December 5, 2025 • 49 mins
It’s God’s miracle, but it’s ours to manage.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our
podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Enjoy the message I want to share with you from
a scripture that really demonstrates something that I think is
difficult to do in our lives but will be so
helpful to us.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We're in a season called Game Changer, and so our
y're in series.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We're taking a moment to.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Pause, reflect and respond to God's goodness in our lives.
And so from the scriptural foundation today, I want to
help you see something that I think will help you
to carry forward with you into the next season of
your life. Momentum for what God has already done is
something significant, and what He.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Wants to do is even greater.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And I believe that, believe that with all of my
heart for myself and my family, and you and your family,
and for our church. And so with that spirit of faith,
today let's go to the Word of God Joshua, chapter four, verses.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
One through nine.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And as I read this story to you over the
next few moments. I want you pay attention to the
details of it, okay, because on the surface, the story
is really very simple. The people of Israel are crossing
into the Promised Land. They haven't fought any battles yet,
but it's already theirs because God has promised to give
it to them. So they're coming to realize what God
(01:32):
has already revealed, and he showed it to them for
many generations. But now they're coming into that moment where
they're having to actually believe that what God spoke in
their lives, and what God spoke that they haven't seen
come to pass yet is about to happen. And so
I think this is an appropriate scripture for where we
(01:53):
are as a church, and maybe for where you are
as well.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And I pray that God will help me deliver it today.
Are you excited. I'll be honest, it's not very convince him,
but I am. I'm excited enough for all of us,
so we'll do it anyway. Joshua Chapter four, verse one.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the
Lord said to Joshua, choose twelve.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Men from among the people.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
One from each tribe, and tell them to take up
twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right
where the priests are standing, and carry them over with
you and put them down at the place where you
stay tonight. So joshuall call the twelve men he had
appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said
to them, go for the ark of the Lord your
(02:36):
got into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you
is to take up a stone on his shoulder according
to the number of tribes of the Israelites, to serve
as a sign among you in the future.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
When your children ask.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
You what do these stones mean, tell them that the
flow of the Jordan was cut off off before the
Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan
were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial
to the people of Israel forever. So Israelites did as
Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones in the middle
of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes
of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua, and
(03:26):
they carried them over with them to the camp, where
they put them.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Down Joshua set up the twelve.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan
at the spot where the priests who had carried the
Ark of the Covenant had stood, and they are there
to this day. Would you look at the person next
to you and give them my sermon title, tell them
it's mine to manage. Look at your other neighbor. I
know they were your second choice, but they're important to
(03:53):
the Lord as well, And tell them it's mine to manage.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
It's mine to man. And how many of you have children?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
How many of you have children who have a phone
or an electronic device with a data plan. It's a
big debate around my house. When will our children be
old enough to be entrusted with data? Real first world problems.
I get it, But you know, parenting is challenging. It's
a great privilege, but I find it to be challenging,
(04:23):
and I find it to be exhilarating, and I find.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
It to be exhausting.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And one woman wrote me on YouTube and said, I
think you had kids too soon. You're always complaining about them,
And I prayed for her in tongues. But you know,
the more of a privilege you see something to be
the more of a responsibility you feel toward it.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So complaining isn't always a sign that you don't care.
You're not grateful, you'd have an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude
is not an attitude. Gratitude is an action. And then
the action of being.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Grateful leads to a feeling of gratitude. But God would
not command you to be grateful if gratitude was a feeling,
because you can't command a feeling. Doesn't work that way.
God instead instructs you to praise him. One Psalma said
it this way. He said, Ah, this is the day
that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be
(05:21):
glad in it. This is the day that the Lord
has made.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
I will rejoice and be glad in it. Oh, this
is the day. This is the day that the Lord
has made. Hey, this is the day. This is the
day that the Lord has made. Now who made it?
(05:50):
Who made it?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Now? I will rejoice.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
I will rejoice and be glad in it. So God
made it, But I get to manage it. Touch somebody
say it's mine to manage.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And what I do with this day is up to me.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So when I gave my oldest kid his phone, I said.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I wrapped it. It was his birthday, and I rapped it.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
And I said, this phone has data, and this phone
is yours, not really.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
For your birthday.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I am giving you my phone to use, which means
that this phone, the contents thereof, and the communications that
shall be initiated thereby are under my jurisdiction. One good
(06:47):
parent clapped when I said that. And I dare you
to put a pass code on that phone that I
don't know. I dare you to put a pass code
on that phone. You change your past, and I will
change your destiny. But it was a principle in the
(07:10):
modern age of stewardship that is really the same principle.
You know that God has been trying to teach us
all along that it's his to give and it's ours
to manage. And the moment you begin to understand that
about your life, your money.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Y'all don't like this sermon already. This is the motivational part.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It takes some of the pressure off to realize that
it's his to give, it's mine to manage. Say it
out loud, it's his to give mine to manage. So
I didn't make the day, but I will rejoice in it.
So he gave me the day, and now it's mine
to manage. That's a really powerful distinction to know that
(07:59):
there are certain things that God has given you under
your jurisdiction. One of those things is your joy. I
will rejoice and be glad in it. And so this
is the day that the Lord has made. I rejoice
and be glad in it, regardless of if the traffic
is congested.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I don't manage the.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Traffic, but I am I am A I like it
this way.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
My joy is my job.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
No matter what happens when I get to my job.
No one can steal my joy because my joy is
not under anyone else else's jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
See what I'm saying, It's mine to manage.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And one time I made the mistake of saying that
somebody stole my joy, and the spear of the Lord
really corrected me on that, like they stole your joy there,
your joy is not their job. And if they sold it,
you should have done a better job locking the door
so they couldn't.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Get to it. You need a better security system. If
someone else can steal.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Your joy, then you've got your joy hiding out there
in the open where anybody can see it and snatch it.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And so this principle emerges in the Book of Joshua.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Can I tell you a little bit about this historic incident.
I'm so thankful for the gift of your attention today.
I find it a great privilege that you would lean
into the word of God and allow these words to
be spoken. I think it's amazing. I want to make
it worth your while. I want to tell a little bit about.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
This passage of scripture is really amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
What God is doing for his people here, because the
nation of Israel is under new management, under new management.
Speaker 6 (09:44):
And this.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Promise that God began making generations ago is now about
to come to pass. This land that they are going
to possess is going to become theirs, but it's really God's,
but it's theirs. It's theirs to possess, but it's God's
to give. So it's Gods and it's theirs. And Joshua
is the person God is using to bring it to pass.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now, Moses was the leader that brought the people out of.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Egypt, where they spent several centuries enslave to the systems
of that nation, and now they're no longer just wandering
around in the wilderness like they did under Moses for
over forty years. But they're coming into their own land.
They're coming into their own spacious place. They're coming into
(10:32):
their own homes, and they're coming into their own community
that God has been in the process of forming. But
it's going to require a different mindset because up until
this point in their life, they have existed on the
miracles that God provided, Like God gave them manna when
they were in the wilderness because they didn't have quail
(10:53):
like they had in Egypt that their masters would give
them to feed them. But now they're coming into their
own and the mana that used to fall from the sky,
it was miraculous how it came down. They would just
walk out their front door and there it would be
Amazon Prime on the doorstep. The drone would drop it
off and they would have enough for the day.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
But the thing that's about.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
To happen to them in just a moment is that
they're going to cross over into this land where the
mana is going to stop coming, and they are going
to have to learn to manage in a different way.
So they're going to have to mature in their mindset,
And I guess one way that you could say this,
they're having to learn how to manage their miracle.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And this is something you don't hear.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Taught enough in settings like these, because we often tell
you to expect a miracle and to believe for a miracle,
and to receive for a miracle. But how many know
that you are responsible to manage your miracles.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I'll prove it to you from the.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Text, because you're acting kind of suspicious, and I don't
blame you. It sounds weird because a miracle is something
that God does.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
It's something that God gives.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
But the cooperation between Heaven and humanity has always been this.
