Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Fernick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
Speaker 2: new sermons every week. Hope you're blessed today.
Speaker 3: Quickly turning your Bibles while you're standing, We're going to
Speaker 3: look at one passage of Scripture, Hebrews chapter eleven. Hebrews
Speaker 3: Chapter eleven and verse eight. I bring greetings from Las
Speaker 3: Vegas and Nevada. How many come at least once a
Speaker 3: year on your mission trip?
Speaker 1: Amen? Let me see your Amen. Praise the Lord, Praise God.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: So grateful for so many of you that when you
Speaker 3: do come, you come into church and you come to
Speaker 3: say hi to us sober at city light.
Speaker 1: We're so grateful for that.
Speaker 3: While you're turning to Hebrews eleven, I just want to
Speaker 3: honor our pastor.
Speaker 1: I just want to say, man.
Speaker 3: I don't have really words. I've been I've been preaching
Speaker 3: here every year since twenty nineteen. Besides twenty twenty. There
Speaker 3: was a little hiccup that year, but praise the Lord.
Speaker 3: But besides that, and every year I try to think
Speaker 3: of something. You know, I'm just mindful of how grateful
Speaker 3: I am for Pastor Receiving and Pastor Hawley, and I
Speaker 3: just aren't you grateful for your pastors? Come on, clap
Speaker 3: your hands.
Speaker 1: The words, the songs, the books.
Speaker 4: I just go.
Speaker 3: I'd go back to twenty twenty and I chunks. I
Speaker 3: think about the blessing. That song got me through. It
Speaker 3: just got me through. And I could and I could
Speaker 3: just start naming song after song that just got me through.
Speaker 3: Sermon's that just got me through. You know what I
Speaker 3: was maybe so excited about this week.
Speaker 1: We were in Miami.
Speaker 3: The pastor was preaching there, and the kids were there,
Speaker 3: and Graham did a living room in Miami. I'll tell
Speaker 3: you what. Let me just let me just talk for
Speaker 3: a second. Let me tell you what. I was in
Speaker 3: tears the whole time. Abby's leading worship.
Speaker 1: What the heck?
Speaker 3: I remember when Abby was a year I think I
Speaker 3: would have met her at a year or two years old,
Speaker 3: now leading worship. Graham's up there preaching, Elijah's doing an
Speaker 3: interview and teaching and preaching, and I'm just like, look
Speaker 3: at the next generation rising up.
Speaker 1: I was so start.
Speaker 3: I see this whole youth section over here on fire
Speaker 3: for Come on, clap your hands I just tell you.
Speaker 3: I wrote Pastor re Seven and Pastor Hawley, and I said,
Speaker 3: thanks for being great parents. You inspired me tonight as
Speaker 3: they were ministering and I was watching Pastor receiving Holly
Speaker 3: just smile and just watch it and again just impacted
Speaker 3: again by their life and by their ministry. I just
Speaker 3: want to say, thank God for our pastors, thank God
Speaker 3: for this house. And how many know the best is
Speaker 3: yet to come. Come on, we're just getting started. Twenty
Speaker 3: years in, We're just getting started, and so are you.
Speaker 3: Can you say, men, everybody, I'm gonna read a passage
Speaker 3: of scripture, Hebrews eleven eight, one little verse, and then
Speaker 3: we're going to have church today. Will you help me
Speaker 3: preach a little bit? All right, I'm gonna yell. If
Speaker 3: you don't yell back, it's going to be awkward. It
Speaker 3: was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him
Speaker 3: to leave home and go to another land, that God
Speaker 3: would give him as his inheritance. And let me just
Speaker 3: stop real quick. These are all faith phrases. It was
Speaker 3: by faith. Abraham obeyed. That's faith when God called him.
Speaker 3: Hearing God, that's faith. To leave home, that's faith to
Speaker 3: go to another land. That's faith that God would give,
Speaker 3: he receives, and inheritance that's faith.
Speaker 1: That's all faith.
Speaker 3: But now I'm going to give you my favorite faith
Speaker 3: phrase in the Bible.
Speaker 1: He went without knowing where he was going, And I
Speaker 1: want to preach about that today for a little bit.
Speaker 3: I know God can and I know God will, but.
Speaker 1: I don't know how.
Speaker 3: I know God can and I know God will, but
Speaker 3: I don't know how. And I believe today God's going
Speaker 3: to help us walk by fath faith. Father, I thank
Speaker 3: you for the gift of faith that is on this house,
Speaker 3: and I thank you today You're going to strengthen our faith.
Speaker 3: And our response in advance is yes in Jesus's name.
Speaker 3: And everybody said Amen, one more time. Every location, clap
Speaker 3: your hands and give God praise. Come on, amen and amen.
Speaker 3: You can be seated. Look at your neighbor and tell
Speaker 3: them I don't know how. Just tell them I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know how. I don't I don't know how.
Speaker 3: God invites his children into a life of faith. This
Speaker 3: is the possibility of every believer Tewo Corinthians chapter five,
Speaker 3: verse seven, that we can walk by faith and not
Speaker 3: by sight.
