Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Room Where It Happens (Tim Somers)

Episode Date: June 2, 2024

Change your posture.  In “The Room Where It Happens,” Pastor Tim Somers shows us that when we humble ourselves before God and fall at His feet, He can move in ways we could never expect. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Hey, why don't you look at your neighbor real quick? Let them know how good they look. Let them know how good they look. I hope you pick the right partner right there. Put it in the chat. How you feeling in the chat? chat. Hey, I want you to open up your Bibles to Mark chapter 5. Everyone say Mark?

Chapter 5 verse 21. If you don't know who I am, my name is Tim Summers. I'm the next gen pastor here, elevation. And today I'm excited to be able to bring the word as you're finding Mark 521. I've got to honor our pastors. I'd love to do this. This is arguably one of my first. favorite things to do when on this stage. I just want to honor specifically this ghost writer series. That seven weeks was absolute, was it beneficial for you? I'm seeing snaps right now, right? Just absolute fire preaching from both of our pastors. And if you missed it, you need to do everything you've got to do to get on YouTube and get that entire series. Okay. Here's what I understand about fire. When you read scripture, the prophet Moses was called by fire. Elijah called down fire.

Elijah made a fire. Micah prophesied fire. John the Baptist cried that you'll be baptized by fire. Jesus said, I've come to send fire on the earth. Fire is something that God always referenced and used in scripture. And one thing I know about my old sinful nature is it may dodge the water baptism. but it will be destroyed in the fire baptism. Come on, somebody. Can I get an amen? So here's what I know. I'm grateful for a pastor that understands the power of the Holy Ghost fire that both

destroys, purifies, warms, attracts, and empowers. Amen? And what they did, the way they surgically preached that Holy Ghost series? Let me tell you something was absolutely astounding. So what I want to do, just for those seven weeks, we could go a lot longer, but just for those seven weeks, can we give it up for our pastors, Pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdtick? We love you. We hope you're getting rest and refreshment. We think the world of you.

Thank you for preaching the Bible. It means the world has changed my life, and I know it's changed thousands and millions of people across the world. Okay, have you found Mark 5? Okay, well, you can find your way to your seat. y'all are excited i know it's okay mark five it's a lot of verses so i wouldn't want to do that to you mark five 21 this is what it says is that when jesus had again crossed over by the boat to the other side of the lake a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake then one of the synagogue leaders named

gyrus came and when he saw jesus he fell at his feet everyone say come and he pleaded earnestly with him my love little daughter is dying, please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. And Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the many cares of doctors and had spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. And when she heard about Jesus, she came. Everyone say, come behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes. Because she thought, if I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.

And immediately, her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. And at once, Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked who touched my clothes. And the disciples are like, what are you talking about? Who touched me? There's no way we could tell. But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. And then the woman knowing what had happened to her came.

Everyone say, come. and fell at his feet and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And he said to her daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace, and be free from your suffering. And while Jesus was still speaking, some people came. Everyone say, come from the House of Jiris, the synagogue leader. Your daughter is dead. They said, why bother Jesus anymore? Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, don't be afraid, just believe. And he did not let anyone follow him, except Peter. James and John. And when they came, everyone said come. To the home of the synagogue leader,

Jesus saw a commotion with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, why all this commotion? The child is not dead, but asleep. They laughed at him. And after he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with them and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, to Letha Kuh, which means little girl, I say to you, get up. And immediately, the girl stood up and began to walk around. At this, they were completely astonished. And he gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this and told them to give her something to eat. I'm going to title the conversation that I'm just having with God while you're in the room. The room where it happens. The room where it happens.

the room where it happens everyone say the room the room where it happens the room where it happens you know as I get older

I've realized that there are a lot of important rooms in my life oftentimes those rooms are not the rooms that I thought would be so important can I get an amen I've realized I've labeled some rooms wrongly and would never think that some rooms that is important as I never thought hospital room would be so important to me. Let me put a picture

up real quick of the hospital room. This is when we had our first girl, and I'll never forget that hospital room. I'll also never forget that green, crappy chair that I have to lay in. Come on, dads, you know what I'm talking about? No matter how small you are. That thing is not comfortable. That thing is not comfortable. But the hospital. I'll never forget about that room, but a hospital room. Man, I just never thought that that would be such an important room to me. Let me show you another picture. This room is special to me. This is the room. You're in it right now, Lake Norman. This is the room auditorium. This is the room where I came for just 24 hours, eight years ago, for inside elevation. In fact, if you zoom in real, real close, right on the right, you can see the room where I came for just 24 hours eight years ago for inside elevation. In fact, if you zoom in real, real close, right on the right, you can see the room. You can see the room where I can see this little blonde patch of hair. Yep, that's still me. And I'll never forget that room because that was the room where I was called and formed and evident that I would be formed to this vision and called to this church and called to our pastors. But I didn't think that room was going to be

