Elevation with Steven Furtick - The God Of A Way

Episode Date: August 20, 2023

Don’t get stuck in this season. In “The God of A Way,” Pastor Steven Furtick reminds us that with God, there’s always a way through whatever you’re facing. f you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ Scripture References: Isaiah 43, verses 16-19 Psalm 103, verse 7See 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. Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today. Let's praise the name of Jesus together. Come on.

Lift up every voice. Do you know God is great and greatly to be praised? Come on, lift your voice right now. That's it, that's it. A great God deserves a person. great praise let's give them a great phrase that's an okay praise but he's not an okay God let's give a great God a great praise open your mouth and give him praise if he's walked you through give him praise if he's been good to you give him praise if he kept you if he

blessed you if he led you if he fed you if he's been Let's lift up one more shout. Come on corporately. Let's lift up one more shout. For the king is among us. It is such a powerful thing to call him the great I am. It means that there is nothing that you need in your life right now that he cannot provide. Nothing.

We have come together today to worship his great name all over the world. We're joining now as a global church family. Let's welcome our EFAM all over the world. the world right now where are you joining from put it in the chat let me know turn to your neighbor and tell him where you came from today to come to church do that in the room too tell him i drove four four miles this gas is expensive i'm checking on youtube y'all stay standing god is going to speak a word to us today you believe that this is fun to do every once in a while just to put it in perspective.

I just told them in the chat, let us know where you're joining from. Now, if you don't believe this is a global ministry, listen to some of this. South Africa, West Virginia. Well, those are different. Don't you feel sorry for me?

I have to preach a message that applies to South Africa and West Virginia. Thank God that the Word of God can travel through time zones, accents, frowns. All right, slow down, slow down. Slow down. How do you make it stop? I can't stop it Try and put my thumb on it. It won't stop. God is unstoppable. Phoenix, Arizona, Alabama, Dubai, Buffalo.

Brazil? You say Brazil or Rock Hill? Welcome, Brazil. I was watching some UFC this morning getting ready for church. I recorded it so I could get a good night's sleep. Then I played it so the Lord would fire me up to fight his battles when I was praying this morning. morning. It was a good one too. Barbados, Uganda. If you would have told me, I'm just trying to put this in context, 20 years ago. One day you'll be preaching and you'll be standing a few miles from your home, looking in the camera, touching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world. I would have said, no way, but God, God, who is amazing and incredible and superfluous and you know how we call people extra but we mean it like we're kind of putting them down we're like man she's she's kind of extra god is extra in a good way he does he does exceedingly abundantly

abundantly above and beyond all we could ask or imagine and he has made a way for me in fact that's what i want to preach to you about today and i'm going to go to isaiah 43 16 through 19 I mean Holly was trying to do a spoiler, but I wouldn't let her. She said, are you giving us another installment in this series, this God of series? We talked about how God is the great I am. We spend the rest of our lives, you know, filling in the blank because when God told Moses his name, he said, my name is Yahweh, which is I am. That's what the name means. And then so you can't confine God to one certain designation or label as much as we want to make God like

us and just put him in a box. He will not be boxed. I said he will not be boxed. So we spend our entire lives, if you could say this kind of unboxing God in our hearts as we encounter different battles and blessings and become to know them in different ways. Well, so for a few weeks now, we've been going through some unique ones, not just the normal ones that you hear, Jehovah Jira, Jehovah Shalom. Jehovah is the Latin for Yahweh. So if that ever confuses you, you're like, is it Yahweh? Is it Jehovah? What is it? What's the name? Well, the name means I am.

And then God tells us to get busy finding out who he is, getting to know him. And we get the privilege in our lives of just discovering that one phase at a time. Now this today is going to be, I want to say the last in this series, but I don't know yet because he's the God of also, he's the God of again, he's the God of already. What did I do last week? I already forgot it. After, after. Okay, so he's all of those things. And then watch this. I got one more for you today in Isaiah 43. And man, do I love this scripture. And boy, did God confirm this word? When I was not sure if I should preach this today, he confirmed it three different ways. So I know it's him. Listen to this. Isaiah 43, verse 16 in the English standard version, thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea.

