Elevation with Steven Furtick - Focus Your Faith

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

If you’ve been feeling stuck in your story, it’s time to let God change the script.  In “Focus Your Faith,” Pastor Steven Furtick shows us how the power of faith can transform our perspective. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ Scripture References:  Joshua 1, verses 7-11  Joshua 2, verse 1See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. So why don't you just take 23 seconds since this year 2020, and praise God for the opportunity to be in his presence today. You can do it online. Hey, by the way, we're probably coming to a city near you this spring. Elevation nights, 2023, April 18th through April 27th. Austin, Texas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri, Denver,

Denver, Colorado, St. Louis, Missouri, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Elevation Nights.com. Get your tickets right now, or you're gonna be sad because they're gonna out. You'd be standing out there in the parking lot talking about a breakthrough, but God gave you one and you didn't take it when he gave it. Get your tickets, get your tickets, get your tickets, get your tickets, get your tickets, get your tickets. Elevation nights.com.com. Oh, God. Are y'all going to put up with me like this all day? Oh, man. I think it's the bandana. Did it to me. I need a bandana. Good to have you, Joelle. Hey, I'm excited about the Elevation Rhythm album. When are we putting that out?

Oh, that thing is, it's called This Is the Gospel. And I think you are going to find it to be very, very good. So that'll be coming soon from Elevation Rhythm. God is doing a new thing. New songs, new season, new strength, new series I started two weeks ago. Now I kind of headfaked you. I said I'm starting a series, then I was gone, but now I'm back and I'm ready to bring it. Joshua, Chapter 1, new chapter.

Somebody say that out loud, new chapter. We're preaching from this thought. There's so much more to the story. And believe in that for every family, every business, every person who maybe is recovering from a heart break or you're hoping for freedom from an addiction in your life and we took that specific line from a song we've been singing around here called More Than April and it says there's so much more to the story you're not done with me yet how many are glad that God didn't throw you away oh so the people that aren't clapping didn't make mistakes y'all they are in pristine condition

But some of us did so much stuff God could have junked us and just written us off But he didn't and there's a reason for that if you're breathing there's a reason for that If you're here there's a reason for that There's a reason for it I believe there's a reason God sent you to this message today You got on this YouTube channel and you were looking for a cooking video. Well, I've been cooking all right the bread of life the Lord wants you to receive this word now. Let's go to Joshua chapter 1, verses 7 through 11, and I'll pick up one other verse as well. It's one of those scriptures you've got to breathe before you read it because it's good.

God is coaching up Joshua to do what he has to do that Moses couldn't do, but Joshua's called to do it. Break limitations and break barriers and lead the people into something great to glorify his name. So let me get ready for this. Verse 7. Be strong. In my imagination, when I said that, y'all were like shouting and stuff. We're going to talk about your attitude when we preach this message. Be strong and very courageous.

Be careful to obey all the law. You're like, well, that's mine, the careful part. I'm the careful one. You don't normally see those two together. courageous and careful. Usually it's like, don't climb up there on that thing. You're going to break your neck. That's the first thing our parents start telling us. There's all the stuff we're going to break our neck doing and get killed doing. So I thought it was fascinating that they're right there together. Be courageous, not just courageous, but very courageous, and be careful. Isn't that interesting? I love these little tensions in the text. That's what helps me to really see the truth in it.

Be very courageous and be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may be successful. Well, brother Steve, the Lord doesn't care if we succeed. Does he not? Did he say that you may be successful? I mean, I want this sermon to succeed today. I hope you do too. I don't want to just talk and you get and put down three notes and lose the note sheet before

you even get to Tuesday. I want this sermon to get in your heart. And I want you to succeed. I want this sermon to work when you have to go to court next month. I want this sermon to work when you have to negotiate. I want this sermon to work when you have to say no to the thing you've been saying yes to for the last 17 years. I want this to work for you in your life.

He wants you to be successful wherever you go. And look at this. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.

Do not be discouraged. For the Lord, your God will be with you. Wherever. Oh, that sounds like a blank check to me. Wherever you go. We're going to test the limits of that in a moment. You'll see. Verse 10. So Joshua, last time I preached, I preached now Joshua. God is bringing something into your life now, and God is always bringing something new into your life. So Joshua ordered the officers of the people go through the camp and tell the people, Get your possessions ready. Three days from now, you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land.

The Lord your God is giving you for your own. Drop down to chapter 2, verse 1. Last verse. Then Joshua, son of nun, secretly sent two spies, secretly sent two spies from Shitam. It's a long eye. Very important. Shidam. Y'all are so bad. What kind of church is this? Secretly sent two spies from Shitam. Go look over the land, he said, especially Jericho. So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. Very interesting. The title of this message is Focus Your Faith. And that's what I want to teach you about today, how to focus your faith.

