May 14, 2023 • 41 mins
Be strong and do the work.
In “Sudden Strength,” Pastor Holly Furtick reminds us that the strength we need for tomorrow is in the fight we’re facing today.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr
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Scripture References:
1 Samuel 30, verses 1-8, 18-20, 26 Ephesians 6, verses 10-13 1 Chronicles 28, verse 10
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
new sermons every week.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hope you're blessed today.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Today, I would like to dedicate my sermon to a
very special group of women. I've never dedicated a sermon before,
but today's sermon is dedicated to all the mothers of
teenage boys.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, all the mothers of teenage boys.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Just lift your hand, hold it up real high in
the chat. You can even tell us your son's name
and age in the chat.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
No, I'm serious.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
If you're a mom of teenage boys, I want to
see your hand. Everybody look around. We need your prayer.
Keep your hand up high, everybody look pray for us.
Parenting boys is no joke. Here's a picture of me,
(01:06):
me and my boys. All right, So that's Elijah.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
On the well, I don't know. I guess he's on
the right.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I'm so bad at directions. Elijah's the older one. He
is seventeen, and he had just finished all of his
school work this week. He is graduating high school.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And I just.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I'm on the stage show.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I get to say whatever I want. I'm just gonna
mom brag for a second. This boy is graduating with
a high school diploma.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And an AA in business at the same.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Time, and he's going to be heading off to college
in the falling. I don't know if I'm sad or
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I'm both.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And then Graham is fifteen and he's just finishing up.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
His freshman year.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Just for fun, here's an old picture of us.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Keep it up there for a second. Let me tell
you something about these two little boys. They ate my
lunch every.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Day, literally and figuratively. They were wild from the minute
their little feet hit the floor. They were jumping and
running and wrestling constantly and taking family.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Pictures with them.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It's like this weird form of self inflicted torture. So okay,
here's another one and one way.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Here they are today. Not much has changed.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I was not prepared for the energy of boys, and
I wasn't prepared that my husband was going to like
encourage it, and just.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Just I grew up in a house with.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
My mom and my dad and my two sisters, and
in our house tears and estrogen ruled. And now those
wild little boys are young men, and here I am.
I just have to say that this whole testosterone, weightlifting,
protein eating situation, it's just enlightening for me. This is
(03:26):
why we need your prayers. I shared this story when
we were on tour this spring, but not too long ago,
our middle son, Graham told me. Came in the kitchen
and we were talking and he said that he was
constantly sizing himself up against every person that crosses his path.
And he told me when he sees someone, he thinks,
(03:47):
would I win in a.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Fight against that guy? And then he said, Mom, do
you ever do that? I'm like, are you a smc?
A fight to break out at any moment? Is this
what boys think? This is news to me? And then Graham,
he kept talking. You said something that really spoke to me.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
He said, And then Mom, I just decide that if
I wouldn't win in a fight, I pretty much always
know that my dad could take them. So today I
want to talk to you about sudden Strength. If you've
been in church with us in the past few weeks, you
(04:31):
know that we have been looking at the life of
David through the lens of Psalm thirty four and the
events that inspired David to write that Psalm two weeks
ago we learned about ugly trust, and can I just say, like,
I don't know if you put two and two together.
That week, but that particular week, Stephen preached in arenas
(04:51):
all over the Midwest eight times in ten days, and
then he came home and continued to pro out some
thing fresh to us.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
That's when he preached ugly trust.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
And then the next week we learned about delayed praise.
And on top of both of these insanely amazing messages,
they were centered around a song that he wrote for
our church.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Can we just take a minute to thank.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
God for the feast that our pastor labors to bring
to us every single week?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Amazing He pours any pores, any pores, and he ministers
to me every week, as I know.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
He does to you too.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So ugly Trust, delayed praise, and now sudden strength, because
the truth is, sometimes an unexpected fight does break out,
not a fist fight, but maybe a fight for your marriage,
a fight for your health, a fight for your child,
(06:07):
and you find yourself sizing yourself up against what you
are facing. And today I want to talk about the sudden.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Strength that can be yours when.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You realize that you have a heavenly father who is
backing you up. And when you combine his power in
you with the weapons that he has given you, you
can take whatever you find yourself up against.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Can we talk about this today? All right?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
So turn in your Bible to our passage for today,
which is First Samuel, chapter thirty. And while you're turning there,
I want us to slow down and I want to
bring you up to speed on where we are in
David's life, because David's story is extensive. David is one
of the most important characters in the Bible. And sometimes
(06:59):
we and we dropped down in a passage of scripture
and we preached you and you don't know, like, Okay,
I know David, but like, is this before Goliath? Or
is this after best Shiba? Like where does this come
in his story? So a little bit of backstory, don't worry.
I'm really good at giving backstory. Sometimes I've had to
learn because people don't like the story before the story.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But I'm gonna give it to you quick, okay.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
So David was anointed to be king when he was
a fifteen year old boy tending sheep in his father's field.
Not long after that, he defeated Goliath, and then he
lived as a part of Saul's court. That's where David
became best friends with the king's son Jonathan. But then
the king began to get jealous of David and he
(07:44):
wanted to kill him, so he had to flee to
the wilderness. And eventually David has gathered a small army
for himself of about six hundred men who are following
him and who are protecting him. And they're constantly on
the run from Saul his army, and it's getting more
and more dangerous. So David and his men they settle
(08:05):
all the women and children in a town called Zicklag.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
And then David, as our pastor told.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Us, does the next best thing that he knows to.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Do, and he and his men flee to the.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Enemy territory of the Philistines to work as mercenaries. And
that is where Pastor Stephen left us off last week.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
All right, now we.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Come to First Samuel, chapter thirty, and it says this now,
when David and his men came to Zicklag on the
third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the
Negeb and against Zicklag. They had overcome Zicklag and burned
it with fire and taken captive all the women and
all who were in it, both great and small. They
(08:49):
killed no one, but they carried them off and went
their way. And when David and his men came to
the city, they found it burned with fire, and their
wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and
the people who were with him raised their voices, and
they wept until they had no more strength to weep.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
David's two wives have been taken captive.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
A Henoum of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabel
of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed for the people
spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter
in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David
strengthened himself in the Lord his God. All this time,
(09:37):
David has been running from Saul and living in the
Philistine territory, and he finally returns home to see his family,
and he finds that an enemy that he didn't see
coming has burned their town to the ground and has
taken his family, and he is devastated, and so are
(10:00):
his men and the men are looking for someone to blame,
as we often do when we find ourselves in despair,
and David it's all alone. Jonathan's not there to protect him,
Abigail's not there to encourage him, Samuel the Prophet is
not there to remind him of his calling. And everyone
near and dear to him is gone, and his men
(10:24):
are plotting to kill him. We're watching David in one
of his lowest moments. He's tired, he's depleted, he's scared.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
And what does he do?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
How does he get up and do the next best
thing again, as we've seen him do over and over
in his story. Verse six tells us, but David strengthened
himself in the Lord his God.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
What do you do when you need sudden strength and
no one is.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
There to help you. Sometimes you got to strengthen yourself.
