Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: Be sure to.
Speaker 2: Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week.
Speaker 1: I hope you're blessed today right now online.
Speaker 2: If you're joining us as a part of our efam,
Speaker 2: put in the chat where you're joining us from. We
Speaker 2: have been in a flow in the church and God
Speaker 2: has been speaking to us the last few weeks.
Speaker 1: Well, he's been speaking to me.
Speaker 2: And I learned a long time ago just to stay
Speaker 2: in the flow with the Holy Spirit and as long
Speaker 2: as he would. And so I'm going to stay in
Speaker 2: the same flow that I've been in the last few
Speaker 2: weeks and continue with the scripture that I love in
Speaker 2: one Peter, first Peter, chapter five, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: pick up in verse eight. I want you to go
Speaker 2: back and read the whole chapter when you get home,
Speaker 2: but I'm going to pick up in verse eight today
Speaker 2: for the sake of time and give you this. We
Speaker 2: have an instruction and a promise, And first comes the
Speaker 2: instruction in verse eight verse Peter five eight, be alert
Speaker 2: and of sober mind your enemy. The devil prowls around
Speaker 2: like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him,
Speaker 2: standing firm in the faith because you know that the
Speaker 2: family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same
Speaker 2: kind of sufferings.
Speaker 1: This is the verse that I want us to really
Speaker 1: think about today.
Speaker 2: And the God of all Grace, who called you to
Speaker 2: his eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a
Speaker 2: little while, will himself restore you and make you strong,
Speaker 2: firm and steadfast.
Speaker 1: And that good.
Speaker 2: Let's read it again, that verse and the God of
Speaker 2: all Grace. The first week we talked about the God
Speaker 2: of also, and then we talked about the God of again,
Speaker 2: and we talked about last week the God of Already
Speaker 2: I'm still not over that message. I'm still not over
Speaker 2: that message. But today I thought we would talk from
Speaker 2: verse ten in verse Peter, where he said, and the
Speaker 2: God of all Grace, who called you to his eternal
Speaker 2: glory in Christ, after you've suffered a little while, will
Speaker 2: himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Speaker 2: Can you guess my subject for today? And the God
Speaker 2: of that we could do that too, but little bit later,
Speaker 2: who called you to his eternal glory in Christ after
Speaker 2: you have suffered a little while will himself restore you.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about the God of After, the
Speaker 2: God of After.
Speaker 1: Would you join me in praying again?
Speaker 2: Father, I thank you for each precious person that you
Speaker 2: brought under the covering of your word. Today, in your
Speaker 2: shadow most high, we find refuge and strength and safety.
Speaker 2: I prayed that this could be a place of safety,
Speaker 2: a place of strength for everybody who needs your voice
Speaker 2: today in a specific way in their life.
Speaker 1: Hit the target. Holy Spirit, I offer you.
Speaker 2: All of me, and I asked that you would make
Speaker 2: up the difference what they need and what I know.
Speaker 2: There's a really really wide chasm between the two, but
Speaker 2: not for you. You can speak to the exact thing
Speaker 2: that they need. And I trust that you will, and
Speaker 2: that you already are. In Jesus' name, Amen, you may
Speaker 2: be seated the God of After. You ever had a
Speaker 2: delayed reaction where you got the joke but it was
Speaker 2: like too late to laugh without kind of looking kind
Speaker 2: of bad. Or you get the perfect comeback for somebody,
Speaker 2: but it's like three and a half hours later.
Speaker 1: You can't exactly meet up with them and do it again.
Speaker 2: I think sometimes the delayed reaction would be a good
Speaker 2: thing in my life. A little space between what happens
Speaker 2: and how I act wouldn't hurt that bad, you know,
Speaker 2: sometimes because I'm quick on my feet. But that works
Speaker 2: against me, because sometimes I'm quick on my feet, and
Speaker 2: so I get myself into situations before I've had the
Speaker 2: chance to think about them. And that's probably why I
Speaker 2: love this scripture where Peter is saying, be alert and
Speaker 2: sober minded and get ready for the devil, because he's
Speaker 2: coming for you.
Speaker 1: That's just the fact of it, you know.
Speaker 2: And there is no amount of preaching in the world
Speaker 2: that can prevent the enemy's attack. In your life specifically,
Speaker 2: there is a suffering that we all must endure. But
Speaker 2: two things I want you to know about this suffering
Speaker 2: before we get really into this message today, is that
Speaker 2: Number one, this scripture suggests that whatever suffering you're going through,
Speaker 2: it's only for now. It's only for now. Say that
Speaker 2: out loud, it's only for now. Put it in the chat, please,
Speaker 2: it's only for now. Tell your neighbor it's only for now.
Speaker 2: That's number one. And number two, it's not for nothing.
Speaker 2: Did you feel that when I said it? Somebody's under
Speaker 2: it a tact in this room right now? It was
Speaker 2: a battle for you to even get to church because
Speaker 2: of what you've been dealing with. And two things about
Speaker 2: this suffering that the scripture says, it's only for now,
Speaker 2: and it's not for nothing. It's a productive kind of suffering,
Speaker 2: not the stupid kind of suffering that you do when
Speaker 2: you're stubborn. You know, when you hit yourself with the
Speaker 2: hammer and hit yourself with the hammer again and ask
Speaker 2: God to take the swelling down.
Speaker 1: But this is a.
Speaker 2: Type of suffering that he's talking about that is common,
Speaker 2: and that it's.
Speaker 1: Actually come for a reason. Now.
Speaker 2: One of the things that I was talking about last Wednesday.
