Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Master Key (Paul Daugherty)

Episode Date: September 9, 2019

To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://ele.vc/TI55jRSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to the Elevation Church podcast. Today, Paul Dordy, lead pastor at Victory Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has a message just for you entitled, The Master Key. Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoy this message. Come on, let's give God praise this morning. Lord, we thank you.

You are so good. You are so faithful. Jesus, we worship you. We praise you, God. Lord, what an honor to be here this morning. Elevation Church, it is such an honor to be with you this morning. I've been watching you for many years, and you guys have made a huge impact on Victory Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They're watching this morning, but you guys have changed our church.

I discovered your church 10 years ago during a very discouraging season in my life. My father was sick with cancer. I didn't know I was about to lose my father, and he was. was about to pass away. And during that time, I was overwhelmed with doubt, discouragement, self-doubt, questioning the future. That's why I was so impacted by Demetrius' testimony during the baptism. Was that not powerful of just seeing the full circle in her life? I can relate to her, all the campuses out there. But I remember going on Google during that time 10 years ago, and I typed in young pastors to follow. I'm kind of a nerd. And I found Stephen Ferdick

right at the top of that list. And I started listening. During that time, he was doing a series called Purple People Leader. And I remember following that series and then the dip. And then each of the series he did was just impacting my life. I began preaching all of his sermons in our church. And, but I was watching you. I just want you to know elevation. You guys are changing the world. I know you know that, but you're changing the world. You're changing churches. You're impacting people far and wide. And I want you to know we're going to partner with you guys to help with those that have been affected by Hurricane Dorian.

Our church is going to sow a seed into your church. Come on, you guys are so generous. You're so amazing at what you do. And we want to come alongside and help those that have been affected by the hurricane. But I told your pastor this. He came and preached at our church a couple years ago. And I said, you helped me find my roar. And he said, what do you mean?

I said, you know, every lion has to eventually find the roar. The Bible says the righteous are bold as lions. And I didn't have my roar. And when I was listening to your pastor, I just could hear his roar. And I was thinking, man, he's roaring boldly at a young age. God, if you can do it through him, maybe you can do it through me and in our church. And I believe some of you are here today. You haven't found your roar yet, but the world is waiting to hear your roar. The world is waiting to see the sons and daughters of God revealed. You were born to roar. You were not born to cower back in fear or insecurity. You were born for more. You were born to lead. You were born to rise above the adversity. And you're in an atmosphere where there's a roar coming in this place. Just say roar.

Well, I know you're going to sit down here in just a second, but I want to give you a scripture for where this message is going. In Revelation 1, verse 18, Jesus is speaking to John. The disciple who called himself John the beloved, he was convinced that Jesus loved him. How many are convinced that Jesus loves you? Come on, I'm convinced he loves me. I wouldn't be preaching on this stage. You wouldn't be here today. God loves you so much, he lets you be in elevation church.

God loves you so much that he gave you an incredible pastor. Pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdick are the, in my opinion, they are the example for the world today pastoring this church. but I want to get into this message and I just keep feeling like I need to tell you how amazing your pastors and your church is. John was in the middle of his worst test of adversity, but he was about to experience his greatest revelation of God. Some of you are right now in exile. He was on the island of Patmos. He was alone. He felt forgotten. He was wondering where God was. And in that moment, God gave him the greatest revelation. of his power and his word for the church.

And he said this. Jesus speaks to John. He says, I'm the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead and now look, I am alive. We serve a God who is alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys. If you got your keys with you this morning, just pull them out and just hold them up and just jingle them a little bit.

Say, I got the keys. Yeah, Jesus said, I hold the keys to death. In other words, I've got the keys over Satan. I've stripped him of all authority. I've stripped him of all power in your life. Though the weapon might be formed, it will not prosper. I hold the keys of authority. I hold the keys of responsibility.

