The Hardest Part Is Behind You

Don’t judge any one part of your life in isolation or let unmet expectations define your future. God’s not finished with your story, and He didn’t bring you this far to let you turn back now.

If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr

Scripture References:
1 Corinthians 13, verses 8-11
2 Kings 5, verses 4-14
Romans 5, Verses 7-9

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
gives your.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Let's give the Lord twenty seconds a praise that he
gave Jesus the name that is above every name, and
he gave us that name to call on today.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
What a beautiful name it is the name of Jesus Christ,
Star King.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Well, you might want to turn around and introduce yourself
to five people.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Tell him your name. Hello, my name is.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Let's get on a first name basis. If you're watching online,
put your name in the chat.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Who are you? Where you come from.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'm pulling out my phone right now to see who's
joining us across all of our streaming platforms. Just go
ahead and put your name in the chat. If you're
watching this at a later time, put it in the comments.
An Elevation Church, Let's thank God for our e fam
watching all over the world right now.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
As I heard somebody say, you can do better than that.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
One time I heard a preacher preaching out in the country,
and he didn't like the response he was getting from
the church.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
He said, you can do better than that, and somebody
in the crowd shouted, so could you don't do that? Today?

Speaker 3 (01:39):
We have trained security who know martial arts. I'm so
glad you're here today. I'm so thankful, not only for
the sermon that I'm about to preach to you, but
the sermon that.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
You've preached all week long.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Everybody who served during Love Week, large or small, Thank you,
everybody who gave so that we could.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Be out there. Thank you man.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
I wish you could have seen me and Holly and
your campus pastors and your outreach staff just giving out
checks left and right this week to feed the hungry,
to lift up the broken hearted, to bind up the wounded,
to make a difference in somebody's life. I wish you
could have seen my son Graham with a power tool
in his hand. I told him, son, I can't teach

(02:24):
you what to do with that. The only power tool
I ever held was a microphone to preach the gospel.
But so many people this week made a difference. And
if you are one of them, I say thank you.
And if you were not one of them. It is
never too late to get in on a good thing.
I said, It's never too late to get in on
a good thing. So may today be a day of

(02:47):
new beginnings. It's also a day of continuations, because I
have started a series called That's what I thought.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Look at your neighbors, say that's what I thought.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
That's what I thought. That's what I thought. You want
to say something, now, That's what I thought. I like
that energy. When we run up on the devil on Sunday,
versus when he runs up on us on Monday.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Come to church, come.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
About jamespray, job, bones, sway. And the key to all
of this is that when we are not together like this,
you are able to take what you get here and
apply it there wherever you're there may be that is
my desire for you, and that there would be no

(03:35):
place that the Word of God cannot make the difference
in your life.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Today, I'm excited to share.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
A message with you, and I'm going to use for
a foundational scripture First Corinthians thirteen eight through eleven. As
you're looking in your bible, let me welcome a few
epham from around the world.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
We've got Rebecca, Shriika, Sheryl.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Anne, Dianelesia, Laura. We got Bremerton, Washington, Bremerton, Washington, Flagstaff, Arizona,
VICKI from Texas. God bless you from all over the world.
Just keep letting us know where you're watching from. We
want to connect with you. And today, as I share

(04:24):
a principle and then a picture, I love to teach
that way. That's my favorite way to teach a principle
and then a picture. A principle and then a picture,
so you can hear a sermon and see a sermon.
And we're going to do both today First Corinthians, chapter thirteen,
which is normally a scripture you.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Only hear at a wedding.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
I don't know if somebody's getting married today or if
the Lord sent me to prophesy, but I'm preaching from
First Corinthians thirteen, and specifically from verse eight through eleven,
which is not commonly what they read at the weddings.
But this is one of the most powerful I thoughts
in the Bible. I talked last week about a God

(05:06):
thought and an I thought, and an I thought can
sometimes leave you in isolation. It can lead you to
do things that are impulsive. It can lead you to insecurity.
I although start with the letter I, so we're exchanging
that now for God thoughts. And the most famous I

(05:27):
thought in the Bible is in one Corinthians, chapter thirteen.
Let me start with verse eight to give context. And
we don't stand the whole time. We're just standing for
the reading of God's word because it's his word, and
he's holy, and he's amazing, and he deserves it.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
We give him our full attention.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
So everyone standing, clear your feet, listen to the word
of God. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,
they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled.
Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we
know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when
completeness comes, what is in part disappears. Here's the verse

(06:07):
I want to reach you. When I was a child,
I talked like a child. I thought like a child.
I reasoned like a child. When I became a man

(06:29):
and got this hair on my chest, when I became
a man and got these grays in my beard. When
I became a man, I put the ways of childhood
behind me. And the title of this message is a
declaration today. So turn your neighbor and say, I don't

(06:52):
know what you're going through. Looked right at him and say,
but the hardest part is behind behind you.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
I knew it. I knew that was the word of
the Lord.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
The devil fought me all night last night, telling me,
you can't stand up and preach that. What if they
have something negative in their future this week? What if
they have something disappointing in their.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Future this week? You don't know what they're going through.
But the word of the Lord is the hardest part
is behind you. Tell three people it's behind you.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Put it in the chat on your way to your seat,
tell them it's behind you.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's behind you, it's behind you. Where credit is due.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
I stole that title from Holly. Is something that she
says when we go out on elevation Nights, which we
are coming to a city near you soon in October.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
So go to elevation night.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
And usually after a few songs, Holly and I will
take the stage and welcome to people and greet them,
and it's always so excited, and we thank them for coming,
and we make a few little jokes, and then she
always tells to people something like this. I may not
get the wording exactly right. She's like, I don't know
what you had to go through to get here tonight.
I don't know if the parking deck was a mess.

