Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Frustration Of Expectation (Rich Wilkerson Jr.)

Episode Date: June 14, 2021

There’s a blessing on the other side. In “The Frustration of Expectation,” Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. of Vous Church reminds us that frustrating seasons are never wasted—and that God might be using that “wasted time” for something bigger than we can imagine.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. How many are ready for the Word of God to be preached? Get up on your feet. Pastor Rich Wilkerson is in the house. He is my friend. He is the only adult who can keep me up. after 4 a.m. to talk about the things of God. He pastors the great Voo Church. We love him so much. Come on and give God praise Epham around the world for Pastor Rich Wilkerson.

Come on, church. Hey, can we go ahead and lift up the name of Jesus? Come on all around the world. Jesus, the highest praise. Anybody thankful to be in the house of God on this Sunday? Anybody just sense that God is moving right now, not just in the room, but we're believing that wherever you're watching this. from the eFAM that the same power that's right here right now. I'm believing. Come on, the same power is right there today with you. Oh, it's good to be at Elevation Church. As you find your seat in the room, we want to once again just welcome everybody who's tuning in online. We're so grateful for the way that this ministry continues to go forward

and just make a global impact. And I just got to say, what an honor, what a privilege it is for me to be back here in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I just think the elevation church, come on. Anybody's thankful that you just go to the greatest church? In fact, I was here last week for the worship night. My, my, my. I sense a revival coming, man. This place was jam-packed to the wrap.

I mean, I'm telling you what, a tangible sense of God's presence. Anyone get scared when Brandon Lake just did a full crowd-cirred? I was like, I don't know if we got insurance for that, but it was a powerful, powerful. I said, I just got to be in the room. I hope you understand just what you're a part of here at Elevation Church. And any chance I get to be up on this stage and any chance I get to brag and give honor where honor is due towards your pastors, I want to make sure I take my chance. Anybody thankful for Pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdick?

Come on in the chat right now. Just tell them that you love them in the chat. We love you guys. So, so grateful for both of them. Here's what I believe, and I'm a preacher, and so I make things rhyme. But I believe that alignment is even more important than assignment. And I just want to make sure that I'm being loud and clear, that I'm aligning myself with what I think is some of the world's greatest leaders in the body of Christ today.

Because a lot of people miss this in life. A lot of people get focused on what they're doing. but they miss out on who they're doing it with. And what God is giving you here in the leaders of this house is just so tremendous. And the fact that you get to be in this soil and in this space, I just think that what's on their life, it begins to overflow onto our lives. And I'm grateful that I'm aligned with Pastor Stephen and Pastor Hall of the Ferdic.

Come on. Anybody wants them to have Ferdic blessing on you? We love you guys so much. And thank you for being standard carriers. It's not easy what they do to continue to press forward, to continue to see what others don't see, to continue to push in. It can be lonely. It can be challenging. But they do it with such grace. They do it with such poise. They do it with such integrity. And it gives so many of us around the world a whole lot of hope. And so we love you. Thank you so much for letting me be here. Yeah, come on. We can thank God one more time for them.

I, you know, sometimes as a preacher, it's a labor of love as you open up God's word. and it can be you're digging stuff out and you're looking for stuff. But every once in a while, God just drops a word into your heart. That it just starts coming out of you that you can't write fast enough, however you put it together. And the message I had today, it kind of came to me like that, just this last week. I just sensed as I was coming here to Elevation Church,

that the word that I bring today is not going to be pretty. It's going to be messy. And I'm going to preach it like I feel it today, which there is a fire on the inside of me that I think this is an on-time right now word for Elevation Church. And so I'm going to need some help today, not just from in the room, but in the chat, online. You could say amen. You could say, I like that.

You could say preach it, white boy. I don't really care. But today, everyone is tapping into their inner Pentecostal. We're going to all verbally engage. Come on. How many believe God loves a loud church? One time this dude was like, yo, Rich, I don't like going to your church. It's just too loud.

