Speaker 1: Well, this is an incredibly special worship experience. Today we're
Speaker 1: about to go into the auditorium for a time of
Speaker 1: worship and faith and the Word of God. It's our
Speaker 1: game change your offering weekend. This offering goes toward expansion
Speaker 1: and outreach and ministries just like this. And we're calling
Speaker 1: on our etham, that's what we call our extended family
Speaker 1: all around the world. And now I love it. It's
Speaker 1: so exciting that people join us every single weekend, not
Speaker 1: just here, but all over the world. Yeah, and we
Speaker 1: don't want you to just consume the content. We want
Speaker 1: you to contribute. We want you to be a part
Speaker 1: of this move of God. So if you've been blessed
Speaker 1: by this ministry, this is your opportunity make a sacrificial gift,
Speaker 1: maybe a systematic gift, maybe one time, maybe a monthly
Speaker 1: recurring gift. But we're calling on all of you who
Speaker 1: consider this your etham, your extended family, your church family,
Speaker 1: to make a difference today. As you do. Holly and
Speaker 1: I are praying that God will bless your life in
Speaker 1: amazing ways. So this is it. This is the opportunity
Speaker 1: be a part of this move of God. Let's go
Speaker 1: into worship. I think you're really going to have your
Speaker 1: faith built during this time and the best is ahead.
Speaker 1: We'll worship a little bit more in a few moments
Speaker 1: after the sermon today as we get to bring our
Speaker 1: game change you're offering. So many thousands didn't get to
Speaker 1: last weekend because of the weather. We want everybody to
Speaker 1: have that special moment. But the bad news is, just
Speaker 1: about the time we got the snow cleared out, just
Speaker 1: about the time we got the snow cleared out, we
Speaker 1: get a report that there's a hurricane. And this is
Speaker 1: terrible because we're out here trying to take a game
Speaker 1: changer offering build the Kingdom of God. And then Christine
Speaker 1: the hurricane wants to come preach on our game change
Speaker 1: our series. Now, this woman of God, she hails from Australia.
Speaker 1: Her husband's name is Nick. He is a great strategist
Speaker 1: and a general in the Kingdom of God. We honor you, sir,
Speaker 1: and your beard and your mountain biking. But she is
Speaker 1: a voice of justice and truth for Jesus Christ all
Speaker 1: around the globe and today on this occasion, God has
Speaker 1: sent us a global force in this strategic moment. And
Speaker 1: if you've never heard Christine Kane before you have not
Speaker 1: lived until now. But the good news is there's a
Speaker 1: hurricane in the house. She is the co founder of
Speaker 1: a twenty one fighting human trafficking all around the world.
Speaker 1: She is God's chosen vessel for this moment. Put your
Speaker 1: hands together on every location, Welcome Christine the hurricane. Hey gosh,
Speaker 1: how are you doing. I could not wait to be
Speaker 1: with you. And did you all notice how beautiful the
Speaker 1: weather was today? You know I brought the anointing, don't you.
Speaker 1: That's I didn't want to say anything to Pastor Stephen
Speaker 1: that you iced out last week, but come on, come
Speaker 1: on this week, it is beautiful. I feel like I
Speaker 1: am with family. In case you all don't know who
Speaker 1: I am, I'm your craig cra oussy aunt and everybody
Speaker 1: needs a crazy oussy aunt. And I'm so grateful. I'm
Speaker 1: the bonus track. I've brought the bonus track, so we
Speaker 1: had I'm normally the person on the other side of
Speaker 1: the screen, so all our global eve family, and then
Speaker 1: I'm you know, we got a thousand euro all like rabbits.
Speaker 1: There's a Megian locations like you're like God, just omnipresent
Speaker 1: all over the globe. There you are. But I am
Speaker 1: normally and often no matter where I'm preaching in the world,
Speaker 1: if the time zone works out, well, I get to watch.
Speaker 1: I participate. I'm more than watch. I know you on
Speaker 1: the other side of the screen are more than watching.
Speaker 1: I am part of it all. And you know, I
Speaker 1: always need a good sermon. So there's a pretty good
Speaker 1: preacher here most Sundays, and so I just I just
Speaker 1: come and I get my word from him, and then
Speaker 1: you know, I quote him for the first minute and
Speaker 1: then I say, as I always say, this is my word.
Speaker 1: So it's really hard coming to this pulpit because when
Speaker 1: you preach all past to Stephen sermons and then you've
Speaker 1: got to come to his poolport, You're like, I literally
Speaker 1: asked my husband, I'm going no, he's already preached that,
Speaker 1: he's preached that that's where I got it from. I
Speaker 1: can't do that. And so I had to actually go
Speaker 1: to God, how was that? And which was awesome? But
Speaker 1: I thank God he's raised your house up. I want
Speaker 1: you to stay standing because I want to read something
Speaker 1: over you that as I was preparing. This has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with my sermon, but it's got everything to
Speaker 1: do with this house. And you know when the Queen
Speaker 1: of Sheba came to visit Solomon, King Solomon in the
Speaker 1: Book of First Kings, chapter ten, it says, now when
Speaker 1: the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon,
Speaker 1: I want you to know that the sound of elevation
Speaker 1: is around the world. What is coming out of this house.
Speaker 1: And of course you're you know your Grammy nominated songs,
Speaker 1: which are absolutely phenomenal. I have the privilege of sometimes
Speaker 1: being at the same events as your worship team, which
Speaker 1: just represents this house so powerful around the world. But
Speaker 1: you know there's a sound that's coming out of here,
Speaker 1: your pastor, I mean, you've heard of the pulpits if
Speaker 1: you've been a Christian for more than you know, three minutes,
Speaker 1: and most of you haven't here because you're heathen. So
Speaker 1: it's awesome. That's what we love. You're newly saved. But
Speaker 1: you know the great preachers in modern church history, Charles
Speaker 1: Spurgeon in England and Deal Moody in Chicago and Jonathan
Speaker 1: Edwards on the East Coast. Let me just say, this
Speaker 1: pulpit will go down in modern history as powerful as
Speaker 1: the pulpits of those people. Because of the gift on
Speaker 1: your pastor. It is awesome. But she comes in and
Speaker 1: she said, when I heard of the fame of Solomon
Speaker 1: concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test
Speaker 1: him with hard questions. You ever tried to test your
Speaker 1: pastor with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a
Speaker 1: very great retinue. I like this part with camels bearing spices.
