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: Now what I want to do. I want to go
Speaker 1: into the Word of God from Matthew chapter sixteen, and
Speaker 1: I want to share an encounter that Peter had with
Speaker 1: Jesus while Jesus was still living. And this will sort
Speaker 1: of be this is us Jack Pearson flashback effect on
Speaker 1: the Word of God, for us to see something that
Speaker 1: Jesus said while he was still on earth in bodily
Speaker 1: form that still echoes with ramifications for our lives today.
Speaker 1: And I want to ask that everyone stand in honor
Speaker 1: of the reading of the Word of God that is
Speaker 1: physically able to stand, and even if you're watching on
Speaker 1: a screen somewhere, to stand up for a moment in
Speaker 1: reverence and respect for the Word of God. Because the
Speaker 1: grass withers, the flower fades, and your outfit goes out
Speaker 1: of style, but the Word of the Lord endorse forever.
Speaker 1: I modernized it a little bit, and then so I
Speaker 1: want to look at this scripture, and it's just a
Speaker 1: conversation that Peter had with Jesus. Beginning in Matthew sixteen,
Speaker 1: verse thirteen, when Jesus came to the region of Cesarea Philippi.
Speaker 1: He asked his disciples, who do people say the son
Speaker 1: of Man is? And they replied, well, some say John
Speaker 1: the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah are
Speaker 1: one of the prophets. But what about you, He asked,
Speaker 1: who do you say? I am Simon? Peter answered because
Speaker 1: he always had something to say. He was that guy.
Speaker 1: He was that dude, and a lot of times everybody
Speaker 1: in the room benefited from his ignorance because Jesus would
Speaker 1: correct him and none of them had to be embarrassed
Speaker 1: by asking the stupid question. And he was that kid
Speaker 1: in class that would always raise his hand, and the
Speaker 1: teachers like what Peter, And so Peter raises his hand.
Speaker 1: But this time he gets it right because he doesn't
Speaker 1: identify Jesus just on the basis of miracles or the
Speaker 1: mechanics or the cosmetics, but he sees the potential that
Speaker 1: Jesus has, and only the spirit of God could have
Speaker 1: showed him this. In fact, when he said it, he
Speaker 1: was so right that Jesus knew that's not you talking,
Speaker 1: That's not that part of you that comes from the
Speaker 1: head and from the mind that tries to figure everything out.
Speaker 1: And when he said this verse sixteen, you are the
Speaker 1: Messiah or the Christ, depending on the translation that you read,
Speaker 1: he identified Jesus. At a deeper level, you are the Messiah,
Speaker 1: the son of the Living God. Jesus replied, blessed or
Speaker 1: you Simon's son of Jonah. For this was not revealed
Speaker 1: to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father
Speaker 1: in Heaven. I tell you that you are Peter, and
Speaker 1: upon this rock I will build my church, and the
Speaker 1: gates of Hades will not overcome it. I'll give you
Speaker 1: the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind
Speaker 1: on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose
Speaker 1: on earth will be loosed in heaven. And then he
Speaker 1: ordered his disciples, keep your mouth shut and don't tell
Speaker 1: anyone what I just told you. From that time on,
Speaker 1: Jesus begin to explain to his disciples that he must
Speaker 1: go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands
Speaker 1: of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of
Speaker 1: the law, and that he must be killed and on
Speaker 1: the third day be raised to life. Today I want
Speaker 1: to speak to you about the potential of pain, the
Speaker 1: potential of pain. God, we pray for open hearts, pray
Speaker 1: for focused minds, and we thank you in advance for
Speaker 1: changed lives. Where your spirit is there is freedom and liberty.
Speaker 1: I pray that chains would fall to the floor today,
Speaker 1: and I pray that people would leave this place with
Speaker 1: a much different perspective on you and themselves that would
Speaker 1: enable them to overcome. In your name, by the power
Speaker 1: of your blood and the word of our testimony, we
Speaker 1: give you praise today in Jesus' name. Amen, Way to
Speaker 1: your seat. Tell somebody you must have done something right
Speaker 1: to sit next to me. I'm your dream neighbor. I
Speaker 1: probably shouldn't tell you this on Easter because you've got
Speaker 1: your grandmother with you. But I have two tattoos, and
Speaker 1: I didn't get them before I became a Christian, but
Speaker 1: they're really biblical. One is in Hebrew, so that's you
Speaker 1: know that it's okay. And the other one is on
Speaker 1: my ring finger and it has my wife and my
Speaker 1: initial so I was just kind of like trying to
Speaker 1: make sure I had her locked in. So I was like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get our initials tattooed, and we did it together.
