Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1: In your life. Enjoy the message. So I thought we
Speaker 1: would call on Moses.
Speaker 2: If we're talking about faith, he certainly deserves to be heard.
Speaker 1: As to how he did what he did.
Speaker 2: And I chose a selection in Exodus four one through five,
Speaker 2: and I want to read it to you.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Let's go over and see Moses on the far side
Speaker 2: of the desert and Midian, the voice of God has
Speaker 2: summoned him from the crackling of a bush that will
Speaker 2: not burn, but is on fire. And I think that's
Speaker 2: a picture of a life that is set on fire
Speaker 2: by faith, is that it burns up but it doesn't
Speaker 2: and out. And now he's negotiating with God and he says,
Speaker 2: an exodus for one.
Speaker 1: What if.
Speaker 2: They do not believe me or listen to me and say,
Speaker 2: the Lord did not appear to you. And then the
Speaker 2: Lord said to him, and what's that in your hand?
Speaker 1: Staff?
Speaker 2: He answered? The Lord said throw it down on the ground.
Speaker 2: And Moses threw it on the ground. It became a snake,
Speaker 2: and he ran from it. Somebody say, smart guy. Well
Speaker 2: then the Lord said to him, reach out your hand
Speaker 2: and take it by the tail. So Moses reached out,
Speaker 2: took hold of the snake, and it turned back into
Speaker 2: a staff in his hand. This said the Lord, is
Speaker 2: so that they may believe the Lord, the God of
Speaker 2: their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
Speaker 2: and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you. I
Speaker 2: really want to live.
Speaker 1: Verse four.
Speaker 2: The Lord said to him, reach out your hand and
Speaker 2: take it by the tail. So Moses reached out, took
Speaker 2: hold of the snake, and it turned back into a
Speaker 2: staff in his hand. I need your help for one
Speaker 2: moment before you take your seat, and I need you
Speaker 2: to announce my message title to your neighbor.
Speaker 1: So put your hand on their shoulder.
Speaker 2: Get their attention, and when you give them my title
Speaker 2: in a moment, I want you to holler at him
Speaker 2: when you give.
Speaker 1: Them my title.
Speaker 2: I don't want you to whisper it, mumble it, suggest it.
Speaker 1: I want you to command it.
Speaker 2: Okay, tell your neighbor, say neighbor, I don't know what
Speaker 2: you're going through.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're dealing with. But God told me.
Speaker 2: To tell you handle it. That's my nigh kid, fight
Speaker 2: your other neighbors, say neighbor, other neighbor.
Speaker 1: You were my second choice.
Speaker 2: Don't be offended, but just know that God wanted me
Speaker 2: to tell you handle it.
Speaker 1: Amen, clap your hands. You may be seated.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Worship team. Don't we have fun together? Don't
Speaker 2: we have a good time?
Speaker 1: Amen? Look at this because.
Speaker 2: If you can have a flashback with me from when
Speaker 2: Tom Hanks was on that island alone and he he
Speaker 2: had to make friends with a volleyball. Now, those of
Speaker 2: you who are participating in this portion of the sermon
Speaker 2: are old.
Speaker 1: I know only five of y'all would remember this reference.
Speaker 2: But in the movie Castaway, where Tom Hanks had been
Speaker 2: alone so long that his only companion was a volleyball,
Speaker 2: and he called the volleyball.
Speaker 1: What Wilson.
Speaker 2: And they did a good job with that movie that
Speaker 2: that they bonded you enough with a volleyball that you
Speaker 2: remember it as a character. You know, you can become
Speaker 2: so attached to something inanimate that it becomes lifelike to you.
Speaker 2: Exhibit a right. I remember when I first asked Chris Brown,
Speaker 2: I was like, you think I should get an iPhone.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I don't think I would. I
Speaker 2: don't think I would use it very much. Yeah right,
Speaker 2: I just didn't know what it was capable of. Moses
Speaker 2: has a staff.
Speaker 1: In his hand in Exodus chapter.
Speaker 2: And by the time God gets through showing Moses what
Speaker 2: that staff can do, Mose, I wonder.
Speaker 1: I wonder if he got.
Speaker 2: So attached to the staff that he ever gave it
Speaker 2: a name. Do you think do you think he called it?
Speaker 2: What do you think he called it? I think he
Speaker 2: called it rod.
Speaker 1: Even.
Speaker 2: I feel a connection to my microphone, this particular microphone.
Speaker 2: When I go preach other places and they give me
Speaker 2: another mic it takes me like five minutes to get
Speaker 2: it right in my hands because this one. I mean,
Speaker 2: I know this microphone, I know how to handle it,
Speaker 2: and I like having this microphone. I can control certain
Speaker 2: things about it. So I like the handheld microphone.
Speaker 1: I really like it.
Speaker 2: When I want to preach. When I want to preach
Speaker 2: like I'm Drake, I can grab it up here. It's
Speaker 2: not the professional way to hold it. My sound guys
Speaker 2: hate that when I do that, but they put a
Speaker 2: special thing on it because they know I do it,
Speaker 2: so it doesn't make all this feedback. But anyway, it's
Speaker 2: my mic.
Speaker 1: It's see.
Speaker 2: You can tell I have a close relationship because I
Speaker 2: gave it a name. I call it Mike. That's how
Speaker 2: close we are. Okay, I'll stop now. But in Exodus
Speaker 2: chapter four, Moses he's getting acquainted with his staff. He's
Speaker 2: getting to know God and he's getting to know Rod,
Speaker 2: all in the same scene. And I like it because, well,
Speaker 2: I know something Moses doesn't know about what that thing
Speaker 2: is capable of. And when I'm watching Moses deal with
Speaker 2: this staff, that will become, in many ways so much
Speaker 2: of a part of his life that I wonder did
Speaker 2: he feel like it was a part of him.
