Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik.
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. I want to read your scripture from
Speaker 2: Exodus chapter twenty three, verses twenty through thirty one, and
Speaker 2: it's a scripture.
Speaker 1: About how God makes away in our life.
Speaker 2: We're in this series called Waymaker, and this scripture has
Speaker 2: a subheading in my Bible that says God's Angel to
Speaker 2: prepare the way. God's Angel to prepare the way. God
Speaker 2: says this verse twenty. See, I am sending an angel
Speaker 2: ahead of you to guard you along the way. If
Speaker 2: you don't think it's sacrilegious to write in your Bible
Speaker 2: circle that phrase along the way, it's important. I am
Speaker 2: sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along
Speaker 2: the way and to bring you to the place I
Speaker 2: have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what
Speaker 2: he's says.
Speaker 1: Do not rebel against him.
Speaker 2: See, God can send things into your life that you
Speaker 2: don't access because your attention is elsewhere. Come on, God
Speaker 2: can send you instruction, wisdom, and provision, but you miss
Speaker 2: it because you were paying attention on something stupid.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about fantasy football. I'm talking about other
Speaker 1: stupid stuff you pay attention to.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't rebuke you for that, It's fine. But he says,
Speaker 2: do not rebel against him. He will not forgive your rebellion,
Speaker 2: since my name is in him. If you listen carefully
Speaker 2: to what he says and do all that I say.
Speaker 1: I will be an enemy to your enemies.
Speaker 2: This is God speaking how he feels about his people.
Speaker 1: I will be an enemy to your enemies. Now touch
Speaker 1: your neighbors, say you better be nice to me.
Speaker 2: I got back up. Be careful how you talk about me.
Speaker 2: God likes me a little bit. I mean, how do
Speaker 2: you act when somebody talks about your child. Imagine how
Speaker 2: God feels about it. Imagine how God feels about it. Well,
Speaker 2: that's what he said. He said, I will be an
Speaker 2: enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
Speaker 2: My angel, here's this angel again, will go ahead of
Speaker 2: you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Parazites, Canaanites, Hivetes,
Speaker 2: and Jepizites, and I will wipe them out. Get them
Speaker 2: out of your way. Now, do not bow down before
Speaker 2: their gods or worship them, because after I get them
Speaker 2: out of your way, don't get in your own way
Speaker 2: by doing what they did. Sometimes God removes something from
Speaker 2: your life and you trip over it like it was
Speaker 2: still there because.
Speaker 1: You can't change your mind and be renewed according to
Speaker 1: your new reality.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is not I'm just kind of flowing right now,
Speaker 2: not in my notes, and I'm gonna let you sit
Speaker 2: down in a minute. But there's a lot in this passage,
Speaker 2: and I've been excited about it, and I was eating
Speaker 2: cranberry sauce and thinking about just if we could get
Speaker 2: here together, I could share this with you because I
Speaker 2: was really excited about it. But really, here's where it starts.
Speaker 2: Skip all the way down to verse twenty eight. I
Speaker 2: will send the hornet, because God's a Charlottean, I will
Speaker 2: send the hornet.
Speaker 1: I've been trying to tell you all that.
Speaker 2: I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive
Speaker 2: out the Hiites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way. Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take away all those Ipeshites, Canaanites, sell you lights,
Speaker 2: all of them. They gotta go, somebody said, they gotta go.
Speaker 2: As I bring you into the place that I promised you,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get them out of your way. But I
Speaker 2: will not drive them out in a single year, because
Speaker 2: the land would become desolate and the wild animals too
Speaker 2: numerous for you. Little by little, I will drive them
Speaker 2: out before you until you have increased enough.
Speaker 1: Until you you're.
Speaker 2: Waiting on God to show up, and he's waiting for
Speaker 2: you to grow up, my little and you don't even
Speaker 2: notice the things that are growing right before your eyes.
Speaker 2: That's why it takes a grandparent to tell you that
Speaker 2: your kids have grown, because you're with.
Speaker 1: Them every day.
Speaker 2: But God is doing things incrementally in our lives, and
Speaker 2: so he says, little by little, I will drive them
Speaker 2: out before you until you have increased enough to take
Speaker 2: possession of the lamb.
Speaker 1: Can I give you one more verse? It's not rhetorical.
Speaker 2: I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to
Speaker 2: the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River.
Speaker 2: I will give into your hands the people who live
Speaker 2: in the land, and you will drive them out before
Speaker 2: you say man for the word of God. Hey, those
Speaker 2: of you in a control, don't throw my title because
Speaker 2: I'm changing it and the one you have is the
Speaker 2: wrong one. I want to preach a message to you
Speaker 2: from my heart today, and I want you to look
Speaker 2: at your neighbor and give them my title that I
Speaker 2: just thought of right now, but I want to share
Speaker 2: it with you, and I believe it's a message for
Speaker 2: you today. Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, don't
Speaker 2: waste your angel, please be seated. The sense that I
Speaker 2: get from the text is that God is giving his
Speaker 2: people the resources that they need for the responsibility that
Speaker 2: they are facing.
Speaker 1: And I love that about God is.
Speaker 2: That he always has the resource ready before he gives
Speaker 2: the assignment. In fact, I've learned this and I would
Speaker 2: love for you to write it down. If you are
Speaker 2: the note tape taking type, realize that the greater the assignment,
Speaker 2: the greater the assistance.
Speaker 1: Now, if you are married.
Speaker 2: To someone who is a little difficult, perhaps that will
Speaker 2: be good news to you. My brother from the United
Speaker 2: States Air Force is visiting with us today.