Speaker 2: I spoke to my staff Wednesday, and after I spoke
Speaker 2: to the staff, I spoke to a smaller group of
Speaker 2: like twenty of the top staff new staff, and I
Speaker 2: had a conversation with a young lady because in the
Speaker 2: staff teaching, I was talking about how you deal with
Speaker 2: correction or specifically not fighting against things that God is
Speaker 2: trying to sin to help you in your life, which
Speaker 2: is something I struggle with. And so she had a
Speaker 2: follow up question after the session that I did with
Speaker 2: the staff. She said, well, when you're a fighter and
Speaker 2: you're sitting there in the moment and somebody's like challenging
Speaker 2: you or saying something that's really making you go crazy,
Speaker 2: and that fighter wants to rise up in you and
Speaker 2: just fight back. How do you, in the moment receive
Speaker 2: that interaction and really process it positively?
Speaker 1: And I said, I don't.
Speaker 2: I never process positively in the moment, almost never.
Speaker 1: You don't either, But after.
Speaker 2: After, you know, then that's usually where a lot of
Speaker 2: my spiritual growth happens is after I screw it up
Speaker 2: and the Holy Spirit shows me how you screwed that up?
Speaker 1: Would you like to keep screwing that up?
Speaker 2: Would you like to have me show you how to
Speaker 2: stop screwing stuff up in your life? And I'm like, well, lord,
Speaker 2: it just depends, like what am I gonna have to
Speaker 2: do to stop screwing it up?
Speaker 1: And I gonna have to go back and apologize.
Speaker 2: And I want you to realize that spiritual growth is
Speaker 2: not measured by perfection in the moment, but really on
Speaker 2: your ability to go back after the fact and be
Speaker 2: correctible by Christ so you don't get frustrated with yourself.
Speaker 2: I told the staff member who asked me that, I said,
Speaker 2: just yesterday, just yesterday, this guy honked at me, you
Speaker 2: know where this is going, and with my elevation sticker
Speaker 2: on my car, he hanked at me and he pulled
Speaker 2: out in front of me. Let me set this up
Speaker 2: for you, this fool.
Speaker 1: This brother.
Speaker 2: Figuring out who I'm talking to today when he pulls
Speaker 2: out in front of me, I'm going to speed limit.
Speaker 1: I'm doing nothing wrong. I mean nothing wrong.
Speaker 2: I can't always say that on the road, but in
Speaker 2: this particular instance.
Speaker 1: He hanks it me and he pulled out in front
Speaker 1: of me.
Speaker 2: So yes, I stopped the car, and yes.
Speaker 1: I backed up, and yes, I said are you good?
Speaker 2: But I smiled when I said it, and I kept
Speaker 2: my voice really low, and he said are you good?
Speaker 2: And I said, I don't know. That depends are you good?
Speaker 2: Because if you're good, I'm good. But if you're not good,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Now you know.
Speaker 2: I had to get all the way back to my
Speaker 2: house and try to think what made me back up
Speaker 2: and talk to this guy on the road like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, this guy might be getting.
Speaker 2: Baptized someday in my church.
Speaker 1: I don't know this guy. He might be some special Forces.
Speaker 2: He might have something in the glove box that will
Speaker 2: make my last Sunday, my last Sunday preaching.
Speaker 1: I don't know any of it. I don't even think
Speaker 1: about it in the moment.
Speaker 2: I think about all that after And then I tracked
Speaker 2: back and I was like, why was I so tight?
Speaker 1: Why couldn't I just laugh at this.
Speaker 2: Blessed tool of the Lord for my sanctification and drive on.
Speaker 2: I realized what we did right before that was take
Speaker 2: family Christmas pictures. My wife has me taken the family
Speaker 2: Christmas pictures now in August.
Speaker 1: Of course I'm edgy.
Speaker 2: Who wants to take family Christmas pictures even in December,
Speaker 2: let alone in August.
Speaker 1: Do you know all the fights.
Speaker 2: That we have been through in family Christmas pictures through
Speaker 2: the years.
Speaker 1: Of course I'm a little edgy.
Speaker 2: So I'm bringing this up as a humorous example and
Speaker 2: my own expense to show you how imature I can be.
Speaker 2: But that I realized that something happened and before he
Speaker 2: pulled out in front of me and hanked at me.
Speaker 2: That made me back up in middle of the road
Speaker 2: and act like I'm thirteen. And then sometimes in our
Speaker 2: own lives, we never take the time after we act
Speaker 2: a certain.
Speaker 1: Way to back up and ask the question, what was.
Speaker 2: It that put me in that frame of mind to
Speaker 2: act that way. So then we just repeat the behavior
Speaker 2: over and over again, and the devil just picks our
Speaker 2: lives apart because we never stopped to ask the question
Speaker 2: after we.
Speaker 1: Act away we don't want to act. I mean, that
Speaker 1: could have gone much worse.
Speaker 2: It was ended up being a pretty mild story in
Speaker 2: my estimation of how it could have gone. But you know,
Speaker 2: there are other things in my life that I look at,
Speaker 2: like times when I am completely unreasonable, and I have
Speaker 2: to go back.
Speaker 1: Sometimes and say what was it before?
Speaker 2: I think that's what Peter means when he says in
Speaker 2: verse eight, put it back up, be alert, sober minded,
Speaker 2: to recognize when the enemy attacks you where you are
Speaker 2: most vulnerable to his attacks, because without asking that question,
Speaker 2: you just kind of repeat the same stuff over and
Speaker 2: over again. Some of my best growth moments in God
Speaker 2: have been after my worst performance moments outside of God.
Speaker 1: Where I go back and say, what was it?
Speaker 2: You ever had something you did where you're like, well,
Speaker 2: I know, it wasn't that that made me act like that,
Speaker 2: So what was it that made me act like that?
Speaker 2: What was it that made me so irritated about something
Speaker 2: that was so insignificant? Why did something so small, like
Speaker 2: a pebble in my shoe cause me to walk so crooked?
Speaker 2: And sometimes when you go back and you look at it,
Speaker 2: you're like, Oh, yeah, that's what it was. I actually,
Speaker 2: in the process of taking those Stanley pictures, I think
Speaker 2: I was very stressed, and I think I was a
Speaker 2: little sad because I'm sending my son off to college
Speaker 2: next week, and I'm not going back on all of
Speaker 2: this to blame it, but so that next time I
Speaker 2: come up on it, I can beat it.
