Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
Speaker 2: new sermons every week.
Speaker 1: I hope you're blessed today.
Speaker 3: Kidness gracious, If I had any estrogen left in my body,
Speaker 3: I would have shot straight out at that point. I'd
Speaker 3: like to take just a moment, a moment of silence
Speaker 3: for those of you who are grieving the fact that
Speaker 3: Pastor Holly and Pastor Stephen are not preaching this morning.
Speaker 3: When I was here last summer, I got to go out.
Speaker 3: Some people were being baptized, and so I was meeting people,
Speaker 3: and I met a saint who had driven thirty hours.
Speaker 3: It wasn't a Volkswagen bus, but it could have been
Speaker 3: driven thirty hours because their whole family just wanted to
Speaker 3: come here Holly or Steven preach. And I was just like,
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. You have an old
Speaker 3: white woman from Nashville, Tennessee who just I don't know
Speaker 3: what it is about Elevation, but I always feel inclined
Speaker 3: to wear leather here. So there will be a lot
Speaker 3: of perspiration and squeaking going on in the next few moments.
Speaker 3: But they could have anybody, y'all could have anybody from
Speaker 3: across the world would be honored to get to be
Speaker 3: in this house. And I'm not sure why other than
Speaker 3: your friendship and your grace chunks that I get to
Speaker 3: come every year. But this is the highlight of my
Speaker 3: daughters and I. We love, we claim you as cousins,
Speaker 3: even though some of you might think differently in a
Speaker 3: few moments. So we need to start with prayer. Reach
Speaker 3: out and touch that saint next to you. That's not rhetorical,
Speaker 3: touch them, touch them appropriate leap men. If you're sitting
Speaker 3: next to a woman, I've heard it said that it's tea.
Speaker 4: Is that right? If she's cool, if she's hot, just be.
Speaker 3: Very very careful. This is a Liviticus kind of prayer. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Speaker 3: thank you. I was so reminded last night of what
Speaker 3: a gift it is that we still exist under the
Speaker 3: common grace of free worship in this country.
Speaker 4: So Lord, I pray that for all.
Speaker 3: Of us, the things that have become just wrote to
Speaker 3: us getting to drive to church on Saturday or Sunday
Speaker 3: and not worried about hiding, not worried about being arrested.
Speaker 3: Oh Lord, what a glorious gift it is that you
Speaker 3: allow us to come together to your house to bring
Speaker 3: you the first breads of our attention and our affection. Freely, Lord,
Speaker 3: forgive us when we are quick to complain and slow
Speaker 3: to say.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3: For two hundred and fifty years of freedom of worship.
Speaker 3: We are so grateful, We are so grateful, We are
Speaker 3: so grateful. And Lord, sometimes we are so dumb and
Speaker 3: so preoccupied, and so Lord, for those of us who
Speaker 3: have come into this house of faith, and our minds
Speaker 3: are distracted or tired, and our hearts are numb or
Speaker 3: just barely put one foot in front of the other. Lord,
Speaker 3: we pray through your spirit that you would give us
Speaker 3: eyes to see and ears to hear, and hearts that
Speaker 3: would be pliant to understand at an even deeper level
Speaker 3: what it means to be your beloved sons and daughters.
Speaker 4: Lord, we pray that.
Speaker 3: You would reamaze us this morning, just as Holly said,
Speaker 3: Pastor Stephen is being reamazed as he has time to
Speaker 3: just marinate in the truth of who you are, who
Speaker 3: you called us to be Lord, Would you quicken us
Speaker 3: to Would you quicken.
Speaker 4: Us this morning?
Speaker 1: Lord?
Speaker 3: Would we would we leave this building more than ever
Speaker 3: convinced of who you are as a perfect, holy, transcendent
Speaker 3: God who chooses to be close to us, and more
Speaker 3: than ever secure in the fact that on our worst
Speaker 3: day you said you.
Speaker 4: Matter to me, You're beautiful to me.
Speaker 3: I still can't quite conceive of the fact that I
Speaker 3: was the joy set before you as you walk to
Speaker 3: the cross. So Lord, I need your spirit to pierce
Speaker 3: the places in my heart that I agree with that
Speaker 3: man in March's Gospel. I believe, But O, King Jesus,
Speaker 3: help me am unbelief. Do that for all of us
Speaker 3: this morning, Jesus, and we'll be careful to give you,
Speaker 3: and you alone all the honor and all the glory
Speaker 3: and all the praise for what you do in this
Speaker 3: living room this morning.
Speaker 4: We love you, Jesus, We need you, Jesus.
Speaker 3: We ask these things by the perfect authority of your name.
Speaker 4: Amen and Amen. I thought, with.
Speaker 3: I fought, with last night being so historic, I would
Speaker 3: start with a historic tale of my own, something that's
Speaker 3: very rare, and so I'm not going back two hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty years. It wasn't quite that long ago, but
Speaker 3: I'm going to tell you about my last good date,
Speaker 3: and it was quite some time ago. I came to Nashville, Tennessee,
Speaker 3: from Florida to work for an athletic ministry called the
Speaker 3: Fellowship of Christian Athletes Graham, you know FCA, And so
Speaker 3: I ended up being set up with a lot of
Speaker 3: athletes because I had some friends who were the guys
Speaker 3: played in the NFL. Didn't have any World Cup guys
Speaker 3: friends back then because they have cute legs in those
Speaker 3: little shorts.
Speaker 4: But anyway, sorry, that was ungodly.
Speaker 3: Y'all can strike that from the record, although it is
Speaker 3: kind of song of Solomon esk Right, we.
Speaker 4: Can leave it. We can leave It's in the Bible.
Speaker 3: So anyway, one of my friends who worked for the
Speaker 3: NFL said, Lisa, I have got the perfect guy for you,
Speaker 3: all the old dead theologians you love.
Speaker 4: He reads C. S. Lewis. It's a really good guy,
Speaker 4: really serious about his faith. He plays on the line.
Speaker 3: And when he said he plays on the line for
Speaker 3: an NFL team, he just had me it plays on
Speaker 3: the line. Because I'm not a small girl and I
Speaker 3: really want to date or possibly Mary, if you know
Speaker 3: someone between fifty five, I'll go younger.
Speaker 4: I'm sixty two and death somebody who's bigger than me.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: I just sometimes I get set up with really tiny
Speaker 3: men and I'm.
Speaker 4: Like, Hi, I'm Lisa from the Large Planet. So I
Speaker 4: was like, he plays in the line. I mean, he's
Speaker 4: a biggin. So I was really excited.
