Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Are you excited about God's word today? Holly's gonna preach.
Speaker 1: But before she does, no, hold on, I didn't tell
Speaker 1: you this. She's walking toward the stage to stay there.
Speaker 1: I want to bring up. Both of the boys are
Speaker 1: wearing a suit. Graham's is safety pind because the tailor
Speaker 1: is quarantined a safe depend at the bottom, so don't
Speaker 1: look at that. And Elijah had some yogurt on this lapel,
Speaker 1: but I think we baby wiped it off. And Abby
Speaker 1: looks perfectly. She always does. Say you'll come on up
Speaker 1: for a minute, and Abby's gonna introduce you. So handsome,
Speaker 1: so handsome, so good, so good. Hey baby, all right,
Speaker 1: go ahead and bring out her pulpit. We've got to
Speaker 1: be ready at the table, coffee table, whatever here, let's
Speaker 1: make up. Let's make a line together. Who stands where?
Speaker 1: All right? You hold her mike, then you go on
Speaker 1: the other side. You hold her hand and just face
Speaker 1: right that way where Holly's about to come up. Don't
Speaker 1: don't step back, the table's coming. I did that one time.
Speaker 1: I tripped over that table so bad? Did you bring
Speaker 1: it out the week I tripped over sixteen sixty sixtet?
Speaker 1: Did you thank God for your biceps? Man? You've been
Speaker 1: taking a creatine on quarantine? Haven't you creatine on quarantine? Anyway?
Speaker 1: Just hold that might you want to hold it yourself?
Speaker 1: You hold it? Hold her hand? Boy? How strong would
Speaker 1: you you want to hold his hand? All right? Just
Speaker 1: read the pig? Yeah, go ahead. I want to tell
Speaker 1: you a little about my mom before she preaches to
Speaker 1: you today. You probably already know that she likes to read,
Speaker 1: but I bet you didn't know that she doesn't read
Speaker 1: the books on paper, but she listens to them on audible.
Speaker 1: She probably doesn't want you to know that. She's loved
Speaker 1: backs and purses since she was about three years old
Speaker 1: and used to take her mom's purses and grocery bags
Speaker 1: and put her toys in them. She always takes time
Speaker 1: to cook delicious, healthy meals for our family. But my
Speaker 1: favorite thing about her is how she tucks me at
Speaker 1: night and reads me and prays for me. So Elevation
Speaker 1: Church all over the world, let's welcome my mom Holifredick.
Speaker 1: Surely I look like I sent out a dress a
Speaker 1: little remember better than marka for I don't know. There's
Speaker 1: not a lot of people, but the ten who are
Speaker 1: here really love you. I'm gonna sit down in a minute,
Speaker 1: I promised, But you've got something exciting coming up, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure the entire church family knew
Speaker 1: about it, so share it. Okay, So this Wednesday, I
Speaker 1: am starting a live, open enrollment of missus better half.
Speaker 1: It's a Bible study that I wrote several years ago.
Speaker 1: It's actually something that was sort of birthed out of
Speaker 1: our house. Exactly. I was going to say that I
Speaker 1: would watch her welcome all of these women into our home.
Speaker 1: I had to take the kids, and you'll remember we
Speaker 1: would go to a movie or go to what's that
Speaker 1: restaurant Highway fifty five, and we would bug out while
Speaker 1: she would teach the women the study. And remember the
Speaker 1: house would always be full of women and she'd be
Speaker 1: teaching them about being a wife and not really trying
Speaker 1: to lecture, but just sharing from experience. So I had
Speaker 1: one group and then another group and then another group,
Speaker 1: and was like, you should do this as an actual study.
Speaker 1: And you, from my perspective, you're too humble sometimes so
Speaker 1: you're like, well, I don't do Bible studies. And then
Speaker 1: you did it and God has used it in a
Speaker 1: great way. And we were taking a walk the other
Speaker 1: day and I said, people right now that either if
Speaker 1: they're quarantined or if they're just like they've been spent
Speaker 1: too much time with people that they're with, you should
Speaker 1: do becoming this is better half study for the whole world,
Speaker 1: and do it on Facebook live and and do it
Speaker 1: each week. And so she committed to do that, and
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be absolutely amazing to share
Speaker 1: this with our family. At this time, I'm really excited.
Speaker 1: So it's going to be live every Wednesday night on
Speaker 1: Facebook and all you have to do to be a
Speaker 1: part is completely free, is go to Hollyfordick dot com
Speaker 1: and register because it is a Facebook group, so it's
Speaker 1: not just like open to everyone, it's a group, so
Speaker 1: you have to ask to be a part of the
Speaker 1: group and we will let you in and you don't
Speaker 1: need a book. Some people will have a book, but
Speaker 1: we'll have a digital of the book available for you
Speaker 1: within the Facebook group. And I'm kind of nervous about it,
Speaker 1: but I'm also really excited. All Right, if you're coming
Speaker 1: to the study, say I'm in in the chat so
Speaker 1: she can know she's not going to be better half along.
Speaker 1: That's going to be amazing. And you can jump in
Speaker 1: this Wednesday. If you're watching this later, you can jump
Speaker 1: in later on as well, completely free. Our gift to
Speaker 1: you during this time, ye preach the word you look amazing.
Speaker 1: Thank you, you are amazing. I mean that, and I
Speaker 1: thank God that God gave you a husband that cleans
Speaker 1: up as well as me. I love you, you look good.
Speaker 1: Preach the word come on, let's give it up for Holly.
Speaker 1: So that was very special, guys. I wanted to go
Speaker 1: on record and let everyone know that it was Elijah's
Speaker 1: idea for them to dress up and wear suits and
Speaker 1: so not his dad, and his dad said yes, let's
Speaker 1: do it, and Graham said are we we want to
Speaker 1: do that? And guys, thank you, thank you for dressing
Speaker 1: up and being here at Abby, thank you for introducing me.
