Speaker 1: Hey, don't start clicking off. I promise we're going to
Speaker 1: get to the preaching in just a moment. But I'm
Speaker 1: excited about this. This is a very special tradition at Elevation,
Speaker 1: and we want to speak to all of you who
Speaker 1: call our church home, especially our extended family, our EPAM
Speaker 1: around the world, because once a year we have a
Speaker 1: special series. It's really more than a collection of teachings.
Speaker 1: It's a faith experience for all of the people who
Speaker 1: are part of our ministry at Elevation, and this year
Speaker 1: our theme is game Changer. I think one of the
Speaker 1: most exciting things that God is doing in our ministry
Speaker 1: is to open the doors of our ministry beyond our walls.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is we are amazed at
Speaker 1: the thousands and thousands and thousands of you who are
Speaker 1: letting us know that you're impacted by this ministry in
Speaker 1: another zip code, in another state, in another country, maybe
Speaker 1: eventually on another planet. But what I wanted to mention
Speaker 1: to you is that you can be a part of
Speaker 1: this beyond just consuming. Many of you have been blessed
Speaker 1: by God to be a blessing, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask today would you be willing during this special time
Speaker 1: of year to make a one time donation to the
Speaker 1: ministry or maybe partner with us on a monthly basis
Speaker 1: through recurring giving. I believe God could use your gift
Speaker 1: to enable this ministry to continue to reach, to continue
Speaker 1: to break paradigms, to continue to lift up Jesus. And
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you personally to go to Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org and you can see the ways to give there.
Speaker 1: But most importantly, know that we feel a tremendousness of
Speaker 1: responsibility to minister the Word of God not only to you,
Speaker 1: but to challenge you to partner with us and reaching
Speaker 1: people for the Gospel. I believe your gift today could
Speaker 1: be a game changer, so don't put it off right now.
Speaker 1: Elevation Church dot org you can find all of the details.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this message and thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of the family. Welcome today to all
Speaker 1: of our locations. Can we thank God for all of
Speaker 1: our tampuses and locations? I said, can we thank God
Speaker 1: for all of our campuses and lots? Amen? I was
Speaker 1: doing my stalker thing where I go around to all
Speaker 1: the campuses pushing buttons with cameras that are set up
Speaker 1: in the auditoriums I've been on. Do I look tired.
Speaker 1: I was on a trip. I went to Asheville and Columbia,
Speaker 1: and I even went to Toronto for a minute, all
Speaker 1: through technology, of course, before I came out to see you.
Speaker 1: I'm a little jet life. But thank God for the
Speaker 1: great work he's doing also with our evan around the
Speaker 1: world and our interns Our Fall twenty eighteen interns come on.
Speaker 1: Thank God for Thank God for them, thank God for
Speaker 1: their their wardrobes, for their sense of style and fashion.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you why they're up here in a minute.
Speaker 1: I want to keep you in suspense. But hey, one
Speaker 1: thing that I really always feel good about is when
Speaker 1: I'm doing exactly what I know God wants me to do.
Speaker 1: When I stand up here on the stage, and as
Speaker 1: we get ready for next weekend, which is going to
Speaker 1: be phenomenal, where so many people around the world and
Speaker 1: here at our church locally are going to participate in
Speaker 1: our game change or offering where we get to bring
Speaker 1: God something of significance and value to us, and we
Speaker 1: all get to make that opportunity count to invest something
Speaker 1: in what can't be taken away as we have so
Speaker 1: many times before. As we get ready for that, I
Speaker 1: pray and I try to see how God wants me
Speaker 1: to preach that would position us, each of us for
Speaker 1: the season that He's taking us into. And that's important
Speaker 1: to me. Not to follow a formula. It's important to me.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with doing it
Speaker 1: the same way every time, because we take up these
Speaker 1: offerings for expansion and we use so much of it
Speaker 1: for outreach each year. So I guess it would be
Speaker 1: fine if I just repeated the pattern each year, But
Speaker 1: maybe it's just my personality. I can't do that. And
Speaker 1: even more than that, I don't want to start trusting
Speaker 1: in some kind of formula. I guess that's the best
Speaker 1: way to say it. If I'm going to preach about faith,
Speaker 1: I want to demonstrate faith in the way that I
Speaker 1: preach about what I'm preaching about. So does that make
Speaker 1: sense right anyway? Whether it made sense or not, here's
Speaker 1: what I'm going to do today. Because when I was
Speaker 1: praying about what we should do as we set up
Speaker 1: what's going to happen next weekend, and I pray that
Speaker 1: you would not skip church next weekend, you know, some
Speaker 1: people will always do that like it's going to be
Speaker 1: a guilt trip. It's not. It's not like there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a cover charge next week or something like that.
Speaker 1: It's for everyone, but it'll be really beautiful and be special.
Speaker 1: But this week is probably the most important because this
Speaker 1: is where we set it up, and any good comedian
Speaker 1: can tell you that the setup is often more important
Speaker 1: than the punchline. And so but there's nothing funny about
Speaker 1: the Word of God. So let's go. Let's go to
Speaker 1: the Word of God today. I want to share the
Speaker 1: same scripture just a few verses. If I drop a
Speaker 1: few verses down from what I shared last week, did
Speaker 1: you get to hear the message last weekend? It's mine
Speaker 1: to manage touch somebody say it's God's to give, but
Speaker 1: it's mine to manage. And I talked about this concept
Speaker 1: that we are stewards of the story, the story of
Speaker 1: how God has saved us and how God has sustained us.
Speaker 1: And as a pastor, I'm coming to understand my role
Speaker 1: more and more as a steward of the story that
Speaker 1: God is telling through this church. And it's God's story,
Speaker 1: but it's ours to manage. So powerful and so let
Speaker 1: me get into this real quick, and this will be
Speaker 1: a little different today. I think you can tell that
Speaker 1: I'm a little I'm excited. I'm really excited, but I'm
Speaker 1: sitting down. I'm seated, so I'm not going to scream
Speaker 1: as much. Those of you who don't like all that. Anyway,
Speaker 1: this is your weekend and I'm just going to talk
Speaker 1: to you a little bit. Today. You laughed a little
Speaker 1: too much of that made me feel self conscious. I
Speaker 1: might holler once or twice, but I really just want
Speaker 1: to talk to you. And I got all this stuff
Speaker 1: in my Bible, and I'll tell you what it all
Speaker 1: is in a moment. Some notes and some money and
Speaker 1: i'll tell you about that. An envelopes, some post it notes,
Speaker 1: and we'll get to all that in a moment. But
Speaker 1: first let me read this. This is so important as
Speaker 1: a backdrop for what I believe God wants to give
Speaker 1: you as a backstory today. Every blessing has a backstory. Okay,
Speaker 1: every blessing has a backstory, and so this is one
Speaker 1: for the nation of Israel. Joshua for nineteen On the
Speaker 1: tenth day of the first month, the people went up
Speaker 1: from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern
Speaker 1: border of Jericho, and Joshua set up. Everybody say set up,
Speaker 1: and Joshua was set up at Gilgal. The twelve stones
Speaker 1: they had taken out of the Jordan. Now they're not
Speaker 1: in the Promised Land yet, but God is setting them up.
