Speaker 1: Hello evams, especially our West Coast family. We have an
Speaker 1: announcement for you, Elevation Nights twenty twenty two West Coast.
Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? October twenty fifth through November third,
Speaker 1: We're coming your way so exciting. You can get your
Speaker 1: tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot com. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be me Holly, Elevation Worship. It's gonna be amazing, unbelievable
Speaker 1: these nights. Don't want to miss So if you're in Glendale, Arizona,
Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San
Speaker 1: Diego and La or anywhere near those areas, we want
Speaker 1: to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it.
Speaker 1: Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot com.
Speaker 1: Let's see you there. Let's go to the message. We'll
Speaker 1: praise the Lord. Everybody here. This is the day the
Speaker 1: Lord had made, and let us treat joints and glad
Speaker 1: in it. Holleylujah, God, we honor you, and we bless you.
Speaker 1: We thank you afresh. Would you move in this place
Speaker 1: by your mike, by your power, spirit of believing God
Speaker 1: fall fresh on us even now, and we give you glory,
Speaker 1: We give you honor, and we give you praise. Amen.
Speaker 1: Come on, Shot, Hollylujah to his name, Praise the Lord.
Speaker 1: What a blessing is to be here with you today,
Speaker 1: and we thank God for Jesus. Of course, as you
Speaker 1: can see, I am not Pastor Stephen Ferdick, and so
Speaker 1: I apologize for those who've driven afar to be here.
Speaker 1: But God is here. We're gonna worship God together, and
Speaker 1: we're going to praise the Lord together. Won't you join
Speaker 1: me in saluting one of the most incredible leaders, communicators, proclaimers, songwriters,
Speaker 1: my brother, Pastor Stephen Ferdick. Come on, Praise God for him.
Speaker 1: And while you're clapping for him, praise God for Pastor
Speaker 1: Holly as well. To God be the glory. What a
Speaker 1: pleasure is to be here. I want you to do
Speaker 1: my favorite right quick. Just look your right hand up,
Speaker 1: right quick, move it down, right hand up, move it down.
Speaker 1: Okay good, I feel better now. That way, nobody can
Speaker 1: leave her saying that the preacher didn't move me. So
Speaker 1: we give God praise, but I want you to get
Speaker 1: your Bible. Say we're going to jump quick into the
Speaker 1: word of God. I want to look at the Book
Speaker 1: of Romans, chapter twelve, a very familiar passage of scripture
Speaker 1: that I want to share with you. Don't thank the
Speaker 1: Praise team for just just my God, the Music Ministry
Speaker 1: for confirming the message a very familiar passage Romans twelve one.
Speaker 1: You find these words. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by
Speaker 1: the mercies of God, that you present your body as
Speaker 1: a living sacrifice, holy and acceptably unto God, which is
Speaker 1: your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world.
Speaker 1: But be you transformed by the renewing of your mind,
Speaker 1: that ye make prove what is that good and acceptable
Speaker 1: and perfect will of God. Then in Roman's eleven thirty
Speaker 1: six is our key verse. It reads, for of him
Speaker 1: and through Him, and to him are all things to
Speaker 1: whom be glory forever man. For of Him, through him,
Speaker 1: and to him are all things to whom be glory
Speaker 1: forever man. I want you to consider this thought this morning,
Speaker 1: very simply giving God the glory. Let's give God the glory.
Speaker 1: You may be seeing the Prince of the Lord. Let's
Speaker 1: give God the glory. My elevation family, and I shall
Speaker 1: never forget one of my most recent birthdays. It is
Speaker 1: nostalgic for me even now, because this was the last
Speaker 1: birthday that all my siblings and I spent together prior
Speaker 1: to the death of my baby brothers some years ago
Speaker 1: and my sister a few years ago. My two older
Speaker 1: sisters and my two younger brothers and I were gathered
Speaker 1: at my old this sister's home in honor of my birthday.
Speaker 1: And when I arrived at my oldest sister's home, I
Speaker 1: was met by my older sister at the front door,
Speaker 1: and she met me with some intriguing words. She said, Brother,
Speaker 1: I said yes. She said, I did not get you
Speaker 1: a gift this year for your birthday. And I got
Speaker 1: to admit I was a little taken aback, particularly because
Speaker 1: I had just purchased her a gift for her birthday,
Speaker 1: you know, and so brother wanted some sense of reciprocity.
Speaker 1: And so I began to inquire as to why she
Speaker 1: decided to not get me a gift, and she said
Speaker 1: something that intrigued me. She said, I didn't get you
Speaker 1: a gift this year. I said why. She said, because
Speaker 1: I was struggling with something. It's okay, Well what were
Speaker 1: you struggling with? She said, I was struggling with this,
Speaker 1: what do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything?
Speaker 1: And I knew she wasn't struggling, she was just being trifling.
Speaker 1: So I responded with my own sense of fasiciousists, what
Speaker 1: do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? You
Speaker 1: give them some more of what you think they seemingly have.
Speaker 1: Pretty good answer, would you say? And it was right
Speaker 1: there in that context that God sent me a fact
Speaker 1: straight from the Holy Ghost facts machine of Heaven. And
Speaker 1: I thought about another relationship that I have, but more specifically,
Speaker 1: the relationship that we all share with the God who
Speaker 1: is sovereign. Because in light of my sister's questions slash statement,
Speaker 1: what do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything?
Speaker 1: I hear Paul say to us this morning that you
Speaker 1: and I ought to give God the glory, that we
Speaker 1: ought to give God the glory. But right there, my
Speaker 1: sister's question statement comes to bear, because how can we,
Speaker 1: as fallible and finite creatures, give God anything that God
Speaker 1: does not already possess? I mean, can we give God glory?
