Giving God The Glory (Dewey Smith)

0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.280 Hello evams, especially our West Coast family. We have an 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.760 announcement for you, Elevation Nights twenty twenty two West Coast. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.040 Are you ready for this? October twenty fifth through November third, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.480 We're coming your way so exciting. You can get your 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:21.280 tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot com. It's gonna 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:26.480 be me Holly, Elevation Worship. It's gonna be amazing, unbelievable 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.840 these nights. Don't want to miss So if you're in Glendale, Arizona, 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:35.920 Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:41.320 Diego and La or anywhere near those areas, we want 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.360 to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.600 Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot com. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.040 Let's see you there. Let's go to the message. We'll 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.800 praise the Lord. Everybody here. This is the day the 0:00:55.840 --> 0:01:00.480 Lord had made, and let us treat joints and glad 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.880 in it. Holleylujah, God, we honor you, and we bless you. 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.839 We thank you afresh. Would you move in this place 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.160 by your mike, by your power, spirit of believing God 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:15.720 fall fresh on us even now, and we give you glory, 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.759 We give you honor, and we give you praise. Amen. 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.880 Come on, Shot, Hollylujah to his name, Praise the Lord. 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.400 What a blessing is to be here with you today, 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.679 and we thank God for Jesus. Of course, as you 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.399 can see, I am not Pastor Stephen Ferdick, and so 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.480 I apologize for those who've driven afar to be here. 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:39.520 But God is here. We're gonna worship God together, and 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.640 we're going to praise the Lord together. Won't you join 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:50.080 me in saluting one of the most incredible leaders, communicators, proclaimers, songwriters, 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:56.040 my brother, Pastor Stephen Ferdick. Come on, Praise God for him. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.200 And while you're clapping for him, praise God for Pastor 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:02.760 Holly as well. To God be the glory. What a 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:03.960 pleasure is to be here. I want you to do 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:05.640 my favorite right quick. Just look your right hand up, 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.840 right quick, move it down, right hand up, move it down. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.960 Okay good, I feel better now. That way, nobody can 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.760 leave her saying that the preacher didn't move me. So 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:19.000 we give God praise, but I want you to get 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:20.840 your Bible. Say we're going to jump quick into the 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:22.799 word of God. I want to look at the Book 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:27.000 of Romans, chapter twelve, a very familiar passage of scripture 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:28.840 that I want to share with you. Don't thank the 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:33.679 Praise team for just just my God, the Music Ministry 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:38.200 for confirming the message a very familiar passage Romans twelve one. 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:42.079 You find these words. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.320 the mercies of God, that you present your body as 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:50.400 a living sacrifice, holy and acceptably unto God, which is 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:55.120 your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world. 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.560 But be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.959 that ye make prove what is that good and acceptable 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:07.720 and perfect will of God. Then in Roman's eleven thirty 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.799 six is our key verse. It reads, for of him 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:16.800 and through Him, and to him are all things to 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:21.079 whom be glory forever man. For of Him, through him, 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.360 and to him are all things to whom be glory 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.480 forever man. I want you to consider this thought this morning, 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.720 very simply giving God the glory. Let's give God the glory. 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:34.160 You may be seeing the Prince of the Lord. Let's 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.600 give God the glory. My elevation family, and I shall 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.920 never forget one of my most recent birthdays. It is 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:46.000 nostalgic for me even now, because this was the last 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.800 birthday that all my siblings and I spent together prior 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.080 to the death of my baby brothers some years ago 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.560 and my sister a few years ago. My two older 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:58.960 sisters and my two younger brothers and I were gathered 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.480 at my old this sister's home in honor of my birthday. 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.960 And when I arrived at my oldest sister's home, I 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.120 was met by my older sister at the front door, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.080 and she met me with some intriguing words. She said, Brother, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:13.720 I said yes. She said, I did not get you 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:18.279 a gift this year for your birthday. And I got 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:22.520 to admit I was a little taken aback, particularly because 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:25.480 I had just purchased her a gift for her birthday, 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.320 you know, and so brother wanted some sense of reciprocity. 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.359 And so I began to inquire as to why she 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.080 decided to not get me a gift, and she said 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.080 something that intrigued me. She said, I didn't get you 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:38.880 a gift this year. I said why. She said, because 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.120 I was struggling with something. It's okay, Well what were 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:43.719 you struggling with? She said, I was struggling with this, 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:48.640 what do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.320 And I knew she wasn't struggling, she was just being trifling. 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:57.080 So I responded with my own sense of fasiciousists, what 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:00.960 do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? You 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.560 give them some more of what you think they seemingly have. 