Speaker 1: Hey, we're starting a season today also that I wanted
Speaker 1: to make you aware of all over the world for
Speaker 1: our year end offering. That is exciting. When someone is
Speaker 1: new to our church, they're often surprised that we don't
Speaker 1: put a lot of pressure on people to give, and
Speaker 1: yet God has blessed us so much. The reason for
Speaker 1: that is because we have built into this church people who,
Speaker 1: because of their love for God and because of their
Speaker 1: commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they give consistently.
Speaker 1: Not to build buildings, we build buildings, not to make videos.
Speaker 1: We make videos, but so that people who are far
Speaker 1: from God can be raised to life in Christ, and
Speaker 1: so the Kingdom of God can come on earth as
Speaker 1: it is in heaven. It is an exciting time. I
Speaker 1: always get a chance during this year end offering where
Speaker 1: many will begin to tithe give that first ten percent
Speaker 1: to God. And that's not what I'm going to talk
Speaker 1: about in my sermon today yet, So don't make up
Speaker 1: an excuse to leave, all right, I have a very
Speaker 1: important meeting that is so important that ten percent belongs
Speaker 1: to God, that tide belongs to God. Thousands of families
Speaker 1: in this church used this time in the year to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I haven't been honoring God with the
Speaker 1: first fruits of what He gave to me. And I
Speaker 1: don't want to spend the rest of my life acting
Speaker 1: like I did this by my own hands. I need
Speaker 1: God and I honor God. And that's been a practice
Speaker 1: in my life since age eighteen. And I'll tell you
Speaker 1: the story one of these weeks about how that happened
Speaker 1: for me, not this week, but I'll share it with you.
Speaker 1: And then there's the above and beyond, where you say
Speaker 1: God has been good to me out of all that
Speaker 1: He's given me, I want to bring him an offering,
Speaker 1: a gift above and beyond. And we set aside this
Speaker 1: time of the year, on December the eleventh, would do
Speaker 1: a big offering as a church. You like that day?
Speaker 1: Is that your birthday? Happy birthday? So on your birthday
Speaker 1: December eleventh, we're going to be bringing our offering. We're
Speaker 1: going to be bringing it online throughout now in the
Speaker 1: end of the year. But you can go to Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: Dot or a click you're in offer and find out
Speaker 1: about that. It'll be amazing. And we use that offering,
Speaker 1: that expansion offering, that above and beyond in order to
Speaker 1: do the outreach ministries that we do in this church.
Speaker 1: This church is incredibly active in all the communities that
Speaker 1: we serve. This is not some performance based church. We
Speaker 1: have hundreds and hundreds of outreach partners meeting the needs
Speaker 1: of people who need medical assistance, people who need food,
Speaker 1: people who have never had the Bible translated in their language.
Speaker 1: We'll show you some of that over the next few
Speaker 1: weeks so you can see what you're given to. But
Speaker 1: I'm expecting by faith for thousands of you to join
Speaker 1: Holly and I in what we've done through the entire
Speaker 1: existence of this church. Give till it hurts a little bit,
Speaker 1: and then expect God to move in your life, because
Speaker 1: I refuse to just let you in this year just
Speaker 1: putting on ten pounds and running up credit card debt
Speaker 1: and not focus on Jesus. We've got to end strong,
Speaker 1: no matter how we started. So we will do that,
Speaker 1: and I know that I can count on you in
Speaker 1: that way to pray and ask God. Now, let's go
Speaker 1: to the Word of God. Remain standing for a moment
Speaker 1: and turn to your favorite book of the Bible, Leviticus,
Speaker 1: the one you have memorized. I have been seeking God
Speaker 1: this week, like walking in the woods, praying out loud,
Speaker 1: wondering if the neighbors think I've lost it, Finally seeking God,
Speaker 1: like reading Leviticus and finding a sermon in it. That's
Speaker 1: how crazy I've been seeking God this week. And he
Speaker 1: spoke to me. Everything he teaches me, I want to
Speaker 1: try to teach to you, and he taught me something
Speaker 1: amazing here. Leviticus chapter eleven. Leviticus chapter eleven, Full disclosure.
Speaker 1: I'm reading through the Bible with Elijah, my oldest, and Kelsey,
Speaker 1: and we started coming up to Leviticus, and I was like,
Speaker 1: uh oh. Usually when people started by reading plan at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year, they get through Genesis, they
Speaker 1: get through Exodus, and then when they get to Leviticus,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of lists and dietary restrictions, which you'll
Speaker 1: see in a moment. So when they get to Leviticus,
Speaker 1: they leave it and cuss Leviticus. I gotta get y'all
Speaker 1: back tuned into my humor frequency. You know, I got
Speaker 1: to bring your expectations now, all right, But I got
Speaker 1: to that. I said, okay, we're going to do this different.
Speaker 1: We're gonna love Leviticus. When we get done with it.
Speaker 1: So I got us some different books and things, and
Speaker 1: as we were studying, we came upon this, and the
Speaker 1: Lord spoke Leviticus, chapter eleven, verse twenty nine. Of the
Speaker 1: animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you.
Speaker 1: The weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko,
Speaker 1: the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink, and the chameleon. Pastor,
Speaker 1: we are sending you back out on the west coast.
Speaker 1: If you're going to come back with scriptures like this,
Speaker 1: this is weird. Trust me, do he'll trust me? Trust me?
Speaker 1: Trust me. This is the scripture we need today. Now
Speaker 1: look at verse thirty one. Of all those that move
Speaker 1: along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches
Speaker 1: them when they are dead will become unclean until evening.
Speaker 1: Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean
Speaker 1: till evening. When one of them dies and falls on something,
Speaker 1: that article, whatever its use, will be unclean. Whether it's
Speaker 1: made of wood, cloth, hide, or sackcloth, put it in water.
