Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Pastor Carl Lyntz is in the house to preach God's word.
Speaker 1: I'm excited that our friend would come and be with
Speaker 1: us today. For many years I would preach on my
Speaker 1: anniversary and it seemed unfitting for me to have to
Speaker 1: bring a gift to my own birthday party. And there
Speaker 1: was only one person that I wanted to preach this weekend.
Speaker 1: And if he would have said no, then I would
Speaker 1: have quit returning his text messages for at least three months.
Speaker 1: But Pastor Carl Lynz is really one of the most
Speaker 1: christ Like people that I know. He is not afraid
Speaker 1: to be inconvenienced or controversial if it means bringing Jesus
Speaker 1: into the lives and hearts of people. I want to
Speaker 1: be more like that. I've noticed him being willing to
Speaker 1: associate with anyone and everyone on the same level, and
Speaker 1: I want to be more like that. I noticed that
Speaker 1: he is relentless in his drive to connect with people,
Speaker 1: and at times that means sometimes at great expense to himself.
Speaker 1: And I want to be more like that. So I
Speaker 1: thank God for having a brother who can also be
Speaker 1: an example. We love you and Laura. It's been a
Speaker 1: joy to ride with you, just even in the very
Speaker 1: back of the bus on the journey of Hillsong, New York,
Speaker 1: since the very beginning. And we have been friends for
Speaker 1: a long time now, and I love you more every
Speaker 1: day that I know you. In this last year, we've
Speaker 1: grown closer than ever before. So for the next you know,
Speaker 1: three or four hours, we don't have a team in
Speaker 1: the game tonight. For the next few moments, don't get
Speaker 1: nervous hyperbole. For the next few minutes, treat this like
Speaker 1: this as your elevation church. We certainly consider you family.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the stage at every location EPHAM around the world.
Speaker 1: Pastor Carl Z. Before we sit down, I just want
Speaker 1: to say it never gets old to me being a
Speaker 1: part of your church. And when your pastor says that
Speaker 1: they've been a part of this for a long time,
Speaker 1: and I should have asked if I could tell this story,
Speaker 1: if I'm just gonna do it and you could just
Speaker 1: delete it from the record. But when we first started
Speaker 1: Hillsong New York City, we didn't really know each other
Speaker 1: that way. I knew him from a forest, even in Holly.
Speaker 1: But he came to hang out in New York for
Speaker 1: something else and we had dinner and it was there
Speaker 1: was a catastrophic storm coming. This is like year one
Speaker 1: of Hillsong New York City, and we had to cancel
Speaker 1: our services, and I think he could see it. It
Speaker 1: was really heavy on my heart. I didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do. And when you started early church, every weekend
Speaker 1: really matters. And I don't know what the myth is
Speaker 1: of church plants, but sometimes if you've got to shut
Speaker 1: it down for a week, it could really hurt you.
Speaker 1: And he looked at me and he just goes, you know,
Speaker 1: God's gonna come through. He's gonna come through. Just keep
Speaker 1: your head up. And I was like, it's easy for
Speaker 1: you to say. You know, you have your own planet
Speaker 1: at elevation and everything you do is incredible, like we're
Speaker 1: brand new. And he came back later that night at
Speaker 1: dinner and he said, hey, you know, I feel like
Speaker 1: God's gonna answer your prayer and I'm like, that's great.
Speaker 1: He's like, you told me how much money it would
Speaker 1: cost to run your church for that that weekend, and
Speaker 1: he's like, our Elevation Church believes in church plants, and
Speaker 1: we're going to sew this into your church. And I
Speaker 1: remember calling my pastor. I said, you know this, these
Speaker 1: Verdict people. Do you know anything about this? Elevation Church
Speaker 1: have a fund that helps churches like ours, and we
Speaker 1: were able to keep it going. I don't know what
Speaker 1: would have happened had God not sent y'all in the
Speaker 1: form of your leadership in that moment. And so, whether
Speaker 1: you like it or not, you're with Hillsaw, New York
Speaker 1: City forever. Over two hundred thousand people have gotten saved.
Speaker 1: Who knows how many lives have been transformed, And we
Speaker 1: don't even know what we're doing yet, but thank you.
Speaker 1: And it's one day one year. It's like a one
Speaker 1: birthday party we get to have. So I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: an extra second here because it is true. We always
Speaker 1: talk about how some cultures are really weird with honor.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, people get freaked out. It's okay to
Speaker 1: honor people who God loves and who he's touched. And
Speaker 1: I tell Steven and Holly this, who are so much fun.
Speaker 1: By the way, Laura and Holly are fast friends because
Speaker 1: me and Steven are relatively serious at times, and both
Speaker 1: of our wives are really much cooler than both of us.
Speaker 1: But Lebron James, I don't know if you guys know
Speaker 1: who that is. This guy is so good that what
Speaker 1: it used to be exceptional has just become normal. So
Speaker 1: if you look at what Lebron James does on any
Speaker 1: given night, you're like, oh, what do you have? Thirty
Speaker 1: seven seventeen, sixteen, fourteen and three steals and he gave
Speaker 1: them nine people water, and you expect you just expect
Speaker 1: Lebron to do that. The first couple of times he
Speaker 1: did it, people are like, Wow, that's amazing. Then you
Speaker 1: start expecting Lebron to do that, and what used to
Speaker 1: be special is no longer special. I think that we
Speaker 1: got to do a great job just in general, of
Speaker 1: honoring the amazing things that God puts in our lives
Speaker 1: and keeping them special, and that includes your pastor. Let
Speaker 1: me tell you something, this is not normal. It's not
Speaker 1: normal to walk into a church that is incredible. It's excellent.
Speaker 1: They work hard. All they do is exist to bring
Speaker 1: people to and just the preaching alone. Most pastors preach
Speaker 1: two good messages in their whole life. He just wrote
Speaker 1: a new one for next week right now. That'll be
Speaker 1: better than anything else somebody else could construct. All that
Speaker 1: to say, when you walk into this church, don't take
Speaker 1: the ushers for granted. Don't take these musicians for granted.
Speaker 1: Don't take the fact that you have lights on for granted.