Speaker 1: So it says H and S. And so if she
Speaker 1: wants to marry somebody else, she'll be narrowed down to
Speaker 1: the letter S. And I figure it creases my eyes
Speaker 1: keeping her. Anyway, When I went to get the first one,
Speaker 1: which is on my back, the one that says kvat
Speaker 1: or honor or wait in Hebrew. At least I think
Speaker 1: that's what it says. I failed Hebrew and seminary, but
Speaker 1: so that's what I think it says. But it's on
Speaker 1: a real painful spot and it was terrible. It hurts
Speaker 1: so bad when I got it, and I'm only going
Speaker 1: to have too. I'm never getting any more, not because
Speaker 1: I don't want any more. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I want any more or not. I'm just not
Speaker 1: I have a very low pain tolerance. And when I
Speaker 1: finished with that one, this was years ago, the guy
Speaker 1: that took me to get it, he was like, I said,
Speaker 1: I feel you have so many. This guy had tattoos
Speaker 1: just sleeves, and so I said, I feel so unmanly.
Speaker 1: How much that hurt? He said, Oh no, well, the
Speaker 1: place you got it on is one of the most
Speaker 1: painful places you can get one. So when I said that,
Speaker 1: I said, well, why don't you tell me that before
Speaker 1: I got the tattoo? He said, because I knew you
Speaker 1: wouldn't go through with it. I sometimes wonder if the
Speaker 1: reason Jesus waited until this point in his ministry to
Speaker 1: really start explaining to his disciples what it was going
Speaker 1: to be like to follow him was because he knew
Speaker 1: that if they really knew what it would mean to
Speaker 1: follow him, they wouldn't go through with it. And I've
Speaker 1: wondered before if God sometimes in our lives doesn't work
Speaker 1: in stages only showing us what we can handle at
Speaker 1: that point in time. Because of his infinite wisdom, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a real tendency for us to judge Peter in
Speaker 1: moments like what we're about to read, because when Jesus
Speaker 1: proclaimed to his disciples that he was going to the cross,
Speaker 1: this was the first time they had heard him talk
Speaker 1: like that. Up until this point, they had heard him
Speaker 1: say things like be healed, or they'd heard him say
Speaker 1: things like bring me the bread and they had watched
Speaker 1: him do things like multiply it or cause something that
Speaker 1: was laying to walk. And as much as we give
Speaker 1: credit to Jesus for seeing the potential in Peter, I
Speaker 1: think we should take a moment and recognize that it
Speaker 1: took faith for Peter to see the potential in Jesus.
Speaker 1: He understood at a deeper level that there was something
Speaker 1: about this miracle worker that was unlike the others who
Speaker 1: had performed miracles. There was something about this prophet. His
Speaker 1: words had a different authority than the teachers of the law.
Speaker 1: There was something about the way that he moved, and
Speaker 1: not only the way that he spoke, but the way
Speaker 1: that he prayed and the way that he lived and
Speaker 1: the way that he led that drew Peter to believe
Speaker 1: that this is the one. And he believed it not
Speaker 1: in the kind of way where you tell people I
Speaker 1: believe in you, because honestly, it really means very little
Speaker 1: for you to say that. If you are not invested
Speaker 1: in someone's potential, it may be that you just actually
Speaker 1: are using flattery. It's a different thing when you let
Speaker 1: Jesus use your boat. Peter had actually been put in
Speaker 1: an awkward position where he was out fishing one night,
Speaker 1: and Jesus just got in his boat and took off
Speaker 1: in it, and Peter pushed him out and was willing
Speaker 1: to let him use his boat, which represented his livelihood.
