Speaker 1: I'm excited. God has something super natural in store for you, Elevation.
Speaker 1: Are y'all doing well today? Man? It is the honor
Speaker 1: of a lifetime to be with you guys today. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have you stand for just a few more minutes
Speaker 1: because we're about to go crazy and honor your pastor's
Speaker 1: pastor Steven and pastor Hollyford. It come on, can you
Speaker 1: put your hands together? We're grateful, grateful, grateful, grateful for them.
Speaker 1: A few weeks back, Elevation Nights was in Washington, DC,
Speaker 1: which is kind of like my home region. So like
Speaker 1: a whole church all a Union church showed up, and
Speaker 1: I mean it was unbelievable. And I was in that
Speaker 1: atmosphere and I ain't gonna lie. I was bawling my
Speaker 1: eyes out. I was a complete mess. And I began
Speaker 1: to think in the Old Testament, every time God would
Speaker 1: do something amazing for people, they would grab stones and
Speaker 1: they would build an altar and they would worship in
Speaker 1: that moment. And what that altar was for is as
Speaker 1: years went by, when they walked past those stones, their
Speaker 1: kids would act, Dad, mom, what are those stones about?
Speaker 1: And Dad would say, let me tell you about the
Speaker 1: time when our God parted the ocean in front of us.
Speaker 1: Let me about how that time when giants fell, because
Speaker 1: our God is also Here's the thought that crossed my mind.
Speaker 1: Here here in the New Testament Church, we don't stack stones,
Speaker 1: but songs are almost like modern day altars. I promise
Speaker 1: you you have a worship song that's connected to a
Speaker 1: victory or a loss that you've experienced in your life.
Speaker 1: And when you hear that song, it brings you back
Speaker 1: to the place where God delivers you, where he covered you,
Speaker 1: where He kept you. And I was just thinking, I
Speaker 1: am so grateful for this house. I'm so grateful for
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen and Pastor and the songs that have come
Speaker 1: out of this house has carried me and hundreds and
Speaker 1: thousands of people closer to God through trials, through hardship,
Speaker 1: through setbacks. And it's because you have pastors that hear
Speaker 1: from God, that are humbled before the Lord and are
Speaker 1: leading according to the will of God. So is one
Speaker 1: more time? Can you put your hands together? Can you?
Speaker 1: Can you go nuts for your pastor? We love you,
Speaker 1: Pastor Steve and Pastor Holly. All right, let's reach go ahead,
Speaker 1: grab your sea, grab your seat, turning your Bible to
Speaker 1: Luke Luke chapter two, Luke, chapter two, Verse forty one.
Speaker 1: I have with me the greatest thing that has ever
Speaker 1: happened to me on planet Earth, next to salvation, and
Speaker 1: that is my beautiful African clean side. Chandler is in
Speaker 1: the building, my beautiful wi y'all. Her birthday was on Friday.
Speaker 1: She just can y'all shout happen birthday? Come on type
Speaker 1: it in the chat whatever campus you make her blush.
Speaker 1: I think they have a picture of my family. You
Speaker 1: can see how much we love each other because we
Speaker 1: got cheering. And I always feel bad showing this picture
Speaker 1: because it makes everybody feel bad because they realize that
Speaker 1: my family is more beautiful than theirs, and that's really
Speaker 1: mean and offensive. But you see the picture, it's true.
Speaker 1: Standing next to me is my beautiful daughter. Her name
Speaker 1: is Zoe, she's five. On my lap is my twin,
Speaker 1: my homie, he's four. His name is Roman. And then
Speaker 1: holding my wife's holding our youngest are ten months old.
Speaker 1: She looks like an angel. She is a fallen angel.
Speaker 1: She does not know Jesus and she likes to remind us.
Speaker 1: At about three point thirty in the morning that she
Speaker 1: is a heathen. So pray for Jade Mariah that she
Speaker 1: would get some Jesus and some holy ghosts, or at
Speaker 1: least a little bit of sleep, so that we can
Speaker 1: enjoy enjoy our rest. We're blessed, we're grateful. We're really
Speaker 1: blessed because we left them home, so we are in
Speaker 1: great sleep. Oh, before I appreach, y'all, I've got a
Speaker 1: book coming out. Come on now. It's called Stop Waiting
Speaker 1: for Permission, and I'm asking man, grab that book. It
Speaker 1: will change your life. One of my favorite verses in
Speaker 1: all of Scripture is Proverbs twenty five to two. Proverbs
Speaker 1: twenty five to two says it's the glory of God
Speaker 1: to conceal a matter, and it's the glory of kings
Speaker 1: to reveal a matter. Here's how I interpret that verse.
Speaker 1: That God is hidden greatness inside of you. You may
Speaker 1: not realize this, but there's a genius inside of you.
Speaker 1: There's an anointing, there's a gifting, and God is hidden
Speaker 1: it inside. Why the hide it because if you find
Speaker 1: it without him, you'll abuse it. But when you find
Speaker 1: it in Him, you will realize that there's something inside
Speaker 1: of you that will transform this world. And that book
Speaker 1: literally is a step by step guide. It really is
Speaker 1: what God, the journey God took me on of just
Speaker 1: thinking that I'm kind of a nobody and invisible in
Speaker 1: all this, and then realizing that there's so much that
Speaker 1: God has placed inside of me. So you could pre
Speaker 1: order that wherever books are sold. All right, we're done
Speaker 1: with a QVC commercial. Here we go, Luke, Chapter two,
Speaker 1: verse forty one. If you're ready for the words, somebody say, yeah,
Speaker 1: come on, here we go. It says this his parents,
Speaker 1: and this is Jesus's parents, Mary and Joseph, went to
Speaker 1: Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. When
Speaker 1: he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem
Speaker 1: according to the custom of the feast. When they had
Speaker 1: finished the days, as they returned, the boy, Jesus lingered, No,
Speaker 1: I need you to say lingered. Somebody say lingered, Come on,
Speaker 1: type it in the chat. Somebody say, lingered. It's the
Speaker 1: whole message. Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and
Speaker 1: his mother did not know it, but supposing him to
Speaker 1: have been in the company, they went a day journey
Speaker 1: and sought him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when
Speaker 1: they did not find him. They returned to Jerusalem seeking him.