So David gathers every ounce of strength that he has left,
which he doesn't feel like is very much, and he
uses that.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Strength to seek God. Look what he does next.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And David said to a be a, oh man, I
practice how to say this word.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You guys. It's Abafar, son of Ahimelech.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Bring me the ephod so aba far brought the ephod
to David, and David inquired of the Lord. Shall I
pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them? David had
to get his next step from God.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
He didn't have a pity party.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
He didn't avoid the situation by hiding or numbing. He
didn't go into one of his caves. He didn't turn
around and blame his men, Well, you guys, we should
have left someone here to He didn't take a from them.
He cried until he had no tears left to cry,
(12:07):
and then when he could, he mustered all of the
strength that he had, and he took his pain and
his confusion and his fear right into the presence of God,
and he sought the Lord.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
When we experience a.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Difficult situation, we have two choices. We can wonder why,
or we can ask what next. There is a time
to grieve and to mourn, and even a time to
be angry and confused.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
But at some point you have to move on with it.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
And I want to tell you the pain will most
likely still be there no matter what you do. Stay
in it, move on. The pain's going to be there.
But I don't know about you. I find in my
life when I sit in my pain for too long,
I get stale, and I get bitter, and nobody.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Wants to be around me. But when I drag my.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Pain to the feet of Jesus, sometimes over and over again,
when I seek God, he answers Now. Sometimes he doesn't
answer the way I hope that he will. Sometimes he
says stay when I want to go. Sometimes he says
forgive when I want to hold on to that hurt.
(13:35):
Sometimes he says stop. And here in this case, God
responds to David with a call to action. God said,
pursue the enemy, David, they're not dead, go and get
them back. And David set out the Bible tells us,
along with his six hundred men, to go and get
(13:57):
them back. There will always be times in your life
when the only person who can strengthen yourself is you.
If you want to have big muscles, you're gonna have
to lift heavyweights, right my boys have taught me. You
also have to eat lots of protein and sometimes drink
(14:19):
powdery drinks. No one can exercise for you. The only
way for you to get strong is to get up
again and again and again, even when you're tired of
getting up. So let's talk about tired for a second.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Because David is exhausted.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
He's been living in enemy territory, which you can imagine
would be stressful, and he's traveled three days to come
home to his family, and what do you think he's planning.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Like this whole three day trip.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
He's planning on feasting and relaxing and hugging his wife
and playing with his kids. And he arrives home only
to find them stolen by an enemy that he didn't
see coming. For so long he'd been running from Saul
that he left himself vulnerable in another area of his.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Life, and now he's just blindsided by it.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
And so he wept until he had no strength left
to weep, and then he got up and he sought
the Lord, and God tells him to do something that
I'm guessing he didn't really want to do.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
He wanted God to bring him back. God said, go
after them.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
He said, you will recover everything that was taken. So,
on tired legs, David and his men set out to
get back what was theirs. And they had to travel
fast because they're having to catch up to the enemy.
And the story goes on to tell us that they
were so exhausted that two hundred of the men stopped.
(15:58):
They're like, we can't go any further. But David had
to keep going because if he didn't, he was gonna
lose everything. And so David and the four hundred remaining
men they finally catch up to the Amalekite camp, not
to just have a little talk with them, but they
have to fight now, and they arrive to the battle tired.
(16:21):
Just wondering, is anybody in this room tired today?
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Raise your hand. It's okay, raise your hand. All right.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You might be sleepy, you might just be tired of it,
but look around. Raise your hand again. If you're tired,
We're all tired. Tired is a part of life now.
Some of us are stupid tired. Like perhaps you're a
(16:52):
teenage boy and you stayed up till four am playing
Fortnite or whatever game of your choice, and now you're
in church with your mom and you're.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Trying to stay awake.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Maybe you're tired because it's May and it's the end
of the school year and you have all of the
end of your programs and parties and teacher Gibson final
exams and making sure your kids cross the finish line,
and you've way over scheduled yourself this year.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Anybody on here that kind of tire.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Some of you are legitimately tired with no end in sight.
Maybe you're a single mom on Mother's Day with no help,
and you go every day from the time your eyes
open in the morning until the time your.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Head hits the pillow at night.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
It's important to recognize when you're tired and why you're tired,
and it's important to evaluate your schedule, and even to
learn and to ask for help when you need help.
And we need rests in our lives, we do. We
need times of rest and Sabbath and all of those
wonderful things. But you know what I've learned in twenty
(18:05):
plus years of being a grown up.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I even get tired on vacation. I'm serious. Like for me,
I don't know what it's like when you wake up
in the morning, But if I get five.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Hours of sleep or nine hours of sleep, when I
open my eyes in the morning, I don't want to
wake up. I'm still tired, and I don't want to
sleep my life away. I want to stop being surprised
that I'm tired.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Tired is a part of being a grown up.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It is no longer an excuse to not get done
what needs to get done. Baby sleep when they're tired.
Grown up sleep when the day is done. Some of
the most defining moments in my life happened when I
was tired, when I pushed through and came out on
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the other side. And perhaps the biggest lesson that I
have had to learn in my life is that tired
is a part of it every day. So we've got
to learn how to fight when we're tired, because if
you wait until you feel one hundred percent, you're never
(19:24):
gonna get back what has been stolen from you. Guys,
David was tired, not fifteen minutes tired now I stayed
up too late last night. Tired. He was fifteen years
tired of fighting a physical battle against Saul and a
(19:44):
mental battle against himself, constantly wondering if God was really
gonna do what he said that he was gonna do
through David.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Or if Saul was just gonna eventually get him.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
There is a real enemy out there, and he wants
you to be too tired to fight back for.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
The things that he has stolen from you.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
He wants you to give up on the calling that
God has placed on your life. But you can't stop
short of the victory that God has for you. Look
at Ephesian six. I know many of you just finished
studying Ephesians. This was my favorite part if even six.
