Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and.
Speaker 2: This is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 1: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 1: in your life.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Are you excited for the Word of God today? Let's
Speaker 1: get to it. Look at Hebrews Chapter ten, verse thirty
Speaker 1: five through thirty seven, and this is a scripture that
Speaker 1: is so loaded with power. I almost feel like I
Speaker 1: could read it, drop the mic, walk off the stage
Speaker 1: and not even say anything about it.
Speaker 2: But I'm not going to do that. I'm and keep
Speaker 2: the mic and talk about it for a little while.
Speaker 2: Let me read it.
Speaker 1: It says, so, do not throw away your confidence. It
Speaker 1: will be richly rewarded. Now you need to perseverere so
Speaker 1: that when you have done the will of God, you
Speaker 1: will receive what He has promised.
Speaker 2: Four in just a little while. Touch your neighbors say.
Speaker 2: It won't be long now, It won't be long. Now,
Speaker 2: in just a little while.
Speaker 1: He who is coming will come and will not delay.
Speaker 1: Instead of giving this message a title, I just want
Speaker 1: us to make a faith declaration together.
Speaker 2: You're ready.
Speaker 1: Now, I need you to say this loud and proud,
Speaker 1: so you convince the devil that you mean business. Shout
Speaker 1: out so loud your neighbor gets startled when you say it.
Speaker 1: You're ready, Come on in every location, Are you ready?
Speaker 2: Say this?
Speaker 1: My confidence is coming back. Tell five people yours is too.
Speaker 1: Yours is too my confidence. You may be seated, God bless.
Speaker 2: You coming back.
Speaker 1: It's coming back quickly. That God kind of confidence, not
Speaker 1: that Instagram confidence posting something taking it down four times
Speaker 1: if it doesn't.
Speaker 2: Get enough likes in three minutes.
Speaker 1: Letting half my body hang out of my clothes so
Speaker 1: somebody will tell me I look good.
Speaker 2: That's not confidence, that's compensation. I want a God kind
Speaker 2: of confidence.
Speaker 1: It's important that I say that because confidence has a context.
Speaker 1: If I were to say it in a Biblical context,
Speaker 1: it would mean something different than in a Kardashian context.
Speaker 1: You just want to get no slightment to any Kardashians.
Speaker 1: No Kardashians were harmed in the making of this sermon.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that context is important, and the writer
Speaker 1: of Hebrews has a daunting task in that he is
Speaker 1: trying to strengthen and reconstruct, in some ways, the confidence
Speaker 1: of a group of Christians who are in crisis. In
Speaker 1: order to do this, he employs to rhetorical devices. He
Speaker 1: uses contrast and context. Contrast and context. He's speaking to
Speaker 1: them in the midst of a trial, really a crisis
Speaker 1: of confidence, and he's trying to get them focused on
Speaker 1: Christ in their crisis. Because remember when Peter did that,
Speaker 1: when he focused on Christ in his crisis, he transcended
Speaker 1: the laws of buoyancy.
Speaker 2: And it's amazing what you can get up above when
Speaker 2: you focus on Christ in your crisis.
Speaker 1: In order to bring them to this focal point of
Speaker 1: Christ in crisis, he starts in Hebrews chapter one by
Speaker 1: giving them a context of the superiority of Christ and
Speaker 1: the New Covenant in this setting. In this context, he
Speaker 1: presents them with a picture of a Christ who is better,
Speaker 1: better than the angels theological term the superiority of Christ.
Speaker 1: But we would just say he's better. He's better than
Speaker 1: anything you can name. He's better than anything you can inhale.
Speaker 1: He's better than anything you can snort. He's better than
Speaker 1: anything you can chug. He's better than anything.
Speaker 2: You can date.
Speaker 1: He's better than anything that you can give your life to.
Speaker 2: He's better. Somebody's shout, he's better.
Speaker 1: He's better than the mediator of the old covenant.
Speaker 2: That's Moses.
Speaker 1: And it is in this context that he must present
Speaker 1: to the people a motivation for perseverance by establishing their
Speaker 1: confidence in crisis. And so not only does he provide
Speaker 1: a contrast the mosaic sacrificial system and the.
Speaker 2: Temple cultic law to the hope that we have in.
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, that the sacrifice has been made once and
Speaker 1: for all.
Speaker 2: You know how I know it's been made once and
Speaker 2: for all.
Speaker 1: I saw your car coming into the parking lot today,
Speaker 1: and I didn't see any bulls or oxen on.
Speaker 2: The bike rack of your vehicle.
Speaker 1: I didn't see you with the knife to slit their
Speaker 1: throats so that you could make atonement for your sins.
Speaker 1: Why because you came in with confidence that Christ is enough,
Speaker 1: that Christ is enough to atone for my sin and
Speaker 1: to make write all of my mistakes. And the author
Speaker 1: of Hebrews is re establishing the confidence of people who
Speaker 1: have lost their confidence. I found out in life you
Speaker 1: can lose a lot of things and get them back
Speaker 1: if you keep your confidence. The devil cannot take your calling.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that the gifts in calling of God
Speaker 1: are without repentance.
Speaker 2: He doesn't change his mind when you lose your way.
Speaker 1: So since the devil can't take your calling, he attacks
Speaker 1: your confidence because if he can get you to give
Speaker 1: him your confidence, he can keep you from functioning in
Speaker 1: your calling.
