. We
Speaker 1: were talking and it brought back an old story to mind,
Speaker 1: and just to share a little bit about me for
Speaker 1: a moment. About twelve years ago, when I was in seminary,
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen came to the school Liberty University, where my
Speaker 1: wife and I were, and he had just released a
Speaker 1: book called Greater and this book impacted me so much.
Speaker 1: He came to preach at the school and he was
Speaker 1: doing a book signing after and I didn't necessarily care
Speaker 1: about getting the book signed, but I really wanted to
Speaker 1: meet Pastor Steve, and I had just so much respect
Speaker 1: for the anointing on his life. And I was in
Speaker 1: the habit of I believe God had a call on
Speaker 1: my life, and so anytime I had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: be even near a great man or woman of God,
Speaker 1: I'd always ask them for prayer. And so in my mind,
Speaker 1: I thought, Hey, if I can go to this book signing,
Speaker 1: and I know there'll be a lot of people he's
Speaker 1: got to get through, but if I can maybe stay
Speaker 1: to the back of the line, maybe I'll get a
Speaker 1: chance to meet Pastor Steven and ask him to pray
Speaker 1: for me. And so I did that. After he spoke,
Speaker 1: I was in the line, and every time someone would
Speaker 1: get behind me, I'd say, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 1: And at the end of that and I'm sure it
Speaker 1: was a long day for Pastor, having preached and then
Speaker 1: done all these book signings, but he was so gracious
Speaker 1: to take a moment and I just shared with him
Speaker 1: the call I felt on my life and asked him
Speaker 1: to pray. And he was so gracious to just take
Speaker 1: a moment and pray for me. And he wrote three
Speaker 1: words when he signed this book to Jonathan and Anna,
Speaker 1: three simple words that would profoundly shape my life. He wrote,
Speaker 1: Greater Things Ahead. And those three words I meant the
Speaker 1: world to us. It would be just a few months
Speaker 1: later that my wife and I would move here to
Speaker 1: be a part of this incredible church. And we're so
Speaker 1: thankful for God that he called us and placed us
Speaker 1: here at Elevation, and so this has been home for us.
Speaker 1: This is where all my kids were born. Real quick,
Speaker 1: just show him a picture of my family, real fast,
Speaker 1: if you got it. This is my son, Zion and
Speaker 1: Elias and Olivia. She's everyone's favorite. Zion's in the room,
Speaker 1: but I can say that we all just say she's
Speaker 1: our favorite. We love Olivia, and I'm so grateful that
Speaker 1: God's planted us here. And it won't take you long
Speaker 1: to realize, if you're new here, that this is not
Speaker 1: a perfect church. There's no such thing as a perfect church.
Speaker 1: But I'm so grateful for a healthy church where the
Speaker 1: spirit of God is moving, where people are being reached
Speaker 1: with the gospel. Next week, when you come back for
Speaker 1: block party, you're gonna see what it's all about. Is
Speaker 1: hundreds of people take the step of being baptized and
Speaker 1: publicly declaring their faith in Jesus. Say, man, how many
Speaker 1: you are grateful for God's house for what He's doing
Speaker 1: in this church. And I'm excited to share this word
Speaker 1: with you today. We're gonna be in Acts chapter one,
Speaker 1: in Acts chapter two, and this is the story about
Speaker 1: the coming of the Holy Spirit. All the Pentecostals make
Speaker 1: some noise pick up in verse four. On one occasion,
Speaker 1: while he was eating with them, he gave them this command,
Speaker 1: do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my
Speaker 1: father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For
Speaker 1: John baptized with water, but in a few days you
Speaker 1: will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered
Speaker 1: around him and asked, LORDA, you at this time going
Speaker 1: to restore the kingdom to Israel. He said to them,
Speaker 1: it's not for you to know the times or the
Speaker 1: dates the Father has set by his own authority. But
Speaker 1: you will receive power. Everyone say power. You will receive
Speaker 1: power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you
Speaker 1: will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of
Speaker 1: Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Speaker 1: After he said this, he was taken up before their
Speaker 1: very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Speaker 1: So Jesus ascends into heaven. Fast forward Acts chapter two.
Speaker 1: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together
Speaker 1: in one place. Everyone say place. Suddenly a sound like
Speaker 1: the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and
Speaker 1: filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw
Speaker 1: what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and
Speaker 1: came to rest on each of them. All of them
Speaker 1: were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak
Speaker 1: in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now they
Speaker 1: were staying in Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation
Speaker 1: under heaven. Back to Acts chapter two, verse one for
Speaker 1: a moment when the day of Pentecost came, they were
Speaker 1: all together in one place. I want to talk to
Speaker 1: you this morning about the power of a place. The
Speaker 1: power of a place. High five year neighbors, you take
Speaker 1: your seat, say there's power in this place. Come on,
Speaker 1: tell them like you believe it, there's power in this place.
Speaker 1: Earlier this year, our pastor led us through a series
Speaker 1: through the Book of Acts and talking about the role
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. How many you remember that series
Speaker 1: just in the spring, and it was so impactful for me.
Speaker 1: And one of my favorite messages in that series was
Speaker 1: a sermon he preached called Places. Everyone. So consider this
Speaker 1: message life not a part two, but maybe a spin
Speaker 1: off series of that incredible message our pastor preach. But
Speaker 1: that sermon got me thinking about the power of places
Speaker 1: in our life and the way God uses places, the
Speaker 1: places he puts us in to unfold his purposes and plans.
Speaker 1: When we talk about the ways God works in our lives,
Speaker 1: I think all of us would agree that God uses
Speaker 1: people in our lives. Right when I say that, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe a mentor a leader comes to mind, who discipled
Speaker 1: you really made a difference in your life. Maybe what
Speaker 1: comes to mind is the person who invited you to
Speaker 1: church or shared the Gospel with you for the first time.
