Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message. We thank you for your presence today. God.
Speaker 2: We do not take it for granted that we can
Speaker 2: call upon that name, that name that moves mountains, that
Speaker 2: name that saves souls, that name that forgives sin, that
Speaker 2: name that rolls away shame. That name, and that name alone,
Speaker 2: the name of Jesus is our banner today. I'm thankful
Speaker 2: for thousands of people who are not ashamed to praise
Speaker 2: the name of Jesus today, who are not shy or
Speaker 2: quiet or too tired.
Speaker 1: To praise the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: I thank you for the chain breaking power of your
Speaker 2: son Jesus today. I thank you for the yoke destroying
Speaker 2: annointing of your son Jesus. Today. I thank you for
Speaker 2: the great robbing presence but the Almighty God the Great,
Speaker 2: I am the person in the work of Jesus today,
Speaker 2: and we expect miracles in that name healing in that name,
Speaker 2: breakthrough in that name. But we didn't come today just
Speaker 2: to see what we could get out of that name.
Speaker 2: We came to give that name the praise today, for
Speaker 2: your name is worthy, Jesus, your name is worthy, always
Speaker 2: has been, always will be. No matter what we go through,
Speaker 2: You're worthy. No matter what we're facing. You're worthy, never changes,
Speaker 2: never feels your great love. Grab the hand of the
Speaker 2: person on either side of you. We're going to make
Speaker 2: a connection right now by faith. And if you're watching
Speaker 2: online and you're not at one of our physical locations,
Speaker 2: that's all right. Just squeeze the hand of the person
Speaker 2: next to you, and now say this out loud.
Speaker 1: God, God is in this moment.
Speaker 2: Father, we thank you and invite you into every single
Speaker 2: situation represented in this room, good, bad, in between, epic
Speaker 2: or boring. You are the lord of it all. I
Speaker 2: thank you for the wonderful time we've.
Speaker 1: Had today singing your praises. But worship is more than
Speaker 1: a song. So now Lord, we bring you our lives, ourselves,
Speaker 1: every single part of us.
Speaker 2: I pray for the person on my right, the person
Speaker 2: on my left. I don't just pray for myself today.
Speaker 2: Would you touch my brother, touch my sister. Touch them
Speaker 2: enough to let.
Speaker 1: Them know they can make it another week.
Speaker 2: Touch them enough to know that it's already worked out
Speaker 2: in heaven, and it will be done on earth as
Speaker 2: it is in heaven.
Speaker 1: Touch them enough to.
Speaker 2: Know that there is nothing that escapes your all seeing eye,
Speaker 2: and that the wings of else should I, the Most
Speaker 2: High God, are hovering over your children today. I thank you,
Speaker 2: Lord for your promise that he who dwelleth in the
Speaker 2: secret place of the Most High will abide under the
Speaker 2: shadow of the Almighty. And I thank you that no
Speaker 2: weapon formed against your children will prosper. We thank you
Speaker 2: that the Church of Jesus Christ is being built, and
Speaker 2: the gates of hell will not prevail, have not prevailed,
Speaker 2: cannot prevail. For we know a name that is greater
Speaker 2: than sasan greater than darkness, greater than cancer, greater than depression,
Speaker 2: greater than diabetes, greater than sickness, greater than guilt. Grace
Speaker 2: that is greater the nave of Jesus given.
Speaker 3: Praise children, all right, guess no polite praise, Give in
Speaker 3: your party, pray, give in your maiden, praise, Give in.
Speaker 1: Your some kind of way.
Speaker 4: He's gonna do it.
Speaker 5: Praise hey, well, happy twenty twenty five everybody.
Speaker 1: I thought I would give the year a catchy slogan.
Speaker 2: This is my first year of twenty twenty five, so
Speaker 2: I thought, I'll give you a range of options. If
Speaker 2: you really aren't that goal oriented, just survive in twenty five.
Speaker 2: Touch your neighbors, say survive. If you had a little
Speaker 2: more faith in that, look at them and say thrive
Speaker 2: in twenty five.
Speaker 1: If you got a little more faith than that, if.
Speaker 2: You got faith like Lazarus, if you got faith like
Speaker 2: the women who went to the tomb with the spices
Speaker 2: when they said it was over look at your neighbor
Speaker 2: and say.
Speaker 1: Dead things come alive in twenty five. Oh oh oh.
Speaker 2: I felt that when I said it in twenty five. Yeah,
Speaker 2: come on, Brandon, come on, Chris. We're not gonna sing
Speaker 2: anymore because I feel like preaching.
Speaker 1: This is my first sermon of the year. We're gonna
Speaker 1: put that song on on.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get it out as soon as we can.
Speaker 1: I know a name.
Speaker 2: We're not gonna hold it hostage for two years like
Speaker 2: we do. Sometimes that song is going into your ears
Speaker 2: so it can go into.
Speaker 1: People's homes into people's hearts, so you can call on
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Do we have a date, boys, fourteenth Valentine's Day, that.
Speaker 1: That thing's coming alive on Valentine? Can I get a name?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 1: She'd be like, that's great.
Speaker 2: You can be singing like I don't have a day,
Speaker 2: but I know a name. Give it up for the
Speaker 2: Great Brandon Lake, the Great Christopher Brown. We got hey,
Speaker 2: we got new music coming your way Friday, suns on Sunday,
Speaker 2: God Dad, get it on Napster.
Speaker 1: It's good to be back. I've seen you all in
Speaker 1: a few weeks.
Speaker 5: Brace the Lord, everybody.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you also, stay standing.
Speaker 2: I want to thank you for your amazing, remarkable, once
Speaker 2: in a generation generosity for our church giving in our
Speaker 2: year end offering over ten million dollars, over ten million
Speaker 2: dollars at least, praise Him on a ten for ten
Speaker 2: million dollars.
Speaker 1: That's so many people we can help.
Speaker 2: That's so many schools we can build. That's so many
Speaker 2: people we can come to with water and with food
Speaker 2: and with clothes, and with the gospel building and blessing
Speaker 2: and touching the world and preaching Jesus. We're gonna build
Speaker 2: a campus in Greenville, South Carolina. We're gonna build a
Speaker 2: campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. We're gonna build a campus
Speaker 2: in Uptown Charlotte. We're gonna preach the Gospel everywhere, all
Speaker 2: around the world, and we're doing it together.
Speaker 1: I five your neighbors say, I'm.
Speaker 2: Alive in twenty five and the church is alive.
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord.
Speaker 2: Feeling good, Gavin feeling good, Graham feeling dangerous today, feel
Speaker 2: a revival spirit today. You know, the Lord led me
Speaker 2: to a passage of scripture that I thought was so
Speaker 2: strange that I was nervous to preach it.
Speaker 1: But I find sometimes it's in the.
Speaker 2: Simplest pictures that He gives us that the greatest and
Speaker 2: most strategic breakthroughs occur. I want you to join me
Speaker 2: for a moment today. In Second Kings chapter six, verses
Speaker 2: one through seven, I took a poll of ten Christians,
Speaker 2: ten people who went to Bible school. Nine point seven
Speaker 2: of the ten said I've never heard that story preached before,
Speaker 2: So that means today this will be the best sermon
Speaker 2: on Second King six one through seven.
Speaker 1: You've ever heard some stacking the odds in my favor?
Speaker 1: You can't say anything else.
Speaker 2: You say, Well, that's the best sermon I've ever heard
Speaker 2: about that scripture, because it's the.
Speaker 6: Only one I've heard about that scripture.
Speaker 2: Now I am rested, but I might be a little rusty.
Speaker 2: So I need your grace Amens today. While I'm preaching,
Speaker 2: I said, I need your grace Amens today. We're gonna
Speaker 2: get our timing down in the first ten minutes so
Speaker 2: we can go to church here.
Speaker 1: But I don't want you to miss anything that the
Speaker 1: Lord has for you.
Speaker 2: So lean in from the very beginning, because I'll read
Speaker 2: you just three verses and then I'll tell you this
Speaker 2: very peculiar story in the scripture, and you'll wonder like
Speaker 2: I wondered why that scripture.
Speaker 6: That's what I wondered too, But then God showed me.
Speaker 2: Let's look together at tewod King's chapter six, verse one
Speaker 2: and two.
Speaker 1: Just those two verses for now.
Speaker 2: And by the way, shout out to our Charleston, South
Speaker 2: Carolina pop up today.
