Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. 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.
Speaker 1: I know y'all don't want to stand up anymore, but
Speaker 1: will you stay standing for this scripture because God gave
Speaker 1: us a good one today. Ah, God gave us a
Speaker 1: good one today. You know how you were debating whether
Speaker 1: to come or not? Can I go or not? You
Speaker 1: did the right day, You did the right day, You
Speaker 1: did the right thing. God gave us a good one today.
Speaker 1: I shared on this topic with our kids Tuesday night,
Speaker 1: and I was glad to and I thought it was
Speaker 1: just for them. And I went back after I preached
Speaker 1: and a few of my friends were here and all
Speaker 1: my friends were crying and they're grown ups, and they
Speaker 1: all said, that was for me. That was for me.
Speaker 1: That was for me. And then when I prayed what
Speaker 1: the Lord would have me share with our church today,
Speaker 1: he told me to give you this. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to share this with you today from Exodus chapter three,
Speaker 1: and well, okay, okay, okay okay. Exodus chapter three, verse nineteen.
Speaker 1: Are you ready? But I know that the King of
Speaker 1: Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand
Speaker 1: compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and
Speaker 1: strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will
Speaker 1: perform among them. After that, he'll let you go. I
Speaker 1: will read this again and you will respond or appropriate letter.
Speaker 1: So'll make me come through that screen. I'll come through
Speaker 1: that screen and snatch you right out of your pajamas
Speaker 1: and make you shout. But I know the Lord says
Speaker 1: it's to Moses. Moses is eighty years old, and I
Speaker 1: appreciate this to the youth because I'm hoping they can
Speaker 1: get early when it took Moses his whole lifetime to understand.
Speaker 1: And he's telling Moses the ambiance of a burning bush
Speaker 1: that isn't burning up. It's on fire, but it's not consumed.
Speaker 1: And he's telling him, I want to use you to
Speaker 1: set my people free, and have an assignment in mind
Speaker 1: with your name on it. But I know that the
Speaker 1: King of Egypt will not let you go unless a
Speaker 1: mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my
Speaker 1: hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that
Speaker 1: I will perform among them. After that, he will let
Speaker 1: you go. Now, if you have something in your life
Speaker 1: today and it feels like it's got a hold of
Speaker 1: you and you need God's help, it could be it
Speaker 1: could be depression, it could be anxiety, it could be
Speaker 1: a situation that's out of your control, but something that's
Speaker 1: got a hold of you, like Pharaoh had a hold
Speaker 1: of the children of Israel, and you need God's help
Speaker 1: with it. If something's got a hold of you, we
Speaker 1: don't have to say what. I'm not going to make
Speaker 1: you say it on the microphone. Don't be nervous. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to ask you to name it. But if
Speaker 1: there's something that has a hold of you and it
Speaker 1: feels like it won't let go, and you need God's
Speaker 1: help today, I want you to raise your hand right now. No,
Speaker 1: the other hand, the other hair. That's actually what I
Speaker 1: want to preach to you about today. This message is
Speaker 1: called the other hand, the other hand. God, I thank
Speaker 1: you that your arm is not short. You can reach
Speaker 1: everybody under the sound of my voice. Do it now,
Speaker 1: Lord in Jesus' name, Amen, Maybe see it. Oh, I
Speaker 1: was thinking, Chris, you know how we did in quarantine
Speaker 1: where y'all woud stay up here on the stools, and
Speaker 1: so I wouldn't fill a lonely up here preaching where
Speaker 1: to go by myself? Can y'all come like for y'all
Speaker 1: where you can bring with you? Are the stools still
Speaker 1: back there? Did the youth X steal it and throw
Speaker 1: them through windows for a segment or something like that.
Speaker 1: I don't know what they've been doing right here. Just
Speaker 1: bring some people back. You want to come to Scott,
Speaker 1: you should come, he should come, Skot coming fresh. I
Speaker 1: did it during quarantine. I don't know if you're watching
Speaker 1: it online. Did y'all stay connected during quarantine or just
Speaker 1: watching that flips? And I would always have the worship
Speaker 1: leaders stay up here. And it wasn't an aesthetic. It
Speaker 1: was just survival, man, because y'all are so good to
Speaker 1: look at while I'm preaching, most of y'all and then
Speaker 1: I would say, well, I can't just do this without
Speaker 1: someone to talk to. I can't talk to a camera.
Speaker 1: So they became they replaced you for a little while,
Speaker 1: but now y'all are back. But I thought it'd be
Speaker 1: cool if y'all came out, so come on. We won't
Speaker 1: wait for him. We'll just get started by ourselves. I
Speaker 1: want you to go back in your mind, you're sixteen
Speaker 1: years old. Close your eyes, you're sixteen. I do this
Speaker 1: when I'm preaching to the youth. Before I preach to
Speaker 1: the youth, I always put on the music I listened
Speaker 1: to when I was sixteen, Pearl Jam, No Code and Okay,
Speaker 1: so now open your eyes. So sixteen years old, you're
Speaker 1: sixteen years old. I like to tell this story when
Speaker 1: I speak to the students about one of the most
Speaker 1: significant things that was spoken to me when I was
Speaker 1: that age. Now, the coolest thing that ever happened to
Speaker 1: me when I was a teenager is when Billy Joe Armstrong,
Speaker 1: the lead singer of Green Day, called me on stage
Speaker 1: to play his guitar at the North Trustan Coliseum. And
Speaker 1: my best friend is here to verify that that really happened.
Speaker 1: That was the coolest thing, Georgia, your dad was freaking out.
