December 7, 2025 • 55 mins
What do you do when things don’t go according to plan? There might be some things in your path you didn’t expect, and it might be taking longer than you thought, but God’s got you covered. Watch the message to see why you’re still going to get there.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
Philippians 3, verses 10-14
Exodus 13, verses 17-18
Exodus 3, verse 7
Exodus 14, verses 16-30
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
In your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I was looking back on the sermons that I preached
to you this year, just really trying to put in
context what the Lord has spoken and remember some of
the things that he shared with us. And it was
just powerful for me to remember the times that we've
shared together in his presence.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I did a series called Cold, I did a series
called That's What I Thought. I did a series called
same Lies, New Loops. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I already forgot that one, And yeah, that's what you
think about that?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Huh.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Indeed, that must mean the Lord wanted to send you
a score update.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
To let you know that no matter.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
How far down you are in the fourth quarter of
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Touch somebody and say I feel a comeback. Come on,
it's the last quarter of the year. But God can
do anything. Look at your neighbors, say da da da
da da da. Sometimes you gotta tell the devil Da
da da.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Da Philippians, chapter three, verse ten. Thank you to all
of our campus pastors who preached so beautifully last week.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Thank you for leading, thank you for shepherd, and thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
For sharing for the people of God. Making sure you're
still standing. It's good for your circulation. Philippians, chapter three,
verse ten. I can't speak for you, but I.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Want to know Christ. I do.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I want to know Christ, yes to the power of
his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, and so somehow love that word. It
means I'm more focused on the person than the plan.
I want to know Christ so that somehow, however, he
chooses to do it. And that's what we're going to
(02:19):
talk about today, by the way, So somehow I can
attain to the resurrection from the dead. Now this part
is important, not that I've already obtained all this.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Or have already arrived at my goal. Wearn't your neighbor,
I'm not there yet, Yeah, tell him? I might. I might.
I might cuss you out leaving the parking.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Lot today if the Lord doesn't do a work because
I'm not there yet.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I don't want to. But as possible.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
If the traffic's real bad, if you drive stupid, all right, focus,
I should read the whole verse again.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I messed it up.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Not that I have already obtained all this or have
already arrived at my goal. But I press on to
take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold
of me. Beautiful brothers and sisters. I do not consider
myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing
I do. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what
(03:21):
is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win
the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Give the Lord praise for his word. Now. Exodus chapter
number thirteen for our Old Testament demonstration.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Exodus chapter thirteen, verse seventeen says this, when Pharaoh let
the people go, God did not lead them on the
road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter, for
God said, if they face war, they might change their
minds and return to Egypt.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So God led the people around by the desert road
toward the Red Sea.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Now, I want you to sit down in this order.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Okay, if you are at one of our physical locations today.
Play along. If you're online, just raise your hand in
the chat or something like that. If everything went the
way you planned it this year, and you are exactly
where you intended to be in every area of your
life at the end of this year. When you started
the year, you planned it, and right now.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You possess it. You may be seated.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Because we want to look at who to hire to
be our therapist or our coach or pray for because.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You're a liar, but everybody else that had a plan
A and then a plan B.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I want you to look at your neighbor and tell
them my title, because I think.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
The whole church is still standing.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Tell him this must be my plan.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
See. Hey, you may be seated. Plan see.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
That's what I'm calling the message, Chris, this must be
my plan see, and we'll talk a little bit about
what that means in just a moment. There was an
apocalyptic fog in the air as we drove to church today.
Abby and I were driving into church and I looked
at her and said, this is kind of freaky.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
She said, I know, but it's kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
We were listening to a song that we just recorded
you don't have it yet, you will soon.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It's called so be It.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And as I was saying this to her, the voice
of the lead vocalist on our song called so be
It said, like a thief in the night, he'll returned
for his bride. Even so, Jesus come, Jesus come, split
the skies.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So be it God.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And I looked at Abby and said, wouldn't it be
wild if while we're listening into that, Jesus just came
back on. It's like six in the morning. She's rolling
her eyes at me and stuff. But I looked at her.
I'm just messing with her. I said, would you be ready?
And she said, uh, not really, I've got some work
to do.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Just keeping it honest. Like I wouldn't want him to
come exactly right now.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I don't know what's going on in young Abbey's life
that she needs to repent of.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Y'all pray for her as well. When the Israelites left Egypt,
the Bible us.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
As an interesting phrase, and I call your attention to
it once again as we bring these two amazing, amazing
scriptures together today. One is located out of four hundred
years of slavery, where God set his people free, and
one is located in a prison cell where an apostle
is being held captive for his obedience to God.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Let me set this up, Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
The richness of it is the second scripture I read you,
they're coming out of captivity, and the first sure I
read you, he is still in captivity. But I think
there is a thread that will help us evaluate where
we are, where we wanted to be, the plan we had,
and what God actually did while we were making our plans,
(07:15):
which was laugh. The Egyptians had held God's people captive
to the point that they cried out to God.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And I want to speak this sermon in three different
stages today.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
One I want to talk about the crying, the crying,
and then I want to talk about the crossing, the crossing.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Why aren't you writing down the points? What if there's
a pop quiz on this?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
What if the devil tries to beat you up next
week and you need to go back and refer to this,
write it down. The crying, the crossing, and then the covering.
Those three things that I want to talk to you
about today. They cried out to go Godd, it says
in Exodus chapter three, verse seven.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
This is not for the screen, but just listen to
it real quick.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
When the Lord appeared to Moses, he said, I've come
down because I'm concerned about my people. I have seen
the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard
them crying out. I have devices all over my house
that listen to me. I know they listen to me
because I talk about a restaurant and it shows up
on my phone without being typed in. I'm thankful that
(08:30):
the Lord listens to me as well, and that he
puts things in my path in response to the prayers
that I pray. Have you ever noticed that God will
put something in your path in response to the prayer
that you prayed.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
God won't always pick you up and carry you where
you need to go, but he'll put something in your path.
I believe for somebody right now.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
God put this message in your algorithm because he's putting
something in your path. You almost tripped over this video,
didn't you. You didn't even want to see a forty
five year old middle aged man in a black hoodie
with a Bible open.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
You were looking for something much more entertaining.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But God puts something in your path because he knows
about the things that you're going through, and he wanted
you to accidentally trip over this video.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
It's not the algorithm. It's the anointing of the.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
God who loves you so much and called you from
an early age that he would put this message in
your path at this time.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh, it's not an accident.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Don't switch it off, don't mute it, don't scroll past it,
don't fast forward till I really start going good. I'm
going right now to tell you that often God will
answer your prayer by putting something in your path, and
we praise him when he does. We praise him when
he does. We praise him when he does. Now, it's
not luck. It was the Lord. The Lord put that
in my path. It wasn't happenstance. It wasn't coincidence. Stop
(09:46):
blaming coincidence for God's work. You see what I'm saying.
When you call it coincidence, you diminish the divine.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It was God that put it in your path.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
God puts things in our path in response to our prayers.
We are not aware of the things that He puts
in our path, and answer to our prayers, we will
trip right over what he put in front of us,
trying to get to what we think we wanted. I said,
you can trip right in front of what God put Well,
I said that wrong. You can trip over what God
(10:16):
put right in front of you, trying to get where
you think you need to be, or trying to get
to what you think you want it. Paul said, I
want to know Christ. I'm clear about the outcome. I
want to draw closer to him. If I have to
suffer to get to know him. I would rather suffer
and know him than succeed and forget him. I would
(10:38):
rather go through something hard and have him than to
be far from him and everybody else think my life
is wonderful. I would rather have Christ. I would rather
have him. I don't want to miss him on the
way to it. And it's so important that you understand
whatever you're going through in your life that God hears
(11:00):
your Christ.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
What do we mean when we say that, Well, let
me break it down for you.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
And I can't exactly explain this to you, but when
I describe it, the Holy Spirit will.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Help you to know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Sometimes God answers your prayer by putting something in your
path that looks like what you prayed for that happens.
But today I want to talk with you for a
little bit about when God sends a problem in answer
to a prayer. Sometimes God will send a problem in
(11:40):
answer to a prayer.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The example that I'm thinking about in my.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Life right now is too personal to share with you,
But I just recently prayed about something and then a
problem arose and I didn't see the connection between the
two at the time, but the Lord didn't showed me.
You know, that problem that you are now praying for
me to remove from your life. That problem that you're
(12:09):
praying for me to remove, I sent to answer the
last prayer you prayed.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I don't know if this is clear or not. It's
like I asked God.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
To do something in my life and then something happened
that did not resemble what I asked God to do,
and so I'm like, oh God, I got to get
rid of this problem, so you can answer this prayer.
Right I'm praying about this, here comes the problem. I'm like, oh, God,
take this problem out and answer the prayer. And the
Lord's like, I just did, but I did it different.