Verse ten says, finally, be strong in the Lord and
(20:36):
in his mighty power.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Put on the full armor of God so.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
That you can stand against the devil's schemes. Now listen
to these verses because they're kind of scary if you
really read them. For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, he says
it again, put on the full armor of God, so
(21:04):
that when the day of evil comes, you may be
able to stand your ground. Paul is not talking about
a fight for us to take new ground. Jesus's work
on the Cross won the victory against sin and death.
Salvation is ours. We don't have to fight for that.
(21:26):
We receive that by grace through faith. But just because
we receive salvation doesn't mean that there is not still
a very real enemy.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And he is going to do everything he can. He
came to steal, kill, and destroy.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
And we are fighting against spiritual forces in realms that
we don't see, things that you don't even know about,
stuff that you would read in a fantasy book. Abby
demons and spiritual forces that are battling for your soul.
And if he can't take your salvation, he's gonna blindside you.
(22:08):
He's gonna take your peace.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
His job is to get you focused on how tired
you are. You've been fighting for your marriage for years.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
He's going to do everything he can to get you
to give up on it. He wants you to be
too tired to get your joy back, he wants you
to be too tired to get.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Your confidence back. And if he can.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Take those things from you, you will live your life saved.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
But in defeat. And he won.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
As believers in Christ. So we're not fighting in our
own power. That's the amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
PAULSA be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It's his mighty power that is at work on the
inside of you.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
But sometimes you gotta get up.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
If you want to activate God's power in your life,
you got to move.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
You got to seek him. Again and again and again.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
You got to arm yourself so that you can stand
against the enemy.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Don't give in, don't let him win, keep fighting even
when you're tired.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
So David and his men fought the battle against the Amalekites,
and the Bible says that it lasted a full twenty
four hours.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
That's how long they had to fight. And look what
happened though verse eighteen.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David
rescued his two wives.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Nothing was missing, whether great.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Or small, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had
been taken. Every tiny little piece of jewelry that was stolen,
David brought back all. Look at this one. David also
captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove
the livestock before him and said, this is David's spoil.
(24:11):
Skip down the verse twenty six. When David came to Ziglag,
he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the
elders of Judas, saying, here's a present for you from
the spoils of the enemies of the Lord. Somehow, when
you fight tired, you push through the longest battle of
your life.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
You're gonna came away with spoils leftovers.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
There's nothing Stephen Verdick loves to eat more than good leftovers.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So when I cook something.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Good, like I know he loves this meal, I cook extra.
I plan for leftovers. When you fight for something in
your life, I'm here to tell.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
You you can plan for leftovers.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
When you fight to get your peace back, You're gonna
have enough to share with those around you. When you
feel your joy slipping away and you're tired, but you
take the time to write in your gratitude journal and
you stay focused on the faithfulness of God, you better
bet that you're gonna have joy overflowing to the people
(25:22):
around you. When you feel you're confidence slipping, but you
fight back, you find your versus. You put it on
post it notes. You remind yourself of who you are
in Christ. You're gonna look up and your middle school
daughter is gonna be more confident too. You are equipped
for this fight. The weapons are there, They're in your hands.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
If Phesian six goes on to say.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
I remember Paul said several times put on the full
armor of God, and he goes on to tell us
you have the belt of truth, you have the breastplate
of righteousness. Your feet are fitted with the Gospel of Peace.
The helmet of Salvation is on your head. And in
one hand you've got the shield of faith, and in
the other hand you've got the sword of the Spirit.
You're equipped for this fight. He's given you everything you need.
(26:09):
The victory is yours for the taking. You got to
take it. God said, go back, get what is rightfully yours.
You have the weapons in your hands, and so David
went back and he brought back all that was taken
(26:30):
from him, with leftovers to share. So this week I've
been talking with Stephen about what I felt like God
was wanting me to say.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Today.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Of course I'm going to talk to Stephen Verdi about
preaching right. I mean, lives in the house with me.
So we've been talking about it on and off and
about David, and I was telling him about you know,
I just loved this idea of how David strengthened himself,
and so it was kind of an ongoing conversation. A
couple days later, he came from upstairs and he said, Babe,
(27:03):
you are not going to believe what I just read.
And so he showed me this verse in first Chronicles,
and I'm telling you, my heart leapt.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Neither of us had.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Ever seen this first before I got to show.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
It to you.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
So before I show it to you, I just have
to say this is in Chronicles. So we're jumping ahead
to the end of David's life. He's finally become king,
and he wanted to build the Lord's Temple, but he
only got to make plans for the temple because God
had chosen Solomon, David's son, to build the temple.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
So in this passage, David.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Is giving one of his final speeches to Israel as
they're king. He's an old man and he turns to
Solomon and he gives him this charge to build the temple.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Verset Chronicles twenty eight ten.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
It says, consider now, David says to Solomon, for the
Lord has chosen you to build house as the sanctuary.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Be strong and do the work.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
David's looking his son in the eyes, and he's speaking
to him from experience. He knew that his strength began
with his identity, that from the age of fifteen, God
had chosen him and anointed him and equipped him for
every part of the journey, every battle that he would
(28:29):
have to fight. David knew from experience that there would
be moments where Solomon would feel worn out by.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
The burden of leadership, that he.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Would feel discouraged, and he would feel disappointment, and he
would feel alone, and that there would be many days
where Solomon would feel like he didn't have.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
The strength to do what he'd been chosen to do.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
And just as David looked in Solomon's eyes, I want
to lie get each one of you today, whether you're
watching from here at Valentine or one of our locations,
or maybe you're sitting in a hospital room, or maybe
you're in your bed because you didn't have the strength
to get up and come to church today.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Listen to me. The Lord has chosen you.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Be strong and do the work. He's chosen you to
raise that special needs child. Be strong in do the
work He's chosen you to care for your ailing father.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Be strong in do the work.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
He's placed you in this school or in this apartment building,
in this job, and there is work to be done.
Be strong and do the work. All the steps are
right there. Put the verse back up. Okay, consider now
just stop. Let it really sink in. The Lord has
(30:07):
chosen you for what's the assignment? Build the house as
this sanctuary. Build a temple, Paul said, our bodies are
a temple of the Holy Spirit who is inside of you.