Speaker 1: When the Psalmist calls him the King of glory? Paul
Speaker 1: refers to Christ as the Hope of glory. Another epistel
Speaker 1: writer refers to God as the God of all glory.
Speaker 1: So how can we really give God glory if God
Speaker 1: is already king of glory. Christ is the Hope of glory,
Speaker 1: and God is the God of all What can we
Speaker 1: give to God who does not seemingly own everything, but
Speaker 1: who actually already owns everything? And I thought about God
Speaker 1: in creation, because God in creation knew that at times
Speaker 1: he would have periodic needs. So what did God do?
Speaker 1: God knew at times that he would need a word,
Speaker 1: presented a word, and so God created and urch angel
Speaker 1: whose name was Gabriel. Gabriel was the word angel. Whenever
Speaker 1: God wanted to bring a word to his people, often
Speaker 1: he would use Gabriel. In the Book of Luke, chapter one,
Speaker 1: verse twenty six, when he wanted to announce the birth
Speaker 1: of Jesus and Bethlehem of Judea, he sent Gabriel to
Speaker 1: Mary to make that heavenly annunciation. Because whenever God wanted
Speaker 1: a word, he would use Gabriel. The Book of First
Speaker 1: Thessalonians tells us that when chapter four and Christ comes
Speaker 1: back in the Rapture, Paul says, for the Lord himself
Speaker 1: shall destin from heaven with a shout with the voice
Speaker 1: of the archangel. Scholars believe that voice would be the
Speaker 1: voice of Gabriel, signifying the return of the Lord Jesus,
Speaker 1: because whenever God wanted a word, he would use Gabriel.
Speaker 1: But then God also knew at times that he would
Speaker 1: need warfare. Warfare, so God created an archangel whose name
Speaker 1: was Michael. Can the church say Michael and Michael is
Speaker 1: the warfare Angel. The Book of Jude chapter one tells
Speaker 1: us that when Moses died, there was a battle for
Speaker 1: the physical remains of Moses. That battle was between the
Speaker 1: devil and his angels and Michael and the warfare angels
Speaker 1: from heaven. Michael and his angels won that battle, took
Speaker 1: the body of mo Jes and buried the body in
Speaker 1: a place where only God is aware of why, because
Speaker 1: whenever God wanted a word, he used Gabriel. When God
Speaker 1: wanted warfare, he used Michael. In the Book of Daniel,
Speaker 1: chapter ten, it tells us that Daniel prayed to God
Speaker 1: for instructions and for direction, and for twenty one days,
Speaker 1: for three weeks Daniel was waiting to hear from God.
Speaker 1: And three weeks After this prayer, Gabriel showed up, and
Speaker 1: Gabriel says, Daniel, from the first time you prayed Daniel
Speaker 1: ten fourteen. From the first time you prayed, God heard
Speaker 1: your prayer and God dispatched me, Gabriel from heaven to
Speaker 1: bring you your answer, he says, But I was withstood
Speaker 1: from some demonic forces around the region of Persia, and
Speaker 1: I couldn't bring you answer because Satan's chief demons in
Speaker 1: the Persian region had me held and bound. So God
Speaker 1: sent Michael, the warfare angel from heaven to engage in
Speaker 1: combat to release me to bring you your answer. Here's why,
Speaker 1: because whenever God wanted a word, often God would use Gabriel,
Speaker 1: and when God wanted warfare, God would use Michael. But
Speaker 1: then God also knew at times that he would need worship,
Speaker 1: and so God created the archangel whose name was Lucifer,
Speaker 1: and Lucifer was over the praise, worship, and music departments
Speaker 1: of heaven. But then Lucifer wanted to be like God,
Speaker 1: and instead of glorifying God, Lucifer wanted to be worshiped,
Speaker 1: and God had to evict Lucifer from the heaveness. Luke
Speaker 1: says that he felled as lightning from heaven. And when
Speaker 1: Lucifer got kicked out of heaven, God never replaced him
Speaker 1: with one individual who'd be responsible for worship. Because of that,
Speaker 1: John chapter four says that the Father is seeking worship
Speaker 1: shippers who would worship God in spirit and in truth.
Speaker 1: And here's the reality. Gabriel is still bringing forth the word.
Speaker 1: Michael is still involved in warfare, but no single person
Speaker 1: is responsible for worship. And since the Father is seeking worshipers,
Speaker 1: this is the primary reason why the enemy hates you
Speaker 1: and I whenever we praise God, because whenever we worship God,
Speaker 1: we literally remind the devil of the job that he
Speaker 1: got fired from. And I wish I had somebody around
Speaker 1: the Elevation Church who just take a moment and help
Speaker 1: me make the devil mad for me. I mean, every
Speaker 1: time you clap your hands, you make the devil mad.
Speaker 1: Every time you shock Holleylujah, you're making the devil mad.
Speaker 1: Come on, say t get night enough. We will bless
Speaker 1: the Lord at all times, and his south continually be
Speaker 1: in our mouths. Listen and see here's the reality. Paul says.
Speaker 1: For of him and through him and to him are
Speaker 1: all things to whom be glory, that work glory. Then
Speaker 1: the Greek is the word docsa. It means a place
Speaker 1: of pre eminence. It means reverential adoration. It means to
Speaker 1: make God an audience of one. Because up in the
Speaker 1: heaven is do the cherboms and serophims bow twenty four
Speaker 1: hours a day in perpetual obeisance to our God, who
Speaker 1: sits on the throne. And the only time when God
Speaker 1: is most comfortable in the earth is when we create,
Speaker 1: when we create environments that remind God of what he's
Speaker 1: accustomed to in the heavenless. That's why the scriptures teach
Speaker 1: us that God in habits the praises of his people.
