Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 3: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Hello, Elevation family.
Speaker 3: You ready for a great day today?
Speaker 4: Or what?
Speaker 1: Hey? Stay standing at every cabinis if you would not mind.
Speaker 1: I'm so so honored privileged to be here with each
Speaker 1: and every one of you. I know I'm not as
Speaker 1: handsome as Pastor Stephen, but I love the same God
Speaker 1: as him for sure, and excited to see what the
Speaker 1: Lord has in store for all of us today. It's
Speaker 1: another Sunday, or maybe somebody could be watching this at
Speaker 1: another point in time throughout the week. But for us,
Speaker 1: right now, it's Sunday and another day at the beginning
Speaker 1: of a week that God has given all of us.
Speaker 3: It's an honor.
Speaker 1: Not everybody gets this gift, not everybody has this moment
Speaker 1: right here, and this being such a life giving, amazing
Speaker 1: church week in and week out, you know, we lift
Speaker 1: up the name of Jesus. But I do recognize that
Speaker 1: our weeks can sometimes be hard, right, you can come
Speaker 1: through just some stuff. You don't have to raise your hand.
Speaker 1: I'm sure some of us have been through some things
Speaker 1: this week. We're like, I just got to get to church.
Speaker 1: I just gotta get there. Maybe my wife's there this weekend,
Speaker 1: let me get there. Maybe maybe my husband's there. Let
Speaker 1: me just get there. But maybe my breakthrough is there.
Speaker 3: I gotta get there.
Speaker 1: But it's very very possible for something to be interesting
Speaker 1: but not to be moving. It's possible for something to
Speaker 1: be very very essential but it not to be personal.
Speaker 1: And something can even be informational but not transformational. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be opening up the Bible in a few moments,
Speaker 1: and there's some things that might be interesting, but we're
Speaker 1: not just wanting them to be interesting. We want them
Speaker 1: to be moving. Do you know? For the nerds that
Speaker 1: are in the room and online right now, the Sun
Speaker 1: su and is the largest star in our galaxy.
Speaker 3: Some of y'all knew that it's the one.
Speaker 1: It's the this this star right here. Actually everything in
Speaker 1: our in our solar system revolves around it. It has
Speaker 1: the hottest part of the Sun is at its core.
Speaker 1: I think some scientists believe the Sun's actually gonna burn
Speaker 1: out in like five billion years or something.
Speaker 3: I've read that somewhere.
Speaker 1: See all that that might be interesting, it's not moving
Speaker 1: you and I can't even exist without that su and Sun.
Speaker 1: But even hearing that it's essential, But all that stuff
Speaker 1: doesn't even feel that personal. It might be informational, but
Speaker 1: it's not transformational. But today we're not gonna talk about
Speaker 1: the Sun Son. Today we're gonna talk about the Son Son.
Speaker 1: Colossians Chapter one tells us that the Sun is the
Speaker 1: image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation.
Speaker 1: From him and to him and through him are all things,
Speaker 1: and in him all things.
Speaker 3: Are held together.
Speaker 1: The Bible tells us that even heaven and earth, everything
Speaker 1: comes from him. He is the first born from among
Speaker 1: the dead, so that in everything he.
Speaker 3: Might have the supremacy.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk today about the Son of God, and
Speaker 1: I pray that it's not just informational. I pray today
Speaker 1: that God would transform us from the inside out, that
Speaker 1: we would not leave wherever we are the same way
Speaker 1: we came in. Can you, in this moment lift your
Speaker 1: heart and your faith and say, God, move me today.
Speaker 1: God changed me today. God opening my eyes today. I
Speaker 1: need you so God, in the name of Jesus, at
Speaker 1: every single location wherever we may be, I thank you
Speaker 1: that today is not just another Sunday. Today is not
Speaker 1: just today where we're opening up some old tages. No, God,
Speaker 1: we're opening your word and it's alive and active and
Speaker 1: sharper than any double edged sword. Would you move us today?
Speaker 1: Would you change us today? Would you help us to
Speaker 1: look more like you? Carry us? Sustain us, push us
Speaker 1: forward in Jesus stain we pray, Amen and amen. At
Speaker 1: every location, can we clap our hands? Come on? Can
Speaker 1: you give God? Pray and give somebody a high five
Speaker 1: and say, hey, I'm a move today. I'm a move today.
Speaker 1: Tell him I'm a move today and you may be seated.
Speaker 1: I'm a move today. I am fired up to.
Speaker 3: Be here at Ella Patient Church.
Speaker 1: Come on. I love your pastors so much, both Pastor
Speaker 1: Steven and Pastor Holly. They are two of the most authentic,
Speaker 1: life giving, generous, kind people I've ever had the opportunity
Speaker 1: to meet. We actually had the opportunity to sit with
Speaker 1: them at a birthday party not too long ago. We
Speaker 1: had a mutual friend who was having a birthday party,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to tell you your pastor got up and
Speaker 1: shared such life giving words about this individual, and I
Speaker 1: just appreciate that someone that has as big of a
Speaker 1: world as he does is interested in making other people's
Speaker 1: worlds as big as they can possibly be. He is
Speaker 1: an individual that is like, how can I make you better?
Speaker 1: How can I lift you up? His wife as well.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you all this right now. Please be
Speaker 1: the best church you can possibly be to your pastors.
Speaker 1: If you're not praying for him, start praying for him.
Speaker 1: They need to know that you got him covered. It's
Speaker 1: easy to comment. Can you be the one to cover?
Speaker 1: Can you be the one that says I have your back?
Speaker 1: Can you be the one to say I love you
Speaker 1: so much? Even if the sermon that week you feel like, man,
Speaker 1: that wasn't for me, that was for somebody else, you
Speaker 1: walk up and say that was the best sermon I've
Speaker 1: ever heard in my entire life. You speak words of life,
Speaker 1: words of encouragement, and don't just speak the words serve.
