Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: The scripture I want to use for this series as
Speaker 2: a window into the principles that I believe God wants
Speaker 2: to teach us is in Second King's thirteen. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you've ever heard this Bible story. It's a
Speaker 2: little bit obscure, but sometimes it's in the stuff that
Speaker 2: you skip over in the Bible that God can speak
Speaker 2: to you in a fresh way because you don't think
Speaker 2: that you know it already. And this would be a
Speaker 2: little story that I bet a lot of us have.
Speaker 1: Never really studied.
Speaker 2: And it's going to give us, as I said, a
Speaker 2: window into the way God works in our lives over
Speaker 2: the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: And I'm excited about it.
Speaker 2: I preached this passage in the year twenty thirteen around
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 1: I never preached it in our church.
Speaker 2: I'm glad I didn't, because when I was preaching it
Speaker 2: in other places, I was skimming the surface. But as
Speaker 2: I've been studying it, I've been seeing some things that
Speaker 2: are very significant and relevant to our lives and the
Speaker 2: season that we're in and the opportunities that God is
Speaker 2: calling us to seize. So I want to share the
Speaker 2: scripture with you. In tewod King's thirteen, verse fourteen, rock Hill,
Speaker 2: y'all doing okay today, Matthews, I saw our university city location,
Speaker 2: Lake Norman, Melbourne, Florida, Roanoke, Virginia, Raleigh, North Carolina, Toronto, Canada,
Speaker 2: Uptown Charlotte, Gaston County, Concord, Blakeney, and Ballentine. We had
Speaker 2: a full house at Valentine. And when I say full house,
Speaker 2: I don't just mean no empty seats. I mean this
Speaker 2: place is full of expectation. Y'all weren't too convincing. I said,
Speaker 2: this place is full of expectation.
Speaker 1: There it is there, it is there, It is amen. Now.
Speaker 2: Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died.
Speaker 2: Jeho Ash, King of Israel, went down to see him.
Speaker 2: He went down to see him because he wouldn't be
Speaker 2: around much longer.
Speaker 1: The window was closing.
Speaker 2: Elisha was the seer for the nation of Israel, and
Speaker 2: it was his sight, his insight, his divine insight, that gave.
Speaker 1: Them their victories.
Speaker 2: And he's dying, and the king, who has just newly
Speaker 2: been crowned, wants to see the prophet, to see the
Speaker 2: seer one more time before the window of opportunity closes.
Speaker 2: How many knowe all opportunities are not created equal, and
Speaker 2: every opportunity has an expiration day. And he wants to
Speaker 2: hear the word of the Lord from Elisha one time
Speaker 2: before the window closes. And so we went down to
Speaker 2: see him, which was uncommon for kings to do, but
Speaker 2: he was in a desperate situation. And sometimes it takes
Speaker 2: a desperate situation to drive you.
Speaker 1: To God for guidance. And we haven't heard.
Speaker 2: From Elijah the Prophet in a couple of decades. But
Speaker 2: the window is closing, and he's weeping over the loss
Speaker 2: of this.
Speaker 1: Great prophetic figure, and.
Speaker 2: He cries out, my father, my father, the chariots and
Speaker 2: horsemen of Israel.
Speaker 1: What are we going to do without you? He seems to.
Speaker 2: Be saying, it wasn't our troops that won the battles,
Speaker 2: It was the word of God threw you that brought
Speaker 2: us the victory.
Speaker 1: And we don't know what we'll do without you. But
Speaker 1: Elijah said, get a bow and some arrows.
Speaker 2: God is about to teach you how to fight, how
Speaker 2: to fight battles on a spiritual level. You've been fighting
Speaker 2: on a physical level. That's why you've been losing. That's
Speaker 2: why you've been tired. But the prophet said, get a
Speaker 2: bow and some arrows. And he did so. And then
Speaker 2: he told him take that bow in your hands. And
Speaker 2: he said to the King of Israel, to take a
Speaker 2: bow and some arrows. And when he had taken it,
Speaker 2: Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. He gave
Speaker 2: him guidance, divine guidance from the man of God. And
Speaker 2: verse seventeen is our key verse for the series. He said,
Speaker 2: open the east window. There's our word. Open the east window.
Speaker 2: Notice the prophet didn't open it for him. He told
Speaker 2: him to open it. We've been asking God to give
Speaker 2: us opportunities. God is waiting for us to seize the
Speaker 2: opportunities that are right in front of our own eyes.
Speaker 2: I feel like preaching today. I feel like preaching. Open
Speaker 2: the east window, he said, and he opened it. Shoot,
Speaker 2: Elisha said, and he shot the Lord's arrow of victory,
Speaker 2: the arrow of victory over Iram.
