Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Fernick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
Speaker 2: new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed.
Speaker 3: Today I'm worship and now I'm reminded how the Scripture
Speaker 3: says he inhabits the praises of his people.
Speaker 1: Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say inhabits the
Speaker 1: complaints of his people. It doesn't say inhabits the fears
Speaker 1: of his people. He doesn't inhabit the worries of his people.
Speaker 1: I don't know what your week has looked like. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's been a good week, bad week,
Speaker 1: or tough week. In fact, I woke up this morning
Speaker 1: with some difficult sad news. But today is Sunday, and
Speaker 1: it's the first day of the week, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give God my best praise. I'm not to gonna tell
Speaker 1: God all about my problems. Come on, tell my problems
Speaker 1: all about my God. Somebody worship him here today. He's here.
Speaker 1: He's gonna speak to us. If you have a bible,
Speaker 1: quickly reached for it. Hebrews chapter six is where I
Speaker 1: want you to turn I've got a word on my
Speaker 1: heart and I'm excited to share it. We're gonna stand
Speaker 1: for the reading of God's Word. What a sweet sense
Speaker 1: of God's presence in the house today. As you're turning there,
Speaker 1: let me just say what a huge honor it always
Speaker 1: is to stand behind this pulpit, to come back year
Speaker 1: after year, to be here with all of you. When
Speaker 1: I come to elevation, I just feel like I'm at home.
Speaker 1: I love you, and I just I think it's just
Speaker 1: important that we just always take some time weekend and
Speaker 1: week out. I'm just more convinced the older I get,
Speaker 1: am more and more convinced that the greatest blessings in
Speaker 1: life they walk into your life on two legs. A
Speaker 1: lot of people praying for miracles and breakthroughs and resources.
Speaker 1: None of those things are bad to pray for. I
Speaker 1: just want to remind you that the greatest breakthroughs, the
Speaker 1: greatest mirrors, tend to be people. It's why it's important
Speaker 1: to come to church, because you don't know who's sitting
Speaker 1: in front of you, you don't know who's sitting next
Speaker 1: to you, don't know who's sitting behind you. In fact,
Speaker 1: just nudg your neighbors say, are you here from me?
Speaker 1: Maybe just are that God sends you for me? Because
Speaker 1: God blesses our life through people, through one another. And
Speaker 1: I would just be remiss if I did not tell
Speaker 1: you that one of the greatest gifts in my life
Speaker 1: is the friendship and the mentorship of Pastor Stephen Ferdict.
Speaker 1: Can we just thank God for Pastor Stephen and Holly.
Speaker 1: Here's what the Word of God says. It's important that
Speaker 1: you get this because this is not just what preachers do.
Speaker 1: It's not just cliche. The Word of God says that
Speaker 1: those that labor and teach and preach God's where they
Speaker 1: deserve double honor. And I just want to say, twenty
Speaker 1: years later, here they are still serving faithfully. Come on,
Speaker 1: whatever you were going to do, can you just double
Speaker 1: it right now? Can we tell Pastor Stephen and Holly
Speaker 1: we love you. We love you. In the chef tell
Speaker 1: them that you love I love you so much. Thank
Speaker 1: you for making my life so much better, and thank
Speaker 1: you for teaching and leading all of us. We're all
Speaker 1: better because of you. Today, I've got a message on
Speaker 1: my heart. Hebrews chapter six is whe I want to
Speaker 1: read from today. I don't know what you walked in
Speaker 1: here with today. I don't know what it is that
Speaker 1: you're carrying. The Book of Hebrews is one of these
Speaker 1: interesting books the Bible that we don't know who the
Speaker 1: author is. But that's okay because we know who the
Speaker 1: audience is. And the audience is believers that are being persecuted,
Speaker 1: that are tired, that are fatigued, that are thinking about
Speaker 1: going back to their old way, And here comes God
Speaker 1: and he wants to remind them of the fulfillment of
Speaker 1: who Jesus is. He wants to remind them that they
Speaker 1: are never alone. He wants to remind them that they
Speaker 1: have everything they need in Christ Jesus. This is Hebrews
Speaker 1: chapter six. I'm going to start in verse ten. God
Speaker 1: is not unjust. He will not forget your work and
Speaker 1: the love you have shown him as you have helped
Speaker 1: his people and continue to help them. We want each
Speaker 1: of you to show this same diligence to the very end,
Speaker 1: so that what you hope for may be fully realized.
Speaker 1: We do not want you to become lazy, but to
Speaker 1: imitate those who, through faith and patience, inherit what has
Speaker 1: been promised. I like that line, imitate those who through
Speaker 1: faith and patience inherit what has been promised. I want
Speaker 1: to take the next few moments if I can, and
Speaker 1: I want to preach to you from the subject God
Speaker 1: keeps receipts. Sometimes you can just close after the title,
Speaker 1: because that's a word for someone. God keeps receipts. Would
Speaker 1: you pray with the Lord, We thank you for your word. God.
Speaker 1: We thank you that today Lord, as we read it, Lord,
Speaker 1: it reads us. God. We've come into this place for
Speaker 1: one reason, which is to lift you up. It's to
Speaker 1: make much out of your name, the one name that
Speaker 1: at that name of Jesus, every knee, will bow, and
Speaker 1: every tongue will confess. Today, Lord, I pray that you
Speaker 1: would remind some people who they are in you. I
Speaker 1: pray that your word would jump into our hearts and
Speaker 1: we would leave here different from how we came. We
Speaker 1: thank you in advance for what you're about to do.
Speaker 1: We praise you in this place. And if you agree
Speaker 1: with that prayer, all of God's people said, all of
Speaker 1: God's people said, come on, makes some noise if you
Speaker 1: love Jesus. High five two or three people and say,
Speaker 1: God keeps receipts. God keeps receipts. Put that in the chat.
Speaker 1: God keeps receipts. This is a very special year for me.
