An Ordinary Day

0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:02.360 Hey, don't start clicking off. I promise we're going to 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:04.440 get to the preaching in just a moment. But I'm 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:08.799 excited about this. This is a very special tradition at Elevation, 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:10.560 and we want to speak to all of you who 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:13.960 call our church home, especially our extended family, our EPAM 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.759 around the world, because once a year we have a 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:21.040 special series. It's really more than a collection of teachings. 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:24.000 It's a faith experience for all of the people who 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.680 are part of our ministry at Elevation, and this year 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.840 our theme is game Changer. I think one of the 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.360 most exciting things that God is doing in our ministry 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.800 is to open the doors of our ministry beyond our walls. 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.159 What I mean by that is we are amazed at 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.440 the thousands and thousands and thousands of you who are 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.199 letting us know that you're impacted by this ministry in 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:50.840 another zip code, in another state, in another country, maybe 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.600 eventually on another planet. But what I wanted to mention 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.840 to you is that you can be a part of 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.760 this beyond just consuming. Many of you have been blessed 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:02.320 by God to be a blessing, and I wanted to 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.400 ask today would you be willing during this special time 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.520 of year to make a one time donation to the 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.920 ministry or maybe partner with us on a monthly basis 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.400 through recurring giving. I believe God could use your gift 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.679 to enable this ministry to continue to reach, to continue 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.000 to break paradigms, to continue to lift up Jesus. And 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:24.560 I wanted to ask you personally to go to Elevationchurch 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:26.880 dot org and you can see the ways to give there. 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.600 But most importantly, know that we feel a tremendousness of 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.960 responsibility to minister the Word of God, not only to you, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.880 but to challenge you to partner with us in reaching 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.480 people for the Gospel. I believe your gift today could 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.360 be a game changer, so don't put it off right now. 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.640 Elevationchurch dot org you can find all of the details. 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.000 I hope you enjoy this message and thank you for 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:54.760 being a part of the family. Whoo, it feels good 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.680 here Elevation Balatime. I know it does. A Lake Norman 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:03.400 over at Blaytney, see, I know it feels great up there. Hey, 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.680 my name is Larry Bryan. I get the privilege of 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.360 opening up God's Word with you today and all my 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.480 friends call me LB at least my friends do You 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.240 could call me LB too. You can say hey, LB, 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.679 oh man, thank you, I'm glad to be here. And 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.520 a truism we learned early in our church is people 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.400 may not always remember what you say, but they'll always 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.639 remember the way you make them feel. I want to 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.639 make sure that everybody who's here that's a first time 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.200 guest feels very welcomed today. I'd like you to give 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.400 out at least three displays of affection. You can give 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:39.440 a hug, a high five, a handshake. I want you 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.600 to welcome at least three people, at least three church 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:49.400 appropriate displays of affection. Mind you. After you have done that, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:53.919 you you may be seated. Thank you, Worship team, thank 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:57.360 you so much. Hey. Have you enjoyed this season we're 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.760 in right now, Game Changer? Oh oh my goodness, it 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:03.919 has been absolutely incredible Week one. Let's do a quick 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:09.639 little review right here. Secret scorecard, My reason determines my reward. 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:11.240 How many of you are blessed by week one of 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:15.120 this series? My gosh. Now Week two for all the 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.280 warriors in the house, Pastor Stephen burned the place down. 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.320 He talked about reverse your worry worship is worry and reverse, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:25.799 like how many of you were blessed by that? Oh 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.720 my gosh. And so week one, Week two, let's call 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:30.840 it week three. This is Week three. I get the 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.239 privilege of delivering God's word today. Here's the title I 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.240 want to get for today's message. Is this? For the 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:37.560 note takers in the house, you would write this down 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:43.920 an ordinary day, an ordinary day, say ordinary. And the 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.120 text I'm going to be in today is going to 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.840 be acts. Chapter three is where I'll be. And I 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.440 remember when I came to faith. It was in my 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.520 late twenties. I just finished graduate school, and I had 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.120 grown up in a home where religion really and faith 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.000 was not really a part of it. If Jesus Christ 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:03.520 was used in a conversation, it was more for colorful 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.280 language than it was any kind of praise. And that 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:07.960 was just kind of the world I grew up, and 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.160 I grew up Catholic, so you know, I'd go to 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:15.760 church a couple times a year, and I remember, like 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.440 in my darkest moments where I'm like in that dark 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.040 place some of you know, that dark place, like that 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.039 place that you don't feel like anybody should ever see, 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:25.839 that place, that you're like God is so disgusted with 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.039 you can never lean into it. God leaned into that 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:29.799 moment with me, and he met me in that place, 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.760 and he radically, radically saved me. And I remember getting 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.720 my first Bible. I was twenty seven, so I didn't 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:39.440 own a Bible until I was twenty steven. I remember 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.600 taking the cellophane off of it and like smelling of us, like, oh, 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.279 this is amazing. And then I went to a Bible 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.560 study with some of you Baptists, like you know you. 0:04:50.800 --> 0:05:00.040 It's like Bibles are like h oh Badiah Stephaniah. But 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.720 I heard about Matthew, Mark, Lucan, John, I can't find out, 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.160 but like and I lean over my buddy's like what 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.800 page is that on? I didn't realize then all the 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.160 Bibles have the same Like what are you doing Christians? 