March 23, 2025 • 68 mins
When you’ve been hurt, it can be hard to keep hoping. But God wants to lift the weight you’ve been carrying today. Learn from the life of Israel (Jacob, Jacob), how God will give you a strategy to unburden your heart and move forward.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
Genesis 45, verses 25-28
Genesis 46, verses 1-5
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Episode Transcript
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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.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Who love that. I feel like we might fly away
today if we really get a hold of that, really
starts singing about that.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Whoop high five. Your neighbors say, he's that good, and
there's so you don't even.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Know what I'm praising him for.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
If you did, you'd praise him with me.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
If you did, you'd get up here higher.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
If you did, you might start jumping.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You might start leaping.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
It's all right. Get that cardio in.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Get that gratitude is.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Say my friend, this.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Path, I like it.
Speaker 6 (01:34):
Get up, get my brazing you you know you leave
me the word you good.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Let everything.
Speaker 7 (01:58):
That half pressed, Let everything everything that's out of.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Breast from jumping.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Chump a little more and thrice blow.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Come on the river walking, know you want to go in?
Come on, I'm town.
Speaker 7 (02:21):
I need fifty jumpers and Blakeney, I need somebody in
your living room.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Get your calf bustles from.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
Work out and get up on your feet and kid God,
this said right.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Here last seven.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Oh God, come on, clap those hands like you love Jesus.
Speaker 8 (03:51):
I'm going right to my message. The spirit of the
Lord is in this place. I'm going right to my message.
The spirit of the Lord is in this place. Shain's
gonna break today because the spirit of the Lord is
in this place. The annoying thing destroys the yoke. The
(04:14):
spirit of the Lord is in this place. I'm so
glad I listened to the Lord last night. He told
me to get a little extra sleep cause y'all were
gonna be ready today.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
And I'm so glad I did.
Speaker 8 (04:28):
I was imbedd at eight twenty pm getting ready for y'all,
and that's an hour earlier than my normal bedtime. And
now I'm stalling to catch my breath from jumping. Tell
your neighbor, I'm glad you're breathing. Tell him, I'm glad
(04:52):
you brushed your teeth. We have a good time in church.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I said.
Speaker 8 (05:02):
We have a good time in church doesn't mean we're
not going through rough patches in our lives. But we
have a good time in Church, welcome you here today.
All of our guests, all of our all of our
church family, welcome today.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So glad you're here.
Speaker 8 (05:29):
Accidentally started preaching a sermon series a few weeks ago,
and I've been talking to you about when God calls
your name. I was trying to figure out what to
call the series, and finally, in my fourth week, the
Lord told me what to call it.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
It's called called That's what's called Tell your neighbor. I'm
called called a lot of different things by a lot
of different people. I'm sure did you enjoy last week.
Speaker 8 (06:01):
When I was talking about Martha Martha, and how many
of you felt seen when I was showing Holly be
pulled apart by the demands of life. How many of
you preached the message back to yourself a little bit
throughout the week when you felt yourself pulled here and
pulled there, and just reminded yourself that being present in
(06:24):
the moment that God has given you is always the priority.
Presence is the priority, even when your plan changes, even
when your problems are overwhelming. And let's see, we've done Moses, Moses,
we did Simon, Simon. These are the ones I've preached
so far, different people in the Bible that God called
(06:44):
their name, not once, but twice, just right there together, Moses, Moses, Simon, Simon,
Martha Martha. Today is Jacob Jacob Genesis chapter forty five.
And as many sermons as I've heard, or that you've
heard me preach on Jacob JJ, I've never preached from
this passage Genesis chapter forty five, first twenty five, and
(07:09):
then we'll go all the way to chapter forty six,
verse five. And you say that's a lot of scripture, Well,
I'm making up for all the Bible reading days you
skip this week, doing you a favor. Now, hear the
word of the Lord. The Lord has a word for
you today. I've been paying back and forth waiting for
you to get here. I'm so thankful for the way
that he speaks. Now, a little bit of background. The
(07:33):
children of Jacob have gone to Egypt, and they found
out not only is their food in Egypt while there's
a famine in Canaan, where they live, but that their
brother Joseph, who they betrayed years earlier, is in command.
And he has promised them if you will come back
and bring our father Jacob, I'll take care of you
(07:53):
everything that you did to me is not going to
be held against you. I have moved past it, and
I'll take care of you. So with this message they
arrived to Jacob, who, remember, twenty two years earlier, was
told that his son was dead, or led to believe
that his son was dead, when in fact it wasn't true.
(08:13):
He'd been pushed in a pit, but he wasn't dead.
He was sold into slavery, but he wasn't dead. He
was falsely accused years later and went to prison, but
he wasn't dead.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
And tell your neighbor somehow I'm still here. Just tell
him somehow I'm still here.
Speaker 8 (08:30):
That's why I'm praising him. Now we pick up the
narrative in Genesis forty five, verse twenty five. So they
the brothers of Jacob, or the brothers of Joseph, rather
the sons of Jacob. So they went up out of
Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their
father Jacob, and they told him Joseph is still alive,
(08:56):
and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And his heart became numb. Isn't that unexpected?
Speaker 8 (09:07):
He gets the greatest news that he could ever hope
to receive, and instead of his heart being happy, his
heart goes numb.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Now after his heart goes numb.
Speaker 8 (09:21):
The writer gives us a little bit of an explanation
as to why he was unable to receive this good report.
It said, for he did not believe them. But when
they told him all the words of Joseph which he
had said to them, and when he saw the wagons
that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of
their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, it is enough, Joseph,
(09:47):
my son is still alive. I will go and see
him before I die. Now, Chapter forty six, verse one.
So Israel took his journey with all that he had
and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the Lord,
the god of his father Isaac.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
And God spoke to Israel and visions of the night,
and said Jacob, Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
And he said, here am I. That's presence, Here am I.
And then he said, I am God, the God of
your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,
for there I will make you into a great nation.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I myself will go down with you to Egypt.
Speaker 8 (10:32):
And I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's
hand shall close your eyes. The one you said goodbye
to is going to be the one who says goodbye
to you in your dying breath.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And the final verse I want to read to you
before we preach.
Speaker 8 (10:50):
Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel
carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives
in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
The prophetic word.
Speaker 8 (11:05):
That I've been assigned to preach to you today may
come across on the surface as very simple, but it
is really the deepest belief that you could ever hold,
And it is this.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
The Lord will lighten your load. The Lord will lighten load.
Speaker 8 (11:28):
I know you had a lot on your mind even
coming in today, but the Lord will lighten your load.
I know sometimes people take advantage of you because you're
available to them, but the Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I know you've done some bad things in.
Speaker 8 (11:44):
Your life and you feel kind of guilty about them.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
But the Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (11:50):
I know you're trying to make a plan right now,
and stuff keeps moving, and stuff keeps shifting, and people
keep moving and people keep shifting.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
But the Lord will lighten load.
Speaker 8 (12:01):
I know you're stubborn and you don't like to ask
for a lot of help, but the Lord will lighten
your load.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I know your shoulders are tense.
Speaker 8 (12:09):
You really need a massage today, but I'm gonna give
you a message today instead.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
The Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (12:17):
Turn around and tell twelve people, the Lord will lighten
your low.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Put it in the chat. The Lord will.
Speaker 8 (12:23):
Lighten your load. Put it right there in the chat.
The Lord will lighten your load, and you may be seated.
You can rest for the rest of the message.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
The Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (12:43):
Now, I have a love hate relationship with simple sayings.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Like that the Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (12:51):
On one hand, I think that the highest degree of
clarity in communication is simplicity.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So really, for me, the art.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
Of studying the scripture sure is to simplify the scripture,
to find one message in the scripture that we can
all take, whether we're twelve, or whether we're eighty two,
or whether, like Jacob here in this passage, we are
one hundred and thirty years old. Did you know Jacob
was one hundred and thirty years old when the Lord
(13:19):
told him, get up and go to a place three
hundred miles away, a place you've never been in, a
place that you will not recognize, a place that you
will not fit into, a place that you will be
tempted to reject. But I'm sending you to Egypt because
there's a famine where you are, and you have to move.
And Jacob is one hundred and thirty years old. As
(13:41):
we step into this moment of Jacob's life, I gave
a little bit of this away. I intended to save
it so I could tell the story and keep.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You in suspense.
Speaker 8 (13:51):
But he is really on the verge of one of
the greatest moments that he has ever experienced. In just
a few weeks, he will be reunited with his son,
the son that he mourned for twenty two years. But
you can't exactly call it a happy moment for Jacob either,
can you, Because as we saw in the scripture that
(14:14):
I read, sometimes you get good news, but you can't
take it in because of what you've been through. Sometimes
you can't receive truth because the truth has to work
its way through the trauma. Sometimes you can hear something
that actually is factual, but your frustration or your pain
(14:38):
or your failure will take you into a moment where
even though you hear the truth, even though you hear
the word, and even though it's something that you desire
to believe, unbelief does not unwind automatically through a process
of coming before the Lord and spending time with the
(15:02):
Lord and putting yourself in environments like this. Go ahead
and give yourself a hand for coming to church today.
By the way, I learned to look at it different.
I used to think I don't have time to go
to church if I was busy. Now I've learned that
when I'm really busy, I don't have time to not
come to church because I need to be in a
(15:25):
place where my heart is not numb. I need to
be in a place where I can be known by
God and accepted by Him. And so you wouldn't exactly
call this moment in Jacob's life happy, would you, Because
he's lost two decades plus two years with his son,
and he's kind of suspicious that his boys were the
(15:47):
ones who were up to it, and he's right. But
at the same time, there is a hope for him
that maybe, just maybe I'm going to see Joseph. I'm
going to see Joseph. This is better than going to Disneyland, y'all.
I'm going to see Joseph. I've been told that Joseph
(16:07):
has secured a spot for me in Goshen, and I'm
gonna live off the fat of the land as the
father of Joseph, who has risen through all adversities like
a fruitful vine.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
He climbed over every wall.
Speaker 8 (16:19):
They shot their arrows at him, but Joseph's hand remained steady.
I'm going to see Joseph, at least, he hopes. But
here is the lesson from Jacob's response to the news
that Joseph may be alive. When you've been really hurt,
it is hard to keep hoping. When you have been
(16:43):
really hurt, it is hard.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
To keep hoping.
Speaker 8 (16:47):
And I promise you'all won't to press you the whole message,
But I just don't want to bring you in like
this is some glorious reunion and reconciliation, because if we
oversimplify and we make it a cliche, the Lord will
lighten your load. Then what happens when three hours from
now you get some bad news, or what happens when
you get to work tomorrow and your boss did not
(17:08):
get my sermon titled that the Lord wanted to lighten
your load, Then you get the memo the man of
God said the Lord would lighten my load. Well, they
are not the Lord, and they may put more on you.
Isn't that a dumb cliche? By the way, when we
say the Lord will never put more on you than
you can bear, Bible doesn't say that.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Read the Bible.
Speaker 8 (17:28):
Stop quoting what you heard from your grandma without checking
it against the Bible.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
She was approximating what she heard one time.
Speaker 8 (17:35):
But the Bible says that no temptation has overtaken you,
and God will give you a way of escape. It
doesn't say that God won't put more on you than
you can bear. Chemo certainly will put more on you than.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
You can bear.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
So you won't get confused and think you're him. That's
actually God's job security to call you to do things
that you can't do without Him, so you won't get
there and be without Him and think you can do it.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I need the Lord in my life.
Speaker 8 (18:01):
I need the Lord, and I have every six days
reminder when I come preach to you. And do you
know that my favorite thing to do that does not
involve my family is to be up.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Here and share the word of the Lord with you.
It really is.
Speaker 8 (18:14):
But if you were to ask me two hours before
I get up here, are you excited to preach? I
would have a difficult time. If you hook me up
to a lie detector. Just say in a straight yes,
because I am excited. But and please don't tell all
the Pharisees that want to qute a scripture verse at
(18:34):
me when they hear this. I'm also anxious. I know
the Bible says don't be anxious, but that was Paul.
