Elevation with Steven Furtick - God Wants To Show You (Holly Furtick)

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

God wants to show you what’s next, but He’s waiting on you. If you want to see God’s point of view, start by slowing down and going His speed. Breakthrough happens when you let go and allow God to show you the way.    Each year, we come together to stretch our faith by giving a sacrificial offering, believing that God will move in our lives and in our church in the coming year. To take part in this offering and help us in reaching more people with the gospel all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr Scripture References: Romans 12, verses 1-2Exodus 20, verses 22-24See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Enjoy the message. We're going to have such an amazing day. We're already having an amazing day. How many feel a little better now that you praise God the last 30 minutes? In just a moment, Holly is going to come and preach our message today. Let's thank God in advance for the word he's going to speak. Let's say hello to our eFAM all over the world. Come on Elevation Valentine.

Lift up your voice and welcome our EFAM, our campuses all over the world. We're glad you're with us today. At the end of the message today, there's going to be a year-end offering, and this is a very special opportunity for each and every one of us. How many know that the Bible says you can praise God with your lips, but your heart still be far from him? That can happen. But one thing that I've learned that will always help me to draw near to God is through giving.

It's through giving. So when people say I love to worship God, I hope they don't just mean I like music about God. Because the greatest act of worship happens when we bring him our whole lives in full faith. And today you're going to see thousands of people do that across all of our locations and online. have our offering ready and don't get nervous she's not going to preach for 40 minutes about money i know you're like i invited my relative today i thought there might be a christmas sermon about a baby and a blanket and the wise men and the magi and uh the message today will be applicable to all of us around a subject that i know god gave her because we both said to each other a month

ago that's the word that our church needs to hear on our offering weekend and so the lord has really been aligning this and I'm excited for you to hear it. But I want to tell you that for me as I bring my offering today for the 19th year, remember when they used to call me a fly-by-night preacher? Well, I've been flying for a long night. Nineteen years now. And I'm just reminded of what we were singing. That was a great selection. We didn't work that in advance. But you know how the Bible says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church? And actually the opposite happens when we proclaim the name of Jesus, the gates of hell start shaking when we show up. And I've just seen that time and time again, no matter what the enemy has tried to bring

against our family and our church and all of the wonderful people who make up this church, that God keeps being faithful again and again. I've seen it in seasons of abundance, seasons of plenty, seasons of praise, seasons of criticism. I've seen it in seasons where my own heart was broken, but I was preaching to others. I've seen it in seasons when I was on a mountaintop with the victory, that God is my source. God is my source. And so, if you're like me, you probably had to look for a checkbook. I don't write a lot of checks these days manually, but I always write this one.

Of course, you can give online, and there will be instructions about that later. But really, I don't want you to get so caught up in the mechanics of what's going to happen later on that you missed the ministry and the mirror. of it. Because I get so many testimonies from all over the world. Some of them come from people who are just living their lives normally, and God blesses them through the words and the worship and the ministry that comes forth from this house. And some from life's lowest situations. Some write me from prisons. Some write me after miscarriages. Some write me as they're going through divorce. And, you know, whether it's those everyday moments that God uses, how many would say that God has used this ministry to reach your heart at a time where you needed him.

And notice I said, God did it. If you've ever been blessed through this ministry, it was God blessing you. But the thing I love about Jesus is that he always involves his disciples. One time he needed to feed a crowd, and he could have probably just called down bread from heaven. But he asked them, what do you have? Not because he needed what they had, but because they needed what he had. And when you learn this principle, whether today you're beginning to,

tithe for the first time, which is 10% or whether you're giving what Holly and I came prepared to give in above and beyond offering. And by above and beyond, I mean it hurts my feelings a little bit when I give it. That's how I always test it. And whatever you're giving today, I want you to understand what you're hooking into. We don't give to receive from God. We give because everything we have already comes from him. So to all of you who are giving today in just a little while after the sermon. I told Holly, before you preach and just absolutely do what only you can do, let me look at the people and let me look at the cameras for all the people that I can't see at campuses like Roanoke and shout out Roanoke, Elevation Roanoke, Elevation University City,