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.600 That makes no sense. So I remember what it's like 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.000 to get in a place that, depending upon the book 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:18.479 you're going to go to, a man may not open 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:20.839 up my Bible because it didn't want to look stupid, 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.400 because you know what, I felt very ordinary. And if 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.000 you feel ordinary today, if you feel like you're an 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.200 ordinary individual, I want you to know that you are 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.000 positioned to be mightily used by an extraordinary God. He 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.440 is not looking for the brightest, He's not looking for 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.719 the tallest, the prettiest. He's looking for the one that 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.920 makes himself available today. And anybody who says, God, I 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.880 make myself available, he will use you. That is the 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.400 evidence of the story of the Church, and it is 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.080 how he has moved throughout eternity. So I just want 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.760 to give you permission to be ordinary. Look at your 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.880 neighbor right left, which one looks the most ordinary to you? 0:05:55.720 --> 0:06:02.479 I know, don't tell him. But in Acts chapter three 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.320 is where I'm going to be. It says this. This 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.960 is one day Peter and John were going to the 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.120 temple at the time of prayer three in the afternoon. 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:12.360 No a man was lame from birth, being carried to 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.239 the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:17.480 day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.200 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.840 asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.560 did John. Then Peter said, look at us. So the 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.560 man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.040 Then Peter said silver or gold I do not have, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.640 But what I have I give you in the name 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.159 of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk Taking him by the 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.040 right hand, he helped him up, and instantly his feet 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.080 and ankles became strong. Now, this story out of Acts 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.440 chapter three is really one of my favorite stories in 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.560 the New Testament. I love it. It's really been a 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.440 story that's played a pivotal part in the history of 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.160 our church. But I love it because it has these 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.560 two words that come together one day. Oh, it's kind 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:00.520 of like dynamite. You put these two in great together 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.280 and something blows up one day, and if you were 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.200 to do a Bible study on it, just do that. 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.520 Google it later one day Bible Verse, and you're gonna 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.880 see story after story of something incredible. It's given me 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.160 like scenes in a movie where you're like what the 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.520 Southern translation, We're like, yo, check this out, Like that's 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.920 it's amazing. It's a place of potential impossibility. When you 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.160 see these two words, it needs to alert your senses 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.560 at Oh, something significant is about to happen, Something is 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.200 about to go down that's gonna change the direction of 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.440 somebody else's life. This is a game changing moment. One 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.560 day is a game changer because when one day happens 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.520 in your life, everything changes after it, and some of 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.840 you are about to encounter one of those moments today. 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.000 Today is that one day it's going to be a 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.640 game changer where whatever you walked in with is going 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.160 to look very different when you walk out, because God's 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.000 about to do something in you. And these one day 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.800 stories have less to do with God's promises being dropped 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.880 into our laps. It has way more to do with people, 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.680 ordinary people like you and me, who believe that with 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:10.400 God all things are possible, not some things, not a 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.920 couple things, not a conditional faith that says, if it 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:17.440 ever gets here, God then know all things. Because one 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.680 day is a perspective. It is a perspective where you 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.560 lean in expecting God to move. I don't know if 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.680 it'll be today or tomorrow, or next year or in 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:30.520 twenty years, but my God will move. His promises are 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:34.400 yes and amen in Jesus Christ, I believe it. That's 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.880 a one day perspective that's illustrated in the text. The 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:42.160 other perspective that's illustrated in the text is another day, 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.400 say another day, and what we get to do is 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.480 decide which one we want to live. One day potential impossibility. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.960 Another day, Hey, honey, how was work today? It was 0:08:54.200 --> 0:09:01.520 just another day. Another day becomes another week, and another month, 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.920 and another year and another decade, and now your kids 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:05.520 are grown and you're looking at each other like, what 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.320 did we just do with the last twenty years? And 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:12.280 we've just wasted it just one day at a time. 