Speaker 1: Now I gotta pause because y'all not catching the tension
Speaker 1: in this passage. Y'all marry and Joseph lost God. Now
Speaker 1: I don't know how you are. Maybe you're one of
Speaker 1: those people you don't lose anything. You know where your
Speaker 1: car keys are? Your wallet? All the time. I lose things,
Speaker 1: I lose car keys, I lose wallets, I lose children sometime,
Speaker 1: I have never lost God. Listen, you're panicking when you
Speaker 1: check your pockets and you realize God ain't there, says now.
Speaker 1: So it was that after three days that they found
Speaker 1: him in church. He was in the temple, sitting in
Speaker 1: the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and
Speaker 1: asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished
Speaker 1: at his understanding and answers. So when they saw him,
Speaker 1: they were amazed. And his mother said to him, son,
Speaker 1: why have you why'd you put us through this? Why?
Speaker 1: Why get done this to us? Look, your father and
Speaker 1: I have sought you anxiously. And he said to them, Yo,
Speaker 1: you gotta understand he was God, but he was also twelve.
Speaker 1: He's like, what y'all looking for? He said, Why did
Speaker 1: you seek me? Did you not know that I must
Speaker 1: be about my father's business. This is a moment where
Speaker 1: Mary had to decide do I grab them Messiah by
Speaker 1: his ear or do I just say yes Lord? But
Speaker 1: they did not They didn't know what he was. They'd
Speaker 1: understand this statement which he spoke to them. Let's pray, Father, God.
Speaker 1: We're grateful. God, We're grateful, and we don't take for
Speaker 1: granted your presence. God. You said, wherever two or three
Speaker 1: are gothered in your name, there you'll be also. God,
Speaker 1: there's two in this room. This to what every campus.
Speaker 1: There's hundreds and thousands of people watching across the world.
Speaker 1: And God, you you wouldn't show up and not transform,
Speaker 1: and not speak and not heal. So God we say,
Speaker 1: have your way, and God, when you speak, we will obey.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, we pray. Somebody shout Amen. Amen. At
Speaker 1: the end of twenty twenty one, the last week of December,
Speaker 1: I've been doing this for years. I just took about
Speaker 1: a week off between Christmas in New Years and kind
Speaker 1: of just get some time away to pray, to plan
Speaker 1: my next year and all that other good stuff. And
Speaker 1: this year it was different. I'm fasting and praying, I'm
Speaker 1: spending time with God, and God gave me a specific
Speaker 1: word for twenty twenty two. Now. It's not super deep
Speaker 1: or super spiritual, whatever is. I don't want to set you.
Speaker 1: Oh you got a prophecy. It just God just gave
Speaker 1: me a word. And before I give you that, you
Speaker 1: just got to understand. This doesn't happen to me often.
Speaker 1: I'm not the guy that has a word for every
Speaker 1: single year. This is twenty nineteen the year of harvest,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty the year of abundance. Didn't see that come
Speaker 1: in twenty two. I'm just not the guy that gets
Speaker 1: a word every year. So this was just different for me.
Speaker 1: But I just felt this still small voice that God said.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty two is the year of purpose. He says, Stephen,
Speaker 1: this is a year where you can't afford to waste
Speaker 1: a lot of time. This is a year where you
Speaker 1: have to be intentional. You have to be focused, you
Speaker 1: have to know what I've called you to do, and
Speaker 1: you have to be about. Twenty twenty two is the
Speaker 1: year of no. Come on out, that says some of y'all. Free. No,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I can't make it. No I'm sorry. I
Speaker 1: can't do that. No, I'm sorry. I'm not even sorry.
Speaker 1: Actually I won't be there. It's a year where God
Speaker 1: says if people would lock in on their calling, lock
Speaker 1: in on their purpose, would be intentional about their life,
Speaker 1: they would see a wind of favor sweep behind them.
Speaker 1: You'll see doors open that you didn't even know could
Speaker 1: open because you're not just living a happenstance life or
Speaker 1: let's see how it goes or what happens. But I'm
Speaker 1: locked in on who God's called me to be and
Speaker 1: what He's called me to do. Somebody say purpose. There's
Speaker 1: nobody that's walked the planet that has lived a life
Speaker 1: of more purpose than Jesus. You've got to understand. Even
Speaker 1: before he was born, it was documented and prophesied the
Speaker 1: purpose on his life. The Bible says this in Luke,
Speaker 1: chapter one, verse thirty two. Talking about Jesus, it says,
Speaker 1: he will be great. Let's not even go any further.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the pressure? Hey, no pressure, but you
Speaker 1: have to be great. If you're not great, your life
Speaker 1: is a failure. He said he will be great and
Speaker 1: will be called the Son of the Most High. The
Speaker 1: Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
Speaker 1: and he will reign over Jacob's descendants. Watch this forever.
Speaker 1: His kingdom will never end. Now that's a great Bible,
Speaker 1: but that's a lot of pressure for a three year old.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's be real. You are the king of
Speaker 1: kings of Ludi Wars. You're taking over David's throne and
Speaker 1: your kingdom can never end. Could you imagine the pressure
Speaker 1: that Jesus lived under? Could you imagine the focus, the intentionality.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine he couldn't say what everybody else was saying,
Speaker 1: He couldn't go where everybody else was going, He couldn't
Speaker 1: do whatever. Could you imagine being fourteen knowing that there's
Speaker 1: a cross in your future? Can you imagine the pressure
Speaker 1: of being the Messiah and having to pick a prom date? Now,
Speaker 1: you can't just go to problem with anybody like, there's
Speaker 1: a calling on your life, there's purpose. You have to
Speaker 1: live with a focus and any No, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: We look at Jesus, we know he's the Missigh and
Speaker 1: we're like, well, of course he had to live with
Speaker 1: purpose because the whole world was counting on him. But
Speaker 1: what we don't realize is you have purpose as well,
Speaker 1: that God called you and knows you and has a specific,
Speaker 1: unique purpose for you here on earth. The Bible says
Speaker 1: in Acts seventeen that God picts your city, he picked
Speaker 1: the time in the calendar that you would be born.
