May 31, 2024 • 52 mins
When used properly, passion can be a powerful tool. But what about when it seems like you’ve lost your passion? Learn how to find your passion again and put it in its place.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Church and.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So over in the Book of Revelation, Chapter two, verse
two through five. There's a challenge, and I'm going to
try to be disciplined as I preach this one. I
got a little I got a little bit off my
plan at the last one. This one, I'm gonna try
to just stay right right there and preach it, and
because there's so much there that I believe will help you.
(00:37):
But let's turn our attention now to the text. The
Angel at the church in emphasis is receiving a message, and.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The word of the Lord comes. I know your works verse.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Two, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you
cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested
those who call themselves apostles and are not found them
to be false. I know you're enduring patiently and bearing
up for my Name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
You're doing a lot of things right.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
And I see it, and I see you struggling, and
I see you showing up.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
But I have this against you.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
There's something that's working against you. There's something that I
need to challenge you on today. I have this against
you that you have abandoned the love that you had
it first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent
(01:44):
It means to change your mind. It means to change
your direction. Repent therefore, repent, Remember and repent and do
the works you.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Did it first.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
If not, I will come to you and remove your
lamp stand from its place unless you repent. I see you,
I love you, But if you don't remember and repent,
you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Lose your place.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So I want to appreciate to you today on the
subject put your passion in its place, and I want
you to pray with me that I could communicate this
message in a powerful and clear way. Father, anoint your
word and open our hearts. May we hear it and
do it never be the same. We declare it, and
(02:39):
thank you in advance for feeding us from your hand.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
In Jesus' name, Amen, on your way to.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Your seat, touch somebody, say you're gonna get it back today.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
You're gonna get it back. You're gonna get it back.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I'm just telling you right now, you're gonna get it
back today. Hey, So bring up my props and put
my little picture up. I want to show you something
from last summer. I took my kids back to my
hometown and took them on a tour of Monk's Corner,
South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
A lot of people want to go to the Holy
Land and then, and.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Some people on their bucket list, they just want to
see Monk's Corner. So I took my kids to all
of the sites that I could think of that were
memorable to me growing up, very proud of my small
town heritage, and very proud.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Of the church I grew up in.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I took them by Monk's Corner United Methodist Church. A
lady who recognized me saw us full up. She said,
little Stevie Verdick, her sister taught my Sunday school class,
and she knew I was pastoring. Now, proud of me
and all that said, we could walk in and do
whatever we wanted. She was there cleaning, and we went
(03:46):
over to the choir room and I showed the kids
how I used to suit up on Sunday mornings when
I was about well was it ten, mom eleven? And
I was an acolyte at the Methodist church, and so
I kind of walked them through. I wanted to show
him how I did it back in the day, because
(04:08):
you know, not just anybody could be an acolyte. Took
a special talented kid, very spiritually elite children were called
upon it. They didn't let you light your own wick.
They had a committee member for that. But I walked
them through it. And so that's me at the front
of the church there showing them how I used to
(04:28):
do it. And you had to do it a certain way,
you know, you come down during the first song and
you I don't remember it exactly, it's been a while,
but there was a certain way you did the candles
and all of that, and then you light it, light
the well, it's been a while. Abby had a funny
line when I was showing her all this. She said, Daddy,
(04:51):
did you have to practice that? I said, yeah, baby,
took a lot of practice, and do it just right,
can't mess it up.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And plus Melissa Hydric was sitting up there in the.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Balcony and I had a crush on her, and I
didn't want to burn down the church in front of
my childhood crush, light my robe on fire in front
of my crush. So you had to practice that. And
then at the end, how you put the fire out.
That's important there at the end. And while I'm standing
(05:25):
up there with them, it's memories, you know, because sometimes
you go back.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And you just you remember things.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
That was where I preached my first sermon on youth Sunday.
Now they only give you twelve minutes to preach in
the Methodist Church, And I know what some of you
are thinking, can we make this a Methodist church?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That sounds awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
It takes me twelve minutes to tell you, hello, how
many of you are glad I preached long sermons because
you know you're jacked up. It's going to take me
a whole lot more than twelve minutes to straighten you out.
Weird though, touch somebody say it's gonna take more than
twelve You're a mess.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Me too.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Anyway, I was remembering that first sermon. I was preaching
on Peter walking on water, and I didn't even need
the full twelve minutes to be honest with you. Within
five minutes I had used all my notes and there
was seven minutes left. I had nothing more to say.
Because I was sixteen. I didn't have content. I was
(06:29):
preaching on the storms of life, sixteen years old, trying
to tell seventy three year old Methodist women about the
storms of life. I didn't have a lot of life experience.
But I tell you what I had. I had passion.
I had passion. I mean, if I could have walked
across the pews, I would have walked across the pews
(06:53):
to show them how Peter came out to Jesus on
that boat. And I didn't have much much sense, but
I had passion. In fact, they brought up a group
of people last night when I was preaching. They had
people up who have been in the church ten years,
and it made me remember back to all the things
that we have now as a church that we did
not have ten years ago when we started. We didn't
(07:16):
have all these lights and cameras for video, and all
this money to start campuses. God knows, we didn't have
a building our first capitol campaign, you remember, Greg Weinberger,
I didn't have a building, a blueprint to show the people.
We didn't have any of that. But we had passion.
Oh man, we had passion. We had the kind of
(07:39):
passion that they were calling us a cult. Until they're
calling you a cult, you ain't doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
We had passion.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I had passion preaching in that senior center. I wish
I could tell them, Josh, remember you wrote me that
letter the other day about my first green room.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
It wasn't a green room, it was a closet. It
was a closet.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
We would move the plants out the closet and you
would knock on it one minute less, so I come
out and lead the music. We didn't even have that
many people, but we had passion. How many know you
can push through a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
When you have passion. When you have passion, passion matters.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
And I was standing there with my kids and thinking
about when I started appreciating and having conversations with my
young self and checking my passion because in Revelation chapter
two there is a challenge to passion, and I think
it's good every once in a while to challenge your
passion level. In contrast to the passion that you had,
do you still have passion? You remember the first apartment
(08:42):
that we lived in together, Holly, you remember it well.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
You remember the mouse traps. You remember it well. You
remember how you cooked.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
All that fried rice and pasta and made me fat
within a year and a half of being your husband,
And I think you were trying to make sure I
stayed with you. She got me so fat that first
year cooking for me. I found a picture the other day.
In fact, she brought it to me. I don't know
if she's trying to keep me motivated to stay in
the gym, but I was about forty five pounds heavier
(09:14):
bro not in the biceps this picture. I wish you
could see this picture. I thought about putting it on
the screen, but some of y'all are going to lunch
after this. I don't want to mess up your lunch.
And I'm standing there, got my eyes closed and my
shirt off and my belly out, looking like an infomercial
before picture. That little apartment a Juniper Terrorists apartment CEE fifteen.
(09:39):
It was very small and the insulation in the walls
was very thin. And the reason I know because Tammy
from Juniper Terrists Apartment C sixteen came over to us
after our first night and the apartment knocked on the
door and said I'm your neighbor, Tammy, and I just
want to let you know we can hear everything. It
was a duplex. I just want you to know here
(10:00):
everything that happens in fifteen and I mean everything, because
we didn't.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Have a lot of space, but we had all the.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Which brings us to Revelation chapter two. This is the
connection obvious people. He said, you had something when you
were small that you lost now that you're significant. Ephesis
was not an imaginary place. So when the Book of
Revelation is issuing seven letters to seven churches, they're real
(10:44):
churches with real people, with real histories. And it's been
forty three years since Paul started this church, traveling Inland
with a group of compadres that are spreading the gospel
of Jesus Christ. That he spends a couple of years
with these people in Ephesis. And when he started out
he just met some people. There were twelve guys who
(11:06):
were disciples of John the Baptist, and Paul asked him
do you have the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And they said, we.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Don't even know that there is a Holy Spirit. They
didn't have a lot of theological knowledge, but you know
what they had passion. Paul laid his hands on him,
and when he did, they started to speak in tongues
and they received the Holy Spirit, and they didn't just
speak in another language. They started speaking about Jesus. They
were speaking in the synagogues, and their passion was so
(11:33):
strong that the crowds started coming out. And then they
didn't like it, because sometimes when you get passionate, apathetic,
people get threatened. And the Jewish religious system was not
a fan of the prevalence of the Gospel, so they
kicked Paul out of the synagogue. But how many know,
when you have passion, you'll find another place. Nobody can
(11:53):
shut you down. When you have real passion, if they
kick you out the synagogue, you'll go to the lecture hall.