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.880 Another day is a perspective where you give up believing 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.160 that God's promises will come to pass, and you settle 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.800 into autopilot and you are just being taken down the 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.040 rivers of life, feeling like you're at the whims and 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.439 the mercies of God and you're just flowing along. No, no, 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:29.360 no no. And the reality is one day and another 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.760 day are both perspectives. One is leaning in, one is 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.760 leaning back, And the reality is both of these are ordinary. 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.120 Both of these are ordinary because the life you live 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:43.200 is your ordinary. You get to decide which life you 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.800 want to live. You have the ability through the person 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.839 of Jesus Christ living inside of you, the one who 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.079 spoke the world into existence, the one who raised Jesus 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.640 from the dead, is living inside of you, and you 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.000 get the ability to make a choice to say, I 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.560 will either live life in a one day mentality. God, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.400 I believe you're for me and not against me, or 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:05.800 I can live over here and just be like it's 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:11.400 just another day. All those other people get blessed just now. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:16.440 I mean those are for the extraordinary Christians, not ordinary folk. 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.040 Because most of these one day stories and the scriptures 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.120 are ordinary people believing in an extraordinary God. And so 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.520 when we started this ministry more than twelve years ago, 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.200 we're coming up on our thirteenth birthday Elevation Church. You'll 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:37.800 look good for a preteen. I remember when we started 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.280 this church, we were living in a little town called Shelby, 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.480 North Carolina. And you all heard of Shelby. It's about 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:44.839 an hour away from Charlotte. For those of you that 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.120 don't know, it's halfway between Charlotte, North Carolina and Asheville. 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.200 It's not a destination location. It's like a stop for 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.520 gas and then you keep going. It's Nazareth, you know. 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.080 But we were living there and pastors seems like, hey, 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:00.480 we got to get to Charlotte. We got to find 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.320 a place to meet, we got to find a location. 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.559 So I believe that God is for us. I believe 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:07.840 that God is for this ministry. And I just drove 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.480 to Charlotte and my little Ford Ranger expecting God's favor 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:12.760 to be there when I got there, I've just acted 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.360 like that. You know how you hang out with somebody 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.760 that's bigger and stronger than you, you feel tougher, Like yeah, 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.480 what you've gotten now? Boy? My God is that big 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.720 and my pastor's that strong. I believe it. I'm like, 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.960 if God said it, it's gonna happen. If pastors said 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.320 there's this facility waiting for us in Starngmuck, it's there. 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:31.760 And so I show up in Charlotte. The first place 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:33.679 to stop is at a community college. I walk in, 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:36.120 go up to the vice president's office. Meanwhile, we had 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.240 just picked the name for the church like a month before, 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.760 and I walk into the president vice president's office. I'm like, listen, 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.840 my name's Larry Bryan. I'm a part of a church 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.400 called Elevation Church. We haven't even started yet, but we're 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:49.480 gonna change the world. And you want us meeting at 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:53.160 your location. And she's like, well, the biggest room we 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.000 got really only holds about one hundred and forty people. 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.160 I said, that's way too small. God's going to do 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.360 something so much bigger than that. And she's said, it's 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.080 funny you showed up here today because this is actually 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:07.160 my last day working at this location. She said, I 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.080 start a new job on Monday at a place called 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.959 the Levine Senior Center. She said, we're actually going to 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.000 be building a building. And we were meeting with the 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.160 trustees the other day. We haven't even broken ground on it, 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.680 but we were talking about maybe it would be good 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.959 for a church to rent our facility. I said, yes today, Amen, 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.440 God wants us sen in that location. That's how we 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:32.160 found our first location. We can collap for that. That's 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.559 but the one day perspective says, whether it's at the 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:40.640 first stop, the twelve stop, or the hundred stuff, my 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.960 God is going to say yes. At some point, it's 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.520 going to happen. See one day as a persistence towards 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.079 the promises of God, you get shut down in the 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:50.320 first response, and now you give up on the promises 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:52.120 of God? Why are you so easy to push over? 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.560 Do you know here, daddy is? Do you know what's 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:56.840 living inside of you? To know what you're capable of? 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:00.960 About a week after we found this location, I met 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.720 with a church planting expert who is an expert on 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.120 planting churches and Charlie. He's like, Larry, you know, it's 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.360 virtually impossible for anyone to find a location to meet 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.240 at within Charlotte because every outhouse and doghouse and middle 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.319 school and high school has got a church meeting in it, 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.600 that says expert voice. I looked at him, said, I'm sorry. 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.040 We already found a location. My God already provided before 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:21.960 you even set it in out. And some of you 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.280 were listening to experts tell you what God cannot do 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.280 in your life. We were just ordinary people that believed 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:30.760 in an extraordinary God, and it began with eight families 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.760 selling their homes and quitting their jobs. This is my wife, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.679 Janet here. We were one of those original eight families. 