A path in the mighty waters. Who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior. That represents your enemies. He brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior. They lie down. They cannot rise. They are extinguished, quenched like a wick. Y'all must not be fighting anything.

Just me gets excited about that. Now, he says something else very interesting. He says, remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am, whose name is that? That's God's name. So I'm paying attention now. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth.

Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Can we double down on that verse? That's the one right there. Behold, God says, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way.

So I want to talk to you about the God of away. Away. Do you need him to clear some space in your way? your life today. Do you need him to come through in a way that only he can? I got good news. He's the God of away. Father, your word is already blessed, so just open us up to receive it. That's all I ask. What you're already doing in this place, continue it. I step into alignment and agreement with your spirit concerning each person here in Jesus' name. Amen. He's already doing it. Take your seat. Oh, yeah, he's the God of away.

Holly does this thing for me, and it really helps me. I think it's her way of encouraging and rebuking me all with one stroke, killing two birds with one stone, as they say. Isn't that a horrible little saying, by the way? Why are you killing birds to start with? Birds not hurting you? But anyway, she does this thing for me from time to time. When I'm in a moment that's really wonderful, but I think she senses that I'm taking it for granted.

She'll ask me a question, what would 18-year-old Stephen say about this? See, that's how long we've known each other. She met me when I was 18. I was wearing a Superman shirt and some yellow-tinted glasses running around North Greenville College. Double-X-L Superman shirt. I was shopping at Goodwill back then and enjoying it too. And she fell in love with me, not for my Superman shirt, but for my spiritual acumen. So we started traveling together, doing ministry together, and we've known each other pretty intimately since that time.

And so she knows the dreams I had and the things that I used to pray for. And she knows how big of a deal a lot of the things that God has done for us would be to that guy. She also understands the dynamic that happens that while God is doing those things that you dreamed about, you often don't realize them because, well, you're doing it. And when you're in something, it can be easy to miss something that you're in. Does this make any sense what I'm saying? Okay, okay, okay. Because I used to think it meant I wasn't grateful.

But I was talking to one of my friends, and I realized I don't think it said I'm not grateful for the great things God has. done for me. I think it's that the pressure of trying to maintain the ministry God has given me, the marriage that God has given me, even the money that I need to live in this world and to reach people around the world, you know, all of that pressure can cloud your perspective. So she'll just, from time to time, she doesn't do it that much because it would probably lose its efficacy if she did it too much. You like that $20 word? She'd go, what would 18-year-old Stephen think right about now? Let me give you a few examples.

Not to brag or anything like that, but just to help you. Because I believe there are some things in your life that are just like this today. And if we can get you to think about them, I think it will help you so much for whatever you're up against right now. Okay. So one night I was talking to one of my heroes on the phone. This was just like a month or two ago, and it was my preaching hero. And so I'm talking to my preaching hero on the phone on a Saturday night, and she walks in

and she sees it. And when I get off the phone, she goes, what would 18-year-old Stephen say if I came up and told him that he was going to be talking to his preaching hero on the phone on a Saturday night, just swapping sermon titles before Sunday in the pulpit? The guy he used to watch on TV, and I said, what would 18-year-old Stephen say if you told him that? She said, yeah. And I said, he'd say, no way. Here's another one. We were, we were, we were, this is kind of crazy. crazy. We were in Toronto. I mean, 18-year-old Stephen had been on one plane in his life.