Speaker 1: I was going to bring my camels, it's Christmas and all,
Speaker 1: but you know I left them in Australia, and very
Speaker 1: much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon,
Speaker 1: she told him all that was on her mind, and
Speaker 1: Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from
Speaker 1: the king that he could not explain to her. And
Speaker 1: when the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom
Speaker 1: of Solomon, the house that he had built. I love this.
Speaker 1: God loves having a house built. The Bible says in Chronicles,
Speaker 1: the house that is to be built for the Lord
Speaker 1: must be exceedingly magnificent. We've come here around a game
Speaker 1: changer offering weekend. Can I just tell you we are
Speaker 1: never apologetic a building about building an exceedingly magnificent house
Speaker 1: for God that goes around the world. It says the
Speaker 1: house that he had built, the food on his table,
Speaker 1: I just had some grits. Can I tell you the
Speaker 1: food on the table here in the South is like awesome.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Sheba got grits, but I did.
Speaker 1: The seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants,
Speaker 1: they're clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he
Speaker 1: offered to the House of the Lord. There was no
Speaker 1: more breath in her. And when I read that earlier
Speaker 1: this week, I thought, that's what it's like. And for
Speaker 1: all of you on the other side of the screen,
Speaker 1: because that's me every week. It's breathtaking. The Queen of
Speaker 1: Sheba came into Solomon's grade ten woy shes My breath
Speaker 1: is taken away. Can I just say, with the way
Speaker 1: that this house glorifies the King of Kings and the
Speaker 1: Lord of Lords and carries the glory of God, you
Speaker 1: are breathtaking. Elevation, Church, you are breathtaking. It is amazing
Speaker 1: what God is doing in and through this house in
Speaker 1: this generation. So I'm believing God that is going to
Speaker 1: speak to every one of our hearts today and you're
Speaker 1: going to realize what a part of history you are.
Speaker 1: I was in Copenhagen and I was raving about the
Speaker 1: beautiful architecture of that city in Denmark. It's just stunning.
Speaker 1: And I come from a nation that's only a couple
Speaker 1: of hundred years old, so anything that's thousands of years old,
Speaker 1: I'm in. The architecture, just the history is breathtaking. And
Speaker 1: I was going on and on and on to the
Speaker 1: cab driver about how beautiful it was. And I'm Greek,
Speaker 1: so I'm highly emotive and I don't stop talking, and
Speaker 1: so I was just going and he started to cry,
Speaker 1: and I thought, Christine, you've really gone overboard this time.
Speaker 1: But he pulled over and he said, you know, do
Speaker 1: you really think our city is this beautiful? I said,
Speaker 1: it's breathtaking. It's just stunning. And he said, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you can live right in the midst of it
Speaker 1: and not even see it. And my prayer is that
Speaker 1: here at elevation, that you realize while you're in it,
Speaker 1: that you're in the middle of a modern day miracle
Speaker 1: that one is God is doing in it through this
Speaker 1: house is not normal. It is breathtaking. It is supernatural,
Speaker 1: and God has chosen you to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: So why don't you be seated and turned with me
Speaker 1: to the Book of Hebrews chapter twelve. I'm a coffee lover,
Speaker 1: so Hebrews is one of my favorite favorite I couldn't resist.
Speaker 1: I couldn't resist. I'm sorry. It's as dorky as it comes.
Speaker 1: I've become that preacher. I'm going to read to you
Speaker 1: from Hebrews chapter twelve on both Greek and a woman.
Speaker 1: So I only speak three ways, hard, fast, and continuously.
Speaker 1: So strap yourself in, Strap yourself in. I love that
Speaker 1: I'm talking to so many locations all at once, and
Speaker 1: now he fam I love being on this side because
Speaker 1: I'm always on that side. Okay, sorry, So here we go.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in Hebrews twelve. Therefore, since we are
Speaker 1: surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
Speaker 1: also someone say me too. Let us also lay aside
Speaker 1: every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let
Speaker 1: us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Speaker 1: looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who,
Speaker 1: for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,
Speaker 1: despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand
Speaker 1: of the Throne of God. I love this passage of scripture,
Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter twelve, right there after Hebrews eleven. And you know,
Speaker 1: I always love to say that, even in Australia, Hebrews
Speaker 1: twelve comes after Hebrews eleven. Sometimes you think, because our
Speaker 1: toilets flush back to front in the way that yours
Speaker 1: do here in America, maybe our bibles are back to front.
Speaker 1: But as in most translations, we go Hebrews eleven, the
Speaker 1: Great Hall of Faith, and then Hebrews Chapter twelve. So
Speaker 1: I'm saying that because it starts with therefore, and when
Speaker 1: the word therefore is in the Bible, you've got to
Speaker 1: ask yourself the question, what's it there four? And it's
Speaker 1: therefore coming out of this wonderful chapter talking about these
Speaker 1: men and women of God that were heroes of faith,
Speaker 1: and the scripture tells us the writer to the Hebrews says,
Speaker 1: we need to run with endurance in the same way
Speaker 1: that they ran before us. And why I'm prefacing what
Speaker 1: I'm about to say with this is that sometimes we
Speaker 1: think when it comes to our Christian walk, and especially
Speaker 1: in the Western culture, that most of us are a
Speaker 1: part of we think that it's an individual sprint. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm going to run this race that God has called
Speaker 1: me to. I'm going to fulfill my destiny. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm going to flourish. I'm going to maximum my potential.
