All Systems Go

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:06.600 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.960 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.000 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.800 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:19.800 In the final week of our series, there is a cloud. 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:22.120 God led me to a scripture in Numbers, chapter nine. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:23.119 I want to read this for you. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.400 It may be unfamiliar, but hopefully it will build your faith. 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:28.800 And that is my prayer every time I stand in 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:31.000 the pulpit to preach, that God would use me to 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:35.120 build your faith, because it is your faith that enables 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.960 you to experience God's presence in your life. And so 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:41.760 as we read this scripture, I want you to just 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:43.920 kind of like get a flow for it. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:45.080 It's unusual scripture. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:46.960 I don't know that I ever heard a sermon on 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.639 it before, but I was looking at how God gave 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.320 his people this cloud. They were coming out of Egyptian 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.480 slavery and they were trying to get to the Promised Land, 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.400 but they were experiencing a delay. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:00.880 You ever had one of those? 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:07.959 Huh? You ever been stuck somewhere, stuck in something. So 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.040 that's where they were and it was mostly their fault. 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:12.319 But you can't really blame them. 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.600 They were trying to figure out who is this God 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.040 and who are we? And all they had ever known 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.560 was all they had ever known. And so God gives 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:22.600 them a gift in the midst of this. And that's 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.280 what I want to share with you about today. Numbers 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:28.240 chapter nine, verse fifteen. I'm calling this sermon. All systems go, 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.520 All systems go, you know, like when they launch a 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.839 rocket ship. Y'all saw hidden figures, and so we're getting 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.440 ready for what God is doing in our lives. 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.959 Everybody say, there is a cloud on. 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.360 The day the tabernacle, the tent of the Covenant Law 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:44.200 was set up. 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:45.600 I need to say something right here. 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.320 Every situation is a setup if God is in it. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.480 Here they are in the wilderness, but God is still 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:56.920 establishing his presence. Just want to point that out. So 0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:59.840 they set up this tabernacle, which was a portable house 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:02.840 or the presence and the glory of God. And it 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.040 says that there was a cloud that covered it from 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.680 evening till morning. The cloud above the tabernacle looked like 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:12.720 fire That's how it continued to be. The cloud covered it, 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:16.280 and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:20.440 lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out. Wherever 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:24.720 the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command, 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.959 the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.359 As long as the clouds stayed over the tabernacle, they 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:35.160 remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.240 a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord's order and 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:43.920 did not set out. Sometimes, I say sometimes sometimes the 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.560 cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days. At 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.360 the Lord's command, they would in camp. Then at his 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:54.600 command they would set out. Now, what's the common denominator, 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:56.160 whether they're coming or going. 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:58.160 They are doing it at the Lord's command. 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:02.640 And the whole reason they're in this wilderness is because 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.200 they would not go into a place that God said 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.600 he had promised to them. So now they've got to 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.160 learn some lessons, and God is using this cloud as 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:13.080 a personal trainer. 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:14.240 Amen. 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.880 Well, I'm excited to appreciate about this today because it 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.760 means that God is developing their faith even though they 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:28.360 were disobedient. But he doesn't give up on them. Instead, 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.800 he uses the opportunity to guide them in a place 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:32.720 where he didn't want them to wander. But even in 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.800 their wandering, he was teaching them how to walk with him. 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.800 Thank you Jesus. So they were walking cloud to go 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.080 and listen to this verse twenty one. Sometimes the cloud 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.520 stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:49.600 in the morning, they set out, whether by day or 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:51.640 by night, whether by day or by night, whether in 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.000 the good times are the bad times, whether I'm clear 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:55.960 or whether I'm confused, whether I did it right or 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.440 whether I did it wrong. God was right there night morning, 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:05.080 wilderness promised land. Wherever you find yourself, there he is. 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.760 And so when the cloud would go, they would go, 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.240 whether by day or by night. Whenever the cloud lifted, 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.960 they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:18.440 For two days or a month or a year, the. 