Elevation with Steven Furtick - This Isn't What I Pictured

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

Life may not look like you pictured, but that doesn't mean you are missing pieces. If God didn't put it in you, you don't need it.See 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. How many are ready for the Word of God? I just have a Christmas devotional thought today. From Hebrews 11 verse 3. It is not customarily seen as a Christmas scripture. But let's look at the picture of Jesus Christ through this frame today. Hebrews 11.3, King James Version. You thought I was playing this holiday season, but I am not.

King James Version, Hebrews 11.3, ready. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Through faith, we understand. How many know there are some things you can only understand through faith? Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Lord, I thank you that your word is already blessed.

Open our hearts to receive it now in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. A couple years ago, I took all three of the kids. on a carriage ride downtown Charleston and I took them on the carriage ride because I'm a good good father and Holly wanted to shop and also another reason I took them on a carriage ride is because I'm an idiot and because Abby begged me to she was about five her big brothers told her this is a bad idea you're not going to like it

It's going to be boring, but she insisted. We walked by this picture of a carriage ride. She said, can we go? I bought the tickets. I told the woman of God, I'm going to give you about an hour of shopping, childless shopping. And she said, oh, thank you, men of God. She said, I receive it. In Jesus' name, got on the carriage ride.

three minutes. Abby had a full-scale meltdown on the carriage ride. She was bored, she was restless, she was disappointed. And her brothers, whoa, her brothers took the opportunity to remind her, we told you that this would suck. Of course, we don't say suck in my family. It's a preacher's family. But we were all kind of embarrassed because of course we weren't the only ones on the carriage ride. And within 10 minutes, she was crying so loudly that I had to go into my, you know, if you're a parent, you have a yelling voice that's quiet, it's louder than a scream, and you have to use it in public, when you want to convey urgency without raising decibels. And I said, baby girl, with a smile, I said it too, baby girl, you're the one who

wanted to come on this carriage ride. I'm going to need you to dry it up and enjoy this carriage ride because we've got 30 more minutes. And you're the only one who wanted to come on the carriage ride. So whatever's going on right now, I need you to deal with it. And listen to this man, tell us the history of all these houses on this carriage ride. She goes, she's trying to stop crime. And she goes, the title of my sermon is, this isn't what I pictured. Sometimes life takes you on a ride.

Come on, who's going to be real with me today? Looks like we got all angels in this section. Let me turn over here. Have you ever had life hand you a whopper, but it didn't look like the commercial? This isn't what I pictured. And it is a very difficult thing to adjust your perspective when you pictured it one way and the product turns out to be another.

Some of you came to church crying today. Because when we started 2019, or whatever year you happen to be watching this in the time capsule in the future on the internet, I just want this sermon to have a long shelf life. And you started the year with a picture of transformation, new beginnings, restoration. And this isn't what I'm.

picture, you know, so it's a real thing. Even to this day, we'll tell Abby, it's going to be like the carriage ride. It's a way when she wants to do something we don't want to do. We remind her carriage ride, carriage ride, which is fine when you're only out of $85, but what about when it's your relationship? And it isn't what I picture. Or even Your relationship with God. Maybe you're saying, you know, I started one way believing that God would do certain things for me because he is my provider and yet I came into deeper relationship with God and this isn't. Is there anybody in the whole church and if not I can come to Gaston next week? Is there anybody in the whole church that is living in a scene that you did not picture in the scene?

in this season. And that's why Hebrews 113 gives a contrast between what God sees and what you see to let you know that the things which are seen

were not made of things which do appear. But I'm getting ahead of myself because the fact of the matter is everyone has a picture of how life is supposed to go when you are supposed to get married, when you are supposed to get a promotion, what kind of career your children were supposed to be interested in. Some of you, you had your child's whole career.

They were going to go to an Ivy League school, be a starting quarterback, and a Magnusuma Cumulati, and all of that, and they don't even like sports, and they don't even want to go to community college and study. And this isn't what I pictured. Didn't you get the memo? So let me just ask you a question. Where did you get your picture? Where did you get your picture? Did you get it from the Instagram?