Speaker 1: And as a part of the setup, it's kind of elaborate.
Speaker 1: God is like, hey, take the stones from the Jordan,
Speaker 1: which represents the miracle that I just did for you,
Speaker 1: and set it up. And then after you set up
Speaker 1: the stones, this is the purpose of them. They're not
Speaker 1: just props. I don't want you to just collect these
Speaker 1: stones for props and put them in a trophy case somewhere.
Speaker 1: But rather than just trophies, these are triggers, these stones
Speaker 1: that you set up because I'm not done with you yet,
Speaker 1: and there's a great thing that I'm doing through you,
Speaker 1: and so I want to use the stones as a setup.
Speaker 1: And then what's verse twenty one. It gives the purpose
Speaker 1: he said to the Israelites in the future when your
Speaker 1: descendants ask their parents and not stop right there. He's
Speaker 1: teaching them to think generationally. He's thinking them. He's teaching
Speaker 1: them not to just settle for instant gratification and what's
Speaker 1: in it for me. So in the future, when your
Speaker 1: kids are asking what do these stones mean, tell them
Speaker 1: tell them very important, because the stones can't speak for themselves. Right.
Speaker 1: This is not like Siri, Hey, Siri, bring me lemonade it.
Speaker 1: This is not that kind of thing. This is not
Speaker 1: some magic trick. You've got to speak and tell them
Speaker 1: when you see the stones, when they see the stones,
Speaker 1: tell them, I love this stuff. I love these Old
Speaker 1: Testament stories so much, gentlemen, tell them, Israel cross the
Speaker 1: Jordan on dry ground. Four. The Lord your God dried
Speaker 1: up the Jordan before you, until you had crossed over.
Speaker 1: The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he
Speaker 1: had done to the Red Sea, when he dried it
Speaker 1: up before us, until we had crossed over. Every generation
Speaker 1: is to experience their own move of God, not just
Speaker 1: worship something God did in the past, but to move
Speaker 1: forward into the future full of faith. And so I
Speaker 1: want to speak to you for a few moments today
Speaker 1: on the power of the prompt. The prompt if you'd
Speaker 1: like to write that down, it's just a little title
Speaker 1: that I'm giving the message. If you wouldn't like to
Speaker 1: write it down, it's still the title that I'm giving
Speaker 1: the message the power of the prompt. So about these interns,
Speaker 1: they're pretty they're pretty cool. Elevation Church dot org slash
Speaker 1: Internship shameless plow. They're two weeks out from finishing their
Speaker 1: internship and I got to meet with them Thursday and
Speaker 1: we had the best time. Right, were supposed to go
Speaker 1: ninety minutes and it went two and a half hours.
Speaker 1: And then, for the first time that this has ever happened,
Speaker 1: I met them at the movies because as a part
Speaker 1: of their discipleship process, I took them to see Creed two. Amen.
Speaker 1: Come on, I'm a good, good pastor. It's who I am. Now.
Speaker 1: What prompted me to do that? Well, when I was
Speaker 1: getting to know them, I like to do an icebreaker, Hey,
Speaker 1: you know, what's your favorite music? And then they'll always
Speaker 1: say Christian bands because I'm the pastor. And then I
Speaker 1: turn around, know, what's what do you really listen to?
Speaker 1: And then they'll uh, I'll ask us your favorite TV shows?
Speaker 1: They all said the Office. I think everybody said the Office.
Speaker 1: And I said, cool, y'all are too young for the Office,
Speaker 1: but anyway, I understand. And then they said I said
Speaker 1: what's your favorite movie? And one of the kids screams
Speaker 1: out Rocky. He said it, you know, like you like
Speaker 1: sometimes you're in a worship service and somebody go Jesus.
Speaker 1: But he said the name of Rocky. And when he
Speaker 1: invoked the name of Rocky, he won my heart. In fact,
Speaker 1: I'll come here, Gabe, real quick, lj just in honor,
Speaker 1: in honor of Gabe. Let's do this real quick. Go ahead,
Speaker 1: go ahead, l j Oh, you want to run the stairs?
Speaker 1: I like that here, big n who goes to us
Speaker 1: stairs up there? Yet? Hey, by the way, they big
Speaker 1: upstairs nam dah, don't want to see it again, don't know? Man,
Speaker 1: make account hurry up the running up tide assist. So
Speaker 1: this could be you Eleviationchurch dot org slash internship. Thanks
Speaker 1: for coming. Now let's go sit down here, let's en up,
Speaker 1: catch your breath. You know, you hadn't done that much
Speaker 1: cardio in months. So I was like, you like Rocky.
Speaker 1: He goes yeah. I said, Now this is the real test.
Speaker 1: I said, what's the best Rocky? He said, And he
Speaker 1: didn't have to pray, he didn't have to think. And
Speaker 1: this aw'm a test if he's a true man of God.
Speaker 1: He said, he wants to go in ministry one day.
Speaker 1: And there's an answer to this, and it's definitely not
Speaker 1: it's definitely not five. We all know that could be three.
Speaker 1: But he said the right answer, he said Rocky four.
Speaker 1: When he said Rocky four, I said, I perceived that
Speaker 1: thou art a prophet and the words of life are
Speaker 1: I was like, just because that's the first one my
Speaker 1: dad showed me. I remember my dad on a Friday
Speaker 1: night we stopped by National Home Video in Monk's Corner
Speaker 1: VHS tape and he said, you're ready for Rocky four.
Speaker 1: You're ready for You're ready to see. By the way,
Speaker 1: it's just so I can know who to pray for
Speaker 1: that needs the Lord. How many of you have not
Speaker 1: seen Rocky a single Rocky movie? Oh, come to the altar?