Speaker 1: Let me just say this.
Speaker 3: Before you are a Christian, you've never walked by faith.
Speaker 3: If you only walk by sight, you only walk by
Speaker 3: the five senses. But now that you are a believer,
Speaker 3: we have an opportunity to do something that we've never
Speaker 3: done before, and that is walk by faith. That we
Speaker 3: don't just live by the five senses. We don't just
Speaker 3: live by circumstance. We don't just live by what we
Speaker 3: can see. But we now get to live in an
Speaker 3: unseen realm called the life of faith.
Speaker 1: God is inviting us into this.
Speaker 3: And let me just say this, most Christians will never
Speaker 3: truly experience the joy, the adventure, the peace of walking
Speaker 3: by faith. But God is inviting us into this walk
Speaker 3: see eye. Sight shows me what is. Regret shows me
Speaker 3: what could have been, But faith shows me what could be.
Speaker 3: And I just want you to know right now we
Speaker 3: are living in one of those three areas. Is as
Speaker 3: I speak, eyesight, it just it just shows me the obvious.
Speaker 3: It takes no faith to see, It takes no faith
Speaker 3: to talk about what I'm already experiencing. A lot of
Speaker 3: times we just walk by regret. We just live in
Speaker 3: what could have been. Oh man, if I would have
Speaker 3: if I could have if I should have ben if
Speaker 3: I'd have bought bitcoin when it was ten cents. Come on, somebody,
Speaker 3: I should have done this. I should have done that,
Speaker 3: I should have whatever it could be. And so many
Speaker 3: believers end up living their entire life really not believing.
Speaker 3: They just end up in eyesight and they end up
Speaker 3: in regret. But there is a third place that we
Speaker 3: can live. It's called faith. It's called the unseen. It
Speaker 3: is called a place of what could be and what
Speaker 3: should be. And I've never been there before, but I
Speaker 3: feel like the Holy Spirit is calling me into something
Speaker 3: that I've actually never seen before or experienced before.
Speaker 1: I have no reference for it.
Speaker 3: See, when you're walking by eyesight, when you're walking by regret,
Speaker 3: you can always look back and have a reference point
Speaker 3: for what you should expect for tomorrow. So it's been bad,
Speaker 3: it's gonna be bad. It is bad, it is gonna
Speaker 3: be bad. You always have a reference point, a worst
Speaker 3: case scenario of what has been, that is lying to you,
Speaker 3: telling you what could always be. But faith shows me
Speaker 3: something and revealed and tells me something that I've never
Speaker 3: been in before. The only reference point I have for
Speaker 3: tomorrow is Jesus himself, because he is the God who
Speaker 3: was and is, but he is to come, and he
Speaker 3: is inviting me into something that I've never seen before,
Speaker 3: I've never lived in before. But something in my spirit says,
Speaker 3: my best days are still in front of me and
Speaker 3: God still has a plan for me. Come on, everybody,
Speaker 3: say faith. We walk by faith, walk by faith. Oh
Speaker 3: it's one thing to talk faith, and it's another thing
Speaker 3: to believe, but it's it's another thing when your faith
Speaker 3: gets in your feet. Ooh, that's where that that's where
Speaker 3: the real joy comes. Do me a favor, everybody, just
Speaker 3: kind of stomp a little bit. Can I can I
Speaker 3: hear your feith? Can I hear your feet? That's when
Speaker 3: you know you're really in faith when it starts getting
Speaker 3: in your feet, when your walk starts changing, and when
Speaker 3: God starts calling you into a place that you've never
Speaker 3: been before. But oh, this can be scary. Faith feels risky.
Speaker 3: It's not risky, but it can feel risky. And a
Speaker 3: lot of times we end up not taking a step
Speaker 3: of faith because we're waiting on clarity. Pastors, just pray
Speaker 3: for me. I'm just really in a season right now
Speaker 3: where I'm praying for clarity. I think a lot of
Speaker 3: us are praying for clarity, and we need to be
Speaker 3: praying for courage, just.
Speaker 1: Really believing for clarity in this next six months.
Speaker 3: I would stop praying that and I would just start
Speaker 3: doing something that God's calling you to do. There have
Speaker 3: been a lot of seasons that I prayed for clarity,
Speaker 3: and really what I needed to be praying for was
Speaker 3: the courage to obey the thing God's calling me to do.
Speaker 3: That is terrifying to my flesh, but my spirit is
Speaker 3: saying God is calling me into something. Faith requires movement
Speaker 3: before manifestation, confidence in God before clarity, and believing before seeing.
Speaker 1: Abraham went.
Speaker 3: And I believe that God is calling us into a
Speaker 3: life of faith. So here's what I know about faith.
Speaker 3: Number one, faith knows. Faith knows.
Speaker 1: The Bible said that God called Abraham.
