Elevation with Steven Furtick - Highs And Lows (Chad Veach)

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

Through the highs and lows, God has a vision for your life. In this message, Pastor Chad Veach of Zoe Church kicks off the new year by challenging us to have faith in the future God has for us.See 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. If you're joined us for the first time, welcome to Elevation Church. Welcome to 2022. This is a faith church. Hold on. I'm going to try it again. I know it's the first Sunday. I know you've been watching Elf movies for a long time, so I'm going to try it again.

This is a faith church. Chunks, you know, the first time I ever came to elevation, first time I ever came to elevation was for an Orange Code Revival night. And Joyce Meyer was preaching that night. And we pulled up here to the campus. We pulled up at the stoplight. I could feel the faith out on the street. You could feel the expectation what I'm trying to say to you if you are in that amazing

Connect group in Virginia. If you're watching online, we're a believing church. We believe that God can do it. We believe that God is with you. We believe that God is for you. We believe that no eye has seen and no ear has heard and no mind can even imagine the things that God has in store for those who love him and are called according to his name. faith church. Come on, clap like you believe it today. I'm excited. I want to give honor where honor is

due today. Anybody love your pastors? Come on, I think you ought to go crazier than that. Anybody love the pastors of this amazing church? Pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdick, we love you, we honor you. The Bible literally teaches us to give honor where it is due. And so we honor this family. We honor this amazing couple. We honor Pastor Stephen for not just his gift, but to use his gift to preach the good news and to point people to Jesus. And we just thank God for them. I think we ought to pray for our pastors. Come on right now, let's pray for Pastor Stephen and Holly. God, we cover the leaders of this amazing church. We bless them right now. We thank you, God, that prophetically you're speaking to them about this year. We cover their home. We cover their church. We cover their church.

children. We cover their mind right now. We thank you that their soul will prosper. That their soul will prosper. God, thank you for every relationship they have. God, thank you that it's in alignment right now. Thank you for great wisdom, the wisdom from above. Give them great wisdom to govern your people. We bless them today in Jesus' name. And everybody said, come on, clap like you got faith for your pastor. Amen. Are you fired up? Now I left, I left Los Angeles. Angeles to come out here to Charlotte because I'm fired up because I got to put a little country on it. I'm fired up. I might as well. I should get Chris's outfit and say it. Chris, I need you to say fired up. Give me your best country fired up for me. I'm fired up, Chad. Thank God for Chris Brown right

here. Make some noise. Give somebody a high five. Give somebody a high five in your house. Give somebody a high five and take a seat. If you have a Bible, go to First Kings. Go to First Kings. Chapter 19, go to First Kings. I'm going to jump in in just a moment, but before I do, keep playing if you're the keyboard player. Don't leave me. Can we thank God for the amazing worship today? My God. First Kings 19, I'm going to jump in in just a moment. I have to just bring greetings from my amazing family. I'm a married man. Are there any married people here today? I am 13 years married. I don't know what that was, but my wife, she is so blessed. I'm just kidding.

Come on, you guys, we're in church today, okay. But can I show you a photo of my amazing family real fast? These are my four kids and my incredible wife. Look at these guys right here. This is my daughter, Georgia, and my son, Winston, Maverick, and then that's my little nugget. My last one, his name is Clive Ellington Veitch. But I need you to pray. That boy is not saved yet.

He needs some Jesus. But God has been so good to us. Has God been good to you? Come on, let's clap one time and thank God for his grace, his mercy. And I'm really excited to share with you today. If it's okay with you, I wrote a message just for today. And I wrote a message for us coming into 2022. Because I was thinking about, you know, a year.

The other day we were in our, I call it. at our swagger wagon. When you got four kids, you get a minivan. So I was up in, you know, on Christmas break, I was up in our Toyota Sienna. You know you're bawling when you're in a Toyota Sienna. When you can hit the button and the doors open, ball out. And so we were talking with our boys about a year. And I was asking my guys, what happens in a year, in a calendar year? Tell me all the holidays that happen a year. So my guys, right away, Christmas. Other guy, Easter. They start going through all the holidays, Thanksgiving and Fourth of July and start going through a year. They named almost all of them until my wife was like, you forgot one.