Speaker 1: You help me.
Speaker 2: Thank God for my brother visiting all the way from
Speaker 2: New Jersey. He's married now and we're thankful I had
Speaker 2: the great privilege to perform their wedding. If I do
Speaker 2: a wedding, which I don't get to do them very
Speaker 2: much because usually people like to get married on Saturdays,
Speaker 2: and I preach on Saturdays. So when I get to
Speaker 2: do it, I like to make it creative because I
Speaker 2: don't know how to do it the right way because
Speaker 2: I don't do.
Speaker 1: It that much.
Speaker 2: And I almost did something when I performed your wedding.
Speaker 2: I never told you this, because you got all the
Speaker 2: typical sections of a wedding where you have the exchange
Speaker 2: of the rings and the exchange of the vows. I
Speaker 2: almost did a whole section called realistic expectations, and.
Speaker 1: I didn't do it.
Speaker 2: Maybe one day I'll get that opportunity, but it would
Speaker 2: be the part of the wedding ceremony that's not poetic.
Speaker 1: It'd be the part that's practical.
Speaker 2: And I would have told you things like, you know,
Speaker 2: be prepared for this woman whom you love to bring
Speaker 2: items into your bathroom that you have never seen before
Speaker 2: or known of their existence.
Speaker 1: Be prepared, make.
Speaker 2: Space on your counter for a pharmacy, and don't be surprised.
Speaker 2: Little things like that I would have put into it.
Speaker 2: If they would have done this for being Holly's they
Speaker 2: would have said a lot.
Speaker 1: Fifty extra minutes.
Speaker 2: When you are telling your wife what time to be
Speaker 2: ready for an event, lie to her, put her on
Speaker 2: daylight savings time and back it up an hour, and
Speaker 2: you might possibly be on time.
Speaker 1: But I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 2: My wife, now something has shifted in the balance of
Speaker 2: our marriage relationship.
Speaker 1: And she's usually the one telling me.
Speaker 2: You're looking to see how she's responding to this part
Speaker 2: of the sermon, aren't you with that? As she walked out,
Speaker 2: what would that say about the pastor's spiritual life? So
Speaker 2: she's actually the one who's usually telling me. Now she's
Speaker 2: usually telling me, if you can believe this, she says
Speaker 2: something to me the other day. I never thought i'd
Speaker 2: hear this out of my wife's mouth. She said, I'm
Speaker 2: ready when you are.
Speaker 1: It's just things you never think you're going to hear.
Speaker 2: You never think like that's like hearing your teenager say I'll.
Speaker 1: Do it, Like.
Speaker 2: It's just stuff you never expect to hear from that person.
Speaker 2: But it's true nine times out of ten. Now she's
Speaker 2: ready before I am. Something has shifted in the relationship.
Speaker 1: And I pointed out.
Speaker 2: Because in Exodus twenty three, it's not a marriage relationship,
Speaker 2: but it's a covenant relationship between God and his people.
Speaker 2: And they have waited now for over four hundred years
Speaker 2: for God to deliver them out of their slavery and
Speaker 2: their cruel bondage. But now something has shifted. They are
Speaker 2: so used to waiting on God, and now a bus
Speaker 2: there are turn of events. God says to his people
Speaker 2: through Moses, I'm ready when you are. Now, he's already
Speaker 2: brought them out of Egypt. He's already brought them out
Speaker 2: of slavery. But there is a difference between coming out
Speaker 2: physically and coming out mentally.
Speaker 1: Some people are perpetually stuck.
Speaker 2: In the stage of their life. Even though God has
Speaker 2: set them free, they still dragged the shackles of a
Speaker 2: situation that God long since delivered them from. So he
Speaker 2: gives them several gifts, several gifts, several gifts. I'll mention
Speaker 2: a few the Ten commandments. He gives them the ten commandments.
Speaker 2: Thou shalt, thou shalt not not to prohibit them, not
Speaker 2: to prohibit them.
Speaker 1: How many of you have a dog.
Speaker 2: Did you put in a fence in your yard for
Speaker 2: the dog? Why so he could run around? So he
Speaker 2: could run around without getting killed. The fence brings freedom right.
Speaker 2: When God establishes parameters for your life, what He's really
Speaker 2: doing within those parameters is giving you permission to enjoy
Speaker 2: his promises, within the parameters of his principles, so that
Speaker 2: you are not destroyed by the very thing that God
Speaker 2: intended to bless you with. And then he gives them
Speaker 2: some laws, regulations, and statutes for living with one another
Speaker 2: in relationship as a community. He speaks about social injustice.
Speaker 2: He speaks to them about treatment of one another and foreigners.
Speaker 1: He speaks to them specifically.
Speaker 2: About festivals that he wants them to keep, and three
Speaker 2: times a year he says, I want you to send
Speaker 2: all the men to the sanctuary, and nobody should come
Speaker 2: empty handed.
Speaker 1: I want you to bring me an offering.
Speaker 2: I want you to bring me an offering because I
Speaker 2: want you to be protected. There's a keyword protected from
Speaker 2: trusting in your provision. So every time I bless you,
Speaker 2: I want you to engage in the discipline of intrusting
Speaker 2: to me what I've invested in.
Speaker 1: You got it.
Speaker 2: In that context, God makes his people a promise because
Speaker 2: He has given them a great assignment, a great assignment
Speaker 2: to occupy this land that's full of enemies, enemies that
Speaker 2: are bigger and stronger, more skilled and experienced in warfare
Speaker 2: than this nation, who.
Speaker 1: Has barely become a nation at this point.
