Latest / Top Churches / Elevation with Steven Furtick - Train Your Hands To Hold (Chet Pete)
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church,
- 0:08Speaker 1: and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe so
- 0:10Speaker 1: we can get you these new sermons every week. I
- 0:13Speaker 1: hope you're blessed today.
- 0:21Speaker 2: Are you ready to hear something from the Lord today?
- 0:26Speaker 2: So listen, if we haven't met before, my name's Ted.
- 0:29Speaker 2: I'm the pastor at our University City campus, and I
- 0:34Speaker 2: am I'm so excited, honored to be able to preach
- 0:39Speaker 2: God's Word today. It is Pastor Appreciation Month, and it's
- 0:44Speaker 2: an honor to be preaching in October because I get
- 0:47Speaker 2: to take a couple minutes to just appreciate my pastors.
- 0:51Speaker 2: Do you love your pastors? Pastor Stephen and Holly. One
- 0:59Speaker 2: of the things I do getting ready to preach is,
- 1:03Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of thoughts that come into
- 1:05Speaker 2: your mind and the enemy wants you to kind of
- 1:08Speaker 2: lose confidence on the way to the pulpit. Nobody understands
- 1:13Speaker 2: the weight of trying to speak on behalf of God
- 1:15Speaker 2: and nonetheless sitting behind this pulpit. And so I'm praying.
- 1:20Speaker 2: And then one of the things I do, I go
- 1:22Speaker 2: back to any of my text messages with pastor. And
- 1:25Speaker 2: what I'll do is I'm trying to encourage him all
- 1:27Speaker 2: the time. I'm like, let me tell you a story
- 1:30Speaker 2: about somebody at University City, what God's doing in their life.
- 1:33Speaker 2: And let me tell you how that message just ministered
- 1:36Speaker 2: to me. And as I was scrolling through our text messages,
- 1:39Speaker 2: I realized he kept flipping the encouragement back on me.
- 1:44Speaker 2: I got to reach out to him and say, hey,
- 1:46Speaker 2: I'm so grateful for you. And then he said, hey, Chad,
- 1:49Speaker 2: I want you to know you're an amazing husband. You're
- 1:51Speaker 2: an amazing father. I'm so grateful to be doing ministry
- 1:55Speaker 2: alongside of you. I was like, I reached out to
- 1:56Speaker 2: encourage you today. I reached out to tell you thank you.
- 2:00Speaker 2: And time after time after time, I realized how he
- 2:04Speaker 2: was depositing something into my spirit to give me confidence
- 2:08Speaker 2: to be who God's called me to be. Can we
- 2:11Speaker 2: thank God for our pastor? Now, it's been a long
- 2:19Speaker 2: time since I've showed a picture of my family. And
- 2:23Speaker 2: my boys are getting so big. So we took pictures
- 2:25Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago. And so here's a picture
- 2:27Speaker 2: of my family, me and my wife, Whitney. We've been
- 2:31Speaker 2: married 18 years. And our twin boys, Carson and Carter,
- 2:41Speaker 2: I hate taking pictures standing up next to them now.
- 2:45Speaker 2: Because everybody's measuring, have they passed you yet? The photographer, Brittany,
- 2:51Speaker 2: she had this idea. She said, Chad, do you think
- 2:53Speaker 2: you still could hold them? And I said, I've been
- 2:57Speaker 2: in the gym. Let me see what I can do.
- 2:59Speaker 2: Let me see what I can do. So I got
- 3:00Speaker 2: one on my back. I just wanted to know, no
- 3:05Speaker 2: matter how big they get, I'm still holding them. I
- 3:09Speaker 2: still can hold them. I still can lift them. I
- 3:13Speaker 2: still can lift them. I still can lift them. But listen,
- 3:17Speaker 2: I'm excited. Who's ready for the word? Who's ready for
- 3:20Speaker 2: the word? Who's ready for the word? Okay. We are
- 3:24Speaker 2: going to start in John chapter 10, verse 10. Everybody
- 3:29Speaker 2: remain standing for the reading of God's word at all
- 3:32Speaker 2: of our locations. I love the fact that we stand
- 3:36Speaker 2: at attention. And when we open up God's word, it's
- 3:40Speaker 2: a posture that puts our heart in a position ready
- 3:44Speaker 2: to receive, expectant for what God wants to speak to you.
- 3:49Speaker 2: And so if you can, stand and posture your hearts. God,
- 3:52Speaker 2: what is it that you want to speak to me today?
- 3:54Speaker 2: John chapter 10, verse 10. This is a verse of
- 3:59Speaker 2: scripture many of you probably have heard quoted multiple times.
- 4:04Speaker 2: I'm going to use this statement that Jesus said, and
- 4:08Speaker 2: then I'm going to overlay it, and I'm going to
- 4:09Speaker 2: use a story. from King David's life to be able
- 4:12Speaker 2: to walk through this truth. John chapter 10, verse 10.
- 4:17Speaker 2: Here's what it says. It says, the thief, everybody say
- 4:20Speaker 2: the thief, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. The
- 4:31Speaker 2: only thing that this thief wants to do is steal, kill,
- 4:38Speaker 2: and destroy. From the time the sun comes up to
- 4:44Speaker 2: the time the sun goes down, all this thief is
- 4:50Speaker 2: thinking about is stealing, killing, and destroying. But I love
- 4:57Speaker 2: that Jesus is like, okay, that's what he came to do.
- 5:00Speaker 2: Let me tell you why I'm here. But I have
- 5:05Speaker 2: come that they may have life And have it to
- 5:11Speaker 2: the full. No matter how much he tries to take.
- 5:16Speaker 2: No matter how much he tries to steal. No matter
- 5:20Speaker 2: how much he tries to destroy. I want you to
- 5:22Speaker 2: know the abundance that I want to deposit into your lives.
- 5:28Speaker 2: There's no comparison. No comparison. And now let's jump back.
- 5:34Speaker 2: We're going to read one more verse of Scripture. This
- 5:37Speaker 2: is 2 Samuel chapter 5. We're going to look at
- 5:40Speaker 2: David's life today. 2 Samuel chapter 5, verse 17. Here's
- 5:47Speaker 2: what it says. It says, when the Philistines heard that
- 5:51Speaker 2: David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up
- 5:56Speaker 2: in full force to search for him. But David heard
- 6:01Speaker 2: about it and went down to the stronghold. Before Pastor
- 6:07Speaker 2: left for tour, he kind of entered us into a
- 6:11Speaker 2: training season. He preached a message called Train Your Heart
- 6:17Speaker 2: to Truth. And I felt like we still need some
- 6:21Speaker 2: training today. And so the message that God laid on
- 6:24Speaker 2: my heart for you is a message called Train Your
- 6:27Speaker 2: Hands to Hold. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you. We
- 6:34Speaker 2: thank you. You're a good God. You're a faithful God.
- 6:37Speaker 2: We ask that today you would do what only you
- 6:39Speaker 2: can do. God, I pray that as I do my
- 6:41Speaker 2: best to communicate your word, that as the words leave
- 6:46Speaker 2: my mouth, you would snatch those words and you would
- 6:48Speaker 2: add your power. You would add your love, your grace,
- 6:52Speaker 2: your mercy. And by the time it hits the ears
- 6:54Speaker 2: of your sons and daughters, their lives would be changed.
