Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Sticking Point

Episode Date: October 28, 2019

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

Enjoy the message. Come on, everybody feels comfortable. Just lift your hands. Everybody who doesn't feel comfortable, lift your hands. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Jesus is your name. We bless you, honor you, respect you. admire you and adore you. But really we want you to know that we need you. We know that. For the things that we encounter as human beings that we cannot understand on the level of

our existence, we need divinity. Would you direct the paths of each of the precious people that you assembled together today? See, I know that we think we decided to come to church, but really you brought us to this place. Something that you want to remind us of, something that you want to show us, something that you want to reveal. And whatever it is, clear out the debris of disappointment that has accumulated in our souls this week, a place for your glory and your presence to dwell. We are your temple, and we reverence you, and we worship you, and we praise you. In Jesus' name.

the whole church set together. Amen. Amen. Come on, let's show the Lord that he's important to us. Well, look at the person next to you and tell him, I love you so much. Tell him, I love you. Come on, tell him, I love you. Like Homer loves donuts on the Simpsons. Come on, tell him, I love you. Like Kanye loves Kanye. Tell him you're my number one with the lemonade. Tell them right now. See if they're saved. How many of you are saved, delivered, on your way to heaven? Glad about it.

God is so faithful. We want to welcome all of our campuses. Let's do that right now, Valentine. Let's welcome all of our locations. All over the Charlotte area, Asheville, North Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, Toronto, Canada, Melbourne, Florida. Come on, let's thank God for Raleigh, Morrisville. Amen.

Should we see who's watching on our e-fam, our extended family around the world. There's always many different cities and states and nations watching. Somebody pull it up for me. Go ahead and pull it up on the Elevation Church YouTube. Make sure you go on the Elevation Church one because it'll have the most viewers. Go over to Elevation Worship is not as popular. So good. Are y'all going to get that new song? You never lost a battle. Are you going to get that on Friday? Make sure you get that, stream that. That's going to be so good. You get that. You get that. You get that. You get that. and just get it stuck in your head all the time now.

How many of you have that song stuck in your head? We didn't sing it today, but which seems like a strategic misfire that we're releasing it Friday and we didn't sing it today. Anyway, it's a good song to get stuck in your head. But I promise you, your wife would rather hear Tiffany and Chris sing it than you. You can't sing. So download it, stream it, and play it. Let the professionals do it.

You can sing along. Tell me where you're watching from on the comments of YouTube. California, Wisconsin, Seattle, Nigeria, Rockwell, North Carolina. You ever been to Rockwell? Have you heard of it? I hadn't either. Indiana, Charlotte. Supposed to be in church. You better have the flu. Measles, the mumps, the shingles, or something. Uganda, Atlanta, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Brazil, Baltimore. It's so fast. It's scrolling so fast. It's scrolling so far. fast, Guatemala, Dominican, Indonesia. Ask somebody, where did you come from and what are you cooking for lunch? Can I come over? Ask them that real quick. Amen. Welcome our eFAM around the world.

Let's give out 17 hugs on our way down to our seat. Can we do that? Are you ready for the Word of God? Come on, let's thank God for the worship team. It's the reason I said that. I don't know else to transition them off the stage. I don't have to awkwardly. You can be seated. I want to talk to you about something today that came up in a creative team meeting. I was asked the question about songwriting and sermon writing. Which one do I enjoy more?

To which I responded, it depends on what part of the process you catch me during. Because there are certain times where a sermon idea will come to me and I will feel enlightened and spiritual and confident. Can't wait to preach it. Get me a new 9-volt battery in my microphone and gather the people. I have something to say from heaven. Then, five minutes later, I look at the same idea and it just seems so ridiculous and simple and basic. And I basically tell y'all everything I know every week. I'm just waiting on you to actually do it one time. I'm just kidding, you're great, you're growing. I know, you're disciple.

But it's like the process of creativity, it has certain points in it. When I was talking about it, I called it the sticking points. And as I talked about that creatively, I want to speak about it today. That's the title of my message. It's called the sticking point. Because everything that you love in life is going to have a part of the process that you don't like. and a part that is going to tempt you to quit.