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.640 Pretty good answer, would you say? And it was right 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:09.920 there in that context that God sent me a fact 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.800 straight from the Holy Ghost facts machine of Heaven. And 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:18.039 I thought about another relationship that I have, but more specifically, 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.839 the relationship that we all share with the God who 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.840 is sovereign. Because in light of my sister's questions slash statement, 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.480 what do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.159 I hear Paul say to us this morning that you 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:38.000 and I ought to give God the glory, that we 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.479 ought to give God the glory. But right there, my 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.480 sister's question statement comes to bear, because how can we, 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:51.600 as fallible and finite creatures, give God anything that God 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:56.320 does not already possess? I mean, can we give God glory? 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:02.119 When the Psalmist calls him the King of glory? Paul 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.960 refers to Christ as the Hope of glory. Another epistel 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.480 writer refers to God as the God of all glory. 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.600 So how can we really give God glory if God 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.320 is already king of glory. Christ is the Hope of glory, 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:18.760 and God is the God of all What can we 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:23.039 give to God who does not seemingly own everything, but 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:27.480 who actually already owns everything? And I thought about God 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.680 in creation, because God in creation knew that at times 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.320 he would have periodic needs. So what did God do? 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.960 God knew at times that he would need a word, 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.840 presented a word, and so God created and urch angel 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:44.480 whose name was Gabriel. Gabriel was the word angel. Whenever 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.800 God wanted to bring a word to his people, often 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.080 he would use Gabriel. In the Book of Luke, chapter one, 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.279 verse twenty six, when he wanted to announce the birth 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:56.080 of Jesus and Bethlehem of Judea, he sent Gabriel to 0:06:56.240 --> 0:07:01.359 Mary to make that heavenly annunciation. Because whenever God wanted 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.800 a word, he would use Gabriel. The Book of First 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.000 Thessalonians tells us that when chapter four and Christ comes 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.960 back in the Rapture, Paul says, for the Lord himself 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.560 shall destin from heaven with a shout with the voice 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:17.120 of the archangel. Scholars believe that voice would be the 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:21.280 voice of Gabriel, signifying the return of the Lord Jesus, 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:26.320 because whenever God wanted a word, he would use Gabriel. 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.160 But then God also knew at times that he would 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:33.360 need warfare. Warfare, so God created an archangel whose name 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.560 was Michael. Can the church say Michael and Michael is 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:41.160 the warfare Angel. The Book of Jude chapter one tells 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.200 us that when Moses died, there was a battle for 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:50.040 the physical remains of Moses. That battle was between the 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:54.520 devil and his angels and Michael and the warfare angels 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:59.000 from heaven. Michael and his angels won that battle, took 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.160 the body of mo Jes and buried the body in 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:06.400 a place where only God is aware of why, because 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.520 whenever God wanted a word, he used Gabriel. When God 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.360 wanted warfare, he used Michael. In the Book of Daniel, 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.160 chapter ten, it tells us that Daniel prayed to God 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:21.120 for instructions and for direction, and for twenty one days, 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.600 for three weeks Daniel was waiting to hear from God. 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.720 And three weeks After this prayer, Gabriel showed up, and 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:32.280 Gabriel says, Daniel, from the first time you prayed Daniel 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:36.160 ten fourteen. From the first time you prayed, God heard 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:40.400 your prayer and God dispatched me, Gabriel from heaven to 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.280 bring you your answer, he says, But I was withstood 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.640 from some demonic forces around the region of Persia, and 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.559 I couldn't bring you answer because Satan's chief demons in 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:57.080 the Persian region had me held and bound. So God 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:01.720 sent Michael, the warfare angel from heaven to engage in 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:06.000 combat to release me to bring you your answer. Here's why, 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.959 because whenever God wanted a word, often God would use Gabriel, 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:15.880 and when God wanted warfare, God would use Michael. But 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.359 then God also knew at times that he would need worship, 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.959 and so God created the archangel whose name was Lucifer, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:28.199 and Lucifer was over the praise, worship, and music departments 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.840 of heaven. But then Lucifer wanted to be like God, 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:36.719 and instead of glorifying God, Lucifer wanted to be worshiped, 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.440 and God had to evict Lucifer from the heaveness. Luke 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.680 says that he felled as lightning from heaven. And when 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:49.240 Lucifer got kicked out of heaven, God never replaced him 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:55.360 with one individual who'd be responsible for worship. Because of that, 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.960 John chapter four says that the Father is seeking worship 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.480 shippers who would worship God in spirit and in truth. 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:11.959 And here's the reality. Gabriel is still bringing forth the word. 