Speaker 3: Can I teach this message today?
Speaker 2: Sometimes when the enemy attacks you, you act like it
Speaker 2: was a surprise attack. But if you would pay attention
Speaker 2: to your own life, you could be ready for some
Speaker 2: of the stuff that comes at you regularly. You can't
Speaker 2: resist the devil that you're not ready for.
Speaker 1: I'm just getting warmed up. I hadn't even got to
Speaker 1: my good verse yet.
Speaker 2: But he said be alert and sober minded or clear headed.
Speaker 2: One translation would say, because the devil, the enemy prowls
Speaker 2: around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Speaker 2: So if he can eat you alive with anxiety, he
Speaker 2: will because he's looking for his lunch. If he can
Speaker 2: eat you alive with the fence, he will because he's
Speaker 2: looking for his lunch. If he can eat you alive
Speaker 2: with the memory of something that you did that God
Speaker 2: has already forgiven, he will because he's looking for his lunch.
Speaker 2: He is looking for someone who has not taken inventory
Speaker 2: of their lives to go back and track the times
Speaker 2: that you know what, it seems like the enemy always
Speaker 2: attacks me here, and he always attacks me when. But
Speaker 2: when you have an unreflective life, when you are just
Speaker 2: reactive all the time, every attack that happens to you,
Speaker 2: you are not re ready for You cannot resist it.
Speaker 1: There is no readiness where there is no reflection.
Speaker 2: I want to get better and better and better in
Speaker 2: my life, not at blaming stuff that happened, but going like, hey,
Speaker 2: what was it that put me in that state that.
Speaker 1: I wasn't ready for that?
Speaker 2: And how next time when I'm going into that situation,
Speaker 2: can I be a little more ready for it. Sometimes
Speaker 2: God will uncover really weird stuff for you like this.
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example. When I get really hyped.
Speaker 2: Up before I preach, it's a setup for me to
Speaker 2: be disappointed if you're not hyped up when I start preaching.
Speaker 1: But Here's what happened. I pulled into a private space today.
Speaker 2: You had to drive through some traffic and people and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. I didn't have to bring any kids
Speaker 2: to church today. Holly did all that, So of course
Speaker 2: I'm ready. I have to get anybody dressed, anybody in
Speaker 2: the car on time. I didn't have anybody count for
Speaker 2: but myself. The only person I had to make sure
Speaker 2: had his clothes on and shoes on and showered.
Speaker 1: Up was me. Oh, I'm in a good mood, but
Speaker 1: what if you're not. So I realized that, like.
Speaker 2: I gotta be ready when I come out here to preach,
Speaker 2: that you might not be ready to listen yet. Because
Speaker 2: if I'm not, then when the discouragement comes, when I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh no, they don't look like they're really into this.
Speaker 2: Well they're into it, but it's just like a cold
Speaker 2: plunge for them, like they just got to get settled
Speaker 2: into it. Let him sit there a minute, you know,
Speaker 2: I asked Scott one time, because when people yawn when
Speaker 2: I'm preaching, that really sets me.
Speaker 1: Off, like really sets me off.
Speaker 2: If you ever notice in my sermon where I take
Speaker 2: a sharp turn and it gets really really rough, all
Speaker 2: of a sudden like really mean or like condemnation. I
Speaker 2: start talk about hell and judgment and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: I probably saw somebody yawn. That's probably what just happened.
Speaker 2: And I remember something. Even this week, I was thinking
Speaker 2: about this because in psychology they call it triggers, and
Speaker 2: you know different things that it could be a smell,
Speaker 2: it could be a sight, it could be a sound,
Speaker 2: It can be a lot of different things. But I
Speaker 2: remembered that there was one boy when I was first
Speaker 2: learning to teach the Bible, and he would full on yawn,
Speaker 2: not like yon, like he was trying to hide.
Speaker 1: It, but he would full on, stretch back yawn. His
Speaker 1: shirt would stretch up over his belly.
Speaker 2: I had to look at his belly, his open mouth
Speaker 2: is opened abdomen and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: And that was when I was first learning to preach.
Speaker 2: And I realized that that kid was right in front
Speaker 2: of me when I was first learning to teach the Bible.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say his name, but he would
Speaker 2: yawn while I was preaching the Bible. And so to
Speaker 2: this day, if I see somebody y it actually sets
Speaker 2: me in a place where I feel like a beginning
Speaker 2: preacher isn't that weird? Or maybe I just need more therapy.
Speaker 2: But even recognizing that, it gives me a moment to know, Oh,
Speaker 2: that guy yawning, he might have worked third shift, he
Speaker 2: might be tired because maybe he's visiting somebody in nursing,
Speaker 2: or or he stayed up all night playing video games.
Speaker 2: But it's not mine to judge. But if I recognize
Speaker 2: that that puts me in a bad place, then I
Speaker 2: can be ready watch this, to respond rather than to react,
Speaker 2: and to resist the temptation before I attack, before I'm attacked.
Speaker 2: Because faith does not give you the ability to prevent
Speaker 2: the enemy's attack.
Speaker 1: I wish it did.
Speaker 2: I wish that by faith we could rebuke every panic
Speaker 2: attack in the room, every financial attack in the room,
Speaker 2: every attack on your physical body in the room.
Speaker 1: If I had the power to do it, I would
Speaker 1: do it. I would love to do it for you.
Speaker 2: But there is nothing in fir Peter five eight, or
Speaker 2: any of the rest of the Bible that suggests that
Speaker 2: at will we can just rebuke the devil's attack and prevent.
Speaker 1: The devil's attack.
Speaker 2: But we can plan for what you're going to do
Speaker 2: the next time he does attack.
