Speaker 1: All right, we're going to get into the message very soon,
Speaker 1: but first an important message for you. This is our
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one year end offering. I love this time
Speaker 1: of year, an amazing time of year, because every year
Speaker 1: we end with appreciation for what God has done, expectation
Speaker 1: for what He's going to do. This has been a tradition.
Speaker 1: Like right now, they're going to put up a few
Speaker 1: graphics of all the offerings we've had through the years.
Speaker 1: I can't even remember them, all Game Change or Waymaker beyond.
Speaker 1: But this year, you don't even know the word that
Speaker 1: God gave me. I don't. This is not stage. I
Speaker 1: should reveal it to me. Yeah, this is not scripted,
Speaker 1: and we're doing our own camera work, So I apologize
Speaker 1: that the angle is off. But this year the Lord
Speaker 1: led me to the word better. Everybody say better, better,
Speaker 1: like put it in the chat. And we don't mean
Speaker 1: better than another person, or we don't necessarily mean that.
Speaker 1: You know, we're never content, And what we mean by
Speaker 1: that is Hag II two nine says that the glory
Speaker 1: of this present house, what God is doing, will be
Speaker 1: greater than the glory of the former house. We believe
Speaker 1: God is always doing something greater, we just have to
Speaker 1: see it. So I want to thank you in advance
Speaker 1: for your gifts. Those of you who already support this ministry,
Speaker 1: you're the reason. You're the reason we get to preach
Speaker 1: the gospel. You're the reason that thousands of testimonies that
Speaker 1: we hear in this ministry are made possible. And for
Speaker 1: those of you who are beginning to give, either through
Speaker 1: a one time year end donation to help us with
Speaker 1: our expansion, or the best way really through recurring giving,
Speaker 1: through putting God first with the tide, or maybe an
Speaker 1: above and beyond offering to say thank you to Him
Speaker 1: and believe Him for better things in faith, we want
Speaker 1: to say thank you, and we're standing with you right
Speaker 1: now as we begin this season of giving called Better
Speaker 1: Now through the end of the year. Yeah, thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Every time you give, it helps us to
Speaker 1: spread the Gospel to the world and beyond, and we
Speaker 1: are so thankful for your partnership with us in the gospel.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be an amazing holiday season and I can't
Speaker 1: wait to hear more about better. It's gonna be better
Speaker 1: better than you ask her. Imagine just three twenty we're
Speaker 1: believing God for you now let's go. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: lie to y'all. I am bugging out right now. I
Speaker 1: am at the elevation, Sir. I can't tell you how
Speaker 1: much this church has meant to me over my last
Speaker 1: ten years of being a senior pastor in Maryland. I
Speaker 1: actually the first year, and you'll sit down in like
Speaker 1: two seconds, but we're standing because they're about the screen
Speaker 1: for your pastors, so you can stay on your feet.
Speaker 1: For the first year, I had a five hundred dollars
Speaker 1: vacation budget. That's all I have for vacation. After year ministry,
Speaker 1: I was so ready to quit. I said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be one and done. Get me out of this. And
Speaker 1: I spent my five hundred dollars on a plane ticket
Speaker 1: to Charlotte, renting me a Camaro, got me a cheap
Speaker 1: My priorities were in order, got a chief hotel, but
Speaker 1: a nice car drove down to the Blakeney location, and
Speaker 1: I didn't know how elevation rolled. So I showed up
Speaker 1: to church five minutes before it started. Y'all know I
Speaker 1: didn't make it into that, sir. I sat in the
Speaker 1: parking lot in the first service, came in the second one,
Speaker 1: and baled my eyes out. The presence of God in
Speaker 1: this place literally kept me in the ministry. And year
Speaker 1: after year after the year, we've been to every single
Speaker 1: inside Elevation. We were at Lake Norman when it was
Speaker 1: over there. Shout out to Lake Norman and all these
Speaker 1: different places. And God has used your pastor in this
Speaker 1: house to incite something in so many pastors around this
Speaker 1: nation and this world to go after all that God
Speaker 1: has called us to be. You. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know. You know Elevation is one of God's favorite churches, right,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know that. You may have
Speaker 1: never heard this before. In the Bible, a father would
Speaker 1: show his favorite by who he gave gifts. To remember,
Speaker 1: he gave his favorite son a coat of many colors.
Speaker 1: Where the Bible says and Ephesians that your pastor is
Speaker 1: a gift from God. And based on the pastor that
Speaker 1: God has given this church, you must speak God's favorite.
Speaker 1: Can you honor Pastor Stephen and Pastor Ali? We are grateful, grateful, grateful,
Speaker 1: grateful for you're yes, for your sacrifice, for all that
Speaker 1: you believed in us. And I'm gonna say us because
Speaker 1: I is Elevation today but I'm great. Hey, go ahead,
Speaker 1: grab your seat, Grab your seat. We are gonna jump
Speaker 1: into God's word today. I have a could you deal
Speaker 1: with the word from God? I got a word from
Speaker 1: God for you today. Before I preach, I do have
Speaker 1: to highlight why I am blessed and highly favored. And
Speaker 1: it is this beautiful African woman on a front row.
Speaker 1: Can y'all honor my wife, Zi Chandler. I call her
Speaker 1: my African Queen. She hails from sile On, West Africa,
Speaker 1: and I actually started the church. I passed her. I
Speaker 1: was single for two years, and it was a rough
Speaker 1: two years because I had no favor. I had no
Speaker 1: annoint see, because the Bible says when you find a wife,
Speaker 1: you find favor from the Lord. It's rough, pastor and
Speaker 1: without favor. But but I found it eventually, and I
Speaker 1: am grateful, grateful, grateful for your love, for your support,
Speaker 1: and we love each other. So we got children. If
Speaker 1: you could throw up a picture and I can show
Speaker 1: everybody why I am more blessed than they are, because
Speaker 1: my family's just better looking than your family. I know
Speaker 1: that's mean and ignorant, but it's the truth. In front
Speaker 1: of me is my princess. Her name is Zoe. She's
Speaker 1: five years old. We little hood, so we got rapper
Speaker 1: names for all our kids, so her rapper name is Zozo.
Speaker 1: And then standing next to my wife is my second born.
Speaker 1: His name is Roman. His rapper name is Roro. You
Speaker 1: can tell we are not very creative people. And then
Speaker 1: our newest edition. We actually took this picture last week
Speaker 1: because we didn't have any family pictures with Jade Mariah.