Speaker 1: Do you know we were meeting in Charleston today.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, They're still shouting. Valentine's not that excited. They
Speaker 2: don't care. What does it matter to them? You came
Speaker 2: out in the cold, you know, you get an extra
Speaker 2: dose of the Holy Ghost for coming out when it's
Speaker 2: below forty degrees in the south. I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 2: good things are gonna happen. Your car is going to
Speaker 2: get extra gas mileage this week because you came in
Speaker 2: the cold, as long as it's a tesla now tewod Kings,
Speaker 2: Chapter six, Verse one, the company of the prophets said
Speaker 2: to Elisha, look, the place where we meet with you
Speaker 2: is too.
Speaker 1: Small for us.
Speaker 2: Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us
Speaker 2: can get a pole, and let us build a place
Speaker 2: there for us to me. And he said, go, everybody
Speaker 2: shall go. Let me read that one more time before
Speaker 2: I give you my subject for today. Second King six,
Speaker 2: verses one and two. The Bible says the company of
Speaker 2: the prophets said to Elisha, look, the place where we
Speaker 2: meet with you is too.
Speaker 1: Small for us. Now that's a problem.
Speaker 2: So verse two, they said, let us go to the Jordan,
Speaker 2: where each of us can get a poll, and build
Speaker 2: a place there for us to meet.
Speaker 1: And he said, go today.
Speaker 2: I want to talk to you for a few moments
Speaker 2: about where you meet with God, where you meet with God.
Speaker 1: And get you to think about that.
Speaker 2: Because I believe it is the key to so many
Speaker 2: other things that you're worried about. This year where you
Speaker 2: meet with God Father, we thank you that you're already here.
Speaker 2: Don't have to beg you to come or entice you.
Speaker 2: And I pray that now you would make your presence
Speaker 2: so manifest that not a single one of us can
Speaker 2: excuse it or explain it away. When they leave, Lord,
Speaker 2: may they say not the music was good. May they
Speaker 2: not say they kept it cold in that auditorium. May
Speaker 2: they not say it was crowded. We got to get
Speaker 2: out of here and get out of the park.
Speaker 1: Lie.
Speaker 2: May they say, surely the presence of the Lord was
Speaker 2: in this place in Jesus' name. Amen, on your way
Speaker 2: to your seat, touch your neighbor and say God is here,
Speaker 2: and I'm glad you're here too. Never been easier to
Speaker 2: pretend we're places that were not. Tim I had a
Speaker 2: zoom meeting with a professional that I pay the other day.
Speaker 2: I put that in because it's important. He has all
Speaker 2: kinds of trophies and awards every time we meet, because
Speaker 2: we meet regularly, and I can always see all his
Speaker 2: trophies and a wars kind of like an ego wall
Speaker 2: so he can keep.
Speaker 1: Me convinced I need to pay him. I get it.
Speaker 1: I'm not judging it.
Speaker 2: And the other day I was meeting with him and
Speaker 2: while I was looking, I was like, oh man, maybe
Speaker 2: something's wrong with my eyes, because some of the awards
Speaker 2: started like disappearing.
Speaker 1: I was like, that's weird.
Speaker 2: Check my numb I'm forty four now, so I know
Speaker 2: stuff's going to start just quitting. I'm like, the is
Speaker 2: it the zoom connection? Is it just midlife? What's happening
Speaker 2: right now? And then another award kind of started moving
Speaker 2: and then it started moving around. I was like, well,
Speaker 2: now that's not the connection. And they were pixelating and
Speaker 2: they were moving positions all over the wall and I
Speaker 2: called his name. I'm make up a name, I said, brother.
Speaker 2: I said, why are the trophies moving around the wall?
Speaker 2: I said, is that a zoom background? Are those not
Speaker 2: real trophies that I've.
Speaker 1: Been looking at the whole time?
Speaker 2: And he dropped his head, and I knew that wasn't
Speaker 2: true because I know as credentials. He said, I just
Speaker 2: didn't want to distract you. I had a flood in
Speaker 2: the regular place we meet, and I didn't want to
Speaker 2: cause a disruption. So I just recreated that background, and
Speaker 2: I've been putting it up the next weeks, and I
Speaker 2: promise you those are real. And then the next time
Speaker 2: we met, I made him pick up stuff and show
Speaker 2: it to me to prove that you really did earn it,
Speaker 2: and I came away with a valuable lesson. It's never
Speaker 2: been easier to pretend like you're in a place and
Speaker 2: hope that nobody stops to ask you, are you really here?
Speaker 2: All this stuff that you show online, it's never been
Speaker 2: easier to show it on a screen, even when you
Speaker 2: know you don't really have it in your life to
Speaker 2: be going through a flood in one location, but to
Speaker 2: make it look like everything is fine in another. And again,
Speaker 2: I don't say this as a judgment, but just sometimes
Speaker 2: when we come to little obscure text in the Bible
Speaker 2: that maybe we say, why of all the passages, pastor Steven,
Speaker 2: I need a word for twenty twenty five, this is
Speaker 2: your first sermon of the year. Maybe you're watching this
Speaker 2: in twenty thirty eight. Maybe I'm a hologram floating over
Speaker 2: you preaching this right now. I don't know what they'll
Speaker 2: do in the future, but you're like, why this We
Speaker 2: got a whole Bible full of big miracles, with big
Speaker 2: old red seas and towering jericho walls and filthy grades
Speaker 2: and blind eyes being open, and you would choose to
Speaker 2: preach about a text as simple as the company of
Speaker 2: the prophets said to Elisha, Look, the place, the place
Speaker 2: where we meet with you is too small for us.
Speaker 2: Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us
Speaker 2: can get a pole, and let us build a place.
Speaker 1: There for us to meet. And he said, go.
Speaker 2: So why would the Holy Spirit select this scripture for
Speaker 2: us on this pivotal week in our lives? And I
Speaker 2: have a reason that I think the Holy Spirit wants
Speaker 2: you to hear about this today.
Speaker 1: Is first of all, because.
Speaker 2: Most of the things that you struggle with in your
Speaker 2: life have small beginnings. The better that you get with
Speaker 2: identifying and recognizing your struggle in the small stage, the
Speaker 2: less effort you will have to spend when that thing
Speaker 2: is full grown to sabotage you in the future. And
Speaker 2: I love these men in this passage. Okay, here's the situation.
Speaker 2: They are students of a great prophet. Everybody say, great prophet,
Speaker 2: not a pretty good prophet, not a minor league prophet,
Speaker 2: a great profit, the prophet of Israel, who could call
Speaker 2: for God to intervene supernaturally and he would, who could
Speaker 2: locate enemies supernaturally, and God's people would get the victory.
Speaker 2: A great prophet, Elisha, And he has gathered unto himself
Speaker 2: a great company of students. And the students are kind
Speaker 2: of looking around for a little while. As this movement
Speaker 2: starts to grow, please be aware that if God really
Speaker 2: blesses your life, blessing creates just as many problems as
Speaker 2: struggle does. So at some point they begin to meet
Speaker 2: with one another, meet with one another, and they say,
Speaker 2: this sucks, man.
Speaker 1: It's crowded. This is ridiculous.
Speaker 2: This was fine when there were fifty of us, but
Speaker 2: who knows how many there were by that time. Right,
Speaker 2: Elisha has fixed a complete water system in one city.
Speaker 2: He has fixed a drought for several kings and turned
Speaker 2: the tide of the war. He's supplied a food supply
Speaker 2: for a widow. He's given a barren woman a child,
Speaker 2: and then raised that child from the dead when the
Speaker 2: child got all that's already happened. He healed a Syrian
Speaker 2: commander of leprosy by telling him to go dip into
Speaker 2: Jordan river.
Speaker 1: So you got to imagine that it was at least.
Speaker 2: Double what it had been to start with, right, because
Speaker 2: he had a double portion of Elijah, his predecessor spirit on.
Speaker 1: Him, and he worked great miracles.
Speaker 2: And so they look at each other one day like, man,
Speaker 2: somebody ought to do something about this is crowded.
Speaker 1: You don't hour.
Speaker 2: There's no deodorant. It hasn't been invented. We got to
Speaker 2: do something about this. And I want to focus in
Speaker 2: for just a moment on verse one to show you
Speaker 2: where the Holy Spirit convicted me about my life. He
Speaker 2: told me that I live in verse one too often.
Speaker 2: And verse one is where they give the complaint. Look,
Speaker 2: the place where we meet with you is too small
Speaker 2: for us.
Speaker 1: And that's the whole verse one.