Speaker 1: That's why Peter called him a roaring lion.
Speaker 2: Before he ever comes to devour you, there's always a roar.
Speaker 2: Do you recognize him when he roars?
Speaker 1: Or do we live lives that never reflect?
Speaker 2: And say? Why do I keep ending up in this situation?
Speaker 2: Why is the devil always picking on me? Why am
Speaker 2: I always in this bad relational pattern? Why are people
Speaker 2: always and here coming to my eight? Then? Why am
Speaker 2: I never you know, it's always this thing of blaming
Speaker 2: it or do we want to beat it and resist
Speaker 2: it and get stronger from it. I think it would
Speaker 2: be easier to resist temptation if the consequences were immediate
Speaker 2: of the sin. I think that would be really easy
Speaker 2: to resist. I think even overeating if the bad stuff
Speaker 2: happened while you ate. No, I'm serious, if if if
Speaker 2: if the cellulite grew as you chewed, you stop chewing.
Speaker 1: You are noticed.
Speaker 2: How the benefits of discipline are delayed and the payoffs
Speaker 2: of donuts are immediate. I mean a quick, sweet relief,
Speaker 2: a glazed relief. And I'm getting hungry, y'all.
Speaker 1: I fast before I preach.
Speaker 2: But but there's there's there's there is a hidden expense
Speaker 2: to sin and a quick hit for sin, and there
Speaker 2: is a hidden benefit of discipline that doesn't.
Speaker 1: Kick in quick. But you'll be glad you did it after.
Speaker 2: I used to always say I could do is if
Speaker 2: my abs would pop pop pop pop while I crunched
Speaker 2: when I crunch on a fredo. If I could crunch
Speaker 2: on a fredo and the fat would pop, I could
Speaker 2: stop with the fridos. But it is the delay that
Speaker 2: gets me trapped. The consequence comes.
Speaker 1: After after somebody shout.
Speaker 2: After It's the most amazing thing. What the devil will
Speaker 2: hide from you when he tempts you. It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 2: What he'll bait that hook with that you don't see
Speaker 2: when you bite. It is not until after you are
Speaker 2: hooked that this isn't so fun anymore. It's not until
Speaker 2: after you can't get rid of the habit that you
Speaker 2: wish you had found in a healthier way to deal with
Speaker 2: your emotions. And this is why we must teach in
Speaker 2: church not only the deliverance of the Holy Spirit, but
Speaker 2: the disciplines of the grace of God, so that we
Speaker 2: can help people make decisions today that they will be
Speaker 2: glad for after.
Speaker 1: I want you to pray to God after you fail.
Speaker 2: But I also want you to pray to God before
Speaker 2: you fail, so that maybe he can spare you some
Speaker 2: of the pain. That you could put something in his
Speaker 2: hands before you get caught in it, so that God
Speaker 2: could spare you from some of the wasted years. And
Speaker 2: this is not even in my notes, but I just
Speaker 2: feel like I need to go off for a minute
Speaker 2: and say, sometimes we create our own suffering because of
Speaker 2: shortcuts that we take because of how we want to
Speaker 2: feel right now. But I heard a wise preacher say,
Speaker 2: never give up what you want most for what you want.
Speaker 1: Now, because there are some things you.
Speaker 2: Want to be in the future that are going to
Speaker 2: require some adjustments to what you need to do right now.
Speaker 2: Even some of the scriptures that you hear in some
Speaker 2: of the messages you hear that will challenge you the most,
Speaker 2: will help you the most after now. I want in
Speaker 2: my life not only to get better at tracking back
Speaker 2: and noticing what happens in those moments where I feel
Speaker 2: under attacked. I mean, if you will look at your
Speaker 2: life and I did it this week, you'll find patterns
Speaker 2: of this is the times where the enemy attacks me.
Speaker 2: That if I build some different things into these rhythms
Speaker 2: of my life, I can be more ready. And I
Speaker 2: think our rhythms and our readiness go hand in hand.
Speaker 2: The rhythm of your life cannot be marked by isolation
Speaker 2: and still be flowing in victory. The rhythm of your
Speaker 2: life cannot be marked by constant, chronic complaining and still
Speaker 2: have an outcome of overflowing joy. And the enemy is
Speaker 2: look at this phrase. He's looking for someone to devour.
Speaker 2: He's looking for someone who's not paying attention. He's looking
Speaker 2: for someone who just took family pictures and is just
Speaker 2: a little thankful for their family and just a little
Speaker 2: bit triggered by the holy experience.
Speaker 1: Because it really went good. Everybody was good. I don't
Speaker 1: even know why I was in a bad mode. It
Speaker 1: went great, the photographers were great, it was happy. It's
Speaker 1: just something about it. And then I look at it
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2: Next year when we take family pictures, I am not
Speaker 2: going to back up my car and almost fight any rednecks.
Speaker 1: Okay next year, No, no, no, next time.
Speaker 2: Next time I find myself susceptible, I am going to
Speaker 2: feed my spirit and talk to myself and be a
Speaker 2: little bit more ready for that.
Speaker 1: And all of that.
Speaker 2: You can do so if you will just take some
Speaker 2: time in your life and especially do it after your
Speaker 2: only two times. You need to do this after you
Speaker 2: win and after you lose. When you win over a victory,
Speaker 2: say what was it that got me ready for that?
Speaker 1: Y'all?
Speaker 2: I got certain friends that I found out when I
Speaker 2: talked to them, I win more.
Speaker 1: You got anybody like that in your life? Now, let
Speaker 1: me turn around so you can have a private moment.
Speaker 1: I have other friends.
Speaker 2: Who when I talk to them and spend time with them,
Speaker 2: it puts me in this spend cycle and I don't
Speaker 2: know why, but I've end up more cynical on the
Speaker 2: other side.
Speaker 1: Pay attention to all of that, because sometimes in your.