that important. Let's check this other room out. This room, this is an interesting room. I want to show you the room. This is the actual room right here, the cafeteria of the campgrounds in Oklahoma. I know you can't necessarily tell that, but that's true. I'm not lying, but we actually found it right there, and we were sitting in chairs like that, and little did I know that I would be sitting next to the person that I would eat meals with for the rest of my life. This is where I'm at my wife. And let me tell you something, I didn't think I'd be meeting my wife in a room like that. Oklahoma campground. All right? Let me. Let me show you the other room, this last room right here. This is the first time that I met my son, Brody. He was eight years old. I don't know if you can tell. First time, but his legs are already on my legs. He loved me from the beginning.

Oh, man, and that is a room, a living room in Oklahoma, Stillwater, Oklahoma. I never thought that that living room would be such an important room. for me. Never did I ever. Maybe you could think about some rooms right now that have importance to you that you would have never thought, oh, never thought this would be so important. I can't help but to think about this passage because Peter, James, and John have been brought into a room. Right. In fact, there were some of the only ones that got into the room. And here's what I think is interesting because Gyrus is in there, right? The mother's in there. Obviously, the child's in there. Well, we need that. But to bring the three disciples in, and I always thought, very interesting, why them? And I began to think about this. Just maybe Peter, James and John, if you don't know, these are the

closest disciples to Jesus. Ain't that interesting? I wonder if that's why they were invited to the room. Maybe they had been in previous rooms with Jesus. so it allowed the opportunity for them to get into the room with a miracle. What happened? Right? This is very interesting to me because what I know is this is a special room right here. This is a special room right here. And if you're online, you're watching, you're in the room. If you're out of campus right now, these are special rooms where God begins to move. This is a room where a lot of things can begin to happen. in your life. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, pastor said, don't leave Jesus in this room.

That was a word for somebody. You missed three weeks ago. Don't leave Jesus in the room. Why? Because Jesus goes wherever faith puts him. Jesus puts him. What rooms are you putting Jesus in? You think this room is special and it just is always like this? Let me tell you something about this room. There are people praying over this room all week. Jerry Sumner walking down every aisle this morning at seven in the morning. I watched them. There he is again. Walking, praying for you. I don't know why this room is special because there's a different kind of faith in the room. There's a different kind of expectation that was set in the room before you even got in the room. This is something we've got to understand. Man, every time I get into those elevation doors, it's just something different. Yeah, it's just something different.

doesn't just happen. Right? It doesn't just happen. And when you show up and you feel this faith rise, what is that? Man, there's people praying for miracles. There's people that are sitting next to you that need a miracle in their business. And they're saying, I only got today. There's people next to you that say, I need a miracle in my marriage. And you know what? It's the last time I'm going to church. So this is it. I hope God does something. I hope he shows up. I hope he begins to move in this room. and they're praying and they're prepping, they're having these conversations with God, it doesn't just happen.

But what you've got to understand is that whatever room you invite Jesus into, miracles can begin to happen. I don't care if it's this room, the conference room, the break room, the living room, the waiting room. It don't matter, whatever room. Look at your neighbors.

They say, make room. But if we aren't careful, we'll never make any more room than the 90 minutes on a Sunday each week. If we aren't careful, we'll think, oh, I'm doing everything I need to do, God right here. Bless me. Bless me. I'm here. I'm waiting. Jiris didn't even have a room. But he began to make room for Jesus in this passage. Verse 22. It says he came and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. And he pleaded earnestly with him.

I want to lift up that earnest word real quick. All right. Everyone will say earnestly. Okay, put on Hebrews 116 real quick. That's, yeah, Hebrews 116. It says, and without faith, everyone say faith. It's impossible to please God. Because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards. Those who earnestly seek him. Those who diligently seek him.

Those who consistently and persistently are praying and having conversations. We've got those who have that relationship, that intimacy with the Holy Spirit, that closeness that you can only feel and you begin to describe it. They have been with Jesus. What is different about them? They have been with Jesus. What do you do when you see Jesus? I've asked this question before in a sermon in this very room. I think it's vital to ask again, what do you do when you see Jesus?

