Elevation with Steven Furtick - Lessons From Less (Wade Joye)

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

How can we believe God for more in a season of “less?” In “Lessons From Less,” Wade Joye reminds us to have confidence in God’s purpose, even when it’s not our preference. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ Scripture References: Ephesians 3, verses 14-21 Ephesians 4, verse 1 Isaiah 55, verse 8 Hebrews 11, verse 1 Colossians 1, verse 27See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Aren't you glad to be in the House of God today? I think the only word to describe what I feel in this moment is just grateful. I'm grateful to God. I'm grateful for our church. I'm grateful for Pastor Stephen and Holly for giving me the amazing honor of preaching God's word today because this has been our church home for 15 years.

And like pastor said, the majority of that time I got the great honor of serving as worship pastor and really living out my dream. I had my dream job. And then last year, as God led our family to enter into a new season, our church and our pastors have been so loving and supportive every single step of the way in this new journey for us. And there was a conversation I had with Pastor Stephen in January where I was just trying to say thank you. And I was trying to express that there's no way I could ever say thank you enough for everything he's done for me, the investment he's made in our family. And what he said next is really stuck with me all year long. It's kind of been a guiding light for me this year.

He said that the greatest way I could thank him would be to run after everything God had put in me with all of my heart. And at a time when I was questioning if I had what it took, at a time when I was nervous, at a time when I was scared, he spoke so much just confidence and faith and belief and courage into me. And as I've been reflecting on that this week, I realized that that's all of our story. Because every Sunday we leave church believing that God can actually use us. And that when he preaches, we believe that God cannot just use us. He wants to use us. He wants to invite us in to his work.

And so that's kind of been my vision for this year. I'm just going to run after what God put in me. So a lot has been different, but a lot of stayed the same too because every weekend, our family's in church. We've made the Blakeney campus, our home shout out to Blakeney, the rowdy crew over there. And we love that we still. get to sit under such amazing teaching. We love watching our daughters thrive in our youth ministry. We love going to our E group on Sunday night. I have some of my E group here right here. And even when

I go to minister at another church, I still feel like I'm at home because every service of any church I ever go to, there's always an elevation worship song in the service, usually more than one. I think I've heard same God at every church I've ever been to this year. But it's beautiful. I meet EFAM from all over the country and meet people that said, thank you. for the ministry of this church because God has changed my life through it. And so as our family gets ready to give in the year-end offering, we are more excited and more convinced than ever that this is great ground to sow into for the kingdom of God.

So if you're grateful for our church, if you're grateful for our pastors and our leaders, you're grateful for what God has done in your life of this ministry. Put your hands together. I'm grateful to be with my favorite worship team on the planet again. You ready for the Word of God? All right, I'm ready to preach it. We're going to be in Ephesians today. This is chapter 3, verses 14 through 21.

And this is what the Word of God says. For this reason, I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through a spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Maybe you've heard these next two verses. Now to him who is able to do, immeasurably more than all we ask are imagining, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. To him who's able to do immeasurably more, I feel like there should be a song that says something like you are more than able. I think that would be a great song.

Actually, that song is amazing. It's fantastic. Now, I know I just read a scripture about more, but today I want to preach on the topic, lessons from less. Lessons from Less. Let's pray together. God, we thank you for the richness of your word and how every time your word is opened, you will speak to us. We can be confident of that. We can be confident that you are here among us right now and you want to do a work in each one of us, whether it's Epham, whether it's in the room here at Ballantyne or Gaston,

God, you want to speak to us. So speak through your word now in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, go ahead and give three high-fives on your way to your seat. Now my family did, we ditched Blake Nefer Valentine this week. So I've got my family here. I've got my parents here, the whole crew. But I do want to put a picture of my family on the screen because I'm just a proud husband and dad.

So it's my wife, Ferris. We've been married for 17 years. I've got twin girls, Adle and Leanna. They are 14 now. And then Sydney is our youngest one. So you can see that I am surrounded by women. And so the word count in our house right now is incredibly high. The word per minute number would blow your mind. Any other girl dads out there? Can you feel me on that?