So even being in Toronto was crazy, let alone 14,000 people were there for elevation nights. Wasn't it amazing? Hey, LJ is Toronto's finest, y'all. Forget Drake. We got LJ. I would trade three Drake for one LJ, but that's just me. So she said, turn to me in Toronto. What would 18, year old Stephen say that the songs from this church, this ministry that God has given, are being sung tonight by 14,000 people. Was it 14,000 people in Toronto? And I just look back at her and I'm like, he would say, no way. But it does the trick because it helps me realize that what I'm standing in in that

moment is something that I never would have even had been. the mind or the perspective to imagine in the past. Let me say that again. Sometimes what you're standing in in the moment is something that you couldn't even have imagined in the past. Y'all don't want to help me preach, but it's true in your life too. There are some things if I could pass around the mic today, and I'm not going to because I don't trust all of y'all. It's way too many people watching in West Virginia and South Africa for me to freely pass this microphone. around. I'm not going to get canceled off of something you said because I was stupid enough

to pass the mic around. But if we could pass it to the right people, there would be something that you could say that today, somebody shout today, that God is doing in your life that if I told you little boy you, I don't know what age, maybe 12 year old, Officer Van Allman, maybe 10 year old, but if I said, this is where you're going to be and this is how it's going to be, And this is what you're going to be dealing with. This is what you're going to be managing. You would say, but now what you would say no way about yesterday is actually today just so normal. And that is why it is good for Holly to turn to me every once in a while and say,

you need to talk with 18-year-old Stephen. Because this 43-year-old Stephen is grumpy. This 43-year-old Stephen is complaining about stuff that he prayed about yesterday. You missed it. He prayed about this thing yesterday. God did it. Now he's praying, complaining about what he prayed for, and he's standing in now what he said no way about,

and he's worried about what's ahead when if he could just look back a little bit. I'm getting warmed up too soon. Let me get to this scripture. Isaiah has a difficult task, y'all. He's prophesying to the nation of Jerusalem just before they are carried away into exile. It won't be long. They'll be taken from their homeland. They'll be taken from everything that they know.

They'll be taken by not only the Assyrians, but the Babylonians after that. And no matter how he warns them, they will not listen. Up until Isaiah 40, there's not much hope to be found in this prophetic record. But something shifts in Isaiah chapter 40, and he starts looking toward the future, that even after they are carried away, did not just preach last week something about After? And am I preaching today about away? So even after they are carried away, God will still be faithful. In order to give them this picture, he tags back to the past and says, thus says the Lord, verse 16, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty water who brings forth chariot and horse,

army and warrior. They lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick. This is a very familiar framework for Isaiah's audience, maybe not so much for us, but this refers to the Egyptian army that God drowned in the Red Sea centuries before Isaiah would write these words. And he reminds them of the past. And then in verse 18, check this out, he tells them, remember not the former things. So it's kind of confusing. Because he's telling him in a sense, God made a way in the past. Now forget the past and trust him in the present. Now, you're clapping, but I'm confused.

Because it's kind of like, stand on your right foot, stand on your left foot. I'm like, at the same time, I can do both at the same time. No, do both. You know, I think what Holly is trying to get me to do and what the Holy Spirit wants us to do today and what Isaiah wants his audience to do as well, is to find a way to tap into the past that will cause you to trust God in the present. There's somebody here today who needs God to make a way. That way could be financial, that way could be physical. There could be something in your family.

I mean, I'll be honest with you. When I list those categories, I think we're all just a week away from needing any of those things in our life. one text away from needing something you don't know you need right now. The beauty of God's word for me is in the fact that he teaches me how to tap into my past in order to find my faith. To talk to 18-year-old Stephen and just remember that many of the things that you are standing in today, you said no way about yesterday. Somebody say no way. if I would have told some of you that you would be in church this morning, like actually sitting in church this morning, listening to a guy open a Bible and talk, you would have said.

And you know, some of y'all heard that elevation was a cult. So if I told you that you'd be at elevation, come on wave at me. I know they say stuff about us. That don't scare me a bit. I don't care anything about it. If they said, you're going to be going to that church with the orange little arrow that you saw on all those cars on the sticker driving around, all those cars you were cussing at on the freeway. You're going to be sitting with them on a Sunday morning.

