Elevation with Steven Furtick - Elevation Year In Review

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

Take a look back at some of our most impactful sermons and moments from 2024. As we celebrate God’s faithfulness throughout this year, we pray it strengthens your faith and fills you with anticipation for all He has planned for you and our church in the coming year. Scripture References: Matthew 28, verse 8See 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. I thank you that one thought of you today, one thought can change the way we see ourselves. When God put something significant in me, the enemy sins. something significant after me. Your tambourine and figure out how to praise even in the waiting. And the proof that I know that God still has something amazing ahead for your life is that

you're still here. You had a wonderful Christmas. I hope that you were surrounded by the people that you love. I hope that you ate all of the amazing foods that you love because you know calories don't count on Christmas. I hope that you had time to rest and nap and enjoy this. the peace that this season brings. Now, this is the one Sunday of the year where our entire church is Epham. So I want to see the comments flying right now. Let us know where you are joining from.

Maybe say hello to someone else in the chat that's not from your state. Pastor Stephen and I are continually amazed at the people that God is brought together across the world who make up the people of Elevation Church. And it is the honor of a lifetime. to get to do ministry with you. Today is evidence that you are finishing the year strong. You're making church a priority, and that is something to celebrate, because 2024 has been an immeasurably more year for our church.

We have seen some truly incredible blessings. We've reached new communities all around the world. We've continued to be a resource for those in need, and we have seen thousands of lives transformed. The impact of our church and our ability to share the hope of the gospel is greater than Pastor Stephen and I could have ever thought possible, and that is because of you. You give so generously of your time and your gifts, and you keep doing your part, and God continues to move. You know, Jesus says in John 10, he says, I have come that they may have life

and have it to the full. And as we continue to be the church, we get to experience the fullness of life that God has promised us. Looking back on 2024, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for the ways that we have seen God move. And as we look ahead to 2025,

I'm filled with expectation knowing that even greater things are yet to come. So today, I thought it would be fun to take a moment to reflect on the incredible moments from the past year and then maybe take a peek ahead to all of the amazing things that God has for us in the year to come. And I thought that I would invite some friends to join us. It's going to be a great time, a great conversation, and I'm glad that you're here with us. So let me introduce to you some of my friends. These are all familiar faces, but I just want to give you a formal introduction. This is Chris Brown,

who you probably know from Elevation Worship. And then we've got Britt at Kinsola in the middle here, who is our ministries pastor, Pastor Chad Zolo, our online pastor. You all know him. And Pastor Chet Pete, who is our UC University City shoutout campus pastor. We've got to talk about worship first

because this was an incredible year for Elevation Worship. It was. I can't believe we're what, almost 20 years in? We released our 17th worship album, maybe 18th, 19th, if you can see it. Exactly, exactly. That's a long story. All these years in, almost two decades, it's crazy how God allows our ministry to go places that we may physically never show up or set our feet.

But the word of God goes there. And a lot of times that's happening through our songs. Yeah. I feel like there are so many people who have found our church through. Elevation worship. It's incredible. So, so grateful. It was a crazy year

when wind meets fire. Okay, I have to say, I think when wind meets fire is my favorite elevation worship album. It's incredible. People ask me, what's my favorite song? What's my favorite album? Favorite album answer is always,

what's the most recent one we just did? So I agree. It's my favorite, too. But for good reason. Favorite song, though. Favorite song. See, see. It's a new script.

It is. It is. Oh, but you gotta have a favorite. We might get there, but I'll say Shore Been Good. Yeah. I love Shore Been Good to the day I die. Yeah, me too.

I'm gonna just ask, are the albums and the songs, are they like your kids? Like, you know, you... You can't choose a favorite. Well, I have a favorite. I'll take you. No, favorite kid. You're lying.

Yeah, say it. I'm not going to say it. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You have a favorite kid or a favorite song? Both. Oh, okay. All right. I'm not going to say it.

I'm not going to say it. No, when, when, when Meets Fire, though. The song, it's a rock opera. We got, like, God is Not Against Me's on there, which was, what, a sermon? A sermon. It turned into a song. A song. A chapter in a book.

