Handle It

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.280 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.680 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:13.080 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:18.200 In your life. Enjoy the message. So I thought we 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:19.400 would call on Moses. 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:24.280 If we're talking about faith, he certainly deserves to be heard. 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:26.640 As to how he did what he did. 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:32.160 And I chose a selection in Exodus four one through five, 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:34.040 and I want to read it to you. 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:34.360 Now. 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.400 Let's go over and see Moses on the far side 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:44.839 of the desert and Midian, the voice of God has 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:50.600 summoned him from the crackling of a bush that will 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.600 not burn, but is on fire. And I think that's 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:57.240 a picture of a life that is set on fire 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:59.840 by faith, is that it burns up but it doesn't 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:07.479 and out. And now he's negotiating with God and he says, 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:12.120 an exodus for one. 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:11.480 What if. 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:18.880 They do not believe me or listen to me and say, 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:23.200 the Lord did not appear to you. And then the 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.720 Lord said to him, and what's that in your hand? 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:34.240 Staff? 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:41.560 He answered? The Lord said throw it down on the ground. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.280 And Moses threw it on the ground. It became a snake, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:49.600 and he ran from it. Somebody say, smart guy. Well 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.760 then the Lord said to him, reach out your hand 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.200 and take it by the tail. So Moses reached out, 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.680 took hold of the snake, and it turned back into 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.560 a staff in his hand. This said the Lord, is 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.800 so that they may believe the Lord, the God of 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.280 their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:14.120 and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you. I 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:14.840 really want to live. 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:15.399 Verse four. 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.160 The Lord said to him, reach out your hand and 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.560 take it by the tail. So Moses reached out, took 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.240 hold of the snake, and it turned back into a 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.239 staff in his hand. I need your help for one 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.520 moment before you take your seat, and I need you 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.280 to announce my message title to your neighbor. 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:34.920 So put your hand on their shoulder. 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.600 Get their attention, and when you give them my title 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.840 in a moment, I want you to holler at him 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:40.919 when you give. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:41.320 Them my title. 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.639 I don't want you to whisper it, mumble it, suggest it. 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:46.160 I want you to command it. 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.560 Okay, tell your neighbor, say neighbor, I don't know what 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:51.320 you're going through. 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:57.000 I don't know what you're dealing with. But God told me. 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:08.440 To tell you handle it. That's my nigh kid, fight 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.760 your other neighbors, say neighbor, other neighbor. 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:14.400 You were my second choice. 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:20.200 Don't be offended, but just know that God wanted me 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.200 to tell you handle it. 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:30.400 Amen, clap your hands. You may be seated. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:37.280 Thank you, Worship team. Don't we have fun together? Don't 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:38.040 we have a good time? 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:42.400 Amen? Look at this because. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:48.040 If you can have a flashback with me from when 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:55.920 Tom Hanks was on that island alone and he he 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.760 had to make friends with a volleyball. Now, those of 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.880 you who are participating in this portion of the sermon 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:04.040 are old. 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:08.800 I know only five of y'all would remember this reference. 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.440 But in the movie Castaway, where Tom Hanks had been 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:17.360 alone so long that his only companion was a volleyball, 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:20.520 and he called the volleyball. 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:21.960 What Wilson. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.160 And they did a good job with that movie that 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:30.440 that they bonded you enough with a volleyball that you 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:34.320 remember it as a character. You know, you can become 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.680 so attached to something inanimate that it becomes lifelike to you. 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.960 Exhibit a right. I remember when I first asked Chris Brown, 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:50.720 I was like, you think I should get an iPhone. 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:52.320 I don't know if I don't think I would. I 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.480 don't think I would use it very much. Yeah right, 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.880 I just didn't know what it was capable of. Moses 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:58.920 has a staff. 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.240 In his hand in Exodus chapter. 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.960 And by the time God gets through showing Moses what 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.240 that staff can do, Mose, I wonder. 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:09.359 I wonder if he got. 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:11.839 So attached to the staff that he ever gave it 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:16.039 a name. Do you think do you think he called it? 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:17.320 What do you think he called it? I think he 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:18.000 called it rod. 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:24.560 Even. 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:29.800 I feel a connection to my microphone, this particular microphone. 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:31.479 When I go preach other places and they give me 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.000 another mic it takes me like five minutes to get 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:35.800 it right in my hands because this one. I mean, 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.760 I know this microphone, I know how to handle it, 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:43.279 and I like having this microphone. I can control certain 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.720 things about it. So I like the handheld microphone. 