Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see Gods moving in your life. Enjoy the message, Hey,
Speaker 1: listen to this. Each year we provide the opportunity to
Speaker 1: give toward the growth of our church, this ministry, and
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God through a year end offering. A
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, we all joined together to finish
Speaker 1: twenty twenty with favor d y'all remember thousands of you
Speaker 1: brought your best gift and offering of worship for the
Speaker 1: King of Kings committed to tithe for the first time.
Speaker 1: And I think that's absolutely amazing, and I want to
Speaker 1: congratulate you and tell you to expect God to move
Speaker 1: in a great and supernatural way in your life because
Speaker 1: of your faith. I want to tell you that somebody
Speaker 1: put it in the chat again or say it out
Speaker 1: loud if you're here, He made a way and because
Speaker 1: of your giving, you made a way to give away.
Speaker 1: This is not how much we took in in the
Speaker 1: offerings so far, and there's still time to participate Elevation
Speaker 1: Church dot org slash Favor. But I felt this, it's
Speaker 1: not too late for favor. I don't know who this
Speaker 1: is for. It's not too late for favor, even if
Speaker 1: you're watching this weeks after I preach it, and we're
Speaker 1: already well into the year twenty twenty nine, living on
Speaker 1: Mars with Elon. It's not too late for favor. But
Speaker 1: this is what I wanted to celebrate. And I knew
Speaker 1: you would want to rejoice in the Lord and give
Speaker 1: thanks about the outreach money that we've given away already
Speaker 1: over one million dollars given not to the church but
Speaker 1: through the church. That's what's going back out. Come on,
Speaker 1: Let's give God a great praise for faithful people who
Speaker 1: know how to walk in the favor of God. We
Speaker 1: walk by faith, not by sight. So on, behalf of
Speaker 1: all of the pregnant mothers through the Human Coalition that
Speaker 1: we're helping on, behalf of those in Kenya, Haiti and
Speaker 1: the Congo through the Medical Benevolence Foundation. On, behalf of
Speaker 1: those in our community that are receiving financial literacy education.
Speaker 1: All of our mothers completing their degree across the country
Speaker 1: through safe journey and community and schools. I wanted to
Speaker 1: say thank you. You're the best church in the world.
Speaker 1: It's an honor to be your pastor, Holly, and I
Speaker 1: love you. Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?
Speaker 1: If not, put it in the chat and I'll see
Speaker 1: if I can. I'll see if i can work something out.
Speaker 1: That'd be fun. Everybody. If you didn't get what you
Speaker 1: wanted for Christmas, put it in the chat and I'm
Speaker 1: going to pick one person and send you what you
Speaker 1: didn't get this week. I'm going to do that. Put
Speaker 1: it in the chat, but not until you've gone to
Speaker 1: church dot Lord slash favor and given your tithe in
Speaker 1: that order, who's ready for the Word of God. Pastor
Speaker 1: rich Wilkerson Junior is in the house. This is my friend.
Speaker 1: He and his amazing wife Don Sheried are two of
Speaker 1: the most brilliant lights for Jesus Christ burning on the
Speaker 1: planet today. They pastor the Great Voo Church in Miami, Florida.
Speaker 1: We're honored to know you, honored to be friends with you.
Speaker 1: There's no one that we wanted to preach the last
Speaker 1: Sunday in the year, but you and trust me this church.
Speaker 1: This church has so many different people that come through.
Speaker 1: But I really prayed about it. Who should take us
Speaker 1: out of one year and into the other. And the
Speaker 1: Lord said, get rich, get rich. Everybody put in the chat,
Speaker 1: get rich, and right now you're about to get him.
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, everybody. I brought you an amazing preacher. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Elevation Ministries Global Apath. That's a rich Wilkerson. Oh,
Speaker 1: come on, church, why don't we go ahead and give Jesus,
Speaker 1: Come on a big shot of praise. Come on, anybody
Speaker 1: thankful that you're still here right now, come on and
Speaker 1: give him praise. It is so so good to be
Speaker 1: I just noticed that they took away the real pulpit.
Speaker 1: It gave me the miniature pulpit. But I like this.
Speaker 1: I love this church so very very much, and what
Speaker 1: an honor it is to be here. And all of
Speaker 1: the epham We're so glad that you're joining us on
Speaker 1: the last Sunday of the year. And help me think, man,
Speaker 1: it's not always how you start, but it's always about
Speaker 1: how you finish. Anybody grateful that you're finishing the year
Speaker 1: in church. I believe that God's gonna speak to us today.
Speaker 1: If you're in the auditorium, why don't you maybe you
Speaker 1: a airfist bump and say you look better than I remember.
Speaker 1: If you're in your living room, why don't you just
Speaker 1: hug that person because you're allowed to grab a seat
Speaker 1: all over the place, grab a bible. That's the cutest
Speaker 1: pulpit I have ever had in my entire life. It
Speaker 1: is honestly, such an honor, such a joy to be
Speaker 1: in Charlotte, North Carolina at Elevation Church. I just think
Speaker 1: that this is the greatest church. Anybody proud and grateful
Speaker 1: to be a part of Elevation Church. Oh, come on,
Speaker 1: we can do better than that. Come on. This is
Speaker 1: a church that's leading all across the world. And for
Speaker 1: my wife and I, we just honestly count it as
Speaker 1: one of the real privileges of our life and of
Speaker 1: our ministry to get to come and be here and
Speaker 1: share today and things like this. A ministry like this
Speaker 1: doesn't just happen. It happens because God of a man,
Speaker 1: and God appoints a woman and they give them a vision.
Speaker 1: And I just got to say to Pastor Stephen and
Speaker 1: Pastor Hawley, I don't have the words to articulate just
Speaker 1: how much your leadership and how much your friendship has
Speaker 1: meant in our lives. For many, many years from Afar,
Speaker 1: we have watched from a distance and been inspired and
Speaker 1: quite frankly, been so impressed with all that God has
Speaker 1: done with you. But it's been these last few years
Speaker 1: getting to be up close and personal with you, that
Speaker 1: I haven't just been impressed. I have been deeply encouraged
Speaker 1: and your life it just speaks volume. And honestly, I've
Speaker 1: got a message on my heart. But more importantly, honestly,
Speaker 1: I's almost more important than the message is for me
Speaker 1: to get up on this stage today, after the year
Speaker 1: we just had, after the year that so many of
Speaker 1: us in the Body of Price have gone through, and
Speaker 1: I just felt like it was part of my assignment
Speaker 1: to make sure I took a moment to say thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being stabled, thank you for walking in character,
Speaker 1: thank you for not flinching, thank you for having integrity,
Speaker 1: thank you for standing firm, thank you for not backing down.
Speaker 1: Thank you for continuing to create, thank you for continuing
Speaker 1: to have bold vision. Come on, somebody, can we thank
Speaker 1: God for the Man of God and the Woman of
Speaker 1: God and what they have meant for all of us.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You make it look
Speaker 1: way too easy, because what's happening here is not hard.
Speaker 1: It's impossible. And right before I come up on the stage,
Speaker 1: I was reminded that em Bounds quote the Great Scholar.
Speaker 1: He says, the church is looking for a method, but
Speaker 1: God is looking for a man. And people come from
Speaker 1: the east and the west and north and south to
Speaker 1: come and see the method of elevation Church. But guess
Speaker 1: what you just got to get next to the man
Speaker 1: and the woman of God. And that's where it's happening.
