Elevation with Steven Furtick - THE RATTLE! OF RESURRECTION!

Episode Date: April 13, 2020

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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 faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Abby, growing up at the Methodist Church, we would always say he is risen and then say back, he is risen indeed. Well, we can't say it to the people out loud today, but we can type it. So I say He is risen and you say indeed. He is risen.

I'm going to give the YouTube delay 30 seconds just to catch up on my screen. And then I can see Indeed, indeed, indeed, indeed. Indeed. Come on, you got to know that thing deep in your heart. You remember the hymn? You asked me how I know he lives. I didn't see him on the day that he died or the day he got up, but he lives within my heart.

There is resurrection power on the inside of me, on the inside of you. Somebody say, indeed, indeed. Wow. I'll tell you what, man, this is really cool because I was expecting the room to be empty today. And from a health protocol standpoint, it is. There's only like two and a half people here. But, and I'm not going to say who the half is, but what's really cool is, It's not empty.

It's not empty. I just need you to believe me when I say the glory of God is in this place. The presence of the Lord is in this place. I believe that about your home right now, too. I believe the presence of God is filling up kitchens and living rooms. Come on, I believe some of y'all are still in bed, but the presence of the Lord is coming right in. Uh-oh, you might sit up straight if you catch this. He is risen.

Indeed. So listen to me, this is very different, right? The room isn't empty. It isn't empty. And sometimes on Easter, I think we say things that on the surface are true. Like we say that the tomb where Jesus was buried is empty. But it's really not. It's really not empty. Just like this room really isn't empty. It really isn't empty. First of all, when he left, he put his linens there. So he wanted them to know that he folded his own clothes because he got up on purpose. Come on, I got up on purpose today. Oh yeah, by the way, I want to take the opportunity and apologize to my mom before I tell you the rest of this. Mom, I am so sorry I have on a leather jacket on Easter.

I know this is not Easter apparel, but since it's such a different Easter. But look, Mom, it really is. I want to show you something real quick. This jacket Chris gave me for my birthday. True story. And he put it on the inside for graves into gardens. So somebody type in the chat, say, these are my Easter clothes. Come on, some of y'all got some big flannel pajamas.

These are my Easter clothes. This is my Easter jacket. Hit the devil with a little bit of resurrection leather today. We aren't playing. We've got the joy of the Lord. He has risen indeed. Why did y'all slow down on the chat? Somebody said, I got up on purpose.

I woke up to connect to the presence of God. I'm not here by accident. I'm up on purpose. Yes, sir. And not only that, not only that, the tomb had linen in it, so it really wasn't empty. It just said he wasn't there. He got up, but the tomb really wasn't empty.

Because let me tell you another thing that stayed in his tomb after he got up. My fear? My fear is in that empty tomb. See, the reason I love it and the reason I don't need a crowd to help me shout is because it's not empty. My shame is in that tomb. My sin is in that tomb. You know what was canceled? The record of wrong that stood against me.

I'm telling you, I love it. I got so sad, Bishop, because I was watching last year's Easter service and something in me started to ache for the people to be here. You know, those of you that are a part of our church, you know this. If you're just watching today, because I don't know, somebody wouldn't leave you alone. They bribed you with five Easter dollars in a purple egg to get you to watch or something like that. Then maybe you won't get it, but we kind of vibe off of each other. And we kind of preach off of each other. And I don't really preach.

I'm called the preacher, but we preach together through our giving and through our worshiping and all of that is a part of it. And man, our church is so weird because you've got so many different types of people in our church. And I don't just mean like black or white or Latino or any kind of designation like that. I mean like some people grew up in church. I bet there's somebody that's still got their Easter hat on even though it's just you and your cat today. Because it's just like it ain't Easter without a hat. And what I was going to tell you about my mom, she said, This is the first Easter of her life.

I was talking to her yesterday, Eric, that she was not in a church building. At first she said, this is my first Easter. She's 66. And she said, because her dad was a Methodist minister, that's the church I grew up in. I love that church. Monks Corner United Methodist. Shout out Monk's Corner. If anybody's watching from Monk's Corner today, put it in the chat.