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:46.719 I really like it. 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:50.119 When I want to preach. When I want to preach 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.719 like I'm Drake, I can grab it up here. It's 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.119 not the professional way to hold it. My sound guys 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:57.880 hate that when I do that, but they put a 0:05:57.920 --> 0:05:59.479 special thing on it because they know I do it, 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.000 so it doesn't make all this feedback. But anyway, it's 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:02.400 my mic. 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:03.200 It's see. 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:05.200 You can tell I have a close relationship because I 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:07.760 gave it a name. I call it Mike. That's how 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.160 close we are. Okay, I'll stop now. But in Exodus 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:18.560 chapter four, Moses he's getting acquainted with his staff. He's 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:23.280 getting to know God and he's getting to know Rod, 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.839 all in the same scene. And I like it because, well, 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.880 I know something Moses doesn't know about what that thing 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:36.760 is capable of. And when I'm watching Moses deal with 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.680 this staff, that will become, in many ways so much 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:41.720 of a part of his life that I wonder did 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.440 he feel like it was a part of him. 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.880 I know what this staff is going to do at 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:49.440 the Red Sea. 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:55.400 I know that when the Egyptians are chasing Moses and 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.640 the Hebrew people two and a half million strong out 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:04.280 of Egypt, that that Moses is going to stretch that 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:08.760 staff over that sea, and the right side of the 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:10.520 sea is going to tell the left side of the sea. 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.080 I'll see you in a little while. We got to 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:14.200 split up for a minute. 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.840 I'll meet you back when the Egyptians hit the water, 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:18.560 because we're going to drown them. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.440 But we've got a part for God's people. 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.480 How many know that God will direct the elements on 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.360 your behalf when you walk in in faith. 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:27.520 I found that to be true in my life. 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:33.520 But but that was the staff that Moses stretched, That 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:35.080 was the sea he stretched it over. 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:36.760 He doesn't know this yet, we do. 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:40.440 So I'm really interested because I feel like I feel 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.040 like I know the staff because I see it so 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.640 many different times in the scripture. I saw it one 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.480 time when Pharaoh wouldn't let the people go, and God 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:53.080 told Moses, you know, take your staff and stretch it 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:56.400 out and strike the Nile river, the river in Egypt. 0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:59.440 And when you strike that river, it's going to turn 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:03.200 from water to blood, and that'll compel Pharaoh to give 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.920 a second thought to keeping you inslaved. And he did that, 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.280 and the water turned to blood. That staff, it's the 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.560 same staff that's in chapter four. It's the same staff 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.520 in chapter seven when he does he strikes the nile, 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:18.480 turns the blood. Then he strikes the bloody nile, and 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.480 then some frogs start coming out of the nile and 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.880 cover the land of Egypt. And it was that same 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.640 staff where he struck the nile, same staff that turned 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:28.960 into a snake in chapter four, same staff in chapter 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.040 seven he struck the nile, turned the blood, struck the 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.040 nile again, frogs came out. Then he struck the ground, 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.240 he struck, struck the dust, and then the gnats came 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.520 out of the dust. And so all this is happening 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.319 with Moses in this staff. He doesn't know the staff 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:44.720 is capable of all this we do. And so I'm 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.439 intrigued to know how did it start? And I'm intrigued 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:51.400 to know that it started with a staff. I'm intrigued 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:55.199 by that started with something as simple as a staff, 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.280 because that same staff when the people of God we're 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.640 thirsty one time and we're complaining about it. God told Moses, 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:05.440 I hate when my people complained, but I still love 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:07.360 them enough to make sure they don't die. Aren't you 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.160 grateful for God's patience with you. Well, he took the 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.520 staff and he struck a rock with it, and the 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.640 water flowed out of the rock. And the staff had 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.040 this power that Moses couldn't have known, that he had 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:19.959 the potential that he couldn't have known that it had, 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:21.480 but when he used. 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:23.480 It in the right way, it did something. 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:25.600 It was cool and water came out of the rock 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.320 and they all drank from the water in the rock 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:28.040 that staff. 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:30.559 And so so. 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.000 I want to learn everything I can about this staff. 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.840 I almost feel like it's a person to me because 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.280 I saw Moses fight against the Amalekites. Well, he didn't 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.280 fight against him. Joshua fought against him, and Moses had 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.640 a job. He had to raise the staff. And while 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.880 Moses was raising the staff, and Aaron and Herb got 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:48.880 under his arms because he got tired holding it up. 