Speaker 1: And I just came to honor you today. We give
Speaker 1: honor where honors do all glory to God. But we
Speaker 1: give honor today to pastor Steve and Holly. Come on
Speaker 1: one more time in the chat. Can we just let
Speaker 1: them know on the last Sunday how thankful we are
Speaker 1: for them. I love you. I gotta do it. I
Speaker 1: gotta do it. My name is Rich I come from Miami, Florida.
Speaker 1: I lead a church called Vood Church. Really weird name
Speaker 1: for a church, but it's working out okay so far.
Speaker 1: My wife dontree, she is here with me today. We
Speaker 1: just celebrated fourteen years of marriage. I love your baby girl,
Speaker 1: and our church we launched it five years ago, and
Speaker 1: just so much of what's happening in Miami is due
Speaker 1: to the leadership of this house. And so what a joy,
Speaker 1: what a privilege it is to open up God's word.
Speaker 1: And I think this is an important Sunday because today,
Speaker 1: wherever you're tuning in from, I believe the fact that
Speaker 1: you're here it says a whole lot about you. I
Speaker 1: know this has been a shaky year, this has been
Speaker 1: an uncertain year, but I'm believing that we are going
Speaker 1: to finish strong Today. Mark chapter eight is where I
Speaker 1: want to read from. We gonna read a few verses
Speaker 1: and then you know, I had a great Christmas. I
Speaker 1: hope you had a great Christmas. But we've had the holidays,
Speaker 1: and I'm just glad to be in church on this Sunday.
Speaker 1: This is like one of the few times I've gotten
Speaker 1: to preach in front of a live audience. So I'm
Speaker 1: already feeling a little bit more normal. My faith is
Speaker 1: already being built a little bit. And so for the
Speaker 1: next I don't know, thirty minutes or so, I'm a
Speaker 1: holler like I got a word in my heart, and
Speaker 1: I'm all trust God that those of you on the
Speaker 1: other side of this camera are sensing what we are
Speaker 1: sensing in this room today. Mark chapter eight. Uh, look
Speaker 1: at me holding this bible. I left my bible on
Speaker 1: the airplane. The devil was already trying to mess with me.
Speaker 1: Got off the airplane, left my preaching bible, left my
Speaker 1: sword on the airplane. But praise God for Pastor Stephen.
Speaker 1: I got a different Bible, so it's going to work.
Speaker 1: Mark chapter eight. Here we go. I hope this one's anointed.
Speaker 1: Here we go. Mark chapter eight, verse twenty two. It
Speaker 1: says this. It says they came to Bethsadia, and some
Speaker 1: people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
Speaker 1: He Jesus took the line man by the hand and
Speaker 1: let him outside the village. When he had spit on
Speaker 1: the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked,
Speaker 1: do you see anything? He looked up and said, I
Speaker 1: see people. They looked like trees walking around. Watch this
Speaker 1: verse twenty five. Once more, everyone say once more. Once more.
Speaker 1: Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his
Speaker 1: eyes were opened. His sight was restored and he saw
Speaker 1: everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, don't go into
Speaker 1: the village. I want to take a few moments today
Speaker 1: and I want to use this text the last Sunday
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty we made it. I want to preach
Speaker 1: from this subject little by little, little by little, and
Speaker 1: I believe this is going to be a word in
Speaker 1: your This is gonna be a word in your heart today,
Speaker 1: and would just pray with me. Let's just invite God's
Speaker 1: presence into this place. Let's invite God to do what
Speaker 1: only he can do through this word. Lois, thank you
Speaker 1: that you're here, We thank you that you're moving. We
Speaker 1: thank you today God for this incredible year that we've
Speaker 1: walked through. While it was at times turbulent, Lord, we
Speaker 1: believe that we're coming out stronger than how we started.
Speaker 1: I pray now today, God that you would have your
Speaker 1: way in this place, that the e faan that's watching
Speaker 1: Lord would sense your presence in a mighty way, change us,
Speaker 1: transform us, heal us. May we never be the same again.
Speaker 1: We love you, Jesus, and in jesus mighty name, come on,
Speaker 1: if you grew with that prayer, all of God's people said,
Speaker 1: come on, All of God's people said, come on, if
Speaker 1: you love Jesus, make a little bit of noise all
Speaker 1: over this place. Oh, come on, you can do better
Speaker 1: than that. Give him a big shout. I grew up
Speaker 1: in a in a strong, strict Christian home. In fact,
Speaker 1: i'm four generations Pentecostal preacher. Amen. I like that he
Speaker 1: knows the cue right there, Amen. And I was just
Speaker 1: thinking about my childhood throughout this season. It's holiday season,
Speaker 1: and in my home, my parents just they had rules
Speaker 1: for rules, right, They just it was strict guidelines, just
Speaker 1: strong traditions. The fall is full of all these different holidays,
Speaker 1: you know, But in our house we would change holidays
Speaker 1: up or we would have traditions. For instance, we didn't
Speaker 1: celebrate Halloween. It was Hallelujah Day. Where's the real saints
Speaker 1: at Harvest Fest? Hello? You know what can you dress up?
Speaker 1: We're not goblins or skeletons. Were disciples. I mean, how
Speaker 1: many disciples can you be? You know, like, how do
Speaker 1: you differentiate yourself? You know, I got an ear in
Speaker 1: my hand. I'm Peter. Okay, we get it, you know,
Speaker 1: Like it's just how I grew up. Thanksgiving we do
Speaker 1: these big recitals. Everyone had to come and perform at
Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving Chris, My mom used to have this closet
Speaker 1: true Story in our house that gifts that were given
Speaker 1: to us that she didn't think that we needed true story,
Speaker 1: she would put them in the gift closet. Why so
Speaker 1: that when we had a function the following year that
Speaker 1: we needed a gift, there was always a gift on
Speaker 1: supplied to gift. Pray for me. I know my childhood
Speaker 1: was messed up. My first slow dance. Our God is
Speaker 1: an awesome God. I think some of you all parents
Speaker 1: out there, how to make your kids, you know, dance
Speaker 1: to do it again? I think we need to up
Speaker 1: the game with the DJ. The DJ at the party
Speaker 1: his name was Crazy Larry, had a red and stint
Speaker 1: pee tie on. He's like, all right, everybody, who's ready
Speaker 1: for the slow dance? Our God? He's an awesome gody.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what is this. It's just my childhood and
Speaker 1: we had traditions and I was just thinking about traditions
Speaker 1: on the way over here, and one of the traditions
Speaker 1: my mom had that that I appreciate now is maybe
Speaker 1: your parents did this too. But every year, like clockwork.
Speaker 1: My mom used to have this food pantry and she
Speaker 1: would take us inside the food pantry and on the
Speaker 1: backside of the door, she would line up all of
Speaker 1: my brothers. There's four of us. I have an older
Speaker 1: brother than two younger brothers. And every year she would
Speaker 1: line us up on this back of this pantry door
Speaker 1: and she would measure our height. And every year she
Speaker 1: would take a sharpie marker and she would mark the
Speaker 1: place of where a height is. And throughout the years,
Speaker 1: you know, it was fun to kind of come in
Speaker 1: there because you could you could see your growth from
Speaker 1: the year before, and to be honest with you, like
Speaker 1: most years, like there wasn't some big thing to see.