And I love that Jesus doesn't keep the keys to himself. In fact, he says in Revelation 3, and I'm opening a door for you, I'm giving you the keys. In Matthew 16, verse 19, when he talks. about building a church that's so large, so expansive, expanding to the left and to the right, opening its 19th campus from all over the world watching online, a church that the gates of hell cannot prevail against. We are that church. Jesus says in Matthew 16, verse 19, and I will give you the keys to the kingdom. And that's what I want to preach to you on today, that you've got the keys. So, Lord, I pray that you would speak to us today. And I pray that you would speak to us

today and that we would leave encouraged, refreshed, and reminded that we have the keys to victory. We have the keys to peace. We have the keys to joy. We have the keys to freedom. We have the keys to hope. We have the keys to see you do, what you've called us to do, that you can move through us and in us. And God, I thank you, Lord. We have the keys, God, to give you praise this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Give God some praise as you're being seated. Tell two people you've got the keys. You've got the keys. But you know, I think about how keys don't just represent access into something. The keys that God's given us are not just to unlock doors of what we're called to walk into,

but to lock doors of stuff that's trying to come into our life. Like, the keys are not just meant for you to access God's presence and to come in and have joy. It's also to lock the devil from coming in to wreak havoc on your mind and your marriage and your heart. And I came to tell you today, some of you have keys that you're not using. Some of us have keys that we've forgotten are in our pocket. And so we're letting depression come in. We're letting anxiety and panic and worry and fear and discouragement and self-doubt. And we're letting the enemy just come right into our house and God say,

come on, I've given you the keys to whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Somebody say, I have the keys. But when I was younger, my dad began to teach me that the keys are not. a physical thing, they're a spiritual thing. It's not so much the keys that we have to drive a car, to get into our house, to get into our office. It's something on the inside. The way the keys work, they're activated in the spirit. And so I want to give you a few ways to start activating your keys. Number one, it's in how you see yourself. It's in how you see God. It's in how you see the problems

that you're facing. In the Bible from the Old Testament to the New Testament, God would use this word believe, believe. That's an internal thing to believe that anything is possible, to believe, to see where God is about to take you. God spoke to Joshua, and Joshua 6, verse 2, see, I am giving you Jericho. You've got to see the victory before you see the victory. You've got to see the miracle before you see the miracle. When I was younger, my dad took me, my older brother, my two older sisters out to undeveloped land in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And he would say, what do you see? I remember standing there with my dad, Billy Joe, mom sharing. And they were, you know, they were pastoring this large church that was reaching all of

Tulsa and was doing missions work all over the world. I saw I'm, you know, going, Dad, I don't know what I see. I see ants. I see trash. I see grass. I see, you know, dirt hills. He said, no, no, no, not what do you see here? What do you see in here? What do you see in here? He said, the problem is, Paul, your eyes are open. You have to close your eyes to really see. And what we learn in the Word of God is that the kingdom is not advanced through a matter of natural sight, but through a matter of spiritual sight, to be able to see with eyes of faith. And I remember my dad saying, I see a church that's so large, so expansive, thousands of people coming, thousands of people getting saved, marriage is being restored, families being

reconciled. I see us building a dream center over here, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving people the chance to dream again, changing the crime rates. in our city. I see a Bible college and a camp and a school and I'm scratching my eyes. I'm like, I don't see it. He said, well, I see it in here and it's just a matter of time before I see it out there. Every single thing that he spoke came to pass. Every single thing. Today, there's a dream center, a camp, a college, a school, kindergarten through 12th grade, a church. There's missions, training centers, but he taught me that you have to see it in here. Proverbs 23 says, as a man thinketh, so is he. Proverbs 29 says, without a vision, people perish. If you don't have a vision for where

your life is going, you're going to cast off restraint. You're going to live with no purpose. You've got to see where God wants to take you. See what God can do through you. When God spoke to Gideon in Judges chapter 6, he said, hey, mighty warrior, I'm calling you to fight for Israel. I'm calling you to win a battle for Israel. And Gideon said, who are you talking to? I'm weak. I'm the youngest. to Gideon because I'm the youngest and I'm weak. And so when I'm reading this scripture, Gideon sees himself one way, but God sees him a different way. And how you see yourself and how you see God is the most important thing about your life, because we move in the direction of our vision. What do you see? David, when he ran out towards Goliath, he saw a giant that was too big to miss.

