Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Let's welcome our EPAM all over the world. That sounds better, right,
Speaker 1: That's better. That's much better. Wanted to tell you a
Speaker 1: few things before we get into the Word of God today,
Speaker 1: and that is if you have any room left for
Speaker 1: the Word of God after Thanksgiving, you may be saying, well,
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen, I'm very stuffed. I don't know if I
Speaker 1: can receive the bread of life today, but I do
Speaker 1: this every year after Thanksgiving. It's Thanksgiving in the US,
Speaker 1: it was Thanksgiving in the US. I speak the miracle
Speaker 1: of supernatural carb cancellation over your waist slide. I speak it.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's gonna work, but I speak it anyway.
Speaker 1: I do it every year. I've yet to get one
Speaker 1: testimony that that worked, but I keep doing it every year.
Speaker 1: Brace the Lord. If you receive that, put your raised
Speaker 1: hands emoji in the chat. There you go, yeah, put
Speaker 1: a scale emoji in the chat. Oh, check this out
Speaker 1: before I tell you this really good news. Holly had
Speaker 1: these shirts made where it says put it in the chat.
Speaker 1: I guess this probably looks weird if I'm just walking
Speaker 1: around town wearing a hoodie that says put it in
Speaker 1: the chat. But I thought it was cool for our purposes.
Speaker 1: So somebody right now put it in the chat. What
Speaker 1: you're grateful for, maybe a person or a thing or
Speaker 1: a maybe you feel peace in your heart and you
Speaker 1: can't even explain why, Just put it in the chat
Speaker 1: what you're thankful for today. Come on, let's fill the
Speaker 1: chat with thanksgiving. Let's fill the comments with gratitude, Praise God.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for you. I'm thankful for the way
Speaker 1: that our church family has stepped up and trusted God
Speaker 1: this year. It's been amazing to see. I'll share just
Speaker 1: a little bit of that with you this year when
Speaker 1: when when the global pandemic became real to us, we
Speaker 1: started to wonder what will happen to ministry? And on
Speaker 1: one hand, you have faith, but you also have fear
Speaker 1: because you know there's there's this aspect in which we
Speaker 1: we've never lived through this before. I'm happy to report
Speaker 1: to you as we come toward the end of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty that by the favor of God, somebody shall favor,
Speaker 1: put favor, put favor in the chat that we've given.
Speaker 1: We've given this year over nine million dollars to our
Speaker 1: outreach efforts. I think the Lord deserves a great praise
Speaker 1: foreign that's nothing but the favor of God and the
Speaker 1: faith of God's people. So I'll list a few things.
Speaker 1: I can't say them all, but that include over six
Speaker 1: hundred thousand meals, over thirty thousand volunteers serving over fifty
Speaker 1: eight thousand hours with over three hundred organizations, over five
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars to disaster relief efforts, one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars of flood supplies, over a million dollars
Speaker 1: in support when COVID hit two hundred and fifty thousand
Speaker 1: pounds of food pop up field hospitals in Central Park,
Speaker 1: New York. We gave five hundred thousand tablets to inmates
Speaker 1: this year through God behind Bars, so they could get
Speaker 1: the word of God where they are. And I'm pretty
Speaker 1: proud of you for that. Thank God, and just all
Speaker 1: kinds of things, over one hundred thousand dollars to church plants,
Speaker 1: over one hundred thousand dollars to our partnership with YMCAs
Speaker 1: across the country. You are an amazing church, are the
Speaker 1: salt of the earth, the light of the world. And
Speaker 1: of course you probably know by now if you're part
Speaker 1: of our ministry, that we end every year with appreciation
Speaker 1: and anticipation, and so we're getting ready for that time.
Speaker 1: Of thousands of us around the world, not just those
Speaker 1: who are near Charlotte or one of our locations, but
Speaker 1: around the world are preparing to give to our twenty
Speaker 1: twenty favor offering for the year end for our expansion
Speaker 1: and outreach. I want to thank those of you who
Speaker 1: are already tithing and showing God that you know that
Speaker 1: He's where your help comes from, and so many of
Speaker 1: you do that regularly. Thank you. So many will begin
Speaker 1: to do that this time of year, to trust God
Speaker 1: in a new way. Many are giving an above and
Speaker 1: beyond gift, and you can find all of that out
Speaker 1: on Elevationchurch dot org. But the good news is, whether
Speaker 1: you ever give or not, we're going to be here
Speaker 1: for you. We're going to be here so you can
Speaker 1: be lifted up. If you never give a dime, if
Speaker 1: you never even pray for me, if you don't even
Speaker 1: like me, I'm gonna be here preaching if you ever
Speaker 1: need me, and you can't get rid of me. Zoom
Speaker 1: in real tight on my face. I'm gonna be here.
Speaker 1: Come on, clap your hands, give God, praise. Somebody's south favor.
Speaker 1: And when you think about favor, you think about Levi
Speaker 1: Lusco and Pastor Levi Luscoe. It's here to preach today.
Speaker 1: I want to tell you, brother, there's not many people
Speaker 1: I admire more than you, Maybe only Holly, and then
Speaker 1: there's you, Jesus Holly Levi. You've been coming around here
Speaker 1: a long time. You've been blessing our church for years.
Speaker 1: You've written books to bless us. You built an amazing church.
Speaker 1: And Jinny was telling me this just this weekend, something
Speaker 1: pretty amazing about you. I'll tell you about later. It's
Speaker 1: pretty cool. She was bragging on you because she was
Speaker 1: here for reflect and you didn't come, and it was
Speaker 1: just me and the all the women, and it was
Speaker 1: weird and I missed you. So I thought, well, you
Speaker 1: can come preach and share with us. You're You're so
Speaker 1: significant in the Body of Christ and one of the
Speaker 1: greatest friends that I've had. We love you, Jinny and
Speaker 1: Levi so much. We love the last coast. Will you
Speaker 1: welcome to elevation search? Come on, Epham, put it in
Speaker 1: this chap. Welcome Levi. Let's go, wow, elevation Sure, come on.
Speaker 1: Thank Jesus for his goodness, thank you for his grace,
Speaker 1: thank you for his love, Thank Him for your pastor.
Speaker 1: Come on, Let's thank God for Pastor Stephen and Holly Curdick,
Speaker 1: Eli Jah A Graham and Abby Man. This moment is
Speaker 1: one that I've been looking forward to for a long time.
Speaker 1: I didn't know it was coming, to know i'd have
Speaker 1: the chance to tell you, but I knew I would
Speaker 1: need to when I got the chance. And that is
Speaker 1: to let you know how grateful I am for how
Speaker 1: this ministry and your pastors and you have led through
Speaker 1: the pandemic. You guys have led the Body of Christ
Speaker 1: so strong, so well. Two weeks ago, your pastor stood
Speaker 1: in this pulpit and gave a brilliant message about not
Speaker 1: wasting the rain. Were you thankful for that word? And
Speaker 1: in that message he said towards the end that God
Speaker 1: wants all of us to steward our storms. And I
Speaker 1: think that's a profound insight, and I think it is
Speaker 1: a perfect way to describe how you have helped lead
Speaker 1: the Body of Christ and the world through a most
Speaker 1: challenging and difficult time, through the sermons, through the pivots,
Speaker 1: through the kicking of stools. I mean, it all worked,
Speaker 1: it all worked, It all worked. Come on, someone put
Speaker 1: it in the chat. It all worked, it all worked,
Speaker 1: it all worked. But out of it all, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to like encapsulate how grateful I am for the
Speaker 1: way that you guys have have stewarded this storm with
Speaker 1: the two songs that, in my opinion, out of all
Speaker 1: the songs, out of all, like all the songs, like
Speaker 1: all of them, just all the songs. The way that
Speaker 1: God used this ministry and this man and this team
Speaker 1: to give us a lullaby when we needed a hug
Speaker 1: from God the most. That's what the blessing to me represents.
Speaker 1: It was and has been for so many of us
Speaker 1: in a fear filled time and a time of worry
Speaker 1: and terror and panic. God's way of giving a hug
Speaker 1: to his bride, God's way of putting his arms around
Speaker 1: his children and telling us it's going to be okay.
Speaker 1: And I have fallen asleep with my three year old
Speaker 1: sons so many times, countless time with that in the
Speaker 1: air and being able to speak blessing over him and
Speaker 1: his children's children, children's children because of that song and
Speaker 1: it it was the song heard around the world. Every language,
Speaker 1: every tribe, every time, every language got to find out
Speaker 1: that God is for us in a time when it
Speaker 1: felt like he wasn't. So thank you and thank you
Speaker 1: and Cody and Carrie and and so you guys wrote
Speaker 1: the lullaby. But then you guys, we can't stay we
Speaker 1: can't stay sleeping forever. So y'all went ahead and wrote
Speaker 1: the wake Up Call Rattle. That was That was God
Speaker 1: saying it's time to wake up. We can't stay sleeping forever.