Speaker 2: If he can get you to believe that.
Speaker 1: You're raising your kids just like your mom raised you,
Speaker 1: and your mom raised you in a way that was
Speaker 1: detrimental and destructive, he can get you to repeat the
Speaker 1: patterns and miss the opportunity for progress. Because he stripped
Speaker 1: you of your confidence. You can have a great calling
Speaker 1: and no confidence. Joyce Meyer says, and she's coming for
Speaker 1: a Code Orange revival, so maybe she'll tell you when
Speaker 1: she comes. She said, a believer without confidence is like
Speaker 1: a jet without fuel, sitting on the runway. All that equipment,
Speaker 1: but no power to get up above the circumstances. That's
Speaker 1: how sister Joyce said it. Ask your neighbor got confidence?
Speaker 1: Remember they used to have got milk? Well, I want
Speaker 1: to know got confidence? Christians without confidence? It should be
Speaker 1: an oxymoron. I mean, the whole context of the Gospel
Speaker 1: is confidence. If it doesn't make you more confident, it's
Speaker 1: not the gospel. If you ever heard something preached to
Speaker 1: you and you walked up from it like crap, you're
Speaker 1: the gospel in the correct context. And the author of
Speaker 1: Hebrews is giving some context to the crisis, perhaps he
Speaker 1: should preach to our nation right about now, because I
Speaker 1: hear people saying weird stuff. They say, this is the
Speaker 1: worst it's ever been. Really, really, it's worse than it's
Speaker 1: worse than slavery, worse than it's ever been. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are some things that are bad, but can we
Speaker 1: put it in context. One time I was at a
Speaker 1: pastor's roundtable and a young white pastor who wasn't much
Speaker 1: older than me spoke up and said, our nation is.
Speaker 2: More divided than it's ever been.
Speaker 1: And he shouldn't have said that in that context because
Speaker 1: there was an older African American pastor, probably over the
Speaker 1: age of seventy, who had lived through segregation. And he
Speaker 1: spoke up and said, young man, I appreciate your sentiment,
Speaker 1: but allow me to provide some context. And about fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes later, that white guy wanted out of the room.
Speaker 1: Asked me the other day he said, Daddy, are all
Speaker 1: presidential elections this crazy? Because he's only ten and he's
Speaker 1: looking for some context. And of course it took me
Speaker 1: a moment to think through all of the presidential elections
Speaker 1: that I've witnessed. In two thousand, it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: We barely found out who was the president by the
Speaker 1: time their term was over. I don't know if anybody
Speaker 1: remembers that, but it was. It was crazy then. And
Speaker 1: I've explained to him how in the context of you know,
Speaker 1: other parts of the world, we have a pretty peaceful
Speaker 1: transition of power when you put it in context, and
Speaker 1: some cultures power doesn't change hands unless blood runs in
Speaker 1: the street. So I want to give him a context.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you've lost your relationships because you've lost your context.
Speaker 1: That is, someone will do one thing to offend you,
Speaker 1: and in the light of that one thing that they
Speaker 1: did to offend you, you will walk away from the
Speaker 1: hundreds of things that they did that caused you to
Speaker 1: love them. The devil is a master of trying to
Speaker 1: create a crisis in your life by causing you.
Speaker 2: To lose your sense of context.
Speaker 1: I'm laughing because a lady over on my right side
Speaker 1: was hitting a man I don't know what that was about.
Speaker 1: But touch somebody and say, keep it in context.
Speaker 2: That's what you.
Speaker 1: Gotta do, Eve, because the serpent will come up to
Speaker 1: you and say, did God really say you can't eat
Speaker 1: from any tree in the garden? And you got to
Speaker 1: remember God didn't say he can't eat of any tree.
Speaker 1: He said, don't eat of that tree. But the enemy
Speaker 1: wants to take it out of context, to get you
Speaker 1: to look at all the things you can't do and
Speaker 1: miss all the things you can do, and to get
Speaker 1: you to think that Christianity is boring, or that it's
Speaker 1: about rules and regulations, to take it out of the
Speaker 1: context of relationships. But how many of you know that
Speaker 1: we have a great high priest whose name is Jesus,
Speaker 1: and the author of Hebrews wants to help you get
Speaker 1: your confidence back. But you can't have confidence without context.
Speaker 1: Could I would love to back up just a few
Speaker 1: verses and provide a context for this admonition where he says.
Speaker 2: Do not throw away your confidence see us a pretty powerful.
Speaker 1: Admonition exhortation within itself, but when you give it its
Speaker 1: full context, it's even more powerful. Would it be all
Speaker 1: right if I backed up just a few verses and
Speaker 1: give you some context.
Speaker 2: I would love to give you the whole Book of Hebrews.
Speaker 1: I didn't think it'd be good for us to do
Speaker 1: the whole book in one day, but maybe we could
Speaker 1: hit verse nineteen real quick, where he's encouraging this community
Speaker 1: of faith that is an identity crisis, losing friends because
Speaker 1: of their faith, suffering loss in their personal life, in
Speaker 1: their relationship with their possessions because of their faith. And
Speaker 1: he says, therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have somebody shouted,
Speaker 1: we have confidence.
Speaker 2: Now. We may not be accessing our confidence right.