Speaker 1: I know at Elevation, you guys have been celebrating twenty
Speaker 1: years as a church. We put our hands together for
Speaker 1: twenty years of faithfulness and service. But it's also a
Speaker 1: special year for me because not only does Elevation turn twenty,
Speaker 1: but this year I will celebrate my twenty year wedding anniversary.
Speaker 1: I met my wife when I was seventeen years of
Speaker 1: age and we got married young. I said, girl, if
Speaker 1: you ever leave, I'm going with you, and I just
Speaker 1: I love being married's She sends her greetings my wife
Speaker 1: Dontrie are four little children. And it's funny, I want
Speaker 1: to say to all the guys, like fellas, women remember anniversaries,
Speaker 1: in fact, like women remember everything, like like my wife
Speaker 1: makes me laugh. She'd like, rich, do you know what
Speaker 1: today is? I'm like Tuesday? She's like, no, four years
Speaker 1: ago we sat in the parking lot after brunch and
Speaker 1: we drank sparkling water together. Remember that, No, I don't.
Speaker 1: I remember some years ago I was away preaching and
Speaker 1: teaching that I think I was in England and Dauntrey
Speaker 1: was back home and we were on different you know,
Speaker 1: time changes, and it was actually our anniversary day, and
Speaker 1: somehow we got on the phone that morning. We were
Speaker 1: talking chit chat and you know, all right, girl, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love you, you know I love you. Shut up, you know,
Speaker 1: just Christian toxic flirting. And we got off the phone,
Speaker 1: but never said happy anniversary. Dawntri immediately called me back.
Speaker 1: She said, Rich, did you forget our anniversary? I had
Speaker 1: to think quick, I said, girl, every day's our anniversary.
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody, that will work one time and one
Speaker 1: time only. But if you know, we are a forgetful people,
Speaker 1: and we don't just forget earthly relationships. Oftentimes, we have
Speaker 1: a tendency to forget our heavenly relationship. And what I
Speaker 1: want to remind you is that forgetfulness is expensive, because
Speaker 1: your faith fades when your memory fails. A lot of
Speaker 1: us we just have a tendency to forget all that
Speaker 1: God has done in our life over and over and
Speaker 1: over again. Our faith begins to suffer when we forget.
Speaker 1: It's funny because you go back into the Old Testament
Speaker 1: and you see time and time again, the Israelites they
Speaker 1: had the same problem. I mean, how may y'all know
Speaker 1: that yesterday's miracle becomes today's minimum requirement. I mean the Israelites.
Speaker 1: God parts a red sea, and then a couple days
Speaker 1: later they are actually complaining about the menu. What are
Speaker 1: we gonna eat? Dude, he parted the red sea. I
Speaker 1: think he can take care of breakfast. But we're so
Speaker 1: quick to judge them, but we do the same thing.
Speaker 1: God pays a bill, next wee thing we're going to
Speaker 1: what about the next bill? God heals your body, but
Speaker 1: now you're panicked about the future. God opens up a door.
Speaker 1: Now you're worried. Will he open up the next door?
Speaker 1: So often in life we are so good at remembering
Speaker 1: what hurt us, but we forget what held us. I
Speaker 1: wonder I'm not trying to come with shame today, but like,
Speaker 1: how much more does God have to bless you before
Speaker 1: you can be happy? How many more prayers does he
Speaker 1: have to answer before you don't have to go into
Speaker 1: the next season with anxiety? How many more times does
Speaker 1: God have to pull you out before you can trust
Speaker 1: He's gonna pull me through this one? Come on, somebody
Speaker 1: my preaching anybody today. We don't need more proof, We
Speaker 1: need a better memory. We have selective memory, and God
Speaker 1: knows this about us. Have you noticed that? Like when
Speaker 1: you read the Bible, what is God trying to do
Speaker 1: over and over again? God's like, remember, remember the Covenant,
Speaker 1: Remember the Sabbath. Remember I'm the one who brought you out.
Speaker 1: In fact, so much of the Old Testament is stories
Speaker 1: of traditions and rhythms and systems of God trying to
Speaker 1: systematically help you not forget. What do you think passover
Speaker 1: meal is? Passover meal is a systematic moment. It's not
Speaker 1: just a meal. It's memory training. God says, hey, for
Speaker 1: four hundred years you were in slavery, but I brought
Speaker 1: you up out of Egypt. Not just brought you out.
Speaker 1: You plunder the Egyptians when you left that place. So
Speaker 1: here's what I want you to do. Every year. I
Speaker 1: want you to put lamb on the table you drink
Speaker 1: the cup because I want you to tell your kids,
Speaker 1: once we were in slavery. But our God, he's the
Speaker 1: God who makes a way out of no way. Anybody
Speaker 1: thankful for a God who brings you out. Don't forget it,
Speaker 1: because your fate's gonna suffer if you forget. But then
Speaker 1: Jesus shows up on the scene, and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden he re enacts this entire moment. It's called communion.
Speaker 1: What does he do? He says, drink the cup and
Speaker 1: do this in remembrance of me. What I love about
Speaker 1: the New Testament version is that Jesus is at the
Speaker 1: Passover meal, but for the first time, there's not just
Speaker 1: lamb on the table. There's a lamb at the table.
Speaker 1: Is that not what John said, Behold the Lamb of
Speaker 1: God who takes away the sins of the world. And
Speaker 1: as Jesus holds the cup and says, do this in
Speaker 1: remembrance of me, what is he saying. He's saying, Moses
Speaker 1: brought you out of physical slavery, but I'm getting ready
Speaker 1: to bring you out of spiritual slavery. Ooh, Lamb's blood
Speaker 1: on the door post protected you for the night. But
Speaker 1: when my blood is slain and scattered across the cross,
Speaker 1: you will be saved for eternity. I need you to
Speaker 1: take a moment right now and thank God for his grace,
Speaker 1: thank God for his goodness. If he doesn't do one
Speaker 1: more thing, come on, he's been good to you. I
Speaker 1: just can't to say thank you God. A generation who
Speaker 1: forgets deliverance is a generation who will quickly lose gratitude
Speaker 1: for freedom, and freedom forgotten is entitlement. May we never
Speaker 1: be entitled? May we remember? If all we did today
Speaker 1: was just remind you of what He's already done, it
Speaker 1: would be more than enough. I feel like preaching a
Speaker 1: little bit today because I could just land right there
Speaker 1: and just take you down memory lane. But I want
Speaker 1: to try to get personal with you, and I'll just
Speaker 1: use me as an example. I don't just forget my
Speaker 1: wife's anniversary or our anniversary. I forget God. But here's
Speaker 1: what's so good about the Gospel. Anybody thankful that although
Speaker 1: we forget God, God promises not to forget us. Anybody
Speaker 1: grateful that even when we're faithless, he is still faithful.