Speaker 1: Jump on a team, being an e group. These are
Speaker 1: the things Pastor seven and Pastor Holly are trying to build,
Speaker 1: not something for themselves, something for the Kingdom of God
Speaker 1: and something to lift and make your family all that
Speaker 1: God has called it to be. Don't waste this moment.
Speaker 1: What a gift God has given you and me and
Speaker 1: this world. And Pastor Stephen and Pastor Holly'll yeah, you
Speaker 1: can clap your hands for sure. I'll say this last thing.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna open up the text. I gotta say this
Speaker 1: last thing. Our church is twelve years old now, and
Speaker 1: I remember before our church got started reading Sun Stands Still.
Speaker 1: I remember seeing the videos of the baptisms that were happening.
Speaker 1: Remember we were sitting in our living room. There were
Speaker 1: only twelve of us who were on the team at
Speaker 1: that point in time. The whole church was in the
Speaker 1: living room at that point in time. And we're watching
Speaker 1: these videos and it's been humbling to see all that
Speaker 1: God has done in and through our church Shoreline City
Speaker 1: over the last twelve years. But I know if you
Speaker 1: dig deep into the soil of our church, you're going
Speaker 1: to see all this residue and all these seeds of elevation.
Speaker 1: So I want to say thank you church for being
Speaker 1: faithful and lifting up the name of Jesus Christ the
Speaker 1: way you do. Because you have impacted our lives more
Speaker 1: than you can ever possibly imagine. I even shave my
Speaker 1: head to look like chunks. That's what I did. So
Speaker 1: thank you, Chunks for keeping your head shaved.
Speaker 3: To love you so much. Amy.
Speaker 1: Hey, we're gonna open up God's word today. You guys
Speaker 1: read it? You guys ready, go with me? Go with
Speaker 1: me to second Second King, Second Kings, Chapter seven, Second Kings,
Speaker 1: Chapter seven. We're gonna begin reading in verse number three.
Speaker 1: If you didn't bring your Bible, gonna put the verses
Speaker 1: on the screen so that you can follow along with us.
Speaker 1: Second Kings, Chapter seven, Verse number three. It says, now
Speaker 1: there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of
Speaker 1: the city gate. They said to each other, why stay
Speaker 1: here until we die?
Speaker 3: If we say, we'll.
Speaker 1: Go into the city, the famine is there and we
Speaker 1: will die. And if we stay here, we will die.
Speaker 1: So let's go over to the camp of the Arameenes
Speaker 1: and surrender.
Speaker 3: If they spare us, we live. If they kill us,
Speaker 3: then we die.
Speaker 1: Amen. For those of you like to take notes, the
Speaker 1: title of today's message is I can't stay here. I
Speaker 1: can't stay here. I can't All of us. You know this,
Speaker 1: All of us are someplace. Duh, you're in a place
Speaker 1: right now. You're at one of our location. You're online,
Speaker 1: you're in your living room, you're at a coffee shop,
Speaker 1: you're in some part of the world. You're in this building,
Speaker 1: you're in a chair. Yes, you're someplace physically, but all
Speaker 1: of us are someplace emotionally, financially, mentally, even professionally. You know,
Speaker 1: you went and got your master's degree, and then you
Speaker 1: keep on interviewing but can't get a job because everybodys
Speaker 1: saying you're overqualified. You're like, what does that mean? Just
Speaker 1: give me a job. I'm somewhere. I'm somewhere emotionally, I'm
Speaker 1: somewhere relationally. Some of us don't have a ring on
Speaker 1: our finger. We want to have a ring on our finger.
Speaker 1: We're at church this weekend to find our boas.
Speaker 3: That's a church stoke boas.
Speaker 1: Right there, You're some place. There's someplace even in our
Speaker 1: physical bodies, right. I mean, I don't know about y'all,
Speaker 1: but I've got this backfat that won't go away.
Speaker 3: I keep on trying to do planks.
Speaker 1: But it's like Earl, I ain't leaving, okay, I'm staying
Speaker 1: right here with you.
Speaker 3: It's me and you for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: Brother, we're all some place, every single one of us,
Speaker 1: and some of us are in a good place. And
Speaker 1: it's nice to be in a good place. When you're
Speaker 1: in a good place, like with your finances, you did
Speaker 1: to Dave Ramsey, like, right, you did it. You got
Speaker 1: your thousand dollars, you got my emergency fun. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: snowballing right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let my car break down.
Speaker 1: I got the money. You know, you're feeling feeling good.
Speaker 3: I'm in a good place.
Speaker 1: It's nice to be in a good place where things
Speaker 1: are clicking on all cylinders, things are moving the right direction.
Speaker 1: It's like every three you take it's nothing but net
Speaker 1: You're like, yes, I'm feeling it. I'm good, I'm strong.
Speaker 1: A good place is great, for sure, But even even
Speaker 1: it's interesting, a good place can become a grave.
Speaker 3: You know this, If you stop growing.
Speaker 1: Even a good place can become a grave. Because you're like,
Speaker 1: my marriage is good. I'm just gonna preserve it. You
Speaker 1: just can't press. You gotta keep going on date nights.
Speaker 1: You gotta keep telling her she's beautiful. You gotta keep
Speaker 1: on patting your hubby on the booty and going you're cute.
Speaker 3: That too much for you?
Speaker 1: With that too much? That too much. I'm talking to
Speaker 1: spouses now, I'm talking to spouses.
Speaker 3: All right. You gotta keep that fire alive.
Speaker 1: A good place can become a grave if you don't
Speaker 1: keep growing. So we want to make sure we keep
Speaker 1: on growing. If your business is like at a place
Speaker 1: you never thought it would be, it's like it's in
Speaker 1: a good spot. You can get into preservation mode. It's
Speaker 1: so possible. Like I don't want anything bad to happen.