Speaker 3: And so I'm not going to tell you his name
Speaker 3: because you can google him and spoiler alert, he married
Speaker 3: someone else.
Speaker 4: But it was a good thing. Just stay with me
Speaker 4: on the date. Are you still with me on the date? Okay?
Speaker 3: So we start talking on the phone, no zoom, no FaceTime.
Speaker 3: All I had seen is him from the distance on ESPN,
Speaker 3: and I knew was a biggin. And I won't tell
Speaker 3: you the team he played for, but it's north of here.
Speaker 3: We started talking. He had a great voice. You know
Speaker 3: how voices are just you go, I can just kind
Speaker 3: of sense a little bit of their hearts, their voices
Speaker 3: connected to their heart. And then after two weeks of courting,
Speaker 3: he called and said, hey, Lisa, our team rhymed with
Speaker 3: Hilly is north of here. He said, our team we're
Speaker 3: playing the Falcons, And I know Nashville's about four hours
Speaker 3: from Atlanta, but if you would be willing to drive
Speaker 3: to Atlanta, we could meet face to face. I'd love
Speaker 3: to meet you face to face. And I was like, well,
Speaker 3: that would be great. And so our meeting was a
Speaker 3: week away. So I went on a fast and.
Speaker 4: Then I bought like a really cute new outfit.
Speaker 3: Are any of y'all I'm sixty two, any women over fifty? Okay,
Speaker 3: do y'all remember when like giant shoulder pads were in
Speaker 3: So anyway, I bought this pink dress for feminine with
Speaker 3: like football player shoulder pads because it's so in back then.
Speaker 3: And I drive from Nashville to Atlanta and we didn't
Speaker 3: have any.
Speaker 4: BUCkies back then.
Speaker 3: I had to stop at a rest area to fruff
Speaker 3: my hair. And I get to the stadium and he said,
Speaker 3: one of the other wives in a NFL player's wife,
Speaker 3: she'll meet you at will call to bring you up
Speaker 3: to the wives section. I was sitting in the wives section.
Speaker 3: Do y'all know any NFL wives? They are tiny, just tiny,
Speaker 3: tiny little women. They're beautiful but so petite. And so
Speaker 3: this tiny girl came and met me and she takes me.
Speaker 4: Up to the wives section.
Speaker 3: So we're up, I don't know, we're like on the
Speaker 3: fifty yard line, just a few rows up. And I
Speaker 3: come up and all the other teeny girls were very
Speaker 3: kind to me, and I was the only brunette, and
Speaker 3: so I'm meeting all the tiny blonds and then I
Speaker 3: look out on the field. The game hadn't started yet.
Speaker 3: I look out in the field and there he is,
Speaker 3: my date, and he has his back to me. And
Speaker 3: I don't know how to say this in church, but
Speaker 3: those pants are awesome. And I'd never until that point
Speaker 3: like football pants, and suddenly I just love those little
Speaker 3: pants on a big man. And so he turned around,
Speaker 3: and you know, I'm like from here to where y'all
Speaker 3: are in the theater seats. I'm about that far away
Speaker 3: he turned around, but y'all, it was like a love stories,
Speaker 3: like our eyes met and I was like, I love him.
Speaker 3: And the game started and he did really, really well.
Speaker 3: He made a couple of key blocks, and the team
Speaker 3: that rhymes with Hilly beat the Atlanta Falcons sor if
Speaker 3: you're a Falcons fan. And then one of the teeny
Speaker 3: girls said, hey, we'll just.
Speaker 4: Call him Bill. That's not his name.
Speaker 3: She said, hey, Bill would like to see you before
Speaker 3: they fly back to Hilly, and so if you'll go
Speaker 3: with us the team that was about. I don't know
Speaker 3: if they still do this, but that was back in
Speaker 3: the day when all the players would shower and change
Speaker 3: into suits, not pajama pants, actually suits, and then they'd
Speaker 3: get on a charter bus and then they'd go to
Speaker 3: the airport and get on a charter flight and go
Speaker 3: back to whatever town they were from. And so she said,
Speaker 3: he actually wants to see you because now we've still
Speaker 3: been fifty yards separated. She said, he wants to meet
Speaker 3: you face to face before he flies home.
Speaker 4: And I was like, okay.
Speaker 3: So I traped down with all the teen heat tribe
Speaker 3: down to it's like in the belly of the arena,
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, all the players start coming out,
Speaker 3: and you know, they're just big guys, and they all
Speaker 3: smell like polo and they all start boarding the bus
Speaker 3: and then here comes Bill and he comes right and
Speaker 3: I can't use you, chunction, you're a good pride. He
Speaker 3: comes right up to me, and I mean like right
Speaker 3: up to me, and he goes hey, and then he
Speaker 3: picks me up.
Speaker 5: He picks me off my feet, and I was like,
Speaker 5: this is like, this is glory, this is just glory.
Speaker 5: I expected Jesus to come through and the white horse
Speaker 5: and it was amazing, look to the east. He picked
Speaker 5: me up and then I don't remember what he said
Speaker 5: because I was in a calm.
Speaker 3: And then we talked for like three or four more minutes,
Speaker 3: and then they made the announcement the bus is about
Speaker 3: to leave.
Speaker 4: Guys, you got to get on the bus. We're going
Speaker 4: to the plane. And he goes just like this, he goes,
Speaker 4: wait right here, as if I was going to leave.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'll be here three months from now, just
Speaker 3: standing right here. It's all downhill from now. For me,
Speaker 3: it was just I was like okay, and he goes,
Speaker 3: wait right here. He turns around and the lets the
Speaker 3: bus is right here. And then NFL coach and y'all
Speaker 3: would know this. In NFL coach, he's dead now, but
Speaker 3: he was a big deal, and he said this inn
Speaker 3: LFL coach.
Speaker 4: He's standing on the stairs.
Speaker 3: Bill's right where you are, Chunks, and Bill starts talking
Speaker 3: to the coach. Bill has his back to me, and
Speaker 3: the coach is facing me from the stairs, and he
Speaker 3: keeps kind of looking around Bill's shoulders. He'd be like,
Speaker 3: so I knew they were talking about me. They talked
Speaker 3: for like, I don't know, three minutes, and then the
Speaker 3: doors of the bus shut and Bill comes like this,
Speaker 3: I know, I know, And the bus is driving away,
Speaker 3: and guys are hanging out the windows just ragging him,
Speaker 3: saying things like she's already got you reptuted, and you
Speaker 3: can hang on.