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.080 And when they supported him and he raised his staff, 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.280 the Israelites were victorious on the battlefield. Often it's the 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:57.240 support system that you don't see that produces the results 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.120 that you're most concerned with. So while he's doing it 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.160 and his hands are up, the Israelites, when his hands dropped, 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:04.080 they start losing. 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.040 But it was the staff in his hands. It was 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:07.240 the staff in his hands. 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:11.560 Tell somebody next to you, there's a staff in your hands. 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.080 And what's cool about it is that there are many 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.480 lessons that we can learn and we don't even have 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.599 to be Moses delivering people out of four hundred and 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:21.440 thirty years of slavery to learn them. 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:23.760 We can just learn them for our everyday lives. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:25.920 And the first thing that I think the staff is 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:31.320 saying to us in this message today is that everything 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:37.920 you need is within reach. I heard a motivational speaker 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.640 say that once. It rang true with me, that everything 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:48.360 you need is within reach. Moses, in response to God's calling. 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:50.120 I feel the spirit of God on me today to 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:51.880 preach this message, by the way, so you ought to 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:53.480 be excited about what you're going to receive. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.760 He continues the. 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.560 Conversation with God after God shows him who he is 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.960 with the phrase that I preached the whole series around 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.400 one time, and the phrase is what if? Verse one. 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.720 Moses answered, what if? Do you know how many dreams 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.440 have died beneath the weight of that phrase? What if? 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.680 What if is a It's a phrase that I like 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.719 to refer to as fierce greatest hit. 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.120 What if? What if? I mean, how many things in. 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.320 Your life did you not do because what if? And 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:31.640 how many things in your life did you do that 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:36.000 you shouldn't have done because what if? How many nights 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:37.000 could you have slept? 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:38.480 But what if? Kept you awake. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.760 How many mornings did you wake up anxious? Because what 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:44.280 if was your alarm clock? 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.240 What if not? Just what if? 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.599 Moses wants to know? What if pay attention to the 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:59.720 next word? What if they? What if they say. 0:11:59.600 --> 0:11:59.960 The third time? 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:01.240 Because I want to come on the screen and I 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.520 think there are times gonna be the charm? What if 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:09.800 is in verse one? What if they? What if the 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.520 scripture doesn't come up and I keep preaching anyway? But 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:17.760 it's a it's a it's a good question, what if, 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:22.280 And it's where many of us wonder and wander our 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.960 whole lives. What if they? What if they laugh at me? 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.280 What if they don't accept me? Now, on one hand, 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.840 Moses is in a hypothetical situation because he hasn't even 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:34.840 done anything yet, but he's just playing out. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:39.320 The possible after effects of his obedience. What if they? 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.160 But on the other hand, it's not hypothetical at all. 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:46.640 It's historical because Moses is afraid of the same rejection 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.199 that he experienced forty years earlier, recurring, for it was 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:56.240 forty years earlier that Moses had killed an Egyptian in 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.720 defense of his people, and because he did the right thing, 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.800 the wrong way he ended up on the run. And 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.319 there's something about when you've tried to do the right 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.280 thing and put your heart in something but you did 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:11.880 it the wrong way, that you don't even want to 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:15.719 try again. And so now Moses is asking something that's 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.520 hypothetical but is based out of what is historical, and 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:23.440 he's projecting his past into his potential and it's his 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.920 limiting factor. But God wants him to know that that 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.199 staff in your hand. Now, to us, a staff is 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.640 a shepherding instrument, and Moses was using it to tend 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:37.240 his father in last sheep. But to Moses, the staff 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:41.000 represented a whole lot more than his vocation. It represented 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.319 his mistakes. Because if he had never killed the Egyptian 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.800 and ended up a fugitive on the run from Egypt, 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:50.959 where he was born into or adopted into royalty, he never. 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:52.400 Would have had the staff in his hand. 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.520 So when God tells him what's in your hand, it 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.360 causes Moses to have to reckon with the mistakes that 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.160 he's made that have landed him in the position that 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:02.720 he's in. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:04.640 Because when God speaks to you. 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.400 About your potential, he will cause you to confront your past. 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.680 Touch somebody say handle it. So he says, what's that 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.160 in your hand? And to Moses is his staff, But 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.080 to Moses is also his past, and to Moses is 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.960 also his instrument, the thing that he has to do 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.480 what he's doing. And so there's a whole lot happening 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.200 in this staff. And yet God says, what you have 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.240 is what you need. And God wanted to say that 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.080 to a single mom today, that what you have is 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:31.760 what you need. 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.320 That he put enough in you to raise that child. 