Speaker 1: Okay, the scripture that the Lord led me to as
Speaker 1: we complete this season. It didn't seem like to me
Speaker 1: a Christmas scripture at first, but I think it is.
Speaker 1: It's in Exodus chapter forty. You're like getting the Christmas
Speaker 1: story in the New Testament. Jesus is all up in
Speaker 1: your Bible. You just got it. He's like, where's Waldo.
Speaker 1: You just got to know how to spot it. But
Speaker 1: in Exodus forty, there is something I want to show
Speaker 1: you today, Verse thirty three. Let's go. Then Moses set
Speaker 1: up the courtyard around the tabernacle and alter and put
Speaker 1: up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And
Speaker 1: so Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the
Speaker 1: tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord Lord
Speaker 1: filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of
Speaker 1: meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the
Speaker 1: glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In all the
Speaker 1: travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above
Speaker 1: the tabernacle, they would set out. But if the cloud
Speaker 1: did not lift, they did not set out until the
Speaker 1: day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was
Speaker 1: over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the
Speaker 1: cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites
Speaker 1: during all their travels. So the Lord gave me good
Speaker 1: tidings of great joy to preach to you this Christmas season.
Speaker 1: My title is an announcement. Get ready to shout. God
Speaker 1: said to tell you the restriction has been lifted. All
Speaker 1: open your mouth, holds your teeth, and unto God, the
Speaker 1: restriction has been lifted. Put it in the chat right now.
Speaker 1: The restriction has been lifted. Tell your neighbor you can
Speaker 1: move around the room the restriction. You are now free
Speaker 1: to brace him to. The restriction has been Listen all right, now,
Speaker 1: be seated. I had fun doing that on the road.
Speaker 1: We were going out on elevation nights all around the country,
Speaker 1: and I would make a joke when I would get
Speaker 1: up in these different cities. I'd say, hey, now, I
Speaker 1: know that some of y'all haven't been to church in
Speaker 1: two years, ever since twenty twenty two or twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: And it's twenty twenty two, so I've got two years
Speaker 1: of makeup church to have with you tonight. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna preach about three hours. And they kind of laugh
Speaker 1: and you could see people looking at each other like,
Speaker 1: how does you know I hadn't been back to church
Speaker 1: because for the longest, and I don't mean to do
Speaker 1: any church. I'll put a trigger warning on this real quick, okay,
Speaker 1: because that phrase the restriction has been lifted. It takes
Speaker 1: us all to a certain place. And this is not
Speaker 1: a political message. This is just an illustration that I
Speaker 1: want to use to get you into the Christmas message.
Speaker 1: So relax, all right, I'm not going to say anything
Speaker 1: that's going to get us banned or canceled or arrested
Speaker 1: or anything like that. All right, now that we got
Speaker 1: that out of the way, the illustration is this. A
Speaker 1: man walks up to me and ask me a question.
Speaker 1: This was about three months after they lifted the restriction
Speaker 1: where we could start gathering again for church in person.
Speaker 1: And he sees me in a public place and he says, yo, pastor,
Speaker 1: are the restrictions lifted? Are y'all meeting in church now?
Speaker 1: And I said, yeah, We've been meeting for three months,
Speaker 1: and I've been preaching the whole time, and we've been
Speaker 1: putting the sermons online. And he goes, oh, cool, Well,
Speaker 1: I'm coming this Sunday. Then, he walks off. He turns around,
Speaker 1: walks back, walks back over to me and looks guilty
Speaker 1: and goes, I can't lie to my pastor. I knew
Speaker 1: y'all were having church again. I follow every account on
Speaker 1: Instagram that Elevation Church has. I just hadn't come back yet.
Speaker 1: So I am going to be there Sunday. But I
Speaker 1: couldn't lie to you about why it didn't that I
Speaker 1: hadn't come back because I didn't think I could come back.
Speaker 1: I just didn't come back and I hadn't come back.
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's all right, man, give me a hug.
Speaker 1: We can hug now. The restrictions are lifted. Give me
Speaker 1: a hug. And so as a moment, there was a
Speaker 1: teaching moment for me, not about pandemics and viruses or
Speaker 1: any of that stuff. It was moment to me about
Speaker 1: human nature. There's a moment for me to realize that
Speaker 1: sometimes the restriction is gone, but the conditioning remains. To
Speaker 1: where he said, Hey, I just got used to not
Speaker 1: doing it, so I'm not doing it, and I have
Speaker 1: an excuse as I can't do it. This is not
Speaker 1: a sermon for all of y'all who are watching online
Speaker 1: by the way. I think it's great to watch online.
Speaker 1: This is not saying don't watch. I wouldn't put the
Speaker 1: sermon online if I didn't want you to watch it online.
Speaker 1: But what the man said to me was powerful. He said,
Speaker 1: I knew I could come back. I just haven't been
Speaker 1: coming back. But rather than say I hadn't been coming
Speaker 1: back and deal with why I haven't been coming back
Speaker 1: because I got into the habit of not coming back,
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you can I come back? Because
Speaker 1: I ask you can I come back, it gives the
Speaker 1: impression that I'm confused, and then I can blame my
Speaker 1: complacency on my confusion. He said. The restriction has been lifted,
Speaker 1: but my routine has been established, and the fact is
Speaker 1: I need to get back. Why are y'all in the
Speaker 1: room looking convicted? Y'all are here, you should be shouting
Speaker 1: about this part of the sermon. It's not even about
Speaker 1: whether you're in this room or not. It's really not.
Speaker 1: It's about whether you're in faith. It's about whether you're
Speaker 1: in the place God has called you to, and it's
Speaker 1: about whether or not you're allowing God to lead you
Speaker 1: in this season of your life, which is exactly what
Speaker 1: I gave you a picture of from Exodus chapter forty,
Speaker 1: where the Lord is leading his people. How many believed
Speaker 1: the Lord leads his people. That's one of the identifying
Speaker 1: marks of knowing that you belong to God. That Jesus said,
Speaker 1: my sheep know my voice, and they listen, and so
Speaker 1: not only do they hear it, but they go with it.
