July 20, 2025 • 50 mins
When despair sets in, it’s easy to assume it’ll always be this way. But what if a shift in thinking could break that cycle? Your thoughts have the power to disrupt your despair, especially when you stop focusing on what happened and start trusting the God who never left you.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
Psalm 77, verses 1-12, 19
Exodus 14, verses 11, 26-28
Exodus 15, verse 1
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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.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 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.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I want to let you know if you don't live
near Charlotte, but you've always wanted to come to Elevation Church,
we figured out a way to come to you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Elevation Nights Fall Tour twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Twenty five coming up October twenty first through October thirtieth.
Saint Paul, Minnesota, Omaha, Nebraska, Saint Louis, Missouri, Louisville.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Kentucky, Dluf, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We might as well say Atlanta, And if some of
you from Charlotte want to drive to Atlanta, that'll be great.
There will be no traffic. There never is any traffic
on I eighty five. It'll take you nine hours to
drive there, but you should do that. Tampa, Florida, Miami, Florida,
where my beautiful I grew up.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Y'all give it up for Holly and Orlando, Florida. Go
to Elevation Nights dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Happy eleventh anniversary to our Raleigh campus.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Help me celebrate them better than that.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Come on, Happy eleventh anniversary Raleigh, Raleigh Campus.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
We're praying for a great next year of ministry.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's our twentieth year of ministry as a church, and
just we'll continue the celebration all year. Thank you to
all the wonderful guest preachers who filled this pulpit and preached,
and all of our home team that preached.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
But my middle son Graham looked at me the other
day he said, it is time. We want you back.
All these speakers have been great. We want you back.
I'm back.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I want to share with you today a scripture that
the Lord gave me during our break.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Our break was very unusual this year.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Part of the time is just rest, part of the
time is study, songwriting and all of that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
The first half we spent in an unusual way.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Our oldest son, Elijah had a surgery and he was
recovering from that. It was a pretty major surgery, and
then he got infected and we ended up back into ICU.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
For quite a while after that, and he's doing all
better now.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
In fact, the Lord healed him, and he's clipping my
sermon for TikTok right now as I preach it in
a back room somewhere. So let's give God phrase for that.
I told him before I came to preach us. I'm
going to be very clippable today. I must say good stuff.
I'll make your job easy. But in our Bible reading,
(02:39):
as we were going through some of that for the
better part of a month as a family, we came
across Psalm seventy seven and there was a verse I
knew I wanted to share with you when I got
back with you, and it's going to lead us into.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
A series today.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So remain standing for just when I read this one verse,
just one verse? Can you stand for one verse? It's
in Psalm seventy seven, verse nineteen, And I'll read this
and then work backward from there to give you the
message for today. And the Lord's going to help us
in some remarkable ways. Psalm seventy seven, verse nineteen. The
(03:10):
Psalmist says to God, your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were
not seen, and had a beautiful scripture. And the Lord
really used that in my life. I believe he wants.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
To use it in yours really underrated scripture too. Maybe
it'll be your favorite.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
At the end of today, he says, your path led
through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though
your footprints were not seen. And just turn to the
person next to you and tell them, even if you
don't see it, God is working, tell him even if
you don't feel it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
God is working.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Let's put our hands together and praise the way Maper
in this place. Come on, praise the way Maper in
this place. God.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I thank you for every mountain.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You've brought me over, every valley you've brought me through.
It was nobody but you, and I praise you today.
Speak now through your word.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Use me as a vessel. I'm willing and available and open.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Give me the courage, give me the clarity, the confidence
to speak to your children today. And may they receive
it and obey it. For it is in Jesus name
that I pray and believe and call it done. Amen,
you may be seated. Well, boys, bring out my teaching screen.
Let's get this series started properly. As I announced to
(04:45):
you our title for the next six weeks at least,
and maybe even beyond that, because this is such a
big topic that we're going to talk about, and the
title of the series it doesn't come exactly from the
verse that I read you, but I'll.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Show you where it did come from in a moment.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And before you judge my handwriting, just know that Abby
has made fun of my handwriting so much. And today
I made her try to write on the screen before
we came.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Out here, and she said, this is harder than it
looks like.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I'm so sorry for how I spoke of you, father,
But what I want to talk to you about for
the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
The title of the series is and you're gonna like
this phrase because you could say it with attitude. Okay,
we're gonna talk about that's what I thought.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You know, you got to look at your neighbor and
say it like you were just right and they were
just wrong, and you tried to tell them but they
wouldn't listen.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Tell them, that's what I thought. That's what I thought.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Like you were certain and you were proved to be correct.
There is no better feeling. Then, that's what I thought.
Or that phrase is so elastic that we use it
also to mean that our bias was confirmed, like.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Well, that's what I thought. Let's check it out. Mean, sure,
that's what I thought.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
But we want to really use that phrase today to
deal with the thoughts that we think, because honestly, not
only pastorally but personally, ninety percent of the problems that
I have faced in my life have not come from
what the devil did to me.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Or from what others said about me.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
The biggest problem that I have over and over again
trying to do what God wants, or the biggest obstacle
to God doing what he wants in my life over
and over again seems to be this tricky little thing
called my bracelets are catching the screen. Oh Lord, that's
(07:08):
like for this, let me try it over here. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
The biggest problem for me over and over again it
just happens over and over again, is that I get.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Trapped in what I thought. This is gonna drive me crazy?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Over here, Welcome back Verdick who sabotaged my screen while
I was on brick?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Was it Robert Madu did he mess up my screen?
Was it Torn Wells who messed up my screen? The
biggest obstacle?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And somebody shout, if you know what I'm talking about
when I say that the biggest problem that I seem
to have over and over again, it's not necessarily the
enemies that I face, but it's.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
What I thought.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It's not necessarily what my life is at this moment
that's making me sad.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
It's what I thought my life was going to be
at this season.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
It's not necessarily who I am as a person that
makes me insecure. It's what I thought I was supposed
to be based on what I saw that other people
showed me from who they are, but I didn't see
their flaws, and so now I'm comparing my future to
somebody whose flaws I have never seen. And now I'm
frustrated about where I am, not because of where I am,
(08:28):
but because of what I thought. I'm not frustrated because
I'm not married at this age. I'm frustrated because I
thought I would be. I'm not frustrated because I'm dealing
with this situation. I'm frustrated because I didn't have the
chance to prepare for it. And over and over again,
in my life, the biggest enemy to what God wants
(08:51):
to do is what I thought he was going to do.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Now, I want you to get a.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Time in your mind where you were what I like
to call confidently wrong, and I don't know if you
can think of one, or.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
If you've blocked all of that out selective memory.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I asked everybody in my family, and if y'all know
any way to fix that while I'm not using the.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Screen, that would be awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
If not, we'll all work around it and all of
the OCD people will ignore that part of the screen
that is not supposed to be like that.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Now, listen, I asked everybody in my family.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I said, I need an opening illustration for my new
series called That's what I thought, And I need you
to tell me a time when you were so wrong
and you were so sure you were right. And everybody
in my family said, can't think of one. Everybody in
my family, I'll have to get back with you, And
none of them got back to me with you. The
means they can't remember one time where they were completely
(09:49):
wrong and assured that they were completely right, or it
means that there's nothing really harder in life than to
going back and admitting remembering when you were wrong. You
just hit the lead on those times in your life
like don't want to remember them, And the problem with
that is then you can't grow from.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Them as you go forward in the future.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Now, when we say that Jesus takes away our shame
and our sin, that doesn't mean that he wants to
cancel out the lessons that we learned from our mistakes.
It means that he frees us from the penalty of
it and the bondage to it. But it doesn't mean
that Jesus wants us to live our lives just to
continue to be wrong in all the ways that we
were wrong a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago.
(10:33):
And there's almost nothing more difficult than remembering and admitting when.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
You were just so wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I had one this week. I have fresh examples of
being confidently wrong. I did it at the dinner table.
One of our kids said something, and I just came
back with something, and I didn't listen to the rest
of their sinence and I completely missed the spirit of
what they were trying to say.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Just confidently wrong.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Now I have about a twelve hour expiration dosage cycle
on the dumb things I do. It takes that long
for me to digest my dumb and then apologize. So
twelve hours later, I found myself saying I was so.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Wrong for that. Now that's hard, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That's hard, isn't it to say I was wrong to
talk to you like that. I was wrong to assume
that about you. I was wrong to judge you like that.
