Elevation with Steven Furtick - God Chose You… Will You?

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

God didn’t say “do you” —  He said “I knew you.”  In “God Chose You… Will You?,” Pastor Steven Furtick helps us move past our limitations and step into who He made us to be all along. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ To Get Your Copy of "Do The New You," the new book by Pastor Steven Furtick out 2/13, go to http://www.dothenewyou.com. Scripture References:Jeremiah 1, verses 4-9Ephesians 4, verse 22Ephesians 1, verses 4 & 11See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Enjoy the message. Blessings upon you today. Grace and mercy to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. May the God, of all comfort, comfort you today. May the God of all peace guard your heart and your mind. I'm glad you're here. If you're watching online, I'm glad you chose to watch this video. God knows there's a lot of other stuff you could have watched on the internet. Here you are

listening to a Holy Ghost preacher today. God might just speak to you. This word might just make you jump. Your phone might heat up with this word today. The presence of the Lord is in this place. I've got five people that agree with me at Valentine. How about university? City, Matthews. How about y'all up here in the top section? Do you believe that God can do something amazing today? Glory to God, I'm fired up. I got the Holy Ghost.

I'm burning up. Tell your neighbor, if you brought cold water, don't pour your water on me. Tell them I got the Holy Ghost and I'm burning up. Anybody burning up today? Yeah. Yeah. I don't need a sauna to burn up. I got the Spirit of the Lord.

I feel it heating up right now. This is an amazing day in your life. And I need you to know that if you need to get a record of who you were before this series, you need to take a selfie right now. Because you will be unrecognizable seven weeks from now what God is about to do in your life. No, I declare it, I decree it, and I choose to believe it. Today I'm releasing to my church, my first new book in eight years. Do the new you!

You get it first! That's right. This is written so I can come home with you. Sound kind of weird. This is where I get to coach you. This is where I get to be. a voice in your life that reminds you that you are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, the voice in your life that helps you realize that you are more than the math of what is against

you, that you are more than the mistakes that you have made, that the great I am lives in you. And whatever he is, you are too. I feel aflo coming. Give me an acoustic guitar ready for when I finish preaching. I feel fresh oil. I feel fresh songs. I feel a fresh word coming to your house today. I'm excited.

And we've been going absolutely crazy. I'm going to read you the scripture in a moment, so stay standing if you are standing and stand up if you're not. Because I want you ready. We've been really overdoing it. I think I told Holly, we've got so much content coming your way. Next week you'll get to hear about our e-group study. Your very own Holly Ferdick has created for you with our team.

Let's thank God for her. Yeah. To walk you through each week what we're doing, take it further so you can get the book. You can get the audio book. The audiobook is, that's the one. Yeah, that's the one. And then I've also put together a master class for you with a friend of mine who is a personal development and also performance coach, and we get into it from the biblical side.

But then how many know if you have the truth, but you don't have the tools to put the truth into practice? Sometimes it's like a seed that doesn't take root and bear fruit in your life. So that's going to be available. I sat down with my oldest son Elijah and JT and recorded for the Youth Nation podcast, a special conversation that's been 18 years in the making ever since Elijah was born, and that will be dropping later this week, and the book is available. But today, I want to put this thing in 3D for you, and I want to go to the scripture that's It's started it all for Jeremiah and for me as this concept, do the new you comes to life.

Oh, I'm excited. Jeremiah chapter one. Jeremiah chapter one. I got some surprises for you over the next seven weeks. And this will be a foundation today for us to build on. One more page. Okay, Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 4. Let's go.

The word of the Lord came to me saying. I'm not going to do it, y'all, but I could preach the entire message off of that verse. I'm not going to do it. I got more verses, but I could stop right there and preach. The word of the Lord came to me saying. First of all, the word is perpetual. It came to me. It doesn't just come once when God.

said let there be light there can still be light because he's still speaking not only is it perpetual but it is personal the word of the Lord came to me somebody say speak to me lord now turn to your neighbor and say you need it I hope he does speak to you it's perpetual it's personal but watch this it is also predestined and this is where we want to get today verse 5 before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. All that sounds good, sovereign Lord, I said, I don't know how to speak. I am too young. But the Lord, this sounds like an interruption of your insecurities.

Would you let God interrupt your insecurities if he wanted to today? But the Lord, somebody say, but the Lord, said to me, do not say, I am too young. Y'all, whatever you put behind the words I am is a direct reflection on your maker, because that's his name. Said to me, do not say I am too young. You must go to everyone I send you. Say whatever I command you, do not be afraid of them. for I am with you and we'll rescue you, declares the Lord. And let's camp on verse 9 today.