Speaker 1: Elisha declared, the arrow.
Speaker 2: Of victory over depression, the arrow of victory over addiction,
Speaker 2: the arrow of victory over rebellion, the arrow of victory
Speaker 2: over doubt, the arrow of victory over bitterness, the arrow
Speaker 2: of victory. I see a victory in this house. You
Speaker 2: will completely destroy the Aramians at affect And I want
Speaker 2: to use for installment one of this series.
Speaker 1: Work your window, the power of precision. On your way to.
Speaker 2: Your seat, Touch your neighbors. Say I'm aiming at something
Speaker 2: this year. I'm aiming at something this year, the power
Speaker 2: of precision. You may be seated. I'm gonna talk to
Speaker 2: this guy. He's leaning forward, he looks interested. I feel
Speaker 2: real sorry for King Jehoash because I understand and his predicament,
Speaker 2: because I was studying what would bring him to Elisha
Speaker 2: in such a desperate state.
Speaker 1: And to really.
Speaker 2: Understand his plight, you have to understand the patterns that
Speaker 2: he inherited all the kings that had gone before him.
Speaker 2: The examples that he had seen set in his lifetime
Speaker 2: were negative examples of half hearted kings who tried to
Speaker 2: fulfill their God given role their own way, and when
Speaker 2: you're stuck in a pattern. When you're stuck in a
Speaker 2: predictable pattern, the feet becomes automatic, and victory is a
Speaker 2: strange sight. Now, so much oppression has besieged God's.
Speaker 1: People that not only is.
Speaker 2: Jeho Ash, the king that I mentioned in tewod King's thirteen,
Speaker 2: trying to deal with this transitional responsibility shift. Now he's
Speaker 2: wearing a crown that's a little big for his head.
Speaker 2: Have you ever had the step into a situation that you.
Speaker 1: Didn't feel quite prepared for?
Speaker 2: If you are a father or a mother, you ought
Speaker 2: to raise your hand. You were so cocky when you
Speaker 2: were reading baby books. And not only is he transitioning
Speaker 2: into a new role, but he's going to have to
Speaker 2: do it without Elisha because the window is closing. And
Speaker 2: before the window closes, he goes to the prophet and
Speaker 2: he receives some final instructions. He wants to know what
Speaker 2: to do next. He's weeping, probably because of Elisha's lost,
Speaker 2: but also because of the pressure he was under. And
Speaker 2: it wasn't just pressure coming from one enemy. It was
Speaker 2: pressure coming from the north and the south, and.
Speaker 1: The east and the west.
Speaker 2: And if you never felt that kind of pressure, you
Speaker 2: won't relate to joho Ash's predicament. But he feels it
Speaker 2: closing in from every side, and it seems like he's
Speaker 2: being attacked over here and attacked over there, and he's
Speaker 2: having a hard time at work, and then he goes home,
Speaker 2: and he is hard at home. And sometimes it'd be
Speaker 2: easier to be at work than it would be to
Speaker 2: be at home. And it's one thing when you've got
Speaker 2: pressure coming from one direction, but when it's coming from
Speaker 2: every side, it can get a little overwhelming to be
Speaker 2: pressured from every side, to be pressured from every direction.
Speaker 1: No wonder he's weeping.
Speaker 2: No wonder he's made the trek as uncommon as it
Speaker 2: would be for a king to condescend to a dying profit.
Speaker 2: No wonder he showed up to kneel down at his
Speaker 2: bedside and cry, my father, my father, What do I do.
Speaker 2: I'm attacked on the right, I'm attacked on the left.
Speaker 2: I'm attacked in my finances, I'm attacked in my family.
Speaker 2: I'm under attack internally externally. Seems like I can't get
Speaker 2: any relief.
Speaker 1: What do I do?
Speaker 2: He needs some comfort, but Elisha does and give him
Speaker 2: any comfort.
Speaker 1: He gives him an instruction.
Speaker 2: Because God is a god of action, touch somebody.
Speaker 1: And say work your window, work your window.
Speaker 2: He doesn't tell him everything's going to be all right,
Speaker 2: or sing him the fourth Stanza of amazing Grace when
Speaker 2: we've been there ten thousand years. Instead, he gives him
Speaker 2: a simple instruction. Get a bow, get an arrow. You
Speaker 2: are not going to experience victory weeping over what is dying.
Speaker 2: You are not going to see victory in this season
Speaker 2: if you are stuck in a memory of the last one.