(08:22):
I don't know if your babysit or canceled. I don't
know if you had the stomach flew earlier this week,
but you decided to come contagious anyway, But just relax
now because the hard part is behind you. You're here,
and I can kind of see when people sit down
after she says that that maybe they're glad to hear that,

(08:44):
or maybe they're a little skeptical because you can't really say.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
That to them because they still have to get out
of the parking garage after the concert, so they know, like, Okay, well,
the hardest part is not behind me technically, because I
have to actually like leave and then I have to
go home where I don't have.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
An amazing worship team singing songs of praise to me,
and where everybody is not a Christian. I have to
go back to a job where not everybody believes like
I believe. But yet there's something about when she says that,
I think it's so important She's just letting them know
that everything that the enemy could have done to keep
you from getting here tonight, you made it. And now
just take it in and just receive it. And I

(09:23):
want to say that to those of you at elevation today,
you got here.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
You got here. You got here.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Bought a plane ticket or took a scooter, but you
got here, bummed a ride, paid for an uber, but
you got here. Is something encouraging about when she says
that the hardest part is behind you.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Now just receive, just sing just worship God.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Where you're like, yeah, that's so good to hear, whether
you're in the middle of a worship service or a workout.
I used to do this thing called P ninety X
with DVDs, and the man would tell you about forty
minutes through the workout, now the hardest part is behind you.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
It's all downhill from here.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
And it was good that he said that because I
was just about to hit stop on the DVD and
get a partial credit for the day. But there's something
about hearing that, like, the hardest part is behind you.
You're done with the hardest part. Everything from here on
out is just to cool down. Everything from here on
out is gonna be fine.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
The hardest part is behind you.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Of course, there are parts of your life and parts
of my life that the other one doesn't know.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
You know, I'm not sure what.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
All the parts of your life that you are considering today,
or the parts of your life that have led you
to this moment, have been, But I do know that
the apostle Paul says something so profound in First Corinthians thirteen,
verse eight, which is a wedding scripture. Remember, and then
the people getting married after they read First Corinthians thirteen

(10:59):
and the wedding is over, they think that when the
wedding is over, the hard part is over of the relationship,
after they have sailed and blissed to their honeymoon. So
it's kind of ironic that I'm using this chapter to
teach this principle. But he says something about love never failing,
and then he says, where there are prophecies, they will cease.

(11:20):
Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there
is knowledge, it will pass away verse nine four. We
know in part, everybody say we know in part. Use
your mouth and say it we know in part. And
to me that scripture keeps me humble to me, that

(11:41):
scripture keeps me open, That scripture keeps me aware that
there are some things that I know about God, but
I know in part in part, and anything that I
know about God is a thing that is a part
of a thing, that is a part of a thing,
that is a part of a thing, that is a
part of a thing, that is a part of a

(12:02):
thing that encompasses all things.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
So, for example, I like to use musical examples. E.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Turn the guitar volume up and just play really quickly.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
And I may do this illustration more in depth.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
Next week, but just to set the table, play the
high E string of that guitar. That string is a thing.
It's a thing. Play it again, the high ees string.
Now I want you to play an entire E chord,
including the high et string, but not limited to play

(12:36):
the high et string. That's a thing. Play the E chord.
It's a thing that's a part of a thing. It's
a string that's a part of a guitar. Okay, now
the guitar is a thing that's a part of a thing.
Zoom out and get the whole band real quick. I
want the whole band to swell like the majesty and glory,

(12:58):
and the holiness of the Lord is about to enter
the room, and I want the whole band when I
say three, play a beautiful e chord with symbol swells,
but not too much symbols because it'll get tinny and
it'll be unbearable to our ears and it'll ruin my illustration.
But just on the counter three, everybody swell on the
e chord one, two, three and.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Beautiful.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
I felt very powerful doing that, by the way she tried.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Sometimes that's amazing.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
The string is a thing that's a part of a
thing the guitar, and the guitar is a part of
a thing that's called a band. And the thing that's
a part of a thing that's a part of a
thing is a part of a thing.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Called elevation worship.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
And elevation worship is part of a thing called the
Body of Christ, and the body of Christ is part
of a thing called the Kingdom of God. It's a
thing that's a part of a thing that's a part
of a thing, that's a part of a thing that's
a part of a thing. I'm preaching this week about
a thing that's a part of a thing that's a
part of a thing, that's a part of a thing

(14:13):
in your life. And it may be a hard thing,
or it may be a good thing. But if it's
a hard thing, I want to remind you that even
a hard thing is just a thing that's a part
of a thing, that's a part of a thing, that's
a part of a thing, that's a part of a thing.
Tell your neighbor, it's a part of a thing, that's

(14:33):
a part of a thing, that's a part of a thing.
So never judge an incidence in isolation, because it may
be a bad thing that's serving a bigger purpose. We
know in part, we prophesy in part, and so we
can never judge a God who has purpose that is