Speaker 1: We got to wake up. We got a world to touch,
Speaker 1: we got people to heal, we got nine million dollars
Speaker 1: to give away, and we're just getting started. Because twenty
Speaker 1: twenty has been your time to shine. And I believe
Speaker 1: that as you continue to lead the way in the world,
Speaker 1: that many churches around the country and world are following you,
Speaker 1: or example, drafting on your slipstream so I came here
Speaker 1: to preach. I got a brand new message. I cooked
Speaker 1: it up fresh for y'all, because when something means a
Speaker 1: lot to you, you give towards it. And so I've
Speaker 1: been working hard on this word. But more than anything,
Speaker 1: I just can't say thank you, so thank you for
Speaker 1: what you've meant to us in our lives, in our trials,
Speaker 1: in our wanderings, and in this pandemic. Come on, you
Speaker 1: can be seated. Please grab your seat. Thank you, Worship Team.
Speaker 1: Love you Chris. I haven't even given him a hug yet,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna do it from more closer than six feet.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get in his bubble. That's weird. Why would
Speaker 1: you say that. I also just send greetings to every
Speaker 1: single one of you at all the thirty seven billion
Speaker 1: watch parties across the country and world, and everybody watching
Speaker 1: this instill in your delirious meat sweats from Thanksgiving finding
Speaker 1: out your genes don't fit anymore. It's all the things right.
Speaker 1: I want you to turn your Bible to three different
Speaker 1: places as we continue in the season called Favor twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: believing God's favor spilling into twenty twenty one, sending it
Speaker 1: ahead into twenty twenty three. I want you to turn
Speaker 1: to Genesis twenty eight, Luke five, and John twenty one.
Speaker 1: It's quite a few places, but you got quite a
Speaker 1: few fingers, so you can just hold on to them.
Speaker 1: That's Genesis twenty eight, Luke five, and John twenty one.
Speaker 1: We will, by the end of this message get to
Speaker 1: two significant biblical boat stories. There's a lot of boat
Speaker 1: stories we could pick in the Bible. There's boats everywhere.
Speaker 1: There's the largest boat, Noah, there's the smallest boat, Moses,
Speaker 1: little baby in a tiny basket. That the littlest boat.
Speaker 1: There's boats all over Jesus' ministry. So many times did
Speaker 1: Jesus get in a boat or be on the Sea
Speaker 1: of Galilee, that it's been nicknamed the fifth Gospel, the
Speaker 1: fifth Gospel because you can't just get his gospel story
Speaker 1: from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You got to get
Speaker 1: near this body of water to get his soul story.
Speaker 1: I mean, eighteen out of thirty three miracles Jesus performed
Speaker 1: take took place on this lake. We went there a
Speaker 1: little bit last week. We're gonna we're gonna go back
Speaker 1: there in just a minute. We're gonna return to the
Speaker 1: scene of the crime Luke, chapter five, the room where
Speaker 1: it happened. But of all the boat stories uh in
Speaker 1: the Bible that we're gonna get to, I think that
Speaker 1: the one we're gonna get to by the end of
Speaker 1: this sermon is one that that's going to touch your heart.
Speaker 1: But before we do, we got a lot of work
Speaker 1: to do, so we're not going to waste a minute.
Speaker 1: The title of my message is I woke up like this.
Speaker 1: I woke up like this. I need you to say
Speaker 1: it out loud before we go any further. Could you
Speaker 1: just say I woke up like this. We usually say
Speaker 1: that statement to sort of express like a little bit
Speaker 1: of false humility. False humility like someone's like, oh you
Speaker 1: look great, it's like, oh, it just just woke up,
Speaker 1: like didn't even try. Didn't even try. It's like, yeah, Beyonce,
Speaker 1: you got twenty five people working hard on you, so
Speaker 1: you could just wake up like this, right. It's like
Speaker 1: a it's like a false humility thing. But but then
Speaker 1: there are times when we're embarrassed and all we can
Speaker 1: do is the reality is church online, a lot of
Speaker 1: you really did you really did just wake up like that?
Speaker 1: You really did. And what if next Sunday, what if
Speaker 1: you got showered and got dressed and got ready for
Speaker 1: God's word even though you were doing church online. What
Speaker 1: if you still were with your notes out and your
Speaker 1: Bible out, and you had already eaten, already worked out,
Speaker 1: you came ready to receive a word from God. There's
Speaker 1: a thought. I woke up like this. I got to
Speaker 1: go to Israel one time. When I ever tell the
Speaker 1: stories of Israel, I always say the first time I
Speaker 1: went to Israel, and Jenny's always like, how many times
Speaker 1: have you been like this once? But it sounds cooler
Speaker 1: when you say the first time I went to Israel,
Speaker 1: as though there were like twenty three repeat visits. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: the first time I went to Israel, I was so
Speaker 1: excited to the next morning go see where Japa took place,
Speaker 1: where Pete, where Peter got this vision, Where where Jonah
Speaker 1: ran away from God. I was gonna go to Jappa tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Was one of the great boat stories in the Bible, right,
Speaker 1: And we were staying at this hotel in Tel Aviv.
Speaker 1: And a little bit about me. When I was a kid,
Speaker 1: I used to sleep walk like crazy. Where am I sleepwalking? Friends?
Speaker 1: That just crazy things done in the night. I thank
Speaker 1: god it is chilled out for me. Unfortunately, now I
Speaker 1: just like wake up at three panicked. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's better or worse than than sleepwalking. But
Speaker 1: but when I was a kid, my mom like would
Speaker 1: find me like all around the house, like she just
Speaker 1: like redirect me back to bed. I feel so bad
Speaker 1: for her one time she tells this story. She always
Speaker 1: tells the story, like she found me standing over the
Speaker 1: kiddy litter is leave by what are you doing? Say,
Speaker 1: I'm going to the bathroom. She's like, not in here,
Speaker 1: You're not. She had to guide me back. One time
Speaker 1: in high school, I got up, got dressed, got showered
Speaker 1: in that order, fully dressed. I woke up, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I didn't know why I was taking the shower right
Speaker 1: so and and and sleepwalking. I drove out of a
Speaker 1: jungle hut once on a mission trip in Belize, out
Speaker 1: of a jungle hut window into landed in the bushes
Speaker 1: in my sleep because I thought a big boulder like
Speaker 1: Indiana Jones was rolling into the hut. Pray for me, y'all.
Speaker 1: It has been a journey, but this particular trip, what
Speaker 1: happened was I left the hotel room and I woke
Speaker 1: up after sleepwalking, and I was at the coke machine
Speaker 1: ice machine area, and I was so confused, didn't know
Speaker 1: where I was, didn't know I was jet lag, didn't
Speaker 1: know why I was in Israel, didn't know why I
Speaker 1: was looking for a coke here, didn't have any shekels
Speaker 1: on me to purchase a coke. And uh, and I
Speaker 1: was in my underwear and and uh. I was an
Speaker 1: intern at this church, and I had come with a try.
Speaker 1: My job was to carry a tripod up and down
Speaker 1: every mountain, every hill, because the pastor was going to
Speaker 1: preach this series of messages on video from the Holy Land.
Speaker 1: My job was just to carry a tripod around. I
Speaker 1: was happy just to be an Israel. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, I'm give me a tripod. Put me
Speaker 1: where you got a tripod you need me to carry.
Speaker 1: There's a couple over there, I'll carry one around. Like
Speaker 1: whatever I can do to help get God's word out.
Speaker 1: It's always been my spirit in perspective, and so now
Speaker 1: God has me in front of the camera. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: just as happy as I was when I was behind
Speaker 1: the camera carrying the tripod up Masada. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like it doesn't really matter, Like however, I
Speaker 1: can be a part of the equation. So I was
Speaker 1: just happy to be there, right and and so as
Speaker 1: as this now was like setting in, like I'm locked out,
Speaker 1: I have no way to get back in my room,
Speaker 1: I have no play here, There's nothing I can do.
Speaker 1: I realized I'm have to go down on the front
Speaker 1: desk and get a new key card. And so I
Speaker 1: just decided if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: it with confidence. And it was a nice hotel man.
