Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Amen.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that when Moses had crossed over the
Speaker 1: Red Sea with the Nation, he stretched his staff back
Speaker 1: over the sea, the same sea that the nation had
Speaker 1: just passed through, and that sea collapsed on their enemies,
Speaker 1: killing every last Egyptian horse, killing every last one of
Speaker 1: Pharaoh's chariots, rusting the wheels right off of Pharaoh's chariots.
Speaker 1: And we believe that we are in a season today
Speaker 1: where God has the ability, if we have the faith
Speaker 1: to believe that He is about to flip the flow.
Speaker 1: And that's my new series for the New Year. Touch
Speaker 1: somebody say, God's about to flip it. God's about to
Speaker 1: flip it. Amen. Amen. Amen, you know that sermon series
Speaker 1: is from God because He gave it to me and TGI.
Speaker 1: Fridays in the Miami Airport, I was reading from my
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve sermon called Come Through dripping, and the
Speaker 1: Lord told me to tell you to flip the flow
Speaker 1: and to focus on different things this year. And so
Speaker 1: we will work through these challenges together. We'll sit down,
Speaker 1: we should get started. It's going to be a great
Speaker 1: year in God's house. How many believe that. Welcome to
Speaker 1: all of our locations and our epham around the world.
Speaker 1: We thank God for you this year. From this house,
Speaker 1: we declare that healing will flow, that restoration will flow,
Speaker 1: that wisdom will flow, that the treasures of the Lord
Speaker 1: will flow, that friendship will flow. We believe great things
Speaker 1: are coming your way in twenty nineteen. This is the
Speaker 1: year where you stop coming to church for what can
Speaker 1: I get out of it? But what can I bring
Speaker 1: to it? I brought God a praise today, a sacrifice
Speaker 1: of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
Speaker 1: I brought it to Blakeney. I brought it to Matthews.
Speaker 1: I brought it to Riverwalk. I brought it to my kitchen.
Speaker 1: I brought it to my living room. I brought it
Speaker 1: into the hospital. I brought a break touch. Somebody tell
Speaker 1: him bring it this year. Nay, hey man, we are
Speaker 1: so excited. Please be seated. Front three rows we are
Speaker 1: so excited to flip the flow. Amen, And so we
Speaker 1: want to go over to the New Testament Book of Matthew,
Speaker 1: which parallels so nicely the Ministry of Moses and gives
Speaker 1: us great continuity. Did you get a chance to listen
Speaker 1: to the New Year's Eve sermon? If you did make
Speaker 1: some noise? That thing is online for free. You don't
Speaker 1: even have to buy a VHS tape. You can stream
Speaker 1: it at Elevation Church dot org. And I keep on
Speaker 1: rewriting my sermons, so I've got a lot of different
Speaker 1: notes up here. And you'll bear with me for a
Speaker 1: moment while I'm doing this. You go to Matthew fifteen
Speaker 1: in your Bible, please, whether by digital device or the
Speaker 1: old school. This Bible I call fat Cat. See how
Speaker 1: big this Bible is. Abby gave it that name. She said,
Speaker 1: I love fat Cat. I said, what's fat Cat? She said,
Speaker 1: it's that big bible you preach from. And what I
Speaker 1: do for my kids every seven years, I retire a
Speaker 1: Bible from preaching, and then I saved it for them,
Speaker 1: and so Elijah got the first one. And Abby knows
Speaker 1: that this is her Bible, so she named it fat Cat.
Speaker 1: And what I'm going to do. She's not in here.
Speaker 1: She was in here for the worship today. She wanted
Speaker 1: to hear that new song that was saying, your love
Speaker 1: won't give up on me. And she wanted to come
Speaker 1: in and hear that song because she heard us working
Speaker 1: on it, and she wanted to hear how it turned out.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna put a cat on the front of
Speaker 1: the Bible before I give it to her. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's unholy or anything like that, but I'm
Speaker 1: gonna put a cat on it for my daughter. But
Speaker 1: right now, take your Bible and turn to Matthew chapter fifteen,
Speaker 1: and we're going to see Jesus and how he found
Speaker 1: himself in an encounter not with the Red Sea, but
Speaker 1: with the Pharisees. Yeah, that's really premium preacher humor right there,
Speaker 1: new year, same old corny jokes. In Matthew chapter fifteen,
Speaker 1: verse ten, Jesus is going to show us how to
Speaker 1: flip it. You're ready? Are you ready? Jesus called the
Speaker 1: crowd to him and said, listen and understand, what goes
Speaker 1: into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes
Speaker 1: out of their mouth that is what defiles them. Then
Speaker 1: the disciples came to him and asked, do you know
Speaker 1: that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this. Did
Speaker 1: you look at the comments section of that post, Jesus,
Speaker 1: where you said, what goes into someone's mouth does not
Speaker 1: defile them, but what comes out of the mouth, that's
Speaker 1: what defiles them. And Jesus replied verse thirteen, every plant
Speaker 1: that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled
Speaker 1: out or plocked by the roots. Leave them, you know,
Speaker 1: you need to do this year with some of the
Speaker 1: stuff that you argued with last year and fought against
Speaker 1: last year. Touch somebody say, leave it alone because they
Speaker 1: are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both
Speaker 1: will fall into a pit unless they have a bird box.