Speaker 1: You do you boo? Is the you know mantra of
Speaker 1: this generation. It's just like, you know, worst advice anyone
Speaker 1: could ever give anyone. But anyway, that's another sermon. But
Speaker 1: here is the deal is you just run your little
Speaker 1: leg of the race and just don't worry about anyone else.
Speaker 1: But Scripture teaches us the opposite. It says, therefore, then,
Speaker 1: since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
Speaker 1: you see, there are others that have come before us.
Speaker 1: We are part of an eternal divine relay. This is
Speaker 1: not an individual sprint. There are others that have come
Speaker 1: after us, and it's very before us. And it's very
Speaker 1: important that we remember that there are people that have
Speaker 1: come before us in the Christian faith, because if we
Speaker 1: forget that others have run before us, we might just
Speaker 1: forget that there are still others to come after us.
Speaker 1: But when you remember that you're part of an eternal
Speaker 1: divine relay, you will know that in any relay race,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter how fast any individual runner is, It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter how strong any individual runner is. If there
Speaker 1: is it's not a seamless exchange in the exchange zone,
Speaker 1: whatever happened before falls to the ground and doesn't go anywhere.
Speaker 1: And you know that in a race, you want to
Speaker 1: increase momentum and you want to increase speed, and the
Speaker 1: way that exchange happens one point nine seconds twenty meters
Speaker 1: determines the entire race. Now, I love relay races, and
Speaker 1: because I'm a cheek, I'm predisposed to loving the women's
Speaker 1: for by one hundred meter relay. And when we were
Speaker 1: living in Australia in the year two thousand, Australia hosted
Speaker 1: the Olympic Games and Nick and I got to go
Speaker 1: and watch the final of the women's relay. Now, America,
Speaker 1: on paper, should have won. You're the fastest women's for
Speaker 1: by one hundred meter team, the fastest team in history. Now,
Speaker 1: out of the sixteen Olympic Games before that, the American
Speaker 1: team had won goal medal on nine of them. They
Speaker 1: were the fastest team. Just so good. But what happened was,
Speaker 1: as we were watching this race, what should have been
Speaker 1: just a easy win ended up with a bronze medal
Speaker 1: for the American team because what happened was coming into
Speaker 1: the second exchange, they just got sloppy. They got sloppy
Speaker 1: because they thought, we're the fastest, we're the best, no
Speaker 1: one has beaten us before, so here we go, and
Speaker 1: they got slopped. And while they were sloppy, thinking they'd
Speaker 1: already won, but they were only in the second exchange,
Speaker 1: the Bahamas and Jamaica just came alongside and just took off,
Speaker 1: and then they just could not catch them after that,
Speaker 1: and what should have been a gold became a bronze,
Speaker 1: not because of a lack of skill, talent, or ability,
Speaker 1: but because of a lack of a seamless exchange in
Speaker 1: the exchange zone. They just got sloppy. It is amazing
Speaker 1: how when you get sloppy in your Christianity, you wonder
Speaker 1: why you don't finish your race in the way that
Speaker 1: you should. You wonder when you get sloppy in your
Speaker 1: approach to an exchange zone, because in our faith there
Speaker 1: are always divine moments of exchange, whether you are either
Speaker 1: going to accelerate and gain momentum or you are either
Speaker 1: going to de accelerate and then wonder why you didn't
Speaker 1: finish where you should have finished, both individually and corporately
Speaker 1: as a church. Churches that go from strength to strength
Speaker 1: don't miss the exchange zone. When we have a moment
Speaker 1: like our game change are offering weekend, we realize this
Speaker 1: is a divine exchange zone. We realize we're coming into
Speaker 1: an exchange zone where we're either going to gain momentum
Speaker 1: and acceleration or whether we are just going to be sloppy.
Speaker 1: And so here's what happens in two thousand and four
Speaker 1: in the Athens Olympic Games. I'm thinking America is going
Speaker 1: to win again, fastest team on paper. But what happened
Speaker 1: is as Marion Jones came into the exchange zone to
Speaker 1: give the baton over to Lauren Williams, she was a
Speaker 1: little bit fatigued, so she came in slower than she
Speaker 1: normally would and she couldn't get the baton into the
Speaker 1: and of Lauren Williams. If you've ever seen it, it's
Speaker 1: actually really moving because you can see you trying to
Speaker 1: yell and say I'm not going to reach you. And
Speaker 1: so by the time she got it into Lauren's hand,
Speaker 1: it was outside of the exchange zone. The exchange happened
Speaker 1: too late, and so the American team was disqualified again.
Speaker 1: They were the fastest team, should have gotten gold. But
Speaker 1: if you do not hand over what needs to be
Speaker 1: hand over in the one point nine seconds and twenty
Speaker 1: meters that you're supposed to, you can miss that divine
Speaker 1: moment where you can actually accelerate and gain momentum. Impetus
Speaker 1: is everything to maintaining and sustaining momentum. If you miss it,
Speaker 1: if you don't serve when you should give, when you should, love,
Speaker 1: when you should forgive, when you should give mercy when
Speaker 1: you should if you don't do it in that moment,
Speaker 1: you can miss that opportunity. Well, then we get to
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight and now we're in Beijing, China,
Speaker 1: and again fastest team on paper and America should have won.
Speaker 1: But what happened was when they can into that third exchange,
Speaker 1: they fumbled the baton and instead of passing it right,
Speaker 1: they dropped it. So the team again lost the race,
Speaker 1: not because they weren't the best or the fastest or
Speaker 1: the quickest, but because they dropped the baton. Do you
Speaker 1: know how many drop batons there have been in the
Speaker 1: history of the Church over the last two thousand years,
Speaker 1: people that God anoints a house and says you can
Speaker 1: usher in the greatest revival that's ever been seen in
Speaker 1: modern day church. But somewhere in the exchange zone, we
Speaker 1: just dropped the baton. And then we get to twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: and of course twenty twelve London, England. All that happened.
