Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the message now going over in your Bible the
Speaker 2: Second King's thirteen fourteen through twenty. Yes, we're still in
Speaker 2: the same passage we started in and I'm gonna read
Speaker 2: it again Verses fourteen through twenty. Part A. Week one
Speaker 2: our study was on the power of precision.
Speaker 1: Was kind of a.
Speaker 2: Double meaning to that. We were saying aim at something.
Speaker 2: Don't just waste all of your arrows and ammunition fighting
Speaker 2: worthless battles that don't matter anyway.
Speaker 1: Have you ever just warned yourself out fighting over stuff
Speaker 1: that was imagined.
Speaker 2: It either wasn't going to happen or was going to
Speaker 2: happen no matter what you did about it. You were
Speaker 2: so worn out by the time you actually fought it
Speaker 2: that you lost because.
Speaker 1: You were swinging, just wasting your energy. So we were.
Speaker 2: Saying aim at the thing that God shows you, and
Speaker 2: that was Week one, But we were also saying, precide,
Speaker 2: don't wait till you get discouraged to decide whether or
Speaker 2: not you're going to continue. Make a decision about it
Speaker 2: a precision amen, decide before the battle begins that I'm
Speaker 2: still going to be standing at the end of it.
Speaker 1: And I might be.
Speaker 2: Bloody, and I might be bruised, and my body might
Speaker 2: be sore, but I won't stop. And that's what we
Speaker 2: were talking about in week one. We talked in week
Speaker 2: two about preparation, and we talked about those plowing seasons
Speaker 2: that prepare the ground for the great things that God
Speaker 2: wants to do in your life. And then we talked
Speaker 2: about the power of potential. And that a really powerful
Speaker 2: message for me because I discovered that the pain of
Speaker 2: falling short is nothing compared to the shame of stopping short.
Speaker 2: Touch your neighbors say, don't stop short, because there's nothing
Speaker 2: worse than to wonder what would have been, could have been.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of why we're frustrated with this King
Speaker 2: Jehoesh in tewod Kings thirteen fourteen through twenty is because
Speaker 2: of what could have been, and we see the potential
Speaker 2: that was unfulfilled in his life, and it reminds us
Speaker 2: of ourselves, and it makes us a little afraid, and
Speaker 2: it challenges us.
Speaker 1: And so we've had a lot to think about.
Speaker 2: In this fourth installment, I want to speak about the
Speaker 2: power of provision, declaring over your life that God's got
Speaker 2: what you need and it's a matter of you receiving
Speaker 2: it and opening yourself to it. Because in the scripture,
Speaker 2: the image of a window symbolizes both perspective because it's
Speaker 2: what you look through, and sometimes what you're looking through
Speaker 2: is just as in is what you're looking at.
Speaker 1: Okay, I can prove this.
Speaker 2: I don't even need the Bible, and I will read
Speaker 2: the Bible in a minute. But those are not my glasses.
Speaker 2: If you give them to me right now, WHOA You
Speaker 2: got problems? We need to pray for her miracles of
Speaker 2: recovery of sight to the blind man. You look funny
Speaker 2: now before I put these on you look, you looked awesome.
Speaker 1: But what I was looking through.
Speaker 2: Changed the dimensions of what I'm looking at because it
Speaker 2: wasn't meant for me.
Speaker 1: Amen, I'm preaching all my recap.
Speaker 2: But another thing that a window represents is provision. Like
Speaker 2: in Malachi three, where God challenges his people if you
Speaker 2: will release what's in your hand. I will release what's
Speaker 2: in my heart. I want to bless you. But the
Speaker 2: windows are close. And that's why we have these power windows. Okay,
Speaker 2: the power of preparation. It opens the window of provision.
Speaker 2: God's provision often awaits our preparation. And so this week,
Speaker 2: as we talk about provision and perspective, I want to
Speaker 2: ask the question, is it possible that provision and perspective
Speaker 2: are one and the same. I'll make the case as
Speaker 2: we go here. But I'm excited about what God gave
Speaker 2: me to teach you today. And by the way, I
Speaker 2: always pray before I preach, Like I was writing up
Speaker 2: this morning to church, and I looked out my window
Speaker 2: and before the first worship experience.
Speaker 1: There are people lined up to get to church.
Speaker 2: And I always get excited when I see that, just
Speaker 2: amazed at all the people who are coming. And I
Speaker 2: also get kind of terrified by it because my.
Speaker 1: Greatest fear in life is disappointing people.
Speaker 2: I'm always scared I'm gonna be a disappointment, and then
Speaker 2: people put a complex on me because when they meet me,
Speaker 2: they say, you look coller on, like they're disappointed that
Speaker 2: I'm short or something like that.
Speaker 1: So I stay in my house till Sunday, and.
Speaker 2: But I see the people lining up, and I always
Speaker 2: go through this conversation with God. God, you got to
Speaker 2: speak to these people that you sent because they need
Speaker 2: something that I don't have. And furthermore, I don't even
Speaker 2: know exactly what they need. You do, God has a
Speaker 2: surveillance system on your situation. How many believe he can
Speaker 2: speak the specific thing.
Speaker 1: That you need today.
Speaker 2: I mean from the front of the room to the
Speaker 2: back of the room to the overflow.