Speaker 1: I know what this staff is going to do at
Speaker 1: the Red Sea.
Speaker 2: I know that when the Egyptians are chasing Moses and
Speaker 2: the Hebrew people two and a half million strong out
Speaker 2: of Egypt, that that Moses is going to stretch that
Speaker 2: staff over that sea, and the right side of the
Speaker 2: sea is going to tell the left side of the sea.
Speaker 1: I'll see you in a little while. We got to
Speaker 1: split up for a minute.
Speaker 2: I'll meet you back when the Egyptians hit the water,
Speaker 2: because we're going to drown them.
Speaker 1: But we've got a part for God's people.
Speaker 2: How many know that God will direct the elements on
Speaker 2: your behalf when you walk in in faith.
Speaker 1: I found that to be true in my life.
Speaker 2: But but that was the staff that Moses stretched, That
Speaker 2: was the sea he stretched it over.
Speaker 1: He doesn't know this yet, we do.
Speaker 2: So I'm really interested because I feel like I feel
Speaker 2: like I know the staff because I see it so
Speaker 2: many different times in the scripture. I saw it one
Speaker 2: time when Pharaoh wouldn't let the people go, and God
Speaker 2: told Moses, you know, take your staff and stretch it
Speaker 2: out and strike the Nile river, the river in Egypt.
Speaker 2: And when you strike that river, it's going to turn
Speaker 2: from water to blood, and that'll compel Pharaoh to give
Speaker 2: a second thought to keeping you inslaved. And he did that,
Speaker 2: and the water turned to blood. That staff, it's the
Speaker 2: same staff that's in chapter four. It's the same staff
Speaker 2: in chapter seven when he does he strikes the nile,
Speaker 2: turns the blood. Then he strikes the bloody nile, and
Speaker 2: then some frogs start coming out of the nile and
Speaker 2: cover the land of Egypt. And it was that same
Speaker 2: staff where he struck the nile, same staff that turned
Speaker 2: into a snake in chapter four, same staff in chapter
Speaker 2: seven he struck the nile, turned the blood, struck the
Speaker 2: nile again, frogs came out. Then he struck the ground,
Speaker 2: he struck, struck the dust, and then the gnats came
Speaker 2: out of the dust. And so all this is happening
Speaker 2: with Moses in this staff. He doesn't know the staff
Speaker 2: is capable of all this we do. And so I'm
Speaker 2: intrigued to know how did it start? And I'm intrigued
Speaker 2: to know that it started with a staff. I'm intrigued
Speaker 2: by that started with something as simple as a staff,
Speaker 2: because that same staff when the people of God we're
Speaker 2: thirsty one time and we're complaining about it. God told Moses,
Speaker 2: I hate when my people complained, but I still love
Speaker 2: them enough to make sure they don't die. Aren't you
Speaker 2: grateful for God's patience with you. Well, he took the
Speaker 2: staff and he struck a rock with it, and the
Speaker 2: water flowed out of the rock. And the staff had
Speaker 2: this power that Moses couldn't have known, that he had
Speaker 2: the potential that he couldn't have known that it had,
Speaker 2: but when he used.
Speaker 1: It in the right way, it did something.
Speaker 2: It was cool and water came out of the rock
Speaker 2: and they all drank from the water in the rock
Speaker 2: that staff.
Speaker 1: And so so.
Speaker 2: I want to learn everything I can about this staff.
Speaker 2: I almost feel like it's a person to me because
Speaker 2: I saw Moses fight against the Amalekites. Well, he didn't
Speaker 2: fight against him. Joshua fought against him, and Moses had
Speaker 2: a job. He had to raise the staff. And while
Speaker 2: Moses was raising the staff, and Aaron and Herb got
Speaker 2: under his arms because he got tired holding it up.
Speaker 2: And when they supported him and he raised his staff,
Speaker 2: the Israelites were victorious on the battlefield. Often it's the
Speaker 2: support system that you don't see that produces the results
Speaker 2: that you're most concerned with. So while he's doing it
Speaker 2: and his hands are up, the Israelites, when his hands dropped,
Speaker 2: they start losing.
Speaker 1: But it was the staff in his hands. It was
Speaker 1: the staff in his hands.
Speaker 2: Tell somebody next to you, there's a staff in your hands.
Speaker 2: And what's cool about it is that there are many
Speaker 2: lessons that we can learn and we don't even have
Speaker 2: to be Moses delivering people out of four hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty years of slavery to learn them.
Speaker 1: We can just learn them for our everyday lives.
Speaker 2: And the first thing that I think the staff is
Speaker 2: saying to us in this message today is that everything
Speaker 2: you need is within reach. I heard a motivational speaker
Speaker 2: say that once. It rang true with me, that everything
Speaker 2: you need is within reach. Moses, in response to God's calling.
Speaker 2: I feel the spirit of God on me today to
Speaker 2: preach this message, by the way, so you ought to
Speaker 2: be excited about what you're going to receive.
Speaker 1: He continues the.
Speaker 2: Conversation with God after God shows him who he is
Speaker 2: with the phrase that I preached the whole series around
Speaker 2: one time, and the phrase is what if? Verse one.
Speaker 2: Moses answered, what if? Do you know how many dreams
Speaker 2: have died beneath the weight of that phrase? What if?
