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. Man,
Speaker 1: it's been fun worshiping today so far. Are we ready
Speaker 1: for the Word of God though? Amen? We're so blessed.
Speaker 1: We've got Pastor Jabin Chavez with us this weekend from
Speaker 1: Citylight Church in Las Vegas. He and his wife Shannon
Speaker 1: planted this church just a couple of years ago, and
Speaker 1: since then they've just seen God do unbelievable, miraculous things.
Speaker 1: People come in and know the Lord just by the
Speaker 1: hundreds and just see seeing the evidence of God's faithfulness.
Speaker 1: He's been a friend of Pastor Stevens in our ministry
Speaker 1: for several years now, and I believe God gave him
Speaker 1: a word specifically for our church, for me and you
Speaker 1: this week, and so help me. Welcome Pastor Javin Chaven
Speaker 1: right now. Everybody, come on, keep those hands together, Let's
Speaker 1: give God some praise. Wow. Greetings from Las Vegas. Anyone
Speaker 1: been to Vegas. Can I see your hands? Wow, a
Speaker 1: couple more hands than I was expecting. Okay, Well, if
Speaker 1: you're ever in Vegas, come say hi to us at
Speaker 1: City Light Church. And if you if you had a
Speaker 1: really good night on Saturday night, bring a little offering
Speaker 1: with you, Amen, Praise the Lord. If you had a
Speaker 1: really bad night, we'll lay hands on you and cast
Speaker 1: the devil out of you and send you back home
Speaker 1: holy and healthy and delivered. But we were very grateful
Speaker 1: to be here. And my wife sends her love as
Speaker 1: she's holding it down for us today back home, and
Speaker 1: I want to go straight to God. This is Ezekiel
Speaker 1: thirty seven. I'm going to read out of the message translation,
Speaker 1: so you may just want to fall along on the screen.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna read about ten verses to you, and then
Speaker 1: we're just gonna I'm all preach quick, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: sing that song again. Amen. And then I'm gonna eat
Speaker 1: fried chicken because I'm in the South, and that's a
Speaker 1: true story that's really gonna happen. Ezekiel thirty seven. Verse one,
Speaker 1: God grabbed me, and God's spirit he took me up
Speaker 1: and he sat me down in the middle of an
Speaker 1: open plain covered in bones. He led me around and
Speaker 1: among them a lot of bones. There were bones all
Speaker 1: over the plain, dry bones, bleached by the sun. And
Speaker 1: he said to me, son of Man, can these bones live?
Speaker 1: I said, Master, God, only you know that, And he said,
Speaker 1: prophesy over the bones. Speak to the bones, dry bones,
Speaker 1: listen to the message of God. God, the Master told
Speaker 1: the dry bones, watch this. I'm bringing the breath of
Speaker 1: life to you. You'll come to life. I'll attach sin
Speaker 1: yous to you. I'll put meat on your bones. I'll
Speaker 1: come you a skin. I'll breathe life into you. You'll
Speaker 1: come alive, and you'll realize that I'm God. So I prophesied,
Speaker 1: just as I'd been commanded. And as I prophesied, there
Speaker 1: was a sound, oh a wrestling. The bones moved together
Speaker 1: and boned a bone. I kept watching sinews form and
Speaker 1: then muscles on the bones, and then skin stretched over them.
Speaker 1: But they had no breath in them. So he said,
Speaker 1: prophesied to the breath. Prophesy, son of Man, tell the breath, God,
Speaker 1: the Master says, come from the four winds, come breath.
Speaker 1: Breathe on these slang bodies. Breathe life. So I prophesied,
Speaker 1: as he commanded me, and the breath entered them. They
Speaker 1: came alive, and they stood up on their feet a
Speaker 1: huge army. I want to preach this for a couple
Speaker 1: of moments this morning, from the subject what to do
Speaker 1: in a valley? What to do in a valley? Father,
Speaker 1: thank you for your word. Thank you for this moment.
Speaker 1: And I do thank you for your word. It is living,
Speaker 1: it's active, supernatural, it holds the power of life and death.
Speaker 1: And I thank you Lord that one word from God
Speaker 1: can change our entire life. So we're praying today that
Speaker 1: you would speak to us. We're listening, we're expecting. I'm
Speaker 1: praying for a tailor made word today, the right word
Speaker 1: for every person in every season in the room. Go
Speaker 1: beyond my voice, be the wheel within the wheel. I
Speaker 1: say what you need to say to every one of us,
Speaker 1: so that we could all leave church today saying I
Speaker 1: heard from God and I'll never be the same. This
Speaker 1: is our prayer in Jesus' name. And everyone said Amen.
Speaker 1: And if you are believing God for a word, let's
Speaker 1: clap our hands some more time, and let's let the
Speaker 1: Lord know we're ready. I'm ready. What to do in
Speaker 1: a Valley? I guess I need to start by telling
Speaker 1: you I wish I could preach how to have a
Speaker 1: valley free life. Yo, that would be bomb. Hey, here's
Speaker 1: seven steps, do these things. No more valleys, wouldn't that
Speaker 1: be great? No more valleys? What a great book. I'm
Speaker 1: all write a book. No more valleys. Would't that be great?