Speaker 3: Abraham had a word from God, and all Abraham needed
Speaker 3: was a word from God. Friend, all you need is
Speaker 3: a word word from God, and it could change your
Speaker 3: entire life. By the way, That's why we should always
Speaker 3: come to church with expectation. That's why we should always
Speaker 3: come to church with a Bible. That's why we should
Speaker 3: always come to church leaning in We're not just here
Speaker 3: to check a box, but we're here to have an
Speaker 3: encounter with God because we know that one word from God,
Speaker 3: one little phrase from a song, one little prayer that
Speaker 3: someone might pray for you, something might happen in your
Speaker 3: life that.
Speaker 1: Changes your entire life. One word from God.
Speaker 3: Abraham got a word and it changed his life, and
Speaker 3: I believe you can get a word that changes your life.
Speaker 1: There's an old preacher, F. F. Bosworth.
Speaker 3: He's in heaven now, but he said that faith begins
Speaker 3: where the will of God is known.
Speaker 1: That once God can.
Speaker 3: Reveal it to me now, faith can begin to be
Speaker 3: birthed in my heart. And that's why the word of
Speaker 3: God is so important to us. That man shall not
Speaker 3: live by bread alone, Jesus said, But every word that
Speaker 3: comes from the mouth of God, that means that there
Speaker 3: is an an tire way of living that goes beyond
Speaker 3: bread alone, goes beyond the natural alone, goes beyond what
Speaker 3: you can see alone. There is a place called faith
Speaker 3: that can sustain you and can cause you to go see.
Speaker 3: That's what sustained Jesus for forty days. For forty days,
Speaker 3: he didn't neet, but he had the word see anytime.
Speaker 3: The enemy can keep us ignorant in a place, he
Speaker 3: can keep us bound in that place. But if I
Speaker 3: can get the word on it, I can get.
Speaker 1: Freedom in that area. And this is why the word matters.
Speaker 3: Can I just talk about this in twenty twenty six?
Speaker 3: That's why you ought to read the Bible. Come on, somebody,
Speaker 3: That's why whenever you read the Scripture, something supernatural happens
Speaker 3: in your life, something begins to change on the inside. Well,
Speaker 3: I read the Bible, and I don't feel like I
Speaker 3: understood it. I promise it's working. Well, I read the
Speaker 3: Bible this morning and I don't remember anything I read.
Speaker 3: I promise it's work. Just keep showing up to the book,
Speaker 3: Just keep eating. Promise it is doing something in your life.
Speaker 3: By faith, we understand this is so powerful Hebrews eleven three.
Speaker 3: By faith, we understand that the entire universe was formed
Speaker 3: at God's command. What's this that what we see did
Speaker 3: not come from anything that can be seen.
Speaker 1: Let me just say that one more time.
Speaker 3: That what we see you see it now, but didn't
Speaker 3: It didn't come from the scene you see it now,
Speaker 3: But it didn't start there.
Speaker 1: It actually started in the invisible Uh.
Speaker 3: Oh, you see elevation now, but you didn't see it
Speaker 3: when it was a dream in the heart of our pastors.
Speaker 3: You see all this, but it didn't start here. It
Speaker 3: didn't start in the scene. It started in the unseen.
Speaker 3: You see that great marriage now, but it didn't start there.
Speaker 3: It started in the unseen. You see that family serving
Speaker 3: the Lord now, but it didn't start there. It started
Speaker 3: in the unseen. You see that person in business now,
Speaker 3: but it didn't start there. It started in the unseen
Speaker 3: that you see that person on fire for God now,
Speaker 3: but it didn't start there. Everything that God does always
Speaker 3: begins in the unseene. It begins by faith, It begins
Speaker 3: with a vision, it begins with a picture. And I
Speaker 3: just want to declare, God's gonna give you a word.
Speaker 3: God's gonna give you a vision. God's gonna give you
Speaker 3: a picture that.
Speaker 1: Right now it would make no sense.
Speaker 3: But if you don't give up on the word, eventually
Speaker 3: you will see.
Speaker 1: What you could and see.
Speaker 3: Everything we can see began in the unseen. Let me
Speaker 3: go a little bit further here Colossians, chapter one, verse sixteen.
Speaker 3: For by him all things were created. All things were created.
Speaker 3: Now he's gonna explain what things are in heaven and
Speaker 3: on earth? Watches visible and invisible? What are things? Some
Speaker 3: things are visible, some things are invisible, and to God
Speaker 3: they're both things. So we only appreciate the things we
Speaker 3: can see, but God is more into the things that
Speaker 3: cannot be seen, that are going to eventually do something
Speaker 3: in our life that eventually we will see if you
Speaker 3: can see it today, It began in the unseen. I'm
Speaker 3: talking about faith knows. I'm talking about getting a word
Speaker 3: from God. I'm talking about I am going after God.
Speaker 3: I am believing for a move of God in my life.