Speaker 1: I think the one year I hit puberty, you know,
Speaker 1: I gained a couple more inches than normal. But for
Speaker 1: the most part, if I'm being honest with you, the
Speaker 1: growth was gradual. In fact, if I'm really being honest
Speaker 1: as I'm thinking about it, unless I was measuring the growth,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have even known I had grown, because the
Speaker 1: growth was just little by little. I wonder today if
Speaker 1: this is actually how faith works. I wonder if some
Speaker 1: of us in this room and those of us that
Speaker 1: are watching online. I wonder if part of our problem,
Speaker 1: especially with twenty twenty, is that when we think about faith,
Speaker 1: we only have one category of words associated with faith supernatural, phenomenal, suddenly, suddenly, immediate.
Speaker 1: And I'm not against these words. I like these words,
Speaker 1: but I'm concerned if these are the only words that
Speaker 1: are associated with your faith. What happens is is we
Speaker 1: find ourselves in seasons where we are struggling, and the
Speaker 1: reason why we're struggling is because we only have one
Speaker 1: picture of what faith looks like. And there's people today
Speaker 1: that are watching on the last Sunday of the year,
Speaker 1: and you're struggling in your faith. In many cases, you're
Speaker 1: frustrated with God, maybe you're disappointed with yourself, maybe you're
Speaker 1: offended with other people. Why because you've got the wrong
Speaker 1: measuring stick? You say, why do I feel this way?
Speaker 1: Many of us the big problem when it comes to
Speaker 1: our faith. If we could just really narrow it down,
Speaker 1: if we could just really simplify it, if we could
Speaker 1: really get to the root problem. The problem is it's
Speaker 1: just all going too slow. It's just not happening as
Speaker 1: fast as I thought it would. I thought by now
Speaker 1: I would have had the promotion. I thought by now
Speaker 1: I wouldn't still be controlled by my schedule. I thought
Speaker 1: by now I would be married. Hello, there's still time
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. I thought by now we would have
Speaker 1: conceived a child. I thought by now that I would
Speaker 1: have had a breakthrough. I thought by now I would
Speaker 1: have been healed. I thought by now I would have
Speaker 1: paid off my bills. I thought by now I would
Speaker 1: be farther than I really actually am. All but, friends,
Speaker 1: I wish today that we had a pantry door measuring
Speaker 1: stick for your faith, because something tells me, if you
Speaker 1: could look back throughout the years, what you would discover
Speaker 1: is that mark by mark, you have been maturing, you
Speaker 1: have been growing. It's just been gradual. It's just been
Speaker 1: little by little. I know you're not where you want
Speaker 1: to be yet, but baby, you have come a long way.
Speaker 1: Come on, anybody thankful that you've come a long way
Speaker 1: on this journey. You're growing gradually. In fact, say that
Speaker 1: all I'll say. I'm growing gradually. I'm growing gradually. It's
Speaker 1: little by little. I love the quote by J. R. Tolkien.
Speaker 1: He's the one who wrote The Hobbit and Lord of
Speaker 1: the Rings, and he says, little by little, one travels far.
Speaker 1: God speaks to the Israelites in Deuteronomy, and he says,
Speaker 1: little by little, you will take the nations. Don't be
Speaker 1: surprised when you ask God for miracles if he answers
Speaker 1: you with gradual change. I just think, when I look
Speaker 1: back on this year, if I had the pantry door
Speaker 1: measuring stick, it wouldn't be impressive. It would just be
Speaker 1: little by little, I'm further than when I started. See
Speaker 1: what I love about God, and I just this is
Speaker 1: just where I feel like we're supposed to end this year.
Speaker 1: What I love about God is not all of God's
Speaker 1: miracles are immediate. Some of God's miracles are progressive. They
Speaker 1: don't happen overnight. They happen over time. What if I
Speaker 1: told you, come on you, fam, I could teach you
Speaker 1: how to grow. I just can't teach you how to
Speaker 1: grow overnight. What if I told you I could teach
Speaker 1: you some principles and some keys and some think steps
Speaker 1: you could take. I just can't teach you how to
Speaker 1: grow overnight. I can teach you how to grow over time.
Speaker 1: And what I love about Mark chapter eight, the text
Speaker 1: that we have today in front of us, I just think.
Speaker 1: I think it's such a great text for us to
Speaker 1: end this year on, because what you have in Mark
Speaker 1: chapter eight is you have a story of a miracle
Speaker 1: in motion. You have a progressive miracle, you have a
Speaker 1: gradual game, you have a phenomenon in process. It's a
Speaker 1: slow bro Sometimes when you grow, it feels slow. And
Speaker 1: today I just want us to walk through the verses,
Speaker 1: and I want to encourage your spirit as you're coming
Speaker 1: to the end of this year, do not miss the
Speaker 1: praise party. Why would you want to step into twenty
Speaker 1: twenty Listen, I'm telling you an If you can get
Speaker 1: a revelation to praise God in twenty twenty, woo, there's
Speaker 1: no telling what the praise is going to be like
Speaker 1: in twenty t twenty one. I would step into this
Speaker 1: year praising God with your spiritual family. But before we
Speaker 1: get there, let's just start right here today with Mark
Speaker 1: chapter eight, and let's look at this picture, this story
Speaker 1: of a little by little miracle. The scripture says in
Speaker 1: Mark chapter eight, verse twenty two, it says they came
Speaker 1: to Bethsadia and some people, everyone say some people. Some
Speaker 1: people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
Speaker 1: I just want to stop because I want to give
Speaker 1: you the context of what's taking place in Mark eight.
Speaker 1: In Mark eight, Jesus has just finished feeding four thousand people,
Speaker 1: and now he has got his crew, his posse, his disciples,
Speaker 1: and they are walking into this village known as beth Sadia.
Speaker 1: And when he gets to beth Sadia, a group of
Speaker 1: people come over and they begged Jesus. They say, Jesus, please,
Speaker 1: can you touch this man who is blind? He can't
Speaker 1: see anything, and we believe if you touch him, you
Speaker 1: can heal him. What I wanted to stop for just
Speaker 1: for a moment, because I just know that there's some
Speaker 1: faithful people that have been a part of Elevation Church
Speaker 1: for many years, that had been on the journey for
Speaker 1: a decade, that had been sowing, that had been giving,
Speaker 1: that had been praying. Please understand that God uses people
Speaker 1: to bring people to Jesus. I just want you to
Speaker 1: see it. It's just it's really simple. We don't know
Speaker 1: their names. All we know is some people see. If
Speaker 1: we're all being honest, that no doubt right, God gets
Speaker 1: the glory. He's the one who performs the miracle. But
Speaker 1: what you'll notice throughout the scriptures is the scriptures don't
Speaker 1: shy away from the fact that He invites you and
Speaker 1: I in to be a part of the process of
Speaker 1: the miracle. Remember in One Corinthians chapter three, where Paul says,
Speaker 1: I planted seed a Paula's watered seed, but only God
Speaker 1: makes it grow. He's giving God glory, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: stop or negate the simple truth that you and I
Speaker 1: get to plant. You and I get to water. And
Speaker 1: if you're watching it, I know there's some people that
Speaker 1: I watched it. If you just think about it for
Speaker 1: a moment, just consider how many people were a part
Speaker 1: of you coming to know Jesus. Just none of us
Speaker 1: can truly say it was just me and God. All
Speaker 1: of us have to say, oh man, there was that
Speaker 1: coworker who kept inviting me. There was that friend that said, hey,
Speaker 1: why don't you turn your browser onto Elevation Church and
Speaker 1: listen to my pastor. There was that spouse who was gracious.