(14:54):
eternal by the part that we know that is not permanent.
First Corinthians thirteen is not not really a chapter about love.
It uses love as an example, but it's really a
chapter about pride.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
The Corinthian church that Paul is writing.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
To has not yet learned the lesson that the gifts
God gives you are for service, not status. So they
are running around trying to impress others with gifts that
God gave them to edify others. Sometimes we misuse and
don't steward what God gave us in service. And not

(15:35):
only is Paul correcting their sexual immorality, but he is
correcting their vision and their perspective on their priorities. They
are tending to prioritize things that are temporary over things
that are eternal. Now, I want to lay this foundation,
and we're going to get very practical. But go back
with me real quick to verse eight, where it says

(15:55):
love never fails. Where there are prophecies, they will cease.
Where there are they will be still. And where there
is knowledge, it will pass away. There's coming a time
when you'll go to heaven and you won't need knowledge,
you won't even really need faith.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
You'll have sight. You'll be complete in Jesus.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
And when what is complete has come, everything that is
imperfect or partial disappears.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Until then we walk by faith.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
But what Paul is doing is far deeper than getting
us to wait on a future day when we're going
to see Jesus say face to face, and we won't
need someone to interpret tongues because we'll hear his voice directly,
And we won't need someone to be able to prophesy
in our future because we will be seated with the
one who holds the future. He's far beyond that, and

(16:49):
he's trying to get you to see the difference between
what is permanent and what is passing, what is permanent
and what is passing.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Let's read verse eight again. Where there are prophecies, they
will cease.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
That's foretelling or forthtelling about the future by the spirit
of God.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Will need that.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
In heaven, where there are tongues, they will be stilled.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
That's a heavenly language.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
But if you're in heaven, you already speak heaven as
your first language.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
It's your native language, so you will need it anymore.
Love never fails, Love never goes away.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
But prophecies will cease, and tongues will be stilled, and
even knowledge.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
I want to get this verse up there, in verse
number eight will pass away. It will pass away.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Circle the phrase for me justin it will pass, It
will pass.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
And that's what Paul is trying to get you to see.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
About some of the things that you think are so
important in your life.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
It will pass.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Paul is trying to get us to understand it. First Corinthians,
which is a letter to a church that was confused
about priorities and was carnal in their understanding that some
of the things that you're busy toning up, and some
of the things that you're busy tightening, and some of
the tricks that you're busy perfecting on this earth are
just solving temporary problems that really have no eternal value.

(18:22):
And although they matter, they are not supreme. It cannot
be the priority. I want to stop prioritizing things that
are going to pass away, don't you. I want to
stop putting things first that are going to fade in
the end. I want to stop giving all of my
attention to things that are not assets but liabilities. Spiritually, so,

(18:45):
the difference between what is permanent and what is passing
is to me the essence of First Corinthians thirteen. If
you came in this morning and said, Pastor Stephen, what
is the essence of.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
First Corinthians thirteen?

Speaker 3 (18:59):
I would say to you with much confidence, the difference
between what is passing and what is permanent. Write those
two words down in your notebook, passing and permanent, Passing
and permanent. And Paul says that love never feels, but

(19:20):
everything else will pass away.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
It will pass.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
Maybe the Lord is saying that about a storm that
you're going through in your life, it will pass. I
just want to stop and minister this to somebody today.
Maybe it's about the sadness that you feel and the
grief in the season that you're going through.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
It will pass. That's why we've got to get.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
You somehow to keep going through this valley that you're
going through right now, because it will pass. Tell your
neighbor tenderly, it will pass. Put it in a chat.
It will pass. Whether it's a valley you don't want
to go through or a mountain that you really like
standing on top of, it will pass. That trophy isn't

(20:07):
going to last forever. It will pass.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Even the greatest relationship in.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Your life humanly speaking, has a time limit to it
called death.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
It will pass.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
And I don't mean to depress you, but I think
it is very prospective giving for me to just realize
that everything I'm worried about, and everything I'm concerned about,
and everything that I'm going through right now that feels
like it's never going to end.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
The word of the Lord is it will pass. One
of the greatest Bible verses.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
You could ever memorize would be and it came to pass.
Take the good times, hold them, cherish them, hold them
up high, hold them up like the lion king. Tell
them about this is what God gave me. But just
know it will pass. It won't always be like that.
It will pass. When our kids were kids were very small,

(20:54):
I was so sick of people telling me that the
days are long.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
But the years are short.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
And I was like, but if they don't stop screaming,
I'm gonna cut their years short. Don't give me a
little cliche right now, But it's true. It will pass.
It will pass. That these carpets are gonna be dirty
and you're fussing about cleaning them up.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
It'll pass.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
One day the carpets will be so clean you might
just track something in just to remember the days when
you had kids to track them.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
And I'm in that season right now.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
This year, I had one boy who turned twenty and
graduated college. I have another boy who's going into high
school senior year this year and he's about to graduate.
And I've got a daughter. This is so sad. Y'all
who just this last week shout out doctor Hall, greatest
orthodonist in the Charlotte area. Just this week showing the picture. Guys,

(21:44):
got her braces taken off. Congratulations, Abby, eat all the
popcorn you want. She's just gonna be eating popcorn. Ah ah,
my braces are off. When I was a child, I