But the other Israelites saw a giant that was too big for them to conquer. And it's all a matter of sight, how you see your life, how you see your circumstances. Some of you right now are facing some Goliath. You're facing some giants. You're facing some Jericho's and God's saying, I want you to see it with eyes of faith, that anything is possible. You were not born with limitations. You were born with possibilities. You were not born to bow down to a spirit of fear, to run from Goliath. We were born to chase the lions, to slay the giants. When I first started preaching. I was so nervous, I peed my pants on stage. No, for real. And I ran off the stage into the boys' bathroom, and I cried. And I was so insecure, so worried, and God said,

go out there and do it again. And I had to start changing the way that I saw myself, because I didn't see myself as a preacher. I didn't see myself very good, even though I had a passion to do it. When I first started preaching in our church and we put our messages online, I was excited because people started watching our messages on YouTube. And then I looked below the YouTube video and there's these thumbs up and thumbs down. And I zoomed in on the thumbs down and I was like, what? And my identity was not wrapped in how God saw me, but in how other people saw me. And I began to just feel this flood of insecurity, discouragement. And then I started going on Google to type, who are the thumbs down people? You can't find them.

They're anonymous. I was going to find them. I was like, what do you not like about me? What's wrong with me? How do I get you to like me? And I heard God say, stop looking for other people to approve you when I've already approved you. Stop looking for others' validation when I've already validated you.

Their thoughts didn't shape you, so don't let their thoughts break you. Their thoughts didn't create you. So don't let their thoughts begin to form you into who you think you should be. We've got to come back to how God. sees us. God sees you wonderfully and fearfully made. He sees you as more than a conquer. God sees you as a mighty warrior. Number two, the way that we unlock those doors, the way that we activate our keys is they're serving. Through serving. I started serving in our church because when you're a pastor's kid, you have to serve. We were free labor for my parents. So my dad was like, you're the children's pastor,

you're going to work here. And since I was the youngest, I didn't have a title or position. I just had to serve my older siblings. And so I started serving in the children's church, serving in the youth group. And I started playing guitar, playing piano, and I tried out for our youth worship band. I was so pumped to go to auditions, and people were sitting behind a table, judging me. And afterwards, they posted the list of who made the youth worship band. And I wasn't on the list. I said, guys, there's a problem with this. I don't see my name. And they said, oh, you didn't make it. My sister was the worship leader. I was like, come on, I'm your brother. She said, you're not good enough. What? You're not good.

I was getting mad. She said, there'll be another audition here in four months, and I go home, I call my dad. I'm like, Dad, you need to fire her right now. Well, she rejected me. Oh, that's good that you were rejected. What? You need to be rejected, you know? But my dad was saying, Paul, you don't need a title to serve.

You don't need a position to serve. Just go serve where there's a need. Find a need and need it. See a hurt and heal it. Just start serving in the church. If serving is beneath you, then leading is above you. If you're too big to serve, you're too small to lead. Some of us are waiting on a title or a position or a platform, and God's saying, start serving

where I have you. Start serving where I need you. So I tried out again, kept trying out, didn't make it, was greeting, was ushering, was serving in other areas. Finally, the fourth time I try out, they said, here's the problem, Paul. You got pride, and we need some humility. I said, what? I'm the humblest guy I know.

I'm more humble than all of my friends. They were like, just get off the stage. And they said, here, we have an opportunity for you to lead worship for our 9 a.m. Children's Church, which was the lowest attended children's service. And they said, you can lead a connect group and you can lead worship as the assistant worship leader. And so I remember going into that children's church. I was 18 years old. And I started leading worship.

They're throwing starburst into my guitar hole. And no one's listening. It was really sad. I was just like, yeah. Yes, Lord, yes, Lord. And so I started just serving there every week, every week. Went to college, was serving in children's church, couldn't get a job at college. I had a lawnmowing business, but I wasn't making enough to pay for my college books and courses.

And so the only job that was available was to be a janitor at our university. And so I started doing the janitor job. I started cleaning up trash, did it for three years, started cleaning up the baseball stadium. And during that time, I was writing these songs. I remember writing this song as I was in the baseball stadium picking up people's nachos. And no matter where you're at right now, God sees you. When no one else sees you. When you feel invisible, God sees you.

I said, God, this is humiliating. This is humiliating. And I heard God say, your humiliation is preparation for an elevation. Your humiliation is preparation for an acceleration. See, so many people want to jump. seasons because we're watching other people's stories. We're seeing them get to do stuff. And God's saying, get your eyes off of everyone else's story. I've got a story for you. Start owning your story. Start being right here. And even if it feels humiliating, this is

preparation for an elevation where I'm taking you. So I started writing this song as I'm picking up nachos and the song was from John chapter 3. I must decrease. You must increase. Lord, I want more of you, I must decrease. So I'm singing this song, and I ended up recording it and put it on a CD. And one of my friends gave it to our university. It's a Christian university, and they were doing a live album, and they were looking for songs. They found my song. And so they called me, they said, we want to put your song on the new album.

