Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdieck. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Well,
Speaker 1: we're going to get to the message in just a moment,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to make sure you knew about Elevation Nights.
Speaker 1: It's going to be amazing eight cities October twenty sixth
Speaker 1: through November fourth. You got to go to Elevation Nights
Speaker 1: dot com to see if we're coming to a city
Speaker 1: near you. It's going to be me, Elevation Worship, a
Speaker 1: few friends, and you. I want to see you there.
Speaker 1: I want to see you and everybody that you know there.
Speaker 1: Go to Elevation Nights dot com. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see you soon. Here's the message. Hey, family, it's an
Speaker 1: honor and a privilege to be with you all today.
Speaker 1: And Elevation is family and I have been family of
Speaker 1: this house for quite some time. And love your pastors
Speaker 1: very dearly. Me and Jen hot Hold, Pastors Steven and
Speaker 1: Pastor Holly to the highest regard and kind of the
Speaker 1: honor and a privilege to watch and have seen what
Speaker 1: God has done through their yes. And I was talking
Speaker 1: to Pastor chunks in the back. And I've been family
Speaker 1: with Elevation so long. I can remember a series that
Speaker 1: Pastor started a long time ago called Dominate. And I'm
Speaker 1: from one hundred and forty three miles north of Charlotte,
Speaker 1: little city called Creede, or North Carolina, and I would
Speaker 1: take off on Sundays from my church sometimes and sneak
Speaker 1: in the back door Elevation just to see what was
Speaker 1: going on. And this is pretty early on. This is
Speaker 1: when Elevation was in Providence, and I think, I don't
Speaker 1: even think Pastor had herod then, he just had a
Speaker 1: gold tee. And my sister, little sister, she was staying
Speaker 1: here in Charlotte, going to you and see Charlotte, and
Speaker 1: she was in the middle of transitioning from one church
Speaker 1: to looking for another church. And I snuck in the
Speaker 1: back of Elevation and Pastor was in this series and
Speaker 1: he was encouraging people in the middle of this campaign
Speaker 1: do whatever you gotta do to show into what God
Speaker 1: is doing in Elevation Church. And I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1: He said, I want for those of you that are
Speaker 1: too young and have money to give sell your video
Speaker 1: game consoles and bring that money to the House of God.
Speaker 1: And I left it service to day and I called
Speaker 1: my sister. I said, I found your church. I found
Speaker 1: your church. I said, any pastor that's bold enough to
Speaker 1: step out in faith the way this pastor is bold
Speaker 1: enough to step out in faith, and you need to
Speaker 1: get planted in that church. And she's been here, she's
Speaker 1: been playing at her and her husband and and any
Speaker 1: time I have family or someone that is transitioning from
Speaker 1: either creed Moor or Jacksonville, Florida to Charlotte, I say, hey,
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta go to Elevation Church. That's family.
Speaker 1: They don't ask no question. They said, okay, I'm going.
Speaker 1: And some honored to be with family today. They tell
Speaker 1: me I can act like this is my house. And
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna preach like I'm home. You go, all right,
Speaker 1: I only know one way to do it, and that's
Speaker 1: what everything I got. Amen. So I want us to
Speaker 1: go to Judges Chapter twenty. Judges Chapter twenty. We're gonna
Speaker 1: look at verse fourteen. I'm gonna read this passage of scripture,
Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna pray. Then we're gonna unpack. It
Speaker 1: is that, alright? And you get the Judges Chapter twenty
Speaker 1: say I'm there, you're not there. Say wait on me,
Speaker 1: wait on me, wait on me. I'll wait on you.
Speaker 1: I'll wait on you a little bit. I wanna welcome
Speaker 1: everybody that's tuning in online, and for those that are
Speaker 1: at our other locations, we are grateful for you and
Speaker 1: grateful that you would join us today. Judges Chapter twenty,
Speaker 1: beginning at verse fourteen and says, but the children of
Speaker 1: Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibea,
Speaker 1: to go out to battle against the children of Israel.
Speaker 1: The children of Benjamin were numbered at the time out
Speaker 1: of the city's twenty and six thousand men that drew sword,
Speaker 1: besides the inhabitants of Gibea, which were numbered seven hundred
Speaker 1: chosen men. And among all these people there were seven
Speaker 1: hundred chosen men left handed. Everyone could sling stones at
Speaker 1: an hair bread and not miss. Among all the people
Speaker 1: there were seven hundred chosen left handed men. Every one
Speaker 1: of them could sling stones at a hair breath and
Speaker 1: not miss. Let's pray thembly Father, we thank you. You're
Speaker 1: so good to us. Lord and God. We know that
Speaker 1: you are here in this moment with us, and so
Speaker 1: we ask that you would do what only you can do, God,
Speaker 1: and that's to transform us, change us, rearrange whatever it
Speaker 1: is you want to do. God, we thank you God
Speaker 1: that from this moment we would leave differently than how
Speaker 1: we enter it. And so God, before anything happens, we
Speaker 1: give you the praise. And God, we say, whatever you
Speaker 1: want to do, have your way in us in Jesus
Speaker 1: saying we pray. Come on, all you that agree, give
Speaker 1: God a big amen and amen, Amen, you can take
Speaker 1: your seats. I want to talk to you for a
Speaker 1: moment from the subject matter the miracle in the Mismatch,
Speaker 1: the mirror cool in the Mismatch. I'm a big sports fan.