Speaker 1: The team was no faster than in the previous three Olympics,
Speaker 1: it was no stronger than in the previous three Olympics,
Speaker 1: but they got a gold medal simply because the three
Speaker 1: exchanges in the exchange zone were seamless. So what is
Speaker 1: the point of this athletics lesson on a Sunday morning
Speaker 1: at church? Therefore, well, then, since we are surrounded by
Speaker 1: so great a cloud of witnesses, let us elevation also
Speaker 1: make sure that we carry our baton of faith to
Speaker 1: our generation. That we don't drop the baton, that we
Speaker 1: don't hand it on too late, that we don't get
Speaker 1: sloppy with what God has blessed us with. But we
Speaker 1: understand that the baton of faith is in our hands
Speaker 1: for our generation, to our generation. See you are not
Speaker 1: here by accident. God knew exactly what would be happening
Speaker 1: on the planet in the year twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: He's God. A perk of being God is you just
Speaker 1: know everything. It's God. And so he knew. And when
Speaker 1: he looked at all of the people he created out
Speaker 1: of all of eternity, he saw you, and he plucked
Speaker 1: you out of eternity, and he positioned you in time,
Speaker 1: and he gave you gifts and talents for the purpose
Speaker 1: of serving your generation. And he said, I'm going to
Speaker 1: plant you in this house because I've got a mantle
Speaker 1: and I've got an anointing on this house. And we
Speaker 1: have so many issues on the earth today. There is
Speaker 1: so much chaos and so much crisis, and so much division,
Speaker 1: and so much disunity, and so much pain and so
Speaker 1: much heartache, and so much injustice and so much suffering.
Speaker 1: And it is easy to get overwhelmed by it all.
Speaker 1: But I need to tell you the issue and the
Speaker 1: problems that they're not political problems, and they're not moral
Speaker 1: problems necessarily, and they're not education issues, and they're not
Speaker 1: social issues. It's a faith issue. We've got too many
Speaker 1: unbelieving believers. We need some believers that say, I will
Speaker 1: carry the baton of faith for my generation. I will
Speaker 1: carry the good news of the Gospel to my generation.
Speaker 1: I'll be light in the midst of darkness for my generation.
Speaker 1: I will carry the batona my faith to my family,
Speaker 1: to my university, to my school, to my community, to
Speaker 1: my mother's group. You see tag church where it some
Speaker 1: of us are thinking, well, I'm waiting, and God's going no, no, no,
Speaker 1: you're it. You have the baton of faith. Therefore, then,
Speaker 1: since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
Speaker 1: let us also it's us, what are you doing with
Speaker 1: a baton of faith? We have an enemy that is
Speaker 1: trying to distract us from the one thing we're on
Speaker 1: the earth to do. In case you're wondering what we're
Speaker 1: here to do, you and I are personally responsible for
Speaker 1: the evangelization of planet Earth before the second coming of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. So today when you're having lunch and all
Speaker 1: your friends are just trying to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: be little you and say who are you? You're just
Speaker 1: a little loser Christian. And you know they say, I'm
Speaker 1: a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm a Supreme Court judge,
Speaker 1: what are you a little loser? You just go, well,
Speaker 1: I'm personally responsible for the evangelization and for planet before
Speaker 1: the second Coming of Jesus. I don't know what you do.
Speaker 1: That's what we are here for. Why did we get
Speaker 1: up today? Why are we at church? Because we are
Speaker 1: here carrying the baton of faith in our kids, ministry,
Speaker 1: people telling people about the Word of God and about
Speaker 1: Jesus in a culture that is so antithetical to the
Speaker 1: Gospel and to the good News. Every time we come
Speaker 1: to church, you're carrying the baton of faith. Every time
Speaker 1: you pray, you're carrying the baton of faith. Every time
Speaker 1: you open that word, You're carrying the baton of faith.
Speaker 1: Every time you sew into our game changer off it,
Speaker 1: you're carrying the baton of faith. If we don't do it,
Speaker 1: what if we don't what if we're just here. This
Speaker 1: is more than just a nice little self help motivational
Speaker 1: come together. That's not what we're here for. We are
Speaker 1: part of an eternal divine relay. This is every time
Speaker 1: we step in and we carry this baton of faith,
Speaker 1: the eternal is touching the temporal. We're stepping into this
Speaker 1: broken and fragmented world, and we're saying we've got a
Speaker 1: baton of faith. God has given us the responsibility in
Speaker 1: our generation to carry this baton of faith to our generation.
Speaker 1: This is bigger than me. What's happening this weekend is
Speaker 1: bigger than us. What if if we don't do it,
Speaker 1: what if we just forget? I want to show you
Speaker 1: what for me is the saddest piece of scripture in
Speaker 1: the Bible. It's in the Book of Judges. So it's
Speaker 1: very scary when you go to Judges on a Sunday morning.
Speaker 1: But we're going there today. So in the Book of Judges,
Speaker 1: Chapter two, verse seven to ten, and especially verse ten,
Speaker 1: the Bible says, and the people served the Lord all
Speaker 1: the days of Joshua, and all the days of the
Speaker 1: elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great
Speaker 1: work that the Lord had done for Israel. And Joshua,
Speaker 1: the son of None, the servant of the Lord, died
Speaker 1: at the age of one hundred and ten years, and
Speaker 1: they buried him with the boundaries within the boundaries of
Speaker 1: his inheritance in tim Nath Harry's in the hill country
Speaker 1: of Ephraim, north of the Mountain of Gash, and all
Speaker 1: that generation were also also were gathered to their fathers.
Speaker 1: And here's the saddest scripture for me in the Bible.
Speaker 1: And there arose another generation after them who did not
Speaker 1: know the Lord or the work that he had done
Speaker 1: for Israel. Why is carrying this baton of faith so important?