Speaker 1: She is four months old. She looks like an angel,
Speaker 1: she acts like a fallen angel. Right around three am,
Speaker 1: she up and she's screaming in tongues and yelling and
Speaker 1: all this other good stuff. And we are happy, happy, happy,
Speaker 1: because we left them back in Baltimore. So we had
Speaker 1: the best sleep we've ever had last night. So forgive
Speaker 1: me if I preached for the next four hours. But
Speaker 1: your brother is a Two people just ran for the
Speaker 1: door and said, oh, you're not all right. Turn your bible.
Speaker 1: Turn your Bible to John chapter twenty John chapter twenty,
Speaker 1: verse nineteen. I got some of my Union Church fam
Speaker 1: into building and watching online. Grateful, grateful, grateful for you, John,
Speaker 1: chapter twenty nineteen. If you're ready, somebody see you. Oh,
Speaker 1: y'all ready ready like this. Here he goes. It says this.
Speaker 1: Then the same day, at evening, being the first day
Speaker 1: of the week, which man name was Sunday, when the
Speaker 1: doors were shut. Somebody said the doors were shut. The
Speaker 1: doors were shut. The disciples were assembled, why for fear
Speaker 1: of the Jews. Jesus came and stood in the midst
Speaker 1: and said to them, read that with me, peace be
Speaker 1: with you some of all. That's the only message you
Speaker 1: need today. Wherever you find yourself shut in, Jesus is
Speaker 1: about to step into that place of your life and
Speaker 1: breathe his supernatural peace in your life. He said, peace
Speaker 1: be with you. And when he said this, he showed
Speaker 1: them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were
Speaker 1: glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to
Speaker 1: them again, it was so nice. He said it twice.
Speaker 1: He said, peace to you. As the Father has sent me,
Speaker 1: I also send you. And when he said this, he
Speaker 1: breathes on them. Now you're gonna find out. I'm a
Speaker 1: little ignorant, and I'm not toue culture. And I just
Speaker 1: wonder what Jesus is breath smell like. Let me just
Speaker 1: think about it. You can't be the King of Kings
Speaker 1: and the Lord and lawyers that have holotosis. I mean,
Speaker 1: it just had to be the miniest breath somebod me
Speaker 1: just breathe them. So he breathed on them and said,
Speaker 1: receive the Holy Spirit. Let's pray, Father God. We're grateful.
Speaker 1: We're thankful God for this divine moment, this collision between
Speaker 1: Evan and Earth. God, you are here. God. You're not
Speaker 1: just here to have church. You're here to heal in
Speaker 1: a transform and to speak and to take us one
Speaker 1: step closer to the plan, the purpose, the destiny that
Speaker 1: you have for us. So God, preemptively, you make a
Speaker 1: decision in this moment that when you speak, we will
Speaker 1: obey have your way in our hearts. Thank you for
Speaker 1: bringing cam back to Charlotte and Jesus name. We pray.
Speaker 1: Amen and amen and amen. Hey, before I jump into
Speaker 1: the meat of this message, I just want to prophesy
Speaker 1: over you for a second. Is that okay? Now? If
Speaker 1: I do, you can't sit there with your anti propit skepticism.
Speaker 1: You gotta lean in. You gotta say I receive it.
Speaker 1: I want that, I believe it. If you're with me,
Speaker 1: somebody say amen, I believe that the Global Church, the
Speaker 1: American Church, Elevation Church, and you, somebody say, we are
Speaker 1: the Church are getting ready to walk into a season
Speaker 1: of open doors in our lives that we have never
Speaker 1: seen before. I believe you're getting ready to walk into
Speaker 1: a season of favor of creative miracles. I believe you're
Speaker 1: getting ready to walk into season come on line where
Speaker 1: God begins to answer prayers that you didn't even know
Speaker 1: to pray for, prayers that are above and beyond all
Speaker 1: that you could ever ask, sink, or imagine. There are
Speaker 1: relationships in your life that were broken, that you've given
Speaker 1: up on, and God is supernaturally mending them back together.
Speaker 1: God is getting ready to expand businesses in ways that
Speaker 1: you didn't even know possible. Someone's just gonna give you
Speaker 1: a book of their business and you're like, how did
Speaker 1: this happen? It's because God is opening doors in your life. Oh,
Speaker 1: I I appreciate it. I got about seventeen percent of
Speaker 1: the room like, oh you better appreciate that, Chris Rock,
Speaker 1: I love it. I love It's about thirty percent of
Speaker 1: this room. Now. She's just like, huh, I mean I
Speaker 1: ain't impressed. I mean any makers, Hey, guy's opening doors
Speaker 1: what's so impressive about that? How do you know God's
Speaker 1: going to open the door. Well, I'm a little ignorant,
Speaker 1: so can I just help you out? How I know
Speaker 1: that God is getting ready to open doors for a
Speaker 1: church because I read the Bible, and here's what I
Speaker 1: find in scripture that there's this pattern where the enemy
Speaker 1: will attack, and what God will do is say, hey,
Speaker 1: you take your first shot, and when you're done what
Speaker 1: you're doing, watch me work. If you remember, in the
Speaker 1: Book of Job, Satan came to God and he said,
Speaker 1: the only reason why Job is worshiping you is because
Speaker 1: Job is blessed. If you took away his blessings, he
Speaker 1: wouldn't worship you the same way anybody in here. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't worship God just because of what he can
Speaker 1: do for you, not just because of his blessings, but
Speaker 1: because of who he is. So God said, hey, you
Speaker 1: think that's right, go ahead, take everything that he has
Speaker 1: and see what happens. And you read the book, you
Speaker 1: see he lost his children, and his business and his
Speaker 1: wealth and in his notoriety. And he said, hey, though
Speaker 1: he slay me, I will not curse the Lord. I
Speaker 1: know that my redeemer lives. So like thirty eight chapters,
Speaker 1: Job is just going through hell, part of my French.