Speaker 1: And Peter said, explain, settle down, explain the parable to us.
Speaker 1: You're still so dull, Jesus asked him. Don't you see,
Speaker 1: key phraise, don't you see? And the issue is that
Speaker 1: they don't. They see only the surface. And Jesus now
Speaker 1: reveals what cannot be understood with naturalize that whatever enters
Speaker 1: the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of
Speaker 1: the body. What a vivid illustration. But the things that
Speaker 1: come out of a person's mouth, come from the heart,
Speaker 1: and these defile them. For out of the heart come
Speaker 1: evil thoughts, murder, adultrey, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Speaker 1: I think he got all of us by the time
Speaker 1: he finished that list. These are what defile a person.
Speaker 1: Eating with unwashed hands. It's gross, it's disgusting, it's unsanitary.
Speaker 1: It's against the law if you work in a restaurant.
Speaker 1: But eating with unwashed hands does not defile them. Touch
Speaker 1: the person next you tell them flip it. Don't fix
Speaker 1: things this year at the surface level. Don't fix things
Speaker 1: this year at the level that you see the problem.
Speaker 1: Seek the Lord and ask him to show you where
Speaker 1: the sewage starts. Instead of just cleaning up crap all year,
Speaker 1: ask God to show you where it starts. And here's
Speaker 1: the interesting thing. And I won't preach long for this
Speaker 1: opening sermon because we're going to be on this topic
Speaker 1: for the whole month. So we'll just move in the
Speaker 1: right direction today, and I pray that you'll make attendance
Speaker 1: a priority this year. Is that where something comes out
Speaker 1: is not usually where it comes from. That's what Jesus
Speaker 1: was getting at with the Pharisees because they were offended,
Speaker 1: and so he took their offense as an opportunity to
Speaker 1: talk about the origin, and then he shared a little
Speaker 1: bit about the outcome. And those are my three points
Speaker 1: for today. Just in case you have to leave early
Speaker 1: to watch a playoff game. I'll give you all three
Speaker 1: up top offense, origin, outcome, and may this year be
Speaker 1: the year that you take notes in church with the
Speaker 1: elevation pen that our Tith's generously provided for you. Three
Speaker 1: points the offense, the origin, and the outcome the offenses
Speaker 1: this the Pharisees have caught Jesus disciples eating without any
Speaker 1: hand sanitizer, eating without any purel eating without obeying their
Speaker 1: oral tradition that before you eat the meal, you've got
Speaker 1: to wash your hands. And I want you to watch
Speaker 1: how Jesus flips it, because what we tend to do,
Speaker 1: like the Pharisees, who were religious separatists, who felt the
Speaker 1: need to identify their righteousness by appearance, because it's much
Speaker 1: easier to do that than to cultivate righteousness through love
Speaker 1: and compassion and selflessness. I'm saying something today, y'all, and
Speaker 1: in fixing it at the level that it can be seen,
Speaker 1: they fix it in a way that does not produce
Speaker 1: or sustain real change. But Jesus is about to flip it,
Speaker 1: and he does this every time the Pharisees challenge him. Now,
Speaker 1: these Pharisees came to him, and they came all the
Speaker 1: way from Jerusalem. Look back at verse one, it says
Speaker 1: that some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to
Speaker 1: Jesus from Jerusalem. These are the major leaguers. These are
Speaker 1: not the double a Pharisees. This is not the farm team.
Speaker 1: This is the big boys. And they come to Jesus
Speaker 1: and they ask, why do your disciples break the tradition
Speaker 1: of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat.