You were bought with a price. You don't have to
(30:29):
live in defeat. You're backed by a heavenly father who
is strong and mighty, and he has given you the
power of his spirit inside of your temple. So build
the temple and be strong. That's the part where you
talk to yourself when no one else is there.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
That's the part where you coach yourself. Be strong, Holly,
be strong and do the work. This is my new
life motto.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
I am going to shout it from the mountaintops, so
you're gonna see it on my Instagram and my YouTube.
I'm gonna put it on next year's Mother's Day. Moug
be strong and do the work. How do I keep going?
Be strong and do the work. Strength comes as you go,
So get up, move, get out of bed.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Do the work that you have been given to do today.
Take the kids to school, get to work on time,
go to the soccer game, pay the bills, read.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Your Bible, play worship music, practice breathing, forgive over, and
over again. Be strong and do the work. Build your temple.
The only temple you can build is yours. So stop
trying to build your husband's temple. Stop trying to build
(31:50):
your child's temple.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Build your temple.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Make it good, make it strong, give it a good foundation.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Be strong, and do the work that He has chosen
you to do. Your work, not my work, your work.
But I'm not strong. Do the work.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
The strength that you're going to need tomorrow is in
the work that you're doing today. When we go on
tour with elevation nights, there's a part of the experience
where I go on stage and I do a little
welcome and I have to say, this is never easy
(32:32):
for me.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
About you, but speaking to ten thousand people at one time,
it's pretty much the most intimidating thing that a person
can do. And there are many times that just as
I'm about to walk on the stage, I think to myself,
I really don't want to do this. And the first
(32:55):
night is always the hardest. So this past tour no exception.
This time I decided that every time I had the
thought I really don't want to do this, I was
going to pray a little prayer that my husband taught me.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
At the beginning of this year, he.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Started writing these little short prayers and confessions and he
would share them with me and our kids, and one
particular one that he shared with me really stuck with me.
I think he might have said it in one of
his sermons. I know he posted it on his YouTube
for one of his Basin teachings. By the way, if
you're not watching those Basin videos, you're really missing out.
(33:34):
So if you did see it, just for the record,
he taught it to me first.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Anyway, here's how it goes.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
It goes like this, I breathe you in Holy Spirit,
and your strength comes suddenly, and your peace fills me completely.
So I stood side stage and just as they were
finishing the song Gyra under my breath, I prayed the prayer,
(34:06):
I breathe you in Holy Spirit, and I looked out
at all those people. I said, and your strength comes suddenly,
and your piece fills me completely.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
And I walked onto the stage feeling pretty good.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
And as I was opening my eyes finishing my prayer,
my notes were not on the screen. Listen, my last
name is Ferdic, but my first name is not Stephen.
And if you think that I get up on the
stage and.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
I'm like winging it, You're wrong.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
And that black screen was one of my worst fears
come true. And for eight minutes, do you know how
long eight minutes is? For eight minutes, I stood on
that stage and talked to ten thousand people with no notes,
(35:09):
And let me just say, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
You weren't there, so you might not want to clap.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Let me just say they said that I seemed that
I was calm, and a lot of people said really
nice things to me, but I think they were just
trying to make me feel better. On the outside, I'm
not sure how I appeared, but on the inside I
was freaking out, like you know that fight or flight thing.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I was trying my best to remember what.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
I had planned to say, and I mean I've said it.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I don't know. Probably this is probably like twenty.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Four, my twenty fifth time. I say almost the same
thing every time, but I don't remember what it was.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
So I'm trying to remember, and I'm trying to say.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
The things that I'm supposed to say and the things
that I felt got it later on in my heart, and
all the while my mind was screaming, get off this stage,
abort mission, just pray and leave, just pray in Jesus,
nay Amen, Holly, just get off the stage. But I didn't,
(36:14):
and I finally finished. If I mean it was like
eight hours, I think, and I prayed, and I exited
the stage and I got off the stage, and I was.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Physically shaking from head to toe.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I've never felt like that before. Even as I'm telling
you about it, I feel nervous in my stomach and
I feel shaky in my hands, and I just have
to say to you.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Strength came suddenly.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Even though it wasn't exactly the strength that I was
envisioning when I.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Prayed the prayer side stage. Here's the crazy part.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
The next night, I was filled with even more fear,
like I really did not want to get on that stage.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Like all the money in the world, I did not
want to get on that stage.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
In fact, they were having to move some stuff around
in the set list, and I volunteered more than.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Once for them to just caught my part. True story.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
I was like, just take my part out, it's fine.
They just want to sing rattle and here from pastors seating.
They mean me.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Twenty four hours later.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
There I was doing the work and John Soo is singing.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Gyra, and I was standing at the steps, and.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
I prayed, I breathe you in Holy Spirit, and your
strength comes suddenly, and your peace fills me completely. I
walked up on the stage. I did my work with
the notes at time. Sometimes every moment is a choice.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
I'm gonna get out of bed today, I'm gonna take
a shower. Now, I'm gonna take care of my family.
I'm gonna go to work. I'm gonna get out of
my car, go into my job.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Remember what David said, I will bless the Lord at
all times. Listen, just because you have to fight doesn't
mean you aren't strong, and it certainly doesn't mean that
you aren't called.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
In fact, the opposite is true. You gotta fight for
your calling. So be strong and do the work. Be
strong and do the work. I say it one more time,
be strong and do the work.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Just a few weeks ago, Stephen and a few others
got together and they put that prayer into a song.
Of course he did, and he told me that we
could close the message by introducing this song to our church.
So normally I close my messages with a.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Prayer and I get off the stage. But today.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I just want to look you in the eyes as
best as I can through this camera, and I want
to tell you, as a mother would to her own children.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Be strong and do the work. You can do this.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
You're not alone, you're.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Not unqualified, you're not ill equipped. Be and do the work.
All right?
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Repeat after me. I breathe you in holy spirit. Take
a deep breath and your strength comes suddenly.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Take another breath and your piece fills me completely.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Elevation Nights is coming your way. It's a special night
for us to worship our amazing God together and expect
great things in his presence. I'll be preaching a message
I bring in Elevation Worship.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
We'll be singing.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
All your favorite songs, and of course Holly is coming
with me too. We're believing that your faith is going
to be inspired.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Like never before.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Go get your tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot com.
We'll see you there.