But it's so awesome because she said, she stopped herself. She said, I almost said, this is my first Easter. not going to church. And then she said, but wait a minute. She said, I am church. And she stopped herself. And she said, so I'm still going to be celebrating the resurrection. So sorry about the leather jacket, mom.

But I needed something to kick the devil with. I put on some boots with some snake skin on them too, just to let that serpent know he's under my bruised heel. Somebody give God a praise right there in the chat. Put a stop emoji. I see you with the hat emojis and the sunshine in the heart. Somebody put a devil-stopping emoji. Yeah.

Life is hard, but today we celebrate that God is good and that he is overcome. And the darkness came, but it only had one hour and that the light is stronger. We believe that for your life today, not just to give you height, but to give you hope. But sometimes every once in a while, you've got to find that place inside of you. Do me a favor right now. I miss you so much. I wish you were here. I wish y'all were here like you normally are on Easter, packed in time.

to the third overflow, watching on a screen in the bathroom, trying to get in for the next service. But since we don't have that opportunity, just do right now what you normally do, all right? You don't even have your grandma sit next to you that you drag to church and you don't even have to be embarrassed. She can't even see you right now. So just go ahead. If you normally shout, shout.

If you normally lift your hands, yeah, right there, right there, right there as a family. And put it on Instagram so I can see it. a few minutes after I preach this word, if you lift your hands, just to signify that he is risen and I'm getting up to. I'm getting up to. That's really the message that I want to bring to you today is called expect a resurrection. Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? expect a resurrection. Somebody say, I expect it. I expect it in the chat.

I expect it. I expect it in Pittsburgh. I expect it in Milwaukee. I expect it. Come on, give me a city in the mic. Sometimes I run out of cities to say. I expect it in Singapore. I expect it in Seattle.

I expect it in. Where do your parents live? Veronica. Where do your parents live? Hillsboro, Dillsburg, Hillsboro, Dillsburg, they're all here today. Come on, y'all, it's Easter. I got resurrection power running in my veins today. You say, didn't that preacher get the memo?

It's the end of the world. But guess what? I found out what happens at the end is a new beginning. He showed me that when he got up, put my title back up. A resurrection. Come on, let's do it. You want to do it right now? We got something for you.

We were going to do it at the end, but I want to do it right now. Y'all, when I tell you to text everybody you know and to tweet this link to everybody who follows you and to put this on Facebook to all of your politically opinionated friends, just to let them know that Jesus is the name above all names, let me tell you something. Now, y'all calm down. Give me a moment to set this up. properly. I need something soft like it's Saturday and like we're wondering what to do in between. And the silence of Saturday is starting to set in. And on Saturday you can't do anything because it's the Sabbath. And so you have to just wait. And just hours ago, you didn't sleep much

last night because it was hard to get the images out of your mind of how they beat the one that you believed in, how they broke his bones, how they lashed his back. Most of all you heard the cry. Lama subactony, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But when he said, it is finished, it was the last thing he said before Saturday. When they heard that it is finished from the cross what Jesus said on Friday, many interpreted it, in fact most interpreted it like it's over. Some of us feel that way right now.

we know it is over. Maybe you're sitting here today saying my business is over. I lost my job. Many of you are sick right now and feel like this is the end for you and you're just tuning in today hoping, hoping, hoping is hard to hope when you don't hear anything. You know, just like Mary and Martha, who lived in Bethany, who are a big big, part of the ministry of Jesus sent word to him. The one that you love is sick. That was their brother, Lazarus. His name literally means one who God helps. Embedded in his name is the expectation that Jesus, who loved him, would come and heal him. And yet these unmet expectations, these Saturday situations, these are we going to find a cure for them?

this, are we going to ever be what we were again? That's Saturday. The part we want to skip past this Saturday. The part where we want God to shout, but we don't even hear a whisper. When this global pandemic began, I told the Lord in my heart that anything he gave us as a ministry during this time, we would release it immediately, that we would release it. And so, release what God has put in us so that we can receive what God has for us. Release and receive, release and receive. And it's hard to let go. It's hard to accept something that's gone away.