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.240 Michael is still involved in warfare, but no single person 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:22.520 is responsible for worship. And since the Father is seeking worshipers, 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.800 this is the primary reason why the enemy hates you 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:31.560 and I whenever we praise God, because whenever we worship God, 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:36.520 we literally remind the devil of the job that he 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:42.000 got fired from. And I wish I had somebody around 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:46.360 the Elevation Church who just take a moment and help 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:51.120 me make the devil mad for me. I mean, every 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.600 time you clap your hands, you make the devil mad. 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:59.960 Every time you shock Holleylujah, you're making the devil mad. 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:02.960 Come on, say t get night enough. We will bless 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:10.320 the Lord at all times, and his south continually be 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:18.680 in our mouths. Listen and see here's the reality. Paul says. 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.040 For of him and through him and to him are 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.960 all things to whom be glory, that work glory. Then 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.000 the Greek is the word docsa. It means a place 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.800 of pre eminence. It means reverential adoration. It means to 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.120 make God an audience of one. Because up in the 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:39.040 heaven is do the cherboms and serophims bow twenty four 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.160 hours a day in perpetual obeisance to our God, who 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.360 sits on the throne. And the only time when God 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:50.000 is most comfortable in the earth is when we create, 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:54.560 when we create environments that remind God of what he's 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:58.560 accustomed to in the heavenless. That's why the scriptures teach 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.520 us that God in habits the praises of his people. 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:04.880 And so Paul says, for off him and through him, 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.959 into him are all things to whom be glory forever 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:12.199 are man. Literally this passage in the Greek manuscripts that 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:16.440 were no chapters. It was one continuous flow. And so 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:20.280 what Paul says is God deserves to be worshiped. And 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.760 since God deserves to be worshiped, I beseech you. Therefore, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.200 my beloved brethren, that word beseech. That in the Greek 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:33.360 is the word parah clayo para, meaning alongside the verb calayo, 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:39.319 meaning to call it is a military summons para Calayoh beseech. 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.480 In the first century world, whenever those generals were preparing 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.840 for battle, they would issue a para calao for every 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.800 soldier to come and to engage in combat. Here, Paul 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.520 uses a military term to call those of us whose 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.640 soldiers of the Lord Jesus to engage and worship to 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:03.080 our God God a warfare that is not Colonel and 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.200 God says to Paul that if God is going to 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:11.319 be glorified, because sometimes I think we've created different identities 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:15.960 for what really brings glory, and unfortunately, sometimes I believe 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.520 that the things that we think glorify God may not 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.440 actually bring glory to God. So Paul says, if you 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.760 and I want to give God athenic glory is right here. 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.840 I beseech you. Therefore, my beloved brethren, by the mercies 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.640 of God, it is that you present your bodies, your soul, 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:39.280 maya essence all of who you are unto God. And 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.480 so the first thing that glorifies God, get this, It 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:47.840 is the upward presentation. Can somebody say the upward presentation? 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:53.920 I present, we present everything, we are, everything we have 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.520 as a vertical act of reference to God who sits 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.440 on the throne, and Paul else says, here's why we 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:06.280 should do this. God deserves the upwut presentation. It is 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:11.000 because we are responding to God's mercies. It is an 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.439 amazing passage. He says, I beseech you. Therefore, my beloved brethren, 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:19.200 it is by the mercies of God. I'm urging you, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.800 I'm compelling you, I am imploring you to give God 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:28.800 an upward gift and upwut presentation. Why, he says, you're 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:33.880 responding to the mercies of God. Now, this is what 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.760 blew my mind because all my life I thought it 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.240 was I thought it was mercy. So we see things 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:44.240 like Lord have mercy. Paul says, no, it's really not mercy. 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:49.359 Mercy is really plural. The Greek word there connotes plurality. 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.880 That's why it says mercies of God, not just one. 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:59.560 But it is plural mercies of God. Paul says. It 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.640 is not singular mercy because God is too inexhaustible to 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.800 be relegated by singular abride. It is not mercy. It 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:15.840 is mercies, meaning anything that God has deliberately withheld from 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:20.280 each of us. That we rightly deserved. It is a 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:25.440 type of mercy. It is one of God's mercies. Anything 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.840 that God has deliberately and intentionally withheld from us that 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:34.720 we deserved is one of his mercies. Can let me 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:36.840 come this way? Perhaps there are some of you who 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.440 are in town for the football game yesterday, the HPCU Classic, 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:42.960 And maybe some of you remember back in your college 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.880 days twenty five or thirty years ago at North Carolina 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:49.840 Central A and t or Duke, or at Davison, or 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.080 at North Carolina State or at the University of North Carolina. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.680 Some of you remember some of your college days before 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.960 you be in church at nine thirty on the sun 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.600 the morning before you had given your life to God. 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.760 Some of us football season, we have gone out on 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.040 Saturday and all day long watching the game, and some 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.720 of us would have imbibed on some beverages that were 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:17.800 not necessarily kool aid, iced tea or communion. Come on, 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:20.880 talk to me, somebody, somebody remembers back in your BC 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:25.120 days before Christ Days. Perhaps you consume some things that 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.720 you should not have consumed, and if you're not careful, 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.400 you could have consumed too much of what you should 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.080 not have been consuming in your college days, and even 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:37.600 in your inebriation and in your intoxication when you got 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:42.280 behind a wheel of an automobile. Somehow, some way, in 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.920 spite of our irresponsibility, God allows you to get back 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.040 to your dorm room or your apartment safely. You didn't 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:55.480 get a hicclahomicide or a DUI. Can I tell you 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.360 what it was. It was not because you are a 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:02.840 coherent driver. It's not because of the dictrity of your senses. 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.160 The only reason you made it back safely, in your 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:11.080 inebriation and your irresponsibility, is because God gave you a 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.960 drunk mercy. Am I talking to somebody who can look 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.399 back over your life and testify I've been done that, 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.359 But I'm thankful for as mercy. Okay, all right, maybe 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.720 you've never had alcohol before, but maybe in nineteen eighty 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.320 five when you were in love with Charlie or june Bug. 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.080 You remember him. He had the crew cut or the 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.879 Jerry curl and were the members only jacket and the 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.240 Jordash jeans, and you fell in love with Charlie or 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.680 june Bug. But he left your heart when he married 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.720 Melissa or famee Quisha and you thought your life was over. 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.800 You thought the sun rose and sat on them. But 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.919 you went back to your thirty fifth class reunion and 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.439 the first person you saw was Charlie or June Bug 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:58.000 and they had that same crew cut Jerry Curle members 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.880 only jacket, short ash jean with three teeth in their mouths, 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.600 and one of them was gold. And you look your 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.840 hands right in the class for you, and it said, Lord, 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.080 I thank you for a breakup mercy. I thank you 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.320 for the things that you have provided and prevented. And 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.200 am I talking to somebody who can look back over 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:21.320 your life and see stuff God that's kept you from you? 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:27.560 All give God the offput presentation and give God glory holeymia. 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:35.720 And so Paul says here that this offput presentation, that 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:40.439 you're responding to his mercies. And then Paul says, it 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:44.399 is a reasonable mandate. I beseech you, therefore, my beloved brethren, 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.359 by the mercies of God, that you present your body 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:53.760 as a living sacrifice, A living sacrifice. That is interesting. 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:55.320 I need to dig that for a moment. That word 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.160 living is the word zio in Greek, where you get 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:02.800 the word zoology from through Sayah living za o through 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:07.480 Sayah living sacrifice. Now this is very very interesting because 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:12.280 they brought in the first century an Old Testament with 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.840 the Greeks would have called to God the pak fistko 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:20.520 through Sayah, which is a dead sacrifice. Some of you 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:22.760 remember in the Book of Genesis, chapter twenty two, God 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:27.399 told Abraham, Abraham, take your son Isaac up on Mount 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:33.040 Mariah to offer him as a sacrifice under God. Abraham 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.719 gets his son Isaac. They go up on Mount Mariah. 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.160 He builds the altar, he has a knife, he has 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.040 a wood, he has the dagger. He gets ready to 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.960 kill his son to offer him as the pok fist 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.480 go through Saleh under Jehovah. And right before he gets 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.040 ready to kill his son to offer him as a 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.080 dead sacrifice, God speaks to him and say, if Abraham 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:56.719 lay no hand on the lad, look in the thicket, 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:01.000 there's a ram there. Release your son and get the ram, 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.480 the lamb to offer the lamb the ram as a sacrifice. 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:09.240 Because in the Old Testament God only accepted dead sacrifices. 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.480 In the Book of Exodus, God tells Moses to go 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.159 to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh to let the people go. 