Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: Be sure to.
Speaker 2: Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week.
Speaker 2: I hope you're blessed today.
Speaker 1: Tell the person next to you.
Speaker 2: I would tell you my testimony, but it would take
Speaker 2: too long.
Speaker 1: Tell a man is kind of r rated. If I
Speaker 1: told you the real.
Speaker 2: One, you could scale it, couldn't You have VG thirteen?
Speaker 2: It's good, but we're here today to give God glory.
Speaker 2: And one thing that I think is so cool about
Speaker 2: this time of year. This time of year, you're not
Speaker 2: coming to church because it's a New Year's resolution. This
Speaker 2: time of year, you're coming to church because of all
Speaker 2: the Christians in the world, you're in the top one percent.
Speaker 2: Matter of fact, you come to church the week before
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving and it automatically subtracts fifteen hundred calories off of
Speaker 2: your meal.
Speaker 1: Isn't that good to know?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Man, it's gonna be good.
Speaker 2: Tell the person next to you get a good look
Speaker 2: at me and take a picture, because I'm gonna be
Speaker 2: a little heavier next time you see me.
Speaker 1: I'm planning on bulking a little bit, spulking season.
Speaker 2: Let's clap our hands and thank God for the worship today.
Speaker 1: We're also preparing this time of year.
Speaker 2: I wanted to underscore our year end offering on December tenth.
Speaker 1: We're excited to be able to give God. You're blessed
Speaker 1: to be a blessing.
Speaker 2: I've got my offering ready already, and I'm excited to
Speaker 2: give it. It's time of year where we say thank
Speaker 2: you to God for who he's been to us, who
Speaker 2: he is to us, And we also declare with confidence
Speaker 2: that the Lord is our helper and we're trusting him
Speaker 2: in the days to come. Somebody say I trust in God, Well,
Speaker 2: we say that with our lips. And so the greatest
Speaker 2: thing we can do is to lean into that. The
Speaker 2: Bible says, lean not on your own understanding and all
Speaker 2: your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
Speaker 2: So I don't mind giving to God. I don't like
Speaker 2: paying taxes. I don't like paying even the gas bill,
Speaker 2: even though I appreciate the heat. But giving to God
Speaker 2: to build his church and his kingdom, to me is
Speaker 2: always the greatest joy. And so I thank you in
Speaker 2: advance all of you who are participating. We're calling in
Speaker 2: our trust offering because we trust in God and our
Speaker 2: chance to declare that December tenth is our official offering Sunday.
Speaker 2: You can go right now if you're online Elevationchurch dot org,
Speaker 2: and we will believe God with you for great things
Speaker 2: to come. I decided to preach the end of the year,
Speaker 2: all the way through the end of the year around
Speaker 2: our faith. And I know that sounds generic, like every
Speaker 2: message in the sense is about faith, but I wanted
Speaker 2: to zero back in on this scripture in Hebrews chapter eleven,
Speaker 2: remain standing for just a moment as I read it,
Speaker 2: and this same scripture from last week in Hebrews chapter eleven,
Speaker 2: I think contains Yeah, there, it is a pretty cool
Speaker 2: revelation for our lives. Listen to this verses eight and following.
Speaker 2: Make sure I got the right version. Here we go
Speaker 2: by faith. Abraham, when called to go to a place
Speaker 2: he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went,
Speaker 2: even though he did not know where he was going.
Speaker 2: By faith, he made his home in the Promised Land.
Speaker 2: Like a in a foreign country. He lived in tents,
Speaker 2: as did Isaac and Jacob, his son and his grandson.
Speaker 1: They lived in tents.
Speaker 2: Who were heirs with him of the same promise, For
Speaker 2: he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose
Speaker 2: architect and builder is God. By faith, Abraham, even though
Speaker 2: he was too old to have children, and Sarah herself
Speaker 2: was not able to conceive, was enabled to become a
Speaker 2: father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
Speaker 2: And so from this one man and he, as good
Speaker 2: as dead, came descendants, as numerous as the stars in
Speaker 2: the sky, and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
Speaker 1: All these people were still living by faith.
Speaker 2: When they died. They did not receive the things promised.
Speaker 2: They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
Speaker 2: Say hey, they welcomed them from a distance, admitting they
Speaker 2: were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such
Speaker 2: things show that they are looking for a country of
Speaker 2: their own. If they had been thinking of the country
Speaker 2: they had left, they would have had.
Speaker 1: Opportunity to return.
Speaker 2: Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore,
Speaker 2: God is not ashamed to be called their god, for
Speaker 2: he has prepared a city for them. The title for
Speaker 2: this message is very simple. I'm calling this message. God
Speaker 2: knows you don't tell your neighbor. God knows you don't.
Speaker 2: You may be seated, God knows you don't. You know,
Speaker 2: these little things we say when we're leading up to something.
Speaker 2: My friend was the other day about to give an opinion,
Speaker 2: and before they said the thing they wanted to say,
Speaker 2: they said, now, I'm no doctor. But and when they
Speaker 2: got done saying the rest of it, I was like, now,
Speaker 2: go back to the first part. I'm so shocked you're
Speaker 2: not a doctor. We've been friends twenty years. I thought
Speaker 2: you were a doctor. Just kind of a little throwaway
Speaker 2: thing you say just to say, like, this may be
Speaker 2: completely stupid and irrelevant, and don't fact check me on it,
Speaker 2: but I want to say what I think anyway.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I know you're not a doctor.
Speaker 2: And in amazing how much time we spend trying to hide,
Speaker 2: trying to hope and maybe hold out some aspiration that
Speaker 2: people won't see our deepest needs. You're nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 2: Phrase was coined in psychology called imposter syndrome. It was
Speaker 2: used to describe people who had great achievements but had
Speaker 2: a hard time that they couldn't believe that they achieved
Speaker 2: those things. It was almost as if they thought that
Speaker 2: they got those things by luck or by external circumstances,
Speaker 2: and because of their ability to depersonalize their accomplishments, that
Speaker 2: a very difficult time integrating their successes into their identity.