Speaker 1: That was so special. I love you, guys, I love
Speaker 1: you too. Everybody watching Hi. Before I start, I have
Speaker 1: to say my piece about the Blessing because I am
Speaker 1: just continually amazed. I don't know if you are, but
Speaker 1: I just can't seem to get used to the fact
Speaker 1: that God is continually using this church and this ministry
Speaker 1: all across the world. I love how almost every video
Speaker 1: showcases people who are part of the Elevation family all
Speaker 1: over the world. And the music, the freaking music. Can
Speaker 1: I say that God is taking these songs that my
Speaker 1: husband and Chris and our Elevation Worship team have written
Speaker 1: in He is using them to bring hope and peace
Speaker 1: during such a crazy time of uncertainty. And what I
Speaker 1: can't believe is that we get to hear them first.
Speaker 1: Whether you're in the building or you're watching online, we
Speaker 1: get to hear these songs first. They're birthed here and
Speaker 1: they're sung here. And the Blessing, all of those people
Speaker 1: that were singing the Blessing, we got to sing it
Speaker 1: here first on this stage. And I don't I've never
Speaker 1: had a song that gets me every time like that
Speaker 1: one does, and I can't seem to listen to it enough.
Speaker 1: Yesterday I was walking down this greenway and I was
Speaker 1: listening and I was like, I was I think I
Speaker 1: was by myself, but I was like lifting my hands
Speaker 1: and I was singing. And I have to say, personally,
Speaker 1: my favorite part of the blessing the live version that's
Speaker 1: on the Elevation album Graves in the Gardens. If you
Speaker 1: don't have it, you're dumb. But my favorite part of
Speaker 1: my favorite part, Babe, is when you say you take
Speaker 1: the stage. Do you know what I'm about to say?
Speaker 1: And he comes up, and you know, everybody's singing and
Speaker 1: it's you wanted to go into the blessing one more time?
Speaker 1: And he goes put another blessing on him? Carrie, do
Speaker 1: you know that you do that? It's my favorite part.
Speaker 1: So anyway, thank you Pastor Stephen for pushing so hard
Speaker 1: and writing such incredible songs in Elevation Worship. Where have
Speaker 1: you guys went? You are blessing us in this season.
Speaker 1: So Happy Mother's Day. It's my turn to say Happy
Speaker 1: Mother's Day to all of the ladies who are watching.
Speaker 1: My mom is watching. I love you Mom. This year
Speaker 1: I sent my mom a beautiful little framed print of
Speaker 1: a church and the title of the print was called
Speaker 1: Vincing's My soul, and I wrote her a little letter
Speaker 1: and told her that I was grateful for her for
Speaker 1: raising me in the church. Some of my earliest memories
Speaker 1: are at church, and it's now the thing that I've
Speaker 1: chosen to give my life to. So thank you, Mom
Speaker 1: for planning those seeds in me. I love you. I
Speaker 1: also feel like Mother's Day is a day to celebrate
Speaker 1: all women. A woman's touch is a beautiful thing in
Speaker 1: this world, and so I also want to take the
Speaker 1: opportunity to say to all of the ladies under the
Speaker 1: sound of my voice, that I honor you today and
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for loving and nurturing and
Speaker 1: caring for all of those that God has placed in
Speaker 1: your life. I love that they use that scripture Proverbs
Speaker 1: thirty one where it says her children rise up and
Speaker 1: call her blessed. And I hope that everyone watching today
Speaker 1: will take a moment to reach out to a few women.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you've already reached out to your mom,
Speaker 1: but if you'll take a minute to reach out to
Speaker 1: a few women who've impacted your life today and just
Speaker 1: thank them. It could be a teacher, or a friend,
Speaker 1: or just a woman that you look up to. And
Speaker 1: let them know how they have impacted your life. You know,
Speaker 1: I feel like I feel like these past two months
Speaker 1: have been particularly hard on the women, and so I
Speaker 1: want to take a second to honor some of the
Speaker 1: hero moms that I feel like need to be shouted
Speaker 1: out today. Okay, so shout out to the mom whose
Speaker 1: kids cannot fix it own cereal. If that's you, just
Speaker 1: type it in the chat, yes, Lord, and we all
Speaker 1: salute you. All of the moms whose kids can fix
Speaker 1: their own cereal. We we're sorry that you're still in
Speaker 1: that stage, but we shout you out. Shout out to
Speaker 1: the mom who thought she had an empty nest, but
Speaker 1: all your adult children came back to invade what would
Speaker 1: have been a very peaceful quarantine for you, and you're
Speaker 1: cooking food for an army of people. If that's you,
Speaker 1: type yes Lord in the chat. Okay, Shout out to
Speaker 1: the mom whose kids cannot read the directions that were
Speaker 1: sent to them by their teacher. If that's you, I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry. Just say yes Lord, and we will. We will,
Speaker 1: we will give our blessings to you and call you
Speaker 1: our hero. This one's for me. I'm shouting myself out.
Speaker 1: Shout out to the moms of teenage boys who cannot
Speaker 1: get enough to eat. My boys do not accept cereal
Speaker 1: for dinner as an answer. Cereal is like a post dinner,
Speaker 1: pre dessert thing in our house. A box of cereal
Speaker 1: law one day and poor Abby, you guys, Poor Abby,
Speaker 1: She's going to have some serious foodishes because she's always
Speaker 1: hiding food in her room from her brother so that
Speaker 1: they don't get it. Do I have any moms have
Speaker 1: teenage boys out there to support me? I cooked dinner
Speaker 1: last night. I made the same recipe that I made
Speaker 1: like I probably made it three months ago, and we
Speaker 1: had leftovers, and last night there was there was no
Speaker 1: food left and my husband went to get seconds and
Speaker 1: he was like, guys's where's the I'm telling you, the
Speaker 1: food is an issue in our house. Shout out to
Speaker 1: tell the working moms out there, because I cannot tell
Speaker 1: you how many zoom calls I've been in where a
Speaker 1: mom is walking a baby or kids come in and interrupt.