Plus, I've got two teenagers that are going through all the teenage things at the exact same time. So please pray for me. But Sidney, she's our youngest. She's 10. And Sydney's amazing. She's short like her dad. So sorry, Sid. But she more than makes up for it in personality. And my wife and I joke all the time because she, Sydney is just full of personality. She's feisty. and we're laid back, and Cindy's whatever the opposite of laid back is, but we know God's going to use it. God's going to channel that for good one day. She has the spiritual gift of perseverance. So parents, you know what I'm talking about. Whenever she gets something in her mind that she wants, she's going to wear you down until she gets it. She is going to find a way to get what she wants.

And so a couple years ago, when she was seven, she got it in her mind that she wanted to watch a shark movie. and I knew this was not going to end up in a good place because she'd have nightmares, and then it would ruin our night because we'd be up all night. So I was like, Sidney, you're too young to watch a shark movie. But she was set on it, and through some mix of charm and stubbornness and my weakness, before I knew it, on Friday night family movie night, we were watching Jaws. And I convinced myself that not only was I exposing her to one of the greatest movies of all time, but I was going to teach your proper ocean safety because I know people say that we're not on a shark's

menu, but I don't buy that. I think I look like a tasty treat to a shark myself. So we were watching the movie and the girls were excited. But then about an hour into the movie, they got a little bit confused because they're like, Daddy, I thought we were going to watch a shark movie, but we haven't seen a shark yet. And I don't know if you've seen Jaws in a while, but for the whole first part of the movie, you see a fin every now and then. You see some red water. you hear the famous theme song, but you don't see the full shark. And so they were complaining about it. And I was like, I promise the shark is coming.

And so then finally, the moment arrived that they had been waiting for, and they saw the shark. And I was waiting to heal like squeals of terror and fear. I don't know why I wanted that, but I guess I wanted them to have the full experience. And instead, I heard something I didn't expect. I heard laughter. And I look over, and they are pointing at the shark, pointing at the screen, just mocking this movie, making fun of one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time.

And they're like, these special effects are awful. Marvel is so much better. This is terrible. And I couldn't convince them otherwise. And I kept trying to tell them that, you know, that was cutting edge technology at the time that Stephen Spielberg knew that the shark didn't look super real. And so he went with a less is more approach that he knew in order for people to truly enjoy the movie the way it was meant to be enjoyed, they had to see less of the thing that they went into the movie

wanting to see. So less is more something, I'm not teaching you anything new. You all know this. So less time on Instagram means more time in person with the people you love. Less shopping means more money in the bank. Can I get a witness on that after this weekend? You know, less donuts is more apps. Now, I don't personally like that. I want more donuts. I want more and more abs. I would actually just settle for one ab, but I don't think the Lord has given me the ab anointing. But usually we don't like less as more when both are things that we want. We want more and more. So you want more relaxation and more influence at your job. You want more free time and more money. But usually a tradeoff has to be made in order to get something that is most

important later, you have to see less of something that you want right now. So with that tension in mind, I want to read the two key verses from Ephesians. And let us really think about what God is wanting to say to us about more. So now to him who's able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. See, that scripture used to be my cheat code when I was a worship leader. Because if I needed to get the people to shout, all I had to do was start talking about immeasurably more, and people would shout about it.

Because you should shout about it. It's an awesome promise from God. It's an awesome declaration of faith because I can imagine a lot. And if God can outdo what I can imagine, then that sounds like a pretty sweet deal for me. But what I didn't realize is that I would almost treat it like God would take my dreams and whatever I wanted and just like crank it to 11. Like God just wanted to take whatever my wish list was and just maximize that, that immeasurably more was going to come my way no matter what,

more success, more money, more happiness. I treated it like it was Paul's mic drop moment at the end of Ephesians. And the problem with that is this. It doesn't usually line up with real life. Because many of you, you're looking at the last year of your life and you're not seeing more of what you hope for, you're actually seeing less. You're seeing less of what you prayed for, less of what you thought God was going to do in your life. And that can be especially painful during the holidays.

So this Thanksgiving, you were looking at one less person across the table from you after that divorce that you never saw coming. You're looking at less financial security after you just lost your job. I've got two friends right now who just got a devastating diagnosis about their unborn son, where they were told that he would not live past childbirth. So where is immeasurably more for them right now in this season? You know, when Sydney was born, five weeks after she was born, we found out that she has cystic fibrosis. And so we weren't shouting about a measurably more in the hospital room when we got that diagnosis. So here's the question we're going to wrestle with from our main text today is, how can we as a people of God claim to worship a God of a

measurably more in a world that often feels like immeasurably less. So as we look at this question, I think it's important that we go back and see what Paul was actually experiencing when he wrote it because he didn't write this as like a mic-drop moment benediction at the end of Ephesians. It's right smack dab in the middle of that letter. And it's what he says next that I think is really interesting for us to explore. He says this in chapter four verse one. He says, as a prisoner for the Lord then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. So if you're not seeing what you expected immeasurably more to look like in your life right now,