Speaker 2: So although they were in positions of power, they felt
Speaker 2: very weak. Although they were in positions of influence, they
Speaker 2: felt insignificant, and the term imposter syndrome was coined. Later
Speaker 2: it would be called fraudulence complex a different shade of
Speaker 2: the same color, but its meaning is not as clinical
Speaker 2: as something like anxiety or depression.
Speaker 1: It's just a feeling that you can get.
Speaker 2: Sometimes that I don't know what I'm doing, and I
Speaker 2: hope nobody else ever finds out that feeling you get
Speaker 2: when you're raising your kids, and you hope that they
Speaker 2: never find out how much of this you are making
Speaker 2: up as you go, because if they ever did, they
Speaker 2: might turn the tables and they might run the house,
Speaker 2: because you know no more than they do. The interesting
Speaker 2: thing about even saying stuff like that in a church
Speaker 2: is that this is a place that is branded for certainty,
Speaker 2: for we know that our redeemer lives, and we know
Speaker 2: we have this hope, and we know that all things
Speaker 2: work together for the good of those that love God.
Speaker 2: So one of the things that always frustrated me about
Speaker 2: my own preaching was that God would always lead me
Speaker 2: to preach messages that were less about certainty and more
Speaker 2: about the mystery, the mystery of knowing that God has
Speaker 2: put something inside of me, but spending so much of
Speaker 2: my waking life doubting that very fact. A moment ago,
Speaker 2: we were singing a song that said, that's why I
Speaker 2: trust in God. One time, Jesus asked an interesting question
Speaker 2: of Peter, because Peter stepped out of the boat to
Speaker 2: walk on water and all of a sudden started thrashing
Speaker 2: when he saw the wind in the waves, And Jesus said,
Speaker 2: why did you doubt?
Speaker 1: It's kind of the flip side of what we were singing.
Speaker 2: That's why I trust him because he healed my cancer.
Speaker 1: That's why I trust him.
Speaker 2: Because when my money was low, he made provision for
Speaker 2: me in a very unusual way. That's why I trust him.
Speaker 2: Because I sensed his presence when others walked away. That's
Speaker 2: why I trust him, because he gave me the strength
Speaker 2: to carry on another day. And then into this certainty
Speaker 2: confession comes the question of Jesus. Then if you have
Speaker 2: so many reasons to trust him, why did you doubt him?
Speaker 2: And specifically, why would you doubt him now? Why would
Speaker 2: you doubt him now when, like Abraham, you find yourself
Speaker 2: in a situation. Bible says that Abraham verse eight, Let's
Speaker 2: go back there was called to go to a place
Speaker 2: he would later receive as his inheritance. He obeyed and
Speaker 2: went even though he didn't know where he was going.
Speaker 2: It is easy for us to take the summary of
Speaker 2: Abraham's journey resound and resonate with the general principle that
Speaker 2: sometimes God will obey you to go even though you
Speaker 2: don't know where you're going.
Speaker 1: It is much more difficult to live as if.
Speaker 2: This is true for you, that God will sometimes call
Speaker 2: you to obey something today that he will explain much later.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it again.
Speaker 2: The testimony of my life is that many times God
Speaker 2: has called me to obey today something that he will
Speaker 2: explain later. The space between obeying today and God explaining
Speaker 2: later is called faith.
Speaker 1: That space is called faith.
Speaker 2: That thing you are unsure of and uncertain about that
Speaker 2: is no reason for you to turn your back on
Speaker 2: God now. In fact, your uncertainty is God's job security.
Speaker 2: If you knew it all, he would have nothing left
Speaker 2: to do. If you had it all figured out, he
Speaker 2: would have nothing left to work out. And I know
Speaker 2: we want to pretend like we love God just because
Speaker 2: he's beautiful and lovely and holy. But the truth is,
Speaker 2: if we thought we knew what we were doing, we
Speaker 2: wouldn't talk to him very much. And so God will
Speaker 2: leave these uncertainties in our lives in order to teach
Speaker 2: us to lean on him. I've been preaching along those
Speaker 2: lines the last several weeks, and really for the last
Speaker 2: seventeen years of pastoring this church.
Speaker 1: It's just true.
Speaker 2: Now write these things down because I want us to
Speaker 2: understand a little bit about God's promises. A lot of times,
Speaker 2: when we talk about the promises of God, what we
Speaker 2: mean is the positive outcomes that we want. So we'll
Speaker 2: say God never breaks a promise. God always keeps his promises.
Speaker 2: But in our mental paradigm of what that means, it's
Speaker 2: that God will always give us the outcome that we
Speaker 2: consider positive.
Speaker 1: What I've learned about God's promises, I'm preaching already. I
Speaker 1: don't have to scream to preach. I can preach. The
Speaker 1: mic works just fine. I could preach at this volume
Speaker 1: all day long.
Speaker 2: I can preach like this and save my voice and
Speaker 2: go sing opera tonight. God's promise will often be I'm
Speaker 2: gonna give you three things. Write these down. God's promise
Speaker 2: will often be different than you pictured, different than you pictured,
Speaker 2: slower than you wanted, and farther than you thought. These
Speaker 2: three things. I thought i'd mentioned today that God's promise
Speaker 2: will be different than you pictured. Tell your neighbor it's
Speaker 2: going to be different than you pictured. Tell him it's
Speaker 2: gonna be slower than you want it and farther than
Speaker 2: you thought.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmmm, hmmm hmm.
Speaker 2: So Abraham gets to the promised land. God speaks to him.
Speaker 2: He's like, I'm gonna bless you. You're gonna be a blessing.
Speaker 2: I'm taking you to a place it's gonna be amazing.
Speaker 2: And Abraham gets there, and did you notice what the
Speaker 2: scripture said that he lived in tents in the place
Speaker 2: of promise.
Speaker 1: That's where I left off last week.
