Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Year I Saw (Tauren Wells)

Episode Date: September 7, 2020

This year isn’t what we imagined, but it’s not over yet. In “The Year I Saw,” Christian music artist and preacher, Tauren Wells, reveals how God is still good –– even when our situation isn’t. The struggle you’re facing may be the very thing God uses to bring you into the next season.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to the Elevation Church podcast. Today, we have the privilege of welcoming worship leader and recording artist Torin Wells. We believe his message, the year I saw, will encourage you. Thank you for joining us and enjoy the message. Man, what do we do next? You know?

So grateful to be here with you guys today. and I didn't come to play no games. This ain't high school musical where I just say a couple lines and sing a few songs and entertain y'all. I really feel like I have a word from God today. And I try to avoid this moment for as long as possible. I try to schedule trips, vacations, tours, everything possible. And somehow the Lord just made it happen. And I am so grateful to be.

here. I really can't say enough of how much this church means to me. I don't know if you realize how much you mean to me. This is an incredible moment for myself. And, you know, I was listening to Pastor Stephen when I was 21, 22 years old. That was just three years ago. Just kidding. It's been been about 10, 12 years, but beige don't age. So, you know what I'm saying? So I'm still looking smooth. A little revitalized lotion. You know what I was saying? But I was downloading podcast, sermons. This was when you just downloaded them from iTunes.

And I would go back in the archive and I would get series like Core. Oh, see, I'm a real one. This ain't no bad wagon. And then I would listen to 80s rock. See, y'all don't even know. It's got quiet in the room. 80s rock series. Lift High was a worship series.

Y'all remember that? No, y'all remember 3D Easter? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. See, I was around for all that online somewhere, jogging, listening to a video iPod, listening to sermons, and Pastor Stephen, thank you so much for your ministry, for what you have communicated to the world

and into my heart. I am so grateful. I was impressed from a distance, but I've been impacted up close. And, you know, my kids last night, they were watching a movie provided by the Ferdix. They sent a little movie night in a box, and it had robes and slippers and candy and popcorn and seasonings and all this. I just thought you really just don't get better than these people. And thank you so much. I could cry, but I'm not going to.

I love you guys. And I'm grateful to be here today. I got a shout out all my elevation fam. Chris Breezy. Love you, bro. Thank you, Chris, for letting me participate in elevation worship, singing songs like Echo. You know what I'm saying?

never lost. Come on. And I love all y'all. Jenna, John Sal, you guys have sent me some of the nicest text messages I've ever received from human beings. Thank you so much. Aaron, love you, bro. I could literally talk about everyone, and I'm not going to because the clock is ticking.

But I love you all so much. I've got my wife here with me today. And she's looking all fine. And this is a mountain top moment for both of us, I'm not preaching today, we're preaching, because this woman holds it down. And we've got those three little boys, seven, four, and two years old. And you can't tell she's had any children because she's fine. But I was writing songs with Pastor Stephen and with Chris, and like every song ended up being about her. And I was like, no, this is about the Lord,

not the Lorna. Okay? We got to refocus this right. writing session, but I love you. Thank you for your love, support. You're a treasure to me. And I bring you greetings today from Houston, Texas, Lakewood Church. Pastor Joel Osteen, representing eight-pound today. Well, you guys can go ahead and sit down. You already exposed me with the video. I was here in January. We were celebrating the kickoff of my album, Citizen of Heaven, and I was out here just dancing, you know what I'm saying, doing my little thing. Had Holly in the front row. I was working. I was worried. I was nervous. I was like,

is Holly liking this? Is this okay? Am I going to be kicked out? Am I going to be invited back? She's smiling. She's smiling. I'm good. And she makes me a little bit nervous, but I love her. We were here, and we were, it was lit. I mean, I thought, I'm coming into 2020 with a new album, and I get to do the first weekend that the music is released at a church that I love, Elevation Church.

And I was going out of my mind, and then Pastor Stephen, ask me, to come back and preach. And that just scared me to death. Made me nervous. I started doing push-ups immediately, guys. I've been in the gym. You can't tell yet, but I've been there. And I was just so filled with expectation.