Paul's immeasurably more at this moment looked like a prison cell. He wasn't seeing more. He was seeing less, less freedom, less visible fruit of his ministry, less of his dreams coming to life. So how could Paul still write about God doing more? Well, we know that Paul was a student of the scripture. So I wonder if he's writing this letter, if he's thinking about Isaiah 55 verse 8 where it writes,

my thoughts are nothing like your thought, says the Lord, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. So if God's thoughts are beyond our thoughts and his ways are beyond what we can imagine, then maybe the way that God sees more is different than the way we see more, the way we view more. See, Paul was writing this letter,

either to the church in Ephesus or to several churches in that area, and they would just pass it around and they would read it? Because he was trying to show them what the church should be like. What was the purpose of the church? What did it mean to follow Christ? Because so many people were coming to faith in Jesus from so many different backgrounds and so many different walks of life.

And there was very little blueprint for what this life in Christ was supposed to look like. And they were facing opposition from so many different things. And so Paul wanted them to know where their hope came from, where their power was found, how they could be empowered to live out the gospel live out this life that Christ was calling them to. And in verse 20, I think there's two words that makes sense of the whole passage for us. So put Ephesians 320 on the screen. See, most of my life, I focused on the two words immeasurably more. But I've always skipped over the two words within us. And I think that is the key to understanding this chapter because the more Paul is talking about here

is less about an external wish and more about internal weight. It's less about what we see. It's less about the more that we can view with our own eyes. And it's really about the more that God wants to produce within us, the more that he wants to form within us, the more that he wants to shape, and the more that he wants to do through us. And so when you read scripture, context is everything. So I want to show you some of the verses leading up to Ephesians 320. And notice all the internal language. in it. So let's see. I think it's Ephesians 316. I'll show it. Here we go. It says, I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through a spirit in your inner being. Verse 17. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Go to verse 18.

19, I mean. There we go. That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. See, Paul is praying that they would experience the process of sanctification. So when you put your faith in Jesus, you're saved by grace through faith in a moment, but it takes a lifetime for the Holy Spirit to work out the reality of what He wants to do in your heart. It takes a lifetime to line up our hearts to the reality of what God says we are and who God says we are. And so Paul is saying there's a work that God needs to do inside of you, but often I want to bypass the inner work of the Holy Spirit and get right to the external reward. I don't know if you've ever felt that way too. Now let me say this though. Do I believe God can do immeasurably more in your circumstances and do things

beyond your wildest dreams? Yes, of course. I'm married to the woman in my dreams. I have three amazing daughters. I've seen God do miracles. This church, this is a living, breathing, a measurably more testimony, what we have seen God do through this church. I believe what the Bible says that God is a rewarder of those who seek him. But we are not promised our preferred more. But here's what you are promised, that if you've placed your faith in Jesus, God will do whatever it takes to create more and more Christ-likeness in your heart. He will do more and more to conform you to the image of Christ. And I remember one time Pastor Stephen preached on this stage,

and he said, more is not always bigger, but it's always deeper. And often the deepest work that God wants to do in our heart, in our faith, in our character, it has to enter through the doorway of less. And so that's what we're going to talk about for the brief time remaining. Just three lessons from less, areas of your life where you might be seeing less of what you wanted, but it's an opportunity for God to produce more of what he wants for you in your life.

So here's the first lesson. You might see less certainty, but God wants you to become more confident. You might see less certainty, but God wants you to become more confident. My personality loves certainty. I crave it. Chunks texting me this week, something like, hey, I know you're a planner, so you're one going to see this.

So, like, I'm addicted to it. And this is how bad I am, how far I take it. Y'all, I look up spoilers online for my favorite TV shows and movies, because I want to know what's going to happen before I go in there. I got burned by the season finale of Lost, and so I decided that was never going to happen again. I'm actually trying to get better. I'm a recovering spoiler addict. So maybe you can't relate to that, but maybe this is your story.

