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: We're in the final week of a series called Kingdom
Speaker 1: Cloud and have you enjoyed the series? Has it been
Speaker 1: a blessing to well? You may be seated. We're going
Speaker 1: to finish it off together today. And it's interesting because
Speaker 1: my brother asked me, has the series been a success?
Speaker 1: He's been deployed and so he hasn't been able to
Speaker 1: get a good Wi Fi connection and watch. He's in
Speaker 1: the Air Force, and this is a series successful? And
Speaker 1: it made me pause, and I didn't know how to
Speaker 1: answer it, because how do you judge something like that?
Speaker 1: How do you measure the success of a message or
Speaker 1: message series? Would it be like one book I read
Speaker 1: said the sermon was a success if it sticks. There's
Speaker 1: a book I'm preaching. They said you need to make
Speaker 1: it sticky. Sermon's supposed to stick. I think that's duct
Speaker 1: tape you're thinking of. It's uh, because like some things
Speaker 1: are sticky, but they're not significant. I remember the macarena.
Speaker 1: That doesn't make it a life changing discovery of my life.
Speaker 1: I remember my first girlfriend's name. She didn't mean anything
Speaker 1: to me. So it's not necessarily meaningful because you memorized it.
Speaker 1: Six eight eight four to two oh three is Danny
Speaker 1: fox Firths's phone number in case you want to call him.
Speaker 1: Here's my best friend in third grade. I remember his number.
Speaker 1: People are going to be blowing him up right now.
Speaker 1: I'm ynny. But it's got to be something more than
Speaker 1: memorable to make it meaningful. I mean, some of the
Speaker 1: most meaningful stuff in our life we can't remember. You
Speaker 1: ever tried to call the role of your kids' names
Speaker 1: and you can't pull them up, and so it's not
Speaker 1: that you know. I thought about what makes a successful series.
Speaker 1: What would make it successful if people watched it on YouTube,
Speaker 1: then PewDiePie is the greatest preacher in the world. If
Speaker 1: that's what makes it successful, if it clicks, or how
Speaker 1: about this, if people enjoyed it, If they enjoyed it. So,
Speaker 1: if you have a comfortable workout, it was a successful workout.
Speaker 1: I just had a great workout what was great about it.
Speaker 1: It was just very relaxing. Oh the thing you did
Speaker 1: it right, or a successful surgery, it's not measured by
Speaker 1: the amount of comfort. We didn't get the tumor, but
Speaker 1: we had a great time. It was really, really, really heartwarm.
Speaker 1: So when I thought about that was the success, I thought,
Speaker 1: how many people are asking that about their life? How
Speaker 1: many people are trying to measure? You know, the more
Speaker 1: it matters, the harder it is to measure. The stuff
Speaker 1: that really matters is hard to measure. And so what
Speaker 1: we do we substitute out what we've been saying in
Speaker 1: this series, artificial measurements of things that are less significant
Speaker 1: or that are visible, because the things that are invisible,
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God, it comes in a way that's
Speaker 1: hard to measure. And I don't think there's a person
Speaker 1: that I'm sitting across the counter from today. That's how
Speaker 1: I visualize it in my mind, like we're sitting in
Speaker 1: your kitchen, like I showed up, you poured me a
Speaker 1: bowl of cereal, and we had this conversation. I don't
Speaker 1: think there's a person that would be across that counter
Speaker 1: that would say, in every area of my life I'm
Speaker 1: killing it. And I don't think there's a person that
Speaker 1: would sit across and say, there's absolutely nothing in my
Speaker 1: life that I feel successful at. But me, I'm really
Speaker 1: hard on myself. And it balances out because Holly is
Speaker 1: not hard enough on herself. And you're like, why would
Speaker 1: you say that about your wife? She would tell you
Speaker 1: the same thing. She keeps me from quitting and I
Speaker 1: keep her from sitting on the couch all the time. Now,
Speaker 1: she's a very hard worker. But one thing that I
Speaker 1: really appreciate about her is she has the ability to
Speaker 1: encourage herself. She'll be like, I'm eating French fries because
Speaker 1: I rode my peloton, like it cancels out in her mind. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I want to close the series today talking about your
Speaker 1: definition of success because I think it's important and I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people secretly feel like they're failing,
Speaker 1: even if people think that they're winning. And that's an
Speaker 1: interesting thing. Isn't it for people to think one thing,
Speaker 1: but for you to know another and to really really
Speaker 1: wrestle with this topic of your definition of success. The
Speaker 1: first thing we need to do is reclaim the biblical
Speaker 1: concept of blessing. There's a scripture that I memorized. I
Speaker 1: guess it was in college, and I don't have it
Speaker 1: quite as sharp as I did back then. But someone says,
Speaker 1: blessed is the man who does not walk in the
Speaker 1: council of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners,
Speaker 1: or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight
Speaker 1: is in the law of the Lord. And on his
Speaker 1: law he meditates day and night. He is like a
Speaker 1: tree that is planted by streams of water. What's the
Speaker 1: next part, oh, which yields this fruit? I did not
Speaker 1: successfully quote the scripture. I guess which yields his fruit
Speaker 1: in season? And whose leaf does not wither? Whatever he
Speaker 1: does prospers. And so you're like, by that definition of success,
Speaker 1: whatever he does prospers or works, I am not successful.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing about it. The psalm starts with
Speaker 1: a word that we translate blessed, blessed. It's how David
Speaker 1: psalms start, the ones that are pre particularly significant to him.