Speaker 3 (41:03):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
get you all of these new messages as soon as
they're available. I also want to take a moment and
thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
able to reach people all around the world. And if
(41:26):
you want more information on how to be a part
of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the
message and subscribe. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
new sermons every week.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hope you're blessed today.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Today, I would like to dedicate my sermon to a
very special group of women. I've never dedicated a sermon before,
but today's sermon is dedicated to all the mothers of
teenage boys.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, all the mothers of teenage boys.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Just lift your hand, hold it up real high in
the chat. You can even tell us your son's name
and age in the chat.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
No, I'm serious.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
If you're a mom of teenage boys, I want to
see your hand. Everybody look around. We need your prayer.
Keep your hand up high, everybody look pray for us.
Parenting boys is no joke. Here's a picture of me,
(01:06):
me and my boys. All right, So that's Elijah.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
On the well, I don't know. I guess he's on
the right.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I'm so bad at directions. Elijah's the older one. He
is seventeen, and he had just finished all of his
school work this week. He is graduating high school.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And I just.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I'm on the stage show.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I get to say whatever I want. I'm just gonna
mom brag for a second. This boy is graduating with
a high school diploma.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And an AA in business at the same.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Time, and he's going to be heading off to college
in the falling. I don't know if I'm sad or
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I'm both.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And then Graham is fifteen and he's just finishing up.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
His freshman year.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Just for fun, here's an old picture of us.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Keep it up there for a second. Let me tell
you something about these two little boys. They ate my
lunch every.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Day, literally and figuratively. They were wild from the minute
their little feet hit the floor. They were jumping and
running and wrestling constantly and taking family.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Pictures with them.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It's like this weird form of self inflicted torture. So okay,
here's another one and one way.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Here they are today. Not much has changed.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I was not prepared for the energy of boys, and
I wasn't prepared that my husband was going to like
encourage it, and just.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Just I grew up in a house with.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
My mom and my dad and my two sisters, and
in our house tears and estrogen ruled. And now those
wild little boys are young men, and here I am.
I just have to say that this whole testosterone, weightlifting,
protein eating situation, it's just enlightening for me. This is
(03:26):
why we need your prayers. I shared this story when
we were on tour this spring, but not too long ago,
our middle son, Graham told me. Came in the kitchen
and we were talking and he said that he was
constantly sizing himself up against every person that crosses his path.
And he told me when he sees someone, he thinks,
(03:47):
would I win in a.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Fight against that guy? And then he said, Mom, do
you ever do that? I'm like, are you a smc?
A fight to break out at any moment? Is this
what boys think? This is news to me? And then Graham,
he kept talking. You said something that really spoke to me.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
He said, And then Mom, I just decide that if
I wouldn't win in a fight, I pretty much always
know that my dad could take them. So today I
want to talk to you about sudden Strength. If you've
been in church with us in the past few weeks, you
(04:31):
know that we have been looking at the life of
David through the lens of Psalm thirty four and the
events that inspired David to write that Psalm two weeks
ago we learned about ugly trust, and can I just say, like,
I don't know if you put two and two together.
That week, but that particular week, Stephen preached in arenas
(04:51):
all over the Midwest eight times in ten days, and
then he came home and continued to pro out some
thing fresh to us.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
That's when he preached ugly trust.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
And then the next week we learned about delayed praise.
And on top of both of these insanely amazing messages,
they were centered around a song that he wrote for
our church.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Can we just take a minute to thank.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
God for the feast that our pastor labors to bring
to us every single week?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Amazing He pours any pores, any pores, and he ministers
to me every week, as I know.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
He does to you too.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So ugly Trust, delayed praise, and now sudden strength, because
the truth is, sometimes an unexpected fight does break out,
not a fist fight, but maybe a fight for your marriage,
a fight for your health, a fight for your child,
(06:07):
and you find yourself sizing yourself up against what you
are facing. And today I want to talk about the sudden.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Strength that can be yours when.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You realize that you have a heavenly father who is
backing you up. And when you combine his power in
you with the weapons that he has given you, you
can take whatever you find yourself up against.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Can we talk about this today? All right?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
So turn in your Bible to our passage for today,
which is First Samuel, chapter thirty. And while you're turning there,
I want us to slow down and I want to
bring you up to speed on where we are in
David's life, because David's story is extensive. David is one
of the most important characters in the Bible. And sometimes
(06:59):
we and we dropped down in a passage of scripture
and we preached you and you don't know, like, Okay,
I know David, but like, is this before Goliath? Or
is this after best Shiba? Like where does this come
in his story? So a little bit of backstory, don't worry.
I'm really good at giving backstory. Sometimes I've had to
learn because people don't like the story before the story.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But I'm gonna give it to you quick, okay.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
So David was anointed to be king when he was
a fifteen year old boy tending sheep in his father's field.
Not long after that, he defeated Goliath, and then he
lived as a part of Saul's court. That's where David
became best friends with the king's son Jonathan. But then
the king began to get jealous of David and he
(07:44):
wanted to kill him, so he had to flee to
the wilderness. And eventually David has gathered a small army
for himself of about six hundred men who are following
him and who are protecting him. And they're constantly on
the run from Saul his army, and it's getting more
and more dangerous. So David and his men they settle
(08:05):
all the women and children in a town called Zicklag.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
And then David, as our pastor told.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Us, does the next best thing that he knows to.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Do, and he and his men flee to the.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Enemy territory of the Philistines to work as mercenaries. And
that is where Pastor Stephen left us off last week.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
All right, now we.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Come to First Samuel, chapter thirty, and it says this now,
when David and his men came to Zicklag on the
third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the
Negeb and against Zicklag. They had overcome Zicklag and burned
it with fire and taken captive all the women and
all who were in it, both great and small. They
(08:49):
killed no one, but they carried them off and went
their way. And when David and his men came to
the city, they found it burned with fire, and their
wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and
the people who were with him raised their voices, and
they wept until they had no more strength to weep.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
David's two wives have been taken captive.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
A Henoum of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabel
of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed for the people
spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter
in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David
strengthened himself in the Lord his God. All this time,
(09:37):
David has been running from Saul and living in the
Philistine territory, and he finally returns home to see his family,
and he finds that an enemy that he didn't see
coming has burned their town to the ground and has
taken his family, and he is devastated, and so are
(10:00):
his men and the men are looking for someone to blame,
as we often do when we find ourselves in despair,
and David it's all alone. Jonathan's not there to protect him,
Abigail's not there to encourage him, Samuel the Prophet is
not there to remind him of his calling. And everyone
near and dear to him is gone, and his men
(10:24):
are plotting to kill him. We're watching David in one
of his lowest moments. He's tired, he's depleted, he's scared.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
And what does he do?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
How does he get up and do the next best
thing again, as we've seen him do over and over
in his story. Verse six tells us, but David strengthened
himself in the Lord his God.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
What do you do when you need sudden strength and
no one is.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
There to help you. Sometimes you got to strengthen yourself.