Speaker 1: What's the question, why do your disciples break the tradition
Speaker 1: of the elders? If you came to church last year,
Speaker 1: you learned that Jesus is not only a savior, but
Speaker 1: he also has the ability to be a savage. So
Speaker 1: watch what he does. He takes their question why do
Speaker 1: your disciples break tradition? And in verse three, Jesus replied,
Speaker 1: why do you break the command of God for the
Speaker 1: sake of your tradition? And God wants to know which
Speaker 1: one is more important, the traditions of men or the
Speaker 1: truth of God. And it's about time for some of
Speaker 1: us to decide, are we going to spend this whole
Speaker 1: year living out of tradition or living according to truth?
Speaker 1: A challenger this year to flip it. It is so
Speaker 1: easy to live with an invisible belief system that regulates
Speaker 1: your responses in situations and even your ideas of what
Speaker 1: is possible in your life. An unquestioned belief system is
Speaker 1: a dangerous thing. The phrases are significant because the Pharisees
Speaker 1: are talking about the traditions of the elders, and Jesus
Speaker 1: is talking about the command of God. One is tradition,
Speaker 1: one is truth. And a lot of times we don't
Speaker 1: know the difference, because for some of us we give
Speaker 1: more attention to our traditions than we do to God's truth.
Speaker 1: Now give you an example, may I Sometimes people would
Speaker 1: rather I've noticed this, They would rather argue about things
Speaker 1: that they don't agree about than work together on things
Speaker 1: that they do agree about. Can I get you another example.
Speaker 1: Sometimes in my life, ways of thinking have been handed
Speaker 1: down to me, not necessarily by my parents I love you, mom,
Speaker 1: but just by the culture that I live in, and
Speaker 1: I never stopped the question where did this come from?
Speaker 1: I want you to write that phrase down, if you're
Speaker 1: the writing type, Where did this come from? Is this
Speaker 1: really from God? What an excellent question to start our
Speaker 1: year with? Where did this come from? Because where it
Speaker 1: comes out is not usually where it comes from. And
Speaker 1: sometimes we are living out scripts that we have not
Speaker 1: even identified the author of. To wonder, why do I
Speaker 1: think it has to be done this way? Why do
Speaker 1: I assume that this is all I can be? Why
Speaker 1: have I told myself the story that everyone in my
Speaker 1: family was this way and I'm going to be this
Speaker 1: way too, and it's just a generational curse or a
Speaker 1: genetic defect. Why have I believed that up until this
Speaker 1: point it can't change, so it never will. This is
Speaker 1: when I live according to tradition rather than truth. But
Speaker 1: this is the year to flip it. Somebody shout, this
Speaker 1: is the year to flip it. And this year I'm
Speaker 1: not letting my truth flow from my tradition. I want
Speaker 1: my tradition to flow from truth. That is, I want
Speaker 1: my life to reflect my values, not necessarily my habits
Speaker 1: up until this point in time, and Jesus is so
Speaker 1: brilliant in the way that he flips their tradition and
Speaker 1: says that you are actually using God as a cover
Speaker 1: up for your dysfunctional behavior. But he has the ability
Speaker 1: to flip it because he is truth. See, they're talking
Speaker 1: about truth. He embodies truth. They think they know the truth.
Speaker 1: He is the truth, the Way, the truth, and the life.
Speaker 1: They study the Word of God. He is the Word
Speaker 1: of God. They live in creation. He is the creator. See,
Speaker 1: where he's coming from is different than where they're coming from.
Speaker 1: So what he knows is different than what they think.
Speaker 1: And his insight is greater than their opinion. And that's
Speaker 1: why I want to know God's heart this year. God's thoughts,
Speaker 1: his ways are higher than my ways. His thoughts are hot,
Speaker 1: you can shout in the back of the room. His
Speaker 1: thoughts are higher than my thoughts. So this is my
Speaker 1: year to ask the question about what I believe and
Speaker 1: the behaviors I've embraced. Where is this come from? That's
Speaker 1: the origin the offense is this, they're not washing their hands. Well,
Speaker 1: God never told the people you have to wash your
Speaker 1: hands every time you eat. That's great for Osha, but
Speaker 1: from God, it's great for your health, your well being.