- 6:58Speaker 2: Have your way today. We love you. We thank you.
- 7:00Speaker 2: And it's in the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.
- 7:05Speaker 2: Before you take your seat, give your neighbor a hug.
- 7:07Speaker 2: Tell them welcome to church. Those of you online, welcome, welcome, welcome.
- 7:25Speaker 2: I saw some extended hugs. He said, train your hands
- 7:30Speaker 2: to hold. You was holding. You were holding. You're like,
- 7:34Speaker 2: thank you, Pastor Chad, for that opportunity. I want to
- 7:39Speaker 2: start with a quick story to be able to set
- 7:43Speaker 2: this direction. I'm going to tell you a story about
- 7:45Speaker 2: the last time I played football. The last time I
- 7:50Speaker 2: played football, I was in the eighth grade, and I
- 7:53Speaker 2: was playing tight end. And There was this scrimmage, not
- 7:59Speaker 2: a game. It was a scrimmage, and I line up
- 8:03Speaker 2: in my position, and the play that was called was
- 8:06Speaker 2: this play where I was going to give a slant route,
- 8:08Speaker 2: cutting right across the middle. I line up. Quarterback says,
- 8:12Speaker 2: I give my defender a little shimmy, a little shake,
- 8:18Speaker 2: and I left him. I left them. Now, I cut
- 8:23Speaker 2: across the middle. Quarterback throws a perfect pass right here,
- 8:27Speaker 2: right on target, right here. I catch the ball. Now,
- 8:30Speaker 2: I'm thinking it's about to be showtime. I'm thinking I'm
- 8:35Speaker 2: headed to the end zone. It's showtime, but little did
- 8:40Speaker 2: I know it was about to be lights out. Because
- 8:44Speaker 2: the moment I caught the ball, I got hit by
- 8:48Speaker 2: the biggest guy on the football team. His name is John.
- 8:53Speaker 2: Let's call him Big John. Big John was reading John
- 8:58Speaker 2: 1010 because he came to steal, kill, and destroy. He
- 9:04Speaker 2: hit me so hard that I fell down, broke two
- 9:08Speaker 2: bones in my leg. I'm laid out on the ground.
- 9:15Speaker 2: And when the birds finally stopped going in a circle,
- 9:25Speaker 2: I realized something. I was still holding on to the ball.
- 9:35Speaker 2: I was hit. I was hurt. But I was still
- 9:41Speaker 2: holding on. To the ball. You see, I've been thinking
- 9:49Speaker 2: that we don't have a receiving problem. We got a
- 9:51Speaker 2: retention problem. I want you to understand, in football, the
- 9:56Speaker 2: moment you catch the football, you're now the most dangerous person.
- 10:00Speaker 2: on the football field. There's a target on your back.
- 10:04Speaker 2: Is there anybody in the room? You're anointed. You're called
- 10:08Speaker 2: by God. His hand is on your life. Anybody saved,
- 10:13Speaker 2: set free, and delivered? I want you to understand that
- 10:19Speaker 2: hell isn't happy. That heaven opened up and handed you
- 10:24Speaker 2: a blessing. But after the hit and after the hurt,
- 10:30Speaker 2: will you still be holding on to what God gave you?
- 10:35Speaker 2: Any newlyweds in the room? Wave your hand at me.
- 10:38Speaker 2: You've been married a couple months, maybe sometime this year.
- 10:41Speaker 2: Wave at me. Over here. Give it up for them.
- 10:44Speaker 2: Give it up for them. On their wedding day, they
- 10:48Speaker 2: hold each other's hands to have and to hold. And
- 10:54Speaker 2: I celebrate that moment on your wedding day, but I
- 10:57Speaker 2: want you holding on to your wife's hands. Until God
- 11:02Speaker 2: calls you home. I want your hands to be trained.
- 11:06Speaker 2: I'm trained to hold Whitney's feet hands. We've been holding
- 11:09Speaker 2: hands for a long time. We've been holding hands since
- 11:11Speaker 2: we were 19 years old. I'm trained at holding that
- 11:14Speaker 2: woman's hands. And I'm going to be holding her hands
- 11:17Speaker 2: until the day the Lord calls me home. Right, right.
- 11:21Speaker 2: Anybody in the room, you just got a promotion, just
- 11:24Speaker 2: got a promotion, and it came with a bonus. Oh,
- 11:27Speaker 2: I saw somebody wave their hands, but they did it
- 11:29Speaker 2: like this because they don't want you to ask them
- 11:30Speaker 2: for no money. They just like this, like this. Hey, listen, listen.
- 11:35Speaker 2: I'm so glad that God blessed you. I'm so glad
- 11:40Speaker 2: that you're making more money now. But when you get old,
- 11:43Speaker 2: somebody tells you, you got to set some money aside.
- 11:46Speaker 2: You want to be holding on to some of it.
- 11:48Speaker 2: You want to be holding on to some of it
- 11:50Speaker 2: when you retire. Tell your neighbor, say, are your hands
- 11:53Speaker 2: trained to hold, to hold, to hold, to hold? We're
- 12:00Speaker 2: going to deal with it today. As I was thinking
- 12:03Speaker 2: about David's journey, I noticed something. in his journey that
- 12:08Speaker 2: really spoke to me. You see, David is the king
- 12:11Speaker 2: of Israel, the second king, and one of the things
- 12:15Speaker 2: on his journey that I didn't realize until I started
- 12:18Speaker 2: to study this was that David wasn't just anointed once.
- 12:22Speaker 2: David would actually anointed three times on his way to
- 12:25Speaker 2: becoming king. Three times David was anointed. The first time
- 12:29Speaker 2: was one that pastor preached about here recently. When Samuel
- 12:33Speaker 2: comes to Jesse's house and Jesse brings out all of
- 12:36Speaker 2: his sons, except for David, he's out in the field.
- 12:39Speaker 2: He's out in the field and he brings them all out.
- 12:41Speaker 2: And in this day, he goes through all of the sons.
- 12:43Speaker 2: Samuel's like, this isn't the one. This isn't the one.
- 12:45Speaker 2: Do you have another son? And Jesse says, well, yeah,
- 12:48Speaker 2: I got the youngest. He's in the back. He's in
- 12:50Speaker 2: the back with the sheep. And he says, I won't
- 12:52Speaker 2: sit down until you bring him out. And he anoints
- 12:56Speaker 2: David to be king in the presence of his brothers.
- 13:00Speaker 2: The second time David is anointed to be king. Saul
- 13:04Speaker 2: is still on the throne and he's growing in strength.
- 13:07Speaker 2: He's actually on the run for his life, but he's
- 13:10Speaker 2: growing in strength and people are starting to realize he's
- 13:12Speaker 2: the anointed one. And so they actually make him king
- 13:16Speaker 2: over Judah, one of the southern tribes of Israel. And
- 13:19Speaker 2: so they anoint him to be king. And then the
- 13:21Speaker 2: last time that he's anointed to be king is the
- 13:23Speaker 2: time that I just read. And this is when David
- 13:26Speaker 2: becomes king over all of Israel. Well, why am I
- 13:30Speaker 2: taking this time to give you this history of anointing?