Speaker 1: And so Paul says, for off him and through him,
Speaker 1: into him are all things to whom be glory forever
Speaker 1: are man. Literally this passage in the Greek manuscripts that
Speaker 1: were no chapters. It was one continuous flow. And so
Speaker 1: what Paul says is God deserves to be worshiped. And
Speaker 1: since God deserves to be worshiped, I beseech you. Therefore,
Speaker 1: my beloved brethren, that word beseech. That in the Greek
Speaker 1: is the word parah clayo para, meaning alongside the verb calayo,
Speaker 1: meaning to call it is a military summons para Calayoh beseech.
Speaker 1: In the first century world, whenever those generals were preparing
Speaker 1: for battle, they would issue a para calao for every
Speaker 1: soldier to come and to engage in combat. Here, Paul
Speaker 1: uses a military term to call those of us whose
Speaker 1: soldiers of the Lord Jesus to engage and worship to
Speaker 1: our God God a warfare that is not Colonel and
Speaker 1: God says to Paul that if God is going to
Speaker 1: be glorified, because sometimes I think we've created different identities
Speaker 1: for what really brings glory, and unfortunately, sometimes I believe
Speaker 1: that the things that we think glorify God may not
Speaker 1: actually bring glory to God. So Paul says, if you
Speaker 1: and I want to give God athenic glory is right here.
Speaker 1: I beseech you. Therefore, my beloved brethren, by the mercies
Speaker 1: of God, it is that you present your bodies, your soul,
Speaker 1: maya essence all of who you are unto God. And
Speaker 1: so the first thing that glorifies God, get this, It
Speaker 1: is the upward presentation. Can somebody say the upward presentation?
Speaker 1: I present, we present everything, we are, everything we have
Speaker 1: as a vertical act of reference to God who sits
Speaker 1: on the throne, and Paul else says, here's why we
Speaker 1: should do this. God deserves the upwut presentation. It is
Speaker 1: because we are responding to God's mercies. It is an
Speaker 1: amazing passage. He says, I beseech you. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
Speaker 1: it is by the mercies of God. I'm urging you,
Speaker 1: I'm compelling you, I am imploring you to give God
Speaker 1: an upward gift and upwut presentation. Why, he says, you're
Speaker 1: responding to the mercies of God. Now, this is what
Speaker 1: blew my mind because all my life I thought it
Speaker 1: was I thought it was mercy. So we see things
Speaker 1: like Lord have mercy. Paul says, no, it's really not mercy.
Speaker 1: Mercy is really plural. The Greek word there connotes plurality.
Speaker 1: That's why it says mercies of God, not just one.
Speaker 1: But it is plural mercies of God. Paul says. It
Speaker 1: is not singular mercy because God is too inexhaustible to
Speaker 1: be relegated by singular abride. It is not mercy. It
Speaker 1: is mercies, meaning anything that God has deliberately withheld from
Speaker 1: each of us. That we rightly deserved. It is a
Speaker 1: type of mercy. It is one of God's mercies. Anything
Speaker 1: that God has deliberately and intentionally withheld from us that
Speaker 1: we deserved is one of his mercies. Can let me
Speaker 1: come this way? Perhaps there are some of you who
Speaker 1: are in town for the football game yesterday, the HPCU Classic,
Speaker 1: And maybe some of you remember back in your college
Speaker 1: days twenty five or thirty years ago at North Carolina
Speaker 1: Central A and t or Duke, or at Davison, or
Speaker 1: at North Carolina State or at the University of North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Some of you remember some of your college days before
Speaker 1: you be in church at nine thirty on the sun
Speaker 1: the morning before you had given your life to God.
Speaker 1: Some of us football season, we have gone out on
Speaker 1: Saturday and all day long watching the game, and some
Speaker 1: of us would have imbibed on some beverages that were
Speaker 1: not necessarily kool aid, iced tea or communion. Come on,
Speaker 1: talk to me, somebody, somebody remembers back in your BC
Speaker 1: days before Christ Days. Perhaps you consume some things that
Speaker 1: you should not have consumed, and if you're not careful,
Speaker 1: you could have consumed too much of what you should
Speaker 1: not have been consuming in your college days, and even
Speaker 1: in your inebriation and in your intoxication when you got
Speaker 1: behind a wheel of an automobile. Somehow, some way, in
Speaker 1: spite of our irresponsibility, God allows you to get back
Speaker 1: to your dorm room or your apartment safely. You didn't
Speaker 1: get a hicclahomicide or a DUI. Can I tell you
Speaker 1: what it was. It was not because you are a
Speaker 1: coherent driver. It's not because of the dictrity of your senses.
Speaker 1: The only reason you made it back safely, in your
Speaker 1: inebriation and your irresponsibility, is because God gave you a
Speaker 1: drunk mercy. Am I talking to somebody who can look
Speaker 1: back over your life and testify I've been done that,
Speaker 1: But I'm thankful for as mercy. Okay, all right, maybe
Speaker 1: you've never had alcohol before, but maybe in nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: five when you were in love with Charlie or june Bug.
Speaker 1: You remember him. He had the crew cut or the
Speaker 1: Jerry curl and were the members only jacket and the
Speaker 1: Jordash jeans, and you fell in love with Charlie or
Speaker 1: june Bug. But he left your heart when he married
Speaker 1: Melissa or famee Quisha and you thought your life was over.