Speaker 1: And when he finally passed that test, God says, Satan,
Speaker 1: are you done? Okay, watch this, and he gives Job
Speaker 1: back double for his trouble, everything he lost. He gives
Speaker 1: him double everything that was stolen by the enemy. And
Speaker 1: here's what I know over these last eighteen and twenty
Speaker 1: four months, depending on where you live and all that,
Speaker 1: we have been through this global panoramic where the enemy
Speaker 1: has taken his best shot to divide racially, politically and
Speaker 1: in every other way. And I feel like God was
Speaker 1: just stepping back, let me know when you're done, and
Speaker 1: when you're done, watch me step in and move in
Speaker 1: people's lives. And if we went through eighteen and twenty
Speaker 1: four months of the world being shut down, I think
Speaker 1: we're getting ready to go through forty eight months of
Speaker 1: open doors and miracles, signs and wonders in the church,
Speaker 1: in your life, and in everything God desires to do
Speaker 1: for us. If you believe in somebody shot amen, somebody
Speaker 1: say open doors. That's why I want to preach a
Speaker 1: message today called the Blessing of a closed door. Because
Speaker 1: here's what I've discovered, until you've run into a closed door,
Speaker 1: you won't really appreciate an open door. If all you've
Speaker 1: experienced is favor and open doors and promotion and all
Speaker 1: that other, you'll begin to take it for granted, and
Speaker 1: you'll begin to look at it as if it's happenstance
Speaker 1: and not the favor of God on your life. There's
Speaker 1: nothing like a closed door that makes you grateful for
Speaker 1: an open door. There's nothing like sickness that makes you
Speaker 1: grateful that God is a healer. There's nothing like not
Speaker 1: having that makes you grateful that He is Jehovah Jira,
Speaker 1: our provider. There's nothing like being overlooked that makes you
Speaker 1: appreciative that the eyes of God is not just on
Speaker 1: the sparrow, but he is on you, and he sees
Speaker 1: every tear that drops from your eye. Hear me, it's
Speaker 1: closed doors that make us grateful for the open doors
Speaker 1: of God. Growing up, my dad was a pastor longer
Speaker 1: than I've been alive. I actually pastor to the church
Speaker 1: that he founded back in nineteen ninety seven. But he
Speaker 1: also owned his own business on the side. He had
Speaker 1: a medical courier company. He had drivers all over the
Speaker 1: state of Maryland, and they would pick up medical specimens
Speaker 1: from doctor's offices and drop them off at labs. These
Speaker 1: were blood samples and bow marrow samples and actually some
Speaker 1: pretty painful tests to take, so it was a pretty
Speaker 1: sensitive job. I remember when I turned sixteen, I got
Speaker 1: my driver's license and my dad hired me because I
Speaker 1: was a boss's kid. I was the youngest person on
Speaker 1: staff by like twenty years. People didn't think I deserved
Speaker 1: the job, and actually I did it, but my dad
Speaker 1: was the boss. I was just like, y'all can't do
Speaker 1: nothing with me, you can't say nothing to me. And
Speaker 1: by the way, my dad writes your paycheck, so eh.
Speaker 1: And I would spend about five hours of my day
Speaker 1: every single day, from about three pm to eight pm,
Speaker 1: driving around Maryland picking up medical specimens and dropping them
Speaker 1: off at the lab at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: early on when I was sixteen, and actually I did
Speaker 1: it for seven years, and it happened almost every single year.
Speaker 1: I'd drive and I'd get to a doctor's office and
Speaker 1: when i'd walk in, the nurse or the administrator the
Speaker 1: doctor say hey, we're not quite ready for you. Come
Speaker 1: back in about fifteen minutes somebody say fifteen minutes. It
Speaker 1: wasn't seventeen, it wasn't fourteen. They were very specific, come
Speaker 1: back in fifteen minutes and we'll be ready for you
Speaker 1: to pick up the specimen. Well, I was sixteen, and
Speaker 1: you know not that bright. So I said, fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: That's great. Sounds like enough time to go down to
Speaker 1: the mall, get a cheese steak, eat the cheese steak,
Speaker 1: run over the game stop. I play about three games
Speaker 1: of Madden. I've got time, so I'd go to the
Speaker 1: mall and I got a cheef steak. I go on
Speaker 1: to game Stop. I'm playing Madden. I'm like in the
Speaker 1: fourth game, and next thing I know, my phone would
Speaker 1: ring and my dad would be calling. So hey, Steven,
Speaker 1: I'm here at the drop are you ready to drop
Speaker 1: off the spence? Look? Oh uh, I got one more pickup.
Speaker 1: I'll be right there. I would hang up the phone,
Speaker 1: run through the mall, jump in my car, speed across town,
Speaker 1: and i'd get back to that doctor's after we're SpongeBob bags.
Speaker 1: I'm like two hours later, and I would get there
Speaker 1: sometimes and the office would be locked up. Now I'm
Speaker 1: not saying like locked like the door's locked and they're
Speaker 1: cleaning up inside. I'm talking about locked lights off, buildings
Speaker 1: shut down. You can't get in no matter what. Remember
Speaker 1: the first time this happened, I called my dad said, hey, uh,
Speaker 1: the doctor's office closed, and tell them I was there earlier.
Speaker 1: They closed and they're locked up. I'll come back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Let me say, Steve, what do you mean tomorrow. Specimen
Speaker 1: that you're picking up has a three hour shelf life.
Speaker 1: If you wait till tomorrow, it will spoil. And hear me,
Speaker 1: if it spoils, we will lose that doctor as a client.
Speaker 1: And he said, what you gotta understand is that that's
Speaker 1: not just one doctor, but that doctor is connected to
Speaker 1: seven other doctors. There is an entire practice. If we
Speaker 1: lose that one doctor, we're losing all seven of them.
Speaker 1: Steven get in the door, and then he'd hang up.
Speaker 1: I figured it out. I'm just like I just told
Speaker 1: you a lot. I remember looking at this clock, closed door,
Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna lie to you. I talked to
Speaker 1: a couple of police officers in Baltimore before I told
Speaker 1: the story, just to make sure that the statue of
Speaker 1: limitation had passed. But when I tell you that your
Speaker 1: boy has broken into more doctor's offices that you can't
Speaker 1: imagine in your life. I am sweet, talk more nurses.
Speaker 1: I've given more donuts to security guards, climbed in your windows,
Speaker 1: snack your people up. I have. It was in that
Speaker 1: season of my life that I learned that a closed
Speaker 1: door is not the end of the story, but the
Speaker 1: beginning of a decision. Every time I run into a
Speaker 1: closed door, I have a decision to make. Am I
Speaker 1: gonna surrender to the situation. Am I gonna figure it
Speaker 1: out and figure out a way in? Or I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say there's no way I can get around this. And
Speaker 1: ear me. God did not die on the cross for
Speaker 1: his people to surrender. One of the things that breaks
Speaker 1: my heart are there are too many believers that are
Speaker 1: surrendering to sickness. They're surrendering to anxiety and worry and
Speaker 1: fear and set back and lack and ear me. Just
Speaker 1: because it's a set back, just because it's a closed
Speaker 1: door in your life right now, does not mean that
Speaker 1: it's a life sentence. It doesn't mean that it's over.