Speaker 2: And I wonder, did you live most of last year
Speaker 2: in verse one and never make it to verse two?
Speaker 1: What do you mean make it to verse two? Verse two?
Speaker 2: They say, let us go to the Jordan, where each
Speaker 2: of us can get a pole, and.
Speaker 1: Let us build a place there for us to meet.
Speaker 1: And he said, go.
Speaker 2: Verse one contains the problem. It's too crowded. This isn't
Speaker 2: working anymore. We don't fit here anymore. We don't like this.
Speaker 1: Y'all need to build a parking decat elevution church. This
Speaker 1: is too much.
Speaker 2: Y'all go too long and the services overlap and it's crazy.
Speaker 2: Y'all need to get us out of this high school
Speaker 2: auditorium and get us in a real building.
Speaker 1: You know, we got problems around here, and the only
Speaker 1: thing about the problem is that God caused it.
Speaker 2: Because I bet you they prayed for people to come
Speaker 2: and be a part of their team, and now they're
Speaker 2: complaining about something that they prayed for. Oh, you better
Speaker 2: wear your steel toe this year.
Speaker 1: Don't wear your crocs to this church this year.
Speaker 2: I'm walking up and down those roads this year looking
Speaker 2: for the person who's like me. Now, this is my
Speaker 2: default setting to pray about something, possess what I prayed for,
Speaker 2: complain about what I prayed for.
Speaker 1: But they didn't do that. They said the place is
Speaker 1: too small. Watch this verse two. Let us go. So
Speaker 1: here's a challenge for you. Now.
Speaker 2: I hope you'll accept it, but maybe you won't. And
Speaker 2: that's okay too, because I can just give you the challenge.
Speaker 2: I can't make you do it. Every time you are
Speaker 2: tempted to complain it is an invitation to create. Instead,
Speaker 2: every time you are tempted to complain, it should be
Speaker 2: a trigger or an invitation for you to create. I
Speaker 2: know the Bible says do everything without complaining, but sometimes
Speaker 2: the complaining stage is the stage you have to make
Speaker 2: it through to get to the change stage. They were
Speaker 2: not rebuked for complaining, but they were blessed for continuing. Again,
Speaker 2: they were not rebuked for complaining. This place is too
Speaker 2: small a prophet, so be grateful for what you had. No,
Speaker 2: he was more than willing, And that's the word I
Speaker 2: want us to come back to a few times today.
Speaker 2: He was more than willing to give them permission. And
Speaker 2: some of the things that we're praying about, complaining about,
Speaker 2: worrying about and calling it prayer, God has already.
Speaker 1: Given us permission to fix.
Speaker 2: You ever worried about something and said you prayed about it,
Speaker 2: You ever talked to everybody about it but the one
Speaker 2: who could do something for you. May this be the
Speaker 2: year that you stop complaining to people who can't change
Speaker 2: it anyway. Maybe that's where I need to be preaching
Speaker 2: from back there in the back where this is my year,
Speaker 2: where the Bible says the company of the prophets.
Speaker 1: Verse one said to Elisha, and I got to show
Speaker 1: you how cool the Bible is.
Speaker 2: A prophet speaks for God, right, a prophet represents God aphet.
Speaker 2: We don't have prophets like this today because we all,
Speaker 2: as believers have the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our great
Speaker 2: high Priest. The Holy Spirit lives in you. You don't
Speaker 2: need me to get a word from God. If I'm
Speaker 2: off any day, God is still on. If I don't
Speaker 2: give you the word that you need, go back and
Speaker 2: read the scripture I read, and God will preach it
Speaker 2: better than I did. If I fall down dead preaching
Speaker 2: this sermon today, somebody else will pick up the mic
Speaker 2: and preach it before I can get out of the
Speaker 2: door with the ems. Because God's word is eternal, It
Speaker 2: does not originate with men.
Speaker 1: It originates with God. And not only, oh, not only
Speaker 1: is it.
Speaker 2: Internal eternal, internal eternal. And when we say the place
Speaker 2: where you meet with God, I want you to understand
Speaker 2: that that place is never meant to be a building.
Speaker 2: When I said I want to talk to you today
Speaker 2: about where you meet with God, You're like, great, they're
Speaker 2: starting a building campaign.
Speaker 1: No where he did that. I told you our building,
Speaker 1: where are built? The building are here? Anyman? You don't
Speaker 1: have a build, and then we could put it on YouTube.
Speaker 1: So we don't need all that.
Speaker 2: But maybe I am starting a building campaign today where
Speaker 2: you begin.
Speaker 1: To build new patterns.
Speaker 2: And recruit new people if necessary, so that the presence
Speaker 2: of God permeates your life. This year, I want to
Speaker 2: talk to you about where you meet with God. Now
Speaker 2: let me slow down because I get excited because y'all start,
Speaker 2: y'all start.
Speaker 1: Drawing it out of me, and it's your fault.
Speaker 2: When we think about a prophet, we think about somebody
Speaker 2: who speaks for God and prophet to do that. In
Speaker 2: the Bible, prophets can prophesy doom and judgment, and you
Speaker 2: see this a lot.
Speaker 1: In the Bible.
Speaker 2: Prophets can also prophesy rain and blessing and life and increase.
Speaker 2: But in this situation, didn't you find it interesting that
Speaker 2: in verse one it says the company of the prophet
Speaker 2: said to Elisha, not I just said to the company
Speaker 2: of the prophets.
Speaker 1: Why is that significant?
Speaker 2: Because sometimes God commands you to do something clearly, clearly.
Speaker 2: There are some things that God has commanded you to
Speaker 2: do clearly. These are not opinions, suggestions, or advice. These
Speaker 2: are not influencers giving you their tips and techniques. These
Speaker 2: are the truths of God's word.
Speaker 1: They are eternal.
Speaker 2: And so God commands you clearly to flee sexual immorality.
Speaker 2: You don't have to pray about the affair that you're
Speaker 2: on the edge of having.
Speaker 1: You got to run flee sexual immorality. That's clear.
Speaker 2: I know another clear one that people don't like forgive others,
Speaker 2: just as God in Christ forgave you.
Speaker 1: That's clear. But Lord, which city should I live in?
Speaker 2: Should I live in Charlotte or Atlanta or Roanoke or Raleigh?
Speaker 1: The Lord don't.
Speaker 2: The Lord is going to use you in the city
Speaker 2: that you obey the clear thing that He showed you in. So,
Speaker 2: if you don't forgiven Charlotte, when you move to Atlanta,
Speaker 2: you're gonna have just the same sewage that you had
Speaker 2: in Charlotte when you get to Atlanta, because you didn't
Speaker 2: do what was clear.
Speaker 1: Wherever you go, there you are.
Speaker 2: And so a lot of the prayers we pray about
Speaker 2: moves we should make. When we can't get ourselves to
Speaker 2: obey what God has clearly spoken, we create confusion so
Speaker 2: that we don't take responsibility for our decisions. I'm not
Speaker 2: going to be like this the whole time. I will
Speaker 2: be hopeful in a moment.
Speaker 1: But I just want to spend more time this year.
Speaker 2: In verse two, where they said, let us go to
Speaker 2: the Jordan, where each of us can get a poll,
Speaker 2: and let us build a place there for us to meet. Honestly,
Speaker 2: if this is my prayer, I'm saying, God, this place
Speaker 2: where we meet with you is too small.
Speaker 1: Make us that's a bigger one. God.
Speaker 2: These people you put around me are not talented enough.
Speaker 2: Give me more talented people. God, this situation you put
Speaker 2: me in, it's not important enough, it's not exciting enough.
Speaker 1: God moved me to another place.
Speaker 2: But I want you to notice in verse two, they
Speaker 2: didn't ask the prophet for anything except permission. Let us
Speaker 2: go to the place by the Jordan, the transitional body
Speaker 2: of water where the people of God crossed over into Jericho.
Speaker 2: Let us go to the place where the vegetation is,
Speaker 2: and the wood is, and the tools are, and the
Speaker 2: resources are, and let us go build a place there
Speaker 2: for us to meet. Put that verse on the screen.
Speaker 2: Verse two, and whoever circle him back there circle The
Speaker 2: following words say let us circle us, go to the Jordan,
Speaker 2: where each of us circle us again can get a pole,
Speaker 2: and let us circle us again build a place there
Speaker 2: for us circle us again. To me, that's their plan.
Speaker 2: We got a plan. Somebody shout, I got a plan.
