Elevation with Steven Furtick - Shut Up and Shine (Holly Furtick)

Episode Date: October 5, 2020

You don’t have to speak to be heard.  In “Shut Up and Shine,” the first lady of Elevation Church, Holly Furtick, reminds us that, by listening and doing instead of speaking, we can accomplish much more. Learn how God works — not just through our words — but our actions.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 fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Today is going to be amazing. Yeah, so this is like not my iPad. This is like not my iPad cover. This is a feminine iPad cover. So that can only mean one thing. And the table is even marble. So that can only mean one thing.

Holly Ferdic is bringing the word today. Come on, look at this Artesian Bible cover. That must mean Holly Ferdic is preaching the word. Look at this hand-drawn Bible study, Philippians. Come on, let's thank God for Holly. I'm going to leave her by herself in a minute. Last week I preached to her, and now you owe me one. It's payback time.

You've got to preach to me. So I'm going to go sit in my seat, and I know that you're excited to hear God's word from this woman. You should be, because who preaches to you today lives a better sermon than anything that ever comes from her lips? Trust me, I live with her. And the stuff that she doesn't show on Instagram is the best stuff. People say to me, I just love Holly. I'm like, no, you don't. I love Holly, because I know it, and I know how deeper authenticity really is.

And so I thank God for you. But I also want to say this. Rebecca Summers, where's Rebecca? I bet she's around the building somewhere doing a chat host or something like that. Probably praying for somebody or casting out a devil online, something like that, doing a digital exorcism. She was saying at the rhythm night that our team has been doing a great job for our youth. Make sure you subscribe to Elevation Youth on YouTube, okay? Amazing.

So you can get the word. But she was saying, I heard them do a panel one day, and they were saying, who's influenced you? most. And she said you. I think she said a few other people, but you were in the top three. She said, da-da-da-da-da-da, and Holly Ferdick. And I was like, if you only knew, she's one of these people that the closer that you get, the better that she looks. Some people can impress from a distance, but impartation happens up close. So right now, I want you to take this pulpit and minister to the people. I'm excited. I got a preview of the word, and I'm going to sit down just the two of us, just the one of you. Let's give it up today. And I'm just to say, and

Everybody's saying in the chat. Welcome, Holly. Over and over again all day to day, if the message ministers to you, share it with someone and tell them, hey, you can catch it again. 930, 1130, 2, 5, 10. Hey, all of them. We're here. We want to see you, and we want to be able to minister to you every week. I am just really excited that you have set aside the time today to worship with us. I know that God is going to speak to you as you focus your attention on him for just the next few moments that we have together. You guys that are in the room, you can go ahead and be seated. This has been a really incredible season of ministry for our church.

Every time I get up on the stage, I'm so proud of our teams. And one of the teams at Elevation that has really risen to the occasion over the past six months is our E-groups teams. It's one of my favorite teams. This is a small team. They're not nearly as big as our worship team. And maybe you've been worshiping with us for a while and you've heard us talk about e-groups, but you're not exactly sure what they are. E-groups are a way for the people of Elevation Church to gather together in small groups

and just support each other and go through life together and just offer a place for you to continue to grow in your faith and thanks to technology. We have people from all over the world who come together. each week. Sometimes they're in home, sometimes they're on Zoom, and I really want you to be a part of an e-group. So if you're a part of an e-group, though, help me out. Tell the people in the chat. What are they missing out on? Tell them how amazing your e-group is, and just a few words, because nobody wants to read a whole lot of stuff. You know, the Bible says that the gates of hell will not prevail against God's Church. And I believe that we are stronger than ever. And so I just,

I just wanted to take a minute because I have the stage and just officially invite you to join an e-group because now is the time. Because over the past six months, I have been working with our teams on a study on the book of Philippians. Isn't it beautiful, too? You can get a copy of the study and join us. Philippians is the most joyful book in the Bible, but yet did you know that it was written from a prison cell?