Speaker 2: What if is a It's a phrase that I like
Speaker 2: to refer to as fierce greatest hit.
Speaker 1: What if? What if? I mean, how many things in.
Speaker 2: Your life did you not do because what if? And
Speaker 2: how many things in your life did you do that
Speaker 2: you shouldn't have done because what if? How many nights
Speaker 2: could you have slept?
Speaker 1: But what if? Kept you awake.
Speaker 2: How many mornings did you wake up anxious? Because what
Speaker 2: if was your alarm clock?
Speaker 1: What if not? Just what if?
Speaker 2: Moses wants to know? What if pay attention to the
Speaker 2: next word? What if they? What if they say.
Speaker 1: The third time?
Speaker 2: Because I want to come on the screen and I
Speaker 2: think there are times gonna be the charm? What if
Speaker 2: is in verse one? What if they? What if the
Speaker 2: scripture doesn't come up and I keep preaching anyway? But
Speaker 2: it's a it's a it's a good question, what if,
Speaker 2: And it's where many of us wonder and wander our
Speaker 2: whole lives. What if they? What if they laugh at me?
Speaker 2: What if they don't accept me? Now, on one hand,
Speaker 2: Moses is in a hypothetical situation because he hasn't even
Speaker 2: done anything yet, but he's just playing out.
Speaker 1: The possible after effects of his obedience. What if they?
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, it's not hypothetical at all.
Speaker 2: It's historical because Moses is afraid of the same rejection
Speaker 2: that he experienced forty years earlier, recurring, for it was
Speaker 2: forty years earlier that Moses had killed an Egyptian in
Speaker 2: defense of his people, and because he did the right thing,
Speaker 2: the wrong way he ended up on the run. And
Speaker 2: there's something about when you've tried to do the right
Speaker 2: thing and put your heart in something but you did
Speaker 2: it the wrong way, that you don't even want to
Speaker 2: try again. And so now Moses is asking something that's
Speaker 2: hypothetical but is based out of what is historical, and
Speaker 2: he's projecting his past into his potential and it's his
Speaker 2: limiting factor. But God wants him to know that that
Speaker 2: staff in your hand. Now, to us, a staff is
Speaker 2: a shepherding instrument, and Moses was using it to tend
Speaker 2: his father in last sheep. But to Moses, the staff
Speaker 2: represented a whole lot more than his vocation. It represented
Speaker 2: his mistakes. Because if he had never killed the Egyptian
Speaker 2: and ended up a fugitive on the run from Egypt,
Speaker 2: where he was born into or adopted into royalty, he never.
Speaker 1: Would have had the staff in his hand.
Speaker 2: So when God tells him what's in your hand, it
Speaker 2: causes Moses to have to reckon with the mistakes that
Speaker 2: he's made that have landed him in the position that
Speaker 2: he's in.
Speaker 1: Because when God speaks to you.
Speaker 2: About your potential, he will cause you to confront your past.
Speaker 2: Touch somebody say handle it. So he says, what's that
Speaker 2: in your hand? And to Moses is his staff, But
Speaker 2: to Moses is also his past, and to Moses is
Speaker 2: also his instrument, the thing that he has to do
Speaker 2: what he's doing. And so there's a whole lot happening
Speaker 2: in this staff. And yet God says, what you have
Speaker 2: is what you need. And God wanted to say that
Speaker 2: to a single mom today, that what you have is
Speaker 2: what you need.
Speaker 1: That he put enough in you to raise that child.
Speaker 2: He foresaw that you would be in the situation, and
Speaker 2: he compensated for what others didn't give you by putting
Speaker 2: a result and a determination in you. That's more than enough.
Speaker 2: And everything you need is within reach. So leave your
Speaker 2: list of what you don't have alone today?
Speaker 1: What is that in your hand?
Speaker 2: The wisdom that you need is probably in a book
Speaker 2: that's on your shelf that you haven't read. I was
Speaker 2: talking to a guy who passed her to church one
Speaker 2: time that was bigger than mine. I said, I need
Speaker 2: some advice and he said, I gave you a book.
Speaker 2: I said, you mean that book three years ago? He said, yeah,
Speaker 2: that book three years ago. Did you read it?
Speaker 1: I said no, I didn't get around to it.
Speaker 2: He said, I knew that you were going to be
Speaker 2: at this place because I've been there, so I gave
Speaker 2: you what I knew you would need. You missed it,
Speaker 2: he said. He said, call me back when you read
Speaker 2: the book.
Speaker 1: At least read a.
Speaker 2: Couple chapters and we'll talk. What are we even going
Speaker 2: to talk about? You know, sometimes when you pray and
Speaker 2: ask God to download information about a decision, God, how
Speaker 2: should I handle it?
Speaker 1: He's like, did you even read the book that I book?
Speaker 2: And we've never lived in a time where the information
Speaker 2: that is in the Word of God has been more
Speaker 2: accessible to us. My God, They'll send you alarms, They'll
Speaker 2: break it down for you.
Speaker 1: They'll give you a Bible reading in a year.
Speaker 2: Plan Bible reading in the Book of Psalm's plan a
Speaker 2: Bible reading in.
Speaker 1: Southern Dialect.
Speaker 2: Plan to give you a Bible reading Bible how to
Speaker 2: read the Bible with your dog in thirty two days
Speaker 2: every morning on your walk with your dog, an audio
Speaker 2: Bible Bible in Braille. Touch somebody say grab it, grab it,
Speaker 2: grab it. You gotta grab it.
Speaker 1: You gotta go.