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.320 He foresaw that you would be in the situation, and 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.160 he compensated for what others didn't give you by putting 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:45.520 a result and a determination in you. That's more than enough. 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:55.560 And everything you need is within reach. So leave your 0:14:55.640 --> 0:15:00.000 list of what you don't have alone today? 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.480 What is that in your hand? 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:07.800 The wisdom that you need is probably in a book 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:13.000 that's on your shelf that you haven't read. I was 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:14.800 talking to a guy who passed her to church one 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.120 time that was bigger than mine. I said, I need 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.800 some advice and he said, I gave you a book. 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:25.560 I said, you mean that book three years ago? He said, yeah, 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:27.160 that book three years ago. Did you read it? 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:29.680 I said no, I didn't get around to it. 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:32.840 He said, I knew that you were going to be 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:35.680 at this place because I've been there, so I gave 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.160 you what I knew you would need. You missed it, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.440 he said. He said, call me back when you read 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:44.920 the book. 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:46.480 At least read a. 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:49.320 Couple chapters and we'll talk. What are we even going 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.240 to talk about? You know, sometimes when you pray and 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.920 ask God to download information about a decision, God, how 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:56.920 should I handle it? 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:04.720 He's like, did you even read the book that I book? 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.400 And we've never lived in a time where the information 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:11.480 that is in the Word of God has been more 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:15.480 accessible to us. My God, They'll send you alarms, They'll 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:16.720 break it down for you. 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.320 They'll give you a Bible reading in a year. 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.680 Plan Bible reading in the Book of Psalm's plan a 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:24.040 Bible reading in. 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:27.119 Southern Dialect. 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.200 Plan to give you a Bible reading Bible how to 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.960 read the Bible with your dog in thirty two days 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.360 every morning on your walk with your dog, an audio 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:40.280 Bible Bible in Braille. Touch somebody say grab it, grab it, 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:41.560 grab it. You gotta grab it. 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:42.000 You gotta go. 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.640 Joy is there, you gotta grab it. Wisdom is there, 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:45.640 you gotta grab it. 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:47.800 It's there. The information that you need. 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.320 For the transformation of your life is waiting to be 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.800 seized by those who will open their. 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.240 Eyes to what they've been given. And I appreciate. 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.960 Okay, So everything that you need is in your read 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.639 which it was something that he had already in his 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.200 hand that produced what he needed to move forward into 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.800 the future and to accomplish God's purpose in the earth. 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:15.000 I'm moved by that because I get caught up in what. 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.399 I don't have. I know you don't. 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.200 I didn't say you did. I said I do. Get 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.199 caught up in what I don't have. But here's the 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:28.560 thing the Lord is teaching me. It's less about what 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:32.080 you have, and it's more about how you handle what 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:32.440 you have. 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:40.200 I'll prove it to you. Do you have Netflix? All right? 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.800 Go on Netflix? Put it on. I think they have 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.480 this on Netflix. Thirty for thirty. 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.680 It's a documentary series from ESPN. 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.480 Put it on. Broke. Put it on the one called Broke. 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.480 It will show you athletes that made millions of dollars 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.680 and by the time their careers were over, they were 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:09.240 in debt. Because it's not what you it's how you. 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:11.520 What you have. 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:15.480 Say it again, come on with me. It's not what 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:21.800 you it's how what you have. That's true with money. 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.840 I've met rich people who are further behind than poor people. 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.320 I've met poor people who are greedier than rich people. 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:37.280 It's not what you have, it's how you handle what 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.080 you have. That's what God wants to know. How are 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:45.760 you handling it. It's not the woman you married, it's 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.600 how you handle the woman that you married that determines 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:49.840 whether you get the. 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:53.679 Marriage that you want. Now, the selection process is important. 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.600 You can cook better with good ingredients. 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:04.720 But but I'm saying that somebody might be able to 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:06.840 take your same ingredients. 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:13.919 And make something delicious. Because it's not what you have, 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:19.040 is how you watch you that determines what you do. 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:26.280 I found out that teenagers think they're busy. 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:27.400 They do. 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.359 They'll tell you I'm busy, how do it? Oh God, 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:35.800 I'm busy. You're busy. And they're twelve. Now they're thirteen 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:36.639 years old. 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.200 And I follow up with a question, do you have 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:45.159 a baby, because if you don't have a baby, you 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.080 don't know busy. 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:50.639 Preach with me. 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.439 In fact, I want all you busy thirteen year olds. 