Speaker 2: It is a picture of a man who is living
Speaker 2: smack dab in the place God promised him, in the
Speaker 2: place that God would give his descendants. But he's living
Speaker 2: there temporarily in tents. I was trying to get you
Speaker 2: to see that sometimes you can actually be there but
Speaker 2: not feel there, be blessed, but feel stressed. You say,
Speaker 2: I'm too blessed to be stressed. No, you be blessed
Speaker 2: and stressed. You live in tense. You live in tension
Speaker 2: between the truth that God spoke and the things you
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: So to say that I have joy as.
Speaker 2: A promise from God does not mean I will not
Speaker 2: have depression as a human experience. One time a lady
Speaker 2: said to me, I don't want to listen to a
Speaker 2: pastor who preaches that it's okay to have depression.
Speaker 1: My Bible says, rejoice in the Lord. And my thing
Speaker 1: about that is to have the joy of the Lord.
Speaker 2: To claim the joy of the Lord, and to know
Speaker 2: the joy of the Lord and still feel depressed from
Speaker 2: time to time is not hypocrisy. It's humanity. We live intense.
Speaker 2: We live intense, and the tent that you live.
Speaker 3: In will all all often often, especially when you have
Speaker 3: a great, big calling on your life, it will often
Speaker 3: contradict the truth that you're believing. That is your situation
Speaker 3: will challenge your faith in these moments.
Speaker 1: It could be as if you feel your are an impostor.
Speaker 2: I imagine Abraham rolling up on the Promised Land, like, hey,
Speaker 2: God told me he was gonna give me this. But
Speaker 2: none of the Canaanites that were living in the land
Speaker 2: knew about that.
Speaker 1: None of the.
Speaker 2: Jepuzites knew about that, none of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizites.
Speaker 2: And since this Thanksgiving, Cellulites got the memo that this
Speaker 2: land belongs to Abraham. And you know what blew my mind.
Speaker 2: As long as he lived in this land, it was
Speaker 2: never really his. Technically speaking, there was never a transfer
Speaker 2: of the deed of the land in his lifetime or Isaac's.
Speaker 2: It would not be until the time when many generations
Speaker 2: later these nations would possess this land that the promise
Speaker 2: God made Abraham would evolve into the bigger picture that he.
Speaker 1: Had all along.
Speaker 2: So don't judge your life by the frame. Judge it
Speaker 2: by your faith. I'm worried because I pay you to clap,
Speaker 2: and you're the only one clapping.
Speaker 1: Pay him to play.
Speaker 2: And the Lord was speaking to me about some things
Speaker 2: that are different than I pictured right now, I give
Speaker 2: the example.
Speaker 1: I've shared it before.
Speaker 2: I remember when we said we were going to have
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand people in the church.
Speaker 1: We do, but most of them don't come to buildings.
Speaker 2: I like to welcome our Epham all over the world
Speaker 2: joining us online right now. But see, maybe in my
Speaker 2: mind I saw that look in one way, it looks different.
Speaker 2: Matter of fact, you know, the first time we had
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand people in one Sunday, when there were
Speaker 2: five people in the building for COVID, that was different
Speaker 2: than I pictured. So watch God told me something that
Speaker 2: he was going to do. I believed it by faith,
Speaker 2: and it was different than I pictured. When you get there,
Speaker 2: it's going to be different than you pictured. When you
Speaker 2: get to impact and influence. Everybody wants to be an influencer.
Speaker 2: Influence does not always look like followers. Influence does not
Speaker 2: always look like sponsorship. Influence does not always look like friends.
Speaker 2: Sometimes influence looks like something that you invest now for
Speaker 2: something that God is going to bring to pass later.
Speaker 1: But you have to sew it by faith. Body say,
Speaker 1: by faith.
Speaker 2: So I'm framing this situation by faith, knowing that I
Speaker 2: don't see everything that God has called me to see.
Speaker 2: Even this Valentine building, I said, it's different than you pictured,
Speaker 2: and it's slower.
Speaker 1: Than you wanted.
Speaker 2: We were on a two year delay moving into this building,
Speaker 2: a two year delay from when we thought we were
Speaker 2: going to move in. One of the issues in the
Speaker 2: delay was a clam that the Environmental Protection Agency said
Speaker 2: might be on the property, the Carolina heel splitter clam,
Speaker 2: if I remember correctly, and they had to check for
Speaker 2: six months to see if there was a clam on
Speaker 2: the land before we could build this building. And the
Speaker 2: clam wasn't even here, but we had to clear the
Speaker 2: land of the potential.
Speaker 1: Of a clam.
Speaker 2: I never thought a clam would cost me six months, because,
Speaker 2: hey for the leaden. Now I'm just paying on something
Speaker 2: that I can't even participate in CAUs a clam, because
Speaker 2: a little thing cause.
Speaker 1: Of something I never saw coming.
Speaker 2: You know, you can get one text that will back
Speaker 2: up your whole timeline.
Speaker 1: One virus can shut down a hole. But watch this.
Speaker 1: We got in the building two years later. It was
Speaker 1: slower than I wanted. It was different than I pictured.
Speaker 2: But when I welcome people online from nations all over
Speaker 2: the world, it's going farther.
Speaker 1: Than I thought.
Speaker 2: God says, I've got a blessing for you.
Speaker 1: And when you get to it.
Speaker 2: Be ready, cause it's gonna be different than you picture.
Speaker 1: It might be slower than you want it.
Speaker 2: But let me look at this camera and tell you
Speaker 2: it's gonna go no farther than you thought. This is
Speaker 2: a big blessing. This one's gonna ripple, This one's gonna
Speaker 2: reach farther than just your house. I'm gonna use you
Speaker 2: to bless others.
Speaker 1: Didn't be a grown up feel different than you thought.
Speaker 1: A grown up fella.
Speaker 2: Just keeping it real. Isn't it different than you pictured?
Speaker 2: Being a grown up? Nobody's gonna tell me what to
Speaker 2: do except your boss, the irs, and depending on your
Speaker 2: marital arrangements, maybe the person you sleep next to. The
Speaker 2: verse touched me because it said by faith Abraham, when
Speaker 2: called to go to a place he would later receive
Speaker 2: us his inheritance, obeyed, And when even though you're gonna
Speaker 2: put the scripture up, or what, even though he did
Speaker 2: not know where he was going, God knows where you're going.