Because if you did, I'm praying for you real hard. Catholic, Pentecostal, I'll do it all because if you got your picture for what life is supposed to be like from the little glimpses that other people give you when they are posing perfectly, you will always be frustrated. And while I'm on it, let me say something about the show This Is Us, which I love. Jack Pearson isn't real. He's not real. I told Holly the other day. I said, and please don't be offended. I hope you didn't bring a relative for this. I hope you not bring in the relatives until next weekend for the Christmas program. But some shows that we watch, I call it emotional porn, because it is perfectly airbrushed. And then when you compare the real thing to a picture that was surgically altered and cropped and filtered, How in the world are we supposed to feel fulfilled about our real lives when we spend so much time getting our picture from other people's pretension? Come on and help me preach.

Five seconds, if you know he's a real God, he's the real thing. So it means that there are all these things that I see and all these things that I don't see. And God operates from an invisible picture while I am trying to make. sense out of my life from what is visible, God sees something different. Enter Jesus, Matthew Chapter 1, verse 18. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. Matthew is done with the genealogy now. The part of the Christmas story that would put you right to sleep. If I read all of those names, not only would you be praying for my pronunciation, but you would lose your focus, yet all of it is important. Because it is all the backstory to help us understand how Jesus came into the world.

Now, if you don't understand how Jesus came, you will misunderstand why Jesus came. If we think he came like our superheroes that we pay ticket prices to go and see, we will expect him to come in a certain way, and we will picture him in a way that will cause us to miss him when he really shows up. Where did you get your picture? Where did you get your picture of God? What do you picture when you worship God? Where did you get that picture? Is he white? Is he black?

Is he perfectly dialed to be an exact representation of every ethnicity? Is he a man? Is he not a man? It is, is your God King Triton off the little mermaid just zaping stuff? Where did you get your picture? And what if he isn't what you picture? I'm really going to create some empty seats for next week because it's going to be crowded for Christmas.

Heaven is not going to be like you picture it right now. Let me say why. Some of the people that you can't stand are going to be there. Some of the people who don't believe the right stuff, some of the people who didn't share the same denominational dogma as you. When we get to heaven, a lot of us are going to be surprised because it won't look like the picture. And so this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. Matthew says, John starts it differently. He says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And he was there with God in the beginning and all things were

made through him. Colossian says, by him and for him. But Matthew is starting with the human perspective of how Jesus Christ came about. Of course, in verse 17, he says, thus, there were 14 generations, all from Abraham to David, from David to the Babylonian exile, and then 14 from the exile to Christ, 14, 14, 14, 14, public school man. There's 42 generations of faith that brought Jesus into the earth. And yet the logos or the word was with God, pre-existent, pre-incarnate God was the word of God. I promise you this is important, so please stay with me. because before Jesus was seen, he existed. Before he appeared, he existed, just like everything in your life.

Before it is seen, it exists. By the time it becomes a behavior, it was a belief for a long time. By the time it becomes a feeling, it was a thought. So just like there is a genealogy of Jesus, there is a genealogy of our emotions, There's a genealogy of our habits. There is a pattern where knowing how something started can help you to trust when you don't see it in the process. I'm preaching real good today. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph. But before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. it. Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind. Now, I love this phrase, he had in mind to divorce her quietly, or to put her away quietly. He had in mind. So much of the decisions that we make in our lives that cause us confusion are because we do what we had in mind before we consult God to see what he has in store. Now, can I keep going? After he considered this.

Now, why? Because the angel appears to him. But why did the angel appear at this point after Mary was already found to be pregnant? In other words, why did God let Joseph go several months without knowing what he wanted to do and what it was all about, and then appear after he had already made his plan and had in mind what he wanted to do? After he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from. the Holy Spirit. Why couldn't you tell me that six months ago? Why couldn't you have told me that before I got the papers drawn up? Why does God wait until after you have made a plan to interrupt it? And this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. The greatest hope that the world was ever

given came through the greatest disappointment that Joseph would ever know. And I wonder, is that happening in somebody's life today? This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When Joseph had made up his mind how he needed to handle the situation, and yet God interrupts Joseph's plan to fulfill a greater purpose. Now, if you go by your picture, you will make your plan. The only problem is, God might have a different picture than you. I know y'all don't like it.