(22:07):
talked like a child. Thank you so much for the picture.
I think they got the point. I talked like a child,
I thought like a child.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Now follow me.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Paul is saying there's a difference between what is permanent
and what is passing, and to illustrate that principle, he
gives a picture. When I was a child, I talked
like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned
like a child. When I became a man, I put
the ways of childhood behind me. And wouldn't it be

(22:43):
wonderful if that process was as automatic and as simple
and as summarized as Paul makes it sound. In First
Corinthians thirteen eleven, I don't know what.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Age it is.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Maybe when you turn twenty, maybe when you turn twenty five,
maybe when you turn eighteen, But this verse happens when
you reach a certain birthday. The ways of childhood are
behind you. Because I became a woman, I became a man.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
I guess what I'm trying to say this.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Is it awesome to think of the process of spiritual
transformation that Paul describes, like getting your braces off, Like
I went one day. I had crooked teeth. They put
braces on to get my teeth straight. One day, after
monitoring my teeth for several years, they said, you're ready
to have your braces off, and they took my braces off.

(23:36):
I had crooked teeth, I had braces. I don't have
crooked teeth anymore. My teeth are straight, my teeth are straight,
my braces are off.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
It all happened one day.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could get your truth straight.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
Like you get your teeth straight.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
And then one day you can just announce to everybody
in your life, I have great news. I'm getting my
braces off. I'm getting my behaviors off from the past.
I'm getting my selfishness off today.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yeah, ask me. In about three years, the Lord's been
working with me. I joined one of those e groups
and I met.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
Some people and it was awesome and he sanctified me.
So today you might notice my smile is a little
different because I got my selfishness removed today.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
It took a while but I got it straight.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Would it be awesome if the Bible could just take
your braces off? That's how Paul made it sound. He said,
when I became a man, I put the ways of
childhood behind me. Like you just went in and had
an appointment with Jesus and you said, it's time for
me to stop complaining. Now it's time for me to
stop being afraid of what other people think. Right now,

(24:46):
it's time for me to stop lusting. Now I'm married,
now I need to be devoted to one woman right now.
And then orthodontist Holy Ghos says, yeah, let me just
take those lust off of your teeth.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Then you just take the oh, those.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Brackets, Let me take those brackets out of your brain
so that you will only be attracted to your wife
ever again, because you got to put the ways of
childhood behind you. Wouldn't it be awesome if all of
a sudden, one day you just went to the orthodontist
called the Holy Spirit and said, I need this thing
that happened to me when I was twelve. It became

(25:21):
trauma in my life. But I need you to take
the trauma off of me so I can live in
the truth. Oh, no problem. Let's put you through a program.
If we can get you through an eighteen month program, here,
memorize these twenty scriptures.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
These are the top twenty scriptures for trauma.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
And when you memorize these twenty scriptures, you will no
longer feel the effects of trauma.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
But the trauma trace says trapped.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
In the body sometimes even when the spirit has been
set free by the blood of Christ. Wouldn't it be
wonderful if there was an orthodonist spiritually speaking, just to
sit you.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Down in a chair. I wish I could get you
in a chair today and lean you back and numb
you up and.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Just yank stuff off of your life. I mean, just
take it off so you can smile again. So you
could say I was depressed for the last year, but
I went to evolution Elevation Church and that preacher leave
me back and yanked it off. And I'm smiling now,
I'm singing, now, I'm dancing. Now, I'm a man, now
I'm a woman now. Wouldn't it be good if you

(26:19):
could graduate from grief? Wouldn't it be good if you
could graduate from greed? I used to be stingy, but
God did a work in my life. And now all
of a sudden, all I want to do is give
money away. I won't even let my boss take me.
I just give the check back and tell him to use.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
It to fight cancer. Just one day I went in
the chair.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
And the preacher preaching the truth came and now I
got my truth straight. But see, it is a fight
for alignment in your life.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
That takes time to get it straight, to get it straight.
And this process of I thought like a child.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
But now I think like a champion isn't as simple
as it seems. And you know that.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
You know that.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
If you don't know that, the people who live with
you do because they are still waiting on you to
get your braces off. Okay, I want to show you
an example from the Scriptures of somebody who paid the

(27:40):
price of thinking like a child, but not to be negative,
not to be hateful, not to be depressing, just because
this man in Second Kings chapter five had a great
opportunity for his life to change, but he thought like
a child. And because he thought like a child, he

(28:00):
almost forfeited his change. That happens to all of us,
you know, all of us. Something that is passing becomes
something permanent. Here's what I mean. We have emotions, whether
it's anger, we have emotions and feelings, whether it's self pity.

(28:23):
We have emotions and feelings, and sometimes even just temptations
that seem to come from the pit of hell, and
they are passing emotions. But the temptation of the enemy
is for you to take something that is passing and
turn it into something permanent, so that not only do

(28:43):
you feel anger passing, but you lash out in anger
and say something to someone that you love that cannot
be undone with the simple apology, what did you do?
You took a passing frustration, an external expression and did
permanent damage. I want you to stop sacrificing what is

(29:12):
permanent on the altar of what is passing. I want
you to stop sacrificing what is permanent to satisfy what
is passing. If there is a teenager in here, I
want you off of every form of addictive behavior, whether
it's a substance or whether it's a website. I want

(29:34):
you off of every form of addictive substance that would
rob you of your soul, because I know that those
things help us, whether we're adults or whether we're children.
They help us to get through the moment. But the
moment is passing, and after the anxiety has passed, and
after you have trained your body to be addicted to
stimuli that keep you enslaved, now you have a lasting

(29:58):
habit that you embedded in your life to deal with
a passing emotion.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
I want you off porn. I want you off every
vape pen.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
I don't want you having to take something in your
body to deal with something in your mind, and then
five years from now we're trying to figure out how
to get you off of this. I want it broken.
I want it choked out. I want every teenager that
listens to me preach, stop sacrificing what is permanent to

(30:28):
satisfy what is passing.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
It will pass.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Let it pass, Pray till it passes, Praise till it passes.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
I'll need to hit a pin. I can hit a prayer.
I'll need to.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Hit a pin.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
I can hit a praise because.