Speaker 1: It will be unclean till evening, and then it will
Speaker 1: be clean. If one of them falls into a clay pot,
Speaker 1: everything in it will be unclean, and you must break
Speaker 1: the pot. Any food you are allowed to eat that
Speaker 1: has come into contact with water from any such pot
Speaker 1: is unclean, and any liquid that is drunk from such
Speaker 1: a pot is unclean. Anything that one of their carcasses
Speaker 1: falls on becomes unclean. An oven or cooking pot must
Speaker 1: be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to
Speaker 1: regard them as unclean. A spring, however, or a cistern
Speaker 1: for collecting water remains clean. But anyone who touches one
Speaker 1: of these carcasses is unclean. Verse thirty seven. If a
Speaker 1: carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted,
Speaker 1: they remain clean. Good. You got a new favorite passage
Speaker 1: of scripture. Now drop down real quick to verse forty four.
Speaker 1: I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves and be
Speaker 1: holy because I'm holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by
Speaker 1: any creature that moves along the grid. I am the
Speaker 1: Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be
Speaker 1: your God. Therefore be holy because I am holy. This
Speaker 1: message today is called not dead Yet. Shout it out.
Speaker 1: Say not dead yet one more time, say not dead yet.
Speaker 1: Now look at somebody next to you and say, God
Speaker 1: is not finished with me. I'm not dead yet. Let's
Speaker 1: clap our hands for the Book of Leviticus, for the
Speaker 1: living Word of God. You may be seated, Be seated,
Speaker 1: Be seated, be seated, be seated. Of all of the
Speaker 1: times to preach a text with dietary restrictions, it seems
Speaker 1: strange that the spirit would illuminate for me and for
Speaker 1: your edification a dietary restriction chapter of the Bible at
Speaker 1: a time of the year where everybody is starting their
Speaker 1: diet next year. Of course, people are very arrogant about
Speaker 1: their diets at times. You know, I do paleo, I
Speaker 1: do keto, i'd do vega, and i'd do macros, I
Speaker 1: do micros. I eat clean. One guy said that to
Speaker 1: me the other day, he said, I eat clean. I said,
Speaker 1: what does that mean, because I hear all kinds of
Speaker 1: people say I'm trying to eat clean, and I don't
Speaker 1: know what that means. Because, you know, one guy told
Speaker 1: me one time, I only eat brown rice when I
Speaker 1: go to the Chinese restaurant, I eat clean. But he
Speaker 1: was talking about the fried rice. He heard brown rice
Speaker 1: was better for you than white rice. So he ate
Speaker 1: the brown rice and thought he was eating clean. Wow,
Speaker 1: we need to learn. They brought a nutritionist over to
Speaker 1: me the other day because my cholesterol was and we
Speaker 1: got it down so you could take me off your
Speaker 1: prayer list for now. But the lady started fussing at
Speaker 1: me the moment she walked in the door. She was
Speaker 1: fussing about my diet cox, she was fussing about my
Speaker 1: quest cookies. And I'm like, hey, lady, this is the
Speaker 1: wrong approach for you to take. You need to teach
Speaker 1: me what I need to do. Don't just lecture me.
Speaker 1: And how can you start lecturing me? She started dropping
Speaker 1: f bombs in the meeting, cussing at me. Didn't even
Speaker 1: take time to think, this is a preacher that I'm
Speaker 1: talking to, and if he says the effort, he certainly
Speaker 1: doesn't say it much or admitted faith. Faith faith. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about faith. That word now, Well, we're seeing in
Speaker 1: Leviticus eleven. You got to come at it a little
Speaker 1: bit differently to understand the distinctions that God is making
Speaker 1: for his people. He is not really teaching them to
Speaker 1: eat clean. He is teaching them to be clean, holy
Speaker 1: like he is. He's teaching them to be like he is,
Speaker 1: and he has to take them through stages and doing
Speaker 1: that because of where they've been. Let me give you
Speaker 1: a quick review of this, because I believe God wants
Speaker 1: to teach us to be clean, not perfect, but clean.
Speaker 1: Not that we just go around showing off how many
Speaker 1: Bible verses we can quote. But to be clean and
Speaker 1: to be clean is really not about eating clean. Jesus said,
Speaker 1: it's what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him,
Speaker 1: but what comes out. So we're not really here today
Speaker 1: to talk about eating clean. We're here to talk about
Speaker 1: thinking clean, thinking clean. He's teaching his people. God is
Speaker 1: teaching these Israelites to think clean. In other words, he's
Speaker 1: purging them from the past that they've been through so
Speaker 1: that he can bring them into the land that he's
Speaker 1: promised them. He has promised them a place, but they're
Speaker 1: not there yet. And yet they're not in Egypt anymore.
Speaker 1: But they're not there yet. And a part of him
Speaker 1: teaching them what to do in the process of their
Speaker 1: transformation starts with these laws or regulations about eat this,
Speaker 1: don't eat that. You can't eat the animal that moves
Speaker 1: along the ground unless it has a divided hoof and
Speaker 1: it choose the cud. So no rabbits because they don't
Speaker 1: have a divided hoof and chew the cud. You can't
Speaker 1: eat the rabbit. You can't eat the pig. You can't
Speaker 1: eat these birds. You can't eat these birds. You can't
Speaker 1: eat these insects. You can't eat these insects. So apparently
Speaker 1: there are some insects that were on the menu. Thanks
Speaker 1: a lot, God, I'm really glad about those insects. But
Speaker 1: you can't eat shrimp because you can't eat any animals
Speaker 1: that move along the sea that don't have fins and scales. Y'all,
Speaker 1: I don't want to live in that world where there
Speaker 1: are no shrimp. Lord, why did you save me? If
Speaker 1: you weren't gonna let me eat shrimp? Just take me
Speaker 1: to heaven. Now. Of course, these dietary restrictions change, and
Speaker 1: we see in the New Testament that God tells Peter
Speaker 1: Rise killing and it was never really about the food.
Speaker 1: It was about their faith. It was about their minds,
Speaker 1: not their menus. It was never about these exact things.
Speaker 1: But he needed to use these things. Why because they
Speaker 1: are his people walking into his promise. But they are
Speaker 1: in between where. Let me show it to you in
Speaker 1: four different stages. I put this together where I think
Speaker 1: we can all get it. How God is guiding his
Speaker 1: people to teach them who they have been all along.
