Elevation with Steven Furtick - Cutting Room

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

In “Cutting Room,” Pastor Steven Furtick reminds us that our situation might be bigger than us, but it’s not bigger than our God. Ghost Writer is a brand-new series about making sense of your story through the lens of the Holy Spirit. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfrSee 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 fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Welcome to our family all over the world, our EFAM, our extended family. Let's take a moment at Valentine, clap our hands. Welcome every location, every person watching. every family. Hey, how you doing? Tell the kids to be quiet. Tell them you need some peace and undistracted space for God to speak. For all of you who made it out today in person, welcome, welcome. It's so good to see you. A big hug. A big hug to each and every one of you. I am excited. I would ask that you remain standing for just about 90 more seconds because I want

to read my scripture and I want you alert and ready. for what the Lord is going to speak from His word to you today. How many are excited? Oh, boy. I used to, when I was a rookie pastor, get depressed if it was raining outside when we were coming to church or rainy, because we are kind of fair weather sometimes, and it doesn't take much to convince us not to come to church. And I used to think, oh, no, well, the people won't be there today. And then one day a switch flip for me, on the days where it's a little rainy, the people who really

want to be there come. And you can have some amazing, amazing experiences. So just look at your neighbor and say extra credit, for real. It's probably beautiful somewhere where you are, but here we are together. Week five of a series called Ghost Rider. I'm talking about the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Ghost gets a hold of you, there's no telling what you're liable to. do. So don't be surprised today if you feel like shouting when I start preaching, or if a tear hits your eye and God speaks to you, we welcome the Spirit of the Lord. I'm going to be sharing from Acts chapter 4, verses 23 through 31. This is a very practical message. I pray that God would surgically remove, rebuild, and insert whatever it is.

that he sees fit in your life today. Amen. Acts chapter 4 verse 23 through 21. And if you were here last week, you have a head start because this is the very next thing that happens after the great miracle that we preached about last week where I told you, places everyone. Places everyone. And now we continue in a different place in Acts chapter 4, verse 23. The Bible, says on their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your earth. You made the heavens and the earth. You said, you made the heavens and the earth. And the sea and everything in them. You spoke. You spoke

by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of your servant, our Father David. Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth do rise up, the rulers van together against the Lord and against His anointed one. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand and heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And after they prayed, verse 31 says, the place where they were meeting was shaken.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke the word of God boldly. Let's clap our hands and thank God for His Word. I want to talk to about something today very important. The name of this message is Cutting Room. Yeah, I want to talk to you about the place called the cutting room, the cutting room, some stuff that needs to be taken out, some stuff that needs to be added back in. And it all happens in the cutting room. That's where God has had you lately in the cutting room.

You were confused about it. You thought the story was over. It's not over. You're just in the cutting room. Father, I pray that you would enable me like you enabled them in Acts chapter 4 to speak your word boldly. No fear or nerves, only a desire to serve your people so that they may be built up for the very thing you've called them to do. I claim it now in Jesus' name, and I thank you for it in advance. Amen.

You may be seated. The cutting room. They took that term from back in the day when they were making a movie. They used to actually use razor blades and knives and surgical instruments when they were taking the film. and making it shorter or if they were moving the order of the scenes around and of course the director would go into the cutting room it had to be a certain physical place now it's all digital now they've got software on the computer like a final cut pro isn't that what's called yeah final cut pro and and you can do it all on your computer but of course when you would do it physically and snip it and get the scissors or the razor blades or whatever they would would use, you would go in a special room that was for it. And they even say, this needs to hit the cutting room floor. And of course, they didn't leave it on the floor, actually. If it was an important movie, they'd pick those scenes up, put them in a canister and save them. Anyway, it's

just a phrase, the cutting room. And as I thought about that, I thought about how I probably need to go to the cutting room more before I preach my sermons to you. And you're like, yeah, they're a little long, brother. You could definitely. I never have a hard time figuring out something to say to you on Sundays. I just don't. The Bible is awesome. God is awesome, and he wants to help you. So he gives me stuff.

It's what the cut that really kills me after I preach. I don't go back usually and regret things I said. I regret things. I should have said that. And so the cutting room, it can bring clarity to a story. It can make a story move along. It can keep a character consistent. You might go in the cutting room and say, you know, this is a good scene.

but it really doesn't fit with the character, so we've got to get it out of there, the cutting room. I think one of the most stressful things in the world would have been, if you were writing a book of the Bible as a human being, God's Word, and you had to decide what to leave in and what to take out. Because like the Book of Acts where we've been studying, it's about the birth of the church, very important story. How many agree this is a very important story? This is how the gospel got out of one little place in the world and came to us today. So what do you put in? What do you leave out?

And Luke, who wrote this book, is a doctor, so he's surgical. So he has to get his scissors out, you know, and make decisions about what to include, what to remove. And you can almost see him arguing with himself. And, you know, I've got to put that part in about. When they brought Paul the handkerchiefs and people were getting healed off of Paul's handkerchiefs, that part is awesome. I am totally putting that in. And they put in a lot of the miracles. And the Holy Spirit had certain miracles included in the Bible, the Holy Bible, so that you and I could increase our own faith.