Speaker 1: Going through a valley? Hey, may you've seen have more faith?
Speaker 1: You see him, Believe God. Don't have to go through that.
Speaker 1: But I've come to learn that he is the God
Speaker 1: of the mountain, but he is the God of the valley.
Speaker 1: I've learned that valleys are necessary, and I've learned that
Speaker 1: God does a great work in me that he can
Speaker 1: only do in the valley. I want to remind someone
Speaker 1: today that there is no fruit on the mountaintop. There
Speaker 1: is only fruit in the valley. I've learned that God
Speaker 1: wants to do something great through me, so he must
Speaker 1: first do something very deep in me, and he can
Speaker 1: only do that in the valley. The valley is the
Speaker 1: stretching place. The valley is the place that, when you're
Speaker 1: in it, you think it's warfare. If you're a costal
Speaker 1: like me, you plead the blood you speak in tongues,
Speaker 1: you cast out devils, you annoint with oil, You get
Speaker 1: your intercessors to lay hands on you. You start sending offering.
Speaker 1: The TV preachers come on somebody, because you think I'm
Speaker 1: under attack, only to find out on the other side
Speaker 1: of it, it was not a demonic spirit, but the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit that led you into the wilderness, led you
Speaker 1: into the desert, led you into the valley to do
Speaker 1: something in you that could not happen outside of the valley.
Speaker 1: So I've learned to love the valley. The valley is
Speaker 1: the gem of the Holy Spirit. Now I've never been
Speaker 1: to a gym, but I heard Chunks told me. Pastor
Speaker 1: Steven told me the gym's good for me. I heard
Speaker 1: it's good for me. I'm gonna try it out one day.
Speaker 1: I'm thirty six. It ain't looking too good, but it's
Speaker 1: that place that it hurts when you're in it, but
Speaker 1: it's actually good for you, and when you come out
Speaker 1: of it, you go, thank you Jesus for the valley.
Speaker 1: I want to remind someone you're not gonna die in
Speaker 1: the valley, because though you go through the Valley of
Speaker 1: the Shadow of Death, you don't have to fear any
Speaker 1: evil because his rod and his staff, they do come
Speaker 1: for you. Goodness and mercy are following you. You're coming
Speaker 1: out of the valley, and you're gonna come out with
Speaker 1: everything God has for you in the valley. But I
Speaker 1: have learned that there's some things you have to do
Speaker 1: when you're in it so that it actually does make
Speaker 1: you better and bigger and stronger and doesn't destroy you.
Speaker 1: And I think there's some things from the text today
Speaker 1: that we can find that will help you, and they've
Speaker 1: helped me, and I believe that God's really going to
Speaker 1: speak to you today. So let me just give you
Speaker 1: a few things today. If you're taking notes, write these down.
Speaker 1: If you're not taking notes, write these down. Ah, I'm
Speaker 1: embarrassed that I did that, but I'm a dad and
Speaker 1: a senior pastor, so that was like a bad senior
Speaker 1: pastor dad joke. But I'm okay with it, like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm doing me okay. Number one. Number one, never forget this.
Speaker 1: God is with you in the valley. God is with
Speaker 1: you in the valley. Ezekiel starts the text by saying, God,
Speaker 1: grab me in the valley. Now. I do appreciate and
Speaker 1: love the poetic king James that says that the hand
Speaker 1: of the Lord was upon me. But I kind of
Speaker 1: like that gritty rated our version, the message that said
Speaker 1: God grabbed me. And I think if you've served God
Speaker 1: long enough, you know there are just times where God
Speaker 1: has to grab you. Yeah. Yeah, I preaching anybody. There's
Speaker 1: times where you let go of God. But thank you Jesus,
Speaker 1: he didn't let go of me. There's times I've run
Speaker 1: from God, but He's run after me. There's times I've
Speaker 1: tried to hide from God, but he is awesome at
Speaker 1: hide and seek. He just has a way of finding me.
Speaker 1: I want to tell someone today, you feel like you're
Speaker 1: in a valley. You feel like you're all alone. You
Speaker 1: feel like there are bones everywhere, you feel like they're
Speaker 1: dry bones bleached by the sun. But I want to
Speaker 1: remind you God's with you. The hand of the Lord
Speaker 1: is upon you, and he is not letting go. And
Speaker 1: God is doing something in you in the valley. Don't
Speaker 1: let the valley lie to you and tell you you're alone.
Speaker 1: Don't let circumstances intimidate you and tell you is over.
Speaker 1: I will take a valley with Jesus over a mountaintop
Speaker 1: without him, because as long as I have Jesus, I
Speaker 1: have possibilities, I have a future, I have a promise.
Speaker 1: Give me Jesus in any situation, I'll take that. God's
Speaker 1: with you in the valley. And you may not feel it.
Speaker 1: You may not be able to clap for that yet.