It doesn't mean you don't love it. I don't know when we started thinking that we have to love everything or like everything all the time. I quit my job because I wasn't feeling it. Well, were you feeling indoor plumbing? Go back to work. Pay your bills. You don't have to love everything all the time, you know?

Because everything that you love is going to have a part, I called it the sticking point. It's going to have a part or part. parts that you don't prefer. Okay, I can't tell if you're with me yet. Let me take this a level deeper. Every person that you love is going to have some parts that you don't prefer. I'm going to say it that way. It's gentler than saying that you don't like or that you want to change.

Not me. I love everything about him. You're dating. It's been two weeks, I can tell. Because every person, and there's a parable about this. Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a man who found a treasure and was excited. And so he liked the treasure so much that he sold everything and bought the field that the treasure was in. So if you want the treasure, you've got to buy the field.

We want the treasure, not the dirt that comes around it. We want the treasure or the blessings or sometimes we want those joyful moments. But even if you love your marriage, there will be some times where you just want to control the TV without any voting, you know? Even if you love your kids, there will be times where you will secretly Google adoption agencies to see. I've never actually done that, for the record. I'm getting hate mail.

But everything you love, even preaching, there's times when I'm preaching that I've feel the spirit. And then there's times where I look at the wrong person in the room. And I feel another spirit, the spirit of stress, the spirit of all. Even people will walk out sometimes while you're preaching. And I called it when I was talking to them the sticking point. It's the moment where you start to doubt what you were so secure in. It's the moment where your mood doesn't match your mission, but you've got to push through anyway because you've got something important to do. It's the moment where, oh, I didn't know that about you when I said I do.

Well, you did. And now you do. The sticking point. For a scriptural example, I thought of no better passage than the classic exodus where God led his people out of Egypt through the Red Sea. Did you notice what I said in my setup through the Red Sea? Not over it on a boat, but through it on foot. You are going through something right now.

You are at a sticking point. I don't know if it is a state of mind because sometimes we are stuck not in our situation, but in our state of mind. Recently, Holly pulled up a picture from a few years ago when we were flying home from Seattle and we got stuck in Chicago overnight on a layover. We were laughing because we were in such a bad mood. We were just remembering how late it was. It was probably 10 o'clock at night, but let's make it two in the morning just for dramatic

effect on the story. Creative license. But it was late and our bags were checked and we had no clean underwear. and we checked into this horrible hotel that American Airlines had put on, and we were stuck in Chicago, and we were laughing about that. We weren't laughing when it happened. We were laughing, looking at when it happened two or three years ago. And remember that when we got stuck in Chicago?

Well, why were we stuck in Chicago? Technically, American Airlines. But if you take it apart a little bit more, the city of Chicago is a city that we like. We had visited there by choice before. When I preached for Steve Muncie and J-Mack, we stayed over two extra days just so we could shop and watch the Cubs. We had a good time, too. We ate deep dish pizza. This was in my early 30s when I could do it and just plank a little bit and it would fall right off.

But we had marital enrichment in the hotel room on that trip. That was a good trip. So there's nothing wrong with Chicago. It wasn't Chicago. It wasn't like it was Des Moines. I love y'all so much. You're so triggered. My aunt's from there.

When's the last time you went to see her? It wasn't the situation that we were stuck in. The reason we called it stuck is because it wasn't on our schedule. You better get to the text for it. Exodus chapter 14, verse 10. The Israelites are leaving Egypt, right? God heard their cry. They were stuck as slaves for four centuries, serving Pharaoh, who had taken away their

building materials, increasing their requirements while reducing their resources. So they're stuck, and God hears them, and God breaks through, and God uses Moses to lead them out because there comes a period where God sees you stuck and realizes that you cannot get yourself out of the situation. So he said, I've heard the cries of my people and I have come down to visit them. And when he chose Moses to do it, he knew all about Moses' brokenness. And he knew all about Moses' reluctance. And he led them out and he compelled Pharaoh to let them go. Not the first time, not the second time, but after ten plagues of negotiation, you know, sticking point is a negotiation term. They talk about it in business. Well, we almost had

the deal done, but then the asking price was a sticking point because they wouldn't let me finance it over five years. They wanted me to pay it off in three, or they wanted me to leave the septic tank. And I wanted to dig it out and take it with me. We hit a sticking point. You hit a sticking point in your faith. You hit a sticking point in a relationship. You hit a sticking point in your life, and you've come as far as you can come, and then God comes down, and he sees you struggling, and he does for you what you cannot do for you. And then, don't shout. You come to something that wasn't on your schedule.