And then the little subheading is, do the thing that you would do. Do the thing that you would do. Tell your neighbor, do the thing that you would do. Do the thing that you would do. Father, I thank you for what you spoke. Help me just to step aside now and let you deliver your word. But you can use me, God. I'm available to you.

in Jesus' name. Amen. Tell somebody, focus on your way down to your seat. Focus your faith. Focus your faith. I don't know if you got to hear my last sermon, but I was saying how I've been reading through the Bible real slow with my oldest boy. We had this conversation where he asked me, shouldn't every Christian be required to read through the whole Bible at least once before the they die. He said, it's so much better when you take the whole thing in and kind of you get invested in it. And he said, I realized that now I just used to pick little scriptures. And this would definitely be one to pick, right? Be strong and courageous. The Lord will be with you wherever you go. It's like, all right, going to the club. I'm going out here. And isn't it crazy that

right after God said that, I'll be with you wherever you go, they went to a prostitute's house. I guess they were checking this out. Like, really? Like everywhere we go? And of course, they weren't in the prostitutes house for any other reason than the fact that Rahab's resume included a history of hiding men. This is what I mean by the Bible is so cool when you read it. Why Rahab's house? And then on one hand, you think maybe they're sinning, but they're not. They're going to a place that seems unlikely in a territory that is full of enemies. And so they go to Rahab's house, the prostitute. Now, I don't want to speak much about Rahab the prostitute this week, but maybe she'll show up next week.

This might be a two-weeker or something like that. I really want to get on this motivational thing where he said, be strong and very courageous, be careful to obey. Do not turn from the right to the left. that you may be successful. And then did you notice how he said in verse 9, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged? I love that sermon I did a few weeks ago where I had Graham come up here and put his forearm on my neck

and I was saying how at a wrestling match I heard a woman screaming, stand up! And like how hard it is to do these things that we read about in the scripture. And I have not had so much feedback on a sermon in years as I got just going around, people saying, I loved when Graham was on top of you for like seven minutes just grinding you into the ground. That was awesome. That was your best sermon ever. I'm like, do you remember the scripture? No, but that was really cool how Graham was like, because I feel like that, because I feel like that in my life. And I can't say I ever could

really name it. But when you acted it out, I was like, yes, exactly. You're like, don't be afraid. It's like, dude, you talk to people about God for a living. If you went to work where I went to work, you would understand my fear. I think we found a point of connection there that is kind of crazy sometimes in your life. And so when he says, don't be afraid. And then he says, God says, not me, God says to Joshua, don't be discouraged. I'm really thankful that he said that to Joshua, who had to lead millions of people into a brand new land to fight a great big enemy. Because you might be able to tell me I don't have a right to say it and you might be right

But how many of you have this level of stress in your life? You are leading millions of people into a land that you have no real map for and you're fighting enemies that are twice your size and experience So then this applies to you Do not be afraid I was talking to a friend the other day day who studies sociology. And he said, the thing that has been different the last few years in the people that he's worked with, whether they're millionaire CEOs or people that he's working with within the prison system, is that fear comes first when something changes in your life and then comes discouragement. He's telling me this on the phone. You remember you came over

the other day and I was like, I got this phone call? And y'all were talking. I was like, I got to go. I got the phone call. So I get on the phone with this guy. We had an appointment. He said, I've been noticing as we help people that we need to deal with the discouragement because fear is, oh, no, it's changing. I don't know what to do. I better adapt. But after you've spent a season trying to adapt and it doesn't work, fear turns into discouragement.

I said, say that again. He said, fear turns into discouragement. Fear comes first and then when you've tried to stabilize through a turn or transition or some change, whether it's big picture change or a little picture change in your life or just trying to make a change in your life from the inside, at first you're afraid, but then after the fear has run its course and you've done all that you know to do to make this work and it didn't, then the fear turns to discouragement. And I interrupted him, I said, that's Joshua 1-9. He said, it's what now?

Because he's a Christian, but I preach the Bible and he's more fluent in the human mind. I said, that's Joshua 1-9. That's what I'm going to be preaching in a few weeks to my church. They're in the same verse. Y'all aren't going to believe this. Because any time that the Bible says what we're just now finding out, makes me think God's pretty smart. Makes me think God knows stuff.

Makes me think I can trust him. How many know you can trust them in the transition? Have I not commanded you, verse 9? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. When you go into this land, you're going to be afraid.

But when you get in, because God knows what's ahead in this story, he knows that after they all get circumcised, they're going to be hobbling over trying to walk around the walls of Jericho, trying to fight. the Battle of Jericho after that surgery. You didn't know they did that after surgery. See, there's more to the story. Come back. I'll teach you all the cool stuff in the Bible that they didn't put in your Sunday school. They always taught you to blow the trumpet around the wall of Jericho. They didn't tell you you'd just been circumcised before you start walking. There's so much more to the story. This is not a boring story. And yours isn't either, which means it's going to have twist and turns, which means that God is bringing you into a place.

But the plot, okay, I've learned this. He said, you're going to be afraid, and then you're going to fight some battles that you're going to win. The first one was Jericho, first one. The second one was called I. It's spelled A, I, I, and they did it wrong, and they got beat. So now I'm thinking that what God knew when he's talking to Joshua is, the first one, you're going to be afraid, but it's going to work. The second one, you're going to go in a little overconfident. It's not going to work, and you're going to be on your face.