Speaker 2: In this he gives them three promises from verse twenty.
Speaker 1: I'll lift them now, write them down, put them on
Speaker 1: a sticky note, because these three promises apply to you. Two.
Speaker 2: These are three things God has promised you. I'll hit
Speaker 2: them one by one. See, I am sending an angel
Speaker 2: ahead of you. In the Jewish tradition, it is mostly
Speaker 2: believed that the angel is Moses. However, most of us
Speaker 2: would think that the qualifications that are listed here as
Speaker 2: in my name is in him, and the ability to
Speaker 2: forgive sins goes beyond Moses. So this must be a
Speaker 2: foreshadowing of the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: I will send my angel ahead of you to guard
Speaker 2: you along the way and to bring you to the
Speaker 2: place I have prepared.
Speaker 1: They're all three right there.
Speaker 2: The first one is God promises to protect his people.
Speaker 2: God promises to protect his people, and specifically he says,
Speaker 2: I will guard you along the way. I was interested
Speaker 2: in that phrase because a lot of times God is
Speaker 2: guarding you from things in your life that you don't
Speaker 2: even know you need to be guarded from. And so
Speaker 2: the way it works, you can follow me real quick
Speaker 2: with the cameras. God will guard you along the way,
Speaker 2: but you will only see it looking back. That's how
Speaker 2: life works, is that God is doing it for you
Speaker 2: along the way. Now, notice, in order for God to
Speaker 2: protect you, you have to be an motion. God cannot
Speaker 2: guard you until you.
Speaker 1: Are along the way.
Speaker 2: And so when you are praying for God to protect you,
Speaker 2: but you're sitting on your couch doing it instead of
Speaker 2: obeying the instruction that he's given you, God cannot dispatch
Speaker 2: his assistance for an assignment that you are not present for.
Speaker 1: This.
Speaker 2: One intern was asking me recently on the subject how
Speaker 2: do I deal with feeling insecure? And I shocked myself
Speaker 2: the answer I gave her because I usually say, quote
Speaker 2: the Bible and confessions of faith, and you are the
Speaker 2: righteousness of God in Christ. But I found something coming
Speaker 2: out of my mouth was kind of weird.
Speaker 1: I said, do the work.
Speaker 2: Do the work, because it is in completing your assignment
Speaker 2: that you receive your assistance. It's the best thing you
Speaker 2: can do. If you feel insecure like I can't do it,
Speaker 2: to do it. And as you do it, you will
Speaker 2: receive the strength for the assignment.
Speaker 1: But let me tell you this, you will not get.
Speaker 2: The assistance praying for God to make the assignment easier.
Speaker 2: He does not promise that. And I don't care how
Speaker 2: hateful y'all look at me. God is not going to
Speaker 2: make it easier what.
Speaker 1: He said I'll do.
Speaker 2: I will release my assistance in correspondence with your assignment.
Speaker 1: And if you.
Speaker 2: Insist on trying to fulfill somebody else's assignment.
Speaker 1: Don't expect my assistance.
Speaker 2: But if you will do you right here, right.
Speaker 1: Now, and quit wishing she.
Speaker 2: Was your wife, and love the wife you've got as
Speaker 2: Christ loved the church, I will release my assistance in.
Speaker 1: Correspondence with your assignment. Hey man, good preaching. Only JJ's
Speaker 1: standing up. I don't know. He must need the Lord
Speaker 1: this week.
Speaker 2: To me, I think it's significant all the different times
Speaker 2: that God gave people an assignment that was greater than them,
Speaker 2: in fact, often contrary to their natural ability. Because Abraham
Speaker 2: could have had a baby for God when he was forty,
Speaker 2: not when he's eighty. God likes him at eighty better
Speaker 2: than forty. I know why, but I'm not gonna tell
Speaker 2: you why. I know why I studied it. I know
Speaker 2: why God picked him at eighty and not forty.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'll tell you.
Speaker 2: If you do it at forty, you'll think you did it.
Speaker 2: But if God gives you something that you know.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't be able to do it.
Speaker 2: Somebody say, don't waste your angel, and you waste the
Speaker 2: assistance of your angel.
Speaker 1: This is so good. I'm gonna help you.
Speaker 2: Right there, right there, You right there, right there, I'm
Speaker 2: so glad you know.
Speaker 1: Not you her, I'm gonna help her right there.
Speaker 2: You got a giant assignment. That's good.
Speaker 1: The greater the assignment, the greater the assistance.
Speaker 2: Now I can look back on several phases of my
Speaker 2: life where God, God was protecting me with what I
Speaker 2: thought was a problem. You know, God has a defense system.
Speaker 2: I have a security system in my house. A couple
Speaker 2: nights ago, me and Holly shot straight up in the bed, screaming,
Speaker 2: both of us just screaming. The alarm went off so loud.
Speaker 2: I never heard it that loud, and I jumped off, screaming.
Speaker 2: She jumped up, screaming. We're screaming at each other. Five
Speaker 2: seconds later, I had that baseball bat that I keep
Speaker 2: under my bed. I was crouched going through the house too.
Speaker 2: I was shaking the bat. I was saying stuff under
Speaker 2: my breath that wasn't prayer oriented, you know, just getting
Speaker 2: ready for what the situation required. But how could it
Speaker 2: be that loud. It was the loudest thing I ever heard.
Speaker 2: You know, those little AirPods that you put in your ear.
Speaker 2: I forgot that I had fallen asleep with my AirPods in.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't the security system in the house that
Speaker 2: went off. It was an amber alert on my phone.
Speaker 1: And here I am.