I don't believe the miracles in the Bible are simply a history lesson. I believe they are meant to inspire your faith for your life and your walk with God today. I believe God is still moving, and I believe that this story is still being written. So the miracles are important. I'm glad for the miracle that we read about last week. Last week we read about a man who was sitting at a gate called Beautiful, and his situation was anything but. He's sitting at a gate called Beautiful, not because he's resting, but because he's restricted. And it gave us hope because he got up from that gate and became in himself a message that God used to teach people what Jesus can do.

Did you know God wants to turn your life into a message? To show those who are looking at your life how miraculous, how awesome and magnificent, how old encompassing the grace of God is. So I'm thankful that he left miracles in the Bible. But I'm also grateful that he left some mistakes in there too, the times where they didn't get it right. Because the miracles give me faith, but the mistakes help me understand grace. So if you read the whole book of Acts, you've got Peter and Paul are fighting over circumcision. What a great church fight. I get criticized over a lot of things, but I never saw a YouTube comment about circumcision at Elevation Ministries, and I will probably get one now, and that's all right. We'll block it.

YouTube might block it automatically. I've got to stay on my prompt here today. I'm glad that they left some of that stuff in, you know, the times where, I don't know, one man, he lied to the Holy Spirit and he died from it? Because that encourages me to know, like, oh, thank God that I don't have to lie to God. I can be honest. And my honest living brings more life. I'm grateful for the mistakes being left in there because even the main characters that I read about in the book of Acts messed up pretty bad in their past. Also, you'll see where the writer of Acts includes the message itself that was preached. So you've got miracles, you've got mistakes, you've got mistakes. You got the message, and that's where I get the gospel of Jesus Christ. That the gospel

of Jesus Christ is not come to him and buy a lottery ticket because you'll for sure win after you've received favor with God. That the message of the gospel isn't come to him and go to heaven one day when you die. It is that by repenting and believing in him, we can have life in his name right now. So I'm grateful that it includes, like you'll see many times in the book of Acts, they say, and Peter preached this, and Peter preached that, and he preached about repentance and change and belief and resurrection, and I'm glad for that. But today we come to something that I'm very glad that was left in. And I know you are too, because not only do we need to see miracles, not only do we need to see mistakes, not only do we need to hear the message, but we need to

know the method. And that is this. When I'm under attack, Whether it's an emotional attack, a physical attack, whether it is a social attack, whether I feel it in my finances or in my body or just in my mind. How do I respond to that rather than react to that? When I feel the pressure of the world on me, it helps me to read things like we just read from Acts chapter 4, verse 2331. Because these believers are under attack. Not the kind of thing we call an attack either.

Not where somebody cut us off in traffic. Did you see what the devil just did to me? That wasn't the devil. That was just a Honda Civic. And the devil has much better vehicles to mess with you than a Honda Civic. That's not a temptation. That's called traffic. It happens to everybody.

Good, bad, saved, skinny, tall, fat, all of us deal with it at various stages of our life. But what we're really talking about here is, remember, they did something good. Peter and John, right, they see this man, they help him up, they helped him, and then, in trying to do good, trying to be helpful, instead of being rewarded for their helpful, they are hit for being helpful. Have you ever felt like you got hit for trying to be helpful? You ever felt like you stepped in to try to say something helpful to somebody?

And then they just attacked you for saying it? And you just thought, well, I was just trying to help. And they said something back like, well, why don't you help yourself and get your own kids straight before you start telling me how to parent mine? Now, maybe you needed to hear that. I don't know. Maybe that's exactly what they should have said back. But in this case, watch this. They are trying their best to just be helpful, and they end up in jail. And not only in jail kept overnight, but they are dragged out publicly, humiliated in front of everybody, told that they are not allowed to speak anymore in the name of Jesus.

And the Bible says they responded by saying, we must obey God rather than men. That's a good word for somebody all by itself, and it's not even my scripture for today. But Peter and John said, I've got to do what God said do. I've got to do what the one who has the power to judge said to do, not the one who thinks they're a judge telling me what they think I should do. And then the Bible says that they went back, and we pick up in verse 23, they went back on their release to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. Now, I wonder what they shared, because it's a little vague right here.

And so Luke doesn't take the time to say, and they told them this, and they told him that. And then Peter said, and I told them, we must obey God rather than men. And John was like, no, I had that line. That was my line. I said we must obey God rather than men. And Peter's like, well, I'm the one who told you to say it, and I just let you say it so you can have a speaking part. Who knows? They don't talk about all of that. But they tell them what the chief priest have said to them, and they said, they told us we can't preach anymore in the name of Jesus. So now I want to take what they did, and I want to teach it from the subject of the cutting room, because they have a decision to make right now.