Speaker 2: This is my year. I got a plan thrive in
Speaker 2: twenty five. I got a plan. I'm eating carnivore, I'm
Speaker 2: doing cardio, I'm drinking collagen. And then two weeks in
Speaker 2: you got a cold, and where did that get you?
Speaker 2: I got a plan. We're gonna go down here and
Speaker 2: build a place. It's gonna be bigger, it's gonna be better,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be amazing.
Speaker 1: I got my plan I have.
Speaker 2: I have my plan, and I had the plan last year,
Speaker 2: but this is different. I had this plan. I had
Speaker 2: the other year before that too, and the year and
Speaker 2: the year before that, but that was COVID. That doesn't count.
Speaker 2: I mean this year is different. So we're going. Somebody shout,
Speaker 2: let's go. And I give them credit for their intive
Speaker 2: because I think sometimes when we're waiting for God to speak,
Speaker 2: he's waiting for us to step Yeah. Yeah, Sometimes when
Speaker 2: we're waiting for God to move, he's waiting for us
Speaker 2: to multiply what we've already been given. And so I
Speaker 2: congratulate these men for their initiative. They didn't just complain
Speaker 2: about the thing. They were willing to change the thing,
Speaker 2: to work toward the thing, to collaborate toward the thing.
Speaker 1: Are you.
Speaker 2: Or are you waiting for something to happen externally? When
Speaker 2: the Word of God is internal, internal and eternal, nothing
Speaker 2: can stop it, and it can't be seen with human eyes,
Speaker 2: And so they get fired up. One of my friends,
Speaker 2: who is an athlete, tells me, I don't know if
Speaker 2: this is going to encourage you, but I come to
Speaker 2: church because it helps me feel like I can do
Speaker 2: anything for about three days. I said, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: Three days, that's pretty good. Shelf life three days, that's
Speaker 2: pretty good. Flowers can die quicker than three days, that's
Speaker 2: pretty good. He said, yeah, felt I could do anything
Speaker 2: for three days. I said, but what happens on day four?
Speaker 2: He said, Well, that's where it gets tricky. I said, no,
Speaker 2: it doesn't, because you can you can go back to God.
Speaker 2: Between Sundays you can go back to God. You can
Speaker 2: go back to God.
Speaker 1: Between hours, you can go back to God.
Speaker 2: You can go back to God as much as you
Speaker 2: want in any situation that you're in.
Speaker 1: And I think as simple as that sounds.
Speaker 6: We don't really practice that. We don't really practice that.
Speaker 2: I saw something here that was to be celebrated.
Speaker 1: Let's go. We're gonna build a bigger school and e life.
Speaker 1: So the prophet is gonna teach us.
Speaker 2: We're gonna build something amazing for you God, and many
Speaker 2: of us have started this year with good motives. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna build something for my family. I'm gonna build something
Speaker 2: so I can take.
Speaker 1: Care of my kids. I'm gonna build something for God.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna build something to make a difference. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: work on my body. I'm gonna work on my mind.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work on my future. I'm gonna work on
Speaker 1: my career. I'm gonna work on myself. I'm gonna work
Speaker 1: on my temper. I'm gonna work on my yoga.
Speaker 2: I started doing yoga last year just so I can
Speaker 2: keep it moving as much as I need to up here.
Speaker 2: I'm just increasing the arsenal this year. And you know
Speaker 2: what the thing about it is, Holly's better at it
Speaker 2: than I am, and I can lift so much more
Speaker 2: pounds than she can. But the instructor that's working with us,
Speaker 2: she always is saying beautiful Holly, beautiful Holly, and comes
Speaker 2: over to me and says it gets better. Stephen, Like,
Speaker 2: the only word she has for me is the word
Speaker 2: of false encouragement and delusional hope that I'll one day
Speaker 2: be flexible.
Speaker 1: And I found out something.
Speaker 2: When you're doing something new, it helps to have somebody
Speaker 2: who can give you personal attention so you don't get
Speaker 2: confused and quit.
Speaker 1: And maybe the.
Speaker 2: Reason you had a plan last year and it fell
Speaker 2: apart in three days, three weeks, three months, Maybe the
Speaker 2: reason that your motivation sometimes only lasts three minutes.
Speaker 1: Maybe the reason it lasts too.
Speaker 2: Short sometimes is because you only get permission and a plan.
Speaker 2: But this is a year where your plan will not
Speaker 2: be enough, because the most important things that will happen
Speaker 2: in your life this year will not be in your plan.
Speaker 2: The greatest things that God will bring into your life
Speaker 2: will not be on your vision board. They will not
Speaker 2: be manifested from the contours of your human mind or imagination.
Speaker 2: You will not see them coming, so you won't have
Speaker 2: time to plan a parade.
Speaker 1: You will not see.
Speaker 2: Them coming, so you won't have time to get in
Speaker 2: your stance. The most important things that I'm gonna show
Speaker 2: you in the text. What I'm talking about the most
Speaker 2: important things that will happen in your life this year
Speaker 2: will not be a part of your plan. How many
Speaker 2: can testify that there has already been an unplanned event
Speaker 2: that has superseded your planned year.
Speaker 1: This year and we're just getting started. So they're excited. Man,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go build a place. We're gonna get a poll.
Speaker 1: We're gonna build a.
Speaker 2: Place, and the Lisha's gonna teach us. And it's not
Speaker 2: like they're going to build a strip club. They're not
Speaker 2: doing something terrible. They're not even doing something neutral. They're
Speaker 2: building something for God. Okay, we're gonna build this for
Speaker 2: God and God's gonna bless us. I just need to
Speaker 2: stop right here and take a poll. How many have
Speaker 2: something you want to do for God this year in
Speaker 2: your life?
Speaker 1: Shout out what it is on three, one, two, three?
Speaker 1: All right? Cool.
Speaker 2: God heard all that I don't need to and some
Speaker 2: of what you said you're gonna do for God this year,
Speaker 2: God was like, that's right, go do it. And some
Speaker 2: of it God was like, why are you making a
Speaker 2: plan for a purpose that I didn't call you two
Speaker 2: just because you saw it in somebody else. Let me
Speaker 2: tell you something, Haul, I don't want to build anything
Speaker 2: in my life from this point on that God gave
Speaker 2: somebody else the blueprint for because I've spent too much time,
Speaker 2: too much energy, lost too much joy, forfeited too much
Speaker 2: contentment and peace trying to build something that isn't even
Speaker 2: in my blueprint. And the Prophet Elisha, and I need
Speaker 2: to tell you something by Elisha. Elisha is a little moody.
Speaker 2: You can't call a man of God moody. I sure
Speaker 2: can because one time some boys called him baldy and
Speaker 2: he called she bearers out of the woods to devour them.
Speaker 1: That's temperamental qualifies.
Speaker 2: So I think it would have taken a lot of nerve,
Speaker 2: don't you to come up to the prophet and say, man,
Speaker 2: this place you got us meeting respectfully, we need to
Speaker 2: do a relocation project. And Alisha says go, and they
Speaker 2: look at each other like this is amazing.
Speaker 1: He said, we could go. He's letting us do it,
Speaker 1: so he's gonna let us use stuff. Let's call let's go,
Speaker 1: let's go, And thenn fired up, Let's go, We're gonna.
Speaker 7: Build a house for God on three house on three
Speaker 7: house on me what to do the house?
Speaker 1: Let's go and suddenly watch this.
Speaker 6: I'd read you this part of the story yet, but
Speaker 6: it's the best part of the story.
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, as they're going to build something
Speaker 2: for God with good intentions, with the permission of the prophet,
Speaker 2: he said, we could do it. God said, I'm a conqueror.
Speaker 2: God said, I can do it. God said, this.
Speaker 1: Is my year.
Speaker 2: He's changed break. This is the year dead things come alive.
Speaker 1: We're going. We're going. We're going put up verse three,
Speaker 1: best verse I've read this year so far.
Speaker 2: Then one of them said, now, this is the kid
Speaker 2: in the class who raises his hand and says, excuse me, teacher,
Speaker 2: how about that homework assignment?
Speaker 1: This is that kid. And not only that.
Speaker 2: I can't prove it to you, but I think he
Speaker 2: was the smartest one in the whole group. I don't
Speaker 2: know his name, but what he did was so important.
Speaker 2: But he didn't know is important. It seems incidental, but
Speaker 2: it's not. They're on their way. Everybody, shall let's go
Speaker 2: put it in the comments. Let's go look at your neighbors. Say,
Speaker 2: let's go tell them this year, let's go. Little louder
Speaker 2: say this year, let's go right now, let's go get free,
Speaker 2: let's go rise up, let's go be more.