Speaker 2: Joy is there, you gotta grab it. Wisdom is there,
Speaker 2: you gotta grab it.
Speaker 1: It's there. The information that you need.
Speaker 2: For the transformation of your life is waiting to be
Speaker 2: seized by those who will open their.
Speaker 1: Eyes to what they've been given. And I appreciate.
Speaker 2: Okay, So everything that you need is in your read
Speaker 2: which it was something that he had already in his
Speaker 2: hand that produced what he needed to move forward into
Speaker 2: the future and to accomplish God's purpose in the earth.
Speaker 2: I'm moved by that because I get caught up in what.
Speaker 1: I don't have. I know you don't.
Speaker 2: I didn't say you did. I said I do. Get
Speaker 2: caught up in what I don't have. But here's the
Speaker 2: thing the Lord is teaching me. It's less about what
Speaker 2: you have, and it's more about how you handle what
Speaker 2: you have.
Speaker 1: I'll prove it to you. Do you have Netflix? All right?
Speaker 1: Go on Netflix? Put it on. I think they have
Speaker 1: this on Netflix. Thirty for thirty.
Speaker 2: It's a documentary series from ESPN.
Speaker 1: Put it on. Broke. Put it on the one called Broke.
Speaker 2: It will show you athletes that made millions of dollars
Speaker 2: and by the time their careers were over, they were
Speaker 2: in debt. Because it's not what you it's how you.
Speaker 1: What you have.
Speaker 2: Say it again, come on with me. It's not what
Speaker 2: you it's how what you have. That's true with money.
Speaker 2: I've met rich people who are further behind than poor people.
Speaker 2: I've met poor people who are greedier than rich people.
Speaker 2: It's not what you have, it's how you handle what
Speaker 2: you have. That's what God wants to know. How are
Speaker 2: you handling it. It's not the woman you married, it's
Speaker 2: how you handle the woman that you married that determines
Speaker 2: whether you get the.
Speaker 1: Marriage that you want. Now, the selection process is important.
Speaker 1: You can cook better with good ingredients.
Speaker 2: But but I'm saying that somebody might be able to
Speaker 2: take your same ingredients.
Speaker 1: And make something delicious. Because it's not what you have,
Speaker 1: is how you watch you that determines what you do.
Speaker 2: I found out that teenagers think they're busy.
Speaker 3: They do.
Speaker 1: They'll tell you I'm busy, how do it? Oh God,
Speaker 1: I'm busy. You're busy. And they're twelve. Now they're thirteen
Speaker 1: years old.
Speaker 4: And I follow up with a question, do you have
Speaker 4: a baby, because if you don't have a baby, you
Speaker 4: don't know busy.
Speaker 1: Preach with me.
Speaker 2: In fact, I want all you busy thirteen year olds.
Speaker 2: You're so busy. I want you to find a twenty
Speaker 2: five year old woman in the lobby, one that's got
Speaker 2: a little car seat that she's trying to carry on
Speaker 2: the way out the door from church, and walk up
Speaker 2: to her and tell her how busy you are, and
Speaker 2: watch her look back at you, and take about the
Speaker 2: next five minutes to show you that it's not how
Speaker 2: much stress you have, is how you handle the stress
Speaker 2: that you have that determines. I'm saying, you could do
Speaker 2: a lot more if you handled it differently. You could
Speaker 2: accomplish a lot more if you handled it differently. It's
Speaker 2: all in how you handle it. It's all in how
Speaker 2: you handle it. It's usually not the things that you
Speaker 2: think are stressing you out that are stressing you out.
Speaker 2: It's the things you are mishandling in other areas of
Speaker 2: your life that make you hate your job. Or it's
Speaker 2: the things you are mishandling in your job that make
Speaker 2: you hate your life at home. So now you come
Speaker 2: home and you take out your frustration from there on
Speaker 2: them because you didn't handle it here. Now it's showing
Speaker 2: up over there. Touch her name, paper, say handle it.
Speaker 2: You got to learn to handle it, whether it's weights
Speaker 2: in a weight room, or whether it's life. See, because
Speaker 2: you keep asking God to take some of the weight off.
Speaker 1: Of your life.
Speaker 2: But faith doesn't take the weight off of my life.
Speaker 2: It shows me how to handle it. How many of
Speaker 2: you have a situation in your life today and you
Speaker 2: want God to show you how to handle it.
Speaker 1: Just wave your hand.
Speaker 2: If that's you, come on, just wave your hand if
Speaker 2: that's you.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: See, God is good and God is strong. God is great,
Speaker 2: and God is good. And so God told Moses, I
Speaker 2: heard my people crying out, and their cry reached me,
Speaker 2: and I've come down to rescue them. That's what he
Speaker 2: told Moses in Exodus chapter three. He said, I've seen
Speaker 2: my people in cruel oppression. I saw how Pharaoh was
Speaker 2: treating them. I see what you're going through. I see
Speaker 2: what it's like. I see that you're trying. And God said,
Speaker 2: I came down and I'm gonna handle it. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: handle this. I'm gonna handle it now before you get
Speaker 2: really excited about it.
Speaker 1: God has his own way of handling things. So you'll
Speaker 1: be like asking God.
Speaker 2: To send all the people away so they can get
Speaker 2: some food, and he'll tell you to steal a little
Speaker 2: boy's lunch and bring it to him.
Speaker 1: That's how he handles it.