I said, what? You want to put it on? They said, yes, the only problem is we don't want you to sing, because your voice ain't good. We want your friend Brad to sing. I was like, what? They said, but you could sing in the choir. I didn't even make the choir my freshman and sophomore year. Now they want me to sing in the choir my junior year.

So I remember that night we're recording, and there's Kerry Job, there's a couple other worship leaders, and there's my friend singing my song, and I'm back in the choir in the dark. I'm just standing back there, and he's singing my song, and I'm like, He must decrease, and I must increase. And God was like, this is so good for you. Humiliation is preparation for an elevation. And so I kept serving, just kept showing up. And finally, I graduated from cemetery.

I finished all my Bible classes. And there was an open job at the church. And I applied for it, got the job to start working in college ministry. And I was so excited to work for my dad. This was about 10 and a half years ago. I had dreamed of serving my mom and dad and working to build the church. church. And so I came to my dad. I said, dad, I'm ready. I got the job. And he said, that's great. That's great. Because he didn't want to be the one that hired me. He wanted to leave it up to the supervisor. I said, dad, I got the job.

I'm ready for my keys to victory. Because that's the name of our church. I'm ready for my keys to victory. He said, keys. You only need one key, son. I said, dad, I'm your own flesh and blood. The janitors have more than one key. Can I get one key? I was a janitor at the college and I had a ton of keys. He said, no, you only get a key to your office. That's the only key you get. I was like, Dad, why don't you trust me? Why do you need more keys? I just want access. I want access. I want authority. He's like, no, no, no, just use your key. Just use your key. And fast forward, our college ministry started to grow. I was preaching all the Stephen's sermons and Bishop Jakes. Thank you, pastor. And I gave him credit. He actually saw me preaching a

sermon online and he was like, hey, I saw you preaching a sermon. I was like, oh, snap, it was one of his. I butchered it. But I remember getting a call for my mom. She said, hey, come to the hospital. Your dad's up here. I said, who's he visiting? Who's he praying for? She said, no, no, no, he's up here. I got up there and the doctor told our family that my dad had stage four lymphoma cancer. And when they said that, I just, I lost it. Man, I just started bawling. I said, why? He's, he's been nothing but good. He's served you, God. He's done nothing wrong. He's had no failures. He's been a good man of integrity. Why is this happening? And I didn't realize that my faith was built on answered prayers. My faith was built on everything going my way. You see, when you face a crisis,

you find out what your faith is made of. Either your faith is on shifting sand or it's on a solid rock. On Christ's the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sin. But in that moment, I was caving in. I was losing my faith because my faith was wrapped up in him being healed. But as your pastor has said before, sometimes you get to see the miracle and sometimes you get to be the miracle. And I remember praying for my dad. And the night that he passed, I was in the hospital room, couldn't go to sleep, stayed there through the night, watching the EKG monitor, praying for resurrection life. And I watched my hero. My pastor, my daddy, pass away.

And I was so overwhelmed because I was thinking about the church and I was thinking about our family. I was thinking about my mom because I had just gotten married. And I was going, God, what's going to happen? We need him. We need him. Our church is not going to make it without him. It was just built so much on his voice. He just was a visionary.

He was such a great preacher, a great pastor and a great dad. And I heard God speak this to me in my heart, not audibly, just this impression. And I heard God say, your dad finished his race. It's time for you to run yours. And then I felt like it continued. It was like the voice continued. Serve your mom. Serve the church. I didn't know this, but they were about to make my mom the interim pastor for a season. And she's my hero because she's a persevere. She is the definition of perseverance. But I heard God say, serve your mom, serve the church. And get you. get ready because you're about to be the pastor of victory.

And I thought, no, no, no, I'm 23 years old. I'm the youngest of my siblings. And there's so many other great preachers in our church. This is not from God, but I heard God say, no, serve your mom, serve the church, and get ready because you're about to pastor victory. And I know what happens when you share a vision too soon. I heard, you know, what happened to Joseph.

He got sold as a slave. So I was like, I'm not telling nobody this vision. Nobody needs to know this. So I told my wife, she said, yeah, let's keep that between us. And a year went by during that next year, I remember many nights coming up to our church with my keys. While my dad was in the hospital, he'd given, he'd let me use his car, and then we had to sell it afterwards.

