Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1: In your life. Enjoy the message Elevation Church. How are
Speaker 1: we feeling on this Sunday morning? Can we go ahead
Speaker 1: and give God? Come on? Can we give God some
Speaker 1: praise on this Sunday morning? You add an extra hour
Speaker 1: of sleep? Come on, give him a shout today, Honelujah.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but are you feeling what
Speaker 1: I'm feeling today? It's not just some cool atmosphere. It
Speaker 1: is the very presence of God. And what I love
Speaker 1: about God's presence is when it comes to worship, it's
Speaker 1: not that God is not with you. He's always with you.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be at church to know that
Speaker 1: He's with you in your car, he's with you at work,
Speaker 1: He's with you in that difficulty. But the scripture says
Speaker 1: that He inhabits the praises of his people. And there's
Speaker 1: something about praise and worship that makes me aware. Come on, anybody,
Speaker 1: aware today that God is with us and God is working.
Speaker 1: Come on, I want you to clap your hands. I
Speaker 1: want you to behave today like you are, glad you're
Speaker 1: in the house of the Lord. What an honor it
Speaker 1: is to be back at Elevation Church and always just
Speaker 1: so grateful to stand behind this pulpit. It is never
Speaker 1: ever lost on me just the work that is taking
Speaker 1: place right here at Elevation Church as it goes from
Speaker 1: this room to all over the world. And it's not
Speaker 1: by coincidence, it's not by accident, it's by intentional leadership.
Speaker 1: And I'm so grateful, honestly, when I come. One of
Speaker 1: my greatest honors is just to get behind this pulpit
Speaker 1: and just to say thank you so much to I
Speaker 1: think two voices that have been raised up for such
Speaker 1: a time as this. Anybody thankful for Pastor Stephen and Hally.
Speaker 1: I'm telling y'all, these are two of God's finest and
Speaker 1: their life, their leadership has so impacted me, so changed me.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for who they are. I think they're trailblazers.
Speaker 1: What that means is that they go into the tough
Speaker 1: areas and they make a way for others to follow,
Speaker 1: and there's so many of us that are following behind them.
Speaker 1: I always just come to say, take good care of them,
Speaker 1: Pray for them, love on them. They're doing a lot
Speaker 1: of work. They need your prayers, they need your support,
Speaker 1: they need your encouragement. You are blessed with good leadership.
Speaker 1: Let me just tell you there's a blessing on them,
Speaker 1: and when you get under them, come on, that blessing
Speaker 1: flows on you. Let's clap our hands and thank God
Speaker 1: for amazing, amazing leadership. Hey, yo, what about this new song?
Speaker 1: I know when nay dead things coming back to life,
Speaker 1: I could just close right now. I already got more
Speaker 1: than what I came for. In fact, someone right now
Speaker 1: at Voo Church back in Miami's watching the service and
Speaker 1: we are illegally taking that song. It's gonna be in
Speaker 1: our worship set next week. No one can sing like Chris,
Speaker 1: but we're just gonna bring your vocals in and fake it,
Speaker 1: lip sync it. Anyone grateful for another brand new, beautiful
Speaker 1: song that just ministers to us. Who I know a name,
Speaker 1: I know a name. If you got a Bible, Luke,
Speaker 1: Chapter seven is where I want you to turn. You
Speaker 1: can stay standing for a moment as we read the
Speaker 1: word of God. Merry Christmas, everyone, Christmas came early. I'm
Speaker 1: covered by the blood of Jesus. This is very red,
Speaker 1: I think extremely red. But it's a bold move for
Speaker 1: a bold sermon. Luke Chapter seven, starting in verse eleven,
Speaker 1: it says this. Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town
Speaker 1: called Name, and his disciples and a large crowd went
Speaker 1: along with him. And as he approached the town gate,
Speaker 1: a dead person was being carried out, the only son
Speaker 1: of his mother. And she was a widow, and a
Speaker 1: large crowd from the town was with her. When the
Speaker 1: Lord saw her, his heart went out to her, and
Speaker 1: he said, don't cry. Can we just say that outloud?
Speaker 1: Say don't cry. Then he went up and he touched
Speaker 1: the beer they were carrying him on, and the bearers
Speaker 1: stood still. He said, young man, I say to you,
Speaker 1: get up. The dead man sat up and began to talk,
Speaker 1: and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were
Speaker 1: all filled with awe and they praised God. A great
Speaker 1: prophet has appeared among us. They said, God has come
Speaker 1: to help his people. And the news about Jesus spread
Speaker 1: throughout Judea, and the surrounding country. I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but I know a name today. I know a name today.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you walked in here with today,
Speaker 1: but I believe God's presence is here. God's power is
Speaker 1: here all of you watching online right now. I know
Speaker 1: a name today, and he's getting ready to reveal himself
Speaker 1: like never before in your life. I'm already getting excited
Speaker 1: just reading this passage. I got a good sermon today,
Speaker 1: but I already feel it springing up on the inside
Speaker 1: of me. I want to preach for a few moments
Speaker 1: if I can today from the subject. God works in
Speaker 1: mysterious ways. God works in mysterious ways, And would you
Speaker 1: pray me. Lord. We thank you for your word. We
Speaker 1: thank you that it's a lie, that it's active God.
Speaker 1: We thank you that it's more relevant today than it
Speaker 1: ever has been. God. In shaky times and scary times
Speaker 1: and uncertain times. Lord, we look to your word for
Speaker 1: something stable and true that we can stand upon. Lord.
Speaker 1: I pray for everybody that's here at Elevation today, the
Speaker 1: entire EPAM who's joined us by way of online. Lord.
Speaker 1: Today we asked that you'd minister to us, that you'd
Speaker 1: speak to us that you would remind us of that
Speaker 1: powerful name, the name of Jesus. We pray all these
Speaker 1: things in the name of Jesus. And if you agree
Speaker 1: with that prayer. All of God's people said, all of
Speaker 1: God's people said, if you love Jesus one more time,
Speaker 1: give him a big, big shout all over this place,
Speaker 1: all right, high five. A few people tell them God
Speaker 1: is working. Say God is working in the chat right now,
Speaker 1: tell him God is working. God is working. Would anybody
Speaker 1: agree with me that life is a mystery? I mean,
Speaker 1: life is a mysterious I think about that old expression.