When someone texts you and says, hey, I really need to talk. Can we get together later? My mind goes to the worst thing I could have possibly done. I'm like, what did I say? What did I do? Why did they hate me? And I'm going to get fired. And so just a couple weeks ago, somebody texted and said,

hey, can we hop on Zoom later today? There's something I want to talk to you about. I spent all day worrying about it. And then it was like the most encouraging Zoom call I've ever had. but I hate uncertainty because I feel the gap of uncertainty with worst case scenarios. And somehow Paul, Paul didn't seem to do that, or at least he didn't seem to let his heart stay there because he was in an incredibly uncertain situation. He was in prison. He had no idea when he would get out. If ever, he had no idea what the day would hold. But he still sounds like someone

who even in the middle of uncertainty had confidence that God was working. And that confidence is what the Bible calls faith. Hebrews 111 says, now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. So it's a confidence in the unseen. That means if you see it, it's not faith. It's not going to take faith to walk into it. So we have to believe that God is at work, even when we don't see the evidence of it in our circumstances. Because in that uncertainty is when we learn what we can really depend on and hold on to. And this is how Paul breaks that down in Ephesians 3, 16, and 17.

He says, I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit and your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Paul is saying here that the foundation of our confidence isn't what we're walking into. It's who's walking into it with us. Paul is saying that we're not promised more certainty on this earth,

but you are promised that you have a God who will never leave you. He will never forsake you that every promise in Christ Jesus is yes and amen. And I love how pastors taught us the last couple of weeks. I want to make sure I get this quote right, that confidence in God's promise without commitment to his process is not dependence, it's delusion. And you see, uncertainty is one of the greatest invitations into that process of growing in confidence, of growing in faith. So if you're a Christian, you've probably prayed at some point, because I know I have, God, give me more faith. But are you willing to give up some of your certainty to get it? See, the least certain I've ever been in my life is when our twins, Adley and Leanna, they were born three months premature.

And I've told this story before here. But when they were born, they were born at 27 weeks. Leanna was one pound 14 ounces. Adley was two pounds, five ounces. And the doctors didn't give them much hope of survival. And in fact, three days after they were born, we got a call from one of the doctors saying, hey, you and your wife need to come up and talk to us right now. And they told us that Leanna had a grade four brain bleed.

and they said she will most likely never walk, most likely never talk. They used the word vegetable. And they said that we should consider taking her off life support. And I remember how devastated we felt. We were angry, we were hurt, we were scared. We didn't feel any feelings I associate with faith. And after about an hour of crying, I remember Pastor Stephen called us, and he was telling us, you know, you're going to have to deal with a lot of uncomfortable conversations, and you have to deal with those. You can't ignore the facts, but you can choose what you focus on in the middle of it. And he said, you know, you can't change your feelings, but you can choose your focus. And so I remember we didn't feel faith in that time. So all we knew to do was just put up scriptures,

the promises of God all over the hospital room. And it didn't change things overnight, but it did give us the faith and the confidence to just take one step. And then we'd wake up the next day and I'd be freaking out and I'd be worrying and I'd look at those. promises and it gave us the faith to take another step. And people would tell us during this time, they would say something like, you know, we really admire your faith. And I didn't have the heart to tell them that it didn't feel like faith to us. It felt like desperation. And I'm here to tell you today, some of you think you have zero faith. But if you have the faith to call upon the name of Jesus and just take one step towards God, you have all the faith that you will ever need. Faith doesn't feel like

faith. It feels like desperately holding on to a promise from God. It feels like desperately just showing up to church saying, I know if I just get in the house of God, then I can borrow someone else's faith. It means tuning in online saying, I need this word from God. It means opening up your Bible every day and saying, you know what, even if I don't feel anything right now, I know God's depositing something in me and that it's going to turn out for my good. Sometimes faith is saying, you know what, this year and the year end offering, I'm not going to give from a timid standpoint of certainty, but I'm going to give from a bold standpoint of confidence, believing that everything I have comes from God and that he's a rewarder of those who seek him. See, it's about taking one

step after another. And here's what's awesome. I was just thinking about this last week. I could never have imagined my family sitting on the front row of blatanty 14 years later healed. But God could see that. I couldn't see it. And I don't even know, I don't even know if I had the faith to believe for that then. But I did have. have the faith to make one step. And here, after you take one step, after another step, after another step, you look back and you've made it through valleys of uncertainty. And then that's when your confidence starts to grow because you can say, I'm not certain about the economy right now, but I'm confident that God is my provider. You can say, I'm not certain about the diagnosis I just

got, but I'm confident that God is a healer and a sustainer, and he's my strength. You can say, I'm not confident about, or I'm not certain about the government right now. Lord knows. we all feel that way. But you can say, I am confident that I serve a king and a kingdom that can never be shaken. You know, you can say, I'm not certain about what I'm walking into, but I am confident that in Christ I have a firm foundation. So God wants to produce more confidence in us. Here's the second lesson from less. You might see less fulfillment, but God wants you to become more faithful. You might see less fulfillment, but God wants you to become more faithful. You might see less fulfillment, but God wants you to become more faithful.