- 13:33Speaker 2: Because I thought that maybe somebody in the room forgot
- 13:36Speaker 2: that you were anointed. Just like David needed multiple times
- 13:41Speaker 2: on this journey to becoming king, multiple times he gets anointed.
- 13:46Speaker 2: I wanted you to know today that even if they
- 13:48Speaker 2: didn't pick you, God chose you. You're anointed. God's hand
- 13:54Speaker 2: is on your life. Even though the second time that
- 13:57Speaker 2: David is anointed, Saul is still on the throne. I
- 14:01Speaker 2: know you haven't sat in the seat that God has
- 14:04Speaker 2: called you to yet. And it seems like somebody has
- 14:07Speaker 2: occupied it already. I want you to know you're still anointed.
- 14:11Speaker 2: God's hand is still on your life. I know you've
- 14:15Speaker 2: been through some things. I know that it hurts sometimes,
- 14:18Speaker 2: but I wanted you to know you're still anointed. God's
- 14:22Speaker 2: hand is on your life. It hadn't come to pass yet,
- 14:28Speaker 2: but you're still anointed. Now there's another pattern that I
- 14:33Speaker 2: saw in this journey of studying David's life. Every time
- 14:38Speaker 2: he was anointed, it was followed by an attack. Every
- 14:45Speaker 2: time David had oil poured over his head within the
- 14:51Speaker 2: next couple of verses or chapters, like within a couple of,
- 14:55Speaker 2: you see, David immediately is in the middle of a
- 14:59Speaker 2: new battle. I wanted you to know attacks usually follow anointing.
- 15:05Speaker 2: And so the first time David's anointed, you know the story.
- 15:07Speaker 2: There's a big guy named Goliath, big John. He's a
- 15:12Speaker 2: big guy, big guy. He is standing in front of
- 15:15Speaker 2: the army of Israel and he's shouting insults. And David
- 15:19Speaker 2: defeats Goliath with a stone and a sling. The second
- 15:24Speaker 2: time David's anointed to be king, he is king over
- 15:27Speaker 2: the southern tribe of Judah. And now there's like a
- 15:30Speaker 2: civil war about to break loose. And so Saul actually
- 15:33Speaker 2: sends some of his men out to go and attack David.
- 15:37Speaker 2: David defeats those men. And then the last time David
- 15:41Speaker 2: is anointed to be king is what we just read.
- 15:44Speaker 2: And it's followed by an attack. And here's the thing
- 15:49Speaker 2: that I want to do today. I want to help
- 15:51Speaker 2: you train your hands. There's a psalm that David wrote,
- 15:55Speaker 2: and they believe that David wrote this psalm around the
- 15:57Speaker 2: time that he became king over all of Israel. This
- 16:00Speaker 2: is Psalms 144. Here's what it says. Praise be to
- 16:03Speaker 2: the Lord, my rock. who trains my hands for war
- 16:09Speaker 2: and my fingers for battle. He is my loving God
- 16:14Speaker 2: and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield
- 16:18Speaker 2: in whom I take refuge, who subdues people under me.
- 16:24Speaker 2: This is David writing this, penning this on his journey
- 16:29Speaker 2: to becoming king. But remember, there's an attack. And so
- 16:33Speaker 2: what I read at the beginning was 2 Samuel 5,
- 16:36Speaker 2: verse 17. I want to go back there for a moment.
- 16:38Speaker 2: Here's what it says. When the Philistines heard that David
- 16:42Speaker 2: had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in
- 16:46Speaker 2: full force to search for him. The attack is on
- 16:49Speaker 2: the way. But David heard about it and went down
- 16:54Speaker 2: to the stronghold. So the Philistine army, they go up
- 17:02Speaker 2: to search for David. But David goes down into the stronghold.
- 17:08Speaker 2: Maybe you're like, what is the stronghold, Pastor Chet? What
- 17:11Speaker 2: is the stronghold? Well, they believe the stronghold is believed
- 17:14Speaker 2: to be the cave of Adullam. This is a cave
- 17:17Speaker 2: that when David was running for his life, he would
- 17:21Speaker 2: go to seek the Lord. And with the generals, they
- 17:24Speaker 2: would create military strategy. And so David gets anointed to
- 17:28Speaker 2: be king. And it says that the Philistine army, they
- 17:31Speaker 2: go up to search for him. And then David goes
- 17:35Speaker 2: down into the stronghold. He goes down into this cave.
- 17:41Speaker 2: He goes down into this cave. Can you put verse
- 17:44Speaker 2: 18 up? Let's see what he does in his cave. Now,
- 17:47Speaker 2: the Philistines had come and spread out in the valley
- 17:49Speaker 2: of Rephiam. Keep reading, keep going, keep going. So David, listen,
- 17:54Speaker 2: inquired of the Lord, shall I go and attack the Philistines?
- 17:58Speaker 2: Will you deliver them into my hands? So the Philistines
- 18:02Speaker 2: are on their way to search for David, and David
- 18:05Speaker 2: goes down into the stronghold. He gets in a posture
- 18:12Speaker 2: like this. We're going to train your hands today. Everybody,
- 18:15Speaker 2: when's the last time you did this? When the last
- 18:20Speaker 2: time you did this? Let's train today. Put your hands
- 18:22Speaker 2: like this. You see, when you pray like this, this
- 18:25Speaker 2: is a posture of humility. This is a posture of saying, hey,
- 18:29Speaker 2: my hands aren't strong enough to fight these battles by myself.
- 18:33Speaker 2: David have enough sense to go down in the stronghold
- 18:36Speaker 2: and inquire of the Lord, what is it that you
- 18:38Speaker 2: would have me to do? He's in the stronghold saying,
- 18:42Speaker 2: they're coming after me again. Lord, what do you want
- 18:46Speaker 2: me to do? Maybe you're in the middle of an
- 18:50Speaker 2: attack right now, and when's the last time you went
- 18:52Speaker 2: into the stronghold and said, Lord, what is it that
- 18:54Speaker 2: you would have me to do? He's in the stronghold.
- 18:59Speaker 2: He went down in the stronghold to inquire of the Lord.
- 19:03Speaker 2: In the stronghold, there's two things that you get. You
- 19:05Speaker 2: get strength in the stronghold. You get strength in the stronghold.
- 19:08Speaker 2: You want to know why? Because while he's in the stronghold,
- 19:10Speaker 2: he turned his back on the Philistines. And he turned
- 19:14Speaker 2: towards the one who could save. In the stronghold, you
- 19:18Speaker 2: stop focusing on who's attacking you and you focus on
- 19:20Speaker 2: who's backing you. It's in the stronghold that you're like,
- 19:24Speaker 2: you know what? God's got my back. God's got my back.
- 19:28Speaker 2: I know that they're coming from near and from far
- 19:30Speaker 2: to attack me, but God's got my back. God is
- 19:33Speaker 2: fighting for me. I'm serving the one that leads angel armies.