I was wrong to put you in that position. I
was even to admit dumb things like I was wrong
when I said that song sucked. The first time I
heard it, I thought it sucked. Now I realize it's
a bop, and I feel dumb because I like it,
But I can't admit I like it because the first
(11:40):
time I heard it, I thought it was silly. That
actually is a banger. I've been wrong about songs that
I've written before. We wrote a song in this church
one time, and I thought it was good, and then
we went to record it. And after the recording, I
turned to Holly and I said, well, I thought that
song was good, but it's not good.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
She said, I thought it was pretty good. I said,
it wasn't good.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You could tell the people didn't like it, that people
didn't care about it, and it's not going to go
anywhere after we record.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Oh, come to the altar.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
That's how wrong I can be about a song, and
I'm glad I was wrong because it means there might
be something else in my life right now that I
think sucks, but it's actually going to be an amazing thing.
If I'm wrong about that, then I might be wrong
about this.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
It is the utter relief.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Of realizing that you were wrong and admitting it and
growing from it. But the only thing more difficult then
remembering when you were wrong and admitting you were wrong,
which I know is in a very good way to
start a sermon. None of us want to talk about that.
(12:43):
The only thing more difficult than remembering and admitting I
was wrong is to realize I am wrong. If it's
that hard for everybody in my family and everybody watching
this sermon to go back and remember I was so wrong,
(13:06):
how could I have been so wrong to think what
I thought, or to say what I said, or to
believe what I believed, or to assume what I assumed.
The only thing more difficult than remembering it because it
doesn't feel good, is realizing.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
That I am wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Right now, If we don't even want to admit that
we were wrong, how much less do we want to
realize that we are wrong or might be wrong or
could possibly be wrong. Just see if you can get
it out out of your mouth. I may be wrong
about that. And when you get to that point in
your life, you realize that a lot of us in
(13:45):
here we have iPhones.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
How many of you have iPhones?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Hold up your iPhone right here at this part of
the sermon iPhones.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I want you to realize that not only do you
have iPhones, but you also have I thoughts.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
And it's possible that the devil has you trapped in
an eye thought right now in your life.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
And I thought in the.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Psalm we just read, the Psalmist says something so incredibly
miraculous and wonderful. He says God's path led through the
sea and his way through the mighty waters, though his
footprints were not seen.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
But to understand the process.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
By which he arrived at that thought, I want to
take you all the way back to the beginning of
Psalm seventy seven, and journey with me now for a
moment while I build this thought out for you. That's
what I thought. The Psalmist is lamenting here. There are
four different types of psalms in your Bible. There are
psalms of praise, songs of thanksgiving, psalms of wisdom, and
(14:57):
psalms of lament.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
The mint is where they're just telling God their trouble.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Lament is where they are being honest with God, realizing
that why would you hide it from him? It's not
like he didn't see the whole thing, Realizing that you
can say something to God and He's big enough to
handle your brokenness. This is a psalm of lament, but
I want to show you how it goes from a
psalm of lament to a psalm of wisdom, and over
(15:25):
the course of the next several weeks, I want to
help you with your thoughts because some of your eye
thoughts are wrong. Some of your eye thoughts about people
are wrong, some of your eye thoughts about what is
still ahead of you in your life are wrong. And
you could be confidently wrong, and you can be completely trapped.
(15:50):
That's the situation for the psalmist in Psalm seventy seven.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
It's not David writing this time.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It's one of the sons of Asaf, the musical leaders,
and he's poor out his heart to God.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
He says, I cried out to God for help.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I cried out to God to hear me when I
was in distress. Circle the word distress please, I sought
the Lord at night. I stretched out untiring hands, and
I would not be comforted. I remembered you, God, and
I groaned. What a strange thing to say. I thought
it was. I remember you, God, and I was grateful.
(16:27):
I remember you God, and I praised. I remembered you God,
and I was encouraged. I remembered you God, and I rejoiced.
He said it was so bad. I remembered you and
I groaned. The reason Psalm seventy seven is special and
you might want to study it is because a lot
of times when they wrote psalms, they were asking God
to deal with external enemies. We've got this giant facing us,
(16:50):
this army coming against us, this sickness that we're dealing with,
and it was an external enemy. Or in the case
of Psalm fifty one, David is praying about his own sin.
He's saying, creating me a clean heart, O God, I
did something horrible, and I need you to make me new,
and I need you to raise me up, and I
need you to give me a second chance. But this
is not a psalm about enemies, and this is not
(17:13):
even a psalm about sin. In this psalm, the primary
problem for the psalmist is not an external enemy or
even his own sin.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
His problem is God. His problem is God.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And more specifically, his problem is God, Where did you go?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
His problem is God? When are you going to help
me feel something again?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
God?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
When are you going to answer this?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I'm holding out my arms to you, and you seem
to be standing at a distance. I'm not even sure
you're in the room. I'm not even sure you hear this.
And so as he's recounting this, I want you to
understand the heaviness of it, so that when I encourage
you in just a few moments, like I plan to
do with God's health, you will understand the place this
psalm starts at he has a problem with God. And
(18:06):
when you have a problem with bills, somebody can pay
them for you. When you have a problem in your body,
you can go to a doctor about that. When you
have a problem even in your mind, you can have
a therapist for that. But what do you do when
your problem is with the one.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Who has no boss?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
What do you do when your problem is with the
one who has no supervisor?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
That you may ask to speak to.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
What do you do when you're in a situation where
what God did is so much different than what you
thought he should do.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
That is Psalm seventy seven.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I remembered you God, and I've grown, not shouted, grown,
not clap, grown, not danced grown.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I remembered you God, and I growned, I meditated, and
my spirit grew faint.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
People will tell you all the time how much they've grown,
but they won't tell you how much they groaned so
they could grow into the place where they are today.
This is the process of becoming a person that God
can use, and it is not easy. He said, my
spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing. I
was too troubled to speak. And then verse five gives
(19:20):
us the entire problem, not only with the Psalmists, but
with ourselves. I thought, everybody say I thought, I thought.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
About the former days. Justin do I even have to
say it? Circle?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I thought, Circle it for everybody in here who's having
doubtful thoughts. Circle it for everybody in here who's having
fearful thoughts. Circle it for everybody in here who's having
jelly pettis, petty jealous, petty jelly thoughts, jelly thoughts were.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Calling them right now.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Circle it for everybody in here who is dealing not
within that external threat and maybe not even.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
A personal sin, but with a eye thought. Now, when I.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Read this at first, you're gonna be like, he did
the right thing.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
This is what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
This is what we teach in church that you're supposed
to go back and remember. If you're in a season
right now where you don't know what God is gonna do,
just remember what he did.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
And that's what it sounds like on the surface. But
I want to dig a little bit.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Because I've been leaping two months to preach this message.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
And I'm gonna preach it today.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I thought about the former days when my genes fit
a little looser. I thought about the former days when
my hamstrings weren't so I thought about the former days
when I didn't need these readers to look at my
Bible and this size sixty seven font in order to
preach it to you.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I thought about the former days, the years of long ago.
I remembered my songs in the night.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
My heart meditated, and my spirit asked, what's wrong with
any of this?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
It's an eye thought.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I remember verse six, please my songs in the night.
My heart meditated, and my spirit asked, now, watch what
happens when it starts with me.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Verse seven.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
This is what you get back when you send out
an eye thought. This is what you get back. And
you know what, You can't block an eye thought, not
with your fingers.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
You have to deal with it. And the Psalmist is putting.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
It all out there for us today, which gives us
permission to know that we can feel emotionally confused and
still get spiritually strong. Watch what he says. It gets
worse before it gets better. Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing
(21:52):
love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be mercif? Has he, in anger
withheld his compassion? I thought, and that's what came back,
and what I heard the psalm is saying today. And
I wonder if it's true of you, he says. I
(22:15):
thought I suffered, and I thought I thought it was through.
I thought back over the best days of my life,
(22:37):
and I thought they're behind me. I thought about the
things that I would love to see God do for
me that he's done for others. And I thought, well,
I guess he just doesn't want to do it for me.
I thought, I thought. I thought it was through. I
thought that my experience of God had completely dried up.
(22:59):
I thought he didn't love me anymore. The Psalmas said
that I didn't. So, if you've ever felt that, you're
in the Bible. I thought that God had taken his
hand off my life. I thought he had just given
up on me because others did.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I thought it was through.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
And you see in this passage what they call the
three peas of negative thinking. I'm going to be talking
to you over the next six weeks about I thought,
I'm gonna be talking to you about three ways of
negative thinking that you may recognize in your life. They're
all here in the psalm and we'll come back to
them a few times, but I just want to point
them out to you. He says, Will the Lord reject forever?
(23:42):
Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing
love vanished forever? I thought it was through. I thought
it was gone. I didn't see his footprints in the sand.