Speaker 1: Does anybody have a testimony of the faithfulness of God
Speaker 1: in so many ways? That's what's happening here. In the
Speaker 1: Book of Hebrews, you see there is this phrase in society,
Speaker 1: I got receipts. Have you heard this before? This isn't
Speaker 1: like grocery store language slang. Okay, I got receipts, me,
Speaker 1: I got proof, I got screenshots. I will expose you.
Speaker 1: I will go Candice owens on you. But God, he's
Speaker 1: got receipts. But God doesn't keep receipts to shame you.
Speaker 1: God keeps receipts to save you. The Bible says it
Speaker 1: this way, that he forgets our sins as far as
Speaker 1: the east is from the west. If you are in
Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, your sins are no more. But another Bible
Speaker 1: verse says that every one of your tears, he captures
Speaker 1: them and he puts them in his bottle. Who is
Speaker 1: this God who forgets my sins but records every one
Speaker 1: of my tears. He is a good father who loves
Speaker 1: us even when we don't feel lovable. No, God keeps
Speaker 1: receipts not to expose us, but to exonerate us. God
Speaker 1: keeps receipts not to punish you, but to promote you.
Speaker 1: God keeps receipts not because he wants to condemn you,
Speaker 1: but because he wants to commend you. Anybody thankful for
Speaker 1: a God who says I will not forget you. I
Speaker 1: won't forget you. And today I don't know who I'm
Speaker 1: preaching to, but I just have a sense of my
Speaker 1: heart that people have walked in. And maybe you're tired
Speaker 1: or you're fatigued, and maybe you're on your faith journey
Speaker 1: and you're having a difficult time. You're in a hard place,
Speaker 1: you're in a tired place, you're in a place about
Speaker 1: your thinking about giving up. I don't want to remind
Speaker 1: you of your strength. I want to remind you of
Speaker 1: his strength. I want to remind you of a God
Speaker 1: who promises, if you're in Christ Jesus, to remember you.
Speaker 1: I want to show you three things that God keeps
Speaker 1: receipts on. Number one, God keeps receipts on who you are.
Speaker 1: This is encouraging to me. This is Hebrews chapter six,
Speaker 1: Verse ten. God is not unjust. He will not forget
Speaker 1: your work and the love you have shown him. He
Speaker 1: doesn't look at these tired people and say, I won't
Speaker 1: forget the church. I won't forget the crowd, I won't
Speaker 1: forget the gathering. He says, I won't forget you. God
Speaker 1: is the god of individuals. Yes, he loves the world,
Speaker 1: but you are what make up the world. And I
Speaker 1: think today you've got to get some confidence in the
Speaker 1: fact that He sees you. He knows what's going on
Speaker 1: inside of your life. Every fear, every worry, every area
Speaker 1: of doubt. Today he sees you in that place and
Speaker 1: he cares about you. One of the greatest examples of
Speaker 1: this is that as you read the New Testament, if
Speaker 1: you ever get to the Book of Matthew, Matthew chapter
Speaker 1: one starts with the genealogy of Jesus. Now, a lot
Speaker 1: of us, if we have like a Bible reading plan,
Speaker 1: some of us we skip that part. It's like, I
Speaker 1: don't know about anybody who goes to the movies and
Speaker 1: the movie ends and you're like, hey, steak, stick around,
Speaker 1: Why I love the credits. No one really does that,
Speaker 1: But I guess God likes the credits because God lists
Speaker 1: out forty two different generations. Forty different names are enlisted
Speaker 1: in Matthew chapter one. What is he letting us know?
Speaker 1: He's letting us know I remember you, I remember names,
Speaker 1: I remember individuals. And the best part about Matthew Chapter
Speaker 1: one is not just the names. It's the names that
Speaker 1: are in Matthew chapter one. These are jacked up people.
Speaker 1: You think you think your family's dysfunctional, check out God's family.
Speaker 1: God is in the business of using the jokers, the smokers,
Speaker 1: even the midnight ookers. Sometimes he because God that had
Speaker 1: just come for sinners. Come on, he came through sinners.
Speaker 1: He said, I do not call the qualified, but I
Speaker 1: qualified the called God. God loves you. He loves every
Speaker 1: part of you. He loves you just the way that
Speaker 1: you are. But he loves you too much to let
Speaker 1: you stay the way that you are. God's greatest priority
Speaker 1: is to get his glory. But the way that he
Speaker 1: does that is by working with broken people. It's pretty practical.
Speaker 1: If you're not broken, how will his glory ever shine through?
Speaker 1: In fact, I'm gonna be careful today because I don't
Speaker 1: want to get into trouble. God is borderline obsessed with you.
Speaker 1: Like read the scriptures. He knew you before you were
Speaker 1: in your mother's womb. He niche you are fearfully and
Speaker 1: wonderfully made. All the days for you were written in
Speaker 1: his book before one of them came to be. The
Speaker 1: scripture says, he watches you while you sleep. What the
Speaker 1: scripture says, He knows every hair on your head, even
Speaker 1: the extensions, even the weave, even the turkey transplant. Come on,
Speaker 1: Come on, a God who loves you and sees you
Speaker 1: and cares about you. And if his eye is on
Speaker 1: the sparrow, come on his eyes on you today. God's
Speaker 1: in the business of working with broken people, into the Hebrew,
Speaker 1: people that are tired and fatigued and walking away. He says,
Speaker 1: I'm not unjust. I will not forget you. Go through
Speaker 1: history and see I'm the God who works with dysfunctional people.