Speaker 1: The more I know, the less I understand. Some of
Speaker 1: you all say amen, pastor honestly. It's like I just
Speaker 1: turned forty this past year. Thank you, Honestly. Even though
Speaker 1: older I get sometimes I'm like, man, some things are
Speaker 1: just still complicated. I'm still learning stuff. I'm still trying
Speaker 1: to understand stuff. And I could give you a lot
Speaker 1: of examples, but let's just use one right down in
Speaker 1: front of us. It's like airplanes, for instance. H I
Speaker 1: fly on airplanes a whole lot. In fact, I have
Speaker 1: flown three million air miles with American Airlines. I'm pretty
Speaker 1: much on staff except I pay them and they don't
Speaker 1: pay me. And uh. But it's like like I fly
Speaker 1: all the time, but I'm still like, I still don't
Speaker 1: guess if I still have questions. That's probably a good
Speaker 1: way to say it. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I was flying and this was just like two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and I had my iPad. My iPad is one of
Speaker 1: those keyboards and I'm out typing on my iPad and
Speaker 1: the stewardess she walks by and she says, sir, you're
Speaker 1: gonna we're getting ready for landing. You got to put
Speaker 1: the iPad. You can keep the iPad out, but you
Speaker 1: got to put the keyboard away. And I was like why,
Speaker 1: and she goes, oh, it's not safe. I go, not safe.
Speaker 1: I don't understand. What's what's that jeopardy here with the
Speaker 1: keyboard being out? But this happens all the play. Great
Speaker 1: thing about like I usually fly, I don't fly. I
Speaker 1: usually fly second class. You know, don't talking about in
Speaker 1: the back hello second class? And uh sometimes when you're
Speaker 1: in second class, you know, you got the seats and
Speaker 1: they don't give you much room. Right, It's like here
Speaker 1: and here preaching to someone to day here and here
Speaker 1: same thing. I got questions. They walked by, Sir, you
Speaker 1: have to put your seat up for landing. Why, oh,
Speaker 1: it's not safe. Excuse me, Yeah, it's not safe. You
Speaker 1: mean safe, unsafe, safe, unsafe. These are questions. Just a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, I took off forty five minutes late,
Speaker 1: but we landed on time. I'm walking out. I say, oh, man,
Speaker 1: we took off forty five minutes late. How did we
Speaker 1: get here on time? She said, Oh, that's easy. The
Speaker 1: pilot just flew faster. He can do that. How come
Speaker 1: he doesn't always do that? Is there a speed limit
Speaker 1: we're all unaware of? All right, So so four weeks ago,
Speaker 1: I'm flying back from Birmingham. It is a true story.
Speaker 1: The unthinkable, the unmanageable, the unexpected took place. This has
Speaker 1: never happened to me. I've been flying with this airline
Speaker 1: for twenty some years. I get up to go to
Speaker 1: the bathroom, and friends, when I go into the bathroom,
Speaker 1: I get locked in the bathroom. Now, let's just be honest, like,
Speaker 1: none of us are usually go to the bathroom. One Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm never gonna get out of here. I'm in the lavatory,
Speaker 1: that's what they call it. On an airplane and I'm stuck.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get out, but like I'm kind of
Speaker 1: putting some pressure on the door and like I don't
Speaker 1: know for you, like how long before you cry out
Speaker 1: for help? I'm like, I can figure this out. I
Speaker 1: can figure this out. Well, I don't know. It's probably
Speaker 1: only like a minute, but it felt like I start
Speaker 1: having a panic attack, like I gotta get out of here.
Speaker 1: I start, you, guys, I start screaming out, somebody help me.
Speaker 1: I'm stuck in the bathroom. To my amazement, and to
Speaker 1: my shock, an elderly woman flat attendant came and I
Speaker 1: don't know if she was like a she starts hitting
Speaker 1: this door with a with a force that like boom,
Speaker 1: but she breaks through the door. You guys, When I
Speaker 1: come out of the bathroom, the entire plane is clapping.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what to do. I just embraced her
Speaker 1: and said, thank you, my savior. Questions things, this is
Speaker 1: a mystery. How come the more I know, the less
Speaker 1: I understand, and it leaves me in this place. And honestly,
Speaker 1: it's funny, but this is sort of how life works,
Speaker 1: that you can just kind of be going on your
Speaker 1: journey thirty years, forty years, fifty years, sixty years, and
Speaker 1: you might be getting a handle on life. Then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, something comes, something happens, and you find
Speaker 1: yourself stuck. You find yourself trapped, You find yourself in
Speaker 1: a place. And sometimes we have the strength to break
Speaker 1: through the silence. But some of us, even in this
Speaker 1: room today and some of us watching online right now,
Speaker 1: we find ourselves in a place that what we're going
Speaker 1: through is so difficult that we can't even muster out
Speaker 1: a whisper. It's not just life that's mysterious. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know faith is mysterious. Like what I'm discovering is
Speaker 1: that the closer I get to God, the more I
Speaker 1: recognize just how far away I was to begin with,
Speaker 1: which means that, like maturity in Jesus ought not to
Speaker 1: lead to spiritual superiority, maturity in Jesus leads us to
Speaker 1: a place of deep humility. And I think a humble
Speaker 1: thing that you and I both can do is humility,
Speaker 1: is when our faith actually has questions. Maybe you're here
Speaker 1: today and you are going I'm going through life and
Speaker 1: I have faith, but I have questions, So do I
Speaker 1: I do this for a living I have questions sometimes
Speaker 1: I look around and going, yeah, why do bad things
Speaker 1: happen to good people? How about this? Why do good
Speaker 1: things happen to bad people? How Come some doors open
Speaker 1: automatically and then some just stay shut It seems like forever.