Speaker 1: Maybe you think of a praying grandmother. Everyone, we all
Speaker 1: would agree God uses people in our lives, but more
Speaker 1: and more, even in my own life, God is beginning
Speaker 1: to reveal to me how He uses places. Everybody say
Speaker 1: places places. I want to give you an example from
Speaker 1: nature real quick, to kind of set up this point.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you like to do Sundays after
Speaker 1: you leave church. How many you like to go home
Speaker 1: and watch football? Is that your thing? I'll tell you
Speaker 1: how cool I am after church on Sundays. You know
Speaker 1: what I like to do. I like to go home
Speaker 1: and watch nature documentaries. That's my thing. The simultaneously informative
Speaker 1: yet relaxing voice of David ATM Sorry, Sir David Attenborough.
Speaker 1: And one of the things I saw recently was this.
Speaker 1: Show them the picture of these trees real quick. These
Speaker 1: are California redwords redwoods. These are the tallest trees on
Speaker 1: the planet and some of the fastest growing trees. Look
Speaker 1: at that. Something incredible, though, happened about one hundred years ago.
Speaker 1: Someone took these trees from where they were native to
Speaker 1: in California and they decided to plant them in New Zealand.
Speaker 1: And when they planted these trees that were already massive,
Speaker 1: already rapid growing, trees, already remarkable in their own right,
Speaker 1: when they took them from their native environment of California
Speaker 1: and planted them in a new environment of New Zealand,
Speaker 1: something incredible happened. You ready for this, any nature lovers
Speaker 1: in the house today. When they planted these trees in
Speaker 1: New Zealand, in the nutrient rich volcanic soil of New Zealand,
Speaker 1: these trees that were already remarkably fast growing, grew three
Speaker 1: times faster in New Zealand than they did in their
Speaker 1: native land of California. Ooh, the environments you place yourself
Speaker 1: in matters. There is potential on the inside of you,
Speaker 1: but how quickly you get there? And some of the
Speaker 1: things that God will unfold in your life have less
Speaker 1: to do with your potential and more to do with
Speaker 1: the places that you find yourself in. You can put
Speaker 1: yourself in a place that you are not native to
Speaker 1: and watch God as he accelerates your lif in ways
Speaker 1: you never could a thought or imagine. Places matter to God.
Speaker 1: One thing Jesus would often do throughout the scriptures is
Speaker 1: he would tell these parables to illustrate what the Kingdom
Speaker 1: of God was like. And as Jesus would tell these parables,
Speaker 1: he would use the place he was in to teach principles. Right,
Speaker 1: so he would tell a parable about a lost sheep,
Speaker 1: probably as he was standing next to a field filled
Speaker 1: with sheep. He would use the place to illustrate the principle,
Speaker 1: or tell a parable about a fig as he's standing
Speaker 1: next to a fig, or a vineyard while he's near
Speaker 1: a vineyard. And one time in Matthew thirteen, he tells
Speaker 1: a parable about a sewer who goes out to scatter seed,
Speaker 1: and the Bible says that as the sewer went and
Speaker 1: scattered seed, it fell in four different places. Everybody say places.
Speaker 1: The seed fell in four different places. Some of it
Speaker 1: fell in a place where it was snatched up by birds.
Speaker 1: Some of the seed fell in a place where it
Speaker 1: was so rocky it couldn't get roots, so when the
Speaker 1: sun got hot they withered away. Other seeds fell in
Speaker 1: a place where it was choked out by thorns. And
Speaker 1: other seed fell on good soil where it produced fruit.
Speaker 1: If you're looking at Matthew thirteen in your Bible, it'll
Speaker 1: probably have a heading like the Parable of the Sower,
Speaker 1: but a better name for this parable is the parable
Speaker 1: of the places. Because what determined the outcome of that
Speaker 1: seed was not the potential within the seed, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't the sower. The sower knew what he was doing.
Speaker 1: What determined the outcome of that seed was the place
Speaker 1: that the seed landed. Your life is like a seed,
Speaker 1: and the places you find yourself in can either accelerate
Speaker 1: you grow, you expand you feed you. Or if the
Speaker 1: good environment can accelerate and grow your life in the
Speaker 1: same way, the wrong environment can squander you, starve you,
Speaker 1: suffocate you from the purposes that God has for your life.
Speaker 1: This is the power of a place. This is why
Speaker 1: it's so important that when someone gives their life to
Speaker 1: Christ that we help them get can to this church,
Speaker 1: because that they receive the seed of God's grace into
Speaker 1: their heart, but they go back to the same people
Speaker 1: and the same environments. It's one thing to have Jesus
Speaker 1: in your heart, but you're going to be frustrated when
Speaker 1: you feel like you're not transforming if you have Jesus
Speaker 1: in your heart but keep going to the same places.
Speaker 1: The same bars, the same club get. We got to
Speaker 1: help people get out of the environment that they were
Speaker 1: in and into a life giving environment where the purposes
Speaker 1: of God can begin to unfold. I'm so grateful God
Speaker 1: planted me in this house, in this soil, in this soil,
Speaker 1: because I've seen God do incredible things. I always knew
Speaker 1: God's hand was on my life. I knew I would
Speaker 1: see God do incredible I never could have imagined some
Speaker 1: of the things I'd get to see God do because
Speaker 1: of where He planted me. I remember one author saying,
Speaker 1: he said, if you want to see a move of God,
Speaker 1: put yourself in a place where God is moving. If
Speaker 1: you want to see God move in a big way,
Speaker 1: and how many of you want to see God move
Speaker 1: in a big way in your life. If you want
Speaker 1: to see God move in a big way in your life,
Speaker 1: put yourself in a place where God is moving. That's
Speaker 1: true for so many areas of our life. If you
Speaker 1: want to see a miracle in your life, put yourself
Speaker 1: in a place where God is still doing miracles. If
Speaker 1: you want to see your marriage thrive and prosper, put
Speaker 1: yourself in a place where you're surrounded by healthy miracles,
Speaker 1: by healthy marriages. If you want to see God do something,
Speaker 1: get in a place where the spirit of God is moving.
