Come Through Drippin

0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:05.080 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:07.160 and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.480 for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.680 builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to see 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:18.640 God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Welcome 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:23.640 to the praise party, I said, welcome to the praise 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:30.520 party all over the world. We'd like to welcome you 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:34.320 into our home. This is our family. I pray that 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.440 whatever campus you're watching on the presence of God is 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.360 permeating that atmosphere like it's permeating this one. There is 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:45.680 a sense of hope, eagerness, and really a purity of 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:48.800 faith that is in this room tonight. It's the kind 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.440 of atmosphere that makes it easy for God to move 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:54.840 because He doesn't have to try to get our attention. 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:59.959 He already has it. And so now that we're here 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:04.399 and we made it, let's really seize this opportunity to 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.160 go into the Word of God and to see what 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.880 He would speak to us on this occasion. I might 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.520 as well let you know upfront, because I believe in 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.560 being honest and direct that I am absolutely ready and 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:26.119 prepared for you tonight. I heard that you were coming, 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:31.720 and I cooked something. I feel like that I know 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:34.959 exactly what God wants me to say, what he wants 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.640 us to do, and what he has said that he 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:42.200 will do for us if we will do what He's 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.039 going to tell us to do. That he already told 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.160 me that I'm going to tell you over the next 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:51.240 few moments. To me, this is a very precious night. 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.400 I started having the praise party in twenty thirteen, right 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:57.560 around the time that Holly and I got so old 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.280 that we were having trouble staying up and in the 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:05.520 ball drop, I said, this is pitiful. What we need 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.520 to do is start our year with some other people 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:13.119 that are having trouble, stay in a wake, and maybe 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.920 if we all caffeate together and come together and seek 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:19.639 God together, we can start the year with a disposition, 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:27.399 a belief, and an expectation of greater things. I want 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.200 to say thank you to the church family that I pastor. 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.240 I know there are many guests here and our evam 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.600 around the world, but I wanted everybody to hear this 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.280 what I'm about to say. I am really really becoming 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:42.720 more and more aware of what a privilege it is 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:46.040 and a sacred trust. It is that you would allow me, 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.400 as a leader in Holly, as a leader in our family, 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.120 to have this part in your life, to be able 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:56.079 to minister to you in those moments of your life 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:57.519 where you don't know if you can go on, or 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.960 where you're seeking direction from above, to be able to 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.320 stand in this spot week in and week out for 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.720 another year and declare the word of the Lord has 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.000 nothing to take for granted. And I want to thank 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:11.880 you for allowing me to be on the journey with you. 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.000 That's a real privilege wherever you are in the world. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.360 Just I know our church feels this way. It is 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.120 an honor to minister God's word to you. It's really 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:26.760 a great privilege and a joy. And so stand up, 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:28.639 just in case, love you to just in case you're 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.679 starting to nod off. Stand up, and I want to 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:36.080 read you the scripture. And it is a familiar scripture 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:41.360 and it is an epic scenario. It's found in Exodus 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:47.400 chapter fourteen. You like that one. I feel so good 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:52.839 up here right now. Anything could happen tonight. I mean, 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.200 I don't know if it was the thirteen cups of 0:03:55.240 --> 0:04:02.600 coffee or the Holy Ghost work in tandem. But I 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:04.520 just feel good because normally on a weekend, I have 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.720 to behave and there's a lot of constraints, and I 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:15.240 just feel like tonight should be our night, you know 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.480 what I mean. Like usually we have to kind of 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:21.080 just tone it down in case there's guests and visitors 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:22.720 and all that. But I don't want to do that tonight. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:28.640 I don't want to do that night. No, no, no, 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.920 I didn't put on my best jean jacket just to 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:40.560 come in here. But this scripture in Exodus fourteen is 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.360 of course all about transition and victory, so it's appropriate 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.920 for tonight. But let me read it to you. Verse 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:52.200 twenty six Exodus fourteen. Then the Lord said to Moses, 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.040 stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.960 waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their cherry 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.840 and horsemen. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.480 and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:13.760 The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:18.880 them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.800 the chariots and horsemen, the entire army of Pharaoh that 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:25.719 had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:33.960 them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:42.400 dry ground with a wall of water. On their right 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:47.000 looked to your right, and on their left looked to 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:51.280 your left. Okay, while you'll turn in two different directions, 0:05:52.440 --> 0:06:00.880 it's a universal kind of thing. But the Israelites went 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:07.760 through the sea on try ground. But the Israelites. This 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.680 is how you can tell I belong to God because 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:22.400 I went through the sea on try ground. Do me 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.680 a favor. Since this is a party, everybody participate and 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:28.680 look at your neighbor on your right or your left. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.640 You choose. I'm gonna leave that much up to you. 