Speaker 1: But it's not in the Bible. It's in the tradition
Speaker 1: because the elders would take the Law of Moses, and
Speaker 1: then they would put layers on the law and layers
Speaker 1: on the law, and so they passed it around by
Speaker 1: word of mouth, and so they kind of started thinking
Speaker 1: what they thought God meant by stuff, and they started
Speaker 1: interpreting it according to their religious vantage point. And by
Speaker 1: the time that Jesus showed up on the scene, there
Speaker 1: were so many layers on top of the truth nobody
Speaker 1: could get to it. That's why he had to come
Speaker 1: to show us that the word became flesh and dwelt
Speaker 1: among us full of grace and truth. Am I talking
Speaker 1: all right this year? Flip the flowe and start with
Speaker 1: what God says, what you see, because if I spend
Speaker 1: this whole year fixing stuff at the level where I
Speaker 1: can see it, Jesus said, it doesn't even work that
Speaker 1: way in the human body. It doesn't. You put it
Speaker 1: in your mouth. And I don't mean to be offensive here.
Speaker 1: I mean Jesus was offensive, but I don't want to be.
Speaker 1: But Jesus said, you put it in your mouth, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't come out of your mouth. Do you get
Speaker 1: the picture or shaw I continue. I mean, occasionally it
Speaker 1: comes back out of your mouth, but typically, unless something
Speaker 1: is really wrong, it doesn't come out where it went in.
Speaker 1: It doesn't come out in the same place that it
Speaker 1: came from. I've noticed this is true in so many
Speaker 1: of the areas of my life where I'm trying to
Speaker 1: see change and improvement, even in the area of my anger.
Speaker 1: I wonder sometimes when I'm driving down the road and
Speaker 1: something comes over me, a demon called legion comes over me,
Speaker 1: and I will think to myself, there is no way
Speaker 1: that that woman, that seventy three year old woman's turn
Speaker 1: signal could have made me as mad as I just got.
Speaker 1: I mean, if she were in my church, I would
Speaker 1: hug that woman. And here I am thinking thoughts about
Speaker 1: this woman, maybe saying some words about this woman, in
Speaker 1: the safety of the sanctuary of my vehicle, and I've
Speaker 1: been wondering, where does this come from? You know, that's
Speaker 1: a great question to ask about the stuff in your life,
Speaker 1: if we can it that way. Jesus said, it goes
Speaker 1: in your mouth one way, but it comes out in
Speaker 1: a different form. And a good question to ask about
Speaker 1: that stuff in your life is where did it come from.
Speaker 1: How did I How did I take that out on
Speaker 1: somebody who didn't even do anything to me? See, because
Speaker 1: usually where it comes out is not where it comes from.
Speaker 1: We don't usually get angry and lose our temper with
Speaker 1: people who were actually mad at We lose our temper
Speaker 1: with people who we know will forgive us. And now
Speaker 1: you're taking out something on the people that you love
Speaker 1: the most. But where it's coming out is different than
Speaker 1: where it's coming from. And if we don't get honest
Speaker 1: about what we need from God this year, we will
Speaker 1: spend yet another year mopping up the floor without finding
Speaker 1: the pipe that was busted that was causing the leak
Speaker 1: to begin with. Come on, you know, this is the truth.
Speaker 1: A lot of times, when I'm angry, it's not really
Speaker 1: even that I'm angry, It's that I'm afraid. And rather
Speaker 1: than be vulnerable in my fear, I'd rather express my
Speaker 1: fear through anger as a protective mechanism. And so I'm
Speaker 1: trying to work on my temper. But really what I
Speaker 1: need to work on is my trust, because if I
Speaker 1: trusted God more, I wouldn't be afraid, And if I
Speaker 1: wasn't afraid, I wouldn't find an expression of anger. Where's
Speaker 1: this coming from. It's great to make a list at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year of the things that you'd
Speaker 1: like to do differently, but it's better to find out
Speaker 1: where it's coming from. Just recreate a different issue that
Speaker 1: was caused by the same disease, because you only learn
Speaker 1: to take ibuprofen for the symptoms, but you never underwent
Speaker 1: the surgery to understand some of the beliefs beneath the behavior.
Speaker 1: Even in relating to people, I have to remember that
Speaker 1: even the way they're treating me might not be a
Speaker 1: reflection of how they feel about me. It might be
Speaker 1: a reflection of how they feel about themselves. It might
Speaker 1: be a reflection of what they're dealing with in their
Speaker 1: own time alone in the way that they push me away.
