December 30, 2024 • 47 mins
Take a look back at some of our most impactful sermons and moments from 2024. As we celebrate God’s faithfulness throughout this year, we pray it strengthens your faith and fills you with anticipation for all He has planned for you and our church in the coming year.
Scripture References:
Matthew 28, verse 8
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. I thank you that one thought of
you today, one thought can change the way we see ourselves.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
When God puts something significant in me, the enemy sends
something significant after me.
Speaker 5 (00:37):
Find your tambourine and figure out how to praise even
in the waiting.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
And the proof that I know that God still has
something amazing ahead for your life is that you're still here.
Speaker 6 (00:55):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
Everyone, Welcome to church. I hope that you had a
wonderful Christmas. I hope that you were surrounded by the
people that you love. I hope that you ate all
of the amazing foods that you love, because you know
calories don't count on Christmas. I hope that you had
time to rest and nap and enjoy the peace that
this season brings. Now, this is the one Sunday of
(01:18):
the year where our entire church is epham, So I
want to see the comments flying right now. Let us
know where you are joining from. Maybe say hello to
someone else in the chat that's.
Speaker 6 (01:29):
Not from your state.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Pastor Steven and I are continually amazed at the people
that God has brought together across the world who make
up the people of Elevation Church. And it is the
honor of a lifetime to get to do ministry with you.
Today is evident that you are finishing the year strong.
You're making church a priority, and that is something to
(01:52):
celebrate because twenty twenty four has been an immeasurably more.
Speaker 7 (01:57):
Year for our church.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
We have seen some true, incredible blessings. We've reached new
communities all around the world. We've continued to be a
resource for those in need, and we have seen thousands
of lives transformed. The impact of our church and our
ability to share the hope of the Gospel is greater
than Pastor Stephen and I could have ever thought possible.
(02:21):
And that is because of you. You give so generously
of your time and your gifts, and you keep doing
your part, and God continues to move you know, Jesus
says in John ten, He says, I have come that
they may have life and have it to the full.
And as we continue to be the church, we get
(02:43):
to experience the fullness of life that God has promised us.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Looking back on twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Four, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for the ways
that we have seen God move, and as.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
We look ahead to.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Twenty twenty five, I'm feel with expectation, knowing that even
greater things are yet to come. So today I thought
it would be fun to take a moment to reflect
on the incredible moments from the past year and then
maybe take a peek ahead to all of the amazing
things that God has for us in the year to come.
(03:18):
And I thought that I would invite some friends to
join us. It's going to be a great time, a
great conversation, and I'm glad that you're here with us.
So let me introduce to you some of my friends.
These are all familiar faces, but I just want to
give you a formal introduction. This is Chris Brown, who
you probably know from Elevation Worship. And then we've got
(03:39):
britt at Consola in the middle here, who is our
ministry's pastor. Pastor Chad Zolo, our online pastor you all
know him, and Pastor chet Pete, who is our UC
University City shout out campus pastor. We've got to talk
about worship first, because this was an incredible year for
Elevation worship.
Speaker 8 (04:00):
I can't, I can't believe we're what almost twenty years in.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah, we released our.
Speaker 8 (04:05):
Seventeenth worship album maybe eighteenth nineteen.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
You can see exactly exactly.
Speaker 8 (04:11):
That's a long story, all these years in almost two decades.
It's crazy how God allows our ministry to go places
that we may physically never show up or set our feet,
but the Word of God goes there, and a lot
of times that's happening through our shorge.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
Yeah, I feel like there are so many people who
have found our church through elevation.
Speaker 8 (04:35):
It's incredible, so grateful. It is a crazy year. When
Wind meets Fire.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Okay to say, I think When Wind meets Fire is
my favorite Elevation Worship album.
Speaker 8 (04:46):
It's incredible. People ask me what, what's my favorite song?
What's my favorite album? The favorite album? Answer is always
what's the most recent one?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
We just did? So I agree it's my favorite too,
but for good reason.
Speaker 9 (04:59):
Nowavorite song?
Speaker 8 (05:00):
See, it's a album it is you got we might
get there, but I'll say sure, been good.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, I love sure been good to the day I died.
Speaker 10 (05:12):
Yeah, Jesus are the albums and the songs are like
your kids.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Like you know, you can't choose a favorite.
Speaker 6 (05:19):
I have a favorite take, you have a favorite favorite song?
Speaker 9 (05:30):
Okay, all right, I'm going to say it.
Speaker 8 (05:33):
No when win means fire though the song it's it's
a rock opera. We got like God is Not against
Me is on there? Which was what a sermon? It
turned into a song that also made.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
Chapter in a book.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah, exactly, and one of the mindsets. I mean, it
wasn't just a chapter, it was like a section in
the room.
Speaker 8 (05:51):
Absolutely. I mean, new Thing Coming, which is so fun. Also,
I mean, what a great song to to end one year.
So many great songs. I can't believe it's seventeenth album.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
I can't believe it is.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
It's incredible.
Speaker 8 (06:06):
Also, I mean, we got a shout out rhythm for
Goodbye Yesterday.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
How good is that song?
Speaker 9 (06:12):
It's so good, so good.
Speaker 8 (06:13):
Also, actually another perfect song to end one year, And.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
That's true.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
I love worshiping of that song.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
It just makes me so happy and you start like shouting.
Speaker 6 (06:25):
I have decided to follow Jesus.
Speaker 10 (06:27):
I feel like at a youth I mean, I got
a rhythm night and to hear are you declaring that?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (06:35):
But then to see it on a Sunday morning and
balanine'e and I mean it like.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
They're going strong, it goes crazy. Also, I mean selfish.
Speaker 8 (06:46):
I'll shout out praise too, because praise just kept released
it well over a year ago, not not this year,
but it just kept reaching more people. So the way
God's working through our ministry, how He's using the songs.
Speaker 6 (06:59):
Is it's incredible.
Speaker 8 (07:01):
I think we have a clipless show saying, hey, I.
Speaker 11 (07:07):
Got you don't get it what we what we call
don this sol thing. You've never run out big? Put it?
Speaker 12 (07:21):
Put it.
Speaker 11 (07:24):
By God. He's not a dance He's a shires as
this says a little little wayes Hi.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Do the songs on the bed room right down.
Speaker 13 (07:44):
Sons to get ready.
Speaker 9 (07:52):
For done the one because I done. The money's a.
Speaker 13 (07:58):
Great shop thing, incredible, amazing, It's amazing how many good songs,
(08:23):
so that many.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Song after song after song. I just am blown away.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Okay, So, Chris, one of the things I want to
put people on the spot that are on the sofa,
and I want to know, are there any secrets.
Speaker 12 (08:38):
Five.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
I want to know, are there any.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
Secrets that's the people watching today can can get O?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
All right? All right? So well, can I let me
share a little story?
Speaker 14 (08:49):
Okay? Stories?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
May of this year, I got a phone call. I
think you happen to be in the car.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (08:56):
I got a phone call from your husband, Pastor Stephen,
and he says, you know, all these songs that have
been sitting on our phones, We've never recorded them, we've
never sung them in church, We've never figured out what
do we want to do with them.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I got the idea.
Speaker 8 (09:10):
What we need to do is get our friends together, Brandon, Lake, Channer, Moore, Leland, Pat,
the two of us, and let's just have fun and
let's record these and let's let's start a new group,
a new a boy band, if you will, but not
really a boy band, but a new twenty four twenty
(09:33):
five man band. And it's going to be called Sons
of Sunday. My secret is Sons of Sunday SOS. So
we got together in September and we recorded so many
songs in this amazing little chapel, and we banged on
(09:54):
pianos and guitars and tambourines and we cried and we
laughed and we lost our voice is and we recorded
so many songs and uh, it's gonna come out in
full album form, brand new album, all new songs people
have not heard.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
But it's coming, Sons of Sunday. I'll tell you what
you need to do.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
You actually need to go on socials right now and
search up Sons of Sunday because I mean we kind of.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Have been king and then you'll know when it's out
exactly and every song is so good and okay.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
Do we have a little.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
All right, so the secrets out?
Speaker 6 (10:30):
Okay, secrets out. Check us out.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
God gets a hold of you.
Speaker 9 (10:48):
It's no town. Watch alluded, nom time, watch.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Alloud, my gad, fight my key free.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
But if you back, come out, I'm bing out on me.
Speaker 14 (11:02):
I got fawing out.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
Okay, we needn't.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
That's all you get right now.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
So sometime in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I'll say sometime very soon, okay.
Speaker 6 (11:17):
And then of course elevation worships on tour.
Speaker 8 (11:19):
We we saw what sixteen cities with elevation nights this
past year and it was incredible nights in ministry. Yeah,
and then we're headed right back out in February of
this year. Yeah, eight more cities in February. Can't wait
to see what God does.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
I mean, tour is amazing.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
And the thing that I love about tour is it's
not just Elevation Worship.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
It's like it's like.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Elevation Church came to your town. It yea and filled
an arena exactly. And so you get like all your
favorite songs, and then you get a word from Pastor Stephen,
and you get Epham you know, in the not the lobby,
but like whatever it's called the concourse. Of course, you
get to meet Chad and all of our e fam
(12:03):
gets to come together, and they're just such incredible nights.
And we're going back out again and I'm so excited.
Speaker 14 (12:11):
We have the dates.
Speaker 9 (12:12):
But we got another video. We got another video video.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
All right, all right, check this out. Here's Elevation Nights.
Speaker 15 (12:37):
It's amazing because this last time we had I think
over one hundred and sixty thousand people who showed up
this year and it is crazy, I mean you were
saying it, but to gather in person. A lot of
these people are part of our e fam who watch
online and so to get everybody in a room together
is crazy. One of the things I love that we do, though,
is when we get to meet with a lot of
(12:58):
the fan people who call Elevation Church family out in
the concourse. As you were saying, we have these little
stations set up and people stop by. But what Brick
gets to do a lot of times share with you
like your little station that you have.