Speaker 1: Don't take the fact that people are getting saved for granted.
Speaker 1: And don't take your pastors who are supernaturally special for granted.
Speaker 1: Can we show them some love on this thirteen year celebration?
Speaker 1: Need you give somebody a quick high five and a
Speaker 1: hug and you take your seat, and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to this word And it was worth it. However time,
Speaker 1: however much time you got to take off that clock,
Speaker 1: do it. But it's an honor to be able to
Speaker 1: be here on a special day. And LJ you're sticking
Speaker 1: with me, my brother, Thank you phenomenal. Do you like
Speaker 1: who you're sitting next to. I wouldn't have been mad
Speaker 1: if we just kept singing that powerful? How good is
Speaker 1: worship in church? It's cool? Everywhere, but there's something special
Speaker 1: about it. I had a friend of mine who just
Speaker 1: doesn't get charismatic worship at all, and he was like,
Speaker 1: it just seems so weird to me, and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but have you ever seen yourself in the clubs you
Speaker 1: go to. You're weird too. But I explained to him.
Speaker 1: I said, we don't lift our hands because it's charismatic.
Speaker 1: We don't lift our hands and do stuff because a
Speaker 1: worship leader says stuff. It's just a desperation thing. When
Speaker 1: I first started coming to church, I would barely muster
Speaker 1: a worship frisbee. And then the more desperate I got,
Speaker 1: the less I cared about what anybody else thought. And
Speaker 1: I'll sing if I can't sing, lift my hands if
Speaker 1: I have to. There are some weeks where I don't
Speaker 1: do that. But the point is this, it's pretty incredible
Speaker 1: to be able to just come and do a place
Speaker 1: like this and worship free. I don't take it for
Speaker 1: granted to you, hope not. Do you like career sitting
Speaker 1: next to right now, look at them deeply in their
Speaker 1: eyes and tell them I prayed all day that I
Speaker 1: would sit right next to you and then look at
Speaker 1: them and say, God loves Tom Brady board than everybody else.
Speaker 1: These are facts. I'm just kidding. I have no dog
Speaker 1: in that fight. I don't care at all. Plus, it's
Speaker 1: not really gonna be a game because of Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: Only two types of people in this world Tom Brady
Speaker 1: fans and I'm kidding. Okay, let me stop with the
Speaker 1: football believe them. For Cam to have a breakthrough year,
Speaker 1: can I get a Carolina panther? Amen? Anybody need more
Speaker 1: peace in your life? Anybody ever struggled with fear, anxiety, worry, pressure, nobody? Wow,
Speaker 1: this place is really put together. Pastor, I think Jesus
Speaker 1: had a lot to say about it. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: read you a scripture that really brings peace to my soul.
Speaker 1: And a huge shout out to Columbia Uptown, Morrisville, Concord, Blakeney, Raleigh.
Speaker 1: I am an NC state alone. Shout out to the
Speaker 1: NC state well fact, Winston, Salem Riverwalk, you see Asheville, Matthew, Toronto, Gaston,
Speaker 1: laken I know this is the top of my head.
Speaker 1: Roanoke Online, Melbourne Valentine. Jesus said this, and he's talking
Speaker 1: to guys that are headed into pretty uncertain futures, and
Speaker 1: he's letting them know what they can expect, how to
Speaker 1: live what's gonna be coming their way. And I love
Speaker 1: what he says because they can. This scripture alone can
Speaker 1: get you through this week and get you through your
Speaker 1: whole life when you realize what you have in you
Speaker 1: who are God is? And he says this, Now you
Speaker 1: finally believe in me. And the time has come when
Speaker 1: you will be scattered, and each one of you will
Speaker 1: go your own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am
Speaker 1: never alone, for the Father is always with me. And
Speaker 1: everything I've told WW ought you is so that the
Speaker 1: peace which is in me will be in you and
Speaker 1: will give you great confidence as you rest in me.
Speaker 1: For in this unbelieving world, you will experience trouble, and
Speaker 1: you will experience sorrows. But you must be courageous, for
Speaker 1: I have conquered the world. The world called this message
Speaker 1: with the twenty minutes I of remaining peace in my pocket.
Speaker 1: Look at somebody who say I got peace in my pocket.
Speaker 1: You find it funny how when you are under pressure
Speaker 1: or under stress or dealing with anxiety, you're just not yourself.
Speaker 1: You don't say the things you normally say. You don't
Speaker 1: act right. It just kind of makes you different than normal.
Speaker 1: Who knows what I'm talking about, Like, if you're under pressure,
Speaker 1: anxiety is hitting you. For me, the way that outworks
Speaker 1: itself stress is that I just forget stuff. You have
Speaker 1: any friends here know what I'm talking about. Like, when
Speaker 1: you're under pressure, you forget stuff and you're looking for
Speaker 1: things that you don't even know if you really ever
Speaker 1: lost them in the first place. Recently, I was under
Speaker 1: some pressure, regular life stuff like all of us, and
Speaker 1: I was trying to find what I needed to just
Speaker 1: get going with the rest of my day, and my
Speaker 1: wife was not in the house or right away. I'm
Speaker 1: in trouble, and I am searching everywhere for two things
Speaker 1: that I needed, my phone and my keys. And after
Speaker 1: uprooting the whole house, losing my faith a few times,
Speaker 1: getting saved again, and sitting there just depleted after I
Speaker 1: couldn't find it, my wife walks in. She goes, what
Speaker 1: you're looking for? I said, I'm looking for my keys
Speaker 1: and I'm looking for my phone. Have you seen them?
Speaker 1: Because I know you moved them? You know, to start
Speaker 1: blaming people when you under pressure? Was you? And she
Speaker 1: goes mate, because she's Australian mate, did you check your pocket? Smack?
Speaker 1: And I looked at her and I'm like, yeah, sure enough,
Speaker 1: phone here, keys here. And I looked at her and
Speaker 1: I was like, that's just making sure you knew where
Speaker 1: they were. And I left and shame, and I thought
Speaker 1: about how interesting it is that if we're not careful,
Speaker 1: we can forget the fact that Jesus actually said in
Speaker 1: John sixteen that we have peace because of him, and
Speaker 1: if he is with us, that also means that peace
Speaker 1: is with us. And we have people who don't understand that.