Speaker 1: Why is it so important that we don't stop as
Speaker 1: a church and get comfortable and complacent and go, well,
Speaker 1: look at everything that's happening. We've got our e family,
Speaker 1: We've got locations all over the place. Isn't that enough?
Speaker 1: Why can't we just just come to church. I can
Speaker 1: got my little parking spot. Now, I've got my seat
Speaker 1: that I love. Now my kids are in kid what
Speaker 1: about because it's not just about us? I wonder how
Speaker 1: on earth could another generation arise after Joshua, one of
Speaker 1: the greatest leaders in the Bible. He had come out
Speaker 1: of each Egyptian slavery. He had seen the Red Sea part.
Speaker 1: I mean, just imagine he saw the Red Sea part.
Speaker 1: He was with Moses often at the tabernacle. He went
Speaker 1: up to the mountain with Moses. He saw Moses have
Speaker 1: a fit and smash the Ten Commandments. He saw it all.
Speaker 1: He saw amazing things. He had manner from heaven for
Speaker 1: forty years. He saw the provision of God. He saw
Speaker 1: God do amazing things. I mean, he survived in the
Speaker 1: wilderness with a bunch of murmous grumblers and complainers and
Speaker 1: still survive. That that's a mirror itself. He knew, understood
Speaker 1: the grace of God. He saw the River Jordan pushed back.
Speaker 1: He walked across that on dry ground. He saw the
Speaker 1: walls of Jericho come down. He went in, and he
Speaker 1: possessed all the promised land. He went literally from slavery
Speaker 1: to possession. Only two of them ever saw that. But no,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's worth clapping, because after him and
Speaker 1: his generation died, another generation arose that did not know
Speaker 1: the Lord. Miracles, signs and wonders like had never been
Speaker 1: recorded before, from slavery to possession, from slavery to freedom,
Speaker 1: and another generation, somewhere along the line, they dropped the baton.
Speaker 1: Somewhere along the line, they got so comfortable in the
Speaker 1: promised Land, so comfortable eating the fruit of their labors,
Speaker 1: that they forgot they were part of an eternal divine relay.
Speaker 1: And we are only ever one generation away from that.
Speaker 1: So why are we sowing our seed today? Why are
Speaker 1: we part of this offering today? Because we're saying, not
Speaker 1: on my watch, I am not dropping the baton of
Speaker 1: faith on my what we are carrying her from generation
Speaker 1: to generation, and we're going to continue to have the
Speaker 1: baton of faith going on it said another generation arose
Speaker 1: who had not seen I need you to understand. It's
Speaker 1: one thing to come to a building that you've not
Speaker 1: seen the miracle of God building. It's just what you
Speaker 1: think has always been here. But for those of us
Speaker 1: that were here when it was nothing, and then we've
Speaker 1: seen the miracles of God. So we're faithful to God.
Speaker 1: But you see, if you don't keep giving an opportunity
Speaker 1: to a generation and the generations to exercise their muscle
Speaker 1: of faith, they won't know that there's a faith muscle
Speaker 1: to exercise. And so what we're doing is giving people
Speaker 1: an opportunity to go, you can believe God. Now, if
Speaker 1: you don't give every generation and every person regularly the
Speaker 1: opportunity to believe God for themselves, they won't remember there's
Speaker 1: a God to believe. And so what happened is a
Speaker 1: generation just ain't the fruit of Joshua's labor and his generation,
Speaker 1: but they didn't exercise their own faith. So you go,
Speaker 1: why do we do some things every year because we
Speaker 1: continue to say, we've got to exercise that faith muscle.
Speaker 1: We've got to continue to have people believe in God,
Speaker 1: or when we're gone, they're not going to know there's
Speaker 1: a God to believe. They're not going to know that
Speaker 1: there's faith that needs to be exercised. So we must
Speaker 1: all continue to do that. And then scripture goes on
Speaker 1: and says, you know what, how does this happen? How
Speaker 1: do you do that? And there's only three quick ways
Speaker 1: that this scripture tells us. It says, Therefore, then, since
Speaker 1: we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
Speaker 1: let us also lay aside every weight and the sin
Speaker 1: that's so easily ensnares. That's how you run unhindered. This
Speaker 1: is how you keep the baton of faith going from
Speaker 1: one generation to the next, going from year to year
Speaker 1: in your own faith, and keeps you passionately pursuing God,
Speaker 1: and keeps you passionately hanging on to the baton of faith.
Speaker 1: Because what you find is some batons you once held
Speaker 1: onto a sacred you just throw away now, like it
Speaker 1: really doesn't matter. There was a time that you would
Speaker 1: never have thought about not going to church because you
Speaker 1: needed this for your very lifeline to even just exist
Speaker 1: every day. But then you go, well, you know what,
Speaker 1: if it's too cold, I'm not going. There was a
Speaker 1: time where you would have kept yourself morally pure because
Speaker 1: it was in the description you would do it. Then
Speaker 1: you go, you know what, no one in our generation does.
Speaker 1: It doesn't really matter. We just throw it all away.
Speaker 1: It's like no big deal. There was a time when
Speaker 1: you would have always been in the word and said, God,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be the first to give my offering
Speaker 1: as a sign of thanks to you and a sign
Speaker 1: of faith for what's going to happen in the future.
Speaker 1: But now, you know what, it doesn't really matter, and
Speaker 1: we just throw batons away. We drop them in the
Speaker 1: exchange zone and we hang on to them. This that
Speaker 1: one point nine second twenty meter opportunity to see the
Speaker 1: blessing of God in our own life. It's all a
Speaker 1: matter of timing in the Kingdom. He's a god of
Speaker 1: time and a god of timing always always, and how
Speaker 1: you go from strength to strength, because that is the
Speaker 1: way upward. For a believer, we're supposed to go from
Speaker 1: faith to faith, from strength to strength, from glory to glory.