Speaker 2: Let the one who set the destination controlled the eta.
Speaker 1: You got it is that your word.
Speaker 2: You've been needing it to happen sooner, wanting it to
Speaker 2: happen sooner, thinking it should have happened.
Speaker 1: Sooner, It happened for all your friends, sooner. God knows.
Speaker 2: A lot of times, even when we compare ourselves to others,
Speaker 2: we have no idea the burden that they carry for
Speaker 2: the blessing that we envy. One of my buddies has
Speaker 2: to saying, he says, a lot of the people that
Speaker 2: you envy are secretly miserable.
Speaker 1: You don't know.
Speaker 2: You don't know what the people you are jealous of juggle,
Speaker 2: and you don't know how they're judged. Remember that young
Speaker 2: man that was saying he was suicidal the other day,
Speaker 2: and we couldn't believe it because he is so envied,
Speaker 2: so influential, But deep down in his heart he seeks
Speaker 2: the peace that many of you possess. And you would
Speaker 2: envy him for where he is and not know that
Speaker 2: where you are is where he's trying to get.
Speaker 1: I just want to talk about this today. I want
Speaker 1: to talk about the lies of arrival.
Speaker 2: That it's out there somewhere, and that when you get
Speaker 2: there it's going to feel a certain way.
Speaker 1: Maybe I should say it like this.
Speaker 2: There are no penthouses in the Promised Land. So Abraham
Speaker 2: journeys hundreds of miles he's got a caravan of.
Speaker 1: Hundreds of people. He's responsible for a lot.
Speaker 2: He's carrying a lot, not only in the sense of
Speaker 2: the nations that will come forth from him, but also
Speaker 2: the uncertainty that he's walking in.
Speaker 1: He must feel a little bit like an impostor. And
Speaker 1: then he gets there.
Speaker 2: And I said this last week, but I said it shouting,
Speaker 2: so I don't think anybody really heard it. So now
Speaker 2: I'm going to say it again. But I'm not going
Speaker 2: to shout it. I'm just going to say it.
Speaker 1: He's a father of many nations. But he looks like
Speaker 1: a nomad.
Speaker 2: So you can look like a nomad and actually be
Speaker 2: carrying a nation. You can look like a nobody, but
Speaker 2: actually be carrying something. See, God knows what's in you.
Speaker 1: You don't.
Speaker 2: God knows who's important you don't. God knows what needs
Speaker 2: to happen. Next, Tell your neighbor, because they're looking at
Speaker 2: me ugly.
Speaker 1: I want you to help me. Tell them say you
Speaker 1: don't you just don't.
Speaker 2: You think you do what you don't And neither does
Speaker 2: chat GPT. I asked, hold on, I did an experiment.
Speaker 2: Hang tight, I asked chat GPT, who is coming to
Speaker 2: church today? On the fourth row in the third seat
Speaker 2: one two three four one two three, chat GPT said,
Speaker 2: as an AI, I don't have access to real time
Speaker 2: or location specific information, including details about who might be
Speaker 2: attending your church service or where they might be sitting.
Speaker 2: This kind of information is typically not available publicly and
Speaker 2: would be known only to those present at the service,
Speaker 2: or those letter or those somebody say, or those with
Speaker 2: direct knowledge of the attendees. So I just want to
Speaker 2: echo what chat GPT said. Nobody around you really knows
Speaker 2: what you need from God today, and even if you
Speaker 2: told them, it still wouldn't scratch the surface, because sometimes.
Speaker 1: You don't even know.
Speaker 2: How can someone know a man except the spirit of
Speaker 2: a man, and the Spirit of God has direct knowledge
Speaker 2: on you. Oh yeah, not only what you struggle with,
Speaker 2: but why you struggle with it, not only why you
Speaker 2: struggle with it, but how you.
Speaker 1: Can be set free from it. Not only how you
Speaker 1: can be set free from it. I'm preaching to somebody
Speaker 1: for a throw third seat. The Holy Ghost knows.
Speaker 2: That you're sitting there today for a reason, for a revelation,
Speaker 2: for a release of the spirit of God that will
Speaker 2: leave you in to a ripple.
Speaker 4: That might be slower than you walk, but.
Speaker 1: It's gonna go farther than your thought. Douse it be spoken.
Speaker 2: God knows something you don't know.
Speaker 1: He knows something you don't know. That's why you didn't die.
Speaker 2: Because he knows something you don't know. That's why you
Speaker 2: came to church, even though you didn't fall asleep until
Speaker 2: four am.
Speaker 1: But you got off sleeping and flick.
Speaker 4: Those iboogers off the corners of your eye and grab
Speaker 4: your bible and said.
Speaker 1: Devil, God knows why I need. I gotta get in
Speaker 1: the prison.
Speaker 5: Something my father hit my father's house.
Speaker 1: There are many men, says. If it were not so,
Speaker 1: he would not have told me.
Speaker 5: But he's going to.
Speaker 6: Prepare a place for me. Shat GPT doesn't know that.
Speaker 2: Oh, by the way, the people who rejected you don't
Speaker 2: know that, because sometimes we think that we need something.
Speaker 1: And God knows you don't help me.
Speaker 2: Jesus, help me, Jesus, Matthew six thirty one, Help me, Jesus.
Speaker 2: Jesus said this, Matthew six thirty one. So do not
Speaker 2: worry saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink?
Speaker 2: What shall we wear? God forgive me. I saw I
Speaker 2: change clothes for five times coming out here. Appreciated it
Speaker 2: for the Pagans. But to be fair, people pick on
Speaker 2: what I wear so that I get up here. I
Speaker 2: don't even know what to wear.
Speaker 1: But I don't know what to wear anymore for the
Speaker 1: Pagans run after all these things.
Speaker 2: Oh God, I don't want to be a pagan. And
Speaker 2: your heavenly Father no, say that your heavenly Father knows.