- 19:37Speaker 2: He's fighting for me. God's got my back. Amen. I
- 19:41Speaker 2: was convicted of this here recently. Me and my wife,
- 19:46Speaker 2: last year, we were building a house, and we were
- 19:48Speaker 2: so excited to be here. be able to move into
- 19:51Speaker 2: our first home. And so we're working with an amazing realtor,
- 19:55Speaker 2: and this realtor was like, you know, she's amazing, amazing, amazing.
- 19:59Speaker 2: But let's just say we kind of planned out when
- 20:01Speaker 2: we were going to sell the house and all of
- 20:03Speaker 2: this because we needed to sell the house before we
- 20:05Speaker 2: moved into our new house. We put it on the market.
- 20:09Speaker 2: Let's just say it was moving slow. Like, like slow, slow. Like,
- 20:16Speaker 2: are we ever going to sell this house? And we're
- 20:22Speaker 2: waiting and we're waiting and we're not seeing offers. I'm like,
- 20:24Speaker 2: what is going on? What's happening, Lord? And I start
- 20:28Speaker 2: bringing out my calculator and I'm like, well, if we
- 20:32Speaker 2: had to end up paying two mortgages, how long could
- 20:35Speaker 2: we do it? And I'm stressed. I'm stressed. I'm like,
- 20:40Speaker 2: what are we going to do? And I'm talking to this.
- 20:42Speaker 2: I'm trying to figure out. I'm researching. What's the MLS
- 20:45Speaker 2: even mean? I don't even know what that means. I'm
- 20:48Speaker 2: trying to figure it out. And I'm reaching out to
- 20:50Speaker 2: my realtor. What are we doing? What are we doing?
- 20:52Speaker 2: And my realtor, she's a praying woman. And she said, hey, listen,
- 20:57Speaker 2: I know it's moving slow, but you know what I
- 20:59Speaker 2: did today? I prayed for who needs to buy your house.
- 21:04Speaker 2: She said, I prayed for who needs to buy your house.
- 21:07Speaker 2: And I felt so convicted. I'm the pastor. You're the realtor.
- 21:13Speaker 2: I'm supposed to be praying. We had a prayer night
- 21:19Speaker 2: at University City. Just a night that we just came
- 21:21Speaker 2: to pray. Just no agenda. I didn't promote it much.
- 21:23Speaker 2: It was just like, hey, I just want to open
- 21:25Speaker 2: up the space to pray. And guess what I did?
- 21:27Speaker 2: I went down. And I said, hey, Lord, I've been stressed,
- 21:31Speaker 2: but I want to repent. I want to repent for
- 21:33Speaker 2: thinking I was strong enough to do this by myself.
- 21:36Speaker 2: I want to repent for thinking that I was wise
- 21:38Speaker 2: enough to do this by myself. I said, God, I
- 21:40Speaker 2: know that you love me. I know that you want
- 21:42Speaker 2: the best for me. I know that this is nothing
- 21:44Speaker 2: for you. So, God, I give it to you. By
- 21:46Speaker 2: the time I start praying, I stop forgetting about the house.
- 21:49Speaker 2: And I'm just like, thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. I'm getting
- 21:52Speaker 2: happy now. Has anybody ever went like this and all
- 21:55Speaker 2: of a sudden your hands went like this? He was
- 21:58Speaker 2: like this, saying, Thank you, Lord. All of a sudden,
- 22:00Speaker 2: I just couldn't stop but saying, Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.
- 22:03Speaker 2: I started to remember time after time that he had
- 22:05Speaker 2: already healed, that he had already moved. I don't know
- 22:09Speaker 2: if there's anybody in the room that has a testimony. <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL>
- 22:32Speaker 2: Go down before you go up. I can't make this up.
- 22:38Speaker 2: I'm at the prayer meeting. My realtor sends me a
- 22:41Speaker 2: text and she says, hey, I think we got an offer.
- 22:47Speaker 2: I text her back. Don't text me back till we
- 22:49Speaker 2: got a contract. I go back down. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
- 22:56Speaker 2: You're working. You're moving. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. You're moving, God.
- 23:01Speaker 2: I can't make this up. I can't make this up.
- 23:03Speaker 2: We end up getting the contract the next day. The
- 23:06Speaker 2: next day, we end up getting the contract. Now, hear
- 23:07Speaker 2: me clearly. Here's the thing. I'm not even going to
- 23:11Speaker 2: have a shout about the fact that we got the contract.
- 23:14Speaker 2: I think the miracle was in the fact that God
- 23:15Speaker 2: comforted me. The miracle was in the fact that God
- 23:19Speaker 2: showed up in that moment. I got to the point
- 23:21Speaker 2: that I didn't care about the house because I had Jesus.
- 23:24Speaker 2: Because maybe you're in the room and you're still waiting
- 23:26Speaker 2: for the door to open up. You're still waiting for God.
- 23:28Speaker 2: You're like, I've been going down, but I hadn't seen
- 23:30Speaker 2: it yet. I want you to see Jesus when you
- 23:33Speaker 2: go down into the stronghold. So while you're in the stronghold,
- 23:38Speaker 2: you get strength and you might get your next step.
- 23:43Speaker 2: He might tell you, hey, here's some strategy. Here's the
- 23:45Speaker 2: step you should take. Here's how you should move. And
- 23:49Speaker 2: so let's go back to verse 17. Let's go back
- 23:52Speaker 2: to verse 17. It says this, it says, so when
- 23:54Speaker 2: the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel,
- 23:58Speaker 2: they went up in full force to search for him.
- 24:00Speaker 2: But David heard about it and went down to the stronghold.
- 24:06Speaker 2: Now the Philistines had come and they spread out in
- 24:08Speaker 2: the valley of Raphael. So David inquired of the Lord.
- 24:12Speaker 2: Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver
- 24:15Speaker 2: them into my hands? You know, it's interesting. A lot
- 24:18Speaker 2: of people think when you're in the stronghold that you're hiding.
- 24:20Speaker 2: I want you to understand when you're in the stronghold,
- 24:23Speaker 2: you're not hiding, you're hearing. You're hearing. You're like, God,
- 24:28Speaker 2: what is it that you want me to do? Where
- 24:30Speaker 2: do you want me to go? To the world, it
- 24:32Speaker 2: might be like you're hiding. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- 24:34Speaker 2: You don't know. I'm waiting for the Lord to speak.
- 24:36Speaker 2: I'm waiting for him to talk to me. I'm not hiding.
- 24:39Speaker 2: I'm hearing. I'm hearing. I'm hearing. And watch this. Watch this.
- 24:43Speaker 2: Will you deliver them into my hands? The Lord said,
- 24:45Speaker 2: one answer, one word answer. Go. For I will surely
- 24:52Speaker 2: deliver the Philistines into your hands. Watch this. God said, go.
- 24:57Speaker 2: Verse 20. So David went. God said, go. So David went.
- 25:05Speaker 2: So David went to Balbirism, and he laid them out.