Speaker 1: Are you serious? Your parents haven't shown you Rocky fo
Speaker 1: We called DSS on those parents. I almost felt like
Speaker 1: with my kids it was a generational responsibility, you know,
Speaker 1: to show them how the Cold War really ended with
Speaker 1: Rocky deceiting Drago and and then so when I found
Speaker 1: out that Creed two was the sequel to Rocky four,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh man, this is the this is
Speaker 1: the equivalent of Joshua and Moses. This is like the
Speaker 1: Red Sea and the Jordan. You know, is this too?
Speaker 1: This has probably taken the illustration too far, but I
Speaker 1: almost had a spiritual experience. I met them at the
Speaker 1: theater on on Thursday night and we watched Rocky. I
Speaker 1: think we annoyed everybody in the theater. We were so
Speaker 1: loud at Stonecrest. But we went to the Temple of
Speaker 1: Stone Crest and we watched the Gospel according to Roboa,
Speaker 1: and there's so much gospel and Rocky, but you probably
Speaker 1: don't know the backstory to it. And so you know,
Speaker 1: it prompted me. Sermons come to me from all kinds
Speaker 1: of places. But I'm sitting there. Graham and Elijah went
Speaker 1: with me, and we're watching Creed two. And I won't
Speaker 1: tell you how it ends, because your homework this week
Speaker 1: is to prepare your offering, read your Bible, and go
Speaker 1: see Creed to and past there and then and then
Speaker 1: I was thinking, Graham was sitting with me, Elijah was
Speaker 1: sitting with me. The interns were there, and I was thinking, like, remember,
Speaker 1: my dad's in heaven now, and so I always remember
Speaker 1: when he showed me it was just a cool moment
Speaker 1: where I was, like, every generation gets their own Rocky,
Speaker 1: it's cool. And then I thought, I wonder how many
Speaker 1: of them know the backstory of how Rocky Balboa was created.
Speaker 1: I wonder how many of I wonder how many of
Speaker 1: them know what these stones mean? You know, they know
Speaker 1: that Michael B. Jordan wasn't the first Creed. I wonder
Speaker 1: if they know. And I don't know how much of
Speaker 1: this you knew gave. But when Sylvester Stallone created Rocky,
Speaker 1: he was inspired because he was broke, right, he had
Speaker 1: been in one movie and he had moderate success, but
Speaker 1: he moved to la because he wanted to start really
Speaker 1: trying to write, and he would walk around writing stuff,
Speaker 1: and that he went to see Muhammad Ali fight Chuck Webner.
Speaker 1: How many of you didn't know any of this? Just
Speaker 1: raise your hand real quick. Okay, this is important. This
Speaker 1: is almost biblical. Rocky is canonical, and I promise you
Speaker 1: would be in Joshua in just a moment. But let
Speaker 1: me get the backstory this. And when he was watching
Speaker 1: Chuck Webner fight Muhammad Ali and go the distance even
Speaker 1: though he didn't win, and put the champ down, he
Speaker 1: was inspired by the story of an underdog. He thought,
Speaker 1: that's what I need to write, and he spent the
Speaker 1: next three days writing the rough draft of Rocky. Three
Speaker 1: days three days, so for those of you who don't
Speaker 1: believe that Rocky is biblical. Three days. And then when
Speaker 1: he finished writing it, he remember he was prompted just
Speaker 1: by something that he saw. Talk about the power of
Speaker 1: a prompt He was prompted watching it. I need to
Speaker 1: write that. He wrote it, and then somebody asked him
Speaker 1: what he was working on when he went for an
Speaker 1: audition one time, and he almost didn't want to tell
Speaker 1: him because he didn't know if he was any good,
Speaker 1: but he show him working on this thing. He's prompted.
Speaker 1: And then they offered him twenty five thousand dollars for
Speaker 1: the script fifty one hundred no, because they weren't going
Speaker 1: to let him be Rocky and he wanted to play
Speaker 1: Rocky on something in and told him, you need to
Speaker 1: play this character. This is once a lifetime thing. And
Speaker 1: then they offered him two hundred fifty thousand dollars, three
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars, three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. He
Speaker 1: had one hundred and six dollars in his bank account,
Speaker 1: and they offered him three hundred and sixty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: from the script. He said no, he had already sold
Speaker 1: his dog, Buckus Buckus, He sold his dog Buckus, and
Speaker 1: he turned it down. And finally they gave him a
Speaker 1: million dollars to make the movie, which wasn't much, and
Speaker 1: he made it. And as of twenty seventeen, according to
Speaker 1: what I Google, the Iraqi franchise has earned in the
Speaker 1: box office alone over one point four billion dollars. So
Speaker 1: let's say God for Rocky, and then we'll move on
Speaker 1: and do something I want to tell you about. I
Speaker 1: just told you. I can see some of you like,
Speaker 1: come on, man, I ain't come for all this. Let's
Speaker 1: shut up. I'm trying to get to something here, all right.
Speaker 1: I got a reason for telling you this, because everything
Speaker 1: great that I've ever seen I would attribute to the
Speaker 1: hand of God in my life started with a prompting.
Speaker 1: A prompting. And the thing about game changers and game
Speaker 1: changing decisions is that they don't feel like game changers
Speaker 1: in the moment. It doesn't. A promise from God usually
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like a promise. Here's how it operates in
Speaker 1: the pattern of scripture and that God will give you
Speaker 1: a promise, and then He will give you a prompting
Speaker 1: to act on the promise that He gave. And learning
Speaker 1: to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit is
Speaker 1: the most crucial skill that you could ever acquire in
Speaker 1: your life. It takes courage, it takes discernment, it takes
Speaker 1: sometimes being still shutting the other voices off. But the
Speaker 1: promptings of the Holy Spirit. I mean, how many times
Speaker 1: have I missed the blessing of God in an area
Speaker 1: of my life because I did not respond to a prompting.
Speaker 1: How many times have we come to church and heard
Speaker 1: a sermon and then we experienced a prompting, but because
Speaker 1: we didn't respond to the prompt we did not receive
Speaker 1: the promise. It could be the smallest things. One time
Speaker 1: God prompted me to sense somebody of voice memo. They
Speaker 1: said they saved it for four years on their phone.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that they were going to save it
Speaker 1: for four years. I just knew they were going through something,
Speaker 1: and I sent it to them prompting prompting, And it
Speaker 1: must have seemed weird to the Israelites. Right set up
Speaker 1: the stones, but the stones are not there to serve
Speaker 1: the purpose that they seem to be serving on the surface.