Speaker 1: During anxious times and pressure and fear, sometimes we end
Speaker 1: up looking for stuff we never lost. We start wandering
Speaker 1: in the areas we have been freed from. We start
Speaker 1: going to other sources, trying to find things that are
Speaker 1: clearly already in our possession. If there is somebody in
Speaker 1: here who feels like you've lost your peace or you
Speaker 1: can't find your peace and you're desperate for more of it,
Speaker 1: I would tell you today you have more peace in
Speaker 1: your pocket in your life than you think you do.
Speaker 1: Maybe you just need to start asking the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: to open up your eyes and show you just how
Speaker 1: much He has put inside you. Maybe you forgot about it,
Speaker 1: maybe you haven't learn how to pull it out yet.
Speaker 1: But if you lost your peace, that would have to
Speaker 1: mean that Jesus has abandoned you. And I got good news.
Speaker 1: He doesn't leave us, he doesn't forsake us, he doesn't
Speaker 1: leave us high and dry. So therefore your peace is
Speaker 1: in you, because Jesus is with out. If you thought
Speaker 1: you lost your peace, you did not. If you thought
Speaker 1: that somebody had access to more peace than you, they
Speaker 1: do not. Some of us are just quicker to remember
Speaker 1: the fact that Jesus told us he's with me. Therefore
Speaker 1: peace is in my soul. Take a deep breath that
Speaker 1: it feels good to know that you're a Christian. Therefore
Speaker 1: peace is with you. I'll break it down in two
Speaker 1: quick ways. It helps me. It's one thing when we
Speaker 1: talk about peace. It's one thing to understand that making
Speaker 1: your peace with God important step. But it's a whole
Speaker 1: nother ballgame to be able to find your peace in Jesus'
Speaker 1: daily Can I break this down for you? We got
Speaker 1: four hours, so get comfy. It's one thing to make
Speaker 1: your peace with God. I don't love that term, but
Speaker 1: it's a term that people kind of understand, because I
Speaker 1: feel like God made his peace with us by giving
Speaker 1: us a chance to get saved through Jesus. But making
Speaker 1: your peace with God is typically the only part of
Speaker 1: peace people really understand. We call this salvation. So if
Speaker 1: you're new to this church and you have yet to
Speaker 1: make your peace with God, that's going to change in
Speaker 1: approximately seventeen minutes. But this is when we bow our
Speaker 1: knee and we realize that God has saved us and
Speaker 1: he has set us free. We can have peace today
Speaker 1: knowing if our lives ended now, we would be with
Speaker 1: Him someday in heaven, not because of what we've done,
Speaker 1: but because of the beautiful thing Jesus did on the
Speaker 1: cross and his grace set us free. In fact, it's
Speaker 1: the case if you need to hear it, Romans five
Speaker 1: says this. This is mind blowing. It says our faith
Speaker 1: in Jesus transfers God's righteousness to us, and he now
Speaker 1: declares us flawless in his eyes. Anybody wake up today
Speaker 1: Elevation Church and go, oh, that's how good God is,
Speaker 1: flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy
Speaker 1: true and lasting peace with God, all because of what
Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us.
Speaker 1: Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness,
Speaker 1: and it's given us a perfect relationship with God. So
Speaker 1: now we've made our peace here, right, There's a lot
Speaker 1: of people who still don't get this. And even though
Speaker 1: you're sitting in church, I'm not doubting your faith, but
Speaker 1: I know people who have yet to understand. You need
Speaker 1: to make your peace with the fact that God has
Speaker 1: made his peace with you because of Jesus. You can't
Speaker 1: outsin this grace. You can't out backslide the love of God.
Speaker 1: I know people who get saved in church every week.
Speaker 1: I have a friend who's the first hand to go
Speaker 1: up every altar call we do. And I finally was like,
Speaker 1: my man, just so you know, you can get saved
Speaker 1: all you want, but you have bowed your knee, you
Speaker 1: have confessed your sin. You are rejecting your old sinful ways.
Speaker 1: You are saved. God loves you. He goes, yeah, but
Speaker 1: I had a really rough week. I said, Mama, Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank God, it's not about our Our peace comes from Jesus.
Speaker 1: So some of y'all might need to make your peace
Speaker 1: with that today. But There's this other thing called finding
Speaker 1: your peace in Jesus daily that we probably need to
Speaker 1: talk about, because this is where you walk with it,
Speaker 1: and you talk with Jesus and you know his voice
Speaker 1: and you know his tempo, and you know what it
Speaker 1: feels like to be surrounded by him. This is when
Speaker 1: you have so much peace you can give it away.
Speaker 1: This is when you have so much peace you can
Speaker 1: access it at any time. There are so many people
Speaker 1: who only know the peace of God eternally, maybe, but
Speaker 1: they don't know anything about the fact that God did
Speaker 1: not just save us so we can have some weird
Speaker 1: eternal security. God saved us and Jesus gave us peace
Speaker 1: so we could live differently while we're here. I don't
Speaker 1: want to just get saved and just exists, knowing someday
Speaker 1: I'll be in heaven. But while I'm here on earth,
Speaker 1: I got to go through what everybody else is going through.
Speaker 1: No way, I need to know what I have access to.