Exactly. And one of the mindsets. I mean, it wasn't just a chapter. It was like a section in the book. Absolutely. I mean, new thing coming, which is so fun. Also, I mean, what a great song to end one year. Kick Off to Natch. That's so true. So many

great songs. I can't believe it. It's 17th album. I can't believe it either. It's incredible. Also, I mean, we got to shout out rhythm for goodbye yesterday. Yeah. How good is that song? It's amazing. It's so good.

So good. Also, actually, another perfect song to end one year. That is true. That's true. I love worshipping of that song. It just makes me so happy. Same. And you start, like, shouting, I have decided to follow Jesus.

I know. I feel like a kid again or something. To be at a youth, I mean, like at a rhythm night, and to hear our youth, declaring that. Yeah. But then to see it on a Sunday morning and Valentine's, and I mean, it like resonates with everyone.

They're going strong. It goes crazy. Also, I mean, selfishly, I'll shout out praise too, because praise just kept doing, we released it well over a year ago. Not this year, but it just kept reaching more people. So the way God's working through our ministry, how he's using the songs, it's incredible.

It's incredible. I think we have a clip. Well, let's show it. Let's check this out. Let's see. Sing it. Incredible. Amazing.

Amazing. How many good songs? So many. Song after song after song. I just am blown away. Okay. So, Chris, one of the things, I want to put people on the spot that are on the sofa. And I want to know.

Are there any secrets? Oh, I love secrets. 2025. That's what I want to know. Are there any secrets that the people watching today can get from you? All right. All right. So, well, can I, let me share a little story.

Okay. I love stories. May of this year, I got a phone call. I think you happen to be in the car. Okay. I got a phone call from your husband, Pastor Stephen, and he says, you know, all these songs that have been sitting on our phones, we've never recorded them, we've never sung them in church, we've never figured out what do we want to do with them? I got the idea. What we need to do is get our friends together, Brandon Lake, Chandler Moore, Leland, Pat. the two of us and let's just have fun and let's record these and let's let's start a new group,

a new, a boy band, if you will, but not really a boy band, but a new, a man man, yeah, man, 224, 25 man band. And it's going to be called Sons of Sunday. I love it. Sons of Sunday. SOS. So we got to in September and we recorded so many songs in this amazing little chapel and we banged on pianos and guitars and tambourines and we cried and we laughed and we lost our voices and we recorded so many songs and it's going to come out in full album form brand new album all new songs people have not heard but it's coming sons of Sunday I'll tell you what you need to do you actually need to go on socials right now and search up

Sons of Sunday because I mean we kind of have been leaked. You're going to see some. We've been leaking. And then you'll know when it's out. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And every song is so good. And I, okay, do we have a little... I was in sick. We have a little teaser? We have a little teaser. All right, so the secret's out. Okay, secrets out. Okay.

We need more than that. I can't wait. That's all you get right now. So sometime in 2025. I'll say sometime very soon. Okay. And then of course, Elevate worship's on tour? We saw, what, 16 cities with elevation nights this past year, and it was incredible nights of ministry. Yeah. And then we're headed right back out in February of this year. Yeah. Eight more cities in February. Can't wait to see what God does. I mean, tour's amazing. And a thing that I love about tour is it's not just elevation worship. It's like, it's like

elevation church came to your town. It is. And filled an arena. Exactly. And so you, you get like all your favorite songs and then you get a word from Pastor Stephen and you get EFAM you know in the not the lobby but like whatever it's called the concourse you get to meet Chad and and all of our EFAM gets to come together and they're just such incredible nights and we're going back out again and I'm so excited we have the dates oh we got another video we got another video all right check this out here's elevation nights It's amazing because this last time we had, I think, over 160,000 people who showed up this year. Yeah.

And it is crazy. I mean, you were saying it, but to gather in person, a lot of these people are part of our eFAM who watch online. And so to get everybody in a room together is crazy. One of the things I love that we do, though, is when we get to meet with a lot of EFAM, people who call Elevation Church or family. Out in the concourse, as you were saying, we have these little stations set up and people stop by. but what Brick gets to do a lot of times. Share with you like your little station that you have.