Speaker 1: Come on. There was that book that captured you. There
Speaker 1: was that song that melt you. There was that grandmother
Speaker 1: who never quit praying for you. Come on, anybody thankful
Speaker 1: out there for a loved one who said I'll stand
Speaker 1: in the gap. I'll keep on praying I will be
Speaker 1: a part of the some people. I wonder today, do
Speaker 1: we want to be a part of the some people?
Speaker 1: That's how God moves. He finds some people that will
Speaker 1: say no, Servian is not beneath me. Therefore, leadership is
Speaker 1: not beyond me. It's just about It's just about some people.
Speaker 1: The question comes to all of us. And this is
Speaker 1: the question you have to ask, do you care more
Speaker 1: about titles or testimonies because we don't get their names,
Speaker 1: Like I could just camp here all day. It doesn't
Speaker 1: say Deacon so and so, it doesn't say pastor so
Speaker 1: and so, it doesn't say mister missus. It just says
Speaker 1: some people, just some people. I'm just part of the
Speaker 1: some people. I'm just I'm just here to help be
Speaker 1: a vehicle. I'm just here to help people meet Jesus.
Speaker 1: Talk about this favor offering. There's still time to be
Speaker 1: a part of this offering. But please make no mistake
Speaker 1: about it. This money is designated to help accelerate the vision.
Speaker 1: We got great programs, We've got great expansion ideas. It's
Speaker 1: awesome the things that Elevation is gonna do. This is
Speaker 1: one of the most trustworthy places that you can sow ascend.
Speaker 1: This is healthy, healthy soil. Listen, seed is cheap, soil
Speaker 1: is expensive. Find a place that's got some healthy soil.
Speaker 1: Take your little and watch how God will turn it
Speaker 1: in to Ah. Come on, somebody, this is healthy soil.
Speaker 1: But let's just be real. You want to know why
Speaker 1: we're giving in the favor offering. You want to know
Speaker 1: why we're giving above and beyond at the year end.
Speaker 1: It's not so the budgets can be met. It's not
Speaker 1: so we can turn the lights on. It's because we
Speaker 1: want to see people who are far from God, people
Speaker 1: who are desperate. We want to see them encounter the
Speaker 1: love of Jesus Christ. Come on, somebody given praise today.
Speaker 1: I want to be a part of the sum people God.
Speaker 1: I don't care about a title. I just want the
Speaker 1: end of my life that I wasn't collecting titles. I
Speaker 1: was collect testimonies. I saw God move in my lifetime. No,
Speaker 1: you don't know my name, but I got a feeling
Speaker 1: you're gonna know his name. I saw God move, I
Speaker 1: saw God meet our needs. I saw God heal blinded eyes.
Speaker 1: I collected testimonies. You gotta decide are you do you
Speaker 1: want titles or do you want testimonies? Do you want testimonies?
Speaker 1: And these people they just they just want to see
Speaker 1: God move and they bring this man to Jesus, and
Speaker 1: like Jesus, they beg him. We don't know their names,
Speaker 1: please touch him now. Now you can read this and
Speaker 1: quickly if you if you don't just do a little
Speaker 1: bit of context study, you would miss how scandalous this
Speaker 1: request is. Jesus at the time is considered a rabbi,
Speaker 1: a Jewish rabbi, and rabbis they don't go around touching
Speaker 1: people that are sick or touching blinded eyes. Why because
Speaker 1: the paradigm or the theology or the thinking of the
Speaker 1: day was was that your your ailment or your sickness
Speaker 1: was a result of your sin. And so rabbis couldn't
Speaker 1: touch something that was considered sinful because that would make
Speaker 1: them unclean. But thank God that Jesus is not some
Speaker 1: regular rabbi. Thank God that Jesus stepped out of divinity
Speaker 1: and wrapped himself up in humanity, and he came to
Speaker 1: touch the messiest areas of our life. He came to
Speaker 1: touch the broken areas, the areas that you have been
Speaker 1: hiding the areas that you don't want anybody to see
Speaker 1: or notice. He came to take your mess turn it
Speaker 1: into greatness, because whatever he touches, he always transforms. Whatever
Speaker 1: Jesus touches, he transformed. Anybody out there thankful that God
Speaker 1: touched you. Come on, anybody in the chat right now,
Speaker 1: can you just witness and testify He touched me and
Speaker 1: touched me. Church is Bundy to me because right there's
Speaker 1: things that we say in church sometimes that we don't
Speaker 1: always think about how hilarious they are, you know, like
Speaker 1: we have all these cliches and things that we do.
Speaker 1: Even right now today, I'm doing things that only a
Speaker 1: subculture of Christians would understand. You know, God is good
Speaker 1: and all the time. Let go and you guys know
Speaker 1: my messages. You're covered by the blood of the Lamb.
Speaker 1: Can you like imagine if you're a guest covered? But
Speaker 1: I don't want that. I was preaching one dive Bastor
Speaker 1: Steven at a conference. I'll never forget it. And the
Speaker 1: preacher was good. He was he had the group going
Speaker 1: and they were fired up. And some preachers can just
Speaker 1: say the coolest stuff from the microphone. I haven't. I
Speaker 1: haven't learned this yet. But he was preaching and he
Speaker 1: was like, I don't drop F bombs. I dropped J bombs.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what does that even mean. We're like, nobody
Speaker 1: knows what it means, but it's provocative and it certainly
Speaker 1: gets the people going. He goes, I don't have an
Speaker 1: AK forty seven, I have a John three point sixteen.
Speaker 1: He went, good, good, good, people were standing wing. Oh.
Speaker 1: I was like, I want to do that, so I
Speaker 1: think it's real good in you're living room. Well, no,
Speaker 1: it's not a demon, it's the Holy Spirit working. I'm
Speaker 1: thankful that God touched me. He touched me. We started
Speaker 1: our church five years ago and I remember as we
Speaker 1: started to grow, it started to grow, and it was
Speaker 1: actually quick growth. We went from one service to two services,
Speaker 1: to three services, to four services to five services. At
Speaker 1: one point we were in six services and a small
Speaker 1: little auditorium in Wyndwood nine am, eleven am, one pm,
Speaker 1: four pm, six pm, eight pm. I'd preach all six
Speaker 1: of them. I was just oh, let's go. You know,
Speaker 1: you get done. You're like, I think I need therapy.
Speaker 1: And it was it was hard starting the church because
Speaker 1: you know, you're trying to build a culture, and you're
Speaker 1: trying to get people to lean in and believe. And
Speaker 1: I remember at the time it was really difficult because
Speaker 1: we were trying to build up the parking Lot team,
Speaker 1: and in Miami we have what you kind of call
Speaker 1: what would you say? What would I say? It's the
Speaker 1: weather is unpredictable, it's not hot, it's hot hot, it
Speaker 1: doesn't rain, it rain rains. It's all to the second Power, okay.
Speaker 1: And like to this day, I've never met only at
Speaker 1: Elevation Church where you find someone who's like, I am
Speaker 1: called to park cars for Jesus. Like most people don't.
