Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Exchange Zone

Episode Date: December 17, 2018

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This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Well, this is an incredibly special worship experience today. We're about to go into the auditorium for a time of worship and faith and the Word of God. It's our game changer offering weekend. This offering goes toward expansion and outreach and ministries just like this. And we're calling on our eFAM. That's what we call our extended family all around the world.

I know. I love it. It's so exciting that people join us every single weekend, not just here, but all over the world. Yeah, we don't want you to just consume the content. We want you to contribute. We want you to be a part of this move of God. So if you've been blessed by this ministry, this is your opportunity. Make a sacrificial gift, maybe a systematic gift, maybe one time, maybe a monthly recurring gift. But we're calling on all of you who consider this your epham, your extended family, your church family, to make a difference today.

As you do, Holly and I are praying that God will bless your life in amazing ways. So this is it. This is the opportunity. Be a part of this move of God. Let's go into worship. I think you're really going to have your faith built during this time, and the best is ahead. We'll worship a little bit more in a few moments after the sermon today as we get to bring our game change your offering. So many thousands didn't get to last weekend because of the weather.

We want everybody to have that special moment. But the bad news is just about the time we got the snow cleared out, just about the time we got the snow cleared out, we get a report that there's a hurricane. And this is terrible because we're out here trying to take a game changer offering, build the kingdom of God. And then Christine the Hurricane wants to come preach on our game changer series. Now this woman of God, she hails from Australia. Her husband's name is Nick. He is a great strategist and a general in the kingdom of God.

We honor you, sir, and your beard and your mountain biking. But she is a voice of justice and truth for Jesus Christ all around the globe. And today, on this occasion, God has sent us a global force in this strategic moment. And if you've never heard Christine Kane before, you have not lived until now. But the good news is there's a hurricane in the house. She is the co-founder of 821, fighting human trafficking all around the world. She is God's chosen vessel for this moment. Put your hands together on every location.

Welcome, Christine the hurricane. Did you all notice how beautiful the weather was today? You know, I brought the anointing, don't you? I didn't want to say anything to Pastor Stephen, but you were iced out last week, but come on, come on. This week it is beautiful. I feel like I am with family. In case you all don't know who I am, I'm your cray-cra, Aussie aunt.

and everybody needs a crazy Aussie aunt, and I'm so grateful. I'm the bonus track. I've brought the bonus track, so we had, I'm normally the person on the other side of the screen, so all our global e-family, and then I'm, you know, we've got our thousand, you're all like rabbits, there's a million locations, like you're like God, just omnipresent all over the globe, there you are. But I am normally, and often no matter where I'm preaching in the world, if the time zone works out well, I get to watch.

I participate. I'm more than watch. I know you on the other side of the screen are more than watching. I am part of it all. And you know, I always need a good sermon. So there's a pretty good preacher here most Sundays. And so I just come and I get my word from him. And then, you know, I quote him for the first minute. And then I say, as I always say, this is my word. So it's really hard coming to this pulpit. Because when you preach all pastor Stephen's sermons and then you've got to come to his pulpit, you're like, I literally ask my husband, I'm going, no, he's. already preached that. He's preached that. That's where I got it from. I can't do that. And so I had to actually go to God. How was that? And so, which was awesome. But I thank God, he's raised your house up. I want you to stay standing because I want to read something over you that as I was preparing, this is nothing to do with my sermon, but it's got everything to do with this house. And, you know, when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, King Solomon in the book of First Kings chapter 10, it says, now when the Queen of Sheba, heard of the fame of Solomon. I want you to know that the sound of elevation is around the world.

What is coming out of this house? And of course, you know, your Grammy nominated songs, which are absolutely phenomenal. I have the privilege of sometimes being at the same events as your worship team, which just represents this house so powerfully around the world. But, you know, there's a sound that's coming out of here. Your pastor, I mean, you've heard. of the pulpits if you've been a Christian for more than, you know, three minutes and most of you haven't here because you're heathen, so it's awesome. That's what we love. You're newly saved. But, you know, the great preachers in modern church history, Charles Spurgeon in England, and D.L. Moody in Chicago and Jonathan Edwards on the East Coast, let me just say, this pulpit