Speaker 3: I've gotten a word from God, but I don't see
Speaker 3: it yet. That's okay, because that thing that God spoke
Speaker 3: to you that you don't see is as real to
Speaker 3: God as the things that you can see. And it
Speaker 3: has to get that real in your spirit before you
Speaker 3: ever see it with your eyes.
Speaker 1: And we only.
Speaker 3: Appreciate what can be seen, but God appreciates the unseen.
Speaker 3: In nineteen seventy one, Walt Disney World open in Orlando, Florida, Well,
Speaker 3: Walt Disney World open in Orlando, Florida, Lilyan, Disney's best friend,
Speaker 3: leaned over to her, Walt's widow, leaned over and said,
Speaker 3: it's such a shame. Won't never got to see this,
Speaker 3: And Lilian looked back at her and said, he did
Speaker 3: see it.
Speaker 1: That's why we're here.
Speaker 3: Wal been dead for five years, but he saw it.
Speaker 3: He saw it before we saw it. He dreamed it
Speaker 3: before we saw it. He was walking in it before
Speaker 3: we were walking in it. And may that be the
Speaker 3: testimony of your family, and may that be the testimony
Speaker 3: to your children that Mama saw something, that he saw something.
Speaker 3: They got something from heaven, and because they saw it,
Speaker 3: and because they believed it though it was invisible. Now
Speaker 3: we are walking in something that our parents believe for
Speaker 3: he did see it. Don't give up on the word
Speaker 3: God spoke to you. Don't give up on the dream
Speaker 3: God put in your spirit. Don't give up on the
Speaker 3: thing that God promised you. Though it is taking longer
Speaker 3: than you expected, and it always well, God's doing something
Speaker 3: in your life. In One Peter, Chapter one, verse twenty three,
Speaker 3: Peter talks about the scripture and he says this, we've
Speaker 3: been born again, not of corruptible seed, but watch this
Speaker 3: incorruptible through the word of God, which lives in the bides.
Speaker 3: Here's what Peter's saying. He's saying, the word is incorruptible seed.
Speaker 3: That means, every time the word goes in, you is
Speaker 3: doing something in your life. I don't see it today,
Speaker 3: but it's working. I don't feel it today, but it's working.
Speaker 3: I haven't seen a breakthrough yet, but it's working. Even
Speaker 3: when I can't see it. You're working. And that's so
Speaker 3: much easier to sing than to live. Come on, somebody,
Speaker 3: even when I don't feel it, you're working. You you
Speaker 3: never stop working. You you never man. That is that
Speaker 3: is so good to sing on a Sunday morning. It
Speaker 3: is so hard to live on a Monday morning. Come on, somebody.
Speaker 3: But God's but God's word is working. I want to
Speaker 3: show you a place right by where I live in Vegas.
Speaker 3: It's called Death Valley. This is the hottest and the
Speaker 3: lowest point in America, and it's the hottest place in
Speaker 3: the world. That's where I live. Y, that's my backyard. Actually,
Speaker 3: that's a picture of my backyard. I don't know if
Speaker 3: you ever want to see where I live, that's where
Speaker 3: I live. And so like right now, it's like a
Speaker 3: squillion degrees and I don't know, it's hot and it's brutal.
Speaker 3: So that's the death Valley. Every once in a while,
Speaker 3: little rain and death Valley.
Speaker 1: It's very rare.
Speaker 3: But when it does, death Valley turns into this. I
Speaker 3: want I want you to see the next picture. That's
Speaker 3: death Valley. That's Death Valley, because what you couldn't see
Speaker 3: in picture number one is that there was seed in
Speaker 3: the ground. I'm about to start preaching. Are you all ready?
Speaker 1: Can we can we? I say, y' all ready? Can
Speaker 1: we turn up a little bit?
Speaker 3: That seed's been working, that incorruptible seed.
Speaker 1: Has been working.
Speaker 3: I don't see it yet, but when the rain of
Speaker 3: the spirit of God touches my life, all of the
Speaker 3: setting something begins to work, and I declare, the rain
Speaker 3: is falling on your life. I declare, you will see
Speaker 3: what you've been praying for. You will see what you've
Speaker 3: been believing. Don't give up yet, God, God is working.
Speaker 3: Come on, give God a big shot of praise.
Speaker 4: If you believe that the Word works.
Speaker 3: I haven't seen it yet, but I'm standing on a word.
Speaker 3: My life don't look like right now what God told me,
Speaker 3: but I'm standing on a word. God puts something in
Speaker 3: my spirit and my circumstances do not agree. But I'm
Speaker 3: standing on a word, and my life might look like
Speaker 3: death Valley right now, but it's actually not dead.
Speaker 1: It's just a dormant But I believe the rain's gonna
Speaker 1: fall in my life.
Speaker 5: Y'all.
Speaker 3: Faith will make you look like a genius eventually, but
Speaker 3: at first it makes.
Speaker 1: You look like a fool.
Speaker 3: You get a word, your believe in God, and nothing agrees,
Speaker 3: and then one day you see it, and then we
Speaker 3: call those people overnight successes. But we didn't see the
Speaker 3: years and the years and the years of believing God.