So don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. And so y'all have a good week. Don't be discouraged. And we just all go out and we don't be discouraged. Just don't be. Don't be discouraged. Does that mean I should never feel like

like I'm taken for granted. No, you're going to feel like you're taking for granted sometimes. Hey, Moses led to people 40 years, and all they did was holler at them when they got thirsty. And then when Joshua took over, they were like, hey, just like we obeyed Moses, we're going to obey you. I'd be like, no thanks. You show some gratitude. You're going to be taken for granted. Every mom say amen.

This is my early Mother's Day message. You ready? The sign that you're good is that they take you for granted. How many of y'all thank the person who turned on the lights in the church today? Nope, they just do it. So you don't ever say thank you. They're that good. Sometimes you're taking for granted because you're that good at it.

Sometimes we take God for granted because he's that good. If God made you do 50 push-ups before every breath he gave you, you'd start thanking him for the breaths to see if you get down to 40. You start bargaining with God. But he's, come on, y'all. He's that good. He's that good. All the way from the back to the front say he's that good.

Yeah, he's that good at his job. So he doesn't want us to take his presence for granted. And he enunciates it clearly so there can be no mistake about who's doing the work. I, the Lord your God, will be with you wherever you go. And truthfully, that's why you're here because he was with you. That's why you survived everything you survived. Because he was with you. It really is the only reason that we made it through because he was with us Let's give God praise that he's with us

When he says do not be afraid Then he must not be talking about a feeling Why would he tell me to do something that I can't help? Be like put me out in the rain and telling me don't get wet where's my umbrella? I'm not giving you one don't get wet well I got to go inside Don't go inside but don't get wet So go into the promise land Fight the enemies. Don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. Keep showing up doing the thing that you know you're supposed to do but feel like it's not going anywhere and you just keep watching your balance go down instead of up, going the wrong way instead of the right way. But keep showing up and don't be discouraged. Keep on loving people who are unlikable. But don't be discouraged. Let me do this for myself. Keep on preaching and preaching and preaching and preaching and preaching and preaching and preaching. and know that some of the people that you preach to are never going to listen to it, but don't be discouraged.

Some will, some won't. Don't be discouraged. Keep sowing words of encouragement. Don't be discouraged. Keep on trying to do the, okay, I got to bring it up. The eating right thing, step on the scale. Don't be discouraged. Keep doing it. And so I realize that God is not talking about a feeling here at all. He's talking about a focus. That was the breakthrough for me. As I thought about what to teach you about when you feel discouraged, I realized that God is not commanding Joshua or Jimmy saying, don't feel discouraged.

He said, don't be discouraged. That means there must be a big difference to God between what I feel and who I am. between what I feel and who I am. I'm depressed right now. I've got joy inside. I just have to learn how to bring the joy from the inside out forward into my life. This condition is not my identity. I'm glad about that because I feel some funny feelings sometimes.

I feel some freaky stuff sometimes. I feel sometimes some stuff that makes me so frustrated and discouraged. And God says, that's fine, you feel it, but don't. That's fine that you feel it, but you don't have to behave like it. You don't have to believe everything fear tells you. You don't have to believe everything you think. Just because you think it doesn't mean you have to believe it. You can check that out.

They have like airport security and certain stuff doesn't get through. Certain stuff you can say to your mind, uh-uh, that's not coming through today. Not today. Come again tomorrow. Maybe there'll be a different TSA agent at the gate. I don't know. Maybe you can get it through tomorrow, but not today. Because I'm in a season that God is doing something and is special in my life.

And I can feel it. And it's coming from my spirit. I don't have everything in the spirit worked out yet in my situation, but I'm not limited by my situation. And even the very language that I use has to be very peculiar in this season, because what I say in this season is going to determine what I step into. Do not. Discurraged. Do not. You have seen glimpses of yourself that reveal your God potential.

You've seen them in certain moments where you were kind. You've seen them in certain moments where you were hospitable. You've seen it in certain moments where you said, no, that's fine. You ride in the front seat. I'll sit in the back. Now, you only did that once in 1988, but you did it once. You have seen seasons when you were disciplined. How many of you have gotten a glimpse of yourself that went like, oh, that must be the me that God sees when he says,

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm not saying that you don't five minutes later blow the whole thing, but you've seen it, right? You've glimpsed it? Come on, don't leave me up here. You've seen it, right? I've met myself strong. Have you met yourself strong? I have.

I like that guy. Let me tell about strong Stephen. Can't talk about strong Stephen? He doesn't have to prove his point in every argument. because he's coming from a place of strength, not neediness. So he can listen to somebody and go like, okay, wow, that's crazy. Let me think about that. Weak, Stephen?

Sounds strong. Because he argues, and a lot of times he wins, because he's good with these words, Mama. But even though I win, it's really weakness. Because when I'm coming from a place of strength, I don't need to teach you a lesson. Because it's in God's hands. But weak me, weak Stephen, he's a whole different situation. He is a whole different case study. And that's why I was encouraged by verse 7 and 9 because I thought like, oh, Joshua isn't just strong.

