November 21, 2025 • 43 mins
We know how to play the game, but are we playing the right one?
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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.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life. Enjoy the message when we say game changer.
You know, every year I pick a word several months
in advance and try to really build my teachings. Really,
rather than pick the word, I try to see what
God is speaking and then find a word that describes that.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It works better that way.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And I thought it was a little corny game changer,
you know, you hear that like three times a day ESPN.
But it sounded like a Gatorade commercial to me more
than a sermon series. But it really, Uh, it'll mean
something different when we're done with the series than it
does going into it.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
And you'll see that.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And today it's wan lea Foundation from the Pulpit from
Matthew chapter six. And last year's series was called Waymaker,
And so apparently I'm on the like a Waymaker game chang.
I'm gonna do Cake Baker in twenty nineteen. See how
if I could make a trilogy out of it. But Matthew,
chapter six will be a good place for us to
(01:11):
start from. The Sermon on the Mountain. This is my
dad's favorite scripture. He used to read it every day,
and then I would use it against him when he
went acting right, I'd be like.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You read it, but are you living it?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
So I've used the Bible against him as a as
a weapon, all right, Matthew Chapter six, verses one through four,
And I can't wait to share this with you. Very
powerful principle. It's practical, but it's also on another level,
very profound, and I think the best lessons are that way.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
And so here's what Jesus said.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of
others to be seen by them. So this might mean
you have to delete some apps on your phone, do
you know what I mean? Well, if you do practice
(02:06):
your acts of righteousness in front of others to be
seen by them, you will have no reward from your
Father in heaven.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
That's scary.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
So when you give to the needy, for instance, do
not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in
the synagogues and on the streets to be honored by others. Truly,
I tell you they have received the reward in full.
But when you give to the needy, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
That your giving may be in secret.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Then your father, who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you. And the title of this message is the
Secret Scoreboard. When when my kids first started playing recreational sports,
I went out and I turned to the person next
to me and said, hey, they need to turn on
(03:10):
the scoreboard. And Elijah was playing T ball at the
time for the Mudcats of Mint Hill. I said, they
need to turn on the scoreboard. It was his first game.
Brother looked back at me. He had several kids that
already played T boy. He said, they don't keep score
at this level. And when Elijah got in the car
(03:33):
after the game, I said, congratulations on your first win.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
He said, win. They didn't keep score. I said, I did.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
The first thing I did when that man said they
don't keep score at this level.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I found an app on my.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Phone and I decided every game that he played, I
was going to score it myself. And I told that
boy this the following I said, when you get in
this car. After the game, you ask me if you won,
and I will tell you whether or not you won.
(04:18):
I am your official scorekeeper. I believe God wants to
look at somebody today, y'all, Uncle, help me preach after
three weeks off. And one of the first things that
God does when he assumes control of your life is
(04:38):
he becomes your scorekeeper, because by default, we tend to
let everybody else keep.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Score, and it's hard to know.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Am I winning in real life, especially in adulthood, Am
I winning? I wonder that all the time. I feel
like in some areas it's the weirdest thing I will
win for a season. And while I'm winning in those
areas for that season, the other areas that are also
important to me suffer, and I can't keep up because
(05:09):
it's like I'm playing five sports at once, do.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It's like the family thing and the financial thing. Those
don't always work together. Sometimes those seem to compete against
each other, and it's hard to keep score, especially because
now we live in a world where there are permanent
reminders of everybody else's score, and even though they're not
playing the same sport, they don't have the same calling
(05:34):
the same circumstances, the same situation. We're all living on
the same platforms, being fed the same false images, and
wondering is their life really that much better than mine?
Or are they just a better photographer? The game has
changed because back in the day, you used to compare
yourself to a really small circle of people, whoever was
around you.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And that's why I grew up thinking I was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
A good guitarist, because I didn't have any real good
guitarist to see on YouTube, and so you know, whoever
else played guitar, all three of us, that was my
standard of comparison.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But the game has changed now.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
It's it's no longer possible to feel really good about
yourself for any length of time because the standards have
shifted and the game has changed.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Touch somebody say the game has changed.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
When Jesus preached this sermon, the Bible says at the
beginning that he went up on a mountain side and
sat down, and his disciples came to him, and he
began to teach them, and began to teach them. So
like the text speaking physically has Jesus in a all right,
let's say physically, the text is describing elevation. He went
(06:51):
up on a mountain side, sat down and began to
teach them.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
That is the physical motif of the text. This is
the beginning of it.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
But really what he was about to do was more
like excavation, which is that he was going to dig
out beneath the surface. And I'm not changing the name
of the church, but excavation would be a good church
name too, because when you have a really good encounter
with God, when you really really meet Jesus, the first
thing that he begins to.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Do is challenge your values.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And we want him to build our life up and
build us and raise us and all of these wonderful
promises that are indeed in his word. But if he
does not first dig out a deep enough place in
our hearts and a foundation that is steady and stable enough,
then even what he builds in our life will be
subject to situations and circumstances. And so the first thing
(07:46):
that proves the presence of God in your life is
that he will begin to challenge your values. You know
how you can know if you if you met with God,
were your values child?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And I'll prove it to you when he.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Started preaching, because you look highly skeptical.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Right now, I won't lie.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I thought you're going to be more energetic with an
extra hour of sleep, but apparently not.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
It's all right, it's all right, i'llstle down a little bit.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
When you started teaching, he said, Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are those who mourn, for they'll be comforted. Well, right
off the bat, I'm kind of confused because Jesus is
telling me that it's not those who look like they're
winning a lot of times who are really the most blessed.
(08:42):
Blessed or the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Bless for those who hunger and thirst. What's a blessing
about being hungry and thirsty for righteousness?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
For they'll be filled. And with each of these statements is.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Commonly called the beatitudes, Jesus is giving a new definition
of blessing. And one thing that you'll notice about it
when he defines it, it's very contrary to the cultural values,
which are very external. You know, everything is about how
you look. If God blesses you, it is going to
show up as a physical manifestation.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
But when Jesus showed up, it changed the game because
in a religious system that was corrupted by the elevation
of appearances over the real condition of the heart, Jesus
begins to challenge the values not only of the world,
but of the religious not only in the streets but
(09:36):
in the synagogues. I've noticed the church is really good
at challenging the values of the world when it comes
to sexuality and entertainment and Disney. That's twenty years old,
but some of y'all will remember when the Church was
really good at challenging the value system.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Of the world. But the first thing that Jesus did,
seems to me, is.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
To challenge the value of the church, and so in
order to do that, he begins to dig. And it
really changes the game because it seems almost like an inversion,
seems like something is being flipped upside down. It's almost
as if when Jesus comes on the scene, he's less
(10:16):
concerned with playing the game right and more concerned with
playing the right game. Some of us are playing the
wrong game, and we spend a lot of our lives
trying to figure out how to play the game right.