I mean, there were people who were baptized last week that if I would have told you, in fact, can I say this? If you would have told me when we started the church, and this was not that long ago, this was less than 20 years ago, when we were trying to find one person to baptize, that in one Sunday we would baptize over a thousand people. See, you weren't there then. So it doesn't mean so much But if you would have been there in the yesterday You'd be standing in today saying I would have said no way if you would have told me not only in Toronto

Y'all one time I got up in front of our church when we had 200 people I said what are y'all going to do when we have 2,000 people every week and they look back at me like No way If you had told me there were going to be 2,000 last week week in our church just in Toronto. I go back and take a nap and come back and see y'all later. I would have said, no way. But I'm standing in now what I said no way about then.

And I'm not bragging. And I'm not saying that everything in my life has exceeded my expectations. Because on the other hand, if you would have told me some of the stuff that I would still struggle with, today that I thought I would have been passed by now, I would say, no way. You mean I'm still going to pick out my wardrobe some weeks like a fifth grade boy trying to figure out what the cool kids wear? I won't care about that when I'm in my 40s. If you would have told me these baggy jeans would be back in style when we were all, get a wide shot for the cameras, when we were all cutting off our circulation with skinny,

jeans about five minutes ago. Now, pastor, the boot cut's going to come back. I wouldn't say it. So I'm trying to bring a variety of dimension to this concept so that we can set the context for whatever it is in your life, where you are standing now, where you're saying, no way. Because if I tell you sometimes that the depression actually can lift and you can come into a greater season and that your best days may be ahead of you, there will be a little devil

to tell you, no way, no way. You've already been to the doctor three times about this. You've already tried three different prescriptions for this. So when we say things like this that we say he's the God of away, you have an enemy who says, no way. That's what we're That's why I love the very first four words of Isaiah 4316. Thus says the Lord. You could get happy off those four words if you knew what hung on those four words. Because when you read, thus says the Lord, it's tagging into his name, the Lord, Yahweh. and it is saying that what Yahweh says about your situation is greater than any past indicator of your potential.

Now follow me here because it's important that you really tag into your past. If you don't ever tap into your past like Isaiah is doing here, he says he makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters. If you don't ever tap into what God did in your past, do it right now. Just close your eyes. Just close your eyes. I promise nobody's going to steal your purse. These are good Christian people. Close your eyes right now where you are. I'm watching on the phone and my roommate's going to think I'm weird. Your roommate's weird. They need to be watching. Okay. Close your eyes. All right. Close your eyes. I want you to think and tap into something in your past. And when you got it, say I got it, something that God did that you would have said no way about. something that God did that you would have said no way and say I got it when you got it. All right, that was quick. Do another one. Do another one. Do another one. Do another one.

For some of you, it's the fact that your kid is in church with you today. Your kid didn't want to come to church and then all of a sudden somehow, some way, well, maybe you dragged them and maybe you bribed them and maybe you had to pay him $20. But some way, God got him here. For some of you, it is a physical illness that you thought you wouldn't recover from. If that's your testimony, shout that's me. Okay, it's a physical illness that you thought you wouldn't recover from. You recovered from it and you're strong by the grace of God. God made a way. For some of you, it is an addiction that crippled you. And now you find yourself gaining momentum a little bit stronger every day.

Some days it's harder than others. Some days it seems like you might not make it today, but even when you slip off the path a little bit, you feel him pulling you back. God is making a way. If that's you, shout, that's me. Okay? For some of you, it is something in your life that God provided in the resource realm. You didn't know how you were going to come up with that money. You didn't know how you were going to do it by that date.