Speaker 2: Who am I preaching to today? Get your bow, Get
Speaker 2: your bow and your arrows, because everything you need for
Speaker 2: victory in this season is within your reach. You have
Speaker 2: a window of opportunity now. Leonard Ravenhill said that the
Speaker 2: opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime
Speaker 2: of the opportunity. Trouble doesn't last always, and neither does opportunity.
Speaker 2: Trying to teach this to my children, trying to teach
Speaker 2: them that their brain has plasticity right now, and there
Speaker 2: are things they can learn while they're young that will
Speaker 2: be difficult if they wait until they're older.
Speaker 1: So that's why you got to go to piano lessons.
Speaker 1: I know you hate it.
Speaker 2: But you will thank your mom one day because your
Speaker 2: fingers will memorize it better with your brain right now
Speaker 2: than they will later. So seize this opportunity. Learn stuff
Speaker 2: in school so you won't be stupid later on googling
Speaker 2: stuff that you could have found out in fifth grade.
Speaker 2: You got a window. You got a window. That's why
Speaker 2: I don't understand any of y'all that are texting while
Speaker 2: I'm preaching. Can't you give God fifty solid minutes to
Speaker 2: speak to you out of a whole twenty four seven,
Speaker 2: three sixty five, this is your window? And he comes
Speaker 2: to the prophet. Now it's an old prophet and a
Speaker 2: young king, and he says, show me what to do.
Speaker 2: And the prophet put his hands on his hands, and
Speaker 2: he showed him three things that will kind of set.
Speaker 1: The course for I want this series to go.
Speaker 2: I pray to the Lord of Heaven and Earth that
Speaker 2: you will give me more than one week to preach
Speaker 2: this word to you, because as it unfolds, it's going
Speaker 2: to become very practical. But before we get to the practicality,
Speaker 2: I want to show you the power in it. There's
Speaker 2: three things. It's a very simple parable inaction.
Speaker 1: That we see here.
Speaker 2: It is highly symbolic, and see in Eastern literature you'll
Speaker 2: see this often. We as Western minds, we like lists.
Speaker 1: But God is a god of action.
Speaker 2: So often when the prophets would prophesy, they would work
Speaker 2: the word rather than just speaking the word. And so
Speaker 2: it's not a surprise to me that Elijah says, get
Speaker 2: a bow, get some arrows, stop crying, take action. Push
Speaker 2: your neighbors say, take action.
Speaker 1: Take action.
Speaker 2: You are not blessed according to the word of God
Speaker 2: that you hear, but according to the word of God
Speaker 2: that you apply and act upon.
Speaker 1: Take action.
Speaker 2: God doesn't give a biology lesson about healing.
Speaker 1: He heals. He's not just a god of instruction.
Speaker 2: He is a god of implementation and execution is everything.
Speaker 2: So instead of instructing him about what to do, he shows.
Speaker 1: Him how to do it. That's what my mom used
Speaker 1: to say. She would say, I can show you better
Speaker 1: than I can tell you. And that's what God is saying.
Speaker 2: He's saying, get your bow, get your arrow, let's get
Speaker 2: to work. I want to work on this word for
Speaker 2: the next six weeks. And the first thing I want
Speaker 2: to encourage you to do in accordance with this little perihope.
Speaker 1: That's a seminary word. You got to bust out that
Speaker 1: education every once in a while.
Speaker 2: Just a fancy word that means story. This little story
Speaker 2: is highly symbolic, but is highly instructive. And the first
Speaker 2: thing God told me to tell you is view the victory.
Speaker 2: He told him to open the window. Open the window.
Speaker 2: You've been staring at your walls long enough. Open the window.
Speaker 2: You've been looking at your limitations long enough.
Speaker 1: Open the window.
Speaker 2: And after he had opened the window, he told him
Speaker 2: to do something strange. He told him to shoot an
Speaker 2: arrow in the direction of aarm. Aarm was a loose
Speaker 2: federation of nations that would only assemble together to fight
Speaker 2: a common enemy. You might know it better as Syria.
Speaker 2: You probably never heard of King jase L, but he
Speaker 2: would be.
Speaker 1: Similar to Hitler.
Speaker 2: The way he had oppressed God's people, the way he
Speaker 2: had decimated the fighting forces of Israel.
Speaker 1: He seemed unbeatable.
Speaker 2: And the man of God tells the newly minted king,
Speaker 2: open the window, the one that faces your enemy and
Speaker 2: gets your bow and gets your arrow, and shoot your
Speaker 2: arrow over Aram. This is important because the battle hasn't
Speaker 2: even begun yet.
Speaker 1: But the prophet wants the king to see.
Speaker 2: The victory before the fight starts. This is why I
Speaker 2: love being a Christian, because I don't fight for victory.