Y'all ever seen that little poster on the thing, did
you ever see butt prints in the sand.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
That's another one. You can look that up another time.
He says, I felt rejected.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I thought it was never gonna come again. Now that's
strong saying never. That's strong when you think that he
will never show you favor again. And he said, I
thought his love had vanished. And they call these the
three piece of negative thinking because they're traps. And it's
when you take something that happens to you and you
make it personal rejection. It's when you make it permanent never,
(24:41):
and it's when it becomes pervasive, vanished everywhere. It took
everything away. It's completely ripping through.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Your whole life.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Because one thing to have a problem, and you've got
it in a corner. And this is the one thing
that I'm dealing with in my life. But you know,
the enemy has you in an I thought when it
becomes personal, the Lord rejected me, there's something wrong with me.
It's fine to be disappointed because somebody didn't want to
be your friend. It is another thing to assume that
(25:13):
they are worthy to be the Olympic figure skating judge
of your life.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
And then you stop.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Putting yourself out there because you think that somehow they
have the stamp of approval to give the human race,
and that they know just from their virtue, of their
own goodness, whether or not you're worthy.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
And now you've.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Got yourself isolated because you took it personal. And there
may have been something that they were going through that
was so dark that if you would have known that,
you would have given them a hug and said, I'll
send you a Christmas card. But now you've got it personal, permanent,
it's never coming back. It's always going to be this way.
It will never change. I'm never going to be able
to go a week without doing this. I am never
(25:52):
going to find anybody who gets me. It's permanent, it's
going to stay this way forever, and it's pervasive. It's
when you can't celebrate the kid that's doing good because
of the one that you're worried about. It's when you
can't celebrate the health in your body because.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Of the hell in your mind. It's because you're in.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
An eye thought. He said, I thought it was through.
I thought the dream was through. I thought the vision
was through. I thought the relation. I thought my joy,
I thought my very joy in life was through.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
It's an eye thought. And if you're there today, let's
start there.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I thought it was through. There are some things in
your life that may very well be through. That's why
you can't dwell on.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I thought about the former days.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
That's why you can't watch Andy Griffith reruns and wish
again for wholesome entertainment, and curse this Love Island. That
this crap these kids are watching and the devil is
taking over a generation.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
This is an I thought. But the Lord y'all are
laughing like y'all been watching it too.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
I thought it was true. I thought the best days
were behind me, I thought. And I want to show
you something this really helped me. Is something that he
said in verse two, and yeah, yeah, yeah, he said
when I was in distress. Everybody say distress. Distress is
(27:27):
a normal part of the Christian life, just like it's
a normal part of the human experience. Distress in and
of itself is not a problem. When I was in distress.
The promise that God makes is not to protect us
from distress. The promise that God makes is not to
keep all pressure from coming on our lives. The promise
that God makes is not to make sure that He
(27:48):
always takes us the long way around any problem.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
The problem is when the distress becomes despair. There's a difference.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Distress is this hurts, but I have hope. Despair is
this hurts and I have no hope.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Despair is dangerous.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Despair is hurt minus hope. Despair is looking at the
situation saying never vanished, rejection, personal, permanent, pervasive.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I thought the psalmist said.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Not that this is just a difficult season and I
got to get through it, because we all have those.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Not this is just a bad day.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
And if I can make it till five o'clock without
cussing anybody out, I can keep bringing home a paycheck
and not get kicked out of this house that I'm
behind a month on.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Anyway, It's not if I can get through this, it
is is this all there is?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Despair is it's never going to get better.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
That's where the devil wants you.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
It's never going to get better, and you'll always lose
your temper. It's never going to get better, and you
will always be a failure. It's never going to get better,
and you are always gonna be too loud, and you
are always gonna be too quiet, and you were always
gonna be too short. Did you ever think maybe God
(29:20):
made you short so you could fit through little doors?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Okay, now, if this is where the psalmist starts, we
have got to.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Do something today to get you out of this. If
despair is dangerous, and distress is and dangerous, you can
go through a lot of things. You've been through a
lot of things. You've put up with a lot of things.
Tell your neighbor, I'm tougher than I look. Tell them again,
(29:52):
I'm tougher than I look.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
To love.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I'm pretty smileful of you. I'm tougher than I look.
I'm tougher than I look.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I took a.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Licking and kept on ticking. I'm tougher than I look.
I'm like a weevile. I wabbled, but I didn't go down.
I'm tougher than I look. I've had some challenges to
my faith. I've had some questions about God.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
I'm still here praising in.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Fact, that's my two word testimony when I can't think
of anything else to praise him for.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Still here, somebody shouts, still here in a funk, still here,
down in it, still here, wondering about it, Still here.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Piece isn't all.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So what you've got to do, child of God is
never allowed distress, which is temporary, to become despair, which
says forever. And the devil specializes in turning distress into
despair to get you so clouded by one conflict that
you have forgotten your call.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Who am I preaching to today?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
God sent this word to disrupt your despair?
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Hear me?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
God sent this word to disrupt your despair. Every I
thought that has been telling you you will not make it,
every I thought that has been telling you you are
not worthy of God's love. The Cross made you worthy.
What does it have to do with your behavior? What
did it ever have to do with your behavior? It's
about his blood. I call you worthy in the name
of Jesus. I call you healed by his stripes. I
(31:32):
call you forgiven. And His favor is coming to your
situation right now, into your room, into your home, into
your wound, into your family, into your business, into that.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Thing that the devil told you is through is through.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Give up is through. Quit fighting is through. Don't go
back to rehab is through. Give up on it. Just
manage the ad.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
It's through. It's through, Just walk away from it is through.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Just move to another city and start over the same
stuff all over again, till.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
It catches up with you. Is through leave is through.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Well. I found something for the trap. I found a
truth for the trap for everybody who has been in
an I thought, and I know you know the one
I'm talking about. Don't make me start prophesying it, tee.
I thought, the one that starts with you and ends
(32:34):
with misery. You know, every thought that it starts with
me ends in misery eventually if it doesn't involve God.
So what I noticed from what I read from Brugemont
and some of the other theologians that I was looking up,
he said, I thought about the former days, and I
thought it was personal, permanent, pervasive. I would ask God
(32:56):
to help me with the problem, but God was the problem.
I didn't know where to go.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Now. I kind of lied to you when I set
the sermon up.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
I said, I was going to share a verse that
I read that meant a lot to me right after
alleged got out of the hospital, and I am, but
it wasn't the one I read you when I started
a servant. It's one it's a little sniper verse. It's
a little sniper scripture. It's like you could just gloss
right over it. But remember how bad of a state
(33:28):
this guy was in. What's going to turn it around
for you? What's going to turn it around for us?
What's going to break us out of these patterns and
traps of thinking that the devil says never all? What's
going to break us out of this limited view of
your situation that can't find God in it because you
have gotten so.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Blurry in the battle.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
And so I told my mom, I said, I'm going
to be reading from Psalm seventy seven to preach this week.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
And she likes I give a little headstart.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Well, she send me like a picture of her Bible
open to Psalm seventy seven.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
She's like, already beat you to it, preacher. I'm trying
to do her voice.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
When I do that, I already beat It was a text,
but that's how she would have said it.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
And I said, bring that Bible because I want to
show you something. I give my camera.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
This is not Psalm twenty three. Everybody knows Psalm twenty three.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want It's
a relatively obscure Psalm. You see how she had that circled.
Sometimes it takes a minute to see it. That's like
the Lord, Well, this illustration isn't really working too well either.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
But what I wanted to show.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
You that I can show you direct me, man, do
I need to stand somewhere different?
Speaker 1 (34:55):
I do whatever, and you do that's better.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
She has that Psalm seventy seven circled like a serial killer.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
That's like a.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Right and I realized why she's got it all underlined.
I said, bring the Bible to church. I got to
show the people something. She's circling everything in this Bible
all the way down to has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Has his promise failed for all time? And then on
her Bible that's the part where that page ends. I
told her.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I was like, that's not the best part of Psalm
seventy seven. She's said, yeah, that's what I was reading
right after your dad died. Thanks a lot. I was like,
you know, that's a good part of Psalm seventy seven too,
obviously when you're going through things. But I said, read
the rest and hit me a couple hours later. Now,
my dad died of als. It was over ten years ago,
(35:52):
and it was in June of twenty thirteen, and this
psalm meant a lot to her during that low.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Time of her life.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
And so she was reading it like we do, and
we come to this place. I thought it was through.
And she had just lost her husband. She had just
lost him after caring for him. It was an atrocious,
atrocious disease. But what I want to show her and
you today from Psalm seventy seven is in verse ten,
(36:22):
May this change your life, made this break your pattern?