Speaker 1: These people that he's speaking to who are in the wilderness,
Speaker 1: they are people who have been brought from a place.
Speaker 1: Put that up on the screen and maybe write that
Speaker 1: down if you would. They are brought from a place. Everybody,
Speaker 1: under the sound of my voice say, I'm brought from
Speaker 1: a place. I don't know where God brought you from,
Speaker 1: but I know that all of us who have the
Speaker 1: hope of Heaven and the Holy Spirit inside of us,
Speaker 1: we have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and sin.
Speaker 1: That God reached into the pit of our sin and
Speaker 1: the pit of our past and brought us from a place.
Speaker 1: Now you may have prayed a prayer to receive Jesus
Speaker 1: Christ as your Lord and savior when you were seven
Speaker 1: months old, but you were still brought from a place.
Speaker 1: Because even in sin and iniquity did my mother conceive me.
Speaker 1: Because there is none righteous, no not one. So for
Speaker 1: God to bring me into his kingdom, he had to
Speaker 1: transfer me out of another kingdom. In the text, there's
Speaker 1: this group of millions of people who have been brought
Speaker 1: from Egypt where they were slaves under Pharaoh. But we
Speaker 1: have been brought from a place too, not necessarily a
Speaker 1: physical place of slavery, but we were slaves to sin,
Speaker 1: we were slaves to shame, and we were brought when
Speaker 1: we accepted Christ. If we have accepted Christ from a place,
Speaker 1: say it again, now that you know what it means.
Speaker 1: I'm brought from a place. So if I asked you,
Speaker 1: where did you come from? You say Brazil, But it's
Speaker 1: really not Brazil. You came from You came from sin,
Speaker 1: You came from shame, you came from mistakes, You came
Speaker 1: from the ground, you came from the dirt, you came
Speaker 1: from a mess, you came from a pit. Where you
Speaker 1: came from Today it's not so much of a physical
Speaker 1: issue as it is a spiritual issue. And they are
Speaker 1: brought from a place. Say it again, I'm brought from
Speaker 1: a place. And they got out of there quick. They
Speaker 1: had to get out of Egypt quick. Do you remember
Speaker 1: the Red Sea, how they're running through the Red Sea
Speaker 1: and Pharaoh's chariots are coming up close behind them, and
Speaker 1: they're running from the chariots in the waters, and God
Speaker 1: does this big, huge thing where he parts the waters
Speaker 1: and kills the Egyptians. And he said, the Egyptians that
Speaker 1: you see today, you will see no more. The thing
Speaker 1: that was tormenting you the night before is gonna be
Speaker 1: dead tomorrow morning. The thing that cracked its cruel whip
Speaker 1: across your back and said, get back here. I'm bringing
Speaker 1: you out of that. I'm snatching you out of that.
Speaker 1: I'm taking you out of that. I'm delivering you out
Speaker 1: of that. I am rescued because the hand of God,
Speaker 1: when he heard my cry, reached into my situation and
Speaker 1: gave me a new heart and a new mind, and
Speaker 1: a new attitude and a new possibility. And He is
Speaker 1: making me what He created me to be. I'm not
Speaker 1: staying in the image of what I came out of.
Speaker 1: I am brought from a place. I've come a mighty
Speaker 1: long way. I'm not what I'm gonna be, but thank God,
Speaker 1: I'm not what I used to be. You should see
Speaker 1: what God delivered me from. You should see what God
Speaker 1: snatched me out of. You should see what the blood
Speaker 1: of Jesus covert, which brings me to point number two.
Speaker 1: Not only am I brought from a place, but I'm
Speaker 1: bought with the price. It's not the blood of a lamb.
Speaker 1: It's the blood of the lamb who was slain from
Speaker 1: the foundation of the world, the pure, spotless lamb of God,
Speaker 1: the only one who is able and worthy to open
Speaker 1: up the skull. I've bought with the price, not five dollars,
Speaker 1: not ten dollars, not a million dollars. One drop of
Speaker 1: his blood cost him his perfect life. I'm bought, I'm brought.
Speaker 1: I'm bought. Let's shout twenty two seconds about that. I'm
Speaker 1: not worthless, not nothing. I'm not prish, I'm not done.
Speaker 1: I'm bought because the lamb that was slain for my sin.
Speaker 1: So it's perfect and eternal. Now, these people, they when
Speaker 1: they were leaving Egypt, God had to kill every firstborn
Speaker 1: in Egypt to get them out. When God wanted to
Speaker 1: bring you out, he allowed his firstborn son. You see
Speaker 1: the parallels. So we think, like Leviticus, this has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with me. I'm eating shrimp. I don't even
Speaker 1: want to eat insects. Why are you telling me? I
Speaker 1: never in my life thought I want to eat a weasel?
Speaker 1: Why did you preach me a scripture when I got
Speaker 1: real bills and real health issues and real challenges and
Speaker 1: real side chicks. I want to bring this text into
Speaker 1: our time so we don't see this as a list,
Speaker 1: but a lens of the God who brought me from
Speaker 1: a place and bought me with the price. Because the
Speaker 1: truth is, as much as I love to shout out
Speaker 1: about that I'm brought from a place and bought with
Speaker 1: the price, but I am caught in a pattern. Can
Speaker 1: you tell I've missed you. I've been studying ever since
Speaker 1: the last time I saw you, just to give you
Speaker 1: something of value, because I know that sometimes you feel
Speaker 1: trapped in that past that you were shouting like you
Speaker 1: got out of it, that you know the blood of
Speaker 1: Jesus bought you, but you still feel worthless sometimes that
Speaker 1: you know He brought you out of sin and shame,
Speaker 1: but you still do things that make you a shame.