It's God's to give, but it's mine to manage. It's
my father's to give, but it's mine to manage. And
so God is bringing his people through the Jordan River.
How many of you have something God has brought you
through this year? Did God bring you through it? I'm
(12:34):
gonna give you twelve seconds to praise Him for something
that he brought you through. We all have a Jordan
that we came through. And the interesting thing about the
Jordan River is it's mentioned a lot in scripture, but
not because it's a big body of water.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
It's only like fifteen.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yards wide at its widest points, and it's not the
deepest body of water.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
That's not what makes it significant.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
What it symbolizes gives its biblical significance in that the
people of God saw the Jordan River as representing transitions
and new beginnings. You see it a lot in the
prophetic record, like Elisha God Elijah's mantle in the Old Testament,
and he crossed the Jordan River. It's not a big river,
(13:26):
but it's symbolic. It's significant not because of its size,
not because of its scope physically, not because of its
geographical implications, but because.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Of what God did there.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Now they're standing at this place, this body of water,
and God does something amazing and does it in a
very particular way.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
He tells the priest to stand in the middle of.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
The Jordan with the arc of the Covenant. That's where
they kept the Ten Commandments. It represented the presence of God.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
And when the priest put their foot in.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
The water, the water stopped flowing to provide passageway for
the people to cross through. God did not carry his
people across the Jordan. He enabled his people to cross over.
(14:26):
This is how a lot of us live, our lives
waiting for God to carry us over something when He
is waiting for us to cross. You see me def
lepparn It is true. My kids one time, when they
were real little, we were at a public restroom and
they were washing their hands and they had their hands
(14:48):
out like this, and nothing was happening because I realized
they were used to the fuscet being automatic.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
And it wasn't an automatic faucet.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
And I watched and I stood back to see how
long they would stand there with their hands under the
faucet waiting for something to happen without turning the foss
in on. And finally, in compassion, I told, I told
my oldest child, I said, this is not an automatic faucet.
I know that you're used to the water just coming
(15:17):
on like this. See when you've had Man'm falling out
of the sky for so many years, you're used to
just something falling down out of the just because you
put your hand there. But it is going to require
an action. It's going to require So the water didn't
stop flowing til the people start walking, And when they
(15:38):
start walking, the water stuff flowing, and the people passed
through and the priests stood in the middle of the Jordan,
which must have taken faith for them to stand in
the middle of the Jordan, not knowing if it was
going to continue to pile up in a heat or
if it was going to flood over them. But the
leaders had the faith to stand in the middle of
the Jordan. Isn't that significant that it said it was
in the middle of the Jordan. Isn't that the hardest
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thing in life to do is to manage the middle?
Because I understand that God has made me promises and
that he knows the end from the beginning, but I don't.
I don't know the end from the beginning. I know
the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans
(16:22):
to pross for you and not to harm you.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Plans to give you hope and a future.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well, I'm glad that God knows the plans he have
for me, but I don't know the plans he has
for me.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And so the.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Challenge isn't believing that he knows how this is going
to end.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
My challenge is yah standing in the middle.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
And believing that what he spoke is indeed significant. It's
different when you're in the middle, it's a lot different
it was.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
It was weird.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
A few weeks ago, they had a baptism testimony on
the on the screens, and I love the baptism stories.
Do you love those stories that they tell?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
If it was your child, you might love it, you.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Know what I'm saying, Like if it was somebody that
you knew and loved. I try to always picture like
I always picture if.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
That was my brother or if that was my sister.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
And when I hear somebody share a testimony, I always
listen for the details. And one thing that I noticed
that they normally share in their story, they'll share a sermon.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
That where God spoke to them.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And a few weeks ago, the young lady sharing the
sermon that she shared shared a sermon that I remember
preaching and thinking that it was the worst sermon that
I ever preached, because it's different when you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It was a year later and she was talking about
that story, that sermon, and in her story she referenced
that's as a turning point in her relationship with God.
And here's what I remember. I remember how I felt
while I was doing it, and I realized that even
though I felt nothing while I was preaching it. She
(18:16):
was sitting somewhere in that room, maybe not even in
the room where I was preaching it, and she was
having a completely different experience hearing it than I was
preaching it.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
But it's different when you're in the middle of it, huh.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Is different when you're raising your kids believing that they're
receiving the values that you're trying to impart to them,
because when you are teaching your kid's responsibility, they do
not thank you and recognize you for being a voice
of wisdom and an encouraging force of good.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
In their lives. Is different when you're in the middle
of it.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
And see, the reason that we can sometimes look at
the biblic miracles and experience them and celebrate them is
because we know how they end. But it's different when
you're in the middle of it. It's different when you're
in the middle of it, when you were having to
stand in the middle of something and say, no, God,
I know that you're faithful, and I know that you're good,
(19:20):
but I don't feel that you're faithful, and I don't feel.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
That you're good right now.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
That's called a sacrifice of praise. That's where you have
to dig somewhere deeper than your feelings or your knowledge,
or your certainty, or your circumstance or your bank account.
God show me how to manage the middle. I have
(19:46):
a hard time with that. I don't have a hard
time being excited about the beginning, and I don't have
a hard time celebrating the end.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
But this middle.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Teach me how demand the middle? Ooh ooh. One of
my best friends pastors of big church, and they had
three years where they didn't grow. In fact, they went backward.
I said, what was the problem in those three years
when you didn't grow? He said, middle management. We got
so large, the organization got so big that there was
(20:22):
a layer of people in the middle who started to
block the values that were a part of the organization
in the early days.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And it was middle management.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It wasn't the people that were executing the job.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
It wasn't the vision had changed.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
It was what happened in the middle that almost cost
us the momentum.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Of what God was doing. I wonder, is that how
it happens in our lives.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I wonder if sometimes the reason that Joyce stops flowing,
the reason that fate stops growing, the reason that sometimes
we lose our sense perspective about who God is. Is
is not the end, it's not the beginning. It's middle management.
We don't know how to manage the middle. We don't
know how to deal with Monday. So we shout good
(21:12):
on Sunday. But I need a sermon. I need an
mma sermon. I need some Monday morning application.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I need something to help me manage.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
This middle because I'm not fighting the devil on Sunday morning.
I'm fighting him on Tuesday at three thirty seven. So
the key to this, Joshua says, take twelve stones. Twelve
stones January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
(21:42):
twelve months, twelve stones, twelve tribes, twelve disciples, twelve everybody
say twelve, take twelve, Pile them up, and in the future,
when your children ask you, what's up with these stones,
or like my kids ask me, what's up with these
cassette tapes.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I still got some. When your children ask you, tell
them what the Lord did.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
Tell them, tell them, take them to the shum the stones,
and tell them we didn't know if we were going
to make it.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Through.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
But God did something only he could do, and we
made it. Somebody shot, I made it. Tell the person
next to you, you have no idea what I've been through.
Look at him right in the eye and say, and
God brought me over.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And look at him one more time and say, how
about you ask him?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Have you been through anything? Imagine this? Imagine this. They
come through the Jordan. Let's play the story out for
a moment. They come through the Jordan. God brings them through.
They set up the stones. God does a great miracle.
They go on to fight battles, but they set up
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the stones to remember what God did in that moment.
It's very beautiful. And then they go forward into the
land and they fight. They fight many battles, and God
gives them any victories. But every once in a while,
maybe they come back with their kids and they show
them the stones, because they left the stones in Gilgal
and then they moved on to conquer Canaan. And you
(23:29):
know how it is when when somebody is reflecting on
something and they get nostalgic, and maybe maybe the parents
start telling the children. We didn't know if we were
going to make it. Joshua was our new leader. And
we had never we'd never been this way before. And
(23:51):
he told us. He told us that if the priests
would stand in the middle, the waters would stand at
attention until the people passed through.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So we hurried through as fast as we could. We
ran through. The Bible says in Joshua, chapter four, verse
twenty one.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
They hurried through. They didn't have a whole lot of faith,
just enough to get through it. They were dancing through
the middle. They were running through the middle. Let me
tell you something, when you got the devil chasing you,
sometimes all you can do is get through it. You
don't look flashy, you're not shooting, you're not flossing, you're
not doing nothing but running for your life. So they
got through it. But they said God got us through it.