And that's exactly what Paul did. And he preached powerfully
in emphasis. And it wasn't just an accident that he
ended up in emphasis. God strategically placed Paul in emphasis
(12:14):
because there were three hundred thousand people who lived there.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Fourth largest city in the world.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
At that time, known as the Seventh Wonder of the World,
home of the Temple of Artemis, daughter of Zeus I
mean emphasis, was a place where people would come to
get their shipments, it was a port city, it was
well situated, it was an important place. So Paul is passionate,
and Emphasis is an important place, and God says, I've
(12:39):
got to get the.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Guy with the passion in the right place.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
When I look back over my life, I'm grateful that
God has directed.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
My past and made sure that my passion had a
place to operate.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I'm grateful that God found me as a teenager and
gave me a place to preach because God saw a passion.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Now, as a parent, I'm always trying to look.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And make sure that if my kids have a passion,
I encourage it. If you're into a Rubic's cube, I'll
buy you three. If you like mindcraft, I'll tolerate and
pretend to listen to you as you explain it to me.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
But I want you to have a passion.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Passion mattersh It matters no matter what position you're in.
Passion matters. And if you can't do it with passion
in a small place, why in the world would God
promote you to a bigger one. Paul didn't start an Emphasis,
(13:43):
but he ended up there. Started in Damascus, spending time
in isolation, but the same passion that was developing in
his isolation.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Did that make you.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Think of David when I said that, because that would
be a great Old Testament illustration of this New Testament
personality as a shepherd killing lions, killing bears and didn't
even know he was preparing for Goliath. But it was
the same passion in the pasture that got him to
the palace, same passion waiting for a place to happen.
(14:16):
And that's one of the frustrating things, is that you
can have the right passion in the wrong place. You
can have more passion than opportunity.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
To express it. It's frustrating.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I know some of you who come to church here,
some of you would express yourself more in church, but
you don't know if it's appropriate.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I have one friend.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Who grew up in churches where it was more demonstrative.
He said, when he first came to elevation, it was
kind of hard for him. I said, really, He said, yeah,
because I would want to.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Stand up while you were preaching and shout you down.
There's a black guy.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
By the way, okay, incidentally, he said, But I was
around a bunch of white people and god blos and
we all have different personalities but I stood up. When
I was stand up, I was the only one I
was stand up, and I was expecting everybody else to
be standing to he said, because you were preaching so passionately.
The word just got in me and I couldn't stay seated.
And I'm standing up, but I'm the only one all
(15:19):
these people around me. You know, sometimes you can let
other people minimize your passions and downplay your passion to
the level of other people. Don't ever let another person
become the.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Ceiling on your passion.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I'd rather change people than lose passion. I'd rather get
some new friends that want to.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Serve God and want to love God.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I'd rather move seats and stay in my seat when
the spirit of God hid me. In fact, if you're
sitting at a campus and nobody around you looks excited,
raise your hand and ask the I'm sure, and they'll
move your seating assignment because I need some room to
praise God, because when I think of the goodness of Jesus.
Come on, anybody got passion and see when you have passion.
(16:11):
Sometimes when you get around complacent people or people who
have a different personality, you feel funny. My friend Carl
Lynz came to preach out our code Orang's revival. He
pastors in New York City, and so his kids play
ball in Brooklyn, and he came to my kids little
league baseball game. He came to Graham's baseball game in
(16:31):
South Charlotte, and he tried to bring a Brooklyn passion
to a South Charlotte baseball game. I mean, no, sooner
had he got out there to the bleachers than he
was talking trash to the ump. Now, this is not
a high school baseball game. These are eight year old,
nine year old kids. And Carl's telling the ump. He's
(16:53):
telling the ump look good to.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Me, hump, be happy to get to some glasses. Ump.
Next thing, I know, he's talking trash to.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
The kid on the other team on den to about
not today number eleven. I don't think so, little guy,
I said, Carl, we don't.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Do that here.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I appreciate your passion, but this is the wrong place.
I gotta come to the field with these people.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Oh season, some of them on the other team go
to my church. Shut out touch.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Somebody say, keep your passion in his place. Right place
for sex is in the marriage bag. I know you
got passion but passion needs a place to operate, like
a fire. If you're in disagreement with what I just said,
let me prove it using natural elements. When I started
(17:53):
this sermon, I lit this wik and none of you
had a problem. Why because it was in its proper place.
But I bet if I brought this wick down to
the crowd.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And put this fire in your hair, you say I.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Got it, preacher, Keep it in its place. Misplaced passion
is very dangerous. Misplaced passion, you know, it's even more
dangerous to let somebody with Brooklyn passion get around somebody
with a South Charlotte attitude. What I'm trying to say is,
(18:33):
I mean, I love my city. We're a great city.
I'm not saying we owe anything to those Yankees, but I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Saying that.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Sometimes a new person will come into the church and
they're excited. I mean, they are fired up, they got
a passion, and let them get around Bobby who's been
a Christian for twenty three years.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
And Bobby's looking at him saying, you don't do that
around here.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
See, because people who are new to the faith, people
who have that first love, they don't know that you're
not so supposed to read your Bible.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yet they don't know that.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
We only listened to it on Sundays and we don't
bother with it during the week.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
So if you don't watch.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Them, they don't bring that passion into your church. If
they don't get around, they are on people, and something's
happening in Ephesus because when they first started, they didn't
have the knowledge, but they had the passion.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
They didn't have the people, but they had the passion.
They didn't have they didn't they didn't.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Have the political support of the government, they didn't have
a five oh one C three nonprofit tax exempt status, they.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Didn't have a Christian president, but they had passions.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
They had false doctrine coming into the church. In fact,
Paul told Timothy one time, he said, Hey, I want
you to look at this in one Timothy one three.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Because Timothy was a young.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Man and he didn't have much experience, and the Bible
gives us reason to believe that Timothy had a timid personality,
Paul had to remind him over and over again, Hey,
God didn't give you a spirit of timidity. Timothy Timid
Timmy Timid. Timmy is pastor in a big city church,
(20:19):
and there's people teaching false doctrine, and there's people trying
to deny the gospel of Christ. And Timothy in his
twenties with a timid personality. By the way, passion is
not a personality type. Passion isn't how high you jump.
Passion is how straight you walk when your feet hit
(20:39):
the ground. Put this down. If you're passionate, you take
notes in church. The proof of passion is perseverance. I'll
prove it to you in the scripture. I'll prove it
to you from verse Timothy one to three. Paul says Timothy.
I urged you before when I was on my way
(21:01):
through Macedonia, and I'm telling you again. Remain in ephesis.
Now watch this. You don't have to tell somebody to
stay somewhere they want to be. I've never had a
massage therapist have to.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Tell me to stay on the table.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I have had a physical trainer have to tell me
to do another rep to urge me to keep going.
You don't urge people to do something they naturally want
to do. So there must have been an instinct in
Timothy to run. You're young, you're inexperienced. There's false doctrine
circulating in the church.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Timothy must not have been feeling it anymore.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Timothy's fire might have been going out. So Paul said,
I want you to remain there in Ephesus and do
the hard stuff and persevere and persevere and stick it out,
and come home to a family that might not even
appreciate you right now, and show up at a job
(22:00):
that might not even recognize your value right now, and
preach in a place where you're persecuted.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And the proof of your passion is your perseverance.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I don't know if I was really passionate when I
was preaching when I was sixteen. I was just excited.
There's a difference. Interest is not passion. Come on, Knowledge
is not passion. Passion is something different. When you watch
a movie and they go home after a night at
(22:35):
the first time they meet at a bar and rip
each other's clothes off, that's not passion. That's attraction. One
is from the heart. One is from the hormones. Passion
isn't I rip your clothes off after the first.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Time we met. That's not passion.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Passion is when I saw my mom taking my dad's
clothes off while he was dying. To give him a
bath because he couldn't move his own body. That's passionate passion,
June Am I right about passion. Passion is proven by perseverance.
(23:12):
Passion is proven when you kneel down in the garden
of gethsemine like Jesus and say, I'm under pressure right now.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I don't want to do it right now.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. You
haven't even found your passion until you've passed your feelings.
And I'm concerned about this because we've convoluted it. We've
talked to people that if you don't feel it, you
don't have to do it. But if you have real passion,
you'll do it when you're up, do it.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
When you're down.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Do it when they pay you, do it when they go,
do it when they thank you, do it when they
look you over.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Do it when they hate you, do it when they
love you. I got passion.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I got passion to preach, I got passion to parent.