Speaker 1: You thought the sun rose and sat on them. But
Speaker 1: you went back to your thirty fifth class reunion and
Speaker 1: the first person you saw was Charlie or June Bug
Speaker 1: and they had that same crew cut Jerry Curle members
Speaker 1: only jacket, short ash jean with three teeth in their mouths,
Speaker 1: and one of them was gold. And you look your
Speaker 1: hands right in the class for you, and it said, Lord,
Speaker 1: I thank you for a breakup mercy. I thank you
Speaker 1: for the things that you have provided and prevented. And
Speaker 1: am I talking to somebody who can look back over
Speaker 1: your life and see stuff God that's kept you from you?
Speaker 1: All give God the offput presentation and give God glory holeymia.
Speaker 1: And so Paul says here that this offput presentation, that
Speaker 1: you're responding to his mercies. And then Paul says, it
Speaker 1: is a reasonable mandate. I beseech you, therefore, my beloved brethren,
Speaker 1: by the mercies of God, that you present your body
Speaker 1: as a living sacrifice, A living sacrifice. That is interesting.
Speaker 1: I need to dig that for a moment. That word
Speaker 1: living is the word zio in Greek, where you get
Speaker 1: the word zoology from through Sayah living za o through
Speaker 1: Sayah living sacrifice. Now this is very very interesting because
Speaker 1: they brought in the first century an Old Testament with
Speaker 1: the Greeks would have called to God the pak fistko
Speaker 1: through Sayah, which is a dead sacrifice. Some of you
Speaker 1: remember in the Book of Genesis, chapter twenty two, God
Speaker 1: told Abraham, Abraham, take your son Isaac up on Mount
Speaker 1: Mariah to offer him as a sacrifice under God. Abraham
Speaker 1: gets his son Isaac. They go up on Mount Mariah.
Speaker 1: He builds the altar, he has a knife, he has
Speaker 1: a wood, he has the dagger. He gets ready to
Speaker 1: kill his son to offer him as the pok fist
Speaker 1: go through Saleh under Jehovah. And right before he gets
Speaker 1: ready to kill his son to offer him as a
Speaker 1: dead sacrifice, God speaks to him and say, if Abraham
Speaker 1: lay no hand on the lad, look in the thicket,
Speaker 1: there's a ram there. Release your son and get the ram,
Speaker 1: the lamb to offer the lamb the ram as a sacrifice.
Speaker 1: Because in the Old Testament God only accepted dead sacrifices.
Speaker 1: In the Book of Exodus, God tells Moses to go
Speaker 1: to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh to let the people go.
Speaker 1: God sends ten plagues. And then God speaks to them
Speaker 1: and say, tell the people in Egypt that they should
Speaker 1: get a lamb, kill the lamb, and put the blood
Speaker 1: of the lamb on the door post, because this night
Speaker 1: in Egypt, the Death Angel is coming through Egypt, and
Speaker 1: if the blood of the lamb has not been applied
Speaker 1: to the door post, the death Angel will go into
Speaker 1: that home to kill the first born. Because in the
Speaker 1: Old Testament they had to bring unto God pigeons, turtles,
Speaker 1: you lambs for the priests to kill to apply the
Speaker 1: blood to offer as an ocpacracist go through sale a
Speaker 1: dead sacrifice under God. In the Old Testament they had
Speaker 1: to bring dead sacrifices. But Paul says in this text
Speaker 1: that since we no longer live by a legalistic millie,
Speaker 1: that since we no longer live under the law, that
Speaker 1: God doesn't deserve a dead sacrifice. And our pop fisto
Speaker 1: through sail. Paul says, God wants a si through sayl,
Speaker 1: a living sacrifice. And I don't know about you, but
Speaker 1: when God rode by this morning in his golden chariot,
Speaker 1: chauffeured by the invisible winds, and dispatch his darling angels
Speaker 1: to touch our bodies with the finger of love in
Speaker 1: our eyes. I think it came open to greet the
Speaker 1: vergin light of a brand new day. We rest under
Speaker 1: the canopy of God's benevolence, favor, and grace. And since
Speaker 1: you and I are alive today, how dare us enter
Speaker 1: into this beautiful place? Or watch online and give God
Speaker 1: a dead sacrifice? God deserves a life, worship and a
Speaker 1: life praise and live glory to God lives giving live service,
Speaker 1: life praise. The Bible says, let every thing that hath breath,
Speaker 1: which means you alive, praise ye the Lord, and do
Speaker 1: me a favor. When you come to worship, get here
Speaker 1: in time enough to make sure you're seated by the
Speaker 1: right people. And here's how you know if you're seated
Speaker 1: by the right people. Just get on your role and
Speaker 1: hollow at your role. And if you holler at your
Speaker 1: role and nobody hollers back, that's the wrong road to
Speaker 1: sit on. No, when you come to worship, you ought
Speaker 1: to look at somebody and say halle If they don't
Speaker 1: say Lujah, find somebody else to sit by, because you
Speaker 1: want to be besides somebody who has some life and
Speaker 1: has some energy and some praise. Is there anybody in
Speaker 1: this place who came to give God a live worship?
Speaker 1: I'm living sacrifice, nothing dead. But I'm letting sacrifice and
Speaker 1: so and so. The upward the upward presentation, it's you're
Speaker 1: responding to His mercies. Is the least that you and I.
Speaker 1: It's a reasonable service, a reasonable worship. Then, Paul says, listen,
Speaker 1: once we give God the upward presentation. Secondly, in order
Speaker 1: to glorify God, listen, he says. Go backwards from conformation.
Speaker 1: Say backwards from conformation, not confirmation, conformation. Listen what he
Speaker 1: says in verse two, and be not conformed. He says,
Speaker 1: don't assimilate, don't fashion yourselves into the Ion, which is
Speaker 1: the spirit of the world. Very powerful passes because at
Speaker 1: the time of the first Entry, Rome was considered to
Speaker 1: be the citadel of the Caesars. Rome was the darling
Speaker 1: of the human race. When Paul wrote in the first century,
Speaker 1: Rome was at home of Claudius and Caligula, of Nero Antiberius.