But it's the facts. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. You know, we have our nativity scene. It's got baby Jesus and the wise men. Well, first of all, no record that there was three of them. Three gifts. I don't know how many Magi were there, but I'll tell you this, they didn't get there when Jesus was born.

Jesus could have been two years old by the time they got there. A two-year-old Jesus isn't as cute on a nativity scene and precious moments can't sell it. Toddlers aren't so adorable, so they had to put little baby umbilical cord Jesus on the manger scene, but he was older than that. Now the shepherds are there in your nativity scene too, aren't they? The wise men and the shepherds weren't there at the same time. But see, now they want to sell you extra figures, so they have to put them all together at the same time. It's a profit margin issue, right? It's not an accuracy thing.

And how you pictured Christmas is probably wrong. He wasn't even born in a manger. That's how we translated in English. It was more of a guest room that would have looked more like a cave. But how are you going to sell a manger scene with a cave? What if it isn't how you pictured it? What if how God wants to use you isn't how you pictured him? What if the way he's going to work in your marriage isn't how you pictured it?

And Joseph has this word from God to go from, to understand by. If he understands by his eyes, his sight, he's going to miss it. We always will. If he understands by his senses, his feelings, his emotions, he'll miss it. Emotionally and mentally, he has already done. decided I'm done with this. And some of you came to church today and you've already decided to quit. I'm giving up on this. I'm giving up on joy. I'm giving up on peace. I'm giving up on hope. That's why some of you aren't in the building you're watching on the screen because you gave up on

even being a part of a church. Because when you pictured church, you picture perfect people who would never hurt you. But guess what? We are imperfect just like you. So if you want to hook up, you've got to understand we're screwed up too. But if you picture it as perfect, then when This is the Lord. I hear you, Lord. I love it when this happens. God showed me exactly what he said. He said, the problem isn't your situation.

It's your picture. The problem is not the situation. The problem is the picture. Mary had her dress picked out, but now she's not going to get to wear it. She's going to be way too big for this dress by the time she walks the aisle. Joseph had his plan picked out, but now he's not going to get to do it, which is hard for a carpenter. because Carpenter's plan, they make a living off of measuring and planning, but after he had measured it in his mind,

God spoke to his spirit and said, what is in her is from me. I know it's not what you pictured, but it's me. I know it's not what you expected, but it's me. I know it's not your preference, but it's me. I know it doesn't fit your tradition, but it's me. I know that you feel lonely and there are some... missing pieces, but it's me. And are you trying to build your life by the wrong picture of what you thought it would be or what you think you're supposed to be? Wouldn't it be dumb to try to buy a

puzzle to build it according to a picture that was on the cover of somebody else's puzzle? Try it. If you go over to a friend's house and they have a puzzle, well, this analogy is a little week, but bear with me. If you see a picture, go buy a puzzle that doesn't match the picture and try to open that box with those pieces and build a picture and see how much fun you have with it. So God says, I gave you the pieces for the picture that I have in mind for your life according to my purpose before you were ever born. So I got the right pieces, I've got the right gifts, I've got the right temperament if I submit it to the Holy Spirit and don't let it get out of control. But this isn't what I pictured.

Switch the picture. Switch the picture. When you have a picture of yourself as worthless, you will build your life according to that picture. You will sabotage yourself because you build by what you feel. But now if God says I'm righteous, if I switch the picture to what he sees, And if I assume that he's always working, if I switch the picture, Joseph is me. I started this. Is you this going to take Mary home?

But it's me. And it's hard to believe as God when it doesn't feel good. Joseph is like, are you sure? Because he had to think about it. He had to ponder it. The beautiful verse in the Bible, it says, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. What's in her is from me.

What's in her is from me. It's in her, but it's from me. God says, what's in you is from me. What's in you is from me. And I'm just comforted by that because sometimes sometimes. I feel pressure about what I perceive to be missing pieces. Even as a preacher, I always wish that I could preach like other preachers that I see. And I tell you exactly who I want to preach like.

You know the guys that stand still and they are just so profound and they have one of the mics that never moves. And they just, it's just so, they're so calm. And I like that. And I go on Amazon looking for robes and I think, man, that would be cool because it expends a lot of energy. All this moving around. And even sometimes I come up and I try to preach like one of them, you know. But then something just, I can't. I mean, I really don't plan to freak out and spas out.