It's hard to accept that maybe your kids won't go back to school this year, and you're like, that's not hard for me to accept. Well, if you're having to homeschool them, it is. I'm telling you right now, you'd be like, it's like Saturday every day, okay? It's like Saturday every day and when your kids are little and you're trying to deal with that it may not feel like the end of the world but it's still a Saturday. I found out something about Saturday. It's a setup. I found out something about Saturday. It's a setup.

And a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday, I started texting Chris this melody that had come into my mind or my heart or my spirit the night before. and we start group texting with a friend of ours named Brandon. And the sound that started to come forth just unfolded, unfolded, evolved, evolved, and grew and grew. And last Sunday when Holly finished preaching that amazing message on the ways of God, trading my worries for his ways, something told me to come out on this stage and finish the song. Well, what I didn't know is that God was using those moments to release. a sound of resurrection. And this is a different kind of Easter, right?

Normally right about now, here would come my pulpit, and then we would stand for the reading of God's word, but God said we're going to do it different today. All over the world, what we're going to do right now is release the sound of Sunday, the rattle of resurrection, into the silence of Saturday. I want you to move everything off your coffee table that could be knocked over. Because right now we are going to declare, like Ezekiel, looking over the valley at dry bones, breathless bones, hopeless situation, exiles declare the word of the Lord. This is what God says.

God says, live. Word was upon me. And I saw a valley full of bones that were. Ezekiel said that the Lord asked me a question, son of man, can these bones live again? And what Ezekiel said sounds like Saturday to me. He said, I don't know, Lord. I don't know. I don't really know what's going to happen next in our country or in our world or in my life. I don't know for some of you who are on the front lines fighting for the rest of us. I don't know how I'm going to get the energy to face another day.

I don't know. I don't know how I'm going to innovate and put my business back together. I don't really know. In fact, he said, you alone, Lord, know. That's Saturday. But something started happening when the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel. And I believe the Word of the Lord is coming to you today. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and he gave them an instruction.

He said, Ezekiel, I know you don't understand it. I know you can't explain it. And I know what you're looking at right now looks like bones on the valley of the floor. That's what your life might look like right now. That's what your mind might look like right now. Just disjoint it, discombobulated. I don't know what to do. Remember what Mary and Martha said to Jesus after he finally had the nerve?

to show up four days late where were you at when we sent for you we didn't hear back from you God I prayed and I didn't feel anything and it's really amazing and y'all I am sweating like an Olympic athlete in this leather jacket but I hear the sound right now well Jesus didn't send back a message because he was the word In the beginning was the Word and the Word was made flesh. So when the Word of God shows up to a desperate situation, it does not matter how dead it seems. I feel the presence of God in this empty room today. I sense the presence of God flowing to people's emotions today.

I sense the presence of God. You say the presence of God isn't a feeling. Well, it's not a feeling, but it will give you a feeling. If you let this get in your heart and in your soul past your mind. Where you're trying to figure it out. So listen to this. It's so powerful and I'm going off of my memory here, but it was something like he said Son of man, this is what you say to those bones. God says live. God said live. I believe the word of the Lord to you today is this.

When the word of the Lord hit those dry bones, they had no choice but to stand. up straight. I wish you would stand up straight right now, stand up straight and begin to clap your hands all over the world. This is the Word of the Lord. Live, live. Come on right there in the chat on this resurrection Sunday, where we celebrate not only that he was resurrected, but that he is resurrection. Do you know that? He still is. And I want you to put that in the chat right now. Now, He still is. Y'all, I prepared five sermons for this Easter Sunday, and I just decided to preach all five. He still is.

He said, I am the bread of life, and he still is. He said, I am the good shepherd, and he still is. He's leading me and guiding me. Even like Holly said, through the valley of the shadow of death is just a shadow. The light still shines. He still is. We declare it, he still is. He said that he was the way, the truth, and the like.

