Where You Meet With God

Don’t go for a goal without God this year. When you invite His presence in, He’ll be with you every step of the way, bringing things to the surface, and showing you what to reach for.

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

Scripture References:

 2 Kings 6, verses 1-7

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. We thank you for your presence today. God.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
We do not take it for granted that we can
call upon that name, that name that moves mountains, that
name that saves souls, that name that forgives sin, that
name that rolls away shame. That name, and that name alone,
the name of Jesus is our banner today. I'm thankful
for thousands of people who are not ashamed to praise

(00:43):
the name of Jesus today, who are not shy or
quiet or too tired.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
To praise the name of Jesus.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
I thank you for the chain breaking power of your
son Jesus today. I thank you for the yoke destroying
annointing of your son Jesus. Today. I thank you for
the great robbing presence but the Almighty God the Great,
I am the person in the work of Jesus today,

(01:12):
and we expect miracles in that name healing in that name,
breakthrough in that name. But we didn't come today just
to see what we could get out of that name.
We came to give that name the praise today, for
your name is worthy, Jesus, your name is worthy, always

(01:34):
has been, always will be. No matter what we go through,
You're worthy. No matter what we're facing. You're worthy, never changes,
never feels your great love. Grab the hand of the
person on either side of you. We're going to make
a connection right now by faith. And if you're watching
online and you're not at one of our physical locations,
that's all right. Just squeeze the hand of the person

(01:56):
next to you, and now say this out loud.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
God, God is in this moment.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Father, we thank you and invite you into every single
situation represented in this room, good, bad, in between, epic
or boring. You are the lord of it all. I
thank you for the wonderful time we've.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Had today singing your praises. But worship is more than
a song. So now Lord, we bring you our lives, ourselves,
every single part of us.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
I pray for the person on my right, the person
on my left. I don't just pray for myself today.
Would you touch my brother, touch my sister. Touch them
enough to let.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Them know they can make it another week.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Touch them enough to know that it's already worked out
in heaven, and it will be done on earth as
it is in heaven.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Touch them enough to.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Know that there is nothing that escapes your all seeing eye,
and that the wings of else should I, the Most
High God, are hovering over your children today. I thank you,
Lord for your promise that he who dwelleth in the
secret place of the Most High will abide under the
shadow of the Almighty. And I thank you that no
weapon formed against your children will prosper. We thank you

(03:06):
that the Church of Jesus Christ is being built, and
the gates of hell will not prevail, have not prevailed,
cannot prevail. For we know a name that is greater
than sasan greater than darkness, greater than cancer, greater than depression,

(03:29):
greater than diabetes, greater than sickness, greater than guilt. Grace
that is greater the nave of Jesus given.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Praise children, all right, guess no polite praise, Give in
your party, pray, give in your maiden, praise, Give in.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Your some kind of way.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
He's gonna do it.

Speaker 5 (03:59):
Praise hey, well, happy twenty twenty five everybody.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
I thought I would give the year a catchy slogan.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
This is my first year of twenty twenty five, so
I thought, I'll give you a range of options. If
you really aren't that goal oriented, just survive in twenty five.
Touch your neighbors, say survive. If you had a little
more faith in that, look at them and say thrive
in twenty five.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
If you got a little more faith than that, if.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
You got faith like Lazarus, if you got faith like
the women who went to the tomb with the spices
when they said it was over look at your neighbor
and say.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Dead things come alive in twenty five. Oh oh oh.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
I felt that when I said it in twenty five. Yeah,
come on, Brandon, come on, Chris. We're not gonna sing
anymore because I feel like preaching.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
This is my first sermon of the year. We're gonna
put that song on on.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
We're gonna get it out as soon as we can.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
I know a name.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
We're not gonna hold it hostage for two years like
we do. Sometimes that song is going into your ears
so it can go into.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
People's homes into people's hearts, so you can call on
the name of Jesus.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Do we have a date, boys, fourteenth Valentine's Day, that.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
That thing's coming alive on Valentine? Can I get a name?

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Man?

Speaker 1 (05:38):
She'd be like, that's great.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
You can be singing like I don't have a day,
but I know a name. Give it up for the
Great Brandon Lake, the Great Christopher Brown. We got hey,
we got new music coming your way Friday, suns on Sunday,
God Dad, get it on Napster.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
It's good to be back. I've seen you all in
a few weeks.

Speaker 5 (06:04):
Brace the Lord, everybody.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
I want to thank you also, stay standing.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
I want to thank you for your amazing, remarkable, once
in a generation generosity for our church giving in our
year end offering over ten million dollars, over ten million
dollars at least, praise Him on a ten for ten
million dollars.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
That's so many people we can help.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
That's so many schools we can build. That's so many
people we can come to with water and with food
and with clothes, and with the gospel building and blessing
and touching the world and preaching Jesus. We're gonna build
a campus in Greenville, South Carolina. We're gonna build a
campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. We're gonna build a campus

(06:57):
in Uptown Charlotte. We're gonna preach the Gospel everywhere, all
around the world, and we're doing it together.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
I five your neighbors say, I'm.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Alive in twenty five and the church is alive.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Praise the Lord.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Feeling good, Gavin feeling good, Graham feeling dangerous today, feel
a revival spirit today. You know, the Lord led me
to a passage of scripture that I thought was so
strange that I was nervous to preach it.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
But I find sometimes it's in the.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Simplest pictures that He gives us that the greatest and
most strategic breakthroughs occur. I want you to join me
for a moment today. In Second Kings chapter six, verses
one through seven, I took a poll of ten Christians,
ten people who went to Bible school. Nine point seven
of the ten said I've never heard that story preached before,

(07:55):
So that means today this will be the best sermon
on Second King six one through seven.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
You've ever heard some stacking the odds in my favor?
You can't say anything else.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
You say, Well, that's the best sermon I've ever heard
about that scripture, because it's the.

Speaker 6 (08:08):
Only one I've heard about that scripture.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Now I am rested, but I might be a little rusty.
So I need your grace Amens today. While I'm preaching,
I said, I need your grace Amens today. We're gonna
get our timing down in the first ten minutes so
we can go to church here.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
But I don't want you to miss anything that the
Lord has for you.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
So lean in from the very beginning, because I'll read
you just three verses and then I'll tell you this
very peculiar story in the scripture, and you'll wonder like
I wondered why that scripture.