It's awesome. It's so special. My favorite thing that we get to do is we have an area where we get to pray with you. And so you can write a prayer request down. And even to this day, if you've written a request down, we're still praying for you. We have our teams here that pray over you, your family, or whatever it is that you need prayer for.

And so you mentioned it. It's a night of ministry and it goes deeper than just like a room full of people. We love the opportunity to see that. individual people and their needs and then align our faith with you and what you need to see God do in your life. Yeah. That's awesome. And we're pouring out as a ministry into people, but I will say how much I feel like I get filled when I get to read testimonies or, you know, read the cards that someone wrote a prayer request down and then months later have in fact heard the testimony how God answered that prayer or getting to meet people even there. We've done that back to

stage and gotten to hear personally from them how, you know, one of our songs carried them through a sleepless night. And that's just, I mean, that's so fueling. And it's like, I have no business being in the position I am, but thank you, Jesus. Yeah, thank you, God. And we just get to be a part of a ministry like this. Yeah. And we're not just at our campuses and on tour, but we also do pop-ups. Tell us a little small pop-ups. I mean, pop-ups have been amazing. We've been doing these for a few years now. And it actually started kind of right out of COVID. We were like, well, everybody's watching online now. Can we actually take church to people on Sunday? It's not an event. It's not, it's just literally we bring some of the elevation worship crew. And we get people from all over

the world who say, hey, I'd love to be baptized. I'd love to take that step. And we thought, well, let's bring a baptism tank to do that. And let's do baptisms. So this year, we've been able to do 12 pop-ups and we're all over the United States. We wrapped up this year in, Los Angeles. We've seen over 15,000 people join with us at these events, which is nuts. And we've got the opportunity to baptize over 1,500 people. It's incredible. It is, it is absolutely incredible. And every stop, it just never ceases to blow our mind. There's people lining up around the building. But what's cool is every place that we go, it's like it feels like church. It feels like this is family. It's like one of our campuses. Yes. And we really try to make it feel that way from,

you know, if you attend a campus, we want you to come and attend one of these and think, I want you to see the banner. And it's like, oh, that's my church. They're here. And so as people are coming in, you're seeing familiar faces, but as people who are part of this family. And so just the opportunity that we get, I'm always so blown away. Like you said, who are we that we get to travel around and do this? Like to be able to go to a place and bring church like this, to where so many of you are. One of my favorite things that we did in 2016, 24 was my husband released a book. And it was his first book in eight years. And the book was called Do the New You. Yes. And the book, I mean, besides like releasing it to the world and like all the

things that came along with it, I just so loved this book. Like I'm just continually blown away at how God continues to use our pastor's words. Yeah. So it could be when he's preaching. It could be through the songs that he's writing or through the words of a book. And this particular book, he gave us the six mindsets and then the chapters within the mindsets. And it was just, I mean, it was just so much fun

to get to read that book and release it and to hear people talking about it and to hear how it was ministering to all of you. And I don't know, any of you guys. I mean, we do have to thank God for the way that he used your voice, Because if we remember, Oh, I remember.

If we remember, Pastor wasn't... That's right. And, I mean, by the power of the Holly, Holly spirit, God use your voice to be able to... Well, it was special for me because, you know, like, everybody needs moments where you feel like, oh, God does hear my prayers. God does answer prayers. And it was like one of those moments, and we shared the story many times where, you know, I had just been praying.

Like, you know, we had many conversations and we had this one, like, I wouldn't say it was a fight, but it was a little heated conversation. Intense fellowship. Intense, yeah. And I just felt, you know, like, that's enough. Like, you know, sometimes you're having a conversation with somebody that you really love and you're really trying to push them, but then you know that, like, you've said enough and it's time to just move on. And so whenever that happens to me, I have said enough to that person, but then I know that a guy can say, all my. my things to God. And so I just kept leaving it with God. And then it just happened. And we got to release the book. And it's so good. If you haven't read Do the New You, you have to get a copy. We're

leaving all the links, by the way. Everything that we talk about in the description, if you're looking for a link, it's going to be right there. So if you want to link to the album, you want a link to to do the New You, it's everywhere books are sold. And it's so incredible. And so then we got to do an e-group study with Do the New You. And that was such an incredible. I mean, so many people in our church are part of an E-group. Now, if you're not a part of an E-group, it doesn't matter where you live.

