Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these.
Speaker 1: New sermons every week.
Speaker 2: I hope you're blessed today. We are just a few
Speaker 2: days away from Elevation Nights Fall Tour.
Speaker 1: Go to Elevation Nights dot com right now.
Speaker 2: I want to see you in Miami, Florida, Tampa, Florida, Knoxville, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, Birmingham, Alabama, Lubbock, Texas, Dallas, Texas,
Speaker 2: or Houston, Texas October third through the twelfth.
Speaker 1: We are excited.
Speaker 2: Clap your hands for Elevation Nights.
Speaker 1: We had a good time here.
Speaker 2: Me and ten thousand ladies had a good time here.
Speaker 1: Friday and night.
Speaker 2: We heard a word from the Woman of God and
Speaker 2: put us on the right path. I told Holly, I
Speaker 2: only want to preach to women. After being here, I
Speaker 2: think I'm going to put a no men allowed sign
Speaker 2: at the door. There's just a receptivity and a responsiveness,
Speaker 2: so get ready for that. Starting twenty twenty six, Elevation
Speaker 2: Church will be.
Speaker 1: Man free.
Speaker 2: It's good to see you today. I have a word.
Speaker 2: Last week I preached on. He was the one. He
Speaker 2: was the one. Well, this week, there's a scripture in
Speaker 2: a story in John chapter five that the Lord brought
Speaker 2: to my mind. Stay standing for just a moment, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to share this this story with you, and
Speaker 2: then one other scripture from the Old Testament to get
Speaker 2: us ready for what God wants to speak today. Let
Speaker 2: me actually do it from my iPad so I can
Speaker 2: make sure I have the right version. In John chapter five,
Speaker 2: verse one, a story that may be familiar to you,
Speaker 2: the Bible says, sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem
Speaker 2: for one of the Jewish festivals.
Speaker 1: Now there is in Jerusalem, near.
Speaker 2: The sheep Gate, a pool which in air make is
Speaker 2: called Bethesda, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
Speaker 2: Here a great number of disabled people used to lie,
Speaker 2: the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there
Speaker 2: had been an invalid for thirty eight years. When Jesus
Speaker 2: saw him lying there and learned that he had been
Speaker 2: in this condition for a long time, he asked him,
Speaker 2: do you.
Speaker 1: Want to get well?
Speaker 2: Sir? The invalid replied, I have no one to help
Speaker 2: me into the pool. When the water is stirred. While
Speaker 2: I'm trying to get in. Someone else goes down ahead
Speaker 2: of me, and then Jesus said to him, get up,
Speaker 2: pick up your mat, and walk. And I watched this
Speaker 2: at once the man was cured. He picked up his
Speaker 2: mat and walked. Thank God for miracles. Yeah yeah, whether
Speaker 2: you need a miracle, whether you've seen a miracle, or
Speaker 2: whether you are a miracle, Thank God for miracles. Now
Speaker 2: go to Deuteronomy two, verses two and three. Then the
Speaker 2: Lord said to me, you have made your way around
Speaker 2: this hill country long enough. Somebody shout long enough. Now
Speaker 2: turn north. And that's the title of my message today.
Speaker 2: Now turn north. Just look at three people and say,
Speaker 2: now turn north. When you've told three, you can be seated.
Speaker 2: Now turn north. Oh yeah, got a word for somebody,
Speaker 2: Now turn north.
Speaker 1: And you tell me to turn north.
Speaker 2: It means absolutely nothing to me because I have no
Speaker 2: sense of direction.
Speaker 1: Me and Holly were on a walk a.
Speaker 2: Few months ago, and she thought it was an adventure
Speaker 2: and we had no idea where we were going, and
Speaker 2: I looked at her. We turned around about three or
Speaker 2: four different times, and I said we need to go
Speaker 2: back because we were at that point where we could
Speaker 2: turn back and I knew where the car was or
Speaker 2: if we kept going, which she thinks is fun.
Speaker 1: She said, oh, this is a part of the experience.
Speaker 2: And I looked at her and I said we both
Speaker 2: laughed when I said this. I said, Holly, I love you,
Speaker 2: but I'm not going to be lost much longer.
Speaker 1: Can't take it.
Speaker 2: For her, it's fun, but for me it's frustrating, slightly
Speaker 2: fearful because I have no sense of direction. Me pre
Speaker 2: GPS was a very anxious me. And I thought about that.
Speaker 2: How because she has a better sense of direction than me,
Speaker 2: she can tolerate uncertainty for a longer period of time.
Speaker 2: She kind of knows where she is, generally speaking, and
Speaker 2: it enables her to enjoy the journey more. And for me,
Speaker 2: since I have no clue where I am, I set
Speaker 2: my GPS every time I'm driving over to the church,
Speaker 2: just in case. We've been in this building since twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: just in case I start thinking about the sermon and
Speaker 2: forget the turn because I need help. And if the
Speaker 2: GPS just stopped and said, you know, turn north, i'd go.
Speaker 2: You got to talk to me and right or left, okay,
Speaker 2: and show me a picture in real time and so
Speaker 2: you know, but it's not like that for people who
Speaker 2: kind of know where they're going.