And so do you. Am I going to allow my life to be led and limited by what the enemy told me? Or am I going to allow the director of this film to decide which scene happens next? For everybody who is in a transition, for everybody who is in a season of your life that feels uncertain, you can relate to these disciples. are shaking with fear. They are certainly in their own way a little bit confused because I thought God wanted us to preach, but he let us get thrown in jail. I thought we were doing what we're supposed to do, but it went backwards instead of forwards. There are great results from what we're doing,

but there is also great resistance. So if you are confused, join me and Peter and John and these believers in the cutting room, where we can see what God wants you to keep in, where we can see what God wants you to integrate, where we can see what God wants you to emphasize, where we can see what God wants you to eliminate, where we can see which numbers in your phone are keeping you numb because those people are no longer supposed to be your support system, but you keep running back to them after 1 a.m. We're going to delete some stuff today. We are going to delete some scenes so you can see the good things God has prepared for you. Join me in the cutting room.

We'll use three points and I have a bonus point, but we probably won't get to it and you'll be frustrated because I shouldn't even have told you about it if I was just going to cut it. The points go like this. Number one, the review, the review, the review, the review, write it down, the review, put it in the chat, put it in the comments. The review, the review, the review, write it down. We gave you a free pin.

Don't steal it, not use it, write it down. The review, the review. Number two, the reframe. That's the one I'm excited about. So, don't shout much about the review because we need to get to the reframe. The reframe. The reframe. Zoom the camera out.

Zoom it wide. The reframe. Zoom it in. The reframe. Zoom the camera out. The reframe. The reframe. Not the refrain, not like repeating it over and over again, but the reframe.

And number three is the release. The release. It seems strange that I put that last because the scripture started with this these words, verse 23, on their release, Peter and John went back to their own people. But that was the first release. And I'm going to explain that to you in just a moment. First, we talk about the review. The review. It's so amazing that we get to see these characters go through horrible things because we get to benefit from their experience and glean wisdom from it. I told my wife the other day, one of my favorite things about being only slightly young, I don't call myself old, one

of my favorite things about this sweet spot of life that we are in right now in terms of our age, that's how I choose to see it, is that I get the privilege now to go back and revisit experiences that I've had, not only for the sake of feeling the memories of them, but one of my favorite things about my 40s so far is that I'm going to the years. is getting to go back to myself in my 20s, my 30s, and relive those experiences with a better perspective. With a better perspective. Say it, better perspective.

And now nudge your neighbor, and you might make them mad, but say you need a better perspective. Because if you go back, watch this, to a previous experience with a better perspective, you can get a fresh lesson. That is a formula for spiritual growth, is that if you revisit a previous experience with a better perspective, you can glean from it to use an agricultural term, a fresh lesson. And the fresh lesson that came from the better perspective through a revisited experience can be used going forward in your life. And in this way, every regret you have is redeemable.

us revisiting that experience with a better perspective will give you a fresh lesson. And you will see that it was something seven years ago that you blamed on the other person. But what you blamed on the other person might have only been 15 percent them. It might have been 85 percent what they tapped into that reminded you of somebody who's not even in your life anymore. You begin this process of going back over your life with God, you will never be the same. That's what happened in Acts 423. Watch this.

On their release. Am I not preaching good already on my first point? I feel like I am. On their release, Peter and John, they got out of jail. But here's what matters. When you go to the cutting room of your life to evaluate, why did that happen? What needs to happen next? What am I going to do about it?

You hear what they said? How am I going to respond to this? When you are released from a situation, when you are between situations, when you are reevaluating situations, when you go in the cutting room, who is in there with you? The Bible says that Peter and John went back to their own people. This is not an ethnic statement. This is not a gender statement. This is a statement about the belief of the people that they needed to do.

be around at that moment. I don't know about you, but when I process my life, I need to be around believers. I had enough dumb conversations with doubters, skeptics, cynics that told me to tell them off. And I told them off and I lost my job. And you still got yours? So the cutting room, as we see it today, is not only about a place, but it is about the people that influence you. And isn't it amazing that they took the raw footage of what had just happened to them and

converted it into a revelation? Did you know the Holy Spirit will help you do that? To take the raw footage, one of my favorite documentaries of all time, not one of, my favorite movie of all time is a documentary about a band. I will not say the name of the band because some of you would criticize me for being worldly And you would be right, but I love the band and I love the documentary. It's two hours long. I got so obsessed about the documentary, which is already a movie about a process.

Okay? Clarify that. That I read a book about the documentary. So now I'm reading something about how something got made that was made to tell how something else got made. That's how much I like it. In my reading, I discovered that for this two-hour documentary, There were over 1,600 hours of footage captured over the course of two years. So get this.

They had to take two years of footage and make it fit in two hours. That's when I realized the importance of a cutting room. Nobody's going to watch 1,600 hours. I don't care how much of a binger you are. Nobody is going to sort through that. And if that same raw footage, watch this, were given to me, or I dare say to you, we probably could not have produced an award-winning film out of it. But the person who went in the cutting room and decided this scene here, this scene there,

this has to set up that. That person, the director, the one who employed the people who technically edited it, able to take 1,600 hours over the course of two years of footage, put it in one movie, and edit it down to tell a story that was compelling. And while you are looking at me like, yeah, that sounds challenging, please realize you do this every day. Every day you have 24 hours. 24 hours is 1,440 minutes.