Speaker 1: But you didn't get there by not pursuing and taking risks.
Speaker 1: You got there because you trusted God, and we're believing
Speaker 1: him for more. So I just want to encourage you.
Speaker 1: Don't get just stuck in a good place trying to
Speaker 1: protect it. No, But when I say I can't stay here,
Speaker 1: some of youall aren't thinking about a good place. You're
Speaker 1: thinking about uh bad place. Tough. I can't stay here.
Speaker 1: I can't stay in this marriage like this. I can't
Speaker 1: stay here. I didn't sign up. I didn't say I
Speaker 1: do so i'd have a roommate. I'm trying to have
Speaker 1: my soulmate. I want I want to I want to
Speaker 1: have a connection with someone, and now we're sleeping in
Speaker 1: different bedrooms and we're not talking about divorce, but we're
Speaker 1: thinking about it. I can't stay here. I can't stay
Speaker 1: here with my dad. I can't stay here with how
Speaker 1: tired I am? Why am I so tired all the time?
Speaker 1: Why am I or why does it always feel like
Speaker 1: I'm way down? Why do I Why don't I have
Speaker 1: the joy that I used to have? Where'd my fire go?
Speaker 1: Where where'd my energy go? Why? Why am I waking up?
Speaker 1: And I want to just stay in the bed? I
Speaker 1: can't stay here. I can't stay in this depression. I
Speaker 1: don't want this. I'm I'm trying to muster all this smile.
Speaker 1: I can to stand at the door and to greet
Speaker 1: people as they come in, but on the inside, I'm
Speaker 1: feeling like I'm dying. I'm smiling at you, but I
Speaker 1: need you to smile back at me. I can't stay here.
Speaker 1: Can somebody please help me? Can somebody please give me
Speaker 1: some hope? Can somebody please give me some strength? I
Speaker 1: can't stay here numb, maybe even lukewarm? Is the day
Speaker 1: like you're on fire for God? As they say, on fire,
Speaker 1: excited about God? Couldn't help, but keep your hands up.
Speaker 1: And now it's just like they're heavy, Like you're carrying
Speaker 1: two kettlebells and can't lift them way down.
Speaker 3: How about you.
Speaker 1: But family drama too, can be one of the hardest
Speaker 1: things navigating. Man. Oh man, I love my mother in law.
Speaker 1: I love her. Thank you Jesus for.
Speaker 3: Family.
Speaker 1: My family.
Speaker 3: Family. Sorry about that, honey, but family.
Speaker 1: Family. Who remember they were like, have kids? Remember they
Speaker 1: said that have kids? You need you, need you to
Speaker 1: have kids. I'm saying, yeah, I can't wait. Now you're like,
Speaker 1: oh my lord, can I put these kids back? Can
Speaker 1: I gotta get a refund on these kids right here?
Speaker 3: I love them so much.
Speaker 1: But it can it can be taxing, it can be difficult,
Speaker 1: It can be hard. It can be oh doctor's bill,
Speaker 1: Oh soccer game, Oh football game, Oh camp. Oh you
Speaker 1: need skills training here, and then you need skills training there,
Speaker 1: and then we gotta go here, we gotta get ready
Speaker 1: for college over there, and then we I mean, you
Speaker 1: got all this stuff if you're a single person trying
Speaker 1: to navigate, I've got so much on my brain. I'm sixteen,
Speaker 1: seventeen years old, and I'm supposed to have everything figured out.
Speaker 1: And I don't have everything figured out. I don't know
Speaker 1: what college I'm going to. I don't know how I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pay for college. I don't even know what's gonna
Speaker 1: happen to my mom and my dad. Help me, somebody.
Speaker 1: I can't stay here.
Speaker 3: So it brings us to our text.
Speaker 1: In The Two Kings, chapter seven, verses three and four,
Speaker 1: there are four lepers and they are sitting there now
Speaker 1: leprosy back in the day.
Speaker 3: Well, this would be a disease.
Speaker 1: We don't know if it was like exactly leprosy. It
Speaker 1: guess to be some type of skin disorder, but it
Speaker 1: would make you unclean. I mean, at that point in time,
Speaker 1: you have certain rules where you're not allowed to be
Speaker 1: around certain people, you can't touch certain things. And hear
Speaker 1: these four lepers and they're all hanging out together. You
Speaker 1: have to read the rest of the even chapter six
Speaker 1: and chapter seven, they.
Speaker 3: Really go together. But when you read them.
Speaker 1: You find out that the aramines, the enemy's army has
Speaker 1: surrounded the city and they have been encamped around the
Speaker 1: city for so long, and they're basically suffocating God's kids
Speaker 1: to death. They're not letting any food or water in
Speaker 1: it got dark. I mean it got very very dark.
Speaker 1: Individuals were doing some of the most heinous crimes, even
Speaker 1: against their own family. You can read it. I don't
Speaker 1: want to say it because I might lose your attention.
Speaker 1: That's how horrific the things are that we're going on
Speaker 1: in the text. So this is a tough place. It's
Speaker 1: a hard, difficult spot that they are in. They are
Speaker 1: in a place they do not want to be like
Speaker 1: some of us. So they're sitting there outside the city gate.
Speaker 1: They're not allowed to go into the city because they're lepers.
Speaker 1: The sitting there and they start talking to each other
Speaker 1: and we get a look seat into their conversation.
Speaker 3: And these guys we find out are crazy.
Speaker 1: You gotta have a couple of friends like this, just
Speaker 1: so you know, you gotta have a couple leper friends
Speaker 1: and a little it's a little bit off. You can't
Speaker 1: have everybody in your left it's just real squeaky clean.