But I remember just questioning whether I really had the authority, the ability to pastor. And many nights, I would come to our church just to go and pray, just to play the piano, to sing, to worship, to practice preaching on this stage. My dad had built this massive auditorium that honestly was intimidating. It was 4,500 seats the year before he passed away. Because we were a mobile church for 30 plus years. We rented out a large building in our city. And finally, the dream of a debt-free church auditorium and all of this was built. And then he passed away. And I remember many nights trying to get into the church, but I couldn't get in because I didn't have the keys. So I would have to call a secure.

guard, call a janitor, they would come and let me in. And it wasn't just a physical feeling of not having the keys. It was a mental and emotional feeling that I didn't have the keys of confidence. I didn't have the keys to preach like he preached. I didn't have the keys to cast vision like he did. I didn't have the keys to pray for people to get healed. People would call me and they'd say, hey, can you come pray for my brother? He's sick in the hospital. And I would make an excuse. not because I didn't care. I did care, but I felt like my prayers didn't work. I felt like I didn't have the key to that. I was like, call Pastor Stephen. He can make the son stand still. Call Bishop T.D. Jakes. Call someone who has the keys, because I don't. And then the board met with me

a year later, and they said, you need to know something. Your dad told us that you would be the next pastor of victory. I said, what? He never told me. They said, yeah. But he said that you said that you were really young and the church was so large and so many employees that you weren't ready yet you needed to be developed. See, a lot of people want God to, you know, elevate their platform, but they're not willing to let God develop their character. And we've got to go through the developmental phase that's dark, that's frustrating where you want to quit, where you don't feel like you have what it takes. And God's saying, no, no, no, I'm pulling out insecurities. I'm pulling out those feelings of fear. I'm pulling out those needs of the approval of man, those

thumbs up that you're looking for. I'm pulling some stuff out. There's some junk I got to get out to remind you who you are in Christ. And so I remember leaving that board meeting and once again just feeling like, man, I don't have the keys. And so a week went by. I went to our church one night and I was outside of the building and I called our security guard and I said, hey, could you let me into the church? I just want to come in and pray and worship. And he said, Paul, I'm locking up all the doors at the church. I'm locking up all the doors at the dream center. It's going to be at least an hour before I can get there.

You're just going to have to wait. I didn't want to wait because I was in such a dark, discouraging place. I just thought, man, I've got to get in there. So I start trying to break into our church, right? I start, like, hitting the door, and I don't have muscles like Pastor Ferdick. So I'm, like, hurting my hand. And then I took my credit card out. I tried to shimmy it through the crack of the door.

and nothing was working. And then I thought, okay, maybe I'll take this one key that I have and try to shove it into the door and then put my shoulder against it and open it. So I took the key out and I tried to shove it, but it just fit perfect into the door. And I thought, okay, okay, what's going on right now? And it dawned on me, I've never tried this. and I turned the key and it unlocked the door. I was like, God, did you just change my key?

No, I seriously was like, I was looking up at heaven because the Bible says that we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. And I could just picture my dad leaning over the grandstands of heaven. And I was like, huh? So then I walked across to the choir room and I unlocked that. Then I walked over to the drum closet. nobody has a key to the drum closet, and it unlocked that. Then I walked into the main auditorium, and that was the room that intimidated me the most,

and I stuck my key in that door, and it unlocked the door. And suddenly a flood of emotions came over me. I was weeping because I was like, what? I was weeping for two reasons. I was like, I've had the master key this whole time. But I was also weeping because I had the master key. I've always had it. And suddenly I looked in the room and what once was intimidating,

I walked on that stage and I heard God say, You've got it. It's Christ in you. Colossians 127. Christ in me is the hope of glory. Christ in me is the master key. You see, elevation, I came to tell you this weekend, you have the master key.

You don't need a bunch of keys. All you need is one key. And you have the master key that unlocks the door to victory. You have the master key that unlocks the door to be free from insecurity. You have the master key that unlocks the door to healing in your marriage. You have the key that unlocks the door to joy in your heart. You have the key that unlocks the door to peace in your life. And it's not you.

It's Jesus in you. Christ in me that is the master key. Suddenly something started to explode in my mind and heart. I started realizing I've got what it takes. Come on, tell someone next to you, you've got the master key. Say, you've got what it takes. Yeah, yeah, because at the bottom of this message, that's the real question is, do I have what it takes? But I started realizing that the master key doesn't work unless I use it. It had been in my pocket the whole time, but I wasn't using it. Some of you have had the key to the thing that's in your heart, but you have not been using it. You've been questioning, do I really have it?