Speaker 2: You'll be looking at Jericho and you'll see some big
Speaker 2: walls and you'll be like, God, we need to knock
Speaker 2: these down whill you handle it? And God won't give
Speaker 2: you a wrecking ball, He'll give you a trumpet, because
Speaker 2: God has his own way of handling it. You'll tell
Speaker 2: him I don't have anything to pay my debt's off
Speaker 2: of and he'll tell you what do you have in
Speaker 2: your house and you'll say a little bit of oil.
Speaker 2: And he'll tell you to go to your neighbors and
Speaker 2: borrow jars. And you'll say, no, that's the problem.
Speaker 1: I'm in debt.
Speaker 2: I don't need to borrow anything else. And they say,
Speaker 2: but go to these people and borrow it in the
Speaker 2: right way. And when you borrow it in the right way,
Speaker 2: now you're going to get something that you didn't have
Speaker 2: because God has a strange way of handling things. Or
Speaker 2: you'll be praying that he would send the Messiah and
Speaker 2: you'll be thinking that Thora is going to come down
Speaker 2: out of the sky and save the world. And God
Speaker 2: will show up and speak to a virgin girl and
Speaker 2: say that I know that even though you have been
Speaker 2: active with a man, yet your husband's going to want
Speaker 2: to divorce you. What's in you is conceived of the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit, and it's going to come forth and it's
Speaker 2: going to be the salvation of the world. But it's
Speaker 2: going to start in a manger because God's going to
Speaker 2: handle it in a strange way. I'll speak into somebody.
Speaker 2: You're in a situation right now, and God is handling
Speaker 2: it and you don't even know it because he's handling
Speaker 2: it in a cradle. And if the cradle isn't enough proof,
Speaker 2: he proves it on the cross, when he defeats death
Speaker 2: with the very instrument that symbolizes its most violent nature.
Speaker 2: He doesn't feed death with the tank, he doesn't defeat
Speaker 2: death with the sword. He defeats death with a cross.
Speaker 2: Because God has a strange way of handling your situation.
Speaker 2: And so he's handling it and you don't even know
Speaker 2: he's handling it because you've never seen it handled like
Speaker 2: that before.
Speaker 1: He tells you to turn the other cheek, and.
Speaker 2: Usually you're the one turning someone's cheek when they offend you.
Speaker 2: And God said, no, I got another way to handle it,
Speaker 2: to handle it. Can you handle it? Can you handle
Speaker 2: it and see what started as the thing that Moses
Speaker 2: feared a snake became the very thing that Moses needed
Speaker 2: a staff.
Speaker 1: Let me work on that.
Speaker 2: The first time I did ministry was in a church
Speaker 2: called Santi Circle Community Church. Now, my first church was
Speaker 2: in the Methodist Church in Mook's Corner where I grew up.
Speaker 2: Mickey made me his youth minister, and he would put
Speaker 2: me in this little room in the Woodmen of the
Speaker 2: World Building. This is on the outskirts of Monk's Corner,
Speaker 2: South Carolina, on the outskirts of Monk's Corner, South Carolina
Speaker 2: in the Women of the World Building.
Speaker 1: And I was reliving this with some of our team
Speaker 1: this week.
Speaker 2: We have an apprenticeship program at the church called two
Speaker 2: K two and it's it's for all of those who
Speaker 2: wanted This is actually like a product placement.
Speaker 1: Let me do this real quick. Elevation two K two
Speaker 1: dot com.
Speaker 2: Have you ever felt called into ministry but didn't know
Speaker 2: what your next steps might be? Join us at two
Speaker 2: K two, a twenty two week immersive ministry experience designed
Speaker 2: to propel you into your potential. Join us at Elevation
Speaker 2: two K two dot com. So I was doing a
Speaker 2: teaching forum.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I was doing a teaching forum this past week and
Speaker 2: they said, you are good at connecting with different types
Speaker 2: of people people, white people, old people, young people, religious people,
Speaker 2: not religious people.
Speaker 1: How do you do that?
Speaker 2: I said, you got to go back to the Woodmen
Speaker 2: of the World Building to understand that. In the Woodmen
Speaker 2: of the World Building, I had these kids, about fifteen kids.
Speaker 2: They would bring in, most of them on vans, and
Speaker 2: me and Anne Johnson and Miss Delilah.
Speaker 1: That was the lady's named Delilah. Miss Delilah. We get
Speaker 1: the kids over on.
Speaker 2: The vans, and many of them came from really a
Speaker 2: low income part of town, and so they would come
Speaker 2: in and white kids, black kids, but most of them
Speaker 2: only came for food, and so they came over and
Speaker 2: just wanted something to do. And that's who I started
Speaker 2: preaching to. So you think it intimidates me, if you
Speaker 2: sit with your arms crossed. I started with much worse
Speaker 2: than you. I started in a room full of snakes.
Speaker 1: I can deal with it. I can handle it, so
Speaker 1: I said.
Speaker 2: But I had a balance because if I wasn't interesting,
Speaker 2: a fight would break out.
Speaker 1: So I had to like it moving.
Speaker 2: I mean, if they got bored, they got violent, and
Speaker 2: so you know, I'm over here working on my Bible text.
Speaker 2: I'd only been reading my Bible for a couple of months,
Speaker 2: so I didn't know a lot about the Bible yet.
Speaker 2: So I was just making stuff up out of the
Speaker 2: Bible the best I could.
Speaker 1: I was sixteen, y'all. So there was one kid in the.
Speaker 2: Group called Matthew Johnson, Matthew Johnson, and he was like
Speaker 2: he was thirteen, but he had been in Bible school
Speaker 2: all his life.
Speaker 1: The kid's Bible, this Bible nerd. His mom had taken
Speaker 1: him to every vacation.