Speaker 1: How Come sometimes I can pray and pray and pray
Speaker 1: and nothing turns around. But then there's other areas of
Speaker 1: my life where there's great breakthrough or great miracles and
Speaker 1: there wasn't even a petition uttered. How about this? This
Speaker 1: one hits home for me? How Come I can go
Speaker 1: and preach on stages of thousands of people and watch
Speaker 1: hundreds of people respond to the gospel. It's sometimes the
Speaker 1: people closest to my life, it's like their heart stays hard.
Speaker 1: Come on, anybody ever got some questions when it comes
Speaker 1: to faith? I do not think that questions are offensive
Speaker 1: to God. I want to encourage someone the day who
Speaker 1: walked in here with some questions in their faith. That
Speaker 1: you're going through a difficult time. God is not intimidated
Speaker 1: by your questions. In fact, as you begin to serve
Speaker 1: the Lord, what you'll realize is that questions don't have
Speaker 1: to define your faith. They can refine your faith. In fact,
Speaker 1: when it comes to questions, it's that yo. Faith does
Speaker 1: not eliminate questions, but faith re routes where I take
Speaker 1: my questions too. Come on, anybody believe that we have
Speaker 1: the answer, we have the hope, we can bring them
Speaker 1: to God. After all, a question mark is just an
Speaker 1: exclamation mark been out of shape. I'm hoping by the
Speaker 1: end of this message that some of you who've walked
Speaker 1: in here with questions. It's not that your question will
Speaker 1: be immediately removed, but you might be saying why am
Speaker 1: I here? But by the end of this message, you're
Speaker 1: going to take that question and turn it into a declaration.
Speaker 1: I am here for such a time as this. Can
Speaker 1: I get a witness in this house if you got
Speaker 1: some faith in the room today. Life is a mystery.
Speaker 1: Faith is a mystery, and really all of meaning in
Speaker 1: life is when you lean into the mysteries, when you
Speaker 1: bring your questions before God and you find meaning in
Speaker 1: whatever mystery you are up against. I believe our text
Speaker 1: today is a beautiful, beautiful story around the mystery of God.
Speaker 1: To put into some context really quick, Luke, chapter seven,
Speaker 1: our texts begin saying soon afterward, and I think that's
Speaker 1: important that when you start studying the Bible, you always
Speaker 1: go what just happened? Well, Jesus was in Capernaum. We
Speaker 1: didn't read it today, but he was in Capernaum. And
Speaker 1: while he was there, that's his ministry headquarters. He's preaching
Speaker 1: and teaching. And a Roman official centurion sends word to
Speaker 1: Jesus that his servant is sick, and he says, can
Speaker 1: you come to my house. Well, Jesus starts making his
Speaker 1: way to the centurion's house, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the centurion sends out more leaders or servants, and he
Speaker 1: sends the word and saying, hey, I know who you are,
Speaker 1: and I believe you have great authority. And I don't
Speaker 1: even need you to come to my roof. If you'll
Speaker 1: just say the word, I believe my servant can be
Speaker 1: made well. Which, by the way, this is a great lesson,
Speaker 1: because leadership is never seen in your presence. It's always
Speaker 1: seen in your absence. Great power is not that I
Speaker 1: have to shout and yell at someone. Great power is
Speaker 1: when I can whisper and it begins to change things around.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that Jesus was amazed at this man's faith.
Speaker 1: In fact, he's so amazed that instantly he heals the man,
Speaker 1: although he doesn't even go and pray for the man.
Speaker 1: Would you believe there's only two times in scripture that
Speaker 1: Jesus is amazed. It's this moment right here. The second
Speaker 1: time is in Mark chapter six. He's amazed because he's
Speaker 1: in his hometown, and in his hometown they're very familiar
Speaker 1: with him, and they got questions, isn't this the carpenter's boy.
Speaker 1: Isn't this the guy who is from Nazareth? He can't
Speaker 1: be the Messiah? And the Bible says that Jesus was
Speaker 1: unable to do many miracles and he was amazed. Listen
Speaker 1: to this at their lack of faith. There's only two
Speaker 1: ways that you amaze Jesus. It's either faith or no faith.
Speaker 1: And I want to encourage someone because maybe you think
Speaker 1: faith is measured by your church attendants. Maybe you think
Speaker 1: faith is measured by how many scriptures you have memorized.
Speaker 1: Maybe you think faith means I never fall or never
Speaker 1: have a question. No, my friend, that is not the
Speaker 1: surement of great faith. Great faith is simply measured when
Speaker 1: you take God at his word. God, if you said it,
Speaker 1: I believe it. Jesus, if you said I could do it,
Speaker 1: I want to do it. I believe today that in
Speaker 1: this room there is great faith. If that's you in
Speaker 1: this house, clap your hands, make a little bit of noise.
Speaker 1: I want great faith. If you said it, I believe
Speaker 1: it's going to happen. And so the Bible says that
Speaker 1: soon after this moment, this great miracle, Jesus and his
Speaker 1: crew start heading twenty miles away to another town. And
Speaker 1: the town is called name. Everyone say name. And as
Speaker 1: Jesus is entering into the town of Name, there is
Speaker 1: another crew exiting the city. So just get this picture.
Speaker 1: Jesus's party is entering the city, and then we see
Speaker 1: there's a funeral party exiting the city. Two conflicting crowds colliding.
Speaker 1: This crowd that Jesus is encountering is far different from
Speaker 1: his crowd. Jesus' crowd is celebrating, they're happy, they're excited,
Speaker 1: but this other crowd is a funeral procession. Nine, by
Speaker 1: definition means a beautiful place. And I think sometimes about
Speaker 1: my city. They say about Miami that Miami is sonny
Speaker 1: on the outside but shady on the inside. But I
Speaker 1: think Nane like Miami like Charlotte, like wherever you're tuning
Speaker 1: in from today is a picture of life that so
Speaker 1: often we can look good on the outside, but on
Speaker 1: the inside there's deep affliction. There's deep brokenness, there's deep
Speaker 1: affliction by definition means be stuck in a state of suffering. Help,
Speaker 1: I'm locked in the bathroom. Are you afflicted today? Are
Speaker 1: you stuck in something today? I want to remind people
Speaker 1: I love the spirit in this house, and I love
Speaker 1: the spirit that's honestly right now going through these cameras
Speaker 1: as people are watching, but we're living in name that
Speaker 1: in this room, even right now, this is life. Someone
Speaker 1: can be winning, and someone can be losing. Someone could
Speaker 1: be really happy, and someone can also be really hurting.