And so over the next five weeks, our groups are going to be setting aside time to read through the Book of Philippians together and just learned. We called it Philippians the art of contentment. Because Paul, how was it possible that Paul was able to have so much joy in the midst of a literal lockdown? And we're going to study God's word together, and we're going to talk about it. And I believe that God wants to speak to you through e-groups in this season of your life. We are not waiting for a virus to be. go away, to have church. We are the church. The church is not a building. The church is just a group of imperfect people coming together on a journey of faith, and we're not waiting until we can pack out a building. We're going to pack out homes, and we're going to pack out Zoom. We have over 1,000 groups signed up to do this study, because you were not meant to go through life alone. So that's my commercial. Don't miss out on this opportunity. It's only five weeks. We have the perfect group for you. Go to Philippianstudy.com to find out more, but don't go right now because I have a message that I want to bring to you that I'm really,

really excited on, because God has laid this one on my heart. Actually, it sparked in my heart years ago while I was leading a need group from married women. I was teaching and we were studying, and I came across this verse in the Bible that said that wives could win their husbands over without words. And I was so intrigued by this idea of winning someone over without words, because I love words. If you know me, I am a very talkative person. Now, don't ask me how my weekend was, unless you really want to hear every detail of the sleepover that we had this past weekend for Graham's 13th birthday and I had middle school boys and their dirty socks and all over my house. I can't help it.

I like stories. I like description. I just, I like talking. I've been this way my whole life. One of the nicest things that anybody ever said to me was I was in the middle of telling a story and they said, Holly, this story is so good. Do not leave one detail out. Tell me everything.

I was like, I love you, you're my best friend. Here we go. Someone actually said that to me. Now, sometimes I say that to other people because, I don't know, maybe it doesn't mean that much to people, but I love it. People have been telling me to stop talking my entire life. When I was a child, on my report card, there was this common theme. When I was a kid, the teachers actually hand wrote our report cards, and on the back of it, there were these little boxes where they could leave some personal thoughts and comments. And there was a theme all throughout my childhood that said something like this, Holly is a bright child who would do better to talk less. I can't help it. I'm a woman of many words. And, you know, actually, sometimes

this comes in handy when you have to talk to thousands of people from a practically empty room, right? But in normal settings, I have had to really learn how to rein this in. And one of the greatest lessons that I have had to learn in the area of being an overtalker is that you don't have to say everything you think. This is really hard for me. I know it's not. Some of you may be better at this, but I've really had to learn this lesson the hard way. One time when we were in college, I know my husband's told you how we traveled on a ministry team in this van in the summertime, and we traveled all through these small towns in South Carolina. And one particular day we were driving through this really small town, and I just blurted out, this town is really trashy looking.

I would hate to live here. And the girl behind me in the seat behind me, she just quietly said. She was like, my whole family is from this town. I was like, oh, can I get the shoe emoji in the chat if you're like me and you put your foot in your mouth a time or two or three or four in your life? I talk too much. I talk when I get excited. I talk when I'm nervous. Sometimes I talk because I'm bored. Sometimes I talk because I'm uncomfortable. I'm uncomfortable with silence, actually. I don't like silence. And so I just, well, if you don't talk, I'm going to talk. And if I'm

by myself, I even have my AirPods in with an audio book playing because somebody needs to be talking. I talk too much. My whole life, I have been trying to learn how to shut my mouth and think before I talk. Is there anyone out there who can relate to me? Please let me know that I'm not alone. I know that no one likes to be around someone who just dominates every space with the sound of their voice. And I'm trying to fix that, okay? I'm working on it. The Bible actually has a lot to say about talkers. Proverbs 1821 says the power of life and death is in the tongue. The psalmist prayed for God to put a guard over his mouth. And James, one of my favorite verses, well, I wouldn't say favorite, but one that I really had to tell myself

over and over again. He says, be quick to listen and slow to speak. And I think all of us, no matter how talkative we are, have experienced these moments where we realize the power of our words. Have you ever said something that you realize hurt someone deeply, maybe unintentional? And it's not always a direct insult. I know we all have a time that we can remember where somebody directly insulted us. Like, you know, I don't know, lots of people have a story where their father said, you're never going to amount to anything. Yeah, we all have times like that. But a lot of times we can hurt those that we love also with what we don't say or the ways that we don't encourage them. I remember one particular time several years ago, and my husband's first