Exodus 14, verse 10. When Pharaoh drew near, wait, what's Pharaoh doing in the picture? I thought we were done with him. No. Okay, can I preach on half of a verse? Y'all got anything to do after this or should we just, okay. Complete this sentence. If you grew up in church, complete this sentence.

Where God guides, he provides. True. Let me add to it. Where God doesn't guide, he still provides because he's so good. Have you ever had God bless you? you were going backwards and doing the wrong stuff, there's angels in this section. Over here. Have you ever... Elijah in the Bible, he was running from Jezebel in the wrong direction

from his assignment. He laid down and wanted to die even though he had seen God do great things, and the angel made him a cake. He was going away from his assignment and God fed him with an angel food cake. Now don't look at me like the reason that you are. always ate is because you were always good. Some of you know that you didn't deserve it, you didn't earn it, you didn't pray enough to get it, you didn't quote Philippians, you didn't always take the right turn or follow the North Star, but God tracked you down under a broom tree and blessed you anyway.

I need some people who were blessed anyway to shout just 10 seconds. Just shout because he fed you Even as you fled from him. So where God guides, he provides. But even where God doesn't guide, he'll still take care of you because you're his. And then I wanted to add one more. See if you could put this on Pinterest, okay? Because they're leaving Egypt. Here comes Pharaoh, their enemy behind them.

They hear clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-a-clack. That's Pharaoh's Lamborghinis. These are fast chariots because they're Pharaoh's best. and they're being chased down on their way out, and so they turn around and see something that they can't go back to, look forward, and see something that they can't get over. Now they've got to go through it. Because where God guides, now, not that one, this one. Where God guides, Pharaoh follows.

And so in negotiation terms, they've reached a sticking point because here's a little business tactic, okay? I'm going to do a seminar on negotiating right now. I'm not going to charge you. It's not $49. You could just listen. If someone is holding on to something in a negotiation, that means it's valuable. If they don't let it go easy, that means it has great worth. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but the devil hasn't been letting you go easy. You've been trying to shake this for a long time. And the reason maybe the reason if the devil is real and if destiny is a fact and not just a concept or a fantasy, maybe the reason that it's been so difficult for it to let you go is because what you carry

is of such great value. I believe this in my core. Some of you are at a sticking point right now, and Pharaoh won't let you go easy, because once you get through this, There is great glory after this. If you're ever negotiating with someone and they're like, oh yeah, I'll throw it in. It's nothing. Yeah, you can have that too. It's nothing.

But if they ever pull it back, you know, every time you try to get out of depression and addiction, and you try to stop with the pills, and you try to stop with the porn, and you try to stop with the complaint, this is a sticking point for some of you. You've been flushing it, but then you buy it again. And then you've been deleting it, but then you put it back. And then you've been walking away from it, but then you feel drawn to it. And I wanted to tell you that when you get stuck, that means you're on the verge of something significant. God has his hand on your life.

That's the first half of the first verse. And Pharaoh drew near where God guides Pharaoh follows. The proof of God's activity in your life will often be the increase of resistance. And behold, the Egyptians were marching. after them and they fear greatly. Yeah, I bet they did. This is not stuck in Chicago. This is not we're going to have to catch the 6.35 a.m. flight out central standard time. This is, Paul says, pounding, panic triggered by the trauma of a lifetime of bondage. And so they're standing there, and this is one thing that happens. They start arguing with Moses. Look, it says

verse 11, they said to Moses, because there are no graves in Egypt. that you have taken us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? So now they're fighting the one who's helping them. Parents don't worry about it. They'll thank you one day. Maybe. If you don't kill them.

Is this not what we said to you in Egypt? Verse 12. Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? I never heard them say that. All they were doing before they got out was praying to get out. Well, let's all admit, okay? when you get stuck, you get stupid. I'm not saying you are stupid, but for me, some of the dumbest decisions I made was because I got sick of being stuck.