elevation Lake Norman, all the amazing locations, all of our pop-ups, all of our watch parties. Everybody here at Ballantyne, everybody watching this in a hospital room. I want to look at all of you who are participating in this ministry and say thank you. Holly and I thank God for you for another year of amazing ministry sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and just like you know you raised your hand and said this ministry means a lot to me and my family maybe you were saved through this ministry maybe you were brought back to God

maybe it's just been there for you in the times of your deepest need just like you raised that hand now you get to stretch that hand and give a gift that will be meaningful to God and you and I love it because I don't want to end Christmas just consumerism and busyness and all of that. I want to stop and say thank you, Jesus, for all you've done for me, and I trust you with my future. So I want to say a prayer, and after I pray, we'll welcome Holly up, real proper and strong, we'll clap, with cheer, we'll lose our minds. We'll let her know we're ready for what God spoke, but would you join hands with the person next to you if that doesn't

give you germophobia on the highest level. If it doesn't give you a panic attack to touch your neighbor, grab their hand. Because I want to pray not only for Holly as she comes to share and for you as you listen. I want to pray for the things in your life that you need to trust God about. And whether you're giving a financial offering today, I still want to pray for you. I want to pray that the Lord would order your steps in the season to come. That he would bring the right people. Everybody say right that he would bring people who can bless you and people you can bless across your path. I want to pray that God would give you his wisdom for all of the difficult decisions that you're facing. I want to pray that you would hold on to the gifts that he's given you and not give up too easily.

I want to pray that you would let go of the stress that you're not supposed to carry anyway. Squeeze the hand of the person next to you. Let them know that there's still life in front of them. Let them know that there's still hope inside of them. Let them know that it's Christ in us, the hope of glory. And let's let the world know that we're preaching this gospel of Jesus Christ, that we are not a divided church. We are a united church.

We unite under one name, the name that can break chains, the name that still makes ways, the name that makes the gates of hell shake. We are the church of the living God. And, Father, we give you praise today for the word that you're about to speak. through Pastor Holly. Speak Lord. We're listening.

In Jesus' name, amen. Clap those hands. Here comes, Holly. Here comes the word for your life. I just have to add to that. I love coming to church at Christmas time. It is so easy to get caught up in the rush and the hustle and bustle. But when you set aside time to come to church and take a breath and worship God

and allow him to re-center your heart and your focus, God, always shows up and he blesses us. Amen. And I just have to add, I am so excited about today. It's a special day at elevation. We are bringing our offerings together today. As Stephen said, as JJ said, we want to let you know. We're bringing our offerings today. And I'm so excited because I absolutely love watching people worship God by giving. There's no greater way to express your gratitude to him than giving back a portion of him. Like Stephen said, we're going to get to that at the end, but first I have a word that I'm so excited to share with you today. Are you ready for the word? Let's read our scripture together real quick before you sit down. I want to preach today from Romans chapter 12 verses one and two, one of the most iconic passages of scripture.

And I'm excited that God is allowing me to preach from it today. It says this, therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy. to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. The title of my sermon today is God wants to show you. Let's pray one more time. Father, would you bless the reading of your word today? Holy Spirit, we welcome you in this place.

We welcome you in this room in all of our campuses. Wherever anybody is watching, Holy Spirit, come into our hearts. Speak to us today. We are listening, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. You can have a seat. Earlier this month, they sat down with a few staff members, and we recorded a video where we were looking back at all the amazing things that has happened in our church over 2024. My favorite part of the conversation, of course, was when we all went around and we shared one of our favorite messages from 2024. And when I was trying to figure out what my favorite one was, I was looking at a list of sermons that our pastor preached only in this year. And I was in awe, partially because I know how hard it is to prepare. one sermon, just so you know, I only preached three times this year. And he has preached,

I don't even know how many times. But as I looked at each title and I thought about the things that God has spoken to me throughout the year, through the messages of our pastor, I was just amazed. I am a church girl. You know, I'm a pastor's daughter. I grew up in church. I guarantee you I've heard more sermons than anybody in this room. And I have heard a lot of bad sermons. And I do not take it for granted that every single week our pastor brings us such an incredible beast. If you don't get something from one of his sermons, it is your fault. So the past several weeks have been really special to me. I'm not sure if any of you noticed, but Pastor Stephen did this sneaky little non-series series. He never called it anything, but all of the sermon titles