So says chat GPT. In those 1,440 minutes, you experience some hives, don't you? You experience some good things, don't you? You experience some blessings, don't you? You have some bursts of insight. You feel kind of clear. You feel kind of smart. You feel kind of loving.

You feel kind of joyful some minutes. But some of those remaining 1,439 minutes left over might be a little iffy, and some of them might be downright horrible. But yet, when it comes down to you coming home, especially. if you're a teenager and they ask you, how was your day, you are able to take 1,440 minutes of highs, lows, goods, bads, yeses, knows, and condense it into one barely audible word. Good, bad, all right. But it was much more than good, bad, or all right.

It was some good, it was some bad, it was some all right. was some all right. And I found out that what kind of day you think you have depends on who you had helping you edit when you reflect on it. That's why the psalmist said, this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Now, wait a minute, will is a decision about something that hasn't happened yet. So he is deciding in the Psalm that the story I want to tell at the end this day is that God made it. Everybody say, God made it. That means he's the director of it.

That means there will be some scenes in this day that I wish I could cut, and he'll say, no, leave that one in, because that's the mistake that's going to teach you the grace. And there are some seeds in this day that you won't even know to look for, but God will just give you a miracle. You'll just be sitting at the gate, begging for change, and God will send somebody to to give you something you didn't even have the faith to ask for. And God will put that in your script in the day that you were waking up, wondering, I don't know if it's going to be a good day or a bad day.

Well, I'm going to tell you right now, it's not going to be either kind of day, but you have some scissors, see. You have some scissors. You're scissors. I'm talking about editing now. I'm talking about your scissors. I'm talking about your mind. I'm talking about your soul.

I'm talking about your emotions. I'm talking about who you process with. I'm talking about you making a decision in your life. I will not process in my head any longer. Because every time I edit in my head, every time I try to make sense out of my life in my head, it ends in the death of something that I love. Kill relationships because you make edits in your head. They didn't do anything for me for Mother's Day.

I'm getting out ahead of this one, everybody. I'm doing a little prepaid tuition here. Yeah, they didn't do anything for me for Mother's Day, or the other way around, you know, like, well, my mom wasn't this and that. And I want you to understand about editing from the disciples that you are always editing and you need help. One person, like one-tenth clapped when I said that. That was not even like a quarter clap. It was a 10 percent clap from one person. But the truth of the matter is, you need help editing.

Because every time you make an overgeneralized statement, and imagine the statement that the disciples could have made here, they could have said, this is unfair, and they would have been right. They could have said, we have God's favor, and they would have been right. And what was important about this moment was not the event, but the intention of the author. The author is God. So they understand in this moment, we have got to get into a place where we can process. Everybody say process.

Your process a lot of times and how you deal with the thing that just happened to you is more important than the thing that happened to you. You can have the best thing happen to you. but it can become a backfire if you process it without God. Because if you get a promotion and it turns into pride, the pride comes before a fall. So you'll go back and say, if I had given God more glory for what he did and leaned into him more, then he could have sustained what he started. But I got high and thought I got there without God.

and then life had to pull me down because I got pride for when I got high. Because any process that does not start with God is doomed. Any process that does not start with God is dead in the water. And that is why they came together in this place to pray. And that is why they reported. They told us not to preach anymore. What's the enemy been telling you? He's been telling you, you're not good enough to do this?

He's been telling you, you've run out of time and it's too late for you in your life. He's been telling you, you will never be free of this thing. Maybe that thing, not this thing. It's just what you're going to pass down to your kids. You did the best you could, but give up now. There's no need to even try. What has your enemy been telling you? I think we need to take the enemy's words over your life to the cutting room.

Stop saying I'm in a bad season. You are in a season. And some days are good, and some days are bad. 1,600 hours of footage into two hours. 1,189 chapters in the Bible. And we get this entire prayer that they prayed. And we're going to look at it right now because it is going to help you edit. Now, there will always be somebody to help you edit what happens to you in your life.

you start going through your life and say, okay, what am I going to do in this decision? How am I going to respond to this? You will always have help. The devil will always be there to help you because he has scissors too. The devil will be there to take out every kind thing, every good thing, every lovely thing, every generous thing. He might even cut away some of the good stuff that you did to make you feel like you never do anything right.

You ever had a good day with your kids? And then the last 30 minutes, the cutting room. I'm not talking about film editing right now. I'm talking about knives and violence and cutting room and blood and shouting and cursing. A whole good vacation, and then 30 minutes from the house. And then you start thinking, all the things I did for you. Maybe this is just parental therapy right now and maybe I should be paying somebody for this time. I noticed how sometimes the whole thing can go so good, and then something happens so bad.