See, I think one of the most dangerous lies today is that life is mainly about chasing personal fulfillment. See, we're bombarded with that value from all sides in our culture. And not only is it a very self-centered way to live, but if you play it out to its logical conclusion, it doesn't lead you to a good place. Because that means you're not fulfilled in your marriage. The world says, move on. Or your boss at work challenges you to get.

better, the world says, well, they don't appreciate you so quit, even though your boss was right. You don't like something that was said in church and something stepped on your toes. Well, the world says, well, just go find another church that you'll leave six months later for a different reason. See, we constantly uproot ourselves from actually producing fruit because we don't let our roots go down deep. And I doubt Paul felt very fulfilled in prison. Sometimes we think these Bible characters just had faith all the time, but I don't think he felt fulfilled. I don't think he saw the evidence of the impact he was making. I think there had to be a lot of hard questions, a lot of wrestling with God, because Paul's resume looked a lot more like pain than progress.

If you want proof, here's some extra credit for all you Bible nerds. Go and read about his trials in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and ask yourself if it looks like a picture of dreams being fulfilled. For those of you who aren't going to do that, here's the cliff notes. Paul's resume looked like persecution, like shipwrecks, like beatings, like suffering, and it doesn't look like what I think the life of fulfillment looks like. So Paul's immeasurably more didn't always look like progress, but Paul didn't judge success by the progress that he could see. So setback after setback didn't stop him, he kept showing up to do what God had called him to do no matter what awaited him there. So here's what I think Paul knew that I think we need to get deep in our hearts. Success isn't

achieved when you feel fulfilled. success is achieved when you have been faithful and specifically faithful to what God has called us to as followers of Jesus because Paul was incredibly successful. There was an impact he was making for the kingdom of God unlike anyone else. We are living in it 2,000 years later. And sometimes I like to imagine it. What if did Paul ever have those moments where he was like,

you know what, God, enough is enough? I've done everything you've wanted me to do. I've said everything you wanted me to say and nothing seems to be going right. see if paul had backed down if paul had quit the entire course of church history would have been affected but paul remained faithful there was fruit because of his faithfulness even in the times when he didn't feel fulfilled now i want to make sure this is really clear so don't mishear me god is a good father who wants to do good things for his children there is fulfillment in jesus christ jesus says there's abundant life in him like i said i've seen god do amazing things in my

family's life. I've seen them healed. I've seen prayers answered. But I've also heard God say no to things that I wanted and things that I thought would fulfill me in the moment. And as a dad, I know that not everything that is best for my daughters is what fulfills them right now. But I want them to trust me as their dad. And the same way with our Heavenly Father, we have to trust that he knows what is best for his creation, for his children. He knows what to allow and not allow in our life. And so here's what I'm learning. The kingdom of God isn't about chasing fulfillment. It's about God fulfilling his purpose in me and through me. That's what see what God can do through you is all about. See, we often put God in a box thinking that he can only do what we ask or imagine. We just want him to

elevate, no pun intended, the thing that we want him to do. But what if God has a dream for your life that is in a completely different area? You've never even thought about it. You've never even imagined it. But it's something God wants to do through you. But because your hands are closed and because you keep uprooting yourself trying to chase that one thing that you think this is the only way God can use me, then you miss out on the real thing God wants to do through your life. Because there's only fruit when we let our roots go down deep. And that's what Paul says in our main text. Look at this verse. I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power. Power comes from being planted, from being faithfully rooted

in God's love and being faithfully rooted in the things that God loves. His church, the people of God, those who are made in the image of God when we're rooted in prayer, when we're rooted in worship, when we're rooted in scripture. See, power comes from letting our roots grow deep through love, which doesn't happen when we continually uproot ourselves. We have to let our roots grow down deeper when things are hard because that is when true fruit is produced. And there are many people under the sound of my voice, you're not feeling very fulfilled right now, but God's in a very short, blonde man to tell you that because you're faithful to the things that matter to his heart, you are more successful than you think you are. You're successful, your faithful husband,