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.440 But now let me tell you what to tell them. 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.800 You're gonna give them my title. Tell them this, say 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:43.839 I don't know what you went through in twenty eighteen, 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:52.080 but you made it. And tell them hold on, no, 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:57.159 that's not it. That's not it. We're not done. Tell them, 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:02.760 since you came through, you might as well come through 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:39.679 trip it. Please be seated. How many of you twenty 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:41.720 eighteen didn't go like you planned for it to go. 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:52.440 Messed up your workout plan when your knees started hurting, 0:07:55.880 --> 0:08:01.160 you were paying off some stuff, and then you're transmission 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:08.200 and plan for that, which is why, of course I 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:15.360 don't come up here and do the predictable preaching maneuver 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:22.280 where I challenge you to make New Year's resolutions, because 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:33.720 resolutions are cheap, resilience is priceless. I want to lay 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:35.480 a foundation for what I want to say from the 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.760 text from a study that was done. The article was 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.560 printed in The New Yorker several years ago, and I 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:43.440 saved it because I thought it would be helpful for 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.480 us to look at it at some point in the future, 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.520 and that point is now. And the writer of the article, 0:08:51.280 --> 0:09:00.520 George Banano Banano, if you're watching, George I tried, was 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:05.440 talking about how the central element of resilience is perception 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:12.480 and that there is no such thing, strictly speaking, as 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:17.480 a traumatic event. The reason he came to this conclusion 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:23.079 was because he interviewed children, over six hundred of them, 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:27.760 who had gone through the worst possible situations imaginable, and 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:31.640 found out that many of the children who went through 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:36.680 the worst situations came out with the greatest emotional stability 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:43.440 and sense of connectivity. And so from that he concluded, listen, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:48.920 that events are not traumatic until we experience them as traumatic. 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:57.079 And he wasn't necessarily negating the post traumatic stress of 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:02.000 growing up in a broken home or going to war 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.480 and then coming back to a situation that is so 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:11.440 foreign to the experience of the battle that you thought 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:15.400 that you cannot find your own equilibrium. But what he 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.880 was saying is much deeper than that. He said that 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:25.120 to call something a traumatic event belies the fact, and 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:34.880 so he coined a term PTE, not PTSD, which is 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:39.160 a very real thing, no doubt, But his term was 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:44.520 potentially traumatic event, which he argues is a more accurate 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:48.000 way to look at the things that we go through 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:53.240 in our lives. The theory is straightforward, every frightening event, 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:58.320 or you might insert painful event, no matter how negative 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.720 it might seem from the sideline, has the potential to 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:08.920 be traumatic or not to the person experiencing it. I 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:10.320 don't know if you agree with that, or if it 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.200 was a little bit boring and you didn't pay much attention, 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:18.240 but wake up now. He's making a distinction between what 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:23.440 we went through and what we do with what we 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:28.200 went through. I couldn't think of a more appropriate group 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.880 of people to come and share this evening with us 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.360 than the Israelites in this the birth of their nation 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:41.560 as such, and their escape from Egypt, where they had 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.640 been slaves for over four hundred years, as God told 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.320 Abram that his people would be in Genesis chapter fifteen, 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:53.320 many years earlier. But now as they are coming out 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.000 of that season of their life, they are carrying with 0:11:56.200 --> 0:12:01.040 them much of the trauma from what they experienced in Egypt, 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:06.040 and they're escaping this place that had become so painful 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:11.120 for them because of the unrealistic and inhumane pressure that 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:15.560 they were under as slaves or servants in Egypt under 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.719 a taskmaster who did not know Joseph and did not 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.440 remember or regard the people of God as special. The 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:28.000 trauma of what they had been through in that four 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.120 hundred years would be impossible to cover in forty minutes tonight. 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.040 And I hope you'll give me a little grace as 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:38.360 I kind of brush past some things that probably for 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:45.920 them would be much more, much more traumatic than my 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.480 summary would lead you to believe. But you understand that 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:54.520 they were so oppressed in this period of being in Egypt. 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:58.200 Not only were they forced to do a job that 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.280 they weren't paid for, but they were forced to do 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:04.719 it with not enough materials. By the way, have you 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.160 ever felt that way like trying to raise kids and 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.440 get through life and do what you need to do 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:12.480 in the world. And I'm not comparing us to them, 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.040 but many of the things that they went through, while 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:19.680 not similar situationally, might have a similar psychological effect in 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.800 that what they went through had left them traumatized in 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.520 a sense. And tonight I have to believe that the 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.800 reason you came here, whether you thought you came here 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.559 for this reason or not, is that there are some traumas, 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:39.480 even if they're micro traumas, that God wanted to deal with, 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:43.120 some tears in the tissue of the muscle fiber that 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:47.599 God wanted to deal with specifically and surgically in the 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:49.800 way that only his spirit can. And he brought you 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.200 here tonight, maybe under the pretense of just having nothing 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:54.920 else to do, or maybe there was a girl who 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.760 asked you to come, And maybe you're more excited about 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.679 after church than during church. You're stuck with me for 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.000 a few minutes. I'm gonna talk to you for a 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.360 few minutes while I can with this microphone and talk 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.480 to you about some of the things that you went through. 