Speaker 1: They are to prompt the story. Now I'm preaching to
Speaker 1: you today because there are some things that God has
Speaker 1: placed in your life and some things that he's doing
Speaker 1: that if you will pay attention, God is trying to
Speaker 1: use that thing to prompt you in an area of
Speaker 1: your life where He intends to bless you. The stones
Speaker 1: prompt the story, and then the story is meant to
Speaker 1: prompt the faith of the people so that they can
Speaker 1: continue on. And this is how God works. So I
Speaker 1: want to practice this today. I want to do this
Speaker 1: in front of you. It's one thing to preach it,
Speaker 1: it's another thing to practice it. And I realized that
Speaker 1: the Israelites didn't go back to that place in Gilgal
Speaker 1: and tell their children the story. That's why in Judges
Speaker 1: two ten it says that the next generation didn't know.
Speaker 1: Why didn't they know because their parents didn't revisit the place.
Speaker 1: They got so far from where they started that they
Speaker 1: lost their sense of who brought them. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: want that to happen to us as a church, and
Speaker 1: so I thought what might be appropriate today to help
Speaker 1: prompt your faith is to share a few stones, not twelve.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to do twelve like the twelve stones.
Speaker 1: We don't have that long. If I just want to
Speaker 1: take five, I just want to take five prompts. And
Speaker 1: this is where the post it notes come in, because
Speaker 1: I wrote down five prompts, you know, like a writing
Speaker 1: prompt that you get writing prompt And I'm going to
Speaker 1: hand these one at a time to these interns and
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask them to tell me the story.
Speaker 1: And you can ask me anything you want, as long
Speaker 1: as it's exactly what's written on this post it note.
Speaker 1: I am an answer to prompt. Everybody say prompt, Prompt.
Speaker 1: That's the word God gave me. Prompt to learn how
Speaker 1: to respond to the prompting of God. That's what this
Speaker 1: offering is about. That's what life is about. That's what
Speaker 1: forgiveness is about. God is going to prompt you, and
Speaker 1: will you respond to the prompt that determines how you
Speaker 1: experienced the promise. So I've got five of these and
Speaker 1: they will prompt the story like those stones prompted the stories,
Speaker 1: and I pray that God will use it. You want
Speaker 1: to read the first one you didn't get to go
Speaker 1: last night. Okay, it's the same ones as last night, though, yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't change them because they went good last night.
Speaker 1: So read me last. Tell me about the time you
Speaker 1: thought your college roommate was going crazy? What was actually
Speaker 1: setting an example you would follow for the next twenty years.
Speaker 1: What a great question. Thank you for asking me that.
Speaker 1: So my college roommate my junior and senior year, was
Speaker 1: named Alex Earl, which is funny because he would get
Speaker 1: up super early and he would pray. I would get
Speaker 1: up last minute seven fifty seven for an eight am class.
Speaker 1: We went to North Greenville University. It's where I got
Speaker 1: my degree. It's where I got my wife. If you
Speaker 1: were to ask me which of those two has served
Speaker 1: a greater purpose in my life, it would no doubt
Speaker 1: be that one. So I hadn't shown anybody my degree
Speaker 1: in a while, but I show her off all the time. Anyway,
Speaker 1: my roommate was Alex Early. He was very spiritual, but
Speaker 1: he's also one of these people who wasn't so spiritual
Speaker 1: that he wasn't funny. He was able to he could
Speaker 1: quote John Calvin to you, but he could also make
Speaker 1: the funniest prank phone calls, and he would call. He
Speaker 1: had this redneck persona called Dwyane McGraw d u w
Speaker 1: I a n E with a thing over the e
Speaker 1: because it's French dew Wyane McGraw and he called he
Speaker 1: modeled after roy D Mercer and had the best time
Speaker 1: in college. But what I learned from him that I
Speaker 1: never forget that I'm so glad you asked me about
Speaker 1: and thank you for asking me. That is one day
Speaker 1: he came running back to the room between classes and
Speaker 1: he looked like he looked like he was in a
Speaker 1: state of absolute emergency. He was in a panic mode.
Speaker 1: And he starts grabbing out of the drawers all the
Speaker 1: money he can find in the room. Not my money,
Speaker 1: his money. He starts grabbing all the money out of
Speaker 1: the room. And I was like, what are you doing.
Speaker 1: He's like, I have time to talk about it. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you when I get back. I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what is Alex? What is Alex into? It's like some
Speaker 1: Walter White crap going on. And so he he came back.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't talk, tell me what he was doing. And
Speaker 1: he came back, he said he looked so relieved. I
Speaker 1: was like, what was that? And he and he said
Speaker 1: he was real serious. He goes, God convicted me, Bro,
Speaker 1: I've been hold on. Let me tell you what he
Speaker 1: said next, he said, Max. He said, since I've been
Speaker 1: here at college, I haven't been tied in. He belonged
Speaker 1: to a church that I really admire in his hometown
Speaker 1: in Woodstock, Georgia, first Baptist Woodstock pastor Johnny Hunt. And
Speaker 1: he said, I am I'm sending my tie. I calculated.
Speaker 1: God spoke to me that his money was in my
Speaker 1: bank account. And I've been telling myself the whole time
Speaker 1: I was here at college that, since I was away
Speaker 1: and since I didn't have much anyway, he said, but
Speaker 1: God convicted me not to keep his money in my account.
Speaker 1: And that boy mailed the cash and he had coins
Speaker 1: and everything he could find and send it in the mail,
Speaker 1: and God used him. One of the ways God will
Speaker 1: prompt you sometimes is through the example of somebody else.
Speaker 1: That's why I always do the giving on the weekend
Speaker 1: where people come in and give, because I think that
Speaker 1: sometimes an example is better than a sermon. Amen. And
Speaker 1: when he did that, God spoke to me, you know,
Speaker 1: because my mom had taught me the same principle of tithing,
Speaker 1: and yet I had found so many excuses. And you
Speaker 1: know what I did next? Thing I did well. I
Speaker 1: had a checking account. I didn't think it had to
Speaker 1: be as ghetto as he made it out to be,
Speaker 1: like throwing cash in the mail. But I did the
Speaker 1: same thing. I decided, you know what, he's right. He's right.