Speaker 1: Someone can be celebrating, and somebody can be mourning. I
Speaker 1: think about some of you just here right now, Like,
Speaker 1: let's just never ever forget all the people in the room.
Speaker 1: Let's never forget all the people that are getting this
Speaker 1: ministry today. Someone today, a baby is being born while
Speaker 1: somebody else is burying their father. Someone's getting ready for
Speaker 1: a marriage this week, and somebody else just got a
Speaker 1: divorce this week. Somebody is celebrating a birthday and somebody
Speaker 1: else is headed to a funeral. I see it because
Speaker 1: it hits me. And every time we walk into a
Speaker 1: room like this, we've got to be aware that there's
Speaker 1: all sorts of different stories colliding and conflicting. But I
Speaker 1: don't know about you. If you're like me, I'm looking
Speaker 1: at this story and I'm saying, Yo, what a divine appointment?
Speaker 1: Because if you're headed to a funeral, can you imagine
Speaker 1: you're headed to a funeral that somehow you have a
Speaker 1: collision with Christ. See this is prophetic for someone today
Speaker 1: because many times when you collide with Jesus, you don't
Speaker 1: even know that he's on the way to you. You're
Speaker 1: headed to the funeral, but he's headed to invade your life.
Speaker 1: See today, we didn't come just to tell you about
Speaker 1: the problem. We didn't just come to talk about your affliction.
Speaker 1: We came to remind you that there is an answer
Speaker 1: to your affliction. Come on, there's an anecdote to your affliction. Oh.
Speaker 1: I know a name, and his name is Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: King of Kings, and he can turn your story around.
Speaker 1: I want to encourage you. Maybe today you're stuck in
Speaker 1: something and you feel like I don't see any help
Speaker 1: on the way. I remember when I was in college,
Speaker 1: I had this experience where I saw this, I saw
Speaker 1: this guy get hit by a car. Now that doesn't
Speaker 1: sound funny, but it was actually hilarious. He said, tell me, well, okay,
Speaker 1: so here's the story. So I'm in college, probably my
Speaker 1: sophomore year, and this dude is walking with his with
Speaker 1: his girlfriend, and I can tell just by the way
Speaker 1: he's walking that it's like puppy dog love, you know,
Speaker 1: those early stages love. That that that's a real mystery right there,
Speaker 1: that kind of love. You know, they're walking and you
Speaker 1: know he's just got way too much swagging his step.
Speaker 1: You know, falling in love is is crazy because how
Speaker 1: many you know, like guys, we all have a different
Speaker 1: voice when we're falling in love dudes. Where I was like,
Speaker 1: yeah it, what's up?
Speaker 3: Bro? All right?
Speaker 1: All right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, what are yea? By the way,
Speaker 1: you like, what do you just say? Every guy in
Speaker 1: this room knows what I just said. But all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, the phone rings, you know, and it's like
Speaker 1: his it's like his new girlfriend. Ha ha ha oh
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, ring ring, Hey babe, what's up? Have you
Speaker 1: experienced it like an upper octave. Hey, what's going on? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Hey cool, Yeah, No, I'm just hanging with the guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just hang with the guys. My wife and I we
Speaker 1: just celebrated eighteen years of marriage. Holler at your boy.
Speaker 1: And I remember when I was an eighteen year old
Speaker 1: fallen in love with her. We're on the phone at night. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I miss you, No, I miss you. It's like, all right,
Speaker 1: we gotta go. No, no, no, no, never say no no,
Speaker 1: don't go. All right, we gotta hang up. Oh I
Speaker 1: hate it. Okay, on three, we're gonna hang up. You promise,
Speaker 1: I promise. Okay, babe, No, I miss you? Okay, ready? One? Two, three?
Speaker 1: Are you still there? It's fall in love. It's mysterious.
Speaker 1: So so this dude is totally in love. Okay, they're walking.
Speaker 1: How do I know their love? Because he's walk They
Speaker 1: got their fingers laced. That's always a sign, right, how man,
Speaker 1: y'all know you you only laced fingers with your girl.
Speaker 1: You ever been in a church service the pastor's like, hey,
Speaker 1: join hands with your neighbor. You're like, nah, bro, married,
Speaker 1: I don't want to. Don't lace fingers with me? You know,
Speaker 1: like that's stop there. They're walking. This this is true story.
Speaker 1: They're walking. Gets to the crosswalk, He's like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm across the street. Bye. Girl walks out on the crosswalk.
Speaker 1: Way too cool. A car. A car hits this man.
Speaker 1: When it hits him, he rolls over the hood, falls
Speaker 1: and somehow, by the grace of God, lands on his feet.
Speaker 1: The only thing is is he tried to act like
Speaker 1: he didn't get hit by a car. He tried to
Speaker 1: walk it out like nothing just happened. Yo, you can't
Speaker 1: do that. You can't be walking up over the thing.
Speaker 1: Land on your feet. Now, walk it out, get out.
Speaker 1: I'm way too petty for that. I had to run
Speaker 1: across the here like grow you just got hit by
Speaker 1: a car. And what he said to me has always
Speaker 1: stuck with me. He said, I know, I didn't see
Speaker 1: it coming, and so many of us that's how life happens.
Speaker 1: I didn't see it coming. I wasn't expecting it. I
Speaker 1: didn't anticipate it. I didn't see that suffering. I didn't
Speaker 1: see that pain. I didn't see that affliction. And there
Speaker 1: is no doubt that pain can hit your life fast.
Speaker 1: But I want to encourage you today that God can
Speaker 1: hit your life even faster. Do you know we serve
Speaker 1: the God of suddenly that when God shows up, he
Speaker 1: shows up without warning. When God wants to do something
Speaker 1: in your life, he does so in an unexpected way,
Speaker 1: in an instant. He can invade your darkness all at once.