You didn't know how you were going to make it through that unemployment season. You didn't know how your industry was going to collapse all around you, and God was going to do it. going to send ravens to feed you by the brook called kareth but god did not take a vote to see how he could bless you he just tapped a bird on the shoulder and dropped something off for you and did something for you and he did it just in the nick of time not early not late and you found out he's an on-time god who makes a way where there is no way at just the right time as you abide in him you bore much fruit for some of you it's a revelation that god gave you of the strength that you didn't know you had you walked through the valley of the shadow of death

but is ron and his staff they comforted you so now you're standing looking at another wolf saying i will fear no evil for thou art with me thou art always with me great johovah guide me made away i got to tap into that now watch this this is the important thing isaiah said Tap into that, but don't get trapped in that. Because, you know where I'm going with this? The way that he made yesterday may not be the way that he makes today. So there's two ways to approach the past. One, you tap into it and you trust God in the present.

The other way is you get trapped in it and you doubt God in the present. present because he isn't guaranteeing that he will do in the future what he did in the past. Break it down, pastor, I think I follow you, but I'm a little bit confused. I can do that. The relationships that God used to support you in one season may not be the same relationships he uses to support you in the next. As a matter of fact, sometimes the removal of a relationship is an opportunity for a revelation. Some of the things that I trusted in were a trap

holding me back from trusting in God. Who is my supply? Who is my provider? Who is my help? I don't look to the hills for my help. My help comes from whom. Yeah. Yeah.

Jesus is my help. And he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So here's the dance. I got to tap into yesterday, but not get trapped in yesterday. I got to tap into what he did, enough to trust what he's doing. And I got to move through what he's doing, even though I cannot predict where it ends up. Who am I preaching to?

Five people who need this message. I keep no secrets from you. We are family. I am preaching from a personal place. I just dropped my oldest son off at college this week. I'm not okay. I miss him. That's my dude.

Who else am I going to listen to Guns and Roses in the Pound and lift weights with? I don't know. Abby, are you available? Here's what I'm learning about this whole process. Talk to these parents who dropped their kid off at college. And they're like, yeah, we dropped them off, and they graduated, and they're a doctor. Are? Hmm?

Thank you, Mike. I felt better. Mike Mitchell said, it's not easy. Thank you for saying that. Because you know what, Mike? When people talk about we dropped our kid off and they were the salutatorian and they went to Harvard and then they did their post grad at Yale and then they operated, they invented a cure to cancel culture and, you know, I don't even know. I don't even know. You didn't even go that far. And I'm just saying, we're still going to talk every day, but I still just miss him. And I'm trying to trust God with that. And people would just tell you their own testimony like it was just a clean miracle.

You know, this is how I read the Bible. This is how I read the Bible. And I don't know if you read the Bible like this. When I read it like that and it sounds too clean, like this is the clean version of what happened in Exodus 14. Thus says the Lord Isaiah is like reminding them God was faithful, because that was something they didn't experience. That was hundreds of years before they lived, but he's trying to get them ready for something they're going through now, so he taps into the past to teach them to trust in the presence. So he says, thus says the Lord who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters. And how good that sounds and how easy that sounds, who brings forth chariot and Horace,

army and warrior, they lie down, they cannot rise. You've got to put verse 16 up there because it just sounds so good. Who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters. Show you what that doesn't say, leave it up so I can prove it. And I feel like Moses wants me to tell you this, because Moses was the one who was actually there. Moses be like, hey, hey, how y'all shout about that? God who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, it does not say, because I don't

know what y'all are shouting about, because it doesn't say he makes a way around the sea. Isn't that good? This is Moses. I'm speaking on behalf of Moses. Not a path around the mighty waters. You see that little word? In? Ooh, when you're in it, I'm going to come to this side.

There's a little bit of, they're judging me over there. They're like, just trust God. When you're in it, I'm going down there. I'm come down there. sick of this. I'm sick of y'all. Because it's like, and they crossed over on dry ground. They went through the Red Sea and the waters went back and they crossed through on dry ground. How dry. I speculate, I'm not a scientist or a meteorologist. I speculate that if there was a sea and God sent a wind and split the sea and told them to go in the middle where the water had just

been and was still standing up on the right and the left as they walked through it. If they stepped into the middle of where water had just been, let me check your shoes real quick. I'm thinking it was muddy. Let me check y'all real quick. I'm checking to see because you're quick to hear about other people's miracles. But I found out no mud, no miracles. Let me check.