I got passion to pay down my debt. And if
it doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
All at once, that's all all right.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I got the passion to stick it out.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I'm like Ruth Naomi. You can't run me off if
you want to.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I'm like alifsha Elia. You can tell me to leave,
but I won't because.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I got a passion. Where is your passion? Passion? Say it?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Passion, say like that with the concentration on the vow passion.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Passion. You can't say passion sounds ridiculous. Passion.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I mean, can you imagine if I preached how some
of y'all listen, that'd be horrible. Well, y'all know something
say today that's gonna get around to it.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And there's a Bible area.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
The relationship to the Book of Ephesian gives us a
picture of the.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Church of Officis from a doctrinal standpoint, but now it's
been in a couple of decades. And then listen, the
passion lost their first love, first love, love, passions, love, passions.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
The boy got me about the Church of Emphasis is
that he commends their labor, but they've lost their love.
See it isn't like they weren't making progress, but in
the process of making progress, of keeping the false doctrine out,
(25:22):
in the process of eliminating things from their life and
their church that didn't need to be there.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
In the last forty three.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Years because now John is writing from a place called
the Island of Patmas, sending a messenger to the Church
of Emphasis, and he says, I see your progress.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
You got a job, now, you got a wife now.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
But the question is the question is do you still
laugh passion? You've got the apparatus, but you've lost your passion.
All this is kind of pointless. If nothing's burning passion,
(26:03):
you lost it. You lost your passion.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
One thing I always ask our worship team is that
they lead you with passion, because I don't know what
kind of hell you went through this week or what
kind of hell you're going home to.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
So let's make it heaven on earth in here.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
And I think they do a really good job at
every campus. Kelly Summers and Jane Williams and John sal
Barrion tests you let me roll that out. Barri In tests,
Barrien test what bar in testest? This is a place
(26:47):
for passion. This is a place. Hey, hey, hey, you
want to cry in the church. You can cry. Here's
a hanky and shout.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
You can shout. You want to run, just don't run towards.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
The stage and makes me frightened, distracting me run in place?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
What kind of running motion was that.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And sometimes your passion is waiting on a place to happen.
Sometimes your passion is waiting on a place to happen.
Graham's teacher told us the other day in the parent
teacher conference. She said, Graham just loves life, she said,
but sometimes I got to work with him on where
it is appropriate to express that love for life. I said, example, Please,
(27:42):
she's a great teacher, Kimberly Springs, teaching my third grader.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
She said, though, that.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Sometimes Graham will just jump up in the middle of
class and.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Dab on a math problem and just dance across the room,
just jump up, and there's a time to dab. But uh,
but sometimes sometimes that flame becomes an ember. And I
(28:18):
felt like the Lord wanted somebody today to get your
passion back, and he.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Tells you how to do it.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
He doesn't just challenge that you've lost your passion. I mean,
I don't know your reaction to the scripture, but I
take it as parental guidance that God is warning me.
If you lose your passion, you're going to lose your place.
Can I break that down? If you don't love that
(28:47):
woman now that you're married, to her the same way
and in increasing ways that you did when you dated her.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Somebody else might. Now that's not a threat, that's just reality.
I don't want to preach with passion.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
You think God can't raise up another preacher who's smarter
than me.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
No, no, no, no, no, no no no. I don't.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
I don't operate out of the assumption that I'm entitled
to anything that God gave me. I got to keep
my passion. How can you have so much passion before
you have the position?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
How do you get it back? He said, you've abandoned it.
You didn't.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
You didn't lose your passion. You left it. You didn't
lose it.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
You left it.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
You abandoned your first love. You stopped doing the things
look at it. He said, you've abandoned your first love.
Remember therefore, from.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Where you have fallen.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I love God because he doesn't say that we should
regret where we are. He says, we should remember where
we were and get your eyes back to the hills
where your help comes.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Come on, I'm preaching with passion, but I could use
a little participation. I'm not staying where I am. I
want my passion back so much. Shout I want it back.
I want it back. I want it back. I don't
just want to look like a Christian. I want a
fire in my heart. I want to go through the emotions.
(30:29):
Here's what you do. Remember from where you were falling.
Remember from where you're fallen. Repent.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Let's look at the scripture together, repent, and let's read
the next part together and feel the feelings you felt
at first. Well, isn't that how we treat passion like
it's a sinsa But yeah, when he challenges their passion.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
He calls them to action. Do the things you did
it first. It's a decision, not a sensation said. Let
me tell you something else. Do it? Do it? Do it?
(31:28):
Do it? How do I get it back? Okay, I'm
gonna pray, Lord, I want my passion back. It ain't coming.
Not like that. You don't pray to get it back.
You practice.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Do the things you did at first. I don't feel
grateful anymore. Be grateful. I don't feel excited anymore. Be excited.
I don't feel love anymore? Be loving?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Do it?
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Do it?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Do it? What's it? What you did it first? Do it? Practice?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Got shay you something you got? A second is this
word good. I sure enjoyed preparing it. I think I
like cooking this better than you could ever like eating it.
While I was preparing it, watch this late need. The
Lord gave me an illustration of it. You guys may
(32:36):
not know the names of these musicians. I mentioned them
already on the platform. One of our musicians here, LJ.
He's a little newer to the team, but.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
He's got passion.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
And he's not some young buck who always wanted to
be on the stage. He's done some things, he's wasted
some seasons, and I didn't know about him. I was
looking for somebody in this particular position, and I wanted
(33:10):
somebody who would have not just the technical skills or
proficiency to be back here by someone who would have
the passion for it. You know how I knew he
was the guy. He said that when I send in
my scriptures for them to put on the screen, he
begs the people that get the email with the scriptures
if he can see them so he can figure out
(33:31):
what I'm going to preach on, so he can start
thinking through what song he might start playing when I
start closing. See that's passion, that's passion, And I brought
him up because I love all of our team.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Don't get me wrong, You're not my favorite or anything
like that.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
But just something I heard that when he was he
was living in Canada, and which is known for its.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Passion of you, Wayne Finch, Stephen Finch, God bless you guys.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
But he was he was going through season. I'm not
going to tell all of his details. Maybe maybe you
can ask him one day, but he would sit when
his wife would go to bed at night.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
He would put on his headphones and.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
He would practice playing with preachers online.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Now he didn't have a position, but he.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Had a what a what a passion and he would
put his headphones on so as not to disturb his
wife's sleep. I assume and sectually appreciated that, and he
would play.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Along with the preaching.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
I heard that there was a season where you would
play along with me online.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
And I didn't know who he was.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Never heard of him, never heard never even heard his name.
They didn't even call David's name when he was out
in the field tending sheets. Come on, I'm about to
preach right section of I sure could use your passion.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
I sure could use it. I see he didn't have
a position.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
But when you have a passion, you practice. You don't
wait for a position. You don't do it because somebody's watching.
You don't do it because there's a performance. You do
it because it's a passion. And he didn't know he
was just killing lions.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
He didn't know he was just killing bears.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
But when Goliath came stepping forward to the battle line,
he had been practicing. And now he's back there and
I'm up here because he had a passion.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Passion will bring you from.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
The pastor to the palace.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Pastor will bring you from the lowest to the highest.
Repair again, passion back. Come on, take fifteen seconds and
praise him.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
Passionate, passion, passionate.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Come on, Rondell, bame on, late Norman, come on, you'll see.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
Get your passion back. God's not there, he's not going
with you.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Get your passion back in place.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
David said, oh yeah, I've been practicing for this. I've
been waiting for an opportunity. I've been waiting for a
giant said, I can princh anyway I want to, and practicing.
(36:51):
You gotta practice your passion. Practice. I was riding home
with Elijah, just on't fry and we were filling up
the little gas cans with gas to put gas in
the four wheeler. Very spiritual activity. And we filled them
(37:12):
up and put them in Holly suburban. And I said, Elijah,
we gotta put them just right because if the gas
slushes around the back of the car, your mom isn't
going to be happy about our outing. And he said, Dad,
I'm worried because all the way here they were sliding
around in the back.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
But I said, don't worry, boy.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
They might have been sliding on the way, but they
were empty. Now that they're full, they're not going anywhere.
I started preaching to Eliza while I'm driving. I'm practicing.