Speaker 1: And that's why you really got to be careful not
Speaker 1: to let rejection take root in your heart, because sometimes
Speaker 1: people are pushing you away not because of anything that
Speaker 1: is undesirable about you, but it's actually that the person
Speaker 1: finds themselves so on desirable that they don't know how
Speaker 1: to let anyone get close, Because to let anybody close
Speaker 1: carries a risk with it that they will be seen
Speaker 1: and found out to be less than which they already
Speaker 1: believe that they are. And you are spending all of
Speaker 1: your time trying to love someone who is unable to
Speaker 1: receive your love, and the rejection is not proof of
Speaker 1: your defection. It is proof of something in their own life.
Speaker 1: But where it shows up is not necessarily where it starts.
Speaker 1: And Jesus knew that. He knew that, which is why
Speaker 1: he didn't go back and forth with these pharisees. He
Speaker 1: knew better. He knew where he came from, and he
Speaker 1: knew that every plant that my father does not plant
Speaker 1: will be plucked up. So he knew that where it
Speaker 1: comes from determines how it comes out. Reach a little
Speaker 1: bit today. I know you've got a lot on your minds,
Speaker 1: and you've got to pack lunches for the kids and
Speaker 1: get back to school, and I know all of that,
Speaker 1: but I want to stop and ask the question today,
Speaker 1: where did it come from? And in my life, so
Speaker 1: often I have been dealing with things at the level
Speaker 1: of visibility. And because I'm dealing with things at the
Speaker 1: level of Jesus takes us inside. He says, when food
Speaker 1: goes into the stomach and comes out the body. It
Speaker 1: is like a thought that goes in the heart and
Speaker 1: comes out the mouth. He's making an analogy, and there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of scientific, you know, explanation. It's not
Speaker 1: a biology lesson necessarily. He's not going into the small
Speaker 1: intestine and the secretion of the fluids of the kidney
Speaker 1: and the pancreas. Did that make any sense? But he's
Speaker 1: giving us something to understand about how we metabolize our
Speaker 1: thoughts and our lives and even our disappointments and our failures.
Speaker 1: And I think it's so valuable because a lot of
Speaker 1: started this year counting calories, counting carbs. Some of y'all
Speaker 1: are on paleo and keto and counting macros. I still
Speaker 1: don't know what macros are, but I heard a lot
Speaker 1: of people have been counting them. And I wish you
Speaker 1: the best with that, because we all got to count something.
Speaker 1: We've all got to count something, or we're gonna keep
Speaker 1: counting our waistline as it expands, like the prayer of
Speaker 1: Jabez and God enlarges your territory. I gotta count something
Speaker 1: at some point. Like when I first married Holly, she
Speaker 1: started the demon of fried Rice came into our house
Speaker 1: like how everything's a demon today. The demon of Dorito's
Speaker 1: got in our house. And when I got to size
Speaker 1: thirty eight and it was bulging. I mean I had
Speaker 1: a graded belt stretched across those size thirty eights and
Speaker 1: I started size thirty eighteen months later, I said, I
Speaker 1: gotta start counting carbs. I gotta start eating bacon. I
Speaker 1: gotta get a healthy alternative. I gotta get the act
Speaker 1: His diet. I gotta have a low carb lifestyle. And
Speaker 1: you know what the Lord told me last year, because
Speaker 1: I was letting all this toxic talk and toxic thoughts
Speaker 1: just get all in my spirit, and it had got
Speaker 1: me to a real dark place. And God said, if
Speaker 1: you would count your complaints like you count your carbs.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because the majority of things we think
Speaker 1: we need to do better this year have to do
Speaker 1: with putting stuff in our mouth. What we put in
Speaker 1: our mouth, and maybe you do need to stop putting
Speaker 1: some stuff in your mouth, but maybe the priority, flip
Speaker 1: the flow, is what you put in your heart, because
Speaker 1: where it comes from determines where it comes out. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you what movies to watch or what
Speaker 1: music to listen to this year I'm not that kind
Speaker 1: of preacher. In fact, I think sometimes some of the
Speaker 1: stuff that we put in our heart that hurts us
Speaker 1: the most has nothing to do with bad words. Man,
Speaker 1: I've heard I've heard Pagans speak a word of God
Speaker 1: with bad language in it, and Christians curse without saying
Speaker 1: a single four letter word. I've heard Christians say some
Speaker 1: of the most hateful, judgmental, fear inducing condemnation you've ever
Speaker 1: heard in your life. And listen, this year, I'm guarding
Speaker 1: my heart. And I don't mean that. I'm not watching Netflix,
Speaker 1: and I don't mean That's not what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about reading the Old Testament before next Sunday.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about really paying attention to the types of
Speaker 1: a pattern of thought that you allow your heart to digest,
Speaker 1: because your spirit has a digestive system. Jesus said, his
Speaker 1: out your heart. That's causing you the real problem. You know,
Speaker 1: Pharisees are like offended Jesus because you said that they
Speaker 1: don't have to wash their hands before they eat. Well
Speaker 1: they don't. Only Aaron and the priests had to wash
Speaker 1: their hands. But they put traditions on top of truth
Speaker 1: and made it something that was never supposed to be.
