Elevation with Steven Furtick - A Lesson In Letting Go

Episode Date: April 27, 2020

A Lesson In Letting Go This message, “A Lesson In Letting Go,” by Pastor Steven Furtick, from Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, is built on the same important perspectives as last week’s message “Looking Forward To Normal.” When all we’ve known is busy, rest feels like something to be resisted. When all we’ve known is bondage, blessings feel foreign. So Pastor Steven is teaching us how to say, “I’m not going back to normal, I’m looking forward to freedom,” as we all loosen our grip on the things we never had control over anyway. As we dive into Exodus 14 and Romans 12 we find the most important lesson in letting go comes from the inside out. God doesn’t want us to conform (outside in) any longer to the pattern of this world, but instead to be transformed (inside out) by the renewing of our minds. Embrace this “Lesson In Letting Go” so we can stop dwelling on what’s lost and watch Him bless what’s left. Don’t forget to share this message with a friend and be sure to subscribe for ongoing inspiration and encouragement. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://ele.vc/TI55jRSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. We prophetically declare that the favor of the Lord is upon you and your household. We declare it over not only you but your children. And not just them. but your children's children. A thousand generations. The blessing of the Lord. We bless you today in the name of Jesus.

We bless you in the mighty name of Jesus. We bless you in the name that is above every name. Come on lift your hands right where you're at and receive this blessing. You are blessed in the city and the field. You are blessed in your coming, you're going. You are blessed. You are above and not beneath. You're going to make it because you're blessed.

You can smile through the storm because you're blessed. I just want to minister this to you because it's not like a greeting card, man. That is the eternal word of God that we're speaking over your life today. Now, you receive it. You push all that unbelief to the side. You push all of that distraction to the side, and you receive it. Put your bowl of cereal down and receive it. Those frosted flakes are blocking you from receiving the favor of God.

Somebody put, I'd rather have favor than frosted flakes. Tell Tony I said that too. I'm so excited about it because right now, as we put the blessing on you, I do this for my kids almost every night, and you can ask them, they're here, Abby. Every night. Is that true? Can y'all see her in the camera? Put the camera on Abby real quick.

Come here. Is it true or not that at least five out of seven nights, because kids will call you out. You're like every night. Not every night. Not every night. Kids will expose you. Five out of seven nights, we put that blessing on you.

We declare that over you. The Lord bless you and keep you. Make his face shine upon you. and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you shalom. It's not the kind of peace that means I don't have any problems, because you're going to have problems. Jesus said, in the world you will have trouble,

but take heart, I have overcome the world. Peace I give you. My peace I leave with you. And I do not give as the world gives peace. And since the world didn't give peace, the Dow Jones can't take it away. Since my job didn't give me peace, I'm preaching, Lucius, I'm preaching. I'm preaching. Say preach it, Dad. Preach it, much. Preach it, Daddy.

Anyway, come here, boy. Don't I put that blessing on you every single night. Two things we don't go to bed without. Rick Beato and the blessing. Now, y'all get out of here. I got to preach. Hey, where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, come back. Love you.

That's Shwiglish right there. Shwiglish and Fufeloush. That's their code names. What's your nickname? Have you got a nickname? If you got a nickname, put it in the chat. So I want to say also happy while you're putting your nickname in the chat. There's like a 20 second delay.

Happy birthday to my brother. Today he turns 37 years old. His government name? Yeah, come on, guys. They're like pastors kind of unfiltered. Let's bring the table and maybe he'll read. to Scripture and settle down. That's right. Thank you so much. Amazing. He turned 37. He is about to be a dad, and we're sending love to Matthew Lyle's Ferdick. His nickname is Maxwell Murder. I call him that

because of Rancid, but that's not in the Bible. You know, Jesus changed names too, but he usually didn't do it after punk rock songs, but I call him Maxwell Murder, killing them. So, Happy birthday, too, my brother. I would wish you a happy birthday, too. Just let me know when it is. I'll get your gift in the mail. What do you want for your birthday? Hey, I got another question. Are we welcome in your home? This is kind of intrusive. We just showed up in your home. Here we are, just all up in your living room, all up in your kitchen. Some of y'all are still in bed. It's kind of close quarters coming up in your bedroom. Unless you welcome us. So if we're welcome, let's see. I'm seeing some nicknames in here. Some of them look kind of

sketchy. I'm not going to say these out loud. This could get out of hand in the chat. Forget I asked that. Here's the question. After we preach today, after we preach today, normally I'd welcome you to church. You're not welcome in the church building right now. Never thought I'd say that. You're not welcome here. You are absolutely not welcome in this church. But we're bringing church to you today. If that's all right, if you make a little space, we want to come in and bring you the Word of God. Come on the grass withers, the flower, Fades, viruses come, things change, things closed, but the Word of God stands forever. So if you will open your home today and your heart, what I want to know is what are we having to eat after I preach?

What are you cooking? If you were here in the South Charlotte, North Carolina, where I preach from, or Monk's Corner, South Carolina, where you saw an awesome outreach segment. Shout out Pastor Sean Wood in Freedom Church and all the saints and believers there. the church in Monks Corner, but we would cook you some boiled peanuts, some chicken bog. It wouldn't be low-carb, but it would be a blessing to your intestines. So what would you cook if we were coming over? If Tiffany was coming over, if Dom was coming over with his drum kit and setting up in your living room, what would you cook for us?

Pot roast, eggs sounds good, brought sounds good, steak and bread. Holds, pause it real quick. It's coming fast. I'm getting a little sick to my stomach. I'm eating too much too fast. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes. Pasta with homemade marinera sauce, Amanda says. Keep going.

Let's see some more. What else is on the menu? I'm going to decide whose house to come to? Zakias, I'm coming to your house. Indonesian noodles. That sounds delicious. Bo-tie pasta. What do you want to eat, all?