Speaker 2: Ready to kill something that's not even there. And you know,
Speaker 2: sometimes you let the devil in your head to the
Speaker 2: point where you're waking up in the middle of the night,
Speaker 2: chasing an enemy that ought to.
Speaker 1: Be running from you.
Speaker 3: Where are my.
Speaker 2: Powerful people at that know you have the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 2: a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance.
Speaker 1: Make some noise about it, make all the quiet people uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: shout if you know, God's.
Speaker 2: Got a defense system and a surveillance on your life,
Speaker 2: and the devil can only.
Speaker 1: Go so far. Get out of my head because I'm protected.
Speaker 1: High five point three people say, I'm protected and God, God.
Speaker 2: Will even protect you from your own prayers. You will
Speaker 2: pray for him to ask you out, and he will
Speaker 2: walk right by you to your best friend, and she
Speaker 2: doesn't even have a prayer life.
Speaker 1: And that's why he.
Speaker 2: Walked past you, because you were praying. God, I want
Speaker 2: what you want for me. Protect me from anything that's
Speaker 2: not from you.
Speaker 1: I got an angel. Somebody said, I got an angel.
Speaker 1: You can't see anybody's there. That's weird. It's weird. You
Speaker 1: believe in angels. What do you believe in?
Speaker 2: Some of y'all believe in college age boys in tight pants.
Speaker 2: Your hope is in them. And I can't have an angel. Oh,
Speaker 2: I got angels. Don't make me flap it you I
Speaker 2: will flap right in your face.
Speaker 1: I got angels. I got something better than an angel.
Speaker 2: I have the spirit that raised Christ from the dead.
Speaker 1: And I'm protected. I'm protected.
Speaker 2: Even sometimes what you will call a disappointment in one
Speaker 2: season of your life, you will see as a defense.
Speaker 1: Later you will see that.
Speaker 2: If I had gotten what I wanted when I wanted it,
Speaker 2: it wouldn't have been a blessing because I wasn't ready.
Speaker 2: I hope I'm helping somebody. I hope I'm helping somebody.
Speaker 2: I will guard you along the way, God says, I'll
Speaker 2: protect you, and the second one he says, I will
Speaker 2: bring you to the place, So I'll guard you along
Speaker 2: the way.
Speaker 1: And I'll bring you to the place.
Speaker 2: If guard you along the way is God's promise to protect.
Speaker 2: Bring you to the place is his promise to position.
Speaker 2: And one thing I've really come to believe is that
Speaker 2: God is good at getting me where he wants me
Speaker 2: when he wants me, for reasons that I do not
Speaker 2: understand while I'm there. And honestly, some of the places
Speaker 2: that God has sent me in my life is not
Speaker 2: where I wanted to go. And I'm gonna say something
Speaker 2: to you that I never ever said before in public.
Speaker 2: I said it to Holly, I might have said it
Speaker 2: to a few of our team members thirteen years ago,
Speaker 2: but I never said it in a big room like this.
Speaker 2: I didn't even want to come to Charlotte because it
Speaker 2: seemed to me like Charlotte had churches covered. Have you looked,
Speaker 2: there's trees and steeples. People, there's a lot of them already.
Speaker 2: I say, God, what could it possibly have to do
Speaker 2: with me to be in this town where there's already
Speaker 2: all these big churches. It was Joe's crabshack that God used,
Speaker 2: and just in a way I can't explain. And I'm
Speaker 2: preaching to somebody with an attitude right now because you
Speaker 2: don't even like where you live.
Speaker 1: You don't even like it.
Speaker 2: But often God positions you according to a higher priority
Speaker 2: than your preference, and it's called his purpose. I'm sending
Speaker 2: my angel and he will bring you to the place.
Speaker 1: Here's the interesting thing.
Speaker 2: The angel can bring you to the place, but it
Speaker 2: cannot go in for you.
Speaker 1: All God can.
Speaker 2: Do, because it is a cooperation of grace and faith
Speaker 2: that causes his kingdom to operate on earth as it
Speaker 2: is in heaven.
Speaker 1: All he can do is set you up. But He
Speaker 1: will not take the step for you.
Speaker 2: If God took the step for you, it would not
Speaker 2: be kindness, it would be cruelty.
Speaker 1: If God took.
Speaker 2: The step for you, he would put you in a
Speaker 2: place that your faith was not prepared for. So the
Speaker 2: great tragedy of Exodus twenty three is that God sent
Speaker 2: the protection to bring them to the place. Yet an
Speaker 2: entire generation never entered in.
Speaker 1: Did you hear me?
Speaker 2: The entire congregation that Moses is delivering the message to
Speaker 2: doesn't get to experience the benefits of God's promise. And
Speaker 2: here's where it's a little theologically controversial.
Speaker 1: God's promises are not automatic. They're optional. Joy is optional.
Speaker 1: Peace is optional. You can have it or you can
Speaker 1: leave it.
Speaker 2: You can live in bitterness or you can live in deliverance.
Speaker 1: But you have to take the step. Now.
Speaker 2: God says, I've positioned you. I've protected you. I kept
Speaker 2: you alive. I brought you through it. The sea didn't
Speaker 2: sweep over you. The slave master didn't kill you with
Speaker 2: this whip. All I did was bring you out with
Speaker 2: the possession that you need to go into the place that.
Speaker 1: I've prepared for you. Three.