Speaker 1: He picts your family. He sets you up for the
Speaker 1: kingdom purpose that he has for you. There's even prophecy
Speaker 1: about you in Scripture and Jeremiah one to five. It
Speaker 1: says this, God says, I knew you, Steven. I like
Speaker 1: doing it. Can you just put your name in the Bible,
Speaker 1: say I knew you, whatever your name is, Gabe or whatever.
Speaker 1: I knew you before you were formed within your mother's womb,
Speaker 1: before you were born. I sanctified. What does that mean?
Speaker 1: He said, I set you aside for special use. He said,
Speaker 1: you are appointed as my spokesperson to the world. Listen
Speaker 1: to me. There is purpose on your life. God said,
Speaker 1: before you were even born, I knew you. I called you.
Speaker 1: I planned you to have an impact on earth that
Speaker 1: nobody else could have. I know your parents told you
Speaker 1: that you were a surprise. They didn't see you come in.
Speaker 1: But hear me, you were not a surprise to God.
Speaker 1: God had purpose for you before you knew you. Watch this,
Speaker 1: God had purpose for you before you made your biggest mistake.
Speaker 1: So many people, all we can see is the biggest
Speaker 1: moment of shame in our life. And we say, well,
Speaker 1: because of that, God can never use me. Watch this.
Speaker 1: God is all knowing, and he planned your purpose knowing
Speaker 1: that that mistake would be in your story. And yet
Speaker 1: he still said, I have purpose for you. He still
Speaker 1: said I want to use you in a way that
Speaker 1: you will not even imagine. Somebody say, there's purpose on
Speaker 1: my life. Now here's the problem with purpose. The problem
Speaker 1: with purpose is I don't get to do what everybody
Speaker 1: else does. The problem with purpose is I can't go
Speaker 1: where everybody else goes. I can't say what everybody else says.
Speaker 1: And watch this, I have to go through some things
Speaker 1: that other people don't have to go through because they
Speaker 1: don't have the same purpose on their life. So I
Speaker 1: have on my life. I'm a huge football fan. We're
Speaker 1: getting ready to go in a football season, and we
Speaker 1: like watching football on TV or high school games or
Speaker 1: whatever it may be. Before it gets to TV, before
Speaker 1: they get to the game, they have August, come on,
Speaker 1: how avery gonna play football? Back in the day, August
Speaker 1: there's the worst month of the year for a football player.
Speaker 1: Why because there's no games, there's no television, there's just
Speaker 1: heat and practice. My football coach, he would say, Steven,
Speaker 1: go run this hill until I remember you exist and
Speaker 1: we are out there suffering. Not everybody is going through
Speaker 1: what we're going through, but not everybody gets to play
Speaker 1: what we play. Hear me, I know I'm not. I'm like,
Speaker 1: three minutes in my message. I don't want to tick
Speaker 1: you off or anything like that. So I'm gonna talk
Speaker 1: about myself and instead of talk about you, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: throw myself unto the bus and you could jump under
Speaker 1: the bus with me. But I find myself complaining about
Speaker 1: how difficult life is. Sometimes the only bit I have
Speaker 1: to go through and it ain't up there pastor this church,
Speaker 1: and these people are crazy, you know what. I call
Speaker 1: it prayer time, But I'm actually I'm actually just complaining.
Speaker 1: And I feel like the Holy Spirit You've been jacked
Speaker 1: up in your prayer time at some point. I feel
Speaker 1: like the Holy Spirit said, yes, you're going through things
Speaker 1: that other people don't have to go through, but I'm
Speaker 1: using you in a way that I'm not using other people.
Speaker 1: So do you want to be normal and unused or
Speaker 1: do you want to go through some difficult seasons but
Speaker 1: be used by God in a great way? Hear me?
Speaker 1: Some of you have been looking around at your life
Speaker 1: and saying, my siblings aren't going through the same drama
Speaker 1: that I have to go through. My coworkers aren't running
Speaker 1: into the same setbacks. Why why? Here's why. Because you're cold,
Speaker 1: Because there's purpose, because there's destiny, because God's hand is
Speaker 1: on your life, because you're favored. Yeah, you're going through
Speaker 1: things that other people don't have to go through. But
Speaker 1: God's gonna use you in ways, and He's not using somebody.
Speaker 1: Shall I have purpose? I want to preach a message.
Speaker 1: You may have thought that I was preaching. I haven't
Speaker 1: started preaching yet, but I want to preach the message
Speaker 1: today called I wasn't Left. I lingered. I wasn't left.
Speaker 1: I lingered. My sophomore year in college at the University
Speaker 1: of Maryland College Park, the greatest university on planet Earth.
Speaker 1: Fear the Turtle. It's like the worst mascot ever. But
Speaker 1: sophomore year in college, it was just I was running
Speaker 1: like a madman. I was taken to over twenty credits
Speaker 1: because I was trying to get out of school as
Speaker 1: fast as possible. I was working for my dad's company,
Speaker 1: like twenty five hours. I was the student pastor at
Speaker 1: the church forty five minutes away, so I'm driving up
Speaker 1: to Maryland. So it was just kind of running racket.
Speaker 1: Plus I loved Jesus. What do you mean by that?
Speaker 1: I mean that my idea of college was not being
Speaker 1: drunk every Friday, laying in a bush on Root one
Speaker 1: on campus, wondering where my room key was. That just
Speaker 1: wasn't my idea of a college experience. And sophomore year,
Speaker 1: I didn't have classes on Friday. So every Thursday night
Speaker 1: I'd jump in my car, i'd go to work. I'd
Speaker 1: go home, and I'd be at church leading worship over
Speaker 1: the weekend and all that kind of stuff that I'd
Speaker 1: come back Monday morning. And almost every single Monday morning,
Speaker 1: when I come back to my dorm, my roommates says
Speaker 1: Stephen Man, you missed a party. Man. This weekend was crazy.
Speaker 1: I mean, the party was lit, the cops showed up,
Speaker 1: they were shooting rubber bullets. It was I don't know
Speaker 1: why every party in Maryland ended with rubber bullets from
Speaker 1: the like you. He's like, where where you? And it
Speaker 1: happened week after week, and he got so frustrated that
Speaker 1: I was missing all these parties, y'all. They staged an intervention, y'all.