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.080 Israelites would remain in the camp and not set out. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.520 But when it lifted, they would not set out. And 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:25.760 by this point in the passage, you're thinking. 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:26.000 We got it. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:32.039 They followed the cloud, But we don't got it. You know, 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:33.760 we need things to be reiterated. 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:34.279 For us. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.920 I mean, how many times have you done the same 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.960 dumb thing expecting a different result in your life thus far? 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:45.960 And you're only twelve. Let me read one more verse, 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.480 verse twenty three. At the lord's command, they encamped, and 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.159 at the lord's command. 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:52.839 They set out. 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.400 They obeyed the Lord's order in accordance with his command 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.920 through Moses, all systems go, Holly, and I just celebrate. 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.720 Get ready to applug big. This's a big one. We 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:10.280 just celebrated fifteen years of marriage. Some of y'all look 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:12.520 like you're too good to clap for my fifteen years. 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.080 Maybe you've been doing it thirty years, thirty five years, 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:19.800 but to me, fifteen it's above the average, already beat 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:20.400 the odds. 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:22.760 Feels kind of good. 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.359 And I attribute our marital success to a couple of 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:28.240 different factors. 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.120 I will list them for you in this order. 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:38.160 God, Holly, that's neck and neck too, they're right there together. 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.839 And the third one is not me. The third one 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.440 is this is going to sound strange when I say it, 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:54.840 the invention of the GPS system, the Global Positioning system. 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:58.920 If it had not been for the GPS system, because 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.839 some of our worst fire somebody over here must be 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.279 like me. Some of our worst fights are in the 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.440 car because I have no sense of direction and she 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.279 is supposed to have one. It was part of an 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:16.800 unspoken prenuptial agreement. I grew up in Monk's Corner, South Carolina. 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:21.240 She grew up in Miami, Florida. She's supposed to know 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:26.400 her way around places. I told her I was country 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.920 when I married her, I told we talked about this, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.080 and so we used to travel. And I know this 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.320 is prehistoric and primitive, and I'm not relating to the 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.000 young people anymore when I. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:39.800 Say stuff like this. 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.800 But when we used to print our directions off a 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:50.840 map quest, what what our marriage? Our marriage was in 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.279 trouble on those map Quest directions, because now we got 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:56.039 it down. I mean, one Christmas, she brought me a 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.480 Tom Tom. Y'all don't remember nothing about a Tom Tom. 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:00.479 Now you got it on your phone when you got 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:04.560 Siri and everything like that. But we used to boy, 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:06.799 we used to talk about things in the car because 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:08.840 she would tell me win the term, but not win anyway. 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.080 What I'm saying is we made it. Somebody shot they 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.120 made it, and we made it because of the GPS. 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:15.800 That's because for me. 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:19.200 It's a real thing I cannot overemphasize to you. And 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:20.600 I'm gonna stay here for a minute because I do 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:22.200 have a point to all of this, and it really 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:22.840 has nothing to. 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:23.520 Do with GPS. 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.000 It's really a spiritual point. I have found out in 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.840 my life, both as a driver and as a person 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.080 that I am not really good at finding my way 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:41.720 around by myself, even as a pastor. I probably shouldn't 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:46.120 tell you this, but I've never done this before. I 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.640 told Elijah that the other day. He was arguing with 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:50.640 me about something. He wanted to listen to something lo 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:52.600 yochty or something, and I said, you can't because I 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.000 don't know his clean versions. And he said, well, you 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:57.040 listen to worse stuff when you were growing up. And 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.640 I said, but I have a parental right of hypocrisy. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.800 Shut up and do this because I've never done this before. 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:04.760 We're gonna do it the way I want to do it. 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.200 He did. He said Snoop was just as bad. His 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.200 album was called, and he said the name of the 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.440 album from nineteen ninety three. So we had a discussion. 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.240 Some of y'all are too safe to come to this 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:22.280 worship experience. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:24.679 I'm gonna tell you, but thank you for coming. 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.720 And so we were talking. 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.720 I was like, I never did this before, and it. 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.040 Kind of gave me compassion, even for my dad. You know, 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:35.120 he didn't have a dad. 