Speaker 1: And so one of the marks of my maturity in
Speaker 1: God is that not only is he speaking, but that
Speaker 1: I am in step with him, that He is leading me,
Speaker 1: that he is leading me to be kinder, more generous,
Speaker 1: that he is leading me to be more disciplined in
Speaker 1: the areas that matter. In fact, that's the word that
Speaker 1: Holly and I are putting on our offering today. Just
Speaker 1: a few moments, people from all over our church, our
Speaker 1: global community, and even online are going to be giving
Speaker 1: to the work of God through this ministry. And every
Speaker 1: year we challenge every person, every family pick a word.
Speaker 1: My kids all have a word. Their words are just
Speaker 1: as unique as they are as people. I'm telling you
Speaker 1: as hilarious because they were all making fun of each
Speaker 1: other's words at the table last night, and I was like,
Speaker 1: you'll need to stop making fun of each other's words,
Speaker 1: and we need to set an example for the people
Speaker 1: of God and give as a family. We can't be
Speaker 1: fighting like this as we're trying to set an example
Speaker 1: of faith. And So my word that I told Holly
Speaker 1: because sometimes I ask her in this, just tell her
Speaker 1: and she trusts me, so she lets me be the
Speaker 1: leader of our home. I said, our word is actually leadership.
Speaker 1: Our word is leadership because there are two things I'm
Speaker 1: becoming more convinced about with every year God leaves me
Speaker 1: on this planet. One is that He is leading me,
Speaker 1: and the other one is that I need it. How
Speaker 1: much stupid stuff have I done? How many relationships have
Speaker 1: I wasted my time investing in because I didn't let
Speaker 1: God lead me. Think how much money you could have
Speaker 1: saved on first dates if you would have listened to
Speaker 1: the Lord and let him lead you. Touch the person
Speaker 1: next to you and say, let him lead you. It's
Speaker 1: not like he doesn't want to. It's not like God
Speaker 1: is cruel up there trying to hide his will from you.
Speaker 1: It's not like God is some kind of masochistic master
Speaker 1: who wants to put you in situations and not show
Speaker 1: you what to do. I mean, if you need further
Speaker 1: proof that God wants to lead you, look to the
Speaker 1: extremes which he was willing to go to lead his
Speaker 1: people through the wilderness in Exodus chapter forty. If you
Speaker 1: don't think God wants to lead you, watch this example
Speaker 1: is brilliant. God says, I'm gonna give you a place
Speaker 1: called the tabernacle. You could put it right in the
Speaker 1: wilderness at the base of Mount Sinai. I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you my commandments, ten of them, and even when you
Speaker 1: break them, I'm gonna give you the tablets again, so
Speaker 1: you can have another start. Because I am the God
Speaker 1: of new beginnings and second chances, and I will lead
Speaker 1: you even when you lead your self astray. If you
Speaker 1: are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
Speaker 1: And when you get done with the commandments, build a tabernacle,
Speaker 1: a place for my glory to dwell, a place where
Speaker 1: there can be an altar, a place where there can
Speaker 1: be a basin for the priests to wash their hands,
Speaker 1: in a place where there can be a cherub him
Speaker 1: where the presence of God can dwell. In the most
Speaker 1: holy place. After you get through the curtains and the
Speaker 1: lamp stand and the table of showbread, all which are
Speaker 1: pointing to the ultimate revelation of God in Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: our Savior, born on Christmas Day. God said, I'm going
Speaker 1: to put a provisional tint in the wilderness, so you'll
Speaker 1: have a place to meet with me, and when you
Speaker 1: mess it up, you'll have a place to make it right,
Speaker 1: so you don't get so far off track that you
Speaker 1: can't come back, because I am your leader. So he
Speaker 1: did something very cool. I think it's cool. To get
Speaker 1: them where they needed to go. He gave them this
Speaker 1: cloud that would settle over the tabernacle and then it
Speaker 1: would lift, and when it lifted, that meant it was
Speaker 1: time for them to move, and when it stayed that minute,
Speaker 1: it was time for them to stay. And all they
Speaker 1: had to do was obey. And I kind of wish
Speaker 1: that this Christmas God would give me a cloud like
Speaker 1: that cloud. Wouldn't that be cool? Come on, wouldn't that
Speaker 1: be amazing God just telling you, nope, don't take that job,
Speaker 1: come over here, stay right there. That would be awesome.
Speaker 1: I would love it. But the only thing is if
Speaker 1: he gave them a cloud to lead them, which would
Speaker 1: be a cloud by day and a pillar of fire
Speaker 1: by night. Now, let me explain this for a moment
Speaker 1: before I tell you why the cloud wouldn't be as
Speaker 1: cool as you think it would be, because it wouldn't
Speaker 1: be as cools you think it would be. And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna show why in just a moment, But first let
Speaker 1: me say this. The cloud looked like one thing in
Speaker 1: the daytime and another thing at nighttime. So God never changes.
Speaker 1: Thank God that he never changes. However, our relationship with
Speaker 1: him does. God is always leading you, and God is
Speaker 1: always leading me. But he will lead me through different
Speaker 1: things in different seasons. And it doesn't mean he's changed.
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that he's less faithful. It doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that he's forgotten. It doesn't mean that he's punishing me.
Speaker 1: But God leads me in different ways in different seasons.
Speaker 1: I had a conversation with this very thing about this
Speaker 1: very thing with my kids. I haven't had this conversation
Speaker 1: with Abby yet because it's a conversation that I had
Speaker 1: with Elijah when he became a teenager and Graham when
Speaker 1: he became a teenager. And I'll have it with Abby
Speaker 1: here soon as well, so you can get it early. Abby,
Speaker 1: I said, Hey, I love you, but I want to
Speaker 1: talk to you a little bit about how our relationship
Speaker 1: is going to change as you grow tour and you
Speaker 1: want more freedom. So I establish something, and I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is good or not. Maybe I can
Speaker 1: improve it before I get it to Abby, and I
Speaker 1: can practice on the boys and then get it right
Speaker 1: on her. They already pick on me that she gets
Speaker 1: all of the benefits of my inexperience being worked out
Speaker 1: on them, and now I am a much better dad
Speaker 1: for her. But this is what I said, And y'all
Speaker 1: tell me if you think this is good or not.