Speaker 1: Anybody who says God can't use me as somebody who's
Speaker 1: never read the Bible, You never read it. Because the
Speaker 1: whole book is a story of broken people being used
Speaker 1: by a perfect God that when his grace comes upon you,
Speaker 1: even in your weakness, he is strong. I mean for
Speaker 1: goodness sake. Noah was a drunk, Abraham was way too
Speaker 1: old to be used by God. Isaac was a daydreamer,
Speaker 1: Jacob was a liar, Joseph was abused. Moses had a
Speaker 1: stuttering problem. Gideon was afraid. Samson had long hair and
Speaker 1: was a womanizer. Rayhabb was a prostitute. Jeremiah was too young.
Speaker 1: David was a murderer and he had an affair. Elijah
Speaker 1: was suicidal. Isaiah preached naked, Jonah ran from God. Naomi
Speaker 1: was a widow. Job went bankrupt, Peter denied Christ, the
Speaker 1: Disciples fell asleep while praying. John the Baptist. He ate
Speaker 1: bugs for goodness sakes, Martha worried about everything. This Samaritan
Speaker 1: woman was divorced more than once. Zach Chius was too small,
Speaker 1: Paul was too religious, Timothy had an ulcer, and Lazarus,
Speaker 1: Lazarus was dead. Everybody, come on, I'm trying to tell
Speaker 1: you about a God who's dying. Take it back. God
Speaker 1: died to use you. He sees you. He's got receipts
Speaker 1: on who you are. He knows who you are. We forget,
Speaker 1: but he don't forget. God keeps receipts on who you are.
Speaker 1: But look what the passage says, because it continues. This
Speaker 1: is just good, good Bible study. God is don unjust.
Speaker 1: He will not forget your work. I love this and
Speaker 1: the love you have shown him as you have helped
Speaker 1: his people. God's heart is for his church and his people.
Speaker 1: His priority is his glory, the vehicle, and how he
Speaker 1: does that is through his body his people. So God
Speaker 1: doesn't forget your work or the love you've shown him
Speaker 1: as you have helped his people. And here's the keyword,
Speaker 1: and continue to help them. See, God keeps receipts on
Speaker 1: what you do. And this is very, very encouraging me
Speaker 1: because he doesn't just see me. He sees what I do.
Speaker 1: He's recording what I do. God cares about what I do.
Speaker 1: He says, I see your work, I see your love
Speaker 1: for me, I see your love for my people, and
Speaker 1: I see how you continue in it. I think the
Speaker 1: keyword is continue because time y'all know, we're good at
Speaker 1: starting things, but we're not always good at continuing things.
Speaker 1: It's not hard to have faith at the start. It's
Speaker 1: hard to have faith in the middle. The middle. Nobody
Speaker 1: likes the middle. We like the beginning of something. But
Speaker 1: this is where perseverance sets in. I think this is
Speaker 1: so important because we live in a time right now
Speaker 1: that we overestimate intensity, but we underestimate consistency. Let me
Speaker 1: say to all my gen Z friends and all of
Speaker 1: young Alpha out there, you want to be taken seriously
Speaker 1: in life, be consistent. I need some parents to clap
Speaker 1: their hands a little bit. Where's all the boomers that
Speaker 1: come on, yes, preach the word pastor. It's not what
Speaker 1: you do occasionally, it's what you do consistently in fact,
Speaker 1: that would it. This way, repetition creates reputation. You will
Speaker 1: be known for what you repeat repetition. Do it again
Speaker 1: and again and again. Watch this. Your gain is in
Speaker 1: your again. You want gains in life? Do it again.
Speaker 1: You want to grow in life? Do it again. You
Speaker 1: want to get stronger in life? Do it again. You
Speaker 1: want your faith to increase this year? Do it again?
Speaker 1: Are there any do it again people in the house today?
Speaker 1: Do it again? Anybody can start something. Anybody can start
Speaker 1: a marriage. Can you continue in a marriage. Anybody can
Speaker 1: start a family. I don't want to break down how
Speaker 1: that works, but anybody can start that. Can you continue
Speaker 1: being a father? Shout out to all the dads out
Speaker 1: there that are just in the middle of it, staying
Speaker 1: in it. Come on, can we applaud every man in
Speaker 1: this house, every man watching online? We salute you, We
Speaker 1: honor you, great men of God. Anybody can start a business?
Speaker 1: Can you continue? Anybody can start going to church? Woo?
Speaker 1: Can you continue faithfully serving? I gotta be honest with you,
Speaker 1: Like when I come to elevation, I'm always blown away
Speaker 1: by just the beauty of this place and the people
Speaker 1: come from all over the world, and how this ministry
Speaker 1: touches the world. But the thing that I can't get
Speaker 1: over is a man and a woman. Stephen and Hawley
Speaker 1: some twenty years ago got a vision from God, and
Speaker 1: they said, we're not just gonna do it one Sunday,
Speaker 1: but twenty years later, we're gonna continue to persevere because
Speaker 1: we believe God is watching what we do. One more time.