He still is. I am. He still is. I am, just like he was for Moses, just like he was for Joseph, just like he was for Shadrack, just like he was for Daniel, just like he was for Abraham. He still is. Just like he was, he is.

He still is. And so the decision we have to make Y'all be nice back there I hear the Rattling and it's about to make me kick over the mic stand or something like that Come on, this is a different day, man People need hope It's like, Pastor, where's your pastels?

This is a different kind of Easter. We came today to declare live to your life. Resurrection isn't always pretty. The power of the Lord is coming to your bones, Come into your mind, come into your will. You will not give up. It will not end in death before the glory of God. Live, live, live.

So what I love about it, pop quiz real quick. Were you watching my Good Friday sermon? Okay, the camera people are nodding. Let me check this camera out. You were there. Were you there for Good Friday? Camera person number three? Y'all, I love these camera people coming out here and just helping us

get this message across. I feel like you're right here with me. Put your name in the chat so I can put you right here in this seat. And we'll pretend like we're all dressed up. We'll pretend like we put perfume on and took a shower and fought through the crowds. I don't know if you got a ham in the oven or something like that, but right now let's just be together for a moment, okay? Let's just be together for a moment. And let's talk about what it means, what it means to expect a resurrection. Because on Good Friday, I was saying the only way you can face Friday, what's your name? What's your name?

I want to speak to somebody, Ruth, Brittany, Ava. Put your name in the chat. The only way you can face Friday, Nina, Leslie. Can you pause it real quick on the screen? This is unbelievable. This is outrageous. Eddie Vedder, no, Eddie Vance. Sorry, that was that rattle getting in my blood, that pearl jam.

I half expected Joey to get up on a stack. of speakers and jump off. Rattle, rattle. Come on. Oh man, the resurrection rattle. The rattle. Oh, I like it. The silence of Saturday and the rattle of resurrection. Wow.

You know one thing that the stone at the tomb and the bones in the valley had in common? When God said live, they both started to shake. Come on, I feel something. shaking in here today. I feel a stone rolling today, a heart opening. Anxiety, get out the way. Panic attack, bow down to the name of Jesus. Confusion, get out the room. Number text me real quick and tell me if I'm going too crazy right now. I just felt like, you know what, we can sit in our houses and be in mourning like he's still dead, like is Friday, or we can acknowledge the fact it's still Sunday.

So no matter what happens in my situation, Abby, I can live. I'm about to mess up all the Baptists because I'm about to hit a tongue. I'm about to hit a run of tongues. I'm going to start speaking in every language on the screen. I'm telling you right now, y'all be polite. It's Easter. It's Easter. Didn't you know you're supposed to be bored on Easter?

It's not like you have anything to be excited about. Well, anyway, what I was going to tell you, Lucia, what I was going to tell you, Martha, I love the people who told their aunt to watch elevation today. It's like, it'll be very nice. It'll be a nice service. Communion or something like that. Well, we are having communion. This is communion.

This is a moment of celebration where we just, for about 57 good Holy Spirit-filled sanctified minutes, just celebrate that he still is. So here's what happened, okay? I got to give you this. I promise we're about to close I think I don't really care. There's nobody waiting to get in the building. It's not like YouTube has a max seating capacity It's not like you Facebook has an overflow room. Let's just have church All right, so y'all are like where's the sermon? This is the sermon This is the sound Resurrection is not an intellectual proposition

Resurrection is a present tense reality. So here's how I know that. Okay, Lazarus, the one who God helps. This is Jesus' greatest miracle other than that fold his own linens when he gets up from his own grave and come out with the keys of death hell and the grave thing. That was pretty good. But this is the one that set the stage for resurrection. Somebody say in the chat, I'm expecting a resurrection.