Speaker 1: I always like to give a moment where even if
Speaker 1: you yelled at your kids on the way to church,
Speaker 1: God can still speak to you today. Some of you,
Speaker 1: something that happened on the way to church is keeping
Speaker 1: you from even hearing what I'm saying. Right now, you
Speaker 1: see that exit sign. Tell the devil to point his
Speaker 1: big long Pinocchio and Lion knows in the direction of
Speaker 1: that exit and get out of here, because we are
Speaker 1: all caught and conflicted in something. Even though we are
Speaker 1: in Christ, we are in conflict the patterns of this world.
Speaker 1: Romans will call it the New Testament, Scripture will say,
Speaker 1: or first Peter's even better one. He calls it the
Speaker 1: empty way of life that was handed to you. Wow,
Speaker 1: we have hand me down habits, we have hand me
Speaker 1: down hang ups things that we learned. And God is
Speaker 1: teaching his people in Leviticus eleven, They're in the wilderness,
Speaker 1: not the promised land, not Egypt, the wilderness. And God
Speaker 1: works in your wilderness. He does. God works in your weakness,
Speaker 1: God works in your waiting. It's not the promise, it's
Speaker 1: not the past. It's the wilderness. The Lord sent me
Speaker 1: to somebody today who has been in a wilderness, not physical,
Speaker 1: because he brought me from a place Egypt. But I'm
Speaker 1: not already all the way to the place heaven, and
Speaker 1: I'm still here. And I think this might be the
Speaker 1: best way to say it. I'm out of Egypt, but
Speaker 1: I'm not sure Egypt is out of me. I'm in
Speaker 1: the world, I'm not of it. But there are some
Speaker 1: patterns because one day I'm gonna be with Jesus said
Speaker 1: I'm gonna sing around his throne and said to his
Speaker 1: feet forevermore, and I'm gonna play harp. But I'm not
Speaker 1: there yet, because I'm not dead yet. And the only
Speaker 1: time I'm gonna be free from this conflict is for
Speaker 1: me to be free from this body. But as long
Speaker 1: as I'm in this body, yeah, I'm brought from a place.
Speaker 1: I'm rescued, I'm bought with a price, I'm redeemed. But
Speaker 1: I'm caught in a pattern. I'm wrestling. I'm wrestling between
Speaker 1: this is where I came from, this is where I'm going,
Speaker 1: this is what I've done, this is what he's doing,
Speaker 1: and I'm caught in a pattern. So this is what
Speaker 1: I needed to tell the nutritionist. Okay, stop cussing at me,
Speaker 1: stop criticizing me, Stop acting like I don't exercise six
Speaker 1: days a week. I work really hard at this. I
Speaker 1: need to be taught through a process. Flap your hands
Speaker 1: and brace God for his process. That God doesn't drop
Speaker 1: an F bomb on you just because you messed up again.
Speaker 1: That he could, but he didn't. He is taking his
Speaker 1: people through, and he is taking you through a wildern,
Speaker 1: this experience where there's not much water and there's same
Speaker 1: old scenery and it's not exactly my home. And here
Speaker 1: I am living this life and he's teaching me. He
Speaker 1: brings them, Okay, the book Leviticus is actually amazing, y'all.
Speaker 1: That's why it's love Itacus. I love it. I love
Speaker 1: it now. I love this book of the Bible. He
Speaker 1: gives them the offerings that they need to make. Whether
Speaker 1: it's a thanks offering, whether it's a fellowship offering, whether
Speaker 1: it's a peace offering, whether it's a sin offering, whether
Speaker 1: it's a guilt offering, any of those five offerings. He
Speaker 1: shows them how to do it. Hey, here's how you
Speaker 1: do it. Hey, here's how you cut it up. Hey,
Speaker 1: here's where you offer it. Here's how you offer it.
Speaker 1: Here's who offers it. Here's the priest. Here's what they wear,
Speaker 1: Here's what they do, here's when they do it. All
Speaker 1: of this is not to limit them, but to liberate them.
Speaker 1: He's a liberator. He brings me into places, he brings
Speaker 1: me into spaces, he brings me into challenge, he brings
Speaker 1: me into dilemmas to set me free from my flesh,
Speaker 1: to set me free from my feelings, to show me
Speaker 1: this is how you do it. And I need him
Speaker 1: to teach me. I need God to teach me a
Speaker 1: different way to do it, because honestly, the ways that
Speaker 1: I tried without him do not work for very long.
Speaker 1: Oh they can get me what I want right now,
Speaker 1: but they actually leave me in greater bondage than I
Speaker 1: was before. And I love the Lord because he's a teacher.
Speaker 1: He's been teaching me lately. Not about shellfish, definitely, not
Speaker 1: about monitor lizards and wall lizards. And what did it say?
Speaker 1: You can't eat the skink? What is a skink? I
Speaker 1: heard of the Get Go. I see his commercial during
Speaker 1: football every single Saturday while I'm studying, And uh, but
Speaker 1: the skink he said, Nah, don't eat that? And what
Speaker 1: if you see it now? Not about eating clean because
Speaker 1: we know those dietary restrictions were for that time. But
Speaker 1: the way that you think about you, the way that
Speaker 1: you think about God, and the way that you think
Speaker 1: about your life, isn't this What God is always teaching
Speaker 1: me is how to think like He thinks about what
Speaker 1: I'm going through, about how to think like He thinks
Speaker 1: about what is best for me? One of my favorite
Speaker 1: scriptures says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord.
Speaker 1: That means there's a big gap between great, big God
Speaker 1: and little bitty Stevie. That means what he thinks and
Speaker 1: what I think are not automatically aligned. Every morning, I
Speaker 1: got to get in sync with God so I can
Speaker 1: think like he thinks. And he says, don't eat the skink.
Speaker 1: Don't eat the skink. Why because I want to teach
Speaker 1: you to discern, so that when you go into these
Speaker 1: neighboring nations in Canaan, you won't do what they do.
Speaker 1: You won't think like they think. You won't try to
Speaker 1: win like they win. You won't fight like they fight.