Speaker 1: I said, my love for you is set. I'm your dad.
Speaker 1: If you get hooked on drugs or if you get
Speaker 1: a diploma, I'm your dad. If you come home and
Speaker 1: you have to tell me the worst news ever, I'm
Speaker 1: your dad. I love you. I can't stop loving even
Speaker 1: though I want to, I can't stop loving you. It's
Speaker 1: like sometimes I try to not love you and it
Speaker 1: just boomerangs back. So that is set. And if there
Speaker 1: is a level of my love for you, it's like
Speaker 1: level eleven. It's not even ten. It's like level eleven.
Speaker 1: I love you. I love you more than I should
Speaker 1: love you. That's why sometimes I don't even see things
Speaker 1: that are wrong with you, because I love you too
Speaker 1: much to see it. And that's why sometimes you get
Speaker 1: on my last nerve because I love you so much.
Speaker 1: And that was a conversation that my love for you
Speaker 1: is set, but your freedom is not set in this house.
Speaker 1: Your freedom is contingent on your behavior in three specific areas.
Speaker 1: And I'm making all this up the first time when
Speaker 1: I gave it to Elijah, and I had it better
Speaker 1: when I got to Graham. I'll get it better when
Speaker 1: I get to Abbey. I said, it's three things. It's respect.
Speaker 1: You will respect me. You will respect your mom. And
Speaker 1: if you're going to pick one of the two of
Speaker 1: us not to respect, disrespect me because if you disrespect her,
Speaker 1: you will find out what it is like to have
Speaker 1: me against you. I know this parenting style is very
Speaker 1: ANTIQ weighted and everything like that, but it's just where
Speaker 1: I come from from my understanding of my role, my
Speaker 1: parental role. If you want my resource, you will give
Speaker 1: me respect. So we talk about that. Then there will
Speaker 1: be responsibility, like you got to get your crap done
Speaker 1: or I'm gonna have to treat you like you don't
Speaker 1: know how to get your crap done. But if you
Speaker 1: can get your crap done, this is the Bible somewhere too.
Speaker 1: If you don't get faithful over little, faithful over much.
Speaker 1: If you can prove to me that you can do
Speaker 1: a few things, well I can let you do more things.
Speaker 1: But you know it's like a leash. You've heard these
Speaker 1: parents and illustrations before. And how much liberty, how much
Speaker 1: license you get, is not going to be dependent on
Speaker 1: how much I love you. Because I love you eleven,
Speaker 1: but I can't let you eleven just because I love you.
Speaker 1: I didn't put that in my notes, but I kind
Speaker 1: of liked it. I love you eleven. My love won't leave.
Speaker 1: But your privileges, your permissions, your liberty, and your license
Speaker 1: depend on three things. And it's respect and its responsibility,
Speaker 1: and most of all is trust. If I can't trust you,
Speaker 1: I can love you, but I can't let you just
Speaker 1: because I love you. I've got to be able to
Speaker 1: trust you some. And then I said, how good is
Speaker 1: this parenting seminar? They ought to put me on focus
Speaker 1: on the family. With this, I got something to say.
Speaker 1: I'm saving my parenting book till all my kids are sixty,
Speaker 1: so I can see how it all turns out. But
Speaker 1: this is one thing I had to do in real time.
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's changing, our relationship is changing. I'm not changing.
Speaker 1: I love you. That's set. It's eleven. It's not going
Speaker 1: to go to nine Monday and seven Tuesday and all
Speaker 1: then Wednesday win a big softball game. We're back to
Speaker 1: a le that's not performance based. My love is set
Speaker 1: at eleven. Now now I want to tell you something,
Speaker 1: to get real, real clear before I move on. In
Speaker 1: this message, God's love for you is set at level eleven.
Speaker 1: Very rarely for a righteous man would someone die. But
Speaker 1: God demonstrates his own love for us through this that
Speaker 1: while we were still screwed up, while we were still filthy,
Speaker 1: while we were still sin stain, while we were still
Speaker 1: creating same through our perpetual behavior that defied him, while
Speaker 1: I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. So
Speaker 1: that's set. It's not changing. What self separate us from
Speaker 1: the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. You
Speaker 1: can't take it away. It's set. You can't snatch it,
Speaker 1: you can't soil. It is set, is protected, His settle
Speaker 1: is paid for his purchased in BLI his love for me. No,
Speaker 1: but just that. And then out of understanding this, we
Speaker 1: get the opportunity to make the decision. How much of
Speaker 1: his love do we want to live in? How much
Speaker 1: of his freedom do we want to experience? So it
Speaker 1: says in Exodus that God gave the people not only
Speaker 1: a place where he could meet with them, the tabernacle,
Speaker 1: but over the tabernacle came a cloud, and the cloud
Speaker 1: represented his glory in his presence. Let me show you
Speaker 1: something so cool. I know you will like this because
Speaker 1: I loved it when I saw it. In Exitus forty
Speaker 1: thirty three, put it on the board, please, It says
Speaker 1: that Moses finished the work. You see that Moses finished
Speaker 1: the work. Everybody says, so Moses finished. Go to verse
Speaker 1: thirty four. Well this blessed me, it said, the Lord filled.
Speaker 1: Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the
Speaker 1: glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So let's put
Speaker 1: those two together. Ready, So Moses finished, the Lord filled.
Speaker 1: Stop asking God to fill stuff that you won't finish.
Speaker 1: God doesn't bless good intentions. God doesn't bless your to
Speaker 1: do list. He blesses your done stuff that you push through. Now,
Speaker 1: what is that have to do with restriction. It has
Speaker 1: everything to do with restriction. It has everything to do
Speaker 1: with the man who walked up to me and said,
Speaker 1: I knew I could come back, but I'm not coming
Speaker 1: back because I got so used to not coming that
Speaker 1: my conditioning was set down here and my permission was
Speaker 1: set up here, and so I've been living at the
Speaker 1: level of my conditioning. I stopped coming even though I
Speaker 1: have permission to come back. And now there's a gap.
Speaker 1: And he said, I feel bad, and I said, don't
Speaker 1: feel bad, just come back. You could come back. The
Speaker 1: restrictions are lifted, you could come back. Come on back. Sunday.