(12:45):
I did it different, and so now the answer doesn't
resemble the prayer. So you are too blind to see
that the thing that you're continuing to pray for me
to take away is the thing that I sent to
answer the prayer that you were praying to begin with.
I know it's not very clear. Let me try to
make it clear from the Bible. In Exodus chapter thirteen,
God's people are coming out of Egyptian slavery. God answered
(13:08):
their prayer. He sent Moses to get them out of slavery.
But they're not just concerned with coming out of Egypt,
because where will they go from Egypt.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I have to have somewhere to live. I have to
have some type of soil to cultivate.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I have to have some type of agriculture by which.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I can partner with the earth so that our babies
can eat.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I have to have some kind of formation. I have
to have some sort of government. And God is always
taking you out of something, bringing you into something, taking
you out of something, bringing you into something, taking you
out of something, and bringing you into something. And the
Bible says something very powerful in Exodus chapter thirteen, verse seventeen,
(13:47):
when Pharaoh let the people go. What's interesting about that
God knew that although Pharaoh had let his people go
with just ten plagues.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
His people had still not let Pharaoh go.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
In an amazing that it only took God ten plagues.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I know that's a lot, but it's only ten.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
It only took God ten plagues to get Pharaoh to
let his people go. Now, Pharaoh didn't let them go quickly.
The enemy will never let you go quickly, not if
you're gifted. Why would he Why would he let you
go quickly? Why would he release his grip on you?
Why would he allow you to forgive without feeling bitterness?
Why would he give up your services? Why would he
(14:41):
let you go easily? He knows what you're capable of,
if you ever get liberated.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Why would he let you go?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Come on, somebody in New York shout, The reason the
devil is squeezing you is because there's something he sees
in you that if you ever get free, if you
ever get loose, if you ever shake this off, if
you ever.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Get out of here, if I ever get out of
this place, if I ever get out of this mindset,
I'm gonna do something for God. Somebody shout, God has
something for me. God's got something for you.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
That's what the attack means that's what the enemy is
fighting you over.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
God's got something for you. And isn't it.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Amazing that although it only took ten plagues for God
to get Pharaoh to let his people go, it took
forty years of wilderness wandering for God to get his
people to let Pharaoh go. Relief is easy. Freedom is
a process I felt annointed to teach today. Let's don't
(15:50):
worry about all three points. Let's just talk about crying
real quick. What if you are crying about something that
God is using, that God is trying to use.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
What if you are crying.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
About something right now and the Lord is saying, those
who's so in tears will reap with joy. See you
think those tears are wasted, They're not wasted their water
They are watering a harvest that you can't see right now.
So some of you, God puts something in your life.
It's a great challenge. It's a terrible situation. It's a
horrible situation. It's about as bad as being at a
(16:23):
red sea.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Look at this scripture. The Bible says God could have
taken them a short way, but he didn't. And this
is really the challenge.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Right when God could but he doesn't look at the
scripture again. He led the people around by the desert
road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out
of Egypt ready for battle.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So now I'm confused. Work with me.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
If they were ready for battle eighteen, then why in
verse seventeen say does God say if they face war,
they might change their minds and return to Egypt. God
is the only one who really knows when you're ready. Wow.
God is the only one who really knows what's in you.
(17:21):
So God is the only one who can fully determine
what to take you through and win because He's the
only one who knows what's really in you. There is
a powerful thing that happens when I begin to decide
in my life that God has me where he wants me,
even if it was caused by an attack of the enemy.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
God has me where he wants me.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Now, what would it look like if, at the end
of this year, because I'm trying to help you, as
you reflect and as you expect and as you accept
and you do all the things that we have to
do at this time of the year, what would it
look like for you to have the kind of empathy
for yourself and trust in God to realize that even
if it's taking you a little little longer than you
(18:02):
expected it to take you, watch this. You're still going
to get there. Tell your neighbor You're still going to
get there. Maybe that's what we'll call the message when
we put it online. Because I know you're running a
little late. I know you got a little bit of
a limp. I know you're not looking as fresh as
(18:24):
you were when you started out the journey. I know
it's not exactly the right time. But you're still gonna
get there. Tell them again and say it with faith.
You're still going to get there. You're still gonna get there.
And it might have some detours along the way, and
it might have some disappointments along the way, and you
might not get there with who you thought was going
(18:45):
to be. Not everybody that started on the road trip
is going to be in the car when you pull up.
But you're still going to get there. You understand what
I'm saying. You might not get through it all unscathed
and unscarred.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You might have to show a few of your wound us.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
And your scars along the way to encourage somebody else.
But You're still going to get there. The tears will
not stop you. The trials will not stop you. The
trauma will not stop you. The traffic will.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Not stop you.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
It will not stop you. Your boss will not stop you.
The economy will not stop you. The weather will not
stop you.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
That's why I like a day where the fog is out,
because there was somebody who got up and saw the
weather was bad, and Charlotte but said, I still gotta
get there. And I'm looking for a few rough riders
in the house today who say, come hell or high water,
come wind, come rain, come storm, come set back, come difficulty,
(19:44):
come depression. Now shove your neighbor and testify.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Say I'm still gonna get there. I'm still gonna get there.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Don't cancel my reservation. I'm still gonna get there. Don't
give my ticket away. I'm still gonna get there. Don't
give away my seat.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
At the table. I'm still gonna get there. I'm not
gonna be on the fast bus, but I'm still gonna
get there.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I'm not the valedictorian, but I intend to grant away.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
I'm still gonna get there.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I might not do it like she did it, but
I'm still.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Gonna get there.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
I might not have the right shoes on, but I'm
still gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I might have a story.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
To tell, but I've tell my story how I've overcome.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
High five three people say, just get there, Just get there,
Just get there, Just get there.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Wipe your deers and drive, wipe your deers and walk,
wipe your tears and lift your hands.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I'm still gonna get there.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
I would have despair had I not.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Believe that, I would see.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
What shi of the Lord?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
So, Moses, why are we going this way? Can't we
go the straight way? And see there's a difference between
the straight way and the right way.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
This is plan A.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
This is plan A, and this is plan B. This
is plan C.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Watch me.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
This.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Tell your neighbor. This might be your Plan C. Plan
C is like this.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Okay, here's where they were Egypt, right, here's where they
were going Canaan.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
That's plan A. And then plan B is go back.
That's what B stands for. We're going back to Egypt.
This is Plan C. Plan C doesn't make any sense.
Plan C.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Is wait a minute, we're going around in a circle.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Why are you taking us this way? Moses?
Speaker 6 (22:24):
Moses must be bad with a map, sometimes the mission
doesn't look like the map.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Now this is so true for your life. I need
you to know that you're still gonna get there. Say it.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I'm still gonna get there. I'm still gonna get there.
Graham came to me this weekend. He said, something horrible happened.
We had the speaker lined up to speak Sunday night
at the living room and they.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
Can't speak now. And so what do I do? I said, Oh,
it's time for plan.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
See. Plan see is cry out to the Lord.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
And then cram and then cram the message as fast
as you can, because this is plan see. I know
it's nice when you get to prepare Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
but this is Friday and you got to speak Sunday.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
So this is plan. This is when you thought you
were going.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
To have a week off, But this is when you
thought you were going to retire at age sixty two,
but you got to refire.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Now this is plan See. I'm preaching to somebody.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
I'm setting somebody free just to see this plan see.
This is when it could have happened that fast, and
you wanted to go back, but God won't let you
go back, but you can't go forward, and God's taken
you on plan see back in rehab, plan see back
in recovery.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Plan see sending the children to their mother's house.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
On the weekends. You didn't plan that getting married. This
is plan see. This is plan see. I didn't want
to lose my virginity, but I did.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
And now I'm.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Asking God, can he help me move past this in
a new way.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
This is plan see.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
And it doesn't mean that God left you. It just
means he's leading me differently.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
This is plan.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Ough. Ough, I feel the testimony's coming back to me
even as I preach the word, it's just going to
be one.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Of those words where the reapers overtake the solers.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Means, by the time I can even release this word
into your heart, you are going to see. What God
is saying to you is that you thought you were
going here and then you wanted to go back. And
it's not Plan A, and it's not Plan B. It's
going to be Plan C. Because there is something that
God knows about me that he finds it necessary for
(24:55):
this stage of my life to take me not like
this and not like this, but like this and I'm
still gonna get there, but I'm gonna get there in
a circular route. And I write this down. Not every
circle is a sin. Not every circle is a sin.
(25:17):
The Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness because they
would not believe.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
But before they spent forty years.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Because of their unbelief, God took them on a two
week detour because of his mercy. He knew there's something
I need to do in you. So I'm just trying
to see will you let go of Plan A and
will you refuse Plan B so you can see what
(25:47):
God wants to do in your life.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I could go home right now, but we can keep
going if you want to.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Let's talk about the crossing. We talked about the crying.