And I was like, what did we forget? I thought we had all of them. She's like, Cinco de Mayo. I was like, that's what I'm, Taco Tuesday, Balau, Guacamole for Holy. That's my girl right there. We were talking about a year. You know, a year, a year has highs and lows. A year has good times and bad times.

When we have dinner at our house, I don't know what dinner at your house looks like. When we sit down as a family, every day we go through an order and we talk about our highs and lows of the day. Every day, we have a different theme, a different emphasis. So like my Maverick, he's Maverick Monday, or my Winston, he's Winston Wednesday. They get to choose the meal and they get to choose the order of the high and low. So on Wednesdays, my son would be like, you're going first, you're going second, and whoever he's mad at going last. But we talk about the high of the day

and we talk about the low of the day. In one year, think about your next year. You're going to have some highs and you're going to have some lows. You're going to have some good times. You're going to have some bad times. Think about last year. Last year, you had some mountaintop success,

but you had some valley of despair. One of the things I know about 365 days, you never know what a year will bring to you. You never know what this next season has for you. But you've got to make the resolve and the decision today that says, no matter what high or low I'm in, I'm going to choose to put my faith in Jesus. I'm going to choose to worship God. Come on, clap today if you believe that. Before we get there, we're already saying yes to God.

So we're talking about, you know, a year. We're talking about, you know, going through, you know, a calendar year and everything that's about to happen this next year. And then I don't know what came over me. I started to, you know, just kind of wonder the biblical literacy of my own children. You know, do my kids know the Bible? So I started, I went straight from the calendar into Bible trivia. And I was like, okay, boys, you're in my swagger wagon. We're going to ask you some Bible questions.

immediately all the pastor's kid's eyes, they just start to roll. They're just like, Dad. But like, okay, okay, okay. Who was the guy whose brothers sold them into slavery? My boy in the back, six-year-old, Joseph, coat of many colors. It's like, this is my guy. There you go.

Okay, okay, in the Bible. Who was the disciple that Jesus asked to come walk on water? Now, my three-year-old, no matter what question I ask, he has the same person. He's always like, Jonah. I'm like, no, I love you so much. That's the whale guy. He's the whale guy. He's the whale guy.

Jonah. I'm like, no, it's not Jonah. But we start talking. We go through all this Bible trivia, and I probably exhaust them. But I want to make sure my boys know the stories. Come on, anybody believe what the Bible says. Raise up a child in the way they should go. Oh, come on, clap, parents.

It's like you got faith for your children to walk with Jesus all the days of their life. I'm a pastor's kid. I made it. A lot of people in the church didn't think I'd be here, but I made it. So I'm going through all these questions, I've gone through all these, you know, Bible trivia. And finally I get to the last one. Okay, last one, last one. I said, who in the Bible was the guy who goes up against all these hundreds of false prophets?

And he tears them down. And my boys love this part. And he talks trash, and he says, where is your God? Is your God on the toilet? They're like, is your God taking a nap? And this guy demolished these false prophets and showed that our God is the only true God. I said, who was it? My little boy in the back, Jonah.

He's the whale guy. It's the whale, not the, no. So that's Elijah. And it was like, as soon as I saw. said that, I just kept thinking about the story of Elijah. I kept thinking about what happened right after some of his biggest success came some of his biggest failure. Right after the high of the high came the low of the low. And right after he killed these false prophets, the Bible says he runs from a lady named Jezebel. He goes into hiding. God provides an angel