Speaker 1: You can, you can. I guess this is a principle.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to illustrate to you that, like it was
Speaker 2: for me on the hike, and like it is for
Speaker 2: me in the car, your ability to trust depends on
Speaker 2: your orientation to truth. We've all heard the phrase true
Speaker 2: north meant to describe your core values, the things down
Speaker 2: in you that don't change even though everything around you
Speaker 2: might call that our true north kind of what we
Speaker 2: point toward the north Pole geographically, I guess, but you
Speaker 2: know we have now taken that term to business, and
Speaker 2: what's the true north for this company? What's the true
Speaker 2: north for a church? A church needs to have a
Speaker 2: true north. Jesus be the true North, and each family,
Speaker 2: each individual, those things inside of you. And when you're
Speaker 2: in situations that are uncertain, how much you can tolerate
Speaker 2: and navigate uncertainty. We'll have a lot to do with
Speaker 2: how much truth you've hidden and how much truth you know.
Speaker 1: So write this down.
Speaker 2: How much trust you have depends on how much truth
Speaker 2: you've hidden. How much trust you have depends on how
Speaker 2: much truth you've hidden. If you're having a hard time
Speaker 2: trusting God in an area of your life right now,
Speaker 2: it may be a sign that you have not hidden
Speaker 2: the truth in your heart deeply enough for that situation.
Speaker 2: And so when we haven't hidden the truth in our heart,
Speaker 2: we always have to cling to traditions and certainties and
Speaker 2: old ways of doing things. But if we be more
Speaker 2: like Holly and get a good sense of where we're going,
Speaker 2: we can be in situations that are very strange but
Speaker 2: still have a very deep, solid sense of faith.
Speaker 1: Well, I've already preached a whole sermon today. I feel
Speaker 1: like that was pretty good.
Speaker 2: But I want to talk about this man in John
Speaker 2: chapter five that I read to you about because the
Speaker 2: Bible says that he was hanging out in a place
Speaker 2: in Jerusalem near the Sheepgate, a pool where occasionally the
Speaker 2: waters would stir, and when the waters were stirred, there
Speaker 2: was a superstition that if you could get into those
Speaker 2: waters before anybody else did, you could be healed of
Speaker 2: whatever had happened to you.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that.
Speaker 2: A great number of people used to lie, the blind,
Speaker 2: the lame, and the paralyzed.
Speaker 1: And you know this verse is what really got.
Speaker 2: My tension, where in verse five it said one who
Speaker 2: was there, which made me wonder, of all the people
Speaker 2: that Jesus could have.
Speaker 1: Healed that day at that pool at that time, why
Speaker 1: this one one was there?
Speaker 2: Last week I preached on he was the one, And
Speaker 2: I guess that's what got me into study in John
Speaker 2: chapter five, because I wondered, why this one. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm kind of expecting this great moment of faith, like
Speaker 2: zach Chias who climbed up in a tree so he
Speaker 2: could see Jesus, and Jesus is like, all right, if
Speaker 2: you're gonna if you're gonna go climbing up trees, I'll
Speaker 2: have lunch with you.
Speaker 1: Come on down, I'm going to your house. Or like
Speaker 1: the woman with the.
Speaker 2: Issue of blood who pressed through a crowd even though
Speaker 2: she was ceremonially unclean, to get to Jesus. Or like
Speaker 2: those men who it out shouting Jesus son of David
Speaker 2: have mercy on Us, like screaming out of need for Jesus.
Speaker 2: Since all of those factors were absent from the man
Speaker 2: in John chapter five, it left me wondering, after all
Speaker 2: week of studying, why this one. In fact, if you
Speaker 2: go on to read about this guy. He had a
Speaker 2: very damaged past.
Speaker 1: He had a little bit of a.
Speaker 2: I don't want to say this in a in a
Speaker 2: in a bad way that makes you think that the
Speaker 2: things that we go through are always the result of
Speaker 2: the sins that we commit.
Speaker 1: But he had something to do with his illness.
Speaker 2: Because Jesus when he when he tracks him down a
Speaker 2: little later, tells him, hey, you need to stop sinning
Speaker 2: or something worse is going to happen. And even in
Speaker 2: the passage like if you if you read this, when
Speaker 2: Jesus says do you want to get well? The guy
Speaker 2: kind of comes back at Jesus and doesn't really end
Speaker 2: the question, Sir, I have no one to help me
Speaker 2: into the pool when the water is stirred. While I'm
Speaker 2: trying to get in, someone else goes ahead of me.
Speaker 2: So he's kind of blame me. It's not like he
Speaker 2: threw himself at the feet of Jesus when Jesus said
Speaker 2: do you want to get well and say I'll do
Speaker 2: anything anything, I worship you, Lamb of God.
Speaker 1: Son of David.
Speaker 2: None of that. So why this one last week? I
Speaker 2: shared that there are two lies that the enemy tells you.
Speaker 1: These are not the only two lies.
Speaker 2: The enemy is the father of lies, so he has
Speaker 2: a lot of babies. They the enemy has way more
Speaker 2: than two lives.
Speaker 1: But there are.
Speaker 2: Two that I want to deal with today, and I
Speaker 2: dealt with them a little bit last week. But he
Speaker 2: tried to tell you sometimes two things. You are no
Speaker 2: one and you have no one. Either of those two things,
Speaker 2: if you begin to believe them deeply in your heart,
Speaker 2: will keep you stuck in a belief of insignificance or
Speaker 2: a state of isolation. Watch how they work together. I
Speaker 2: am no one, I have no one. Since I am
Speaker 2: no one, I have nothing to offer. They wouldn't want
Speaker 2: to hear from me. They wouldn't want to be with me.