Now, when Lazarus died and Jesus did not send a message back to you. the sisters. It would have been easy to assume that his silence indicated his absence. God's silence, what I mean by that, when you don't feel God or when you don't know what to do or you can't figure out, you don't have a sense of direction, that doesn't mean he's gone. He still is. So when Jesus showed up and they were like, you know, Martha was the first one out the house because she was an enneagram. What's the one eight, the challenger? She was a, well, Martha could flip all between all the different enneagrams because one moment she was coming up to him like, you know what? If you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

And I wonder sometimes do we get crucified on that cross of what we thought God was going to do? Thought you would come? I thought I was going to have a normal way. wedding. So many people come in on my social media accounts. Pray for me because this is my son's senior year and he worked hard. He started out, one person told me he started out with a 2.3 GPA and he was going to graduate. And so now the graduation is going to be kind of anti-climactic. Going to be flipping a tassel on the sofa and it's not very cool. It's no fun. Like Holly is having her birthday and I'm not going to tell you which one. That's up to her to tell you. But it's a significant one.

It might be 20, might be 30, might be 40. It's one of those round numbers. And we had this whole thing planned, and she's like, oh, man, it sounds small because so many people are suffering so much more. I know it's not a big deal. But even in the small ways, don't you know that unmet expectation can turn into resentment? So if it's resentment or if it's regret, it's like Martha and Mary saying, Lord, if you had been here, this wouldn't happen.

God, why couldn't you keep this sickness away? Why couldn't you keep it from ending this poorly? And it's amazing because Jesus had just finished telling his disciples this sickness will not end in death and then it did and then it did. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does hurt. Sometimes people do leave you. Sometimes it does get tougher.

Happens to all of us. But here's what I want you to get in your spirit today, okay? And if you want to put this in the chat or just say it out loud, Even if it does, even if it does, even if it does, he still is. He's still with you, he's still for you. Not on the basis of circumstance, but on the basis of faith. I can say, I expect a resurrection. And I just joined my faith with you today, not in a weird way where I send you some kind of like cloth in the mail or anything like that, But just by connecting our faith right now, I expect a resurrection.

Yet I know that the only way to get to resurrection is to accept death. And that's what I was saying on Friday, on Good Friday, is that before Jesus could show up and call Lazarus from the grave, because he already had in mind what he was going to do, he was just trying to show them something new about who he was. That's what he's doing in your life right now. He's showing you how deep his comfort runs. It's beneath feelings. It's beneath facts. It's beneath logic. It's beyond it.

So when he spoke to the sisters and they were still thinking about the past, what God could have done. And I know you're there sometimes. I am too. God, if you would have just, that's what she said. And then Jesus said, your brother will rise again. God says live. And then the sister was like, well, I know he will on the last day. She was thinking about the eschatological implications of the resurrection.

She was thinking about, well, I know it's going to be all right when I get to heaven. You know that song from church when we all get to heaven? What a day of rejoicing that will be when we all get to heaven, but we're not in heaven right now. Sometimes our life feels like a sort of purgatory where God's plan and our plan have no synchronicity. What's going to happen about your job? We were talking about that this week.

This is real stuff. Resurrection has to be real to me. It can't just be what Jesus did. That's the past 2,000 years ago. That's not the only thing that resurrection means to me. It can't just be about, you know, my sins are forgiven, thank God they are, and I'm going to heaven one day when I die and thank God I am. But it can't just be about that.

Faith can't just be in the future. And purpose can't be stuck in the past. So what has to happen is what Jesus said to the the sister when he gave the revelation. Are you ready for this? This is resurrection. Are you ready for resurrection? Because some of us are refusing right now to accept what was taken away and what changed. So we have lost our ability to expect what God is going to do next. And we can't deal with what is because we're still thinking about what should have been, could have been, would have been, or what will be like the woman of God,

preached last Sunday, things that haven't even happened yet. And yet Jesus said the greatest revelation, not I am the bread of life, they knew that, they saw him feed the 5,000, not I am the good shepherd, they had seen him lead them throughout a three-year tenure around the sea of Galilee and all the places that he ministered. But he went much deeper this time. The seventh of the I am statements of Jesus, he said, I am resurrection. Get it right. I do resurrection because he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. And he does resurrection because he was going to get up himself.