Speaker 12 (13:09):
It's awesome, it's so special. It's my favorite thing that
we get to do. So we have an area where
we get to pray with you, and so you can
write a prayer request down and even to this day,
if you've written a request down, we're still praying for you.
We have our teams hereas that pray over you, your
family or whatever it is that you need prayer for.
And so you mentioned it, it's a night of ministry
(13:31):
and it goes deeper than just like a room full
of people. We love the opportunity to see the individual
people and their needs and then align our faith with
you and what you need to see God do in
your life.
Speaker 8 (13:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, and we're pouring out as a
ministry into people. But I will say how much I
feel like, yeah, I get filled when I get to
read testimonies or you know, read the cards that someone
wrote a prayer request down and then months later have
in fact heard the test mony how God answered that prayer.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
We're getting to meet people even there.
Speaker 8 (14:04):
We've done that backstage and gotten to hear personally from them.
How you know one of our songs carried them through
a sleepless night and that's just I mean, that's so fueling.
And it's like I have no business being in the
position i am, but thank you Jesus. And we just
get to be a part of a ministry like this.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
Yeah, and we're not just at our campuses and on tour,
but we also do pop ups.
Speaker 9 (14:31):
I mean pop ups have been amazing.
Speaker 15 (14:33):
We've been doing these for a few years now, and
it actually started kind of right out of COVID. We
were like, well, everybody's watching online, now can we actually
take church to people on Sunday.
Speaker 9 (14:42):
It's not an event, it's just.
Speaker 15 (14:44):
Literally we bring some of the Elevation Worship crew and
we get people from all over the world who say, hey,
I'd love to be baptized.
Speaker 9 (14:51):
I'd love to take that step, and we thought, well,
let's bring a baptism. Thanks to that. Yeah, and let's
do baptism.
Speaker 15 (14:56):
So this year we've been able to do twelve pop
up and we're all over the United States.
Speaker 9 (15:02):
We wrapped up this year in Los Angeles.
Speaker 15 (15:05):
We've seen over fifteen thousand people join with us at
these pages and we've got the opportunity to baptize over
fifteen hundred people.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
Incredible it is.
Speaker 15 (15:15):
It is absolutely incredible, And every stop it just never
ceases to.
Speaker 9 (15:21):
Blow a mind.
Speaker 15 (15:21):
There's people lining up around the building. But what's cool
is every place that we go, it's like it feels
like church.
Speaker 9 (15:28):
It feels like this is family.
Speaker 15 (15:31):
Yes, and we really try to make it feel that way.
From you know, if you attend to campus, we want
you to come and attend one of these and think
I want you to see the banner and it's like, oh,
that's my church. They're here, and so as people are
coming in, you're what you're seeing familiar faces, but as
people who are part of this family. And so just
the opportunity that we get, I'm always so blown away,
(15:53):
Like you said, who are we that we get to
travel around and do this, like to be able to
go to a place and bring church like this to
where so many of you.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Are One of my favorite things that we did in
twenty twenty four was my husband released a book, and
it was his first book in eight years, and.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
The book was called Do the New Year.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
Yes, and the book, I mean, besides like releasing it
to the world and like all the things that came
along with it, I just so loved this book. Like
I'm just continually blown away at how God continues.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
To use our pastor's words.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
So it's it could be when he's preaching, it could
be through the songs that he's writing, or through the
words of a book.
Speaker 7 (16:41):
And this particular book.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
He gave us the six mindsets and then the chapters
within the mindsets, and it was just I mean, it
was just so much fun to get to read that
book and release it and to hear people talking about
it and to hear how it was ministering to all
of you.
Speaker 10 (16:58):
And I don't know any of you, I think we
do have to thank God for the way that he
used your voice because.
Speaker 16 (17:03):
If we remember, oh I remember, if we remember pastors,
I mean, by the power of the Holly Spirit, God,
God use your voice to be able to.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Say, well, it was special for me because you know,
like everybody needs moments where you feel like, oh, God
does hear my prayers. God does answer prayers. And it
was like one of those moments. And we shared the
story many times where you know, I had just been praying,
Like we had many conversations and we had this one
like I wouldn't.
Speaker 7 (17:36):
Say it was a fight, but it was.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
It was a little heated conversation and intense.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
And I just felt, you know, like that's enough, Like
when you know, and sometimes you're having a conversation with
somebody that you really love and you're really trying to
push them, but then you know that like you've said
enough and it's time to just move on. And and
so whenever that happens to me, I have said enough
to that. But then I know that a guy can
(18:02):
say all my thanks to God, and so I just
kept leaving it with God. And then it just happened,
and we got to release the book and it's so good.
If you haven't read Do the New you you have
to get a copy. We're leaving all the links, by
the way, everything that we talk about in the description.
If you're looking for a link, it's going to be
right there. So if you want to link to the album,
(18:23):
you want to link to Do the New You. It's
everywhere books are sold and it's so incredible. And so
then we got to do an E group study with
Do the New You, and that was such an incredible
I mean, so many people in our church are part
of an E group. Now if you're not a part
of any group, it doesn't matter where you live. We
have E groups for everyone, every age, every area. We
(18:46):
have groups that meet in person, groups that meet virtual,
and mostly our groups discuss the sermons. And what was
cool about Do the New You is that it was
like everything overlapped, Like.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
We had a song, we had the sermons.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Week, we had the book to discuss, and then we
had E groups that were discussing all of it.
Speaker 12 (19:05):
And it was such a great moment. Fun facts about
twelve thousand people in our church. I'd love to know
who you are like went through this study together. So
it was also such a special unifying time in our church.
Speaker 14 (19:19):
But we did. We unpacked these mindsets.
Speaker 17 (19:21):
I love.
Speaker 14 (19:22):
If you've been around, maybe you've heard of say this.
Speaker 12 (19:24):
E groups make our church, a big church feel small,
and so it's one thing to hear it, it's another
thing to unpack it and make it personal in your life.
And that's what we got to do for these six
weeks together, and so we got to take them to
another level, really get them in our hearts that we
can really love them out. And so we loved our
time together and it was just really special.
Speaker 14 (19:46):
It really was. You let us so well through it too.
Thank you for videos. Yeah that one, I'm like every
single one of us were a part of that.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 14 (19:55):
Yeah, it was a really special time together.
Speaker 7 (19:56):
Oh, it was awesome.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
And I just I love the e groups of our
church because it's a place where I feel like God
can take what he's speaking to you when you listen
to the sermon, but it takes It's like the roots
go deeper when you are able to discuss it with
other people and you hear other people processing what God
is speaking to them, and it just solidifies what God
(20:21):
is speaking. And so I just think it's so powerful
and you can still be a part of any group
an elevation. There'll be a link in the description.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
Okay, other fun things that have gone on. Tell us
a little bit about outreach.
Speaker 12 (20:32):
Okay, you've said this, Pastor Holly, and it has stuck
with me. You said that if the groups are what
make a big church feel small, yes, then outreach is
what makes a big church feel big.
Speaker 14 (20:43):
Yeah, And that is so true.
Speaker 12 (20:45):
Outreach is such a special part of our ministry because
it really is one of the areas where we get
to live out our faith. And I feel like if
you've been a part of it, then you know that
you've walked through this all year long. I mean, we
do everything from Dream Week. We kick off the Ears
Strong with Outreach Love Week, I mean, and then we
also like go into like you guys remember the response
(21:06):
that we did, Yeah, Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
What was crazy?
Speaker 5 (21:10):
Was like in my mind, I thought we were just
gonna be asking our campuses.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
To show up and bring stuff. But Epham was like,
oh no, you're not doing this without us, and.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
So you can created an Amazon wishless And I don't
know if anybody remembers this, but the Amazon guy we
did this video.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
It made me cry because the Amazon delivery man.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Was like, we haven't seen this many packages since the
week before Christmas last year and we're all being delivered
here and yet like it was so incredible because you know,
we're a big church and sometimes you need to feel
how big it is. And it was like mobilizing an
army of people who are like I'll send something, I'll
sort something, i'll deliver something, everything.
Speaker 12 (21:55):
I mean, it was so immediately, like you guys showed
up immediately. I mean we just started getting like packages
and people showing up giving their time.
Speaker 14 (22:05):
And it was such a powerful time to just be like,
this is the church.
Speaker 13 (22:10):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
And it made me so proud of our church because
I feel like it was a moment where we got
to see how all of the strategic systems that we've
been building and how all year it was like everything
sort of culminated because you know, we say this all
the time, but twelve percent of every dollar given to Elevation.
Speaker 7 (22:31):
Church goes to our outreach efforts.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
And so when a disaster happens, we're we're ready with funds.
You don't have to wonder should I give to this organization?
Speaker 18 (22:40):
Is this is this?
Speaker 5 (22:41):
You know, somebody who's being honest with you already give
to your church, so you know that your church is
going to support whatever it is. But then throughout the
year we have events where we're whatever you know, Love
Week or the Dream Weekend where we're packing backpacks or
we're making flood kits, and so then whenever disaster happens,
we're ready emptied out our warehouse. And it was just
(23:03):
I was so proud to be a part of Elevation
and Elevation outreach and to be able to represent our
church in that moment was really special.
Speaker 10 (23:12):
I love how our church shows up in these moments
where it's these national disasters, but I think sometimes people
don't realize that there's outreach events happening all the time.
You know, We've had people going back and forth to
Ashville since that. We can't like it wasn't just the
one time and there left. Yeah, I'm proud of the
way that our church continues to show up. So these
big moments where we have to show up, but then
(23:33):
throughout the week, whether it's like meeting with schools or
feeding teachers.
Speaker 9 (23:37):
Breakfasts and things like that. So that's just the heart
of our church showing up.
Speaker 10 (23:41):
It's happening all the time, all the time, all the time.