began with God, and they were followed by four words. Do you remember? It's okay if you don't. I had to look up the titles, but I want to remind you of them. The first one he did was, God can use this too. The second one he did was, God will work it in. The third one was God's got the hard part. The fourth one was, God gave it to me. And today, I just want to do a little tag on message with this sermon that I have called God wants to show you. I love to share memes and funny videos from social media. Anybody else like that? I think I have some people in my life that are like,

can't keep up with all the things that they're supposed to watch that I show them. I love dog videos. I love people falling. I love anything that will make me laugh. If your feed is full of like politics and, I don't know, angry people, you would love my feet because it is so funny. And sometimes I lay in bed at night when Stephen has fallen asleep and I start scrolling through my feet and I start giggling because, you know, like when you're supposed to be quiet and someone else is sleeping and I just start laughing.

And I don't know, I think things are funnier late at night too. And so of course, like, it's like, you know, 1230 and I just start sending stuff. And the funny thing about memes is they show you, you how what you think is the most hilarious thing in the world might not even be remotely funny to someone else. So you have to be really careful, like who you show them to, because they can make you feel like really dumb, right? So in my family, I'm not going to call anyone out, but I have learned the hard way. My husband thinks that everything is fake or reenacted. He is such a skeptic. My boys do not get me. They don't even open my memes.

I know, because I'm like, did you see that? It was so funny. They don't even open them. So Abby is my last shred of hope in the family, but we haven't let her get Instagram yet. So I have a saved folder called Things to Show Abby. And a lot of days I'll pick her up from school and I'll say, oh, I have something so funny to show you. And we will laugh together at memes and currently. people dancing to songs from Wicked. So in our passage today, let me get back to the Bible,

Paul is trying to teach us that God is excited. He has something he wants to show us, which is his will. And every person here has something that they want God to give them direction on, right? I mean, maybe it is a relationship or a job or a change that you think God might be calling you to make. Maybe you have something. that you want to be set free from, or a habit that you know that isn't good for you. And we all want God to show us His will for our lives. And what I want to show you from this passage today is that God wants to show you your next steps. He longs to show, he wants to show it to you more than you want to see it. But God is not Santa Claus. And you don't get to send them a letter

with all the grown-up things that you want for Christmas. You know, like, dear God, this year I would like to lose 20 pounds, own a home, get married, and get promoted at my job. And then on December 25th, you wake up and under the tree is a detailed plan of all the decisions that you need to make and all the steps you need to take in 2025 to accomplish these goals. That is not how it works. And Paul is giving us instructions on how to know what God's will is, but there is a very critical step that we cannot skip. So look at the verse again. It says,

therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Second one. Next first. Do not conform to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then. Then. Then. you will be able to test and approve what God's will is His good, pleasing, and perfect will. There are a lot of things that you have to do before you get to that then, isn't there? And I want to break that down for us today. Keep the verse up there.

One more time, look at it. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy. You see, if you want to see things from God's point of view, if you want God to show you the way, you need to go at his speed. And I can tell you right now that you're probably going too fast. So the first thing that you need to do is slow down. I talk to the ladies at Reflect about this, and I share with them this story.

It's too good not to share it with the whole church. I'm going to shorten it, though, because the ladies at Reflect, we like long stories. And I've been told that that's not appropriate for Sunday morning. So, anyway, one time my family took a trip to Pennsylvania, and my mom had planned for us to go to Gettysburg Military Park, and we were going to do this guided history tour. And I know that might seem kind of strange,

like my family was really nerdy. We weren't. But for some reason, at the time, my sisters and my mom and I were really into Civil War history. It probably has to do with some, I don't know, series of books that we were reading or show we were watching or whatever. So we arrived at Gettysburg, and we stopped at the visitor center. And we picked up our map and our brochures and our... our guided cassette tape. I'm not even going to make a joke about what a guided cassette tape is, Abby. I'll show you later. Now, very clearly, though, in the instructions, it said that the vehicle must maintain a speed of 20 miles per hour in order to see the sites that the tour guide on the

cassette tape was going to be telling us about, okay? So we pop in the table. We pop in the tape and we start out and the man starts saying something like to begin our journey, look to your left and you will see a statue, a memorial statue of Abraham Lincoln in the precise place where he gave the Gettysburg address. And I want you to know that that was the only historical site of Gettysburg that we got to see because my dad, who was not really into Civil War history at the time, just could not drive. 20 miles an hour to save his life. He had to have been going at least 40. So every time the guy told us to look at something, we'd already passed it five miles back. Now, I fact-checked