We're getting many invitations. Cracker barrel, Holly said, is what I've got today. Hey, I'm so glad during quarantine that the Lord gave me a wife that can cook. We've been eating good. We've been eating good at Lock Haven. Nothing to complain about their barbecue. Now, y'all can't cook barbecue like we can cook barbecue. If you don't have a mustard-based barbecue, I'm not coming.

I am not coming. Just forget about it. I don't care how much you love Jesus. If your barbecue isn't mustard base, your experience with the Holy Spirit is limited. I'm not coming. Steak tacos, ramen noodles on a budget. Okay, okay. Lord bless their bank account.

They're offering me the cheapest possible food. Sloppy Joe's. Crab salad. You ever had crab salad, Skinner? Did they make that in Minnesota? Sounds like a delicacy. Go on. We'll just do this all day.

I was going to read the scripture, but is this making you hungry? Oh, man. Well, I don't know what we're going to eat in the physical, but man, do I have a meal? I got food to eat you, know not us your word. Feed us till we want no more. In Jesus' name, I'm excited about it. This is part two of a series that we started last week. Last week was just the appetizer, and here comes the main dish.

This new teaching is called Looking Forward to Normal. And no, I didn't get it wrong, because I know we're supposed to be getting back to normal. When they lift the restrictions or they let us go back to work or let our kids go back to school so that they can actually learn something instead of pretending to learn something while the door is closed, like I'm sure mine are doing. But one of the things that's so important for us is that we learn the lessons of this season in preparation for the next. And I don't know about you, but God has really been teaching me some things in this season.

And I can't wait to share the next installment today. If you would take your Bible real quick, and if you have a physical copy of the Bible, grab that. The reason I'm saying that is probably you're watching this on your phone, so I don't want to multitask on the same device. Get your physical copy of God's word. If you can't, I'm going to put it on the bottom of the screen for you in just a moment. But what I'd really like you to do is to have your own copies so you can underline and write in it. And we bless you today. And we speak this word over your life. All right, Albi, calm down now. Elbe's really happy

to be here. He's been cooped up in the house. You know what's funny about it. I think some people would pay to come to church right now. My oldest son Elijah, he's a business-minded guy, apparently. He was like, Dad, I think you could charge for tickets when church starts back. He said, that might be the new ways. Well, we're not going to do that, but it certainly is a privilege. I feel like it's a privilege to minister to you, and I'm so thankful for it, and I want to make the most of the time.

And even when somebody said, come on, man, get to the word. What else do you have to do? Let's hang out for a minute. I was actually driving yesterday just to get somewhere point A to point B. Don't worry. I had my hazmat suit on. And I was trying to get to somewhere, and people were driving crazier than ever. And I was kind of like, where are you going in such a hurry? People riding up on me. I'm like, where are you going right now? What are you in a hurry for? Unless you are a first responder, slow down. The world is over. You don't have to speed anymore. But it's just something about the pace and the patterns, and it's really hard to let go

of something that you've never known any different then. So like if you're used to a certain pace or if you're used to a certain set of priorities or you're used to certain principles that you have assumed to be true all of your life, it can be very, very difficult to embrace something new. And what I was saying last week, y'all sit down because I'm going to read a lot of scriptures today. But I was saying how when God's people left Egypt in the Exodus, and I'm going to pick right up there in Exodus 14, and then I'm going to go right back over to Romans 12. You're like, that's the same scriptures as last week. Absolutely. Revelation requires repetition.

If it's going to become real in your life, they say in marketing you need to hear it seven times. So I want to reinforce this message. But actually, I want to give even more context than I did last week. And I want to back up to Exodus 14, verse 5, as God's people were coming out of Egypt. And somebody put it boldly in the chat in all caps. I'm leaving Egypt. I'm leaving Egypt. You know, Egypt was the place where they went to be fed for a little while. But they needed to be freed from the place they were fed in. I think that's a powerful picture, is that for certain seasons in our life, certain things meet needs.

The process of growing in God is the process of releasing something in order to receive something. And while that sounds really cool, because I made it all start with the letter R, it is very difficult to do. And that's why we really need to walk through this with the Israelites, because we're like, come on, Moses led you out of Egypt. Aren't you grateful? Well, not exactly, totally grateful. I'm kind of fearful. I'm kind of fearful. And Exodus 14, verse 5 gives us some detail after the people of God have left Egypt. Remember how many plagues were there, Graham? In the Bible. In Egypt. You had the frogs, the gnats, all the plagues that God used, remember? Okay, it's the same number as the commandments. How many commandments? Ten commandments, ten plagues.

And God did all of that because he said, unless I force Pharaoh to let you go, he won't. Certain changes are not embraced. They must be forced. They must be forced. Certain changes. If you want your muscles to grow, you can't nicely ask them to grow. That has to be forced. And the only way you can force a muscle to grow is to bring it to the point of failure so that the fibers break down. Am I getting this right, chunks?

And grow back stronger. Now I'm going to tell you an illustration of that that I put on Instagram this week, but after I read my scripture. The Bible says in Exodus 14, verse 5, are you ready for the word? I've already started preaching it. When the King of Egypt was told that the people had fled, that his entire workforce had left the building, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds. Underline that, changed their minds.

They changed their minds about them because, remember, Pharaoh didn't want to let them go. But then there was one plague, two plagues, three plagues, four plagues, five plagues, six, seven, eight, nine, ten plagues. And after the firstborns died, the people of God left. And I will point this out. It's not my message, but I will point it out. What represented death to Pharaoh represented freedom to God's people. It was the same event, but Pharaoh's plagues became their freedom.