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, I have put my words in your mouth. The title of our first message for our brand new series, Do the New You, is God chose you. Will you? Put that in the comments right now. God chose you. Now a question, will you? That's what we're going to decide. And Spirit of God, I declare over each and every life who connected with this message that you have already decided and destined who they will become. Now, God, I come into partnership with you to speak your words over your people, and I expect a great success from it, because you're with me. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Wow. You feel like we could go home

on that. But we won't. It's good to go over this material. I've spent a year writing this book, Do the New You.com. That's Do thenewnew.com. Yeah, I'm promoting it because I believe in it. And I believe in it because I need it. And from what I see as a pastor, you do too. You do too. Seeing all the people that we get to meet and all of the precious people that we get to partner with in ministry who are silently asking the same question, but may be afraid to say it because it makes them sound like rookies or complainers. The question is, how do I change? How do I make changes that stay? How do I change? And the first step to this, I would contend, does not start with you at all.

It starts with the God who changes you. And the God that changes you is the God that created you. Start taking notes at any time. None of this is in the book. I'm flowing in the Holy Ghost right now. It reminded me, go ahead and bring that screen out. I got a bunch of toys coming today because I think I want this message to be special, so I got all the stuff that I'm planning to bring up here on the stage.

But bring that screen out. I'm not the most technological person. I'm going to bring up my scriptures, some of my scriptures on this screen and draw on the screen for visual learners. How many of you are visual learners? And how many of you are, what's the other one? Auditory learners. And how many of you are still trying to figure out what style you are because you're 50

and you still haven't learned everything that you think you need to know? Good. It just reminded me from when they were bringing this out. When the iPad first came out before you were born, when the iPad was just an arrow in the quiver of Steve Jobs. I remember how excited I was to have my first iPad. I was flying somewhere to preach, and I had the iPad out because I wanted to preach from my iPad for the first time, and I was excited.

This got next to me on the plane. I'm not judging him, but he looked kind of nerdy. He looked like a guy who knew a lot about technology. Is that a better way to say it? He looked very techy. He looked like a nerd. And he looked at my iPad and he started the lust and he was like, how do you like it? Because at that time it was relatively new technology.

And I said, I love it. I just got it. It's great. And he goes, what do you do on it? I said, well, like I said, I just got it. But I mean, so far I'm a preacher, so I'm putting my Bible notes on here for my sermon and play angry birds on it with my five-year-old fruit ninja. So all of a sudden his facial expression changed.

I watched it. He went from excited to disgusted. Shook his head. And he looks back at me. I'll never forget what he said. This has been over a decade ago, and I remember exactly what he said. You are using that device far beneath its full potential. And he didn't want to talk the rest of the flight.

It was absolute anathema to him. the curse of Lucifer himself, to be sitting next to somebody on a plane who had something so powerful, who had something with so much potential. And here I am putting a slingshot at some birds and a sword on some watermelons. And he looked at it and said, I wish I could get my hands on that iPad. You got more money than you do good sense, if that's all you're doing with that iPad. Do you know what I could do with that iPad? I could cure cancer with that iPad.

And I guess he could. We didn't speak the rest of the time. I should have asked him. I should have asked him. Well, what will it do? I should have asked him. But I felt kind of embarrassed at that point to be sitting with something that was so amazing. And I knew it was amazing.

But to be so limited in my ability to access the potential of something that was so powerful and to not know how. I should have asked him. He said, he lectured me. The class I didn't ask for her. You are using that device. I wonder if God ever looks at what he made. Y'all can help me preach any time.

Don't go Episcopalian on me my first Sunday of my new book series. I wonder if God ever looks at what is in your spirit. if God ever looks at the gifts that are in seed form in the soil of you. I wonder if God ever looks at the hand you've been dealt and the skillful hands you've been given and the opportunities and the open doors and the amazing ways that he has made for you and the amazing personality that he has endowed you on that you apologize for because it wasn't just like your brother's growing up. I wonder if God ever looks at what he gave you and says you are using what you're holding.

Far beneath its full potential. Now, of course, the phrase, you do you, is a controversial phrase. That's obviously, I don't want to assume that you know what I'm trying to say here. It's when people, usually they're trying to say, I would never in my lifetime wear those, but you do you. Like, I think you look ridiculous. They don't say that part. They go, hey, you do you.