I was like, homie, you're not going to like heaven very. much. Because the Bible tells me that all day long, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they are shouting around the throne room of heaven. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Come on, somebody. We're going to bring heaven down to earth today. We're going to make it loud. We're going to get there. We're going to get there. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I'm just going to read some verses and then I'm just going to give it to you how God gave it to me. Is that okay? Thank God. Romans chapter 8 verse 18 this is paul the apostle he writes to the church in rome and he says i consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us

the creation waits in eager expectation someone say expectation for the sons of god to be revealed for the creation was subjected to frustration not by its own choice but but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in pains of childbirth right up to the present time, not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait, someone say wait, as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we are saved, but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for

what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. How many, no, patience is not the ability to wait. Patience is all about how you wait. Patience is all about how you wait. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the Saints in accordance with God's will. Sometimes you just read a passage and it does all the heavy lifting for you. How many sense today that God wants to speak to His church? Come on. Can you put your hands together? Can you give God glory and can you shame the devil for a moment?

I've been married to the same woman for 14 years. Thank God. We have two beautiful boys. In fact, my oldest son who's three years of age, his name is Wyatt Wesley Wilkerson. He's actually traveling with me here today to Elevation Church. And my second born son, his name is Wild Wesley Wilkerson. I know these names are a mouthful, you know. W.W.W. Are there initials. We call them World Wide Web for short. These names are a mouthful. And our secondborn son, we kind of got more than what we bargained for. How many, you've got to be crazy to name your kid wild. And wild is wild. That's his deal. He's just totally wild. Wild's one and a half. And as he's one and a half right now, he's amazing because the day that he came out of the womb, this boy has always had

direct intention. He's always had a clear motivation. I've always been able to see that he knows what he wants in life. But he's learning, right? Right now he's got a vocabulary of like four words, dad, da, mama. He loves to say pool. He's into the pool. His older brother loves swimming. He likes swimming. The problem with Wilde is he don't know how to swim. This is like not funny at all. This is like truly scary in my house right now because this boy whose name is wild, is wild. Literally, the kid is a savage. He thinks it's funny to throw himself into swimming pools. When you pull him out of the water, he is laughing hysterically. You're like, you're sick, bro. This is true. Last week, I take my son Wilde to the pool. And what this kid does is this kid, he has this whole thing.

He gets up to the pool deck. He gets on his tippy toes. He leans forward. He puts his hands back. He puts his butt back. And he looks over at me as if to taunt me. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. It's like a demonic laugh, though. And then he hurls himself. The other day went to a pool deck. He gets over to the hot tub. He's looking over there. He puts his arms back. He throws himself into a hot tub to which I have to jump into the hot tub. I pull him out of the water. He's laughing hysterically. I'm saying, wild. This is not funny, bro. This is not fun. Surviving is fun. Living is good. His challenge right now in life is that he doesn't have. the words to articulate that which he wants. And what I'm noticing in my little boy Wild right now is that it's not a problem of whether or not he's living with expectation. No, his challenge in life is that he finds himself unable to manage the frustration of getting that which it is he's anticipating. And I thought on this Sunday morning, right here at Charlotte,

North Carolina at the Ballantine Campus and all over the world to the eFAM. If you would give me the next 34 minutes of your time, I want to preach today from the subject the frustration of expectation. The frustration of expectation. I suppose I just have a basic question, and that is, what are you expecting God to do? We've gathered today all over. We're in our homes, we're in the church, and we've come into God's house. I sure hope you've come into God's house with some expectation. I sure hope you've come in here believing for God to do something in your life. I sure hope you've walked in today, not just thinking that you're just going to stumble into

something. No, I really believe it's the man of God. It's the woman of God who actually comes in with a pursuit, a passionate pursuit to say, God, I came in today because I have an expectation that you're going to do something in my life. I got expectation today. I felt like saying it this way, that the Church of Jesus Christ will never just stumble into a revival. You don't stumble into revival? Come on. The church prays for revival. The church hopes for revival. The church believes for revival. The church leans in and declares there's going to be a revival.

What are you expecting? It's important if you're going to follow Jesus that you live life with expectation. The Apostle Paul, he writes to the church in Rome, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits an eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. He's trying to get the church to get their eyes on something bigger. He's declaring out loud that the entire world is waiting on the church of Jesus Christ to rise up and take her proper position. her proper place, that there's something in us that the world is looking for. He's saying, don't let your present pain make you forget about your future purpose. Can I say it this way?