Speaker 2: Say to your neighbor, You're heavenly Father knows. From his
Speaker 2: point of view, it looks different. Your heavenly Father knows
Speaker 2: that you need them, that you need these things. He
Speaker 2: not only knows the things that you need. God knows
Speaker 2: you don't. God knows what I need. God knows what
Speaker 2: I don't. He knows which opportunities are really just obstructions
Speaker 2: in camouflage.
Speaker 1: HM.
Speaker 2: When I say that he knows, imagine Abraham now going
Speaker 2: into the land. Gods showed him going into it, but
Speaker 2: living in a tent, getting there, but not feeling there,
Speaker 2: getting there, not looking there.
Speaker 1: And I love the text because.
Speaker 2: It's saying that by faith, I can tap into what
Speaker 2: God knows that I don't. That God knows that this
Speaker 2: relationship looks good to me, but it's not good for me.
Speaker 1: God knows.
Speaker 2: You don't many of the things that you interpreted in
Speaker 2: your life as they left you because of something that
Speaker 2: was less about you.
Speaker 1: It wasn't that it was less about you. It was
Speaker 1: that where God is leading you.
Speaker 2: Now, please receive this. He knows what you don't need
Speaker 2: that would keep you from being Now, I'm going to
Speaker 2: show you where my mind went when I read the text,
Speaker 2: because there are three strange things that I saw. I
Speaker 2: was looking at two words in the text for my emphasis.
Speaker 2: Everybody say by faith. In verse eight, it says by
Speaker 2: faith Abraham. In verse eleven, it says, by faith Abraham,
Speaker 2: go quickly please, verse eleven, by faith Abraham.
Speaker 1: Did they show you verse eight?
Speaker 2: So you got that verse eight, verse eleven, and then
Speaker 2: again in a verse that did not read you, but
Speaker 2: it says it again verse seventeen, by faith Abraham. And
Speaker 2: so my mind was just magnetized to look for the
Speaker 2: words by faith. Because we are saved by faith, we
Speaker 2: are changed by faith, we are sustained by faith.
Speaker 1: Our life is explained by faith.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's anything you need today that you
Speaker 2: can't get more of by having more faith. So if
Speaker 2: you need more provision, more faith will give you more
Speaker 2: focus to see what God has already Out of what
Speaker 2: God has already provided, you will have what you lack.
Speaker 1: So if you need more of anything, you need more faith.
Speaker 1: It is the access point by faith.
Speaker 2: If you need more peace, you need more faith because
Speaker 2: if you can truly believe that nobody exits my life
Speaker 2: without God dismissing them, you'll have more peace when people leave.
Speaker 2: Even when people say stupid stuff that offends you Thursday
Speaker 2: around the table, if you need more love in your
Speaker 2: home or something like that, get more faith because if
Speaker 2: they say something stupid, just prayed silently under your breath.
Speaker 2: God showed them how stupid that was, and let the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit show them See how I just helped you out.
Speaker 2: I gave you more love around the table, less drama.
Speaker 2: You're going to have less to repent for Thursday night
Speaker 2: just because you have more faith. And the beautiful thing
Speaker 2: about it is, as much as these two words in
Speaker 2: the scripture, by faith.
Speaker 1: Lead to everything that we need, there's another one.
Speaker 2: I don't know this is going to come out, but
Speaker 2: I just want to show you because it also happens.
Speaker 1: Three times in the same three verses.
Speaker 2: That it says A very peculiar, two words that I
Speaker 2: think many of us are living in right now.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, help me deliver this to your people.
Speaker 2: By faith Abraham verse eight, when called to go to
Speaker 2: a place he would later receive this his inheritance.
Speaker 1: Obaidien went even.
Speaker 2: Though verse eleven, by faith Abraham, even though verse seventeen,
Speaker 2: by faith Abraham, when God tested him offered Isaac as
Speaker 2: a sacrifice, He who had embraced the promise, was about
Speaker 2: to sacrifice as one and only son verse.
Speaker 1: Eighteen, even though are you living in an even though moment?
Speaker 2: Because that's where faith really grows, you know, Verse eight
Speaker 2: It was he went, even though he didn't know, are
Speaker 2: you in it?
Speaker 1: Even though I don't know? Moment right now that.
Speaker 2: I've got to take this next step, even though I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: What the one after that is.
Speaker 2: I have got to leave here, even though I don't
Speaker 2: know where there is. I have got to show up
Speaker 2: for this again because God hasn't shown me what to
Speaker 2: do after, and I'm not quitting what he gave me
Speaker 2: until he shows me what's next.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna do it, even though.
Speaker 2: You know, I just feel God like hijacking my whole
Speaker 2: outline right now because it's like some of you, you
Speaker 2: think you are going to know everything that comes after
Speaker 2: the next step. But Abraham went and obeyed when he
Speaker 2: was called, even though he didn't know where that was.
Speaker 2: So you don't have to have coordinates, you don't have.
Speaker 1: To have a specific address. You can go even though
Speaker 1: you don't know. I promise you can.
Speaker 2: I have done it time after time as your pastor.
Speaker 2: The first building we ever raised money for was not
Speaker 2: a building at all.
Speaker 1: We raised three million dollars in our first financial campaign
Speaker 1: for a building that we believed God would bring us.
Speaker 1: When that first group of about.
Speaker 2: One hundred and twenty leaders that now spends thousands of
Speaker 2: people who give knelt down in the parking lot of
Speaker 2: the Sofa Express and Ashley Furniture shopping center, and I
Speaker 2: told him, we thought we were going to get this building,
Speaker 2: but we're not going to get this building because somebody
Speaker 2: blocked us in their least if they don't want a
Speaker 2: church to meet here. And they got down on their
Speaker 2: knees and we prayed that God would show us a building.
Speaker 2: But they sewed into it before God showed it. They
Speaker 2: sewed into it before God showed it, and they gave
Speaker 2: so lives could be changed. And they gave so that
Speaker 2: you could be here. And they gave so that this
Speaker 2: gospel could go out all over the world, not knowing how,
Speaker 2: but knowing who. So if you are in an even
Speaker 2: though moment and you think you need every turn before
Speaker 2: you can take the next.