Speaker 1: Now, but we have it. How many of you have
Speaker 1: a phone? How many of you are talking on it
Speaker 1: right now? Just because you have it doesn't mean you're
Speaker 1: using it. Sometimes we think we need more confidence, when
Speaker 1: all we really need to do is use the confidence
Speaker 1: that we already have by virtue of the power of
Speaker 1: Christ in us.
Speaker 2: I feel like preaching a.
Speaker 1: Little bit today because somebody's going to get their confidence back.
Speaker 1: By the time I put my microphone down, the Lord
Speaker 1: told me some of you have been losing your confidence,
Speaker 1: but he wants you to know that you have confidence
Speaker 1: to enter the most holy place that was the place
Speaker 1: where only the high priest could go. And even he
Speaker 1: couldn't go in the wrong way, or he wouldn't come out, well,
Speaker 1: he would come out. Body would have to drag him out,
Speaker 1: because the presence of God was so strong in the
Speaker 1: most Holy Place that if you.
Speaker 2: Didn't go in ceremonially clean.
Speaker 1: You would fall down dead in the presence of the
Speaker 1: glory of God. How many are glad for a new Covenant?
Speaker 1: I think the whole top section of Blakeney would fall
Speaker 1: over dead if you had to be clean to come
Speaker 1: to church today, I think the whole I think the
Speaker 1: preacher would fall dead on the stage if you had
Speaker 1: to be clean to come to church. And so he's
Speaker 1: he's talking about this new Covenant and he's excited about it,
Speaker 1: telling them come on in to the most Holy Place.
Speaker 1: How do you come in by the blood of Jesus,
Speaker 1: by a new and living way open for us through
Speaker 1: the curtain that is His body. And since we have
Speaker 1: a great high priest over the House of God, let
Speaker 1: us draw near to God with the sincere heart and
Speaker 1: with the full assurance that faith brings our hearts sprinkled
Speaker 1: to cleanse us from a guilty conscience.
Speaker 2: And having our bodies washed with pure water.
Speaker 1: I was only going to read verse nineteen, but the
Speaker 1: context of this is so powerful. I think I ought
Speaker 1: to keep going? How many think I ought to keep going?
Speaker 1: Come on, this is the covenant, the promise of God.
Speaker 1: This is your relationship with him. Describe to find and
Speaker 1: elaborated upon.
Speaker 2: Let us hold.
Speaker 1: Unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised
Speaker 1: is faithful, He who promised is faithful. You hadn't always
Speaker 1: been faithful to him, but he's always been.
Speaker 2: Faithful to you.
Speaker 1: And let us consider how we may spur one another
Speaker 1: on toward good deeds, not giving up meeting together as
Speaker 1: some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.
Speaker 2: And all the more as you see the day approaching.
Speaker 1: And so he's helping me before he tells me to
Speaker 1: keep my confidence, He's helping me to see where my
Speaker 1: confidence comes from. Let's talk about where Christian confidence comes from.
Speaker 1: Because there are three things he mentioned in the text
Speaker 1: I just read, and they all start.
Speaker 2: With the letter C.
Speaker 1: At least they will when I get done with them.
Speaker 1: Helps me remember them better. He mentions, your conscience, it's
Speaker 1: kind of hard to have full confidence when you have
Speaker 1: a troubled conscience. It's kind of hard for me to
Speaker 1: get up and preach to you when I have things
Speaker 1: in my life, areas in my life where I haven't
Speaker 1: been obedient. You know, there have been time before I've
Speaker 1: been getting ready to preach, and before I could come
Speaker 1: out on the stage, I had to make a phone
Speaker 1: call and get something right, because if I come up
Speaker 1: here in my conscience isn't clear. I don't mean that
Speaker 1: I have to be perfect when I get up. If
Speaker 1: that were the case, only J than Joseph will be
Speaker 1: allowed to preach at Elevation Church. But I'm saying some
Speaker 1: of you lost your confidence because you violated your conscience,
Speaker 1: and so now in relationships you can't really look people
Speaker 1: in the eye because of what you're hiding, because of
Speaker 1: text messages you hope your wife doesn't see, because of
Speaker 1: unresolved bitterness and forgiveness that God has initiated but you
Speaker 1: have not completed. The devil is really masterful at this,
Speaker 1: because if he can't get your calling without your confidence,
Speaker 1: he'll get to your confidence through your conscience. So then
Speaker 1: he will tempt you with something that he knows will
Speaker 1: define or defile rather your conscience. And now, because you
Speaker 1: have a defiled conscience, you have no confidence. To come
Speaker 1: into the presence of God requires confidence. The presence of
Speaker 1: God is the only place where your conscience can be cleansed.
Speaker 2: We just read it in Hebrews.
Speaker 1: He said that the most holy place the presence of God,
Speaker 1: that place of surrender, that place of contact with God.
Speaker 1: That's the place where the blood of Jesus is sprinkled
Speaker 1: to purify your conscience. But if you don't have confidence,
Speaker 1: you won't come in. So now the only place where
Speaker 1: God can heal your conscience you don't go into.
Speaker 2: Because you've lost your confidence.
