Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: And now would you welcome our very own Christmas Angel
Speaker 1: as she shares Cook's word, we love you. Here comes Heaven,
Speaker 1: Here comes Holly. Let's put our hands together, e fam
Speaker 1: all over the world. Well, Merry Christmas. I knew he
Speaker 1: was going to say, here comes Holly. I could just
Speaker 1: feel it. You guys can have a seat. I just
Speaker 1: want to say, God, I love our church. I really do.
Speaker 1: I love our church. I love our pastor, I love
Speaker 1: our worship team. I love the songs that are coming
Speaker 1: out of this house. And I just can't believe that
Speaker 1: I get to be a part of this. And it's
Speaker 1: good in the room, and it's good in your house
Speaker 1: and good on your computer, and this is great. So
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas. And I just want to say to everyone watching,
Speaker 1: thank you for prioritizing the word of God in your
Speaker 1: home today. This is possibly the most insane week of
Speaker 1: the year for many of us, during the most insane
Speaker 1: year ever, and there's only a handful of days left
Speaker 1: before Christmas, and we're all running around frantic like we're
Speaker 1: paying just god knows how much money and exorbitant prices
Speaker 1: for shipping to hopefully get our gifts on time, which
Speaker 1: just leves pause here and say to everyone in my family,
Speaker 1: I think everybody has at least one gift that's not
Speaker 1: gonna make it in on time. Okay, so just heads up.
Speaker 1: But we're stressing, and we're trying to get to the
Speaker 1: stores and figure out what the COVID hours of the
Speaker 1: stores are and figuring out our plans, and some of
Speaker 1: us are stressing about how we're going to pay for
Speaker 1: Christmas this year, and thinking about how it won't be
Speaker 1: the same without being with our grandparents, and wondering if
Speaker 1: we should risk being around family. I mean, it's a lot.
Speaker 1: And my prayer is that in the midst of all
Speaker 1: of this, that we would stop and that we would
Speaker 1: realize that the most important thing in this season is
Speaker 1: not about what we give, but it's about what we
Speaker 1: receive from God. Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. He
Speaker 1: stands by, ready to give us the grace and the
Speaker 1: peace and the joy in the middle of our chaos
Speaker 1: and our anxiety. But we have to pause, and we
Speaker 1: have to accept, and we have to allow him to
Speaker 1: do so. And that is what I feel like this
Speaker 1: moment is you're setting aside time, You're putting all of
Speaker 1: those things out of your mind for just an hour
Speaker 1: or so you can just let God speak to your
Speaker 1: soul and you can worship him and you can hear
Speaker 1: a word for him. So I just want to take
Speaker 1: him in. I want to pray so that we can
Speaker 1: just really center our thoughts and our focus and our
Speaker 1: attention on Jesus in this moment, Lord, in the midst
Speaker 1: of all of the worries and all the anxiety and
Speaker 1: all of the chaos. God, you are Emmanuel, You are
Speaker 1: right here with us. Make us aware of your presence.
Speaker 1: Open up our eyes to see that you are quietly
Speaker 1: standing by, ready to speak peace to our souls. And God,
Speaker 1: Christmas is all about how you come to us, and
Speaker 1: so we want to receive from you right now. You
Speaker 1: are water for our thirsty souls. In this moment, we
Speaker 1: are longing for you. Lord. Would you speak to us
Speaker 1: just like you always do Lord, you speak and pray
Speaker 1: that you would just do what you do. It's in
Speaker 1: Jesus name. Amen. So I got into a little debate
Speaker 1: the other night on my book club on Instagram Live
Speaker 1: shameless plug. Those of you who enjoy reading fiction, Holly
Speaker 1: Fredic book Club, we would love to have you. You
Speaker 1: just google it find us. We're there on Instagram Live
Speaker 1: once a week anyway. So we started talking about real
Speaker 1: trees versus fake trees. We do talk about the book too,
Speaker 1: but it's Christmas time and I'm not trying to start
Speaker 1: another argument because God knows we do not need another
Speaker 1: thing to debate about in twenty twenty. But just let
Speaker 1: me know in the chat if you were a real
Speaker 1: tree or a fake tree. Family. Speaking of real trees,
Speaker 1: did anybody see the Rockefeller Christmas tree this year? So
Speaker 1: there was this seventy four foot Christmas tree that was
Speaker 1: donated by a family in upstate New York. I didn't
Speaker 1: know the tree was always donated, but they went to
Speaker 1: this family's like front yard and they wrapped the tree
Speaker 1: up and they cut it down, they put it on
Speaker 1: a truck and when they set it up in Rockefeller Center.
Speaker 1: I have a picture for you because I just want
Speaker 1: to say it fit right in with twenty twenty. That
Speaker 1: is the Rockefeller Christmas Tree, and if you look at
Speaker 1: it now, it looks amazing because I read that they
Speaker 1: actually took branches from another tree. I don't know what
Speaker 1: you call it, like when you I read a fiction
Speaker 1: book about it one time, you like fay, like paste
Speaker 1: a branch onto the tree trunk of the tree. I'm
Speaker 1: sure Amy knows what it's called. It's like hair extensions
Speaker 1: for the tree. Can I get an amen from the lady.
Speaker 1: It's nothing wrong with a couple of extra strants, make
Speaker 1: your hair look fuller, go the whole way. It's all good.
Speaker 1: So then my friend Ashley, she posted this picture of
Speaker 1: her real Christmas tree. She said, if this isn't the
Speaker 1: most accurate picture of twenty twenty, I don't know what is.