and some cookies. And then all of a sudden God shows up and talks to him. Watch here, high and low watch elijah first kings 19 it says so he got up and he ate and drank and strengthened by that food he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached horrib the mountain of god there he went into a cave and spent the night and the word of the lord came to him and said what are you doing here elijah he replied oh god i've been very zealous for the lord god almighty the israelites have rejected your covenant torn down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me too. You ever whined to God? Elijah's speaking whinees right here. He's like, oh, God, COVID's been so bad, and the Panthers are terrible, and everything's just

a hard-locked life, and I just don't know. And our Wi-Fi slow. God shows up in the place of his low and says, my man. What are you? you doing here? Has God ever had to ask you that question? What are you doing here? Why in the world are you thinking this way? Why in the world are you running? No, no, you're not filled with fear. You're filled with faith. You're the same one that just cast the false prophets. We don't need you here. I want to preach a message this first Sunday of 2022. Write down the title. It's called highs and lows. We live in a culture that says, don't let your highs get too high and don't let your lows get too low. But that's not what the Bible says.

The Bible says in Romans 12, we rejoice with those that rejoice and we weep with those that weep. Come on, clap today if you're excited. This year's going to be filled with rejoicing. And even if it's filled with weeping, we're going to choose Jesus. It's going to have highs and lows. You're going to have highs and lows. You're going to have highs and lows. But no matter what you face, no matter what you go through, you've got to make the decision on the mountaintop of success. I will lift my voice as loud as in the valley of despair. That's why I love Psalm 23. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Why? You are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord. saying even if I'm in the hospital, even if I get a bad report, even if we face death or sorrow or sickness or tragedy, even in the valley of despair, you're going to see my hands raised.

Even in the high of the high, I'm still going to choose God. Amen to that? I want to give you a few things to write down that you're going to need this year in 2022. I try to think of what do you need to go through a year that's filled with highs and lows? What do you need this year? Write down number one. Here's the first thing that you need is you need. vision from God. Oh, I love that thought right there. You need vision this year. Coming into this next year, you need vision from God. By the way, vision does not come from church. Vision comes from the Holy Spirit. The Bible literally says in the book of Joel, in these last days, he will pour out his spirit in such a way that our old men will dream dreams and our young people will prophesy. Translation, it doesn't matter how old you are today. God has something for every person. God has a vision for your life. God has a dream. Oh, we already talked about it. Jeremiah 29-11. He knows the plans that he has for you. So you don't have to come up with the vision. You don't have to sit down with

your resolutions and your goals and go, this is what I'm going to do. You need to go to God and say, God, what do you want for my life? What's the plan that you have for my family? What do you want to do with my finance. What relationships do you want me to invest into? Come on, anybody want vision from God this next year? Watch what the Bible says in Proverbs. Oh, I love this scripture. It says, where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint. When you don't have prophetic vision, so you don't need vision from movies or commercials or YouTube, you need vision from heaven. We call this getting a word from God. I pray over your 2022 that you, You have some mantra, some scripture, some thought, some thing from heaven that God's like,

stand on this word. The Bible literally says, what I whisper into your ear proclaim upon house tops. That utterance I give you, that unction I give you. I don't know what you feel like for your year, but I've been feeling this for the last month and I keep telling my wife, this is going to be a big year. This is going to be a big year. I'm walking around my house telling my wife, this is going to be a big year. This is going to be a big year. Finally, she walked up to me. She says, babe. I'm with it. It's going to be a big year. But can we just say big year small frame? And I was like, what do you mean? She's like, I just don't want to grow. I just want to stay small. I was like, okay, ball out. You do you, you, boo. But can you get some vision for your life? Can you get some prophetic vision and start writing down. Here's what God is saying to me this year. Oh, I love Habakkuk. Watch this in chapter two. Watch what the Bible teaches us about vision. Then the Lord,

replied write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits for an appointed time. It speaks of the end and it will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it. It will certainly come and it will not delay. Write down that vision. This is what God is saying over my children. This is what God is saying over my church. This is what God is saying over my future. This is what God is saying over my business. This is what God is saying over my business. I'm getting vision from God. And let me just say this to you. If you can see it, you can achieve it. If you can see it, you can have it. The first thing God does is open your eyes. He opens your eyes not just to see in the natural, but even into the supernatural. He opens your eyes

so you can see the God thing. Everybody else sees ruins. You see redemption. Everybody else sees garbage. You see gold. Come on, clap today if you're excited to get vision for your feelings. I'm telling you, you get vision, it'll get you up in the morning. You get vision, it'll keep you discipline. Why in the world would you live a life of restraint without vision? The only thing that's going to keep you on the straight and the narrow is getting a word from God. I'm not here for my own gain. I'm not here for my own fame.