Speaker 2: Bible school in the Charleston metro area all of his life.
Speaker 1: He had like nine weeks of Bible school every summer under.
Speaker 2: His belt vacation Bible school. So if I got something wrong,
Speaker 2: Matthew would stand up and correct me. In the middle
Speaker 2: of the Wednesday night class one night, I came in
Speaker 2: preaching about the woman with the issue of blood. And
Speaker 2: I hadn't studied it, but I thought I knew what
Speaker 2: it meant. And I said, this woman came to Jesus
Speaker 2: and she was bleeding. Her face was just covered in blood.
Speaker 2: Somebody must have beat her out I don't know who
Speaker 2: got a hold of her, but she's bleeding. Matthew stood up,
Speaker 2: said it was an internal issue of blood Steven thirteen
Speaker 2: year old. But then on the other end of the spectrum,
Speaker 2: if I was accurate but not interesting.
Speaker 1: Then those kids didn't care.
Speaker 2: So one night a fight broke out in the middle
Speaker 2: of my teaching and I just walked out, walked out
Speaker 2: the building, shut the door on that little twenty five
Speaker 2: dollars a week they were paying me to teach that class.
Speaker 2: And I sat under a tree and I was like, Jonah,
Speaker 2: if you ever heard of Jonah in the Bible, he
Speaker 2: sat under a tree and prayed that he might die
Speaker 2: so he wouldn't have to preach to the Ninovites.
Speaker 1: And I was like, Lord, you kill I'd rather you
Speaker 1: kill me than go.
Speaker 2: Back in there with these kids, because I'm gonna kill them,
Speaker 2: and I'd rather be dead than in prison.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna sit out here till you show me
Speaker 1: what to do.
Speaker 2: After about ten minutes of this, Ryan who was like
Speaker 2: the biggest kid in the group who came in on
Speaker 2: the van, Ryan came over and Ryan really liked me.
Speaker 1: And Ryan came over to the tree and he.
Speaker 2: Said, Yo, see, I want you to know something that
Speaker 2: as long as you need to stay out here and
Speaker 2: get yourself together, it's cool because I just had to
Speaker 2: talk with everybody in this room, and I want you
Speaker 2: to know when you come back in is handle. I
Speaker 2: don't know what he said to those kids. I don't
Speaker 2: even want to know. But when I went back in
Speaker 2: that room, it was like an Episcopalian church on a
Speaker 2: Sunday morning.
Speaker 1: It was like a Catholic Mass.
Speaker 2: Those kids were leaned forward in their chair. Why because
Speaker 2: he handled it. I don't even know how buddy handled it.
Speaker 2: Have you ever had a situation in your life where
Speaker 2: you were throwing a petty party and didn't want to
Speaker 2: go back in and didn't want to try again, and
Speaker 2: had taken off from Egypt and didn't even want to
Speaker 2: face your future because.
Speaker 1: Of the paint of your pass.
Speaker 2: But here comes Jesus walking up to you on the
Speaker 2: second road today on the fourth row at the Gaston campus,
Speaker 2: walking up to you on an iPhone street, wants.
Speaker 1: To let you know, whenever you get ready to come
Speaker 1: back in and do what I've called you to do,
Speaker 1: come on back in. Its handled.
Speaker 2: Somebody set his handle, set his handle's handled. God told Moses,
Speaker 2: you can go back to Egypt, because everybody who wanted
Speaker 2: to kill you is dead. While you were out here
Speaker 2: in Egypt, I was dealing with your issues.
Speaker 1: And his handle touch. Three people say, is handle, is handle?
Speaker 1: Is handle. God wants you to know.
Speaker 2: Shame can't keep you at bay anymore because what Jesus
Speaker 2: was doing on that cross when they thought that he
Speaker 2: was dying, he wasn't dying. He was delivering you from
Speaker 2: the power of sitting death and was held against me,
Speaker 2: was nailed to his cross. And I'm standing here today
Speaker 2: with my hands stretched.
Speaker 1: High, with my hand held high, with my shoulders.
Speaker 2: Strown back, blidly approached.
Speaker 1: The throne with confidence in the time of my need.
Speaker 1: Because it's handle, it's handled.
Speaker 2: I feel the sphirit of Olivia Pupe coming on me.
Speaker 2: Somebody shot his handles.
Speaker 1: It's handle.
Speaker 2: That's what Ryan said. He said, is handle. When you
Speaker 2: get ready to come back in, you need to know
Speaker 2: his handle. When you get ready to go into your future,
Speaker 2: you need to know his handle.
Speaker 1: Somebody shot his handle, is handled, his handle, his handle,
Speaker 1: his handle.
Speaker 2: I love that Bible verse in Philippians four thirteen, where
Speaker 2: Paul is talking about I know what to do in
Speaker 2: any situation. If I have a little, if I have
Speaker 2: a lot, I can handle it. Because he says, there
Speaker 2: is a famous Bible verse. Have you heard this before?
Speaker 1: He said, Christ can do all things through me. Did
Speaker 1: I mess it up? And must because I'm tired from
Speaker 1: the race.
Speaker 2: I must have got a little of that champagne absorbed
Speaker 2: in my body at the at the race.
Speaker 1: Let me try again.
Speaker 2: Christ can do because because He's gonna handle it right,
Speaker 2: Christ can do all things through me. God's gonna handle it.
Speaker 2: Huh oh, he wants to help you handle it. Here's
Speaker 2: how God showed me. He said, I will handle what
Speaker 2: you can't, but I will not handle what you want.
Speaker 1: See.