Speaker 1: Let's thank God for Godly leadership. What a blessing wisdom
Speaker 1: will be proven right by all her children. I'm sitting
Speaker 1: here that I got a vision for my life. My
Speaker 1: son Wyat's with me, eight years of age. Billy Graham
Speaker 1: Ferdick walked up here, said, Jesus, I'm gonna get Graham
Speaker 1: to lay hands on Wyat after this service, because it's
Speaker 1: people that are persevering, not just starting, but continuing. God
Speaker 1: keeps receipts on what you do, even if you think
Speaker 1: it's small, even if you think it's insignificant, even if
Speaker 1: you think it's mundane, even if you think it's average,
Speaker 1: even if you think it's mediocre, He's watching. One of
Speaker 1: my favorite illustrations is the Book of Nehemiah. If you
Speaker 1: know the story Nehemiah, well, Neomyah was living the time
Speaker 1: that Israel had been sieged and they were no more,
Speaker 1: and he was actually a cup bearer to the king. Now,
Speaker 1: if you don't know what a cup bearer is, a
Speaker 1: cup bearer with somebody who would test the king's drink
Speaker 1: for poison. So you think your job is bad, Hey, Nehemiah, man,
Speaker 1: how's your job going so far? Pretty good? This dude
Speaker 1: was a cup bearer and one day he hears the
Speaker 1: news that his walls and the temple have been destroyed,
Speaker 1: and although it had happened hundreds of years before, his
Speaker 1: heart begins to break and he finds himself before the
Speaker 1: Lord and a passion begins to emerge, and he has
Speaker 1: this desire to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls.
Speaker 1: I want to encourage some people out there that many
Speaker 1: times your burden is actually your assignment. The very thing
Speaker 1: that's moving your heart, the very thing that feels like frustration,
Speaker 1: is actually vision in disguise. God is telling you that
Speaker 1: I put you on the earth to solve that. And
Speaker 1: the Bible says that Neomiyah. He goes back to Jerusalem
Speaker 1: and he begins to survey the rubble and the ruins,
Speaker 1: and people are walking over the walls day in and
Speaker 1: day out, because oftentimes we live in a place that
Speaker 1: we just begin to lower our standards, and you get
Speaker 1: what you allow. You cannot change that which you tolerate.
Speaker 1: And so people have just been walking over the walls.
Speaker 1: But Neomia said, no, it can't happen this way, and
Speaker 1: so he assembles a team and he puts people together,
Speaker 1: and the Bible says, they start building the walls. And
Speaker 1: as you would understand, a great vision always comes with
Speaker 1: great opposition. As Neomiah is building, here comes the critics
Speaker 1: Sanballat and Tobias, and they come over there and they
Speaker 1: try to put fear. They try to put comments out there,
Speaker 1: they try to make videos, they try to hate on Neomyah.
Speaker 1: And I like Neomiah because Neomiah is up on that wall.
Speaker 1: He's got a sword in one hand and he's got
Speaker 1: a hammer in the other, thick skin and soft heart.
Speaker 1: I want to encourage some people. If you ever build
Speaker 1: anything worth building, you will attract critics worth ignoring. And
Speaker 1: they say, Neomyah, come down, we gotta talk to you.
Speaker 1: But I like Neamiah's response. I'm sorry, I am doing
Speaker 1: a great work and I cannot come down to you.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all need to tattoo this on your soul
Speaker 1: this year. I'm sorry, I'm building something great. I can't
Speaker 1: come down to your pettiness. I can't come down to
Speaker 1: your drama. I come down to your issues. Come on, somebody,
Speaker 1: anybody building something worth building. And the Bible says in
Speaker 1: fifty two days they rebuild those walls. Here's what's interesting
Speaker 1: abot the book of Neimiah. There is not one supernatural miracle.
Speaker 1: All there is is a submitted man. Sometimes. The greatest
Speaker 1: testimony and the greatest miracle that people are looking for
Speaker 1: is that when you step out and you start, and
Speaker 1: you begin something, when you face all hell and high water,
Speaker 1: when you face backlash, when you begin to face things
Speaker 1: that are trying to oppose you, the fact that you
Speaker 1: stay standing and keep on building. Let me tell you
Speaker 1: what that is a work of God. In the summer,
Speaker 1: I was studying the book of Nemi, and I never
Speaker 1: noticed it before. But I got to DMI chapter three
Speaker 1: and Nami chapter three. This is interesting. It records it's
Speaker 1: God's receipts on everybody who was a part of rebuilding
Speaker 1: the temple and the walls. And one guy stood out
Speaker 1: to me, this is Neami chapter three, verse fourteen. The
Speaker 1: dung gate was repaired by Malcajah, son of Racab. Let's
Speaker 1: just stop right there. Do you know what the dung
Speaker 1: is as God's toilet? The dumbgate is the bathroom. And
Speaker 1: I had to stop. I said, oh my God. If
Speaker 1: God keeps receipts on who rebuilt his toilet, if God's
Speaker 1: got a record of his plumber, don't you think he
Speaker 1: sees you today raising those kids? If God remembers who
Speaker 1: built his toilet, don't you think he sees you ushering today?
Speaker 1: Don't you think he sees everybody in the parking lot,
Speaker 1: every person who's in our kids ministry right now, every
Speaker 1: person who's persevering and continuing. Come on, why don't we
Speaker 1: clap our hands and thank God that he keeps receipts
Speaker 1: on what we do. What you repeat is what you
Speaker 1: become known for. And today, as we often can forget God,
Speaker 1: God says, I remember you. I see you for who
Speaker 1: you are, but I also see what you do. Look
Speaker 1: at As the passage continues, he says it this way.
Speaker 1: We want each of you to show this same diligence,
Speaker 1: keyword to the very end, so that what you hope
Speaker 1: for may be fully realized. We do not want you
Speaker 1: to become lazy, but to imitate those who, through faith
Speaker 1: and patience inherit what has been promised. So God keeps
Speaker 1: your seats on who you are. God keeps your seats
Speaker 1: on what you do. Lastly, God keeps your seats on
Speaker 1: how you do it. He says, we don't want you
Speaker 1: to become lazy. We want you to be diligent. He's
Speaker 1: saying it's not enough just to do the right thing.
Speaker 1: There's a right thing to do in the right way.
Speaker 1: That God doesn't just care about what he cares about.
Speaker 1: How I'm twenty years married and I'm still learning this
Speaker 1: principle my wife taught me early on. Rich is not
Speaker 1: what you say I want to help some of the
Speaker 1: single guys in this house today is how you say it? Ladies,
Speaker 1: can you help me? Is that? Is that true? It's
Speaker 1: not just what you say? Is how you said? Listen
Speaker 1: to a man who's been married for almost twenty years.
