I Woke Up Like This (Levi Lusko)

0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.600 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.080 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.440 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:12.479 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.360 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:23.400 Let's welcome our EPAM all over the world. That sounds better, right, 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:29.840 That's better. That's much better. Wanted to tell you a 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.800 few things before we get into the Word of God today, 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.000 and that is if you have any room left for 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.840 the Word of God after Thanksgiving, you may be saying, well, 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.159 Pastor Stephen, I'm very stuffed. I don't know if I 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:44.279 can receive the bread of life today, but I do 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.400 this every year after Thanksgiving. It's Thanksgiving in the US, 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.479 it was Thanksgiving in the US. I speak the miracle 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:57.319 of supernatural carb cancellation over your waist slide. I speak it. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.120 I don't think it's gonna work, but I speak it anyway. 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.520 I do it every year. I've yet to get one 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:06.960 testimony that that worked, but I keep doing it every year. 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.520 Brace the Lord. If you receive that, put your raised 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:15.520 hands emoji in the chat. There you go, yeah, put 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.039 a scale emoji in the chat. Oh, check this out 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:22.000 before I tell you this really good news. Holly had 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:27.880 these shirts made where it says put it in the chat. 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.000 I guess this probably looks weird if I'm just walking 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.360 around town wearing a hoodie that says put it in 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:38.839 the chat. But I thought it was cool for our purposes. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.000 So somebody right now put it in the chat. What 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.040 you're grateful for, maybe a person or a thing or 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.560 a maybe you feel peace in your heart and you 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:49.480 can't even explain why, Just put it in the chat 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.800 what you're thankful for today. Come on, let's fill the 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:57.520 chat with thanksgiving. Let's fill the comments with gratitude, Praise God. 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.840 I'm so thankful for you. I'm thankful for the way 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.200 that our church family has stepped up and trusted God 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.240 this year. It's been amazing to see. I'll share just 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:11.200 a little bit of that with you this year when 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:16.280 when when the global pandemic became real to us, we 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:20.080 started to wonder what will happen to ministry? And on 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:21.800 one hand, you have faith, but you also have fear 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.960 because you know there's there's this aspect in which we 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.080 we've never lived through this before. I'm happy to report 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:31.400 to you as we come toward the end of twenty 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.920 twenty that by the favor of God, somebody shall favor, 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.160 put favor, put favor in the chat that we've given. 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.360 We've given this year over nine million dollars to our 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:45.959 outreach efforts. I think the Lord deserves a great praise 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:51.600 foreign that's nothing but the favor of God and the 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:58.480 faith of God's people. So I'll list a few things. 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.480 I can't say them all, but that include over six 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.720 hundred thousand meals, over thirty thousand volunteers serving over fifty 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:10.240 eight thousand hours with over three hundred organizations, over five 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:16.480 hundred thousand dollars to disaster relief efforts, one hundred and 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:21.920 fifty thousand dollars of flood supplies, over a million dollars 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.880 in support when COVID hit two hundred and fifty thousand 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:28.440 pounds of food pop up field hospitals in Central Park, 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:35.840 New York. We gave five hundred thousand tablets to inmates 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:39.400 this year through God behind Bars, so they could get 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:42.680 the word of God where they are. And I'm pretty 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:47.680 proud of you for that. Thank God, and just all 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.760 kinds of things, over one hundred thousand dollars to church plants, 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.240 over one hundred thousand dollars to our partnership with YMCAs 0:03:54.240 --> 0:04:01.080 across the country. You are an amazing church, are the 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.480 salt of the earth, the light of the world. And 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.000 of course you probably know by now if you're part 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.400 of our ministry, that we end every year with appreciation 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:13.080 and anticipation, and so we're getting ready for that time. 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.080 Of thousands of us around the world, not just those 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.040 who are near Charlotte or one of our locations, but 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:23.080 around the world are preparing to give to our twenty 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.400 twenty favor offering for the year end for our expansion 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.040 and outreach. I want to thank those of you who 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.640 are already tithing and showing God that you know that 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.520 He's where your help comes from, and so many of 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:39.880 you do that regularly. Thank you. So many will begin 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.240 to do that this time of year, to trust God 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.840 in a new way. Many are giving an above and 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.440 beyond gift, and you can find all of that out 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.719 on Elevationchurch dot org. But the good news is, whether 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.120 you ever give or not, we're going to be here 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:58.279 for you. We're going to be here so you can 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.000 be lifted up. If you never give a dime, if 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.280 you never even pray for me, if you don't even 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.480 like me, I'm gonna be here preaching if you ever 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.000 need me, and you can't get rid of me. Zoom 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:12.200 in real tight on my face. I'm gonna be here. 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:19.160 Come on, clap your hands, give God, praise. Somebody's south favor. 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.320 And when you think about favor, you think about Levi 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:29.680 Lusco and Pastor Levi Luscoe. It's here to preach today. 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.039 I want to tell you, brother, there's not many people 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.720 I admire more than you, Maybe only Holly, and then 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:42.280 there's you, Jesus Holly Levi. You've been coming around here 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.040 a long time. You've been blessing our church for years. 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:49.080 You've written books to bless us. You built an amazing church. 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:54.080 And Jinny was telling me this just this weekend, something 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.320 pretty amazing about you. I'll tell you about later. It's 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:57.919 pretty cool. She was bragging on you because she was 0:05:57.920 --> 0:05:59.880 here for reflect and you didn't come, and it was 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.680 just me and the all the women, and it was 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.359 weird and I missed you. So I thought, well, you 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.760 can come preach and share with us. You're You're so 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.359 significant in the Body of Christ and one of the 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.040 greatest friends that I've had. We love you, Jinny and 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.680 Levi so much. We love the last coast. Will you 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.599 welcome to elevation search? Come on, Epham, put it in 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:37.880 this chap. Welcome Levi. Let's go, wow, elevation Sure, come on. 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.600 Thank Jesus for his goodness, thank you for his grace, 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.160 thank you for his love, Thank Him for your pastor. 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:48.000 Come on, Let's thank God for Pastor Stephen and Holly Curdick, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:56.159 Eli Jah A Graham and Abby Man. This moment is 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.560 one that I've been looking forward to for a long time. 