Speaker 1: You may you may be saying Amen, but in your
Speaker 1: heart you're going I don't feel it. That's okay. We
Speaker 1: don't live by feelings. And when I cannot trace his hand,
Speaker 1: I can trust his heart. God's doing something in me
Speaker 1: right now. I don't see it all yet, but I
Speaker 1: do know I will see the goodness of the Lord
Speaker 1: in the land of the Living. I do know God
Speaker 1: is doing something great right now, and I can't really
Speaker 1: sense it. I can't really see it. I can't really
Speaker 1: feel it. Quite frankly, it took every ounce of faith
Speaker 1: just to get here this morning. But I do believe
Speaker 1: that God is still doing a work in my life.
Speaker 1: And maybe you feel today like Jamn, I just feel
Speaker 1: like all of hell is against me. I just feel
Speaker 1: like I am coming up literally against the gates of Hell.
Speaker 1: That's actually good because Jesus said the gates of Hell
Speaker 1: won't prevail against the Church, and you is the church.
Speaker 1: And that means that if you're coming up against hell,
Speaker 1: that is the devil's last defense to try to stop
Speaker 1: you before you inherit everything God has for you. So
Speaker 1: you might as well just clap your hands and shout
Speaker 1: and thank God in advance that you are about to
Speaker 1: cross over into something good. Come on, God has good
Speaker 1: days for you. God has good things for you. And
Speaker 1: while he's doing a good work in me, I will
Speaker 1: not quit. God's with you in the valley. Number two,
Speaker 1: number two, Look, look, look, look for the possibility. Look
Speaker 1: for the possibility. Hey, Ezekiel, Okay, I get it, I
Speaker 1: get it. I get it. Bones everywhere, yeah, verse one,
Speaker 1: verse two, bones everywhere, try bones, spleach by the sun. Bones, bones,
Speaker 1: bones but the bone, bone bone, but bones. I s
Speaker 1: brought my nineties children right there. Bones. I get it.
Speaker 1: But Ezekiel, can can they live? I'm remembering Pastor's message
Speaker 1: from two weeks ago. I caught a thought because because
Speaker 1: eight jokers walked into that promised lane and said, there's
Speaker 1: giants and the land's going to eat us up. And
Speaker 1: two other guys, Caleb and Joshua, said, we're well able.
Speaker 1: Same circumstance, same enemy, same bones, same valley, same situation,
Speaker 1: same promise. Eight guys couldn't believe it. Two guys could
Speaker 1: believe it. I'm not making light of your situation. I'm
Speaker 1: just telling you God is greater than your situation. I'm
Speaker 1: not making light of your giants. I'm just telling you
Speaker 1: God's bigger than your giants. I'm not making light of
Speaker 1: your valley and the bones that are surrounding you. I'm
Speaker 1: just telling you. I'm begging you today to look for
Speaker 1: the possibility. I'm begging you today to forget about all
Speaker 1: the stuff that's going wrong, and for one moment, gaze
Speaker 1: your eyes on Jesus. Look at him, Focus on him,
Speaker 1: look at this from his perspective. As Ekiel said, I
Speaker 1: was standing in a valley, but then God sat me
Speaker 1: down and he said, look at it from my perspective.
Speaker 1: There's something about seeing it from where God sees it.
Speaker 1: There's something about God's perspective. There's something about saying, I'm
Speaker 1: not in denial of my situation, but I choose to
Speaker 1: see this through the lens of faith and not the
Speaker 1: lens of doubt. I refuse to just keep talking about it,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to see this from God's possibility, Look
Speaker 1: for the possibility. And y'all we all have this, this
Speaker 1: natural bent towards doubt, don't we all right? No one
Speaker 1: said amen in Valentine. But I know y'all shout me
Speaker 1: down on the other campuses. I know it. Driving on
Speaker 1: the road, tire blows out, like, man, the devil's after
Speaker 1: my tires. I just know. No, you're cheap. You were
Speaker 1: supposed to change your tires six months ago, and you
Speaker 1: then hold it out. Air conditioner breaks in your house,
Speaker 1: I'll be in the devil's after our ac No. No,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think you're good. I think
Speaker 1: life is life. It's amazing. When it's rainy outside, you're like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, ma arthritis. I just know it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: But when it's sunny outside, you're like, oh man, we're
Speaker 1: in a trout. God's judging America. You know, it's always something.
Speaker 1: It's like, don't don't choose to see everything through through
Speaker 1: a negative lens. Choose to see the possibility. Today used
Speaker 1: to say, man, I'm going through a lot, But at
Speaker 1: least I made it to church. At least I got
Speaker 1: to praise God with some brothers and sisters at least,
Speaker 1: I'm still hearing the word of the Lord. I think
Speaker 1: God still has a future for me. I refuse to
Speaker 1: die in my doubt. I'm gonna believe God. Look look
Speaker 1: for the possibility. To Ezekiel it was hopeless, But to God,
Speaker 1: the situation was perfect for a miracle. Look for the possibility,
Speaker 1: and Niomiah thirteen to two. Niemiah said, our God can
Speaker 1: turn a curse into a blessing. Can I just tell
Speaker 1: you God can turn it around? Can I tell you
Speaker 1: life can get better? But while you're waiting on life
Speaker 1: to get better, you can get better. Yeah. And while
Speaker 1: you're waiting on things to turn around in your life,
Speaker 1: things can turn around in your heart. And you don't
Speaker 1: have to be a victim to circumstance. Look for the possibility.