Your current situation is not in charge of your future destination. Get your hopes up. Start believing. Start expecting. Expectation means to live life with an anticipation. That I'm believing for more. And I just felt today that there's some people in the room and some people right now in the eFAM. that you need to hear today, it's time to raise your expectation.

This word expectation, it is the ingredient of faith. That truly, like, it's impossible to have faith without expectation, but how many know it's impossible to please God without faith. And if we're going to have faith, we have to actually have this thing called expectation. I remember that story in Acts chapter 3 is a good story. It's about this guy who sits outside this gate, and the gate's called Beautiful, and he sits there all day and he just he asked for people as they're coming by the gate and he asks for money and one day Peter and John are walking by you remember this story and as they're walking by this guy he just begs and ask them hey can you can you can you give me some alms because his legs don't work he has no ability to walk or to move forward and so he just begs Peter and John to give him some money it's fascinating the longer that we tend to wait sometimes the more we can begin to lower our expectation how many know that when I don't get my expectation. The temptation is for me to lower my standard. Because here's this man

that he should be still believing and dreaming to walk, but now he's lowered his standard and all he simply wants is some money. But as Peter and John come by, they have a bigger dream in mind for him. They're believing that something more can take place. They look at this man and this man says, hey, can you give me some money? But what does Peter and John say back to him? Peter and John, they say back in Acts chapter 3, verse 4. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, look at us. So the man gave them his attention, expecting.

Someone say expecting. Expecting to get something from them. Listen, before he can raise his feet to walk, he must raise his expectation to believe. Look at us. And the man looks up with expectations. Isn't it funny? As he looks up with expectation, my guess is,

is that he's just expecting to get some money. But what God says is God says, if you will raise your expectation, I will exceed your expectation. I will do more than what you thought. This man is just hoping to get some money. And a lot of us today, I just hope, maybe you came to church and you're going,

man, I really hope that Jesus can change my day. But, friend, I want you to get something deeper in your soul today. Jesus Christ did not die on a cross 2,000 years ago to simply change your day. Come on. We serve the God who died that he might change your very life. This man just gives a little bit of expectation, just a little bit of expectation, probably just hoping to get some money.

But we serve the God who says, I don't need a lot of faith, I just need a little bit of faith. It's faith the size of a mustard seed that can move an entire mountain. This man has faith for something small, but God has plans for something big. Because Peter and John look back at this man and they say, silver and gold we do not have, but one thing we do have, we give it to you. get up and walk. You're leaving here today, different from how you came. Come on, is there anybody out there who believes that if we raise our expectation, God is going to do something in our midst. He's got something more for you today. The whole earth is waiting an eager expectation.

You're called to live with an anticipation. I felt the Lord say to me to some of you today, some of you got to come back to your first love. You've got to go back to the start. You've got to go back to the beginning. Go back to your early days following Jesus. I love new Christians. New Christians are crazy. They actually believe the Bible. Like the whole thing. You ever meet a new Christian?

They're like early to church. You get there, they're like, they're in their seat. They're like, they're doing this stuff. You're like, what are you doing? They're like, I'm stretching. Worship's about to start. You never know. You never know.

Come on. Some of y'all remember this. Some of you all remember this. Back when you believed, back when you expected God to do things. Pastor gets up and says, we're going to need some people to serve. Oh, that's me. That's me. That's me.

Right here. I didn't tell you where. I don't care. I don't care. Well, it's two in the morning. I love two in the morning. I love two in the morning. Everyone used to pray.

God just used me. Just use me. If you can use anything, you can use me. And then God used you. Now you're complaining to God that he used you. I didn't change. You change. I was here last week.

This is just 15 years of a ministry that's been touching the world. And if you're not careful, you will get so familiar with this crazy, out-of-control, radical, freakish move of God that the world has never seen before. Maybe I should have come to the staff meeting. Walk through the HQ and I'm just like, what is this? And there's some people that have been around this thing for a long time. You've been around here for 15 years. I just want to encourage you today. Do not get familiar with this thing.

God has not changed. He is still the same yesterday, today, and forever. You've got to get your expectation of. Go back to your first love. Go back to that beginning days when you really believed God. I love new Christians. They build your faith. I walked up to this guy today, Pastor Stephen, and this guy brand new to church.