Speaker 1: You gonna have somebody to be like I'll pull up
Speaker 1: right now. You gotta have a couple of people like
Speaker 1: that in your life and in your corner. Don't get
Speaker 1: so saved that you can't throw hands right. You want
Speaker 1: to make sure if something pops off, call your boy you.
Speaker 1: So you're the leopers are sitting there and they say, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna die here, We're gonna die. We sit here,
Speaker 1: we're gonna die. If we're going to the city, we're
Speaker 1: definitely gonna die. But if we go to the enemy's camp,
Speaker 1: they're probably gonna kill us too. But they might not
Speaker 1: kill us with the enemies camp. Maybe they'll take us
Speaker 1: like as prisoners, and we'll at least get some food.
Speaker 1: So they're sitting there in this deductive reasoning, they get
Speaker 1: to the place where they go.
Speaker 3: I know, if I stay in this exact same spot.
Speaker 1: And I keep thinking the exact same way, and I
Speaker 1: keep doing the exact same thing thing, then this right
Speaker 1: here is going to bring me to a place of death.
Speaker 1: And I know I do not want to die right here,
Speaker 1: so I've got to do something. I like these guys.
Speaker 1: I like these guys because they do not get hung
Speaker 1: up on what they can't do. They start thinking about
Speaker 1: what can I do. They don't get hung up on
Speaker 1: what I don't have. They start thinking about what.
Speaker 2: Do I have.
Speaker 1: So for you and I I am praying that while
Speaker 1: you are you and I are in those spots of frustration.
Speaker 1: We're in those places of like, Okay, how do I
Speaker 1: get my company to that next level? How do I
Speaker 1: get my marriage out of this spot? How do I
Speaker 1: get my single life here? How do I get my
Speaker 1: thought life there? How to get my physical body here?
Speaker 1: How to get my finances there? I don't want to
Speaker 1: stay here. I don't want to stay here. I don't
Speaker 1: want to stay here. You and I get stuck so
Speaker 1: many times because like I can't do this, I can't
Speaker 1: do that, I can't do this, I can't do that.
Speaker 1: But I'm trying to get you to see it from
Speaker 1: another perspective. I wonder if this period of God today
Speaker 1: could help you and I learn from some lepers, and
Speaker 1: some lepers would be sitting there outside the city gate
Speaker 1: and then decided to say, I know some things I
Speaker 1: don't have, but I do have some things that I
Speaker 1: can do, at least as an enemy's camp that I
Speaker 1: can head to, at least as a place I can go.
Speaker 1: I wonder where you can go. I wonder what e
Speaker 1: group is there for you. I wonder what prayer group
Speaker 1: is there for you. I wonder what campus pastor wants
Speaker 1: to lay hands on you to help you get out
Speaker 1: of the spot that you're in. I wonder what friend
Speaker 1: is there. I wonder who is around you right now
Speaker 1: that you can't see them because you keep thinking.
Speaker 3: About what you don't have.
Speaker 1: In God's like, I have put you in a community
Speaker 1: of faith that will stand with you and stand beside
Speaker 1: you and help you become all that I've.
Speaker 3: Called you to be.
Speaker 1: What do you have? What do you have? What can
Speaker 1: you do? Because it's something, there's something you can do,
Speaker 1: it's something you do have. Because I can't stay.
Speaker 5: Here.
Speaker 1: I can't. If you're on a team and everybody on
Speaker 1: the team keeps telling you you're a complainer, but you say,
Speaker 1: I'm not a complainer. I'm not a complainer. But you're like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: they keep saying you're complaining. Then you I'm not a
Speaker 1: complain I'm coming out a complainer. Then maybe maybe you're
Speaker 1: a complainer. And it's a frustrating place to be, but
Speaker 1: you go, I can't stay here, And instead of just
Speaker 1: ejecting yourself out of the place where God has you,
Speaker 1: maybe he's trying to change something on the inside of
Speaker 1: you because he knows what he has for your future,
Speaker 1: so he's trying to tell you hey, friend, friend, I
Speaker 1: love you. But you can't stay here with how you
Speaker 1: think everybody's against you. You can't stay here with how
Speaker 1: you see the world. You can't stay here with how
Speaker 1: you process information. You can't stay here with how you
Speaker 1: just skip past the word of God. You can't stay
Speaker 1: here with how you don't ever pray, and how you
Speaker 1: don't ever give, and how you don't ever serve. You
Speaker 1: can't stay here. If you stay there, you will die.
Speaker 1: So these guys go, look with me. In verse number five,
Speaker 1: come on, keep on going with me. We'll walk through
Speaker 1: the Bible here. You guys, ready, you're with me, You
Speaker 1: with me?
Speaker 3: Versu five.
Speaker 1: Look at dusk, Chapter seven, Verse number five. At dust
Speaker 1: they got up and went to the camp of the Aramians.
Speaker 1: Everybody say, at duska, that's important. At dusk they got
Speaker 1: up and went to the camp of the Aramians. When
Speaker 1: they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there.
Speaker 1: For the Lord had caused the airmens to hear the
Speaker 1: sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so
Speaker 1: that they said to one another, look, the King of
Speaker 1: Israel has hired the hit Tight and Egyptian kings to
Speaker 1: attack us. So they got up and fled in the
Speaker 1: oh in the dusk, there it is again, and abandoned
Speaker 1: their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the
Speaker 1: camp as it was and ran for their lives. At dusk,
Speaker 1: at dust, the four lepers decide, okay, let's go, and
Speaker 1: they get up and they throw on their jays, then
Speaker 1: have jays and they start walking. They start walking. They
Speaker 1: start walking at dusk. That's what verse five tells us,
Speaker 1: and a verse number seven it tells us at dusk
Speaker 1: is when the enemy started running. So when the when
Speaker 1: the lepers got up over here, God calls the sound
Speaker 1: over there. They got up here, but something happened over there.