We have e-groups for everyone, every age, every area. We have groups that meet in person, groups that meet virtual. And mostly our groups discuss the sermons. And what was cool about Do the New You is that it was like everything overlapped. Like we had a song, we had the sermon. every week. We had the book to discuss. And then we had e-groups that were discussing all of it. And it was such a great moment. Fun fact, about 12,000 people in our church, I'd love to know who you are, like went through this study together. So it was also such a special unifying time in our church.

But we did. We unpack these mindsets. I love, if you've been around, maybe you've heard of say this, e-groups make our church a big church feel small. And so it's one thing to, to hear it, it's another thing to unpack it and make it personal in your life. And that's what we got to do for these six weeks together. And so we got to take them to another level, really get them in our hearts so we can really love them out.

And so we loved our time together. And it was just really special. It really was. You led us so well through it too. Thank you for... We did videos for that one. I'm like every single one of us were a part of that.

One of those videos. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, it was a really special time together. It was awesome. And I just, I love the e-groups of our church. because it's a place where I feel like God can take what he's speaking to you when you listen to the sermon, but it takes, it's like the roots go deeper when you are able to discuss it with other people. And you hear other people processing what God is speaking to them and you, and it just solidifies what God is speaking.

And so I just think it's so powerful. And you can still be a part of any group at elevation. There'll be a link in the description. Okay. other fun things that have gone on. Tell us a little bit about outreach. Okay, you've said this, Pastor Holly, and it has stuck with me. You said that if e-groups are what make a big church feel small, then outreach is what makes a big church feel big. And that is so true. Outreach is such a special part of our ministry because it really is one of the

areas that we get to live out our faith. And I feel like if you've been a part of it, then you know that. You've walked through this all year long. I mean, we do everything. from Dream Week, we kick off the ears strong with outreach, Love Week, I mean, and then we also go into, like, you guys remember the response that we did with Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton. What was crazy was, like, in my mind, I thought we were just going to be asking our campuses to show up and bring stuff.

But EFAM was like, oh, no, you're not doing this without us. And so we created an Amazon wish list. And I don't know if anybody remembers this. but the Amazon guy, we did this video, it made me cry, because the Amazon delivery man was like, we haven't seen this many packages since the week before Christmas last year. And they're all being delivered here. And yet, like, it was so incredible because, you know, we're a big church.

And sometimes you need to feel how big it is. And it was, like, mobilizing an army of people who are like, I'll send something, I'll sort something, I'll deliver something. Everything. I mean, it was so awesome. And immediately, like, you. you guys showed up immediately. I mean, we just started getting like packages

and people showing up, giving their time. And it was such a powerful time to just be like, this is the church. And it made me so proud of our church because I feel like it was a moment where we got to see how all of the strategic systems that we've been building. And how all year,

it was like everything sort of culminated because, you know, we say this all the time, but 12% of every dollar given to elevation church goes to our outreach efforts. And so when a disaster happens, we're ready with funds. You don't have to wonder, should I give to this organization?

Is this somebody who's being honest with you already give to your church so you know that your church is gonna support whatever it is. But then throughout the year we have events where we're whatever Love Week or the Dream Weekend where we're packing backpacks or we're making flood kits. And so then whenever does,

disaster happens. We're ready. We emptied out our warehouse. We did. And it was just, I was so proud to be a part of elevation and elevation outreach and to be able to represent our church in that moment was, was really special. I love how our church shows up in these moments where it's these national disasters. But I think sometimes people don't realize that there's outreach events happening all the time. Yeah, you're wrong. You know, we've had people going back and forth to Asheville since that weekend. Like it wasn't just the one time and then we left.

I'm proud of the way that our church continues to show up. So these big moments where we have to show up but then throughout the week, whether it's like meeting with schools or feeding teachers' breakfast and things like that.