book was finally finished, and they mailed a case of the books to our house. And I remember walking into the room and seeing this big box, and Stephen was there. He just cut it open, and he reached out, and he pulled out a copy of Sun Stand Still by Stephen Ferdick. And I picked up the book, and I fanned through it. And I said, font's really big, huh? And I saw my husband's shoulders visibly droop. And I was like, oh, God, oh, no. Can I get a rewind? I mean, it's amazing. Can I get a do-over? Because as I thought, that's not what I meant to say. I realized that I had spent the last 18 months watching this man agonize over every word that was in that book. He went through revision after revision. He changed the cover 10 times. This was his first book. This was his story.

Did I say, my man, you're a published author? Nope. Did I say, change people's lives? Nope. I just said the first thing that popped into my head, the font's kind of big, huh? Words hold weight. And what you choose to say and what you choose not to say is important. And that's why we have to learn to pay attention to everything that comes out of our mouths. Can we talk about this today? We are living in a time where people do not consider the weight of their words. Now some of us may be better at not saying everything that we think, but what about typing?

Our thumbs can sometimes cause more damage than our tongue. Solomon wrote, The Power of Life and Death is in the tongue, but I wonder if he lived in 2020. He might have said the power of life and death is in the thumbs. There is so much noise going on in the world today, and it is hard to separate the truth from the fiction. It's hard to know. You've got a feed coming through, and now we all know that our feed is just feeding us what

we want to be fed, and it's so hard to even have a voice when it feels like everyone is just shouting at each other and not listening at all. I want to learn how to be part of the solution to the things that are going on around me, not just another person who's just adding to the noise. So today, since our groups are kicking off a study, remember you're going to join one, Philippianstudy.com. It's not too late. I wanted to preach from Paul's words as Well, God has been speaking to me so much about this topic, and I'm just really excited to bring it to you today. So as we open up God's word, I just want us to all say a prayer together, out loud.

So you don't have to close your eyes. We'll just all collectively, if you're in your living room or in your car, it's okay. Out loud, let's all say this. Lord, speak to me. I am listening. Amen. All right. If you have a Bible.

Look with me at Philippians chapter 2, verse 14, because Paul has so much that he is going to teach us about our words. It says this, do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. do everything without grumbling or arguing, then you will shine. If you're sitting with someone, I want you to look at them, tell them my sermon title. Say this, shut up and shine. Go ahead and put that in the chat. Don't worry. It comes right from the Bible. It's okay to say shut up. Shut up and shine. So on the surface here, it looks like Paul is giving us a pretty

impossible command with a promise, but it's a promise that we're never going to achieve, because out in the world are we supposed to do everything without grumbling or arguing? But as we dig into this, these three small verses, I want to show you that Paul is trying to teach us that how the things that he's trying to teach us how the things that you do not say can sometimes have just as much power as the things that you do. Say. He's giving us, if you look back at it, he's giving us two things to not do and two things to do. So he begins by telling us to do everything without grumbling or arguing. Maybe you're like me and you read it and you're like, yeah, that's not going to happen. Everything, like zero

tolerance policy, this is going to be hard because sometimes complaining is really fun and sometimes arguing is just necessary. Some of the married people, give me an amen in the chat. When you read the Bible, though, it's important to understand who was writing these words, and where was he when he wrote them, and who was he writing them too? Because when you put all of that together, the words become more than just commands of do's and don'ts and this and that. They have context, and they come alive.

The book of Philippians is a letter written by Paul to the people at the Church of Philippi. a church that he planted. And a lot of scholars believe, based on Paul's words and his tone, that the people of the Church of Philippi, they were Paul's secret favorites. These were his true friends, the people that he considered almost like family, because these people supported him as he traveled around and as he ministered and started churches all over. And now he's found himself in a Roman prison, and the Philippians have just sent him a good old-fashioned care basket and a love offering. And so he's sending them back a letter. And not only is he giving them words and an update on how things are going, but he's living out what he's saying to them from a prison cell.

