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.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
Speaker 1: it gives your perspective to see God is moving in
Speaker 1: your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3: This amazing, this amazing.
Speaker 1: This amazed.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to give you a chance, in case
Speaker 2: you're still amazed by the grace of God, to celebrate him.
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
Speaker 2: Tell your neighbor if you only knew, tell him, if
Speaker 2: you only knew what I've been through and the wrong
Speaker 2: things I've done, you'd be amazed that I'm still singing.
Speaker 1: Tell them what I am. I am what I am
Speaker 1: by the grace of God. I know that much.
Speaker 3: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: Come on, shout out loud.
Speaker 3: It's amazed. It's amazed.
Speaker 4: It's Amazay's amazed where he brought me from.
Speaker 3: It's amazed.
Speaker 5: It's amazed.
Speaker 4: Why the same messy easy, it's amazed.
Speaker 1: Glory to God. Well, let's lift up a praise like
Speaker 1: amazed people. How do amaze people praise God? Glory to God?
Speaker 1: Absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2: I thank God that I get the opportunity to shepherd
Speaker 2: you and to serve you.
Speaker 1: As a minister of the Word of God.
Speaker 2: My job is to put God's word in your heart
Speaker 2: in every way that I possibly can. If it needs
Speaker 2: a song, if it needs a sermon, if it needs
Speaker 2: a book, If God has it and he gives it
Speaker 2: to me, I won't even wrap it.
Speaker 1: I'll just give it to you unwrapped, out the box.
Speaker 1: How many love those out of the box words from God? Well,
Speaker 1: I've got one today. Yeah, I got one today. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm excited what he shared with me to share with you.
Speaker 1: Be in prayer for us.
Speaker 2: We're due to be in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about sixty hours
Speaker 2: from now or so, maybe a little less than that.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be ministering to people all over the northeastern
Speaker 2: United States, and we're gonna be in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Chicago, Illinois, Columbus, Ohio,
Speaker 2: Grand Rapids, Michigan, and three other places Boston and Philly.
Speaker 1: And Long Island. Now listen.
Speaker 2: If you can't come, you can stream it. You can
Speaker 2: stream the last night. This is the first time we've
Speaker 2: ever streamed an elevation night. So if you can't get there,
Speaker 2: if you can get there, go to Elevation Nights dot
Speaker 2: com and sled or ski or whatever that you need
Speaker 2: to do to get there. Elevation Nights dot com. Many
Speaker 2: of the nights are sold out. We're trying to add
Speaker 2: seats where we can, so go there and see if
Speaker 2: there's availability. If you can't get there, then you can
Speaker 2: find the information at Elevation Nights dot com and get
Speaker 2: a ticket to stream online.
Speaker 1: When you do, you will get the audiobook of.
Speaker 2: Do the New You for free, and that'll be great.
Speaker 2: So I'm excited those of you that will be seeing
Speaker 2: in the next few days. We're gonna sing and worship
Speaker 2: and pray. God is gonna move and break chains and
Speaker 2: part seas and lift the spirit of heaviness, and he's
Speaker 2: gonna save people and heal people and deliver people. And
Speaker 2: we're counting on our church family to pray for us
Speaker 2: and to lift us up before the throne and ask
Speaker 2: that God would use our entire teams, a whole army
Speaker 2: to go out there and do it.
Speaker 1: And thank you for having our back. Do you have
Speaker 1: our back? Do you have our back?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: Then well I'm good. If you got my back, I'm good.
Speaker 2: Also I want to thank every single one of you
Speaker 2: who have supported the new book this week. Thank you
Speaker 2: if you bought it, if you shared about it, if
Speaker 2: you left a positive review, thank you. I believe the
Speaker 2: message is important. We're taking our time over the next
Speaker 2: few weeks because we're on a journey together, a journey
Speaker 2: to be more like Jesus, a journey to follow him
Speaker 2: into our future. And this journey of following Jesus cannot.
Speaker 1: Be done alone.
Speaker 2: And that's why I'm so grateful that we don't have
Speaker 2: to today. I want to pray one more time before
Speaker 2: we take our seat, that the Holy Spirit would be
Speaker 2: our guide.
Speaker 1: I also want to encourage you.
Speaker 2: Every single one of you, whether online or at a camp,
Speaker 2: has an opportunity to join what we call our E
Speaker 2: groups today. The E stands for empowerment. I bet you
Speaker 2: didn't know that. You thought it stood for elevation. Nope,
Speaker 2: it stands for empowerment because getting the instructions from God
Speaker 2: without having the empowerment to live them out.
Speaker 1: Will frustrate you.
Speaker 2: So these groups are our way of putting some very
Speaker 2: wonderful people in front of you who voluntarily have given
Speaker 2: their time, their homes, their caprice sons and their fudge
Speaker 2: rounds to feed you physically and spiritually. So please click
Speaker 2: on the link, stop by at the location. You cannot
Speaker 2: do the new you without the right y'all. You know
Speaker 2: that the Bible says you are a chosen people, people plural,
Speaker 2: you singular.
Speaker 1: You got to get around the right people.
Speaker 2: And this year, I'm looking for some people who are
Speaker 2: headed where I'm headed, and are hearing what I'm hearing,
Speaker 2: and who want to be like.
Speaker 1: Jesus with me. So let's follow Jesus together.
Speaker 2: Are you ready for mindset one?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 2: Somebody shouted, and after you shout this, you can take
Speaker 2: your seat.
Speaker 1: Say I'm not stuck unless I stop now. High five
Speaker 1: six people say, don't stop now. The ain't mad. You
Speaker 1: may be seated.
Speaker 2: Bring the screen, let's teach, let's preach. Put it in
Speaker 2: the comments. I'm not stuck unless I stop. I'm not
Speaker 2: stuck unless I stop.