Speaker 2: Not only will he protect me, not only will he
Speaker 2: position me, but he will prepare me. Now we got three,
Speaker 2: peace less preach. God has been setting you up for
Speaker 2: this step all of your life, and before you is
Speaker 2: the goodness and the glory of God made possible by
Speaker 2: the grace of Jesus Christ. If it's just three people,
Speaker 2: I came with an announcement. You're ready now. You don't
Speaker 2: have to live in what was any longer, and you
Speaker 2: don't have to stay stuck in a mindset then no
Speaker 2: longer accommodates your anointing. You're ready now, the says the
Speaker 2: spirit of the Lord. I kept you all your life.
Speaker 2: I sustained you through many dangers, cause and stairs, and
Speaker 2: now you're ready. A mind somebody looks happy say I'm ready.
Speaker 2: I will protect you, I will position you, and I
Speaker 2: will dirty word prepare you. Not a very fun one,
Speaker 2: I know, I know. And the way he does it
Speaker 2: is terrible. The way he does it is terrible. Did
Speaker 2: y'all hear about the boiled frog?
Speaker 1: Have you heard this? They teach. I don't know why
Speaker 1: someone would want to do this.
Speaker 2: I'm not recommending it, but if you want to boil
Speaker 2: a frog, you ever just get it in your mind
Speaker 2: you want to boil a frog? If you heard this before,
Speaker 2: it's the old preacher thing. If you want to boil
Speaker 2: a frog, don't put it in a boiling pot. Put
Speaker 2: it in a pot and turn up the heat little
Speaker 2: by little, and the frog won't know he's being boiled. Now,
Speaker 2: I don't know what made the preacher want to boil
Speaker 2: a frog. I can't answer that, but he is correct.
Speaker 2: When the enemy wants to steal your confidence in the
Speaker 2: promise of God, he doesn't do it all at once,
Speaker 2: because if that alarm really went off, you jump out
Speaker 2: the bed. So what does he do? Little by little?
Speaker 2: And that's the warning that God is giving his people.
Speaker 2: I'm sending my angel ahead of you. But if you
Speaker 2: don't pay attention, and if you don't listen to what
Speaker 2: he says, you will come to the place. And I
Speaker 2: can prove to you that this happened to them because.
Speaker 1: They got to the edge of the promise and they stopped.
Speaker 2: And the reason that they stopped is because two spies
Speaker 2: went in to the land and came out with faith
Speaker 2: that they could do it. Ten spies went in and said,
Speaker 2: they're bigger than us, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Jeptizites,
Speaker 2: the Parizites, the Hiptites, the Amorites. They're bigger than us.
Speaker 2: They're but guess what. They were already on the run.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you are running from something that God has already.
Speaker 1: Defeated ex trus you.
Speaker 2: So they're standing at the place God has protected them
Speaker 2: along the way. God has what's the second one? Position
Speaker 2: them for this moment? What's the third one? He prepared them?
Speaker 1: But guess what the angel can't do.
Speaker 2: There's one thing the Angel can't do and will not do.
Speaker 2: There's one thing God won't do for you. He'll protect you.
Speaker 2: He'll keep you. He'll keep your mind, he'll keep your sanity.
Speaker 2: He'll keep you from people that would harm you. He
Speaker 2: will keep you from places that you didn't even know
Speaker 2: if you would have been there, what would have happened?
Speaker 1: And you will never even know on this side of.
Speaker 2: Life, how many times God blocked stuff and turned stuff
Speaker 2: and shifted stuff and moved stuff. And you thought it
Speaker 2: was just you were a little bit late because you
Speaker 2: forgot your wallet.
Speaker 1: But there was a car.
Speaker 2: Accident on seventy seven that had your name on it.
Speaker 2: And when the devil said they're out, God said, I've
Speaker 2: got sore.
Speaker 1: Anyway.
Speaker 2: There are so anyway anyway, there's so many things you
Speaker 2: don't even know to thank God for. If you could see,
Speaker 2: for one moment all of the things that God kept
Speaker 2: you from, Listen to me, Blakeney, if we ever got
Speaker 2: a revelation of what God kept us from, it would
Speaker 2: be a bad day for the worship team, because all
Speaker 2: the worship leaders wouldn't have a job, because we wouldn't
Speaker 2: even need them, because we would lead ourselves in worship,
Speaker 2: because we would walk in the door.
Speaker 1: And we will walk in the.
Speaker 2: Door clapping and shouting and rejoicing and praising God that
Speaker 2: sometimes we don't see all the things that He's kept
Speaker 2: us from and brought us to.
Speaker 1: And now we're at this place and God has protected us. Yeah.
Speaker 2: God has positioned us absolutely, and God has prepared us.
Speaker 2: But there's one thing he won't do. He will not
Speaker 2: possess the land for you. Here's the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2: I will go before you, but I will not go
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 1: Your faith must make the step. Your faith must make
Speaker 1: the step. And most of them never did.
Speaker 2: Now, if they had gone in, they would have seen
Speaker 2: that the giants that were still in the land were
Speaker 2: left there on purpose. That was always confusing to me.
Speaker 2: God said, I'm going to be an enemy to your enemies.
Speaker 2: I'm going to oppose those who oppose you, and when
Speaker 2: you get to the land.
Speaker 1: I'm going to start driving them out.
Speaker 2: I'm going to chase them away so you can inherit
Speaker 2: what I have promised to you. But then he says,
Speaker 2: I'm not going to do it all at once. I'm
Speaker 2: going to do it like the frog, little by little,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 1: We wait a minute.
Speaker 2: God, if these are giants who can kill us and
Speaker 2: cause us to worship other gods, shouldn't you get rid
Speaker 2: of them as soon as possible? Come on, I mean,
Speaker 2: wouldn't it make sense that if God wants something out
Speaker 2: of your life, he would take it out right away?