May this bring you out of the trap. Because he
said I was stuck in. I thought, watch this. Then
I thought, that's the whole sermon. Then I thought, circle
(36:43):
it on the screen, justin. Then I thought, no circle.
Then I thought, because the first thought wasn't the right thought.
Then I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, and
I got stuck in a loop of I thoughts.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Then I thought.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Verse ten is the hinge where everything changes for this Psalmist.
Verse ten is the hinge where everything can change for
you and I. Verse ten is the hinge that depression
doesn't want you to know about.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Verse ten is the hinge that.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
The devil wants to hide and delete off of your
Bible lap.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Verse ten is the hinge that the.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Devil doesn't want you to turn to because after all
of that which is real, after all of that which
is a part of being you, after all of.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
That, I thought it was through. After all of that,
he says.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Then I thought, let's see what he thought next to this,
I will appeal the years when the Most High stretched
out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of
the Lord. Yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will consider all your works and meditate on all
(38:02):
your mighty deeds. Go back to verse ten. Then I
thought to this, I will appeal the years when the
Most High stretched out his right hand.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Go back to verse two.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
When we started with these eye thoughts, he was saying,
when I was in distress, I sought the Lord at night.
I stretched out untiring hands, who stretched out I stretched out. Ah,
I can't do this much longer. I don't care how
many interior raises you do in the gym for your shoulders.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
You can only do this so long.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
And is it possible that the reason you are so
faint in your faith, and so weary in your worship,
and so discouraged about your destiny.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
And the reason that you think that it's through.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Is because you have been so focused on this God,
I can't give any more.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I can't do anymore. I already feel so stretched God,
I feel.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
So empty, I feel so unseen, I feel so uncelebrated.
I keep stretching out my hands, I keep putting myself forth,
I keep taking my next step, but you're not there.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Then verse ten, then verse ten.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Then I thought, I'm gonna appeal to a higher court
instead of thinking about how I'm doing this, let me
think about the years when God stretched his hand. And
when I start thinking about how he's stretched his hand,
and I forget about my hands. Suddenly my hands go
(39:40):
up in worship because.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I remember that the bow is not mine, but it
belongs to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Fifteen seconds of praise for everybody who needs a.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Then I thought, Then I thought, well that's annoying. Yeah,
high five your neighbors say.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Then I thought, I thought over and over, I thought,
Then I thought, oh yeah. Then I thought I thought
it was through. Then I thought I might as well
throw in the towel.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Then I was very focused on all the reasons I
had not.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
To go forward. Y'all, slow, y'all are real, slow, y'all,
slow like molasses in the south.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Then I thought, let me think about his hand, let
me remember his deeds.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
He does it in a quartet.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
He talks about the mighty deeds of God, the works
of God, the awesome deeds of God, the deeds of God.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
He lists them off and wrap them off. Because he said,
I thought it was through.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
And then after I had gotten done with all of
my questions. Then after I had poured out all my complaints,
then after I had considered all the reasons that I
had to be afraid.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
I thought it was through. But then I thought it through.
(41:38):
I thought about saying, all right, devil, I quit. Then
I thought it was through. But then.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
I thought it through, and I decided I would have
despair unless I have to leave. Then I what see
the good this?
Speaker 1 (42:06):
I'm the lord in the land of the livings.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Hot five seven people say, I thought it through.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
I thought it through. I thought it through. I thought
it through.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
I thought it through.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Now let me tell you what I mean.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
In verse nineteen, let's go right back to the top
of the sermon. He said, when I thought about the
way God works, don't sit down.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
You're about to shout again. You might as well just
save yourself a calorie burn. You might as well just
save yourself a cardio. Just go ahead and.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Jump up now by faith and get ready to celebrate.
He said, your path lead.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Circle the word through.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Let's do Bible study. I wanted you to take me
around it. I wanted you to carry me over it.
I wanted you to give me a boat. But instead
of a boat, I got a mighty hand.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
And an outspread farm. Your path, your path led through.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Tell your neighbor, I thought it through, your way through
the mighty waters, through the mighty waters. Though your footprints
weren't seen. Why didn't I see God's footprints? Because he
was working with his hand at a higher level. He
was driving back waters that I didn't know. He needed
(43:44):
depart so he could drown Egyptians that were chasing me
and trying to bring me back into captivity. What am
I trying to say? Think it through? You just keep
thinking the same eye thoughts and you're like, I.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Do think it through. I'm an overthinker. Just because you
think it again doesn't mean you thought it through. You underthinker.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
You you think like this, Oh, well, the devil's attacking me.
I guess God's not with me. What if you thought
that through God must be so with me. This is
how you think it through.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
God.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
I went to my in laws fiftieth wedding anniversary the
other day.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Clap your hands for that.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
And it survived betrayal, and it survived addiction, and it
survived special needs, and there were times where they thought
it wouldn't make it. Then I thought, the challenge is
you can't see the path in the present. W it's
only in retrospect that the Red Sea looks like a blessing.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
I'll show you what I mean.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Go to Exodus fourteen when the Israelites came up on
the Red Sea. You know the story. You know the story.
They came up on the Red Sea. They were leaving Egypt.
They had been slaves for four hundred and thirty years,
and God was leading them out.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
They were happy, They were ready to dance. They even
pecked their tambourines.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
And as the tambourines are jingling in their suitcase, oh no,
here comes trouble.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
What is the sound of that very hot pitch.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
It doesn't sound like a tambourine, It's an Egyptian chariot.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Oh no, the Egyptians are coming after us.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
So watch what they thought, because I'm trying to get
you to see that you might be wrong. You might
think the attack means it's through. That's an I thought
they thought. Watch this Exited fourteen, the Lord said, Moses,
the stretch your hand over the sea, that the waters
going to go to full back over the Egyptians and
their cheers and horsemen most stretches hand over see day break.
(45:54):
The justians of fleetwary, the Lord swipped them into the sea.
Oh so the Israelites didn't die. The Egyptians did go
to verse twenty eight to flow back and cover all
the chariots and horsemen. Now that all sounds so wonderful.
God drowned their enemies, right, And I know I'm rushing this.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
I don't have time.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
You go.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Come back next week for part two of this. But
what's crazy to me about.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
This scripture is the scripture says that when they got
to the edge of their escape route in Exodus chapter fourteen,
verse eleven, they said to Moses, was it because there
were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to
(46:35):
the desert to die? They thought that water was going
to kill them. That's what they thought, now, look at
chapter fifteen, verse one, when they got to the other
side and the Egyptians were all dead behind them, and
the thing they thought was gonna kill him Exitus fifteen,
(46:55):
verse one. Exitus fifteen, verse one, and circle the word.
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
To the Lord. I will sing to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
That's fine, But you got to sing that same song
on the other side so you can get through this.
Somebody say, then, I thought.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
It is the.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Hinge of the scripture for the people of God.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
They remembered their exodus.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
This deliverance motif sets the entire story for Jesus, who
would be the greater Moses, who would bring us out
of the slavery to sin. It's all set up here,
and the Psalmist is looking back and saying, when I
could not see your footprints, I remembered that your hand
was working in the night. And you've been looking at
(47:46):
the wrong level, and you have been thinking at the
wrong level. And God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and
his ways are not our ways. And what if the
attack is against you is actually sent to remind you
how valuable what you carry actually is. Think it through
(48:07):
think it through. The devil is not omnipresent. The devil
does not have unlimited ammunition. So if there is an
attack against your life, if there is an attack against
your family, if there is an attack against your mind,
there is something in your future that Hell has recognized.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Think it through.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (48:27):
What is it that Hell knows about my family that
I forgot about my family?
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Then I thought it through?
Speaker 2 (48:39):
And even more, what is it that God knows I
need to learn that He would let me go through this?
And if you really want to get out of the
I thought, what is it that He's going to use
this for in somebody else's life? Did I really suffer
this much to stay silent about what he taught me
(48:59):
as as a student.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
So the word of the Lord is think it through.
Think it through.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
It never comes like you thought it would come, not
when it comes from God, because if it came like
you thought it would come, then your thoughts would be
God right.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
And he says, my ways are not your ways. Neither
are my thoughts your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
And it just blessed me to think about all of
the people in here who, instead of giving up on
this pursuit of Jesus instead of giving up on your purity,
instead of giving up.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
On the impact God has called you to make.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
Instead of thinking it was through, You're going to think
it through today so that the song you have to
sing on the other side reflects the faithfulness of the.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
God who split the sea.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
One moment, it looked like the sea was going to
kill them. The next minute they realized, Wait, God didn't
bring us this far to drown us. He didn't bring
us out here to leave us. He didn't bring us
out here because He's not with us. He brought us
out here because the enemy can't swim.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
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 (50:45):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 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.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I want to let you know if you don't live
near Charlotte, but you've always wanted to come to Elevation Church,
we figured out a way to come to you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Elevation Nights Fall Tour twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Twenty five coming up October twenty first through October thirtieth.