Or in a more positive sense, is what I'm not. I told Holly, when she was first trying to figure out how to preach, she was like, but I'm not preachy. I'm like, you don't need to scream. We got microphones. I just scream because I got issues. Be calm. Do you? People will actually be thankful that they don't have to listen to me scream that week when you get up and sound very softly.

And you can kick their butts in a whisper. Do you? Do you? Look at somebody say, do you? And it's good, and I know it's a little bit old, it's a little cliche. Do you? The only problem I have with the advice, do you, is that would be good advice if you knew you, but do you? I'm going to have fun all by myself this week.

Come on, I turn 44 next Monday. I'm too old to not enjoy this. Yeah, do you. And, you know, I think that's a wonderful piece of advice if you're talking to somebody who's going to do a new hairstyle, right? If you ever watch an anniversary sermon from the church, you will notice the number of hair expressions that I have gone through in the years. And I apologize for none of them. Every single one of them I did. Every hairdo that I did at the time was good.

And then a woman got online the other week and said, I'm very disappointed that you're dyeing your beard. I thought you were going to grow gray gracefully and show that the age of the Lord is a blessing. And I'm very disappointed to see that you begin to color your beard. So now you can't even dye you and do you without somebody telling you, come on. I'm going to die it for a little while. The Bible says, die to the old. So that's what I'm trying to do. Yeah.

Do you? And if it goes gray, you'll know I'm ready to try. New me. Very helpful advice if you're saying, hey, don't feel the pressure to perform like you saw somebody else perform. Do you? Sing in your range. Use your gift. Say it how you say it.

That's great. Or, you know, get a Mohawk. Everybody should do it once in their life. Get a mullet. I'm halfway there right now. I'm thinking about it. And if that's what I want to do, I should do it. But listen, I didn't really come here to talk to you about mohawks and mullets, did I?

I came to talk about mindsets. I came to talk about your mindset. What I am concerned about for the people that I pastor, and this doesn't have to be every pastor's burden, but I am concerned that the way we read Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 4 through 9, is different than how it happened. And I'm going to read it again, and I'm going to read it as if it were written with our just do you mentality that we bring. to a lot of the situations in our life. Here's how it goes. Jeremiah 1, verse 4, please put it on the screen. The word of the Lord came to me saying,

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Alas, sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak. I am too young. And the Lord said to me, just do you. You don't know how to speak? Don't speak.

No, that's cool. I thought I made you. But no, you do you. I thought I was the sovereign God who put you together. I thought I was the one who spoke you out of nothing before you were formed in your mother's home. God doesn't tell Jeremiah upon his excuse, just do you? Look what he says. Verse 7. Read it how it actually says. But the Lord said to me, do not say I am too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. So this verse

tells me, do you, do, let me show you on the screen. I think this is very powerful because Here we are. I got the whole Bible on this screen, y'all. That guy on the plane would be so proud of me if he could see me today. Come on, some people are just watching this looking for Taylor at the Super Bowl, and I'm preaching the whole prophecy of God on a flip-sideways TV screen. I'm going to do me. Y. Y'all think she's going to make it back from Japan in time? I'm praying for Taylor. I like seeing her out there. I think she's great. Now, look at this. When we get to Jeremiah, here we go, Jeremiah chapter one, all the way to the verse, and I thought the little pin, yeah, where'd I put it? Back here? This is going to take a second for me to get used to this. At the, huh? At the top? It's by the book. The other book? I only got one book. Graham, come get it for me. Y'all give Graham a hand as he comes. Where'd it go? Oh. It was hidden underneath the Word of God. No, no, you didn't hear me. It was hidden beneath the Word of God.

That means that I thought it wasn't there and it wasn't that it was gone, but it was hidden underneath the Word of God. I wonder what Word God has spoken over you that is hiding something that you need in this season. Now, y'all give it up for Graham one more time. I love how the Lord corrected Jeremiah. It's very brilliant how God does it. The Lord said, do not say I am too young.

You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you. Do you do you? takes on a little different significance when I am is with me. Stylist drop. Now, why I really called him up here wasn't to help me with the stylus. We had an agreement before he came up here that he would help me with this sermon. You may recognize Graham from such sermons as God's got your back, Part One.

And don't fight your future. Last time we were on the stage together, I let him get down on top of me. and hold me down to represent all the things that hold us down in our life. And he enjoyed that. Today I'm going to do a different illustration. Turn the tables a little bit today. Because what we talked about is, you know, this idea that you just do you, assuming that you've met you, factors out what God knows that you don't.