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:36.199 I had a dad. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.480 My dad's dad ended his own life and my dad 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.360 was nine. So one day I was going off about 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:43.319 my dad to my mom. 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:45.440 You know, he doesn't get it, and he and this, 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:47.200 he and that, and. 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:51.440 Probably some of my gripes were legitimate, but she said 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:52.360 back to me something. 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:53.960 She said, he never saw it done. 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:57.840 He's trying to stay, but he never saw it. It's 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:02.760 like being a tour guide you've never been to and really, 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:06.480 raising teenagers in today's world is like being a tour 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:12.480 guide in a town that changes every ten minutes. Huh. 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:14.719 These have to go to the gas station to buy 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.600 a magazine with pornographic material. Now they can get it 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:19.440 on the same device they can read their Bible on, 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:26.920 So like, how do you navigate that? So I've come 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.960 to the conclusion in life that I need a leader. 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:38.480 I need a leader. God knows that about me. He 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.920 knew that about his children. He knew they were frustrated, 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.440 he knew they were confused, and he knew that they 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.720 were following a man, Moses. 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:51.040 Moses had. 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.840 Moses had had tried to talk God out of Jusey, 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.199 and yet he's the one God wanted. And so. 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:05.680 God gave them a gift. He gave I'm kind of. 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.720 Like it's a primitive GPS system. 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:10.880 Did you see it? In number chapter nine? 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:17.600 God was doing the cloud way before Google. Okay, and 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.720 so this cloud. Ever say there is a cloud. He 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:25.400 put this cloud in the wilderness for three purposes. Please 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.520 take notes, because I believe there are three things that 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.040 God wants to do in your life right now. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.360 And I'm speaking to. 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:36.120 The person who has been in a state of confusion. 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:38.080 I wanted you to know that there is a cloud 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.840 over your life, whatever wilderness you find yourself in today, 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:46.760 whether as a parent or whether as a pre pubescent. 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:50.080 You know, I could be speaking. 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:51.800 To a pastor listening to this on a podcast, but 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:53.679 I want you to know that there is a cloud, 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:58.000 and God sent the cloud to guide you, to guide you. 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.640 It's actually be better than that because God. 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.040 Did not just say he would guide you. 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.800 He said in Psalm number forty six that he would 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:12.720 be our guide. That's better because if God gave me guidance. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.760 I know something about myself. I'm not good at following it. 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.880 So when Holly and I talk about directions, she'll say, 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:22.440 you know, you take a left and then there's a 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:24.520 fruit stand, and then there's a cow, and then there's 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:26.360 a thing, and then there's a building, and then there's 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:27.520 a store, and then there's. 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:27.959 A porch swing. 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.559 It's a red porch swing, got American flag draped over. 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.520 She knows all these details and stuff that I don't recognize. 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:34.920 And then she'll look at me and she see my 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.920 eyes glazing over, and she said, you know what, I'll 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.200 just give you the address, and that saved our marriage. 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.880 I'm serious, I have no This is how bad it is. 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:48.440 When I was a teenager, I would not go get 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.760 my driver's license. Not because I didn't want to drive. 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.280 I could not find my way around Monk's Corner. What 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.200 is there to find in Monk's Corner? There's a walmart 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:01.680 and there's a high school. I couldn't fight. It was 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:04.600 so about my dad. My dad had to make me 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.319 go get my driver's license. He walked in the house 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:09.600 one Wednesday. It was his day off. It was summertime. 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.760 I had turned fifteen months ago, but I wouldn't get 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:13.920 every time he would ask me, you want to go 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:15.839 get your license? Because I'm sickadrete in your own. Every 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:17.280 time he would ask me, do I want to go 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.280 get my license? I would tell him no. It wasn't 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.319 that I was scared of driving. I was so embarrassed 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:24.640 that I couldn't find my way around, so I just 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:26.720 kept putting it off. In one Wednesday, he walked in. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.040 It was his day off, it was my day off. 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.760 I worked at. I had a summer job at. My 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:38.600 first job was at Petrest Crematory and Cremation Service. Okay, 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.240 I started from the bottom for real. Don't look at 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:47.840 me like I was glamorous. And I was in my 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.720 guitar my room, playing my guitar. He walked in and said, 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.240 today's the day we're going to get your license. 