Speaker 1: I'll look for you. And I want to tell you
Speaker 1: he was here. Boy, I preached to that man that Sunday.
Speaker 1: I did good too. He sat right center. I guess
Speaker 1: he got here early. And I never said a word
Speaker 1: about him, but I preached to him because he was here,
Speaker 1: and nothing changed about the situation, only his decision. So
Speaker 1: the cloud had this little thing where it would come
Speaker 1: down and fill the tabernacle, and then it would lift.
Speaker 1: And when it lifted, everybody say when it lifted, Oh
Speaker 1: say it with faith. When it lifted. That's it. That's it.
Speaker 1: God was saying to his people, you can move now,
Speaker 1: you can go now, you can you can go forward now.
Speaker 1: He wanted to lead them all the way to the
Speaker 1: Promised Land, all the way to the land of Canaan,
Speaker 1: flowing with milk and honey, the land where the grapes
Speaker 1: are so big you need a partner to help you
Speaker 1: carry him on a pole, all the way to the
Speaker 1: land of Canaan, where they could have their own land
Speaker 1: and settle in it and declare the goodness of God
Speaker 1: as their inheritance. He wanted to lead them all the
Speaker 1: way to Canaan, so he gave them a cloud. See,
Speaker 1: and when the cloud lifted, they got up. And when
Speaker 1: they got up and moved forward, the cloud took them
Speaker 1: until it's settled again. And when it settled, they settled.
Speaker 1: And this was the system God gave them in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking it would be kind of good if
Speaker 1: God would give me this for my wilderness. You know,
Speaker 1: let me know what to do. Give me clarity, God.
Speaker 1: I just need to see how many of you want
Speaker 1: God to show you something in your life right now,
Speaker 1: this or that, him or her, them or them Here
Speaker 1: or there now or later, yes or no? Clarity, Clarity, clarity, clarity, clarity.
Speaker 1: I need to see. I can't live in a cloud
Speaker 1: of confusion not knowing is this God. I've got to
Speaker 1: know it's God if I'm going to go. The only
Speaker 1: problem with that, The only problem with that is that
Speaker 1: God can give you clarity, but if you don't commit.
Speaker 1: In fact, I'm going to go a little further than that.
Speaker 1: Clarity comes from commitment. Abraham, go to the land I
Speaker 1: will show you. And a lot of us are confused
Speaker 1: because we're not committed. We haven't really decided to serve
Speaker 1: God with our whole heart. So now we're asking God, Oh,
Speaker 1: show me. I want one of those clouds. Lord, I
Speaker 1: want one of those clouds to lead me into a
Speaker 1: new career. I want one of those clouds to show me. God,
Speaker 1: give me one of those clouds like Moses had. Moses
Speaker 1: had a cloud. God give me a cloud and lead me.
Speaker 1: What good would it do? The cloud led them around
Speaker 1: and around and around and around in the wilderness, because
Speaker 1: when it finally got them to Canaan, they didn't have
Speaker 1: the courage to go in and conquer it. Did you
Speaker 1: hear what I said, God? Gave them clarity. Okay, this
Speaker 1: is what I want you to do. This is where
Speaker 1: I want you to go. Here is who I've called
Speaker 1: you to be. This is what I want to give
Speaker 1: to you. They had clarity, but they didn't have the
Speaker 1: courage to act on the clarity that God gave them.
Speaker 1: So we keep saying, God, I need more information, God,
Speaker 1: I need more knowledge. We don't need knowledge, we need commitment,
Speaker 1: because the moment you decide I'm going to be free,
Speaker 1: God will show you where the keys are. The moment
Speaker 1: you decide not just dabble, not just testing, not just
Speaker 1: not just sometimes, not just once every three weeks, not
Speaker 1: just when you hear a sermon, get fired up. The
Speaker 1: moment you commit to it, God will give you clarity.
Speaker 1: Clarity comes with commitment. The moment you decide, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a better husband, God will show you how to
Speaker 1: be a better husband. The moment you decide I am
Speaker 1: not gonna keep running to these drugs anymore. God will
Speaker 1: show you who to talk to that can help you
Speaker 1: make different decisions. The moment you decide, the moment you commit,
Speaker 1: and the moment that you step is the moment that
Speaker 1: you're strengthened so now we've got a conversation that we
Speaker 1: need to have, not how much does God love you?
Speaker 1: That's say. And guess what we don't even need to
Speaker 1: talk about is God with you? His presence is said?
Speaker 1: You think you can run God off? Us don't know,
Speaker 1: and us don't feel God's presence. What does that have
Speaker 1: to do. Feeling God's presence is not a factual indication
Speaker 1: of whether God's presence has left you or not. You
Speaker 1: know why you're not feeling his presence because you're not
Speaker 1: saying any prayers. Yes, I do, I pray every day. No,
Speaker 1: you close your eyes, you worry. You call it prayer?
Speaker 1: Nice little Christmas message I brought you today. No, I
Speaker 1: want to help people. I'm past the point in my
Speaker 1: life of wanting to be like a religious entertainer. And
Speaker 1: the fact is what I saw study in the passage,
Speaker 1: because I was so consumed with this cloud, I'm like, yes, Lord,
Speaker 1: leave me. God. Show me where the water is, Show
Speaker 1: me where the food is, Show me where the opportunity is,
Speaker 1: show me the money, show me the ministry, show me God,
Speaker 1: show me show me. And the Lord is like, what
Speaker 1: good did it do them to have the cloud? When
Speaker 1: they finally got where I was taking them, they didn't
Speaker 1: have the courage to do it, So don't last for
Speaker 1: the cloud asked for the courage to go forward in
Speaker 1: knowing that He's with you. Okay, Lord, I'll do it.