Speaker 4: To the ball, bru. I mean, they're just ragging him.
Speaker 3: He is completely oblivious to the teasing, only has eyes
Speaker 3: for me.
Speaker 4: Comes up to me. I'll never forget what he said.
Speaker 3: He said, Lisa, I hope it's okay if you let
Speaker 3: me ride with you back to Nashville. I just told
Speaker 3: Coach that I really wanted to spend this time driving
Speaker 3: back to Nashville to you, because that would give us
Speaker 3: four hours face to face to get to know each other.
Speaker 3: And I'll get a hotel in Nashville. Then I'll take
Speaker 3: a commercial flight in the morning to go back home
Speaker 3: to Hilly, because I told Coach, you're worth the fine.
Speaker 4: Your worth the fine. Has anybody ever said that to you?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yes he did, Oh yes he did.
Speaker 3: We've just been singing about it. Oh, yes, he did.
Speaker 3: The God who breathed this universe into existence looks at
Speaker 3: us on our worst day, when we're not singing elevation songs,
Speaker 3: when you're saying something that's not in the Bible in traffic.
Speaker 4: He looks at us even in that moment and says, you.
Speaker 3: Are worth the fine. That is the gospel. That is
Speaker 3: the gospel. When that man who barely knew me ascribed
Speaker 3: worth to me, he said, you are worth the merciless
Speaker 3: teasing of my teammates. You are worth the lack of
Speaker 3: physical rest that I will experience driving with you through
Speaker 3: the night back to Nashville. You are worth a hefty
Speaker 3: monetary fine from my team in the NFL. Well, you
Speaker 3: are worth so it cost him to subscribe worth to me.
Speaker 3: I have a definition for the word worth. You probably
Speaker 3: know this. Worth tells us the value, the importance, and
Speaker 3: or the usefulness of something.
Speaker 4: However, when worth.
Speaker 3: Is used in a predicative used as a predictive eject
Speaker 3: adjective I didn't pay much for my doctorate. When it's
Speaker 3: used as a predicative adjective, as in your worth the fine.
Speaker 4: It is entirely subjective.
Speaker 3: That means worth, as it is proclaimed, is based on
Speaker 3: whoever is proclaiming its value. In the context of that
Speaker 3: football player, he decided I was worth the fine. In
Speaker 3: the O so oh bias perspective of our creator, redeemer,
Speaker 3: he has ascribed worth to us, and he says our
Speaker 3: worth is predetermined.
Speaker 4: Turn to Psalm one thirty nine. You'll know this.
Speaker 3: Many of you, I hope memorize this when you were kids.
Speaker 3: So one of my favorite of the songs. All of
Speaker 3: the one hundred and fifty psalms. Ps Alms were originally
Speaker 3: written as songs sonngs. So this is like God's Spotify list,
Speaker 3: these one hundred and fifty songs in the middle of
Speaker 3: the Bible. And this is how David starts this song.
Speaker 3: You have searched me, oh Lord, and you know me.
Speaker 3: You know when I sit and when I rise. You
Speaker 3: perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out
Speaker 3: and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways.
Speaker 3: Before a word is on my tongue, you, oh Lord,
Speaker 3: know it completely. You hem me in behind him before,
Speaker 3: and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is
Speaker 3: too wonderful for me. It blows my hard drive. It
Speaker 3: is too lofty for me to attain Where can I
Speaker 3: go from your spirit? Where from your presence? If I
Speaker 3: go up to the heavens, You're there. If I make
Speaker 3: my bed in the depths, you're there. If I rise
Speaker 3: on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on
Speaker 3: the far side of the sea, even there, your hand
Speaker 3: will guide me.
Speaker 4: Your right hand will hold me fast.
Speaker 3: If I say, surely, the darkness will hide me, and
Speaker 3: the light become night around me, even the darkness will
Speaker 3: not be dark to you. The night will shine like
Speaker 3: the day, For darkness is as light to you. Listen
Speaker 3: to this, For you created my inmost being. You knit
Speaker 3: me together in my Mama's womb. I praise you because
Speaker 3: I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.
Speaker 4: Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.
Speaker 3: My frame was not hidden from you when I was
Speaker 3: made in the secret place. When I was woven together
Speaker 3: in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my
Speaker 3: unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written
Speaker 3: in your book before one of them came to be.
Speaker 3: In other words, our worth precedes any accomplishment or merit
Speaker 3: on our behalf. Long before your Daddy wink in his eye,
Speaker 3: our creator, redeemer predetermined that he would subscribe priceless value
Speaker 3: to you. There's nothing we earn. We just sang that.
Speaker 3: But I think for most of us we can sing it,
Speaker 3: we can say it. But to grasp in a world
Speaker 3: that says you're only as valuable as your last performance,
Speaker 3: in a world where we are entirely judged by how
Speaker 3: we perform and how much we produce, it is really
Speaker 3: hard for us to wrap our dinky human minds around
Speaker 3: the concept that this perfect, holy, trinitarian God ascribed invaluable
Speaker 3: worth to us. Before anybody would have said we were
Speaker 3: worth anything, we hadn't done anything yet to be considered worthy.
Speaker 3: And yet David makes it clear before any of us
Speaker 3: breathed our first breath, our heavenly father said worse describing
Speaker 3: worth to you. Flip forward to the Book of Isaiah.
Speaker 3: I love Isaiah's prophecy, and Isaiah underscores this idea of
Speaker 3: predetermined worth and priceless.
Speaker 4: Value that God ascribes to us Isaiah forty three.
Speaker 3: But now this is what the Lord says, he who
Speaker 3: created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel, do not fear,
Speaker 3: for I've redeemed you, I've summoned you by name.
Speaker 4: You are mine.
Speaker 3: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
Speaker 3: When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep
Speaker 3: over you. When you walk through the fire, you will
Speaker 3: not be burned. The flames will not set you a blaze.
Speaker 3: For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One
Speaker 3: of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt for your ransom,
Speaker 3: Cush and Siba in your stead, since you are precious
Speaker 3: and honored in my sight, and because I love you,
Speaker 3: I give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange.
Speaker 4: For your life. So that's God's scales.