Speaker 1: God has got what you need.
Speaker 2: And I don't even worry about it anymore because I
Speaker 2: look at myself like an Amazon dot Com drone that
Speaker 2: just drops it off at your doorstep and flies away,
Speaker 2: all right. So I always pray that God, they need
Speaker 2: something that I don't have. I feel like the disciples
Speaker 2: who had five thousand men and women and children to
Speaker 2: feed and no bread, and yet God said, bring what
Speaker 2: you have to me, even if it seems to be
Speaker 2: too little, and.
Speaker 1: Watch what I will do through you.
Speaker 2: It's interesting, isn't it that to provide for the people,
Speaker 2: Jesus did not bypass the meager supply of the disciples.
Speaker 1: He multiplied it.
Speaker 2: So the whole process of provision starts when you offer
Speaker 2: what you have, regardless of whether or not it seems
Speaker 2: to be enough to you. The little bit of time
Speaker 2: that you do have, that's the window the perspective of provision.
Speaker 2: I wonder if provision is a matter of perspective. Elisha
Speaker 2: seems to think. So, this great prophet is dying, and
Speaker 2: this new king has one chance to get what he
Speaker 2: needs from the mouth of the man of God. Let's
Speaker 2: see what happens. Tewod King's thirteen fourteen. Now Elisha had
Speaker 2: been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoesh,
Speaker 2: King of Israel, went down to see him and wept
Speaker 2: over him.
Speaker 1: It's one thing about pressure.
Speaker 2: Pressure will cause you to seek provision and get.
Speaker 1: Your priorities in order.
Speaker 2: There was no seeking of Elisha's advice until the Aramians
Speaker 2: started to oppress the people of God. And when it
Speaker 2: got to that point, the king went down to see
Speaker 2: the prophet. I don't know what brought you to church today,
Speaker 2: but I sure am glad you're here.
Speaker 1: Tush.
Speaker 2: Your neighbors say, I'm glad you're here. Don't even care
Speaker 2: what brought you here. You might have heard there were
Speaker 2: pretty girls of elevation. But I'm glad you came. Might
Speaker 2: get a valentine and a word from God.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 2: All at the same time, God is good, supplies all
Speaker 2: my needs according to his glorious riches. That's not a
Speaker 2: pickup line, that's a scripture, all right. So he went
Speaker 2: down and he wept over him, and I understand why
Speaker 2: he's weeping. He's weeping because what he's losing is so significant.
Speaker 1: Elisha was more than just a preacher.
Speaker 2: Elisha represented the entire defense system of the nation of Israel.
Speaker 1: He was their win, not only the window through.
Speaker 2: Which they saw the activity of God, but the window
Speaker 2: through which God would give them many times the protection
Speaker 2: from their enemies.
Speaker 1: He had a unique.
Speaker 2: Ability to strategically cut off the enemy's advances, and he
Speaker 2: would tell the kings where the enemy was going to
Speaker 2: attack so that they could be ready for it. Note
Speaker 2: that it did not prevent the attack from happening. It
Speaker 2: provided the strength to withstand the attack.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we get.
Speaker 2: Confused about the provision of God because we mistakenly believe
Speaker 2: that the provision of God will mean the prevention of problems.
Speaker 2: And when we ask God to provide for us what
Speaker 2: we're actually asking him to do, truth be told, is
Speaker 2: to eliminate the need. In other words, God create a
Speaker 2: life for me that will make you unnecessary, and.
Speaker 1: He won't do it.
Speaker 2: He's weeping over what's leaving, and Elisha is pointing to
Speaker 2: what's left in every season.
Speaker 1: Of my life, I have the choice.
Speaker 2: Watch this, my father, my father, the chariots and horsemen
Speaker 2: of Israel. Elisha is about to leave the building, but
Speaker 2: before he goes, he points to the provision. He points.
Speaker 1: To the provision.
Speaker 2: I believe God wants to point out the provision that
Speaker 2: He's placed in front of you in your life today,
Speaker 2: and I've been asking him to do that. Watch this,
Speaker 2: Elishah said, verse fifteen, get.
Speaker 1: A bow and some arrows.
Speaker 2: Now, the arrows did not magically appear at this point.
Speaker 2: The bow didn't fall down out of the sky. It
Speaker 2: had been there all along. He is simply instructing the
Speaker 2: king to locate what has been there all along, what
Speaker 2: was in the house when he came. Now he instructs
Speaker 2: him to take it in his hands. And notice that
Speaker 2: he does not tell the king to study the composition
Speaker 2: of the bow in the arrow, or to browse a
Speaker 2: catalog of bow and arrow, or to read the history
Speaker 2: of bows and arrows, because you know, sometimes when we
Speaker 2: come to church, we want to learn stuff about trivial
Speaker 2: historical details that don't require us to do anything. But instead,
Speaker 2: after statement, get a bowt touch your neighbor, say do
Speaker 2: something with it, do something with this word. Make up
Speaker 2: your mind in advance. Even if I don't like that preacher, think, sir,
Speaker 2: if he says one thing that I can apply in
Speaker 2: my life today, I'm gonna use it. Get a bow
Speaker 2: and some arrows. And he did so. He was the
Speaker 2: original Nike advertisement.