Speaker 1: Let me say it again. Let me say it again.
Speaker 1: They got up and took a step here, and then
Speaker 1: God did a miracle over there.
Speaker 3: Honey, you can trust with my phone.
Speaker 1: Trust my phone. It doesn't any any phone. It's no
Speaker 1: throw it to me. Come on, I can catch it.
Speaker 1: Come on, That's what I'm talking about. Thank you. I
Speaker 1: got hands. I got hands Okay, so on my phone
Speaker 1: right here is iPhone twelve. Sorry about that. I still
Speaker 1: have an upgraded cricket cricket wireless.
Speaker 3: Uh kid, If you got cricket, God bless you.
Speaker 1: Uh do calls go through with that being said? Uh uh?
Speaker 1: On my phone, I have the next app, okay, next
Speaker 1: that so I can get I can right now go
Speaker 1: to that app on my phone. And if I changed
Speaker 1: the temperature on my phone here, all the way back
Speaker 1: home in Dallas, the temperature changes at home. I did
Speaker 1: something here, but something happens all the way over there.
Speaker 1: This is a picture of what happens in Second King
Speaker 1: chapter seven.
Speaker 3: It's also a picture of prayer.
Speaker 1: Mom, when you get on your knees and your kid
Speaker 1: is out at the party and you are praying here.
Speaker 1: If God begins to do something over there, it's like
Speaker 1: the alcohol does not taste the same over there. They
Speaker 1: go to but they want to put it down because
Speaker 1: Mom or God is praying over here. There is something
Speaker 1: about taking a step here that God does something over there,
Speaker 1: And I need you and I to be a people
Speaker 1: that says God, even if I don't see it, I
Speaker 1: will take a step when it doesn't even make sense
Speaker 1: here there here there.
Speaker 3: This is how God works.
Speaker 1: See you and I want to see it, but you
Speaker 1: don't get to see it unless you take the step.
Speaker 1: We say, God, show me. Then I'll take the step.
Speaker 1: God was like, no, no, no, no, We're not doing
Speaker 1: it like that. We're doing it my way, and my
Speaker 1: way is the way of faith. My way is the
Speaker 1: way of trust. My way is the way that when
Speaker 1: the water is going crazy and the waves are crashing
Speaker 1: and it doesn't make any sense, that's what I want
Speaker 1: you to give. When it looks like the economy is
Speaker 1: going upside down, that's when I want you trusting me.
Speaker 1: When it doesn't look like things are moving the right direction,
Speaker 1: that's when I want you to say, God, it doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense in my brain, but I can't stay here.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna take the step you're calling me to take,
Speaker 1: so I can do what you're calling me to do,
Speaker 1: and I can see a miracle that I would never
Speaker 1: see had I not taken the step. Let me let
Speaker 1: me share it. Picture my family their way. All of
Speaker 1: them are prettier than me, all of them. All of
Speaker 1: them are prettier than me. Okay, got my picture of
Speaker 1: my family. Look at this. Okay, here here's the crew.
Speaker 1: Here's the crew. There's an older picture right here, our
Speaker 1: nine year old now house corn rows, which I cannot
Speaker 1: do because I'm involved my wife's my best friend. Okay,
Speaker 1: so she's my sexy piece of dark chocolate. I love
Speaker 1: her so much. She and I twenty seven years have
Speaker 1: been married. Now it's gone by so fast. Still my
Speaker 1: best friend. I love her so much. So I got
Speaker 1: my beautiful wife. Okay, we met in college and she
Speaker 1: liked me first and was trying to you know, it's
Speaker 1: a long story, y'all will talk about it at another time,
Speaker 1: but but I'm so so blessed. And then we've got
Speaker 1: our nineteen year old son, Parker, who was absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1: He's about to be a sophomore in college. Man stolen
Speaker 1: our heart. Then we've got Grayson. He's our nerd, I
Speaker 1: mean nerd nerd and plays the cello and football and
Speaker 1: does the viola and knows stuff about the sun. I
Speaker 1: mean he's just a little bit. He's our nerd. We'll
Speaker 1: all be working for him one day, Okay, So we
Speaker 1: love him so much. And then we've got my favorite child,
Speaker 1: who's my daughter. Because she's my daughter, girl, Dads, can
Speaker 1: I get an amen? Come on?
Speaker 3: Can I get an amen?
Speaker 2: Girl?
Speaker 1: Dad's I tell my sons this all the time. I
Speaker 1: like your sister more than you. That's why I say
Speaker 1: yes to her all the time. Okay, you're lucky. I'm
Speaker 1: feeding you tonight, Elle, What would you like so love
Speaker 1: all of our kids so much? Our oldest Parker, he's
Speaker 1: our biological son. Our last two are adopted, something we
Speaker 1: always wanted to do since we were in college. And
Speaker 1: after we had a Parker, we had Parker, and then
Speaker 1: we were like, we were both fifty to fifty on
Speaker 1: biological but we're both one hundred percent on adoptions. She
Speaker 1: were like, Hey, let's go ahead and adopt and then
Speaker 1: we'll just have some more kids later. So the adoption
Speaker 1: process ended up taking like two and a half years,
Speaker 1: so we ended up not having any.
Speaker 3: More biological kids.
Speaker 1: But when we first started the process, we drove about
Speaker 1: three hours up the road to our adoption center and
Speaker 1: this was like the first meeting where they were going
Speaker 1: to tell all these prospective parents what the process was like.
Speaker 1: So they're sitting there and they're telling us all what
Speaker 1: the process is like, and they bring in lawyers, and
Speaker 1: they even bring in birth moms who are making this
Speaker 1: courageous decision to you know, find a forever home for
Speaker 1: their child. I mean, just something that it's a heart
Speaker 1: of sacrifice. And love that I almost can't even comprehend.