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.240 You're so busy. I want you to find a twenty 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:02.080 five year old woman in the lobby, one that's got 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.399 a little car seat that she's trying to carry on 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.000 the way out the door from church, and walk up 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.560 to her and tell her how busy you are, and 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:12.040 watch her look back at you, and take about the 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.160 next five minutes to show you that it's not how 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.880 much stress you have, is how you handle the stress 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.159 that you have that determines. I'm saying, you could do 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.480 a lot more if you handled it differently. You could 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:29.360 accomplish a lot more if you handled it differently. It's 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:35.719 all in how you handle it. It's all in how 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:40.280 you handle it. It's usually not the things that you 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.200 think are stressing you out that are stressing you out. 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.720 It's the things you are mishandling in other areas of 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:47.720 your life that make you hate your job. Or it's 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:49.760 the things you are mishandling in your job that make 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.200 you hate your life at home. So now you come 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:54.320 home and you take out your frustration from there on 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:57.040 them because you didn't handle it here. Now it's showing 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:01.040 up over there. Touch her name, paper, say handle it. 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:04.600 You got to learn to handle it, whether it's weights 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.000 in a weight room, or whether it's life. See, because 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:11.040 you keep asking God to take some of the weight off. 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:11.400 Of your life. 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:15.320 But faith doesn't take the weight off of my life. 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:19.679 It shows me how to handle it. How many of 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.320 you have a situation in your life today and you 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:24.960 want God to show you how to handle it. 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:26.000 Just wave your hand. 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.320 If that's you, come on, just wave your hand if 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:28.840 that's you. 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:29.600 Well. 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.840 See, God is good and God is strong. God is great, 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:36.520 and God is good. And so God told Moses, I 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:41.280 heard my people crying out, and their cry reached me, 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.600 and I've come down to rescue them. That's what he 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:50.480 told Moses in Exodus chapter three. He said, I've seen 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:53.680 my people in cruel oppression. I saw how Pharaoh was 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:58.400 treating them. I see what you're going through. I see 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:05.080 what it's like. I see that you're trying. And God said, 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:11.840 I came down and I'm gonna handle it. I'm gonna 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:18.280 handle this. I'm gonna handle it now before you get 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:19.520 really excited about it. 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:27.120 God has his own way of handling things. So you'll 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:28.600 be like asking God. 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:30.520 To send all the people away so they can get 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:32.120 some food, and he'll tell you to steal a little 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:33.440 boy's lunch and bring it to him. 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:36.200 That's how he handles it. 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.800 You'll be looking at Jericho and you'll see some big 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:42.640 walls and you'll be like, God, we need to knock 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:44.679 these down whill you handle it? And God won't give 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:51.440 you a wrecking ball, He'll give you a trumpet, because 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:58.000 God has his own way of handling it. You'll tell 0:22:58.080 --> 0:22:59.840 him I don't have anything to pay my debt's off 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:01.119 of and he'll tell you what do you have in 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:02.480 your house and you'll say a little bit of oil. 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:03.720 And he'll tell you to go to your neighbors and 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:05.399 borrow jars. And you'll say, no, that's the problem. 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:05.840 I'm in debt. 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:07.639 I don't need to borrow anything else. And they say, 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:09.159 but go to these people and borrow it in the 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:10.720 right way. And when you borrow it in the right way, 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:12.440 now you're going to get something that you didn't have 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:18.879 because God has a strange way of handling things. Or 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:20.639 you'll be praying that he would send the Messiah and 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:22.160 you'll be thinking that Thora is going to come down 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:24.440 out of the sky and save the world. And God 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:26.200 will show up and speak to a virgin girl and 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:27.719 say that I know that even though you have been 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:29.399 active with a man, yet your husband's going to want 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:31.000 to divorce you. What's in you is conceived of the 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:32.840 Holy Spirit, and it's going to come forth and it's 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:34.280 going to be the salvation of the world. But it's 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:36.000 going to start in a manger because God's going to 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:41.439 handle it in a strange way. I'll speak into somebody. 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:44.000 You're in a situation right now, and God is handling 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:46.959 it and you don't even know it because he's handling 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:50.920 it in a cradle. And if the cradle isn't enough proof, 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:53.120 he proves it on the cross, when he defeats death 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:57.600 with the very instrument that symbolizes its most violent nature. 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:01.800 He doesn't feed death with the tank, he doesn't defeat 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:04.639 death with the sword. He defeats death with a cross. 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:09.440 Because God has a strange way of handling your situation. 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:12.399 And so he's handling it and you don't even know 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:14.760 he's handling it because you've never seen it handled like 0:24:14.840 --> 0:24:15.320 that before. 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:18.840 He tells you to turn the other cheek, and. 