Speaker 1: You can wash your hands all you want. You can
Speaker 1: break out your hands sanitizer every time pastor says touch
Speaker 1: your neighbor and squirt it on. You know. I was
Speaker 1: so offended the other day somebody came up to meet
Speaker 1: me and they introduced themselves and they shook my hand.
Speaker 1: I watched them walk away squirting stuff all over their hands.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, hey, I didn't even want to talk
Speaker 1: to you. Don't you wish they made heart sanitizer for
Speaker 1: some of these people that we have to deal with,
Speaker 1: for some of these these thoughts, some of these memories,
Speaker 1: some of these habits. Wouldn't that be? Can that be marketable?
Speaker 1: I know how to wash my hands. I know how
Speaker 1: to make people think I'm doing okay. I know I
Speaker 1: know how to smile and say I'm fine. I know
Speaker 1: how to crop the picture twelve times and post hashtag.
Speaker 1: Woke up like this. I know how to I know
Speaker 1: how to wash my hands, But how do I wash
Speaker 1: my heart? And this is where Jesus is greater than Moses.
Speaker 1: Moses went up the mountain and came down with the law.
Speaker 1: Jesus went up on a mountain and taught a sermon
Speaker 1: and said, I didn't come to abolish the law, but
Speaker 1: I came to fulfill it. I didn't come to do
Speaker 1: away with it. I didn't. I didn't come so that
Speaker 1: the law would not exist. I came so that I
Speaker 1: could flip it and watch this, that the righteous requirements
Speaker 1: of the law might be fully met. In us bias.
Speaker 1: For you to start this year thinking that there's a
Speaker 1: future version of you that God will like more, or
Speaker 1: a future version of you that can be happier, is
Speaker 1: to negate the very nature of the grace you came
Speaker 1: to celebrate. Because Jesus came not to require righteousness, but
Speaker 1: to enable righteousness. That's what the cross was. You understand
Speaker 1: that when Jesus died on the cross, the angels did
Speaker 1: not get nervous in heaven. The angels didn't wring their
Speaker 1: hands in heaven. The angels didn't start devising a backup
Speaker 1: plan in heaven, because the angels in heaven knew where
Speaker 1: Jesus came from. And when you know where it comes from,
Speaker 1: you know how it comes out. And even when they
Speaker 1: beat him, and even when they mocked him, my voice
Speaker 1: is tired. I preached three times I could use some help.
Speaker 1: Even when they buried him in the grave of Joseph Afarmatheum,
Speaker 1: Heaven didn't get nervous because we know where he came from,
Speaker 1: so we know how this comes out. Even before I
Speaker 1: go through the trial this year, I know how this
Speaker 1: comes out, because He who began a good work in
Speaker 1: me will be faithful to complete it. Shout for nineteen
Speaker 1: seconds if you've got faith. That's why Joshua set shout
Speaker 1: before the first brick hits the ground. I know where
Speaker 1: the command came from, so I know how the battle
Speaker 1: turns out. It's the spirit of faith to let you
Speaker 1: know that if it comes from God, if he called you,
Speaker 1: if he formed you, if your help comes from Him,
Speaker 1: you can predict in advance how this comes out. Already
Speaker 1: know the outcome. Even when I was reading the scripture,
Speaker 1: God said, flip it because it said evil thoughts come
Speaker 1: from your heart. And it's a hard thing to sort
Speaker 1: through your heart to know what thoughts came from God,
Speaker 1: and what thoughts came from Ego, and what thoughts came
Speaker 1: from Grandpa, and what thoughts came from Fox News, and
Speaker 1: what thoughts came from Bloomberg, and what thoughts came from Twitter?