Speaker 1: But the most important significant thing that happened to me,
Speaker 1: at least this would be in the top three, was Well,
Speaker 1: it's been twenty five years and I'm still telling you
Speaker 1: about it. This is how big of a deal this
Speaker 1: is that somebody saw something in me. Pastor Mickey, Pastor
Speaker 1: Mickey White, I called him the other day and I said,
Speaker 1: I'm still telling this story of when you came over
Speaker 1: to our house twenty five years ago when I was sixteen,
Speaker 1: because Pastor Mickey had just taken the job as the
Speaker 1: pastor of Santie Circle Baptist Mission and he needed a
Speaker 1: youth pastor, and he asked me to come work with
Speaker 1: his youth And I think my mom kind of thought
Speaker 1: that Pastor Mickey's church might be a cult. Oh y'all
Speaker 1: have thought the same thing about elevation. You're sitting right
Speaker 1: in a church you used to think that about, So
Speaker 1: I'm going to look at me like that. But Pastor
Speaker 1: Mickey said, well, I'll come over and talk to your mom.
Speaker 1: And he used to be in the autoparts business, so
Speaker 1: he was a good salesman. So he has to convince
Speaker 1: my mom for me to leave the Methodist church and
Speaker 1: come over to the Baptist church and be his youth
Speaker 1: pastor at this little church that was meeting in a
Speaker 1: Woodman of the World building. And what made it more
Speaker 1: dramatic is big, big guy pastor Mickey's what six six
Speaker 1: sixty seven, he's in his seventies now. But he sat
Speaker 1: down on the middle of the floor. There's like plenty
Speaker 1: of seats open in the house, so I guess he
Speaker 1: can at a Gandhi flow going on the floor. So
Speaker 1: and he sits down, big old guy, and he tells
Speaker 1: my mom, I've worked with youth, I've worked with kids
Speaker 1: for twenty years, and God has his hand on Stephen
Speaker 1: twenty five years ago. I can see it, can you.
Speaker 1: I can see him sitting on the floor saying, God
Speaker 1: has his hand on Steven. He said in a way
Speaker 1: I've never seen his hand on any of the kids
Speaker 1: that I've ever worked with. And it did the trick.
Speaker 1: My mom let me do it, and I served as
Speaker 1: his youth pastor. And I'm thinking at the time, like,
Speaker 1: and this is a little thick. You're laying it on
Speaker 1: a little thick right now? Does it really take all
Speaker 1: that you know the most? But but what I felt
Speaker 1: when he said that, I mean, on one hand, that
Speaker 1: felt cool, But on the other hand, it kind of
Speaker 1: was kind of scary. It felt like maybe it felt
Speaker 1: maybe like I'm special, Like, oh, God's hand is on
Speaker 1: your son. But on the other hand, I'm like, and
Speaker 1: what exactly does that mean? And yet when he said it, y'all,
Speaker 1: I can't exactly explain this to you, But inside I thought, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm feeling. That's what I'm feeling. Because I
Speaker 1: had made my personal commitment to Christ, not the one
Speaker 1: where your parents make a commitment to raise you so
Speaker 1: that you can meet Christ, but where you decide to
Speaker 1: follow Jesus for yourself. I had to make that commitment,
Speaker 1: and I sensed, you know, something is different. And so
Speaker 1: here's this man who has been in ministry for many years,
Speaker 1: and he says something like God's hand is on Stephen.
Speaker 1: And when I told this story to the young people Tuesday,
Speaker 1: I looked right at him as many of them as
Speaker 1: I could in the eyes, and I said, God has
Speaker 1: his hand on you. Because a lot of them never
Speaker 1: had Pastor Mickey sit on the floor chrisscross applesauce and
Speaker 1: say that when they were sixteen, and maybe a lot
Speaker 1: of them never even had anybody say something like I
Speaker 1: believe in you, you know. And I think, what a
Speaker 1: difference would it make if they get the revelation right now,
Speaker 1: not that they're going to be a preacher or a
Speaker 1: pastor one day. That's not what Pastor Mickey meant. That
Speaker 1: was a part of my pack. But he meant something
Speaker 1: different when he said God has his hand on Stephen.
Speaker 1: I want you to say that out loud, or put
Speaker 1: it in the chat, whatever the case may be. But
Speaker 1: say God, Wait, hold on, don't say my name, say
Speaker 1: your name God, God has his hand on y'all said
Speaker 1: that so quiet. It was terribly unconvincing how you said it.
Speaker 1: You said it with the wrong voice inflection. Say it again,
Speaker 1: God has his hand on God has his hand on Graham.
Speaker 1: One more time. This time, get the name of the
Speaker 1: person next to you. This might be good for like
Speaker 1: little Starbucks after church if you're single or whatever, but
Speaker 1: I'm not using it for that music for illustration. Get
Speaker 1: their name real quick, and now say their name. Look
Speaker 1: I'm right in the eyes, and say God has his
Speaker 1: hand on Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop. You need to hear that.
Speaker 1: You hadn't been feeling like that lately. I know you
Speaker 1: hadn't been feeling that lately. It doesn't make it any
Speaker 1: less true. He wasn't talking about a feeling. He wasn't
Speaker 1: talking about something that necessarily has a physical sensation. I'm
Speaker 1: seeing it in the chat. God has his hand on Dawn.
Speaker 1: God has his hand on Leanna. God has his hand
Speaker 1: on Esther. God has his hands on Say. God has
Speaker 1: his hands on Adam. God has his hand on Peter.
Speaker 1: God has his hand on me. It's his hand on me.
Speaker 1: It's his hand on me. I'm glad Paster Mickey took
Speaker 1: time out of his very busy life to sit down
Speaker 1: on my floor and say something that bowld. I wonder
Speaker 1: where would I be if I didn't believe that God
Speaker 1: had his hand on me? And now I know he
Speaker 1: was right, because now I know that the things that
Speaker 1: I've seen God do through me had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with me. So I don't mean to preach this early,
Speaker 1: and I plan to pace myself, but I'm excited to
Speaker 1: have some of y'all back in the room with me
Speaker 1: my testimony that it was his hand. I didn't know
Speaker 1: what he meant. It sounded good, it sounded profound. God
Speaker 1: has his hand on Stephen. I thought that many just
Speaker 1: wanted me to come over and be talk to the
Speaker 1: youth and work with the youth. But twenty five years later,
Speaker 1: I don't have to just believe it. I've seen it.