Lazarus was the opening act. Do you understand that? Lazarus was just getting the EQ right. Jesus said, I am resurrection. I am. This is not a note-taking sermon, really. This is a sermon for you to receive. the resurrection power of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.

And when he said, I am resurrection, what he said next was so important. Are you listening to this, AJ? Let's put this down in the book. He said, take me to the place where you laid him. That's where we've got to go. The place where we were disappointed. Now, on Good Friday, I showed you how the first person, do you remember, the first person that Jesus appeared to when he was resurrected was not Peter, who was the preacher,

it was not Matthew, the tax collector, all of these people that we call the disciples. He showed himself, do you remember, Mary, Mary from Magdalah, out of whom he had cast seven demons. He had done a lot for her, and in turn she had done a lot for him. And I love how, give me Mark. Yeah, Mark chapter 16, verse 9. You've already got it ready. Somebody say, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready. I'm ready. I don't know what God's going to do, but I'm ready.

I'm ready. He's with me. I'm ready. I'm ready to see how God is going to reveal himself. I'm ready. So when Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalie, out of whom he had driven seven demons. I love that the first one that he showed himself to was the one who had the most dysfunction. If we come to Jesus full of pride, we can't experience his power. But if we're saying today, I need your presence. God, I'm an empty vessel. He will fill that empty vessel with his presence and power.

So he showed himself first to Mary. And at first I thought maybe it was because she was wealthy, because history tells us she was a very wealthy woman. But now I think the reason that she was the first to witness his resurrection on Sunday morning, check this out, John. I think it's because she fully accepted his death. If you will remember Peter and the other disciples, they resisted the idea that Jesus was going to be crucified.

They wanted things to stay the way they were. Oh, if you would have been here, oh, you should do this. This is what you should do. This is what you should have done. But Mary, Mary Magdalene with some of the other women, look what she did on Friday. The Bible says in Mark 15, verse 46, that when Joseph brought some linen cloth and took down the body and wrapped it in the linen and placed it in a tomb, cut out of a rock, Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. He rolled a stone. And so on Resurrection Sunday, it comes as no surprise. Look at the next verse that Mary Magdalene and the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

Now get ready to get happy, okay? Are y'all happy? I'm not saying, is life perfect? I'm saying, are you happy on the inside to know that you have resurrection power? All right, check this out. I love it. I love it. I love it. Okay.

It says that she saw where he was laid where they rolled the stone. That same stone that they rolled when he was dead was the same stone she saw on Sunday that revealed his resurrection power. It was the same stone on Friday that they rolled to say, it's over. He's dead. There's no hope for you. It's over. Lazarus is dead. By this time he's stinking, there's maggots already. It's bad, it's bad. But God said, tell the maggots, stop eating his body. Because when resurrection comes, everything is reversed. And the same stone that they rolled to keep him in the grave, I hear the sound of the rattle of resurrection, speaking to your spirit, speaking to your joy,

Speaking to your peace, Lazarus, come forward. LJ. Minister, right here, right now, the resurrection is a reality. Not a history lesson. Yes, he got up. It's not a metaphor, but it is a miracle that is available to all who will believe. Now, listen to me. We can shout a lot, and it's cool and it's great and it's right and it's fun. I feel 14 years old again today.

I'll tell you right now, this is what my punk rock self always wanted to preach like that, just to tell you, dry bones hear the word of the Lord. I don't understand why the world has the worst message, and they scream at the loudest. And we have the best message, and we come in here. No, this is our day. This is resurrection day. Even in our homes, it's a resurrection in your home. So I just want to know today. What do you need to accept in this season?

Just think about this, just reflect. We'll call this, we had the rattle of resurrection, but now let's have a moment of resurrection reflection. Come on, I got range. I can bring it way up or way down. So right now I just want us to talk. Just us, okay? And again, if you'll just tell me a first name and where you're watching from, Holly,

I got 90 text messages on my phone. I didn't know 90 people had my number. Praise the Lord, Tom, Scott. Your sister Emily texted me. She texted me, Rattle of Resurrection with a snake emoji. I'm just kidding about the snake, but she did text me the Rattle of Resurrection. Levi Lusco, Tom Lehman, Tom knows about resurrection. Yeah.