Speaker 2: They wouldn't want to do that with me. They wouldn't
Speaker 2: want to accept me. I am no one, I have
Speaker 2: no one. I am no one. I have no one.
Speaker 1: In walks Jesus.
Speaker 2: To one of the festivals and finds a man, and
Speaker 2: the Bible simply says about him one who was there.
Speaker 2: That's the only label. Well, his other label is he
Speaker 2: couldn't walk. He was one who was there who couldn't walk.
Speaker 2: He was one who was there who had fallen behind.
Speaker 2: He was one amongst many who could not do what
Speaker 2: other people could do.
Speaker 3: Why this one?
Speaker 2: We've already examined that it was no great faith that
Speaker 2: he exhibited or demonstrated. We've already examined that there are
Speaker 2: probably things that would have kept the other people from
Speaker 2: thinking he was worthy of help.
Speaker 3: Why this one?
Speaker 1: And you wonder that about yourself sometimes?
Speaker 2: Why would God use me when there are so many people?
Speaker 2: I love what the man said, because we think about
Speaker 2: this sometimes. He said, every time I try, someone else
Speaker 2: gets ahead of me. This man is prone to comparison.
Speaker 2: This man is prone to excuses. And the Bible says
Speaker 2: verse five, one who was there. Jesus didn't stay and
Speaker 2: heal everybody at the pool that day.
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't call for a line of people.
Speaker 2: This is a particular miracle that Jesus performs at a
Speaker 2: particular time for a specific person.
Speaker 3: One who was there.
Speaker 1: Now, touch your neighbor and ask them, are you the one?
Speaker 2: It's the obvious question, are you the one?
Speaker 1: Because it's a lot of people.
Speaker 2: In church today, it's a lot of people online today.
Speaker 3: But what if you're the one?
Speaker 1: Ask them?
Speaker 3: What if you're the wy?
Speaker 2: What if you're the one who needs to hear this
Speaker 2: message today more than anybody else in the room. What
Speaker 2: if you're the one that God gave Pastor Stephen this
Speaker 2: message for What if you're the one who takes this
Speaker 2: word and walks out of here different than you came in?
Speaker 2: Ask them again, what if you're the wie one was there?
Speaker 2: He was there in a place that he did want
Speaker 2: to be. He was there in a place where he
Speaker 2: probably had contributed to being himself. A lot of times
Speaker 2: we think God will get us out of situations if
Speaker 2: we didn't get ourselves into them.
Speaker 1: This is a miracle.
Speaker 2: They should encourage all the ones who have done dumb
Speaker 2: stuff and you need God to deliver you from your
Speaker 2: own hand, your own decisions.
Speaker 1: Clap if you screwed.
Speaker 2: Up a time or two and you need God to
Speaker 2: do something about.
Speaker 1: The situations you created.
Speaker 2: I love y'all. Y'all are such a real church. I said,
Speaker 2: clap if you screwed up. That was the loudest you
Speaker 2: clapped all Sunday. I pass the Elevation Church. And he
Speaker 2: was the one that was chosen out of all the others.
Speaker 2: But there is one little detail in this verse that
Speaker 2: stood out to me as.
Speaker 1: Being maybe a little irrelevant at first.
Speaker 2: Then I realized God doesn't waste any words, and so
Speaker 2: I found why he was the one in the same
Speaker 2: verse that said he was the one verse five one
Speaker 2: who was there had been an invalid for thirty eight years.
Speaker 2: How many think that's a long time to suffer like that,
Speaker 2: thirty eight years. How many think thirty eight is old.
Speaker 2: Bible don't say he was thirty eight years old. I
Speaker 2: said he'd been in that state for thirty eight years.
Speaker 2: And the crazy thing about it was when Jesus heals
Speaker 2: this guy. Look, you expect people to be happy when
Speaker 2: God does something in your life. You got to understand
Speaker 2: that sometimes people want to think like that their God,
Speaker 2: and they should get to decide who God blesses and
Speaker 2: how God does things. So this man in verse nine
Speaker 2: is cured, picked up his mat and walked.
Speaker 1: But look at verse nine part p.
Speaker 2: The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
Speaker 2: And so the Jewish leaders said to the man who
Speaker 2: had been healed, you can't do that. It's the sabbath.
Speaker 2: The law forbids you to carry your matt. The law
Speaker 2: won't let you do that. Not God's law, their law.
Speaker 2: There's nothing in the Bible that says you can't carry
Speaker 2: your mat after you get healed on the Sabbath. That's
Speaker 2: just something they added to it after the law came
Speaker 2: through Moses.
Speaker 1: Do you'll remember Moses.
Speaker 2: He's the one who brought down the ten Commandments from
Speaker 2: the mountain.
Speaker 1: He brought Yeah, Yeah, he.
Speaker 3: Was the wine. He's the wine.
Speaker 1: Oh that was Will saying that. I don't know who
Speaker 1: said that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was the one who came down with the
Speaker 2: with the with the tablets from the mountain. And one
Speaker 2: of them was to honor the Sabbath, right to honor
Speaker 2: that God.
Speaker 1: Wrested from his work by resting from yours.
Speaker 3: But he was not the one.
Speaker 2: There was no part of that commandment, no clause of
Speaker 2: that commandment that said that if you are healed from
Speaker 2: a crippling disease on the Sabbath, don't carry your mat around.
Speaker 1: That's just stuff they added on later.
Speaker 3: It was their law.