Speaker 1: When you plant yourself in a place where the spirit
Speaker 1: of God is moving and watering, there is no limit
Speaker 1: to what God can do in and through your life.
Speaker 1: And like I mentioned, the same is true the opposite way,
Speaker 1: Like if you put man, I love nature so much.
Speaker 1: Here's my third nature analogy. But if you put a
Speaker 1: fish in a small aquarium, it won't limit how much
Speaker 1: it can grow. Many of us are limited not by
Speaker 1: our potential, but by our places. In one passage of scripture,
Speaker 1: Jesus comes across a man who had been paralyzed since birth,
Speaker 1: and the scripture says that he was laying near a
Speaker 1: pool called Bethesda. And the scripture specifically points out that
Speaker 1: at this pool that there is a great number of
Speaker 1: sick and ill people. And Jesus goes up to this
Speaker 1: man who was laying by this pool, and he asked
Speaker 1: him a question. He says, do you want to get well?
Speaker 1: And of course the answer to that is obvious for
Speaker 1: this man who's been laying by this pool, for you,
Speaker 1: do you want to get well? The man says, yes,
Speaker 1: I want to get well. Interestingly enough, Jesus doesn't say
Speaker 1: to him, you're healed. Jesus says, pick up your mat
Speaker 1: and go. When the man expresses that he wants to
Speaker 1: get well, the first thing Jesus tells him to do
Speaker 1: is change your environment, because if you want to walk,
Speaker 1: the first thing you need to do is stop hanging
Speaker 1: around lame people. When you want to see God do
Speaker 1: something different in your life, you've got to Often, God
Speaker 1: will force you out of environments that you're native to
Speaker 1: places that are comfortable for you in order to bring
Speaker 1: you into His purposes. Amen, I didn't forget about the
Speaker 1: Book of Acts. Let's go there for a minute. Talk
Speaker 1: about the potential of a place, this little upper room,
Speaker 1: this little upper room, where God would send his spirit,
Speaker 1: and the effects of that for the last two thousand
Speaker 1: years have been resounding and trembling throughout the whole earth,
Speaker 1: and on the Day of Pentecost. One thing you need
Speaker 1: to know is that the Day of Pentecost was one
Speaker 1: day in a festival called the Feast of Weeks, and
Speaker 1: during the Feast of Weeks, this is where the Israelites
Speaker 1: would celebrate when God gave the law the Torah to Moses,
Speaker 1: and thus started the nation of Israel. So the feast
Speaker 1: of Weeks where they is where they would celebrate the
Speaker 1: beginning of the Hebrew people becoming a nation. Now, for
Speaker 1: us as believers, when we think about the Day of Pentecost,
Speaker 1: it's not about God sending his law, but God sending
Speaker 1: his spirit. And it's not about the birth of a nation,
Speaker 1: but the birth of God's Church that since that day
Speaker 1: when He poured out his spirit, has been resonating throughout
Speaker 1: the whole earth, to Ukraine, to Brazil, to Toronto to Charlotte,
Speaker 1: North Carolina. All the beautiful expressions of the Body of
Speaker 1: Christ that came out of that moment when God birth
Speaker 1: this church in that little upper room. It's the potential
Speaker 1: of a place. And sometimes I read this story and
Speaker 1: I think it would be so cool to have been
Speaker 1: one of the apostles in that room on that day.
Speaker 1: It would have been so amazing to be in that
Speaker 1: place as God sends the spirit and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden it fills the house and it fills the people.
Speaker 1: And this scripture will go on to say that right
Speaker 1: after that, Peter and the other eleven they stand up
Speaker 1: and they give one of the most beautiful expressions of
Speaker 1: the gospel message of Jesus Christ, and that day three
Speaker 1: thousand people get added to the church. What would it
Speaker 1: have been like to been in the middle of a
Speaker 1: move of God like that? I think, Oh, it would
Speaker 1: be so cool to be in the upper room. But
Speaker 1: think with me for a second what this must have
Speaker 1: felt like for the apostles who are there. See, for
Speaker 1: three years they've been following Jesus from place place. Remember
Speaker 1: he called them out of there for Peter. He said,
Speaker 1: leave your fishing, but leave the thing that's not only
Speaker 1: comfortable for you but also lucrative for you, and come
Speaker 1: and follow me. And so for three years these disciples
Speaker 1: have been following Jesus from place to place, everybody say place.
Speaker 1: And then they watch Jesus as he gets crucified in
Speaker 1: a place called Golgatha. They even told them, Jesus, don't
Speaker 1: do it, but it was his purpose and plan all
Speaker 1: along to go to that place and give his life.
Speaker 1: And so, in their pain and confusion and grief, they
Speaker 1: watched them get crucified. And just when things couldn't get
Speaker 1: more confusing, three days later they go to the tomb,
Speaker 1: and what happens. He wasn't in that place the Angel said,
Speaker 1: he's not here, he's risen. And then they meet the
Speaker 1: resurrected Jesus, and from that point for another forty days,
Speaker 1: they're with the resurrected Jesus, and in some of his
Speaker 1: last words to them before he ascends into heaven, he says,
Speaker 1: wait in Jerusalem. Wait in Jerusalem, says, my father's going
Speaker 1: to send you the gift of the Holy Spirit, but
Speaker 1: you need to wait in Jerusalem. How many patient people
Speaker 1: in the House of God today self identified patient people.
Speaker 1: This is how I know I wouldn't have been a
Speaker 1: good disciple because I'm not very good at waiting. So
Speaker 1: when we call it the Upper Room, we think, what
Speaker 1: an amazing moment that happened in that place. But for
Speaker 1: the disciples, this wouldn't have felt like a move of God.
Speaker 1: This would have felt like a waiting room, a waiting room,
Speaker 1: a waiting room. They're in that place and it would
Speaker 1: be ten days from when Jesus ascended to when he
Speaker 1: would send the gift of his Holy Spirit. Ten days.