Speaker 3: We just got back from two weeks in Europe, and
Speaker 3: while we were there, we were at the Tower of London,
Speaker 3: where the Jewels of London are kept, and then we
Speaker 3: went to where the jewels are kept, the Crown Jewels
Speaker 3: in Scotland, in Edinburgh, and of course you've got the
Speaker 3: guards with the fuzzy Q tip black hats. We kept
Speaker 3: trying to make them laugh and they wouldn't. They're guarding
Speaker 3: those jewels, the crown Jewels of.
Speaker 4: The UK.
Speaker 3: Those are priceless, estimated by histories to be priceless. But
Speaker 3: that's just the jewels of the country. That's not the land,
Speaker 3: that's not the gross national product. That's not everything. That's
Speaker 3: Scotland or England or Ireland. That's not everything. And God said,
Speaker 3: the entire nation, not just the jewels. I'm not just
Speaker 3: exchanging you for a Tiffany bracelet. You are more valuable
Speaker 3: to me than entire nation with all their wealth. Right
Speaker 3: before I came out here, because I'm always a hot mess,
Speaker 3: just looking for bluep of real to begin, I was
Speaker 3: in the restroom trying to make my hair look not
Speaker 3: look like roadkill on this humid day, and I thought, oh,
Speaker 3: I need some lotion, and I squirted the lotion in
Speaker 3: the bathroom and just said, shot straight all over me,
Speaker 3: just gobs of white on my pants, on my shirt,
Speaker 3: on this, on my arm, and my watch. And I
Speaker 3: was like, you just can't take me anywhere. I mean,
Speaker 3: you just can't. I'm just a walking yahoo.
Speaker 4: And yet the.
Speaker 3: God, the only true God, the God of the universe, transcendent, holy, trinitarian, perfect,
Speaker 3: perfect in and of himself, he didn't even need.
Speaker 4: Relationship with us. He chose for us to be his treasure.
Speaker 3: He's perfectly sustained by fellowship with each other. Augustine one
Speaker 3: of my favorite old dead guys. I have a crush
Speaker 3: on him too. Augustine said, only the Christian God is
Speaker 3: a perfect community unto himself, perfectly sustained, perfectly satisfied.
Speaker 4: And yet he chose.
Speaker 3: For us to be his treasure. And he said, you're
Speaker 3: worth so much to me, I'll give entire nations in
Speaker 3: exchange for you. So our worth is, Our worth is predetermined.
Speaker 4: It's not. There's no earning on our behalf. Our worth
Speaker 4: is priceless.
Speaker 3: We are invaluable from God's estimation. And then if he'll
Speaker 3: head to the right to Ephesians, one of my favorite
Speaker 3: passages in all of the New Testament, our worth.
Speaker 4: Is permanent Ephesians one, beginning with verse.
Speaker 3: Three, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord,
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms
Speaker 3: with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he chose us
Speaker 3: in him before the creation of the world, to be
Speaker 3: holy and blameless in his side and love. He predestined
Speaker 3: for us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in
Speaker 3: accordance with his pleasure. Some translations shake good, pleasure and
Speaker 3: will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he
Speaker 3: has freely given us in the One He.
Speaker 4: Loves, where it reads pleasure or good.
Speaker 3: Pleasure in your Bible that comes from the Greek word you, dokia.
Speaker 3: You involves good and dokia is thinking. So in other words,
Speaker 3: when God set his affection on us, he didn't do
Speaker 3: it out of pity. Our salvation is mercy, Our adoption
Speaker 3: is affection. So the King of all kings didn't look
Speaker 3: at us and go, oh, she's such a yahoo.
Speaker 4: She's old as dirt.
Speaker 3: She lost a little weight with the help of manjarronounced,
Speaker 3: he's all creepy. She ain't got no man, that poor girl.
Speaker 3: Just let's love on her a little extra because she
Speaker 3: probably doesn't think she's worth it. That is not the
Speaker 3: disposition of our creative redeemer. He looks at me when
Speaker 3: I've got lotion all over my leather pants, and he says,
Speaker 3: isn't she beautiful?
Speaker 4: It was my good thinking.
Speaker 3: To adopt her, y'all. Even the word adoption in first
Speaker 3: century context, it's crazy that Paul uses it in our
Speaker 3: relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God
Speaker 3: the Holy Spirit, because in this era, no parents would
Speaker 3: adopt an infant. There's too much risk in that parents
Speaker 3: in Greco and Roman culture only adopted an older adolescent
Speaker 3: or an adult. Why is that young? Talkback, I'm not
Speaker 3: a pastor. Why do you think they would only adopt
Speaker 3: somebody who.
Speaker 4: Was older.
Speaker 3: Exactly because you had proven potential. They could see their GPA,
Speaker 3: they could see how hard they worked at Chick fil
Speaker 3: A after school. They could see this kid has promise.
Speaker 3: And by the way, girls are never adopted in this
Speaker 3: era of biblical history. Girls are not adopted because girls
Speaker 3: had no financial value other than producing an air and
Speaker 3: so baby girls are rejected. But there's a possibility if
Speaker 3: you are a young man who has promise that a couple.
Speaker 4: Will adopt you and say.
Speaker 3: We'll give him our name, we'll make him an heir.
Speaker 3: The most famous older adoptee from this era is Octavian.
Speaker 3: And I know most of y'all like me just examine
Speaker 3: your eyelids in high school history. But you remember he's
Speaker 3: the very first Roman emperor. Do you remember who proceeded Octavian?
Speaker 3: I know y'all did, Julius Caesar. So Julius Caesar was
Speaker 3: not the first emperor of Rome. He was a military hero,
Speaker 3: he was a dictator. He adopted his nephew he adopted
Speaker 3: this kid named Octavian at the it was actually his
Speaker 3: great nephew at.
Speaker 4: The age of eighteen.
Speaker 3: Because Octavian he showed promise, and so Julius Caesar adopted
Speaker 3: Octavian and said, I will give you my name.
Speaker 4: And so after.
Speaker 3: Julius Caesar was assassinated in forty four BC, Octavian fought
Speaker 3: and became the very first emperor. He changed Rome from
Speaker 3: a republic to an empire. He became the very first
Speaker 3: Roman emperor. The senate that's kind of much like our
Speaker 3: senate this cent, maybe not as much polarization, but anyway,
Speaker 3: their senate said, we're gonna name you Augustine. Augustus means
Speaker 3: one who is revered. And he said, I'm gonna take
Speaker 3: my adopted dad's last name as my first because I
Speaker 3: want to be attached to Julius Caesar's renown. So his
Speaker 3: name went from Octavian to Caesar Augustus, first Emperor of Rome.