Speaker 1: Any sports fans listen to me right now. I particularly
Speaker 1: love basketball, and as I mentioned, I'm from a city
Speaker 1: that's one hundred and forty three miles north of Charlotte
Speaker 1: called Creebe or North Carolina, and we're on the outskirts
Speaker 1: of the Triangle, and we know basketball. If you know
Speaker 1: anything about the Triangle, you know there's a little rivalry
Speaker 1: that's been going on for some time between a big
Speaker 1: school called UNC and a little school called Duke. There
Speaker 1: may be some that are listening to me and say,
Speaker 1: I wonder who his team is, And I would say,
Speaker 1: I'm on the Lord's side. You know, when he created
Speaker 1: the heavens and the earth, he decided to ain't the
Speaker 1: sky come on? You know what I'm gonna he painted
Speaker 1: in Carolina blue. I don't know how you can call
Speaker 1: yourself a follower of Jesus and like the devil. I
Speaker 1: believe you lose a little annoying thing if you're a
Speaker 1: Duke fan. I remember twenty seventeen. I was looking for
Speaker 1: Carolina game, and the Carolina game finished, and then at
Speaker 1: the end of the Carolina game on the particular challenge
Speaker 1: that I was watching, the commentators came on. They said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna interrupt this game and take you to another
Speaker 1: basketball game between Arkansas and Minnesota. I said, Arkansas, Minnesota,
Speaker 1: YA gonna interrupt Carolina for Arkansas and Minnesota. So they
Speaker 1: turn to their partner channel and they pick up in
Speaker 1: the third quarter. I'm saying, watching Arkansas, man, what I mean, no,
Speaker 1: no disrespect, but this is twenty seventeen Arkansas. That this
Speaker 1: saint the twenty twenty NCAA Tournament, Arkansas. This is twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen Arkansas. Respectfully, there's no comparison to you and C.
Speaker 1: So I'm saying, watching this game, why in the world
Speaker 1: have they interrupted the Lord's School and put Arkansas and Minnesota?
Speaker 1: And the commentators begin to talk. They say, this is
Speaker 1: something that you have to see. Arkansas has lost six
Speaker 1: players and now they only have seven players active that's
Speaker 1: able to play. This is at the end of the
Speaker 1: third quarter. So I'm like, Okay, here's why they are
Speaker 1: on my television. They only got seven players. It's gonna
Speaker 1: get real interesting. Two minutes goes by, two of the
Speaker 1: seven file out. They got five players left. They continue
Speaker 1: to play. Four more minutes of fight breaks out. They
Speaker 1: lose two more players, so they have three players left
Speaker 1: compared to Minnesota's twelve, and the coach calls the time
Speaker 1: out and he gets them in a huddle, and I
Speaker 1: would imagine if I'm this coach, I'm asking the team, hey,
Speaker 1: do y'all want to continue to play? The odds are
Speaker 1: not faring well against us by all means. This is
Speaker 1: a mismatch, and they came to the conclusion that we
Speaker 1: still want to play. I said, Schutz, if they gonna play,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna watch. The only reason I was watching was
Speaker 1: because it was a mismatch. I wouldn't watch no Arkansas
Speaker 1: Minnesota game no other time. The only reason they were
Speaker 1: on my television was because it was a mismatch. ESPN
Speaker 1: go carry no Minnesota Arkansas game. The only reason they
Speaker 1: were being televised across the world was because there was
Speaker 1: a mismatch, and what we were seeing unfolding happened was
Speaker 1: a miracle in the middle of a mismatch. They continue
Speaker 1: to play, they continue to go on, and a couple
Speaker 1: other guys getting fouled trouble and they end up being
Speaker 1: with three players left, and two of the players got
Speaker 1: four fives, and somehow, some way, Arkansas wins the game
Speaker 1: with three players. I don't know if you've seen any
Speaker 1: modern day miracles, but I encourage you to go back
Speaker 1: on YouTube and take a little stroll down memory lane
Speaker 1: of twenty seventeen and watch this game between Arkansas and Minnesota.
Speaker 1: The only reason people still search it out is because
Speaker 1: there was a miracle that had in the middle of
Speaker 1: a mismatch and I came to tell somebody today. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it may look like. I don't know
Speaker 1: what you may be up against. I don't know what
Speaker 1: the enemy may be screaming at you. But I came
Speaker 1: to tell you today, no matter what it looks like,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a miracle in the middle of a mismatch.
Speaker 1: And say, anybody listening to me right now that believes
Speaker 1: come Hell or how water, I believe God is still
Speaker 1: good and beside him, there is no one else I
Speaker 1: need a miracle in the middle of a mismatch. This
Speaker 1: is where we find ourselves in Judges, chapter twenty, verse sixteen,
Speaker 1: when the Bible describes a group of seven hundred men
Speaker 1: who are left handed. I love that the Bible is
Speaker 1: so intentional with the words, because it describes how many men,
Speaker 1: and it also describes that they are left handed. Now,
Speaker 1: when I was looking at this, I said, why does
Speaker 1: the Bible describe these men? It's just left handed. And
Speaker 1: the Bible makes no mistakes. And so if there's something
Speaker 1: that you don't quite understand, you got to do a
Speaker 1: little digging. For As I begin to dig through this,
Speaker 1: I came across an article that was written by theologian
Speaker 1: that said they were left handed because they were no
Speaker 1: longer right handed. They were left handed because somewhere along
Speaker 1: the road of battle and warfare they lost a part
Speaker 1: of their right hand. And then I thought about it.