Speaker 1: That's not their spiritual gift, you know. They're like they're like, nah,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'mnna be on the stage, bro, you know, like,
Speaker 1: not the parking lot. And it was these early days,
Speaker 1: and so I was trying to build morale, and so
Speaker 1: I would go out to the parking lot and that's
Speaker 1: been the first fifteen minutes. No, let's go do it
Speaker 1: for Jesus, you know, parking the cars, rallying the team,
Speaker 1: let's go guys. That I'd run in, I'd preach my
Speaker 1: message that I'd get out to the park lot. They
Speaker 1: thought it was a magic trick through I got weren't
Speaker 1: you just in there? I'm like, nah, I'm just that good,
Speaker 1: you know, and parking these cars and I'll never forget
Speaker 1: one time it maybe laugh so hard. I'm in the
Speaker 1: parking lot. It's about fifteen minutes in the service, and
Speaker 1: I've got a bunch of the guys around. We were
Speaker 1: parking the cars, and this woman drives in and when
Speaker 1: she drives in, she can't believe that I'm out there,
Speaker 1: and so she's way over in the distance. But she
Speaker 1: turns her car around and she starts driving it over
Speaker 1: towards me, and she's getting excited. I'm getting excited. I
Speaker 1: like people like, oh, she's excited. I'm excited. And she
Speaker 1: just starts to pray like she's just testifying. She's like, oh,
Speaker 1: God is good. She's going off. She's praising God. And
Speaker 1: she rolls her window down. Got a group of people
Speaker 1: now around me. She's like, pastor rich, Oh, this is
Speaker 1: such a miraculous moment meeting you. I want to let
Speaker 1: you know that last weekend you touched me. Well, ma'am,
Speaker 1: excuse me, lower your voice. She wouldn't stop. She said, oh,
Speaker 1: you touched me. Oh, he touched me. Oh, rich you
Speaker 1: touched me. And finally, after the third time, I understood
Speaker 1: what she meant. I said, Oh, I kind of laughed
Speaker 1: and shut up. Please, I said, ma'am respectfully, No, I
Speaker 1: did not, but I know who did. His name is
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of lords, and he's
Speaker 1: still touching people today. Is there anybody out there who's
Speaker 1: thankful that God touched you to transform you, that when
Speaker 1: he found you, he didn't leave you in your brokenness?
Speaker 1: Do you want a journey? He's still touching people today. Oh,
Speaker 1: he touched me. And Jesus, Hey, bring this man to Jesus,
Speaker 1: and he touches the blind man. But notice about Jesus.
Speaker 1: When Jesus touches you, he always touches you to take
Speaker 1: you on a journey. He doesn't leave us here. It's
Speaker 1: little by little, the scripture says in verse twenty three,
Speaker 1: it's just beautiful, Jesus, Would you touch this man? Would
Speaker 1: you touch this man? He's not afraid of your broken area,
Speaker 1: he's not afraid of your hidden area. He touches us,
Speaker 1: and he grabs the man by the hand. The scriptureays
Speaker 1: verse twenty three he took the blind man by the
Speaker 1: hand and led him outside the village. Took him outside
Speaker 1: the village. I'm just want you to see this. He
Speaker 1: hasn't healed the man yet. Please heal him MEA grabs
Speaker 1: his hand and walks him outside the village. I don't
Speaker 1: know what it was about the village and why Jesus
Speaker 1: doesn't do the miracle in the village. What I do
Speaker 1: know is that when it comes to Jesus, I do
Speaker 1: know that environment is so very, very important. And what
Speaker 1: I do know is that many of us, the reason
Speaker 1: why we can't find ourselves sustaining change is because we
Speaker 1: continue to live in a toxic environment. And I can't
Speaker 1: say for certain as to why Jesus didn't just heal
Speaker 1: him right there, but something in my spirit tells me
Speaker 1: it's because Jesus is sensitive and he's doing something quite
Speaker 1: significant in the man's life. I believe that Jesus is
Speaker 1: taking this man on a journey, and the reason why
Speaker 1: he's taking the man on the journey is because he
Speaker 1: wants to give him spiritual sight before he gives him
Speaker 1: physical sight. Better to be blind walking with Jesus than
Speaker 1: to be able to see and go alone and so
Speaker 1: Jesus graciously, mercifully grabs him by the hand and just
Speaker 1: starts walking with him. Why because Jesus as establishing faith
Speaker 1: in his life. Faith is not about physical sight. In fact,
Speaker 1: by definition, faith is being sure of what we hope
Speaker 1: for and certain of what we cannot see. It is
Speaker 1: impossible to please God without faith. We don't walk by sight,
Speaker 1: we walk by faith. Why do we need faith? We
Speaker 1: do not need faith to simply get an external blessing,
Speaker 1: simply to get our back pain, to go away, to
Speaker 1: simply see disease gone. I believe in all that stuff.
Speaker 1: If you've got sickness in your body, we're gonna pray
Speaker 1: and plead the blood of Jesus over you. But please understand,
Speaker 1: it's far more important than that. The reason why Jesus
Speaker 1: gives you faith is because you need faith to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: You don't need physical eyesight to follow Jesus. You're going
Speaker 1: to need some faith to follow Jesus. And before Jesus
Speaker 1: gives this man physical sight, he says, I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you internal faith. I don't know what it is, but
Speaker 1: I have discovered that some of the most deep and
Speaker 1: intimate things that God has done in my life have
Speaker 1: not happened with the crowd. They have happened in places
Speaker 1: of solitude. Please learn today there is a difference between
Speaker 1: being around God and being alone with God. I'm misgathering
Speaker 1: in person, and I can't wait for the day that
Speaker 1: I can get back in that room. Faith is tangible.
Speaker 1: You ever been in a room before? Back Man, There's
Speaker 1: something in this thing, There's something going on in here.
Speaker 1: It's called faith. The problem is a lot of people
Speaker 1: walk into a faith environment and they convince themselves they're
Speaker 1: on fire for Jesus. But when they get out into
Speaker 1: the storms of life, they discover they were just sensing
Speaker 1: the heat from everyone else surround them. Faith comes from solitude.
Speaker 1: Solitude is different from isolation. Isolation leads to loneliness. Solitude
Speaker 1: leads to fulfillment. I'm not alone when I'm alone with Jesus,
Speaker 1: not lonely when it's just me and Jesus. And to
Speaker 1: get that kind of faith, he has to take me
Speaker 1: outside of the village. I have to get away from
Speaker 1: the crowd. I'm glad that we're gathering today. I want
Speaker 1: to plant a seed of faith in your heart that
Speaker 1: you will reap as you step into twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: But please listen to me. We do not just need
Speaker 1: faith on Sunday, No, sir. We need faith when our
Speaker 1: world has fallen apart. We need faith when our marriage
Speaker 1: is barely hanging on. We need faith when we find
Speaker 1: out from the doctor it's cancer and there's no answer. Oh,
Speaker 1: come on, somebody. Is there anybody out there who wants
Speaker 1: God to establish faith in your life. He's serving the man.
Speaker 1: Faith is not about spiritual superiority. It's about spiritual survival.