Speaker 6 (08:40):
That's what I wondered too, But then God showed me.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Let's look together at tewod King's chapter six, verse one
and two.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Just those two verses for now.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
And by the way, shout out to our Charleston, South
Carolina pop up today.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Do you know we were meeting in Charleston today.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Welcome, Welcome, They're still shouting. Valentine's not that excited. They
don't care. What does it matter to them? You came
out in the cold, you know, you get an extra
dose of the Holy Ghost for coming out when it's
below forty degrees in the south. I'm gonna tell you
good things are gonna happen. Your car is going to
get extra gas mileage this week because you came in

(09:19):
the cold, as long as it's a tesla now tewod Kings,
Chapter six, Verse one, the company of the prophets said
to Elisha, look, the place where we meet with you
is too.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Small for us.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us
can get a pole, and let us build a place
there for us to me. And he said, go, everybody
shall go. Let me read that one more time before
I give you my subject for today. Second King six,
verses one and two. The Bible says the company of

(09:58):
the prophets said to Elisha, look, the place where we
meet with you is too.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Small for us. Now that's a problem.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
So verse two, they said, let us go to the Jordan,
where each of us can get a poll, and build
a place there for us to meet.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
And he said, go today.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
I want to talk to you for a few moments
about where you meet with God, where you meet with God.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
And get you to think about that.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Because I believe it is the key to so many
other things that you're worried about. This year where you
meet with God Father, we thank you that you're already here.
Don't have to beg you to come or entice you.
And I pray that now you would make your presence
so manifest that not a single one of us can
excuse it or explain it away. When they leave, Lord,

(10:50):
may they say not the music was good. May they
not say they kept it cold in that auditorium. May
they not say it was crowded. We got to get
out of here and get out of the park.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Lie.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
May they say, surely the presence of the Lord was
in this place in Jesus' name. Amen, on your way
to your seat, touch your neighbor and say God is here,
and I'm glad you're here too. Never been easier to
pretend we're places that were not. Tim I had a

(11:24):
zoom meeting with a professional that I pay the other day.
I put that in because it's important. He has all
kinds of trophies and awards every time we meet, because
we meet regularly, and I can always see all his
trophies and a wars kind of like an ego wall
so he can keep.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Me convinced I need to pay him. I get it.
I'm not judging it.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
And the other day I was meeting with him and
while I was looking, I was like, oh man, maybe
something's wrong with my eyes, because some of the awards
started like disappearing.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
I was like, that's weird.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Check my numb I'm forty four now, so I know
stuff's going to start just quitting. I'm like, the is
it the zoom connection? Is it just midlife? What's happening
right now? And then another award kind of started moving
and then it started moving around. I was like, well,
now that's not the connection. And they were pixelating and
they were moving positions all over the wall and I

(12:22):
called his name. I'm make up a name, I said, brother.
I said, why are the trophies moving around the wall?
I said, is that a zoom background? Are those not
real trophies that I've.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Been looking at the whole time?

Speaker 2 (12:42):
And he dropped his head, and I knew that wasn't
true because I know as credentials. He said, I just
didn't want to distract you. I had a flood in
the regular place we meet, and I didn't want to
cause a disruption. So I just recreated that background, and
I've been putting it up the next weeks, and I
promise you those are real. And then the next time
we met, I made him pick up stuff and show
it to me to prove that you really did earn it,

(13:04):
and I came away with a valuable lesson. It's never
been easier to pretend like you're in a place and
hope that nobody stops to ask you, are you really here?
All this stuff that you show online, it's never been

(13:25):
easier to show it on a screen, even when you
know you don't really have it in your life to
be going through a flood in one location, but to
make it look like everything is fine in another. And again,
I don't say this as a judgment, but just sometimes
when we come to little obscure text in the Bible

(13:46):
that maybe we say, why of all the passages, pastor Steven,
I need a word for twenty twenty five, this is
your first sermon of the year. Maybe you're watching this
in twenty thirty eight. Maybe I'm a hologram floating over
you preaching this right now. I don't know what they'll
do in the future, but you're like, why this We
got a whole Bible full of big miracles, with big
old red seas and towering jericho walls and filthy grades

(14:11):
and blind eyes being open, and you would choose to
preach about a text as simple as the company of
the prophets said to Elisha, Look, the place, the place
where we meet with you is too small for us.
Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us
can get a pole, and let us build a place.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
There for us to meet. And he said, go.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
So why would the Holy Spirit select this scripture for
us on this pivotal week in our lives? And I
have a reason that I think the Holy Spirit wants
you to hear about this today.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Is first of all, because.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Most of the things that you struggle with in your
life have small beginnings. The better that you get with
identifying and recognizing your struggle in the small stage, the
less effort you will have to spend when that thing
is full grown to sabotage you in the future. And

(15:09):
I love these men in this passage. Okay, here's the situation.
They are students of a great prophet. Everybody say, great prophet,
not a pretty good prophet, not a minor league prophet,
a great profit, the prophet of Israel, who could call
for God to intervene supernaturally and he would, who could

(15:30):
locate enemies supernaturally, and God's people would get the victory.
A great prophet, Elisha, And he has gathered unto himself
a great company of students. And the students are kind
of looking around for a little while. As this movement
starts to grow, please be aware that if God really

(15:51):
blesses your life, blessing creates just as many problems as
struggle does. So at some point they begin to meet
with one another, meet with one another, and they say,
this sucks, man.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
It's crowded. This is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
This was fine when there were fifty of us, but
who knows how many there were by that time. Right,
Elisha has fixed a complete water system in one city.
He has fixed a drought for several kings and turned
the tide of the war. He's supplied a food supply
for a widow. He's given a barren woman a child,

(16:32):
and then raised that child from the dead when the
child got all that's already happened. He healed a Syrian
commander of leprosy by telling him to go dip into
Jordan river.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
So you got to imagine that it was at least.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Double what it had been to start with, right, because
he had a double portion of Elijah, his predecessor spirit on.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Him, and he worked great miracles.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
And so they look at each other one day like, man,
somebody ought to do something about this is crowded.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
You don't hour.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
There's no deodorant. It hasn't been invented. We got to
do something about this. And I want to focus in
for just a moment on verse one to show you
where the Holy Spirit convicted me about my life. He
told me that I live in verse one too often.
And verse one is where they give the complaint. Look,

(17:23):
the place where we meet with you is too small
for us.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
And that's the whole verse one.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
And I wonder, did you live most of last year
in verse one and never make it to verse two?