But I have to be honest, this is not what I saw. I dreamed about preaching an elevation church. I'm going to keep it 100. What you see is what you get. I've dreamed about it. I didn't dream that it would look like, the youth room that I preached my first message in when I was 16. I didn't know it was going to be 30 of y'all, but you hear, praise God. It's not what I saw. It's not what I envisioned. I mean,

I came into 2020 with so much expectation. That's the beauty of a new year. That's the beauty of a new season. We come into it with some expectation. We have our hopes up. Possibility is in the air. The gym memberships are up. The calorie counts are downward. Thinking about this is the year. This the year that God's going to restore my marriage. This is the year that I'm going to rebuild a relationship with my kids. This is the year that I'm going to graduate and I'm going to step into the real world. No, bro, you're going to be at home. Come on. This is the year. This is the year. And we've all said this. We've all wrapped our minds around this idea that I'm going somewhere this year. I'm doing something this year. So I was putting together my plan for the year.

It sounds funny to say it now. But I was, got my little journal, and I was writing down, and like many of you do, I'll pick a word every year. And the word for the year for me was build. I wanted to build. I wanted to build, man. I wanted to build my health. I wanted to build my family. I wanted to build my ministry.

I wanted to build God's church. I was ready to build, and I prayed about it. and I felt like I heard from God on it, but I must have missed something he said in the prayer meeting. Because I didn't realize that if God was going to really build something that stood the test of time and gave him residual glory, he was going to have to bring everything else down to the dirt. And this year, it's all been brought down to the dirt. But there's good news. He knows what to do with the dirt

He may bring it down to the foundation But he knows what to do For he is the lamb slain from the foundation of the earth He knows what to do with the dirt He breathed into the dirt And created the object of his affection In the humanity of Adam He stepped down into the dirt of humanity

When he put on skin and bones and climbed into the trenches with us. He knows what to do with the dirt. When he was walking through the dusty streets of Jerusalem, and there was a man who couldn't see he reached down, not for some medical supplies, not to a doctor, not to a physician, for he was the great physician. And he had a prescription, and the prescription was in the dirt.

Now, that's not my message today, but it sure does preach good. You can bring them your dirt. The year 2010, my wife and I, I proposed to my wife, we got engaged. And I got to tell you, man, I killed the engagement. No cap. I mean, one of the best engagements all time. Definitely the best one I've ever done. Okay?

And there's only been one. But I was in Nashville. still, Lorna was in Houston. And I had this whole plan, man. I had this whole plan. I went and I found these jewelry boxes, and they were vintage. And this was before you could just order it on Etsy. Okay, that's too easy.

I had to actually go somewhere and find these vintage jewelry boxes and gave one to one of her friends, and I put a camera and a note in it. And my friend put it under her couch and her apartment. So I sent her a text this morning, In 2010, said, go look under your couch. Little cryptic, a little creepy. She goes and opens it up, and there's a little flip camera and a note.

Now, this was before, like, the camera and the phone had been integrated. They actually used to be two separate objects, a little Zoom camera. And I said, hey, record your day today, pick you off. a good outfit, it's going to be a great day. I'll talk to you later. So she gets on there, she's got a little retainer in, you know, Torin put something under my couch, and she's doing her little thing. It goes to the church. She's working at the church. Your brother works at the church as well. Shout out Royalwood, and they're working, and Brandon comes in. That's my brother-in-law. He says, hey, let's go get lunch. She's like, cool. So they go, he gets on the phone. He's on the phone

the whole time. They show up at the airport. She's like, what are we doing? At the airport, he gives her a second jewelry box. And she opens it up, and there's some plane tickets in it. Boy had the sauce. She opens it up. She's like, hey, this is an overnight ticket. Brandon reaches back, pulls out the bag. We already had another. outfit plan for. I haven't made a plan since then, but I plan this day. So she goes, she gets on the plane, she flies to, flies to Nashville and shows up. I've got my friends there, and they pick her up from the airport, and they give her an iPod. This sounds archaic when you just say it, an iPod. And it had an inscription on the back, Tori and LB. She calls me Tori. You call me Tori. I will

send the SWAT team to your house. But that's just for her. And it had our little love songs on it. You know what I'm saying? So she puts in her little earbuds. And then they blindfold her. Okay. A little scary, but, you know, it's not a Liam Neeson movie. So they're driving and they show up to this venue. I'd rent it out a venue. It's just a little club, you know, nothing crazy, but I had it, you know, I had it looking right, you know what I'm saying? There is a single chair in the middle of the room, spot lit, and then I was up on the stage. I'm a little stool, you know, sitting with my little pose, you know what I'm saying?