Speaker 1: And it's unique to me that Peter saw Jesus as
Speaker 1: one who had potential to change everything. And in the
Speaker 1: same way, Jesus saw in Peter a kind of potential
Speaker 1: that probably no one else saw. The reason I know
Speaker 1: that is because he called Peter a rock while Peter
Speaker 1: was still very unstable, and it seems as if he
Speaker 1: was judging Peter not according to his performance, but according
Speaker 1: to his potential. You know what's funny. If I held
Speaker 1: your phone right now, I couldn't use it to its
Speaker 1: full capacity because I don't know what's in it like
Speaker 1: you do. I don't understand all of the contacts. I
Speaker 1: could have a lot of fun I could send some
Speaker 1: text messages that would create weeks and weeks of interesting
Speaker 1: conversations if I had your phone for ten minutes. And
Speaker 1: it is true that the one who possesses the thing
Speaker 1: has an intimate knowledge of its potential that is unique
Speaker 1: to the one who possesses it. In the same way,
Speaker 1: I believe that God knows things about your potential that
Speaker 1: your mother doesn't know, that your father doesn't know, that
Speaker 1: your best friend doesn't know. I believe God knows things
Speaker 1: about your potential that even in your greatest moments of triumph,
Speaker 1: you can only imagine. And I believe He speaks to
Speaker 1: your life from time to time, not from the vantage
Speaker 1: point of your performance, but from the vantage point of
Speaker 1: your potential. How many are grateful that God sees your
Speaker 1: potential when other people want to hold you down to
Speaker 1: the level of your past, when other people want to
Speaker 1: hold you down to the level of your worst moments.
Speaker 1: So he calls him a rock, even though Peter at
Speaker 1: this point is very unstable. And we know he's unstable
Speaker 1: because he just got his gold star for correctly identifying
Speaker 1: Jesus as the Christ, the son of the Living God.
Speaker 1: And no sooner does he say who Jesus is correctly
Speaker 1: than he makes a move that is above his pay grade.
Speaker 1: And I want to show you this in verse twenty two,
Speaker 1: because it's almost hard to believe that he could go
Speaker 1: from so high to so low in a matter of
Speaker 1: a moment, from so faith filled and so accurate in
Speaker 1: his assessment of Jesus to making a statement that completely
Speaker 1: contradicted the purpose of God. And it might give you
Speaker 1: hope because some of you in here have vacillated even
Speaker 1: this morning in the amount of faith that you have.
Speaker 1: You were a different person in the parking lot than
Speaker 1: you were during the praise and worship set. Now, don't
Speaker 1: make me ask your husband what you're like when you
Speaker 1: get home, because I only see you in one condition,
Speaker 1: But from moment to moment, many of us, who have
Speaker 1: the greatest potential for power and purpose, also have the
Speaker 1: greatest potential for pain and failure. And Peter demonstrates it
Speaker 1: in the tech Right after he hears the explanation from
Speaker 1: Jesus about what's about to happen, the Bible says that
Speaker 1: he takes Jesus aside verse twenty two and begins to
Speaker 1: rebuke him. Now, this is always a bad idea for
Speaker 1: you to explain to the God of the universe how
Speaker 1: his plan is not correct because it does not conform
Speaker 1: to your agenda. Watch what he says next, and this
Speaker 1: is what I wanted to preach to you about. He said, never, Lord,
Speaker 1: this shall never happen to you. Somebody say never say
Speaker 1: a louder say never, because the Greek word for never
Speaker 1: is a strong word. It's not a whisper mumble words,
Speaker 1: It's an emphatic never. The Greek word is oumeh is
Speaker 1: a double negative. It's not even grammatically correct. What Peter
Speaker 1: is saying. He is so calmmon for them that he
Speaker 1: knows what God is going to do in his life
Speaker 1: that he says not only never, but watch this never,
Speaker 1: no never. I used to say this all the time
Speaker 1: about the way that I would raise my kids until
Speaker 1: I had them. I used to say, I'll never I
Speaker 1: will never be the kind of dad who screams at
Speaker 1: his kids that way. You know. Never, Oh, I would never, ah,
Speaker 1: because what good would that do? To discipline my kids
Speaker 1: from anger? Would only create fear? And God has not
Speaker 1: given us a spirit of fear, but power, love and
Speaker 1: a sound mind. And I will never discipline my kids
Speaker 1: in a spirit which will contradict the very nature of
Speaker 1: the God that I seek to represent. I want to
Speaker 1: be a good, good father. I want to give them
Speaker 1: an accurate presentation of their Father in heaven, and so
Speaker 1: I will always correct them from a posture of love.