Speaker 1: And I'm also shouting myself out on this one because
Speaker 1: my kids just come in the room like they don't
Speaker 1: check to see, they don't listen at the door to
Speaker 1: see if you're like talking to yourself or anything. They
Speaker 1: just walk in the room talking to you. Anybody, any
Speaker 1: working moms out there, you feel my pain. And Abby
Speaker 1: came into my office the other day and I was
Speaker 1: on a zoom call and she was like the fourth
Speaker 1: person that interrupted me. And my husband wasn't one of them.
Speaker 1: I mean, they just kept coming into the room and
Speaker 1: she comes in and I turned around and I was
Speaker 1: so done, and I looked at her like what and
Speaker 1: she goes, you obviously don't want to talk to me
Speaker 1: right now, and she stopped out of the room like
Speaker 1: I was the one who was being rude. Anyone out
Speaker 1: there with me on this Okay. Shout out to the
Speaker 1: moms of the kids who have special needs. I just
Speaker 1: want to say, your sacrifice is an example to all
Speaker 1: of us and you are a hero. And one last time,
Speaker 1: one last shout out. Shout out to all the moms
Speaker 1: who have missed milestones these past few months, whether it
Speaker 1: was a graduation, or the birth of a grandchild, or
Speaker 1: even a wedding. I am I'm so sorry, and I'm
Speaker 1: praying that God would multiply back to you everything that
Speaker 1: you have missed during this season. Ladies, wherever you are,
Speaker 1: whatever stage of life you're in, You're doing better than
Speaker 1: you think you are. That is one of my favorite
Speaker 1: lines from a Stephen Ferdick sermon. How many of you
Speaker 1: want another throwback Thursday? I want another throwback Thursday, and
Speaker 1: I'm calling for them to play my husband's sermon. The
Speaker 1: most encouraging message you've never heard, and it's a word
Speaker 1: for all the moms, because you are doing better than
Speaker 1: you think you are. And I'm praying over you today
Speaker 1: that no matter what this Mother's Day is like for you,
Speaker 1: that you would feel encouraged and that you would feel comforting.
Speaker 1: Am I losing the guys out there? They're like, hello,
Speaker 1: I promise that my message is for everyone today and
Speaker 1: I'm about to get to it. So right now, I'm
Speaker 1: really excited to bring this word today. I have the
Speaker 1: privilege of thinking about my sermons for a lot longer
Speaker 1: than Pastor Stephen does. He has an average of six days,
Speaker 1: and I, on the other hand, have the ability to
Speaker 1: just gather, gather, gather, and mentally think about next time
Speaker 1: I preach what I want to preach about. So this
Speaker 1: sermon that I'm bringing you today, I actually started taking
Speaker 1: down little notes on it in October and so I
Speaker 1: feel like everything came together this week as I've been preparing,
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited about what God has to say
Speaker 1: to us today. So will you pray with me before
Speaker 1: we get started. God, First of all, I just want
Speaker 1: to lift up all the women under the sound of
Speaker 1: my voice. And I pray for those who have lost
Speaker 1: their mom. And I pray for those who want to
Speaker 1: be a mom, and I pray that you would comfort
Speaker 1: them today. God, I pray for the woman that is tired,
Speaker 1: that you would encourage her today. And God, I'm just
Speaker 1: so thankful for all of the women in my life
Speaker 1: who have impacted me and encouraged me and prayed for
Speaker 1: me and pushed me. And I'm just so grateful for
Speaker 1: their touch in my life. And so now, Lord, would
Speaker 1: you speak to us. We are listening, our ears are open.
Speaker 1: You are such a good God, and we counted a
Speaker 1: privilege every time that we get to open up your
Speaker 1: word and hear your voice. And is in Jesus' name
Speaker 1: we pray Amen. All right, if you have a Bible,
Speaker 1: will you turn to John six. In the Book of John,
Speaker 1: Jesus makes seven statements. And last month when I preached,
Speaker 1: I talked about there's seven I Am statements. And last
Speaker 1: month when I preached, I talked about when Jesus said
Speaker 1: I am the Way. Today, I want to go back
Speaker 1: and talk about the very first I AM statement that
Speaker 1: Jesus presented to his followers, and that is I am
Speaker 1: the bread of life to me. This is perhaps the
Speaker 1: best description Jesus could have given himself. Do I have
Speaker 1: any other fellow bread lovers out there? I love bread.
Speaker 1: I love bread. I think sourdough is my favorite, but
Speaker 1: really any warm bread with butter on it, and I
Speaker 1: will throw any diet out the window. Bread it gives,
Speaker 1: It gives comfort, and it gives fullness, and it represents
Speaker 1: life and sustenance. And today I want to show you
Speaker 1: how when Jesus shows up in your life, he starts
Speaker 1: often with the things that he can do for you,
Speaker 1: but he wants to move you in a space of
Speaker 1: who he can be to you. All right, So let's
Speaker 1: look at John chapter six, verse twenty eight. We're going
Speaker 1: to pick up just after Jesus has performed the miracle
Speaker 1: of feeding the five thousand, and here's what it says.
Speaker 1: Then they asked him what must we do to do
Speaker 1: the works God requires? Jesus answered, the work of God
Speaker 1: is this to believe in the one he has sent.
Speaker 1: So they asked him, what side, then, will you give
Speaker 1: that we may see it and believe you. What will
Speaker 1: you do our ancestors eight manna in the wilderness. As
Speaker 1: it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Speaker 1: Jesus said to them, very truly, I tell you, it
Speaker 1: is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven,
Speaker 1: but it is my Father who gives you the true
Speaker 1: bread from heaven. For the Bread of God is the
Speaker 1: bread that comes down from Heaven and gives life to
Speaker 1: the world. Sir, they said, always give us this bread.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life.