Speaker 1: He can interrupt your funeral, and he can show up
Speaker 1: and say, I've come to cancel the funeral. Somebody give
Speaker 1: God some praise in this place. He cancels funerals and
Speaker 1: know a name. So here's this moment. It's not a coincidence.
Speaker 1: Fifteen minutes earlier, fifteen minutes later, he would have missed them.
Speaker 1: One crowd's headed to the cemetery. Jesus is headed to
Speaker 1: the city, and it's not a car crash, but rather
Speaker 1: it's a collision with Christ. She didn't even see it coming.
Speaker 1: She wasn't even expecting it. And the Bible says that
Speaker 1: when Jesus sees her, his heart begins to break for her.
Speaker 1: In fact, he looks at this woman and he says,
Speaker 1: don't cry. This is the heart of Jesus. Please notice
Speaker 1: she hasn't even opened up her mouth. This woman's crying,
Speaker 1: and I think that we ought to just take a
Speaker 1: moment and say, she's got good reason to cry as
Speaker 1: we find out this isn't our first funeral, this isn't
Speaker 1: her first setback. She's already buried her husband, which in
Speaker 1: that time period, to not have a husband is one
Speaker 1: of the most difficult, tragic things you could go through
Speaker 1: because all of your power, position, all of your livelihood
Speaker 1: would have come from your husband. But this woman has
Speaker 1: a plan. She has a one and only son that
Speaker 1: all of her hopes, all of her dreams are in
Speaker 1: this boy. But now her plans have died. What do
Speaker 1: you do when your plans and your dreams die?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Can I encourage you today? As believers in Jesus. Our
Speaker 1: trust is not in a plan. Our trust is in
Speaker 1: a man. I know his name because watch this. This
Speaker 1: woman doesn't know it. But her only son is getting
Speaker 1: ready to meet God's only son. One is alive and
Speaker 1: he's destined to die. The other is dead, but he's
Speaker 1: destined to live. Oh, the mysteries of God. God works
Speaker 1: in mysterious ways. Someone's like, that's right, Pastor, my Bible
Speaker 1: says God works in mysterious ways, except for the fact
Speaker 1: that he doesn't say that. That's nowhere actually in the Bible. Now,
Speaker 1: the word mysteries all over the Bible. Colossians would remind
Speaker 1: us that we have this mystery, which is Christ in us.
Speaker 1: Revelation would remind us that God will accomplish his will,
Speaker 1: and it's a mystery. Mysteries all throughout the Bible. And
Speaker 1: although this phrase never shows up in the text, we
Speaker 1: can see this truth all over it. The phrase actually
Speaker 1: comes from an English poet in the late seventeen hundreds.
Speaker 1: His name was William Cowper, and William Kwper, as he
Speaker 1: tells his own story, was dealing with a deep depression.
Speaker 1: He was stuck in affliction, and one night he decided
Speaker 1: he was going to end his life, and so he
Speaker 1: marched down to the River Thames and he was going
Speaker 1: to drown himself. But while he was there, he kept
Speaker 1: seeing a figure walk on the ridge line. Somewhat feeling
Speaker 1: like he wasn't in a place of privacy, he decided,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go back to my house and I'll
Speaker 1: do the deed in my own home. And as he
Speaker 1: recounts his story, he would say that three different times
Speaker 1: he tried to take his life, but every time listen this,
Speaker 1: Every time he attempted to take his life. He said
Speaker 1: something was stopping him from doing it. He described it
Speaker 1: as the invisible hand. Some years later he got saved.
Speaker 1: He ended up being discipled by Jonathan Newton, the writer
Speaker 1: of Amazing Grace, and Newton would encourage him to take
Speaker 1: his gift of poetry and give it back over to
Speaker 1: God and to begin to write melodies by putting theology
Speaker 1: to melody. And his greatest hymn is a hymn called
Speaker 1: God Moves. And the first stands of that hymn is
Speaker 1: God works in mysterious ways. I don't know if it
Speaker 1: ministers to you, but it ministers to me, because the
Speaker 1: invisible hand is a great way to describe God at work.
Speaker 1: Who else placed the stars in the sky the invisible hand?
Speaker 1: Come on? Who else sets the tides in mo Who
Speaker 1: else has them rise and fall perfectly? Who set the
Speaker 1: clock the invisible hand did? God is at work? I
Speaker 1: just look all over nature and see the mystery. You
Speaker 1: ever thought about a butterfly? I don't know if you know.
Speaker 1: You know a butterfly starts as a caterpillar. No, rich,
Speaker 1: we didn't know that. Well you ought to know it.
Speaker 1: But who told this this caterpillar?
Speaker 2: Yoh?
Speaker 1: Can you see the cabin. I don't think I belong
Speaker 1: in the dirt. I think I'm called the fly. Really,
Speaker 1: who told you that? And then the caterpillar goes from
Speaker 1: the dirt and he wraps himself up in a cocoon.
Speaker 1: But it's the invisible hand. And after twenty one days,
Speaker 1: this ground little insect comes out like a beautiful, colorful
Speaker 1: butterfly flying in the air. What about a seed? A
Speaker 1: seed gets buried in the dirt, and it looks like
Speaker 1: the story is all over. But then the invisible hand
Speaker 1: reaches down into that dirt and reminds that seed, you're
Speaker 1: not buried. Come on, somebody, you're planted, and I will
Speaker 1: bring you out, David said. And he lifted me out
Speaker 1: of the myrie pit, out of that slimy pit. He'd
Speaker 1: put my feet on a solid rock. He put a
Speaker 1: new song in my mouth. Anybody got a new song today?
Speaker 1: Go ahead, lift up your praise.
Speaker 3: The invisible hand is always ad work, it's mysterious. But
Speaker 3: in Luke seven, the invisible hand materializes into the physical
Speaker 3: hand of Jesus Christ. Fret just the right moment, in
Speaker 3: this mysterious way, he shows up to this funeral party, and.