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:54.960 I'm sick of this. 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:57.679 And I wasn't scared of the driving test. I should 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.560 have been the woman that was sitting next to me 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:00.520 for the driving test. 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:01.400 She was so mean. 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.559 The car kept cutting off every time I try to start. 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:07.520 My dad's jimmy. Y'all remember the jimmy. Every time I 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:11.320 would try to start every time my dad's car was 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.560 such a piece of crap. When you try to start 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.520 the car and put it in reverse, it would cut off. 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:18.680 And so I was trying to back out of the 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.360 parking lot of the DMV. I couldn't get the car 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.000 out of the parking lot. And every time I put 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:25.840 in a reverse that would cut off. And the woman 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.400 let me do it three times, and she says, Sir, 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.440 in the history of my experience of one hundred and 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.400 thirty five years administering these tests, I've never done this. 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:37.600 But get out the car. Your test is over. You 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.600 failed in the parking lot. My dad came running across 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:44.319 the parking lot. He's sweating. My dad's a big old guy, sweating, 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:47.640 waving his arms. Give him another chance, ma'am, give him 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.720 another chance. I forgot to tell him this car's got 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.120 some issues. You can't have the air conditioning on when 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.320 you have it in reverse. Y'all didn't grow up driving 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.719 these kind of cars. I know you got to BMW 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:00.959 on your sixteenth think that I. 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:01.520 Had to naked. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:13.439 Where's he going with this? I think a lot of 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:22.960 believers have been given license to live in the fullness 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:27.040 of the promise of God. But I don't trust my 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:34.560 sense of direction, and so God said, I see you. 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:35.560 You look like a sheep. 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:38.360 I see you. 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:47.000 Turning left instead of right. So I'm going to guide you. 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:53.840 The Lord is my shepherd, the Lord. That's a good thing. 0:14:53.920 --> 0:15:05.440 He's my shepherd because I am bad. I mean, I 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:10.240 am bad at finding my way. So he said that 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:13.400 he would make me lie down in green pastures. Wait, man, 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:15.800 I don't want anybody make me do anything. Live a 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:21.560 little while, and you will want someone bigger than you, 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:29.840 wiser than you, stronger than you. You'll stop trying to 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.640 shrink God down to a formula that you can manipulate, 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.320 and you will come to the point where you'll say, God, 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:41.480 have your way in my life. Make me lie down 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:46.040 in green pastors. David said, he leads me beside still waters, 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:51.800 in that cool He restores my soul. He leadeth me 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:53.000 in paths. 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.200 Of righteousness for his name's sake. 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:57.360 Yeave, though I walked through the valley of the shadow 0:15:57.360 --> 0:15:58.960 of death. Wait a minute, we were just talking about 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.880 still waters and paths of righteousness. 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:04.760 How did we end up in this valley of the 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:06.000 shadow of death? 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:11.400 But sometimes the paths of righteousness must pass through the 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.880 valley of the shadow of death so that you can 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:21.000 go through situations that look like seem like and feel 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.960 like they are going to kill you. But you get 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.080 to the other side and you see a table that 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:31.440 has spread of provision in the presence of your enemies. 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:35.320 If there is one thing I believe, it's that goodness 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:40.000 and mercy happened following me all the days of my life. 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:48.680 I'm loud. That is one thing that keeps me from 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:54.280 going crazy. I know God is guiding my life. I 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:56.960 really have come to the point where I believe that 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:01.240 I can't always tell you where, but I know who 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:07.440 The Lord is my shepherd, and I found out that 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:13.960 he will use circumstances that he did not create. He 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:19.639 will even use confusion to guide me to confidence. So 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.000 the children of I'll prove this to you. Okay, they 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:27.240 come to the Red Sea. They're confused, but God put 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:28.399 a cloud here. 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:31.439 It is before them. This is Exitus thirteen twenty one. 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.399 They're not in the wilderness yet, they're not out of 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:33.919 Egypt yet. 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.040 They're in between. They're fifteen years old, they're about to 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:36.879 get their driver's license. 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:39.000 They don't know where to go. So look what God does. 