Speaker 1: You stop coming to church at the time when you
Speaker 1: needed church the most. I'm gonna look at the camera
Speaker 1: because somebody's watching me online today. You almost came, but
Speaker 1: you felt guilty about something, and you let the devil
Speaker 1: tell you that you couldn't come. But the context of
Speaker 1: my relationship with God is not my behavior, is the
Speaker 1: blood of his son. It was already shed. And when
Speaker 1: those drops hit the crowd, mercy hit my life. Grace
Speaker 1: covered my sin, His compassion cover all the wrong things
Speaker 1: I had done, will do, and even the things I'm
Speaker 1: doing right now, so I can come on in to
Speaker 1: the presence of God with my head held high like
Speaker 1: a child of the King. I'm not a slave to fear.
Speaker 1: I'm a child of God, my spirit Christ.
Speaker 2: How I'm a father. I needs your help. I'm in
Speaker 2: a crisis. Come on in.
Speaker 1: Hear the voice of God saying to somebody, come on in,
Speaker 1: Come on in. I know what you did last summer.
Speaker 1: Come on in. I know what you did in your twenties.
Speaker 1: Come on in.
Speaker 2: I know what you did at nine forty seven am.
Speaker 2: Come on in. Tell somebody say, come on in.
Speaker 1: We need you to know that the context of Christian
Speaker 1: confidence is not your ability to conform to a set
Speaker 1: of behaviors.
Speaker 2: That's the old covenant.
Speaker 1: That's bringing a turtle dove to church and sacrificing it.
Speaker 1: But we have a great high Priest, and he is
Speaker 1: the context of my confidence. A context of my confidence
Speaker 1: is a clear conscience. And then you know what else
Speaker 1: I need. I need a community. I know your confidence
Speaker 1: has been shaken lately.
Speaker 2: That's why you need some people. Would you tell the
Speaker 2: person next to you, I need people like you in
Speaker 2: my life. I really do, I really do.
Speaker 1: Let us not give up meeting together, as some are
Speaker 1: in the habit of doing.
Speaker 2: I need people in my life because.
Speaker 1: I really believe if I hadn't grown up at Monk's
Speaker 1: Corner United Method Church and it Jackie didn't tell me
Speaker 1: God has a special plan for your life. When I
Speaker 1: first got saved, I might have gone right back to
Speaker 1: the way I was living. The temptation that is being
Speaker 1: countered by the author of Hebrews is the temptation to
Speaker 1: turn back that no sooner do you get started in
Speaker 1: the pursuit of a promise from God than you lose
Speaker 1: your confidence and turn back. You lose your confidence because
Speaker 1: certain people don't like it. Certain people don't understand it.
Speaker 1: Certain people aren't going the same way as you. Certain
Speaker 1: people don't support or endorse your decision to be a
Speaker 1: disciple of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: That's why you need certain other people, certain other people.
Speaker 2: You can't do this alone.
Speaker 1: I like to say, back in the early days when
Speaker 1: I first started preaching, you have to follow Christ for yourself.
Speaker 1: But you cannot follow Christ by yourself.
Speaker 2: So I need a new community.
Speaker 1: I need a new community, somebody to look me in
Speaker 1: the eyes from time to time and say I think
Speaker 1: you still got it.
Speaker 2: I think you ought to press on.
Speaker 1: If you don't have those people in your life, there
Speaker 1: is no hope for you holding on to your confidence.
Speaker 1: Because everybody in their head has a little confidence committee.
Speaker 1: They sit around that table, and you have the committee
Speaker 1: member called past experience.
Speaker 2: And boy, he'll speak up real quick when you decide
Speaker 2: to do something for Gott. You tried that once, how'd
Speaker 2: that go?
Speaker 1: He'll show you the treadmill that you bought, it's now
Speaker 1: a cote rack. And then there's past experience. And let's
Speaker 1: see who else sits at the table. You got past experience,
Speaker 1: and maybe you got the committee.
Speaker 2: Member of self loathing and doubt and all these people.
Speaker 2: If you don't have one time the profit.
Speaker 1: Elisha needed to teach his protege faith because they were
Speaker 1: surrounded by enemies. And that's all that the protege could see.
Speaker 1: That's all he could see, what was against him. I
Speaker 1: took away his confidence. He cried out, oh my Lord,
Speaker 1: what shall we do now? Sometimes that's that's the only
Speaker 1: prayer you can pray.
Speaker 2: And Elisha gave him a different context.
Speaker 1: When he prayed, open his eyes, Lord, that he may see.
Speaker 1: And when he blinked and opened his eyes again, nothing
Speaker 1: had really changed except.
Speaker 2: His vision opened his eyes.
Speaker 1: The second time he saw that what was surrounding them
Speaker 1: was surrounded by the armies of the Living God.
Speaker 2: You know, I believe.
Speaker 1: God wants to bring people in your life who can
Speaker 1: surround what surrounded you until you see the protection, the provision,
Speaker 1: and the promise of God coming to pass in your life.
Speaker 2: I'll be honest.
Speaker 1: There are certain people I look for when I preach
Speaker 1: because they boost my confidence.
Speaker 2: Certain people I look away from real quick Taylor secret.
Speaker 1: The right side of this Valentine campus is really spiritual.
Speaker 1: They will shout you down, only to be matched by
Speaker 1: this intersection.
Speaker 2: And the people in the.
Speaker 1: Back as well as the left side of the room. Look,
Speaker 1: give me a wide shot. Can you show the other
Speaker 1: campuses how we built this room. We built this Valentine
Speaker 1: campus where you can't sneak in, you can't fall asleep.