He's farther along than I am. I'm anxious. I'm anxious.
Will I say it right? I'm anxious? Will you hear
it right? I'm anxious? Will I leave the best part out?
I'm anxious? Will I say something that is not exactly
(18:54):
correct and maybe lead you astray? Even when I preach
about this kind of message. Let me tell what makes
me anxious. I'm scared that you will hear that Jacob
went to Egypt and use it as an excuse to
run away from something.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Hard in your life.
Speaker 8 (19:09):
Because people will even take a phrase that you preach
on with a good intention, like the Lord said to Jacob,
don't be afraid to go to Egypt, and they will
somehow translate that into the Lord saying, quit your accounting
job even though you have four mouths to feed, and
open a coffee shop because you like coffee. But maybe
what the Lord is really saying is drink more coffee
(19:30):
and keep accounting because you've got a whole family to
feed and those kids need to go to college. So
I'm worried about all of that. I'm worried about will
it be boring. I'm worried about will I say too much,
say too little? I'm just being honest. So I came
up with a way to explain it, and I thought
it might help you. Now, this is a trademark word,
and this word belongs to me, but you can borrow
(19:52):
it for the situations in your life where you feel
excited but you also feel anxious.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
From now on, we call that anxcited. You got anything in.
Speaker 8 (20:06):
Your life that you feel that way about today? So
if you if you ever asked me before I preach,
how do you feel, I'm gonna tell you I'm excited,
and you'll say, Pastor Steven, anxcited ain't a word, and
I'll say may it may not be a word, but
it is a reality. The fact is, if I focus
(20:26):
on getting it wrong, I'm gonna feel completely paralyzed. If
I focus on pleasing people, I'm gonna feel completely paralyzed.
If I focus on not leaving anything out, I'm going
to stand up here like I'm performing for you.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
But the Saint Vegas.
Speaker 8 (20:42):
If I focus on feeding you what God gave me
for what you're going through in your life, I'm excited.
So I want you to understand that both options are
always available. I can be anxious, I can be excited.
I'm like Jacob. Sometimes I can't really name how how
I feel. I can't really name the season I'm in.
(21:03):
On one hand, I'm really happy to be in front
of you, I'm really I'm really thrilled with the prospect
of being a vessel for God to use it. On
the other hand, I'm terrified, and don't look at me judgmental,
because you don't like to give speeches or hear your
own voice either. So I'm excited, I'm anxious. I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I don't know how to spell that, but I certainly
know what it feels.
Speaker 8 (21:24):
Like I'm excited, and I believe there's somebody in the
room today that feels that way about this season of
your life. I'm excited. Tell your neighbor, I'm excited. I'm
kind of shaky in it, but I'm I'm, I'm, I'm
I'm kind of looking.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Forward to it.
Speaker 8 (21:44):
I'm kind of relieved that things are changing, and I'm
kind of terrified that things will never be the same.
I'm kind of I'm kind of feeling a sense of
adventure in my life because I got fired, and I'm
also watching my bank account and is running the wrong
way from abundance. It's moving in the wrong direction. So
(22:06):
I'm kind of excited to have free time, but I'm
kind of not excited. I'm a little anxious about having
less money because now I'm stretched and I'm stretching towards
something that i didn't expect, and in this season of
my life, I'm excited. Somebody asked me recently, what do
you and Holly feel about being empty nester soon?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I said, soon?
Speaker 8 (22:26):
Abby as fourteen, why are you trying to run her
out the house? Just started wearing makeup? Give me a
few more years. I'm excited about my kids growing up.
I'm excited about releasing them into the world. I'm excited
about being in Charlotte. Some of you just moved here
in the last month. Some of you moved here to
(22:46):
be a part of this church. How do you feel
about it. I'm excited. That's an excited praise. That's I'm clapping.
Sometimes I'm crying. Sometimes i miss my in.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Austin, and I'm looking forward to meeting new ones here.
Speaker 8 (23:03):
I'm just trying to tell you that sometimes the cliches
that we use oversimplify the depth of the human experience,
and to remind you that you will always be both
anxious and excited. Both look like shaking hands. Anxious and excited.
(23:26):
Both feel like sweaty palms. Anxious and excited. Both put
butterflies in your stomach. But whether those butterflies are a
burden or a blessing.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Depends on which one you lean into.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
The news reaches Jacob Joseph is on the throne in Egypt.
He is the prime minister of the most powerful nation
on earth, and he has sent us with an instruction
to bring you back. And he said, we don't even
have to worry about bringing our own stuff with us,
because when we get there, He's got us. I don't
(24:03):
know who this is a word for, but when you
get there, God's got you. Don't overbird in the process
by overplanning your steps. I said, don't overbird in the
process by overplanning your steps.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
When you get there, He's got you.
Speaker 8 (24:22):
And the process of God speaking to Jacob is a
very complicated process because he's already changed his name to Israel.
In fact, if you read the account in Genesis chapter
forty six, you are forgiven. If you are a little confused,
let's read it together again and see why it's confusing. Remember,
(24:43):
Israel is Jacob's new name. It's not only the nation
that he fathered, but it is the name he was given.
It's the name of his strength. Jacob, on the other hand,
is the name of his weakness. It speaks of his
tendency to deceive and pipulate.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And chase and compare.
Speaker 8 (25:03):
So the Bible says in Genesis forty six, at this
pivotal moment in Jacob's life, so Israel took his journey.
We're talking about a man whose name has been changed
with all that he had and came to Beersheba and
offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac, and
(25:24):
God spoke to Israel.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
New name. God spoke to Israel.
Speaker 8 (25:29):
Strength. God spoke to Israel, which means prince. God spoke
to Israel, the changed Jacob. God spoke to Israel in
visions of the night and said Jacob, Jacob. So if
his name is Israel, why are you speaking to Jacob?
And I want to give you a principle to take
(25:50):
with you today into every situation you encountered this week.
Wherever God calls your Israel, you have to take Ja
with you.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
It's gonna be good. In a minute.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Let me work on this word for a minute, because
you've been confused lately, because some habits have been sneaking
back up on you that you thought you'd let go of,
because some sins have been trying to strangle the life
of you. But you thought you broke the chokehold. Because
some things you said you never would do again, you
started doing them again.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
And you're carrying it like a secret in your heart.
Speaker 8 (26:24):
Because somebody got up and told you that if you
accepted Jesus, you would leave the old U behind. And
that is true. Positionally, God no longer relates to you
on the basis of any sin you committed. Every single
one of the sins that you committed was nailed to
the cross. Its effect was canceled. Your record is cleaning.
Your sins have been blotted out. All of that is true.
(26:46):
You have been delivered from the penalty of sin. You
have been delivered from the power of sin. Sin is
no longer your position. Sin is no longer your identity.
But although you have been delivered from the power, although
you have been delivered from the penalty, and although it
is no longer your position, you still have some patterns
(27:07):
called sin that go with you into your future called now.
And I want to preach this because you are Israel,
and you are Jacob, but you are kind of Israel, Acob.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I'm a preacher till you get honest.
Speaker 8 (27:24):
I'm a preacher till you stop polishing your halo and
pretending like you didn't cuss once this week. I'm a
preacher till you stop pretending like you got.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
The right to make comments.
Speaker 8 (27:34):
In YouTube about other people's faith when you know good
and well, you are not always on a church website.
When you know good and well, there's some Jacob that
came with you to chart. Aren't you just giving the
(27:56):
people permission to sin? They're doing pretty good without remission.
Ma'am trying to give you power, perspective, and presence that
when God speaks to your Jacob, you don't run away
and hide.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Okay, something very meaningful.
Speaker 8 (28:22):
Always prepare three illustrations for each point, and then I
try to stand in the room and figure out which
one makes sense for right now. And usually if you're
looking at me all stuffy, I'll go to the safe one.
But today I feel kind of free. One time I
apologize to Holly because I'm not always relaxed. We were
on vacation and I said, I know you really liked
(28:44):
this version of me. It had been three works three
weeks since I had to work on a sermon, and
three weeks of not having to be anxcited puts me
in a very relaxed state of mind.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Relaxed and lazy, real lazy.
Speaker 8 (28:58):
I get real lazy, I said, I know you love
this version of me because I'm so men. You should
see my southern small town charm come out. I'm speaking
to everybody, holding doors, for everybody buying ice cream.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
For skaters that I used to would have said, their punks.
Speaker 8 (29:13):
But I'm buying ice cream. They smell like weed. I'm
buying them ice cream telling them about Jesus. It's a
great state. I said, I know you love this version
of me. She said, yeah, I do, she said, but
I love all of them. That was the biggest collective
awe in church history. You made history today church, and
(29:39):
that did something for me.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
It did something for me.
Speaker 8 (29:45):
Because I realized that she knew that we wouldn't be
on vacation if I was never stressed, at least not
staying indoors with plumbing. That meant a lot to That
means a lot to a man, It means a lot
to a woman when you appreciate the fact that the
(30:06):
parts of me that are not that great come with
the package, not so that I can continue to be
a complete schizophrenic before I preach.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
But it unburdened me a little bit. And I'll tell
you what it was.
Speaker 8 (30:22):
I'm going to give you four things that were a
part of Jacob's journey today that you can practically apply
to your wife, your life, or your wife. And the
first one I've spoken of. But I want to be
really clear. I want to talk to you about the weight.
Write it down, please w eight weight, not waits in
(30:43):
a period of time that lapses before you know a
conclusion which would be appropriate to twenty two years that
he has held in his heart the horror of losing
his son Joseph. So it's kind of hard to get
happy in five minutes when I've held this twenty two years.
Have more compassion on people as they change, including you.
(31:07):
You know how when you drive down the interstate they
have way stations for truckers. I wish we could have
one of those in the church for Christians, and we
wouldn't be measuring whether you're down three pounds or not.
I would love to know if you carried too much
into this room today so that we could unburden you
(31:30):
before you head back out, because you are dangerous with
too much weight, and you're dangerous with too little weight.
There are some responsibilities that God has placed on you
that are the answers to the prayers that you prayed.
The Lord was telling me one time that I was
(31:51):
complaining about prayers that I had prayed six months ago
being answered.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
You follow me.
Speaker 8 (31:58):
In other words, he did it, and then I got it,
and it was heavy. Nobody ever tells you this. Blessings
are heavy. Blessings are heavy. Everybody who's praying God will
give you a baby.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Blessings are heavy.
Speaker 8 (32:16):
I don't care eight pounds, ten pounds, twelve pounds. Abby
said the other day she had a dream that she
came out weighing one hundred and thirty pounds. And the
truth of the matter is that the weight that Jacob
is cared and I just want to talk to a
little bit about today because he's carrying not only his
own pain and his uncertainty, but the responsibility that his
(32:42):
name represents an entire nation.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Talk about weight, talk about heaviness.
Speaker 8 (32:50):
A few weeks ago, I talked about how heaviness and
happiness sit at the same table, how heaviness and happiness
live in the same heart. If we wait for the
heaviness to go away to be happy, we will defer
our joy and postpone it indefinitely. Waiting on a future
time to praise God when all of your kids are
(33:10):
doing well is a trap. Waiting on a future time
to praise God when all your debts are paid off
is a trap. Waiting on a future time to praise
God when nothing in your body hurts is a trap.
Waiting to praise God, waiting to enjoy your life, waiting
to be thankful, waiting to smile, waiting to laugh until
you know how this is going to turn out. Waiting
(33:33):
until the outcome is clear for you to make a
commitment to serve Jesus is a trap. And that's why
Jacob had to set out with a heavy heart. Sometimes
you have to head there heavy. Sometimes you have to
move there weigh down. Sometimes you have to take a
step forward knowing that I don't even know about the
(33:54):
next one yet, but I will take this one. And
so the process of coming to the Lord is to
learn how to take the weight that he gives you.
But I will remind you today that God can't help
you carry something that he never called you to. One
New Testament writer said to lay aside all the sin
(34:16):
and the weight that easily besets you. Sometimes I think
we're carrying sins that we won't give up. But other
times I think we're carrying weights that aren't exactly sins,
but are taking up the space in our life that
could be used for trusting God, that could be used
for creative solutions.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
If the devil wants to destroy you.