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:00.560 I didn't know it was coming, to know i'd have 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.440 the chance to tell you, but I knew I would 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:05.800 need to when I got the chance. And that is 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.520 to let you know how grateful I am for how 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.160 this ministry and your pastors and you have led through 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.000 the pandemic. You guys have led the Body of Christ 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:22.280 so strong, so well. Two weeks ago, your pastor stood 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.640 in this pulpit and gave a brilliant message about not 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:31.000 wasting the rain. Were you thankful for that word? And 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.640 in that message he said towards the end that God 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:39.000 wants all of us to steward our storms. And I 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.800 think that's a profound insight, and I think it is 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.000 a perfect way to describe how you have helped lead 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.040 the Body of Christ and the world through a most 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:51.640 challenging and difficult time, through the sermons, through the pivots, 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.200 through the kicking of stools. I mean, it all worked, 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.560 it all worked, It all worked. Come on, someone put 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:58.840 it in the chat. It all worked, it all worked, 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:04.080 it all worked. But out of it all, I just 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.800 wanted to like encapsulate how grateful I am for the 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:12.120 way that you guys have have stewarded this storm with 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.120 the two songs that, in my opinion, out of all 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.040 the songs, out of all, like all the songs, like 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:25.440 all of them, just all the songs. The way that 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.679 God used this ministry and this man and this team 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:33.120 to give us a lullaby when we needed a hug 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.240 from God the most. That's what the blessing to me represents. 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:44.160 It was and has been for so many of us 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:45.960 in a fear filled time and a time of worry 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:50.120 and terror and panic. God's way of giving a hug 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.120 to his bride, God's way of putting his arms around 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.680 his children and telling us it's going to be okay. 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.120 And I have fallen asleep with my three year old 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:00.800 sons so many times, countless time with that in the 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:03.680 air and being able to speak blessing over him and 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:08.559 his children's children, children's children because of that song and 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.920 it it was the song heard around the world. Every language, 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.920 every tribe, every time, every language got to find out 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.040 that God is for us in a time when it 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:22.520 felt like he wasn't. So thank you and thank you 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.560 and Cody and Carrie and and so you guys wrote 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.280 the lullaby. But then you guys, we can't stay we 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.720 can't stay sleeping forever. So y'all went ahead and wrote 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:34.960 the wake Up Call Rattle. That was That was God 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.120 saying it's time to wake up. We can't stay sleeping forever. 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.360 We got to wake up. We got a world to touch, 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:44.760 we got people to heal, we got nine million dollars 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:49.600 to give away, and we're just getting started. Because twenty 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:53.760 twenty has been your time to shine. And I believe 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.600 that as you continue to lead the way in the world, 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:00.000 that many churches around the country and world are following you, 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:03.559 or example, drafting on your slipstream so I came here 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:05.319 to preach. I got a brand new message. I cooked 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:09.560 it up fresh for y'all, because when something means a 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.480 lot to you, you give towards it. And so I've 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.720 been working hard on this word. But more than anything, 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:16.560 I just can't say thank you, so thank you for 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.520 what you've meant to us in our lives, in our trials, 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.200 in our wanderings, and in this pandemic. Come on, you 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:28.240 can be seated. Please grab your seat. Thank you, Worship Team. 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:30.360 Love you Chris. I haven't even given him a hug yet, 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.360 but I'm gonna do it from more closer than six feet. 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:38.400 I'm gonna get in his bubble. That's weird. Why would 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:43.160 you say that. I also just send greetings to every 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.840 single one of you at all the thirty seven billion 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:49.560 watch parties across the country and world, and everybody watching 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:55.160 this instill in your delirious meat sweats from Thanksgiving finding 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.840 out your genes don't fit anymore. It's all the things right. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:00.000 I want you to turn your Bible to three different 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.200 places as we continue in the season called Favor twenty twenty, 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.160 believing God's favor spilling into twenty twenty one, sending it 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.920 ahead into twenty twenty three. I want you to turn 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.520 to Genesis twenty eight, Luke five, and John twenty one. 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.200 It's quite a few places, but you got quite a 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.240 few fingers, so you can just hold on to them. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.800 That's Genesis twenty eight, Luke five, and John twenty one. 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.080 We will, by the end of this message get to 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:26.920 two significant biblical boat stories. There's a lot of boat 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.520 stories we could pick in the Bible. There's boats everywhere. 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.680 There's the largest boat, Noah, there's the smallest boat, Moses, 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.520 little baby in a tiny basket. That the littlest boat. 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.920 There's boats all over Jesus' ministry. So many times did 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:41.600 Jesus get in a boat or be on the Sea 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.880 of Galilee, that it's been nicknamed the fifth Gospel, the 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.720 fifth Gospel because you can't just get his gospel story 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:49.280 from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You got to get 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:51.199 near this body of water to get his soul story. 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.160 I mean, eighteen out of thirty three miracles Jesus performed 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.079 take took place on this lake. We went there a 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:58.920 little bit last week. We're gonna we're gonna go back 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.480 there in just a minute. We're gonna return to the 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.079 scene of the crime Luke, chapter five, the room where 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:09.880 it happened. But of all the boat stories uh in 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.920 the Bible that we're gonna get to, I think that 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:14.240 the one we're gonna get to by the end of 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.400 this sermon is one that that's going to touch your heart. 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:17.839 But before we do, we got a lot of work 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:19.800 to do, so we're not going to waste a minute. 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.960 The title of my message is I woke up like this. 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.400 I woke up like this. I need you to say 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.400 it out loud before we go any further. Could you 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:33.720 just say I woke up like this. We usually say 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.360 that statement to sort of express like a little bit 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.599 of false humility. False humility like someone's like, oh you 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.520 look great, it's like, oh, it just just woke up, 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.480 like didn't even try. Didn't even try. It's like, yeah, Beyonce, 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:47.920 you got twenty five people working hard on you, so 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.720 you could just wake up like this, right. It's like 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:53.920 a it's like a false humility thing. But but then 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.040 there are times when we're embarrassed and all we can 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.000 do is the reality is church online, a lot of 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.040 you really did you really did just wake up like that? 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:07.040 You really did. And what if next Sunday, what if 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.400 you got showered and got dressed and got ready for 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:11.840 God's word even though you were doing church online. What 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.240 if you still were with your notes out and your 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.920 Bible out, and you had already eaten, already worked out, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.240 you came ready to receive a word from God. There's 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.600 a thought. I woke up like this. I got to 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.680 go to Israel one time. When I ever tell the 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:27.360 stories of Israel, I always say the first time I 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:29.360 went to Israel, and Jenny's always like, how many times 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.280 have you been like this once? But it sounds cooler 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:32.960 when you say the first time I went to Israel, 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.200 as though there were like twenty three repeat visits. Right, Well, 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.240 the first time I went to Israel, I was so 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:42.400 excited to the next morning go see where Japa took place, 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.560 where Pete, where Peter got this vision, Where where Jonah 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.079 ran away from God. I was gonna go to Jappa tomorrow. 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.480 Was one of the great boat stories in the Bible, right, 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.240 And we were staying at this hotel in Tel Aviv. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.280 And a little bit about me. When I was a kid, 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.120 I used to sleep walk like crazy. Where am I sleepwalking? Friends? 