(24:30):
That was amazing, amazing because we didn't know. It was
amazing and the arc was there and it represented the
presence of God. Oh I wish you could have been
their son. It was just so amazing. And we didn't
know if we were going to be able to do it,
but we did. God did it. God.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
It wasn't I say, God did.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
It, Okay, And they say that, And then so maybe
a few years go by maybe they go back to
the place again and they look at the stones, but
you know, maybe the stones.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Are they're still there, they haven't gone any where.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
But the story starts to get lost a little bit,
and maybe a few years later they're telling their children,
they're like, oh, yeah, it's pretty cool. I mean we
got through it. I mean God did it, but we
were the ones who had to walk because you know,
like God didn't. God didn't carry us through. But but
we got through it. And then a few more years
(25:20):
passed and maybe they're telling their kids again, making another trip,
and they're telling them, yeah, those stones they're they're cool.
Joshua made us get them out the middle of the
Jordan news.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
It was weird. We were ready to move on. But Joshua.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Let me tell you how I know that the story
stopped being told because when you get to the end
of Joshua's life, you read in Judges chapter two, verse ten,
just a verse just as verse. I want to show
you and I want you to think about the space
between when Joshua led the people through the Jordan and
(25:52):
when the next generation arose. It says it after that
whole generation, Joshua's generation had gathered to their ancestors. Another
generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what
he had done for Israel. Joshua's generation set up the stones.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
The next generation didn't even know the story. What happened.
Somewhere along the way between.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Joshua chapter four and Judges chapter two, they.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Stopped telling the story.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Something changed about the story somewhere in that space. And God,
if I'm just preaching this for one person, help me
to do it now, because they have been telling themselves
the wrong story, and now their faith is feeling feeble,
and now their worship has been weakened, and they are
in a cycle of dependence on false gods because they
(26:56):
stopped telling the story.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
The storyory of salvation is this. I was lost and
dead in my sin. I had no hope in myself.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I could not save myself. I could not help myself.
I could not lift myself. I would not have made
it if He had not reached down, and with a
mighty hand and an outstretched arm, he died for me.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
He came into my life.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
He intersected me at the point of my sin, and
while I was still.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
A sinner, Christ died for me.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Why are you screaming because I've got a story that
didn't start with me, is started with the mercy of God.
And the enemy doesn't want you to tell this story.
(27:55):
See he wants He wants you to lose your testimony.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
They kept the stones.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
The stones are still there to this day, but they
stop telling the story. You know, you can have all
of the monuments of religion but lose your relationship with God.
(28:21):
You can have all the stones in the world, You
can come to church, you can.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Still live a lifeness between the lives.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
But if the truth we're told today some of us
have stopped telling the story, We've lost our testimony.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
You have a testimony.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
There are things that God has done for you that
only He could do, and nobody else can tell it
for you, and nobody else can tell it like you.
It can happen. It can happen in your own heart.
It can happen in a generation. It can happen within
a lifetime. It could happen within three years. You can
(29:01):
actually have God do something amazing for you and have
the stones to prove it. Some of you are sitting
next to the woman that you ask God to give you,
but now you want out of your marriage. The problem
is in your marriage. It's your management. I'll go back
(29:23):
here because.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
I'm not scared to say this stuff. We need to
manage our miracles. God has been good to us. God
has been more than enough.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
He is a provider, He is Jehovah Tyra.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
He did bring you through.
Speaker 7 (29:40):
He did bless you, he did make a way.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
He is more than enough. He is el Shadai. He
is a great king. He is a good father.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Touch somebody say, manage your miracle.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
It's constangin. What is yours to ma?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I told Elijah, if you cracked the screen, I'm not
replacing it.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
It's yours to manage if you crack the screen, or
if you here's here's what happens to me. Let me
tell you something. Now, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
I sometimes I I stopped telling myself the testimony because
to me sometimes it seems it seems small.
Speaker 8 (30:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
You know, something happened between when they crossed the Jordan.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I don't know exactly what it is.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I think there's evidence to support this hypothesis. They fought
a lot of battles between Joshua before and judges too,
and I wonder if the battles became bigger in their
minds than the blessings. And I wonder if they started
(31:09):
telling themselves the stories that centered around their struggles rather
than God's sovereign hand that saw them through the struggles.
I wonder if they got in survival mode to the
point that they stopped telling the story. And I wonder
if when they saw God do all these other things.
I wonder, I wonder if they just didn't go back
(31:31):
to the stones they were placed on the bank of
the Jordan, back where they started. And sometimes when you
don't go back where you started and remember what God
did where you started, you lose perspective when you get
where you're going. Oh man, I feel so guilty preaching
this point. It's so easy for me to get caught
(31:55):
up and consumed in my own convenience, my own drama,
my own insecurities, my own dysfunction, and a lot of times,
I'll be honest with you, I don't share what God
is doing in my life because it doesn't seem big,
because I can compare it to something.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Else and it seems small. It seems small, like these stones.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
You know, at one point in your life you're really
grateful for it, but then at some point it can
lose its significance. I was asking somebody the other day
if I could hear their testimony, and it's a church word, right, testimony.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
People don't really talk like that except in courts and church,
you know what I mean. Like it's just a real
churchy thing to say.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
And they were like, well when I was twelve and
they were fifty three, I was like.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Not that testimony.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
You can't fight today's devils if you don't have today's testimony.
There needs to be a current work that God is
doing in your life. Yes, he saved me, and I
want to talk about that, but what is He doing
in my life today? Another generation that knew not the
Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
This is your testimony. You know, it can be a
tiny testimony. It doesn't have to be a big rock.
You can fight the devil with a little rock.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Ask David, you can fight a big giant with a little.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Rock if you know how to throw it.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I said, you can fight depression with a little rock
if you know how.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
To throw it. You can fight discouragement with a.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Lid, a tiny.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Lit a tiny testimony. I don't have a big testimony.
Pretty much on my life. I've been serving the Lord.
I have never was owned drugs and women and running
around pretty much grew.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Up in Come on, man, you don't have to have
a met lab in your garage to have a testimony.
You don't have to be fresh off death row to
have a testimony. You don't have to have fourteen children
by fourteen women to have a testimony.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
A testimony, it can be the smallest thing. Like a
few weeks ago, I's getting ready come out and preach.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
I don't want to tell you this because because Joshua said,
tell them, tell them what God did for you, tell them,
tell them about it.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Preach it, teach it.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
You overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the
word of your testimony. There is power in your personal testimony.
So a few weeks ago, I was getting ready to preach,
I didn't feel like preaching.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Wo I love the Lord.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
I believe his word, and I believe he's coming again.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
I just didn't feel like preaching. On that Saturday night,
weather was nasty. I didn't feel like preaching. So I
was having a little pity party.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I hate to tell you this, but I was. I
was being so childish. But then I had this moment.
I was like, FaceTime one of your friends and get
him to pray for you, because the service was about
to start, so the staff was out doing staff stuff,
so they couldn't come pray for me. So I was
(35:21):
going to face one of my friends who didn't have
a Saturday night service, and he didn't answer. Apparently Judah
Smith had better things to do than pray for his friend.
Pray that the Carolina Panthers will wreak havoc upon the
Seattle Seahawks today to punish him for not being there
in my time of FaceTime need you don't want to
FaceTime ferdict, I hope you go down today royally. Then
(35:45):
I called Craig Groschel, that's my pastor, that's my guy,
and he didn't answer, and he always answers. He didn't answer,
and I was running out of time because I needed
to get out there and preach. So I said this little.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Pitiful prayer, you know, not the kind I pray in
front of people.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
I was like, oh Lord, since nobody wants to pray
for me, I'm always praying for everybody else.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
That's all go out pre schoe. I pray for myself
and I start praying.