Speaker 2: And maybe this is just me because I grew up
Speaker 2: in churches where they said, if you will pray this prayer,
Speaker 2: Jesus will come into your heart and he will take
Speaker 2: away your fear, and he will take away your pain,
Speaker 2: and he will dry every tear from your eye.
Speaker 1: And then I cried that night, and.
Speaker 2: I couldn't figure out where did that Kleenex go, that
Speaker 2: cosmic Kleenex that Jesus was gonna bring and wipe every
Speaker 2: tear from my eye? I couldn't figure it out because
Speaker 2: I was expecting sanctification to work like salvation. When Jesus
Speaker 2: saves you, he does it all at once. He doesn't
Speaker 2: set you up on a thirty year payment plan. Salvation
Speaker 2: is not a mortgage. When he comes in he comes.
Speaker 1: All the way in. And for those of.
Speaker 2: You who have received his grace, let me tell you
Speaker 2: something is amazing.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. Here a shot, lean on the edge of
Speaker 1: your seat.
Speaker 2: You will never be more forgiven than you are right now.
Speaker 1: You will never be more love than you are right now.
Speaker 2: When He forgives you, he forgives you completely, immediately, fully,
Speaker 2: without qualification. There is no corner of your heart he
Speaker 2: didn't see when he sent his spirit to live within you.
Speaker 2: You will never be more forgiven than you are right now.
Speaker 2: But there is a difference between forgiveness and freedom.
Speaker 1: Forgiveness happens all at once.
Speaker 2: Freedom happens little by little, by little by little, and
Speaker 2: is often so incremental that you don't even think is happening.
Speaker 2: This is for everybody who's forty and thought you would
Speaker 2: be smarter than you are right now, and you keep
Speaker 2: doing dumb stuff that you've been doing all your life,
Speaker 2: and you still feel outrage to the back row.
Speaker 1: I don't need any love.
Speaker 2: You're doing stuff right now that you are doing at
Speaker 2: age fourteen, and you got your own thirteen year old
Speaker 2: and you still feel like a little kid yourself. And
Speaker 2: it happens. It happened to Paul. Paul was that great apostle.
Speaker 1: Have you heard of him? He took the gospel to
Speaker 1: the Gentiles.
Speaker 2: What God started through Abraham he continued through Paul. He
Speaker 2: told Abraham, he said, I got an assignment for you.
Speaker 2: All the nations of the earth will.
Speaker 1: Be blessed through you.
Speaker 2: A What an assignment, he said, But don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: I'm going to bless you so you can be a blessing.
Speaker 2: I will not require from you a resource that I
Speaker 2: do not put within you.
Speaker 1: You hear me. If God called you to.
Speaker 2: Raise those hard headed kids, he will make your head
Speaker 2: even harder. Boom, You met your match now because God
Speaker 2: gave me. God gave me a cranium that can withstand
Speaker 2: all of your craziness. Now God gives him the assignment,
Speaker 2: and he gives him the assistance.
Speaker 1: And Paul, in many ways, was grace.
Speaker 2: He was grace to be able to speak eloquently. He
Speaker 2: was grace to be able to preach to the diaspora
Speaker 2: of the Jewish tradition that he himself came from. But
Speaker 2: one thing about Paul he couldn't understand. He couldn't understand
Speaker 2: there was something in his life that he expected God
Speaker 2: to take away that God left. You got anything like that,
Speaker 2: fella looking at me so weird right now?
Speaker 1: Maybe you're beyond Paul.
Speaker 2: I would understand if you were holier than Paul, that
Speaker 2: would make sense.
Speaker 1: But Paul was struggling. He hadn't quite a.
Speaker 2: Arrived to your level of spiritual development and maturity. Paul said,
Speaker 2: there was something that I asked God to do for
Speaker 2: me that he would not do. Now, if you want
Speaker 2: to know what it was, Paul's going to disappoint you
Speaker 2: because he refuses to.
Speaker 1: Name it by name.
Speaker 2: And I'm glad he didn't name it by name because
Speaker 2: if he would have said it, I couldn't relate to it.
Speaker 2: But the fact that he used this image, and I
Speaker 2: want to read it to you now two Corinthians twelve seven.
Speaker 2: It means that whatever is left in your life, whatever
Speaker 2: is left in your life that you have been blaming
Speaker 2: on the devil, can be used by God to fulfill
Speaker 2: his purpose for your life. If you got anything like that,
Speaker 2: wave at me, so I can see the seven people
Speaker 2: that God gave me this message for. Paul said, I
Speaker 2: was ascended to the third heaven. I saw things inutterable.
Speaker 2: I was used by God in ways that are astounding,
Speaker 2: in fact, beyond human vocabulary.
Speaker 1: Therefore, now watch this. This is crazy, he says.
Speaker 2: Because of that level of blessing, God gave me an
Speaker 2: equal burden. Because the greater the assignment, the greater the adversity.
Speaker 2: The greater the assignment, the greater the attack.
Speaker 1: So Paul said, God took me up so.
Speaker 2: High and showed me so much that there had to
Speaker 2: be something in my life that would keep me grounded
Speaker 2: to his grace. He doesn't name it by name. He
Speaker 2: doesn't need to, because he knows you have your own.
Speaker 2: So he simply says, therefore, in order here's the clue
Speaker 2: to keep me from becoming conceited, there was something that
Speaker 2: God gave Paul to keep him in a space called grace,
Speaker 2: so that he would never forget who led.
Speaker 1: Him along the way, So that he would never.
