January 11, 2026 • 62 mins
Right when you start to feel some positive momentum in your life, an attack comes out of nowhere. Sound familiar? Pastor Steven uses the parable of the seeds to illustrate what to do when the enemy attacks and how to persevere in your purpose.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
Matthew 13, verses 24-30, 36-43
2 Samuel 16, verses 5-12
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Enjoy the message us, get up, give me us Sophia.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
God, So.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
Yes, God, our Father born in heaven. How will it
be your name, your kingdom?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Come, Your will be done.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Mynarch, bless it is in heaven.
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Give us this say our daily bread.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who
sin against us. And lead us not into temptation.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
But deliver us.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Jesus is in this place. Deliver us from evil. For
Thine is the Kingdom, power and the glory, forever.
Speaker 7 (01:38):
And ever, not for five minutes, forever and ever, and
right here.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I want the whole church say Amen. A men means
so be it. A man means I'm coming into agreement
with God's plan for my life.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Life.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Amen means that no word from God returns. Boy. Amen
means that my Father has the final Say amen means
that I read to the back of the book and
I know how this ends. Heaven wins. Amen means I'm
born again. Amen means no weapon formed a guess and
me will prosper. Amen means I can do all things
(02:25):
through Christ, who strengthens me. You didn't know. Amen meant
all that digit Say it again. Amen. If he says
I'm blessed, I'm blessed. Say amen. If he says my
family will be saved, my family will be saved. Say amen.
If he said I'm more than a conqueror, I'm more
(02:45):
than a conqueror.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Say amen.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Come on, everybody in the comments right now, even watching
this on social media, putting Amen in the comments. Let
the devil know. I agree with God. I belong to Jesus.
He's the one who never let's go on every mountain.
I belonged to him, in every valley. I belonged to him.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want I'm guided.
(03:10):
I got a good shepherd. I'm guarded. He's the Kate,
He's the light of the world. He is my risen
resurrected king. And I'm getting knocked out of this situation.
And I came to praise the Lord. I did not
come to feel sorry for myself. I came to praise
the Lord. I did not come to impress my neighbors
(03:34):
with proper church behavior. I came to raise the Lord.
If you knew what he brought me through, you wouldn't
call me crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
You would lift your hands.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
And raise him too. Say man, what do we how
are we gonna get out of this?
Speaker 6 (04:06):
We can get out?
Speaker 4 (04:09):
And when the hollywool where, that's what burn? Massa, that's it.
(04:30):
Orry to God, Bless the name of the Lord, for
he is worthy to be praised. Every season of my life,
he's been a friend to me, and he's worthy to
be praised. I don't know what I would do without God.
I don't know where i'd be without Jesus. I have
a kind of idea and it doesn't look good. But
(04:52):
look at your neighbor and say, you already look better this.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Year than you did last year. Come on, tell him
one more thing.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Look at him and say look at him and say
repeat after me. Say I can tell you've kept your resolutions.
Tell them your skin is glowing, your physique is lean.
Happy New Year, Elevation Church. For the first time that
(05:27):
I've been able to say that to you.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Our epham around the world. Let's celebrate our.
Speaker 8 (05:32):
Brand new campus, our twentieth location elevation Somerville. Happy new Year,
happy new campus.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
So many things to tell you. We've got so much
to catch up on. God has been so good. The
last time that I stood in the pulpit, we were
taking our year end offering, and you stepped up big
this year, and I told them to wait until I
got back so I could announce to you that you
(06:04):
gave to the Lord and the Gospel of Jesus Christ
for the building of his kingdom and helping the poor
and reaching the loss and serving the world. Eleven million,
four hundred and sixty three thousand dollars. Give a soun
of praise.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
All right, good word?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
We miss that together. So every year, every year I
come before you and just say, let's do another one.
Y'all want to do another one. Another year of preaching
God's word. Another year of releasing worship into the earth
(06:48):
that can heal broken hearts. Another year of standing beside
children who don't have fathers and mentoring them. Another year
of showing up with coats and blankets for people who
are cold. Year of reaching into prisons and recovery centers
and telling people that their life matters and don't throw
it away. And God is not done with you yet
another year to invite people who have been told for
(07:11):
years that God will never accept you, that it's not
too late for him to change your life.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
If you're not dead.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
God's not done, and God is not done with this
church yet. I'm getting ready for the next twenty years.
God is with me with this gray hair. God is
with me. And I'm just going to take a moment
right now, if you'd stretch your hands toward this pulpit. Lord,
let every word that goes forth from this church this
(07:37):
year brings salvation, deliverance, miracles, correction, comfort, everything you want
to do.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
God is all about you.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I pray that even today, as I preach, that you
would see fit to use me like a woodwind instrument,
something that your breath could use to produce a sound
that would produce a melody from Heaven that would be
medicine too someone's heart.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Lord. I bring before you every.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Person that's in this room, the nineteen other rooms where
we physically gather, every place where somebody couldn't go to
church or they were just too.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Lazy, speak your word. One time, a man said, I
don't even need to have.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
You come in my house, Jesus, if you just speak
your word, it's enough to heal.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Today.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Lord, we just ask for a word from you our
daily bread, not enough so we can come to church
once at the beginning of the year, check it off
the list, and then spend the rest of the year
asking God why I didn't show up. But enough word
to nourish us for the needs of this moment. You
are Jehovah Jirah, and you're.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
In this place, and I give you the praise in Jesus' name. Amen,
clap your hands.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Everybody. I'm going to have you seated before I read
my scripture, which I don't normally do, but before I do,
give out about twenty six hugs divided by two. Give
five hugs and tell somebody I'm glad you're here today. Hey,
we're sending you a big hug online to our epam
(09:16):
all around the world. Just remember, God is speaking this
message exactly where you need it to be. He's not
limited by time, or by space or by location. May
this message speak to your heart today. I have prayed
about what to share with you. For my first sermon
of the year, and the Lord led and directed me.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
In a powerful way.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Let's thank our band, our worship team for leading us
so well in the presence of God today.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Make sure you get the new music from Elevation Rhythm.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Thank God, I'm free play it everywhere that the devil
has been trying to keep you bound and let him
know it won't work this year.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I'm coming out of these chains.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Also, make sure that you get the opportunity to be
a part of Elevation Nights.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I know that for most of you who are here locally,
you probably won't be getting on a plane, but we're
going to be visiting eight cities, and these nights are powerful,
and these nights are miraculous and these nights are unforgettable.
We're going to be in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, New York, Indianapolis, Milwaukee,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, Knoxville, Tennessee, Columbus, Ohio, and Rosemont, Illinois.
(10:31):
If you have any friends or family, especially the ones
who really need Jesus and smell like cigarettes and other
stuff like that, send them over.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
We'll see what we can do for them.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Elevation Nights dot Com, where you can get your tickets
February twenty fourth through March the fifth. I thank you
for the privilege of being able to minister God's word
to you another year.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
What an honor.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I'll be sharing today from the Parable of the Seed
in Matthew chapter teen, Verses twenty four through thirty.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Matthew Chapter fourteen, Versus twenty four through thirty.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Now this is not the parable that's normally called the
parable of the seeds. The parable of the seeds that
we hear more about is actually the parable of the soils.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Okay, Because Jesus taught these parables.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
He would go out and he would give a teaching,
and on one level it would sound simple, but you
reflect on it and you pray about it, and it
really helps you to see what the Kingdom of God
is like, and it helps you to see.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
What you're like.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
And one of those parables that has helped me so
much through the year, he talks about a seed that
was sown in four different places. One was sown on
rocky soil, so because the soil was too rocky, the
bird came and snatched it up. So that seed got snatched,
so it didn't do what it was supposed to do.
And then there was one seed that was sown in
(12:02):
a place where it was scorched by the sun, which
represents the trials of life. So since it didn't have
a root or a foundation, the sun was too strong
for it, and it got cooked up before it could
come forth. I said, it got cooked up before it
could come forth. Some promises that God speaks to you,
the sun, the affliction, the.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Heat of trial.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
It tests that seed before it has had the chance
to develop, and you don't pass the test. The third
type of seed that he talks about is one that
gets choked out, or we could say, strangled by the
cares of this life just getting busy. And in each
of these instances, the seed represents the word of God,
and the sower is God, and the seed is good
(12:44):
in each of those instances, but it is not successful
because of the soil that it lands in. One of
the soils that Jesus mentions in that parable is the
good soil which produces a harvest thirty sixty and one hundredfold.
And this always encouraged me as a preacher, because one
time I realized most of the people that I preach
(13:06):
to won't remember the sermon. Twenty four hours after I
preach it, and most of the people that I preach
to about a specific topic aren't going to really do
what I challenge them to do, even if I give
them scripture behind it, because the seed often gets snatched, scorched,
or strangled. But the one seed that produced the harvest,
watch what it did. It produced thirty, sixty or one
(13:27):
hundred fold. So the one seed that was successful made
up for all the ones that weren't. God can bless
you with one blessing in your life that will make
every failure irrelevant. And I came to preach that even
though most people won't receive this word, if one does,
(13:47):
it will have been worth it. That's what I believe
these days. That most won't fine, but if one does,
it could branch out and touch the world. If one does.
What is one's soul worth? What is one life worth?
What is one grandmother's prayers getting answered worth? If one does?
(14:08):
And I just want to kind of encourage you on
the way to my main text today. I'm not preaching
about that one believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I studied it, but I'm not.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Going to preach it because you may be encouraging your
kids right now or instructing your kids right now, or
working on something in your life. And most of the
things that you try, and most of the things that
you say, won't get through to them. But if one does,
somebody say, if one does. If one does, it can
(14:37):
change a life. If one does, it can change the generation.
If one does, it can change a bloodline. Most won't.
Don't be discouraged by the ones that don't work. Don't
be discouraged by the ones who don't call you back.
Don't be discouraged by the ones who don't say yes.
Don't be discouraged by the ones who don't get you.
Because if one does. Look, I asked a lot of
girls to be my girlfriend before Holly. Most didn't, but
(15:00):
one did. Look at me. Now, look at what the
Lord has done.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
If one does well.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
This is a scripture that I want to give you
today from Matthew chapter thirteen, about a parable of two
different types of seed, not different types of soil, which
represents the condition of our heart, but two different types
of seed. I'm gonna read it to you and then
we'll talk about it for just a few moments. Jesus
is teaching many parables, and they're collected here for us
(15:34):
to read. And it says Jesus told them another parable.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sewed
good seed in his field. If you are the underlining
your Bible type, just underline.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
The word good. It was good seed.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed
weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat
sprouted and formed heads, then.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
The weeds also appeared.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
The owner's servants came to him and said, sir, didn't
you sow good seed in your field? Where then, did
these weeds come from?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
An enemy? Did this? He replied.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
The servants asked him, do you want us to go
and pull them up? No, he answered, because while you
are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time,
I will tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds and
(16:45):
tie them in bundles to be burned. Then gather the
wheat and bring it into my barn. I have a
simple message from the Lord for your heart today. And
the Lord told me to tell you don't let the
attack distract you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
That's what it is. It's a distraction.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
And he told me to tell you, don't let the
attack distract you. Write it down in your notebook, type
it in the comments. Don't let the attack distract you.