(37:57):
Breaching is not just my professor, it's my passion.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
If you got passion, you are a preaching the car.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
You are a preach in the kitchen. You are a
worship gone Monday Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
It's my passion, my passion, a practice, my passion, a practice,
my passion. Practice practice, practice, practice, practice practice, Find.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Seven people, tell them practice.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Practice, practice, practice, practice practice. You never know, you never
know what God might want to do through you. You
gotta practice. You gotta practice well. I would pray, but
I just don't feel anything. When I pray, you hadn't
practiced enough. If you would pray two minutes, you would
see the peace that two minutes brings, and tomorrow you
(38:48):
want to pray five. If you practice, if you'd open
your Bible and read a verse, you'd want to read two.
You might read four, you might read ay. You might
finish the Book of the Relations before.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
The week is over.
Speaker 7 (39:02):
If you would practice practice, I'm practicing.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
So if you ever see me in the grocery store
and I'm mumbling, I'm not crazy.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
I'm practicing. I'm practicing. I'm practicing. I'm practicing. What are
you doing throwing that stick on the ground, Moses.
Speaker 7 (39:22):
I'm practicing because I got to use this stick to
park the waters. But until I practice, I can't perform it.
And you've lost your passion because you stopped practicing.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Even the best.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Lose their passion without practice, even the best, even David,
even David, the kid who ran to the battle line
and said, I.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Don't need a position. I got passion.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
I don't need the endorsement of Saul. I've got passion.
I don't even need my brothers to like me.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
I got passion.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
That kid who ran to the battle. A kid who
practiced found himself decades later. He was in the palace,
but he had lost his passion. He sat down and
wrote a psalm, and he cried out to God and
(40:33):
asked the Lord to recreate and restore his passion, create
a clean heart in me, O God, I had a
pure passion when I started. And I've allowed some things
to come into my life. And I've allowed some people,
and I've allowed some memories, and I've allowed some decisions
and some distractions and even some good things. I've been
(40:54):
trying to keep the false stuff out. I've left my
first love, and I want my passion back. He was
home one day, walking around on his roof. That same
kid who was willing to run to the battle lines.
(41:20):
He's seen a lot of years now, maybe not forty
three like the Church of Ephesus, but it's been quite
a few years since that time, and he's not running
toward the battle anymore.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
He's avoiding it.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
And the Bible says that in the springtime, when the
kings go off to war, David stayed home. The king
in the palace had lost that passion of the kid
and the pastor, and he got out of place, and
(41:57):
so we saw a beautiful woman bathing on the roof.
He called for her and she had no choice but
to come, and when he slept with her, they conceived.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
A child that resulted in a national scandal. Her husband
was murdered.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
At the behest of David's henchman, and David received word
that the child born to his wife would die, and
he cried out from that place. I want my passion back.
I've lost my baby, I've compromised my integrity. But if
(42:31):
it took me losing some things to realize that I
had lost my passion.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
God, all I can do now.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
I can't get back the baby, but I can get
back my passion.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
I can't get back last week, last month, last year.
Would you redeem the time I've wasted?
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Go?
Speaker 2 (42:57):
I want my passion back. I want my passion back.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
I just know somebody's heart is crying out, maybe even
watching online. You couldn't even get the church, didn't even
come today, and your heart is crying out as I preach.
Stand to your feet. It's a holy moment in the sanctuary.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Stand to your feet.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
I want my passion back. I want my passion back.
I want my passion back, and I'd be asking me
a question. She said, Daddy, Daddy, did you have to
practice that? And I just I was standing there thinking
about my kids. Maybe one day they'll take their kids
(43:40):
to the church they grew up in, and I wonder
what they'll be telling them about our church.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Will they be telling them what God used to do?
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Will they be telling them about the people who used
to give sacrificially, who didn't have a building but had passion.
Will this be the place where they had revival one time?
Or will it be a place where the revival fire
never die because of the people.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
With a passion. And I want to pray for you.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Because when David got done lamenting what he had lost,
and he prayed out, God, don't take your spirit from me.
I can lose anything, but I don't want.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
To lose my place.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
To the Angel of the Church at Ephesus, to the
husband of for at Valentine, to the teenage girl in Rockhill,
write these words, if you will find your purpose, you
(44:54):
will recover your passion.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
I think the worst advice.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
That we could give a young person is to follow
your passion. That might sound exciting, but it's self destructive.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
You don't follow your passion.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
If you follow your passion, you're gonna get your passion
confused with your feelings, and the first time the wind
blows real good, your flame will go out. Don't follow
your passion because sometimes you can't tell your passion apart
from your preference. Sometimes you can't tell your faith apart
from your feelings. So you don't stay in ephesis. You
(45:41):
don't stay in the hard places. Don't follow your passion.
Follow your purpose. Remember the reason God saved you. Get
your lamps stand back.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Every candle needs a stand.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
The passion is the flame, and the purpose is to stand.
Put your passion on your purpose. My passion follows my purpose.
My passion follows my purpose. So when I feel it,
when I don't, same purpose, same purpose. And you've been
(46:24):
here and there and everywhere, losing time, losing joy, losing passion.
Speaker 8 (46:30):
Following your passion, that's ridiculous. Follow your passion. How ridiculous
is that? Follow your passion? You know you would have
married that crazy girl. Follow your passion.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
Find your passion and teach your passion to follow your purpose.
Tell your passion where.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
To show up in the place of your purpose.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
I mean, imagine church.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Imagine if the people running the cameras at this church
it got it flipped. Imagine if the people running the
cameras while I'm preaching, Imagine if they all of a
sudden thought that it was my job to follow the camera.
How ridiculous would that be? How ridiculous would it be
(47:20):
if they? In fact, I'm gonna illustrate it. I'm gonna
show you how ridiculous it is when you follow your passion,
Show them real quick on the camera. So I got
to preach now, and while I'm preaching that camera, so
(47:42):
now I gotta follow the camera. How ridiculous is it
when you run around in life letting your feelings tell
you what job to take and what job to quit,
and what.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
Relationship to be in.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
No, no, no, I don't follow the camera. The camera
follows me. You gotta stay with me. I don't follow passion,
My passion follow my purpose.
Speaker 6 (48:08):
Does anybody have purpose?
Speaker 2 (48:10):
Looking up to Jesus? Be after the better?
Speaker 1 (48:15):
Sir?
Speaker 2 (48:15):
Top my bag?
Speaker 6 (48:17):
Oh brother John set before.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
It endured the cross, despising as shame.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
I want my passion back, and my passion is waiting
in the place of my purpose. I want to pray
for you if this message hit your heart today, If
it was for you, I want you to know that
after David laid down and prayed and asked God to
give him the baby back, the Bible says that he
made a decision to get up, to get up, to repent,
(48:50):
to get up. After he had been there long enough.
He got up and he went in and he.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
Had another baby. He got his passion back. Could this
be the day that you get your passion back?
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Not just goosebumps, not just a comfortable feeling.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
But an inner determination and.
Speaker 4 (49:17):
Resolve that says, I will, I will, I will.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
I don't feel it, but I will. I don't even
want to sometimes, but I.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Will, because my passion serves for permantness.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Bow your head. Created me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Cast me not away from your presence, and do not
take your holy spirit for me. Restore unto me the
joy of your salvation, and renew a right spirit, and
grant me a willing spirit.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Somebody say I will, I will, say.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
I will, I will, I will, I will, even when
I don't feel I will.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Because I have a passion I will, I will I'm
not waiting on the position.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
I have a passion. Father, we thank you today for
returning us to our first love. We don't want to
labor without love, and we don't want to serve you
without passion.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
We don't want to lose our place. We don't want
to miss our chance. So while the.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
While the lamps stand is still in place, while we
still have breadth in our bodies, while we still have
an opportunity, we call out to you God, and we
don't ask you to restore our passion, because the fact
is you didn't take it away. It's still in us.
It was just waiting for this word, for this moment.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
To be awakened. So God, we call our passion to
the surface.
Speaker 1 (51:07):
Like Elisha called the iron of the accent to float
to the top of the water, We're calling our passion
forth today. We're calling our victory forth today.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
Like David got up, we're getting up. We want our
passion back. We command our passion.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
To serve your purpose in our lives.
Speaker 2 (51:28):
We will by your spirit, we will.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
By your power, we will.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
We're getting up today. We're getting up today.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Not staying down, not staying lost, not staying lonely, we're
getting up.
Speaker 6 (51:41):
I'm getting up. I'm getting up. I'm getting up. I'm
getting up.