Let's talk about the crossing. Who should I use for
this illustration? Volunteer yourself if you if you dare somebody
that now you don't have to do this. So put
your hand down and I'm going to ask you this question. Somebody,
do it if you want to do it, if you
(26:17):
feel called to do it, if you feel led to
do it.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
You do not have to expose yourself. I wouldn't, but
just if Christmas is going to be tight for you
this year.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
And you want to use as a volunteer, and you
want me to use here, we're gonna do this.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You're committee. You don't know what I'm gonna do. So
whatever I want to do for this illustration, you'll do it. Yeah, yeah,
all right.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
You have to do exactly what I say, nothing more,
nothing less. You committed to the illustration.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Thank you. Put your hand out, yeah, open like that.
Can we see this on.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
The cameras everybody, Let's get our optimal camera angle so
this illustrate and put them up a litt higher, little higher,
lit higher, Yeah, right there. Now I prayed about whether
to do this. You know what I'm about to do.
Anybody else want to volunteer. I'm gonna just show this
(27:19):
real quick. It's gonna be very simple. If I give
you this and it says ten, and you take it and.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Then you squeeze it, I mean ball it up and
squeeze it.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Squeeze the other hand to just to complete the illustration,
and squeeze it. Squeeze the thumb in there, to the thumb.
Put the thumb where you can't get to it for
the sake of the illustration. There we go and she
squeezes it so tight, squeeze it so tight till it hurts.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
And then I have one of these and I say, okay,
I would like to give you this too. No no, no,
no, no no no, put the thumb and lamb.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
But what you instinctively did is what you would have
to do. You would have to release to receive right now,
ball it up. And this is what we do. This
is what we do. We get real tight when.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
God gives us something.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Right, But what if God wants to give you something else?
Speaker 4 (28:36):
You're like, I knew he was a prosperity preacher. It's
a metaphor, it's an analogy. This is my own personal money.
I'm giving it away. I'm not asking her for money.
I'm trying to give her something. But if I'm trying
to give.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Her something and her grip on what I just gave
her is too tight.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I I can try to give her something. No no, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
You're creative.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Don't mess up my illustration. Now you can receive when
you release, release, ball.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
It up, ball it up, ball it up, till when
you hand it to somebody, they wonder what has she
been through?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
What? What happened, ball it up.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
But if you hold it too tight, there may be
more that God wants to give you, but he can't.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Oh, oh, I hear I heard like this. God said,
I can't fill your fists. You want one, you want one?
Come on, do it real quick. I got plenty of
this as long as you've got open hands on Now.
(29:53):
It's getting really good, y'all. It's getting better and better
and better.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
But but if she she wants to hold on to
what that was, she can't get what this is.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And this is a but watch what she did because
she has learned by now.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
That this person standing in front of me is a giver,
not a taker.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
When you learn that about God, it's just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Because God's like, if you'll open your hands, come on,
opening all the way up, and keep your hands open,
and keep your heart open, and keep your mind open.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
And keep your.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Spirit open, and keep your faith high and keep your hope.
I will never stop meeting your needs.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
God sees you.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
God sees you season, he sees me, He sees me
empty handed, he sees me broken hearted, he sees me
(31:22):
crying at night.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
He sees me, and he holds me. Did you notice
now listen, you gotta get through this so I can
appreciate this next point.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Did you notice that Paul said, I'm striving to take
hold of that.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
For which Jesus already took hold of me. That means
that I don't have to grab it because God grabed me. Man,
y'all give her a hand. Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Everybody, hugger quick, everybody in that section. I'm gonna give
her a hug too. Hey, thank you for helping me preach.
Thank you for helping.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Me show that the secret in this season of your life. Hey,
it's not this, that's this. Is this.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Because you raised your hand, God filled it.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I love it. I love the Lord. He heard my crawl.
He pitied every girl.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
And not only did he lead them through the desert,
but he led them through the water. That's the crossing,
the crossing. Why is God taking me through this? Why
is God letting it be like this? Why is God
allowing this season in my life? It's the crossing. It's
the crossing because God knew they were too weak for war,
(33:05):
so he led them to water. He knew they were
too weak for war, so he led them to water.
God knew that even though Pharaoh had temporarily let them go.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
He was coming back to get them.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
For the Bible says that no sooner had they got
to that place at the Red Sea, than the chariots
of Pharaoh begin to click clack behind them. And as
those chariots begin to make their sound and the engines
of the enemy began to rev the Bible says in
Exodus fourteen fifteen that they cried.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Out to the.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
Lord and to Moses, why did you bring us out
here to die?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
No, we're going across this water.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
We're going across this water because what is against you
is more than what's with you. And if you fight
this enemy hand to hand, you will die. But God
knew something very strategic. Now watch this.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
This is another reason that I love God is.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Because for God, this is the strategic route, even if
it's not the short route. And so they're standing in
a red sea, and this is where it all comes together.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
For me. The red Sea is a problem.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
But they are praying a prayer, so God leads them
to a problem in answer to a prayer.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Is this the best sermon?
Speaker 4 (34:41):
I ap precaw year or am I just capfeinated?
Speaker 1 (34:49):
So I be like God? Take me around this. What
am I gonna do with a sea?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
And God says, oh, you'll see.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Because I didn't bring you out here because I'm done
with you. I brought you out here to deal with
your enemies and.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
To drown them in this. See.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
This is my plan.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
See.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
And the Egyptians you see today, you will see them
no more.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
But you got to let go now, You've got to.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Let go of what you were holding on to. Paul said,
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
Forget about Paul forgetting what is behind me and reaching
toward what's ahead. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the High Calling of God. In Christ, Jesus
and Paul wrote about the prize from a prison, which
(35:54):
goes to show me God's got me right where.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
He and I'm still gonna get there. Well, y'all used
up all your shout, or you will be shouting about.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
This red sea in front of you. You would be
shouting about your problem.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
If you knew the nature of your God, it's that
he leads us to impossible situations. He leads us to
the deep end so that we might learn to depend
on him.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
He leads us to the water because he knows we're
not ready for war. So God sees what you're fighting against.
God sees what you're up against. God sees you're outnumbered
for it. God sees you're too young to do it.
God sees you're too old to carry it.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
God sees you're too small to do it. God sees
you're not smart enough to know it.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
And he says, I have a seed to deal with that,
if you will move forward in faith. The presence of
the Lord is in this place. The presence of the
Lord is in this place. The spirit of God is
in this place.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
And it's the most amazing thing.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Man. If you never read the story, the Bible says
that they crossed through on dry ground and their enemies didn't.
There's going to be some things you look back on
at the end of this year that tried to kill you.
But what you didn't understand about what you were going
through in your situation.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
That wasn't your Plan A, and it wasn't Plan B.
It was Plan See, it was a crossing.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
After all, none of the disciples signed up to follow
Jesus to death.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Wow, none of them signed up for a cross Well
he did.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
He said, if there's any other way, Plan B, take
this cup from me, but he went to the cross
and he died.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Why it was his plan?
Speaker 3 (38:02):
See, Paul said, I want to know Christ.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
That's my plan.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
See hey, all of y'all that are praying about stuff,
you can't control time to go to plans.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
See God, I can't control this. You can. I want
to know you. I want to know you. I want
to know you more than I want to get her number.
I want to know you more than I want them
to follow me back. I want to know you more
than I want to like on this close. I want
to know you. What good is knowing what college to
(38:32):
go to? If you don't take Christ with you when
you get there. I want to know you. God brought
you to this water. Devil can't drown you in a
crossing that God brought you to.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
Paul said, even if I have to suffer, even if
I have to stay in this cell, this is not.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Where I'm meant to be.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
And one thing the text shows us is that whether
you are in captivity or whether you're headed toward freedom, God.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Is with you on this plan. See somebody, stop planning.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
See just all over your life this year, things you
don't understand.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Just boom boom, don't. God's not done.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
It's a plan c when when he does his see
with your see is going to all come full circle
and you are going to understand the goodness of God
at a level that you.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Have never known before.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Right, just crying, and there's crossing, and there's covering, there's covering.
Stand up, I'm done. As they went through the sea,
(39:51):
the Bible says that Moses had one job to do,
and if he did this job, God would handle every
part of the battle that he could not handle.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
And it's pretty simple, but it's kind of hard to
do sometimes.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
In Exitus chapter fourteen, as the people are standing in
front of a red sea, up against battles that they're
not ready to fight, surrounded by enemies that they are
not strong enough to subdue, you feel like that. I'm
gonna stop my sermon for a minute. If you feel
(40:31):
like that, watch what Moses did because he thought the
Lord was just going to do something. This is so
funny in the Bible sometimes there's little jokes, but you
just you think the Bible's boring, so you don't get them.
Moses gives a speech to the people. He says verse
fourteen Exitus fourteen, the Lord will fight for you.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
You need only to be still. Then the Lord said
to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell
the Israelites to move on.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Crying is no substitute for cross. You can stand there
and cry and get killed, or you can move forward
in the season with what you have because play LJ.