Speaker 1: And so I get in the elevator. I'm just like
Speaker 1: trying to like like like think I can. I think
Speaker 1: I can. The door's open. There's like the may or
Speaker 1: d at the you know, the concierge desk. It's it's
Speaker 1: two in the morning, and they're just all like what
Speaker 1: is going on here? And I just come strolling out
Speaker 1: my draft boxers, you know, and too much information, I'm sure,
Speaker 1: And and I just walk up and I say, I
Speaker 1: seem to have been locked out of room twelve oh two.
Speaker 1: Gonna need a new key card please. They looked at
Speaker 1: each other, you know, and of course the next question
Speaker 1: is do you have any id can you prove this
Speaker 1: is your room? I think they just decided it was
Speaker 1: not worth the fight. So the man just made a
Speaker 1: key to twelve oh two and hand up. Now, someone
Speaker 1: say in the chat one more time. I woke up
Speaker 1: like this, all right. So here's where we are gonna
Speaker 1: find ourselves. In Genesis chapter twenty eight, here's verse ten.
Speaker 1: It's a story of someone similarly embarrassed. I was embarrassed
Speaker 1: on that night in the in the in the in
Speaker 1: the city of Tel Aviv. This man was embarrassed. This
Speaker 1: man had come to the end of himself. This man,
Speaker 1: he had no plan. Verse ten. Now Jacob went out
Speaker 1: from Beersheba and went toward Heran. So he came to
Speaker 1: a certain place and stayed there all night because the
Speaker 1: sun had set. And he took one of the stones
Speaker 1: of that place, and he put it at his head,
Speaker 1: and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then
Speaker 1: he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on
Speaker 1: the earth, and its top reached to heaven. And there
Speaker 1: the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Speaker 1: And behold the Lord stood above it and said, I
Speaker 1: am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the
Speaker 1: God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I
Speaker 1: will give to you and your descendants. Also, your descendants
Speaker 1: shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall
Speaker 1: spread abroad to the west, and the east, to the north,
Speaker 1: in the south, and in you and in your seed,
Speaker 1: all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold,
Speaker 1: I am with you, and I will keep you wherever
Speaker 1: you go, and will bring you back to this land.
Speaker 1: For I will not leave you. How many of y'all
Speaker 1: are getting encouraged just hearing this read over you, I
Speaker 1: will not leave you now until I have done what
Speaker 1: I have spoken to you. Then Jacob awoke from his
Speaker 1: sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place,
Speaker 1: and I did not know it. He was afraid. He said,
Speaker 1: how awesome is this place. This is none other than
Speaker 1: the House of God, and this is the gate of Heaven.
Speaker 1: Then Jacob rose early in the morning and took the
Speaker 1: stone that had been at his head, and he set
Speaker 1: it up as a pillar, and he poured oil out
Speaker 1: on top of it. And he called the name of
Speaker 1: the place Bethel. The name of that city had previously
Speaker 1: been Luz. And Jacob made a vow saying, if God
Speaker 1: will be with me and keep me in this way
Speaker 1: that I am going, and give me bread to eat
Speaker 1: and clothing to put on, so that I may come
Speaker 1: back to my father's house in peace, then the Lord
Speaker 1: shall be my God, and this stone, which I have
Speaker 1: set up as a pillar, shall be God's house. And
Speaker 1: all that you give me, I will surely give a
Speaker 1: tenth to you. I woke up like this. Jacob, as
Speaker 1: we come into Genesis twenty eight, has ruined his life.
Speaker 1: He has made some bad decisions that have led to
Speaker 1: him feeling like he is at rock bottom. He has nothing.
Speaker 1: He's in the middle of nowhere, still almost four hundred
Speaker 1: miles to go to get to his uncle Laban, who
Speaker 1: he hopes will take him in. He's burned every bridge,
Speaker 1: he's used up every favor. He will never see his
Speaker 1: mom again alive. His brother, who he should be closest
Speaker 1: to in the whole world, wants nothing to do with him.
Speaker 1: You see Jacob jump to the wrong conclusion. Unlike John
Speaker 1: the Baptist right, who knew that Jesus even in the womb,
Speaker 1: he knew that Jesus was to feed us, to lead
Speaker 1: us right. I mean even even back there, John the
Speaker 1: Baptist knew John the Baptist jumped to the right conclusion.
Speaker 1: Jacob now had jumped to the conclusion, My life's over.
Speaker 1: I've got nothing, I am nothing even even surely God
Speaker 1: must want nothing to do with me. I was handed
Speaker 1: such a great opportunity as the descendant of Abraham, and
Speaker 1: I squandered it. You see, he was a foot He
Speaker 1: was a foot catcher, a heel catcher, manipulating outcomes, manipulating,
Speaker 1: manipulating circumstances, always taking advantage of everyone, only thinking about
Speaker 1: himself when you lived there that way, Eventually no one
Speaker 1: in your life is going to want anything to do
Speaker 1: with you when you're always focused on yourself. That was Jacob.
Speaker 1: He'll catch her, Jacob Now. His mom just said, the
Speaker 1: best I can do is just give you, give you
Speaker 1: hear some some provisions I put in a backpack. You
Speaker 1: better get out of here. Your brother. Your brother's gonna
Speaker 1: kill you because you had you played dress up to
Speaker 1: get your father's blessings. You pretended to be someone that
Speaker 1: you weren't so you could walk in what was never
Speaker 1: was always what God was going to give to you
Speaker 1: in the first place. And so here he is he's
Speaker 1: in a place that says he was in a certain place.
Speaker 1: It wasn't even a place with a name. It had
Speaker 1: no name, because it was nowhere and there the foot
Speaker 1: catcher met the foot washer, and everything changed. His name
Speaker 1: would change, his possessed and possessions would change. He was
Speaker 1: by himself, his family would change. By the time we
Speaker 1: get to the end of Jacob's story, this is can
Speaker 1: just imagine him. He's the man on the run. He
Speaker 1: has nothing, he has no one. He does have a
Speaker 1: penny to his name. He's not even in a place
Speaker 1: with a name. By the end of his story, Verse
Speaker 1: forty three of Genesis thirty tells us the man became
Speaker 1: exceedingly prosperous, had large flocks, female and male servants, camels
Speaker 1: and donkeys, as his father had prophesied upon him, saying,
Speaker 1: you will become one day a large company. He didn't become.
Speaker 1: That actually didn't come to pass. He became two Jacob
Speaker 1: Israel became two companies. Verse ten. He speaks, looking back
Speaker 1: on his life, how different is his spirit, how different
Speaker 1: is his tone? I am not worthy of the least
Speaker 1: of all the mercies and of all the truth which you,
Speaker 1: your God have shown your servant, for I crossed over
Speaker 1: this Jordan with my staff, and now I've become two companies.
Speaker 1: He's referring back to this day I came over. All
Speaker 1: I had was a staff, didn't have a sleeping bag.
Speaker 1: I slept with a rock as a pillow. Is that
Speaker 1: I have nothing I've become. He's looking over all of
Speaker 1: his flocks divided into two camps, and he's marveling at
Speaker 1: the goodness and grace of God, and he's saying, I've
Speaker 1: become two companies. I've got twelve sons, Reuben Isakarn after
Speaker 1: the Gad, Sime and Benjamin Asher, Levie, Dan Joseph, Judah Zebuluce.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be used to bring the Messiah into
Speaker 1: the world. I'm going to be used to establish a
Speaker 1: glorious kingdom that God might save people all over the world,
Speaker 1: to the north, to the east, to the south, to
Speaker 1: the west. And even in this moment, we are today
Speaker 1: walking in the fulfillment of that prophecy. Yes, as Elevation
Speaker 1: Church broadcasts this gospel of hope and this message of
Speaker 1: love and peace, as the worship songs alter the atmosphere
Speaker 1: for people who are struggling to not take their lives
Speaker 1: in the midst of one of the most hopeless times,
Speaker 1: divided times, pain filled times in human history. Here is
Speaker 1: Jesus building his church and not even the gates of
Speaker 1: Hell can prevail against it. This is that And Jacob
Speaker 1: got to be a link in the chain of what
Speaker 1: God was connecting. So you you, you could interview Jacob too,
Speaker 1: captain of two companies, father of twelve sons, lots of wives,
Speaker 1: also different sermon, not recommended. But but you might say, Jacob,
Speaker 1: what do you do that you might become who you were?
Speaker 1: Not who you were, but who you are? Jacob? What
Speaker 1: did you? What did you do? Did you? Did you?
Speaker 1: Did you? Did you buy a product on the internet
Speaker 1: that you took you through a twelve week course? Surely
Speaker 1: there was there was something that involved supplements. I bet
Speaker 1: you essential oils were involved. Like what did you do, Jacob?
Speaker 1: How did how did you do? How do you change?