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:19.480 God sends ten plagues. And then God speaks to them 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.000 and say, tell the people in Egypt that they should 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:25.439 get a lamb, kill the lamb, and put the blood 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.480 of the lamb on the door post, because this night 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:32.120 in Egypt, the Death Angel is coming through Egypt, and 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.560 if the blood of the lamb has not been applied 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.560 to the door post, the death Angel will go into 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.639 that home to kill the first born. Because in the 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.480 Old Testament they had to bring unto God pigeons, turtles, 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.320 you lambs for the priests to kill to apply the 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:52.240 blood to offer as an ocpacracist go through sale a 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.560 dead sacrifice under God. In the Old Testament they had 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:01.119 to bring dead sacrifices. But Paul says in this text 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.960 that since we no longer live by a legalistic millie, 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.560 that since we no longer live under the law, that 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:15.160 God doesn't deserve a dead sacrifice. And our pop fisto 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.879 through sail. Paul says, God wants a si through sayl, 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:24.960 a living sacrifice. And I don't know about you, but 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:29.520 when God rode by this morning in his golden chariot, 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:35.040 chauffeured by the invisible winds, and dispatch his darling angels 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.879 to touch our bodies with the finger of love in 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:41.320 our eyes. I think it came open to greet the 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.880 vergin light of a brand new day. We rest under 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:49.359 the canopy of God's benevolence, favor, and grace. And since 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:54.280 you and I are alive today, how dare us enter 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:58.800 into this beautiful place? Or watch online and give God 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:05.080 a dead sacrifice? God deserves a life, worship and a 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:12.200 life praise and live glory to God lives giving live service, 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:18.159 life praise. The Bible says, let every thing that hath breath, 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:22.080 which means you alive, praise ye the Lord, and do 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.800 me a favor. When you come to worship, get here 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.600 in time enough to make sure you're seated by the 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.359 right people. And here's how you know if you're seated 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:34.159 by the right people. Just get on your role and 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.920 hollow at your role. And if you holler at your 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:40.600 role and nobody hollers back, that's the wrong road to 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:43.800 sit on. No, when you come to worship, you ought 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:47.160 to look at somebody and say halle If they don't 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.000 say Lujah, find somebody else to sit by, because you 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:52.399 want to be besides somebody who has some life and 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.040 has some energy and some praise. Is there anybody in 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:59.440 this place who came to give God a live worship? 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:10.320 I'm living sacrifice, nothing dead. But I'm letting sacrifice and 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:18.000 so and so. The upward the upward presentation, it's you're 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.040 responding to His mercies. Is the least that you and I. 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:26.560 It's a reasonable service, a reasonable worship. Then, Paul says, listen, 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:31.800 once we give God the upward presentation. Secondly, in order 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:36.399 to glorify God, listen, he says. Go backwards from conformation. 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:46.000 Say backwards from conformation, not confirmation, conformation. Listen what he 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:49.760 says in verse two, and be not conformed. He says, 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:55.240 don't assimilate, don't fashion yourselves into the Ion, which is 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:59.280 the spirit of the world. Very powerful passes because at 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:02.760 the time of the first Entry, Rome was considered to 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:07.399 be the citadel of the Caesars. Rome was the darling 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:10.520 of the human race. When Paul wrote in the first century, 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:15.320 Rome was at home of Claudius and Caligula, of Nero Antiberius. 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:18.199 It was a place where barbarity was celebrated. It was 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:21.720 the darling of the whole world. And Paul's ultimate desire 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:24.760 was to get Trome because it was the citadel, it 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:27.720 was the Darling, it was the Empire. But there were 0:24:27.760 --> 0:24:32.360 some believers who had moved into Rome. But Rome had 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:37.480 historically been paganistic and pantheistic and polytheistic, and the message 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:40.400 of Christ. Paul wanted that to be paramount in Rome. 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:45.159 But the challenge was this, when believers had begun to 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:48.960 develop and grow in Rome, the spirit of the age 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:56.240 was so intense that you couldn't demarcate between the saints 0:24:56.280 --> 0:25:02.080 in Rome versus the Ans in Rome. Paul was saying 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:06.040 that many of the believers had been affected by this 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:11.320 Roman spirit that did not prioritize Christ. It was about 0:25:11.359 --> 0:25:15.800 the empire and power and greed and selfishness. And Paul says, 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:21.280 in order to glorify God, don't conform to what's happening 0:25:21.320 --> 0:25:25.040 in the world, all the craziness that you see around you. 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:29.800 Don't ever allow those things to become your reality. And 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:32.280 let me share with you. I believe this passage is 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:36.720 incredibly relevant because even now, there is a spirit in 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:41.159 this age that has troubled my spirit. It's kept me 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:45.320 up at night, a spirit of the age that's destroying 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:49.840 relationships and causing people to fall out. It is a 0:25:49.920 --> 0:25:54.639 spirit of political divisiveness and ideology, and the spirit of 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:58.800 separation and the spirit of division. You can't even watch 0:25:58.880 --> 0:26:02.520 the news now with out ended up being nauseous and 0:26:02.560 --> 0:26:06.040 having a headache. So much hatred in the world Christians 0:26:06.119 --> 0:26:11.160 believers black and white, and a Church of God versus Baptists, 0:26:11.160 --> 0:26:14.119 and it seems that we can't get along because the 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:18.640 spirit of this age has made so many prioritized politics 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:21.520 over the Kingdom of God. Let me share with your 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:26.199 brothers and sisters. We should vote our political perspectives. We 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:30.160 should vote our convictions. We should vote and promote our beliefs. 0:26:30.160 --> 0:26:34.120 We should be civically engaged. But we should never believe 0:26:34.800 --> 0:26:39.480 that the hope of our world is based upon whether 0:26:39.520 --> 0:26:43.080 you're part of a party that's represented by an elephant 0:26:43.440 --> 0:26:47.439 or a dunkey. The hope of our world is not 0:26:47.520 --> 0:26:52.080 an elephant or a dunkey, but a lamb, the lamb 0:26:52.200 --> 0:26:56.600 of God who takes away the sins of the world. 