Speaker 1: It was a place where barbarity was celebrated. It was
Speaker 1: the darling of the whole world. And Paul's ultimate desire
Speaker 1: was to get Trome because it was the citadel, it
Speaker 1: was the Darling, it was the Empire. But there were
Speaker 1: some believers who had moved into Rome. But Rome had
Speaker 1: historically been paganistic and pantheistic and polytheistic, and the message
Speaker 1: of Christ. Paul wanted that to be paramount in Rome.
Speaker 1: But the challenge was this, when believers had begun to
Speaker 1: develop and grow in Rome, the spirit of the age
Speaker 1: was so intense that you couldn't demarcate between the saints
Speaker 1: in Rome versus the Ans in Rome. Paul was saying
Speaker 1: that many of the believers had been affected by this
Speaker 1: Roman spirit that did not prioritize Christ. It was about
Speaker 1: the empire and power and greed and selfishness. And Paul says,
Speaker 1: in order to glorify God, don't conform to what's happening
Speaker 1: in the world, all the craziness that you see around you.
Speaker 1: Don't ever allow those things to become your reality. And
Speaker 1: let me share with you. I believe this passage is
Speaker 1: incredibly relevant because even now, there is a spirit in
Speaker 1: this age that has troubled my spirit. It's kept me
Speaker 1: up at night, a spirit of the age that's destroying
Speaker 1: relationships and causing people to fall out. It is a
Speaker 1: spirit of political divisiveness and ideology, and the spirit of
Speaker 1: separation and the spirit of division. You can't even watch
Speaker 1: the news now with out ended up being nauseous and
Speaker 1: having a headache. So much hatred in the world Christians
Speaker 1: believers black and white, and a Church of God versus Baptists,
Speaker 1: and it seems that we can't get along because the
Speaker 1: spirit of this age has made so many prioritized politics
Speaker 1: over the Kingdom of God. Let me share with your
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters. We should vote our political perspectives. We
Speaker 1: should vote our convictions. We should vote and promote our beliefs.
Speaker 1: We should be civically engaged. But we should never believe
Speaker 1: that the hope of our world is based upon whether
Speaker 1: you're part of a party that's represented by an elephant
Speaker 1: or a dunkey. The hope of our world is not
Speaker 1: an elephant or a dunkey, but a lamb, the lamb
Speaker 1: of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Speaker 1: The hope of our faith is in Sesus Christ, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: And my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus'
Speaker 1: blood and is righteous. Says I damn not trust the
Speaker 1: sweetest fraying, but Holy Lean on Jesus' name, on Christ,
Speaker 1: the Son of the Rocks. I stand all of the ground.
Speaker 1: Our kingdom is not of this world. We're going to
Speaker 1: a place where we won't need politics again. We have
Speaker 1: a God who's going to bring us together, of every kindred,
Speaker 1: every tribe. And that's why I love Pastor Stephen Hollifredic
Speaker 1: That's why I love the Elevation Church, because you have
Speaker 1: made God and Christ. Listen, look around. This is what
Speaker 1: happened is supposed to look like, not about division and separation,
Speaker 1: but about believers of the every kindred, ever tribe climbing
Speaker 1: together to glorify our great God, give him praise and
Speaker 1: give them glory. You know the spirit of this age.
Speaker 1: It's the spirit that if you're not careful, it can
Speaker 1: depress you. Oh goodness. A few months ago, I went
Speaker 1: and fill up. My family loves utility vehicles, and I
Speaker 1: have boys and their mom my wife is a teen mother,
Speaker 1: and so we always carrying a lot of kids, you know,
Speaker 1: for basketball games. And I went to fill up the
Speaker 1: utility vehicle and as I was at the pump, and
Speaker 1: it hit ninety and then it hit one hundred, and
Speaker 1: the one hundred ten, one hundred twenty, one hundred and thirty.
Speaker 1: I was confused. I didn't know whether to pray or
Speaker 1: cuss or to kick the pumping. I was just I
Speaker 1: was just restaurant. I was having a moment, and right
Speaker 1: now the Holy Spirit convicted me. Instead, instead of you complaining,
Speaker 1: be thankful that you have one hundred and thirty dollars
Speaker 1: on a debit card. That other time this machine would
Speaker 1: have eaten your card. And here's what I want you
Speaker 1: to know. No matter what happens in the economyment, no
Speaker 1: matter what happens with inflation, no matter what happens with
Speaker 1: gash prices or food prices, I want you to know something.
Speaker 1: Don't let the spirit of anxiety and depression overwhelm you.
Speaker 1: You know why because we're not gonna conform to anxiety
Speaker 1: and depression. You know why because the scriptures teach us.
Speaker 1: I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
Speaker 1: begging bread. God is gonna take care of you, regardless
Speaker 1: claud who's in the White House, because anybody will leave.
Speaker 1: We have a God who takes care of us. Do
Speaker 1: you believe we have a God who supplies our needs? God,
Speaker 1: go there and give God praise and give them glory hallelujah.
Speaker 1: So we have to give God the upward presentation. Then
Speaker 1: we go backwards from conformation. Don't let the spirit of
Speaker 1: the age overwhelm you. But then after the upward presentation
Speaker 1: and backwards from conformation. Thirdly, Paul says, in order to
Speaker 1: glorify God, that needs to be the inward transformation. I
Speaker 1: say the inward say, inward transformation is right here, and
Speaker 1: be not conformed to this world, but listen, but be transformed.