Speaker 3: I've just come today to tell somebody, do not quit yet.
Speaker 1: The word is working.
Speaker 4: Faith No.
Speaker 1: Number two.
Speaker 4: Faith doesn't know.
Speaker 1: Dang.
Speaker 3: I wish that wasn't true, but it's true. Oh, faith knows.
Speaker 3: Faith gets a word from God.
Speaker 1: Faith.
Speaker 3: Faith stands on the authority of scripture. Faith does not
Speaker 3: know the details. I know God can and I know
Speaker 3: God will, but I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know how he went without knowing where he
Speaker 1: was going.
Speaker 3: Can you imagine that moment Abraham comes into the tent, Hey, baby,
Speaker 3: pack up, We on the move. God spoke to me.
Speaker 3: Sarah goes, Why that's great? Where are we going a rah.
Speaker 3: Is that the same God that told you we're gonna
Speaker 3: have kids?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah him, come on, let's go, come on.
Speaker 3: Somebody felt like a fool, felt like where is God?
Speaker 3: But faith goes without knowing. I don't need to know.
Speaker 3: God knows, and anything God is not telling me right now,
Speaker 3: I guess I don't need to know. The Bible said
Speaker 3: it like this that the secret things belong to God.
Speaker 3: So anything God is keeping a secret from me is
Speaker 3: obviously to protect me. He went without knowing, and we
Speaker 3: want God to show us everything. I just want to
Speaker 3: submit this to you. If God showed you everything, you.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't do anything because it would freak you the freak out.
Speaker 1: So thy word is a lamb un to my feet.
Speaker 1: This little word lamp right there.
Speaker 3: I don't want to bore you, but it's a little
Speaker 3: hand lamp that they would hold like this, like a
Speaker 3: little candle. They say it was like four to six lumens.
Speaker 3: So your iPhone is like one hundred lumens. Two hundred lumens.
Speaker 3: We're talking about step by step, God, show me more.
Speaker 3: You can't handle it. I can't even show you five
Speaker 3: feet in front of you, let alone five years in
Speaker 3: front of you. So I have to just I have
Speaker 3: to give you enough to take a step go left, okay,
Speaker 3: all right, go forward, Okay, take a step back, relax, okay,
Speaker 3: go right.
Speaker 1: Okay. Here we go.
Speaker 3: And it feels slow, but God's actually protecting me. It
Speaker 3: feels longer than I expected, but God is actually covering me.
Speaker 3: The Bible would say it like this in King James,
Speaker 3: so it sounds really pretty though the vision taries.
Speaker 1: Come on King James people. That's just a.
Speaker 3: Really cute, poetic King James way of saying this is
Speaker 3: going to take a while, but I'm going step by step,
Speaker 3: step by The walk of faith is a walk, It's
Speaker 3: just a God just wants a walk. Faith doesn't. No,
Speaker 3: I want God to show me everything. You can't handle it.
Speaker 3: You don't have the faith for that yet. God can't
Speaker 3: show you what life is going to be like in
Speaker 3: ten years. You don't have that faith yet. You have
Speaker 3: today's faith. Jesuaidn'torry about tomorrow. Today's got an fishues. You've
Speaker 3: got enough faith to get through the next twenty four hours,
Speaker 3: and then tomorrow morning you will have the faith for
Speaker 3: those twenty four hours. And you've you've got to settle
Speaker 3: this in your heart.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: In twenty eighteen, we planted our church in Las Vegas,
Speaker 3: and I saw God showed me. I saw the building,
Speaker 3: I saw the worshippers coming. I saw the impact we
Speaker 3: had make in the I saw it.
Speaker 1: I saw it. I saw.
Speaker 3: God showed me that. God gave me enough faith to
Speaker 3: believe that God could do something big in Vegas. God
Speaker 3: showed me that in twenty eighteen. You know what, God
Speaker 3: didn't show me in twenty eighteen. God didn't show me COVID.
Speaker 3: God didn't show me that year.
Speaker 1: God. I wasn't ready for that.
Speaker 3: If God in twenty eighteen would have showed me COVID,
Speaker 3: I would have never started our church.
Speaker 1: I'd have been working here.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you right now. Out of college, Song says said,
Speaker 3: you need a janitor? Do you need a facilities director?
Speaker 1: What can I do for you?
Speaker 3: I'm here to serve amen. I'm just a humble servant.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have done it. So God had to.
Speaker 3: He didn't lie to me, but he had to give
Speaker 3: me just enough of a word to cause me to
Speaker 3: move without showing me too much because it would have
Speaker 3: overwhelmed me. So God, don't lie to us, but God
Speaker 3: don't give us all the details either. Like I love
Speaker 3: the names of God, Jehovah, Jirah, my provider, and I
Speaker 3: love that.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love I love Jehovah Ralfha my healer.
Speaker 3: I love I love these beautiful, these beautiful names of God.
Speaker 3: There's there's another name though, that they need to They
Speaker 3: need to add to that song called the name.