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.199 And also I would add to that that you probably 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:16.080 came to celebrate a little bit. I mean, it's not 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.080 like everybody here tonight had the worst year of their life. 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:24.000 I can never understand that why we're so why we're 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:29.680 so hasty to want to leave this year. One of 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:31.280 the ways I can tell when my life is out 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.200 of alignment is when I'm in a hurry for no 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:38.600 good reason. Like it's one thing to be in a hurry, 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:40.240 and there's a reason that I'm in a hurry, and 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:41.880 I can point to the next thing on my schedule 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.160 that I'm trying to get to. But when I'm in 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:48.280 too much of a hurry and there's nowhere that I'm going, 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.520 it's a sign that something is wrong in my life. 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.200 It's a sign that something is not working right. And 0:14:55.280 --> 0:15:00.440 so now we find the Israelites not serving Pharaoh in 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:06.320 building the different construction projects that he has ordered to 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:10.640 be built, but they are escaping Egypt, which is interesting 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:19.960 in itself because originally they escaped to Egypt because there 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:24.320 was a famine at home, But over a period of 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:29.960 many years and a transition of leadership, what they escaped 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:37.920 to they became enslaved by Sometimes this happens in all 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:42.160 of our lives, is that we're so tired of being 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:48.400 alone that we escape to a relationship that in the 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:52.480 end produces a worse loneliness than being alone ever could. 0:15:55.760 --> 0:16:00.760 Sometimes we cry tears because we escape to something that 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:05.720 we ultimately become enslaved by. Sometimes the thing that we 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:08.320 run too is more dangerous than the thing that we're 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.120 running from, and it wasn't their fault. Sometimes we make 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.320 decisions to run to certain things. But really they had 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.560 to go to Egypt, not only to fulfill the prophecy 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.120 which extended into the New Testament, which we know at 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.640 Christmas time that out of Egypt I've called my Son, 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:26.240 which ultimately projects into the very life of Jesus Christ himself. 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.920 It's an arc of a narrative that God was creating 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.960 for deliverance for his people before they were ever born. 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:41.480 But now they're in transition, and transition is dramatic, even 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:46.480 the good kind. Even when God blesses you in the 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.720 way that you asked him to, a lot of times 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.800 you find out that what you ask God for way 0:16:54.000 --> 0:17:00.720 more than you were prepared to carry. Ever had your 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.520 prayer request turn into your praise report and then turned 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:13.280 back into your prayer request. And so transition is traumatic, 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:20.160 whether I'm devolving into a dire circumstance or whether God 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:25.119 is elevating me and developing me into something greater. Transition 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:29.359 is always traumatic. And so perhaps tonight you're not bringing 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:34.520 your traumas to church. Maybe you're bringing some trophies to church. Hey, 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.440 I had a pretty good year. You know. Some things 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.600 happened for me this year that I never thought could happen. 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.600 And some things happened for me this year that I 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.159 really had looked forward to for a long time. But 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:48.960 I had some things happened for me this year, Like 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:51.879 I had a breakthrough in an area that I'd been 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:54.120 running up against the same thing over and over again. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.800 I had a breakthrough somebody that I was praying for. 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:01.240 They got better this year. Something that I've been struggling 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.159 with for a long time. I don't struggle with it 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.080 as much anymore. I mean, still there, but it's not 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.640 overwhelming me. It's not overcoming me. It hadn't been as 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.159 dark this year. I've experienced some of the goodness of 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.680 the Lord that at once I only forecasted this year 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.480 came into my life, and it reigned over my life. 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.240 And I'm here tonight not only to bring before the 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:22.960 Lord my traumas, but my trophies, because I want to acknowledge, 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:28.040 before my blessings turn into pride, that I want to 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:33.879 turn back to praise God for every victory that he 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.960 gave me this year. And make no mistake about it, 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.400 every mountain that I stood on this year, I did 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:46.639 not get there alone, not at all. I'm not smart enough, 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:52.760 I'm not sharp enough, I'm not connected enough. And so 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:58.840 whatever state of transition we find ourselves in any given 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.919 moment of our life, it can be traumatic. Yet the 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:09.840 men said that the experience is not inherent in the event. Rather, 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:13.800 it is your perception of the event and how much 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:18.600 resilience you have. The children of Israel were nothing if 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:24.240 not resilient. They were resilient even when they didn't have 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.959 a lot of resources. They were resilient, even when they 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.119 were complaining. They were resilient, even when they had a 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:37.760 bad attitude. They were resilient. In fact, the Bible says 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:42.000 something kind of weird, says that the more that Pharaoh 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:47.480 oppressed them, the more they multiplied. And I don't know 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:52.159 if I'm looking at anybody tonight that just turned stuff 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.480 into this year, that transformed and converted stuff this year 0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:00.280 that happened in your life that might have caused other 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:06.679 people to quit. But look at you in church after 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:12.359 all that. Come on, nudge somebody next year say after 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:20.040 all that, look at me, after all that, I'm still cute, 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:27.600 after all that, I'm not petty or bitter after all that. 