Speaker 1: He starts it with the word blessed, but it's not
Speaker 1: an English word. It's a Hebrew word, and it can
Speaker 1: also be translated happy. And I thought that was interesting,
Speaker 1: because to be successful and miserable is not a blessing.
Speaker 1: To be skinny and miserable is not a blessing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: to be disciplined and miserable is not a blessing. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, we cannot discount the fact that Psalm one.
Speaker 1: I think it's the best definition of blessed. If you want,
Speaker 1: just like a good biblical definition of blessing, and you've
Speaker 1: been wanting one all week. You've been walking around going
Speaker 1: what is the best definition of blessed in the Bible?
Speaker 1: Just don't know what it is. So if you want
Speaker 1: that definition, I think this is a good starting place.
Speaker 1: Blessed is the one who does not walk in the
Speaker 1: council of the wicked, who does not get distracted by
Speaker 1: the crappy value system of this messed up world. Now,
Speaker 1: it doesn't say that they don't have any friends who
Speaker 1: don't go to church. I always thought the verse was
Speaker 1: like code for don't hang out with people who vape
Speaker 1: that weed. You know, that's my youth pastor interpretation. But
Speaker 1: when he said blessed is the man who does not
Speaker 1: walk in the council of the wicked, I realize he's
Speaker 1: talking about whose voice you value, whose voice you value,
Speaker 1: and really, who gets to set your definition of success?
Speaker 1: How am I going to decide if a sermon was successful?
Speaker 1: I went on Facebook and read the comments, and that
Speaker 1: didn't help. They were talking more about the holes in
Speaker 1: my genes than the holes in his hands? Where the nails?
Speaker 1: So silly? I mean, so who? And I want to
Speaker 1: use an investigative method for this. I want to start
Speaker 1: with who, and then I want to talk about what,
Speaker 1: and then I want to talk about when, and if
Speaker 1: we have a chance, I'll talk about where. Okay, who, what?
Speaker 1: And when? Of success? Who told you that you were naked?
Speaker 1: That's what God asked Adam in the garden when he
Speaker 1: listened to the serpent. And I found out that whose
Speaker 1: voice you value determines your standard of success? Can I
Speaker 1: preach one more week on this topic? So if I
Speaker 1: judge my standard of success by by what someone else
Speaker 1: telps me, look, it's like I can always find someone
Speaker 1: to make me feel successful. I can always find someone
Speaker 1: to make me feel like a failure. There is somebody
Speaker 1: on your row who prais less than you. There is
Speaker 1: somebody on your row that praise more than you, except
Speaker 1: Greg Weinberger's rowe Him and Autumn pray all the time.
Speaker 1: Do you ever want to feel bad about your prayer life?
Speaker 1: Talk to Autumn. But other than them, there is somebody
Speaker 1: on your row that prays more than you, and there's
Speaker 1: somebody that prays lefts. And what I'm afraid of is
Speaker 1: that we have a standard of success and we never
Speaker 1: even checked on who said it? All right, let me
Speaker 1: try another way. It really convicted me to realize that
Speaker 1: if we judge success by current worldly standards, the ministry
Speaker 1: of Jesus was a complete failure when he left the earth.
Speaker 1: So Jesus came to bring a kingdom? Right? Did he
Speaker 1: do it? Before? You give me the yes? He did? Answer,
Speaker 1: which I appreciate, kind of depends which kingdom you're expecting
Speaker 1: him to build, if you judge it like how we
Speaker 1: judge our lives. Because the way we judge our life
Speaker 1: is we look to see who approves of what we're doing.