will go down in modern history as powerful as the pulpits of those people because of the gift on your pastor. It is awesome. But she comes in and she said, when I heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. She came to test him with hard questions. Have you ever tried to test your pastor with hard questions? She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue. I like this part. With camels bearing spices. I was going to bring my camels. It's Christmas and all, but you know, I left them in Australia. And very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom,

of Solomon, the house that he had built. I love this. God loves having a house built. The Bible says in Chronicles, the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent. We've come here around a game changer offering weekend. Can I just tell you, we are never apologetic about building an exceedingly magnificent house for God that goes around the world. It says the house that he had built. The food of on his table. I just had some grits. Can I tell you the food on the table here in the south? It's like awesome. I don't know if Sheba got grits, but I did. The seating of his officials and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cup bearers and his burnt offerings that he offered

to the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. And when I read that earlier this week, I thought that's what it's like. And for all of you on the other side of the screen, because that's me every week. It's breathtaking. The Queen of Sheba came into Solomon's Great Temple. She's, my breath is taken away. Can I just say, with the way that this house glorifies the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and carries the glory of God. You are breathtaking, Elevation Church. You are breathtaking. It is amazing what God is doing in and through this house in this generation. And so I'm believing God that is going to speak to every one of our hearts today and you're going to realize what a part of history you are.

I was in Copenhagen and I was raving about the beautiful architecture of that city in Denmark. It's just stunning. And I come from a nation that's only a couple of hundred years old. So anything that's thousands of years old, I mean the architecture, just the history is breathtaking. I was going on and on and on to the cab driver about how beautiful it was. and I'm Greek, so I'm highly emotive and I don't stop talking. And so I was just going. And he started to cry.

And I thought, Christine, you've really gone overboard this time. But he pulled over. And he said, you know, do you really think our city is this beautiful? I said, it's breathtaking. It's just stunning. And he said, you know, sometimes you can live right in the midst of it and not even see it. And my prayer is that here at elevation, that you realize while you're in it, that you're in the middle of a modern day miracle.

that what is God is doing in and through this house is not not taking for you to be a part of it. So why don't you be seated and turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. I'm a coffee lover. So Hebrews is one of my favorite, favorite. I couldn't resist. I couldn't resist. I'm sorry, it's as dorky as it comes. I've become that preacher.

I'm going to read to you from Hebrews chapter 12. I'm both Greek and a woman, so I only speak three ways, hard, fast and continuously. So strap yourself in. Strap yourself in. I love that I'm talking to so many locations all at once and our eFam. I love being on this side because I'm always on that side. Hi, okay, sorry. So here we go.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also, someone say me too. Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. I love this passage of scripture.

Hebrews chapter 12 right there after Hebrews 11. And you know, I always love to say that even in Australia, Hebrews 12 comes after Hebrews 11. Sometimes you think because our toilets flush back to front in the way that yours do here in America. Maybe our Bibles are back to front. But as in most translations, we go Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith and then Hebrews chapter 12. So I'm saying that because it starts with therefore.

And when the word therefore is in the Bible, you've got to ask yourself the question. What's it therefore? And it's therefore coming out of this one. wonderful chapter talking about these men and women of God that were heroes of faith. And the scripture tells us, the writer to the Hebrew says, we need to run with endurance in the same way that they ran before us. And why I'm prefacing what I'm about to say with this is that sometimes we think when it comes to our Christian walk, and especially in the Western culture that most of us are a part of, we think that it's an individual sprint. Man, I'm going to run this race that God has called me to. I'm

going to fulfill my destiny. You know, I'm going to flourish. I'm going to maximize my potential. You do, you boo, is the mantra of this generation. It's just like, you know, worst advice anyone could ever give anyone. But anyway, that's another sermon. But here is the deal is you just run your little leg of the race and just don't worry about anyone else. But scripture teaches us the opposite. It says, therefore then since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. You see, there are others that have come before us. We are part of an He. eternal divine relay. This is not an individual sprint. There are others that have come after us and it's before us and it's very important that we remember that there are people that have come before us in

the Christian faith because if we forget that others have run before us, we might just forget that there are still others to come after us. But when you remember of an eternal de-play race, it doesn't matter how fast any individual runner is. It doesn't matter how strong any individual runner is. if there is not a seamless exchange in the exchange zone, whatever happened before falls to the ground and doesn't go anywhere. And you know that in a race you want to increase momentum and you want to increase speed. And the way that exchange happens,

1.9 seconds, 20 meters determines the entire race. Now, I love relay races, and because I'm a chick, I'm predisposed to loving the women's 4 by 100 meter relay. And when we were living in Australia, in the year 2000, Australia hosted the Olympic Games. And Nick and I got to go and watch the final of the women's relay. Now, America, on paper, should have won. You had the fastest women's 4 by 100 meter team, the fastest team in history. Now, out of the 16 Olympic Games before that, the American team had won gold medal on nine of them. They were the fastest team, just so good.