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:31.880 Don't get me wrong, I have a reason to be 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.359 and I could be in a in a sour state 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:39.320 of mind tonight, but I decided to do it differently. 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.760 This year. I decided to bring all my trauma and 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:51.520 all my trophies into the presence of God. Come on, 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:56.119 here's somebody say, I came through Now. One difference between 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:58.840 us and the Israelites is that they came through something 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:01.119 physical that you could see. Did you see it in 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:04.480 the text? It's really beautiful how the text paints the picture. 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:06.240 And it's not only the event that it describes, but 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:08.879 it's the entire trajectory of deliverance that is depicted in 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:10.560 the whole Book of Exodus, which is one of the 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:12.760 major themes of the Bible from beginning to end. For 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:14.959 many years, I thought salvation was just what we were 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.600 saved from. But the big picture of God's purpose for 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:21.680 your life and my life is what we're saved too. 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.400 And so on this journey to freedom, not just from sin, 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:35.000 but freedom too, they're going, this is the crazy thing 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:39.159 about God. When he brings you out of something, he 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:47.760 does not let you choose your escape route. Because I 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.639 should probably talk about this, because there is a Bible 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:54.320 verse that says God will not allow you to be 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.800 tempted beyond what you are able. That with the temptation, 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:01.399 he will provide the way of a us escape. But 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.800 it promises he will provide the way of escape. It 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:07.159 does not promise that he will let you pick the 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:11.320 way of escape. It is not a multiple choice. It 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:14.800 is not a choose your own adventure escape route. So 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:18.360 God's way of escape is not up for debate. When 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:23.360 God calls you out, he leads you sometimes strange ways, 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:29.800 Which is why they must have been so disappointed when 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:35.719 Moses took them on those backcountry roads to camp out 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:40.240 right in front of the Red Sea, because it would 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:42.280 have been shorter. Even the Bible says it would have 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.520 been shorter. It wasn't just their opinion. The Bible says 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:47.960 It would have been shorter if they would have gone 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:52.280 through Philistine country, but they weren't ready for war yet. 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:57.879 A lot of times, when God brings you from point 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:01.719 A to point B, he takes you on a zigzag 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:05.080 because he knows, and I don't mean to hurt your 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:09.480 feelings how fragile your faith is, even if you don't, 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:18.000 so he brings them out on a way of escape. 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:20.960 That to them must have seemed long, but they could 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:24.399 deal with it. They didn't complain about that. What must 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:28.840 have seemed really weird to them was when they heard 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:35.679 the wheels of the chariots, the horsepower of the engines 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:40.720 of Pharaoh's six hundred chosen chariots, coming up behind them, 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:44.120 when they thought they had left Egypt and they were 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:48.520 done with that. Now we're at the text in verse 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:52.760 twenty six where the Lord said to Moses, stretch out 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:54.879 your hand. I'm so excited to share this with you. 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:57.320 God showed me something this week that was so cool, 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:01.920 because the first time Moses stretched out his hand, which 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:05.640 had a staff in it, the sea parted so that 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:09.160 the Israelites could go through, so that they could walk 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:13.120 through what they shouldn't have been able to walk through. Now, 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:15.560 there are some things that God did in your life 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:19.160 this year with a strong east wind that if He 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:23.280 didn't do those things, you wouldn't have been able to 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:27.240 go through. Within yourself, come on a minute, within your 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:32.199 own strength, with your DNA and with your dad and 0:24:32.240 --> 0:24:35.560 your mom and their genes still kicking around in a 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:40.159 cage fight inside of you, you would not have gone 0:24:40.240 --> 0:24:43.600 through it. You would have stopped in the middle of it, 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:46.160 and you would have drowned. But one thing about God 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:49.480 is he is only known by the evidence of what 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:53.800 he does. He has not experienced directly. The Bible says 0:24:53.840 --> 0:24:56.639 that the reason they went through is because a wind 0:24:56.720 --> 0:24:59.800 blew from the east and made the waters stand at 0:24:59.800 --> 0:25:03.760 a so that the people could go through. Now, you 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:07.119 can't see wind, You can only see the effects of 0:25:07.160 --> 0:25:10.120 the wind. You ask me how I know God is real. 0:25:10.640 --> 0:25:14.080 I can't point to his nose or his ears. I've 0:25:14.119 --> 0:25:17.480 never heard his audible voice. But there are just some 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:21.840 things in my life that don't make sense unless there 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:26.119 was a wind blowing. There are just some things, how 0:25:26.119 --> 0:25:30.160 about you. There are just some things that I went 0:25:30.280 --> 0:25:34.719 through that I know me and I would not have 0:25:34.920 --> 0:25:38.240 had the grace to go through it if there hadn't 0:25:38.240 --> 0:25:48.520 been something working with me. Now let's get into the text. 0:25:48.520 --> 0:25:52.600 There's a good part. Does somebody say, come through? So 0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:55.640 Moses is stretching out his staff so the people can 0:25:58.440 --> 0:26:02.879 trying to get you tonight. I'm trying to get you 0:26:02.960 --> 0:26:07.080 tonight to come through. I think it would be a 0:26:07.200 --> 0:26:11.479 shame for you to be stuck in an inferior version 0:26:11.520 --> 0:26:16.040 of yourself, clutching onto a beta blessing when there is 0:26:16.080 --> 0:26:20.360 an update available in this house tonight by the spirit 0:26:20.400 --> 0:26:24.760 of God. So I'm trying to get you to come through. 