Those are nice. Yeah, man. I'm checking. I'm checking to see, yeah, I'm just checking to see. I know this kind of weird thing to do. I'm checking to see if there's anything in your life right now that's kind of muddy,

where you're in it. I mean in it because in church it's a time for us to remember miracles it is also a time for us to accept the mud that comes with the miracles and I will tell you

the truth about everybody that sits on your row if they have a miracle they also Have some mud and I just need you to know it so you don't feel judged by all the perfect families That you thought were perfect you just haven't gotten close enough to see their mud yet Keep their shoes clean enough when they're around you But if you ever saw what was really underneath you wouldn't feel so bad about the stuff you struggle with either

Miracles yeah got testes Yeah, I got open doors. Yeah, I got victories. Yeah, I got songs. Yeah, I got praise reports. Yeah, I got miracles. But I also got mud. What I'm trying to say to you today is that if you are in a muddy situation, if you are

in the muddy middle of a transition in your life, if you are in the muddy middle of beginning a recovery process, if you are in the muddy middle of trying to figure out who am I now in my life, If you are in the money middle of sending your kid off or having your kid back or trying to have a kid but can't have a kid or trying to raise a kid and not kill a kid or trying to finish a degree or trying to start a degree or trying to go back or trying to get away If you got some mud, I got a word for you mud means miracle muddy ones This is for the ones I see it kind of fuzzy for the prud and a thing. Check your neighbor's shoes. Say, you got mud? You got mud?

We better tell the team they're going to have to clean the church a little extra today because today is not a day for you to walk in church and walk out unchanged. Today is the day that you can come into the presence of the Lord. Mud and all Hurd and all Brokenness and all Doubts and all Questions and all

Failures in all Mistakes in all And this is a miracle Moment Give him 30 seconds Of crazy praise Money messy Ridiculous grace

Waymaker praise Yeah yeah yeah yeah Yeah yeah Yeah yeah yeah yeah Yeah yeah Yeah You ready? When I say this shout, repeat after me, say, it's money. It's crazy. It's confusing. What's his name?

Yes, Lord. So when the devil says, no way. You say, oh, it's going to catch on in a minute. You don't get it yet. But when the devil says, no way you're ever going to pay off this debt, No way you're ever going to shake off this burden. No way you're ever going to make it through this lonely season. When the devil says, no way! We say, we say, no way, we say, no way, you say. I feel that. When the devil says, no way, we say.

When the devil says no way. When the devil says, oh way. What do you say? When the devil say Say Yahweh Let's make a live recording right now Let's put this on TikTok To let every chariot know

That says Give me 19 and I'll shut off Somebody shout no way Now shout Yahweh I'm on fire on the inside I'm on fire on the inside I'm on fire on the inside I'm gonna bring a busload of Pentecostals to help me preach part two of this next week.

I say, Yahweh, behold, I am, I am. So, the God of also. I am the God of again. I am the God of already. I am the God of after all the hell you've been through. You mean you don't want to stick around and see what? God can do through you. You want to go through all that suffering for nothing. Not me, devil. You want to stand in front of this Goliath for nothing. Not me, devil.

Is this word for you or just for me? I'm talking to 43-year-old Stephen. I'm talking to 18-year-old you. I'm talking to 67-year-old you. I'm talking to broke you, discouraged you, down you, anxious you, panic attack you. I'm talking to all of them. And I'm giving you an instruction that you can carry in your heart by the Holy Spirit this week. When the devil says, no way, you say, it's the God of. It might mean some of the things from your past aren't going to happen again, but look at this. He said, I'm doing a new thing.

Shout the next word, now. A new thing now. For you to stay trapped in your past would be like you're trying to send effects. when you got an iPhone. See, because God has given you new tools, God has given you new opportunities, God has given you new wisdom, God has given you new strength, God has given you new experience, God has given you new know-how. So when the devil says, no way, you say, I think this is the part that makes us really want to scream where he says, do you not perceive it? And a lot of us want to say, no, I don't. I don't know what I'm doing.