Speaker 1: He did so.
Speaker 2: Just dude, take the boat in your hands, he said
Speaker 2: to the King of Israel. And when he had taken it,
Speaker 2: Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. This message
Speaker 2: is for somebody at gassed and today. Get ready, it's
Speaker 2: gonna come. And then verse seventeen is our theme verse
Speaker 2: where he says, open the east window, and he opened it, shoot,
Speaker 2: Elisha said, and he shot, and then he declared, Wat's
Speaker 2: his promise, the Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of
Speaker 2: victory over Aer.
Speaker 1: If Paul were writing, he.
Speaker 2: Would say that I am more than a conqueror through
Speaker 2: him who loved me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if John were writing, he.
Speaker 2: Would say, this is a victory that overcomes the world.
Speaker 2: The arrow of victory, the Lord's arrow of victory. God
Speaker 2: is the source of my supply. God is the source
Speaker 2: of my strength. It's the Lord's arrow of victory.
Speaker 1: But he put it in your hands.
Speaker 2: God gave the victory, but you must take the shot.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Feel the spirit of Wayne Gretzky coming on me. I
Speaker 2: don't even like hockey. But he said, you miss one
Speaker 2: hundred percent of the shots you don't take, and he
Speaker 2: shot the arrow. But what happened next This tragic because
Speaker 2: he had the opportunity of a lifetime to completely defeat
Speaker 2: the enemy that was oppressing him, and he missed it.
Speaker 2: He missed it. He missed it because he didn't do
Speaker 2: Watch this verse eighteen. The prophet said, take the arrows,
Speaker 2: and the king took them. Strike the ground, and he
Speaker 2: struck it three times and stopped. The Man of God
Speaker 2: was angry with him and said, you only did half
Speaker 2: of what you should have done. You had more arrows
Speaker 2: that you didn't use. And this is where I want
Speaker 2: to key in today. It is significant that it was
Speaker 2: not a lack of arrows or artillery that caused the
Speaker 2: King to miss the potential victory. It was not the
Speaker 2: lack of weapons. It was the lack of will. If
Speaker 2: you would have used every arrow that you had, you
Speaker 2: would have completely defeated this thing. And now you only
Speaker 2: defeated three times the.
Speaker 1: Power of provision.
Speaker 2: God has given me what I need for the season
Speaker 2: that I'm in, and I have a choice to make
Speaker 2: today and every day. Will I weep over what I'm losing,
Speaker 2: or will I wield the weapons that are left provision perspective.
Speaker 1: The two are connected.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you a story I didn't tell any of
Speaker 2: the other worship experiences because I'm kind of partial to
Speaker 2: you guys, because after you I'm done.
Speaker 1: Were a vacation this summer.
Speaker 2: I turned on the windshield wipers and Graham was sitting
Speaker 2: in the passenger seat.
Speaker 1: The windshield was dirty.
Speaker 2: That's what I noticed, he said, Daddy, when you turn
Speaker 2: on the windshield wipers, I pretend there's.
Speaker 1: A race, he said.
Speaker 2: The dirty triangle that the windshield wipers don't get to.
Speaker 1: That's the shark's fin.
Speaker 2: The part of the windshield that the wipers clean, that's
Speaker 2: a whale. The wipers are the dolphin, and when you
Speaker 2: turn them on they're jumping.
Speaker 1: Here's why I told you that story.
Speaker 2: I was looking at a dirty windshield. He was looking
Speaker 2: into the windshield. I saw a dirty window. He saw SeaWorld.
Speaker 2: And here's my premise. It's about perspective. Repeat after me.
Speaker 2: What I see is up to me. Elisha was a seer,
Speaker 2: and when he saw something, he spoke, and he spoke
Speaker 2: something and he saw something and the needs of the
Speaker 2: people materialized because of Elisha's ability to see and to speak.
Speaker 2: There is a connection between your vision and your victory.
Speaker 2: Your perspective is connected to your provision. But my mind
Speaker 2: plays these tricks on me. I only see the dirty windshield.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing that my mind is always noticing. I'm
Speaker 2: always noticing and asking myself the question. And I have
Speaker 2: the ability to work in any situation, to walk in
Speaker 2: and I automatically notice what I'm missing. That's what my
Speaker 2: brain tends to think when I walk into a situation.
Speaker 2: And I want you to pray for me, because this
Speaker 2: is a terrible question just to walk in. Do you'll
Speaker 2: have that question because I want.
Speaker 1: It on the screen.
Speaker 2: My brain is constantly asking the question walking into any
Speaker 2: situation flow with me.
Speaker 1: What am I missing? What am I missing.
Speaker 2: I'm really good at weeping over what isn't there or
Speaker 2: worrying over what isn't there. My brain is trained to
Speaker 2: do it. It's almost as if I feel like somewhere
Speaker 2: along in my life, I took a class on how
Speaker 2: to walk into any situation and notice what I'm missing,
Speaker 2: what I don't have, what I can't do, what I
Speaker 2: can't control. Now, I'll give myself a little credit, because
Speaker 2: some people don't even notice the need.
Speaker 1: They just walk by it.
Speaker 2: It amazes me sometimes what my children will not even
Speaker 2: see that needs to be done.