And the reason I point that out is I think we have a choice how we view certain things. I think we have a decision which side we live on, to work with God or to work against God, to cooperate with the things that he allows in our lives. And someone may ask, well, did God send COVID-19? Did God send coronavirus? Oh, no, you have to ask him. I am not God's PR department. They'll always ask preachers, well, where is God in all this?

preacher and they're confused because that's not my job. Here's one way that it came to me. I don't work in God's PR department where I'm trying to spin stuff like, oh, well, you know, well, the Lord sent this or the Lord did that. I don't know what the Lord did. He didn't consult me on any of this. If he had, it would have been a lot different. I ain't consult you either before you get all high and mighty. I don't think God put you on a Zoom call either to check with you about the last six weeks. Did he? If he did, let me know, because we want to get a message to you to tell him some other stuff that we want him to do instead of the stuff he's doing right now. But watch this. Here's the thing I found out. I found out that it really doesn't matter who

causes it. If it's from God or if it's not from God, and I don't really know the difference sometimes. What I know is that through God, it's kind of like his hands, whatever happens in our lives, it has to pass through his hands. So whether it came from his hand or whether it was from the enemy is not the most consequential thing. The most consequential thing is, will I partner with what God is doing even if it's not what I prefer? Or will I resist it? Or will I push against it? Or will I go with it? And so the Israelites are being set free from Pharaoh and just about the time that freedom is in sight, just about the time that it looks like they're going to make it to this land

flown with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanites and parasites and Hittites and Jebusites and all these enemies that we have to fight in this modern. It's a real, that's a real enemy. The cellulites, some of y'all are fighting, you're fighting the virus of overeating, right? right now. But listen to what happened when they got there. It's a serious moment, people. You quit making light of the Word of God. Pharaoh changed his mind and said, what have we done? Now listen to this, verse 5. We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services. We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services. So we had his chariot made ready

and took his army with him, he took 600 of the best chariots. The enemy uses the heaviest artillery on the people who are carrying the greatest purpose. Y'all won't shout, y'all won't put a fire emoji in the chat. And so if a lot is coming against you, that means God has put a lot in you. And one of the things that God is showing us in this season is what he put in us. And you know how he's doing that by shutting down everything around us? Because sometimes the only way for you to see what is within you is that everything that is not within you... I put it like this. When I preach to a crowd, I sometimes get carried by their energy.

But when I'm preaching and there's only three people, in the room, Alejandro on camera two, and Eric's sitting there like he's doing a job, but he really just wanted to get away from his kids for a few minutes. Something different has to kick in. Something different has to kick in. So we think a lot of the times, y'all stop with the fire emojis, calm down for a minute. You're going to burn down the chat. But sometimes the Lord allows something around us to shut down, to die, so that something

within us can come alive. And Pharaoh said, I changed my mind about letting them go. The message title today is called A Lesson in Letting Go, A Lesson in Letting Go. And I just want you to put that right there in the comments. If you're watching this later on YouTube, just put, this is a lesson in letting go because there's so much we're learning right now. We may not know we've learned it until way on the other side of it. You don't really realize life lessons until later. You know that, right? It's later that you say, oh, it was good for me that I was afflicted. Because this taught me

that. Oh, it's good for me that they told me no. Because I didn't want to date them anyway. If I would have married them, I would be in therapy right now. And it's later that we see the lessons. A lot of Sometimes it's later that we see the lessons. And now we can read about Exodus 14, the children of Israel. While they should have trusted God through the Red Sea and God was going to make a way, but it's easy to say that on the other side of it. It's so easy to look back and say, well, you know, he made a way where there was no way. But you know, that's when you're looking back.

What really takes faith is to look forward at something and to believe that he's going to make a way when you can't see it. A lesson in letting go. And God told Moses from the beginning that freedom is not going to come easy. Certain freedoms in our life have to be forced. That sounds bad, right? But it's true. The only way that God sets us free from certain things is he has to take them away. And sometimes what God allows to be removed from our life is just as a important as what he allows to be brought into our life. And yet this is a season where a lot of us are having to learn to appreciate things. Remember, like I said last week, the things you were complaining about in February, you would

be praising God for in April? All of the annoying people, you just wish you could have a different cast of characters than the four you're stuck inside with. And I figured out how much people are saying that they're finding a rhythm in quarantine is to on how big their house is. It's like, oh, yeah, man, this is kind of cool. Or how grown their kids are. Or some people, do they have any human interaction?

And so I've been thinking a little bit about the fact that a lot of times in my life, the lesson God is teaching me is to appreciate something. Here's what I want to ask you, and maybe you can answer it on chat, what is God teaching you to appreciate in this season? Very simple, but maybe worth some reflection. And I'm going to wait for you to respond. You say, well, God is teaching me to appreciate my livelihood, you know? Honestly, I had really gotten so caught up in what I didn't like about my job that I forgot the fact that having one is a blessing that I can't take for granted. Sometimes the only way that God gets us to appreciate something is to allow it to leave for a little while.

That doesn't mean that this global pandemic is a plague sent by God, but I think God can use it to teach us to appreciate some things, don't you? I wish they would let us get back in this church and sing Rattle. I wish they would. The first time, I'm telling you, the first time Elevation Church gets to come back and sing Rattle in person? Because I've been watching y'all online. Y'all are losing your minds online. When we get in a building and sing it, you better wear a motorcycle helmet. I wish they would let us get back together. Man, we're going to really have a good time. But you know what? The very same thing that we long for today is something that we had been living in for so long that God is teaching me to appreciate some things.

How about you? He's teaching me to appreciate some things. I had become so accustomed to, used to. You get used to the things that God gives you to the point that you can become used to the people that God gives you. You can get used to simple moments, things that used to be annoying you learn to appreciate, don't you? What is God teaching me to appreciate in this season? Isn't it interesting how the children of Israel all they wanted to do was get out of Egypt,

out of Egypt, get out of Egypt, but when they went through the Red Sea into the wilderness, they wanted the food that they had in Egypt. It took leaving Egypt to really appreciate it. And now God was trying to bring them out of it, but there are some things that we need to appreciate and we can only appreciate them in seasons sometimes where we don't quite have them in the same form anymore. Does that make sense because God is teaching me to appreciate them? some things, he's revealing things to me that I did not appreciate enough.