Speaker 1: I've seen it, and sometimes it was confusing because God's
Speaker 1: hand didn't always feel like a Swedish massage. Do you
Speaker 1: understand what I'm saying. God's hand didn't always feel like
Speaker 1: you know, I've experienced God's hand in so many different ways,
Speaker 1: like the hem we growing up. Great is thy faithfulness,
Speaker 1: Oh God, my Father, There's no shadow of turning with thee.
Speaker 1: All I have needed, Thy hand has provided. And so
Speaker 1: many times I've seen God's hand like this, offering me
Speaker 1: what I needed in the moment. All I have needed,
Speaker 1: all I have needed, Thy hand provided. You'll know I'm
Speaker 1: gonna come out of retirement and do a hymns project
Speaker 1: one day. Great is our faith on this I know
Speaker 1: all four verses of every hemn zeke you can sing harmony.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take the lead on those. Great is our
Speaker 1: faith on us. All I have needed, not all I wanted,
Speaker 1: not all asked for. Thank God. One of the things
Speaker 1: I've become grateful for in the last twenty five years.
Speaker 1: Did he said, God's hand is on you is for
Speaker 1: what he withheld. You know, you start off thanking God
Speaker 1: for when his hand does this, and then you live
Speaker 1: a little while and you learn to trust in Him
Speaker 1: with all your heart, so you appreciate when He does
Speaker 1: this too. I'm talking about his hand, because yes, He's
Speaker 1: provided for me. I can tell you days and I
Speaker 1: bet you've had them too. We're down to the dollar.
Speaker 1: God came through for me, down to the dollar. I'm talking.
Speaker 1: God didn't even round down. It was down to the dollar,
Speaker 1: down to the decimal. There have been times in this
Speaker 1: ministry where down to the decimal God has provided. And
Speaker 1: it's not just money, and it's not just stuff. And
Speaker 1: if you still think it's about bags and sneakers, you
Speaker 1: need to be back at youth x because you haven't
Speaker 1: grown up enough yet to realize that some of the
Speaker 1: greatest things God will give you in your life. God
Speaker 1: better not preach me on this front. Row some of
Speaker 1: the greatest things. Now we're talking about God's hand. And
Speaker 1: sometimes it's like this, and he'll bring the right person
Speaker 1: into your life at the right time, and you'll think,
Speaker 1: how did God know that that's who I needed to
Speaker 1: meet at this point in my life. And yet the
Speaker 1: same hand that did this, well sometimes do this. They
Speaker 1: stopped shouting Scottie hand like job said he gives and
Speaker 1: takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Have
Speaker 1: you realized that God's hand that does this, it's just
Speaker 1: as capable when he's doing this. I was on the
Speaker 1: front road of the Lord told me, make sure you
Speaker 1: tell him I'm a gardener, and that the same hand
Speaker 1: that plants also prunes. Make sure you tell them that
Speaker 1: the same hand that plants the seed of all that
Speaker 1: you're meant to be and all that your life is
Speaker 1: meant to contain and do for his glory. It's for
Speaker 1: his glory. It's for his glory. That's why Pastor Mackey said,
Speaker 1: God has his hand on you. Don't you think that
Speaker 1: God gave you a gift so that you could use
Speaker 1: it for your glory. It's God's hand on you. So
Speaker 1: it's God's glory through you, and it's God's purpose. But
Speaker 1: the same hand that plants do you all know the
Speaker 1: scripture John fifteen, It says that every branch that bears
Speaker 1: fruit he prunes same hand. The same hand his hand
Speaker 1: does this. His hand sometimes does this taking opportunities that
Speaker 1: you you thought, well, that's it right there, and then
Speaker 1: God goes, nah, I know stuff all right, So praise him.
Speaker 1: How you praise him when he does this, when he
Speaker 1: gives you an opportunity praising him. Now, I'm gonna lift
Speaker 1: your hands like you lift your hands. Can you lift
Speaker 1: him when he does this? God's hand. Say it again.
Speaker 1: God's hand is on say your name, God's hand. And
Speaker 1: that's what the Lord told Moses. He said, I see
Speaker 1: my people suffering. It's been four centuries, and I've chosen you,
Speaker 1: the fugitive murderer who has forgotten who he really is,
Speaker 1: if he ever really knew. But I've seen my people suffering,
Speaker 1: and I know that it's not going to be easy.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna stretch out. I'm going to show you
Speaker 1: the verse again because I learned a few things about
Speaker 1: God's hand. I learned that God's hand is provision. I
Speaker 1: learned that God's hand is protection. But I also learned
Speaker 1: God's hand is power. He said, I know that he
Speaker 1: will not let you go unless a mighty hand Verse nineteen.
Speaker 1: A mighty hand compels him, A mighty hand, and the
Speaker 1: mighty hand of God in the judgment of the Ten
Speaker 1: Plagues against Egypt, was what God used to release his
Speaker 1: people into ultimate freedom. A mighty hand. And the Lord
Speaker 1: tells Moses, it's not going to happen in your own strength.
Speaker 1: It's not going to happen in your own intellect. It's
Speaker 1: not going to happen in your own ability or your strategy.
Speaker 1: It's not going to happen even in the leadership gifts
Speaker 1: that I've given you. It's going to take another hand.
Speaker 1: And the thing about it is, this is what God
Speaker 1: showed me. I was looking at the passage, and I
Speaker 1: looked at it again a few times after I ap
Speaker 1: preached it the other night, and the Lord said, you
Speaker 1: miss something. I said, what did I miss? And he said,
Speaker 1: you missed the other hand? I said, what's the other hand?
Speaker 1: Look at him verse nineteen. He said, I know that
Speaker 1: the king of Egypt, that's Pharaoh, will not let you go. He'
Speaker 1: see it. I didn't see it either. He won't let
Speaker 1: you go. That means your enemy thinks he has you
Speaker 1: so strong in his grip, and he won't let go
Speaker 1: unless unless there is another hand that has stronger than
Speaker 1: his hand. So while you feel like the devil has
Speaker 1: you like this, you know, let's be honest. A lot
Speaker 1: of the chains in this room are forty two years old.