So we get to do both in the moments that
it's desperate and we got to show up, and then
when it's just showing up for people on a day
to day basis.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
Our church does that too, all right, So God is
expanding so many areas of our church.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
Chet tell us about some.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Of the really fun things that we have coming in
twenty twenty five and some of the things that we
accomplished in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 10 (24:06):
Well, one of the strategies that you know, we implemented
I guess a few years ago is that we just
really wanted to be focused on having some permanency in
the communities that we were in. So we just wanted
to focus on what campuses were we setting up and
tearing down, and maybe we were at the whim of
the school or whether or not we could have church
that weekend or do an event. And because of the
generous people of our church, we were able to really
(24:28):
start to be aggressive at looking for facilities that we
would be able to go in and renovate or buy
land to build so that Elevation Church could be permanent
in that community. So at the end of last year
we were able to open up Belmont and so they
just had a full year ministry and then Columbia was
able to celebrate Christmas in.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Their new building this year.
Speaker 10 (24:48):
So yeah, Taylor and Nikki Seidel they had a.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Parking lot party.
Speaker 7 (24:54):
I saw it.
Speaker 10 (24:55):
I saw it for three hundred people to come just
to have a night to be ab to worship before
they open up the building.
Speaker 9 (25:02):
A thousand people showed up.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
That's crazy.
Speaker 10 (25:05):
They had ten salvations that night in the parking lot
before we even open up the building at Columbia.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Okay.
Speaker 10 (25:12):
So then coming into twenty twenty five, Greenville. Greenville will
be opening up hopefully summer twenty twenty five. Then we
have Uptown, who should be opening summer of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
We got a really cool location, really cool location.
Speaker 10 (25:27):
When you step out on the Fourier, you're able to
look up and see the skyline of the city of Charlotte.
That's pretty amazing. And then Toronto East. Toronto East was
a new campus that we actually launched this year. No, no,
don't apologize. It was at the end of last year
that we launched Toronto East. God's doing so much in Toronto. Last,
but not least Raleigh, Raleigh, North Carolina. We purchased Land
(25:49):
and Raleigh and have been working hard over really the
last year and a half to be able to push
through permits and all of those things to get it done,
but we're finally able to start breaking Brown Raleigh. But
one of the things I wanted to highlight with Raleigh,
I got a picture of Isaiah being baptized. This is
on the ground where we're going to be building Elevation Raleigh.
(26:12):
Here's the beauty beauty of this picture is before we
break ground, we're already had a baptism.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (26:19):
And the one that I think about this and think
about the mission of our church so that people far
from God would be raised to life in Christ. And so, yes,
we're talking about these buildings. You're seeing some of the
renderings and all of that, but what we're really excited
about is the ministry that's going to be happening in
these walls.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
People.
Speaker 10 (26:34):
I just want to thank all of you faithfully give
an Elevation Church so that when an opportunity like this
opens up, we're able to jump on it.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
That's right. We have resource set.
Speaker 10 (26:44):
Aside, we can get ahead of projects because of your
generosity to be able to jump in and see what
God can do through through our church.
Speaker 18 (26:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
And I love how when people people give, it's this
spirit of of like, well, this ministry has touched my
life so much and even though I attend a camp,
you know, like University City, that is already a permanent
location the generous spirit of I need.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
I want other people to experience that too. I want
to create a seat somewhere else.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
It's just such a beautiful thing to see when we
come together. I mean, it's another way that a big
church feels big, because when every gift matters, because when
we pull all of our gifts together, God is able
to do miracles. Before we leave, I have to spend
some time talking about some of the amazing sermons that
we heard just this year, twenty twenty four.
Speaker 7 (27:35):
Now I looked last night.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
I looked at a list of all of Pastor Stephen
sermons just in twenty four, just the titles, and I
was blown away.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
I was like, how does this man do this?
Speaker 5 (27:49):
I preached three four, I preached four baby sermons, Okay, okay,
but this man preached like thirty five times and his
titles are brilliant and they come together. And we had,
you know, we had do the New You. We had
ghost Writers series. We had this series that was towards
(28:10):
the end of the year. I don't know if it
ever got a name, but you know, it was like
God is Oh, now I can't remember all of them
working in.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Can you do them all?
Speaker 9 (28:22):
Don't challenge?
Speaker 14 (28:25):
God's got the hard part.
Speaker 7 (28:27):
And then the last one, I'm cheating. I'm looking at
my nose.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
Oh, God gave it to me.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
I mean, those were incredible messages that we ended the
year with, but we started the year strong. And so
I had everybody in this room come with their favorite
sermon and we're just gonna watch a clip and chat
about them. Chris, what was your favorite sermon of the year?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
All right?
Speaker 8 (28:49):
So I mean also kind of like picking favorite kids, Yes,
but totally for the exercise.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
In August, he preached two titles, Me and.
Speaker 8 (28:59):
God getting back together, got Back Together and breaking the
bondage of wrong belief. So it's in Judges six he's
talking about Gideon. Gideon's hiding in a wine press because
the nation of Israel has been in captivity for seven
years and God shows up. Gideon's feeling like a whimp
(29:22):
and God. The first thing God says to him is, hey,
mighty warrior. So he's feeling a certain kind of way.
God doesn't speak to how he's feeling. God speaks to
how God sees him, and then this is really where
Pastor spent most of the time. Then the first thing
God asked him to act on is go and tear
(29:45):
down the altar of bail of your father. And so
the question that Pastor kind of kept coming back to
was what wrong beliefs do we need to break up
with in order to move forward and see ourselves as
God does.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
It's so good.
Speaker 8 (30:03):
So I mean kind of a perfect way as we
step into a new year, like what old mindsets have
no business going into twenty five with us?
Speaker 6 (30:13):
I think I've got a clip.
Speaker 14 (30:14):
Let's check this out.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
I see some people that I preach to. You're trying
to build your life back. You're trying to build your
hope back. You're trying to build your business back. You're
trying to build your family back. You're trying to build
your sobriety back. You had eighty one days and now
you're back on day two. But that's okay, because as
you are trying to build it back, God wants to
show you something that will make sure that this time
(30:36):
you build it, what you build will stand the test
of the battle that you face.
Speaker 7 (30:44):
Because because if all I.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Do is build an altar while Pastor Stephen is preaching.
And if all I do is say, Okay, I'm going
to stack some new habits and I'm going to do
some new things, and okay, the Lord is peace.
Speaker 17 (31:00):
Found out something that you cannot have God's peace and
keep it without having God's priorities. God's peace without God's
priorities is always temporary. The kind of peace that you've
(31:20):
been seeking in your life, craving in your life, crying
out for in your life, that kind of peace, that
that permanent peace, that storm speaking peace, that lay your
head on the pillow of a lion's main kind of
peace that I'm in a fire. But I see the
fourth Man kind of peace.
Speaker 18 (31:40):
The kind of peace that can know that greater is
he that is in me than he that is in
the world, and there's more with us than with them.
And I don't have to be afraid about any of it.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
That kind of peace only comes from priorities.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, I'm good.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
I wrote this.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
I wrote this in my notes. I thought this was
so powerful. No breakup, no breakthrough.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
Yes, And it's like until you break up with those habits,
with those ways of thinking, with those like you said,
those those mindsets that you've believed about yourself aren't true.
Speaker 7 (32:26):
Until you break up with those things.
Speaker 6 (32:28):
You don't get to have breakthrough.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
And we all want breakthrough, but a lot of times
we don't want to do the work that it takes
to get that breakthrough.
Speaker 7 (32:35):
And it was just such a convicting message.
Speaker 10 (32:38):
The whole idea of God's peace is connected to God's priority.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (32:43):
I mean that's enough to go into right there and
just say, Okay, how am I going to count my day?
Is this a lot with what God has for me?
And not be mad when you don't experience the peace
of God and you haven't taken time to be able
to prioritize your effect your life effect.
Speaker 15 (33:01):
Is like the daily thing though, because a lot of
times I think that it's like a moment where it's
like Okay, I'm gonna go destroy that altar and then
that's done, like okay, and it's not really that well,
it's like a daily thing. Every day. God's calling you
a mighty warrior. Okay, okay, I'll do it today. So
that's the thing that I feel like I miss a lot.
It's like it's not a moment, it's a daily decision
(33:24):
to believe that.
Speaker 9 (33:25):
Okay, God, I'm a mighty warrior. That's tough.
Speaker 12 (33:27):
Yeah. The thing that you need to make real practical, right,
Like you got to write some of these down. You
mentioned looking back at our notes. That's a great sermon
to go back look at your notes. You got to
write it down. You need to schedule it. You mentioned that, like,
what does your calendar look like? Like are you scheduling
according to the priorities that you feel like God's put
in front of you, and so making it as.
Speaker 14 (33:45):
Practical as you can to be as successful as we
can at this all.
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Right, Britt, Okay, you like the Easter sermon.
Speaker 14 (33:51):
I love the Easter sermon.
Speaker 12 (33:54):
The Easter sermon was so good, and I mean all
of pastors Steve and sermons speak to you. This one
was the one of the year that I feel like
I felt the most scene because maybe it's just because
of how I'm wired.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
I don't know, crazy though, how he can do that.
How like he'll just.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Say something and you're like, oh my gosh, yes for me,
I'll actually think I'm like he better stop because I really.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Feel like he's talk about me.
Speaker 12 (34:27):
But I'm not.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
That's just the Holy Spirit just speaks through him and
it just like cuts straight to you and sorry interrupted, No.
Speaker 14 (34:36):
No, this is great.
Speaker 12 (34:37):
This sermon was called something in Between maybe you remember it,
and he preached from Matthew twenty eight and so this
was our Eastern sermon. So he preached about the Mary's
going to the tomb. Yeah, and he really camped in
a verse and you know scripture, and you know, I
don't know, like maybe you have a tradition where like
(34:58):
I don't know if you read the Easter Story. Like
my in laws they read the Easter Story of the
Christmas Story every holiday. And I'm like, I have read
this story. I know it so many times. And it
was such a beautiful revelation that he bulled because he
specifically camped out whenever he talked about they were leaving
the tomb and they left with fear yet joy.