Speaker 1: I fight from victory.
Speaker 2: I need you to see this year the arrow a
Speaker 2: victory over Aram before you fight the battle. And I
Speaker 2: certain I certainly as a.
Speaker 1: Pastor, want to encourage.
Speaker 2: You to review your victories as regularly as possible. I
Speaker 2: told Grahama on Monday night, I said, you watch all
Speaker 2: the highlights you can of this Clemson National championship because
Speaker 2: they might not be Bama like this again, this might
Speaker 2: be once in a lifetime. The opportunity of a lifetime
Speaker 2: must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity. In fact,
Speaker 2: my son Graham has no frame of reference. Last year
Speaker 2: the Clemson Tigers and the Carolina Panthers were in the
Speaker 2: championship and I had to explain to him this is
Speaker 2: not normal. This is like a lunar eclipse. Man, this
Speaker 2: might not happen much. So enjoy it why you can.
Speaker 2: And you know, when God gives you a victory, you
Speaker 2: gotta ce you gotta you gotta celebrate your wins where
Speaker 2: you can get them. Even if God does small things
Speaker 2: in your life don't just climb to the top of
Speaker 2: the mountain and climb back down. Do a little dance
Speaker 2: while you're there. I mean, if you're gonna climb, why
Speaker 2: not celebrate. Graham has been watching all the highlights of
Speaker 2: uh of, of Dabbo Sweeney's Clemson Tigers and Deshaun Watson's
Speaker 2: championship game, and I'm glad that he's doing it. I
Speaker 2: I want my son to learn how to review victories. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because there's gonna be enough hard stuff in life for
Speaker 2: you to replay your regrets and not review your victories.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you I have to do this. Occasionally,
Speaker 2: something good will happen to me, and if I'm not
Speaker 2: quick to celebrate it, I'll forget it. We released a
Speaker 2: song this week on iTunes, Quick Little plug.
Speaker 1: I wanna.
Speaker 2: Take a moment and tell you about There is a
Speaker 2: Cloud released in March seventeen, twenty seventeen. You could download
Speaker 2: it on iTunes or wherever music and sold.
Speaker 1: Sorry about that. We're my window, my plug in.
Speaker 2: And we released a single this week, There is a Cloud.
Speaker 2: We released a single and I logged onto iTunes and
Speaker 2: I saw it was number one on the Christian charts.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what I did. I got my phone.
Speaker 2: I took my phone, and as quick as I could,
Speaker 2: I took a screenshot.
Speaker 1: Of that chart position.
Speaker 2: Because I might not be number one for long, but
Speaker 2: I was number one for a minute. Come on, somebody,
Speaker 2: Every once in a while, you gotta take a screenshot
Speaker 2: and say, I don't know what I have to fight next,
Speaker 2: but right now I'm happy.
Speaker 1: Got that screen shot. I don't know, Hillsong might knock
Speaker 1: us off the top, but I got a screen shot.
Speaker 2: Touch your neighbors, say I got a screenshot. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: gotta take a screenshot because your next battle might be tough.
Speaker 2: So you gotta get your victories really embedded in your
Speaker 2: spirit to give you the strength and the courage to fight.
Speaker 2: But Elisha was not telling the king to look back
Speaker 2: on a battle.
Speaker 1: He was telling him to look.
Speaker 2: Forward to a battle as if it had already been won.
Speaker 2: View your victory. You gotta see it before you can
Speaker 2: seize it. You gotta see it before you can seize it.
Speaker 2: And to see it before you can seize it, you
Speaker 2: got to see it before you see it.
Speaker 1: That sounded kind of confusing, didn't it? All right?
Speaker 2: He Bruce eleven says that faith is the substance of
Speaker 2: things hope for and the evidence of things not seen.
Speaker 2: So close your eyes real quick. Will you do this.
Speaker 2: I promise nobody's gonna take your purse. This is a
Speaker 2: safe place. We've got great security. Close your eyes. And
Speaker 2: I know that this concept has been abused and people
Speaker 2: use it.
Speaker 1: For all kinds of purposes.
Speaker 2: But I want you to visualize, visualize your victory this year.
Speaker 2: I want you to see yourself according to what God
Speaker 2: has spoken over your life. I want you to see
Speaker 2: yourself healed, see your hearthole, See yourself passionate, See yourself
Speaker 2: fulfilling your purpose. See yourself powerful and mighty in God.
Speaker 2: See yourself pulling down strongholds. See yourself free from pornography,
Speaker 2: free from drugs, free from alcohol, See your self loving,
Speaker 2: See your self kind, see your marriage in a different light.