Speaker 1: I will never raise my voice. Why would I try
Speaker 1: to correct them in the same spirit that I'm trying
Speaker 1: to correct I will always discipline them in a way
Speaker 1: that will show them that while the behavior may be unacceptable,
Speaker 1: your identity and my love for you are eternally secure.
Speaker 1: Now I yell at my kids so much. Somebody say
Speaker 1: never until you had them, But we can all get
Speaker 1: this kind of false confidence, and life will challenge your
Speaker 1: concept of never. I'm well aware that many people gathered
Speaker 1: here today are in a situation right now that you
Speaker 1: never thought you'd find yourself in. Other people's marriages may
Speaker 1: fall apart, but my marriage never. We will wash one
Speaker 1: another's feet in the name of our risen Lord. I
Speaker 1: would never talk to my husband that way. Never. Never,
Speaker 1: I've never. I would never struggle with that. I don't
Speaker 1: know how somebody could get hooked on something like that.
Speaker 1: I just don't get people like that. I would never never,
Speaker 1: who may you may me never. I don't give people
Speaker 1: who struggle with depression. They've got the joy of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Rejoice in the Lord always. The Bible says, always give
Speaker 1: thanks in all things, in all circumstances, all means, all Stephen,
Speaker 1: rejoice in the Lord. I will rejoice. This is the
Speaker 1: day that the Lord has made. I don't understand people
Speaker 1: until something happens in your life that knocks you off balance,
Speaker 1: and you might find yourself. Be careful what you judge
Speaker 1: me for today. It might be knocking on your door tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I never thought. I never thought that I would be
Speaker 1: the one dealing with anxiety. But now I can't catch
Speaker 1: my breath. I never thought I would think a thought
Speaker 1: that dark. I never struggled with that in my teens.
Speaker 1: I didn't struggle with that in my twenties. Now it
Speaker 1: came out of nowhere never no, never, never, ever ever
Speaker 1: ever never never. He said that another time too. This
Speaker 1: was kind of Peter's thing. You know. He's sitting at
Speaker 1: the table with the Lord at the Passover meal, where
Speaker 1: Jesus was telling them, now, this is my body broken
Speaker 1: for you, and he's talking symbolically about what he's going
Speaker 1: to do practically in twenty four hours, and they can't
Speaker 1: comprehend it. And he's telling them, not only am I
Speaker 1: going to die and bleed like this for you, but
Speaker 1: actually all of you are going to be unable to
Speaker 1: take it, and your faith will fail and you will
Speaker 1: all walk away. You will all fall away. One of
Speaker 1: you is going to betray me. Not saying any names
Speaker 1: is Judas. But the rest of you, don't get too judgmental,
Speaker 1: because none of you are going to be there at
Speaker 1: the cross when it happens. You were there when I
Speaker 1: was feeding bread. But when the bread is broken, you
Speaker 1: will all fall away, all of you. And what did
Speaker 1: Peter say about that? You might? You might, you might
Speaker 1: be you might be surprised? Peter insisted emphatically, even if
Speaker 1: I have to die with you, I will never not me.
Speaker 1: When I first started preaching, I asked the pastor. This
Speaker 1: was like very early on. I was just studying the Bible,
Speaker 1: and I was trying to understand the miracles, and some
Speaker 1: of the stuff in there is hard to accept at
Speaker 1: face value. Y'all never read it before. It's some really
Speaker 1: crazy stuff in here, like dead people getting up out
Speaker 1: of the ground, and my faith wanted to believe it,
Speaker 1: but my mind was contradicting it. So I asked this pastor,
Speaker 1: do you ever have doubts? He said no, never. I said,
Speaker 1: you never doubt the Bible? He said no, never. And
Speaker 1: two years later he was out of ministry. Because sometimes
Speaker 1: it's the people who will not acknowledge their weakness, that
Speaker 1: are the most susceptible to it. Really, God put it
Speaker 1: on my heart to preach to the people today, and
Speaker 1: this may not be you, and it's okay that are
Speaker 1: in a situation where you never thought you would struggle
Speaker 1: with what you're struggling with. You watched other people struggle
Speaker 1: with it, but you never thought that you would. What
Speaker 1: do you do when you find yourself in the situation
Speaker 1: that you swore you'd never be in, that you never
Speaker 1: imagine that you'd be in. What resurrection does is it
Speaker 1: challenges my concept of never. It challenges my expectation of never.