Speaker 1: Anyone have their tree fall over yet? You can let
Speaker 1: me know in the chat. Just you know, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: we did. There is this thing, the tree falling over
Speaker 1: and the tree not looking perfect. These are just one
Speaker 1: of the many reasons why the Fredick family is a
Speaker 1: fake tree family. Steven and Ali Ferdick have only had
Speaker 1: one real tree in all of the eighteen years of
Speaker 1: Christmases that we have celebrated together, and that's just because
Speaker 1: that was all we can afford. And I bought a
Speaker 1: tree like December twenty sixth, the fake tree for the
Speaker 1: following year, and we've had fake trees ever since. I
Speaker 1: know some people really love the smell of a real
Speaker 1: Christmas tree in their home, and some families love the
Speaker 1: experience of going to a tree farm and cutting down
Speaker 1: their own tree. And listen, if that's you, I am
Speaker 1: so happy for you. We're just not really like the
Speaker 1: outdoorsy type family and we don't really need to go
Speaker 1: outside to find the perfect tree. We have the perfect
Speaker 1: tree in our attic. I bought it at Sam's Club.
Speaker 1: If you ask me, it's just real trees are such
Speaker 1: a hassle. They're so messy and imperfect, and they have
Speaker 1: holes that you have to hide the you know, turn
Speaker 1: and hide the branches and need to be trimmed. And
Speaker 1: then did you know, I mean, I'm sure you know
Speaker 1: you have to water them. I didn't when we got
Speaker 1: our first real Christmas tree, I didn't know that you
Speaker 1: had to water it, and it died really fast. And
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes their website you get sap on your hands.
Speaker 1: I hate getting sap on my hands. It's just fake trees.
Speaker 1: You just plug them in and fluff them up and
Speaker 1: then you're ready to go. It's it's the best thing ever. Okay,
Speaker 1: I see there's a lot of fake tree families out there.
Speaker 1: So for the past several weeks, we've been learning from
Speaker 1: our pastor about God's favor and how many of you
Speaker 1: would agree that just the sermons of the truth of
Speaker 1: this year that just gotten you through, it has gotten through.
Speaker 1: I asked, I asked Elijah last night. I was like,
Speaker 1: do I say that every time that I preach? It
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, but it's true, it's true. It's just
Speaker 1: they I mean, it's just our pastor is so prophetic
Speaker 1: and his words have just gotten us through. And so anyway,
Speaker 1: we've been reframing the idea of God's favor and gaining
Speaker 1: this new perspective because this year twenty twenty, with all
Speaker 1: that has come along with it, this year is the
Speaker 1: year of God's favor. And we've been learning that favor
Speaker 1: doesn't always come when we expect it to comment, it
Speaker 1: doesn't always look the way we expected to look. And
Speaker 1: last week, Pastor Stephen took us to the life of Mary,
Speaker 1: my absolute favorite Bible character, and we saw in Luke
Speaker 1: chapter one that the Angel told Mary that she had
Speaker 1: found favor with God. And we learned that oftentimes true
Speaker 1: favor feels like inconvenience and interruption, and it brings on insecurity,
Speaker 1: and that favor is almost always accompanied by fear. And
Speaker 1: as I've been processing these teachings, I'm learning that I
Speaker 1: have to learn to let go of what I expected
Speaker 1: favor to look like in my life so that I
Speaker 1: can take hold of the amazing things that God is
Speaker 1: calling me to do. But like my fact, fake Christmas
Speaker 1: tree that doesn't require doesn't make a mess, it doesn't
Speaker 1: require a ton of work and water. And I think
Speaker 1: sometimes it's just easier if I could just have fake favor, too, right,
Speaker 1: I want a favor that looks good without requiring anything
Speaker 1: of me. I want to favor that's beautiful and does
Speaker 1: it make me uncomfortable in any way. Fake favor is
Speaker 1: focused on the outward appearance. It's focused on other people's
Speaker 1: perceptions of me, and fake favor just stays on the
Speaker 1: surface because the surface is safe, and so it's safe
Speaker 1: for me to just tell everyone, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine,
Speaker 1: We're doing great. I'm good because I don't want anyone
Speaker 1: to know what maybe is really going on in my life.
Speaker 1: I want when people look at me and my family
Speaker 1: to think that we have it all together, because if
Speaker 1: I share my fears and my frustrations and my struggles,
Speaker 1: how will you think that God's favor could possibly be
Speaker 1: on my life. You don't have to share everything with everyone,
Speaker 1: but you got to share some things with some people.
Speaker 1: Fake favor also centers around stuff, and until recently, until
Speaker 1: our pastors started preaching these messages messages, I think that
Speaker 1: I think that I have always equated the favor of
Speaker 1: God with the stuff that I have. Now, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong, I love stuff. I love stuff more than
Speaker 1: the average person. I promise you, especially this time of year.
Speaker 1: I love stuff. And Stephen Ferdick is on the front
Speaker 1: row going, yes, she does. I'm sorry, I'm working on it.
Speaker 1: I have nothing against stuff, and I believe that every
Speaker 1: blessing that I have, every good and perfect gift, comes
Speaker 1: from our Father above. But if when you think about
Speaker 1: all the ways that God has blessed you, the only
Speaker 1: things that you can think about are stuff, oriented you
Speaker 1: have a very limited view of a very big God.
Speaker 1: Stuff is fun, it's fun, but it has a very
Speaker 1: very short shelf life in the realm of faith. And
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people who have a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff and a little faith. Type it in the
Speaker 1: chat right now, No more fake favor, No more fake favor.
Speaker 1: How did Mary find true favor with God? There was
Speaker 1: something special about her that set her apart from every
Speaker 1: other woman in her generation. There had to be. Mary
Speaker 1: was not a random lottery pick. God didn't do a
Speaker 1: lot and just pick a girl. I believe that Mary
Speaker 1: had a foundation for favor. That's the title of my
Speaker 1: message today, the foundation for favor. And I want you
Speaker 1: to look with me Jeremiah seventeen, verse seven. But blessed
Speaker 1: is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence
Speaker 1: isn't him. They will be like a tree planted by
Speaker 1: the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
Speaker 1: It does not fear when he comes. Its leaves are
Speaker 1: always green, It has no worries in a year of drought,
Speaker 1: and it never fails to bear fruit. I love this
Speaker 1: picture of this tree. This tree is solid, This tree
Speaker 1: has weathered some storms. This is not a fake tree.