Speaker 1: He looks at this woman, and he says, don't cry.
Speaker 1: That I would encourage you if you go to a funeral,
Speaker 1: don't look at somebody unel him not to cry. That
Speaker 1: would be insensitive. But when Jesus says it, he's not
Speaker 1: being insensitive. It's because he plans to turn the situation around.
Speaker 1: He plans to turn it around. Here's what I notice.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this will minister to you, but
Speaker 1: it so speaks to me. This woman never even asked
Speaker 1: Jesus for help. What if I told you his love
Speaker 1: for you outweighs your faith in him. What if I
Speaker 1: told you that Jesus even acts even when you don't ask.
Speaker 1: My Bible says he's close to the broken hearted. He's
Speaker 1: always with us. But I think when you're in pain,
Speaker 1: when you're in suffering, he gets even closer than some
Speaker 1: of us today were people of faith. I believe faith speaks,
Speaker 1: I believe faith talks, I believe faith proclaims. But I
Speaker 1: just want to remind you about a God who's always
Speaker 1: been acting on your behalf, long before you ever asked
Speaker 1: him to do anything. You didn't ask him to rise
Speaker 1: the sun this morning. My Bible says it rains on
Speaker 1: the just and the unjust. You didn't ask him to
Speaker 1: put air in your lungs, but every breath you take,
Speaker 1: he put it there. That's what I love about praise
Speaker 1: and worship. We're just giving God his breath back. That's
Speaker 1: why I gotta say something. That's why I gotta sing.
Speaker 1: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly,
Speaker 1: when we were cursing his name, when we were running
Speaker 1: from him. Jesus Christ hung from that tree, shed his blood.
Speaker 1: We stretched him wide, we hung him high, But he said, Father,
Speaker 1: forgive them, for they know not what they're doing. Somebody,
Speaker 1: thank God. If you're grateful, then he acts even when
Speaker 1: you don't have to strength to ask. And he walks over.
Speaker 1: And as he walks over, the Bible says that he
Speaker 1: touches the stretcher. The invisible hand becomes the physical hand.
Speaker 1: It's mysterious, and everybody stops. What's happening. Wait a minute,
Speaker 1: you can't touch this dead thing. This is the theology
Speaker 1: of the day. That a rabbi can't touch something dead
Speaker 1: because that would make them unclean. The only thing is
Speaker 1: that Jesus is not some regular rabbi. The only thing
Speaker 1: is that ge Esus is not just some mere man.
Speaker 1: The only thing today is that we haven't gathered for principles,
Speaker 1: we haven't gathered for philosophy. We've gathered to encounter the
Speaker 1: living God. That Jesus Christ is the son of God
Speaker 1: and he can do what he pleases. And when he
Speaker 1: touches the stretcher, he's telling you and I I'm not
Speaker 1: afraid of your affliction. I'm not afraid of the thing
Speaker 1: that's decayed, the thing that you've been hiding. I know
Speaker 1: some of us, we've exposed our hurts, we've exposed our pains,
Speaker 1: and people have run from it. But Jesus says, with
Speaker 1: just one touch, I can handle your pain. I can
Speaker 1: touch your mess. In fact, God works greatness through our mess.
Speaker 1: And he touches the stretcher, and everyone stops. Watch what
Speaker 1: Jesus says. Jesus says, get up. Someone say get up,
Speaker 1: someone say get up, because this is a prophecy for
Speaker 1: your life today. Get up. You do know that when
Speaker 1: God wants something done, he just speaks. Like when God
Speaker 1: wants to create something, he speaks it to you. In
Speaker 1: the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and
Speaker 1: the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over
Speaker 1: the earth. And what did God do? God said, let
Speaker 1: there be and with his words nothing became something. One
Speaker 1: that he's on a storm and he's asleep on a cushion,
Speaker 1: and the disciples are freaking out. Oh, we're gonna die.
Speaker 1: We're stuck, We're stuck. This is bad. Where's Jesus? They
Speaker 1: find Jesus asleep? Do you even care if we drown?
Speaker 1: Jesus wakes up, doesn't shout comes out in the front
Speaker 1: of the boat. Peace be still and immediately, someone say,
Speaker 1: immediately the storm settles. In fact, the text says that
Speaker 1: they were afraid in the storm, but then they became
Speaker 1: terrified when it was completely calm. Afraid in the storm,
Speaker 1: terrified in the calm. Why would that be. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: because they just witnessed the storm's match. I need to
Speaker 1: speak to someone today who's hurting. God is not mean,
Speaker 1: but he is dangerous, and storms have to stop. When
Speaker 1: he simply speaks. He doesn't have to let out more
Speaker 1: than a whisper. But if he whispers into your situation,
Speaker 1: that which is turbulent, that which is full of obstacles,
Speaker 1: that which looks like it is dead, Jesus can whisper,
Speaker 1: and that thing can settle, that thing can come back
Speaker 1: to life. I need to build your faith today. Can
Speaker 1: you clap your hands and make a little bit of
Speaker 1: noise if you're receiving this word. Jesus gets word that
Speaker 1: his best friend is so sick he's about to die.
Speaker 1: They send a letter the one you love is about
Speaker 1: to die, and Jesus says, this sickness will not end
Speaker 1: in death, and then he waits two more days. Can
Speaker 1: you trust that God is working even while you're waiting.
Speaker 1: He waits two more days. When he finally shows up
Speaker 1: to the home of Lazarus, we discover that Lazarus has
Speaker 1: been dead for four days. And when he gets there,
Speaker 1: Martha's one. If you had only been here, my brother
Speaker 1: would not have died. I love the scripture. It's the
Speaker 1: shortest scripture for looking one to memorize. You can still
Speaker 1: memorize one in twenty twenty four. Jesus wept. It's a
Speaker 1: powerful scripture because what you see as you see Jesus say,
Speaker 1: before I exercise my authority, I'm going to exercise my empathy,
Speaker 1: because authority without empathy is cheap. I don't know what
Speaker 1: you're going through, but Jesus weeps. You might be going
Speaker 1: through hell and high water, but Jesus weeps. He knows
Speaker 1: how you feel. He senses your pain. He's drawn to it.