And so I want to share with you something that he did when he was real little. I was telling them the story of Jacob and Esau, and I was telling them how Esau was grabbing Jacob's heel trying to get the birth, or Jacob was grabbing Esau's heel, rather, trying to get the birthright and the blessing. Do you all know this story? Okay, I'll tell you the whole story one time, but I can't tell you the whole thing right now. I was telling him about the part where Esau was coming in from hunting and he was very hungry, and Jacob, his brother, was a good cook.

And so Esau came in hungry from hunting, because apparently he wasn't a very good hunter because he didn't kill anything. If he did kill something, he still wasn't cooked yet. So he's hungry, and Jacob's like, hey, I got a bowl of beans. Bring me the bowl. I got a bowl of beans that you can have. All you have to do is sell me your birthright. So they're bringing me a bowl right now.

Y'all got it? Thank you, thank you. Let's give it up for the brother with the bowl. Yeah. So I brought this from home. Many ramen noodles have been cooked in this very bowl. You only knew. One time we destroyed a microwave cooking ramen noodles in a bowl. I don't know how Elijah did that. But in exchange for a bowl of beans, Esau, who was the firstborn, sold his birthright to his brother

and forfeited a blessing that God intended for him to have all for a bowl of beans. My contention with a lot of us, not just young people, but a lot of us who have been Christians for a long time, is that we sell birth rights for bowls. Now, we call it things that sound really good. You might have heard this called Living Your Truth. I personally do not say that phrase, although I have nothing against the phrase. I just want to qualify it. Where do you get your truth from?

Because if living your truth means repeating your experience, you are not a candidate for wisdom. Wisdom will always interrupt your experience to show you that what you always thought you were, you actually were not, but God had put a seed inside of you that had not reached maturity yet in your life. And Esau, out of his immaturity, as a grown man, sold what he could have been for a bowl. Now, by the time you get into the New Testament, Paul calls it something different. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse, I believe about number 22, give me that on the lower thirds, please. Ephesians chapter 422 says, you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self. That doesn't mean don't go down memory lane. That doesn't mean don't be who

you were uniquely created to be. That doesn't mean don't enjoy the things that make you uniquely you. Here's what it means. That part of you that is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. And the problem with you being you is that sometimes what you think you want is in conflict with who you really are. You will find yourself in many different states throughout any given day. And I'm not calling you schizophrenic. I am saying by nature of the fact that you are a spirit that lives in a body, sometimes your body will try to get you to sell your birthright for a bowl. Help me preach, would you please?

Graham heard the story about Jacob and Esau. I shared with him how Jacob all of his life was trying to get a blessing that wasn't his by pretending to be something that he was not, and he didn't have to because God wanted to bless Jacob. But I even shared the part where Jacob was blessing, and he grabbed his father's right hand and put it on his head because the right hand was the right hand of blessing, and he crossed his father's right hand and received the blessing that was reserved for the firstborn and stole it from Esau. And I told him that story, and that night I was praying with Graham and Elijah before they went to bed, and I felt Graham's hand grabbed my right hand, and he put it on.

his head and he said, just call me Jacob, sucker. And he was five. And I started praying for him. And he's an amazing boy. And I see good things in his life. And I believe he has a birthright. And I coach my boys and I coach my daughter and I have to coach myself and I coach you this way. That when you give up what you want most, for what you want now, you're not doing you. You're being deceived. And I can tell you're being deceived when people say stuff like, well, that's just how I am. I just go off. That's just how I am. I just say what I think. That is a bad strategy. Have you ever cataloged your thoughts? Not all of them are FDA approved. I believe this message is

important to a generation that is running around saying things like, live your truth. Because if he lives his truth, he's going to find himself in moments where it will feel true to him that this temptation is stronger than my faith. But it's not. There will be moments where it'll feel to him like popularity is more important than calling. But it's not. There will be moments where he will feel that something. is true, but what if what you feel is true is actually a trap? Warn your neighbor real quick.

Touch them and say, it's a trap. It's a trap. To act outside of the character that God has placed inside of you and call that you, it's a trap. The enemy has some of you trapped, and you don't know it. He has you trapped in the prison of what you call your personality. So now you run around saying things like, well, that's just the kind of person that I am. Well, if the kind of person that I am doesn't match the kind of God that he is, I've got to change some things and choose some things.