Speaker 1: This tree shows me that having a relationship with God
Speaker 1: does not make me exempt from difficulties and struggles. It
Speaker 1: simply gives us a foundation that we can draw from
Speaker 1: when those hard times come, and it enables us not
Speaker 1: just to survive, but to actually bear fruit during the
Speaker 1: most difficult seasons, during the drought, during the storm. See
Speaker 1: fake trees look good, but fake trees can't bear fruit.
Speaker 1: I know that everyone is glad to see twenty twenty
Speaker 1: come to an end, right, but we all know that
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one is coming right around the corner and
Speaker 1: it's gonna hit us with its own set of challenges.
Speaker 1: Because this is life, and my goal is to be ready,
Speaker 1: not perfect. I want to have a foundation that is
Speaker 1: going to allow me to bear fruit. Fruit in every
Speaker 1: season drought, storm, summer, winter, I can bear fruit because
Speaker 1: my life is rooted in my relationship with Jesus. Blessed
Speaker 1: is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence
Speaker 1: is in him. We all know people who seem to
Speaker 1: weather the most incredible storms and still keep their faith intact.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have someone who comes to your mind
Speaker 1: like this person who just personifies strength, and when you
Speaker 1: look at their life, you just wonder how are they
Speaker 1: making it through that? I could never make it through that.
Speaker 1: But have you if you've ever noticed that, there's some
Speaker 1: people that don't actually make it through. Like there are
Speaker 1: those people who come through a storm. They weather the storm,
Speaker 1: and they come through it. They're battered, they're bruised, and
Speaker 1: they're stronger, right, But there are also those people who
Speaker 1: are badder and bruised and bitter. And I can tell
Speaker 1: you right now that strong people don't happen by accident.
Speaker 1: Strength is not developed in the dry season. It just
Speaker 1: reveals itself there. So if you get to the dry
Speaker 1: season and you don't have any strength, you're in trouble.
Speaker 1: The other day, I had a very short window to
Speaker 1: get my workout in. I have a certain number of workouts.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get to the end of the year.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to make it to my goal, but
Speaker 1: I'm because I was going to. I literally have to
Speaker 1: work out every day for the rest of the year
Speaker 1: to make my goal. But that's okay. I'm close to
Speaker 1: the goal anyway. Normally, that's the point, right, I've got close. Normally,
Speaker 1: I that's my definition of a goal. Okay, So normally
Speaker 1: I have a peloton bike and I do the peloton ride,
Speaker 1: and to be honest, this particular day, I didn't want
Speaker 1: to get my hair sweaty, and so I selected a
Speaker 1: twenty minute intermediate strength training workout. I was like, twenty
Speaker 1: minutes intermediate. I'm intermediate. I think I can do this,
Speaker 1: and so everything was going along just fine, and there
Speaker 1: was this one exercise that I never do, and it
Speaker 1: was called well, I don't actually know what it was
Speaker 1: called because I never do it, but it was the
Speaker 1: one where you hold the weights. It looks really easy,
Speaker 1: and so you hold the weights and you've been down
Speaker 1: and then you come up and you pull them up,
Speaker 1: and the instructor said, that kind of hurt my legs there.
Speaker 1: I didn't even have the weights. The instructor said, she said,
Speaker 1: get heavier weights, and I didn't want to get too sore,
Speaker 1: and so I thought I was being smart and at
Speaker 1: the risk of you understanding how little I lift weights,
Speaker 1: I'm just going to go ahead and tell you. I
Speaker 1: stuck with my tens and I still got sore. I
Speaker 1: got so sore that I could barely walk for two days.
Speaker 1: I was like shuffling, you know, and I haven't done
Speaker 1: that exercise. Since then, of course not. I don't want
Speaker 1: to be sure again. But the soreness is an indication
Speaker 1: that you are, that you're getting stronger, if, if, and
Speaker 1: only if you keep doing that exercise. Do you remember
Speaker 1: what pastor Steven so prophetically said to us at the
Speaker 1: beginning of twenty twenty, He said, time under tension. We
Speaker 1: had no idea how much tension was coming. Time under
Speaker 1: tension creates strength. Strength is built over time, little by little,
Speaker 1: day by day, exercise after exercise. A tree does not
Speaker 1: grow overnight. A tree takes time to put down roots.
Speaker 1: And if you want to be a strong person, a
Speaker 1: person who never fails to bear fruit, a person who
Speaker 1: has found favor with God, you're going to have to
Speaker 1: have a foundation that can sustain you through Jeremiah says
Speaker 1: that the tree is planted by water, and that it
Speaker 1: sends out its roots. So the most important part of
Speaker 1: the tree happens below the surface. It's not the blooms,
Speaker 1: it's not the beautiful fall leaves. The most important part
Speaker 1: of the tree happens in the places that we can't see.
Speaker 1: So I want to go back and look at Luke
Speaker 1: one again this week, and I want to look at
Speaker 1: Mary and I want to see how did she find
Speaker 1: favor with God? How did God know that she would
Speaker 1: be strong enough to press on when people didn't believe
Speaker 1: that she was carrying God's child? How did he know
Speaker 1: that she would not crumble under the weight of disappointment
Speaker 1: and grief, the the immense grief she must have had
Speaker 1: when she watched her firstborn son die a gruesome martyrs
Speaker 1: dad at age thirty three. And yet still that woman
Speaker 1: had the faith to be sitting there in the upper
Speaker 1: room with the disciples at Pentecost. How did God know
Speaker 1: that she'd be strong enough to make it through all
Speaker 1: of that. If twenty twenty is the year of the
Speaker 1: Lord's favor, I want to have fresh eyes to look
Speaker 1: at it. I want to see that every difficult thing
Speaker 1: that I faced was actually making me stronger for the
Speaker 1: journey ahead in twenty twenty one. We've been building for
Speaker 1: this all along. God, how do I do this? I
Speaker 1: want to look at Luke one and I'm going to
Speaker 1: show you five things about Mary that gave her a
Speaker 1: foundation to receive the favor of God. And these are
Speaker 1: the same things that we need in our lives to
Speaker 1: prepare us for the blessings that God wants to bring
Speaker 1: us this year, not the stuff the blessings. Here we
Speaker 1: go Luke one, Starting in verse twenty six, in the
Speaker 1: sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel
Speaker 1: to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged
Speaker 1: to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant
Speaker 1: of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel said
Speaker 1: to her, greetings, you, who are highly favored. The Lord
Speaker 1: is with you. And Mary was greatly troubled at his
Speaker 1: words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
Speaker 1: But the Angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary,
Speaker 1: you have found favor with God. You will conceive and
Speaker 1: give birth to a son, and you are to call
Speaker 1: him Jesus. He will be great, and he will be
Speaker 1: called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will
Speaker 1: give him the throne of his father David, and he
Speaker 1: will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end.