Speaker 1: But they don't know that. They don't know that, they
Speaker 1: don't know if it's going to be three days, seven days,
Speaker 1: ten days, one hundred days. In some of his last
Speaker 1: words to them, he says, stay in Jerusalem and wait
Speaker 1: and wait. So they go to this place and they're
Speaker 1: simply waiting. Imagine how confusing this was for them. The
Speaker 1: worst thing about when you're waiting, like for me, I
Speaker 1: always think about when you go to a restaurant and
Speaker 1: the weight is taking a little bit longer than you expect.
Speaker 1: In your in you're debating in your mind do I
Speaker 1: just leave and go somewhere else? And yet there's something
Speaker 1: deep down in your spirit telling you that the moment
Speaker 1: I walk out of this door, they're gonna call my name. Right,
Speaker 1: it's this lingering feeling. The moment I leave this place,
Speaker 1: they're gonna say, josephs, your table is ready, and I
Speaker 1: won't be in that place. So you just wait, You wait,
Speaker 1: you wait, when's it gonna come? When's it gonna come?
Speaker 1: One thing I want you to know is that places
Speaker 1: that places where you find yourself waiting are places of preparation.
Speaker 1: Preparation is connected to a place when you find yourself
Speaker 1: in that tormenting space where you don't I know God's
Speaker 1: getting ready to do something, but I don't know when
Speaker 1: or exactly what He's gonna do. Those are spaces of preparation.
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks ago, our pastor taught us about
Speaker 1: this when he talked about King David. Remember, David was
Speaker 1: anointed as king, and yet despite being anointed by the
Speaker 1: prophet Samuel to be the king of Israel, he did
Speaker 1: not possess the throne right away. And our pastor taught
Speaker 1: us how David spent years running away from the current king,
Speaker 1: King Saul, who was trying to kill him. So he
Speaker 1: finds himself living in the wilderness and hiding in caves.
Speaker 1: And our pastor said something so profound to us. He said,
Speaker 1: kings are only formed in caves. That cave was a
Speaker 1: waiting room. That cave was a place of preparation for
Speaker 1: King David. God knew everything he had in store for David.
Speaker 1: God knew everything that David would become. But in that cave,
Speaker 1: God was forming something in him for the purposes that
Speaker 1: he had for him. Consider Joseph for just a moment.
Speaker 1: Joseph is an amazing character in the Bible. In fact,
Speaker 1: he would have such profound and prophetic dreams about the
Speaker 1: way that God was going to use them that when
Speaker 1: he told his family, they got so jealous of him
Speaker 1: that they sold him into slavery, and through a series
Speaker 1: of unfortunate events, Joseph finds himself in a prison cell.
Speaker 1: Something incredible happens in that prison cell. We call it
Speaker 1: a prison, but it was a waiting room. God was
Speaker 1: preparing him in that place, because in that waiting room,
Speaker 1: the Bible calls him. It calls him Joseph the Dreamer.
Speaker 1: But in that waiting room, in that prison cell, something
Speaker 1: significant happens in Joseph's life. It's not Joseph who's dreaming
Speaker 1: in that prison cell, but the other prisoners. Catch this
Speaker 1: for a moment. When you really begin to operate in
Speaker 1: the anointing that God has placed on your life, you
Speaker 1: start to see the people around you. Start to stay
Speaker 1: with me for a minute. When you really start walking
Speaker 1: in the grace God gave you to be an encourager,
Speaker 1: you'll see that the people around you start encouraging. When
Speaker 1: you begin to walk in the grace God gave you
Speaker 1: to be generous, you'll see the people. So it's not
Speaker 1: Joseph having dreams. It's not Joseph the Dreamer having dreams.
Speaker 1: It's the other prisoners. And in that waiting room, in
Speaker 1: that prison cell, these other prisoners are having dreams, and
Speaker 1: Joseph begins to interpret their dreams. Did you catch what
Speaker 1: happens in his life. It's in that waiting room that
Speaker 1: Joseph goes from Joseph the dreamer to Joseph the dream interpreter.
Speaker 1: The prison cell was the place where Joseph learned how
Speaker 1: to use his gifts, not to serve himself, but serve others.
Speaker 1: Come on, any of you been in that place where
Speaker 1: you thought it was all about you and God puts
Speaker 1: you in circumstances where you learned that what He gave you,
Speaker 1: and what he put in you, and what he put
Speaker 1: on your life wasn't just for you, but for others
Speaker 1: as well. Ah, he went from a dreamer to a
Speaker 1: dream interpreter. And I want you to know today that
Speaker 1: when you are in that place of waiting, I'll need
Speaker 1: you to see it as a place of preparation. It
Speaker 1: is possible that in that place God is preparing you
Speaker 1: for what He's prepared for you. God is preparing you
Speaker 1: for what He prepared for you. This is what Ephesians
Speaker 1: two ten says. It says that we are God's handiwork,
Speaker 1: created to do good works which he prepared for. In
Speaker 1: other words, that means that God is shaping you. God
Speaker 1: is forming you. God is working on your life for
Speaker 1: what He has already prepared in advanced for you to do.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 1: Picture the apostles in this upper room waiting for God
Speaker 1: to send a spirit, knowing what God promised them, but
Speaker 1: not knowing when he was going to do it. But
Speaker 1: in that place, God was preparing them for something so
Speaker 1: significant they never could have When Peter left his boat,
Speaker 1: he never could have imagined that on that day he
Speaker 1: would be preaching and three thousand people would give their
Speaker 1: lives sick. He never could. But God is preparing you
Speaker 1: for what He's prepared for you. I don't want to
Speaker 1: miss out when God finds when God calls my name,
Speaker 1: when he calls me, I want to be in the
Speaker 1: place he told me to be. So Jesus said, wait
Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, because my father's getting ready to send you something.
Speaker 1: I know even as I say that, some of you
Speaker 1: are like, I hate the place I'm in right now.
Speaker 1: Maybe you feel stuck in a job. Maybe you're at
Speaker 1: a school where it feels like you don't belong, and
Speaker 1: everything within you wants to get up and leave that place.