Speaker 1: Come on, I'm preaching to you, so at least seven
Speaker 1: people in here, mainly in this area right here, this
Speaker 1: is the faith filled people. How I just don't want
Speaker 1: to be a victim of not knowing what I had
Speaker 1: access to when it comes to the things of God
Speaker 1: means I got to work at It means I got
Speaker 1: to go explore this. It means I have to outside
Speaker 1: of my church experience, get on my own knees, sing
Speaker 1: my own songs, pray my own prayer, try to know
Speaker 1: who Jesus is for me so I don't get lost
Speaker 1: in all this stuff. Yeah, three hallelujahs. That's what I
Speaker 1: always say when I'm preaching this. I mean, I have
Speaker 1: a phone like everybody in here, and I don't know
Speaker 1: about you, if you're tech savvy or not. I'm not
Speaker 1: very tech savvy. My daughters make fun of me all
Speaker 1: the time. But I recently had a iPhone breakdown and
Speaker 1: that frustrates me because they're far too expensive to not
Speaker 1: work all the time. And so I was like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I want to actually talk to the maker.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to the people who are taking
Speaker 1: my money. So I went into Apple and I went
Speaker 1: up to this guy and I'm like, Sir, my new
Speaker 1: iPhone that you forced me to get by giving me
Speaker 1: updates that have bugs in it in my text freeze,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, that one it's
Speaker 1: not working, and I needed to work. He goes, oh,
Speaker 1: great to have you at Apple today, Sir. We're glad
Speaker 1: so you have problems with your phone. Okay, cool, If
Speaker 1: you can just go back there to that line and
Speaker 1: make your appointment at the Genius bar, one of our
Speaker 1: geniuses will be with you very soon. I'm like, nah,
Speaker 1: I didn't come here talk to a genius. I came
Speaker 1: here to get what I'm owed. Okay, I don't want
Speaker 1: to talk to a genius. I want you to fix
Speaker 1: my phoney. He's like, it's great to have you. That's
Speaker 1: what we do. We go to the line and I
Speaker 1: just thought, you know what, I will see this thing through.
Speaker 1: And I sat in the line and I made friends
Speaker 1: with people in the line who were also frustrated. And
Speaker 1: I finally got there and the guy starts breaking down
Speaker 1: my phone for me. He's like, man, you have a
Speaker 1: lot to learn about this phone, sir. And I'm like, really,
Speaker 1: I don't want to learn about my phone. I just
Speaker 1: wanted to work. And he goes, I said, what are
Speaker 1: my options? Like, well, you could leave here now and
Speaker 1: just have a phone that doesn't work right, or you
Speaker 1: can let me explain it to him like you. And
Speaker 1: I sat there not for that long, and he just
Speaker 1: lit broke down stuff I didn't know, and I started
Speaker 1: taking a little bit of enjoyment, started to have a
Speaker 1: little bit of faith rise up in me because I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: I didn't know this. I left there and I FaceTime
Speaker 1: multiple people. I was like, using features, I didn't know
Speaker 1: we're there, and I thought, Wow, fifteen minutes with the
Speaker 1: guy who knows more than me, and I'm more productive
Speaker 1: just like that. But yet, we're gonna put it on
Speaker 1: our pastors to teach us how God's gonna do this.
Speaker 1: We're gonna try to get on some conference to make
Speaker 1: sure we know who God is for us. I came
Speaker 1: to tell somebody right now, you have as much access
Speaker 1: to the peace of God as anybody else does. But
Speaker 1: it's gonna take your work. It's gonna take your passion
Speaker 1: to say. I don't want to look back on my
Speaker 1: life and find out that I had peace that I
Speaker 1: didn't use, confidence that I didn't use. All I had
Speaker 1: to do was go to the maker and say, Lord,
Speaker 1: teach me your what come on, somebody? I got peace
Speaker 1: in my pocket and I don't want to leave it. Oh,
Speaker 1: somebody's gonna leave here today. Accessing more of the peace
Speaker 1: of God than you ever have before in your life
Speaker 1: is gonna change because of it. You believe that you
Speaker 1: believe God is that good. Here's why we need it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna fly through this because I asked your pastor,
Speaker 1: I said, can we go old school Pentecostal. At the
Speaker 1: end of this, we're gonna bring out the animals, really
Speaker 1: get the blogs going, pray for people, push them over
Speaker 1: modesty blanket. The paramount reason why I think we need
Speaker 1: more peace is because uncertainty is not going anywhere. And
Speaker 1: I get to talk about this on your thirteen year
Speaker 1: birthday celebration. Guess what the future holds more uncertainty. As
Speaker 1: awesome as these thirteen years have been, I came to
Speaker 1: tell you if you're thinking stuff's gonna smooth out now,
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen, and how they gonna chill out a little bit,
Speaker 1: we get to have some I hate to break it
Speaker 1: to you, doesn't work like that. The grace of God
Speaker 1: doesn't work like that. Part of the foundation of our
Speaker 1: faith is the ability to not understand where we're going,
Speaker 1: but go anyway. So if we cannot have a gift
Speaker 1: of being able to find our peace in uncertain waters.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a very boring nominal American Christianity where
Speaker 1: you show up and you don't look any different, you
Speaker 1: don't sound any different, year after year after year, and
Speaker 1: your only Christian involvement is your one time of week
Speaker 1: at church. Visit Now, I feel like God has called
Speaker 1: us to so much more in our lives, and we
Speaker 1: got to know how to find peace in the middle
Speaker 1: of it. It's like a new parent. Have you ever
Speaker 1: seen a new parent who as an infant and they
Speaker 1: don't know all the rules of the game just yet,
Speaker 1: and you can see they haven't slept, and they're like,
Speaker 1: I can't wait until my child grows up a little
Speaker 1: bit and then I'm gonna get some of my sleep back.
Speaker 1: And you look at them like, so cute. Day's never
Speaker 1: gonna come. You better find out how to get your
Speaker 1: rest because those two and grow up and they stay
Speaker 1: complicated the whole way through. Yet we keep thinking there's
Speaker 1: gonna be this mythical season of Christianity where the job
Speaker 1: is right and I'm right and everything certain, then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna find my piece doesn't work like that. God's actually
Speaker 1: called you to thrive in the middle of waters. You
Speaker 1: do not understand. And here's how we know it. Can
Speaker 1: I take you to the Book of Matthew real quick,
Speaker 1: you guys know it by heart. Okay, it's a dead joke.
Speaker 1: It's right there on Stephen's pool pet. Jesus said this
Speaker 1: because as I read it, I want you to think
Speaker 1: about where do you go for your peace? Where do
Speaker 1: you go for your peace of mind? Where do you
Speaker 1: go when anxiety strikes? Here's what Jesus said. He said,
Speaker 1: are you weary? Are you carrying a heavy burden? Then
Speaker 1: come to me and I will refresh your life. I
Speaker 1: am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn
Speaker 1: my ways, and you'll discover that I'm gentle and I'm humble,
Speaker 1: and I'm easy to please. You'll find refreshment and rest
Speaker 1: in me. Break this down for you real quick, because
Speaker 1: it's that important. Jesus often said come and follow me,
Speaker 1: but in this text he specifically says, come to me.