I've got to get Pastor Stephen to tell me I've got it. No, no, God's telling you right now, you've got it. You've got the key to the dreams that are in your heart. Stop doubting yourself. Stop questioning, do I have it? God's saying, you've got this. You've got this. But I realize that the key is not just vision activated.

It's not just serving activated. It's voice activated. It's in the words that I speak. See, I had talking, I've been talking so negative because I had been listening to this chatterbox of negativity, of discouragement, and I didn't know how to turn it off, so I just kept saying, man, our best days are behind us. And I heard God say, Paul, you have the master keys, so change the words you speak. Change the words you're speaking. So I started speaking, our best days are right in front of us. God's not finished with us yet. It came one night when I was getting ready to preach, and my mom gave me a pair of my dad's shoes to remember my dad by,

I took it a step further. I started wearing his shoes. And I started dressing just like he dressed, because I thought maybe if I wear his shoes and wear his clothes, people will like me more. It didn't work. They hated me more. They were like, Paul, wear your own shoes. And this one night I was so discouraged to get up and preach. And even though I knew I had the master key, I just felt like I don't have a good word. People don't want to hear me. They want to hear my dad. They want to hear some other preacher. And God said, change the narrative. So I wrote down on this napkin. I'm here on purpose. I'm here. here on purpose. I stopped right there. The enemy of here is there. The enemy of here is someplace else with someone else doing something else. You've been watching too many other people's stories. You need to

own being right here. You are here on purpose. Whether you're a mom, a dad, a janitor, a teenager, a college student, whether you can't pay the bills. You are here on purpose because you have a purpose. Right where you are. And I want to shout out those who are serving in the church on any team. if you serve in E-Kids or you serve in the parking lot or you serve in any park. Come on, give it up for the volunteers that make this place happen. Where you are is right where God wants you. You're here on purpose. And I started speaking that.

Because the Bible says that life and death is in the power of the tongue. The Bible says that we can prophesy over our future. When I was young, I used to be really wild and crazy. I was ADD. And you're like, I'm not. surprised by that. My dad used to put his hand on my head because I'd be like, ah, I was like Renan Stimpy, like crazy. I was like, hey, and my dad would put his hand on my head, and he would say, peaceful Paul, peaceful Paul, and now I'm peaceful. What are you speaking over your children?

What are you speaking over your future? I want the keys to come out, because I'm almost done right here, but I want you to envision that you're on a field. What do you see? Where do you see your life go. What do you see that's possible? Because God wants you to get a big vision. He wants you to get a big, you were not born with limitations, but born with possibilities. And you have the master key. So start declaring that your best days are still in front of you. See, I started saying that. I started getting our church to say it. They started saying it. I started telling people, hey, everyone in section C. People would turn around. There was no one in section C. When my dad passed, thousands of people left the church. And I had to start speaking to those

empty seats. I had to start prophesying. There's someone in that seat. There's somebody there. Because I saw this place being filled with people who needed Jesus. Can I tell you elevation? There's an empty seat at some campus that's waiting for somebody's life to be changed. Never stop reaching people. Never stop filling up buildings. Never stop inviting your neighbors. Somebody's life is waiting on you. Don't ever get comfortable with where we're at because we have not seen our best days yet, elevation. We have not seen our greatest miracles yet. You haven't heard the best sermons yet. You haven't seen the greatest miracles yet.

The best days for Elevation Church are right in front of her. The best sermons, the best series, the best miracles, the best campus miracles. There's going to be incredible things. But the door doesn't open until you unlock it. And you've got to start declaring. You can sit down. I promise I'll end in just a minute. You're like, is this it? Is he wrapping it?