Speaker 2: Life you'll notice, oh, when this happens, it is the
Speaker 2: consequence of something that came before it, And a lot
Speaker 2: of times that is a relational consequence of who you
Speaker 2: are spending the most time around. Here's another thing about
Speaker 2: since you asked me about Instagram. Sometimes you feel to
Speaker 2: your stomach, but it's not your stomach. It's what you
Speaker 2: scrolled through fifteen minutes ago that made you judge something,
Speaker 2: feel something, see something that triggered a response in you.
Speaker 2: But at the moment that it was triggered, it didn't
Speaker 2: show up. It doesn't show up in the moment that
Speaker 2: you see it. It shows up.
Speaker 1: After.
Speaker 2: If the moment you were looking at this stuff, you
Speaker 2: were like, this is making me more judgmental and less content,
Speaker 2: and this is causing me to kill my own appreciation
Speaker 2: for my own life and only as.
Speaker 1: Fire to things that aren't even a part of my calling.
Speaker 2: If you thought that while you were looking at it,
Speaker 2: you would stop looking at it.
Speaker 4: But the devil hides the hook. The devil hides the hook.
Speaker 4: The devil hides the hook. Somebody say, the devil hides
Speaker 4: the hook. Now touch somebody and say stop biting. How
Speaker 4: many times is he going to have to reel you
Speaker 4: in before.
Speaker 2: You resist him, before you can see it coming, and
Speaker 2: say no, I'm not even gonna take the bait.
Speaker 1: I don't even get paid to argue with you.
Speaker 2: I don't even nobody is worth that in my life.
Speaker 1: I'm not coming down.
Speaker 2: There for this anymore, because if you don't see it,
Speaker 2: he will eat you alive. He's looking for someone to devour,
Speaker 2: and the one he can devour the most is the
Speaker 2: one who is vulnerable and doesn't know it. When you
Speaker 2: know you're vulnerable. It gives you an opportunity to be
Speaker 2: vigilant when you know where you're vulnerable. And so this
Speaker 2: great Apostle writes a letter to the church that's being
Speaker 2: persecuted somewhere between eighty sixty and seventy, and he's writing
Speaker 2: to them about their sufferings and their time, but it
Speaker 2: also applies to ours. He says, be alert and sober minded,
Speaker 2: because the enemy is looking for someone.
Speaker 1: To devour. Is it you? Is it you?
Speaker 2: Have you trained him that anytime he tries that you'll
Speaker 2: lie down and go with it. That anytime he takes
Speaker 2: you down that dark path, all he has.
Speaker 1: To do is lure you out there? Is it you?
Speaker 2: Is it you that every time he can even suggest
Speaker 2: an anxious thought to you, the enemy can get you
Speaker 2: to go down so deep in it that it's going
Speaker 2: to take you three days to recover.
Speaker 1: Is it you that if he.
Speaker 2: Can make you a little uncomfortable about something, you will
Speaker 2: reach for something to feel instant relief that is going
Speaker 2: to bring you an after effect that's going to cause
Speaker 2: you to be in captivity?
Speaker 1: Is it you? Is it you?
Speaker 2: If you're not paying attention to the patterns in your life.
Speaker 2: You are easy pray for the enemy. You gotta get
Speaker 2: into spirit lad reflection, where the Holy Spirit takes you
Speaker 2: back through your day and shows you ways that you
Speaker 2: can handle things next time. Not so you can blame
Speaker 2: what happened in your day or in your life, but
Speaker 2: so that you can beat it next time, because there
Speaker 2: will be a next time. There will be a next time.
Speaker 2: If the devil hadn't messed with you, good news. You
Speaker 2: can practice this message. Very soon.
Speaker 1: He'll mess with you again. You're like, I don't I
Speaker 1: know that he's just been leaving me alone. I don't
Speaker 1: really need this message.
Speaker 2: Keep this message right there, like, don't put it in
Speaker 2: the fridge, because it's just you gonna need it. You
Speaker 2: could leave it right there. It's gonna be right there soon.
Speaker 2: He's looking for someone to devour. He's looking for somebody,
Speaker 2: somebody who's vulnerable. You got to ask the question, don't
Speaker 2: you what came before this attack that caused me to
Speaker 2: be in a vulnerable position. That's a great question to ask.
Speaker 2: And the more you ask it, I believe, the more
Speaker 2: that God will show you and give you an awareness
Speaker 2: and an alertness. Because you can't prevent the attack, but
Speaker 2: you can plan for it after. I don't usually respond
Speaker 2: right in the moment, but it's when I go back
Speaker 2: and ask the question, God, what do you want me
Speaker 2: to see about that that I can know next time?
Speaker 1: And that's how I grow.
Speaker 2: It's not fancy, I know, it's not amazing, it's not sexy,
Speaker 2: but it's what Peter said.
Speaker 1: He said, be alert and a sober mind. Your enemy.
Speaker 1: The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking.
Speaker 2: For someone. Who's he looking for someone? Someone he can devour?
Speaker 2: And you got to ask the question, don't you If
Speaker 2: the enemy is attacking me right now? How is he
Speaker 2: attacking me? When does he tend to attack me? I
Speaker 2: want to be alert to this. I don't want to
Speaker 2: be ignorant of his schemes. When does he attack me?
Speaker 2: How does he attack me? What are those access points
Speaker 2: where I let him get to me? What are the things?
Speaker 2: And that is a valid question, and we have to
Speaker 2: ask it or we'll keep repeating.
Speaker 1: The same patterns.
Speaker 2: But there's another question I want you to start asking,
Speaker 2: and I want you to ask this question right after
Speaker 2: you ask where is the enemy attacking me? Because you
Speaker 2: can mention a few areas today I know you could
Speaker 2: if we passed the mic around and you were honest
Speaker 2: and weren't scared to be in judge, you could name
Speaker 2: a few.
Speaker 1: Places he attacks you. They might be some.