Like things I just took for granted. Things I just thought would always be this way. And so one of the things that's happening in this season for all of us is God is not only teaching us to appreciate certain blessings, but he is resetting the baseline of what we consider a blessing. Can I preach Lush? The Bible says, let everything that hath a new car, praise the Lord. Let everything that hath perfect circumstance, praise the Lord. Sorry, it's been a while. Maybe I'm rusty on the scriptures.

Let everything that hath. So that's the new baseline for being grateful. That's the new baseline. Before God gives us a new blessing, he wants to give us a new baseline. Did you just breathe? Praise him. Are you still here? Praise him. Did he wake you up? Praise him. Did he sustain you? You might not like the taste of manna, but if you've got something to eat, praise him. You might not like who you're sitting next to on the couch, but praise him that you got somebody to sit next to. Grab that hand and squeeze it and say, if you've got a pulse, praise him. If you've got breath, if you've got a pulse, praise him. If you've got breath, if you're He gave you another day. Why am I screaming? There's nobody in the room.

My new baseline to praise him is just, thank you for keeping me alive. You're all over me. You kept me in my right mind. I should be going crazy, but you did it anyway. In view of God's mercy, offer your body as a living sacrifice. I start with the fact that he kept me another day. I start with the fact that he did not owe me real estate today. I start with the fact that the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places for me.

He is my portion. He is my strength. He is my rock. And the storm can come, but it can knock my house down. A new baseline for praise. And then he's not only teaching me to appreciate some things, and he's not only resetting some things, but he's teaching me to release some things. If you are a control freak and you want to stay that way, log off right now.

If you are a control freak and you want to stay that way, you better search dance videos, cat videos in the YouTube box right now and just get off this stream. Right now I'm coming for every control freak because I is one. Y'all like my English. And God is homeschooling us right now. is teaching me some things about release. Now, I promise you I'd give you this illustration because it comes back to my mind all the time. Now, Chris has been over to the little workout room that we have at the house. I'm so thankful for that little workout room, because I hide

there for like six hours a day sometimes right now. I'm not too proud to tell you. That's one of my secrets to survival right now. I'm not even lifting weights half the time. I'm not even lifting weights one-tenth of the time. Makes me feel good to be around the some dumbbells, though. And honestly, like, certain sermon ideas come to me when my body is moving, and so I kind of try to incorporate the two. But I had this flash track the other day from when, I guess about three years ago, was it three years ago? My elbow started hurting all the time, and Chunk said that's called golfer's elbow. Now, he used to be a physical therapist. So I'm like, I know you went to school for this crap, but I've done.

never played golf. So you're going to have to explain to me how I got golfers elbow. I played golf twice in my life with my dad after he had a six-pack of beer. And neither time did we finish the nine holes because it went so bad. So I have never, ever in my life played golf as a grown man. So you explained to me how I have golfer's elbow. Is that right? Is it a golfer's elbow? Yeah. I can never remember. It's tennis elbow and golfer's elbow, and one is one thing, one's the other. But the thing I wanted to say to you was, my elbow hurt. And I told him that my elbow was hurting because I had been lifting too heavy. You know, isn't that a man's way of explaining things?

Problem is, I've just been lifting too much weights. It's these 95-pound dumbbells. I've just been pushing myself too hard. And he said politely because I pay him, right? So he has to say this a certain way. But he said, actually, it's not the amount of weight that caused the injury. It's not how much weight you were lifting is how hard you were gripping it. I'm coming for the control freaks.

I'm coming for the people who even when you pray for your kids, you're not really praying. You're just giving God a punch list of ways to make them not in his image but yours. I'm coming for everybody who has. had a plan for this first part of the year, and now you can't really find your rhythm, you can't find your groove, and it's understandable, and it's completely normal. But what Chunks told me, this is so powerful, and I'm going to say it way better than he said it, okay? But this is how I heard it.

I heard him say, you could lift a lot more if you will loosen your grip. You can lift a lot more. How much time do you all have today? said if you'll hold it differently, you can handle it. So here's what I'm noticing. If I take it day by day or hour by hour or moment by moment, I'm good. It's only when I get too far out or too far back. Either one is a mistake.

I can handle Sunday on Sunday, but I can't handle Saturday on Sunday, and I can't handle Monday on Sunday. But this is the day. Somebody say this is the day in the chat. This is the day that the Lord has made, forgetting what is behind. I can't fix that. I got a grip on something behind me, and I can't go toward what God is put in front of me. But I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling.

God said you can get there if you let go. Let go. Let go. Let go. Oh, man, that preacher is so. good. Why is it so hard to do? Let go and let God. You're going to pay my light bill? No, but let go and let God. Well, God didn't offer me, God didn't offer me a rent check. I know, brother, but let go and let God. I don't think it's really about letting go of your responsibilities. I don't really think it's about what I think it's about releasing.

is the things you could never control to begin with. And all God is doing, and some of our lives in this season, is showing us how little control we had to begin with. I just can't wait to get back to normal. What do you mean by that? We mean by normal. Are you talking about your point of reference? Are you talking about the way things were?

And is that what you call normal? because the way things were is not necessarily what's normal. Okay, the way that you were raised is not necessarily what was normal. That's what you know, but that's not necessarily normal. It was not normal for God's people to be beat and mastered and miserable, but that's what they wanted to go back to. Why? That's what they knew. Now, a lot of us, what we know, is negative thinking.