Speaker 1: One, you are confused.
Speaker 2: Our faith is not in the destination. Our faith is
Speaker 2: in the guide who will see us safely to the destination.
Speaker 2: So I wrote a statement that you can you can
Speaker 2: have for free. I won't charge your royalties. You don't
Speaker 2: even have to give me credit. I will go.
Speaker 1: I will go as if I'm guided, even though.
Speaker 2: I feel I'm guessing. You like it, because don't you
Speaker 2: feel like you're guessing?
Speaker 1: Sometimes?
Speaker 2: Don't you feel like you are guessing at this sometimes?
Speaker 1: I finally got to interview my face favorite preacher ten
Speaker 1: years ago.
Speaker 2: I said, what is the most important thing I need
Speaker 2: to know about standing behind the pulpit?
Speaker 1: He said, we're all guessing. None of us have seen God.
Speaker 2: It takes faith to preach, It takes faith to parent,
Speaker 2: It takes faith to lead, It takes faith to go
Speaker 2: back to school, It takes faith to stay in therapy.
Speaker 1: I was in five years of therapy, and I said,
Speaker 1: this isn't working.
Speaker 2: Until I realized that some of the things that didn't
Speaker 2: feel like they were working for me, God was using
Speaker 2: those things in my children's life. About the time I
Speaker 2: wanted to quit therapy, one of my kids came to
Speaker 2: me and started giving me the advice that my therapist
Speaker 2: gave me that I had given to them, not even knowing.
Speaker 1: God knows why you're in it. You don't. God knows
Speaker 1: what He's going to do through it. You don't. God
Speaker 1: knows who he wants to help through your life. You don't.
Speaker 2: God knows what he's building. God knows your foundation. He
Speaker 2: is the architect. He is the builder. He has the
Speaker 2: blueprint of every blessing.
Speaker 5: In your life.
Speaker 1: He has the purpose. He drew the picture off. Feel
Speaker 1: like preaching this to help somebody know that you can
Speaker 1: go not knowing.
Speaker 2: That you can contribute, not knowing that you can keep
Speaker 2: preaching while people are leaving, that you could just do it,
Speaker 2: that you could just live, that you can just praise.
Speaker 5: That you can just.
Speaker 1: Testify, that you can.
Speaker 4: Just boldly wrap hold on the altar that say what
Speaker 4: don't I.
Speaker 2: Live even though say even though by faith, even though
Speaker 2: if God's got you in an even though moment right now,
Speaker 2: where your truth says one thing, but your tenth says
Speaker 2: another thing. You can stay right in the promise even
Speaker 2: though you have no proof. Who is this for? I'm
Speaker 2: staying in this promise in the absence of proof. They're like,
Speaker 2: this is a fighting word today. Who I don't know
Speaker 2: what we're fighting, but I'll fight with you.
Speaker 1: You need some backup. I don't know what you're f
Speaker 1: I don't know what's been coming up in your mind.
Speaker 2: I'll know what's been trying to drag it back down
Speaker 2: into it. I'll know what's been trying to take over
Speaker 2: your house, stealing.
Speaker 1: Your joy, liquidate your peace, enrolled your confidence in God.
Speaker 1: But you're not in this Saint fight by yourself.
Speaker 5: Not today.
Speaker 2: I've been lifting, I've been fucking.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna work from did even though.
Speaker 4: How look through the valley from the saddle down?
Speaker 1: How will fear no evil?
Speaker 2: For now?
Speaker 5: Lord let me I gotta ride.
Speaker 4: I got a stack, I got goodness, I got mercy,
Speaker 4: and that little dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Speaker 1: He lived in a tent.
Speaker 2: Even though he was in the place of the promise,
Speaker 2: he was in the place of the promise, even though
Speaker 2: he lived in a tent different than what.
Speaker 1: You picture, slower than what you want. But in that tent,
Speaker 1: so Isaac not yet.
Speaker 2: He hadn't even been born yet, and he was in
Speaker 2: the tent already. Because when God puts a seed of
Speaker 2: something in you, the seed is in you before you
Speaker 2: see it. You've been praying for your kids, You've been
Speaker 2: praying for your opportunity. You've been praying for something to
Speaker 2: happen that you need to happen that only God can do.
Speaker 1: The seed was there before they could see it. And
Speaker 1: even though I can't see it.
Speaker 2: Right now, even though I walk through the valley of
Speaker 2: the shadow, shadow makes it very difficult for you to
Speaker 2: get a visual. But even though he did not know
Speaker 2: see it's step second, even though where it says in
Speaker 2: verse eleven, even though he was too old, don't tune
Speaker 2: me out if you're thirteen, because everybody has something that
Speaker 2: the devil has been telling you you are too. I
Speaker 2: don't let the devil tell me I'm too old to
Speaker 2: be relevant. First of all, I'm not.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: Don't make me do it again. Yeah, we got it
Speaker 2: good the first time. Let's say let's leave it there.
Speaker 2: And yet he tells me I'm too stupid. He tells
Speaker 2: me I'm too stupid. He tells me I'm too country.
Speaker 1: He does.
Speaker 2: He tells me I'm too weird. He tells me I'm
Speaker 2: too raggedy. He tells me all these things. But look
Speaker 2: what the Bible said God did for Abraham.
Speaker 1: Would he do this for you too? By faith, Abraham, even.
Speaker 2: Though he was too old, and Sarah herself was not
Speaker 2: able to concede, wasn't able to become father.
Speaker 1: I got to read you what the Bible actually says
Speaker 1: about him. Go next verse. He became a father of
Speaker 1: many nations. He lived like a nomad.
Speaker 2: And so from this one man, look what the Bible
Speaker 2: says about Abraham, and.
Speaker 1: He as good as dead. That's about how people will
Speaker 1: see you. That's about how people will see you. That's
Speaker 1: not what God said about Abraham.