Speaker 8 (34:37):
He will get your mind so full of stuff that
does not matter anyway, to get you moved.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Off of what you are uniquely called to do.
Speaker 8 (34:49):
And to realize that Jacob in this moment is receiving
good news, but he is still grieving what he's been through.
Receiving good news but very excited about where he's going.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
May give you a little compassion for yourself. That I
have this weight. It's not that my heart is hard,
it's that it's heavy.
Speaker 8 (35:17):
And as he is considering this, I mean picture, he
has to decide, am I going to believe that this
is possible? Just like you are deciding Dove's nest? Am
I going to believe that my recovery is possible? Just
like you are having to decide? College student? Is it
really worth it to live for Jesus? Just like you
are having to decide in this season of your life.
(35:40):
Am I going to call a therapist and start to
work on this so that I don't just carry this
forth as my template for the rest of my life.
And as he is trying to decide whether to leave
what is familiar and walk in what is fearful and
point himself in the direction of the unexpected pregnant possibility.
(36:02):
God has answered his prayers that for twenty two years
lay dormant, not dead. The Bible says in verse twenty
seven that as he was carrying this weight, everybody say wait,
come on, say it loud, or say wait. I want
you to say it as loud as it is heavy
to you. One two three. Yeah. The crushing expectations that
(36:25):
you had of yourself, the crushing disappointment of what didn't happen.
And some of you are like, I'm doing good today.
Way in next week, we'll check you next week. Something
could happen between you know, something could get on something
could get on your truck this week that could make
you break down in tears and not be so arrogant.
So never judge somebody because of what they are carrying.
(36:45):
One side note, one side note. I met a man
a year ago, and when I met him, I said,
he is so arrogant. All he did was talk about himself.
I've never met somebody so arrogant. I walked away and
thought I have discernment. I saw him him again a
year later. He said, I wanted to tell you something.
The first time you met me, you couldn't have known this,
(37:05):
but I had just received news the day before that
I lost my job. I had been throwing up in
a hotel room all night. So I apologize if I
came across a certain way, and I'm like, you did,
you did? And isn't it crazy that I couldn't even
see who he really was because all I could see
was what he carried. Tell your neighbor, I'm really a
(37:30):
good person. Catch me at the right time. I'll buy
you some ice cream. I see the Lord is speaking
to Jacob while he's trying to move forward as Israel.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
I said.
Speaker 8 (37:44):
The Lord is speaking to Jacob while he's trying to
move forward as Israel, and he's trying to decide, do
I believe?
Speaker 1 (37:50):
How would you believe? These boys? Do you remember what
they did?
Speaker 8 (37:55):
They brought Joseph's coat to their dad and said, is
this the coat you gave Joseph? They were always jealous
of him, and they dipped it in blood to make
it look like he was muled by animals, and he was.
They were the animals. Now he was on his way
to Egypt, and God was using all of that sovereignly.
But in that moment, all Jacob felt with sadness, and
he kept that coat for twenty two years. It's all
(38:18):
he had left of his son. And now these same
boys they've gone down to Egypt. They found out there's food.
There's gonna be five more years of famine. And Joseph says, come,
I got you. When you get here, I got you.
So they go back to Canaan and they say, Dad,
we gotta go.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Joseph's alive.
Speaker 8 (38:33):
He's gonna take care of us, and there's hope in
his heart, and there's happiness in his heart. And the
weight almost watched this. It almost keeps him from going.
I love this word in the Bible put up verse
twenty seven. But when they told him the words of Joseph,
(38:56):
which he had said to them, now get ready to
shed a little bit, because this part that comes next
is really important.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
It was one thing to hear their words, because.
Speaker 8 (39:07):
They've said a lot of things and they've lied about it.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
It is one thing to believe people.
Speaker 8 (39:13):
It is one thing to believe a preacher, But it
is another thing when God gives you evidence of his
presence that you can't deny. And I believe I'm talking
to about two hundred and twenty five people today somewhere
in this.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Room at Valentine, that.
Speaker 8 (39:33):
Your heart has been heavy, but you've got evidence that
God is not quite through with you yet. And now
the devil would love for you to look past the evidence.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
But watch this.
Speaker 8 (39:44):
The Bible says that he was trying to believe, trying
to take it in, trying to wake up his heart,
trying to revive his spirit, trying to convince himself, trying
to get a move on, trying to make a plan, trying,
but his heart was numb and he couldn't move my
verse when he heard the words of Joseph, which he
had said to them secondhand, and.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
When he saw the wagons.
Speaker 8 (40:13):
That's the second word I want you to write down
is wagons. Because I got weight. I'm going through some things.
I've got weight, I've got unanswered questions. I've got weight.
There are some people who have disappointed me. I've got weight.
Somebody say I've got weight, But I've also got wagons.
(40:35):
And this is the part where if you are Pentecostal,
even by five percent, I want you to look out
your window today spiritually speaking, and look at all the
wagons that God has sent to bring you where.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
You're supposed to be.
Speaker 8 (40:53):
Now we've got a choice to make because I'm excited,
because I'm heartbroken, but I'm hopeful, and the weight is
trying to get me to stay depressed.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
But the wagons are calling me to move on.
Speaker 8 (41:07):
And I want to know which one is your faith
in the weight or the wagons.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Plus, God sent me.
Speaker 8 (41:15):
With a prophetic word for somebody. You'll got wagons waiting
for you. You'll got transportation waiting for you.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Hot five everybody you can reach and.
Speaker 7 (41:29):
Say, here come the wagons, Here come the wagons.
Speaker 8 (41:37):
And there is no way, oh feel like, testify, there
is no way i'd be here. There is no way
i'd be here if it had not been for the wagons.
All right, you'll help me get happy about the wagons,
the wagons, the wagons, the wagons. Jacob's like, I don't
(41:58):
know if this is true. I don't believe these boys.
These boys are rascals. These boys are liars.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Reuben's a liar, Simeon's a liar, Judah is a liar.
Speaker 8 (42:05):
Who can I trust? All my boys are dysfunctional. All
this weight is too much for me. I've been twenty
two years in this condition. I don't know if I
should believe this. And while he's listening to them, he
is stuck in the weight. But when he saw the wagons,
when he saw those wagons, when Joseph sent his brother's back,
(42:27):
he said, take the best wagons that Egypt has to offer.
Hold on, let me ask my boss, Pharaoh. I gotta
go get my dad and bring him back. Would you
let me borrow some wagons? Pharaoh said, yeah, I'm not
even there. I don't even worship their same God, but
I will send them the transportation to bring them here
(42:47):
to eat. God doesn't even have to use the right
thing to get you where you're supposed to go. Gott,
Can I say it like I feel it. God's gonna
use some stupid stuff to get you there. God's gonna
use some ridiculous things to get you there, some weird wagons.
(43:10):
What are these wagons? I never seen wagons like this before.
Aren't these Pharaoh's wagons? Yeah, but they're under God's jurisdiction.
So I'm explaining how God came to get him with
the wagons. Because God knew he had a limp, and
(43:34):
he knows where you're weighty, and he knows where you're wheat.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
And that's what the wagons are. For give me the
verse again. Ain't that anointed? Mom? I said, ain't that annoyed? Mom?
Speaker 8 (43:50):
If my mom doesn't think it's annoyed, I need to
shut it down. But when he saw the wagons, are
you back there justin? Can you circle when he saw
the wagons? Oh, when he saw the wagons that Joseph
had sent to carry him. I want you to circle
carry too, because I think that's the key right there
(44:16):
for the Lord lightning your load today. I don't think
he needs to take something off of you. I think
he needs to put something under you.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Wow.
Speaker 8 (44:29):
The Lord will lighten your load, not by decreasing the weight,
but by sending the wagons.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
Wow, what are your wagons?
Speaker 8 (44:40):
And why won't you get in them? Why you keep
not joining an e group? You think the whole group
has COVID? But you you're gonna go catch nothing from him? Maybe,
but Jesus might catch some joy, might catch some peace,
might catch some better habits, might catch some accountability, might
catch some spiritual discipline, might catch a.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
Dave Ramsey budget makeover. You might catch something good.
Speaker 8 (45:03):
Keep praying about the weight of your financial burden, but
you won't get on the wagon. Get on the wagon.
Limp to the wagon. You can get on the wagon. Weeping,
just get one. You can get on the wagon. Worried,
just get on. You can get on the wagon with
(45:26):
all of your weight. These are good wagons. These are
trustworthy wagons because Joseph sent them, because God sent them,
and he will help you carry what he called you
to and nothing that he didn't, which is why it
becomes so important. I talked about the weight. I talked
(45:49):
about the wagons. Can I talk for a moment about
the worship? Okay, this is important. He sets out in
the wagons. He says, all the wagons are here. That
must mean it's true. And I use this to illustrate
all the things that God is sending in your life,
to convince you that He's with you, in spite of
all of your feelings saying that he isn't. They are there.
(46:12):
Sometimes you can't see the wagons through your weeping. So
he gets on right. And I would love to read
the whole chapter to you where it lists all the
people he had to take, because you would start to
feel how weighty it is, and you would start to
identify he has to take them their children and some
grandchildren because he's one hundred and thirty and he has
accumulated a lot. Now they're on there with animals, They're
(46:33):
on there with people, They're on there with people that
act like animals. I did not mean to describe your
family vacation. But let's make this real. Let's make this live.
Just leave this in BC. Let's bring it to right now.
Let's bring this to your life. He's on the wagons,
but he's still worried. And I think this is the
part that that maybe can help you Wednesday to worship
(46:58):
God Wednesday. I don't really I don't really preach with
the intention for you to worship God's Sunday. I want
you to worship Wednesday when it's weighty, when.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
You are on your way and you're worried.
Speaker 8 (47:13):
So in Genesis forty six, verse one, it looks like
they're going straight to Egypt to get the food, because
that's where the food is. That's where Joseph is. But Israel,
the better part of Jacob, took his journey with all
that he had, including Jacob. I'm gonna say it again,
(47:34):
your silence does not intimidate me from making my point.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
You bring you with you. You bring you with you.
Speaker 8 (47:44):
If you get a promotion, I hope you're a good
boss because you bring you with you. If you get
a partner, you bring you with you. If you have kids,
you bring you with you. And all they are going
to do is show you you in a funhouse mirror.
You'll bring you with you. So when it says Israel
(48:06):
took his journey, and then people say enjoy the journey,
I hate that cliche. How am I supposed to enjoy
the journey with seventy jokers that I can't trust with
the land that I'm headed to that I have never seen, that,
I cannot research that, I can't even really understand what
it's going to be like with the sadness of my
(48:27):
past following me here. So Israel took his journey.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
With all that he had and came to Beersheba.
Speaker 8 (48:33):
Beersheba is on the border of southern Canaan.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
What does that mean? It's right there on the edge
of going to Egypt.
Speaker 8 (48:42):
If he gets past Beersheba, he's going all the way.
So he stops there, and watch what he does when
he stops. He takes some of those animals that were
in that wagon that would have represented something that he
accumulated in Canaan. And he offered sacrifices to the God
of his father Isaac. Next verse and God spoke. Verse one,
(49:08):
he offered sacrifices and God spoke. He gave God something,
and God gave him something. I am not saying that
this is a transaction, but it is a fact. Worship
(49:29):
is Heaven's strategy to unburden the human heart. Worship is
Heaven's strategy to see you with your messed up mind,
to see you with your jacked up habits, to see
you with your cluttered state of mind, to see you
in all of your burdenedness.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
And to say, let me lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (49:56):
And when he offered sacrifices, God spoke and said Jacob, Jacob,
And he said here I am, I'm here, I'm excided
about this journey. And verse three says then the Lord said,
(50:17):
I am God. Now aren't you glad that both of
those are true? You're still Jacob, but he's still God.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
Wow.