Speaker 2: So now we've got an interesting dilemma going.
Speaker 1: On in John chapter five.
Speaker 2: It is their word versus God's word. It is men's
Speaker 2: law versus God's law. I'm just about ready to preach
Speaker 2: right now. And they said to the man, you can't
Speaker 2: do that. The law forbids you from doing that. On
Speaker 2: the Sabbath. You can't carry your matt you can't do that.
Speaker 2: And I love verse eleven because the man looked back
Speaker 2: at them and said, that's nice to hear what you
Speaker 2: think I can and can't do. But there's one thing
Speaker 2: I've noticed. Every day i've been coming to this pool.
Speaker 2: I've been coming to this pool every day for years now.
Speaker 2: I've been laying in my spot every day for years now.
Speaker 2: I've been asking for help every day for years now.
Speaker 2: I've been waiting for a change every day for years now.
Speaker 2: I've watched these festivals come and go every day for
Speaker 2: years now. I've watched Pilgrim's stream in and out of Jerusalem,
Speaker 2: in and out of the Temple for years now. And
Speaker 2: for every day I sat here, and for every year
Speaker 2: I came here, and for every prayer I prayed here,
Speaker 2: and for every request I made here, never told me
Speaker 2: to get up and walk. So guess what, if you
Speaker 2: don't have the power to give, you don't have to
Speaker 2: give the permission for me to do it. Now. Now
Speaker 2: I love it, because watch this, he said verse eleven.
Speaker 2: Give it to me again. The man who made me
Speaker 2: well said to me. So, I hear what you're saying
Speaker 2: to me, but I know what he did for me.
Speaker 2: And now watch this. What you said I can't do
Speaker 2: is in conflict with what he told me that I
Speaker 2: could do.
Speaker 1: I hear God saying, take it up with the one
Speaker 1: who made me.
Speaker 2: I see in this text every person in this room
Speaker 2: in a certain situation in your life where the law
Speaker 2: is powerless to raise you, an effort is powerless to
Speaker 2: raise you, and people that you have depended on have
Speaker 2: been unable to raise you because they're human too.
Speaker 3: So I'll tell you what. Let's do.
Speaker 2: Let's take just a moment and then just about fifteen
Speaker 2: seconds and see if we can worship the one who said,
Speaker 2: let there be life and there wants.
Speaker 3: Let's see can we worship the.
Speaker 2: One who was there, the one.
Speaker 3: Who was there in the beginning. What's the word? And
Speaker 3: the wordless with God?
Speaker 2: And the word was God, and everything that was made
Speaker 2: was made through him.
Speaker 3: If he made it, he can change it. If he
Speaker 3: made it, he can race it.
Speaker 2: And if he made it, he gets salamling, thank you me,
Speaker 2: so one.
Speaker 3: I love this word. I love this word. Five five,
Speaker 3: five people.
Speaker 2: And saying, get up right down, you've been.
Speaker 3: Laying down long enough. You've been laying down long enough.
Speaker 2: All right, everybody's still sending you that fifteen minutes to
Speaker 2: write notes.
Speaker 3: Get up and give him praise. You gotta love him in.
Speaker 4: Sight of those lines, you get up and get up,
Speaker 4: Get up, Get up, Get up.
Speaker 3: Get up, Get up. Yet I want a key change.
Speaker 4: Get up, Get up, Get up, Get up, Get up,
Speaker 4: Get up, get up.
Speaker 1: That's what he said.
Speaker 2: The man who made me well said I could do it,
Speaker 2: So you got you gotta you gotta get this attitude right,
Speaker 2: like I hear my fears saying I can't. But the
Speaker 2: man who made me well, well, I feel like that
Speaker 2: the man who made me If it's a conflict between
Speaker 2: the people who didn't make me and the man who
Speaker 2: made me well, is that what he said, the man
Speaker 2: who made me well. You heard about the woman at
Speaker 2: the well. She's in John chapter four. This is John
Speaker 2: chapter five. Reflect is over, Holly. This is the man
Speaker 2: at the well. And by the way, I'm not talking
Speaker 2: about the well.
Speaker 1: That he thought he needed to get to to get well.
Speaker 1: I'm saying, y'all sit down. I gotta teach now.
Speaker 2: That you have been lying here long in the how
Speaker 2: long is long enough? It depends on what you're talking about.
Speaker 2: If you're talking about a sermon, you probably like that.
Speaker 2: You're probably good right now, past Dirk, you probably if
Speaker 2: we will wrap it up, send us home right now?
Speaker 1: About long enough? How long is long enough?
Speaker 2: When Jesus learned that he was lying there for a
Speaker 2: long time, I wanted to use a familiar textas week,
Speaker 2: because even though everybody hasn't heard it, a lot of
Speaker 2: people having last week. We're talking about a very obscure
Speaker 2: king that you may have never heard of, named Yusiah.
Speaker 2: And he was the one who rebuilt and restored, and
Speaker 2: he was the one who took Philistine's down, and he
Speaker 2: was the one. And you know, as many times as
Speaker 2: I've heard the story in John chapter five, I never
Speaker 2: knew why he was the one Jesus chose. It mystified
Speaker 2: me because I don't even like the guy. I don't
Speaker 2: even like him, he'd say, thank you, I don't even
Speaker 2: like him. And you know, you don't have to like
Speaker 2: the people for God to lift them. You have to
Speaker 2: like You don't have to like me for God to
Speaker 2: lift me. If I humble myself under his mighty hand,
Speaker 2: he'll lift me In do time, and he'll give me
Speaker 2: everything I'm supposed to have and everything I'm supposed to be.