Speaker 1 (17:36):
What do you mean make it to verse two? Verse two?

Speaker 2 (17:39):
They say, let us go to the Jordan, where each
of us can get a pole, and.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Let us build a place there for us to meet.
And he said, go.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
Verse one contains the problem. It's too crowded. This isn't
working anymore. We don't fit here anymore. We don't like this.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Y'all need to build a parking decat elevution church. This
is too much.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Y'all go too long and the services overlap and it's crazy.
Y'all need to get us out of this high school
auditorium and get us in a real building.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
You know, we got problems around here, and the only
thing about the problem is that God caused it.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Because I bet you they prayed for people to come
and be a part of their team, and now they're
complaining about something that they prayed for. Oh, you better
wear your steel toe this year.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Don't wear your crocs to this church this year.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
I'm walking up and down those roads this year looking
for the person who's like me. Now, this is my
default setting to pray about something, possess what I prayed for,
complain about what I prayed for.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
But they didn't do that. They said the place is
too small. Watch this verse two. Let us go. So
here's a challenge for you. Now.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
I hope you'll accept it, but maybe you won't. And
that's okay too, because I can just give you the challenge.
I can't make you do it. Every time you are
tempted to complain it is an invitation to create. Instead,
every time you are tempted to complain, it should be

(19:19):
a trigger or an invitation for you to create. I
know the Bible says do everything without complaining, but sometimes
the complaining stage is the stage you have to make
it through to get to the change stage. They were
not rebuked for complaining, but they were blessed for continuing. Again,

(19:42):
they were not rebuked for complaining. This place is too
small a prophet, so be grateful for what you had. No,
he was more than willing, And that's the word I
want us to come back to a few times today.
He was more than willing to give them permission. And
some of the things that we're praying about, complaining about,
worrying about and calling it prayer, God has already.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Given us permission to fix.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
You ever worried about something and said you prayed about it,
You ever talked to everybody about it but the one
who could do something for you. May this be the
year that you stop complaining to people who can't change
it anyway. Maybe that's where I need to be preaching

(20:30):
from back there in the back where this is my year,
where the Bible says the company of the prophets.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Verse one said to Elisha, and I got to show
you how cool the Bible is.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
A prophet speaks for God, right, a prophet represents God aphet.
We don't have prophets like this today because we all,
as believers have the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our great
high Priest. The Holy Spirit lives in you. You don't
need me to get a word from God. If I'm
off any day, God is still on. If I don't

(21:04):
give you the word that you need, go back and
read the scripture I read, and God will preach it
better than I did. If I fall down dead preaching
this sermon today, somebody else will pick up the mic
and preach it before I can get out of the
door with the ems. Because God's word is eternal, It
does not originate with men.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
It originates with God. And not only, oh, not only
is it.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Internal eternal, internal eternal. And when we say the place
where you meet with God, I want you to understand
that that place is never meant to be a building.

(21:48):
When I said I want to talk to you today
about where you meet with God, You're like, great, they're
starting a building campaign.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
No where he did that. I told you our building,
where are built? The building are here? Anyman? You don't
have a build, and then we could put it on YouTube.
So we don't need all that.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
But maybe I am starting a building campaign today where
you begin.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
To build new patterns.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
And recruit new people if necessary, so that the presence
of God permeates your life. This year, I want to
talk to you about where you meet with God. Now
let me slow down because I get excited because y'all start,
y'all start.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Drawing it out of me, and it's your fault.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
When we think about a prophet, we think about somebody
who speaks for God and prophet to do that. In
the Bible, prophets can prophesy doom and judgment, and you
see this a lot.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
In the Bible.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
Prophets can also prophesy rain and blessing and life and increase.
But in this situation, didn't you find it interesting that
in verse one it says the company of the prophet
said to Elisha, not I just said to the company
of the prophets.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
Why is that significant?

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Because sometimes God commands you to do something clearly, clearly.
There are some things that God has commanded you to
do clearly. These are not opinions, suggestions, or advice. These
are not influencers giving you their tips and techniques. These
are the truths of God's word.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
They are eternal.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
And so God commands you clearly to flee sexual immorality.
You don't have to pray about the affair that you're
on the edge of having.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
You got to run flee sexual immorality. That's clear.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
I know another clear one that people don't like forgive others,
just as God in Christ forgave you.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
That's clear. But Lord, which city should I live in?

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Should I live in Charlotte or Atlanta or Roanoke or Raleigh?

Speaker 1 (24:01):
The Lord don't.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
The Lord is going to use you in the city
that you obey the clear thing that He showed you in. So,
if you don't forgiven Charlotte, when you move to Atlanta,
you're gonna have just the same sewage that you had
in Charlotte when you get to Atlanta, because you didn't
do what was clear.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Wherever you go, there you are.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
And so a lot of the prayers we pray about
moves we should make. When we can't get ourselves to
obey what God has clearly spoken, we create confusion so
that we don't take responsibility for our decisions. I'm not
going to be like this the whole time. I will
be hopeful in a moment.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
But I just want to spend more time this year.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
In verse two, where they said, let us go to
the Jordan, where each of us can get a poll,
and let us build a place there for us to meet. Honestly,
if this is my prayer, I'm saying, God, this place
where we meet with you is too small.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Make us that's a bigger one. God.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
These people you put around me are not talented enough.
Give me more talented people. God, this situation you put
me in, it's not important enough, it's not exciting enough.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
God moved me to another place.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
But I want you to notice in verse two, they
didn't ask the prophet for anything except permission. Let us
go to the place by the Jordan, the transitional body
of water where the people of God crossed over into Jericho.
Let us go to the place where the vegetation is,
and the wood is, and the tools are, and the
resources are, and let us go build a place there

(25:38):
for us to meet. Put that verse on the screen.
Verse two, and whoever circle him back there circle The
following words say let us circle us, go to the Jordan,
where each of us circle us again can get a pole,
and let us circle us again build a place there
for us circle us again. To me, that's their plan.

(26:04):
We got a plan. Somebody shout, I got a plan.
This is my year. I got a plan thrive in
twenty five. I got a plan. I'm eating carnivore, I'm
doing cardio, I'm drinking collagen. And then two weeks in
you got a cold, and where did that get you?