Speaker 2: Look at that nomad living up here in this promised land,
Speaker 2: thinking he belongs here. Jesus, he's as good as dead. Yeah,
Speaker 2: next time somebody tries to limit you. Because I've had
Speaker 2: people tell me that I was a poor Bible teacher.
Speaker 2: I've had people tell me that I was not cut
Speaker 2: out to be a pastor. I've had people cut out
Speaker 2: tell me that I wouldn't be able to come up
Speaker 2: with a new sermon every week. All of that, and
Speaker 2: I wish I wouldn't known this sermon to tell him
Speaker 2: at the time.
Speaker 1: God knows you don't. You don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't even know. So God knows where you're going
Speaker 2: even though you don't, So follow him step by step.
Speaker 2: God knows what He's given you, even though you are
Speaker 2: too whatever. Oh young, that's what Timothy said, I'm too young. Plusa,
Speaker 2: don't let me any look down on you because of
Speaker 2: your youth, sat an example for the believers in life
Speaker 2: and love and speech and faith in godlyness, purity. Don't
Speaker 2: let anybody put their two on you because they don't know.
Speaker 2: You've been divorced too many times. Think how much you've
Speaker 2: learned that you can help other people who have been
Speaker 2: through divorce.
Speaker 1: You're not paid the tuition. You might as well teach
Speaker 1: the class.
Speaker 2: Hey, God knows you don't.
Speaker 1: God knows you don't. And even the.
Speaker 2: Past that we don't like to preach a lot because
Speaker 2: I said that Abraham took his son Isaac and laid
Speaker 2: him down on the altar, and he thought he was
Speaker 2: going to have to kill his only son, even after
Speaker 2: waiting twenty five years. That's how long it took between
Speaker 2: God spoken and he saw it.
Speaker 1: We quit too quick.
Speaker 2: We have microwave mindsets, and we serve a croc taught God.
Speaker 2: So it might be slower than you wanted. But from
Speaker 2: this boy Isaac came the nations that would inhabit this
Speaker 2: very land that Abraham was living in.
Speaker 1: And I want you to see him on Mount Moriah.
Speaker 1: I want you to see him build the altar.
Speaker 2: I want you to see him lay his son, Isaac
Speaker 2: on the altar, who we waited for a quarter of
Speaker 2: his a quarter a century of his.
Speaker 1: Life, a quarter of his life. He was one hundred
Speaker 1: at that point.
Speaker 7: He waited this long, and yet at the moment that
Speaker 7: he thought he was going to have to give up
Speaker 7: what God promised him, there was a ram in the
Speaker 7: bush that he didn't know about, but God knew, and
Speaker 7: God knew the moment that the ram would need to
Speaker 7: be in the bush for.
Speaker 2: Abraham to make the sacrifice.
Speaker 1: Whatever has been withheld from.
Speaker 2: Your life, whatever seems like it is behind in your life,
Speaker 2: whatever seems like the enemy has taken it out of
Speaker 2: your life. Can you trust the timing of God in
Speaker 2: this moment enough to know that he knows He knows
Speaker 2: what I need when I needed and if it didn't
Speaker 2: come yet, it wasn't time yet. But somebody who knows
Speaker 2: his time. By faith for you to take the next
Speaker 2: step when you can't see beyond it, stand up and
Speaker 2: give God praise by faith.
Speaker 1: There is a phrase that comes by faith.
Speaker 2: Even though. My favorite Bible verse is when the sister
Speaker 2: came to Jesus and said, I know my brother will
Speaker 2: rise again at the last day. And Jesus said, last Day,
Speaker 2: I am the Resurrection and the Life, and whoever believes in.
Speaker 1: Me will live even though he died. So we're living
Speaker 1: in the even though. And our job today is to
Speaker 1: trust God as if even though.
Speaker 2: I don't know your even though God does, God knows
Speaker 2: that even though you're going through And I just want
Speaker 2: to encourage you today through a camera. I never knew
Speaker 2: i'd be looking in pastoring a church that I never saw,
Speaker 2: but God did.
Speaker 1: That. He knows you don't.
Speaker 2: And I want to tell you about all the stuff
Speaker 2: you keep telling God for why you're not qualified because
Speaker 2: you don't have the experience. God knows you don't. That
Speaker 2: you don't have the resources. God knows you don't, and
Speaker 2: that you don't have the background for that. God knows
Speaker 2: you don't, and that you don't feel like it right now.
Speaker 2: God knows you don't, And that you don't have the strength.
Speaker 2: God knows you don't, and that you don't know how
Speaker 2: to manage money. God knows you don't, and that you
Speaker 2: don't have any friends who will really listen to you.
Speaker 2: God knows you don't, and that you don't see a
Speaker 2: way through this right now.
Speaker 1: God knows you don't. Just because you can't see.
Speaker 2: It does not mean he didn't speak it.
Speaker 1: For everybody who is stepping.
Speaker 2: Ruining the low, I want to pray for you. Just
Speaker 2: put your hand on your heart like this. God knows
Speaker 2: what's in there.
Speaker 1: You don't.
Speaker 2: And that's why it's so important that you don't give up,
Speaker 2: because God knows where you're.
Speaker 1: Going little more movement you don't.
Speaker 2: God knows what he hopes to accomplish through your life
Speaker 2: if you will stay in faith, and you don't, and
Speaker 2: admitting that you don't know is where faith has the
Speaker 2: chance to grow. So as I minister this message, I
Speaker 2: don't do it lightly. Today I have felt myself the
Speaker 2: impostor that God, who would I be to share this
Speaker 2: message of hope? When I myself am drowning in despair?
Speaker 2: I felt that.
Speaker 1: Who am I to tell them this?
Speaker 2: I don't know anything about the second coming of Christ
Speaker 2: or when it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: I don't know anything. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't speak Greek or Hebrew or Latin French. But
Speaker 2: God said, I'll speak the language that they need. If
Speaker 2: you will stand. This promise is for you and your children.