Speaker 5 (30:45):
It came to pass, and God is here to say.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
I felt that when I was preparing.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
I felt that for every woman that I went to
speak to you in recovery.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
This week at Dove's Nest, some of.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
Them were looking at me, like, please tell them this, younger,
Please tell them this, younger. Don't sacrifice what is permanent
your character, don't sacrifice what is permanent. You're calling stop
giving up your relationship with God for popularity with people.
They can't put you in, they can't vote you out.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
He is God, and him only shall you serve. So
y'all sit down.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
This is supposed to be a love chapter, supposed to
be lovely. I love you enough to tell you that
stop sacrificing what is permanent. That's what the church at
Corinth was doing. They were sacrificing what was permanent love
for what was passing, spiritual gifts.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
So they would.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
Sacrifice their love for one another in order to show off.
They were sacrificing what was permanent to satisfy what was passing.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
Because even if you.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
Do go off and say what you want to say,
it's only going to feel good for about the five
seconds it takes you to realize that now you've got
to spend five days recovering from what felt good.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
For five seconds. Was the five seconds really worth it? Dude?
Passing versus permanent.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
So this is an odd story to connect with First Corinthians.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Thirteen.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
I'm gonna just tell you right now, but the way
the Lord showed it to me was a principal and
a picture. The principle is stop sacrificing what's permanent to
satisfy what's passing.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Okay. The picture is a.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Man named Naman who was a great general of an
army of the enemies of Israel called Aram Benidad.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
The second was the king, and naming was his man.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
Naming was a great man, says But now I'm going
to stop right there and preach.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
He was a great man. But he was a great man.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
But how many of you I just described you in
one incomplete sentence. I'm a good person, but I'm a Christian.
But well, he was a great man. But he had leprosy.
He had lepsy. Leprosy was an incurable skin condition. Of
course you've heard of leprosy, but in this time, it's

(33:30):
hard for us to imagine what the cost of carrying
that condition would have been. Not only was it incurable,
but it was completely isolating. So what is it like
to be a leader who is also a leper? He
commanded men, but he could not cure his skin. There
are conditions in the room that confound you. You cannot

(33:54):
understand how you can be so adept at business and
so detached emotionally at home. You do not understand how
you can be so good at getting everyone else to
connect with you except the ones you love the most.
You cannot understand why it has been possible for you
to discipline this.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Area of your life but not get that one under control.
He was a great man, but.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
High position, leprous condition, And into this juxtaposition of his realities,
which are both very real. The Bible says that there
was a little girl living at his house that one day,
perhaps seeing him change out of his armor, noticed the
spots of leprosy that were beginning to spread. In fact,
the Bible says that it was a spot so they

(34:39):
caught it early. And the little girl didn't have the
audacity to say it to naymen because she was an
Israelite and she was actually taken as a slave to
serve in this house, so it's uncommon that she would
be the one to voice this idea, but she did.
You might be surprised who God will speak through in
your life as well. She said, if it were possible

(35:01):
for Naman to go and see the prophet Elisha in Israel.
He could cure him. Elisha is amazing with miracles. He
helped this widow who was about to have to sell
her sons into slavery with just a little bit of oil.

Speaker 5 (35:20):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
I know you're not gonna believe this, But he one
time called for rain and there was a drought and
water came out of nowhere when he spoke the word
of the Lord.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
If he could get to Elisha, be amazing. So Naman
did it. He did it.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
How hard would that be? By the way, we were
talking about the hard part? How hard would it be
to go to your enemy for help? He has to
humble himself to do that, and he makes a journey
it's about two hundred miles. But he didn't just make
the journey. He had to go to the king and
get a letter from the king to take to the prophet.

(35:56):
Because you can't just show up and tell the prophet
you want to be healed. You've got to have some
letter of recommendation, somebody to help you with entree into
the course of a great prophet. And so the king says, sure,
I'll write you a letter, And he writes a letter
to say to the King of Israel, would you have
your profit?

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Heal my commander. So Naman makes the journey and he
loads up.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
And I want to pick up here in second Kings,
and not just recap, but show you a little bit
of this story. In verse four, please, Naman went to
his master and told him what the girl from Israel
had said. By all means go. The King of Aram reply,
I'll send a letter to the King of Israel.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
So I just told you all this, but watch this
part that happens next.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Naman left, taking with him yeah name, and left taken
with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold,
and ten sets of clothing.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
He's traveling. Heavin the letter that he took to the
King of Israel.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Read with this letter, I am sending my servant name
and to you so that you may cure him of
his leprosy. Now, when the letter got to the king,
come back to me for a moment. Church, I want
you to see this moment. The king says, well, he
tears his robes and says, am I God, can I

(37:19):
kill and bring back to life?