So in a time where we are uncertain, what we have to unlearn is what we've known. And I'm glad for everything that God teaches me. But one of the greatest lessons that I need in this season is not what I need to learn, but what I need to unlearn. What do I need to unlearn? See, we're addicted to information. We're addicted to knowledge. We think, oh, I'm going to learn this, I'm going to learn that.

And so we're not all going back to normal at any point. I mean, just try to go outside right now and look at everybody that has a mask on and gloves on. And tell me that you think in three weeks we're just going to all go back to dapping each other up and hugging each other. You go to hug somebody and they're going to fight you like you pulled a gun on them. Because we're not going back to normal, at least not for now. So now we have to find balance in between.

And that's where you have to find the balances in between. I'm not in Egypt. I'm not in Canaan. And there's something ahead of me that makes me uncertain. This is where we have to unlearn our point of reference that we've called normal. So now husbands and wives are fighting more than ever before, and some are coming closer. What determines what becomes your new normal in this season, can I preach this real quick, is not whether God changes your heart, but whether you change your habits.

And that's what I mean by a new normal. I'm not necessarily sure about when mass gatherings will be back or what the economy will do next. That's not my specialty. But I know that what God is doing in this season is trying to set me free from things that I never needed to begin with. And I want to say this right to your pessimism. You don't need that anymore. You don't need anymore. Certain things that were survival skills to you before are a death trap to you now. And the only way you die here is if you stay here. So we're looking forward to normal, right? Romans 12, 1 and 2. Let's go back there for just a moment. Put verse 1 on the lower thirds.

Therefore I urge you. You hear Paul? He's like, please, please learn this lesson in this season. Please learn this lesson of letting go. Now, for the believers he's talking to the church at Rome, there's Jewish believers, there's Gentile believers, and there's an old sacrificial system, you know the blood of bulls and goats that took away sin for a little while. But now Jesus Christ, who tore the veil by his sacrifice and paid the price once and for all for sin, who offers mercy freely, is standing before them and they no longer need to make those old sacrifices. But it's hard to let go of what you've been holding on to for so long, even if it's not

working anymore. It's really hard to let go. It's like, but this is how we're used to. He's going, no, I beg you, see it differently. I beg you. I beg you to let go. It's not normal. It's just old.

It's just old. That's just because you're used to it doesn't make it normal. So after he gets done telling them that there's a new way, somebody say there's a new way, a new way, a new way. That's what he opened by his blood. That's what he opened on the cross. That's what he opened, along with his tomb. He opened a new and living way so that you could be, watch this, a living sacrifice.

How does that even work? In order for something to be sacrificed, it has to die. The old way has to die for the new way to come alive. That's what Paul is preaching in Romans. And then comes the verse that I really want us to sit with for a moment. In Romans 12, verse 2, Paul gives a didactic or a teaching or a lesson in letting go. He says, if you are going to hold on to the old way of doing it, and I don't know what that's going to mean to you after I get done preaching this, you will have to reflect on that.

I don't know if it's the way you communicate. I don't know if it's something in this season that it actually quit working a long time ago. Man, we have like three clocks hanging around our house that haven't told time in years. I don't know why they're still hanging there. It's probably more trouble to take them down. So we rather have something that doesn't work on the wall than take five minutes and bring it down. And a lot of us are stuck in something that is old.

And we froze at a point in time where it's like, okay, this is what I have to do. And for those of us who are used to doing it a certain way, when God brings us a new blessing, it looks like a threat. And we can't receive it because of what? we can't release. I feel anointed like I'm 17 years old preaching my first sermon. I love the word because he said, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer yourself living sacrifice. This is your proper and true act of worship. So, verse 2 in that context says, do not conform, write that word down, conform to the pattern of this

world, but be transformed. LB, don't push me. I don't want to preach right now. I want to teach. Be transformed, conform. Transform. Now, you don't need me to do this for you, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to write both of those words on a flash card.

Come on, we're homeschooling. We're homeschooling. We're homeschooling. Graham, present? Abby present, Holly, present. If you're here to say present, come on. Class is in session. Come on, class is in session.

Say it in the chat. Present, present, present, present. I'm here, I'm here, I'm here for it. I'm here for it. All right, I'm going to write this down. Last week, y'all were making fun of my handwriting. Somebody said that my R in the word normal looked like a 12, and you're exactly right. The question is, did I do it on purpose to illustrate the 12 tribes of Israel?

I guess you'll never know. Yeah, it's just two ways of looking at it. One is conform and one is transform. I just wanted to write them down. Y'all please get past my calligraphy and get the point, okay? This is the right way. This is the wrong way. And what makes it right and wrong is this one conform is the way the world works from the outside

in. This one, transform, is the way God works from the inside out. And here's how the Lord was showing me the other day. He said, in this season, remember, there's a lesson in letting go. In this season, I am teaching you to learn to set your agenda from within, to be guided by the Holy Spirit, to let me fulfill my purpose for your life now that your plans have been interrupted. This is really hard because one of the things we're having such a difficulty with right now is we haven't even had the funeral for what we have.

expected this year to be. And now you've got a preacher up here talking about having faith for what's going to happen next. And this causes me to really sympathize with the Israelites, you know. They were leaving Egypt and they had to rush out in the middle of the night. They had to leave so quickly. They never got to say goodbye. You're like, well, they didn't want to say goodbye. Of course they did. Even though it was killing them, it was what they knew. It was. So what we're dealing with right now is a lot of us, our plans got canceled, and we didn't even get to say goodbye. Even if it isn't really what we wanted, it's what we knew. And when you don't get to say goodbye, you don't get closure.

So now I'm living in this space where I thought I was going to get to walk down the aisle with my daughter and marry her this year. Not you, I'm talking to somebody else. I thought I was going to get to go, you know, be at my graduation. I had some momentum in my business. I was working on this deal. I was working on that thing. I was actually getting my act together. I had this and that and the other.