And I love preaching the second Sunday of a new
year because by now your new year's resolutions have become
good intentions which you have modified to become more realistic.
(17:31):
The new year's energy has been sufficiently tapered and sufficiently
adjusted to match the realities of daily life for most people.
And now we can really preach about the way life
is new year's resolution. First Sunday of the year, I'm
not cussing anymore. Second week of the year, I'm cutting
back on cussing. I'm only going to say these four
(17:53):
words this year. But I got to have these four Lord,
and you know I do. I'm fast in this fast
the first twenty one days, I'm fast the first well,
I'm a fast from vegetables the first twenty one days.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
The Lord will receive it.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
As an offering, you know, because we modify it in
real life. You know, one thing that I noticed about
this parable that Jesus gave in the passage, and I
believe you noticed it too, is that wherever there is
wheat there will always be weeds. You know, Jesus isn't
just giving us a little discourse about how problems creep
(18:31):
up in our life.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Here, he's making a bigger point.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Specifically, he's letting us know that it is not your
job to judge others. It's not your job. It's not
your job because you're not God. And if I can
say a little more directly, you suck at judging.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
That's how you bought that timeshare.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
That's how you bought that vacuum cleaner, because you suck
at judging. Honestly, even when it comes to the work
that I create, I've taught myself it's.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Not my job to judge it. It's just my job
to make it. Especially when you write a song. You
don't know Chris Brown, you'll know Chris Brown, formerly an
R and B.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Singer, but now the main worship leader at Elevation Worship.
Look at what the Lord has done. I always call
him the real Chris Brown. He's my favorite worship leader
in the world, always has been, always will be since
first time I heard him. But I'm gonna take something else.
He sucks at judging whether a new song is good
or not. He called me. One Sunday. We had a
new song that we wanted to introduce, and I wasn't
(19:47):
going to be there to preach, and he was leading
it and he called me after it.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I said, how to go?
Speaker 4 (19:50):
He said, not too good. I don't think the song
is very good. The song was Graves into Gardens.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You remember that? Remember that, CV you suck at judging.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
You're great worship leader, you're handsome, you're a great man
of God.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You're wonderful of being a dad and a husband, but
you suck at judging.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
And I chose to say it that way because some
of y'all are so tripping and stumbling over the fact
that I said the word suck.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Judging me for that, that.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
You just prove my point, because if you think if
the most important thing is whether I say the word
suck or whether I say it more fancy, it's not
your job to judge. If you're tripping over what I'm saying,
you're making the very mistake that I'm warning you about.
Thereby validating the wisdom of my point and the way
I phraised it. Now, every once in a while, Jesus
(20:45):
would explain his parables to his disciples after everybody else
was gone, almost like y'all can get it at a
deep level the disciples, but the crowds couldn't consume it.
And that's why he taught in parables, so that he
could have the privilege of pulling aside his disciple and
giving them the deeper meaning. We're gonna look at the
deeper meaning of this parable that Jesus shared a little
(21:06):
bit further in Matthew chapter thirteen. Put it on the screen, please,
he let the crowd went into the house. His disciples
came to him and said, explained to us the parable
of the weeds in the field. He answered, well, the
one who sowed the good seed is the son of Man.
That's Jesus. The field is the world. The good seed
(21:26):
stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are
the people of the evil one, and the enemy who
sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end
of the age, and the harvesters are the angels. As
the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire,
so it will be at the end of the age
(21:47):
the Son of men will send out his angels, and
they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin,
and all who do evil, they will throw them into
the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun
and the kingdom of their father.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Whoever has ears let them hear.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
And we read this, and we are so quick to say,
that's right. Those evil people, those sinners, those terrible democrats, Republicans, independence,
whatever category that you wanted to put right there, it
(22:29):
exposed something about your heart, whatever you wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
The weeds as.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Tells me something about what you see in the mirror.
And let me explain that for a moment. Go back
to verse forty two. It says that the evil ones
will be thrown into the furnace.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
But watch this verse forty three.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
That comes right after it says the kingdom of their father.
So the furnace of judgment belongs to the fo not
the children.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
The furnace of judgment is.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Not yours to put people in the.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Furnace of judgment.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Is not your place to have a Facebook conversation about
what everybody else thinks and why they're so stupid to
think it.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I shouldn't be preaching like this. My first Sunday back
in the year, I might run, y'all a law from
the church.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
But notice in the parable it says that it was
his field. And I'm learning more and more in my
life that if it's his field, that means it's his furnace.
That means God has to be the one to decide
who's right and who's wrong. God has to be the
one to decide who is on his side and who
(23:42):
is not. I remember, very early in my ministry there
was a pastor that I greatly admired, and he was
mentoring me in many ways, and he was bringing up
examples of the right kind of ministry and the wrong
kind of ministry. And he brought up one minister and
he said, now, this guy, he's air. This guy, he
is not doctrinally sound. This guy, he is not theologically correct.
(24:07):
In fact, you can watch him preach and you can
see his pride. He's arrogant, and he's self focused, and
he's fleshly. And then he brought up another gentleman, and
he said, now, this man is humble. This man has
the Greek New Testament practically memorized.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
He's a serious student.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
This man you can tell by watching him he is meek,
he is mild, he is christ Like. That's who you
want to be like. Not this guy over here, that
guy right there. Five years later, the guy who knew Greek,
the guy who was so humble, was discovered to have
been having an affair on foreign mission trips that he
(24:46):
was taking pretending to be spreading the Gospel for twelve years.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
With one woman in Russia while he looked humble.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
The man who was so prideful and cocky and arrogant
is still doing the ministry today that he was doing
twenty years ago. What am I trying to say? You
suck at judging, and so do I. We don't know
who God is going to be used in ten years
from now. We don't know who God is going to
raise up. So why y'all are looking at me like
(25:17):
you're confused about this? Let me break it down a
little bit finer. Some of the people that you dated
are proof of the fact that you are not very
good at getting past the packaging. Let me break it
down a little bit further. Some of the people that
you put in your phone that you knew you needed
to block, but you ignored that little instinct that told
(25:38):
you there is something about them. You cannot trust your
own judgment this year, you cannot trust your fleshly, earthly judgment.
When Israel trusted her judgment, she got Saul as king.
David was a man after God's own heart. But even
David had weeds. Ask Bathchieba, the man after God's own
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heart didn't.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Always do it God's way.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
And what I'm trying to say, and I'm kind of
going all around the barn to say it, so let
me just land the plane.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
We all got weeds. We all got We's say it
out loud. I got We's put.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
The asse at the end of that, just making sure.
Tell him about the biblical kind of weeds. It's called darnell. Darnell.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
It is this type of weeds seed.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
The Bible says, Can I preach about this for a moment.
The Bible says that the man planted.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
A good seed in his field. Everybody say his field.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
I'm gonna point this out to the over and over
again as.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I preached today. It was his field.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
It belonged to the farmer, It belonged to the man.
He planted the seed in his field. It was his property,
it was his territory. To do with it as he wished.
He planted a good seed in the field. The seed
was doing what it was supposed to do. It was growing.
And since the seed was doing what it was supposed
(27:12):
to do and growing, an enemy noticed the growth of
the seed and said, if I don't do something about
this seed, my enemy will triumph over me. So the
Bible says that overnight, while men slept, and enemy came
and planted weeds.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Among the wheat. Say it weeds among the wheat. Notice
what he couldn't do.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
He could not pluck up what God had planted. He
could not change what had already been done. He could
not cost the seed that was in the ground to
stop being what it was meant to be.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
He could not destroy the seed.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
The only strategy he had was to distract the harvesters.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
So here's the progression of growth in our life.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
We advance a little bit like the seed was doing,
and then we get attacked. How many of y'all almost
have to laugh at how quickly the devil attacked the very.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Thing you were advancing in this year already just wave
at me.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
It's almost comical, right, It's almost like two on the nose,
Like really devil, like really really like.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
That, you're going to be that obvious. You're you're just
gonna do it right in my face like that.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
At least in the parable the man snuck in and
did it at night. Some of us, the devil's just
doing it in broad daylight, just attacking things that are advancing.
So now you're advancing. The seed is growing, and you're attacked.
And when the enemy attacks you and what God is
doing in you, you get distracted.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
He can't destroy the seed.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
It's not his. He can't destroy the seed. It's already planted.
He can't destroy the seed. What God put in the
seed is still in the sea. He doesn't have permission
to do that. But what he can do is distract
you so that you will destroy yourself and some of
(29:28):
the things that are attacking you in your life right now.
The attack doesn't matter unless it distracts you from what
God has called you. I'll break it down for you
with a few pastoral examples.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Thank you so much. It feels good to be wanted, feels.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
Good to be loved, feels good to be supported. But
you know, you have to preach through all kinds of seasons,
And there have been seasons in this ministry where I
have had to preach what God gave me to preach
even though I felt attacked. And in my earlier years
of preaching, I would become hyper focused on any attack
that was coming my way. I don't just mean critics,
(30:06):
I mean any attack. Like if a staff member resigned,
I would call it an attack. Well, no, maybe they
just need to move to Florida to take care of
their parents.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
No, it's an attack. I rebuke the devil. Why do
you rebuke it. It's not an attack. It's an adjustment.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
You got to adapt. Life just happens. But there have
been seasons, and I remembered one very specifically. Well, I've
been looking forward to sharing this with you because it
was so fresh and so vivid. What was happening in
our church was explosive, and much like the seed in
the Passage, it was growing, growing, growing. God planted this
church in Charlotte in two thousand and six. I didn't
(30:47):
plant it.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
He did.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
And what God plants, God protects. And God was doing
all kinds of miracles for us. If we needed a building,
he opened a building. If we needed a volunteer, scent
a volunteer, if we needed funds. He would send people
with money. God was just providing and protecting. But in
one season of our ministry, and it was over ten
(31:11):
years ago, this vicious attack began. And if anybody was
here at the time, you will remember several phases of
the attack.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
The last phase of the attack was the hardest for.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Me to stomach, because they begin to imply, on news
stories that were on the eleven o'clock news that at
Elevation Church we fake baptisms. In other words, they were
saying that we have people pretending to be baptized.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
I guess, just so we could put it on camera.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Not only was that not true, but it was a
direct assault against the most meaningful expression of faith that
a person can make, to be baptized.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And I felt so attacked not only.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
On my own behalf, but on behalf of everyone who
was going to work who had been baptized at this church,
hearing the lie that had been perpetuated, the attack that
had been age saying your baptism was it fake? And
I was praying about this one day, and I was
asking God very specifically something that you may have been
praying about a situation or an attack in your life
(32:12):
as well.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
I prayed, God, make it stop, Make it stop.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
By this point, there had been several attacks against our church,
and this one just felt like too much.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And I said, God, make it stop.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
And I will never forget what the Lord said to
me in my spirit, not in audible words or not
in a physical impression, but in a way that he
gave me a thought that I have carried with me
to this moment, and I share it with you today.