And when I lay me down to sleep, it's like the devil wants to turn my bed into a cutting room and just start slicing me with all the stuff that went wrong today and just start slicing me with all of the ways that I failed and start slicing me. And somewhere along the line, I have to stop the slicing and tell the devil, you are not here to help me edit. Get under my feet. I said get under my feet. You're not the director.

You're not the author. You are not financing this screenplay. You didn't make me. You didn't create me. You didn't die for me. And you don't get to drive me crazy. Get your scissors out my spirit. Get your scissors out this room.

Get your scissors out my mom. Oh, yeah. So, so, so, I need help. Somebody shout I need help? Because so much is coming at me. I can't figure out what to focus on. I need help. So much is coming and going.

I'm confused. So much is being said. I don't know what's important. So many priorities are pulling at me. I need help and just like the devil wants to help you at it. So does heaven. So does heaven. heaven. So does the Holy Spirit. You thought the Holy Spirit was just a goose bump. You thought the Holy Spirit

was just a good feeling. You thought the Holy Spirit was just a sharamahanda, caraba fuha. That's all good, too, and we get all of it, and we do all of it, and we want all of it. But what about when the Holy Spirit brings some scissors? Get surgical with the enemy. Now, I can't cut out what happened, but I can refuse to make it the definition of my identity. You hear me? I'm going to say it. You want to shout it. It is not the definition of your identity.

It is not. So we talked about the review. And the fact of the matter is some of the things that we say about experience are just not true. will say to people, oh, well, I'm sorry you're going through something right now, but don't you know, we grow through what we go through. No, we don't. Not automatically. Not automatically.

If that were true, why did you go through it 15,963 times last month? Grow through what you go through. Sometimes you grow through something and then you create something else to go through, to keep you distracted from what you went through that you've been going through for the last 37 years. Don't lie to me. You grew through it? through with it. Here is what is true. While we do not automatically grow through what we go

through, we grow through what we go over with God. That's the process of review. Of review. I sit down all the time, y'all, and I ask the question, God, what am I missing in this? God, how did I focus? Holly, remember the insult that somebody said to me the other day in a professional setting, and we kept talking about it. And they said 100,000 things nice to me in the same session. And one thing that I was like, and then if you could see my cutting room, it's like I took this scene and zoomed all the way in,

and I framed it. Just push in on me real quick, because look how ugly this is. Why are you going to be stuck in something like that? How was I doing it? All right, back to normal shot. Because after the review comes what? the reframing. And this is what they prayed, because they made a great decision, right?

Peter and John are like, we don't know what to do next. How many feel like I don't know what to do next in an area of my life? Raise your hand. You need to go to the cutting room. How many of you feel like it wasn't fair what happened to you? Raise your hand. Yeah. Can you go to cutting room?

How many of you feel like there's something in your life that you can't decide if it needs to be there any longer, but it served you in a season, but it feels like it's getting in the way now and you don't know what to do about it? How many of you need to prune some things that you said yes to yesterday that are making you pop pills today? Because you said yes to them yesterday. You need to go to the cutting room. Now, when you go to the cutting room, listen to me closely and carefully, church. I got a word for you today.

It is important that you review, and it is important who you review with, mostly with God. Reviewing it with God doesn't look like asking God to write something in the clouds. Check yes or no, Lord. That's what the girl did in fifth grade, not God. God is not your fifth grade, hopeful girlfriend. God doesn't do that kind of stuff all the time. He does it sometimes, but typically what we do wrong is when we sit down to process the problem, we process the problem.

And we start with the problem. And when we start with the problem, we never really get to God. Because by the time we've been through the problem, we're so exhausted, we don't even see God. We are so confused. We are so blinded. We are so taken. We are so sense-driven.

We don't even see God anymore. We start saying, well, I don't see any way this can work. I guess you don't now. You wasted all your vision looking at it. On their release, Peter and John went back to the room, and they reported all that the chief priest and elders had said to them. Now, how long did that take? They told us not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus,

and we told them we have to obey God rather than men, and they let us go. They could have spent three hours talking about how much it sought. They could have spent days talking about how it didn't seem right. And if you take your complaining into the cutting room, what kind of movie you think this is going to be? I think it's going to be a horror movie. I think it's going to be a slasher film. I think it's going to scare you to death and keep you up at night if you start with that. But watch.

Now, I need every person who's ever been Pentecostal or wanted to be Pentecostal for 15 seconds to get ready to shout when I show you this. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all this. the chief priest and elders had said to them, do you think anybody in this room knows what they should do? Do you think anybody else in this room has had training for this? Do you think anybody in this room has the political power to stand down the entire Sanhedron, the religious ruling body of the day? No, but watch this in verse 24. When they heard this, the attack, when they heard this, the threat, when they heard this, the message of the enemy, when they heard this, verse 24, they raised their voices together. Leave the 300 Pentecostal people alone.