Speaker 1: Just give me a confirmation. Lord, I'm just waiting for
Speaker 1: a confirmation that it is your will for me to
Speaker 1: give in this offering. Okay, cool. I confirmed it on
Speaker 1: Calvary when I gave my only begotten son. When Guy
Speaker 1: was asking me, what do you do when you don't
Speaker 1: clearly know what God wants you to preach? And my
Speaker 1: answer was really surprising to me and to him. I thought,
Speaker 1: because I do know what that feels like. I know
Speaker 1: what that feels like. And I said, I get my
Speaker 1: hair cut. He goes, uh, I said, no, that's I
Speaker 1: just thought about it. What do I do when I
Speaker 1: don't know what God has called me to preach? I
Speaker 1: get my haircut Because when I get in the chair
Speaker 1: to get my hair cut, it symbolizes the decision that
Speaker 1: Sunday I'm expecting to say something, and that sends the
Speaker 1: signal to the Holy Spirit. Oh, He's gonna show up,
Speaker 1: So now you show up. Because when I make the
Speaker 1: decision to be here. It's as simple as a haircut.
Speaker 1: I know that doesn't sound deep. I know I should
Speaker 1: study Greek. I know I should speak in tongues. I
Speaker 1: know I should do all that, but sometimes that doesn't
Speaker 1: work for me. So I say it's time for a
Speaker 1: haircut because of what the haircut means. The haircut means
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do this. The haircut means I'm not staying
Speaker 1: in my pajamas and eating Oreos and having communion with
Speaker 1: oreos and orange juice Sunday and calling in a guest.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna preach. And then after I get my hair cut,
Speaker 1: I pick out my clothes and I put them to
Speaker 1: the side. You know that little valley you gave me
Speaker 1: about seven years ago. I still got it in my closet.
Speaker 1: It's my Sunday clothes. I keep it there. And when
Speaker 1: I go put over my clothes, over on that little
Speaker 1: thing in my closet. The devil says, uh oh, he's
Speaker 1: doing that. We tried to discourage him all week. Didn't work.
Speaker 1: Looks you see that fresh fade Verdict is planning to breach.
Speaker 1: Come on, you see them getting up and signing up
Speaker 1: for classes that means they're doing it. You see them
Speaker 1: signing up for counseling. That means, oh, it didn't work.
Speaker 1: Try to keep them out, try to keep them down,
Speaker 1: try to tell them go home is sober. But watch them.
Speaker 1: They're picking out their clothes, they're picking out their next course,
Speaker 1: they're sending the text. They're showing up because they're downloading
Speaker 1: the sermon Bloa. They're showing in the gym bo. They
Speaker 1: say there zees whoa. They're doing that. And now God
Speaker 1: can show you what to do because you've decided I'm
Speaker 1: doing it. So it's not how much of his presence
Speaker 1: do you have, it's how much of his power do
Speaker 1: you want? Because power is attractive, the presence, and you
Speaker 1: got to show up. You got to show up. I'm
Speaker 1: showing up and I'm doing it and I won't be
Speaker 1: the same. Now, God, what are we doing? Because I'm
Speaker 1: doing it? So what are we doing? Even when the
Speaker 1: cloud came down, Watch what happened. Moses couldn't go into
Speaker 1: the tent when the cloud came at the door. Well
Speaker 1: that's kind of weird. God, you're trying to block your
Speaker 1: servant with your presence. But Moses had restrictions. Don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong. Moses is one of the greatest leaders who
Speaker 1: ever lived. But even Moses could only go so far.
Speaker 1: Even Moses could only do so much. I told you
Speaker 1: this was a Christmas scripture, and I'm gonna prove it
Speaker 1: to you right now. I never realized until I saw
Speaker 1: Moses in the in the scriptures of Exodus chapter forty,
Speaker 1: how he was only pointing to the Messiah who would
Speaker 1: be born millennia after his life ended. I will prove
Speaker 1: it to you succinctly, but thoroughly. Watch this. Both Moses
Speaker 1: and Jesus were babies. So far we have not narrowed
Speaker 1: the field much as that applies to most humans. Let's
Speaker 1: go a little bit deeper. Both Moses and Jesus were
Speaker 1: a part of a political threat that extinguished the lives
Speaker 1: of every Hebrew boy under the age of two. You
Speaker 1: remember how Pharaoh tried to kill every two year old
Speaker 1: and underboy that was born in the time of Moses.
Speaker 1: And do you remember how Herod in the New Testament
Speaker 1: tried to kill the one who was born king of
Speaker 1: the Jews, but since he couldn't find him, he had
Speaker 1: to kill everything around him. The enemy will attack stuff
Speaker 1: around you and circumstances. But it's not about what's around you,
Speaker 1: It's about what's in you. Because Jesus the Messiah was born,
Speaker 1: and so they both had to survive assassination attempt before
Speaker 1: they were two years old. Moses and Jesus both had
Speaker 1: that in common. And Moses was laid in a basket
Speaker 1: that was woven with straw, and Jesus was laid in
Speaker 1: a manger that was filled with straw. And Moses came
Speaker 1: up out of Egypt to deliver his people, and Jesus
Speaker 1: came up out of Egypt to deliver his people. And
Speaker 1: Moses brought the Ten Commandments from the mountain, and Jesus
Speaker 1: went up on a mountain and taught the ten Beatitudes,
Speaker 1: and Moses saw the glory of God. But this is
Speaker 1: where Moses is different than the Messiah. This is where
Speaker 1: Moses can only take you so far. This is where
Speaker 1: leadership can only get you so far unless it comes
Speaker 1: from the Lord. Because Moses said, sow me your glory,
Speaker 1: and Jesus said, I am the glory of God. Do
Speaker 1: you not know? Joh one fourteen. And the word became
Speaker 1: flesh and dwell among us, and we beheld his glory.
Speaker 1: The glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
Speaker 1: full of grace and truth. Now the word dwelt literally
Speaker 1: means tabernacle. Don't you see what Jesus was doing that
Speaker 1: Moses couldn't do. Don't you see what Christmas really is
Speaker 1: as opposed to what we thought it was. We thought
Speaker 1: Christmas was a nice, comforting thought. We thought that Christmas
Speaker 1: was God coming to say it's very nice to meet you.
Speaker 1: I'm sending a baby, because who doesn't love babies. Don't
Speaker 1: you see this coming full form? Don't you see that
Speaker 1: the nation of Israel was in the womb of the wilderness,
Speaker 1: becoming the nation that God would bless the earth through,
Speaker 1: just like Jesus was born in the womb of Mary
Speaker 1: to save his people from their sins, and the word
Speaker 1: became flesh and dwelt among us. What does that mean?