Speaker 1: It's just the beginning of your story. So I want
Speaker 1: to have about four hours of preach I just want
Speaker 1: to give you just three quick I want to give
Speaker 1: you just three quick thoughts, three quick thoughts of what
Speaker 1: do I do when I run into a closed door
Speaker 1: when I'm in that season of life where things looks
Speaker 1: like things just aren't moving forward, like I just can't
Speaker 1: catch or break. The first thought is this, not all
Speaker 1: close doors are the same. When you run into a
Speaker 1: season where life is not moving forward, where it doesn't
Speaker 1: appear that your prayers are being answered, that you're not
Speaker 1: making the progress that you want to make, you gotta
Speaker 1: understand just because the door is closed doesn't mean it's
Speaker 1: the same scenario. Here's what we do. We blame every
Speaker 1: closed door on God. Every time something doesn't work out,
Speaker 1: we don't get the job, the promotion, the relationship doesn't
Speaker 1: work out, or whatever. Mavie. We get super spiritual when
Speaker 1: we say things like it must not have been God's
Speaker 1: will for my life. That's my su spirtual voice. I
Speaker 1: don't know why I pray and it didn't happen, so
Speaker 1: it must not have been what God had for me.
Speaker 1: Hear me. Just because a door is closed doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that God is the one that closed. In our passage
Speaker 1: here in John chapter twenty we find the disciples locked
Speaker 1: behind a closed door. The Bible says that they were
Speaker 1: paralyzed in fear that they were so overcome with the
Speaker 1: idea that they had just killed Jesus. And everybody knew
Speaker 1: that they were followers of Jesus, so they just had
Speaker 1: in their mind, if they killed Jesus, they must be
Speaker 1: coming for us. Next. I guess one of my beef
Speaker 1: for Christians. I got a lot of beef for Christians,
Speaker 1: but but one of my beef for Christians is and
Speaker 1: I'll fill myself under the bus with you. We read
Speaker 1: the Bible like Christians, how much supposed to read the
Speaker 1: Bible like a human? Here here's what I mean by
Speaker 1: as Christians. We read the Bible knowing how the story goes.
Speaker 1: So we see them locked in the room like all
Speaker 1: you punks. Come on out. He rose from the third day.
Speaker 1: He's about to walk through the wall and show you
Speaker 1: the nail prince in his hand, don't you know. We
Speaker 1: read it knowing the end of the story. But you
Speaker 1: have to put yourself in their shoes. They didn't have
Speaker 1: the Bible to read. They was the Bible, and as
Speaker 1: far as they knew everything that they had given their
Speaker 1: life to had just been murdered in front of them
Speaker 1: like a criminal. You see these men and women. They
Speaker 1: left family businesses. They looked parents in the eye and said,
Speaker 1: I don't want the inheritance that you worked your entire
Speaker 1: life to build. I'm gonna follow this carpenter's son because
Speaker 1: I was told that he has the keys of life
Speaker 1: in his hand. They left everything and followed him for
Speaker 1: three years. He said that he was the king of
Speaker 1: kings and the Lord of lords. And then he hung
Speaker 1: on a cross his head and he died, and a
Speaker 1: whole city celebrated. And here are the disciples locked in
Speaker 1: a room after the greatest tragedy of their life, thinking,
Speaker 1: if they just killed Jesus, they're coming for us. This
Speaker 1: was the lowest moment of faith that they ever had.
Speaker 1: A side note, anybody grateful that all your mistakes and
Speaker 1: blunders are not recorded in scripture for billions of people
Speaker 1: to read. Anybody grateful today you mess up royally. Only
Speaker 1: you and your three roommates know about it, nobody else.
Speaker 1: This was the worst moment in their lives. And here's
Speaker 1: what they decided to do. Based on that tragedy and trauma.
Speaker 1: They went into a room they opened the door and
Speaker 1: they locked it behind them. The door wasn't closed because
Speaker 1: God God closed it. The door was closed because fear
Speaker 1: closed it. One of the things that I've discovered is
Speaker 1: there are so many people that are locked behind a
Speaker 1: closed door, not because God did it, but because it
Speaker 1: was the response to that abuse from their childhood. It
Speaker 1: was their response from that divorce ten years ago, the
Speaker 1: response from losing that home that they had borrowed from
Speaker 1: four different family members to be able to purchase, the
Speaker 1: response to the closing of that business that they had
Speaker 1: given ten years of their life to without. Even we
Speaker 1: don't do it consciously, it's like a subconscious defense mechanism
Speaker 1: where we still come out of our house, but our
Speaker 1: hearts are closed, and based on the worst day of
Speaker 1: our lives, we've made an internal vow. I'll never trust
Speaker 1: people again. I'll never let somebody that close enough to
Speaker 1: me again to break my heart. I'm never gonna take
Speaker 1: a risk like that again. And one of the things
Speaker 1: about it. We're good in church about putting our church
Speaker 1: clothes on, in our church face on, so you'll walk
Speaker 1: into church and you look, why, you'll sing the song
Speaker 1: why Oh pet? Was that my note? But the truth
Speaker 1: is we're wide closed. We walk into church with our
Speaker 1: church faith and hey, how you doing? Oh girl, I
Speaker 1: am too blessed to be stressed. You lion them shopping
Speaker 1: bags under your eyelids, say you pretty stressed right now? Hey,
Speaker 1: how you doing? Oh? God is good all the time,
Speaker 1: and all the time. God is good. I know how
Speaker 1: God is. How are you? And we have up this
Speaker 1: facade that life is going great, But if we were
Speaker 1: to be honest, our life stopped at that tragedy eight
Speaker 1: years ago, and we've shut our hearts off. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing God said in his word Third John, chapter one,
Speaker 1: verse two. It said, beloved, I pray that you may prosper.
Speaker 1: Somebody say prosper, So I pray that you may prosper
Speaker 1: in all things and be in health, just as your soul.
Speaker 1: What was your soul? Your soul's your mind, your will,
Speaker 1: and your emotions, your heart. The word prosper means this.
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean what you think. Prosperity. Oh I love
Speaker 1: me of prosperity. Praja. We're about to get a Bentley
Speaker 1: a idea. Prosperity does not mean beamer Ben's and Bentley's
Speaker 1: not that that's a bad thing. But here's what the
Speaker 1: word prosper in the original language. It simply means to
Speaker 1: move forward. That's all I mean. God says, my prayer
Speaker 1: is that you would move forward in every area of
Speaker 1: your life. What does that mean. That means that your
Speaker 1: marriage is better this year than it was last year.