Speaker 1: Number three. I have to admit this is my favorite point.
Speaker 1: Take a step into the unknown. Touch your neighbor, Tell
Speaker 1: him take a step, take a step. That neighbor was
Speaker 1: so stuck up. Touch somebody else, tell him take a step,
Speaker 1: take a step, take a step, take a step, take
Speaker 1: a step. They were rude to you. Did you feel
Speaker 1: that they were rude? They're still a little hungover from
Speaker 1: last night, They're like, what take a step, Hey, Ezekiel,
Speaker 1: can these bones live? Lord? Uh? You know that was
Speaker 1: a really kind and sweet and really Southern way of saying,
Speaker 1: I don't know your God? Why you asking men? God
Speaker 1: is never asking us questions because he doesn't know the answer.
Speaker 1: He knows he's God. He's trying to give us a revelation.
Speaker 1: He's trying to level up our faith. He's trying to
Speaker 1: build us up. And he's not asking a question because
Speaker 1: he doesn't know the answer. He's asking us a question
Speaker 1: because he wants to reveal something to us. Isel can
Speaker 1: these bones live? And his eqal says Lord you know, yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: God will take a yes with a question mark. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the higher picture of voices, the less faith you have.
Speaker 1: Can these bones live? Y'all? Never squeaked? Thank God for
Speaker 1: this loud music, huh, because sometimes all you can get
Speaker 1: out is a God's okay with a squeak, God's okay.
Speaker 1: I think he appreciates the yes with a exclamation mark.
Speaker 1: I think those come. I think they're awesome, but I
Speaker 1: think a lot of life is in the yeah. I
Speaker 1: love that Ezekiel did not say, of course they can live.
Speaker 1: I know who my God is and I'm persuaded by
Speaker 1: the promises of God. Hallelujah. I'm honestly, I'm glad he
Speaker 1: didn't do that, because if you would have done that,
Speaker 1: I'd have just keet to thirty eight and been like,
Speaker 1: I don't get you, Ezekiel, because a lot of life
Speaker 1: is in the oh. Lord. Maybe I think and I
Speaker 1: think that depending upon where you're at in your season,
Speaker 1: there's something that's got to ask you, and it's like, yes,
Speaker 1: can I bless your business? Yes, twenty twenty God be good. Yes,
Speaker 1: I already got twenty twenty visits. Yah. Yes, can I
Speaker 1: help your marriage? Lord? Do you know the woman you
Speaker 1: gave me in the garden? Do you know her husbands
Speaker 1: looks straight ahead? Don't you dare touch your wife right now?
Speaker 1: In Jesus trying to save your marriage. Somebody stood in
Speaker 1: the nine thirty. I said, sirs, please sit down, Security, security, okay,
Speaker 1: trying to protect you. It's gone security on his wife, amen,
Speaker 1: because he wasn't laughing. I think you actually have to
Speaker 1: get comfortable giving God a yes with a question mark.
Speaker 1: I want to say it like this, You have to
Speaker 1: get comfortable giving God. You're not enough. Yeah, you have
Speaker 1: to get okay with giving God less than you want
Speaker 1: to give him, but giving him all you got. Because
Speaker 1: I think a lot of you are waiting to do
Speaker 1: something for God when you have great faith. But you
Speaker 1: don't get great faith till you give God small faith.
Speaker 1: You don't have all some faith until you give God
Speaker 1: broken faith, until you give God whatever faith you do have.
Speaker 1: And I know you want to feed five thousand with
Speaker 1: five thousand pieces of bread and fish, but sometimes all
Speaker 1: you got is a couple of loads and a couple
Speaker 1: of fish. And you actually have to learn how to
Speaker 1: give God you're not enough. You have to learn how
Speaker 1: to give him whatever you do have. Because God can
Speaker 1: use your not enough. He can bless it, he can
Speaker 1: break it, he can multiply it, and he can turn
Speaker 1: him into more than enough. And a lot of y'all
Speaker 1: are waiting on more than enough. But God says, I
Speaker 1: don't just start with more than enough, I start with
Speaker 1: not enough. Oh can I get some faith in here?
Speaker 1: And a lot of you are not gonna do anything
Speaker 1: for God until you get comfortable giving him your not enough.
Speaker 1: But God can do a lot with a little. And
Speaker 1: God forbid, by the way, by the way, God forbid
Speaker 1: you ever feel like you're enough. Like if you feel
Speaker 1: like you're ready, your pride is too high and your
Speaker 1: vision is too small. I always want to be shaken
Speaker 1: in my boots. I always want to be a lot like.
Speaker 1: I woke up this morning scarred. Y'all scared. Don't let
Speaker 1: this smile fool you. I'm crying on the inside. Amen, pastors,
Speaker 1: I can you preach? I'm like I used to know
Speaker 1: how to preach. I think I forgot. I don't know
Speaker 1: I'm already. I don't think I'm the guy for you.