Tom knows about resurrection. Tom and Lisa know about resurrection. That's one thing about this Easter, you know? Tom and Lisa, our fam, here at the church, knows and our worldwide fam hasn't met them yet, but you will. They've been in the church so long and they lost their teenage son here on this earth. This was before you were here, Z, at the church. In 2012, and through his life, a ministry has been birth called Riley's Catch. And Riley loved to fish, and he wanted to start a fishing club. And then his life

was taken too soon in a car accident on the 10th night of our 12-night Code Orange Revival. And nothing in the world that his dad and mom wouldn't give to bring him back, but sometimes you don't get it back in the same form. But God is always bringing something forth. And that's what Tom told me when I preached for Riley's memorial. He said, we got to start that fishing club for him. I will make you fishers of men. And then they started inviting all of Riley's friends to do.

joined the fishing club and they've seen hundreds of them except Christ. That's resurrection. You understand what I'm saying? So when we preach this, it's like, hey man, are you in la la land? Do you not watch the news? No, I check it. I don't watch it all day. Okay? If I watch it all day, I'm going to be filled with worry all day. If I watch it all day, I'm going to end up eating 17 slices of cake to try to cancel out what I feel in my nervous system. And so my waistline can't afford to just watch the news all day. Even this Easter is the first one without Shiz. Because he would sit over there where there's nobody in the building right now. He's not here. He's not here. And we lost Lashon way too soon, and I'm still not over that. He was helping

my son learn how to make music. And to my son, Shiz was like the angel Gabriel. And it would even make me mad, he'd be like, Shiz says this and Shiz says that. He'd come home, I'd be like, I told you all that too, but when Shiz said it, he just said it better. And the fact that Jed and April, you know, watching right now, we love you. Lashon still lives. Shiz still lives because God is resurrection. He is. He's not sitting in that seat. I was texting him last Easter because it was Coachella and Kanye was up there doing this amazing, amazing, amazing thing that ended up being bigger than any of us knew. And we were talking about how God is blurring the lines between, you know, all of these

distinctions. We have black church and white church and how God is doing a new thing. And he was supposed to be here to see what we're experiencing today. But he still lives. His life is going to live on in such a powerful way because he still is resurrection. And it's only after April and Jet and... Tom and Lisa have stood at the tomb and watched the stone be rolled that we can expect the resurrection on the other side.

I feel the presence of the Lord. Come into your situation, coming to your valley, coming to your dry bones. You've been weary. You've been worried. That's all right. He still is. Prince of peace. He still is.

He still is. When Jesus said in a loud voice, I'm not going to do it now, but he hollered. He said, Lazarus, come forth. I believe God is calling some things for today. The only way to expect resurrection is to fully accept death. So what is God calling you to accept today? Maybe it's uncertainty. Maybe you control freak you.

You're having to acknowledge. I don't know what to do. I can't manipulate this. I can't fix this. Okay, you know what? The moment you accept that, expect resurrection. The moment you accept the pain and don't try to shove it down. Mary and Martha were like, we can't roll the stone away.

It stinks in there. God, I can't be honest. I don't have it together. God, I can't believe in you. I have so much doubt. Here's what I love about it. Sometimes God asks you to roll your own stone away. That's just opening up your heart to receive resurrection.

I want to pray with you right now. If you know somebody who's going through a silent Saturday, right now maybe you want to send them a link and say, I want you to watch this. It's going to rebroadcast several times. I don't even know if we'll put it online after that because honestly I don't know where the message starts and ends, but right now I want to pray with you. I just want to believe God with you for resurrection. Here's what I've learned. I learned it from Lazarus. I learned it from Mary Magdalene who stood at the tomb. And because she faced Friday, she got to see him on Sunday.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I'm going to see him on Sunday. Beautiful thing about it is that Just like Jesus called Lazarus for, he's always bringing something forth. I believe he's using this time in some of our lives to set us free from the wrong priorities, helping us to do the math on what really matters, helping us to realize that we're in this together and we are not independent. I believe God is going to bring something forth. Lazarus, come forth, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Ask the stone what happens when God says to move.