Speaker 2: Areas that are more socially acceptable, or they might be
Speaker 2: some areas that cost shame. But you could answer the question.
Speaker 2: And if I asked it, where is it that the
Speaker 2: enemy attacks you? And what usually comes before it that
Speaker 2: causes you to give into it, that makes you weak
Speaker 2: for it?
Speaker 1: What is that? But there's another question that I want
Speaker 1: you to learn to ask, and I think this is
Speaker 1: also very powerful.
Speaker 2: If the enemy is attacking you as much as he's
Speaker 2: attacking you in your life, I want to ask the.
Speaker 1: Question, what is it about you that he knows that
Speaker 1: is causing him to attack you like that?
Speaker 2: If he's looking for someone to devour and he's picking
Speaker 2: on you, then what is it about you that causes
Speaker 2: you to be a target? In other words, how many
Speaker 2: of you feel like the devil has just really been
Speaker 2: after you or someone that you love in this last season?
Speaker 2: And this is not a trick question. I really want
Speaker 2: to see who to aim this spit at when I
Speaker 2: appreciate it. I want to know if the enemy is
Speaker 2: attacking you like that? What is he after? What is
Speaker 2: it that God has inside of you that may even
Speaker 2: be unknown to you right now that he sees about
Speaker 2: your future that is causing him.
Speaker 1: To fight you so hard like that?
Speaker 2: What is this spirit of heaviness that's been on you lately?
Speaker 1: Really about? See? Because I know on the surface we.
Speaker 2: Tell ourselves, well, the reason I'm depressed is because I
Speaker 2: just suck, because I'm not much, because I don't have
Speaker 2: the resilience, I don't have the fortitude, I don't have.
Speaker 1: The moral character. That's why I'm dealing with this insecurity?
Speaker 1: Is it?
Speaker 2: Is that why you're dealing with the insecurity because you're
Speaker 2: really a nobody?
Speaker 1: Or is the devil looking for someone.
Speaker 2: Someone who has something, something that they don't see the
Speaker 2: true value of yet, so that he can catch you
Speaker 2: in your vulnerability, so that you never see your true value,
Speaker 2: so that you never.
Speaker 1: Do what God gave you to do in the earth?
Speaker 1: What's the after? What's the after? If you've been.
Speaker 2: Discouraged, really discouraged and down in your soul lately and
Speaker 2: you've been thinking that must mean that my bestness behind me?
Speaker 2: Is that really true? Or is there something I'm just curious.
Speaker 2: Is there something so significant in the next stage of
Speaker 2: your life and you can't see it? But maybe the
Speaker 2: enemy has more vision for your life than you do,
Speaker 2: because he sees something that's in you.
Speaker 1: In the scene form. And if it ever comes forward,
Speaker 1: if it ever gets watered.
Speaker 2: If it ever gets l liked, if it ever gets
Speaker 2: full grown, it's gonna spread out and bear fruit and
Speaker 2: touch lines and change the world.
Speaker 1: What's he after?
Speaker 2: Get real good at answering how the enemy's attacking. Well,
Speaker 2: you give me these headaches, Well, he's give me these
Speaker 2: problems on my job. Well he's surrounding me with these people. Well,
Speaker 2: nobody gives me credit. Okay, we can focus on how
Speaker 2: he's attacking you, or we can spend a minute and
Speaker 2: think about why.
Speaker 1: What is he after? In my life?
Speaker 5: The greatest seasons of temptation to quit, just before the
Speaker 5: most significant moments of breakthrough, I came to prop.
Speaker 2: Aside of somebody today.
Speaker 1: I don't care what has been before.
Speaker 6: I didn't come to preach about the God that you
Speaker 6: knew before. I didn't come to preach about the time
Speaker 6: you wasted last year. I didn't come to preach about
Speaker 6: how your week went last week is.
Speaker 2: Sunday morning, and I came with a message about the
Speaker 2: god of after.
Speaker 1: It's just a question, ask your neighbor, what's he after?
Speaker 1: What's he after?
Speaker 2: Because the enemy doesn't have unlimited artillery, So if he's
Speaker 2: coming at you and he shouldn't at you, that must
Speaker 2: mean you have something that he wants. That must mean
Speaker 2: that you have something of value. I've been to about
Speaker 2: ten Carolina Panthers game since I lived in Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever tackled me.
Speaker 2: I guess I didn't have anything they wanted.
Speaker 1: I bet if I had that ball and I was
Speaker 1: on that field and I was headed towards something that could.
Speaker 2: Actually inflict damage on the opponent, I get tackled.
Speaker 1: I get hit. Some of us aren't getting hit because.
Speaker 2: We're not headed toward anything. But if you're headed towards something,
Speaker 2: I need three people in a Vand if you're handed
Speaker 2: towards something, if you're handed towards something, maybe.
Speaker 1: That's why he's been on your heels. Maybe that's why
Speaker 1: spit kind of rough. Maybe that's why is Ben kind
Speaker 1: of rocky. Maybe that's why that storm has been blowing.
Speaker 7: Because when I get to that stong knock out somebody
Speaker 7: who's like needs my life.
Speaker 1: I wonder what he's after. I wonder what your.
Speaker 2: Carrier that you're not even aware of yet. I wonder
Speaker 2: what you're gonna be talking about a year from now
Speaker 2: that you don't even not asking for yet. Woo. It's powerful, y'all,
Speaker 2: it's powerful. Has that devil been after you? We'll get
Speaker 2: happy because that means you have something worth attacking.
Speaker 1: That means it's not over for you. That means it's something.
Speaker 7: Oh oh oh, I'm gonna sup this.
Speaker 2: The devil sort of took you out before you heard
Speaker 2: this sermon, because after this, look.
Speaker 7: You're tack on track, backing up, fight, you're backing up.
Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 3: No, we should have took a selfie before I started appreciating,
Speaker 3: so you could have a before picture.
Speaker 1: Because when you leave this church.