And really, he's warning them. He's saying in a way that you have to approach a difficult circumstance, the way to approach it is not to complain. And the way to have lasting arguments is not to argue. Complaining and arguing are our default responses, but they can be extremely counterproductive in our lives. You see, complaining rarely improves my circumstances. Now, obviously, there are times when it's right to make a complaint. Like, I have a friend who hates to bother her landlord. Like if she has a leak or something's broken, she doesn't want to bother her. And I'm like, that's like the one perk of renting. You don't have to fix stuff. It's okay to complain to your landlord. But someone once gave me a rule of thumb, and it's this,

never complain about a situation to a person who's powerless to change it. The kind of complaining that Paul is talking about here is the kind that keeps us stuck. blaming something that's outside of our control. Have you ever tried to keep track of every time you complain? If you've been through Mrs. Betterhalf, you've done this, because we have this one week where we try to see how much negativity and how much complaining that we're putting out into the world. And I stole this little, I've challenged from a book that I had read, because it meant so much to me. And you wear a little bracelet or a hair tie or whatever on your wrist. and every time you catch yourself complaining, you switch the bracelet over to the other hand.

And every time that I do this challenge, which I've done it a lot, because I've taught many, many rounds of Mrs. Better Half, I keep thinking maybe I'm going to be better at it this time. Maybe I'll have complained less, but I'm always just amazed at how much I complain and I don't even realize it. And by the end of the challenge, my bracelet is falling apart and I'm starting to punish myself because I'm so mad at them. My wrist is red. We say things all day long that we're not even aware of. Can you help me out if I'm alone out here?

Let me know in the chat. If you have said in the last 24 hours any of the following things, just give me the little hand-raising emoji, all right? I'm tired. I hate the car line at school. Or some of you are like, I wish I missed the car line at school. Or did you say wearing a mask is so much? uncomfortable or it's so hot or it's so cold or what an ugly day. My back hurts. I have nothing

to wear. There's nothing to eat. Why doesn't anyone listen to me in this house? I think I said all of those this week. Sometimes I can get really creative with my complaints too. I can dress them up, make them all nice and cute, say something like, I just, I wish I had more time. Or it must be young to be able to eat whatever you want. Or maybe some of you have said this one this week, when is fall going to get here? Right? Sometimes I'll take my complaints and I'll focus them on another person. I might say something like, I just, I wish my friend would call me more, or I wish my kids were more respectful. I found that as I have identified my complaints, it didn't really make me feel better. I felt increasingly worse about my situation. When I wish that my kids were more respectful, it actually happened because one of them had a friend over. And the friend was all like, yes, man, and Mrs. Ferdick, where's the garbage can? I don't even think my own kids know where the garbage can is in my house. And so I'm like, I wish my kids were like that, you know? And now I'm like, God, I'm a terrible mom. It's my own fault. I mean, I'm there.

mother, I pick up their trash and don't... And so it started as wishing that a person in my life was different turned in to making myself out to be a bad mother, because complaining will spiral out of control so fast. And on the surface, it just seems like a statement of the fact, but now my focus is on the negative, and so is everyone else's that's around me. And it's so easy to identify complaining in others. It's so easy to be like, yeah, my husband needs to stop complaining, but it's It's harder to see it when I'm the one that's doing it.

Oh, I'm not complaining. I'm reviewing. I'm not saying that reviews aren't helpful. Actually, they aren't helpful because usually the only people who review products are the people who aren't happy with the product. If you're happy with the product, you're not going to go back and type out a review. We live in a world, though, where people actually consider themselves professional complainers, professional yelpers. This is so messed up because negativity slows down your progress.