(26:29):
I got a plan. We're gonna go down here and
build a place. It's gonna be bigger, it's gonna be better,
it's gonna be amazing.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
I got my plan I have.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
I have my plan, and I had the plan last year,
but this is different. I had this plan. I had
the other year before that too, and the year and
the year before that, but that was COVID. That doesn't count.
I mean this year is different. So we're going. Somebody shout,
let's go. And I give them credit for their intive

(27:01):
because I think sometimes when we're waiting for God to speak,
he's waiting for us to step Yeah. Yeah, Sometimes when
we're waiting for God to move, he's waiting for us
to multiply what we've already been given. And so I
congratulate these men for their initiative. They didn't just complain

(27:21):
about the thing. They were willing to change the thing,
to work toward the thing, to collaborate toward the thing.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Are you.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
Or are you waiting for something to happen externally? When
the Word of God is internal, internal and eternal, nothing
can stop it, and it can't be seen with human eyes,
And so they get fired up. One of my friends,
who is an athlete, tells me, I don't know if

(27:53):
this is going to encourage you, but I come to
church because it helps me feel like I can do
anything for about three days. I said, that's pretty good.
Three days, that's pretty good. Shelf life three days, that's
pretty good. Flowers can die quicker than three days, that's
pretty good. He said, yeah, felt I could do anything
for three days. I said, but what happens on day four?

(28:15):
He said, Well, that's where it gets tricky. I said, no,
it doesn't, because you can you can go back to God.
Between Sundays you can go back to God. You can
go back to God.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Between hours, you can go back to God.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
You can go back to God as much as you
want in any situation that you're in.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
And I think as simple as that sounds.

Speaker 6 (28:42):
We don't really practice that. We don't really practice that.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
I saw something here that was to be celebrated.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Let's go. We're gonna build a bigger school and e life.
So the prophet is gonna teach us.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
We're gonna build something amazing for you God, and many
of us have started this year with good motives. I'm
gonna build something for my family. I'm gonna build something
so I can take.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Care of my kids. I'm gonna build something for God.
I'm gonna build something to make a difference. I'm gonna
work on my body. I'm gonna work on my mind.
I'm gonna work on my future. I'm gonna work on
my career. I'm gonna work on myself. I'm gonna work
on my temper. I'm gonna work on my yoga.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
I started doing yoga last year just so I can
keep it moving as much as I need to up here.
I'm just increasing the arsenal this year. And you know
what the thing about it is, Holly's better at it
than I am, and I can lift so much more
pounds than she can. But the instructor that's working with us,
she always is saying beautiful Holly, beautiful Holly, and comes

(29:41):
over to me and says it gets better. Stephen, Like,
the only word she has for me is the word
of false encouragement and delusional hope that I'll one day
be flexible.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
And I found out something.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
When you're doing something new, it helps to have somebody
who can give you personal attention so you don't get
confused and quit.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
And maybe the.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Reason you had a plan last year and it fell
apart in three days, three weeks, three months, Maybe the
reason that your motivation sometimes only lasts three minutes.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
Maybe the reason it lasts too.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
Short sometimes is because you only get permission and a plan.
But this is a year where your plan will not
be enough, because the most important things that will happen
in your life this year will not be in your plan.
The greatest things that God will bring into your life
will not be on your vision board. They will not

(30:47):
be manifested from the contours of your human mind or imagination.
You will not see them coming, so you won't have
time to plan a parade.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
You will not see.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Them coming, so you won't have time to get in
your stance. The most important things that I'm gonna show
you in the text. What I'm talking about the most
important things that will happen in your life this year
will not be a part of your plan. How many
can testify that there has already been an unplanned event
that has superseded your planned year.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
This year and we're just getting started. So they're excited. Man,
we're gonna go build a place. We're gonna get a poll.
We're gonna build a.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Place, and the Lisha's gonna teach us. And it's not
like they're going to build a strip club. They're not
doing something terrible. They're not even doing something neutral. They're
building something for God. Okay, we're gonna build this for
God and God's gonna bless us. I just need to
stop right here and take a poll. How many have
something you want to do for God this year in

(31:50):
your life?

Speaker 1 (31:53):
Shout out what it is on three, one, two, three?
All right? Cool.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
God heard all that I don't need to and some
of what you said you're gonna do for God this year,
God was like, that's right, go do it. And some
of it God was like, why are you making a
plan for a purpose that I didn't call you two
just because you saw it in somebody else. Let me
tell you something, Haul, I don't want to build anything

(32:18):
in my life from this point on that God gave
somebody else the blueprint for because I've spent too much time,
too much energy, lost too much joy, forfeited too much
contentment and peace trying to build something that isn't even
in my blueprint. And the Prophet Elisha, and I need

(32:41):
to tell you something by Elisha. Elisha is a little moody.
You can't call a man of God moody. I sure
can because one time some boys called him baldy and
he called she bearers out of the woods to devour them.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
That's temperamental qualifies.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
So I think it would have taken a lot of nerve,
don't you to come up to the prophet and say, man,
this place you got us meeting respectfully, we need to
do a relocation project. And Alisha says go, and they
look at each other like this is amazing.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
He said, we could go. He's letting us do it,
so he's gonna let us use stuff. Let's call let's go,
let's go, And thenn fired up, Let's go, We're gonna.

Speaker 7 (33:29):
Build a house for God on three house on three
house on me what to do the house?

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Let's go and suddenly watch this.

Speaker 6 (33:39):
I'd read you this part of the story yet, but
it's the best part of the story.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
All of a sudden, as they're going to build something
for God with good intentions, with the permission of the prophet,
he said, we could do it. God said, I'm a conqueror.
God said, I can do it. God said, this.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
Is my year.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
He's changed break. This is the year dead things come alive.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
We're going. We're going. We're going put up verse three,
best verse I've read this year so far.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Then one of them said, now, this is the kid
in the class who raises his hand and says, excuse me, teacher,
how about that homework assignment?