Speaker 4: That we all think Caesar is a title, it was.
Speaker 3: It originated as a surname, and then he went a
Speaker 3: step further because the Roman senate, because Julius Caesar was
Speaker 3: such a great leader, they named him de wee we
Speaker 3: would say DV in Latin, but their v's are pronounced
Speaker 3: as w's.
Speaker 4: If you're a redneck American.
Speaker 3: De we Phileus, son of God. So Octavian because they
Speaker 3: had named Julius Caesar a god. That's what Octavian called himself.
Speaker 3: I am Caesar Augustus, I am de wee phileas, I
Speaker 3: am a son of God A little bit arrogant, right,
Speaker 3: do y'all remember the Crucifixion account. There's a Roman centurion
Speaker 3: and all he did was watch Jesus die. Wasn't a
Speaker 3: Bible study, what in a home group didn't follow Jesus
Speaker 3: wasn't Jewish, but he was there at the crucifixion. Y'all
Speaker 3: remember the story in Marx Gospweall I think is in
Speaker 3: chapter fifteen.
Speaker 4: He watches Jesus die. That's all he sees.
Speaker 3: He doesn't see him raise Lazarus from death back to life.
Speaker 3: He doesn't see him walk on water, doesn't see him
Speaker 3: turn water. And when all he watches is Jesus suffer.
Speaker 3: And when Jesus dies and says it is finished, that
Speaker 3: Roman centurion says, surely, surely he is dewey phileas he.
Speaker 4: Is the son of God.
Speaker 3: Do you know the coins in his pocket at the
Speaker 3: time were inscribed to promote the Roman Caesar is the
Speaker 3: son of God.
Speaker 4: Y'all.
Speaker 3: The context in our Bibles drives me nuts. When people
Speaker 3: says the Bible is boring, I'm like, no, you're a
Speaker 3: lazy reader.
Speaker 4: This is so much better than Yellowstone. This is like epic.
Speaker 4: So it makes sense.
Speaker 3: That Caesar Augustus Octavian was adopted because he had promised
Speaker 3: he had potential.
Speaker 4: That makes sense. That was very uncommon. What was more common.
Speaker 3: Was this practice that they still practice.
Speaker 4: They just don't call it this.
Speaker 3: In My Little Girl's Village in Haiti, it's exposed. This
Speaker 3: seo expoio comes from the Latin root exponaire, meaning to expose.
Speaker 3: What was most common in the era Paul was riding
Speaker 3: is expositzio, which meant if you had a little girl,
Speaker 3: and you already had one so you didn't need a spear,
Speaker 3: or if you had a son who was born deformed
Speaker 3: with something as minor as a cleft palate, you could
Speaker 3: take them to the edge of town and leave them
Speaker 3: so that they would die.
Speaker 4: In the elements.
Speaker 3: They still do that in My Baby Girl's Village in Haiti,
Speaker 3: that's why you rarely, rarely in a developing nation that
Speaker 3: struggles with poverty. It's interesting you usually won't see a
Speaker 3: child with cerebral palsy or an extreme deformity because it's
Speaker 3: too hard for them to feed their healthy kids, and
Speaker 3: so they still practice taking unwanted or deformed or medically
Speaker 3: challenged children infants to the edge of town and leaving
Speaker 3: them there.
Speaker 4: Do you not.
Speaker 3: Christians became known for at the latter part of the
Speaker 3: first and second century, Christians became known for and actually
Speaker 3: vilified for this that we would go and rummage through
Speaker 3: trash dumps to find discarded infants, and we would adopt
Speaker 3: them as our sons and our daughters.
Speaker 4: We became known for that.
Speaker 3: Do you know the first brick and mortar churches in
Speaker 3: that era, small informal affairs always had a basin outside
Speaker 3: the front door of the church so people could go
Speaker 3: by and drop off an infant. Because even as early Christians,
Speaker 3: we understood.
Speaker 4: This isn't okay.
Speaker 3: It's not okay to take an innocent, beautiful.
Speaker 4: Worthy, valuable baby.
Speaker 3: And put them in a trash dump. The Christians would
Speaker 3: race the slave traders to try to get the little girls,
Speaker 3: so they wouldn't be put into prostitution.
Speaker 1: Do you know?
Speaker 4: We were in Italy.
Speaker 3: Two summers ago doing a strips of trips of Paul
Speaker 3: Tour and I saw this. I think it's called a
Speaker 3: Ruato day, Ruato day tritaria. Suddenly I have this craving
Speaker 3: for pasta. Let me see what it's called. It's called
Speaker 3: Does anybody speak Italian? Ruato day treviatelli, Trevitali, A Ruato
Speaker 3: day treviatelli. Y'all were wanting Italian now too, aren't you
Speaker 3: all go to North Italia for lunch. I have a
Speaker 3: picture of a Ruata day travitlli. This is all throughout
Speaker 3: Italian ar Okay, see bottom left. See that little box
Speaker 3: that actually is a concrete cubby, and it's on a cylinder.
Speaker 3: It rotates so you can come at night to the outside.
Speaker 3: That was an ancient church. You could come to the
Speaker 3: outside and that little Ruata day traviatelli will be open
Speaker 3: and you can put your baby in there anonymously, knowing
Speaker 3: that somebody on the other side of that wall, probably
Speaker 3: a nun, will take care of your baby. So even
Speaker 3: early Christians understanding that oh, people have value, it impacted architecture,
Speaker 3: Ruato Day Travitlli.
Speaker 4: Here's the deal for Paul to speak.
Speaker 3: To this audience of young Christians in Ephesus and say, God,
Speaker 3: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit think you are so worth.
Speaker 4: It that he didn't just save you. He has actually adopted.
Speaker 3: You as firstborns, as co heirs, and you won't sit
Speaker 3: at the kiddie table or on the porch. You will
Speaker 3: sit to the right of Jesus the Sun in a
Speaker 3: position of honor. Y'all, that was so counter cultural in
Speaker 3: their understanding. That would be like a you and c
Speaker 3: Grad rooting for Duke, or Draking Kendrick Lamar writing a
Speaker 3: song together, or Travis and Tay having a tiny wedding.
Speaker 3: I mean that just that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 4: That doesn't happen.
Speaker 3: We read Ephesians and most of us are like, oh,
Speaker 3: that's good, that's not I kind of like that. I
Speaker 3: like from Pastor Steven preaching that we don't get the
Speaker 3: gravitas of the God of the universe saying you are mine.