Come on. God didn't tell Jeremiah, do you? God said, I knew you. Steve Jobs has nothing on God. Steve Jobs made an iPad. God made, watch this, a resurrection. The Bible says that the same power that he's not. raised Christ from the dead lives in you. Touch your neighbors say he's talking about you.

And so one time I remember being in high school. I don't know if I told you this story before, maybe I told you it 10 times. And everybody was getting high, and I had never been high in my life. And I was that night planning to get high. And I remember feeling like, I'm sick of being a good kid, I'm sick of being alone on Saturday nights, I'm sick of this, I'm going to actually do it tonight. And I remember when I grabbed it and I went to smoke it. And my friend, slapped it out of my hand. And he looked at me and said, this isn't you.

And I came to Valentine North Carolina today to tell you that's not you. Everything that's sabotaging you, I slap it out your hand, and I declare that's not you.

Every habit, that's not you. Look at your neighbors. Say, that's not you. not you. Don't slap them. I don't want to start anything. But when I feel it rising up in me to take me down, I slap it. I demolish strongholds. The weapons of my warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God, because this isn't you. But see, we're confused because we think that if it's automatic, that makes it authentic. I am not what I feel. I'm not what I I do I am what God's word says I am and he is the great I am.

This changed my life because I wrote down the phrase, do you, and then I said, no, no, the new you. Jeremiah 1-5, give it to me. The you that God says, he knew. So maybe we should spell it different. Doing the new you means doing the new you. Thank you, Jesus. You make all things new.

Because, let's say, I preached this to him, and I'm like, okay, so don't just do what you want to do, do what God tells you to do. So then you get out of the trap, right? Everybody say trap. Because I really think it's a trap. To have an experience, form it into a belief, and then call it your truth. That's a trap. That's a trap. That's a trap.

But then let's say you get out of the do you trap, only to bring my next illustration out. The bowl took a while, so this might really take a while. Bring it on out. And now you're about to find out why I brought Graham up for the illustration. Because let's say you get out of the do you trap, I'm just doing me, I'm just being me, that's just how I am. Then you get out of the trap, the do you trap, just do you, boo boo, do you. You get out of that trap.

You're like, all right, I'm going to change. And now that the devil sees you're out of the trap and you want to change and you want to get better and you're not happy with it exactly like it is, you get out of the do you trap and you get onto the future you treadmill. How many didn't know this was a treadmill? You thought it was a coat rat? That's all how you use it. And this is why I brought Graham on the stage. Now he's out of the trap. But now let's say that self-discipline and religion puts him on a treadmill where he starts

looking at, okay, I'm going to do the new me. I'm going to wake up at 5 a.m. My friend wakes up at 6 a.m. I'm going to get up at 5 a.m. I'm going to read five books of the Bible a day. Five alive. How many of y'all started with a real New Year's energy going into a new 24? And we realize we just take it a day at a time.

I think the crazy thing is, and I would do this illustration myself, but I'm wearing these boots. They're new. I can't crease these. These are my new book boots. I'm not messing these up. They're heavy. And I'm not called to the cardio ministry anyway. I've told you all that before. So now, here we go. Do the new you and go. And so now the devil's got some of us out there. Not set. battling, but striving. Because to do you, just do you and not let God have his say, and to commit and put yourself

in concrete for what you've been up to this point is a trap. I know it looks like a bowl is a trap. And I know this looks like walking, but he's not going anywhere. To just do you is to live your life cheated. Everybody say cheated. But to get this idea in your mind that there is a future you that God would love more. Or there is a future you that God could use, or that there is a future you that would be worthy of love in a relationship, or there is a future you that could feel good about yourself and your

life. And it's just one accomplishment away is to get out of the trap and onto the treadmill. And as good as long as it's good, and it works as long as it works, and it works. And I wonder, are there some people here who have been cheated because you've settled for what you thought you were? But I also wonder, are there some people here who are chasing? Chasing something that you think you need to be because you saw somebody else be it. Chasing something that you scrolled past and thought it was the full story of what a happy

family looked like. after future you. So it goes like this, like, yeah, boy, you're going to be great one day. All you got to do is get through high school and then you go to college. Now, all you got to do is get this degree. Now all you got to do is find somebody who's actually hiring with that expensive degree that you're going to be paying off for the next 50 years. Come on.