Speaker 1: And what thoughts came from? What thoughts came from? What's
Speaker 1: the other one? CNN and Facebook and Uncle Ray and
Speaker 1: Uncle Tim and Aunt Cindy and Aunt Martha. It's hard
Speaker 1: to know. It's hard to know. It's hard to know
Speaker 1: what's in your heart. That's why we need the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit this year. That's why we need Jesus. I know
Speaker 1: it sounds simple, and maybe this teaching is too elementary
Speaker 1: and some people are a little bored with it. But
Speaker 1: I need help with my heart this year. I need
Speaker 1: help because some stuff in there is from God and
Speaker 1: some stuff is not, and I need help sorting it out.
Speaker 1: Because I sent Pastor Craig some Christmas gifts this year.
Speaker 1: Always send him clothes for Christmas in case he wants
Speaker 1: to wear them to preach in the New Year. And
Speaker 1: he's like one of my best friends, so it's not
Speaker 1: weird when I send him clothes. He gets it. He
Speaker 1: doesn't take it as an insult, like I think he
Speaker 1: doesn't know how to dress, but he likes what I
Speaker 1: send him. I keep it a little on the youthful
Speaker 1: side for him. He's fifty one, but I feel like
Speaker 1: I don't want to push him too far. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna have him up there dripping in off white, looking
Speaker 1: ridiculous from head to toe, and so I don't know
Speaker 1: just where to push him. So he trusts me. He
Speaker 1: trusts me. That's the point I want to make. He
Speaker 1: trusts me. And this year I sent him a nice little,
Speaker 1: nice little box of clothes. His two shirts in the box.
Speaker 1: It was one of them was like a zip, kind
Speaker 1: of like a zip sweater thing came right there. And
Speaker 1: then a shirt shirt, Burdberry shirt to put under the sweater.
Speaker 1: And I told him in the note, Merry Christmas, here's
Speaker 1: your clothes. You can wear it three different ways. The
Speaker 1: sweater without the shirt, the shirt without the sweater, the
Speaker 1: shirt under the sweater. You're welcome, Merry Christmas. I am
Speaker 1: an efficient stylist. I'm thinking about having a side hustle
Speaker 1: dressing preacher. But that's not the point. The point is
Speaker 1: he sent me a picture of him wearing the clothes,
Speaker 1: and he put on the clothes. He put the first
Speaker 1: of all, the sweater on, look good. Then he put
Speaker 1: the shirt on, look good. Then there was a third
Speaker 1: picture and he was wearing something I never saw before
Speaker 1: in my life. It was baggy, bright red am I
Speaker 1: telling the truth because I sent it to Jess, who
Speaker 1: works in my office now for almost ten years. I said,
Speaker 1: we didn't send him this, did we? She said, no, sir,
Speaker 1: I never saw that before in my life. And I
Speaker 1: texted him back to good news. First, all the stuff
Speaker 1: I sent you is dope good news. The bad news
Speaker 1: is that third thing you put on. I don't know
Speaker 1: where that came from. But he trusted me so much
Speaker 1: that he said, if it came from Ferdick, this is
Speaker 1: real faith, y'all, he said, even though I think it
Speaker 1: looks ridiculous if it came from Ferdick. And I said,
Speaker 1: but it didn't come from Ferdick, not this one. I
Speaker 1: am not taking credit for this fashioned decision. This did
Speaker 1: not come from ferde You need to find out what happened.
Speaker 1: And he found out what happened because one of his
Speaker 1: staff members, who knew how much he trusted me, saw
Speaker 1: the box that came from me and decided to go
Speaker 1: in the box. Open the box. Can y'all believe this?
Speaker 1: Find the ugliest sweater they could find. Stick it in
Speaker 1: the box under the stuff that I picked. And they
Speaker 1: knew he trusted me so much that he would wear
Speaker 1: whatever he thought came from me. But the devil is
Speaker 1: a liar. I texted him and I said, you need
Speaker 1: to take out the box that was not from me.
Speaker 1: I hear the spirit of God saying, you've been wearing
Speaker 1: some stuff in twenty eighteen that I did not put
Speaker 1: in your box. It's time for you to go through
Speaker 1: the box. And everything that does not look like joy
Speaker 1: and the garment of praise, take it off. Everything that
Speaker 1: does not look like the armor of God, take it off.