(41:17):
The Lord said, why are you crying out to me?
Tell the Israelites to move on? Raise your staff and
stretch out your hand. So the Lord says that the
key to this is going to be what Paul said
in Philippians chapter three, that I am letting go of
(41:40):
what's behind me and letting God deal with that, and
I'm reaching toward what's ahead of me.
Speaker 5 (41:49):
And if you will do this, God will do that.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
And the Bible says that they had to go through
some raging waters in UF two. You know, let's just
rejoice for a moment in our hearts. You don't have
to clap or shout or nothing like that. Just in
your own heart kind of tell the Lord Lake, I
know it's amazing what you brought me through. See, because
nobody else really knows what it cost you to get here.
(42:29):
Nobody knows what it cost you nobody knows what you cried.
Nobody really knows how much you're having to let go of. Look,
there are people in this room today who are having
to unlearn their entire upbringing to follow Christ. They were
not raised in a Christian family, they were not shown
how to read the Bible, they were not taught about Jesus.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
And God has brought you this far. So as we
thank God for that and what you've been through. I mean,
if you.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
Really just would think about it for one split second
of your life, the fear of what's next would look
much smaller in the context of all you've been through already.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
I mean, the devil missed his window to take you
out because there had been some things that you have
been through that were much bigger than this.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
And as they walk through the waters, I love to.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Get a picture of it man, because at this point
they've basically already given up faith in their leader because
he's taken them the long way. But God was leading
them through him, and they have no idea what's going
to happen next, only that this man is holding up
a stick in front of a sea. So if you
feel like that today, I need you to know that
(43:42):
God has you covered. The Bible says in verse sixteen,
raiz your staff and stretch out your hand over the
sea to divide the water, so that the Israelites can
go through on dry ground. I will harden the hearts
of the Egyptians so that they will go.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
In after them.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and his army,
through his chariots and his horsemen. Did you notice that
everything that was going to kill them was an instrument
in the hands of God for a greater glory.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
I prophesy it over your life, what the enemy meant
for evil. Help me preach. Then somebody shout.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
Now, Then the Angel of God, who had been traveling
in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them.
And the pillar of cloud also moved from in front
and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt
and Israel. And throughout the night, the cloud brought darkness
to the one side and light to the other side,
so neither went near the other all night long. Then
(44:47):
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all
that night the.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Lord drove the seed back. You see it. Moses is
doing this, and God is doing this.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
Moses is doing this, and God is doing this, and
Moses is and God has you covered in this season
of your life. The waters were divided, and the Israelites
went through the sea on dry ground, with the wall
of water on their right and on their left. The
(45:20):
Egyptians pursued them, and all pharaohs, horses and chariots and
horsemen followed them into the sea.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
During the last watch of.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
The night, the Lord looked down from the pillar of
fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it
into confusion. And he jammed the wheels of their chariots
so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians, the enemies,
the forces that came to conspire against the people of God,
said let's get away from the Israelites.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
Then the Lord said to Moses, watch this, stretch out
your hand over the sea, so that the waters may
flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at
daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians
were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into
(46:10):
the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots
and the horsemen, the entire army of Pharaoh that had
followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived, hallelujah.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
Notice how many times it says, see because this is planned.
See the Israelites went through the sea, they were covered.
The Egyptians drowned in the sea. It covered them. God
is working all things together for your good. God is
working all things together for his glory. God is working
all things together for a purpose. God is working all things.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
Together for a plant. You just keep doing this verse
thirty and I'll finish that day.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
The Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians,
and all Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
So I don't have to see it to believe it.
Because I know that God is with me. And I've
been praying about some things in my life, like you've
(47:27):
been praying about some things in your life, and I've
had some things in my life that didn't quite.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Match up at this point. And honestly, I'm gonna get
real specific with you.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
There's not that many things about my life that I
can complain about. But sometimes there's some things about me
that I thought would be better by now y'all just
leaving me up here like I'm the only dog on
one doing like this sometimes. But the Lord will bring
(48:01):
you to the water for the worst that you're not
ready for. I want to challenge you, y'all. We've got
like a few weeks left and we'll be saying goodbye yesterday.
I'm gonna tell you, if you take the chariots with
you into the Promised Land, you won't be there long.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
There are some things that God wants to deal with
in your life. And God might have sent a problem
to answer a prayer.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
What was Paul's prayer? I want to know Christ. So
God put him in a prison and said you'll get
to know me here. So Paul said, I have a
prize in the prison. So do you a prize in
the prison?
Speaker 1 (48:45):
You hear that? A prize in the prison?
Speaker 3 (48:50):
Father? These are your people. I didn't make them, I
didn't create them. I can't lead them through deep waters.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
You can now, God, we're holding on to so much.
Speaker 3 (49:03):
I mean, we've got our fist bald up so tight
on a ten dollars blessing We've got our fist bald
up so tight on the way we think about us,
on the way that we think about others.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
We've got our fist bald up so tight on our
Plan A.
Speaker 3 (49:18):
Some of us are thinking about going back Plan bing,
but today you told us that Plan C. It's for
us to trust you, give the situation to you, follow
you for it.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
And I believe God. Yeah, dude, I believe that.
Speaker 3 (49:35):
You're going to bring them across this red seed that
they're going through.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
I'm not saying that is a cute metaphor. God, I
have faith for it for them, And.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
Even if they don't believe right now, would you just
give them the strength to let go? Is such a
strange thing to pray for. We think is so strong
to hold on, but the strength to let go and
to go forward. It's time for Plan See. It's time
for you to see what God can do when you
(50:08):
trust Him with your life. Head's bowed, eyes closed. There's
someone here today. And the assignment on my life for
this message with you is to give you the opportunity
to give your life to Jesus Christ, like, to really
give him your life, not just to say I'm religious,
not just to say, yeah, I'm going to pray to
God make my life better. Know to really give him
(50:30):
your life is that you. God has brought you to
this moment.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
This is a threshold for you.
Speaker 3 (50:36):
You are here today because God has been drawing you
and leading you and calling you out of your sin,
out of your.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
Shame, and into his love.
Speaker 3 (50:46):
The Bible says that if you will confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
I believe that this day God wants to save you.
Speaker 3 (50:56):
Right now, I'm going to pray a prayer for the
benefit of those who are coming to God and listen.
If this is you and you feel it in your
heart and you're ready to repent of your sin and
trust in God and give him your life, I want
you to know that the work has already been done.
Jesus already died the death we should have died.
Speaker 1 (51:16):
He lived the life we could not live.
Speaker 3 (51:18):
He paid a debt he did not owe, so that
you could be saved.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
The only thing for you to do is to believe.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
So right now, if you're ready for that, to give
your life to Christ, I want you to repeat this
prayer after me.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
Church family, we're praying it.
Speaker 3 (51:34):
Out loud together for all those who are coming to God.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Repeat after me, Heavenly Father.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
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. Today I make Jesus the.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
Lord of my life.
Speaker 3 (51:57):
I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
rose again to give me life.
Speaker 1 (52:05):
I receive this new life.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
This is my new beginning. I am a child of God.
On the counter, three, raise your hand. If you prayed
that one, two, three hands went up before I even
said three.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
That's awesome. Let's give the Lord a great hand of praise.
Come on, everybody can praise God. Come on, I see
a lot of hands. Welcome to the Family of God.
Praise the Lord for all those online. You can put
in the comments. I receive Jesus.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
Come on, cleft those hands for what God did in
the house today.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
Praise the Lord.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
Hug seven people. Tell them you're still gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
You're still gonna get there. Yes you are, You're still
gonna get there. Yeah, you're gonna get there.
Speaker 4 (53:06):
Might be twelve pounds heavier in December. Still gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Still gonna get there.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
This is plan to see how many got something out
of the word of God today.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Campus Maasters, you can take it? Can I close here?
Speaker 3 (53:26):
You got anything important to say? We got a big
offering next weekend y'all this envelope right here, Open this up,
fill it out, fill it up, bring it back, put
it in, and expect God to move in a great
(53:46):
way in our church. What else you need to tell them?
Speaker 1 (53:52):
I don't want to oversimplify it is that all. Come
up here with me.
Speaker 3 (53:57):
Jj come on, Holly, come on, Graham, come on, Abby,
come on, Trucks, come on, Amy, come on, Brick.
Speaker 1 (54:05):
Come on, JT, come on, come on, come on, come on.
Speaker 4 (54:09):
Home, Come on Mom, come on, Eve, get up here,
Come on, Mike, come on, Elane, get.
Speaker 3 (54:17):
Up here, Come on Anna.
Speaker 1 (54:22):
Who else wants to come?
Speaker 3 (54:25):
Where is my sister that got the blessing today?
Speaker 1 (54:27):
Come on join us. Do your hands like this, repeat
after me.