Speaker 2: That is going to be different then you pictured. It
Speaker 2: might be slower then you want it. There might be
Speaker 2: some Carolina heal splitter clams on your land, some Canaanites,
Speaker 2: some Hittites, Jebuzites. But let patients have its perfect work
Speaker 2: in you, that you may be complete, lacking nothing, because
Speaker 2: it's gonna go farther than you thought.
Speaker 1: As God told Abraham, count the stars.
Speaker 2: If you are able to number the sands on the seashore.
Speaker 2: If you can count them, so shall your descendants be.
Speaker 2: I declare, so shall the ripple effect be of your
Speaker 2: obedience in this season, for generations not yet to be
Speaker 2: born that will be free because of your faith in
Speaker 2: this moment God, we stand in the even those, Oh,
Speaker 2: I like that, even those so many, even.
Speaker 5: Those in the room.
Speaker 2: Your word says, all things work together for good, even
Speaker 2: those that we wouldn't have chosen.
Speaker 1: I thank you by faith, Raise you for grace for
Speaker 1: this season, this moment, this stage of our lives in Jesus' name.
Speaker 2: The greatest miracle of faith of all is that while
Speaker 2: we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Can you
Speaker 2: believe it that even though your sins were as crimson,
Speaker 2: they can be washed white as snow.
Speaker 1: That even though we did not deserve his grace.
Speaker 2: God knows you don't deserve his grace, but he gave
Speaker 2: it anyway. He gave it on the cross, and you
Speaker 2: can receive it right now by faith. I want to
Speaker 2: give an invitation for those who are in need of
Speaker 2: a relationship with Jesus today, whether it's three or three thousand,
Speaker 2: I want to stop this whole service so that you
Speaker 2: can place your faith in God.
Speaker 1: He's already done the work. It's finished, it's accomplished, it's settled,
Speaker 1: it's done. The final word has been spoken. The only
Speaker 1: work left to do is for you to belief, to believe.
Speaker 2: The scripture says that if you confess with your mouth
Speaker 2: that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that
Speaker 2: God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Speaker 2: This is the promise receiving by faith today. If you're
Speaker 2: ready to make that decision to come to Christ or
Speaker 2: to come back to Him, I'm going to lead you in.
Speaker 1: A prayer right now.
Speaker 2: I'm and pray it out loud for the benefit of
Speaker 2: those who are coming to God for the first time
Speaker 2: or coming back to God. I want everybody in this
Speaker 2: room to pray with me for the benefit of those
Speaker 2: who this is their moment, their new beginning. Pray with me,
Speaker 2: Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior,
Speaker 2: and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Speaker 1: And the Savior of the world.
Speaker 2: And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life.
Speaker 1: I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
Speaker 1: rose again give me life. I receive this new life.
Speaker 1: This is my new beginning.
Speaker 2: If you prayed that, put your hand up on the
Speaker 2: count of three, one, two, three, all over this room,
Speaker 2: on every location online.
Speaker 1: God bless you. We'll celebrate you. We'll celebrate we you
Speaker 1: celebrate for you. God bless you amazing. Online you can
Speaker 1: put it in a chat I received Jesus.
Speaker 2: I received Jesus be celebrating with you online. Can this
Speaker 2: fastest taken? If you just gave your life to Christ.
Speaker 2: Stop by the tents on your way out. You can
Speaker 2: click on the link. If you're online, we have a
Speaker 2: gift we want to give you. Let's put our hands together.
Speaker 1: And thank God for his word all over the house.
Speaker 1: Come on, all over, Julia. God knows you don't.
Speaker 2: God would surprise you this week, show you something you
Speaker 2: don't know. I pray God to give you stuff this
Speaker 2: Christmas season that isn't even on your list. Hah.
Speaker 1: I pray God to give you stuff you gave up on.
Speaker 2: I pray God will make you laugh again. I pray
Speaker 2: God will enable you to see what fresh eyes again.
Speaker 2: God will put a love and a bond in your
Speaker 2: relationships again. God to give you fresh eyes to see
Speaker 2: what you've been walking past.
Speaker 1: I pray that He.
Speaker 2: Who is able to do himmeasurably more than you ask
Speaker 2: or imagine, would work mightily on your behalf. Can we
Speaker 2: join hands all over this room and pray for our
Speaker 2: neighbors and our sons, Our daughters, our cousins, our sisters,
Speaker 2: our brothers.
Speaker 1: JJ. What did I forget to say that I need
Speaker 1: to announce? Huh? Envelopes. You're gonna get this on the
Speaker 1: way out. Put some money in it, big money. Trust
Speaker 1: God help us build this church.
Speaker 2: One of my friends told me recently, the only hour
Speaker 2: each week that he knows.
Speaker 1: He's going to feel good is when he gets in here.
Speaker 2: Can you believe we get to do that for people?
Speaker 2: Some of y'all gave your life to Christ in here.
Speaker 2: Some of your kids did some of you. This is
Speaker 2: a connection to God for you. Let's connect others. Let's
Speaker 2: never be selfish. We're blessed to be a blessing. I
Speaker 2: want to participate in this with you. So okay, and
Speaker 2: you'll get the envelope. On your way out, you'll say
Speaker 2: envelope or envelope in Canada?
Speaker 1: How many envelope people raise your hand? Envelope, envelope?
Speaker 2: I see who's bringing out the fancy china this thanksgiving
Speaker 2: a paper played envelope. Father, We thank you for our
Speaker 2: connection with you. We will never be without as long
Speaker 2: as you are with us. I thank you forever, even
Speaker 2: though in this room that will be a testimony by
Speaker 2: your grace of a God did in the future.
Speaker 1: We declare it, we decree it, we call it done.
Speaker 1: Thank you for who you are, and we bless your
Speaker 1: people as they go.
Speaker 2: No fights, no politics, supernatural carb cancelation, this Thanksgiving in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: Amen, I'll see.
Speaker 5: You, no blessing.
Speaker 2: Hey. I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if
Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part
Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
Speaker 2: for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message,
Speaker 2: and subscribe. God bless you.