your faithful wife, you're a faithful friend, your faithful student, you're a faithful E-Kids volunteer, you're a faithful E-group leader. So continue to show up and be faithful. Plant yourself in the things that God loves. Plant yourself in prayer, plant yourself in service, plant yourself, and, you know, be kind to the person at work that hates you. And honestly, you don't like them either, but you know God has called you to love them. Keep showing up to do the next right thing, the next hard thing, the next step of obedience. And when we live that way, that is when we find true fulfillment and true impact and true fruit. All right, here's the final lesson. You might see less of your preference, but God wants you to become more purposeful.

You might see less of your preference, but God wants you to become more purposeful. How many of y'all were saved by the bell fans? I'm really dating myself talking about jaws and saved by the bell. Zach Morris was my hero. I remember I took a picture of Zach to my barber, and I said, give me his hair. It didn't quite work out that way. But I got the next best thing. Because I love, I wanted Zach's cell phone. Y'all remember that? It's like the size of a toaster, just massive. Well, I didn't get the cell phone, but I was one of the first students at Spring Valley High School in 1993 to get a car phone. You all remember car phones that, like, are attached to your car? So it was attached to my Toyota Celica, and I just, I just thought I was the man that was

going to help my dating life that I could be like, hey, girl, come check out my car phone in my Selica, which sounds super sketchy and creepy. So if anybody ever says that, don't do it. I promise, I had pure intentions. It didn't really work. I was a short guy in high school. I needed all the help I could get. But here's the thing about the car phone in 1993. It didn't work a lot of the places because there weren't a ton of cell phone towers. And this was especially noticeable to me when I worked at a Christian camp in Ridgeway, South Carolina. And I couldn't get a signal anywhere. And there was one night where there was a long line for the landline. And there was a line, remember those? And I was like, I'm determined I'm going to make the call I need to make

tonight. So I get in my car and I drive around the camp and I go to the very top of the camp, the highest point, which is the softball field. And I drive up and down the softball field, trying to find a signal. And I eventually found the sweet spot. It was like this one tiny spot. And if I just moved a little bit forward or put my car in reverse, I wouldn't get a signal. But right there in that spot, I could make a call. I made a call to the girl that I had talked into dating me at the time. But we had to keep it quick because I thought. five-minute call then costs as much as like your monthly bill now. But here's what I realized. From much of my life, I have thought about the purpose of God like that car phone.

Like it only worked under ideal conditions. That all of my preferences had to be met, that all of my wish lists had to be fulfilled. And so I had to search for it in the perfect job. But then I had to have the perfect family over here. And then I had to make sure I had the right amount of resource and the right out of influence and it had to feel all the right things. And maybe when all those things converge together, then God could finally use me. I don't know if you've ever, like, found that, but I have it. Or maybe there's, like, just a glimpse of it, but it quickly got messed up. Now, thankfully, we don't have car phones anymore. We have, we have these. This is my iPhone. You might have an Android. I'm not here to judge your phone choices. But this is a massive upgrade

because it pretty much works anywhere. As long as you. as it's with me, I can use it. So I've used this in Charlotte. I've used this in Columbia. I've used it in the UK. I've used it in Israel. Use it in Australia. Use it in Gaston County. I've used it in a hospital. I've used it on my way to my friend's funeral. I've used it at work. I've used it everywhere because it's portable. And what I'm really thankful for right now is that my purpose is like that old car phone, where it had to be in one spot for God to use me. But my purpose is portable. And your purpose is portable. We carry it with us. You can be full of purpose. You can be full of purpose in the job you love. You can be full of purpose in the job that you hate. You can be

full of purpose as a single person. You can be full of purpose when you're married. You can be full of purpose when everything is going wrong in your life. And you can be full of purpose when everything is going right. Because your purpose is not career dependent. It's not dependent on your is based on who you are and what you carry as a follower of Jesus. And Paul explains what our purpose is in Ephesians 321. It says, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. So it's God's glory in all generations through the church. When you build the church, you are walking in purpose.