Speaker 1: Pray for my handwriting. I'm gonna put some words on
Speaker 1: that screen.
Speaker 2: First, I want to read this word to you from
Speaker 2: Matthew chapter twenty.
Speaker 1: There's some water, this sweater is in my mouth. Pomeranian anointing.
Speaker 6: Ah, thank you, Congratulations to Graham Ferdick State Champion. Congratulations
Speaker 6: to Elijah Ferdick, who released my most personal interview ever
Speaker 6: on the Youth Nation podcast. This league, we'll put it
Speaker 6: out together, and y'all have had some amazing guests, but
Speaker 6: I checked in mindus the highest of you y'all ever
Speaker 6: put out.
Speaker 2: It's congratulations. More so, congratulations to Abby who's taking pictures
Speaker 2: on the photography team somewhere. I asked her when I
Speaker 2: woke her up this morning, I said, how many smiles
Speaker 2: do you want during the sermon today because they have
Speaker 2: to get pictures of me smiling?
Speaker 1: And she says, sometimes I don't smile at them. She
Speaker 1: said ten, so we'll try to get there.
Speaker 2: She said, I need you to smile ten times, but
Speaker 2: not all in a row. Matthew Chapter twenty, Matthew Chapter twenty,
Speaker 2: verse twenty nine through thirty four.
Speaker 1: You know what, Let's do it on screen. Yeah, let's
Speaker 1: do it on the screen.
Speaker 2: I asked, Brody, can you put the whole Bible on
Speaker 2: the screen for me and I can just pull it
Speaker 2: up at will?
Speaker 1: And he did that for me. You'll give it up
Speaker 1: for Brody. Thank you, Brodie.
Speaker 2: Matthew Chapter twenty. What am I doing? I got a
Speaker 2: stylist back here. Aha, all the way down to verse
Speaker 2: twenty nine. Two blind men receive side. As Jesus and
Speaker 2: his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.
Speaker 2: Two blind men, we're sitting by the roadside, and when
Speaker 2: they heard that Jesus was going by. I think y'all
Speaker 2: need to get the whole thing on the screen, don't you. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there it is. You got to see all this. And
Speaker 2: those of you that are adjusting to the font size,
Speaker 2: you're old like me. This is like size five hundred
Speaker 2: font and some of us are still struggling.
Speaker 1: Happy birth, all right.
Speaker 2: Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when
Speaker 2: they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, Lord,
Speaker 2: Son of David. I'm not going to use my whole
Speaker 2: full shouting right now, not this early in the sermon.
Speaker 2: When they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted,
Speaker 2: Lord Love, Lord son of David, have mercy on us.
Speaker 2: The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet.
Speaker 5: But they.
Speaker 1: Shouted all the louder.
Speaker 2: I like these guys, I said, I like these guys.
Speaker 2: The crowd told them to be quiet, but they shouted
Speaker 2: all the louder, Lord.
Speaker 1: Son of David, have mercy on us.
Speaker 2: Let's shout that, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us.
Speaker 1: Now. If you don't need mercy, keep your mouth shut.
Speaker 2: But if you need mercy in your life because you're
Speaker 2: not always perfect, shout with me.
Speaker 1: Lord son of David, have mercy on us. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And Jesus stopped and called them, what do you want
Speaker 2: me to do for you?
Speaker 1: He asked Lord.
Speaker 2: They answered, we want our sight, and Jesus had compassion
Speaker 2: on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their
Speaker 2: sight and followed him. So say it again. I'm not
Speaker 2: stuck unless I stop. I want to make a connection.
Speaker 2: As we study this today where it says they received
Speaker 2: their sight and followed him, I want to draw your
Speaker 2: attention to something. Is that, if you go back to
Speaker 2: the beginning of the passage, these men have experienced an
Speaker 2: amazing change. How many believe that God can still change
Speaker 2: your life in an amazing way at any moment, at
Speaker 2: any age, at any stage, And it can come from
Speaker 2: a direction that you never see it coming. And it
Speaker 2: can happen at a time when you had convinced yourself
Speaker 2: that it was over, and when you feel the stuckest.
Speaker 1: That's when God does some of his best stuff.
Speaker 2: I had a friend in high school who had a
Speaker 2: big truck, and he just lived for when somebody got
Speaker 2: stuck so he could show off his truck.
Speaker 1: I got a God who has a big truck.
Speaker 2: He lives for the moments when somebody gets stuck so
Speaker 2: he can show what he's got. The stuck word is
Speaker 2: kind of a nice word to use to describe how
Speaker 2: we feel. Sometimes we could use a lot of other
Speaker 2: words as well, depression and anxiety, and states that we
Speaker 2: get stuck in situations and circumstances that seem insurmountable. Relational
Speaker 2: profiles that never seem to change though everyone else seems
Speaker 2: to change theirs, Monthly habits that seem unbreakable, in patterns
Speaker 2: of thought that seem to be embedded into the very
Speaker 2: way that you are.
Speaker 1: That's what we're challenging in this series. Do the new You.
Speaker 2: That's why I wrote the book. I don't just want
Speaker 2: to be your life coach. I want to be your
Speaker 2: holy ghost life coach. Can I be your holy ghost
Speaker 2: life coach for a few minutes today and talk about
Speaker 2: the way that discipleship, which is really what we're talking
Speaker 2: about following Jesus' discipleship. Put that word in the comments, please, discipleship.
Speaker 2: Discipleship is always about redefinition. And I'll explain in the
Speaker 2: passage we just read. These two men had a physical problem.