Speaker 1: Benjamin literally means son of my right hand. These men
Speaker 1: fighting in the tribe of Benjamin don't have a right
Speaker 1: hand on. So what do you do when what you're
Speaker 1: known for you no longer? Have you fight for who
Speaker 1: you're becoming? What do you do when what you used
Speaker 1: to do you can no longer? Do you have to
Speaker 1: fight for who you're becoming? What do you do when
Speaker 1: what people used to know you as you no longer are?
Speaker 1: You have to fight for who you are becoming? And
Speaker 1: the Bible says that these seven hundred men are left
Speaker 1: handed because they're no longer right handed. And I've come
Speaker 1: to understand and learn the seeds of your miracle are
Speaker 1: often sown in the soil of adversity. The seed for
Speaker 1: the miracle that you need, in the miracle that you've
Speaker 1: been praying for and believing God for, is often sown
Speaker 1: in the soil of adversity. You can't choose how you
Speaker 1: get wounded, but you can choose how you heal listen
Speaker 1: to me, These seven hundred men had to come to
Speaker 1: the conclusion that I am not what has happened to me,
Speaker 1: And I wonder, is there anybody listening to me right
Speaker 1: now that says my condition is not my conclusion. I
Speaker 1: know you've been wounded. I know you've been hurt. I
Speaker 1: know you've been left away and put to the side,
Speaker 1: but you still got some fight left in you. I
Speaker 1: know there's a lot of chaos going on around you,
Speaker 1: and I know every time we turn on the news
Speaker 1: that's something else going on. But you still got some
Speaker 1: fight left on the inside of you. I wonder is
Speaker 1: there anybody listening to me that hasn't mind made up?
Speaker 1: No matter what's happening to me, I still got some
Speaker 1: fight left in me. If that sue, I need to
Speaker 1: sell y y'all sit down and I'll see y'all make
Speaker 1: me nervous when you stand. There's seven hundred million are
Speaker 1: left handed because they're no longer right handed. They understand
Speaker 1: now we have to make a decision, which brings me
Speaker 1: to point num on one. Everyone has a battle. I
Speaker 1: don't care what you look like, I don't care what
Speaker 1: your background is. I don't care what you got in
Speaker 1: your bank account. Everyone has a battle. I don't care
Speaker 1: how good you act like you got your stuff together.
Speaker 1: I don't care where you sit in church. I don't
Speaker 1: care what you drive, I don't care the house that
Speaker 1: you walk into every day. Everybody has a battle. And
Speaker 1: listen to me. If you are not careful, you will
Speaker 1: let how you got wounded determine where you're headed. And
Speaker 1: you have to have your mind made up that no
Speaker 1: matter what has happened to me, I still will fight
Speaker 1: for what I believe in. Okay, can we be honest?
Speaker 1: Sometimes we get tired of fighting. Oh man, has it
Speaker 1: in the last two years been tiring? Your long clock
Speaker 1: goes off in the morning, You look at the time
Speaker 1: and you're surprised I'm still here. The last year and
Speaker 1: a half have been so long that scientists and historians say,
Speaker 1: compound it, the last year and a half have been
Speaker 1: equivalent to the last ten years, and all of us
Speaker 1: have something that they call pandemic brain, which means what
Speaker 1: we normally would retain hearing one time for two weeks,
Speaker 1: we can't hearing one time for forty five minutes. They
Speaker 1: compare it to being in the middle of an emergency
Speaker 1: and first responders screaming at you the same instructions over
Speaker 1: and over again, because first responders understand, in the middle
Speaker 1: of a crisis, your mind can only process so much,
Speaker 1: so they repeat what they're saying over and over and
Speaker 1: over again until you follow the instructions that they're screaming.
Speaker 1: Historians and scientists believe that's where we are right now.
Speaker 1: And you think life is normal, but you feel tired. See,
Speaker 1: sometimes your body processes things before your mind does. And
Speaker 1: if we'd all be honest, we come to point some
Speaker 1: places in this battle where we get tired. I believe
Speaker 1: these seven hundred men had a decision to make Bible
Speaker 1: says that they were left handed because they were no
Speaker 1: longer right handed. They had been wounded in warfare. All
Speaker 1: of us have been wounded somewhere, somehow, some way, and
Speaker 1: if you're not careful, we'll try to heal our own
Speaker 1: wounds instead of going back to the person that created
Speaker 1: us in the first place. Let me help you with
Speaker 1: this truth. You can't fix yourself because you didn't make yourself.
Speaker 1: So if you can't fix yourself, you have to return
Speaker 1: to the person that made you. Because there's a warranty
Speaker 1: on your life that says, if something is broken or missing,
Speaker 1: if you return to the manufacturer, he'll fix you. And
Speaker 1: I'm so glad I don't have to worry about fixing
Speaker 1: the broken pieces in my life. All I have to
Speaker 1: do is return to the maker. And when I return
Speaker 1: back to his feet, he says, after I get finished
Speaker 1: with you, I'll send you back out. They keep on fighting.