Speaker 1: But what happens in the exchange zone determines whether that's
Speaker 1: what happens to us or not. And so what happens
Speaker 1: is we drop. So the scripture says, you know, this
Speaker 1: is what you've got to do. You've got to drop
Speaker 1: some stuff. Now, you've got to drop the weights and
Speaker 1: the sins in two different words. Suggest to me that
Speaker 1: the writer of the Hebrews is saying there's two different things.
Speaker 1: A weight is not a sin. A weight could be
Speaker 1: something that was good for a season, but now it's
Speaker 1: not good. It could even be some people that led
Speaker 1: you to the Lord, and the truth is that they
Speaker 1: helped catapult you to where you are today. But if
Speaker 1: you're honest, you get into a faith environment like this,
Speaker 1: you're full of faith, you want to press on for
Speaker 1: the purposes of God, and you get around those people
Speaker 1: and suddenly you've just taken five steps back. God doesn't
Speaker 1: require that much of you. You don't need to serve
Speaker 1: that much. You need don't need to sew that much.
Speaker 1: You don't need to give that much. You don't need,
Speaker 1: and so the people that once helped catapult you to
Speaker 1: where you are have now become a weight and anchor.
Speaker 1: They're holding you back. It could be a level of serving.
Speaker 1: You've been willing to serve at church life at this
Speaker 1: level and it was good. It's not a sin. But
Speaker 1: the truth is, if we're going to break forth into
Speaker 1: all that God has for us as a movement, you
Speaker 1: know what, serving at this level has now become a weight.
Speaker 1: Your breakthrough is to start serving at this level and
Speaker 1: you're going to start seeing things come through. It could
Speaker 1: be a level of giving. You're believing God, and I
Speaker 1: am too. For next year, for financial breakthrough, for increase
Speaker 1: in my family's life and our ministries. I'm believing God
Speaker 1: for it. Well, it's not what people give to me
Speaker 1: that determines how much I'm going to get. It's my
Speaker 1: giving that determines how much and how far we go.
Speaker 1: So if I keep giving at this level, which is
Speaker 1: not a sin, it's really good. Actually, If I keep
Speaker 1: giving at this level, although it's not a sin, this
Speaker 1: level of giving for me has now become a weight
Speaker 1: for where I want to go because my breakthrough is
Speaker 1: going to be at this level of giving. You could go,
Speaker 1: we could talk about our thinking, we could talk about
Speaker 1: every aspect of life. What was once okay has now
Speaker 1: become a weight and an anchor. So what do you
Speaker 1: need to drop to carry the baton of faith and
Speaker 1: run unhindered? Scripture says, any athlete drops any additional weights.
Speaker 1: If we're going into twenty nineteen, you want to talk
Speaker 1: about a game changing year coming out of this series,
Speaker 1: then we've got to drop some stuff, some habits, some attitudes,
Speaker 1: some thoughts, some bitterness, some unforgiveness, some unresolved issues, some
Speaker 1: unaddressed addictions. We need to drop some weights so that
Speaker 1: we can run unhindered and sin. I know we don't
Speaker 1: like that word very much, do we In the twenty
Speaker 1: first century. It's like I'm offensive to people I know,
Speaker 1: and so it's like we like to think I'm okay,
Speaker 1: You're okay, And it's because we've got a really warped
Speaker 1: view of it. The thing is, who's got a bottle
Speaker 1: of water? I'm just anyone got anything with a label
Speaker 1: on it, Someone will throw me something. Come on, you
Speaker 1: are awesome. Any bottle will do. I just need this,
Speaker 1: so say that I had a bottle here full of poison,
Speaker 1: awesome poison, and here it had, you know, poison, and
Speaker 1: I ripped the poison label off and I put a
Speaker 1: new label on it, and I put chocolate syrup, and
Speaker 1: then I put it in your refrigerator. You would think
Speaker 1: I'm Graig Gray because the milder you make the label,
Speaker 1: the more potent you make the poison. And what we've
Speaker 1: done when we're too scared to say, hey, there is sin.
Speaker 1: You know, when I was diagnosed with cancer four years ago,
Speaker 1: could you imagine what would have happened at the hospital
Speaker 1: in La at UCLA Hospital if I walked in and
Speaker 1: they did all the biopsies, all the MRIs, all of
Speaker 1: the tests, and said, oh, we know that Christine's got cancer.
Speaker 1: And it was right between my larynx and trakia, so
Speaker 1: right on my voicebox. Gee, the devil is very, very just.
Speaker 1: He's not obvious, is he. I'm like, you know what,
Speaker 1: you can stick that in your pipe. I'm going louder,
Speaker 1: I'm going stronger, I'm going further, I'm going faster than
Speaker 1: ever before. But anyway, can you just imagine what would
Speaker 1: have happened if they went, we know she's got cancer,
Speaker 1: but we don't want to offend Christine. We don't want
Speaker 1: to hurt her feelings. And so what we're going to
Speaker 1: do is we're going to tell her that she's got
Speaker 1: the flu. And although we've got the cure for her
Speaker 1: particular type of cancer, we're going to say that she's
Speaker 1: got the flu and give her a Tayler knole because
Speaker 1: we don't want her to feel bad, or feel judged
Speaker 1: or feel condemned. Well, what would we call that. We
Speaker 1: would call that medical malpractice, and we would sue those
Speaker 1: doctors and they would never practice again. Well, I don't
Speaker 1: know why people expect me, as a minister of the
Speaker 1: Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to commit spiritual malpractice.