Speaker 2: They were blind. This blindness is not only limited to
Speaker 2: the physical realm. The disciples who followed Jesus were blind
Speaker 2: not because they couldn't use their eyes, but because they
Speaker 2: could not see what he was doing even as he
Speaker 2: did it. They would fight over position. As he was
Speaker 2: speaking about purpose, and even as he was moving toward
Speaker 2: the cross to save the world from its sins, they
Speaker 2: were arguing about status and who gets the best seats
Speaker 2: in heaven? Can you believe that the disciples were blind?
Speaker 2: The men were blind? The Bible says that there were
Speaker 2: two blind men sitting by the roadside, probably begging, because
Speaker 2: the procession called Passover was happen. And now Passover was
Speaker 2: an annual feast for the Jews. This one was different.
Speaker 2: This one was different because Jesus was going not to
Speaker 2: see the lamb that was sacrificed in the Passover, but
Speaker 2: to be the lamb. He wasn't going just to commemorate
Speaker 2: an event in history. He was coming to redefine history
Speaker 2: as we knew it. It's a significant moment in Jesus's life,
Speaker 2: and yet everything in the passage screams of limitation. For
Speaker 2: although Jesus is fully God and able to do whatever
Speaker 2: he wants, he doesn't have much time left to walk
Speaker 2: the earth as a man. He's one week away from
Speaker 2: hanging on a cross, just a little bit over a
Speaker 2: week away from rising from the dead.
Speaker 1: He's headed to Jerusalem.
Speaker 2: He's headed to Jerusalem to face the cheers of the
Speaker 2: crowd when he arrives, riding on a donkey as they
Speaker 2: spread their palm branches on the road, saying Hosanna, Hosanna, which.
Speaker 1: Means save now.
Speaker 2: Yet days later, many of the same crowds that shouted Hosannah.
Speaker 1: Will be shouting crucify him.
Speaker 2: Don't ever commit your view of yourself to a crowd.
Speaker 1: If they like you, wonderful.
Speaker 2: If they don't like you, and God still loves you,
Speaker 2: you'll still have something to eat and somewhere to live
Speaker 2: in His presence. I don't know what I'm talking about,
Speaker 2: and therefore Jesus never committed his identity to the opinion
Speaker 2: of a crowd, and you can't either. I wish I
Speaker 2: was preaching just to the youth right now. I would
Speaker 2: talk to you about your crowd, and I would tell
Speaker 2: you that you are becoming too much like your crowd
Speaker 2: and too little like your Christ. Your Christ can help
Speaker 2: you stand out from the crowd. Your Christ can help
Speaker 2: you go the right way, even if the whole crowd
Speaker 2: goes the wrong way. But I'm getting ahead of myself,
Speaker 2: because I want to talk about the two men who
Speaker 2: were blind. And notice it says two things happened to
Speaker 2: them because they shouted. Everybody shouts, say whoo, everybody say, Lord,
Speaker 2: have mercy on me. That's what they shouted. And when
Speaker 2: they shouted, he called them. And when he called them,
Speaker 2: he touched them. And when he touched them, he healed them.
Speaker 2: And when he healed them, this is what I thought
Speaker 2: was the best part of the text. In verse thirty four,
Speaker 2: it said they received their site and followed him. Now
Speaker 2: all the way back to the beginning of the passage,
Speaker 2: you see this little chapter heading right here.
Speaker 1: That is not originally in the Bible.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is the part that is the word of
Speaker 2: God that was translated from the original language.
Speaker 1: This is something somebody put.
Speaker 2: In a study Bible to tell you this is a
Speaker 2: new section. But the Bible isn't like Netflix with chapter titles,
Speaker 2: and you know, the Bible doesn't have track ID.
Speaker 1: The Bible is just written.
Speaker 2: There's no chapter in verse divisions, and there are certainly
Speaker 2: no subject headings. So what was written here I want
Speaker 2: to talk about for a moment, and I want us
Speaker 2: to think about for a moment. And the reason that
Speaker 2: I wanted it to be on the screen is so
Speaker 2: that you can see it for yourself. And I have
Speaker 2: a question. It says two blind men receive site. And
Speaker 2: here's my question. If this happened, why are they still
Speaker 2: called that? If they received their site, it stands.
Speaker 1: The reason that they are no longer blind.
Speaker 2: I would like to suggest that we retitle this passage.
Speaker 2: Don't change the passage. Just call it what actually happened.
Speaker 2: Call it what actually happened. Maybe instead of calling this
Speaker 2: chapter two blind men received their sight, because if they see,
Speaker 2: they're no longer blind. But people will memorize how they
Speaker 2: met you and call you that for the rest of
Speaker 2: your natural days.
Speaker 1: I would suggest that God is the author of your story.
Speaker 2: I would suggest that he is the Alpha and Omega.
Speaker 2: I would suggest that it's him holding the pen. I'm smiling, Abby,
Speaker 2: Do you see me smiling. I'm smiling because I know
Speaker 2: he turned it around for me. I'm smiling because I
Speaker 2: know it doesn't matter what they called me. I'm smiling
Speaker 2: because I know he did some things for me. And
Speaker 2: it's amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a
Speaker 2: wretch like me? Hot once was lost, but now I'm found?
Speaker 1: Was blind West line? West line?
Speaker 2: Somebody shoutst line, I'm waiting.
Speaker 1: For this section. Y'all are sleeping touch.
Speaker 2: Somebody say I was line, but I'm not now now
Speaker 2: I see.
Speaker 1: How about we.
Speaker 2: Call this passage not two blind men received sidewatch this?
Speaker 2: Can I do this? Am I gonna get in trouble?
Speaker 2: In trouble? No, I don't think I'm gonna get in
Speaker 2: trouble because I think we need to.