They raised their voices together. I'm not done yet. In prayer to God, best apart, to God. Because right now, if you just attacked me for helping somebody, I want to attack you back, but I can't talk to you right now because I need to go above your payground. to talk to the one who made you. I can't solve this on the level it started on. I got to go higher. I want to give you, I got to teach you, I want to give you two things that you need to do. When you find yourself under attack, when you can't breathe because of it, when you can't

see straight because of it, when you're so angry you want to do some stuff that you hadn't thought about doing in a long time, but you feel it kind of coming back. When you're so sad that you can't figure out how to get out of the brain, you're so sad that you can't figure out how to get out of the bed. I want to teach you the reframe. Two things. One, go wide. Go wide. Did you see how they started their prayer? They didn't start praying about God, that one saddice. He was so mean to me. I pray he'll have hemorrhoids tonight so you can show him your judgment. None of that. And not starting with hemorrhoids or the problem or any of that. He said, sovereign. Lord, sovereign doesn't mean a lot to us because we think we run stuff.

Sovereign doesn't mean much to us because you thought it was your story, but it's his story. And he's sovereign, and he made you, and he gave gifts to men, and he stirred them, and he seated them, and he watered them, and he prunes them, and he cuts back, and he cuts off, and he raises up, and he brings down. He is the sovereign God. Start with sovereign. High five, somebody say start with sovereign. Need some new words in your vocabulary. Need some big words in your vocabulary. Need some king words in your vocabulary.

Need some God is in charge. You're not words in your vocabulary. Needs some big God words in your vocabulary. So for everybody who needs to go wide, give me a wide shot on the screen. Go why and realize I'm going to give you the statement that really helped me this week. I was processing some things and I was processing them without God and it was really punishing me and it was really beating me up and I was really having a pity party and it really felt good for about 30 minutes. And then you get sick of it because you realize you're really just cutting yourself when you complain. You realize that you're really just cutting yourself when you condemn.

Whether it's you or others, you're really just cutting yourself. So the Lord dropped this, and I started saying, this is bigger than me. Give me a wide shot. This is bigger than me. See what all we saw that we didn't see before they did what they did? That's what prayer is supposed to be. You have too narrow of a definition of prayer. You think prayer is God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food.

God is not inextricably linked to your digestive process of turning french fries into protein. Bless this food to our bodies. That's too narrow for prayer. It's too narrow for prayer to pray before you have a big match. Oh, God, help me win this. What if the other kid prayed that more and what if he's better than you? You can pray that, but prayer is much more than that.

Prayer is an awareness to say this is bigger than me. That's why they say, Sovereign Lord. And watch what they prayed next. Tell me this doesn't feel out of focus. Sovereign Lord, we're going all the way back. Yep. Going all the way back to remember who the direct is. We're going all the way back so we can remember the source material. In the beginning

was the and the word was with God and the word was God. So I'm going back to the one who spoke the word so I can fight the word that the enemy spoke with the word that was here before my enemy was a thought. So go wide. Tell somebody go wide. This is bigger than me. Sometimes that means I'm just selfish. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's not the Lord. I told you it's a cutting room. Some of what we have to cut is some of the stuff that we cling to that God wants us to grow out of. To help somebody else. Waking up praying, God, just give me a blessing today. God make me a blessing today. I've been blessed so much. You mean all this he gave you? The devil will cut all that out.

Make you think you have nothing to give. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Well, no, you do. Pastor Stephen, you preach these words. Yeah, but you live the gospel. And you can cook good cornbread. And sometimes cornbread is better than a Bible verse if somebody's going through something. Make some cornbread take it over to somebody. Watch what happens. Because God has given you gifts. And the enemy wants to eliminate your gift consciousness to keep you stuck in selfishness. The why. The why. Holy Spirit. Here, give me a wide shot, a wide shot, a wide shot, so I don't get all zoomed in, zoomed in, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, no, wide shot, give me a wide shot, that's the reframe, you see it? And even if you find yourself in a situation right now where you feel like you are, Peter and John up against a whole Sanhedron, where you feel like you were up against an entire system, a boss that definitely is not going to watch this message online. a medical diagnosis that they don't even have experimental stuff for.

Things that go on inside of you that you can't label much less learn from yet. Even if that's you today, and you say, this is bigger than me? Say this is bigger than me. Remember how your prayer started. Sovereign, Lord. Don't just go wide. Go high. Go high.

Go high to the most high, whose name is holy forever and ever. Go high until you are one with Jesus and joined with him who died for you. Go high until you are so far above the situation with him that it starts to look small. The next time you stand in front of it, this is bigger than me. I'm small compared to this. I'm too weak for this. I don't have what it takes for this. These bills are bigger than my check, don't you understand?

This situation is bigger than my experience or my training or my knowledge or my wisdom. Say, this is bigger than me, but God is bigger than this. That's the Holy Ghost to let you know this is bigger than me, but God is bigger than this. You want a demonstration? I'll give you a demonstration. Abby stand up. Abby, stand up next to mom. Abby standing next to mom. Now, Abby, say, this is bigger than me. Say it again. This is bigger than me. Truth to power. This is bigger than me. But now let's say we do this. Now there's something bigger than bigger. You're like, oh, she's going to tell you when they get home. She's not, because I'm only talking about height. She's a way better person than me and more convincing.