But the question becomes this is the game changer. Not
(10:37):
are you playing the game right? But are you playing
the right game? And sometimes it takes us half our
lives to realize I've learned to play the game.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Right, but I wasn't playing the right game.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Wouldn't it be tragic to spend your whole life to
get good at a game that you weren't even supposed
to play, to win the approval of people who don't
sit on the throne anyway, to get really good at
something that isn't good for you. And I see this
(11:13):
more and more, more, more and more, as it becomes
easier for us to get sucked into systems of comparison
and analysis that have nothing to do with real value.
We start, we start getting good at winning, but winning
at what? Winning at what? And the game has changed.
(11:33):
It's changed so much for.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Young people, you know, Like when I was growing.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Up, it was different in terms of social media.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Even the games that I.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Played as a kid, the video games I played as
a kid, were much different than the games I see
my kids playing today. It was an entirely different level
of nobility involved in When the games I used to play,
we were doing real things, important things, like when I
(12:04):
was when I grew up playing games. We were we
were saving princesses. We were training to win heavyweight titles.
In order to do that, we had to we had
to face opponents like Soda Popinski and King Hippo from
(12:26):
Don Flamenco and the second Don Flamenco and Piston.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Honda and the second Bald Bull.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Real stuff, you know, things that that that that transposed
into actual life skill. But the other day, I was
watching my kids play game on their phone and all
they were doing and it was very it was very
fascinating to me. I just watched them for like five minutes.
All they were doing was tapping the screen, and I
(12:56):
watched for a little while before I realized, there's absolutely
no strat to what they're doing right now. I didn't
know the game that they're playing because I don't play
games on my phone. I read my Bible because I'm
a pastoring. But I walked over said and I said,
what is that game?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
What are you doing? And they said it was called
Cookie Clicker.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
They said it's old, Dad, it's an old game, not
as old as your games, but it's an.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Old game for us. I said, Cookie Clicker, Let me
see it. How do you play? They said, you click
the cookie.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
I said, all right, and then what like up up downtown, left, right, left, right,
ba star?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Is that the They.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Said, no, you just click. You just click the cookie. See,
these kids don't have to think like we had. Depend
They said, you clicked the cookie.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I said, all right.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
And then what they said, then you get more cookies.
When you like the cookie, you get more cookies. I said,
And then after you get more cookies, what.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Do you do after you get more cookies?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
They said, well, the more cookies you get, the more
the more cookies you can get each time you click.
That's what y'all been doing over here for the last
thirty minutes. No Princess Zelda, no Princess Toadstool, just clicking
(14:27):
cookies to get more cookies, to get more cookies, to
get more cookies, to get more cookies.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I said, let me try that. It was addictive. I
loved it. Five millions of cookies and I couldn't need
any of them, but I had fun clicking. Let me
ask you a question.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Have you been clicking on stuff playing a game without
asking the question, what is the goal of this game?
Have you ever argued with somebody and then you realize
that even if I win the argument, even if I
win your approval, even if I win your friendship, it's
(15:17):
not worth winning if I have to win it, even
if I make you like me. And that's what he
was doing. He was telling him quick clicking. Jesus was
saying this. He was saying, quick clicking. Tell somebody quick clicking,
(15:40):
quick clicking, and ask a different question. It's not am
I playing the game right?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Because you can get that right and succeed materially relationally,
you could get status, you could get power and get position.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
You can even be a really good preacher. But if
you don't do it.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
For the right reason, you can get all the cookies
that you want, but you can't dunk any of them
in milk. If it's not real, am I preaching?
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Everybody over fifty that ever clicked on worthless stuff and
found out it wasn't worth clicking.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
On makes some noise. God, the church is old. Did
you hear that? That was a roar?
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Twelve and a half years ago? If I'd asked that,
it wouldn't have been. Oh that made me feel weird.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
But it's good.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
It'scar it's multigenerational Amen, there's some wisdom that you get.
Jesus gives it on multiple levels. And six times he
does this thing in the Sermon on the Mound. I
wish I had time to show you all of it.
He said, what's up a construct like this? You have
heard it said, But I say to you, you've heard
(17:06):
it said. And then he would quote from the Rabbinic
tradition that they had been handed through the Law of Moses.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
But I say to you.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Then he would correct the values because he was speaking
to people who had perfected the appearance of religion. But
he understood that if the behavior is right, but the
belief that is beneath the behavior is not right. If
your values are shallow, your victories will be empty. And
(17:40):
why didn't you write that down? I worked all week
on that, Guston. I know you've got your pens out.
I have faith in you. If your values are shallow,
your victories will be empty. So I'm winning at what.
I'm winning at what? And Jeez went up on a
mountainside and he sat down. But then he began to
(18:02):
teach them He's digging beneath the behaviors to identify the
beliefs like one of them that he said he said,
you've heard it, said, don't murder. But I'm telling you,
if you're angry, even if you don't murder, you will
suffer the consequences of that anger and eventually will either
(18:23):
lead you toward taking action on it, or it will
deteriorate your spiritual condition to the point that you might
as well have gone ahead and done it because you're
living in a prison of hatred, And whether or not
you acted out doesn't matter, because beneath the behavior is
a belief that led to the behavior. This is what
we mean when we say Jesus was the game changer,
(18:44):
because he didn't just play the game.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That's why they killed him.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
He touched lepers that they wouldn't touch. He spoke with
women who they devalued. He challenged their social value by
associating with people who ethnically and religiously had nothing in
common with the Jewish people. And that's what they hated
about him. He didn't endorse their values to run his campaign.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
He challenged their values.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
He got beneath their actions and challenged their values. As
a matter of fact, he did it not only in
terms of hatred, and murder and adultery. But he did
it in terms of other areas. Like one thing he
said was you've heard it said love your neighbor.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
But that's easy.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I say love your enemy.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
See that changes the game. Grace changes the game. I said.
The grace of God is a game changer.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
When the grace of God really becomes operative in your life.
What Jesus is saying when he says love your enemy
is you can't insist on God relating to you one
way and then you turn around and relate to people
another way.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So if you want God to.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Be gracious to you, that grace has to flow not
only to you, but through you. And if it's not
flowing through you, it didn't really flow to you. If
you don't give it, you don't got it.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Now.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I'm sorry for my grammar, but my theology is spot on.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
It's a game changer.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begodden Father, of the Father full of grace and truth.