Speaker 8 (36:22):
You know this real mumbly, grumbly, grumpy prayer, a little
bad attitude prayer, a little like kids going to make
up the bed.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Fun that kind of prayer. Have you ever had that
level of faith where it's like.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Fine, faith, fine God, Fine.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
I pray for myself.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
So I start praying fathering the images out loud. I
say that when I said Father, in the name of Jesus,
the moment I got it out of my mouth, Father namages,
my phone rang my phone hardly ever, rang rings my phone.
I mostly communicate my text I don't do a lot
talking on the phone. And my phone rings and it
(36:59):
hardly ever and never rings at that time of day.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
And it said no caller. I d but I'm not
making this up. I said, I should answer this. I
said hello. His deep voice comes on the phone, what
are you doing? The voice of none other? It could
(37:26):
only be Bishop TD Jakes.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
That's like my favorite preacher since I'm like this big,
since I started wanting to be a preacher, this was
my favorite preacher.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Here he is calling me, what do you deal with?
And I was like, hey, mister Jakes is going out.
The preacher from Saturday Night service.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
He said, oh, well, since this is a bad time,
let me just pray for you before you go out
there and preach real quick father, the name of Jesus,
knowing him with your spirit and filling with your wisdom,
give him words to say from him. I'm telling you,
I'm telling you, I'm.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Not waiting until something to me.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
I need to fight the devil sometimes with a phone call.
There are little things that God has done.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
For me, Moments where I.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Called his name and there was nobody there to answer,
and then all of a sudden, something from heaven with
no caller id and God reached down and God dragged
my tears.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
And God strengthened me, and.
Speaker 7 (38:38):
God upheld me with a mighty hand in and outstretched arm.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
You need to tell these stories. You need to tell
these stories. Stop telling yourself the story that nobody cares
about you, that you're alone, and that it doesn't matter
another generation who didn't know what the Lord had done
for Israel because they.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Stopped telling the story.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
And when you stop preaching the gospel to yourself and
reminding yourself that the Son of God accepted and chose
you and brought you out of Egypt and brought you
out of sin, and brought you through the Red Sea,
and brought you through the Jordan.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
And brought down the Jericho walls.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
And brought you out of bondage, and brought you out
of fear. Please hear me, When you stop telling that story,
you lose your strength. The children of Israel went through
fifteen cycles.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Of disobedience to God.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
And not only did they go through fifteen psychs of
disobedience to God through fifteen different judges, but they went
through four hundred and twenty years of dependence on gods
that could not save them because they stopped telling the story.
(40:19):
What story have you been telling yourself? What story have
you been telling your children? What story?
Speaker 7 (40:28):
You know?
Speaker 2 (40:28):
What I was thinking, what story is our church telling
in this day? Because you know, God has done amazing
things for us. But sometimes it really rips my heart
out when I see a canvas pastor giving an invitation
in our church and people get up and start leaving
(40:50):
so they can beat traffic out the parking.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Lot while somebody's soul is on the line. That really
hurts my heart because.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
When we started the church, we weren't starting the church
to have a Christian entertainment center. Where we could give
people a little anecdote and a little song and a
little goosebump.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
And they could get to lunch.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Is that the story we're telling that we gather together
when it's convenient and we consume spiritual food, but we
never contribute. This is why I think it's important that
we have traditions our year end offering, because God is
inviting a new generation.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
To tell the story. And it's so vital in this moment.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
That you realize that the gospel is God's story, but
it's ours to manage. We are stewards of the story
that God is telling in the world today.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
What a privilege it is.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Come on, can we praise Him for the privilege?
Speaker 9 (42:01):
Do you know the hem? This is my story. This
is my song, praising my avery, lo, this is my story.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
This is my song, prazy my say, stand to your feet.
I want to pray with you. Now, just give me
a path.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
You're in the middle of a story right now that
God is telling through your life.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
You're in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
The priest stood in the middle of the stones came
from the Everything good that God does in our life
comes from our ability to recognize it in the middle
and sometimes what happens, I know, you feel like you've
come to the end.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
You feel like is this for you? You feel like
you get to the end of something, You get to
the end of your own strength, You get to the end.
And sometimes the.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Season shifts in your life, and something is always ending
as something else's beginning. The Jordan is both it's their
exodus from the wilderness and it's their entrance into Canaan.
It's happening all at the same time, right, and so
you think you're at the end of something. Your ability
to manage that emotion in the middle of it determines
(43:44):
what happens next in your life.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
Remember this.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Moses died on Mountain Nebo looking at the promised land.
Joshua led the people into the land that God had
promised Moses. The difference was what God had promised. God
promised Moses and Joshua the same result. The difference wasn't
(44:07):
the promise. The difference was how they managed the miracle
in the middle of it. God gave Moses a miracle,
He parted the Red Sea, but Moses stayed stuck in
what other people said. Moses managed according to his fear,
not his faith. God gave Joshua the same promise, and
Joshua said, even in spite of our fear, even in
(44:28):
spite of our failures, even in spite of the fact
that they're more out there than there are in here,
We're going forward in the name of the Lord, with
his presence as our banner. And we are standing in
the middle, and we will stand in the middle until
everything that God has spoken comes to pass. I wonder,
is there anybody who's willing to get in the middle
of it and take your stand and declare, I will
(44:52):
see the goodness of the Lord in my generation, in
my life.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
That's what I want to pray for you about.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
And if you lift your hands right now, I'll do
it because the Lord is in this moment. The Lord
is very present even in your pain, and I believe
that God is even present in some of.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
The mistakes that you've made. Lord, right now, would you.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
Visit the heart of each of your sons and daughters
with a reminder, maybe, like those twelve rocks that the
people piled up, give us a rock of remembrance today
that we can build on the firm foundation of your faithfulness.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
The victory is yours to give, but it's mine to manage.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
God, remind me of the responsibility that you have given me,
and teach me to lean on your grace as I do.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Give me the faith to stay standing.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
In the middle, with the waters all around me, and
to worship You in this moment, with our heads bowed
and our eyes closed. And wonder if there's somebody here
today who needs to receive the grace of God for
the salvation of your soul, the forgiveness of your sin.
(46:26):
I wonder, is there's someone here today who needs to
begin a relationship.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
With God, or maybe you want to.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Reconnect in that relationship with God. You've been feeling for
a long time like you're far from him, but it's
not true. He's near, and if you call on his name,
he is in this moment, and he longs to come
and live inside of you. He longs to allow you
(46:53):
to follow him, even when you don't know what's next.
It's very simple what the Bible says about salvation. It
is by grace that you are saved through faith. It's
the gift of God. It's not of works. So that
no one can boast that if you confess with your
(47:13):
mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart
God raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
You will be saved.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
As the promise of God doesn't require good works. You
can't stack enough stones to climb your way to heaven.
And it doesn't work like that. God's not watching your
behavior to see whether or not he will relate to you.
He's already done through the person of his son Jesus,
all that needs to be done for you to have
a right relationship with Him.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
And right now, in this moment, I want to pray
with you. At every location.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
We're going to pray out loud as a church family
for the benefit of those who are coming to God
or come in back to God. But will all pray
out loud together, repeat after me, Heavenly Father. I believe
Jesus Christ. It's the son of God. And today I
make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe you
(48:09):
die to forgive my sin and rose again to give
me life. I receive this new life. This is my
new beginning. On the count of three, if you just
pray that prayer, shoot your hand up. I want to
celebrate with you. One, two, three, come on as a testimony.
Speaker 10 (48:27):
Shoot your hand up. That's a lot of hands. That's
a lot of hands. Let's praise God for it. Come on,
let's praise God for it. I said, let's praise God
for it. Today is the day of salvation. Let's praise
God for it.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the lincoln the description to give now
or visit Elevationchurch dot.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Org slash podcast.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
For more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you
can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (49:16):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our
podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Enjoy the message I want to share with you from
a scripture that really demonstrates something that I think is
difficult to do in our lives but will be so
helpful to us.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We're in a season called Game Changer, and so our
y're in series.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We're taking a moment to.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Pause, reflect and respond to God's goodness in our lives.