Speaker 2: Forget who brought him out of bondage and darkness into
Speaker 2: the marvelous life. God said, I'm gonna I'm gonna lead
Speaker 2: some stuff in your life. And so in order to
Speaker 2: keep me from becoming conceited, there was given to me.
Speaker 2: Sounds like he's about to get a new car, right,
Speaker 2: He gave me gave me.
Speaker 1: This's got me in the mindset of a gift. What
Speaker 1: did he give you, Paul? Did he give you a house?
Speaker 1: Did he give you a promotion? Did he give you
Speaker 1: a blessing? No?
Speaker 2: No, no, Paul said, one day the devil showed up
Speaker 2: on my doorstep with a package and it had a
Speaker 2: bow on it. I opened the package and in the
Speaker 2: package was a thorn.
Speaker 1: Now it was a gift, but it didn't look like
Speaker 1: a gift.
Speaker 2: It was a gift, but it was wrapped in something
Speaker 2: that looked like pain.
Speaker 1: I was given.
Speaker 2: Watch this a thorn in my flesh? Was it a sickness?
Speaker 2: Was it a temptation Paul had? Was it people talking
Speaker 2: about him and he couldn't shut him up?
Speaker 1: Was it Facebook? Probably?
Speaker 2: And he calls it this is crazy, a messenger of Satan.
Speaker 2: How can he refer to it as a gift. If
Speaker 2: it came from the enemy, it was sent to torment him.
Speaker 2: That was the devil's intention to torment him.
Speaker 1: Paul said.
Speaker 2: God took what the enemy intended to torment me and
Speaker 2: used it to transform me.
Speaker 1: So the enemy's tools.
Speaker 2: Of torment become God's tools of transformation.
Speaker 1: And now I get it.
Speaker 2: Now I get Exodus twenty three, because it's not just
Speaker 2: the angels that God sends ahead.
Speaker 1: Of you that he uses to bless you. Those are wonderful.
Speaker 2: It's not just all of the promotions, and it's not
Speaker 2: just the prosperity, and it's not just the peaceful situations.
Speaker 1: It's not just the yeses.
Speaker 2: Sometimes God uses the nose to lead you to a
Speaker 2: greater yes. God said, no, I won't take it away,
Speaker 2: but yes, I will give you so much grace that
Speaker 2: you will be stronger than it, and you will discover
Speaker 2: a power that you could have never known if you
Speaker 2: didn't have a problem. But he said to me, my grace,
Speaker 2: by shock grace. Shout grace, don't mumble, shout grace. Shot
Speaker 2: grace like you need it. Shout grace like you can't
Speaker 2: make it without it. Shout grace like it's not just
Speaker 2: something you say.
Speaker 1: Before you eat. Shalt grace like you live by it.
Speaker 1: Shout grace like he died to give it.
Speaker 2: Shout grace like you know it's the avenue of pless.
Speaker 2: So he didn't give me relief, He gave me grace.
Speaker 1: And now I get it.
Speaker 2: Why God left the giants in the land, because he
Speaker 2: had them under contract. See they were They weren't used
Speaker 2: to having to keep up their own land yet.
Speaker 1: So God said, I'm gonna do you a favor.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna keep some enemies on your property. But don't
Speaker 2: worry about your enemies. They work for me. I am God.
Speaker 1: What's good to me? It's good to me, it's good
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 2: Would it be bad if I downloaded this podcast myself?
Speaker 1: He said, I'm gonna leave some things. I'm gonna lease
Speaker 1: some weaknesses in your life. Take it away now, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna work through it.
Speaker 2: Now, I'm gonna leave that weakness in your life, and
Speaker 2: your weakness is going to lead you to my strength.
Speaker 1: God says.
Speaker 2: Sometimes times I drive the giants out. Sometimes I let
Speaker 2: them stay and I give them a job. Sometimes I
Speaker 2: use the devil to deliver my mail. Sometimes I use
Speaker 2: adversity to create an advantage in your life. Sometimes I
Speaker 2: take what people meant.
Speaker 1: For evil and use it for.
Speaker 2: Good because I'm God like that, and I got so.
Speaker 1: Bad and I'm already there.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna use not only my angel, but I'm
Speaker 2: gonna use your enemies, and I'm gonna leave them there.
Speaker 1: Why would you leave enemies on my territory, very simple.
Speaker 1: Historians tell us that the land of Canaan at this time.
Speaker 2: Was populated with wild animals that the Canaanites knew how
Speaker 2: to deal with, but the Israelites didn't yet, particularly the
Speaker 2: lions that lived in the land. And so God knew,
Speaker 2: if I clear out all the enemies at once, the
Speaker 2: lions will take them over.
Speaker 1: What's a group of lions called?
Speaker 2: Does anybody know what?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: So? God said, if I clear all your enemies out
Speaker 2: all at once, pride, we'll take over. Paul said, I
Speaker 2: delight in weaknesses, Canaanites, insults, parasites, hardships, heavites. Don't you
Speaker 2: see it, Paul said, I'm glad for my giants. I
Speaker 2: don't just thank God for my angels. I thank Him
Speaker 2: for my giants too. They taught me how to fight.
Speaker 2: They built my faith. So it's a deep message. It's
Speaker 2: a deep message. It's one thing to praise God for
Speaker 2: your protection, but it's another thing to praise him for
Speaker 2: your problems. I want to suggest that sometimes your problems
Speaker 2: are your protection from yourself.
Speaker 1: You've had an addiction all your life, and.