Speaker 1: Is there anybody grateful that even in the middle of battle,
Speaker 1: even in the middle of warfare, even when you're tired,
Speaker 1: God puts a new battle in your back and says
Speaker 1: you can live to fight another day. I know you
Speaker 1: may be tired, I know you may be ready to quick,
Speaker 1: but there's still someone fight left in you. Everyone has
Speaker 1: a battle. Struggle human is the proof that you have
Speaker 1: not been overtaken by your enemy. You say, I'm still fighting,
Speaker 1: pastor I'm struggling man, and I will say good. He said, Well,
Speaker 1: that don't make no sense. Yes it does, because struggle
Speaker 1: is proof that the enemy has not overtaken you. The
Speaker 1: minute that there's no struggle in you is the minute
Speaker 1: the enemy wins. But as long as you're still fighting
Speaker 1: for it means that the enemy has not overtaken you
Speaker 1: by what you're struggling in. See, it's scars that are
Speaker 1: the proof that what tried to kill you did not
Speaker 1: overcome you. Here man, I can't remember all the good
Speaker 1: moments in my life. As a matter of fact, I
Speaker 1: was sharing with my wife not too long ago, going
Speaker 1: down the line of our anniversaries. I can't remember what
Speaker 1: you got me. I can't remember where we went. I
Speaker 1: can't remember all those little details, but I can remember
Speaker 1: all of the good moments that we had that were
Speaker 1: significant on the other side of pain. Right when you
Speaker 1: look at your body, I guarantee you every single scar
Speaker 1: that you have, you can pinpoint the story that goes
Speaker 1: behind it, because scars have story, and every scar is
Speaker 1: proof that what tried to kill you didn't overcome you. Struggle,
Speaker 1: that's the proof that you have not been overtaken by
Speaker 1: your enemy. See. Everyone wants to be victorious, but no
Speaker 1: one wants to fight the enemy. See it's the enemy
Speaker 1: that reveals the champion on the inside of you. Can
Speaker 1: you imagine a basketball game if there's only offense, teen
Speaker 1: people out there just shooting the ball. Can you imagine
Speaker 1: a football game and there's no defense, everybody just tossing
Speaker 1: it to each other. Everybody just running around just looking
Speaker 1: like chickens with their hair cut off. Can you imagine
Speaker 1: a sporting event if there's no adversary. See, it's the
Speaker 1: enemy that reveals the champion on the inside of you.
Speaker 1: The only way you can get the victory that you
Speaker 1: deserve and that belongs to you is go through what
Speaker 1: it is that you may be going through. And I
Speaker 1: know it gets tough, and i know it gets difficult,
Speaker 1: but I'm telling you struggle the proof that you have
Speaker 1: not been overtaken by your enemy, Which brings me to
Speaker 1: point number two. You got choices. These seven hundred men
Speaker 1: had choices. They had to choose to stay in the fight. See,
Speaker 1: in military, now you get wounded to this level, you
Speaker 1: don't have a choice, you get discharged. When these seven
Speaker 1: hundred men were fighting, they had choices. One of the
Speaker 1: things that I've learned is we're born looking like our parents,
Speaker 1: but we die looking like our choices. One hundred men
Speaker 1: had a choice to make whether I'm going to go
Speaker 1: back home with my wounds or whether I'm going to
Speaker 1: wrap up this wound and continue to fight for what
Speaker 1: it is I'm believing in. You got choices. See you
Speaker 1: make choices, but then choices make you. These seven hundred
Speaker 1: men were hand picked because they could not pick their hand.
Speaker 1: These seven hundred men were chosen because they had a choice.
Speaker 1: And it says that they could hit or horse's hair
Speaker 1: with the sleeve and a rock, which tells me not
Speaker 1: only did they decide to stay in the fight, but
Speaker 1: they decided to use what they had left to be
Speaker 1: better at what it was that they were believing for
Speaker 1: than who it was that they were known for. They
Speaker 1: had a choice whether they wanted to return home or
Speaker 1: get good at what they had left. How many times
Speaker 1: did it take them throwing a rock with a sling
Speaker 1: to hit a horse's hair thirty to forty yards away?
Speaker 1: How many missus did it take for them to be
Speaker 1: known as those that were good at slinging a slingshot
Speaker 1: with the rock to hit a hair on the string
Speaker 1: of a tree with a rock tied to the bottom
Speaker 1: of it from thirty to forty yards away? Did you
Speaker 1: know how far forty yards is their quarterbacks that can't
Speaker 1: throw forty yards? And you telling me these seven hundred
Speaker 1: men perfected their cry for what they had left good
Speaker 1: enough to take a rock in a swing and hit
Speaker 1: on horse hair thirty or forty yards away. Some of
Speaker 1: y'all can't see the hair in your hand right now,
Speaker 1: And these men had the ability to hit a horse
Speaker 1: hair three to the forty yards away. How many times
Speaker 1: did they have to swing the sling to determine if
Speaker 1: they were good or not. I can't imagine that they
Speaker 1: had choices. I can imagine that things got tough. I
Speaker 1: can imagine the wounds that they were dealing with were
Speaker 1: severe enough for them to have a good excuse to
Speaker 1: stay home. But they didn't stop fighting. And I came
Speaker 1: to tell somebody, right now, if you can fight for it,
Speaker 1: you'll fight to keep it. They had their mind made
Speaker 1: up that what has happened to me my condition will
Speaker 1: not be my conclusion, and they didn't stop fighting. I
Speaker 1: can remember watching some highlights. My father's favorite after lead,
Speaker 1: Muhammad Ali, and he would go out and he would
Speaker 1: do all these press runs and he'd be talking trash.
Speaker 1: One particular press run was for the Rumbling the Jungle.