- 25:08Speaker 2: Watch this. And there he defeated them. He said, as
- 25:12Speaker 2: we start talking junk, as waters break out, and the
- 25:15Speaker 2: Lord has broken out against my enemies before me. So
- 25:18Speaker 2: that place was called Balbirism. Listen, listen. The Philistines abandoned
- 25:23Speaker 2: their idols there, and David is when they went and
- 25:26Speaker 2: carried them off. You see, David starts talking. He beat
- 25:29Speaker 2: them so bad, he starts talking junk. But here's the
- 25:33Speaker 2: thing I really... I want you to catch in this text.
- 25:38Speaker 2: God says go. Next verse, David went. God said go.
- 25:43Speaker 2: Next verse, David went. I was reading this slowly, and
- 25:48Speaker 2: I never see the Philistines throw a spear. I never
- 25:53Speaker 2: see the Philistines launch a grenade. All I see the
- 25:57Speaker 2: Philistines do is they were searching for him, and David
- 26:00Speaker 2: heard about it. Some of us, I think we be
- 26:05Speaker 2: waiting for the enemy to try to take something. What
- 26:12Speaker 2: I see in David is, is David threw the first punch.
- 26:17Speaker 2: I want you to write it down this way. Hit
- 26:19Speaker 2: the enemy before he hits you. Hit the enemy before
- 26:24Speaker 2: he hits you. You see, some of y'all, y'all got
- 26:27Speaker 2: this down. You know about praying hands, but you don't
- 26:29Speaker 2: know nothing about swaying hands. You got this down. But
- 26:36Speaker 2: there's something. David was a fighting man. David was a
- 26:39Speaker 2: fighting man. He didn't go down to the stronghold because
- 26:42Speaker 2: he didn't know how to fight. He went down to
- 26:44Speaker 2: the stronghold because he wanted the battle blessed. Some of you,
- 26:49Speaker 2: some of you are fighting battles that God didn't bless
- 26:51Speaker 2: and you're wondering why it's getting bloody. You're wondering, you're
- 26:55Speaker 2: wondering why it's not working out the way that you want.
- 26:57Speaker 2: When you go down to the stronghold and God says, go,
- 27:00Speaker 2: don't wait for the enemy to hit you.
- 27:02Speaker 3: Hit the enemy.
- 27:04Speaker 2: Before he hits you. Now, we go from praying hands
- 27:09Speaker 2: to swaying hands. Let me see you square up. Let
- 27:14Speaker 2: me see. Look at your neighbor. Give him a say, hey,
- 27:17Speaker 2: I know how to fight. I know how to fight.
- 27:19Speaker 2: I got trained hands. My hands are trained for this.
- 27:23Speaker 2: Hit the enemy before he hits you. How do I
- 27:32Speaker 2: do that? I do what the Lord told me to.
- 27:36Speaker 2: I do what he told me to. You know, one
- 27:39Speaker 2: of the first things that God says isn't good in
- 27:42Speaker 2: the book of Genesis, he says what? It's for man
- 27:45Speaker 2: to be alone. This is something God tells us. He
- 27:50Speaker 2: says it's not good. It's not good. And every single week,
- 27:54Speaker 2: we celebrated all of our campus pastors, my brothers. Can
- 27:56Speaker 2: we thank God for our campus pastors?
- 27:58Speaker 1: One more.
- 27:59Speaker 2: One more time. One more time. One more time. Every week,
- 28:04Speaker 2: your campus pastor walks on stage. Hey, everybody. Welcome to
- 28:07Speaker 2: Elevation Church. Today, I'm going to give you an opportunity
- 28:12Speaker 2: to sign up for an eGroup. Come on. Praise the Lord.
- 28:20Speaker 2: Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Next week, same campus pastor,
- 28:25Speaker 2: same swagger comes up. Hey, welcome to Elevation Church. Today,
- 28:31Speaker 2: you have an opportunity to sign up for a serve team.
- 28:34Speaker 2: Let's get on the E team today. Many of you
- 28:42Speaker 2: hear this as if we get a commission for you
- 28:46Speaker 2: signing up to serve. As if we get a commission
- 28:50Speaker 2: for you signing up for an e-group. This isn't something
- 28:53Speaker 2: we want from you. This is something we want for you.
- 28:56Speaker 2: Because God said it wasn't good for man to be alone.
- 28:59Speaker 2: That's not my idea. We're just giving you an option.
- 29:02Speaker 2: We're giving you a next step. And you come into church,
- 29:06Speaker 2: hear the word, walk right back out to your car
- 29:09Speaker 2: and wonder and wonder why the enemy is just having
- 29:12Speaker 2: his way. Because you're back here in the corner by
- 29:15Speaker 2: yourself with nobody to call, with nobody to reach out.
- 29:20Speaker 2: He's just wearing you out. Is there somebody that's willing
- 29:24Speaker 2: to fight today, that's willing to say, hey, hey, hey,
- 29:26Speaker 2: I'm going to do what God told me to do?
- 29:35Speaker 2: When's the worst time to buy an umbrella? I'm so
- 29:44Speaker 2: grateful for those of you that came to church who
- 29:46Speaker 2: haven't been to church in a while. I'm so proud
- 29:49Speaker 2: of you. And you came to church because maybe you're
- 29:52Speaker 2: at the darkest moment of your life. I am so
- 29:54Speaker 2: proud that you said, I don't know where to go,
- 29:56Speaker 2: so I'm running to Jesus. But I'm trying to challenge
- 30:00Speaker 2: people today. Why are you waiting until you got hit?
- 30:05Speaker 2: to learn how to be in the presence of God,
- 30:08Speaker 2: to learn how to fight, to learn how to worship,
- 30:10Speaker 2: to learn how to make sure you go down before
- 30:13Speaker 2: you go out to battle. Why are you waiting until
- 30:17Speaker 2: it gets hard? Hit the enemy before he hits you.
- 30:24Speaker 2: I got another one. When's the worst time to start
- 30:30Speaker 2: an emergency fund? So church, I want you to understand this.
- 30:41Speaker 2: When we talk about putting God first in the area
- 30:44Speaker 2: of your finances with tithing, the first 10%, and maybe
- 30:47Speaker 2: you've never heard this before, but here's the thing that
- 30:49Speaker 2: I love. Anytime I sit with someone that's like, I
- 30:51Speaker 2: want to tithe, I just don't know where to start.
- 30:53Speaker 2: I love sitting with them because in order to talk
- 30:56Speaker 2: about tithing, I can't stop talking about stewardship. So I'm
- 31:00Speaker 2: able to sit down and I say, hey, listen, if
- 31:02Speaker 2: we put God first with this, that means now we
- 31:06Speaker 2: have to prioritize some things. You see, a budget is offensive.
- 31:13Speaker 2: A budget is hitting the enemy before he hits you.
- 31:16Speaker 2: And so when we talk about putting God first in
- 31:19Speaker 2: the area of your finances, we're like, you're going to
- 31:21Speaker 2: have to steward everything that he's given you in order
- 31:23Speaker 2: to do this. In order to do this, this is
- 31:26Speaker 2: God's plan. I didn't make this up. And so I
- 31:29Speaker 2: want you to hit the enemy. Before he hits you,
- 31:33Speaker 2: what is an action step that God is calling you
- 31:35Speaker 2: to take? What is a step that God has given you?