Speaker 1: I walked in my door one Monday. There's a bunch
Speaker 1: of dudes that Steven, sit down. What's going on? So, Stephen,
Speaker 1: we're worried about you. You're you're missing out on the
Speaker 1: college experience, You're missing out on life. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm having a college experience. I'm can season. D's just like, y'all,
Speaker 1: I'm in the professor's office begging for seven percentage points.
Speaker 1: So I'm having a college experience. And he's like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: He said, You'll never get to have this season of
Speaker 1: your life. He said. He got so mad. He said, Steven,
Speaker 1: this is you, and this is life passing you by.
Speaker 1: He said, you're getting left behind. I think I ticked
Speaker 1: them off because I started laughing, and I don't think
Speaker 1: that's the response that he wanted. But I didn't know
Speaker 1: how to explain to him, Hey, my entire existence doesn't
Speaker 1: revolve around four years at this university. Like I'm glad
Speaker 1: that I'm here, and I'm gonna have a good time,
Speaker 1: and I'm actually having more fun than you think I am.
Speaker 1: But I have purpose, I have focused. There's some I
Speaker 1: wanted to tell him my life is going somewhere, but
Speaker 1: that was a little bit ignorantcause then it would imply
Speaker 1: so I didn't. But I kind of did because I
Speaker 1: had seen something further ahead. I wasn't overwhelmed with the
Speaker 1: fact that I may have been missing out on what
Speaker 1: everybody thought that this moment was all about. Here's what
Speaker 1: I've discovered. People of purpose are not concerned about being
Speaker 1: left behind. There's this anks, there's this anxiety of men,
Speaker 1: I gotta keep up with life. I gotta make sure
Speaker 1: that I'm relevant. I gotta make sure that I don't
Speaker 1: get left behind. But when you realize that there's a
Speaker 1: purpose on your life, being left behind is no longer
Speaker 1: your concern. And this passage, it says that Mary and
Speaker 1: Joseph went to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. They were
Speaker 1: there for seven days, which lets us know that Mary
Speaker 1: and Joseph they were church folks, not church folks. They
Speaker 1: were church folks. The religious law only required to beat
Speaker 1: them to be there for two days, so for them
Speaker 1: to have been there for seven days, they were like, oh,
Speaker 1: we going to church every time the doors are open.
Speaker 1: Seven days they would feast and they would worship, and
Speaker 1: then they would celebrate. And then the last day it
Speaker 1: says that they left, but Jesus lingered behind. Now, because
Speaker 1: we have all the scriptus, we're able to look at it.
Speaker 1: It's very easy to judge people in the Bible that,
Speaker 1: come on, now, how do you lose God? Like, that's
Speaker 1: not that that just just keep an eye on God.
Speaker 1: But you gotta understand. Because it was such a long journey,
Speaker 1: they were probably traveling with aunts and uncles and cousins
Speaker 1: and grant, there's probably fifty to one hundred people they
Speaker 1: were traveling with. They probably just assumed, oh, Jesus is
Speaker 1: with his uncle, Jesus is with his aunt. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't until three days went back and Jesus didn't come
Speaker 1: to bathe, he didn't come to brush their teeth, he
Speaker 1: didn't come asking for more money. That they're like, okay,
Speaker 1: there's a problem here. Three days they search all of
Speaker 1: Jerusalem and they find him sitting in a temple talking
Speaker 1: to adults rabbis and explaining scripture, debating theology, and Mary said,
Speaker 1: how could you do this time? And Jesus says a statement.
Speaker 1: He said, don't you know, I must be about my
Speaker 1: father's business. Here's what he was saying. He said, there's
Speaker 1: a purpose on my life. You gotta understand. I'm a
Speaker 1: little ignorant, so I only see ignorant things in scripture.
Speaker 1: I feel like Jesus was saying, and making my mama
Speaker 1: happy is not the number one purpose in my life.
Speaker 1: You gotta see the awkwardness of this moment. He said,
Speaker 1: I must be about my father's business. And Joseph do
Speaker 1: we call him stepfather? Joseph was like, I've got no business.
Speaker 1: Jesus understood there's a call of God on my life,
Speaker 1: and everybody around me may not always understand it. But
Speaker 1: that's not my problem. A problem is to be locked
Speaker 1: in on what God's called me. I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: just three quick thoughts, three quick thoughts of how do
Speaker 1: I stay locked in on the purpose that God has
Speaker 1: for me? If you're taking notes, write this down. If
Speaker 1: you are not taking notes, write this down. First thing
Speaker 1: is this purpose cannot be left behind. Purpose cannot be
Speaker 1: left behind you. You may not realize it that they
Speaker 1: all live, but this anxiety of next, next, next, next, next,
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen next? Where do I go next? What's
Speaker 1: my next opportunity? And that cycle started before you even
Speaker 1: realized it. You remember being twelve years old. Somebody's twelve.
Speaker 1: I am twelve right now. I remember being twelve. The
Speaker 1: only thing you can think about is I can't wait
Speaker 1: to be thirteen. I'm a teenager, I'm a teen. You
Speaker 1: go from twelve to thirteen, you realize that you are
Speaker 1: thirteen and powerless. Being thirteen is about as useless as
Speaker 1: being twelve. Now, I can't wait to be sixteen because
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get a driver's license and I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: my freedom. And then you turn sixteen. You have a
Speaker 1: driver's license and a curfew. You realize sixteen ain't all
Speaker 1: that great. Can't wait to be eighteen because when I'm eighteen,
Speaker 1: I'm out of here. I'm going to college, no more curfew,
Speaker 1: I'm free. And you turn out to be eighteen and
Speaker 1: you have freedom and you're broke. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you realize eighteen ain't all that great now. I was like,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to be twenty two because I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get out of college. I'm gonna get a job. You
Speaker 1: get out of college, you got a job, and you
Speaker 1: got bills, and you're still broke. Two. Ain't that great? Okay?
Speaker 1: Now I need to get married so I get somebody
Speaker 1: else to help me pay these bills. The only reason
Speaker 1: you get married. And then the second you get married,
Speaker 1: you sign that marriage certificate. The ink isn't even dry.