Speaker 3 (54:42):
Now, unto Hell, who is able to do immeasurably more
than you ask or imagine to him, be glory through
Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1 (54:56):
In the church now and forever, say man, hey, then
again I'll see you next week. You're so great. This
is your husband. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
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 (55:31):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (55:33):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (55:38):
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.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
In your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I was looking back on the sermons that I preached
to you this year, just really trying to put in
context what the Lord has spoken and remember some of
the things that he shared with us. And it was
just powerful for me to remember the times that we've
shared together in his presence.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I did a series called Cold, I did a series
called That's What I Thought. I did a series called
same Lies, New Loops. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I already forgot that one, And yeah, that's what you
think about that?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Huh.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Indeed, that must mean the Lord wanted to send you
a score update.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
To let you know that no matter.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
How far down you are in the fourth quarter of
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Touch somebody and say I feel a comeback. Come on,
it's the last quarter of the year. But God can
do anything. Look at your neighbors, say da da da
da da da. Sometimes you gotta tell the devil Da
da da.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Da Philippians, chapter three, verse ten. Thank you to all
of our campus pastors who preached so beautifully last week.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Thank you for leading, thank you for shepherd, and thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
For sharing for the people of God. Making sure you're
still standing. It's good for your circulation. Philippians, chapter three,
verse ten. I can't speak for you, but I.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Want to know Christ. I do.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I want to know Christ, yes to the power of
his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, and so somehow love that word. It
means I'm more focused on the person than the plan.
I want to know Christ so that somehow, however, he
chooses to do it. And that's what we're going to
(02:19):
talk about today, by the way, So somehow I can
attain to the resurrection from the dead. Now this part
is important, not that I've already obtained all this.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Or have already arrived at my goal. Wearn't your neighbor,
I'm not there yet, Yeah, tell him? I might. I might.
I might cuss you out leaving the parking.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Lot today if the Lord doesn't do a work because
I'm not there yet.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I don't want to. But as possible.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
If the traffic's real bad, if you drive stupid, all right, focus,
I should read the whole verse again.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I messed it up.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Not that I have already obtained all this or have
already arrived at my goal. But I press on to
take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold
of me. Beautiful brothers and sisters. I do not consider
myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing
I do. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what
(03:21):
is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win
the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Give the Lord praise for his word. Now. Exodus chapter
number thirteen for our Old Testament demonstration.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Exodus chapter thirteen, verse seventeen says this, when Pharaoh let
the people go, God did not lead them on the
road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter, for
God said, if they face war, they might change their
minds and return to Egypt.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So God led the people around by the desert road
toward the Red Sea.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Now, I want you to sit down in this order.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Okay, if you are at one of our physical locations today.
Play along. If you're online, just raise your hand in
the chat or something like that. If everything went the
way you planned it this year, and you are exactly
where you intended to be in every area of your
life at the end of this year. When you started
the year, you planned it, and right now.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You possess it. You may be seated.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Because we want to look at who to hire to
be our therapist or our coach or pray for because.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You're a liar, but everybody else that had a plan
A and then a plan B.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I want you to look at your neighbor and tell
them my title, because I think.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
The whole church is still standing.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Tell him this must be my plan.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
See. Hey, you may be seated. Plan see.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
That's what I'm calling the message, Chris, this must be
my plan see, and we'll talk a little bit about
what that means in just a moment. There was an
apocalyptic fog in the air as we drove to church today.
Abby and I were driving into church and I looked
at her and said, this is kind of freaky.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
She said, I know, but it's kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
We were listening to a song that we just recorded
you don't have it yet, you will soon.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It's called so be It.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And as I was saying this to her, the voice
of the lead vocalist on our song called so be
It said, like a thief in the night, he'll returned
for his bride. Even so, Jesus come, Jesus come, split
the skies.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So be it God.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And I looked at Abby and said, wouldn't it be
wild if while we're listening into that, Jesus just came
back on. It's like six in the morning. She's rolling
her eyes at me and stuff. But I looked at her.
I'm just messing with her. I said, would you be ready?
And she said, uh, not really, I've got some work
to do.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Just keeping it honest. Like I wouldn't want him to
come exactly right now.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I don't know what's going on in young Abbey's life
that she needs to repent of.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Y'all pray for her as well. When the Israelites left Egypt,
the Bible us.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
As an interesting phrase, and I call your attention to
it once again as we bring these two amazing, amazing
scriptures together today. One is located out of four hundred
years of slavery, where God set his people free, and
one is located in a prison cell where an apostle
is being held captive for his obedience to God.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Let me set this up, Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
The richness of it is the second scripture I read you,
they're coming out of captivity, and the first sure I
read you, he is still in captivity. But I think
there is a thread that will help us evaluate where
we are, where we wanted to be, the plan we had,
and what God actually did while we were making our plans,
(07:15):
which was laugh. The Egyptians had held God's people captive
to the point that they cried out to God.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And I want to speak this sermon in three different
stages today.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
One I want to talk about the crying, the crying,
and then I want to talk about the crossing, the crossing.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Why aren't you writing down the points? What if there's
a pop quiz on this?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
What if the devil tries to beat you up next
week and you need to go back and refer to this,
write it down. The crying, the crossing, and then the covering.
Those three things that I want to talk to you
about today. They cried out to go Godd, it says
in Exodus chapter three, verse seven.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
This is not for the screen, but just listen to
it real quick.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
When the Lord appeared to Moses, he said, I've come
down because I'm concerned about my people. I have seen
the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard
them crying out. I have devices all over my house
that listen to me. I know they listen to me
because I talk about a restaurant and it shows up
on my phone without being typed in. I'm thankful that
(08:30):
the Lord listens to me as well, and that he
puts things in my path in response to the prayers
that I pray. Have you ever noticed that God will
put something in your path in response to the prayer
that you prayed.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
God won't always pick you up and carry you where
you need to go, but he'll put something in your path.
I believe for somebody right now.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
God put this message in your algorithm because he's putting
something in your path. You almost tripped over this video,
didn't you. You didn't even want to see a forty
five year old middle aged man in a black hoodie
with a Bible open.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
You were looking for something much more entertaining.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But God puts something in your path because he knows
about the things that you're going through, and he wanted
you to accidentally trip over this video.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
It's not the algorithm. It's the anointing of the.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
God who loves you so much and called you from
an early age that he would put this message in
your path at this time.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh, it's not an accident.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Don't switch it off, don't mute it, don't scroll past it,
don't fast forward till I really start going good. I'm
going right now to tell you that often God will
answer your prayer by putting something in your path, and
we praise him when he does. We praise him when
he does. We praise him when he does. Now, it's
not luck. It was the Lord. The Lord put that
in my path. It wasn't happenstance. It wasn't coincidence. Stop
(09:46):
blaming coincidence for God's work. You see what I'm saying.
When you call it coincidence, you diminish the divine.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It was God that put it in your path.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
God puts things in our path in response to our prayers.
We are not aware of the things that He puts
in our path, and answer to our prayers, we will
trip right over what he put in front of us,
trying to get to what we think we wanted. I said,
you can trip right in front of what God put Well,
I said that wrong. You can trip over what God
(10:16):
put right in front of you, trying to get where
you think you need to be, or trying to get
to what you think you want it. Paul said, I
want to know Christ. I'm clear about the outcome. I
want to draw closer to him. If I have to
suffer to get to know him. I would rather suffer
and know him than succeed and forget him. I would
(10:38):
rather go through something hard and have him than to
be far from him and everybody else think my life
is wonderful. I would rather have Christ. I would rather
have him. I don't want to miss him on the
way to it. And it's so important that you understand
whatever you're going through in your life that God hears
(11:00):
your Christ.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
What do we mean when we say that, Well, let
me break it down for you.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
And I can't exactly explain this to you, but when
I describe it, the Holy Spirit will.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Help you to know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Sometimes God answers your prayer by putting something in your
path that looks like what you prayed for that happens.
But today I want to talk with you for a
little bit about when God sends a problem in answer
to a prayer. Sometimes God will send a problem in
(11:40):
answer to a prayer.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The example that I'm thinking about in my.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Life right now is too personal to share with you,
But I just recently prayed about something and then a
problem arose and I didn't see the connection between the
two at the time, but the Lord didn't showed me.
You know, that problem that you are now praying for
me to remove from your life. That problem that you're
(12:09):
praying for me to remove, I sent to answer the
last prayer you prayed.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I don't know if this is clear or not. It's
like I asked God.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
To do something in my life and then something happened
that did not resemble what I asked God to do,
and so I'm like, oh God, I got to get
rid of this problem, so you can answer this prayer.
Right I'm praying about this, here comes the problem. I'm like, oh, God,
take this problem out and answer the prayer. And the
Lord's like, I just did, but I did it different.
(12:45):
I did it different, and so now the answer doesn't
resemble the prayer. So you are too blind to see
that the thing that you're continuing to pray for me
to take away is the thing that I sent to
answer the prayer that you were praying to begin with.