Speaker 1 (37:21):
Why does this.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy.
See how he is trying to pick a fight or
a quarrel with me. In other words, the king is
saying this is impossible. But verse eight says that when Elisha,
the man of God, heard that the king of Israel

(37:43):
had torn his robes, he sent him this message, why
have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me,
and he will know.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
That there is a prophet in Israel. In other words,
turn to your neighbors, say it's not hard for God.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
This is not hard for God. You're tearing your What
are you tearing your robes about? You think God, who
creates life, can't restore life. You think God, who has
power over the grave, cannot raise this man from his
condition before he dies of it. You think this is
too hard for God. Nothing is too hard for God.

(38:22):
Nothing is impossible for him. Nothing makes him sweat, nothing
makes him shocked, nothing makes him shudder, nothing makes him
back up, nothing makes him recalculate, nothing makes him count
the costs. He's got more than enough to go around.
You think this is hard for God. This is no
problem for God. This is easy for God. And so

(38:42):
Elisha sends a message, bring him to me. And verse
nine sounds like everything is going great. So Naman went
with his horses and cheriots. I'm about to show y'all.
Something blew my mind when I saw it and stopped
at the door of Elisha's house.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
I'm about to get my miracle. This is amazing.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
I traveled two hundred miles else with six thousand shekels,
but it was worth it. I had to get a
letter from the king to the king, but it was
worth it. I'm having to risk everything by being here
in enemy territory, but it's worth it. I am right
here at the door, and I know this man has
what I need and he can do it.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
He said, it's not even hard for him. He said,
all I have to do is come. So I'm gonna come.
I'm gonna knock on the door. He's gonna come out.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
He's gonna do a little thing, a little dance, a
little wave, a little hallelujah, a little thank you Jesus.
Whatever they do over here in Israel, whatever they do
over there at the Pentecostal Church, whatever they do at
the Episcopalian Church, whatever they do, whatever they're sign, whatever
their method, He's gonna.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Do that for me and the spot's gonna go away.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
And verse ten says Elisha sent a messenger to say
to him, go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan,
and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.

(40:02):
But Naming went away angry and said, I thought, I thought.

(40:24):
I thought we'll put it back on the scripture, scream voice,
that he would surely.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
Come out to me and stand.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
And call on the name of the Lord, his God,
wave his hand over the spot. This guy had it
down to a science what God was supposed to do
for him. He had it down to the detail. Here's

(40:58):
how it's gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand,
he's gonna wave, he's gonna say, he's gonna pray. It's
gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's gonna wave.
It's gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's
gonna wave. It's gonna go. And he's visualizing it the
whole time. It's gonna be great. Man, I got the
favor of.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
God, I got the blessing of God.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
I'm naming. I'm naming. You know my name, man, I'm naming.
They tell him Naman is here. Knock, knock, knock. It's naming.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
You know the one that that you got the letter
about from Joem. Yeah, yeah, him, I'm naming. I'm here
at the door, open up, knock, knock, it's naming.

Speaker 3 (41:32):
He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's gonna wave, it's
gonna go.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
And oh, what's his name?

Speaker 3 (41:44):
Answers the door instead of Elisha, you ever asked for
the prophet, but.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
You got what's his name? Instead?

Speaker 3 (41:54):
And Naming said who are you? He said, it's not
important who I am. It's important what the prophet is
said you need to do. You need to go wash
yourself seven times into Jordan and your flesh will be
restored and you'll be cleansed. But Naming when or where angry?

(42:14):
And said, I don't want to wash. When I became
a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Naming is a man. He is a great man.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
So why is a great man thinking like a child
talking about I.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Don't want to wash. I don't want to take a bath.
I don't want to do it like that.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
You're supposed to wave, And the messenger said, he ain't
gonna wave you gotta wash. I came with a word
for somebody today who has been waiting for God to
wave over your situation. And God said, you can wait
all day for me to wave. Already waved all I'm

(43:10):
gonna wave. Now you gotta wash. Tell your neighbor you
gotta wash.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
You gotta wash some things.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
God is not going to wave away some thought patterns.
God is not going to wave away. I wish it
was so simple. I wish we could lean you back
in that chair, yank those braces off your teeth, and
put you out of here straight. But the fact is,
sometimes you gotta floss between those teeth. Sometimes God doesn't wave.

(43:39):
Sometimes God tells you to wash, and nobody shouts when
I preach like this.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
If I said God's.

Speaker 3 (43:46):
Gonna wave it away, I'd have thirty five Hallelujahs.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
In the back of the room.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
But I can't even get the front row to stand
up when the word of the Lord says, you gotta wash.
There is a process that I have you in. There
is a protocol that I have you in. There is
a stage I am bringing you through. There is a process.
There is a stage for this, There is a prescription

(44:12):
for this.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
There is a command for this.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
So the question becomes, are you mature enough that when
God doesn't do magic, you will still go through with
the method that will produce the miracle that you came
all this way for. Anyway, Naman was just about to
walk away because I don't wanna.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
I don't care if you wanna.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
You can wash even if you don't wanna, and it
will work if you do what God.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Told you to do. I don't want to forgive them.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
I don't want to wear one of those volunteer T
shirts and stand out there and that's not my color.
I don't wanna, I don't wanna.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
I don't wanna. I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
So you don't want to die, but you don't want
to wash? Which one's gonna be stronger? Because washing is
a passing activity. Healing is permanent. So I would rather
give up what is passing my pride to have what

(45:22):
is permanent. This is a life saving word for somebody.
God said you gotta dip in this. You gotta dip
in this. It is not enough for you to stop
at the door and wait for God to wait. How
many times have I waited for God to wave something
away that he called me to wash. I thought he

(45:48):
was gonna wave. I thought they were gonna appreciate me.
I thought I was getting a raise. Instead I got fired.
I thought they were gonna say thank you to me,
but instead they he.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Cussed me out.