Speaker 1 (34:20):
This is that kid. And not only that.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
I can't prove it to you, but I think he
was the smartest one in the whole group. I don't
know his name, but what he did was so important.
But he didn't know is important. It seems incidental, but
it's not. They're on their way. Everybody, shall let's go
put it in the comments. Let's go look at your neighbors. Say,
let's go tell them this year, let's go. Little louder

(34:49):
say this year, let's go right now, let's go get free,
let's go rise up, let's go be more.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Let's go Verse three.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
One of them said, I'm gonna ask him.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Wait wait wait wait wait wait no, no no. He said,
we can go. Yeah, yeah, I know. He said, we
can go. I know, but I'm asking.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
You can't ask him that, yes I can, and yes,
you better like goo me right now. I'm asking him
because I don't just want his permission pray for me.

(35:43):
I don't just want his permission. I don't just want
his provision. I don't just want my plan. One of
them came back and said, Elisha, Elisha, I might be
out of line. I don't know if you want to.

(36:03):
I know you're busy.

Speaker 6 (36:05):
You got kill little kids with bears and safe kings.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
But verse three, won't you please come with your servants.
You can't ask him that this is the prophet.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
This is the man of God.

Speaker 8 (36:27):
You got time to swing an acts with you, chop
down a tree with you, relocate to the messy Jordan
banks with you.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
This is Elisha. Are you crazy? You ask him if
you want I'm not getting killed by a bear.

Speaker 8 (36:41):
I'm leaving well enough alone. No no, no, no, no,
I'm asking him. I'm asking him, Elisha. I appreciate the
fact that you gave me the opportunity. I appreciate the
fact that you're letting us go build.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
That's real kind of you, because you could have just
told us to shut up and be content with what
we have.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
But I'm not content with what we have if we
don't have you.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Now, remember, the prophet represents what the word of God,
the presence of God.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
And so what I'm trying to say to you today
is I.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Don't want you to go for your goal without your God.
I don't want it to feel like you can do
anything for three days and then on the fourth day
it falls apart and you start thinking faith didn't work.
It wasn't that faith didn't work. You put your faith

(37:41):
in the faith rather than the God who gave the faith.
Because this year I have a plan, I have provision,
I have permission.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
But this year my plan is His presence.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
This year, my plan is that everywhere the soul of
my foot shall tread like Joshua.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
I believe that.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
God is giving me this place as Holy ground. This
is the year where I moved the church outside of
a physical location, and I move it to my car,
and I move it to my home, and I move.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
It to I move it.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
To my unchangeable situation, and I move it touch somebody
say move it. They came to elishahskin good Now and
they said the place we meet with you is too small.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
And they were right, but not how they thought that
they were right.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
It wasn't only too small in the physical dimensions of it.
It not only needed to be expanded physically, but the
place where they thought they could meet with God was
too small in their perception. Because God doesn't just want
to come when you build it.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
He wants to be with you as you build. I
don't know if this makes sense. It does to me.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Is helping me get my confidence for this year, because
I've been in this too long to think that my
plan is going to go down how I plan for
it this year? So guess what presence is my plan
this year?

Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Somebody say, presence is my plan? Ask him what's your
five year plan? Ask him what's your five year plan?
Tell him presence. Ask them for your ten year plan.
What's your ten year plan presence. What do you mean
by that? When I'm ten years down the road or
ten minutes down the road, the God who is with

(39:45):
me in this moment will not leave me nor forsake
me until everything he spoke concerning his purpose for my
life has been fulfilled. So this year I got a
plan and the plan is his presence.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
What's this? When I walk through the fire, I'm not alone.
When I walk through the storm, I'm not alone. He's
with me on the.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Boat, He's with me in the bowels of the furnace.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
He's with me in this.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
Hmm. That's the word of the Lord. Presence is the plan.
Presence is the plan. Presence is the plan. God says
you need a plan.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
B this year. Uh huh, a plan B. Everybody say
Plan B, Plan B.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
That means if I need if I'm in the wilderness,
he'll be my water.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
If I'm in a hard place, he'll be my pillow.
If I'm in a sick bed, he'll be my physician.
I got a Plan B this year. The Great I
Am is my plan B. This year, his presence, the
Great I Am. This is a shift in mentalities for
all of us control freaks. Who think we are going
to perfectly design our life and I'm gonna chuck on

(41:00):
a tree and I'm going to build a building. But
the thing that you never saw coming is going to
require the God that you keep forgetting to bring along, beautiful, Holly,
beautiful Stephen. Would you like a few adjustments, I'm like, yes,
I would. I'm not trying to twist my lumbar like

(41:22):
a pretzel in here. I'm not trying to walk out
of here like I'm ninety one years old.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
I already.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
Why are you walking like I'm eighty nine. I need
some help in here. Come over here and help me.
Help me, God, help me.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
I'm using it as an analogy. You understand.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
I'm not getting into new age mysticism and telling you
to do yoga. I'm just saying, just like the Holy Spirit,
I need you to come along this year, and I
need you to go with me this year.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
God and God.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
I can't walk in this house without you and God.
I can't get on this zoom without you. And I'm
tired of putting up plaques and trophies on a fake
green screen back behind me, pretending like I'm doing better
than I am. Come with us, see life. Shall come
with me, word of God. Come with me on the waters,
Come with me in the wave, Come with me back
to school. Come with me into this divorce. Come with

(42:05):
me into this addiction. Come with me into this crippling state.
Come with me into this contention. Come with me into
this argument. Come with me into this text thread. Come
with me into this seed. Done with me into this step,
Done with me into this heartbreak.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Verse three.

Speaker 7 (42:27):
Will you come with us? Won't you come with us?
We don't want to go without your God. I don't
want to preach without you. I don't want to teach
without you. I don't want a dad without you. I
don't want a husband without you. I don't want a
man without you. I don't want it without you.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
I don't want to plan without the great I am.
I want to plan be because I don't even know
what I need him to be till I get there.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
That's why I.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
Said I am that I am.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
So when you run up on a red sea, you
gotta plan be. You don't understand what I just said,
you gotta plan be. You don't even know you need
him to be a partner of the waters till you're
looking at a sea. So the sea you didn't plan for,
you got to plan be. God said, I'll be what
you need me to be when you step your foot
where you're going with an awareness of my presence. And

(43:17):
the thing is He's already in you. It's an issue
not of ability. It's willingness that really blessed me. How
the prophet said, well, I don't even think I can
do this like I want to.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Not in this setting.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
I'd have to be talking to a small group of
people who felt like you've been in situations where you
felt unwanted, and you notice the prophet said in verse two,
he said go. But what touched me was he wanted
to come. He was waiting to be asked. Because you