But if I give you a physical demonstration, maybe you can see something with your spirit that you do not understand with your mental facilities. Because to reframe my situation is to acknowledge, this is bigger than me. but God is bigger than this, than this, I don't care what the this is. God is bigger than this. We need to re-edit this movie. And remember for a moment who the real director is. Who really backed your life?

Who really started your life? Who really gave you those experiences? Who really gave you those skills? So I see you staring at a mountain and I know the mountain looks immovable But when you pray sovereign Lord you made the heavens and the earth You realize that while you've been staring at the mountain you could have been talking to the one who made it Because this is bigger than me I'm not gonna pretend like I know what to do

This is bigger than me But God on a rainy Sunday morning But God in a hopeless situation But God, in the middle of my loneliness, but God in the middle of the process is bigger than this. Somebody say he's bigger than this. Serve notice, he's bigger. He's bigger than this. That's how I know I'm coming out, because God is bigger than this.

And I'm coming out with a testimony because God, six people tell him God's bigger than this. He's bigger than this. You don't know what my this is. I don't have to. God's bigger than this. God's bigger than what they said. God's bigger than what they didn't do. God's bigger than bipolar.

God's bigger than depression. God's bigger than this. God's bigger than Twitter. God's bigger than this. God's bigger than AI. Not going to wipe us out unless God wants us wiped out. And then if he wanted us wiped out, he'd just send another flood and not tell us to put the giraffes on the boat. God is bigger than this. Stop stressing about stuff,

stupid stuff. Save your strength for stuff that God called you to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, reframe it. I'm going wide. I'm going high because this is bigger than me, but my God is bigger than this. I got to get in the cutting room because Jesus said every branch in me, that bears fruit, my father prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Oh, it is unpleasant at times to be in the cutting room. But if you stay there long enough and really give it to God, watch what happens. They lifted their voices together in prayer to God. God.

Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens, you made the earth. Thank you, Jesus. And the sea, and everything in them. Stuff I can't see, God can. Stuff I can't fix, God can. Stuff I can't fish out, God can. Stuff that I would drown in, God can save me from. That's what I mean when I say.

the reframe. Stop praying so much about the problem that you never get to the God of the problem. Go to the cutting room. God is the main character of this story. Not you, not me, not your ex, not the person who walked out, not even the people who stayed. God will support you. God will sustain you. God's hand is on you. God has anointed you. God has called you. God is with you. God is bigger than this. Even when you get a blessing, don't worship the blessing, because God is bigger than this blessing. Ask the children of Israel who were fed with manna. They thought this is what God has given us.

But when they're this disappeared, God had something else because God is bigger than this. If God cuts it out, he already knows what he's going to put in his place. God is bigger than this. He has a thousand ways to provide for you. He has a hundred ways to help you. He has a million ways. to see you through it. Don't get picky about it right now. Let him prune what he needs to prune so you can be fruitful. This is a productive cut. The instrument of scissors is surgical in the hands of the Savior. It's masterful what he's doing in your life right now.

And if you stay there long enough, and if you pray there high enough, and if you pray there wide enough and say, God, I'm in this right now, but I know you're bigger than this and this is bigger than me. When they heard this, they raised. their voices and said, sovereign, Lord, you made the heavens and the earth and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father, David. What are we doing talking about David? He's been dead over a thousand years, because I'm going wide. I'm remembering the sitting the first time that this happened to somebody. As a matter of fact, Church, what blessed me the most about the text was that after they quoted Psalm 2 from David, why do the nations rage in the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth, rise up, and the rulers band together against the Lord and His anointed one.

They revisit, see the power of it. Please see the power of it. I know I preach too long, and I know I should cut some stuff, but I just want to give it to you so you have something when you go back into your mind tonight. Indeed, verse 27. Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles. The Gentiles didn't even know God. They met together with people who didn't even know God. and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed.

They did the enemy. They did the opponent. They did the ruler what your power and will had decided. They did what God decided. The devil can't do anything to you without God. Going through God first. And this is the release. When you let go of control, when you let go of what you've been trying to keep in the story

and focus on, and this one scene you get stuck in, and this one thing you can't get over, and this one thing you won't let God remove. When you let go, watch what happens. When you release, God releases. When we release, he releases. What does he release? Watch this. They did what you had decided beforehand should happen. Verse 29, please. Now, Lord, everybody say, now, Lord. Say it with some gusto. Say now, Lord. That's what happened

back then. Now, Lord, take me into the cutting room and consider their threats. And God, don't let this overwhelm me to the point that I become paralyzed by it. And don't let me keep repeating this same mistake for 10 more years. Now, Lord, don't let me back to you. down just because it's scary. Don't let me give up what I worked so hard to get just because there's pressure with it. Don't let me feign along the way and be disqualified. Somebody shout, now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders. They're not playing defense. They're playing offense. It's a release now.