Speaker 1: And he would just look at you with a smile
Speaker 1: and twinkle in his eye and go, I woke up
Speaker 1: like this. I didn't do anything. It wasn't what I did.
Speaker 1: It was who I met. It was an encounter I had.
Speaker 1: I woke up like this. I'm not responsible for the
Speaker 1: change in my situation or search. I woke up like this.
Speaker 1: By all I know is I was blo Now I
Speaker 1: see I was dead. Now I'm alive. I was hopeless,
Speaker 1: Now I hope. I was a narcissist. Now I was
Speaker 1: a foot catch her trying to pull other people back,
Speaker 1: to pull myself ahead. But I met the foot washer.
Speaker 1: I had a revelation. I met Jesus. The heavens opened up.
Speaker 1: I didn't ask for it. I wasn't seeking him. It
Speaker 1: wasn't my decision. He pursued me, He sought me, He
Speaker 1: washed me, he changed me, he touched me, he blessed me,
Speaker 1: he healed me. I woke up like this. How'd you
Speaker 1: wake up? I made a little list. He woke up amazed.
Speaker 1: Amazed is how Jacob woke up, profoundly amazed. He said.
Speaker 1: He used the word awesome. Awesome because he woke up
Speaker 1: and he got to see a vision of a ladder.
Speaker 1: Write that down, put it in the chat. Amazed. I
Speaker 1: woke up amazed. He he was terrified. Now he's amazed.
Speaker 1: I was horrified. Now I'm astonished, he said, because I
Speaker 1: thought I was alone with Then I found out I
Speaker 1: wasn't in the same place that didn't even get a name,
Speaker 1: A certain place, a scary place, a terrible place. Guess what,
Speaker 1: It's the House of God now, because the House of
Speaker 1: God is wherever you are. Wherever Jesus is is where
Speaker 1: you are, and it's the House of God. You're the
Speaker 1: House of God. Well, we don't get to go to church.
Speaker 1: Oh well, psych, we are the church. Lol. Wherever we
Speaker 1: are is where the church is. We gather together in
Speaker 1: the mighty matchless name of Jesus. This is church. This
Speaker 1: is how the world gets changed. We are linked up
Speaker 1: in this moment. And so he's amazed. He's amazed because
Speaker 1: God essentially let him see how heaven works. He's The
Speaker 1: key is in the phrase this is the gate of Heaven,
Speaker 1: which you will recognize, you students of the Bible from
Speaker 1: Genesis chapter eleven, when mankind mankind tried to build a
Speaker 1: tower to heaven and the phrase babel is used, and
Speaker 1: Babel or Babylon comes up again and again and again
Speaker 1: beginning of the Bible to the very end. And what
Speaker 1: does it always mean. Well, in the ancient language of
Speaker 1: the day, it meant gate of Heaven. So what they
Speaker 1: were trying to do with that stairway. What they were
Speaker 1: trying to do with that ladder, if you will, was
Speaker 1: connect earth to Heaven. That's been what man's always been
Speaker 1: trying to do. That's why people turn to heroin, That's
Speaker 1: why people turn to money, That's why people look to
Speaker 1: their career. What are we're trying to get back to heaven.
Speaker 1: We're trying to fill what's empty. We're trying to restore
Speaker 1: what's lost. So Babel was trying to get to God,
Speaker 1: to get to wholeness, to get to transcendence, to get
Speaker 1: to healing. We were trying to get our way up.
Speaker 1: And that's how it was traditionally thought, and that's how
Speaker 1: people still mistakenly think it works today, that if you're
Speaker 1: going to get to heaven, you got to build a
Speaker 1: tower up high enough, and then eventually, if you can
Speaker 1: get enough Benjamin stacked upon Benjamin's if you can get
Speaker 1: enough Instagram followers stacked upon Instagram. So if you could
Speaker 1: sleep with this person or that person, eventually you can
Speaker 1: get a tower. That's the gate of heaven. That's how
Speaker 1: Jacob would have thought. But then his dream, he's lying
Speaker 1: there and all of a sudden he sees a tower
Speaker 1: that descends from heaven to earth. And this this ladder, this,
Speaker 1: this is like when you in those houses where you
Speaker 1: pull the rope and the attic ladder comes tumbling down.
Speaker 1: That's what he saw in his dream. He saw God
Speaker 1: initiate a ladder, not from Earth up, but from Heaven down.
Speaker 1: He saw a ladder coming down from heaven and the
Speaker 1: angels of God us sending and descending. And his exclamation,
Speaker 1: this is the gate of Heaven was him saying, oh,
Speaker 1: that's how heaven works. It's what what In John one
Speaker 1: we realized when Nathaniel when Jesus saw him under the
Speaker 1: fig tree and he said, Nathaniel, I saw you onder
Speaker 1: the fig tree. And Nathaniel was like horrified. Oh no, no,
Speaker 1: we don't know what Nathaniel was doing under the vic tree.
Speaker 1: The Bible never tells us. He said to our imagination.
Speaker 1: That caused him to go, you are a rabbi, Holy crap,
Speaker 1: How does he know what I did under the fig tree.
Speaker 1: We don't know who he was with on the fig tree.
Speaker 1: But you said, Nathaniel, And then Jesuid, you think it's
Speaker 1: amazing I saw you under the fig tree. Guess what
Speaker 1: you're gonna see? Angels us sending and descending upon the
Speaker 1: son of Man. Jesus is the ladder sent down from
Speaker 1: heaven to or Jesus is what is meant to restore
Speaker 1: your connection to God. You can't earn your way to heaven.
Speaker 1: It comes not based on you, placed on you. Because
Speaker 1: Jesus descended, the bridge came down, the latter came down.
Speaker 1: He said, I woke up like this all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: aware I don't got to earn my standing before God.
Speaker 1: It was given to me based on the mercy and
Speaker 1: love of his son, Jesus Christ, who came into this
Speaker 1: world the safe sinners of whom Jacob said, I am cheap.
Speaker 1: I'm amazed, and I woke up like this because this
Speaker 1: is what heaven is all about. It's about God saving people,
Speaker 1: not by their good works. I'm excited. I could preach
Speaker 1: a lot more about that, but I got to move on.
Speaker 1: I got four points today. You got to collect them
Speaker 1: all to win a prize. The second point is included.
Speaker 1: Jacob was not just told here's what I'm gonna do,
Speaker 1: like God was filling out his grand rescue mission. There
Speaker 1: was participation built in. There was participation baked in. That's
Speaker 1: how you don't waste the rain. You apply the word.
Speaker 1: The moment God sows the word, you instantly take action.
Speaker 1: Said here's how heaven works. Here's my master plan, he said,
Speaker 1: And bro I got plans for you. I want to
Speaker 1: use you. You got gifts, you got something to contribute.
Speaker 1: You get to play a part church. We get to
Speaker 1: be a part of God's plan to change the world.
Speaker 1: That's why he gave you skills. That's why he gave
Speaker 1: you talents. That's why God has given you something to
Speaker 1: contribute to this grand master plan. The third thing is
Speaker 1: that he instantly wanted to become invested because he was
Speaker 1: amazed and he found out he got to be included.
Speaker 1: The immediate thing was for him to say, well, I
Speaker 1: want to get invested. I'm immediately wanting to get invested.
Speaker 1: I want to get skin in this game. Now here's
Speaker 1: the problem. He was broke, he was a joke. He
Speaker 1: only had a staff, he didn't even he didn't even
Speaker 1: have anything to contribute. But that didn't stop him from
Speaker 1: contributing what he could because he looks around and he's like, well,
Speaker 1: this is where I slept right here last night, and
Speaker 1: what did I used for a pillow? A rock, and
Speaker 1: he's like, hmm, God's gonna use me to build a church.
Speaker 1: God's gonna use me to build the House of God
Speaker 1: so other people could connect to the north, to the
Speaker 1: east of this house of the West. I got nothing
Speaker 1: but this rock. Well, guess what this rock is where
Speaker 1: the temple starts. Bang right there. He has this God
Speaker 1: moment where he says, that's the first stone of many
Speaker 1: that's gonna come. I'm not gonna let what I can't
Speaker 1: do stop me from doing what I can do. I
Speaker 1: lay the first rock right here and right now. And
Speaker 1: then he's like, oh, I got a little bit of
Speaker 1: olive oil. All right, I'm pouring one out for the home.
Speaker 1: He's right here. I did it. He's smashing a bottle
Speaker 1: of champagne against the church, not even build. But he
Speaker 1: sees what's to come. He saw the work of God
Speaker 1: spreading out across the whole world. He was told, your
Speaker 1: seed Jesus is gonna lead to descendants from the whole
Speaker 1: world being blessed. It's being fulfilled today right now as
Speaker 1: we preached these words. Started it with that one rock.