So just the heart of our church showing up is it's happening all the time, all the time, all the time. So we get to do both. In the moments that it's desperate and we got to show up. And then when it's just showing up for people on a day-to-day basis,

our church does that too. Yeah. All right. So God is expanding so many areas of our church. Chet, tell us about some of the really fun things that we have coming in 2025 and some of the things that we accomplished in 2024. Well, one of the strategies that we implemented, I guess, a few years ago, was that we just really wanted to be focused on having some permanency

and the communities that we were in. So we just wanted to focus on what campuses were we setting up and tearing down. And maybe we were at the whim of the school or whether or not we could have church that weekend or do an event. And because of the generous people of our church, we were able to really start to be aggressive at looking for facilities

that we would be able to go in, renovate, or buy land to build, so that Elevation Church could be permanent in that community. So at the end of the last year, we were able to open up Belmont, and so they just had a full year of ministry. And then Columbia was able to celebrate Christmas

in their new building this year. So amazing. So awesome. Taylor and Nikki Shidal, they had a parking lot party. I saw it. I saw it. They planned for 300 people to come just to have a night to be able to worship before they

open up the building. A thousand people showed up. That's insane. They had 10, 10 salvations that night in the parking lot. Before we even open up the building at Columbia. That's awesome. Okay, so then coming into 2025, Greenville will be opening up hopefully summer 2025. Then we have up 10,000.

who should be opening summer of 2025. Yeah, we got a really cool location. Really cool location. When you step out on the foyer, you're able to look up and see the skyline of the city of Charlotte. That's pretty amazing. And then Toronto East. Toronto East was a new campus that we actually launched this year.

No, no, no. I apologize. It was at the end of last year that we launched Toronto East. God's doing so much in Toronto. Last but not least, Raleigh, North Carolina. We purchased land in Raleigh and have been working hard. of really the last year and a half to be able to push through permits

and all of those things to get it done. But we're finally able to start breaking brown in Raleigh. But one of the things I wanted to highlight with Raleigh, I got a picture of Isaiah being baptized. This is on the ground where we're going to be building elevation

Raleigh. Here's the beauty. Beauty of this picture is before we break ground, we're already had a baptism. And the one that I think about this, I think about the mission of our church so that people far from God would be raised to life in Christ. And so, yes, we're talking about these buildings. You're seeing some of the renderings and all of that. But what we're really excited about is the ministry that's going to be happening in these walls. I just want to thank all of you

faithfully give an elevation church so that when an opportunity like this opens up. That's right. We're able to jump on it. We have resource set us out. We can get ahead of projects because of your generosity to be able to jump in and see what God can do through our church. Yeah. And I love how when people, people give, it's this spirit of like, well, this ministry has touched my life so much. And even though I attend a campus, you know, like University City that is already a permanent location, the generous spirit of I need, I want other people to experience that too. I want to create a seat somewhere else. It's just such a beautiful thing to see when we come together. I mean, it's another way that a big church feels big. Because when every gift matters, because when we pull all of

our gifts together, God is able to do miracles. Before we leave, I have to spend some time talking about some of the amazing sermons that we heard just this year, 24. Now, I looked, last night, I looked at a list of all of Pastor Stephen's sermons just in 24, just the titles. And I was blown away. I was like, how does this man do this? I preached three, Four, I preached four baby sermons. They were good. Okay, but this man preached like 35 times. That's true.

And his titles are brilliant. And they come together. And we had, you know, we had Do the New You. We had Ghost Rider series. We had the series that was towards the end of the year. I don't know if it ever got a name. But, you know, it was like, God is, oh, now I can't remember all of them. God will work it in.

God will work it in. God gave it to me. Oh, can you do them all? Don't challenge me now. God's got the hard part up. And then the last one, I'm cheating. I'm looking at my nose. Oh, God gave it to me.

I mean, those were incredible messages that we ended the year with, but we started the year strong. And so I had everybody in this room come with their favorite sermon, and we're just going to watch a clip and chat about them. Chris, what was your favorite sermon of the year?

All right. So, I mean, also kind of, like picking favorite kids. Yes. But for the exercise. Totally. In August, he preached, had two titles.

Me and God, getting back together. Got back together. Got back together. Uh-huh. And breaking the bondage of wrong belief. Yeah. Yeah. So it's in Judges Six.

He's talking about Gideon. Yep. Gideon's hiding in a wine press because the nation of Israel has been in captivity for seven years. And God shows up. Gideon's feeling like a wimp. And God, the first thing God says to him is, hey, mighty warrior. Yeah. So he's feeling a certain kind of way.