The Lord said, I can stop the attack, but if
I stopped the attack, I have to stop the impact
that created it. So now you have to decide do
(32:56):
you want the attack to stop bad enough to give
up the impact that brought it? Because if you weren't
baptizing anybody, they wouldn't be making.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Up stories about your baptisms.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
But maybe what God was doing in this church was
so unbelievable that the enemy saw it and said, if
they keep baptizing people like this, there's gonna be a
water shortage in Charlotte and a people shortage in Hell.
And so I got a plant, a little lie to
(33:33):
try to get them to stop doing what God's started.
But God said, if you want the impact, you got
a man up and button your pants, and tighten your belt,
and lace your boots, and open your bible, and open
your mouth, and take your next breath, and lift your voice,
(33:57):
and lift your head, and swing your sword in the
name of the Lord, and realize that he who began
a good work in you will be faithful to bring
it full circle till the day when the angels gather,
the tears shall be burned in the fire. I wanted
(34:28):
to tell you about that. I wanted to tell you that.
Now that I'm through it, I'm glad they attacked me.
I am is set me free of some ego. I'm
glad that happened. I want it to happen again. I'm
not asking for another one. I'm not saying if I
(34:48):
went back in time, I would have walked that path.
But there is a young man on our staff who
runs my scriptures every week.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
As a matter of fact, put a scripture up.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
There, just in anyone, I don't care which, and just
put it up there, and just put the week appeared,
We circle the word appeared. Look at that. Why did
I tell him to do that? Because he started coming
to the church because he heard about the baptisms on
the news.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
From the attack. Y'all don't want to mess with me.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
And now he's the one helping me preach the word.
So God used their words as a weapon.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Oh God, And.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Now let's talk about you.
Speaker 5 (35:38):
No weapon forved against you shall prosper.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
And that brings the sun rise.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
This against you, you shall convin this is the heretance
ut the service of the Lord, and their righteousness is
from me.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
So one thing the enemy didn't realize when he was
planting those weeds is that you can plant all the
weeds you want to devil.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
And let me just remind you this year, this year,
there will be weeds.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
There will be no weed free week in your year
this year.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Sit back down.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
You know how we do these little New Year's slogans
come alive in twenty five, you know it's gonna well,
could be said it's gonna get fixed in twenty six. No,
it's not either. It's gonna be mixed in twenty six.
It's gonna be some wheat. It's gonna be some weeds.
(36:48):
It's gonna be some joy. It's gonna be some morning.
It's gonna be some weeping. It's gonna be some reeping.
It's gonna be some friends. It's gonna be some enemies.
It's gonna be some frenemy. You can't tell the difference
till us over. But don't judge it before God's done
with it, because God might use some of this stuff
in your life that you were asking him to remove
(37:10):
to reveal who He is in your life. And the
only problem is if you start trying to pluck out
the weeds, you might mess around and remove the wheat.
Y'all got enough or keep going? One thing I noticed
(37:34):
in the text that was really powerful is that the
Master didn't panic about the attack. He was so cool
about it.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Read it again, sir, Now the servants are freaking out
like we do. Sir, didn't you so good? See it
in your field? Where's come from? Who did this? What's
going on? This is the devil? Whose fault is this?
Only as so many, so many did this?
Speaker 4 (37:57):
And the the Master because he represents God in the parable.
Look at this, He's like an enemy did this because
that's what an enemy does. That's what an enemy does,
That's what a devil does. I read about a book
(38:22):
that Mel Robbins wrote called the Let Them Theory. I
didn't read the book, but I like the title. It's
like people want to talk about you. Let them. Your
kids want to leave without a coat and it's cold outside.
Speaker 9 (38:34):
Let them. They're not going to die of hypothermia. They
will figure it out. Kids are resilient.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
They need a little frost bite. Let them.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
And I wonder if we could write one together today
this year in your life called let him. Don't let
the attack distract you. You give so much focus on
how the devil is discouraging you, and now discouragement is
all you see everywhere.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
You got so many things going right in your life,
so much wheat, but all you see is weeds. You
a little.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Perfectionist, your little type a personality, your little enneagram number
one just always could be better. Just oh man, I
gotta get these weeds out this year.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
No you don't. I'll tell you why.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
If Jesus's field wasn't weed free, what makes you think
yours is gonna be? Jesus couldn't have a weed free field,
but you can. No, it's gonna be mixed in twenty six.
It's gonna be mixed in twenty six. It's gonna be
at eight am in the morning. This is the day
(39:52):
that the Lord has made. It's gonna be by three
pm in the afternoon. My God, My God, why hast
thou forsaken me? It's gonna be wea, It's gonna be weeds.
And stop judging stuff before God is done with it.
Stop judging stuff before the appointed time. Stop telling me
(40:13):
graves into gardens in a good song. Stop telling me
I tried it, it didn't work. And I'll just use
a physical example because we can all relate to it.
When you work out and you haven't worked out in
a while, not that you would know. The first thing
(40:34):
that is going to indicate that you successfully completed the
workout is a feeling of soreness. That will feel like
Satan himself brought seven spirits to your body and invaded everything.
But that just means you're growing. So now you're surprised
that you're sore, but you wanted to grow. If there
(40:56):
had been no wheat, there would have been no weeds.
You're praying for God to use you, but you're surprised
that you feel like you're empty on the inside. That's
so He can fill you up again. And the promise
of this year is not that it will be weed free.
I am not trying to keep a weed.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Free in one sense, I am, but I am not.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
Trying to keep a problem a weed free. I'm trying
to be spirit filled this year so that whatever is
planted around me. And you got to know that the
Master is very, very methodical in what he plants, and
he knew from the moment he planted this seed that
(41:39):
the enemy would attack it. Now, the Master wasn't surprised.
The servants were, so they said, what do you want
us to do about it? Do you want us to
pluck it up? Do you want us to remove it?
Do you want us to do something about that? I
was reading a passage in First Kings or maybe Second
Samuel last week with Graham.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Which scripture did I give you?
Speaker 4 (42:03):
Justin tewoond Samuel or First Kings, we're reading about David. Yeah,
one time David was running through his city that he
used to rule over from his son, Absolom, and his
son was trying to take his crown from him. And
the son's name was Absolom, and David actually had to
go flee from his own son. And as he was
leaving the city, he approached Bahiram. You couldn't pronounce it either,
(42:27):
a man from the same clan, a Sau. His family
came out from there, and so this is one of
his enemies, right, And his name was Shimmy I, son
of Gera. And he cursed as he came out, cursing
at the king. Well, he pelted David in the king's
officials with stones.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Now remember David's pretty good with a stone, So this
is a bad idea.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
Though all the troops in the Special Guard were on
David's right and left.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
In other words, he could have done something about it.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
And as he cursed, Shimie said, get out, Get out.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
You murderer, you scoundrel.
Speaker 4 (43:05):
The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you
shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you
have reigned.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
God's getting you back.
Speaker 4 (43:12):
The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of
your son Absalom.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
You have come to ruin because.
Speaker 4 (43:18):
You are a Murderer's planting all these seeds of doubt
in David's mind. Then Abishai, which one of David's guys,
said to the King.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Why should this dead dog curse my lord?
Speaker 4 (43:27):
The King?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Let me go over and cut off his head.
Speaker 4 (43:31):
But the king, David said, what does this have to
do with you, sons of zahu Ayah. If he's cursing
because the Lord said to him, curse.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
David, who can ask why do you do this?
Speaker 4 (43:43):
David then said to Abishai and all his officials, my son,
my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me.
In other words, I got bigger problems. I got bigger
things to deal with than this dude. And I came
to remind you. You've got bigger priorities. You've got too
much to do to be offended by them. You've got
bigger fish to fry than this guy, whose name I
(44:06):
can't even pronounce. You're David, how much more than this Benjamin?
Leave him alone, let him curse. You want us to
do something about it, now, let him. Let him curse,
for the Lord has told him to. It may be, oh,
this is an anointed verse. If you've been under attack
(44:29):
and the enemy is pelting you with frocks and stones,
and it may even be coming at the expense of
your own dignity, and you are asking yourself, what do I.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Do about this attack? David said, it may be that
the Lord will look upon my.
Speaker 4 (44:44):
Misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of
his curse today. In other words, what David is saying
is that he cannot curse what God has already blessed,
so let him. He cannot destroy what has God's dna.
He cannot steal what God has spoke. He cannot negate
(45:08):
what God has established. He cannot cancel out what God
has called. How many different ways do you need me
to say it to get you to see it won't work?
Let him come, let the flood rage. God will lift
up a standard. It won't work. Don't let the attack
(45:28):
distract you. Don't let it get you out of your character.
Don't let it get you out of your joy. Don't
let it get you out of your peace. Sit there
and whistle a worship song. If you can't sing one,
lift your toe. If you can't lift your hands, do
a body weight squad. If you can't do a real one,
do something. But whatever you do, remember that if it's
(45:49):
started with God, it is sustained by God, and there
is nothing the enemy can plant. Sheremiah said, before I
was born, he called being set me apart. So that
means I know the enemy has been busy in your life.
He's been speaking to you. He's been sabotaging you. He's
been distracting you, trying to get you off your course,
(46:12):
trying to get you out of your flow, trying to
get you out of your calling, trying to get you
out of your nature, trying to get you out of
your kindness, trying to bring you back to bitterness, trying
to plant.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Weeds where there's wheat.
Speaker 4 (46:23):
But there's one thing that the enemy should have realized
that he didn't realize, and he would have saved his
energy and realized that the weeds weren't worth planting. Because
you've got to remember, no matter.
Speaker 10 (46:35):
What the enemy plants in your life, God got there first,
and he prepares a.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Table for you in the presence of your enemies.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
So let the devil try, because it must be that
if God isn't removing those weeds, how many can picture some.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Weeds that are in your life?
Speaker 4 (47:05):
As I speak this word, Every weed free person, run
to this altar right now, because you have the weed
of delusion?