Speaker 1: Because here is the deal. There is an issue that
Speaker 1: we need to lay aside, which is called sin. But
Speaker 1: here is the good youth. There is an antidote to sin,
Speaker 1: and it's called the Blood of Jesus Christ. It sets
Speaker 1: people free, it sets us free. So the writer to
Speaker 1: the Hebrews says, hey, how about we lay aside the
Speaker 1: weights and the sins that so easily ensmeare us so
Speaker 1: that we can run our race unhindered. So we've got
Speaker 1: to drop some stuff now on this bonus track of
Speaker 1: the Game Changer series. What do we need to drop
Speaker 1: so that we can move unhindered into twenty nineteen? And
Speaker 1: then he says, run the race set before us. There
Speaker 1: is a race set before you. You have a baton
Speaker 1: of faith. This is your moment now. See most of
Speaker 1: us were like one day when when I get more
Speaker 1: than I'll give. When I have more time, then i'll serve.
Speaker 1: When when when? When there is no when? One day
Speaker 1: over there? Run the race set before you. Now you've
Speaker 1: only ever got here. There is no there because when
Speaker 1: you get there, you're here. And so you need to
Speaker 1: understand it's what you do here now that determines that
Speaker 1: there and then and so you've got to run the
Speaker 1: race set before you. Some of you are not running
Speaker 1: the race set before you because you're do busys scrolling
Speaker 1: through everyone else's race. If you stop scrolling through everybody
Speaker 1: else's race and run the race that is set before you,
Speaker 1: you will finish your course. And then he says, fixing
Speaker 1: your eyes on Jesus, you got to drop it now.
Speaker 1: You've got to run right here now and then you've
Speaker 1: got to look up now because Jesus is what started
Speaker 1: this and Jesus is who we're looking at it the
Speaker 1: finish line elevation. Why we're not settling now, why we're
Speaker 1: all coming around this offering in a few minutes, why
Speaker 1: we all continue to believe God for an impact on
Speaker 1: the nations and the generations, is because it's Jesus that
Speaker 1: is the head of this house. It's Jesus that started
Speaker 1: this house. It's Jesus that's at the finish line that
Speaker 1: we are looking for. We have always He's been a
Speaker 1: church that's full of radical faith. We carry the baton
Speaker 1: of faith. When people think we're great, great, we are.
Speaker 1: We are just settler. It's cool where they get you're crazy.
Speaker 1: I know, I know. I believe all the crazy stuff.
Speaker 1: You know. Virgin birth, yep, we're celebrating it in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. That's it, oxymoron. Virgin birth, Okay, virgin pregnancy. Awesome.
Speaker 1: I tell my sixteen year old daughter, I do not
Speaker 1: try this at home. I will not believe you. It's
Speaker 1: not the case. No, no, But I do. I have
Speaker 1: physical bodily resurrection. I know, I believe all the great
Speaker 1: great stuff. And the sky's gonna split, He's gonna come back, Yep.
Speaker 1: I believe it or I've drunk the kool aid. And
Speaker 1: you know what, it's such good news that I'm gonna
Speaker 1: carry that baton of faith to my generation. For my generation,
Speaker 1: there is no greater use than the resurrection of the
Speaker 1: lot Jesus Christ, and that he's coming back to reteem out. Well,
Speaker 1: that's what we're doing. So how did it all start?
Speaker 1: It started with radical passionate faith. Couple of kids twenty
Speaker 1: five years old. You remember a prompt day when Pastor
Speaker 1: Stevens sat on the stage with so many interns and
Speaker 1: helped us to remember our memorial stones. How this all started.
Speaker 1: We weren't cool, we weren't slick, and we might be excellent,
Speaker 1: but we're still not cool or slick. We will be
Speaker 1: doalks for Jesus till the day we die. It's just
Speaker 1: the way that it is. Bunch of twenty five year
Speaker 1: olds starting a church in Charlotte. That's foolish, foolish. But
Speaker 1: if we don't maintain that same radical faith, then we
Speaker 1: are not going to continue to gain momentum and accelerate.
Speaker 1: And I believe we are going to do that, but
Speaker 1: you've got to be willing to be foolish for Jesus
Speaker 1: in a few moments, we're going to give and you
Speaker 1: know what to other people in this day and age.
Speaker 1: And this seems foolish, but we're seeing with eternal eyes,
Speaker 1: not natural temporal eyes, and we're saying it might seem
Speaker 1: foolish to you, but we care about the generations. Why
Speaker 1: I want to just give you an example throughout Scripture
Speaker 1: of people that took foolish risks of faith and ended
Speaker 1: up changing the world. We turn and circle all the
Speaker 1: way back to some of the names listed in Hebrews
Speaker 1: chapter eleven, because where I started this morning was therefore then,
Speaker 1: So let's go back before the therefore and to understand elevation.
Speaker 1: We're part of this divine realized. We're part of the
Speaker 1: Hebrews eleven Great Hall of Faith. That's who we are.
Speaker 1: We are, we are part of that. Do you remember
Speaker 1: how foolish Noah would have looked when he was building
Speaker 1: an arc in the desert and there'd never been rain before.
Speaker 1: Imagine all of his friends, Noah, what are you building
Speaker 1: an arc? What's an arc? Mate? Don't know? Why are
Speaker 1: you building it? Because we're gonna have rain? What's rain?
Speaker 1: Haven't got a clue? You know? We're bringing out offering
Speaker 1: for that, what are we building an ark? We're more
Speaker 1: haven't got a clue, but I know that God knows
Speaker 1: half the time. In our Christian life, That's what it's like.
Speaker 1: We're building something that we don't quite know what for
Speaker 1: something that's coming that we haven't really got a clue.
Speaker 1: But all we do is fix our eyes on Jesus
Speaker 1: and we know we're going to keep building this thing,
Speaker 1: and we're going to keep moving forward, and it's gonna
Speaker 1: keep happening. Can you imagine how foolish Moses looked He
Speaker 1: had a ride and he had a red sea in
Speaker 1: front of him. That's what we look like in our generation.