Speaker 2: Just so you don't run around trying to win popularity
Speaker 2: contests with people and find out they don't have a
Speaker 2: prize to give when of you be bad to win
Speaker 2: a whole popularity contest and there was no prize. When
Speaker 2: we read about the one that Jesus chose to heal
Speaker 2: that day, and the Bible says that he was thirty
Speaker 2: eight years old, and that the religious teacher said today,
Speaker 2: you can't do that.
Speaker 1: The law forbids you.
Speaker 2: It was not the law of Moses that was recorded
Speaker 2: that forbade the man. So a lot of the things
Speaker 2: you accept as limitations come from man, not from God,
Speaker 2: come from flesh, not from spirit. And so it's a
Speaker 2: good thing to ask every once in a while. Is
Speaker 2: this limitation self imposed? Is it socially imposed? Or is
Speaker 2: God okay? Is God saying to you what he said
Speaker 2: to Moses in Deuteronomy to verse two. Let's go back
Speaker 2: there for a moment, because after they had wandered in
Speaker 2: the wilderness, does anybody remember why the Israelites ended up
Speaker 2: wandering in the wilderness for decades? I didn't hear an
Speaker 2: answer in that not they couldn't go in. They wouldn't
Speaker 2: go in. Not, they couldn't, They wouldn't Moses in the
Speaker 2: delegation of spies in to check out the land. They
Speaker 2: came back, and they were very, very focused on what
Speaker 2: intimidated them. So they did not receive the promise. After
Speaker 2: their wilderness period had ended. In all of that generation
Speaker 2: that had doubted and not believed had died in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: Moses is recounting in Deuteronomy chapter two, verse three.
Speaker 2: He says that the Lord said, you have made your
Speaker 2: way around this hill country.
Speaker 1: Now would a minute who said that? Go back to
Speaker 1: verse two.
Speaker 2: Then the Lord said to me, I want to give
Speaker 2: you a scripture memory verse for this week.
Speaker 1: Deuteronomy too too.
Speaker 2: Then the Lord said to me, and I want that
Speaker 2: to be the thing that becomes your true north.
Speaker 1: This week.
Speaker 2: We live in a time of a lot of noise
Speaker 2: and not a lot of signal, a lot of static
Speaker 2: and not a lot of songs. So if you get
Speaker 2: a Deuteronomy to to frequency going this week, then the
Speaker 2: Lord said to me. Then the Lord said to me,
Speaker 2: and this is what the Lord said to Moses.
Speaker 1: You have made your way around this hill.
Speaker 2: Country long enough, I hear God saying, long enough, long enough,
Speaker 2: Now turn north. The wilderness of kate Eshbarnia where they
Speaker 2: made a bad committee decision to stay in what was
Speaker 2: comfortable but miserable to them instead of progressing into what
Speaker 2: was uncertain full of battles.
Speaker 1: That decision was.
Speaker 2: Made in a southeastern part, and God said to Moses,
Speaker 2: now turn north. And I think that until what God
Speaker 2: speaks to me becomes my true north, I will always
Speaker 2: be lost in my life. The law forbids you to
Speaker 2: carry your mad You can't do that. Your anxiety is
Speaker 2: always going to tell you what to do, until God's
Speaker 2: word becomes your true north, so that you realize that
Speaker 2: He's greater than any storm of fear that you feel.
Speaker 2: Is your true north your feelings, or is your true
Speaker 2: north your faith. We live in a time where people
Speaker 2: do not know the difference between truth and belief.
Speaker 1: Belief is not necessarily truth.
Speaker 2: When you say the phrase that's my truth, you would
Speaker 2: be better served to say that's my belief, because it
Speaker 2: might be your belief, but it might just have been
Speaker 2: what you believe based on Did you notice what the
Speaker 2: Bible said about the man who was lying down on
Speaker 2: his mat is, said that he.
Speaker 1: Had been lying, had been past tense. His situation changed.
Speaker 2: Soken yours, His perspective changed, soken yours. If anyone is
Speaker 2: in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone,
Speaker 2: the new has come. And part of belonging to God
Speaker 2: and part of becoming what he has called me to be,
Speaker 2: is realizing that sometimes I have circled around something so
Speaker 2: long that it seems to me like my natural habitat.
Speaker 2: But the wilderness was not meant for you to live in.
Speaker 2: It was meant for you to pass through. There come
Speaker 2: moments in your life that God will call you out
Speaker 2: of wilderness, thinking out of wilderness, living out of isolated patterns.
Speaker 1: You had to do that for a season.
Speaker 2: Let's praise God for what he gave you to survive
Speaker 2: in the wilderness. But then God will speak to you
Speaker 2: and say, now turn north. Whose word is this today?
Speaker 2: God is saying, where I've had you is where I've
Speaker 2: had you.
Speaker 1: Where I put you is where I put you.
Speaker 2: And thank God that you made it as far as
Speaker 2: you did, as long as you did without what you had.
Speaker 2: But what the man said in John chapter five, I
Speaker 2: have no one to help me is no longer true.
Speaker 2: It had been true for thirty eight years. For thirty
Speaker 2: eight years, it was all he could do is wait
Speaker 2: for somebody who never came to help him.