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.640 By day, the Lord said a pillar, and it went 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:46.840 ahead of them, and it is a pillar of cloud 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.480 by day and a pillar of fire by night. Because 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.720 God will not always look the same way in every situation, 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.920 and sometimes you miss him because you are looking for 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:06.399 Him to appear in the form of a method. And 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:08.880 so you come to something, I'm gonna turn my back. 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:10.720 So this just can between you and God. Wave your hand. 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:12.240 If you're going through something right now that you do 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:18.439 not fully understand. Right, it's called being alive. So now 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.399 they're coming to this transition point and they don't know 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:23.000 where to go because they can't go back to Egypt, 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:25.920 but they don't know how to get across the sea. 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:28.280 So God gives them a cloud. And watch what the 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:30.639 scripture says, go back to twenty one. I want to 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.239 make sure you don't miss this. Sometimes I go too 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:35.760 fast on it and we miss stuff. He sent them 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:42.000 to cloud. He went before them to guide them. God's 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:46.760 positioning system. So wherever I go, God went before me. 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:54.720 That sounds so simple, but thousands of you don't believe 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.600 that yet. You believe that the good things that are 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.240 happening to you are the result of the guidance of God. 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.680 But I'm telling you that God was using the chariots 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.240 of Egypt and the whip of Pharaoh to make sure. 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:12.520 That they kept moving. 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:17.640 So God is driving them from behind and leading them 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:22.280 as he goes before them, say out loud, God is 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.040 my guide. Say it like the devil might have been 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:25.840 pushing you around lately. 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:26.240 Let him know. 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:30.080 God is my guide. And even if it's the devil pushing, 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.399 God is the one who is pulling me into the purpose. 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.600 All things work together for the good. 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:41.080 So I need a guide. 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.520 And so the cloud went before them and it showed 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:45.920 them the next step to take. 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.800 In the cloud, it led them. 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:53.320 I need the Lord to lead me. I need him 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:58.280 to lead me to speak these sermons. We're all in 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:04.760 trouble if he doesn't lead me to sermons. I heard 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:06.960 somebody say something in church one time. They were talking 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:12.560 about being led by the Holy Spirit. Okay, and you've 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.840 probably heard that before that God led me sometimes Christians, 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.600 you said, to say the craziest stuff all religions do. 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.800 Some religions will commit acts of terror and say that 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:28.760 they were led by God to do that. One thing 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:32.240 I heard early they were taking an offering in church. 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:37.320 I grew up in church, but it wasn't personal for 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:40.639 me then, you know, like it was a religion, It 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:45.240 wasn't a relationship. But when my relationship with God became real, 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:49.280 because only you can decide that. They were taking an 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:54.479 offering one day and the person taken the offering, they 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.359 said this phrase. They said, just give today as you 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:03.080 feel led. And I was only like seventeen years old, 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.760 but I knew, well, that's not going to work as 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:11.840 I feel led, because I mean, let's just apply that 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:18.879 feel led to other areas of life. Okay, if I 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:27.760 ate what I feel led to eat, there would not 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:32.879 be enough denim in these United States of America to 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:39.400 circumvent my waistline. If I exercised when I feel led 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:42.840 to exercise, it would be once in January, in once 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:44.879 in May when I thought about looking good in a 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:47.240 bathing suit, and then I would decide I already got 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:49.720 my wife who cares, and I would never hit the 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.320 jem if I did it when I fell. Okay, try this. 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:57.240 Tell your kids when you feel led to go to school. 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:02.119 Try that with your employee. I wasn't feeling led to 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:05.240 What if you went to work when you felt led 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:14.359 to work? But we will subjugate our relationship with God 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.639 to our feelings. Now, notice this, The cloud didn't ask 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.200 the children of Israel do you feel like moving today? 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:24.520 Would this be a good time? And did I catch 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:29.880 you at a bad time? And God doesn't consult their 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:36.440 mood see if they feel like moving. I don't have 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:41.720 to feel it. Not being led by my feelings. I'm 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:46.480 led by my priorities. You missed a whole lot just now. 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:49.600 It wasn't a real shouty statement, but it is the 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:53.720 difference between mature faith that will get you through the 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:56.280 wilderness and the kind of faith that goes up and 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.560 down and flows like this. And as you going all 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:01.320 around to all different people all time, God sent them 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:03.399 the cloud to teach them to prioritize. 