Speaker 1: Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever
Speaker 1: believes in me will never be thirsty. Today, I want
Speaker 1: to talk to you about moving past miracles. My title
Speaker 1: is More than Miracles. Several weeks ago, Pastor Stephen started
Speaker 1: this series called Looking Forward to Normal, and this series
Speaker 1: has just been mind blowing to me. I feel like
Speaker 1: every week he comes with the exact words that I
Speaker 1: didn't even know that I was needing to hear, Like
Speaker 1: he's on this special tap with the Holy Spirit that
Speaker 1: just goes right into my soul. And ever since he
Speaker 1: began this idea of looking forward to normal, I've been
Speaker 1: reading the Bible differently, and I've been seeing that all
Speaker 1: throughout Jesus's teachings, he was actually trying to get the
Speaker 1: people to look forward to normal. But they had such
Speaker 1: a hard time with this, And in this particular passage
Speaker 1: of Scripture and the crowds coming to Jesus and expecting
Speaker 1: him to repeat the miracles of Moses and actually physically
Speaker 1: lead them out of Roman oppression. But Jesus came to
Speaker 1: do so much more than that. He came to bring
Speaker 1: a new life. He came to bring a living hope.
Speaker 1: He came to bring a freedom that went so far
Speaker 1: beyond their physical captivity. He came to bring them a
Speaker 1: relationship with the Living God that would go so far
Speaker 1: beyond their traditional religion of following the law and making sacrifices.
Speaker 1: The problem with this is that the people could not
Speaker 1: see beyond what they thought the Messiah would do, and
Speaker 1: they were disappointed. Have you ever been disappointed because following
Speaker 1: God didn't turn out the way that you thought it would.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've all been there. Maybe you've asked God
Speaker 1: for something and he didn't do it. Maybe you thought
Speaker 1: God would change something in your life and he still
Speaker 1: hasn't done it. It's easy for me to stand here
Speaker 1: and tell you when God doesn't do something for you,
Speaker 1: it's because he has something that he wants to do
Speaker 1: in you. But it's harder to believe that when you
Speaker 1: can't get past why God didn't do the thing that
Speaker 1: you were expecting him to do in the first place.
Speaker 1: It's Mother's Day, so I said, okay if I talk
Speaker 1: about being a mom, because being a mom has been
Speaker 1: one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. Now,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, it's also been guys. Sorry, it's
Speaker 1: also been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
Speaker 1: But it just didn't turn out the way that I
Speaker 1: imagine that it was. You see, I wanted to be
Speaker 1: a mom from the very beginning. From my earliest memories.
Speaker 1: I loved playing with dolls as a little girl. I
Speaker 1: loved playing house with my sisters. I always fought it
Speaker 1: to be the mom and my older sister Emily would
Speaker 1: be the dad. And I'm ashamed to say that sometimes
Speaker 1: we would make our little sister Joy play the dog,
Speaker 1: sorry toy. But even as I grew up, I loved
Speaker 1: babysitting and I loved working in my church nursery. And
Speaker 1: when I married the man of my dreams, I wanted
Speaker 1: to start a family right away. And my husband helped
Speaker 1: me off for a couple of years because he was
Speaker 1: smarter than me. And finally I got pregnant at the
Speaker 1: mature age of twenty four, and this beautiful baby was
Speaker 1: placed into my arms. And guys, when I tell you
Speaker 1: that he came out crying, he came out screaming, and
Speaker 1: he did not stop, like for five years, he did
Speaker 1: not stop. And the doctors and the nurses would come
Speaker 1: into our hospital room and they'd say, wow, he's got
Speaker 1: a great set of lungs. We thought that was a compliment. Really,
Speaker 1: it's code for your baby's crying really loud. And then
Speaker 1: we took him home and he kept crying, and then
Speaker 1: I started crying, and nothing was the way that I thought.
Speaker 1: I have a meme that I want to show you.
Speaker 1: This is what you thought motherhood would be like versus
Speaker 1: what it's actually like. This one really ministered to my soul.
Speaker 1: This baby came out and there were no flowers, that
Speaker 1: this wasn't the way that I pictured it. But the
Speaker 1: problem wasn't the baby. The problem was my expectations of him.
Speaker 1: Babies crying, that's what they do, and so I started
Speaker 1: asking God to make him stop crying. And God wanted
Speaker 1: to draw me closer to him. And God was building
Speaker 1: an inner strength in me that I would need for
Speaker 1: every stage that would follow. So much of what I
Speaker 1: dreamed about when it came to being a mom was
Speaker 1: actually based on my ego. Sorry, this isn't turning out
Speaker 1: to be the most comforting Mother's Day message, is it.
Speaker 1: That's not the thing that we want to hear on
Speaker 1: Mother's Day. But I had to realize, and I'm still
Speaker 1: fourteen years later learning this that raising kids is mostly
Speaker 1: about releasing your expectations and embracing who God has created
Speaker 1: them to be. Have you ever been disappointed because something
Speaker 1: didn't turn out the way you thought it would. I
Speaker 1: think we all feel that way about twenty twenty. God,
Speaker 1: this is not the way I pictured this going. And
Speaker 1: that's how the Jewish people felt in John six. They
Speaker 1: had spent four hundred years waiting for the promised Messiah.
Speaker 1: They had memorized the old Testament prophecies, and they had
Speaker 1: built up in their mind what they thought the Messiah
Speaker 1: would do when he finally came to rescue them. So
Speaker 1: here they are under Roman rule, and they view themselves
Speaker 1: much like the Israelites when they were under Egyptian slavery.
Speaker 1: They even had this prophecy that said that the Messiah
Speaker 1: would call down manna from heaven like Moses had. So
Speaker 1: can you imagine their excitement when Jesus does this miracle
Speaker 1: and he feeds the five thousand, and the people thought,
Speaker 1: this is it, this is him, This is the man
Speaker 1: who's going to start a revolution and lead us to freedom.
Speaker 1: And so they chase Jesus down the very next day
Speaker 1: and they say to him, look at what it says
Speaker 1: in verse thirty. They say, what sign will you give
Speaker 1: us that we may see it and believe you? What
Speaker 1: will you do our ancestors eight mana in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven
Speaker 1: to eat. But Jesus was trying to get them to
Speaker 1: look forward to a new normal. He wanted them to
Speaker 1: see that yes he is the Messiah, and yes he
Speaker 1: does miracles. And let me just say, God delights in
Speaker 1: showing up in miraculous ways, and God still does miracles.