Speaker 1 (51:44):
Right now, right here, right now, right here, right now.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
How about my passion about.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Thank you for joining us special things to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 2 (52:20):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Church and.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So over in the Book of Revelation, Chapter two, verse
two through five. There's a challenge, and I'm going to
try to be disciplined as I preach this one. I
got a little I got a little bit off my
plan at the last one. This one, I'm gonna try
to just stay right right there and preach it, and
because there's so much there that I believe will help you.
(00:37):
But let's turn our attention now to the text. The
Angel at the church in emphasis is receiving a message, and.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The word of the Lord comes. I know your works verse.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Two, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you
cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested
those who call themselves apostles and are not found them
to be false. I know you're enduring patiently and bearing
up for my Name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
You're doing a lot of things right.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
And I see it, and I see you struggling, and
I see you showing up.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
But I have this against you.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
There's something that's working against you. There's something that I
need to challenge you on today. I have this against
you that you have abandoned the love that you had
it first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent
(01:44):
It means to change your mind. It means to change
your direction. Repent therefore, repent, Remember and repent and do
the works you.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Did it first.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
If not, I will come to you and remove your
lamp stand from its place unless you repent. I see you,
I love you, But if you don't remember and repent,
you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Lose your place.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So I want to appreciate to you today on the
subject put your passion in its place, and I want
you to pray with me that I could communicate this
message in a powerful and clear way. Father, anoint your
word and open our hearts. May we hear it and
do it never be the same. We declare it, and
(02:39):
thank you in advance for feeding us from your hand.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
In Jesus' name, Amen, on your way to.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Your seat, touch somebody, say you're gonna get it back today.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
You're gonna get it back. You're gonna get it back.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I'm just telling you right now, you're gonna get it
back today. Hey, So bring up my props and put
my little picture up. I want to show you something
from last summer. I took my kids back to my
hometown and took them on a tour of Monk's Corner,
South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
A lot of people want to go to the Holy
Land and then, and.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Some people on their bucket list, they just want to
see Monk's Corner. So I took my kids to all
of the sites that I could think of that were
memorable to me growing up, very proud of my small
town heritage, and very proud.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Of the church I grew up in.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I took them by Monk's Corner United Methodist Church. A
lady who recognized me saw us full up. She said,
little Stevie Verdick, her sister taught my Sunday school class,
and she knew I was pastoring. Now, proud of me
and all that said, we could walk in and do
whatever we wanted. She was there cleaning, and we went
(03:46):
over to the choir room and I showed the kids
how I used to suit up on Sunday mornings when
I was about well was it ten, mom eleven? And
I was an acolyte at the Methodist church, and so
I kind of walked them through. I wanted to show
him how I did it back in the day, because
(04:08):
you know, not just anybody could be an acolyte. Took
a special talented kid, very spiritually elite children were called
upon it. They didn't let you light your own wick.
They had a committee member for that. But I walked
them through it. And so that's me at the front
of the church there showing them how I used to
(04:28):
do it. And you had to do it a certain way,
you know, you come down during the first song and
you I don't remember it exactly, it's been a while,
but there was a certain way you did the candles
and all of that, and then you light it, light
the well, it's been a while. Abby had a funny
line when I was showing her all this. She said, Daddy,
(04:51):
did you have to practice that? I said, yeah, baby,
took a lot of practice, and do it just right,
can't mess it up.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And plus Melissa Hydric was sitting up there in the.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Balcony and I had a crush on her, and I
didn't want to burn down the church in front of
my childhood crush, light my robe on fire in front
of my crush. So you had to practice that. And
then at the end, how you put the fire out.
That's important there at the end. And while I'm standing
(05:25):
up there with them, it's memories, you know, because sometimes
you go back.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And you just you remember things.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
That was where I preached my first sermon on youth Sunday.
Now they only give you twelve minutes to preach in
the Methodist Church, And I know what some of you
are thinking, can we make this a Methodist church?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That sounds awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
It takes me twelve minutes to tell you, hello, how
many of you are glad I preached long sermons because
you know you're jacked up. It's going to take me
a whole lot more than twelve minutes to straighten you out.
Weird though, touch somebody say it's gonna take more than
twelve You're a mess.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Me too.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Anyway, I was remembering that first sermon. I was preaching
on Peter walking on water, and I didn't even need
the full twelve minutes to be honest with you. Within
five minutes I had used all my notes and there
was seven minutes left. I had nothing more to say.
Because I was sixteen. I didn't have content. I was
(06:29):
preaching on the storms of life, sixteen years old, trying
to tell seventy three year old Methodist women about the
storms of life. I didn't have a lot of life experience.
But I tell you what I had. I had passion.
I had passion. I mean, if I could have walked
across the pews, I would have walked across the pews
(06:53):
to show them how Peter came out to Jesus on
that boat. And I didn't have much much sense, but
I had passion. In fact, they brought up a group
of people last night when I was preaching. They had
people up who have been in the church ten years,
and it made me remember back to all the things
that we have now as a church that we did
not have ten years ago when we started. We didn't
(07:16):
have all these lights and cameras for video, and all
this money to start campuses. God knows, we didn't have
a building our first capitol campaign, you remember, Greg Weinberger,
I didn't have a building, a blueprint to show the people.
We didn't have any of that. But we had passion.
Oh man, we had passion. We had the kind of
(07:39):
passion that they were calling us a cult. Until they're
calling you a cult, you ain't doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
We had passion.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I had passion preaching in that senior center. I wish
I could tell them, Josh, remember you wrote me that
letter the other day about my first green room.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
It wasn't a green room, it was a closet. It
was a closet.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
We would move the plants out the closet and you
would knock on it one minute less, so I come
out and lead the music. We didn't even have that
many people, but we had passion. How many know you
can push through a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
When you have passion. When you have passion, passion matters.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
And I was standing there with my kids and thinking
about when I started appreciating and having conversations with my
young self and checking my passion because in Revelation chapter
two there is a challenge to passion, and I think
it's good every once in a while to challenge your
passion level. In contrast to the passion that you had,
do you still have passion? You remember the first apartment
(08:42):
that we lived in together, Holly, you remember it well.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
You remember the mouse traps. You remember it well. You
remember how you cooked.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
All that fried rice and pasta and made me fat
within a year and a half of being your husband,
And I think you were trying to make sure I
stayed with you. She got me so fat that first
year cooking for me. I found a picture the other day.
In fact, she brought it to me. I don't know
if she's trying to keep me motivated to stay in
the gym, but I was about forty five pounds heavier
(09:14):
bro not in the biceps this picture. I wish you
could see this picture. I thought about putting it on
the screen, but some of y'all are going to lunch
after this. I don't want to mess up your lunch.
And I'm standing there, got my eyes closed and my
shirt off and my belly out, looking like an infomercial
before picture. That little apartment a Juniper Terrorists apartment CEE fifteen.
(09:39):
It was very small and the insulation in the walls
was very thin. And the reason I know because Tammy
from Juniper Terrists Apartment C sixteen came over to us
after our first night and the apartment knocked on the
door and said I'm your neighbor, Tammy, and I just
want to let you know we can hear everything. It
was a duplex. I just want you to know here
(10:00):
everything that happens in fifteen and I mean everything, because
we didn't.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Have a lot of space, but we had all the.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Which brings us to Revelation chapter two. This is the
connection obvious people. He said, you had something when you
were small that you lost now that you're significant. Ephesis
was not an imaginary place. So when the Book of
Revelation is issuing seven letters to seven churches, they're real
(10:44):
churches with real people, with real histories. And it's been
forty three years since Paul started this church, traveling Inland
with a group of compadres that are spreading the gospel
of Jesus Christ. That he spends a couple of years
with these people in Ephesis. And when he started out
he just met some people. There were twelve guys who
(11:06):
were disciples of John the Baptist, and Paul asked him
do you have the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And they said, we.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Don't even know that there is a Holy Spirit. They
didn't have a lot of theological knowledge, but you know
what they had passion. Paul laid his hands on him,
and when he did, they started to speak in tongues
and they received the Holy Spirit, and they didn't just
speak in another language. They started speaking about Jesus. They
were speaking in the synagogues, and their passion was so
(11:33):
strong that the crowds started coming out. And then they
didn't like it, because sometimes when you get passionate, apathetic,
people get threatened. And the Jewish religious system was not
a fan of the prevalence of the Gospel, so they
kicked Paul out of the synagogue. But how many know,
when you have passion, you'll find another place. Nobody can
(11:53):
shut you down. When you have real passion, if they
kick you out the synagogue, you'll go to the lecture hall.