But what happened was, as we were watching this race, what should have been just a easy win, ended up with a bronze medal for the American team, because what happened was, coming into the second exchange, they just got sloppy. They got sloppy because they thought, we're the fastest, where the fastest? the best. No one has beaten us before. So here we go. And they got sloppy. And while they were sloppy thinking they'd already won, but they were only in the second exchange, the Bahamas and Jamaica just came alongside and just took off. And then they just could not catch them after that. And what should have been a gold became a bronze, not because of a lack of skill, talent or ability,

but because of a lack of a seamless exchange in the exchange zone. They just got sloppy. It is amazing how when you get sloppy in your Christianity, you wonder why you don't finish your race in the way that you should. You wonder when you get sloppy in your approach to an exchange zone. Because in our faith, there are always divine moments of exchange, whether you are either going to accelerate and gain momentum, or you are either going to deaccelerate and then wonder why you didn't finish where you should have finished,

both individually and corporately as a church. Churches that go from strength to strength don't miss the exchange zone. When we have a moment like our game change are offering weekend, we realise this is a divine exchange zone. We realize we're coming into an exchange zone where we're either going to gain momentum and acceleration or whether we are just going to be sloppy. And so here's what happens.

In 2004, in the Athens Olympic Games, I'm thinking America is going to win again, fastest team on paper. But what happened is, as Marian Jones came into the exchange zone to give the baton over to Lauren Williams, she was a little bit fatigued, so she came in slower than she normally would. And she couldn't get the baton into the hand of Lauren Williams if you've ever seen it. It's actually really moving because you can see you trying to yell and say,

I'm not going to reach you. And so by the time she got it into Lauren's hand, it was outside of the exchange zone. The exchange happened too late. And so the American team was disqualified. Again, they were the fastest team. should have gotten gold. But if you do not hand over what needs to be hand over in the 1.9 seconds and 20 meters that you're supposed to,

you can miss that divine moment where you can actually accelerate and gain momentum. Impetis is everything to maintaining and sustaining momentum. If you miss it, if you don't serve when you should, give when you should, love when you should, forgive when you should, give mercy when you should. If you don't do it in that moment, you can miss that opportunity. Well, then we get to 2008, and now we're in Beijing, China.

And again, fastest team on paper. And America should have won. But what happened was when they came into that third exchange, they fumbled the baton and instead of passing it right, they dropped it. And so the team again lost the race. Not because they weren't the best or the fastest or the quickest, but because they dropped the baton. Do you know how many dropped batons?

there have been. In the history of the church over the last 2,000 years, people that God anoints a house and says, you can usher in the greatest revival that's ever been seen in modern day church. But somewhere in the exchange zone, we just drop the baton. And then we get to 2012, London, England, all that happened, the team was no faster than in the previous three Olympics. It was no stronger than in the previous three Olympics, but they got a gold medal simply because the three exchanges in the exchange zone were seamless. So what is the point of this athletics lesson on a Sunday morning at church? Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us elevation also make sure that we carry our baton of faith to our generation,

that we copy with what God has blessed through our generation. See, you are not here by accident. knew exactly what would be happening on the planet in the year 2018, 2019. He's God. A perk of being God is you just know everything. It's God. And so he knew. And when he looked at all of the people he created out of all of eternity,

he saw you. And he plucked you out of eternity. And he positioned you in time. And he gave you gifts and talents for the purpose of serving your generation. And he said, I'm going to plant you in this house. because I've got a mantle and I've got an anointing on this house. And we have so many issues on the earth today. There is so much chaos and so much crisis and so much division

and so much disunity and so much pain and so much heartache and so much injustice and so much suffering. And it is easy to get overwhelmed by it all. But I need to tell you the issue and the problems, they're not political problems and they're not moral problems necessarily and they're not education issues and they're not social issues. It's a faith issue. We've got too many unbelieving believers. We need some believers that say, I wish city, to my school, to my community, to my mother's group. You see, tag church, wear it. Where it? Well, I'm waiting and God's going,