Speaker 1: Because it's so painful and so uncomfortable. But I want
Speaker 1: you to know that even when you're in that place,
Speaker 1: your Father has not forgotten you. It could just be
Speaker 1: that he's preparing you for what He's prepared for you.
Speaker 1: When Jesus tells them wait in Jerusalem, it's interesting to me.
Speaker 1: They go to this we call it the Upper Room.
Speaker 1: But if you remember, before Jesus went to the Cross,
Speaker 1: he sent them into Jerusalem and he said, go prepare
Speaker 1: a place for the Passover meal, the first communion, the
Speaker 1: last Supper would take place. This was the same room
Speaker 1: that they had prepared not too much earlier, for the
Speaker 1: Passover supper with Jesus. So when Jesus ascends into heaven
Speaker 1: and they're left not knowing what to do, they don't
Speaker 1: go to a new place. They go to a prepared place.
Speaker 1: And sometimes when you find yourself in the place where
Speaker 1: you're not sure what God is going to do or
Speaker 1: when God is going to do it, I want to
Speaker 1: encourage you to stay in the place he last told
Speaker 1: you to be, Stay in the place that he puts you,
Speaker 1: because your father, he hasn't forgotten about you, and he's
Speaker 1: getting ready to do something in your life. So don't
Speaker 1: leave Jerusalem, don't walk away just yet. God is preparing
Speaker 1: you for what He's prepared for you. Not only is
Speaker 1: preparation connected to a place, but what I love in
Speaker 1: this scripture is that God's provision is connected to a
Speaker 1: place as well. Are you with me? One thing? There's
Speaker 1: so much I could tell you about my wife Anna,
Speaker 1: but two things you need to know. One is she's
Speaker 1: a really good cook. Amen. The other thing is she's
Speaker 1: a really good mom. In fact, my kids eat every
Speaker 1: single day. That's how good of a mom she is.
Speaker 1: Every single day. So when Anna cooks a meal for
Speaker 1: our family, as much as I think my boys would
Speaker 1: love to eat their dinner in the playroom or up
Speaker 1: in their bedroom, when Anna makes the meal for our kids,
Speaker 1: she takes what she prepared and she puts it on
Speaker 1: the table, and she says, boys, time to come eat
Speaker 1: and as much as they'd like to eat somewhere else.
Speaker 1: And I'm not judging you if you're a family who
Speaker 1: eats on the couch or eats on the floor or whatever.
Speaker 1: But in our family, she takes what she prepared and
Speaker 1: she puts it on the table and says, boys, come
Speaker 1: and eat. In other words, they need to come to
Speaker 1: the place where the food is that they want to eat.
Speaker 1: I want you to know that God is a good father.
Speaker 1: God is a good father. He knows how to feed
Speaker 1: you as his sons and as his daughters. He's a
Speaker 1: good father. But God is not uber eats. God does
Speaker 1: not take provision to where you are. God puts his
Speaker 1: provision to where you're supposed to be. That's what he
Speaker 1: said to Elijah one king seventeen. He said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: supply food for you down at the break. I'm even
Speaker 1: gonna do it in a miraculous way. I'm gonna send
Speaker 1: ravens to feed you there. But Elijah, you gotta be
Speaker 1: in the place I told you to be so that
Speaker 1: I can feed you. Provision is connected to a place
Speaker 1: your father knows how to feed you. But you gotta
Speaker 1: be in the place he told you to be. Consider
Speaker 1: for just a moment with me, the story of the
Speaker 1: prodigal son that Jesus tells this parable again of a
Speaker 1: son who asks his father early for his inheritance, and
Speaker 1: it says he left his father's house and he went
Speaker 1: into a distant country where he squandered everything that he
Speaker 1: had been given and then look at this in verse seventeen,
Speaker 1: this boy who's gone off to a distant country, squandered
Speaker 1: everything as father has given him. He hires himself out
Speaker 1: to work with the pigs. And while he's with the pigs,
Speaker 1: he's getting envious of what the pigs are eating. Well,
Speaker 1: he's out there starving. In verse seventeen, it says, and
Speaker 1: when he came to his senses, he said, how many
Speaker 1: of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and
Speaker 1: here I am starving to death. How many of my
Speaker 1: father's hired servants have food to eat, and yet I'm
Speaker 1: out here starving as a son. In other words, the
Speaker 1: provision of his father had nothing to do with his
Speaker 1: position and everything to do with his location. I heard
Speaker 1: our friend, Pastor Darius said, did you catch what I
Speaker 1: just said? It had nothing to do with his position
Speaker 1: and everything to do with his location. Our friend, Pastor
Speaker 1: Darius Daniels, he was preaching this. He said, as long
Speaker 1: as the son was in the father's house, he never
Speaker 1: knew what it felt like to be hungry. And you
Speaker 1: have to know, as a child of God, you have
Speaker 1: access to the refrigerator of your father, But it is
Speaker 1: in the house touch your neighbors say, it's in the
Speaker 1: You gotta be in the place that God told you
Speaker 1: to be. Out here staring as a son, when your
Speaker 1: father has everything that you need. In the presence of
Speaker 1: the Lord is the fullness of joy at his right hand,
Speaker 1: pleasures evermore, My father has everything that I need, and
Speaker 1: the House of God is one of the primary places
Speaker 1: your Father will feed you. I know we live in
Speaker 1: a day and age when people say I'm just not
Speaker 1: into church. I'm spiritual. I connect with God everywhere, and
Speaker 1: I get it. God is on the present. If you
Speaker 1: like to go on a walk and He speaks to you,
Speaker 1: that's amazing. You should have a place in your home
Speaker 1: where you read your scriptures and pray and God speaks
Speaker 1: to you. But I want you to know that the
Speaker 1: House of God is one of the primary places that
Speaker 1: your Father will feed you with what you need. So
Speaker 1: people now say, oh, church is just a build, just
Speaker 1: a building, just a building. Now, when I think about
Speaker 1: how my father met me in the this is not
Speaker 1: a building. This is the house of God. Let me
Speaker 1: show you a table, real quick. Let me show you
Speaker 1: a table. For the last eight years, I've had the
Speaker 1: privilege of being the campus pastor here, And one of
Speaker 1: the great privileges of that is that every single week
Speaker 1: I get to sit at this table right here, this table,
Speaker 1: this table. And some of you are like Pastor JJ,
Speaker 1: that's not a table, that's a chair. No no, no no.