Speaker 1: That means your finances are better this year than it
Speaker 1: was last That means your faith is stronger this year
Speaker 1: than it was last year. And here's we're looking for
Speaker 1: God to move us forward. God says, you don't move
Speaker 1: forward according to My will for you. You You move forward
Speaker 1: according to the health of your heart. Here we are
Speaker 1: blaming God. God. I can't get a break. There's closed
Speaker 1: doors all around. And God says, there's closed doors outside
Speaker 1: of you because there's a closed door on the inside
Speaker 1: of you. And until you make a decision that I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna be locked up on the inside, hear me,
Speaker 1: I know it's we're gonna laugh at the end. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be great. It's gonna be a little tight right now,
Speaker 1: he said, until you make a decision to unlock what's
Speaker 1: on the inside, everything on the outside is gonna be
Speaker 1: locked up. Here we are complain, why can't I find
Speaker 1: any real friends, any people are gonna be loyal to
Speaker 1: me and not just use me. Holy Spirit is saying,
Speaker 1: maybe it's because you won't let anybody close to you,
Speaker 1: because you've put a padlock on your heart. You've made
Speaker 1: a decision. I'm not gonna let anybody. If you don't
Speaker 1: let anybody close enough to hurt you, no one will
Speaker 1: be close enough to bless you. So here it is
Speaker 1: the disciples, they're locked up in this room. I'm just
Speaker 1: I wonder sometimes, what were y'all thinking. Here's what I've discovered.
Speaker 1: My response to fear, pain and trauma is not a
Speaker 1: long term thought process. It's immediate reaction. What were the
Speaker 1: disciples planning on doing tomorrow? Y'all just gonna stay locked
Speaker 1: up in this room for the next thirty years? Like, like,
Speaker 1: what's the plan here? They are locked up in this room,
Speaker 1: and the Bible says that Jesus steps through the wall
Speaker 1: and he says, peace be unto you, which tells me
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what I've been through. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: where I've locked myself off from. It doesn't matter how
Speaker 1: much I've given up on life. There's people right now
Speaker 1: that you have no vision and you have no dream
Speaker 1: for your future. Hear me, there is a God that
Speaker 1: loves you, and he doesn't even need you to open
Speaker 1: the door for him. He'll walk through the walls of
Speaker 1: your heart and breathe on you and say peace. He would.
Speaker 1: Now I'm reading this passage and that's just like, Jesus,
Speaker 1: why do you got to be so extra like, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a door, Why you wanna walk through the wall
Speaker 1: all Messiah? Like, just oh, why can't you walk through
Speaker 1: the door like normal people? And as I'm reading this passage,
Speaker 1: and I feel like the Holy Spirit says Steven, how
Speaker 1: do you know I didn't try? It says that I
Speaker 1: walked through the wall. It doesn't say that that was
Speaker 1: my first option. Could it be that I tried the
Speaker 1: door and because the door was locked, I had to
Speaker 1: come in a different way? How many people you love
Speaker 1: your Bible like you love your Bible. I'm like working
Speaker 1: this out. Next thing I know. The Holy Spirit brings
Speaker 1: this Revelations chapter three, verse twenty. He says, Look, I
Speaker 1: have been standing at the door, he said, and I
Speaker 1: am constantly hear me, Jesus knocking on your door like that,
Speaker 1: Like that annoying door dashed delivery person that did not
Speaker 1: read the note, leave my meal at the door. I
Speaker 1: ain't come into the door, he said. I am constantly knocking.
Speaker 1: He said. If anyone hears my calling him and opens
Speaker 1: the door, he said, I don't even need you to
Speaker 1: come out. I'm gonna come in and fellowship with him
Speaker 1: and he with me. I think before Jesus walked through
Speaker 1: those doors through the wall, he knocked on the door,
Speaker 1: and as he was knocking on the door, I don't
Speaker 1: think that the disciples fear decreased. I think it increased
Speaker 1: because they mistook the knock of peace for the knock
Speaker 1: of judgment. There's some of you in this room watching
Speaker 1: online different locations. You're not here because you want to
Speaker 1: be here. You're not here because like, oh, I'm you
Speaker 1: like elimation. Only reason you're here is because your wife said,
Speaker 1: if you don't come to church with me, i'ma make
Speaker 1: you weak, miserable. Some of all teenagers, your mamma say
Speaker 1: you can come to church or you cannot eat all week,
Speaker 1: he said, an hour and a half, she said, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come. I'm gonna come. I'm gonna come, and
Speaker 1: you're sitting in church, you're watching online. But for you,
Speaker 1: to be honest, your heart is locked off to Jesus.
Speaker 1: And it's because you misunderstood who he is. You thought
Speaker 1: he was knocking at the door of your heart to
Speaker 1: tell you how messed up you are. You thought he
Speaker 1: wanted to knock on your door to judge and say,
Speaker 1: ooh you ratch. How could you do that? How could
Speaker 1: you think that? How can you look at that happ
Speaker 1: No, no no, no, no no. He's not knocking on your door
Speaker 1: to judge you, or to condemn you, or to look
Speaker 1: down at you. He's knocking on the door to breathe
Speaker 1: peace into your life. Some of you have been pushing
Speaker 1: through the last years in your own strength, in your
Speaker 1: own willpower, and outside everybody thinks you're okay. On an inside,
Speaker 1: you're exhausted. I'm telling you there is a peace that
Speaker 1: surpasses all understanding, that will guard your heart and guard
Speaker 1: your mind. But you gotta let Jesus in second thoult
Speaker 1: is this write this down. Some closed doors are a
Speaker 1: set up, now hear me. There are some closed doors
Speaker 1: in our life that we have closed as our response
Speaker 1: to trauma. But there are closed doors in our life
Speaker 1: that God himself has closed. You can't. You've been in
Speaker 1: a position where nobody you call will pick up their phone.
Speaker 1: You just trying to find somebody, find an angle who
Speaker 1: can get me forward. And it does not matter what
Speaker 1: you do, how many applications you put out, because sometimes
Speaker 1: God will close a door in our life. Here in
Speaker 1: John twenty, Jesus walks into a room where the doors
Speaker 1: closed because they closed it. After Jesus gets them out
Speaker 1: of that room, he puts them in an upper room,
Speaker 1: and he closes that door on them and acts Chapter one,
Speaker 1: verse four, it says this, and being assembled together with them,
Speaker 1: Jesus commanded them, don't you leave this room. That's not
Speaker 1: like yo, mama. Don't you come out of here? He said,
Speaker 1: do not depart from Jerusalem. But wait, somebody say, wait
Speaker 1: for the promise of the Father, which he said, you
Speaker 1: have heard from me. Here's what God told the disciple.
Speaker 1: He said, now arisen, I'm all powerful. All power has
Speaker 1: been given to you. Go change the whole world. And
Speaker 1: Peter's your boss, by the way. But before you do that,
Speaker 1: go in this room, close the door and wait, because
Speaker 1: you're not ready yet. I've discovered God will always call
Speaker 1: you to something that is beyond your ability, the destiny
Speaker 1: that God has for you. You know, some people, they're insecure.
Speaker 1: I have these big dreams, but but I just don't
Speaker 1: think I can accompliy. I don't think that I'm smart
Speaker 1: enough for gifted, number educated. I can't to encourage you.