Speaker 1: And that aunt, he's saying, so where the baby's at?
Speaker 1: Even made it to our honeymoon yet? And as soon
Speaker 1: as the babies come, then you want them to grow up.
Speaker 1: Can't wait till they leave? Wait, I thought you couldn't
Speaker 1: wait for them to come. And then as soon as
Speaker 1: they leave, when y'all gonna get married, And as soon
Speaker 1: as they get married, when you're gonna make me some
Speaker 1: grand babies. And it goes on and on and on
Speaker 1: and on. It doesn't matter where we are. We're always
Speaker 1: looking at next. Come on, now, you you just got
Speaker 1: a promotion, and you're already thinking about what the next
Speaker 1: one is. You're making more money today than you've ever
Speaker 1: made in your life. But you can only obsess on
Speaker 1: the next thing that you can afford. It's next, It's next,
Speaker 1: and here's what we don't really. It's a prison that
Speaker 1: torments us, and then we beg an obsess over why
Speaker 1: I haven't I made it over there yet? Why hasn't
Speaker 1: this opportunity I was just thinking. This prison of next,
Speaker 1: it's literally a jail cell that has four walls. One
Speaker 1: of the walls of that tormenting prison is the wall
Speaker 1: of delay. It's just this nauseous feeling of I should
Speaker 1: be further than I am right now. Man, If only
Speaker 1: I had taken that opportunity, if only I had that favor,
Speaker 1: if only this, if only that, and we end up
Speaker 1: obsessing over why we aren't where we should be. We
Speaker 1: feel delayed. Another wall of that prison is the wall
Speaker 1: that I call of denied. Man, that person turned me down,
Speaker 1: I'd be further along. If they had hired me, I'd
Speaker 1: be further along. If they had opened that door, I'd
Speaker 1: be further along. They just didn't like me, and that's
Speaker 1: why I'm stuck here. Another wall of that prison next
Speaker 1: is the wall that I call destroyed. They had not
Speaker 1: been for that car accident, if I hadn't gone through
Speaker 1: that sickness, if that divorce hadn't taken place, if we
Speaker 1: hadn't gone through that pandemic. God still have my business
Speaker 1: or whatever it. Maybe there's some event in my life
Speaker 1: that has kept me from the next that I think
Speaker 1: I deserve, and then the last, Well, I'm doing well, y'all,
Speaker 1: they're all d's. You see this. I put my work
Speaker 1: in today, delayed, denied, destroyed, and discouraged. I don't deserve next.
Speaker 1: I've made too many mistakes. I've blown it too badly up.
Speaker 1: I've messed us up. I've messed that up. I've messed
Speaker 1: us up. I've messed that up. And we find ourselves
Speaker 1: in this prison of obsessing over where we think we
Speaker 1: should be instead of looking around and seeing, Wait, where
Speaker 1: am I right now? Hear me, elevation. If God has
Speaker 1: not moved you to a new season, it's because there's
Speaker 1: still miracles that are untapped in your current season. God
Speaker 1: hasn't opened the door for next. It's because there's more
Speaker 1: that He has in the now that he desires to
Speaker 1: do in your life. Hear me. There's miracles that are
Speaker 1: waiting for you in July. There's miracles that are ahead
Speaker 1: of you in twenty twenty three. But June's still got
Speaker 1: some miracles in it. I'm telling you God still has
Speaker 1: some open doors that he's bringing in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: There are some things that God is looking to do
Speaker 1: in your life, somebody say now, But so often we're
Speaker 1: so obsessed over next we miss the fact that there's
Speaker 1: a supernatural move of God in the now. People who
Speaker 1: don't realize that there's purpose on their life, they will
Speaker 1: actually leave the call of God just to stay relevant,
Speaker 1: just to feel like that. They will leave where God
Speaker 1: told them to be, just because I've found something that
Speaker 1: looks like it'll take me forward and move me where
Speaker 1: I want to go. People of purpose are not concerned
Speaker 1: about keeping up with the Joneses, but realize that if
Speaker 1: this is where God has me, there's something that he's
Speaker 1: looking to do now. Ecclesiastpes. Three one says this to
Speaker 1: everything there is a season, a time for every purpose
Speaker 1: under the sun. If God hasn't opened the next door
Speaker 1: for you, it's because there's something that he's looking to
Speaker 1: do right now. As I was in college, I knew
Speaker 1: that God had called me to the ministry. I knew
Speaker 1: that this is what I was going to do for
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. I just didn't know what
Speaker 1: doors would open or how it would happen or whatever.
Speaker 1: So I just started looking for jobs after college. Now
Speaker 1: now everyone's like, you know, what were you passionate about?
Speaker 1: What was your purpose? What were you going after? I
Speaker 1: was passionate about a paycheck. What industry were you called to?
Speaker 1: Whichever industry would pay me. I applied to every single
Speaker 1: company that showed up at that job fair, and I'm
Speaker 1: telling you in that interview, I was so passionate about
Speaker 1: what they were doing and building it with Oh I
Speaker 1: loved it. I'm giving my life to this on my
Speaker 1: paycheck shows up on the first and the fifteenth, and
Speaker 1: I actually got a job that was and I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to put myself down, but if you see my GPA,
Speaker 1: you'll see he's telling the truth. That was beat on
Speaker 1: my resume like it was a miracle. I got a
Speaker 1: job from one of the top oil companies in America
Speaker 1: and they, I mean, the job was so sweet. The
Speaker 1: salary came with a signing bonus. I thought only athletes
Speaker 1: got signing bonuses. I'm I'm looking at this paper like, Mama,
Speaker 1: we made I mean, biggest salary I've ever seen company
Speaker 1: cars say it was amazing. Only problem was I had
Speaker 1: to move to Louisiana. That's where the message is a
Speaker 1: little icky, because I could start trashing Louisiana right now
Speaker 1: and get a lot of emails and all that other
Speaker 1: good stuff. There's nothing wrong with Louisiana. I love Louisian
Speaker 1: I'm good friends, they're great food, cost of living is
Speaker 1: less than DC. The only problem is God told me
Speaker 1: to stay in Maryland. The problem is the only Spiry
Speaker 1: said there's something I've called you to do here in Maryland,
Speaker 1: and I'm sitting and wrestling. I'm like, God, look at
Speaker 1: this job. I could tithe off of this job. You
Speaker 1: can always bribe God with money, right. I was like, clearly,
Speaker 1: this is the will of God. And the more I
Speaker 1: tried to pray my way into it, the more discontent
Speaker 1: I felt. And then I said, Okay, God, you told
Speaker 1: me to stay, Fine, I'll stay. Where's the other job
Speaker 1: in Maryland with a comparable salary and my signing bonus? Silence?