Speaker 1: You know, the Jehovah Nieci fight Joe battles. There's another name.
Speaker 3: You got to be deep in the Hebrew though it's
Speaker 3: only like in Leviticus, is Jehovah sneaky. Y'all ever met
Speaker 3: Jehovah sneaky, Jehovah sneaky be getting you into battles.
Speaker 1: Jehovah sneaky got me in a battle. He didn't lie,
Speaker 1: He just didn't give me all.
Speaker 3: The information, because if he would have given me too
Speaker 3: much infoul, I would have never done anything. God, I
Speaker 3: wasn't expecting this. I know you weren't ready for this.
Speaker 3: But now that you're in it, I'm gonna give you
Speaker 3: the grace and the faith to overcome a battle you
Speaker 3: would have never walked into unless I got you here.
Speaker 3: Come on, somebody say men think about Joseph. Yojoe, you
Speaker 3: want to lead a nation? Yeah, you want Joe hater
Speaker 3: brothers the bout down. Yes, I've been waiting for this moment.
Speaker 3: All right, Cool, let's go, let's go. God just didn't
Speaker 3: tell him about the pit. Just didn't tell him about
Speaker 3: Potiphar's wife. Just didn't tell him about the prison. God
Speaker 3: just left out the next thirteen years of training for
Speaker 3: raining that was gonna get Joseph ready for his place
Speaker 3: and his promise.
Speaker 1: And I just want somebody to know. You're in training right.
Speaker 3: Now, but don't give up. You're in process right now,
Speaker 3: but don't give up. You might be in a pit
Speaker 3: right now, but don't give up. God is working, and
Speaker 3: God knows exactly where you're at. Even when you don't
Speaker 3: know where God is at, he is Jehovah sneaky. Hey, Ezekiel,
Speaker 3: can these bones live? I love what Ezekiel says back again,
Speaker 3: just so so spiritual, Lord, you know, which is Exzekiel's
Speaker 3: way of saying.
Speaker 1: I don't know, and I like living there. I like
Speaker 1: being right there. Lord, you know.
Speaker 3: I don't know, but you know I'm surprised. You're not surprised.
Speaker 3: I didn't expect this, but you're working and you're moving.
Speaker 3: Faith knows, Faith doesn't know. Number Number three, Faith goes,
Speaker 3: Faith goes, Faith goes, Faith moves, And the Bible said
Speaker 3: that Abraham, you went. I just want to ask a
Speaker 3: simple question, and I'd love for you to wrestle with this.
Speaker 3: If you're taking notes today, if you haven't taken one note,
Speaker 3: this would be a good one.
Speaker 1: What is God asking you to do? Do it?
Speaker 3: And stop being scared to obey God. The devil will
Speaker 3: convince you that obedience is a risk, But obedience is
Speaker 3: never a risk.
Speaker 1: It feels like a risk, but it's not a risk.
Speaker 1: What is God asking you to do?
Speaker 3: I love what Mary said to the servants because she
Speaker 3: said about Jesus.
Speaker 1: Whatever he says to you, do it. Whatever is it
Speaker 1: time to start serving in this house?
Speaker 2: Do it?
Speaker 1: Is it time to start giving financially this do it?
Speaker 1: Is it time to forgive that person? Do it? Is
Speaker 1: it time to make it right in that relationship?
Speaker 2: Do it?
Speaker 1: Is it time to make the call?
Speaker 3: Do it?
Speaker 1: Is it time to get married? Do it? Some of
Speaker 1: y'all have been living together for eighteen years. You've been
Speaker 1: praying about getting married. Do it?
Speaker 3: You know, we're just still making sure. Dog, it's been
Speaker 3: a minute. There's a conviction at Valentine right now.
Speaker 1: We need to move on. Is it time to start
Speaker 1: having kids?
Speaker 3: Do it?
Speaker 1: We don't know if we're ready.
Speaker 3: You're not.
Speaker 1: Hah, you're not ready to have children?
Speaker 4: Do it?
Speaker 1: Is it time to get water baptized?
Speaker 4: Do it?
Speaker 1: What is God asking you to do?
Speaker 3: Every act of obedience, it always leads to God's blessing.
Speaker 3: It leads to answers, it leads to wisdom, it leads
Speaker 3: to better. Eventually it leads to better Proverbs four eighteen
Speaker 3: that the path of the righteous is like the daunt watches.
Speaker 1: It's getting brighter and brighter.
Speaker 3: Here's what I've learned that if a walk with God
Speaker 3: of the team cup, if I walk with God, eventually
Speaker 3: it's getting brighter and brighter, not worse and worse, not
Speaker 3: darker and darker, brighter and brighter. But it can feel
Speaker 3: so scary to obey God. What's God asking of you?
Speaker 1: Give it to him. I have a nine year old daughter.
Speaker 1: She's turning ten in a couple of months.