Speaker 1: Let's go Verse three.
Speaker 2: One of them said, I'm gonna ask him.
Speaker 1: Wait wait wait wait wait wait no, no no. He said,
Speaker 1: we can go. Yeah, yeah, I know. He said, we
Speaker 1: can go. I know, but I'm asking.
Speaker 2: You can't ask him that, yes I can, and yes,
Speaker 2: you better like goo me right now. I'm asking him
Speaker 2: because I don't just want his permission pray for me.
Speaker 2: I don't just want his permission. I don't just want
Speaker 2: his provision. I don't just want my plan. One of
Speaker 2: them came back and said, Elisha, Elisha, I might be
Speaker 2: out of line. I don't know if you want to.
Speaker 2: I know you're busy.
Speaker 6: You got kill little kids with bears and safe kings.
Speaker 2: But verse three, won't you please come with your servants.
Speaker 2: You can't ask him that this is the prophet.
Speaker 1: This is the man of God.
Speaker 8: You got time to swing an acts with you, chop
Speaker 8: down a tree with you, relocate to the messy Jordan
Speaker 8: banks with you.
Speaker 1: This is Elisha. Are you crazy? You ask him if
Speaker 1: you want I'm not getting killed by a bear.
Speaker 8: I'm leaving well enough alone. No no, no, no, no,
Speaker 8: I'm asking him. I'm asking him, Elisha. I appreciate the
Speaker 8: fact that you gave me the opportunity. I appreciate the
Speaker 8: fact that you're letting us go build.
Speaker 2: That's real kind of you, because you could have just
Speaker 2: told us to shut up and be content with what
Speaker 2: we have.
Speaker 1: But I'm not content with what we have if we
Speaker 1: don't have you.
Speaker 2: Now, remember, the prophet represents what the word of God,
Speaker 2: the presence of God.
Speaker 1: And so what I'm trying to say to you today
Speaker 1: is I.
Speaker 2: Don't want you to go for your goal without your God.
Speaker 2: I don't want it to feel like you can do
Speaker 2: anything for three days and then on the fourth day
Speaker 2: it falls apart and you start thinking faith didn't work.
Speaker 2: It wasn't that faith didn't work. You put your faith
Speaker 2: in the faith rather than the God who gave the faith.
Speaker 2: Because this year I have a plan, I have provision,
Speaker 2: I have permission.
Speaker 1: But this year my plan is His presence.
Speaker 2: This year, my plan is that everywhere the soul of
Speaker 2: my foot shall tread like Joshua.
Speaker 1: I believe that.
Speaker 2: God is giving me this place as Holy ground. This
Speaker 2: is the year where I moved the church outside of
Speaker 2: a physical location, and I move it to my car,
Speaker 2: and I move it to my home, and I move.
Speaker 1: It to I move it.
Speaker 2: To my unchangeable situation, and I move it touch somebody
Speaker 2: say move it. They came to elishahskin good Now and
Speaker 2: they said the place we meet with you is too small.
Speaker 1: And they were right, but not how they thought that
Speaker 1: they were right.
Speaker 2: It wasn't only too small in the physical dimensions of it.
Speaker 2: It not only needed to be expanded physically, but the
Speaker 2: place where they thought they could meet with God was
Speaker 2: too small in their perception. Because God doesn't just want
Speaker 2: to come when you build it.
Speaker 1: He wants to be with you as you build. I
Speaker 1: don't know if this makes sense. It does to me.
Speaker 2: Is helping me get my confidence for this year, because
Speaker 2: I've been in this too long to think that my
Speaker 2: plan is going to go down how I plan for
Speaker 2: it this year? So guess what presence is my plan
Speaker 2: this year?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Somebody say, presence is my plan? Ask him what's your
Speaker 2: five year plan? Ask him what's your five year plan?
Speaker 2: Tell him presence. Ask them for your ten year plan.
Speaker 2: What's your ten year plan presence. What do you mean
Speaker 2: by that? When I'm ten years down the road or
Speaker 2: ten minutes down the road, the God who is with
Speaker 2: me in this moment will not leave me nor forsake
Speaker 2: me until everything he spoke concerning his purpose for my
Speaker 2: life has been fulfilled. So this year I got a
Speaker 2: plan and the plan is his presence.
Speaker 1: What's this? When I walk through the fire, I'm not alone.
Speaker 1: When I walk through the storm, I'm not alone. He's
Speaker 1: with me on the.
Speaker 2: Boat, He's with me in the bowels of the furnace.
Speaker 1: He's with me in this.
Speaker 2: Hmm. That's the word of the Lord. Presence is the plan.
Speaker 2: Presence is the plan. Presence is the plan. God says
Speaker 2: you need a plan.
Speaker 1: B this year. Uh huh, a plan B. Everybody say
Speaker 1: Plan B, Plan B.
Speaker 2: That means if I need if I'm in the wilderness,
Speaker 2: he'll be my water.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: If I'm in a hard place, he'll be my pillow.
Speaker 2: If I'm in a sick bed, he'll be my physician.
Speaker 2: I got a Plan B this year. The Great I
Speaker 2: Am is my plan B. This year, his presence, the
Speaker 2: Great I Am. This is a shift in mentalities for
Speaker 2: all of us control freaks. Who think we are going
Speaker 2: to perfectly design our life and I'm gonna chuck on
Speaker 2: a tree and I'm going to build a building. But
Speaker 2: the thing that you never saw coming is going to
Speaker 2: require the God that you keep forgetting to bring along, beautiful, Holly,
Speaker 2: beautiful Stephen. Would you like a few adjustments, I'm like, yes,
Speaker 2: I would. I'm not trying to twist my lumbar like
Speaker 2: a pretzel in here. I'm not trying to walk out
Speaker 2: of here like I'm ninety one years old.
Speaker 1: I already.
Speaker 2: Why are you walking like I'm eighty nine. I need
Speaker 2: some help in here. Come over here and help me.
Speaker 2: Help me, God, help me.
Speaker 1: I'm using it as an analogy. You understand.
Speaker 2: I'm not getting into new age mysticism and telling you
Speaker 2: to do yoga. I'm just saying, just like the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 2: I need you to come along this year, and I
Speaker 2: need you to go with me this year.
Speaker 1: God and God.
Speaker 2: I can't walk in this house without you and God.
Speaker 2: I can't get on this zoom without you. And I'm
Speaker 2: tired of putting up plaques and trophies on a fake
Speaker 2: green screen back behind me, pretending like I'm doing better
Speaker 2: than I am. Come with us, see life. Shall come
Speaker 2: with me, word of God. Come with me on the waters,
Speaker 2: Come with me in the wave, Come with me back
Speaker 2: to school. Come with me into this divorce. Come with
Speaker 2: me into this addiction. Come with me into this crippling state.
Speaker 2: Come with me into this contention. Come with me into
Speaker 2: this argument. Come with me into this text thread. Come
Speaker 2: with me into this seed. Done with me into this step,
Speaker 2: Done with me into this heartbreak.
Speaker 1: Verse three.
Speaker 7: Will you come with us? Won't you come with us?
Speaker 7: We don't want to go without your God. I don't
Speaker 7: want to preach without you. I don't want to teach
Speaker 7: without you. I don't want a dad without you. I
Speaker 7: don't want a husband without you. I don't want a
Speaker 7: man without you. I don't want it without you.
Speaker 2: I don't want to plan without the great I am.
Speaker 2: I want to plan be because I don't even know
Speaker 2: what I need him to be till I get there.
Speaker 1: That's why I.
Speaker 4: Said I am that I am.
Speaker 2: So when you run up on a red sea, you
Speaker 2: gotta plan be. You don't understand what I just said,
Speaker 2: you gotta plan be. You don't even know you need
Speaker 2: him to be a partner of the waters till you're
Speaker 2: looking at a sea. So the sea you didn't plan for,
Speaker 2: you got to plan be. God said, I'll be what
Speaker 2: you need me to be when you step your foot
Speaker 2: where you're going with an awareness of my presence. And
Speaker 2: the thing is He's already in you. It's an issue
Speaker 2: not of ability. It's willingness that really blessed me. How
Speaker 2: the prophet said, well, I don't even think I can
Speaker 2: do this like I want to.
Speaker 1: Not in this setting.