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:04.720 Everybody say prioritize. 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:08.639 Some people came to church today because they felt like it. 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:10.760 Other people came to church today because this is the 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:13.800 day the Lord has made. I set this time aside. 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:15.960 And the less I felt like it, the more I 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:18.480 knew I needed to do it, because I am not 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:21.760 watch just sakh first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:25.040 That is a statement of priority, not a statement of feeling, 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:28.080 not a statement of preference. If I did everything I 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:31.400 felt like doing. I would have a prison ministry from 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:39.119 inside the prison. If I preached when I felt like preaching, 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:42.119 you would hear three sermons a year from me. I 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.240 didn't preach because I felt like it, although I did today. 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:48.000 I feel like preaching today. I can't explain it. A 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.000 little extra caffeine or work a wonder in your soul. 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:54.359 But even if I didn't feel it, it's eleven thirty 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:56.840 and here come the people, and the Word of God 0:23:57.000 --> 0:24:00.640 is here, and somebody needs it. It's preaching to it's 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.520 praise in time. I don't lift my hands because I 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:07.159 feel like lifting my hands. I did it because he's worthy, 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:15.760 He's worth. How many worship then because he's worthy? To 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:20.359 seven people say, I do it because he's worthy, because 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:24.800 he's worthy, Because he's worthy. That's why I seek him, 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:27.879 because he's worthy. That's why I offer him the honor, 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:31.080 because he's worthy. That's why I'm staying where he told 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:38.359 me to stay, because he's worthy. Stay married fifteen years 0:24:38.520 --> 0:24:45.040 being nice when you feel led to be nice, just 0:24:45.119 --> 0:24:53.680 stay married fifteen minutes. If it's your priority, God is 0:24:53.800 --> 0:24:57.119 my priority. One way of saying this, He's at the 0:24:57.240 --> 0:25:02.320 center of my life. Now, think about that. The tabernacle 0:25:02.400 --> 0:25:05.800 is in the wilderness. It's a portable tabernacle. Many of 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:10.040 our locations at Elevation Church still meet in rented facilities. 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:13.320 Means we have awesome volunteers come early, stay, lay, set up, 0:25:13.440 --> 0:25:13.880 tear down. 0:25:13.960 --> 0:25:15.680 Some of y'all didn't come to Elevation during. 0:25:15.520 --> 0:25:18.320 That season, and those of you who did are thanking 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:20.720 God that those days are over. But that's where you 0:25:20.760 --> 0:25:23.440 find out who you're really faithful. People are hauling those 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:25.960 trailers in Winston Salem and in and out, and we 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:27.919 have portable locations. 0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:30.879 Well, we didn't start that. God started that. 0:25:33.080 --> 0:25:34.639 And he not only told them how to build the 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:36.720 tabernacle when Moses went up and sought them for six 0:25:36.840 --> 0:25:39.040 days in the cloud. And after seven days in the cloud, 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:42.040 God spoken, some of you leave too soon before God speaks. 0:25:42.080 --> 0:25:44.760 When it's cloudy, you quit listening. But that's where God 0:25:44.880 --> 0:25:50.040 speaks in the valley in the cloud. I feel God's 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:57.680 presence in this place. So he told him how to 0:25:57.720 --> 0:25:59.600 build the tabernacle. But he also told him where to 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:03.159 put it. He told him, make sure you set it 0:26:03.280 --> 0:26:06.800 up in the middle of the camp so that everybody 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:10.080 has to face it. So that all of the tribes 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:13.040 standing under their different banners have to face the same center. 0:26:13.720 --> 0:26:16.080 Right, So when I. 0:26:16.160 --> 0:26:20.240 Look at my life, I realized that not only is 0:26:20.320 --> 0:26:23.280 God leading me, but he is leading me from the center. 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:28.200 The cloud would hover above the tabernacle, and the tabernacle 0:26:28.200 --> 0:26:30.200 would stay in the middle. So watch this. This is 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:35.000 so powerful I should demonstrate it. Come here, Jordan, come here, Buck, 0:26:35.040 --> 0:26:40.000 Come here, JJ. Wherever they went, you can be the 0:26:40.160 --> 0:26:48.639 tabernacle and you can be the cloud. I am making 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:54.320 this up as I go. All right, but wherever they went, 0:26:55.359 --> 0:27:00.680 this had to stay in the middle. We are so 0:27:00.880 --> 0:27:05.000 paralyzed about where God is positioning us, and so we 0:27:05.119 --> 0:27:06.800 go does God want me to take this job or 0:27:06.840 --> 0:27:10.440 that job? And we become really flaky, really flaky. We 0:27:10.440 --> 0:27:13.400 won't commit that this, or we're moving all around. Oh look, 0:27:13.640 --> 0:27:15.520 did God want me to marry him? You married him 0:27:15.640 --> 0:27:19.040 twenty seven years ago. That is a done deal. Now, 0:27:22.320 --> 0:27:25.200 what you got to do is keep the presence of 0:27:25.320 --> 0:27:31.240 God in the middle yet, and so when God moves 0:27:32.119 --> 0:27:32.879 move you. 0:27:33.040 --> 0:27:34.800 Just gotta come on. 0:27:34.880 --> 0:27:37.840 Buck. You're helping me with this, doing a terrible job 0:27:37.880 --> 0:27:41.040 at it right now. But so think about that now, listen, 0:27:41.119 --> 0:27:44.640 listen of all the ways God could have led them. 0:27:45.520 --> 0:27:50.720 This is a strange scenario. Strange how many would agree 0:27:50.760 --> 0:27:53.680 this is strange because if you want the people to 0:27:53.760 --> 0:27:56.520 get up and go, put them on a schedule. That's 0:27:56.640 --> 0:27:59.240 just some parenting advice. By the way, you decide to 0:27:59.280 --> 0:28:03.080 have a baby, LJ. Put them on a schedule. Yet 0:28:03.119 --> 0:28:06.960 God does the exact opposite of what every parenting book 0:28:07.000 --> 0:28:07.560 tells you to do. 0:28:07.840 --> 0:28:09.520 He wants to teach his children something. 0:28:09.720 --> 0:28:13.200 So the Bible says that sometimes the cloud would stay 0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:17.080 for like two days, and then it would move, so 0:28:17.160 --> 0:28:19.360 they had to move because they had to keep thinking 0:28:19.359 --> 0:28:20.639 in the middle. And then it would stop and they 0:28:20.640 --> 0:28:27.280 would stop. Sometimes the cloud would stay for a year. 0:28:29.320 --> 0:28:31.320 I want you to think about this. Just stay right there, 0:28:34.000 --> 0:28:35.280 so somebody has to stay. 0:28:35.160 --> 0:28:37.119 Up all night. It's millions of. 0:28:37.160 --> 0:28:39.000 People because we just read the Bible and we think, oh, 0:28:39.040 --> 0:28:40.640 wouldn't it be cool if God would give me you 0:28:40.640 --> 0:28:42.600 a cloud to show me which job to take or 0:28:42.600 --> 0:28:45.040 which school to put my kids. No, it wouldn't be cool. 0:28:45.080 --> 0:28:49.680 It would be horribly inconvenient because you'd always be thinking 0:28:49.720 --> 0:28:52.720 we're gonna remove in today and then just about the 0:28:52.760 --> 0:28:55.840 time you would unpack in the spot you were in it, 0:28:55.960 --> 0:28:56.840 start moving again. 