And I want to pray for you right now because listen, here's the whole message. If you're like, I didn't like all that hollering, screaming and jumping around about the bones, it was kind of scary there. I wanted to hear because he lives. And I was going to hear that on the Easter sermon. That's great. I like the hymn too. But here's what God said today. Unmet expectation is the starting point of resurrection.

Unmet expectation is the starting point of resurrection. Right there in the chat, I expect resurrection. I expect him. So first of all, take your hands like this and say, God, I'm letting go. I'm letting go of what I thought my life was supposed to be. I'm letting go of the plans that I made for you know the plans that you have for me, plans to prosper me, not to harm me, give me hope in the future. Jeremiah 29-11.

Plans to do exceeding abundantly above all that I ask or imagine according to your power that works mightily on us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead Ephesians 320 Now unto him who is able to save it deliver and heal and restore anything We thank you Lord for resurrection power But the first step to resurrection we know is release So take your hands like this don't be stubborn Stop fixing cereal you're not starving Take your hands like this. Release.

Lord, I release the way I thought it should be. I release the calendar that I made. I release the way I expected to be at this age or stage. I release the way that I thought you were. You're more than I thought you were.

You're not just the bread of life. You're not just the good shepherd. You're not just the way. You are resurrection. You're not just the light. You are the life. Live. Receive this breath from the four winds all over the world right now. Breathe on your people. Live, live. To your hope, live. Speak to your purpose. Live. I speak to the legacy of those that you've lost. Live. It lives on. Resurrection is real. Resurrection is right now. He still rolls stones. He still forgives sins. He still saves. that you've released it, receive it. Come on, receive it. Receive that healing for your broken heart. Receive that comfort in the midst of your chaos. Receive that confidence in the midst

of your uncertainty. Receive it. You know, the scripture says to as many as received him, he gave the rights to become the children of God. And I believe there's some. someone right now that God has you watching this, because this is a moment for your resurrection. His already happened. He doesn't need to rise. You do. And I came out here today expecting not knowing what to expect, but expecting that many hundreds, if not thousands, across the world hearing this message who placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

It's a funny thing about trouble. Trouble takes away all of our side pursuits and helps us to realize if I don't have God, I don't have anything. If I don't have peace, I don't have anything. I can't depend on other things. I can't depend on an economy. I can't even depend on my help. I need the invisible God to become real in my life.

And right now, I want to pray with you. We do this every Sunday, but this one is special. this one is for you. Somebody who is ready to receive the grace of God, I want you to pray out loud all over the world. Let's stop right now and pray with those who are receiving Christ. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It is by grace through faith. Receive this gift right now. And I want you to pray after me and invite Jesus Christ.

to come into your life. Say this, Heavenly Father, today is my day of resurrection. I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I give you my life. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sin, rose from the grave to give me life. I receive this new life. I am a new creation. I am a new creation. I am. a child of God in Jesus name amen if you just prayed that prayer to receive Christ we're going to clap our hands all eight of us on this stage we're going to clap our hands and play our instruments and I want you to put in the chat I receive Jesus I receive Jesus come on right in the chat I'm gonna wait for you I'm on a 30 second delay but I'm gonna wait I receive salvation

This is my day. This is Easter. This is Resurrection Sunday. I receive Jesus Christ. I receive it. I receive it. Come on, I receive it. The angels in heaven are rejoicing because you receive it.

I expect resurrection. He's making all things new. Come on, we celebrate. I see it going across the screen. I hear the sound of the angels in heaven rejoicing over the dry bones standing up to receive the breath of the Holy Spirit. Come on, it's the resurrection day. 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.