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Am I right man?
Speaker 4 (47:21):
And the one thing about it, Graham, check this out. Gee,
the type of weeds that were growing, you couldn't tell
that they weren't wheat until they had grown a little bit.
They looked exactly the same until the head came up
and then they're like, oh no, this is not wheat,
this is a weed.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
And sometimes you don't know. Sometimes you don't know. I'm
never going back to the way I was. Look at
what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to
the way.
Speaker 4 (47:51):
A little the video and you know, the kids just
screaming at the camera, But what if they were singing it,
like like just for real though, like, look at what
the Lord has done.
Speaker 11 (48:02):
I'm never going back, but I'm still gonna cuts. You
know what I'm saying, Look here what the Lord has done.
I'm never going back, But I still get drunk because
what we're saying is, look here what the Lord has done.
I'm never going back, but I'm still gonna lusk.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
You know, just whatever y'all struggle with. The fact is.
Speaker 4 (48:28):
What's really going on in our hearts sometimes doesn't match
what's coming out of our mouths. And we really do
want to grow, and we really do want to be free,
and we really do want to be more loving.
Speaker 10 (48:43):
But the enemy isn't going to stand by and watch
you grow without attempting to.
Speaker 4 (48:51):
Plant something alongside your destiny that will disrupt it.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
I just want to remind you that the attack is
a distraction.
Speaker 4 (49:02):
And God knew when he planted you that what he
gave you was stronger than what would come against you. Right,
look at what the Lord has done in your life.
(49:23):
Look how far he has already brought you. How many
can say I have a testimony. God has done so
much in my life.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
It's amazing. You would say that, but it came with weeds,
didn't it.
Speaker 4 (49:38):
And you have been believing the lie lately that you
have got to get rid of all the weeds before
you can enjoy the weak.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
It's a lie. I come against it.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
I break the spirit of depression off of your soul
that has been telling you that you cannot worship while
you still have weeds.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
We all have weeds.
Speaker 4 (50:00):
Surprise you what the person next to you is struggling with.
And just because you can't see the weeds doesn't mean
they're not real. But have you come to a point
in your life where all you are seeing in this
season is the weeds? Have you got one kid that
is in trouble and you have failed to appreciate the
(50:22):
two that are doing good.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
That means you have become two weed focused.
Speaker 4 (50:29):
Have you got nine things in your body that are
working well, but the one thing that is not working
right just causes you to obsess and you are googling
every possible thing that might be wrong with you and
taking out every life insurance policy because you got a
headache one Thursday. Are you letting one headache really make
(50:50):
you stop believing that God is my healer and that
God is my sustainer and that God is my source.
I'm telling you whatever the enemy plants in your life
is not more powerful than what God planted, because the
Bible said he planted good seed.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
Somebody say I'm good seed. I'm good seed.
Speaker 4 (51:10):
And all things work together for the good of those
who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
So this week I want you to think a little
bit less about the weeds and a little.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
Bit more about the wheat.
Speaker 4 (51:23):
Because when the passage starts, we've got wheat and we've
got weeds. But at the end of the passage, one
is going to be burned and one is going to
be in the barn. And I came to declare today
the fire will not burn you. You're going to the barn, baby,
you belong to God. You are God's child, You are
(51:43):
God's planting, You are God's Oh, you are God's master Peace.
I belong to God. Try your best, devil, it won't work.
As a matter of fact, my God might use the
thing that you are using to curse me and bless
me even better. God might do something out of this.
(52:05):
So go ahead, hit me with your best shot. But
everything you do hats to go through the cross of
Jesus Christ, and he began a good word, will be
faithful to complete it.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
Stop judging stuff.
Speaker 4 (52:23):
Before God is done. I asked one parent the other day.
They said, the kid that gave me the most trouble
ended up bringing me the most blessings. You can't judge
this thing while it's still growing. You can't label.
Speaker 1 (52:36):
This thing while it's still in process.
Speaker 4 (52:39):
You cannot categorize your life based on the way you
feel right now. And you cannot quit eleven days into
January just because it's mixed.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
In twenty six.
Speaker 4 (52:49):
Naw, baby, the Lord is at my right hand. The
Lord stood by my side. Many deserted me. God never did.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
I got battles, I God blessed.
Speaker 4 (53:00):
I got weeds. I got weeds, I got goodness. I've
got mercy, and they follow me all the days of
my life. So all I wanted to tell you today
is don't let the attack distract you. That's what it is.
(53:22):
It's a distraction. You have been growing. You've got what
it takes to grow. You've got what it takes to
make this decision. You have got what it takes to
do the job. You've got what it takes to learn
the skills. You've got what it takes to do the
inner work and get some healing.
Speaker 1 (53:39):
You've got what it takes because you've got God.
Speaker 4 (53:43):
You're in the field He wanted you to be in,
and God knew there was going to be a fight
when he puts you in that field.
Speaker 1 (53:55):
Don't tell me he didn't. He's God. I'm built for it.
High five three. People say you're built for it, too,
built for it, Yeah, man, built for it.
Speaker 4 (54:12):
You know what I almost called the message, bro, I
almost called it, don't burn your bread. Don't burn your bread.
The wheat has the potential in it to be bread
if you don't pluck it up and throw it into
(54:35):
the fire, if you don't give up on what it
can be. Because of what it is right now and
what's against it. Don't burn your bread. I didn't call
it that. I almost called the message this is my
other almost called the message. Look at your neighbors, say
don't pluck it up.
Speaker 1 (54:59):
But I decided that I would just tell you stand
to your feet. Don't let the attack.
Speaker 4 (55:10):
Distract you, because if you don't let it distract you,
it can't destroy you.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
The word of God is incorruptible. See you've been born
again by imperishable sea.
Speaker 4 (55:21):
Don't let it distract you. You make an advance, you
get attacked, You get attacked, you get distracted, You get distracted,
you get destroyed. But if you can focus on where
God is growing you put your hand over your heart.
Say this is good soil. Say this is God's soil.
(55:46):
There's something that God spoke to you that you haven't
really been able to get in touch with lately because
you've been so distracted.
Speaker 1 (55:52):
You have been so distracted.
Speaker 4 (55:53):
It has been a long long time since you've been
able to have clarity about what God spoke to you.
And you found your broken focus leading to a lack
of peace now, as it always happens. But if we
can get back to the God who put it in
you to begin with, you are going to survive whatever
attack the enemy sins against it. It can't be stronger
than God. It can't be stronger than his word. It
(56:15):
can't be better than him. It can't be bigger than him.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
It's not possible. But you've been distracted. So now, Lord,
our hearts are turn to you. Yes, Lord, our hearts
are yours.
Speaker 4 (56:39):
Our lives are yours, our dreams are yours, our plans
are yours.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Our future is yours. I thank you for where you
planted me as a seed. God. I thank you for
where you planted each and every one of these people.
Speaker 4 (56:56):
I think for the gifts you gave them, the abilities
you gave them, the talent you gave them, the person
that you gave them, the unique struggles and challenges that
have formed them and forged them in the fire of
trials to make them strong.
Speaker 1 (57:06):
And ready for what they're going through.
Speaker 4 (57:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (57:09):
They will not burn. They'll be light those Hebrew boys
who went.
Speaker 4 (57:14):
Into the fire and said, even if God doesn't get
us out, he'll join us right up in it.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
Because I'm good seed. I'm good seed. Lord.
Speaker 4 (57:24):
I want to pray today for the person who has
never placed their faith in you. Would you just join
me in this prayer as a church, I'm going to
pray for someone who needs to give their life to
Jesus Christ. And right now it is very possible that
the reason God brought you here today, or the reason
that you joined us online, is for this moment. If
you see, it's not by might nor by power that
(57:46):
we become strong in the Lord.
Speaker 1 (57:48):
No, the seed was good because of who planted it.
Speaker 4 (57:54):
And it's time for you to stop playing around with
your life and waiting on one day when it's more
convenient to live for God.
Speaker 12 (58:01):
No, now is your moment of salvation. Today is your
moment of change. And I don't want you to face
the fire of judgment. I don't want you to live
your life apart from God, and neither does God.
Speaker 4 (58:15):
And that's why He sent Jesus, the perfect seed, the
one who gave his life on the cross and rose
again that you could have life.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
And now, in this moment, I want to pray with you.
Speaker 4 (58:26):
You know, the Bible says that if you confess with
your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1 (58:32):
You will be saved. It's not by works it's by grace.
You are saved through faith. And right now, if you'll
pray this prayer and mean it with your heart, God
will hear you.
Speaker 4 (58:44):
God will save you, and you will be born again,
and this can be your new beginning. We're going to
pray out loud, repeating after me as a church for
the benefit of those who are coming to Christ in
this moment. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, today is my
day of salvation. I am a sinner in need of
(59:07):
a savior. And I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God and the savior of the world. And
today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I
believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose
(59:28):
again to give me life.
Speaker 1 (59:31):
I receive this new life. This is my new beginning.
I am a child of God.
Speaker 4 (59:40):
On the count of three, shoot your hand up. If
you prayed that one, two, three, I want to celebrate
with you.
Speaker 1 (59:47):
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That's beautiful, Praise the Lord.
Speaker 4 (59:53):
Online.
Speaker 1 (59:54):
You could just put.
Speaker 4 (59:55):
It in the comments I received. Jesus.
Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Come on, let's clap our hands all over the room.
Speaker 4 (01:00:02):
Everybody, everybody, everybody, come on, Let's thank God.
Speaker 8 (01:00:06):
For all the decisions that were made today.
Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
God is so good.
Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
Well, campus, pastors, you can have it. Grab hands with
the person next to you here, Valentine, look at him
and tell them don't pluck it up, because God is
not through with you yet another day to be in
the presence of God. Come on, Holly, I ain't got
no hand to hold. It's gonna be an amazing year
(01:00:36):
in your life. Ben Yeah, God's gonna give you wisdom, strength, encouragement, stamina.
Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
God's gonna do that for each and every one of
these people that we pastor.
Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
To look at your neighbor, Look at your neighbor and say,
God's gonna do that for you too. Tell him he's
gonna meet you, he's gonna fill you, he's gonna carry you,
he's going to keep you. Tell him you're gonna grow.
(01:01:11):
Come on, Tell him like a trainer, you're gonna grow.
Tell them like they need to do two more reps.
Tell them you're gonna grow. Look at them and shall say,
don't pluck it. Oh, don't let the attack distract you.
Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
It's a sign you're on course. It's a sign you're significant.
Speaker 4 (01:01:33):
It's a sign God's got you. And now unto him,
lift your hands, who is able to do immeasurably more
than you ask, think or imagine, according to his power,
Whose power, his power that works mightily in us. To
him be gloried through Christ Jesus in the Church. Now
(01:01:56):
and forever, Say amen, same man again, goodbye, see you
next week. Don't fuck it up.
Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Enjoy the message us, get up, give me us Sophia.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
God, So.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
Yes, God, our Father born in heaven. How will it
be your name, your kingdom?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Come, Your will be done.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Mynarch, bless it is in heaven.
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Give us this say our daily bread.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who
sin against us. And lead us not into temptation.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
But deliver us.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Jesus is in this place. Deliver us from evil. For
Thine is the Kingdom, power and the glory, forever.
Speaker 7 (01:38):
And ever, not for five minutes, forever and ever, and
right here.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I want the whole church say Amen. A men means
so be it. A man means I'm coming into agreement
with God's plan for my life.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Life.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Amen means that no word from God returns. Boy. Amen
means that my Father has the final Say amen means
that I read to the back of the book and
I know how this ends. Heaven wins. Amen means I'm
born again. Amen means no weapon formed a guess and
me will prosper. Amen means I can do all things
(02:25):
through Christ, who strengthens me. You didn't know. Amen meant
all that digit Say it again. Amen. If he says
I'm blessed, I'm blessed. Say amen. If he says my
family will be saved, my family will be saved. Say amen.
If he said I'm more than a conqueror, I'm more
(02:45):
than a conqueror.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Say amen.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Come on, everybody in the comments right now, even watching
this on social media, putting Amen in the comments. Let
the devil know. I agree with God. I belong to Jesus.
He's the one who never let's go on every mountain.
I belonged to him, in every valley. I belonged to him.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want I'm guided.
(03:10):
I got a good shepherd. I'm guarded. He's the Kate,
He's the light of the world. He is my risen
resurrected king. And I'm getting knocked out of this situation.
And I came to praise the Lord. I did not
come to feel sorry for myself. I came to praise
the Lord. I did not come to impress my neighbors
(03:34):
with proper church behavior. I came to raise the Lord.
If you knew what he brought me through, you wouldn't
call me crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
You would lift your hands.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
And raise him too. Say man, what do we how
are we gonna get out of this?
Speaker 6 (04:06):
We can get out?
Speaker 4 (04:09):
And when the hollywool where, that's what burn? Massa, that's it.
(04:30):
Orry to God, Bless the name of the Lord, for
he is worthy to be praised. Every season of my life,
he's been a friend to me, and he's worthy to
be praised. I don't know what I would do without God.
I don't know where i'd be without Jesus. I have
a kind of idea and it doesn't look good. But
(04:52):
look at your neighbor and say, you already look better this.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Year than you did last year. Come on, tell him
one more thing.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Look at him and say look at him and say
repeat after me. Say I can tell you've kept your resolutions.
Tell them your skin is glowing, your physique is lean.
Happy New Year, Elevation Church. For the first time that
(05:27):
I've been able to say that to you.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Our epham around the world. Let's celebrate our.
Speaker 8 (05:32):
Brand new campus, our twentieth location elevation Somerville. Happy new Year,
happy new campus.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
So many things to tell you. We've got so much
to catch up on. God has been so good. The
last time that I stood in the pulpit, we were
taking our year end offering, and you stepped up big
this year, and I told them to wait until I
got back so I could announce to you that you
(06:04):
gave to the Lord and the Gospel of Jesus Christ
for the building of his kingdom and helping the poor
and reaching the loss and serving the world. Eleven million,
four hundred and sixty three thousand dollars. Give a soun
of praise.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
All right, good word?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
We miss that together. So every year, every year I
come before you and just say, let's do another one.
Y'all want to do another one. Another year of preaching
God's word. Another year of releasing worship into the earth
(06:48):
that can heal broken hearts. Another year of standing beside
children who don't have fathers and mentoring them. Another year
of showing up with coats and blankets for people who
are cold. Year of reaching into prisons and recovery centers
and telling people that their life matters and don't throw
it away. And God is not done with you yet
another year to invite people who have been told for
(07:11):
years that God will never accept you, that it's not
too late for him to change your life.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
If you're not dead.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
God's not done, and God is not done with this
church yet. I'm getting ready for the next twenty years.
God is with me with this gray hair. God is
with me. And I'm just going to take a moment
right now, if you'd stretch your hands toward this pulpit. Lord,
let every word that goes forth from this church this
(07:37):
year brings salvation, deliverance, miracles, correction, comfort, everything you want
to do.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
God is all about you.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I pray that even today, as I preach, that you
would see fit to use me like a woodwind instrument,
something that your breath could use to produce a sound
that would produce a melody from Heaven that would be
medicine too someone's heart.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Lord. I bring before you every.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Person that's in this room, the nineteen other rooms where
we physically gather, every place where somebody couldn't go to
church or they were just too.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Lazy, speak your word. One time, a man said, I
don't even need to have.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
You come in my house, Jesus, if you just speak
your word, it's enough to heal.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Today.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Lord, we just ask for a word from you our
daily bread, not enough so we can come to church
once at the beginning of the year, check it off
the list, and then spend the rest of the year
asking God why I didn't show up. But enough word
to nourish us for the needs of this moment. You
are Jehovah Jirah, and you're.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
In this place, and I give you the praise in Jesus' name. Amen,
clap your hands.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Everybody. I'm going to have you seated before I read
my scripture, which I don't normally do, but before I do,
give out about twenty six hugs divided by two. Give
five hugs and tell somebody I'm glad you're here today. Hey,
we're sending you a big hug online to our epam
(09:16):
all around the world. Just remember, God is speaking this
message exactly where you need it to be. He's not
limited by time, or by space or by location. May
this message speak to your heart today. I have prayed
about what to share with you. For my first sermon
of the year, and the Lord led and directed me.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
In a powerful way.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Let's thank our band, our worship team for leading us
so well in the presence of God today.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Make sure you get the new music from Elevation Rhythm.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Thank God, I'm free play it everywhere that the devil
has been trying to keep you bound and let him
know it won't work this year.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I'm coming out of these chains.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Also, make sure that you get the opportunity to be
a part of Elevation Nights.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I know that for most of you who are here locally,
you probably won't be getting on a plane, but we're
going to be visiting eight cities, and these nights are powerful,
and these nights are miraculous and these nights are unforgettable.
We're going to be in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, New York, Indianapolis, Milwaukee,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, Knoxville, Tennessee, Columbus, Ohio, and Rosemont, Illinois.
(10:31):
If you have any friends or family, especially the ones
who really need Jesus and smell like cigarettes and other
stuff like that, send them over.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
We'll see what we can do for them.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Elevation Nights dot Com, where you can get your tickets
February twenty fourth through March the fifth. I thank you
for the privilege of being able to minister God's word
to you another year.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
What an honor.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I'll be sharing today from the Parable of the Seed
in Matthew chapter teen, Verses twenty four through thirty.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Matthew Chapter fourteen, Versus twenty four through thirty.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Now this is not the parable that's normally called the
parable of the seeds. The parable of the seeds that
we hear more about is actually the parable of the soils.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Okay, Because Jesus taught these parables.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
He would go out and he would give a teaching,
and on one level it would sound simple, but you
reflect on it and you pray about it, and it
really helps you to see what the Kingdom of God
is like, and it helps you to see.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
What you're like.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
And one of those parables that has helped me so
much through the year, he talks about a seed that
was sown in four different places. One was sown on
rocky soil, so because the soil was too rocky, the
bird came and snatched it up. So that seed got snatched,
so it didn't do what it was supposed to do.
And then there was one seed that was sown in
(12:02):
a place where it was scorched by the sun, which
represents the trials of life. So since it didn't have
a root or a foundation, the sun was too strong
for it, and it got cooked up before it could
come forth. I said, it got cooked up before it
could come forth. Some promises that God speaks to you,
the sun, the affliction, the.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Heat of trial.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
It tests that seed before it has had the chance
to develop, and you don't pass the test. The third
type of seed that he talks about is one that
gets choked out, or we could say, strangled by the
cares of this life just getting busy. And in each
of these instances, the seed represents the word of God,
and the sower is God, and the seed is good
(12:44):
in each of those instances, but it is not successful
because of the soil that it lands in. One of
the soils that Jesus mentions in that parable is the
good soil which produces a harvest thirty sixty and one hundredfold.
And this always encouraged me as a preacher, because one
time I realized most of the people that I preach
(13:06):
to won't remember the sermon. Twenty four hours after I
preach it, and most of the people that I preach
to about a specific topic aren't going to really do
what I challenge them to do, even if I give
them scripture behind it, because the seed often gets snatched, scorched,
or strangled. But the one seed that produced the harvest,
watch what it did. It produced thirty, sixty or one
(13:27):
hundred fold. So the one seed that was successful made
up for all the ones that weren't. God can bless
you with one blessing in your life that will make
every failure irrelevant. And I came to preach that even
though most people won't receive this word, if one does,
(13:47):
it will have been worth it. That's what I believe
these days. That most won't fine, but if one does,
it could branch out and touch the world. If one does.
What is one's soul worth? What is one life worth?
What is one grandmother's prayers getting answered worth? If one does?
(14:08):
And I just want to kind of encourage you on
the way to my main text today. I'm not preaching
about that one believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I studied it, but I'm not.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Going to preach it because you may be encouraging your
kids right now or instructing your kids right now, or
working on something in your life. And most of the
things that you try, and most of the things that
you say, won't get through to them. But if one does,
somebody say, if one does. If one does, it can
(14:37):
change a life. If one does, it can change the generation.
If one does, it can change a bloodline. Most won't.
Don't be discouraged by the ones that don't work. Don't
be discouraged by the ones who don't call you back.
Don't be discouraged by the ones who don't say yes.
Don't be discouraged by the ones who don't get you.
Because if one does. Look, I asked a lot of
girls to be my girlfriend before Holly. Most didn't, but
(15:00):
one did. Look at me. Now, look at what the
Lord has done.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
If one does well.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
This is a scripture that I want to give you
today from Matthew chapter thirteen, about a parable of two
different types of seed, not different types of soil, which
represents the condition of our heart, but two different types
of seed. I'm gonna read it to you and then
we'll talk about it for just a few moments. Jesus
is teaching many parables, and they're collected here for us
(15:34):
to read. And it says Jesus told them another parable.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sewed
good seed in his field. If you are the underlining
your Bible type, just underline.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
The word good. It was good seed.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed
weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat
sprouted and formed heads, then.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
The weeds also appeared.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
The owner's servants came to him and said, sir, didn't
you sow good seed in your field? Where then, did
these weeds come from?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
An enemy? Did this? He replied.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
The servants asked him, do you want us to go
and pull them up? No, he answered, because while you
are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time,
I will tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds and
(16:45):
tie them in bundles to be burned. Then gather the
wheat and bring it into my barn. I have a
simple message from the Lord for your heart today. And
the Lord told me to tell you don't let the
attack distract you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
That's what it is. It's a distraction.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
And he told me to tell you, don't let the
attack distract you. Write it down in your notebook, type
it in the comments. Don't let the attack distract you.