Speaker 1: What's the inference when we're talking about peace. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make this different than everything else. I want you to
Speaker 1: come to me, meaning I am your peace, I am
Speaker 1: your sustaining joy, I am your supplier. So when you're
Speaker 1: at your wits, and the only place that's gonna fulfill you,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be me. I wonder where you go because
Speaker 1: there's people who are still looking for peace where maybe
Speaker 1: they have it and they don't know it yet. I
Speaker 1: read this and I go, wow, it would have been cool,
Speaker 1: Jesus if you would have told us where we head
Speaker 1: after that. Wouldn't that be cool? If the Bible threw
Speaker 1: in some directions once in a while, maybe an eta,
Speaker 1: maybe a roadmap. Wouldn't it be cool if Jesus said,
Speaker 1: come to me elevation and I will give you rest,
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna head to Tahiti. Whoo. But Jesus
Speaker 1: doesn't say anything. Why the silent inference is that I
Speaker 1: am enough? And if you would focus more on who
Speaker 1: you're going with rather than where you're headed all the time.
Speaker 1: Maybe the point is that because you're with Jesus, he
Speaker 1: can sends you in directions you would never go on
Speaker 1: your own. He can sends you into places you would
Speaker 1: never choose to go without him because God is with you. Now,
Speaker 1: you're not trying to go to places that you can
Speaker 1: go to. You're trying to go into places that only
Speaker 1: God can sustain you. In. That's where miracles lie. That's
Speaker 1: where the great zone is, and people who have peace
Speaker 1: end up there all the time. We know right away,
Speaker 1: peace is not a feeling. Peace is not a place.
Speaker 1: Peace is a person. And if you get this today,
Speaker 1: I'm starting to walk too fast. But if you understand
Speaker 1: this now, you stop looking for the perfect situation and
Speaker 1: you go, I have the perfect savior. Put me in
Speaker 1: the worst situation, and I'm bringing peace with me. I'm
Speaker 1: bringing hope with me. There are so many people are like,
Speaker 1: where's the peace? You're supposed to bring it with me?
Speaker 1: Can you imagine that? Y'all know that panic is contagious,
Speaker 1: but so is peace. They ever seen people panic? It's
Speaker 1: like those Christmas target videos where they open up the
Speaker 1: doors and people are just like trampling other people. Panic
Speaker 1: is contagious. Are cultures filled with it? Social media? Panic,
Speaker 1: the news? Panic? What's going on? Panic? Can you imagine
Speaker 1: if there was a revival of Christians that were so
Speaker 1: peaceful that people who couldn't find peace anywhere else, they're like, man,
Speaker 1: I think it's you. And they might think that for
Speaker 1: a little bit and they get a little bit closer
Speaker 1: and say, where do you find your peace. You get said,
Speaker 1: Oh I got saved Jesus, He's my peace, and you
Speaker 1: can have the same piece in your marriage and your life.
Speaker 1: The best evangelistic weapon in the Christian Kingdom. It is
Speaker 1: not a fancy church. It is not a cool sir,
Speaker 1: it is not flashy music. It is Christians that have
Speaker 1: the peace of God in the middle of the work.
Speaker 1: I just don't want to be a Christian that can
Speaker 1: only function when everything is functional. I'm tired of that.
Speaker 1: That's been me too often. You know what I mean
Speaker 1: by that? Like I'm awesome if everything's awesome, but the
Speaker 1: moment something goes wrong, I forget I'm a Christian, lose
Speaker 1: my faith, question God. Seven o'clock, gotta repent again. Eight
Speaker 1: o'clock might get saved again. Nine o'clock, get ready to
Speaker 1: start all over. Like I'm good if it's all good,
Speaker 1: but if one thing goes bad, I can't function. I
Speaker 1: actually believe God has called us to be the opposite,
Speaker 1: because otherwise we're going to be mountaintop Christians where we're
Speaker 1: all just celebrating on the good days. Who can't have
Speaker 1: peace when you're holding the trophy? Who can't have peace
Speaker 1: when all your money's in your account. But the reality
Speaker 1: of the Christian life, y'all, it is not the mountaintops.
Speaker 1: Hate to break it to you. The reality of the
Speaker 1: Christian life. It's valley valley darkness at times. I'm alone
Speaker 1: at times. I'm fighting for my faith at times. And
Speaker 1: if we can't find out how to function when everything
Speaker 1: is going crazy around us, it's not going to be
Speaker 1: the life God has planned for us. And I came
Speaker 1: to tell this whole amazing church on the ed of
Speaker 1: this brand new season for y'all as you go into
Speaker 1: year fourteen, who God has something for you? But when
Speaker 1: he opens up doors you do not recognize? Look around
Speaker 1: and say, even though it doesn't look like I can
Speaker 1: make it in there, that means God is going to
Speaker 1: lead me through it. Come on, I'm preaching to somebody's faith,
Speaker 1: Gene right now. I want to function when it's dysfunctional.
Speaker 1: I went to go, how many parents do we have
Speaker 1: in here? Well, that's a lot. How many single people
Speaker 1: do we have in here? Wow? Single people? Keep it up.
Speaker 1: Have a quick look around. Go ahead. I went to
Speaker 1: pick up my daughter from her normal bus stop, which
Speaker 1: I normally don't do. I made it a specific point
Speaker 1: to go pick her up because I felt like that's
Speaker 1: it's a normal, reasonable dad thing to do, and I
Speaker 1: scheduled my whole day around it. But as it got
Speaker 1: time to that two point fifteen drop off, I realized
Speaker 1: I was stuck in traffic because New York City and
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna be able to make it. And as
Speaker 1: I am lamenting my lack of planning, I can feel
Speaker 1: the pressure, the anxiety, the worry creeping up on me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my gosh, she's gonna be sitting there
Speaker 1: on that bus stop by herself. Other parents are going
Speaker 1: to judge me. They're better than me, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: know that I'm late. They already think I'm weird. Like
Speaker 1: all this stuff starts to swirl as I am getting
Speaker 1: closer to the bus stop, and apocalyptic rainstorm hits, and
Speaker 1: so now my hypothetical fears grow even further. I'm like,
Speaker 1: now she's gonna be sitting there in a puddle, just
Speaker 1: like people are gonna pick her up, and child Service
Speaker 1: can be like it's the weird past her dad, no more,
Speaker 1: you knowing. I come flying around the corner get out,
Speaker 1: and half of my hypothetical was real. It was pouring,
Speaker 1: and she was by herself, and she wasn't a puddle,
Speaker 1: but she wasn't sitting there crying. She was just in
Speaker 1: this puddle like this. I come running around the corner.