Speaker 1: Call it too bold men. How you like that devil.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna call them what their condition said they were.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna call them what their past had them
Speaker 2: trapped in. I'm not gonna call them what they had
Speaker 2: known up to that point before they met the Savior
Speaker 2: who knew them from before they were born. How about
Speaker 2: we call this passage two, bold men become disciples because
Speaker 2: in verse twenty nine three people like it.
Speaker 1: You don't have to like it.
Speaker 7: God did it anyway. You don't have to love for it.
Speaker 7: God does what he wants to do. The whole crowd
Speaker 7: was telling them stop shouting. Stop that, that's ridiculous. Would
Speaker 7: you stomp that? Look at your never say stomp that?
Speaker 1: Do it like I did it with that whatever voice that.
Speaker 2: Was, stomp that na stomp that. The whole crowd told
Speaker 2: them to be quiet. The whole crowd told them to
Speaker 2: be quiet. I circled the phrase I'm looking for you
Speaker 2: there it is, told them, told them, let's circle it again.
Speaker 2: The whole crowd told them this is pointless. Don't you
Speaker 2: see you're blind. No making jokes. I'm just bringing the
Speaker 2: irony of it to the surface. But I love their boldness. Now,
Speaker 2: I just want to speculate that maybe their blindness contributed
Speaker 2: to their boldness. The Bible says that we walk by faith,
Speaker 2: not by sight, and maybe if they had seen how
Speaker 2: big the crowd was around Jesus, they wouldn't have had
Speaker 2: the faith to say anything about their own condition. For
Speaker 2: all of you who think that we shouldn't preach about
Speaker 2: personal growth from the pulpit. When Jesus asked them in
Speaker 2: and what do you want? They didn't pray about environmental
Speaker 2: pollution or carbon footprint or world hunger. They asked for
Speaker 2: something that they needed. And Jesus did not turn them
Speaker 2: away as selfish, but he enabled them to experience what
Speaker 2: their previous tradition had indicated was not possible. There are
Speaker 2: some of you here, and there is a whole crowd
Speaker 2: telling you just keep it down, don't even bother, don't
Speaker 2: even worry about it. But the interesting thing is not
Speaker 2: all crowds are outside.
Speaker 1: Some of the crowds that tell us to keep it down.
Speaker 2: Are the crowds you carry inside from.
Speaker 1: The voices of fear that you've accumulated in your life.
Speaker 2: I mean, you don't even really understand sometimes how the
Speaker 2: trauma of what you went through became your template for
Speaker 2: where you think God.
Speaker 1: Can take you.
Speaker 2: And here's the problem that I have when people say
Speaker 2: I'm finding myself. If I'm finding myself, it means I'm lost.
Speaker 2: If I'm lost, I need a guide. I have come
Speaker 2: to the point in my life that the only way
Speaker 2: I'm going to find me is to follow Jesus, because
Speaker 2: the only one who really knows what my life is
Speaker 2: supposed to be, or mean or produce is the manufacturer
Speaker 2: or the Bible calls the gardener who planted the potential
Speaker 2: in me to begin with, let's talk for a moment
Speaker 2: about this crowd that told them to be quiet. And
Speaker 2: I don't know what your insecurities are trying to tell
Speaker 2: you today. I don't know what your regrets are trying
Speaker 2: to tell you today.
Speaker 1: For some of you, it's this constant voice that.
Speaker 2: Says, you missed it, you blew it. It's over, you
Speaker 2: wasted it. It's gone, and you can't now if it
Speaker 2: was going to it would have by now.
Speaker 1: It's stronger than you and you can't go back now.
Speaker 2: And you shouldn't have done it, but you did do it,
Speaker 2: and now you have to.
Speaker 1: Keep doing it. It is the voice of the crowd
Speaker 1: telling you stop it.
Speaker 2: Even being at church today was a struggle for some
Speaker 2: of us, because while you want to hear God's voice,
Speaker 2: there's another voice telling you you really need to stop
Speaker 2: going to church. It's not changing your life anyway. Why
Speaker 2: do you keep serving God? Why do you keep trying
Speaker 2: to be a person of integrity? Don't you notice that
Speaker 2: the nice guy's finished last anyway?
Speaker 1: Why are you trying to be pure?
Speaker 2: Didn't you notice that all your friends who have no
Speaker 2: sexual morals are getting the girls and you're not. Why
Speaker 2: are you even trying to reclaim this part of your
Speaker 2: life when every time you try it only gets harder.
Speaker 2: Why are you even going back to rehab right now?
Speaker 2: Why would you even try again? Just stop, Just give
Speaker 2: up on yourself. Everybody else has given up on you.
Speaker 2: The voice of the crowd on the inside is louder
Speaker 2: than the voice of the crowd on the outside. There
Speaker 2: is no noise cancelation for the voice of the crowd
Speaker 2: on the outside. There is no numbing of the things
Speaker 2: that you say inside of yourself that keep you down.
Speaker 2: So I know that while the voice of God is
Speaker 2: going forth today, calling you forward into some things, calling
Speaker 2: you out of some things and into some others, calling
Speaker 2: you above some things, so that the things that are
Speaker 2: under your feet can stay there where they belong, and
Speaker 2: you can walk on ahead into your future, I know
Speaker 2: there is another voice telling you just stop. But I
Speaker 2: love these gold blind, these bold men. If you get
Speaker 2: to heaven and you want to meet these two men
Speaker 2: from Matthew twenty. Make sure you ask for them by
Speaker 2: the right name, because if you ask for the blind
Speaker 2: men in Matthew chapter twenty, nobody will come.
Speaker 1: To meet you and sign your book.
Speaker 2: So say, I want to meet those bold brothers from
Speaker 2: Matthew chapter twenty.
Speaker 1: I want to meet those bold brothers who.