When you build the church, you are living out your purpose. But also, it's when you go out and live like the church. When you take the heart of Jesus, the heart of the church, every sphere of your life. That is how we glorify God. And Paul tells us what that kind of life looks like in Ephesians 4, 1 through 3. As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. That description does not really describe our world right now at all, which is why we as the

church can make such a powerful difference. Because when we live and love and serve and obey in a way that makes no sense to the world, it makes them take notice of Jesus. So that is the light that we're meant to carry with us. So ask yourself today, am I carrying more humility and gentleness into every interaction? Am I displaying more patience in a world that runs people over in the name of greed and efficiency? Am I bearing one another's burdens and love? Am I making every effort to bring peace in a culture that only seeks to divide us. And the good news is you can be that kind of person anywhere. You can live out your calling in any situation.

That means this is good news. You might not have ended up where you thought you would have. You think you've taken too many detours, made too many mistakes, but you didn't lose your purpose. You think you're stuck in a position of less. What if you stop looking at it like that and realize that you're not stuck? You're sent. You're sent to carry immeasurably more into every situation.

Because what if Paul was writing this, a measurably more was less about what we're meant to get and more about what we're supposed to bring. Bringing immeasurably more light, a measurably more love, a measurably more life. And the model of what that kind of life looks like is Jesus. So how much forgiveness do I offer someone? A measurably more.

How much generosity do you know what I need to show? A measurably more. How much integrity do I need to have in this situation? Ameasurably more. How much compassion do I need to show my brothers and sisters who are hurting? Ameasurably more. See, this is the prayer I would love for every single person to pray every day this week. Where is God calling me to be immeasurably more?

More like Christ in the way I love and serve others. See, God answers prayer through people. And so God is going to do immeasurably more than we can ask. or imagine, but most of the time he wants to do it through you. And so here's what I just want to challenge you to do. Use your phone this week instead of as a tool of distraction, make it a tool of remembrance because you can just remember my silly car phone, iPhone illustration. And whenever you look at your phone, I want you to just think, where is God calling me to be more right now? And the text that I'm about to send and the call that I'm about to make and the meeting I'm about

to walk into as I'm about to step into my house after work and then put your phone away because you don't want to be on it too long. But if we started asking that prayer as the church, our communities, our families, our jobs would be drastically different. See, Paul gave us this promise in Ephesians to mobilize the church to be the more the world needs in Jesus. And it's not our strength that enables us to do it. Because Paul also writes in Colossians 117, to them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's why Paul could say God could do immeasurably more in his prison because in his prison he had Christ. And that is why you can be

confident that you carry more into every situation because you have Christ. You are a carrier of the immeasurably more almighty power and presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. of you is meant to flow more grace, more power, more love, and more forgiveness to a world that often sees less until you show up. So I invite you to stand as we pray together because I believe that there's some people who you need the immeasurably more touch of God this morning. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, if there's an area of your life where you need more peace, more power, more confidence. I just want you to lift your hands up. If you need God to do an immeasurably more work in you and around you,

we're just going to call upon the mighty name of Jesus. And so God, right now we are so grateful that the storehouses of heaven are not limited, that you can pour out everything that we need. God, that you see every need represented in this church, every need represented by people who are watching online, and you are more than able to meet that need. So God, help us just to keep our focus firmly fixed on you. And so, God, open our eyes to how you're already moving in our life, how you're already demonstrating your love and your power and your grace.

And I pray, Lord, that as we call out to you in our weakness, that you would fill us with your strength so that we can then be that same strength and that same love. and that say more to others. So God, thank you for being a God who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. Well, thanks for joining us today for the message, and we trust that God spoke to you right where you are. As we're in this year-end season, if God is speaking to your life and you'd like to begin tithing or give above and beyond, we would invite you to head over to elevationchurch.org. There you'll find all of the information available for you to take part in the year. end offering. If you haven't begun tithing, we would always encourage you to start there.

Place God first in the air of your finances and begin tithing and make that a part of your everyday life. If you already tithe and would like to go above and beyond and help expand the ministry here at Elevation Church, you can also do that through the year end offering. All you have to do is click the banner at Elevationchurch.org. You can select the campus that you're a part of. If you're part of our online community, select online. And if you're part of one of our physical locations, make sure that you select one of those campuses. Then you can select how much you'd like to give and be a part of all that God is doing right here at Elevation Church.

Again, we thank you for being a part of the family here, and we can't wait to see how God works in and through your life as you open up your hands and ask God to use you right where you are. Thanks for being a part. God bless. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.