Speaker 1: It's not that they didn't.
Speaker 2: Do it, it's that they didn't even see that it
Speaker 2: needed to be done. One of my children asked Holly
Speaker 2: the other day, you mean I have to take a
Speaker 2: bath every day? He doesn't see the need because he
Speaker 2: doesn't smell the stitch. You know, you can get to
Speaker 2: a place in your life where you've been in a
Speaker 2: situation and condition so long that everybody else smells it,
Speaker 2: but you, I mean, you can get to the place
Speaker 2: where you don't even see the need. I remember a
Speaker 2: few years ago, I took a whole group of staff
Speaker 2: members and the trash cans and the office were just overflowing,
Speaker 2: not kind of full overflowing. And I walked a group
Speaker 2: of staff around, and I said, to answer me a question,
Speaker 2: did you not take this trash out because you didn't
Speaker 2: you didn't want to.
Speaker 1: Take it out? Or did you not notice?
Speaker 2: And you know what, honest to God, they didn't even
Speaker 2: notice the need, or at least that's what they told me.
Speaker 1: And some people don't even notice.
Speaker 2: Worse yet, sometime don't see the need because all we
Speaker 2: see is the symptom. Can I preach a little bit
Speaker 2: in your body? This is called referred pain. It's when
Speaker 2: you have something wrong in your chest, but you feel
Speaker 2: it in your neck, so you're trying to fix it
Speaker 2: in a place that it is not coming from. And
Speaker 2: when David said the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
Speaker 2: not want, he is also implying that God is the
Speaker 2: only one who knows what I really need, what I
Speaker 2: really need when I pray, give me this day my
Speaker 2: daily bread. As Jesus taught his disciples to pray, I
Speaker 2: no longer pray God give me what I think I need,
Speaker 2: but give me what you know I need. God is
Speaker 2: the only one who has been in my tomorrow. So
Speaker 2: he's the only one who knows what I'm gonna need
Speaker 2: when I get there, and if he knows, I need
Speaker 2: to fight a lion, so I'll be ready for Goliath.
Speaker 2: I want to fight the lion. I don't want him
Speaker 2: to prevent the fight. I want him to provide the
Speaker 2: faith so that I will because if I don't fight Goliath,
Speaker 2: I can't get his sword. And if I don't get
Speaker 2: his sword, it won't be in storage when I need it.
Speaker 2: God knows what I need. He is my source. Somebody shop,
Speaker 2: God is my source. Tell it to the person sitting
Speaker 2: next to you. You're not my source. My job is
Speaker 2: not my source. My boss is not my source.
Speaker 3: See.
Speaker 2: There are some things in life that are nice to have,
Speaker 2: but I don't really need them to survive. I love
Speaker 2: when Holly says this to me. And Valentine's Day is
Speaker 2: coming up, so maybe she'll say this to me on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: She'll say, I appreciate everything you've given me because I
Speaker 2: try to take care of her. I really do, and
Speaker 2: always the best of my ability. Sometimes that meant water
Speaker 2: and we eat chips at the Mexican and share a
Speaker 2: speedy Gonzales.
Speaker 1: But sometimes that meant I.
Speaker 2: Could take her to Mortons, But whether it was Mexican
Speaker 2: or Mortons, it didn't matter. I was always giving her
Speaker 2: what I could. But every once in a while she'll
Speaker 2: tell me. She'll tell me something like this, it's not
Speaker 2: the things that you gave me, and I think she
Speaker 2: means it. It's not the things, because she was there
Speaker 2: with me when there weren't any things.
Speaker 1: It's not the things.
Speaker 2: She loved me in Juniper Terrorists Apartment C fifteen. She
Speaker 2: loved me in the Duplex. I don't love you for
Speaker 2: the Dnali, I love you in the duplex. It's not
Speaker 2: what you gave me. Our love is not contingent upon
Speaker 2: a material possession.
Speaker 1: And I wonder.
Speaker 2: Have I come to that place in my relationship with
Speaker 2: God that I really believe that if He didn't give it,
Speaker 2: I don't need it. My brain tells me differently. My
Speaker 2: brain tells me, even while I'm preaching this sermon, that
Speaker 2: I am not intelligent enough, articulate enough. When I go
Speaker 2: to tell my little jokes, I'm not comical enough because
Speaker 2: my brain picks out the people.
Speaker 1: Who look hateful in the crowd every time.
Speaker 2: I don't know how I find y'all, but I find
Speaker 2: you somehow. And my brain will pick out what's missing.
Speaker 2: There could be a thousand people standing.
Speaker 1: Up preach, pastor, but my little brain.
Speaker 2: You too.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can walk in a.
Speaker 2: Situation and find what's wrong in a minute. Notice who
Speaker 2: wasn't nice to me?
Speaker 1: In a minute.
Speaker 2: Always notice what I'm missing, Always notice what I lack,
Speaker 2: Always notice what I've lost. But if I only notice
Speaker 2: what I lack and what I've lost, I won't use
Speaker 2: what I have left. And what God wants to do
Speaker 2: through my life next is not contingent upon.
Speaker 1: What I lack or what I've lost.