Speaker 1: I like that. I like I like feeling a little unqualified.
Speaker 1: Oh that's a good book title. I'm gonna write me
Speaker 1: a book called Unqualified. Watch it. I like that because
Speaker 1: it means I have to rely on Jesus. I have
Speaker 1: to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. I
Speaker 1: need grace in my weakness. And a lot of you
Speaker 1: are waiting to be ready before you do something. But
Speaker 1: you actually have to learn how to take a step
Speaker 1: on a Lord. You know. Faith is risky. Faith is gutsy.
Speaker 1: Faith is grown people talk. Faith requires a backbone, not
Speaker 1: a wishbone. Faith. Faith puts you in scary situations. By
Speaker 1: the way, By the way, you're in a faith church.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know that your pastor's gift
Speaker 1: is he has the gift of faith, the biblical gift
Speaker 1: of faith. It's in the Bible. He has it. And
Speaker 1: so anytime you get around pastor, you want to believe more.
Speaker 1: But never forget this. Your flesh, your earth suit, your
Speaker 1: carnal mind, your dirt suit. It hates faith. That's why
Speaker 1: it wants comfort clothes and a comfortable chair and a
Speaker 1: comfortable band, comfort food, because we want our flesh wants comfort,
Speaker 1: but our spirit is begging for adventure. Our flesh wants
Speaker 1: to stay in the boat, but our spirit saying, call
Speaker 1: me out on the water. And you actually have to
Speaker 1: learn how to give your spirit first place, because your
Speaker 1: flesh will always go to the comfort zone and God
Speaker 1: can't do anything great in the comfort zone. I've heard
Speaker 1: it said by preachers that faith and fear cannot coexist,
Speaker 1: and I thought, I think they're married. I think they're
Speaker 1: sleeping in the same bed. The very fact that I
Speaker 1: need faith is because I'm afraid. The very fact that
Speaker 1: I'm believing God is because this is too big for me.
Speaker 1: The very the very fact that I'm I'm I'm believing
Speaker 1: for a miracle is because I need a miracle. The
Speaker 1: very fact that I that I that I'm stepping out
Speaker 1: in faith is because I have I have fear in
Speaker 1: my life. A lot of you have mistaken faith in facts.
Speaker 1: Faith is not always factual, but it's always truth, huh.
Speaker 1: And you have to learn how to break past the
Speaker 1: circumstance and the facts and break into the faith zone
Speaker 1: where God is and where your destiny is. Am I
Speaker 1: helping anybody right now? Come on, say may clap your
Speaker 1: hands one time. I'm gonna keep preaching, but you have
Speaker 1: to learn how to take a step into the unknown.
Speaker 1: Did God call you to start that business? I think
Speaker 1: he did in January, but now it's October. Jaman to
Speaker 1: God call you to plant that church in Vegas? Well,
Speaker 1: some Sundays for sure, Other Sunday nights I will kind
Speaker 1: of want to sell cars. God called you to move
Speaker 1: to Charlotte? I thought so. I think I was a
Speaker 1: lot more confident a few months ago. Yah, you actually
Speaker 1: have to get okay there. Faith is a total assurance
Speaker 1: and who God is. But but life is changing, y'all,
Speaker 1: and you have to get okay with that. I've learned
Speaker 1: that faith is like a pit in my stomach. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, the pit in your stomach, the
Speaker 1: thing that you call the lack of peace. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I just don't. And you know you're charismatic if you
Speaker 1: touch your stomach. You know. I just didn't have a
Speaker 1: piece about us praying about it. I know you guys
Speaker 1: need people to serve. But like right now, like the
Speaker 1: Lord has me resting. It's funny because it's true and
Speaker 1: and and we're running from the pit in our stomach.
Speaker 1: But I actually think is where faith really is. Peace,
Speaker 1: by the way, is not a feeling in your stomach.
Speaker 1: Can I help you? Piece is not That piece is
Speaker 1: a person is named Jesus. And peace will be right
Speaker 1: in the middle of a storm on the waves, and
Speaker 1: he will call you to come. Peace will lead you
Speaker 1: into some crazy situations that are way bigger than you,
Speaker 1: but they're under his feet. That's where peace is. Peace
Speaker 1: will lead you into some unpeaceful places to build you up.
Speaker 1: That's peace. I've honestly for last twenty months. We planted
Speaker 1: our church twenty months ago. I had a pit mustomach
Speaker 1: for twenty months. Like I used to live in Newport Beach, California.
Speaker 1: No one could even cheer because y'all just mad about it, right,
Speaker 1: because it's just Newport. It's beautiful. Newport is like like
Speaker 1: the Garden of Eden before the fall. Y'all know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like it's good. We used to wake up
Speaker 1: the same way every morning. Alarm would go off. If
Speaker 1: we go ah, birds will start chirping. Like, birds don't
Speaker 1: chirp in Vegas. It's one hundred and fifteen degrees. They
Speaker 1: can't open their mouth or they will die. They'll explode.