(43:59):
keep assuming, well, if God wanted to do it, he'd
do it. What if he's waiting to be asked? What
if he wants you to involve him? Elisha didn't say
to the school of the prophet to build a bigger place.
They said to him, can we do it? Elishah didn't say,
mind if I tag along? They said, will you come?
It took me back to something. This is why it

(44:20):
touched me. From when Elijah was very little Maya Elijah
not the prophet.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
I don't know about when he was. That prophet was
little of my Elijah. He's he's so convincing and he's
so persuasive, and he always has been. And then he
started watching Ben Shapiro, and now he just wants to
argue all the time. But but when he even wants
to be sweet. I remember he wanted me to see
The Avengers. In me, I don't like superhero movies. I

(44:47):
think they're stupid. So I I'm like, man, we're not
going to the Avengers.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
And I'm telling you.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
He he went in above like seven years old or
something like that, very way too young to be out
this late because it was showing at ten o'clock at night,
and he's like, can we can we go see the
ten o'clock And I'm going to take you to Avengers
at ten o'clock.

Speaker 6 (45:09):
I don't like I don't like superhero movies.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
I don't like ten o'clock. I don't like you after
ten o'clock. We're not doing this. That boy didn't say
a word. He went away.

Speaker 6 (45:23):
I'm like, okay, good, we got that done.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
He comes back, doesn't say a word, and brings me
my shoes and puts them down at my feet. And
he didn't say anything till he was almost all the
way out the door. He said, I'll be in the
car if you change your mind. How how do you
not take that kid to stone Crass and buy him

(45:48):
popcorn and coke and caffeinate him and sugar him up.
And he's up till seven am. But I got a
sermon illustration out of it.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Bring God his shoe? Whose bring God?

Speaker 2 (46:02):
Oh, bring God, God.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
I know you hadn't done it yet. And if you
don't want.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
To, I trust you. But I'm gonna be in the
car if you change my mind. I'm gonna be in
my seat in elevation.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
If you change your.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Mind, I'm gonna be in therapy.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
If you change your mind, I'm gonna be working on this.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Will you come?

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Ask your neighbor, will you come?

Speaker 2 (46:33):
You'd be surprised what God would say yes to if
you'd get in the vehicle. You'd be surprised what God
would say yes to.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
If you bring him his shoes.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Yeah, you'd be surprised where God would meet with you
if you bring him along. Why wait until you've built
the place to learn from the prophet Why wait till
you get the degree to celebrate the progress.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Why wait till the chains.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Are all the way broken to show somebody how to
smash the.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
First link like you did.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Why wait for the presence of God when he is
a very present help in the time of trouble.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
I'm trying to tell you he wants to come. He
wants to come, he wants to come.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Stop trying to rebuke anxiety in the name of Jesus.
You don't get through anxiety. By rebuking anxiety in the
name of Jesus. You receive the grace of Jesus for
your anxiety, and the grace of Jesus in your anxiety
becomes Watch this the place where you meet with God.

(47:47):
Put your feet on the ground and sit there and
do your breathing exercises and do a downward dog in
a Hallelujah, and make it the place where you meet
with God because you're gonna need him. Let's let's talk
along the way, Elisha, you have so much to share.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
God.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Would you show me along the way things that I
think I'm going to learn when I get there. I
think that's so important because I'm perfectionist and I'm a complainer.

Speaker 6 (48:20):
I'm just guessed. I'm supposed to be helping you, but
this is helping me.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
I just saw.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
Not only do I get stuck in verse one, where
I say it's too small, it's not working.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
I don't like this, it's terrible.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
I'm confined and I complain, But sometimes I get stuck
in verse two. Let us go down and let us
do it, and let us try. Here's my plan, And
I never get the verse three his presence because when
they got down there, Look how Elisha responded. He didn't

(48:49):
call a bear to kill this boy.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
He didn't he didn't tell him. You ridiculous for a
waste of my time.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
You know how, sometimes you think that God is too small.
You think that what you're dealing with is something God
can't handle.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
And we all think that.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
We watch the news and we see crazy things that
are happening in the world, and it's not that we
think God is too small, but it doesn't seem like
he's doing anything about it. Sometimes I don't think we
realize how small God is willing to be to show
how big he is.

Speaker 6 (49:19):
And that's why I chose this passage for my first
sermon of this.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Year, because I thought, if we talked about Goliath going down,
you would wait for a big giant to trust God.
And it's not the giants all the time that cause
you to lose your momentum.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
And I know how it is.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
I can do anything for three days, but that fourth day,
I really love Jesus to about nine forty five am,
and then nine forty six the devil meets with me.
I know that feeling, but I believe that not every
day presents a red sea, a Goliath, a burning bush.
I mean, all these things are wonderful, and you know
I love to preach about them. But I started my

(49:59):
year with the sermon called I don't know what your
bible heading says their autumn, but mine says uh An.
Axehead recovered, that's all that said on the subject, and
Axhead recovered, really, man, you got a whole Bible full
of nine foot giants and raging seas and you want
to preach about And axe said, yeah, because I think

(50:24):
the little moments with God that he wants you to
have are the ones that are slipping away. And I
think that's why the other stuff gets so big and
takes you down. Because the prophet said, I'll go with you,
and Verse four records what happened next he went with them.

Speaker 6 (50:44):
Wonder what they talked about. Wonder if they talked at all.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Wonder if they were able to ask him more specifically
how you think we should build it?

Speaker 6 (50:53):
You know you can ask God's stuff more specific.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
God, is there another way to say that?

Speaker 6 (50:58):
Now?