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.600 That just crazy things done in the night. I thank 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.720 god it is chilled out for me. Unfortunately, now I 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.680 just like wake up at three panicked. So I don't 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.640 know if it's better or worse than than sleepwalking. But 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:11.760 but when I was a kid, my mom like would 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:13.680 find me like all around the house, like she just 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.079 like redirect me back to bed. I feel so bad 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.040 for her one time she tells this story. She always 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:20.120 tells the story, like she found me standing over the 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:22.440 kiddy litter is leave by what are you doing? Say, 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:23.800 I'm going to the bathroom. She's like, not in here, 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.560 You're not. She had to guide me back. One time 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:30.600 in high school, I got up, got dressed, got showered 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.720 in that order, fully dressed. I woke up, Yeah, and 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:35.680 I didn't know why I was taking the shower right 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:39.880 so and and and sleepwalking. I drove out of a 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.440 jungle hut once on a mission trip in Belize, out 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:45.120 of a jungle hut window into landed in the bushes 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:47.200 in my sleep because I thought a big boulder like 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:51.080 Indiana Jones was rolling into the hut. Pray for me, y'all. 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.680 It has been a journey, but this particular trip, what 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.480 happened was I left the hotel room and I woke 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.600 up after sleepwalking, and I was at the coke machine 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.560 ice machine area, and I was so confused, didn't know 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:06.240 where I was, didn't know I was jet lag, didn't 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:07.600 know why I was in Israel, didn't know why I 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:09.800 was looking for a coke here, didn't have any shekels 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.320 on me to purchase a coke. And uh, and I 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:16.480 was in my underwear and and uh. I was an 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.640 intern at this church, and I had come with a try. 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.760 My job was to carry a tripod up and down 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:22.640 every mountain, every hill, because the pastor was going to 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.200 preach this series of messages on video from the Holy Land. 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:26.800 My job was just to carry a tripod around. I 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:28.000 was happy just to be an Israel. You know what 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.400 I'm saying, Like, I'm give me a tripod. Put me 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.200 where you got a tripod you need me to carry. 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:34.840 There's a couple over there, I'll carry one around. Like 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:36.520 whatever I can do to help get God's word out. 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:38.800 It's always been my spirit in perspective, and so now 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:40.640 God has me in front of the camera. I'm I'm 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:42.120 just as happy as I was when I was behind 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:43.960 the camera carrying the tripod up Masada. You know what 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.480 I'm saying, Like it doesn't really matter, Like however, I 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:47.840 can be a part of the equation. So I was 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.720 just happy to be there, right and and so as 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:53.920 as this now was like setting in, like I'm locked out, 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:55.960 I have no way to get back in my room, 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.960 I have no play here, There's nothing I can do. 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:00.880 I realized I'm have to go down on the front 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.480 desk and get a new key card. And so I 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:06.040 just decided if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.960 it with confidence. And it was a nice hotel man. 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:11.480 And so I get in the elevator. I'm just like 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:13.600 trying to like like like think I can. I think 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:15.760 I can. The door's open. There's like the may or 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.680 d at the you know, the concierge desk. It's it's 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:20.400 two in the morning, and they're just all like what 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:22.520 is going on here? And I just come strolling out 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.600 my draft boxers, you know, and too much information, I'm sure, 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:27.640 And and I just walk up and I say, I 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.480 seem to have been locked out of room twelve oh two. 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.600 Gonna need a new key card please. They looked at 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:35.680 each other, you know, and of course the next question 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:37.440 is do you have any id can you prove this 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:39.480 is your room? I think they just decided it was 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:41.200 not worth the fight. So the man just made a 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.600 key to twelve oh two and hand up. Now, someone 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.280 say in the chat one more time. I woke up 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.120 like this, all right. So here's where we are gonna 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.840 find ourselves. In Genesis chapter twenty eight, here's verse ten. 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.640 It's a story of someone similarly embarrassed. I was embarrassed 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.200 on that night in the in the in the in 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.800 the city of Tel Aviv. This man was embarrassed. This 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.359 man had come to the end of himself. This man, 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:10.119 he had no plan. Verse ten. Now Jacob went out 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:14.600 from Beersheba and went toward Heran. So he came to 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:19.320 a certain place and stayed there all night because the 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.479 sun had set. And he took one of the stones 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.119 of that place, and he put it at his head, 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.680 and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:31.159 he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:35.000 the earth, and its top reached to heaven. And there 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.000 the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.479 And behold the Lord stood above it and said, I 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.240 am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:48.439 God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:52.840 will give to you and your descendants. Also, your descendants 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.520 shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:59.800 spread abroad to the west, and the east, to the north, 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.840 in the south, and in you and in your seed, 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:09.040 all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.639 I am with you, and I will keep you wherever 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.639 you go, and will bring you back to this land. 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:17.520 For I will not leave you. How many of y'all 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.399 are getting encouraged just hearing this read over you, I 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.320 will not leave you now until I have done what 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.399 I have spoken to you. Then Jacob awoke from his 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:30.399 sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.400 and I did not know it. He was afraid. He said, 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.520 how awesome is this place. This is none other than 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:41.119 the House of God, and this is the gate of Heaven. 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.320 Then Jacob rose early in the morning and took the 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.200 stone that had been at his head, and he set 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:50.920 it up as a pillar, and he poured oil out 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:53.119 on top of it. And he called the name of 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.240 the place Bethel. The name of that city had previously 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:59.680 been Luz. And Jacob made a vow saying, if God 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.000 will be with me and keep me in this way 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.320 that I am going, and give me bread to eat 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.320 and clothing to put on, so that I may come 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.399 back to my father's house in peace, then the Lord 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.760 shall be my God, and this stone, which I have 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.359 set up as a pillar, shall be God's house. And 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:21.240 all that you give me, I will surely give a 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:32.720 tenth to you. I woke up like this. Jacob, as 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:37.639 we come into Genesis twenty eight, has ruined his life. 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.840 He has made some bad decisions that have led to 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:47.080 him feeling like he is at rock bottom. He has nothing. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:52.720 He's in the middle of nowhere, still almost four hundred 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.160 miles to go to get to his uncle Laban, who 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:00.119 he hopes will take him in. He's burned every bridge, 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.919 he's used up every favor. He will never see his 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:08.960 mom again alive. His brother, who he should be closest 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.000 to in the whole world, wants nothing to do with him. 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:16.840 You see Jacob jump to the wrong conclusion. Unlike John 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:21.120 the Baptist right, who knew that Jesus even in the womb, 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:22.920 he knew that Jesus was to feed us, to lead 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.200 us right. I mean even even back there, John the 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:30.280 Baptist knew John the Baptist jumped to the right conclusion. 