Speaker 8 (50:30):
I told you I had a word for you today,
and the word is you need to worship. When you
feel the weight, pull the wagon over and worship. Uh,
what do you mean, pastor Steve, I'm driving right now.
Should I lift my hands? Put your hands on ten
and two and worship and worship and rehearse the greatness
(50:57):
of God until you get the frustrations of your Jacob, Jacob, Martha, Martha, Simon, Simon, Moses, Moses,
I am God.
Speaker 1 (51:16):
I don't care.
Speaker 8 (51:17):
Who you think you are or who you're not. You're
not bound by any of that. I am God, the
God of your father. By the way, Isaac made an
offering in Beersheba too, so did Abraham. This was a
significant place for Jacob, but he was having to do
something his father's never did. And when you come to
a place where you've never seen a model for it,
(51:37):
when you come to a place where you've never seen
an example for it, when you've come to a place
where you didn't have anybody to show you the way,
when you come to a place and you don't know
how worship, worship, and the Lord will lighten your load.
(51:58):
I'm not talking about singing. He didn't sing. He sacrificed.
True worship is you giving up something that you weren't
meant to carry. The Lord will lighten your load. Before
you go forward into this next thing. I see you
giving up what people think about it. That's worship. When
(52:19):
you give up what people think about it and you
get serious.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
About what God has said about it, that's worship.
Speaker 8 (52:26):
Some of us cannot move forward in strength because we
are too stuck in status. When you give up on
what people say about it, people think about it.
Speaker 1 (52:36):
Whether you're going to be embarrassed about it.
Speaker 8 (52:38):
When you worship and you say, God, you're so sovereign,
look at all of these wagons you sent. I'm telling you,
if you want to get from weakness to strength in
your spirit this week, start counting wagons instead of telling
them how much it weighs. Start thinking them for wagons.
Look at what you've done for me, God, Look at
(52:59):
what you've brought to me. God, look at how you've
helped me. And the Lord said Jacob. Jacob, I am God.
I know this isn't the same way that your fathers went.
I know this isn't the same strategy that they had,
but I'm the same God.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
So do not be afraid to go down to Egypt. Now.
Speaker 8 (53:18):
I don't know what you need to put in that sentence,
but leave it up there. Do not be afraid too.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
There are two.
Speaker 8 (53:24):
Specific times in scripture that God says specifically what not
to be afraid of. He tells Joseph, do not be
afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what
is in her is of me. And he tells Jacob,
do not be afraid to go to Egypt, even though
it seems dangerous.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
Even though it seems risky, remember I'm not telling you
to start a hair salon.
Speaker 8 (53:47):
Egypt does not represent just whateverthing you want to do.
It is what God has called you to do that
you are afraid to do, that you are unfamiliar with.
Speaker 1 (53:57):
Do not be afraid to do it.
Speaker 8 (53:59):
Watch the for there in the unfamiliar place, There in
the place nobody in.
Speaker 1 (54:05):
Your family has lived in before.
Speaker 8 (54:07):
They're in the place where you thought Joseph was dead,
but he's.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
Actually waiting for you.
Speaker 6 (54:12):
There.
Speaker 1 (54:13):
I will make you into a great nation.
Speaker 8 (54:16):
Verse four, I my self will go down with you
to Egypt, to the hospital, into your senior years, into
the ninth grade. I myself, God says, will go down
(54:37):
with you. In other words, I'm gonna lighten your load,
because not only do you have weight, and not only
do you have wagons and Not only do you have worship,
but when you worship me, the weight lifts, and your
wagons have wings. And I'm carrying you because I got wings.
(55:02):
I put wings on your wagons. I put strength in
your weakness. I put a step in your limb. I
put power in your spirit. I put wings on your wagons.
My wagons have wings, y'all. I'm gonna get there because
He's with me. My wagons have wings. Yeah, I've got
(55:25):
weight on me. Yeah, I've got burdens about the future. Yeah,
I'm excited about it. Yeah, I'm still Jacob, but I'm
not traveling alone. Because they that wait on the Lord
will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings
(55:49):
like eagles. I'm going to each of them on eagles wings.
Speaker 1 (55:56):
I'm going on wings.
Speaker 8 (55:59):
The God did not grow weary they start walking.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
I think I'm going in the straight. I'm the glory
of God.
Speaker 7 (56:12):
My wagons have wings, My wagons have wings.
Speaker 8 (56:16):
I got a hate sooth all around my family.
Speaker 1 (56:20):
My wagons.
Speaker 7 (56:23):
Don't be surprised when I rise a puppet the Lord.
Speaker 1 (56:27):
That's lighten my load.
Speaker 8 (56:33):
My wagons have wings, My tears have intention, my worship
has purpose.
Speaker 5 (56:47):
I know.
Speaker 1 (56:49):
You're carrying a lie, but you're carried to your wagons.
Speaker 8 (56:59):
Have wings. He's going with you. I don't know where
you're going. You don't either, but I know one thing.
He's going with you.
Speaker 1 (57:10):
Give my camera. I speak to your burden soul today.
He's going with you.
Speaker 8 (57:16):
Well, while back, I was doing ministry with somebody that
was tag team. I looked over at them before we
went up. I could see he was so nervous. I
put my arm around him. I said, you do it already.
Speaker 1 (57:24):
He said no.
Speaker 8 (57:26):
I said why not? He said, I don't know what
to do up there. I said, I'm not good at much,
but i'm good at this. The Lord's prepared me. So
we go up there. I don't want you to worry
about anything. I'm going up there with you, and if
you stop talking mid syllable, I'll pick it up and
(57:47):
say the next syllable like we meant to do it.
Because I could tell he was carrying weight, so I
told him, I'll be your wings. I could see a
tear come in his eye because he was carrying so much.
(58:08):
I'll be your wingman, That's what I was telling him.
And then I looked him in his eye and I
said something to him, And I believe that the Lord
would say this to each of his children today too. Hey, hey,
I won't let you fail. And I know every skeptical
(58:38):
in your bone, is every bone in your body that
skeptical is screaming right now? Then then why did my
best friend die of cancer? Then why did the business feel?
Then why did the marriage feel? Maybe it wasn't a failure.
Maybe even maybe even when they died, their purpose on
earth was just getting started. Maybe the business that failed
(59:03):
wasn't the one that you were called to run. Did
you think about that? Maybe God's failures or foundations.
Speaker 1 (59:11):
And I want you.
Speaker 8 (59:12):
To let him lighten your load today because I'm gonna
tell you something, Jacob, if you try to ride in
that wagon and you let Jacob steer, you won't make
it where you're supposed to be.
Speaker 1 (59:26):
The word of the Lord came to Israel in the.
Speaker 8 (59:28):
Night to speak to the part of you that knows
that worship gives me wings and it can be just
the smallest transition in your life. I'm telling you, I
know there are people in here today who are carrying weight,
unimaginable weight.
Speaker 1 (59:43):
But stand on your feet right now.
Speaker 8 (59:47):
And in the presence of your God, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, Jacob, Jacob,
the God of Simon, Simon, God of Martha, Martha, the
God of Abraham, Abraham, the God of Moses, Moses. That
(01:00:08):
God knows your name, knows your needs, he knows your limp,
he knows your loss, and he wants to give you
wings on your wagon today. The truth is, if you're here,
it's because you are carried. Somebody say, I'm carried. That
(01:00:31):
verse really spoke to me, Man in verse five, where
it says Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of
Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their
wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
You know how, I know you can because you're carried.
(01:00:53):
Say that out loud as a confession.
Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
I can.
Speaker 8 (01:00:56):
Because I'm carried. I can make it through this. I
can find a solution. I can forgive them, I can
continue to work through this.
Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
I can recover. I can say it. I can because
I'm carried.
Speaker 8 (01:01:14):
And some people will see that and they'll think that
your confidence is cockiness. I'm not cocky. I'm carried. I'm carried.
My confidence is in the fact that God is carrying me.
Don't you see how his hand has carried.
Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
You this far? Then why wouldn't you let him lighten
your load.
Speaker 8 (01:01:41):
I imagine Jacob getting back on the wagons, and they
felt a little lighter because he took a few of
those animals and sacrificed him. I imagine him getting back
on the wagon and feeling a little bit lighter because
he was reminded who he really was. I see him
getting on the wagon. It's a little bit lighter because
you can't.
Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
See it, but my wagon has wings. Be prepared. This week,
somebody is gonna tell you look different. Have you lost weight?
Speaker 8 (01:02:11):
Tell them, yeah, tell them two things happen. Come on,
look at your neighbor and say two things happen today.
Tell them I lost weight and I got wings. Now,
let's take twenty seconds and worship the.
Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Lord for what he did in this place. You'll sing
a little bit.
Speaker 8 (01:02:34):
Come on, worshippers, worshippers, where are the worshippers? FU say,
get your hands off, get your hands up, get your
wings back, Get your wings back.
Speaker 9 (01:02:49):
These chapel zuway care the Lord is in these Please
the Lord is it.
Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
I'm carrying.
Speaker 4 (01:03:01):
I'm carrying for me.
Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
I'm carry I'm carrying this I for sake.
Speaker 8 (01:03:07):
Cat.
Speaker 10 (01:03:09):
The Lord is here these place. Flord is here, the space.
Come fo please speed travel Cat. The Lord is in
this clip.
Speaker 5 (01:03:25):
Hold on, get these wings se so you can rise
Obama and naked. He won't let you nail, He won't forsaken,
He will not leave you.
Speaker 10 (01:03:37):
Art this class right here, right now, here's God speed.
Speaker 8 (01:03:48):
Trivels. Cat.
Speaker 4 (01:03:51):
Flord is here, the slap Flord is in this.
Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
That's bowed, eyes closed. God is here.
Speaker 8 (01:04:05):
He's here to forgive sin. He's here to heal hearts.
He's here to make new. Right now, there are hundreds,
if not thousands, of people under the sound of my
voice who desperately need to give your life to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Today. You cannot carry it any longer. You cannot do
it by yourself any longer. You were not meant to.
Speaker 8 (01:04:29):
He died for you, He rose again to give you life.
It is by grace you are saved through faith. This
not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not
of work, so that no one can boast.
Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
And today God brought you to this place so that
you could be saved.
Speaker 8 (01:04:44):
So right now, I'm going to lead you in a prayer,
whether you're online or in the room, And if you'll
repeat this prayer after me and believe it in your heart.
The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Right now,
the hand of Heaven is stretching to you in the
person of Jesus Christ. Will you receive this gift. This
(01:05:05):
is a new beginning for you. This is a defining
moment for you. God is calling your name right now,
and I want to lead you.
Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
In this prayer.
Speaker 8 (01:05:12):
Whether you're coming to Him for the first time or
you've wandered in your coming back, this is your day.
This is your moment. He's calling your name. Call on
his name and you will be saved. Repeat after me
as a church family, out loud, Heavenly.
Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Father, today is my day of salvation.
Speaker 8 (01:05:32):
I am a sinner in need of a savior, and
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
and the Savior of the world. And today I make
Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died
that I would be forgiven and rose again to give
(01:05:55):
me life. I receive this new life. This is my
new beginning. I am a child of God.
Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
On the counter of three shoots. Your hand up.
Speaker 8 (01:06:08):
If you've prayed that one, two, three all over the room.
Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 8 (01:06:17):
Zevil you lost another one, and another one, and another
one and another one into the.
Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
Family of God, born again by the spirit of grace.
Speaker 7 (01:06:28):
Let's give Jesus a great sound of brad.
Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
Glory to God.
Speaker 8 (01:06:39):
Praise the Lord for all the new lives. Thank you
for staying till the very end. Thank you for coming
to church today. Thank you for showing up in the
presence of God. Campus pastors, you could take it. Did
you receive a word from God today? If you received
a word from God, let me hear you make some noise,
(01:07:01):
shout hallelujah.
Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
If you received it.
Speaker 8 (01:07:09):
I know I've preached along. But you won't even have
to fight traffic today because you.
Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
You got ways. I lost weight and I got ways,
so I can make it.
Speaker 8 (01:07:27):
Because now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more,
then we ask big.