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:43.120 We just celebrated eighteen years of marriage. Isn't she love me? 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:49.080 Isn't I can't sing, but my reason determines my reward. 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.720 I'm not singing for you. I'm trying to score points 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.920 with my girl. But we got the distinct privilege of 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:57.880 being one of those original eight families. So if I 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.560 take you back to two thousand and five, this is 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.160 thirteen years ago. We're all living in Shelby, eight families, 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:06.800 and we had met Pastor Stephen first time I ever 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:10.040 saw him preach. He was the only white guy in 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.120 an all gospel, Black gospel choir. He was at North 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.319 Greenville College. He was a senior at North Greenville College, 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.120 and that choir he was leading with about sixty people, 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:20.960 and he knew how to clap on the two and four, 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:22.480 but nobody at the church I was at knew how 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.120 to really do that right. And he brings the all 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:29.280 black gospel choir down and he's leading the choir at 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.360 the church we're at in Shelby there in north in 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.680 North Greenville College in South Carolina, and I saw him preach, 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:36.880 first time I ever saw him preach. He preaches serma 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.560 called God is Great, God is Good. I still have 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:45.880 the VHS tape. Bald head go tea baggy clothes and 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.000 he burned the place down. And I said, this joker 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.160 is going to change the world. And I said, that's 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:54.480 the church I want to be a part of. So 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:56.240 when I heard that him and Hollyood getting ready to 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.040 start this thing called Elevation Church, I pulled him in 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.680 my office and I'm coming with I know it's really 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.680 bad grammar. You don't end with a preposition, but it's 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.480 because it was a blank line that says, wherever you go, 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:08.920 I'm coming. And he said, what it means if you 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:09.920 want to be a part of this, you need to 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.600 sell your house, quit your job, move to an unnamed 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.320 city in an unnamed part of the country to be 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.560 part of an unnamed church. Are you in? I'm like, 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.760 who wouldn't sign up for that? No, I'm not kidding. 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.400 Who wouldn't sign up for that? It's the greatest thing 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.160 on the face of the earth. Everybody right now says 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:27.400 I wish I would have done that, and you might 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:28.600 not have had a chance to be a part of 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:30.280 the original Eight. But you can get on the original 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:34.560 eight spirit today because the spirit that launched our ministry 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.720 is the same spirit that's moving here today. And there's 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.160 so many new people coming to Elevation Church that you 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.480 don't know the history, and it's hard to understand the 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.400 story when you haven't read the previous chapters. I just 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:47.480 want to show you some of those previous chapters about us, 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.600 and all eight families are signed up. But we were 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:51.640 a part of a church there called Christ Covenant Church 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.200 February of two thousand and five. Through the end of 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.600 the year, we stayed underneath the umbrella of that ministry. 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.360 All of us were tithing to that church. That's ten percent, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.360 the first ten percent we give to God. When we 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.600 signed up to this thing called Elevation Church, Pastor said, Hey, 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.280 here's what we're going to do. We're going to sow 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.280 seeds of sacrificial generosity that will produce fruit in the future. 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.400 See the blessing you see began to sacrifices that you'll 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.560 never see. Because all eight families gave ten percent to 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:17.440 the church. Were at because we believed in being faithful 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.320 to church. But this end, this new thing called Elevation Church, 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.040 we're going to go five percent and ten percent above 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:26.000 and beyond it. So those eight families sowed seeds of generosity. 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.320 It was not a couple of fat cats stroking big checks. 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.240 It was built upon people like Tyler and Amy Ford, 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.760 John and Heather Bishop, ordinary people like Chunks and Amy Corbett. 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.680 None of us were experts in church work, but all 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.360 of us loved God. We were ordinary people that worshiped 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.720 an extraordinary God, and we wanted our lives to count 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.920 because you know, there's a difference between success and significance. 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:55.280 Success is what you build for yourself. Significance is what 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.880 you give away for God. And you can be extremely 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:03.240 successful in life and yet have no six significance. But 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.280 I also know the opposite exists. Some of you feel 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.280 like you were not successful in life, but you are 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.600 one of the most significant people on the all walking 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.239 on the face of the earth, because your significance is 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.520 tied to your sacrifice. Now your size, now, your status, 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.320 now your number of followers, simply your sacrifice, and what 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.959 God wants is a sacrifice. And those eight families brought sacrifices. 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.200 If I were to illustrate the church, let me give 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.240 you an illustration this first row, Can you stand up 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.040 right here? And then one, two, three, four, five, six, 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.960 you six? Could you stand up right there? That's good. 