Speaker 1: He's our heavenly father, and he loves you. He loves
Speaker 1: it when you pray about your job and your children
Speaker 1: and your finances. He loves to show up in your
Speaker 1: life and make a way when there seems to be
Speaker 1: no way. He gave them bread to eat. He satisfied
Speaker 1: their physical needs, but that is not where he stops.
Speaker 1: And the beautiful thing about following Jesus is that he
Speaker 1: offers so much more than just meeting our physical needs.
Speaker 1: And so he begins to teach them, and he wants
Speaker 1: them to understand that he's offering more than just physical
Speaker 1: bread that goes into your belly, that he is the
Speaker 1: bread who has come down from heaven. He tells them,
Speaker 1: I am all that you need. I am the one
Speaker 1: who satisfies the hunger in your soul. I am the
Speaker 1: bread of life. They wanted Jesus to fit within their
Speaker 1: formula of religion, but Jesus came to completely change everything.
Speaker 1: The old standard was works and sacrifices and following the law.
Speaker 1: The new standard is simple faith and belief and an actual, living,
Speaker 1: breathing relationship with the God of the universe that was better?
Speaker 1: What matters most in the Christian life? If we could
Speaker 1: just get this today, this is the thing I want
Speaker 1: you to get. What matters most in the Christian life
Speaker 1: is not what Jesus can do for you. Yes he
Speaker 1: still does miracles, but what matters most is who he
Speaker 1: is to you. Maybe you know Jesus is the one
Speaker 1: who provides physically, but have you moved to knowing him
Speaker 1: as the one who satisfies your soul? Because I'm standing
Speaker 1: here today and telling you that that is a real
Speaker 1: thing in my life. He is the one that satisfies
Speaker 1: my soul. So what does this look like practically? Because
Speaker 1: it's great to talk about how Jesus is the bread
Speaker 1: of life, but what does that mean in your everyday life?
Speaker 1: Y'all knew I used to be a teacher for three
Speaker 1: very long years of my life. Is it r? And
Speaker 1: if I teach you a little bit today, I want
Speaker 1: to teach you about what it looks like to access
Speaker 1: this bread of life, this bread that Christ offers to us.
Speaker 1: And I would like to dedicate this sermon to my
Speaker 1: low carb eating husband and all of his Keto friends
Speaker 1: out there. Bread is biblical, So this sermon is dedicated
Speaker 1: to all of you. The first thing that we need
Speaker 1: to do before we can identify what the bread looks
Speaker 1: like in our everyday life is we need to figure
Speaker 1: out what it is not. Jesus said, I am the
Speaker 1: bread of life. He even quotes to them from their
Speaker 1: prophecy in Isaiah fifty five, verse two. It says what
Speaker 1: the prophecy says, Why spend money on what is not
Speaker 1: bread and labor your labor on what does not satisfy.
Speaker 1: Listen to me and eat what is good, and you
Speaker 1: will delight the richest affair. It's important that we identify
Speaker 1: the things in our life that are not bred. One
Speaker 1: day this week, I saw I came out of my
Speaker 1: office from having a meeting, and I saw that Graham
Speaker 1: eight cocoa puffs for lunch. Coco puffs are not inadequate lunch.
Speaker 1: Cocoa puffs are going to fill you up for about
Speaker 1: an hour and then leave you coming back for more
Speaker 1: junk that does not nourish your body. And I got
Speaker 1: to thinking, are there any coco puff Christians out there?
Speaker 1: Are there any things in your life that are not
Speaker 1: nourishing you, but you keep going back for it. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's a habit that you just can't seem to stop doing.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's an offense that has caused you to become
Speaker 1: bitter and kind of blocked you from experiencing what God
Speaker 1: wants you to experience in your life. Maybe it's a
Speaker 1: person who always pulls you away from the things that
Speaker 1: you know that God is trying to do in your life.
Speaker 1: Here's one for me. Gossip Proverbs twenty six twenty two
Speaker 1: gets me so good every time it says the words
Speaker 1: of a gossip are like choice morsels. They go down
Speaker 1: into the innermost parts. Have you ever noticed how it
Speaker 1: feels good to talk about someone in the moment, But
Speaker 1: it's like kind of like those garlicky breadsticks. They feel
Speaker 1: good going down, but then later you start to worry
Speaker 1: that maybe you went too far. And then deep down,
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's any like over analyzers out there,
Speaker 1: but deep down you start to wonder if the person
Speaker 1: that you were gossiping too will trust you less because
Speaker 1: they're like, well, if she would talk about them to me,
Speaker 1: she might talk about me to them. I need to
Speaker 1: get past that one quickly. Sometimes I buy things that
Speaker 1: I don't need to impress people who aren't even looking.
Speaker 1: I need to keep moving. Sometimes I depend on others
Speaker 1: around me to fill me. What a heavy burden to
Speaker 1: place on the people that God has placed in my life.
Speaker 1: Spiritual bread can never come from another person, and good
Speaker 1: or bad, because anytime that you try to find nourishment
Speaker 1: from an earthly person, you will be disappointed. Because people
Speaker 1: are imperfect. People will always let you down. People have
Speaker 1: their own flaws and their own failures. And if you
Speaker 1: think that your spouse, or your child, or your friendship
Speaker 1: will fill you, you will ultimately be let down. Sometimes
Speaker 1: God does use others to fill us, of course he does.
Speaker 1: God speaks to me through the amazing people that He's
Speaker 1: placed in my life. But you can't get it backwards.
Speaker 1: You can't confuse the source. He is our bread, and
Speaker 1: if he chooses to speak to me through a person
Speaker 1: in my life, it's still the Holy Spirit who is
Speaker 1: comforting me, not that person. When he is my bread,
Speaker 1: I know where to go when I feel let down.
Speaker 1: So what does the bread look like? If that's what
Speaker 1: it's not? What is it? What does it look like?
Speaker 1: First of all, bread is now very eaten, stale bread.