Speaker 1: If I can't trust God with that ten percent, how
Speaker 1: can I say everything I have comes from Him and
Speaker 1: I sent it? Yeah? Amen, see I'm not I need
Speaker 1: you to know this in case you're new or a
Speaker 1: guest or something. I am not one bit timid about
Speaker 1: preaching this stuff. This is my testimony. I don't apologize
Speaker 1: for it. I believe in what we do. I believe
Speaker 1: in what God's word teaches. I've seen it in my life.
Speaker 1: So like, if you need me to get up here
Speaker 1: and say, eh, if it don't be okay, word of God,
Speaker 1: that's not me. That's not how I feel about God.
Speaker 1: That's not how I feel about his word. That's not
Speaker 1: how I feel about his principles. That's not how I
Speaker 1: feel about his promises. I believe this man so so
Speaker 1: it prompted me, and I never I never kept God's
Speaker 1: money in my bank account After that, no matter how
Speaker 1: much I had, didn't have, and it got harder when
Speaker 1: you have more. You know, ten percent of fifty dollars,
Speaker 1: isn't that hard to sin? Sin? Got some coupons in
Speaker 1: the mall or something like that. But then when God
Speaker 1: starts blessing you, you have to decide do you want
Speaker 1: to trust him on the next level? Amen? So I
Speaker 1: believe God's going to prompt some people this year in
Speaker 1: that you've been holding on to what is God's I
Speaker 1: should move on from this point. Feel super uncomfortable, But
Speaker 1: these are just my stones, these are my stories. This
Speaker 1: is what God has done for me. So here's another one.
Speaker 1: I really like this one. This is probably my favorite one.
Speaker 1: Who wants to do this one? You want the prompt? Yeah? Okay,
Speaker 1: let's get her a mic. Ben Landier. By the way, Ben,
Speaker 1: who's your favorite intern on the stage? Right? Now? Don't
Speaker 1: answer that now? Just give it to Mic. Just give
Speaker 1: a line. Tell me about the big decision you made
Speaker 1: at the kitchen table that made you feel like you
Speaker 1: were going to throw up in your mouth. And I
Speaker 1: wrote it in an acceptable way. I think I actually
Speaker 1: did throw up in my mouth and swallow it back down.
Speaker 1: So here's the story. It's too vivid. I understand. You know,
Speaker 1: when Holly and I got married, she taught school and
Speaker 1: I traveled, and we saved up and put a down
Speaker 1: payment on a house, and we did what Dave Ramsey
Speaker 1: taught in his financial piece, stuff like no debt and
Speaker 1: all that. We tried to do that, but other than
Speaker 1: our house. But then another thing we did was he said,
Speaker 1: put an emergency fund. And Dave Ramsey said it. He
Speaker 1: said it. It scared me to not do it the
Speaker 1: way he said it. And he said that it should
Speaker 1: be a certain amount of your expenses in case something happens,
Speaker 1: and he said, do it as quick as you can. Well,
Speaker 1: we were just married, and we didn't start with a
Speaker 1: lot of money or anything like that. We started with
Speaker 1: no money, but over time I was able to build up.
Speaker 1: And I'll never forget. Like we're in our house at
Speaker 1: three point thirty dell Wood Drive, Shelby, North Carolina. Could
Speaker 1: go by there and knock on the door and ask
Speaker 1: the person and say hey hello, and then go into
Speaker 1: the kitchen and then sit down and you'll see the
Speaker 1: spot where this happened. Okay, all right, So we we
Speaker 1: had just put that amount of money. We just hit
Speaker 1: the amount in the savings account. And I was going
Speaker 1: in to tell Holly, hey, good news, we got our
Speaker 1: emergency fund. We hit the number because we set the number,
Speaker 1: hit the number. And when I went in to tell her,
Speaker 1: prompt something prompted me. And at first I thought it
Speaker 1: was the Devil. I really did, because it was like, hey,
Speaker 1: what if you gave that money instead? We didn't have
Speaker 1: kids yet, we didn't have that pressure of providing for children. Yet,
Speaker 1: we were young. We could afford number one combos at
Speaker 1: the Mexican restaurant, and so it was like, what if
Speaker 1: you gave it away? Would you do that? So when
Speaker 1: I sat down at the table, I told Holly, hey,
Speaker 1: I got good news and bad news. The good news
Speaker 1: is we've got our emergency fund. Like the less deposit
Speaker 1: we made it to the She said, let's say bad news.
Speaker 1: I think God, God might be I don't know if
Speaker 1: I use the word prompting, but I feel like an
Speaker 1: impression that we should give it away. And see, I'm
Speaker 1: counting on her to say that's not God. Like I'm
Speaker 1: counting on her to have no faith, right, because then
Speaker 1: I can say, well, Lord, the woman that you gave me,
Speaker 1: you know, and she goes, oh cool, I trust you.
Speaker 1: God spoke to you this book, you know, just good,
Speaker 1: just good, dang it woman. And so I remember sitting
Speaker 1: down writing five checks. I remember who we wrote them to.
Speaker 1: It's not important. We didn't have Elevation Church at the
Speaker 1: church we were part of at the time, another ministry,
Speaker 1: and we gave it away. But the funniest thing was
Speaker 1: while I was doing it, I was like my hands
Speaker 1: were shaking, and right when I've written the last one,
Speaker 1: I felt like a piece. And the way that I
Speaker 1: interpreted what the piece that I felt was like God
Speaker 1: was saying to me, keep your hands open to me,
Speaker 1: no matter how much I bless you with, no matter
Speaker 1: how hard things get at certain times in your life,
Speaker 1: or how tired it seems. And I've experienced both of those.
Speaker 1: Keep your hands open, and if you'll keep your hands
Speaker 1: open to me, you'll always have everything you need to
Speaker 1: do everything I've called you to do. Now, let me
Speaker 1: tell you the sequel to that, Because every Rocky four
Speaker 1: has a creed to, every Red Sea has a Jordan.
Speaker 1: Just this past Monday, I got to sit down with
Speaker 1: our kids at the kitchen table, and it wasn't some
Speaker 1: holy sacred moment. In fact, they were running around. They
Speaker 1: were I think annoyed that they had to sit and
Speaker 1: listen to these stories again. I think Graham said, Dad,
Speaker 1: we know this already. But what I did. I told
Speaker 1: them our testimony, and I asked them to bring all
Speaker 1: their money to the table, which is really technically my money.
Speaker 1: You have no money, you understand that, But bring my
Speaker 1: money that I let you pretend like is your money,
Speaker 1: and keep in your little stupid wallet at the table.