Speaker 1: That word in Greek is the word we getting metamorphosis
Speaker 1: from the word renewing. Is where we get the word
Speaker 1: renovation from. It's in the present perfect imperative in Greek,
Speaker 1: which means it's a continuous action. What he literally says
Speaker 1: is every day your mind and my mind must be
Speaker 1: in a constant state of renovation and metamorphosis. It's a
Speaker 1: beautiful picture. It's really a picture of a house. When
Speaker 1: a house gets old, it's subject to dilapidation, termites, asbestos,
Speaker 1: other issues. Periodically. What cause us to have to renovate
Speaker 1: house has to go through metamorphosis. Paul says, the mind
Speaker 1: is analogous to an old house. There are treacherous termites,
Speaker 1: adver Sarah asbestos that can get into your mind, and
Speaker 1: if you're not careful, it can strimp your mind of
Speaker 1: everything that's powerful, of everything that's stable. So the mind
Speaker 1: has to be renovated. Reminds me of Solomon and Proverbs
Speaker 1: twenty three seven. Very interesting. Solomon says this, for as
Speaker 1: a man thinketh in his heart, so is he now?
Speaker 1: In Hebrew. Paul is trying to show how Solemnon is
Speaker 1: trying to show how the head and heart are one
Speaker 1: singular entity. So etymologically, he's saying, head and heart want entity.
Speaker 1: As a person thinks in their hearts, head and heart
Speaker 1: are together in the Hebrew language is one. But in
Speaker 1: the English or in the biological that's an impossibility. What
Speaker 1: do you mean, as a person thinks in their hearts,
Speaker 1: that's biologically impossible? Why? Because the heart doesn't think? How
Speaker 1: can you think in your heart? The purpose of the
Speaker 1: heart scientifically is to pump blood. Scientifically, biologically, our hearts
Speaker 1: don't think. All thinking is in the cerebrum, the cerebral cortex,
Speaker 1: the thalamus, the hype of thing, animals, the paneo glen,
Speaker 1: the mbdoolah, I'll bloom godda. Scientifically, all thought starts here.
Speaker 1: So what really is Solomon saying in Proverbs twenty three seven?
Speaker 1: Here's what he's saying very important. As a person thinks
Speaker 1: psychologically in their hearts cardiologically, so is he or she anthropologically.
Speaker 1: As a person thinks, that's your psychology. That's where it
Speaker 1: begins in your heart. Cardiologically, that's how we behave. So
Speaker 1: is he anthropologically, that's what we become. As a person thinks,
Speaker 1: that's where it begins in their hearts. That's how we behave.
Speaker 1: So is he or she That's what we become. So
Speaker 1: we become inevitably what has existed in our minds. That's
Speaker 1: why dey carn't put it this way, cogito ergo soon,
Speaker 1: I think therefore I am, and so the battle for
Speaker 1: us is not for your finances or your family. It's
Speaker 1: for your mind. Because if the enemy can hit your mind,
Speaker 1: he's got you. If you have mess constantly on your mind,
Speaker 1: eventually you and I will become messy. Okay, all right, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: that's got me. Come this way, all right. Second Corinthians
Speaker 1: ten to four, for the weapons of our warfare are
Speaker 1: not carnal, but Mighty through God, to the pulling down
Speaker 1: of strongholds, casting down imaginations and bringing it to captivity
Speaker 1: every thought. Paul says, you better put some handcuffs on
Speaker 1: your thoughts. Every child of God needs to keep some
Speaker 1: handcuffs constantly on them. And that's not for you married people.
Speaker 1: That's time I'm talking about get your mind out to
Speaker 1: go to I'm talking about handcuffs to put them on
Speaker 1: your thoughts, because if your thoughts run loose, you have
Speaker 1: to handcuff and arrest your thoughts and say you will
Speaker 1: not run through my mind and drive me in same
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put handcuffs on my thought. This is what
Speaker 1: he said in Philippians chapter four. He says, for what
Speaker 1: sever things are lovely, what sever things are honest? If
Speaker 1: that being a virtue, if that be any praise, Think
Speaker 1: on these things, and the peace of God, which passes
Speaker 1: all understanding, shall keep your He says peace. Then if
Speaker 1: your thoughts are right, peace becomes a military guard and
Speaker 1: stands in front of your mind to prevent anything that's
Speaker 1: diabolic from getting into your mind. Isaiah twenty six three says,
Speaker 1: for if we keep our minds stayed on him, He'll
Speaker 1: keep us in peri peace. When I grew up in Georgia,
Speaker 1: the old people would sing a song. I woke up
Speaker 1: this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus. You got
Speaker 1: to declare to the ternet, you will not have my mind.
Speaker 1: I will focus my mind and my thoughts and my affections.
Speaker 1: Let me share something very personal with you. Five years ago,
Speaker 1: I went through the most Six years ago, I went
Speaker 1: through the most traumatic season of my life. Here's what happened.
Speaker 1: One week my godmother died. I was expecting them. The
Speaker 1: next week, my mother died and didn't tell when she
Speaker 1: was leaving. Three days after my mother died, my best
Speaker 1: friend from college died literally one hour after he helped
Speaker 1: me plan my mother's funeral. He had a massive heart attack.
Speaker 1: Three weeks after my mother died, my sister died. So
Speaker 1: I want you just imagine planning four funerals, picking out
Speaker 1: four caskets, and having to deliver four eulogies for the
Speaker 1: closest people in my life in less than thirty days.
Speaker 1: Five days after bearing my sister, my brother had a
Speaker 1: massive stroke and the doctor said it's because there's something
Speaker 1: that's called broken heart syndrome. I never knew broken heart syndrome.