I live for something bigger than myself. This world is not my home. I'm not a citizen of this planet. So while I'm here, for me to live is Christ. And to die is I'm getting vision. I'm getting vision. I'm getting vision. See, if you don't have vision, you have no restraint.

Why would you restrain your tongue and not gossip and not have all kinds of filthy language? Why would you restrain your finances if you don't have vision? Why would you restrain and live a life of discipline and devotion and dedication to God if you don't have vision? You need vision. Oh, I'll never forget September 10, 1999. September 10, 1999, the first time I moved to L.A., I'm from Seattle. The first time I moved to L.A. was straight out of high school. I went to Bible College in Los Angeles. So I had long hair back then. I had long wavy hair because I couldn't

get a girl, but they said surfers could, so I can't surf, but I grew up my hair like a surfer. It's a little Samson vibe going on. So I'm down to L.A. I got long hair. I'm in Bible College. I don't want to be in Bible College. I want to, I have my own idea for my life, but I knew that I knew are supposed to be there. So I'm still kind of living my own life. September 10, 1999, I'm in a car with a buddy and he puts in a cassette tape. Come on, all the old

people said, amen. Like, as soon as I said it, I felt the room shift, like, oh, he's preaching now. Oh, he preaching. He preach and preaching. What he said? Cossette. He real. They do real. My buddy puts in

a tape of a preacher named Creflo Dollar. Creflot Dollar starts preaching out of Galatians 6, 7, and 8. He starts teaching, do not be deceived, for God cannot be mocked, for whatsoever a man sows that he shall reap. For the man that sowes to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but the man that souls to the spirit will from the spirit reap everlasting life. I'm in the car.

Long hair don't care. And the Holy Spirit grabs a hold of my life. And the Holy Spirit says to me, you've been a young man that has been ruled and led by your flesh your whole life. And I'm about to rest you by my spirit. God gave me a vision, a download of my future. I'm telling you, I went back home. I cut my hair. I got a spirit-filled Bible. I started reading the Bible. I started reading the Bible. I started being dedicated. Why? I got vision from God. Clap if you're excited to get a word from the Lord. Come on. God's got Mark. marching orders for you. He clap in expectation. Just open your ear and open your eye to what God has for you. So the first thing that you need is you need vision. You need a word from God. Here's the second thing you need. You need faith for the future. You need vision to see what God has for you and you need faith to believe it. Now faith by definition, write down the definition. It is trust, confidence and belief. It is trust, confidence, and belief. So what I say, when I have faith, it means I have trust in God, I have belief in God, and I have confidence in God. You need to

have trust in God this year. You need to have all your confidence in God this year, and you have all your belief in God. I'm not asking you to tap into yourself. You are not the solution to your sadness. We don't believe in self-help. We believe in God help. I don't lift my eyes to myself. I lift my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from you, the maker of heaven and earth. Give them a praise today if you've got faith for your future. You've got to have faith. Now, you might be here going like, I don't got that much faith. I'm not big on faith. First of all, you know, the biggest faith that you need is mustard seed size faith. And by the way, the reason why elevation is so powerful is if you bring your