Speaker 1: These are not saplings anymore. These are oak trees that
Speaker 1: go down deep. I mean there's some real deep stuff
Speaker 1: that's holding you in here. It's got you like this.
Speaker 1: I mean by the throat, I mean it's got you.
Speaker 1: It won't let you breathe. You try to move, you
Speaker 1: can't move. You try to move up, you can't move up.
Speaker 1: You try to step into a new opportunity, you can't
Speaker 1: do it with a free heart. It's got you like this,
Speaker 1: It's got you so strong. But God's to tell you
Speaker 1: about the other hand. And this is what Moses needed
Speaker 1: to know. It's no different for everybody in the room
Speaker 1: today that your father is stronger than your pharaoh. So
Speaker 1: like with Graham. With Graham, he wrestles me. In fact,
Speaker 1: since you're here, you want to do it real quick,
Speaker 1: just illustrated. Come here, real quick, come here, Come go ahead.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you. He hates when I do this
Speaker 1: because he's strong. Graham is so strong. He's thirteen. He
Speaker 1: won the state championship for hold on for freestyle wrestling.
Speaker 1: It was a small tournament, but it was still state championship.
Speaker 1: And I won a state championship when I was in
Speaker 1: eighth grade too, But there was nobody else in the
Speaker 1: weight class, and so I won the state championship. So
Speaker 1: we'll have battles, and I'll say old man versus young man,
Speaker 1: South Carolina versus North Carolina state champions And he's so
Speaker 1: quick and he's so good. But what I do. I
Speaker 1: got old man moves. I got old man moves. I
Speaker 1: got pressure points I can do right here, see right there,
Speaker 1: right there, that spot right there, right there, in my hands,
Speaker 1: I can stop him. All I need is this anointed
Speaker 1: forty one year old thumb, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: watch this. It doesn't matter how much youth you have.
Speaker 1: I will put my thumb in his tech right there.
Speaker 1: If he now, I'll let him wrestle me. But if
Speaker 1: it gets too rough, because he's getting too strong for
Speaker 1: me to play with him, I can't play with him anymore.
Speaker 1: He'll get on my legs so quick, and I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna go out like that. I don't know who's videoing this.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is Instagram live. So sometimes
Speaker 1: I got fup. Just put him right there, all right,
Speaker 1: all right, you're done, go back down there. They want
Speaker 1: to fight right now. I saw it. I saw him
Speaker 1: getting in his status. I'm not getting taken down in
Speaker 1: front of the world. Ah ah, God said, I know
Speaker 1: where to put the pressure. See that's why I'm God.
Speaker 1: I've been doing this a long time, and I'll see
Speaker 1: your enemy shoot it in on you. But when I
Speaker 1: use my hand, I got a mighty hand. I got
Speaker 1: a strong hand. I don't even have to flex I'm God.
Speaker 1: So Pastor Mickey didn't tell me that part. He told
Speaker 1: me God's hand was on me. I thought it meant
Speaker 1: God is my provider. I didn't know that the same
Speaker 1: hand that brings provision also brings pressure. And how God
Speaker 1: will use the pressure of life to bring me into freedom.
Speaker 1: I know it won't let you go unless a mighty cant.
Speaker 1: A mike can't mighty hand. Twenty five years later, I
Speaker 1: can tell you that God has a mighty hand. Ten
Speaker 1: plagues later, Moses and Pharaoh knew it's a mighty hand.
Speaker 1: It's a mighty hand. It's a mighty hand. It's a
Speaker 1: mighty hand. It's a hand that you can't always feel it,
Speaker 1: you can't always see it. But see, Moses was well
Speaker 1: acquainted with this hand, whether he knew it or not,
Speaker 1: because when he was a baby, all the little Hebrew
Speaker 1: boys were getting killed by Pharaoh, not him. His mom
Speaker 1: made a basket and put him in the Nile River.
Speaker 1: This is ect of this chapter two, and the Bible
Speaker 1: says that that basket floated to the daughter of Pharaoh,
Speaker 1: and she saw the basket and she drew it out,
Speaker 1: and she felt sorry for Moses because he was crying,
Speaker 1: and she took him and God raised him. As a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, as I thought about that basket floating
Speaker 1: down the Nile River, I thought about your life and
Speaker 1: my life, because what are the chances did a basket
Speaker 1: could float down the Nile River and miss all of
Speaker 1: the alligators unless there was a hand. I'm grateful for
Speaker 1: God's hand how he guided me past certain attacks. You know,
Speaker 1: the same hand that did this sometimes does that, and
Speaker 1: sometimes God just did that with his hand. Anybody grateful
Speaker 1: for the times God did that and anxiety came for
Speaker 1: your life. You thought about ending your life, and the
Speaker 1: gators almost got you, but God's hand died that. We
Speaker 1: don't really even know how to praise God. When I
Speaker 1: say praise God, and I say, you know, what do
Speaker 1: you have to be thankful for? You don't even know
Speaker 1: the things that God did this and if he didn't
Speaker 1: do this, you wouldn't be here. I'm thankful that he provided.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that he pruned and took some things out.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that he protected with his mighty hand and
Speaker 1: an outstretched arm. God said, I see your struggle, and
Speaker 1: I know that it won't let you go easily. And
Speaker 1: so since you've been doing it in your own strength,
Speaker 1: making bricks without straw, doing everything that you know to
Speaker 1: do to be free, but never finding freedom, it's time
Speaker 1: for my hand to work in your life. In fact,
Speaker 1: the scripture says something powerful in Peter. He says, humble yourself.
Speaker 1: What a thing for Peter to say. He's not exactly
Speaker 1: mister humility and the senior superlatives if you read the yearbook,
Speaker 1: but he's learned. Now humble yourself under God's mighty hand.