Speaker 2: Come on, you better help me preach, Get a bow,
Speaker 2: get some arrows, punch your neighbor in the arm, and say,
Speaker 2: what you have is what you need. What you have
Speaker 2: is what you need. What you have is what you need.
Speaker 2: What you have is what you need. What you have
Speaker 2: is what you need. God should have made me taller.
Speaker 2: I didn't choose to be five foot nine. Five foot
Speaker 2: nine is all I need. That's all I need. I
Speaker 2: don't need any extra inches. Praise the Lord. One time
Speaker 2: I called a guid to thank him forgid contributing to
Speaker 2: the church, and he said, I appreciate your call. It's
Speaker 2: nice but I want you to know it's not needed.
Speaker 2: And I thought it was needed because he gave a
Speaker 2: million dollars to the church. I thought, if you gave
Speaker 2: a million dollars, you ought to get a phone.
Speaker 1: Call from the headman.
Speaker 2: He said, I appreciate it, and it's nice to hear
Speaker 2: from you, but it's not needed.
Speaker 1: I never forgot what he said.
Speaker 2: This was years ago, and this week I was reminded
Speaker 2: of one time when Paul he was in prison.
Speaker 1: Right he's writing to the church.
Speaker 2: At Philippi who just contributed toward his legal defense. And
Speaker 2: so Paul writes to them to thank them and express
Speaker 2: his gratitude. He says, hey, I got your gift, and
Speaker 2: I was happy for it. In fact, I rejoiced greatly.
Speaker 2: This is Philippians four, verse ten. That you renewed your
Speaker 2: concern for me at last. It took a while, but
Speaker 2: I know that you were concerned but had no opportunity
Speaker 2: to show it. Now that's important too, because Paul's problem
Speaker 2: created their opportunity. Sometimes we miss God's provision because it
Speaker 2: is disguised as.
Speaker 1: A problem, and we.
Speaker 2: Don't receive the provision because it's wrapped in a package
Speaker 2: that looks like a problem, and we keep sending back
Speaker 2: the gift that God is trying to bestow upon us
Speaker 2: because it doesn't feel good. Sometimes God will send correction
Speaker 2: into your life to make you better. You've been praying
Speaker 2: for God to make you better, but he didn't do
Speaker 2: it through somebody telling you how good you are. He
Speaker 2: sends somebody to correct you. But you don't like the
Speaker 2: way correction feels. So rather than receive the correction, which
Speaker 2: is a gift to take you where God is calling
Speaker 2: you to, you get offended and quit. And God's provision
Speaker 2: comes rapped in strange packages. And so for Paul, he's
Speaker 2: in prison and God provides for him through the church,
Speaker 2: and he's writing back to them, and he said, thank
Speaker 2: you for the gift.
Speaker 1: I received it.
Speaker 2: I was happy about it, and I appreciate it. But
Speaker 2: watch what he says in the next verse. He said,
Speaker 2: I'm not saying this because I'm in need for I
Speaker 2: have learned this is something that you are not born with.
Speaker 2: You don't know what you need. I mean, you are
Speaker 2: born just screaming. You don't know what you need. You
Speaker 2: just know that you need to eat. You don't understand
Speaker 2: the process. But life is the process of God teaching
Speaker 2: you that he is the one who feeds you. Sometimes
Speaker 2: he'll do it over here, Sometimes he'll do it over there.
Speaker 2: Sometimes he'll do it for nobody at all. Sometimes he'll
Speaker 2: do it when you're all alone. But when God is
Speaker 2: your source, you will never lack supply. Therefore, do not
Speaker 2: worry about tomorrow saying what shall we eat or what
Speaker 2: shall we drink?
Speaker 1: Or what shall we wear?
Speaker 2: For your father knows you need these things.
Speaker 1: He knows what I need.
Speaker 2: Paul says, it's nice, but I don't need it.
Speaker 1: It's nice, but I don't need it.
Speaker 2: I appreciate what you bought for me. Holly said, it's nice,
Speaker 2: but I don't need it. I like it, but I
Speaker 2: don't need it. Even let me tell you something right
Speaker 2: right here, to stay my cough. I appreciate your passion.
Speaker 2: I was watching you in worship and here I am
Speaker 2: preach it and you are standing up like you are
Speaker 2: ready to charge the devil with a nurse bow and arrow.
Speaker 1: And I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2: I love your response to the word to God. It's nice,
Speaker 2: but I want you to know I don't need it. Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna preach this if you stand up and shout
Speaker 2: me down. I'm gonna preach it if you sit there
Speaker 2: and sleep, because I can't hold it in.
Speaker 1: It's my calling, it's my assignment.
Speaker 2: See if you want to respond, that's nice. But even
Speaker 2: if you don't respond, I gotta word from God and
Speaker 2: I gotta get it out. This is for all of
Speaker 2: you who have been underappreciated in the position you're in.
Speaker 2: You gotta come to the place where you say, you know.
Speaker 1: It's nice when.
Speaker 2: People think me, it's nice when people notice me.
Speaker 1: But God is my rewarder.
Speaker 2: God is my source.
Speaker 1: God is my supply.
Speaker 2: I don't need it. It'd be nice to have a
Speaker 2: date on Valentine's Day, but I don't need it. I'll
Speaker 2: take myself out of Bosta, buy my own shrimp. Okay,
Speaker 2: I find somebody to say I don't need it. If
Speaker 2: God didn't give it, I don't need it.