0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:31.920 But by the time verse twenty six hits, they've already 0:26:31.920 --> 0:26:36.200 done that. They're already on the other side. I mean 0:26:36.240 --> 0:26:38.680 you already, you already made it through twenty eighteen. You 0:26:38.680 --> 0:26:40.560 don't have to come to church for that. The odds 0:26:40.600 --> 0:26:43.240 are good. You wouldn't have died over these three hours 0:26:43.240 --> 0:26:44.960 that you're going to be in church. You were good. 0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:48.520 That's not why you came. That is not why you came. 0:26:50.800 --> 0:26:56.399 And sometimes we get so focused on whatever we went through, 0:27:01.920 --> 0:27:07.520 and it makes sense because it's traumatic. I get it, well, 0:27:07.560 --> 0:27:09.280 I really don't. I shouldn't say that. That's not fair 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:10.359 for me to say because I don't know what you 0:27:10.359 --> 0:27:13.600 went through, So how dare me stand up here and 0:27:13.640 --> 0:27:18.399 say I know what I don't know? I know what 0:27:18.440 --> 0:27:23.080 I went through this year, and it wasn't all stuff 0:27:23.080 --> 0:27:25.040 that you could see, like this water that was on 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:28.640 either side of the Israelites. To me, it'd be easier 0:27:29.440 --> 0:27:33.240 if everybody could watch you go through what you went through, 0:27:33.880 --> 0:27:36.199 so they could have some pity on you and be 0:27:36.320 --> 0:27:40.720 extra nice to you, give you extra sprinkles on your cupcakes, 0:27:40.760 --> 0:27:44.240 because after all, if I went through what you went through, 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:48.000 I'd be in a bad mood too. Wouldn't be cool 0:27:48.040 --> 0:27:51.280 if everybody could see what you went through and they 0:27:51.280 --> 0:27:57.399 could experience, you know, be nice. But every storm that 0:27:57.440 --> 0:28:00.159 we survived this year wasn't something that other people could see. 0:28:03.359 --> 0:28:05.520 It's one thing when you walk through something physical, like 0:28:05.560 --> 0:28:07.920 certain things you go through, people see you going through it. 0:28:07.920 --> 0:28:11.200 It's like, man, I heard your husband has cancer. We 0:28:11.280 --> 0:28:14.360 got you and pray for you. We're gonna get through 0:28:14.400 --> 0:28:17.399 this together. You're gonna come through this. We're gonna do it. 0:28:19.000 --> 0:28:21.840 When when you lose your job, you know, people hear 0:28:21.880 --> 0:28:23.600 about that. Maybe you don't even want them to, but 0:28:23.640 --> 0:28:26.560 they hear about it. And then it's kind of embarrassing 0:28:26.600 --> 0:28:28.480 on one hand, because everybody's coming up to you and 0:28:28.480 --> 0:28:30.800 we're praying for you. If you need anything, let us know. 0:28:30.880 --> 0:28:35.080 I know you're going through right now. And although that's 0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:37.280 a little humiliating on one hand, is helpful on the 0:28:37.280 --> 0:28:39.360 other because then you get to be the beneficiary of 0:28:39.680 --> 0:28:46.200 other people's empathy and maybe even their materials support. What's 0:28:46.240 --> 0:28:52.080 a little different is when the thing that you went 0:28:52.120 --> 0:28:57.360 through isn't something that you can point to and directly name. 0:29:00.080 --> 0:29:05.280 Times I find myself going through things that that aren't 0:29:05.320 --> 0:29:10.600 like the Red Sea. It's not something I can exactly 0:29:10.800 --> 0:29:15.080 describe to you. Did you ever go through something and 0:29:15.120 --> 0:29:17.920 while you were going through it, you didn't even know 0:29:18.000 --> 0:29:27.680 what it was? Just a phone, just a thing, just 0:29:27.720 --> 0:29:32.560 some stuff I'm going through. I even tell some people 0:29:32.600 --> 0:29:34.880 that from time to time that pray for me. I'm like, 0:29:35.160 --> 0:29:39.080 I'm just going through I can't say what. I don't 0:29:39.080 --> 0:29:42.800 even know. It's like it's like a It's like the 0:29:42.840 --> 0:29:45.960 Bible describes the arrow by day or the terror at night, 0:29:46.560 --> 0:29:48.440 And sometimes the thing about what you go through in 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:50.320 the night is you can't exactly see it, to name 0:29:50.360 --> 0:29:53.080 it or to know what it is. And in the 0:29:53.120 --> 0:29:56.240 passage that I'm preaching from tonight. They were going through. 0:29:56.280 --> 0:29:59.120 What they went through was able to be seen visibly. 0:29:59.160 --> 0:30:02.800 But maybe what you through this year wasn't. Maybe it 0:30:02.920 --> 0:30:05.480 was a divorce, maybe it was just a loveless home. 0:30:05.520 --> 0:30:08.280 But you're so good at faking other people out that 0:30:08.320 --> 0:30:10.800 they're all praying they could have a marriage like yours. Meanwhile, 0:30:10.800 --> 0:30:13.440 yours is falling apart. Some of the things that you 0:30:13.560 --> 0:30:20.840 go through. What happened to the praise party. Some of 0:30:20.880 --> 0:30:24.840 the things you go through aren't so simple now, although 0:30:24.840 --> 0:30:28.680 this is dramatic, one advantage that they had is they 0:30:28.720 --> 0:30:32.320 went through it together. By this time, the Israelites are 0:30:32.880 --> 0:30:36.760 millions strong, and to go through something with others who 0:30:36.760 --> 0:30:39.160 were going through the same thing that you're going through 0:30:39.480 --> 0:30:42.880 is one thing. When the stock market sucks, it sucks 0:30:42.920 --> 0:30:45.920 for all of us. We get to go through that together. 0:30:46.400 --> 0:30:49.480 When the government is out of control, we all go 0:30:49.560 --> 0:30:53.120 through that together. But there's something about the things that 0:30:53.200 --> 0:30:55.880 you go through that nobody is going through with you 0:30:56.320 --> 0:30:58.440 that makes it difficult for you to know. Is there 0:30:58.480 --> 0:31:01.440 something wrong with me? Am I the only one who 0:31:01.480 --> 0:31:04.640 feels this way? Am I the only one who wants 0:31:04.720 --> 0:31:07.280 to quit? Am I the only one who wonders God, 0:31:07.320 --> 0:31:09.520 or are you really even there? Or is this thing 0:31:09.560 --> 0:31:11.920 I've been believing my whole life just a fairy tale 0:31:12.160 --> 0:31:17.560 that my parents told me. Like Santa Claus, some of 0:31:17.600 --> 0:31:20.040 the things that we went through this year were invisible. 0:31:21.440 --> 0:31:23.240 Some of the things we went through this year were 0:31:23.280 --> 0:31:27.120 emotional states, and there wasn't even always something to cause it. 0:31:27.120 --> 0:31:30.160 It would be nice if there was. It would be 0:31:30.160 --> 0:31:32.400 better if I did lose my job, I'd have a 0:31:32.440 --> 0:31:34.840 reason to be pissed off. Come back next week, and 0:31:34.880 --> 0:31:37.320 I won't say pissed off. It's just late and I'm 0:31:37.400 --> 0:31:51.800 unfiltered and unhinged and unplugged. But watch me. The miracle 0:31:51.960 --> 0:31:57.040 is in what they went through. The proof that you 0:31:57.160 --> 0:32:01.000 belonged to God is not that you did go through, 0:32:01.840 --> 0:32:06.240 but that what you went through didn't kill you. I'm 0:32:06.240 --> 0:32:08.760 gonna need you to shout right here on this point, 0:32:09.160 --> 0:32:19.200 whether you feel it or not, on every location, come on, 0:32:19.320 --> 0:32:23.400 tell somebody I went through. I went through. I figured, 0:32:23.440 --> 0:32:25.720 if I stand here in front of this red sea, 0:32:26.240 --> 0:32:29.040 I'm gonna die at the hands of the same Egyptians 0:32:29.320 --> 0:32:32.520 that have been terrorizing me. But I'm not gonna stand 0:32:32.560 --> 0:32:35.560 here and die if I'm gonna die, I want to drown. 0:32:35.800 --> 0:32:39.040 I'm going through. I'm going through. If I'm gonna die, 0:32:39.240 --> 0:32:43.240 I'm gonna die on my feet. I'm going through now 0:32:44.720 --> 0:32:56.200 Now Now, I love the word of God. I love 0:32:56.280 --> 0:32:59.920 the fact that they went through. But the point of tonight, 0:33:00.080 --> 0:33:04.240 right is not what you went through. It's not what 0:33:04.440 --> 0:33:06.840 you went through as much as what you went through 0:33:06.840 --> 0:33:09.440 as important and as much as what you went through 0:33:09.520 --> 0:33:13.240 as is indicative of some of the things that you 0:33:13.320 --> 0:33:15.760 might need to deal with. I'm not saying that it's 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:18.560 not important what you went through. I'm saying that that's 0:33:18.600 --> 0:33:21.040 not what God told me to talk to you about tonight. 0:33:21.240 --> 0:33:25.480 On this auspicious occasion at Elevation Church Praise Party twenty 0:33:25.480 --> 0:33:28.400 eighteen slash twenty nineteen, as we are thirty one minutes 0:33:28.440 --> 0:33:31.040 away from a New Year Eastern Center Time, United States 0:33:31.080 --> 0:33:35.680 of America, God said, don't you spend this whole sermon 0:33:35.760 --> 0:33:38.960 talking about what they went through. He said, right in 0:33:39.000 --> 0:33:41.440 the middle of the sermon, I want you to shift 0:33:41.480 --> 0:33:46.320 it from what they went through to why they went through. 