So when grace shows up, it changes the game.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
And the Bible actually says.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
That when Jesus finished teaching all these things, the people
were amazed at his teaching not because he was so funny,
not because he was so succinct, not because of the
human wisdom. But he taught as one who had authority,
and not as one of their teachers.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Of the law.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Well, what was it that the teachers of the law
were teaching that had no authority?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
They were teaching on the basis of appearance.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
And that's what he's correcting in Matthew chapter six. It's
not a giving scripture. It's a scripture about intention. So
when you give, he assumes that you're going to give,
not if when he's making the assumption that your actions
(21:34):
will align with your values. And I've learned that the
greatest way for me to know whether I'm winning in
my life is not to ask people you know, or
not to consult certain external scoreboards that can tell me
how I'm doing, because my bank account is a bad
(21:56):
indication of whether I'm winning, or the car I drive
or any of that. But when my actions match my values,
I'm winning.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And it's cool when you can get.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
To that place, not that I live there all the time,
but when i'm there, I know it and I can
feel it. And when I'm living from that place, I
don't need others to.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Notice because my father is keeping score.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
We need to shut down some scoreboards that are visible
in our life for a little while and get in
the car. Like Elijah got in the car for me,
and he would ask me every game did we win?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
And I never lied to him about it.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I always told him sometimes I said no, uh yeah,
played terrible today.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Honestly it was. It was painful to experience. I love
you anyway, but that that was awful. Am I am?
I winning?
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And the game has changed now, I mean, it's it's crazy.
It's crazy. It's crazy because now can somebody please explain
to me what are v Bucks and what do they do?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Well, that's what I thought at first, like they buy
stuff like Okay, so my kids are playing Fortnite and
they asked me will I will I give them V bucks?
Graham asked me, will you buy us some v Bucks? Now,
my first hurdle was that real world money is now
being exchanged for I'm telling you, man, these these games
(23:54):
have changed for money on a game. And so I
told Grant then I would buy him some v Bucks
and I think I bought him, like, you know, five
billion v bucks for ten dollars or something like that.
I don't know the system, but I bought him some
V Bucks and then I went in and I said,
let me see what those V bucks do that I
(24:14):
just bought you.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I said, what are you going to do with the
V Bucks? He said, I'm gonna buy skins.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Because on the game I was watching him go around
with a pick axe, killing people with a pick axe
and stuff, you know, great family values. And I said,
do you get a sharper axe or something with the
V Bucks? He said no, I'm buying skins. I said, well,
what do the skins do? Do they protect you from
other people? He said no, the skins don't give you
(24:46):
any in game advantage. It's just for people to see.
So now I'm angry because I just spent my real
money for you to wear something that doesn't help you
at all in the reality of a game.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
That is already virtual.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Now I'm man because I'm spending real money. God have
a counseling session for a moment. I'm sick of spending
my money on stuff to make me look good that
doesn't really make a real difference in my soul. V Boss,
(25:34):
I'm a grown man, and I gotta get to the
point where I don't need validation from people.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
To do what's right because it's according to my values.
You don't give so people will see you. Jesus isn't saying.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
That you have to write your checks in a closet
and put it in the mail and no one can
ever know, and don't get your tax exempt status when
you give. Jesus is saying, if that is your reason,
then that will be your reward. Your reason determines your reward. Well,
(26:11):
I feel like preaching that. And if the reason I'm
doing it is to be seen, then that's my reward.
So if they see me and if they say that
I did it good, then that's my reward. But if
I have a deeper reason, then I have a greater reward.
(26:35):
And here's a game changer for me. I have this
like Sunday school way that I see the Bible. Sometimes
that messes me up because like I imagine stuff like when
it says your reward in heaven or your reward from
your father. I always used to picture like a corner
of heaven where there was like pots of gold. It
was like more like lucky charms and leprechauns than the
(26:57):
Bible but it was like it was like these big
rewards in heaven, treasures in heaven. But you know, I'm
probably not gonna need gold in heaven because up there
it's called gravel. You see what I'm saying, Like, there's
not a value of monetary it's like v bucks in heaven,
so it's not going to really buy anything. But now
(27:18):
I'm realizing that this is not a passage about hey, man,
give and then when you get to heaven, it's going
to be like you know, your uber is going to
be a Maybok's Like, it's not about getting this reward
in another place, it's about getting it from another place.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Then your father.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
This was the key to unlocking the scripture for me.
It said he sees what is done in secret. That
used to scare me. Oh God is watching me all
the time. Ah ah, But now I see that it
means he's keeping score, and that means nobody else gets
to And when I live that way, there is a
certain validation that owns he comes from him and living
(28:02):
according to the values that He's given to me and
the world can't give that. And when I'm not living
in alignment with that, then I get the car and
the car is my reward. And when the smell of
the car is gone, and so is the thrill of
owning that if I do it for people, then I
(28:26):
have to get it from people.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
One scripture I like.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
To think about when I'm having a pity party is
one time when Paul was talking about preaching the gospel,
and in certain situations Paul would say, don't pay me.
I don't want any money from you. I want something
from God. And he wasn't always doing that, but when
he explained it to the church at Court and First
Corinthians nine, he goes, hey, I got nothing to brag about.
(28:56):
I preach because I'm compelled. In other words, God called
me to this, so I almost have to do it.
But if I do it out of obligation, then it's
just a discharge. But if I do it like it's
a privilege, then.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
It's a reward.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
So the revelation for me was that my reason determines
my reward. So I'm doing this for you, then you
hold my reward. But if I'm doing this for him,
(29:39):
it applies in every area of life. It applies to giving. Okay,
Jesus said this. He said, I didn't come to abolish
the law. I came to fulfill it. That's what he
means by the game changer. I didn't come to play
the game a little better, keep the law a little better,
like put more.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
On top of it.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
I came to change the reason that you do it.
So one of those things is giving. In the Old Testament,
you would see an obligatory system of giving, where I
bring the tithe because I have to, or else I'm
under a curse, and so I bring God the first
(30:17):
fruits of my produce, in the first fruits of all
of my increase because I have to. It is obligation oriented.
That's how most of us live. But grace changes the game.
Jesus said, I didn't come to abolish it, but to
fulfill it. In other words, I came to give you
a different reason.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Now, it's not.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
That I'm doing it because I've got to.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I'm doing it because of the grace of God. Am
I saying this right?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Lord?
Speaker 1 (30:48):
It is a shift in perspective.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
And sometimes you keep doing the same things, but you
find it a deeper reason to do it, and then
you find meaning in your life.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
But if you're not careful, you run.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Around all your life changing the things that you do.