I know it's not very clear. Let me try to
make it clear from the Bible. In Exodus chapter thirteen,
God's people are coming out of Egyptian slavery. God answered
(13:08):
their prayer. He sent Moses to get them out of slavery.
But they're not just concerned with coming out of Egypt,
because where will they go from Egypt.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I have to have somewhere to live. I have to
have some type of soil to cultivate.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I have to have some type of agriculture by which.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I can partner with the earth so that our babies
can eat.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I have to have some kind of formation. I have
to have some sort of government. And God is always
taking you out of something, bringing you into something, taking
you out of something, bringing you into something, taking you
out of something, and bringing you into something. And the
Bible says something very powerful in Exodus chapter thirteen, verse seventeen,
(13:47):
when Pharaoh let the people go. What's interesting about that
God knew that although Pharaoh had let his people go
with just ten plagues.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
His people had still not let Pharaoh go.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
In an amazing that it only took God ten plagues.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I know that's a lot, but it's only ten.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
It only took God ten plagues to get Pharaoh to
let his people go. Now, Pharaoh didn't let them go quickly.
The enemy will never let you go quickly, not if
you're gifted. Why would he Why would he let you
go quickly? Why would he release his grip on you?
Why would he allow you to forgive without feeling bitterness?
Why would he give up your services? Why would he
(14:41):
let you go easily? He knows what you're capable of,
if you ever get liberated.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Why would he let you go?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Come on, somebody in New York shout, The reason the
devil is squeezing you is because there's something he sees
in you that if you ever get free, if you
ever get loose, if you ever shake this off, if
you ever.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Get out of here, if I ever get out of
this place, if I ever get out of this mindset,
I'm gonna do something for God. Somebody shout, God has
something for me. God's got something for you.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
That's what the attack means that's what the enemy is
fighting you over.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
God's got something for you. And isn't it.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Amazing that although it only took ten plagues for God
to get Pharaoh to let his people go, it took
forty years of wilderness wandering for God to get his
people to let Pharaoh go. Relief is easy. Freedom is
a process I felt annointed to teach today. Let's don't
(15:50):
worry about all three points. Let's just talk about crying
real quick. What if you are crying about something that
God is using, that God is trying to use.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
What if you are crying.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
About something right now and the Lord is saying, those
who's so in tears will reap with joy. See you
think those tears are wasted, They're not wasted their water
They are watering a harvest that you can't see right now.
So some of you, God puts something in your life.
It's a great challenge. It's a terrible situation. It's a
horrible situation. It's about as bad as being at a
(16:23):
red sea.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Look at this scripture. The Bible says God could have
taken them a short way, but he didn't. And this
is really the challenge.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Right when God could but he doesn't look at the
scripture again. He led the people around by the desert
road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out
of Egypt ready for battle.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So now I'm confused. Work with me.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
If they were ready for battle eighteen, then why in
verse seventeen say does God say if they face war,
they might change their minds and return to Egypt. God
is the only one who really knows when you're ready. Wow.
God is the only one who really knows what's in you.
(17:21):
So God is the only one who can fully determine
what to take you through and win because He's the
only one who knows what's really in you. There is
a powerful thing that happens when I begin to decide
in my life that God has me where he wants me,
even if it was caused by an attack of the enemy.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
God has me where he wants me.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Now, what would it look like if, at the end
of this year, because I'm trying to help you, as
you reflect and as you expect and as you accept
and you do all the things that we have to
do at this time of the year, what would it
look like for you to have the kind of empathy
for yourself and trust in God to realize that even
if it's taking you a little little longer than you
(18:02):
expected it to take you, watch this. You're still going
to get there. Tell your neighbor You're still going to
get there. Maybe that's what we'll call the message when
we put it online. Because I know you're running a
little late. I know you got a little bit of
a limp. I know you're not looking as fresh as
(18:24):
you were when you started out the journey. I know
it's not exactly the right time. But you're still gonna
get there. Tell them again and say it with faith.
You're still going to get there. You're still gonna get there.
And it might have some detours along the way, and
it might have some disappointments along the way, and you
might not get there with who you thought was going
(18:45):
to be. Not everybody that started on the road trip
is going to be in the car when you pull up.
But you're still going to get there. You understand what
I'm saying. You might not get through it all unscathed
and unscarred.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You might have to show a few of your wound us.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
And your scars along the way to encourage somebody else.
But You're still going to get there. The tears will
not stop you. The trials will not stop you. The
trauma will not stop you. The traffic will.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Not stop you.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
It will not stop you. Your boss will not stop you.
The economy will not stop you. The weather will not
stop you.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
That's why I like a day where the fog is out,
because there was somebody who got up and saw the
weather was bad, and Charlotte but said, I still gotta
get there. And I'm looking for a few rough riders
in the house today who say, come hell or high water,
come wind, come rain, come storm, come set back, come difficulty,
(19:44):
come depression. Now shove your neighbor and testify.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Say I'm still gonna get there. I'm still gonna get there.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Don't cancel my reservation. I'm still gonna get there. Don't
give my ticket away. I'm still gonna get there. Don't
give away my seat.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
At the table. I'm still gonna get there. I'm not
gonna be on the fast bus, but I'm still gonna
get there.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I'm not the valedictorian, but I intend to grant away.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
I'm still gonna get there.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I might not do it like she did it, but
I'm still.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Gonna get there.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
I might not have the right shoes on, but I'm
still gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I might have a story.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
To tell, but I've tell my story how I've overcome.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
High five three people say, just get there, Just get there,
Just get there, Just get there.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Wipe your deers and drive, wipe your deers and walk,
wipe your tears and lift your hands.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I'm still gonna get there.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
I would have despair had I not.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Believe that, I would see.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
What shi of the Lord?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
So, Moses, why are we going this way? Can't we
go the straight way? And see there's a difference between
the straight way and the right way.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
This is plan A.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
This is plan A, and this is plan B. This
is plan C.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Watch me.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
This.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Tell your neighbor. This might be your Plan C. Plan
C is like this.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Okay, here's where they were Egypt, right, here's where they
were going Canaan.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
That's plan A. And then plan B is go back.
That's what B stands for. We're going back to Egypt.
This is Plan C. Plan C doesn't make any sense.
Plan C.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Is wait a minute, we're going around in a circle.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Why are you taking us this way? Moses?
Speaker 6 (22:24):
Moses must be bad with a map, sometimes the mission
doesn't look like the map.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Now this is so true for your life. I need
you to know that you're still gonna get there. Say it.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I'm still gonna get there. I'm still gonna get there.
Graham came to me this weekend. He said, something horrible happened.
We had the speaker lined up to speak Sunday night
at the living room and they.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
Can't speak now. And so what do I do? I said, Oh,
it's time for plan.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
See. Plan see is cry out to the Lord.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
And then cram and then cram the message as fast
as you can, because this is plan see. I know
it's nice when you get to prepare Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
but this is Friday and you got to speak Sunday.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
So this is plan. This is when you thought you
were going.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
To have a week off, But this is when you
thought you were going to retire at age sixty two,
but you got to refire.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Now this is plan See. I'm preaching to somebody.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
I'm setting somebody free just to see this plan see.
This is when it could have happened that fast, and
you wanted to go back, but God won't let you
go back, but you can't go forward, and God's taken
you on plan see back in rehab, plan see back
in recovery.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Plan see sending the children to their mother's house.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
On the weekends. You didn't plan that getting married. This
is plan see. This is plan see. I didn't want
to lose my virginity, but I did.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
And now I'm.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Asking God, can he help me move past this in
a new way.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
This is plan see.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
And it doesn't mean that God left you. It just
means he's leading me differently.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
This is plan.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Ough. Ough, I feel the testimony's coming back to me
even as I preach the word, it's just going to
be one.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Of those words where the reapers overtake the solers.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Means, by the time I can even release this word
into your heart, you are going to see. What God
is saying to you is that you thought you were
going here and then you wanted to go back. And
it's not Plan A, and it's not Plan B. It's
going to be Plan C. Because there is something that
God knows about me that he finds it necessary for
(24:55):
this stage of my life to take me not like
this and not like this, but like this and I'm
still gonna get there, but I'm gonna get there in
a circular route. And I write this down. Not every
circle is a sin. Not every circle is a sin.
(25:17):
The Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness because they
would not believe.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
But before they spent forty years.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Because of their unbelief, God took them on a two
week detour because of his mercy. He knew there's something
I need to do in you. So I'm just trying
to see will you let go of Plan A and
will you refuse Plan B so you can see what
(25:47):
God wants to do in your life.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I could go home right now, but we can keep
going if you want to.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Let's talk about the crossing. We talked about the crying.