Speaker 1: Or you know, we take a word like blessed, and
Speaker 1: David says, happy is the man, blessed is the man?
Speaker 1: He starts. All of his most significant sums that way.
Speaker 1: But we think blessing is a material thing, and sometimes
Speaker 1: it is I got a boat, I'm blessed Everybody who
Speaker 1: thinks a boat is a blessing never had a boat.
Speaker 1: All it does is break and get fake friends to
Speaker 1: call you want to use it. Okay, So if a
Speaker 1: boat isn't a blessed, what is it is? It is?
Speaker 1: It is relative? Write this down. Success is relative. Success
Speaker 1: also creates relatives, people that you hadn't talked to in years,
Speaker 1: who call you to borrow some money if you ever
Speaker 1: get successful. But success is relative. And this is what
Speaker 1: Jesus knew. Jesus knew that success is relative to who,
Speaker 1: it's relative to what, it's relative to win, it's relative
Speaker 1: to war. And I think the reason Jesus was able
Speaker 1: whether the crowds were clapping for him after he fed them,
Speaker 1: or whether they were leaving him. No, Jesus would preach
Speaker 1: a sermon, and here's how good he preached. They would
Speaker 1: walk away and say he had a demon. So, judging
Speaker 1: by standards of success from the world Jesus, this is
Speaker 1: how bad Jesus was at preaching. By our standards, he
Speaker 1: would preach a parable I preached on one of the
Speaker 1: weeks of this series. I don't remember if it was
Speaker 1: last week. When did I do the talent? Yeah, with
Speaker 1: one bag Billy. That was last week. Okay, so last
Speaker 1: week I used one of his parables. You know what
Speaker 1: the disciples did after he got done teaching, They said,
Speaker 1: explain that to us. He was so good at preaching
Speaker 1: that his staff didn't even know what he had just said.
Speaker 1: By our definition of success, jesus message was a failure
Speaker 1: because he would not settle for the surface, meaning he
Speaker 1: would not build the kingdom that they wanted him to build.
Speaker 1: And I just wonder, is there's somebody in here who
Speaker 1: is waiting for applause from the wrong person. Some of
Speaker 1: us are doing stuff to impress people who aren't even
Speaker 1: paying attention. And another thing about Jesus, he was so
Speaker 1: successful at what he did that his own people killed
Speaker 1: him for it. Judging by our standards of success. When
Speaker 1: Jesus went to the cross, which is the thing he
Speaker 1: came to do, guess what happened. Every one of his
Speaker 1: followers clicked unfollow except John. That's how successful he was.
Speaker 1: And yet we take an earthly measure of success and
Speaker 1: try to apply it to a heavenly calling, and we
Speaker 1: wonder why we're discouraged and frustrated when we measure our
Speaker 1: success by the same stuff. The world measures success by
Speaker 1: and Jesz came along for each and said, bless or
Speaker 1: pores here that blessed are those who hunger and thirst
Speaker 1: for righteousness. Blessed who are those who know they're empty?
Speaker 1: Blessed those who have some self awareness to know that
Speaker 1: I need God in my life. That is the definition
Speaker 1: of blessing. Have you noticed how we do this? Though?
Speaker 1: We attach cultural definitions to biblical terms, and we take
Speaker 1: a word like blessed or success, you know successes. In
Speaker 1: the Bible. God told Joshua, I think it's Joshua one
Speaker 1: to eight. He said, I will give you good success.
Speaker 1: That's an interesting phrase. Must mean there's a bad success,
Speaker 1: A success that sucks, sucks, says, I can say it
Speaker 1: that way? Can I say it that way? You know
Speaker 1: what kind of success sucks? The one that you project,
Speaker 1: but it's not real and you don't really possess it
Speaker 1: right when you need to appear a certain way. So
Speaker 1: what happens is sometimes we get so addicted to the
Speaker 1: approval that comes from others that we cannot receive the
Speaker 1: approval that comes from God. And that has to be
Speaker 1: an inner voice. Right, Jesus did the will of his
Speaker 1: father he knew the voice of his father. He did
Speaker 1: not see it, he knew it at a deeper level. Now,
Speaker 1: we're living in a time right now where people want
Speaker 1: to be well known above all else. But there's a difference,
Speaker 1: and this is how I was thinking about it, tim
Speaker 1: between being well known and widely known. It's the difference
Speaker 1: between fruitfulness and famous. Okay, so well known is like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: a lot of people know my name or I'm popular.