Speaker 1: You won't worry like they worry. You won't respond like
Speaker 1: they respond. You won't react like they react. God is
Speaker 1: teaching me to think. And if I don't, let him
Speaker 1: teach me how to think. But I just quote the
Speaker 1: promises of the Bible verse watch this. To have confidence
Speaker 1: in God's promises but not commitment to his process is delusional.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it to the safe side of the room.
Speaker 1: If I got caught confidence in God's promise, oh he
Speaker 1: can do it. But I don't have a commitment to
Speaker 1: his process that is not depending on God. That's called
Speaker 1: denial because we just want to believe over top of
Speaker 1: all of our behaviors that don't line up with the
Speaker 1: word of God. But yet he loves me and he's
Speaker 1: not waiting on me to act better for him to
Speaker 1: love me. But I don't love him like I should
Speaker 1: if I don't get taught the process of figuring out
Speaker 1: is this what God wants for me? I don't have
Speaker 1: to do that with fish anymore, but I do have
Speaker 1: to do it with feelings. I don't have to do
Speaker 1: this with shrimp, but I do have to do it
Speaker 1: with contacts in my cell phone. Is this good for me?
Speaker 1: When is the last time that we really let God speak?
Speaker 1: Is this best for me? And if he tells you
Speaker 1: that's not best for you, I don't want that for you.
Speaker 1: I didn't bring you out of Egypt for you to
Speaker 1: bring Egypt into your future. I want that out of
Speaker 1: your life. I want that out of your heart. I
Speaker 1: want that out of your mouth. Now. God keeps telling
Speaker 1: me I'm too negative, and I keep telling him no,
Speaker 1: I'm just realistic. And God keeps saying stuff like, okay,
Speaker 1: that'd be great, since you want to do my job
Speaker 1: and tell me what's good and what's bad. And I'm like, well, God,
Speaker 1: you know, this is kind of the way I think.
Speaker 1: And He's like, but it's not the way that I think,
Speaker 1: because I can face the facts but speaking faith. So
Speaker 1: the Lord has been interrupting me a lot lately, telling
Speaker 1: me this is unclean for you. This is hurting you.
Speaker 1: This is hurting you. And you're not getting to heaven
Speaker 1: because you're holy. You're getting to heaven because I'm holy,
Speaker 1: and because of what I did for you, because I
Speaker 1: brought you, bought you. But the devil has caught you.
Speaker 1: So now it's time that somebody taught you. I feel
Speaker 1: bad for Moses. He's the one who had to teach
Speaker 1: these people these things, y'all. I find it hard to
Speaker 1: stick to my diet for myself. Now, you got to
Speaker 1: get two million people to study insects in order to
Speaker 1: eat in a place where there's already not much water.
Speaker 1: It's harder than we make it sound, isn't it. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not hard to say certain things, okay, the Lord said,
Speaker 1: don't commit adultery. It's harder to discern sometimes in your Actune.
Speaker 1: Is this really how God wants me to think about this?
Speaker 1: Is this really what God wants me to say about this?
Speaker 1: Is this clean or unclean? Is this God's will for me?
Speaker 1: Or is this the way that I've known that feels
Speaker 1: familiar to me? So am I going back to Egypt
Speaker 1: instead of following Jesus forward? They were out of Egypt.
Speaker 1: The Egyptians were dead, but guess what the things they
Speaker 1: learned in Egypt were still alive. Yeah, yeah, I'm dead
Speaker 1: to say I'm alive to Christ. Great, but we still
Speaker 1: have to deal with these little things. I love the
Speaker 1: contrast because God did a big thing for him. He
Speaker 1: parted the Red Sea. That's a big thing. How many
Speaker 1: agree that watching a major body of water part is
Speaker 1: a miracle? How many agree that's big? Oh? Come on,
Speaker 1: you clap better than that over your parking space this
Speaker 1: week at the gym? Oh the Lord de me a
Speaker 1: parking space. He parted the waters. That's big. Somebody say
Speaker 1: it's big. God has done big things for me. If
Speaker 1: there are three people that God did something big for
Speaker 1: you since last Sunday, give him a big praise right
Speaker 1: now on the level he blessed you on I mean
Speaker 1: he did a big thing for me. He did a
Speaker 1: big thing for me. Just what it was. He woke
Speaker 1: me up. That's not big if you didn't, and it is.
Speaker 1: He woke me up. He started me on my way,
Speaker 1: and he watched so from me so I could be
Speaker 1: in the number one more time raising. He did it big.
Speaker 1: He did it big. He put it in the set.
Speaker 1: He did it big. He didn't do as small. He
Speaker 1: did it big so that everybody would know it was
Speaker 1: the Lord. He made away high five like we won something,
Speaker 1: and tell your neighbor. He did it big. He did
Speaker 1: it big. He did it big. God is a show off.
Speaker 1: He doesn't give you a boat. He parts the water.
Speaker 1: He said, I want you to know this one's on me,
Speaker 1: so you'll give me the glory. So you'll give me
Speaker 1: the praise. Pharaoh's not gonna let you go unless a
Speaker 1: mighty hand compels him. So guess who has a mighty hand.
Speaker 1: My God's got a great, big hand and a long arm,
Speaker 1: and he can do big things. Big things. Don't ever
Speaker 1: let people make you feel bad. If you're an exuberant praiser.
Speaker 1: A big God gets a big praise on the level
Speaker 1: that he did it. That's how loud. I want to
Speaker 1: let him know. I apprecid big things, big things. He
Speaker 1: opened a living way. You understand how much I survive.
Speaker 1: You understand how many times I almost gave up. You
Speaker 1: understand what I went through. It's a miracle. I'm sober.
Speaker 1: It's a miracle. I'm safe. It's a miracle. I'm preaching.
Speaker 1: It's a miracle. You're crazing. It's a miracle. We survived
Speaker 1: here because he brought me, and he bought me with
Speaker 1: his redeeming blood. Go Ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead,
Speaker 1: go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Big things, big things.
Speaker 1: Big things might not be big to you. Maybe you
Speaker 1: grew up in a different household. Maybe it's no big
Speaker 1: deal to you. But it's a big thing to me.