Speaker 1: I mean courageous, courageous birth moms and birth dads. We
Speaker 1: got to meet some of their adoptive parents and then
Speaker 1: they sit you down. They're like, okay, what type of
Speaker 1: kid are you looking for? And you fill out this
Speaker 1: questionnaire and then at the bottom of it, they're like,
Speaker 1: how are you going to pay for it? Now, for
Speaker 1: those who don't know, adoption is not free. Should be,
Speaker 1: but it's not. I'm talking like twenty thirty thousand dollars. Now,
Speaker 1: if you got it like that, congratulations to you. You're like, oh,
Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars, that's nothing I can do with the
Speaker 1: right that.
Speaker 3: Okay, God bless you. Okay, most of us.
Speaker 1: We saw that on the line. My wife and I
Speaker 1: looked at each other. We're like, okay, how are you
Speaker 1: gonna pay for this? We both I wrote give me
Speaker 1: that pen, honey by faith. I wrote that right there
Speaker 1: and turning my application with confidence. So we're driving back home,
Speaker 1: three hour drive back home, and we're driving home, I'm like, honey,
Speaker 1: how are we gonna pay for this?
Speaker 3: I know we put by faith in, how are we
Speaker 3: going to pay for it?
Speaker 1: The next morning, at at our church to go to
Speaker 1: a men's meeting. I'm at this men's meeting and we're
Speaker 1: setting up and this guy comes up to me and
Speaker 1: he said, to be hate earl. My wife and I
Speaker 1: heard that you're going to be adopting. I'm like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: how don't you even hear that we just started the
Speaker 1: process that yet, Yeah, we're going to be adopting as well.
Speaker 1: My wife and I we've never been able to have
Speaker 1: kids ourselves, but we just sold this piece of land
Speaker 1: and we want to be a part of your adoption story.
Speaker 1: Here's a check for five thousand dollars. We took a
Speaker 1: step here, then God was working there. I didn't know
Speaker 1: that when we took the step here that God was
Speaker 1: working over there. But this is how God always seems
Speaker 1: to do it. So I'm asking you, what step is
Speaker 1: God asking you to take that you're not taking because
Speaker 1: you think the step is dumb. You think the step
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense. You don't have the resources for
Speaker 1: the step, you don't have the connections for the step.
Speaker 1: You don't even think you have the favor for the step,
Speaker 1: you don't have the education for the step. And God's like,
Speaker 1: since when did I ask you if you have all
Speaker 1: their credentials to do the thing that it's gonna be
Speaker 1: done by My power, my glory. Anyway, take the step.
Speaker 1: I can't stay here. Well, counseling's not gonna do anything
Speaker 1: for us. How do you know if counseling is going to.
Speaker 3: Do anything for you? Maybe you take that step there and.
Speaker 1: God starts working on your husband and or wife in
Speaker 1: that other bedroom. How do you know if you're gonna
Speaker 1: get accepted to the school unless you send in the application.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and take the step here and see what
Speaker 1: God will do over there. How do you know if
Speaker 1: God can get you out of debt or not? If
Speaker 1: you keep holding on to all your money, of course
Speaker 1: you're not gonna see a miracle. But what if you
Speaker 1: started giving and saying, God, I'll live a life of generosity.
Speaker 1: I wonder what God will do.
Speaker 5: There?
Speaker 3: Push that little nest button, pray.
Speaker 1: Give sir? What is he asking you to do? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I know the Holy Spirit he has a
Speaker 1: way of talking to all of us exactly how we
Speaker 1: need to be talked to. You know the thing that
Speaker 1: he's like, You're like, dang, dang, dang. I wish that
Speaker 1: guy didn't come today, Dang, I just wanted to be
Speaker 1: encouraged today. I didn't want anybody saying anything that I
Speaker 1: had to do anything. I just wanted them to say
Speaker 1: something to me that could feel good about myself and
Speaker 1: now here. So I'm not gonna do this. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna do this, but I pray that the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: torments you in the best way possible, that he makes
Speaker 1: you so incredibly uncomfortable, because there's more that God wants
Speaker 1: to do in you and through you. Dad, you think
Speaker 1: God has done with you yet?
Speaker 5: Mom?
Speaker 1: Do you think God is done with you yet? Retiree?
Speaker 1: Do you think God is done with you already? Just
Speaker 1: because you're thirty seven and you only play pickleball? Do
Speaker 1: you think God is done with you? Now? I'm telling
Speaker 1: you he has so much more and sore for you.
Speaker 1: But you've got to take a step. I can't stay here.
Speaker 3: I can't stay here.
Speaker 1: No. Now, Look, keep on watching, look, keep reading the
Speaker 1: text with me, keep on going, keep on going, keep
Speaker 1: on going. Okay, Okay, so they left, they left, They left.
Speaker 1: Go to verse number eight. It's a brak Okay, Okay.
Speaker 1: The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp.
Speaker 1: Watch this, entered one of the tents and ate and
Speaker 1: drank watch this. Then they took silver gold fu boo
Speaker 1: just getting close. I don't even know what foo boo is,
Speaker 1: and went off and hid them. They returned and then
Speaker 1: to another tent and took some things from it and
Speaker 1: hit them.
Speaker 3: Also. Okay, first eight, they get to the camp.
Speaker 1: Nobody's there because God did something with the sound of
Speaker 1: the feet. God did something with something small, and he
Speaker 1: turned into something great. God did something with something small,
Speaker 1: but he turned into something great. Then they get there,
Speaker 1: there's nobody there, and they start going, yeah, yo, look
Speaker 1: at this tent right here. Ha yo, this is crazy. Yay,
Speaker 1: I'm drinking. Camera follow me, camera, follow me, okay, camera
Speaker 1: from hah ah. Pull up, boy, pull up. It's crazy
Speaker 1: over here. There's nobody here. We can drink everything we want.