Saint Paul, Minnesota, Omaha, Nebraska, Saint Louis, Missouri, Louisville.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Kentucky, Dluf, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We might as well say Atlanta, And if some of
you from Charlotte want to drive to Atlanta, that'll be great.
There will be no traffic. There never is any traffic
on I eighty five. It'll take you nine hours to
drive there, but you should do that. Tampa, Florida, Miami, Florida,
where my beautiful I grew up.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Y'all give it up for Holly and Orlando, Florida. Go
to Elevation Nights dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Happy eleventh anniversary to our Raleigh campus.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Help me celebrate them better than that.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Come on, Happy eleventh anniversary Raleigh, Raleigh Campus.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
We're praying for a great next year of ministry.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's our twentieth year of ministry as a church, and
just we'll continue the celebration all year. Thank you to
all the wonderful guest preachers who filled this pulpit and preached,
and all of our home team that preached.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
But my middle son Graham looked at me the other
day he said, it is time. We want you back.
All these speakers have been great. We want you back.
I'm back.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I want to share with you today a scripture that
the Lord gave me during our break.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Our break was very unusual this year.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Part of the time is just rest, part of the
time is study, songwriting and all of that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
The first half we spent in an unusual way.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Our oldest son, Elijah had a surgery and he was
recovering from that. It was a pretty major surgery, and
then he got infected and we ended up back into ICU.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
For quite a while after that, and he's doing all
better now.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
In fact, the Lord healed him, and he's clipping my
sermon for TikTok right now as I preach it in
a back room somewhere. So let's give God phrase for that.
I told him before I came to preach us. I'm
going to be very clippable today. I must say good stuff.
I'll make your job easy. But in our Bible reading,
(02:39):
as we were going through some of that for the
better part of a month as a family, we came
across Psalm seventy seven and there was a verse I
knew I wanted to share with you when I got
back with you, and it's going to lead us into.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
A series today.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So remain standing for just when I read this one verse,
just one verse? Can you stand for one verse? It's
in Psalm seventy seven, verse nineteen, And I'll read this
and then work backward from there to give you the
message for today. And the Lord's going to help us
in some remarkable ways. Psalm seventy seven, verse nineteen. The
(03:10):
Psalmist says to God, your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were
not seen, and had a beautiful scripture. And the Lord
really used that in my life. I believe he wants.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
To use it in yours really underrated scripture too. Maybe
it'll be your favorite.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
At the end of today, he says, your path led
through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though
your footprints were not seen. And just turn to the
person next to you and tell them, even if you
don't see it, God is working, tell him even if
you don't feel it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
God is working.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Let's put our hands together and praise the way Maper
in this place. Come on, praise the way Maper in
this place. God.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I thank you for every mountain.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You've brought me over, every valley you've brought me through.
It was nobody but you, and I praise you today.
Speak now through your word.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Use me as a vessel. I'm willing and available and open.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Give me the courage, give me the clarity, the confidence
to speak to your children today. And may they receive
it and obey it. For it is in Jesus name
that I pray and believe and call it done. Amen,
you may be seated. Well, boys, bring out my teaching screen.
Let's get this series started properly. As I announced to
(04:45):
you our title for the next six weeks at least,
and maybe even beyond that, because this is such a
big topic that we're going to talk about, and the
title of the series it doesn't come exactly from the
verse that I read you, but I'll.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Show you where it did come from in a moment.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And before you judge my handwriting, just know that Abby
has made fun of my handwriting so much. And today
I made her try to write on the screen before
we came.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Out here, and she said, this is harder than it
looks like.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I'm so sorry for how I spoke of you, father,
But what I want to talk to you about for
the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
The title of the series is and you're gonna like
this phrase because you could say it with attitude. Okay,
we're gonna talk about that's what I thought.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You know, you got to look at your neighbor and
say it like you were just right and they were
just wrong, and you tried to tell them but they
wouldn't listen.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Tell them, that's what I thought. That's what I thought.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Like you were certain and you were proved to be correct.
There is no better feeling. Then, that's what I thought.
Or that phrase is so elastic that we use it
also to mean that our bias was confirmed, like.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Well, that's what I thought. Let's check it out. Mean, sure,
that's what I thought.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
But we want to really use that phrase today to
deal with the thoughts that we think, because honestly, not
only pastorally but personally, ninety percent of the problems that
I have faced in my life have not come from
what the devil did to me.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Or from what others said about me.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
The biggest problem that I have over and over again
trying to do what God wants, or the biggest obstacle
to God doing what he wants in my life over
and over again seems to be this tricky little thing
called my bracelets are catching the screen. Oh Lord, that's
(07:08):
like for this, let me try it over here. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
The biggest problem for me over and over again it
just happens over and over again, is that I get.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Trapped in what I thought. This is gonna drive me crazy?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Over here, Welcome back Verdick who sabotaged my screen while
I was on brick?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Was it Robert Madu did he mess up my screen?
Was it Torn Wells who messed up my screen? The
biggest obstacle?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And somebody shout, if you know what I'm talking about
when I say that the biggest problem that I seem
to have over and over again, it's not necessarily the
enemies that I face, but it's.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
What I thought.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It's not necessarily what my life is at this moment
that's making me sad.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
It's what I thought my life was going to be
at this season.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
It's not necessarily who I am as a person that
makes me insecure. It's what I thought I was supposed
to be based on what I saw that other people
showed me from who they are, but I didn't see
their flaws, and so now I'm comparing my future to
somebody whose flaws I have never seen. And now I'm
frustrated about where I am, not because of where I am,
(08:28):
but because of what I thought. I'm not frustrated because
I'm not married at this age. I'm frustrated because I
thought I would be. I'm not frustrated because I'm dealing
with this situation. I'm frustrated because I didn't have the
chance to prepare for it. And over and over again,
in my life, the biggest enemy to what God wants
(08:51):
to do is what I thought he was going to do.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Now, I want you to get a.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Time in your mind where you were what I like
to call confidently wrong, and I don't know if you
can think of one, or.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
If you've blocked all of that out selective memory.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I asked everybody in my family, and if y'all know
any way to fix that while I'm not using the.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Screen, that would be awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
If not, we'll all work around it and all of
the OCD people will ignore that part of the screen
that is not supposed to be like that.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Now, listen, I asked everybody in my family.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I said, I need an opening illustration for my new
series called That's what I thought, And I need you
to tell me a time when you were so wrong
and you were so sure you were right. And everybody
in my family said, can't think of one. Everybody in
my family, I'll have to get back with you, And
none of them got back to me with you. The
means they can't remember one time where they were completely
(09:49):
wrong and assured that they were completely right, or it
means that there's nothing really harder in life than to
going back and admitting remembering when you were wrong. You
just hit the lead on those times in your life
like don't want to remember them, And the problem with
that is then you can't grow from.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Them as you go forward in the future.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Now, when we say that Jesus takes away our shame
and our sin, that doesn't mean that he wants to
cancel out the lessons that we learned from our mistakes.
It means that he frees us from the penalty of
it and the bondage to it. But it doesn't mean
that Jesus wants us to live our lives just to
continue to be wrong in all the ways that we
were wrong a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago.
(10:33):
And there's almost nothing more difficult than remembering and admitting when.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
You were just so wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I had one this week. I have fresh examples of
being confidently wrong. I did it at the dinner table.
One of our kids said something, and I just came
back with something, and I didn't listen to the rest
of their sinence and I completely missed the spirit of
what they were trying to say.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Just confidently wrong.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Now I have about a twelve hour expiration dosage cycle
on the dumb things I do. It takes that long
for me to digest my dumb and then apologize. So
twelve hours later, I found myself saying I was so.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Wrong for that. Now that's hard, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That's hard, isn't it to say I was wrong to
talk to you like that. I was wrong to assume
that about you. I was wrong to judge you like that.