this story with my sister, Emily, and she says that not only was that true, but she remembers crying because there was a statue of a dog that had like remained with the injured soldiers or something, and she really wanted to see it. And we never got to see it because nothing on the tape matched up with what we were seeing. And I want you to imagine my father in a car full of women who were constantly telling him to slow down. And I want to tell you today that if you want God to show you his will for your life, you're going to have to go at the speed that he requires. And if you want to experience the peace and the presence of Christ in your family this Christmas season, you're going to have to slow down. Now, I know that this time of year,

we all have a million things to do. There's responsibilities and obligations and programs that we did not ask to have to attend. And I know that some of you are working overtime because there are going to be extra bills that you're going to have to pay. But I want you to know that what I am learning in the Christmas season and really throughout the year is that the presence of Christ can be found in every moment of my day if I will slow down and look for it. Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit is always present. And God, like that tour guide on the tape, is trying to show me things along the way throughout my day. He's trying to guide me, but if I'm going 40 and at 20, I'm going to miss the direction and the instruction that God is trying to give me. I rush because I'm overcommitted. I packed too many things into one day.

I rush because I have things that have to get done. There's work and appointments and commitments and activities and errands and dinners and homework and chores. Anybody with me? And sometimes I feel like I'm rushing, though, on purpose because it keeps me from having to feel and from having to acknowledge the things that I'm feeling. And I know that if I stay busy, then I don't have to think about. the things that I'm disappointed about. So I put my shoes on at 7 a.m. and I don't take them off

until 9 p.m. And then I lay my head on my pillow at night and I'm worried about everything that's going on. And then I wonder why I'm so anxious and so run down and so weary and why I feel so far away from the presence of God. And I don't want to feel that way at the end of the year this here. And you don't have to feel that way. And Paul's writing this letter to Christians in Rome. So when he says to them, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, they would have automatically understood that a sacrifice was something that you placed on an altar. So in biblical times, beginning even with the patriarchs in Genesis, with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, when something significant was about to happen or something important had just happened, often they would stop

and build an altar. Do you remember when Noah got off the ark? He stopped. He built an altar and God showed him the rainbow of his promise. So by the time we get to Moses and the Ten Commandments, God is giving Moses the Ten Commandments, but right after that, he also instructs Moses to tell the people this. Look at Exodus chapter 20, starting in verse 22, I think, yeah, says this, then the Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites this, you have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. He's talking about the Ten Commandments. Do not make any gods to be alongside me. Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it, your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle.

Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and I will bless you. So the people that Paul is writing to, they understood this idea that God was giving this direction in Exodus 20 to his children because they were going to be on the move. They had just left slavery in Egypt, but their journey was just beginning. God knew that there were going to be moments of great victory and moments of great fear, and he knew that they had battles ahead to fight, and he knew that they had giants ahead to face, and these moments could not wait for a tabernacle to be set up or for a temple to be built, that these moments called for an altar right there in the place where they were,

right there in the feelings that they were feeling. And yes, you should schedule in time to worship God. please do not let anything come between you and getting to church every single week. And you should be in an e-group where you can discuss what God is speaking to you. And obviously, you should set aside time with God in your house where you pray and you read your Bible. But if you think that worshiping God is segmented out like that, you're going to miss so many things that God wants to show you in the 1,000 moments of your day. And if we want God to show us where to go, we have to learn how to slow down in the middle of our day, at your desk, in your car, in your kitchen, and bring God into the situation.

Bring Him into the feelings that you're feeling. These are altar moments. God told Moses to make an earthen altar. That means that it doesn't have to be pretty. It doesn't have to wait for Sunday. It can be raw and it can be muddy. You can stop. and you can celebrate a victory right where you are, or you can cry out to him for help. But you've got to learn how to slow down and acknowledge your feelings right there in the moment. Are you grateful? Are you afraid? Are you anxious? Are you excited? Are you nervous? Are you angry? Are you disappointed? Are you frustrated? God can handle all of that. He wants you to bring him into the moment, and he wants to meet you right there. Then the next thing that you have to do is you have to make a sacrifice. God wants to show you his will, but you can't rush it. And you also can't ignore the steps that he wants you to take along the journey.