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.359 Jacob now had jumped to the conclusion, My life's over. 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:40.119 I've got nothing, I am nothing even even surely God 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.399 must want nothing to do with me. I was handed 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.359 such a great opportunity as the descendant of Abraham, and 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:50.199 I squandered it. You see, he was a foot He 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:55.560 was a foot catcher, a heel catcher, manipulating outcomes, manipulating, 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:59.080 manipulating circumstances, always taking advantage of everyone, only thinking about 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:02.080 himself when you lived there that way, Eventually no one 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:03.800 in your life is going to want anything to do 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:07.879 with you when you're always focused on yourself. That was Jacob. 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.760 He'll catch her, Jacob Now. His mom just said, the 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:13.439 best I can do is just give you, give you 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:15.280 hear some some provisions I put in a backpack. You 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:16.960 better get out of here. Your brother. Your brother's gonna 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:21.119 kill you because you had you played dress up to 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:25.959 get your father's blessings. You pretended to be someone that 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.600 you weren't so you could walk in what was never 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:31.280 was always what God was going to give to you 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:35.280 in the first place. And so here he is he's 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:37.000 in a place that says he was in a certain place. 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.600 It wasn't even a place with a name. It had 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:48.000 no name, because it was nowhere and there the foot 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:59.400 catcher met the foot washer, and everything changed. His name 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:04.879 would change, his possessed and possessions would change. He was 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.399 by himself, his family would change. By the time we 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.399 get to the end of Jacob's story, this is can 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:13.119 just imagine him. He's the man on the run. He 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.040 has nothing, he has no one. He does have a 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:16.840 penny to his name. He's not even in a place 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:19.720 with a name. By the end of his story, Verse 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.480 forty three of Genesis thirty tells us the man became 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:27.680 exceedingly prosperous, had large flocks, female and male servants, camels 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:32.560 and donkeys, as his father had prophesied upon him, saying, 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:35.600 you will become one day a large company. He didn't become. 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:39.359 That actually didn't come to pass. He became two Jacob 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:43.000 Israel became two companies. Verse ten. He speaks, looking back 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:45.119 on his life, how different is his spirit, how different 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.120 is his tone? I am not worthy of the least 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:48.960 of all the mercies and of all the truth which you, 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:52.160 your God have shown your servant, for I crossed over 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.920 this Jordan with my staff, and now I've become two companies. 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.840 He's referring back to this day I came over. All 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.160 I had was a staff, didn't have a sleeping bag. 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:03.720 I slept with a rock as a pillow. Is that 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:06.240 I have nothing I've become. He's looking over all of 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:09.399 his flocks divided into two camps, and he's marveling at 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.400 the goodness and grace of God, and he's saying, I've 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:16.240 become two companies. I've got twelve sons, Reuben Isakarn after 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:19.840 the Gad, Sime and Benjamin Asher, Levie, Dan Joseph, Judah Zebuluce. 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:22.160 I'm going to be used to bring the Messiah into 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:24.520 the world. I'm going to be used to establish a 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:27.760 glorious kingdom that God might save people all over the world, 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:29.639 to the north, to the east, to the south, to 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:32.440 the west. And even in this moment, we are today 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:37.480 walking in the fulfillment of that prophecy. Yes, as Elevation 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:41.199 Church broadcasts this gospel of hope and this message of 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:44.400 love and peace, as the worship songs alter the atmosphere 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:47.360 for people who are struggling to not take their lives 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:49.440 in the midst of one of the most hopeless times, 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:53.679 divided times, pain filled times in human history. Here is 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:56.159 Jesus building his church and not even the gates of 0:23:56.200 --> 0:24:01.160 Hell can prevail against it. This is that And Jacob 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:03.640 got to be a link in the chain of what 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:09.160 God was connecting. So you you, you could interview Jacob too, 0:24:09.400 --> 0:24:12.760 captain of two companies, father of twelve sons, lots of wives, 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:18.240 also different sermon, not recommended. But but you might say, Jacob, 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:22.359 what do you do that you might become who you were? 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:24.919 Not who you were, but who you are? Jacob? What 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:27.960 did you? What did you do? Did you? Did you? 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:30.320 Did you? Did you buy a product on the internet 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:33.119 that you took you through a twelve week course? Surely 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:35.600 there was there was something that involved supplements. I bet 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:38.919 you essential oils were involved. Like what did you do, Jacob? 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:40.879 How did how did you do? How do you change? 0:24:41.359 --> 0:24:43.040 And he would just look at you with a smile 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:45.000 and twinkle in his eye and go, I woke up 0:24:45.119 --> 0:24:48.560 like this. I didn't do anything. It wasn't what I did. 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:50.560 It was who I met. It was an encounter I had. 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:53.840 I woke up like this. I'm not responsible for the 0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:57.760 change in my situation or search. I woke up like this. 0:24:58.040 --> 0:25:00.639 By all I know is I was blo Now I 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:04.520 see I was dead. Now I'm alive. I was hopeless, 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:09.439 Now I hope. I was a narcissist. Now I was 0:25:09.520 --> 0:25:12.000 a foot catch her trying to pull other people back, 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:14.879 to pull myself ahead. But I met the foot washer. 0:25:15.160 --> 0:25:19.199 I had a revelation. I met Jesus. The heavens opened up. 0:25:19.280 --> 0:25:21.600 I didn't ask for it. I wasn't seeking him. It 0:25:21.760 --> 0:25:28.640 wasn't my decision. He pursued me, He sought me, He 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:32.960 washed me, he changed me, he touched me, he blessed me, 0:25:33.359 --> 0:25:41.720 he healed me. I woke up like this. How'd you 0:25:41.760 --> 0:25:44.600 wake up? I made a little list. He woke up amazed. 0:25:45.520 --> 0:25:50.040 Amazed is how Jacob woke up, profoundly amazed. He said. 0:25:50.040 --> 0:25:53.360 He used the word awesome. Awesome because he woke up 0:25:53.560 --> 0:25:55.840 and he got to see a vision of a ladder. 0:25:56.359 --> 0:25:58.720 Write that down, put it in the chat. Amazed. I 0:25:58.760 --> 0:26:01.800 woke up amazed. He he was terrified. Now he's amazed. 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:07.920 I was horrified. Now I'm astonished, he said, because I 0:26:07.960 --> 0:26:09.399 thought I was alone with Then I found out I 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:13.080 wasn't in the same place that didn't even get a name, 0:26:13.119 --> 0:26:15.920 A certain place, a scary place, a terrible place. Guess what, 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:18.320 It's the House of God now, because the House of 0:26:18.320 --> 0:26:20.600 God is wherever you are. Wherever Jesus is is where 0:26:20.640 --> 0:26:23.520 you are, and it's the House of God. You're the 0:26:23.520 --> 0:26:25.160 House of God. Well, we don't get to go to church. 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:28.280 Oh well, psych, we are the church. Lol. Wherever we 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:30.480 are is where the church is. We gather together in 0:26:30.520 --> 0:26:33.560 the mighty matchless name of Jesus. This is church. This 0:26:33.680 --> 0:26:35.760 is how the world gets changed. We are linked up 0:26:35.760 --> 0:26:40.240 in this moment. And so he's amazed. He's amazed because 0:26:40.280 --> 0:26:44.560 God essentially let him see how heaven works. He's The 0:26:44.600 --> 0:26:47.040 key is in the phrase this is the gate of Heaven, 0:26:48.000 --> 0:26:50.280 which you will recognize, you students of the Bible from 0:26:50.320 --> 0:26:54.199 Genesis chapter eleven, when mankind mankind tried to build a 0:26:54.240 --> 0:26:58.720 tower to heaven and the phrase babel is used, and 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:00.840 Babel or Babylon comes up again and again and again 0:27:00.880 --> 0:27:02.520 beginning of the Bible to the very end. And what 0:27:02.560 --> 0:27:05.240 does it always mean. Well, in the ancient language of 0:27:05.240 --> 0:27:07.520 the day, it meant gate of Heaven. So what they 0:27:07.520 --> 0:27:09.800 were trying to do with that stairway. What they were 0:27:09.840 --> 0:27:12.720 trying to do with that ladder, if you will, was 0:27:12.800 --> 0:27:14.959 connect earth to Heaven. That's been what man's always been 0:27:14.960 --> 0:27:17.240 trying to do. That's why people turn to heroin, That's 0:27:17.240 --> 0:27:19.679 why people turn to money, That's why people look to 0:27:19.680 --> 0:27:21.640 their career. What are we're trying to get back to heaven. 