So I'm going to just do something. I'm sick of this. You know, when you hit send? Oh, no. Unsin, unsigned, unsigned, unsin. I'm going to invent the unsinned button. But when you get stuck, Elijah came in our room the other night. This was Friday night.

And we were both asleep. We were off-duty on parenting for the night. And our office hours are, you know, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. And it's off-duty. And he comes in the room laughing, and we were both asleep. And he's like, you're not going to believe this? laughing. And he had gym shorts, mesh elevation youth champion gym shorts hanging from his braces. He said, get it off, get it off. And I was going to, right? I said, first, let me get a video.

Real quick. Let me show you this. Listen. Look on my teeth. I just pulled my whole brace out. Yes, look. Brough. Because I wish you would look at your neighbor and tell him when you get You get stuck. You get stupid. Maybe don't date anybody for six months until you heal from the last heartbreak. Because when you get, I'm in Exodus 14. When you get stuck, you reach for stuff.

You reach for the stuff that you flushed. When you get stuck, when you get lonely, when you get hungry, when you get tired, when you You get stuck. Ah, now I got the whole thing hanging out my mouth. Now I got a rainbow vacuum cleaner. Ah, now I got a time share when you get stuck. I didn't do it because I didn't love God. I did it because I was stuck.

When you hit the sticking point, everybody's like, come on, rejoice. I can't. I'm stuck. I'm stuck in a memory. You ever been stuck in a memory? I'm stuck in a pattern. I'm stuck in a generational thing. that started before I ever came to the planet. I'm stuck. I get stuck preparing these sermons.

It's horrible. I'm not playing now. I know I've been showing you, you know, like, illegal footage of my children and everything in church. Orthodontist is going to kill me Monday. He's a great orthodontist, too. Dr. Hull, y'all should look him up. He's great. He's got to fix that tomorrow. We're going to have some business for him. But when I get to prepare these sermons, I get stuck and it's horrible because the sticking point it makes me want to just like give up on everything I've worked on. Please don't think that I'm preaching to you about preaching. That's too meta.

I'm preaching to you about preaching because that's where I get stuck and I figured you might get stuck sometimes too. I mean when I go to prepare it'll just be moments where none of it makes sense. everybody that's like 40 and older. Like when you had antennas on the TV and you could see the station but not fully because you were watching your neighbors HBO before you got saved, before BC. It's under the blood now. But it'll scramble. And I won't even know to start. I'll be like, I don't know what to say. I'm preaching about Moses coming through the Red Sea and I already preached about that before. They already know they got through the

Red Sea. So this will alert won't be interesting. So maybe I should start it with Abraham, because there's Abraham, Isaac, and then Joseph went to Egypt, and he never meant to get trapped in Egypt. We went there to get food, but sometimes you get trapped where you went to get food, and sometimes a place where you go to survive, it's a place where you get stuck. Maybe I should start there. But I already preached that a couple weeks ago, and they probably remember that because they come every week.

They don't ever miss. That's about the burning bush, because he went through the burning bush, and then he was a bush was burning up, but it wasn't burn up. It would just burn it, but it wouldn't burn up. Maybe that's like us inside sometimes when your presence comes, and our passion and our passion stays alive, even though we go through stuff, and we burn, but we don't burn up. And the proof of your presence is the fact that we're on fire, but we stay on fire, even though we go through all kinds of hell.

You know, how you do that? I'm talking about the bricks and the straw, because, you know, it's going to be talking about holly. Sometimes you have all the mud, but you don't have the straw, and so you've got to go get your own straw, and you didn't have a dad, so you try to be a dad, and you don't have what you're trying to be, and the devil use that as condemnation, try to keep you stuck in a slave. And then after that, man, I'm like, oh, my God, I need a nap. And I would just feel like, I don't know where to preach this sermon on Sunday. Hey, and I'm stuck. And I get so stuck, I don't want to say anything. How y'all doing?