It diverts your attention. And Paul is warning us that complaining is a slippery slope that can distract us from the things that we can actually control in our lives. Like my attitude. I can control my attitude. But watch how Paul doesn't only give us a command, but He leads the way. He gives us an example. Back in chapter one, Paul says this, verse 12, Philippians 1, verse 12. Now, I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim

the gospel without fear. It blows my mind that nowhere in the book of Philippians will you find Paul describing his prison conditions. Nowhere does he say, it's cold, I'm hungry, they're terrible, I got whipped the other day. He never even asks the Philippians to pray for his release. He says, I must be in chains for Christ because revival is breaking out inside of life. He's. my prison. And revival can break out wherever you are if you change your perspective. Paul gives us throughout the book, he weaves in the antidote to complaining. You know what that is? Rejoice. Sixteen times in the book of Philippians, Paul uses the word joy or rejoice. He says it over and over again. Again, I will say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice.

And if Paul can look for the opportunity in a hard place, so can I. The minute that I catch myself complaining, I've got to flip it. I have got to find something to rejoice about. So now I'm going to use my overtalking for my own benefit. If I'm going to talk, I'm going to talk about the good things. I'm going to find something. I'm going to call myself back to joy over and over and over again. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying. Well, you know what? If you're just saying, if what you're just saying is

keeping you stuck, then you should probably stop saying. Stop saying. I wish our kids were young again. Stop saying. I wish we had more money. Stop saying this house is too small. Stop saying it is what it is. No. You know, the Israelites spent so much of their focus complaining about the wilderness and wishing that they were back in Egypt, that they missed out on the promise that was right in front of them. So Paul warns us. He's got two things, complaining and arguing, because complaining keeps me stuck in my circumstances, and arguing keeps me from experiencing true connection with those that I love.

Can I find another honest person in the chat? I'm saying that a lot today because I'm kind of burying my soul, and I want to make sure that I'm not alone. But am I alone? Am I the only person that likes to have the last word? Sometimes I feel like I have multiple personalities, because on one hand, I'm a total people pleaser. I will go to great lengths to avoid conflict. But then there are a few people and a few topics that will, if you, I'm just going to put my boxing gloves on. And my husband is looking at me right now because he knows that I have this one particular trigger. You can talk about politics, you can talk about policies, you can talk about theology, and I'm cool as a cucumber.

But if you bring up this one topic, and I'm not going to tell you what it is, because I'll just go off. It's kind of a hot topic anyway, and probably shouldn't say it on camera. But I'm just saying there's certain topics that I can't not argue about, and then there's certain people. Lord knows the three of my favorite people on the planet are Elijah Graham and Abby. But those three people, they are professional button pushers. And I will stoop to their level, and I will argue with them, and I will lose my cool, and I will keep going and going and going because I am the adult. therefore, I have the last word.

The problem is that when I keep doing that, I'm not actually proving my authority to them. I'm more compromising it. I'm down on their level. And any time that we need to win an argument with another person, we compromise the relationship somehow. So what I'm learning is that if my goal is purely to win, I lose. Well, I may win the argument. I may walk away, feeling proud.

I was right. I put them in their place. But I have no concern for how the other person feels. And in the process of me winning, I've lost a small piece of the relationship that I have. And over time, piece by piece, I chip away at the opportunity to have a right relationship with a person in my life that I love. You see, when you argue with an attacking stance, you automatically put the other person in a defensive position.

And when someone is defending, they're most likely not even hearing a word that you say because they are in protection mode. They're in defense mode. James said, remember, be quick to listen, slow to speak. This means that while the other person is talking, I am paying attention to what they're saying. I'm not planning what I'm going to say next. I'm actually seeking to understand. I'm not just airing out my own opinions. And then when I do speak, when it's my turn to speak, I choose words that are not abrasive

or accusing. I told you that I have put my foot in my mouth way too many times to count. And so years ago, I came across this verse, and I immediately put it to memory. It meant so much to me. It's Colossians 4, 6. And it says, let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. This verse is talking about how to defend the gospel to those who don't believe. And yes, we absolutely need to be passionate about the gospel and the values that we have as believers in Christ. But if you come out the gate, accusing and demeaning and come across like you are the enlightened one, you're never going to win anyone over. Put a little salt on those words. Let the person know that you love them and that you