Speaker 5 (01:07:36):
Or imagine to here big glory through Christ Jesus in
the Church now and forever.
Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
You're dismissed.
Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
I love you, Thank you for joining us. 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 (01:08:08):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Who love that. I feel like we might fly away
today if we really get a hold of that, really
starts singing about that.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Whoop high five. Your neighbors say, he's that good, and
there's so you don't even.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Know what I'm praising him for.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
If you did, you'd praise him with me.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
If you did, you'd get up here higher.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
If you did, you might start jumping.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You might start leaping.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
It's all right. Get that cardio in.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Get that gratitude is.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Say my friend, this.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Path, I like it.
Speaker 6 (01:34):
Get up, get my brazing you you know you leave
me the word you good.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Let everything.
Speaker 7 (01:58):
That half pressed, Let everything everything that's out of.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Breast from jumping.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Chump a little more and thrice blow.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Come on the river walking, know you want to go in?
Come on, I'm town.
Speaker 7 (02:21):
I need fifty jumpers and Blakeney, I need somebody in
your living room.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Get your calf bustles from.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
Work out and get up on your feet and kid God,
this said right.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Here last seven.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Oh God, come on, clap those hands like you love Jesus.
Speaker 8 (03:51):
I'm going right to my message. The spirit of the
Lord is in this place. I'm going right to my message.
The spirit of the Lord is in this place. Shain's
gonna break today because the spirit of the Lord is
in this place. The annoying thing destroys the yoke. The
(04:14):
spirit of the Lord is in this place. I'm so
glad I listened to the Lord last night. He told
me to get a little extra sleep cause y'all were
gonna be ready today.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
And I'm so glad I did.
Speaker 8 (04:28):
I was imbedd at eight twenty pm getting ready for y'all,
and that's an hour earlier than my normal bedtime. And
now I'm stalling to catch my breath from jumping. Tell
your neighbor, I'm glad you're breathing. Tell him, I'm glad
(04:52):
you brushed your teeth. We have a good time in church.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I said.
Speaker 8 (05:02):
We have a good time in church doesn't mean we're
not going through rough patches in our lives. But we
have a good time in Church, welcome you here today.
All of our guests, all of our all of our
church family, welcome today.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So glad you're here.
Speaker 8 (05:29):
Accidentally started preaching a sermon series a few weeks ago,
and I've been talking to you about when God calls
your name. I was trying to figure out what to
call the series, and finally, in my fourth week, the
Lord told me what to call it.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
It's called called That's what's called Tell your neighbor. I'm
called called a lot of different things by a lot
of different people. I'm sure did you enjoy last week.
Speaker 8 (06:01):
When I was talking about Martha Martha, and how many
of you felt seen when I was showing Holly be
pulled apart by the demands of life. How many of
you preached the message back to yourself a little bit
throughout the week when you felt yourself pulled here and
pulled there, and just reminded yourself that being present in
(06:24):
the moment that God has given you is always the priority.
Presence is the priority, even when your plan changes, even
when your problems are overwhelming. And let's see, we've done Moses, Moses,
we did Simon, Simon. These are the ones I've preached
so far, different people in the Bible that God called
(06:44):
their name, not once, but twice, just right there together, Moses, Moses, Simon, Simon,
Martha Martha. Today is Jacob Jacob Genesis chapter forty five.
And as many sermons as I've heard, or that you've
heard me preach on Jacob JJ, I've never preached from
this passage Genesis chapter forty five, first twenty five, and
(07:09):
then we'll go all the way to chapter forty six,
verse five. And you say that's a lot of scripture, Well,
I'm making up for all the Bible reading days you
skip this week, doing you a favor. Now, hear the
word of the Lord. The Lord has a word for
you today. I've been paying back and forth waiting for
you to get here. I'm so thankful for the way
that he speaks. Now, a little bit of background. The
(07:33):
children of Jacob have gone to Egypt, and they found
out not only is their food in Egypt while there's
a famine in Canaan, where they live, but that their
brother Joseph, who they betrayed years earlier, is in command.
And he has promised them if you will come back
and bring our father Jacob, I'll take care of you
(07:53):
everything that you did to me is not going to
be held against you. I have moved past it, and
I'll take care of you. So with this message they
arrived to Jacob, who, remember, twenty two years earlier, was
told that his son was dead, or led to believe
that his son was dead, when in fact it wasn't true.
(08:13):
He'd been pushed in a pit, but he wasn't dead.
He was sold into slavery, but he wasn't dead. He
was falsely accused years later and went to prison, but
he wasn't dead.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
And tell your neighbor somehow I'm still here. Just tell
him somehow I'm still here.
Speaker 8 (08:30):
That's why I'm praising him. Now we pick up the
narrative in Genesis forty five, verse twenty five. So they
the brothers of Jacob, or the brothers of Joseph, rather
the sons of Jacob. So they went up out of
Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their
father Jacob, and they told him Joseph is still alive,
(08:56):
and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And his heart became numb. Isn't that unexpected?
Speaker 8 (09:07):
He gets the greatest news that he could ever hope
to receive, and instead of his heart being happy, his
heart goes numb.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Now after his heart goes numb.
Speaker 8 (09:21):
The writer gives us a little bit of an explanation
as to why he was unable to receive this good report.
It said, for he did not believe them. But when
they told him all the words of Joseph which he
had said to them, and when he saw the wagons
that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of
their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, it is enough, Joseph,
(09:47):
my son is still alive. I will go and see
him before I die. Now, Chapter forty six, verse one.
So Israel took his journey with all that he had
and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the Lord,
the god of his father Isaac.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
And God spoke to Israel and visions of the night,
and said Jacob, Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
And he said, here am I. That's presence, Here am I.
And then he said, I am God, the God of
your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,
for there I will make you into a great nation.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I myself will go down with you to Egypt.
Speaker 8 (10:32):
And I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's
hand shall close your eyes. The one you said goodbye
to is going to be the one who says goodbye
to you in your dying breath.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And the final verse I want to read to you
before we preach.
Speaker 8 (10:50):
Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel
carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives
in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
The prophetic word.
Speaker 8 (11:05):
That I've been assigned to preach to you today may
come across on the surface as very simple, but it
is really the deepest belief that you could ever hold,
And it is this.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
The Lord will lighten your load. The Lord will lighten load.
Speaker 8 (11:28):
I know you had a lot on your mind even
coming in today, but the Lord will lighten your load.
I know sometimes people take advantage of you because you're
available to them, but the Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I know you've done some bad things in.
Speaker 8 (11:44):
Your life and you feel kind of guilty about them.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
But the Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (11:50):
I know you're trying to make a plan right now,
and stuff keeps moving, and stuff keeps shifting, and people
keep moving and people keep shifting.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
But the Lord will lighten load.
Speaker 8 (12:01):
I know you're stubborn and you don't like to ask
for a lot of help, but the Lord will lighten
your load.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I know your shoulders are tense.
Speaker 8 (12:09):
You really need a massage today, but I'm gonna give
you a message today instead.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
The Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (12:17):
Turn around and tell twelve people, the Lord will lighten
your low.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Put it in the chat. The Lord will.
Speaker 8 (12:23):
Lighten your load. Put it right there in the chat.
The Lord will lighten your load, and you may be seated.
You can rest for the rest of the message.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
The Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (12:43):
Now, I have a love hate relationship with simple sayings.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Like that the Lord will lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (12:51):
On one hand, I think that the highest degree of
clarity in communication is simplicity.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So really, for me, the art.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
Of studying the scripture sure is to simplify the scripture,
to find one message in the scripture that we can
all take, whether we're twelve, or whether we're eighty two,
or whether, like Jacob here in this passage, we are
one hundred and thirty years old. Did you know Jacob
was one hundred and thirty years old when the Lord
(13:19):
told him, get up and go to a place three
hundred miles away, a place you've never been in, a
place that you will not recognize, a place that you
will not fit into, a place that you will be
tempted to reject. But I'm sending you to Egypt because
there's a famine where you are, and you have to move.
And Jacob is one hundred and thirty years old. As
(13:41):
we step into this moment of Jacob's life, I gave
a little bit of this away. I intended to save
it so I could tell the story and keep.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You in suspense.
Speaker 8 (13:51):
But he is really on the verge of one of
the greatest moments that he has ever experienced. In just
a few weeks, he will be reunited with his son,
the son that he mourned for twenty two years. But
you can't exactly call it a happy moment for Jacob either,
can you, Because as we saw in the scripture that
(14:14):
I read, sometimes you get good news, but you can't
take it in because of what you've been through. Sometimes
you can't receive truth because the truth has to work
its way through the trauma. Sometimes you can hear something
that actually is factual, but your frustration or your pain
(14:38):
or your failure will take you into a moment where
even though you hear the truth, even though you hear
the word, and even though it's something that you desire
to believe, unbelief does not unwind automatically through a process
of coming before the Lord and spending time with the
(15:02):
Lord and putting yourself in environments like this. Go ahead
and give yourself a hand for coming to church today.
By the way, I learned to look at it different.
I used to think I don't have time to go
to church if I was busy. Now I've learned that
when I'm really busy, I don't have time to not
come to church because I need to be in a
(15:25):
place where my heart is not numb. I need to
be in a place where I can be known by
God and accepted by Him. And so you wouldn't exactly
call this moment in Jacob's life happy, would you, Because
he's lost two decades plus two years with his son,
and he's kind of suspicious that his boys were the
(15:47):
ones who were up to it, and he's right. But
at the same time, there is a hope for him
that maybe, just maybe I'm going to see Joseph. I'm
going to see Joseph. This is better than going to Disneyland, y'all.
I'm going to see Joseph. I've been told that Joseph
(16:07):
has secured a spot for me in Goshen, and I'm
gonna live off the fat of the land as the
father of Joseph, who has risen through all adversities like
a fruitful vine.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
He climbed over every wall.
Speaker 8 (16:19):
They shot their arrows at him, but Joseph's hand remained steady.
I'm going to see Joseph, at least, he hopes. But
here is the lesson from Jacob's response to the news
that Joseph may be alive. When you've been really hurt,
it is hard to keep hoping. When you have been
(16:43):
really hurt, it is hard.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
To keep hoping.
Speaker 8 (16:47):
And I promise you'all won't to press you the whole message,
But I just don't want to bring you in like
this is some glorious reunion and reconciliation, because if we
oversimplify and we make it a cliche, the Lord will
lighten your load. Then what happens when three hours from
now you get some bad news, or what happens when
you get to work tomorrow and your boss did not
(17:08):
get my sermon titled that the Lord wanted to lighten
your load, Then you get the memo the man of
God said the Lord would lighten my load. Well, they
are not the Lord, and they may put more on you.
Isn't that a dumb cliche? By the way, when we
say the Lord will never put more on you than
you can bear, Bible doesn't say that.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Read the Bible.
Speaker 8 (17:28):
Stop quoting what you heard from your grandma without checking
it against the Bible.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
She was approximating what she heard one time.
Speaker 8 (17:35):
But the Bible says that no temptation has overtaken you,
and God will give you a way of escape. It
doesn't say that God won't put more on you than
you can bear. Chemo certainly will put more on you than.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
You can bear.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
So you won't get confused and think you're him. That's
actually God's job security to call you to do things
that you can't do without Him, so you won't get
there and be without Him and think you can do it.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I need the Lord in my life.
Speaker 8 (18:01):
I need the Lord, and I have every six days
reminder when I come preach to you. And do you
know that my favorite thing to do that does not
involve my family is to be up.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Here and share the word of the Lord with you.
It really is.
Speaker 8 (18:14):
But if you were to ask me two hours before
I get up here, are you excited to preach? I
would have a difficult time. If you hook me up
to a lie detector. Just say in a straight yes,
because I am excited. But and please don't tell all
the Pharisees that want to qute a scripture verse at
(18:34):
me when they hear this. I'm also anxious. I know
the Bible says don't be anxious, but that was Paul.
He's farther along than I am. I'm anxious. I'm anxious.
Will I say it right? I'm anxious? Will you hear
it right? I'm anxious? Will I leave the best part out?