And I love preaching the second Sunday of a new
year because by now your new year's resolutions have become
good intentions which you have modified to become more realistic.
(17:31):
The new year's energy has been sufficiently tapered and sufficiently
adjusted to match the realities of daily life for most people.
And now we can really preach about the way life
is new year's resolution. First Sunday of the year, I'm
not cussing anymore. Second week of the year, I'm cutting
back on cussing. I'm only going to say these four
(17:53):
words this year. But I got to have these four Lord,
and you know I do. I'm fast in this fast
the first twenty one days, I'm fast the first well,
I'm a fast from vegetables the first twenty one days.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
The Lord will receive it.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
As an offering, you know, because we modify it in
real life. You know, one thing that I noticed about
this parable that Jesus gave in the passage, and I
believe you noticed it too, is that wherever there is
wheat there will always be weeds. You know, Jesus isn't
just giving us a little discourse about how problems creep
(18:31):
up in our life.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Here, he's making a bigger point.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Specifically, he's letting us know that it is not your
job to judge others. It's not your job. It's not
your job because you're not God. And if I can
say a little more directly, you suck at judging.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
That's how you bought that timeshare.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
That's how you bought that vacuum cleaner, because you suck
at judging. Honestly, even when it comes to the work
that I create, I've taught myself it's.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Not my job to judge it. It's just my job
to make it. Especially when you write a song. You
don't know Chris Brown, you'll know Chris Brown, formerly an
R and B.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Singer, but now the main worship leader at Elevation Worship.
Look at what the Lord has done. I always call
him the real Chris Brown. He's my favorite worship leader
in the world, always has been, always will be since
first time I heard him. But I'm gonna take something else.
He sucks at judging whether a new song is good
or not. He called me. One Sunday. We had a
new song that we wanted to introduce, and I wasn't
(19:47):
going to be there to preach, and he was leading
it and he called me after it.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I said, how to go?
Speaker 4 (19:50):
He said, not too good. I don't think the song
is very good. The song was Graves into Gardens.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You remember that? Remember that, CV you suck at judging.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
You're great worship leader, you're handsome, you're a great man
of God.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You're wonderful of being a dad and a husband, but
you suck at judging.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
And I chose to say it that way because some
of y'all are so tripping and stumbling over the fact
that I said the word suck.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Judging me for that, that.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
You just prove my point, because if you think if
the most important thing is whether I say the word
suck or whether I say it more fancy, it's not
your job to judge. If you're tripping over what I'm saying,
you're making the very mistake that I'm warning you about.
Thereby validating the wisdom of my point and the way
I phraised it. Now, every once in a while, Jesus
(20:45):
would explain his parables to his disciples after everybody else
was gone, almost like y'all can get it at a
deep level the disciples, but the crowds couldn't consume it.
And that's why he taught in parables, so that he
could have the privilege of pulling aside his disciple and
giving them the deeper meaning. We're gonna look at the
deeper meaning of this parable that Jesus shared a little
(21:06):
bit further in Matthew chapter thirteen. Put it on the screen, please,
he let the crowd went into the house. His disciples
came to him and said, explained to us the parable
of the weeds in the field. He answered, well, the
one who sowed the good seed is the son of Man.
That's Jesus. The field is the world. The good seed
(21:26):
stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are
the people of the evil one, and the enemy who
sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end
of the age, and the harvesters are the angels. As
the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire,
so it will be at the end of the age
(21:47):
the Son of men will send out his angels, and
they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin,
and all who do evil, they will throw them into
the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun
and the kingdom of their father.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Whoever has ears let them hear.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
And we read this, and we are so quick to say,
that's right. Those evil people, those sinners, those terrible democrats, Republicans, independence,
whatever category that you wanted to put right there, it
(22:29):
exposed something about your heart, whatever you wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
The weeds as.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Tells me something about what you see in the mirror.
And let me explain that for a moment. Go back
to verse forty two. It says that the evil ones
will be thrown into the furnace.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
But watch this verse forty three.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
That comes right after it says the kingdom of their father.
So the furnace of judgment belongs to the fo not
the children.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
The furnace of judgment is.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Not yours to put people in the.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Furnace of judgment.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Is not your place to have a Facebook conversation about
what everybody else thinks and why they're so stupid to
think it.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I shouldn't be preaching like this. My first Sunday back
in the year, I might run, y'all a law from
the church.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
But notice in the parable it says that it was
his field. And I'm learning more and more in my
life that if it's his field, that means it's his furnace.
That means God has to be the one to decide
who's right and who's wrong. God has to be the
one to decide who is on his side and who
(23:42):
is not. I remember, very early in my ministry there
was a pastor that I greatly admired, and he was
mentoring me in many ways, and he was bringing up
examples of the right kind of ministry and the wrong
kind of ministry. And he brought up one minister and
he said, now, this guy, he's air. This guy, he
is not doctrinally sound. This guy, he is not theologically correct.
(24:07):
In fact, you can watch him preach and you can
see his pride. He's arrogant, and he's self focused, and
he's fleshly. And then he brought up another gentleman, and
he said, now, this man is humble. This man has
the Greek New Testament practically memorized.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
He's a serious student.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
This man you can tell by watching him he is meek,
he is mild, he is christ Like. That's who you
want to be like. Not this guy over here, that
guy right there. Five years later, the guy who knew Greek,
the guy who was so humble, was discovered to have
been having an affair on foreign mission trips that he
(24:46):
was taking pretending to be spreading the Gospel for twelve years.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
With one woman in Russia while he looked humble.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
The man who was so prideful and cocky and arrogant
is still doing the ministry today that he was doing
twenty years ago. What am I trying to say? You
suck at judging, and so do I. We don't know
who God is going to be used in ten years
from now. We don't know who God is going to
raise up. So why y'all are looking at me like
(25:17):
you're confused about this? Let me break it down a
little bit finer. Some of the people that you dated
are proof of the fact that you are not very
good at getting past the packaging. Let me break it
down a little bit further. Some of the people that
you put in your phone that you knew you needed
to block, but you ignored that little instinct that told
(25:38):
you there is something about them. You cannot trust your
own judgment this year, you cannot trust your fleshly, earthly judgment.
When Israel trusted her judgment, she got Saul as king.
David was a man after God's own heart. But even
David had weeds. Ask Bathchieba, the man after God's own
(26:01):
heart didn't.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Always do it God's way.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
And what I'm trying to say, and I'm kind of
going all around the barn to say it, so let
me just land the plane.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
We all got weeds. We all got We's say it
out loud. I got We's put.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
The asse at the end of that, just making sure.
Tell him about the biblical kind of weeds. It's called darnell. Darnell.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
It is this type of weeds seed.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
The Bible says, Can I preach about this for a moment.
The Bible says that the man planted.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
A good seed in his field. Everybody say his field.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
I'm gonna point this out to the over and over
again as.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I preached today. It was his field.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
It belonged to the farmer, It belonged to the man.
He planted the seed in his field. It was his property,
it was his territory. To do with it as he wished.
He planted a good seed in the field. The seed
was doing what it was supposed to do. It was growing.
And since the seed was doing what it was supposed
(27:12):
to do and growing, an enemy noticed the growth of
the seed and said, if I don't do something about
this seed, my enemy will triumph over me. So the
Bible says that overnight, while men slept, and enemy came
and planted weeds.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Among the wheat. Say it weeds among the wheat. Notice
what he couldn't do.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
He could not pluck up what God had planted. He
could not change what had already been done. He could
not cost the seed that was in the ground to
stop being what it was meant to be.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
He could not destroy the seed.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
The only strategy he had was to distract the harvesters.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
So here's the progression of growth in our life.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
We advance a little bit like the seed was doing,
and then we get attacked. How many of y'all almost
have to laugh at how quickly the devil attacked the very.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Thing you were advancing in this year already just wave
at me.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
It's almost comical, right, It's almost like two on the nose,
Like really devil, like really really like.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
That, you're going to be that obvious. You're you're just
gonna do it right in my face like that.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
At least in the parable the man snuck in and
did it at night. Some of us, the devil's just
doing it in broad daylight, just attacking things that are advancing.
So now you're advancing. The seed is growing, and you're attacked.
And when the enemy attacks you and what God is
doing in you, you get distracted.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
He can't destroy the seed.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
It's not his. He can't destroy the seed. It's already planted.
He can't destroy the seed. What God put in the
seed is still in the sea. He doesn't have permission
to do that. But what he can do is distract
you so that you will destroy yourself and some of
(29:28):
the things that are attacking you in your life right now.
The attack doesn't matter unless it distracts you from what
God has called you. I'll break it down for you
with a few pastoral examples.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Thank you so much. It feels good to be wanted, feels.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
Good to be loved, feels good to be supported. But
you know, you have to preach through all kinds of seasons,
And there have been seasons in this ministry where I
have had to preach what God gave me to preach
even though I felt attacked. And in my earlier years
of preaching, I would become hyper focused on any attack
that was coming my way. I don't just mean critics,
(30:06):
I mean any attack. Like if a staff member resigned,
I would call it an attack. Well, no, maybe they
just need to move to Florida to take care of
their parents.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
No, it's an attack. I rebuke the devil. Why do
you rebuke it. It's not an attack. It's an adjustment.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
You got to adapt. Life just happens. But there have
been seasons, and I remembered one very specifically. Well, I've
been looking forward to sharing this with you because it
was so fresh and so vivid. What was happening in
our church was explosive, and much like the seed in
the Passage, it was growing, growing, growing. God planted this
church in Charlotte in two thousand and six. I didn't
(30:47):
plant it.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
He did.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
And what God plants, God protects. And God was doing
all kinds of miracles for us. If we needed a building,
he opened a building. If we needed a volunteer, scent
a volunteer, if we needed funds. He would send people
with money. God was just providing and protecting. But in
one season of our ministry, and it was over ten
(31:11):
years ago, this vicious attack began. And if anybody was
here at the time, you will remember several phases of
the attack.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
The last phase of the attack was the hardest for.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Me to stomach, because they begin to imply, on news
stories that were on the eleven o'clock news that at
Elevation Church we fake baptisms. In other words, they were
saying that we have people pretending to be baptized.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
I guess, just so we could put it on camera.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Not only was that not true, but it was a
direct assault against the most meaningful expression of faith that
a person can make, to be baptized.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And I felt so attacked not only.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
On my own behalf, but on behalf of everyone who
was going to work who had been baptized at this church,
hearing the lie that had been perpetuated, the attack that
had been age saying your baptism was it fake? And
I was praying about this one day, and I was
asking God very specifically something that you may have been
praying about a situation or an attack in your life
(32:12):
as well.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
I prayed, God, make it stop, Make it stop.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
By this point, there had been several attacks against our church,
and this one just felt like too much.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And I said, God, make it stop.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
And I will never forget what the Lord said to
me in my spirit, not in audible words or not
in a physical impression, but in a way that he
gave me a thought that I have carried with me
to this moment, and I share it with you today.