And so now I'm chasing and I'm coughing and I'm running and I'm so glad I had kids. they could do this part of my illustrations now that my beard needs to be dyed. Come on. And so now I'm chasing and it's great, but not only is it getting faster and faster and harder, but I look around and I realize I don't think I'm ever going to be anything but me. And here I am thinking that somehow this collage, watch, because here's what we do. We get a collage, right?

And then we get the person with all the money, we get the person with all the girls, we get the person with all the success, with all the followers, oh, if I had a thousand followers, now you need 10,000. Just went up. Just went up. Here comes the incline. Now we got social media. I didn't even have Twitter when I was a teenager, and it's not even called Twitter anymore,

and my beard is gray, and I'm still chasing, going, well, maybe if I turn 50, I'll have wisdom, and maybe if I get through this, I'll be happy, and I'm going to rest when, and I'm going to feel good about myself when. And before you know it, no, I'm going up. I'm going up, I'm going up, I'm going up, I'm going up, you're holding on. But the Bible says, give me Jeremiah 1-5, the Word of the Lord came to me and said, before you are formed, I knew you. The Word of the Lord came to me. The Word of the Lord came to me. The Word of the Lord is coming to you right now. out of the trap, off of the treadmill, and into the truth, until the truth gets into you.

And you reckon that I've been running after something that's already my need this potential. I'm already cleaned by his blood. I'm already saved by his grace, by his liberty. I'm already to the praise of his glorious grace. Because I refuse to live cheated, and I refuse to live chasing, because I'm chosen. Chosen. Say it. Get that word in your mouth.

Chosen. Chosen. Chosen. Chosen. I love you, Holly, but I didn't pick you for that illustration. I didn't pick you for that illustration, because I didn't know if you could last long enough on 12 for me to get the scripture up. And I'm not picking on you. You do a lot of amazing things.

I didn't pick you. I picked you for it. I picked somebody. I chose him because I knew that if he had to, he could beat me up. He's in wrestling shape. I'm telling you, God chose you. I'm telling you God chose you. And I'm saying he knew you.

See, I want you to see the difference. Close your eyes. You know, you've been chasing after something that you think when you get it, when you get there, I'm going to do the new me, new year, new me, no, new year, same nose. But what if you've been running after something that is already yours? Perhaps, perhaps the addiction is something that the enemy planted in your life because there is something so amazing inside of you that he wants your birthright and you gave it away for a bowl. Perhaps God really is. Now I'm a minister to this because this is me.

This is me right here. Watch it. Because I sit there and go, well, I'm somebody who goes for it. I'm somebody who doesn't settle. I'm somebody who really demands the best out of myself. I'm somebody who wants to improve. That's fine. It's called self-righteousness.

Because when I talk like that and I don't receive by grace, I end up like Graham almost was. He's still breathing heavy up here. Don't let him fool you with his close mouth. I hear him breathing. Running after something that how long can I keep this up? And I'm chasing, but I'm chosen. You don't have to chase it when you're chosen.

You can walk in it. And I mean really walk, not on a treadmill of, boy, God, you can walk with God, walk through your day, walk through your life. Your father will speak to you. Your father will slap stuff out of your hands. Your father will look at you going so hard because you. Oh, when I wrote this book, I thought, I don't want people to just see the title and go, another one of those.

Do the new me. What's so wrong with the old me? No, no, no. You're just not going back far enough. God told Jeremiah, I'm going to call you to do a new thing. How many sense God is calling you to stretch your faith in new and unique ways that are nuanced to you and this message? Just put in the chat a new thing, a new thing.

All right. But see, God says, before I called you to do the new thing, before you were born, I knew you, which takes the pressure off of me because it lets me know that God is very, very comfortable with my process. And that he is partnering with me in the process. and I am not chasing after a God who might love me when I kick this habit. And I am not chasing after an achievement that might make me feel like my life is worthy. And I am not, listen to me everybody who's not married right now, I am not chasing another person thinking they will make me whole and fulfilled.

I am not chasing an opportunity to collaborate in my business thinking that that will somehow then set me free. I'm already free. And I'm choosing. I'm choosing to walk away from the bowl. I'm choosing because God chose you. I believe God chose me to do this. I struggle with it. I doubt it sometimes.

Y'all, I was reading Jeremiah last night for our Bible club. Shout out Elijah and Kelsey. We're there in Lynchburg watching right now. We're in Jeremiah right now over about the 14th, 15th chapter. By the way, if you read Jeremiah, Chapter 1, verse 6 is about the high point. It gets really dark for the next 10 chapters. Isn't that crazy?