Speaker 1: It might look like a chair to you, But for me,
Speaker 1: that's a table. This is the place where my father
Speaker 1: feeds me. This is the place where he speaks to me.
Speaker 1: This is the place where he's where he's comforted me.
Speaker 1: This is the place where he's corrected me. This is
Speaker 1: the place where he's given me. This is the place
Speaker 1: where my father feeds me. And so for me, I
Speaker 1: want to be at my father's table. And whether it's
Speaker 1: our pastor or anyone else who stands behind that pulpit,
Speaker 1: I want to be in the house of God because
Speaker 1: my Father knows what I need. And one of the
Speaker 1: things I see time and time again as a pastor
Speaker 1: is sometimes people will come to church and come to
Speaker 1: God when their life is falling apart. And God is
Speaker 1: so good that the moment you come to him, he
Speaker 1: embraces you with open arms, and he closes you, and
Speaker 1: he feeds you. And yet some of us get so
Speaker 1: used to being full that we forget what it felt
Speaker 1: like to be hungry, and so we begin to drift
Speaker 1: away from the House of God, and wonder, has God
Speaker 1: forgotten me? Has God forsaken me? Did he forget to
Speaker 1: feed you? No, he didn't forget to feed you. He's
Speaker 1: putting food on the table every week. But God needs
Speaker 1: to feed you in the place he called you to be.
Speaker 1: And one of the most amazing things about this church
Speaker 1: is that you can show up week after week and
Speaker 1: get fed and you never have to give a single
Speaker 1: dime to this ministry because there's someone else on your
Speaker 1: row right now who believes so much in what God
Speaker 1: is doing in this place that they give sacrifice to
Speaker 1: see the gospel. Will go forward to build a banquet
Speaker 1: table for the masters, so that all can come and
Speaker 1: eat of His goodness, to taste and see that the
Speaker 1: Lord is good. But if this is the place where
Speaker 1: God feeds you, I don't know why you wouldn't give
Speaker 1: to help put food on the table. There's someone else
Speaker 1: who needs to eat there. The world needs what our
Speaker 1: father has. This is the house of God. Provision is
Speaker 1: connected to a place to a place. This is the
Speaker 1: place where my father feeds me. So he says to them,
Speaker 1: wait in Jerusalem, because my Father's going to send you
Speaker 1: the gift provision, the gift, the gift of what, the
Speaker 1: gift of the Holy Spirit. Of all the ways that
Speaker 1: God can provide for you in your life, the greatest
Speaker 1: provision of your Father will always be the gift of
Speaker 1: his presence. I love the Holy Spirit. I love to
Speaker 1: know that no matter what I'm walking through, that God
Speaker 1: is with me. So he says, wait in Jerusalem. My
Speaker 1: Father is going to send you the gift. He's going
Speaker 1: to provide for you in that place. He's going to
Speaker 1: send you the gift of the Holy Spirit. And when
Speaker 1: he sends you the spirit, you will receive power. And
Speaker 1: he says, and when you receive power, you will be
Speaker 1: my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, into the
Speaker 1: ends of the yearth In other words, not only is
Speaker 1: provision connected to a place, but purpose is connected to
Speaker 1: a place as well. When God begins to do something
Speaker 1: in your life, it's always for a purpose greater than you.
Speaker 1: He says, I'm going to give you my spirit, but
Speaker 1: it's not just for your comfort. Although the apostles did
Speaker 1: need comfort. I'm going to give you my spirit, and
Speaker 1: it's not just for guidance. Although they wouldn't need God.
Speaker 1: He said, I'm going to give you my spirit, and
Speaker 1: when I do, you will receive power power to be
Speaker 1: my witnesses. There was a purpose that God was beginning
Speaker 1: to unfold through their lives that they would need the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit for purpose is connected to a place. When
Speaker 1: God spoke to Abraham, he said he gave him an
Speaker 1: incredible promise for his life. He said, I'm gonna bless you, Abraham,
Speaker 1: and through you and your seed, I'm gonna bless the
Speaker 1: entire earth. And after he gives him this promise, he
Speaker 1: says to him, so go to the place I will
Speaker 1: show you. God had a specific purpose for Abraham, but
Speaker 1: that purpose would unfold in a specific place, and the
Speaker 1: scripture tells us in Hebrews that Abraham left the place
Speaker 1: he was native to. He left his home country, and
Speaker 1: he set out looking for the place that God had
Speaker 1: established for him, whose builder and architect was God. Because
Speaker 1: God had a purpose for his life, but it would
Speaker 1: unfold in the place. So it took obedience for Abraham
Speaker 1: to move and leave what was native to him and
Speaker 1: begin to step into what God had in store for him.
Speaker 1: Purpose is connected to a place. I love reading the
Speaker 1: scriptures when I think about all the people that God
Speaker 1: used in a significant way many times before God used them,
Speaker 1: he moved them. This, this, this blessed me because I'm
Speaker 1: an immigrant. My dad's an immigrant, his dad was an immigrant,
Speaker 1: his dad was come from a long line of immigrants.
Speaker 1: Then I'm reading the scriptures. How God moved Abraham, God
Speaker 1: moved Isaac, God moved Jacob, God moved Jeremiah, God moved Nehemiah, Naomi, Ruth.
Speaker 1: All these people that God used in a significant way,
Speaker 1: he first moved. And what's crazy to me is I love.
Speaker 1: As I'm getting to know people in our church often
Speaker 1: I ask him what brought you to Charlotte? And you
Speaker 1: know what they tell me. God, I'm like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: just give me a come like, was it a job?