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:38.000 So thirteen years ago, this is what we were, eight families, 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.600 sixteen people. You know what we are today? Thirteen years later, 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:46.080 we actually have seventeen campuses. We've got more campuses today 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.720 than we did people thirteen years ago. Look what God 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:54.320 won't do? Look what God won't do? You maybe see 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.760 you mean? And I remember there was a game changer 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.800 for us when we found the vision statement of our 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:02.800 ch it's this, It's on the screens. This is why 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.960 we started our church. So that people far from God 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.840 will be raised to life in Christ. That's it, say, 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:13.119 people far from God will be raised to life in Christ. 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.720 Say people far from God will be raised to life 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.600 in Christ. And we were praying for people before we 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.840 ever saw their faces and knew their names. And without 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:28.200 being melodramatic, we were praying for you before we ever 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.960 met you. I have no idea what you were doing 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:33.199 thirteen years ago, Melbourne. I have no idea what you 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.399 were doing thirteen years ago someone watching online from Topeka, Kansas. 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:40.440 But God knew you. God knew the steps he would 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:42.240 order in your life to bring you to the moment 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.919 you're sitting in today. And we believe so strongly that 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.400 the Gospel is real. We wanted to bring a real 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:52.560 sacrifice because faith is not just believing for it, it 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.199 is sacrificing toward it. There is a language and a 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.080 lifestyle to faith. There is a language that says I 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.760 believe that with God all things are possible. That's the 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:03.879 language of it. But that is just one part of it. 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:05.600 The other part of is I am going to live 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.520 a lifestyle that will be persistent to see that happen. 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.120 There is a language and a lifestyle, and the lifestyle 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.280 that God brought us eight families to a sacrifice. My 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.720 wife and I we sold our house, we quit our jobs. 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:19.639 We cast in our stocks or bonds, our savings, put 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:21.680 it all in the center of table. Said God, either 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.800 you get all the glory or we look really stupid. 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:28.600 I am glad option a worked out. But why were 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:30.600 we doing it? Because we loved God that much and 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.560 we wanted to see His glory on this earth. We 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:35.639 believe so strongly in the church. We weren't just going 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:37.359 to make it a weekend activity. We were going to 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:41.040 make it an everyday lifestyle. And I remember another game 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:43.040 changing moment when we're at the ministry we were at 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.240 we were moving into a new sanctuary space, so before 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.000 all the families moved in, we had a chance to 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.520 get on our knees on the cement and write names 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:54.400 on the cement of people we wanted to come to faith. 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:56.920 This was a game changer for me because I got 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.000 on the cement in the middle of the sanctuary and 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.240 my wife and I we wrote down these names. We 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:05.800 wrote down the name Luanne, it's my sister. These are 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.399 people we hope who come to faith in Jesus. I 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:13.400 wrote down Dad, that's my dad. Wrote down Lance, that's 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.200 my younger brother. He said, diabetes since he was four 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.440 years old and he's struggling right now to feel his feet. 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:30.639 My brother Lonnie, my brother Butch his real name is Leslie. Yep, 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:41.280 you would too, My mom, my niece, Caylin. I started 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:43.080 to write these names down. This was a game changer 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.960 for me because I started to identify the people in 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:47.879 faith that I wanted to see come to faith in Jesus. 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.280 And from this began what we call our one day teaching, 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.080 which is based upon Act chapter three, And in Act 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.119 chapter three it says one day Peter and John at 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.600 the time of prayer went to the temple gate and 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:03.520 so one day, and here's the way that we teach 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:06.240 the one day principle around here at Elevation Church. Because 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.159 her vision statement is people far from God raised to 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.040 life in Christ. That's the vision, people far from God 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:14.199 raise to life in Christ. But if it's about a 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:16.159 bunch of people and it's not about a person, it 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:20.879 is not personal. Personal is powerful. So the way that 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:23.240 I teach the One Day principle is this, who is 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:27.240 close to you but far from God, who is inside 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:29.920 your relational networks but outside the love of Jesus Christ, 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:34.040 who if they died today, we spend eternity separated from Him. 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:36.879 Get this thing so personal. So whenever I would teach this, 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:39.080 I would get people to write down in their notes, 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:40.360 And I want you to do this in your notes 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:44.320 right now or on your phone, is a blank line 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:49.280 and put a name in it. For me. Every time 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:50.720 I taught this, and I've taught it over two hundred 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:52.560 and fifty times, I use my sister's name, Luanne, and 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:55.560 I write it in the thing. My sister, my oldest sister, 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.360 she's six years older than me. She used to look 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:02.000 out for me on the nights when dad is doing 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:05.040 what his father did. See. My sister grew up in 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:08.520 a world that she looked at her heavenly father and said, 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:10.399 you must be just like my earthly father, because my 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:12.520 earthly father rejects me, It treats me like this. Why 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:14.439 on earth would my heavenly father want anything to do 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:16.240 with me. So once she got to the age she 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:18.360 was old enough to decide I'm out of this, she said, 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:20.720 peace out, I am done. But you know that when 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:23.800 you're running from something, you start recreating it in your future. 