Speaker 1: How will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I
Speaker 1: am a virgin. The angel answered, the Holy Spirit will
Speaker 1: come on you, and the power of the Most High
Speaker 1: will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born
Speaker 1: will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative,
Speaker 1: is going to have a child in her own age,
Speaker 1: and she who was said to be unable to conceive
Speaker 1: and is in her six month for no word from
Speaker 1: God will ever fail. I am the Lord's servant. Mary answered,
Speaker 1: may your word to me be fulfilled? And then the
Speaker 1: angel left her. So Mary has this massive calling on
Speaker 1: her life. She is going to be the mother of
Speaker 1: the Messiah. She's going to raise God. And we know
Speaker 1: nothing about her prior to this passage of scripture. But
Speaker 1: as the story unfolds, we find out that she's a
Speaker 1: girl from Nazareth. She's engaged to be married. The Angel
Speaker 1: comes to her and says, greetings. Have you ever thought
Speaker 1: about all the ways that God spoke to people in
Speaker 1: the Bible up until this point? It's pretty cool. He
Speaker 1: spoke through dreams, he spoke to Moses in a burning bush,
Speaker 1: he spoke through a talking donkey one time, the writing
Speaker 1: on the wall, and oftentimes God spoke to people in
Speaker 1: out loud, audible voices. Where was Mary when the Angel
Speaker 1: came to her? What was she doing? The passage doesn't say,
Speaker 1: doesn't say that she was in church or that she
Speaker 1: was kneeling in prayer, or even that she was sleeping
Speaker 1: and that the Angel came to her in a dream.
Speaker 1: It simply says that the angel came to her and
Speaker 1: got me wondering if God knew that he could just
Speaker 1: interrupt any old day in Mary's life, that she had
Speaker 1: such an awareness of God's presence that she was ready
Speaker 1: to receive from him during her everyday life. The first
Speaker 1: foundation for Mary's favor is awareness. Are you aware of
Speaker 1: God's presence in your everyday life? Or is your life
Speaker 1: so loud and so crowded and so back to back
Speaker 1: to back that God would have to strike lightning to
Speaker 1: get your attention because you are so busy. If you
Speaker 1: think that being aware of God's presence means that, well,
Speaker 1: maybe I just get up at five am. That's wonderful.
Speaker 1: You should do it. If that's what you think, it
Speaker 1: is great. I think getting up early is awesome. I
Speaker 1: just can't do it. And yes, I do think that
Speaker 1: it's important to set aside time to read and to
Speaker 1: study God's word, and to pray and to listen to music.
Speaker 1: It's essential to my growth and to my strength. But
Speaker 1: I can't get up early, and I live a very
Speaker 1: full life. And so I told the ladies that reflect
Speaker 1: that one of the things that I do is I
Speaker 1: look for pockets, look at the person next to you,
Speaker 1: or put it in the chat. What's in your pockets.
Speaker 1: You may not have an hour of time to spend
Speaker 1: each day, but I bet you have pockets, Like what
Speaker 1: do you do during your commute to work? What do
Speaker 1: you do when you're sitting at your kids' sports practice.
Speaker 1: What's playing in the background while you're mowing the lawn
Speaker 1: or doing the laundry, or what do you do on
Speaker 1: your lunch break at work? What's the last thing that
Speaker 1: you do before you fall asleep at night. These are pockets.
Speaker 1: Mary had space in her life for God. And we
Speaker 1: live in a day and time where this one little device,
Speaker 1: actually have my phone in my pocket, this one little
Speaker 1: device can enable us to fill the space in our
Speaker 1: life with sermons and worship music and audio books and podcasts.
Speaker 1: But if you don't have a plan, you just start scrolling,
Speaker 1: and you'll scroll feeds during every extra second that you
Speaker 1: have in your day. And if you spend your day scrolling,
Speaker 1: you're gonna end it starving, starving for encouragement. Because you
Speaker 1: were looking in the wrong place, starving for purpose because
Speaker 1: you are comparing your calling to someone else's calling, lacking
Speaker 1: the peace and the joy that are hours for the taking.
Speaker 1: But we wasted that precious pocket of time that could
Speaker 1: have been used for God's just Whisper a word of encouragement.
Speaker 1: Fill that little empty space in your life. Some of
Speaker 1: us are starving right now because we've let church just
Speaker 1: slip between our fingers. When we went into quarantine. You
Speaker 1: got up, you got your family up, you got the
Speaker 1: TV on, you were watching the pre show. You got
Speaker 1: out of bed and sat up at your kitchen table
Speaker 1: and gave God your full attention. And now you're like,
Speaker 1: we'll just catch it later on YouTube. I know it's
Speaker 1: Christmas time. I know the numbers are going up all
Speaker 1: over our country, But as we look toward twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: are we going to prioritize church in our homes. This
Speaker 1: virus has taken a lot from us. But I just
Speaker 1: want you to know me and my house we're gonna
Speaker 1: take away We're going to take the time to worship God.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna let the enemy take away church from us.