And so from the scriptural foundation today, I want to
help you see something that I think will help you
to carry forward with you into the next season of
your life. Momentum for what God has already done is
something significant, and what He.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Wants to do is even greater.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And I believe that, believe that with all of my
heart for myself and my family, and you and your family,
and for our church. And so with that spirit of faith,
today let's go to the Word of God Joshua, chapter four, verses.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
One through nine.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And as I read this story to you over the
next few moments. I want you pay attention to the
details of it, okay, because on the surface, the story
is really very simple. The people of Israel are crossing
into the Promised Land. They haven't fought any battles yet,
but it's already theirs because God has promised to give
it to them. So they're coming to realize what God
(01:32):
has already revealed, and he showed it to them for
many generations. But now they're coming into that moment where
they're having to actually believe that what God spoke in
their lives, and what God spoke that they haven't seen
come to pass yet is about to happen. And so
I think this is an appropriate scripture for where we
(01:53):
are as a church, and maybe for where you are
as well.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And I pray that God will help me deliver it today.
Are you excited. I'll be honest, it's not very convince him,
but I am. I'm excited enough for all of us,
so we'll do it anyway. Joshua Chapter four, verse one.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the
Lord said to Joshua, choose twelve.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Men from among the people.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
One from each tribe, and tell them to take up
twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right
where the priests are standing, and carry them over with
you and put them down at the place where you
stay tonight. So joshuall call the twelve men he had
appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said
to them, go for the ark of the Lord your
(02:36):
got into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you
is to take up a stone on his shoulder according
to the number of tribes of the Israelites, to serve
as a sign among you in the future.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
When your children ask.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
You what do these stones mean, tell them that the
flow of the Jordan was cut off off before the
Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan
were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial
to the people of Israel forever. So Israelites did as
Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones in the middle
of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes
of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua, and
(03:26):
they carried them over with them to the camp, where
they put them.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Down Joshua set up the twelve.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan
at the spot where the priests who had carried the
Ark of the Covenant had stood, and they are there
to this day. Would you look at the person next
to you and give them my sermon title, tell them
it's mine to manage. Look at your other neighbor. I
know they were your second choice, but they're important to
(03:53):
the Lord as well, And tell them it's mine to manage.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
It's mine to man. And how many of you have children?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
How many of you have children who have a phone
or an electronic device with a data plan. It's a
big debate around my house. When will our children be
old enough to be entrusted with data? Real first world problems.
I get it, But you know, parenting is challenging. It's
a great privilege, but I find it to be challenging,
(04:23):
and I find it to be exhilarating, and I find.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
It to be exhausting.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And one woman wrote me on YouTube and said, I
think you had kids too soon. You're always complaining about them,
And I prayed for her in tongues. But you know,
the more of a privilege you see something to be
the more of a responsibility you feel toward it.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So complaining isn't always a sign that you don't care.
You're not grateful, you'd have an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude
is not an attitude. Gratitude is an action. And then
the action of being.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Grateful leads to a feeling of gratitude. But God would
not command you to be grateful if gratitude was a feeling,
because you can't command a feeling. Doesn't work that way.
God instead instructs you to praise him. One Psalma said
it this way. He said, Ah, this is the day
that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be
(05:21):
glad in it. This is the day that the Lord
has made.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
I will rejoice and be glad in it. Oh, this
is the day. This is the day that the Lord
has made. Hey, this is the day. This is the
day that the Lord has made. Now who made it?
(05:50):
Who made it?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Now? I will rejoice.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
I will rejoice and be glad in it. So God
made it, But I get to manage it. Touch somebody
say it's mine to manage.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And what I do with this day is up to me.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So when I gave my oldest kid his phone, I said.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I wrapped it. It was his birthday, and I rapped it.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
And I said, this phone has data, and this phone
is yours, not really.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
For your birthday.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I am giving you my phone to use, which means
that this phone, the contents thereof, and the communications that
shall be initiated thereby are under my jurisdiction. One good
(06:47):
parent clapped when I said that. And I dare you
to put a pass code on that phone that I
don't know. I dare you to put a pass code
on that phone. You change your past, and I will
change your destiny. But it was a principle in the
(07:10):
modern age of stewardship that is really the same principle.
You know that God has been trying to teach us
all along that it's his to give and it's ours
to manage. And the moment you begin to understand that
about your life, your money.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Y'all don't like this sermon already. This is the motivational part.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It takes some of the pressure off to realize that
it's his to give, it's mine to manage. Say it
out loud, it's his to give mine to manage. So
I didn't make the day, but I will rejoice in it.
So he gave me the day, and now it's mine
to manage. That's a really powerful distinction to know that
(07:59):
there are certain things that God has given you under
your jurisdiction. One of those things is your joy. I
will rejoice and be glad in it. And so this
is the day that the Lord has made. I rejoice
and be glad in it, regardless of if the traffic
is congested.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I don't manage the.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Traffic, but I am I am A I like it
this way.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
My joy is my job.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
No matter what happens when I get to my job.
No one can steal my joy because my joy is
not under anyone else else's jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
See what I'm saying, It's mine to manage.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And one time I made the mistake of saying that
somebody stole my joy, and the spear of the Lord
really corrected me on that, like they stole your joy there,
your joy is not their job. And if they sold it,
you should have done a better job locking the door
so they couldn't.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Get to it. You need a better security system. If
someone else can steal.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Your joy, then you've got your joy hiding out there
in the open where anybody can see it and snatch it.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And so this principle emerges in the Book of Joshua.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Can I tell you a little bit about this historic incident.
I'm so thankful for the gift of your attention today.
I find it a great privilege that you would lean
into the word of God and allow these words to
be spoken. I think it's amazing. I want to make
it worth your while. I want to tell a little bit about.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
This passage of scripture is really amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
What God is doing for his people here, because the
nation of Israel is under new management, under new management.
Speaker 6 (09:44):
And this.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Promise that God began making generations ago is now about
to come to pass. This land that they are going
to possess is going to become theirs, but it's really God's,
but it's theirs. It's theirs to possess, but it's God's
to give. So it's Gods and it's theirs. And Joshua
is the person God is using to bring it to pass.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now, Moses was the leader that brought the people out of.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Egypt, where they spent several centuries enslave to the systems
of that nation, and now they're no longer just wandering
around in the wilderness like they did under Moses for
over forty years. But they're coming into their own land.
They're coming into their own spacious place. They're coming into
(10:32):
their own homes, and they're coming into their own community
that God has been in the process of forming. But
it's going to require a different mindset because up until
this point in their life, they have existed on the
miracles that God provided, Like God gave them manna when
they were in the wilderness because they didn't have quail
(10:53):
like they had in Egypt that their masters would give
them to feed them. But now they're coming into their
own and the mana that used to fall from the sky,
it was miraculous how it came down. They would just
walk out their front door and there it would be
Amazon Prime on the doorstep. The drone would drop it
off and they would have enough for the day.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
But the thing that's about.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
To happen to them in just a moment is that
they're going to cross over into this land where the
mana is going to stop coming, and they are going
to have to learn to manage in a different way.
So they're going to have to mature in their mindset,
And I guess one way that you could say this,
they're having to learn how to manage their miracle.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And this is something you don't hear.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Taught enough in settings like these, because we often tell
you to expect a miracle and to believe for a miracle,
and to receive for a miracle. But how many know
that you are responsible to manage your miracles.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I'll prove it to you from the.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Text, because you're acting kind of suspicious, and I don't
blame you. It sounds weird because a miracle is something
that God does.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
It's something that God gives.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
But the cooperation between Heaven and humanity has always been this.