Speaker 1: It's not good. My mom used to take me to
Speaker 1: the store called the day old bread Store. At least
Speaker 1: that's what she called it. Anybody ever go to the
Speaker 1: day old bread store. One day is okay, but stale
Speaker 1: bread is not good. When you know Jesus, you know
Speaker 1: that he speaks right now to your situation. Sometimes he
Speaker 1: only gives you enough to sustain you for a moment,
Speaker 1: sometimes for a day. The Bible tells us that his
Speaker 1: mercies are new every morning because they aren't meant to
Speaker 1: last forever. They're meant to make you coming back to
Speaker 1: him for more and for more. What if you had
Speaker 1: a relationship with someone that you never spoke to, that
Speaker 1: wouldn't be much of a relationship. God has a fresh
Speaker 1: word that can sustain you moment to moment. It's now.
Speaker 1: He gives you a word in season. Proverbs fifteen twenty
Speaker 1: three says a word spoken in due season, how good
Speaker 1: it is. Back in March, God led me to Psalm
Speaker 1: twenty three. I didn't know why. I just started reading it,
Speaker 1: and then coronavirus came and it became my anthem. For
Speaker 1: the next several months. I read it over and over again,
Speaker 1: I read it in different versions. I shared it with
Speaker 1: everyone because it was getting me through all of the
Speaker 1: emotions and the uncertainties of quarantine. It was a word
Speaker 1: in season for me. Jeremiah fifteen sixteen says this, let
Speaker 1: me find it. When your words came, I ate them.
Speaker 1: They were my joy and my heart's delight. You don't
Speaker 1: need signs anymore. Maybe a sign or a miracle brought
Speaker 1: you to Christ, but mature faith doesn't need constant signs
Speaker 1: and wonders. Sometimes God doesn't get you out of a
Speaker 1: situation because he wants you to go through. But he
Speaker 1: is going to give you everything that you need to
Speaker 1: push through, and He's I'm going to go through it
Speaker 1: with you, and you're gonna come out on the other
Speaker 1: side stronger. But sure faith knows that the bread is
Speaker 1: right there in front of them, right now, in this moment,
Speaker 1: right now, I just have to access it. I just
Speaker 1: have to open my eyes. His bread is also normal.
Speaker 1: So often we think that coming to God means that
Speaker 1: He has to always speak to us in this big
Speaker 1: thunderous clap or like the writing on the wall. I
Speaker 1: think that's a Bible verse somewhere, like I don't know
Speaker 1: God wrote on a wall. People use that phrase a lot,
Speaker 1: or maybe we think, oh, I don't need writing on
Speaker 1: the wall. But God mostly speaks to me at church. Look,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, God speaks to me at church.
Speaker 1: God speaks to me through the songs and the sermons
Speaker 1: that come out of Elevation Church, no doubt about that.
Speaker 1: But God is not limited to songs and sermons. And
Speaker 1: I wonder if one of the main reasons that we
Speaker 1: hear God speak to us when we're at church is
Speaker 1: because we come expecting it. We come looking for it there.
Speaker 1: But what if I woke up in the morning expecting
Speaker 1: God to speak to me? What if I expected God
Speaker 1: to speak to me through every mundane moment. God can
Speaker 1: speak words of encouragement to you. The moment that you
Speaker 1: open your eyes in the morning. God can whisper words
Speaker 1: of peace to you while you lie awake at night.
Speaker 1: God can speak directly to you when you open up
Speaker 1: His word. You know, you can read the Bible when
Speaker 1: you're not at church, right, and you don't have to
Speaker 1: start in the weird place. Start with what you know.
Speaker 1: Start with Psalm twenty three, Start with the Lord's prayers.
Speaker 1: Start where you know what God will speak to you
Speaker 1: right there. Remember a few weeks ago when Pastor Stephen
Speaker 1: told us. Faith is not a lever that you pull.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget that he said, we don't worship jack
Speaker 1: pot Jesus. Faith is a lens. And when I decide
Speaker 1: to open my eyes and see God at work all
Speaker 1: around me, my perspective changes, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I see Him showing up in all the small moments
Speaker 1: of life. It's normal, it's now, and you know what else,
Speaker 1: it's near. God is constantly speaking to you. He's close.
Speaker 1: The problem is you aren't always listening. Isaiah prophesied that
Speaker 1: the Messiah would come to open blind eyes and unstop
Speaker 1: deaf ears. Did you know that you don't have to
Speaker 1: kneel down and close your eyes and fold your hands
Speaker 1: to hear God speak? And the Old Testament the bread
Speaker 1: represented the presence of God. He's near, He's here, he's
Speaker 1: in your home, he's in your hospital room, he's in
Speaker 1: your car. If we haven't learned anything from twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: I hope to God that we can learn that He
Speaker 1: will speak to us everywhere, even in our own home,
Speaker 1: even when we're walking through our neighborhood, even when we're alone.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of times I'm not listening because
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear what God is speaking to me.
Speaker 1: Have you ever really got to speaking to you something
Speaker 1: You're like, MM, I don't want to hear that. But
Speaker 1: I think also sometimes I'm just too busy to be
Speaker 1: present in a moment long enough for God to speak
Speaker 1: to me. God can speak through your children. God can
Speaker 1: speak through your spouse, Yes he can. God can speak
Speaker 1: through your friends. He can speak through a memory, he
Speaker 1: can speak through a moment of gratitude. He can speak
Speaker 1: in a thunderstorm. He's always speaking. He's constantly trying to
Speaker 1: remind you of his great love for you. But I
Speaker 1: have to learn to incline my ear to the Lord.
Speaker 1: I have to train my eyes to see him. And
Speaker 1: the more I see him, and the more I hear him,
Speaker 1: and the more I see him, the more I hear him.
Speaker 1: It's about getting in a rhythm of seeing and hearing God,
Speaker 1: because He's all around and he's speaking to you. And
Speaker 1: that's the beautiful thing about knowing God is that He's
Speaker 1: always speaking to us, all around us. And finally, God's
Speaker 1: bread is new. God loves to work in new ways.