Speaker 1: And that's all you can do with the law.
Speaker 2: You fall, you get up, You fall, you get up,
Speaker 2: you fail, you feel ashamed, you try to.
Speaker 1: Make it through another day.
Speaker 2: You cope, you hide it, you numb it, you do
Speaker 2: whatever you can to get through it. That's all you
Speaker 2: could do. Because I have no one to help me.
Speaker 2: Moses can only take you so far. The law will
Speaker 2: always have its limits. And that is what the man
Speaker 2: in the text did not realize, yes, is that while
Speaker 2: he was saying I have no one and feeling like
Speaker 2: I am no one, standing right in front of him
Speaker 2: was the one who singled him out, who picked him out.
Speaker 2: Who of all the people, Now, you gotta get this,
Speaker 2: you gotta get this. Of all the people that God
Speaker 2: could have put in that family and that business and
Speaker 2: that job and that rule, in that season, in that church,
Speaker 2: in that ministry, in that seat, of all the people
Speaker 2: that God could have put there, you were the one
Speaker 2: he put there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that is my true north that I'm called and
Speaker 5: chosen by God regardless.
Speaker 2: Of what I feel. Now turn north. That's the direction
Speaker 2: of the Promised Land. Because you've circled around this long enough,
Speaker 2: you have convinced.
Speaker 1: Yourself that you are alone.
Speaker 2: Until your loneliness has become a lie. I know the
Speaker 2: feeling of loneliness is real, But sometimes, just like the
Speaker 2: man in John five, you can't see what's right in
Speaker 2: front of you.
Speaker 1: Because of pain you carry inside of you.
Speaker 2: And Jesus when he learned it had been thirty eight years,
Speaker 2: I think he took a survey.
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: I think he asked around, how long you've been sick,
Speaker 2: How long you've been there?
Speaker 1: How long? Seven years not long enough? How long? Ten?
Speaker 1: Not long enough?
Speaker 2: Eighteen not long enough, twenty five not long enough, thirty
Speaker 2: two not long enough, thirty seven not quite long enough,
Speaker 2: thirty nine too long. It had to be thirty eight.
Speaker 2: Somebody say it had to be thirty eight. It had
Speaker 2: to be thirty eight. It had to happen right when
Speaker 2: it happened. It had to happen right where it happened.
Speaker 2: It had to happen through whom it happened. Because if
Speaker 2: you read down to Deuteronomy, chapter two, verse number thirteen,
Speaker 2: Moses goes on. Somebody say now turn north, and the
Speaker 2: Lord said, now get up and cross the Zared Valley.
Speaker 2: So we crossed the valley. They're moving forward into the
Speaker 2: promised land.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: They've been in the wilderness for so long. They've been
Speaker 2: in the wilderness a long time. They've been living off
Speaker 2: of manna and water from rocks for a long time.
Speaker 2: They've been bitten by snakes for a long time. They've
Speaker 2: had shoes that didn't wear out but never got replaced
Speaker 2: a long time.
Speaker 1: It's been a long time.
Speaker 2: How long Verse fourteen thirty eight years past, from the
Speaker 2: time we left Kadish Barneah until we crossed this arid
Speaker 2: valley thirty eight years passed.
Speaker 3: Jesus walks up to the pool.
Speaker 2: And he says, I need somebody to use as an
Speaker 2: illustration of what I came to do, because my people
Speaker 2: are lost in a wilderness of religion, and my people
Speaker 2: are paralyzed under what the law is powerless to do,
Speaker 2: and they keep trying and falling short, and trying and
Speaker 2: falling short. And they are slaves to thinks that they
Speaker 2: are supposed to rule over, and they are servants to
Speaker 2: think that they are supposed to be masters over, and
Speaker 2: so I need somebody I can use as a tool
Speaker 2: to show what I came to do.
Speaker 3: How low thirty years.
Speaker 2: You're a perfect illustration because I'm about to show you
Speaker 2: what I can do to bring you out of a wilderness.
Speaker 2: With one word, get up with one word, pick up
Speaker 2: your mat with one word walk. I came to declare,
Speaker 2: when God gives you one word, you can walk in
Speaker 2: it for the rest of your life. One word from
Speaker 2: God can get you up. One word from God can
Speaker 2: make you whole. One word from God can turn it around.
Speaker 3: Now turn north.
Speaker 2: The man is sitting there, lying there one moment and
Speaker 2: walk in the next moment.
Speaker 1: And the only.
Speaker 3: Difference was what he looked to.
Speaker 2: As long as he was looking at what was around him,
Speaker 2: he stayed stuck in what he had. But now turn north.
Speaker 2: I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my
Speaker 2: help come from? My health comes from the Lord. Do
Speaker 2: y'all know that scripture? The maker of heaven and earth.
Speaker 2: So God is saying, you've turned to everybody. You've turned
Speaker 2: to everything. You've turned to drugs, you've turned to sex,
Speaker 2: you've turned to compulsive work ethics. You've turned to success,
Speaker 2: you've turned to status. You've turned to buying stuff you
Speaker 2: don't need to impress people you don't like, who aren't
Speaker 2: paying attention anyway. You've turned to everything else. Now turn north.
Speaker 2: You've turned to self help and you couldn't help yourself.
Speaker 2: If you could have helped yourself, you would have been
Speaker 2: in the.
Speaker 3: Pool by now.
Speaker 2: But I see you trying to get to the pool,
Speaker 2: and you couldn't get to the pool.