Speaker 1: Everything that doesn't look like victory, take it off. I'm
Speaker 1: coming into a new year driven. I'm not coming into
Speaker 1: a new year wearing rags. His righteousness is my garment,
Speaker 1: and his victory is my guarantee. Shut a hog her
Speaker 1: I fear the Holy come, so when they buried him,
Speaker 1: they didn't have to be afraid. When you know where
Speaker 1: it comes from, you know how it comes out. That's
Speaker 1: how you get all ready. You put a smile on,
Speaker 1: even though you're still going through the most difficult days
Speaker 1: of your life. And because my righteousness does not come
Speaker 1: from me, or from washing my hands, or from sticking
Speaker 1: to my diet, or from losing twenty three pounds, Because
Speaker 1: wouldn't it be a shame to lose twenty three pounds
Speaker 1: and still hate yourself because you've fixed it on the surface,
Speaker 1: but you didn't receive it at the source. This year,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna flip it, and I'm gonna stand in the
Speaker 1: reality that I am the righteousness of God, not because
Speaker 1: of what I've done. In fact, you can stand and
Speaker 1: I'll pray that for you. Right now, no one leaving,
Speaker 1: no one moving. This is your year to flip it.
Speaker 1: This is your to evaluate your traditions, the empty traditions
Speaker 1: that have told you layers of lies that there is
Speaker 1: something that you must do. You gotta wash your hands
Speaker 1: before you're Jesus said, that's your tradition. That's not the truth.
Speaker 1: Watch him flip it. He said, Normally the unclean, if
Speaker 1: it touches the clean, it makes the clean unclean. But
Speaker 1: I'm not a high priest like Aaron. I'm a great
Speaker 1: high priest. So if I touch you, I don't become unclean,
Speaker 1: You become clean. Somebody shall flip it. I want to
Speaker 1: change by grace this year, through faith, not of works,
Speaker 1: because if I fix it at the surface, I have
Speaker 1: to sustain it and my own strength, and so I'm
Speaker 1: not going on a diet so that I will be likable.
Speaker 1: I'm going on a diet so my needs don't hurt.
Speaker 1: See the difference. Flip it, flip it. I'm not going
Speaker 1: back to school to get my degree so I can
Speaker 1: finally stop feeling like an idiot. I'm going back to
Speaker 1: school to get my degree so that I can move
Speaker 1: forward into the opportunities that God has for me. Not
Speaker 1: to earn approval or not to live up to a standard,
Speaker 1: but to live out what Christ has already given me
Speaker 1: and to me. This is the beauty of the Gospel,
Speaker 1: that everything that needs to be done for me to
Speaker 1: be right with God has already done. Bow your head,
Speaker 1: I've said what the Lord told me to say, and
Speaker 1: I pray that you've received it. This year year to
Speaker 1: flip it. Over the course of the next several weeks,
Speaker 1: we'll be talking about some very practical things, some very
Speaker 1: personal things. Maybe last year you attended church occasionally when
Speaker 1: the kids didn't have a game and you weren't too tired.
Speaker 1: Maybe this is your year to flip it and to
Speaker 1: make a real commitment this year that I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: going to sanitize my heart by being in the presence
Speaker 1: of God with other people, and really letting God's word
Speaker 1: cleanse me and uproot the things that have been destroying me. Lord,
Speaker 1: we thank you today for Jesus Christ who came to
Speaker 1: earth to flip it. We thank you today that he
Speaker 1: who knew no sin became sin that we might become
Speaker 1: the righteousness of God. Somebody shout, that's what I am.
Speaker 1: And so now, Lord, may all that we do and
Speaker 1: don't do this year flow from a heart that has
Speaker 1: already loved. Your word says that as the rain falls
Speaker 1: from the heavens and waters the earth and makes it
Speaker 1: bud and flourish and bring forth springtime, so shall your
Speaker 1: word be that proceeds forth from your mouth. It will
Speaker 1: not return to you void, but will accomplish what you
Speaker 1: send it to do. We thank you for sending your
Speaker 1: word to us for a new year. We thank you
Speaker 1: for the flow of your word in this place today.
Speaker 1: I pray now that it would accomplish in our lives
Speaker 1: great harvest of righteousness for those who have been trained
Speaker 1: by it. Well. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today,
Speaker 1: and if you did, there are just a couple things
Speaker 1: I'd love for you to do. Number One, subscribe to
Speaker 1: our show. That way, the most recent episode will always
Speaker 1: be in your feed, waiting for you ready when you are.
Speaker 1: And secondly, if this ministry has impacted you and you'd
Speaker 1: like to help us continue to reach others, you can
Speaker 1: click the link in the description and you can give
Speaker 1: now and I'll see you next time on the Elevation
Speaker 1: Podcast