Speaker 2: I'd have to be talking to a small group of
Speaker 2: people who felt like you've been in situations where you
Speaker 2: felt unwanted, and you notice the prophet said in verse two,
Speaker 2: he said go. But what touched me was he wanted
Speaker 2: to come. He was waiting to be asked. Because you
Speaker 2: keep assuming, well, if God wanted to do it, he'd
Speaker 2: do it. What if he's waiting to be asked? What
Speaker 2: if he wants you to involve him? Elisha didn't say
Speaker 2: to the school of the prophet to build a bigger place.
Speaker 2: They said to him, can we do it? Elishah didn't say,
Speaker 2: mind if I tag along? They said, will you come?
Speaker 2: It took me back to something. This is why it
Speaker 2: touched me. From when Elijah was very little Maya Elijah
Speaker 2: not the prophet.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know about when he was. That prophet was
Speaker 2: little of my Elijah. He's he's so convincing and he's
Speaker 2: so persuasive, and he always has been. And then he
Speaker 2: started watching Ben Shapiro, and now he just wants to
Speaker 2: argue all the time. But but when he even wants
Speaker 2: to be sweet. I remember he wanted me to see
Speaker 2: The Avengers. In me, I don't like superhero movies. I
Speaker 2: think they're stupid. So I I'm like, man, we're not
Speaker 2: going to the Avengers.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you.
Speaker 2: He he went in above like seven years old or
Speaker 2: something like that, very way too young to be out
Speaker 2: this late because it was showing at ten o'clock at night,
Speaker 2: and he's like, can we can we go see the
Speaker 2: ten o'clock And I'm going to take you to Avengers
Speaker 2: at ten o'clock.
Speaker 6: I don't like I don't like superhero movies.
Speaker 1: I don't like ten o'clock. I don't like you after
Speaker 1: ten o'clock. We're not doing this. That boy didn't say
Speaker 1: a word. He went away.
Speaker 6: I'm like, okay, good, we got that done.
Speaker 2: He comes back, doesn't say a word, and brings me
Speaker 2: my shoes and puts them down at my feet. And
Speaker 2: he didn't say anything till he was almost all the
Speaker 2: way out the door. He said, I'll be in the
Speaker 2: car if you change your mind. How how do you
Speaker 2: not take that kid to stone Crass and buy him
Speaker 2: popcorn and coke and caffeinate him and sugar him up.
Speaker 2: And he's up till seven am. But I got a
Speaker 2: sermon illustration out of it.
Speaker 1: Bring God his shoe? Whose bring God?
Speaker 2: Oh, bring God, God.
Speaker 1: I know you hadn't done it yet. And if you
Speaker 1: don't want.
Speaker 4: To, I trust you. But I'm gonna be in the
Speaker 4: car if you change my mind. I'm gonna be in
Speaker 4: my seat in elevation.
Speaker 1: If you change your.
Speaker 2: Mind, I'm gonna be in therapy.
Speaker 4: If you change your mind, I'm gonna be working on this.
Speaker 2: Will you come?
Speaker 1: Ask your neighbor, will you come?
Speaker 2: You'd be surprised what God would say yes to if
Speaker 2: you'd get in the vehicle. You'd be surprised what God
Speaker 2: would say yes to.
Speaker 1: If you bring him his shoes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you'd be surprised where God would meet with you
Speaker 2: if you bring him along. Why wait until you've built
Speaker 2: the place to learn from the prophet Why wait till
Speaker 2: you get the degree to celebrate the progress.
Speaker 1: Why wait till the chains.
Speaker 2: Are all the way broken to show somebody how to
Speaker 2: smash the.
Speaker 1: First link like you did.
Speaker 2: Why wait for the presence of God when he is
Speaker 2: a very present help in the time of trouble.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to tell you he wants to come. He
Speaker 1: wants to come, he wants to come.
Speaker 2: Stop trying to rebuke anxiety in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: You don't get through anxiety. By rebuking anxiety in the
Speaker 2: name of Jesus. You receive the grace of Jesus for
Speaker 2: your anxiety, and the grace of Jesus in your anxiety
Speaker 2: becomes Watch this the place where you meet with God.
Speaker 2: Put your feet on the ground and sit there and
Speaker 2: do your breathing exercises and do a downward dog in
Speaker 2: a Hallelujah, and make it the place where you meet
Speaker 2: with God because you're gonna need him. Let's let's talk
Speaker 2: along the way, Elisha, you have so much to share.
Speaker 1: God.
Speaker 2: Would you show me along the way things that I
Speaker 2: think I'm going to learn when I get there. I
Speaker 2: think that's so important because I'm perfectionist and I'm a complainer.
Speaker 6: I'm just guessed. I'm supposed to be helping you, but
Speaker 6: this is helping me.
Speaker 1: I just saw.
Speaker 2: Not only do I get stuck in verse one, where
Speaker 2: I say it's too small, it's not working.
Speaker 1: I don't like this, it's terrible.
Speaker 2: I'm confined and I complain, But sometimes I get stuck
Speaker 2: in verse two. Let us go down and let us
Speaker 2: do it, and let us try. Here's my plan, And
Speaker 2: I never get the verse three his presence because when
Speaker 2: they got down there, Look how Elisha responded. He didn't
Speaker 2: call a bear to kill this boy.
Speaker 1: He didn't he didn't tell him. You ridiculous for a
Speaker 1: waste of my time.
Speaker 2: You know how, sometimes you think that God is too small.
Speaker 2: You think that what you're dealing with is something God
Speaker 2: can't handle.
Speaker 1: And we all think that.
Speaker 2: We watch the news and we see crazy things that
Speaker 2: are happening in the world, and it's not that we
Speaker 2: think God is too small, but it doesn't seem like
Speaker 2: he's doing anything about it. Sometimes I don't think we
Speaker 2: realize how small God is willing to be to show
Speaker 2: how big he is.
Speaker 6: And that's why I chose this passage for my first
Speaker 6: sermon of this.
Speaker 2: Year, because I thought, if we talked about Goliath going down,
Speaker 2: you would wait for a big giant to trust God.
Speaker 2: And it's not the giants all the time that cause
Speaker 2: you to lose your momentum.
Speaker 1: And I know how it is.
Speaker 2: I can do anything for three days, but that fourth day,
Speaker 2: I really love Jesus to about nine forty five am,
Speaker 2: and then nine forty six the devil meets with me.
Speaker 2: I know that feeling, but I believe that not every
Speaker 2: day presents a red sea, a Goliath, a burning bush.
Speaker 2: I mean, all these things are wonderful, and you know
Speaker 2: I love to preach about them. But I started my
Speaker 2: year with the sermon called I don't know what your
Speaker 2: bible heading says their autumn, but mine says uh An.
Speaker 2: Axehead recovered, that's all that said on the subject, and
Speaker 2: Axhead recovered, really, man, you got a whole Bible full
Speaker 2: of nine foot giants and raging seas and you want
Speaker 2: to preach about And axe said, yeah, because I think
Speaker 2: the little moments with God that he wants you to
Speaker 2: have are the ones that are slipping away. And I
Speaker 2: think that's why the other stuff gets so big and
Speaker 2: takes you down. Because the prophet said, I'll go with you,
Speaker 2: and Verse four records what happened next he went with them.
Speaker 6: Wonder what they talked about. Wonder if they talked at all.
Speaker 2: Wonder if they were able to ask him more specifically
Speaker 2: how you think we should build it?
Speaker 6: You know you can ask God's stuff more specific.
Speaker 1: God, is there another way to say that?
Speaker 6: Now?
Speaker 2: I have an advantage over you in this because every
Speaker 2: week I have to try to talk for God to
Speaker 2: you and I'm done, so I get a lot of
Speaker 2: practice of just gods are another way to say that?
Speaker 2: I don't know if I already said that before, they're
Speaker 2: gonna hear. They're gonna get as I mean, he says,
Speaker 2: But that's the skill you need for your life too,
Speaker 2: not just to preach. That's the skill you need for
Speaker 2: your life. The skill you need is the presence of
Speaker 2: God just right there in the middle of your zoom meeting,
Speaker 2: with your fake trophies and your shorts, your underwear going
Speaker 2: on under the.
Speaker 1: Desk, and your tie up top.
Speaker 2: You don't have to say it out loud, you don't
Speaker 2: have to go off the screen, just right there, God
Speaker 2: needs you forr ust me, just those little moments. I
Speaker 2: really believe that because watch why did God include this
Speaker 2: boring story in the Bible. You think Elisha didn't do
Speaker 2: more fantastic miracles.