- 31:38Speaker 2: A strategy that he's given you? And you know it.
- 31:41Speaker 2: You know the step to take. You know it. You
- 31:42Speaker 2: know it. You know what to do. But you're allowing
- 31:45Speaker 2: the enemy. To pick you off. I am sick and
- 31:48Speaker 2: tired of him having his way with my mind. I'm
- 31:51Speaker 2: sick and tired of him having his way with our families.
- 31:53Speaker 2: I'm sick and tired of having his way with our kids.
- 31:55Speaker 2: That's why I'm so excited about what God is doing
- 31:57Speaker 2: through the youth at Elevation Church. Because they're saying, hey,
- 32:00Speaker 2: not on my watch. Not on my watch. We're going
- 32:03Speaker 2: to serve the Lord. We're going to learn how to
- 32:06Speaker 2: pray while we're young so we don't have to deal
- 32:08Speaker 2: with some of the things that... Come on now. Come
- 32:12Speaker 2: on now. If you would have hit the enemy first,
- 32:14Speaker 2: he wouldn't have died. I'm just trying to help you.
- 32:16Speaker 2: I'm trying to help you. But there's a question. There's
- 32:21Speaker 2: a question in this text that David asked. And honestly,
- 32:25Speaker 2: I believe this is the question that we're all asking.
- 32:29Speaker 2: You see, at verse 18, it says, now the Philistines
- 32:32Speaker 2: had come and they spread out in the valley of Raphael.
- 32:36Speaker 2: So David inquired of the Lord, shall I go attack
- 32:41Speaker 2: the Philistines? Watch this. Will you deliver them? Into my hands.
- 32:49Speaker 2: This question just struck me because I'm wondering if you're
- 32:53Speaker 2: asking God the same thing. Will you deliver me? Will
- 32:59Speaker 2: you deliver us out of this financial crisis? Will you
- 33:03Speaker 2: deliver us? I just got this doctor's report. Will you
- 33:07Speaker 2: deliver us? Me and my wife, it's a rocky place
- 33:10Speaker 2: right now. Will you deliver us? Will you? He's not asking,
- 33:14Speaker 2: can you? You see, some of us, some of us,
- 33:21Speaker 2: it's like, we can be honest. We're like, we believe
- 33:22Speaker 2: God has the power. But if we can be honest,
- 33:25Speaker 2: sometimes we're asking, I seen you do it for them,
- 33:27Speaker 2: but will you do it for me? I saw you
- 33:31Speaker 2: do it last time, but this time it seems much bigger.
- 33:34Speaker 2: Will you do it this time? If we're honest, because
- 33:36Speaker 2: I made a lot of mistakes and I don't, I
- 33:40Speaker 2: don't know, have I messed up? Have I messed up
- 33:42Speaker 2: too much for you to bless me?
- 33:43Speaker 3: Have I messed up too much for you to deliver me?
- 33:46Speaker 3: And so I kind of saw this this pattern that
- 33:51Speaker 3: I wanted to give you today. I want you to
- 33:54Speaker 3: write this down, because remember, we started this message. I
- 33:57Speaker 3: wanted to remind you that you're blessed. You're anointed.
- 34:01Speaker 2: God's hand is on your life. I don't want you
- 34:05Speaker 2: to forget that. But when you're anointed, the attack follows
- 34:09Speaker 2: the anointing. So we start to feel this resistance. Anybody
- 34:14Speaker 2: in the room, you're feeling the resistance right now, pressed
- 34:17Speaker 2: on every side. You're feeling the resistance. Here's what I
- 34:21Speaker 2: want you to understand. I want to put this in
- 34:22Speaker 2: a way so you can walk away. Every time you
- 34:25Speaker 2: feel the resistance, you feel the attack, this will be
- 34:27Speaker 2: a thought process you can go to. More resistance should
- 34:30Speaker 2: lead to more dependence. More resistance should lead to more dependence. Dependence.
- 34:40Speaker 2: What am I trying to say? Usually when you get attacked,
- 34:43Speaker 2: you call everybody else. You call everybody else. You call
- 34:46Speaker 2: your auntie. You call your cousin. You call your girlfriends.
- 34:50Speaker 2: You call your guys. You call everybody else. What did
- 34:52Speaker 2: I say? Go down before you go up. Depend on
- 34:57Speaker 2: the Lord. I'm not strong enough for this. God, I
- 35:00Speaker 2: need you. So you get more resistance. That should be
- 35:04Speaker 2: a trigger. Okay, I got to go to the stronghold.
- 35:06Speaker 2: I got to go down to the stronghold. All right.
- 35:08Speaker 2: So more, more resistance, more dependence. More dependence should lead
- 35:15Speaker 2: to more obedience. Because the longer that I'm in the stronghold,
- 35:20Speaker 2: I get to know God's voice. I get to understand
- 35:23Speaker 2: his heart. I get to experience his love for me,
- 35:26Speaker 2: his love for my family. I get direction. You see,
- 35:29Speaker 2: but here's the thing. More dependence should lead to more obedience.
- 35:33Speaker 2: I do what he told me to do. When he
- 35:37Speaker 2: says go, I go. He says serve, I serve. He
- 35:40Speaker 2: says give, I give. I don't understand this strategy, but God,
- 35:44Speaker 2: I trust you because I heard your voice in a stronghold.
- 35:48Speaker 2: You told me what to do. I'm going to do it.
- 35:49Speaker 2: I'm going to do it. And if I don't know
- 35:51Speaker 2: what to do, I'm going to stay in a stronghold
- 35:53Speaker 2: until you tell me what to do. And then I'm
- 35:55Speaker 2: going to get around some people. I'm going to get
- 35:57Speaker 2: in a community of people that pray, that talk to
- 35:59Speaker 2: the Lord, and maybe I'll get wisdom. I'll seek godly counsel.
- 36:02Speaker 2: So more resistance. More dependence. More dependence, more obedience. And
- 36:12Speaker 2: the more that you obey, more obedience will lead to
- 36:15Speaker 2: more deliverance. You see, I believe that maybe your breakthrough
- 36:21Speaker 2: is on the other side of your yes. I believe that.
- 36:26Speaker 2: What if the deliverance that God wants to bring into
- 36:29Speaker 2: your life was on the other side of you taking
- 36:32Speaker 2: a step towards God doing what he told you to do?
- 36:37Speaker 2: What if you're like, I'm waiting on God? What if
- 36:40Speaker 2: he's waiting on you? I wanted to train your hands today. Today,
- 36:46Speaker 2: we trained your hands today. We trained our hands to pray.
- 36:50Speaker 2: Trained our hands to pray. There's one more thing that
- 36:55Speaker 2: I want to show you in this text that really
- 36:57Speaker 2: ministered to me. I love if everybody could stand on
- 36:59Speaker 2: your feet. Stand on your feet. Please don't start grabbing
- 37:03Speaker 2: your phone. There's a truth that I want to show
- 37:06Speaker 2: you today and And I believe God wants to minister
- 37:09Speaker 2: in this moment. And so stay with me. So David,
- 37:15Speaker 2: he beats up the Philistines real bad. Starts talking junk.