hear them and that you're listening to their side if you are, if you do. Our pastor teaches us this all the time. I mean, God, he has been on fire the last few weeks. Absolutely. I told him that his message last week is in the top three, my top three messages of all times. Never, ever, in 20 years of marriage, have I suggested that he preached on a passage of scripture? And he actually did until last week. So that was a win for me. And I got my own personal sermon. If you miss it, you have to go back and watch it, because that's not my point. My point is that the last several sermons that he have preached have been sitting around this idea about the questions that Jesus asked. And he told us that everything begins with a question. And very deep in my notes,

as I was flipping through, I came across this one line that I had written where he said, questions create access. Questions create access, but accusations close hearts. If we're going to be quick to listen and slow to speak, we must learn how to ask questions. And we have to ask good questions. For instance, what were you thinking? That's not a good question. Just because it has the little punctuation mark doesn't mean that it works. Because you might as well tack on the word idiot to that.

What were you thinking? You idiot. But if you say something like, can you help me understand? It communicates care. It communicates concern. It says, I want to hear what you have to say. And I care more about us than I do about making my point. And Paul models this again for us back in chapter one.

Let's see. He says, if you go to Philippine chapter one, verse 17, he's talking about the people who were preaching Christ for selfish gain. and he doesn't go around crusading after them and putting them all in their places. I want you to look at what he says. This is verse 17. The former preached Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.

But what does it matter? In every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice. There are times where I have to be. ask myself, does this really matter? Is this argument worth the damage that it might have on our relationship? And can I have the humility to let it go? In those moments, I have to learn to take a second and think. Quick to listen, slow to speak. And did you notice what Paul did? He called himself back to joy. He said, I'm going to fix my focus on the things that do matter. And what

matters is that Christ is being preached. What matters is the person, not my point. It's the person matters to you. Because the world does not need another opinion, but the world desperately needs some better examples. Paul says, do everything without grower. crumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the Word of Life. Crooked means bent in the wrong direction.

But the way to redirect someone is not to shout. It's to shine. See, I'm a talkative person, but not only am I a talkative person, I'm also a really loud talker. Again, this kind of comes in handy in this sort of setting, but in day-to-day life, it can be really annoying. I don't know why I'm a loud talker. Maybe it's because I'm a middle child and I wanted to be heard in my family. Maybe it's because I actually do have a sister who's hearing impaired, and maybe my whole family talks loud. I don't know.

I don't know why, and I don't even realize it. Sometimes I have an out-of-body experience where I'm like, oh, God, I'm yelling at this person, and they're standing right in front of me. The thing that I'm learning, though, is that my life speaks louder than my voice ever can. Paul says you will shine like stars in the sky. He's referring to a prophecy from the book of Daniel. Somebody sent me this card this summer, and they wrote this Bible verse on it, and I liked it, because we do talk about shining like stars and Mrs. Betterhalf as well. So I put it up on my desk, and I was sitting at my desk working, and I looked up, and I read this verse. I want

to read it to you. It's in Daniel, chapter 12, verse 3. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Daniel was amongst a people who did not worship God. And it was the life that he was the life that he lived that impacted an entire nation. Remember, he's the one that knelt to pray every day, even though the king had made an order prohibiting prayer. It was his actions that made an impact, not his words. Have you ever watched a friend go through something? Maybe a divorce or an illness, or maybe watch them try to navigate a difficult situation with their child. We all experienced difficult situations that we didn't expect that come up along the way. But have you ever watched

someone just absolutely shine under the hardest circumstances? One of my friends, she had one of the most horrific years last year. I mean, we joke about 2020, but she lost her job. She had to move across the country away from her home where she had lived for almost 40 years and try to rebuild her life. And then about a month after moving, she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. And every time we talked, she was just, she was real. She would tell me how she was scared. She was obviously alone in the way that she felt. She was physically alone because her family was so far away. But somehow she would just always bring the conversation back to all the ways that God was working. And one day, through tears, she said, Holly, I know that God has this. I know

that I'm going to get through it. Everywhere I go, I see glimpses of him. God spoke to me today through the lady who checks me out at CVS. I just know I'm going to make it to the other side of this. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold fast to the word of life. How do you shine? How do we do this? Well, one, you refuse to dwell on the negative, and you let go of the need to be right, and then you hold firm to the Word of Life. What is God speaking to you in this season? Maybe you have no idea.