So in our passage, Paul is saying to the church that God wants to show us a new way. He's saying the old law, the law of Moses is done away with. And you no longer have to offer a bull or sheep or goats to atone for your sins because that's what they were doing. But the new law says that God, in view of his great mercy, he sent Jesus to die for our sins. So Jesus has already paid the price. And all God wants in return for that great price that he paid when he gave his son on the cross for our sins is our bodies as a living sacrifice. that means he wants all of you. He didn't just die for the pretty parts of your life, the church parts of your life. He died for all of it. He died for your hopes and your dreams. He died for your victories and your defeats. He died for your pride and for your shame. He wants you to bring it all to him. So what does it look like to make a sacrifice? A sacrifice is something that has value to you. It's a representation of a sacrifice. It's a representation of a sacrifice. of trust. It's a symbol that expresses that God means more to you than anything, more than anything

that you have, or anything that you have had, or anything that you want to have. So when you slow down and you have this moment where you bring God into your situation, you mark the moment by giving something back to God that's valuable to you. So David was building an altar one time, And he said this statement, and it's so incredible, he said, I will not offer the Lord something that costs me nothing. So sacrifice is something that costs you something. Sometimes you have to sacrifice to God something that you love. I have had so many moments in my life where I've had to reluctantly let go of a dream, a dream or an idea that I had about my life that maybe just hasn't come to pass. And I've had to come to a place where I have to release my idea of what I thought my life would look like by now. I thought I'd be further along than this.

Or maybe I thought I would have a different career by now. I thought I'd be married by now. I thought I'd have kids by now. We always all have these thoughts and dreams and aspirations that maybe haven't come to pass for us. And it's really hard at Christmastime because we see everyone's beautiful, Christmas cards. And I think when I look at them sometimes, I think, oh, am I falling behind? You know, like we kick ourselves because we look at this family and this beautiful card and we think, man, if I had started selling that protein powder on Facebook to all my friends and family,

I'd be spending Christmas in Europe skiing right now. You've got to be careful. You've got to slow down. It's okay. Acknowledge the disappointment. Give it to God. Lord, I'm giving you this dream. I'm giving it back. I'm laying it down on the altar. And sometimes when I say, I'm like, and Lord, if you want to give it back to me, that's okay. But right now I'm letting go.

And I'm trusting that you are the God of immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine. And perhaps you have a better dream for me. I can't imagine something better. But God, I'm giving you this one because I want to. to sacrifice it to you right now in this moment. Sometimes you sacrifice a person that you love. Maybe it's your spouse or your child or a parent who you need to release to God, who you need to stop trying to control. And I've had so many moments, sorry to my kids, but you need to know where I have come to God. And I have said, Lord, you love this person more than I do.

I know that. So, God, I'm letting go of my hopes and dreams and expectations for them, knowing God, that just like you have good plans for me, you have good plans for them. And God, I know that you do not need my help. Sometimes you have to let your disappointments go. You have to give them to God. You have to say, God, this did not turn out the way that I thought. So I'm surrendering my expectations to you. Remember, Pastor Stephen preached, don't let the funeral fool you. And he said, he said, you have to have a funeral for your expectations. And sometimes that's a sacrifice that we give to God because it can be so disappointing when things and people don't turn out and don't treat us the way that we thought that they would. Sometimes you have to lay down a feeling or an emotion, like anger.

I just have to say that I'm afraid that we have become an angry generation of people. And every little thing that gets on our nerves and we think we need to tell everybody, you know, like anything that gets on my nerves, I'm going to let you know about it. It could be your spouse or your teenager or a random person on YouTube, but you're going to voice your outrage. And I just want to let you know, you don't have to tell everyone if you're angry. You can be angry and not say anything. And I know that anger is often an indicator of a deeper feeling that we're feeling, but I think that most angry people aren't really interested in figuring out why they're angry, because it feels good to be angry, right? As long as you're angry,

you never have to change anything about yourself. You never have to accept your own behavior. because you just are angry at everybody else's behavior. If they do this or if they wouldn't do this or if they would have done this, then I wouldn't be so angry. And I'm not saying that there's never a time when you can't get angry, but what I am saying is that you can't afford to stay angry. Because if you stay angry, then you will become bitter and you will become someone that you yourself do not even like.