And that's exactly what Paul did. And he preached powerfully
in emphasis. And it wasn't just an accident that he
ended up in emphasis. God strategically placed Paul in emphasis
(12:14):
because there were three hundred thousand people who lived there.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Fourth largest city in the world.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
At that time, known as the Seventh Wonder of the World,
home of the Temple of Artemis, daughter of Zeus I
mean emphasis, was a place where people would come to
get their shipments, it was a port city, it was
well situated, it was an important place. So Paul is passionate,
and Emphasis is an important place, and God says, I've
(12:39):
got to get the.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Guy with the passion in the right place.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
When I look back over my life, I'm grateful that
God has directed.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
My past and made sure that my passion had a
place to operate.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I'm grateful that God found me as a teenager and
gave me a place to preach because God saw a passion.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Now, as a parent, I'm always trying to look.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And make sure that if my kids have a passion,
I encourage it. If you're into a Rubic's cube, I'll
buy you three. If you like mindcraft, I'll tolerate and
pretend to listen to you as you explain it to me.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
But I want you to have a passion.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Passion mattersh It matters no matter what position you're in.
Passion matters. And if you can't do it with passion
in a small place, why in the world would God
promote you to a bigger one. Paul didn't start an Emphasis,
(13:43):
but he ended up there. Started in Damascus, spending time
in isolation, but the same passion that was developing in
his isolation.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Did that make you.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Think of David when I said that, because that would
be a great Old Testament illustration of this New Testament
personality as a shepherd killing lions, killing bears and didn't
even know he was preparing for Goliath. But it was
the same passion in the pasture that got him to
the palace, same passion waiting for a place to happen.
(14:16):
And that's one of the frustrating things, is that you
can have the right passion in the wrong place. You
can have more passion than opportunity.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
To express it. It's frustrating.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I know some of you who come to church here,
some of you would express yourself more in church, but
you don't know if it's appropriate.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I have one friend.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Who grew up in churches where it was more demonstrative.
He said, when he first came to elevation, it was
kind of hard for him. I said, really, He said, yeah,
because I would want to.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Stand up while you were preaching and shout you down.
There's a black guy.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
By the way, okay, incidentally, he said, But I was
around a bunch of white people and god blos and
we all have different personalities but I stood up. When
I was stand up, I was the only one I
was stand up, and I was expecting everybody else to
be standing to he said, because you were preaching so passionately.
The word just got in me and I couldn't stay seated.
And I'm standing up, but I'm the only one all
(15:19):
these people around me. You know, sometimes you can let
other people minimize your passions and downplay your passion to
the level of other people. Don't ever let another person
become the.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Ceiling on your passion.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I'd rather change people than lose passion. I'd rather get
some new friends that want to.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Serve God and want to love God.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I'd rather move seats and stay in my seat when
the spirit of God hid me. In fact, if you're
sitting at a campus and nobody around you looks excited,
raise your hand and ask the I'm sure, and they'll
move your seating assignment because I need some room to
praise God, because when I think of the goodness of Jesus.
Come on, anybody got passion and see when you have passion.
(16:11):
Sometimes when you get around complacent people or people who
have a different personality, you feel funny. My friend Carl
Lynz came to preach out our code Orang's revival. He
pastors in New York City, and so his kids play
ball in Brooklyn, and he came to my kids little
league baseball game. He came to Graham's baseball game in
(16:31):
South Charlotte, and he tried to bring a Brooklyn passion
to a South Charlotte baseball game. I mean, no, sooner
had he got out there to the bleachers than he
was talking trash to the ump. Now, this is not
a high school baseball game. These are eight year old,
nine year old kids. And Carl's telling the ump. He's
(16:53):
telling the ump look good to.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Me, hump, be happy to get to some glasses. Ump.
Next thing, I know, he's talking trash to.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
The kid on the other team on den to about
not today number eleven. I don't think so, little guy,
I said, Carl, we don't.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Do that here.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I appreciate your passion, but this is the wrong place.
I gotta come to the field with these people.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Oh season, some of them on the other team go
to my church. Shut out touch.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Somebody say, keep your passion in his place. Right place
for sex is in the marriage bag. I know you
got passion but passion needs a place to operate, like
a fire. If you're in disagreement with what I just said,
let me prove it using natural elements. When I started
(17:53):
this sermon, I lit this wik and none of you
had a problem. Why because it was in its proper place.
But I bet if I brought this wick down to
the crowd.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And put this fire in your hair, you say I.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Got it, preacher, Keep it in its place. Misplaced passion
is very dangerous. Misplaced passion, you know, it's even more
dangerous to let somebody with Brooklyn passion get around somebody
with a South Charlotte attitude. What I'm trying to say is,
(18:33):
I mean, I love my city. We're a great city.
I'm not saying we owe anything to those Yankees, but I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Saying that.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Sometimes a new person will come into the church and
they're excited. I mean, they are fired up, they got
a passion, and let them get around Bobby who's been
a Christian for twenty three years.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
And Bobby's looking at him saying, you don't do that
around here.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
See, because people who are new to the faith, people
who have that first love, they don't know that you're
not so supposed to read your Bible.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yet they don't know that.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
We only listened to it on Sundays and we don't
bother with it during the week.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
So if you don't watch.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Them, they don't bring that passion into your church. If
they don't get around, they are on people, and something's
happening in Ephesus because when they first started, they didn't
have the knowledge, but they had the passion.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
They didn't have the people, but they had the passion.
They didn't have they didn't they didn't.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Have the political support of the government, they didn't have
a five oh one C three nonprofit tax exempt status, they.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Didn't have a Christian president, but they had passions.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
They had false doctrine coming into the church. In fact,
Paul told Timothy one time, he said, Hey, I want
you to look at this in one Timothy one three.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Because Timothy was a young.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Man and he didn't have much experience, and the Bible
gives us reason to believe that Timothy had a timid personality,
Paul had to remind him over and over again, Hey,
God didn't give you a spirit of timidity. Timothy Timid
Timmy Timid. Timmy is pastor in a big city church,
(20:19):
and there's people teaching false doctrine, and there's people trying
to deny the gospel of Christ. And Timothy in his
twenties with a timid personality. By the way, passion is
not a personality type. Passion isn't how high you jump.
Passion is how straight you walk when your feet hit
(20:39):
the ground. Put this down. If you're passionate, you take
notes in church. The proof of passion is perseverance. I'll
prove it to you in the scripture. I'll prove it
to you from verse Timothy one to three. Paul says Timothy.
I urged you before when I was on my way
(21:01):
through Macedonia, and I'm telling you again. Remain in ephesis.
Now watch this. You don't have to tell somebody to
stay somewhere they want to be. I've never had a
massage therapist have to.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Tell me to stay on the table.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I have had a physical trainer have to tell me
to do another rep to urge me to keep going.
You don't urge people to do something they naturally want
to do. So there must have been an instinct in
Timothy to run. You're young, you're inexperienced. There's false doctrine
circulating in the church.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Timothy must not have been feeling it anymore.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Timothy's fire might have been going out. So Paul said,
I want you to remain there in Ephesus and do
the hard stuff and persevere and persevere and stick it out,
and come home to a family that might not even
appreciate you right now, and show up at a job
(22:00):
that might not even recognize your value right now, and
preach in a place where you're persecuted.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And the proof of your passion is your perseverance.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I don't know if I was really passionate when I
was preaching when I was sixteen. I was just excited.
There's a difference. Interest is not passion. Come on, Knowledge
is not passion. Passion is something different. When you watch
a movie and they go home after a night at
(22:35):
the first time they meet at a bar and rip
each other's clothes off, that's not passion. That's attraction. One
is from the heart. One is from the hormones. Passion
isn't I rip your clothes off after the first.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Time we met. That's not passion.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Passion is when I saw my mom taking my dad's
clothes off while he was dying. To give him a
bath because he couldn't move his own body. That's passionate passion,
June Am I right about passion. Passion is proven by perseverance.
(23:12):
Passion is proven when you kneel down in the garden
of gethsemine like Jesus and say, I'm under pressure right now.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I don't want to do it right now.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. You
haven't even found your passion until you've passed your feelings.
And I'm concerned about this because we've convoluted it. We've
talked to people that if you don't feel it, you
don't have to do it. But if you have real passion,
you'll do it when you're up, do it.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
When you're down.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Do it when they pay you, do it when they go,
do it when they thank you, do it when they
look you over.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Do it when they hate you, do it when they
love you. I got passion.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I got passion to preach, I got passion to parent.