I was wrong to put you in that position. I
was even to admit dumb things like I was wrong
when I said that song sucked. The first time I
heard it, I thought it sucked. Now I realize it's
a bop, and I feel dumb because I like it,
But I can't admit I like it because the first
(11:40):
time I heard it, I thought it was silly. That
actually is a banger. I've been wrong about songs that
I've written before. We wrote a song in this church
one time, and I thought it was good, and then
we went to record it. And after the recording, I
turned to Holly and I said, well, I thought that
song was good, but it's not good.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
She said, I thought it was pretty good. I said,
it wasn't good.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You could tell the people didn't like it, that people
didn't care about it, and it's not going to go
anywhere after we record.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Oh, come to the altar.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
That's how wrong I can be about a song, and
I'm glad I was wrong because it means there might
be something else in my life right now that I
think sucks, but it's actually going to be an amazing thing.
If I'm wrong about that, then I might be wrong
about this.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
It is the utter relief.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Of realizing that you were wrong and admitting it and
growing from it. But the only thing more difficult then
remembering when you were wrong and admitting you were wrong,
which I know is in a very good way to
start a sermon. None of us want to talk about that.
(12:43):
The only thing more difficult than remembering and admitting I
was wrong is to realize I am wrong. If it's
that hard for everybody in my family and everybody watching
this sermon to go back and remember I was so wrong,
(13:06):
how could I have been so wrong to think what
I thought, or to say what I said, or to
believe what I believed, or to assume what I assumed.
The only thing more difficult than remembering it because it
doesn't feel good, is realizing.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
That I am wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Right now, If we don't even want to admit that
we were wrong, how much less do we want to
realize that we are wrong or might be wrong or
could possibly be wrong. Just see if you can get
it out out of your mouth. I may be wrong
about that. And when you get to that point in
your life, you realize that a lot of us in
(13:45):
here we have iPhones.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
How many of you have iPhones?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Hold up your iPhone right here at this part of
the sermon iPhones.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I want you to realize that not only do you
have iPhones, but you also have I thoughts.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
And it's possible that the devil has you trapped in
an eye thought right now in your life.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
And I thought in the.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Psalm we just read, the Psalmist says something so incredibly
miraculous and wonderful. He says God's path led through the
sea and his way through the mighty waters, though his
footprints were not seen.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
But to understand the process.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
By which he arrived at that thought, I want to
take you all the way back to the beginning of
Psalm seventy seven, and journey with me now for a
moment while I build this thought out for you. That's
what I thought. The Psalmist is lamenting here. There are
four different types of psalms in your Bible. There are
psalms of praise, songs of thanksgiving, psalms of wisdom, and
(14:57):
psalms of lament.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
The mint is where they're just telling God their trouble.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Lament is where they are being honest with God, realizing
that why would you hide it from him? It's not
like he didn't see the whole thing, Realizing that you
can say something to God and He's big enough to
handle your brokenness. This is a psalm of lament, but
I want to show you how it goes from a
psalm of lament to a psalm of wisdom, and over
(15:25):
the course of the next several weeks, I want to
help you with your thoughts because some of your eye
thoughts are wrong. Some of your eye thoughts about people
are wrong, some of your eye thoughts about what is
still ahead of you in your life are wrong. And
you could be confidently wrong, and you can be completely trapped.
(15:50):
That's the situation for the psalmist in Psalm seventy seven.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
It's not David writing this time.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It's one of the sons of Asaf, the musical leaders,
and he's poor out his heart to God.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
He says, I cried out to God for help.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I cried out to God to hear me when I
was in distress. Circle the word distress please, I sought
the Lord at night. I stretched out untiring hands, and
I would not be comforted. I remembered you, God, and
I groaned. What a strange thing to say. I thought
it was. I remember you, God, and I was grateful.
(16:27):
I remember you God, and I praised. I remembered you God,
and I was encouraged. I remembered you God, and I rejoiced.
He said it was so bad. I remembered you and
I groaned. The reason Psalm seventy seven is special and
you might want to study it is because a lot
of times when they wrote psalms, they were asking God
to deal with external enemies. We've got this giant facing us,
(16:50):
this army coming against us, this sickness that we're dealing with,
and it was an external enemy. Or in the case
of Psalm fifty one, David is praying about his own sin.
He's saying, creating me a clean heart, O God, I
did something horrible, and I need you to make me new,
and I need you to raise me up, and I
need you to give me a second chance. But this
is not a psalm about enemies, and this is not
(17:13):
even a psalm about sin. In this psalm, the primary
problem for the psalmist is not an external enemy or
even his own sin.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
His problem is God. His problem is God.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And more specifically, his problem is God, Where did you go?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
His problem is God? When are you going to help
me feel something again?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
God?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
When are you going to answer this?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I'm holding out my arms to you, and you seem
to be standing at a distance. I'm not even sure
you're in the room. I'm not even sure you hear this.
And so as he's recounting this, I want you to
understand the heaviness of it, so that when I encourage
you in just a few moments, like I plan to
do with God's health, you will understand the place this
psalm starts at he has a problem with God. And
(18:06):
when you have a problem with bills, somebody can pay
them for you. When you have a problem in your body,
you can go to a doctor about that. When you
have a problem even in your mind, you can have
a therapist for that. But what do you do when
your problem is with the one.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Who has no boss?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
What do you do when your problem is with the
one who has no supervisor?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
That you may ask to speak to.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
What do you do when you're in a situation where
what God did is so much different than what you
thought he should do.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
That is Psalm seventy seven.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I remembered you God, and I've grown, not shouted, grown,
not clap, grown, not danced grown.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I remembered you God, and I growned, I meditated, and
my spirit grew faint.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
People will tell you all the time how much they've grown,
but they won't tell you how much they groaned so
they could grow into the place where they are today.
This is the process of becoming a person that God
can use, and it is not easy. He said, my
spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing. I
was too troubled to speak. And then verse five gives
(19:20):
us the entire problem, not only with the Psalmists, but
with ourselves. I thought, everybody say I thought, I thought.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
About the former days. Justin do I even have to
say it? Circle?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I thought, Circle it for everybody in here who's having
doubtful thoughts. Circle it for everybody in here who's having
fearful thoughts. Circle it for everybody in here who's having
jelly pettis, petty jealous, petty jelly thoughts, jelly thoughts were.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Calling them right now.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Circle it for everybody in here who is dealing not
within that external threat and maybe not even.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
A personal sin, but with a eye thought. Now, when I.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Read this at first, you're gonna be like, he did
the right thing.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
This is what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
This is what we teach in church that you're supposed
to go back and remember. If you're in a season
right now where you don't know what God is gonna do,
just remember what he did.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
And that's what it sounds like on the surface. But
I want to dig a little bit.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Because I've been leaping two months to preach this message.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
And I'm gonna preach it today.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I thought about the former days when my genes fit
a little looser. I thought about the former days when
my hamstrings weren't so I thought about the former days
when I didn't need these readers to look at my
Bible and this size sixty seven font in order to
preach it to you.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I thought about the former days, the years of long ago.
I remembered my songs in the night.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
My heart meditated, and my spirit asked, what's wrong with
any of this?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
It's an eye thought.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I remember verse six, please my songs in the night.
My heart meditated, and my spirit asked, now, watch what
happens when it starts with me.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Verse seven.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
This is what you get back when you send out
an eye thought. This is what you get back. And
you know what, You can't block an eye thought, not
with your fingers.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
You have to deal with it. And the Psalmist is putting.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
It all out there for us today, which gives us
permission to know that we can feel emotionally confused and
still get spiritually strong. Watch what he says. It gets
worse before it gets better. Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing
(21:52):
love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be mercif? Has he, in anger
withheld his compassion? I thought, and that's what came back,
and what I heard the psalm is saying today. And
I wonder if it's true of you, he says. I
(22:15):
thought I suffered, and I thought I thought it was through.
I thought back over the best days of my life,
(22:37):
and I thought they're behind me. I thought about the
things that I would love to see God do for
me that he's done for others. And I thought, well,
I guess he just doesn't want to do it for me.
I thought, I thought. I thought it was through. I
thought that my experience of God had completely dried up.
(22:59):
I thought he didn't love me anymore. The Psalmas said
that I didn't. So, if you've ever felt that, you're
in the Bible. I thought that God had taken his
hand off my life. I thought he had just given
up on me because others did.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I thought it was through.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
And you see in this passage what they call the
three peas of negative thinking. I'm going to be talking
to you over the next six weeks about I thought,
I'm gonna be talking to you about three ways of
negative thinking that you may recognize in your life. They're
all here in the psalm and we'll come back to
them a few times, but I just want to point
them out to you. He says, Will the Lord reject forever?
(23:42):
Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing
love vanished forever? I thought it was through. I thought
it was gone. I didn't see his footprints in the sand.
Y'all ever seen that little poster on the thing, did
you ever see butt prints in the sand.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
That's another one. You can look that up another time.