Speaker 1: He tapernacle in the middle of the wilderness. He tapernacle
Speaker 1: in the middle of my sin, and he was born
Speaker 1: in the straw to save me from my sin. This
Speaker 1: is Christmas. It is God saying because I am here.
Speaker 1: Emmanuel means God with us. That is his intimacy. You
Speaker 1: don't have to go to a tabernacle or a church
Speaker 1: building or an altar to meet with God anymore. The
Speaker 1: restriction has been You don't have to sacrifice pigeons and
Speaker 1: doves and goats and bulls to be right with God anymore.
Speaker 1: But by offering your faith, God has already offered his
Speaker 1: son to take away your sin. That's what the lamb
Speaker 1: of God does. The restriction has been lifted. The restriction
Speaker 1: has been lifted so much so that when God wanted
Speaker 1: to announce good news of great joy to all people,
Speaker 1: he did not announce it in a synagogue. He announced
Speaker 1: it to the shepherd's to let you know that God
Speaker 1: can do what he wants to. God can use who
Speaker 1: he chooses to, and that includes you. But you've got
Speaker 1: God in this little tiny box, this little baby Jesus box,
Speaker 1: this little Ricky Bobby Talladagon Knight baby Jesus box. The
Speaker 1: spirit of religion is the Ricky Bobby's spirit. By the way,
Speaker 1: And I'm not endorsing any movies or anything like that,
Speaker 1: but I think maybe you could do a Bible study
Speaker 1: around it. How baby baby Jesus. Go back to the
Speaker 1: conversation I have with my kids. All Right, It's like
Speaker 1: God doesn't change, but Jesus didn't stay a baby. That's
Speaker 1: his incarnation. That's how he came into the world through
Speaker 1: a virgin womb. To show you that all things are possible.
Speaker 1: Once the dude comes through a virgin womb, all bets
Speaker 1: are off. That was the first announcement that God can
Speaker 1: do what he wants to in your life. You know,
Speaker 1: the cloud was kind of had a mind of its
Speaker 1: own in Exodus. It would move when it wanted to.
Speaker 1: The cloud didn't move on a set schedule because even
Speaker 1: in the wilderness, God was teaching us that he is consistent,
Speaker 1: but he is not predictable. He's consistent, he'll be there,
Speaker 1: but he's gonna look like one thing in the daytime,
Speaker 1: one thing at the nighttime. And may I add he's
Speaker 1: not gonna move every Monday at three o'clock, because if
Speaker 1: he moved every Monday at three o'clock, you would worship
Speaker 1: Monday at three o'clock. If he always blessed you through
Speaker 1: the same people, you're like, they didn't call me back.
Speaker 1: That's because God wants you to be a blessing to
Speaker 1: somebody else, and if he keeps feeding you through the
Speaker 1: same people, you will move. He's consistent. His presence is
Speaker 1: set at level eleven. If you make your bed in hell,
Speaker 1: he's there. If you're having a great day and polishing
Speaker 1: your halo, he's there. But watch this all? Is this
Speaker 1: so powerful? The cloud had a mind of its own.
Speaker 1: God's thoughts are not your thoughts, and his ways are
Speaker 1: not your ways. And the stable was not the airbnb
Speaker 1: that Mary and Joseph would have chosen to rest and
Speaker 1: recuperate after the birth of their baby boy. And he
Speaker 1: didn't stay a baby. You've met Baby Jesus. You like
Speaker 1: Baby Jesus. You carry Baby Jesus, but there will come
Speaker 1: a point in your life where you need Jesus to
Speaker 1: carry you. So I want to go to the Christmas
Speaker 1: scripture that you've never heard before. On Christmas, where we
Speaker 1: meet not baby Jesus, but break through Jesus. In Luke
Speaker 1: chapter five, the Bible says that he had come to Capernaum.
Speaker 1: Now the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Break through Jesus.
Speaker 1: If you want to meet this Christ, he can be
Speaker 1: found in Capernaum. That's where he based himself to do
Speaker 1: his miracles. The Bible says when he got to Capernaum,
Speaker 1: he was teaching and preaching. Why, because he is the Word,
Speaker 1: wouldn't you love to hear the word preach the word.
Speaker 1: I bet that would be good. I bet that would
Speaker 1: be awesome to hear the word preach the word. It
Speaker 1: was such an attraction that they gathered and nobody could
Speaker 1: get in the door. They closed it, and they tried
Speaker 1: to send these guys to overflow. And I want you
Speaker 1: to watch what happened in the meantime. In Luke, chapter five,
Speaker 1: verse seventeen, the Bible says, one day Jesus was teaching,
Speaker 1: and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you're
Speaker 1: not ready for this. They were sitting there, and they
Speaker 1: had come from every village of Galilee, all the surrounding
Speaker 1: zip goats, and from Judea and Jerusalem. And watch this.
Speaker 1: The power of the Lord was with Jesus. Well, of
Speaker 1: course it was He's Jesus, and power is attracted to presence.
Speaker 1: So since he is God in human flesh, the Word
Speaker 1: became flesh and dwelt among us. It makes sense that
Speaker 1: the power would be where the presence was. God is here,
Speaker 1: and anything can happen. God is here, and all things
Speaker 1: are possible. God is here. Change might break any minute
Speaker 1: God is here, so I might flood your soul. Any
Speaker 1: minute God is here. Something can happen right now because
Speaker 1: God is here, so the power of the Lord was
Speaker 1: with Jesus to heal the sick Verse eighteen. Let me
Speaker 1: preach this Christmas scripture. Some men came carrying a paralyzed
Speaker 1: man on a mat and tried to take him into
Speaker 1: the house to lay him before Jesus, but they couldn't.
Speaker 1: When they could not find a way to do it
Speaker 1: because of the crowd, wa'ts what they did. They went
Speaker 1: up on the roof and they lifted their friend. So
Speaker 1: when they said there's no way, you can't do it.
Speaker 1: The moment that they said there isn't a way, it
Speaker 1: sparked creative faith in the minds of these committed friends.