You're like, I don't know. Okay, well, go back, think. What was the last thing that God spoke to you? Maybe he whispered very softly to you about your attitude at work. Maybe it was something that had to do with doing things for others without having to be noticed. Maybe it was about focusing on all the things that you have to be grateful for in a season where things just really aren't turning out the way that you thought. Maybe like Daniel, he just called you to spend time praying every day.

And sometimes what we miss is that the best way to impact the people around you is to make a change in yourself. In life, the most difficult lesson of all for me has been to understand that at the end of the day, the only person that I can really change is me. But it's not fun to change me. It's easier to try and change others and hope that when others change, my life will improve, right? But when I focus, when I place my life, focus on all the things that everyone else needs to change, what happens is I become someone I don't want to be. I become a nagging and manipulative woman, and then sometimes I give up on the nagging and the manipulation, and I just become stubborn and withdrawn, and then I wonder why I'm never

really making any progress in my relationships or in my personal life, because when I blame others' actions for my problems, I can never experience real change in my life. I love to tell this story about Graham and Abby years ago. I asked them to go pack their lunches. It was the school night. In our house, pack your lunch means grab a juice box and a lunch box and get some prepackaged snacks and then bring it to me and I'll put your sandwich in it. Okay, so no little beautiful little bento boxes or anything like that.

So on this particular night, I said, Graham and Abby, go fix your lunch. And I hear Graham yelling at Abby, Abby, pack your lunch. Abby, mom said, pack your lunch. Abby, you need to do what mom said. I mean, it just went on and on. The kids have the most incredible amount of patience and saying something over and over again. While I got tired of it, and I said, Graham, come here, come into the kitchen. And he comes in, empty-handed. I said, buddy, where's your lunch? And he goes, oh, I forgot. Graham was so busy,

picking a fight with his sister and telling her what she needed to do that he neglected to pack his own lunch. And what I want to tell you today is pack your own lunch. You determine to be kind no matter how you're treated. The first one to apologize, even if you were only 10% wrong, which you probably weren't 10% wrong, but you'd be the first one to say, I'm sorry. What does it matter?

You determine that I'm going to bow out of a conversation if it gets ugly. Somehow I'm going to get out of there. I'm not going to go there talking about other people. You be generous with your time and your money, expecting nothing in return. Because God has a work that he wants to do in you. And if you stay hyper-focused on others and how they need to change and what they need to do, you might end up complaining that you don't have any lunch. You're going to be hungry. Sometimes the greatest impact that you will have on the people of your life will not be with the words that you say, it will be with the life that you live. So can we just collectively all decide to stop shouting at each other and just start shining brighter? I'm not saying that we can't be a voice for the voiceless. I'm not saying that we don't speak up against us. injustice. I'm just pointing out, 1 John 318. I learned this verse when I was a little girl.

There was a song. I'm not going to sing the song, but it says this, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. I told you that last week's sermon was in my top three Stephen Fordrick sermons of all times. And if you missed it, it's called Just the Two of Us. You have to go back and watch it. But he preached about the Shunamite woman, so I'm hoping the most of you heard it. Because the Shunamite woman, she was the epitome of knowing how to keep her mouth shut and go to the one who could fix her son. There was only one person who could fix him. So you remember, the child died, and she placed him on the bed, the prophet's bed that was in her home,

and she set out to find Elisha. And she did not waste time arguing with her husband about how he should have brought the boy to her sooner, and this was his fault. She did not knock on her neighbor's door and request prayer. When Elijah's servant came out to her and he asked her if everything was all right, she did not complain to him. She said, I'm fine. Everything's fine. And she kept going where she knew she needed to be. But when she reached the prophet, the verse says that she actually knelt down and it says she took hold of his feet, and she poured out her soul to him. You have to let go of what you cannot fix, and you hold firm to what you know. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky

as you hold firmly to the word of life. She knew that she had to get to the one who had spoken life to her. He said, you're going to have a son, and that was the promise that she was clinging to. He said I was going to have the son. So he did this, so he's the only one that can fix it. She was quiet when it came to speaking to others, but when she got in the presence of the prophet, she poured out her soul to him. And she refused to leave his presence. Because when you go to the source, you're never alone in your problem, no matter how lonely

you feel. So she stuck with them. And as they journeyed back to her home, she stayed close. And when they got back to her house, the prophet went into the room with her child and shut the door. I like to think about how she thought she was going to go in with them, and he shut the door. And when my husband said that sometimes you have to stand outside the door while God goes in with your problems, I knew that that was a picture that I would never forget. Because I don't know about you, but I've had a few times in my life.

I've had enough times in my life where I've had to stand outside the door and just like, God, handle my situation. And she stood there, and she was quiet, and she was alone, because sometimes the things that you go through, they're too personal to share in the moment. And so she just stood there while the prophet was behind the door with her child. And I keep wondering, like, what could have possibly been going through her mind? Because as a woman, it's like, I can fix this. I need to fix this.

But she couldn't fix it. She had to stand outside the door and wait and hold firm to the promise that God had given her. Because the thing that enables us to shine bright in the darkness, it's not only what we don't say, because that's a start. But it's what we cling to. You can cling to the promise that He will never leave you or forsake you. You can cling to the promise that the same Holy Spirit that lives inside of you, that He lives inside of the people that you love, and he's working on them. Just like he's working on you, he's working on them. You can believe that if he speaks to you, he can speak to them without your, without out your mouth, he can speak to them, and you can cling to that promise.

I have a friend whose son is just doing everything that he wants to do right now, and she is clinging to the promise that God has given her about her son. You can cling to the promise that he sees every tear that you cry, and he hears every prayer that you pray, because he does. So you cling to that. You cling to the promise that you see. serve a God who really does turn everything for good. He does. He's done it before. He'll do it again. He really does turn graves into gardens. And the grave part is not fun, but the garden part,

you look back and can only have been God. And you cling to that. And when you cling to that, your life will shine so bright that people can't help but see God glorified in your life. So, Lord, we just, we open up our hands to you today. Pray for the person who's watching this alone. Just whisper to them and tell them that they're not. Pray for the person who has been praying for their child for years and years and years. We should just speak to them. Tell them that you love their child more than they do.

cling to you today. Would you reveal to us the things that we need to let go of? And then would you just remind us like you do of the promises that you have spoken over our lives? Your promises are good and precious. Your promises are yes and amen. We love you, Lord. We thank you. St. Jesus' name I pray. Amen. That sermon. I know I'm biased, but I think what Holly just preached was the most relevant thing that she could have said. You know, we always talk about how her strength in teaching is bringing the word practically, but there was a prophetic element to that message today.

And God gave her that message months ago. And I believe he wanted you to hear it right now. He wanted us to experience it together in this moment. So I pray you received it today. And I want to thank you. Thanks to all of you who support this incredible worldwide thriving ministry that is bearing fruit all over this planet. And the Bible says that we shouldn't just love in word, but indeed action. And some of you who give financially and who pray and share the gospel and serve. You're just, you're the best. So thank you. I want to thank you for continuing in your generosity in this time. And I also wanted to encourage you to stay in touch. Those of you who attend a local elevation church, you know, check in with your campus pastor, your campus team. Make sure you're getting updates on in-person worship experiences as more of those become available, hopefully, in the days ahead.

And for our e-fam around the world, we're going to be right here for you every step of the way as we navigate this moment in time together. Well, you heard the word, and now I want to make sure that you're subscribed to the channel. Thank you for your partnership in the gospel. We love you. This is an IHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.