Speaker 2: Today, No, no, I gotta appreciate it like God gave
Speaker 2: it to me.
Speaker 1: I can't mess it up. I can't mess it up.
Speaker 2: And the God of all grace who called you to
Speaker 2: eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while,
Speaker 2: set your timer for a minute flat. I set your
Speaker 2: timer for a minute, one minute, one minute on the timer,
Speaker 2: one minute on your phone.
Speaker 1: One minute on the.
Speaker 2: Timer, somebody say, after, after, after, tell me.
Speaker 1: What you got it set for one minute? For one minute.
Speaker 1: I want one minute. I want one minute. Peter uses
Speaker 1: a very very significant phrase.
Speaker 2: He says, after you have suffered a little while, somebody say,
Speaker 2: a little while, a little while? How many have you
Speaker 2: been suffering for a little while? Oh, it's been a while.
Speaker 2: It's been a while I've been dealing with this. It's
Speaker 2: been a while i've been dealing with this.
Speaker 1: It's been a while that I felt like this. He
Speaker 1: still hadn't started his timer yet. He's about to start
Speaker 1: it in a minute.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's prolonged suffering, right. Sometimes you ask the question
Speaker 2: like I asked the Lord one time.
Speaker 1: I read that scripture. It said in a little while, after.
Speaker 3: You've suffered a little while, I asked God.
Speaker 2: How long is a little while? So I want one
Speaker 2: minute on the timer. That's an hour.
Speaker 1: I need a minute. We have a different definition of
Speaker 1: a little while.
Speaker 2: I need the countdown timer, not the count up timer.
Speaker 2: I need the alarm where it's going to go off
Speaker 2: in a minute. Because God gave me something to say
Speaker 2: to somebody, and I don't know who it is. We
Speaker 2: got fifty seconds left now.
Speaker 8: Not all suffering ends in a short time, but there
Speaker 8: is a decision that you can make in a moment
Speaker 8: where you can say, you know what, I have stayed
Speaker 8: stuck in this season long enough.
Speaker 2: I have replayed this memory long enough, I have laid
Speaker 2: down and died twenty eight long enough. And Peter says
Speaker 2: that after you have suffered a little while, just a
Speaker 2: little while, it's just a little while. It's only for now.
Speaker 2: I know it seems like forever when you're going through it.
Speaker 2: But ten seconds, nine seconds, eight seconds, seven.
Speaker 1: Seconds, six y five. Hold be real quiet, be real quiet.
Speaker 2: Oh, his ringer is off.
Speaker 3: You are the worst illustration and partners, all right.
Speaker 1: So since his alarm filled, I need you to help me.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna need you to help me.
Speaker 2: Since his ringer was on silent, I'm gonna need you
Speaker 2: to be the alarm for your neighbor. I'm gonna need
Speaker 2: you to be the alarm for your neighbor.
Speaker 1: Stand out, stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up,
Speaker 1: stand up. We're getting ready now. We're getting ready.
Speaker 2: Now because it's been a minute for some of you,
Speaker 2: it's been a minute since you felt the joy of
Speaker 2: the Lord it's been a minute since you've seen yourself
Speaker 2: in the future. It's been a minute since you've opened
Speaker 2: yourself up to a new possibility. But I want you
Speaker 2: to look at your neighbor when I say three, I
Speaker 2: want you to look at your neighbor and say, it's
Speaker 2: been a minute. One, two, three, it's been a minute.
Speaker 1: But guess what.
Speaker 2: Look back at them and say it has been a minute.
Speaker 2: Tell him it's been kind of hard. I've been crying
Speaker 2: about it. I've been stressing about it. I got a
Speaker 2: lot of questions about it, and I'm not exp in
Speaker 2: a quick fix. But tell him it's been a minute.
Speaker 2: And this is my after. This is oh God, my after.
Speaker 2: This is my after.
Speaker 1: Watch. No, the problem's not over yet.
Speaker 2: But my.
Speaker 1: It's our set. My that's a sets, our set.
Speaker 2: This is my after not when I'm perfect. But I've
Speaker 2: suffered enough to know now that he's the god.
Speaker 1: Of Who better to teach us this than Peter Peter?
Speaker 2: Why would the enemy pick on Peter? He wasn't anything
Speaker 2: but a fisherman. The devil never attacks what you are
Speaker 2: right now, He attacks what you're gonna be.
Speaker 1: That's what he's after.
Speaker 2: Because wait till you see what your kids are gonna be,
Speaker 2: that's what he's after. Wait till you see what they're
Speaker 2: gonna do, that's what he's after. Wait till you see
Speaker 2: how the grace of God flows through you generationally.
Speaker 1: That's what he's after. The Bible says that.
Speaker 2: A righteous man walks in his integrity.
Speaker 1: You gotta see this from Proverbs twenty seven. I saw this, and.
Speaker 2: His children are list after him.
Speaker 1: You didn't get it.
Speaker 2: Some of the stuff you're fighting right now is not
Speaker 2: about what you are right now.
Speaker 1: It's about what's coming after you. Shout after.
Speaker 2: So even as Peter was warming himself by the fire,
Speaker 2: denying Christ, even as Peter was denying that he even
Speaker 2: knew Jesus, even as Peter was doubting that he wanted
Speaker 2: to be a disciple, the enemy was after him because
Speaker 2: if he can kill Peter and take his faith by
Speaker 2: the fire.
Speaker 1: Peter never preaches.
Speaker 2: On the day of Pentecost, three thousand were saved that day.
Speaker 2: After the suffer a little while, after you suffer a
Speaker 2: little while. That's what the attack is about. Stop thinking
Speaker 2: that the things that you struggle with prove your insignificance.
Speaker 2: They actually point to your value.
Speaker 1: So we're going to change the trigger response.
Speaker 2: This week, something bad starts coming to you as a
Speaker 2: feeling or a temptation. Oh, there must be something that
Speaker 2: the enemy is after that I'm meant to do this week.