Speaker 1: Did you have? Grandchildren? Moved God? And I'm beginning to
Speaker 1: see more and more. No, that's really how he works.
Speaker 1: As sometimes God had a purpose for someone, so he
Speaker 1: would lift them up from the place they were native
Speaker 1: to and begin to move them to another.
Speaker 4: Place so that his purposes and plans could unfold. Just
Speaker 4: last night, we were at a couple of cells for dinner.
Speaker 4: They shared with us how all the reasons they thought
Speaker 4: they were moving to Charlotte, and all the other purposes
Speaker 4: that God had in store for them. Often, when God
Speaker 4: is getting ready to use someone, he'll move them from
Speaker 4: a place that they're native, to move them to a
Speaker 4: place so His purposes can unfold in their life.
Speaker 1: Purpose is connected to a place. This is what I've
Speaker 1: been excited to show you in this passage, because I'm
Speaker 1: reading how Jesus is going up to the Father and
Speaker 1: as and before he does, he tells them wait in Jerusalem,
Speaker 1: because my Father's going to send you the spirit there.
Speaker 1: And all along I'm asking myself the question, why Jerusalem?
Speaker 1: Why Jerusalem? It's his spirit. God could have sent his
Speaker 1: spirit anywhere. So as Jesus as sends, why didn't he
Speaker 1: Why didn't he let them just kind of get on
Speaker 1: their way and when He was ready send the spirit
Speaker 1: to where they are? Why Jerusalem? Well, I told you
Speaker 1: earlier that the day of Pentecost was part of a
Speaker 1: festival called the Feast of Weeks, And one of the
Speaker 1: things that came along with that festival was that in
Speaker 1: Deuteronomy sixteen sixty and God says that during this feast,
Speaker 1: every Jewish person, no matter where they live, needed to
Speaker 1: migrate back to Jerusalem. So Jesus speaks to the disciples
Speaker 1: and he says, stay in Jerusalem. I'm going to send
Speaker 1: you the gift of my spirit. And when I do,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be a witness in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria.
Speaker 1: And get this and two the ends of the earth.
Speaker 1: So this is where Acts chapter two, verse five comes in,
Speaker 1: because every time I read Acts chapter two, I think
Speaker 1: about them in that house. They're praying, the apostles, the
Speaker 1: other women, they're praying, and God sends his spirit, fills
Speaker 1: the house like a mighty rushing wind and tongues of
Speaker 1: fireland I never paid attention to Acts chapter two, verse five.
Speaker 1: The purpose of this place. Now there were staying in Jerusalem,
Speaker 1: God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. Do you
Speaker 1: see it? Do you see it? God says, wait in Jerusalem,
Speaker 1: because as He's preparing to send his spirit, at the
Speaker 1: same time, he's bringing people from every nation under heaven.
Speaker 1: So when Peter opens up that door, there are nations
Speaker 1: at his doorstep. And Peter begins to open up his
Speaker 1: mouth and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Every
Speaker 1: person hears that gospel message in their own language. He says,
Speaker 1: you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria,
Speaker 1: and two the ends of the earth. The apostles wouldn't
Speaker 1: go to the ends of the earth because God was
Speaker 1: bringing the nations to them. This is the power of
Speaker 1: a place that God might just be arranging things where
Speaker 1: you find yourself right now, wait in the place he
Speaker 1: told you to be. God is up to something that
Speaker 1: you might not see by His plans and purposes are
Speaker 1: unfolding in your life. Eighteen years ago, when Pastor Stephen
Speaker 1: and Hall, Chunks and Amy and the core team, we're
Speaker 1: getting ready to launch a church, deciding where do we go?
Speaker 1: Where do we go? And they picked Charlotte, North Carolina.
Speaker 1: I remember Chunk's telling me all along he's going why
Speaker 1: Charlotte wasn't where he wanted to be. He keeps saying,
Speaker 1: why Charlotte, Why Jerusalem, Why Charlotte? Because of the purposes
Speaker 1: that God had in this place. I want to do
Speaker 1: something real quick. If you're a if you moved here
Speaker 1: from another country, or one of your parents moved here
Speaker 1: from another country, would you stand up right now and
Speaker 1: right now in the Chat, people from every nation under
Speaker 1: heaven joining us. Put it in the Chat where you're
Speaker 1: joining us from? Right now? Why Charlotte, Why Charlotte? This
Speaker 1: church has started at Providence High School just down the road.
Speaker 1: Who could have imagined what was in God's heart for
Speaker 1: this ministry? Who could have imagined what God had in
Speaker 1: so Who could have imagined that from this place the
Speaker 1: Gospel of Jesus Christ would touch the nations of the earth,
Speaker 1: that he would draw nations to this place. This is
Speaker 1: the power of a place that God is up to,
Speaker 1: something beyond what we could expect, beyond what we could imagine,
Speaker 1: beyond what we could dream. Why Jerusalem, Because as God's
Speaker 1: getting ready to send his spirit, He's drawing nations. And
Speaker 1: that day three thousand people would hear the message of
Speaker 1: Jesus and surrender their lives to him, and they would
Speaker 1: go back to the place they came from and in
Speaker 1: their own tongue begin to spread the message. That's how
Speaker 1: the Gospel of Jesus began to ripple throughout the earth.
Speaker 1: This is the purpose of a place. Who knows what
Speaker 1: God has his store for you? I asked Jeanie to
Speaker 1: sit in this worship experience, in that seat, because she
Speaker 1: was reminding me the other day that it was seven
Speaker 1: years ago that her dad, who immigrated here, came to
Speaker 1: our church, sat in that seat and stood to give
Speaker 1: his life to Christ. And it would just be a
Speaker 1: few months after that that unexpectedly he passed away. I said, Genie,
Speaker 1: you got to sit in the certa. It'll make sense
Speaker 1: to you when you hear the power of a place.