Speaker 1: You know, they don't chirt. We don't. I don't even
Speaker 1: seen a bird. I know they're there somewhere and haven't
Speaker 1: seen one. Birds would be chirp and you wake up.
Speaker 1: Look at your wife, Hey, babe, what do you want
Speaker 1: to do to anyone? To go to the ocean and pray? Yeah,
Speaker 1: then let's go to Dissey Land and witness to Mickey
Speaker 1: and like, oh, it's this Orange County. Just let's float there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's just float. And then we moved to Vegas. We're
Speaker 1: trying to pass through this shirts, trying to help people.
Speaker 1: It's scary. Like I don't need an alarm clock anymore.
Speaker 1: I wake up the same way every day, five am,
Speaker 1: same way, every day, just like this, in a pool
Speaker 1: of sweat. My wife will roll over you. Okay, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: just thinking about Sunday. I gotta preach another message, gotta
Speaker 1: write another one, another one, another one. Okay, we'll wake
Speaker 1: up some morning some all to go. Hey, babe, you
Speaker 1: were screaming again in your sleep. Oh way, just thinking
Speaker 1: about that new building. I like that thing. You know
Speaker 1: what that pit does. He keeps me right on my knees.
Speaker 1: That pit keeps me on my face. That pit keeps
Speaker 1: me in the word. That pit of my stomach keeps
Speaker 1: me humble. That pit of my stomach keeps me praising God, clapping, shouting, cheering,
Speaker 1: saying thank you Jesus. That pit of my stomach keeps
Speaker 1: me praying in English and tongues. That bit in my
Speaker 1: stomach keeps me hungry for God and keeps me in community.
Speaker 1: And a lot of y'all are running from that pit.
Speaker 1: But actually what God has for you is right there.
Speaker 1: Because by the way, God is not going to give
Speaker 1: you a life where He is unnecessary. And y'all trying
Speaker 1: to follow God from the comfort zone. You gotta learn
Speaker 1: how to take a step into the unknown, wow, believing God,
Speaker 1: taking a risk, taking a step, hang it out, moving
Speaker 1: on a maybe. First Samuel fourteen and six. Jonathan goes
Speaker 1: to his friend and he goes, hey, there's an enemy
Speaker 1: around the ridge. Let's go pick a fight. Maybe Jonathan
Speaker 1: was hood rat. Y'all know what I'm saying. Let's go
Speaker 1: pick a fight. Got nothing else to do today, Let's
Speaker 1: go pick a fight. Maybe the Lord will give us
Speaker 1: the victory. Maybe not have been on a forty day
Speaker 1: fascy angel, Lord, talk to me, we have the victory
Speaker 1: in Jesus name. No, no no, no, Maybe And on a maybe,
Speaker 1: Jonathan's assistant says, turned down for what, Let's go on
Speaker 1: a maybe. On a maybe, you actually have to get
Speaker 1: comfortable with a maybe. I call it a holy ghost maybe.
Speaker 1: I call it a holy spirit hunch. I call it
Speaker 1: a book of acts. The apostles pray and they go
Speaker 1: it seems good to us in the Holy Spirit. That
Speaker 1: word seems it feels like, it feels good. Like we
Speaker 1: don't really have a yes sort of note. It just
Speaker 1: seems good and a lot of life is right there.
Speaker 1: It's like I think I got a word from God.
Speaker 1: My pastors are cool with it. Me and my spouse
Speaker 1: are in agreement, but it's still scary. Let's take a
Speaker 1: step of faith, let's think of maybe, let's believe God.
Speaker 1: Let's try, and even when you do it at first,
Speaker 1: your flesh and your faith are still fighting so much.
Speaker 1: But it's like, you know what, I'm gonna forgive that person.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a step. You know what, We're gonna
Speaker 1: go to counseling. We're gonna try to make this work.
Speaker 1: We're gonna we're gonna go. We're gonna try, We're gonna
Speaker 1: give it a shot. We're gonna do all we can do.
Speaker 1: You know what, I'm gonna start giving in the offering, y'all. Ever,
Speaker 1: remember when you first started giving in the offering? How
Speaker 1: scary that was? Okay, no one's talking to me, y'all.
Speaker 1: Remember how scary that was when you first started giving.
Speaker 1: You finally must okay, end of the year giving. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do it, babe, We're gonna do it, all right,
Speaker 1: We're gonna stretch. Okay, we gonna believe big. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: go write that check. You don't even have checks, but
Speaker 1: you went and got a check trying to be official.
Speaker 1: Get that check, bucket, passes by, you put it in,
Speaker 1: you're feeling good, but then you look down and it
Speaker 1: starts leaving your life, and all of a sudden, that
Speaker 1: check goes hey bye, and it starts waving to you,
Speaker 1: and you go, baby, baby, baby, come back, baby baby baby.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, baby baby, I didn't mean to do that,
Speaker 1: and he goes, oh, you don't love me no more,
Speaker 1: and it leaves, and then you get mad and you
Speaker 1: start staring at past her Steven. He's preaching good, but
Speaker 1: you don't care. You can't even hear it, and you're like,
Speaker 1: they manipulated me. He got me all worked up. Chris
Speaker 1: started singing those high notes. The light hit in my eyes.