I think that's what Moses would say standing in the mud in the middle of the Red Sea. You know, there's an interesting verse about Moses in Psalm 103, verse 7. It says that God made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. What does that mean? That means that Moses who led them through the Red Sea got to know God in a way that none of them did, in a way that you can only know God when you have to move through the muddiness of not knowing how to manage your own self. Can we be honest?

We're going to e-groups this week. Marriage is muddy. Marriage is muddy. All the men make some noise. Holly was having the women shout earlier for reflect. All the men know that's in man. Manhood is muddy. Manhood is muddy.

You're supposed to be some tender warrior. What? Left foot, right foot. It's muddy, man. I get it. I got mud on my white shoes too. I should have wore different shoes today. I shouldn't have worn the white ones because I got mud all over my shoes.

Money is muddy. Trying to figure out how to trust God with your stuff. Well, you don't need money. You just need God. You just need God. Okay. Take me to Cracker Barrel on a praise song. You can't do it. You can't sing for your supper at Cracker Barrow. But I want to say this to a lot of you, and the Lord wants me to encourage you, it's muddy, but you're making it. No, no, no. He said he made his ways known to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. Now watch this.

Israel saw everything that God did. Moses was the one who had to stand there in the muddiness and wonder, will this really work? Will I really have what it takes? Did I really do it right? Did I really get it right? Am I getting it right? It's muddy in the middle.

That doesn't mean there's no miracle. As a matter of fact, the more mud you walked in here with, the more miracles you're in here with. a candidate for. Because that means you're walking through stuff, praying through stuff, pressing through stuff. I don't mean we continue in sin that grace may abound and just start celebrating our shame. What I do mean by that is that gives God something to show you through the mud that he can't always show you if you just stand on this side of it. He made no to his ways to Moses. Yahweh. Maybe it's not going to happen your way.

Maybe you need to say, Yahweh, how you want to do this? I'm trying to do this on my own. I'm trying to figure this out on my own. I'm trying to do this in my own strength. I'm trying to calculate it with human reasoning. Lord, I don't want to get stuck in the way I thought it was supposed to be done. He said, behold, I'm doing a new thing. And look at 19.

Now it springs forth. Now it springs forth. You shout now it springs for it. You whispered it. I meant for you to shout it. Now it springs for it. Say it again. Now it springs for.

Yeah. No way to now way. Now. And you know what's beautiful about the picture? Oh God, I just see the Lord all over this message today. If a spring comes forth from the desert, what does it make? It makes mud at first. change God makes in your life will be muddy at first.

Everything he accomplishes through your life, it will be muddy at first. Every miracle starts with mud. It springs forth now from the desert. Do you not perceive it? Sometimes we miss what God is doing because it's muddy and we don't see it. That doesn't mean he's not doing it. Whatever is your no way. I know a name, Yahweh, who can make a way where there is no way.

What are you standing in front of today? What are you needing from God right now? He said, now it springs forth and it's not going to be what it was and it's not going to be what you think. But if you can perceive it in this moment, you can receive it in your future. Give God praise. If you know the waymaker, give him praise right now. Because let me tell you what I learned.

Worship is my way. It's my way through defeat. It's my way through despair. It's my way through fear. This is how I fight my battles, y'all. I throw up my hands and I call on Yahweh. And I tell them you're a miracle worker. So work a miracle.

You're a promise keeper. So fulfill you. your word. I need a now word for a now situation. I got a now God. I got praise. I hope you enjoyed the podcast. And if you did, make sure to share it and subscribe so we can get you all of these new messages as soon as they're available. I also want to take a moment and thank all of you who are a part of elevation. Whether you support us financially or serve with us or just share these messages, it's because of you that we're able to reach people all around the And if you want more information on how to be a part of elevation, click the link in the description.

Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message, and subscribe. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.