Speaker 1: There's red seas to part. We don't know how some
Speaker 1: of these miracles are going to happen. And can you
Speaker 1: imagine all of the Egyptians going and all the Israelites going, well,
Speaker 1: what are you going to do? Moses? There's a sea?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I've got a stick most things
Speaker 1: in my life, it's just I got a stick, and
Speaker 1: truly for the future and what we need to see,
Speaker 1: even with all that we've accomplished in our thirteen years,
Speaker 1: it's the equivalent of a stick because we need some
Speaker 1: red seas to part. Sarah looked foolish at the maternity
Speaker 1: shopping section in Walmart. What are you doing, Sarah, I'm
Speaker 1: poud to birtha baby. Honey, Wow, I thought your eggs
Speaker 1: dried up. Yeah, well, you know so much I could
Speaker 1: say right now, but I'm just gonna go. How foolish
Speaker 1: do the Israelites look? Marching around the walls of Jericho,
Speaker 1: No cruise, missiles, no nuke, just nothing. How fooish do
Speaker 1: we look? We're doing the same, spiritually speaking, marching round walls,
Speaker 1: seeing demonic strongholds come down. Seeing it looks people like
Speaker 1: all of the injustices and the pain and the suffering
Speaker 1: and the chaos and the division on the earth. They're like,
Speaker 1: what are you all doing? We're building arcs so we
Speaker 1: can gather and we can pray and we can seek God,
Speaker 1: and we can fill altars with people being saved and
Speaker 1: people being delivered and people being healed, and marriage is
Speaker 1: being restored and children coming back to the king. Oh
Speaker 1: that's what we're doing. No, No, we're marching, looking foolish.
Speaker 1: We know, we know it's not cool, but we're marching.
Speaker 1: How foolish did David look with a nine foot giant
Speaker 1: in front of him, and he's got five little stones.
Speaker 1: Often that's how we think. I've got my little sling
Speaker 1: shot and there's a giant. How foolish did they still
Speaker 1: look going into the king when she wasn't summoned, she
Speaker 1: could have been killed for speaking up. How foolish did
Speaker 1: Caleb look at eighty five saying to Joshua, I am
Speaker 1: not cashing in my four oh one game. This is
Speaker 1: not happening. There is no such word as retirement in
Speaker 1: the Bible. I'm refiring. I'm not reaching im siring at
Speaker 1: eighty five, I'm not I'm not doing that. How foolish
Speaker 1: did Mary look this time of the year, a pregnant, virgin,
Speaker 1: teenage chick. Foolish? How foolish did the wise men look
Speaker 1: following the star? How foolish did Peter look stepping on
Speaker 1: the water out of a boat. How foolish would the
Speaker 1: woman with the issue of blood have looked as she
Speaker 1: grabbed the hem of his garment. How foolish did Paul
Speaker 1: and Silas look as they're sitting in prison and they're
Speaker 1: singing Hallelujah here below, and they're just like believing God.
Speaker 1: How foolish did the little boy look with five fish
Speaker 1: and two loaves? How foolish? And of course of all
Speaker 1: of them, how foolish did Jesus Christ look hanging on
Speaker 1: that chriss half naked, people looking at him going, that's
Speaker 1: your Messiah, that king of the Jews, that's him. You're
Speaker 1: all in over him, coming to church every Sunday, building buildings,
Speaker 1: bringing a game changer over him. You even really believe
Speaker 1: that stuff, you really believe this is it? Well, if
Speaker 1: we would carry on the Hebrews eleven Hall of faith,
Speaker 1: if we would continue to say we want to be
Speaker 1: counted into that cloud of witnesses, we Elevation Church want
Speaker 1: to go down in history as people that dared to
Speaker 1: look foolish and believe God, we might see exactly the
Speaker 1: same result as these people did. Because here is the deal.
Speaker 1: Everyone else can laugh. But Noah and his family, they
Speaker 1: were saved from the flood. Moses did see the Red
Speaker 1: Sea part. Sarah did give birth to Isaac. The Israelites
Speaker 1: did see the walls of Jericho fall. David did defeat Goliath,
Speaker 1: Esther stop the Jewish genocide. Caleb did get hebron. Mary
Speaker 1: did give birth to Jesus Peter did walk on water.
Speaker 1: The woman with the issue of blood, she was healed.
Speaker 1: Paulam silas they weren't free from prison. The little Boy's
Speaker 1: lunch feed five thousand and Jesus Christ got off that cross.
Speaker 1: He raised again from the dead. He halts the keys
Speaker 1: to help a debt in his hand, and not Bible
Speaker 1: says than the same spirit the race Jesus Christ from
Speaker 1: the dead lives on the inside of you and lives
Speaker 1: on the inside of me. Deaf Elevation Church, we can't
Speaker 1: do all things for Christ. Jesus strength enough, so let
Speaker 1: us also run with insurance the race that is set
Speaker 1: before us in Jesus' name, In Jesus' name, Amen Church, Amen, Amen, Amen. Hey,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us online today. We really believe this
Speaker 1: year and offering can be a game changer in your life. Now,
Speaker 1: this is an opportunity to not just hear the message,
Speaker 1: but to really be a part of it. For some
Speaker 1: of you, you may need to start by bringing the tide.
Speaker 1: That's the first ten percent. Now. For others it might
Speaker 1: be to go above and beyond the tithe and bring
Speaker 1: an offering. Now. Either way, we want everyone to participate
Speaker 1: in the game Changer Year End Offering. You can go
Speaker 1: to Elevation Church dot org to find out everything that
Speaker 1: you need to know about how to give and how
Speaker 1: to participate in this year end offering. But one of
Speaker 1: the most important things is to just take a few
Speaker 1: minutes just head over to that website and set up
Speaker 1: your giving and make sure you choose game Changer and
Speaker 1: the drop down menu to make sure that you're contributing
Speaker 1: specifically to our year end offering. So make sure that
Speaker 1: you do that on that site. We're excited to see
Speaker 1: how God is going to move in our church in
Speaker 1: this season and really believe that God wants to do
Speaker 1: something special in your life.