And I watch myself back and I'm like, why do you have to be like that? Why can't you be dignified? but something inside of me when I start doing it. I just got to do it how I do it. I got to do it like the pieces in my box are meant for the picture. Y'all won't help me preach. What's in you is from God. What's in me is from him.

I got every piece. I got wisdom. I've got strength. I've got anointing. I've got authority in the name of Jesus to overcome every wicked thing that rises to oppose me. Now shove three people say it's in you, it's in you, is in you, is in you right now, and it's growing and it's kicking and it's meant to be and you're not missing anything.

You got it all. You got every piece for the picture. For in the beginning what's the word? And the word was with God. And watch this. The Word was God. So let me ask you a question. Let's take a vote.

This is the first church vote that I remember in the history of Elevation Church. But let's be Baptist for the next 30 seconds. Who had the harder job? Mary or Joseph? you answer this because in just a moment I'm going to call on you to raise your hand at every location. If you are married, I want to strongly encourage you to consider carefully the cost of answering this question, honestly.

But who says Mary had the harder job? There they are, all the women who have born children into this world. Come on, let's celebrate Mother's Day early. Thank God for you. Amen. Raise your hand if you say, as Mary, it's Mary right, because she had very little choice. She was already pregnant by the time she found out about the purpose. Too late if you don't like it.

Then you got Joseph. Y'all, my kids came up to me the other day and they said, do you know Joe? Now here's what's hilarious. I said, Joe Mama. And they said, how did you know that? Because they think they started Joe Mama. I was doing Joe Mama while you were still unfur. Unframed form was not even in the picture yet. I gave him a genealogy of Joe Mama. I remember Joe Mama from the Golden Girls. You remember the Golden Girls? You too, but I promise you. Joe Mama is old. This didn't start with you. I came to say that to somebody about what God is doing in your life. This didn't start with you.

And this doesn't end here. And Joseph has in mind to walk away, but God has something different in store because God is building with a different picture. So who believes that Joseph had the harder job? Raise your head. I applaud your courage. It's an unpopular stance. I kind of see where you're coming from. I kind of see where you're coming from. Because verse 21 tells us Mary's job and Joseph's job. Let's read it together. Matthew chapter 1 verse 21. She will give birth and you are to give him the name. Which one you want to do?

Give birth or give the name. And so physically there's no argument. But see, what is striking to me about Joseph, you never heard the Christmas Carol. Joseph, did you know? Now, Mary knew. Mary knew because it was her body. Mary knew that this has to be God because she knows whether or not

she has been with another man and I'm going to leave it at that in case you didn't get your kids to eat kids this morning I'm not going to details on this but Mary knew this has to be God because I consulted my experience and I'm a virgin

and I haven't been with a man so if I'm carrying something it didn't come from human means I know it because it's my body Joseph didn't know. And he would never really know. So he had to believe. Maybe that's the hardest job of all.

To believe what you can't see. To believe what you can't be sure of. To believe what you can't prove. Joseph said, I never knew. You know, the rest of his life he would live, probably halfway wondering. Was it really God? They got her pregnant.

And not, you're going to, uh, right? You go into men's group and you're like, guys, it's good. I was praying. The Lord told me, I was actually sleeping. I was in a dream. And the Lord told me. And don't worry, Mary saw a vision too, and we're going to work this out and we're going to go home.

Do you not think Joseph spent the rest of his life looking cross-eyed at people trying to figure Now, your nose looks kind of like, that long nose with, checking out those ears. You know, Ronnie has kind of long ears right there. I saw Ronnie and Mary. Because Joseph didn't know because faith does not operate by sensory knowledge. Because faith enables us to understand that God is with us, even if we do not see him in the picture. I need you to receive this by faith. You are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.

Now, here's the culmination of the text that I want to share with you. All this took place. Everything you didn't picture, everything you don't understand. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. And then he quotes Isaiah 714, which says, the virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. And I've been listening to a song all week that says, even when I don't see it, you're working. And even when I don't feel it, you're working. And I need you to make a declaration by faith.