Jesus. Let me ask you something. When is the last time you fell at his feet? I think it's interesting because it says he came to Jesus and fell at his feet. Seven times in this 21 scripture passage, seven times it says he came and went. There was a journey. He came and went. There was a journey. He came and went. There was this rhythm almost of coming and going. He came to Jesus and he fell. at his feet. And I think, I want to sit on this for a little bit because I think we can look at this and go, yeah, he came. He fell at his feet. What was interesting is later with the sick woman, she comes and falls at his feet. I thought, okay. So both of them come and fall at the feet of Jesus. What are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing? They're earnestly seeking after him. They're pleading. They're begging. Right? Because what you've got to understand about, Gyrus is Gyrus has a history with God. He's a synagogue leader, so he knows, right? And he's aware of Jesus, right?

And so he knows and he understands some of these customs. But what we've got to understand is that Gyrus more than likely has some sort of rhythm established. Right? So when he comes to Jesus, more than likely, he had already been in some private rooms with God. And he begins to plead with Jesus. and I think it's interesting. It says he falls at his feet. So let me ask you again, how are you coming to Jesus?

There is a humility presented when you fall at the feet of Jesus. There's a humility that is presented. There's a humility that's presented when you come to the end of yourself. There's a humility that's presented when you come to the end of yourself. In it interesting that what we've done as a church, Big C church, we've gone like this, Hey, God. Praise the Lord you deserve. Oh, Lord you.

Next Sunday. Hey, Lord. Praise is the Lord you deserve. Oh, Lord. That's not how Jiris came. If we're not careful, what we'll see is that every Sunday, pray. Jir. He's like, well, that's not my personality, Tim.

I know what you're about to say. Because I just went like this. Lord, help me, bless me. I need you. I'm desperate. My daughter is dying. Okay, okay.

And here's what I know. Here's what I know. I ask my personality, Tim. Well, guess what? Personality goes out the window when desperation walks through the door. Careful. He's praying his praise and shun his person. He said, no, no, no.

I come to you. I fall at your feet. Don't get a big head jumps. There's a humility that is presented from both of these subjects. I don't want you to miss it because at the end, when I start talking to you, men, I don't understand. Where are your kids watching you be humble? He's like, I can't do it.

It's just not my thing. It's just not my thing. I want to see my kids understand. that I love the Lord and I need him more than anything else. There is nothing else. I don't care how stupid I look. I don't care how stupid I feel. I'm going to get up at 5 in the morning and I'm going to pray before you.

I'm going to fall at your feet. I'm coming to you, Lord. God, I don't know what you have for me this week. But, man, I need you. So you tell me, Lord, you know, show me. We've got to come to Jesus. and I'm just saying we've got to fall at his feet. Maybe change your posture.

Change your posture. Work at it. Change your posture. The lie of the enemy is that you have to hit rock bottom to become hungry for the things of God. Do not wait until a dying child to come to the Lord. Every day, His mercies are new every morning. That means his grace is new every morning. His strength is new every morning.

His confidence is new every morning. His direction is new every morning. His vision is new every morning. This just cannot be a Sunday faith. What would it look like? What would this room look like if a rhythm was established with Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit in private rooms before we got into the public once? I've said this before.

Sunday Church is meant to be a confirmation. and affirmation of what God has already told you throughout the week. That's it. So some of you are walking in, and I've done this. I've done this. I've walked in, like, oh, Lord, please, I hope you were speaking to pastor, because I really need a word. And he looked at me and said, I've been trying to speak to you.

But God is? He'll still speak through pastor to me. Even in the midst of my arrogance, even in the midst of my ignorance and ignoring him throughout the week, he still does it. That's how good our God is. She got to get a rhythm, you got to get a rhythm, you got to get a rhythm, you got to get a rhythm. I would say rhythm.

So then it goes on to say, my little daughter is dying, please come and put your hands on her so that she'll be healed. And Jesus went with them, and a large crowd followed and pressed around it. And then a woman who was there who'd been subject to bleeding for 12 years. And she suffered a great deal under the care. of many doctors and spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. And when she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. So an interruption comes for Jiris, but an opportunity comes for this woman. Who? Opportunity presents itself for this sick woman. How many of you have kids? Anyone have kids? Anyone have kids? You got kids?