muster seed faith, and I bring my mustard seed faith, and they bring their mustard seed faith. We're going to have a whole lot of faith for God to heal the sick, for God to do miracles, for God to bring prodigals home. Come on, just throw your mustard seed faith in the middle. But even if you don't have faith, you can learn faith. You can receive faith. Oh, I love the story about this. One parent, he's got a child that's got a major issue in his life. And he comes to Jesus and asks for help. And he's like, my son has got a bad problem happening in his life. Can you help us? Watch what Jesus says to this parent in Mark. Watch this Mark 9. Jesus asked the boy's father, how long has he been like this? Oh, from childhood, he answered. It has often thrown him into the

fire and the water and tried to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. If you can, said Jesus, everything is possible for the one who, believes. Immediately the boy's father answered back, I do believe, but can you help me overcome my unbelief? Can you help me, God? There's a part of me that's like, is this virus ever going to go away? Is this stuff ever going to change? Is our country going to be okay? Are things going to get any better at home? I believe. But can you help the part of my heart that has some unbelief? Jesus is not repulsed by this. He's not put off by this. No, he comes to give you faith today. He comes to give you the gift of confidence, the gift of trust, and the gift of belief.

Anybody want to receive the gift of faith this next year? Anybody want to have crazy faith this next year? Lift your hand. Right there in your house. Lift your hand. Let me pray. God, I pray for the gift of faith right now. I prayed over business owners. I prayed over parents. I prayed over leaders. I prayed over the staff. I prayed over Pastor Stephen and Hawley. Let us have more faith this next year.

Let us trust in you, believe in you, and have greater confidence in you. In Jesus' name, and everybody said together, come on, clap one more time of you. Come on, believe that God will give you faith. You learn how to believe God. You learn how to trust God. I grew up, I told you, I'm a preacher's kid. I'm a pastor's kid. and I grew up in a small little town, and we didn't have a lot of money.

Like, my mom used to make our clothes. You know, not like rocking up to the pool in summer with homemade speedos. You never been through it. You don't know my struggle, okay? You don't know the pain in my platform, okay? So don't judge me. But growing up, we didn't have money. So I didn't forget one time, I was walking through the farmer's market with my mom,

and they were raffling off a VCR. I was a little kid, but we couldn't afford a VCR. And so my mom, I looked at my mom, I was like, Mom, look at this beautiful VCR. She said, well, son, let's buy a raffle and let's believe God that we'll win that VCR. So we paid for the little raffle and we took it home to our kitchen. And every morning when I got up, my mom would take the raffle with me and we pray. And I'm telling you, you never seen a kid pray before until you're believing for a VCR. I'll shout that thing down.

I say, Jesus name, we just declared that we're going to, watch Saltie's praise book on this VCR. We thank you for McGee and me to be up in our home in Jesus name. And I'm telling you, we would pray, we would lay hands on the, and my mom was teaching me faith. She was showing me what it meant to believe in God. She was showing me how to speak things that don't exist as though they do. She was saying that faith is having confidence, having trust, and believe, I'll never forget when one night the phone rang. And that person on the other line said, congratulations your raffle won the VCR. I'm telling you, we did a praise party like it was New Year's Eve at Elevation Church. Come on, clap if you're believing that this year you'll have greater faith.

I wrote a book years ago called Faith Forward Future, because you have to have faith to move forward into your future. The enemy wants you to get stuck. What are you doing here? The enemy's like, I'll tell you what they're doing here. They've got setbacks. they've got disappointment they've got destructive thinking but praise be to god that is the lifter of my head praise be to god that says no fix your eyes on jesus the author and the finisher of your faith come on i'm believing that this year you go to new levels of belief new levels of trust and new levels of confidence in our god oh let me just show you one more scripture look at this is my prayer for you jeremiah look at jeremiah 3217. Ah, sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your

outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Ah, Lord God. Nothing is too hard for you. You ought to just come into this year going, ah, Lord God. Put some awe on it. Ah, Lord God. Oh, Lord God. Nothing is too hard for you. Nothing. He shuts the mouth of lions. He feeds the 5,000 plus the women and the children. He allows us to walk on dry ground while the sea is split in two. He provides a pillar of cloud and a fire by night.