Speaker 2: See you gotta see it before you see it. You
Speaker 2: gotta see it before you see it. And we should
Speaker 2: understand as Christians how to see the unseen. We should
Speaker 2: understand more than anybody the hope of an empty grave.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you gotta see resurrection while you're still hanging.
Speaker 1: On a cross.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you gotta see liberty while you're still in bondage.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you gotta see joy while you're still weeping over
Speaker 2: the dying body of Elisha. My faith is the substance
Speaker 2: of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
Speaker 1: I see an aerrow flying over an arrow.
Speaker 2: I am more than a conqueror for a hand O
Speaker 2: love me wats it takes seventeen seconds, and give God
Speaker 2: a pre praise for every victory it's gonna break to pass.
Speaker 1: In your life this year by a swear. This is
Speaker 1: called a preview praise.
Speaker 2: This is when you see yourself in the future stronger
Speaker 2: than you've ever been, why ser than you've ever.
Speaker 1: Been, and you rejoice in it. Dance I guess already done.
Speaker 1: I gotta pray you I win.
Speaker 2: I see an arrow flying over aarrow. Everybody's got an
Speaker 2: rob everybody's.
Speaker 1: Got something oppressing you.
Speaker 2: State of mind, situation in life, emotional dysfunction. I could
Speaker 2: spend three minutes with you and guess your erum. I've
Speaker 2: been pastoring people a long time. I know I look
Speaker 2: twenty three, but I got experience. I met crazy people,
Speaker 2: rich crazy people, skinny crazy people, poor crazy people, fat
Speaker 2: crazy people, black crazy people, like crazy people Latino crazy people.
Speaker 1: I know crazy when I see it, and I'm.
Speaker 2: Looking at twenty seven thousand crazies in the church today.
Speaker 1: Everybody has an AERM. Why are you cheering about that?
Speaker 1: It's awkward.
Speaker 2: Cheering because you're crazy.
Speaker 1: It's that thing.
Speaker 2: Watch this view of the victory, but focus the fight.
Speaker 2: He told him which window to open, which signified.
Speaker 1: Which battle he needed to fight. A lot of us aren't.
Speaker 2: Winning anywhere because we're trying to win everywhere.
Speaker 1: Y'all don't remember the scene.
Speaker 2: But Rocky told Polly, he said, I three, I see
Speaker 2: I see three of them out there.
Speaker 1: He was fighting.
Speaker 2: Drago in Russia on Christmas Day. You need to know
Speaker 2: your history, and Polly told him, Ray, I think I
Speaker 2: think it's a word for somebody. He said, hit the
Speaker 2: one in the middle. I got it coming from the
Speaker 2: north and the south and the east and the west,
Speaker 2: and I don't I don't know where to fight first.
Speaker 2: Any IT department will tell you that you can't do
Speaker 2: any work if you've got too many windows open.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna help you this year. Open one window at
Speaker 1: a time.
Speaker 2: View your victory, but clarify the conflict. God, here's a
Speaker 2: prayer to pray, pray this prayer, God, show me where
Speaker 2: to shoot. See because action without aim leads to exhaustion.
Speaker 2: And a lot of people go into a new year
Speaker 2: not with a sense of apathy, but with a sense
Speaker 2: of activity that is aimless, and they are out of
Speaker 2: arrows before February starts. Seventeen resolutions. Can't keep one too
Speaker 2: many windows. Oh, I could preach on the power of priority.
Speaker 2: It's not just that the prophet showed him the victory.
Speaker 2: He showed him which one needed to be next. And
Speaker 2: you know God wants to speak to you if you
Speaker 2: will get with him. The king went down to the prophet,
Speaker 2: and the prophet pointed, not only at the victory, the
Speaker 2: arrow flying over aarm. Everybody in here has an arm,
Speaker 2: and everyone has an arrow.
Speaker 1: Are you more focused on your aram or your arrow?
Speaker 2: A lot of us get so focused on the aram
Speaker 2: that we're facing that we lose sight of the arrow
Speaker 2: of victory. We become discouraged in the fight because we
Speaker 2: have no focus. Watch the arrow, because if you look
Speaker 2: at arim, you'll always be intimidated. If you look at
Speaker 2: how big the enemy is, you will always loose strength,
Speaker 2: heart and courage.
Speaker 1: But if you'll watch the arrow.
Speaker 2: If you'll look for the activity of God, he will
Speaker 2: show you where to shoot. He will show you what
Speaker 2: to work on. And you can't win everywhere at once.