But you find no meaning in the things because as
long as you have shallow reasons.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
You get empty victories.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
But when your reason gets deeper, when you start saying,
you know what I'm giving to God, I'm serving God,
not because I have to, or not because people might notice,
or not because I'm going to go to hell if
I don't. But just He's been good to me, just
because I know that my redeemer lives.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That's why.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Then your father, who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you. Whatever is your reason controls your reward.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
You believe that.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
You believe that if you have a devotion just so
you can post on Instagram that you had it with
a picture of your carfew mugs sitting next to Colossians
Chapter three, verse seven, Do you.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Believe me that if that's why you did it, that's
what you get out of it.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
And when it only gets twelve likes, don't cry because
I preached Matthew six' one through four, and I told
you that if that is your reason, then that is
your reward. I see it like a game show in
my mind. Tell them what they've won. You know, It's
like you know absolutely nothing, because you did it for
(32:35):
the reason, and people will go I left that church.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Why'd you leave that church? Because I got burned?
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Were you in the cooking ministry? You see the scar?
Is it nasty?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I get it. We get hurt.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
But sometimes the reason that we got hurt is because
in our heart, what we needed from people was too
much and we shouldn't have been doing it for people
to begin with it. Oh, the applause died down by
seventy three percent.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
It always happens when you challenge the values.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
And I noticed a trend in my preaching a couple
of years ago that bothered me. So I've been I've
been working on it. Where I was I was preaching
a sort of theology, it was a little perverted in
this way, not on purpose, but you just shift toward it.
You say, if you will, God will, and God's gonna,
(33:39):
and you fill in the blanks, you know, like, if
you obey God in this area of your life, it
will produce a blessing.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
So it was a cause and effect.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
What I'm coming to understand is while that's true on
the surface, the real blessing is built into the process.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
The real blessing is built in.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
When he says, don't let your left hand know what
your right hand is doing when you give. That means
that it ought to be so automatic because you've operated
out of your values to the point like these guitar players,
is there a guitar anywhere around here? When they play,
there's got to be one right LJ. When they play,
(34:30):
they don't have to think about I would play y'all
talk dirty to me by poison, but that's not appropriate
for chure.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
That's the first song I learned, though. That's what I
think about when I see electric guitar. They do this
with the right hand and this with the left hand,
but they don't.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
See these hands. These hands.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
If I've done that enough, this hand is going, and
this hand is going, and the left hand, what is
this glycerine by Bush? I think I'm playing of all
the songs shout of the nineties, And if you've done
(35:28):
it enough, it's not even a thing. And Jesus, I
would like for you to get to the point where
My grace has changed you enough.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
That you don't have to you don't have to think
about it or pray about it.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
God, should I give to further your gospel in the earth,
I just need a sigh. How about your common sense?
And so he challenges my values. And that's what I've
always loved about this moment in our church we are
(36:16):
getting ready to give, or when we're calling people to serve.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
You know, it changes the game.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Because when your intention in coming here is in what
you get, then that's your reward. When your intention in
coming is to give something that God put inside of you,
you are no longer dependent on people, and that's the blessing.
The blessing is built in to the process. And I
(36:49):
think we need to take our scoreboard back. I think
we've adopted the world's values in some ways that have
caused us to when victories that are empty, then your father,
who sees what is done in secret, he will reward you,
(37:10):
not with pots of gold in heaven, not with v
bucks and cookies, digital cookies, cookies made of pixels, complements
from people, and empty status that.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Can be here one day and gone the next.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
When you have crappy values, you will never have lasting joy.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
And popularity is a crappy value.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
That's in the Greek crappy value facility.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
And position is a crappy value.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
I'm gonna work my way up excavation before elevation. Pleasure
is a crappy it's a great byproduct.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
It's not bad to feel good and enjoy stuff.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
But when that's the goal of the game, it's a
terrible value. And when my values are shallow, my victories
are empty.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
So I want God to run my scoreboard. How about you?
Speaker 3 (38:22):
I need that, Come on, I need that. It's too stressful.
It's too stressful. Life is too stressful, and too many
people have too many different opinions, and there's too much
to keep up with, and I can't do it anymore.
So I want my father, who sees what has done
in secret, to keep score for me, and I want
(38:44):
I want him to make the decision.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Was that good? Am I a good dad today?
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Because I certainly can't ask my kids what they think
about that. I can't because what I will need to
do to be a good parent in some seasons we
I mean sometimes that I am not popular. But if
I'm parenting according to purpose, if I'm living according to purpose,
I don't have to consult all these other sources. Say
(39:15):
this out loud. God is my source, and he is
my reward. God is my source, and he is my reward.
God is my source and He is my reward. Now
clap your hands if you want to live that way.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
We're gonna get around these values over the next few weeks.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
I'm not teaching only on giving or tithing or any
of that. I'm gonna be teaching on principles of faith
and principles of vision and principles of value.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
That's what we've always done at this church.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
I never stood up on this stage and preached from
an emergency that we needed people to give, and I
won't start now because there is none. But now there's
an opportunity coming up as this year in is for
thousands of you to begin to operate according to Kingdom values,
putting God first. What a lot of people begin to
(40:16):
do during this season that I think is so appropriate
is they begin that practice of tithing that's the first
ten percent, and rather than just giving some one time gift,
some spontaneous gift, they get systematic and strategic to begin
to align your actions with your values, because otherwise, what
is it, It's just rhetoric.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Your actions reflect your values.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
So thousands of people during this season will begin to
tie the first ten percent to God and go online
and set that up in a recurring way, and then
thousands will bring an above and beyond gift, and we'll
use that to build the church and build the kingdom
and preach the gospel, and will show you in the
weeks to come some videos and testimonies of what God
(41:02):
is already doing around the world, thousands of you online
that just click on and click off. Now, God's gonna
call you off the bench into the game. Off the
bench in the game, because when you get in the game,
that's when you start to discover who God really is,
not when you sit and spectat, but when you participate
and sacrifice. And God is calling on us in this
(41:23):
season to get in the game and make a difference
in the world for the glory of His name. And
I feel like making a difference. I want my life
to count for something beyond what I can see. So
the worship team is going to come now and we're
gonna sing again. Would you stand to your feet. I'm
gonna worship God. Please don't leave. It's so stressful when
(41:46):
I say stand and five hundred people start heading for
the car. And we don't need any of that, but
I want us to take a moment and seal the
word that God spoke today.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Are you excited about this season of faith? Come on,
clap your hands if you're excited.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
Father, we ask you now that you would align our
values with yours. Sometimes what you value and what we
value are so different, and we need your help in
those areas. Sometimes we're looking at the wrong scoreboard and
we feel like we're failing because we're allowing the wrong
people to run our scoreboard. Sometimes we feel like we're
(42:29):
failing because we're considering all the wrong columns and not
the ones that are inside, the ones that matter. So
I speak over your people today a blessing of affirmation
and validation that can only come from you. I pray
that you would speak, even in these moments, the words
that we need to hear. That we would align our
values with your voice, and your voice alone that rises
(42:51):
above every storm, transcends every season. To believe and know
that your grace is enough for us. In Jesus' name,
I pray, and the whole church sayd amen, it is.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
So 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 (43:26):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
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.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life. Enjoy the message when we say game changer.