Speaker 1: But if you judge the ministry of Jesus by popularity,
Speaker 1: he was a failure at the moment that he was
Speaker 1: fulfilling his purpose. And why that's encouraging to me is
Speaker 1: that being well known only requires that the God who
Speaker 1: made me has all of me, and that there's no
Speaker 1: part of my life that is off limits to him.
Speaker 1: And I just want to talk to you about this
Speaker 1: today because I'm meeting a lot of people who feel
Speaker 1: like they're failing and they do not even recognize how
Speaker 1: much fruit they are bearing. Let that sink in. At
Speaker 1: the moment that a seed goes into the ground and
Speaker 1: it starts doing what it was created to do, to
Speaker 1: break apart, to change forms so that it can produce
Speaker 1: what was in it. At the moment of its greatest
Speaker 1: realization of potential, it is broken and hidden. So that
Speaker 1: means that in my life, sometimes the greatest moments of
Speaker 1: my maturity, when God is really growing me and really
Speaker 1: using me and really making a difference through me, are
Speaker 1: going to be the moments where I feel like I'm breaking,
Speaker 1: the moments where I feel like I'm hidden. Obscurity is
Speaker 1: not the enemy. It doesn't matter if they know your name.
Speaker 1: It matters if you know what is inside of you.
Speaker 1: Blessed is the man who does not need the approval
Speaker 1: of people, because I already got it from God. Already
Speaker 1: got it. It's already mine. I'm walking in it, I'm
Speaker 1: living in it, I'm bathed in it, I'm covered by it.
Speaker 1: I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Whether
Speaker 1: you're like me or not, how are you gonna judge
Speaker 1: if you're a good mom, whether your teenage daughter likes
Speaker 1: your decision making, you're gonna let the inmates set the curfew? Crazy.
Speaker 1: I remember when Oprah lost all that weight. When I
Speaker 1: was a little boy, my mom used to watch Oprah
Speaker 1: and she came on and everybody clapp because she lost weight,
Speaker 1: and a few years later she came back and said,
Speaker 1: I was the least healthy that I had ever been
Speaker 1: in my life because of the way I lost the weight.
Speaker 1: But people will clap because you lost it. They don't
Speaker 1: care what it did to you on the inside. It's
Speaker 1: just we clapp Let me give you another verse. Now
Speaker 1: give you another verse. Okay. In uh Luke seventeen twenty,
Speaker 1: Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God. I went straight
Speaker 1: from Oprah to Luke seventeen because I am dynamic like that.
Speaker 1: I am verse stil in this fulpan. So on one occasion,
Speaker 1: the Bible says, because Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: In one translation, the phrase appears all throughout the New
Speaker 1: Testament twenty six times, and on one occasion, having been
Speaker 1: asked by the Pharisees, those were his enemies. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: talk about that real quick. You think success is having
Speaker 1: everybody like you, then Jesus was a failure. You see
Speaker 1: what I'm We think success is just being able for
Speaker 1: everybody all the time to be able to get us. Well,
Speaker 1: they just don't get me. They're not supposed to get you.
Speaker 1: Only God can get you because you are dysfunctional. So
Speaker 1: the Pharisees. They didn't get Jesus. They didn't get what
Speaker 1: he came to do, they didn't get who he really was.
Speaker 1: And so on one occasion they asked him. This was
Speaker 1: not a purely motivated question, I might add, they said,
Speaker 1: when they were inquiring when the Kingdom of God would come,
Speaker 1: I love the word of God watches Jesus or apply
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation
Speaker 1: by your standards of success. The Pharisees kept lots of laws,
Speaker 1: They memorized lots of Bible verses, like how do you
Speaker 1: know if you're a good Christian? If you memorize more scripture,
Speaker 1: then the Pharisees would have been the most successful. But
Speaker 1: they were actually the ones who stood in opposition to
Speaker 1: what Jesus came to do. Some people think they're good
Speaker 1: Christians because they read the Bible a lot. Maybe they
Speaker 1: just like reading. So in the application of the scripture,
Speaker 1: growth happens, not the knowledge of it. Right, So how
Speaker 1: do you measure if you're more successful? You're growing in God?