Speaker 2: I've had to learn this the hard way because I
Speaker 2: can be a very arrogant person. I can think I
Speaker 2: can handle stuff I can't handle, and do more than
Speaker 2: I can do until I collapse.
Speaker 1: And it was in a.
Speaker 2: Ministerial meltdown that Pastor Craig taught me the most valuable
Speaker 2: lesson he ever taught me, and he's taught me a lot.
Speaker 1: He said, you've spent.
Speaker 2: Your whole life trying to figure out how to win.
Speaker 2: Now you need to decide where to win. Where does
Speaker 2: God want you to win? I'm asking you where Concord, Where?
Speaker 1: Lake Norman? Where Blakeney?
Speaker 2: Where does God want you to win? Because you can't
Speaker 2: win every battle at once. Aaron wasn't the only enemy,
Speaker 2: it was the next one. I can't win everywhere at once.
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna tell you something else. I can't please everybody.
Speaker 1: I've got to let some people down.
Speaker 2: In order to aim my life in the direction of
Speaker 2: my destiny. I can't please everybody. Can you imagine what
Speaker 2: kind of pastor I would be if I tried to
Speaker 2: please everybody.
Speaker 1: Huh, how many times would.
Speaker 2: I have to change clothes during one sermon if I
Speaker 2: wanted to please everybody. Can't please everybody. I'm not aiming to.
Speaker 2: If I please God and Holly, I'm good. Did you
Speaker 2: notice a footnote? I'm aiming at something. I'm aiming at something.
Speaker 2: I'm aiming at something. I'm not just shooting every direction
Speaker 2: this year. I'm aiming at something That means I have
Speaker 2: to be realistic, not only about where I want to win,
Speaker 2: but where I might.
Speaker 1: Have to lose.
Speaker 2: I don't want to hurt your feelings. But you might
Speaker 2: not get around to all of it this year. Okay,
Speaker 2: you might lose some this year. You might not get
Speaker 2: to eat organic and get out of debt this year.
Speaker 2: You might have to save a little bit so you
Speaker 2: can afford to shop at whole foods. So get the money,
Speaker 2: then get the apples.
Speaker 1: You follow me. You might not get to take.
Speaker 2: The promotion while your kids are young and be at
Speaker 2: the house like you want to. You might need to
Speaker 2: make a little less because the window of more money
Speaker 2: will be there in ten years, but the window of
Speaker 2: childhood is closing.
Speaker 1: You might have to make some decisions to win.
Speaker 2: To aim, you might not get to take Tina.
Speaker 1: To every dance competition. You might have to teach her
Speaker 1: that we go to church on the weekend. I'm closing. No,
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: He said, shoot out the east window. God show me
Speaker 2: the right direction to aid my arrows this year.
Speaker 1: I don't want to waste my time. I don't want
Speaker 1: to waste my money. I don't want to waste my thoughts.
Speaker 1: I want to waste my pain.
Speaker 2: I want to apply myself in.
Speaker 1: The direction of my destiny.
Speaker 2: And I believe God's going to show us some stuff
Speaker 2: in this series. He's going to show you how to
Speaker 2: point your life in the direction of your purpose.
Speaker 1: Oh that's going to be a good week when we
Speaker 1: get to that. People, Please, this is just an introduction.
Speaker 2: I got some stuff to show you from the word
Speaker 2: of God. I hope you're going to be here every
Speaker 2: week of this series.
Speaker 1: Make it your.
Speaker 2: Aim, make it your aim, you show up to other
Speaker 2: stuff consistently. I don't feel angry when I'm saying this.
Speaker 2: I just feel accurate. I just feel like this is
Speaker 2: exactly what you need to hear. Take the bow, open
Speaker 2: the window, shoot let's go through the passage one more time,
Speaker 2: he said verse fifteen, get a bow, take the bow,
Speaker 2: open the window, and when he shot the arrow out
Speaker 2: the window, he promised him victory. The progression of the
Speaker 2: text is a little unsettling at this point. What happens
Speaker 2: next is what happens in a lot of our lives
Speaker 2: when church is over and we have to apply what
Speaker 2: we have heard. And my first point is view your victory,
Speaker 2: and I want you to see it, and I want
Speaker 2: you to shout about it.
Speaker 1: That's important.
Speaker 2: My second point was focus the fight, because you can't
Speaker 2: win everywhere at once, and you've got to decide what
Speaker 2: God has called you to do. You don't have to
Speaker 2: raise your kids like they raise their kids. You raise
Speaker 2: your kids the way God shows you to raise your kids. Amen,
Speaker 2: And you got to focus the fight for your fight,
Speaker 2: for your battle, for your calling. It might not look
Speaker 2: like everybody else's, But can I tell you something. Jehoesh's
Speaker 2: real fight was not against aaron, even though they were
Speaker 2: his external enemy.