Speaker 1: He cares about it. And he looks at Martha and says, Yo, Martha,
Speaker 1: I am the resurrection and the life. What does that mean?
Speaker 1: It means I don't just do resurrection. No, it's my
Speaker 1: very nature. When things get around me, I don't care
Speaker 1: how long they've been dead, four days, fifty days, twenty years.
Speaker 1: They have to come back to life. Am I preaching
Speaker 1: to anybody? On a Sunday morning? Dead things coming back
Speaker 1: to life? And he gets to the cemetery and he says,
Speaker 1: roll the stone away, and then he looks into that
Speaker 1: tomb and what does he say? Lazarus come forth. It's
Speaker 1: important that he was so specific with naming Lazarus. Had
Speaker 1: he not named Lazarus, every dead thing in that cemetery
Speaker 1: would to come walking out like a Michael Jackson thriller video.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to preach to someone dead things are coming
Speaker 1: back to life.
Speaker 3: At his word, it's mysterious.
Speaker 1: I can't explain it. It's unsinkable, it's unmade God works
Speaker 1: in mysterious ways. And what does he say? He says,
Speaker 1: get up? Can imagine that boy just set up? Whoa
Speaker 1: notice this? Because this is practical that many times when
Speaker 1: God says get up, what is he saying? He's saying,
Speaker 1: you have to change your position so I can shift
Speaker 1: your perspective. See there's some people in this room that
Speaker 1: have caught a revelation that I clap my hands, I
Speaker 1: lift my hands, sometimes I stand up on my feet.
Speaker 1: Why am I doing I'm changing my position so I
Speaker 1: can shift my perspective. So much of life wants to
Speaker 1: bury you, So much of life wants to USh you
Speaker 1: to the funeral. But if you're notice like down here,
Speaker 1: down here, I can't see all that good down here.
Speaker 1: I have one perspective. Down here, I feel the weight
Speaker 1: of the world. I'm not gonna make it. I'm over
Speaker 1: whe But then God says get up, and I get up.
Speaker 1: Can I say, wait a minute, Greater is he that
Speaker 1: is in me than he that is in the world.
Speaker 1: Down here, I'm just trying to survive. Oh Jesus, bring Friday.
Speaker 1: I gotta get to the weekend. Yo, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: make it. But then God says, get up, and I go,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I'm not a survivor. I'm more than
Speaker 1: a conqueror. I'm appreciate it till somebody else feels this.
Speaker 1: Down here, I don't have the strength. I'm not enough.
Speaker 1: I feel thin, I feel anxious. I'm too weak. But
Speaker 1: then God says, get up, and when I get up,
Speaker 1: I get his perspective. Wait a minute, I can do
Speaker 1: all I said, all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Oh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get someone that I Down here, I'm overcome
Speaker 1: by fear down here. I don't know what's gonna happen
Speaker 1: to America. Down here, I don't know what's gonna happen
Speaker 1: to my family. Down here, I don't know what's gonna
Speaker 1: happen to my kids. But then God says, get up,
Speaker 1: and when I get up, my perspective is shifted. Yay.
Speaker 1: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death,
Speaker 1: I will fear no evil. God has not given me
Speaker 1: a spirit of fear, but of love and of power
Speaker 1: and a sarmind baby, Someone say it up. Oh, I
Speaker 1: know about a God who's taken me to mountaintops. I
Speaker 1: know about a God who's taken me to grace. I
Speaker 1: know about a God who's taken me to miracles. But
Speaker 1: I also know about a God who's taken me down
Speaker 1: into the valley. But let me testify from the valley.
Speaker 1: He's only ever taken me to the valley. He always
Speaker 1: has brought me through. He always brings me to the
Speaker 1: other side. Anybody got some faith God's bringing you through?
Speaker 1: Someone say, get up. You gotta get up to get
Speaker 1: a new perspective. You can grab a seat. I promise
Speaker 1: I'm finished. I'm finished, but grab a seat because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna really preach it. Get up, Get up, Get up,
Speaker 1: Get up, Get up, Get up, Get up, get up.
Speaker 1: I can't help but lift my hands. I'm not lifting
Speaker 1: my hands because I feel it. I'm lifting my hands
Speaker 1: because I know it. I can't help but shout. I'm
Speaker 1: not shouting because I've got goosebumps. I'm shouting because I'm
Speaker 1: putting my faith as an exclamation mark in a declaration that,
Speaker 1: although it's not done yet, I believe God is working.
Speaker 1: He's mysterious. And the Bible says the boy starts talking.
Speaker 1: I don't know what he said, doesn't tell us in
Speaker 1: the scripture, but I imagine it's something like this. Thank you
Speaker 1: for all of our Spanish speakers. Can I see as
Speaker 1: my favorite nation in Brazil? But all put that in
Speaker 1: the chat right now? How about of God? Oh, Brazilian
Speaker 1: flags all over the chat. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you. They all started worshiping. The boy was resurrected,
Speaker 1: the funeral was canceled, and the future was conceived. It's mysterious,
Speaker 1: and the Bible says. They all begin to praise God,
Speaker 1: because that's what you do. That's what we do on
Speaker 1: Sundays when Jesus acts, praise reacts. I don't care if
Speaker 1: it's a new song or not. I got a song
Speaker 1: in my heart. It's not my song, it's God's song.
Speaker 1: I can't stay quiet. I gotta lift my hands, I
Speaker 1: gotta lift my voice. Jesus has acted mightily in my life.
Speaker 1: They begin to praise, saying, a great prophet has come.
Speaker 1: Let me draw your attention to Luke chapter seven. This
Speaker 1: is Eugene Peterson's paraphrase, and it just spoke to me.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna speak to you Luke chapter seven.