Speaker 1: Because what it shows me is that although I've never
Speaker 1: seen somebody get up from the ground before after being buried,
Speaker 1: that when God says never, it's different than when I
Speaker 1: say never. And so what God wants to challenge this
Speaker 1: Easter Sunday is my understanding of what is possible, my
Speaker 1: understanding of what could never happen, my understanding because there
Speaker 1: are many of us here who have given up on
Speaker 1: our hope, and the word over your life has been never.
Speaker 1: You'll never be happy like they are, You will never
Speaker 1: be free from this. Your mom wasn't her mom, wasn't
Speaker 1: her mom, wasn't what makes you think it's possible for you.
Speaker 1: You are never going to connect. You will never love again,
Speaker 1: You will never heal from this, You will never recover
Speaker 1: from that fall. You will never rebuild your reputation. It
Speaker 1: will never happen from you. But Heaven speaks a different never. See,
Speaker 1: I want to show you another never. And this never
Speaker 1: doesn't come from the mouth of Peter. This never comes
Speaker 1: from the mouth of God and is from Hebrews thirteen,
Speaker 1: verse five. And I need all my Easter people to
Speaker 1: get ready to shout on this, because after you've been
Speaker 1: through all that Hell has to throw at you, after
Speaker 1: you have survived the worst possible assault on your faith
Speaker 1: and your mind and your sanity, after people have left you,
Speaker 1: after circumstances have drained you of your human energy, there
Speaker 1: remains a promise in the word of God. And this
Speaker 1: is not Peter's prediction. This is God's world. He said,
Speaker 1: never will I leave you, and never will I forsake you.
Speaker 1: The Greek word is oome. They might, but I won't.
Speaker 1: Never no, never, When will I withdraw my love from you?
Speaker 1: Never no, never, When will I change my mind about you?
Speaker 1: Never no, never, When will I walk away and give
Speaker 1: up on the plans I make for your life. Never, no, never, sun.
Speaker 1: If you got a God who says never means. When
Speaker 1: God says lever, he means lever. There's nothing you can
Speaker 1: do upon a devil. I gotta living oone never never.
Speaker 1: People may change their mind about my potential, but he
Speaker 1: never will. And this is a different level of hope.
Speaker 1: This is not the kind of hope you know, that
Speaker 1: plastic hope, that plastic purple hope, like these little plastic
Speaker 1: these little plastic purple Easter eggs that you see, these
Speaker 1: bright and pretty, but they're plastic and they're hollow. My
Speaker 1: hope is built on nothing less. Y'all don't know any hymns.
Speaker 1: Your mom didn't take you to church. My hope is
Speaker 1: built on nothing less. So my hope I might as
Speaker 1: well show them give me the basket. My hope is
Speaker 1: not hollow. My hope is not empty. My hope is
Speaker 1: not plastic. My hope is not circumstantial. Romans, Chapter five,
Speaker 1: verse three says that I hope in the glory of God.
Speaker 1: That's different than hoping in the praises of ben That's
Speaker 1: different in hoping in the kindness of life or the
Speaker 1: peaceability of circumstances. My hope. Watch this is hard boiled.
Speaker 1: My hope has been through the fire. My hope has
Speaker 1: been through hell. My hope has been disappointed and still
Speaker 1: found a weight about that. And watch this, even if
Speaker 1: it cracks on the surface, it's still good on the inside.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of living. Home is easter. He's risen. So
Speaker 1: he showed me on the cross how to deal with
Speaker 1: the penalty of my sin. But that's not all he
Speaker 1: showed me. He showed me how to deal with my pain,
Speaker 1: to let me know that the sufferings of this present
Speaker 1: time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
Speaker 1: that will be revealed great potential in your pain. He
Speaker 1: didn't change his mind about Peter. When he says never,
Speaker 1: he means never. When he says always, he means always.
Speaker 1: Because it said that while we were still sinners, Christ
Speaker 1: died for us, not on the basis of my performance,
Speaker 1: but on the basis of his purpose. Now, if he
Speaker 1: died for me while I was still a sinner, it
Speaker 1: means that he's still a savior even if I continue
Speaker 1: to sin. And nothing can pluck you from his hand,
Speaker 1: and nothing can erase your name touched on his heart.