Speaker 1: And they looked all around for a little while, and
Speaker 1: they tried to find somebody who was sleeping at the door,
Speaker 1: maybe an usher who wasn't paying attention. But since they
Speaker 1: couldn't sneak past a sleepy usher, they devised another way
Speaker 1: on the roof. There were many that day who came
Speaker 1: to the same door, needing a miracle from the Son
Speaker 1: of God. But they turned around and left not because
Speaker 1: they couldn't find a way, but because they didn't commit
Speaker 1: to find a way. You quit too quick, you give
Speaker 1: up too easy. You'll go home too fast. You get
Speaker 1: too discouraged by one person telling you you look stupid.
Speaker 1: You quit too easy, you give up too fast. These
Speaker 1: men didn't leave. They lifted. They said, if we can't
Speaker 1: get through it, we gotta go over it. We go
Speaker 1: find a way. God's our friend needs Jesus. So they
Speaker 1: go up on the roof. They went up around the
Speaker 1: restriction you can't go in. And when they got up,
Speaker 1: they lowered their friend down. And watch what Baby Jesus did.
Speaker 1: Let me hold you right here for a moment. You've
Speaker 1: been praying to Baby Jesus. Little Jesus, you can carry
Speaker 1: around like a good luck charm, talking about Oh Jesus,
Speaker 1: I think you're for your presence with me. It's just
Speaker 1: so good to know you're with me. I love Baby
Speaker 1: Jesus too, but I'm at the stage of my life
Speaker 1: and I assume somebody is too or else. God want
Speaker 1: to give me this message. I don't need to carry him,
Speaker 1: I need him to carry me. I don't just need
Speaker 1: him to show me where to go. I need him
Speaker 1: to help me do it, because I can't without him. Now,
Speaker 1: this man in the passage is physically restricted. There is
Speaker 1: a physical limitation, but it isn't always It isn't always
Speaker 1: a physical limitation. It isn't always a physical restriction. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it is emotional. Sometimes it is familial. Sometimes it is
Speaker 1: the pattern of the way that you have processed your
Speaker 1: past experiences that will lock you up tight like a
Speaker 1: jail cell and say you can't go out. But now
Speaker 1: this is not baby Jesus you're dealing with, is it.
Speaker 1: We beheld his glory, the glory as of who the
Speaker 1: only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Speaker 1: So when they couldn't find a way in, they went up.
Speaker 1: When they couldn't find a way through the crowd, they
Speaker 1: went on the roof. And when Jesus I love this part.
Speaker 1: When Jesus saw their faith, he said, friend, your sins
Speaker 1: are forgiven. Now watch these Pharisees how they think about
Speaker 1: Jesus Verse twenty one. The pharisees and the teachers of
Speaker 1: the law begin to think to themselves, who is this
Speaker 1: fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins? But God alone?
Speaker 1: They didn't know who they were dealing with. Yet their
Speaker 1: limitation was the very truth that Jesus was proving, because
Speaker 1: he was God alone, so he can do this. So
Speaker 1: they're saying, you can't do that, you can't heal him
Speaker 1: like that, you can't forgive him like that. But the
Speaker 1: restriction on God that you put on God only limits you,
Speaker 1: it doesn't limit him. Who am I to deny what
Speaker 1: the Lord can do? And let me tell you something else.
Speaker 1: Even if people don't like you, they can't limit what
Speaker 1: God does through you. Trust me. I know if God
Speaker 1: wants to use you, he will. He can't forgive you,
Speaker 1: he can't cleanse you, and he can save to the uttermost.
Speaker 1: Who you think you are, Jesus? Who you think you are?
Speaker 1: You're the carpenter's son. Who you think you are? You
Speaker 1: were born of a virgin nobody really even believes her
Speaker 1: story anyway? Who you think you are? Jesus, Let me
Speaker 1: show you who I am? He said, so that you
Speaker 1: may know that the son of Man. I feel God
Speaker 1: on this, so that you may know that the Son
Speaker 1: of Man has authority. Get me the verse twenty five.
Speaker 1: This is my Christmas scripture this year. It's an unusual one.
Speaker 1: It's an orthodox unorthodox. It's not a common one, but
Speaker 1: it's powerful. It said that. Immediately the man stood up
Speaker 1: in front of him and took what he had been
Speaker 1: lying on and went home, praising God. Why did he
Speaker 1: do that? Go back to verse twenty four, Jesus said.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, I want you to know that the son
Speaker 1: of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So
Speaker 1: he said to the paralyzed man, I tell you, get up,
Speaker 1: take your mat what was restricting you, and lift what
Speaker 1: you were lying on, and walk out of here healed
Speaker 1: and forgiven, and with a second chance, and with a
Speaker 1: new identity, so that you may know that God is
Speaker 1: with us. I don't know what you were lying on
Speaker 1: when you came in, but it's been lying to you.
Speaker 1: God is thigger than this. God is thigger than this.
Speaker 1: God is bigger than your thoughts. God is bigger than
Speaker 1: your back ground. Oh God, the restriction has been lifted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Jesus said, If I be lifted up, I will draw
Speaker 1: all men to me. I'm preaching the cradle, I'm preaching
Speaker 1: the cross, I'm preaching the empty tomb. I'm all the
Speaker 1: way in Eastern to tell you that the restriction. But
Speaker 1: I can't. But you can. If you will get up,
Speaker 1: get up, and live into what Christ died for for
Speaker 1: your life. That's Christmas. That's Christmas time. I breakthrough Jesus,
Speaker 1: not baby Jesus. Thank God for Baby Jesus. Thank God
Speaker 1: for your baby faith. Thank God for the point that
Speaker 1: you met God at seventeen years ago. Why are you
Speaker 1: still in that wilderness? Why aren't you moving? Why aren't
Speaker 1: you growing? Why are you still replaying that? The Bible
Speaker 1: says that when Jesus saw their faith, he said, I
Speaker 1: want to show you what I can do, So get up.