I got passion to pay down my debt. And if
it doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
All at once, that's all all right.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I got the passion to stick it out.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I'm like Ruth Naomi. You can't run me off if
you want to.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I'm like alifsha Elia. You can tell me to leave,
but I won't because.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I got a passion. Where is your passion? Passion? Say it?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Passion, say like that with the concentration on the vow passion.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Passion. You can't say passion sounds ridiculous. Passion.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I mean, can you imagine if I preached how some
of y'all listen, that'd be horrible. Well, y'all know something
say today that's gonna get around to it.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And there's a Bible area.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
The relationship to the Book of Ephesian gives us a
picture of the.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Church of Officis from a doctrinal standpoint, but now it's
been in a couple of decades. And then listen, the
passion lost their first love, first love, love, passions, love, passions.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
The boy got me about the Church of Emphasis is
that he commends their labor, but they've lost their love.
See it isn't like they weren't making progress, but in
the process of making progress, of keeping the false doctrine out,
(25:22):
in the process of eliminating things from their life and
their church that didn't need to be there.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
In the last forty three.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Years because now John is writing from a place called
the Island of Patmas, sending a messenger to the Church
of Emphasis, and he says, I see your progress.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
You got a job, now, you got a wife now.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
But the question is the question is do you still
laugh passion? You've got the apparatus, but you've lost your passion.
All this is kind of pointless. If nothing's burning passion,
(26:03):
you lost it. You lost your passion.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
One thing I always ask our worship team is that
they lead you with passion, because I don't know what
kind of hell you went through this week or what
kind of hell you're going home to.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
So let's make it heaven on earth in here.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
And I think they do a really good job at
every campus. Kelly Summers and Jane Williams and John sal
Barrion tests you let me roll that out. Barri In tests,
Barrien test what bar in testest? This is a place
(26:47):
for passion. This is a place. Hey, hey, hey, you
want to cry in the church. You can cry. Here's
a hanky and shout.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
You can shout. You want to run, just don't run towards.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
The stage and makes me frightened, distracting me run in place?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
What kind of running motion was that.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And sometimes your passion is waiting on a place to happen.
Sometimes your passion is waiting on a place to happen.
Graham's teacher told us the other day in the parent
teacher conference. She said, Graham just loves life, she said,
but sometimes I got to work with him on where
it is appropriate to express that love for life. I said, example, Please,
(27:42):
she's a great teacher, Kimberly Springs, teaching my third grader.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
She said, though, that.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Sometimes Graham will just jump up in the middle of
class and.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Dab on a math problem and just dance across the room,
just jump up, and there's a time to dab. But uh,
but sometimes sometimes that flame becomes an ember. And I
(28:18):
felt like the Lord wanted somebody today to get your
passion back, and he.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Tells you how to do it.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
He doesn't just challenge that you've lost your passion. I mean,
I don't know your reaction to the scripture, but I
take it as parental guidance that God is warning me.
If you lose your passion, you're going to lose your place.
Can I break that down? If you don't love that
(28:47):
woman now that you're married, to her the same way
and in increasing ways that you did when you dated her.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Somebody else might. Now that's not a threat, that's just reality.
I don't want to preach with passion.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
You think God can't raise up another preacher who's smarter
than me.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
No, no, no, no, no, no no no. I don't.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
I don't operate out of the assumption that I'm entitled
to anything that God gave me. I got to keep
my passion. How can you have so much passion before
you have the position?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
How do you get it back? He said, you've abandoned it.
You didn't.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
You didn't lose your passion. You left it. You didn't
lose it.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
You left it.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
You abandoned your first love. You stopped doing the things
look at it. He said, you've abandoned your first love.
Remember therefore, from.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Where you have fallen.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I love God because he doesn't say that we should
regret where we are. He says, we should remember where
we were and get your eyes back to the hills
where your help comes.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Come on, I'm preaching with passion, but I could use
a little participation. I'm not staying where I am. I
want my passion back so much. Shout I want it back.
I want it back. I want it back. I don't
just want to look like a Christian. I want a
fire in my heart. I want to go through the emotions.
(30:29):
Here's what you do. Remember from where you were falling.
Remember from where you're fallen. Repent.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Let's look at the scripture together, repent, and let's read
the next part together and feel the feelings you felt
at first. Well, isn't that how we treat passion like
it's a sinsa But yeah, when he challenges their passion.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
He calls them to action. Do the things you did
it first. It's a decision, not a sensation said. Let
me tell you something else. Do it? Do it? Do it?
(31:28):
Do it? How do I get it back? Okay, I'm
gonna pray, Lord, I want my passion back. It ain't coming.
Not like that. You don't pray to get it back.
You practice.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Do the things you did at first. I don't feel
grateful anymore. Be grateful. I don't feel excited anymore. Be excited.
I don't feel love anymore? Be loving?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Do it?
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Do it?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Do it? What's it? What you did it first? Do it? Practice?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Got shay you something you got? A second is this
word good. I sure enjoyed preparing it. I think I
like cooking this better than you could ever like eating it.
While I was preparing it, watch this late need. The
Lord gave me an illustration of it. You guys may
(32:36):
not know the names of these musicians. I mentioned them
already on the platform. One of our musicians here, LJ.
He's a little newer to the team, but.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
He's got passion.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
And he's not some young buck who always wanted to
be on the stage. He's done some things, he's wasted
some seasons, and I didn't know about him. I was
looking for somebody in this particular position, and I wanted
(33:10):
somebody who would have not just the technical skills or
proficiency to be back here by someone who would have
the passion for it. You know how I knew he
was the guy. He said that when I send in
my scriptures for them to put on the screen, he
begs the people that get the email with the scriptures
if he can see them so he can figure out
(33:31):
what I'm going to preach on, so he can start
thinking through what song he might start playing when I
start closing. See that's passion, that's passion, And I brought
him up because I love all of our team.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Don't get me wrong, You're not my favorite or anything
like that.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
But just something I heard that when he was he
was living in Canada, and which is known for its.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Passion of you, Wayne Finch, Stephen Finch, God bless you guys.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
But he was he was going through season. I'm not
going to tell all of his details. Maybe maybe you
can ask him one day, but he would sit when
his wife would go to bed at night.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
He would put on his headphones and.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
He would practice playing with preachers online.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Now he didn't have a position, but he.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Had a what a what a passion and he would
put his headphones on so as not to disturb his
wife's sleep. I assume and sectually appreciated that, and he
would play.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Along with the preaching.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
I heard that there was a season where you would
play along with me online.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
And I didn't know who he was.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Never heard of him, never heard never even heard his name.
They didn't even call David's name when he was out
in the field tending sheets. Come on, I'm about to
preach right section of I sure could use your passion.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
I sure could use it. I see he didn't have
a position.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
But when you have a passion, you practice. You don't
wait for a position. You don't do it because somebody's watching.
You don't do it because there's a performance. You do
it because it's a passion. And he didn't know he
was just killing lions.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
He didn't know he was just killing bears.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
But when Goliath came stepping forward to the battle line,
he had been practicing. And now he's back there and
I'm up here because he had a passion.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Passion will bring you from.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
The pastor to the palace.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Pastor will bring you from the lowest to the highest.
Repair again, passion back. Come on, take fifteen seconds and
praise him.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
Passionate, passion, passionate.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Come on, Rondell, bame on, late Norman, come on, you'll see.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
Get your passion back. God's not there, he's not going
with you.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Get your passion back in place.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
David said, oh yeah, I've been practicing for this. I've
been waiting for an opportunity. I've been waiting for a
giant said, I can princh anyway I want to, and practicing.
(36:51):
You gotta practice your passion. Practice. I was riding home
with Elijah, just on't fry and we were filling up
the little gas cans with gas to put gas in
the four wheeler. Very spiritual activity. And we filled them
(37:12):
up and put them in Holly suburban. And I said, Elijah,
we gotta put them just right because if the gas
slushes around the back of the car, your mom isn't
going to be happy about our outing. And he said, Dad,
I'm worried because all the way here they were sliding
around in the back.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
But I said, don't worry, boy.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
They might have been sliding on the way, but they
were empty. Now that they're full, they're not going anywhere.
I started preaching to Eliza while I'm driving. I'm practicing.