He said, Pastor, would you pray for me? I said, yeah, sure. I mean, that's what I do. I pray for it. Yeah, I'll pray for you. He said, well, before you pray, here's what I want you to pray for. I said, well, it's that. He goes, pray for my shadow.

I said, what? I said, I want you to pray for my shadow. I said, okay, why would I pray for your shadow? He said, well, there's this girl in the cubicle next to me at work, and she just got diagnosed with terminal cancer. And she won't let me pray for her. I told her I was a Christian, but she said, I don't want you to pray for me. But then I was reading in the book of Acts that when some of those apostles walk by,

just their very shadow touched them. Come on, where are the people of elevation church? Raise your expectation. Come on, your shadow is trouble for the enemy. Come on, your shadow is a problem for the devil. God's getting ready to break out in your life. I said back to the man said, maybe you should pray for me. Raise your expectation.

The world is looking for a church. The world is looking for the people of God to rise up. The world is looking for some people to carry a standard who would say, I got expectation. I won today. Are you in the game of faith or are you on the bench of faith? Because it's two totally different postures. I know I came to get up all in your business today. I know it's the month of June. I know there's a lot of people on vacation, but we're building a church. And the best days for Elevation Church are still in front of us, not behind us.

Because how many know, it's a much different posture when you're on the bench. When you're on the bench of a game, you're distracted with the crowd. You're looking at the audience. You're not really paying attention. But the moment you step into that game, baby, I'm telling you what, you take on a different posture. You're ready for the ball to come your way. You're eager. You're wanting something to happen. My son Wilde, he gets up to that pool deck.

He's got a stance. He gets up on his tippy toes. He puts his arms back. He gets his butt back and he leans in. I felt the Spirit of God tell me to tell some people at Elevation Church, it's tiptoe season around here. It's time for you to lean in. It's time for you to put your arms back. God's getting ready to do.

That would you never seen him do before. Come on, church. Give him a shout of praise. Give him glory. I came in with expectation. I came in believing there's more. I came in believing he's going to set my family free. I believe that cancer can go in the name of Jesus.

Come on, somebody. It's tiptoe season. Hands back, lean forward. There's a posture to this. There's a posture to this. Someone said there's a posture to this. What's your expectation? What have you walked in here with today?

Because God is calling us to raise our expectation. And I can't even teach you the message if I'm not even talking to a room that came in believing for something. I can't even tell you the next part if you don't raise your expectation to believe that your best days are still in front of you. So why don't we live with expectation? Oh, I know the answer. Because every one of my expectations comes with this frustration. I know. We're not going to shout at that part.

Every one of my expectations is coupled with frustration. You say, Rich, why does frustration come with expectation? Because expectation is an anticipation to believe for that which has not happened yet. and how many know where I am to where God has called me to be has this space in between. It's called a gap. And fighting through the gap is frustrating to say the least. I remember when I was studying abroad in my university days, I did a semester abroad at Cambridge, and I got to go and visit London.

I was in the subway system. If you ever been to the subway system in London, there's these signs all the place, and it says, mind the gap. And this phrase, what it means is that for every platform that's there, there's this space in between the platform to the train. And they want you to be aware of the gap so that you can get onto the train that you might reach your destination safely and securely. What I want to say to everybody who's watching today and everyone who's in church today is that we're not to be afraid of the gaps, but we must be aware of the gaps. We must understand that if we're going to live life with expectation, it will constantly and continually be coupled with this word called frustration. See, a lot of people have the wrong idea about faith. They think faith is wishful thinking. I think faith is problem solving.

A lot of people think that faith is like pie in the sky. No, faith is work in the dirt. And it can be frustrating for you to dig up and think. for you to see all the things that God has called you to and all the things that God has spoken to you. Look at what the apostle Paul says. He says in Romans chapter 8 verse 20, he says, while the whole world is waiting for this sons of God to be revealed, he says, for the creation was subjected to frustration. Everyone say frustration. Not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. In hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