- 37:21Speaker 2: But the Philistines, they stubborn. The Jokers are stubborn. At
- 37:28Speaker 2: verse 21, they abandoned all of their idols. But at
- 37:32Speaker 2: verse 22, it says this. Once more, the Philistines came
- 37:36Speaker 2: up and spread out in the Valley of Rephia. David
- 37:39Speaker 2: just beat them down, and the Philistines show up and say,
- 37:43Speaker 2: I want some more. Philistines show up, and they're like, okay,
- 37:48Speaker 2: we got more for you. I understand in your life
- 37:50Speaker 2: sometimes you're thinking like, hey, I just got out of
- 37:53Speaker 2: that battle, and I just got out of this. There's
- 37:57Speaker 2: a target on your back. When you catch the ball,
- 38:02Speaker 2: you're the most dangerous person on the football field. I'm
- 38:07Speaker 2: trying to help somebody. Stop being so surprised that you're
- 38:09Speaker 2: getting hit. Stop being so surprised that you're being chased after.
- 38:14Speaker 2: Stop being surprised. Stop being surprised. And so they come
- 38:17Speaker 2: right back. They come right back for more. Verse 22.
- 38:21Speaker 2: Once more, the Philistines came up, spread out in the
- 38:24Speaker 2: valley of Rephiam. Watch this, verse 23. So David inquired
- 38:28Speaker 2: of the Lord. David says, run it back. I go
- 38:35Speaker 2: down to the stronghold. and inquire of the Lord. What
- 38:39Speaker 2: is it that you would have me to do? David,
- 38:42Speaker 2: you just won. Why are you praying about this? You
- 38:47Speaker 2: know what to do. David says, every battle that I fight,
- 38:51Speaker 2: I want to be blessed. I'm not going to let
- 38:55Speaker 2: my past victories rob me of present wisdom for what
- 39:00Speaker 2: God wants to speak in this moment. In this moment.
- 39:04Speaker 2: Maybe in the room you're like, hey, God's blessed me immensely.
- 39:06Speaker 2: And maybe your victories have robbed you of intimacy with God.
- 39:12Speaker 2: You let your past wins rob you of worship. David,
- 39:18Speaker 2: David says, nope, nope, nope, nope. The Philistines came back
- 39:21Speaker 2: one more, one more time. Verse 23. So David inquired
- 39:26Speaker 2: of the Lord and he answered. Now listen, this time
- 39:30Speaker 2: God gives him some different strategy. He changes it up
- 39:34Speaker 2: on him. Last time he just said go. Okay, but
- 39:37Speaker 2: watch this. So David inquired of the Lord and he answered. Listen,
- 39:41Speaker 2: watch this. Do not go straight up, but circle around
- 39:47Speaker 2: behind them. and attack them in front of the poplar trees. Okay.
- 39:53Speaker 2: So don't go straight. You want me to go around?
- 39:55Speaker 2: Poplar trees. Got you, God. We on the same page.
- 40:00Speaker 2: We got it. We got it. Okay. Verse 24. As
- 40:04Speaker 2: soon as you hear the sound of marching in the
- 40:09Speaker 2: tops of the poplar trees, move quickly because that will
- 40:14Speaker 2: mean that the Lord has gone out in front of
- 40:16Speaker 2: you to strike down the Philistine army. So, go around
- 40:23Speaker 2: to the side of the poplar trees, okay? And then
- 40:26Speaker 2: he said, listen for marching at every location. Let's hear,
- 40:31Speaker 2: what does marching sound like? Everybody just, just everybody march.
- 40:36Speaker 2: Just close your eyes and imagine the sound of marching
- 40:42Speaker 2: at every location.
- 40:45Speaker 1: Stop.
- 40:48Speaker 2: I know what Marching sounds like on the ground. But
- 40:54Speaker 2: he didn't say marching was going to be on the ground.
- 40:58Speaker 2: He said the marching was going to be at the
- 41:00Speaker 2: tops of the popular trees. What does that sound like?
- 41:10Speaker 2: I think it sounds like angel armies going out ahead
- 41:14Speaker 2: of me to fight for me. It sounds like God's
- 41:20Speaker 2: got my back in this. It sounds like this battle
- 41:23Speaker 2: won't be won by my wisdom. This battle won't be
- 41:25Speaker 2: won by my strength. But here's the thing. It's not
- 41:30Speaker 2: God's feet marching because he's seated on the throne. God's
- 41:34Speaker 2: feet aren't marching, but his hands are moving. His hands
- 41:38Speaker 2: are moving. He says, hey, go and encourage her. Move now.
- 41:42Speaker 2: Go and strengthen him. Move now. Go and fight for them.
- 41:46Speaker 2: Move now. I'm providing over here. God's seated on this throne.
- 41:49Speaker 2: His hands are moving. Here's what I'm trying to get
- 41:51Speaker 2: you to understand is that I want our hands to
- 41:55Speaker 2: be trained to pray. I want our hands to be
- 41:58Speaker 2: trained this way. But if I'm going to hold on
- 42:01Speaker 2: to what God gave me, it won't be by my hands.
- 42:07Speaker 2: It'll be by the hand of a mighty God. whose
- 42:11Speaker 2: hands are trained in holding you, whose hands are trained
- 42:16Speaker 2: in fighting for you, whose hands are trained in holding
- 42:19Speaker 2: you up, whose hands are trained in building you up.
- 42:23Speaker 2: My life won't be held together by my hand. It'll
- 42:27Speaker 2: be by the trained hands of a mighty God. Everyone
- 42:32Speaker 2: bow your head, close your eyes. There's two groups of
- 42:36Speaker 2: people that I want to pray for today. The first
- 42:38Speaker 2: group of people that I want to pray for is
- 42:40Speaker 2: that you walked in today and you do not have
- 42:42Speaker 2: a relationship with God. No one moving. You do not
- 42:45Speaker 2: have a relationship with God. You've never given your life
- 42:47Speaker 2: to him. And you would love to experience that intimacy
- 42:52Speaker 2: with God that you can come to him and you
- 42:54Speaker 2: know that he hears you. You want to walk with him.
- 42:56Speaker 2: I want to let you know that Jesus modeled this.
- 43:00Speaker 2: You see, before Jesus went up on that cross, he
- 43:02Speaker 2: went down in a garden to inquire of the Lord
- 43:06Speaker 2: if there's any other way Before Jesus went up on
- 43:10Speaker 2: the cross to die for you, he modeled what it
- 43:11Speaker 2: looked like to go down into the presence of God.