Speaker 1: It's are you yielding more of yourself to Him so
Speaker 1: that you can yield the fruit of the purpose that
Speaker 1: he planted inside of you. They're like, when's the kingdom
Speaker 1: going to come? And we all want to know that,
Speaker 1: We all want to know when is God going to
Speaker 1: do what I want him to do? Raise your hand.
Speaker 1: I'll stand here all day. Have you ever wondered, when
Speaker 1: are you going to fix them? Jesus? Or when are
Speaker 1: you going to fix it? Here's my favorite, When are
Speaker 1: you going to fix me? About to turn forty, that's
Speaker 1: forty years in the wilderness of my weirdness? When am
Speaker 1: I going to be a normal person? Right? But Jesus
Speaker 1: says something, and I really want you to receive this
Speaker 1: in this last week of the series. He says, the
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. You've got an external definition of success,
Speaker 1: but the Kingdom give me twenty one. People will not
Speaker 1: say here it is or there it is, because the
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God is within you. That's so good, and
Speaker 1: come on say it, say it, Say it from your diaphragm.
Speaker 1: The Kingdom is within me. Now. The kingdoms of this
Speaker 1: world they're out there there, there, there. That's what they're marketing.
Speaker 1: When they market to you, they are trying to get
Speaker 1: you to hate here. Wow. Wow. The strategy of the
Speaker 1: enemy is to get you to hate you're here, right,
Speaker 1: and the way he does that. Some says he will
Speaker 1: yield his fruit in season, that that the tree that
Speaker 1: God plants it will yield it's fruit in season. Always
Speaker 1: skid past the word is, But it may be the
Speaker 1: most important part of the verse because it means that
Speaker 1: if I spend my time being frustrated that I can't
Speaker 1: bear your fruit, I can only bear furdic fruit. Right,
Speaker 1: That's all I can bear. That's all I can be.
Speaker 1: All I can be if I can say it this
Speaker 1: way is the most fruitful verdict that I know how
Speaker 1: to be. Now, my temptation is to see the fruit
Speaker 1: that you bear, or the life that you have, or
Speaker 1: the talent that you have, or the personality that you have.
Speaker 1: I usually don't want other people's lives. I want other
Speaker 1: people's personalities because they're chill. And I wonder what would
Speaker 1: it be like to have just a day where you
Speaker 1: were not so uptight like some of y'all's personality looks
Speaker 1: so tropical, so sunny. Wow, that would be so cool.
Speaker 1: Did you see how they just handled that? They didn't
Speaker 1: even get upset. But there's a certain way that God
Speaker 1: wired me within me, he will be like a tree
Speaker 1: planted by the streams that will bear its fruit, will
Speaker 1: yield it's fruit. Help me preach this and tell the
Speaker 1: person next to you. Yield your fruit. Yield your fruit.
Speaker 1: Do your thing, make your mark, do your job, hold
Speaker 1: down your spot, stay on your post. If you're coaching, coach,
Speaker 1: if you're teaching, teach, if you're helping help, If you're
Speaker 1: a shouter, shout, yield your fruit. I might not be famous,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna be fruitful. God created me to produce
Speaker 1: a purpose. I feel freedom coming through this house. I
Speaker 1: feel freedom from the frustration. God said he wanted to
Speaker 1: set you free from the frustration of trying to produce
Speaker 1: somebody else's through. He's such a good apple tree until
Speaker 1: you see some oranges. It's just the word of God.
Speaker 1: She said. The kingdom is within you. He said, you'd
Speaker 1: be like a tree planted by streams of water. Now,
Speaker 1: problem with the loves is we can't produce anything because
Speaker 1: we don't get planted anywhere, because it's not sexy to
Speaker 1: stay planted. Even preachers. Preachers do the weirdest stuff. How
Speaker 1: many sermons did I preach about Peter walking on water
Speaker 1: and never said anything about Andrew who stayed in the boat.
Speaker 1: All Jesus told them to do was get in the
Speaker 1: boat and go to the other side. Peter was the
Speaker 1: one who needed a spectacular sign. Andrew was content to
Speaker 1: just stay in the boat in the storm because this
Speaker 1: is what God told us to do. And I'm looking
Speaker 1: for some people who will just go home and be
Speaker 1: a dad, and be a mom, and be a husband
Speaker 1: and be a wife. Oh, by the way, we live
Speaker 1: in a culture where you are not considered successful if
Speaker 1: you are still single at a certain age. By that standard,
Speaker 1: Jesus died a failure. He'd be like a tree planted
Speaker 1: by streams of water, streams, streams, streams. Isn't that what
Speaker 1: they call it on feeds streams? To be planted by
Speaker 1: the streams of water produces the fruit that's already in.