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:22.359 Usually you're the one turning someone's cheek when they offend you. 0:24:23.280 --> 0:24:26.280 And God said, no, I got another way to handle it, 0:24:27.680 --> 0:24:34.080 to handle it. Can you handle it? Can you handle 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:39.800 it and see what started as the thing that Moses 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:44.960 feared a snake became the very thing that Moses needed 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:46.479 a staff. 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:49.520 Let me work on that. 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:55.000 The first time I did ministry was in a church 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:57.639 called Santi Circle Community Church. Now, my first church was 0:24:57.680 --> 0:24:59.639 in the Methodist Church in Mook's Corner where I grew up. 0:25:00.240 --> 0:25:03.640 Mickey made me his youth minister, and he would put 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:05.600 me in this little room in the Woodmen of the 0:25:05.640 --> 0:25:09.399 World Building. This is on the outskirts of Monk's Corner, 0:25:09.480 --> 0:25:16.440 South Carolina, on the outskirts of Monk's Corner, South Carolina 0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:18.119 in the Women of the World Building. 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:21.800 And I was reliving this with some of our team 0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:22.200 this week. 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:24.359 We have an apprenticeship program at the church called two 0:25:24.440 --> 0:25:29.000 K two and it's it's for all of those who 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:30.960 wanted This is actually like a product placement. 0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:33.600 Let me do this real quick. Elevation two K two 0:25:33.680 --> 0:25:34.120 dot com. 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:36.639 Have you ever felt called into ministry but didn't know 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:39.280 what your next steps might be? Join us at two 0:25:39.440 --> 0:25:42.919 K two, a twenty two week immersive ministry experience designed 0:25:42.960 --> 0:25:45.960 to propel you into your potential. Join us at Elevation 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:48.159 two K two dot com. So I was doing a 0:25:48.960 --> 0:25:50.520 teaching forum. 0:25:51.760 --> 0:25:52.119 Thank you. 0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:55.879 I was doing a teaching forum this past week and 0:25:56.000 --> 0:25:59.000 they said, you are good at connecting with different types 0:25:59.040 --> 0:26:02.560 of people people, white people, old people, young people, religious people, 0:26:02.800 --> 0:26:03.680 not religious people. 0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:04.399 How do you do that? 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:06.000 I said, you got to go back to the Woodmen 0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:08.639 of the World Building to understand that. In the Woodmen 0:26:08.680 --> 0:26:12.240 of the World Building, I had these kids, about fifteen kids. 0:26:12.240 --> 0:26:14.639 They would bring in, most of them on vans, and 0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:17.520 me and Anne Johnson and Miss Delilah. 0:26:18.160 --> 0:26:21.600 That was the lady's named Delilah. Miss Delilah. We get 0:26:21.640 --> 0:26:22.439 the kids over on. 0:26:22.520 --> 0:26:25.480 The vans, and many of them came from really a 0:26:25.640 --> 0:26:28.000 low income part of town, and so they would come 0:26:28.080 --> 0:26:31.080 in and white kids, black kids, but most of them 0:26:31.240 --> 0:26:35.200 only came for food, and so they came over and 0:26:35.480 --> 0:26:37.960 just wanted something to do. And that's who I started 0:26:38.000 --> 0:26:40.879 preaching to. So you think it intimidates me, if you 0:26:40.960 --> 0:26:43.960 sit with your arms crossed. I started with much worse 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:47.199 than you. I started in a room full of snakes. 0:26:47.240 --> 0:26:50.359 I can deal with it. I can handle it, so 0:26:51.880 --> 0:26:52.240 I said. 0:26:52.760 --> 0:26:56.520 But I had a balance because if I wasn't interesting, 0:26:56.680 --> 0:26:57.680 a fight would break out. 0:26:58.359 --> 0:27:00.680 So I had to like it moving. 0:27:01.119 --> 0:27:03.200 I mean, if they got bored, they got violent, and 0:27:03.400 --> 0:27:06.120 so you know, I'm over here working on my Bible text. 0:27:06.200 --> 0:27:08.960 I'd only been reading my Bible for a couple of months, 0:27:08.960 --> 0:27:10.800 so I didn't know a lot about the Bible yet. 0:27:11.000 --> 0:27:12.600 So I was just making stuff up out of the 0:27:12.640 --> 0:27:14.000 Bible the best I could. 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:18.199 I was sixteen, y'all. So there was one kid in the. 0:27:18.200 --> 0:27:21.560 Group called Matthew Johnson, Matthew Johnson, and he was like 0:27:22.000 --> 0:27:24.800 he was thirteen, but he had been in Bible school 0:27:25.000 --> 0:27:25.760 all his life. 0:27:26.080 --> 0:27:30.320 The kid's Bible, this Bible nerd. His mom had taken 0:27:30.400 --> 0:27:31.720 him to every vacation. 0:27:31.560 --> 0:27:36.200 Bible school in the Charleston metro area all of his life. 0:27:36.240 --> 0:27:39.040 He had like nine weeks of Bible school every summer under. 0:27:38.880 --> 0:27:42.000 His belt vacation Bible school. So if I got something wrong, 0:27:42.119 --> 0:27:44.280 Matthew would stand up and correct me. In the middle 0:27:44.320 --> 0:27:47.240 of the Wednesday night class one night, I came in 0:27:47.359 --> 0:27:49.800 preaching about the woman with the issue of blood. And 0:27:49.920 --> 0:27:52.240 I hadn't studied it, but I thought I knew what 0:27:52.320 --> 0:27:54.479 it meant. And I said, this woman came to Jesus 0:27:54.840 --> 0:27:57.879 and she was bleeding. Her face was just covered in blood. 0:27:58.440 --> 0:28:01.040 Somebody must have beat her out I don't know who 0:28:01.160 --> 0:28:03.679 got a hold of her, but she's bleeding. Matthew stood up, 0:28:03.720 --> 0:28:07.720 said it was an internal issue of blood Steven thirteen 0:28:07.840 --> 0:28:12.520 year old. But then on the other end of the spectrum, 0:28:12.840 --> 0:28:15.240 if I was accurate but not interesting. 0:28:15.240 --> 0:28:17.080 Then those kids didn't care. 0:28:17.480 --> 0:28:19.160 So one night a fight broke out in the middle 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:21.719 of my teaching and I just walked out, walked out 0:28:21.760 --> 0:28:24.920 the building, shut the door on that little twenty five 0:28:24.960 --> 0:28:27.120 dollars a week they were paying me to teach that class. 0:28:27.560 --> 0:28:30.960 And I sat under a tree and I was like, Jonah, 0:28:31.000 --> 0:28:32.520 if you ever heard of Jonah in the Bible, he 0:28:32.560 --> 0:28:34.560 sat under a tree and prayed that he might die 0:28:35.040 --> 0:28:36.919 so he wouldn't have to preach to the Ninovites. 0:28:37.160 --> 0:28:39.600 And I was like, Lord, you kill I'd rather you 0:28:39.720 --> 0:28:40.360 kill me than go. 0:28:40.400 --> 0:28:42.440 Back in there with these kids, because I'm gonna kill them, 0:28:42.680 --> 0:28:44.200 and I'd rather be dead than in prison. 0:28:44.240 --> 0:28:46.000 So I'm gonna sit out here till you show me 0:28:46.080 --> 0:28:46.480 what to do. 0:28:46.800 --> 0:28:49.200 After about ten minutes of this, Ryan who was like 0:28:49.240 --> 0:28:51.080 the biggest kid in the group who came in on 0:28:51.160 --> 0:28:53.440 the van, Ryan came over and Ryan really liked me. 0:28:53.640 --> 0:28:55.480 And Ryan came over to the tree and he. 0:28:55.520 --> 0:28:58.920 Said, Yo, see, I want you to know something that 0:29:00.200 --> 0:29:01.760 as long as you need to stay out here and 0:29:01.840 --> 0:29:07.640 get yourself together, it's cool because I just had to 0:29:07.720 --> 0:29:11.120 talk with everybody in this room, and I want you 0:29:11.200 --> 0:29:21.360 to know when you come back in is handle. I 0:29:21.400 --> 0:29:24.640 don't know what he said to those kids. I don't 0:29:24.720 --> 0:29:27.760 even want to know. But when I went back in 0:29:27.920 --> 0:29:32.440 that room, it was like an Episcopalian church on a 0:29:32.640 --> 0:29:33.480 Sunday morning. 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:36.200 It was like a Catholic Mass. 0:29:36.760 --> 0:29:40.520 Those kids were leaned forward in their chair. Why because 0:29:40.560 --> 0:29:44.720 he handled it. I don't even know how buddy handled it. 0:29:45.080 --> 0:29:48.280 Have you ever had a situation in your life where 0:29:48.320 --> 0:29:51.040 you were throwing a petty party and didn't want to 0:29:51.120 --> 0:29:54.360 go back in and didn't want to try again, and 0:29:54.480 --> 0:29:57.360 had taken off from Egypt and didn't even want to 0:29:57.480 --> 0:29:59.400 face your future because. 