Speaker 1: I'm not. And if it's safe for you to actually
Speaker 1: go to church. If it's safe for me to actually
Speaker 1: be in these seats, you better bet my kids butts
Speaker 1: are gonna be in these seats as much as possible.
Speaker 1: If you're not careful, if we're not if we're not diligent,
Speaker 1: we will let the important things just slip, and then
Speaker 1: we find ourselves in a difficult storm and we don't
Speaker 1: have the roots to get us through because we haven't
Speaker 1: made the presence of God a priority in our lives.
Speaker 1: It's time to wake up and position yourself to hear
Speaker 1: God speak. Wherever God speaks to you, you get yourself
Speaker 1: there because the strength that you need for the next
Speaker 1: season is in the things that God wants to speak
Speaker 1: to you right now. Are you aware? Are you listening?
Speaker 1: Mary was aware, and the Angel comes to her and
Speaker 1: he tells her, you have found favor with God. You're
Speaker 1: gonna give birth to the son of the Most hi God,
Speaker 1: and the power of the Holy Spirit is gonna come
Speaker 1: upon you. And I got to read to you Mary's
Speaker 1: response from the Passion translation. I love a Passion translation.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I just go to it to see a little
Speaker 1: bit different way it that it says this. This is
Speaker 1: my favorite verse in the whole Bible, and I love
Speaker 1: to read it in a different translation, because sometimes when
Speaker 1: you switch up your translations, GOT will show you something new.
Speaker 1: So this is uh Luke one thirty eight. Then Mary
Speaker 1: responded saying, this is amazing. I will be the mother
Speaker 1: for our Lord. That's a message for some of the
Speaker 1: moms out there. I think I'll be the mother for
Speaker 1: our I'm gonna Lord, I'm gonna be the mother for
Speaker 1: these these people. Sorry, this is amazing. I will be
Speaker 1: the mother for the Lord as his servant. I accept
Speaker 1: whatever he has for me. May everything you have told
Speaker 1: me come to pass? And the angel left her. Second
Speaker 1: foundation that Mary had was acceptance. See if this were me,
Speaker 1: I don't think I would have said this is amazing.
Speaker 1: I would have been like, Okay, God, this sounds I'm
Speaker 1: getting there. I have a few questions before I accept
Speaker 1: this assignment. God, you do know that I'm just a
Speaker 1: girl and I don't know nothing about babies, right, just checking?
Speaker 1: And God, have you thought about how nobody's going to
Speaker 1: believe me? God? Like, are you sure I'm the right person?
Speaker 1: Are you sure I'm good enough to embrace your son?
Speaker 1: Are you sure I'm smart enough? And what about my past?
Speaker 1: What about the mistakes that are made? What about what
Speaker 1: about the things that I've done? And God, you know,
Speaker 1: are you sure? Like I was thinking I could have
Speaker 1: more of like an upfront calling than a behind the
Speaker 1: scenes one, Like maybe I could be a prophetess instead
Speaker 1: of a diaper changer. Mary simply accepted the calling that
Speaker 1: God had placed on her life. And if you don't
Speaker 1: have the foundation of acceptance in your life, you're gonna
Speaker 1: abandon your calling at the first sign of trouble, and
Speaker 1: then you're gonna miss out on living a life full
Speaker 1: of purpose. The thing about a calling is it's like
Speaker 1: a gift that is exclusively for you, Like a gift
Speaker 1: that has your initials in it. You can't trade it
Speaker 1: with someone else, you can't return it for a different one.
Speaker 1: You can either reject it or accept it. And let
Speaker 1: me just say, you don't have to accept God's calling
Speaker 1: on your life. He has someone else that he can use,
Speaker 1: he does, but he picked you. And I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: say I've been guilty of just rejecting the calling that
Speaker 1: God has placed on my life at times. Not outright,
Speaker 1: of course, I mean I would never be like Jonah
Speaker 1: and go in the opposite direction. Of what God told
Speaker 1: me to do. It's just a little more subtle, you know,
Speaker 1: like maybe I get a little stuck, and some days
Speaker 1: I'm just unwilling to put in the work required to
Speaker 1: accomplish the things that God wants me to do. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna say I'm lazy, and I'd rather watch YouTube
Speaker 1: videos of someone else's day in the life than actually
Speaker 1: live mine with the purpose that God has given me.
Speaker 1: Since I'm up here being honest with thousands of my
Speaker 1: closest friends, I'll just tell you that there were years,
Speaker 1: years where I was simply unwilling to put in the
Speaker 1: work required to do the things that God was calling
Speaker 1: me to do, because living in the favor of God
Speaker 1: requires work on my part. So like it takes a
Speaker 1: lot of work to write a good sermon, you know
Speaker 1: what else it takes to write a good sermon, Like
Speaker 1: knowing your Bible, reading it. You got to hear from
Speaker 1: God for yourself before you can just pass it on
Speaker 1: to other people. And there were years where I hid
Speaker 1: behind the idea that I wasn't good enough, that I
Speaker 1: didn't have the intelligence or the talent or the charisma
Speaker 1: that it takes to minister to people from a stage,
Speaker 1: and the reality is I wasn't willing to put in
Speaker 1: the work to live up to the calling that God
Speaker 1: had placed right in my lap. You are enough and
Speaker 1: you have everything you need. If God called you, you're enough,
Speaker 1: and it's time for you to accept that. But that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it won't be hard, and that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you won't have to put in a lot of work,
Speaker 1: and that doesn't mean that sometimes you won't like it.
Speaker 1: Repetition over time creates strength. And you might be thinking, well,
Speaker 1: that's easy for you to say, you're Stephen Verdick's wife.
Speaker 1: How do I know what I'm called to do? I
Speaker 1: have an answer for you. You're called to do whatever
Speaker 1: God has placed in your life right now, this moment,
Speaker 1: not one day when you get married, or one day
Speaker 1: when you have more money, or one day when you
Speaker 1: own your own home. Then I'll have and then I'll
Speaker 1: help people in my home. Then I'll I'll be hospitable.