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.199 Because God's vision is never to run from something, it 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:30.520 is to something. And my sister runs into life recreating 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:32.200 all of the havoc that she had in her pass 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:35.040 And I would teach this one day principle like this. 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:38.760 If this were the one day, Luan or your person 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:40.600 were to come to church, what would you want him 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.320 to experience? Who would you want them to meet? And 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:45.960 now it became really really personal to me. You want 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:47.520 to know the vision of our church so that people 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:49.400 far from God would be really used to life in Christ. 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:52.400 But it's not just a language, it's a lifestyle. Because 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:54.440 we would teach it like this. If that were to happen, 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:56.639 I would be up all night praying. See my family 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.040 lives in Minnesota, and if they were to come here, 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:01.520 oh my gosh, it is miracle, and I would be 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:04.440 up all night praying, and I'd be saying God, please move, 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:07.639 Please move in their life because life is so chaotic. 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:10.760 She doesn't know you and she needs you God. And 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:13.360 I get to this building early and then pray over 0:23:13.400 --> 0:23:15.439 every single seat in the auditorium. I'd annoint it with 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:17.520 oral I'd be speaking in tongues because I don't know 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:19.880 which seat she's gonna sit in. I don't know which 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:22.160 seat's gonna be the place of a miracle. I don't 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:24.520 know what seat the shame is gonna be washed away at. 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:26.800 So I'm just gonna pray over every single one of them, 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:29.280 and then I'm gonna go to go to the parking team. Say, 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:32.440 parking team, do you get it? My sister's coming. She's 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:35.520 just like me. She has no patience, and if more 0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:37.920 than three cars get backed up, she's gonna turn around 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:40.040 and go home. And if she gets in an accident 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:41.800 on the way home and die, she's going to hell. 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:47.080 And if that happens, I'm gonna kill you. Then I'm 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:49.639 gonna go to the greeters. I'm say, greeters, do you 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:51.800 get it? Because if you're talking to my sister, you're 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:54.080 making her feel like everybody else thinks about her what 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:57.560 she feels about herself. Because she works in a job 0:23:57.600 --> 0:23:59.600 where she's had a trucking company and she's the safety 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:02.359 enforced her. So she gets to talk to truckers all 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:04.840 day long and tell them to stop driving. And if 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:07.120 you're a trucker and you're not driving, you're expressing your 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:10.800 displeasure in colorful ways. She gets cussed out all day 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:13.119 long in the job and then comes home to a 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:14.679 house where her and her husband look at each other 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:18.159 and go to opposite ends of the house because the 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:20.000 reality is, you know how long it's been since she's 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:23.160 seen somebody say to her, I'm glad to see you, 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:26.600 Because in her honest moments, she would have tapped out 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:28.960 long before had it not just been for her little daughter, 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:32.760 my niece, Caylen. But the greeterers get it, and they 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:34.119 make her smile, and they make you feel like you 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:37.000 matter and you're here today and I love you, and 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:38.600 they bring her in and they take my niece to 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:42.480 our ekids ministry, And my sister's world is spinning out 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:44.680 of control and the only thing she has is her daughter, 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:47.720 and she's gonna trust her to your hands. Man, you 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:50.440 better speak in full sentences, You better have all your teeth. 0:24:50.520 --> 0:24:52.399 You better get down on a knee and look that 0:24:52.440 --> 0:24:54.639 little girl in the eye, say God loves you. You 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:57.719 are so beautiful. Because if you don't do that, my sister, 0:24:57.760 --> 0:24:59.760 whose life is spinning out of control. She's gonna feel like, 0:24:59.760 --> 0:25:01.960 how can I trust her to you? And if she 0:25:02.040 --> 0:25:04.600 brings her into the auditorium, her focus is on her daughter, 0:25:04.680 --> 0:25:06.840 not on the gospel. And we're not gonna let that happen. 0:25:06.880 --> 0:25:08.920 But we're not just baby seating and he kids. No, 0:25:08.960 --> 0:25:11.080 we're hiding the word of God, which will produce a 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:13.400 harvest one day. And I leave that little girl sitting 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:16.120 in the back seat, preaching the sermon, singing the arms. 0:25:16.400 --> 0:25:19.439 Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:22.320 me so. So she leaves her daughter and he kids, 0:25:22.359 --> 0:25:25.040 and then she meets one of her ushers that gets 0:25:25.040 --> 0:25:28.000 the privilege to walk my sister to a seat where 0:25:28.040 --> 0:25:31.199 her life is going to be changed. And the worship begins, 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:33.000 and she starts to tear up because I don't even 0:25:33.080 --> 0:25:36.440 know what is going on inside of me, but something's happening. 0:25:36.600 --> 0:25:39.560 Because you are created in the image of God. There 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:41.880 is an indelible mark that He has left on your 0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:44.520 heart that is always pulling you back to the Father. 