The Lord said, I can stop the attack, but if
I stopped the attack, I have to stop the impact
that created it. So now you have to decide do
(32:56):
you want the attack to stop bad enough to give
up the impact that brought it? Because if you weren't
baptizing anybody, they wouldn't be making.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Up stories about your baptisms.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
But maybe what God was doing in this church was
so unbelievable that the enemy saw it and said, if
they keep baptizing people like this, there's gonna be a
water shortage in Charlotte and a people shortage in Hell.
And so I got a plant, a little lie to
(33:33):
try to get them to stop doing what God's started.
But God said, if you want the impact, you got
a man up and button your pants, and tighten your belt,
and lace your boots, and open your bible, and open
your mouth, and take your next breath, and lift your voice,
(33:57):
and lift your head, and swing your sword in the
name of the Lord, and realize that he who began
a good work in you will be faithful to bring
it full circle till the day when the angels gather,
the tears shall be burned in the fire. I wanted
(34:28):
to tell you about that. I wanted to tell you that.
Now that I'm through it, I'm glad they attacked me.
I am is set me free of some ego. I'm
glad that happened. I want it to happen again. I'm
not asking for another one. I'm not saying if I
(34:48):
went back in time, I would have walked that path.
But there is a young man on our staff who
runs my scriptures every week.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
As a matter of fact, put a scripture up.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
There, just in anyone, I don't care which, and just
put it up there, and just put the week appeared,
We circle the word appeared. Look at that. Why did
I tell him to do that? Because he started coming
to the church because he heard about the baptisms on
the news.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
From the attack. Y'all don't want to mess with me.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
And now he's the one helping me preach the word.
So God used their words as a weapon.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Oh God, And.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Now let's talk about you.
Speaker 5 (35:38):
No weapon forved against you shall prosper.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
And that brings the sun rise.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
This against you, you shall convin this is the heretance
ut the service of the Lord, and their righteousness is
from me.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
So one thing the enemy didn't realize when he was
planting those weeds is that you can plant all the
weeds you want to devil.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
And let me just remind you this year, this year,
there will be weeds.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
There will be no weed free week in your year
this year.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Sit back down.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
You know how we do these little New Year's slogans
come alive in twenty five, you know it's gonna well,
could be said it's gonna get fixed in twenty six. No,
it's not either. It's gonna be mixed in twenty six.
It's gonna be some wheat. It's gonna be some weeds.
(36:48):
It's gonna be some joy. It's gonna be some morning.
It's gonna be some weeping. It's gonna be some reeping.
It's gonna be some friends. It's gonna be some enemies.
It's gonna be some frenemy. You can't tell the difference
till us over. But don't judge it before God's done
with it, because God might use some of this stuff
in your life that you were asking him to remove
(37:10):
to reveal who He is in your life. And the
only problem is if you start trying to pluck out
the weeds, you might mess around and remove the wheat.
Y'all got enough or keep going? One thing I noticed
(37:34):
in the text that was really powerful is that the
Master didn't panic about the attack. He was so cool
about it.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Read it again, sir, Now the servants are freaking out
like we do. Sir, didn't you so good? See it
in your field? Where's come from? Who did this? What's
going on? This is the devil? Whose fault is this?
Only as so many, so many did this?
Speaker 4 (37:57):
And the the Master because he represents God in the parable.
Look at this, He's like an enemy did this because
that's what an enemy does. That's what an enemy does,
That's what a devil does. I read about a book
(38:22):
that Mel Robbins wrote called the Let Them Theory. I
didn't read the book, but I like the title. It's
like people want to talk about you. Let them. Your
kids want to leave without a coat and it's cold outside.
Speaker 9 (38:34):
Let them. They're not going to die of hypothermia. They
will figure it out. Kids are resilient.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
They need a little frost bite. Let them.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
And I wonder if we could write one together today
this year in your life called let him. Don't let
the attack distract you. You give so much focus on
how the devil is discouraging you, and now discouragement is
all you see everywhere.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
You got so many things going right in your life,
so much wheat, but all you see is weeds. You
a little.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Perfectionist, your little type a personality, your little enneagram number
one just always could be better. Just oh man, I
gotta get these weeds out this year.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
No you don't. I'll tell you why.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
If Jesus's field wasn't weed free, what makes you think
yours is gonna be? Jesus couldn't have a weed free field,
but you can. No, it's gonna be mixed in twenty six.
It's gonna be mixed in twenty six. It's gonna be
at eight am in the morning. This is the day
(39:52):
that the Lord has made. It's gonna be by three
pm in the afternoon. My God, My God, why hast
thou forsaken me? It's gonna be wea, It's gonna be weeds.
And stop judging stuff before God is done with it.
Stop judging stuff before the appointed time. Stop telling me
(40:13):
graves into gardens in a good song. Stop telling me
I tried it, it didn't work. And I'll just use
a physical example because we can all relate to it.
When you work out and you haven't worked out in
a while, not that you would know. The first thing
(40:34):
that is going to indicate that you successfully completed the
workout is a feeling of soreness. That will feel like
Satan himself brought seven spirits to your body and invaded everything.
But that just means you're growing. So now you're surprised
that you're sore, but you wanted to grow. If there
(40:56):
had been no wheat, there would have been no weeds.
You're praying for God to use you, but you're surprised
that you feel like you're empty on the inside. That's
so He can fill you up again. And the promise
of this year is not that it will be weed free.
I am not trying to keep a weed.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Free in one sense, I am, but I am not.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
Trying to keep a problem a weed free. I'm trying
to be spirit filled this year so that whatever is
planted around me. And you got to know that the
Master is very, very methodical in what he plants, and
he knew from the moment he planted this seed that
(41:39):
the enemy would attack it. Now, the Master wasn't surprised.
The servants were, so they said, what do you want
us to do about it? Do you want us to
pluck it up? Do you want us to remove it?
Do you want us to do something about that? I
was reading a passage in First Kings or maybe Second
Samuel last week with Graham.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Which scripture did I give you?
Speaker 4 (42:03):
Justin tewoond Samuel or First Kings, we're reading about David. Yeah,
one time David was running through his city that he
used to rule over from his son, Absolom, and his
son was trying to take his crown from him. And
the son's name was Absolom, and David actually had to
go flee from his own son. And as he was
leaving the city, he approached Bahiram. You couldn't pronounce it either,
(42:27):
a man from the same clan, a Sau. His family
came out from there, and so this is one of
his enemies, right, And his name was Shimmy I, son
of Gera. And he cursed as he came out, cursing
at the king. Well, he pelted David in the king's
officials with stones.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Now remember David's pretty good with a stone, So this
is a bad idea.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
Though all the troops in the Special Guard were on
David's right and left.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
In other words, he could have done something about it.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
And as he cursed, Shimie said, get out, Get out.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
You murderer, you scoundrel.
Speaker 4 (43:05):
The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you
shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you
have reigned.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
God's getting you back.
Speaker 4 (43:12):
The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of
your son Absalom.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
You have come to ruin because.
Speaker 4 (43:18):
You are a Murderer's planting all these seeds of doubt
in David's mind. Then Abishai, which one of David's guys,
said to the King.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Why should this dead dog curse my lord?
Speaker 4 (43:27):
The King?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Let me go over and cut off his head.
Speaker 4 (43:31):
But the king, David said, what does this have to
do with you, sons of zahu Ayah. If he's cursing
because the Lord said to him, curse.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
David, who can ask why do you do this?
Speaker 4 (43:43):
David then said to Abishai and all his officials, my son,
my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me.
In other words, I got bigger problems. I got bigger
things to deal with than this dude. And I came
to remind you. You've got bigger priorities. You've got too
much to do to be offended by them. You've got
bigger fish to fry than this guy, whose name I
(44:06):
can't even pronounce. You're David, how much more than this Benjamin?
Leave him alone, let him curse. You want us to
do something about it, now, let him. Let him curse,
for the Lord has told him to. It may be, oh,
this is an anointed verse. If you've been under attack
(44:29):
and the enemy is pelting you with frocks and stones,
and it may even be coming at the expense of
your own dignity, and you are asking yourself, what do I.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Do about this attack? David said, it may be that
the Lord will look upon my.
Speaker 4 (44:44):
Misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of
his curse today. In other words, what David is saying
is that he cannot curse what God has already blessed,
so let him. He cannot destroy what has God's dna.
He cannot steal what God has spoke. He cannot negate
(45:08):
what God has established. He cannot cancel out what God
has called. How many different ways do you need me
to say it to get you to see it won't work?
Let him come, let the flood rage. God will lift
up a standard. It won't work. Don't let the attack
(45:28):
distract you. Don't let it get you out of your character.
Don't let it get you out of your joy. Don't
let it get you out of your peace. Sit there
and whistle a worship song. If you can't sing one,
lift your toe. If you can't lift your hands, do
a body weight squad. If you can't do a real one,
do something. But whatever you do, remember that if it's
(45:49):
started with God, it is sustained by God, and there
is nothing the enemy can plant. Sheremiah said, before I
was born, he called being set me apart. So that
means I know the enemy has been busy in your life.
He's been speaking to you. He's been sabotaging you. He's
been distracting you, trying to get you off your course,
(46:12):
trying to get you out of your flow, trying to
get you out of your calling, trying to get you
out of your nature, trying to get you out of
your kindness, trying to bring you back to bitterness, trying
to plant.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Weeds where there's wheat.
Speaker 4 (46:23):
But there's one thing that the enemy should have realized
that he didn't realize, and he would have saved his
energy and realized that the weeds weren't worth planting. Because
you've got to remember, no matter.
Speaker 10 (46:35):
What the enemy plants in your life, God got there first,
and he prepares a.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Table for you in the presence of your enemies.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
So let the devil try, because it must be that
if God isn't removing those weeds, how many can picture some.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Weeds that are in your life?
Speaker 4 (47:05):
As I speak this word, Every weed free person, run
to this altar right now, because you have the weed
of delusion?
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Am I right man?
Speaker 4 (47:21):
And the one thing about it, Graham, check this out. Gee,
the type of weeds that were growing, you couldn't tell
that they weren't wheat until they had grown a little bit.