Praise the Lord. And I figure you get stuck, too. Even if you don't preach sermons, I figure you go, you know, I've got to have this meeting at the kid's school, and I want to go down there and talk to the principal because I don't think principals being fair to my kid, but I don't think I don't teach my kids sometimes that people are in fair life. Sometimes you've got to let them go through things.

Maybe they need to learn that. I figure you get stuck sometimes. I figure you get stuck to sometimes. It's a sticking point. And this is not the first time that you've been stuck. And this is not the first time Moses was stuck. And that's the good thing about it. If he did it before, I just want to keep you breathing today because I know you've been stuck.

If he did it before, see, we get stuck not always at the external circumstance. Sometimes we get stuck in ourselves. Sometimes stuck is a state of mind Chicago is a nice city But you weren't supposed to be in Chicago Sometimes we get stuck not in where we are But where we were supposed to be in our plan for our life And so I'm stuck

Not necessarily in what it is But in what I thought it was going to be I get stuck in supposed to You ever been stuck in supposed to? My kids were supposed to be valedictorians. I was supposed to be married still. I was supposed to, it could be very painful. I was supposed to, by now, my retirement went out in 08.

I was supposed to be ready to quit working by now. I was supposed to be married. My roommate got married, and she's crazy, and I'm a good person, and I'm a Christian girl, and I sing in the choir at Elevation Valentine, and I'm supposed to be married. Some of us are stuck in what we think we were supposed to be and get stuck. You can get stuck in a season. Every time in fall, I start to feel a little drained from the ministry of the year. And then depression can come in because it's the same, same, same, same, same, same.

And then everybody else in the church is feeling the same way. Then I got to preach to y'all. So, like, you know, I grew up in the low country of South Carolina. You don't know where I'm going with this yet. Hang on. They used to take their trucks out on Friday night and get stuck on purpose. Called it mudden. But I found out something now.

You don't get stuck in anything shallow. If you feel stuck, that means you're in the deep stuff. Maybe God is doing something deep in your life when you feel stuck. Maybe when you feel stuck you're building strength. I mean, that's the only way you really build strength, right? Is to get to that sticking point, to get to that point where you can't push through. I know you lift weights all the time, P-Wag. How much you bench press?

535. All right, 535. I'm making this up. I didn't hear what he really said. But he's big. And you know, he's in there. I used to have this spotter in high school. I didn't bench press 535.

But he would stand over me. me and the moment I started to struggle, he would just lift the whole weight off of me. I thought, well, man, that's not a good spotter. That's not a good God. To never let you have any weight, that's not a good God. To never let you have any challenge, how would he grow your faith? No, see, a good spotter, you're on Rep 11, right? 535.

Rep 11. Uh! And I'm just a little. stuck and God is standing over your life. I need you to know this. And he sees where you're stuck, that sticking point. And he says, I'm not going to take it off of you. I'm going to give you a lift. Have you ever had God be your stutter? I declare the God of Angel armies is standing over your life. And if you feel stuck, he will do what you can. Is your strength. He knows how to get me past the point where I'm stuck. But now watch this. You may not like this. The first

sticking point that Moses encountered was not Pharaoh. The first sticking point that Moses encountered. And maybe the greatest one is that he tried to negotiate with God. And he got stuck. He got stuck at the burning bush before he got stuck at the Red Sea. God's like, I chose you. Now he's already stuck tending sheep for his father-in-law, Jethro. He'd been doing that 40 years because he got mad at somebody and killed him because when you get stuck you get stupid and so now he's doing something's doing something that's a consequence of his decision and then the Lord speaks to him he's like I chose you go to Pharaoh and tell him let my people go with the hand motions should you go to Bible school Pharaoh Pharaoh okay and so Moses is stuck he's like

Give me chapter 4 verse 1, Exodus 4 verse 1. I need to show this. Because you might be stuck in yourself. He said, but behold, they will not believe me, but you hadn't even talked to them yet. Or listen to my voice, for they will say, they will say, the Lord did not appear to you. Now, there's two things about this that are wrong. One, it's on other people, and two, it's about a future event. You can't control either.

So he's stuck. And he's stuck for good reason. It's because he knows himself. He knows Moses. You know you. And to negotiate with God is usually like, nah, I better not try that. So I'm stuck in myself.