Speaker 1: I know you came in restricted, but I want you
Speaker 1: to get up. Get up. And what you were lying
Speaker 1: on when you came in is a lie, an excuse
Speaker 1: that is moving you away from the very gift that
Speaker 1: I died to give you. So now when I tell
Speaker 1: you that Moses had a cloud that lifted up, but
Speaker 1: you have a Christ who came down, do you see
Speaker 1: why this is good news? Do you see why God
Speaker 1: had me preach this message to you before the year ends,
Speaker 1: Because the restriction isn't real anymore. Sin has no more
Speaker 1: power over you anymore. Keep seeing that guy in my mind,
Speaker 1: he said, Ah, I can't lie to you. I told
Speaker 1: you that I didn't think I could come, But the
Speaker 1: truth is I wouldn't, and the issue is that I won't.
Speaker 1: But if you, my brother, my sister, can receive this
Speaker 1: Christmas sermon in your heart that God has raised Jesus
Speaker 1: from the dead, this could be the best Christmas of
Speaker 1: your life, not just to celebrate and spend and consume,
Speaker 1: but to really know that God is able to do
Speaker 1: immeasurably more than you asked or imagine. Ooh, exceeding abundantly
Speaker 1: above the limit that you put on. God is a lie.
Speaker 1: I must speak to a few. I'm too old, that's
Speaker 1: a lie. Abraham was a hundred Shut up, I'm too young.
Speaker 1: Timothy tried that. God said, don't let anybody say you're
Speaker 1: too young. I screwed up. Rehab was a prostitute. Shut
Speaker 1: up and do what God gave you to do. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm not bold, I'm Timid was a whimp. God called
Speaker 1: him a warrior. The restriction has been lifted. Let me
Speaker 1: try one more. I don't have anything in me. Mary
Speaker 1: was a virgin. Shut up, get up, take your back
Speaker 1: and walk in the favor of Almighty God. The restrictions
Speaker 1: is lifted. The bribe couldn't hold him, Harry couldn't kill him,
Speaker 1: and he's here. Who am I to deny with the
Speaker 1: lawkin to Who am I to deny? What the Lord? Dude?
Speaker 1: Proclaim it and f they say you are? This is
Speaker 1: not for everybody. This is for somebody though you are. Yes, Lord,
Speaker 1: you are exceeding abundantly above all you ask or imagine.
Speaker 1: Take the limits off of God. You. Who am I?
Speaker 1: Who am I to dinner? What the In just a moment,
Speaker 1: we're going to give our offering. We're giving today in faith.
Speaker 1: We're giving today in obedience. We're giving today at every
Speaker 1: location and all over the world, online and in person.
Speaker 1: We are not believing that we're doing God a favor
Speaker 1: by giving to him. We're stretching our faith to his kingdom,
Speaker 1: knowing that he has been good and he is worthy.
Speaker 1: Everybody who believes he's worthy, clap your hands and give
Speaker 1: him praise. I want you to get your envelope. No
Speaker 1: one leaving. I preach short so we would have time.
Speaker 1: So get your envelope short. Err preached an hour, Bro,
Speaker 1: that was short. Look at me. This is an opportunity.
Speaker 1: This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate the faith
Speaker 1: that you just declared. Holly and I have prepared now
Speaker 1: our seventeenth offering. Come here, Autumn, Come here, Greg, Come on.
Speaker 1: Autumn sent me a text today. I want you to
Speaker 1: pray over this. Come on, Holly. Autumn sent me a
Speaker 1: text today she said, this is She sent me in holiotex.
Speaker 1: She said, this is our seventeenth year end offering that
Speaker 1: we've given in in that amazing the seventeenth offering. That's
Speaker 1: so cool, that blessing, that blessing, that blessing. I thought
Speaker 1: about it. Who would have thought that we be speaking
Speaker 1: you remember when you came for the first time at
Speaker 1: Providence High School? And now look at God all over
Speaker 1: the world Venezuela, Brazil, everywhere there's World Cup, there's elevation.
Speaker 1: God is so good? Who am I to deny what
Speaker 1: He can do? Sometimes I get to thinking, well, maybe
Speaker 1: we've gone as far as we can go as a ministry. No,
Speaker 1: the devil is a liar, the restriction. We didn't even
Speaker 1: have multi site church when we started, we didn't have Epham.
Speaker 1: This is the greatest day of our church that we've
Speaker 1: ever been in. Who am I who denied what the
Speaker 1: Lord can do things. Your campus pastors are going to
Speaker 1: come in just a moment and they're going to instruct
Speaker 1: you to give. It's a special time of giving for
Speaker 1: all of you who tithe regularly to this ministry. I
Speaker 1: thank God for you. You are what enables God to
Speaker 1: move through this ministry. You're the vessel, You're the vehicle.
Speaker 1: And I pray a thousandfold blessing and a harvest of
Speaker 1: peace and righteousness in your home and your family and
Speaker 1: your business. As you give. We also want to pray
Speaker 1: over your words, so you'll have the opportunity to write
Speaker 1: down your word, and not only will our staff be
Speaker 1: praying that over you, but you will be believing for it.
Speaker 1: Who am I to deny what the Lord can do?
Speaker 1: He's able, God is able. The message has come into
Speaker 1: a close, but it's your move now. Has God blessed
Speaker 1: you to be a blessing? I want to invite you
Speaker 1: to be a part of this year and offering and
Speaker 1: give a gift, a significant gift to help us preach
Speaker 1: the gospel of Jesus Christ. God never stops working and
Speaker 1: he invites us to be a part of that with him.
Speaker 1: You can go to Elevationchurch dot org right now and
Speaker 1: you can see all of the options. If you've never
Speaker 1: started to tithe, give God consistently regularly that first ten
Speaker 1: percent of everything that He's blessed you with. Today is
Speaker 1: the day to begin. Or for those of you who
Speaker 1: want to give and above and beyond one time offering
Speaker 1: just to thank God and to trust Him and to
Speaker 1: make a difference in the world, you can do that
Speaker 1: too at Elevationchurch dot org. You can find the Promise
Speaker 1: Year end offering, or you can give to our regular ministry.
Speaker 1: But we thank God for you. Make sure you let
Speaker 1: us know what you're believing God for in this coming year,
Speaker 1: so we can stand with you in faith and together
Speaker 1: see what God can do through you. God bless you.