Speaker 1: Abby has more money than the boys. I don't know
Speaker 1: what she's running on the side of school, selling some
Speaker 1: jolly ranchers or something. Abby is so loaded. She's like,
Speaker 1: says to her brothers all the time, you need to
Speaker 1: visit the bank of Abby seven, I said, And I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: it's time. It's your end offering. You know. We did
Speaker 1: this with Waymaker, we did this with Surround, We did this.
Speaker 1: We've been doing this since they were conscious. Like here's
Speaker 1: mommy and daddy and remember da da d bo because
Speaker 1: different times we've done that over and over again, not
Speaker 1: the tithe, but above and beyond, and then we pray
Speaker 1: about it and sometimes God will give me like a
Speaker 1: specific number that's meaningful. Sometimes I'll think I have the number,
Speaker 1: and then it's not the right one because it doesn't
Speaker 1: take faith. And God will stretch me because one will
Speaker 1: be what I can do, and then one will be
Speaker 1: something that really says how I need him. But when
Speaker 1: I was walking him through that and I'm like, sit
Speaker 1: down and listen to this. You know you need to
Speaker 1: hear this story, I realized something that just this year,
Speaker 1: we had a milestone where now Holly and I, by
Speaker 1: the grace of God, have been able to give to
Speaker 1: this church, Elevation Church, not what we originally gave at
Speaker 1: the kitchen table and shelby the emergency fund, and not
Speaker 1: two times that, but over the course of this church,
Speaker 1: we've been able to give not ten times and I
Speaker 1: couldn't really believe this number, not one hundred times, but
Speaker 1: a thousand times what we gave at that kitchen table
Speaker 1: to this ministry. And I'm not going to tell you
Speaker 1: the amount because it's not about the size of the gift.
Speaker 1: It's about the sacrifice. That's what it's always about. Like
Speaker 1: some people sit through this teaching and God prompts them
Speaker 1: to give a million dollars and they're able to do that.
Speaker 1: We've seen that. But some people God prompts, and God
Speaker 1: prompts him to do something that would seem small, but
Speaker 1: to him, it's bigger because it represents something that comes
Speaker 1: from your heart. That's all God is. I went, I went,
Speaker 1: I went to elbution. I just talked about money. Now
Speaker 1: talking about money and talking about your heart. Where your
Speaker 1: treasure is, your heart will be also and we talk
Speaker 1: about every element of your heart. But until this happens,
Speaker 1: until your hands are open to God. That's that's what
Speaker 1: the offering is about. It's about getting your hands open.
Speaker 1: Not because God needs what you have, You need what
Speaker 1: he has. I'm preaching on this school. I don't even
Speaker 1: need a pulpit for this sermon. I am preaching on
Speaker 1: this school. Drago' I'm grateful. You know, like when we
Speaker 1: first gave to Outreach, I had no idea that that
Speaker 1: it was a set up. To see it as a
Speaker 1: stepping stone. It was a stepping stone. God was setting
Speaker 1: the table because when this church didn't have much money,
Speaker 1: Hurricane Katrina hit and I felt a prompting reach out
Speaker 1: to somebody in New Orleans or in the area, and
Speaker 1: I found a pastor in slide El Louisiana, and we
Speaker 1: sent him sixteen hundred bucks that we did not have.
Speaker 1: We needed that money for our church. But I was
Speaker 1: operating out of the same principle. You keep your hands
Speaker 1: open to me and see what I will do through you.
Speaker 1: And now the fact that we've given and will have
Speaker 1: given by the end of this year over forty million
Speaker 1: dollars away to those in me. Come on, I'm prompting
Speaker 1: you right now the praise God for what we've been
Speaker 1: able to do around the world. You kind of go
Speaker 1: back and you wonder, you wonder, you wonder what if
Speaker 1: what if we had said no back then? What if
Speaker 1: I said now, I'm gonna keep my low sixteen hundred
Speaker 1: dollars for our outreach. I'm gonna keep my And God
Speaker 1: is prompting some of you to open your hands to him,
Speaker 1: and I pray that you'll know that. Joy. It's a
Speaker 1: real privilege. It's a real privilege. Just do another prompt.
Speaker 1: I think we got time for one or two more.
Speaker 1: You want to do this one? You sure this is
Speaker 1: a big one. Don't screw it up. Take the post
Speaker 1: it now, a shiny cross around your neck. Tell me
Speaker 1: about the silver bullet of the church planting, the silver
Speaker 1: bullet of church planting. You want to know about that?
Speaker 1: You sure, I don't know if you can handle the
Speaker 1: silver bullet of church planting. I certainly wasn't ready for
Speaker 1: the silver bullet of church planting. So imagine this church
Speaker 1: has not started yet. I'm meeting with the seven families
Speaker 1: that moved here to start the church. Come on, let's
Speaker 1: go back to the Jordan for a minute. You got
Speaker 1: to go back to where you started and revisit these miracles.
Speaker 1: So at that time, I didn't know anything to teach
Speaker 1: these people. So all we did was read books from
Speaker 1: people who knew how to start church, because we never
Speaker 1: start one. I was twenty five years old. I had
Speaker 1: no idea. I mean, I'm scared to death, but I
Speaker 1: feel like God is prompting us to start this church.
Speaker 1: And we had just decided to come to Charlotte to
Speaker 1: start it. We'd put up a map and anyway, you
Speaker 1: don't need to know all that point us. I brought
Speaker 1: in a guy who I thought was like an expert
Speaker 1: in church planting, and I asked him talk to my
Speaker 1: team and tell him anything you want, and I'll give
Speaker 1: you a fifty dollars Chili's gift card. At the time,
Speaker 1: that seemed generous. We got it from credit card rebate points, okay,
Speaker 1: And so he's like, Ah, you don't have to give
Speaker 1: me anything, just I'll come. Nice guy. And he shared
Speaker 1: with us a little bit about evangelism, a little bit
Speaker 1: about marketing, a little bit about team building, unity groups,
Speaker 1: all the typical stuff. But then when it was over,
Speaker 1: we'd been recording the whole session so we could listen
Speaker 1: to it and learn from it and taking notes, and
Speaker 1: all the families are sitting around the table and he's
Speaker 1: like at the end, he goes, okay, can you turn
Speaker 1: that off a minute? Can you stop recording? You turn
Speaker 1: it off, and he goes, can you shut the door?