Speaker 1: When they were doing this, I was watching. My dad
Speaker 1: had his chest poked out. Son watched this and Muhammad
Speaker 1: Ali's talking trash, and they get to the fight and
Speaker 1: the fight is going on, and the fight goes longer
Speaker 1: than expected. And at the end of the fight, after
Speaker 1: the fight was over, you could see Muhammad Ali kind
Speaker 1: of tearing up crying. I remember asking my dad why
Speaker 1: is he crying? And he said, well, son, he had
Speaker 1: just been through some stuff. He had been through some pain,
Speaker 1: he'd been through some obstacles, he had been through some trials,
Speaker 1: and he knows it's a privilege to fight. And I
Speaker 1: came to tell somebody today, it's a privilege to fight.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're believing God for, but if
Speaker 1: you can fight for it, you'll fight to keep it.
Speaker 1: I can imagine these seven hundred men had to make
Speaker 1: a choice whether I'm gonna stay in the fight or
Speaker 1: whether I'm gonna utilize my wound as an excuse to
Speaker 1: go back to where I came from. But it says
Speaker 1: that these seven hundred men made up in their mind,
Speaker 1: I'm not going back from where I came from. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna persevere and go for it because I believe that
Speaker 1: there's more on the other side. I know you may
Speaker 1: be through some stuff, but you got the mentality I'm
Speaker 1: still gonna fight. I know you've had to overcome some obstacles.
Speaker 1: But I believe you're in this moment in time right
Speaker 1: now because you had your mind made up. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: stay in the fight. Come on, look at somebody and
Speaker 1: tell them you got choices. See, you run from something,
Speaker 1: you'll find yourself running from everything. If you can run
Speaker 1: from something, you'll find yourself running from everything. They didn't quit.
Speaker 1: It got tough, but they didn't quit. It got hard,
Speaker 1: but they didn't quit. It got severe, but they didn't quit.
Speaker 1: They lost a limb, but they didn't quit. And I wonder,
Speaker 1: is that anybody listening to me right now that your
Speaker 1: mentality is no matter how hard it gets, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna quit. No matter what the enemy or the adversary
Speaker 1: may be streaming at me, I'm not gonna quit. I've
Speaker 1: been through a lot, and I've been through over and
Speaker 1: I've been under the thing. But I'm not gonna quit
Speaker 1: in what I may be going through. There's some things
Speaker 1: that you got to fight for to understand the importance
Speaker 1: of See, there's some battles that God fights for you.
Speaker 1: But then there's some battles God fights through you. And
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, if you can fight for it, you'll
Speaker 1: fight to keep it. Don't quit. God has not brought
Speaker 1: you this far to bring you this far. He desires
Speaker 1: for you to keep going to see what it is
Speaker 1: He has in store for you. And if you give
Speaker 1: up now, you'll fall short of receiving the miracle that
Speaker 1: you need. He understands it seems like it's a mismatch,
Speaker 1: but you have something that other people aren't expecting, and
Speaker 1: that's him. Oh, you got a low card that nobody
Speaker 1: else can see, and that's him. You got an ace
Speaker 1: in the back pocket that no one else is counting on,
Speaker 1: and that's him. I'm telling you you've come too far
Speaker 1: to quit now. I know you may be bleeding, I
Speaker 1: know you may be missing what it is that you've lost.
Speaker 1: I know the season that you're coming out of was
Speaker 1: severe and painful. But you can't quit right now, because
Speaker 1: if you quit right now, you miss the miracle has
Speaker 1: for you in the next There's a miracle in mismatch.
Speaker 1: Guess what. There would be no miracle if it wasn't
Speaker 1: a mismatch. We all want progress, but one of the
Speaker 1: things that we have to understand is progress ain't pretty.
Speaker 1: We all want to advance, but we don't want to
Speaker 1: put in the work it takes to advance. Everybody shouts
Speaker 1: and screams for a miracle, but we failed to unders standing.
Speaker 1: In order to receive the miracle, we got to go
Speaker 1: through adversity. What is it that God is rooting you
Speaker 1: on to keep fighting in so you can receive the
Speaker 1: miracle He has in store for you. Some of you
Speaker 1: are right there and you're about to quit, and this
Speaker 1: crazy man came to tell you you can't quit now.
Speaker 1: You've come too far to stop here. God has brought
Speaker 1: you too far for you to abandon all that He's done.
Speaker 1: It's time for you to lean in and press forward
Speaker 1: to see what's on the other side of the struggle.
Speaker 1: If you quit now, imagine the face of your enemy. See.
Speaker 1: I'm too stubborn to quit. I don't want to give
Speaker 1: the enemy the gratitude to see what I look like.
Speaker 1: Stopping premature of what God has called me to walk
Speaker 1: into me See I understand this. Any season you stop
Speaker 1: or walk into prematurely is a season that will always
Speaker 1: arrive too small. If you can stay the course, God
Speaker 1: has something in store for you greater than what you're
Speaker 1: going through. And let me paint this picture for you.