I'm anxious? Will I say something that is not exactly
(18:54):
correct and maybe lead you astray? Even when I preach
about this kind of message. Let me tell what makes
me anxious. I'm scared that you will hear that Jacob
went to Egypt and use it as an excuse to
run away from something.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Hard in your life.
Speaker 8 (19:09):
Because people will even take a phrase that you preach
on with a good intention, like the Lord said to Jacob,
don't be afraid to go to Egypt, and they will
somehow translate that into the Lord saying, quit your accounting
job even though you have four mouths to feed, and
open a coffee shop because you like coffee. But maybe
what the Lord is really saying is drink more coffee
(19:30):
and keep accounting because you've got a whole family to
feed and those kids need to go to college. So
I'm worried about all of that. I'm worried about will
it be boring. I'm worried about will I say too much,
say too little? I'm just being honest. So I came
up with a way to explain it, and I thought
it might help you. Now, this is a trademark word,
and this word belongs to me, but you can borrow
(19:52):
it for the situations in your life where you feel
excited but you also feel anxious.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
From now on, we call that anxcited. You got anything in.
Speaker 8 (20:06):
Your life that you feel that way about today? So
if you if you ever asked me before I preach,
how do you feel, I'm gonna tell you I'm excited,
and you'll say, Pastor Steven, anxcited ain't a word, and
I'll say may it may not be a word, but
it is a reality. The fact is, if I focus
(20:26):
on getting it wrong, I'm gonna feel completely paralyzed. If
I focus on pleasing people, I'm gonna feel completely paralyzed.
If I focus on not leaving anything out, I'm going
to stand up here like I'm performing for you.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
But the Saint Vegas.
Speaker 8 (20:42):
If I focus on feeding you what God gave me
for what you're going through in your life, I'm excited.
So I want you to understand that both options are
always available. I can be anxious, I can be excited.
I'm like Jacob. Sometimes I can't really name how how
I feel. I can't really name the season I'm in.
(21:03):
On one hand, I'm really happy to be in front
of you, I'm really I'm really thrilled with the prospect
of being a vessel for God to use it. On
the other hand, I'm terrified, and don't look at me judgmental,
because you don't like to give speeches or hear your
own voice either. So I'm excited, I'm anxious. I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I don't know how to spell that, but I certainly
know what it feels.
Speaker 8 (21:24):
Like I'm excited, and I believe there's somebody in the
room today that feels that way about this season of
your life. I'm excited. Tell your neighbor, I'm excited. I'm
kind of shaky in it, but I'm I'm, I'm, I'm
I'm kind of looking.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Forward to it.
Speaker 8 (21:44):
I'm kind of relieved that things are changing, and I'm
kind of terrified that things will never be the same.
I'm kind of I'm kind of feeling a sense of
adventure in my life because I got fired, and I'm
also watching my bank account and is running the wrong
way from abundance. It's moving in the wrong direction. So
(22:06):
I'm kind of excited to have free time, but I'm
kind of not excited. I'm a little anxious about having
less money because now I'm stretched and I'm stretching towards
something that i didn't expect, and in this season of
my life, I'm excited. Somebody asked me recently, what do
you and Holly feel about being empty nester soon?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I said, soon?
Speaker 8 (22:26):
Abby as fourteen, why are you trying to run her
out the house? Just started wearing makeup? Give me a
few more years. I'm excited about my kids growing up.
I'm excited about releasing them into the world. I'm excited
about being in Charlotte. Some of you just moved here
in the last month. Some of you moved here to
(22:46):
be a part of this church. How do you feel
about it. I'm excited. That's an excited praise. That's I'm clapping.
Sometimes I'm crying. Sometimes i miss my in.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Austin, and I'm looking forward to meeting new ones here.
Speaker 8 (23:03):
I'm just trying to tell you that sometimes the cliches
that we use oversimplify the depth of the human experience,
and to remind you that you will always be both
anxious and excited. Both look like shaking hands. Anxious and excited.
(23:26):
Both feel like sweaty palms. Anxious and excited. Both put
butterflies in your stomach. But whether those butterflies are a
burden or a blessing.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Depends on which one you lean into.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
The news reaches Jacob Joseph is on the throne in Egypt.
He is the prime minister of the most powerful nation
on earth, and he has sent us with an instruction
to bring you back. And he said, we don't even
have to worry about bringing our own stuff with us,
because when we get there, He's got us. I don't
(24:03):
know who this is a word for, but when you
get there, God's got you. Don't overbird in the process
by overplanning your steps. I said, don't overbird in the
process by overplanning your steps.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
When you get there, He's got you.
Speaker 8 (24:22):
And the process of God speaking to Jacob is a
very complicated process because he's already changed his name to Israel.
In fact, if you read the account in Genesis chapter
forty six, you are forgiven. If you are a little confused,
let's read it together again and see why it's confusing. Remember,
(24:43):
Israel is Jacob's new name. It's not only the nation
that he fathered, but it is the name he was given.
It's the name of his strength. Jacob, on the other hand,
is the name of his weakness. It speaks of his
tendency to deceive and pipulate.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And chase and compare.
Speaker 8 (25:03):
So the Bible says in Genesis forty six, at this
pivotal moment in Jacob's life, so Israel took his journey.
We're talking about a man whose name has been changed
with all that he had and came to Beersheba and
offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac, and
(25:24):
God spoke to Israel.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
New name. God spoke to Israel.
Speaker 8 (25:29):
Strength. God spoke to Israel, which means prince. God spoke
to Israel, the changed Jacob. God spoke to Israel in
visions of the night and said Jacob, Jacob. So if
his name is Israel, why are you speaking to Jacob?
And I want to give you a principle to take
(25:50):
with you today into every situation you encountered this week.
Wherever God calls your Israel, you have to take Ja
with you.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
It's gonna be good. In a minute.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Let me work on this word for a minute, because
you've been confused lately, because some habits have been sneaking
back up on you that you thought you'd let go of,
because some sins have been trying to strangle the life
of you. But you thought you broke the chokehold. Because
some things you said you never would do again, you
started doing them again.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
And you're carrying it like a secret in your heart.
Speaker 8 (26:24):
Because somebody got up and told you that if you
accepted Jesus, you would leave the old U behind. And
that is true. Positionally, God no longer relates to you
on the basis of any sin you committed. Every single
one of the sins that you committed was nailed to
the cross. Its effect was canceled. Your record is cleaning.
Your sins have been blotted out. All of that is true.
(26:46):
You have been delivered from the penalty of sin. You
have been delivered from the power of sin. Sin is
no longer your position. Sin is no longer your identity.
But although you have been delivered from the power, although
you have been delivered from the penalty, and although it
is no longer your position, you still have some patterns
(27:07):
called sin that go with you into your future called now.
And I want to preach this because you are Israel,
and you are Jacob, but you are kind of Israel, Acob.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I'm a preacher till you get honest.
Speaker 8 (27:24):
I'm a preacher till you stop polishing your halo and
pretending like you didn't cuss once this week. I'm a
preacher till you stop pretending like you got.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
The right to make comments.
Speaker 8 (27:34):
In YouTube about other people's faith when you know good
and well, you are not always on a church website.
When you know good and well, there's some Jacob that
came with you to chart. Aren't you just giving the
(27:56):
people permission to sin? They're doing pretty good without remission.
Ma'am trying to give you power, perspective, and presence that
when God speaks to your Jacob, you don't run away
and hide.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Okay, something very meaningful.
Speaker 8 (28:22):
Always prepare three illustrations for each point, and then I
try to stand in the room and figure out which
one makes sense for right now. And usually if you're
looking at me all stuffy, I'll go to the safe one.
But today I feel kind of free. One time I
apologize to Holly because I'm not always relaxed. We were
on vacation and I said, I know you really liked
(28:44):
this version of me. It had been three works three
weeks since I had to work on a sermon, and
three weeks of not having to be anxcited puts me
in a very relaxed state of mind.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Relaxed and lazy, real lazy.
Speaker 8 (28:58):
I get real lazy, I said, I know you love
this version of me because I'm so men. You should
see my southern small town charm come out. I'm speaking
to everybody, holding doors, for everybody buying ice cream.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
For skaters that I used to would have said, their punks.
Speaker 8 (29:13):
But I'm buying ice cream. They smell like weed. I'm
buying them ice cream telling them about Jesus. It's a
great state. I said, I know you love this version
of me. She said, yeah, I do, she said, but
I love all of them. That was the biggest collective
awe in church history. You made history today church, and
(29:39):
that did something for me.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
It did something for me.
Speaker 8 (29:45):
Because I realized that she knew that we wouldn't be
on vacation if I was never stressed, at least not
staying indoors with plumbing. That meant a lot to That
means a lot to a man, It means a lot
to a woman when you appreciate the fact that the
(30:06):
parts of me that are not that great come with
the package, not so that I can continue to be
a complete schizophrenic before I preach.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
But it unburdened me a little bit. And I'll tell
you what it was.
Speaker 8 (30:22):
I'm going to give you four things that were a
part of Jacob's journey today that you can practically apply
to your wife, your life, or your wife. And the
first one I've spoken of. But I want to be
really clear. I want to talk to you about the weight.
Write it down, please w eight weight, not waits in
(30:43):
a period of time that lapses before you know a
conclusion which would be appropriate to twenty two years that
he has held in his heart the horror of losing
his son Joseph. So it's kind of hard to get
happy in five minutes when I've held this twenty two years.
Have more compassion on people as they change, including you.
(31:07):
You know how when you drive down the interstate they
have way stations for truckers. I wish we could have
one of those in the church for Christians, and we
wouldn't be measuring whether you're down three pounds or not.
I would love to know if you carried too much
into this room today so that we could unburden you
(31:30):
before you head back out, because you are dangerous with
too much weight, and you're dangerous with too little weight.
There are some responsibilities that God has placed on you
that are the answers to the prayers that you prayed.
The Lord was telling me one time that I was
(31:51):
complaining about prayers that I had prayed six months ago
being answered.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
You follow me.
Speaker 8 (31:58):
In other words, he did it, and then I got it,
and it was heavy. Nobody ever tells you this. Blessings
are heavy. Blessings are heavy. Everybody who's praying God will
give you a baby.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Blessings are heavy.
Speaker 8 (32:16):
I don't care eight pounds, ten pounds, twelve pounds. Abby
said the other day she had a dream that she
came out weighing one hundred and thirty pounds. And the
truth of the matter is that the weight that Jacob
is cared and I just want to talk to a
little bit about today because he's carrying not only his
own pain and his uncertainty, but the responsibility that his
(32:42):
name represents an entire nation.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Talk about weight, talk about heaviness.
Speaker 8 (32:50):
A few weeks ago, I talked about how heaviness and
happiness sit at the same table, how heaviness and happiness
live in the same heart. If we wait for the
heaviness to go away to be happy, we will defer
our joy and postpone it indefinitely. Waiting on a future
time to praise God when all of your kids are
(33:10):
doing well is a trap. Waiting on a future time
to praise God when all your debts are paid off
is a trap. Waiting on a future time to praise
God when nothing in your body hurts is a trap.
Waiting to praise God, waiting to enjoy your life, waiting
to be thankful, waiting to smile, waiting to laugh until
you know how this is going to turn out. Waiting
(33:33):
until the outcome is clear for you to make a
commitment to serve Jesus is a trap. And that's why
Jacob had to set out with a heavy heart. Sometimes
you have to head there heavy. Sometimes you have to
move there weigh down. Sometimes you have to take a
step forward knowing that I don't even know about the
(33:54):
next one yet, but I will take this one. And
so the process of coming to the Lord is to
learn how to take the weight that he gives you.
But I will remind you today that God can't help
you carry something that he never called you to. One
New Testament writer said to lay aside all the sin
(34:16):
and the weight that easily besets you. Sometimes I think
we're carrying sins that we won't give up. But other
times I think we're carrying weights that aren't exactly sins,
but are taking up the space in our life that
could be used for trusting God, that could be used
for creative solutions.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
If the devil wants to destroy you.