Speaker 7 (35:22):
Yeah, we got a clip. We gotta clip yellows.
Speaker 14 (35:24):
SHOT's watch it.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
And I love this phrase because this is how I
feel afraid yet filled with joy. This is not a
translation error, by the way, because most of us think
like you're either going to be afraid or filled with joy.
I had somebody ask me the other day, I was
(35:46):
going to do something that was a big deal, and
they said, are you looking forward to it or are
you dreading it? And I was like, are those the
only two options? Because I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
I'm not exactly dreading it.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I'm something and it can change from moment to moment.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
I'm like, really grateful for this life God has given
me and this influence that He gave me. And then
sometimes that anticipation feels like anxiety, and sometimes my anxiety
feels like anticipation, and sometimes listen to this. The difference
(36:34):
between anticipation and anxiety is the way you label it.
I stand before you today excited and afraid. I stand
before you today a sinner and a saint. I stand
before you today a flawed man and a child of God.
And I'm never all of both.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I'm something in between.
Speaker 12 (36:56):
Okay, now I know you guys see why I felt
so seen because I feel like that is literally me,
Like we're all Our faith is just a constant journey,
and it gets so frustrating when you're like, you see
where it is.
Speaker 14 (37:11):
That God would have you be.
Speaker 12 (37:13):
You're like, okay, Lord, you say love my enemies, to
pray something, to be kind and to be generous, and
then somebody says the wrong thing on the wrong day
and you're like, oh, I was working so hard on this,
you know, and I'm got slipping, But like no, sometimes
it is both like yes, like I want to be
(37:33):
like holy and I want to be closer to God
in this one. But then also like I understand that
like God made me where like I am a big
feeler and I'm both I'm somewhere in between, and so
I feel like for me, it was really the permission slip,
that I have permission to keep growing, and it's not
(37:53):
I'm not a failure because I'm somewhere in between and
I haven't yet arrived and I may never arrive until
I get to Heaven, and that okay, as long as
I'm on my constant journey to growth.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
You know what I loved from the sermon when he said,
even when it's not all good, it's all God. And man,
that's like, that's real faith to trust that, even when
it's not all good, whatever you're going through in your life,
to be able to say, I know this is all God,
and I know that it's not good now, but it's
(38:30):
going to be good. That's right and so powerful.
Speaker 14 (38:34):
He also said it similar like this.
Speaker 12 (38:37):
He said, we're all something in between, so we can
all find ourselves in this, he said, and we need
Jesus in between. And sometimes that's the part that I
think is so easy for us to forget.
Speaker 7 (38:47):
Okay, let's get to mine.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
I wanted to go all the way back to the
beginning of the year when Pastor Stephen got out his guitar,
so we had worship Pastor Stephen.
Speaker 6 (39:02):
And this sermon. It just really touched me.
Speaker 7 (39:05):
So check this out.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
It's amazing when you're in tune with the grace of God.
It's amazing when you're in tune with the voice of God.
When I'm in tune with you, Lord, I don't have
to fight so much when I'm in tune.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
With you, Lord.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
I don't have to manipulate so much. When I'm in
tune with you, Lord, I don't have to defend myself.
You fight my battles when I'm in tune with you, Lord.
Somebody say, Lord, I want to be in tune.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
With you.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
When I'm in tune with you.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Lord, my problems look small. When I'm in tune with you, Lord.
It feels like all things are possible when I'm in
tune with you, Lord, I can scale a wall. When
I'm in in tune with you, Lord, the giant looks
like an opportunity, not a problem. When I'm in tune
(40:05):
with you, Lord, I'm able to laugh at what used
to make me cry. When I'm in tune with you, Lord,
I'm able to cry and know that tears don't last always,
but joy comes in the morning.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
When I'm in tune with you, Lord. It's a beautiful
thing to be in tune.
Speaker 5 (40:30):
This sermon was just like it's just one of those beautiful,
comforting sermons.
Speaker 7 (40:37):
He said. I just thought this.
Speaker 5 (40:39):
Sometimes, don't you feel like somebody's pastor Steven will say
something that sort of like sets.
Speaker 7 (40:43):
You free from a certain way that you were feeling.
Speaker 5 (40:46):
And he said, from the same heart comes your greatest
fears and your greatest faith.
Speaker 7 (40:53):
And so then he said, therefore, your heart is a harp,
and it has to be tuned to truth.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
And the whole sermon he's talking about tuning your heart
to truth and being able to hear what God is
saying to you.
Speaker 6 (41:06):
And so then like as the sermon.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Progressed, though like first I got a hug and then
I got a little what would we say earlier, a little.
Speaker 7 (41:15):
Push because he said.
Speaker 6 (41:16):
Tuning feels like tension.
Speaker 5 (41:19):
And it's like, when you think about tuning your heart
to God's word and to God's praise, you.
Speaker 6 (41:25):
Think it's gonna be like warm.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
And fuzzy feeling, but actually it feels like tension because
there's something that happens.
Speaker 7 (41:32):
That draws you closer to God.
Speaker 5 (41:35):
And then I just like again he ended gave us
some homework, and the homework was so good.
Speaker 7 (41:42):
He said, pause, tune, praise.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
Repeat, and it's like, oh, okay, so Monday morning, when
I feel the tension, pause tune, Praise repeat, over and
over and over again. And it was just something so
practical that really just gave me the momentum.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
For the year that I just really needed.
Speaker 12 (42:08):
Yeah, so good. He said, this is how I wrote
it down. God's not changing his standard to fit you.
He's going to bring you up. And that was so powerful.
Sometimes I don't know if it's just a weird thing
I do, but sometimes after I hear sermon, I'll write
down in my notes like how I'm feeling or like
what it's speaking to me.
Speaker 14 (42:28):
Yeah, And.
Speaker 12 (42:30):
I literally wrote to myself. This is really funny. Reading
it back, I was like, I know, it couldn't have
just been me. This had to be thousands. I was like,
but something shifted in me during that sermon. I've got
some tuning to do. Yeah, And so it was one
of those types of messages. And so I'm so glad
that you picked that one because it's really great to
just sit here and even revisit it going into the
new year about like we've got some tuning to do
(42:52):
going into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 8 (42:53):
Yeah, And he talked about how setting our heart is
a decision. Yes, yes, it's not as not default, which,
by the way, I mean one of the greatest illustrations truly,
but like if also, like heading into this next year,
we're all wanting to set goals. Those goals are going
(43:14):
to be accomplished or met through decisions, daily decisions, or
if we want our minds stayed on Christ, if we
want our hearts to remain filled with peace that comes
through decision, not just because we decided one day and
thought that was going to be the default that lasted
us for the next month.
Speaker 10 (43:33):
He's us guitar players tune in between songs, you know,
what I mean. It's this, It's this rhythm of the
constantly tune one part of the message. He was talking
about being tuned to tradition, and that's the hardest to change.
Speaker 14 (43:51):
You know.
Speaker 10 (43:51):
How do you tune to truth when this is what
my mom did, this is my granddad, this is and
I'm tuned to something that I've seen over and over
and over again.
Speaker 9 (43:59):
But pause and ask yourself the question, is it the truth?
Is this what God says?
Speaker 12 (44:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 10 (44:05):
And if not, that tension, yeah, you know what I mean.
Being able to commit to that, I think is faiful.
Speaker 18 (44:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (44:12):
This has been so much fun talking with all of you,
And I want to encourage you. If you're watching right
now and maybe you have some downtime, The week between
Christmas and New Year's is like the weirdest week of
the year, and it's like time between so slow, and
so I just want to encourage you to go back,
find your favorite sermon of the year, watch it again,
(44:33):
find your notes, read through them, and rediscover some of
the things that God spoke to you in twenty twenty.
Speaker 6 (44:38):
Four as you look forward to twenty twenty five. We've
got the links to all of these sermons.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
Our favorites of the year, but you've got yours too,
and they're all there available for you right here on
the Elevation Church YouTube. And so I just want to
encourage you to take some time to go back and
think about the things that God has spoken to you
this year and the things that God has done for
you this year, because it has been an incredible year
(45:04):
and God has sure been good to us, and as
you've seen today, there is so much more to be
grateful for and so much to look forward to. And
next year will actually be in our twentieth year of ministry.
Speaker 6 (45:20):
I cannot believe it. So in February we will.
Speaker 5 (45:22):
Celebrate our nineteen year nineteen, but that launches our twentieth
year of ministry, and we're making plans to celebrate big
all year long.
Speaker 7 (45:34):
So more to come on.
Speaker 5 (45:36):
That, but make sure you stay tuned to Elevation because
twenty twenty five is going to be incredible. So as
we close out this year, I just want to take
a moment to thank all of you who have stepped
out in faith to be a.
Speaker 6 (45:48):
Part of our year in offering.
Speaker 5 (45:50):
We didn't get to talk about that together, but your
generosity is a powerful testimony of the impact that we're
making together and it's helping to fuel the next season
of our church.
Speaker 6 (46:01):
So thank you, thank you, thank.
Speaker 5 (46:02):
You for your partnership and what God is doing through
this ministry. As you've seen today, this is solid ground
to put down roots in and stay planted. This is
a place where you can experience community. It's a place
where you can hear from God every single week. It's
a place where you can serve, and it's a place
where you are truly making a difference. And if you
(46:25):
hadn't had a chance yet, there's still time to be
a part of our year end offering. All you have
to do is go to Elevationchurch dot org and click
the give now button by December thirty first, which is
just two days away. So thank you for being with
us today and let's step into this new year with
our hearts full of faith and expectation. Let's keep moving
(46:48):
forward and trusting God every step of the way. I
cannot wait to see what's ahead for us, And I
just want you to know that Pastor Stephen and I
we love you, we're praying for you, and you're so
grateful to get to do ministry with each and every
one of you.
Speaker 14 (47:05):
I hope you have a.