Because God wouldn't tell him not to be afraid. And he's not just encouraged or God wouldn't tell him don't be discouraged. And it gave me hope for what I've been preaching to you all year about do the new you. This passage to me communicates the belief of a coach that God has in the ones that he's chosen. And it also features some correction that's going to help us today. How many of you want this help that God has for you today? It's going to help us today to understand how to track back your discouragement. and get back on track with what God's called you to do.

Some of you are completely off track right now in your life. You know it. You're discouraged and you know it. You're down and you know it. You're defeated and you know it. But if you track it back, this is what came to me. And y'all are going to think, wow, that's not very deep. But if you track back your discouragement, it usually has to do with your discussions.

Not just with other people, but the conversations that happen. inside of your own soul. You expect God to give Joshua all the military strategy in Joshua 1. And yet he focuses way more. I mean, he gives him the whole picture. He says, I'm going to give you from the desert to Lebanon, from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean. To me, that's like the opening scene of a movie where the drone is flying over the whole land, or they're showing us one specific place, and they're giving us a setting. Ah, but then after the setting, there has to be a good script. And so he's giving him this script so that he can live the story that God wants him to live.

And the Lord sent me to say, some of you, the reason that your story feels such a dead-in story is because your script sucks. Tell your neighbor if you're not afraid they'll punch you, say, your script sucks. Holly, listen, Holly, y'all pray for Holly because she says inappropriate things to me. She says that I'm a bad actor. Anytime I try to pull a little, you know, lie to the kids and make them think something, she's like, you are such a bad actor, you're a horrible actor. I'm like, well, you should be glad about that.

It means I can't get away with anything. She's like, yeah, but you're such a bad actor. And so I always be like, well, test me. Give me a scene to do, and I'll come in the room and do it. So she'll give me something crazy, like somebody just died that I love or something, And I'll come in the room and she's like, and you just got the phone call and they died and so I come in and the thing that I do every time I start laughing I cannot I cannot do it without laughing and we play this game often and she's like you're terrible You're so horrible. Why do you keep making me do this? This is so bad. This is so dumb you laugh every time and one time I looked at her because she's like you're a bad actor and I was like I need better lines

It's your fault You didn't give me any lines You didn't give me any you didn't give me anything to say. So, you know, you gave me a setting, you gave me a kind of like a scene to work out, but you didn't give me a script. Give me a better script and I'll be a better actor. At least that's my excuse, right? So God says, I'm going to give you the strategy for each city in your life. But first, before I give you the strategy for it, I want to give you the script so that when you get Into it, what you say on the inside will empower you to face what's on the outside.

Joshua, this is going to be an inside job. Yes, you're going to face giants. Yes, there is going to be dry terrain. Yes, there are going to be screaming, whining people that will remind you of toddlers that you will have to lead. But Joshua, be strong and very courageous. How do I be very courageous? God, be very careful. Be very careful what you let in you, and you will be very courageous when you face what's in front of you. We keep trying to fix what's in front of us. Oh, if they

would change. Oh, if I were single. Three years ago, you said if I were married, which one is it? Because we keep talking about situations changing, but God is talking about conversations changing. The Lord said to Joshua, am I preaching or am I crazy? Because I think you might be discouraged, not because of something that you're facing or feeling, but because of something that you are saying about what you are facing. So here's what you got to do, Joshua. What do I do? Do I shoot them? Do I kill them? Do I stab them? Do I choke them? All right, before we get to all that, because we're going to do all that. Verse 8, keep this book of the law.

Now, Joshua is jealous of you because he had the book of the law. Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. You got the whole story. Hold up. Let me see real quick. You got something Joshua doesn't have, and I just want to make sure real quick. Oh, yeah. You win. Spoiler alert. I didn't mean to mess it up for you because I know you were going to read it this week.

But you win. We win. The grace of God's people be with you. Amen. You win. Come, Lord Jesus. We win. He's already here with us.

You win. Wherever you step your foot, he's already there. You win. There's 15 people who felt that when I said it. It's like, oh yeah. I read this one. This is a good one. We got to fight a lot, but we're going to have.

faith and we're not going to feel it every time and we're not going to see it every time and we're not going to always know how but he always makes a way and we know this by faith because we have his word his exceeding great and precious promises one author called them the living word of god which never returns void is in your heart we thank you for your word lord i thank you for your word, Lord. I thank you for the promises that I have in spite of the problems that I face. I thank you, Lord. Now, with Joshua, the instruction is simple. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it, and it sounds Eastern. Meditation. Isn't that Buddhist or something? Is this a yoga class? Y'all, we need to quit giving our definitions of words to the world and let them take it

from us. The Bible is Eastern, dude. I told somebody one day I was like, I'm concentrating on breathing more these days. They're like, oh, that's new age. I thought God did that in the garden, like the very first page of the story. I thought that's what the word for spirit meant when the spirit ruach. God started this. So we need to take some of this stuff back, just like success when I read that.