Speaker 1: I'm like, Charlie, I'm so sorry, I'm late. I can't
Speaker 1: believe that I left you here. And she goes, Dad's cool.
Speaker 1: I knew you were coming. I knew something must have happened.
Speaker 1: But have you danced in the rain lately? How amazing
Speaker 1: is rain? Come here, Dad, get in this puddled I'm like,
Speaker 1: these are Jordans, but ye. And she's in there and
Speaker 1: we're dancing in the rain, and she goes, Dad, it's
Speaker 1: been sunny for so long that I forgot how much
Speaker 1: fun rain can be. I mean, just feel a rain.
Speaker 1: It's really beautiful, isn't it. He looked at splash me.
Speaker 1: I splashed. And we sat there in the rain, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad it was raining because I was balling, because
Speaker 1: I thought, Lord forgives me. I want to be more
Speaker 1: like my daughter. I want to be able to smile
Speaker 1: when it's raining. I want to be able to worship
Speaker 1: when I'm losing. I want to be able to love
Speaker 1: somebody in the face up there. Hey, let me be
Speaker 1: a Christian that loves you more than I love. Everything
Speaker 1: going right now is where the peace of God. God
Speaker 1: is still good when you're sick. God is still good
Speaker 1: when you're problem. God is still good when everybody's going
Speaker 1: the other way and you won't beware is everybody? God
Speaker 1: is there. I don't know who I'm preaching to today,
Speaker 1: but hear me out. If you are in a season
Speaker 1: with rain on your face, I believe a brighter day
Speaker 1: is coming. But why not defy the devil anyway and
Speaker 1: worship him? Like you know what, Even if Jesus never
Speaker 1: did another thing for me, which he will, he doesn't
Speaker 1: need to because he already saved my life. So I
Speaker 1: will worship him. I will lift my hands, I will
Speaker 1: love my enemy. I will do what God tells me
Speaker 1: to do anyway, because He is my peace. That's our goal, y'all.
Speaker 1: I want to function when it's breaking down all around me.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you how I got one thought for you.
Speaker 1: And it's really simple. And I told your pastor, I said,
Speaker 1: there's no pressure to preach a good message at your church.
Speaker 1: You know why you're the best. So I can just
Speaker 1: come in and be normal And for all of you
Speaker 1: visitors who are bummed because Steven isn't here, I was
Speaker 1: kind of bummed too. Please come back next week and
Speaker 1: here one of the greatest preachers you'll ever hear in
Speaker 1: his own pulpit. Can I get a Pentecostal amen? It's
Speaker 1: okay to have friends that are better than you had stuff.
Speaker 1: By the way, it's the essence of life. Here's one way.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's really practical. I mean, I passed
Speaker 1: her in New York City. We don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of time for fancy church stuff, so all of our
Speaker 1: points are small and practical. Hopefully you can deal with
Speaker 1: that because you're smarter here in Charlotte. I get it
Speaker 1: to the South. I'm from Virginia, so I have that bias.
Speaker 1: God loves us more down here. Can I get an amen?
Speaker 1: Strike that from the tape if it's there. But I
Speaker 1: feel like we need to do a better job of
Speaker 1: letting people know if you struggle with anxiety and you
Speaker 1: struggle with worry, it's okay to talk about it. The
Speaker 1: church world for too long has put more more condemnation
Speaker 1: on people with awful stuff, like if you love Jesus more,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't feel like you feel, or the horrid pray
Speaker 1: through it. Prayer is incredible. I'm about to talk about it.
Speaker 1: But the truth is all answers start with Jesus and
Speaker 1: end with Jesus. But in the middle there's doctors, and
Speaker 1: there's therapy, and there's connect groups, and there's recovery groups,
Speaker 1: and that doctor might even lead you to another doctor
Speaker 1: who can help you find something that can help you
Speaker 1: on your journey. So, if you've ever felt like you're
Speaker 1: a lesser Christian because you deal with pain that nobody
Speaker 1: can see, it's the same as anybody else with pain
Speaker 1: you can see, So shame off you, especially if you're
Speaker 1: a man. By the way, men are a lot worse
Speaker 1: than women when it comes to being honest with what
Speaker 1: you struggle with, because we'll say things like a guy
Speaker 1: told me the other day, pastor, I struggle with anxiety.
Speaker 1: What's that anxiety? Is? Like? Yeah, anxiety? I want anybody
Speaker 1: to know. I'm like, trust me, they already know. Well,
Speaker 1: why would you whisper that to me? Because he's heard
Speaker 1: stuff like his whole life? Man up, what does that
Speaker 1: even mean? We're a part of the new generation man
Speaker 1: down on our knees, waiting for God to do whatever
Speaker 1: he wants to do. I would rather be a man
Speaker 1: on my knees looking vulnerable than being a man on
Speaker 1: my feet living shaky because I don't want God to
Speaker 1: actually help me because somebody might know I don't have
Speaker 1: it all again, So shame off you. If you need
Speaker 1: to get some help, get help. This church is filled
Speaker 1: with people that would love to get beside you and
Speaker 1: do whatever it takes to see God continue to heal
Speaker 1: your life one way and then we're out of here,
Speaker 1: I promise, Okay, and I've got seven closes. Don't get
Speaker 1: too excited. But those of you that want to access
Speaker 1: more peace rather than just hear cheesy Christian answers. Isn't
Speaker 1: that funny when you tell a Christian like, hey, I
Speaker 1: got a problem with fear and worry and they say
Speaker 1: stuff like well, pastor Stephen, just don't worry worry less.