You know, every year I pick a word several months
in advance and try to really build my teachings. Really,
rather than pick the word, I try to see what
God is speaking and then find a word that describes that.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It works better that way.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And I thought it was a little corny game changer,
you know, you hear that like three times a day ESPN.
But it sounded like a Gatorade commercial to me more
than a sermon series. But it really, Uh, it'll mean
something different when we're done with the series than it
does going into it.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
And you'll see that.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And today it's wan lea Foundation from the Pulpit from
Matthew chapter six. And last year's series was called Waymaker,
And so apparently I'm on the like a Waymaker game chang.
I'm gonna do Cake Baker in twenty nineteen. See how
if I could make a trilogy out of it. But Matthew,
chapter six will be a good place for us to
(01:11):
start from. The Sermon on the Mountain. This is my
dad's favorite scripture. He used to read it every day,
and then I would use it against him when he
went acting right, I'd be like.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You read it, but are you living it?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
So I've used the Bible against him as a as
a weapon, all right, Matthew Chapter six, verses one through four,
And I can't wait to share this with you. Very
powerful principle. It's practical, but it's also on another level,
very profound, and I think the best lessons are that way.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
And so here's what Jesus said.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of
others to be seen by them. So this might mean
you have to delete some apps on your phone, do
you know what I mean? Well, if you do practice
(02:06):
your acts of righteousness in front of others to be
seen by them, you will have no reward from your
Father in heaven.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
That's scary.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
So when you give to the needy, for instance, do
not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in
the synagogues and on the streets to be honored by others. Truly,
I tell you they have received the reward in full.
But when you give to the needy, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
That your giving may be in secret.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Then your father, who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you. And the title of this message is the
Secret Scoreboard. When when my kids first started playing recreational sports,
I went out and I turned to the person next
to me and said, hey, they need to turn on
(03:10):
the scoreboard. And Elijah was playing T ball at the
time for the Mudcats of Mint Hill. I said, they
need to turn on the scoreboard. It was his first game.
Brother looked back at me. He had several kids that
already played T boy. He said, they don't keep score
at this level. And when Elijah got in the car
(03:33):
after the game, I said, congratulations on your first win.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
He said, win. They didn't keep score. I said, I did.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
The first thing I did when that man said they
don't keep score at this level.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I found an app on my.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Phone and I decided every game that he played, I
was going to score it myself. And I told that
boy this the following I said, when you get in
this car. After the game, you ask me if you won,
and I will tell you whether or not you won.
(04:18):
I am your official scorekeeper. I believe God wants to
look at somebody today, y'all, Uncle, help me preach after
three weeks off. And one of the first things that
God does when he assumes control of your life is
(04:38):
he becomes your scorekeeper, because by default, we tend to
let everybody else keep.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Score, and it's hard to know.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Am I winning in real life, especially in adulthood, Am
I winning? I wonder that all the time. I feel
like in some areas it's the weirdest thing I will
win for a season. And while I'm winning in those
areas for that season, the other areas that are also
important to me suffer, and I can't keep up because
(05:09):
it's like I'm playing five sports at once, do.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It's like the family thing and the financial thing. Those
don't always work together. Sometimes those seem to compete against
each other, and it's hard to keep score, especially because
now we live in a world where there are permanent
reminders of everybody else's score, and even though they're not
playing the same sport, they don't have the same calling
(05:34):
the same circumstances, the same situation. We're all living on
the same platforms, being fed the same false images, and
wondering is their life really that much better than mine?
Or are they just a better photographer? The game has
changed because back in the day, you used to compare
yourself to a really small circle of people, whoever was
around you.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And that's why I grew up thinking I was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
A good guitarist, because I didn't have any real good
guitarist to see on YouTube, and so you know, whoever
else played guitar, all three of us, that was my
standard of comparison.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But the game has changed now.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
It's it's no longer possible to feel really good about
yourself for any length of time because the standards have
shifted and the game has changed.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Touch somebody say the game has changed.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
When Jesus preached this sermon, the Bible says at the
beginning that he went up on a mountain side and
sat down, and his disciples came to him, and he
began to teach them, and began to teach them. So
like the text speaking physically has Jesus in a all right,
let's say physically, the text is describing elevation. He went
(06:51):
up on a mountain side, sat down and began to
teach them.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
That is the physical motif of the text. This is
the beginning of it.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
But really what he was about to do was more
like excavation, which is that he was going to dig
out beneath the surface. And I'm not changing the name
of the church, but excavation would be a good church
name too, because when you have a really good encounter
with God, when you really really meet Jesus, the first
thing that he begins to.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Do is challenge your values.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And we want him to build our life up and
build us and raise us and all of these wonderful
promises that are indeed in his word. But if he
does not first dig out a deep enough place in
our hearts and a foundation that is steady and stable enough,
then even what he builds in our life will be
subject to situations and circumstances. And so the first thing
(07:46):
that proves the presence of God in your life is
that he will begin to challenge your values. You know
how you can know if you if you met with God,
were your values child?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And I'll prove it to you when he.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Started preaching, because you look highly skeptical.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Right now, I won't lie.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I thought you're going to be more energetic with an
extra hour of sleep, but apparently not.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
It's all right, it's all right, i'llstle down a little bit.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
When you started teaching, he said, Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are those who mourn, for they'll be comforted. Well, right
off the bat, I'm kind of confused because Jesus is
telling me that it's not those who look like they're
winning a lot of times who are really the most blessed.
(08:42):
Blessed or the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Bless for those who hunger and thirst. What's a blessing
about being hungry and thirsty for righteousness?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
For they'll be filled. And with each of these statements is.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Commonly called the beatitudes, Jesus is giving a new definition
of blessing. And one thing that you'll notice about it
when he defines it, it's very contrary to the cultural values,
which are very external. You know, everything is about how
you look. If God blesses you, it is going to
show up as a physical manifestation.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
But when Jesus showed up, it changed the game because
in a religious system that was corrupted by the elevation
of appearances over the real condition of the heart, Jesus
begins to challenge the values not only of the world,
but of the religious not only in the streets but
(09:36):
in the synagogues. I've noticed the church is really good
at challenging the values of the world when it comes
to sexuality and entertainment and Disney. That's twenty years old,
but some of y'all will remember when the Church was
really good at challenging the value system.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Of the world. But the first thing that Jesus did,
seems to me, is.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
To challenge the value of the church, and so in
order to do that, he begins to dig. And it
really changes the game because it seems almost like an inversion,
seems like something is being flipped upside down. It's almost
as if when Jesus comes on the scene, he's less
(10:16):
concerned with playing the game right and more concerned with
playing the right game. Some of us are playing the
wrong game, and we spend a lot of our lives
trying to figure out how to play the game right.