He says, I felt rejected.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I thought it was never gonna come again. Now that's
strong saying never. That's strong when you think that he
will never show you favor again. And he said, I
thought his love had vanished. And they call these the
three piece of negative thinking because they're traps. And it's
when you take something that happens to you and you
make it personal rejection. It's when you make it permanent never,
(24:41):
and it's when it becomes pervasive, vanished everywhere. It took
everything away. It's completely ripping through.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Your whole life.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Because one thing to have a problem, and you've got
it in a corner. And this is the one thing
that I'm dealing with in my life. But you know,
the enemy has you in an I thought when it
becomes personal, the Lord rejected me, there's something wrong with me.
It's fine to be disappointed because somebody didn't want to
be your friend. It is another thing to assume that
(25:13):
they are worthy to be the Olympic figure skating judge
of your life.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
And then you stop.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Putting yourself out there because you think that somehow they
have the stamp of approval to give the human race,
and that they know just from their virtue, of their
own goodness, whether or not you're worthy.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
And now you've.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Got yourself isolated because you took it personal. And there
may have been something that they were going through that
was so dark that if you would have known that,
you would have given them a hug and said, I'll
send you a Christmas card. But now you've got it personal, permanent,
it's never coming back. It's always going to be this way.
It will never change. I'm never going to be able
to go a week without doing this. I am never
(25:52):
going to find anybody who gets me. It's permanent, it's
going to stay this way forever, and it's pervasive. It's
when you can't celebrate the kid that's doing good because
of the one that you're worried about. It's when you
can't celebrate the health in your body because.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Of the hell in your mind. It's because you're in.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
An eye thought. He said, I thought it was through.
I thought the dream was through. I thought the vision
was through. I thought the relation. I thought my joy,
I thought my very joy in life was through.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
It's an eye thought. And if you're there today, let's
start there.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I thought it was through. There are some things in
your life that may very well be through. That's why
you can't dwell on.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I thought about the former days.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
That's why you can't watch Andy Griffith reruns and wish
again for wholesome entertainment, and curse this Love Island. That
this crap these kids are watching and the devil is
taking over a generation.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
This is an I thought. But the Lord y'all are
laughing like y'all been watching it too.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
I thought it was true. I thought the best days
were behind me, I thought. And I want to show
you something this really helped me. Is something that he
said in verse two, and yeah, yeah, yeah, he said
when I was in distress. Everybody say distress. Distress is
(27:27):
a normal part of the Christian life, just like it's
a normal part of the human experience. Distress in and
of itself is not a problem. When I was in distress.
The promise that God makes is not to protect us
from distress. The promise that God makes is not to
keep all pressure from coming on our lives. The promise
that God makes is not to make sure that He
(27:48):
always takes us the long way around any problem.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
The problem is when the distress becomes despair. There's a difference.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Distress is this hurts, but I have hope. Despair is
this hurts and I have no hope.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Despair is dangerous.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Despair is hurt minus hope. Despair is looking at the
situation saying never vanished, rejection, personal, permanent, pervasive.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I thought the psalmist said.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Not that this is just a difficult season and I
got to get through it, because we all have those.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Not this is just a bad day.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
And if I can make it till five o'clock without
cussing anybody out, I can keep bringing home a paycheck
and not get kicked out of this house that I'm
behind a month on.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Anyway, It's not if I can get through this, it
is is this all there is?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Despair is it's never going to get better.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
That's where the devil wants you.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
It's never going to get better, and you'll always lose
your temper. It's never going to get better, and you
will always be a failure. It's never going to get better,
and you are always gonna be too loud, and you
are always gonna be too quiet, and you were always
gonna be too short. Did you ever think maybe God
(29:20):
made you short so you could fit through little doors?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Okay, now, if this is where the psalmist starts, we
have got to.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Do something today to get you out of this. If
despair is dangerous, and distress is and dangerous, you can
go through a lot of things. You've been through a
lot of things. You've put up with a lot of things.
Tell your neighbor, I'm tougher than I look. Tell them again,
(29:52):
I'm tougher than I look.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
To love.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I'm pretty smileful of you. I'm tougher than I look.
I'm tougher than I look.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I took a.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Licking and kept on ticking. I'm tougher than I look.
I'm like a weevile. I wabbled, but I didn't go down.
I'm tougher than I look. I've had some challenges to
my faith. I've had some questions about God.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
I'm still here praising in.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Fact, that's my two word testimony when I can't think
of anything else to praise him for.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Still here, somebody shouts, still here in a funk, still here,
down in it, still here, wondering about it, Still here.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Piece isn't all.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So what you've got to do, child of God is
never allowed distress, which is temporary, to become despair, which
says forever. And the devil specializes in turning distress into
despair to get you so clouded by one conflict that
you have forgotten your call.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Who am I preaching to today?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
God sent this word to disrupt your despair?
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Hear me?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
God sent this word to disrupt your despair. Every I
thought that has been telling you you will not make it,
every I thought that has been telling you you are
not worthy of God's love. The Cross made you worthy.
What does it have to do with your behavior? What
did it ever have to do with your behavior? It's
about his blood. I call you worthy in the name
of Jesus. I call you healed by his stripes. I
(31:32):
call you forgiven. And His favor is coming to your
situation right now, into your room, into your home, into
your wound, into your family, into your business, into that.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Thing that the devil told you is through is through.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Give up is through. Quit fighting is through. Don't go
back to rehab is through. Give up on it. Just
manage the ad.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
It's through. It's through, Just walk away from it is through.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Just move to another city and start over the same
stuff all over again, till.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
It catches up with you. Is through leave is through.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Well. I found something for the trap. I found a
truth for the trap for everybody who has been in
an I thought, and I know you know the one
I'm talking about. Don't make me start prophesying it, tee.
I thought, the one that starts with you and ends
(32:34):
with misery. You know, every thought that it starts with
me ends in misery eventually if it doesn't involve God.
So what I noticed from what I read from Brugemont
and some of the other theologians that I was looking up,
he said, I thought about the former days, and I
thought it was personal, permanent, pervasive. I would ask God
(32:56):
to help me with the problem, but God was the problem.
I didn't know where to go.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Now. I kind of lied to you when I set
the sermon up.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
I said, I was going to share a verse that
I read that meant a lot to me right after
alleged got out of the hospital, and I am, but
it wasn't the one I read you when I started
a servant. It's one it's a little sniper verse. It's
a little sniper scripture. It's like you could just gloss
right over it. But remember how bad of a state
(33:28):
this guy was in. What's going to turn it around
for you? What's going to turn it around for us?
What's going to break us out of these patterns and
traps of thinking that the devil says never all? What's
going to break us out of this limited view of
your situation that can't find God in it because you
have gotten so.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Blurry in the battle.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
And so I told my mom, I said, I'm going
to be reading from Psalm seventy seven to preach this week.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
And she likes I give a little headstart.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Well, she send me like a picture of her Bible
open to Psalm seventy seven.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
She's like, already beat you to it, preacher. I'm trying
to do her voice.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
When I do that, I already beat It was a text,
but that's how she would have said it.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
And I said, bring that Bible because I want to
show you something. I give my camera.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
This is not Psalm twenty three. Everybody knows Psalm twenty three.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want It's
a relatively obscure Psalm. You see how she had that circled.
Sometimes it takes a minute to see it. That's like
the Lord, Well, this illustration isn't really working too well either.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
But what I wanted to show.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
You that I can show you direct me, man, do
I need to stand somewhere different?
Speaker 1 (34:55):
I do whatever, and you do that's better.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
She has that Psalm seventy seven circled like a serial killer.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
That's like a.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Right and I realized why she's got it all underlined.
I said, bring the Bible to church. I got to
show the people something. She's circling everything in this Bible
all the way down to has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Has his promise failed for all time? And then on
her Bible that's the part where that page ends. I
told her.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I was like, that's not the best part of Psalm
seventy seven. She's said, yeah, that's what I was reading
right after your dad died. Thanks a lot. I was like,
you know, that's a good part of Psalm seventy seven too,
obviously when you're going through things. But I said, read
the rest and hit me a couple hours later. Now,
my dad died of als. It was over ten years ago,
(35:52):
and it was in June of twenty thirteen, and this
psalm meant a lot to her during that low.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Time of her life.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
And so she was reading it like we do, and
we come to this place. I thought it was through.
And she had just lost her husband. She had just
lost him after caring for him. It was an atrocious,
atrocious disease. But what I want to show her and
you today from Psalm seventy seven is in verse ten,
(36:22):
May this change your life, made this break your pattern?
May this bring you out of the trap. Because he
said I was stuck in. I thought, watch this. Then
I thought, that's the whole sermon. Then I thought, circle
(36:43):
it on the screen, justin. Then I thought, no circle.