So what the Apostle Paul is doing is he's laying out really beautiful theology that we must all understand that ever since our great great great great great great's, grandfather Adam, ever since he sinned, the whole world has been frustrated. Ever since that moment, there has been a gap from us. to God. This is the gospel message. This is why we gather. This is why we can put a smile on our face, even though life around us might be really troubling right now, because we have this eternal hope that we serve the God that when I couldn't get to him, come on, he came to me. Anybody's thankful that Jesus came and closed the gap. Jesus closed the gap. And while my eternity is secure,

my reality is frustrated. C.S. Lewis said if I find in myself desires, which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world. What if I told you today that frustration is an indication that you are living with divine expectation? We got a whole bunch of people in the body of Christ today that are cursing their frustration. May I plead with the people of Elevation Church? Don't curse it. Hear it. Don't curse it. Solve it. Don't curse it. Don't curse it. Don't curse it. Manage it. Because there's a blessing on the other side of your frustration. See, I wish somebody would have told me this a whole long time ago that frustration is not a curse. frustration is a reality and frustration is actually a gift. You say, Rich, it's a gift. It certainly is a

gift. And you need to reframe this today. You need to make sure that you start seeing your frustration as a gift because frustration many times is an indication of the thing that you're called to do. Come on. If it bothers me so much, maybe it's because God believes I'm the one to solve it. Come on, if you're the only person who sees that thing, maybe it's because God is trusting you to solve that thing. Come on, if you're the only person who cares about it all the time, maybe it's because God has trusted you with an ability to actually bring communication to the vision. I'm not going to lie. The other day, I woke up and I was like, man, am I coasting? Like, am I playing it easy? Like, am I taking the safe path? I don't know. I just, this is just,

maybe you're watching right now. Man, am I kind of mailing it in? Am I playing? safe? Am I still dreaming? Are my best days really actually in front of me? But then I woke up frustrated. And I said, oh, I'm still frustrated. And that tells me God is not done with me yet. I am still becoming who he has called me to become. He is still giving me vision. He's still putting expectation on the inside of me. My frustration is an indication that I still have divine expectation. Somebody thank God that not all of your problems are solved yet. Somebody thank God that you're still believing for more. Somebody thank God that you still have some faith that works.

If you want to see your expectation fulfilled, you're going to have to get good with managing the frustration. And when I say managing frustration, this is where a lot of people get lost, because a lot of people, what their challenge in life is, is that they're not managing frustration. They're trying to attain perfection. No, no, no.

No, frustration is not about perfection. Frustration is about making progress. Little by little, day by day, moment by moment, I'm closing the gap. See, some gaps like, come on, I mean, some gaps like I can manage, but there's other gaps. There's some people that are watching right now. You're a first generation Christian. You're believing for your parents to get saved. Come on, that's the gap that you're going to need some supernatural power to come and help close that gap.

But if you make your whole entire goal in life, perfection, you're going to find yourself in a constant state of frustration that leaves you depleted and disappointed. In fact, there's this psychological study. It's called the Silver Metal Syndrome. I don't have you ever heard this before. But there's a lot of people today that live life and maybe you're watching right now and you're anxious or you're depressed or you're depleted. A lot of that comes from this idea that you have to be perfect. So you go through life and you're going, it could have been better. How about this? It should have been better. it has to be better.

They did a study, and what they discovered is they discovered that silver medal winners, like in the Olympics, are more unhappy than bronze medal winners. You say, why is that rich? I mean, one finished further. Well, the silver medal winner, he's up on the podium, and he's sitting there going, I was so close. I was so close to being perfect. I should have been perfect. I should have been first. I'm not first. I'm second. But the bronze medal winner? This ain't so bad. He's like, it could have been worse.

I was so close from nobody even knowing my name. But thank God, I got myself up on the podium. We made it. Come on, somebody. Anybody thankful you might not be where you want to be yet, but anybody thankful that you're not where you used to be? We made it. It could have been worse.

It could have been worse. Frustration is not about perfection. It's about progress. It's about waking up each day with a fight inside of you. It's about say, I'm going to solve this thing. If God put me here, he trusted me that I am the man for the job. I am the woman for the moment. I'm the right mom for this house.

I'm the right dad for this home. I'm the right pastor for this location. I'm the right leader at this job. He has put me in a place. If he called me to it, his grace is going to get me through it. See, this is our challenge. I just want you to get this today because the enemy of your soul, the only thing he cares about when it comes to your life is your future.