Speaker 1: God didn't even say wait six months, He said nothing.
Speaker 1: Do you know how awkward it is turning down a
Speaker 1: job and you don't have a good reason. They literally said,
Speaker 1: tell us what the other their company offered you, and
Speaker 1: will beat their offer. They offered me half. You want
Speaker 1: half more? No, the job of taking is paying me half.
Speaker 1: They're like, this guy's not bright enough to hire. I'm
Speaker 1: glad we missed that. And I'm always in trouble. Is
Speaker 1: it bad to say that God's annoying? It is? It is,
Speaker 1: I'll say it. You won't if he hits me with lightning.
Speaker 1: You're far enough away. Here's the annoying thing about God.
Speaker 1: And I say that with all reverence and all fear.
Speaker 1: He never gives you all the details. Steven, stay in Maryland,
Speaker 1: don't leave the state. Why Abram go to a land?
Speaker 1: What land? I'll show you? How do I know what
Speaker 1: I'm there? You know? I mean here eight years or
Speaker 1: twelve years later? How many of the years has been union,
Speaker 1: church people, campuses and all that. Now it makes sense
Speaker 1: why he had me stay in Maryland. But back then,
Speaker 1: when when I say nothing was going on, It's just
Speaker 1: like and I realized that people of purpose are willing
Speaker 1: to be left behind just because God said I have
Speaker 1: something for you here. If I live in it, think
Speaker 1: so got to get to next, got to get to
Speaker 1: the next. God get I will find myself outside of
Speaker 1: the will of God. Here's what the Bible says in
Speaker 1: Matthew chapter six, verse thirty four. Give your entire attention
Speaker 1: to what God is doing right now, and don't get
Speaker 1: worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.
Speaker 1: God will help you deal with whatever hard things come
Speaker 1: up when the time comes. I feel like God is
Speaker 1: saying through this verse, why are you so excited about tomorrow?
Speaker 1: It doesn't get easier because not like tomorrow's a cakewalk.
Speaker 1: I'll help you with tomorrow when we get till tomorrow.
Speaker 1: But there's a miracle that is still here today. Y'all
Speaker 1: want to have some fun. Y'all ready to shout. I'm
Speaker 1: reading this passage and here's the thing that blows my mind.
Speaker 1: Jesus wasn't left he lingered. Here is Mary and Joseph
Speaker 1: feeling guilty that they lost God. They didn't lose him.
Speaker 1: He ditched them. He probably acted like he was in
Speaker 1: the caravan, and when they weren't looking, he slipped away.
Speaker 1: Jesus wasn't left lingered. I find there's so many people
Speaker 1: that they live in this position of guilt, They live
Speaker 1: in this position of regret because there's an opportunity that
Speaker 1: you missed out on man, if I had just taken
Speaker 1: that job, if I had just moved to that city,
Speaker 1: if I had just done this, if I had just
Speaker 1: done that, man, I wish I could have that chance back.
Speaker 1: I would do it differently. Three days into their journey,
Speaker 1: when they realized that Jesus wasn't with them, what did
Speaker 1: purpose to purpose turned around and it went back to
Speaker 1: get what it left because it realized, I can't go
Speaker 1: where I'm going without the person that God has called
Speaker 1: me to go there with. Here's what you need to
Speaker 1: understand elevation. When there's purpose on your life, your opportunity
Speaker 1: cannot leave you behind. And even if it does leave
Speaker 1: you behind, it's got to come back and get you
Speaker 1: because God has called that for you. And when God
Speaker 1: says it's for you, it doesn't matter who says that
Speaker 1: it's not. Hear me. There's some opportunities that you missed
Speaker 1: out on that are gonna come back and find you.
Speaker 1: There's some open doors that you walk by ten years ago,
Speaker 1: and that door is gonna open again if it's the
Speaker 1: door that God has for you. There's some dreams that
Speaker 1: you've given up on, and I'm telling you, God's gonna
Speaker 1: start stirring that dream in your heart again. Because when
Speaker 1: you're a person of purpose, somebody say I can't be
Speaker 1: left behind. Destiny has to come back and get you
Speaker 1: because it's the call of God in your left. The
Speaker 1: second thing is this, write this down, Write this down.
Speaker 1: Purpose leads you to learn. Purpose leads you to learn. Now,
Speaker 1: now here's the fun thing about preaching. Every time you preach,
Speaker 1: your preaching to different people. Not everybody in the room
Speaker 1: has the same personality, the same place, all that other
Speaker 1: good stuff. So when people are shouting, everybody's shouting for
Speaker 1: a different reason. And when people are shouting, they're not
Speaker 1: shouting for a different reason. Now there's some of you
Speaker 1: that you're you're like me, You're just like moving forward.
Speaker 1: You're you're ambitious, you like kicking indoors. And then I'm
Speaker 1: telling you to get left behind, and you're like, I
Speaker 1: don't know who these guy is. Bring back the real Stephen,
Speaker 1: this isn't black, And then I want to move forward.
Speaker 1: For some people that are shouting yeah, I don't mind
Speaker 1: being left behind, You're not shouting yeah out of faith.
Speaker 1: You're shouting yeah out of complacency. They're not gonna like
Speaker 1: me after this one because being left behind is different
Speaker 1: than hanging behind. And it's one thing to say I
Speaker 1: don't need more to define me. It's a completely different
Speaker 1: thing to say I don't want more. See, there's a
Speaker 1: major difference between complacency and contentment. Contentment is the next
Speaker 1: promotion doesn't define me. I'm defined in Christ and I
Speaker 1: am complete and satisfied in who I am today. But
Speaker 1: I will take that next promotion and when that door opens.
Speaker 1: Complacency is I don't want anything else out of life.