He gives us fresh man in the day. Anybody believe that our God, oh, Lord God, nothing. is too difficult for you. Now, I'm telling you, whatever you're coming up against, it ain't bigger than God. And so listen, we're not going to let our circumstance determine our faith. We're going to let our faith determine our circumstance. Come on, clap like you believe it for your year. I feel faith in this place today. Oh, write down number three today. I love this. You need a renewed mind. You need a mind. I'm telling you what God is fighting for is the same thing the enemy is fighting for, and they are both fighting for your.

mind. Speaking of Joyce Meyer, she wrote a brilliant book years ago, the mind is a battlefield. This is the thing that enemies trying to fight for. And listen, the way that God changes you is he changes your mind. The way that he changes you is he changes your thinking. See, because if you get stinking, thinking, you're going to get stuck in places you shouldn't be. But if you get your mind right, if you get your mind right, you get your life right. Listen, you'll never live past your thought life. better than your thought life. Your thought life is the limit. It's the lid of your life. So watch how God changes your mind. Look at Romans chapter 12, verse 2. I love this scripture right here. Romans chapter 12, 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. So let's just stop there. God's will for your life is three things. It's good, it's pleasing and it's perfect. The will of God for your life is good, pleasing, and perfect. How in the world will you ever know the will of God for you if you don't let God renew your mind? It says, do not conform to the patterns

of this world, but be transformed. Like again, I'm exposing my age, but when I grew up, Transformers was the thing. I mean, I can sing the whole song, Transformers more than meets the eye. I mean, there's the whole thing. We would be in the house playing with these little transformers.

It would be like a police call. car and we just do the little thing and it's like bam just this huge transformer like bob bob how does god take you from your insecurity how does god take you from all your jealousy all your inadequacy all your stinking thing how does god pull you out of the pit he changes your mind you got to understand this about your mind your mind keeps no record of success it only keeps record of failure You realize that you think, on average, you think 40,000 negative thoughts a day. You realize 85% of your thoughts are reoccurring thoughts. And so, you know, a lot of us, we wait till we're in a bad place, we rehab.

But can I encourage you in 2022? You need to prehab. You need to get your mind right before you get in the gutter. You need to get your mind elevated. You need to get your mind on the things about. Oh, I love this in 2 Timothy. Watch what God says through Paul the Apostle. He says, for the Spirit of God, he has not given us timidity, but gives us power and love and self-discipline. Now, the other translations say power, love, and a sound mind. If you study the Greek word for

sound mind, it's literally translated, discipline thinking. Translation, God gave you the ability that when your mind gets low, you can bring it back high. Or as the Bible teaches us, we capture every thought and we make it obedient to God. I'm not thinking that way about that person. I'm not thinking that way about this situation. I'm not thinking that way about last year. I'm not thinking that way about the Panthers. We're going to be blessed.

I'm not thinking that way about so-and-so. Come on, am I preaching anybody? I'm going to get my mind right. You get your mind right. You get your mind right. You get your mind. That's why the Bible says we put on the first thing, is the helmet of salvation. I put on God's thoughts over my thoughts. When you think about yourself,

listen, your mind was not meant to thrive. It was only built to survive. So if I want to thrive, I got to get scripture. I got to get God's thoughts. I got to have, you know what you need in 2022? You need a confidence ritual. You need to build your confidence back this next year. You need to start walking around your home and start declaring over your life. Don't listen to the serpent. Don't listen to the liar. Don't listen to the accuser of the brethren. Don't listen to the one that only shows you all the bad stuff that happened to you. No, you got to get all God's thoughts. You got to say, no, no, I'm more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. No, I'm the head and I'm not the tail. No, I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. No, no, no, no. If God is for me,

who can be against me? Come on, anybody down to build a confidence ritual in 2022 that you're going start leaving your home in the morning feeling like I'm going to be okay. Sometimes your mind gets into a bad place and you get, you ever feel negative? When I get negative, I get scared of myself. I'm like, I need to eat right now. I feel like a walking snickers commercial. And I'm like, when I get low, when I get, because listen, don't don't kid yourself. We all go through highs and lows. We all, we all have good times and bad times. Don't listen. Don't, don't believe the live Instagram. You're comparing your lows to somebody else's highlight real.