Or prosper, oh God, let a preacher say prosper, oh, God. God said prosper. And if you think that refers only to cars and places that you can go on vacation, you just need a bigger definition of God. Because it includes your peace, it includes your freedom, It includes the richness of your interior life. All that. All of that.

All of it. Now, he said, let's fix this script you got going on, Joshua. Before I take you into this place, before I give you the strategy, before I can get you this success that I want you to have, which is not necessarily the success that you imagine, it's going to be much deeper. He said, do this. Keep this book of the law always on your lips meditating on it day and night, which does not mean, hear me please, to quote scriptures obnoxiously at people when they're going through stuff. Just for a cautionary moment in this sermon. He said, be careful.

Okay, I'm going to be careful. This does not mean you walk around the house and your kid is like, I had a bad day. Well, all things work together for the good of them that love God and are. called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew, he also predestined. And those he predestined, he also justified, and those he just shut up. Say, I'm sorry, you had a bad day. You want to talk about it? That's not what the word always on your lips means. Somebody said, man, I'm really struggling. Well, Judas went and hanged himself. So, you see how it could backfire? If you hear me wrong. So what does he mean when he says meditate? I got a picture.

of it. I got the picture about seven years ago, but I didn't realize it was a picture of meditation. At the time, I thought it was a NASCAR race. I went to a NASCAR race to see Joey Lugano, the champ, the two-time champ, and his number on his race car is 22, like Taylor Swift. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22. I know we got a lot of drivers in the church, but Joey is my guy. And I will always cheer for him. And he said, come out and see me race. I said, I want to. I said, I respect what you do, but that sounds really boring.

He's like, bring the kids. They'll like it. I promise, we'll take care of them. So, man, they treated us so good. Soon as we got there, they gave us these little, like look like a walkie-talkie. And shout out Warren. He gave each of the kids one, and we all had one. And on it, we could hear, but show them the picture of Abby,

because we have one of Abby holding it, just to kind of bring you into the scene. Yeah, they give me a hat, a shirt. I think those are Joey Lugano jeans or something. Joey Ligano underwear somewhere in there, too. And then those yellow Joey Lugano headphones and all of this that, you know, because we're right by the track. And we're standing by the track. And you see that little thing that Abby's holding? Do you see it? You see it? Talk to me. Okay. That thing is, hand it to me. Just, yeah. Just hand it to me. Yeah. Thank you, baby. She called Next Sermon Illustration is me when I had a grandma up here. She said, hey, next sermon illustration is me.

So I'm kind of multitasking parenting and preaching right now. All right. So we had this and I promise you this is not a made-up sermon illustration because it's going to sound like, oh, that's just too perfect. You made that up. But I promise you. We had a video of it too, but I didn't want to show you the video. Abby's five years old and she's holding this thing and she's standing there because on this,

You can hear the crew chief of the driver and the spotter telling Joey what to do. You can hear what they're saying to him. It's amazing. It's made it really fun for me. Help me understand a little bit more what was going on. But Abby, she thought that Joey could hear her too. So she's standing over there. Now it's really loud.

There's cars going fast and what they do at NASCAR. And she's going, five years old, Joey Wogano, Joey Wogano, Joey Wogano, can you hear me, Joey Wogano? And we let her do it for like an hour, because it was so cute. I know we're going to hell, because we let her sit there for at least 45 minutes going, Joey Wigano, Joey Wigano. Is that you, Joey Wigano? Can you hear me, Joey Wigano? And finally, after I got the video and the picture and we laughed and laughed and laughed,

I say he can't hear you, baby. This is a one-way device. What if he could? Just come with me real quick. From Palestine to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. I'll take you on a journey right now. What if Joey did? From Joshua to Joey, what if he did?

What if they met every fan at the gate? and said, here you go. Now, put this on, and the driver has a headset too, and you could put this on. Do you want me to put it on? It's going to mess my hair up. I should have practiced this. Is it on wrong? Is it upside down? What you mean? Oh, strap in the belt. Thank you. Like that? Is it right? I can't really hear y'all. These are really, really, It's wrong? Okay, I tried. But you saw it. Good grief.

Okay, come back to the Bible. So he's like, Joshua, there are certain things that need to be in your heart that will enable you to fight the good fight when you are discouraged and afraid. Now watch this. What if Joshua, when God spoke to him? Instead of verse 10 says he went around and told all of the people, get ready, get ready. In three days, we're going in. Hey, hey, officers, go around and tell the people, get ready, get everything packed, get your shoes, lace, get everything ready. We're going in in three days.

We're going in three days. I don't know how we're getting across to Jordan. Joshua will tell us, I guess. We're going in. How are we going to get over the walls of Jericho? I don't know. Just get ready. We're going in in three days.

Imagine if he had gone around asking them. What'd you think? And then I remembered they tried that 40 years earlier. They tried that. The whole nation started saying to Moses, we can't do that. We can't be that. We can't defeat that. We can't beat them.