Speaker 1: Isaiah forty three, eighteen and nineteen says forget the former things,
Speaker 1: do not dwell on the past. See I am doing
Speaker 1: a new thing now it springs up. Do you not
Speaker 1: perceive it? Do not see it? I'm making a way
Speaker 1: in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. This is
Speaker 1: not one of my favorite passages in the Bible. And
Speaker 1: if I'm honest, I don't want God to do a
Speaker 1: new thing. I want him to fix an old thing.
Speaker 1: I want a better marriage, but I don't want to
Speaker 1: change anything about my habits to make it better. I
Speaker 1: want a less hectic life, but I'm not willing to
Speaker 1: say no to any additional social commitments or activities that
Speaker 1: my kids want to do. And I think about going
Speaker 1: out of quarantine. I don't want this hectic pace of
Speaker 1: life anymore, but I haven't said no to anything yet.
Speaker 1: I want to lose weight, but I don't want to
Speaker 1: make any changes to my health and my habits. I
Speaker 1: want God to use me, but I can't seem to
Speaker 1: move on from my past. There are new steps that
Speaker 1: God wants me to take in order to make progress
Speaker 1: in my life. But if I'm willing to accept the new,
Speaker 1: I'm always gonna feel stuck. The Jewish people wanted the
Speaker 1: Messiah to fit within their pretty little rule. Following box
Speaker 1: and Jesus came to do something new. He came to
Speaker 1: do something better. My daughter Abby, she's the best. Everybody
Speaker 1: loves her. She's funny, she's kind, She just brings life
Speaker 1: into every room that she's in. She loves to talk
Speaker 1: to anybody, doesn't matter if you're two or twenty two
Speaker 1: or seventy two. She's got something to say. And she
Speaker 1: is such a gift to our family. But sorry, Abby,
Speaker 1: Abby is not perfect. And one thing that Abby does
Speaker 1: not like is new food. And my gosh, this girl
Speaker 1: can be stubborn and her mom can be stubborn too,
Speaker 1: So in our house, if you don't eat your food,
Speaker 1: the rule is you don't get anything to eat the
Speaker 1: rest of the night. And unfortunately, Abby has chosen to
Speaker 1: go to bed hungry many many nights. Now, before you
Speaker 1: start feeling sorry for Abby, I want you to understand
Speaker 1: that I put the tiniest portions on her plate. We're
Speaker 1: talking about a bite of broccoli. It's a tasting menu.
Speaker 1: But there are still so many nights in the Furdick household,
Speaker 1: and you guys know, I love to cook, and the
Speaker 1: food that I cook, I think it's pretty good. But
Speaker 1: there are so many nights that I have sat at
Speaker 1: the table and I have begged Abby, Abby, please just
Speaker 1: taste this. I promise you'll like it. It's not cheese
Speaker 1: all over it and bacon. It's good, and she will
Speaker 1: refuse to even taste it. She would rather go to
Speaker 1: bed hungry than taste something green. Don't have any moms
Speaker 1: out there that feel my pain right now, or maybe
Speaker 1: some picky grown ups who still don't like to taste
Speaker 1: anything green. One of my favorite verses in all of
Speaker 1: the Bible. Do I say that a lot. I have
Speaker 1: a lot of favorite verses, But one of my favorite
Speaker 1: verses is Psalm thirty four, verse eight, and it says
Speaker 1: taste and see that the Lord is good. And I
Speaker 1: think so many times I'm just like Abby, and God
Speaker 1: stands before me and he's trying to get something new
Speaker 1: in my life, and he's saying, Holly, taste this season.
Speaker 1: You might actually like it. But I don't like change.
Speaker 1: I mean, I really don't like change. I don't change
Speaker 1: the furniture in my house. I don't change the colors
Speaker 1: on my wall. I have driven the same style car
Speaker 1: for fourteen years. My husband just keeps changing the color.
Speaker 1: I've had four different colors of the same car. I
Speaker 1: don't like change. I don't like things to interrupt my plans.
Speaker 1: But I believe that we will look back on the
Speaker 1: disappointments of twenty twenty and they will be some of
Speaker 1: our best memories. I know they will. Maybe you needed
Speaker 1: everything to stop so that you could hear God's voice
Speaker 1: through all the noise and that hectic pace of life.
Speaker 1: Maybe you had to lose your job so that you
Speaker 1: would go looking for a better one. Maybe through your fear,
Speaker 1: you were able for the first time to experience God's
Speaker 1: presence in a new way in your life. His thoughts
Speaker 1: are not your thoughts, His ways are not our ways.
Speaker 1: Taste and see that the Lord is good. He's standing
Speaker 1: here saying, you won't even know if you like it
Speaker 1: unless you try it. We gotta try it. You've got
Speaker 1: to see that God is good. And he may not
Speaker 1: fit into my plans, and it may not be the
Speaker 1: way I thought that it would be, but God is
Speaker 1: good and he has good things for you. Coming out
Speaker 1: of this season, John six has a really sad ending
Speaker 1: because the people received the miracle, but they missed the
Speaker 1: point because they couldn't let go of what they thought
Speaker 1: Jesus would do. They didn't want to change. So for
Speaker 1: these people to follow Jesus, to truly believe in him
Speaker 1: the way Jesus was asking them to, it meant that
Speaker 1: they had to let go of something old and reach
Speaker 1: for something new. They had to let go of traditional religion.
Speaker 1: They had to stop following a formula and start following
Speaker 1: a person God in flesh. And they didn't want God
Speaker 1: in flesh. They didn't want to let go of their
Speaker 1: idea of what they thought God was, even though we
Speaker 1: know God in flesh is so much better than sacrifices.
Speaker 1: But they wanted miracle Jesus. They dreamed of seeing manna
Speaker 1: from heaven as their ancestors had seen it, and when
Speaker 1: it came in a different form, and they were asked
Speaker 1: to shift their mindset, and not just their mindset, but
Speaker 1: their daily patterns. No more sacrifices break the holy laws
Speaker 1: of our forefathers. Are you kidding me? But Jesus was
Speaker 1: offering them more. But most of them couldn't handle the change.