They looked exactly the same until the head came up
and then they're like, oh no, this is not wheat,
this is a weed.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
And sometimes you don't know. Sometimes you don't know. I'm
never going back to the way I was. Look at
what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to
the way.
Speaker 4 (47:51):
A little the video and you know, the kids just
screaming at the camera, But what if they were singing it,
like like just for real though, like, look at what
the Lord has done.
Speaker 11 (48:02):
I'm never going back, but I'm still gonna cuts. You
know what I'm saying, Look here what the Lord has done.
I'm never going back, But I still get drunk because
what we're saying is, look here what the Lord has done.
I'm never going back, but I'm still gonna lusk.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
You know, just whatever y'all struggle with. The fact is.
Speaker 4 (48:28):
What's really going on in our hearts sometimes doesn't match
what's coming out of our mouths. And we really do
want to grow, and we really do want to be free,
and we really do want to be more loving.
Speaker 10 (48:43):
But the enemy isn't going to stand by and watch
you grow without attempting to.
Speaker 4 (48:51):
Plant something alongside your destiny that will disrupt it.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
I just want to remind you that the attack is
a distraction.
Speaker 4 (49:02):
And God knew when he planted you that what he
gave you was stronger than what would come against you. Right,
look at what the Lord has done in your life.
(49:23):
Look how far he has already brought you. How many
can say I have a testimony. God has done so
much in my life.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
It's amazing. You would say that, but it came with weeds,
didn't it.
Speaker 4 (49:38):
And you have been believing the lie lately that you
have got to get rid of all the weeds before
you can enjoy the weak.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
It's a lie. I come against it.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
I break the spirit of depression off of your soul
that has been telling you that you cannot worship while
you still have weeds.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
We all have weeds.
Speaker 4 (50:00):
Surprise you what the person next to you is struggling with.
And just because you can't see the weeds doesn't mean
they're not real. But have you come to a point
in your life where all you are seeing in this
season is the weeds? Have you got one kid that
is in trouble and you have failed to appreciate the
(50:22):
two that are doing good.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
That means you have become two weed focused.
Speaker 4 (50:29):
Have you got nine things in your body that are
working well, but the one thing that is not working
right just causes you to obsess and you are googling
every possible thing that might be wrong with you and
taking out every life insurance policy because you got a
headache one Thursday. Are you letting one headache really make
(50:50):
you stop believing that God is my healer and that
God is my sustainer and that God is my source.
I'm telling you whatever the enemy plants in your life
is not more powerful than what God planted, because the
Bible said he planted good seed.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
Somebody say I'm good seed. I'm good seed.
Speaker 4 (51:10):
And all things work together for the good of those
who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
So this week I want you to think a little
bit less about the weeds and a little.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
Bit more about the wheat.
Speaker 4 (51:23):
Because when the passage starts, we've got wheat and we've
got weeds. But at the end of the passage, one
is going to be burned and one is going to
be in the barn. And I came to declare today
the fire will not burn you. You're going to the barn, baby,
you belong to God. You are God's child, You are
(51:43):
God's planting, You are God's Oh, you are God's master Peace.
I belong to God. Try your best, devil, it won't work.
As a matter of fact, my God might use the
thing that you are using to curse me and bless
me even better. God might do something out of this.
(52:05):
So go ahead, hit me with your best shot. But
everything you do hats to go through the cross of
Jesus Christ, and he began a good word, will be
faithful to complete it.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
Stop judging stuff.
Speaker 4 (52:23):
Before God is done. I asked one parent the other day.
They said, the kid that gave me the most trouble
ended up bringing me the most blessings. You can't judge
this thing while it's still growing. You can't label.
Speaker 1 (52:36):
This thing while it's still in process.
Speaker 4 (52:39):
You cannot categorize your life based on the way you
feel right now. And you cannot quit eleven days into
January just because it's mixed.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
In twenty six.
Speaker 4 (52:49):
Naw, baby, the Lord is at my right hand. The
Lord stood by my side. Many deserted me. God never did.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
I got battles, I God blessed.
Speaker 4 (53:00):
I got weeds. I got weeds, I got goodness. I've
got mercy, and they follow me all the days of
my life. So all I wanted to tell you today
is don't let the attack distract you. That's what it is.
(53:22):
It's a distraction. You have been growing. You've got what
it takes to grow. You've got what it takes to
make this decision. You have got what it takes to
do the job. You've got what it takes to learn
the skills. You've got what it takes to do the
inner work and get some healing.
Speaker 1 (53:39):
You've got what it takes because you've got God.
Speaker 4 (53:43):
You're in the field He wanted you to be in,
and God knew there was going to be a fight
when he puts you in that field.
Speaker 1 (53:55):
Don't tell me he didn't. He's God. I'm built for it.
High five three. People say you're built for it, too,
built for it, Yeah, man, built for it.
Speaker 4 (54:12):
You know what I almost called the message, bro, I
almost called it, don't burn your bread. Don't burn your bread.
The wheat has the potential in it to be bread
if you don't pluck it up and throw it into
(54:35):
the fire, if you don't give up on what it
can be. Because of what it is right now and
what's against it. Don't burn your bread. I didn't call
it that. I almost called the message this is my
other almost called the message. Look at your neighbors, say
don't pluck it up.
Speaker 1 (54:59):
But I decided that I would just tell you stand
to your feet. Don't let the attack.
Speaker 4 (55:10):
Distract you, because if you don't let it distract you,
it can't destroy you.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
The word of God is incorruptible. See you've been born
again by imperishable sea.
Speaker 4 (55:21):
Don't let it distract you. You make an advance, you
get attacked, You get attacked, you get distracted, You get distracted,
you get destroyed. But if you can focus on where
God is growing you put your hand over your heart.
Say this is good soil. Say this is God's soil.
(55:46):
There's something that God spoke to you that you haven't
really been able to get in touch with lately because
you've been so distracted.
Speaker 1 (55:52):
You have been so distracted.
Speaker 4 (55:53):
It has been a long long time since you've been
able to have clarity about what God spoke to you.
And you found your broken focus leading to a lack
of peace now, as it always happens. But if we
can get back to the God who put it in
you to begin with, you are going to survive whatever
attack the enemy sins against it. It can't be stronger
than God. It can't be stronger than his word. It
(56:15):
can't be better than him. It can't be bigger than him.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
It's not possible. But you've been distracted. So now, Lord,
our hearts are turn to you. Yes, Lord, our hearts
are yours.
Speaker 4 (56:39):
Our lives are yours, our dreams are yours, our plans
are yours.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Our future is yours. I thank you for where you
planted me as a seed. God. I thank you for
where you planted each and every one of these people.
Speaker 4 (56:56):
I think for the gifts you gave them, the abilities
you gave them, the talent you gave them, the person
that you gave them, the unique struggles and challenges that
have formed them and forged them in the fire of
trials to make them strong.
Speaker 1 (57:06):
And ready for what they're going through.
Speaker 4 (57:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (57:09):
They will not burn. They'll be light those Hebrew boys
who went.
Speaker 4 (57:14):
Into the fire and said, even if God doesn't get
us out, he'll join us right up in it.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
Because I'm good seed. I'm good seed. Lord.
Speaker 4 (57:24):
I want to pray today for the person who has
never placed their faith in you. Would you just join
me in this prayer as a church, I'm going to
pray for someone who needs to give their life to
Jesus Christ. And right now it is very possible that
the reason God brought you here today, or the reason
that you joined us online, is for this moment. If
you see, it's not by might nor by power that
(57:46):
we become strong in the Lord.
Speaker 1 (57:48):
No, the seed was good because of who planted it.
Speaker 4 (57:54):
And it's time for you to stop playing around with
your life and waiting on one day when it's more
convenient to live for God.
Speaker 12 (58:01):
No, now is your moment of salvation. Today is your
moment of change. And I don't want you to face
the fire of judgment. I don't want you to live
your life apart from God, and neither does God.
Speaker 4 (58:15):
And that's why He sent Jesus, the perfect seed, the
one who gave his life on the cross and rose
again that you could have life.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
And now, in this moment, I want to pray with you.
Speaker 4 (58:26):
You know, the Bible says that if you confess with
your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1 (58:32):
You will be saved. It's not by works it's by grace.
You are saved through faith. And right now, if you'll
pray this prayer and mean it with your heart, God
will hear you.
Speaker 4 (58:44):
God will save you, and you will be born again,
and this can be your new beginning. We're going to
pray out loud, repeating after me as a church for
the benefit of those who are coming to Christ in
this moment. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, today is my
day of salvation. I am a sinner in need of
(59:07):
a savior. And I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God and the savior of the world. And
today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I
believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose
(59:28):
again to give me life.
Speaker 1 (59:31):
I receive this new life. This is my new beginning.
I am a child of God.
Speaker 4 (59:40):
On the count of three, shoot your hand up. If
you prayed that one, two, three, I want to celebrate
with you.
Speaker 1 (59:47):
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That's beautiful, Praise the Lord.
Speaker 4 (59:53):
Online.
Speaker 1 (59:54):
You could just put.
Speaker 4 (59:55):
It in the comments I received. Jesus.
Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Come on, let's clap our hands all over the room.
Speaker 4 (01:00:02):
Everybody, everybody, everybody, come on, Let's thank God.
Speaker 8 (01:00:06):
For all the decisions that were made today.
Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
God is so good.
Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
Well, campus, pastors, you can have it. Grab hands with
the person next to you here, Valentine, look at him
and tell them don't pluck it up, because God is
not through with you yet another day to be in
the presence of God. Come on, Holly, I ain't got
no hand to hold. It's gonna be an amazing year
(01:00:36):
in your life. Ben Yeah, God's gonna give you wisdom, strength, encouragement, stamina.
Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
God's gonna do that for each and every one of
these people that we pastor.
Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
To look at your neighbor, Look at your neighbor and say,
God's gonna do that for you too. Tell him he's
gonna meet you, he's gonna fill you, he's gonna carry you,
he's going to keep you. Tell him you're gonna grow.
(01:01:11):
Come on, Tell him like a trainer, you're gonna grow.
Tell them like they need to do two more reps.
Tell them you're gonna grow. Look at them and shall say,
don't pluck it. Oh, don't let the attack distract you.
Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
It's a sign you're on course. It's a sign you're significant.
Speaker 4 (01:01:33):
It's a sign God's got you. And now unto him,
lift your hands, who is able to do immeasurably more
than you ask, think or imagine, according to his power,
Whose power, his power that works mightily in us. To
him be gloried through Christ Jesus in the Church. Now
(01:01:56):
and forever, Say amen, same man again, goodbye, see you
next week. Don't fuck it up.
Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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