Now in your life, this does not sound like Canaanites and land. I understand that. It sounds like chains you need to break. It sounds like impact that you know you can make. It sounds like that thing that you have been avoiding, that you know God is calling you to engage. And you know what it is. So imagine Joey meets everybody at the gate and says, here, just tell me when you think I should

turn. Here's your device. Just tell me what to do. Because see, when you're in the car, I've never been in one, but that's what he told me. He said, you can only look forward. You can't turn your head at all. So that's why the spotter has to tell him, here's what's ahead of you, here's what's behind you. Here's what's going on around you. Oh, they're about to wreck up there. This is

where we need to be. That's why the crew chief, now the crew chief doesn't talk as much as the spotter, but he could talk too. He could tell him stuff too. But imagine if every single NASCAR beer drinking NASCAR fan and five-year-old girl got a device, got a device, got a device, got a device, got a device to talk to the driver and here we are trying to steer our lives in a season we've never been in before

and yet the first thing we do when we wake up in the morning what do they think where are they today oh where are they vacationing oh what is this political party up to shut it down and look up and see what good Lord, Lord, in times of transition, you got to keep it tight.

You got to keep it tight. Touch three people say, keep it tight right now. Keep it tight right now. Keep it tight right. I'm not saying don't make new friends. I'm not saying don't read books. I'm not saying don't take a class. I'm not saying don't have counsel in the multitude of counselors there's safety.

I know the Bible verse says too, but what I'm telling you is God is your spotter. Oh, I got a better one. And Jesus is my croutis. There's more to the story, baby. Joshua wasn't the only one God's at. Because three days later. Yes, Lord. What do you think I should do?

How do you think I should raise my kids? What do you think I should eat? Should do keto? Should do paleo? I don't know. What do I should do? How should I feel about it? How should I feel about it?

It's so crazy. So many voices. Some of them aren't on our phone. Some of them are from our family from people who are dead who raised us Still talking can make the message real simple Who's in your headset to you? I don't want to be stuck up than you rather be stuck I'm not saying don't listen to other people's point of view that is not this message But the Lord said in transition times

You only need to listen to two how many spies did Moses send into the promised land? No Moses He sent 12. Too many. Too many. Joshua knew. That's 10 too many. Joshua was one of the two. Y'all are never going to forgive me up here in this headset with a wire dangling around looking like I'm five years old and I can't even put it on correctly. You are never going to forget this sermon, and that's just the way I wanted.

So the next time that you got 10 telling you, we can't do it. The next time you got Twitter telling you who to hate and who to like, the next time you got Facebook all up in your face, sapping your faith, making you afraid. You'll remember that preacher. You remember Ferdick was up there telling me, I just need two. I just need my spotter. That's God. I need my crew chief. That's Jesus.

And if I got the Holy Spirit, I got an engine that will never burn out. And so watch me make this turn. Watch me turn this corner. Watch me do this thing Watch me reinvent In this season To serve a greater purpose Watch me be a single mob

Watch me break out of these change What's been discouraged Then change the discussion Different script I got one I got one for you I got one for you God said make it personal for him I said how personal Lord

He said real personal I said embarrassing He said as deep as you can go Without getting fired I said all right I share this with you. Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch. I've been driving up to this church to preach for over 17 years now.

Never even really understood that the meditation, and I don't want you to use that word like, um, think of those, think of those head, the headset. That'll help you better to understand what I'm saying. Because I said, how fast are you going out there? He said, 200 miles an hour. I said, wow, then you can't really afford to just have Uncle Billy weighing in on what Joey should do. Turn left. Turn left.

Turn left. Turn left. That's what Uncle Billy knows about racing. Come on, the fastest car Billy ever had was a maxima. You're going to let Billy tell you how to drive? You're going to get Billy a device. Here you go. Here you go, culture.

Here you go, CNN. Here you go, Fox News. Here you go, Elon. Here you go, Kanye. I don't care who it is. If they're not the spotter, if they're not the crew chief, I can listen, but I got to keep it tight. Why? Because we're in a season right now where we're all trying to turn the corner. Oh, are we getting set up for Jericho? Where you're going to have to go around and around and around and around and around and around seven times and it isn't working and around and around. And so I'm discouraged. So when you get discouraged and you wonder, was this really God? Am I really valuable? Will I ever heal?

Is it going to get better? Should I even live? Am I going to make it? Is it going to work? Can I recover? Is there still time? As you're making those turns, you need to learn how to talk with the one who is watching you and who knows every hair on your head because he's with you.

I need a spotter and a crew chief. I need goodness and mercy. I need two. Everybody get two fingers up. They say that's the peace sign. Well, for right now, it is going to be the peace sign. It's going to remind you that when you are discouraged, it's often because you're distracted. Stuff that don't matter.

Stuff that's passing. I know exactly who I'm saying this for right now. You've been telling your stuff craziest stuff. You don't like your story. then why are you sticking with the script that was given to you? Why are you letting a five-year-old tell you how to drive? Yeah, I'm talking to parents. I don't want to go to bed.