God doesn't speak to how he's feeling. That's right. That's right. And then this is really where pastor spent most of the time. Then the first thing God asked him to act on is go and tear down the altar of bail. Yeah. Of your father. Yeah.

And so the question that pastor kind of kept coming back to was, what wrong beliefs do we need to break up with in order to move forward and see ourselves as God does? So good. So, I mean, kind of a perfect way as we step into a new year. Like what old mindsets have no business going into 2025 with us? I think we've got a clip. Let's check this out. I see some people that I preach to, you're trying to build your life back. You're trying to build your hope back. You're trying to build your business back. You're trying to build your family back.

You're trying to build your sobriety back. You had 81 days and now you're back on day two. But that's okay. Because as you are trying to build it back, God wants to show you something that will make sure that this time you build it, what you build will stand the test of the battle that you face. Because if all I do is build it. an altar while Pastor Stephen is preaching. And if all I do is say, okay, I'm going to stack

some new habits and I'm going to do some new things and, okay, the Lord is peace. I found out something that you cannot have God's peace and keep it without having God's priorities. God's peace without God's priorities is always temporary. The kind of peace that you've been seeking in your life, craving in your life, crying out for in your life. That kind of peace, that permanent peace, that storm-speaking peace, that lay your head on the pillow of a lion's main kind of peace, that I'm in a fire, but I see the fourth man kind of peace, the kind of peace that can know that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world, and there's more with us than with them, and I don't have to be afraid about any of it.

That kind of peace only comes from priorities. Yeah, I'm good. I wrote this in my notes. I thought this was so powerful. No breakup, no breakthrough. Yes. And it's like until you break up with those habits, with those ways of thinking,

with those, like you said, those mindsets that you've believed about yourself that aren't true. Until you break up with those things, you don't get to have breakthrough. And we all want breakthrough. But a lot of times we don't want to do the work that it takes to get that breakthrough. And it was just such a convicting message. That whole idea of God's peace is connected to God's priorities. I mean, that's enough to go into the new year and just say, okay, how am I going to calendar my year?

Is this a line with what we? what God has for me and not be mad when you don't experience the peace of God when you haven't taken time to be able to prioritize your way, your life effective. It's like the daily thing though, because a lot of times I think that it's like a moment where it's like, okay, I'm going to go destroy that altar and then that's done. Like, okay, and it's not really that way. It's like a daily thing every day. God's calling you a mighty warrior. It's like, am I? Okay, okay, I'll do it today. So that's the thing that I feel like I miss a lot. It's like it's not a moment. It's a daily decision to believe that, okay, God, I'm a mighty warrior. That's tough. Yeah. The thing that you need to

make real practical, right? Like, you got to write some of these down. You mentioned looking back at our notes. That's a great sermon to go back. Look at your notes. You got to write it down. You need to schedule it. You mentioned that. Like, what does your calendar look like? Are you scheduling according to the priorities that you feel like God's put in front of you? And so making it as practical as can to be as successful as we can at this. All right, Britt. Okay. You like the Easter sermon.

I love the Easter sermon. We love the Easter sermon. The Easter sermon was so good. And I mean, all of Pastor Stevens' sermons speak to you. This one was the one of the year that I feel like I felt the most seen. Because maybe it's just because of how I'm wired. I don't know. Isn't he crazy, though, how he can do that?

How, like, he'll just say something. and you're like, oh my gosh. Yes. For me, I'll actually think, I'm like, he better stop. Because I really feel like he's talking about me. But he's not. He's just the Holy Spirit just speaks through him and it just like cut straight to you. Sorry, interrupted.

No, no, this is great. This sermon was called Something in Between. Maybe you remember it. And he preached from Matthew 28. And so this was our Easter sermon. So he preached about the Mary's going to the tomb. And he really camped in a verse in, you know, scripture. And, you know, I don't know.

Like, maybe you have a tradition where, like, I don't know if you read the Easter story. Like my in-laws, they read the Easter story, the Christmas story, every holiday. And I'm like, I have read this story. I know it. So many times. And it was such a beautiful revelation that he pulled because he specifically camped out whenever he talked about they were leaving the tomb, and they left with fear yet joy. Yeah.