Speaker 1: And hear me, complacency is not of God. Psalm says this.
Speaker 1: He said, asks me, and I will give you the
Speaker 1: nations as your inheritance. If I did not withhold my son,
Speaker 1: how much more will I not freely give you all things?
Speaker 1: God has more for you. So if I've been left behind,
Speaker 1: if doors aren't opening, if if I'm in a season
Speaker 1: of waiting, it's not a season of complacency, it's a
Speaker 1: season of God. What are you looking to do in
Speaker 1: this season? How can I maximize this season until next comes?
Speaker 1: And here's what Jesus did. Jesus learned. Jesus didn't just
Speaker 1: hang back and you know, just just eat food and
Speaker 1: hang out. No, no no, no, no, Jesus went to the
Speaker 1: temple and he began to learn from the rabbis. He
Speaker 1: began to debate, He began to unpack scripture. He began
Speaker 1: to learn and develop himself. Hear me, if next hasn't come,
Speaker 1: there's something that God's trying to teach you in the now,
Speaker 1: if a new opportunity, if a door hasn't opened up
Speaker 1: in front of you, there's something that God is trying
Speaker 1: to unpack in your life right now. If there's something
Speaker 1: that you want, you don't have it, Ask God, what
Speaker 1: do I need to learn? What revelation am I missing?
Speaker 1: What Kingdom purpose in this area? Have I not been
Speaker 1: made aware of? What am I not seeing here? That
Speaker 1: You're trying to show me? And help me see it?
Speaker 1: Because as soon as I see it, I can get
Speaker 1: to where I need to go. If God's left you behind,
Speaker 1: it's because He's trying to teach you something where you are.
Speaker 1: I should stay out of trouble right not I like too.
Speaker 1: Let's just let's just go right up to the edge.
Speaker 1: We all were locked down in this pandemic for twelve months,
Speaker 1: twenty four months, or whatever it may be. Here's what happened.
Speaker 1: Some people sat, and some people grew. Some people sat
Speaker 1: in their house and twiddled their thumbs and did nothing.
Speaker 1: Other people said, well, since I can't get on the
Speaker 1: plane and I can't go all these wis God, what
Speaker 1: is it that you're trying to do in me? What
Speaker 1: are you trying to develop in me? What are you
Speaker 1: trying to heal me off? What are you trying to
Speaker 1: grow me in? God? Since I got a halftime on
Speaker 1: my life, let me use this time to grow so
Speaker 1: that when the doors finally do open back up, I'm
Speaker 1: not the same person that went in. And now that
Speaker 1: things are opening up, we're beginning to see not everybody
Speaker 1: spent the last three years the same way. I can
Speaker 1: either sit and complain about what opportunities are not coming
Speaker 1: my way, or, like I said, God, you're trying to
Speaker 1: do something in this moment, and you gotta catch this picture.
Speaker 1: There's a twelve year old kid sitting with grown men.
Speaker 1: These were the educated of the land, These were the
Speaker 1: most learned of the land. And he was holding his
Speaker 1: own Why Because purpose will always put you in rooms
Speaker 1: that are above your head. And when purpose puts you
Speaker 1: in a room that's above your head, you have two choices.
Speaker 1: You could either let insecurity overwhelm you, or you could
Speaker 1: say God has me here because he's trying to teach
Speaker 1: me something. I got to learn something, I gotta see
Speaker 1: something because he's trying to take me somewhere. I remember
Speaker 1: about eight years ago, I was at a pastor's round
Speaker 1: table at one of the largest churches in America, probably
Speaker 1: about sixteen pastors, and I'm telling you, look around these table,
Speaker 1: and it was like the up and coming who's who.
Speaker 1: This guy got four thousand people in his church. This
Speaker 1: guy got ten thousand, this guy got six thousand, this
Speaker 1: guy got eight thousands. I had two hundred fifty people.
Speaker 1: You ever, you know one of these things are not
Speaker 1: like the other. I missed half of the round table
Speaker 1: because I'm just trying to figure out why I was there.
Speaker 1: And I'm sitting at this table, and y'all they were
Speaker 1: talking about concepts that I didn't even know existed. Even
Speaker 1: in a position where people are answering questions that you're
Speaker 1: not even smart enough to ask, they're sitting there talk
Speaker 1: about Yeah, we're going going, We're gona build this campus.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be twenty million dollars, and we're building this
Speaker 1: location that's thirty million dollars and fifty million dollars. And
Speaker 1: I just needed three hundred bucks to make the payment
Speaker 1: on the church's copy machine so the church's coffee machine
Speaker 1: didn't get repossessed. And I'm just like, I'm grabbing for
Speaker 1: twenty million dollars, bilding, But how do I get three
Speaker 1: hundred dollars so I could pay this copy machine bill
Speaker 1: so that we could keep on printing all the bulletins
Speaker 1: that we can hang on people as they walked to
Speaker 1: the door. Can somebody answer that question? They got to
Speaker 1: this one moment in the round table. We're saying, you
Speaker 1: need to understand the demonic principalities of your city and
Speaker 1: begin in per circles around the demonic principalities of your city.
Speaker 1: And when you bind those principalities, you will be able
Speaker 1: to see growth from if your church, I said, princip Prince, Prince, Prince, Prince,
Speaker 1: I got a demon in my sound system. How do
Speaker 1: you catch how do you cast that out? How do
Speaker 1: you make the feedback stop? But y'all, I'm sitting in
Speaker 1: that room and over three days I took eight pages
Speaker 1: of notes, no exactly. For the next three years, I
Speaker 1: just applied, applied, applied, applied, applied, applied, applied, And next
Speaker 1: thing you know, hundreds are coming, thousands are coming, Revival
Speaker 1: breaks out. I learned what a principality was. I start
Speaker 1: prayer marching instead of obsessing how everybody around tell me
Speaker 1: was ahead of me. I realized that we're not in
Speaker 1: a competition. This is not a race. I have my calling,
Speaker 1: you have yours. I have my purpose, you have yours.
Speaker 1: Your success doesn't intimidate me. Your success inspires me, because
Speaker 1: if God can do it through you, then God can
Speaker 1: do it through me. So I know you're ahead of me,
Speaker 1: But do you mind just pausing for one second and
Speaker 1: teach me something You've got to teach me much, Just
Speaker 1: teach me. I promise you I'll apply it. Last thing?