Speaker 2: Somebody will see you. We wanted you to know when
Speaker 2: you come to.
Speaker 1: Church you're surrounded, because you might up to church in trouble,
Speaker 1: and we and tempted and tested and try, but somebody
Speaker 1: shall I'm surrounded. Come on, tell seven people you're surrounded.
Speaker 1: Even if you want to go back, I won't let you.
Speaker 1: Even if you want to fall short. I'm not about
Speaker 1: to let you quit. You've come too far by faith.
Speaker 2: We're gonna lean on him together.
Speaker 1: We're going forward surrounded, got a community even within our staff.
Speaker 2: It shocked me.
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, I've been teaching our staff and one of
Speaker 1: the subjects I brought up was confidence. And in between sessions,
Speaker 1: we were singing one of my favorite new songs that's
Speaker 1: gonna be recorded for the new album, and we sang
Speaker 1: it today in church.
Speaker 2: Many of you be watching on TV and you won't
Speaker 2: get to hear it yet.
Speaker 1: But the song says, I believe I'll see you do
Speaker 1: it again. I believe I'll see you do it again.
Speaker 1: And we were singing it and the staff singing it,
Speaker 1: and there's a line in that song that says, this
Speaker 1: is my confidence. You never failed me yet, this is
Speaker 1: my confidence. And the Spear of the Lord spoke to
Speaker 1: me and said, go up on stage right now. And
Speaker 1: I was supposed to introduce Holly for her session, and
Speaker 1: the Lord told me she won't mind.
Speaker 2: She can wait and give an alter call for your staff.
Speaker 2: And I said, Lord, you mean that I got staffed
Speaker 2: that aren't saved. He said, well, yeah, probably that too.
Speaker 2: But that's not the kind of alter call. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm skidded.
Speaker 1: And he said, I want you to call for people
Speaker 1: who are having a crisis in confidence. So when I
Speaker 1: did it, I said, I want you to come forward.
Speaker 1: If you're having a crisis in confidence, I want you
Speaker 1: to come to the stage.
Speaker 2: I thought three people would come.
Speaker 1: I turned around, and all of a sudden, they didn't
Speaker 1: come to the stage. They started coming on the stage.
Speaker 1: They misunderstood my instruction, and it wasn't three of them.
Speaker 1: It was more people that came to the stage than
Speaker 1: stayed in the seats.
Speaker 2: And the next thing I know.
Speaker 1: I was surrounded by these staff members and I went
Speaker 1: through everything in my head.
Speaker 2: I was like, did they hear what I said?
Speaker 1: Because I didn't say if you struggle a little bit
Speaker 1: with your confidence, you know, because if you give an
Speaker 1: altar call broad enough, you can get the whole room
Speaker 1: to come.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. If you felt.
Speaker 1: Defeated, come, you know, you could just stretch it out
Speaker 1: if you're here today.
Speaker 2: But I didn't say, if you, you.
Speaker 1: Know, weren't outfit today and you're not feeling so good
Speaker 1: about it anymore, you feel kind of fat, come on
Speaker 1: to the stage and pray over your outfit.
Speaker 2: I said, a crisis and confidence.
Speaker 1: And over half my staff came and I prayed with
Speaker 1: them for about twenty minutes, and I said, we are
Speaker 1: going to leave some chains on the stage today. But
Speaker 1: probably the best thing I did for him was turn
Speaker 1: around and give them some context that there are times
Speaker 1: where the pressure to preach becomes so great, and my
Speaker 1: doubt in my own ability to lead the church becomes
Speaker 1: so strong. There have been times where I have fantasized
Speaker 1: about just walking out on independence and hoping maybe a
Speaker 1: truck will come. I know I seem confident up here,
Speaker 1: and maybe I shouldn't tell you this. Some of y'all
Speaker 1: are going to pray for me, write me a prescription
Speaker 1: or something like that. I'm not saying I walk around
Speaker 1: feeling that all the time. I'm not saying I'm suicidal.
Speaker 2: I was just.
Speaker 1: Trying to get them to see that their lack of
Speaker 1: confidence does not have to be the death of their calling.
Speaker 2: And the Devil's got some of you right now.
Speaker 1: You are at that Hebrew's ten crossroads of confidence, trying
Speaker 1: to decide whether to stay and raise your children or not,
Speaker 1: trying to decide whether continuing to pursue Christian values is
Speaker 1: even possible, or should you just.
Speaker 2: Give into the addiction and go back the other way?
Speaker 2: Trying to decide.
Speaker 1: I called my staff on the stage, and I even
Speaker 1: shared that about my own life, because I have seen
Speaker 1: too many callings abandoned at the crossroads of confidence.
Speaker 2: And if you just would have pressed on a little more,
Speaker 2: you would have seen the breakthrough.
Speaker 1: The author said, in just a little while, he who
Speaker 1: is coming, he who is coming, will come and not delay.
Speaker 2: When the devil really puts the pressure on.
Speaker 1: That's a side that you are in proximity to the
Speaker 1: promise that you've been pressing toward. We're praying on the stage,
Speaker 1: and I felt my confidence coming back, and it just
Speaker 1: hit me.
Speaker 2: If that was my staff, and they are paid to be.
Speaker 1: Christians, what's going on in the congregation, what's going on
Speaker 1: out there?