0:33:49.080 --> 0:33:50.760 And now we need to go back to the text 0:33:50.880 --> 0:33:54.800 because remember, there's water on their right side, water on 0:33:54.840 --> 0:33:58.160 their left side. For their enemies, it was a trap, 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:13.319 but for them it was a path. And now they're 0:34:13.360 --> 0:34:17.080 on the other side. And so it seems strange that 0:34:17.120 --> 0:34:19.799 God would tell them to do anything other than run. 0:34:23.960 --> 0:34:28.479 But he tells Moses to do something that God wants 0:34:28.480 --> 0:34:32.319 you to do tonight, and he says, I want you 0:34:32.360 --> 0:34:35.200 to take the instrument in your hand that is a 0:34:35.200 --> 0:34:39.520 symbol of your past, that is a symbol of the 0:34:39.560 --> 0:34:42.240 mistakes that you made when you killed the Egyptian Moses 0:34:42.280 --> 0:34:44.480 and ran and hid him in the sand and then 0:34:44.520 --> 0:34:48.920 hid yourself. The staff that is the symbol of your potential, 0:34:50.400 --> 0:34:53.759 the same one that you used to turn the Nile 0:34:53.840 --> 0:34:58.600 River to blood in those ten plagues of Egypt. I 0:34:58.640 --> 0:35:03.280 want you to take the that same instrument, and before 0:35:04.040 --> 0:35:10.680 you leave Egypt, stretch it back over what you just 0:35:10.719 --> 0:35:16.200 went through. And when you do, you will understand the 0:35:16.239 --> 0:35:22.560 purpose of what you went through. God brought you here tonight. 0:35:23.360 --> 0:35:24.920 If I can be so bold as to say that, 0:35:24.960 --> 0:35:27.440 I believe this applies to everyone in the room who 0:35:27.480 --> 0:35:30.640 will have the faith to receive it, because He wants 0:35:30.640 --> 0:35:36.240 to use what you went through. That's the good news, 0:35:37.960 --> 0:35:41.680 God tell you. The whole thing. God wants to use 0:35:41.719 --> 0:35:47.400 what you went through, and so does the devil. And 0:35:47.520 --> 0:35:55.799 the question in this moment is will you allow God 0:35:56.920 --> 0:36:01.640 to use what you went through? This? And when he 0:36:02.080 --> 0:36:06.759 had finished leading an entire nation all night long in 0:36:06.880 --> 0:36:11.279 the dark with water that could collapse on them at 0:36:11.320 --> 0:36:15.399 any moment, don't you think they moved fast through this 0:36:15.520 --> 0:36:21.200 tunnel of supernatural, miraculous potential death that at any moment 0:36:21.400 --> 0:36:23.600 could sweep them away. And they make it to the 0:36:23.640 --> 0:36:28.240 other side, and God says, stop, before you take another step, 0:36:29.080 --> 0:36:33.080 I need you to stretch your hand back over what 0:36:33.160 --> 0:36:38.239 you just went through. The water that you just went 0:36:38.360 --> 0:36:43.040 through was not sent to destroy you. Can I tell 0:36:43.080 --> 0:36:46.279 you something. Everything that made you afraid this year was 0:36:46.360 --> 0:36:49.799 not the devil. Everything that made you cry this year 0:36:50.000 --> 0:36:53.080 was not the devil. Everything that broke your heart this 0:36:53.200 --> 0:36:56.600 year was not the devil. Everything that you lost this 0:36:56.719 --> 0:37:00.160 year was not the devil. Everything that didn't go according 0:37:00.200 --> 0:37:03.520 to plan this year was not the devil. Some of 0:37:03.560 --> 0:37:07.399 the stuff that was sent against you was not sent 0:37:07.480 --> 0:37:10.680 to destroy you. At the time it felt like it would. 0:37:11.000 --> 0:37:12.920 At the time you felt like you would never be 0:37:13.040 --> 0:37:15.560 happy again. At the time you felt like you would 0:37:15.600 --> 0:37:18.600 just drive away and never come back. At the time, 0:37:18.640 --> 0:37:21.640 you felt like you would never find that love, that passion, 0:37:21.880 --> 0:37:24.480 that feeling again. At the time it felt like it 0:37:24.520 --> 0:37:27.360 would kill you. But the thing that you went through 0:37:27.840 --> 0:37:30.920 was not meant to destroy you. And when you stretch 0:37:31.400 --> 0:37:35.160 your hand over what you went through, what you went 0:37:35.280 --> 0:37:39.000 through is going to deliver you from what you just 0:37:39.080 --> 0:37:47.040 came out of. Let me see if I got this right, 0:37:48.520 --> 0:37:52.719 what I went through could have killed me, but it 0:37:52.760 --> 0:37:58.759 didn't hit Somebody say, but it didn't. It didn't. I 0:37:58.800 --> 0:38:01.839 could have laid down and died in what I went through. 0:38:01.960 --> 0:38:04.839 Doesn't them say, but I didn't tell him. I could 0:38:04.840 --> 0:38:11.200 have lost my mind, but I I don't know. Maybe 0:38:11.200 --> 0:38:14.480 you did. But here's the point of the message. Here's 0:38:14.520 --> 0:38:18.719 the point of the message. Whatever you went through that 0:38:18.880 --> 0:38:23.160 did not destroy you, God is now going to use 0:38:23.880 --> 0:38:28.040 to deliver you from the decide to see. If you 0:38:28.080 --> 0:38:31.759 believe the word of God, it's in the bi bl e. 0:38:32.640 --> 0:38:36.160 He said, what you just went through. If you will 0:38:36.280 --> 0:38:40.560 stop at this moment, at this juncture, in this time, 0:38:40.920 --> 0:38:44.759 in this season and stretch your hand over what you 0:38:44.880 --> 0:38:50.840 went through, it's not meant to kill you. It's meant 0:38:50.840 --> 0:38:57.080 to kill your enemies. It was never gonna kill you. 0:38:57.560 --> 0:39:09.120 The weapon thought against you South. Now I know why 0:39:09.160 --> 0:39:12.600 I went through. There were some things that God had 0:39:12.640 --> 0:39:16.680 to kill so they would kill me. That's why I 0:39:16.719 --> 0:39:29.239 went through. That's why God had to deal with some 0:39:29.320 --> 0:39:36.360 things in me, in me, inemy. God had to drown 0:39:36.480 --> 0:39:47.640 some of my enemy. That's why I went through. So 0:39:47.719 --> 0:39:50.360 when I look back over at what I thought I 0:39:50.360 --> 0:39:54.080 wouldn't get through, and I see, look at verse thirty, 0:39:54.160 --> 0:39:55.960 I didn't give you that, dude, I forgot to give 0:39:55.960 --> 0:39:58.279 you Verse thirty. I'm so sorry. And so when they 0:39:58.280 --> 0:40:02.680 look back that the Lord saved Israel from the hands 0:40:02.680 --> 0:40:07.359 of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead 0:40:07.400 --> 0:40:09.359 on the shore. Now, what do you want to look 0:40:09.400 --> 0:40:18.120 at this year? What you went through or what God 0:40:18.160 --> 0:40:29.680 did in you through what you went through. God deliver me. 0:40:31.360 --> 0:40:38.160 You know He's not going to do that in acute, comfortable, 0:40:39.440 --> 0:40:46.719 convenient place. Some stuff that you went through this year. Now, 0:40:47.760 --> 0:40:50.839 if you don't process it correctly, if you just am 0:40:50.880 --> 0:40:54.719 in a hurry to get out of twenty eighteen, don't 0:40:54.719 --> 0:40:58.480 be surprised when you hear the chariot wheels in twenty nineteen. 0:40:58.760 --> 0:41:01.480 We'll be right back here in three hundred and sixty 0:41:01.520 --> 0:41:12.239 five days shouting over nothing all over again. And the 0:41:12.320 --> 0:41:15.520 Lord gave me this word. It's more like an image 0:41:15.520 --> 0:41:20.719 from the text. It said that Moses. The way I 0:41:20.800 --> 0:41:24.080 saw it in my mind was that the water had 0:41:24.239 --> 0:41:28.279 done something supernatural all night long so the Israelites could 0:41:28.320 --> 0:41:33.600 get through. God kept stuff away from you this year 0:41:34.440 --> 0:41:37.640 so you could get through. But when the time came 0:41:37.680 --> 0:41:41.120 for them to leave, God said, stop, you got twenty 0:41:41.160 --> 0:41:44.879 two minutes. Let the knee year. And before you're in 0:41:44.960 --> 0:41:50.280 such a hurry to get out, turn around and stretch 0:41:50.360 --> 0:41:54.960 what's the verse verse twenty eight. Stretch your staff, and 0:41:55.040 --> 0:42:01.680 the water flowed back and covered the cherries. Water flowed back. 0:42:01.760 --> 0:42:04.399 So it had been like this, and then it went 0:42:04.480 --> 0:42:07.520 like that, and then the enemies went like that, and 0:42:07.560 --> 0:42:10.520 the people of God went like that. So God said 0:42:10.560 --> 0:42:14.280 to tell you, it's time for you to flip the flow. 0:42:15.680 --> 0:42:17.560 Touch the person on either side of you and see 0:42:17.560 --> 0:42:20.640 if they can get us. Say, flip the flow. It's 0:42:20.680 --> 0:42:23.839 been going this way. It's been going this way all 0:42:23.960 --> 0:42:27.200 year long. It's been going this way. But tonight we 0:42:27.280 --> 0:42:31.960 came to flip the flow. And everything that was against 0:42:32.000 --> 0:42:35.440 me this year now Romans eight twenty eight says, oh 0:42:35.440 --> 0:42:38.800 I got a new Testament Verse two. Then all things 0:42:40.760 --> 0:42:46.560 work together for the good of them that love the 0:42:46.600 --> 0:42:50.239 Lord is that you. Do you still love him? If 0:42:50.280 --> 0:42:52.840 he's still your friend? Do you still trust him after 0:42:52.920 --> 0:42:57.480 what you went through? If that's you, then all thing 0:43:00.360 --> 0:43:05.120 work together High five eighteen. People say, flip the flow. 0:43:06.280 --> 0:43:14.400 Flip the flow. Flip the flow, instead of concentrating on 0:43:14.520 --> 0:43:17.040 all the moments that it didn't go your way this year, 0:43:17.520 --> 0:43:20.799 Flip the flow. What way right? What did work out? 0:43:21.000 --> 0:43:24.160 Who did stay? Who did give you a hug? How 0:43:24.239 --> 0:43:26.919 did he meets your knees? How did he come through? 0:43:27.360 --> 0:43:36.400 Did he come through for you? Flip the flow. Stop 0:43:36.480 --> 0:43:42.000 focusing so much on what your dinner didn't get. Maybe 0:43:42.000 --> 0:43:43.920 it isn't about what God wanted to do for you 0:43:44.000 --> 0:43:45.440 this year as much as it is about what He 0:43:45.440 --> 0:43:53.799 wants to do through you in the future. Because I 0:43:53.840 --> 0:43:55.800 sense a little bit of confusion, I'm gonna be honest 0:43:55.800 --> 0:44:02.280 with you. It's like, all right, all right, all right, pastor, 0:44:02.800 --> 0:44:13.360 Pastor Steve, this is inspirational. Don't get me wrong. My 0:44:13.560 --> 0:44:26.319 your enthusiasm, But you said come through dripping and the 0:44:26.400 --> 0:44:32.120 text said verse twenty nine and the text said, I'm 0:44:32.160 --> 0:44:38.920 saying his voice. The text said, they came through on 0:44:39.120 --> 0:44:48.279 dry ground, seeing it's right there in the And that's 0:44:48.320 --> 0:44:51.479 all the people who don't know the definition of drip. 0:44:52.880 --> 0:44:59.879 It's something in the technical sense. And I didn't either. 