0:26:56.880 --> 0:27:04.440 The hope of our faith is in Sesus Christ, hallelujah. 0:27:04.480 --> 0:27:08.160 And my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' 0:27:08.160 --> 0:27:11.040 blood and is righteous. Says I damn not trust the 0:27:11.119 --> 0:27:15.920 sweetest fraying, but Holy Lean on Jesus' name, on Christ, 0:27:16.359 --> 0:27:20.000 the Son of the Rocks. I stand all of the ground. 0:27:27.720 --> 0:27:34.199 Our kingdom is not of this world. We're going to 0:27:34.240 --> 0:27:42.760 a place where we won't need politics again. We have 0:27:43.119 --> 0:27:46.840 a God who's going to bring us together, of every kindred, 0:27:46.920 --> 0:27:50.280 every tribe. And that's why I love Pastor Stephen Hollifredic 0:27:50.359 --> 0:27:53.639 That's why I love the Elevation Church, because you have 0:27:53.800 --> 0:27:58.119 made God and Christ. Listen, look around. This is what 0:27:58.240 --> 0:28:02.440 happened is supposed to look like, not about division and separation, 0:28:02.880 --> 0:28:06.520 but about believers of the every kindred, ever tribe climbing 0:28:06.560 --> 0:28:10.119 together to glorify our great God, give him praise and 0:28:10.160 --> 0:28:19.560 give them glory. You know the spirit of this age. 0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:22.200 It's the spirit that if you're not careful, it can 0:28:22.240 --> 0:28:26.400 depress you. Oh goodness. A few months ago, I went 0:28:26.440 --> 0:28:30.960 and fill up. My family loves utility vehicles, and I 0:28:30.960 --> 0:28:34.960 have boys and their mom my wife is a teen mother, 0:28:35.000 --> 0:28:37.320 and so we always carrying a lot of kids, you know, 0:28:37.440 --> 0:28:40.200 for basketball games. And I went to fill up the 0:28:40.320 --> 0:28:44.000 utility vehicle and as I was at the pump, and 0:28:45.280 --> 0:28:50.200 it hit ninety and then it hit one hundred, and 0:28:50.280 --> 0:28:54.880 the one hundred ten, one hundred twenty, one hundred and thirty. 0:28:54.920 --> 0:28:56.880 I was confused. I didn't know whether to pray or 0:28:57.000 --> 0:28:59.640 cuss or to kick the pumping. I was just I 0:28:59.720 --> 0:29:02.080 was just restaurant. I was having a moment, and right 0:29:02.120 --> 0:29:06.640 now the Holy Spirit convicted me. Instead, instead of you complaining, 0:29:07.560 --> 0:29:11.240 be thankful that you have one hundred and thirty dollars 0:29:11.480 --> 0:29:15.520 on a debit card. That other time this machine would 0:29:15.560 --> 0:29:18.520 have eaten your card. And here's what I want you 0:29:18.560 --> 0:29:21.600 to know. No matter what happens in the economyment, no 0:29:21.640 --> 0:29:24.800 matter what happens with inflation, no matter what happens with 0:29:24.920 --> 0:29:27.800 gash prices or food prices, I want you to know something. 0:29:27.880 --> 0:29:32.360 Don't let the spirit of anxiety and depression overwhelm you. 0:29:32.360 --> 0:29:35.560 You know why because we're not gonna conform to anxiety 0:29:35.600 --> 0:29:38.760 and depression. You know why because the scriptures teach us. 0:29:38.920 --> 0:29:43.160 I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed 0:29:43.480 --> 0:29:47.400 begging bread. God is gonna take care of you, regardless 0:29:47.480 --> 0:29:52.880 claud who's in the White House, because anybody will leave. 0:29:52.920 --> 0:29:54.880 We have a God who takes care of us. Do 0:29:55.000 --> 0:29:57.800 you believe we have a God who supplies our needs? God, 0:29:57.800 --> 0:30:04.800 go there and give God praise and give them glory hallelujah. 0:30:05.480 --> 0:30:10.400 So we have to give God the upward presentation. Then 0:30:10.440 --> 0:30:14.440 we go backwards from conformation. Don't let the spirit of 0:30:14.480 --> 0:30:20.000 the age overwhelm you. But then after the upward presentation 0:30:20.400 --> 0:30:24.200 and backwards from conformation. Thirdly, Paul says, in order to 0:30:24.200 --> 0:30:29.720 glorify God, that needs to be the inward transformation. I 0:30:29.760 --> 0:30:33.120 say the inward say, inward transformation is right here, and 0:30:33.240 --> 0:30:38.360 be not conformed to this world, but listen, but be transformed. 0:30:39.040 --> 0:30:41.160 That word in Greek is the word we getting metamorphosis 0:30:41.160 --> 0:30:43.880 from the word renewing. Is where we get the word 0:30:43.920 --> 0:30:47.960 renovation from. It's in the present perfect imperative in Greek, 0:30:47.960 --> 0:30:52.320 which means it's a continuous action. What he literally says 0:30:52.440 --> 0:30:56.760 is every day your mind and my mind must be 0:30:56.800 --> 0:31:03.080 in a constant state of renovation and metamorphosis. It's a 0:31:03.120 --> 0:31:07.320 beautiful picture. It's really a picture of a house. When 0:31:07.320 --> 0:31:13.560 a house gets old, it's subject to dilapidation, termites, asbestos, 0:31:14.360 --> 0:31:18.080 other issues. Periodically. What cause us to have to renovate 0:31:19.240 --> 0:31:23.720 house has to go through metamorphosis. Paul says, the mind 0:31:23.920 --> 0:31:28.960 is analogous to an old house. There are treacherous termites, 0:31:30.320 --> 0:31:34.680 adver Sarah asbestos that can get into your mind, and 0:31:34.720 --> 0:31:40.000 if you're not careful, it can strimp your mind of 0:31:40.080 --> 0:31:45.040 everything that's powerful, of everything that's stable. So the mind 0:31:45.320 --> 0:31:49.920 has to be renovated. Reminds me of Solomon and Proverbs 0:31:49.960 --> 0:31:54.920 twenty three seven. Very interesting. Solomon says this, for as 0:31:54.960 --> 0:32:03.640 a man thinketh in his heart, so is he now? 0:32:04.280 --> 0:32:07.200 In Hebrew. Paul is trying to show how Solemnon is 0:32:07.200 --> 0:32:09.120 trying to show how the head and heart are one 0:32:09.240 --> 0:32:14.160 singular entity. So etymologically, he's saying, head and heart want entity. 0:32:14.440 --> 0:32:17.160 As a person thinks in their hearts, head and heart 0:32:17.160 --> 0:32:20.680 are together in the Hebrew language is one. But in 0:32:20.800 --> 0:32:26.440 the English or in the biological that's an impossibility. What 0:32:26.480 --> 0:32:30.400 do you mean, as a person thinks in their hearts, 0:32:31.560 --> 0:32:40.680 that's biologically impossible? Why? Because the heart doesn't think? How 0:32:40.720 --> 0:32:43.320 can you think in your heart? The purpose of the 0:32:43.360 --> 0:32:50.280 heart scientifically is to pump blood. Scientifically, biologically, our hearts 0:32:50.360 --> 0:32:56.520 don't think. All thinking is in the cerebrum, the cerebral cortex, 0:32:57.600 --> 0:33:02.000 the thalamus, the hype of thing, animals, the paneo glen, 0:33:02.960 --> 0:33:11.400 the mbdoolah, I'll bloom godda. Scientifically, all thought starts here. 0:33:12.840 --> 0:33:16.360 So what really is Solomon saying in Proverbs twenty three seven? 0:33:16.520 --> 0:33:19.760 Here's what he's saying very important. As a person thinks 0:33:20.240 --> 0:33:27.200 psychologically in their hearts cardiologically, so is he or she anthropologically. 0:33:28.280 --> 0:33:31.360 As a person thinks, that's your psychology. That's where it 0:33:31.360 --> 0:33:37.040 begins in your heart. Cardiologically, that's how we behave. So 0:33:37.240 --> 0:33:43.920 is he anthropologically, that's what we become. As a person thinks, 0:33:44.560 --> 0:33:48.959 that's where it begins in their hearts. That's how we behave. 0:33:49.720 --> 0:33:54.800 So is he or she That's what we become. So 0:33:54.920 --> 0:34:04.560 we become inevitably what has existed in our minds. That's 0:34:04.560 --> 0:34:07.120 why dey carn't put it this way, cogito ergo soon, 0:34:07.240 --> 0:34:10.360 I think therefore I am, and so the battle for 0:34:10.520 --> 0:34:14.359 us is not for your finances or your family. It's 0:34:14.400 --> 0:34:19.719 for your mind. Because if the enemy can hit your mind, 0:34:20.840 --> 0:34:27.080 he's got you. If you have mess constantly on your mind, 0:34:27.800 --> 0:34:33.200 eventually you and I will become messy. Okay, all right, okay, okay, 0:34:33.320 --> 0:34:36.320 that's got me. Come this way, all right. Second Corinthians 0:34:36.360 --> 0:34:39.200 ten to four, for the weapons of our warfare are 0:34:39.239 --> 0:34:42.399 not carnal, but Mighty through God, to the pulling down 0:34:42.400 --> 0:34:49.080 of strongholds, casting down imaginations and bringing it to captivity 0:34:49.120 --> 0:34:52.600 every thought. Paul says, you better put some handcuffs on 0:34:52.640 --> 0:34:56.319 your thoughts. Every child of God needs to keep some 0:34:56.440 --> 0:35:00.480 handcuffs constantly on them. And that's not for you married people. 