Speaker 1: Say that phrase, God's mighty hand. How's Pharaoh gonna let
Speaker 1: you go? God's mighty hand. How in the world is
Speaker 1: it gonna happen this time? You don't even know the
Speaker 1: mess I'm in. I know you feel like Moses right now,
Speaker 1: But God came to reveal to you that his hand,
Speaker 1: what is it? It's a mighty hand. God's mighty hand.
Speaker 1: Pharaoh's got a strong hand. God's is stronger. God's mighty hand.
Speaker 1: How many praise God for his mighty hand. God doesn't
Speaker 1: try to do anything. God does not intend to do anything.
Speaker 1: He can't do God's mighty hand. But that's not what
Speaker 1: I came to preach about today. I want to preach
Speaker 1: about the other man. See, it seems like Moses didn't
Speaker 1: have a lot of trouble believing that God was mighty.
Speaker 1: He didn't argue with God at all. God said, I am,
Speaker 1: the God of Abrahan, the God of Jacob. And all
Speaker 1: Moses wanted to know is what's your name? And God
Speaker 1: said I am. And I'm sure Moses waited around for
Speaker 1: a little bit more detailed, but God said, you better
Speaker 1: leave it blank, because I'm gonna do so much you
Speaker 1: will not be able to quantify me by one word,
Speaker 1: not a agative, not a verb, not an adverb, not
Speaker 1: a So the Lord, the very essence of true presence
Speaker 1: and being, says I am. And after he gets on
Speaker 1: telling Moses what he's gonna do and how he's gonna
Speaker 1: set the people free in a mighty hand and all
Speaker 1: of that. See, Moses doesn't argue with God about what
Speaker 1: God can't do. Now here's where I need to just
Speaker 1: talk to you. Can we just talk like we've known
Speaker 1: each other all our life? How many of y'all you'll
Speaker 1: feel sometimes when I'm preaching like we know each other.
Speaker 1: I feel that too. So I was praying about this message,
Speaker 1: and God said, it's not me. They doubt most of
Speaker 1: the time. They believe I'm big, they believe I'm powerful,
Speaker 1: and they believe I can do great things through others.
Speaker 1: Moses didn't say, how will I know that your hand
Speaker 1: is strong? How will I know that you're great? How
Speaker 1: will I know that you're stronger? How will I know? No,
Speaker 1: he didn't doubt God at all. And that's what I
Speaker 1: want to preach to you about. Because after God told
Speaker 1: Moses what he would do, Moses answered, And I'm only
Speaker 1: sharing this with you because I relate to Moses, not
Speaker 1: in the sense that I can deliver a nation or
Speaker 1: anything like that. I don't want to change jobs with Moses.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying how he feels I felt, because you
Speaker 1: can know that God's hand is mighty. But watch this,
Speaker 1: he answered Verse one Exodus. For what if they do
Speaker 1: not believe me or listen to me? And what if
Speaker 1: they say, the Lord did not appear to you, Let
Speaker 1: me give you a a little hand. When he's talking about they,
Speaker 1: it's not really their doubt that he's dealing with a
Speaker 1: lot of times when we try to identify what the
Speaker 1: obstacles are of us being who God called us to be.
Speaker 1: Because look what the Lord asked him Verse two. The
Speaker 1: Lord said to him, what is that in your hand?
Speaker 1: Whose hand? We talked about God's hand. We shout about
Speaker 1: God's hand. We need God's hand. It's a mighty hand.
Speaker 1: See for me, it's not that hand that gets me
Speaker 1: in trouble. It's the other hand, my hand, the mighty hand,
Speaker 1: that one my hand. That's a different story, because what's
Speaker 1: just Moses said, how are we going to do this?
Speaker 1: And God said, what is that in your hand? So
Speaker 1: now after God tells him what he's going to do
Speaker 1: with his hand, he points to Moses's hand. Now I
Speaker 1: think this is where I think this is where we
Speaker 1: should spend a little time today talking about the other hand.
Speaker 1: Oh God is awesome, and he's so great? And how
Speaker 1: great does our God? Sing with me? How great is
Speaker 1: our God? And all will see how great, how great
Speaker 1: is our God? That's not the part I have a
Speaker 1: problem with because twenty five years ago, when Pastor Mickey
Speaker 1: said that God's hand was on me, he only told
Speaker 1: me half of it. You know, God's hand can be
Speaker 1: on you in a great way, but if you don't
Speaker 1: believe it, if you don't receive it, do you know
Speaker 1: God can put you in position. That's one thing about
Speaker 1: his hand. The Bible says that if you humble yourself
Speaker 1: under the mighty hand of God, he will listen you
Speaker 1: up in due time. You don't have to do it yourself.
Speaker 1: You don't have to position yourself. You don't have to
Speaker 1: show off what you can do. God will do amazing
Speaker 1: things through your life if you stay under his hand. Yet,
Speaker 1: the hard thing for me has not been God's hand.
Speaker 1: I can trust his hand, I can believe in his hand.
Speaker 1: I can see the evidence of his hand. Only he
Speaker 1: listen to me. I'm from Monks Corner, South Carolina. The
Speaker 1: things God has done for me in my life, the
Speaker 1: places He has taken me are so far from where
Speaker 1: I started. I know it had to be him. In fact,
Speaker 1: even the people that mistreated me, they didn't know it,
Speaker 1: but God was using their hands to get me where
Speaker 1: I needed to be. Y'all don't believe me, Joseph. Joseph
Speaker 1: told his brothers, you intended to harm me, but God
Speaker 1: meant it for good. You sold me, but God sent me.
Speaker 1: How's that possible? Even what their hand did, even what
Speaker 1: they did to you or did not do for you,
Speaker 1: has to pass through God's hand. By the time it's over.
Speaker 1: It's not his hand I struggle with. It's the other hand.