Speaker 1: So I got good news.
Speaker 2: Summer is over, but the pool is coming to you.
Speaker 3: The pool is open.
Speaker 5: You can come to this water and drain from this SOUTHA.
Speaker 3: I don't know who needed to hear it. What's your
Speaker 3: wilderness season? He's over to God. Come on, listen your.
Speaker 2: Hands and worsop for twenty seconds.
Speaker 3: Now, lords no, I released you from regretting the spirit.
Speaker 2: I release you from the bondage of yesterday's decisions. I
Speaker 2: release you from inferiority calls by the patterns of sith.
Speaker 2: I release you now, sird not gonna be lost forever.
Speaker 2: God gave me grace to get out. Now turn north.
Speaker 2: When they asked, oh, God showed me. I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: while I was praying, God showed me somebody. You are
Speaker 2: going to walk in a completely different direction and manner
Speaker 2: of life because of this word. Today, you know something
Speaker 2: interesting happened when Jesus healed that man. The religious leaders
Speaker 2: didn't like it, and the man didn't really even understand it,
Speaker 2: because the Bible says that when they asked him verse twelve, John,
Speaker 2: chapter five, who is this fellow who told you to
Speaker 2: pick it up and walk? The man answered, I have
Speaker 2: no idea, for Jesus had slipped away.
Speaker 1: Into the crowd.
Speaker 2: Sometimes God is trying to bring you back to your
Speaker 2: north and you don't even know it.
Speaker 1: You don't even know it's him.
Speaker 2: God uses certain seasons in your life, even certain setbacks
Speaker 2: in your life, and yes, certain blessings in your life,
Speaker 2: so that you will know your north, so you won't
Speaker 2: be like me with no sense of direction, just going
Speaker 2: through your life. And I'm grateful that Jesus didn't just.
Speaker 1: Let that man walk away.
Speaker 2: Because it was one thing for the man to see Jesus,
Speaker 2: but it was another thing for the man to look
Speaker 2: at verse fourteen to see why Jesus had seen him,
Speaker 2: because later Jesus found him at the temple and said
Speaker 2: to him, see you are well again.
Speaker 1: I gave you a second chance.
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you five seconds to praise God
Speaker 2: for every second chance he's given you in your life.
Speaker 2: One six, five four. See you are well again. Stop sinning,
Speaker 2: or something worse may happen to you. I love that
Speaker 2: the passage didn't end when the man got up and walked.
Speaker 2: I loved that before Jesus let him go, he told
Speaker 2: him why he raised him to begin with. He told
Speaker 2: him you were lying in your excuses, and now you
Speaker 2: are risen by my power. Now that you know the truth,
Speaker 2: now that you know you're north, I want you to
Speaker 2: head in the direction of your future and never come
Speaker 2: back to your past.
Speaker 1: Who's this forth.
Speaker 3: You can't go back.
Speaker 1: You can't go back.
Speaker 2: So I don't want you to hear a word from
Speaker 2: God that turned the direction in your heart and then
Speaker 2: you just go right back to the same patterns of
Speaker 2: sin and isolation.
Speaker 1: That you came from.
Speaker 2: That's why Jesus told him to take up your mat
Speaker 2: because I want you to make a statement.
Speaker 1: I won't be back. Turn north, Turn north.
Speaker 2: Everybody gets discouraged, man piano, please, everybody gets discos urged.
Speaker 1: Everybody has moments of believing lies. I am no one,
Speaker 1: I have no one.
Speaker 2: Even the great prophet Elijah one time he had seen
Speaker 2: a great revival and an outpouring of the demonstration of
Speaker 2: God's power. And because of the threat that he received
Speaker 2: from a woman named Jezebel, he ran forty days and
Speaker 2: forty nights south.
Speaker 1: To the Mountain of God and hid in a cave.
Speaker 2: And the word of the Lord came to him in
Speaker 2: a cave, like the Word of the Lord is coming.
Speaker 1: To you today in your situation.
Speaker 2: And he told Elijah in a whisper, leave here and
Speaker 2: go back the way you came. You've gone so far
Speaker 2: south that you have forgotten who you are, and you've
Speaker 2: lost yourself. But when the word of the Lord comes
Speaker 2: and says, now turn north, you turn.
Speaker 1: You turn.
Speaker 2: And I want to say to somebody who feels like
Speaker 2: this word can't be for me because I don't deserve it.
Speaker 2: God did not pick the person at the pool that
Speaker 2: day that deserved it the most to do.
Speaker 1: It, for He picked the person I got to give
Speaker 1: you this and I'll go.
Speaker 2: He picked the person that he could use what they
Speaker 2: had been through to demonstrate what he could do.
Speaker 1: Can God use you?
Speaker 2: We all have a met we all have a mess,
Speaker 2: we all have a mistake. But God can work through
Speaker 2: that too. I want to pray for you right now
Speaker 2: because God is saying, now turn north. He's saying to
Speaker 2: obey what he's speaking. And you know you might have
Speaker 2: to do this sometimes, just many times a day, because
Speaker 2: I think I don't know about you, but my soul
Speaker 2: can get southbound real fast and pulled down to the
Speaker 2: level of feelings and preferences offenses. So I just want
Speaker 2: you to hear the voice of the Lord like Moses did.