One thing I know about following Jesus is the future will always be more demanding than the past. What's the reward for passing the third grade? Fourth grade. It's just one test after another. In fact, how about this? Oh, this is going to make someone really mad. With God, there's no like, he doesn't grade on a curve. It's like pass or fail. Like you just, how many know, you just keep taking the same test over and over again.

That's how he works. And if you're going to follow Jesus, he's always got more for you. And you're always stepping into more, which means you're always facing new frustration because we live in a broken world. And what the enemy wants to do is the enemy, he wants to mess up your future. In fact, we say it this way. The enemy doesn't care about your past. You do. Oh my God. I want to help somebody. The only reason he brings up your past is because he wants to destroy your future. He doesn't care at all about what you did last year. He doesn't care about your past. You care about your past. It's messing with you. Look at what First John says. I love this. This is so beautiful. He says, dear friends, now we are children of God. And what will be? Someone say, what will be? And what will be has not yet been made no. You know what that's saying to all of us? That's saying that if you are in Christ Jesus, you are still becoming.

And the only thing more important with who you are today is who you're becoming tomorrow. Here's why I find confidence today. I find confidence that if Jesus could close my eternal gap, I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit who will help me close the gap from where I am today and where he wants me to be tomorrow. That's why the Apostle Paul says, in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for,

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. That's a whole lot right there, but I'm just telling you, that's powerful.

Because when you begin to pray in the Spirit and some of you've got different words for all of that, all I'm saying is when you say, God, Holy Spirit, you fill me. You start praying with me. At times, you don't even know what you're praying. My son, Wild, he doesn't have all the words right now. Sometimes he's just like, ah, we're like, what's up, bro? But he's got an expectation. I'm telling you what? You don't need the Holy Spirit just to make it to heaven. You need the Holy Spirit to help you get through the supermarket. You need the Holy Spirit to help you in traffic. Come on. The Holy Spirit doesn't make me better than you.

Holy Spirit makes me better than me. And he helps me close the gaps of my weakness. We need the Spirit of God in our church. We need the Holy Spirit like never before. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. The Holy Spirit is not about spiritual superiority. It is about spiritual survival. I can't make it without the Spirit of God. I'm not going to ever be able to fulfill all that He's called me to do unless the Spirit shows up. Someone say mind the gap. We all have weaknesses, we don't need to be afraid of them, but we certainly need to be aware of them. And it's time that the body of Christ reframes them. Frustration is not a curse.

Frustration many times is an indicator of what God's calling me to do. As the worship team makes their way up here, I want you to see this. Expectation is coupled with frustration, but if I manage the frustration well, it always leads to a revelation. We get the word revelation from the root word reveal. And I'm believing today that everything that you're hoping for and everything that you're believing for

that in due season, in due time, God will reveal it to you. But I want the body of Christ to understand that there is a correlation between me managing my frustration and my capacity to receive revelation. Everybody wants revelation. but very few of us are willing to walk through the idea of frustration. Look at what the apostle Paul says as we get ready to close.

He says in Romans chapter 8, verse 22, we know that the whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. for in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it.

The Apostle Paul, he likens revelation to childbirth. You know, when a woman's pregnant, we say she's expecting. My wife is weeks away from giving birth to our third child. Yeah, we can thank God for it. Some of you know our story, but we waited eight years to have kids. Waiting seasons on God are never wasted seasons. And we waited, and it makes the miracle that much better. But my wife, she's just weeks away.

July 2nd is her due date. We're having a baby girl. You know it's going to be W-W-W-something. If you've got W name, just put it in the chat right now. Just give us some names. We need some names. Winona, Winter, Wendy, I don't know. How about Wanda Wilkerson?

I like that right there. Just felt the Holy Spirit right there. Wanda Wilkerson. Wanda Wesley Wilkerson. What I've learned about women who are expecting, women who are waiting for that which is on the inside of them to be revealed, what I've learned about a woman who's pregnant when she does it the right way, How many of you know that expecting a child to come and being pregnant is a complete reorder to your life?

I think many times when it comes to us wanting God to reveal the thing that we're hoping for, when it comes to us believing God to do the thing that we've been praying for, because that's what hoping feels like. Hoping feels like waiting. Expectation feels like waiting, and you've got to understand that. Because you're like, I've been waiting for a long time. I know that's part of it. That makes it more beautiful. That makes it sweeter.