God was calling him to do something hard? He said, I know it's going to be hard. I know you're going to get up to speak sometimes. And we're not all called to speak, but watch this. We're all chosen. You need proof? Ephesians 1-4. Put it on the screen.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world. Whoa! He told Jeremiah you were chosen before you were born. Paul takes it further. He said, you were chosen before the world was born. Before God made what I see, he had a plan for me. Go to verse 11. They don't believe me yet. It takes a lot of scripture to convince these people. They're kind of stubborn, Graham. In him, we also were chosen. That's fine for Jeremiah. I'm not called to speak. In him, in Jesus, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything. in conformity to the purpose of His will. I'm worried that some of you are walking and running on a treadmill after things that aren't

even in God's will for you. Wow. So say I'm chosen. God chose you. Now comes the question. Will you? Which you will you choose? Because I have to decide this every day I wake up in my life.

I'm going to choose the me that I've seen so far? Am I going to be open to the surprise of the Holy Spirit of God? You could probably sit down now. Didn't he do a great job? I don't want to make him say all day. Come on, he did a great job, a 16-year-old helping his dad preach. I was 16 when I really got serious about my faith that my mom raised me and made my commitment to Christ.

16 years old, so when I look at him, I think about that. It makes me want to cry all the things God could do through him. But don't ever check. what they say you can be. If we did, I probably wouldn't be standing here today. Because when I was 16, Chris Dixon invited me to join the Voices of Unity Choir at Berkeley High School, where his mom, Martha Dixon, was the director. And his cousin, Arturo, was the lead soprano. And Arturo was a boy. Had the highest voice of any boy that I've ever heard in my life. But here's the interesting thing about being invited to join the voices of Unity Choir, is that when I went

to join the Voices of Unity Choir, you might remember the old show that said one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong. The only white guy in the voices of Unity Choir was me. I turned to Chris and said, you sure you want me in the choir? Because I noticed when everybody would start to rock one way, I would naturally rock the wrong way. And I'm like, are you sure? But I loved it, but I wanted to do it.

But a few of my white friends were like, hey, what are you doing over there with them? So this is the problem with living your truth. Racists think they're right. And the people were telling me you don't belong in the choir thought they were right. The white people. The black people were glad to have me in the choir. They actually simplified the march into the spring concert so that I could be apart. They were very happy to have me.

Now, when they asked me, how do you have a multi-concern? cultural church. I'm glad Chris said, we want you. We want you to sing with us. Come, sing with us. No, not the one in the three, the two in the four. Come, clap with us. And if you would ever get with God and get in agreement with God and stop listening to what everybody else thinks can be, You might find out that God put something in you. That eyes have not seen, that ears have not heard, that has not entered into the heart of a man. I wonder what's in you. You, you, you.

And the white people mess up the clap. We couldn't even keep it going five seconds. But I love how this church is filled with uniqueness. and some of us prays loud and some of us prays quiet and some of us pray in tongues and some of us pray in a journal

and some of us sing fast songs and some of us worship the Lord to cantatas and some of us are fluent in the scriptures and some of us are new to the scriptures but I know one thing about this church you are a chosen people

you are a royal priesthood you are a Holy Nation, a people belonging to God to declare the praises. Come on, to declare the praises. Let's take 10 seconds and declare the praises. My God is awesome. He rules. He makes the seas foam. He makes the waves rules. He makes the breakers dash. He makes the storm cease. He makes my animals. He makes the waves rolls. He makes the breakers dash. He makes the storm cease. He makes it my animals. He's like a footstool. He makes me like down in green pastors.

Look at you acting crazy. I thought I knew you. Maybe there's more in you than you knew. So now we got work to do. We got to do Jeremiah 1, chapter 1, chapter 1, verse 9, put it on the screen. Because after Jeremiah got done doing his excuses, and I'm going to give you a preview of next week's message. You better be back here next week because I'm not even into it yet. I'm not even into you. You are shouting over the syllabus right now. Imagine what the class is going to be when we really get into this and get your mindset on things above.

You remember how I was up here with the guitar two weeks ago talking about tuning to truth? That's what we're going to do. We're going to get practical. I took six mindsets. I didn't even realize God was setting this up, but he knew. And there are six strings on an acoustic guitar. And there are six mindsets that I will. be sharing with you over the next six weeks. And I'm going to give them to you, and I'm going to preach them to you, and next week I'm going to talk to you about how to agree with God, how to agree with him about who he says you are, how to agree with him about what he says is still possible for you at this point in your life, how to agree with God about his priorities, how to agree with God about his values. And stop agreeing with your limitations. And stop arguing for your past.