Speaker 2: Decided I'm leaving the life I knew and following into
Speaker 2: the new, I'm going forward. They shouted, and the crowd
Speaker 2: said stop. They shouted, Lord, have mercy on us.
Speaker 1: They shouted. Everybody say they shouted. Nobody shouted saying they shouted,
Speaker 1: And I love that they shouted.
Speaker 2: Don't you everybody shout some kind of way, Just shout
Speaker 2: some kind of way. What is amazing about their shout.
Speaker 2: What is amazing about their shout is that it indicates
Speaker 2: a principle that I think will be very important to
Speaker 2: you in this season of your life. Don't ever let
Speaker 2: what you don't have keep you from using what you do. Remember, Saints,
Speaker 2: they couldn't see, but you don't have to see the shout.
Speaker 2: I said, you don't have to see to shout. Not
Speaker 2: only did they shout, but watch this when Jesus called,
Speaker 2: they came because you don't have to see to step.
Speaker 2: It's harder, but you can still do it. I came
Speaker 2: to preach to somebody today who feels stuck. And the
Speaker 2: issue is not that you're stuck. The issue is that
Speaker 2: you've stopped. The issue is not.
Speaker 1: That God has done with you, not by a long shot.
Speaker 2: The issue is that you have allowed what you don't have,
Speaker 2: your sight, to keep you from using what you do have,
Speaker 2: your shout and your steps. Because even if I have
Speaker 2: to shout and stumble and shout and stumble and shout
Speaker 2: and stumble, I can still get there, even if I
Speaker 2: have to proclaim I am the righteousness of God, and
Speaker 2: stumble and sin and proclaim that I am the righteousness
Speaker 2: of God, and stumble and sin and proclaim that I
Speaker 2: am the righteousness of God because Jesus died for me,
Speaker 2: and stumble and sin and carry the heavy burden of
Speaker 2: my habits. But know that every day He's transforming me.
Speaker 2: And if I have to stumble, a stumble is still
Speaker 2: a step. Put it in the chat right now while
Speaker 2: it's fresh.
Speaker 8: A stumble is still a step, and a shout is
Speaker 8: still a shout. Even if I shout with my eyes closed,
Speaker 8: Watch this, Lord, I close my eyes, I couldn't see,
Speaker 8: but I could shout. Right now, I'm in the season
Speaker 8: of my life where there are some things.
Speaker 2: I can't see clearly. I don't know which one God
Speaker 2: wants me to do next. I don't know how God's
Speaker 2: gonna make away on this.
Speaker 1: I don't know how he's gonna help me pay it off.
Speaker 2: I don't know how I'm gonna bounce back from it.
Speaker 2: I really don't know who's gonna be with me in
Speaker 2: this season. But the fact that I can't see it
Speaker 2: will not stop me from shouting about it.
Speaker 1: That's my decision. Come on, tell somebody you're not stuck.
Speaker 1: You just stopped. You just stopped. You just stopped.
Speaker 2: You Stop being optimistic because you didn't see any evidence.
Speaker 2: You stop believing you could rise above it because nobody
Speaker 2: in your family ever had. You'll stop believing that it
Speaker 2: could really be true for you, even though God spoke it.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to be ignorant about the challenges that
Speaker 2: you face. I'm just trying to issue a higher point
Speaker 2: of view than the one you've been living with. They
Speaker 2: heard that Jesus was coming and they shouted, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: take this message to a Pentecostal church and preach it
Speaker 2: like it needs to be preached. This bapt Episcopalian community
Speaker 2: fellowship don't know how to preach for the Word of
Speaker 2: God because we would have shouted. We would have shouted
Speaker 2: seven times by now have we really been listening? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm getting warmed up. I need you to know something.
Speaker 2: I need you to know something. There is nothing that
Speaker 2: you're not that God will require to do what He
Speaker 2: intends to do through your life. You know how many
Speaker 2: people give up and stop on something that God spoke
Speaker 2: to them just because they don't see I talked to one.
Speaker 1: Guy who told me I would have started at church.
Speaker 1: He's seventy.
Speaker 2: He said I would have started at church, but I
Speaker 2: didn't know how to do children's ministry.
Speaker 1: It would surprise you what stops people.
Speaker 2: He was anointed to preach, he was anointed to teach,
Speaker 2: he was anointed to lead, and yet he couldn't see
Speaker 2: that in leading someone else to do what they were
Speaker 2: gifted to do children's ministry, he could have moved past
Speaker 2: the limitation. The key premise of my message is this
Speaker 2: and the mindset that I'm.
Speaker 1: Not stuck unless I stop. It's very simple but I
Speaker 1: feel like I should break it down for you.
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 1: What what what? What? What? What? Why? Well, maybe that's
Speaker 1: the word God wanted you to get to today. You're
Speaker 1: telling me, and I'm.
Speaker 5: Telling you, I'm ded knowing, get go ahead.
Speaker 2: Through the valley, through the storm. I'm the worship it
Speaker 2: all the more. Raise is a weapon. It's more than
Speaker 2: a sound.
Speaker 1: Raise this the water my enemy's drout is I'm not
Speaker 1: dying in this red sea. Pharaoh is, I'm not dying
Speaker 1: in this red seat. Fear is, I'm not dying in
Speaker 1: this red sea. See it is.
Speaker 2: Shame is just races getting praise.
Speaker 1: If you know how to shout, do it now? How
Speaker 1: abom now?
Speaker 5: How of them?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: Would be a very good time the show. No, no,
Speaker 2: don't shout now. Save it for a football game. No no,
Speaker 2: don't shout now, Save it for a baseball game.
Speaker 1: No, don't shout now, say that for march madness. It's
Speaker 1: not like God brought through this far.