Speaker 1: See if you catch it. Verse sixteen. They all realized
Speaker 1: they were in a place of holy mystery, that God
Speaker 1: was at work among them. Watch this, they were quietly worshipful,
Speaker 1: and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves. God is back,
Speaker 1: looking after the needs of his people. And then the
Speaker 1: news of Jesus spread. It just lands right there for
Speaker 1: me that every week we gather this is mysterious. We
Speaker 1: have no idea what God is doing right now in
Speaker 1: the supernatural. We have no idea the seed of faith
Speaker 1: that's being planted in your heart wherever you're tuning in
Speaker 1: from right now. It's a mystery. It's a holy mystery.
Speaker 1: It's a mystery in Charlotte. It's a mystery in the Epham,
Speaker 1: It's a mystery in Miami. And notice the marks of
Speaker 1: a mystery. Quietly worshipful and then noisily grateful. Do you
Speaker 1: ever notice this in worship? You ever noticed this? When
Speaker 1: God shows up? There's these times where it's just a whisper,
Speaker 1: Oh God, God, thank you, God, thank you. You saved
Speaker 1: my marriage. God, you saved my kids. Oh God, thank you.
Speaker 1: But then there's other times I don't care if you're
Speaker 1: a Pentecostal or not, that you start getting noisily grateful.
Speaker 1: I can't help it. I've gotta testify. I have a
Speaker 1: reason to praise God. If I don't praise him, whoa,
Speaker 1: the rocks will cry out in my place. But other times, othertimes,
Speaker 1: Oh God, oh Jesus, be still A. No, I know
Speaker 1: you're with me. I know you're here. I know you're
Speaker 1: at work. It's mysterious. I know I can't see it
Speaker 1: right now. I know I feel stuck. I know I
Speaker 1: don't have to strength to show. But God, I sense you.
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden it flips around into
Speaker 1: a noisily grateful moment. Oh, I might not be where
Speaker 1: where I want to be, but thank God, I'm not
Speaker 1: where I used to be. I was dead, but now
Speaker 1: I hear. I was blind, but now I see. I
Speaker 1: was lost, but I've been found.
Speaker 3: I was dead, but I'm alive.
Speaker 1: It's mysterious. It's mysterious. Don't underestimate it. It's not hype.
Speaker 1: It's not sensationalism. It's not emotionalism. It's the mystery of
Speaker 1: God at work. It's the invisible hand sweeping through the room.
Speaker 1: It's touching you, it's catching your tears. God is here.
Speaker 1: God is working. God is here. God is working. If
Speaker 1: that can you help me prepacy, We're done. We're done.
Speaker 1: I promise, I promise. I follow this up claw. I
Speaker 1: just want to try to illustrate this for somebody. This
Speaker 1: hide the room. You're gonna help me preach this t
Speaker 1: right here. Try to say God is here, and no whisper.
Speaker 1: Not you guys, you're way too aggressive. Say God is
Speaker 1: here one more time. Any Pentecostals in the room today,
Speaker 1: All right, you know your part. God is working one
Speaker 1: more time this side, Pentecostals. I'm doing that because I
Speaker 1: don't know how you need to hear it today. But
Speaker 1: God sent me from Miami to tell you. Whether it's
Speaker 1: a whisper or a shout, He's going to remind you
Speaker 1: he's mysterious. This is my life, this is your life.
Speaker 1: I remember when we first started our church. We couldn't
Speaker 1: find a place to meet. We're up in my apartment
Speaker 1: just trying to start a church, and it was scary,
Speaker 1: it was frightening, but we had this sense. We were praying,
Speaker 1: we were hoping. All we can say is God is here.
Speaker 1: We finally found a building. We were so grateful, little
Speaker 1: middle school in Wynwood. We started with one service and
Speaker 1: all we could say was God is here, but that
Speaker 1: thing began to grow in the invisible hand started to
Speaker 1: build that church. For if we labor in vain, it
Speaker 1: won't work, but God builds his house. They went from
Speaker 1: one service to two service, three, four, five, six. We
Speaker 1: had an eight pm cert. Y'all, you haven't been to
Speaker 1: church until you went to church at eight pm at night.
Speaker 1: Trust me. Everybody at Vood Church was shouting. I remember
Speaker 1: my wife when she turned twenty five years of age.
Speaker 1: The doctor said, it's going to be almost impossible for
Speaker 1: you to have children. It was crazy for us to
Speaker 1: hear it because she's one of seven. I'm one of four,
Speaker 1: and it was scary and we were crying and we
Speaker 1: were worried, but we had this sense God is here.
Speaker 1: Here's went by. It wasn't like one Sunday and wow good.
Speaker 1: It was word after word. It was Pastor Stephen, write
Speaker 1: another song, Pastor Stephen, I need another word. But we
Speaker 1: just kept saying God is here. But after eight years,
Speaker 1: eight is the number of new beginnings. New beginnings hit
Speaker 1: our house. My wife became pregnant. We were shouting and
Speaker 1: cannot just testify today at the ripe age of forty
Speaker 1: years of age. Four weeks from today, my wife will
Speaker 1: give birth to our fourth.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 1: We could shout this time. Last year, my father, my hero,
Speaker 1: my pastor, the man of OH always wanted to be like,
Speaker 1: got diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. It was scary.
Speaker 1: Who's to take care of my mom? What's gonna happen
Speaker 1: to his church? I'm not enough, But there was this sense.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a shout, it was a whisper. And we
Speaker 1: pray and we fasted, and all we can say is
Speaker 1: God is here. God is here. He went into a
Speaker 1: six month quarantine. He had a stem cell transplant in
Speaker 1: this past August. The doctors not understanding at all, unexplainable, unexpected,
Speaker 1: they gave him a clean bill of health. Trust me,
Speaker 1: everybody in Miami and all of the world is shouting.
Speaker 1: What are we shouting? What do you say? What do
Speaker 1: you believe? Say it louda say it so somebody could hear.
Speaker 1: God is working. God it is here, do works in
Speaker 1: my serious ways. And I've said something dead. It's coming
Speaker 1: back to life today. I know what Nay, hey, sit
Speaker 1: your hand may thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast.
Speaker 1: For more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you
Speaker 1: can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks
Speaker 2: again for listening.
Speaker 1: God bless you.