Speaker 1: I won't make it without this lesson. Come on now,
Speaker 1: and you want to feel like you got taken out
Speaker 1: of the village in twenty twenty it's been nine months
Speaker 1: since our church has gathered. But I wonder, I wonder,
Speaker 1: is Jesus just get in person, one by one and
Speaker 1: just saying, Hey, your faith is getting deeper. I know
Speaker 1: you feel like you're blind, but you're about to see
Speaker 1: better than you've ever seen before. Just keep walking. You
Speaker 1: don't just need faith for healing. You need faith to follow.
Speaker 1: And the scripture says in verse twenty three, watch this.
Speaker 1: It's just gonna When Jesus spit on the man's eyes
Speaker 1: and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, do you
Speaker 1: see anything? Can we just stop for a moment. Jesus
Speaker 1: takes him, he still doesn't heal him. He's walked him
Speaker 1: outside the village. Now he's talking to him, and the
Speaker 1: first thing he does is he spits on the man's eyes.
Speaker 1: How bad you want to get healed? Spin on me? Lord.
Speaker 1: You know what's fascinating to me about this text is
Speaker 1: there seven different accounts of Jesus healing blind men in
Speaker 1: the New Testament, and every time Jesus heals someone who's blind,
Speaker 1: he does it a different way. But I wonder, I
Speaker 1: just wonder, you know, sometimes I read the stories and
Speaker 1: I just try to put myself into the store. I
Speaker 1: just wonder if this man, while he's with Jesus, I
Speaker 1: wonder if he's kind of frustrated. I wonder if he's
Speaker 1: like I wonder if he's heard of the other stories
Speaker 1: where Jesus has healed people. I wonder if he's going yo, like,
Speaker 1: I know, we're walking, but I'm still not seeing anything.
Speaker 1: I wonder if he's disappointed because all of the other
Speaker 1: stories that he's heard about Jesus did it quickly, but
Speaker 1: it seems like with him, he's doing it slowly. Many
Speaker 1: of you that are in the chat today, you're watching
Speaker 1: and you're so frustrated because you're looking around left and
Speaker 1: right and you're comparing you're today to somebody else's and
Speaker 1: you're going but they're growing and they're flourishing. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's really the case. I just wonder if
Speaker 1: every time you check in on them, all you're seeing
Speaker 1: is the marks on the pantry door that you weren't
Speaker 1: there for the gradual growth. You weren't there for the
Speaker 1: little by little. You're comparing your slow to their fast,
Speaker 1: and it's leaving you in a place that you are discouraged.
Speaker 1: Jesus spits on the man's eyes and he asked the man.
Speaker 1: He says, do you see anything? I think this is
Speaker 1: a profound question, because ultimately, this is one of the
Speaker 1: questions that Jesus was constantly and continually trying to get
Speaker 1: across in his ministry on the Earth. In fact, it's
Speaker 1: a fun word study, like grab your concordance. If you
Speaker 1: got some time before the New year and look up
Speaker 1: the words see in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and
Speaker 1: you will discover it just shows up over and over
Speaker 1: and over again that in all of Jesus's ministry, one
Speaker 1: of his greatest frustrations was trying to get those around
Speaker 1: him to see what he could see. Can I just
Speaker 1: speak to the Epham and everybody right now at home?
Speaker 1: What you see today is still in the beginning stages
Speaker 1: for what I believe, all that Pastor Stephen and Pastor
Speaker 1: Hawley still see for tomorrow. It's so important that we
Speaker 1: continue to create an environment that we can learn how
Speaker 1: to see the way that they see. Because God gives
Speaker 1: us leaders who have vision. And God is asking you
Speaker 1: today do you see anything? What do you see? Do
Speaker 1: you see anything? And it's important to God that you
Speaker 1: start to see. I'm not talking about physical eyesight. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about seeing with spiritual eyes that God wants to
Speaker 1: give you a vision. Close your eyes, what do you see?
Speaker 1: Faith is the absence of sense. Faith doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: And God gives us a vision? Why? Because vision gives
Speaker 1: pain purpose. Many of us we keep quitting and we
Speaker 1: keep backing down because we lose the vision. We don't
Speaker 1: see anything, and God says, what do you see? Vision
Speaker 1: gives pain purpose, Vision creates passion, and vision gives direction.
Speaker 1: I wanted to say it to you this way today,
Speaker 1: where you're headed is better than where you have been.
Speaker 1: There is more to come in twenty twenty one. Come on, somebody,
Speaker 1: if you believe it, thank God in advance. What do
Speaker 1: you see? What do you see? I'm a man? In
Speaker 1: verse twenty four, he looked up and said, I see people.
Speaker 1: They look like trees walking around. What a peculiar thing
Speaker 1: to say. He opens his eyes and says, I see
Speaker 1: trees and they look like people walking around. I think
Speaker 1: it's really peculiar because obviously he's not seeing clearly yet.
Speaker 1: Still Jesus has touched him, Jesus has walked with him,
Speaker 1: Jesus has spit on him. I could preach that one
Speaker 1: of these days. And now Jesus has asked him, do
Speaker 1: you see? And the man still goes now, I see people.
Speaker 1: They look like trees walking around. What a peculiar thing
Speaker 1: to say. I heard one preacher one time say, oh,
Speaker 1: this is because the man was now seen with spiritual
Speaker 1: lenses and the people walking around that look like trees.
Speaker 1: Well that's because that's a metaphor of playing the long game,
Speaker 1: and that you and I were called to be like
Speaker 1: trees planted by living water. We're not called to be
Speaker 1: like the grass that withers and fades, were called to
Speaker 1: be like trees that bend and do not break. I
Speaker 1: thought that was beautiful. But I'm just not that spiritual.
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit more practical than that. I think
Speaker 1: the obvious reason why the man looks up and says,
Speaker 1: I see people and they look like trees is because
Speaker 1: the man still does not have his eyesight back. And
Speaker 1: what we are witnessing is we are witnessing a gradual miracle.
Speaker 1: We are witnessing a miracle in process. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just I got to make an observation. If you
Speaker 1: were born blind, you would not know what people look like.
Speaker 1: If you were born blind, you wouldn't know what trees
Speaker 1: look like. It leads mean to bely that this man
Speaker 1: was not born blind, but instead this man lost his
Speaker 1: vision along the way. I wonder if you're watching today
Speaker 1: and this year twenty twenty has taken your vision. I
Speaker 1: wonder if this year has taken your dream. I wonder
Speaker 1: if this year has taken your calling. I wonder if
Speaker 1: you lost your marriage. I wonder if you lost your business.
Speaker 1: I wonder if you lost some friendships. Can I prophesy today,
Speaker 1: can I declare to every home and household that which
Speaker 1: the devil stole? I declare you can get it back
Speaker 1: in Jesus. Come on, somebody give him praise all over
Speaker 1: this place, give him praise today. I'm gonna need some help,
Speaker 1: worship team. You can get it back that which you lost.
Speaker 1: I declare you can get it back in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: Why because verse twenty five says once more, Everyone say
Speaker 1: once more, once more Jesus put his hands on the
Speaker 1: man's eyes. Oh can I tell you today that you
Speaker 1: serve the once more God. Come on, anybody believe in
Speaker 1: the once more God, the miracle, wonder working power of Jesus. Friends,
Speaker 1: This this is grace. This is grace that God comes
Speaker 1: to us when we cannot get to him, and he
Speaker 1: touches us once more once more. I grew up in
Speaker 1: church and we just to have these things called alter calls.