So David gathers every ounce of strength that he has left,
which he doesn't feel like is very much, and he
uses that.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Strength to seek God. Look what he does next.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And David said to a be a, oh man, I
practice how to say this word.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You guys. It's Abafar, son of Ahimelech.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Bring me the ephod so aba far brought the ephod
to David, and David inquired of the Lord. Shall I
pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them? David had
to get his next step from God.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
He didn't have a pity party.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
He didn't avoid the situation by hiding or numbing. He
didn't go into one of his caves. He didn't turn
around and blame his men, Well, you guys, we should
have left someone here to He didn't take a from them.
He cried until he had no tears left to cry,
(12:07):
and then when he could, he mustered all of the
strength that he had, and he took his pain and
his confusion and his fear right into the presence of God,
and he sought the Lord.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
When we experience a.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Difficult situation, we have two choices. We can wonder why,
or we can ask what next. There is a time
to grieve and to mourn, and even a time to
be angry and confused.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
But at some point you have to move on with it.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
And I want to tell you the pain will most
likely still be there no matter what you do. Stay
in it, move on. The pain's going to be there.
But I don't know about you. I find in my
life when I sit in my pain for too long,
I get stale, and I get bitter, and nobody.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Wants to be around me. But when I drag my.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Pain to the feet of Jesus, sometimes over and over again,
when I seek God, he answers Now. Sometimes he doesn't
answer the way I hope that he will. Sometimes he
says stay when I want to go. Sometimes he says
forgive when I want to hold on to that hurt.
(13:35):
Sometimes he says stop. And here in this case, God
responds to David with a call to action. God said,
pursue the enemy, David, they're not dead, go and get
them back. And David set out the Bible tells us,
along with his six hundred men, to go and get
(13:57):
them back. There will always be times in your life
when the only person who can strengthen yourself is you.
If you want to have big muscles, you're gonna have
to lift heavyweights, right my boys have taught me. You
also have to eat lots of protein and sometimes drink
(14:19):
powdery drinks. No one can exercise for you. The only
way for you to get strong is to get up
again and again and again, even when you're tired of
getting up. So let's talk about tired for a second.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Because David is exhausted.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
He's been living in enemy territory, which you can imagine
would be stressful, and he's traveled three days to come
home to his family, and what do you think he's planning.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Like this whole three day trip.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
He's planning on feasting and relaxing and hugging his wife
and playing with his kids. And he arrives home only
to find them stolen by an enemy that he didn't
see coming. For so long he'd been running from Saul
that he left himself vulnerable in another area of his.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Life, and now he's just blindsided by it.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
And so he wept until he had no strength left
to weep, and then he got up and he sought
the Lord, and God tells him to do something that
I'm guessing he didn't really want to do.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
He wanted God to bring him back. God said, go
after them.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
He said, you will recover everything that was taken. So,
on tired legs, David and his men set out to
get back what was theirs. And they had to travel
fast because they're having to catch up to the enemy.
And the story goes on to tell us that they
were so exhausted that two hundred of the men stopped.
(15:58):
They're like, we can't go any further. But David had
to keep going because if he didn't, he was gonna
lose everything. And so David and the four hundred remaining
men they finally catch up to the Amalekite camp, not
to just have a little talk with them, but they
have to fight now, and they arrive to the battle tired.
(16:21):
Just wondering, is anybody in this room tired today?
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Raise your hand. It's okay, raise your hand. All right.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You might be sleepy, you might just be tired of it,
but look around. Raise your hand again. If you're tired,
We're all tired. Tired is a part of life now.
Some of us are stupid tired. Like perhaps you're a
(16:52):
teenage boy and you stayed up till four am playing
Fortnite or whatever game of your choice, and now you're
in church with your mom and you're.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Trying to stay awake.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Maybe you're tired because it's May and it's the end
of the school year and you have all of the
end of your programs and parties and teacher Gibson final
exams and making sure your kids cross the finish line,
and you've way over scheduled yourself this year.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Anybody on here that kind of tire.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Some of you are legitimately tired with no end in sight.
Maybe you're a single mom on Mother's Day with no help,
and you go every day from the time your eyes
open in the morning until the time your.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Head hits the pillow at night.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
It's important to recognize when you're tired and why you're tired,
and it's important to evaluate your schedule, and even to
learn and to ask for help when you need help.
And we need rests in our lives, we do. We
need times of rest and Sabbath and all of those
wonderful things. But you know what I've learned in twenty
(18:05):
plus years of being a grown up.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I even get tired on vacation. I'm serious. Like for me,
I don't know what it's like when you wake up
in the morning, But if I get five.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Hours of sleep or nine hours of sleep, when I
open my eyes in the morning, I don't want to
wake up. I'm still tired, and I don't want to
sleep my life away. I want to stop being surprised
that I'm tired.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Tired is a part of being a grown up.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It is no longer an excuse to not get done
what needs to get done. Baby sleep when they're tired.
Grown up sleep when the day is done. Some of
the most defining moments in my life happened when I
was tired, when I pushed through and came out on
(19:03):
the other side. And perhaps the biggest lesson that I
have had to learn in my life is that tired
is a part of it every day. So we've got
to learn how to fight when we're tired, because if
you wait until you feel one hundred percent, you're never
(19:24):
gonna get back what has been stolen from you. Guys,
David was tired, not fifteen minutes tired now I stayed
up too late last night. Tired. He was fifteen years
tired of fighting a physical battle against Saul and a
(19:44):
mental battle against himself, constantly wondering if God was really
gonna do what he said that he was gonna do
through David.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Or if Saul was just gonna eventually get him.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
There is a real enemy out there, and he wants
you to be too tired to fight back for.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
The things that he has stolen from you.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
He wants you to give up on the calling that
God has placed on your life. But you can't stop
short of the victory that God has for you. Look
at Ephesian six. I know many of you just finished
studying Ephesians. This was my favorite part if even six.