Speaker 5 (47:06):
Blessed and happy New Year and I'll see you next Sunday.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 3 (47:38):
God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. I thank you that one thought of
you today, one thought can change the way we see ourselves.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
When God puts something significant in me, the enemy sends
something significant after me.
Speaker 5 (00:37):
Find your tambourine and figure out how to praise even
in the waiting.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
And the proof that I know that God still has
something amazing ahead for your life is that you're still here.
Speaker 6 (00:55):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
Everyone, Welcome to church. I hope that you had a
wonderful Christmas. I hope that you were surrounded by the
people that you love. I hope that you ate all
of the amazing foods that you love, because you know
calories don't count on Christmas. I hope that you had
time to rest and nap and enjoy the peace that
this season brings. Now, this is the one Sunday of
(01:18):
the year where our entire church is epham, So I
want to see the comments flying right now. Let us
know where you are joining from. Maybe say hello to
someone else in the chat that's.
Speaker 6 (01:29):
Not from your state.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Pastor Steven and I are continually amazed at the people
that God has brought together across the world who make
up the people of Elevation Church. And it is the
honor of a lifetime to get to do ministry with you.
Today is evident that you are finishing the year strong.
You're making church a priority, and that is something to
(01:52):
celebrate because twenty twenty four has been an immeasurably more.
Speaker 7 (01:57):
Year for our church.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
We have seen some true, incredible blessings. We've reached new
communities all around the world. We've continued to be a
resource for those in need, and we have seen thousands
of lives transformed. The impact of our church and our
ability to share the hope of the Gospel is greater
than Pastor Stephen and I could have ever thought possible.
(02:21):
And that is because of you. You give so generously
of your time and your gifts, and you keep doing
your part, and God continues to move you know, Jesus
says in John ten, He says, I have come that
they may have life and have it to the full.
And as we continue to be the church, we get
(02:43):
to experience the fullness of life that God has promised us.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Looking back on twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Four, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for the ways
that we have seen God move, and as.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
We look ahead to.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Twenty twenty five, I'm feel with expectation, knowing that even
greater things are yet to come. So today I thought
it would be fun to take a moment to reflect
on the incredible moments from the past year and then
maybe take a peek ahead to all of the amazing
things that God has for us in the year to come.
(03:18):
And I thought that I would invite some friends to
join us. It's going to be a great time, a
great conversation, and I'm glad that you're here with us.
So let me introduce to you some of my friends.
These are all familiar faces, but I just want to
give you a formal introduction. This is Chris Brown, who
you probably know from Elevation Worship. And then we've got
(03:39):
britt at Consola in the middle here, who is our
ministry's pastor. Pastor Chad Zolo, our online pastor you all
know him, and Pastor chet Pete, who is our UC
University City shout out campus pastor. We've got to talk
about worship first, because this was an incredible year for
Elevation worship.
Speaker 8 (04:00):
I can't, I can't believe we're what almost twenty years in.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah, we released our.
Speaker 8 (04:05):
Seventeenth worship album maybe eighteenth nineteen.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
You can see exactly exactly.
Speaker 8 (04:11):
That's a long story, all these years in almost two decades.
It's crazy how God allows our ministry to go places
that we may physically never show up or set our feet,
but the Word of God goes there, and a lot
of times that's happening through our shorge.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
Yeah, I feel like there are so many people who
have found our church through elevation.
Speaker 8 (04:35):
It's incredible, so grateful. It is a crazy year. When
Wind meets Fire.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Okay to say, I think When Wind meets Fire is
my favorite Elevation Worship album.
Speaker 8 (04:46):
It's incredible. People ask me what, what's my favorite song?
What's my favorite album? The favorite album? Answer is always
what's the most recent one?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
We just did? So I agree it's my favorite too,
but for good reason.
Speaker 9 (04:59):
Nowavorite song?
Speaker 8 (05:00):
See, it's a album it is you got we might
get there, but I'll say sure, been good.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, I love sure been good to the day I died.
Speaker 10 (05:12):
Yeah, Jesus are the albums and the songs are like
your kids.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Like you know, you can't choose a favorite.
Speaker 6 (05:19):
I have a favorite take, you have a favorite favorite song?
Speaker 9 (05:30):
Okay, all right, I'm going to say it.
Speaker 8 (05:33):
No when win means fire though the song it's it's
a rock opera. We got like God is Not against
Me is on there? Which was what a sermon? It
turned into a song that also made.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
Chapter in a book.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah, exactly, and one of the mindsets. I mean, it
wasn't just a chapter, it was like a section in
the room.
Speaker 8 (05:51):
Absolutely. I mean, new Thing Coming, which is so fun. Also,
I mean, what a great song to to end one year.
So many great songs. I can't believe it's seventeenth album.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
I can't believe it is.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
It's incredible.
Speaker 8 (06:06):
Also, I mean, we got a shout out rhythm for
Goodbye Yesterday.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
How good is that song?
Speaker 9 (06:12):
It's so good, so good.
Speaker 8 (06:13):
Also, actually another perfect song to end one year, And.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
That's true.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
I love worshiping of that song.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
It just makes me so happy and you start like shouting.
Speaker 6 (06:25):
I have decided to follow Jesus.
Speaker 10 (06:27):
I feel like at a youth I mean, I got
a rhythm night and to hear are you declaring that?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (06:35):
But then to see it on a Sunday morning and
balanine'e and I mean it like.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
They're going strong, it goes crazy. Also, I mean selfish.
Speaker 8 (06:46):
I'll shout out praise too, because praise just kept released
it well over a year ago, not not this year,
but it just kept reaching more people. So the way
God's working through our ministry, how He's using the songs.
Speaker 6 (06:59):
Is it's incredible.
Speaker 8 (07:01):
I think we have a clipless show saying, hey, I.
Speaker 11 (07:07):
Got you don't get it what we what we call
don this sol thing. You've never run out big? Put it?
Speaker 12 (07:21):
Put it.
Speaker 11 (07:24):
By God. He's not a dance He's a shires as
this says a little little wayes Hi.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Do the songs on the bed room right down.
Speaker 13 (07:44):
Sons to get ready.
Speaker 9 (07:52):
For done the one because I done. The money's a.
Speaker 13 (07:58):
Great shop thing, incredible, amazing, It's amazing how many good songs,
(08:23):
so that many.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Song after song after song. I just am blown away.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Okay, So, Chris, one of the things I want to
put people on the spot that are on the sofa,
and I want to know, are there any secrets.
Speaker 12 (08:38):
Five.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
I want to know, are there any.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
Secrets that's the people watching today can can get O?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
All right? All right? So well, can I let me
share a little story?
Speaker 14 (08:49):
Okay? Stories?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
May of this year, I got a phone call. I
think you happen to be in the car.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (08:56):
I got a phone call from your husband, Pastor Stephen,
and he says, you know, all these songs that have
been sitting on our phones, We've never recorded them, we've
never sung them in church, We've never figured out what
do we want to do with them.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I got the idea.
Speaker 8 (09:10):
What we need to do is get our friends together, Brandon, Lake, Channer, Moore, Leland, Pat,
the two of us, and let's just have fun and
let's record these and let's let's start a new group,
a new a boy band, if you will, but not
really a boy band, but a new twenty four twenty
(09:33):
five man band. And it's going to be called Sons
of Sunday. My secret is Sons of Sunday SOS. So
we got together in September and we recorded so many
songs in this amazing little chapel, and we banged on
(09:54):
pianos and guitars and tambourines and we cried and we
laughed and we lost our voice is and we recorded
so many songs and uh, it's gonna come out in
full album form, brand new album, all new songs people
have not heard.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
But it's coming, Sons of Sunday. I'll tell you what
you need to do.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
You actually need to go on socials right now and
search up Sons of Sunday because I mean we kind of.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Have been king and then you'll know when it's out
exactly and every song is so good and okay.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
Do we have a little.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
All right, so the secrets out?
Speaker 6 (10:30):
Okay, secrets out. Check us out.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
God gets a hold of you.
Speaker 9 (10:48):
It's no town. Watch alluded, nom time, watch.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Alloud, my gad, fight my key free.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
But if you back, come out, I'm bing out on me.
Speaker 14 (11:02):
I got fawing out.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
Okay, we needn't.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
That's all you get right now.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
So sometime in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I'll say sometime very soon, okay.
Speaker 6 (11:17):
And then of course elevation worships on tour.
Speaker 8 (11:19):
We we saw what sixteen cities with elevation nights this
past year and it was incredible nights in ministry. Yeah,
and then we're headed right back out in February of
this year. Yeah, eight more cities in February. Can't wait
to see what God does.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
I mean, tour is amazing.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
And the thing that I love about tour is it's
not just Elevation Worship.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
It's like it's like.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Elevation Church came to your town. It yea and filled
an arena exactly. And so you get like all your
favorite songs, and then you get a word from Pastor Stephen,
and you get Epham you know, in the not the lobby,
but like whatever it's called the concourse. Of course, you
get to meet Chad and all of our e fam
(12:03):
gets to come together, and they're just such incredible nights.
And we're going back out again and I'm so excited.
Speaker 14 (12:11):
We have the dates.
Speaker 9 (12:12):
But we got another video. We got another video video.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
All right, all right, check this out. Here's Elevation Nights.
Speaker 15 (12:37):
It's amazing because this last time we had I think
over one hundred and sixty thousand people who showed up
this year and it is crazy, I mean you were
saying it, but to gather in person. A lot of
these people are part of our e fam who watch
online and so to get everybody in a room together
is crazy. One of the things I love that we do, though,
is when we get to meet with a lot of
(12:58):
the fan people who call Elevation Church family out in
the concourse. As you were saying, we have these little
stations set up and people stop by. But what Brick
gets to do a lot of times share with you
like your little station that you have.
Speaker 12 (13:09):
It's awesome, it's so special. It's my favorite thing that
we get to do. So we have an area where
we get to pray with you, and so you can
write a prayer request down and even to this day,
if you've written a request down, we're still praying for you.