Speaker 1: You're not you feel the courage. You're not smart enough,
Speaker 1: You're not gifted enough. You're actually not educated enough. That's
Speaker 1: why I say God dream because if you could do
Speaker 1: it without God, it wouldn't be He will always put
Speaker 1: you in a position where you're in over your head,
Speaker 1: and he said, hey, before you go out and do it,
Speaker 1: stay here so that I can prepare you. There are
Speaker 1: seasons in our life where it's God who has closed
Speaker 1: the door. And hear me, if God has closed the
Speaker 1: door in your life, it's either because you are not
Speaker 1: ready for your breakthrough or your breakthrough is not ready
Speaker 1: for you. I've grown and matured, but I'm the same
Speaker 1: old Stevens. I was breaking into the doctor's offices when
Speaker 1: I was sixteen, and I still have the person when
Speaker 1: I see a closed door, I just want to kick
Speaker 1: it in. And anyway like that. You get on the
Speaker 1: phone with customer service somebody say I can't help you,
Speaker 1: You're like, okay, let me talk to your boss, because
Speaker 1: clearly you ain't the person I need to talk to.
Speaker 1: But somebody can help me. I just I'm just want
Speaker 1: I don't know how to take no I should. It's
Speaker 1: just like not right now. I need to pray for
Speaker 1: men need help. I've just discovered that there's sometimes where
Speaker 1: it's not a moment to kick in the door, but
Speaker 1: it's a moment to wait on God's timing, because if
Speaker 1: I go through a door prematurely, I will not be
Speaker 1: ready for all that God God has for me. Nop,
Speaker 1: this isn't the message, but I just want to take
Speaker 1: a little detour. Can we have a little praise break?
Speaker 1: Is there anybody watching online, in this room, watching in
Speaker 1: our campuses that you are mature enough in your faith
Speaker 1: to thank God for the nose hear me? Anybody can
Speaker 1: thank God for his yeses, But is there anybody mature
Speaker 1: enough to thank God that he has closed some doors
Speaker 1: in your life? Anybody was dating somebody that you wanted
Speaker 1: to marry and it didn't work out, But now you
Speaker 1: look him back and you say, thank God it didn't
Speaker 1: work out because they broke they ugly, they discussed it.
Speaker 1: Anybody applied for a job that you did not get
Speaker 1: and now you're thanking God that you didn't get it
Speaker 1: because it actually sets you up for some There are
Speaker 1: doors that God closes in our life, and the only
Speaker 1: reason he would close a door is because he has
Speaker 1: something better for you. I'm not I'm not talking about you.
Speaker 1: I'm just talking about me. If I don't get my way,
Speaker 1: I just have a session with God where I just complain.
Speaker 1: I call it prayer. I don't know what he calls it.
Speaker 1: I'm not fair. Why we get that landing when we
Speaker 1: get that doty and and he's like, he don't call
Speaker 1: me dummy, I call me dumby, Like dummy, it's because
Speaker 1: I got something better for you. Stop crying and use
Speaker 1: this closed door season to prepare for what I have
Speaker 1: for you. Because what I have for you is above
Speaker 1: and beyond anything that you can ever ask, think or
Speaker 1: imagine and hear me. Just because the door is closed
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's not gonna open. And you gotta be
Speaker 1: ready for when that door opens, because when it's open,
Speaker 1: it's game time. There's there's there's something called chronos, which
Speaker 1: is our physical one hour, two hour, one day, three day,
Speaker 1: and then there's a biblical world called Cairos. It's not
Speaker 1: physical time, it's divine time. It's when heaven and earth collides.
Speaker 1: It's a moment that God has prepared. It's like when
Speaker 1: that widow was coming in to beg the king for
Speaker 1: her land back, and she didn't know before she got
Speaker 1: in the room, somebody else was talking about her and
Speaker 1: about how much of a blessing she was, and she
Speaker 1: walked into a God moment. Here's why God has closed
Speaker 1: the door in your life, because he's waiting for the
Speaker 1: God timing, and when you walk through that door, it's
Speaker 1: the moment that He has for you. And there's nothing
Speaker 1: worse than getting the right thing at the wrong time.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many Caribbean folks we have in
Speaker 1: a room, but my parents are from Barbados and I
Speaker 1: grew up in the Caribbean. Thanksgiving was a little crazy.
Speaker 1: We didn't just do mac and cheese and turkey. If
Speaker 1: we do a turkey, it's gonna be a jerk turkey, y'all.
Speaker 1: We don't fry turkey. We do oxtail and courage chicken,
Speaker 1: and I mean, we throw down. But in the Caribbean.
Speaker 1: There's a fruit called a mango. If you've never seen it,
Speaker 1: I can't help you. It's like a peach. I don't
Speaker 1: know what tell you, but it's better. Best fruit in
Speaker 1: the world. I think it's actually with Eve eight in
Speaker 1: the garden. It wasn't an apple, it was a manga.
Speaker 1: The best fruit in the world is disgusting at the
Speaker 1: wrong time. If it's not ripe, it's hard and it's bitter.
Speaker 1: If it's over ripe, it's just disgusting. The right thing
Speaker 1: at the wrong time is not a blessing. And here
Speaker 1: I am complaining, guy, why are you open the door?
Speaker 1: And ty, why can't I move forward? It's like, don't
Speaker 1: you understand the timing is not right. I'm preparing you, Steven,
Speaker 1: but I'm also preparing destiny for you. Here's what you
Speaker 1: have to understand. You are God's answer to a problem
Speaker 1: here on earth. The Bible said that God's given you
Speaker 1: gifts that will bring you for four people of influence.
Speaker 1: Somebody on earth with influence has a problem. Watch this,
Speaker 1: and you are God's answer to it. The only problem
Speaker 1: is that person of influence. They ain't ready for you.
Speaker 1: Because so often when we have a problem. We look everywhere,
Speaker 1: but God, so right now, they're trying to use money
Speaker 1: to get out of their problem. They're trying to use
Speaker 1: their connections to get out of their problem. They're trying
Speaker 1: to use their resume to get out and Gods just like,
Speaker 1: just wait, just wait, just wait, because in a moment,
Speaker 1: they're gonna run out of options. And when they run
Speaker 1: out of options, they're gonna turn to me. And when
Speaker 1: they turn to me, I'm gonna send you. And you're
Speaker 1: gonna walk in and watch this. When you walk in,
Speaker 1: when the moment is ready for you, you you get jobs
Speaker 1: you didn't apply for, You get favor you didn't work
Speaker 1: for it. You walk into things that are above your
Speaker 1: resume because you stepped into a Cairo's moment. I've discovered,
Speaker 1: when the door's closed in my life, it's not my
Speaker 1: time to say, sit there and twiddle my thumbs and come, God,
Speaker 1: how come I don't get any opportunities and out. No, No,
Speaker 1: it's my time to prepare for when that door opens up.