Speaker 1: Is this right? This time? Right? Just down right? Next end?
Speaker 1: All right? That isn't even the best part. Number three.
Speaker 1: Purpose doesn't take things personally. I wanted to say purpose
Speaker 1: doesn't get offended, but I didn't. I said this. Luke
Speaker 1: two forty says this. So when they saw him, they
Speaker 1: were amazed. And his mother said to him, son, why
Speaker 1: have you done this to us? Look your father who's
Speaker 1: standing here, and won't say a word. You ever noticed
Speaker 1: how Joseph never speaks Your father and I have sought you.
Speaker 1: Here's what Mary, she said, Jesus, why did you put
Speaker 1: us through this? It says Mary, was when they walked in.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's church. They're not gonna interrupt. They're watching from
Speaker 1: the side for a moment, and they see Jesus going
Speaker 1: back and forth with the rabbis, and he is holding
Speaker 1: his own It says Mary was amazed. Here's a problem
Speaker 1: with having purpose on your life. People who don't have
Speaker 1: purpose will be amazed at God's hand on your life
Speaker 1: and offended by it at the same time. Wow, it's
Speaker 1: amazing in what God is doing through you, but you've
Speaker 1: forgotten who you are. Well, look at the doors that
Speaker 1: are opening up. Don't get a big head now, Wow,
Speaker 1: look at your family, Look at the peace, Look at
Speaker 1: the joy. I wish I had a family like that.
Speaker 1: But you think you're better than us. People who don't
Speaker 1: have purpose are always offended by those who do. Here's
Speaker 1: the problem. If I'm a people pleaser and the purpose
Speaker 1: on my life is offensive to others, I will always
Speaker 1: live an apologetic life instead of a boldness of who
Speaker 1: God's called me to be Jesus said, Mom, is not
Speaker 1: about you. I'm not trying to cause you anxiety. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to cause you for I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: do it. No, no no, no, no no, no no. This is
Speaker 1: because that's my father's I'm trying to set you up
Speaker 1: that if you're gonna live a life of purpose, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to be okay with some awkward encounters. You're
Speaker 1: gonna people go coming in, Hey, hey, hey, I got
Speaker 1: this business opportunity. We gotta go fifty to fifty. I'll
Speaker 1: put in half to We'll triple our money in the
Speaker 1: next six months. We gotta do it. You got the money?
Speaker 1: M h. Are you doing something else with it? M?
Speaker 1: Do you think this is gonna work? M hm? And
Speaker 1: you're still not gonna do it? You don't think I'm
Speaker 1: good at what? You don't like you? No, that's not
Speaker 1: what God told me to do. No, he has something
Speaker 1: else for me. I can't even explain it more than
Speaker 1: that because he hasn't really give me all the information.
Speaker 1: But there's a different purpose of my life. Hey call
Speaker 1: a sinophorees. Hey we should day. M Do you like me?
Speaker 1: You think I'm attractive? Do you have any other options, HM,
Speaker 1: then what's the problem. You're not who God promised to me.
Speaker 1: Living a life of purpose is awkward. If you're a
Speaker 1: person that likes every dead body to be happy with you,
Speaker 1: you will compromise on your purpose. But if you live
Speaker 1: a life like Jesus lived. I love my mother and
Speaker 1: I want her to be happy, but that's not the
Speaker 1: primary purpose of my life. I love my kids and
Speaker 1: I want them to be great men and women of God,
Speaker 1: but not the totality of the purpose of my life.
Speaker 1: I like when people like me, but it's not the
Speaker 1: purpose of my life. I'm like everybody else. I love promotion,
Speaker 1: I love new titles, but that's not my purpose. A
Speaker 1: purpose is to hear well done, that good and faithful servant.
Speaker 1: When you make a decision, I'm gonna live a life
Speaker 1: to fulfill why he placed me here on earth. You're
Speaker 1: gonna see a peace of joy and a purpose that
Speaker 1: you never thought possible. Father God, we're grateful. God, We're thankful.
Speaker 1: God out of billions of people, got you know us,
Speaker 1: You called us, you set us apart, You put purpose
Speaker 1: on our life. Right where you're sitting watching online, whatever
Speaker 1: location that you're at can you can you pray this
Speaker 1: perth me say, Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?
Speaker 1: And just give God a moment to make this message
Speaker 1: personal to you. Maybe you're all stressed out about an
Speaker 1: opportunity that you're missing. God says you haven't missed anything.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're complacent in God's saying it's time to learn.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're worried about who doesn't like you or who's
Speaker 1: not pleased with your decisions, and God says it's not
Speaker 1: about that. Or maybe if you'd be honest, you would say, Pastor,
Speaker 1: I don't know this God that you're talking about, that
Speaker 1: you say has a purpose for my life. Here's a reality.
Speaker 1: There's a great purpose for your life. But you will
Speaker 1: never discover that purpose until you discover the God of purpose,
Speaker 1: because your greatest existence is only in the palm of
Speaker 1: His hand. Wherever you find yourself. You say, Pastor, I
Speaker 1: can't say that I know God the way that you're
Speaker 1: talking about, but I want to know this God who
Speaker 1: loves me and knows me and has a purpose for
Speaker 1: my life. You can make that decision right where you
Speaker 1: are not going to have you raise your hand or
Speaker 1: type in the chat or anything like that. But write
Speaker 1: where you are. Just pray this perth me say, Father God,
Speaker 1: thank you for seeing me, for wanting me, thank you
Speaker 1: for sending your son Jesus to die on the cross
Speaker 1: so that all my mistakes, all my sin can be raised. Today.
Speaker 1: Right now, I surrender, I give you all of me.
Speaker 1: Be my Lord, be my savior, and use me for
Speaker 1: your glory in Jesus' name. Amen and amen and amen. Hey,
Speaker 1: can you celebrate for every single person that made the
Speaker 1: greatest decision ever? Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there
Speaker 1: are a couple of things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You
Speaker 1: can also help us reach others by investing today at
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining
Speaker 1: us on the Elevation Podcast