- 43:15Speaker 2: He laid his life down for you. Bible says, whoever
- 43:19Speaker 2: believes in the heart that Jesus is the son of
- 43:21Speaker 2: God and confesses with their mouth that God raised him
- 43:23Speaker 2: from the dead will be saved. So with all heads
- 43:27Speaker 2: bowed and all eyes closed, if you've never made a
- 43:29Speaker 2: decision to put your faith in Jesus, or maybe you
- 43:31Speaker 2: used to walk with God, you used to talk with God,
- 43:34Speaker 2: but you walked away from the faith. Maybe this is
- 43:36Speaker 2: your moment to come back home. So with all heads bowed,
- 43:39Speaker 2: all eyes closed at every location, you're going to repeat
- 43:41Speaker 2: this prayer after me for the benefit of those that
- 43:43Speaker 2: are coming to God. Repeat after me. Say, I believe
- 43:46Speaker 2: that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he
- 43:51Speaker 2: died on the cross and rose from the grave to
- 43:55Speaker 2: forgive me of my sins. So I'll give you my sins.
- 43:59Speaker 2: I'll give you my shame. And from this day forward,
- 44:04Speaker 2: I'll follow you. This is my new beginning. I am
- 44:10Speaker 2: a child of God. With all heads bowed and all
- 44:13Speaker 2: eyes closed, if you just said that prayer, you meant it,
- 44:15Speaker 2: making a decision to put your faith in Jesus or
- 44:17Speaker 2: you're coming back to him. I'm going to count to three,
- 44:20Speaker 2: and when I get to three, I want you to
- 44:21Speaker 2: shoot your hand up boldly so we can celebrate with you.
- 44:24Speaker 2: Here we go. One, two, three. Shoot your hand up
- 44:27Speaker 2: if you're making that decision today. God bless you. God
- 44:32Speaker 2: bless you. God bless you. Come on, church. Let's celebrate.
- 44:39Speaker 2: We just want to put a Bible in your hands.
- 44:44Speaker 2: Here in a moment, I'm going to dismiss you. I
- 44:46Speaker 2: saved time. I hope that you stay for this moment
- 44:52Speaker 2: because I believe that God is still ministering to people.
- 44:56Speaker 2: Those of you that made a decision to put your
- 44:57Speaker 2: faith in Jesus, I'm so proud of you. Best decision
- 44:59Speaker 2: you could ever make. Campus pastors will give you direction
- 45:03Speaker 2: when I get done, but I felt strongly that today
- 45:07Speaker 2: I wanted to give you an opportunity to practice what
- 45:09Speaker 2: I just preached. Um, as I was praying, I thought
- 45:14Speaker 2: that there were people that would be in the room
- 45:16Speaker 2: online somewhere at every one of our campus, that there'd
- 45:18Speaker 2: be someone that was, you felt the attack right now.
- 45:22Speaker 2: You're under attack. It's an attack in your mind, seeing
- 45:26Speaker 2: your finances. Maybe it's a child. Maybe it's an addiction
- 45:30Speaker 2: that you're believing God to deliver you from and break. And, um,
- 45:35Speaker 2: God wanted me to let you know that he hadn't
- 45:36Speaker 2: forgot about you. And so here's what I'm going to
- 45:42Speaker 2: give you an opportunity to do today. You have to
- 45:47Speaker 2: go down before you go up. And so before you
- 45:50Speaker 2: go up out of here today at every one of
- 45:53Speaker 2: our locations, everybody bow your head, close your eyes. I
- 45:56Speaker 2: want to pray specifically for those that are under attack.
- 46:01Speaker 2: If you're under attack right now, in the moment that
- 46:03Speaker 2: I said it, there was something specific that immediately just
- 46:07Speaker 2: came to mind. I want you to go down. I
- 46:11Speaker 2: want you to sit down. If that's you, you're under
- 46:13Speaker 2: attack right now. Sit down. Don't think about the person
- 46:17Speaker 2: to the left or the right of you. You're under
- 46:19Speaker 2: attack right now. It's your marriage. It's something in your mind.
- 46:24Speaker 2: Every location, if you're under attack right now, just sit down. See,
- 46:31Speaker 2: before you walk out of here, before you go up
- 46:35Speaker 2: into the next thing, I want you to give an
- 46:38Speaker 2: opportunity to put your hands like this. Put your hands
- 46:42Speaker 2: in a praying position. Go down. Make a stronghold right now.
- 46:48Speaker 2: Make a stronghold right now. You don't have to be
- 46:51Speaker 2: in church to do this. You can do this in
- 46:52Speaker 2: your car every single morning. You do this in your bathroom.
- 46:56Speaker 2: You can do this anytime. You can make a stronghold.
- 46:59Speaker 2: Go down. and have a moment to inquire of the Lord.
- 47:04Speaker 2: Heavenly Father, those that have acknowledged they're under attack right now,
- 47:08Speaker 2: We first acknowledge that you are a good God. You
- 47:12Speaker 2: are a faithful God. You are a loving Father. And
- 47:16Speaker 2: these are your sons and your daughters. And so, God,
- 47:19Speaker 2: right now, I pray that you would do what only
- 47:21Speaker 2: you can do. Deliver your sons and daughters in the
- 47:24Speaker 2: mighty name of Jesus. The enemy can't have their minds. Hallelujah.
- 47:29Speaker 2: Thank you. The devil take your hand off their child. Hallelujah.
- 47:33Speaker 2: Thank you, Jesus. Right now, we lift up everyone that's
- 47:36Speaker 2: under attack. believing that you have all power, you have
- 47:41Speaker 2: all authority. God, we believe that right now your hand
- 47:45Speaker 2: is moving. Touch your son. God, right now, let them
- 47:49Speaker 2: feel your presence. Let them feel your embrace. God, right now,
- 47:54Speaker 2: I thank you for the deliverance that is on the way,
- 47:58Speaker 2: for the way that you're going to break chains, from
- 48:00Speaker 2: the way that you're going to move back and press
- 48:02Speaker 2: back the enemy. We love you, God. We thank you.
- 48:07Speaker 2: We're going to praise your name. Can we take a moment,
- 48:11Speaker 2: every single person, and praise God in advance? Take that
- 48:17Speaker 2: right hand. Take that left hand. Put them together and
- 48:22Speaker 2: shout hallelujah and shout thank you, Jesus, and give God glory.
- 48:28Speaker 2: The King of Angel Armies is fighting for you. The
- 48:33Speaker 2: King of Angel Armies is encouraging you. We love you, God.
- 48:39Speaker 2: We thank you. It's in the mighty name of Jesus,
- 48:42Speaker 2: I pray. Amen.
- 48:43Speaker 3: Amen.
- 48:45Speaker 2: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast.
- 48:47Speaker 1: And if you did, make sure to share it and
- 48:50Speaker 1: subscribe so we can get you all of these new
- 48:52Speaker 1: messages as soon as they're available. I also want to
- 48:55Speaker 1: take a moment and thank all of you who are
- 48:57Speaker 1: a part of Elevation. Whether you support us financially or
- 49:01Speaker 1: serve with us or just share these messages, it's because
- 49:05Speaker 1: of you that we're able to reach people all around
- 49:07Speaker 1: the world. And if you want more information on how
- 49:10Speaker 1: to be a part of Elevation, Click the link in
- 49:13Speaker 1: the description. Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave
- 49:16Speaker 1: a review, share the message and subscribe.
- 49:19Speaker 3: God bless you.