Speaker 2: I handle your sin. You can't handle that. A hand
Speaker 2: your past, you can't handle that. But he told Moses,
Speaker 2: let me show you one more things. So now he
Speaker 2: told Moses, somebody shot handled handled. He told Moses, he said.
Speaker 1: Pick it up. Now it's not a staff anymore in
Speaker 1: this moment, it's a snake. So what does Moses do?
Speaker 1: He does what you do with your fears, and he runs.
Speaker 1: Did you see it in the text? He said, what
Speaker 1: verse was it?
Speaker 2: Was it three?
Speaker 1: Where he ran was it three get and he ran
Speaker 1: from it.
Speaker 5: That's the same thing that he did when he killed
Speaker 5: the man in Egypt. He's learned to run. He's learned
Speaker 5: to run, and God won't handle what you run from.
Speaker 1: So he runs. Can y'all hear me? Okay in the back?
Speaker 2: Oh, I know what I should do, because this thing
Speaker 2: only works in my hand. This is a good sermon
Speaker 2: for your life, for your marriage, for your soul, for
Speaker 2: any situation. God tells him to reach for the thing
Speaker 2: that he's been running from, and as he reaches, watch this.
Speaker 5: As he reaches, the staff changes back into a staff
Speaker 5: from us as he reaches.
Speaker 2: We got to work on this, y'all weren't paying attention.
Speaker 2: Go to four Go to four seventeen, Exitus four seventeen.
Speaker 1: I'm almost done. I will hasten to a close. Well.
Speaker 2: He told him to go l jay, he said, but
Speaker 2: take this staff. Everybody shout, come on, shout the phrases
Speaker 2: inbolded orange letters for a reason. Take the staff. Hit
Speaker 2: me with twenty real quick. I think it's twenty. So
Speaker 2: Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey,
Speaker 2: and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff
Speaker 2: of God. Next verse, when he was confronting Pharaoh, he said,
Speaker 2: go out and confront him on the bank of the now,
Speaker 2: and take the staff that was changed into a snake.
Speaker 2: You see in a pattern. I keep going next verse
Speaker 2: until you all see it. When they were standing in
Speaker 2: front of the Red Sea, he said, raise your staff
Speaker 2: and stretch out your right right. It's got to be
Speaker 2: in your it's got to be in your Go to
Speaker 2: the next verse. What's the next verse. Oh, that's when
Speaker 2: they were That's when they were going out, and he
Speaker 2: was going out ahead of the people, and he said,
Speaker 2: take in your hand the staff with which you struck
Speaker 2: the nile. Here's here's the interesting thing, and this is
Speaker 2: what the Lord wanted you to know. His situation was changing.
Speaker 2: But the same staff that got him through the last
Speaker 2: one worked in the next one when he had it
Speaker 2: in his hand. The only time that Moses got in
Speaker 2: trouble with his staff is when he struck the rock
Speaker 2: that God told him to speak to, and he didn't
Speaker 2: enter the Promised Land because he didn't know how to
Speaker 2: handle what was in his hand. You get in trouble
Speaker 2: when you try to handle it your way. You get
Speaker 2: in trouble. When you try to resolve it your way,
Speaker 2: you get in trouble when you try to take the
Speaker 2: snake by the head. See that was interesting to me.
Speaker 2: We just moved out into the country two years ago,
Speaker 2: and everybody was given me advice greg on being in
Speaker 2: the country. I think they were worried about me, that
Speaker 2: I wouldn't know what to do and how.
Speaker 1: To survive in the country. And they were right. So
Speaker 1: I welcomed their advice.
Speaker 2: And everybody was telling me, now you're you're gonna see
Speaker 2: you're gonna have snakes for the first time.
Speaker 1: So here's what you need to do with the snake.
Speaker 1: And you know what nobody told me.
Speaker 2: Nobody told me that to handle a snake the way
Speaker 2: God told Moses to handle a snake.
Speaker 1: Nobody. Go back to verse verse four. He said, reach
Speaker 1: out your and what.
Speaker 2: Nobody told me to take the snake by the tail,
Speaker 2: because that's not the way you handle a snake naturally.
Speaker 1: Take it by the.
Speaker 2: You'll look confused. I'm not doing my job, am I
Speaker 2: I got to get this right, he said, take it
Speaker 2: by the See, the way we try to grab situations
Speaker 2: in our life is we want.
Speaker 1: To control it. That's not the right way to hold.
Speaker 1: He said, take it by the take it by the now,
Speaker 1: to take a snake by the tail, and I will.
Speaker 6: Remind you that the snake didn't change back into a
Speaker 6: staff until it was in Moses's hand. Your issue is
Speaker 6: not going to change until you handle it. Your pain
Speaker 6: is not going to become your purpose until you handle it.
Speaker 1: But if you handle it your way, you're going to
Speaker 1: be depressed about it.
Speaker 2: But if you handle God's way, God's work, God's way,
Speaker 2: God's will, God's way, God's word, God's way. You've done
Speaker 2: it long enough your way. It is time for you
Speaker 2: to do it God's way. And it's time for you
Speaker 2: to take it by the tail. God told me to
Speaker 2: tell you you feel it, don't you. God said that
Speaker 2: mistakes happen, But when they happen, take them by the
Speaker 2: tail and trust me to turn your mistake into a
Speaker 2: miracle when you take it by the tale. When pain
Speaker 2: and rejection happen in your life, your rejection in one
Speaker 2: season can lead to your destiny.
Speaker 1: In the next. When you take it by the tale.
Speaker 1: I came to say that.