Speaker 1: What's about to happen here? And we shut the door
Speaker 1: and he's like, now I'm going to give you the
Speaker 1: silver bullet of church planting. I'm about I'm about to
Speaker 1: hear this. And then he goes, there's friends that you
Speaker 1: have that belong to other churches, and those churches are big,
Speaker 1: and they tied to their church, but their church wouldn't
Speaker 1: miss it if they stopped. Get them to transfer their
Speaker 1: tithe from that big church to your little church for
Speaker 1: twenty four months. And when he said it, it felt
Speaker 1: like a bullet, not a silver bullet, but it felt
Speaker 1: like if we did that, if we started this church
Speaker 1: on that kind of manipulation, that we would always have
Speaker 1: to manipulate. And I thank them. I didn't correct him
Speaker 1: until left the room. I said, thank you for coming,
Speaker 1: appreciate it. God bless you. He prayed, he left, I
Speaker 1: shut the door again. When he left, I said to
Speaker 1: the team, I said, we will not build this church
Speaker 1: on those types of principles. If we're going to do
Speaker 1: God's work and God's will, we'll have to do it
Speaker 1: God's way. And it was a temptation in the moment,
Speaker 1: you know, because it was strategic. And sometimes sometimes you'll
Speaker 1: be prompted to take a shortcut and to do it
Speaker 1: your way and you can justify it, you know. But
Speaker 1: in that moment, here's what God prompted me to ask
Speaker 1: of that team. And these are just normal people, some
Speaker 1: of them with small children, all of them moving with
Speaker 1: no job. We didn't have some big funding. It was
Speaker 1: nothing like that. It's nothing like that. I just said,
Speaker 1: what if we gave ten percent the tithe to the
Speaker 1: church that we're currently a part of till we leave.
Speaker 1: That is sending us and another ten percent to the
Speaker 1: new one we're starting. But if we all committed to
Speaker 1: lead the way and to do that so that when
Speaker 1: we stand up and ask people to be a part
Speaker 1: of this, we will have set an example that they
Speaker 1: can follow. Do you want to know why God is
Speaker 1: using this ministry today and now? Like I look in
Speaker 1: the camera and it's like in Singapore and Cape Town
Speaker 1: and Gastonia and all kinds of places all around the world.
Speaker 1: It's not because of it's not because of great preaching.
Speaker 1: It's because of personal sacrifice that people were willing to
Speaker 1: make and hear me. I appreciate the front row, but
Speaker 1: I want to say something to everybody watching this sermon.
Speaker 1: If we become now just consumers Christian consumers where it's
Speaker 1: like I didn't really like the word today. I end
Speaker 1: my song today. I was a guest today. I was this.
Speaker 1: If it becomes about that, God will shut it all down,
Speaker 1: because that is not what this church was founded on.
Speaker 1: You see how they're looking at me out there. It's
Speaker 1: like this, you are sitting right now in somebody else's sacrifice.
Speaker 1: I always thought that was so crazy. People come and go.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't like when the church talks about giving.
Speaker 1: How do you think there was a church for you
Speaker 1: to come to if somebody didn't give me too? JJ,
Speaker 1: I love to tell the story of how that original
Speaker 1: core team. They're all still here at the church. By
Speaker 1: the way, all of those families. Do you know rare
Speaker 1: that is that God kept those families together these twelve
Speaker 1: and a half years. And now God is calling on
Speaker 1: another generation. And I really don't have time for the
Speaker 1: last two stones. I'd like to give them to you,
Speaker 1: but I'm I'm only gonna be able to give you
Speaker 1: one of them. And I'm gonna let you vote on
Speaker 1: this one. Which one you want. Do you want to
Speaker 1: hear about the time that John the Baptist came into
Speaker 1: my office? Or option A? Or do you hear about
Speaker 1: the time that we took a bus ride from Hell?
Speaker 1: These are your options. Pray about it. See if God
Speaker 1: prompts you. Who wants to hear John the Baptist makes
Speaker 1: some noise at every location. Who wants to hear about
Speaker 1: the bus ride from Hell makes some all right? So
Speaker 1: John the Baptist, I'm gonna tell you this one real quick.
Speaker 1: That's the time that John Butler, who was a Baptist
Speaker 1: who yeah, he was a Baptist preacher, and he came
Speaker 1: in my office. Listen to this. You heard this last night,
Speaker 1: but listen again. You need to hear these stories over
Speaker 1: and over again. He came in and he had three
Speaker 1: hundred one thousand dollars. He had a denominational job. He'd
Speaker 1: been coming to the church. The church was full. He
Speaker 1: sits on my couch in my office. He asked for
Speaker 1: meeting with me, and he said, well, preacher, you were
Speaker 1: full this Sunday. I noticed you were full. I noticed
Speaker 1: there wasn't an empty seat in the house. And I
Speaker 1: was so proud of that. I was like, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: praise the Lord. You know, spiritualize it, but really I
Speaker 1: was proud of it. Yes, sir, praise the Lord. We
Speaker 1: prayed for it. Praise God. He goes, Preacher, that's a problem.
Speaker 1: I said, no, it's not a problem. It's a goal.
Speaker 1: I want a full house. He said, yeah, but you're
Speaker 1: telling these people to bring their friends. Where are their
Speaker 1: friend's gonna sit? You need to start another campus. And
Speaker 1: I have three hundred thousand dollars that a little old
Speaker 1: lady who died left to the Baptist Convention for church planting,
Speaker 1: and I'll give it to you if you'll start another campus.
Speaker 1: And here's what I said. And I'm ashamed to tell
Speaker 1: you this to this day because for all of you
Speaker 1: that think this is just a brag session to tell
Speaker 1: you about my great faith, it's not. It's about God's
Speaker 1: faithfulness in spite of it. Because I looked at that
Speaker 1: man and says, I don't have the gifts to do that.
Speaker 1: People will not watch me preach on a screen. So
Speaker 1: I thank God for what he said. Next so powerful.
Speaker 1: He said, here's how it works, preacher. And he's talking
Speaker 1: to me like like like a young punk like I was,
Speaker 1: but he said it would love to He said, if
Speaker 1: you get ahead of God trying to obey him, he'll
Speaker 1: just shut the door. If you get behind God and
Speaker 1: won't obey him, he'll just get somebody else to do it.
Speaker 1: You take a few days and pray about it, preacher,
Speaker 1: and let me know what you want to do. And
Speaker 1: he got up to walk out. I say, yeah, come back,
Speaker 1: what do I doing well? Do? I don't want God
Speaker 1: up else? Come on, I want it on this. I
Speaker 1: want to be in the middle of what God is doing.