Speaker 1: And I said to the ladies last month, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say it again to everybody under the sound of
Speaker 1: my voice. The best person to raise your kids is you, mom, dad,
Speaker 1: It's you. The best person to do your job, the
Speaker 1: job that you have today. Thank God that you have
Speaker 1: a job. The best person to do that job? Is
Speaker 1: you the best person to speak up for that cause
Speaker 1: it's just burning in your heart that that's the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit calling you, calling you out to speak out for
Speaker 1: that organization, for those overlooked people. You are called to
Speaker 1: the place where you are right now. Your high school,
Speaker 1: your neighborhood, your coworkers, all of these people need to
Speaker 1: see you confidently walking in the calling that God has
Speaker 1: given you. And when you do go through something hard,
Speaker 1: because you will, they're going to see your strength and
Speaker 1: your resilience and your dependence on God and your relationship
Speaker 1: with Him as you go through whatever your challenges are.
Speaker 1: And we like to think of Mary when the Angel
Speaker 1: visited her, But what about Mary when no one believed
Speaker 1: her that she was a pregnant virgin? That would be hard.
Speaker 1: About Mary when she had to ride on a donkey
Speaker 1: when she was nine months pregnant, that would be hard.
Speaker 1: What about Mary when she stood at the foot of
Speaker 1: the cross the most unimaginable pain and rejection that was
Speaker 1: as much a parting her part of her calling as
Speaker 1: anything else. Those are the things that we celebrate today
Speaker 1: about her, And I think It was in those moments,
Speaker 1: those those difficult moments, that Mary had to come back
Speaker 1: to that encounter with the angel and remember that she
Speaker 1: was chosen for this. She was chosen for this task,
Speaker 1: no matter how hard it is, You're chosen for this.
Speaker 1: And I want to tell you today you can do
Speaker 1: hard things. You can. In the minute that she accepted
Speaker 1: her calling, she went into action. That's the third one.
Speaker 1: Look what Mary said, So we're back at Luke one
Speaker 1: thirty eight. I am the Lord's servant. Mary answered, May
Speaker 1: your word to me be fulfilled. Then the angel left her.
Speaker 1: At that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a
Speaker 1: town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered
Speaker 1: Zechariah's home and greeted, Elizabeth. Let me ask you this,
Speaker 1: What do you do when the angel leaves? Think about this.
Speaker 1: An angel comes to her and tells her all these
Speaker 1: amazing three things. Don't be afraid. God has chosen you.
Speaker 1: You're gonna bear the hiss Son, and you're gonna call
Speaker 1: him Jesus. And when Mary asked her one clarifying question,
Speaker 1: she said, how my husband pointed this out last week.
Speaker 1: Mary said how. The answer she got was who the
Speaker 1: power of the Holy spirit will come upon you. And
Speaker 1: also your cousin Elizabeth is pregnant, and then the angel left.
Speaker 1: See God doesn't always spell everything out for us. Now,
Speaker 1: He's with us every step of the way, but he's
Speaker 1: not gonna move your feet for you. Favor requires action
Speaker 1: on your partner. When God gives you a direction, what
Speaker 1: is your response time? Because Mary, she went quick. God
Speaker 1: uses people who hear and move. Now, he may give
Speaker 1: you a big calling, but usually every calling starts with
Speaker 1: a small step. Because if you can't hear and act
Speaker 1: in the small things, you won't do it in the
Speaker 1: big things. I know you think you will, but you won't.
Speaker 1: And sometimes I think it's so funny that the small
Speaker 1: things are what hold up our progress. But why wouldn't
Speaker 1: Why would God give you more direction when you have
Speaker 1: not done the simplest things that He's asked you to do.
Speaker 1: I mean little things like maybe he asked you to
Speaker 1: apologize to someone, to admit that you were wrong and
Speaker 1: say you were sorry. Did you do it? Maybe he
Speaker 1: asked you to begin the process of forgiving. I know
Speaker 1: that's a big thing, that's a big deal, but did
Speaker 1: you start. Maybe he asked you to do something seemingly easy,
Speaker 1: like join an E group or start an EE group.
Speaker 1: Did you do it? God is good. God is very patient,
Speaker 1: Thank you Lord, but he is not going to give
Speaker 1: you step two before you do step one. Now, the
Speaker 1: good news is that step one is still right there
Speaker 1: waiting for you right now, because better is it something
Speaker 1: out there? Calling isn't out there, it's here, it's now.
Speaker 1: It's in the very next step. And becoming a person
Speaker 1: of action takes practice, but the absolute best gift that
Speaker 1: you can give to the people in your life this
Speaker 1: Christmas is for you to make space for Christ in
Speaker 1: your life, for you to receive the words that He's
Speaker 1: speaking to you, and for you to act on them,
Speaker 1: even if that is the smallest thing. I love to
Speaker 1: imagine this scenario. Okay again, An angel comes to Mary
Speaker 1: and he tells her that she's blessed and she's highly favored,
Speaker 1: and he gives her, you know, the details, like what
Speaker 1: she's gonna name the baby and how the power of
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit will come upon her, and then he
Speaker 1: leaves and can you just imagine Mary in just the
Speaker 1: moments right after he left, like what she was thinking,
Speaker 1: Did that really just happen? Did I dream? That did
Speaker 1: I make that up in my head? And now I
Speaker 1: think I really did. So then she decides to Okay,
Speaker 1: that did happen, and I bet all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: she's alone with her thoughts. I don't really like to
Speaker 1: be alone with my thoughts. Can you imagine how her
Speaker 1: thoughts just started going insane, you know, like thoughts of
Speaker 1: doubt and fear and discouragement, like you could get stoned
Speaker 1: for being pregnant out of marriage, right, So she's thinking
Speaker 1: about all of that, and she's on the verge of
Speaker 1: just her mind just going off. And then I like
Speaker 1: to think, like maybe she just remembered this one little
Speaker 1: detail that the angel said to her, Your cousin Elizabeth
Speaker 1: in her old age is going to bear a son.