Speaker 2: Now turn north. One greater than Moses is here. His
Speaker 2: name is Jesus. And every time you look to him
Speaker 2: there's living water. Every time you drink from him, you
Speaker 2: will be filled. Now turn north. You see it. He
Speaker 2: is the higher power. He is the one who gives permission.
Speaker 2: He is the one who is present in this moment.
Speaker 2: He is the one who was there.
Speaker 1: Father.
Speaker 2: I pray over every stigma, every insecurity, over everybody who's
Speaker 2: in this room, kind of wondering either why am I
Speaker 2: the one going through this hardship or why am I
Speaker 2: the one chosen for this pressure. You know, we come
Speaker 2: from many different directions, but we all need the same thing.
Speaker 2: Spirit of Christ, I thank you for opening my eyes
Speaker 2: to the mystery of thirty eight years this week, when
Speaker 2: I study, I realized that what the man did at
Speaker 2: the pool when he got up, is what Moses did
Speaker 2: in the wilderness, when they got up and crossed over
Speaker 2: the valley and faced forward into the promise. We thank
Speaker 2: you for your exceeding, great and precious promises toward those
Speaker 2: who believe.
Speaker 1: This house.
Speaker 2: Today I proclaim those promises over your children. I thank
Speaker 2: you that we are citizens of the Kingdom of light,
Speaker 2: not darkness. Now we turn north. I thank you that
Speaker 2: we are shielded from the fire. Darts of the wicked win.
Speaker 1: And when the.
Speaker 2: Enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the
Speaker 2: Lord will raise up a standard. We turn north. Our
Speaker 2: eyes are on you. We don't know what to do,
Speaker 2: but our eyes are on you. We will be worshippers
Speaker 2: in this battle. We now turn north. You take what
Speaker 2: the enemy meant for evil, and you turn it for good.
Speaker 2: We now turn north. We don't look to the east
Speaker 2: or to the west. Where our health comes from. Our
Speaker 2: health comes from the north. Our health comes from the Lord.
Speaker 2: Our health comes from the maker of heaven and earth.
Speaker 2: And we give you praise and honor and glory. And
Speaker 2: we make a declaration to the places where we've been lying.
Speaker 2: We will not be back. We will not revisit these
Speaker 2: things over and over again.
Speaker 1: We will not.
Speaker 2: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are
Speaker 2: in Christ.
Speaker 3: Jesus. Now turn.
Speaker 2: And as we clap our hands, and as we celebrate
Speaker 2: your word, we expect a visitation of power at the
Speaker 2: pool of a testa. This week, power and grace under
Speaker 2: the fives covered colonnades. This week, power and a demonstration
Speaker 2: of your authority.
Speaker 3: You are God, and we've.
Speaker 2: Got the grace to get up hoigh five.
Speaker 3: Everybody you can reach.
Speaker 2: Us, say, get up by grace, Get up by grace.
Speaker 3: Thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1: Come on, Clap those hands and celebrate his word. Clap
Speaker 1: those hands and celebrate. Go on, head's bowed eyes close.
Speaker 2: I want to lead somebody into a relationship with Jesus
Speaker 2: right now, nobody moving. The Bible says that if you
Speaker 2: will confess with your mouth and believe with your heart
Speaker 2: that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.
Speaker 2: That sounds like turning north to me. The word repent
Speaker 2: does not mean to feel bad about what you've done.
Speaker 2: It means to turn and change your mind. It means
Speaker 2: to come back to your Father for somebody who's been
Speaker 2: going south today and God is turning you in a
Speaker 2: new direction. I want to remind you that the Cross
Speaker 2: was the turning point of human history, the resurrection was
Speaker 2: the proof that Jesus was God's son, and today will
Speaker 2: be the defining moment of your new life in Christ.
Speaker 2: With heads bowed and eyes closed all over this room,
Speaker 2: all of our campuses, watching online all over the world,
Speaker 2: I'm going to lead you in a prayer. This prayer
Speaker 2: is not magical. It's a connection point for you and God.
Speaker 2: And if you will mean this with your heart today,
Speaker 2: God will hear from heaven, heal you of your sin,
Speaker 2: forgive you and redeem you for your wrongs, and give
Speaker 2: you a new beginning. Heads bowed, eyes closed, all over
Speaker 2: the church, repeat after me, Heavenly Father, I am a
Speaker 2: sinner in need of a savior, and I believe that
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior
Speaker 2: of the world. And today I make Jesus the Lord
Speaker 2: of my life. I believe he died that I would
Speaker 2: be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I
Speaker 2: receive this new life. This is my new beginning. On
Speaker 2: the count of three, if you pray that, shoot your
Speaker 2: hand up one, two, three, all over the room.
Speaker 1: Put it in a chat. I receive Jesus. I receive Jesus.
Speaker 1: We're celebrating right now.
Speaker 2: We're celebrating right now, every turn and around life. Come on,
Speaker 2: celebrate every new beginning, every new future. Hey, I hope
Speaker 2: you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did, make sure
Speaker 2: to share it and subscribe so we can get you
Speaker 2: all of these new messages as soon as they're available.
Speaker 2: I also want to take a moment and thank all
Speaker 2: of you who are a part of Elevation. Whether you
Speaker 2: support us financially, or serve with us, or just share
Speaker 2: these messages, it's because of you that we're able to
Speaker 2: reach people all around the world. And if you want
Speaker 2: more information on how to be a part of Elevation,
Speaker 2: click the link in the description. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2: Make sure to leave a review, share the message, and subscribe.
Speaker 2: God bless you.