Be fruitful and multiply. Amen? That's what the Lord said. But he didn't talk to me about was all the interruptions I was going to get. Right? Oh, but how many times? When you just like really take a breath and take a pause and you go, it's probably not that big of an interruption? And you start focusing on your son. You start focusing on your daughter.

And you realize, ooh, I'm glad I didn't miss that opportunity. If your parents, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But there's this opportunity. She's been sick for 12 years, and she's thinking to herself. There might be a little room for me. It's just a little walk-by opportunity. In essence, when we would look at that, we might say there's no time at all for her to get her healing. But God can do in one minute what we couldn't do in an hour of time.

What I really believe is that when it talks about verse 28, says, because she thought, if I just touch his clothes, I'll be healed. Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she would be freed from her suffering. And at once, Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. When you leave a moment of prayer with Jesus, how much power have you taken from him? When you leave a conversation with Jesus, a moment with Jesus, how much have you been filled with this power? Is it enough for Jesus to notice? Because it sure was enough for him to notice.

The power had left his body. I'm here to tell you, be selfish with this power. How many selfish people in the room? I got you. All the single people. Look the other way. We got to be selfish with this power. But now, here's what I mean about that?

Be careful, be careful. Because I'm not talking about, let's be transactional with this power. That's not what I'm here for. That's a slippery slope that we can get into. What I mean is that God has all that you need. He is all sufficient. And I can't operate with this power each and every day. And what I want to remind you is that the only power that God yields to is that of prayer and faith.

Think about that. That power left. Because all she was doing was praying, maybe this is my moment, maybe this is my, there was some faith. when you begin to have that conversation with God and raise the faith God begins to notice he begins to look back he begins to wonder and go wait someone's praying someone's trying to get my attention someone's bothering me he turned around in the crowd and asked who touched my clothes you see the people cried in against you yet you can ask who touched me but

Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it and then the woman knowing what had happened to her came and fell at his feet trembling with fear and told him the whole true. And this is where we see it again. She comes to Jesus and she falls at his feet, but it's different than Gyrus. Because Gyrus begins to list out the requests and says, can you lay your hand on my daughter and heal? But this woman, she doesn't do that. She comes to Jesus. She falls at his feet. Because the only prerequisite to come into Jesus is humility. He comes to Jesus, falls at his feet, but she doesn't begin to list out requests. She begins to tremble with fear, a reverence, knowing how holy this man is. And she begins to open up. Everyone say open up. Everyone say open up. All the introverts don't like that. Open up.

You want me to be honest. You want me to be real. You want me to be transparent and wrong. You want me to open up. Yeah, to Jesus, please, because you're doing it too much to people. But if you begin to do it with Jesus, what begins to happen is you begin to start making some room for God to move. He said to her daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace, and be freed from your suffering. And while Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jesus. Your daughter's dead. Why bother the teacher anymore? Could you imagine being Jiris in this moment?

a relief of thinking, man, it's about to happen. She's about to get healed. We on the way. We Gucci. I prayed, and I'm feeling really good about it. I'm feeling a supernatural amount of peace. Have you ever experienced this before? There's like a little breath of hope.

And then all of a sudden, the interruption. Right? And then the crew comes around, friends, and starts telling you, hey, starts giving you the news. And it's like, hey, your prayers didn't work. sorry she's dead hey I know you were hoping it was going to be this way but guess what too late too bad it's not going to work in fact don't even bother Jesus anymore that's what they said yeah yeah like like why bother the teacher anymore I'm gonna stay here right here because sometimes we go and pray to God

we feel that peace, we feel that hope. And we get around the wrong people. And they start saying, yeah, I just don't think it's going to work. Why bother? Why bother? Why bother the teacher anymore? Why bother? What should mean?

Why bother? That crew was not in the room when Jairus came to Jesus and fell at his feet. No one was there. Not that crew. They don't know what's been happening. Jairus had something different because he was in a room with Jesus before he's in a room with this crew.

Do you see the value? That's why he ain't sweating it. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe he was sweating it. It's a pretty big deal. But could you imagine? What do you feel like Jiris was feeling?

Do you feel like he was feeling like doubt? Or is there kind of like a swagger about him? You know what I'm saying? Like doubt? Like, oh, really? She's dead? That's probably what I would feel. I'd be like, oh, darn.

But maybe he had a swagger. Maybe he had a swagger about it, like, yeah, yeah, no, for sure. I get it. But Jesus is on the way. And so I'm moving with him. I'm going with him. I already prayed. We're good.