Speaker 1: If it's not in my reach, it's not for this season.
Speaker 3: And if he let it go, I will too, because
Speaker 3: I find out.
Speaker 1: The deeper the valley, the greener the grass, and He.
Speaker 2: Will never lead me to a place that he will
Speaker 2: not feed me, and he will never send me into
Speaker 2: a situation that he does not supply for so Elisha
Speaker 2: had the unique ability to go into the same situation
Speaker 2: that others had walked into and seen only.
Speaker 4: Shortage and see God's supply. Who is this for today?
Speaker 1: You know who I'm worried about.
Speaker 2: The one who pretends like they have no need, or
Speaker 2: the one who has become so calloused in your heart,
Speaker 2: the one who has become so dependent on dysfunctional systems
Speaker 2: that cannot feed you in a sustainable way that you
Speaker 2: have lost your ability to.
Speaker 1: Come before God and say I need you a broken
Speaker 1: in a contrite heart.
Speaker 2: He will not despise, but the arrogant and the proud
Speaker 2: he will cast down.
Speaker 1: The prerequisite for supply is that you know your need.
Speaker 2: I need you, God, I need you if I see you,
Speaker 2: if I seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, all
Speaker 2: these things, these things, see, they're not needs, their things.
Speaker 2: All I need is Him and He will supply.
Speaker 1: Oh my needs.
Speaker 2: So I've been I've been switching my question a little
Speaker 2: bit instead of asking the question what am I missing?
Speaker 2: Because I can stay stuck there forever. I'm a broken person.
Speaker 2: There are skills I do not have, there are talents
Speaker 2: I cannot employ, there are resources I cannot access, and
Speaker 2: if I focus on that my whole life, it will
Speaker 2: feed my fear and starve my faith, and I will
Speaker 2: not receive what Jesus died to give me for every
Speaker 2: needy person in the place today, let me give you
Speaker 2: a better question. Instead of walking into the situation and
Speaker 2: asking the question what am I missing, walk into the
Speaker 2: same situation and, instead of asking the question, asked the
Speaker 2: question what am I missing?
Speaker 1: What am I not seeing?
Speaker 2: What is it that God has put in front of me?
Speaker 2: What are the weapons that are within my reach that
Speaker 2: I am not.
Speaker 1: Seeing? Pro vision in this.
Speaker 2: Message freedom, I'm telling you man, because you have been
Speaker 2: so stuck in what was weeping at the feet of Elisha.
Speaker 1: He's gone.
Speaker 2: Now you have been so stuck in what's not what
Speaker 2: you don't have, what you can't do.
Speaker 1: Sweetheart, If I would have made a list.
Speaker 2: Of everything I can't do and everything I'm bad at,
Speaker 2: there would not be an elevation Church.
Speaker 1: I'm serious, I'm serious.
Speaker 2: The Devil's gonna beat me up for preaching to you
Speaker 2: like this, because when it gets real like this, I
Speaker 2: open myself and sometimes it feels like I'm just opening myself.
Speaker 2: But there is so much I wish I could take
Speaker 2: some time and talk to you about my weaknesses. I mean,
Speaker 2: there are so many weaknesses that I have, but I
Speaker 2: have never allowed my weaknesses to prevent me from using
Speaker 2: my weapons. Who am I preaching to? I got a bow,
Speaker 2: I got an arrow. I intend to use every arrow
Speaker 2: in my quimper.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: So Peter and John are going to the gate called Beautiful.
Speaker 2: They're just going to church one day, and along the
Speaker 2: way to church, because destiny will all often disguise itself
Speaker 2: as a distraction, that was too quick, they were walking
Speaker 2: to church and there was a beggar at the gate
Speaker 2: called Beautiful asking them for alms. He was shaking a
Speaker 2: cup in their face, asking them for some spare change.
Speaker 1: But how many.
Speaker 2: No, God doesn't always give you the kind of change
Speaker 2: that you ask for. See, God knows the need beneath
Speaker 2: the need, beneath the need, beneath the need, beneath the need,
Speaker 2: beneath the need. So this man has been lame since birth.
Speaker 2: He's never been able to walk. He's doing the best
Speaker 2: that he can. He's in the only place that he
Speaker 2: thinks he can get any kind of provision or assistance
Speaker 2: at all. And here comes Peter and here comes John,
Speaker 2: and apparently they look like the kind.
Speaker 1: Of people who would.
Speaker 2: Be willing to help a little bit, And so he
Speaker 2: asks him boldly. In fact, the Bible says in verse
Speaker 2: two that he saw Peter and John going up to
Speaker 2: the temple. Now, if he hadn't in the right place,
Speaker 2: he wouldn't have seen his provision. That's why I gotta
Speaker 2: come to church, because if I don't get in the
Speaker 2: right place, I might miss the provision. I might miss
Speaker 2: the word that God wants to give me to fight
Speaker 2: the battle that I don't even know about yet. So
Speaker 2: I gotta get there. And as he's sitting there, he
Speaker 2: sees he sees verse three, he sees Peter and John.