Speaker 1: And in the church I grew up in Yo, you
Speaker 1: know you there, like my dad would preach. If he
Speaker 1: saw me talking, he would call me out in the sermon,
Speaker 1: Hey boy, shut up, just wet my pants. And I
Speaker 1: can just remember so many times every service an altar call.
Speaker 1: Do you ever have that moment where you just you're
Speaker 1: in God's presence and the man or the woman that's
Speaker 1: bringing the word, it's like it's coming right for you.
Speaker 1: You get that moment where your heart's beating, you know,
Speaker 1: your palms are sweating. It's not an eminem song, it's
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. And I can just remember throughout my
Speaker 1: teenage years, just how many you know, people talk about
Speaker 1: these these moments that like, just that's the day I
Speaker 1: get my life to Jesus. And I never wavered. That's
Speaker 1: not my story. I don't know how many times I
Speaker 1: walk that long aisle. I don't know how many alter
Speaker 1: calls I responded to, but it was a lot. Thank
Speaker 1: you God for your grace, and I I just remember
Speaker 1: coming to the altar and going, God, come on, you
Speaker 1: can't forgive me again. God, it's the same thing I know.
Speaker 1: I'm I did it again. I lost it again. I'm
Speaker 1: messed up again. Do you have any more chances? Do
Speaker 1: you have any more opportunities? And every time, every time,
Speaker 1: and He's saying it right now, God, how much moist
Speaker 1: is once more? Once more? Once more? More? I'm not
Speaker 1: finished with you. Being confident of he who began a
Speaker 1: good work and you will carry it out into completion
Speaker 1: once more, the scripture says in verse twenty five says,
Speaker 1: then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and
Speaker 1: he saw everything clearly. That word restored means to be
Speaker 1: brought back to its original state. Anyone ever have that thought?
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty, can we get a do over? Remember
Speaker 1: the Nintendo when that game wasn't working when you pulled
Speaker 1: it out. I felt like that a couple of times
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. Reset Please Reset, Please God, God's like
Speaker 1: restore to the original state. This is why Jesus came.
Speaker 1: He came on a restoration mission. Ever since Genesis three,
Speaker 1: when man sinned and shame has come into the world
Speaker 1: and death, Jesus came not just to save us. He
Speaker 1: came to restore us. I have this old Jeep and
Speaker 1: it sits in my driveway. I've had it since I
Speaker 1: was seventeen. It's paid off, It's just this beautiful car.
Speaker 1: I just love it. It's just been a part of
Speaker 1: my childhood and I've just kept it and I don't
Speaker 1: drive it much. In fact, I haven't driven it for
Speaker 1: like six months. And the other day I wanted to
Speaker 1: use it and I came out, and when I opened
Speaker 1: the door, I was shocked because the whole entire car
Speaker 1: was full of mildew and mold. The steering wool was green,
Speaker 1: and the front seat was green. And I said, how
Speaker 1: on earth did this happen? The car when it started,
Speaker 1: when it worked, And then I discovered that I had
Speaker 1: just I left the window just cracks, just a little bit,
Speaker 1: just a little crack, let the rain water get in.
Speaker 1: Isn't it amazing that when we just leave a little
Speaker 1: crack to a heart, how the enemy can get a
Speaker 1: foothold and some of us it was just a little
Speaker 1: bit of dishonesty, but it's just started to corrupt that heart.
Speaker 1: Was it was just a little window in the marriage
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, and it just the things deteriorating. It
Speaker 1: was just a little bit of just a little bit
Speaker 1: of a lack of character when it came to our business.
Speaker 1: It was just a little bit of not serving, a
Speaker 1: little bit of not giving. And I don't know what happened,
Speaker 1: but I reminded of when the Theologian, when Solomon says,
Speaker 1: above all else, guard that heart, for it's the wellspring
Speaker 1: of life. Keep that window close, don't you open up
Speaker 1: that window. It seeps in and lets the wrong stuff in,
Speaker 1: and it's just a little bit. It's just a little bit.
Speaker 1: But Jesus, he doesn't shy away. He touches the man,
Speaker 1: and when he touches the man once more, his eyes
Speaker 1: are restored back to the original state. He can see clearly.
Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson, he says it this way. He says that
Speaker 1: the man could see clearly with twenty twenty vision. Anybody
Speaker 1: feel like it took twenty twenty to give you twenty
Speaker 1: twenty spiritual vision. Anyone feel like out there that you
Speaker 1: had to go through some shaking, you had to go
Speaker 1: through some turbulence, you had to go through some pain
Speaker 1: that your eyes might be opened up. Oh. I want
Speaker 1: to say to people out there right now, to some
Speaker 1: of you, you have been waiting a long time. Some
Speaker 1: of you you're on the brink of giving up. But
Speaker 1: I would say, don't give up, hang on, keep on waiting.
Speaker 1: You're going on. I've just been waiting so long. No, no no, no, friend,
Speaker 1: you are not waiting. God is restoring. I know, but
Speaker 1: I've been waiting so so long. No, no no, you're not waiting.
Speaker 1: God is restoring. God is bringing you back to the
Speaker 1: original state. Keep the window up, keep your heart sealed up,
Speaker 1: keep it closed up. He's bringing you back, He's restoring you.
Speaker 1: Some of you know the story of Dontrie and I.
Speaker 1: We went eight years on an infertility journey. Eight years,
Speaker 1: could not have kids, talk to doctor after doctor, couldn't
Speaker 1: seem to find the miracle. I love our God. Its
Speaker 1: scripture says he gives every good and perfect gift. God
Speaker 1: doesn't have a good plan for you, friend, he has
Speaker 1: the best planned for you. We came to a revelation
Speaker 1: somewhere on the journey. It feels like we're blind out
Speaker 1: here in the village. But guess what. It's better to
Speaker 1: be blind with Jesus than to have eyesight and have
Speaker 1: a baby in our hands. If we never get a baby,
Speaker 1: Jesus is more than enough. Our family is complete in Jesus.
Speaker 1: But don't you We just love God. Eight years of trying.
Speaker 1: That number eight means the number of new beginnings. January
Speaker 1: of twenty eighteen, my wife gave birth to our firstborn son,
Speaker 1: Wyatt Wesley will Curson. He's a miracle boy. We were happy.
Speaker 1: We thought we won the lotto. Yo, I got a son. Yo,
Speaker 1: this is my son, whom I love and then will please.
Speaker 1: But God's like, nah nah, I'm the God who gives
Speaker 1: you double for your trouble. And so that's why this passed.
Speaker 1: October in twenty nineteen, my wife gave birth to our
Speaker 1: second born son, wild Wesley will Curson. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: got two boys. I can't even carry my blessing. I
Speaker 1: can barely hold them. We're good, God, We're good. But
Speaker 1: God's like, nah, nah nah, that ain't cool. I'm still
Speaker 1: working something in your life. Don Shree can't be in
Speaker 1: that house with three men. She's going to need a
Speaker 1: companion herself. That's why I'm proud to announce in July
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one, my wife is gonna have our
Speaker 1: third child. It's a baby girl whoa I would say
Speaker 1: to you, if the vision seems flow in coming, wait
Speaker 1: for for those that wait upon the Lord shall renew
Speaker 1: their strength. You're not waiting. He's restoring. He's restoring. This
Speaker 1: year's been long, but he's restoring. He's restoring. I gotta
Speaker 1: I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go. But
Speaker 1: I love Jesus he does. This progressive New yoricle didn't
Speaker 1: happen overnight. It happened over time, my jeep, it just
Speaker 1: got restored. I drove it to my friend. I said,
Speaker 1: bro help me, and over time he just turned it
Speaker 1: back and it's in good condition. Restoration is possible. It
Speaker 1: just might not happen overnight. That's what the Lord show me.