no, no, no, you're it. You have the baton of faith. Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also. It's us. What are you doing with the baton of faith? We have an enemy that is trying to distract us from the one thing we're on the earth to do. In case you're wondering what we're here to do, you and I are personally responsible for the evangelization of planet Earth before the second coming of Jesus Christ. So today, when you're having lunch and all your friends are just trying to kind of, you know, belittle you and say, who are you? You're just a little loser Christian. And, you know, they say, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm a Supreme Court judge. What are you, little loser? You just go, well, I'm personally responsible for the evangelization of the planet before the second

coming of Jesus. I don't know what you do. That's what we are here for. Why do we get up today? Why are we at church? Because we are here carrying the baton of faith in our kids ministry. People telling people about the word of God and about Jesus in a culture that is so antithetical to the gospel and to the good news. Every time we come to church, you're carrying the word of God. You're the baton of faith. Every time you pray, you're carrying the baton of faith. Every time you open that word, you're carrying the baton of faith. Every time you sow into our game changer, you're carrying the baton of faith. What if we don't do it? What if we don't? What if we're just here? This is more than just a nice little self-help motivational come together. That's not what we're here for.

We are part of an eternal divine relay. This is every time we step in and we carry this baton of faith, the eternal is touching the temporal. We're stepping into this broken and fragmented world and we're saying we've got a baton of faith. God has given us the responsibility in our generation to carry this baton of faith to our generation. This is bigger than me. What's happening this weekend is bigger than us? What if we don't do it?

What if we just forget? I want to show you what for me is the saddest piece of scripture in the Bible. It's in the book of judges. It's always very scary when you go to judges on a Sunday morning. morning, but we're going there today. So in the book of Judges chapter 2, verse 7 to 10, and especially verse 10, the Bible says, and the people serve the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. And Joshua, the son of nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years.

And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath Harries in the hill country of Ephraim north of the mountain of Gash. And all that generation were also gathered to their fathers. And here's the saddest scripture for me in the Bible. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. Why is carrying this baton of faith so important? Why is it so important that we don't stop as a church and get comfortable and complacent and go, well, look at everything that's happening. We've got our E family, we've got locations all over the place. Isn't that enough?

Why can't we just come to church? I can got my little parking spot now. I've got my seat that I love now. My kids are in kids. What about? Because see, it's not just about us. I wonder how on earth could another generation arise after Joshua, one of the greatest leaders in the Bible.

He had come out of Egyptian slavery. He had seen the Red Sea part. I mean, just imagine. He saw the Red Sea part. He was with Moses often at the Tabalian. binackle. He went up to the mountain with Moses. He saw Moses have a fit and smash the Ten Commandments. He saw it all. He saw amazing things. He had manor from heaven for 40 years. He saw the provision of God. He saw God do amazing things. I mean, he survived in the wilderness with a

bunch of murmur, grumblers and complainers and still survive. That's a miracle itself. He understood the grace of God. He saw the River Jordan push back. He walked across that on dry ground. He saw the walls of Jericho come down. He went in and he possessed all the promised land. He went literally from slavery to possession. Only two of them ever saw that. But no, I don't think it's worth clapping. Because after him and his generation died,

another generation arose that did not know the Lord. Miracle, signs and wonders? Like had never been recorded before? from slavery to possession, from slavery to freedom and another generation. See, somewhere along the line, they dropped the baton, comfortable in the promised land, the fruit of their labors that they forgot they were part of an eternal divine relay. And we are only ever one generation away from that. So why are we sowing our seed today?

Why are we part of this offering today? Because we're saying, have the baton of faith going on and said, another generation arose who had not seen. I need you to understand, it's one thing to come to a building that you've not seen the miracle of God building. It's just what you think has always been here. But for those of us that were here when it was nothing, and then we've seen the miracles of God, so we're faithful to God. But you see, if you don't keep giving an opportunity to a generation and the generations,

to exercise their muscle of faith. They won't know that there's a faith muscle to exercise. And so what we're doing is giving people an opportunity to go, you can believe God now. If you don't give every generation and every person regularly the opportunity to believe God for themselves, they won't remember there's a God to believe. And so what happened is a generation just ate the fruit of Joshua's labor

and his generation, but they didn't exercise their own faith. So you go, why do we do some things every year? Because we continue to say, we've got to exercise that faith muscle. We've got to continue to have people believing God or when we're gone, they're not going to know there's a God to believe. They're not going to know that there's faith that needs to be exercised. So we must all continue to do that. And then scripture goes on and says, you know what, how does this happen?