0:29:59.120 --> 0:30:00.560 Of the paint of your pass. 0:30:01.120 --> 0:30:04.600 But here comes Jesus walking up to you on the 0:30:04.800 --> 0:30:08.960 second road today on the fourth row at the Gaston campus, 0:30:09.400 --> 0:30:12.400 walking up to you on an iPhone street, wants. 0:30:12.200 --> 0:30:15.040 To let you know, whenever you get ready to come 0:30:15.120 --> 0:30:17.360 back in and do what I've called you to do, 0:30:17.960 --> 0:30:20.000 come on back in. Its handled. 0:30:20.320 --> 0:30:29.680 Somebody set his handle, set his handle's handled. God told Moses, 0:30:30.040 --> 0:30:33.240 you can go back to Egypt, because everybody who wanted 0:30:33.320 --> 0:30:36.960 to kill you is dead. While you were out here 0:30:37.400 --> 0:30:40.520 in Egypt, I was dealing with your issues. 0:30:40.840 --> 0:30:45.680 And his handle touch. Three people say, is handle, is handle? 0:30:46.200 --> 0:30:48.120 Is handle. God wants you to know. 0:30:48.320 --> 0:30:51.360 Shame can't keep you at bay anymore because what Jesus 0:30:51.520 --> 0:30:54.040 was doing on that cross when they thought that he 0:30:54.240 --> 0:30:57.960 was dying, he wasn't dying. He was delivering you from 0:30:58.000 --> 0:31:01.400 the power of sitting death and was held against me, 0:31:01.640 --> 0:31:04.800 was nailed to his cross. And I'm standing here today 0:31:05.200 --> 0:31:07.080 with my hands stretched. 0:31:06.680 --> 0:31:10.600 High, with my hand held high, with my shoulders. 0:31:10.200 --> 0:31:12.680 Strown back, blidly approached. 0:31:12.320 --> 0:31:15.120 The throne with confidence in the time of my need. 0:31:15.440 --> 0:31:18.080 Because it's handle, it's handled. 0:31:19.680 --> 0:31:22.280 I feel the sphirit of Olivia Pupe coming on me. 0:31:22.720 --> 0:31:25.480 Somebody shot his handles. 0:31:27.200 --> 0:31:27.840 It's handle. 0:31:29.360 --> 0:31:31.600 That's what Ryan said. He said, is handle. When you 0:31:31.720 --> 0:31:33.680 get ready to come back in, you need to know 0:31:33.800 --> 0:31:36.400 his handle. When you get ready to go into your future, 0:31:36.600 --> 0:31:37.800 you need to know his handle. 0:31:38.080 --> 0:31:42.240 Somebody shot his handle, is handled, his handle, his handle, 0:31:42.960 --> 0:31:43.400 his handle. 0:31:44.320 --> 0:31:49.120 I love that Bible verse in Philippians four thirteen, where 0:31:49.200 --> 0:31:52.040 Paul is talking about I know what to do in 0:31:52.120 --> 0:31:56.520 any situation. If I have a little, if I have 0:31:56.640 --> 0:32:01.360 a lot, I can handle it. Because he says, there 0:32:01.400 --> 0:32:03.160 is a famous Bible verse. Have you heard this before? 0:32:03.400 --> 0:32:11.600 He said, Christ can do all things through me. Did 0:32:11.640 --> 0:32:14.959 I mess it up? And must because I'm tired from 0:32:15.000 --> 0:32:15.400 the race. 0:32:16.360 --> 0:32:18.520 I must have got a little of that champagne absorbed 0:32:18.560 --> 0:32:20.440 in my body at the at the race. 0:32:20.880 --> 0:32:21.600 Let me try again. 0:32:22.680 --> 0:32:25.280 Christ can do because because He's gonna handle it right, 0:32:26.400 --> 0:32:30.840 Christ can do all things through me. God's gonna handle it. 0:32:31.760 --> 0:32:43.880 Huh oh, he wants to help you handle it. Here's 0:32:43.920 --> 0:32:47.680 how God showed me. He said, I will handle what 0:32:47.880 --> 0:32:51.640 you can't, but I will not handle what you want. 0:32:56.400 --> 0:32:56.640 See. 0:32:56.880 --> 0:32:59.880 I handle your sin. You can't handle that. A hand 0:33:00.200 --> 0:33:03.960 your past, you can't handle that. But he told Moses, 0:33:04.480 --> 0:33:06.640 let me show you one more things. So now he 0:33:06.760 --> 0:33:12.800 told Moses, somebody shot handled handled. He told Moses, he said. 0:33:17.760 --> 0:33:25.160 Pick it up. Now it's not a staff anymore in 0:33:25.280 --> 0:33:30.160 this moment, it's a snake. So what does Moses do? 0:33:31.480 --> 0:33:35.400 He does what you do with your fears, and he runs. 0:33:37.240 --> 0:33:40.560 Did you see it in the text? He said, what 0:33:40.800 --> 0:33:41.240 verse was it? 0:33:41.440 --> 0:33:41.840 Was it three? 0:33:42.960 --> 0:33:46.120 Where he ran was it three get and he ran 0:33:46.240 --> 0:33:46.480 from it. 0:33:47.760 --> 0:33:50.880 That's the same thing that he did when he killed 0:33:50.920 --> 0:33:54.480 the man in Egypt. He's learned to run. He's learned 0:33:54.480 --> 0:34:00.800 to run, and God won't handle what you run from. 0:34:08.920 --> 0:34:17.080 So he runs. Can y'all hear me? Okay in the back? 0:34:19.520 --> 0:34:24.080 Oh, I know what I should do, because this thing 0:34:24.200 --> 0:34:34.960 only works in my hand. This is a good sermon 0:34:35.880 --> 0:34:41.880 for your life, for your marriage, for your soul, for 0:34:42.080 --> 0:34:48.120 any situation. God tells him to reach for the thing 0:34:48.239 --> 0:34:52.840 that he's been running from, and as he reaches, watch this. 0:34:54.120 --> 0:34:59.960 As he reaches, the staff changes back into a staff 0:35:00.600 --> 0:35:03.000 from us as he reaches. 0:35:04.680 --> 0:35:06.480 We got to work on this, y'all weren't paying attention. 0:35:08.040 --> 0:35:11.960 Go to four Go to four seventeen, Exitus four seventeen. 0:35:12.000 --> 0:35:16.279 I'm almost done. I will hasten to a close. Well. 0:35:16.360 --> 0:35:18.239 He told him to go l jay, he said, but 0:35:18.400 --> 0:35:23.000 take this staff. Everybody shout, come on, shout the phrases 0:35:23.080 --> 0:35:28.920 inbolded orange letters for a reason. Take the staff. Hit 0:35:29.000 --> 0:35:31.960 me with twenty real quick. I think it's twenty. So 0:35:32.120 --> 0:35:34.360 Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, 0:35:34.400 --> 0:35:36.400 and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff 0:35:36.440 --> 0:35:42.160 of God. Next verse, when he was confronting Pharaoh, he said, 0:35:42.200 --> 0:35:43.799 go out and confront him on the bank of the now, 0:35:43.880 --> 0:35:49.440 and take the staff that was changed into a snake. 0:35:49.480 --> 0:35:52.040 You see in a pattern. I keep going next verse 0:35:52.120 --> 0:35:54.040 until you all see it. When they were standing in 0:35:54.080 --> 0:35:56.920 front of the Red Sea, he said, raise your staff 0:35:57.120 --> 0:36:01.000 and stretch out your right right. It's got to be 0:36:01.160 --> 0:36:04.320 in your it's got to be in your Go to 0:36:04.400 --> 0:36:06.680 the next verse. What's the next verse. Oh, that's when 0:36:06.760 --> 0:36:09.680 they were That's when they were going out, and he 0:36:09.840 --> 0:36:11.600 was going out ahead of the people, and he said, 0:36:11.640 --> 0:36:14.960 take in your hand the staff with which you struck 0:36:15.040 --> 0:36:17.840 the nile. Here's here's the interesting thing, and this is 0:36:17.880 --> 0:36:21.080 what the Lord wanted you to know. His situation was changing. 0:36:21.200 --> 0:36:23.960 But the same staff that got him through the last 0:36:24.080 --> 0:36:27.480 one worked in the next one when he had it 0:36:28.360 --> 0:36:32.520 in his hand. The only time that Moses got in 0:36:32.640 --> 0:36:35.399 trouble with his staff is when he struck the rock 0:36:35.520 --> 0:36:37.960 that God told him to speak to, and he didn't 0:36:38.120 --> 0:36:40.680 enter the Promised Land because he didn't know how to 0:36:40.800 --> 0:36:43.720 handle what was in his hand. You get in trouble 0:36:43.760 --> 0:36:46.000 when you try to handle it your way. You get 0:36:46.080 --> 0:36:48.200 in trouble. When you try to resolve it your way, 0:36:48.480 --> 0:36:50.279 you get in trouble when you try to take the 0:36:50.360 --> 0:36:54.000 snake by the head. See that was interesting to me. 0:36:54.480 --> 0:36:58.000 We just moved out into the country two years ago, 0:36:58.440 --> 0:37:02.040 and everybody was given me advice greg on being in 0:37:02.120 --> 0:37:04.400 the country. I think they were worried about me, that 0:37:04.480 --> 0:37:05.919 I wouldn't know what to do and how. 0:37:05.880 --> 0:37:08.440 To survive in the country. And they were right. So 0:37:08.560 --> 0:37:09.720 I welcomed their advice. 0:37:10.080 --> 0:37:12.399 And everybody was telling me, now you're you're gonna see 0:37:12.400 --> 0:37:14.080 you're gonna have snakes for the first time. 0:37:14.480 --> 0:37:16.440 So here's what you need to do with the snake. 0:37:16.640 --> 0:37:18.160 And you know what nobody told me. 0:37:18.560 --> 0:37:22.560 Nobody told me that to handle a snake the way 0:37:22.640 --> 0:37:24.360 God told Moses to handle a snake. 0:37:24.719 --> 0:37:28.080 Nobody. Go back to verse verse four. He said, reach 0:37:28.200 --> 0:37:31.080 out your and what. 0:37:33.320 --> 0:37:36.480 Nobody told me to take the snake by the tail, 0:37:37.680 --> 0:37:40.640 because that's not the way you handle a snake naturally. 