Speaker 1: It's like, thank you genius, never thought of that. Now.
Speaker 1: Thankfully Jesus gave us some recourse. And here's one big
Speaker 1: way ready if you want to access the peace that
Speaker 1: is in your pocket, that is in your soul. The
Speaker 1: King of kings. Control what you can control, Control what
Speaker 1: you can, and then pray about the rest. Control what
Speaker 1: you can, which is your spirit, and then pray about
Speaker 1: the rest, which is your situation. Normally we get these
Speaker 1: things mixed up. There's so much about your situation that
Speaker 1: you cannot control. You can't always control your boss, can't
Speaker 1: always control what the world is doing to you. But
Speaker 1: we are Christians. What is happening to us does not
Speaker 1: have to change what is coming through us. We have
Speaker 1: the right to control our eyes. We can control our ears.
Speaker 1: We can control what we consume, what we feed our
Speaker 1: soul with. We can control our declaration, we can control
Speaker 1: our confession. There is so much we can do. And
Speaker 1: when it comes to the stuff that we can't, God
Speaker 1: has it covered. And I'm gonna read you this scripture
Speaker 1: out of Philippians, which is just mind blowing. Can I
Speaker 1: read you one more scripture? What are you gonna say?
Speaker 1: Don't you love it when preachers ask you questions like
Speaker 1: you have any recourse? Guys, mind if I read this,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it anyway. Remember, because Paul here is
Speaker 1: letting us know. God's not afraid of your worry. He's
Speaker 1: not afraid of what you have going on. But there's
Speaker 1: an order to this. Pray before you panic, Pray before
Speaker 1: you feel that pressure. He says this. Don't be pulled
Speaker 1: in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated
Speaker 1: in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith filled request
Speaker 1: before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every single detail
Speaker 1: of your life. Than God's wonderful peace that transcends human understanding.
Speaker 1: We'll make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: So keep your thoughts you ready for this. This is
Speaker 1: convicting and comforting. Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all
Speaker 1: that is authentic, all that is real, all that is
Speaker 1: honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful
Speaker 1: and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work
Speaker 1: of God, praising him always. One might say get off Twitter.
Speaker 1: One might say flee from anything that's getting your mind
Speaker 1: to go in a different direction. I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but when it comes to controlling my thoughts, I got
Speaker 1: to make sure I understand that I want to fight
Speaker 1: this fear and anxiety wave that's plaguing so many people.
Speaker 1: It's going to start with me going to the throne room,
Speaker 1: me getting down on my knees once in a while
Speaker 1: and saying, Lord, I am willing to do whatever I
Speaker 1: have to do to make sure that this stuff that
Speaker 1: I cannot control stays out and the stuff I can't control,
Speaker 1: which is focusing on you, how good you've already been.
Speaker 1: How many more songs can your team write to remind
Speaker 1: us that God has been so faithful? I mean they
Speaker 1: say it different ways every time. The theme is this,
Speaker 1: how much more does God have to do to prove
Speaker 1: to us that it does no good to look at
Speaker 1: what he's not doing? Because there is so much that
Speaker 1: He is doing. It should take me forever to get
Speaker 1: through all my praise reports before I can even get
Speaker 1: out a problem, because that's how good God is bad.
Speaker 1: I'm almost done, Team Chris, y'all come up here. But
Speaker 1: I promise you this works, y'all. I promise you. If
Speaker 1: you leave here today and you look at whatever was
Speaker 1: the biggest cause of your worry where you feel like
Speaker 1: you were empty pocketed, when it comes to your piece
Speaker 1: and you start making little small shifts and changes before
Speaker 1: you know it, it's like, Wow, this situation isn't so bad.
Speaker 1: I did this the other day in the airport, which
Speaker 1: is the number one cause for stress for most humans.
Speaker 1: And I had stuff I had to get home to
Speaker 1: big weekend in church, had a date with my daughter,
Speaker 1: another date with my other daughter, and a date with
Speaker 1: my son. If that's weird, go ask me about later.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why it's important and was supposed to be.
Speaker 1: That intent sounded really intense, and I just had stuff
Speaker 1: to do with my family. And I walk up to
Speaker 1: the gate and the guy says, yeah, your flight's been
Speaker 1: delayed any reason. And guy's of course not. And so
Speaker 1: that's the kind of thing that gets me going. Right there,
Speaker 1: I'm like, great, that meeting's gonna be canceled. Lawd's gonna
Speaker 1: be upset. I won't be able to do that, won't
Speaker 1: be able to do that. And just my mind starts
Speaker 1: to raise and I remembered my own preaching, really my
Speaker 1: own preaching, remember what Paul said, And I thought, let
Speaker 1: me just take a moment here, because I cannot control this.
Speaker 1: I cannot control all this stuff, So what am I
Speaker 1: gonna do? I don't want to be like this guy
Speaker 1: who's getting arrested for freaking out of the guy. Don't
Speaker 1: want to be like this passive aggressive lady who's just sighing.
Speaker 1: Sh So what can I do. I'm gonna pray, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna worship God. I'm gonna find something funny about this.
Speaker 1: And sure enough, there was a loud talker behind me,
Speaker 1: and my wife, for whatever reason, really loves to see
Speaker 1: loud talkers. So I'm like, I'm gonna make this funny
Speaker 1: because I can't do anything else. And I filmed this
Speaker 1: person who was talking super loud, and the guy next
Speaker 1: to me sees me doing it and he's like, man,
Speaker 1: can you believe loud talkers? I'm like, no, bro from Virginia,
Speaker 1: I was training better. He's like me too, become fast friends.
Speaker 1: I said, where are you headed? He goes, I'm actually
Speaker 1: headed to New Jersey. I said where are you coming from?
Speaker 1: He's like, right here, my first day out of rehab.
Speaker 1: And I'm a little bit nervous because I know that
Speaker 1: God's going to do great things. I just my first
Speaker 1: day out. I'm like, man, that's crazy because I know
Speaker 1: a lot of people coming out of rehab who are
Speaker 1: now running rehab centers. Like God's going to use your life.