Speaker 3: Goldie, and every once in a while we realize she's
Speaker 3: outgrown her toys. Any parents in the house she starts
Speaker 3: out growing things. So we start packaging these toys and
Speaker 3: we start getting them in bags and boxes because we're
Speaker 3: gonna bless a family with younger children.
Speaker 1: And j J.
Speaker 3: I'll pull a toy out of her closet that has
Speaker 3: not seen the light of day in five years, and
Speaker 3: I'll pull it out because we're gonna give it away.
Speaker 1: And the moment she sees that, she goes, Dad, I've
Speaker 1: been looking for that.
Speaker 4: That's my favorite toy. Homie. You haven't seen that toy. Five.
Speaker 1: I love that toy. I have to keep that toy.
Speaker 1: We'll find clothes and shoes. I love those shoes. They
Speaker 1: are that big. I love those shoes.
Speaker 3: Babe, babe, were you've outgrown that? That fits you in
Speaker 3: a season, But it's time to go. That was good
Speaker 3: for you in one season. Come on, somebody, but it's
Speaker 3: time to go. That served you in one season, but
Speaker 3: it'll hurt you in a new season.
Speaker 4: It's time to go.
Speaker 3: But see, we pray God do a new thing until
Speaker 3: he starts doing a nothing. And they're just like Jesus,
Speaker 3: we got we like the old wine better. She's going
Speaker 3: nobody likes new wine and new wine skin we pray
Speaker 3: for change until God starts changing, because change don't feel
Speaker 3: like change.
Speaker 1: Change feels like pain.
Speaker 3: He said, God, Dad, I just really think I need
Speaker 3: to keep this. I just I just really think I
Speaker 3: just in case. Does anybody have any just in cases
Speaker 3: in your soul? So I'm gonna show you a picture.
Speaker 3: It's so cheesy, but I don't care. I'm forty two
Speaker 3: and I'm embracing that. She's season of my ministry.
Speaker 1: Is that okay? Because I want I want you to
Speaker 1: see this because I've I've been there. Have you ever been?
Speaker 1: I can't look at that picture without crying, but I
Speaker 1: love it.
Speaker 3: God like God's going. But I'm doing a new thing.
Speaker 3: I'm taking you to orland that you don't know see.
Speaker 3: You know your past, you know where you've been, even
Speaker 3: if it's unhealthy, at least it's familiar. And now God's
Speaker 3: taking me into an uncomfortable place. But I have to
Speaker 3: believe that in the exchange there's brighter and brighter. But
Speaker 3: I've never been here before. God, but this is bigger
Speaker 3: than me.
Speaker 1: But I love this.
Speaker 3: But I've outgrown this. And Abraham says, let's go. Never
Speaker 3: been where we're going, but let's go. And if I'm
Speaker 3: willing to go without knowing. That's where the blessing is.
Speaker 3: And maybe you're holding onto something today, going God, I
Speaker 3: love it a comfort zone, a place that maybe it's bitterness,
Speaker 3: maybe it's unforgiveness, maybe.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it's a season of your
Speaker 3: life that you just you've you've so identified with it
Speaker 3: that it's become a familiar place. And yet Jesus is saying,
Speaker 3: I'll trade you. You want to have an exchange because
Speaker 3: I promise my.
Speaker 1: Way is better. But I love it God.
Speaker 3: And by the way, whatever act of surrender you have
Speaker 3: to give God today, I promise you it won't be
Speaker 3: your last. So you might as well just get comfortable
Speaker 3: saying yes, because.
Speaker 1: He just keeps pushing me and leading me and guiding
Speaker 1: me without.
Speaker 4: Knowing.
Speaker 1: But that's where the joy is. If you want to
Speaker 1: keep your life, Jesus.
Speaker 3: In you're gonna lose it anyway. But if you lose it,
Speaker 3: in other words, if you'd lived like this, it's all
Speaker 3: yours you actually end up keeping it doesn't mean make sense.
Speaker 3: It's God math because there really isn't control. So the
Speaker 3: moment I yield whatever lie of control I've believed.
Speaker 1: There.
Speaker 5: It is.
Speaker 1: So Lord, today we choose to go without knowing, because
Speaker 1: whatever you're leading us into is better than where we've been.
Speaker 3: If you just need to give something to God, why
Speaker 3: don't you just lift up your hands and give it
Speaker 3: to them right now?
Speaker 1: Don't you just stand and give it to the Lord.
Speaker 1: Come on, Oh, come to the altar.
Speaker 4: Oh, come to.
Speaker 6: The altar.
Speaker 4: The fathers arms are.
Speaker 1: Just reach out to Heaven right now.
Speaker 6: Come on, it was fad with him, the prescious. Oh,
Speaker 6: come to the altars.
Speaker 3: See, let's have an exchange right here. Let's have an
Speaker 3: exchange right here with Heaven. Give him your burdens, give
Speaker 3: him your fearings.
Speaker 4: O'll come out, come, come give him your cares. It
Speaker 4: is at adition. Worry one more time, Oh, charls, go
Speaker 4: to the altar. See the father's a worry. What she's
Speaker 4: all a saya to say? He is any.