Speaker 1: What was in God's heart when he brought him all
Speaker 1: the way, all the way here to be in this place,
Speaker 1: to be in this place so that he could receive,
Speaker 1: receive something from God, so that when he'd go to
Speaker 1: a better place, he would have the gift of God's
Speaker 1: grace in God's eternal life. Some of you who stood earlier,
Speaker 1: I don't know all your reasons for moving to America.
Speaker 1: Maybe you were leaving a good situation and you sacrificed
Speaker 1: a lot. Maybe you were leaving a bed. You might
Speaker 1: have thought you were coming here for a bet. I
Speaker 1: want you to know God brought you here for a
Speaker 1: greater purpose. There is something on your life that God
Speaker 1: wants to do is drawing you to this place. Stand
Speaker 1: up for you, Look at this. When the day of
Speaker 1: Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly
Speaker 1: a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came
Speaker 1: from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Speaker 1: It's interesting to me that first God filled the place,
Speaker 1: and then he filled the people. And that's how it
Speaker 1: works in our lives, that God will bring us to
Speaker 1: a place where he's got something that he's been preparing
Speaker 1: for us, something that we never could have met, something
Speaker 1: that went beyond what we even believed our potential could be,
Speaker 1: and provides for us in that place, and through his
Speaker 1: he fills the place, and then He fills the people.
Speaker 1: And when Pastor Stephen preached that sermon places everyone, he says,
Speaker 1: first God changes you, and then he changes the places
Speaker 1: you go. When you come into the presence of God
Speaker 1: and He touches you and he ministers to you and
Speaker 1: he fills you, then wherever you go, you bring the
Speaker 1: presence of God with you into your school, into your workplace,
Speaker 1: into your home. First God filled the place, and then
Speaker 1: he filled the people. This is not just a building.
Speaker 1: Wherever you are today, down in Orlando, in Greenville, and
Speaker 1: Concord in Toronto, wherever you're watching from joining us. This
Speaker 1: is not just a building. This is the house of God.
Speaker 1: This is where he feeds me. This is where his
Speaker 1: purpose is unfold in my life. This is where he
Speaker 1: fills me. And sometimes we have to have a moment
Speaker 1: like Jacob where he looked at something as simple as
Speaker 1: a rock and he annoyed and he said, surely this
Speaker 1: is the house of God. And I wasn't aware. Surely
Speaker 1: this is the house of God. How many of you
Speaker 1: have that testimony about this place today? Say it with me,
Speaker 1: says surely this is the house of God. First he
Speaker 1: filled the place, then he filled the people. God brought
Speaker 1: you here because there's something on your live. Don't leave
Speaker 1: the place he told you to be. Don't run so
Speaker 1: quickly from places that are uncomfortable, don't run so quickly
Speaker 1: from places that are painful. God meant just be preparing
Speaker 1: you there for what He has in store for you.
Speaker 1: This is the power of a place. Did you receive
Speaker 1: something from this message today? I had a real simple
Speaker 1: prayer this morning that just at its most basic level,
Speaker 1: that for some of you it would produce gratitud in
Speaker 1: your heart for the church that you get to be
Speaker 1: a part of This is a special place. Sometimes we
Speaker 1: can take it fort we get so used to being full,
Speaker 1: we forget what it felt like to be hungry. This
Speaker 1: is the house of God for others of you. I
Speaker 1: was praying that God would remind you of the purposes
Speaker 1: that He had for you and some of the reasons
Speaker 1: he brought you from the place you were and put
Speaker 1: you in this place. Y'all blessed me the other day
Speaker 1: when you were sharing how much God blessed you when
Speaker 1: you left Guatemala, and how He's opening up all those
Speaker 1: doors for you to do ministry. Now, what a blessing.
Speaker 1: It's the power of a place, the power of a place.
Speaker 1: There are things in the heart of the Father for you.
Speaker 1: He sees you, He sees you, and he's getting ready
Speaker 1: to do something. So don't leave Jerusalem. Don't leave the
Speaker 1: place that he called you to be. When I think
Speaker 1: about the power of a place, of course, I think
Speaker 1: about what Jesus did for us. I think about how
Speaker 1: he took the place I deserved when he went that cross.
Speaker 1: I think about how he could have called angels down
Speaker 1: to rescue him as he hung there. But he stayed,
Speaker 1: and he bled and he died, so that we could
Speaker 1: take his place as the righteousness of God. He stayed
Speaker 1: in that place so that we could be forgiven. He
Speaker 1: stayed in that place so we could have life. And
Speaker 1: right now, if you'll give me the honor, I'd love
Speaker 1: to take a moment just to lead you in a prayer,
Speaker 1: because there's someone watching online right now, or someone watching
Speaker 1: at one of our campuses right now. And God brought
Speaker 1: you to this place today so just like Genie's dad,
Speaker 1: you could receive the gift of God's salvation. You don't
Speaker 1: know what tomorrow holds, but God knows the plans and
Speaker 1: purposes he has for you. He brought you to this
Speaker 1: place today so that you could make the greatest decision
Speaker 1: of your life and give Jesus a place in your heart.
Speaker 1: Would you let him take the throne. We're going to
Speaker 1: bow our heads and close our eyes right now, and
Speaker 1: I want to lead us in a prayer for for
Speaker 1: those who are making it decision today to give their
Speaker 1: life to Jesus. Would you pray with me? Say, I
Speaker 1: believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
Speaker 1: the savor of the world. I believe he died and
Speaker 1: rose again to forgive my sin and give me life.
Speaker 1: I receive your grace by faith. Come into my life
Speaker 1: and make me new. Headstill bowed, eyes still close. If
Speaker 1: you just prayed that prayer today to begin a relationship
Speaker 1: with God. When I count to three, would you be
Speaker 1: bold enough to shoot your hand up in the air.
Speaker 1: Be my privilege to celebrate what God has done in
Speaker 1: your heart today on three, one, two, three, shoot your
Speaker 1: hand up, holding up high. God, Bless you, my sister.
Speaker 1: God bless you my brother. Come on, can we thank
Speaker 1: the Lord in this place? Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.