0:27:21.680 --> 0:27:24.479 We're trying to fill what's empty. We're trying to restore 0:27:24.480 --> 0:27:28.600 what's lost. So Babel was trying to get to God, 0:27:28.640 --> 0:27:30.720 to get to wholeness, to get to transcendence, to get 0:27:30.720 --> 0:27:32.880 to healing. We were trying to get our way up. 0:27:32.920 --> 0:27:35.360 And that's how it was traditionally thought, and that's how 0:27:35.359 --> 0:27:38.480 people still mistakenly think it works today, that if you're 0:27:38.520 --> 0:27:41.600 going to get to heaven, you got to build a 0:27:41.640 --> 0:27:43.679 tower up high enough, and then eventually, if you can 0:27:43.680 --> 0:27:46.280 get enough Benjamin stacked upon Benjamin's if you can get 0:27:46.359 --> 0:27:49.000 enough Instagram followers stacked upon Instagram. So if you could 0:27:49.040 --> 0:27:51.440 sleep with this person or that person, eventually you can 0:27:51.480 --> 0:27:54.480 get a tower. That's the gate of heaven. That's how 0:27:54.560 --> 0:27:58.240 Jacob would have thought. But then his dream, he's lying 0:27:58.320 --> 0:28:01.000 there and all of a sudden he sees a tower 0:28:01.240 --> 0:28:07.480 that descends from heaven to earth. And this this ladder, this, 0:28:07.480 --> 0:28:09.480 this is like when you in those houses where you 0:28:09.480 --> 0:28:12.240 pull the rope and the attic ladder comes tumbling down. 0:28:12.400 --> 0:28:14.879 That's what he saw in his dream. He saw God 0:28:15.119 --> 0:28:18.760 initiate a ladder, not from Earth up, but from Heaven down. 0:28:19.040 --> 0:28:22.080 He saw a ladder coming down from heaven and the 0:28:22.119 --> 0:28:25.360 angels of God us sending and descending. And his exclamation, 0:28:25.840 --> 0:28:28.000 this is the gate of Heaven was him saying, oh, 0:28:28.119 --> 0:28:31.760 that's how heaven works. It's what what In John one 0:28:31.880 --> 0:28:34.119 we realized when Nathaniel when Jesus saw him under the 0:28:34.160 --> 0:28:36.640 fig tree and he said, Nathaniel, I saw you onder 0:28:36.640 --> 0:28:39.040 the fig tree. And Nathaniel was like horrified. Oh no, no, 0:28:39.120 --> 0:28:41.160 we don't know what Nathaniel was doing under the vic tree. 0:28:41.720 --> 0:28:44.360 The Bible never tells us. He said to our imagination. 0:28:44.400 --> 0:28:46.680 That caused him to go, you are a rabbi, Holy crap, 0:28:46.720 --> 0:28:48.200 How does he know what I did under the fig tree. 0:28:48.240 --> 0:28:49.960 We don't know who he was with on the fig tree. 0:28:50.000 --> 0:28:52.040 But you said, Nathaniel, And then Jesuid, you think it's 0:28:52.040 --> 0:28:53.880 amazing I saw you under the fig tree. Guess what 0:28:54.120 --> 0:28:56.800 you're gonna see? Angels us sending and descending upon the 0:28:56.800 --> 0:28:59.320 son of Man. Jesus is the ladder sent down from 0:28:59.360 --> 0:29:02.120 heaven to or Jesus is what is meant to restore 0:29:02.200 --> 0:29:04.600 your connection to God. You can't earn your way to heaven. 0:29:04.760 --> 0:29:07.800 It comes not based on you, placed on you. Because 0:29:07.920 --> 0:29:11.040 Jesus descended, the bridge came down, the latter came down. 0:29:12.560 --> 0:29:14.640 He said, I woke up like this all of a sudden, 0:29:14.680 --> 0:29:16.640 aware I don't got to earn my standing before God. 0:29:16.680 --> 0:29:18.560 It was given to me based on the mercy and 0:29:18.640 --> 0:29:20.760 love of his son, Jesus Christ, who came into this 0:29:20.800 --> 0:29:23.200 world the safe sinners of whom Jacob said, I am cheap. 0:29:23.240 --> 0:29:25.959 I'm amazed, and I woke up like this because this 0:29:26.000 --> 0:29:29.320 is what heaven is all about. It's about God saving people, 0:29:29.520 --> 0:29:34.160 not by their good works. I'm excited. I could preach 0:29:34.200 --> 0:29:35.640 a lot more about that, but I got to move on. 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:38.120 I got four points today. You got to collect them 0:29:38.120 --> 0:29:42.400 all to win a prize. The second point is included. 0:29:43.760 --> 0:29:46.000 Jacob was not just told here's what I'm gonna do, 0:29:46.040 --> 0:29:49.120 like God was filling out his grand rescue mission. There 0:29:49.160 --> 0:29:54.280 was participation built in. There was participation baked in. That's 0:29:54.320 --> 0:29:56.840 how you don't waste the rain. You apply the word. 0:29:56.920 --> 0:29:59.760 The moment God sows the word, you instantly take action. 0:30:00.160 --> 0:30:03.720 Said here's how heaven works. Here's my master plan, he said, 0:30:03.840 --> 0:30:06.480 And bro I got plans for you. I want to 0:30:06.600 --> 0:30:09.160 use you. You got gifts, you got something to contribute. 0:30:09.280 --> 0:30:11.920 You get to play a part church. We get to 0:30:12.080 --> 0:30:15.680 be a part of God's plan to change the world. 0:30:15.880 --> 0:30:18.400 That's why he gave you skills. That's why he gave 0:30:18.440 --> 0:30:20.960 you talents. That's why God has given you something to 0:30:21.000 --> 0:30:26.640 contribute to this grand master plan. The third thing is 0:30:26.680 --> 0:30:30.760 that he instantly wanted to become invested because he was 0:30:30.840 --> 0:30:34.240 amazed and he found out he got to be included. 0:30:34.680 --> 0:30:37.120 The immediate thing was for him to say, well, I 0:30:37.120 --> 0:30:40.080 want to get invested. I'm immediately wanting to get invested. 0:30:40.080 --> 0:30:43.280 I want to get skin in this game. Now here's 0:30:43.280 --> 0:30:46.680 the problem. He was broke, he was a joke. He 0:30:46.720 --> 0:30:49.680 only had a staff, he didn't even he didn't even 0:30:49.800 --> 0:30:52.920 have anything to contribute. But that didn't stop him from 0:30:53.000 --> 0:30:58.240 contributing what he could because he looks around and he's like, well, 0:30:58.480 --> 0:31:00.800 this is where I slept right here last night, and 0:31:00.840 --> 0:31:03.719 what did I used for a pillow? A rock, and 0:31:03.760 --> 0:31:07.400 he's like, hmm, God's gonna use me to build a church. 0:31:07.440 --> 0:31:10.520 God's gonna use me to build the House of God 0:31:10.600 --> 0:31:12.320 so other people could connect to the north, to the 0:31:12.360 --> 0:31:14.080 east of this house of the West. I got nothing 0:31:14.240 --> 0:31:17.000 but this rock. Well, guess what this rock is where 0:31:17.120 --> 0:31:20.440 the temple starts. Bang right there. He has this God 0:31:20.520 --> 0:31:23.240 moment where he says, that's the first stone of many 0:31:23.280 --> 0:31:25.680 that's gonna come. I'm not gonna let what I can't 0:31:25.720 --> 0:31:28.840 do stop me from doing what I can do. I 0:31:29.000 --> 0:31:32.680 lay the first rock right here and right now. And 0:31:32.760 --> 0:31:34.600 then he's like, oh, I got a little bit of 0:31:34.640 --> 0:31:37.840 olive oil. All right, I'm pouring one out for the home. 0:31:37.920 --> 0:31:40.680 He's right here. I did it. He's smashing a bottle 0:31:40.720 --> 0:31:43.560 of champagne against the church, not even build. But he 0:31:43.640 --> 0:31:48.280 sees what's to come. He saw the work of God 0:31:48.320 --> 0:31:51.680 spreading out across the whole world. He was told, your 0:31:52.120 --> 0:31:55.320 seed Jesus is gonna lead to descendants from the whole 0:31:55.320 --> 0:31:57.680 world being blessed. It's being fulfilled today right now as 0:31:57.680 --> 0:32:01.240 we preached these words. Started it with that one rock. 0:32:02.480 --> 0:32:04.320 And then he said, and from here on out, God, 0:32:04.640 --> 0:32:06.360 I don't have any money. I don't have anything to 0:32:06.440 --> 0:32:08.920 offer you. But if you ever trust so much as 0:32:08.960 --> 0:32:12.320 a dollar to this man, I'm gonna give the first 0:32:12.360 --> 0:32:15.320 and the best tenth to you every single time. And 0:32:15.400 --> 0:32:20.240 that made Jacob safe to bless. How did he get 0:32:20.280 --> 0:32:22.680 to lead two companies? How did he get to lead 0:32:23.000 --> 0:32:25.640 stock How did he get so influential in the stock market? 0:32:25.880 --> 0:32:29.200 It's a live stock market. He had made a vow 0:32:29.320 --> 0:32:31.960 that made him safe to bless. You. See, here's the 0:32:32.040 --> 0:32:33.920 thing you need to know about money. It gets tricky 0:32:33.960 --> 0:32:38.600 with the money stuff. When we talk about money. Generosity 0:32:38.720 --> 0:32:41.440 is the only thing that can release the stranglehold that 0:32:41.480 --> 0:32:48.160 money will always hold on your soul. The love of money, 0:32:48.240 --> 0:32:51.240 the desire to be rich, It has crept in and 0:32:51.560 --> 0:32:56.040 will pierce your soul through with many sorrows. Not one 0:32:56.080 --> 0:32:59.720 of us is immune to the temptation, to the seduction, 0:32:59.840 --> 0:33:05.800 to the hypnotizing power of the deceitfulness of riches, which 0:33:05.800 --> 0:33:09.880 will choke and strangle away your desire to live a 0:33:10.000 --> 0:33:13.320 life for God. The only thing that can unshackle the 0:33:13.440 --> 0:33:16.800 power of wealth to drain you of your spiritual power 0:33:17.120 --> 0:33:21.200 is constantly putting a steak through the idol's heart with 0:33:21.680 --> 0:33:27.680 something called giving it again and again and again. You 0:33:27.680 --> 0:33:30.560 get paid bang immediately, first in the best, back to God, 0:33:30.680 --> 0:33:32.400 first in the best, back to God. What are you doing? 0:33:32.560 --> 0:33:36.960 You're stabbing the idolatry of greed in the heart with 0:33:37.080 --> 0:33:40.840 a steak. You are pounding again and again and again 0:33:41.120 --> 0:33:44.320 the thing that can sneak in and cause the love 0:33:44.360 --> 0:33:46.400 of many to grow cold, The thing that can sneak 0:33:46.440 --> 0:33:49.240 in and cause many people to live for this world 0:33:49.280 --> 0:33:51.800 and to live for their kingdom. See, money will sneak 0:33:51.840 --> 0:33:53.479 in and get you building the tower of Babble all 0:33:53.520 --> 0:33:56.600 over again. Money will sneak in and get you building 0:33:56.640 --> 0:33:59.360 your own kingdom once again. And the thing that every 0:33:59.400 --> 0:34:01.600 single time you get paid, you take a test, and 0:34:01.600 --> 0:34:03.680 the test is who do you honor the most? That's 0:34:03.720 --> 0:34:07.040 what we find Jacob doing. I'm vowing that all you 0:34:07.080 --> 0:34:09.640 give me first and the tenth the best goes back 0:34:09.680 --> 0:34:13.080 to you. I was reminded of George Washington Carver this week. 0:34:13.120 --> 0:34:16.080 What an incredible man. George Washington Carver, a man and 0:34:16.120 --> 0:34:18.080 a man of God. He was. Come on, let's hear 0:34:18.160 --> 0:34:19.960 for George Washington Carver. I think we got a photo 0:34:20.000 --> 0:34:23.919 of him here, This incredible man. You know they say 0:34:24.480 --> 0:34:28.359 that he saved the economy of the South. And that's 0:34:28.440 --> 0:34:31.640 because he knew that with all the cotton fields that 0:34:31.640 --> 0:34:33.600 were all over the place. What an incredible life he lived, 0:34:33.800 --> 0:34:37.080 born a slave, kidnapped, father, died, all these things, but 0:34:37.120 --> 0:34:40.719 became a scientist, and he realized he realized that the 0:34:40.840 --> 0:34:43.920 problem with all the cotton fields wasn't what they were growing, 0:34:44.040 --> 0:34:47.759 it's what the fields were missing. And he realized that 0:34:48.320 --> 0:34:53.200 the things were depleting the soil, and so by introducing 0:34:53.600 --> 0:34:57.600 peanuts into the fields, peanuts have a unique ability to 0:34:57.719 --> 0:35:01.040 replenish nitrogen supplies, which is the only thing that over 0:35:01.080 --> 0:35:03.560 time keeps the cotton from killing the ground and making 0:35:03.560 --> 0:35:06.719 it unproductive. And so it wasn't a problem about what 0:35:06.880 --> 0:35:08.600 was growing, it was a problem about what was missing. 0:35:08.600 --> 0:35:10.040 For some of you, the problem in your life isn't 0:35:10.040 --> 0:35:12.520 what you're doing your work. It's the problem is what's missing. 0:35:12.560 --> 0:35:16.000 You've got to plant some generosity in the field. It 0:35:16.080 --> 0:35:19.480 could replenish the nitrogen and keep what you're doing, what 0:35:19.520 --> 0:35:25.960 you're growing producing. So then then then they have this 0:35:26.280 --> 0:35:27.960 new problem. We all these peanuts. What do we do 0:35:27.960 --> 0:35:29.960 all these peanuts? And he's like, I got an idea. 0:35:30.160 --> 0:35:32.880 He found three hundred and twenty five different uses for 0:35:32.920 --> 0:35:36.799 the peanut. Three hundred and twenty five different things you 0:35:36.840 --> 0:35:39.560 could do with a peanut. That should be the mascot 0:35:39.560 --> 0:35:42.360 of Elevation Creative Team, the peanut. You should have to 0:35:42.360 --> 0:35:43.560 sit around and look at a peanut and go, what 0:35:43.560 --> 0:35:46.480 could you do with a peanut? Right right? There's always 0:35:46.520 --> 0:35:48.279 more that you could do with what you have in 0:35:48.320 --> 0:35:52.239 front of you, right, and so and so he comes 0:35:52.320 --> 0:35:54.280 up with all these different ways to use the peanuts. 0:35:54.320 --> 0:35:56.120 So now they have all this crop, and the thing 0:35:56.160 --> 0:35:58.320 that saved their crop from going bad was now also 0:35:58.400 --> 0:36:00.640 becoming a new crop three hundred twenty times over. I'm 0:36:00.640 --> 0:36:02.840 telling you, when you put generosity into your life in 0:36:02.880 --> 0:36:05.160 the mix, it not only keeps what you have from 0:36:05.239 --> 0:36:07.440 ruining you, it'll also give you more things to do 0:36:07.480 --> 0:36:09.360 that you didn't know how to do before. I'm telling 0:36:09.360 --> 0:36:12.319 you ninety percent of your resources with God's breath on 0:36:12.360 --> 0:36:14.719 your life is better than one hundred percent, and you're 0:36:14.760 --> 0:36:17.759 all on your own every time. Every day of the week, 0:36:18.239 --> 0:36:20.439 you'll think got three hundred and twenty five new things 0:36:20.480 --> 0:36:22.279 to do with the spirit of God moving on your 0:36:22.320 --> 0:36:25.000 life so powerfully. What I'm really trying to say is 0:36:25.000 --> 0:36:28.120 that there's a protection in purpose, because every time you're 0:36:28.160 --> 0:36:31.120 sewing into God's work, it's keeping you on a mission. 