Speaker 2: What is the devil telling you?
Speaker 1: If he's telling the preacher, you know, you probably preached
Speaker 1: your best sermons by now, and they all heard everything
Speaker 1: you got to say. You know, you built that Valentine
Speaker 1: building too big, Never gonna fill that one up. That's
Speaker 1: what he's saying to me. I can't imagine. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm the man of God. I can't imagine what he's
Speaker 1: telling you. I can't imagine the mistakes that he's bringing up.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine the dumb decisions that he replays in
Speaker 1: your mind. Just that five clip that runs randomly every
Speaker 1: time you go to step out, I can't imagine. And
Speaker 1: so he mentions, He says, you need a clear conscience,
Speaker 1: and only the blood of Jesus can do that. And
Speaker 1: you have the blood of Jesus. So be confident when
Speaker 1: you come before God. Come before him with confidence. And
Speaker 1: you need a community.
Speaker 2: Guy says something to everybody who came to church. Oh God,
Speaker 2: I know you're struggling a little bit.
Speaker 1: I know you got some things, but you're around the
Speaker 1: right people right now, and we're going to do this together.
Speaker 2: But it's going to take consistency.
Speaker 1: Don't give up meeting together. Encourage one another all the more.
Speaker 1: As you see the day approaching. You see his biceps.
Speaker 2: They didn't get like that one time in the gym.
Speaker 1: The first time he went to pick up the forties,
Speaker 1: they were real heavy and he it was grunting on himself.
Speaker 1: Now he just picks up the eighties in the nineties
Speaker 1: because he picked up the fifties and the sixties. Confidence
Speaker 1: comes from consistency. Well, I guess you're not confident. You
Speaker 1: only let me preach to you once every three months.
Speaker 1: You only open your Bible on special occasions, Like, I
Speaker 1: guess you're not confident? How could you be? Confidence comes
Speaker 1: through consistency. They were interviewing Serena after she won her
Speaker 1: what was it, her four and thirty second Grand Slam title,
Speaker 1: tied the record. They said, how do you deal with
Speaker 1: the pressure of this big moment and rise to the
Speaker 1: occasion as you have so many times? And I left
Speaker 1: at her response, it was instant classic. She said, well,
Speaker 1: I've played a lot of tennis.
Speaker 2: I thought that was so great. How do you deal
Speaker 2: with the big moments? Well, I played a lot of tennis.
Speaker 1: You see somebody who has a lot of confidence, they
Speaker 1: tell you how they got it.
Speaker 2: They prayed a lot of prayers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how softly Serena speaks after she wins, I played
Speaker 1: a lot of tennis.
Speaker 2: You see somebody who asked tremendous peace in their heart.
Speaker 2: They forgave a lot of people.
Speaker 1: You see somebody who knows how to persevere through dry
Speaker 1: seasons and hard times. They read a lot of Bible verses,
Speaker 1: and so he sets confidence within the context of a
Speaker 1: clear contest, within the context of a strong community, within
Speaker 1: the context of a commitment to consistency. And now he says,
Speaker 1: let me get to my preaching part. How'd you like
Speaker 1: that set up? This won't take long, So do not
Speaker 1: throw away your confidence.
Speaker 3: It will be richly rewarded. Don't do it. Don't throw
Speaker 3: away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded.
Speaker 1: And you need to persevere so that when you have
Speaker 1: done the will of God, you will receive what he
Speaker 1: has problemise. Now, it's interesting to me that in order
Speaker 1: to get them to press forward, he tells them to
Speaker 1: look back. In verse thirty two, the writer says, if
Speaker 1: you want to go forward, here's what you need to do,
Speaker 1: remember those earlier days. This fascinates me because I've always
Speaker 1: been told that the way to gain confidence is to
Speaker 1: not look back. You know, you can't think about the past,
Speaker 1: can't think about what happened.
Speaker 2: You just got to even behind.
Speaker 1: Well, in this particular instance, the author advocates a type
Speaker 1: of memory management that will actually build your confidence.
Speaker 2: Remember those earlier days.
Speaker 1: After you had received the light, when you endured in
Speaker 1: a great conflict, full of suffering.
Speaker 2: He says, You've been through much worse than this, and
Speaker 2: you made it.
Speaker 1: Do you know what I know. I don't know what
Speaker 1: you've been through. I don't know what it looked like.
Speaker 1: I don't know how horrible it was.
Speaker 2: You could tell your story, I could tell my story.
Speaker 2: I know one thing about you. You made it.
Speaker 1: You're still here. I know that about you. I don't
Speaker 1: even have to know your name. I just know by
Speaker 1: the fact, by the virtue of the fact that you
Speaker 1: showed up, that you made it. And so sometimes it's
Speaker 1: just as simple as remembering that you made it. You know,
Speaker 1: when I'm stressed out and we're opening a new campus
Speaker 1: and I just flew back from Australia and a jet
Speaker 1: lagged and tired, and one of my best friends in
Speaker 1: the ministry is going through a terrible crisis and I'm
Speaker 1: walking through that with him, and all of it's hitting
Speaker 1: on the same weekend, and I'm coming out to open
Speaker 1: a campus and police are being shot in the streets
Speaker 1: and young men are being gunned down in the streets
Speaker 1: and I'm managing how to talk about that and open
Speaker 1: a campus, and you know, and my best friend is
Speaker 1: going through something, and everything's going and I haven't slept
Speaker 1: and I'm coming out and part of me is telling
Speaker 1: God backstage, I can't do this, I can't do this.