Speaker 5: Fulney, he said, hallelujah, I sees it.
Speaker 1: It's a day we beat do before.
Speaker 2: Tell me.
Speaker 4: Dord of all, Lord of him, come on saying come
Speaker 4: ChRI seez if you is very mona.
Speaker 5: Wonderful sing amazing on me.
Speaker 4: Ri steas ware bow. I know how.
Speaker 5: Boys, Sepia.
Speaker 7: Come see, Father's arms are open.
Speaker 4: Fungy spy away.
Speaker 3: So today, Father, whatever we're carrying, whatever semblance of control,
Speaker 3: we're trying to keep whatever, whatever, But God, I love it.
Speaker 3: Whatever that is, we just we just open our hands
Speaker 3: and we want to stay right here, surrendered. I've been
Speaker 3: following Jesus for twenty seven years, but I never want
Speaker 3: to lose.
Speaker 1: I never want to lose this. I just never want
Speaker 1: to lose. God, it's all yours. I ever want to
Speaker 1: lose that. Tell me what to do, Lord, I'll do it.
Speaker 3: Because there's a joy in obedience that I can't find
Speaker 3: anywhere else.
Speaker 1: Just stay with me right here. There's people that today.
Speaker 3: You need to give Jesus your life. You need to
Speaker 3: surrender your life to the Lord. You need to become
Speaker 3: a Christian. Jesus called it being born again, not just
Speaker 3: being a better version of who you are, but having
Speaker 3: a bran new creation. Jam And I don't know if
Speaker 3: I'm ready. You probably aren't. When I was fifteen years old,
Speaker 3: I gave Jesus my yes and my life, and I
Speaker 3: had no idea really what I was saying yes to.
Speaker 3: I just knew who I was saying yes to. I
Speaker 3: do not be a preacher. I didn't know i'd be
Speaker 3: in Vegas. I do not be here today. I didn't
Speaker 3: know any of that. I didn't know the valleys that
Speaker 3: I'd walk through. I didn't know, but I knew who.
Speaker 3: And I've never regretted that. Yes, twenty seven years later,
Speaker 3: did you say yes to Jesus just at every location,
Speaker 3: in a place of prayer, Just bow your head, closed
Speaker 3: your eyes for a moment to our epham, Just settle
Speaker 3: your heart for a moment. If that's you, and you
Speaker 3: would say, I need to give my life to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Jape and pray with me. I want to give my
Speaker 1: life to Christ.
Speaker 3: Or at one time I did, and at one time
Speaker 3: I was walking with God, but I kind of lost
Speaker 3: my way.
Speaker 1: Today.
Speaker 3: Need to come home to pray with me. Say yes
Speaker 3: to Jesus all over this place. We're gonna all pray
Speaker 3: together from your heart. Say this, and God will meet
Speaker 3: you right where you're at. I'm gonna ask everybody at
Speaker 3: every location to.
Speaker 1: Pray with our friends who are saying yes to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Right now. Everyone say Jesus, I believe in you. I
Speaker 1: believe you died for me.
Speaker 3: I believe you rose again, and today I give you
Speaker 3: my life and I receive your life. I give you
Speaker 3: my sin, and I receive your righteousness. Jesus be Lord
Speaker 3: and savior of my life. Now, just please keep your
Speaker 3: eyes closed one more moment. If that was your prayer,
Speaker 3: all over this room and at every room, from the
Speaker 3: pop up that's happening right now, to every location, to
Speaker 3: everyone online to write here in Valentine, if you're saying
Speaker 3: yes to Jesus, I'm gonna count to three. On three,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand. Javed, do
Speaker 3: I have to raise my hand. I think it's important.
Speaker 3: I think it's important to make that public declaration that says, hey,
Speaker 3: that was for me, preacher, I want to become a
Speaker 3: follower of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Today's my day.
Speaker 3: That was my prayer. You stopped the entire service just
Speaker 3: for me. I'm giving my life to Christ for the
Speaker 3: very first time. Or you're coming back, You're coming coming
Speaker 3: back to Jesus. One three, I'm gonna ask you to
Speaker 3: raise your hand, and I believe God's gonna meet you.
Speaker 3: It's gonna feel like a million pounds is lifted off
Speaker 3: your shoulders and you're just gonna know that you know
Speaker 3: that you're a child of God. Say yes to Jesus today.
Speaker 3: You'll never regret it. You may not be ready, but
Speaker 3: if you're willing, God will meet you in this moment.
Speaker 3: Yes to Jesus, coming back to Jesus. Returning to Jesus,
Speaker 3: whoever you are, come on the count of three, one,
Speaker 3: two and three.
Speaker 1: That was my prayer. Lift up your hand. God bless you,
Speaker 1: God bless you.
Speaker 4: Hey.
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if
Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part
Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
Speaker 2: for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message,
Speaker 2: and subscribe.
Speaker 4: God bless you.