Speaker 1: And then he said, and from here on out, God,
Speaker 1: I don't have any money. I don't have anything to
Speaker 1: offer you. But if you ever trust so much as
Speaker 1: a dollar to this man, I'm gonna give the first
Speaker 1: and the best tenth to you every single time. And
Speaker 1: that made Jacob safe to bless. How did he get
Speaker 1: to lead two companies? How did he get to lead
Speaker 1: stock How did he get so influential in the stock market?
Speaker 1: It's a live stock market. He had made a vow
Speaker 1: that made him safe to bless. You. See, here's the
Speaker 1: thing you need to know about money. It gets tricky
Speaker 1: with the money stuff. When we talk about money. Generosity
Speaker 1: is the only thing that can release the stranglehold that
Speaker 1: money will always hold on your soul. The love of money,
Speaker 1: the desire to be rich, It has crept in and
Speaker 1: will pierce your soul through with many sorrows. Not one
Speaker 1: of us is immune to the temptation, to the seduction,
Speaker 1: to the hypnotizing power of the deceitfulness of riches, which
Speaker 1: will choke and strangle away your desire to live a
Speaker 1: life for God. The only thing that can unshackle the
Speaker 1: power of wealth to drain you of your spiritual power
Speaker 1: is constantly putting a steak through the idol's heart with
Speaker 1: something called giving it again and again and again. You
Speaker 1: get paid bang immediately, first in the best, back to God,
Speaker 1: first in the best, back to God. What are you doing?
Speaker 1: You're stabbing the idolatry of greed in the heart with
Speaker 1: a steak. You are pounding again and again and again
Speaker 1: the thing that can sneak in and cause the love
Speaker 1: of many to grow cold, The thing that can sneak
Speaker 1: in and cause many people to live for this world
Speaker 1: and to live for their kingdom. See, money will sneak
Speaker 1: in and get you building the tower of Babble all
Speaker 1: over again. Money will sneak in and get you building
Speaker 1: your own kingdom once again. And the thing that every
Speaker 1: single time you get paid, you take a test, and
Speaker 1: the test is who do you honor the most? That's
Speaker 1: what we find Jacob doing. I'm vowing that all you
Speaker 1: give me first and the tenth the best goes back
Speaker 1: to you. I was reminded of George Washington Carver this week.
Speaker 1: What an incredible man. George Washington Carver, a man and
Speaker 1: a man of God. He was. Come on, let's hear
Speaker 1: for George Washington Carver. I think we got a photo
Speaker 1: of him here, This incredible man. You know they say
Speaker 1: that he saved the economy of the South. And that's
Speaker 1: because he knew that with all the cotton fields that
Speaker 1: were all over the place. What an incredible life he lived,
Speaker 1: born a slave, kidnapped, father, died, all these things, but
Speaker 1: became a scientist, and he realized he realized that the
Speaker 1: problem with all the cotton fields wasn't what they were growing,
Speaker 1: it's what the fields were missing. And he realized that
Speaker 1: the things were depleting the soil, and so by introducing
Speaker 1: peanuts into the fields, peanuts have a unique ability to
Speaker 1: replenish nitrogen supplies, which is the only thing that over
Speaker 1: time keeps the cotton from killing the ground and making
Speaker 1: it unproductive. And so it wasn't a problem about what
Speaker 1: was growing, it was a problem about what was missing.
Speaker 1: For some of you, the problem in your life isn't
Speaker 1: what you're doing your work. It's the problem is what's missing.
Speaker 1: You've got to plant some generosity in the field. It
Speaker 1: could replenish the nitrogen and keep what you're doing, what
Speaker 1: you're growing producing. So then then then they have this
Speaker 1: new problem. We all these peanuts. What do we do
Speaker 1: all these peanuts? And he's like, I got an idea.
Speaker 1: He found three hundred and twenty five different uses for
Speaker 1: the peanut. Three hundred and twenty five different things you
Speaker 1: could do with a peanut. That should be the mascot
Speaker 1: of Elevation Creative Team, the peanut. You should have to
Speaker 1: sit around and look at a peanut and go, what
Speaker 1: could you do with a peanut? Right right? There's always
Speaker 1: more that you could do with what you have in
Speaker 1: front of you, right, and so and so he comes
Speaker 1: up with all these different ways to use the peanuts.
Speaker 1: So now they have all this crop, and the thing
Speaker 1: that saved their crop from going bad was now also
Speaker 1: becoming a new crop three hundred twenty times over. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, when you put generosity into your life in
Speaker 1: the mix, it not only keeps what you have from
Speaker 1: ruining you, it'll also give you more things to do
Speaker 1: that you didn't know how to do before. I'm telling
Speaker 1: you ninety percent of your resources with God's breath on
Speaker 1: your life is better than one hundred percent, and you're
Speaker 1: all on your own every time. Every day of the week,
Speaker 1: you'll think got three hundred and twenty five new things
Speaker 1: to do with the spirit of God moving on your
Speaker 1: life so powerfully. What I'm really trying to say is
Speaker 1: that there's a protection in purpose, because every time you're
Speaker 1: sewing into God's work, it's keeping you on a mission.
Speaker 1: It's keeping you focused on what God's called you to do,
Speaker 1: and that purpose protects you. Or, as we learned last week,
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to say is, let God use your boat.
Speaker 1: Let God use your boat. Now you've got to make
Speaker 1: your way back to Luke chapter five, because we got
Speaker 1: unfinished business in this text. In Luke chapter five, what
Speaker 1: we find is that basically, if we jump into verse one,
Speaker 1: so it was the multitude press all about them to
Speaker 1: hear the word of God that he Jesus stood by
Speaker 1: the lake of Genessa Ittzia Galley. He saw two boats,
Speaker 1: someone say, two boats standing by the lake, but the
Speaker 1: fishermen had gone from them, and they were washing their nets.
Speaker 1: He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's,
Speaker 1: and asked him to put out a little from the land.
Speaker 1: He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
Speaker 1: When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch
Speaker 1: out into the deep and let down your nets for
Speaker 1: a catch. Simon answered him, Master, we have toiled all
Speaker 1: night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will
Speaker 1: let down the net. And when they had done this,
Speaker 1: they caught a great number of fish and their net
Speaker 1: was breaking. So they signaled to their partners, who do
Speaker 1: you have to call? By the way, when you got
Speaker 1: a problem in your life? Do you got any partners
Speaker 1: to signal too? He thought he was gonna drown, and
Speaker 1: he had someone who he could summon for help. That's
Speaker 1: why you need to be in an E group. You
Speaker 1: need to have people in your life that you can signal,
Speaker 1: that you can call, that you can text. You can't
Speaker 1: just consume this message like it's the Crown on Netflix.
Speaker 1: You gotta watch this message and then participate and get
Speaker 1: involved and get planted and get into these reflect events
Speaker 1: and groups and these all these things that are going
Speaker 1: to keep you keep keep people in your life. But
Speaker 1: you can signal when there's a problem. And they came
Speaker 1: and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.
Speaker 1: When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees,
Speaker 1: saying to part from me, pushing him away, for I'm
Speaker 1: a sinful man, o Lord, For he and all who
Speaker 1: are with him? What were what you can say? Amazed?
Speaker 1: What's the difference before you. You caught no fish before
Speaker 1: your fishing, no catching, no fish. You're and now on
Speaker 1: the other side of it a different person. He said,
Speaker 1: I woke up like this. I woke up like this.
Speaker 1: I fished all night, caught nothing on my own. But
Speaker 1: now it's morning, Now the day has broken. Now Jesus
Speaker 1: is in my boat. Now what I was trying to
Speaker 1: do alone I couldn't do. I can do all things
Speaker 1: through Christ, who gives me strength. I woke up like
Speaker 1: this at to catch a fish which they had taken.