0:36:31.120 --> 0:36:33.239 It's keeping you focused on what God's called you to do, 0:36:33.480 --> 0:36:38.720 and that purpose protects you. Or, as we learned last week, 0:36:38.760 --> 0:36:41.880 what I'm trying to say is, let God use your boat. 0:36:42.880 --> 0:36:44.480 Let God use your boat. Now you've got to make 0:36:44.480 --> 0:36:46.080 your way back to Luke chapter five, because we got 0:36:46.160 --> 0:36:50.640 unfinished business in this text. In Luke chapter five, what 0:36:50.719 --> 0:36:54.640 we find is that basically, if we jump into verse one, 0:36:54.719 --> 0:36:56.719 so it was the multitude press all about them to 0:36:56.719 --> 0:36:59.120 hear the word of God that he Jesus stood by 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:02.680 the lake of Genessa Ittzia Galley. He saw two boats, 0:37:02.760 --> 0:37:05.920 someone say, two boats standing by the lake, but the 0:37:06.000 --> 0:37:08.479 fishermen had gone from them, and they were washing their nets. 0:37:08.840 --> 0:37:10.760 He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, 0:37:10.760 --> 0:37:12.640 and asked him to put out a little from the land. 0:37:13.160 --> 0:37:15.399 He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 0:37:16.120 --> 0:37:18.160 When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch 0:37:18.200 --> 0:37:20.080 out into the deep and let down your nets for 0:37:20.160 --> 0:37:23.120 a catch. Simon answered him, Master, we have toiled all 0:37:23.320 --> 0:37:27.319 night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will 0:37:27.400 --> 0:37:29.600 let down the net. And when they had done this, 0:37:29.719 --> 0:37:31.400 they caught a great number of fish and their net 0:37:31.520 --> 0:37:35.759 was breaking. So they signaled to their partners, who do 0:37:35.840 --> 0:37:38.120 you have to call? By the way, when you got 0:37:38.160 --> 0:37:40.920 a problem in your life? Do you got any partners 0:37:40.960 --> 0:37:45.040 to signal too? He thought he was gonna drown, and 0:37:45.200 --> 0:37:47.160 he had someone who he could summon for help. That's 0:37:47.160 --> 0:37:48.719 why you need to be in an E group. You 0:37:48.880 --> 0:37:52.280 need to have people in your life that you can signal, 0:37:52.480 --> 0:37:54.959 that you can call, that you can text. You can't 0:37:55.080 --> 0:37:58.200 just consume this message like it's the Crown on Netflix. 0:37:58.280 --> 0:38:01.359 You gotta watch this message and then participate and get 0:38:01.480 --> 0:38:04.960 involved and get planted and get into these reflect events 0:38:05.040 --> 0:38:07.040 and groups and these all these things that are going 0:38:07.080 --> 0:38:08.880 to keep you keep keep people in your life. But 0:38:09.000 --> 0:38:13.040 you can signal when there's a problem. And they came 0:38:13.120 --> 0:38:15.239 and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. 0:38:15.760 --> 0:38:18.360 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees, 0:38:18.400 --> 0:38:21.160 saying to part from me, pushing him away, for I'm 0:38:21.160 --> 0:38:23.600 a sinful man, o Lord, For he and all who 0:38:23.640 --> 0:38:26.680 are with him? What were what you can say? Amazed? 0:38:27.960 --> 0:38:30.120 What's the difference before you. You caught no fish before 0:38:30.120 --> 0:38:32.080 your fishing, no catching, no fish. You're and now on 0:38:32.120 --> 0:38:33.799 the other side of it a different person. He said, 0:38:33.920 --> 0:38:36.400 I woke up like this. I woke up like this. 0:38:36.560 --> 0:38:38.680 I fished all night, caught nothing on my own. But 0:38:38.760 --> 0:38:41.040 now it's morning, Now the day has broken. Now Jesus 0:38:41.160 --> 0:38:42.680 is in my boat. Now what I was trying to 0:38:42.719 --> 0:38:44.919 do alone I couldn't do. I can do all things 0:38:44.960 --> 0:38:47.600 through Christ, who gives me strength. I woke up like 0:38:47.719 --> 0:38:54.560 this at to catch a fish which they had taken. 0:38:56.800 --> 0:38:59.480 I believe that God wants you to use your boat 0:39:00.560 --> 0:39:05.560 to wake other people up. In Ephesian chapter five, we're 0:39:05.719 --> 0:39:08.359 giving a little important detail that sleep in the New 0:39:08.440 --> 0:39:12.279 Testament is a picture of death, and it can mean 0:39:12.320 --> 0:39:13.719 a lot of different kinds of death. That can mean 0:39:13.760 --> 0:39:16.399 physical death, but also can mean spiritual death. And Paul 0:39:16.440 --> 0:39:22.080 says in Ephesians five therefore, he says, awake ye who sleep, 0:39:23.400 --> 0:39:27.239 rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. 0:39:28.360 --> 0:39:30.879 I believe that God wants you to see that your 0:39:31.080 --> 0:39:34.919 part to play in this a significant call of God 0:39:35.120 --> 0:39:38.200 on your life is to grow your business, is to 0:39:38.400 --> 0:39:43.120 produce wealth. Is to scale your company, is to start 0:39:43.360 --> 0:39:46.120 that business and to do so protected by the purpose 0:39:46.239 --> 0:39:49.160 of Whatever God does through this boat business, whatever God 0:39:49.239 --> 0:39:52.360 does through this corporation, whatever God does on the Nasdaq, 0:39:52.960 --> 0:39:56.279 it's for a purpose. It's to bankroll this pulpit is 0:39:56.360 --> 0:39:58.799 to get wealth into the hands of those who need 0:39:58.880 --> 0:40:02.240 it through the elevation outreach initiatives. I'm going to scale 0:40:02.320 --> 0:40:04.759 my company. I believe the call of God on many 0:40:04.800 --> 0:40:07.200 of you is to produce more well. Is the need 0:40:07.280 --> 0:40:09.759 for bigger barnes, is the need for more employees. And 0:40:09.880 --> 0:40:12.080 it is to do so with the vision, with the 0:40:12.160 --> 0:40:15.080 explicit intention of whatever you and trust to me, I'm 0:40:15.120 --> 0:40:16.880 going to return back to you God. I'm going to 0:40:17.239 --> 0:40:19.239 use it to build your house. I'm going to use 0:40:19.320 --> 0:40:22.920 it to get you on the boat in front of 0:40:22.960 --> 0:40:25.279 the people. The people were pressing, wanting to hear. They 0:40:25.320 --> 0:40:28.279 were hungry and stirred, I'm anxious, troubled with many things. 0:40:28.320 --> 0:40:31.399 They needed to hear the word of God preached from 0:40:31.719 --> 0:40:34.280 the specific and it was so cool. It's like YouTube. 0:40:34.600 --> 0:40:36.520 The way he got on the boat and pushed out 0:40:36.600 --> 0:40:38.920 it created acoustics as they were on the hillside. This 0:40:39.120 --> 0:40:43.439 is old school amplification techniques. Jesus was using the most 0:40:43.480 --> 0:40:47.800 cutting edge delivery vehicle of media he could find, and 0:40:47.960 --> 0:40:50.520 it amplified the reach to those who couldn't have heard 0:40:50.600 --> 0:40:53.759 him otherwise. He's doing it today, he's doing it right now. 0:40:53.880 --> 0:40:56.439 He's doing it through multi site, he's doing it through 0:40:56.600 --> 0:41:00.560 church online, he's doing it through Facebook. He's getting the 0:41:00.600 --> 0:41:02.880 word to more people. So what I need you to 0:41:02.960 --> 0:41:05.640 do is not only feel okay about going to work. 0:41:05.640 --> 0:41:07.200 I want you to feel like you are on a 0:41:07.280 --> 0:41:09.560 mission as you go to work, because God has called 0:41:09.560 --> 0:41:12.160 you to thrive. God has called you to excel, and 0:41:12.400 --> 0:41:15.879 as He blesses your life, you're doing so protected from 0:41:15.920 --> 0:41:18.640 the idolatry of greed, with a purpose of I'm planted 0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:20.800 in the house. I'm here to make the reach get louder. 0:41:20.960 --> 0:41:23.000 I need this boat to get bigger, I need the 0:41:23.280 --> 0:41:26.000 nets to get wider. Why so that more people can 0:41:26.040 --> 0:41:28.600 come to know the saving goodness of the God who 0:41:28.680 --> 0:41:31.640 reaches down with a ladder from heaven and says, come 0:41:31.719 --> 0:41:36.040 on up, Come on up, Come on up. And I 0:41:36.160 --> 0:41:40.560 think that we find a stirring example in these two fishermen. 0:41:43.040 --> 0:41:45.680 And yet I'm more impressed by the other fishermen on 0:41:45.760 --> 0:41:49.239 the Sea of Galley that day. You see because we 0:41:49.560 --> 0:41:52.000 know that two of them walked away. Two of them 0:41:52.040 --> 0:41:55.280 walked away and left the fish and left the business. 0:41:55.760 --> 0:41:58.000 They left the enterprise, and they went to follow Jesus 0:41:58.040 --> 0:42:02.120 and become professional pastors and profess estional preachers. But joseph 0:42:02.239 --> 0:42:05.280 Is the historian tells us that there were two hundred 0:42:05.320 --> 0:42:08.440 and thirty commercial fishing enterprises on the Sea of Galilee 0:42:08.480 --> 0:42:12.120 operating at that time, and surely many of them got impacted, 0:42:12.320 --> 0:42:14.520 and many of them got saved. And many of them said, 0:42:14.560 --> 0:42:16.800 I'm ready to leave my net. I'm ready to follow 0:42:16.840 --> 0:42:18.560 you to the ends of the earth. Where's my sword? 0:42:19.000 --> 0:42:21.279 Let's go. I'm in the Lord's army right now. Let's 0:42:21.320 --> 0:42:23.239 do this thing. And Jesus said to them what he 0:42:23.280 --> 0:42:25.799 said to the demoniac of Gadera, when he said, can 0:42:25.840 --> 0:42:27.719 I follow you? He said, oh, go back to your home. 0:42:28.040 --> 0:42:29.840 I can use you, but I want to use you 0:42:29.960 --> 0:42:32.120 at home. I can use you, but I want to 0:42:32.200 --> 0:42:35.200 use you in your city. You listen, are gonna to 0:42:35.480 --> 0:42:38.319 do the thing that requires even more faith than going, 0:42:38.800 --> 0:42:41.279 and that is staying. I want you to go back 0:42:41.320 --> 0:42:45.840 to work tomorrow, protected with purpose, creating wealth for the kingdom, 0:42:46.440 --> 0:42:50.200 receiving blessing that you might be a blessing. God is 0:42:50.280 --> 0:42:52.120 going to use you, many of you like the two 0:42:52.280 --> 0:42:54.680 hundred and twenty eight fishing vessels that didn't go into 0:42:55.080 --> 0:42:58.480 full time ministry, in full time ministry at your bank, 0:42:58.760 --> 0:43:03.200 at your plates, study at your job, selling insurance at 0:43:03.280 --> 0:43:05.600 your job. And I want you every day to hold 0:43:05.640 --> 0:43:08.480 your head high knowing I'm a servant of the King. 0:43:08.760 --> 0:43:11.200 I got a mission, I got a cause. The church 0:43:11.320 --> 0:43:15.080 need these resources. I need to bankroll this pulpit and 0:43:15.200 --> 0:43:18.520 make sure this ministry is never lacking in funds to 0:43:18.600 --> 0:43:22.439 send out more millions of dollars. Y'all gave away more 0:43:22.680 --> 0:43:26.000 resource this year than most churches will have in their 0:43:26.040 --> 0:43:28.839 budgets in a decade. But God has raised you up 0:43:29.040 --> 0:43:31.520 for such a time as this. Now that shouldn't make 0:43:31.600 --> 0:43:34.120 you want to do less. It should make you eager 0:43:34.440 --> 0:43:39.200 to see God do more. Because is there not a cause? 0:43:40.640 --> 0:43:43.960 Is there not a need? Are there not hungry people? 0:43:44.760 --> 0:43:51.200 Are there not people who need to have hope? Very good? 0:43:54.560 --> 0:43:58.319 I love World War two, And all the time I've 0:43:58.360 --> 0:44:00.400 prepared this message and read about the boat and was 0:44:00.440 --> 0:44:04.200 listening to Pastor last week, I couldn't get this boat 0:44:04.239 --> 0:44:07.359 out of my mind. And I kept thinking about this boat, 0:44:07.880 --> 0:44:10.520 and I'll show you a photo of it. This is 0:44:10.560 --> 0:44:12.400 the boat I kept thinking of. Here. It's called a 0:44:12.520 --> 0:44:15.680 Higgins boat, and it's a boat that many of you 0:44:15.840 --> 0:44:17.959 have seen, because it's if you've ever watched Saving Private 0:44:18.040 --> 0:44:20.279 Ryan or any of the World War two movies, you've 0:44:20.320 --> 0:44:22.600 seen this boat. Now, now, if you take that boat 0:44:22.600 --> 0:44:25.359 away for a moment, there are names. We'll come back 0:44:25.400 --> 0:44:27.120 to that in a second. When you think about World 0:44:27.120 --> 0:44:29.480 War Two, there are names that come to mind, and 0:44:29.680 --> 0:44:32.320 you think about, you know, Normandy in D Day. It 0:44:32.480 --> 0:44:35.200 was the event that turned the tide of World War Two. 0:44:35.719 --> 0:44:37.560 And the reason we live in a country that is 0:44:37.680 --> 0:44:41.279 not under the command of Imperial Japan or have a 0:44:41.440 --> 0:44:44.120 Nazi flag flying high is in large part because of 0:44:44.160 --> 0:44:47.399 what happened at D Day June sixth, nineteen forty four, 0:44:47.520 --> 0:44:52.239 seventy six years ago. This incredible, amphibious assault of the 0:44:52.440 --> 0:44:55.480 five beaches of Normandy in France. One hundred and fifty 0:44:55.760 --> 0:45:00.279 thousand soldiers alone and came aboard, came up up on 0:45:00.360 --> 0:45:03.360 the shore at these beaches in central France, not to 0:45:03.560 --> 0:45:05.960 speak of all the paratroopers and all the things that happened. 