Then I thought, because the first thought wasn't the right thought.
Then I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, and
I got stuck in a loop of I thoughts.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Then I thought.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Verse ten is the hinge where everything changes for this Psalmist.
Verse ten is the hinge where everything can change for
you and I. Verse ten is the hinge that depression
doesn't want you to know about.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Verse ten is the hinge that.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
The devil wants to hide and delete off of your
Bible lap.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Verse ten is the hinge that the.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Devil doesn't want you to turn to because after all
of that which is real, after all of that which
is a part of being you, after all of.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
That, I thought it was through. After all of that,
he says.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Then I thought, let's see what he thought next to this,
I will appeal the years when the Most High stretched
out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of
the Lord. Yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will consider all your works and meditate on all
(38:02):
your mighty deeds. Go back to verse ten. Then I
thought to this, I will appeal the years when the
Most High stretched out his right hand.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Go back to verse two.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
When we started with these eye thoughts, he was saying,
when I was in distress, I sought the Lord at night.
I stretched out untiring hands, who stretched out I stretched out. Ah,
I can't do this much longer. I don't care how
many interior raises you do in the gym for your shoulders.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
You can only do this so long.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
And is it possible that the reason you are so
faint in your faith, and so weary in your worship,
and so discouraged about your destiny.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
And the reason that you think that it's through.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Is because you have been so focused on this God,
I can't give any more.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I can't do anymore. I already feel so stretched God,
I feel.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
So empty, I feel so unseen, I feel so uncelebrated.
I keep stretching out my hands, I keep putting myself forth,
I keep taking my next step, but you're not there.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Then verse ten, then verse ten.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Then I thought, I'm gonna appeal to a higher court
instead of thinking about how I'm doing this, let me
think about the years when God stretched his hand. And
when I start thinking about how he's stretched his hand,
and I forget about my hands. Suddenly my hands go
(39:40):
up in worship because.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I remember that the bow is not mine, but it
belongs to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Fifteen seconds of praise for everybody who needs a.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Then I thought, Then I thought, well that's annoying. Yeah,
high five your neighbors say.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Then I thought, I thought over and over, I thought,
Then I thought, oh yeah. Then I thought I thought
it was through. Then I thought I might as well
throw in the towel.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Then I was very focused on all the reasons I
had not.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
To go forward. Y'all, slow, y'all are real, slow, y'all,
slow like molasses in the south.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Then I thought, let me think about his hand, let
me remember his deeds.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
He does it in a quartet.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
He talks about the mighty deeds of God, the works
of God, the awesome deeds of God, the deeds of God.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
He lists them off and wrap them off. Because he said,
I thought it was through.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
And then after I had gotten done with all of
my questions. Then after I had poured out all my complaints,
then after I had considered all the reasons that I
had to be afraid.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
I thought it was through. But then I thought it through.
(41:38):
I thought about saying, all right, devil, I quit. Then
I thought it was through. But then.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
I thought it through, and I decided I would have
despair unless I have to leave. Then I what see
the good this?
Speaker 1 (42:06):
I'm the lord in the land of the livings.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Hot five seven people say, I thought it through.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
I thought it through. I thought it through. I thought
it through.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
I thought it through.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Now let me tell you what I mean.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
In verse nineteen, let's go right back to the top
of the sermon. He said, when I thought about the
way God works, don't sit down.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
You're about to shout again. You might as well just
save yourself a calorie burn. You might as well just
save yourself a cardio. Just go ahead and.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Jump up now by faith and get ready to celebrate.
He said, your path lead.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Circle the word through.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Let's do Bible study. I wanted you to take me
around it. I wanted you to carry me over it.
I wanted you to give me a boat. But instead
of a boat, I got a mighty hand.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
And an outspread farm. Your path, your path led through.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Tell your neighbor, I thought it through, your way through
the mighty waters, through the mighty waters. Though your footprints
weren't seen. Why didn't I see God's footprints? Because he
was working with his hand at a higher level. He
was driving back waters that I didn't know. He needed
(43:44):
depart so he could drown Egyptians that were chasing me
and trying to bring me back into captivity. What am
I trying to say? Think it through? You just keep
thinking the same eye thoughts and you're like, I.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Do think it through. I'm an overthinker. Just because you
think it again doesn't mean you thought it through. You underthinker.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
You you think like this, Oh, well, the devil's attacking me.
I guess God's not with me. What if you thought
that through God must be so with me. This is
how you think it through.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
God.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
I went to my in laws fiftieth wedding anniversary the
other day.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Clap your hands for that.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
And it survived betrayal, and it survived addiction, and it
survived special needs, and there were times where they thought
it wouldn't make it. Then I thought, the challenge is
you can't see the path in the present. W it's
only in retrospect that the Red Sea looks like a blessing.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
I'll show you what I mean.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Go to Exodus fourteen when the Israelites came up on
the Red Sea. You know the story. You know the story.
They came up on the Red Sea. They were leaving Egypt.
They had been slaves for four hundred and thirty years,
and God was leading them out.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
They were happy, They were ready to dance. They even
pecked their tambourines.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
And as the tambourines are jingling in their suitcase, oh no,
here comes trouble.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
What is the sound of that very hot pitch.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
It doesn't sound like a tambourine, It's an Egyptian chariot.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Oh no, the Egyptians are coming after us.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
So watch what they thought, because I'm trying to get
you to see that you might be wrong. You might
think the attack means it's through. That's an I thought
they thought. Watch this Exited fourteen, the Lord said, Moses,
the stretch your hand over the sea, that the waters
going to go to full back over the Egyptians and
their cheers and horsemen most stretches hand over see day break.
(45:54):
The justians of fleetwary, the Lord swipped them into the sea.
Oh so the Israelites didn't die. The Egyptians did go
to verse twenty eight to flow back and cover all
the chariots and horsemen. Now that all sounds so wonderful.
God drowned their enemies, right, And I know I'm rushing this.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
I don't have time.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
You go.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Come back next week for part two of this. But
what's crazy to me about.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
This scripture is the scripture says that when they got
to the edge of their escape route in Exodus chapter fourteen,
verse eleven, they said to Moses, was it because there
were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to
(46:35):
the desert to die? They thought that water was going
to kill them. That's what they thought, now, look at
chapter fifteen, verse one, when they got to the other
side and the Egyptians were all dead behind them, and
the thing they thought was gonna kill him Exitus fifteen,
(46:55):
verse one. Exitus fifteen, verse one, and circle the word.
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
To the Lord. I will sing to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
That's fine, But you got to sing that same song
on the other side so you can get through this.
Somebody say, then, I thought.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
It is the.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Hinge of the scripture for the people of God.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
They remembered their exodus.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
This deliverance motif sets the entire story for Jesus, who
would be the greater Moses, who would bring us out
of the slavery to sin. It's all set up here,
and the Psalmist is looking back and saying, when I
could not see your footprints, I remembered that your hand
was working in the night. And you've been looking at
(47:46):
the wrong level, and you have been thinking at the
wrong level. And God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and
his ways are not our ways. And what if the
attack is against you is actually sent to remind you
how valuable what you carry actually is. Think it through
(48:07):
think it through. The devil is not omnipresent. The devil
does not have unlimited ammunition. So if there is an
attack against your life, if there is an attack against
your family, if there is an attack against your mind,
there is something in your future that Hell has recognized.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Think it through.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (48:27):
What is it that Hell knows about my family that
I forgot about my family?
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Then I thought it through?
Speaker 2 (48:39):
And even more, what is it that God knows I
need to learn that He would let me go through this?
And if you really want to get out of the
I thought, what is it that He's going to use
this for in somebody else's life? Did I really suffer
this much to stay silent about what he taught me
(48:59):
as as a student.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
So the word of the Lord is think it through.
Think it through.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
It never comes like you thought it would come, not
when it comes from God, because if it came like
you thought it would come, then your thoughts would be
God right.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
And he says, my ways are not your ways. Neither
are my thoughts your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
And it just blessed me to think about all of
the people in here who, instead of giving up on
this pursuit of Jesus instead of giving up on your purity,
instead of giving up.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
On the impact God has called you to make.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
Instead of thinking it was through, You're going to think
it through today so that the song you have to
sing on the other side reflects the faithfulness of the.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
God who split the sea.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
One moment, it looked like the sea was going to
kill them. The next minute they realized, Wait, God didn't
bring us this far to drown us. He didn't bring
us out here to leave us. He didn't bring us
out here because He's not with us. He brought us
out here because the enemy can't swim.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
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 (50:45):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Host
Steven Furtick
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