Speaker 3: I didn't just save you. You're my kid. Y'all can
Speaker 3: diss me on social media. It hurts my feelings a
Speaker 3: little bit, but you dis my baby girl, I'll come
Speaker 3: find you and cut you in ribbons. And I know
Speaker 3: Holly and Pastor seven feel the same way about Elijah
Speaker 3: and Graham and Abby.
Speaker 4: I mean, these are my kids.
Speaker 3: For God to say we aren't just people he had
Speaker 3: to save because we're train wrecks who couldn't save ourselves,
Speaker 3: for God to say, there's so much more than worth
Speaker 3: the fine to me, I'm actually adopting.
Speaker 4: Them into my family.
Speaker 3: And you know, according to rabbinical law, you can disinher
Speaker 3: a biological child, but you can't disinherit an adopt a child.
Speaker 4: So he saying it's permanent.
Speaker 3: He is saying, I have ascribed this value you haven't
Speaker 3: earned to you. I've named you as priceless, and it's permanent, honey,
Speaker 3: it is absolutely permanent. I used to spend a lot
Speaker 3: of my free time volunteering at an organization in Nashville,
Speaker 3: a couple of organizations actually, who help women who are
Speaker 3: recovery addiction recovery. And I don't do it as much
Speaker 3: now because a missy and I just don't have as
Speaker 3: much time as a single mom. But if you would
Speaker 3: set me up and I could get to the baby daddy,
Speaker 3: I'd have more free time, just saying the onus is
Speaker 3: on y'all. But I used to spend a lot of
Speaker 3: time volunteering.
Speaker 4: I still get to do it a little bit.
Speaker 3: But I love, love, love, love love getting to spend
Speaker 3: time with image bears who are coming out of any
Speaker 3: type of addiction.
Speaker 4: Because the gratitude is palpable.
Speaker 3: There's just something about being incarcerated that strips your pretense
Speaker 3: have to have. Some loud preachers say that God loves
Speaker 3: you even though you haven't earned it.
Speaker 4: They're like, I get it.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know I didn't do anything to deserve
Speaker 3: this unconditional love he has lavish on me. And anyway,
Speaker 3: those of y'all who are I know we've got some
Speaker 3: elevation campuses, and y'all don't have quite as much physical
Speaker 3: freedom as we do. Some of y'all are still incarcerated,
Speaker 3: and you didn't know that. This whole team here, They
Speaker 3: talk about y'all like y'all are in the room.
Speaker 4: You are family, you fit here. We love you. This
Speaker 4: is not pity. We honor you.
Speaker 3: We can't wait to actually be face to face with you,
Speaker 3: to pray into worship.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you, thank you. We love y'all.
Speaker 3: Y'all are not outside campuses. You are in the house campuses.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for listening today. The good pastors
Speaker 3: will be back next week, so stay tuned. But I
Speaker 3: used to spend a lot of time girls, and one
Speaker 3: Thanksgiving they said, miss Lisa, would you spend Thanksgiving with us?
Speaker 3: And I was so honored they asked me to spend
Speaker 3: Thanksgiving with them. I was like, oh, I'd be delighted
Speaker 3: to you, and they said, we actually have so much extra.
Speaker 4: Do you know the best job that my friends could
Speaker 4: get out of when.
Speaker 3: They stepped out of the halfway house into more freedom
Speaker 3: was at Chipolte. I had at Chipolte all the time
Speaker 3: because Chipolte will hire women who have.
Speaker 4: Federal offenses on the records who've.
Speaker 3: Come out, so that was the best job they could get.
Speaker 3: Oftentimes it was cleaning hotel rooms. So for them to
Speaker 3: say we have so much extra was countercultural. And they said,
Speaker 3: we want to take our extra and we want to
Speaker 3: just put together a Thanksgiving feast. And then so many
Speaker 3: of our friends are still home insecure, they don't have
Speaker 3: a place to live tonight that we want to go
Speaker 3: all over Nashville and find our friends who don't have
Speaker 3: homes and serve the meals. And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'd love to be part of that, and so I
Speaker 3: helped to make this feast. Somebody had donated one hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty of those you know, the styrofoam takeout trays.
Speaker 4: We actually had one hundred and seventy five, but our goal.
Speaker 3: Was one hundred and fifty, and we had turkeys, We
Speaker 3: had stuff from all over, and so we were just humming.
Speaker 4: We're in this kitchen eight hundred.
Speaker 3: Square feet is the size of their government subicize department,
Speaker 3: and there were like thirteen of us in there putting
Speaker 3: together these meals. We are singing, we are dancing. I
Speaker 3: have no rhythm, but I have a lot of enthusiasm.
Speaker 3: We're singing, dancing, getting these meals together. When it was
Speaker 3: all said and done, when we ran out of meat,
Speaker 3: they said, let's count it.
Speaker 4: We had one hundred and seventy two. So I was like,
Speaker 4: that is epics.
Speaker 3: So I said, let's pray and thank God for the
Speaker 3: extra and then we'll.
Speaker 4: Go to distribute these.
Speaker 3: So we had this major Pentecostal prayer and I was like,
Speaker 3: no one call me pastor, and for anybody else in
Speaker 3: Nashville get avestrated. But they all call me pastor, and
Speaker 3: so we don't call me pastor. That pee is who
Speaker 3: that's polarizing.
Speaker 4: So anyway, we prayed and then we set amen.
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, what's the plan and they were like, well,
Speaker 3: we hadn't planned any further. And I was like, well,
Speaker 3: y'all and they were like, one, none of us have
Speaker 3: our license. Our license haven't been reinstated yet, so we
Speaker 3: don't have cars. I'm like, well, y'all and they're like,
Speaker 3: will you help us. I was like, well, yes, so
Speaker 3: I've got an SUV because prophetically, I thought God would
Speaker 3: give me a man and I would fill it with kids.
Speaker 4: And so we piled my car with like one.
Speaker 3: Hundred and thirty there's one other car. We had just
Speaker 3: boxes of food all throughout my car. One of the
Speaker 3: girls got in my car. Another girl was in the back,
Speaker 3: and we started driving around kind of sketchy parts of
Speaker 3: downtown Nashville looking for people who might be hungry.
Speaker 4: And our goal was not.
Speaker 3: Just to give somebody a meal, but was to look
Speaker 3: in their eyes and have a conversation, hopefully sit.
Speaker 4: With them while they ate.