And no sooner did the year start until you had to bury it and trust God with it. And we didn't even get to say goodbye. So, this is a challenge of letting go. Letting go of something when you don't even know what you're reaching for yet. I mean, if you ask me to let go of broccoli for briars, I can do it, because I like what I'm grabbing more than what I'm letting go of. But what if it's a mystery box?

I don't know about this yet. I don't know. You're talking about a new normal. I don't know about that. Now, we all have moments of both. We all have moments where we're like, man, this is actually kind of nice. Everything got canceled. It's kind of nice.

I kind of needed to get a break, man. Now it's like a forced break on all of humanity. It's like a global snow day. you're sick or someone you love is sick or unless something dries up that you were depending on or unless it might. So we're going back and forth. It's like, I want to get back to normal, but I kind of want to go into something new. It's like, man, I can't wait for everything to get started back again, but it is kind of nice

having meals with my family. I wasn't doing that before. I kind of need some job stability, but you know what? I've been wondering if I really even want to work there anyway. I don't know. I don't know which one. I'm trying to find my balance in between now. The lesson of letting go is not only that external events cause us to let go, but the way

God changes us is transformation from the inside out. Isn't that really relevant while you're stuck inside? That's the way God changes things? The way the world works from the outside in. Oh, no, what's the job market doing? What's the economy doing? When are they going to lift this and when are they going to lift that? The way God does it is like you got Paul and you got Silas, and they are stuck in an inner cell.

But when they are stuck in a tight space, it's the moment that they understand, we've got to give God the greatest praise in the tightest space. This is a time for more faith, more hope, more hope. More optimism. Your anchor has really got to grab hold right now because you don't know what's next. And that's where God lives in the mystery. And yet our old mind, our conformed mind, this is the way it's supposed to work. Is it possible that God is trying to get you to unlearn the way the world works so you can see how he works? What does God want me to unlearn? I can't handle it anymore. Sure you can. if you lose your grip. If you believe that he's with you, no matter what the next season looks like, you could bench press.

How much do you bench, Chris? 305. You could bench press 3.95. You could lift it if you weren't gripping it so tight. You could lift it. You could lift it if you weren't gripping it like this. He said it's your grip that's hurting you, not the weights. You're actually strong enough. Christ is actually in you.

You actually have a new nature. Now you just need a new normal. You have a new heart. You just need new habits. What's in front of you is greater. You just got to let go of some things that you know. And I don't want to do it either. I like what I know.

That's why I know I'm eating hamburger steak and green beans from Cracker Barrel, because that's all I ever eat. I don't even have to ask what she ordered me. I like what I know. God do a new thing, but make it just like what I've known before. And so when we get knocked up our balance, that's from the inside. That's how God transforms us. He destabilizes the outside in order to strengthen the core.

That's what he's doing in my life. life right now. He's teaching me to release. If you just do it physically, you could feel what I'm saying. Get the tightest grip you can right now, right there. I mean to the point where you feel your blood and your toes cutting off because everything in you is constricted. And that's how your soul feels right now. This is how your mind is. You're closed-minded. Keep the tight grip now. This is an illustrated point. This is a, what do you call it?

When you teach things by showing them, this is an object lesson. That's it. That's it's an object lesson. Grip it's so tight, you feel like you can't take it anymore. And now release, release. That's what's going to happen when you look around at what you have left instead of dwelling on what you've lost. Release.

What do you want me to release, Pastor Stephen? the steering wheel. Don't release that. Just release your need to know. And once you release that, look how much strength you have. Look how much praise you have. Come on, do it right there. I wish somebody would start pressing something right now. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what's ahead. It's not going to be easy. Freedom is not easy. He told Moses it wouldn't be easy. He told him, it's not going to be easy. When all you've known is bondage, blessings seem strange. When all we've known is busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, rest feels like something to be resisted. When all we've known is worshipping idols,

worshiping the true and living God who lives within feels foreign. But God said, you have the strength that you need if you will release what you can't carry, what you can't control. That's what he's teaching me, the lesson of letting go. Pharaoh did what we cannot do is that he changed his mind. Did you see that in the text? I never saw it in my whole life until just when I was preparing this sermon. And I promise you there's a lot more inside of me than what I'm going to say in this one session.

So I'm going to keep the teaching going another week after this, at least another week. Until you are so free from what you can't control, until you are so free from the fear of what the future holds, until you are able to stand in this moment and bear the weight of your calling because you're shedding everything that doesn't come from him. You're shedding everything that's not productive. You are pruned of everything that doesn't serve a purpose in this season of your life. So Pharaoh said, I don't want to let him go. Did you see in verse 5? He changed his mind and said, we have let them go.

You know what the Lord showed me, Holly? It took 10 plagues to get Pharaoh to let God's people go. It wasn't easy. Stuff had to be killed. Stuff had to be eliminated. water had to turn to blood. God even had to tell the frogs to start croaking. That's how much it took.

God even had to bring in the frogs to bring his people into freedom. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy for Jesus to die for me. He prayed, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me. It wasn't easy. Jesus did not purchase my freedom at a low cost. It was free to me, but it was costly for him. It was not easy for him to set me free.

But here's the crazy thing about it. After the people were free from Pharaoh, they wanted to go back. And here's what I realized. It was easier for God to get Pharaoh to let his people go than it was for him to get his people to let Pharaoh go. It was easier for God to get his people out of Egypt than it was for him to get Egypt. out of His people. It is easier for God to change your heart, because that happens in a moment. You know the Bible verse. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come. It's not God making your heart new that is hard. It's making your habits new

to come into alignment with the new heart that he's giving you. And God said in this season, I want to shatter the patterns that have kept you in prison and set you free in your life to worship me. Not just a three-day journey into the wilderness, not just out of Egypt, not just out of a location, but out of a lifestyle, out of a way of doing things, out of a way of gripping things. In fact, God is trying to set me free from me. the worst master of all. How I overthink, overcompensate. God is trying to set me free from thinking I have to be the center. God is sending me free.