And I had the third jewelry box. I told you, I told you it's a movie. I told you it's a movie, boy. You got my little jewelry box. She comes and sits down and they take the blindfold off, and you can just see, like, the moment wash over her face. One of the best moments of my life. And then I got my homie in the back, got the little lights, got a little haze.

It kind of looks like a youth room, because that was my context at the time, but it was still nice. And I started singing a song, You're a different beautiful A love song Out of control written for me Beautifully different for me for me It's a Ryan Edgar song, y'all don't know it

And Step down off the stage You know, I was wearing my little vest I don't know why Got down on that knee, boy This is how you do it, guys This is how I do it right here None of the Taco Bell packets and weird stuff I've seen people doing on lines.

You know what I'm saying? You got to go classic sometimes. Retro, you know what I'm saying? Down in one knee and I say a bunch of stuff. I don't know if I quoted the notebook or Casey and Jojo. But I was just, I said a bunch of stuff. I don't remember, but I meant it in the moment. We got, stood up.

Gave her a hug. It was the year of our engagement. So then we said, start making the wedding plans, and by we, I mean she, starts making the wedding plans. Tiffany, remember this? Include him just a little. He's just happy to be there, but make him feel like he's participating. And so we start, you know, getting everything together.

We start sending out wedding invitations, and one of the wedding invitations comes back. But it doesn't come back to our house. It gets sent to the church. that we attend and work at. And I went in to my father-in-law's office, who is the pastor. He said, they sent their wedding invitation back. Really? Yeah, they don't agree with the two of y'all being married.

It's an interracial marriage. I thought maybe this was one couple, you know. Maybe they were disgruntled, they were looking for a scapegoat to leave the church. No, there were many families. that felt like a biracial man, black and white, shouldn't be married to a white woman. So they left the church. 100 people. Duceus.

In a year that was supposed to be framed by the joy of an engagement is now framed with prejudice and dissension. But we put our heads down, man, and we just plowed through it. we get to 2011, my father-in-law is a G. He's a champion. He stands up in the pulpit and he preaches with passion against this sin called prejudice and racism to the point where someone asks him, what are we going to do when, you know, these black people and these Mexicans are in heaven? He said, don't worry about it. You won't be there. Some things just don't go through the gate. So he took a stand and he married. He married. He married us. He did the wedding ceremony for us, and we got married. We sang to each other. It was great. We went on our honeymoon, came back, and I went on tour. I was gone for three weeks. Well, halfway through the tour, I get a phone call from Lorna, and her voice is shaking, and she's in tears, and I'm like, babe, what's going on? She says that her dad has been diagnosed with Lucille.

chemia. Newlyweds, y'all. We just went through a church split. Me finding out people didn't like me for the first time in my life because I'm black. And now my father-in-law, who is one of my heroes, has now been diagnosed with what we feel like is a death sentence. And a year that's supposed to be framed with the joy of marriage has now been framed by illness, sickness, heartache, man, those were hard. And there was more stuff going out. I know that we've all

had years like this. That 2020 has been hard, but it may not even be the hardest year you've ever been through. But we've all got years like this where the rug gets pulled out from under us and we're wondering what do we do and what happened to our plans and what happened to our calendar and what happened to the things that we thought were going to happen. I had a different idea of what this was going to be. This was not the year that I saw. We're in the middle of a year like that right now, where, I mean, we started off the year with like 47 million acres of Australia being burned to the ground. We started off the year with the news of Kobe Bryant and his daughter and seven other people passing away. We've had our president. We've had our