0:35:00.520 --> 0:35:01.920 That's time I'm talking about get your mind out to 0:35:01.920 --> 0:35:05.960 go to I'm talking about handcuffs to put them on 0:35:06.040 --> 0:35:09.879 your thoughts, because if your thoughts run loose, you have 0:35:09.960 --> 0:35:13.799 to handcuff and arrest your thoughts and say you will 0:35:13.840 --> 0:35:16.600 not run through my mind and drive me in same 0:35:16.920 --> 0:35:20.560 I'm gonna put handcuffs on my thought. This is what 0:35:20.600 --> 0:35:23.319 he said in Philippians chapter four. He says, for what 0:35:23.440 --> 0:35:27.399 sever things are lovely, what sever things are honest? If 0:35:27.400 --> 0:35:31.560 that being a virtue, if that be any praise, Think 0:35:32.200 --> 0:35:36.200 on these things, and the peace of God, which passes 0:35:36.239 --> 0:35:41.319 all understanding, shall keep your He says peace. Then if 0:35:41.360 --> 0:35:46.160 your thoughts are right, peace becomes a military guard and 0:35:46.360 --> 0:35:50.600 stands in front of your mind to prevent anything that's 0:35:50.719 --> 0:35:55.240 diabolic from getting into your mind. Isaiah twenty six three says, 0:35:55.280 --> 0:35:58.919 for if we keep our minds stayed on him, He'll 0:35:59.040 --> 0:36:01.960 keep us in peri peace. When I grew up in Georgia, 0:36:02.000 --> 0:36:04.080 the old people would sing a song. I woke up 0:36:04.120 --> 0:36:08.600 this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus. You got 0:36:08.600 --> 0:36:12.520 to declare to the ternet, you will not have my mind. 0:36:13.320 --> 0:36:17.080 I will focus my mind and my thoughts and my affections. 0:36:18.719 --> 0:36:22.080 Let me share something very personal with you. Five years ago, 0:36:23.239 --> 0:36:25.440 I went through the most Six years ago, I went 0:36:25.440 --> 0:36:29.200 through the most traumatic season of my life. Here's what happened. 0:36:29.239 --> 0:36:33.640 One week my godmother died. I was expecting them. The 0:36:33.680 --> 0:36:37.960 next week, my mother died and didn't tell when she 0:36:38.000 --> 0:36:41.439 was leaving. Three days after my mother died, my best 0:36:41.520 --> 0:36:47.319 friend from college died literally one hour after he helped 0:36:47.360 --> 0:36:50.200 me plan my mother's funeral. He had a massive heart attack. 0:36:51.320 --> 0:36:55.520 Three weeks after my mother died, my sister died. So 0:36:55.560 --> 0:37:01.319 I want you just imagine planning four funerals, picking out 0:37:01.360 --> 0:37:06.400 four caskets, and having to deliver four eulogies for the 0:37:06.440 --> 0:37:10.200 closest people in my life in less than thirty days. 0:37:11.160 --> 0:37:13.239 Five days after bearing my sister, my brother had a 0:37:13.239 --> 0:37:17.680 massive stroke and the doctor said it's because there's something 0:37:17.719 --> 0:37:22.600 that's called broken heart syndrome. I never knew broken heart syndrome. 0:37:23.320 --> 0:37:25.680 Here I am the man of faith. Here I am 0:37:25.719 --> 0:37:29.879 the preacher demand of God. Here I'm the one who's 0:37:29.920 --> 0:37:33.960 always comedic, always a clown, always joking. Here I'm the 0:37:34.000 --> 0:37:39.520 one who always is hopeful, and yet there's no hope. 0:37:40.440 --> 0:37:43.080 I couldn't even read the word of God. I couldn't 0:37:43.120 --> 0:37:45.520 even I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want 0:37:45.520 --> 0:37:47.759 to hear people tell me your mother's in a better place. 0:37:47.760 --> 0:37:50.120 I want I want it to literally go tayekwondo on 0:37:50.239 --> 0:37:53.000 anybody who told me she's in a better place. Don't cry. 0:37:53.040 --> 0:37:54.600 I know she's in a better place. I'm not hurt 0:37:54.640 --> 0:37:56.479 the cause of where she is. I'm hurting me because 0:37:56.520 --> 0:37:58.480 of where she's not. Please miss me with that before 0:37:58.520 --> 0:38:01.799 I chop you right in your throat. I was so discouraged. 0:38:03.120 --> 0:38:05.800 I was so depressed. I was so stressed. I couldn't 0:38:05.800 --> 0:38:08.279 go to the bed. I shut my calendar down. They 0:38:08.320 --> 0:38:10.080 said passing, when you come back to preach, I said, 0:38:10.200 --> 0:38:12.440 never rear. I didn't know if I'd ever preach again. 0:38:13.120 --> 0:38:15.920 I was just so broken. I was so broken to 0:38:16.040 --> 0:38:19.680 this very day, my family. I still have my mother's 0:38:19.719 --> 0:38:24.480 messages on my phone. I will never delete them. I 0:38:24.560 --> 0:38:26.200 just every now and they just want to hear a voice, 0:38:26.280 --> 0:38:28.239 and I just it's an old message. I just will 0:38:28.280 --> 0:38:30.520 play it just to hear a voice. And I had 0:38:30.560 --> 0:38:33.720 to eventually go and get therapy. It took me about 0:38:33.719 --> 0:38:36.560 eighteen months to kind of find some sense of balance, 0:38:36.560 --> 0:38:38.759 and I'm still not where I want to be now. 0:38:38.960 --> 0:38:42.279 Mother's Day I cry all day. My mother's birthday, I'm sick. 0:38:42.320 --> 0:38:45.160 I know she's in heaven. Holidays don't quite feel the same. 0:38:45.239 --> 0:38:49.239 And now I understand that grief is the price that 0:38:49.320 --> 0:38:54.239 I pay for love. But I was so broken, so disheveled, discombobulated, 0:38:54.280 --> 0:38:56.279 and didn't know what I was gonna do. And the 0:38:56.400 --> 0:38:59.120 enemy kept telling me, you pray for so many other people. 0:39:00.000 --> 0:39:02.440 You seen God perform miracles for others, Why didn't he 0:39:02.520 --> 0:39:04.719 do it for you? Will people believe in faith in you? 0:39:04.800 --> 0:39:07.080 I was so hurt, And do men favor? Do mel 0:39:07.120 --> 0:39:11.239 favor before you criticize me for my vulnerability. Don't you 0:39:11.280 --> 0:39:13.719 ever criticize some person's steps if you haven't walked in 0:39:13.719 --> 0:39:17.400 their shoes. I was just I was just broken. I 0:39:17.800 --> 0:39:22.080 really was. I'd never been that broken in my entire life. 0:39:22.600 --> 0:39:25.040 But you know what I've begun to get back out 0:39:25.080 --> 0:39:27.279 and push the word of God. Stop traveling because I 0:39:27.320 --> 0:39:29.719 just didn't feel the six that the enemy had me 0:39:29.800 --> 0:39:34.400 to believe that it is that any efficacy in your preaching. 0:39:34.920 --> 0:39:37.040 But you know why I'm here because when I got 0:39:37.040 --> 0:39:40.920 this Charlotte, when I came to Charlotte today my goodness 0:39:40.960 --> 0:39:44.239 and got the elevation in church today, I understand this. 0:39:45.000 --> 0:39:49.640 I am thankful that in my worst season of my life, 0:39:50.120 --> 0:39:57.440 God kept my mind. Oh yes, God, and has transformed 0:39:57.480 --> 0:40:01.760 and it's transforming my mind. Am I talking to anybody 0:40:01.760 --> 0:40:05.400 who's gone through something that's been so traumatic that you 0:40:05.640 --> 0:40:08.600 thought you would put your shoes on your hands and 0:40:08.640 --> 0:40:12.400 your socks on your head. But somehow today you in 0:40:12.480 --> 0:40:15.680 worship today giving God the glory because in the worst 0:40:15.800 --> 0:40:19.520 moments of your life, we serve a God who can 0:40:19.600 --> 0:40:24.080 renew and who can keep your mind. Y'all got to 0:40:24.160 --> 0:40:27.480 excuse me. I feel the Holy Ghost right here. Can 0:40:27.520 --> 0:40:32.160 I tell you something some of you shot over money, calls, cash, clothes, 0:40:32.200 --> 0:40:34.759 and creature comforts. This morning, I want to thank God. 0:40:34.800 --> 0:40:37.040 I'll have five reasons to thank God. Can I give 0:40:37.080 --> 0:40:38.480 my quick five reasons why I want to thank God? 0:40:38.760 --> 0:40:45.520 Number one, he kept my mind. Number two, he kept 0:40:45.560 --> 0:40:51.560 my mind. Number three, he kept my mind. Number four, 0:40:52.360 --> 0:40:57.440 He kept my mind number five, He kept my mind. 0:40:57.880 --> 0:41:01.200 Is it keeping your mind? If you kept your mind, 0:41:01.600 --> 0:41:04.600 come on and get out from y'all praise and gold 0:41:10.440 --> 0:41:18.640 litten word and so let him transform, Let him transform 0:41:18.760 --> 0:41:23.919 your mind, let him make your mind new. And Jesus listen. 