It's God's to give, but it's mine to manage. It's
my father's to give, but it's mine to manage. And
so God is bringing his people through the Jordan River.
How many of you have something God has brought you
through this year? Did God bring you through it? I'm
(12:34):
gonna give you twelve seconds to praise Him for something
that he brought you through. We all have a Jordan
that we came through. And the interesting thing about the
Jordan River is it's mentioned a lot in scripture, but
not because it's a big body of water.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
It's only like fifteen.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yards wide at its widest points, and it's not the
deepest body of water.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
That's not what makes it significant.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
What it symbolizes gives its biblical significance in that the
people of God saw the Jordan River as representing transitions
and new beginnings. You see it a lot in the
prophetic record, like Elisha God Elijah's mantle in the Old Testament,
and he crossed the Jordan River. It's not a big river,
(13:26):
but it's symbolic. It's significant not because of its size,
not because of its scope physically, not because of its
geographical implications, but because.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Of what God did there.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Now they're standing at this place, this body of water,
and God does something amazing and does it in a
very particular way.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
He tells the priest to stand in the middle of.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
The Jordan with the arc of the Covenant. That's where
they kept the Ten Commandments. It represented the presence of God.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
And when the priest put their foot in.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
The water, the water stopped flowing to provide passageway for
the people to cross through. God did not carry his
people across the Jordan. He enabled his people to cross over.
(14:26):
This is how a lot of us live, our lives
waiting for God to carry us over something when He
is waiting for us to cross. You see me def
lepparn It is true. My kids one time, when they
were real little, we were at a public restroom and
they were washing their hands and they had their hands
(14:48):
out like this, and nothing was happening because I realized
they were used to the fuscet being automatic.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
And it wasn't an automatic faucet.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
And I watched and I stood back to see how
long they would stand there with their hands under the
faucet waiting for something to happen without turning the foss
in on. And finally, in compassion, I told, I told
my oldest child, I said, this is not an automatic faucet.
I know that you're used to the water just coming
(15:17):
on like this. See when you've had Man'm falling out
of the sky for so many years, you're used to
just something falling down out of the just because you
put your hand there. But it is going to require
an action. It's going to require So the water didn't
stop flowing til the people start walking, And when they
(15:38):
start walking, the water stuff flowing, and the people passed
through and the priests stood in the middle of the Jordan,
which must have taken faith for them to stand in
the middle of the Jordan, not knowing if it was
going to continue to pile up in a heat or
if it was going to flood over them. But the
leaders had the faith to stand in the middle of
the Jordan. Isn't that significant that it said it was
in the middle of the Jordan. Isn't that the hardest
(15:59):
thing in life to do is to manage the middle?
Because I understand that God has made me promises and
that he knows the end from the beginning, but I don't.
I don't know the end from the beginning. I know
the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans
(16:22):
to pross for you and not to harm you.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Plans to give you hope and a future.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well, I'm glad that God knows the plans he have
for me, but I don't know the plans he has
for me.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And so the.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Challenge isn't believing that he knows how this is going
to end.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
My challenge is yah standing in the middle.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
And believing that what he spoke is indeed significant. It's
different when you're in the middle, it's a lot different
it was.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
It was weird.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
A few weeks ago, they had a baptism testimony on
the on the screens, and I love the baptism stories.
Do you love those stories that they tell?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
If it was your child, you might love it, you.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Know what I'm saying, Like if it was somebody that
you knew and loved. I try to always picture like
I always picture if.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
That was my brother or if that was my sister.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
And when I hear somebody share a testimony, I always
listen for the details. And one thing that I noticed
that they normally share in their story, they'll share a sermon.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
That where God spoke to them.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And a few weeks ago, the young lady sharing the
sermon that she shared shared a sermon that I remember
preaching and thinking that it was the worst sermon that
I ever preached, because it's different when you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It was a year later and she was talking about
that story, that sermon, and in her story she referenced
that's as a turning point in her relationship with God.
And here's what I remember. I remember how I felt
while I was doing it, and I realized that even
though I felt nothing while I was preaching it. She
(18:16):
was sitting somewhere in that room, maybe not even in
the room where I was preaching it, and she was
having a completely different experience hearing it than I was
preaching it.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
But it's different when you're in the middle of it, huh.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Is different when you're raising your kids believing that they're
receiving the values that you're trying to impart to them,
because when you are teaching your kid's responsibility, they do
not thank you and recognize you for being a voice
of wisdom and an encouraging force of good.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
In their lives. Is different when you're in the middle
of it.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
And see, the reason that we can sometimes look at
the biblic miracles and experience them and celebrate them is
because we know how they end. But it's different when
you're in the middle of it. It's different when you're
in the middle of it, when you were having to
stand in the middle of something and say, no, God,
I know that you're faithful, and I know that you're good,
(19:20):
but I don't feel that you're faithful, and I don't feel.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
That you're good right now.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
That's called a sacrifice of praise. That's where you have
to dig somewhere deeper than your feelings or your knowledge,
or your certainty, or your circumstance or your bank account.
God show me how to manage the middle. I have
(19:46):
a hard time with that. I don't have a hard
time being excited about the beginning, and I don't have
a hard time celebrating the end.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
But this middle.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Teach me how demand the middle? Ooh ooh. One of
my best friends pastors of big church, and they had
three years where they didn't grow. In fact, they went backward.
I said, what was the problem in those three years
when you didn't grow? He said, middle management. We got
so large, the organization got so big that there was
(20:22):
a layer of people in the middle who started to
block the values that were a part of the organization
in the early days.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And it was middle management.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It wasn't the people that were executing the job.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
It wasn't the vision had changed.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
It was what happened in the middle that almost cost
us the momentum.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Of what God was doing. I wonder, is that how
it happens in our lives.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I wonder if sometimes the reason that Joyce stops flowing,
the reason that fate stops growing, the reason that sometimes
we lose our sense perspective about who God is. Is
is not the end, it's not the beginning. It's middle management.
We don't know how to manage the middle. We don't
know how to deal with Monday. So we shout good
(21:12):
on Sunday. But I need a sermon. I need an
mma sermon. I need some Monday morning application.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I need something to help me manage.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
This middle because I'm not fighting the devil on Sunday morning.
I'm fighting him on Tuesday at three thirty seven. So
the key to this, Joshua says, take twelve stones. Twelve
stones January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
(21:42):
twelve months, twelve stones, twelve tribes, twelve disciples, twelve everybody
say twelve, take twelve, Pile them up, and in the future,
when your children ask you, what's up with these stones,
or like my kids ask me, what's up with these
cassette tapes.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I still got some. When your children ask you, tell
them what the Lord did.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
Tell them, tell them, take them to the shum the stones,
and tell them we didn't know if we were going
to make it.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Through.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
But God did something only he could do, and we
made it. Somebody shot, I made it. Tell the person
next to you, you have no idea what I've been through.
Look at him right in the eye and say, and
God brought me over.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And look at him one more time and say, how
about you ask him?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Have you been through anything? Imagine this? Imagine this. They
come through the Jordan. Let's play the story out for
a moment. They come through the Jordan. God brings them through.
They set up the stones. God does a great miracle.
They go on to fight battles, but they set up
(23:07):
the stones to remember what God did in that moment.
It's very beautiful. And then they go forward into the
land and they fight. They fight many battles, and God
gives them any victories. But every once in a while,
maybe they come back with their kids and they show
them the stones, because they left the stones in Gilgal
and then they moved on to conquer Canaan. And you
(23:29):
know how it is when when somebody is reflecting on
something and they get nostalgic, and maybe maybe the parents
start telling the children. We didn't know if we were
going to make it. Joshua was our new leader. And
we had never we'd never been this way before. And
(23:51):
he told us. He told us that if the priests
would stand in the middle, the waters would stand at
attention until the people passed through.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So we hurried through as fast as we could. We
ran through. The Bible says in Joshua, chapter four, verse
twenty one.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
They hurried through. They didn't have a whole lot of faith,
just enough to get through it. They were dancing through
the middle. They were running through the middle. Let me
tell you something, when you got the devil chasing you,
sometimes all you can do is get through it. You
don't look flashy, you're not shooting, you're not flossing, you're
not doing nothing but running for your life. So they
got through it. But they said God got us through it.