Speaker 1: And now today watch this over over. I want to
Speaker 1: say it's seventeen locations. This more than that, because somebody's
Speaker 1: watching this in a hospital room on a screen, somebody's
Speaker 1: watching this on television, somebody's watching this in a prison.
Speaker 1: And it all starts when you respond to a prompting. So,
Speaker 1: for just a moment, would you, would you just see
Speaker 1: that right there where you are, for a moment, would
Speaker 1: you make a space right now in your heart for
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit to prompt you in an area of
Speaker 1: your life where He is speaking to you but you
Speaker 1: have not yet responded. Joshua said, set up these stones
Speaker 1: so that when the children of Israel ask you what
Speaker 1: these stones mean, you can tell them what God did.
Speaker 1: I did my best today in the little bit of
Speaker 1: time that we had to tell you some of the
Speaker 1: things that God has done for us in the twelve
Speaker 1: and a half years that we've been a church, some
Speaker 1: of it before you got here, some of you have
Speaker 1: been here for many of these miracles. And I did
Speaker 1: it in hopes that it would prompt you to know
Speaker 1: that when faith skips a generation, and when we start
Speaker 1: to stand in the middle of something that God did
Speaker 1: that was extraordinary and treated as common. Miracles start to
Speaker 1: dry up. And all I'm asking you to do as
Speaker 1: we prepare for next weekend online around the world. You know,
Speaker 1: we've already had the conversation with our family. Here's Abby's money.
Speaker 1: That's the biggest money is the kid's money. That's what
Speaker 1: God prompted them to do. Holly and I have have
Speaker 1: been praying, and I didn't tell you this yet, but
Speaker 1: in my heart while I was preaching last night, my
Speaker 1: number went up. So we need to talk again because
Speaker 1: one number was comfortable, and then the other number represented
Speaker 1: a commitment to not rest on what God has already done,
Speaker 1: but to make way for what He wants to do.
Speaker 1: And the ask is very simple. Ask God, ask him
Speaker 1: to prompt you. Some of you have never been through
Speaker 1: this process, so you've never taken it seriously, and I
Speaker 1: understand it. It's uncomfortable. But this card is a prompt.
Speaker 1: It's a prompt for you. You know what a great
Speaker 1: word prompt, prompt prompt. It also means a media prompt. Prompt. Yes,
Speaker 1: God is yours. Of course God. Of course I would
Speaker 1: advance your work. Of course I would give to you.
Speaker 1: Of course I would be generous. Of course I would
Speaker 1: want to make a way for someone else like you
Speaker 1: made away from me. Of course, Lord, it's yours. When
Speaker 1: you get that kind of spirit in your heart, you
Speaker 1: begin to experience promises of God that you could never imagine.
Speaker 1: This is not some name it claimant, blab it grab
Speaker 1: it weird theology where I'm telling you that you can
Speaker 1: get a Mercedes if you give God ten dollars. I'm
Speaker 1: believe in that. I'm preach that never have, never will.
Speaker 1: What I'm telling you is a testimony that God has
Speaker 1: made a way for me time after time, and I
Speaker 1: want to see him do the same in your life.
Speaker 1: If that means that right now you're in a season
Speaker 1: where you can't give, then let this be the season
Speaker 1: that someone else carries the load. There's nothing wrong with that,
Speaker 1: but you pray, you pray that those who are able
Speaker 1: to give will give, not on the level that's comfortable,
Speaker 1: but on the level that represents a true commitment to
Speaker 1: the cause of Christ. May we never become like this
Speaker 1: when we started like this. So want you to buy
Speaker 1: your head and close your eyes. No one moving. This
Speaker 1: is a pretty important moment. Right now is set up
Speaker 1: for something that God wants to do in the future.
Speaker 1: And I'd like to just give you one minute, just
Speaker 1: sixty seconds after I stopped talking, and if you would
Speaker 1: ask God silently. You don't have to pray out loud
Speaker 1: or anything like that. Maybe you want to just open
Speaker 1: your hands just physically, like right in front of you.
Speaker 1: That's what I'd do sometimes when I'm praying about a
Speaker 1: message or when I'm asking God for direction in my life,
Speaker 1: maybe just with your hands open and just say, God,
Speaker 1: would you prompt me? Would you prompt me to respond
Speaker 1: to the gospel that You've freely given me as I
Speaker 1: get the opportunity to share it with others. Just speak
Speaker 1: to me specifically, God, show me how I can be
Speaker 1: used as I prepare my offering, because i'd give it
Speaker 1: online this week or bring it back next weekend. Show
Speaker 1: me what you've given me from you that I can
Speaker 1: now give back as an offering. And in just a moment,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna allow you to sit. You know, God often
Speaker 1: doesn't shout, He doesn't like draw stuff in the sky.
Speaker 1: He doesn't always respond with a big sign that comes
Speaker 1: from Heaven out loud. He speaks in a whisper, still,
Speaker 1: small voice. He prompts you and it is your response
Speaker 1: to that prompting that determines how much of His promises
Speaker 1: you experienced. So, Father, now speak to your people in
Speaker 1: this minute of silence and throughout the next week and
Speaker 1: prompt them as to what you would have them to
Speaker 1: do in obedience. Hey, thanks for joining us today. We
Speaker 1: really hope you enjoyed the sermon. We want to give
Speaker 1: you some practical ways to put what you heard today
Speaker 1: into practice. Now, First of all, would you take some
Speaker 1: time and think about the stones you have in your life.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's the moments when God showed his faith fethfulness
Speaker 1: across your journey. Second, would you pray about what God
Speaker 1: would have you give to the year end offering here
Speaker 1: at Elevation. For some of you who call Elevation home,
Speaker 1: maybe it's just to start tithing, that's giving back to
Speaker 1: God the very first ten percent. Now for others of you,
Speaker 1: it may be to bring an offering a gift that
Speaker 1: will allow us to continue spreading the Gospel all around
Speaker 1: the world. And we want everyone to participate by just
Speaker 1: choosing a word or a phrase for twenty nineteen, something
Speaker 1: that you're believing God for in this next year. You
Speaker 1: can visit Elevationchurch dot org slash give for more details
Speaker 1: and how to give and be apart. We're excited to
Speaker 1: see how God is going to move in our church
Speaker 1: in this season and believe that God wants to do
Speaker 1: something very special in your life