president go under two articles of impeachment. We've had a worldwide pandemic and quarantine. And that's just like at the macro level. This isn't the personal implications of the loneliness that we felt and the hurt that we felt and the heartache that we felt. And we've had to watch grandparents die on the other side of a piece of glass because you can't get into the facility to see them. This is real. It's the year that we've been living in. And that's where I have to be. point myself, my soul, and my eyes to Scripture, because none of this is new to God. This is anything that he hasn't seen before. It's not anything that is outside of his control. And so I peer back across the vast landscape of Scripture to look into the heart of a young

prophet named Isaiah. And he says, in the year King Uzziah died, maybe you feel like that's the year you've been living in. It's the year King Uzziah died in your life. It wasn't the year you saw. It wasn't the year you anticipated. It wasn't the thing that you had in your heart for what this was going to look like. And what you thought was strong has been removed. Uzziah means strength. In the year that what I thought was strong, dive, what true strengths really looked like. Because Isaiah says, in the year King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. And maybe this year God has been removing some things from your life that you've been dependent upon, that you have placed your faith and your confidence in because you thought they were stronger than they really were.

But there is no one stronger than our God. We have discovered in 2020 what true strength really looks like. We've discovered that hope has a name. Peace has a name. Joy has a name. Comfort has a name. In the year my strength died. I saw that God was stronger.

Come on and put your hands together. I thought our education system was pretty strong until I had to download 20 apps, send 19 emails, and God bless all y'all teachers. I mean, it's just hard for all of us. We all just trying to make it. I thought our health care system was pretty strong, y'all. Until they said, stay home.

We don't have occupancy. Y'all get sick. You on, y'all. Thought that health care system was pretty strong, boy. then we got to flatten the curve. I thought y'all was supposed to flatten the curve. Y'all health care professionals. They're in a tough spot, man.

I thought the economy was pretty strong. I've been hearing about that a lot. Greatest economy in the history of America. It's been great. It's been great. Oh, yeah, but one little teeny tiny bacteria took out a whole infrastructure. Not as strong as I thought it was. my marriage was pretty strong until we were spending weeks on end together with nothing to distract us

from our dysfunction and we had to look each other in the eyes. Thought it was strong. I thought my kids' teachers were wrong about them. My son. Then you put them in your house day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute. And you realized, man, some of my perceptions were not. as strong as I thought they were, but I saw something stronger. And instead of running to a building to fix all my problems, and running to a marriage to fix all my problems, and running to a prescription

to fix all my problems, I had to learn to run to the name, because the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it, and they are safe. They that way upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall rise up on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. I've discovered what true strength really is. It's Jesus, always, only, and forever. Jesus, he's my help. He's my strength. Found out what strength really was. Found out what strength really was. You got strength today. I like how the King James frames it for us.

In the year that King of Uzziah died, I saw also. There's more to see. Many of us get stuck in an isolated narrative where we only see one half of what is true. And because of the pain that we're experiencing and the trauma that comes with the pain, our perception and our perspective is held captive, and we become imprisoned with our pain because the narrative has been isolated. But there's more to the story.

My kids are fantastic at isolating narratives. They'll run downstairs. They hit me. can and say, yeah, Navy, hit me, Larson, hit me, I, for a while, I was like, I'd just get onto the other one. Like, why did you hit him? Yeah, exactly. I learned to ask a question, guys.

Learn to ask a question. And what did you do to him first? Because you're not bringing me the whole story. It's an isolated narrative. Facebook is sending you an isolated. isolated narrative. Twitter is sending you an isolated narrative. CNN and MSNBC and Fox and all of them. They're sending us isolated narratives. There is more to this story. There is more to be seen. There is more to experience. In the year strength died. I saw also the Lord and he was upon the throne.