Speaker 1: A lot of it. You will never know it while
Speaker 1: you're in it. That's what your faith is for. That's
Speaker 1: what your faith is for. We never know how God
Speaker 1: is using us or what He's doing in the moment.
Speaker 2: Most specifically, there are some of the things that you
Speaker 2: will not feel in the moment that you will, by faith,
Speaker 2: experience in the future if you resist the enemy. Because
Speaker 2: I'm telling you I have stood many times to pray
Speaker 2: with people and preach to people who had little faith,
Speaker 2: and it had been worn down to a nub, and
Speaker 2: in the moment that we prayed, we experienced nothing resembling
Speaker 2: the feeling of a breakthrough.
Speaker 1: We only knew after.
Speaker 2: A little while what God would do, And sometimes trusting
Speaker 2: Him with that timeline called a little while is the
Speaker 2: hardest part of all.
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 2: I was back after preaching different song I don't want
Speaker 2: that one. It was I don't remember what city, maybe
Speaker 2: in Denver, that they brought back a guy to pray
Speaker 2: with me, and they said his seven year old has
Speaker 2: a They explained the condition to me at the time.
Speaker 2: I didn't really even understand everything they were saying, and
Speaker 2: I'm not really good at explaining medical things, but they
Speaker 2: his brain tissue. The seven year old, his brain tissue
Speaker 2: had extended into a spinal column, and they diagnosed that
Speaker 2: a few years earlier, but then assists developed in the
Speaker 2: spinal column, so then that was something that would be
Speaker 2: life threatening but would be operated on when he.
Speaker 1: Was a little bit older.
Speaker 2: So now they had just taken them in for a
Speaker 2: scan and they were going back in two days to
Speaker 2: get the meeting with the specialist and maybe schedule the surgery.
Speaker 2: So in the meantime, they came to Elevation Nights and
Speaker 2: someone brought them over and said pray for them, would you?
Speaker 2: Their son is having surgery, and I said I will,
Speaker 2: and I learned as much as I could learn in
Speaker 2: that short time and pray.
Speaker 1: I don't even really remember praying the prayer.
Speaker 2: But the dad that I prayed for, he just last
Speaker 2: week told me the end of the story that I
Speaker 2: didn't know. He said, when you prayed for us back there,
Speaker 2: he said, I did not even want for you to
Speaker 2: pray for me. It made me angry that you were
Speaker 2: praying because you didn't know our situation. And how dare
Speaker 2: you say a prayer that God would heal our child
Speaker 2: when you don't even though the situation. And he said,
Speaker 2: but whatever little bit of faith was left in me,
Speaker 2: and whatever faith was in my wife, it kicked a
Speaker 2: little bit when you prayed. Two days later, we went
Speaker 2: to our appointment and the doctor brought the scan. The
Speaker 2: specialists said, so, when did you have the surgery. He said,
Speaker 2: we haven't had the surgery. That's why we're here to
Speaker 2: talk to you about possibly scheduling the surgery.
Speaker 1: But we need to see the scan.
Speaker 2: And he held up the scan, and he held up
Speaker 2: the scan from the cyst, and then he held up
Speaker 2: the scan from a few days ago, and he said.
Speaker 1: This one, this one, this is the one.
Speaker 2: Of what it would should look like if there were
Speaker 2: a perfectly executed surgery.
Speaker 1: This is what it would look like.
Speaker 2: This if it were a perfectly executed surgery, this is
Speaker 2: what the picture would look like.
Speaker 1: And he told me, I didn't even want you to
Speaker 1: pray for me, and I didn't really feel anything when
Speaker 1: you prayed. But when we went back.
Speaker 2: After, I know you don't even feel like praying about
Speaker 2: that thing anymore. Sometimes I know you don't really feel
Speaker 2: like going and trying to get this thing under control
Speaker 2: one more time. I'm not saying that everybody with the
Speaker 2: disease can expect a different report next week. I don't
Speaker 2: have the power to say that, but I can tell
Speaker 2: you this. He's the God of all grace. He's the
Speaker 2: God of all grace. So if you need a healing
Speaker 2: and he gives you the grace for healing, that's wonderful.
Speaker 2: But if he gives you the grace to endure the suffering,
Speaker 2: that's wonderful too. He's the God of all grace, and
Speaker 2: he's the God of after No matter how many times
Speaker 2: Peter denied Christ, it could not outrun the revelation that
Speaker 2: He had. You are Peter, and upon this rock I
Speaker 2: will build my church. Has the enemy been attacking your
Speaker 2: mind lately? He is after the ideas that God is
Speaker 2: going to give you in the future to make this
Speaker 2: world so much more like heaven honor.
Speaker 1: That's what he's after. Now.
Speaker 2: Faith is standing right in the middle of it, even
Speaker 2: as you don't know how long a little while may be,
Speaker 2: and knowing that after this there will be more grace.
Speaker 1: It's not over for you. God is not through with you. Father.
Speaker 2: As I have released your word today, I have since
Speaker 2: virtue going forth and flowing to your people. There are
Speaker 2: specific situations, specific names and needs diagnosies. There is a
Speaker 2: very certain thing that you wanted to say to somebody today,
Speaker 2: and I pray that you have echoed that Now. I
Speaker 2: ask God that your Holy Spirit would make the direct
Speaker 2: application so that it can go deep into their soul. Lord,
Speaker 2: they may never know what comes after this season of
Speaker 2: struggle if they don't stand firm, But if they can
Speaker 2: make it through this, then God of all grace, who
Speaker 2: has called them to eternal glory after they have suffered
Speaker 2: a little while, will himself make them strong.
Speaker 1: Hey.
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.
Speaker 1: And if you want more information, on how to be
Speaker 1: a part of Elevation. Click the link in the description.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2: Make sure to leave a review, share the message and subscribe.
Speaker 1: God bless you.