But the question becomes this is the game changer. Not
(10:37):
are you playing the game right? But are you playing
the right game? And sometimes it takes us half our
lives to realize I've learned to play the game.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Right, but I wasn't playing the right game.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Wouldn't it be tragic to spend your whole life to
get good at a game that you weren't even supposed
to play, to win the approval of people who don't
sit on the throne anyway, to get really good at
something that isn't good for you. And I see this
(11:13):
more and more, more, more and more, as it becomes
easier for us to get sucked into systems of comparison
and analysis that have nothing to do with real value.
We start, we start getting good at winning, but winning
at what? Winning at what? And the game has changed.
(11:33):
It's changed so much for.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Young people, you know, Like when I was growing.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Up, it was different in terms of social media.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Even the games that I.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Played as a kid, the video games I played as
a kid, were much different than the games I see
my kids playing today. It was an entirely different level
of nobility involved in When the games I used to play,
we were doing real things, important things, like when I
(12:04):
was when I grew up playing games. We were we
were saving princesses. We were training to win heavyweight titles.
In order to do that, we had to we had
to face opponents like Soda Popinski and King Hippo from
(12:26):
Don Flamenco and the second Don Flamenco and Piston.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Honda and the second Bald Bull.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Real stuff, you know, things that that that that transposed
into actual life skill. But the other day, I was
watching my kids play game on their phone and all
they were doing and it was very it was very
fascinating to me. I just watched them for like five minutes.
All they were doing was tapping the screen, and I
(12:56):
watched for a little while before I realized, there's absolutely
no strat to what they're doing right now. I didn't
know the game that they're playing because I don't play
games on my phone. I read my Bible because I'm
a pastoring. But I walked over said and I said,
what is that game?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
What are you doing? And they said it was called
Cookie Clicker.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
They said it's old, Dad, it's an old game, not
as old as your games, but it's an.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Old game for us. I said, Cookie Clicker, Let me
see it. How do you play? They said, you click
the cookie.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
I said, all right, and then what like up up downtown, left, right, left, right,
ba star?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Is that the They.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Said, no, you just click. You just click the cookie. See,
these kids don't have to think like we had. Depend
They said, you clicked the cookie.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I said, all right.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
And then what they said, then you get more cookies.
When you like the cookie, you get more cookies. I said,
And then after you get more cookies, what.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Do you do after you get more cookies?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
They said, well, the more cookies you get, the more
the more cookies you can get each time you click.
That's what y'all been doing over here for the last
thirty minutes. No Princess Zelda, no Princess Toadstool, just clicking
(14:27):
cookies to get more cookies, to get more cookies, to
get more cookies, to get more cookies.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I said, let me try that. It was addictive. I
loved it. Five millions of cookies and I couldn't need
any of them, but I had fun clicking. Let me
ask you a question.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Have you been clicking on stuff playing a game without
asking the question, what is the goal of this game?
Have you ever argued with somebody and then you realize
that even if I win the argument, even if I
win your approval, even if I win your friendship, it's
(15:17):
not worth winning if I have to win it, even
if I make you like me. And that's what he
was doing. He was telling him quick clicking. Jesus was
saying this. He was saying, quick clicking. Tell somebody quick clicking,
(15:40):
quick clicking, and ask a different question. It's not am
I playing the game right?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Because you can get that right and succeed materially relationally,
you could get status, you could get power and get position.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
You can even be a really good preacher. But if
you don't do it.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
For the right reason, you can get all the cookies
that you want, but you can't dunk any of them
in milk. If it's not real, am I preaching?
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Everybody over fifty that ever clicked on worthless stuff and
found out it wasn't worth clicking.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
On makes some noise. God, the church is old. Did
you hear that? That was a roar?
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Twelve and a half years ago? If I'd asked that,
it wouldn't have been. Oh that made me feel weird.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
But it's good.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
It'scar it's multigenerational Amen, there's some wisdom that you get.
Jesus gives it on multiple levels. And six times he
does this thing in the Sermon on the Mound. I
wish I had time to show you all of it.
He said, what's up a construct like this? You have
heard it said, But I say to you, you've heard
(17:06):
it said. And then he would quote from the Rabbinic
tradition that they had been handed through the Law of Moses.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
But I say to you.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Then he would correct the values because he was speaking
to people who had perfected the appearance of religion. But
he understood that if the behavior is right, but the
belief that is beneath the behavior is not right. If
your values are shallow, your victories will be empty. And
(17:40):
why didn't you write that down? I worked all week
on that, Guston. I know you've got your pens out.
I have faith in you. If your values are shallow,
your victories will be empty. So I'm winning at what.
I'm winning at what? And Jeez went up on a
mountainside and he sat down. But then he began to
(18:02):
teach them He's digging beneath the behaviors to identify the
beliefs like one of them that he said he said,
you've heard it, said, don't murder. But I'm telling you,
if you're angry, even if you don't murder, you will
suffer the consequences of that anger and eventually will either
(18:23):
lead you toward taking action on it, or it will
deteriorate your spiritual condition to the point that you might
as well have gone ahead and done it because you're
living in a prison of hatred, And whether or not
you acted out doesn't matter, because beneath the behavior is
a belief that led to the behavior. This is what
we mean when we say Jesus was the game changer,
(18:44):
because he didn't just play the game.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That's why they killed him.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
He touched lepers that they wouldn't touch. He spoke with
women who they devalued. He challenged their social value by
associating with people who ethnically and religiously had nothing in
common with the Jewish people. And that's what they hated
about him. He didn't endorse their values to run his campaign.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
He challenged their values.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
He got beneath their actions and challenged their values. As
a matter of fact, he did it not only in
terms of hatred, and murder and adultery. But he did
it in terms of other areas. Like one thing he
said was you've heard it said love your neighbor.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
But that's easy.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I say love your enemy.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
See that changes the game. Grace changes the game. I said.
The grace of God is a game changer.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
When the grace of God really becomes operative in your life.
What Jesus is saying when he says love your enemy
is you can't insist on God relating to you one
way and then you turn around and relate to people
another way.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So if you want God to.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Be gracious to you, that grace has to flow not
only to you, but through you. And if it's not
flowing through you, it didn't really flow to you. If
you don't give it, you don't got it.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Now.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I'm sorry for my grammar, but my theology is spot on.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
It's a game changer.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begodden Father, of the Father full of grace and truth.