Speaker 1: I added as zero. I want my money back, y'all
Speaker 1: ever give it online and you finally get the faith
Speaker 1: give back and you actually have to learn how to
Speaker 1: obey God's scared. Don't wait till you're ready to give.
Speaker 1: You're not ready to do anything God's called you to do.
Speaker 1: Y'all ready to get married? No, y'all rady have that baby. No,
Speaker 1: you just gotta do it, and there's grace on the
Speaker 1: other side of your step of faith. Don't feel I
Speaker 1: don't know if my parents can remember that all the
Speaker 1: parents in here before you have the baby, You're like,
Speaker 1: I don't know how we're gonna do this until they're
Speaker 1: in your arms and you go, we can do this.
Speaker 1: It's like on the other side of it, there's the
Speaker 1: grace to do what God's called you to do. So
Speaker 1: you have to learn how to move on a maybe
Speaker 1: number four prophesy, prophesy to your situation. And now the
Speaker 1: rooms split. I can feel it because half y'all don't
Speaker 1: come from this background, and you go, prophecy, what you
Speaker 1: a prophet? What we do? Say it the Lord? What
Speaker 1: repredicting the future? And then half y'all are cares maniacts
Speaker 1: like me and you're like, yes, shun die, I feel
Speaker 1: this right now. So I'm gonna try to bring some balance.
Speaker 1: Amen to both y'all, because some of y'all got too scared.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all at too excited. So I'm all bring
Speaker 1: it to the middle. God said Ezekiel verse one and two.
Speaker 1: You've been talking about the bones a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: stop talking about him. Watch me talk to them. Jesus
Speaker 1: did not say talk about the mountain, and he did
Speaker 1: not say deny the mountain. He said, talk to the mountain,
Speaker 1: and there comes a point in your life, Ezekiel, where
Speaker 1: you have to become a prophet in your family and
Speaker 1: you have to speak the word of the Lord over
Speaker 1: your destiny. So when I say prophecy, I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about predicting the future. I'm not talking about a King
Speaker 1: James utterance during a service. I'm talking about here's prophecy
Speaker 1: one oh one, Every New Testament believer in the house,
Speaker 1: here's prophecy one on one. You get a word from
Speaker 1: the word. Amen, everybody say amen. You get a word
Speaker 1: from the word, and you say it, and you say it,
Speaker 1: and you say it till you believe it, and then
Speaker 1: you say it until you see it. You say it
Speaker 1: until Psalm one nineteen. It gets hidden in your heart.
Speaker 1: You say it to like Joshua chapter one, it becomes
Speaker 1: the meditation of your mind and comes out of your
Speaker 1: mouth constantly. You say it, and you say it and
Speaker 1: you say it. And it's not that you're denying your circumstance.
Speaker 1: You're just choosing a promise from God over the problem.
Speaker 1: And you're saying, this is more real to me than this,
Speaker 1: because the earth is gonna fade away. But your word
Speaker 1: is gonna last forever. So I'm gonna stick with your word,
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna keep saying it and saying it
Speaker 1: and saying it until I eventually see it. You get
Speaker 1: a promise from God over your life. This is the
Speaker 1: prophetic for us. We believe God, and we keep declaring
Speaker 1: and we keep trusting, and we choose God's word over
Speaker 1: everything else. And it feels a little crazy, and it
Speaker 1: feels a little uncomfortable, but you're choosing in that moment
Speaker 1: to say, I'm not just gonna talk about it anymore.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk to it. I'm not gonna keep posting
Speaker 1: about it. I love that God did not say zeke.
Speaker 1: You'll grab your phone, get on your Instagram story right now,
Speaker 1: post the video with super Zoom Tom Tom, come on, somebody.
Speaker 1: He said talk to it. He said, get a word
Speaker 1: and speak that word. And that word becomes powerful in
Speaker 1: your mouth. God's word in your mouth becomes a double
Speaker 1: edged sword. It becomes Hebrews chapter four. Out of one
Speaker 1: side it comes out of God's mouth, and out of
Speaker 1: the other side, it comes out of your mouth. And
Speaker 1: when you start saying what God has already said, God
Speaker 1: starts moving and heaven meets earth, and earth meets heaven,
Speaker 1: and all of the sudden, something supernatural can begin to
Speaker 1: happen because it's no longer just a book that's collecting dust,
Speaker 1: but it now becomes the living word, the ram a
Speaker 1: word out of your mouth, and God begins to move
Speaker 1: at his word, not your word, his word in your mouth.
Speaker 1: So we don't believe that we just get whatever we
Speaker 1: say and we can just you know, confess it and
Speaker 1: possess it, blab it and grab it. That's not what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, but I am saying. But I am saying.
Speaker 1: If this word becomes a compass, it becomes my true north,
Speaker 1: and over time my life begins to go in the
Speaker 1: direction of the word. Y'all with me. Over time this
Speaker 1: becomes my guiding north star. God said, speak to it,
Speaker 1: not just about it. We can have the team come up.