Speaker 1: I remember when I first, you know, got married to Downtree.
Speaker 1: We would go shopping. In fact, it happened just this
Speaker 1: past week, but I'll take her shopping somewhere. It's always
Speaker 1: kind of a strange deal, you know, as a dude,
Speaker 1: like going shopping with your wife. You need picking out
Speaker 1: some jeans, and you know, she gets three pairs of
Speaker 1: jeans and you go over to like the dressing room,
Speaker 1: and then you have to sit there in that little
Speaker 1: stool outside the dressing room. People walk by you look
Speaker 1: really Creepy're like, no, I promise, I'm here with somebody.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: It's like, there's a guy my wife and this is
Speaker 1: what my wife does. My wife comes out of the
Speaker 1: dressing room barefoot and she's always on her tippy does Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe,
Speaker 1: how did the jeans look? I'm like, why is she
Speaker 1: standing on her tippy toes? And as a young man,
Speaker 1: stupid man, I used to respond, Babe, the genes look
Speaker 1: good because good to a man means good. I mean,
Speaker 1: if good was good for God in the beginning, God
Speaker 1: created the heavens on the earth, and he said it
Speaker 1: is good. You would think good is good for girls.
Speaker 1: But good does not mean good to women. Good to
Speaker 1: women means average mediocre. Oh so you think I look
Speaker 1: fat in these genes, Jesus, I've had to learn that
Speaker 1: if not just what I say, it's how I say it.
Speaker 1: So now when we go shopping and she comes out
Speaker 1: in a pair of gens. Babe, do they look good?
Speaker 1: If I like the genes, I have to lose my
Speaker 1: ever loving mind. What ah, there is a god somewhere.
Speaker 1: I gotta go he shandoobo shinda a bahia. I gotta
Speaker 1: do a praise break in the department store. My wife, Babe,
Speaker 1: you like, oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, I love him.
Speaker 1: Get him, get them all. Because it's not just what,
Speaker 1: it's how. And I'm telling you our god, this is
Speaker 1: our God. You want to know the difference between a
Speaker 1: relationship and religion. It's the motivation of your heart. It's
Speaker 1: the intention of why you do something. And here's God.
Speaker 1: He said, I want you to be diligent. I want
Speaker 1: you to do it with the right attitude. Do not
Speaker 1: be lazy. Lazy doesn't mean that you couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: Lazy means you could done it, but you chose not
Speaker 1: to do it. Lazy means you chose not to put
Speaker 1: forth the effort. It was within my power, but but
Speaker 1: I stayed back. I could have, I should have, but
Speaker 1: I didn't. I was lazy. I was apathetic. And sometimes
Speaker 1: be honest with you. Sometimes lazy is just unawareness. Sometimes
Speaker 1: lazy is just assumption. Some years ago, I was with
Speaker 1: some pastor friends after church, and we were our couples,
Speaker 1: and we were eating some dinner afterwards at the world
Speaker 1: famous cheesecake Factory because I like to drink my calorie
Speaker 1: strawberry lemon hay shout out. And we're having the best night,
Speaker 1: you know those nights where you're just hanging out and
Speaker 1: just talking and we're just enjoying each other. And we
Speaker 1: had been at a meeting and we're laughing and we're
Speaker 1: reminiscing and Wow, God moved, and we're telling jokes, and
Speaker 1: we get up from the dinner table and we walk
Speaker 1: out and we're still laughing, when all of a sudden
Speaker 1: we hear excuse me, and we turn around and there
Speaker 1: is the waitress holding the receipt and she said, you
Speaker 1: for o God to pay your bill, to which I'm
Speaker 1: quickly mortified because I can just already see the Miami Herald.
Speaker 1: Pastor and his friends skips out on meal take it.
Speaker 1: But we looked at each other and sayd whoa, whohoa,
Speaker 1: I thought you paid for it. Well, whahoah, I thought
Speaker 1: you were going to take care of it. I thought
Speaker 1: you had paid it no, no, no, and all of
Speaker 1: us watch this. All of us had the ability. We
Speaker 1: all reached for our wall and said no, no, let me pay.
Speaker 1: We had just assumed that the other had done it.
Speaker 1: Can I just speak at the twenty year mark of
Speaker 1: Elevation Church. If we're not careful, we will just assume
Speaker 1: that somebody else is going to pick up the bill.
Speaker 1: We'll just assume man the parking lot, they got the workers.
Speaker 1: That's already good. They don't need any more help in
Speaker 1: the kids ministry. I want to say it this way,
Speaker 1: if everybody behaved like you at Elevation Church, would we
Speaker 1: be better or would we be worse? Come on? May
Speaker 1: we be a church that we say we want to
Speaker 1: play our part? I want to play my part because
Speaker 1: God's paying attention to how in which I do it.
Speaker 1: How's your soul today? Where are you at with God?
Speaker 1: I know we came out praising God loudly, but sometimes
Speaker 1: we can gather corporately and we can worship Him with
Speaker 1: might and strength. But we can walk out of these
Speaker 1: doors and we can begin to live these quiet lives
Speaker 1: of desperation. Does my life matter? Do I have purpose?
Speaker 1: What's going on? How do I fit into the story.
Speaker 1: And I love what the writer of Hebrews does here
Speaker 1: because as he is reminding them that God doesn't forget them,
Speaker 1: he gives them a practical application. I want to give
Speaker 1: you the practical application today. He says, be imitators. Important word,
Speaker 1: Imitate those who've come before you. Important principle life. What
Speaker 1: you behold is what you become. He says, imitate those
Speaker 1: who have gone before you. One theological Christian writer said
Speaker 1: this that the great demise of the day is that
Speaker 1: we are going through a time of what we call
Speaker 1: historical dislocation. And let me just make that statement very,
Speaker 1: very practical for you. All that simply means is is
Speaker 1: that if you don't understand your history, you will not
Speaker 1: care about your destiny. If you don't know where you
Speaker 1: come from, you will not care where you are going.