So when grace shows up, it changes the game.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
And the Bible actually says.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
That when Jesus finished teaching all these things, the people
were amazed at his teaching not because he was so funny,
not because he was so succinct, not because of the
human wisdom. But he taught as one who had authority,
and not as one of their teachers.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Of the law.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Well, what was it that the teachers of the law
were teaching that had no authority?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
They were teaching on the basis of appearance.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
And that's what he's correcting in Matthew chapter six. It's
not a giving scripture. It's a scripture about intention. So
when you give, he assumes that you're going to give,
not if when he's making the assumption that your actions
(21:34):
will align with your values. And I've learned that the
greatest way for me to know whether I'm winning in
my life is not to ask people you know, or
not to consult certain external scoreboards that can tell me
how I'm doing, because my bank account is a bad
(21:56):
indication of whether I'm winning, or the car I drive
or any of that. But when my actions match my values,
I'm winning.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And it's cool when you can get.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
To that place, not that I live there all the time,
but when i'm there, I know it and I can
feel it. And when I'm living from that place, I
don't need others to.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Notice because my father is keeping score.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
We need to shut down some scoreboards that are visible
in our life for a little while and get in
the car. Like Elijah got in the car for me,
and he would ask me every game did we win?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
And I never lied to him about it.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I always told him sometimes I said no, uh yeah,
played terrible today.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Honestly it was. It was painful to experience. I love
you anyway, but that that was awful. Am I am?
I winning?
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And the game has changed now, I mean, it's it's crazy.
It's crazy. It's crazy because now can somebody please explain
to me what are v Bucks and what do they do?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Well, that's what I thought at first, like they buy
stuff like Okay, so my kids are playing Fortnite and
they asked me will I will I give them V bucks?
Graham asked me, will you buy us some v Bucks? Now,
my first hurdle was that real world money is now
being exchanged for I'm telling you, man, these these games
(23:54):
have changed for money on a game. And so I
told Grant then I would buy him some v Bucks
and I think I bought him, like, you know, five
billion v bucks for ten dollars or something like that.
I don't know the system, but I bought him some
V Bucks and then I went in and I said,
let me see what those V bucks do that I
(24:14):
just bought you.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I said, what are you going to do with the
V Bucks? He said, I'm gonna buy skins.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Because on the game I was watching him go around
with a pick axe, killing people with a pick axe
and stuff, you know, great family values. And I said,
do you get a sharper axe or something with the
V Bucks? He said no, I'm buying skins. I said, well,
what do the skins do? Do they protect you from
other people? He said no, the skins don't give you
(24:46):
any in game advantage. It's just for people to see.
So now I'm angry because I just spent my real
money for you to wear something that doesn't help you
at all in the reality of a game.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
That is already virtual.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Now I'm man because I'm spending real money. God have
a counseling session for a moment. I'm sick of spending
my money on stuff to make me look good that
doesn't really make a real difference in my soul. V Boss,
(25:34):
I'm a grown man, and I gotta get to the
point where I don't need validation from people.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
To do what's right because it's according to my values.
You don't give so people will see you. Jesus isn't saying.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
That you have to write your checks in a closet
and put it in the mail and no one can
ever know, and don't get your tax exempt status when
you give. Jesus is saying, if that is your reason,
then that will be your reward. Your reason determines your reward. Well,
(26:11):
I feel like preaching that. And if the reason I'm
doing it is to be seen, then that's my reward.
So if they see me and if they say that
I did it good, then that's my reward. But if
I have a deeper reason, then I have a greater reward.
(26:35):
And here's a game changer for me. I have this
like Sunday school way that I see the Bible. Sometimes
that messes me up because like I imagine stuff like when
it says your reward in heaven or your reward from
your father. I always used to picture like a corner
of heaven where there was like pots of gold. It
was like more like lucky charms and leprechauns than the
(26:57):
Bible but it was like it was like these big
rewards in heaven, treasures in heaven. But you know, I'm
probably not gonna need gold in heaven because up there
it's called gravel. You see what I'm saying, Like, there's
not a value of monetary it's like v bucks in heaven,
so it's not going to really buy anything. But now
(27:18):
I'm realizing that this is not a passage about hey, man,
give and then when you get to heaven, it's going
to be like you know, your uber is going to
be a Maybok's Like, it's not about getting this reward
in another place, it's about getting it from another place.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Then your father.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
This was the key to unlocking the scripture for me.
It said he sees what is done in secret. That
used to scare me. Oh God is watching me all
the time. Ah ah, But now I see that it
means he's keeping score, and that means nobody else gets
to And when I live that way, there is a
certain validation that owns he comes from him and living
(28:02):
according to the values that He's given to me and
the world can't give that. And when I'm not living
in alignment with that, then I get the car and
the car is my reward. And when the smell of
the car is gone, and so is the thrill of
owning that if I do it for people, then I
(28:26):
have to get it from people.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
One scripture I like.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
To think about when I'm having a pity party is
one time when Paul was talking about preaching the gospel,
and in certain situations Paul would say, don't pay me.
I don't want any money from you. I want something
from God. And he wasn't always doing that, but when
he explained it to the church at Court and First
Corinthians nine, he goes, hey, I got nothing to brag about.
(28:56):
I preach because I'm compelled. In other words, God called
me to this, so I almost have to do it.
But if I do it out of obligation, then it's
just a discharge. But if I do it like it's
a privilege, then.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
It's a reward.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
So the revelation for me was that my reason determines
my reward. So I'm doing this for you, then you
hold my reward. But if I'm doing this for him,
(29:39):
it applies in every area of life. It applies to giving. Okay,
Jesus said this. He said, I didn't come to abolish
the law. I came to fulfill it. That's what he
means by the game changer. I didn't come to play
the game a little better, keep the law a little better,
like put more.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
On top of it.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
I came to change the reason that you do it.
So one of those things is giving. In the Old Testament,
you would see an obligatory system of giving, where I
bring the tithe because I have to, or else I'm
under a curse, and so I bring God the first
(30:17):
fruits of my produce, in the first fruits of all
of my increase because I have to. It is obligation oriented.
That's how most of us live. But grace changes the game.
Jesus said, I didn't come to abolish it, but to
fulfill it. In other words, I came to give you
a different reason.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Now, it's not.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
That I'm doing it because I've got to.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I'm doing it because of the grace of God. Am
I saying this right?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Lord?
Speaker 1 (30:48):
It is a shift in perspective.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
And sometimes you keep doing the same things, but you
find it a deeper reason to do it, and then
you find meaning in your life.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
But if you're not careful, you run.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Around all your life changing the things that you do.