Transition did not change his position. He was still high and lift it up and his glory filled the temple. I wish you just give him a little. I wish I had just a little something on the organ. Just a little, just give me just a little bit. Give me just a little. I saw something else. And it looked like the son of God. Mm, thank you. I need some of them white girl amends too. You know, the little white girl amen's. She's like, so good. So good. Oh, my God. Oh my God. Yeah, it's so good. I was just journaling about this the other day. I was drinking a chai, maka-latte-y-a-a-te, and it was just free old lady mama. Let me ask you a question. What narrative have you been isolated in? I was talking to my dad about some things. Just, you know, growing up,

you've got questions, you're trying to figure it out. And as you come into adulthood, you start trying to dig around and see, you know, the context of things. And I was asking him some questions. And as he was telling me about things that were happening around the context of my childhood, I started seeing a story that I hadn't seen before. And it changed the way that I saw some things. I had been living from this place of pain as if that was the only reality. And that the effects of that pain, those stress,

and those wounds were the only reality. You see, pain can restrict sight. Pain can keep you from seeing the whole picture. Y'all, it sure can. Man, you get hurt by one person at church. And now all Christians are bad. One pastor doesn't shake your hand. He didn't stop to talk to me. And now all ministry is corrupt because somebody didn't shake your hand? The pain can restrict your sight. You can be hurt in your life, betrayed by a friend, and now nobody's loyal. You can't even see the people that want to love you because the pain has blinded you to their very existence.

You'll live from a place of insecurity where you're suspicious of everybody. Are you really with me? Are you really with me? Are you really with me? Are you really with me? Because a few people that were with you weren't actually for you. And you rob yourself of deep, meaningful relationships because the pain has restricted your sight. You can't even see your kids.

You can't let your kids become who they were created to be and live the life that God has called them to live because you are trapped in an isolated narrative and your pain is restricting your vision, but your pain can also produce clarity. Because Isaiah saw something he had never seen before. He experienced something he never experienced before. The scales came off of his eyes and he was able to see the Lord also. He was able to see the Lord in the midst of it. he was able to recognize the presence of the Savior, and it was that clarity of who Jesus was

that allowed him to write scriptures like Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. How could you write it, Isaiah? I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. And I didn't see it when everything was going right. I didn't see it when everything was lined up for me, and it was all falling into place. You see, I had a vision in the year. King Uzziah died, and he told me the government will be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. You see, it created some clarity for Isaiah.

He got to write scriptures like God not only has power and strength, but he graciously uses it to save us. His clarity gave him authority when he wrote scriptures like, when you pass through the water, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. Come on. If you allow it to, your pain will allow you to see what has always been there, but you never could quite put your finger on.

Pain can be a clarifier. You have to choose. You have to choose if losing a king makes you blind to the king. Yeah, yeah, it's a king. It was a job. It was a relationship. It was a opportunity. It was, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But there's still the king. The king. And he's not just any old king. He's the king of kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I love this one. The author and the finisher, your story is not finished until God writes the final chapter. And let me tell you something. He hasn't written it yet. There is more story, more glory, more power, more presence, more miracles, more life. You choose what you see. You choose what you see. You choose. The year King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord.

He was high and lifted up. When Isaiah died, I saw the Lord. He was high and lifted up. When Isaiah died, I saw the Lord. He was high and lifted up. Well, I thought the greatest position in an earthly kingdom was the king. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's another realm higher than the earth. So there happens to be a king who is actually the king of the heaven and the earth. There was an office above his office. There was a higher court to appeal to. There was a greater reality to see. And the pain of the loss and the pain of the disappointment, we don't ignore it. We don't act like it doesn't exist. We just allow it to point us to a greater reality. And what Isaiah saw was that the king that was over him had somebody

over him. But what I'm trying to tell you today is the thing that has been over you, has someone over it. Yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. The thing that is over you has someone over it. When you're going through something difficult, you'll hear people, like, well-intentioned, trying to encourage you and say, you know what? You're going to make it through it.

You're going to make it through it. You're going to make it through it. You're going to make it through it. You're going to get through this. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear. Yeah, you're going to get through it. Yeah, I've got through it, but I'm still not over it. I'm no longer living in that season of my life, but, man, every morning I wake up,

decisions that I make are being influenced by the thing I've been through, but I'm not over yet. I'm not over yet. I'm not over how she hurt me. I'm not over the time we spent together. the time we didn't spend together. I'm not quite over it yet. I'm not over it. And if you're not over it, it's probably over you. It's probably influencing decisions you don't even realize. It's probably making you take a stand on things that you don't really need to take a stand on. It's making you view people a certain way and they really have great intentions and they want what's best for you.