Speaker 1: The thought of victory is far sweeter than the memory
Speaker 1: of struggle. The seven hundred million had to get beyond
Speaker 1: living in yesterday and focus on what they had right here,
Speaker 1: right now. And one of the things that I'm finding
Speaker 1: that we're missing is that we often hear how to
Speaker 1: stewart our time. We often hear how to stewart our finances,
Speaker 1: we often hear how to stewart our relationships, but very
Speaker 1: few times do we hear how to stewart pain. And
Speaker 1: so when pain enters into our life, we think that
Speaker 1: God has abandoned and forsaken us, when in fact, God
Speaker 1: can utilize the pain to propel us into the season
Speaker 1: of life he desires for us to be in. And
Speaker 1: quite possibly some of us are in the season of
Speaker 1: tension and pain because God desires to use it to
Speaker 1: get some glory out of it. And I refuse to
Speaker 1: go through any pain without that pain prosting me. Is
Speaker 1: there anybody listening to me right now that says I
Speaker 1: ain't coming this far, I ain't been through what I've
Speaker 1: been through. I'm not going through the pain I'm going
Speaker 1: through for it to leave me the same. This pain
Speaker 1: it's gonna prest for me. I feel like preaching right now.
Speaker 1: Is there anybody that got their mind may love? Yet
Speaker 1: this pain it's gonna press for me, This pain it's
Speaker 1: gonna propel me. This pain is gonna push me, and
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be the same on the other side
Speaker 1: a pain, you got choices to make. I know you're tired.
Speaker 1: I know you feel like throwing in the tower. I
Speaker 1: know you think it's over, but I came to tell
Speaker 1: you it's not over until you quit, and it's not
Speaker 1: over until you're throwing the towel. And God says, I'm
Speaker 1: not finished, so you're not finished. I'm not done, So
Speaker 1: you're not done. I still got victory for you if
Speaker 1: you can receive it, and say, anybody willing to reach
Speaker 1: out and grab what it is that God has for you,
Speaker 1: hear me when I tell you this. Oftentimes God will
Speaker 1: put the victory within your reach, but he won't put
Speaker 1: it in your hand. You got to reach for what
Speaker 1: it is that God has for you. And if you
Speaker 1: can mushed up the strip, So reach out for what
Speaker 1: it is He has for you. God say it's surance.
Speaker 1: And I'm wonder say, anybody listen to me that believe
Speaker 1: victory is mine? Come on, y'all, take a seat. I
Speaker 1: got a few more minutes. It's the work. Got a
Speaker 1: few more minutes. You got choices. You gotta have your
Speaker 1: mind made up. I choose to fight. I love the
Speaker 1: scripture that says, this is the day that the Lord
Speaker 1: has made. I choose to rejoice, being made glad in it.
Speaker 1: I know things may be going on in your life,
Speaker 1: but you got a choice. I know that may be
Speaker 1: hell and chaots going on around you, but you got
Speaker 1: a choice. I know your kids may be acting crazy,
Speaker 1: but you got a choice. I know your spouse act
Speaker 1: like they done lost their mind, but you got a choice.
Speaker 1: So wake up in the morning and say, this is
Speaker 1: the day that the Lord has made. I choose to
Speaker 1: rejoice and be made glad in it. Somebody shot, I choose.
Speaker 1: I know you've been through a lot, but you still believe.
Speaker 1: I know the enemy through his best shot, but you
Speaker 1: still believe. I know it seems like there's so much
Speaker 1: going on around you, but you still believe. And as
Speaker 1: long as you can hold on to what you believe,
Speaker 1: you can grab a hold of the victory that God
Speaker 1: has for you. Is there anybody in here that says,
Speaker 1: I still believe, still believe. Listen to me. The past
Speaker 1: is in your hand, but the victory is in your hand.
Speaker 1: What happened to you is in your head. But what
Speaker 1: God desires for you to walk in is in your hand.
Speaker 1: These men were hand picked because they couldn't pick their hand,
Speaker 1: but they played with the hand they were dealt. You
Speaker 1: may not be able to choose your hand, but you
Speaker 1: have to have your mind made up. I'm gonna play
Speaker 1: with the hand I've been dealt. My hand may not
Speaker 1: look as good as a person sitting beside me. I
Speaker 1: may not have the same cause a person sitting in
Speaker 1: front of me has. I may not have the same
Speaker 1: abilities that the person sitting on the other side of
Speaker 1: me has, But I'm gonna play with the hand I've
Speaker 1: been dealt. I did not get hand picked because I
Speaker 1: could tick my hand. I was hand picked because I
Speaker 1: couldn't choose. And I'm telling you there's certain battles you
Speaker 1: can't choose. But God has chosen for you. And the
Speaker 1: thing of it is is if He brought you to
Speaker 1: the battle, he'll bring you through the battle. Somebody's south
Speaker 1: there's a miracle in the mismatch. Most people don't make
Speaker 1: it until the season that they're supposed to because they quit.
Speaker 1: Why at the point of receiving what it is that
Speaker 1: God has in store for them. I just want to
Speaker 1: tell you you've come too far to stop here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you got to pick up what you have left and
Speaker 1: keep pushing forward. Point number three is this, and then
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get out your way. You have to be
Speaker 1: determined to be better with what you got left rather
Speaker 1: than with what you lost. See, if you live from
Speaker 1: a memory more than you do your dreams, you will fail.
Speaker 1: If you live more from what was than what is
Speaker 1: and what will be, you will fail. You have to
Speaker 1: be better with what you have left than what you lost.