But you find no meaning in the things because as
long as you have shallow reasons.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
You get empty victories.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
But when your reason gets deeper, when you start saying,
you know what I'm giving to God, I'm serving God,
not because I have to, or not because people might notice,
or not because I'm going to go to hell if
I don't. But just He's been good to me, just
because I know that my redeemer lives.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That's why.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Then your father, who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you. Whatever is your reason controls your reward.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
You believe that.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
You believe that if you have a devotion just so
you can post on Instagram that you had it with
a picture of your carfew mugs sitting next to Colossians
Chapter three, verse seven, Do you.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Believe me that if that's why you did it, that's
what you get out of it.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
And when it only gets twelve likes, don't cry because
I preached Matthew six' one through four, and I told
you that if that is your reason, then that is
your reward. I see it like a game show in
my mind. Tell them what they've won. You know, It's
like you know absolutely nothing, because you did it for
(32:35):
the reason, and people will go I left that church.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Why'd you leave that church? Because I got burned?
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Were you in the cooking ministry? You see the scar?
Is it nasty?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I get it. We get hurt.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
But sometimes the reason that we got hurt is because
in our heart, what we needed from people was too
much and we shouldn't have been doing it for people
to begin with it. Oh, the applause died down by
seventy three percent.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
It always happens when you challenge the values.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
And I noticed a trend in my preaching a couple
of years ago that bothered me. So I've been I've
been working on it. Where I was I was preaching
a sort of theology, it was a little perverted in
this way, not on purpose, but you just shift toward it.
You say, if you will, God will, and God's gonna,
(33:39):
and you fill in the blanks, you know, like, if
you obey God in this area of your life, it
will produce a blessing.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
So it was a cause and effect.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
What I'm coming to understand is while that's true on
the surface, the real blessing is built into the process.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
The real blessing is built in.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
When he says, don't let your left hand know what
your right hand is doing when you give. That means
that it ought to be so automatic because you've operated
out of your values to the point like these guitar players,
is there a guitar anywhere around here? When they play,
there's got to be one right LJ. When they play,
(34:30):
they don't have to think about I would play y'all
talk dirty to me by poison, but that's not appropriate
for chure.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
That's the first song I learned, though. That's what I
think about when I see electric guitar. They do this
with the right hand and this with the left hand,
but they don't.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
See these hands. These hands.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
If I've done that enough, this hand is going, and
this hand is going, and the left hand, what is
this glycerine by Bush? I think I'm playing of all
the songs shout of the nineties, And if you've done
(35:28):
it enough, it's not even a thing. And Jesus, I
would like for you to get to the point where
My grace has changed you enough.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
That you don't have to you don't have to think
about it or pray about it.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
God, should I give to further your gospel in the earth,
I just need a sigh. How about your common sense?
And so he challenges my values. And that's what I've
always loved about this moment in our church we are
(36:16):
getting ready to give, or when we're calling people to serve.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
You know, it changes the game.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Because when your intention in coming here is in what
you get, then that's your reward. When your intention in
coming is to give something that God put inside of you,
you are no longer dependent on people, and that's the blessing.
The blessing is built in to the process. And I
(36:49):
think we need to take our scoreboard back. I think
we've adopted the world's values in some ways that have
caused us to when victories that are empty, then your father,
who sees what is done in secret, he will reward you,
(37:10):
not with pots of gold in heaven, not with v
bucks and cookies, digital cookies, cookies made of pixels, complements
from people, and empty status that.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Can be here one day and gone the next.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
When you have crappy values, you will never have lasting joy.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
And popularity is a crappy value.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
That's in the Greek crappy value facility.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
And position is a crappy value.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
I'm gonna work my way up excavation before elevation. Pleasure
is a crappy it's a great byproduct.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
It's not bad to feel good and enjoy stuff.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
But when that's the goal of the game, it's a
terrible value. And when my values are shallow, my victories
are empty.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
So I want God to run my scoreboard. How about you?
Speaker 3 (38:22):
I need that, Come on, I need that. It's too stressful.
It's too stressful. Life is too stressful, and too many
people have too many different opinions, and there's too much
to keep up with, and I can't do it anymore.
So I want my father, who sees what has done
in secret, to keep score for me, and I want
(38:44):
I want him to make the decision.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Was that good? Am I a good dad today?
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Because I certainly can't ask my kids what they think
about that. I can't because what I will need to
do to be a good parent in some seasons we
I mean sometimes that I am not popular. But if
I'm parenting according to purpose, if I'm living according to purpose,
I don't have to consult all these other sources. Say
(39:15):
this out loud. God is my source, and he is
my reward. God is my source, and he is my reward.
God is my source and He is my reward. Now
clap your hands if you want to live that way.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
We're gonna get around these values over the next few weeks.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
I'm not teaching only on giving or tithing or any
of that. I'm gonna be teaching on principles of faith
and principles of vision and principles of value.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
That's what we've always done at this church.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
I never stood up on this stage and preached from
an emergency that we needed people to give, and I
won't start now because there is none. But now there's
an opportunity coming up as this year in is for
thousands of you to begin to operate according to Kingdom values,
putting God first. What a lot of people begin to
(40:16):
do during this season that I think is so appropriate
is they begin that practice of tithing that's the first
ten percent, and rather than just giving some one time gift,
some spontaneous gift, they get systematic and strategic to begin
to align your actions with your values, because otherwise, what
is it, It's just rhetoric.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Your actions reflect your values.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
So thousands of people during this season will begin to
tie the first ten percent to God and go online
and set that up in a recurring way, and then
thousands will bring an above and beyond gift, and we'll
use that to build the church and build the kingdom
and preach the gospel, and will show you in the
weeks to come some videos and testimonies of what God
(41:02):
is already doing around the world, thousands of you online
that just click on and click off. Now, God's gonna
call you off the bench into the game. Off the
bench in the game, because when you get in the game,
that's when you start to discover who God really is,
not when you sit and spectat, but when you participate
and sacrifice. And God is calling on us in this
(41:23):
season to get in the game and make a difference
in the world for the glory of His name. And
I feel like making a difference. I want my life
to count for something beyond what I can see. So
the worship team is going to come now and we're
gonna sing again. Would you stand to your feet. I'm
gonna worship God. Please don't leave. It's so stressful when
(41:46):
I say stand and five hundred people start heading for
the car. And we don't need any of that, but
I want us to take a moment and seal the
word that God spoke today.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Are you excited about this season of faith? Come on,
clap your hands if you're excited.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
Father, we ask you now that you would align our
values with yours. Sometimes what you value and what we
value are so different, and we need your help in
those areas. Sometimes we're looking at the wrong scoreboard and
we feel like we're failing because we're allowing the wrong
people to run our scoreboard. Sometimes we feel like we're
(42:29):
failing because we're considering all the wrong columns and not
the ones that are inside, the ones that matter. So
I speak over your people today a blessing of affirmation
and validation that can only come from you. I pray
that you would speak, even in these moments, the words
that we need to hear. That we would align our
values with your voice, and your voice alone that rises
(42:51):
above every storm, transcends every season. To believe and know
that your grace is enough for us. In Jesus' name,
I pray, and the whole church sayd amen, it is.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
So 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 (43:26):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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