Speaker 1: And that was all she needed to figure out what
Speaker 1: her next step was. The Angel didn't just give her
Speaker 1: one who he gave her two. He said, the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit will bring forth the baby, but also, your cousin
Speaker 1: Elizabeth is gonna show you how. The Angel didn't stay
Speaker 1: with her and coach her through the process. He pointed
Speaker 1: her to a person, and the Bible says she got
Speaker 1: ready and she hurried down to the town of Judea
Speaker 1: where Elizabeth was. Is there a person God is pointing
Speaker 1: you to who can help you through the hard things?
Speaker 1: You know when we talk about stuff God, you know
Speaker 1: the favor of God and how it's not just about stuff.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the favor of God is about the people that
Speaker 1: He has placed in your life. And Mary understood that
Speaker 1: part of her strength would come from the people that
Speaker 1: she surrounded herself with. So this is the fourth It's attachment.
Speaker 1: When I am confident in my calling, I don't need
Speaker 1: to compete with other people or compare myself to other people,
Speaker 1: but I do need to align myself with those who
Speaker 1: will confirm what is already placed inside of me. You
Speaker 1: were never intended to live out your calling alone. You
Speaker 1: do have to get the order right. It is not people. First.
Speaker 1: Mary was aware she was ready to hear God when
Speaker 1: God spoke to her, not another person. She accepted the
Speaker 1: calling that God placed on her life, not her mama.
Speaker 1: Then she acted quickly because she realized she was going
Speaker 1: to have a baby. She needed to get herself around
Speaker 1: someone who was a little bit farther down the road
Speaker 1: from her. We need each other. This is the body
Speaker 1: of Christ and it is beautiful. And that's another thing
Speaker 1: that I feel like the enemy has tried to steal
Speaker 1: from us in twenty twenty. I need you and you
Speaker 1: need me. And I'm not talking about marriage. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about friendship, because when the favor of God is on
Speaker 1: your life, you are going to meet the support of others.
Speaker 1: And yes, yes, yes, I know there are dramatic people
Speaker 1: out there. There are crazy people out there. And I
Speaker 1: told the youth girls mean girls don't go away when
Speaker 1: you graduate high school. But perhaps you are using the
Speaker 1: wrong criteria for your support system. What you want to
Speaker 1: do is get yourself around someone who's a little bit
Speaker 1: farther down the road from you, like Mary is, maybe
Speaker 1: not in age, maybe in maturity or experience, someone that
Speaker 1: you look up to, not for what they wear, but
Speaker 1: for who they are, Someone that you admire. I want
Speaker 1: you to just think about it. Someone that you admire
Speaker 1: for the way that they treat their wife, not the
Speaker 1: kind of car that they drive. Someone who has walked
Speaker 1: where you are about to walk and can help you
Speaker 1: prepare for some of the twists and turns that could
Speaker 1: knock you off course. When Mary got to Elizabeth, Elizabeth
Speaker 1: immediately confirmed what was already happening inside of Mary, She said,
Speaker 1: look at this. In the ESV. It says, blessed are
Speaker 1: you among women, and blessed is the fruit. Here's our
Speaker 1: word again, the fruit of your womb. We all need
Speaker 1: people in our lives that will confirm what God has
Speaker 1: placed on us, people who will call all out the
Speaker 1: fruit that isn't even there yet. And I think about
Speaker 1: the people that have come alongside me and that have
Speaker 1: come alongside my husband and have called fruit out in us.
Speaker 1: And we wouldn't be where we are today without those
Speaker 1: people in our lives. And God has those people in
Speaker 1: your life too. Elizabeth celebrated Mary and then she brought
Speaker 1: her into her life. And the Bible tells us that
Speaker 1: Elizabeth was six months pregnant and that Mary stayed with
Speaker 1: Elizabeth for three months. I don't know if you can
Speaker 1: do the math on that, but I can do that math.
Speaker 1: Mary said, with Elizabeth until Elizabeth gave birth. And when
Speaker 1: it came time for Mary to give birth to her
Speaker 1: own child in a barn alone, well, she had her husband.
Speaker 1: But you know whose voice. Whose voice do you think
Speaker 1: was in her head? Elizabeth? The favor of God is
Speaker 1: ultimately built on the foundation of our relationships and our
Speaker 1: relationship with God, our relationship with others, and our relationship
Speaker 1: with God. That's the foundation. And you can't leave out
Speaker 1: the people part. And men if you think that this
Speaker 1: isn't for you, there's more in the Bible about men
Speaker 1: friendships than there are about women. Trust me, I've looked.
Speaker 1: David had, Jonathan, Paul had Silas. Jesus even had the Disciples,
Speaker 1: although sometimes he probably wish that he didn't. It's okay.
Speaker 1: Friends make you feel that way. Sometimes it's okay. Who
Speaker 1: is around you, who is cheering you on, who has
Speaker 1: fought with you and grieved with you. Those are the
Speaker 1: people that God has placed on your life, on your journey,
Speaker 1: And if you don't build it now, you won't have
Speaker 1: it when you need it. And you know what, because
Speaker 1: I know some people think like, oh, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1: I don't really need a lot of people. But you
Speaker 1: know what, else, it's an amazing thing to feel the
Speaker 1: support of people in your life during a difficult time.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful thing to experience, but it is also
Speaker 1: a privilege to do it for someone that you love.
Speaker 1: And if you've ever walked with someone, walked alongside a
Speaker 1: friend through a divorce, or a loss or a sickness.
Speaker 1: You experience a level of friendship that's only found in
Speaker 1: the struggle. That's a beautiful gift that God has for us,
Speaker 1: Sue Elizabeth confirms. She says, blessed is the one who
Speaker 1: has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.