We already had a conversation. He said he was coming my way. We're in it. We've got to be real careful. We've got to stop inviting people into situations where the answer is only found in a private room with Jesus. I don't know about you, but what I do know, what I do know what Jairus did, I don't know if he felt doubt.

I'm sure he did. I don't know if he had a swagger, but what I do know he did is he kept moving with Jesus. He kept moving with Jesus. Everyone say move. How do you make room? Everyone say, keep moving. Oh, pastor says in his book, do the new you. I'm not stuck unless I stop.

Do not stop. Keep going. Jesus is on the way. Well, it don't look like it. It don't matter. We don't look at external sources. We look at Jesus. We look at the Word of God.

We've got hope. We understand. He's on the way, and he can do something absolutely incredible. He can turn it around. A miracle is on the way. As long as we keep moving just like Jiris did. So, put... Team, put up my title real quick.

Because now, it says in verse 37, Jesus begins to get the room ready. He says this, he did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. So what is that? Right? That closest, there's a rhythm. There's a rhythm. I already got a rhythm with these three guys. I'm going to make sure that they're in the room.

Then verse 38, when they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion with people crying and willing. loudly and he went in and said to them, why aren't this commotion and willing? The child's not dead, but asleep. He saw an opportunity right there. Here we go. I'm about to make a miracle happen. But they laughed at him after he put them all out, right? He took the child's father and mother. He said, he had to get real honest with them. He's like, oh, you're going to laugh? Okay, I need you, you, you, you, you, get out. I need you to get out right there, right? So what's Jesus doing? He's opening up, He's being honest, he's being real, he's being transparent, okay? He said, hey, you can't be in this room.

Takes her by the hand and says to her, to lead the coom, which means little girl I say to you, get up, move. Immediately the girl stood up and began to move. And at this, they were completely astonished. Let me tell you something, this is the room that I want to be in. This is the room where it all happens. The room where Jesus and I are having a conversation. Some of you have a prayer room. Some of you don't have a prayer room.

Either way, I'm not here to tell you that you've got to be like the Schoenomite woman and you've got to build another room. I ain't saying that. What I am saying is you need to make room for prayer. You need to make room for a relationship with Jesus. You need to make room for a relationship with the Holy Spirit. You need to make room with a relationship with the Father. All three of those relationships are very, very important.

And here's what you've got to understand is that I believe you've got to make room so that you can have room to come to Jesus, so that you can fall at his feet, so that you can humble yourself so that you can begin to request things and ask things of him so that you can begin to be honest with him and open with him and transparent with him so that you can experience that moment of what trembling with reverent fear actually feels like all of the spiritual work is done in prayer that's it that intimacy With the Holy Spirit. That spirit, you're like, I need you, Lord.

Pray. I want you, Lord, great. Pray. Let him speak to you. Let him reveal things to you. We got to start getting in the room with someone who can actually do something about my situation. We can't rely on all these external sources. We've got to go to the one who can make the miracle happen.

It's the room where Jesus is. And here's the deal. I get the time. tension. I know what the tensions are. I just feel like prayer's a little too complicated. No, come to them. Done. Come to them. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but like, does it even work? Oh, no. Pray. No, I'm just kidding. I do know. Yes. It's like, oh, well, God's sovereign. Like, oh, God's sovereign. He'll take care of it. Yeah, but you know what? I want God to do something through me. I don't want him to have to go to the next person because I didn't listen.

Because I didn't take the moment because I wasn't humble. Because I let pride and arrogance get in the way because I didn't want to do this and say, Lord, come tell me what you need me to do. It's not about my agenda. It's yours. When God gave pastor the vision of this church, see what God can do through you? Do you think it was all just about serving? Do you think it was all just about joining a group? Hey, we want to see what God can do through you? Do you think it was all about just giving of your first fruits and your tithes? No.

That's the surface. That's just the, that's like a minimum. That's just like the beginning. That's just like, step one. Yay. Oh, see what God can do through you. Man, I want you to pray so you can watch healing happen in your family. That's what seeing what God can do through you really means.

When you walk into a room like this, thousands of people in an auditorium, when God downloads something in your spirit and they highlight someone over there and says, I need to prophesy to that person right there. That's what God can do through you. Oh, that's what I want to experience. I'm not limiting God to just serving at the church, which I think is amazing. But don't limit it. Oh, no, man, I'm telling you, God can begin to move. in your life and speak to you. You could go over to someone and start praying for them and encourage them and lift them up.