Let's talk about the crossing. Who should I use for
this illustration? Volunteer yourself if you if you dare somebody
that now you don't have to do this. So put
your hand down and I'm going to ask you this question. Somebody,
do it if you want to do it, if you
(26:17):
feel called to do it, if you feel led to
do it.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
You do not have to expose yourself. I wouldn't, but
just if Christmas is going to be tight for you
this year.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
And you want to use as a volunteer, and you
want me to use here, we're gonna do this.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You're committee. You don't know what I'm gonna do. So
whatever I want to do for this illustration, you'll do it. Yeah, yeah,
all right.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
You have to do exactly what I say, nothing more,
nothing less. You committed to the illustration.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Thank you. Put your hand out, yeah, open like that.
Can we see this on.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
The cameras everybody, Let's get our optimal camera angle so
this illustrate and put them up a litt higher, little higher,
lit higher, Yeah, right there. Now I prayed about whether
to do this. You know what I'm about to do.
Anybody else want to volunteer. I'm gonna just show this
(27:19):
real quick. It's gonna be very simple. If I give
you this and it says ten, and you take it and.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Then you squeeze it, I mean ball it up and
squeeze it.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Squeeze the other hand to just to complete the illustration,
and squeeze it. Squeeze the thumb in there, to the thumb.
Put the thumb where you can't get to it for
the sake of the illustration. There we go and she
squeezes it so tight, squeeze it so tight till it hurts.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
And then I have one of these and I say, okay,
I would like to give you this too. No no, no,
no, no no no, put the thumb and lamb.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
But what you instinctively did is what you would have
to do. You would have to release to receive right now,
ball it up. And this is what we do. This
is what we do. We get real tight when.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
God gives us something.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Right, But what if God wants to give you something else?
Speaker 4 (28:36):
You're like, I knew he was a prosperity preacher. It's
a metaphor, it's an analogy. This is my own personal money.
I'm giving it away. I'm not asking her for money.
I'm trying to give her something. But if I'm trying
to give.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Her something and her grip on what I just gave
her is too tight.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I I can try to give her something. No no, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
You're creative.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Don't mess up my illustration. Now you can receive when
you release, release, ball.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
It up, ball it up, ball it up, till when
you hand it to somebody, they wonder what has she
been through?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
What? What happened, ball it up.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
But if you hold it too tight, there may be
more that God wants to give you, but he can't.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Oh, oh, I hear I heard like this. God said,
I can't fill your fists. You want one, you want one?
Come on, do it real quick. I got plenty of
this as long as you've got open hands on Now.
(29:53):
It's getting really good, y'all. It's getting better and better
and better.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
But but if she she wants to hold on to
what that was, she can't get what this is.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And this is a but watch what she did because
she has learned by now.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
That this person standing in front of me is a giver,
not a taker.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
When you learn that about God, it's just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Because God's like, if you'll open your hands, come on,
opening all the way up, and keep your hands open,
and keep your heart open, and keep your mind open.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
And keep your.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Spirit open, and keep your faith high and keep your hope.
I will never stop meeting your needs.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
God sees you.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
God sees you season, he sees me, He sees me
empty handed, he sees me broken hearted, he sees me
(31:22):
crying at night.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
He sees me, and he holds me. Did you notice
now listen, you gotta get through this so I can
appreciate this next point.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Did you notice that Paul said, I'm striving to take
hold of that.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
For which Jesus already took hold of me. That means
that I don't have to grab it because God grabed me. Man,
y'all give her a hand. Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Everybody, hugger quick, everybody in that section. I'm gonna give
her a hug too. Hey, thank you for helping me preach.
Thank you for helping.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Me show that the secret in this season of your life. Hey,
it's not this, that's this. Is this.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Because you raised your hand, God filled it.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I love it. I love the Lord. He heard my crawl.
He pitied every girl.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
And not only did he lead them through the desert,
but he led them through the water. That's the crossing,
the crossing. Why is God taking me through this? Why
is God letting it be like this? Why is God
allowing this season in my life? It's the crossing. It's
the crossing because God knew they were too weak for war,
(33:05):
so he led them to water. He knew they were
too weak for war, so he led them to water.
God knew that even though Pharaoh had temporarily let them go.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
He was coming back to get them.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
For the Bible says that no sooner had they got
to that place at the Red Sea, than the chariots
of Pharaoh begin to click clack behind them. And as
those chariots begin to make their sound and the engines
of the enemy began to rev the Bible says in
Exodus fourteen fifteen that they cried.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Out to the.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
Lord and to Moses, why did you bring us out
here to die?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
No, we're going across this water.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
We're going across this water because what is against you
is more than what's with you. And if you fight
this enemy hand to hand, you will die. But God
knew something very strategic. Now watch this.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
This is another reason that I love God is.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Because for God, this is the strategic route, even if
it's not the short route. And so they're standing in
a red sea, and this is where it all comes together.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
For me. The red Sea is a problem.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
But they are praying a prayer, so God leads them
to a problem in answer to a prayer.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Is this the best sermon?
Speaker 4 (34:41):
I ap precaw year or am I just capfeinated?
Speaker 1 (34:49):
So I be like God? Take me around this. What
am I gonna do with a sea?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
And God says, oh, you'll see.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Because I didn't bring you out here because I'm done
with you. I brought you out here to deal with
your enemies and.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
To drown them in this. See.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
This is my plan.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
See.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
And the Egyptians you see today, you will see them
no more.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
But you got to let go now, You've got to.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Let go of what you were holding on to. Paul said,
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
Forget about Paul forgetting what is behind me and reaching
toward what's ahead. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the High Calling of God. In Christ, Jesus
and Paul wrote about the prize from a prison, which
(35:54):
goes to show me God's got me right where.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
He and I'm still gonna get there. Well, y'all used
up all your shout, or you will be shouting about.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
This red sea in front of you. You would be
shouting about your problem.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
If you knew the nature of your God, it's that
he leads us to impossible situations. He leads us to
the deep end so that we might learn to depend
on him.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
He leads us to the water because he knows we're
not ready for war. So God sees what you're fighting against.
God sees what you're up against. God sees you're outnumbered
for it. God sees you're too young to do it.
God sees you're too old to carry it.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
God sees you're too small to do it. God sees
you're not smart enough to know it.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
And he says, I have a seed to deal with that,
if you will move forward in faith. The presence of
the Lord is in this place. The presence of the
Lord is in this place. The spirit of God is
in this place.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
And it's the most amazing thing.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Man. If you never read the story, the Bible says
that they crossed through on dry ground and their enemies didn't.
There's going to be some things you look back on
at the end of this year that tried to kill you.
But what you didn't understand about what you were going
through in your situation.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
That wasn't your Plan A, and it wasn't Plan B.
It was Plan See, it was a crossing.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
After all, none of the disciples signed up to follow
Jesus to death.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Wow, none of them signed up for a cross Well
he did.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
He said, if there's any other way, Plan B, take
this cup from me, but he went to the cross
and he died.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Why it was his plan?
Speaker 3 (38:02):
See, Paul said, I want to know Christ.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
That's my plan.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
See hey, all of y'all that are praying about stuff,
you can't control time to go to plans.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
See God, I can't control this. You can. I want
to know you. I want to know you. I want
to know you more than I want to get her number.
I want to know you more than I want them
to follow me back. I want to know you more
than I want to like on this close. I want
to know you. What good is knowing what college to
(38:32):
go to? If you don't take Christ with you when
you get there. I want to know you. God brought
you to this water. Devil can't drown you in a
crossing that God brought you to.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
Paul said, even if I have to suffer, even if
I have to stay in this cell, this is not.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Where I'm meant to be.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
And one thing the text shows us is that whether
you are in captivity or whether you're headed toward freedom, God.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Is with you on this plan. See somebody, stop planning.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
See just all over your life this year, things you
don't understand.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Just boom boom, don't. God's not done.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
It's a plan c when when he does his see
with your see is going to all come full circle
and you are going to understand the goodness of God
at a level that you.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Have never known before.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Right, just crying, and there's crossing, and there's covering, there's covering.
Stand up, I'm done. As they went through the sea,
(39:51):
the Bible says that Moses had one job to do,
and if he did this job, God would handle every
part of the battle that he could not handle.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
And it's pretty simple, but it's kind of hard to
do sometimes.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
In Exitus chapter fourteen, as the people are standing in
front of a red sea, up against battles that they're
not ready to fight, surrounded by enemies that they are
not strong enough to subdue, you feel like that. I'm
gonna stop my sermon for a minute. If you feel
(40:31):
like that, watch what Moses did because he thought the
Lord was just going to do something. This is so
funny in the Bible sometimes there's little jokes, but you
just you think the Bible's boring, so you don't get them.
Moses gives a speech to the people. He says verse
fourteen Exitus fourteen, the Lord will fight for you.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
You need only to be still. Then the Lord said
to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell
the Israelites to move on.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Crying is no substitute for cross. You can stand there
and cry and get killed, or you can move forward
in the season with what you have because play LJ.
(41:17):
The Lord said, why are you crying out to me?
Tell the Israelites to move on? Raise your staff and
stretch out your hand. So the Lord says that the
key to this is going to be what Paul said
in Philippians chapter three, that I am letting go of
(41:40):
what's behind me and letting God deal with that, and
I'm reaching toward what's ahead of me.