If you're not over it, it's probably over you. And I'm not an insensitive preacher to I'm not saying just get over it, just get over it, you got to get over, you got to climb over it, I'm not saying any of that, but you can look over it. You can look over it. You can lift your eyes a little bit higher. You can lift your eyes a little bit higher. You can see a little bit further beyond the reality that you think is all consuming. You can look a little higher and realize that the thing that is over you has someone over it, that there is a higher office of command, that he is in control, that he is ordering your footsteps, that he is doing what he has purposed in your life, that he's working all things together for the good.

There's somebody over it. Somebody over it. God is still God. God is still God and you still aren't. God. So stop trying to control it. Stop trying to manipulate. and look over it. I will lift mine eyes to the hills from which comeeth my help. You have to look over it so that you can see a greater reality. You're through it, but you're not over it. Life is full of both wonders and wounds. We choose which one we glance at and which one we stare into. We choose which one we live from. Are you going to live from the wonder of who God is or from the wounds of what people have done to you? I'm going to change gears a little bit here.

I'm going to move us to a little bit further down in this scripture. Is this all right today? Verse one, it says in the year King Uzziadadat, I saw. In verse three, Isaiah describes what he hears. And one cried unto another, speaking of the angels. and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. So verse one, he sees.

Verse three, he hears. And then down in verse five, he speaks. I wonder what our world would look like. If we would see, listen, and then respond. I didn't come to talk about that, but I thought I'd drop it off and see what y'all would do with it. He responds to what he has seen. He sees the Lord.

Now, anyone who sees the Lord and, like, the vision that Isaiah has received, I want to know what they say next. What's the response? And he says, whoa, it's me. And I'm not talking about, like, David at, like, 8.30. Like, how? Why? What do you do? Do you wake up at four to, like, are you working up through the morning?

I don't understand this. He says, whoa, it's me, for I am undone. See, so many of us, when we get a revelation of who God is, we want to run and tell somebody else what they should be doing because you saw this in Scripture. We miss the fact that. that revelation is for reevaluation of us, not everybody else. What, what, I got to, the Lord told me, you know, he really wants me in that word,

6 a.m. every day. Well, he told you, bro. He didn't tell me 6 a.m. He told me 9 p.m. And some things we want to click the share button on. And God's like, no, bro, I need you to download that into your spirit. Because I want to change some things. I want to transform some things. That anger, I'm going to work on that. That perspective, I'm going to work on that a little bit. You cussing out the TSA agent, Taurin? I'm going to work. I'm going to work on it. God be testing my patience in the TSA line, y'all. Oh, my God. So I just, I just want to remind you today that the true response to people who have really seen Jesus is an inward look. Woe is me.

You know, they should really fix that. They should really work on that. They should, doesn't anyone around here know what they're doing? I'm sure there's people talk about church like that. Not Elevation Church. That wouldn't exist here. But everybody got an opinion and they got a revelation of who Jesus is. They want to share it with everybody and tell everybody what they're supposed to be doing.

You post articles on your timeline, hoping that somebody else sees it. You sub-tweeting because you're going to fix somebody on Twitter. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Whoa is me, for I am a man of unclean lips. I got problems, I got issues, I'm dysfunctional. I'm not here to call you out. I need work done in me. Fix me, heal me.

I'm a sinner. I need Jesus. Woe is me, not woe is them. They should. How could they release everybody from all that? You just saw Jesus letting him come in and change some things in your life. What was me? What was me?

I need him. I need him. I need him. I need Jesus. I need Jesus. And he knows it. And a lot of us, we would like to skip to verse 8 right here. Because Isaiah says that he hears the voice of the Lord asking who will I send and who will go for us.