Speaker 2: You've asked God to take the desire away, and he
Speaker 2: won't why because I want you to need me, and
Speaker 2: I want you to choose to serve me.
Speaker 1: I will not force you to be free. I want
Speaker 1: it to be your decision.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to leave some things in your life
Speaker 2: that I know you want me to take out.
Speaker 1: But I'm not sending you into the fire alone.
Speaker 2: I will be with you to deliver you, and I
Speaker 2: will protect you, and I will prepare you, and I
Speaker 2: will position you. But I cannot possess it for you.
Speaker 2: Only you can possess this place. Only you can do it.
Speaker 2: I can preach to you these principles, but I cannot
Speaker 2: possess them.
Speaker 1: No one can do it for you.
Speaker 2: Stop expecting for God's deliverance to be sudden.
Speaker 4: The greatest gift God can give you is gradual change,
Speaker 4: so that he hides you from your own progress to
Speaker 4: prevent your pride.
Speaker 1: God doesn't even want you to know you're growing. He
Speaker 1: wants you to trust his grace. And that's why God said.
Speaker 2: To Paul, I'm not going to give you the gift
Speaker 2: of relief. I'm gonna give you something greater, grace. It
Speaker 2: looks like a thorn, but it's really grace. The devil
Speaker 2: might have dropped it off at the doorstep. But I'm
Speaker 2: the one who addressed it to you.
Speaker 1: And no, I won't drive them all out, And no
Speaker 1: I'm not going to make it easier. You know what.
Speaker 2: God won't fix your attitude. He'll give you his spirit
Speaker 2: little by little as you serve and pray, show up.
Speaker 2: Trust that He's working in your life. Little by little,
Speaker 2: little by little, I am bringing you into the place
Speaker 2: that I have prepared for you. The greater assignment gets
Speaker 2: the greater assistance. If you've been going through some of
Speaker 2: the things that Paul mentioned, weakness, insults, hardship, persecution, difficulties,
Speaker 2: he mentions five and verse ten. I believe they are
Speaker 2: the five giants that God leaves a measure of in
Speaker 2: all of our lives.
Speaker 1: I believe He leaves a little bit of.
Speaker 2: All of that in all of our lives to teach
Speaker 2: us to trust it. If it's been speaking to you
Speaker 2: today while I've been preaching, and you would like for
Speaker 2: me to agree in prayer for you to take your
Speaker 2: next step in faith, stand to your feet, and I
Speaker 2: will please at every location something that you wanted God
Speaker 2: to take away, but He's left it for a reason.
Speaker 2: Please don't leave because somebody might be standing about something
Speaker 2: that's much more serious than traffic.
Speaker 1: So please stay right where you are.
Speaker 2: When God releases a word like this into your life,
Speaker 2: it's kind of like that angel. It can only transform
Speaker 2: you to the level that you put your attention on
Speaker 2: it and decide to obey it. And so what you've
Speaker 2: heard today has been a principle from God's word, a
Speaker 2: principle of possession. And the principle is it. It's ready
Speaker 2: when you are, It's ready when you are. God gave
Speaker 2: you the giant as a gift to teach you to
Speaker 2: drive it out by faith.
Speaker 1: That's how He strengthens you.
Speaker 2: And the opportunity is before you today.
Speaker 1: God said, I'll protect you.
Speaker 2: I will, I'll prepare you, I'll position you, but I
Speaker 2: will not possess it for you. The gift that I'm
Speaker 2: going to give you is the grace to be patient
Speaker 2: as you possess the promise. Father, would you minister right
Speaker 2: now to each son and daughter that you have called
Speaker 2: by name and chosen for this time, the grace that
Speaker 2: they need for their specific situation. You said to Paul,
Speaker 2: my grace is sufficient for you. I believe that promise
Speaker 2: is personal for me.
Speaker 1: And for them.
Speaker 2: I don't believe there's a situation in this room that
Speaker 2: you would not declare over My grace is enough. So
Speaker 2: we stand in the sufficiency of your Spirit and your
Speaker 2: son today and on every location. I come into agreement
Speaker 2: with your people that we will not waste our Angel.
Speaker 2: We will not waste this message. We will not waste
Speaker 2: this moment. You have brought us this far. You have
Speaker 2: brought us too far. You have been too good and
Speaker 2: done too much for us to stand outside of freedom,
Speaker 2: wishing about it, thinking about it and singing about it,
Speaker 2: but not experiencing it.
Speaker 1: I declare, in the name.
Speaker 3: Of Jesus, we shall be free. We shall possess the land.
Speaker 3: We shall inherit the promise. We shall receive all.
Speaker 2: That you'll die to provide. We shall rise as you
Speaker 2: are risen. Come on, put a sut on that people,
Speaker 2: put a sut on it.
Speaker 1: Put a sut on it.
Speaker 2: By faith, we will inherit the land God. I come
Speaker 2: against the spirit of discouragement today. The devil is a liar,
Speaker 2: that spirit that always tells us, what's the point, You're
Speaker 2: just like you were never gonna We say to that spirit,
Speaker 2: shut up. In the name of Jesus, you're already defeated.
Speaker 1: Get under our feet. We are the people of God.
Speaker 1: Get beneath us.
Speaker 2: Right now we are walking on what we used to.
Speaker 1: Run from in the name of Jesus. And every place
Speaker 1: we set.
Speaker 2: Our foot, You've already given it to us. If we step,
Speaker 2: you step, If we go, you go, If we will,
Speaker 2: you will.
Speaker 1: You are God, and we trusted you.
Speaker 2: We declare this day total victory.
Speaker 1: This is our declaration. 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 now,
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.