Right. We got a clip. We got a clip. Yeah, let's show it. And I love this phrase because this is how I feel, afraid yet filled with joy. This is not a translation error, by the way. Because most of us think like you're either going to be afraid or filled with joy. I had somebody asked me the other day I was going to do something that was a big deal and they said,

are you looking forward to it or are you dreading it? And I was like, are those the only two options? Because I'm not exactly looking forward to it. I'm not exactly dreading it. I'm something and it can change from moment to moment. I'm like really grateful for this life God has given me and this influence that he gave me. And then sometimes that anticipation feels like anxiety. And sometimes my anxiety feels like anticipation.

And sometimes, listen to this, the difference between anticipation and anxiety is the way you label it. I stand before you today excited and afraid. I stand before you today a sinner and a saint. I stand before you today a flawed man and a child of God and I'm never all of both I'm something in between okay now I know you guys see why I felt so seen

because I feel like that is literally me like we're all our faith is just a constant journey and it gets so frustrating when you're like you see where it is that God would have you be you're like okay Lord you say love my enemies to pray for them to be

kind and to be generous. And then somebody says the wrong thing on the wrong day. And you're like, ah, I was working so hard on this. You know, and I'm caught slipping. But like, no, sometimes it is both. Like, yes, like, I want to be, like, holy and I want to be closer to God in this moment. But then also, like, I understand that, like, God made me where, like, I am a big feeler. And I'm both. I'm somewhere in between. And so I feel like, I feel like, I feel like, I'm, I feel like, For me, it was really the permission slip that I have permission to keep growing. Yeah. Like, and it's not, I'm not a failure.

Yeah. Because I'm somewhere in between and I haven't yet arrived. And I may never arrive until I get to heaven. And that's okay. Okay, as long as I'm on my constant journey to growth. You know what I loved from the sermon when he said, even when it's not all good, it's all God. Mm-hmm.

And man, that's like, that's real faith to trust that even when it's not all good, whatever you're going through in your life, to be able to say, I know this is all God. And I know that it's not good now, but it's going to be good. That's right. And so powerful. He also said it similar like this. He said, we're all something in between. So we can all find ourselves in this.

He said, and we need Jesus in between. Yeah. And sometimes that's the part that I think is so easy for us to forget. Yeah. Okay. Let's get to mine. I wanted to go all the way back to the beginning of the year when Pastor Stephen got out his guitar. So we had worship Pastor Stephen and preacher of Pastor Stephen. And this sermon, it just really touched me. So check this out. It's amazing when you're in tune with the grace of God. It's amazing when you're in tune. with the voice of God. When I'm in tune with you, Lord, I don't have to fight so much.

When I'm in tune with you, Lord, I don't have to manipulate so much. When I'm in tune with you, Lord, I don't have to defend myself. You fight my battles. When I'm in tune with you, Lord, somebody say, Lord, I want to be in tune with you. When I'm in tune with you, Lord, my problems look small. When I'm in tune with you, Lord, it feels like all things are possible. When I'm in tune with you, Lord, I can scale a wall. When I'm in tune with you, Lord, the giant looks like an opportunity, not a problem. When I'm in tune with you, Lord, I'm able to laugh at what used to make me cry.

When I'm in tune with you, Lord, I'm able to cry. and know that tears don't last always, but joy comes in the morning when I'm in tune with you, Lord. It's a beautiful thing to be in tune. This sermon was just like, it was just one of those beautiful, comforting sermons. He said, I just thought this, sometimes, don't you feel like sometimes Pastor Stephen

will say something that sort of like sets you free from a certain way that you were feeling? And he said, from the same heart comes your greatest fears and your greatest faith. And so then he said, therefore your heart is a harp and it has to be tuned to truth. And the whole sermon,

he's talking about tuning your heart to truth and being able to hear what God is saying to you. And so then, like, as the sermon progressed, though, like, first I got a hug and then I got a little, what would we say earlier, a little push because he said tuning feels like tension. And it's like, when, When you think about tuning your heart to God's word

and to God's praise, you think it's going to be like warm and fuzzy feeling, but actually it feels like tension because there's something that happens that draws you closer to God. And then I just, like, again, he ended, gave us some homework. And the homework was so good. He said, pause, tune, praise, repeat. And it's like, it's like,