So put your anger on the altar. God can handle it. He can take anything. He wants all of you. He wants the ugly and the beautiful parts of your life. Sometimes you have to put your pride on the altar. Recently, I was having one of these slow moments with God, and it wasn't very pretty. It wasn't like a, oh, I need to grab my Bible and a cup of tea and a candle and have a quiet time. I was talking to God because I was having a hard time. I was disappointed in something that was going on and something that had happened. And I was trying really hard to do all of this, and I was trying to give it to God. But honestly, all that I kept thinking about every time that I was praying about it was these stories that I was making up in my head about what other people were saying about me. And I really was just telling God how unfair I thought that the whole situation was.

I wasn't making any progress, though. And I realized now that I was trying to have an alter moment with God without sacrificing anything to him. And it was a few days later that I was talking to Stephen. And as I was trying to get it out of what I was so frustrated and angry about, I realized that the maturity of my frustration wasn't actually in what happened, like the event, but it was in my pride of what. worrying about what other people were thinking about me. And I was just making it about me.

And I didn't want to acknowledge my pride in the situation. I just wanted to be angry that it had happened. But it wasn't until I began to surrender my pride, that I began to feel peace about the situation. It wasn't until I was really able to be honest with God and say, God, you know what? I'm making this about me. And help me not make it about me.

And when I was praying about it, I began to see it from a completely different perspective because I offered God the truth of how I was really feeling. Paul says, therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. That's the real way you worship God when you get honest with Him. And he says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. You see, we want to fast forward from verse one to verse two. God, show me your will. Should I move jobs? What college should I go to? Should I keep dating this guy? And God says, that's not how it works.

There needs to be a commitment here. And that commitment is symbolized by my willingness to sacrifice to God something that costs me, something that hurts sometimes. And in this verse, this is so interesting. The word sacrifice is actually translated killing. So if you were to make a direct translation, it actually is saying, make your life a living killing. And Paul is saying to these people, he's saying, we're not offering bulls and goats and sheep anymore. That was actually easier. You bring it,

you kill it, it stays dead. But this sacrifice, it's a living killing. That means that this thing is going to crawl off the altar every chance it gets. It would be nice if we could just sacrifice our anger once and for all and move forward. It would be nice if we could just surrender our disappointments to God and move on, if we could let go of all of the weights that we're carrying, it doesn't work like that. It's a living killing. That means sometimes it's minute by minute, day by day. You have to keep doing it. One scholar said it feels like a death, but on the other side of it is life. And that's why it's a living sacrifice. It's a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice that leads to life. There's life when you let go. There's life when you let go. You want

direction, you want guidance, you want peace about your decisions. It begins with a sacrifice. We cannot see God's will without doing things God's way. We don't get to skip the part where we have to give God something that's valuable to us. So we slow down. We build an altar. We bring God into our situation. We make a sacrifice. And then we see our situation in a whole new way.

As my last point C, the more that you begin to release your situation to God, the more that your mind begins to be transformed, that's when you begin to have a renewed vision of what God is actually trying to do in your life. Not too long ago, I was struggling with the same situation over and over and over again. You ever been there? And I'm telling you, I built many altars.

I kept putting this situation on the altar, and when I tell you, it kept climbing off, it kept climbing off. And I was so disappointed because I felt like God was not listening to me. I mean, I had given him so many good ideas about how to fix this situation. You could do this, you could do that. God, make them, you know. I keep God lots of ideas to the point where I got so frustrated that I stopped talking to God about it and not in a good way. I was just like, well, obviously God's not hearing me. And so I'm just not even going to pray about this anymore. But God is so patient and he's so kind. And one day, I wasn't looking, I wasn't praying about it, but I was reading my Bible.

I came across this verse and it grabbed me. And it went about my day, but I kept thinking about it. A couple days went by. I was like, I had to look that verse back up. So I went back and I read it again. And I realized it was the exact thing that I needed in that situation. So I printed out the verse. And I put it up everywhere.