Speaker 1: This is not superstition or sentimentality. By the spirit of God,
Speaker 1: I declare over your life today. God has not changed
Speaker 1: his mind about you, and your pain cannot negate it,
Speaker 1: and your mistakes cannot negate it. I want you to
Speaker 1: stand because I want to pray for people today who
Speaker 1: have been called out by God for great purpose and
Speaker 1: great potential. And at the Cross we find a demonstration
Speaker 1: of God's estimation of your worth. It would be my
Speaker 1: privilege today wherever you find yourself in life, and whatever
Speaker 1: your particular brand of pain may be today, whether it's
Speaker 1: a relational betrayal, Jesus experienced that, whether it is a temptation.
Speaker 1: Jesus was tempted in all ways as we are tempted,
Speaker 1: but he was without sin. Whatever the pain that you
Speaker 1: can name today, I know a name that is greater
Speaker 1: than your pain. And I know a name that is
Speaker 1: greater than your shame. And while we were still sinners,
Speaker 1: he saw what he put in you. He still sees
Speaker 1: you according to the original blueprint, no matter how much
Speaker 1: life has tried to lay it with cynicism and doubt,
Speaker 1: in addictions and fears and disappointments and rejection, Jesus had
Speaker 1: to go to Jerusalem. Peter didn't like it, the disciples
Speaker 1: couldn't stand it. Even he prayed, if there's any other way,
Speaker 1: let this cup pass. But it was the purpose that
Speaker 1: he came for. I believe God is working a great
Speaker 1: purpose in your life in this season. It is what
Speaker 1: you do with the pain that determines what it becomes.
Speaker 1: Many people died on crosses at the time when Jesus
Speaker 1: was crucified. There was nothing different about his cross. It
Speaker 1: was what he did with his cross that he endured
Speaker 1: it for the joy set before him, scorning the shame
Speaker 1: and sat down at the right hand of the Father.
Speaker 1: I asked that no one move in this moment. This
Speaker 1: is a holy, sacred moment. I want to give an
Speaker 1: invitation for people who have been brought here today, not
Speaker 1: by the invitation of a family member or a friend,
Speaker 1: but by the spirit of God. And He drew you
Speaker 1: here because He wanted you to know that there is
Speaker 1: potential in you that will only become real as you
Speaker 1: trust in Him and surrender to His way. And this
Speaker 1: is your moment to do it. So with your head's
Speaker 1: bowed and your eyes closed, at this church, we pray
Speaker 1: a prayer for the sake of those who are far
Speaker 1: from God and who are coming into a relationship with Him,
Speaker 1: and we pray it out loud as a church family.
Speaker 1: Now all over the world. I believe God is drawing
Speaker 1: people at every location. I believe God is drawing people.
Speaker 1: And if your heart is beating today and you know
Speaker 1: that this is God calling your name, I want to
Speaker 1: lead you in a prayer. I want you to repeat
Speaker 1: it after me as an expression of your faith. The
Speaker 1: Bible says that if you will confess with your mouth
Speaker 1: that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God
Speaker 1: raised him from the dead, you will be saved not
Speaker 1: by works, but through faith by grace. And in this moment,
Speaker 1: I believe Jesus is calling heads bowed, eyes closed, and
Speaker 1: pray together as a church family, Heavenly Father. I am
Speaker 1: a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe
Speaker 1: that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the
Speaker 1: Savior of the world. And today I make Jesus the
Speaker 1: Lord of my life. I believe you died that I
Speaker 1: could be forgiven and rose again to give me life.
Speaker 1: This is my new beginning. I am a child of God.
Speaker 1: I am a new creation. And on the count of three,
Speaker 1: if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to
Speaker 1: shoot your hand boldly in the air on three, one,
Speaker 1: two three at every location. Let's celebrate that awesome decision.
Speaker 1: Come on, we can do better than that. Y'all. Welcome
Speaker 1: them into the family of God. Let's welcome these souls.
Speaker 1: Let's celebrate a fresh start. Let's celebrate a new beginning.
Speaker 1: Come on, time we celebrate resurrection, resurrection power. Open your
Speaker 1: mouth and let it hear you. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 1: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 1: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 1: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends. You can click
Speaker 1: the share button, take a screenshot and share it on
Speaker 1: your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks
Speaker 1: again for listening. God bless you.