0:28:57.800 --> 0:28:59.600 Stop and the. 0:28:59.680 --> 0:29:02.880 Craze's the hist thing about this whole scenario that is 0:29:03.040 --> 0:29:06.400 not mentioned in the text, but is implied in the text. 0:29:07.360 --> 0:29:15.920 They weren't really going anywhere. If you know your Bible, 0:29:16.280 --> 0:29:17.920 come on, you know your Bible, John, and then at 0:29:18.000 --> 0:29:20.400 least you should you're an ordained minister of the Gospel 0:29:20.440 --> 0:29:31.400 of Jesus Christ. Buck's just a security guy. No, he's 0:29:31.480 --> 0:29:36.040 actually a great example because I met him in college. 0:29:37.120 --> 0:29:40.960 I liked him because he was a wrestler, a successful wrestler. 0:29:41.920 --> 0:29:45.360 He won a stag championship. He fought in MMA tournaments. 0:29:47.200 --> 0:29:54.320 Yeah he did, Yeah he did. They were illegal, unsanctioned 0:29:55.560 --> 0:29:59.600 tournaments with interns at Elevation Church. But listen to me, now, 0:30:00.800 --> 0:30:01.640 that's not my point. 0:30:04.080 --> 0:30:05.600 I met him on an internship. 0:30:05.880 --> 0:30:07.600 The whole time I was at the internship, I was 0:30:07.640 --> 0:30:09.920 complaining I didn't see Buck until eight years later. 0:30:10.360 --> 0:30:12.400 Was it eight years later? Something like that? 0:30:13.520 --> 0:30:16.880 He said, seven seven years later. I appreciate you correcting 0:30:16.960 --> 0:30:19.760 the story just that much, which really didn't make a 0:30:19.840 --> 0:30:21.560 difference at all other than the slow down. 0:30:21.440 --> 0:30:22.360 The momentum of my point. 0:30:22.360 --> 0:30:28.320 I appreciate that Buck, I didn't know when I was 0:30:28.400 --> 0:30:30.800 doing the internship that he and I would travel. 0:30:30.840 --> 0:30:33.240 We've been to six continents together preaching the gospel. 0:30:33.320 --> 0:30:33.480 Now. 0:30:35.000 --> 0:30:36.280 Sometimes he's an illustration. 0:30:37.680 --> 0:30:40.920 Sometimes he's making sure that everything is set so I 0:30:41.000 --> 0:30:44.200 can minister. But God had to take me all the 0:30:44.240 --> 0:30:46.600 way through an internship that I didn't even want to 0:30:46.680 --> 0:30:51.040 be at. We went to who HOAt China together, We 0:30:51.160 --> 0:30:59.080 got chased through Chinese nightclubs together, sketchy stuff before social media, 0:30:59.200 --> 0:31:06.360 thank God. But God was guiding us for where he 0:31:06.480 --> 0:31:08.920 knew he was taking us. But he had to take 0:31:09.080 --> 0:31:14.760 us the long way for something that he wanted us 0:31:15.000 --> 0:31:18.600 to pick up along the way. Because if I hadn't 0:31:18.760 --> 0:31:24.520 done that intern if I had gone to Charleston Southern University, 0:31:25.200 --> 0:31:28.600 there would not have been a Holly boy knot. Oh yeah, 0:31:28.640 --> 0:31:31.040 her last name was worse than Ferdick. When I met her, 0:31:31.560 --> 0:31:33.960 she got an upgrade on Ferdick, and that is no 0:31:34.240 --> 0:31:38.720 small feet. But I couldn't go to Charleston Southern. They 0:31:38.880 --> 0:31:41.840 had to take my scholarship away because I had to 0:31:41.960 --> 0:31:46.360 go to Tigerville, South Carolina, in the mountains, in the woods, 0:31:46.360 --> 0:31:48.760 where boys and girls are not even allowed to look 0:31:48.800 --> 0:31:51.800 at each other. Across the street because it's a Baptist school. 0:31:52.240 --> 0:31:54.920 I had to go to the Baptist school to get 0:31:55.000 --> 0:31:57.960 a point, not girl, because God knew he was calling 0:31:58.080 --> 0:32:01.280 us just I'm trying to say, then, if you keep 0:32:01.400 --> 0:32:04.760 God in the center, you don't happen no where you're going. 0:32:05.320 --> 0:32:13.120 Just keep them, keep the God in the middle. Sit 0:32:13.200 --> 0:32:18.720 down before I. He's guiding me, and he is teaching 0:32:18.800 --> 0:32:23.520 me to prioritize His presence, and he will not do 0:32:23.680 --> 0:32:25.800 it in a way that I can predict, because my 0:32:26.000 --> 0:32:32.120 tendency is to turn God into a formula. And you 0:32:32.280 --> 0:32:34.000 know as well as I do that if God had 0:32:34.080 --> 0:32:38.840 moved that cloud at seven pm every Friday, they would 0:32:38.840 --> 0:32:41.400 have become more dependent on the system than the source. 0:32:47.840 --> 0:32:49.880 And He loves you too much to let your faith 0:32:49.960 --> 0:32:56.160 become a formula. So he's gonna can I say this, 0:32:57.320 --> 0:32:58.920 I need permission, even though you don't know what I'm 0:32:58.920 --> 0:33:03.200 gonna say. I need you to trust my integrity. God 0:33:03.320 --> 0:33:07.920 is using your confusion and I can hear it right 0:33:07.960 --> 0:33:11.360 now because on First Corinthians fourteen on Facebook, they're gonna 0:33:11.360 --> 0:33:13.560 put First Corinthians fourteen on There's people that sit around 0:33:13.600 --> 0:33:15.800 on Facebook and they have nothing better to do. They're 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:17.840 gonna say on this clip, they're going to say, but 0:33:17.960 --> 0:33:19.480 God is not the author of confusion. 0:33:19.560 --> 0:33:20.480 I read the same verse. 0:33:21.680 --> 0:33:26.680 It's talking about having an orderly worship experience, and so 0:33:26.760 --> 0:33:27.400 it says God is. 0:33:27.400 --> 0:33:28.400 Not the author of confusion. 0:33:28.400 --> 0:33:30.280 In other words, don't everybody try to talk at one time, 0:33:30.360 --> 0:33:32.320 or nobody's going to hear what anybody's saying. That is 0:33:32.400 --> 0:33:36.160 the context of that verse. He's not the author of confusion. 0:33:37.880 --> 0:33:39.760 That doesn't mean he won't use confusion. 0:33:42.480 --> 0:33:47.720 You know what, I believe the only path to true confidence. 0:33:47.480 --> 0:33:54.520 Is through confusion, because only after you've been through the confusion, 0:33:56.120 --> 0:33:59.320 and after you've been through the valley, can you say 0:34:00.920 --> 0:34:13.640 the Lord is my shepherd. He told them, I'm gonna 0:34:13.640 --> 0:34:17.160 put you in that wilderness for forty years, but while 0:34:17.200 --> 0:34:22.040 you're there, I'm going to train you to trust me. 0:34:25.880 --> 0:34:32.640 I'm going to train you. See, we are so destination minded. 0:34:35.440 --> 0:34:37.680 But the cloud didn't move because they needed a new 0:34:37.719 --> 0:34:41.799 destination study. This sometime they got man of wherever they 0:34:41.840 --> 0:34:45.359 set up camp. The only reason that God moved them 0:34:45.400 --> 0:34:50.800 around was so that they wouldn't get stuck in one system. 0:34:50.920 --> 0:34:54.719 God said, I don't want you to get stuck in 0:34:54.840 --> 0:35:00.960 a system that will short circuit your faith. So I'm 0:35:01.000 --> 0:35:05.399 going to allow life to throw you off balance from 0:35:05.440 --> 0:35:08.040 time to time, and I'm gonna put you in some 0:35:08.239 --> 0:35:12.120 situations where you don't feel certain because you can't have 0:35:12.640 --> 0:35:15.320 your certainty and God's confidence. 0:35:21.239 --> 0:35:23.960 So I sent the cloud to guide you. 0:35:25.080 --> 0:35:28.920 I sent the cloud to teach you to prioritize my presence. 0:35:29.000 --> 0:35:32.279 The cloud was above the tabernacle. How many No, not 0:35:32.400 --> 0:35:35.120 only is he central, but he is above. God has 0:35:35.200 --> 0:35:40.600 exalted Jesus and given him the name that is above. 0:35:40.680 --> 0:35:44.160 Every name that at the name of Jesus. Every knee, 0:35:44.560 --> 0:35:50.000 every sickness, every disease, every worry, every attack, every fear, 0:35:50.280 --> 0:35:53.799 every knee will pow, every tone will confess. I feel 0:35:53.880 --> 0:35:56.560 God guiding me right now. I feel these words going 0:35:56.719 --> 0:36:00.680 right into your heart. Jesus Christ. It's just Lord, to 0:36:00.760 --> 0:36:05.400 the glory of God the Father. And notice the scripture 0:36:05.440 --> 0:36:11.200 says it was a pillar of cloud. A pillar is 0:36:11.239 --> 0:36:14.640 an image of stability. How can you have stability if 0:36:14.680 --> 0:36:27.000 what you're following keeps moving great? So, so Jesus is 0:36:27.080 --> 0:36:30.839 getting ready to be taken up. Okay, he's resurrected from 0:36:30.880 --> 0:36:32.719 the dead. I'm fast forwarding like a couple thousand years. 