And to do it, we've got to get these six mindsets not only in your heart, but watch this, verse 9. The Lord said, I am putting my words in your mouth. I sat down last year as I was teaching do the new you beta version to the church. I realized God was doing something, and I'm closing, so y'all don't have to sit down. And if you stand, it'll make me close quicker, so you decide. And everybody's doing it. Because I begin to write, what are the things that God says are true?

And I was basing it, yeah, stand out, stand up. That's enough for one week. But over the next six, I want to take these six sayings. Jeremiah one four again, please. The Word of the Lord came to me, saying. What are you saying? Better question, are you saying what God sees when you look in the mirror? Or what you see?

What I want to walk you through in this message as we gather together as an online community? I mean, we got resources, but I want to give you the six declarations to make over your life so that not only do we get your mind right, but we get your mouth right. But we get your mouth right so that you begin to say what God sees until you see it too. The new you. I'm bursting to share this with you. Do you feel like I'm about to blow up and be on little pieces all over the fourth row of the church?

I am. Because this is in me. Because I need this. Because I hold bowls sometimes. And I'm cheated. out of what I could be, cheated out of what I could see, cheated of the example I could set, cheated of the freedom I could experience, cheating of the chain that could break. But then I put that bowl down and boy, then I start, Jason, until I fall out and realize

that it is by the grace of God that I am what I am. Did you know Paul said that? By the grace of God, I am what I am. So I'm choosing to live chosen. God chose you. Will you? Will you? Will you choose you even though you know you?

I'd be honest. If I was picking somebody to make a difference in the world, I probably wouldn't pick me, but God did. I wonder what he knows about my brokenness that he can use to bring a bomb. And I'm looking at lives today that look like iPads, brand new out the box. And I'm wondering, what could it be if it got it? the right hands. The six mindsets go like this and shout out to my man, Dave Ulrich, who got an early copy

of the book, and he put him on his mirror and he sent me a picture and said, this book is going to change lives, Pastor. Let's go. Put that picture up that Dave sent me. He wrote each of them out on a Post-it note. He didn't even know we have a stack of Post-it notes for all of you today with these six mindsets on them. You're going to get it.

If you're here, if you're online, you better write a post-it note. down right now and make your own posted note. Repeat after me. Mindset 1, I'm not stuck unless I stop. We're going to talk about that next week. What's blocked you from becoming, what's blocked you from believing. We're going to talk about that from the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit will minister it to you. The second one says, oh, you've heard this if you've been around my church for a while.

Christ is in me? I am enough. I hope you're repeating these in the comments right now. I want you to say it out loud. I want you to type it. I want you to write it. I want you to receive it. Christ is in me?

I am enough. Here's one you've heard before. With God? Come on, with God? There's always a way. And by faith, I will find it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're going to find it.

You think there is no way you just haven't seen it yet. The Word of the Lord is coming to you. This is what I tell myself before I preach to you. God is not against me, but he's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me. We might write a song about that. Already did. Number five, say my joy is my job. You might not like that week.

You might want to skip that week. Put the responsibility on you next week, that week. And then this is really, really important to believe that God has given me everything I need for the season I'm in. Now, if we get you tuned to this, this truth, you will never be the same. I want to pray for you right now. The word of the Lord came to you today, didn't it? Came to me too.

before I formed you, I knew you. I feel like we need to connect. Would you just either grab the hand or put your hand on the shoulder of the person next to you? First of all, Lord, we thank you that we're not chasing your love, acceptance, or grace. It has been given to us by your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that this is the last day that we will believe the deceitful desires. We may still struggle with them, but from this day forward, we are oriented toward truth. Your truth will make us free.

And God, today we thank you that we are chosen by you. And now we chose, we chose to put ourselves in the path of your power today. Because we did, you spoke a word. And this word is now received in our hearts. I declare rain for the seed that was sowed today, for the words that were spoken. decree and declare an increase of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And I thank you that our eyes have not seen, nor have our ears heard, nor has it entered into the heart of a man what you have prepared for those who love you, but you have revealed

it by your spirit. I thank you for revelation, and I thank you for grace to change, and I thank you that you are making all things new. in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you clap your hands at every location? Let's go. 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. This is an IHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.