Everybody has lows. Everybody has bad days. Everybody cries. Everybody has pain. There's only one hero in this story, and it ain't you or me. Jesus is the only perfect one. So when you get low, how are you going to build yourself back up? Watch what Paul says Philippians 4.

I love this scripture. Philippians 4. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report. If there is any virtue, if there's any praiseworthy, meditate on these things. I wonder what 2022 would look like if you stop watching the news and started looking at God's word. Clap like you believe what I'm saying today. Whatever's true, whatever's of good report, whatever's praise. Meditate on these things.

I live in LA. I'm in Los Angeles, so people can't figure it out. People are always like, oh, my gosh, I love your vibes. Your vibes are crazy. Dude, you got crazy energy, bro. Crazy. I'm like, thanks, man. Jonah, how can you get the spirit of God running through your life this year?

It's because I don't spend time crying over spilled milk. I don't spend time thinking about all the best. bad things that I've done. Why do you keep thinking about your past when God doesn't? He says, as far as the East is from the West, I have removed your transgressions from you. Somebody clap today and thank God. I'm getting my mind right. I'm getting, come on, God's changing your premise. He's changing your perspective. He's changing your thinking. You can't do what God's called you to do with stinking thinking. You got to get the mind of God. Oh, worship team, come join me. There's the last one I want to teach you today. Write down the last one. You need a life

full of Thanksgiving. Oh, think about what you would look like this year. If you've got vision and you've got faith and you've got your mind right and you've got gratitude, who. You know what you need? You need the attitude of gratitude. You need to wake up tomorrow and say, this is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. You need to start getting, come on, there's nothing like a grateful people. You know, God is always looking for a grateful person is a humble person. And God says in the Bible, he opposes the proud. He put a Heisman trophy on that thing.

But he gives grace to the humble. See, humble people are grateful people. God, I just praise you. Listen, I may not be where I want to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be. Thank God I'm out of that old mess. clap today in your house if you're grateful that you're not where you were six months ago

one year ago come on has God been faithful has God been good has God brought you oh I love that song today he pulled me out of my repent he set my feet upon a rock he put a new song in my mouth

many will hear of it many will see of it give him a praise right now if you're grateful I'm not there yet but I'm not where I was thank you Jesus, think about what God has brought you out of. Think about what God has delivered you from. Let's just pause and thank God for some of the fashion.

When I think about the goodness of God. When I think about the faithfulness. You are not amazing? He is. My Bible says, when you were faithless, he remained faithful. My Bible says when you left, he left the 99 church folk. And he hunted you down. And he said, what are you doing here? Why are you living in this apartment?

How come you're messing around? You know this ain't a man of God. He don't even got a J-O-B. Get out this place. We're going to get you back on Christianmingle.com. We're going to get you an M-O-G. He ties. He's in church, and he has hygiene.

One of my favorite stories about Jesus. One of my favorite stories about Jesus is the story of the ten lepers. The Bible says Jesus is walking through Samaria and Galilee. translation between some people that never should have been in church and some church folk. And these ten lepers cry out with a loud voice, Jesus! Have mercy on me! So let me just say this. Never be too proud to beg for God's help.

If you get yourself in the valley this year, can you just cry out? Come on, if you go through some lows, can you just make the decision? If I've got to cry myself to sleep, if my children don't want to believe in Jesus, if I lose at all, I'm still going to cry out. Jesus! Have mercy on me. Jesus says to these 10 lepers, he said, go and show yourself to the priests. See, because this is why you need vision.

To one, he said, stretch out your hand. To another, he said, I already healed your kid. God has something specific just for you. To one young man, he said, go sell everything you got. Then come follow. For these lepers, he said, I'll tell you what we're going to do for y'all. go show yourself to the priest. And it says, as they went, they were cleansed.