(37:57):
Breaching is not just my professor, it's my passion.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
If you got passion, you are a preaching the car.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
You are a preach in the kitchen. You are a
worship gone Monday Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
It's my passion, my passion, a practice, my passion, a practice,
my passion. Practice practice, practice, practice, practice practice, Find.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Seven people, tell them practice.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Practice, practice, practice, practice practice. You never know, you never
know what God might want to do through you. You
gotta practice. You gotta practice well. I would pray, but
I just don't feel anything. When I pray, you hadn't
practiced enough. If you would pray two minutes, you would
see the peace that two minutes brings, and tomorrow you
(38:48):
want to pray five. If you practice, if you'd open
your Bible and read a verse, you'd want to read two.
You might read four, you might read ay. You might
finish the Book of the Relations before.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
The week is over.
Speaker 7 (39:02):
If you would practice practice, I'm practicing.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
So if you ever see me in the grocery store
and I'm mumbling, I'm not crazy.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
I'm practicing. I'm practicing. I'm practicing. I'm practicing. What are
you doing throwing that stick on the ground, Moses.
Speaker 7 (39:22):
I'm practicing because I got to use this stick to
park the waters. But until I practice, I can't perform it.
And you've lost your passion because you stopped practicing.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Even the best.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Lose their passion without practice, even the best, even David,
even David, the kid who ran to the battle line
and said, I.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Don't need a position. I got passion.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
I don't need the endorsement of Saul. I've got passion.
I don't even need my brothers to like me.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
I got passion.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
That kid who ran to the battle. A kid who
practiced found himself decades later. He was in the palace,
but he had lost his passion. He sat down and
wrote a psalm, and he cried out to God and
(40:33):
asked the Lord to recreate and restore his passion, create
a clean heart in me, O God, I had a
pure passion when I started. And I've allowed some things
to come into my life. And I've allowed some people,
and I've allowed some memories, and I've allowed some decisions
and some distractions and even some good things. I've been
(40:54):
trying to keep the false stuff out. I've left my
first love, and I want my passion back. He was
home one day, walking around on his roof. That same
kid who was willing to run to the battle lines.
(41:20):
He's seen a lot of years now, maybe not forty
three like the Church of Ephesus, but it's been quite
a few years since that time, and he's not running
toward the battle anymore.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
He's avoiding it.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
And the Bible says that in the springtime, when the
kings go off to war, David stayed home. The king
in the palace had lost that passion of the kid
and the pastor, and he got out of place, and
(41:57):
so we saw a beautiful woman bathing on the roof.
He called for her and she had no choice but
to come, and when he slept with her, they conceived.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
A child that resulted in a national scandal. Her husband
was murdered.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
At the behest of David's henchman, and David received word
that the child born to his wife would die, and
he cried out from that place. I want my passion back.
I've lost my baby, I've compromised my integrity. But if
(42:31):
it took me losing some things to realize that I
had lost my passion.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
God, all I can do now.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
I can't get back the baby, but I can get
back my passion.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
I can't get back last week, last month, last year.
Would you redeem the time I've wasted?
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Go?
Speaker 2 (42:57):
I want my passion back. I want my passion back.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
I just know somebody's heart is crying out, maybe even
watching online. You couldn't even get the church, didn't even
come today, and your heart is crying out as I preach.
Stand to your feet. It's a holy moment in the sanctuary.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Stand to your feet.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
I want my passion back. I want my passion back.
I want my passion back, and I'd be asking me
a question. She said, Daddy, Daddy, did you have to
practice that? And I just I was standing there thinking
about my kids. Maybe one day they'll take their kids
(43:40):
to the church they grew up in, and I wonder
what they'll be telling them about our church.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Will they be telling them what God used to do?
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Will they be telling them about the people who used
to give sacrificially, who didn't have a building but had passion.
Will this be the place where they had revival one time?
Or will it be a place where the revival fire
never die because of the people.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
With a passion. And I want to pray for you.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Because when David got done lamenting what he had lost,
and he prayed out, God, don't take your spirit from me.
I can lose anything, but I don't want.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
To lose my place.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
To the Angel of the Church at Ephesus, to the
husband of for at Valentine, to the teenage girl in Rockhill,
write these words, if you will find your purpose, you
(44:54):
will recover your passion.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
I think the worst advice.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
That we could give a young person is to follow
your passion. That might sound exciting, but it's self destructive.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
You don't follow your passion.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
If you follow your passion, you're gonna get your passion
confused with your feelings, and the first time the wind
blows real good, your flame will go out. Don't follow
your passion because sometimes you can't tell your passion apart
from your preference. Sometimes you can't tell your faith apart
from your feelings. So you don't stay in ephesis. You
(45:41):
don't stay in the hard places. Don't follow your passion.
Follow your purpose. Remember the reason God saved you. Get
your lamps stand back.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Every candle needs a stand.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
The passion is the flame, and the purpose is to stand.
Put your passion on your purpose. My passion follows my purpose.
My passion follows my purpose. So when I feel it,
when I don't, same purpose, same purpose. And you've been
(46:24):
here and there and everywhere, losing time, losing joy, losing passion.
Speaker 8 (46:30):
Following your passion, that's ridiculous. Follow your passion. How ridiculous
is that? Follow your passion? You know you would have
married that crazy girl. Follow your passion.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
Find your passion and teach your passion to follow your purpose.
Tell your passion where.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
To show up in the place of your purpose.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
I mean, imagine church.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Imagine if the people running the cameras at this church
it got it flipped. Imagine if the people running the
cameras while I'm preaching, Imagine if they all of a
sudden thought that it was my job to follow the camera.
How ridiculous would that be? How ridiculous would it be
(47:20):
if they? In fact, I'm gonna illustrate it. I'm gonna
show you how ridiculous it is when you follow your passion,
Show them real quick on the camera. So I got
to preach now, and while I'm preaching that camera, so
(47:42):
now I gotta follow the camera. How ridiculous is it
when you run around in life letting your feelings tell
you what job to take and what job to quit,
and what.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
Relationship to be in.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
No, no, no, I don't follow the camera. The camera
follows me. You gotta stay with me. I don't follow passion,
My passion follow my purpose.
Speaker 6 (48:08):
Does anybody have purpose?
Speaker 2 (48:10):
Looking up to Jesus? Be after the better?
Speaker 1 (48:15):
Sir?
Speaker 2 (48:15):
Top my bag?
Speaker 6 (48:17):
Oh brother John set before.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
It endured the cross, despising as shame.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
I want my passion back, and my passion is waiting
in the place of my purpose. I want to pray
for you if this message hit your heart today, If
it was for you, I want you to know that
after David laid down and prayed and asked God to
give him the baby back, the Bible says that he
made a decision to get up, to get up, to repent,
(48:50):
to get up. After he had been there long enough.
He got up and he went in and he.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
Had another baby. He got his passion back. Could this
be the day that you get your passion back?
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Not just goosebumps, not just a comfortable feeling.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
But an inner determination and.
Speaker 4 (49:17):
Resolve that says, I will, I will, I will.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
I don't feel it, but I will. I don't even
want to sometimes, but I.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Will, because my passion serves for permantness.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Bow your head. Created me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Cast me not away from your presence, and do not
take your holy spirit for me. Restore unto me the
joy of your salvation, and renew a right spirit, and
grant me a willing spirit.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Somebody say I will, I will, say.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
I will, I will, I will, I will, even when
I don't feel I will.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Because I have a passion I will, I will I'm
not waiting on the position.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
I have a passion. Father, we thank you today for
returning us to our first love. We don't want to
labor without love, and we don't want to serve you
without passion.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
We don't want to lose our place. We don't want
to miss our chance. So while the.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
While the lamps stand is still in place, while we
still have breadth in our bodies, while we still have
an opportunity, we call out to you God, and we
don't ask you to restore our passion, because the fact
is you didn't take it away. It's still in us.
It was just waiting for this word, for this moment.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
To be awakened. So God, we call our passion to
the surface.
Speaker 1 (51:07):
Like Elisha called the iron of the accent to float
to the top of the water, We're calling our passion
forth today. We're calling our victory forth today.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
Like David got up, we're getting up. We want our
passion back. We command our passion.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
To serve your purpose in our lives.
Speaker 2 (51:28):
We will by your spirit, we will.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
By your power, we will.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
We're getting up today. We're getting up today.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Not staying down, not staying lost, not staying lonely, we're
getting up.
Speaker 6 (51:41):
I'm getting up. I'm getting up. I'm getting up. I'm
getting up.
Speaker 1 (51:44):
Right now, right here, right now, right here, right now.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
How about my passion about.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Thank you for joining us special things to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 2 (52:20):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Host
Steven Furtick
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