Speaker 1: They left their clothes, they left their silver. They start
Speaker 1: taking the stuff and hiding it. Okay, these guys, I
Speaker 1: guess maybe we would do that too. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know how I would act. I remember, they
Speaker 1: haven't been able to be around anyone. This' been with
Speaker 1: each other. They've been outcasts. Everyone looked past them, disrespected them,
Speaker 1: and now I was like, they got this whole big
Speaker 1: thing coming their direction. It's like, oh, my goodness, I've
Speaker 1: never had it like this before. So now now now,
Speaker 1: now look at this verse number nine versnumber nine, goodness,
Speaker 1: look at this. Then they said to each other, what
Speaker 1: we are doing is not right. This is a day
Speaker 1: of good news, and we are keeping it to ourselves.
Speaker 1: If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let
Speaker 1: us go at once and report this to the royal Palace.
Speaker 1: So in the middle and then grab it all the
Speaker 1: stuff and hiding it. Somebody realizes, wait wait wait, wait,
Speaker 1: wait wait wait wait, we had nothing and now we
Speaker 1: have all this, and I'm keeping it to myself. This
Speaker 1: ain't right, and I like that. The Texas this is
Speaker 1: a day of good news. It's really a beautiful picture
Speaker 1: of the gospel that you and I, You and I
Speaker 1: were lepers, outcasts, sinners, separated from God, and then we
Speaker 1: end up being drawn to a spot that we maybe
Speaker 1: thought would kill us. Like no, there's no way, there's
Speaker 1: no way. I can't I can't ever approached, I can't
Speaker 1: ever approached Jesus because of my sin and all my
Speaker 1: shortcomings and all my weaknesses and all my difficulties. But
Speaker 1: we get there and it's like, Oh my goodness, I
Speaker 1: got an abundance of blessings. I got more coming my
Speaker 1: way than I ever thought possible. I used to be lonely,
Speaker 1: but now I've got more friends that I've ever had
Speaker 1: in my entire life. I've had so many other pastors
Speaker 1: in my life that didn't have my back, but now
Speaker 1: I have a pastor. I've got campus pastors. I've got
Speaker 1: leaders that are praying for me, that are believing for
Speaker 1: God's best in my life. I've got them. I've got
Speaker 1: pastors with integrity and character, pastors that I can trust.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, I've got this.
Speaker 1: I've got. I've got a taste. I've got a taste
Speaker 1: of heaven on earth. I've got a taste that I
Speaker 1: used to be lost, but now I'm found. I got
Speaker 1: a taste that i used to be dead, but now
Speaker 1: I'm alive. I got a taste that I used to
Speaker 1: be broken, but now I've been put back together. I've
Speaker 1: got a taste that I used to be all up
Speaker 1: in my head, but now I found myself walking in
Speaker 1: freedom and joy and in life. I used to be
Speaker 1: a person that was just wandering around and I didn't
Speaker 1: know which way to go. But then God and his
Speaker 1: grace and his mercy, he captured me and he pulled
Speaker 1: me up out of a glorious spit. How in the
Speaker 1: world can I keep this to my self? I heard
Speaker 1: it said that bad things, when they are kept secret,
Speaker 1: the usually tend to grow. But good things, when you
Speaker 1: keep them secret, sometimes they actually tend to lose their power.
Speaker 1: Because there's something about you and I tasting the goodness
Speaker 1: of Almighty God. And once I have tasted it, I
Speaker 1: cannot keep this to my self. I have to share it.
Speaker 1: I have to. So these guys go, okay, okay, I
Speaker 1: got good news. I got good news. We're gonna go back.
Speaker 1: We're gonna tell everybody. And they go back and they
Speaker 1: start telling everybody, and they start with the gatekeepers because
Speaker 1: they can't even go into the city. So they talk
Speaker 1: to the gatekeepers. Gatekeepers, look at your boys, look at
Speaker 1: our clothes, Like, what you get all that jewelry? I'm
Speaker 1: telling y'all, just up the road. Nobody's in the camp.
Speaker 1: They got grills, they got necklaces rings. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, there is more up there than you
Speaker 1: can even possibly imagine. It's better than you could ever
Speaker 1: even think than the gatekeeper. Tell somebody else, tell somebody else,
Speaker 1: and it makes its way all the way to the palace,
Speaker 1: and then the king hears it. The King's like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: I think they're trying to trick us. Those are Oromians.
Speaker 1: They're trying to trick us. But they weren't being tricked.
Speaker 1: In actuality, God had worked a miracle because four lepers
Speaker 1: decided to not stay here. I was wondering. I was
Speaker 1: wondering who might eat because you won't stay there. I
Speaker 1: was wondering five years from now, ten years from now,
Speaker 1: fifteen years from now.
Speaker 3: I wonder what the ripple effect of your step might be.
Speaker 1: I wonder. I wonder because we we think, we think
Speaker 1: it's not gonna matter.
Speaker 3: That's what they thought.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna matter. I'll probably die, it's probably gonna
Speaker 1: end in nothing. It's probably gonna fall flat on its face. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's a possibility that it could fail, but it's also
Speaker 1: a possibility that God could do something with your step
Speaker 1: that would absolutely change an entire generation.
Speaker 3: Dare I say elevation was a step.
Speaker 1: That Pastor Stephen and Pastor Hall he took, and you
Speaker 1: and I are on the other side of that. I
Speaker 1: am so thankful that there have been men and women
Speaker 1: of God years ago that said I'm not going to
Speaker 1: stay comfortable. I'm so glad they continue to take a step.