Speaker 1: I believe that God wants you to use your boat
Speaker 1: to wake other people up. In Ephesian chapter five, we're
Speaker 1: giving a little important detail that sleep in the New
Speaker 1: Testament is a picture of death, and it can mean
Speaker 1: a lot of different kinds of death. That can mean
Speaker 1: physical death, but also can mean spiritual death. And Paul
Speaker 1: says in Ephesians five therefore, he says, awake ye who sleep,
Speaker 1: rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
Speaker 1: I believe that God wants you to see that your
Speaker 1: part to play in this a significant call of God
Speaker 1: on your life is to grow your business, is to
Speaker 1: produce wealth. Is to scale your company, is to start
Speaker 1: that business and to do so protected by the purpose
Speaker 1: of Whatever God does through this boat business, whatever God
Speaker 1: does through this corporation, whatever God does on the Nasdaq,
Speaker 1: it's for a purpose. It's to bankroll this pulpit is
Speaker 1: to get wealth into the hands of those who need
Speaker 1: it through the elevation outreach initiatives. I'm going to scale
Speaker 1: my company. I believe the call of God on many
Speaker 1: of you is to produce more well. Is the need
Speaker 1: for bigger barnes, is the need for more employees. And
Speaker 1: it is to do so with the vision, with the
Speaker 1: explicit intention of whatever you and trust to me, I'm
Speaker 1: going to return back to you God. I'm going to
Speaker 1: use it to build your house. I'm going to use
Speaker 1: it to get you on the boat in front of
Speaker 1: the people. The people were pressing, wanting to hear. They
Speaker 1: were hungry and stirred, I'm anxious, troubled with many things.
Speaker 1: They needed to hear the word of God preached from
Speaker 1: the specific and it was so cool. It's like YouTube.
Speaker 1: The way he got on the boat and pushed out
Speaker 1: it created acoustics as they were on the hillside. This
Speaker 1: is old school amplification techniques. Jesus was using the most
Speaker 1: cutting edge delivery vehicle of media he could find, and
Speaker 1: it amplified the reach to those who couldn't have heard
Speaker 1: him otherwise. He's doing it today, he's doing it right now.
Speaker 1: He's doing it through multi site, he's doing it through
Speaker 1: church online, he's doing it through Facebook. He's getting the
Speaker 1: word to more people. So what I need you to
Speaker 1: do is not only feel okay about going to work.
Speaker 1: I want you to feel like you are on a
Speaker 1: mission as you go to work, because God has called
Speaker 1: you to thrive. God has called you to excel, and
Speaker 1: as He blesses your life, you're doing so protected from
Speaker 1: the idolatry of greed, with a purpose of I'm planted
Speaker 1: in the house. I'm here to make the reach get louder.
Speaker 1: I need this boat to get bigger, I need the
Speaker 1: nets to get wider. Why so that more people can
Speaker 1: come to know the saving goodness of the God who
Speaker 1: reaches down with a ladder from heaven and says, come
Speaker 1: on up, Come on up, Come on up. And I
Speaker 1: think that we find a stirring example in these two fishermen.
Speaker 1: And yet I'm more impressed by the other fishermen on
Speaker 1: the Sea of Galley that day. You see because we
Speaker 1: know that two of them walked away. Two of them
Speaker 1: walked away and left the fish and left the business.
Speaker 1: They left the enterprise, and they went to follow Jesus
Speaker 1: and become professional pastors and profess estional preachers. But joseph
Speaker 1: Is the historian tells us that there were two hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty commercial fishing enterprises on the Sea of Galilee
Speaker 1: operating at that time, and surely many of them got impacted,
Speaker 1: and many of them got saved. And many of them said,
Speaker 1: I'm ready to leave my net. I'm ready to follow
Speaker 1: you to the ends of the earth. Where's my sword?
Speaker 1: Let's go. I'm in the Lord's army right now. Let's
Speaker 1: do this thing. And Jesus said to them what he
Speaker 1: said to the demoniac of Gadera, when he said, can
Speaker 1: I follow you? He said, oh, go back to your home.
Speaker 1: I can use you, but I want to use you
Speaker 1: at home. I can use you, but I want to
Speaker 1: use you in your city. You listen, are gonna to
Speaker 1: do the thing that requires even more faith than going,
Speaker 1: and that is staying. I want you to go back
Speaker 1: to work tomorrow, protected with purpose, creating wealth for the kingdom,
Speaker 1: receiving blessing that you might be a blessing. God is
Speaker 1: going to use you, many of you like the two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty eight fishing vessels that didn't go into
Speaker 1: full time ministry, in full time ministry at your bank,
Speaker 1: at your plates, study at your job, selling insurance at
Speaker 1: your job. And I want you every day to hold
Speaker 1: your head high knowing I'm a servant of the King.
Speaker 1: I got a mission, I got a cause. The church
Speaker 1: need these resources. I need to bankroll this pulpit and
Speaker 1: make sure this ministry is never lacking in funds to
Speaker 1: send out more millions of dollars. Y'all gave away more
Speaker 1: resource this year than most churches will have in their
Speaker 1: budgets in a decade. But God has raised you up
Speaker 1: for such a time as this. Now that shouldn't make
Speaker 1: you want to do less. It should make you eager
Speaker 1: to see God do more. Because is there not a cause?
Speaker 1: Is there not a need? Are there not hungry people?
Speaker 1: Are there not people who need to have hope? Very good?
Speaker 1: I love World War two, And all the time I've
Speaker 1: prepared this message and read about the boat and was
Speaker 1: listening to Pastor last week, I couldn't get this boat
Speaker 1: out of my mind. And I kept thinking about this boat,
Speaker 1: and I'll show you a photo of it. This is
Speaker 1: the boat I kept thinking of. Here. It's called a
Speaker 1: Higgins boat, and it's a boat that many of you
Speaker 1: have seen, because it's if you've ever watched Saving Private
Speaker 1: Ryan or any of the World War two movies, you've
Speaker 1: seen this boat. Now, now, if you take that boat
Speaker 1: away for a moment, there are names. We'll come back
Speaker 1: to that in a second. When you think about World
Speaker 1: War Two, there are names that come to mind, and
Speaker 1: you think about, you know, Normandy in D Day. It
Speaker 1: was the event that turned the tide of World War Two.
Speaker 1: And the reason we live in a country that is
Speaker 1: not under the command of Imperial Japan or have a
Speaker 1: Nazi flag flying high is in large part because of
Speaker 1: what happened at D Day June sixth, nineteen forty four,
Speaker 1: seventy six years ago. This incredible, amphibious assault of the
Speaker 1: five beaches of Normandy in France. One hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: thousand soldiers alone and came aboard, came up up on
Speaker 1: the shore at these beaches in central France, not to
Speaker 1: speak of all the paratroopers and all the things that happened.
Speaker 1: It was a reversal of Dunkirk, because Dunkirk was a
Speaker 1: massive evacuation of France. But you don't win wars by evacuation.
Speaker 1: You don't win wars by retreating. You gotta take some ground,
Speaker 1: you can't leave the ground. So they were finally back.
Speaker 1: All these soldiers that left France were now back on
Speaker 1: French soil. And so here's this amazing day. And you
Speaker 1: think about who is responsible. And when you think about
Speaker 1: World War two and the European theater specifically, and you
Speaker 1: think about who was it that was responsible for this victory,
Speaker 1: you think, of course about Roosevelt, and you think about Churchhill,
Speaker 1: and you think about Patten, and you think about even Montgomery,
Speaker 1: this British general. But Dwight de Eisenhower, the Supreme commander
Speaker 1: of the Allied Forces, was interviewed by Stephen Ambrose in Gettysburg.
Speaker 1: So any conversation that happens in Gettysburg, it's already like, okay,
Speaker 1: you had me, I'm already there. And he was asked,
Speaker 1: who do you attribute most the victory to? And I
Speaker 1: want to put on screen the exact quote that he
Speaker 1: had to say that day. He said that he Peter
Speaker 1: Higgins is the man who won the war for us.
Speaker 1: Talking about Peter Higgins, because he knew that Ambrose was
Speaker 1: from New Orleans. He said, do you have you ever
Speaker 1: met Higgins? He goes, no, he died before he died
Speaker 1: a while back. I never met him. He said, well,
Speaker 1: I want you know, look at that quote more time.
Speaker 1: This is from the mouth of President right the eyes
Speaker 1: at hour. He is the man who won the war
Speaker 1: for us. And you're like, well, who is Higgins? Because
Speaker 1: he's the photo of Andrew Jackson Higgins. This is what
Speaker 1: he looked like. This is his tie flapping on the side.
Speaker 1: What a legend this guy is, right, He is a
Speaker 1: person you've never heard about. But he was the one
Speaker 1: who invented the boat that I showed you a moment ago.
Speaker 1: He was a boat builder, He was a businessman. He
Speaker 1: had just one hundred employees. But he had this incredible invention,
Speaker 1: a flat bottom boat with a protected propeller that could
Speaker 1: be beached easily and go in just a shallow of
Speaker 1: water as one foot and it was an amazing boat.
Speaker 1: He built it for Louisiana Oil, you know, workers and trappers,
Speaker 1: and he sold a ton of them to boot to
Speaker 1: run runners and bootleggers, and then he sold them to
Speaker 1: the people that chased the run runners and the bootleggers,
Speaker 1: and he's just kind of say, hey, you need this
Speaker 1: to get away from and you need this to catch him.