Okay, stay up forever and die. Like, what kind of parenting is that? You can't hand that over? So I was driving up to preach every week. You know what my meditation was? Not, um... And it was worse some weeks than others, but many seasons it ran through the background.

I hope I'm not a disappointment. I never would have known how to name it as I was feeling. See, that's why you come so we can put a name on some of the stuff that's going on. And you go, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's a five-year-old talking to me. That's an earlier version of me. Somewhere, I'm scared of letting these people down.

That's not where God put me now. That's not who I am now. And recently, very recently, but long enough ago that I've been working on it so I can share with you. This didn't just happen this week. I don't preach about stuff was that fresh. I drove up to the church and the Lord said, change the whole thing that you're thinking,

changed the whole meditation. And say this. Okay, the first part came like this. Took me a minute. I just sat there. He gave it to me. Say this. God is not against me.

And I'm like, well, that's weird. I'm not worried about you being against me, God. I'm worried about them being against me. They don't want to say I'm scared of letting down. What if I say something stupid? That's not really a what-if, is it? That's kind of just a baseline requirement for me to grab this mic. But what if I try to let the Holy Spirit flow?

What if I miss it? See, all that? You know what else? Joey told me, he said, one thing about racing is, if you don't want to hit the wall, don't think about hitting the wall. Because you hit the wall. And I don't know what we're preaching about today. Are we preaching about a new creation in Christ or a NASCAR?

You're preaching about all of this. Because this is you. Life is going fast. And not everybody out there is for you. Some of them are against you. But God is not. Not the things that the enemy shouts, the things he whispers, secret things.

You can't even name them with language because they're happening at the level of a feeling, so you don't even know how to process it. You don't even know how to process it. You're just turning here when you should turn there, and you're crashing, and you're losing opportunity. And you don't know why. And the reason why I was showing up a lot of times so anxious, I must have secretly thought that God didn't want to work with me that day to communicate his word to people. Because I studied, I prayed. I'm not perfect, but I'm sincere.

I'm passionate. So if I gave it to him and I gave him the time that we and I'm not running around being an idiot and blaming it on the sovereignty of God that I didn't have a sermon, Lord speak, he's like, I was trying Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you were distracted. If I've been with him and even if I haven't, he wants to speak to you more than he wants me to study. So even at that moment, when you screw up, you still got to believe he wants to work with you. How can you possibly get up and preach or parent or run a small business or graduate from school or go back and get your degree or fight diabetes or continue to show up and see your mom three times a week at the nursing home and know that she doesn't even know who you are? How can you possibly push through that kind of discouragement if you don't believe that God is with you and for you? He said send two spies, not too many. You don't need a whole bunch of this right now.

You need to focus on what God spoke to you. So here's the question I want going through your mind. What is something I know God spoke that I can obey today? Get it? What is something I know? God spoke that I can obey today. Do you see how different that is than what we run around managing a lot of times? We run around thinking like, oh, I got to get my life together.

If you do it like that, you're going to fall apart. That's too much. Now the enemy's just listing stuff you need to fix in your life. You need to fix your attitude, you need to fix your relationships, you need to fix your money, you need to fix your kitchen sink and the toilet. Too much. Watch what Joshua said in chapter 2, verse 1. He said, go to spies. It's an inside job. We're not going to make a big deal about this. We're just going to focus our faith right now. I not only feel that God called me to impart faith to you today in this series, but also to impart focus.

What is the next thing you need to face? Just that. What is the one thing? Because Jericho was like the key city. It was the strategic command center. It's like your mind is to your body. If they got in Jericho, they could take the rest of the land. And I am telling you, the enemy is trying to get you to focus on too much so that all you want to do is go take a nap and do it tomorrow. But no, who can I call today?

What can I do today? Oh, well, I don't have money. Well, what would you do if you did have money? Do a little bit of that. I don't have time to go work out. Well, you know, I do it. I don't have time. You got 10 minutes?

Yeah, I got 10 minutes. Do 10 minutes. I would work out for an hour. Okay, do the thing that you would do for an hour for 10 minutes. You don't get it. I heard a guy say the other day, if I was a billionaire, I'd build orphanages in Africa. I said, do you support the outreach ministry of your church? He didn't go here, so it wasn't offensive.

He's like, not explicitly. I'm like, what does that mean? Not explicitly, all the stuff we say to avoid doing something. You wouldn't do it at a billionaire level if you won't do it at this level. That's deception. And this goes deep, right? Because the things that you're really discouraged about are running deep. And so you're like, if I had that, I would do that.

Okay, do the thing that you would do. if you had that? What would you do if you did? Okay, I don't have, let me make up another one. I don't have kids right now, and I want kids, okay? What would you do with your kids if you had them? I would love them. Then who can you love?

I don't have prayer time in the morning, because I have to leave at 5.30 for my job. The car is the sanctuary. Do the thing that you would do sitting there at the table anyway and do it on the road. and plug the iPhone in and put me in your device. And I'll be your spotter. I'll start talking to you. I will preach this same.