But you must understand that there's an order to revelation. And if you wait the right way, it's a reorder to your life. Because I've learned everybody wants revelation, but nobody wants elimination. Yo, the first thing they tell a woman when she's pregnant, the first thing. Yo, you're going to have to cut every toxic thing that's going into your body. You can't be eight months pregnant smoking cigarettes. You can't be drinking at night with nine months being. You can't be up dancing on the club floor all night long, nine months.

You can't do that. Why? Because the thing on the inside of you is so precious, it's so beautiful that you can't risk anything jeopardizing that what you're waiting for. I wonder, what are you pregnant with today? I wonder, what are you willing to eliminate from your life? God is looking for a clean vessel that he might pour his spirit out upon, that you would say, God, I'm clean, I'm available, I'm ready to eliminate. All that you need me to eliminate, I'm ready to stop whatever I need to stop in order for you to start, whatever it is you want to start. Come on, somebody give God some praise.

It's a reorder. Some things I got to eliminate. This is not condemnation. And this is just going, God, the thing that you placed on the inside of me, it's so precious that I have to make a decision that I can't keep living that way. That's putting the thing on the inside of me at Jeopardy. Everybody wants revelation. Nobody wants preparation. Don't tell me about your expectation.

Show me your preparation. I wonder that if God fulfills all your dreams, would you even be ready for it? When God comes and knocks on the door of your life, you can't say, yo, I'm busy. Come back later. you should be living like God is doing what you're believing for. You should be living like God is doing what you're believing for. If you ever get around a pregnant woman, I'm telling you what, it's a reorder. My wife is in this thing called nesting.

It's real, y'all, cleaning the house, getting the rooms ready. What is she doing? She's preparing for a baby to be revealed in the house. This week, our church released our very first ever worship project. We look up to elevation worship and elevation church in so many different ways. It's a huge miracle. We named the record, I need revival. You want to know why?

Because before we as a church say, America needs revival or the church needs a revival, we have decided in our hearts that we would take personal responsibility. That before I declare you need a revival, how many know I need a revival? I need God to do something in me. before he does something through me. I got a revelation the other day. I'm not praying anymore for revival. I just decided that every single day of my life,

I'm walking into every space, I'm walking into every room with a calm confidence that I am a walking, talking revival. Come on, somebody. You're a revival. It's a reorder. Everybody wants revelation, but nobody wants frustration. It's brutal.

So I hear. holding a baby it's beautiful how do you give birth you have to keep breathing you have to keep pushing you have to keep waiting you have to keep breathing

you have to keep pushing your frustration is not going to destroy the expectation on the inside of you keep breathing keep waiting I felt the spirit of God just says I'm up here the Lord says it's worth it it's worth it so live a life worthy of it elevation church it's worth it the labor the pushing the

breathing it's worth it live a life worthy of it staff it's worth it live a life worthy of it campuses it's worth it live a life worthy of it you have no idea all that is being revealed as you manage your frustration i can hear abacca hundreds of years before christ shows up on the scene his nation is under siege he's a prophet and he's looking to around and saying, God, when am I going to see all that I've been praying for and hoping for for and believing for? But Abakak says, I heard and my heart pounded. My lips quivered at the sound. Decay crept into my bones and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait. Someone say, yet I will wait. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud and though there are no grapes on the vines. Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food. Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God, my Savior. Can we just take a five-second praise break all of this place? I might not have it yet, but I'm believing it's on the way. I'm lifting my expectation. I'm raising my expectation. It's coming in due season. It's coming in due time. My son wild, he gets up to that pool deck. And he gets on his tippy toes. And he puts his arms back. And he smiles over at me. And he says, Dad, I'm fixing to jump. Some of you today, you might say, Rich, what's wrong with your boy? Does he not know that he can't swim?

Does he not know if he jumps into that water? He is going to sink to the bottom? I can't explain if he knows that or not. What I do know is that my son has a revelation that every time he's jumped into the deep waters of the pool, his father has been right there to rescue him and save him. Come on, I came to serve notice on you today that this is your season to jump. Come on, this is your season to dive in. This is your season to swim. Come on, God's doing something bigger.