Speaker 1: And then God took that step, and he turned and
Speaker 1: he magnified that sound, and before they knew it, things
Speaker 1: were changing in a spot. Maybe they didn't even get
Speaker 1: a chance to see you. So maybe the wrestle you
Speaker 1: have in you, you think it's just about you, But
Speaker 1: there could be a teenager on the other side of
Speaker 1: your yes. There's a business on the other side of
Speaker 1: your yes. There's a grandchild on the other side of
Speaker 1: your yes. I'm just praying that God would give you
Speaker 1: a picture on raying, God would give you a picture.
Speaker 1: You're like, I'm not gonna try out for the team.
Speaker 1: You don't know what God can do with just to
Speaker 1: try it. I'm just telling you. I'm just telling you
Speaker 1: don't know what God will do with a step when
Speaker 1: you begin to get uncomfortable. I can't stay here, I
Speaker 1: can't stay here, I can't stay here. I can't stay here.
Speaker 1: I can't stay here. I can't stay here. I can't
Speaker 1: stay here in my mind I can't stay here in
Speaker 1: my finances, I can't stay here in my spiritual life.
Speaker 1: I can't stay here in my mindset. I can not
Speaker 1: stay here. You will be shocked and what God will
Speaker 1: do with a step. The beautiful thing about this as
Speaker 1: we all can take a step. I was when I
Speaker 1: was preparing this message. It just dropped into my heart.
Speaker 1: I have not preached this. This is what I honest
Speaker 1: I pray. I was like, God, what do I need
Speaker 1: to share with my beautiful elevation family? And this is
Speaker 1: the passage God has dropped in my heart. I was like, Lord,
Speaker 1: I got some better sermons. I feel like in this
Speaker 1: This one dropped into my heart and I was like
Speaker 1: I was trying to turn into steps. I was like, okay, God,
Speaker 1: tell me what steps can give me give some steps
Speaker 1: to give to people. And I didn't get any steps
Speaker 1: and get any steps. I thought, the Lord tell me,
Speaker 1: impress them my heart, don't give steps, invite them into
Speaker 1: an experience.
Speaker 3: Ezekiel, chapter two, verses two. As he spoke, the.
Speaker 1: Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet
Speaker 1: next to Ezekiel. I think it's Chapter three, verse twenty four.
Speaker 1: Look at this. Then the Spirit came into me and
Speaker 1: raised me to my feet. Then Acts chapter one, verse
Speaker 1: number eight. Maybe you've read it, but you will receive
Speaker 1: power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you
Speaker 1: will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria,
Speaker 1: and to the ends of the earth. Then one of
Speaker 1: my favorite passages in Acts chapter number two, when the
Speaker 1: day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Speaker 1: Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind
Speaker 1: came from heaven and filled the whole house. Oh where
Speaker 1: they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues
Speaker 1: of fire that separated and came to rest on each
Speaker 1: of them. All of them were filled with the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the
Speaker 1: Spirit enabled them, shipping all the way down to verse
Speaker 1: number fourteen. Then Peter stood up, looking again the Spirit
Speaker 1: standing someone up. Then Peter stood up with the eleven,
Speaker 1: raised his voice and addressed the crowd. Fellow Jews and
Speaker 1: all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain
Speaker 1: this to you. Listen carefully to what I say. These
Speaker 1: people are not drunk as you suppose. It's only nine
Speaker 1: in the morning. Know this is what was spoken by
Speaker 1: the puffet Toul in the last days. God says, I
Speaker 1: will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons
Speaker 1: and tartars will prough a sigh. Your young men will
Speaker 1: see visions, your old men will train dreams.
Speaker 6: I felt, I felt that all of a sudden, all
Speaker 6: of a sudden, all of a sudden, all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: all of a sudden, the spirit of the Living God
Speaker 6: would sell us up and raise us to our feet.
Speaker 1: And is gonna come up sudd it's good, would come
Speaker 1: up seven.
Speaker 4: I'm all on the sun.
Speaker 1: It's gonn come on of the sand.
Speaker 4: It still come on the sandst come.
Speaker 1: Standing see me coming mother the sad. It's gonna come
Speaker 1: on the side.
Speaker 4: Come home.
Speaker 1: It's gonna come on the sun. Come on. His spirit
Speaker 1: is breaking.
Speaker 4: Let's gonna come.
Speaker 1: Up on the sand.
Speaker 4: It's gonna come up the sun. Pass well, let you see,
Speaker 4: but you're out. Let me say time side, I pay
Speaker 4: to come out.
Speaker 1: Let's say he will come me go peace.
Speaker 4: The straight side. Come on.
Speaker 1: Let me see walty Jim.
Speaker 4: Every game with chi side.
Speaker 1: Come Holy Spirit. I pray over every location. I pray
Speaker 1: over every man. I pray over every woman. I pray
Speaker 1: pray over every teenager. I pray over every college student.
Speaker 1: I pray over every married person. I pray over every
Speaker 1: single person. I pray over every retiree. I pray over
Speaker 1: every single one of us that are online, that are
Speaker 1: at any location. And in the name of Jesus, right now,
Speaker 1: I ask that the Holy Spirit would fill us up
Speaker 1: from the top of our head to the soles of
Speaker 1: our feet. I thank you, o God, that what we
Speaker 1: need to do cannot be done in flesh. It cannot
Speaker 1: be done by our strength. It's not Pie, Mike, it's
Speaker 1: not by power, but it is Pie your spirit. So
Speaker 1: Spirit of the Living God, what you raise us to
Speaker 1: our feet? Would you get us out of our heads?
Speaker 1: Would just surround us with the right people, and may
Speaker 1: we live our lives for your glory.
Speaker 5: In the name of Cheese, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information.
Speaker 2: And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You
Speaker 2: can share it with your friends. You can click the
Speaker 2: share button, take a screenshot and share it on your
Speaker 2: social stories and tag us at Elevation Church.
Speaker 5: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.