Every mouth in this room open up and say, God is with me right now. God is with me right now. Come on, say it again. God is with me right now. Some of y'all at another campus, you're not saying it, but you're not saying it to me. So say it out loud for yourself. Say, God is with me right now. And remember that the things which are seen are not made with things that do appear.

So God does not build with carpenter material that you can see and fabricate your face. with your physical senses when God builds something it will not look like what you pictured He has a different picture and he builds according to his picture now the message of Christmas is about his presence Not my picture the message of Christmas says that the worlds were framed Framed I know they use it in a construction way but this is a a visual term frame. They frame it. They frame the world. Did you get your picture from the world or from the word? Did you get your picture of what a man is supposed to be, of what a woman is supposed to be, of what success is, of what fulfillment is, of what... Did you get it from the word or the world? Because the Bible says that by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.

Frame. And are you framing this season of your life with your faith or with your fear? Honestly, now, answer it honestly, as you look at what you cannot understand in your life right now. Because every hand in the room that I saw went up when I said, is it different than what you pictured? Is it different than what you pictured? This was an insult. Someone said to me one time when I walked in, they said, oh, I never saw you before. I listened to your podcast.

What I picture? I said, what did you picture? They said, I pictured you bigger. I pictured you bigger. I pictured it. I pictured it bigger. I pictured at this age, I would be past some certain things. I pictured it different. I pictured parenting way different. I thought we'd be doing drive time devotionals from the original Greek of Philippians. I thought we'd be doing Bible sword drills. I didn't know they'd be pulling out real swords, stabbing each other with forks in the kitchen before. Y'all are looking at me so holy.

It's different than what you picture. It's better, but it's different. It's different. Ministry is different than what I picture. Let me go all the way. Adulthood is different than what I picture. Can we be real with one another for a moment? It's different.

They sold us something that isn't real. We're supposed to have it figured out. I'm supposed to have good sense. I'm supposed to be a fully cooked turkey by now, and I'm coming out the oven, and I'm still raw, and I've got mouths to feed. It's different than the picture. So when they put the sermon online for the video,

So they have to switch between different shots. And they have instructions to use of what shots they put on the screen even now while I'm preaching. And because I move around so much, like the spastic preacher that I am. These are highly trained competent individuals. Somehow they always keep me in the center of the picture. But what if the switcher fell asleep, you know? Just real quick, I'm going to do an example, because I want you to see this. Imagine if the person on the switcher that goes from the tight shot to the wide shot and

moves the thing on the thing, that's the technical terms. What if they first show them what you're supposed to do, okay? Let's say I do a lateral movement over here to the side. Look, you got a shot for that. But suppose they didn't. Put it on that other shot. Now for the maximum benefit of this illustration, if you are at Ballantyne, watch the screen. If you're at another campus, you've got the competitive advantage right now.

Because sometimes God does this. Watch the screen. Watch the screen. Sometimes God does this. Now, the only conclusion you can come to if you are using your eyes is that the person who was in the picture is no longer in the building. The only way for you to know I'm still here is to go not by what you see, but by what you hear. So right now, those of you who cannot see me on the screen, watch the screen.

Y'all are disobedient. Watch the screen. You can't see me on the screen. But if you know my voice, you know my voice, you will know that I do that I do. did not leave you nor forsake you. In the beginning was the word, and the word was here before you were, and the word was spoken before you saw your frame. So when I don't feel him, he's with me, because his name is Emmanuel. I can't see him, but I trust him because he spoke it, and I will see it with the eyes of my faith.

He's with me on my good day. He's with me on my bad day. He's with me when I've got it. He's with me when I don't even know where to look. He's with me when they like me. He's with me when nobody will return my text. He's with me when I'm married. He's with me when I'm divorced.

He's with me when I've got a job. He's with me when I don't see a way to pay it. He's with me when I'm well. He's with me when I'm sick. He's with me with a clear sky. He's with me in the storm. He didn't leave. I just gotta change my frame.

If he's spoken, you will see it. Come on, praise him like you know he's with you. He's with me. He's with me. He's with me. He's with me. What's in me is from me and my God is for me. He's with me.

So don't be afraid to go home and do what God told you. Don't be afraid to face your fears with a frame of faith because the things which are seen were made by the things which don't appear. I know it in what you pictured. I know it in what you planned. You remember when we were in the nursing home for Thanksgiving? My dad was 60, something like that, 62 years old in a nursing home. Not because we didn't want to keep it.