Speaker 1: It's a big thing. The breath is a big thing
Speaker 1: to me. It's a big thing to me. Don't you
Speaker 1: love him? Don't you love him? Don't you love him?
Speaker 1: That after he did a big thing and kept them alive,
Speaker 1: he has to teach them about the little things so
Speaker 1: that they can live. Now, let's praise him for the
Speaker 1: little things, the little levitical things like geckos, chameleons, little things.
Speaker 1: He said, I'm gonna do a big thing the Red Sea.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do a big thing, bring you out of Egypt,
Speaker 1: big things, and then I'm gonna get you in the
Speaker 1: wilderness because I'm bringing you into something even bigger. Don't
Speaker 1: just think about money, don't just think about houses, don't
Speaker 1: just think about cars. That's great. I'm gonna use you
Speaker 1: to be a blessing to the whole world. That's what
Speaker 1: he's preparing. These are the people of God. These are
Speaker 1: the people of God. We are the people of God.
Speaker 1: We are brought out of the kingdom of darkness and
Speaker 1: into the marvelous light. That's who you are. So he said,
Speaker 1: I gotta teach you what to do with the little
Speaker 1: things so you can know as you go in your
Speaker 1: life who you really are and what I called you to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get to heaven one day and you're gonna
Speaker 1: be perfectly awesomely perfect or perfect and perfect ful. But
Speaker 1: here I need to be taught in a process because
Speaker 1: I'm not dead yet, and neither are the things I
Speaker 1: struggle with, and neither is the devil. Now one day.
Speaker 1: Spoiler alert that Weasel is gonna be cast down into
Speaker 1: the Lake of Fire. No, no, I saw it. You
Speaker 1: were like, wait, no, the devil isn't a weasel. The
Speaker 1: devil is a lion. He's a roaring lion. He is
Speaker 1: like a roaring lion. He's loud, but compare to the
Speaker 1: God that I serve, he's little. He's loud. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna make it, but he's little. If God drowns him
Speaker 1: in the Red Sea, I bet you will make it.
Speaker 1: I bet I can make it. I bet I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do it. I'm not dead yet. So now we are
Speaker 1: in this mortal playing dealing with little miracles and mechanics
Speaker 1: of trying to figure out should my kids go here?
Speaker 1: And should my parents do that? And could I put
Speaker 1: them in a nursing home or should they come live
Speaker 1: with me? And I need God to teach me in
Speaker 1: the process of my life, just like you taught them.
Speaker 1: I was comforted that the god of the dramatic Red
Speaker 1: Sea ten plagues is also the god of the details.
Speaker 1: The god of the dramatic is the god of the details.
Speaker 1: Say it out loud, teach me, Laura, teach me what
Speaker 1: to do with the weasels. I can't pick on all
Speaker 1: of these animals. I'm not trying to turn this into
Speaker 1: a science class. I hate science. Delete that out of
Speaker 1: the tape. That's gonna skill viral somehow. Look at all
Speaker 1: these little vermin in the text those verse twenty nine,
Speaker 1: back where I started. Of the animals that move along
Speaker 1: the ground. Now this word is sarros. It means they
Speaker 1: move and they multiply. These animals that he lists, he
Speaker 1: already talked about the hoofs. He already talked about the
Speaker 1: cut He already talked about the fish, He already talked
Speaker 1: about the insects, He already talked about the birds. Now
Speaker 1: he says about these sorrows, the animals that move along
Speaker 1: the ground. Now, listen what this means. This is awesome.
Speaker 1: This is awesome. Leviticus is so good. It means that
Speaker 1: they're commonly found, and they multiply rapidly. If not, don't
Speaker 1: with my hand to heaven. While I was trying to decide, God,
Speaker 1: is this sermon stupid or should I appreciate it? A
Speaker 1: little frog started hopping across the room I was studying it.
Speaker 1: I said, all right, God, I appreciate I got you.
Speaker 1: I don't need a whole plague of frogs. I saw
Speaker 1: that happen in Exodus. Nah, God, you don't have to
Speaker 1: send anymore. It was a confirmation. It was a confirming
Speaker 1: word for me that like that, like that little frog,
Speaker 1: it's true, right, Abby, it's true. The frog jump. I
Speaker 1: called her down and I said, I just need a
Speaker 1: witness to this that I got a Littleviticus eleven. It's saying,
Speaker 1: don't eat the get go and don't eat the comming.
Speaker 1: And here comes a little frog and we got him
Speaker 1: out safely, and we didn't eat him, and we didn't
Speaker 1: kill him, and he's off somewhere repopulating and replenishing my backyard.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no, no no, no. What's the point.
Speaker 1: What's the point. It's the little things. It's the little things.
Speaker 1: It's the little things in your life that you remember
Speaker 1: as great moments. It's the little things in your life
Speaker 1: that lead you down dark paths. It's the little things.
Speaker 1: God does big things and little things, and the little
Speaker 1: things you can do all things. You can do small
Speaker 1: things as well. What about it of the animals that
Speaker 1: move along the ground, you know, the ones that multiply,
Speaker 1: the ones that run around, reproduce. There's little animals on
Speaker 1: the ground. God said, I'm gonna show you what to
Speaker 1: do with these? Don't these are unclean for you? Verse
Speaker 1: twenty nine. Verse twenty nine. The weasel, that's the one
Speaker 1: I want to use. That weasel. God said, don't eat
Speaker 1: the weasel. You can't eat the weasel. It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm good God. I mean, look at this guy. I
Speaker 1: don't want to eat this. You got him. We picked
Speaker 1: out a picture of the weasel. Yeah, man, I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to eat him. Is that awful? I put that
Speaker 1: up because I thought you might be gett hungry, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to spoil your appetise, so you listen to
Speaker 1: the rest of the sermon. Look at that weasel. Lit sneaky.
Speaker 1: That guy is a serial killer. I just looked him up.
Speaker 1: He could get in a small place and then, oh,
Speaker 1: look at it. He's got those eggs. Look what he's
Speaker 1: trying to do to those eggs. Look what he's trying
Speaker 1: to do to that thing that hasn't been born yet.