Speaker 1: So many of us, over the last eighteen to twenty
Speaker 1: four months, we spent more time in our houses with
Speaker 1: our family than we could ever imagine. And here's my
Speaker 1: problem where we complaining that we couldn't travel, or we
Speaker 1: were preparing for when the world opens back up, God,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be where I was when the door closed.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be so much further ready for all that
Speaker 1: you have to me. Matthew. Chapter six, verse six is this.
Speaker 1: It says, but when you pray, I love how God
Speaker 1: just assumes we pray. It was like if you pray
Speaker 1: as I went, well, I mean, you love me and
Speaker 1: you talk to people that you love, so I'm assuming
Speaker 1: that we're gonna talk. He said, when you pray, go
Speaker 1: into your room, and when somebody say, shut the door.
Speaker 1: When you have shut your door, pray to your father
Speaker 1: who in the secret place, and your father, who sees
Speaker 1: in secret, will reward you. Oh, here's what God has said.
Speaker 1: He said, what happens behind closed doors, the world will
Speaker 1: see in one moment. Here's a mistake I made. I
Speaker 1: would go and you know, opportunities aren't coming, doors aren't opening,
Speaker 1: and I'm in my prayer clause I'm crying out to God,
Speaker 1: but I would never close the door behind me. Come on,
Speaker 1: some of y'all pray like me. Lord, I'm praying for breakthrough. Breakthrough,
Speaker 1: breck though, and that didn't work. I bring out a
Speaker 1: Pentecostal prayer. No, no pray for bre through. I'm start
Speaker 1: bucking and rocking. What do you say? He said close
Speaker 1: the door. Here's why, because if I'm praying and I'm looking,
Speaker 1: I'm not praying with faith, because faith is not God said,
Speaker 1: you gotta learn how to close a door where you
Speaker 1: can't see the opportunities. But yet you're still crying out
Speaker 1: to God, saying, God, I know you will do it.
Speaker 1: So many people we're in a position where like, I
Speaker 1: don't see how it's gonna happen. I'm single, and I
Speaker 1: don't see any options. I have this business dream, but
Speaker 1: I don't see a market. If you could see it,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't need faith, And if you didn't need faith,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be God. The fact that you can't see
Speaker 1: it makes it more likely God than not. It's in
Speaker 1: those closed door seasons that are faith builds that we
Speaker 1: learn to trust God based on the promises of his
Speaker 1: word and not based on the circumstances of our reality. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get in trouble. Some of us spend more
Speaker 1: time watching the news than we spend watching his promises,
Speaker 1: and we're listening to people who do not have the
Speaker 1: same hope that we have as they prophi lie over
Speaker 1: our future. I don't care what happens to the economy
Speaker 1: of this country. I do, but not that much because
Speaker 1: I'm not from around here. I'm just an ambassador. I'm
Speaker 1: a king's kid, and what happens here does not apply
Speaker 1: to me. Because when he opens the door, no man
Speaker 1: can shut it. We need to spend more time behind
Speaker 1: closed doors, looking to the hill from whence cometh our help.
Speaker 1: Our help comes from the Lord and Maker of heaven
Speaker 1: and earth. Last thing is this. Write this down. We're
Speaker 1: gonna land this plane. Whatever you do, do not get
Speaker 1: used to closed doors. There are some closed doors that
Speaker 1: we're the ones who close it because of our response
Speaker 1: to fear or disappointment or trauma. And we need to
Speaker 1: let Jesus say there's some closed doors that are in
Speaker 1: our lives because Jesus closed the door because the timing
Speaker 1: is not right. And don't knock the door in. Use
Speaker 1: the time to prepare for what God has for you.
Speaker 1: But whatever you do, don't get used to close the door.
Speaker 1: What does that mean? Don't get used to losing? Come on,
Speaker 1: this is a word for somebody. You went through a
Speaker 1: season where you may have lost a loved one, you
Speaker 1: you may have lost a job, you may have gotten
Speaker 1: knocked back here. It was a season, not a life sentence.
Speaker 1: Don't build an entire personality around losing. Don't make life
Speaker 1: decisions around losing. It was a season, not a sentence.
Speaker 1: Because some closed doors are the enemy, and those are
Speaker 1: the doors that our God is gonna kick it. I
Speaker 1: don't have time to read it. Read on your own time.
Speaker 1: But in Acts chapter twelve, the disciples found themselves behind
Speaker 1: another closed door. Jesus had gone on to sit next
Speaker 1: to the Father in heaven and the church was growing.
Speaker 1: And then the government at that time they arrested James,
Speaker 1: the brother of Jesus, And when they found out that
Speaker 1: the community was excited about persecuting the church, no figure,
Speaker 1: they cut James head off. And when they found out
Speaker 1: that everybody loved it, they arrested Peter. And they had
Speaker 1: the same plan for Peter as they had for nothing
Speaker 1: to do with the message, Just run a rabbit trail.
Speaker 1: My children, they're in Christian school, and I didn't know
Speaker 1: I appreciate Christian school until they started coming home and
Speaker 1: telling us all these Bible stories. I realized, Wow, they're
Speaker 1: learning God's word. I love this. But for some reason,
Speaker 1: my three year old Roman only remembers the decapitations of
Speaker 1: the Bible. He don't know nothing about Moses, he don't
Speaker 1: remember Jonah. All he knows is Daddy did cut John
Speaker 1: the Baptists head off. That and if Pharaoh had pride
Speaker 1: in his heart. That's all he's learned. It's anyway, So
Speaker 1: they cut James head off. They throw Peter in prison,
Speaker 1: getting ready to execute him the next day. And watch this.
Speaker 1: When they arrest Peter, the church goes in a room,
Speaker 1: closes the door, and begins to pray. This is not Bible,
Speaker 1: this is just Stephen. So you can take it or
Speaker 1: leave and we could figure it out in heaven. I
Speaker 1: think James lost his head because the church wasn't praying.
Speaker 1: I think if the church was praying the way it
Speaker 1: was supposed to be, when James got arrested, and could
Speaker 1: you imagine how ticked off James is in heaven right now,
Speaker 1: just holding his head. He's like, really, y'all, y'all couldn't
Speaker 1: pray until Peter gets arrested. I mean, who likes Peter.