I'll make a deal with you. I will meet you tomorrow morning and preach you this same sermon, word for word, on your device. I'll be your spotter. And Jesus can be your crew chief. And together, we're going in to something amazing. So get ready for it. For it what you led in your heart I've met weak Stephen I've met strong Stephen and you know what the Lord is teaching me to do when I'm weak?

Say I'm strong and do the thing you would do if you were strong When you get this going in your life You're going to be able to do everything that the Lord commanded you to do not everything he commanded somebody else to do and not everything you're in-laws think you should do And not everything that your mom or your dad hoped that you would do that they didn't do so they're taking it out on you But the thing that God made you to do the core you I speak to that you today Who's in your head say let's get the Holy Spirit in there for a minute Telling you hey, I'll be with you

Come on y'all, they went to Jericho and God was with them to knock down walls You think he's not with you? They went to a prostitute? house. Stayed there. God used even the enemies to confirm his purpose. You think he's not with you? So I started showing up to the church. And I started saying this. I say it out loud because there's nobody with me in the car. Well, shoot, if there was somebody, I'd tell him, hey, watch this. I don't care anymore. I would rather look crazy than be crazy, but that's just a point in my life I'm at. I say, God is not against me. He is in it with me, fighting for me.

God is not against me. Do the thing that you would do if you believed God was not against you. Do the thing that you, the one God knows, the new you, the Jeremiah 1-5, you, the whole you. Do the thing that you would do. One step at a time, Joshua told the spies, just Jericho. Don't look around at the whole land. You're going to get discouraged. Just Jericho. and do the thing that you would do if you knew what to do. Do the thing that you would do. Take a step in that direction toward God, because I see people in my spirit right now who need to take one step forward.

And so let's change your meditation, not medication, but your meditation today. Let's do it real quick. Say it out loud. God is not against me. I really need you to feel that because if you're just like, okay, if we say it, he'll let us go and I'm hungry. Then nothing happened. But I want you to get this in your headset so it can get in your mindset so it can get in your mouth, so it can get in your life, so it can get in your marriage, so it can get all up in your business.

God is not against me. Jesus died for me. God sees me through eyes of love. He looks at me with the very same affection that he looks at his son who gave his life for me. So I know he's not against me. If he was against me, he would already, because I saw what he did to Pharaoh. He was against Pharaoh. He's not against me.

God is not against me, but he's in it with me. He said, I'll be with you wherever you go. Now put that in your heart. God is in this with me. God is in this with me. You say that when you come to church. I need you to say it as you're walking out of here into it. God is in this with me.

God is in it with me. God is in it with me. 3.30 in the morning. 30 in the morning. Oh, I'm going to be in front of that board on Tuesday. And God is going to be in it with me. God will already have the coffee made when I get there because God is in it with me. He will be with me wherever I go. He's already preparing for me what he is preparing me for. God is in it with me. I want it to get in your head. I want it to get in your heart. God is in it with me. But I'm not selfish. He's working through me. God wants to flow through you. God wants to to use you. And he's fighting for me. I want you to get this in your heart so deep this week. Put it in that chorus for Makeaway that you can almost make a song out of it where you could just walk around. I don't remember how the chorus went at the moment, but I was just hearing it like, God is not against me. God is not a... That's the key, right? Because if I just

say it, they'll forget it, but if I sing it, we might remember it. God is not against me. I'm going to do the whole thing. Put it on the screen, y'all. Let's turn this real quick. I talked to Dr. God on your behalf. He said you've been discouraged and it's becoming a disease. So he said that you need to come. I'll be the pharmacist. He said, this is the pharmacy. He is the doctor. and he wants to change not your medication, but your meditation. And he wants you walking around all weeks saying stuff like this to yourself. God is not against me. Let's say it, but he's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me.

Again, God is not against me, but he's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me. God is not against me. I want to see it all in the chat, but he's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me. You feel that faith coming right now? Let's do it a couple more times. Let the Canaanites know. Let the Hittites know. Let the Jebusites know. Let the Jebusites know. Let the Jebusites know. Let the anxietyites know. Let the loneliness I'd know. Let them know. God is not against me. But he's in it. me. He's working through me, fighting for me. Again, God is not against me. He's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me. One more time, God is not against me. What you would do if you believed God was in it with you. How would you praise him right now if you believe he was in it with you? How would you stand in the fire if you knew he was in it? If you knew he was in it, You knew that not only was he in it with you, but he was working through you, flowing through you, setting generations free through you.

I feel God working through me right now to come through that camera and tell you, God, it's not against me, but he's in it with me. He's working. Let's get this meditation medication to go down, say, I'm against me, but he's in it with me. Working through me Fighting for me Yeah, it's not against me

But he's in it with me Fighting for me I only got two How we doing? God is not against me But he's in it with me Working through me fighting for me Like that, yeah, here we go

God Turn this man's mic up, let's get some Meditation, medication Let's get this to discouragement out. But if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe,

rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at elevationchurch.org slash give. And thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.