Speaker 2: It's not like hey, mad way after a way.
Speaker 1: It's not like he's for a com miracol sh after miracle.
Speaker 5: It's not like he open no after floor watch this
Speaker 5: dun for many.
Speaker 1: Southing.
Speaker 2: I'm like those two bold men. I'm shouting before I
Speaker 2: can see it. Oh, I saw something, y'all. I saw something, y'all.
Speaker 2: I saw something in my Bible. I brought this Bible
Speaker 2: up here on this screen to show you something. I
Speaker 2: want to show it to you right now. I've been
Speaker 2: saving this. I'm excited about it. I'm excited about what
Speaker 2: God did. I'm excited about who he did it for.
Speaker 2: He did it for the ones that no one else
Speaker 2: was paying attention to. He did it for the ones
Speaker 2: who are in the most desperate situation. He's gonna do
Speaker 2: it for the one here today who's hurting the most.
Speaker 2: He's gonna do it for the one here today who
Speaker 2: is confused. He's gonna do it here for the one
Speaker 2: today who is reaching out to him. He's gonna do
Speaker 2: it for the one today who doesn't have much time left.
Speaker 2: He's gonna do it for the one today who wasted
Speaker 2: some of the good seasons. He's gonna do it here
Speaker 2: today for somebody who's weak in your body. He's gonna
Speaker 2: do it for somebody who's stuck. Because he's got a
Speaker 2: really big truck and he likes to show you what
Speaker 2: he can pull you out off.
Speaker 1: So, if you've been in something, the.
Speaker 2: Bible says that Jesus did it for the blind men,
Speaker 2: and he did it instantly, and he did it compassionately,
Speaker 2: and he touched them. And when he touched them, did
Speaker 2: you see that he touched them? He didn't need to
Speaker 2: shout anymore because God doesn't have.
Speaker 1: To shout when he's close to you.
Speaker 2: So if you can't hear him right now, if you
Speaker 2: can't feel him right now, if you can't see him
Speaker 2: right now, maybe you will hear the still small voice
Speaker 2: and feel a touch and of a sudden what the
Speaker 2: crowd told them had no power over the Savior who
Speaker 2: touched them. When God touches you, no matter what fear
Speaker 2: tells you, no matter what the enemy tells you, tim
Speaker 2: no matter what he told you, when God touches you,
Speaker 2: did you wear those sunglasses to help me illustrate this
Speaker 2: sermon today? When God touches you, and he says, I
Speaker 2: don't care what they've told you. I don't care what
Speaker 2: they've called you. I don't care how they've labeled you.
Speaker 2: I don't care if they said it's a learning disability.
Speaker 1: Knock. When this ability meets the disability, God.
Speaker 2: Will raise up something that is absolutely race compounding amazing.
Speaker 1: It's amazing grace.
Speaker 2: And he did it for people who couldn't see it,
Speaker 2: and he didn't for people who couldn't do it for themself.
Speaker 2: And he called them and they followed. And I was
Speaker 2: reading this passage over and over again, and I realized
Speaker 2: that he did not come to them.
Speaker 1: He called them because when he found them, they were sitting.
Speaker 2: But he didn't want to leave them sitting in Jericho.
Speaker 2: He wanted to get them stepping toward Jerusalem. This is
Speaker 2: why God doesn't always make it easy for you. This
Speaker 2: is why even in the moments where he has compassion,
Speaker 2: sometimes in his compassion, he'll tell you come. It does
Speaker 2: not say Jesus went to them. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: what it says is absolutely amazing. Everybody say amazing. I
Speaker 2: want y'all to love this Bible. I want y'all to
Speaker 2: get a highlight or a blue one and a yellow one,
Speaker 2: and a pink one, and a raspberry one and a
Speaker 2: scented one.
Speaker 1: Then I want you to sniff that raspberry in the morning.
Speaker 2: And start looking for the righteousness of God in the
Speaker 2: Word of God and the revelation of God with your
Speaker 2: raspberry highlighter and start circling stuff that God speaks to
Speaker 2: you so you can get a better word over your family.
Speaker 3: Yeah, got ge go, got got go, get y'all.
Speaker 1: I'm shutting upbout what I'll see.
Speaker 2: Everybody shout Lord, say Lord, and now be the crowd
Speaker 2: say stop, say Lord, not be the crowd say stop.
Speaker 1: Desides say Lord, say loud, loud. By the way, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say something. I love these guys, it says. When
Speaker 1: the crowd told them to be quiet, they shouted all
Speaker 1: the louder. So let's practice. Everybody say stop on this side.
Speaker 1: Now say Lord. Now say stop louder, louder, louder, say stop.
Speaker 1: Now watch this stop. Crowd says stop. Fear says stop.
Speaker 2: Insecurity says stop past that stop did she says stop?
Speaker 9: The pressure say stop. Anxiety says stop. And because they
Speaker 9: didn't stop, because put it back on the screen, tech team.
Speaker 9: I gotta show this to my Epham. I gotta show
Speaker 9: this to somebody who has made.
Speaker 1: Up your mind.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna stop following Jesus. I'm not gonna stop
Speaker 2: praying about it. I'm not gonna stop seeking him. I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna stop encouraging. I'm not gonna stop using my gift.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna stop using this annoying thing. I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna stop speaking life. I'm not gonna stop praising him.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna stop trusting him. I'm not gonna stop.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna stop. And because they didn't stop, Jesus did.
Speaker 1: He did.
Speaker 2: Because they didn't stop, they just shouted, louder I love him.
Speaker 2: Not only did they not stop, they took it to
Speaker 2: another level. Not only did they not stop, they took
Speaker 2: it to another level. And not only did they get here,
Speaker 2: they followed Jesus and they didn't go back to Jericho.