How do you do that? And there's only three quick ways that this scripture tells us. It says, therefore then since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnars. This is how you run unhindered. This is how you keep the baton of faith going from one generation to the next, going from year to year in your own faith, and keeps you passionately pursuing God, and keeps you passionately hanging on to the baton of faith.

because what you find is some batons you once held onto a sacred, you just throw away now like it really doesn't matter. There was a time that you would never have thought about, not going to church because you needed this for your very lifeline to even just exist every day. But then you go, well, you know what, if it's too cold, I'm not going. There was a time where you would have kept yourself morally pure because it was in the scripture you would do it.

Then you go, you know what? No one in our generation does. It doesn't really matter. We just throw it all away. It's like no big deal. There was a time when you would have always been, in the word and say, God, I'm going to be the first to give my offering as a sign of thanks to you and a sign of faith for what's going to happen in the future. But you know, you know what? It doesn't

really matter. And we just throw batons away. We drop them in the exchange zone. And we hang on to them and we miss that 1.9 second 20 meter opportunity to see the blessing of God in our own life. It's all a matter of timing in the kingdom. He's a god of time and a god of timing. Always. Always. and how you go from strength to strength, because that is the way upward for a believer. We are supposed to go from faith to faith, from strength to strength, from glory to glory. But what happens in the exchange zone

determines whether that's what happens to us or not. And so what happens is we drop. So the scripture says, you know, this is what you've got to do. You've got to drop some stuff now. You've got to drop the weights and the sins. And two different words suggest to me that the writer of the Hebrews is saying there's two different things.

A weight is not a sin. A weight could be something that was good for a season. But now it's not good. It could even be some people that led you to the Lord. And the truth is that they helped catapult you to where you are today. But if you're honest, you get into a faith environment like this, you're full of faith, you want to press on for the purposes of God. And you get around those people and suddenly you've just taken five steps back.

God doesn't require that much of you. You don't need to serve that much. You don't need to sow that much. You don't need to give that much. You don't need. And so the people that once helped catapult you to where you are have now become a weight, an anchor. They're holding you back. It could be a level of serving.

You've been willing to serve at church life at this level. And it was good. It's not a sin. But the truth is if we're going to break forth into all that God has for us as a movement, you know what? Serving at this level has now become a weight. Your breakthrough is to start serving at this level and you're going to start seeing things come through. It could be a level of giving.

You're believing God and I am too for next year for financial breakthrough, for increase in my family's life and our ministries life. I'm believing God for it. Well, it's not what people give to me that determines how much I'm going to get. It's my giving that determines how much and how far we go. So if I keep giving at this level, which is not a sin, it's really good actually. If I keep giving at this level, although it's not a sin, this level of giving for me has now become a weight for where I want.

to go because my breakthrough is going to be at this level of giving. You could go, we could talk about our thinking, we could talk about every aspect of life. What was once okay has now become a weight and an anchor. So what do you need to drop to carry the baton of faith and run unhindered? Scripture says, any athlete drops, any additional weights. If we're going into 2019, you want to talk about a game-changing year coming out of this series, then we've got to drop some stuff. some habits, some attitudes, some thoughts, some bitterness, some unresolved issues, some unaddressed addictions. We need to drop some weights so that we can run unhindered and sin. I know we don't like that word very much, do we in the 21st century? It's like, I'm offensive to people,

I know. And so it's like we like to think, I'm okay, you're okay. And it's because we've got a really warped view of it. The thing is, who's got a bottle of water? Just anyone got anything with a label on it. Someone will throw me something. Come on, you are awesome. Any bottle will do. I just need this. So say that I had a bottle here full of poison, awesome poison. And here it had, you know, poison and I ripped the poison label off and I put a new label on it and I put chocolate syrup. And then I put it in your refrigerator. You would think I'm cray-gray. Because the milder you make the label, the more potent you make the poison. And what we've done when we're too scared to say, hey, there is sin, you know, when I was diagnosed with cancer four years ago, could you imagine

what would have happened at the hospital in LA, at UCLA Hospital? If I walked in and they did all the biopsies, all of the tests, and said, we know that Christine's got cancer. And it was right between my larynx and trachea. So right on my voice box, gee, the devil, is very, very just, he's not obvious, is he? I'm like, you know what, you can stick that in your pipe. I'm going louder, I'm going stronger, I'm going further, I'm going faster than ever before. But anyway, see, imagine what would have happened if they went, we know she's got cancer, but we don't want to offend Christine.