Speaker 1: He did. But the Lord wanted us to have seven.
Speaker 2: Verses to know what happens to us sometimes. And this
Speaker 2: is what I see for so many of the people
Speaker 2: that I pastor.
Speaker 1: Who I meet, and when I meet you, when I.
Speaker 2: Meet you, when I meet with you, you meet with
Speaker 2: God in your own But when I meet you, sometimes
Speaker 2: I hear about the things that the enemy is tormenting
Speaker 2: you with, and it goes something like this. He went
Speaker 2: with them verse four. They went to the Jordan and
Speaker 2: began to cut down trees. It's going good. I'm making progress.
Speaker 2: I apologized, I said, I'm sorry. I actually sent the text,
Speaker 2: I actually looked up the help.
Speaker 1: I actually joined the gym.
Speaker 2: Now I'm not gonna go till about January twenty first,
Speaker 2: when it clears out. That's just strategic. But I'm making
Speaker 2: I'm making my steps. I'm clearing out that room. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna do it this time. Now, I got some food
Speaker 2: in the pantry I gotta clear out. I can't waste it.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm gonna eat the peanut butter, but after
Speaker 2: that jar is gone. It's no more peanut butter. I'm
Speaker 2: mea kill the rest of the year. Kale collagen, cardio carnivore.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it all this year.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna be a vegan carnivore this year.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna cut down this tree.
Speaker 2: And they begin to cut down the tree, and I
Speaker 2: watch this as one of them it's cutting down a tree.
Speaker 2: The iron axe fell into the water, and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden we go from let's go.
Speaker 1: Suh, oh no, have you ever be honest?
Speaker 2: Or I'll prophesy, have you ever been doing pretty good?
Speaker 2: Let's go I got this And in the middle verse
Speaker 2: five again place of doing what you believe God gave
Speaker 2: you permission to do.
Speaker 1: Oh no, oh no, you're like, it's not a big deal.
Speaker 1: It's an axehead. When it's a big deal to you,
Speaker 1: it's a big deal.
Speaker 2: Stop telling people that God doesn't care about this, and
Speaker 2: God doesn't care about that.
Speaker 1: He numbers every year on your head.
Speaker 2: He cares about everything that pertains to his child.
Speaker 1: And even Elisha, the.
Speaker 2: Rough and rugged prophet who had no time for any
Speaker 2: nonsense as this young man, it says one of them,
Speaker 2: you know, I wonder somebody looked this up for me
Speaker 2: on chat GPT later and send me a text about it.
Speaker 2: I wonder was it the same one that asked him
Speaker 2: to come or was it a different one altogether, Because
Speaker 2: the one that's cutting down the tree, they don't have
Speaker 2: many tools. You understand, this is not a very sophisticated operation.
Speaker 2: As he's cutting down the tree, boom, the head goes
Speaker 2: off the stick and it flies into the Jordan.
Speaker 1: And iron is supposed to be in water.
Speaker 2: Iron is supposed to be on wood, and when iron
Speaker 2: meets wood it makes progress.
Speaker 1: But when iron meets water, you need presents.
Speaker 2: Because the first thing he did when the axe had flew,
Speaker 2: he said, Oh no, my lord, who's he talking to?
Speaker 1: Elishah?
Speaker 2: Who do you talk to when it falls off? Who
Speaker 2: do you talk to when you fall? Who do you
Speaker 2: talk to when your momentum slips? This is so important?
Speaker 2: Oh no, my lord, he cried out. It was borrowed.
Speaker 2: Oh this is bad. I can't pay this back. Some
Speaker 2: of us are in situations this year that we can't
Speaker 2: afford to waste, another day that we can't afford to waste,
Speaker 2: another year that we can't afford to just get through
Speaker 2: a month, just barely hanging on.
Speaker 1: He said, I need help, and thank God, help was there.
Speaker 2: Remember if one of them hadn't gone back and asked
Speaker 2: him to come, there would have been no one to
Speaker 2: help when their plans stopped working. And this is what
Speaker 2: I'm saying about where you meet with God and the prophet,
Speaker 2: the great prophet Elisha, who had the power to turn
Speaker 2: the tides of wars, had the time to help a
Speaker 2: boy get it back. God said, he wants to help
Speaker 2: you get it back this year. God wants to help
Speaker 2: you get it back this year. If this joy, he
Speaker 2: wants to help you get it back this year. If
Speaker 2: this integrity, he wants to help you get it back
Speaker 2: this year. If it's the character to keep your commitments,
Speaker 2: he wants to help you get it back this year.
Speaker 2: If it's a vision for your family, he wants to
Speaker 2: help you get it back this year. If it's a
Speaker 2: perspective on what really matters, he wants to help you
Speaker 2: get it back this year.
Speaker 1: And I want you to.
Speaker 2: Notice very carefully what the prophet did in verse six,
Speaker 2: and this is what I see the Lord doing for us.
Speaker 2: The Man of God asked the boy, where did it fall?
Speaker 2: In that amazing He could have said anything.
Speaker 1: The boy says, oh, no, it was borrowed.
Speaker 2: Well, that was stupid. Why did you borrow it? You
Speaker 2: shouldn't be borrowing stuff anyway. Hadn't you heard Dave Ramsey
Speaker 2: on the radio. You're not supposed to be in debt anyway.
Speaker 2: You need to go drive a uver eats and get
Speaker 2: it paid for. Don't worry about that. That's a good thing,
Speaker 2: because if that's popping, that means the devil does not
Speaker 2: want you to hear the next part of this message.
Speaker 1: I'm very encouraged by that, and I want you all
Speaker 1: to fix it.
Speaker 2: At the same time, the Man of God said, where
Speaker 2: did it fall?
Speaker 1: And when? Now? This is the message. This is the message.
Speaker 1: I was tricking you. I told you the other part
Speaker 1: was the message. This is the message.
Speaker 2: When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick
Speaker 2: through it there and made the iron float. Thanks, but
Speaker 2: no thanks. I'm rocking on.
Speaker 1: I'm moving through. I'm walking on in Jesus' name. I
Speaker 1: want both of my hands.
Speaker 9: To preach this part because the Bible says the Bible,
Speaker 9: I don't care about what your fear says, I don't
Speaker 9: care about what your generation before you says, I don't
Speaker 9: care about what a political party says. I don't care
Speaker 9: about what your wired mind says.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, he didn't condemn him. He just guided
Speaker 2: him to the place and helped it to surface what
Speaker 2: he needed.
Speaker 1: He took a stick, he.
Speaker 2: Threw it there and made the iron float. Aren't you
Speaker 2: grateful for the stuff that God is bringing to the surface.
Speaker 1: This year in your life?
Speaker 2: Now hang on, y'all got six minutes, and I'll finish this.
Speaker 2: If y'all don't have six minutes, I'll just preach this.
Speaker 2: I'll just preach this to I'll preach it to Abbey
Speaker 2: today and she can sit there and give me an
Speaker 2: offering afterwards. Y'all got six minutes. I want to finish this.
Speaker 2: I really want to finish this. I really don't want
Speaker 2: to go home holding this.
Speaker 8: Because when he said, when he showed him the place
Speaker 8: for six when he showed him the place where it fell, that.
Speaker 2: Is where the miracle happened. So I want you to
Speaker 2: see what happened. He was building and it broke. That
Speaker 2: is some of us in the room. While we were
Speaker 2: building what we felt like we were supposed to build,
Speaker 2: it broke, broke our momentum broke our streak, broke our
Speaker 2: days of sobriety. Broke it broke the relationship, broke the heart,
Speaker 2: broke the passion.
Speaker 1: Broke it broke because he was building. Now when it broke,
Speaker 1: it flew into the water.
Speaker 2: So now it has been a functional acxid, and now
Speaker 2: it has fallen into the water.
Speaker 1: It does not belong in the water. Thank God for verse.
Speaker 2: Three where he says come with us, because that means
Speaker 2: that God is with me, not only when it's functional,
Speaker 2: but when it's falling.
Speaker 1: And so now I understand.
Speaker 2: The key of this message, and the key of this year,
Speaker 2: and the key to restoration in your life is that
Speaker 2: God does not only want to be with you when
Speaker 2: you build it, he wants to be with you when
Speaker 2: it breaks.
Speaker 1: And I want you to invite.
Speaker 2: God into the places where it breaks this year. I
Speaker 2: want you not to pretend like you've got the trophies,
Speaker 2: pretend like there hasn't been a flood, pretend like.