God's doing something better. Come on, where are the saints at today? He's all that you need. Keep waiting. keep breathing. There's a revelation coming. He's about to reveal it. What is hope? We don't hope for things that we have. We hope for what we do not yet have. There's a gap. I know. It's frustrating. But you're not quitting today. You didn't tune in to Elevation Church to quit today. I hear God say, it's time to jump. It's time to dive. It's time to swim. He will be right there to catch you.

It's worth it. It's in the unknown that our God makes himself known. And the best days of this house, I just see it. The best days of this house are in front of you. No eye is seen and no ear has heard what God has in store. You're in the right place, at the right hour, at the right moment. God has fashioned you here. God has brought you here.

Come back to your first love. Stretching season. It's tiptoe season. It's lean-in season. It's arms back season. What's going to happen this week? What's God going to do this week? I know I'm getting expectation today, but I'm ready for the frustration tomorrow. It's the struggle of today that produces the strength I need for tomorrow. I'm leaning in. I'm ready for the fight. I'm ready to push in. I'm believing for me. Your God is more than enough. I sense the power of the spirit here today. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you that you close every one of my gaps. If you're here in person today, but even right now online, would you just close your eyes? Would you just put your hands in a posture to receive? Lots of reasons why we raise our hands in church.

We surrender. But a big reason why we raise our hands in church is we're saying, God, I give up to give in that I might receive all that you have for me. And I just sense there's people today that are walking in immense frustration, challenged, tempted to lower their standards. The man in Acts 3 was meant to be walking, but he had been reduced to begging. He doesn't just want to change your day. He wants to change your life. If you're here today, you're struggling, you challenge today.

Just with your hands up. Let me just pray for you. Lord, I just thank you so much for every person in this room. I thank you for every person online right now, faithfully watching, faithfully participating, a part of this house. Lord, I pray that the same power that conquered death, hell, and the grave would transcend right now and meet people right where they are, that as we sing this song that you are more than enough, God, I am not enough, but you are. And so we believe right now that your Holy Spirit is meeting people right where they are. And right now today, Jesus, they're being strengthened. They're getting a new revelation today.

They're beginning to see the things they've been praying for, the things they've been hoping for. God, today we're ready to reorder our life. God, we're ready to change things around. If I've got to eliminate something, God, I want to start preparing right now. I want to manage the frustration. I'm breathing. I'm leaning in, God. Do a new thing inside of me, Lord.

Do a new thing inside of me. Strengthen my legs. Make me strong for the fight. Do a work today, Jesus, inside of people. Your heads are bowed, your eyes are closed. I just wonder if you're watching today or here in person and you've never met this Jesus, this God who came from heaven to earth,

that we might have a relationship with him. Here is the gospel in a sentence. Jesus Christ came, took everything that you deserved so that you could get everything that he deserved. And you cannot achieve him. You can only receive him. And how do you receive him through belief? You must raise your expectation to believe that he is who he said, that he is,

that he loves you and that he's for you. He's not mad at you. He's madly in love with you. For God did not send his son in the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. If he wanted to condemn the world, he certainly would have sent a condemner, but instead he wanted to save the world. Therefore, he sent a Savior. And he came to close the greatest gap.

The greatest gap, the most frustrating thing. it came to remind you that you were meant for another reality. And wherever you're at today, in this room or online, if you don't know Jesus, on the count of three, would just be bold? Would you just lift your hand up high enough, long enough, right there online? That's you. Just say, that's me. Just in the chat, that's me.

On the count of three, if Jesus is speaking to you now and you want today to ask for his forgiveness to receive his love, on the count of three, would you just lift your hand ready? One, two, three, if that's you, just lift up. That's me, Rich. That's me. That's me. That's me. That's me. That's me. That's me. Come on, EFAM and Elevation Church. Can we lift our hands forward seven?

We pray this prayer together. We're going to pray this prayer and then we're going to sing with everything we've got. Pray this prayer out loud and say, dear Jesus, today, Lord, I surrender. I give in to receive all that you have for me. Forgive me, God. I turn towards you, believing that you have good things for me. I believe Jesus. You are who you said that you are. are. Today, I wait patiently for all that you promised me, for I believe it will be revealed in due time. In Jesus' name. Come on, Elevation Church, can we put our hands together? We lift our hands. Come on, can we lift our voice? Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the

description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.