We don't want to hurt her feelings. And so what we're going to do is we're going to tell her that she's got the flu. And although we've got the cure for her particular type of cancer, we're going to say that she's got the flu and give her a Tylenol, because we don't want her to feel bad or feel judged or feel condemned. Well, what would we call that? We would call that medical malpractice, and we would sue those doctors and they would never practice again.

Well, I don't know why people expect me as a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to commit spiritual malpractice because here is the deal. There is an issue that we need to lay aside, which is called sin. But here is the glory. So the writer to the Hebrew says, hey, how about we lay aside the weights and the sins that so easily ensnare us so that we can run our race unhindered. So we've got to drop some stuff now on this bonus track of the Game Changer series.

What do we need to drop so that we can move unhindered into 2019? And then he says, run the race set before us. There is a race set before you. You have a baton of faith. This is your moment now. See, most of us, we're like, one day when? When I get more, then I'll give. When I have more time, then I'll serve.

When, when, when, there is no when one day over there. Run the race set before you now. You've only ever got here. There is no there. Because when you get there, you're here. And so you need to understand. It's what you do here now that determines the there and then. And so you've got to run the you.

Some of you are not running the race set before you because you're too busy scrolling through everyone else's race. Of course. And then he says fixing your eyes on Jesus. You've got to drop it now. You've got to run right here now. And then you've got to look up now. Because Jesus is what started this.

And Jesus is who we're looking at at the finish line. Elevation, why we're not settling now? Why we're all coming around this offering in a few minutes. Why we all continue to believe God for an impact on the nations and the generations. It's because it's Jesus that is the head of this house. It's Jesus that started this house. It's Jesus that's at the finish line that we are looking for. We have always been a church that's full of radical faith.

We carry the baton of faith when people think we're great, great. We are? We are. Just settle it. It's cool. You're crazy. I know. I know.

I believe all the crazy stuff. Yeah, I know. Virgin birth. Yep. We're celebrating it in a couple of weeks. That's it. Oxymoron virgin birth. Okay.

Virgin pregnancy. Awesome. I tell my 16 year old daughter, do not try this at home. I will not believe you. It's not the case. So no. No. But yeah, I do.

physical bodily resurrection. I know, I believe all the great, great stuff and the sky's going to split, he's going to come back. Yep, I believe it all. I've drunk the Kool-Aid. And you know what? It's such good news that I'm going to carry that baton of faith to my generation, for my generation. There is no greater news than the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It started with radical, passionate faith. A couple of kids, 25 years old. Do you remember? Our prompt day, when Pastor Stephen sat on the stage, we were so many, many interns and helped us to remember our memorial stones, how this all started. We weren't cool, we weren't slick. And we might be excellent, but we're still not cool or slick. We will be dorks

for Jesus till the day we die. It's just the way that it is. A bunch of 25-year-olds starting a church in Charlotte. That's foolish. But if we don't maintain that same radical faith, then we are not going to continue to gain momentum and accelerate. And I believe we are going to do that. But you've got to be willing to be foolish for Jesus. In a few moments, we're going to give. And you know what? To other people in this day and age, it seems foolish. But we're seeing with eternal eyes, not natural, temporal eyes. And we're saying it might seem foolish to you, but we care about the generations. Well, I want to just give you an example throughout scripture of people that took foolish risks of faith and ended up changing the world. We turned and circle all the way.

back to some of the names listed in Hebrews chapter 11 because where I started this morning was therefore then. So let's go back before the therefore and to understand elevation. We're part of this divine relay. We're part of the Hebrews 11. Great Hall of Faith. That's who we are. We are part of that. Do you remember how foolish Noah would have looked when he was building an ark in the desert? And there'd never been rain before. Imagine all of his friends. Noah, what are he building? An arc. What's an ark, mate? Don't know. Why are you building it? Because we're going to have rain.