Speaker 1: He sees provision vision.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna stay right here, provision. And the wipers are
Speaker 2: the dolphins, and the dirt is the shark. What do
Speaker 2: you mean, boy, it's a dirty windshield. No, I see
Speaker 2: something in it. I see something. I see something. Maybe
Speaker 2: that's why he said we need to have faith like
Speaker 2: a child. I stopped being so blind to our supply.
Speaker 1: The enemy.
Speaker 2: If he can't keep you from seeing the need, then
Speaker 2: he will keep you blind to the supply. And when
Speaker 2: he saw Peter come and he said, hook a brother up.
Speaker 2: And Peter said, I got good news and bad news.
Speaker 2: The good news is I see you look at it.
Speaker 2: It says that not only did the man see Peter
Speaker 2: and John, but Peter looked straight at him. I wonder
Speaker 2: how many people had passed by him. I wonder how
Speaker 2: many people had stepped over him. I'm not saying that
Speaker 2: to make you feel bad. I mean, we all get
Speaker 2: in a hurry, and we're never going to be able
Speaker 2: to do everything for everyone.
Speaker 1: That's not my point. My point is.
Speaker 2: That in this particular passage, the miracle was sitting there
Speaker 2: in the form of something that everyone else walked past,
Speaker 2: and Peter looked.
Speaker 1: At him, and he was there.
Speaker 2: I don't think Peter was the first one to church,
Speaker 2: nor was he the last one. But he looked at
Speaker 2: him and he saw something. He saw an opportunity disguised.
Speaker 2: That's a problem. God is an optometrist. He wants to
Speaker 2: fix the way. You see. You've been asking will I
Speaker 2: have what it takes? And God is asking will you
Speaker 2: take what you've got? Get a bow, get some arrows.
Speaker 2: It's right there, it's right there. I mean, God will
Speaker 2: hide your provision in plain sight to cause you to
Speaker 2: seek for him. Sometimes, as men, we God to give
Speaker 2: us wisdom, and He hides it in our wives.
Speaker 1: If we'll listen.
Speaker 2: I thought I would get some female support and endorsement.
Speaker 2: Hidden provision, something you've been walking past. That's what Elisha
Speaker 2: was able to do. That's what the window is for,
Speaker 2: to see God is working. To see God at work
Speaker 2: beneath the surface. God, show me where you're working in
Speaker 2: this situation. That's my prayer. I assume that you are.
Speaker 2: You're always working. Now open my eyes to see the
Speaker 2: miracle already in progress. Touch my eyes so I can
Speaker 2: see some of y'all I see around this church have
Speaker 2: been with me a long time.
Speaker 1: I've never preached a more annointed sermon than this one.
Speaker 2: Right now, God is doing corrective eye surge. This is
Speaker 2: like lasick for the soul. Right now, God is trying
Speaker 2: to get you back. You've been looking at situations through
Speaker 2: the lens of limitation. But God said today, I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna change your situation.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take off.
Speaker 2: Your spectacles so you can see your situation through the
Speaker 2: lens of my provision. I would have despaired unless I
Speaker 2: believe that I would see the goodness of the Lord
Speaker 2: in the land of the Living.
Speaker 1: You're looking at it wrong.
Speaker 2: It's not a dirty windshield of sheam MoU. You've been
Speaker 2: praying for patience God sent you preschoolers. Is provision wrapped
Speaker 2: in pampers. Y'all better talk to me. I'll preach all day.
Speaker 2: There ain't no parking lot for me to clear. Right now,
Speaker 2: I feel on fire with the word of God. Peter
Speaker 2: looked at the man, and where others saw an inconvenience,
Speaker 2: he an opportunity. And he looks straight at him. Open
Speaker 2: the east window, looks straight at the thing that's in
Speaker 2: your way.
Speaker 1: Don't divert your.
Speaker 2: Attention, don't distract yourself. Look at it, see it for
Speaker 2: what it is, see it for what it can be.
Speaker 2: And then he spoke to it. First he saw it,
Speaker 2: and then he spoke to it. And Peter looked at
Speaker 2: the man, and then Peter told the man, look at us.
Speaker 2: You see a common theme in this passage. Every good
Speaker 2: thing that happened happened by virtue of perspective provision for
Speaker 2: the vision, pro vision vocabulary lesson pro for vision sight.
Speaker 2: I want to see how God is working this for
Speaker 2: the good of those who love him. God is for me,
Speaker 2: not against me. I just got to open my eyes
Speaker 2: to see it. And the man was expecting something that
Speaker 2: was much less than what God was willing to give.
Speaker 1: Could that be you notice what happened? Man?
Speaker 2: This part got good to me when I was preaching
Speaker 2: it over at the nine point thirty.
Speaker 1: And I hope I can do it right now. I'm closing.
Speaker 2: I really am closing kind of, that's sort of in
Speaker 2: my own little way.
Speaker 1: Oh man, if I could get you.
Speaker 2: To see this, God, help me say it like I
Speaker 2: see it, because I see it.
Speaker 1: I see it.
Speaker 2: I see that he wanted to get something, but first
Speaker 2: he had to give something. Look at verse five, the
Speaker 2: man gave them his attention. What if it's not about
Speaker 2: what you're not getting that is causing you to live
Speaker 2: in a state of shortage. What if the windows are
Speaker 2: closed because you wouldn't open them.