Speaker 5 (41:49):
And if you will do this, God will do that.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
And the Bible says that they had to go through
some raging waters in UF two. You know, let's just
rejoice for a moment in our hearts. You don't have
to clap or shout or nothing like that. Just in
your own heart kind of tell the Lord Lake, I
know it's amazing what you brought me through. See, because
nobody else really knows what it cost you to get here.
(42:29):
Nobody knows what it cost you nobody knows what you cried.
Nobody really knows how much you're having to let go of. Look,
there are people in this room today who are having
to unlearn their entire upbringing to follow Christ. They were
not raised in a Christian family, they were not shown
how to read the Bible, they were not taught about Jesus.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
And God has brought you this far. So as we
thank God for that and what you've been through. I mean,
if you.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
Really just would think about it for one split second
of your life, the fear of what's next would look
much smaller in the context of all you've been through already.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
I mean, the devil missed his window to take you
out because there had been some things that you have
been through that were much bigger than this.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
And as they walk through the waters, I love to.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Get a picture of it man, because at this point
they've basically already given up faith in their leader because
he's taken them the long way. But God was leading
them through him, and they have no idea what's going
to happen next, only that this man is holding up
a stick in front of a sea. So if you
feel like that today, I need you to know that
(43:42):
God has you covered. The Bible says in verse sixteen,
raiz your staff and stretch out your hand over the
sea to divide the water, so that the Israelites can
go through on dry ground. I will harden the hearts
of the Egyptians so that they will go.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
In after them.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and his army,
through his chariots and his horsemen. Did you notice that
everything that was going to kill them was an instrument
in the hands of God for a greater glory.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
I prophesy it over your life, what the enemy meant
for evil. Help me preach. Then somebody shout.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
Now, Then the Angel of God, who had been traveling
in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them.
And the pillar of cloud also moved from in front
and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt
and Israel. And throughout the night, the cloud brought darkness
to the one side and light to the other side,
so neither went near the other all night long. Then
(44:47):
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all
that night the.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Lord drove the seed back. You see it. Moses is
doing this, and God is doing this.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
Moses is doing this, and God is doing this, and
Moses is and God has you covered in this season
of your life. The waters were divided, and the Israelites
went through the sea on dry ground, with the wall
of water on their right and on their left. The
(45:20):
Egyptians pursued them, and all pharaohs, horses and chariots and
horsemen followed them into the sea.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
During the last watch of.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
The night, the Lord looked down from the pillar of
fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it
into confusion. And he jammed the wheels of their chariots
so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians, the enemies,
the forces that came to conspire against the people of God,
said let's get away from the Israelites.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
Then the Lord said to Moses, watch this, stretch out
your hand over the sea, so that the waters may
flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at
daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians
were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into
(46:10):
the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots
and the horsemen, the entire army of Pharaoh that had
followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived, hallelujah.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
Notice how many times it says, see because this is planned.
See the Israelites went through the sea, they were covered.
The Egyptians drowned in the sea. It covered them. God
is working all things together for your good. God is
working all things together for his glory. God is working
all things together for a purpose. God is working all things.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
Together for a plant. You just keep doing this verse
thirty and I'll finish that day.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
The Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians,
and all Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
So I don't have to see it to believe it.
Because I know that God is with me. And I've
been praying about some things in my life, like you've
(47:27):
been praying about some things in your life, and I've
had some things in my life that didn't quite.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Match up at this point. And honestly, I'm gonna get
real specific with you.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
There's not that many things about my life that I
can complain about. But sometimes there's some things about me
that I thought would be better by now y'all just
leaving me up here like I'm the only dog on
one doing like this sometimes. But the Lord will bring
(48:01):
you to the water for the worst that you're not
ready for. I want to challenge you, y'all. We've got
like a few weeks left and we'll be saying goodbye yesterday.
I'm gonna tell you, if you take the chariots with
you into the Promised Land, you won't be there long.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
There are some things that God wants to deal with
in your life. And God might have sent a problem
to answer a prayer.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
What was Paul's prayer? I want to know Christ. So
God put him in a prison and said you'll get
to know me here. So Paul said, I have a
prize in the prison. So do you a prize in
the prison?
Speaker 1 (48:45):
You hear that? A prize in the prison?
Speaker 3 (48:50):
Father? These are your people. I didn't make them, I
didn't create them. I can't lead them through deep waters.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
You can now, God, we're holding on to so much.
Speaker 3 (49:03):
I mean, we've got our fist bald up so tight
on a ten dollars blessing We've got our fist bald
up so tight on the way we think about us,
on the way that we think about others.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
We've got our fist bald up so tight on our
Plan A.
Speaker 3 (49:18):
Some of us are thinking about going back Plan bing,
but today you told us that Plan C. It's for
us to trust you, give the situation to you, follow
you for it.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
And I believe God. Yeah, dude, I believe that.
Speaker 3 (49:35):
You're going to bring them across this red seed that
they're going through.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
I'm not saying that is a cute metaphor. God, I
have faith for it for them, And.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
Even if they don't believe right now, would you just
give them the strength to let go? Is such a
strange thing to pray for. We think is so strong
to hold on, but the strength to let go and
to go forward. It's time for Plan See. It's time
for you to see what God can do when you
(50:08):
trust Him with your life. Head's bowed, eyes closed. There's
someone here today. And the assignment on my life for
this message with you is to give you the opportunity
to give your life to Jesus Christ, like, to really
give him your life, not just to say I'm religious,
not just to say, yeah, I'm going to pray to
God make my life better. Know to really give him
(50:30):
your life is that you. God has brought you to
this moment.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
This is a threshold for you.
Speaker 3 (50:36):
You are here today because God has been drawing you
and leading you and calling you out of your sin,
out of your.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
Shame, and into his love.
Speaker 3 (50:46):
The Bible says that if you will confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
I believe that this day God wants to save you.
Speaker 3 (50:56):
Right now, I'm going to pray a prayer for the
benefit of those who are coming to God and listen.
If this is you and you feel it in your
heart and you're ready to repent of your sin and
trust in God and give him your life, I want
you to know that the work has already been done.
Jesus already died the death we should have died.
Speaker 1 (51:16):
He lived the life we could not live.
Speaker 3 (51:18):
He paid a debt he did not owe, so that
you could be saved.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
The only thing for you to do is to believe.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
So right now, if you're ready for that, to give
your life to Christ, I want you to repeat this
prayer after me.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
Church family, we're praying it.
Speaker 3 (51:34):
Out loud together for all those who are coming to God.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Repeat after me, Heavenly Father.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
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. Today I make Jesus the.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
Lord of my life.
Speaker 3 (51:57):
I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
rose again to give me life.
Speaker 1 (52:05):
I receive this new life.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
This is my new beginning. I am a child of God.
On the counter, three, raise your hand. If you prayed
that one, two, three hands went up before I even
said three.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
That's awesome. Let's give the Lord a great hand of praise.
Come on, everybody can praise God. Come on, I see
a lot of hands. Welcome to the Family of God.
Praise the Lord for all those online. You can put
in the comments. I receive Jesus.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
Come on, cleft those hands for what God did in
the house today.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
Praise the Lord.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
Hug seven people. Tell them you're still gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
You're still gonna get there. Yes you are, You're still
gonna get there. Yeah, you're gonna get there.
Speaker 4 (53:06):
Might be twelve pounds heavier in December. Still gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
Still gonna get there.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
This is plan to see how many got something out
of the word of God today.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Campus Maasters, you can take it? Can I close here?
Speaker 3 (53:26):
You got anything important to say? We got a big
offering next weekend y'all this envelope right here, Open this up,
fill it out, fill it up, bring it back, put
it in, and expect God to move in a great
(53:46):
way in our church. What else you need to tell them?
Speaker 1 (53:52):
I don't want to oversimplify it is that all. Come
up here with me.
Speaker 3 (53:57):
Jj come on, Holly, come on, Graham, come on, Abby,
come on, Trucks, come on, Amy, come on, Brick.
Speaker 1 (54:05):
Come on, JT, come on, come on, come on, come on.
Speaker 4 (54:09):
Home, Come on Mom, come on, Eve, get up here,
Come on, Mike, come on, Elane, get.
Speaker 3 (54:17):
Up here, Come on Anna.
Speaker 1 (54:22):
Who else wants to come?
Speaker 3 (54:25):
Where is my sister that got the blessing today?
Speaker 1 (54:27):
Come on join us. Do your hands like this, repeat
after me.
Speaker 3 (54:42):
Now, unto Hell, who is able to do immeasurably more
than you ask or imagine to him, be glory through
Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1 (54:56):
In the church now and forever, say man, hey, then
again I'll see you next week. You're so great. This
is your husband. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
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 (55:31):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (55:33):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (55:38):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Host
Steven Furtick
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