Speaker 1: All of this started with a shout. I'm not going
Speaker 1: back to Jericho. And it started with a shout. Now,
Speaker 1: I seem to remember something in the Bible. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you can help me pull it on about
Speaker 1: a shout in Jericho.
Speaker 2: I seem to remember something. Can we find it in
Speaker 2: the Bible? Come on, everybody who wants this good part
Speaker 2: of the words, shout right now, shout lader. Everybody who
Speaker 2: wants God to give you an update and make you
Speaker 2: a disciple, and purge you, and purify you and get
Speaker 2: your mind right and bring his spirit to break change,
Speaker 2: make some noose. This is not the first shout in Jericho.
Speaker 2: The Bible says in Joshua, chapter six, verse number.
Speaker 1: One, somebody shout. Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred.
Speaker 2: You remember Jericho. You remember Jericho. It was the first
Speaker 2: city that God called his people to take over. After
Speaker 2: forty years of stuck in the wilderness, after forty years
Speaker 2: of going in circles, after forty years of saying.
Speaker 1: Those giants are bigger.
Speaker 2: Than us, after a whole generation complained and wasted away
Speaker 2: and waged not a war against.
Speaker 1: Their enemies, but a war against their own destiny. Now
Speaker 1: Jericho was securely barred up.
Speaker 2: Talk about stuck. You're standing at the edge of something.
Speaker 2: How many feel like this. I'm at the edge of
Speaker 2: something and I can't get in. I'm at the edge
Speaker 2: of joy, but I can't keep it. I'm at the
Speaker 2: edge of a blessing, but I keep messing it up.
Speaker 2: And I get a little bit, and I spend more,
Speaker 2: and I get a little bit, and I eat more,
Speaker 2: and I stuff in a numb and I don't understand why.
Speaker 1: Now Jericho was securely barred because.
Speaker 2: Of the Israelites. Remember, the enemy is intimidated by you
Speaker 2: because he knows who's fighting for you.
Speaker 1: No one went in, no one came out. They are stuck.
Speaker 1: But where the previous generation stopped, they didn't, The Bible
Speaker 1: says in verse two.
Speaker 2: Then the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have delivered
Speaker 2: past tense Jericho into your hands, along with its king
Speaker 2: and it's fighting men. March around the city once. Oh cool, Okay,
Speaker 2: I could do that. Yeah, I'll march around the city once.
Speaker 2: You're gonna give me the victory. If I just march
Speaker 2: around the city once.
Speaker 1: That sign me. I'm doing to do it. Absolutely do.
Speaker 2: I'm join Jim and I'm gonna meditation app on my
Speaker 2: phone as well in a Bible blam, the Bible blam.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna reading the message Bible. I really like the
Speaker 1: message Bible. That's great. But nothing happened once. March around
Speaker 1: the city once. Is what I told Josha. What this
Speaker 1: is what I told you. March aro on once with
Speaker 1: all the arm men.
Speaker 3: Do this for.
Speaker 1: Six days.
Speaker 2: Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams horns in front
Speaker 2: of the art. Now on the seventh day, take a
Speaker 2: few deep breaks because you're about to shot again.
Speaker 1: Tell the people in your apartment. Don't get nervous. I'm
Speaker 1: about to shot again, though. Just tell them, Just tell them, Hey,
Speaker 1: you're gonna hear me holler. But don't call nine one one.
Speaker 1: Don't call nine one one, Just call Joshua was six.
Speaker 2: Because I'm shouting about something that I can't see right now, because.
Speaker 1: I'm shouting about something I can't feel.
Speaker 2: I'm shouting about something I don't have the factual backing
Speaker 2: for right now.
Speaker 1: Eh, I'm shouting about something you can't see right now.
Speaker 2: Have them march around seven times with the priest blowing
Speaker 2: the trumpets. Remember every day they marched and nothing happened.
Speaker 1: Took faith.
Speaker 2: Every day you pray and believe and nothing comes back
Speaker 2: in the form of love toward your life.
Speaker 1: Is a day that takes faith. Every day that the desire.
Speaker 2: Doesn't leave you, but you commit to get back up
Speaker 2: even though.
Speaker 1: You slip, takes faith.
Speaker 2: And so you're waiting for the walls to fall, and
Speaker 2: so you're waiting for the pain to go away, and
Speaker 2: so you're waiting for it to get easier, and so
Speaker 2: you're waiting for the right pill to fix it. And
Speaker 2: so you're waiting for the right key to break it
Speaker 2: and unlock it forever. But the Bible says that it
Speaker 2: took six days of stuck, and on the seventh day,
Speaker 2: I appreached a message one time called don't stop on six.
Speaker 2: I preached that message when I was going through hell.
Speaker 2: I preached that message when the media was saying that
Speaker 2: I was a liar and a hypocrite and that I
Speaker 2: was buying my way onto a bestseller list with my
Speaker 2: book that I never did, and that we were faking baptisms,
Speaker 2: and that I preached that message don't stop on six.
Speaker 1: And I walked around the podium and I got down
Speaker 1: on my face.
Speaker 2: And I'm forty four now, so I'm not going to
Speaker 2: do that part anymore because getting up is different. But
Speaker 2: I got down on my face and I talked about
Speaker 2: the lapse where you have to crawl, and I talked
Speaker 2: about the nights where you have to fake it, and
Speaker 2: I talked about the days where you have to go
Speaker 2: in the bathroom at work and cry and go I
Speaker 2: can't even get through the day.
Speaker 1: And it's nine forty five in the morning, and the
Speaker 1: Bible seems it's.
Speaker 2: Just hieroglyphics to me right now, and the impulse is
Speaker 2: stronger than my integrity right now.