0:36:35.040 --> 0:36:38.719 And he looks at his disciples and he knows, like 0:36:38.760 --> 0:36:41.600 the children of Israel, they have never been this way before. 0:36:42.719 --> 0:36:46.040 He's got a mission for them. He said, you will 0:36:46.160 --> 0:36:54.160 receive power. Somebody shall power, because God's presence is God's power. 0:36:54.880 --> 0:36:59.040 It's not an accessory, it's not a bonus feature. God's 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:03.480 presence is God's power. Up until this time, they have 0:37:03.560 --> 0:37:06.840 been relying on God's presence in the visible form of 0:37:06.960 --> 0:37:09.760 Jesus Christ. But you got to watch this. Something shifts 0:37:10.600 --> 0:37:13.880 and just before Jesus leaves the earth, he's already taken 0:37:13.960 --> 0:37:17.520 the keys to death, hell and the grave. He's already 0:37:17.600 --> 0:37:20.040 paid the price for the sin that stood and kept 0:37:20.120 --> 0:37:24.440 record against us. He's already nailed your condemnation to the cross. 0:37:25.000 --> 0:37:28.160 He's already carried your shame. He's already born your burden. 0:37:28.440 --> 0:37:32.360 He's already taken your sorrow. And now he's standing and 0:37:32.440 --> 0:37:35.440 he's resurrected, and he's about to ascend into heaven to 0:37:35.560 --> 0:37:38.720 be seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. 0:37:38.760 --> 0:37:41.080 From whence he shall come to judge to quicken the dead. 0:37:41.360 --> 0:37:43.640 And he looks at his disciples and says, you shall 0:37:43.760 --> 0:37:49.000 receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and 0:37:49.120 --> 0:37:53.759 you will be my witnesses. Watch this in Jerusalem, in Judea, 0:37:54.920 --> 0:37:58.399 in Samaria, to the ends. I am sending you into 0:37:58.560 --> 0:38:06.919 an unstable world with a sore foundation, and you will 0:38:07.000 --> 0:38:08.080 be my witnesses. 0:38:09.000 --> 0:38:11.080 In Jerus Summari at the ends of the earth and 0:38:11.160 --> 0:38:11.480 watched this. 0:38:11.680 --> 0:38:16.279 And when he had said this, he was taken up 0:38:17.719 --> 0:38:27.920 before their very eyes, and the cloud hid him from 0:38:28.000 --> 0:38:33.080 their sight, and they couldn't see him anymore. But they 0:38:33.120 --> 0:38:37.640 didn't need to see him anymore, because when he sent 0:38:37.800 --> 0:38:54.600 his spirit they got a GPS. Somebody shot, I got 0:38:54.640 --> 0:39:01.040 a GPS. I don't have to stay lost and lonely 0:39:02.560 --> 0:39:07.520 and confused and uncertain any more. Jesus said, today is 0:39:07.640 --> 0:39:12.680 the day all systems go. Today's the day you get 0:39:12.719 --> 0:39:18.960 your driver's license. And you will receive power when the 0:39:19.120 --> 0:39:33.719 Spirit comes on you. Stabilize, stabilize. The cloud kept going 0:39:34.120 --> 0:39:37.319 to show them that wherever they would go, God would 0:39:37.360 --> 0:39:42.000 be in their midst. I'm declearing this over your life today, 0:39:42.080 --> 0:39:47.960 that there is a cloud in every wilderness. There is 0:39:48.000 --> 0:39:52.000 a cloud. It's not an external thing. You keep asking 0:39:52.080 --> 0:39:53.880 for God to give you a sign on a text 0:39:54.000 --> 0:39:58.000 messager a sign to show up in the sky or something. 0:39:58.080 --> 0:40:01.680 But the sign is within you. On the endside, he 0:40:01.840 --> 0:40:05.040 will not leave you or forsake you. Who am I 0:40:05.120 --> 0:40:13.839 preaching to today? I really need to know because God said, 0:40:13.840 --> 0:40:16.360 I want to guide you, I want to teach you 0:40:16.440 --> 0:40:20.000 to prioritize, and I want to stabilize you. So I'm 0:40:20.000 --> 0:40:22.440 bringing you into some unfamiliar terrain because I don't want 0:40:22.440 --> 0:40:27.680 you to depend on your circumstance. I want you to 0:40:27.800 --> 0:40:37.080 depend on my spirit. So I gave you a GPS guide, prioritize, stabilize. 0:40:37.200 --> 0:40:42.520 Somebody's shot. I got a GPS. Come on, this is 0:40:44.000 --> 0:40:52.160 this is better. This is better than knowing where you're going, 0:40:53.680 --> 0:40:58.640 to know who is with you as you go. If 0:40:58.680 --> 0:41:00.560 you believe God is with you, end up on your 0:41:00.600 --> 0:41:03.600 feet right now. If you believe he's guiding you, if 0:41:03.680 --> 0:41:07.120 you believe He's taking you somewhere, Come on. I need 0:41:07.160 --> 0:41:11.200 you to praise God in this moment like you've got 0:41:11.280 --> 0:41:16.400 Holy spirit power. Come on, praise Him in this moment. 0:41:17.520 --> 0:41:23.000 God inhabits the praises of his people. He dwells in 0:41:23.120 --> 0:41:27.080 the midst of praise. He dwells in the midst of hollelujah, 0:41:27.560 --> 0:41:33.880 he dwells stuff. 0:41:36.080 --> 0:41:36.799 It's our God. 0:41:38.520 --> 0:41:41.800 This will be the last day of your life that 0:41:42.040 --> 0:41:44.800 you will live without a guide. I didn't say you 0:41:44.800 --> 0:41:46.240 wouldn't go through another valley. 0:41:50.239 --> 0:41:53.960 But today, today we make a declaration. God is guiding 0:41:54.040 --> 0:41:54.439 my life. 0:41:56.760 --> 0:41:59.840 You know what that means that everything that comes against 0:41:59.880 --> 0:42:02.719 me has to work for me before it's all said 0:42:02.800 --> 0:42:05.800 and done. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is 0:42:05.920 --> 0:42:10.120 my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Come on, touch 0:42:10.200 --> 0:42:12.719 twelve people tell him. The Lord is my shepherd. The 0:42:12.800 --> 0:42:16.400 Lord is my shepherd. He's guiding me, providing for me. 0:42:20.640 --> 0:42:22.400 The spirit of the Lord is in this place. And 0:42:22.440 --> 0:42:25.839 where the spirit is there is freedom. You have been 0:42:25.960 --> 0:42:27.719 so scared, so. 0:42:27.880 --> 0:42:32.080 Nervous because I don't know where to go. And the 0:42:32.160 --> 0:42:35.200 Lord is my shepherd, and there is a cloud. 0:42:36.960 --> 0:42:39.440 I'll tell you what we need to do. We need 0:42:39.480 --> 0:42:42.279 to establish a connection with Heaven. 0:42:42.320 --> 0:42:44.040 You know, the Bible says his divine power has given 0:42:44.080 --> 0:42:46.759 us everything we need for life and godliness through him. 0:42:48.360 --> 0:42:50.720 So everything you need, God. 0:42:50.640 --> 0:42:52.920 Chris, that's a thought of this is in the cloud, 0:42:56.840 --> 0:43:00.080 you know. And to get what's in the cloud, I 0:43:00.160 --> 0:43:03.360 need a connection with the source. Lift your hands, come on, 0:43:03.480 --> 0:43:06.600 lift your hands. Father, We honor you, We glorify you, 0:43:07.040 --> 0:43:09.800 We bless your name, We honor your presence. Come on, 0:43:09.920 --> 0:43:13.040 open your mouth, give and praise, We magnify, exult and 0:43:13.120 --> 0:43:17.520 extol God of all. We exult to now. High up 0:43:17.560 --> 0:43:22.919 mom uncertainty, high about fear, Come high about depression, high 0:43:23.000 --> 0:43:26.320 about the spat. We'll lift our hands in your press, 0:43:26.800 --> 0:43:30.839 re steal your people. God, Thank you for your far 0:43:31.160 --> 0:43:37.959 come sin that your mom you we re see. 0:43:43.080 --> 0:43:44.160 Thank you for joining us. 0:43:44.520 --> 0:43:46.920 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:43:47.040 --> 0:43:50.480 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:43:50.960 --> 0:43:53.399 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:43:54.040 --> 0:43:57.359 or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more 0:43:57.400 --> 0:44:01.040 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:44:01.520 --> 0:44:02.760 You can share it with your friends. 0:44:03.120 --> 0:44:05.360 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:44:05.440 --> 0:44:07.520 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:44:07.560 --> 0:44:08.399 Elevation Church. 0:44:08.520 --> 0:44:10.120 Thanks again for listening. God bless you