Speaker 3: And the most memorable of those one hundred and thirty
Speaker 3: or so meals we gave away. Was the first and
Speaker 3: the last. The first was a train wreck because I
Speaker 3: chose them and we're driving down by Vandy and there's
Speaker 3: just this kid dressed in rags, so I assume he
Speaker 3: was housing insecure, and so I humped my car up
Speaker 3: on the curb and I.
Speaker 4: Was like, hey, baby, she probably gram your age.
Speaker 3: I mean just punking, and I was like, hey baby,
Speaker 3: we've got some extra food.
Speaker 4: He was so offended. And then I saw the prodist shoes,
Speaker 4: but it was rags.
Speaker 3: The rest of me was rags, so I thought he
Speaker 3: was home lesson so he was really offended.
Speaker 4: So that was memorable.
Speaker 3: We got an earfull from him because he wasn't hungry,
Speaker 3: and then we had all kinds of meals in the middle.
Speaker 3: But the very last guy was my favorite. We had
Speaker 3: talked with a fella who was living behind this building,
Speaker 3: and he said, we'll run up the road and when
Speaker 3: you see a little half concrete wall, the guy who
Speaker 3: lives in a cuppy behind that, his name is Cricket.
Speaker 3: He's a friend of mine. Go see if you can
Speaker 3: find Cricket. And sure enough, we found this man named Cricket, precious, precious, precious,
Speaker 3: twenty something year old man, and we had as the
Speaker 3: sun was setting on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4: The I mean it was communion.
Speaker 3: It was one of the best meals I've ever shared
Speaker 3: with other christ followers. And then you know, we said goodbye,
Speaker 3: and I didn't think i'd ever see him again.
Speaker 4: And two weeks later.
Speaker 3: I was back in that same area because I'd gotten
Speaker 3: lost and I was trying to figure out how to
Speaker 3: get back to the interstate and I recognized the street
Speaker 3: sign and I thought, oh my goodness, this is where
Speaker 3: we were two weeks ago at Thanksgiving when I got
Speaker 3: to meet Cricket, and I thought, I wonder if he's
Speaker 3: still here. So I pretended like I was a ups chuck,
Speaker 3: humped my car back up on the curb again, started
Speaker 3: walking around and ran into this young man who looked
Speaker 3: like he had been living outside.
Speaker 4: And I said, sir, excuse me.
Speaker 3: My name is Lisa, and I'm looking for a man
Speaker 3: who used to live in the serranam Cricket. And he said, Lisa,
Speaker 3: I'm Cricket, and living outside for a couple of weeks
Speaker 3: can change your appearance.
Speaker 4: And I said, Cricket, I'm so sorry. I didn't recognize you.
Speaker 3: I said, I don't know if you remember two weeks ago,
Speaker 3: and he goes, I remember it was Thanksgiving, And I said, well,
Speaker 3: I found myself back in this neighborhood and I just
Speaker 3: felt this strong inclination to stop by and see you
Speaker 3: and to tell you that that God sees you and
Speaker 3: he thinks you're worth it.
Speaker 4: And I don't know why I said that.
Speaker 3: Sometimes I'll say things because of prayer and Holy Spirit,
Speaker 3: and sometimes it's insecurity or it's.
Speaker 4: Celsius, you know. Sometimes you go, I think that was
Speaker 4: a lord, and it might be and it might not be.
Speaker 3: But I said, I think I think it was the
Speaker 3: Holy Spirit who impressed me to say you're worth it.
Speaker 3: And as soon as I said that, he just beent
Speaker 3: over and began to sob like a baby, and he
Speaker 3: kind of pitched himself in my arms.
Speaker 4: And even though I'm not as petite as Holly, he
Speaker 4: was a tall guy.
Speaker 3: It was hard for me to hold him up. I mean,
Speaker 3: he just put the whole weight of his body in
Speaker 3: my arms, and I mean he was just sobbing, and
Speaker 3: the only thing I could think to do was pray.
Speaker 4: And when I'm nervous, offen times.
Speaker 3: I'll pray scripture, I'll pray the word of God, this
Speaker 3: love story we call the Bible. And so I just
Speaker 3: begin to pray. So I'm one thirty nine. Oh Lord,
Speaker 3: you have searched me, and you know me. You know
Speaker 3: when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my
Speaker 3: thoughts from afar. Every word you know before it proceeds
Speaker 3: from my mouth. You hen me and behind, and before
Speaker 3: you've laid your hand upon me. Where can I go
Speaker 3: from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
Speaker 3: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for
Speaker 3: me to attain. Where can I go from your spirit?
Speaker 3: Where can I flee from your presence? If I go
Speaker 3: up to the heavens, you're there. If I make my
Speaker 3: bed and the depth, you're there. If I rise on
Speaker 3: the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the
Speaker 3: far side of the sea, even.
Speaker 4: There, your right hand will hold me.
Speaker 3: If I say, surely the darkness will hide me, and
Speaker 3: the light become night around me, even the darkness will not.
Speaker 4: Be dark to you.
Speaker 3: For David goes on to say, for I'm wonderfully and
Speaker 3: fearfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full
Speaker 3: well my frame was it hidden from you? When I
Speaker 3: was made in the secret place, when I was woven
Speaker 3: together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw
Speaker 3: my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were
Speaker 3: written in your book before even one of them came
Speaker 3: to be, long before you met Brett, long before y'all
Speaker 3: had a baby, long before you entered ministry.
Speaker 4: He said, this is my worthy son. He's so amazing.
Speaker 3: And that's all I could think to pray over cricket
Speaker 3: when I got to verse eighteen, Cause after that David
Speaker 3: gets mad, and that's when he says, do I not
Speaker 3: hate those who hate you?
Speaker 4: And it gets a little crumpy.
Speaker 3: And so I I finished the prayer at verse eighteen.
Speaker 3: And when I did it, it's like it gave Cricket
Speaker 3: just enough where with all the stamd back up. And
Speaker 3: he looked me in the eyes and he had no
Speaker 3: olc on his breath, his eyes weren't bloodshot, just completely clear.
Speaker 4: I just think he was he was just in one
Speaker 4: of those thin seasons. And he looked me straight in.
Speaker 3: The eyes, and he goes, Lisa, you have no idea
Speaker 3: how much I needed to be reminded that I have
Speaker 3: worth and I said, yes, Sir, I needed that reminder
Speaker 3: today as well. And we hugged and I drove away
Speaker 3: a daughter and a son from completely different stations in life,
Speaker 3: different ethnicities. And I stopped at a sudden eleven at
Speaker 3: the end of the street because I couldn't drive anymore
Speaker 3: because I was crying so hard, and I just pulled
Speaker 3: my car over and I said, God, forgive me, forgive me,
Speaker 3: forgive me, forgive me that because of my station in life,
Speaker 3: sometimes I forget what an extraordinary.