Speaker 8 (34:37):
He will get your mind so full of stuff that
does not matter anyway, to get you moved.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Off of what you are uniquely called to do.
Speaker 8 (34:49):
And to realize that Jacob in this moment is receiving
good news, but he is still grieving what he's been through.
Receiving good news but very excited about where he's going.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
May give you a little compassion for yourself. That I
have this weight. It's not that my heart is hard,
it's that it's heavy.
Speaker 8 (35:17):
And as he is considering this, I mean picture, he
has to decide, am I going to believe that this
is possible? Just like you are deciding Dove's nest? Am
I going to believe that my recovery is possible? Just
like you are having to decide? College student? Is it
really worth it to live for Jesus? Just like you
are having to decide in this season of your life.
(35:40):
Am I going to call a therapist and start to
work on this so that I don't just carry this
forth as my template for the rest of my life.
And as he is trying to decide whether to leave
what is familiar and walk in what is fearful and
point himself in the direction of the unexpected pregnant possibility.
(36:02):
God has answered his prayers that for twenty two years
lay dormant, not dead. The Bible says in verse twenty
seven that as he was carrying this weight, everybody say wait,
come on, say it loud, or say wait. I want
you to say it as loud as it is heavy
to you. One two three. Yeah. The crushing expectations that
(36:25):
you had of yourself, the crushing disappointment of what didn't happen.
And some of you are like, I'm doing good today.
Way in next week, we'll check you next week. Something
could happen between you know, something could get on something
could get on your truck this week that could make
you break down in tears and not be so arrogant.
So never judge somebody because of what they are carrying.
(36:45):
One side note, one side note. I met a man
a year ago, and when I met him, I said,
he is so arrogant. All he did was talk about himself.
I've never met somebody so arrogant. I walked away and
thought I have discernment. I saw him him again a
year later. He said, I wanted to tell you something.
The first time you met me, you couldn't have known this,
(37:05):
but I had just received news the day before that
I lost my job. I had been throwing up in
a hotel room all night. So I apologize if I
came across a certain way, and I'm like, you did,
you did? And isn't it crazy that I couldn't even
see who he really was because all I could see
was what he carried. Tell your neighbor, I'm really a
(37:30):
good person. Catch me at the right time. I'll buy
you some ice cream. I see the Lord is speaking
to Jacob while he's trying to move forward as Israel.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
I said.
Speaker 8 (37:44):
The Lord is speaking to Jacob while he's trying to
move forward as Israel, and he's trying to decide, do
I believe?
Speaker 1 (37:50):
How would you believe? These boys? Do you remember what
they did?
Speaker 8 (37:55):
They brought Joseph's coat to their dad and said, is
this the coat you gave Joseph? They were always jealous
of him, and they dipped it in blood to make
it look like he was muled by animals, and he was.
They were the animals. Now he was on his way
to Egypt, and God was using all of that sovereignly.
But in that moment, all Jacob felt with sadness, and
he kept that coat for twenty two years. It's all
(38:18):
he had left of his son. And now these same
boys they've gone down to Egypt. They found out there's food.
There's gonna be five more years of famine. And Joseph says, come,
I got you. When you get here, I got you.
So they go back to Canaan and they say, Dad,
we gotta go.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Joseph's alive.
Speaker 8 (38:33):
He's gonna take care of us, and there's hope in
his heart, and there's happiness in his heart. And the
weight almost watched this. It almost keeps him from going.
I love this word in the Bible put up verse
twenty seven. But when they told him the words of Joseph,
(38:56):
which he had said to them, now get ready to
shed a little bit, because this part that comes next
is really important.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
It was one thing to hear their words, because.
Speaker 8 (39:07):
They've said a lot of things and they've lied about it.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
It is one thing to believe people.
Speaker 8 (39:13):
It is one thing to believe a preacher, But it
is another thing when God gives you evidence of his
presence that you can't deny. And I believe I'm talking
to about two hundred and twenty five people today somewhere
in this.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Room at Valentine, that.
Speaker 8 (39:33):
Your heart has been heavy, but you've got evidence that
God is not quite through with you yet. And now
the devil would love for you to look past the evidence.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
But watch this.
Speaker 8 (39:44):
The Bible says that he was trying to believe, trying
to take it in, trying to wake up his heart,
trying to revive his spirit, trying to convince himself, trying
to get a move on, trying to make a plan, trying,
but his heart was numb and he couldn't move my
verse when he heard the words of Joseph, which he
had said to them secondhand, and.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
When he saw the wagons.
Speaker 8 (40:13):
That's the second word I want you to write down
is wagons. Because I got weight. I'm going through some things.
I've got weight, I've got unanswered questions. I've got weight.
There are some people who have disappointed me. I've got weight.
Somebody say I've got weight, But I've also got wagons.
(40:35):
And this is the part where if you are Pentecostal,
even by five percent, I want you to look out
your window today spiritually speaking, and look at all the
wagons that God has sent to bring you where.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
You're supposed to be.
Speaker 8 (40:53):
Now we've got a choice to make because I'm excited,
because I'm heartbroken, but I'm hopeful, and the weight is
trying to get me to stay depressed.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
But the wagons are calling me to move on.
Speaker 8 (41:07):
And I want to know which one is your faith
in the weight or the wagons.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Plus, God sent me.
Speaker 8 (41:15):
With a prophetic word for somebody. You'll got wagons waiting
for you. You'll got transportation waiting for you.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Hot five everybody you can reach and.
Speaker 7 (41:29):
Say, here come the wagons, Here come the wagons.
Speaker 8 (41:37):
And there is no way, oh feel like, testify, there
is no way i'd be here. There is no way
i'd be here if it had not been for the wagons.
All right, you'll help me get happy about the wagons,
the wagons, the wagons, the wagons. Jacob's like, I don't
(41:58):
know if this is true. I don't believe these boys.
These boys are rascals. These boys are liars.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Reuben's a liar, Simeon's a liar, Judah is a liar.
Speaker 8 (42:05):
Who can I trust? All my boys are dysfunctional. All
this weight is too much for me. I've been twenty
two years in this condition. I don't know if I
should believe this. And while he's listening to them, he
is stuck in the weight. But when he saw the wagons,
when he saw those wagons, when Joseph sent his brother's back,
(42:27):
he said, take the best wagons that Egypt has to offer.
Hold on, let me ask my boss, Pharaoh. I gotta
go get my dad and bring him back. Would you
let me borrow some wagons? Pharaoh said, yeah, I'm not
even there. I don't even worship their same God, but
I will send them the transportation to bring them here
(42:47):
to eat. God doesn't even have to use the right
thing to get you where you're supposed to go. Gott,
Can I say it like I feel it. God's gonna
use some stupid stuff to get you there. God's gonna
use some ridiculous things to get you there, some weird wagons.
(43:10):
What are these wagons? I never seen wagons like this before.
Aren't these Pharaoh's wagons? Yeah, but they're under God's jurisdiction.
So I'm explaining how God came to get him with
the wagons. Because God knew he had a limp, and
(43:34):
he knows where you're weighty, and he knows where you're wheat.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
And that's what the wagons are. For give me the
verse again. Ain't that anointed? Mom? I said, ain't that annoyed? Mom?
Speaker 8 (43:50):
If my mom doesn't think it's annoyed, I need to
shut it down. But when he saw the wagons, are
you back there justin? Can you circle when he saw
the wagons? Oh, when he saw the wagons that Joseph
had sent to carry him. I want you to circle
carry too, because I think that's the key right there
(44:16):
for the Lord lightning your load today. I don't think
he needs to take something off of you. I think
he needs to put something under you.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Wow.
Speaker 8 (44:29):
The Lord will lighten your load, not by decreasing the weight,
but by sending the wagons.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
Wow, what are your wagons?
Speaker 8 (44:40):
And why won't you get in them? Why you keep
not joining an e group? You think the whole group
has COVID? But you you're gonna go catch nothing from him? Maybe,
but Jesus might catch some joy, might catch some peace,
might catch some better habits, might catch some accountability, might
catch some spiritual discipline, might catch a.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
Dave Ramsey budget makeover. You might catch something good.
Speaker 8 (45:03):
Keep praying about the weight of your financial burden, but
you won't get on the wagon. Get on the wagon.
Limp to the wagon. You can get on the wagon. Weeping,
just get one. You can get on the wagon. Worried,
just get on. You can get on the wagon with
(45:26):
all of your weight. These are good wagons. These are
trustworthy wagons because Joseph sent them, because God sent them,
and he will help you carry what he called you
to and nothing that he didn't, which is why it
becomes so important. I talked about the weight. I talked
(45:49):
about the wagons. Can I talk for a moment about
the worship? Okay, this is important. He sets out in
the wagons. He says, all the wagons are here. That
must mean it's true. And I use this to illustrate
all the things that God is sending in your life,
to convince you that He's with you, in spite of
all of your feelings saying that he isn't. They are there.
(46:12):
Sometimes you can't see the wagons through your weeping. So
he gets on right. And I would love to read
the whole chapter to you where it lists all the
people he had to take, because you would start to
feel how weighty it is, and you would start to
identify he has to take them their children and some
grandchildren because he's one hundred and thirty and he has
accumulated a lot. Now they're on there with animals, They're
(46:33):
on there with people, They're on there with people that
act like animals. I did not mean to describe your
family vacation. But let's make this real. Let's make this live.
Just leave this in BC. Let's bring it to right now.
Let's bring this to your life. He's on the wagons,
but he's still worried. And I think this is the
part that that maybe can help you Wednesday to worship
(46:58):
God Wednesday. I don't really I don't really preach with
the intention for you to worship God's Sunday. I want
you to worship Wednesday when it's weighty, when.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
You are on your way and you're worried.
Speaker 8 (47:13):
So in Genesis forty six, verse one, it looks like
they're going straight to Egypt to get the food, because
that's where the food is. That's where Joseph is. But Israel,
the better part of Jacob, took his journey with all
that he had, including Jacob. I'm gonna say it again,
(47:34):
your silence does not intimidate me from making my point.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
You bring you with you. You bring you with you.
Speaker 8 (47:44):
If you get a promotion, I hope you're a good
boss because you bring you with you. If you get
a partner, you bring you with you. If you have kids,
you bring you with you. And all they are going
to do is show you you in a funhouse mirror.
You'll bring you with you. So when it says Israel
(48:06):
took his journey, and then people say enjoy the journey,
I hate that cliche. How am I supposed to enjoy
the journey with seventy jokers that I can't trust with
the land that I'm headed to that I have never seen, that,
I cannot research that, I can't even really understand what
it's going to be like with the sadness of my
(48:27):
past following me here. So Israel took his journey.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
With all that he had and came to Beersheba.
Speaker 8 (48:33):
Beersheba is on the border of southern Canaan.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
What does that mean? It's right there on the edge
of going to Egypt.
Speaker 8 (48:42):
If he gets past Beersheba, he's going all the way.
So he stops there, and watch what he does when
he stops. He takes some of those animals that were
in that wagon that would have represented something that he
accumulated in Canaan. And he offered sacrifices to the God
of his father Isaac. Next verse and God spoke. Verse one,
(49:08):
he offered sacrifices and God spoke. He gave God something,
and God gave him something. I am not saying that
this is a transaction, but it is a fact. Worship
(49:29):
is Heaven's strategy to unburden the human heart. Worship is
Heaven's strategy to see you with your messed up mind,
to see you with your jacked up habits, to see
you with your cluttered state of mind, to see you
in all of your burdenedness.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
And to say, let me lighten your load.
Speaker 8 (49:56):
And when he offered sacrifices, God spoke and said Jacob, Jacob,
And he said here I am, I'm here, I'm excided
about this journey. And verse three says then the Lord said,
(50:17):
I am God. Now aren't you glad that both of
those are true? You're still Jacob, but he's still God.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
Wow.
Speaker 8 (50:30):
I told you I had a word for you today,
and the word is you need to worship. When you
feel the weight, pull the wagon over and worship. Uh,
what do you mean, pastor Steve, I'm driving right now.