0:41:24.040 --> 0:41:25.600 So I got one more thing to tell Please take 0:41:25.600 --> 0:41:27.759 you sees one more thing to tell you, hallelujah. If 0:41:27.760 --> 0:41:34.120 you're gonna glify God upward presentation backwards from conformation? In 0:41:34.280 --> 0:41:38.319 what transformation? Well full find Finally, if we're gonna growify God, 0:41:38.920 --> 0:41:44.480 that must be the outward demonstration. I'm done. Somebody say 0:41:44.560 --> 0:41:48.279 outward demonstration first too, and be not conformed to this world, 0:41:49.360 --> 0:41:51.399 but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, 0:41:52.200 --> 0:41:56.440 that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable 0:41:56.520 --> 0:41:59.840 and perfect will of God. That word that's prove Is 0:41:59.880 --> 0:42:05.000 it interesting because it's translated from two perspectives. I want 0:42:05.040 --> 0:42:10.320 you to prove that's verb verb the verb form. Prove 0:42:11.000 --> 0:42:14.520 to do it actively, pursue it to ascertain the will 0:42:14.560 --> 0:42:18.120 of God. E groups, you've proven the will, Bible study 0:42:18.520 --> 0:42:23.840 proven the will, worship, we actively prove the will. But 0:42:24.000 --> 0:42:28.560 many commentators suggest that the best understanding of this is 0:42:28.640 --> 0:42:32.320 not in the verb form of prove, but the noun 0:42:32.640 --> 0:42:37.560 form what what do you mean? Verb you go and 0:42:37.760 --> 0:42:43.759 do it? Verb you go and prove it. Now you 0:42:43.880 --> 0:42:52.680 become proof of it. So once we have proven the will, 0:42:53.719 --> 0:42:58.919 now we become proof of what his will is. Okay, 0:42:59.040 --> 0:43:01.160 let me let me close by. Get this story. That's 0:43:01.200 --> 0:43:05.520 a man in California. His name is Michael Needaw in Edow. 0:43:07.120 --> 0:43:10.760 He is an attorney, a physician, and also a minister 0:43:10.840 --> 0:43:13.680 in some a former minister in some group. Well. Now 0:43:13.719 --> 0:43:18.200 he's an atheist and he filed litigation against the ninth 0:43:18.239 --> 0:43:23.400 District in California because, as an atheist, he felt that 0:43:23.560 --> 0:43:27.880 his daughter, who's in public school, was subjected to the 0:43:27.960 --> 0:43:32.120 clause one Nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance. 0:43:32.719 --> 0:43:36.439 He sued the local knife districts in California and he won. 0:43:37.960 --> 0:43:41.440 He won because they said the word God in a public, 0:43:42.200 --> 0:43:48.120 publicly funded institution is a violation of his his constitutional rights. 0:43:48.600 --> 0:43:52.720 He won. The only reason that it did not change 0:43:52.880 --> 0:43:56.520 was because it has federal implications. Because public schools received 0:43:56.560 --> 0:43:59.200 federal dollars. They went to the Supreme Court about this, 0:44:00.200 --> 0:44:05.640 and Supreme Court agreed some years ago with his claim. 0:44:06.400 --> 0:44:08.560 The only reason they didn't make changes at that time, 0:44:08.680 --> 0:44:10.840 they said, was because he didn't have legal custom of 0:44:10.880 --> 0:44:14.520 his daughter. But what he says now, he's going back 0:44:14.560 --> 0:44:17.480 to get some more atheists like him. They're going back 0:44:17.520 --> 0:44:22.239 to Supreme Court to delete one nation under God from 0:44:22.320 --> 0:44:25.000 the pleasure of allegiance. Then once he does that, he 0:44:25.160 --> 0:44:29.799 says he's going after currency, after money. Your dollar bill 0:44:29.880 --> 0:44:32.480 has on the back of it in God we trust. 0:44:32.760 --> 0:44:36.720 So why would the government produce something that has God? 0:44:37.239 --> 0:44:40.480 Is that a separation between God and government? And somebody 0:44:40.560 --> 0:44:43.120 interviewed this clown, I mean interviewed this food, I mean 0:44:43.640 --> 0:44:48.359 interview this man. Excuse me, and they ask him why 0:44:48.520 --> 0:44:53.279 is he so adamant about getting rid of God? Here's 0:44:53.280 --> 0:44:56.040 what he said. He said, I am upset with the 0:44:56.120 --> 0:44:59.840 faith community because if God is who they say he is, 0:45:00.440 --> 0:45:03.880 here's my problem. Where's the proof. You can't even periodically 0:45:03.880 --> 0:45:05.560 observe him. You can't put him onder a crucible of 0:45:05.600 --> 0:45:08.560 experimentation and investigation, can't observe them with the five senses. 0:45:08.680 --> 0:45:11.920 He says, if anybody who's a believer can offer me 0:45:12.080 --> 0:45:15.279 proof that this God is who you say is. Then 0:45:15.280 --> 0:45:17.759 maybe I'll stop, but I will not stop until I 0:45:17.800 --> 0:45:23.160 get proof. I thought about something this morning. Maybe I'll 0:45:23.280 --> 0:45:27.600 go to East Atlanta and get some of my saves, 0:45:27.800 --> 0:45:33.120 cousins who still got some hood in them, and you 0:45:33.200 --> 0:45:35.359 guys go drop Mecklenburg County and those of you who 0:45:35.400 --> 0:45:38.680 can be hood and holy simultaneously, and we all dress 0:45:38.800 --> 0:45:41.680 up in some black garments with black bandanas around our heads. 0:45:42.120 --> 0:45:44.440 And when that court case convenes, we bust up in 0:45:44.520 --> 0:45:48.280 that Supreme Court court room say hey, sir, we heard 0:45:49.040 --> 0:45:53.160 that you were looking for some proof that God is 0:45:53.280 --> 0:45:57.080 who God says God is, Sir, if you need some proof, 0:46:03.120 --> 0:46:07.040 you know what I got an idea when I was 0:46:07.120 --> 0:46:10.640 in undergrad. I was in pre law, and in pre law, 0:46:10.719 --> 0:46:14.880 we would have prop mock trials to prepare us for courtroom. 0:46:15.320 --> 0:46:17.279 Thank you hold the spirit I want today. I want 0:46:17.360 --> 0:46:20.000 us to have a mock trial to prepare for with 0:46:20.120 --> 0:46:22.320 him that court case is gonna convene. I want you 0:46:22.360 --> 0:46:24.759 to imagine with me as I close, that God is 0:46:24.880 --> 0:46:31.200 on trial. The Charubles are the justices. The twelve tribes 0:46:31.239 --> 0:46:38.439 of Israel are the jurors. God is the defendant. Mister 0:46:38.560 --> 0:46:42.240 Needhole is the plaintiff. I was trying to get somebody 0:46:42.239 --> 0:46:44.120 to come with me today and represent God, but nobody 0:46:44.200 --> 0:46:47.160 was available. So if you allow me, I'm gonna represent God. 0:46:48.040 --> 0:46:50.520 I'm gonna be God's defense attorney. Just imagine this with men, 0:46:50.719 --> 0:46:52.680 and today we're in the courtroom. We're not an elevation 0:46:52.719 --> 0:46:55.800 in the courtroom in DC, and we're going that courtroom. 0:46:56.000 --> 0:47:01.919 And they have accused my client God of being a fictitious, 0:47:02.040 --> 0:47:05.560 abstract metal physical ambiguity. They have accused my God of 0:47:05.719 --> 0:47:08.560 not being real. I'm gonna defend it, but I can't 0:47:08.640 --> 0:47:11.400 defend him without any evidence, any proof. So in a 0:47:11.480 --> 0:47:13.239 moment when they call for me, I'm gonna offer into 0:47:13.280 --> 0:47:17.080 evidence five exhibits. And if these exhibits fits you, I 0:47:17.160 --> 0:47:19.640 want you to stand, remain standing and shout as loud 0:47:19.680 --> 0:47:21.960 as you can. I'm proof. I'm evidence. So you already 0:47:22.360 --> 0:47:24.920 all right? Cord And says Hue, I am E Dewey Smith, 0:47:25.160 --> 0:47:29.000 and I brought some evidence with me from Charlotte, North Carolina. 0:47:29.480 --> 0:47:31.920 Your honors, let me off into evidence exhibits A through 0:47:32.000 --> 0:47:35.400 E they will authenticate that my client is guilty of 0:47:35.520 --> 0:47:38.879 being God. Your honest let me off into evidence. Exhibit A. Yes, 0:47:39.000 --> 0:47:42.120 Exhibit A. These are the people who've had ailments before, 0:47:42.640 --> 0:47:46.080 they've been sick in their bodies. But my client was 0:47:46.200 --> 0:47:51.040 Jehovah Rophi. My client was Jehovah Rathaka and healed their bodies. 0:47:51.600 --> 0:47:54.719 I need exhibit A to stand. Just exhibit A. Just 0:47:54.840 --> 0:47:58.160 stand and shout it. I'm proof, keep standing, I'm evidence 0:47:58.680 --> 0:48:01.880 Exhibit B, your honor. These are the people who've been 0:48:02.040 --> 0:48:05.640 broke before. They didn't have any money, but my client 0:48:05.880 --> 0:48:09.400 push Jehovah zirah. How did an exhibit be the standing shot? 0:48:09.800 --> 0:48:15.200 I'm proof exhibit see. These are the people who should 0:48:15.239 --> 0:48:18.600 have been crazy by now, but my client caretul in 0:48:18.680 --> 0:48:21.160 that right mind. How did the exhibit see the shot? 0:48:21.239 --> 0:48:25.680 I'm proof exhibitdeed. These are the people who've been depressed. 0:48:26.040 --> 0:48:30.360 They go through divorce, death and devastation where they can testify. 0:48:30.520 --> 0:48:36.879 There ain't nobody do me like Jesus. Exhibit E. You're 0:48:36.920 --> 0:48:39.439 on a deed of the ones who had Internet shop. 0:48:39.760 --> 0:48:43.880 But they can testify. If God be for you, who 0:48:45.200 --> 0:48:48.560 can be? I gets you? Now? Do me one favored 0:48:48.600 --> 0:48:52.680 Look at a neighbor, saying neighbor, Just in case you 0:48:52.800 --> 0:48:56.680 want to see somebody there who is a proof and 0:48:56.760 --> 0:49:01.960 who wants to jerk Dard Glory look norf look at 0:49:02.120 --> 0:49:11.080 me time aletty task about it? Say that, you say that? 0:49:12.360 --> 0:49:23.360 Say say well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are 0:49:23.400 --> 0:49:25.160 a couple of things I'd love for you to do. 0:49:25.400 --> 0:49:29.680 Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You 0:49:29.760 --> 0:49:32.160 can also help us reach others by investing today at 0:49:32.200 --> 0:49:35.759 Elevation Church dot org. Slash GiB and thanks again for 0:49:35.920 --> 0:49:37.800 joining us on the Elevation Podcast.