Speaker 1: And God will test you on this.
Speaker 2: He will test you on this because He does not
Speaker 2: want you dependent on sources of energy or affirmation that are.
Speaker 1: Not connected to his heart.
Speaker 2: And he will let a brook dry up so that
Speaker 2: you'll move on and realize it wasn't the birds that
Speaker 2: were feeding you to begin with.
Speaker 1: It was him.
Speaker 2: It was him. He is my supply in every season
Speaker 2: for whoever the three people are that I'm preaching this to.
Speaker 2: When he gave them his attention, God exceeded his expectation.
Speaker 2: He expected to get something from them. And I don't
Speaker 2: know what you're expecting God to do in the season
Speaker 2: of your life that he won't do yet, because usually
Speaker 2: when we ask God for change, what we really want
Speaker 2: him to change is the situation, not ourselves. Sometimes when
Speaker 2: I preach, I don't feel anything. Sometimes I feel something.
Speaker 2: And the times when I didn't feel anything, I used
Speaker 2: to think something was wrong, and God spoke to me
Speaker 2: really very clearly. It's louder than out loud. It's not
Speaker 2: out loud, it's louder than that. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: It's like the sense that you know. God said, the
Speaker 2: reason you don't feel anything is cause I want to
Speaker 2: set you free from the need to feel it. To
Speaker 2: do it, I don't need you to feel. I need
Speaker 2: you to preach. I want you to depend on the
Speaker 2: feeling of my presence. I want you to see it
Speaker 2: when you can't feel it. I want you to know
Speaker 2: it when the sensation of your emotions do not confirm it.
Speaker 2: And sometimes God will bypass.
Speaker 1: What you want.
Speaker 2: To give you what you need now in Him who's
Speaker 2: able to do measurably more.
Speaker 1: Than we ask or imagine.
Speaker 2: We always think that that versus pointing upward, he's able
Speaker 2: to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we ask or imagine.
Speaker 1: And I believe it is that the aral victory is
Speaker 1: flying over Aaron. But what if that verse works both ways?
Speaker 2: What if he wants to do something deeper than what
Speaker 2: I'm asking him to do? Deep work? I want to
Speaker 2: do a deeper work. I don't just want to give
Speaker 2: you people in your life to encourage you. I want
Speaker 2: to teach you how to encourage others.
Speaker 1: I learned how to fight the devil. If nobody texts.
Speaker 2: Me to encourage, I go to work on my own
Speaker 2: contacts and I start finding people. See I'm teaching the devil.
Speaker 2: Don't mess with me, because I'll cut off your head
Speaker 2: with your own sword. You discourage me, and I'll encourage them.
Speaker 1: And Peter said, I'm not going to give you what
Speaker 1: you want. I don't have it.
Speaker 2: I don't have what you think you need. But such
Speaker 2: as I have, I give unto you. In the name
Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Get a bow, get some arrows,
Speaker 2: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The name
Speaker 2: above every name, the name above every need.
Speaker 1: Who's this message?
Speaker 2: For God is reaching his hand.
Speaker 1: Out to you.
Speaker 2: God is reaching his hand out to you.
Speaker 1: Will you receive it?
Speaker 2: Right now? In the name of Jesus Christ, the Master.
Speaker 1: Get up and walked.
Speaker 2: The man wanted a meal, but he got a miracle.
Speaker 2: Now unto him who is able to do impassably walk
Speaker 2: it shall provide, shall supply all my needs, the ones
Speaker 2: I see, the ones I don't see. The Spirit of
Speaker 2: the Lord is in this place today to meet every need.
Speaker 1: I said.
Speaker 2: The Spirit of the Lord is in this place today.
Speaker 1: Rock Hill, the spirit of the Lord.
Speaker 2: Blaytney Balentide Matthews.
Speaker 1: The Spirit of the Lord is in this place.
Speaker 2: God's hand cannot bless your clenched fist.
Speaker 1: God, What am I walking past? What am I walking past?
Speaker 2: I keep talking about my limitation? What am I walking past?
Speaker 1: Silver and gold? Have I none? I keep weeping over
Speaker 1: the season that is behind me? What am I missing
Speaker 1: that's right in front of me? Can we flip it?
Speaker 1: This week?
Speaker 2: Faith flips the question to know that God has placed
Speaker 2: his provision.
Speaker 1: That's what it means, provision for before you even got there.
Speaker 2: He put the supply in the situation, and you have.
Speaker 1: To see it. I got a close.
Speaker 2: If you receive this message today, lift both your hands
Speaker 2: in the air. Just lift your hands to your Father,
Speaker 2: our Father who art in heaven. Halloween, be your name,
Speaker 2: your Kingdom. Come, Your will be done on earth as
Speaker 2: it is in heaven. And give us this stay, our
Speaker 2: daily bread. Give us this stay, our daily bread. We
Speaker 2: believe that you will feed us what we need for
Speaker 2: the season that we're in. Pray that after me, feed
Speaker 2: me what I need for the season that I'm in.
Speaker 1: God, we trust you in this moment.
Speaker 2: We receive in this moment the grace that we need
Speaker 2: for the calling that we have received.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
Speaker 2: more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.