Speaker 1: Look at that weasel. Y'all are on board with Leviticus, now,
Speaker 1: are you? Because you do need to know how to
Speaker 1: deal with the weasel, don't you. You do need to
Speaker 1: learn how to deal with the weasel, because you got
Speaker 1: a weasel called worry that while God is speaking his
Speaker 1: word to you, say amen in Portuguese when it gets
Speaker 1: through on this interpretation, because I need to hear an amen.
Speaker 1: I need to hear an amen. That weasel, that weasel,
Speaker 1: that weasel. No, he's not just leaving you alone. He's
Speaker 1: trying to steal what God spoke. Now I know you
Speaker 1: think I'm out of context. It's not talking about that
Speaker 1: kind of weasel. It's talking about everything in your life
Speaker 1: to try to distinguish, like the enemy will plant a
Speaker 1: seed in your mind. Right you say, okay, well this
Speaker 1: is gonna go wrong. And have you thought about this?
Speaker 1: And did you hear what they said about that? And
Speaker 1: it's a recession of recession of recession or recession of
Speaker 1: recession of recession of recession of recession. You have thought
Speaker 1: about resurrection in about three months because all you've been
Speaker 1: reading about is recession. So now that weasel got right
Speaker 1: in there in your space, your little space where God
Speaker 1: does great things, and he eats through the potential of
Speaker 1: what God speaks. So what do you do with the weasel?
Speaker 1: God said, don't eat it? What do you do with
Speaker 1: the weasel God said, put it off limits? What do
Speaker 1: you do with those little thoughts that come up a
Speaker 1: million miles an hour? And you know that's a good
Speaker 1: question to be asking. Enemy will weasel his way into
Speaker 1: your marriage. He'll weasel his way into your business, gets
Speaker 1: you to start cutting corners and stuff like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know how he works. I'm a I'm a weasel expert.
Speaker 1: Weasel'll try and keep you from worshiping God. No weasel.
Speaker 1: The Lord some a list a lot of things that
Speaker 1: will multiply rapidly in your life, small things, moving sorrows,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna show you what to do with them
Speaker 1: so I can keep doing big things. God still has
Speaker 1: big things for me. I felt chills on my body
Speaker 1: when I said it. God still has big things for me,
Speaker 1: Things that are bigger than my intellect, things that are
Speaker 1: bigger than my imagination, exceedingly abundantly above all I ask,
Speaker 1: or imagine, the seed of God's potential lives inside of me.
Speaker 1: I say it again for the people who who really
Speaker 1: believe what the Word of God says. The seed of
Speaker 1: God's potential lives in me. I mean, think about it.
Speaker 1: Here are people in Leviticus who have been through Egypt,
Speaker 1: have been through the Red sea, who started with a
Speaker 1: man named Abraham. All out of one man came millions
Speaker 1: of people because God said, I will bless you and
Speaker 1: multiply you. And Abram was waiting. We preached about him
Speaker 1: for two weeks a while back. We preached about him
Speaker 1: for two weeks. How he was ninety nine, and God
Speaker 1: gave him the promise when he was a hundred. And
Speaker 1: I preached on keep it a hundred. But can I
Speaker 1: keep it a hundred with you? Abraham said, my wife's
Speaker 1: womb is as good as dead, and so is my body.
Speaker 1: And my body is as good as dead, because I'm
Speaker 1: ninety nine. But then something got inside of Abraham and
Speaker 1: kicked inside of Abraham, because see the seed that was
Speaker 1: inside of him was greater than the limitation that was
Speaker 1: on him. So something got inside of Abraham, and he
Speaker 1: looked in the mirror. But then he looked at the stars,
Speaker 1: and he talked to himself and his situation. But then
Speaker 1: he talked to God, and God reminded him of the promise.
Speaker 1: And Apram said, I'm old, but I'm not dead yet.
Speaker 1: I think he said it with no teeth all right
Speaker 1: there yet I'm not tedy yet, I'm not dead yet.
Speaker 1: I'm not done yet. I'm not tedy yet. It's not
Speaker 1: over yet. I'm not dead. God's not done. If I'm
Speaker 1: not dead, God's not done. Greater things are still a
Speaker 1: come dealing it. Thank you God, Thank you God. Think
Speaker 1: about everything that the seed survived. That's what he said.
Speaker 1: The Seed of Abraham became the nation of Israel. I
Speaker 1: feel like preaching. We've been through the Red Sea, we've
Speaker 1: been through the wilderness. We're going to the Promised Land.
Speaker 1: But watch this whistle, he said, he said, he said
Speaker 1: verse now, now, I'm ready form a key verse. Ready
Speaker 1: for the key verse, verse thirty seven. If you see
Speaker 1: a carcass a dead thing. Now, the rule of thumb
Speaker 1: is don't touch dead stuff. And that's a good idea
Speaker 1: just in general. Why do you seek the living amongst
Speaker 1: the dead? And you go to send that text to
Speaker 1: that relationship that you know God has brought you out of.
Speaker 1: Don't touch dead stuff. Because I worked for a pet
Speaker 1: cemetery when I was sixteen, A lady called and said,
Speaker 1: can you come get my cat? My cat is dead.
Speaker 1: We said we'll be there in thirty minutes. She said, no,
Speaker 1: I want you to get him tomorrow morning. I want
Speaker 1: to spend one more night with my cat in the bed.
Speaker 1: Why y'all acting shock? You're in the bed with some
Speaker 1: dead stuff too. Don't make me pull up your search history.
Speaker 1: Don't make me do it. Don't make me do it.
Speaker 1: I'll come down there and setch a phone. What do
Speaker 1: I do with the dead thing? Now? Watch this? I'm
Speaker 1: almost done. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. I'm almost done.
Speaker 1: I'm almost done. But I'm not done yet. I'm not
Speaker 1: done yet. I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet.
Speaker 1: I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet yet. I'm
Speaker 1: not done yet. If a dead thing's a carcass, a
Speaker 1: carcass of a saurus, a thing that moves and multiplies.