Speaker 1: And then Mary begins her prayer, this beautiful prayer that
Speaker 1: she prays, and she says, my soul glorifies the Lord,
Speaker 1: and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he
Speaker 1: has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
Speaker 1: From now on, Mary says, all generations will call me blessed,
Speaker 1: for the Mighty One has done great things for me.
Speaker 1: Holy is his name. The last foundation is affirmation, because
Speaker 1: you see, it was good for Mary to have Elizabeth
Speaker 1: to confirm what God had called Mary to do. But
Speaker 1: there also comes a time when the affirmation that you
Speaker 1: need has to come from within yourself with your own mouth.
Speaker 1: You begin to worship. And before Mary saw any fruit
Speaker 1: that the Angel told her that she would see, she
Speaker 1: centered her focus on who God was to her, her savior,
Speaker 1: the Mighty One Who's done great things. Worship like this
Speaker 1: only flows from someone who has a living, breathing relationship
Speaker 1: with her heavenly Father. She goes on to quote scripture
Speaker 1: and scripture that she had planted it in her heart
Speaker 1: as a child just started to pour out of her mouth,
Speaker 1: because long before she was visited by an angel, she
Speaker 1: was building the foundation that she would draw from. Mary
Speaker 1: focused her faith on the one who had called her,
Speaker 1: the one who had chosen her. She didn't list out
Speaker 1: all the things that could go wrong, She didn't think
Speaker 1: about all the hardships that would lay ahead for her.
Speaker 1: She say focused on who God was and who she
Speaker 1: was in Christ. And this makes sense when you read
Speaker 1: about Mary the Mother of Jesus. But these are things
Speaker 1: that we have to put into action in our own lives.
Speaker 1: Affirmation this is the root that you draw from on
Speaker 1: the days when you feel weak, you feel like you
Speaker 1: don't have what it takes, and on those days where
Speaker 1: maybe nobody knows exactly what you're going through because you
Speaker 1: just can't. Sometimes you just can't tell people. Yet that
Speaker 1: kind of affirmation can only come from within. And I
Speaker 1: told the ladies that reflect this it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a little embarrassing story. But several weeks ago I woke
Speaker 1: up to the start of a really long day. I had, truly,
Speaker 1: it felt like a million and one things to do.
Speaker 1: Some of them were big and some of them were small.
Speaker 1: And already told you, I'm not a morning person. And
Speaker 1: so when my alarm went off at six am, I
Speaker 1: was overwhelmed and just feeling like, there's no way could
Speaker 1: I could do all of this? And I dragged myself
Speaker 1: out of bed and I kind of shrudged towards the
Speaker 1: bathroom and I thought to myself, I can do this.
Speaker 1: And my husband sat up and he said, what can
Speaker 1: you do? Honestly, I was shocked, and I was a
Speaker 1: little bit embarrassed, like did the angel come to me?
Speaker 1: And I didn't realize that I'd actually spoken that out loud.
Speaker 1: And so he says, what can you do? And I said,
Speaker 1: all of it, everything I have to do today, I
Speaker 1: can do it. And I promise you, ninety nine mornings
Speaker 1: out of one hundred, I do not get this right,
Speaker 1: I don't do this, but on that particular day I did.
Speaker 1: It was like in the darkness, my soul tapped those
Speaker 1: roots that I have and reminded me Philippians four thirteen.
Speaker 1: I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Speaker 1: And if you hear me say nothing else today. I
Speaker 1: want you to know you can do this, all of it,
Speaker 1: all that you were called to do, and not one
Speaker 1: thing extra. You don't have to let fear and anxiety
Speaker 1: occupy the space in your soul that was meant for Christ.
Speaker 1: You are a chosen child of the Most High God,
Speaker 1: and you're not operating in your own power. Not by power,
Speaker 1: but by My spirit, says the Lord. You don't have
Speaker 1: to force it, you don't have to manipulate it. You
Speaker 1: have a foundation for the favor that God has placed
Speaker 1: on your life, and that foundation is the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: within you. Jesus, Christ and Manuel. You are never alone.
Speaker 1: And as I close today, I just want to pray
Speaker 1: for us. You just want to take a minute and
Speaker 1: pray over you. So wherever you are, just close your
Speaker 1: eyes and foixsh your attention on Christ, Jesus Emmanuel, we
Speaker 1: come to you in this moment. Pray for the person
Speaker 1: that is overwhelmed everything they have to get done. God,
Speaker 1: would you just stop and whisper at your peace. Pray
Speaker 1: for the person who's lonely. God, would you just whisper
Speaker 1: to them Here I am right here with you. You're
Speaker 1: not alone. Thank you God, Thank you for being with us,
Speaker 1: thank you for showing us the way. Thank you for
Speaker 1: the people that you've placed in our lives. Lord, we
Speaker 1: are so grateful. We are so grateful that we never
Speaker 1: have to walk. Help us to fight, God, make us strong,
Speaker 1: Make us aware of your presence so we can see
Speaker 1: that you are there with us. Thank you for this word,
Speaker 1: thank you for these words that you've spoken of our
Speaker 1: over our lives in this time. We're ready. We're ready
Speaker 1: for whatever you have for us. We accept your calling
Speaker 1: on our lives in this moment. Thank you for picking me,
Speaker 1: Thank you for picking us. Since Jesus name, I pray, Amen,
Speaker 1: were you blessed by that? I want to thank all
Speaker 1: of you who pray for me and Holly and for
Speaker 1: our church and for the great and awesome outreach that's
Speaker 1: happening this time of year. So many people rely on
Speaker 1: us to be the light of Jesus Christ, and I'm
Speaker 1: so thankful. I'm so thankful that you're a part of
Speaker 1: this move of God. Make sure you subscribe and like
Speaker 1: and all of that stuff. But don't forget. This is
Speaker 1: the year of the Lord's favor and there are great
Speaker 1: things ahead for you. I just wanted to tell you
Speaker 1: that we're praying for you, believe in God for great
Speaker 1: things in your life. We love you, God bless