Speaker 1: I can remember wanting to be good at backsketball and
Speaker 1: my dad taking me outside to the goal and he
Speaker 1: would tie my right hand behind my back. I said,
Speaker 1: what you're doing this for? He said, because I want
Speaker 1: to strengthen the areas that you're weak in. So if
Speaker 1: I see you touch the ball with your right hand,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pop it. I said, you go popping. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna popping because I don't want you touching the ball
Speaker 1: with what you're already good at. I said, well, what
Speaker 1: am I gonna do. He said, you're gonna dribble. What's
Speaker 1: your left hand? And this is what I want you
Speaker 1: to do. I want you to driven the ball and
Speaker 1: don't stop until I tell you to stop dribbling. I said,
Speaker 1: but I can't dribble with my left hand. He said,
Speaker 1: I know. That's why I'm telling you to dribble with it.
Speaker 1: The only way you're gonna get good at doing something
Speaker 1: you're not good at if by doing it. I said, okay.
Speaker 1: He says, to put your right hand behind your back,
Speaker 1: all right, tyler, rope around me. I'm like, what in
Speaker 1: the world, what kind of country hood teaching is this?
Speaker 1: I didn't say that to him. I thought it though.
Speaker 1: My dad was six four, about two sixty five, country strong.
Speaker 1: He played no games. I couldn't say much, but I
Speaker 1: thought it. He said, Now, dribble, dribbling, dribbling, dribble and
Speaker 1: dribble and dribbling, dribble and dribble and dribble and dribbling
Speaker 1: ball some and say go get it, pick it up, dribble, dribble,
Speaker 1: drib driri. He said, Now what I want you to do.
Speaker 1: I want you to shoot the ball. I take it,
Speaker 1: fummel it around. I shoot it, and he blocking like, what,
Speaker 1: my man, I'm like four feet You got my right
Speaker 1: hand tied behind my back. I'm dribbling with a hand
Speaker 1: I ain't never used. He said something to me that
Speaker 1: stuck with me. He said, do you think your opponent
Speaker 1: it's gonna care about your weakness? Wow? You have to
Speaker 1: be better with what you have left than what you lost.
Speaker 1: And I know you've lost a lot, but you have
Speaker 1: to have your mind made up that with what I
Speaker 1: have left, I will be better with than what I
Speaker 1: have lost. And your mentality has to be with the
Speaker 1: weapon that I have now. If I can win with this,
Speaker 1: God you will give me the weapon I need for next.
Speaker 1: I know you have been through some things. I know
Speaker 1: you have been over some things. I know it seems
Speaker 1: like life has put you under some things. But if
Speaker 1: you can win with the weapon you have now, God
Speaker 1: will give you the weapon you need for your next.
Speaker 1: You have to be better with what you have left
Speaker 1: then what it is that you've lost. Here's seven hundred men.
Speaker 1: They've lost a lot, they've endured a lot, they've been
Speaker 1: counted a lot. But their mentality is I will be
Speaker 1: better with what I have left more than what I
Speaker 1: have lost. See, God is the only person that can
Speaker 1: turn your pain into your power. Is it possible that
Speaker 1: we would have never read about these seven hundred men
Speaker 1: if they kept both arms? Is it possible that we
Speaker 1: would never have made mention of these seven hundred chosen
Speaker 1: left handed men if they had never been through warfare
Speaker 1: and battle and overcome some things. Is it possible that
Speaker 1: the only reason they are mentioned in the Bible is
Speaker 1: because God had in mind to take their pain and
Speaker 1: turn it into their power. And there's some of you
Speaker 1: that are asking God, why am I going through what
Speaker 1: I'm going through? Bring me out of it, God, Remove
Speaker 1: it from my life. God, I don't want to deal
Speaker 1: with it no more. God. And God is saying, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get glory out of this. The only way people
Speaker 1: will know that I am God in your life life
Speaker 1: is when they see the miracle that happened because of
Speaker 1: the mismatch. See if you still have the ability to
Speaker 1: use both of your arms, that's not a mismatch. But
Speaker 1: he says, I'm gonna do something in your life. What
Speaker 1: people understand and know, if it had not been for God,
Speaker 1: you would have been trapped and caught. And the thing
Speaker 1: that was trying to overcome you. If it had not
Speaker 1: been for God, you would have been stuck it and
Speaker 1: there in the water. If it had not been for God,
Speaker 1: you would have remained the same. But because of God,
Speaker 1: there was actually a miracle that happened in the mismatch.
Speaker 1: It's a miracle in the mismatch. And I know it's
Speaker 1: not pretty, and I know getting wound and it's not popular,
Speaker 1: and I know that you go through some things and
Speaker 1: no one knows what you go through. But I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: if it had not been for the mismatch, there would
Speaker 1: be no miracle. If it had not been for the pain,
Speaker 1: there would be no promotion. If it had not been
Speaker 1: for me being poured I get to pain, that would
Speaker 1: be no propelling for I may not have liked the
Speaker 1: pain in the moment, but in hindsight, I'm thankful for
Speaker 1: the pain that I've endured and overcome because the pain
Speaker 1: held a promise, And in the promise, God said, I'll
Speaker 1: never leave you, nor will I forsake you. I'll be
Speaker 1: with you to the very end of all time. And
Speaker 1: I wonder, say anybody great fault that God didn't leave
Speaker 1: you in the pain, but he pushed you out, and
Speaker 1: he says, that's a prime that's waiting on you. I said,
Speaker 1: miracle in the mismatch. And if you can keep fighting,
Speaker 1: God says, I got a victory waiting for you. If
Speaker 1: you can keep pushing, God says, I got victory waiting.
Speaker 1: But if you can keep going, God says, I got
Speaker 1: something so great in store for you. The half has
Speaker 1: not been told. And I'm so grateful that we serve
Speaker 1: a God that is able to keep us from falling.