Speaker 3 (46:01):
Wouldn't it be horrible that God was trying to do
stuff in your life, but you got blocked from it
because of what you thought.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
And the worst thing would be.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
For you to get blocked by something that's behind you.
Watch name in his reasoning, he sounds like a child.
He's a champion in war, but he is a child
in this moment, and that happens to all of us.

(46:36):
He said, I thought he would come out here and wave,
then the spot would go away and cure me of
my leprosy.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
Verse number twelve.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
Are not Abana and far part of the rivers of
Damascus better than all the waters of Israel. Couldn't I
wash in them and be cleansed? So he turned and
went back, headed for Damascus. When you turn and go back,
you can never get better. But that's the hardest part.

(47:10):
The hardest part is behind you. The hardest part is
letting go of your expectations because of the way things
have always been. Some of you have been eating manna
for so many years you're surprised that it stops showing up.
That just means you're on the edge of the promised land.
God wants you to plant and harvest.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Now.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
The hardest part is to let go of what's behind you.
I had better waters than that in Damascus, he said,
And I'm so grateful for verse thirteen, because I feel
like we're in a moment like this today, you and
I as we talk and listen to me. All over
the world, some of you are about to go back
to something that is behind you. And it is not

(47:52):
the challenge in front of you that is stopping you.
It's the template of where you've been and the expectation
of where you're you would be. That's what's stopping you.
That's what's keeping you from being pure. That's what's holding
you back from the intimacy and the victory that you
desire in your life. Because the Bible says in verse
thirteen that Naman servants went to him and said, my father,

(48:18):
if the prophet had told you to do some great thing,
would you not have done it? How much more than
when he tells you wash and be cleansed. Now in
other words, what he's saying, and I'm just going to
elaborate a moment, naming, Sir, we've come all this way.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
We traveled seven days to get here.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
Now, think of all the things that had to happen
for you to get to this point. The servant girl
had to see the spot at the right time. The
odds were against it, but it happened. The king had
to agree to write you a letter and risk his
national reputation in order to talk to an enemy, and
he did that for you. We had to make the
journey safely to a place that we have attacked and

(48:59):
ransackedeveral times, and we made it safely. And we have
been going through this dry, arid terrain for two hundred
miles for seven days. We've been walking to get to
this point. And you want to go back to Damascus, now, naming,
just do it.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Just do it.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
Worst case scenario, you get clean, best case you get cured.
But either way, we've come too far.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
We traveled too much. Huh. God has arranged too much.
The servants saw the spot, the king wrote the letter.
We made the trip. You mean, we traveled seven days
and you won't take seven dips.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
You better dip. Naman.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
Tell your neighbor you better dip all this way you came.
You better dip all that God did for you to
get you hear, you better dip.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
Out Of all the things you could be watching on live,
you're watching a.

Speaker 3 (50:05):
Preacher in a red crop hoodie talking to you about.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
The Word of the Lord. All the stuff you could
have clicked on, God brought you to this point. Don't
you dare click off? You better dip. This word is
for you.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
All the hell you went through, all the enemy's annihilation tactics,
scare tactics and threats, all of the panic attacks you
breathe through, all of the nervous breakthroughs you survive.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
The hard pard is.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
Behind you. We're standing at the door. All we gotta
do is dip. I came to prophesy to somebody.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
I'll know who you are.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
But God woke me up at three am to tell
you you're standing at the door and all you gotta
do Hot five.

Speaker 5 (51:03):
All your neighbors is say, all I gotta do is dimp.
All I gotta do is dip. All I gotta do
is dip.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Because the hardest part is behind me.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
It is not what God is calling you to do
that is stopping you.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
It is what is behind you, that is what.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
You expected God to do that is stopping you. And
right now I just said something that we are going
to receive a testimony from in the weeks to come,
that somebody thought that they were blocked by what was
ahead of them. But the Jordan River isn't big, The
Jordan River isn't hard to cross, The Jordan River isn't

(51:54):
hard to bathe in.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
The Only thing that.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
Was hard about it was I thought. And the reason
Namon fought it is because he thought it was beneath him.
God brings us to these moments in life where we
are tempted to let something that is passing cost us

(52:20):
something that is permanent. And a man with leprosy permanent,
had to do something passing that he didn't want to do.
And I don't know what that is for you, but
you do you do because the Holy Spirit is speaking
it to you in concert with my voice.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Is his voice joom, just right there together.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
I know that seven is the number of completion, and
I know that when that which is complete has come,
that which is incomplete disappears. Firs Corinthians thirteen says, and
I know that we know in part, and we prophesy
in part, and where there are tongues, they will cease.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
But love never fails.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
I know that when I became a man, I put
childish ways behind me. But watch what happened to Naman
when his servant pulled him to the side and said, naming,
the hardest part is behind you do it naming verse fourteen,