0:45:01.520 --> 0:45:07.000 I didn't either. No, I was clueless that I didn't 0:45:07.040 --> 0:45:11.920 know either until Graham came in my closet one day 0:45:11.960 --> 0:45:16.759 this summer. He was going through my drawers where I 0:45:16.840 --> 0:45:19.120 keep my watches, got a couple of watches in there, 0:45:20.719 --> 0:45:27.080 got a few chains in there, and that boy had 0:45:27.120 --> 0:45:32.360 gone in my drawer, my jewelry drawers, and put every 0:45:32.480 --> 0:45:37.279 chain in my jewelry drawer, eleven years old, every chain 0:45:37.320 --> 0:45:42.120 around his neck, all at the same time. And when 0:45:42.160 --> 0:45:47.160 I said, you know, what are you doing my drawers? 0:45:48.800 --> 0:45:51.759 He said, Dad, what if I what if I went 0:45:51.800 --> 0:45:55.320 to school the first day of school this year dripping? 0:46:04.440 --> 0:46:06.960 And I'm so coolless. Now I'm really not as cool 0:46:07.120 --> 0:46:08.680 as some of y'all want to give me credit for. 0:46:08.760 --> 0:46:11.120 You just project your own coolness under me. I am 0:46:11.160 --> 0:46:14.040 not cool. I'm a little Bible preacher from Monks Corner, 0:46:14.080 --> 0:46:16.480 South Carolina, to which I said, is it going to 0:46:16.560 --> 0:46:23.759 be raining? Probably better dry off you probably not better 0:46:23.800 --> 0:46:29.479 go to school. Dripping, he said, no, Dad, dripping like drip, drip, 0:46:29.719 --> 0:46:46.040 like CARDI b like offset, like flexing, like dripping. I said, oh, 0:46:46.480 --> 0:46:52.600 you mean dripping drip drip? He played me in the 0:46:52.640 --> 0:47:11.239 song ice real quick. That's nice. Can I have it? 0:47:12.560 --> 0:47:15.200 Can I have it? Yeah? Thank you? Appreciate it? Thank you? 0:47:16.200 --> 0:47:20.719 That's nice. Can I have it? Appreciate it? That's nice? 0:47:20.719 --> 0:47:26.080 Can I have it? Appreciate it, appreciate it. I'll buy 0:47:26.120 --> 0:47:28.879 you another one, and God's going onto your faith. Can 0:47:28.880 --> 0:47:30.960 I have it? Everything you got? Can I have it? 0:47:36.440 --> 0:47:40.080 Can I have it? Not the wedding one that sketchy 0:47:40.120 --> 0:47:49.120 on every level? Can you have it? Because I still 0:47:49.160 --> 0:47:53.200 didn't tell you what dripping has to do with the 0:47:53.280 --> 0:47:56.799 children of Israel. And I understand that it's a little 0:47:56.840 --> 0:48:01.000 confusing because typically when this passages preached, all that we 0:48:01.040 --> 0:48:05.799 ever really talk about is what they went through for 0:48:05.880 --> 0:48:11.880 hundred and thirty years of oppression and after that, the 0:48:11.920 --> 0:48:15.640 plagues that they endured, and the time at midnight when 0:48:16.320 --> 0:48:19.440 the Angel came through and struck down the firstborn of Egypt. 0:48:19.480 --> 0:48:21.000 But if they had the blood on the door post 0:48:21.960 --> 0:48:26.359 at midnight when the angel came by if they had 0:48:26.560 --> 0:48:29.200 the blood on the door posts when the angel came 0:48:29.239 --> 0:48:38.239 by at midnight, if they distinguished themselves at midnight the 0:48:38.320 --> 0:48:42.960 angel passed by them, and when Pharaoh finally let the 0:48:43.000 --> 0:48:49.120 people go. There is one thing that I've seldom heard 0:48:49.239 --> 0:48:53.200 mentioned in messages that I always found I and to 0:48:53.280 --> 0:48:57.759 really understand how the people of God not only went 0:48:57.840 --> 0:49:01.280 through the Red Sea, but how they came out of Egypt, 0:49:02.760 --> 0:49:06.839 you need to see something in Exodus chapter three, when 0:49:06.840 --> 0:49:09.719 God first spoke to Moses that I think is so 0:49:09.800 --> 0:49:13.680 important for us to understand tonight before we leave twenty eighteen, 0:49:14.840 --> 0:49:17.040 before we leave the pain of it, the trauma of it, 0:49:17.280 --> 0:49:20.120 the successes of it, the victories of it. There's one 0:49:20.160 --> 0:49:24.640 thing that I think we need to do tonight before 0:49:24.680 --> 0:49:36.000 we leave. Whatever Egypt, whatever suffering, psychological or physical, whatever bondage, 0:49:35.719 --> 0:49:39.880 whatever has forced itself on us in this year, in 0:49:39.880 --> 0:49:42.520 whatever way, before we leave it, Let's not be too 0:49:42.640 --> 0:49:45.520 quick to leave and just expect that because the calendar changes, 0:49:45.560 --> 0:49:53.960 our lives will. And it's really interesting what God said 0:49:54.600 --> 0:49:58.560 to Moses. He said, go to Pharaoh and tell him 0:49:58.640 --> 0:50:01.800 let my people go, And tell him that you're taking 0:50:01.840 --> 0:50:05.440 all the livestock to sacrifice to me in the wilderness 0:50:05.440 --> 0:50:07.560 and tell him, tell him that you're going for a 0:50:07.560 --> 0:50:09.640 three day journey to sacrifice to the Lord, your God, 0:50:09.640 --> 0:50:10.759 and he's not going to let you do it. But 0:50:10.760 --> 0:50:13.520 you've got to be resilient. He's not going to let 0:50:13.560 --> 0:50:18.239 you go easily because you're valuable. Freedom isn't going to 0:50:18.280 --> 0:50:22.160 come with a good feeling. Freedom is going to come 0:50:22.280 --> 0:50:28.640 by force and focus and frequency, by force and focus 0:50:29.080 --> 0:50:35.040 and frequency. By force and focus and frequency, deliverance isn't 0:50:35.040 --> 0:50:38.040 going to be a magic trick in your life or 0:50:38.120 --> 0:50:40.680 my life, no more than it was for the nation 0:50:40.719 --> 0:50:44.879 of Israel. There will be a discipline of sustainable deliverance 0:50:45.280 --> 0:50:48.040 in each of our lives, because God will give us 0:50:48.080 --> 0:50:50.160 the way of escape, but he will not let us 0:50:50.239 --> 0:50:52.800 choose the way of escape down the road of ease 0:50:52.880 --> 0:50:57.200 that we might select in our most comfortable moments. And 0:50:57.280 --> 0:50:59.360 yet God said, I want to show you the reason 0:51:00.160 --> 0:51:02.760 for what you went through. Not only did the water 0:51:03.200 --> 0:51:07.480 come to cover the enemies of the Israelites, not only 0:51:08.360 --> 0:51:11.520 I love God for what he does. He uses what 0:51:11.560 --> 0:51:14.839 I went through to set me free from where I 0:51:14.880 --> 0:51:19.400 came from. He knows if he doesn't kill certain things 0:51:19.400 --> 0:51:23.400 in my life, I will operate by the same template 0:51:23.600 --> 0:51:27.239 from my childhood. I'll operate in the same patterns. I'll 0:51:27.239 --> 0:51:30.440 stay locked in the same prisons if he doesn't kill it. 0:51:30.680 --> 0:51:34.640 So he brings me through deep waters to drown my enemies. 0:51:34.640 --> 0:51:40.879 But watch this, he said, before you go, I will 0:51:40.880 --> 0:51:45.839 make the Egyptians favorably disposed towards this people, so that 0:51:46.080 --> 0:51:50.360 when you leave. I wonder, is this true in twenty eighteen, 0:51:52.080 --> 0:51:57.200 So that when you leave, so that before we count 0:51:57.239 --> 0:52:00.960 down to midnight all over the world, so that when 0:52:01.040 --> 0:52:03.160 you leave, and you put this one in the books, 0:52:03.640 --> 0:52:06.800 so that when you leave, I prophesied this over you, 0:52:06.800 --> 0:52:16.239 you will not leave empty hand. So watch what I 0:52:16.320 --> 0:52:21.320 want you to do, every woman, God told Moses. Every 0:52:21.320 --> 0:52:25.160 woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living 0:52:25.200 --> 0:52:30.359 in her house for articles of silver and gold, and 0:52:30.440 --> 0:52:35.520 for clothing which you will put on your sons and daughters, 0:52:36.160 --> 0:52:40.200 so that when you cross out of Egypt on dry ground, 0:52:40.840 --> 0:52:48.320 you come through dripping. I feel God on this sermon, 0:52:49.680 --> 0:52:53.320 I said, I feel God on this sermon. I don't 0:52:53.400 --> 0:52:57.319 just want you to come out, I want you to 0:52:57.360 --> 0:53:11.320 come through driven, And so you will plunder the Egyptians 0:53:12.239 --> 0:53:15.040 by the way, y'all. We call this a praise party, 0:53:15.280 --> 0:53:18.440 but it's not. It's a praise plunder. We got to 0:53:18.480 --> 0:53:23.319 make sure before we leave twenty eighteen we did everything 0:53:23.680 --> 0:53:26.920 that God has for us in the form of a blessing, 0:53:27.400 --> 0:53:37.960 in the form of a lesson, and so you will 0:53:38.000 --> 0:53:42.879 plunder the Egyptians. So when you come through, you make 0:53:42.960 --> 0:53:46.919 sure you don't come through like you went in. God. 0:53:47.000 --> 0:53:51.160 That's why I wanted us here tonight, because why would 0:53:51.239 --> 0:53:55.399 we want to come through all of this and come 0:53:55.400 --> 0:54:01.719 out empty hand. I didn't go through twenty eighteen just 0:54:01.760 --> 0:54:05.960 to wave goodbye to it. I didn't work this hard 0:54:06.000 --> 0:54:09.600 in Egypt and suffer this much in Egypt and push 0:54:09.640 --> 0:54:12.480 through the things I pushed through, not to receive the 0:54:12.480 --> 0:54:15.640 benefit of it. No. I came here on this night, 0:54:16.360 --> 0:54:19.920 on midnight of the last night, on the last stop, 0:54:29.200 --> 0:54:35.840 because I want to come through saturated the presence of God, 0:54:37.680 --> 0:54:42.280 saturated with the glory of God, overflowing with the glory 0:54:42.320 --> 0:54:45.080 of God. Come on, I don't want to leave this 0:54:45.160 --> 0:54:49.399 year empty. I don't want to come into this priest party. Yeah. 0:54:49.440 --> 0:54:52.160 I've been through some things. Yeah, there were some things 0:54:52.160 --> 0:54:54.399 that tried to take me out, and there are some 0:54:54.440 --> 0:54:56.880 things that I still got to deal with. But I 0:54:56.880 --> 0:55:00.359 didn't come to church to come through dragon. I come 0:55:00.440 --> 0:55:10.000 it through dripping. And watch this, It doesn't mean I 0:55:10.080 --> 0:55:17.480 wasn't disappointed. It doesn't mean I wasn't disappointed. You can 0:55:17.520 --> 0:55:25.279 be disappointed and still come through dripping. You can be 0:55:25.480 --> 0:55:30.360 like Samuel, the prophet who prayed for Saul and coached 0:55:30.440 --> 0:55:35.040 Sau and mentords Saul. And there came a time where 0:55:35.040 --> 0:55:40.880 God rejected Saul, which the people had chosen, and Samuel 0:55:41.000 --> 0:55:44.400 was so hurt about it that he wasn't even sure 0:55:45.320 --> 0:55:48.880 if he wanted to go on when he saw how 0:55:48.920 --> 0:55:54.160 little his investment had yielded. But God told Samuel something 0:55:56.120 --> 0:55:57.719 that it was in my heart to say to you 0:55:57.760 --> 0:56:04.040 before we had midnight. He said, I need you to 0:56:04.160 --> 0:56:09.040 stop mourning over what I have rejected. That I have 0:56:09.239 --> 0:56:12.960 already made a plan to replace in your life. And 0:56:13.040 --> 0:56:22.040 so here's your instruction. Here's your instruction. Fill your horn 0:56:22.160 --> 0:56:27.880 with oil and be on your way. And when you 0:56:27.920 --> 0:56:31.839 get to Jesse's house, he's gonna line up all of 0:56:31.880 --> 0:56:35.160 his sons that he thinks should be the next in 0:56:35.239 --> 0:56:38.080 line to be a possible king. But don't look at 0:56:38.120 --> 0:56:40.359 it like people look at it. Don't look to see 0:56:40.400 --> 0:56:43.480 who's the tallest or who's the strongest. I need you 0:56:43.560 --> 0:56:46.720 to stop judging your life by what you can see, 0:56:47.080 --> 0:56:50.319 and take that oil, and take that joy, and take 0:56:50.360 --> 0:56:53.440 that strength that you've got left, and take those lessons 0:56:53.480 --> 0:56:57.440 that you learned this year. And when I tell you 0:56:57.520 --> 0:56:59.959 it's the one, I want you to empty that crew 0:57:00.120 --> 0:57:02.640 of oil on his head. Now, David wasn't even in 0:57:02.680 --> 0:57:06.279 the room when they started lining up suns. He was overlooked. 0:57:06.600 --> 0:57:08.840 But by the time God spoke, he went back to 0:57:08.920 --> 0:57:12.440 the sheep field dripping. Why it's not what people do 0:57:12.560 --> 0:57:15.600 to you, it's not what people see in you, it's 0:57:15.640 --> 0:57:18.840 not what people have said about you. If the oil 0:57:18.920 --> 0:57:29.520 of God is on your life, I'm dripping. I'm dripping. 0:57:30.600 --> 0:57:33.640 I'm dripping. My feet are dry, but I'm dripping on 0:57:33.720 --> 0:57:36.680 the inside. God brought me through. But I've got a 0:57:36.720 --> 0:57:45.400 power that is not of this world. So tonight we 0:57:45.440 --> 0:57:48.600 flip the flow. We flip the floe. Stand up to 0:57:48.640 --> 0:57:52.160 your feet. We're gonna flip this. We're gonna flip this. 0:57:54.080 --> 0:57:58.120 We're not going into twenty eighteen or twenty nineteen or 0:57:58.120 --> 0:58:04.360 whatever comes next. It all runs together. We're not going 0:58:04.400 --> 0:58:13.160 in dry. We could have done that at home. We 0:58:13.200 --> 0:58:17.280 didn't need a praise party for that, a praise plunder 0:58:17.320 --> 0:58:23.160 for that. We came to get everything that God wanted 0:58:23.240 --> 0:58:28.840 us to have and leave everything that he did, so 0:58:28.920 --> 0:58:38.360 we do not go away empty handle. This is not 0:58:38.440 --> 0:58:42.120 a gimmick. I don't preach for gimmicks. The Lord showed 0:58:42.120 --> 0:58:46.480 me that Moses was not the only one who stretched 0:58:46.520 --> 0:58:51.440 over something that had threatened to kill the people. And 0:58:51.480 --> 0:58:55.040 he took me to John chapter nineteen, where the Bible 0:58:55.120 --> 0:59:04.280 records that when Jesus stretched his arms and they drove 0:59:04.360 --> 0:59:09.360 nails into his wrists and into his feet, and the 0:59:09.440 --> 0:59:12.560 soldier took a six foot spear with an iron tip 0:59:12.760 --> 0:59:15.440 and plunged it into his side as he hung on 0:59:15.480 --> 0:59:19.800 the cross. The Bible says that from his side began 0:59:19.840 --> 0:59:24.960 to flow the blood and the water. When blood flows 0:59:25.000 --> 0:59:28.560 from someone, usually it is a sign of the loss 0:59:28.600 --> 0:59:34.760 of life. But Jesus flipped the flow and win his blood. 0:59:35.480 --> 0:59:37.880 I feel the spirit of God so strong on me 0:59:38.000 --> 0:59:41.640 right now. Please receive this wherever you are, whatever you've 0:59:41.640 --> 0:59:45.640 been through, God said, I'm about to flip everything that 0:59:45.680 --> 0:59:48.320 you have been through, and it is going to now 0:59:48.440 --> 0:59:53.560 be to your advantage. Come on, every rejection was setting 0:59:53.600 --> 0:59:57.440 you free from the need for people. I wanted you 0:59:57.520 --> 1:00:02.560 to depend on me. Every failure was setting you free 1:00:02.640 --> 1:00:05.720 from the need to keep up an image. I want 1:00:05.760 --> 1:00:10.840 you to depend on me. Come on, let's slip it. 1:00:11.800 --> 1:00:15.400 Let's slip it. Let's slip it from what we went 1:00:15.520 --> 1:00:20.720 through to why we went through. I need a new 1:00:20.760 --> 1:00:24.000 definition of drip. For too long I thought that it 1:00:24.080 --> 1:00:27.440 was what I wore, or it was what I earned, 1:00:27.520 --> 1:00:29.800 or it was what I had. But I found out 1:00:29.840 --> 1:00:33.000 that's not what it means. I'm talking about a different 1:00:33.080 --> 1:00:35.680 kind of drip. I'm talking about when the spirit of 1:00:35.720 --> 1:00:39.120 God is an abundant supply in your life to anoint 1:00:39.160 --> 1:00:42.360 you for every assignment that God has prepared for you 1:00:42.480 --> 1:00:46.760 to do in advance this year. You're not coming in dry, 1:00:47.160 --> 1:00:52.880 You're coming in driven. God what it takes. I am 1:00:53.040 --> 1:00:57.080 exactly who I need to be. High five. Somebody say 1:00:57.120 --> 1:01:01.120 I'm dripping. I'm dripping. The press of God is so 1:01:01.160 --> 1:01:04.680 strong on me. The purpose of God has prevailed for me. 1:01:05.280 --> 1:01:09.120 God has anointed me for this season, for this city, 1:01:09.480 --> 1:01:13.520 for these children, for this time, for this moment, for 1:01:13.720 --> 1:01:18.400 my generation, for my battles, for my challenges. I'm not 1:01:18.680 --> 1:01:24.400 just coming out. I'm coming through with the South on 1:01:24.640 --> 1:01:43.360 my lens, the mountains. I believe I'll see you do aka. 1:01:45.280 --> 1:01:49.160 This is how we come into twenty nineteen. This is 1:01:49.200 --> 1:01:52.760 how we plunder the enemy. This is how we plunder 1:01:52.800 --> 1:02:00.240 the enemy. He thought he drained you. He didn't drain you. No, 1:02:00.440 --> 1:02:07.240 he didn't drain you. I see you. All he did 1:02:07.480 --> 1:02:10.320 was put you in a position where he could drown 1:02:10.480 --> 1:02:13.760 behind you. I'm telling you you're not going in dry. 1:02:14.440 --> 1:02:18.200 I see it too. Come on, let's declare the faithful 1:02:18.240 --> 1:02:20.840 less of God over a new year. Just moved the 1:02:21.000 --> 1:02:28.840 mountains and I I see it too, and I've seen 1:02:28.920 --> 1:02:36.439 him John moved the mountains and toppingly come on through. 1:02:36.600 --> 1:02:40.000 I see it too, and made it a lie, made 1:02:40.000 --> 1:02:45.040 you made it alive with the corse still intact and 1:02:45.240 --> 1:02:49.040 I and nothing is missing. I see it too. And 1:02:49.240 --> 1:02:53.040 his shock up the plant and you well see it. 1:02:53.120 --> 1:02:58.360 To move to mountain and you will anxiety and you 1:02:58.520 --> 1:03:04.720 will serious. He is sounding night you went there. It 1:03:04.880 --> 1:03:09.680 was Stoway. Come on, let's run this house. See I 1:03:09.920 --> 1:03:18.360 see Sue can see it your most mountains, and I 1:03:18.720 --> 1:03:24.080 believe I'll see it. Took oh we got one man. 1:03:25.440 --> 1:03:29.040 We got one man down. Les go come onna snatch 1:03:29.120 --> 1:03:33.800 yourself and snatch the ball. Snatch the wisdom, Snatch the heiling, 1:03:34.200 --> 1:03:39.840 snash the wistom, stash it. You love the mountains through 1:03:39.960 --> 1:03:48.520 Green I your man has me to you f with 1:03:48.840 --> 1:03:57.560 Hanstollway and I get those handsome let's getting We're going, 1:03:58.840 --> 1:04:08.680 We're going in let's go again scene, Let's go together. 1:04:15.880 --> 1:04:26.200 I see, I'll see you, No, Jill, save until it's fine. 1:04:26.840 --> 1:04:45.160 Jo see what way I see it? I see well. 1:04:45.160 --> 1:04:47.520 I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did, 1:04:47.560 --> 1:04:49.480 there are just a couple of things I'd love for 1:04:49.520 --> 1:04:53.040 you to do. Number one, subscribe to our show. That way, 1:04:53.320 --> 1:04:56.160 the most recent episode will always be in your feed, 1:04:56.400 --> 1:04:59.880 waiting for you ready when you are. And Secondly, if 1:04:59.880 --> 1:05:02.240 the this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to 1:05:02.240 --> 1:05:04.640 help us continue to reach others, you can click the 1:05:04.680 --> 1:05:07.080 link in the description and you can give now and 1:05:07.280 --> 1:05:10.640 I'll see you next time on the Elevation Podcast