Speaker 1: This is what Jesus says. I just I gotta go.
Speaker 1: Jesus says, okay, does this miracle? What does Jesus say?
Speaker 1: It's last first twenty six, he says. Jesus sent him home, saying,
Speaker 1: don't even go into the village. Someone say, don't go
Speaker 1: back to the village. I don't know what's up with
Speaker 1: this village. I don't know what Jesus saw that we
Speaker 1: don't see. But I do know that sometimes people they
Speaker 1: get healed, but they go right back to the place
Speaker 1: that hurt them. I know that some people they find freedom,
Speaker 1: but they go right back to the place that enslaved them.
Speaker 1: Some people they step into the light, and the moments
Speaker 1: they step in the light, they find themselves running back
Speaker 1: to the darkness. Don't go back to the village. In
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, come on, someone say, don't go back
Speaker 1: to the village. Don't go back to the village. Don't
Speaker 1: go back to the thing that was holding you back.
Speaker 1: I don't know why Jesus said don't go into the village,
Speaker 1: because really, the only evidence I have about the village
Speaker 1: is good stuff. This is the people who brought the man.
Speaker 1: This is the sum people who brought the man to Jesus.
Speaker 1: And it got me thinking, maybe Jesus says, don't go
Speaker 1: back to the village, not because the village is bad,
Speaker 1: But maybe it's just as simple of the fact that
Speaker 1: it's because the village is big. The village isn't isn't bad,
Speaker 1: It's just it's big. You know what I've learned on
Speaker 1: my journey that gradual miracles are no place for the masses.
Speaker 1: Arenas don't gather for practice. Crowds don't show up backstage,
Speaker 1: theaters don't fill up to witness the process. And I
Speaker 1: think Jesus was saying, if you go back to that
Speaker 1: village big only knows how to celebrate big. And if
Speaker 1: your measuring stick is simply reduced down to this word big,
Speaker 1: you're gonna always feel small. Some of you just keep going.
Speaker 1: God's gonna do a big thing. God's gonna do a
Speaker 1: big thing. But you have not defined what a big
Speaker 1: thing is. And if you just take that miracle right
Speaker 1: back to the masses, they're just gonna go to the
Speaker 1: lowest common denominator. And if they would have gone back
Speaker 1: to the village, the village, you would have said, oh,
Speaker 1: my goodness, Jesus is a healer. He opens blinded eyes,
Speaker 1: and that would have been very true, and that should
Speaker 1: be celebrated. But I believe Jesus was saying, if you
Speaker 1: start celebrating the wrong thing, you're gonna repeat the wrong thing.
Speaker 1: I opened up your physical eyes, but I did something
Speaker 1: much deeper. For there will be a day when you
Speaker 1: can't see again, but this time you will know you
Speaker 1: can keep all walking. Little by little, bit by bit,
Speaker 1: moment by moment, day by day, you will know I'm
Speaker 1: not just a healer. I'm a savior whoa it's little
Speaker 1: by little. We tend to overestimate what we can do
Speaker 1: in one year and clearly underestimate what God could do
Speaker 1: over ten years. God, I'm choosing to follow you day
Speaker 1: by day, moment by moment, little by little, just a
Speaker 1: little bit. I'm just growing. I'm just it's gradual. I
Speaker 1: know you can't see it much, but I'm becoming. Where
Speaker 1: I'm headed, it's better than where I've been. The only
Speaker 1: thing more important with who I am today is is
Speaker 1: who I'm becoming tomorrow. And so you don't see much today,
Speaker 1: but little by little I'm growing. How do you build
Speaker 1: a good marriage little by little? How do you build
Speaker 1: a great church? Little by little? How do you build
Speaker 1: a business? Little by little? How do you build healthy
Speaker 1: friendsttle by little? It's little by little. You need a
Speaker 1: new measuring stick, You need a new measuring stick. It's
Speaker 1: little by little, little by little. I just want to
Speaker 1: pray for people before we sing, because I just sense
Speaker 1: the power of the Holy Spirit. Some of you are
Speaker 1: so disappointed, so hurt, so frustrated, but you're growing. You
Speaker 1: just can't see it. And some of God's greatest miracles
Speaker 1: are not immediate. They are progressive. They're progressive. Come on
Speaker 1: the journey, Church, and you lift your hands towards heaven. Lord,
Speaker 1: I thank you for every person right now who's listening
Speaker 1: at the sound of my voice. I think for every
Speaker 1: person on the other end of that screen. And Lord,
Speaker 1: I prophesy and declare today that they are growing gradually,
Speaker 1: that little by little, Lord, they are making gains. I
Speaker 1: pray that today, Lord, they wouldn't give up, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: back down, but they would be full of faith. God.
Speaker 1: We don't just want to celebrate the immediate. We don't
Speaker 1: want to get lost in the hype. Lor. We want
Speaker 1: you to make us holy. We want you to make
Speaker 1: us strong. We want you to make us deeper. God,
Speaker 1: I pray for elevation. Church thought. I believe the best
Speaker 1: stays are in front of this church thought. I believe
Speaker 1: that we're just scratching the surface of all the things
Speaker 1: you're going to do and want to do. But Lord,
Speaker 1: today we commit once again. It doesn't have to happen overnight.
Speaker 1: But God, what you did in the first fifteen years, Lord,
Speaker 1: we're signing up again for another fifteen years. If you
Speaker 1: can use anything, Lord, use us. We're available to you.
Speaker 1: We want to be used by you. We're gonna grow slow,
Speaker 1: We're gonna stay on the path. We're still standing even
Speaker 1: after a pandemic. We're still standing, even though the world
Speaker 1: has been divided, and we're united under the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: So we commit again to plant seed to water seed,
Speaker 1: to plant seed to water seed, to plant seed to
Speaker 1: water seed, and we're gonna as that our God will
Speaker 1: make it. Well, believe it. Give God some praise, Come
Speaker 1: on the workship, lift your hand, lift your voice, come on,
Speaker 1: sing it out. But I know you are blessed by
Speaker 1: that word. Man. Thank God that he sends who we
Speaker 1: need to speak, and he says what we need to
Speaker 1: hear in the moment when we need it the most.
Speaker 1: Hope you had a great Christmas. We're praying for you
Speaker 1: as we enter another year. We know that nothing magical
Speaker 1: is going to happen because the calendar changes, but we
Speaker 1: are believing for a fresh perspective like we heard about today.
Speaker 1: And I want to thank all of you who gave
Speaker 1: an are giving to our favor offering. There's still time
Speaker 1: to do it, you know. If you believe in what
Speaker 1: this ministry is doing, get the word out by investing
Speaker 1: and also by sharing. If you're not subscribed to this channel,
Speaker 1: and if you've never shared a link with somebody, do that. Man.
Speaker 1: It's just a wonderful for us to build God's kingdom
Speaker 1: together and see his will done on earth as it
Speaker 1: is in heaven. But you'd be blessed and we'll see
Speaker 1: you real soon. Holly, and I love you very much.