Should I lift my hands? Put your hands on ten
and two and worship and worship and rehearse the greatness
(50:57):
of God until you get the frustrations of your Jacob, Jacob, Martha, Martha, Simon, Simon, Moses, Moses,
I am God.
Speaker 1 (51:16):
I don't care.
Speaker 8 (51:17):
Who you think you are or who you're not. You're
not bound by any of that. I am God, the
God of your father. By the way, Isaac made an
offering in Beersheba too, so did Abraham. This was a
significant place for Jacob, but he was having to do
something his father's never did. And when you come to
a place where you've never seen a model for it,
(51:37):
when you come to a place where you've never seen
an example for it, when you've come to a place
where you didn't have anybody to show you the way,
when you come to a place and you don't know
how worship, worship, and the Lord will lighten your load.
(51:58):
I'm not talking about singing. He didn't sing. He sacrificed.
True worship is you giving up something that you weren't
meant to carry. The Lord will lighten your load. Before
you go forward into this next thing. I see you
giving up what people think about it. That's worship. When
(52:19):
you give up what people think about it and you
get serious.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
About what God has said about it, that's worship.
Speaker 8 (52:26):
Some of us cannot move forward in strength because we
are too stuck in status. When you give up on
what people say about it, people think about it.
Speaker 1 (52:36):
Whether you're going to be embarrassed about it.
Speaker 8 (52:38):
When you worship and you say, God, you're so sovereign,
look at all of these wagons you sent. I'm telling you,
if you want to get from weakness to strength in
your spirit this week, start counting wagons instead of telling
them how much it weighs. Start thinking them for wagons.
Look at what you've done for me, God, Look at
(52:59):
what you've brought to me. God, look at how you've
helped me. And the Lord said Jacob. Jacob, I am God.
I know this isn't the same way that your fathers went.
I know this isn't the same strategy that they had,
but I'm the same God.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
So do not be afraid to go down to Egypt. Now.
Speaker 8 (53:18):
I don't know what you need to put in that sentence,
but leave it up there. Do not be afraid too.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
There are two.
Speaker 8 (53:24):
Specific times in scripture that God says specifically what not
to be afraid of. He tells Joseph, do not be
afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what
is in her is of me. And he tells Jacob,
do not be afraid to go to Egypt, even though
it seems dangerous.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
Even though it seems risky, remember I'm not telling you
to start a hair salon.
Speaker 8 (53:47):
Egypt does not represent just whateverthing you want to do.
It is what God has called you to do that
you are afraid to do, that you are unfamiliar with.
Speaker 1 (53:57):
Do not be afraid to do it.
Speaker 8 (53:59):
Watch the for there in the unfamiliar place, There in
the place nobody in.
Speaker 1 (54:05):
Your family has lived in before.
Speaker 8 (54:07):
They're in the place where you thought Joseph was dead,
but he's.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
Actually waiting for you.
Speaker 6 (54:12):
There.
Speaker 1 (54:13):
I will make you into a great nation.
Speaker 8 (54:16):
Verse four, I my self will go down with you
to Egypt, to the hospital, into your senior years, into
the ninth grade. I myself, God says, will go down
(54:37):
with you. In other words, I'm gonna lighten your load,
because not only do you have weight, and not only
do you have wagons and Not only do you have worship,
but when you worship me, the weight lifts, and your
wagons have wings. And I'm carrying you because I got wings.
(55:02):
I put wings on your wagons. I put strength in
your weakness. I put a step in your limb. I
put power in your spirit. I put wings on your wagons.
My wagons have wings, y'all. I'm gonna get there because
He's with me. My wagons have wings. Yeah, I've got
(55:25):
weight on me. Yeah, I've got burdens about the future. Yeah,
I'm excited about it. Yeah, I'm still Jacob, but I'm
not traveling alone. Because they that wait on the Lord
will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings
(55:49):
like eagles. I'm going to each of them on eagles wings.
Speaker 1 (55:56):
I'm going on wings.
Speaker 8 (55:59):
The God did not grow weary they start walking.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
I think I'm going in the straight. I'm the glory
of God.
Speaker 7 (56:12):
My wagons have wings, My wagons have wings.
Speaker 8 (56:16):
I got a hate sooth all around my family.
Speaker 1 (56:20):
My wagons.
Speaker 7 (56:23):
Don't be surprised when I rise a puppet the Lord.
Speaker 1 (56:27):
That's lighten my load.
Speaker 8 (56:33):
My wagons have wings, My tears have intention, my worship
has purpose.
Speaker 5 (56:47):
I know.
Speaker 1 (56:49):
You're carrying a lie, but you're carried to your wagons.
Speaker 8 (56:59):
Have wings. He's going with you. I don't know where
you're going. You don't either, but I know one thing.
He's going with you.
Speaker 1 (57:10):
Give my camera. I speak to your burden soul today.
He's going with you.
Speaker 8 (57:16):
Well, while back, I was doing ministry with somebody that
was tag team. I looked over at them before we
went up. I could see he was so nervous. I
put my arm around him. I said, you do it already.
Speaker 1 (57:24):
He said no.
Speaker 8 (57:26):
I said why not? He said, I don't know what
to do up there. I said, I'm not good at much,
but i'm good at this. The Lord's prepared me. So
we go up there. I don't want you to worry
about anything. I'm going up there with you, and if
you stop talking mid syllable, I'll pick it up and
(57:47):
say the next syllable like we meant to do it.
Because I could tell he was carrying weight, so I
told him, I'll be your wings. I could see a
tear come in his eye because he was carrying so much.
(58:08):
I'll be your wingman, That's what I was telling him.
And then I looked him in his eye and I
said something to him, And I believe that the Lord
would say this to each of his children today too. Hey, hey,
I won't let you fail. And I know every skeptical
(58:38):
in your bone, is every bone in your body that
skeptical is screaming right now? Then then why did my
best friend die of cancer? Then why did the business feel?
Then why did the marriage feel? Maybe it wasn't a failure.
Maybe even maybe even when they died, their purpose on
earth was just getting started. Maybe the business that failed
(59:03):
wasn't the one that you were called to run. Did
you think about that? Maybe God's failures or foundations.
Speaker 1 (59:11):
And I want you.
Speaker 8 (59:12):
To let him lighten your load today because I'm gonna
tell you something, Jacob, if you try to ride in
that wagon and you let Jacob steer, you won't make
it where you're supposed to be.
Speaker 1 (59:26):
The word of the Lord came to Israel in the.
Speaker 8 (59:28):
Night to speak to the part of you that knows
that worship gives me wings and it can be just
the smallest transition in your life. I'm telling you, I
know there are people in here today who are carrying weight,
unimaginable weight.
Speaker 1 (59:43):
But stand on your feet right now.
Speaker 8 (59:47):
And in the presence of your God, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, Jacob, Jacob,
the God of Simon, Simon, God of Martha, Martha, the
God of Abraham, Abraham, the God of Moses, Moses. That
(01:00:08):
God knows your name, knows your needs, he knows your limp,
he knows your loss, and he wants to give you
wings on your wagon today. The truth is, if you're here,
it's because you are carried. Somebody say, I'm carried. That
(01:00:31):
verse really spoke to me, Man in verse five, where
it says Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of
Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their
wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
You know how, I know you can because you're carried.
(01:00:53):
Say that out loud as a confession.
Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
I can.
Speaker 8 (01:00:56):
Because I'm carried. I can make it through this. I
can find a solution. I can forgive them, I can
continue to work through this.
Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
I can recover. I can say it. I can because
I'm carried.
Speaker 8 (01:01:14):
And some people will see that and they'll think that
your confidence is cockiness. I'm not cocky. I'm carried. I'm carried.
My confidence is in the fact that God is carrying me.
Don't you see how his hand has carried.
Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
You this far? Then why wouldn't you let him lighten
your load.
Speaker 8 (01:01:41):
I imagine Jacob getting back on the wagons, and they
felt a little lighter because he took a few of
those animals and sacrificed him. I imagine him getting back
on the wagon and feeling a little bit lighter because
he was reminded who he really was. I see him
getting on the wagon. It's a little bit lighter because
you can't.
Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
See it, but my wagon has wings. Be prepared. This week,
somebody is gonna tell you look different. Have you lost weight?
Speaker 8 (01:02:11):
Tell them, yeah, tell them two things happen. Come on,
look at your neighbor and say two things happen today.
Tell them I lost weight and I got wings. Now,
let's take twenty seconds and worship the.
Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Lord for what he did in this place. You'll sing
a little bit.
Speaker 8 (01:02:34):
Come on, worshippers, worshippers, where are the worshippers? FU say,
get your hands off, get your hands up, get your
wings back, Get your wings back.
Speaker 9 (01:02:49):
These chapel zuway care the Lord is in these Please
the Lord is it.
Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
I'm carrying.
Speaker 4 (01:03:01):
I'm carrying for me.
Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
I'm carry I'm carrying this I for sake.
Speaker 8 (01:03:07):
Cat.
Speaker 10 (01:03:09):
The Lord is here these place. Flord is here, the space.
Come fo please speed travel Cat. The Lord is in
this clip.
Speaker 5 (01:03:25):
Hold on, get these wings se so you can rise
Obama and naked. He won't let you nail, He won't forsaken,
He will not leave you.
Speaker 10 (01:03:37):
Art this class right here, right now, here's God speed.
Speaker 8 (01:03:48):
Trivels. Cat.
Speaker 4 (01:03:51):
Flord is here, the slap Flord is in this.
Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
That's bowed, eyes closed. God is here.
Speaker 8 (01:04:05):
He's here to forgive sin. He's here to heal hearts.
He's here to make new. Right now, there are hundreds,
if not thousands, of people under the sound of my
voice who desperately need to give your life to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Today. You cannot carry it any longer. You cannot do
it by yourself any longer. You were not meant to.
Speaker 8 (01:04:29):
He died for you, He rose again to give you life.
It is by grace you are saved through faith. This
not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not
of work, so that no one can boast.
Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
And today God brought you to this place so that
you could be saved.
Speaker 8 (01:04:44):
So right now, I'm going to lead you in a prayer,
whether you're online or in the room, And if you'll
repeat this prayer after me and believe it in your heart.
The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Right now,
the hand of Heaven is stretching to you in the
person of Jesus Christ. Will you receive this gift. This
(01:05:05):
is a new beginning for you. This is a defining
moment for you. God is calling your name right now,
and I want to lead you.
Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
In this prayer.
Speaker 8 (01:05:12):
Whether you're coming to Him for the first time or
you've wandered in your coming back, this is your day.
This is your moment. He's calling your name. Call on
his name and you will be saved. Repeat after me
as a church family, out loud, Heavenly.
Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Father, today is my day of salvation.
Speaker 8 (01:05:32):
I am a sinner in need of a savior, and
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
and the Savior of the world. And today I make
Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died
that I would be forgiven and rose again to give
(01:05:55):
me life. I receive this new life. This is my
new beginning. I am a child of God.
Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
On the counter of three shoots. Your hand up.
Speaker 8 (01:06:08):
If you've prayed that one, two, three all over the room.
Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 8 (01:06:17):
Zevil you lost another one, and another one, and another
one and another one into the.
Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
Family of God, born again by the spirit of grace.
Speaker 7 (01:06:28):
Let's give Jesus a great sound of brad.
Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
Glory to God.
Speaker 8 (01:06:39):
Praise the Lord for all the new lives. Thank you
for staying till the very end. Thank you for coming
to church today. Thank you for showing up in the
presence of God. Campus pastors, you could take it. Did
you receive a word from God today? If you received
a word from God, let me hear you make some noise,
(01:07:01):
shout hallelujah.
Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
If you received it.
Speaker 8 (01:07:09):
I know I've preached along. But you won't even have
to fight traffic today because you.
Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
You got ways. I lost weight and I got ways,
so I can make it.
Speaker 8 (01:07:27):
Because now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more,
then we ask big.
Speaker 5 (01:07:36):
Or imagine to here big glory through Christ Jesus in
the Church now and forever.
Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
You're dismissed.
Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
I love you, Thank you for joining us. 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 (01:08:08):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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