Speaker 1: Are you all really on my second week back from
Speaker 1: vacation on the summer gonna look at me like you
Speaker 1: don't have another hand? What you're talking about here, Pastor,
Speaker 1: for me is pretty like I just you know, I
Speaker 1: am called, I am chosen, I am anointed, I am
Speaker 1: blessed and highly favored. You got another hand? I know
Speaker 1: you got it in your pocket right now. Oh, Jesus
Speaker 1: went to church one day. You'll know this. Jesus went
Speaker 1: to church one day. In Matthew chapter twelve, Jesus went
Speaker 1: to church one day, and while he was there, he
Speaker 1: noticed something nobody else saw. This is an amazing scripture,
Speaker 1: and I'm bringing it right now because I think it
Speaker 1: represents how a lot of us came to church or
Speaker 1: logged on this morning. It says, going on from that place,
Speaker 1: he went into their synagogue. Next verse, police and a
Speaker 1: man with a shriveled or some version say withered hand
Speaker 1: was there and looking for a reason to bring charges
Speaker 1: against Jesus. They asked him, is it lawful to heal
Speaker 1: on the sabbath? Now? He said to them, if any
Speaker 1: of you as a sheet and it falls into a
Speaker 1: pit on the sabbath, will you not take hold of
Speaker 1: it and lift it out? So Jesus is saying that,
Speaker 1: just like you would take your hand and something that
Speaker 1: was valuable, you would pull it out. That's what he
Speaker 1: wants to do for this man. He wants to take
Speaker 1: you where you are, in the place that nobody else
Speaker 1: can see that you struggle. Because here's the problem. All
Speaker 1: of us have one hand that looks just fine. All
Speaker 1: of us have one hand, and it's an amazing miracle
Speaker 1: because Jesus skips over the hand that's working to get
Speaker 1: to the one that won't work. He said to the man,
Speaker 1: this is such a crazy thing to say to somebody.
Speaker 1: Stretch out your hand. So he stretched it out and
Speaker 1: it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
Speaker 1: The Lord showed me something in this sermon it's kind
Speaker 1: of warm to wear a jacket, but I needed it
Speaker 1: to show you this that a lot of us walk
Speaker 1: around showing people the hand we want them to see it.
Speaker 1: I am coming for your other hand today, the one
Speaker 1: that won't work. And don't feel bad about it, because
Speaker 1: everybody that you're sitting next to has another hand. There's
Speaker 1: the one that they show you, and there's the one
Speaker 1: that they know about and God knows about, but they've
Speaker 1: learned how to keep it very carefully contained. So nobody
Speaker 1: other than the ones who live with them know about
Speaker 1: their anger issue because they're nice to the server at
Speaker 1: the restaurant. The other hand, nobody knows about the thing
Speaker 1: that they struggle within their own emotions because they make
Speaker 1: a lot of money. Nobody knows about the tears that
Speaker 1: they cry over, the things that they can't get straight
Speaker 1: in their mind, because in their life everything looks fine.
Speaker 1: But Jesus didn't want that hand. They wanted the other hand.
Speaker 1: And when the man stretched his hand out, the Bible
Speaker 1: says that it was completely restored. His hand has always
Speaker 1: been on you. It was his hand. How you just
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you felt like you could stand
Speaker 1: after thinking you had collapsed and something picked you up.
Speaker 1: That was his hand, That was his hand. It was
Speaker 1: his hand. But now it's time to stretch your hand
Speaker 1: because you still don't believe that. You still don't believe
Speaker 1: that you're the one He chose for that situation. You
Speaker 1: still don't believe you have what it takes. You still
Speaker 1: don't believe that He in you is more than nom.
Speaker 1: You still don't believe that you have a spirit without measure.
Speaker 1: You still don't believe that the gifts that you have
Speaker 1: are the ones that you're meant to have, and if
Speaker 1: you will grow and develop those, you will be able
Speaker 1: to accomplish everything God's called you to accomplished. You still
Speaker 1: don't believe that you still in the other people's hand,
Speaker 1: but you're looking at their good hand comparing it to
Speaker 1: your bad hand. The way this works in scripture is
Speaker 1: that Jesus is healing a man on the Sabbath, which
Speaker 1: is work, who has a condition that renders him unable
Speaker 1: to work. His entire identity has been consumed by this
Speaker 1: one issue, and God did a miracle for him. Can't
Speaker 1: he do the same thing for me? The other hand?
Speaker 1: The other hand, I said, Lord, let's talk about the
Speaker 1: mighty hand. But then he told me to talk about
Speaker 1: my hand, because to sit here and tell you, oh,
Speaker 1: God has had his hand on me, that makes it
Speaker 1: sound like God just makes it easy, like he just no.
Speaker 1: You know how many times I've almost called Larry Bride
Speaker 1: on a Saturday night to tell him, I'll bet you
Speaker 1: got to hope you got your backup sermon ready. And
Speaker 1: you think like, oh, well, you don't have much faith,
Speaker 1: you don't trust God. I trust God. This what's in
Speaker 1: my hand? I'm so glad y'all are up here. They're
Speaker 1: real judgmental, they're on judgment level ten today. What's that
Speaker 1: in your hand? He said, a staff. I'm kind of
Speaker 1: going back and forth between the man and the synagogue
Speaker 1: and God, and I know it's kind of confusing as
Speaker 1: I'm moving here. But you got to see Moses on
Speaker 1: the far far side of the wilderness, tending sheep for
Speaker 1: his father in law named Jethro, with a staff in
Speaker 1: his hand. And God said, what's said in your hand?
Speaker 1: And he said a staff? But when he set a staff,
Speaker 1: there's more symbolically contained in this answer than on the surface,
Speaker 1: because this is more than a stick. The only reason
Speaker 1: Moses is even holding a staff to begin with, is
Speaker 1: because of what he did forty years ago when he
Speaker 1: killed an Egyptian for beating one of his brothers. Because
Speaker 1: God's hand was on his life then, but he did
Speaker 1: not handle it. Yet. You understand that when God wanted
Speaker 1: to show Moses who he was and what he could do,
Speaker 1: he points to something that is in his hand that
Speaker 1: is a symbol of the mistake that he made that
Speaker 1: landed him in this place. And watch what he does,
Speaker 1: because this is the hand we need to talk about.