Speaker 2 (50:58):
I have an advantage over you in this because every
week I have to try to talk for God to
you and I'm done, so I get a lot of
practice of just gods are another way to say that?
I don't know if I already said that before, they're
gonna hear. They're gonna get as I mean, he says,
But that's the skill you need for your life too,
not just to preach. That's the skill you need for

(51:19):
your life. The skill you need is the presence of
God just right there in the middle of your zoom meeting,
with your fake trophies and your shorts, your underwear going
on under the.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Desk, and your tie up top.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
You don't have to say it out loud, you don't
have to go off the screen, just right there, God
needs you forr ust me, just those little moments. I
really believe that because watch why did God include this
boring story in the Bible. You think Elisha didn't do
more fantastic miracles.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
He did. But the Lord wanted us to have seven.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
Verses to know what happens to us sometimes. And this
is what I see for so many of the people
that I pastor.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Who I meet, and when I meet you, when I.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Meet you, when I meet with you, you meet with
God in your own But when I meet you, sometimes
I hear about the things that the enemy is tormenting
you with, and it goes something like this. He went
with them verse four. They went to the Jordan and
began to cut down trees. It's going good. I'm making progress.
I apologized, I said, I'm sorry. I actually sent the text,

(52:20):
I actually looked up the help.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
I actually joined the gym.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Now I'm not gonna go till about January twenty first,
when it clears out. That's just strategic. But I'm making
I'm making my steps. I'm clearing out that room. I'm
gonna do it this time. Now, I got some food
in the pantry I gotta clear out. I can't waste it.
I mean, I'm gonna eat the peanut butter, but after
that jar is gone. It's no more peanut butter. I'm
mea kill the rest of the year. Kale collagen, cardio carnivore.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
I'm gonna do it all this year.

Speaker 6 (52:48):
I'm gonna be a vegan carnivore this year.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
And I'm gonna cut down this tree.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
And they begin to cut down the tree, and I
watch this as one of them it's cutting down a tree.
The iron axe fell into the water, and all of
a sudden we go from let's go.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Suh, oh no, have you ever be honest?

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Or I'll prophesy, have you ever been doing pretty good?
Let's go I got this And in the middle verse
five again place of doing what you believe God gave
you permission to do.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Oh no, oh no, you're like, it's not a big deal.
It's an axehead. When it's a big deal to you,
it's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Stop telling people that God doesn't care about this, and
God doesn't care about that.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
He numbers every year on your head.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
He cares about everything that pertains to his child.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
And even Elisha, the.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Rough and rugged prophet who had no time for any
nonsense as this young man, it says one of them,
you know, I wonder somebody looked this up for me
on chat GPT later and send me a text about it.
I wonder was it the same one that asked him
to come or was it a different one altogether, Because

(54:14):
the one that's cutting down the tree, they don't have
many tools. You understand, this is not a very sophisticated operation.
As he's cutting down the tree, boom, the head goes
off the stick and it flies into the Jordan.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
And iron is supposed to be in water.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Iron is supposed to be on wood, and when iron
meets wood it makes progress.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
But when iron meets water, you need presents.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Because the first thing he did when the axe had flew,
he said, Oh no, my lord, who's he talking to?

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Elishah?

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Who do you talk to when it falls off? Who
do you talk to when you fall? Who do you
talk to when your momentum slips? This is so important?
Oh no, my lord, he cried out. It was borrowed.
Oh this is bad. I can't pay this back. Some
of us are in situations this year that we can't

(55:09):
afford to waste, another day that we can't afford to waste,
another year that we can't afford to just get through
a month, just barely hanging on.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
He said, I need help, and thank God, help was there.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
Remember if one of them hadn't gone back and asked
him to come, there would have been no one to
help when their plans stopped working. And this is what
I'm saying about where you meet with God and the prophet,

(55:42):
the great prophet Elisha, who had the power to turn
the tides of wars, had the time to help a
boy get it back. God said, he wants to help
you get it back this year. God wants to help
you get it back this year. If this joy, he

(56:02):
wants to help you get it back this year. If
this integrity, he wants to help you get it back
this year. If it's the character to keep your commitments,
he wants to help you get it back this year.
If it's a vision for your family, he wants to
help you get it back this year. If it's a
perspective on what really matters, he wants to help you
get it back this year.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
And I want you to.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Notice very carefully what the prophet did in verse six,
and this is what I see the Lord doing for us.
The Man of God asked the boy, where did it fall?
In that amazing He could have said anything.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
The boy says, oh, no, it was borrowed.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Well, that was stupid. Why did you borrow it? You
shouldn't be borrowing stuff anyway. Hadn't you heard Dave Ramsey
on the radio. You're not supposed to be in debt anyway.
You need to go drive a uver eats and get
it paid for. Don't worry about that. That's a good thing,
because if that's popping, that means the devil does not
want you to hear the next part of this message.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
I'm very encouraged by that, and I want you all
to fix it.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
At the same time, the Man of God said, where
did it fall?

Speaker 1 (57:07):
And when? Now? This is the message. This is the message.
I was tricking you. I told you the other part
was the message. This is the message.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick
through it there and made the iron float. Thanks, but
no thanks. I'm rocking on.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
I'm moving through. I'm walking on in Jesus' name. I
want both of my hands.

Speaker 9 (57:30):
To preach this part because the Bible says the Bible,
I don't care about what your fear says, I don't
care about what your generation before you says, I don't
care about what a political party says. I don't care
about what your wired mind says.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
The Bible says, he didn't condemn him. He just guided
him to the place and helped it to surface what
he needed.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
He took a stick, he.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Threw it there and made the iron float. Aren't you
grateful for the stuff that God is bringing to the surface.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
This year in your life?

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Now hang on, y'all got six minutes, and I'll finish this.
If y'all don't have six minutes, I'll just preach this.
I'll just preach this to I'll preach it to Abbey
today and she can sit there and give me an
offering afterwards. Y'all got six minutes. I want to finish this.
I really want to finish this. I really don't want
to go home holding this.

Speaker 8 (58:37):
Because when he said, when he showed him the place
for six when he showed him the place where it fell, that.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Is where the miracle happened. So I want you to
see what happened. He was building and it broke. That
is some of us in the room. While we were
building what we felt like we were supposed to build,
it broke, broke our momentum broke our streak, broke our
days of sobriety. Broke it broke the relationship, broke the heart,

(59:10):
broke the passion.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Broke it broke because he was building. Now when it broke,
it flew into the water.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
So now it has been a functional acxid, and now
it has fallen into the water.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
It does not belong in the water. Thank God for verse.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Three where he says come with us, because that means
that God is with me, not only when it's functional,
but when it's falling.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
And so now I understand.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
The key of this message, and the key of this year,
and the key to restoration in your life is that
God does not only want to be with you when
you build it, he wants to be with you when
it breaks.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
And I want you to invite.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
God into the places where it breaks this year. I
want you not to pretend like you've got the trophies,
pretend like there hasn't been a flood, pretend like.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
You're in a great place.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
I want you to make the place that you struggle
the most.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
The place where you meet with God. And what is
that place?

Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
Because notice there is a part that God does and
there is a part that God does not do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
The Word of the Lord brought the iron.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
Verse six, please to the surface, but it did not
bring it to the shore. Verse seven. Lift it out,
he said, I'm showing it to you. I'm revealing it
to you. There are things that the Spirit of God
will supernaturally reveal to you, but they must be practically recovered.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
Lift it out. You can't make iron float. God can.
But sometimes something is floating, but it's.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Not fixed yet. And this is where you meet God.
Grace is where God meets you. Faith is where you
meet God. Lifted out, and then the man reached out

(01:01:23):
his hand and took it.

Speaker 10 (01:01:27):
It's broken, but it's back, is broken, but it's back.
It's broken, but it's back.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
My life is not exactly what I want it to
be at this agent stage.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
It is broken, but it's back. I'm not on the
right path that I set out to be on. It's broken,
but it's back.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
And I hear a calling from the Holy Spirit this
year to somebody's life. Who thinks that you can only
meet with God when you are in a perfectly manicured
environment full of meditative promises and meticulously kept character. No, no, no,
the place you meet with God is in the place

(01:02:16):
you need him the most. If the axe head had
not fallen off, there would have been no miracle.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
So I am telling you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
To stop waiting for a future place to meet God
and experience his presence and take him to the place
where the blade flung off your stick and watch him
bring something up. Here's the thing I learned, Ee, you
got to reach for it. The axe head did not swim.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
To the boy. He reached for it. And I believe
that God has given.

Speaker 6 (01:02:54):
You something today to show you something today.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
That he's calling you to reach for.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
He's not gonna he not going to make you dive
down to the bottom and find it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
You can't do that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
That's what grace does. But what does faith do? Reach
out and lift it up. Grace reveals what faith retrieves.
May this be a year of recovery for you. May
this be a year of clarity for you, for God

(01:03:27):
to bring things out up out of the muddy Jordan river.
May this be a year that you don't stand swinging
your stick knowing this isn't working anymore. May this be
a year that you don't just keep pretending like everything's
fine when you know your effectiveness is at the bottom
of the water. May this be the year that you

(01:03:48):
meet with God in weird places. May this be the
year that you sneak into the bathroom and instead of pills,
you take a prayer.

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
May this be the year where you meet with God.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
I had a friend tell me one time. I said,
I'm having my quiet time in the car these days,
my devotion time with God. Christians we call quiet time.
It's little christian Eese for you. I'm gonna do a
whole series one year called do you speak Christianese. I'm
gonna take every little thing we say that we don't
even stop to define for people, and say this is
what that kind of means.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
And I told him I was.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
Meeting with God in my car a lot lately, and
God was coming in my car, and I was playing
all my.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
Worship CDs, John P.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
Key's Strength and Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Tabernacle.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
I said, I have the best times with God in
my car, Paul Blash.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
And Tommy Walker and all the Integrity Boys too. I said,
I had the greatest meetings with God.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
In my car.

Speaker 2 (01:04:42):
He said those don't count. I said, it doesn't count.
He said no, it's not set aside time for God.
You got to set a side time for God. God
wants to know you're serious. You got to set a
side time for God. I believe that the place that
you meet with God is too If you believe that,
put up verse one again. The place where we meet

(01:05:07):
with you is too small. If you want to meet
with God in your breakfast nook, by all means, play
a Brandon Lake CD and do it if you can
find a CD player. But when you leave that place,
you better meet with God in the next place too.
Because the place you meet with God is too small.
If the only place you meet with God is when

(01:05:28):
you get a holy ghost goose bump, the place you
meet with God is too small. So everybody stand up
on your feet, and I want you, by faith, just
to stretch your hands up like you're reaching for something
that was lost that the enemy tried to steal, and
just say this out loud.

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
God, will you come with me now? Wait?

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
Wait, wait, don't say anything. Answers yes. He already promised
his presence. It lives inside of you. May this be
the year where the place where you meet with God
becomes the mountaintop of your victory and the valley of

(01:06:11):
your midnight. The place you meet with God has been
too small. The church is the only place you meet
with God. The place you meet with God is too small.
Expand your expectation of God's presence. I declare over your
life a year of expansion, not just that you would
get more stuff, but that you would get more Him.

(01:06:34):
If you get more Him, you have everything. If you
have not Him, you have nothing. May this be the
year of His presence in your life. God come with
me to work this year. God, come with me as
I struggle to sleep at night. God, come with me
into the challenge this year. God come with me into

(01:06:56):
the uncertainty.

Speaker 1 (01:06:56):
Will you come? And he says yes?

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
And he says when it falls, I'll show you where
to reach to get it back. Put your hands down
right now. There's somebody heads about, eyes closed, and this
is your moment to meet Jesus and be saved.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Listen to me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
God is not waiting for you to come to him.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
He came to you. That is the message of the Gospel.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
So anytime you spend thinking I'm going to work my
way to God, that's not how this works.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
That's religion. That is not the gospel.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
The gospel is this, God made him who knew no sin,
to become sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God. What am I trying to say to you,
I'm saying God has already done it, and now right now,
if this is your moment you say, I don't want
to go into this year doing it by myself. I
don't want to go into this yere pretending like I've
got it together. I want the grace of God. I

(01:07:56):
want to receive Jesus. I'm going to pray a prayer.
If you repeat this prayer after me and mean it
in your heart, the Bible says that God will hear
you from heaven.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
And if you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
Confess with your mouth Jesus's Lord and believe in your
heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Everybody who's coming back to God today, your life is broken,
but you can have it in Jesus' name. Repeat after me,
Heavenly Father, today is my day of salvation. I am

(01:08:30):
a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the
savior of the world.

Speaker 1 (01:08:41):
Today I make Jesus the Lord of my life.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
rose again to give me life. I receive this new life.
This is my new beginning. On the counter of three shoots.
Your hand up if you've prayed that one too, free
all over the room, on every location. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

(01:09:08):
reach out and take it. It's the gift of God.
Reach out and take it. It's the gift of God.
Let's celebrate them church. Bring those Bibles around, pass them down.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
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 Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
You can share it with your friends.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.