And yet, it was easier. Nats, frogs, all of that was easy for God. All he had to do was speak it, and it immediately happened. It was easier for God to get Pharaoh to let his people, go than it was for him to get Pharaoh. I messed it up, Chris. Rewind it. It was easier for God.

See, this is so revolutionary for me. I can barely even say it to you because God is just speaking this to me. I've never seen it like this before. I thought, you know, he will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. That's external. That's conform. God's going to make him let you go. But what's harder is not God making Pharaoh let you go.

It's getting you. to let Pharaoh go. It's getting you to release the thing that you thought you needed. And to say, if I have God's presence, if I have God's power, if I have his provision, I can stand on his promise, I can stand on his word. I don't need to pay anybody back. God's got me. See, if you're used to being bitter, if you're used to getting offended, it is easier for God to forgive you for your offenses than to get you to start forgiving other people of theirs. It is easier for God to tell Pharaoh, let my people go, than for God to tell his people, let Pharaoh go.

Let it go. We have to let it go. I don't mean that we can't take moments and feel sad. I don't mean that we cannot appreciate certain seasons, but God is teaching me in this season. I can't receive what is now when I hold to what is old. So God is setting me free in this season. He's not telling Pharaoh to let me go. He already delivered me.

He's not telling sin to let me go. He already delivered me. He's not telling shame to let me go. He already delivered me. He's telling me to let shame go. Why would I reach back and pull back down off the cross sin that he already died? Why would I try to purchase something that is already provided? Let it go.

For I know the plans I have for you. You don't know, you don't need to know. I know the exceeding abundantly above all you ask or imagine or plan or prophesy. I know the plans I have for you. So I'm not going back to normal. I'm looking forward to freedom. I'm looking forward to freedom. Let me see.

I'm getting set free from petty in this season. Stupid stuff I'm not going to worry about so much anymore. God, if you will just let me out the house, I promise you I will be nicer in Target. It's so crazy how we tell ourselves it's normal. But what if it's just old? If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. And now God is trying to give new habits for a new heart.

I don't know who needed to hear this today, but it's a lesson in letting go. The only way for them to step into freedom was to completely leave Egypt. And I just think in our own way, in our own hearts, we kind of have to have a funeral. Look, I'm telling our staff right now, we are not going back to church as usual anymore than we're going back to Best Buy to purchase a cassette tape. We're not going back. I don't know what's next. I don't need to know what's next.

All I've got to do is follow forward. Watch this. Loosen my grip and press toward what's next. I'm pressing toward what's next. I'm pressing toward what's next. Do I have to tell you? Put it in the chat. I'm pressing.

I'm pressing toward what's next. And I know that the patterns of this world, the way that the world works, was already weird. The way the world was wired was already weird. If you take the word wired and scramble it, you'll get weird. And the way the world was wired, the patterns of this world, keep playing. It's soothing. The way this world was wired and it hastens me. The way, and I got too much to say, so push me to close, because we've got to get the next

people in the building, apparently. Oh, nobody's coming. The way the world is wired is weird. The way the world had gotten before this virus was already sick. We already didn't know what and who was really important. We were already so addicted to celebrity that we even turned our guns. government into a reality show. It was already sick. It was already messed up. You want to go back to that? No. God is rewiring the way it works in our hearts. The way that we talk to each other and speak to each other with no civility?

How divided we were? How if you like this person, then I don't like you and if you support that person, that was already weird. God is bringing us into something that he sees as normal, more normal than normal. What if what God is bringing you into is more normal than what you've known? Would you embrace that? Would you let go of your expectations to receive a new grace, a new win, a fresh feeling? Isn't it crazy how for the last couple of years, even in our cultural dialogue, we talk about canceling people? somebody says something we don't like, cancel. Somebody does something we don't like, cancel.

Somebody says something that's out of bounds with what we thought. Cancel, canceled, cancel. And now that everything is canceled, it's like, oh, y'all want to cancel stuff? Now everything is canceled. And I can't hope but think about Hebrews that says everything that can't be shaken, will be shaken, so that only what can't be shaken will remain. There are certain things that cannot be canceled. There are certain things that will always be true.

They've been true all along. But have they become true to you? God wants to give us some new truths to hold to in this season. Some new things to believe. It's not that the truth is new. It's just new to you. Limitations are coming up. off in this season. Thank you, Lord. If I let go of what was limiting me, sometimes it's

just a belief. Sometimes it's just a way of seeing another. So, Lord, I'm letting go of limitations. I'm letting go of labels. What do I need to let go of? Because I'll never make it to the other side if I don't let go. I have to let go to move forward. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your ministry today, it has been so good to receive from you the things that you want to speak. We spend too much time listening to every other voice but yours, and it cost us, because you're always speaking over our lives, that which is pure, lovely, true, good report, virtue, and praise, always speaking. Sometimes we just need our minds changed.

So, God, there are things we want you to change. our world right now. People who are unemployed, we ask you to give them a job. People whose bodies are not functioning properly, we ask you to give them a healing. People who need direction from you or people who need protection from you, give it, God. But while we're at it asking you to change stuff, change us. Not just conforming our situation, but transforming our situation, but transforming our minds. I put my mind on the altar today. The way I think about others, the way I think about the world, the way I think about what's normal. Show me your normal, God. Show me your normal. Pray that right now. Show me your normal. God, show me your normal.