Speaker 1: So here's Peter in prison. The church is cried out,
Speaker 1: said God. And because the church is praying, God says,
Speaker 1: whenever two of you agree on anything, it will be
Speaker 1: done here on earth. And God got the age and said, hey,
Speaker 1: the churches agreed, go down and rescue Peter. So it
Speaker 1: says the angel, he goes into the prison. And if
Speaker 1: I had time to appreciate this, the Bible says, the
Speaker 1: angel had to wake Peter up. What type of faith
Speaker 1: do you have where it's the night before your execution
Speaker 1: and your sleep. I'm sorry, I've got faith like that.
Speaker 1: If they about to kill me, I'm trying to bribe
Speaker 1: the judge. I'm trying to I'm trying to pick a lock.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to Peter's sleep because he knows to Livius
Speaker 1: Christ and the dye is day. It doesn't matter what
Speaker 1: happens to me. I'm blessed. So it says they wake
Speaker 1: Peter up. It it says his shackles fall off. Peter
Speaker 1: thought he was in a dream. The angel gods Peter
Speaker 1: out of prison to the very door where the prayer
Speaker 1: meeting was happening, says Peter comes to the door, he
Speaker 1: knocks on the other side of this door. They're praying
Speaker 1: for a miracle. The miracle is at the door. The
Speaker 1: miracle knocks on the door. One of the attendants there,
Speaker 1: her name was Rhoda. She opens the door. I don't
Speaker 1: miss this. They're praying for Peter. Peter's the door. She
Speaker 1: opens the door, Oh my gosh, it's Peter and slams
Speaker 1: the door in his face. Then she goes back and says,
Speaker 1: it's Peter at the door. You know what they said.
Speaker 1: You're lying. It's not Peter. It's a ghost. They were
Speaker 1: praying for Peter, but they were praying with no expectation.
Speaker 1: They were praying out of religion, not out of faith,
Speaker 1: because they had got used to losing. Hear me, don't
Speaker 1: you dare get used to losing. Don't you dare get
Speaker 1: used to closed doors? Don't you dare get used to
Speaker 1: a moment when His favor is not on you. It
Speaker 1: may be a season where doors are closed. It may
Speaker 1: be a season of sickness. It may be a season
Speaker 1: up setback. It may be a season where people are coming.
Speaker 1: But it's a season, not a life sentence. The Bible says,
Speaker 1: don't cast away your confidence. I know it's been a
Speaker 1: rough season. But don't you dare stop believe in God's
Speaker 1: best for you. I'm gonna close by five year old Zoe.
Speaker 1: She a little turn. Actually, all our kids are they
Speaker 1: get from the mama, and so we make them take naps. Now,
Speaker 1: somebody are like five year old taking naps. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: not for them, it's for us. So we say he
Speaker 1: zoways old and she's like, I want to take it.
Speaker 1: That was like, we don't care what you do. You
Speaker 1: just go in your room for an hour and a
Speaker 1: half and don't come out. And what she'll do is
Speaker 1: she'll go in the room. She'll take her pillow on
Speaker 1: her blanket off of the bed and she'll put it
Speaker 1: right next to the door, and she'll crack the door
Speaker 1: and she I have found her at three in the morning,
Speaker 1: sometimes passed out next to her door and in her
Speaker 1: five year old nine. I don't know when they're going
Speaker 1: to open this door and let me out, But whenever
Speaker 1: this door opens, I don't want to waste the seven
Speaker 1: steps from my bed to the door. I think God
Speaker 1: is looking for some believers that you're not going to
Speaker 1: force the issue, but you've set your faith up right
Speaker 1: at the edge of that door, and you're like, God,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to force it. But the second this
Speaker 1: door opens up, I stepping through, and I'm ready for
Speaker 1: that moment. I'm ready for that favor. I'm ready for
Speaker 1: all that that open door is coming to you. And
Speaker 1: when it is, don't get caught slipping, don't get caught doubting,
Speaker 1: don't get caught thinking that your best days were behind you.
Speaker 1: But live from a position of God. I'm still breathing,
Speaker 1: which means there's more for me that you have in
Speaker 1: front of you you and that you have behind Hey, can
Speaker 1: I pray for you? Father, God? We are grateful God
Speaker 1: that if your eyes are on the sparrow, how much
Speaker 1: more do you not know? God? The desires of our heart, God,
Speaker 1: the dreams of our heart. You put them there. Just
Speaker 1: because they were delayed in our timing doesn't mean it's
Speaker 1: off schedule for you. God. I pray that you'd stir
Speaker 1: our faith again. God, I pray that you'd put us
Speaker 1: in a position of expectation, knowing that you're getting ready
Speaker 1: to open doors in our lives. Just where you are
Speaker 1: with your eyes closed and your head back, If you
Speaker 1: could pray this pray with me, say Holy spirit, what
Speaker 1: do you say to me? And just give God a
Speaker 1: moment to make this time to make this message personal
Speaker 1: to you. There's so many of us without even realizing it.
Speaker 1: There's parts of our heart that we've closed off because
Speaker 1: of some fear, because of something that someone spoke over us,
Speaker 1: because of some back or some failure. God is saying,
Speaker 1: I'm not coming in to curse you, or to judge you,
Speaker 1: or to look. I'm coming to bring peace that air
Speaker 1: of your life. There's some of you under the sun
Speaker 1: of my voice that if you'd be honest, you've never
Speaker 1: opened your life to Jesus before. Maybe you're like me,
Speaker 1: you grew up in church, you just never surrendered to
Speaker 1: the God of the Church. Maybe this is your first
Speaker 1: time in an atmosphere like this. But if you'd be honest,
Speaker 1: you say, Pastor, I can't say that I've opened up
Speaker 1: the Jesus the way that you're talking about. But I'm exhausted,
Speaker 1: I'm tired, and I need that peace that you're talking about.
Speaker 1: If that's you, this moment right now was for you.
Speaker 1: All you have to do is take one step towards me,
Speaker 1: and we do that in this prayers. Here's I'm asking
Speaker 1: you would pray this perything. A matter of fact, every
Speaker 1: single person in every single room that we're in, can
Speaker 1: we pray this out loud out of encouragement of those
Speaker 1: that are making the greatest decision ever? Say Lord Jesus,
Speaker 1: thank you for seem for wanting me, for dining on
Speaker 1: the cross so that all my sin, all my mistakes,
Speaker 1: can be erased. Today I open my heart to you.
Speaker 1: I surrender be my Lord, be my savior, and use
Speaker 1: me for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen and amen
Speaker 1: and amen. Come on, can you celebrate for every single
Speaker 1: person that just made the greatest decision ever? God bless
Speaker 1: you well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a
Speaker 1: couple of things I'd love for you to do. Make
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can
Speaker 1: also help us reach others by investing today at Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining us
Speaker 1: on the Elevation Podcast.