0:45:06.000 --> 0:45:08.560 It was a reversal of Dunkirk, because Dunkirk was a 0:45:08.680 --> 0:45:11.920 massive evacuation of France. But you don't win wars by evacuation. 0:45:13.800 --> 0:45:17.160 You don't win wars by retreating. You gotta take some ground, 0:45:17.200 --> 0:45:20.319 you can't leave the ground. So they were finally back. 0:45:20.800 --> 0:45:23.320 All these soldiers that left France were now back on 0:45:23.480 --> 0:45:26.239 French soil. And so here's this amazing day. And you 0:45:26.320 --> 0:45:30.160 think about who is responsible. And when you think about 0:45:30.440 --> 0:45:33.759 World War two and the European theater specifically, and you 0:45:33.800 --> 0:45:37.360 think about who was it that was responsible for this victory, 0:45:37.719 --> 0:45:41.960 you think, of course about Roosevelt, and you think about Churchhill, 0:45:42.560 --> 0:45:48.360 and you think about Patten, and you think about even Montgomery, 0:45:48.600 --> 0:45:53.280 this British general. But Dwight de Eisenhower, the Supreme commander 0:45:53.480 --> 0:45:57.640 of the Allied Forces, was interviewed by Stephen Ambrose in Gettysburg. 0:45:57.760 --> 0:46:00.279 So any conversation that happens in Gettysburg, it's already like, okay, 0:46:00.320 --> 0:46:02.760 you had me, I'm already there. And he was asked, 0:46:03.160 --> 0:46:06.719 who do you attribute most the victory to? And I 0:46:06.800 --> 0:46:08.600 want to put on screen the exact quote that he 0:46:08.719 --> 0:46:12.439 had to say that day. He said that he Peter 0:46:12.800 --> 0:46:15.120 Higgins is the man who won the war for us. 0:46:15.880 --> 0:46:18.680 Talking about Peter Higgins, because he knew that Ambrose was 0:46:18.719 --> 0:46:20.799 from New Orleans. He said, do you have you ever 0:46:20.880 --> 0:46:23.200 met Higgins? He goes, no, he died before he died 0:46:23.239 --> 0:46:24.600 a while back. I never met him. He said, well, 0:46:24.600 --> 0:46:25.920 I want you know, look at that quote more time. 0:46:26.000 --> 0:46:27.799 This is from the mouth of President right the eyes 0:46:27.800 --> 0:46:30.799 at hour. He is the man who won the war 0:46:30.880 --> 0:46:33.279 for us. And you're like, well, who is Higgins? Because 0:46:33.280 --> 0:46:36.400 he's the photo of Andrew Jackson Higgins. This is what 0:46:36.560 --> 0:46:39.319 he looked like. This is his tie flapping on the side. 0:46:39.640 --> 0:46:42.800 What a legend this guy is, right, He is a 0:46:42.880 --> 0:46:45.480 person you've never heard about. But he was the one 0:46:45.520 --> 0:46:47.480 who invented the boat that I showed you a moment ago. 0:46:48.320 --> 0:46:51.640 He was a boat builder, He was a businessman. He 0:46:51.760 --> 0:46:55.080 had just one hundred employees. But he had this incredible invention, 0:46:55.480 --> 0:46:58.759 a flat bottom boat with a protected propeller that could 0:46:58.960 --> 0:47:01.840 be beached easily and go in just a shallow of 0:47:01.960 --> 0:47:04.239 water as one foot and it was an amazing boat. 0:47:04.360 --> 0:47:08.680 He built it for Louisiana Oil, you know, workers and trappers, 0:47:08.760 --> 0:47:10.840 and he sold a ton of them to boot to 0:47:10.960 --> 0:47:13.360 run runners and bootleggers, and then he sold them to 0:47:13.440 --> 0:47:15.640 the people that chased the run runners and the bootleggers, 0:47:15.680 --> 0:47:17.239 and he's just kind of say, hey, you need this 0:47:17.440 --> 0:47:19.200 to get away from and you need this to catch him. 0:47:19.239 --> 0:47:22.960 He was just that way an amazing leader. He in 0:47:23.080 --> 0:47:26.160 his factories in New Orleans. He was the first person 0:47:26.480 --> 0:47:29.120 to hire black people and white people and men and 0:47:29.200 --> 0:47:30.719 women and pay him all the same. He was the 0:47:30.800 --> 0:47:34.080 first person. He was the first person that broke through 0:47:34.120 --> 0:47:38.759 those walls and integrated his operations. And don't I preach 0:47:38.840 --> 0:47:40.239 him into heaven and make him seem like I'm saying 0:47:40.280 --> 0:47:42.520 he drank a whole bottle of whiskey every single day 0:47:42.600 --> 0:47:44.520 and cursed worse than an Irish sailor. This is the 0:47:44.520 --> 0:47:47.560 thing about Higgins. But Eisenhower said, Higgins is the man 0:47:47.600 --> 0:47:49.120 who won the war for us. You want to know why, 0:47:49.360 --> 0:47:52.880 because check this out. Here's a step back view of Normandy, 0:47:53.239 --> 0:47:55.840 a step back picture of Normandy. When we had to 0:47:55.920 --> 0:47:59.880 get one hundred and fifty thousand troops all the way 0:48:00.120 --> 0:48:03.680 to the shore, one hundred and fifty thousand men. The 0:48:03.719 --> 0:48:05.360 average age was twenty by the way, and they're on 0:48:05.520 --> 0:48:07.399 let's hear for our military let's hear this. Thank God 0:48:07.480 --> 0:48:12.120 for everyone who serves everyone. They had to get all 0:48:12.200 --> 0:48:18.040 these men from aircraft carriers and big old boats. How 0:48:18.120 --> 0:48:22.520 you gonna get the largest amphibious assault crew in human 0:48:22.719 --> 0:48:26.640 history from these massive ships in six foot waves? Six 0:48:26.719 --> 0:48:28.759 feet waves are going. But you see, you can't land 0:48:28.800 --> 0:48:32.080 the big boats on the beach. How you gonna get them? 0:48:32.120 --> 0:48:37.680 How you gonna get them from ship to shore? You 0:48:37.800 --> 0:48:40.920 need a ladder, You need a connection, you need a bridge. 0:48:41.120 --> 0:48:42.960 The only way to get them from where they were 0:48:43.239 --> 0:48:45.239 to where they needed to be was someone had to 0:48:45.320 --> 0:48:47.760 roll down a ladder. And the Navy didn't have anything. 0:48:47.800 --> 0:48:50.480 They didn't have any ideas. But Higgins did show me 0:48:50.600 --> 0:48:53.520 that first photo again. He built a boat that could 0:48:53.719 --> 0:48:56.839 go easily from the big boats and go right up 0:48:56.880 --> 0:48:58.680 on the shore. And then I look at this photo 0:48:58.719 --> 0:49:01.520 of the ramp. The ramp would down, and then all 0:49:01.600 --> 0:49:04.880 these men, thirty six men could go rushing off to battle, 0:49:05.320 --> 0:49:08.279 rushing to take the hills, rushing many of them, four 0:49:08.360 --> 0:49:11.040 thousand of them, to die on the bloody beaches of 0:49:11.120 --> 0:49:14.239 Omaha and Utah and sore, these men who laid their 0:49:14.280 --> 0:49:16.040 lives down. But the ramp would drop, and then they 0:49:16.040 --> 0:49:17.840 could run off one of these boat he invented he 0:49:17.840 --> 0:49:20.040 could hold thirty six men a whole platoon, or twelve 0:49:20.120 --> 0:49:21.960 men in a jeep and would just rush up and 0:49:22.000 --> 0:49:23.680 then the ramp would drop, and then they run off, 0:49:23.800 --> 0:49:25.040 and then they would be able to do this thing. 0:49:25.160 --> 0:49:27.759 And he scaled his operations from one hundred employees to 0:49:27.840 --> 0:49:31.040 over twenty five thousand employees, from one little factory to 0:49:31.280 --> 0:49:33.239 eight factories. Then he had to shut a whole street down. 0:49:33.239 --> 0:49:36.200 Look at this photograph of one of his factories. Absolutely amazing. 0:49:36.440 --> 0:49:38.759 The sign of the back says, the guy who relaxes 0:49:39.120 --> 0:49:43.320 is helping the axis. Is amazing. He also had photos 0:49:43.320 --> 0:49:46.440 of Hitler in every single bathroom that said take it 0:49:46.520 --> 0:49:49.080 easy above Hitler's head, So as people were sitting down, 0:49:49.280 --> 0:49:51.160 Hitler saying, take it easy, I don't need you to 0:49:51.200 --> 0:49:52.800 build more boats. So he wanted the men to have 0:49:52.880 --> 0:49:54.880 a sense of urgency. He wanted them to be a 0:49:54.880 --> 0:49:57.000 little bit riled up. Some people wonder, oh, why his 0:49:57.080 --> 0:49:59.560 pastor's so excited. Why are the people standing? Oh, I 0:49:59.600 --> 0:50:01.839 don't know. Go ahead and sit back down. The devil says, 0:50:02.120 --> 0:50:04.680 go ahead and sit back down. The devil says, take 0:50:04.760 --> 0:50:07.200 it easy. The devil says, you got all the time 0:50:07.239 --> 0:50:09.880 in the world to get around to that. The devil says, Oh, 0:50:10.000 --> 0:50:14.080 don't be so excited, just take it easy. The one 0:50:14.120 --> 0:50:17.680 who relaxes is helping the axes. I'm telling you, we 0:50:17.880 --> 0:50:20.680 got work to do. Night is coming when no man 0:50:20.840 --> 0:50:23.400 can work. We got a gospel to preach, we got 0:50:23.480 --> 0:50:25.719 a God to s sir, we got things to do, 0:50:26.080 --> 0:50:31.799 We got buildings to build. When all was said and done, 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:36.240 there were six thousand boats involved in d Day, six thousand, 0:50:36.320 --> 0:50:40.480 most but fifteen hundred of them were built by Andrew 0:50:41.000 --> 0:50:45.840 Jackson Higgins. So don't tell me a businessman can't change 0:50:45.880 --> 0:50:49.600 the world. Don't you tell me an entrepreneur can't change 0:50:49.640 --> 0:50:52.480 the world. I'm telling you, what you build, what you do, 0:50:52.960 --> 0:50:56.920 how you leave, can't change the course of the supernatural 0:50:57.040 --> 0:50:59.800 war for the souls of men and women, boys and 0:51:00.080 --> 0:51:11.560 earls that we are in. Well that's my sermon. I 0:51:11.640 --> 0:51:19.640 hope you liked it. I have more to say about that. 0:51:19.800 --> 0:51:21.880 I really wanted to talk to this for a minute 0:51:22.640 --> 0:51:27.919 about something I found in Luke five in my Bible, 0:51:27.920 --> 0:51:29.320 because I read out of the New King James, and 0:51:29.360 --> 0:51:31.160 I know generally you guys speak out of the NIV 0:51:31.440 --> 0:51:33.120 up in here, and I just got raised in the 0:51:33.200 --> 0:51:34.880 n king JV. I don't think it's better or anything, 0:51:34.920 --> 0:51:36.879 but when I was reading in my translation, I could. 0:51:36.920 --> 0:51:38.640 I just got to show you real quick. It's in 0:51:38.800 --> 0:51:42.640 verse four. It's Jesus' command. Look at it on the screen, 0:51:42.880 --> 0:51:46.399 launch out into the deep and let down your say 0:51:46.400 --> 0:51:54.520 it for a catch. Many Greek manuscript not all, but many. 0:51:54.600 --> 0:51:58.360 There's differences in translation. Many manuscripts indicate that the command 0:51:58.480 --> 0:52:00.880 was plural. But I want to show you something you 0:52:00.920 --> 0:52:03.600 won't have seen if you only read av Look at 0:52:03.600 --> 0:52:08.080 the next verse. So Simon answered, Master, we've toiled at 0:52:08.120 --> 0:52:10.279 night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will 0:52:10.320 --> 0:52:16.600 let down the The command was plural, the obedience was singular, 0:52:18.480 --> 0:52:21.800 meaning Peter was going through the motions. Now, whether the 0:52:21.920 --> 0:52:25.760 venue scripts to say plural plural or singular plural are correct, 0:52:25.920 --> 0:52:28.200 the emphasis of the teaching is that Peter didn't really 0:52:28.239 --> 0:52:29.719 think this was something to do, because he and his 0:52:29.800 --> 0:52:32.320 experience official night and cut nothing. So you told me 0:52:32.400 --> 0:52:36.319 to let down the nets. But all right, you said, 0:52:36.360 --> 0:52:42.160 so we'll let down a singular net? Is that not 0:52:42.400 --> 0:52:45.680 what's all over the scripture from beginning to end stract 0:52:45.680 --> 0:52:50.800 the arrows in the ground. Tap tap tap, gather some 0:52:50.920 --> 0:52:54.520 vessels to get some oil. Do not gather just a few? 0:52:57.320 --> 0:53:04.759 Make this valley full of the point is it was 0:53:04.840 --> 0:53:07.799 incredible when he let down a single net. He caught 0:53:07.840 --> 0:53:09.800 so many fish his boat began to sink. So we 0:53:09.880 --> 0:53:12.239 got a lot of fish. But the question is, on 0:53:12.360 --> 0:53:16.080 December thirteenth, what do you want to see God flooding 0:53:16.120 --> 0:53:20.040 into this ministry and into your life? Do you want 0:53:20.080 --> 0:53:23.000 to just bring on net or do you want to 0:53:23.080 --> 0:53:25.479 let down all the nets? Do you want to gather 0:53:25.680 --> 0:53:28.240 all the vessels. Do you want to see this valley 0:53:28.280 --> 0:53:30.719 full of ditches? Do you want to see mercy and 0:53:30.880 --> 0:53:44.120 grace all over this world? The point is that the 0:53:44.239 --> 0:53:46.480 problem when God works in our world is never about 0:53:46.480 --> 0:53:50.399 his ability. It's always about our capacity. And he can't 0:53:50.440 --> 0:53:53.560 feel what you don't offer. And the net that sat 0:53:53.920 --> 0:54:01.359 unused was the net that became that remained unfilled. All right, 0:54:01.440 --> 0:54:04.200 So that's the sermon, Like I said, And if you're 0:54:04.320 --> 0:54:07.160 keeping track, we only got three of our four points. 0:54:08.239 --> 0:54:13.680 We got amazed, We got included Peter and Jacob, they 0:54:13.760 --> 0:54:17.000 got invested. But the greatest thing and the most powerful 0:54:17.040 --> 0:54:20.560 thing came because they both walked in the power of 0:54:20.680 --> 0:54:24.960 the fact that they were forgiven. That's the fourth point forgiven. 