Speaker 1: Here I am the man of faith. Here I am
Speaker 1: the preacher demand of God. Here I'm the one who's
Speaker 1: always comedic, always a clown, always joking. Here I'm the
Speaker 1: one who always is hopeful, and yet there's no hope.
Speaker 1: I couldn't even read the word of God. I couldn't
Speaker 1: even I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to hear people tell me your mother's in a better place.
Speaker 1: I want I want it to literally go tayekwondo on
Speaker 1: anybody who told me she's in a better place. Don't cry.
Speaker 1: I know she's in a better place. I'm not hurt
Speaker 1: the cause of where she is. I'm hurting me because
Speaker 1: of where she's not. Please miss me with that before
Speaker 1: I chop you right in your throat. I was so discouraged.
Speaker 1: I was so depressed. I was so stressed. I couldn't
Speaker 1: go to the bed. I shut my calendar down. They
Speaker 1: said passing, when you come back to preach, I said,
Speaker 1: never rear. I didn't know if I'd ever preach again.
Speaker 1: I was just so broken. I was so broken to
Speaker 1: this very day, my family. I still have my mother's
Speaker 1: messages on my phone. I will never delete them. I
Speaker 1: just every now and they just want to hear a voice,
Speaker 1: and I just it's an old message. I just will
Speaker 1: play it just to hear a voice. And I had
Speaker 1: to eventually go and get therapy. It took me about
Speaker 1: eighteen months to kind of find some sense of balance,
Speaker 1: and I'm still not where I want to be now.
Speaker 1: Mother's Day I cry all day. My mother's birthday, I'm sick.
Speaker 1: I know she's in heaven. Holidays don't quite feel the same.
Speaker 1: And now I understand that grief is the price that
Speaker 1: I pay for love. But I was so broken, so disheveled, discombobulated,
Speaker 1: and didn't know what I was gonna do. And the
Speaker 1: enemy kept telling me, you pray for so many other people.
Speaker 1: You seen God perform miracles for others, Why didn't he
Speaker 1: do it for you? Will people believe in faith in you?
Speaker 1: I was so hurt, And do men favor? Do mel
Speaker 1: favor before you criticize me for my vulnerability. Don't you
Speaker 1: ever criticize some person's steps if you haven't walked in
Speaker 1: their shoes. I was just I was just broken. I
Speaker 1: really was. I'd never been that broken in my entire life.
Speaker 1: But you know what I've begun to get back out
Speaker 1: and push the word of God. Stop traveling because I
Speaker 1: just didn't feel the six that the enemy had me
Speaker 1: to believe that it is that any efficacy in your preaching.
Speaker 1: But you know why I'm here because when I got
Speaker 1: this Charlotte, when I came to Charlotte today my goodness
Speaker 1: and got the elevation in church today, I understand this.
Speaker 1: I am thankful that in my worst season of my life,
Speaker 1: God kept my mind. Oh yes, God, and has transformed
Speaker 1: and it's transforming my mind. Am I talking to anybody
Speaker 1: who's gone through something that's been so traumatic that you
Speaker 1: thought you would put your shoes on your hands and
Speaker 1: your socks on your head. But somehow today you in
Speaker 1: worship today giving God the glory because in the worst
Speaker 1: moments of your life, we serve a God who can
Speaker 1: renew and who can keep your mind. Y'all got to
Speaker 1: excuse me. I feel the Holy Ghost right here. Can
Speaker 1: I tell you something some of you shot over money, calls, cash, clothes,
Speaker 1: and creature comforts. This morning, I want to thank God.
Speaker 1: I'll have five reasons to thank God. Can I give
Speaker 1: my quick five reasons why I want to thank God?
Speaker 1: Number one, he kept my mind. Number two, he kept
Speaker 1: my mind. Number three, he kept my mind. Number four,
Speaker 1: He kept my mind number five, He kept my mind.
Speaker 1: Is it keeping your mind? If you kept your mind,
Speaker 1: come on and get out from y'all praise and gold
Speaker 1: litten word and so let him transform, Let him transform
Speaker 1: your mind, let him make your mind new. And Jesus listen.
Speaker 1: So I got one more thing to tell Please take
Speaker 1: you sees one more thing to tell you, hallelujah. If
Speaker 1: you're gonna glify God upward presentation backwards from conformation? In
Speaker 1: what transformation? Well full find Finally, if we're gonna growify God,
Speaker 1: that must be the outward demonstration. I'm done. Somebody say
Speaker 1: outward demonstration first too, and be not conformed to this world,
Speaker 1: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
Speaker 1: that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable
Speaker 1: and perfect will of God. That word that's prove Is
Speaker 1: it interesting because it's translated from two perspectives. I want
Speaker 1: you to prove that's verb verb the verb form. Prove
Speaker 1: to do it actively, pursue it to ascertain the will
Speaker 1: of God. E groups, you've proven the will, Bible study
Speaker 1: proven the will, worship, we actively prove the will. But
Speaker 1: many commentators suggest that the best understanding of this is
Speaker 1: not in the verb form of prove, but the noun
Speaker 1: form what what do you mean? Verb you go and
Speaker 1: do it? Verb you go and prove it. Now you
Speaker 1: become proof of it. So once we have proven the will,
Speaker 1: now we become proof of what his will is. Okay,
Speaker 1: let me let me close by. Get this story. That's
Speaker 1: a man in California. His name is Michael Needaw in Edow.
Speaker 1: He is an attorney, a physician, and also a minister
Speaker 1: in some a former minister in some group. Well. Now
Speaker 1: he's an atheist and he filed litigation against the ninth
Speaker 1: District in California because, as an atheist, he felt that
Speaker 1: his daughter, who's in public school, was subjected to the
Speaker 1: clause one Nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Speaker 1: He sued the local knife districts in California and he won.