They're giving up what they thought should have happened. They're giving up what should have been done for them. They're giving up on the way they might have wanted it to go. Now, Lord, heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And verse 31 says, after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled. filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God

boldly. Wait, I thought they were already filled with the Holy Spirit in Chapter 2. They were, but you need a fresh refill for a fresh battle, and God said I'll give you a refill when you release it. And the place, come on, where they were

meeting was what? Shaken. It was what? Shaken. The place started. is shaken. The place started shaken. When they went into the place, they were shaken. They had just been threatened. They had just been scared. They had just been intimidated. But after that they prayed, and after that they remembered who their God was, and after that they got their eyes on the sovereign most high, and after they remembered what he did for David, and after they called the name of Jesus, they weren't shaken. The place was shaken. And I think we ought to go into the

cutting room and give God at least 24 seconds a place taking praise today. Shake the place. This is your cutting room. This is your cutting room and God is holding the scissors. This is your cutting room and God is directing the film. the director is really good, they give the director a privilege called Final Cut. That means they can shoot whatever they want to. But by the time this film is released, the one who directed it gets to decide what goes

in it. You're God. I know y'all are tired, but I came for three people. You've been cut down. I'll make you fruitful. Because your father. Has final cut, heads bowed, eyes closed, grab the hand of the person next to you. They're in the cutting room right now.

It's not convenient in the cutting room. It's confusing in the cutting room, but God is with you in the cutting room. The reason I wanted to preach this series, the reason I wanted to preach this sermon is you need some help with your edit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You are leaving out some things that God put in. This week he's going to fill you with his spirit and flood you with the realization of how beautiful he made you. How wonderfully crafted you are by his masterful.

He's got final cut. He's going to show you that the people who left your life were not meant for the next season of your life. And he's going to show you where David is on the way for every Saul that has been rejected. This is your cutting room. For everything you don't like about yourself that you thought was a bug, what if it's a feature? What if God wants to show you to put something back in? Something you haven't done in years that used to bring God glorious time. This is the cutting room.

This is the cutting room. You came in shaking. I know. I come to this pulpit shaken every week. But I ask God, God, would you take my nerves? Would you take my fear? Would you take my uncertainty and shake this place? And in the place where you're shaking, may God shake the place.

And use you. And use you, he's using you. He's using you. He's using you. Got to cut some stuff back now so he can use you. Got to cut some stuff out now so he can use you. Got to get some new disciplines in there so he can use you. But it's his scissors. It's his garden. It's His hand.

You are His planting for His renown. He is the sovereign God. He made the earth and the sea and everything in it. He made everything in you. Now I call it forth in Jesus' name. I call forth miracles from your spirit in Jesus' name. I call forth freedom from your spirit in Jesus' name. I call forth abundance of compassion, abundance of joy, wisdom from a wisdom from

above first peaceable than pure. I call wisdom by the Holy Spirit of God. I release it in your life right now. I release it in your life right now. A fresh filling of the Spirit of God. I release it in your life right now in the name of Jesus. And everybody who's been set free, clap your hands and give God praise. Thank you, Lord, for a final cut. You got the final cut. You got the final say in my life. He's bowed, eyes closed. They crucified Jesus. They hung him on the cross and stretched him wide and hung him high. From that place of his death came the possibility of new life for you. There is someone here today. And lately in your life you've been realizing, I need God. I cannot do this by myself. I need Jesus. I need Jesus. I

I believe God brought you to this stream today, God brought you to this sanctuary today, this building today, so that you could be saved. Right now, I'm going to lead you in a prayer. Right now, if you're ready to give your heart to God, ready to receive the forgiveness of your sin and repent of your sin and trust Jesus. I believe that he will hear you from heaven and heal you and give you a brand new nature. We're praying this together as a church family for the the benefit of those who are coming to God or back to God.

Repeat after me. Heavenly Father, today is my day of salvation. I am a sinner in need of a Savior. And I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died, that I would be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life.

This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. On the count of three, raise your hand if you prayed that. One, two, three. Shoot them up all over the room. I see you. God sees you. God bless you.

Congratulations. Amazing. You too? Amazing. Online, just say it in the chat, I receive Jesus. I receive Jesus. Come on, let's shake this place with praise for the salvation of our God. Did you receive anything from the Lord today?

Clap your hands. Well, join hands with your neighbor one more time. If you haven't caught something from them by this point, you won't now. Praise the Lord. Tell your neighbor, I'm contagious. Tell you hang around me. might catch faith. Hang around me. You might catch praise. My father said I'm blessed, and I am. And now I bless you in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to bless everybody who stays

till I'm done. You want this blessing? This one's worth waiting for, because I'm going to tell you how blessed you're going to be this way. You're going to be so blessed this way that every weapon that the devil forms against you, it might fly by, but it won't work. It'll be so blessed. It only make your faith stronger. Somebody say, how blessed am I going to be this week? So blessed that any time you want to talk to God, you can talk to him wherever you are. How blessed am I going to be this week? I'm going to be the head and not the tail.

Above and not beneath. Running over a lender and not a borrower, a child of the most high God, the righteousness of God. I am who God says this. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now

or visit Elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast.

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