Speaker 1: His biggest fight was not.
Speaker 2: Out the east window, and your biggest fight is never
Speaker 2: out there. After the prophet told him to open the
Speaker 2: window and get a victory in view, shoot the arrow
Speaker 2: in the direction of his next battle, focus his attention,
Speaker 2: focus his energy, focus his effort.
Speaker 1: The next thing he tells him to do is what
Speaker 1: you must do if you're going to move past intention
Speaker 1: into implementation.
Speaker 2: And go from seeing it to seizing it. Then he said,
Speaker 2: next instruction verse eighteen. Take the arrows, the same ones
Speaker 2: that were just flying. Now take them. And the king
Speaker 2: took them.
Speaker 1: Elizha told him strike the.
Speaker 2: Ground, and he struck it three times and stopped three
Speaker 2: times and stopped. I heard the prophet say get, I
Speaker 2: heard the prophet say take, I heard him say open,
Speaker 2: I heard him say shoot, and I heard him say strike,
Speaker 2: but I didn't hear him say stop. And I hear
Speaker 2: God saying to someone someone who has taken the arrow
Speaker 2: in your hand, and you've kind of half heartedly done
Speaker 2: it and kind of met around with it and kind
Speaker 2: of try it at it and stopped short.
Speaker 1: See this is what I used to preach.
Speaker 2: I had this sermon, and when I would get to
Speaker 2: this point, I would take my microphone.
Speaker 1: I preached this all over the world.
Speaker 2: I didn't I ap preached it in Australia, in London,
Speaker 2: England and South America. And I'll get to this point
Speaker 2: and I would demonstrate. I'd take the microphone, I start.
Speaker 1: Pounding it on my Bible. I pound that microphone.
Speaker 2: I was the most feared preacher for every sound technician.
Speaker 1: In the world. And I'm not going to do.
Speaker 2: That illustration here because this microphone is expensive and I
Speaker 2: pay for it.
Speaker 1: But but he.
Speaker 2: Stopped short, and he stopped striking, and the prophet watched this.
Speaker 2: The Man of God Verse nineteen was angry with him
Speaker 2: and said, you should have struck the ground five or
Speaker 2: six times. In other words, I didn't say stop. You're
Speaker 2: good at starting stuff, but the moment your hands get
Speaker 2: tired and the ground gets hard, you stop.
Speaker 1: You should have.
Speaker 2: What a terrible place to end your year. You should
Speaker 2: have kept striking. Then you would have defeated Aerin and
Speaker 2: completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only
Speaker 2: three times. Look at verse twenty Elisha died and was buried.
Speaker 1: And the window closed, and you should have you should have.
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but I don't want to
Speaker 2: look back on any more seasons of my life thinking
Speaker 2: about what I should have and what could have. This year,
Speaker 2: I will work my window this year, and let me
Speaker 2: tell you. Let me tell you how I know I
Speaker 2: have determined the decision in advance. Quitting is not an option.
Speaker 2: It's not an option. It's not an option for me
Speaker 2: to stop short. It's not optional. I have determined the decision.
Speaker 2: I don't wait until I get tired to decide if
Speaker 2: I'm going to do it. I decided it in advance.
Speaker 2: I predecided it. I pre decided, I pre I pre side.
Speaker 2: I did pre decision, pre decision before I get into temptation.
Speaker 2: I determine my response before I get discouraged. I determined
Speaker 2: to keep going. It's the power of precision. I have
Speaker 2: aimed in the direction of completion, and I will.
Speaker 1: Not stop until it comes to past.
Speaker 2: Somebody give us seventy seconds of praise.
Speaker 1: I'm aiming at it. Take aame, Take action, take ame.
Speaker 1: Come on, the arrow is flying. Take aame.
Speaker 2: Take action, take aame, take action. Tell your neghver take aim,
Speaker 2: take action, take aim, take action.
Speaker 1: My God is fighting for me. I cannot be defeated.
Speaker 1: Stand to your feet.
Speaker 2: It is not what happened in the air that determined
Speaker 2: the outcome of the battle. It's what happened on the ground.
Speaker 2: The arrow flew over aaron. The victory was his. But
Speaker 2: because he stopped.
Speaker 1: He lost over the next Uh, what do you think
Speaker 1: we should do? Four weeks, five weeks, six weeks.
Speaker 2: We can't stuck on six shibo is seven weeks.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you what.
Speaker 2: I'm approached this until your window is open. If I
Speaker 2: have to bust it open with a rock, how many
Speaker 2: of y'all thought I might throw that microphone?