Speaker 1: He was just that way an amazing leader. He in
Speaker 1: his factories in New Orleans. He was the first person
Speaker 1: to hire black people and white people and men and
Speaker 1: women and pay him all the same. He was the
Speaker 1: first person. He was the first person that broke through
Speaker 1: those walls and integrated his operations. And don't I preach
Speaker 1: him into heaven and make him seem like I'm saying
Speaker 1: he drank a whole bottle of whiskey every single day
Speaker 1: and cursed worse than an Irish sailor. This is the
Speaker 1: thing about Higgins. But Eisenhower said, Higgins is the man
Speaker 1: who won the war for us. You want to know why,
Speaker 1: because check this out. Here's a step back view of Normandy,
Speaker 1: a step back picture of Normandy. When we had to
Speaker 1: get one hundred and fifty thousand troops all the way
Speaker 1: to the shore, one hundred and fifty thousand men. The
Speaker 1: average age was twenty by the way, and they're on
Speaker 1: let's hear for our military let's hear this. Thank God
Speaker 1: for everyone who serves everyone. They had to get all
Speaker 1: these men from aircraft carriers and big old boats. How
Speaker 1: you gonna get the largest amphibious assault crew in human
Speaker 1: history from these massive ships in six foot waves? Six
Speaker 1: feet waves are going. But you see, you can't land
Speaker 1: the big boats on the beach. How you gonna get them?
Speaker 1: How you gonna get them from ship to shore? You
Speaker 1: need a ladder, You need a connection, you need a bridge.
Speaker 1: The only way to get them from where they were
Speaker 1: to where they needed to be was someone had to
Speaker 1: roll down a ladder. And the Navy didn't have anything.
Speaker 1: They didn't have any ideas. But Higgins did show me
Speaker 1: that first photo again. He built a boat that could
Speaker 1: go easily from the big boats and go right up
Speaker 1: on the shore. And then I look at this photo
Speaker 1: of the ramp. The ramp would down, and then all
Speaker 1: these men, thirty six men could go rushing off to battle,
Speaker 1: rushing to take the hills, rushing many of them, four
Speaker 1: thousand of them, to die on the bloody beaches of
Speaker 1: Omaha and Utah and sore, these men who laid their
Speaker 1: lives down. But the ramp would drop, and then they
Speaker 1: could run off one of these boat he invented he
Speaker 1: could hold thirty six men a whole platoon, or twelve
Speaker 1: men in a jeep and would just rush up and
Speaker 1: then the ramp would drop, and then they run off,
Speaker 1: and then they would be able to do this thing.
Speaker 1: And he scaled his operations from one hundred employees to
Speaker 1: over twenty five thousand employees, from one little factory to
Speaker 1: eight factories. Then he had to shut a whole street down.
Speaker 1: Look at this photograph of one of his factories. Absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1: The sign of the back says, the guy who relaxes
Speaker 1: is helping the axis. Is amazing. He also had photos
Speaker 1: of Hitler in every single bathroom that said take it
Speaker 1: easy above Hitler's head, So as people were sitting down,
Speaker 1: Hitler saying, take it easy, I don't need you to
Speaker 1: build more boats. So he wanted the men to have
Speaker 1: a sense of urgency. He wanted them to be a
Speaker 1: little bit riled up. Some people wonder, oh, why his
Speaker 1: pastor's so excited. Why are the people standing? Oh, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Go ahead and sit back down. The devil says,
Speaker 1: go ahead and sit back down. The devil says, take
Speaker 1: it easy. The devil says, you got all the time
Speaker 1: in the world to get around to that. The devil says, Oh,
Speaker 1: don't be so excited, just take it easy. The one
Speaker 1: who relaxes is helping the axes. I'm telling you, we
Speaker 1: got work to do. Night is coming when no man
Speaker 1: can work. We got a gospel to preach, we got
Speaker 1: a God to s sir, we got things to do,
Speaker 1: We got buildings to build. When all was said and done,
Speaker 1: there were six thousand boats involved in d Day, six thousand,
Speaker 1: most but fifteen hundred of them were built by Andrew
Speaker 1: Jackson Higgins. So don't tell me a businessman can't change
Speaker 1: the world. Don't you tell me an entrepreneur can't change
Speaker 1: the world. I'm telling you, what you build, what you do,
Speaker 1: how you leave, can't change the course of the supernatural
Speaker 1: war for the souls of men and women, boys and
Speaker 1: earls that we are in. Well that's my sermon. I
Speaker 1: hope you liked it. I have more to say about that.
Speaker 1: I really wanted to talk to this for a minute
Speaker 1: about something I found in Luke five in my Bible,
Speaker 1: because I read out of the New King James, and
Speaker 1: I know generally you guys speak out of the NIV
Speaker 1: up in here, and I just got raised in the
Speaker 1: n king JV. I don't think it's better or anything,
Speaker 1: but when I was reading in my translation, I could.
Speaker 1: I just got to show you real quick. It's in
Speaker 1: verse four. It's Jesus' command. Look at it on the screen,
Speaker 1: launch out into the deep and let down your say
Speaker 1: it for a catch. Many Greek manuscript not all, but many.
Speaker 1: There's differences in translation. Many manuscripts indicate that the command
Speaker 1: was plural. But I want to show you something you
Speaker 1: won't have seen if you only read av Look at
Speaker 1: the next verse. So Simon answered, Master, we've toiled at
Speaker 1: night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will
Speaker 1: let down the The command was plural, the obedience was singular,
Speaker 1: meaning Peter was going through the motions. Now, whether the
Speaker 1: venue scripts to say plural plural or singular plural are correct,
Speaker 1: the emphasis of the teaching is that Peter didn't really
Speaker 1: think this was something to do, because he and his
Speaker 1: experience official night and cut nothing. So you told me
Speaker 1: to let down the nets. But all right, you said,
Speaker 1: so we'll let down a singular net? Is that not
Speaker 1: what's all over the scripture from beginning to end stract
Speaker 1: the arrows in the ground. Tap tap tap, gather some
Speaker 1: vessels to get some oil. Do not gather just a few?
Speaker 1: Make this valley full of the point is it was
Speaker 1: incredible when he let down a single net. He caught
Speaker 1: so many fish his boat began to sink. So we
Speaker 1: got a lot of fish. But the question is, on
Speaker 1: December thirteenth, what do you want to see God flooding
Speaker 1: into this ministry and into your life? Do you want
Speaker 1: to just bring on net or do you want to
Speaker 1: let down all the nets? Do you want to gather
Speaker 1: all the vessels. Do you want to see this valley
Speaker 1: full of ditches? Do you want to see mercy and
Speaker 1: grace all over this world? The point is that the
Speaker 1: problem when God works in our world is never about
Speaker 1: his ability. It's always about our capacity. And he can't
Speaker 1: feel what you don't offer. And the net that sat
Speaker 1: unused was the net that became that remained unfilled. All right,
Speaker 1: So that's the sermon, Like I said, And if you're
Speaker 1: keeping track, we only got three of our four points.
Speaker 1: We got amazed, We got included Peter and Jacob, they
Speaker 1: got invested. But the greatest thing and the most powerful
Speaker 1: thing came because they both walked in the power of
Speaker 1: the fact that they were forgiven. That's the fourth point forgiven.
Speaker 1: The boat that won the war, the boat that won
Speaker 1: the war for Peter was not the first boat. It
Speaker 1: was the last boat. And that's why I had you
Speaker 1: turned to John twenty one. You see, because Peter's life
Speaker 1: was bookended with boats. The first day he really hung
Speaker 1: out with Jesus on a boat, and the final time
Speaker 1: before Jesus ascended, he also hung out with him on
Speaker 1: a boat. The boat that won the war that mattered
Speaker 1: the most for Peter was the boat that he was on.
Speaker 1: In verse seven of John twenty one, when Jesus had
Speaker 1: just showed up again, Peter denied him. After Peter said
Speaker 1: I I don't know you. I don't know you. I
Speaker 1: don't know you to a servant girl, and then wept
Speaker 1: bitterly because I was Jesus's guy. But he was standing
Speaker 1: in the strength of his resolve, of his commitment of
Speaker 1: he was standing in the strength of his decision, and
Speaker 1: Jesus pursued him, and Jesus sought him, and Jesus showed
Speaker 1: up and said, one morning, have you caught any fish?