0:54:25.080 --> 0:54:27.600 The boat that won the war, the boat that won 0:54:27.680 --> 0:54:32.000 the war for Peter was not the first boat. It 0:54:32.160 --> 0:54:34.239 was the last boat. And that's why I had you 0:54:34.320 --> 0:54:37.879 turned to John twenty one. You see, because Peter's life 0:54:38.040 --> 0:54:42.120 was bookended with boats. The first day he really hung 0:54:42.160 --> 0:54:44.799 out with Jesus on a boat, and the final time 0:54:44.880 --> 0:54:47.680 before Jesus ascended, he also hung out with him on 0:54:47.800 --> 0:54:50.320 a boat. The boat that won the war that mattered 0:54:50.360 --> 0:54:53.400 the most for Peter was the boat that he was on. 0:54:53.719 --> 0:54:55.839 In verse seven of John twenty one, when Jesus had 0:54:55.960 --> 0:54:59.560 just showed up again, Peter denied him. After Peter said 0:54:59.600 --> 0:55:01.640 I I don't know you. I don't know you. I 0:55:01.680 --> 0:55:04.600 don't know you to a servant girl, and then wept 0:55:04.680 --> 0:55:08.000 bitterly because I was Jesus's guy. But he was standing 0:55:08.040 --> 0:55:10.600 in the strength of his resolve, of his commitment of 0:55:10.800 --> 0:55:14.440 he was standing in the strength of his decision, and 0:55:14.600 --> 0:55:19.479 Jesus pursued him, and Jesus sought him, and Jesus showed 0:55:19.560 --> 0:55:23.840 up and said, one morning, have you caught any fish? 0:55:25.160 --> 0:55:29.359 Peter said nah man, thanks for bringing it up, he said, 0:55:29.400 --> 0:55:34.920 maybe throw your net on the starboard side. Okay, you 0:55:35.000 --> 0:55:38.440 know what, I caught nothing, I am nothing. I have 0:55:38.640 --> 0:55:44.680 no one who would ever want me. He threw his 0:55:44.880 --> 0:55:49.640 nets down, and so many fish, one hundred and fifty 0:55:49.680 --> 0:55:51.520 three he counted him later, because every one of those 0:55:51.560 --> 0:55:57.640 miracles meant something to him. And when John said this 0:55:57.800 --> 0:56:01.920 is verse seven, it's the Lord, Simon heard it was 0:56:01.960 --> 0:56:04.400 the Lord. He put on his outer garment, for he 0:56:04.480 --> 0:56:07.319 had removed it, and then he plunged into the sea. 0:56:08.600 --> 0:56:13.560 This is a man who's out of control, astonished, amazed, stupefied, 0:56:13.760 --> 0:56:16.719 because not only is he included, and not only is 0:56:16.800 --> 0:56:19.360 he invested, and not only had he already been astonished, 0:56:19.360 --> 0:56:22.560 but now Jesus showing up doing this miracle again shows 0:56:22.640 --> 0:56:27.040 him that even after his darkest day, he was still forgiven. 0:56:27.520 --> 0:56:30.239 He was loved, he was wanted, he was cared for. 0:56:30.600 --> 0:56:32.640 The boat that won the war was the boat to 0:56:32.719 --> 0:56:36.120 help Peter win the war with himself. For now the 0:56:36.280 --> 0:56:40.040 footholder had met the foot washer, and Peter was learning 0:56:40.080 --> 0:56:42.200 what Jacob learned. What you need to know, and that 0:56:42.360 --> 0:56:44.840 is you don't need to be dressed up in your Sunday. 0:56:44.920 --> 0:56:47.719 Best to be loved by your father. He loves you 0:56:47.920 --> 0:56:50.880 even though you just woke up like this. You just 0:56:51.000 --> 0:56:54.120 woke up a failure. Peter went to bed a failure. 0:56:54.400 --> 0:56:57.040 He went to bed with the smoke in his nose 0:56:57.239 --> 0:57:01.080 of defeat. And one morning Gejesus woke up to cook 0:57:01.160 --> 0:57:04.000 him breakfast. Jesus woke up to make him a meal 0:57:04.200 --> 0:57:06.520 so that he would always remember the smell of smoke 0:57:06.560 --> 0:57:11.440 with forgiveness and not with the feet Coles were kindled 0:57:11.440 --> 0:57:14.640 in John twenty one, and Jesus served him breakfast that 0:57:14.760 --> 0:57:17.760 he had helped him catch a moment ago. He said 0:57:17.960 --> 0:57:21.160 good night to failure. But God says, good morning, grace. 0:57:21.520 --> 0:57:24.160 And that is what God speaks over your life today. 0:57:24.440 --> 0:57:27.280 And why God wants you to win the war over 0:57:27.360 --> 0:57:29.800 the darkest version of who you've become. He already knows 0:57:29.920 --> 0:57:32.400 those things, but he loves you anyway. He doesn't want 0:57:32.440 --> 0:57:34.520 you to wear Esau's clothes, to think you have to 0:57:34.560 --> 0:57:36.959 earn his blessing by being someone you're not. He loves 0:57:37.040 --> 0:57:39.040 you just as you are, and he has a plan 0:57:39.200 --> 0:57:42.480 to use every weird thing, every warped thing, every dark thing. 0:57:42.560 --> 0:57:45.200 He wants to change you heal you, fix you, mend you, 0:57:45.440 --> 0:57:47.360 not make you someone that you're not, but use you 0:57:47.520 --> 0:57:50.200 exactly as you are. Just a healed version, just a 0:57:50.360 --> 0:57:57.680 chosen version, just a restored version. I had this blue 0:57:57.720 --> 0:57:59.280 paint on my boot. I don't know if you can 0:57:59.320 --> 0:58:02.520 see it. I was writing this sermon so fast as 0:58:02.600 --> 0:58:04.920 God was giving it to me that I was shaking 0:58:04.960 --> 0:58:06.520 the mark or trying to write something on the glass 0:58:06.560 --> 0:58:08.600 when it hit me, this is kind of weird that, 0:58:08.920 --> 0:58:10.600 and it's not normally how I preach. God gave me 0:58:10.640 --> 0:58:12.600 a sermon about sleeping and a sermon about a boat. 0:58:13.440 --> 0:58:15.120 And I sat back to think, have I ever been 0:58:15.200 --> 0:58:17.120 in a situation where I was sleeping on a boat? 0:58:17.160 --> 0:58:19.280 I can need it like something? Is there something about this? 0:58:20.160 --> 0:58:21.480 And I sit there at the glass and I was 0:58:21.520 --> 0:58:23.600 shaking the pen so hard trying to write down the question. 0:58:23.680 --> 0:58:26.120 And it's the question I wrote down, write on this card. 0:58:26.840 --> 0:58:29.120 Why are you having me preach about a story involving 0:58:29.160 --> 0:58:31.640 sleep in a boat? And as the paint dripped on 0:58:31.640 --> 0:58:33.000 my boot, you got all the floor too, So I 0:58:33.040 --> 0:58:34.800 was rushing to find something to clean the paint up 0:58:34.840 --> 0:58:36.280 on the floor. And then and then all of a sudden, 0:58:36.280 --> 0:58:37.480 I felt like God spoke to me as I was 0:58:37.560 --> 0:58:39.920 cleaning the paint off the floor. He said, LEVI, this 0:58:40.040 --> 0:58:42.840 is not a story about you involving sleep in a boat. 0:58:43.160 --> 0:58:45.560 The reason I have you preaching this sermon to this 0:58:45.680 --> 0:58:48.120 church on this day is because of a story that 0:58:48.240 --> 0:58:51.440 I was in involving sleep in a boat. And the 0:58:51.560 --> 0:58:53.440 only only way to end this message is for us 0:58:53.520 --> 0:58:56.040 to remember, in one of the greatest storms our world 0:58:56.080 --> 0:59:00.760 has ever faced, surely in our lifetime mark four thirty eight, 0:59:00.800 --> 0:59:05.080 we're told that in a storm on a boat on 0:59:05.200 --> 0:59:09.240 a sea, Jesus look at it was asleep on a pillow, 0:59:10.840 --> 0:59:12.520 and they woke them up, freaking out. They woke them 0:59:12.600 --> 0:59:15.640 up frantic, and he would minister to them so that 0:59:15.680 --> 0:59:18.040 by the end of the story they were calm and peaceful. 0:59:20.000 --> 0:59:22.160 But they're like, how are you not freaking out like us? 0:59:22.240 --> 0:59:23.680 How are you not stressed out like us? How are 0:59:23.720 --> 0:59:26.560 you not worried about racial divide and worried about COVID 0:59:26.600 --> 0:59:29.080 and worry about our country and worrying about the churches? 0:59:29.080 --> 0:59:30.760 If I lose their five o' one c three status. 0:59:30.800 --> 0:59:32.760 Now the Democrats are in control, and the Democrats are 0:59:32.760 --> 0:59:35.400 we'll builver the Republicans don't, and how are you not 0:59:35.480 --> 0:59:38.560 working out? And he would work out their peace, but 0:59:38.640 --> 0:59:42.560 their question is how are you not freaking out? And 0:59:42.640 --> 0:59:46.680 he says to them what he says to you, little child, 0:59:47.680 --> 0:59:52.560 I woke up like this, in control, in command, and 0:59:52.680 --> 0:59:57.440 I always will be. And if he could sleep in 0:59:57.480 --> 0:59:59.520 a storm, so can you. If he could rest in 0:59:59.560 --> 1:00:02.000 a storm, so can you. And here's my final question, 1:00:03.000 --> 1:00:07.600 what peace and rest will be yours? As you walk 1:00:07.680 --> 1:00:11.360 into twenty one with God's favor on your life? What 1:00:11.600 --> 1:00:14.840 will that feel like? How great will that be? Here's 1:00:14.880 --> 1:00:17.640 all I know. We're gonna see a victory. We're gonna 1:00:17.680 --> 1:00:20.240 see a victory. We're gonna see a victory because our 1:00:20.360 --> 1:00:24.680 praise and our gifts, our generosity, and our sacrifice are 1:00:24.760 --> 1:00:28.360 going ahead of us into this new year. Raise your 1:00:28.400 --> 1:00:30.000 hands up, jump up to your feet. Let me pray 1:00:30.120 --> 1:00:36.400 for you. Father. The image of your son sleeping on 1:00:36.480 --> 1:00:43.400 a pillow is meant to comfort us. Jacob's pillow is 1:00:43.440 --> 1:00:47.960 a rock. Your pillow was probably much softer, for you're 1:00:48.000 --> 1:00:54.680 better at packing. And the contrast is so staggering looking 1:00:54.720 --> 1:00:57.680 at Jacob's franticness, looking at Peter, then to see Jesus 1:00:57.760 --> 1:01:00.880 to see you. That's what we need. We need to 1:01:00.920 --> 1:01:05.360 see you resting. But now I pray for your people 1:01:05.440 --> 1:01:08.200 to do what Jacob did, to take the thing that 1:01:08.320 --> 1:01:11.160 symbolized his rest and comfort and to turn it into 1:01:11.200 --> 1:01:15.800 an altar. He turned a pillow into a pillar. May 1:01:15.880 --> 1:01:18.280 we your people take every blessing you've given to us 1:01:18.720 --> 1:01:21.400 and turn it back into a sacrifice, to an offering. 1:01:22.120 --> 1:01:24.880 Thankful for what you're doing and proving it by giving 1:01:24.960 --> 1:01:27.720 it out for you to do more. Bless your people, 1:01:27.880 --> 1:01:30.240 give them rest. May your favor be upon this house 1:01:30.320 --> 1:01:33.560 in the coming days. You've blessed us through this church. 1:01:35.320 --> 1:01:38.080 Now I speak a blessing over this church. May you 1:01:38.200 --> 1:01:40.680 bless them and keep them. May you bless the verdicts 1:01:40.720 --> 1:01:43.800 and keep them. May you bless elevation worship and keep them. 1:01:43.840 --> 1:01:46.720 May you bless every person in the e kids, every 1:01:46.800 --> 1:01:49.640 person who's a volunteer, every person running a camera, every 1:01:49.680 --> 1:01:53.920 person god answering questions in the chat, every person facilitating what. 1:01:54.000 --> 1:01:56.560 May you bless and keep this ministry and continue to 1:01:56.720 --> 1:01:59.120 cause your face to shine upon them, and give them 1:01:59.160 --> 1:02:03.280 your perfect peace in Jesus' name. In Jesus name, say amen, 1:02:03.320 --> 1:02:09.160 if you receive it. Thank you for joining us on 1:02:09.240 --> 1:02:12.120 the Elevation Church podcast. We trust that God has spoken 1:02:12.200 --> 1:02:15.440 to you through the message. The pastor Levi LESCo has 1:02:15.600 --> 1:02:18.320 just spoken, thank you to all of you who support 1:02:18.440 --> 1:02:21.880 financially the work that God is doing through Elevation Church 1:02:22.520 --> 1:02:25.800 this year. As the year end season approaches, we take 1:02:25.880 --> 1:02:28.120 some time and look back and all that God has done, 1:02:28.440 --> 1:02:31.000 but also forward in anticipation of all that He is 1:02:31.080 --> 1:02:33.320 going to do. The year end season for us at 1:02:33.360 --> 1:02:36.760 Elevation is special, and this year our pastor has labeled 1:02:36.760 --> 1:02:40.840 it the Favor Season. We're believing God's favor on our 1:02:40.960 --> 1:02:43.840 lives as we look forward to what He's going to do. 1:02:44.560 --> 1:02:47.600 Between now and December thirteenth, we have the opportunity to 1:02:47.680 --> 1:02:50.520 bring an offering to go above and beyond, to give 1:02:50.600 --> 1:02:53.400 toward how God is moving here at Elevation Church. If 1:02:53.440 --> 1:02:56.160 you already give, thank you. If you'd like to join 1:02:56.280 --> 1:02:58.760 us and give, we'd invite you to go to Elevation 1:02:59.000 --> 1:03:02.720 Church dot or. There you'll see the Favor offering. If 1:03:02.760 --> 1:03:06.000 you don't tithe, maybe you begin there by bringing the 1:03:06.160 --> 1:03:08.880 first ten percent of what God has entrusted to you. 1:03:09.400 --> 1:03:11.960 If you do tithe, we'd invite you to go above 1:03:12.000 --> 1:03:14.360 and beyond the tithe and see what God can do 1:03:14.520 --> 1:03:17.280 when you open your hands and allow Him to move 1:03:17.400 --> 1:03:20.640 through you. Thank you for being a part of Elevation Church. 1:03:21.000 --> 1:03:23.680 We trust that God will continue to move in your life. 1:03:23.880 --> 1:03:27.080 If you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, we'd encourage 1:03:27.120 --> 1:03:29.480 you to do just that to stay up to date 1:03:29.800 --> 1:03:32.640 on all the new messages here at Elevation Church. Thank 1:03:32.720 --> 1:03:35.720 you again and we believe God's blessing on your life.