No. Popeyes will still be open. It may not have chicken sandwiches, but it will still be open. Not Chick-fil-A, it's Sunday. But you know, one night I was walking, and we just had our second baby. Our finances were in a tough spot as a church. Right when I stepped in as pastor, I began pastoring in 2014 just five years ago this month. And this wealthy man who had left our church, he invited.

me to his office and he said, hey, I left whenever your dad passed, but I'm ready to come back, ready to help you with finances. I said, praise God, because I had to let go of so many people when my dad passed. We couldn't afford to pay all these people. And I thought I was going to have to close down the college and the school and the camp. And I just felt so overwhelmed. I was 28 years old, just turned 29 at that time. And he said, yeah, yeah, I'm going to help you. But I need you to do this, this, this, and this. And you began to list these things. And I heard God whispered. in my heart, are you going to trust in man's money, are you going to trust in Jehovah Jira? And I thought this was a test. I thought there was hidden cameras. So I looked at the man,

I said, sir, thank you for being willing to help, because he could have financed the whole thing. I mean, he was a very wealthy person. But I said, I can't do those things unless God tells me. I'm not going to sell the ministry. The pulpit is not up for prostitution. I'm not going to let anyone buy this church or by the decisions of this house. But there were no hidden cameras, and he never ended up coming. And a year and a half had passed. We had our second child. One night, I'm walking on this street.

I come across a bridge. It was dark. I was discouraged. And I just heard the enemy whispering, just jump, just jump. No one cares. Just in the pain. We're living in a time right now where so many pastors are dealing personally with doubt and discouragement.

So many young pastors are trying to fill the shoes of parents. And it's, I mean, y'all need to pray. Always be praying for the church out there. So many people, I mean, our world, our nation, America is on so much medication to try to deal with anxiety and depression and discouragement. And I was right there on that bridge. And I don't know if I'm speaking to someone who's watching this later on that's standing on a bridge. But I could hear the enemy just whispered, just jump, just in the pain. The church will be better off without you. And I felt like I was in a basement. a house. But I wasn't just one floor below. I was five basements below where I should have been.

That's the only way I can describe depression is you're just too far below where you should be mentally and emotionally. But I felt like there was a raindrop coming from heaven. It was like my dad was just dropping little raindrops. The Bible says, train your children up in the way they should go and they will not depart from it. Never underestimate getting your family to church. Never underestimate sitting, getting your kids and E-K kids, getting your youth in the youth group here. Listen, There's something powerful about being raised in those presence of God, in the scriptures, and all of a sudden it just started coming on my head, you're more than a conquer, you're fearfully and wonderfully made.

You've got what it takes. See, the final point of this message is surrender, because it was in this moment of surrender. You can see it, you can serve it, you can speak it, but the final moment that you activate the keys of the kingdom is when you surrender and say, God, I can't do it. God, I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you. And on that moment, on that bridge, I pointed to the darkness. I said, Satan, you lose. I refuse to jump.

I choose to live. I choose to live. I'm getting out of this depression. I'm getting out of this anxiety. And I walked away from that bridge. You can stand up. I walked away from that bridge and I never went back. And little did I know that God dropped it in the heart of a man.

Just right after that moment, God dropped it in the heart of this man who came. He said, Paul, I wasn't here when your dad was back. I started coming right when you started preaching. And he said, I feel like I'm supposed to bless the church. And he said, God told me to sow this seed. It was the largest check in the history of our church. Over a million. I called my mom.

I said, Mom, we're going to be okay. We're going to make it. She said, what are you talking about? I said, Mom, God showed up. Jehovah Jira answered. Jehovah Jira answered. There's no strings of text. There's no agenda.

We're going to be able to keep the school and the college. And there's room for more vision. She starts crying. She said, that's a harvest on your dad's seeds. That's a harvest on your dad's seeds. See, some of you are about to start walking in a harvest that your parents prayed for, that your grandma paid for, that your grandpa was on his knees for. You're about to start picking up harvest in a field that you didn't even have to labor in.

But you've got to see it. You've got to speak it. You've got to serve and you've got to surrender. I want you to just bow your heads and close your eyes all over this place. if you're here right now, and you're facing something that just seems bigger than you. And you needed this message to be reminded. You have the master key. Now it's time to start activating.

If that's you, I want you to raise your hand all over this place. Yeah, from the front to the back in every location online. Yeah. I want to pray for you right now. And I want to pray for those that are here today saying, I want to surrender to Jesus. I need to surrender my life to Jesus. If that's you, just raise your hand. Today's your day.

Come on, today is your day. Say this with me. Say Jesus. I surrender. I'm all yours. Help me to see what you see. Help me to serve where you've called me to be. Help me to speak what you've spoken. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. I believe you rose from the grave. And today I declare, you are my Savior. Christ in me is the master key. In Jesus' name, Amen. I love you, Elevation. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry

is 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. bless you. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.