We have our teams hereas that pray over you, your
family or whatever it is that you need prayer for.
And so you mentioned it, it's a night of ministry
(13:31):
and it goes deeper than just like a room full
of people. We love the opportunity to see the individual
people and their needs and then align our faith with
you and what you need to see God do in
your life.
Speaker 8 (13:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, and we're pouring out as a
ministry into people. But I will say how much I
feel like, yeah, I get filled when I get to
read testimonies or you know, read the cards that someone
wrote a prayer request down and then months later have
in fact heard the test mony how God answered that prayer.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
We're getting to meet people even there.
Speaker 8 (14:04):
We've done that backstage and gotten to hear personally from them.
How you know one of our songs carried them through
a sleepless night and that's just I mean, that's so fueling.
And it's like I have no business being in the
position i am, but thank you Jesus. And we just
get to be a part of a ministry like this.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
Yeah, and we're not just at our campuses and on tour,
but we also do pop ups.
Speaker 9 (14:31):
I mean pop ups have been amazing.
Speaker 15 (14:33):
We've been doing these for a few years now, and
it actually started kind of right out of COVID. We
were like, well, everybody's watching online, now can we actually
take church to people on Sunday.
Speaker 9 (14:42):
It's not an event, it's just.
Speaker 15 (14:44):
Literally we bring some of the Elevation Worship crew and
we get people from all over the world who say, hey,
I'd love to be baptized.
Speaker 9 (14:51):
I'd love to take that step, and we thought, well,
let's bring a baptism. Thanks to that. Yeah, and let's
do baptism.
Speaker 15 (14:56):
So this year we've been able to do twelve pop
up and we're all over the United States.
Speaker 9 (15:02):
We wrapped up this year in Los Angeles.
Speaker 15 (15:05):
We've seen over fifteen thousand people join with us at
these pages and we've got the opportunity to baptize over
fifteen hundred people.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
Incredible it is.
Speaker 15 (15:15):
It is absolutely incredible, And every stop it just never
ceases to.
Speaker 9 (15:21):
Blow a mind.
Speaker 15 (15:21):
There's people lining up around the building. But what's cool
is every place that we go, it's like it feels
like church.
Speaker 9 (15:28):
It feels like this is family.
Speaker 15 (15:31):
Yes, and we really try to make it feel that way.
From you know, if you attend to campus, we want
you to come and attend one of these and think
I want you to see the banner and it's like, oh,
that's my church. They're here, and so as people are
coming in, you're what you're seeing familiar faces, but as
people who are part of this family. And so just
the opportunity that we get, I'm always so blown away,
(15:53):
Like you said, who are we that we get to
travel around and do this, like to be able to
go to a place and bring church like this to
where so many of you.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Are One of my favorite things that we did in
twenty twenty four was my husband released a book, and
it was his first book in eight years, and.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
The book was called Do the New Year.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
Yes, and the book, I mean, besides like releasing it
to the world and like all the things that came
along with it, I just so loved this book. Like
I'm just continually blown away at how God continues.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
To use our pastor's words.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
So it's it could be when he's preaching, it could
be through the songs that he's writing, or through the
words of a book.
Speaker 7 (16:41):
And this particular book.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
He gave us the six mindsets and then the chapters
within the mindsets, and it was just I mean, it
was just so much fun to get to read that
book and release it and to hear people talking about
it and to hear how it was ministering to all
of you.
Speaker 10 (16:58):
And I don't know any of you, I think we
do have to thank God for the way that he
used your voice because.
Speaker 16 (17:03):
If we remember, oh I remember, if we remember pastors,
I mean, by the power of the Holly Spirit, God,
God use your voice to be able to.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Say, well, it was special for me because you know,
like everybody needs moments where you feel like, oh, God
does hear my prayers. God does answer prayers. And it
was like one of those moments. And we shared the
story many times where you know, I had just been praying,
Like we had many conversations and we had this one
like I wouldn't.
Speaker 7 (17:36):
Say it was a fight, but it was.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
It was a little heated conversation and intense.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
And I just felt, you know, like that's enough, Like
when you know, and sometimes you're having a conversation with
somebody that you really love and you're really trying to
push them, but then you know that like you've said
enough and it's time to just move on. And and
so whenever that happens to me, I have said enough
to that. But then I know that a guy can
(18:02):
say all my thanks to God, and so I just
kept leaving it with God. And then it just happened,
and we got to release the book and it's so good.
If you haven't read Do the New you you have
to get a copy. We're leaving all the links, by
the way, everything that we talk about in the description.
If you're looking for a link, it's going to be
right there. So if you want to link to the album,
(18:23):
you want to link to Do the New You. It's
everywhere books are sold and it's so incredible. And so
then we got to do an E group study with
Do the New You, and that was such an incredible
I mean, so many people in our church are part
of an E group. Now if you're not a part
of any group, it doesn't matter where you live. We
have E groups for everyone, every age, every area. We
(18:46):
have groups that meet in person, groups that meet virtual,
and mostly our groups discuss the sermons. And what was
cool about Do the New You is that it was
like everything overlapped, Like.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
We had a song, we had the sermons.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Week, we had the book to discuss, and then we
had E groups that were discussing all of it.
Speaker 12 (19:05):
And it was such a great moment. Fun facts about
twelve thousand people in our church. I'd love to know
who you are like went through this study together. So
it was also such a special unifying time in our church.
Speaker 14 (19:19):
But we did. We unpacked these mindsets.
Speaker 17 (19:21):
I love.
Speaker 14 (19:22):
If you've been around, maybe you've heard of say this.
Speaker 12 (19:24):
E groups make our church, a big church feel small,
and so it's one thing to hear it, it's another
thing to unpack it and make it personal in your life.
And that's what we got to do for these six
weeks together, and so we got to take them to
another level, really get them in our hearts that we
can really love them out. And so we loved our
time together and it was just really special.
Speaker 14 (19:46):
It really was. You let us so well through it too.
Thank you for videos. Yeah that one, I'm like every
single one of us were a part of that.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 14 (19:55):
Yeah, it was a really special time together.
Speaker 7 (19:56):
Oh, it was awesome.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
And I just I love the e groups of our
church because it's a place where I feel like God
can take what he's speaking to you when you listen
to the sermon, but it takes It's like the roots
go deeper when you are able to discuss it with
other people and you hear other people processing what God
is speaking to them, and it just solidifies what God
(20:21):
is speaking. And so I just think it's so powerful
and you can still be a part of any group
an elevation. There'll be a link in the description.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
Okay, other fun things that have gone on. Tell us
a little bit about outreach.
Speaker 12 (20:32):
Okay, you've said this, Pastor Holly, and it has stuck
with me. You said that if the groups are what
make a big church feel small, yes, then outreach is
what makes a big church feel big.
Speaker 14 (20:43):
Yeah, And that is so true.
Speaker 12 (20:45):
Outreach is such a special part of our ministry because
it really is one of the areas where we get
to live out our faith. And I feel like if
you've been a part of it, then you know that
you've walked through this all year long. I mean, we
do everything from Dream Week. We kick off the Ears
Strong with Outreach Love Week, I mean, and then we
also like go into like you guys remember the response
(21:06):
that we did, Yeah, Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
What was crazy?
Speaker 5 (21:10):
Was like in my mind, I thought we were just
gonna be asking our campuses.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
To show up and bring stuff. But Epham was like,
oh no, you're not doing this without us, and.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
So you can created an Amazon wishless And I don't
know if anybody remembers this, but the Amazon guy we
did this video.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
It made me cry because the Amazon delivery man.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Was like, we haven't seen this many packages since the
week before Christmas last year and we're all being delivered
here and yet like it was so incredible because you know,
we're a big church and sometimes you need to feel
how big it is. And it was like mobilizing an
army of people who are like I'll send something, I'll
sort something, i'll deliver something, everything.
Speaker 12 (21:55):
I mean, it was so immediately, like you guys showed
up immediately. I mean we just started getting like packages
and people showing up giving their time.
Speaker 14 (22:05):
And it was such a powerful time to just be like,
this is the church.
Speaker 13 (22:10):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
And it made me so proud of our church because
I feel like it was a moment where we got
to see how all of the strategic systems that we've
been building and how all year it was like everything
sort of culminated because you know, we say this all
the time, but twelve percent of every dollar given to Elevation.
Speaker 7 (22:31):
Church goes to our outreach efforts.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
And so when a disaster happens, we're we're ready with funds.
You don't have to wonder should I give to this organization?
Speaker 18 (22:40):
Is this is this?
Speaker 5 (22:41):
You know, somebody who's being honest with you already give
to your church, so you know that your church is
going to support whatever it is. But then throughout the
year we have events where we're whatever you know, Love
Week or the Dream Weekend where we're packing backpacks or
we're making flood kits, and so then whenever disaster happens,
we're ready emptied out our warehouse. And it was just
(23:03):
I was so proud to be a part of Elevation
and Elevation outreach and to be able to represent our
church in that moment was really special.
Speaker 10 (23:12):
I love how our church shows up in these moments
where it's these national disasters, but I think sometimes people
don't realize that there's outreach events happening all the time.
You know, We've had people going back and forth to
Ashville since that. We can't like it wasn't just the
one time and there left. Yeah, I'm proud of the
way that our church continues to show up. So these
big moments where we have to show up, but then
(23:33):
throughout the week, whether it's like meeting with schools or
feeding teachers.
Speaker 9 (23:37):
Breakfasts and things like that. So that's just the heart
of our church showing up.
Speaker 10 (23:41):
It's happening all the time, all the time, all the time.