Oh, okay. So Monday morning, when I feel the tension, pause, tune, praise, repeat over and over and over again. And it was just something so practical that really just gave me the momentum for the year that I just really needed. Yeah, so good. He said, this is how I wrote it down. God's not changing his standard to fit you. He's going to bring you up. And that was so powerful. Sometimes, I don't know if it's just a weird. thing I do, but sometimes after I hear a sermon, I'll write down in my notes, like, how I'm feeling or like what it's speaking to me. Yeah, yeah. And I literally wrote to myself, this is really funny. Reading it back, I was like, I know it couldn't have just been me. This had to be thousands. I was like, but something shifted in me during that sermon. I've got some tuning to do. Yeah. And so it was one of those types of messages. And so I'm so glad that you pick that one

because it's really great to just sit here and even revisit it going into the new year about like we've got some tuning to do going into 2025. Yeah. And he talked about how setting our heart is a decision. Yeah. Yes.

It's not default. Yeah. Which, by the way, I mean, one of the greatest illustrations. Yeah. Truly. But like if also like heading into this next year, we're all wanting to set goals.

Yeah. Those goals are going to be accomplished or met. through decisions. Daily decisions. Or if we want our minds stayed on Christ, if we want our hearts to remain filled with peace, that comes through decision,

not just because we decided one day and thought that was going to be the default that lasted us for the next month. He said that guitar players tune in between songs. You know what I mean? It's this rhythm of going, hold on, hold on. It's not constantly tuned. I have to constantly tune.

One part of the message, he was talking about being tuned to tradition. Yeah. And that's the hardest to change. Sure. You know, how do you tune to truth when this is what my mom did? This is what my granddad did. And I'm tuned to something that I've seen over and over and over again.

But to pause and ask yourself the question, is it the truth? Yeah. Is this what God says? Yeah. And if not, that tension, you know what I mean? Being able to commit to that, I think is beautiful. Yeah. This has been so much fun talking with all.

of you. And I want to encourage you, if you're watching right now, and maybe you have some downtime. The week between Christmas and New Year's is like the weirdest week of the year. And it's like time moves so slow. And so I just want to encourage you to go back, find your favorite sermon of the year. Watch it again. Find your notes. Read through them and rediscover some of the things that God spoke to in 2024 as you look forward to 2025. We've got the links to all of these sermons, our favorites of the year, but you've got yours too. And they're all there available for you right here on the Elevation Church YouTube. And so I just want to encourage you to take some time to go back and think about the things that God has spoken to you this year

and the things that God has done for you this year because it has been an incredible year. And God has sure been good to us. And as you've seen today, there is so much more to be grateful for. and so much to look forward to. And next year we'll actually be in our 20th year of ministry. I cannot believe it. So in February, we will celebrate our 19, year 19, but that launches our 20th year of ministry.

And we're making plans to celebrate big all year long. So more to come on that. But make sure you stay tuned to elevation because 2025 is going to be incredible. So as we close out this year, I just want to take a moment to thank all of you who have stepped out in faith to be a part of our year-end offering. We didn't get to talk about that together, but your generosity is a powerful testimony of the impact that we're making together. And it's helping to fuel the next season of our church. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership and what God is doing through this ministry. As you've seen today, this is solid ground to put down roots in and stay.

This is a place where you can experience community. It's a place where you can hear from God every single week. It's a place where you can serve, and it's a place where you are truly making a difference. And if you hadn't had a chance yet, there's still time to be a part of our year-end offering. All you have to do is go to elevationchurch.org and click the give now button by December 31st,

which is just two days away. So thank you for being with us today. And let's step into this new year with our hearts full of faith and expectation. Let's keep moving forward and trusting God every step of the way. I cannot wait to see what's ahead for us. And I just want you to know that Pastor Stephen and I, we love you. We're praying for you. And we are so grateful to get to do ministry with each and every one of you.

I hope you have a blessed and happy new year. And I will see you next Sunday. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry is 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.

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