And then two weeks later, like, that's exactly what I needed in that very moment. They don't remember that sermon that day, but they remember you coming to them. That's what seeing what God can do through you means. This is huge. God asked me a question on March 29, 2023. Do you want more of me? I said, yes. He goes, then I know.

need more room then. He said, I need more room. He said, I need you to wake up at five in the morning and you give me the first hour of every day. Let me tell you something. I don't wake up at five in the morning. No, I don't. I don't do it. That's not me. It's not my personality. But if you don't listen to God, that's stupid. She's just as plain as I can get. I'm the youth pastor. So she's like, that's what I would say to a teenager. Like, no, you have to listen to God. Or it isn't going to make sense. He said, wake up at 5 a.m. Start praying to me, worshiping me, asking me, requesting things of me. And I began to pray. And then I realized, man, I don't need to just pray to the son. I need to pray to the Father. And then I said, I don't need to pray to the Holy Spirit.

I began to realize, ooh, I got three relationships I got to work with over here. I'm busy at 5 in the morning. Let me tell you something. I'm not saying that to, oh, look at me. I'm saying that go, it could be as simple as that for you. I'm saying that I had to get outside of my personality and my mind. Like, I don't know. I'll see God on the, you know, in the other half of the moon, right? Like, I'll see him at nighttime. It'll be good. It's great. I still got the word in it. Right. But when you read scripture, it talks about how Moses gets up. Before the son gets up. Jesus got away with the father before the son came up.

David got away in the morning, early, before the sun gets up. came up and I said, you know what I'm done with the excuses. Okay, 5 a.m. He began to unlock something in my life. And what I've just realized is that I had to be completely stripped by the Holy Spirit so that at the same time he could completely strengthen me. You know, scripture says that he is our daily bread, but he also asks for a daily death. That's a daily death. So he's going to feed me, but I also got to die to myself. He's going to take care of me, but I also got to think, you know what? I'm moving the distractions aside.

I don't need it anymore. I want to end with this. Leonard Ravenhill said this. He said, prayer grasps eternity. No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing. The people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shop window to display talents,

but the prayer closet allows no showing off. We have many organizers, but few agonizers. Many players and payers, but few prayers. Many singers, few clingers, lots of pastors, few wrestlers. Many fears, but few tears. Much fashion, little passion. many interferers, but few intercessors. Many riders, but few fighters, failing here, we fail everywhere in the place of prayer.

The two prerequisites to successful Christian living, our vision and passion, and both of which are born in and maintained by prayer. The ministry of prayer is the highest ministry of all human offices, and it's open to all. God is not prodigal with this power, but to be much for God, we must be much with him. The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying and a praying man will stop sinning. We are beggared and bankrupt, but not broken nor even been.

Prayer is profoundly simple and simply profound. In the matter of the New Testament, Spirit-inspired hell shone. shaking world-breaking prayer, never has so much been let by so many to so few. For this kind of prayer, there is no substitute. We do it or we die. Today, with everyone in the room, in the campuses, I just want you to stand up. Even online, I want you to stay engaged because you're getting a glimpse into this room. I'm going to ask the staff and the leaders, the prayer team, to come forward.

and just surround this altar. Here's what I know. I pray that we never eliminate the groaning at the altar. Never let us put the power of the Holy Spirit in just raising our hand and leave Jesus in this room as we live our life for the rest of the week. Today is a moment that if you need prayer, whatever it may be, big, small, small, children dying, needing, needing healing, needing hope. However big, however small, it could be a headache. It could be a self-esteem issue.

What we want to do is just open up the altars to pray, to believe, to raise the faith, and to raise the expectation of who God is and how he sees a moment like this. This is what it's like. I saw what we're doing, starting a rhythm right now, seeing an opportunity right now for the next few moments. And here's the deal. I'm going to ask you to move, because for some of you, that right there will kill the pride. That right there. And I keep saying it because I had to do it too. I'm there with you. And if not, it's going to be a thing I have to do every single day. But you know what?

Maybe I do need to get a little uncomfortable. Like this sick woman pushing through the crowd just to touch his cloak, just to get a prayer, just to get a moment with Jesus. What I know is this, the world is not waiting for a new definition of the gospel, but a new demonstration of the power of the power of the world. the gospel. 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. God bless you. Podcasts. Guaranteed human.