Let me just tell you something coming to your next year. The blessing of God is on the other side of obedience. It's on the other side. You're not blessed because you get a word. You're blessed because you obey the word. Just because you get the word doesn't mean you're blessed. The blessing of God. It's on the other side of obedience.

As they went. they were cleansed. This says one of them, one of them came back. 10%. Can you make a decision that in 2022,

I'm going to be the one. I'm going to be the one. One of them came back. Theologians believed that the one that came back, he was the one that knew he should have never, he's the Samaritan.

The one that knew he should have never gotten grace. He should have never received God's forgiveness. Most believe that the nine that went out, you know, the nine that got healed, they ran off to Applebee's and Chevys and Westfield malls. The nine that went out, they were like, we deserve this. You know how many Sundays I've been in church? You know how many New Year's Eve praise parties I've been to? You know, I was at the first Orange Code revival.

Entitlement. But the one that said, I can't even believe that he knows me, loves me, helps me. I know what a sinner I am. He says he comes back in the language in the text says with a loud voice. The same volume that he had in the low is the same volume he had in the high. See, what God's trying to say to you today is there's going to be lows and there's going to be highs. And you've got to decide today, no matter what comes my way.

you'll see my hands raised. No matter what I face this year, you're going to see my mouth filled with praise. I don't praise God on the bad days. I praise him on the good days. I praise them in the springtime, in the wintertime, in the summertime, in the fall time. Clap today if you got faith.

No matter what comes my way, I'm going to praise Jesus. He said, hold on, hold on. He's praising God. Jesus goes, hold on, stop, stop, stop. He's like, hey, Mark, I'm over here. It's crazy. Hold on. Hold on. Hey, man. It's cool. Hey, so, we're busy these days. Hey, so wasn't there 10 of y'all? Hey, John, look at this. And the one that came back was a foreigner? He says, son, come on. Get up. Your faith has made you well today. Come on, anybody, thank for the day. I'm going to be the one this year. I don't care what high comes my way or low comes my way.

You're going to find me with my mouth filled with praise. Oh, just stand to your feet wherever you're at, whatever location. Just worship team. Come back. Psalm 7.17. I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness. I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord most high. What about Psalm 9 1 and 2?

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and I will rejoice in you. I will sing the praises of your name, Oh, Most High. Psalm 95. Oh, come let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with Thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God, the great king above all the gods. Psalm 103, bless the Lord, oh my soul. And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, who forgives all my iniquities, who heals from all diseases, who crowns my life, with tender mercies. Come on, lift your hands right where you're at. Father, we come into this year. Sealed with Thanksgiving. We ask today. Give us vision. Give us faith. Clap today. Come on. Let's heal it. You know, it's almost like before the touchdown,

before the ball goes through the net, we're already thanking God. The greatest force in the history of the world is the love of Jesus. Cannot be stopped. He's in love with you. If you're in a pit today, he's not mad at you. He's not asking you, he's saying, what are you doing here? I've got a future.

Jesus, we say yes to you. We surrender. We say praise be to God that leads us in all triumph and in all victory. And God, we vow today on the first Sunday of 2022 that in the highs and the lows, in the peaks and the pits you find us turning to you

Jesus. You are the author. You are the finisher. Help our unbelief today. Give us mustard seed-sized faith. I pray vision, faith, the mind of God, and a heart

filled with gratitude. Don't let us run. Don't let us hide this year. Don't let us be filled with impostors. syndrome, afraid of what people think. I pray that you deliver people from FOPO, fear of other people's opinions, that we live for an audience of one. And we say today, it doesn't matter what the others are doing, that if we're the only one that comes back, if we're the only one that's loud in praise and worship, we say we'll be that one today. Thank you, Jesus.

praise you Jesus. Come on, let's clap and thank God one more time. Amen. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information.

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