So we get to do both in the moments that
it's desperate and we got to show up, and then
when it's just showing up for people on a day
to day basis.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
Our church does that too, all right, So God is
expanding so many areas of our church.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
Chet tell us about some.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Of the really fun things that we have coming in
twenty twenty five and some of the things that we
accomplished in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 10 (24:06):
Well, one of the strategies that you know, we implemented
I guess a few years ago is that we just
really wanted to be focused on having some permanency in
the communities that we were in. So we just wanted
to focus on what campuses were we setting up and
tearing down, and maybe we were at the whim of
the school or whether or not we could have church
that weekend or do an event. And because of the
generous people of our church, we were able to really
(24:28):
start to be aggressive at looking for facilities that we
would be able to go in and renovate or buy
land to build so that Elevation Church could be permanent
in that community. So at the end of last year
we were able to open up Belmont and so they
just had a full year ministry and then Columbia was
able to celebrate Christmas in.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Their new building this year.
Speaker 10 (24:48):
So yeah, Taylor and Nikki Seidel they had a.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Parking lot party.
Speaker 7 (24:54):
I saw it.
Speaker 10 (24:55):
I saw it for three hundred people to come just
to have a night to be ab to worship before
they open up the building.
Speaker 9 (25:02):
A thousand people showed up.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
That's crazy.
Speaker 10 (25:05):
They had ten salvations that night in the parking lot
before we even open up the building at Columbia.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Okay.
Speaker 10 (25:12):
So then coming into twenty twenty five, Greenville. Greenville will
be opening up hopefully summer twenty twenty five. Then we
have Uptown, who should be opening summer of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
We got a really cool location, really cool location.
Speaker 10 (25:27):
When you step out on the Fourier, you're able to
look up and see the skyline of the city of Charlotte.
That's pretty amazing. And then Toronto East. Toronto East was
a new campus that we actually launched this year. No, no,
don't apologize. It was at the end of last year
that we launched Toronto East. God's doing so much in Toronto. Last,
but not least Raleigh, Raleigh, North Carolina. We purchased Land
(25:49):
and Raleigh and have been working hard over really the
last year and a half to be able to push
through permits and all of those things to get it done,
but we're finally able to start breaking Brown Raleigh. But
one of the things I wanted to highlight with Raleigh,
I got a picture of Isaiah being baptized. This is
on the ground where we're going to be building Elevation Raleigh.
(26:12):
Here's the beauty beauty of this picture is before we
break ground, we're already had a baptism.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (26:19):
And the one that I think about this and think
about the mission of our church so that people far
from God would be raised to life in Christ. And so, yes,
we're talking about these buildings. You're seeing some of the
renderings and all of that, but what we're really excited
about is the ministry that's going to be happening in
these walls.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
People.
Speaker 10 (26:34):
I just want to thank all of you faithfully give
an Elevation Church so that when an opportunity like this
opens up, we're able to jump on it.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
That's right. We have resource set.
Speaker 10 (26:44):
Aside, we can get ahead of projects because of your
generosity to be able to jump in and see what
God can do through through our church.
Speaker 18 (26:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
And I love how when people people give, it's this
spirit of of like, well, this ministry has touched my
life so much and even though I attend a camp,
you know, like University City, that is already a permanent
location the generous spirit of I need.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
I want other people to experience that too. I want
to create a seat somewhere else.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
It's just such a beautiful thing to see when we
come together. I mean, it's another way that a big
church feels big, because when every gift matters, because when
we pull all of our gifts together, God is able
to do miracles. Before we leave, I have to spend
some time talking about some of the amazing sermons that
we heard just this year, twenty twenty four.
Speaker 7 (27:35):
Now I looked last night.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
I looked at a list of all of Pastor Stephen
sermons just in twenty four, just the titles, and I
was blown away.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
I was like, how does this man do this?
Speaker 5 (27:49):
I preached three four, I preached four baby sermons, Okay, okay,
but this man preached like thirty five times and his
titles are brilliant and they come together. And we had,
you know, we had do the New You. We had
ghost Writers series. We had this series that was towards
(28:10):
the end of the year. I don't know if it
ever got a name, but you know, it was like
God is Oh, now I can't remember all of them
working in.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Can you do them all?
Speaker 9 (28:22):
Don't challenge?
Speaker 14 (28:25):
God's got the hard part.
Speaker 7 (28:27):
And then the last one, I'm cheating. I'm looking at
my nose.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
Oh, God gave it to me.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
I mean, those were incredible messages that we ended the
year with, but we started the year strong. And so
I had everybody in this room come with their favorite
sermon and we're just gonna watch a clip and chat
about them. Chris, what was your favorite sermon of the year?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
All right?
Speaker 8 (28:49):
So I mean also kind of like picking favorite kids, Yes,
but totally for the exercise.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
In August, he preached two titles, Me and.
Speaker 8 (28:59):
God getting back together, got Back Together and breaking the
bondage of wrong belief. So it's in Judges six he's
talking about Gideon. Gideon's hiding in a wine press because
the nation of Israel has been in captivity for seven
years and God shows up. Gideon's feeling like a whimp
(29:22):
and God. The first thing God says to him is, hey,
mighty warrior. So he's feeling a certain kind of way.
God doesn't speak to how he's feeling. God speaks to
how God sees him, and then this is really where
Pastor spent most of the time. Then the first thing
God asked him to act on is go and tear
(29:45):
down the altar of bail of your father. And so
the question that Pastor kind of kept coming back to
was what wrong beliefs do we need to break up
with in order to move forward and see ourselves as
God does.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
It's so good.
Speaker 8 (30:03):
So I mean kind of a perfect way as we
step into a new year, like what old mindsets have
no business going into twenty five with us?
Speaker 6 (30:13):
I think I've got a clip.
Speaker 14 (30:14):
Let's check this out.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
I see some people that I preach to. You're trying
to build your life back. You're trying to build your
hope back. You're trying to build your business back. You're
trying to build your family back. You're trying to build
your sobriety back. You had eighty one days and now
you're back on day two. But that's okay, because as
you are trying to build it back, God wants to
show you something that will make sure that this time
(30:36):
you build it, what you build will stand the test
of the battle that you face.
Speaker 7 (30:44):
Because because if all I.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Do is build an altar while Pastor Stephen is preaching.
And if all I do is say, Okay, I'm going
to stack some new habits and I'm going to do
some new things, and okay, the Lord is peace.
Speaker 17 (31:00):
Found out something that you cannot have God's peace and
keep it without having God's priorities. God's peace without God's
priorities is always temporary. The kind of peace that you've
(31:20):
been seeking in your life, craving in your life, crying
out for in your life, that kind of peace, that
that permanent peace, that storm speaking peace, that lay your
head on the pillow of a lion's main kind of
peace that I'm in a fire. But I see the
fourth Man kind of peace.
Speaker 18 (31:40):
The kind of peace that can know that greater is
he that is in me than he that is in
the world, and there's more with us than with them.
And I don't have to be afraid about any of it.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
That kind of peace only comes from priorities.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, I'm good.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
I wrote this.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
I wrote this in my notes. I thought this was
so powerful. No breakup, no breakthrough.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
Yes, And it's like until you break up with those habits,
with those ways of thinking, with those like you said,
those those mindsets that you've believed about yourself aren't true.
Speaker 7 (32:26):
Until you break up with those things.
Speaker 6 (32:28):
You don't get to have breakthrough.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
And we all want breakthrough, but a lot of times
we don't want to do the work that it takes
to get that breakthrough.
Speaker 7 (32:35):
And it was just such a convicting message.
Speaker 10 (32:38):
The whole idea of God's peace is connected to God's priority.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (32:43):
I mean that's enough to go into right there and
just say, Okay, how am I going to count my day?
Is this a lot with what God has for me?
And not be mad when you don't experience the peace
of God and you haven't taken time to be able
to prioritize your effect your life effect.
Speaker 15 (33:01):
Is like the daily thing though, because a lot of
times I think that it's like a moment where it's
like Okay, I'm gonna go destroy that altar and then
that's done, like okay, and it's not really that well,
it's like a daily thing. Every day. God's calling you
a mighty warrior. Okay, okay, I'll do it today. So
that's the thing that I feel like I miss a lot.
It's like it's not a moment, it's a daily decision
(33:24):
to believe that.
Speaker 9 (33:25):
Okay, God, I'm a mighty warrior. That's tough.
Speaker 12 (33:27):
Yeah. The thing that you need to make real practical, right,
Like you got to write some of these down. You
mentioned looking back at our notes. That's a great sermon
to go back look at your notes. You got to
write it down. You need to schedule it. You mentioned that, like,
what does your calendar look like? Like are you scheduling
according to the priorities that you feel like God's put
in front of you, and so making it as.
Speaker 14 (33:45):
Practical as you can to be as successful as we
can at this all.
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Right, Britt, Okay, you like the Easter sermon.
Speaker 14 (33:51):
I love the Easter sermon.
Speaker 12 (33:54):
The Easter sermon was so good, and I mean all
of pastors Steve and sermons speak to you. This one
was the one of the year that I feel like
I felt the most scene because maybe it's just because
of how I'm wired.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
I don't know, crazy though, how he can do that.
How like he'll just.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Say something and you're like, oh my gosh, yes for me,
I'll actually think I'm like he better stop because I really.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Feel like he's talk about me.
Speaker 12 (34:27):
But I'm not.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
That's just the Holy Spirit just speaks through him and
it just like cuts straight to you and sorry interrupted, No.
Speaker 14 (34:36):
No, this is great.
Speaker 12 (34:37):
This sermon was called something in Between maybe you remember it,
and he preached from Matthew twenty eight and so this
was our Eastern sermon. So he preached about the Mary's
going to the tomb. Yeah, and he really camped in
a verse and you know scripture, and you know, I
don't know, like maybe you have a tradition where like
(34:58):
I don't know if you read the Easter Story. Like
my in laws they read the Easter Story of the
Christmas Story every holiday. And I'm like, I have read
this story. I know it so many times. And it
was such a beautiful revelation that he bulled because he
specifically camped out whenever he talked about they were leaving
the tomb and they left with fear yet joy.
Speaker 7 (35:22):
Yeah, we got a clip. We gotta clip yellows.