Speaker 1: You're holding on the stuff so tight. Some of you
Speaker 1: have such a death grip. Your knuckles are white, holding
Speaker 1: on to your staff, holding on to your identity that
Speaker 1: you've told yourself this who I am, This who I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be. This is what I did. Yeah, you did it.
Speaker 1: Nobody's hands are cleaning here. None is righteous, no, not one.
Speaker 1: Nobody lifted their hands because they don't have any blood
Speaker 1: on them. I lifted my hands because his blood will
Speaker 1: cleanse me of all unrighteousness if I confess it and
Speaker 1: own it and give it to him. So it's not
Speaker 1: about God's hands. You've got more than enough aptitude, You've
Speaker 1: got more than enough experience, You've got more than enough height.
Speaker 1: You got the right feet, the right inches, you got
Speaker 1: the right genetics. It's all right there. It's never been
Speaker 1: about his hand. Before you were born, he knit you together,
Speaker 1: before you were conceived, he set you apart. It's never
Speaker 1: been about his hand. God said, what's in yours? Before
Speaker 1: God could use him, I really wanted to use him.
Speaker 1: He had to do what we all have to do.
Speaker 1: He had to take what was in his hand, not
Speaker 1: God's hand. God's hand is already He's already got the
Speaker 1: plagues loaded. He's already ready to unleash. That's not the
Speaker 1: question anymore. But when Moses said his staff, God told
Speaker 1: him what to do. Throw it on the ground. And
Speaker 1: he threw it and it became a snake. And he
Speaker 1: ran from it because he wasn't an idiot. I heard preachers.
Speaker 1: I heard preachers here say, and Moses ran because he
Speaker 1: still had not recognized the sovereignty of God. No, he
Speaker 1: ran because it's a snake, and run from snakes. How
Speaker 1: stupid do we have to be to think that? Now,
Speaker 1: this makes it even more powerful with what God tells
Speaker 1: him to do next. Right, So he has to release
Speaker 1: what's familiar, and then he ass to watch this. Reach
Speaker 1: out Who's hand? Come on, y'all. I put it on
Speaker 1: the screen. Reach out your hand. And I know you're
Speaker 1: praying about God's hand, but God is saying, reach out
Speaker 1: your hand. Do you know there's nothing God's hand can't do.
Speaker 1: But there are some things God's hand won't do. God
Speaker 1: did not pry Moses's fingers from the stick. He didn't
Speaker 1: do it. He won't do it. It's in your hand. Now.
Speaker 1: There are some things that need deliverance. There are some
Speaker 1: things that need discipline. God will let you use your
Speaker 1: hand to lift a spoon with ice cream on it,
Speaker 1: or you can curl a dumbbell. It's in your hand
Speaker 1: at that point, there are some things God will not.
Speaker 1: Come on Moses. He throws it down, and then after
Speaker 1: he releases what's familiar. This is the process for me,
Speaker 1: for me because God has his hand on me, and
Speaker 1: I know that that's not the question. It's a mighty hand,
Speaker 1: but my hand. Sometimes what's in my hand? And now
Speaker 1: you have to release what's familiar, and he has to
Speaker 1: reach for what he's afraid of. And in whose hand
Speaker 1: Moses's hand a miracle happens. So what are you telling
Speaker 1: me preacher, you said the other hand, You said God's hand,
Speaker 1: then you said my hand. All right, well, the Lord said,
Speaker 1: everybody in here is going to need both hands in
Speaker 1: order to move forward. But the problem is the problem
Speaker 1: is you won't bring God. What's really wrong with you?
Speaker 1: You keep stretching out that good hand. You know what
Speaker 1: I never noticed after Moses' stick became a serpent, and
Speaker 1: then the serpent became a stick, and all these awesome
Speaker 1: things that happened when we let go and God transforms
Speaker 1: our greatest fears into instruments of faith, that he would
Speaker 1: go on to part the Red Sea with that staff.
Speaker 1: I know, I know all that I appreciate before. But
Speaker 1: watch what God told him to do next, because he's saying,
Speaker 1: what if they don't believe me? What if I don't
Speaker 1: believe me? God, I believe you? What if I don't
Speaker 1: believe me? What if they don't believe me? Look what
Speaker 1: the Lord said, verse six, Please be nice to detect people.
Speaker 1: They're tired. What's just most holding his staff? Remember it
Speaker 1: was a snake a minute ago. Ah, it's a staff.
Speaker 1: Now it's going to part waters. Wow, watch what God
Speaker 1: can do. He could change your greatest mistake into the
Speaker 1: instrument of your greatest miracle or no pastor. I've heard
Speaker 1: these cliches before. Your setback is sit up, shout all
Speaker 1: this stuff. Now I'm telling you what daily I have
Speaker 1: to experience in my life is picking up the thing
Speaker 1: I was afraid of. After releasing the thing I was
Speaker 1: familiar with, what is in your hand? But then he tells, Moses,
Speaker 1: put your hand inside your cloak. So how's he going
Speaker 1: to do this? He's got the staff in his hand.
Speaker 1: How's he gonna ohi's the other hand. The staff represented
Speaker 1: what he did, but the other hand represents who you
Speaker 1: think you are. Put your hand in your cloak, he said.