Speaker 1: And I preached and I.
Speaker 2: Said, don't stop on six because on the seventh day,
Speaker 2: you never.
Speaker 1: Know, this might be the one.
Speaker 2: I mean, this might be the time, and this might
Speaker 2: be the day, and this might be the seed, and
Speaker 2: this might be the season, and this might be the moment,
Speaker 2: and you might be the one to break it off
Speaker 2: of everybody with your last.
Speaker 1: Name who is yet to be born. So don't stop.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says when you march around the city
Speaker 2: seven times, everybody shouts seven.
Speaker 1: That's the number of completion.
Speaker 2: Now high five to seven people and say, I'm getting
Speaker 2: this done.
Speaker 1: I'm getting this done. I'm getting this done. I'm getting
Speaker 1: this done.
Speaker 2: What you say, kid going, keep going, keep going, kid going?
Speaker 1: Yeah, stumble yeah, slip, Yeah, I did it. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: struggle with it, but I'm done it.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not it.
Speaker 1: No, I'm not in. I got a new man. I'm
Speaker 1: not a blond man. I'm a bold man.
Speaker 3: I'm not the old man.
Speaker 1: I'm a new man. I'm a new man. I'm a
Speaker 1: new man. Yeah, I'm an man.
Speaker 2: Watch this.
Speaker 1: Verse five is my verse. Verse five is my verse.
Speaker 1: Put it on the lower thirds, so I can preach it.
Speaker 1: Somebody shout, don't stop.
Speaker 2: They didn't stop shouting, and Jesus stopped in the middle
Speaker 2: of the street on the way to the cross to
Speaker 2: save the world, and he's calling you right now.
Speaker 1: He stopped this moment in time.
Speaker 2: Some of you, God stopped the relationship that you were
Speaker 2: addicted to so he could open your eyes to who
Speaker 2: you really are. Some of you, God stopped the job
Speaker 2: that you were greater than, so that you would develop
Speaker 2: your skill and humility to go to the next level
Speaker 2: and learn from the mistake.
Speaker 1: When you don't stop, God does.
Speaker 2: A silence, accusation, A silence condemnation.
Speaker 1: I silence.
Speaker 2: What the crowd says, I what your instagram feed says
Speaker 2: I silence?
Speaker 1: What your negative result says? Silence.
Speaker 2: Now that the crowd has to be quiet, and the
Speaker 2: Christ has called you, let's look at this Jericho shout.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize when I read about the blind Man
Speaker 2: that the shout that they released in Jericho was an echo.
Speaker 1: It was the echo in Jericho.
Speaker 2: And if you know anything about what happens next in
Speaker 2: this passage in chapter six, verse five of Joshua, now
Speaker 2: we're ready. The Bible says, when you hear them, sound
Speaker 2: a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army
Speaker 2: give a.
Speaker 1: What you're gonna do? You mean I preached an hour
Speaker 1: in this heavy sweater and you still don't know what
Speaker 1: to do? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 10: You mean I wrote a whole book, I've been pastor
Speaker 10: a whole trip, and you still eighteen years and we
Speaker 10: still don't know what to do with the wall.
Speaker 1: What's this thing?
Speaker 3: What's a wall? To away? Megger?
Speaker 1: What's a wall to away? Meger?
Speaker 3: What's a day?
Speaker 1: Joza Bregger? What's a day? Joazagleger?
Speaker 3: Shut down? What's a wall? What's a wa way?
Speaker 1: Mega?
Speaker 3: And here it is?
Speaker 2: The Bible says, when you hear them, sound a long
Speaker 2: blast on the trumpets, have the whole army gives.
Speaker 3: A loud.
Speaker 1: Shout. Watch this wats this? No, no, no, stop stop.
Speaker 1: If you shout, you might get joy. If you shout,
Speaker 1: you might get an answer.
Speaker 2: If you shout, can I get out of your self
Speaker 2: consciousness and get Christ's conscious?
Speaker 3: Go shout loud.
Speaker 2: Have the whole army give a loud shout, And it says,
Speaker 2: then the wall will collapse.
Speaker 1: Watch this, not shout? Win? Can you read that well, look,
Speaker 1: I think it's got an eraser. I'll do it again.
Speaker 1: Not shout win the wall collapses, shout, shout what you're
Speaker 1: showing about? What your showing about? Something I can't see.
Speaker 2: But they stop at and it's gotta cook down.
Speaker 4: It's gotta clok down, saying it's gotta come down.
Speaker 1: I said this gotta cook down.
Speaker 4: Stop this gotta pump down. Tell your neighbor it's kinda
Speaker 4: come down. It's gotta come down. It's gotta colm down.
Speaker 4: It's gotta come down. When we show this, gotta come down.
Speaker 4: When your sad gotta come down. I said this gotta
Speaker 4: bump down, it's gotta come down, gotta come down.
Speaker 1: I praise when outnumbered.
Speaker 2: I praise when surrounded, because praises the waters my enemy's drowning.
Speaker 2: I praise when I feel it. I praise when I go.
Speaker 2: I praise because I know what. You're still in control.
Speaker 3: I'm on this.
Speaker 1: I praise because you're faithful. I praise because you're true
Speaker 1: what you're shouting about. I praise gous.
Speaker 2: Sais nobody come here, Chris greater than you?
Speaker 1: Not give him the good purse. My praise is a weapon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's lolling in a sound Why Why.
Speaker 5: My praise is a show down that breaks caer coo down. Yeah, Chios,
Speaker 5: cool down, that breaks carriers?
Speaker 1: Cool down. Yeah, my praise is a show.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 2: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 2: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 2: link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch
Speaker 2: dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
Speaker 2: 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
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.