Verse ten says, finally, be strong in the Lord and
(20:36):
in his mighty power.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Put on the full armor of God so.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
That you can stand against the devil's schemes. Now listen
to these verses because they're kind of scary if you
really read them. For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, he says
it again, put on the full armor of God, so
(21:04):
that when the day of evil comes, you may be
able to stand your ground. Paul is not talking about
a fight for us to take new ground. Jesus's work
on the Cross won the victory against sin and death.
Salvation is ours. We don't have to fight for that.
(21:26):
We receive that by grace through faith. But just because
we receive salvation doesn't mean that there is not still
a very real enemy.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And he is going to do everything he can. He
came to steal, kill, and destroy.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
And we are fighting against spiritual forces in realms that
we don't see, things that you don't even know about,
stuff that you would read in a fantasy book. Abby
demons and spiritual forces that are battling for your soul.
And if he can't take your salvation, he's gonna blindside you.
(22:08):
He's gonna take your peace.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
His job is to get you focused on how tired
you are. You've been fighting for your marriage for years.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
He's going to do everything he can to get you
to give up on it. He wants you to be
too tired to get your joy back, he wants you
to be too tired to get.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Your confidence back. And if he can.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Take those things from you, you will live your life saved.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
But in defeat. And he won.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
As believers in Christ. So we're not fighting in our
own power. That's the amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
PAULSA be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It's his mighty power that is at work on the
inside of you.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
But sometimes you gotta get up.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
If you want to activate God's power in your life,
you got to move.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
You got to seek him. Again and again and again.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
You got to arm yourself so that you can stand
against the enemy.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Don't give in, don't let him win, keep fighting even
when you're tired.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
So David and his men fought the battle against the Amalekites,
and the Bible says that it lasted a full twenty
four hours.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
That's how long they had to fight. And look what
happened though verse eighteen.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David
rescued his two wives.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Nothing was missing, whether great.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Or small, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had
been taken. Every tiny little piece of jewelry that was stolen,
David brought back all. Look at this one. David also
captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove
the livestock before him and said, this is David's spoil.
(24:11):
Skip down the verse twenty six. When David came to Ziglag,
he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the
elders of Judas, saying, here's a present for you from
the spoils of the enemies of the Lord. Somehow, when
you fight tired, you push through the longest battle of
your life.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
You're gonna came away with spoils leftovers.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
There's nothing Stephen Verdick loves to eat more than good leftovers.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So when I cook something.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Good, like I know he loves this meal, I cook extra.
I plan for leftovers. When you fight for something in
your life, I'm here to tell.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
You you can plan for leftovers.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
When you fight to get your peace back, You're gonna
have enough to share with those around you. When you
feel your joy slipping away and you're tired, but you
take the time to write in your gratitude journal and
you stay focused on the faithfulness of God, you better
bet that you're gonna have joy overflowing to the people
(25:22):
around you. When you feel you're confidence slipping, but you
fight back, you find your versus. You put it on
post it notes. You remind yourself of who you are
in Christ. You're gonna look up and your middle school
daughter is gonna be more confident too. You are equipped
for this fight. The weapons are there, They're in your hands.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
If Phesian six goes on to say.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
I remember Paul said several times put on the full
armor of God, and he goes on to tell us
you have the belt of truth, you have the breastplate
of righteousness. Your feet are fitted with the Gospel of Peace.
The helmet of Salvation is on your head. And in
one hand you've got the shield of faith, and in
the other hand you've got the sword of the Spirit.
You're equipped for this fight. He's given you everything you need.
(26:09):
The victory is yours for the taking. You got to
take it. God said, go back, get what is rightfully yours.
You have the weapons in your hands, and so David
went back and he brought back all that was taken
(26:30):
from him, with leftovers to share. So this week I've
been talking with Stephen about what I felt like God
was wanting me to say.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Today.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Of course I'm going to talk to Stephen Verdi about
preaching right. I mean, lives in the house with me.
So we've been talking about it on and off and
about David, and I was telling him about you know,
I just loved this idea of how David strengthened himself,
and so it was kind of an ongoing conversation. A
couple days later, he came from upstairs and he said, Babe,
(27:03):
you are not going to believe what I just read.
And so he showed me this verse in first Chronicles,
and I'm telling you, my heart leapt.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Neither of us had.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Ever seen this first before I got to show.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
It to you.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
So before I show it to you, I just have
to say this is in Chronicles. So we're jumping ahead
to the end of David's life. He's finally become king,
and he wanted to build the Lord's Temple, but he
only got to make plans for the temple because God
had chosen Solomon, David's son, to build the temple.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
So in this passage, David.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Is giving one of his final speeches to Israel as
they're king. He's an old man and he turns to
Solomon and he gives him this charge to build the temple.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Verset Chronicles twenty eight ten.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
It says, consider now, David says to Solomon, for the
Lord has chosen you to build house as the sanctuary.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Be strong and do the work.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
David's looking his son in the eyes, and he's speaking
to him from experience. He knew that his strength began
with his identity, that from the age of fifteen, God
had chosen him and anointed him and equipped him for
every part of the journey, every battle that he would
(28:29):
have to fight. David knew from experience that there would
be moments where Solomon would feel worn out by.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
The burden of leadership, that he.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Would feel discouraged, and he would feel disappointment, and he
would feel alone, and that there would be many days
where Solomon would feel like he didn't have.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
The strength to do what he'd been chosen to do.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
And just as David looked in Solomon's eyes, I want
to lie get each one of you today, whether you're
watching from here at Valentine or one of our locations,
or maybe you're sitting in a hospital room, or maybe
you're in your bed because you didn't have the strength
to get up and come to church today.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Listen to me. The Lord has chosen you.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Be strong and do the work. He's chosen you to
raise that special needs child. Be strong in do the
work He's chosen you to care for your ailing father.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Be strong in do the work.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
He's placed you in this school or in this apartment building,
in this job, and there is work to be done.
Be strong and do the work. All the steps are
right there. Put the verse back up. Okay, consider now
just stop. Let it really sink in. The Lord has
(30:07):
chosen you for what's the assignment? Build the house as
this sanctuary. Build a temple, Paul said, our bodies are
a temple of the Holy Spirit who is inside of you.