0:25:44.880 --> 0:25:47.679 She cannot describe it, but she cannot stop it, and 0:25:47.680 --> 0:25:51.000 it's expressing itself through tears, and she's like, oh, could 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:55.280 it be that there's something better. And then the gospel's preached, 0:25:56.160 --> 0:25:58.959 and Pastor Stephen gets up here and he stands here 0:25:59.000 --> 0:26:03.000 and he declaes declares, where's Jesus Christ, crucified, died, buried 0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:06.200 and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins? And my sister 0:26:06.320 --> 0:26:09.280 at the says, could it be? That's what I've been 0:26:09.320 --> 0:26:12.960 looking for my whole life. And if my sister's coming 0:26:13.000 --> 0:26:15.440 to church, that's what I want her one day experience 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:19.680 to be. Like my sister Luanne, who is it for 0:26:19.800 --> 0:26:25.119 you in that line? Make it personal? Some of you 0:26:25.240 --> 0:26:27.840 this church, you're treating it too casually because you have 0:26:27.960 --> 0:26:30.359 not made it personal for you. It's a game changer 0:26:30.400 --> 0:26:32.280 today because this is the day you make it personal 0:26:32.880 --> 0:26:34.760 and you make it be about a person. If the 0:26:34.880 --> 0:26:37.119 extent of my faith is only about me and what 0:26:37.280 --> 0:26:40.080 I get, I have got a shallow faith, and shallow 0:26:40.200 --> 0:26:43.440 values will lead to empty victories. Today is to day 0:26:43.440 --> 0:26:45.159 that we can dig for something deeper and mountain. Make 0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:47.000 it be about us. But who is it who's in 0:26:47.080 --> 0:26:49.880 your line? Because for some woman here, it's her husband 0:26:49.920 --> 0:26:53.480 who's at home today. For some dabt it's their daughter 0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:54.920 that you've got in a fight four years ago, and 0:26:55.000 --> 0:26:58.680 unforgiveness fractured the relationship. Who is it for you? What 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:00.280 would it look like if you were to dive develop 0:27:00.320 --> 0:27:01.919 a persistence its God. I don't know when it's going 0:27:02.000 --> 0:27:04.480 to happen, but I believe it will happen. That's one day. 0:27:05.800 --> 0:27:09.040 That's why we started this ministry for that. And as 0:27:09.080 --> 0:27:10.760 we started going through this ministry, my wife and I 0:27:10.880 --> 0:27:14.040 realized we cannot expect new blessings off of old sacrifices. 0:27:15.280 --> 0:27:16.760 I can't just live off of a house that was 0:27:16.800 --> 0:27:18.879 sold twelve years ago. I've got to bring a present 0:27:18.960 --> 0:27:21.359 day sacrifice today. So my wife and I come to 0:27:21.359 --> 0:27:24.320 twenty thirteen end of your Giving series. That year was 0:27:24.400 --> 0:27:26.840 called Banner Years, and my wife and I said, we 0:27:26.920 --> 0:27:29.040 are going to give specifically to my sister Luanne and 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:31.800 her family. And at the end of year, we wrote 0:27:31.840 --> 0:27:36.040 down the word restoration and we gave the biggest gift 0:27:36.240 --> 0:27:40.640 we have given. See, sacrifice is never about size. It's 0:27:40.640 --> 0:27:43.600 always about significance. Because if I were to tell you 0:27:43.640 --> 0:27:45.040 the size, some of you be like, that's a lot. 0:27:45.119 --> 0:27:46.800 Some of you would say that's a little. It's never 0:27:46.840 --> 0:27:48.960 about the amount, It's about the sacrifice. That it represents. 0:27:49.280 --> 0:27:51.320 God is not calling us to equal amounts, but He 0:27:51.400 --> 0:27:53.960 is calling us to equal sacrifices. And I want to 0:27:54.040 --> 0:27:56.080 challenge you this year to sacrifice in such a way 0:27:56.280 --> 0:27:58.320 that you show your faith. Now just talk about it. 0:27:58.520 --> 0:28:01.320 I'm talking you live your faith that kind of faith. 0:28:01.440 --> 0:28:03.720 And we saw God move in my sister's family and 0:28:03.840 --> 0:28:07.080 God had restored that marriage and He is restoring that family. 0:28:07.359 --> 0:28:09.520 Look at what God is doing, not just thirteen years ago, 0:28:09.600 --> 0:28:13.000 but today. Then the next year comes along the year 0:28:13.000 --> 0:28:15.399 after that, and our surround was the series we were 0:28:15.440 --> 0:28:19.440 in that year, and then we wrote down the word salvation. 0:28:20.560 --> 0:28:23.800 This is actually the word. This is my handwriting. Because 0:28:23.800 --> 0:28:25.879 we were able to convince Lewann and John and Caln 0:28:26.040 --> 0:28:31.240 to come to North Carolina for Carolina Christmas. And the 0:28:31.440 --> 0:28:34.399 person I've been teaching about for a decade that I 0:28:34.440 --> 0:28:39.480 didn't think would ever come to Elevation Church game whoa. 0:28:42.280 --> 0:28:46.880 And in that moment I got a chance to see 0:28:47.640 --> 0:28:50.160 my niece Caaylen give her life to Christ, my brother 0:28:50.200 --> 0:28:52.440 in law John give his lafe to Christ, and my 0:28:52.560 --> 0:28:59.040 sister Luanne give her a lafe to Christ. Won't God 0:28:59.120 --> 0:29:11.440 do it? And as I was reading Acts chapter three, 0:29:11.520 --> 0:29:13.719 getting ready for today, said God, sid you don't understand 0:29:13.720 --> 0:29:15.719 the whole story because you didn't read the previous chapters. 0:29:16.960 --> 0:29:19.760 And God took me back to Acts chapter two and 0:29:19.880 --> 0:29:23.720 Acts chapter two. It said, everyone was filled with awe 0:29:23.960 --> 0:29:26.320 at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 0:29:26.920 --> 0:29:30.600 All the believers were together, they had had everything in common. 0:29:30.640 --> 0:29:33.680 They sold their property and possessions and gave to anyone 0:29:34.240 --> 0:29:37.200 who had need. Every day they continued to meet together 0:29:37.240 --> 0:29:39.800 in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes 0:29:39.840 --> 0:29:42.200 and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God 0:29:42.440 --> 0:29:44.520 and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the 0:29:44.640 --> 0:29:49.120 Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 0:29:49.440 --> 0:29:54.240 This is an ordinary day the first century Church, in 0:29:54.320 --> 0:29:56.840 the Book of Acts, an ordinary day is when they're 0:29:56.880 --> 0:30:00.240 gathering together, they're worshiping their sacrificing and their gift, and 0:30:00.360 --> 0:30:03.680 the Lord added to their number daily those who were 0:30:03.800 --> 0:30:06.680 being saved. It was an ordinary day for them to 0:30:06.760 --> 0:30:08.960 see people come to faith in Jesus. And did you 0:30:09.120 --> 0:30:12.160 know that at Melbourne, one of our seventeen locations, on 0:30:12.280 --> 0:30:15.000 an ordinary weekend, at one of our ordinary campuses last 0:30:15.040 --> 0:30:17.760 week Melbourne. You had twenty eight people make decisions for 0:30:17.840 --> 0:30:21.800 Christ last week at an ordinary weekend at an ordinary campus. 0:30:22.080 --> 0:30:25.160 Look what God can do when ordinary people make a 0:30:25.320 --> 0:30:29.840 one day their lifestyle. So I got it, oh, Act 0:30:29.960 --> 0:30:33.640 chapter three. This Beggar being Healed began in Acts chapter 0:30:33.760 --> 0:30:37.440 two cause for Peter and John, this is what we do, 0:30:38.080 --> 0:30:41.240 this is who we are, this is our ordinary faith. 0:30:41.480 --> 0:30:45.120 As they walk into Act chapter three, their ordinary one day, 0:30:45.200 --> 0:30:47.960 God's at move I'm living my life for His glory. 0:30:48.200 --> 0:30:53.960 Their ordinary encountered, this beggar's ordinary. The one day encountered 0:30:54.280 --> 0:30:58.840 is just another day which I'm asking which one are you? 0:30:59.680 --> 0:31:02.800 Are you Peter and John? Are you the beggar? And 0:31:02.960 --> 0:31:07.560 when this ordinary collided with that ordinary, an extraordinary God 0:31:07.760 --> 0:31:11.240 showed up on the scene. Because the lesser must submit 0:31:11.360 --> 0:31:13.840 to the greater, and the greater glory that is in 0:31:13.960 --> 0:31:16.960 those people caused that to submit, and that man's life 0:31:17.600 --> 0:31:20.800 was changed. It's been the story of our church since 0:31:20.840 --> 0:31:24.640 we started, not just with those original eight families, but 0:31:24.800 --> 0:31:27.920 countless individuals who have jumped in and been a part 0:31:27.960 --> 0:31:30.239 of this, like John and Rodney Mullens right here. They 0:31:30.280 --> 0:31:32.120 showed up in two thousand and sixties to get their 0:31:32.120 --> 0:31:36.520 adult daughter at church. They said this is weird, but 0:31:36.640 --> 0:31:39.480 they said, this is ordinary, and they've been here ever since, 0:31:39.560 --> 0:31:43.360 serving in sacrificing people like Adam and Anita Bright build 0:31:43.400 --> 0:31:45.760 up at a Roanoke location. They started coming to the 0:31:45.840 --> 0:31:48.680 Ronot campus in twenty fourteen. During the Surround series. He 0:31:48.840 --> 0:31:51.200 lost his job and they were pregnant. He received a 0:31:51.280 --> 0:31:53.560 severance which they planned to live on for the next 0:31:53.600 --> 0:31:55.560 few months and prepared for the baby to come. But 0:31:55.640 --> 0:31:58.080 they felt God called them to give the whole severance 0:31:58.320 --> 0:32:00.600 at the year end offering, and they weren't. Wrote down 0:32:00.680 --> 0:32:04.280 the word trust. It didn't make sense, but they obeyed. 0:32:06.120 --> 0:32:09.240 Let me read that again. It didn't make sense, but 0:32:09.480 --> 0:32:12.720 they obeyed. That's ordinary faith God. I don't have to 0:32:12.840 --> 0:32:15.080 understand it to obey it. I'm just gonna do it. 0:32:15.360 --> 0:32:17.360 Within two weeks, Adam got a phone call and has 0:32:17.360 --> 0:32:20.320 offered a better job, more pay, sustainable job, less travel, 0:32:20.320 --> 0:32:22.400 so we can be ten with his family. Lew and 0:32:22.480 --> 0:32:25.720 Kiera Torres at a Raleigh location. The Torres family joined 0:32:25.720 --> 0:32:28.640 the Raleigh campus twenty fifteen. For the past four years, 0:32:28.640 --> 0:32:30.680 they've been trying to have a baby, unable to conceive 0:32:31.400 --> 0:32:35.080 last year during Waymaker, they gave sacrificially and wrote the 0:32:35.080 --> 0:32:37.520 word baby on their card with the belief that God 0:32:37.640 --> 0:32:39.720 was going to bring a baby their way. A little 0:32:39.720 --> 0:32:43.920 over two months ago, baby boy David was born to 0:32:44.040 --> 0:32:48.880 this wonderful family. Won't God do it? Ordinary people having 0:32:48.920 --> 0:32:52.280 an ordinary faith? Bobby and Carla Sweeney at our Winston 0:32:52.320 --> 0:32:55.160 Salem Campus. Bobby and Carla were part of launching the 0:32:55.200 --> 0:32:58.680 Winston Salem Campus in twenty seventeen. Their adult daughter, Stephanie 0:32:58.720 --> 0:33:02.240 has spina bifida. Been a long hard journey caring for 0:33:02.360 --> 0:33:05.760 her through the mounting medical struggles through another adult daughter, Tree, 0:33:06.120 --> 0:33:09.040 struggle with crippling postpartum depression over the past couple of years. 