Speaker 1: But the temptation to think when Jesus left the earth,
Speaker 1: he left behind some dysfunctional disciples. Can you imagine if
Speaker 1: your greatest protege was Peter. When Jesus trying to go
Speaker 1: to the cross and die like the lamb of God's
Speaker 1: silent before the shearers to pay the price for humanity sin,
Speaker 1: Peter was pulling out his sword, hacking off ears. Did
Speaker 1: Jesus succeed in teaching his disciples? But you judge it
Speaker 1: too soon. You judge it too soon. Oh, I'm not
Speaker 1: really making a difference. The Bible says train up a
Speaker 1: child in the way that they should go, and when
Speaker 1: they are old, they won't depart from it. Hold on,
Speaker 1: let's take a moment. Everybody repeat after me, how old Lord?
Speaker 1: I just need to know, like an age, so I
Speaker 1: can pace myself in the process. But really, to judge
Speaker 1: your influence like that would be a shame because Pastor
Speaker 1: Mickey's church only grew to two hundred. But here I
Speaker 1: am preaching to you, and he's the one who gave
Speaker 1: me a chance. So I want to ask the question
Speaker 1: again today, are you going to chase clout or are
Speaker 1: you gonna embrace calling? Because those are two different things.
Speaker 1: Those are really really different, and you just can't know.
Speaker 1: You just can't know. So bear your fruit in season.
Speaker 1: That's the win in season. I mean, what if this
Speaker 1: message today, What if somebody in Russia we translate our
Speaker 1: sermons into Russian? Man, what if somebody in russ needs
Speaker 1: a message? I don't know if I liked it today? Hm?
Speaker 1: What if that's your reaction. How could I judge the
Speaker 1: success of a sermon. What if somebody who hears it
Speaker 1: in another language two years from now is who really
Speaker 1: need it? It It happens all the time, and I only
Speaker 1: share it because preaching is what I do. Whatever you do,
Speaker 1: you know, you have your own version of this. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you usually the sermons that I feel the
Speaker 1: worst about delivering it, And so when somebody will come
Speaker 1: back to me later and go, I was on the edge. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I told the Lord I'm gonna I'm gonna give it
Speaker 1: one more shot. I'm going on the elevation app And
Speaker 1: you know something really dramatic, you know, or or or
Speaker 1: or this is the crazy one. They'll be like, I
Speaker 1: wasn't even trying to watch a sermon and the YouTube
Speaker 1: Gods put a thing in my h feed that was
Speaker 1: you preach it, and it was just what I needed. Now,
Speaker 1: if you judge it in the process of doing it,
Speaker 1: you interrupt the power of it. How can we know?
Speaker 1: How can we know what God is doing in your life?
Speaker 1: You're like, well, I'm breaking apart. That's what the seed
Speaker 1: does before it grows. That's what happens before harvest. Have
Speaker 1: you ever thought about that that Jesus was a failure
Speaker 1: by our standards of success when he left the earth,
Speaker 1: and look what his faithfulness created. I'll speaking to somebody
Speaker 1: today who secretly feels like I'm failing, not everywhere in
Speaker 1: my personality. It's like you can't even enjoy the places
Speaker 1: where you're winning because you're so embarrassed about the places
Speaker 1: where you're losing. And I don't feel like I can
Speaker 1: really succeed in every area of my life at the
Speaker 1: same time whack them hole and at the game where
Speaker 1: you That's how my mind feels. It's like, I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: I never feel like a good dad when I get
Speaker 1: finished preaching through the weekend. I never do because for
Speaker 1: the twenty four forty eight hours before I preach, I'm
Speaker 1: like a like a zombie. I'm just like I'm not
Speaker 1: really there, Like I try. I try. I mean, me
Speaker 1: and Graham we were wrestling this morning when I came in,
Speaker 1: So I try my best, but I don't feel totally present.
Speaker 1: So the devil is going to try to get me
Speaker 1: to feel after I finish preaching to you bad about
Speaker 1: what I couldn't do while I was trying to do this.