It was so tense in our family that he decided he wouldn't want to live with any of us. We couldn't take care of him. He had Lugaris disease and we tried to take care of him. We couldn't take care of him. We were eating microwave Thanksgiving in the nursing home with my dad knowing good and well we wanted him in our house. And nobody was unspeaking terms. You talk about awkward.

Ham doesn't taste right when you try to microwave it. None of us pictured this. I know you didn't picture this. God isn't building your picture. He's building his purpose. So Joseph, Joe, Joe, did you know? Joseph would say no. Uh-uh.

I just believe. I had one thing in mind. God had another thing in store. I went with God. God went with me. And I have what I need in the box to be the picture that he created in his heart. So no, I'm not trying to build somebody else's life or somebody else's idea of what I'm supposed to be.

Not anymore. I tried that. It is so stressful. I can't afford the doctor bill or the stomach medicine for that. kind of living. I got to build what God put inside of me for the picture that he sees and the world's. Switch the picture. Switch to picture. Be who God called you to be. Celebrate what he gave you. Pull everything close that you still have left, wrap your arms around it and make the most

of it. Switch the picture. Yeah, it's going to be a different Christmas for some of us. I understand that. But God pictured it all along. You know when Isaiah said, a virgin will conceive? He saw that hundreds of years before it happened. God was already building the picture. Forty-two generations, and God knew the picture. If you get too tightly zoomed into this one scene or this one moment or this one struggle

or this one issue, you're going to miss the bigger picture. God knows where to put you, he knows what he put in you, and he knows what he wants to do through you. So take Mary home by faith and do what the angel of the Lord commanded you to do. Not what you feel or what you thought or switch the picture. Everyone's standing. I want to pray for people this Christmas season who need to switch the picture. the picture and put God back in the center of the frame.

Put his presence and his joy and his peace. See, when you understand how he came, you can understand why he came. Please answer me. Who was this message? It was just for you. It was just for you. It was just for you. It was just for you.

I'm going to tell you three things about how he came. I'll give them to you so quick. Number one, he came through someone that everyone else thought was insignificant. So the first word you need to know about how he came is insignificant. He did not come through a matriarch of royal lineage. He came through a little girl who was so scared that when the angel came, she said, how can this be? He came through someone who saw no way that what God wanted to do for the world could happen

through her, and so it has always been. I know we get excited when an actor or an actor. or a celebrity or a politician or rock star or a rapper gets excited about Jesus, but Christ is born in every heart that will receive him by faith. And God is using you, if you are a coach, if you are a student, if you are a businessman, if you are a police officer, if you are nothing more, you're like, I'm just to stop saying that. God always chooses to use what people deem insignificant. So there is nothing in there is nothing in there. significant about your pieces for your picture. That's number one. Number two, it was impossible. It was a virgin womb because God wanted to let you know that impossible situations are the places where faith is born. So if that is impossible for you, it is fertile for God. If you understand how he came through a virgin womb, he didn't have to do that, but he wanted you to know if you are facing something where you don't see away. If you don't see it, but he spoke

it and you will believe it by faith, it will come to pass. That's how he came. He came for impossible situations, broken hearts, broken homes, broken lives. But what I love the most, what I love the very most is that it was intimate. He came in the most. He came in the most intimate way. He was born of a virgin, and he comes into your heart when you receive him by faith. He longs to be personal with you this season. But if you get somebody else's picture and try to put something together that's not in you, you will miss his presence. He wants to speak to you, use you, bless you, help you. This is personal. This is intentional. This is intense. God of all grace, God of all comfort, I have delivered your word to the best of my ability

with your help, and I thank you for what you spoke in this place today. Your word is good seed. I pray that it falls upon good soil today. I pray for those today who are living in a picture that they never planned for. I think we all are. We're all moving through this life. We saw it one way. and now we are experiencing it another.

And yet you are here, always here. Still Emmanuel, still with us, still for us. A good father, a faithful friend. Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting, Father, the Prince of Peace. Lift your hands. I receive your peace, God. I receive your assurance. I receive your presence.

in this season of my life, you are my king. 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.