0:33:09.480 --> 0:33:12.280 They gave sacrificially during Waymaker, and they claimed the word 0:33:12.560 --> 0:33:15.920 trust after trusting God through so many hard times with 0:33:16.040 --> 0:33:18.400 their families. Saw the fruit of their faith when their 0:33:18.440 --> 0:33:22.040 daughter Tree was baptized this past August. Won't God do it? 0:33:22.920 --> 0:33:30.080 Won't God do it? I don't give to get. God's 0:33:30.160 --> 0:33:32.200 not a celestial vending machine that I popped in a 0:33:32.240 --> 0:33:35.080 couple quarters of push a blessing. Heck, no, I give 0:33:35.200 --> 0:33:37.200 because every time I give, it creates more space for 0:33:37.320 --> 0:33:40.080 Him to occupy. God wants to be so consumed in 0:33:40.160 --> 0:33:42.560 your life. He wants to have all of you, the 0:33:42.680 --> 0:33:45.080 good parts, the bad parts, the parts you want and 0:33:45.160 --> 0:33:47.400 the parts you don't. That's why we give, because He 0:33:47.600 --> 0:33:50.200 is worth it and the Gospel commands it. We just 0:33:50.280 --> 0:33:52.080 don't want to have a faith. I believe for it, 0:33:52.400 --> 0:33:55.960 we want to live for it. And so when I 0:33:56.000 --> 0:34:00.600 wrote those names down, my brother Lay he's not yet 0:34:00.640 --> 0:34:06.920 come to faith. My dad, he's not yet come to faith. 0:34:06.960 --> 0:34:12.240 He's in a retirement home and he's got severe dimension. 0:34:13.160 --> 0:34:14.600 I saw him a couple of weeks ago, and now 0:34:14.680 --> 0:34:16.440 I'm like, God, how do I share the faith with him? 0:34:17.200 --> 0:34:19.799 And he doesn't even know who I am. I still 0:34:19.840 --> 0:34:23.680 believe God is sovereign. I don't know how, But I 0:34:23.719 --> 0:34:26.520 also believe God is sovereign, and I have a responsibility. 0:34:27.520 --> 0:34:31.440 My responsibility is to keep sacrificing. God's responsibility is to 0:34:31.520 --> 0:34:33.480 keep saving, and I'm going to trust that He's going 0:34:33.560 --> 0:34:35.759 to do it even when it can make sense. So 0:34:35.920 --> 0:34:38.000 one day isn't just for the stories that have happened. 0:34:38.200 --> 0:34:39.719 One day is for the things that are waiting to 0:34:39.800 --> 0:34:46.200 be written. That's why I give, don't give up. Somebody 0:34:46.320 --> 0:34:50.520 needs you. And what I didn't realize is when I 0:34:50.560 --> 0:34:52.479 wrote that blank line down, I didn't know what would 0:34:52.520 --> 0:34:57.279 encompass all of you. I didn't know what encompass all 0:34:57.320 --> 0:35:02.600 of the people in Raley or Morrisville, Gaston. I also 0:35:02.640 --> 0:35:08.640 didn't know what encompassed my family. This last Easter, I 0:35:08.680 --> 0:35:10.399 got a text from one of her e Kids directors saying, 0:35:10.440 --> 0:35:13.080 your daughter, Dalen, she wants to give her life to Jesus. 0:35:14.160 --> 0:35:18.400 So I sprinted across the building. I huffed and puffed 0:35:18.400 --> 0:35:22.440 the whole way there, but I got there, and my 0:35:22.520 --> 0:35:25.480 wife and I got a chance to lead our ten 0:35:25.520 --> 0:35:27.160 year old daughter and a prayer to give her life 0:35:27.600 --> 0:35:31.920 to Jesus this past Easter. I didn't know that when 0:35:31.960 --> 0:35:36.800 I signed up, I didn't know that. And so this 0:35:36.880 --> 0:35:40.760 past Easter, when I called my sister Luan and I said, hey, Dalen, 0:35:40.840 --> 0:35:45.400 just give her life to Jesus. We're celebrating. She said, Hey, Larry, 0:35:46.520 --> 0:35:50.040 when I come out there in August, I've been thinking 0:35:50.040 --> 0:35:51.680 about this for a while now. This is the name 0:35:51.719 --> 0:35:55.680 I wrote down more than thirteen years ago. She said, 0:35:55.719 --> 0:36:00.880 do you think you could baptize me? And then my 0:36:01.000 --> 0:36:04.320 daughter piles on and my daughter says, hey, do you 0:36:04.360 --> 0:36:08.800 think I could get baptist with Auntie Lou? And so 0:36:08.960 --> 0:36:11.200 this about these baptisms happened a couple of weeks ago. 0:36:11.280 --> 0:36:29.840 Take a look, is this thank you? And it is 0:36:29.920 --> 0:37:05.360 my premis to baptize you in the name of the Fathers, 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:28.160 so that people far from God will be raised to 0:37:28.360 --> 0:37:34.719 life in Christ, people like my sister, your dad, you, 0:37:35.880 --> 0:37:43.000 your mother, your friends, your co workers, ordinary people. But 0:37:43.160 --> 0:37:47.759 you stand your feet at all of our locations. And 0:37:47.840 --> 0:37:50.400 Peter and John stepped out of Acts chapter three an 0:37:50.560 --> 0:37:53.879 ordinary day. In the Acts chapter four, the next chapter 0:37:53.920 --> 0:37:57.000 that's waiting to be written, they've been arrested at this point, 0:37:57.120 --> 0:38:01.399 put on trial for their faith, and they're taking before 0:38:01.400 --> 0:38:05.239 the religious leaders in the Acts four thirteen and says this. 0:38:05.320 --> 0:38:07.359 It says, when they saw the courage of Peter and John, 0:38:08.320 --> 0:38:14.319 they realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men. They were 0:38:14.320 --> 0:38:18.239 astonished and took note that these men had been with 0:38:18.440 --> 0:38:25.840 Jesus ordinary an ordinary day, ordinary people living an ordinary 0:38:25.960 --> 0:38:29.920 life in the hands of an extraordinary God. Because the 0:38:29.960 --> 0:38:33.840 word ordinary there if in the original language, it's actually 0:38:33.920 --> 0:38:44.520 pronounced idiotas yep. If you feel ordinary, you are perfectly 0:38:44.600 --> 0:38:47.279 positioned to be used by God. He's not looking for 0:38:47.360 --> 0:38:50.439 the religious elite. He's not looking for those that prove 0:38:50.480 --> 0:38:53.799 their worth by how much biblical acumen they have. He's 0:38:53.880 --> 0:38:58.040 looking for ordinary people to step into ordinary situations and 0:38:58.160 --> 0:39:01.520 declare an extraordinary God. And it says they could tell 0:39:01.640 --> 0:39:04.920 that these men had been with Jesus, not just because 0:39:04.920 --> 0:39:07.480 of the testimony of their mouth, but the evidence of 0:39:07.560 --> 0:39:11.239 their life. Faith is a language towards it, but it's 0:39:11.320 --> 0:39:14.680 also a lifestyle that believes towards it. That's what God 0:39:14.760 --> 0:39:16.640 wants us to do, is to walk out of here 0:39:16.760 --> 0:39:19.840 into the next chapter, but to have a one day mentality, 0:39:19.880 --> 0:39:23.040 says God. With you, all things are possible. And we 0:39:23.160 --> 0:39:27.279 serve a savior, a great God who was in heaven glorious. 0:39:27.600 --> 0:39:30.200 But he said, I'm gonna come down as an ordinary man, 0:39:30.560 --> 0:39:34.279 take on ordinary flesh, live in an ordinary city, do 0:39:34.560 --> 0:39:40.200 ordinary things. As he walked through his life in ordinary flesh, 0:39:40.360 --> 0:39:47.239 an ordinary day with Jesus, blind people, seeing the deaf, 0:39:47.360 --> 0:39:53.480 hearing an ordinary day with Jesus is miraculous. And then 0:39:53.520 --> 0:39:57.000 he crawled upon to an ordinary cross, a cross that 0:39:57.160 --> 0:40:00.600 was killed, used to kill ordinary convicts. And he was 0:40:00.719 --> 0:40:06.720 numbered with us. And if I measure my sacrifice against 0:40:06.800 --> 0:40:10.880 what Jesus did on the cross. It looks insignificant, but 0:40:11.080 --> 0:40:14.080 God is looking at you, say, whatever you bring me, 0:40:14.200 --> 0:40:18.360 that's significant because the significance of my life is always 0:40:18.520 --> 0:40:23.960 tied to my sacrifice. When you walk into your job tomorrow, 0:40:25.080 --> 0:40:29.160 well they know that you've been with Jesus. You go 0:40:29.239 --> 0:40:32.840 back into that classroom, put up with those little blessed souls, 0:40:35.520 --> 0:40:40.640 and you go to work with all those just wonderful people. 0:40:42.880 --> 0:40:45.760 Are they going to know that you've been with Jesus. 0:40:47.080 --> 0:40:50.080 Faith doesn't mean you don't doubt. It just means that 0:40:50.160 --> 0:40:53.759 there's a game changer you go back to. Well, I 0:40:53.800 --> 0:40:56.040 hope you enjoyed the podcast today, and if you did, 0:40:56.120 --> 0:40:58.120 there are just a couple things I'd love for you 0:40:58.280 --> 0:41:01.440 to do. Number One, subscribe to our show. That way, 0:41:01.920 --> 0:41:04.680 the most recent episode will always be in your feed, 0:41:04.960 --> 0:41:08.480 waiting for you ready when you are. And Secondly, if 0:41:08.520 --> 0:41:11.000 this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to help 0:41:11.080 --> 0:41:13.440 us continue to reach others, you can click the link 0:41:13.480 --> 0:41:16.040 in the description and you can give now and I'll 0:41:16.120 --> 0:41:19.160 see you next time on the Elevation Podcast.