0:37:42.440 --> 0:37:43.080 Take it by the. 0:37:44.880 --> 0:37:48.719 You'll look confused. I'm not doing my job, am I 0:37:48.920 --> 0:37:51.080 I got to get this right, he said, take it 0:37:51.200 --> 0:37:55.080 by the See, the way we try to grab situations 0:37:55.120 --> 0:37:56.680 in our life is we want. 0:37:56.560 --> 0:37:59.919 To control it. That's not the right way to hold. 0:38:02.080 --> 0:38:07.520 He said, take it by the take it by the now, 0:38:07.640 --> 0:38:10.120 to take a snake by the tail, and I will. 0:38:10.000 --> 0:38:15.200 Remind you that the snake didn't change back into a 0:38:15.360 --> 0:38:23.600 staff until it was in Moses's hand. Your issue is 0:38:23.840 --> 0:38:30.440 not going to change until you handle it. Your pain 0:38:31.200 --> 0:38:35.840 is not going to become your purpose until you handle it. 0:38:36.400 --> 0:38:39.200 But if you handle it your way, you're going to 0:38:39.280 --> 0:38:40.279 be depressed about it. 0:38:40.760 --> 0:38:44.759 But if you handle God's way, God's work, God's way, 0:38:45.320 --> 0:38:50.399 God's will, God's way, God's word, God's way. You've done 0:38:50.400 --> 0:38:53.000 it long enough your way. It is time for you 0:38:53.160 --> 0:38:55.719 to do it God's way. And it's time for you 0:38:56.280 --> 0:38:59.759 to take it by the tail. God told me to 0:38:59.840 --> 0:39:02.480 tell you you feel it, don't you. God said that 0:39:02.640 --> 0:39:05.759 mistakes happen, But when they happen, take them by the 0:39:05.880 --> 0:39:08.880 tail and trust me to turn your mistake into a 0:39:09.040 --> 0:39:11.960 miracle when you take it by the tale. When pain 0:39:12.080 --> 0:39:15.520 and rejection happen in your life, your rejection in one 0:39:15.640 --> 0:39:18.120 season can lead to your destiny. 0:39:17.880 --> 0:39:20.560 In the next. When you take it by the tale. 0:39:20.920 --> 0:39:22.120 I came to say that. 0:39:22.239 --> 0:39:25.319 What they said about you isn't gonna destroy you. It's 0:39:25.360 --> 0:39:28.640 only gonna develop you, to make you stronger to give 0:39:28.680 --> 0:39:32.160 you a stepfastness. When you take it by the tail, 0:39:32.520 --> 0:39:34.720 you know what you're gonna do with that doctor's report. 0:39:35.120 --> 0:39:37.479 Take it by the tail. You know what you're gonna 0:39:37.520 --> 0:39:38.600 do with that loneliness. 0:39:39.000 --> 0:39:41.319 Take it by the tail. You know what you're gonna 0:39:41.360 --> 0:39:44.160 do with everything that's been keeping you up at night, worried, 0:39:44.200 --> 0:39:47.840 wringing your head. This isn't my problem, This isn't my issue. 0:39:48.120 --> 0:39:51.399 The battle is the Lord's. He'll handle Pharaoh. I got 0:39:51.480 --> 0:39:52.640 this thing by the tail. 0:39:52.960 --> 0:39:54.040 I trust your Lord. 0:39:54.400 --> 0:40:01.759 Does anybody trust them in your situation? So I. 0:40:03.840 --> 0:40:08.680 So I trust God enough to take it by the tail. 0:40:10.640 --> 0:40:18.120 And it only changes when you handle it. As long 0:40:18.200 --> 0:40:23.840 as you stand there looking at it, it's a snake. 0:40:26.040 --> 0:40:30.480 As long as you stand there praying about it, it's 0:40:30.520 --> 0:40:35.399 a snake. You can't pray and make the snake go away. 0:40:36.120 --> 0:40:38.240 Pray about it, pick. 0:40:38.120 --> 0:40:45.360 It up and make it work, and come on, come on, 0:40:46.520 --> 0:40:49.000 make it, come on, make it work. 0:40:49.600 --> 0:40:54.600 In your favor. I'm saying handle it. I'm saying there's 0:40:54.760 --> 0:40:56.120 nothing life can throw at you. 0:40:56.480 --> 0:40:57.680 That you can't handle it. 0:40:57.920 --> 0:41:01.640 By the spirit of God myself, I can handle it. 0:41:03.400 --> 0:41:06.440 Somebody encourage five people in your area tell him you 0:41:06.520 --> 0:41:07.200 can handle it. 0:41:07.760 --> 0:41:12.319 You can handle it. You can handle it, Yes, you can. 0:41:13.560 --> 0:41:17.799 You've gotta handle it. You've gotta handle it. You were 0:41:17.960 --> 0:41:20.960 made to handle it. You were built to handle it. 0:41:21.640 --> 0:41:24.719 God's gonna help you handle it. He's gonna show you 0:41:24.880 --> 0:41:25.800 how to handle it. 0:41:26.360 --> 0:41:29.719 He's got you in the palm of his hand. He's 0:41:29.800 --> 0:41:33.200 gonna help you. Raise thou children. He's gonna help. 0:41:33.040 --> 0:41:36.080 You'll get through this season. He's gonna help you make 0:41:36.160 --> 0:41:40.680 the decision. Lift your hands like it's handled. Come on, 0:41:40.920 --> 0:41:44.920 lift your voice like this handled and shut unto. 0:41:44.840 --> 0:41:51.880 God, little voice God me on trial, need to We 0:41:52.080 --> 0:42:23.760 need to name God. We need the boy h got me, boyd. 0:42:15.840 --> 0:42:21.799 Child, I gotta tell you this. My time is over. 0:42:21.920 --> 0:42:27.279 Touch somebody say it's handled his hand, because the thoughts. 0:42:27.040 --> 0:42:31.680 Just hit me and it scared me and it would 0:42:31.719 --> 0:42:34.360 haunt me if I didn't say it to you. What 0:42:34.520 --> 0:42:39.120 if Moses had kept running, he never would have seen 0:42:39.200 --> 0:42:43.680 what the staff could do. He never would have seen 0:42:43.719 --> 0:42:46.360 the transformation that would take place. 0:42:47.400 --> 0:42:49.760 Think about it. It was a decision in a moment. 0:42:55.040 --> 0:42:56.600 What if I never would have picked a mic up 0:42:56.640 --> 0:42:59.760 and started preaching into cameras to screens. How many people 0:43:00.239 --> 0:43:03.759 could we not have touched together. And I didn't think 0:43:03.760 --> 0:43:08.440 I could do it, and I was real scared about it, 0:43:10.920 --> 0:43:12.719 and I didn't know if I could forgive my dad 0:43:13.280 --> 0:43:17.480 because he really hurt me right before he died. And 0:43:17.560 --> 0:43:20.400 I almost ran from it, and I almost didn't go 0:43:20.480 --> 0:43:23.040 over to his house on Father's Day and stopped by 0:43:23.120 --> 0:43:24.000 for fifteen minutes. 0:43:25.280 --> 0:43:28.000 But I'm so glad that I took it. 0:43:29.640 --> 0:43:35.960 By the tail side with my hands shaking, and I 0:43:36.040 --> 0:43:40.520 wanted to run, and still pretty much every week before 0:43:40.560 --> 0:43:42.560 I preach, there's a part of me that. 0:43:42.600 --> 0:43:43.160 Wants to run. 0:43:44.520 --> 0:43:46.480 I got a friend here today who's a good preacher, 0:43:46.560 --> 0:43:48.839 really good preacher, great preacher. He told me he's coming 0:43:48.920 --> 0:43:50.800 to visit, and I almost asked him, do you just 0:43:50.840 --> 0:43:53.320 want to preach? Because I think I got a sermon? 0:43:54.200 --> 0:43:57.880 But right now it looks like a snake. See, I 0:43:57.960 --> 0:44:03.080 told the apprentices the other I said, when when I 0:44:03.160 --> 0:44:04.880 know a sermon is going to be good on Sunday 0:44:04.960 --> 0:44:05.880 is when I'm scared. 0:44:05.640 --> 0:44:10.759 Of it on Thursday. That's that's how it works for me. 0:44:16.440 --> 0:44:19.600 But if you I gotta go. I'm out of time. 0:44:19.640 --> 0:44:20.320 But I'm ensure you this. 0:44:22.000 --> 0:44:23.879 If you stand there and look at it long enough, 0:44:25.200 --> 0:44:28.160 and you stand there and and and and analyze the 0:44:28.280 --> 0:44:31.000 snake long enough, and you get down here and wait 0:44:31.080 --> 0:44:33.120 for it to change. And God, if they say I'm sorry, 0:44:33.200 --> 0:44:35.480 then I'll forgive them. And God if you if you 0:44:35.520 --> 0:44:37.280 give me more money, then i'll get Then I'll tithe. 0:44:38.440 --> 0:44:40.040 And God, if you and you're. 0:44:39.920 --> 0:44:43.080 Waiting for it to change on the ground, but it's 0:44:43.120 --> 0:44:44.960 only gonna change when you trust. 0:44:44.719 --> 0:44:51.080 God enough to take it by the tail, come on, 0:44:51.239 --> 0:44:53.279 lift your hands. I want to pray for you. God, 0:44:53.360 --> 0:44:56.160 give them courage. You know they're gonna need it. You know, 0:44:56.280 --> 0:44:59.440 Pharaoh has them running. You know, Pharaoh is that is 0:44:59.520 --> 0:45:01.960 that snake? Do you know? Pharaoh is that thing? You know, 0:45:02.120 --> 0:45:05.080 Pharaoh is that addiction. You know, Pharaoh is that insecurity? 0:45:05.400 --> 0:45:08.600 You know, Pharaoh is that taskmaster that tries to convince 0:45:08.640 --> 0:45:09.919 them that they're never enough. 0:45:10.400 --> 0:45:12.920 But we came today to say that the head of 0:45:12.960 --> 0:45:16.000 the serpent has already been crushed. Hallelujah. 0:45:16.280 --> 0:45:18.960 We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for as 0:45:19.080 --> 0:45:22.600 stretch storms, we thank you for as crops, we thank 0:45:22.640 --> 0:45:25.960 you for as power, and we declare over our lives today, 0:45:26.440 --> 0:45:30.080 whatever it is that stands against your children and Jesus 0:45:30.280 --> 0:45:39.560 name and is hand on somebody claim your thank you 0:45:39.640 --> 0:45:42.120 for joining us special thanks to those of you who 0:45:42.160 --> 0:45:43.920 give generously to this ministry. 0:45:44.320 --> 0:45:46.680 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:45:47.160 --> 0:45:49.359 You can click the link in the description to give 0:45:49.440 --> 0:45:53.360 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 0:45:53.440 --> 0:45:56.440 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast. 0:45:56.320 --> 0:45:58.960 You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. 0:45:59.280 --> 0:46:01.560 You can click the shit button, take a screenshot and 0:46:01.640 --> 0:46:03.719 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:46:03.760 --> 0:46:04.600 Elevation Church. 0:46:04.719 --> 0:46:06.320 Thanks again for listening. God bless you