Speaker 1: I said, we're going to get this thing open this year.
Speaker 2: We're going to get your focus off of your wishes
Speaker 2: and put the word to work in your life. Many
Speaker 2: of us already know enough to do it. If we
Speaker 2: would do what we knew. Tell your neighbor, if you
Speaker 2: would do what you knew, you could win the battle.
Speaker 2: It wasn't what you don't know. He told him the window,
Speaker 2: and he told him what to do. But when the
Speaker 2: prophet took his old hands. Some think that Elishah could
Speaker 2: have been one hundred and ten.
Speaker 1: Years old at this point.
Speaker 2: And when he took his hands, his old, tired hands,
Speaker 2: his callous hands that had worked miracles. Remember, Elisha was
Speaker 2: an action man. He's the one who told the kings
Speaker 2: to dig the ditches in the valley where they saw
Speaker 2: no rain.
Speaker 1: Because if you will do it. If you will do
Speaker 1: what you can do, God will do what you can't.
Speaker 2: Listen to me, I never felt so strong and so
Speaker 2: clear in my spirit about what to say. I never have.
Speaker 2: God said, it's his arrow, but it's your effort.
Speaker 1: It's his victory. But it starts with your vision. And
Speaker 1: so we're gonna drive it down.
Speaker 2: He said, you should strike five or six times. That's
Speaker 2: what we're gonna do over the next several weeks. And
Speaker 2: every week you come, it's gonna be a principle.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call them my six power windows. None of
Speaker 1: this come on.
Speaker 2: Somebody, roll it down, Roll it down, Roll it down,
Speaker 2: roll it down.
Speaker 1: Six power windows.
Speaker 2: And I want you to come, and I want you
Speaker 2: to tune in online. And I want some of you
Speaker 2: to make a trip and come be with.
Speaker 1: Us, live, make a road trip out of it, make
Speaker 1: a weekend out of it, because this is our open season.
Speaker 2: Precision, Take aim, God, what is it you want me
Speaker 2: to focus on this year?
Speaker 1: We're gonna sort that out. Take action? What do you
Speaker 1: want me to do?
Speaker 2: Do it like it's already done. Do it like it's
Speaker 2: already done. Mom, Is it true? I used to walk
Speaker 2: around with my walkman all around the neighborhood listening to
Speaker 2: cassette tapes of Pentecostal preachers.
Speaker 1: I went to a Baptist church, so I had to
Speaker 1: pull out my cassette tapes to get some real preacher.
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. That was a joke. I went to
Speaker 1: a Baptist school.
Speaker 2: Leave me alone, and I would envision the day I
Speaker 2: could preach to people. They found a tweet from Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry to keep talking about Clemson, but I had
Speaker 2: to work my window. We're four years ago as a
Speaker 2: high school junior. Google this, I promise.
Speaker 1: You is the truth.
Speaker 2: Google will verify what I'm saying to you. He tweeted
Speaker 2: as a junior in high school, me in a national
Speaker 2: championship game, waiting for that chance, and Graham is reviewing
Speaker 2: the victory because he previewed the victory.
Speaker 1: And he didn't just wait for it, he worked on it.
Speaker 1: We're going to get to work this year. Hans lifted
Speaker 1: all over this place. The spirit of God is here.
Speaker 1: Pray it out loud.
Speaker 2: Lord, show me where to shoot, show me where to focus.
Speaker 1: Now let's make some declarations.
Speaker 2: I declare the victory of God over every weakness in
Speaker 2: my life. I declare the arrow of victory over aerim
Speaker 2: over fear, over anxiety, over my past.
Speaker 1: Come on, I declare, so come to pass. This is
Speaker 1: my ear. Come on high by somebody.
Speaker 3: That'll take the shock.
Speaker 1: Take the shot.
Speaker 3: You'll see, don't it if you'll take it, doll me,
Speaker 3: You'll make it if you'll take it.
Speaker 2: What the enemies of Jesus didn't know as he was
Speaker 2: hanging on the cross is that the cross was always
Speaker 2: pointing toward the empty tomb. Every crucifixion points to resurrection,
Speaker 2: every defeat points toward victory.
Speaker 1: Come on, lift your hands one more time.
Speaker 2: Why don't you point your praise in the direction.
Speaker 3: Of your promise.
Speaker 2: Come on, point at it, point at call it out,
Speaker 2: call it out, call your shot.
Speaker 1: This year, This year I will, This year I win.
Speaker 1: I'm declaring in advance.
Speaker 3: I am a victor, I am an overcomer.
Speaker 1: I am ill. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.