Speaker 1: Moses put his hand in his cloak, and when he
Speaker 1: took it out, the skin was lepros. What do you
Speaker 1: know about leprosy? Keeps you isolated, makes you ashamed, just
Speaker 1: like Moses has been for these forty years because of
Speaker 1: what he did. The other hand, nobody touches lepers. Remember
Speaker 1: the leper in scripture. Everybody would tell him six feet back,
Speaker 1: six feet back, six feet back. But one day when
Speaker 1: Jesus walked up, it was the first time that he
Speaker 1: saw this. See, because nobody touches lepers that's what I
Speaker 1: see God doing. We're all standing at a distance from
Speaker 1: what God gave us to do. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's raising your kids. I don't know if it's fully
Speaker 1: entering into the life that God has given you right
Speaker 1: now or being content. But God said, put your hand
Speaker 1: back in your cloak and pull it out. And when
Speaker 1: he pulled his hand out next verse, it was restored
Speaker 1: like the rest of his flesh. God wants to restore
Speaker 1: your other hand. Your other hand, you know the one
Speaker 1: nod at me if you know the hand, and you
Speaker 1: hope I don't mention your specific issue in front of
Speaker 1: this whole August body of believers, know the one stretch
Speaker 1: that one forth. I see God restoring your hand today
Speaker 1: because His hand has always been on you. Holly preached
Speaker 1: an amazing message about the voice of God last night
Speaker 1: to our youth. But let me tell you something that
Speaker 1: she said that I really believe, and I wrote a
Speaker 1: song about it when I was sixteen. It was the
Speaker 1: first Christian song I ever wrote. Before that, I was
Speaker 1: writing some songs that well, let's just say we won't
Speaker 1: be singing them on the arena tour and putting it
Speaker 1: on a project on Spotify. It was some songs that
Speaker 1: never need to be heard by anybody, but I wrote
Speaker 1: one that said out of someone thirty nine, if I
Speaker 1: take the wings of mourning, or dwell within the sea,
Speaker 1: even there, your hand will lead me and your right
Speaker 1: hand will hold me fast. Who is it for today
Speaker 1: that the Lord said, I want to restore your hand?
Speaker 1: Did I see what you're grabbing onto that you identify
Speaker 1: yourself with? And the signs that God gave Moses were
Speaker 1: for God's glory, not for Moses. But before God's glory
Speaker 1: could be revealed, Moses had to release something, and so
Speaker 1: do you. And when he brought his hand back out,
Speaker 1: it was restored. It was restored. God wants to give
Speaker 1: you your hand back today. God wants to give you
Speaker 1: your hand back today. God wants to enable you to
Speaker 1: do by faith what you can't do in your own effort.
Speaker 1: God's hand is still on your life. And in case
Speaker 1: you have something in here that is bigger than you,
Speaker 1: I want you to know that is a job for
Speaker 1: God's hand. But God has given you a hand, and symbolically,
Speaker 1: right now, I want you to see the hand of
Speaker 1: God that has always been on your life in your
Speaker 1: hand that is holding onto What if you don't let
Speaker 1: go of it, you are never going to receive what
Speaker 1: you need for the season that you're in. And all
Speaker 1: over this auditorium, I want you to lift your hands
Speaker 1: to God, both of them. In fact, stand up on
Speaker 1: your feet. We started this way, We're going to end
Speaker 1: this way. What is that in your hand? We can
Speaker 1: stand here the rest of our life on the far
Speaker 1: side of the desert, Lord, clutching onto mistakes we made
Speaker 1: and things we did. But like you do for that
Speaker 1: man who has mentioned in Matthew chapter twelve, I believe
Speaker 1: you want to do for men and women under the
Speaker 1: sound of my voice today and restore their hand just
Speaker 1: like the other one. I thank you for the signs
Speaker 1: of your provision and faithfulness and protection on my life today.
Speaker 1: But I believe God that there are some people that
Speaker 1: because of shame, they're hiding in isolation. They feel like
Speaker 1: a leper themselves. They don't feel like they can do it.
Speaker 1: In fact, they've considered giving up. Today. You sent your
Speaker 1: word to heal them and restore their hand. With your
Speaker 1: hands lifted, just pray it out loud, God, restore my hand,
Speaker 1: restore my hand. I'm stretching it out now. I'm stretching
Speaker 1: it to you no other help. I know. I need
Speaker 1: your hand God for what has me in it script.
Speaker 1: I need your hand God for what I can't get
Speaker 1: away from from the memories and the thoughts and the fears. God,
Speaker 1: you know what they are. But I need your hand.
Speaker 1: Here's my hand. Here's the one I don't show anybody else.
Speaker 1: Here's the resentment I can't get let go of. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing I can't forgive. Here's the thing for which
Speaker 1: I can't forgive myself. That hand. Stretch it out right now,
Speaker 1: in God's presence. I believe God is restoring hands. He's
Speaker 1: gonna give you the ability to take hold of your
Speaker 1: calling again. Looks like a snake right now, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna turn back into a staff in your hand. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, man, I'm telling you, you reach out and
Speaker 1: take that by the tail, and you trust him, and
Speaker 1: you're gonna watch it transform in your hand, in your hand,
Speaker 1: in your hand. The miracle is in your hand, not
Speaker 1: the good hand, not the look how great I am,
Speaker 1: how smart I am, how together I am? That other
Speaker 1: hand and that we can't that hand that hasn't been
Speaker 1: able to do it God said today, I'm touching that hand,
Speaker 1: that hand, that hand. Thank you Lord. When you showed
Speaker 1: me this message, I cried God, because you showed me
Speaker 1: that somebody is going home with the other hand working.
Speaker 1: I don't know who it is, God, but you do.
Speaker 1: You brought them here today. You wanted them to know
Speaker 1: they don't have to hide their head. You wanted them
Speaker 1: to know that your hand is still on them. You're
Speaker 1: not afraid to touch them. You wanted them to remember
Speaker 1: that you have a mighty hand and that even if
Speaker 1: their hand is withered, if they will stretch it out,
Speaker 1: then it'll be made home. Oh God, I feel so
Speaker 1: stupid right in front of these people right now. Oh God,
Speaker 1: And I know what it feels like to believe that
Speaker 1: your hand is strong, but to know that my hand
Speaker 1: is weak. And yet you've taught me that what Pastor
Speaker 1: Mickey told me, it's true God's hand. It's all my life.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 1: land and the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org slash podcast for more information and If you
Speaker 1: enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
Speaker 1: with your friends. You can click the share button, take
Speaker 1: a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
Speaker 1: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
Speaker 1: bless you.