Speaker 1: You're in a great place.
Speaker 2: I want you to make the place that you struggle
Speaker 2: the most.
Speaker 1: The place where you meet with God. And what is
Speaker 1: that place?
Speaker 2: Because notice there is a part that God does and
Speaker 2: there is a part that God does not do.
Speaker 1: The Word of the Lord brought the iron.
Speaker 2: Verse six, please to the surface, but it did not
Speaker 2: bring it to the shore. Verse seven. Lift it out,
Speaker 2: he said, I'm showing it to you. I'm revealing it
Speaker 2: to you. There are things that the Spirit of God
Speaker 2: will supernaturally reveal to you, but they must be practically recovered.
Speaker 1: Lift it out. You can't make iron float. God can.
Speaker 1: But sometimes something is floating, but it's.
Speaker 2: Not fixed yet. And this is where you meet God.
Speaker 2: Grace is where God meets you. Faith is where you
Speaker 2: meet God. Lifted out, and then the man reached out
Speaker 2: his hand and took it.
Speaker 10: It's broken, but it's back, is broken, but it's back.
Speaker 10: It's broken, but it's back.
Speaker 2: My life is not exactly what I want it to
Speaker 2: be at this agent stage.
Speaker 1: It is broken, but it's back. I'm not on the
Speaker 1: right path that I set out to be on. It's broken,
Speaker 1: but it's back.
Speaker 2: And I hear a calling from the Holy Spirit this
Speaker 2: year to somebody's life. Who thinks that you can only
Speaker 2: meet with God when you are in a perfectly manicured
Speaker 2: environment full of meditative promises and meticulously kept character. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: the place you meet with God is in the place
Speaker 2: you need him the most. If the axe head had
Speaker 2: not fallen off, there would have been no miracle.
Speaker 1: So I am telling you.
Speaker 2: To stop waiting for a future place to meet God
Speaker 2: and experience his presence and take him to the place
Speaker 2: where the blade flung off your stick and watch him
Speaker 2: bring something up. Here's the thing I learned, Ee, you
Speaker 2: got to reach for it. The axe head did not swim.
Speaker 1: To the boy. He reached for it. And I believe
Speaker 1: that God has given.
Speaker 6: You something today to show you something today.
Speaker 1: That he's calling you to reach for.
Speaker 2: He's not gonna he not going to make you dive
Speaker 2: down to the bottom and find it.
Speaker 1: You can't do that.
Speaker 2: That's what grace does. But what does faith do? Reach
Speaker 2: out and lift it up. Grace reveals what faith retrieves.
Speaker 2: May this be a year of recovery for you. May
Speaker 2: this be a year of clarity for you, for God
Speaker 2: to bring things out up out of the muddy Jordan river.
Speaker 2: May this be a year that you don't stand swinging
Speaker 2: your stick knowing this isn't working anymore. May this be
Speaker 2: a year that you don't just keep pretending like everything's
Speaker 2: fine when you know your effectiveness is at the bottom
Speaker 2: of the water. May this be the year that you
Speaker 2: meet with God in weird places. May this be the
Speaker 2: year that you sneak into the bathroom and instead of pills,
Speaker 2: you take a prayer.
Speaker 1: May this be the year where you meet with God.
Speaker 2: I had a friend tell me one time. I said,
Speaker 2: I'm having my quiet time in the car these days,
Speaker 2: my devotion time with God. Christians we call quiet time.
Speaker 2: It's little christian Eese for you. I'm gonna do a
Speaker 2: whole series one year called do you speak Christianese. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna take every little thing we say that we don't
Speaker 2: even stop to define for people, and say this is
Speaker 2: what that kind of means.
Speaker 1: And I told him I was.
Speaker 2: Meeting with God in my car a lot lately, and
Speaker 2: God was coming in my car, and I was playing
Speaker 2: all my.
Speaker 1: Worship CDs, John P.
Speaker 2: Key's Strength and Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Tabernacle.
Speaker 1: I said, I have the best times with God in
Speaker 1: my car, Paul Blash.
Speaker 2: And Tommy Walker and all the Integrity Boys too. I said,
Speaker 2: I had the greatest meetings with God.
Speaker 1: In my car.
Speaker 2: He said those don't count. I said, it doesn't count.
Speaker 2: He said no, it's not set aside time for God.
Speaker 2: You got to set a side time for God. God
Speaker 2: wants to know you're serious. You got to set a
Speaker 2: side time for God. I believe that the place that
Speaker 2: you meet with God is too If you believe that,
Speaker 2: put up verse one again. The place where we meet
Speaker 2: with you is too small. If you want to meet
Speaker 2: with God in your breakfast nook, by all means, play
Speaker 2: a Brandon Lake CD and do it if you can
Speaker 2: find a CD player. But when you leave that place,
Speaker 2: you better meet with God in the next place too.
Speaker 2: Because the place you meet with God is too small.
Speaker 2: If the only place you meet with God is when
Speaker 2: you get a holy ghost goose bump, the place you
Speaker 2: meet with God is too small. So everybody stand up
Speaker 2: on your feet, and I want you, by faith, just
Speaker 2: to stretch your hands up like you're reaching for something
Speaker 2: that was lost that the enemy tried to steal, and
Speaker 2: just say this out loud.
Speaker 1: God, will you come with me now? Wait?
Speaker 2: Wait, wait, don't say anything. Answers yes. He already promised
Speaker 2: his presence. It lives inside of you. May this be
Speaker 2: the year where the place where you meet with God
Speaker 2: becomes the mountaintop of your victory and the valley of
Speaker 2: your midnight. The place you meet with God has been
Speaker 2: too small. The church is the only place you meet
Speaker 2: with God. The place you meet with God is too small.
Speaker 2: Expand your expectation of God's presence. I declare over your
Speaker 2: life a year of expansion, not just that you would
Speaker 2: get more stuff, but that you would get more Him.
Speaker 2: If you get more Him, you have everything. If you
Speaker 2: have not Him, you have nothing. May this be the
Speaker 2: year of His presence in your life. God come with
Speaker 2: me to work this year. God, come with me as
Speaker 2: I struggle to sleep at night. God, come with me
Speaker 2: into the challenge this year. God come with me into
Speaker 2: the uncertainty.
Speaker 1: Will you come? And he says yes?
Speaker 2: And he says when it falls, I'll show you where
Speaker 2: to reach to get it back. Put your hands down
Speaker 2: right now. There's somebody heads about, eyes closed, and this
Speaker 2: is your moment to meet Jesus and be saved.
Speaker 1: Listen to me.
Speaker 2: God is not waiting for you to come to him.
Speaker 1: He came to you. That is the message of the Gospel.
Speaker 2: So anytime you spend thinking I'm going to work my
Speaker 2: way to God, that's not how this works.
Speaker 1: That's religion. That is not the gospel.
Speaker 2: The gospel is this, God made him who knew no sin,
Speaker 2: to become sin for us, that we might become the
Speaker 2: righteousness of God. What am I trying to say to you,
Speaker 2: I'm saying God has already done it, and now right now,
Speaker 2: if this is your moment you say, I don't want
Speaker 2: to go into this year doing it by myself. I
Speaker 2: don't want to go into this yere pretending like I've
Speaker 2: got it together. I want the grace of God. I
Speaker 2: want to receive Jesus. I'm going to pray a prayer.
Speaker 2: If you repeat this prayer after me and mean it
Speaker 2: in your heart, the Bible says that God will hear
Speaker 2: you from heaven.
Speaker 1: And if you.
Speaker 2: Confess with your mouth Jesus's Lord and believe in your
Speaker 2: heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Speaker 2: Everybody who's coming back to God today, your life is broken,
Speaker 2: but you can have it in Jesus' name. Repeat after me,
Speaker 2: Heavenly Father, today is my day of salvation. I am
Speaker 2: a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe
Speaker 2: that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the
Speaker 2: savior of the world.
Speaker 1: Today I make Jesus the Lord of my life.
Speaker 2: I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
Speaker 2: rose again to give me life. I receive this new life.
Speaker 2: This is my new beginning. On the counter of three shoots.
Speaker 2: Your hand up if you've prayed that one too, free
Speaker 2: all over the room, on every location. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: reach out and take it. It's the gift of God.
Speaker 2: Reach out and take it. It's the gift of God.
Speaker 2: Let's celebrate them church. Bring those Bibles around, pass them down.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
Speaker 2: more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.