You were bought with a price. You don't have to
(30:29):
live in defeat. You're backed by a heavenly father who
is strong and mighty, and he has given you the
power of his spirit inside of your temple. So build
the temple and be strong. That's the part where you
talk to yourself when no one else is there.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
That's the part where you coach yourself. Be strong, Holly,
be strong and do the work. This is my new
life motto.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
I am going to shout it from the mountaintops, so
you're gonna see it on my Instagram and my YouTube.
I'm gonna put it on next year's Mother's Day. Moug
be strong and do the work. How do I keep going?
Be strong and do the work. Strength comes as you go,
So get up, move, get out of bed.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Do the work that you have been given to do today.
Take the kids to school, get to work on time,
go to the soccer game, pay the bills, read.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Your Bible, play worship music, practice breathing, forgive over, and
over again. Be strong and do the work. Build your temple.
The only temple you can build is yours. So stop
trying to build your husband's temple. Stop trying to build
(31:50):
your child's temple.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Build your temple.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Make it good, make it strong, give it a good foundation.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Be strong, and do the work that He has chosen
you to do. Your work, not my work, your work.
But I'm not strong. Do the work.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
The strength that you're going to need tomorrow is in
the work that you're doing today. When we go on
tour with elevation nights, there's a part of the experience
where I go on stage and I do a little
welcome and I have to say, this is never easy
(32:32):
for me.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
About you, but speaking to ten thousand people at one time,
it's pretty much the most intimidating thing that a person
can do. And there are many times that just as
I'm about to walk on the stage, I think to myself,
I really don't want to do this. And the first
(32:55):
night is always the hardest. So this past tour no exception.
This time I decided that every time I had the
thought I really don't want to do this, I was
going to pray a little prayer that my husband taught me.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
At the beginning of this year, he.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Started writing these little short prayers and confessions and he
would share them with me and our kids, and one
particular one that he shared with me really stuck with me.
I think he might have said it in one of
his sermons. I know he posted it on his YouTube
for one of his Basin teachings. By the way, if
you're not watching those Basin videos, you're really missing out.
(33:34):
So if you did see it, just for the record,
he taught it to me first.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Anyway, here's how it goes.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
It goes like this, I breathe you in Holy Spirit,
and your strength comes suddenly, and your peace fills me completely.
So I stood side stage and just as they were
finishing the song Gyra under my breath, I prayed the prayer,
(34:06):
I breathe you in Holy Spirit, and I looked out
at all those people. I said, and your strength comes suddenly,
and your piece fills me completely.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
And I walked onto the stage feeling pretty good.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
And as I was opening my eyes finishing my prayer,
my notes were not on the screen. Listen, my last
name is Ferdic, but my first name is not Stephen.
And if you think that I get up on the
stage and.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
I'm like winging it, You're wrong.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
And that black screen was one of my worst fears
come true. And for eight minutes, do you know how
long eight minutes is? For eight minutes, I stood on
that stage and talked to ten thousand people with no notes,
(35:09):
And let me just say, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
You weren't there, so you might not want to clap.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Let me just say they said that I seemed that
I was calm, and a lot of people said really
nice things to me, but I think they were just
trying to make me feel better. On the outside, I'm
not sure how I appeared, but on the inside I
was freaking out, like you know that fight or flight thing.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I was trying my best to remember what.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
I had planned to say, and I mean I've said it.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I don't know. Probably this is probably like twenty.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Four, my twenty fifth time. I say almost the same
thing every time, but I don't remember what it was.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
So I'm trying to remember, and I'm trying to say.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
The things that I'm supposed to say and the things
that I felt got it later on in my heart, and
all the while my mind was screaming, get off this stage,
abort mission, just pray and leave, just pray in Jesus,
nay Amen, Holly, just get off the stage. But I didn't,
(36:14):
and I finally finished. If I mean it was like
eight hours, I think, and I prayed, and I exited
the stage and I got off the stage, and I was.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Physically shaking from head to toe.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I've never felt like that before. Even as I'm telling
you about it, I feel nervous in my stomach and
I feel shaky in my hands, and I just have
to say to you.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Strength came suddenly.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Even though it wasn't exactly the strength that I was
envisioning when I.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Prayed the prayer side stage. Here's the crazy part.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
The next night, I was filled with even more fear,
like I really did not want to get on that stage.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Like all the money in the world, I did not
want to get on that stage.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
In fact, they were having to move some stuff around
in the set list, and I volunteered more than.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Once for them to just caught my part. True story.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
I was like, just take my part out, it's fine.
They just want to sing rattle and here from pastors seating.
They mean me.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Twenty four hours later.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
There I was doing the work and John Soo is singing.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Gyra, and I was standing at the steps, and.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
I prayed, I breathe you in Holy Spirit, and your
strength comes suddenly, and your peace fills me completely. I
walked up on the stage. I did my work with
the notes at time. Sometimes every moment is a choice.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
I'm gonna get out of bed today, I'm gonna take
a shower. Now, I'm gonna take care of my family.
I'm gonna go to work. I'm gonna get out of
my car, go into my job.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Remember what David said, I will bless the Lord at
all times. Listen, just because you have to fight doesn't
mean you aren't strong, and it certainly doesn't mean that
you aren't called.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
In fact, the opposite is true. You gotta fight for
your calling. So be strong and do the work. Be
strong and do the work. I say it one more time,
be strong and do the work.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Just a few weeks ago, Stephen and a few others
got together and they put that prayer into a song.
Of course he did, and he told me that we
could close the message by introducing this song to our church.
So normally I close my messages with a.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Prayer and I get off the stage. But today.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I just want to look you in the eyes as
best as I can through this camera, and I want
to tell you, as a mother would to her own children.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Be strong and do the work. You can do this.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
You're not alone, you're.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Not unqualified, you're not ill equipped. Be and do the work.
All right?
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Repeat after me. I breathe you in holy spirit. Take
a deep breath and your strength comes suddenly.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Take another breath and your piece fills me completely.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Elevation Nights is coming your way. It's a special night
for us to worship our amazing God together and expect
great things in his presence. I'll be preaching a message
I bring in Elevation Worship.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
We'll be singing.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
All your favorite songs, and of course Holly is coming
with me too. We're believing that your faith is going
to be inspired.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Like never before.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Go get your tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot com.
We'll see you there.
Speaker 3 (41:03):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
get you all of these new messages as soon as
they're available. I also want to take a moment and
thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
able to reach people all around the world. And if
(41:26):
you want more information on how to be a part
of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the
message and subscribe. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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