Show me what the Garden of Eden is like when they were naked and unafraid. Show me what it's like to not have to hide behind fig leaves. Show me what it means to be made in your image. I thank you for your anointing God to bring us into a new normal. Help us to let go of Pharaoh, for perhaps we've become our own Pharaoh, keeping ourselves in a mindset that you're trying to deliver us from. Give us the miracle of a new mind. touch the way we think.

New normal. New neural pathways. New heart, new habits. Teach us to release that grip on our future. Release that grip on our weaknesses. Release that grip on controlling other people.

Release that grip on things that we can't control to receive the strength that only you give. Heads bowed, eyes close in every living room and kitchen, hospital room, prison, everywhere you're watching this right now. In your car, you may want to pull your car over because I want to pray right now for somebody to become a new creation in Christ. The old has gone.

The new has come. Jesus Christ died on the cross to save sinners, to deliver you from the body of death. to give you a hope and a future through his resurrection. Right now, if you want to give your life to Jesus Christ and let go and surrender your own strength, your own trying, and receive His grace, right now in this moment, I want to pray with you. Praying out loud right now, Epham, all across the world, pray with me for the benefit of someone who is coming to Jesus Christ in this moment. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Savior. And today, I receive your grace. This is my new beginning. I believe Jesus Christ

died on the cross to forgive my sin and rose from the dead to give me life. I receive this new life. I am a child of God. I am a new creation. Now, on the count of three, if you just prayed that, I want you to to put in the chat, I receive Jesus. I receive Jesus. One, two, three. Type it like you're raising your hand. Type it like you're surrendering. Type it like you're receiving.

Come on a new beginning. Like you're breaking out of the past, breaking out of shame, breaking out of the tomb, and coming out of the grave. I receive Jesus. We rejoice. I receive Jesus. I receive Jesus. I see it flying across the chat all over the world. Let it fly. New beginnings. Come on. Let it be, God. Amen to the glory of God. Come on. You ought to start clapping your hands if you can. If you can't jump up and down. If you can't jump up and down, wiggle your pinky toe. Come on and give God praise for his glorious grace. Thank you, Jesus. believe I could go ahead and preach next week right now. God is so good. God is so good. Look at all those people receiving Jesus. Look at that. Hey, Elevation Church, Epham, that's your giving that makes that

possible. That's your prayers that makes that possible. That's what God is doing through you. The devil is a liar. Nothing can stop the church of Jesus Christ. Nothing. Neither height nor death, nor angels, nor demons, the present, nor the future, nor a virus, nor anything else. Wow. So listen, I'm looking forward to normal. I don't know what it's going to be, but my faith is trained to see God in crazy situations. You see a red sea, I see a highway. You see a wall, I see a ramp. You see a staff, I see a water parting baton.

Come on, I dare you to stretch your faith. with me. We're moving forward. Step by step, a lesson in letting go. I need you to do me a favor in just a moment before we leave this room. Don't log off. Don't log off. Don't log off. I promise you, you can heat it back up in the microwave. Don't log off. Don't log off. I need you to share this message with somebody. If it blessed you, it's going live again. We're broadcasting this message like every two or three hours on this day. And if you're watching it later, you can share it from the archive. I have a feeling this message is going to be relevant for a minute. I don't think this is going to expire by next Thursday. So share this

with somebody. Just tell them, here is a lesson in letting go. And then let them know, God's got this. And just send it to them and see how God will move. And come back. You know what? Normally I wouldn't tell you to come back because we'd need a seat for you. Guess what? We got overflow. You can come back and get this again and take your notebook. Come on. She knows she's cooking good when we all go back for seconds. I believe this is a second helping kind of sermon. So get back on either now or later, sit with this word, digest it. Some of you run off too fast. You just goop, boom, boom, eating all that gumbo, and then just run off. Don't do it. You get a heartburn. Sit with this for a minute. Talk to each other. You know one of the great new normals? You don't have to fight anybody.

in a parking lot right now to get out of church. You don't have to walk past any hyperactive greeters trying to get you to sign up for an e-group. Just sit and say, well, you need to let go of. Now listen, if you're doing this with somebody from your family, don't say, here's what you need to let go of. Ask a question. Or maybe men, men. Get your family for a minute. Say, hey, sit down, quit hitting each other, quit beating each other, put that down. Shut up, put your phone down. Shut up. Put your phone up. In the name of Jesus. Here's what I need to let go off. and set an example and talk about the Word of God. Let it be on your lips. Dwell on it. Meditate on it. That's how you get free.

Lord, I thank you that your Word went forth with power. I felt it. I felt it surging through the screen, touching situations, touching mindsets, and recreating routines. Thank you for the new paradigm you're bringing us into. The premises of this world are broken and limited, but your Word lives forever. Thank you for it. I know it will not return void. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Somebody clap your hands right now like you received the reign of the Word of God. I just got out of the pulpit. About 45 minutes ago, Holly and Graham and Abby are waiting for me. I had to stay behind for a few minutes because out of what we just preached, God just keeps speaking to me, keeps unfolding about the new normal. Oh, man, I hope you're getting a lot out of this. This is like changing my paradigm, changing my life.

I'm so thankful to be able to share these messages with you. I'm going to continue this message. If God gives me strength next week, I'm going to preach. I'm telling you, I don't know. Three new messages just came to me. And I can't wait to continue. I'm really thankful for how God is speaking in this season. We need his word more than daily bread. It's our weapon. It's our sword. And make sure that you're tuned in, locked in to what God is speaking.

As my friend always says, stay locked in. Make sure you subscribe and like and share and comment all these things to help us get the word out. Thank you for your generosity. Like I mentioned, is because of you that are partners, Ethan, church family, that we can keep this going forward. The word of God is greater than any challenge in the world. And I love you. I can't wait to share the next part with you. I'm going to have a lot of content coming your way in the meantime this week. So make sure to follow, subscribe, hit the bell.

You know what to do. I'll see you soon. I love you. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.