Speaker 2: What they said about you isn't gonna destroy you. It's
Speaker 2: only gonna develop you, to make you stronger to give
Speaker 2: you a stepfastness. When you take it by the tail,
Speaker 2: you know what you're gonna do with that doctor's report.
Speaker 1: Take it by the tail. You know what you're gonna
Speaker 1: do with that loneliness.
Speaker 2: Take it by the tail. You know what you're gonna
Speaker 2: do with everything that's been keeping you up at night, worried,
Speaker 2: wringing your head. This isn't my problem, This isn't my issue.
Speaker 2: The battle is the Lord's. He'll handle Pharaoh. I got
Speaker 2: this thing by the tail.
Speaker 1: I trust your Lord.
Speaker 2: Does anybody trust them in your situation? So I.
Speaker 1: So I trust God enough to take it by the tail.
Speaker 1: And it only changes when you handle it. As long
Speaker 1: as you stand there looking at it, it's a snake.
Speaker 5: As long as you stand there praying about it, it's
Speaker 5: a snake. You can't pray and make the snake go away.
Speaker 5: Pray about it, pick.
Speaker 7: It up and make it work, and come on, come on,
Speaker 7: make it, come on, make it work.
Speaker 2: In your favor. I'm saying handle it. I'm saying there's
Speaker 2: nothing life can throw at you.
Speaker 1: That you can't handle it.
Speaker 2: By the spirit of God myself, I can handle it.
Speaker 2: Somebody encourage five people in your area tell him you
Speaker 2: can handle it.
Speaker 1: You can handle it. You can handle it, Yes, you can.
Speaker 2: You've gotta handle it. You've gotta handle it. You were
Speaker 2: made to handle it. You were built to handle it.
Speaker 2: God's gonna help you handle it. He's gonna show you
Speaker 2: how to handle it.
Speaker 1: He's got you in the palm of his hand. He's
Speaker 1: gonna help you. Raise thou children. He's gonna help.
Speaker 2: You'll get through this season. He's gonna help you make
Speaker 2: the decision. Lift your hands like it's handled. Come on,
Speaker 2: lift your voice like this handled and shut unto.
Speaker 3: God, little voice God me on trial, need to We
Speaker 3: need to name God. We need the boy h got me, boyd.
Speaker 1: Child, I gotta tell you this. My time is over.
Speaker 1: Touch somebody say it's handled his hand, because the thoughts.
Speaker 2: Just hit me and it scared me and it would
Speaker 2: haunt me if I didn't say it to you. What
Speaker 2: if Moses had kept running, he never would have seen
Speaker 2: what the staff could do. He never would have seen
Speaker 2: the transformation that would take place.
Speaker 1: Think about it. It was a decision in a moment.
Speaker 2: What if I never would have picked a mic up
Speaker 2: and started preaching into cameras to screens. How many people
Speaker 2: could we not have touched together. And I didn't think
Speaker 2: I could do it, and I was real scared about it,
Speaker 2: and I didn't know if I could forgive my dad
Speaker 2: because he really hurt me right before he died. And
Speaker 2: I almost ran from it, and I almost didn't go
Speaker 2: over to his house on Father's Day and stopped by
Speaker 2: for fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: But I'm so glad that I took it.
Speaker 2: By the tail side with my hands shaking, and I
Speaker 2: wanted to run, and still pretty much every week before
Speaker 2: I preach, there's a part of me that.
Speaker 1: Wants to run.
Speaker 2: I got a friend here today who's a good preacher,
Speaker 2: really good preacher, great preacher. He told me he's coming
Speaker 2: to visit, and I almost asked him, do you just
Speaker 2: want to preach? Because I think I got a sermon?
Speaker 2: But right now it looks like a snake. See, I
Speaker 2: told the apprentices the other I said, when when I
Speaker 2: know a sermon is going to be good on Sunday
Speaker 2: is when I'm scared.
Speaker 1: Of it on Thursday. That's that's how it works for me.
Speaker 1: But if you I gotta go. I'm out of time.
Speaker 1: But I'm ensure you this.
Speaker 2: If you stand there and look at it long enough,
Speaker 2: and you stand there and and and and analyze the
Speaker 2: snake long enough, and you get down here and wait
Speaker 2: for it to change. And God, if they say I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: then I'll forgive them. And God if you if you
Speaker 2: give me more money, then i'll get Then I'll tithe.
Speaker 1: And God, if you and you're.
Speaker 2: Waiting for it to change on the ground, but it's
Speaker 2: only gonna change when you trust.
Speaker 1: God enough to take it by the tail, come on,
Speaker 1: lift your hands. I want to pray for you. God,
Speaker 1: give them courage. You know they're gonna need it. You know,
Speaker 1: Pharaoh has them running. You know, Pharaoh is that is
Speaker 1: that snake? Do you know? Pharaoh is that thing? You know,
Speaker 1: Pharaoh is that addiction. You know, Pharaoh is that insecurity?
Speaker 2: You know, Pharaoh is that taskmaster that tries to convince
Speaker 2: them that they're never enough.
Speaker 1: But we came today to say that the head of
Speaker 1: the serpent has already been crushed. Hallelujah.
Speaker 2: We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for as
Speaker 2: stretch storms, we thank you for as crops, we thank
Speaker 2: you for as power, and we declare over our lives today,
Speaker 2: whatever it is that stands against your children and Jesus
Speaker 2: name and is hand on somebody claim your thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us special thanks to those of you who
Speaker 2: give generously to this ministry.
Speaker 1: Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
Speaker 2: more information and if you enjoyed the podcast.
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Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you