(24:30):
That was amazing, amazing because we didn't know. It was
amazing and the arc was there and it represented the
presence of God. Oh I wish you could have been
their son. It was just so amazing. And we didn't
know if we were going to be able to do it,
but we did. God did it. God.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
It wasn't I say, God did.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
It, Okay, And they say that, And then so maybe
a few years go by maybe they go back to
the place again and they look at the stones, but
you know, maybe the stones.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Are they're still there, they haven't gone any where.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
But the story starts to get lost a little bit,
and maybe a few years later they're telling their children,
they're like, oh, yeah, it's pretty cool. I mean we
got through it. I mean God did it, but we
were the ones who had to walk because you know,
like God didn't. God didn't carry us through. But but
we got through it. And then a few more years
(25:20):
passed and maybe they're telling their kids again, making another trip,
and they're telling them, yeah, those stones they're they're cool.
Joshua made us get them out the middle of the
Jordan news.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
It was weird. We were ready to move on. But Joshua.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Let me tell you how I know that the story
stopped being told because when you get to the end
of Joshua's life, you read in Judges chapter two, verse ten,
just a verse just as verse. I want to show
you and I want you to think about the space
between when Joshua led the people through the Jordan and
(25:52):
when the next generation arose. It says it after that
whole generation, Joshua's generation had gathered to their ancestors. Another
generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what
he had done for Israel. Joshua's generation set up the stones.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
The next generation didn't even know the story. What happened.
Somewhere along the way between.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Joshua chapter four and Judges chapter two, they.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Stopped telling the story.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Something changed about the story somewhere in that space. And God,
if I'm just preaching this for one person, help me
to do it now, because they have been telling themselves
the wrong story, and now their faith is feeling feeble,
and now their worship has been weakened, and they are
in a cycle of dependence on false gods because they
(26:56):
stopped telling the story.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
The storyory of salvation is this. I was lost and
dead in my sin. I had no hope in myself.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I could not save myself. I could not help myself.
I could not lift myself. I would not have made
it if He had not reached down, and with a
mighty hand and an outstretched arm, he died for me.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
He came into my life.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
He intersected me at the point of my sin, and
while I was still.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
A sinner, Christ died for me.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Why are you screaming because I've got a story that
didn't start with me, is started with the mercy of God.
And the enemy doesn't want you to tell this story.
(27:55):
See he wants He wants you to lose your testimony.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
They kept the stones.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
The stones are still there to this day, but they
stop telling the story. You know, you can have all
of the monuments of religion but lose your relationship with God.
(28:21):
You can have all the stones in the world, You
can come to church, you can.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Still live a lifeness between the lives.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
But if the truth we're told today some of us
have stopped telling the story, We've lost our testimony.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
You have a testimony.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
There are things that God has done for you that
only He could do, and nobody else can tell it
for you, and nobody else can tell it like you.
It can happen. It can happen in your own heart.
It can happen in a generation. It can happen within
a lifetime. It could happen within three years. You can
(29:01):
actually have God do something amazing for you and have
the stones to prove it. Some of you are sitting
next to the woman that you ask God to give you,
but now you want out of your marriage. The problem
is in your marriage. It's your management. I'll go back
(29:23):
here because.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
I'm not scared to say this stuff. We need to
manage our miracles. God has been good to us. God
has been more than enough.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
He is a provider, He is Jehovah Tyra.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
He did bring you through.
Speaker 7 (29:40):
He did bless you, he did make a way.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
He is more than enough. He is el Shadai. He
is a great king. He is a good father.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Touch somebody say, manage your miracle.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
It's constangin. What is yours to ma?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I told Elijah, if you cracked the screen, I'm not
replacing it.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
It's yours to manage if you crack the screen, or
if you here's here's what happens to me. Let me
tell you something. Now, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
I sometimes I I stopped telling myself the testimony because
to me sometimes it seems it seems small.
Speaker 8 (30:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
You know, something happened between when they crossed the Jordan.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I don't know exactly what it is.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I think there's evidence to support this hypothesis. They fought
a lot of battles between Joshua before and judges too,
and I wonder if the battles became bigger in their
minds than the blessings. And I wonder if they started
(31:09):
telling themselves the stories that centered around their struggles rather
than God's sovereign hand that saw them through the struggles.
I wonder if they got in survival mode to the
point that they stopped telling the story. And I wonder
if when they saw God do all these other things.
I wonder, I wonder if they just didn't go back
(31:31):
to the stones they were placed on the bank of
the Jordan, back where they started. And sometimes when you
don't go back where you started and remember what God
did where you started, you lose perspective when you get
where you're going. Oh man, I feel so guilty preaching
this point. It's so easy for me to get caught
(31:55):
up and consumed in my own convenience, my own drama,
my own insecurities, my own dysfunction, and a lot of times,
I'll be honest with you, I don't share what God
is doing in my life because it doesn't seem big,
because I can compare it to something.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Else and it seems small. It seems small, like these stones.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
You know, at one point in your life you're really
grateful for it, but then at some point it can
lose its significance. I was asking somebody the other day
if I could hear their testimony, and it's a church word, right, testimony.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
People don't really talk like that except in courts and church,
you know what I mean. Like it's just a real
churchy thing to say.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
And they were like, well when I was twelve and
they were fifty three, I was like.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Not that testimony.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
You can't fight today's devils if you don't have today's testimony.
There needs to be a current work that God is
doing in your life. Yes, he saved me, and I
want to talk about that, but what is He doing
in my life today? Another generation that knew not the
Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
This is your testimony. You know, it can be a
tiny testimony. It doesn't have to be a big rock.
You can fight the devil with a little rock.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Ask David, you can fight a big giant with a little.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Rock if you know how to throw it.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I said, you can fight depression with a little rock
if you know how.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
To throw it. You can fight discouragement with a.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Lid, a tiny.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Lit a tiny testimony. I don't have a big testimony.
Pretty much on my life. I've been serving the Lord.
I have never was owned drugs and women and running
around pretty much grew.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Up in Come on, man, you don't have to have
a met lab in your garage to have a testimony.
You don't have to be fresh off death row to
have a testimony. You don't have to have fourteen children
by fourteen women to have a testimony.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
A testimony, it can be the smallest thing. Like a
few weeks ago, I's getting ready come out and preach.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
I don't want to tell you this because because Joshua said,
tell them, tell them what God did for you, tell them,
tell them about it.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Preach it, teach it.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
You overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the
word of your testimony. There is power in your personal testimony.
So a few weeks ago, I was getting ready to preach,
I didn't feel like preaching.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Wo I love the Lord.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
I believe his word, and I believe he's coming again.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
I just didn't feel like preaching. On that Saturday night,
weather was nasty. I didn't feel like preaching. So I
was having a little pity party.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I hate to tell you this, but I was. I
was being so childish. But then I had this moment.
I was like, FaceTime one of your friends and get
him to pray for you, because the service was about
to start, so the staff was out doing staff stuff,
so they couldn't come pray for me. So I was
(35:21):
going to face one of my friends who didn't have
a Saturday night service, and he didn't answer. Apparently Judah
Smith had better things to do than pray for his friend.
Pray that the Carolina Panthers will wreak havoc upon the
Seattle Seahawks today to punish him for not being there
in my time of FaceTime need you don't want to
FaceTime ferdict, I hope you go down today royally. Then
(35:45):
I called Craig Groschel, that's my pastor, that's my guy,
and he didn't answer, and he always answers. He didn't answer,
and I was running out of time because I needed
to get out there and preach. So I said this little.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Pitiful prayer, you know, not the kind I pray in
front of people.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
I was like, oh Lord, since nobody wants to pray
for me, I'm always praying for everybody else.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
That's all go out pre schoe. I pray for myself
and I start praying.