Speaker 1: Have no fear. We start to just and he looks
Speaker 1: at me this is great, though, And I was preaching
Speaker 1: out a church to night before and it goes to me,
Speaker 1: it's like so funny because I had to pack all
Speaker 1: my stuff and everybody else from my rehab. Last night,
Speaker 1: they went to this church conference in Florida and here's
Speaker 1: some guy named Carl or some Hillsong thing, and it
Speaker 1: sounded like he was preaching something just like that. I
Speaker 1: was like, dude, I know that guy, and I'll tell
Speaker 1: you exactly what he said. What he said last night
Speaker 1: was that God can use people that are broken to
Speaker 1: shine a light through. So no matter how bad you
Speaker 1: think your life is, hey, guess what, every single crack
Speaker 1: is a way for God to get the message out.
Speaker 1: So just be open with who you are. Let him
Speaker 1: do what he was. And me and this guy exchange numbers.
Speaker 1: We just talked today. He kind of lives closer than
Speaker 1: I thought. And before you know it, in that one
Speaker 1: moment of just choosing not to go in because that's
Speaker 1: what anxiety does, that's what fear does. God use me
Speaker 1: in a random airport, and I thought to myself, how
Speaker 1: many times might I have been so focused on my
Speaker 1: fear that God was not able to lift my head
Speaker 1: even for a moment. How many people are around us
Speaker 1: right now that we don't even know God wants to
Speaker 1: use us in their life because we're so focused on
Speaker 1: what's not happening in our life. Y'all, as you go
Speaker 1: forward Elevation Church, my I would plead with you. Yes,
Speaker 1: God has done a lot, but there is more in store.
Speaker 1: The best is yet to come. And if you can
Speaker 1: learn how to say Lord here I am. I am
Speaker 1: not gonna focus on the wrong thing. I'm gonna focus
Speaker 1: on the right thing. Watch what God will do with
Speaker 1: people like you because He is our portion. He is
Speaker 1: our sustainer, he is our strong time to all, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna leave you with this. I'm gonna hand this back
Speaker 1: over to the Bishop of Charlotte, the Queen City. Peace
Speaker 1: is your portion, accept nothing less. Can you say this
Speaker 1: with big Peace is my portion? How do we know that?
Speaker 1: Because Jesus said it. I pray that the peace that
Speaker 1: is in me will be in you. That means if
Speaker 1: there's any area in your life that does not have
Speaker 1: God's peace in it, fight for it because your portion
Speaker 1: is peace. I've met too many Christians. Maybe it's just
Speaker 1: New York, but people who just accept it. It's just
Speaker 1: the way I am. This is just what life has
Speaker 1: dealt me, so I might as well just deal with it.
Speaker 1: This is who I am. I'm always gonna be depressed,
Speaker 1: and I'm always gonna have broken relationships, and I'm always
Speaker 1: gonna have this kind of drama in my life. And
Speaker 1: I always say, who said that? Because Jesus said something different.
Speaker 1: Just because somebody sent it does not mean you have
Speaker 1: to accept it, digest it, and actually let it take
Speaker 1: root in your life. We don't do this in any
Speaker 1: area of life except for Christians. If you went to
Speaker 1: a restaurant today and you ordered some lava cake, who
Speaker 1: doesn't love lava cake? And the waiter came up to
Speaker 1: you and they handed you a kale salad, what would
Speaker 1: you say? You would say, sir, I appreciate you, but
Speaker 1: I did not do I look like a kale salad person.
Speaker 1: I ordered a lava cake, brownie, ice cream fudge, So respectfully,
Speaker 1: could you please go back to the kitchen where you
Speaker 1: came from and let them know the order has been
Speaker 1: mixed up. I'm gonna sit here until I see the
Speaker 1: lava cake come out and the kale go back to
Speaker 1: where it came from. This is what it's like to
Speaker 1: be a Christian. Every single time that the devil throws
Speaker 1: something on your plate that is not from God, that
Speaker 1: is not from peace, that is not from love, you
Speaker 1: have the right to say, respectfully decline that this is
Speaker 1: my portion. I'm gonna send it back, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep fighting, and I'm gonna keep worshiping, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep on in god glory until I get exactly what
Speaker 1: he says is my portion, and my portion is peace,
Speaker 1: My portion is healing, my portion is God's good. Fight
Speaker 1: for it gonna get you to bow your head. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pray. I'm gonna hand this back over to you.
Speaker 1: Peace in your pocket, Peace in your soul. Keep fighting
Speaker 1: for those of you that have given up in the
Speaker 1: name of Jesus. Fight again. Those of you who feel
Speaker 1: like the die has been cast in the name of Jesus,
Speaker 1: it has not. Peace will be your portion. Those of
Speaker 1: you that can't sleep at night and you're just giving
Speaker 1: up on that fight in the name of Jesus, Peace
Speaker 1: will be your portion. Father, I pray that you encourage
Speaker 1: people today. Jesus, you are a gracious God, You are
Speaker 1: a gracious Save you Lord. I pray today. Wherever there
Speaker 1: is unrest, in the name of Jesus, we speak peace.
Speaker 1: Where there is sickness and people are waiting for their healing,
Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus, we speak peace. Where people
Speaker 1: are overwhelmed, Lord in the middle of it, remind them
Speaker 1: you are are peace. Can we give you praise ahead
Speaker 1: of time for all you're gonna do in Jesus name,
Speaker 1: Elevation Church. If you believe it, can we stand to
Speaker 1: our feet and just give God the biggest shot of praise.
Speaker 1: If you believe that peace is your poorchol come on,
Speaker 1: let them know. Scream it over you. We hope you
Speaker 1: enjoyed the podcast today, and if you did, there are
Speaker 1: just a couple things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Number One, subscribe to our show. That way, the most
Speaker 1: recent episode will always be in your feed, waiting for
Speaker 1: you ready when you are. And Secondly, if this ministry
Speaker 1: has impacted you and you'd like to help us continue
Speaker 1: to reach others, you can click the link in the
Speaker 1: description and you can give now and I'll see you
Speaker 1: next time on the Elevation Podcast.