And Isaiah says, ooh, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. I'll go. I'll go. I'll go. I'll go. Lord, say, I am a heaven. I'll go. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll stand on stage. I'll declare your glory, Lord. I'll do it. I'll lead that corporate board room to the glory of the Lord. If you just bless me with the influence, God, I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. Whatever you want me to do it. Whatever you want me to do verse 8, but we have to go through the process from verse 5 to verse 8, which says one of the angels came down and touched the lips of Isaiah with a call and purified him and cleansed him from all of his iniquity. What I'm trying to tell you today is before

you touch a stage, you've got to touch the altar. Before you touch a mic, you need to touch the altar. We need to touch the altar. We need to touch the altar. I know church is about programming and it's about lights and it's about all this stuff that we've built around the gospel. And I think it's all good. I use it all. I love it all. But you cannot replace the altar with it. We still got to get to the altar. We still need a touch from heaven. We still need a touch of his power. We need a touch of his goodness. We need deliverance. We need transformation. We've got to get to an altar. And what 2020 has taught us, it may not be what we saw, but it can be the year that we saw also the Lord. And I went to the altar and the altar touched me and transformed me and changed me. That's the only way you go from

woe is me to hear. Am I is a touch from the altar. Oh God, touch our hearts today. Touch us. I don't care if it burns. I don't care if it hurts. God, you can do more with a touch from the altar than you can do with the lyric. You can do more with a touch from the altar. You can do more with a touch from the altar, then talent. You can do more with a touch from the altar. So do it, Lord. Touch me. Yeah, I want to go.

I want to lead. I want to be a part. I want to come alongside. But more than anything, God, I want to be touched. I want to be touched, God. I want to be changed. I want to be more like you. It's not about subscribers and followers and platforms and people and opportunities.

Jesus, it's about you. So touch me. So my father-in-law, Pastor Ron Macy said, sometimes God has to change us before he can use us. And if change is the price to carry the cross, I'm here for it. Change anything you wanted me, God. Change my heart.

Change the motivations of it. Always striving, always reaching, always performing, always achieving, but nothing replaces touch. So wherever people are listening from today, God, would you touch them? Would you touch their relationships? Would you touch their homes? Would you touch the places where they're lonely? and touch the places where they're broken, because if you're going to really use us, we have to

surrender to the process of transformation. In the year King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. He was high, and he was lifted up, and his glory filled the temple. No, this was not the year I saw. since the year I saw coming. It wasn't what I expected. And yeah, I saw some valleys. I saw some low places. I saw some hardships. I saw some disappointments. I saw some tears. I also saw the Lord. And I saw attributes of his character. I wouldn't have known existed had I not have to live through the year. And now in 2020, I see. I see that you're good. I wouldn't have known existed had I not have to live

through the year. And now in 2020, I see. I see that you're good. I see that you're real. I see that you're present. I see that your grace is weaving my story together with a needle called time and trust. We spend a lot of time today in Isaiah 6. This is actually just the beginning of Isaiah's ministry. It's very young when this happened. There are 66 books in Isaiah. That lets me know that story doesn't end here. If it's not good, God's not done. Story doesn't end here. There's 60 more chapters to be written. Sixty more seasons of life where you get to see who God is and what he's capable of. So don't get stuck here.

Don't get stuck in 2020. Don't carry all of this with you. May this be the year that you say, I saw something else. I saw something greater, something bigger. I saw Jesus. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for your word. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

God, I pray that your word would illuminate our hearts today. That we would see things we've never seen before. That we would behold your glory, God. And that we would be changed by it. God, I pray that there would be a transformation that would occur in the heart of every person under the sound of my voice. I pray that our perspective. perspective would be lifted. Our hope would be lifted. Our eyes would be lifted. God, we know that you give

us beauty for ashes. God, so would you bestow beauty upon us right now, God? Lord, you give us a song in the midst of our sorrows, God. So would you put the melody in our hearts again? Even in difficulty, God, I pray that we would see that you are worthy to be praised, nor that you are higher than it all. Seated high and in control. Lord, we love you. We worship you. In Jesus' name, and the church said, amen. God bless you, Elevation. I love y'all, man. God bless you. Thank you 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.