Speaker 1: Does that ever happen to you. I don't mean to
Speaker 1: turn this into group therapy, but the issue with most
Speaker 1: of us is when we do produce something over here,
Speaker 1: it only causes us to feel worse about and especially
Speaker 1: if you have a secret thing that you struggle with,
Speaker 1: it tends to cancel out your joy over everything else
Speaker 1: that you produce. And so into this God speaks a
Speaker 1: word to those of us who feel like, you know, well,
Speaker 1: I just feel like I'm failing. I feel like I
Speaker 1: can't do enough for everybody. You only are responsible to
Speaker 1: produce what's in you in this moment here now, the
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God is within you. And as we close
Speaker 1: our series together, I just want to know, does anybody
Speaker 1: want prayer today at any of our locations Matthew's Lake, Norman, University, City, Riverwalk, Orlando, Greenville, Greensboro,
Speaker 1: somebody watching epham online to say that that I want
Speaker 1: to be I want to be blessed like the Bible
Speaker 1: says blessed. I want to live in a place that
Speaker 1: is happy with the life that I have. I want
Speaker 1: to live in a place where I'm planted by streams
Speaker 1: that actually nourish me. And I really want God's help
Speaker 1: because I feel like I'm failing most of the time.
Speaker 1: But I want God to bring forth the fruit that
Speaker 1: he put in me, and I will not live this
Speaker 1: next year frustrated over fruit that God never called me
Speaker 1: to produce. And I will not quit on the gift
Speaker 1: that He gave me because I do not see it
Speaker 1: in a sensational form. So I want to pray for you.
Speaker 1: Stand up right now, right where you are, I want
Speaker 1: to pray for you. The Lord is working in this moment.
Speaker 1: He's always working, but he's working in this moment. He's
Speaker 1: trying to show you that when you get set free
Speaker 1: from the need for the approval of people, then you
Speaker 1: can receive the approval of God. Is so import that
Speaker 1: Jesus heard his father say this is my beloved son
Speaker 1: in whom I'm well pleased before he did his ministry
Speaker 1: that way, he didn't need their validation, he already had.
Speaker 1: And we've just got to get this. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you can feel it in this series, but I'm
Speaker 1: I'm consumed by it. I'm serious about it. I need
Speaker 1: us to get this that it is not just fame
Speaker 1: and followers and all the fickle stuff. Someone says that
Speaker 1: the man who has planning. His leaf does not wither.
Speaker 1: It is something that remains. It is something that the
Speaker 1: world can't take away. Anything they can give, they can take.
Speaker 1: But if it comes from God, if it comes from within,
Speaker 1: if the Kingdom is within you, it will not be
Speaker 1: taken away by your head. For the moment, I want
Speaker 1: you to turn your palms up to heaven as you
Speaker 1: lift your hands, and just receive from your Father what
Speaker 1: you need. In this moment, we all walk around wondering, like,
Speaker 1: am I getting it right? Am I good husband, good wife,
Speaker 1: good friend, good daughter? Just get in all these we
Speaker 1: get all this guilt fed by comparison. Then we compare
Speaker 1: ourselves to stuff that isn't even real, and we keep thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: one day when I get there. But God doesn't want
Speaker 1: you to hate. Here. He taught his disciples to pray.
Speaker 1: Jesus taught his disciples to pray My kingdom come, that
Speaker 1: I will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 1: That's getting heaven here here here. Then God called Isaiah
Speaker 1: the prophet. He just Isaiah said, I'm a sinful man.
Speaker 1: I have unclean lips. I dwell amongst a people of
Speaker 1: unclean lips. But here I am send me. That's all
Speaker 1: God wants from you. Man, Just stop scrolling through all
Speaker 1: these other images of what you think you're supposed to
Speaker 1: be and yield your fruit. I feel the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: on this that if you will yield your fruit in season,
Speaker 1: your lief will not with her. God wants to give
Speaker 1: you a peace that doesn't dry up with circumstances and
Speaker 1: does not change with the conflated tides of popular opinion.
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, lives
Speaker 1: in you, and you are enough in him. Give them
Speaker 1: what they need right now, God, you have it. I
Speaker 1: don't just give them what they need. What they need
Speaker 1: in your presence. What they need is only found in
Speaker 1: your presence. We receive it. Lord God, would you speak
Speaker 1: to the one who, even this week, has been on
Speaker 1: this loop. They've been meditating on this thought all week.
Speaker 1: What I do doesn't matter, who I am doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: They just felt like that all week, and pray they'd
Speaker 1: get a new meditation in your presence today. They'd be
Speaker 1: planted by streams of water. You will, you your fruit.