Speaker 1: And you know, when I start talking like that, the
Speaker 1: spear of the Lord will speak back to.
Speaker 2: Me, and all he says, is this really.
Speaker 1: Because I thought I remembered you in a white jeep Cherokee,
Speaker 1: a nineteen ninety white jeep Cherokee where you would leave
Speaker 1: on a Thursday and you would go preach at.
Speaker 2: A youth rally in Squirrelville, Georgia. And you would go
Speaker 2: preach at the youth rally Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Saturday night.
Speaker 2: You would leave, stop.
Speaker 1: At the gas station, get six diet and dues, drive
Speaker 1: back to Shelby, North Carolina, through the middle of the
Speaker 1: night and get back and lead worship, be there for
Speaker 1: the rehearsal at seven am and have everything set up
Speaker 1: for the worship team and you would lead the music.
Speaker 1: And then Sunday night you go to Charlotte and do
Speaker 1: your little core team meetings for your church plan that
Speaker 1: you were asking me to bless.
Speaker 2: And you would have the families there and no.
Speaker 1: New people would have showed up, but you would pre
Speaker 1: trite through it, and you wouldn't get discouraged, and you
Speaker 1: wouldn't get defeated, and you wouldn't get disappointed.
Speaker 2: But you'd just pretrike through it.
Speaker 1: And you stand up and say things boldly, and then
Speaker 1: you get up Monday morning with a hangover, holy hangover,
Speaker 1: and you would get in your write jeep Cherokee again
Speaker 1: and drive to Greenville. And sometimes you have Elijah three
Speaker 1: months old screaming in the backseat, and Holly and Elijah
Speaker 1: would go with you and you drop them off at
Speaker 1: your in laws house, and then you go to seminary
Speaker 1: and you'd sit there from nine am to nine pm
Speaker 1: in a systematic theology class.
Speaker 4: And you get back to Charlotte and you do it again,
Speaker 4: and you do it again. You do it again, and
Speaker 4: you did it before, and you can do it again.
Speaker 4: And you did it before, and you can do it again.
Speaker 4: You did it before, you can do it again. And
Speaker 4: some stands up on the inside of me and I tell.
Speaker 1: The devil, I'm that same dude that ran up and
Speaker 1: down the roads of I twenty six and I eighty
Speaker 1: five in a cheap Cherokee with the newborn baby. I
Speaker 1: believe God. Then I believe God. Now I saw him
Speaker 1: come through, then I'll see him come through again.
Speaker 2: I've seen him move a mountain, and I believe. Somebody said,
Speaker 2: I believe.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna preach until your confidence comes back.
Speaker 2: How do you get it back? You get it back
Speaker 2: in the gap? Touch?
Speaker 1: Somebody say, you get it back in the gap?
Speaker 2: Can I talk about the gap?
Speaker 1: Give me eight minutes? Come here, man, help me preach
Speaker 1: about the gap. Please please please come here, JJ, help
Speaker 1: me preach about the gap. Who else should help me
Speaker 1: preach about the gap? I think Jared Hogan's beard should
Speaker 1: help us preach about the gap.
Speaker 2: Come on, there's this gap.
Speaker 1: He said that after you have done the will of God,
Speaker 1: you will receive what he has promised. So we're on
Speaker 1: a journey and we're making progress. But in the midst
Speaker 1: of our progress we lose our confidence. Where do we
Speaker 1: lose it? We lose it in the gap. There's always
Speaker 1: a gap, he said. There is a space of time
Speaker 1: between when you have done the will of God and
Speaker 1: when the will of God becomes a parent in your life.
Speaker 2: There's a space. There's a gap. So these gentlemen will
Speaker 2: each represent something.
Speaker 1: JJ.
Speaker 2: You represent where I want to be and you, sir
Speaker 2: name please LaMarcus.
Speaker 1: LaMarcus is going to represent where I am, and I'm frustrated.
Speaker 2: In the gap.
Speaker 1: Where I am is not where I want to be.
Speaker 1: Who I am is not who I want to be.
Speaker 1: I'm in the gap. So here I get discouraged, and
Speaker 1: here I get weary, and here I want to quit,
Speaker 1: and here I want to withdraw. See, the church that
Speaker 1: the writer of Hebrews is addressing are not so much
Speaker 1: walking away from their faith as they are weakening in it.
Speaker 1: It's not a matter of we don't believe in Jesus anymore.
Speaker 1: It's a matter of wanting to withdraw from believing for
Speaker 1: the fullness of the promise of life in Him. And
Speaker 1: I would think that's where most people in church struggle
Speaker 1: is in this gap between where I am where I
Speaker 1: want to be. So there is another gap, and this
Speaker 1: is where Jared's gonna help us, because this second gap
Speaker 1: is the distance not between where I am and where
Speaker 1: I want to be, but this gap is the distance.
Speaker 2: Between where I was and where I am. Come on,
Speaker 2: talk to me, somebody, talk to me. We're gonna put
Speaker 2: it in context today. We're gonna put it in context. Today.
Speaker 2: You've been wanting to quit because all you see is this.