Speaker 1: They couldn't wrap their mind around it. And by the
Speaker 1: time that Jesus gets done. We started in verse twenty eight,
Speaker 1: and now I want to show you verse sixty because
Speaker 1: he's been teaching. He's been talking over and over again.
Speaker 1: I am the bread off life, and this is what
Speaker 1: that looks like. And by the time he gets done,
Speaker 1: this is really funny to me. The disciples, you know,
Speaker 1: they say some really funny stuff, like kids, you know.
Speaker 1: Verse sixty says this. They said, this is a hard teaching.
Speaker 1: Who can accept it? And if you skip down to
Speaker 1: verse sixty six, we find one of the saddest verses
Speaker 1: in the Bible to me, and it says this from
Speaker 1: this time on, many of his disciples turned back and
Speaker 1: no longer followed him. John tells us that after Jesus
Speaker 1: did this teaching, many turned away. And can you imagine
Speaker 1: the hurt that Jesus felt when all the crowds had
Speaker 1: come to him for something he could do, but when
Speaker 1: he tried to explain to them who he was, they
Speaker 1: didn't want that and they left. And I can't imagine
Speaker 1: how hurtful that was for Jesus. And the Bible tells
Speaker 1: us that he turned to the twelfth and he looked
Speaker 1: at them and he said, do you want to leave
Speaker 1: two and Peter speaks up. And you never know in
Speaker 1: the Bible when Peter speaks up if it's going to
Speaker 1: be good or bad. This time he comes through clutch
Speaker 1: and he says this verse sixty eight, Hasta's Lord, to
Speaker 1: whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Speaker 1: We have come to believe and to know that you
Speaker 1: are the Holy One of God. You see, Peter had
Speaker 1: experienced true bread. And the more you see and hear
Speaker 1: and experience the true Bread in your life, the more
Speaker 1: you come to realize that you cannot live without it.
Speaker 1: That time when you were so alone and God whispered
Speaker 1: to you that He was with you that health issue
Speaker 1: that you battled for months, and if it weren't for
Speaker 1: that song, you don't know how you would have made
Speaker 1: it through when you went through the divorce. But you
Speaker 1: have that scripture that you clung to. The more moments
Speaker 1: that you have like that, the more you realize you
Speaker 1: can't live without them. The true Bread, the words of
Speaker 1: eternal life that Jesus brings to our soul a more
Speaker 1: precious than a miracle, because it gives you life, and
Speaker 1: he gives you energy, and he gives you joy, and
Speaker 1: it gives you hope. And Peter may not have understood
Speaker 1: all that Jesus was teaching them, but he had come
Speaker 1: to know firsthand that there was more to Jesus than
Speaker 1: his miracles. And I believe that Jesus stands before us
Speaker 1: today and he calls to you, and he invites you
Speaker 1: to a feast. He's near. He's here, and he's setting
Speaker 1: a feast before you, and he stands waiting, and he says, come,
Speaker 1: all you who are thirsty, Come all you who are hungry.
Speaker 1: If you're weary, come to me. Seek the Lord while
Speaker 1: he may be found. He's right here. Call upon and
Speaker 1: while he's near, his word will not return void in
Speaker 1: your life. There's a fullness that you've been missing, and
Speaker 1: Jesus stands before you offering it today. Will you let
Speaker 1: go of the old and accept the new that he's
Speaker 1: bringing to your life? Can you let go of what
Speaker 1: you thought following Jesus would be like and accept what
Speaker 1: he wants to do in your life, not necessarily for you.
Speaker 1: So God, we come to you, which please help us
Speaker 1: to move past the things that we want you to
Speaker 1: do for us, and see that you are doing a
Speaker 1: beautiful work in us God, your words to me are life,
Speaker 1: and I pray that you would speak to us this week.
Speaker 1: Some of us have never heard you speak outside of church.
Speaker 1: But this week, God, we are on alert. Our ears
Speaker 1: are open, our eyes are open, we're looking, we're listening. God,
Speaker 1: we are excited to hear more from you. You are
Speaker 1: our true bread, and we thank you for the sacrifice
Speaker 1: that you made to be able to be that to
Speaker 1: us us. I don't think we can ever wrap our
Speaker 1: minds around it, but we come to you with open
Speaker 1: hands and we say, okay, God, Okay, okay. I give
Speaker 1: up on all the things that I thought that this
Speaker 1: would be like. And I just want you. I just
Speaker 1: want you. I need you to speak to me. I
Speaker 1: need you to bring peace to my soul. God. I'm scared. God,
Speaker 1: I'm tired. Minister to us in this place right now. Jesus,
Speaker 1: we love so much. I love you so much. And
Speaker 1: while all of our heads are about and our eyes
Speaker 1: are closed, maybe you've never fully given your life to Christ.
Speaker 1: And I want to invite you to receive Him right now.
Speaker 1: So all across our homes, will you pray this prayer
Speaker 1: with me? If you're coming to God for the first time,
Speaker 1: or maybe you're coming back to him. Just pray this prayer.
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior.
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
Speaker 1: and the savior of the world. And today I make
Speaker 1: Jesus the lord of my life. I believe he died
Speaker 1: that I would be forgiven and rose again to bring
Speaker 1: me a new life. I receive this new life now.
Speaker 1: This is my new beginning in Jesus's name. Amen, if
Speaker 1: you just prayed that prayer, I am so excited about
Speaker 1: the work that God is doing in your heart. Will
Speaker 1: you let us know type it in the chat for
Speaker 1: celebrating with you right now. And I'm so excited about
Speaker 1: how God is going to speak to us this week
Speaker 1: and how our eyes are going to be open to
Speaker 1: hear from him. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks
Speaker 1: to those of you who give generously to this ministry.
Speaker 1: Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You
Speaker 1: can click the link in the description to give now
Speaker 1: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information.
Speaker 1: And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You
Speaker 1: can share it with your friends. You can click the
Speaker 1: share button, Take a screenshot and share it on your
Speaker 1: social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again
Speaker 1: for listening. God bless you.