Speaker 1: And so as much as you may not like it
Speaker 1: right now, thank God for the pain, because pain is
Speaker 1: an indicator that you're still alive. Oh, you didn't quit
Speaker 1: when things got tough. You didn't give up when things
Speaker 1: got hard. You didn't throw in the towel. And it
Speaker 1: say like there was no way you was gonna win.
Speaker 1: But you endure the pain. And God said, they cut
Speaker 1: you endured. I got something in store for you, and
Speaker 1: I know you don't feel like it, but if you
Speaker 1: can see victory, God said Ashore. I was looking at
Speaker 1: the Olympics and I was listening to one of the runners,
Speaker 1: and the runner said, I was running and I got tired,
Speaker 1: but I could see the finish line. And because I
Speaker 1: could see victory. It gave me the strength I needed
Speaker 1: to keep on running a little bit farther. And I
Speaker 1: know you may be in pain right now. But if
Speaker 1: it can't see the three, he said, oh, get it
Speaker 1: a stress, So right on a little father. Ain't anybody
Speaker 1: right now? You got your mind made out. I can't
Speaker 1: see the three. Come on with those hands and open
Speaker 1: up your mouth and come on tell God. I said,
Speaker 1: come on, tell God. I said, come on, tell God.
Speaker 1: I said. She said, fuck, come on, sid toun same
Speaker 1: with you. Fuck, come on, you say with the scene.
Speaker 1: See Yeah, for a moment, I'm gonna talk to those
Speaker 1: those who are wounded and you are in need of
Speaker 1: a miracle. If that's true, I just want you to
Speaker 1: stretch those hands up. If you're watching online, I just
Speaker 1: want you to put that in the chat. I need
Speaker 1: a miracle. I need You've been chosen for the battle
Speaker 1: that you are fighting because God can trust you with trouble.
Speaker 1: Did you hear what I said? I said, because God
Speaker 1: can trust you with trouble. I know some of you
Speaker 1: are in a troubling situation. God is saying, they won't
Speaker 1: turn their back on me. I can trust them with trouble.
Speaker 1: And for those of you that are listening to me
Speaker 1: and watching online, my question is, in the middle of
Speaker 1: this troubling situation, can God trust you? Can he trust
Speaker 1: you to return back to him with the issues, with
Speaker 1: the broken pieces, with the wounds, with the things that
Speaker 1: you have that are open right now for him to heal.
Speaker 1: Come on, if you need a miracle, distress those hands.
Speaker 1: For those of you watching online and you're not driving,
Speaker 1: I just want you to lift your hands right now.
Speaker 1: I love the soslemon because it says you take what
Speaker 1: the enemy meant for evil and you turn it see
Speaker 1: the enemy out that he won. He threw his best shot.
Speaker 1: He thought that he was going to take your mind.
Speaker 1: He thought that he was going to steal your family.
Speaker 1: He thought that by you losing your job, you was
Speaker 1: going to give up. He thought, surely, if that doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: I'll cause this thing to wipe them out. But I'm
Speaker 1: telling you what he couldn't touch was your ability to believe.
Speaker 1: And although this situation in season is troubling, God trust you,
Speaker 1: and I'm believing right now that He's going to provide
Speaker 1: the miracle you need in the middle of a mismatch,
Speaker 1: And so Lord Jesus, we thank you that you can
Speaker 1: do what only you can do. And so God, we
Speaker 1: asked that you would provide the miracle that we need
Speaker 1: in the timing that you want us to receive it.
Speaker 1: And so God, we receive what it is that you
Speaker 1: are releasing to us, the healing that we need, the
Speaker 1: victory that we need, the breakthrough that we need, the
Speaker 1: miracle that we need. God, we thank you that you
Speaker 1: can heal these wounds because you are a healer. God.
Speaker 1: There's no one that has ever touched this earth that
Speaker 1: has not been wounded, even your son Isaiah chapter fifty three,
Speaker 1: verse five. It says you were wounded for our transgressions,
Speaker 1: and you were bruised for our iniquities. And God, you
Speaker 1: understanding that you would get wounded, you understanding that you
Speaker 1: would get bruised, understanding that you would get pierced, You
Speaker 1: understanding that you would get whipped and knelt to a cross,
Speaker 1: still had in your mind to stay on the front
Speaker 1: line and fight the battle that you had to fight.
Speaker 1: And you God, showing us what it means to not quit.
Speaker 1: You got showing what it means to not give up.
Speaker 1: You got showing what it means not to throw in
Speaker 1: the towel. And so God we rest in what it
Speaker 1: is that you have done for us. And God we
Speaker 1: acknowledge today that we are weak, and your word says
Speaker 1: that when we are weak, that's when you are strong.
Speaker 1: And so God we rest in the shrift that you
Speaker 1: have for us. And God we say victory is mine
Speaker 1: because we can see it in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And we declare that as long as we can see it,
Speaker 1: we can receive it. And so God, we say we're
Speaker 1: gonna receive the victory. We say we're going to receive
Speaker 1: the victory. We say, victory is mine is a name
Speaker 1: of sees Us. Come on, give God a son of prayer.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry is because view
Speaker 1: that this ministry is possible. You can click the link
Speaker 1: in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch dot
Speaker 1: org slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed
Speaker 1: the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with
Speaker 1: your friends. You can click the share button, take a
Speaker 1: screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag
Speaker 1: us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless
Speaker 1: you