Speaker 1: He won because they said the word God in a public,
Speaker 1: publicly funded institution is a violation of his his constitutional rights.
Speaker 1: He won. The only reason that it did not change
Speaker 1: was because it has federal implications. Because public schools received
Speaker 1: federal dollars. They went to the Supreme Court about this,
Speaker 1: and Supreme Court agreed some years ago with his claim.
Speaker 1: The only reason they didn't make changes at that time,
Speaker 1: they said, was because he didn't have legal custom of
Speaker 1: his daughter. But what he says now, he's going back
Speaker 1: to get some more atheists like him. They're going back
Speaker 1: to Supreme Court to delete one nation under God from
Speaker 1: the pleasure of allegiance. Then once he does that, he
Speaker 1: says he's going after currency, after money. Your dollar bill
Speaker 1: has on the back of it in God we trust.
Speaker 1: So why would the government produce something that has God?
Speaker 1: Is that a separation between God and government? And somebody
Speaker 1: interviewed this clown, I mean interviewed this food, I mean
Speaker 1: interview this man. Excuse me, and they ask him why
Speaker 1: is he so adamant about getting rid of God? Here's
Speaker 1: what he said. He said, I am upset with the
Speaker 1: faith community because if God is who they say he is,
Speaker 1: here's my problem. Where's the proof. You can't even periodically
Speaker 1: observe him. You can't put him onder a crucible of
Speaker 1: experimentation and investigation, can't observe them with the five senses.
Speaker 1: He says, if anybody who's a believer can offer me
Speaker 1: proof that this God is who you say is. Then
Speaker 1: maybe I'll stop, but I will not stop until I
Speaker 1: get proof. I thought about something this morning. Maybe I'll
Speaker 1: go to East Atlanta and get some of my saves,
Speaker 1: cousins who still got some hood in them, and you
Speaker 1: guys go drop Mecklenburg County and those of you who
Speaker 1: can be hood and holy simultaneously, and we all dress
Speaker 1: up in some black garments with black bandanas around our heads.
Speaker 1: And when that court case convenes, we bust up in
Speaker 1: that Supreme Court court room say hey, sir, we heard
Speaker 1: that you were looking for some proof that God is
Speaker 1: who God says God is, Sir, if you need some proof,
Speaker 1: you know what I got an idea when I was
Speaker 1: in undergrad. I was in pre law, and in pre law,
Speaker 1: we would have prop mock trials to prepare us for courtroom.
Speaker 1: Thank you hold the spirit I want today. I want
Speaker 1: us to have a mock trial to prepare for with
Speaker 1: him that court case is gonna convene. I want you
Speaker 1: to imagine with me as I close, that God is
Speaker 1: on trial. The Charubles are the justices. The twelve tribes
Speaker 1: of Israel are the jurors. God is the defendant. Mister
Speaker 1: Needhole is the plaintiff. I was trying to get somebody
Speaker 1: to come with me today and represent God, but nobody
Speaker 1: was available. So if you allow me, I'm gonna represent God.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be God's defense attorney. Just imagine this with men,
Speaker 1: and today we're in the courtroom. We're not an elevation
Speaker 1: in the courtroom in DC, and we're going that courtroom.
Speaker 1: And they have accused my client God of being a fictitious,
Speaker 1: abstract metal physical ambiguity. They have accused my God of
Speaker 1: not being real. I'm gonna defend it, but I can't
Speaker 1: defend him without any evidence, any proof. So in a
Speaker 1: moment when they call for me, I'm gonna offer into
Speaker 1: evidence five exhibits. And if these exhibits fits you, I
Speaker 1: want you to stand, remain standing and shout as loud
Speaker 1: as you can. I'm proof. I'm evidence. So you already
Speaker 1: all right? Cord And says Hue, I am E Dewey Smith,
Speaker 1: and I brought some evidence with me from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Your honors, let me off into evidence exhibits A through
Speaker 1: E they will authenticate that my client is guilty of
Speaker 1: being God. Your honest let me off into evidence. Exhibit A. Yes,
Speaker 1: Exhibit A. These are the people who've had ailments before,
Speaker 1: they've been sick in their bodies. But my client was
Speaker 1: Jehovah Rophi. My client was Jehovah Rathaka and healed their bodies.
Speaker 1: I need exhibit A to stand. Just exhibit A. Just
Speaker 1: stand and shout it. I'm proof, keep standing, I'm evidence
Speaker 1: Exhibit B, your honor. These are the people who've been
Speaker 1: broke before. They didn't have any money, but my client
Speaker 1: push Jehovah zirah. How did an exhibit be the standing shot?
Speaker 1: I'm proof exhibit see. These are the people who should
Speaker 1: have been crazy by now, but my client caretul in
Speaker 1: that right mind. How did the exhibit see the shot?
Speaker 1: I'm proof exhibitdeed. These are the people who've been depressed.
Speaker 1: They go through divorce, death and devastation where they can testify.
Speaker 1: There ain't nobody do me like Jesus. Exhibit E. You're
Speaker 1: on a deed of the ones who had Internet shop.
Speaker 1: But they can testify. If God be for you, who
Speaker 1: can be? I gets you? Now? Do me one favored
Speaker 1: Look at a neighbor, saying neighbor, Just in case you
Speaker 1: want to see somebody there who is a proof and
Speaker 1: who wants to jerk Dard Glory look norf look at
Speaker 1: me time aletty task about it? Say that, you say that?
Speaker 1: Say say well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are
Speaker 1: a couple of things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You
Speaker 1: can also help us reach others by investing today at
Speaker 1: Elevation Church dot org. Slash GiB and thanks again for
Speaker 1: joining us on the Elevation Podcast.