Speaker 4: Miracle it has to be your daughter to be.
Speaker 3: Adopted into your family.
Speaker 4: You didn't.
Speaker 3: You didn't just rescue me from the trash heap of
Speaker 3: my decisions. You didn't just leave me in a cubby
Speaker 3: to become someone else's responsibility.
Speaker 4: You said, she's my daughter.
Speaker 6: And she's worth everything to me, even the sacrifice of
Speaker 6: my only son, the worth the worth you and I, Carrie.
Speaker 6: If we could walk in just the minutest understanding of
Speaker 6: the miracle that that is, y'all, it would change the
Speaker 6: trajectory of our lives.
Speaker 4: Quite possibly, it would change the lives of the people.
Speaker 6: We get to rub shoulders with these precious, precious image
Speaker 6: bears around us. So many of them who think I'm
Speaker 6: not worth anything, because that's what.
Speaker 4: I've been told my whole life. Would you bow your
Speaker 4: heads and close your eyes. We're gonna close this family
Speaker 4: meeting with a prayer. And I know I haven't earned
Speaker 4: the right. I'm so great full, Stephen and Holly allow
Speaker 4: me to come.
Speaker 3: I haven't earned the right to ask you a question,
Speaker 3: but I'm going to anyway.
Speaker 4: I'm going to ask all of you to raise your
Speaker 4: right hands.
Speaker 3: I promise I'm not signing you up for a coffee
Speaker 3: club or anything. Just raise your right hands. The reason
Speaker 3: I do that is so you won't hear a hand
Speaker 3: go up next to you. Sometimes we can be a
Speaker 3: little nosy in church, and for those of you who
Speaker 3: maybe have been wounded in church, I want to assure
Speaker 3: you that you're safe at elevation. They're serious, serious about
Speaker 3: the love of God here, but you're not going to
Speaker 3: be judged.
Speaker 4: So everybody, right hands up, and.
Speaker 3: Would you just open those beautiful poems that God designed.
Speaker 4: Just spread that hand wide open.
Speaker 3: Now, if you're in a place in your life, a
Speaker 3: season in your life, or this may be the.
Speaker 4: Story of your whole life where.
Speaker 3: The idea of being having value intrinsic value, the idea
Speaker 3: of being loved unconditionally.
Speaker 4: By God, the idea that the God who.
Speaker 3: Breathed our universe into existence looks at you and says,
Speaker 3: I am so proud of this one.
Speaker 4: This is my son, this is my daughter. They're worth
Speaker 4: the fine to me.
Speaker 3: If that's hard for you to wrap your mind around,
Speaker 3: hard for you to hang on too, maybe you would
Speaker 3: be so honest as to say, I don't really believe that.
Speaker 3: Would you close that beautiful hand into a fist?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Hey, thank you, thank you, thank you
Speaker 3: for your honesty. Can I ask you for just a
Speaker 3: moment more to keep your hands raised? Don't look around
Speaker 3: out of respect for the saints around you, But there
Speaker 3: are hundreds with fists in the air. Beautiful, not defiant, beautiful,
Speaker 3: tired fist in the air. Kind of reminds me of
Speaker 3: the Statue of Liberty. Give me you're tired, Give me
Speaker 3: you're tired. Give me your hopeless, Give me your hurt,
Speaker 3: give me your wounded, give me your abandoned, Give me
Speaker 3: your No one ever looked at you and said.
Speaker 4: You are worth the fine.
Speaker 3: I would walk across cut glass to get to you.
Speaker 3: You are precious to me all the exchange nations.
Speaker 4: For you, those of you with your fist rays.
Speaker 3: We're going to pray, and I'm going to ask you,
Speaker 3: if Holy Spirit prompts, would you pray.
Speaker 4: This prayer of salvation.
Speaker 3: Pray this prayer of maybe for the first time or
Speaker 3: for the first time in a long time, just leaning
Speaker 3: into the wide open arms of the God who has
Speaker 3: ascribed to value to you. You're not a disappointment to him,
Speaker 3: and you're not an interruption to him.
Speaker 4: He didn't save you because it's in his job description.
Speaker 3: He saved you because it was his yudokiah, his good thinking,
Speaker 3: to set his favor on you.
Speaker 4: You're not an afterthought. You were the first thought. One
Speaker 4: glance of your eyes, you captured his heart. Pastor, would
Speaker 4: you come and pray.
Speaker 3: For these image bears, some of whom have yet to
Speaker 3: believe they're worth.
Speaker 7: Father, We thank you for the word that was spoken
Speaker 7: over us today, God, to know that we were the
Speaker 7: joy that was set before you. We thank you for
Speaker 7: the spirit of wisdom and revelation resting in this place today. Lord,
Speaker 7: Would you open up our eyes to see ourselves the
Speaker 7: way you see us.
Speaker 4: God.
Speaker 7: For those with their hands up in a fist right now, God,
Speaker 7: or we pray Holy Spirit, that you would just continue
Speaker 7: to minister as your word becomes alive in their hearts. God, Oh,
Speaker 7: what an incredible manner of love that you have lavished
Speaker 7: on us, that we would be called children of God.
Speaker 7: For someone in the room today, you've never made a
Speaker 7: decision to receive the gift of God's grace, I want
Speaker 7: to give you that invitation right now. You can put
Speaker 7: your hands down for just a moment if you've never
Speaker 7: made a decision to place your faith in Christ. When
Speaker 7: I count to three, I want to give you the
Speaker 7: opportunity to throw your hand up in the air. The
Speaker 7: last one was private, but this one's public because we
Speaker 7: want to celebrate what God has done in your heart.
Speaker 7: If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
Speaker 7: that he died on the cross and rose again so
Speaker 7: that you could be forgiven and have new life. If
Speaker 7: you want to receive the gift of His salvation today,
Speaker 7: when I count the three, slide your hand up in
Speaker 7: the air and do it boldly. Want to celebrate your
Speaker 7: new beginning on three, one, two, three, shoot your hand up,
Speaker 7: hold it up, Come on us. See you there, God
Speaker 7: bless you, God bless you, and.
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if
Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part
Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
Speaker 2: for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message,
Speaker 2: and subscribe.
Speaker 1: God bless you.