Speaker 1: Peter said nah man, thanks for bringing it up, he said,
Speaker 1: maybe throw your net on the starboard side. Okay, you
Speaker 1: know what, I caught nothing, I am nothing. I have
Speaker 1: no one who would ever want me. He threw his
Speaker 1: nets down, and so many fish, one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: three he counted him later, because every one of those
Speaker 1: miracles meant something to him. And when John said this
Speaker 1: is verse seven, it's the Lord, Simon heard it was
Speaker 1: the Lord. He put on his outer garment, for he
Speaker 1: had removed it, and then he plunged into the sea.
Speaker 1: This is a man who's out of control, astonished, amazed, stupefied,
Speaker 1: because not only is he included, and not only is
Speaker 1: he invested, and not only had he already been astonished,
Speaker 1: but now Jesus showing up doing this miracle again shows
Speaker 1: him that even after his darkest day, he was still forgiven.
Speaker 1: He was loved, he was wanted, he was cared for.
Speaker 1: The boat that won the war was the boat to
Speaker 1: help Peter win the war with himself. For now the
Speaker 1: footholder had met the foot washer, and Peter was learning
Speaker 1: what Jacob learned. What you need to know, and that
Speaker 1: is you don't need to be dressed up in your Sunday.
Speaker 1: Best to be loved by your father. He loves you
Speaker 1: even though you just woke up like this. You just
Speaker 1: woke up a failure. Peter went to bed a failure.
Speaker 1: He went to bed with the smoke in his nose
Speaker 1: of defeat. And one morning Gejesus woke up to cook
Speaker 1: him breakfast. Jesus woke up to make him a meal
Speaker 1: so that he would always remember the smell of smoke
Speaker 1: with forgiveness and not with the feet Coles were kindled
Speaker 1: in John twenty one, and Jesus served him breakfast that
Speaker 1: he had helped him catch a moment ago. He said
Speaker 1: good night to failure. But God says, good morning, grace.
Speaker 1: And that is what God speaks over your life today.
Speaker 1: And why God wants you to win the war over
Speaker 1: the darkest version of who you've become. He already knows
Speaker 1: those things, but he loves you anyway. He doesn't want
Speaker 1: you to wear Esau's clothes, to think you have to
Speaker 1: earn his blessing by being someone you're not. He loves
Speaker 1: you just as you are, and he has a plan
Speaker 1: to use every weird thing, every warped thing, every dark thing.
Speaker 1: He wants to change you heal you, fix you, mend you,
Speaker 1: not make you someone that you're not, but use you
Speaker 1: exactly as you are. Just a healed version, just a
Speaker 1: chosen version, just a restored version. I had this blue
Speaker 1: paint on my boot. I don't know if you can
Speaker 1: see it. I was writing this sermon so fast as
Speaker 1: God was giving it to me that I was shaking
Speaker 1: the mark or trying to write something on the glass
Speaker 1: when it hit me, this is kind of weird that,
Speaker 1: and it's not normally how I preach. God gave me
Speaker 1: a sermon about sleeping and a sermon about a boat.
Speaker 1: And I sat back to think, have I ever been
Speaker 1: in a situation where I was sleeping on a boat?
Speaker 1: I can need it like something? Is there something about this?
Speaker 1: And I sit there at the glass and I was
Speaker 1: shaking the pen so hard trying to write down the question.
Speaker 1: And it's the question I wrote down, write on this card.
Speaker 1: Why are you having me preach about a story involving
Speaker 1: sleep in a boat? And as the paint dripped on
Speaker 1: my boot, you got all the floor too, So I
Speaker 1: was rushing to find something to clean the paint up
Speaker 1: on the floor. And then and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I felt like God spoke to me as I was
Speaker 1: cleaning the paint off the floor. He said, LEVI, this
Speaker 1: is not a story about you involving sleep in a boat.
Speaker 1: The reason I have you preaching this sermon to this
Speaker 1: church on this day is because of a story that
Speaker 1: I was in involving sleep in a boat. And the
Speaker 1: only only way to end this message is for us
Speaker 1: to remember, in one of the greatest storms our world
Speaker 1: has ever faced, surely in our lifetime mark four thirty eight,
Speaker 1: we're told that in a storm on a boat on
Speaker 1: a sea, Jesus look at it was asleep on a pillow,
Speaker 1: and they woke them up, freaking out. They woke them
Speaker 1: up frantic, and he would minister to them so that
Speaker 1: by the end of the story they were calm and peaceful.
Speaker 1: But they're like, how are you not freaking out like us?
Speaker 1: How are you not stressed out like us? How are
Speaker 1: you not worried about racial divide and worried about COVID
Speaker 1: and worry about our country and worrying about the churches?
Speaker 1: If I lose their five o' one c three status.
Speaker 1: Now the Democrats are in control, and the Democrats are
Speaker 1: we'll builver the Republicans don't, and how are you not
Speaker 1: working out? And he would work out their peace, but
Speaker 1: their question is how are you not freaking out? And
Speaker 1: he says to them what he says to you, little child,
Speaker 1: I woke up like this, in control, in command, and
Speaker 1: I always will be. And if he could sleep in
Speaker 1: a storm, so can you. If he could rest in
Speaker 1: a storm, so can you. And here's my final question,
Speaker 1: what peace and rest will be yours? As you walk
Speaker 1: into twenty one with God's favor on your life? What
Speaker 1: will that feel like? How great will that be? Here's
Speaker 1: all I know. We're gonna see a victory. We're gonna
Speaker 1: see a victory. We're gonna see a victory because our
Speaker 1: praise and our gifts, our generosity, and our sacrifice are
Speaker 1: going ahead of us into this new year. Raise your
Speaker 1: hands up, jump up to your feet. Let me pray
Speaker 1: for you. Father. The image of your son sleeping on
Speaker 1: a pillow is meant to comfort us. Jacob's pillow is
Speaker 1: a rock. Your pillow was probably much softer, for you're
Speaker 1: better at packing. And the contrast is so staggering looking
Speaker 1: at Jacob's franticness, looking at Peter, then to see Jesus
Speaker 1: to see you. That's what we need. We need to
Speaker 1: see you resting. But now I pray for your people
Speaker 1: to do what Jacob did, to take the thing that
Speaker 1: symbolized his rest and comfort and to turn it into
Speaker 1: an altar. He turned a pillow into a pillar. May
Speaker 1: we your people take every blessing you've given to us
Speaker 1: and turn it back into a sacrifice, to an offering.
Speaker 1: Thankful for what you're doing and proving it by giving
Speaker 1: it out for you to do more. Bless your people,
Speaker 1: give them rest. May your favor be upon this house
Speaker 1: in the coming days. You've blessed us through this church.
Speaker 1: Now I speak a blessing over this church. May you
Speaker 1: bless them and keep them. May you bless the verdicts
Speaker 1: and keep them. May you bless elevation worship and keep them.
Speaker 1: May you bless every person in the e kids, every
Speaker 1: person who's a volunteer, every person running a camera, every
Speaker 1: person god answering questions in the chat, every person facilitating what.
Speaker 1: May you bless and keep this ministry and continue to
Speaker 1: cause your face to shine upon them, and give them
Speaker 1: your perfect peace in Jesus' name. In Jesus name, say amen,
Speaker 1: if you receive it. Thank you for joining us on
Speaker 1: the Elevation Church podcast. We trust that God has spoken
Speaker 1: to you through the message. The pastor Levi LESCo has
Speaker 1: just spoken, thank you to all of you who support
Speaker 1: financially the work that God is doing through Elevation Church
Speaker 1: this year. As the year end season approaches, we take
Speaker 1: some time and look back and all that God has done,
Speaker 1: but also forward in anticipation of all that He is
Speaker 1: going to do. The year end season for us at
Speaker 1: Elevation is special, and this year our pastor has labeled
Speaker 1: it the Favor Season. We're believing God's favor on our
Speaker 1: lives as we look forward to what He's going to do.
Speaker 1: Between now and December thirteenth, we have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: bring an offering to go above and beyond, to give
Speaker 1: toward how God is moving here at Elevation Church. If
Speaker 1: you already give, thank you. If you'd like to join
Speaker 1: us and give, we'd invite you to go to Elevation
Speaker 1: Church dot or. There you'll see the Favor offering. If
Speaker 1: you don't tithe, maybe you begin there by bringing the
Speaker 1: first ten percent of what God has entrusted to you.
Speaker 1: If you do tithe, we'd invite you to go above
Speaker 1: and beyond the tithe and see what God can do
Speaker 1: when you open your hands and allow Him to move
Speaker 1: through you. Thank you for being a part of Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: We trust that God will continue to move in your life.
Speaker 1: If you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, we'd encourage
Speaker 1: you to do just that to stay up to date
Speaker 1: on all the new messages here at Elevation Church. Thank
Speaker 1: you again and we believe God's blessing on your life.