Speaker 14 (35:24):
SHOT's watch it.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
And I love this phrase because this is how I
feel afraid yet filled with joy. This is not a
translation error, by the way, because most of us think
like you're either going to be afraid or filled with joy.
I had somebody ask me the other day, I was
(35:46):
going to do something that was a big deal, and
they said, are you looking forward to it or are
you dreading it? And I was like, are those the
only two options? Because I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
I'm not exactly dreading it.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I'm something and it can change from moment to moment.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
I'm like, really grateful for this life God has given
me and this influence that He gave me. And then
sometimes that anticipation feels like anxiety, and sometimes my anxiety
feels like anticipation, and sometimes listen to this. The difference
(36:34):
between anticipation and anxiety is the way you label it.
I stand before you today excited and afraid. I stand
before you today a sinner and a saint. I stand
before you today a flawed man and a child of God.
And I'm never all of both.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I'm something in between.
Speaker 12 (36:56):
Okay, now I know you guys see why I felt
so seen because I feel like that is literally me,
Like we're all Our faith is just a constant journey,
and it gets so frustrating when you're like, you see
where it is.
Speaker 14 (37:11):
That God would have you be.
Speaker 12 (37:13):
You're like, okay, Lord, you say love my enemies, to
pray something, to be kind and to be generous, and
then somebody says the wrong thing on the wrong day
and you're like, oh, I was working so hard on this,
you know, and I'm got slipping, But like no, sometimes
it is both like yes, like I want to be
(37:33):
like holy and I want to be closer to God
in this one. But then also like I understand that
like God made me where like I am a big
feeler and I'm both I'm somewhere in between, and so
I feel like for me, it was really the permission slip,
that I have permission to keep growing, and it's not
(37:53):
I'm not a failure because I'm somewhere in between and
I haven't yet arrived and I may never arrive until
I get to Heaven, and that okay, as long as
I'm on my constant journey to growth.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
You know what I loved from the sermon when he said,
even when it's not all good, it's all God. And man,
that's like, that's real faith to trust that, even when
it's not all good, whatever you're going through in your life,
to be able to say, I know this is all God,
and I know that it's not good now, but it's
(38:30):
going to be good. That's right and so powerful.
Speaker 14 (38:34):
He also said it similar like this.
Speaker 12 (38:37):
He said, we're all something in between, so we can
all find ourselves in this, he said, and we need
Jesus in between. And sometimes that's the part that I
think is so easy for us to forget.
Speaker 7 (38:47):
Okay, let's get to mine.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
I wanted to go all the way back to the
beginning of the year when Pastor Stephen got out his guitar,
so we had worship Pastor Stephen.
Speaker 6 (39:02):
And this sermon. It just really touched me.
Speaker 7 (39:05):
So check this out.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
It's amazing when you're in tune with the grace of God.
It's amazing when you're in tune with the voice of God.
When I'm in tune with you, Lord, I don't have
to fight so much when I'm in tune.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
With you, Lord.
Speaker 4 (39:25):
I don't have to manipulate so much. When I'm in
tune with you, Lord, I don't have to defend myself.
You fight my battles when I'm in tune with you, Lord.
Somebody say, Lord, I want to be in tune.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
With you.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
When I'm in tune with you.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Lord, my problems look small. When I'm in tune with you, Lord.
It feels like all things are possible when I'm in
tune with you, Lord, I can scale a wall. When
I'm in in tune with you, Lord, the giant looks
like an opportunity, not a problem. When I'm in tune
(40:05):
with you, Lord, I'm able to laugh at what used
to make me cry. When I'm in tune with you, Lord,
I'm able to cry and know that tears don't last always,
but joy comes in the morning.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
When I'm in tune with you, Lord. It's a beautiful
thing to be in tune.
Speaker 5 (40:30):
This sermon was just like it's just one of those beautiful,
comforting sermons.
Speaker 7 (40:37):
He said. I just thought this.
Speaker 5 (40:39):
Sometimes, don't you feel like somebody's pastor Steven will say
something that sort of like sets.
Speaker 7 (40:43):
You free from a certain way that you were feeling.
Speaker 5 (40:46):
And he said, from the same heart comes your greatest
fears and your greatest faith.
Speaker 7 (40:53):
And so then he said, therefore, your heart is a harp,
and it has to be tuned to truth.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
And the whole sermon he's talking about tuning your heart
to truth and being able to hear what God is
saying to you.
Speaker 6 (41:06):
And so then like as the sermon.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Progressed, though like first I got a hug and then
I got a little what would we say earlier, a little.
Speaker 7 (41:15):
Push because he said.
Speaker 6 (41:16):
Tuning feels like tension.
Speaker 5 (41:19):
And it's like, when you think about tuning your heart
to God's word and to God's praise, you.
Speaker 6 (41:25):
Think it's gonna be like warm.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
And fuzzy feeling, but actually it feels like tension because
there's something that happens.
Speaker 7 (41:32):
That draws you closer to God.
Speaker 5 (41:35):
And then I just like again he ended gave us
some homework, and the homework was so good.
Speaker 7 (41:42):
He said, pause, tune, praise.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
Repeat, and it's like, oh, okay, so Monday morning, when
I feel the tension, pause tune, Praise repeat, over and
over and over again. And it was just something so
practical that really just gave me the momentum.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
For the year that I just really needed.
Speaker 12 (42:08):
Yeah, so good. He said, this is how I wrote
it down. God's not changing his standard to fit you.
He's going to bring you up. And that was so powerful.
Sometimes I don't know if it's just a weird thing
I do, but sometimes after I hear sermon, I'll write
down in my notes like how I'm feeling or like
what it's speaking to me.
Speaker 14 (42:28):
Yeah, And.
Speaker 12 (42:30):
I literally wrote to myself. This is really funny. Reading
it back, I was like, I know, it couldn't have
just been me. This had to be thousands. I was like,
but something shifted in me during that sermon. I've got
some tuning to do. Yeah, And so it was one
of those types of messages. And so I'm so glad
that you picked that one because it's really great to
just sit here and even revisit it going into the
new year about like we've got some tuning to do
(42:52):
going into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 8 (42:53):
Yeah, And he talked about how setting our heart is
a decision. Yes, yes, it's not as not default, which,
by the way, I mean one of the greatest illustrations truly,
but like if also, like heading into this next year,
we're all wanting to set goals. Those goals are going
(43:14):
to be accomplished or met through decisions, daily decisions, or
if we want our minds stayed on Christ, if we
want our hearts to remain filled with peace that comes
through decision, not just because we decided one day and
thought that was going to be the default that lasted
us for the next month.
Speaker 10 (43:33):
He's us guitar players tune in between songs, you know,
what I mean. It's this, It's this rhythm of the
constantly tune one part of the message. He was talking
about being tuned to tradition, and that's the hardest to change.
Speaker 14 (43:51):
You know.
Speaker 10 (43:51):
How do you tune to truth when this is what
my mom did, this is my granddad, this is and
I'm tuned to something that I've seen over and over
and over again.
Speaker 9 (43:59):
But pause and ask yourself the question, is it the truth?
Is this what God says?
Speaker 12 (44:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 10 (44:05):
And if not, that tension, yeah, you know what I mean.
Being able to commit to that, I think is faiful.
Speaker 18 (44:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (44:12):
This has been so much fun talking with all of you,
And I want to encourage you. If you're watching right
now and maybe you have some downtime, The week between
Christmas and New Year's is like the weirdest week of
the year, and it's like time between so slow, and
so I just want to encourage you to go back,
find your favorite sermon of the year, watch it again,
(44:33):
find your notes, read through them, and rediscover some of
the things that God spoke to you in twenty twenty.
Speaker 6 (44:38):
Four as you look forward to twenty twenty five. We've
got the links to all of these sermons.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
Our favorites of the year, but you've got yours too,
and they're all there available for you right here on
the Elevation Church YouTube. And so I just want to
encourage you to take some time to go back and
think about the things that God has spoken to you
this year and the things that God has done for
you this year, because it has been an incredible year
(45:04):
and God has sure been good to us, and as
you've seen today, there is so much more to be
grateful for and so much to look forward to. And
next year will actually be in our twentieth year of ministry.
Speaker 6 (45:20):
I cannot believe it. So in February we will.
Speaker 5 (45:22):
Celebrate our nineteen year nineteen, but that launches our twentieth
year of ministry, and we're making plans to celebrate big
all year long.
Speaker 7 (45:34):
So more to come on.
Speaker 5 (45:36):
That, but make sure you stay tuned to Elevation because
twenty twenty five is going to be incredible. So as
we close out this year, I just want to take
a moment to thank all of you who have stepped
out in faith to be a.
Speaker 6 (45:48):
Part of our year in offering.
Speaker 5 (45:50):
We didn't get to talk about that together, but your
generosity is a powerful testimony of the impact that we're
making together and it's helping to fuel the next season
of our church.
Speaker 6 (46:01):
So thank you, thank you, thank.
Speaker 5 (46:02):
You for your partnership and what God is doing through
this ministry. As you've seen today, this is solid ground
to put down roots in and stay planted. This is
a place where you can experience community. It's a place
where you can hear from God every single week. It's
a place where you can serve, and it's a place
where you are truly making a difference. And if you
(46:25):
hadn't had a chance yet, there's still time to be
a part of our year end offering. All you have
to do is go to Elevationchurch dot org and click
the give now button by December thirty first, which is
just two days away. So thank you for being with
us today and let's step into this new year with
our hearts full of faith and expectation. Let's keep moving
(46:48):
forward and trusting God every step of the way. I
cannot wait to see what's ahead for us, And I
just want you to know that Pastor Stephen and I
we love you, we're praying for you, and you're so
grateful to get to do ministry with each and every
one of you.
Speaker 14 (47:05):
I hope you have a.
Speaker 5 (47:06):
Blessed and happy New Year and I'll see you next Sunday.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 3 (47:38):
God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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