And he's already, in this crazy, he's telling himself a story of what's going to happen. You ever been stuck in a story of what's going to happen? Wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, just like, ah, I'm in a king-sized bed. Everything's good. Got the most beautiful woman in the world sleeping next to me. Ah, I'm screaming. I'm stuck in a story of what might happen tomorrow or what has happened before.

You ever been stuck in a story? Have you ever been stuck in yourself? Have you ever been stuck in a story about yourself? I mean, rejection is painful, but my life. Moses takes it to a new level. This is not rejection. He rejects himself before anybody else has the chance to. This is like advanced level rejection.

This is prejection. Huh? Why not even going to try? It's a story of my life. Everything always goes wrong. I see this. I don't want to do a dating seminar. We already did a negotiation seminar.

When you ask her out on a date, like, I know you probably don't want to, but I have you Some confidence to it, man. Walk up to her like, hey, I didn't know if you wanted to go Tuesday or Wednesday. Come on, I'm helping you. Name your kid Larry. That's my legal first name. But Moses is like, I can't do this. I know me.

I don't have it. I can't do it. He's stuck in a story about himself. Now, the bigger story does not revolve around you. Remember that. When we get stuck in ourselves, we miss the whole point that God is doing something that is bigger than you. It's bigger than what's wrong with you. It's bigger than what you didn't do. It's bigger than the time you wasted. And it's certainly bigger than the opinions of others. So God makes this kind of like pep talk. He's like, what is that in your hand?

What is that in your hand? Which this wouldn't make me. feel any better if I've got to lead a whole nation and tell the most powerful man in the world, let my people go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, what is that in your hand? And Moses says, give me the verse. A staff. The ESV calls it a staff. But technically it's a stick. For every sticking point in your life, God has given you a stick. And you've got one right now. And you've got one right now. In order for Moses to see what that instrument could be, he had to release it and throw it down on the ground. When he released it on the ground, it became a snake. Until you surrender it, you will never see what it could be.

I'm going to preach this thing. I'm going home in a minute, but let me tell you something right now. If you will release it, if you will put it before God, if you will say, Here's my intellect. Here's my will. Here's my understanding. Here's my ability. You will watch it transform. It will transform. It became a snake to become a sign because Moses needed to know this is really God. Because he was stuck in himself. And when you need to get out of yourself, you have to release what God has given you so he can show you what it can become. But then he had to do something crazy. He had to do something that I would never do. He had to do something that you only do if you really love nature. He had to pick up the snake. Because when he first released it and it became a snake, he ran from it. Because he was smart.

Not because he didn't have faith, but because he had intelligence. But then God called him to reach for what he had been running from. I promise you, I feel the Holy Spirit so strong right now. And when he did it, it turned back into a stick. A stick is something small, but it would be that same stick. I need you to know this because you've never been through this challenge before. You've never been 24 before. You never been 61 before.

You never been a wife before. You never been a mom before. I've never been a dad before. This is my first rodeo. You never been through this before. This wasn't on my schedule. And I don't feel like I'm what I'm supposed to be for what I'm up again. Can I tell you what God told Moses?

By the power of the Holy Spirit, that when you stand in front of those red seas in your life, God took him back and showed him the same stick, the same stick that God had changed into a snake and back into a stick. That same stick, and he told him in Exodus 14, verse 16, I want you to take your stick and point it out. at what you're going through. I want you to take your stick and I want you to point it at what you can't get over. I want you to take your stick. Keep the verse up because this is right from the Bible and raise your staff. I know it's small, it always feels small. I know that some of you are visited by the perpetual spirit of never enough, but it becomes enough when you stretch it. It becomes enough when you use it.

It becomes enough. This is the miracle of faith. Why? Because God changes things. Say it. God changes things. That's what he does. God changes things. He turns mourning to dancing. He changes things. He gives beauty for ashes. He changes things. He turns shame into glory. He turns crosses into empty tombs. He turns graves into gardens. He turns bones into armies. He turns seas into highways. And if you will stretch what he gave you over what you're going through, you're going to get through this. I declare it. I decree it. So, I know it feels small. And I know for many your energy has been diminished by what you've gone through.