Speaker 2: But every once in a while, I'm almost done.
Speaker 1: Every once in a while, you need to look back
Speaker 1: over your shoulder, look back with me, and remind the devil.
Speaker 1: I'm not where I want to be. I'm not who
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be, but I'm not who I was. So
Speaker 1: I think if I already made it this far, if
Speaker 1: I've already seen this much, if I've already believed God
Speaker 1: through so much breaking and through so many battles, I
Speaker 1: think I'll press.
Speaker 2: On and see what the end is gonna be.
Speaker 1: In that good, in that good, I got it back
Speaker 1: in the gap.
Speaker 2: I got it back.
Speaker 1: When I look back and realize that God is.
Speaker 2: Still with me. And so you're gonna have to get
Speaker 2: your confidence back in the gap. Somebody shot My confidence
Speaker 2: is coming back, and I need you to understand that
Speaker 2: my situation didn't change.
Speaker 1: Yet, but the return of my confidence for seeing the
Speaker 1: improvement of my situation in just a little while, He
Speaker 1: who is coming will come and not delay.
Speaker 2: But I'm not waiting for.
Speaker 1: Him to come back for my confidence to be restored.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna raise him right now. I'm gonna bless him
Speaker 1: right now. I'm gonna believe that right now.
Speaker 2: Come on, help, let me preach.
Speaker 1: The spirit of God is in this place, and my
Speaker 1: confidence is coming back. See because in that gap is
Speaker 1: every lion and every bear that I've already killed. So
Speaker 1: come on, Goliath, my confidence is coming back.
Speaker 2: My confidence is coming back.
Speaker 1: I don't know the way forward, but the same God
Speaker 1: who got me through that gap.
Speaker 2: Is with me in this one. Clap your hands, get God.
Speaker 3: Praise.
Speaker 2: Come on, clap your hands, get God. Do you know
Speaker 2: what praised us? Everyone's standing, everyone's standing. Do you know
Speaker 2: what praised us?
Speaker 1: Praise puts your problem in context. When you praise God
Speaker 1: with your mouth, when you praise God in your mind,
Speaker 1: when you praise God in your heart, it puts your
Speaker 1: problem in the context of God's power.
Speaker 2: Some of you allowed your problem to weaken your confidence.
Speaker 2: This is beautiful the way the Lord gave it to me.
Speaker 1: I'd like to give it to you, and I get
Speaker 1: out of your way.
Speaker 2: He said, do not throw away your confidence.
Speaker 1: The reason that spoke to me is because a lot
Speaker 1: of us would blame life experiences and circumstances, and even.
Speaker 2: The devil for taking our confidence.
Speaker 1: Something that happened to using someone said to us something
Speaker 1: someone did to us. But the author of Hebrews didn't
Speaker 1: talk about other people or the devil. He said, your
Speaker 1: confidence is your responsibility.
Speaker 2: Do not throw away your confidence.
Speaker 1: For those of you who have lost confidence in your
Speaker 1: life today, listen to me.
Speaker 2: Nobody took it from you. They can't.
Speaker 1: Nobody can take away from you what they didn't give
Speaker 1: to begin with. When you lose your confidence, it's because.
Speaker 2: You gave it away. Here's the good news.
Speaker 3: If you're the one who gave it away, you're the
Speaker 3: one who.
Speaker 2: Can get it back. Come on, Church, take it. Take
Speaker 2: it back.
Speaker 1: Take back your confidence, take back your hope, take back
Speaker 1: your future, take back your dream.
Speaker 2: Take back your calling. Take it back.
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, we have a great high priest.
Speaker 2: The cortness rip.
Speaker 1: The veil is gone, the blood is set, The place
Speaker 1: is me, The way is before you, the past is
Speaker 1: behind you.
Speaker 2: Get up a sell a friend.
Speaker 1: So we say with confidence Hebrews thirteen six.
Speaker 2: The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid.
Speaker 2: No no, no, that's not how we say it. We
Speaker 2: say it with confidence. How would you say it if
Speaker 2: you were confident? Let me hear you try it.
Speaker 1: So we say with confidence. Now I'm not the devil,
Speaker 1: but if I were, I would not be convinced. So
Speaker 1: we say, with the Lord is my helper, I will
Speaker 1: not be afraid.
Speaker 2: Let me see how that felt. I say. We tried
Speaker 2: it at another time.
Speaker 1: So we say with confidence, for.
Speaker 2: Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. Try
Speaker 2: it again.
Speaker 1: So we say, with confidence, the Lord is my helper.
Speaker 5: I will not be afraid. The Lord is my helper.
Speaker 5: I will not be afraid. For Lord you matter help
Speaker 5: the devil. I will not be afraid. For Lord is
Speaker 5: my helper. I will not be afraid. I will not fear.
Speaker 5: My God is still be My God.
Speaker 2: Is still great. My God is too faithful.
Speaker 1: My God is too good, My God is too wise,
Speaker 1: My God is too awesome.
Speaker 2: It's gracious to a mason.
Speaker 1: I've come to the farm to quit, and my confidence
Speaker 1: is coming.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 1: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 1: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for.
Speaker 2: More information, and if you enjoyed the podcast, you.
Speaker 1: Can subscribe You can share it with your friends. You
Speaker 1: can click the share button, take a screenshot and share
Speaker 1: it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church.
Speaker 2: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.