I mean, it's kind of obnoxious that I put it up in, inside of the cabinet where our coffee mugs are. So I would see it first thing in the morning. I put it up on my mirror. I put it in my car. I taped it to a plant. And every time I worried about the situation, God reminded me of that verse. Every time I wondered what I was supposed to do, I remembered that verse. And I have to tell you, something shifted in my heart, but nothing changed about the situation. The only thing that actually changed was my perspective and my attitude. And I'm telling you, it felt like God had given me marching orders, like he had given me the exact vision and direction that I needed for that situation. And I began to have peace because now I had a promise. I realized now that I wasted so much of my prayer time trying to show God what He needed to do. God, do you see this? If you would fix this, if you would change them, if you would make them understand. And listen, there's nothing wrong

with asking God to change your situation. Sometimes that's the only place where you can start, right? But what I found is that breakthrough happens when I stop trying to show God what he needs to do, and I let him show me a way through. I feel like I need to say that again. Stop trying to show God. Let him show you. Now, I'm not going to share my verse with you because it's my verse. You've got to find your own verse, but I want to tell you something. The promises in this book, they are for you. This is not just a book of stories. This book is life. This book has power. And when this book says, I will never leave you nor forsake you, that means you. God is with you. So if you feel lost or you feel lonely, you put a promise on it. When you read that Jesus said, peace, I leave with you, that means you. So when you feel anxious, you put a promise on it. The Bible says that if the sun sets you free, then you are free indeed. It's talking about you. So put a promise over your addiction.

You don't have to wait for Pastor Stephen to tell you about God's promises. They are right here. We got free, if you don't have a Bible, we got one for you. Pick it up and read it and put a promise over your marriage. Put a promise over your family. God's promises are generational and they are ours for the taking. Abraham built an altar and he called it. The Lord will provide.

Jacob built an altar and he called it, Mighty House of God. Moses built an altar and he called it, the Lord is my banner. Gideon built an altar and he called it, the Lord is my peace. God wants to show you more than you want to see it. It starts with a process. Paul says, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, begin to transform and renew your mind and see your situation in a new light. And then, then and only,

then will you be able to test and approve what God's will is? Slow down, put that thing back on the altar, and then put a promise over your situation. That's where the power is. It's right here. But you're going so fast, you don't even have time to open it up and let God speak to you. Today is a beautiful day at our church. It's a day when we cheerfully bring an offering to God. And we've been telling you for weeks to pray about it and prepare what God would have you to give because we want you to give because God has given so much to you. And when we give it, we're saying thank you. We're acknowledging that this is a place where you speak to me, God. And so I want to give so that someone else can hear the messages

that I'm hearing at a new campus or online in a different city or maybe even a different country. And when we give, it is a beautiful act of worship. But don't forget when you give today that a sacrifice is often followed by a promise. Don't forget to put a word on your offering today. That's just as important. The word is just as important as the gift. Because as you head into 2025, you're going to go in strong, knowing that God has gone. before you, that he knows what's ahead of you. And he's given you a promise to cling to in the coming day so that when the times get hard, you've got a word from God over your life. Everyone should have received an envelope when you came in. If you don't have one, an usher's going to bring one to you online. There's a link in the chat for you to participate. And in a moment, we're going to bring our offerings. But I want us to go slow today.

I don't want us to just start singing and come forward and put our offering in the little thing. I want to make sure that you get to have a moment with God right here where you are. Whether you're watching in your home and you're sitting in a seat at one of our campuses, you can make the place where you're sitting an altar right now. I just want you to take a minute. Has God been grateful? Has God been good to you this year? Are you grateful for that? What has He brought you through? Maybe you need to surrender a disappointment to him. Maybe you need to let go of a person that you love and care about so much.

I just want you to take a minute to let God show you your way forward. Take a minute to think about your word, your promise for 2025 that you're going to put on the back of that. envelope because when we come forward and we give even if you're not able to participate in the offering today we want you to bring your word we want you to place it in the offering and I want you to know we have people who have signed up who are prepared today and all week to pray over your word to believe with you what God is speaking over your life for this year. So I just want to give you a moment. The band's going to come and sing and then your campus pastor is going to come with instructions specifically on how we're going to take the offering. But before they do all of that, let God speak to you in this moment. Just pause. He wants to show you.

So we thank you for this word. We just seal it on our hearts today. We love you. We love you. you. It's in Jesus' name. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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