Speaker 1: And so what we must do is we must imitate
Speaker 1: those who've gone before us. The Church of Jesus Christ
Speaker 1: at large has not moved forward from success to success.
Speaker 1: It hasn't moved forward from event to event. It hasn't
Speaker 1: moved forward from concert to concert. It hasn't moved forward
Speaker 1: from thing to thing. It has moved forward from sacrifice
Speaker 1: to sacrifice. It's moved forward through blood, sweat and tears,
Speaker 1: from grace to grace, strength to strength, and glory to glory.
Speaker 1: And we got here because of the faithfulness of many
Speaker 1: who went before us, many who know exactly how you
Speaker 1: feel today, Many who are in a hard place even
Speaker 1: right now, Many who felt the discouragement, who were tempted
Speaker 1: to go backwards, but instead they leaned in and they
Speaker 1: moved forward. The question is do you know your story?
Speaker 1: And maybe you're hearing you're like, oh, but rich, I
Speaker 1: don't have a story like yours. I don't come from
Speaker 1: four generations of Pentecostal preachers. Maybe you're like, I see
Speaker 1: Graham Ferdick up there on the stage, but that's not
Speaker 1: my story. I didn't have a dad like Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 1: I didn't have a family of origin quite like that.
Speaker 1: I hear you, and that is important, and I'm sorry
Speaker 1: you did not get that gift. But I want to
Speaker 1: remind you that equally powerful is not just your family
Speaker 1: of origin, but it is your family of choice. And
Speaker 1: that is the power of the Body of Christ, that
Speaker 1: is the power of the Church. That maybe your daddy
Speaker 1: wasn't there, but I'm grateful for this writer in Hebrews.
Speaker 1: As he moves on from chapter six, he gets to
Speaker 1: chapter twelve, and he gives us a picture of who
Speaker 1: to imitate. He says in chapter twelve, Therefore, since we
Speaker 1: are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us
Speaker 1: throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so
Speaker 1: easily entangles. Maybe you feel alone today, but can I
Speaker 1: remind you? You might feel secluded, but in reality you
Speaker 1: are surrounded. All of Heaven is watching you, All of
Speaker 1: Heaven is looking down upon you. All of Heaven is
Speaker 1: seeing you run this race. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: ever ran a race before. It's one thing to run
Speaker 1: a race in the woods with no one looking. It's
Speaker 1: another thing when you're getting close to the finish line
Speaker 1: and the crowd is out there. You start running with
Speaker 1: a whole brand new swag. Hey, and all of heaven
Speaker 1: is watching you. Well, who's watching me? Rich? The Bible
Speaker 1: tells you in Hebrews chapter eleven. It's called the Hall
Speaker 1: of faith. It's men and women who died before us.
Speaker 1: They die without ever seeing the promise. Enoch is watching you,
Speaker 1: and Abel is watching you. Father Abraham, he's watching you,
Speaker 1: and Isaac's watching you, and Jacob's watching you, and Joseph's
Speaker 1: watching you, and Moses is watching you, and Samson is
Speaker 1: watching you, and they are saying, run your race. Press on.
Speaker 1: I know you're tired, but do not grow weary in
Speaker 1: doing good, for at the proper time you will reap
Speaker 1: a harvest. God is faithful. Sometimes when I'm weak, sometimes
Speaker 1: when I'm tempted to quit, I pray to Jesus no doubt,
Speaker 1: but I can hear the voices in my head of
Speaker 1: my grandfather and my uncle's. I can hear my grain father,
Speaker 1: Fulton Bontege passion the same church. You don't know his name,
Speaker 1: but for forty years he preached really simple messages, short sermons.
Speaker 1: He preached a message, crier river, build a bridge, get
Speaker 1: over it. And I can hear the voice of Fulton
Speaker 1: Bontang when I feel like quitting, when I feel overlooked,
Speaker 1: when I feel not seen, I can hear him saying, rich,
Speaker 1: it's always too soon to quit. I can hear my
Speaker 1: uncle Mark Bonteyn, who gave his life in Calcutta, India,
Speaker 1: worked with mother Teresa, built a hospital, built a church.
Speaker 1: You don't know his name, but he gave his life
Speaker 1: for the gospel and for the mission. I can hear
Speaker 1: him quoting the words of Mother Teresa. Rich is not
Speaker 1: about being successful, it's about being faithful. I can hear
Speaker 1: My uncle David Wilkerson, who started Times Square Church and
Speaker 1: who initiated and began Teen Challenge, the world's largest drug
Speaker 1: rehab program in the world, went to New York as
Speaker 1: a young man, stood in the face of adversity and opposition,
Speaker 1: looked at gang members one time with a switch plate
Speaker 1: to his throat. They said, preacher, if you don't stop preaching,
Speaker 1: we're gonna cut you up into a million pieces. But
Speaker 1: with the conviction and the courage of the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: he looked back and said, you could cut me into
Speaker 1: a million pieces, but every one of those pieces will
Speaker 1: look back up at you and say I love you,
Speaker 1: and Jesus Christ loves you as well. I hear his voice. Rich,
Speaker 1: You're not called to a life of convenience. You're called
Speaker 1: to a life of conviction. These voices are cheering me on.
Speaker 1: Although at times I get tired and weary, I'm reminded
Speaker 1: God is not unjust. He will not forget us. And
Speaker 1: so today it's out of his strength and out of
Speaker 1: his reminder and through the power of His Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: that we move forward. And you're saying, but Rich, that's
Speaker 1: not my story. Oh, but you've been grafted into the
Speaker 1: family of God. And because of what Jesus did on
Speaker 1: across two thousand years ago, when his blood was shed,
Speaker 1: that became your spiritual DNA. And now you got a
Speaker 1: great great, great, great great great great granddaddy called Abraham,
Speaker 1: who stepped out into the unknown, and it was there
Speaker 1: in the unknown that all things became known. Moses, is
Speaker 1: a part of your legacy. I can't do it. I'm
Speaker 1: not qualified. But here comes God. He's looking at you
Speaker 1: and saying, all I need is somebody who's available. I've
Speaker 1: made so many mistakes, Yo, Samson. Samson made it him
Speaker 1: to Hebrews eleven, because it reminds me it's not how
Speaker 1: you start. Ooh, it is not about how you start.