Speaker 1: I'm almost done. I remember as a child, all of
Speaker 1: us kids on one of five, we all went crazy.
Speaker 1: All the parents of teenagers started laughing. Just now, that
Speaker 1: wasn't like a funny laugh as like, we all went crazy.
Speaker 1: We all did things we regret and put our parents
Speaker 1: through a lot. But can I tell you my parents
Speaker 1: they just never left the word. It was weird. It's
Speaker 1: like anytime we woke up in the morning, they were
Speaker 1: in the Word, and to chattingson, we called it a
Speaker 1: quiet time. They were always in the word. They always
Speaker 1: new a word, and I always had a word. And
Speaker 1: it got a little annoying to us kids, But really
Speaker 1: it was agitating something deep in our soul. I remember.
Speaker 1: I remember waking up one night in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night and I felt liquid hitting my head. Now again,
Speaker 1: every Pentecostal is with me. Every Baptist online right now
Speaker 1: is like, what is he talking about? And I remember
Speaker 1: waking up thinking there must be a leak in the roof,
Speaker 1: and it must be there must be water hitting my forehead.
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden I finally come to and
Speaker 1: there's my mama, five foot nothing with a bottle of
Speaker 1: olive oil. Come on, somebody, and the promise of God
Speaker 1: in her mouth. Devil, take your hands off of my child.
Speaker 1: As for me and my whole household, we shall serve
Speaker 1: the Lord. Me and my whole household shall be saved.
Speaker 1: I plead the blood of Jesus over this baby right now,
Speaker 1: and I tell the death angel to leave this house
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. I command angels to surround this room.
Speaker 1: Every spirit that's not the Holy Spirit, get out. In
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. I'd wake God. Start freaking out
Speaker 1: my mouth start. It looked like an NBA championship with Champagne,
Speaker 1: but it was oil and my parents never left the word.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you today we are all in God's house.
Speaker 1: We're all in love with Jesus. All of our children
Speaker 1: are in God's house. Friend, I'm not here to tell
Speaker 1: you that by this time tomorrow everything's gonna be perfect.
Speaker 1: But here's what I'm telling you that if you will
Speaker 1: get the word of God in your heart, and you
Speaker 1: will get the Word of God in your mouth, your
Speaker 1: life will start to come into alignment. Because as Ezekiel
Speaker 1: spoke the word, bones came together, flesh came together, muscle
Speaker 1: came together, Skin began to form, sinews begin to form.
Speaker 1: God started doing something. When you speak God's word, things
Speaker 1: begin to happen. Hallelujah. Lastly, though lastly, praise the Lord.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and clap if you want to. I feel
Speaker 1: this right now. Don't let her praise alone. You don't
Speaker 1: know what she's going through. But maybe a miracle's emotion
Speaker 1: right now. Why don't you praise with him right now? Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: This last point is why elevation is so special. This
Speaker 1: last point I want to tell you about is why
Speaker 1: you love this house. It's beyond just the natural gifting,
Speaker 1: hard work and talent of your pastor. It's beyond just
Speaker 1: the beautiful production and lighting and music. I want to
Speaker 1: lastly tell you about the wind. Invite the wind, Speak
Speaker 1: to the wind. I want to remind you today that
Speaker 1: we believe in the power, the presence, and the person
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. The Godhead is not father, son
Speaker 1: and holy Scripture. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We
Speaker 1: believe in the wind of God, the breath of God,
Speaker 1: the life of God. We believe that the wind can
Speaker 1: blow in your life. We believe that grace can begin
Speaker 1: to breathe upon your life again. We love the structure,
Speaker 1: we love the form, and we love the muscle. Oh,
Speaker 1: but when we've done all we can do, I need
Speaker 1: the wind to blow. This is not by Mike nor
Speaker 1: by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Host.
Speaker 1: There is something about leaving just your natural grit and
Speaker 1: hustle and crime and say the Holy Spirit I need
Speaker 1: you to breathe upon my life. And Lord, I don't
Speaker 1: just need you, I want you. I want the move
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. I want the breath of God
Speaker 1: in my life. Lord, would you speak to me? Would
Speaker 1: you leave me? Would you guide me? Would you convict me?
Speaker 1: Would you correct me? Would you comfort me? Would you
Speaker 1: empower me? God, we don't want to do this without you.
Speaker 1: And like Moses said, God, we ain't going to the
Speaker 1: Promised Land without you. If you don't go, we don't
Speaker 1: go because we want you more than we want anything else.
Speaker 1: And God said Ezekiel, why don't you invite the wind
Speaker 1: to begin to blow? Why don't you invite the breath
Speaker 1: of God to begin to breathe upon your life? Thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you
Speaker 1: who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you
Speaker 1: that this ministry is possible. You can click the link
Speaker 1: in the description to give now or visit Elevation Church
Speaker 1: dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
Speaker 1: enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
Speaker 1: with your friends. You can click the share button, take
Speaker 1: a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
Speaker 1: tag us Aleviation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.