Speaker 8 (36:22):
You know this real mumbly, grumbly, grumpy prayer, a little
bad attitude prayer, a little like kids going to make
up the bed.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Fun that kind of prayer. Have you ever had that
level of faith where it's like.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Fine, faith, fine God, Fine.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
I pray for myself.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
So I start praying fathering the images out loud. I
say that when I said Father, in the name of Jesus,
the moment I got it out of my mouth, Father namages,
my phone rang my phone hardly ever, rang rings my phone.
I mostly communicate my text I don't do a lot
talking on the phone. And my phone rings and it
(36:59):
hardly ever and never rings at that time of day.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
And it said no caller. I d but I'm not
making this up. I said, I should answer this. I
said hello. His deep voice comes on the phone, what
are you doing? The voice of none other? It could
(37:26):
only be Bishop TD Jakes.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
That's like my favorite preacher since I'm like this big,
since I started wanting to be a preacher, this was
my favorite preacher.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Here he is calling me, what do you deal with?
And I was like, hey, mister Jakes is going out.
The preacher from Saturday Night service.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
He said, oh, well, since this is a bad time,
let me just pray for you before you go out
there and preach real quick father, the name of Jesus,
knowing him with your spirit and filling with your wisdom,
give him words to say from him. I'm telling you,
I'm telling you, I'm.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Not waiting until something to me.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
I need to fight the devil sometimes with a phone call.
There are little things that God has done.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
For me, Moments where I.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Called his name and there was nobody there to answer,
and then all of a sudden, something from heaven with
no caller id and God reached down and God dragged
my tears.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
And God strengthened me, and.
Speaker 7 (38:38):
God upheld me with a mighty hand in and outstretched arm.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
You need to tell these stories. You need to tell
these stories. Stop telling yourself the story that nobody cares
about you, that you're alone, and that it doesn't matter
another generation who didn't know what the Lord had done
for Israel because they.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Stopped telling the story.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
And when you stop preaching the gospel to yourself and
reminding yourself that the Son of God accepted and chose
you and brought you out of Egypt and brought you
out of sin, and brought you through the Red Sea,
and brought you through the Jordan.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
And brought down the Jericho walls.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
And brought you out of bondage, and brought you out
of fear. Please hear me, When you stop telling that story,
you lose your strength. The children of Israel went through
fifteen cycles.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Of disobedience to God.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
And not only did they go through fifteen psychs of
disobedience to God through fifteen different judges, but they went
through four hundred and twenty years of dependence on gods
that could not save them because they stopped telling the story.
(40:19):
What story have you been telling yourself? What story have
you been telling your children? What story?
Speaker 7 (40:28):
You know?
Speaker 2 (40:28):
What I was thinking, what story is our church telling
in this day? Because you know, God has done amazing
things for us. But sometimes it really rips my heart
out when I see a canvas pastor giving an invitation
in our church and people get up and start leaving
(40:50):
so they can beat traffic out the parking.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Lot while somebody's soul is on the line. That really
hurts my heart because.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
When we started the church, we weren't starting the church
to have a Christian entertainment center. Where we could give
people a little anecdote and a little song and a
little goosebump.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
And they could get to lunch.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Is that the story we're telling that we gather together
when it's convenient and we consume spiritual food, but we
never contribute. This is why I think it's important that
we have traditions our year end offering, because God is
inviting a new generation.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
To tell the story. And it's so vital in this moment.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
That you realize that the gospel is God's story, but
it's ours to manage. We are stewards of the story
that God is telling in the world today.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
What a privilege it is.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Come on, can we praise Him for the privilege?
Speaker 9 (42:01):
Do you know the hem? This is my story. This
is my song, praising my avery, lo, this is my story.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
This is my song, prazy my say, stand to your feet.
I want to pray with you. Now, just give me
a path.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
You're in the middle of a story right now that
God is telling through your life.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
You're in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
The priest stood in the middle of the stones came
from the Everything good that God does in our life
comes from our ability to recognize it in the middle
and sometimes what happens, I know, you feel like you've
come to the end.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
You feel like is this for you? You feel like
you get to the end of something, You get to
the end of your own strength, You get to the end.
And sometimes the.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Season shifts in your life, and something is always ending
as something else's beginning. The Jordan is both it's their
exodus from the wilderness and it's their entrance into Canaan.
It's happening all at the same time, right, and so
you think you're at the end of something. Your ability
to manage that emotion in the middle of it determines
(43:44):
what happens next in your life.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
Remember this.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Moses died on Mountain Nebo looking at the promised land.
Joshua led the people into the land that God had
promised Moses. The difference was what God had promised. God
promised Moses and Joshua the same result. The difference wasn't
(44:07):
the promise. The difference was how they managed the miracle
in the middle of it. God gave Moses a miracle,
He parted the Red Sea, but Moses stayed stuck in
what other people said. Moses managed according to his fear,
not his faith. God gave Joshua the same promise, and
Joshua said, even in spite of our fear, even in
(44:28):
spite of our failures, even in spite of the fact
that they're more out there than there are in here,
We're going forward in the name of the Lord, with
his presence as our banner. And we are standing in
the middle, and we will stand in the middle until
everything that God has spoken comes to pass. I wonder,
is there anybody who's willing to get in the middle
of it and take your stand and declare, I will
(44:52):
see the goodness of the Lord in my generation, in
my life.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
That's what I want to pray for you about.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
And if you lift your hands right now, I'll do
it because the Lord is in this moment. The Lord
is very present even in your pain, and I believe
that God is even present in some of.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
The mistakes that you've made. Lord, right now, would you.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
Visit the heart of each of your sons and daughters
with a reminder, maybe, like those twelve rocks that the
people piled up, give us a rock of remembrance today
that we can build on the firm foundation of your faithfulness.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
The victory is yours to give, but it's mine to manage.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
God, remind me of the responsibility that you have given me,
and teach me to lean on your grace as I do.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Give me the faith to stay standing.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
In the middle, with the waters all around me, and
to worship You in this moment, with our heads bowed
and our eyes closed. And wonder if there's somebody here
today who needs to receive the grace of God for
the salvation of your soul, the forgiveness of your sin.
(46:26):
I wonder, is there's someone here today who needs to
begin a relationship.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
With God, or maybe you want to.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Reconnect in that relationship with God. You've been feeling for
a long time like you're far from him, but it's
not true. He's near, and if you call on his name,
he is in this moment, and he longs to come
and live inside of you. He longs to allow you
(46:53):
to follow him, even when you don't know what's next.
It's very simple what the Bible says about salvation. It
is by grace that you are saved through faith. It's
the gift of God. It's not of works. So that
no one can boast that if you confess with your
(47:13):
mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart
God raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
You will be saved.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
As the promise of God doesn't require good works. You
can't stack enough stones to climb your way to heaven.
And it doesn't work like that. God's not watching your
behavior to see whether or not he will relate to you.
He's already done through the person of his son Jesus,
all that needs to be done for you to have
a right relationship with Him.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
And right now, in this moment, I want to pray
with you. At every location.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
We're going to pray out loud as a church family
for the benefit of those who are coming to God
or come in back to God. But will all pray
out loud together, repeat after me, Heavenly Father. I believe
Jesus Christ. It's the son of God. And today I
make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe you
(48:09):
die to forgive my sin and rose again to give
me life. I receive this new life. This is my
new beginning. On the count of three, if you just
pray that prayer, shoot your hand up. I want to
celebrate with you. One, two, three, come on as a testimony.
Speaker 10 (48:27):
Shoot your hand up. That's a lot of hands. That's
a lot of hands. Let's praise God for it. Come on,
let's praise God for it. I said, let's praise God
for it. Today is the day of salvation. Let's praise
God for it.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the lincoln the description to give now
or visit Elevationchurch dot.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Org slash podcast.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
For more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you
can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (49:16):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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