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody, it is about how you finish. Bring
Speaker 1: up that verse. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such
Speaker 1: a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything
Speaker 1: that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and
Speaker 1: let us run with perseverance. Someone say, perseverance. The race
Speaker 1: marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the
Speaker 1: pioneer and perfector of faith. Watch this, for the joy
Speaker 1: set before him. He endured the cross. You know what
Speaker 1: the joy set before him was relationship with you. For
Speaker 1: the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning
Speaker 1: its shame and sat down at the right hand of
Speaker 1: the throne of God. If you're grateful for Jesus today,
Speaker 1: can you go ahead and clap your hands and give
Speaker 1: him praise all over this house? Come on, stand up
Speaker 1: on your feet. This is a God who keeps your seats.
Speaker 1: This is a God who doesn't forget. This is a
Speaker 1: God who'll never leave you nor forsake you. He's with
Speaker 1: you today, all over this house. Can we just shut
Speaker 1: ourselves away? If you're at home watching right now, if
Speaker 1: you're at one of our other locations. I just believe
Speaker 1: it's a sweet moment in God's presence. God is faithful,
Speaker 1: God is just. He knows your name. He picked you.
Speaker 1: Don't you know that when he picked you, he knew
Speaker 1: your flaws. He's not surprised by you. Oh but rich,
Speaker 1: I feel like I let him down. You can't let
Speaker 1: him down. You were never holding him up to begin with.
Speaker 1: Some of us are. God's too small. He's big man.
Speaker 1: He sees what you're doing. Don't grow weary in doing good.
Speaker 1: He's faithful, he loves you, he sees how you're doing it.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, would you begin to move in this place,
Speaker 1: even right here, right now, just if you're hearing the
Speaker 1: room today and you'd say, Rich, you're preaching to me today.
Speaker 1: I'm tired, I feel overlooked. I don't know what this
Speaker 1: say anario is or the sequence. If that's you, day,
Speaker 1: would you just lift both your hands. I just want
Speaker 1: to pray for you right where you are today. If
Speaker 1: that's you, Yep, the hands are going up. That's me, Rich,
Speaker 1: you're preaching to me. I need God to remind me today.
Speaker 1: I want God to remind me. That's what the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit does. He's a reminder. He will come in and
Speaker 1: remind you. Thank you, Holy Spirit, God, I thank you
Speaker 1: every hand that's lifted right now. At the sound of
Speaker 1: my voice, I decree and I declare Lord, Peace, refreshment, encouragement. Lord.
Speaker 1: From the inside out. May they sense you even here
Speaker 1: right now, that you are close God. That when we're
Speaker 1: broken God, that's where you get really close God. Today
Speaker 1: we've come into your house to worship you, that God.
Speaker 1: We might be going through something bad, but we still
Speaker 1: declare You are God. So Lord, when our words run out,
Speaker 1: we lift our hands as a sign that we are surrendering,
Speaker 1: that we need a supernatural Touchday, Holy Spirit, Would you
Speaker 1: rush through this room like a rushing wind fire of
Speaker 1: God fall in this place. Redefine priorities, remind us, remind
Speaker 1: us we are your children. We're not forsaken, We're not forgotten.
Speaker 1: We are remembered, sin forgotten, tears recorded. Who is this God?
Speaker 1: Hallylujah today with your head bowed, your eyes closed. If
Speaker 1: you're hearing this room today, or you're watching online and
Speaker 1: you never given your life to Jesus before we worship,
Speaker 1: before we sing, if that's you, if you say that's me,
Speaker 1: I want to surrender my life to Jesus. For God
Speaker 1: so loved the world. You're in the world. He gave
Speaker 1: his one and only son that whoever believes that it
Speaker 1: will not perish. But I've everlasting life, for God did
Speaker 1: not send us und the world to condemned the world,
Speaker 1: but to save the world. God wants to save your soul,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't just want to get you to heaven.
Speaker 1: He wants to walk with you through every trial and
Speaker 1: every challenge. The Gospel is not a promise of a
Speaker 1: problem free life. The gospel is a promise that every
Speaker 1: problem you come up against, he will be there with you.
Speaker 1: So your head is bout and your eyes are closed.
Speaker 1: That's you today, you say, rich, that's me. What would
Speaker 1: you pray with me?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: I want to be included in this prayer of salvation.
Speaker 1: I want to be in the face of God. I
Speaker 1: believe Jesus is my lord, saying if that's you, on
Speaker 1: the count of three, would you be bold with your
Speaker 1: hand up high enough and long enough, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: lead you in a prayer, and then we're gonna give
Speaker 1: glory to God in this place. Ready. One, the Bible says,
Speaker 1: today's that day. Two, don't look at your Neighbor's not
Speaker 1: about your neighbors. Between you and Jesus. Ready, one, two, three,
Speaker 1: attach you lift up. That's me, that's me, that's me,
Speaker 1: that's me. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Jesus,
Speaker 1: Thank you God. Come on, evition, can we lift our
Speaker 1: hands towards seven? The Bible says, believe in your heart,
Speaker 1: confess with your mouth, and you will be saved. Say
Speaker 1: dear Jesus, today, Lord, I surrender all of me over
Speaker 1: to you. I believe and I confess that you are
Speaker 1: who you said that you are. Forgive me. I receive
Speaker 1: your salvation. Today. I declare I am yours. You're my Lord,
Speaker 1: You're my savior. In Jesus' name, everybody said, come on church,
Speaker 1: let's give God praise. Come. Hey.
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world.
Speaker 1: And if you want more information on how to be
Speaker 1: a part of Elevation, click the link in the description.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2: Make sure to leave a review, share the message, and subscribe.
Speaker 1: God bless you.