Speaker 1: None of the things are in vain. God's word does
Speaker 1: not return void. It can't return void. What God spoke
Speaker 1: over your life. It will bear fruit. So God, we
Speaker 1: release frustration, we release fear. We come to you today
Speaker 1: asking you for a new measure of success. In this moment,
Speaker 1: am I fully here. Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1: But you just begin to worship him right now. With
Speaker 1: your mouth, just say thank you, Lord, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: I receive your presence. I receive your grace, I receive
Speaker 1: your mercy. Come on, with your mouth, just say I
Speaker 1: receive it. Lord, I receive your love. I receive your
Speaker 1: words of affirmation, clothing, your righteousness. Lord. I am who
Speaker 1: you say I am, and I will accomplish the purpose
Speaker 1: that you intend for me to accomplish. Lord, I worship you.
Speaker 1: I worship you. You're a great God. Your name is great.
Speaker 1: You live in me. God, you are such a great God.
Speaker 1: You have blessed me so much. Blessed is the man.
Speaker 1: I am blessed. Somebody shot I am blessed. I am blessed.
Speaker 1: I'm bless with every spiritual blessing in Christ. I'm blessed
Speaker 1: not because of what I have or who I know.
Speaker 1: I'm blessed because the limitless God dwells on the inside
Speaker 1: of me and from my belly will flow rivers of
Speaker 1: living water. I have the spirit of God. I have
Speaker 1: the wisdom of God. I have the joy of the Lord.
Speaker 1: It is my strength. I am blessed. I am blessed,
Speaker 1: I am ful, I am known, I am loved, I
Speaker 1: am significant, I am blessed. All the blessed people, clap
Speaker 1: your hands and give God praise for his blessings. We
Speaker 1: praise you for your blessings. Lord. We praise you for
Speaker 1: your blessing, Lord, your blessing, your blessing. We praise you
Speaker 1: for your blessing. How will I know if it was
Speaker 1: a s says, did you bring forth what God put
Speaker 1: in you? That's the definition of success to me. That's
Speaker 1: the definition of success to me. Kingdom Cloud, the spirit
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ is upon this church, this ministry, and
Speaker 1: I just want to take a moment while we're in
Speaker 1: the presence of God to pray for somebody who needs
Speaker 1: to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ before you leave
Speaker 1: this place today. This is really important to me. There
Speaker 1: are hundreds today who need to make that step across
Speaker 1: the line from thinking that a relationship with God is
Speaker 1: based on what you earn or good behavior, and you
Speaker 1: have never really surrendered your life to Christ, and I
Speaker 1: want to do that with you in this moment. So
Speaker 1: at every location, would you bow your head and close
Speaker 1: your eyes. For those of you who have a relationship
Speaker 1: with God, I want you to pray with me in
Speaker 1: this moment for those who may be around you who
Speaker 1: need a new beginning, who need to be forgiven of
Speaker 1: their sin and trust Christ as savior. Today, with your
Speaker 1: head bowed and your eyes close, I want to tell
Speaker 1: you what the Bible says. That it is by grace
Speaker 1: that you are saved through faith. It's the gift of God.
Speaker 1: It's not of work, so that no one can boast.
Speaker 1: And if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord,
Speaker 1: and believe in your heart that God raised him from
Speaker 1: the dead, you will be saved. And right now I
Speaker 1: believe this is your moment to place your faith in Christ. So,
Speaker 1: with our head's bout and our eyes closed, as a
Speaker 1: church family, for the benefit of those who are coming
Speaker 1: to God or coming back to God, repeat this prayer
Speaker 1: after me, Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is
Speaker 1: the Son of God and the Savior of the world.
Speaker 1: And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life.
Speaker 1: I invite you in to take over my life. I
Speaker 1: give you everything. I believe you die that I could
Speaker 1: be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I
Speaker 1: receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I
Speaker 1: am a child of God. On the count of three
Speaker 1: shoots your hand up. If you prayed that one, two, three,
Speaker 1: I want to celebrate you right now. Come on, Joe,
Speaker 1: let's celebrate thesef com Come on, let's celebrate these sessions
Speaker 1: to follow Christ. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks
Speaker 1: to those of you who give generously to this ministry.
Speaker 1: Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You
Speaker 1: can click the link in the description to give now
Speaker 1: or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 1: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends. You can click
Speaker 1: the share button, take a screenshot and share it on
Speaker 1: your social stories and us at Elevation Church. Thanks again
Speaker 1: for listening. God bless you. M