And I know some of you feel too young and some feel too young. and some feel too old, and some feel too in between, and some feel too shut up, and trust your stuff. Don't do something stupid like give up and quit just because you feel tired. I felt tired from the 9-30, and I came out and preached this one, and I had to get in a freezing cold shower to wake up, because you need this word. So I grabbed my stick and preached it, because I could. I can't stop doing what I'm called to do just because I'm tired. But you will have to trust that it is enough.

Not that God is enough, but that what he gave you is enough for where he put you. This is a sticking point. And if you sit there and try to negotiate with God, you will miss it. Saddest thing in the world is that Moses never even went into the promised land. He got stuck. He hit a rock with his soul. staff, the same staff that he raised over the sea and the waters parted and they got through. He took that staff because he was tired of the people and he struck the rock twice.

And God said, now you can't go in because you don't trust me enough. Everything you love will have a part of the process that you will not like, including following Jesus. Did Jesus love the Father? Then why did he ask in the Garden of Gathemeni if there's any other way, I don't want to do it? Because everything that you love will have a part that you don't like. I'm so sick of my generation thinking that we always have to feel happy to move forward. Sometimes we can do it because we love God enough and we love people enough and we're called. And because we have a staff, I got a stick, I got to stick it out, I got to persevere, I have a purpose, I have a reason, I have a calling.

And no, you can't have me back, Pharaoh. No. Come too far to get stuck here. Some of you came from broken homes and broken families and busted situations, and God would not bring you out here to drown you. He's dealing with your enemies. Stretch your stick and trust your stuff and go forward. And stand there is a small thing. And if you trust them enough to stretch the small thing over the bigger thing, I don't know what that is for you.

I'm going slow because I need you to imagine. And I need you to see yourself on the other side of this. What it's going to be like when you're helping somebody else? And all the hell that you went through isn't wasted, but it's invested. It's the dumbest thing, but I just saw a picture like Popeye or something of you just getting strong in your spirit. Because you're pushing past. You got a spotter. And God is not going to let it fall on you.

My children are going to be free because I fought for this. Okay. You will have to commit. You will have to walk through it. That means you'll have to walk through something that feels like it could collapse on you at any time. The story goes that he stretched the staff. He trusted God.

And God made a, don't you love this? An interstate highway through the sea. Who else can do that? Who else can turn a sea into a highway, a stick into a snake, a great state. Only God can do it. So the ability to walk through something that God is holding up for you, you can't stick your right foot in and your right foot out. You can't hokey pokey through the Red Sea.

It's going to mean saying that God I'm going to see this through. I'm going to stay in this uncomfortable place. I would rather stay stuck and have you deal with what you need to deal with. I would rather stay stuck and see your purpose for my life. fulfill. Because when you're standing in front of something you've never seen before, hold on to what you know. You got a stick. And when it happens this week, when you hit the sticking point, if it's a mood or if it's a, I don't want to say this, but if it's a mother-in-law or if it's something real deep and dark that we can't talk about out loud, when you hit it, use your stick. Small. Trust.

Imagine. Commit. And know. That spells stick. Small. Trust. God, it doesn't feel like much, but it's enough. Trust.

Imagine. Commit. Father, as your word has gone forth today, I have experienced such a joy. of seeing these people receive this personal word. And on the other side of the camera, watching through a screen, somewhere is someone who needed this message. And sitting in this room is someone who is at a sticking point.

And what they do next will determine so much about whether they stay stuck or move forward. Everyone standing at all of our locations, no one leaving. Thank you, Lord. Glory to your name. Thank you, Jesus. Blessed be your name. Holy is your name.

Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. When they got through to the other side, y'all, they started singing, but sometimes you got to sing on the wrong side. Worthy is your name. You've got to sing when you feel pain, and you've got to offer God the sacrifice of praise. And I wish there were about a thousand people at Elevation Ballanty and a few hundred at Blakley and a few hundred agasset that would just lift your hands and begin to worship God. Begin to thank him that he turns seas into highways.

Begin to thank him that he turns mourning to dancing. Thank him that he stills, winds, and waves. and the things that only he can do and the glory that only he deserve. His name is his word is true. 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. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.