What's rain? Haven't got a clue? We're bringing our offering for the, what are we building? An art? What for? Haven't got a clue? But I know that God knows. Half the time in our Christian life, that's what it's like.

We're building something that we don't quite know what, for something that's coming, that we haven't really got a clue. But all we do is fix our eyes on Jesus, and we know we're going to keep building this thing and we're going to keep moving forward. And it's going to keep happening. Can you imagine how just looks? He had a ride and he had a red sea in front of him.

That's what we look like in our generation. There's red seas to part. We don't know how some of these miracles are going to happen. Can you imagine all of the Egyptians going and all the Israelites going, well, what are you going to do, Moses? There's a sea. I don't know, but I've got a stick. I've just, I got a stick.

And truly for the future and what we need to see, even with all that we've accomplished in our 13 years, it's the equivalent of a stick. Because we need some red seas to part. Sarah looked foolish at the maternity shopping section in Walmart. What are you doing, Sarah? I'm about to birth a baby, honey. Wow, I thought your eggs dried up.

Yeah, well, you know, so much I could say right now, but I'm just going to go. How foolish do the Israelites look marching around the walls of Jericho? No cruise missiles, no nuclear, just nothing. How foolish do we look? We're doing the same, spiritually speaking, marching around walls, seeing demonic strongholds. come down seeing. It looks people like all of the injustices and the pain and the suffering and the chaos and the division on the earth. They're like, what are you all doing? We're building arcs so we can gather and we can pray and we can seek God and we can fill altars with people being

saved and people being delivered and people being healed and marriages being restored and children coming back to the king. Oh, that's what we're doing. No, no. We're marching. Looking foolish, we know. We know it's not cool, but we're marching. How foolish did David look with a nine-foot a giant in front of him and he's got five little stones. Often that's how we think. I've got my little slingshot and there's a giant. How foolish did Esther look going into the king? When she wasn't summoned, she could have been killed for speaking up. How foolish did Caleb look at 85 saying to Joshua, I am not cashing in my 401k? This is not happening. There is no such word as retirement in the Bible. I'm refiring. I'm not retiring at 85. I'm not doing that. How foolish did Mary look this time of the

a pregnant virgin, teenage chick. Foolish. How foolish did the wise men look following the star? How foolish did Peter look stepping on the water out of a boat? How foolish would the woman with the issue of blood have looked as she grabbed the hem of his garment? How foolish did Paul and Silas look as they're sitting in prison and they're singing hallelujah here below? And they're just like believing God. How foolish did the little boy look with five fish and two loaves? How foolish? And of course, of all of them,

how foolish did Jesus Christ look hanging on that cross? Half naked, people looking at him going, that's your Messiah. That king of the Jews, that's him. You're all in over him. Coming to church every Sunday, building buildings, bringing a game changer over him. You're even really believe that stuff? You really believe? This is it. Well, if we would carry on the Hebrews 11, Hall of Faith, if we would continue to say, we want to be counted into that cloud of witnesses, we elevation church want to go down in history as people that dared to look foolish and believe God, we might see exactly the same result as these people did because here is the deal. Everyone else can laugh. But Noah and his family, they were saved from the flood. Moses did see the Red Sea part.

Sarah did give birth to Isaac. The Israelites did see the walls of Jericho fall. David did defeat Goliath. Esther stopped the Jewish genocide. Caleb did get Hebron. Mary did give birth to Jesus. Peter did walk on water. The woman with the issue of blood, she was healed. Paul and Silas, they were freed from prison, the little thousand. And Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Amen, church. Amen, amen, amen. Hey, thanks for joining us online today. We really believe this year and offering can be a game changer in your life.

Now, this is an opportunity to not just hear the message, but to really be a part of it. For some of you, you may need to start by bringing the tide. That's the first 10%. Now, for others, it might be to go above and beyond the tithe and bring an offering. Now, either way, we want everyone to participate in the Game Changer year-end offering. You can go to elevationchurch.org to find out everything that you need to know about how to give and how to participate in this year-end offering. But one of the most important things is to just take a few minutes, just head over to that

website and set up your giving and make sure you choose Game Changer in the drop-down menu to make sure that you're contributing specifically to our year-end offering. So make sure that you do that on that site. We're excited to see how God is going to move in our church, in this season, and really believe that God wants to do something special in your life. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.