Speaker 1: If a dead thing, if it falls, well I don't
Speaker 1: have it memorized. Y'll put it back up. If it
Speaker 1: falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they
Speaker 1: the seeds are still clean. So God said, have you
Speaker 1: ever had something die on you? Have you ever had
Speaker 1: a dream die on you? Have you ever had an
Speaker 1: idea to die on you? Have you ever had an
Speaker 1: opportunity die on you? Have you ever had your body
Speaker 1: start to fail on you? Have you ever had your
Speaker 1: hopes start to die on you. Have have you ever
Speaker 1: had something you idealized for your future die on you?
Speaker 1: Have you ever had a plan die on you? If
Speaker 1: something has died on you, God wants you to know
Speaker 1: that what dies on you is nothing compared to what
Speaker 1: God put in you. So the seed, you'll help meself.
Speaker 1: So the seed still has what it needs to go
Speaker 1: into the ground and come up better. God said, you're
Speaker 1: coming up better. I know what you've been through. But
Speaker 1: you're not done cause you're not dead yet. It's still
Speaker 1: a seed, is still a gift, is still a breath,
Speaker 1: is still a praise is still gonna happen. Just the
Speaker 1: seed is bigger then the way sol is not dead yet.
Speaker 1: Shout it that dead. Yeah, my dream not dead yet.
Speaker 1: My vision not dead yet. The church not dead dead.
Speaker 1: Your children not said good, get the praise. You are
Speaker 1: a thousand people. You are a royal Pray soon God
Speaker 1: to declare the praises of him who brought me from
Speaker 1: a place, bought me with a price. Oh, I was
Speaker 1: seeking Deepen said, I was caught in a pattern. Buddy
Speaker 1: taught me, said the same will, sir, He's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it. Seven people
Speaker 1: say he's gonna do it. He's gonna do it. He's
Speaker 1: gonna do it. He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it. He's God,
Speaker 1: He's God. He's been gone a long time. He's been
Speaker 1: gone since Abraham started wobbling. He's been gone before you
Speaker 1: started walking. Man, you're not said, yeah, let everything that
Speaker 1: has brown. You know what to do. And he brought you,
Speaker 1: and he brought you, and he let you, and he
Speaker 1: ven you. The best me is yet to be because
Speaker 1: the seed is incorruptible. Thank you, Jesus. You couldn't die
Speaker 1: because God's not dying. COVID couldn't kill this church because
Speaker 1: we're still called to be His people. And no weasel,
Speaker 1: no devil, no rejection, no anxiety shall be able to
Speaker 1: stop what God starting. So tell that weasel, tell that weasel,
Speaker 1: tell that weasel, get off my word. The seed, Jesus
Speaker 1: said in Luke chapter eight. The seed is the word
Speaker 1: of God. So if the weasel touches the seed, it
Speaker 1: doesn't spoil the seed. No dead thing. We've all had
Speaker 1: something die on us, all of us We've all had
Speaker 1: something die on us. But will you let what died
Speaker 1: on you keep you from believing and moving forward of
Speaker 1: what God put in you. If the weasel touches the seed,
Speaker 1: get the seed, Snatch that seed back from that dead weasel,
Speaker 1: and go forward and sew it, and go forward and
Speaker 1: build it, and go forward and believe it, and go
Speaker 1: forward and achieve it, and go forward and do it
Speaker 1: in My name. Not dead yet, The weasel's dead, not
Speaker 1: the seed. As a matter of fact, the seed hasn't
Speaker 1: even been planted yet. That's why it's still clean. Because
Speaker 1: God has been saving you. That's why he brought you,
Speaker 1: brought you, and I don't care what what little thing
Speaker 1: in your life. As a matter of fact, I don't
Speaker 1: mean this to be corny. I want to wage war
Speaker 1: against whatever it is, that dead thing, that weasel, that
Speaker 1: dead thing. The living word of God is greater than
Speaker 1: that dead thing. You don't believe me. Ask Glazarus. When
Speaker 1: Jesus said the word come forth, the dead thing got
Speaker 1: up again. Ask Ezekiel. Can these bones live you alone? Lord?
Speaker 1: No drive alls hear the word of the Lord. You're
Speaker 1: not dead yet. God is raising an army. Dude, God
Speaker 1: is building up believers. God is breaking generational curtsys. God
Speaker 1: is moving his covenant forward in the ark. We are
Speaker 1: the church and the James of Hell will not prevailing. Singing, singing, singing,
Speaker 1: go I said yeah, But I said, yeah, We're not.
Speaker 1: Say let's know it, this is funny, said drop drops
Speaker 1: here the word now, drop as here the word there. Listen. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us today for the message, and we
Speaker 1: trust that God spoke to you right where you are
Speaker 1: as we're in this year end season. If God is
Speaker 1: speaking to your life and you'd like to begin tithing
Speaker 1: or give above and beyond, we would invite you to
Speaker 1: head over to Elevationchurch dot org. There you'll find all
Speaker 1: of the information available for you to take part in
Speaker 1: the year end Offering. If you haven't begun tithing, we
Speaker 1: would always encourage you to start there. Place God first
Speaker 1: in the air of your finances and begin tithing and
Speaker 1: make that a part of your every day life. If
Speaker 1: you already tithe, then would like to go above and
Speaker 1: beyond and help expand the ministry here at Elevation Church,
Speaker 1: you can also do that through the Year End Offering.
Speaker 1: All you have to do is click the banner at
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org. You can select the campus that you're
Speaker 1: a part of. If you're a part of our online community,
Speaker 1: select online, and if you're part of one of our
Speaker 1: physical locations, make sure that you select one of those campuses.
Speaker 1: Then you can select how much you'd like to give
Speaker 1: and be a part of all that God is doing
Speaker 1: right here at Elevation Church. Again, we thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of the family here and we can't
Speaker 1: wait to see how God works in and through your
Speaker 1: life as you open up your hands and ask God
Speaker 1: to use you right where you are. Thanks for being
Speaker 1: a part of God bless