(53:22):
went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times,
as the Man of God had told him, and his
flesh was restored and became clean, like that of what
a young boy.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
When I was a child, I thought like a child.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
But when I stopped thinking like a child, my skin
was made new again. We take what is passing and
turn it into something permanent. God took something that was permanent,
naming his leprosy, and turned it into something passing.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
It will pass, It will.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
Pass, Kings and kingdoms will all pass away. But there's
something about that name. It will pass. And when Naymon
did it, When Naman dipped, when Naymon got out of
his thought and got into the water and did what
God told him to do, he was restored. I'm believing

(54:36):
for restoration Sunday in somebody's life today, the restoration of
your right mind, the restoration of your peace, the restoration
of your joy. That something that you have convinced yourself
is permanent is really passing, is passing.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
You hear me, You are not going to suffer from
this forever.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
It will pass. And we fix our eyes and not
on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what
is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
It will pass. Right now. God has brought you.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
To this moment as if it's the edge of the
Jordan that you are deciding whether to obey Him in
this next step of your life.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
And I want to tell you that the heart, the
hardest part, is behind you.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
While says in Romans five, verse seven, very rarely will
anyone die for righteous person, though for a good person
someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his
own love for us in this while we were still sinners.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
Christ died for us. The hard part is behind you.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
Verse nine says if He has justified you buy his blood,
how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath
through him? The hard part is behind you. He already
hung there, stopped living in your shame.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
He died for it. The hard part is behind you.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
The hard part was accomplished for you, and by the
grace of God. Today I command you to be clean.
I command you to allow his grace to wash it away,
to wash off the residue of the regret and the failure.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
The hard part is behind you. Now when everyone's standing.

Speaker 3 (56:35):
All over this church, no one moving, no one distracting,
the moment, this moment, this moment, this moment is significant.
You are standing at the door and you've come all
this way. And look at how much you've survived. Look
how much you've endured. Look how much God has protected

(56:56):
you from. Look how much God did in your life
since the time you were a little girl, since the
time you were a little boy.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
No, it hasn't been perfect, but He has been present.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Look at all that God did to bring you here,
That someone saw the spot, that you made it seven
days journey. That you are standing at the door, and
every time you get close to the Jordan, you walk
away and go back.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
To something passing.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
What God wants to take something passing and do something
permanent in your life today, For this is the moment
for someone to call on the name of Jesus and
be saved.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
The Bible says.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
That if you will call upon the name of the Lord,
you will be saved. That if you would confess with
your mouth that Jesus's Lord, and believe in your heart
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Right now, I'm praying a prayer for someone who is
far from God. You don't have leprosy on your skin,

(57:59):
but there is a condition in your soul called sin.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
If not dealt with, it is fatal.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
But it has already been provided for by the person
of Jesus Christ. He died for you, He did the
hard part. He rose for you. You can rise with him today.
This can be your moment, This can be your day.
You can come to God by his grace. So right now,
if that's you and the Lord is speaking to you

(58:25):
not to wash yourself, but that he wants to wash you,
and you want this to be your new beginning, I'm
going to lead you in a prayer. We're going to
repeat this prayer for the benefit of those who are
coming to God, are coming back to God. And if
you pray this and mean it with your heart, God
will hear you from heaven, and he will heal you
and cleanse you.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
This is your new beginning.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
Pray and repeat after me, church family, say Heavenly Father.
I am a sinner in need of a savior, and
today I make Jesus the Lord and savior of my life.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
I believe He.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Died that I would be forgiven and rose again to
give me life. I receive this new life. This is
my new beginning. I am a child of God. On
the count of three, shoots your hand up. If you
prayed that one, two, three, I want to celebrate with

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you right now.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
That's a lot of hands. I praise the Lord for
your commitment.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
I praise the Lord for your new beginning.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
I believe God for your hope for your future. Praise
the Lord.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
Let's give God a break, big church wise shot of praise.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
Come on, lift every.

Speaker 3 (59:49):
Voice, live every voice, live every voice.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
Some orange Bibe coming around so you can have a
new Bible to commemorate your new beginning.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
I just need to know before.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
I turn it over to your campus pastors, who received
a word from the Lord today that was for your life.
So everybody knows in this room. How we close service.
We don't sneak out early. We finished together. Campus pastors,

(01:00:28):
you take it at your campus, and I want to
close right here at our Balentine location and online. Look
at the camera, look at me. Grab your neighbor's hand.
Tell them I don't have leprosy. You can hold my hand.
Tell your neighbor you can hold my hand.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
You won't catch anything. Set the holy ghosts. Don't feel
that fire, feel that fire, feel that fire.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
You know. Saying came to me and I didn't want
to put it in the sermon for all the campuses.
But you know how they say, what you don't know
can't hurt you. That's a lie. That's a lie.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
What you don't know can actually kill you.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
And that's why God gives you moments like these to
show you things in your life that are so important.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
What you don't know can't hurt you, that's not true.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
But this is what you won't do, can't heal you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
And now, unto Him who is able to do immeasurably
more than you ask, think or imagine, to him, be
glory through Christ Jesus in the church.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Now and forever, Everybody smile.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
At your neighbor real big say, I got my braces off.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
You're blessed, you're dismiss I'll see you next week. Thank
you for joining us.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give now,
or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
You can share it with your friends.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.