Elevation with Steven Furtick - Thought Bubbles

Episode Date: August 23, 2020

A thought can change everything.  In “Thought Bubbles,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church reveals just how powerful our thoughts can be — both the good and the bad. Start letting go of the toxic thoughts, and step into the new mindset God has for you.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. All right, somebody say I'm in the choir. That's the first time that some of you have ever been in a choir, not wearing a robe. Praise the Lord. We are so. thankful for his presence. If you're sitting here going, like, I need to adjust my computer, everybody on that stage seems happy, and the world is really a mess right now. Do not adjust your monitor, adjust your mindset. That pastor is preaching already, and he didn't even get his

iPad open. Wow. So who gets to stay today? I know that the Jane gets to stay. You know, I leave these worship leaders up here just to have company. We're used to having so many more people in the building. I don't mean that to diminish those of you who are here, but it's just a critical mass issue. And, of course, we've done more ministry than ever before in this season. So I'm glad Jane gets to stay. That's great. Leota, they don't ever let you stay. Aaron, you stay up there the whole time. Do you stand the whole time? Do you sit down? It's weird preaching because I'm always playing this game while I'm talking. Oh yeah, y'all can be seated, by the way. I'm going to jump into this part two of what I started last week. The continuation. Let's keep it going. I've heard so many testimonies

of people remembering who they are in Christ. Now, everybody in here get ready because we've got a job to do today. I'm just reminding you, I only want faith in this room right now. There's enough fear everywhere else. I said, I only want faith in this room because somebody's got something going on in their life, and we're going to join together and minister. And when I scan, it's weird when I scan people. I have this bad habit of where I draw thought bubbles when I'm looking at people's face, and I make up all this stuff that people are thinking. And I can't do that with you because I can't see you.

So it's kind of nice. I can picture you any way I want. But when people are in the room, man, sometimes it's surprising how their faces look. And I don't always mean in a bad way. Some people, I mean, every once in a while, we'll see somebody who's very reserved, and they'll be up shouting me down while I'm preaching. I'm like, oh, you need at that point. Don't shout too much.

People will know your business. Then some people like, I know exactly what they're thinking because I know him. Chris is back there. I'll draw a thought bubble over his head and I look at him and I know he's thinking, that'd be a good song lyric. When he's writing all that stuff down, he's just multitasking. He's just writing down song lyric, grocery list. All of it.

How many multitask when you listen to a message? All right, stop that. Just one thing at a time. Focus. I know exactly what Holly's thinking. How can he be so annoying and so attractive? That's my man. He's a messenger, but he's my messenger.

She's thinking, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news? Did I get it close? My son Elijah, my firstborn. He's always thinking, is he going to say the part weird? Because he's the only one I tell my messages to before I pray, Joe. Somehow we get on the same frequency. He'll get it before I even say it. It's weird, isn't it?

It's weird. He'll just be on it before I even say it. It's like we're connected or something. It's amazing. And then he's probably thinking about making a beat too. But he's mostly thinking, oh, is he going to say the part that he told me? Larry Brice thinking, how am I going to rip this off and teach it to the campus fast? Am I right about it?

I heard him ripping my message from last week off on a conference call with our staff, and it was the supervisors in our church. And he preached it better than I did. Yes, you did. He took that little one talent of a message that I preached and multiplied it to two, four. And I was taking notes, and I was like, well, now I'm going to preach another part, because we were talking about, I'm not what I thought. Put it in the chat. I'm not what I thought. I'm not what I thought. You can be a wonderful person but have a terrible thought. You can be a sane

person but have a crazy thought. You can be a happy person and have a depressing thought. So when we separate ourselves from our thoughts, it's kind of like Isaiah 55 where God says, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. And I want more God thoughts in my life. Thoughts that come from God, thoughts that lead to God. And I wonder, do you want some, I mean, let's be honest, the signal to noise ratio is out of control in our world today. There is a famine for the word of God, words of peace, comfort, love, joy, and encouragement. My buddy called me yesterday and said, you've got to keep on preaching from another place.

He's been watching me preach for 10 years. He said, God knows how much his people are needing right now and you need to allow it to flow through you. I said, you're right. Pray for me about that because people need faith. And I don't have it. I need God to do it in me and then speak it through me for you. So this week I want to talk about thought bubbles. Thought bubbles. What if I could see what you're thinking right now? First of all, would you still have a job, Tiffany? Would you still be married? Would you still, you know, the things you think?

The things that you never mention, things that make you miserable. The things that you think about that you would like to really embrace, but to be honest, it's hard for you to sometimes think outside. We say think outside the box, but it's also hard to think outside the bubble. And so I'm looking at the room today and I can't see you and I wonder like if I was drawing a thought bubble over your head, if I could see it how God sees what's really going on. Because how many know there's a difference between a, what's it called, a dialogue box? I'm thinking of the old cartoons.

I'm thinking of Calvin and Hobbs specifically. And I'm thinking about how some things are best left in the bubble. Let me break that down. Just because you think it doesn't mean you have to see. you have to say it. Some things are best left in the bubble. And I'll tell you another thing, and I'm going to show you this from Mark Chapter 5, the same story we were in last weekend, is that you don't have to believe everything you think. Are you ready? Let's talk about thought bubbles. Remember that the woman with the issue of blood is no longer called that. Not from God's perspective.

That's not how God thought of her. And the way that we talk about ourselves isn't how God thinks of us either. God doesn't categorize us. I hate to break this to you by ethnicity. God doesn't categorize us. In Christ, there's neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female. That doesn't mean we're not different. That means that our core identity is not determined by something external. So in Christ I have a new nature.

In Christ, I have infinite possibility. But my thoughts, have you ever noticed how you often get stuck in your head? And so you can never really receive what heaven has to speak because you live under an open heaven, but you have a closed mind. Come on, let's go to Mark Chapter 5. Let's go to Mark Chapter 5, where the woman formerly known as the woman with the issue of blood, the artist formerly known as the woman with the issue of blood, now known as a daughter of God. It just blew my mind that I've always read about this woman's persistence. She pressed

through the crowd to get to Jesus. I've always studied about her intention. If I can just touch the edge of this garment, and I think all of that is important, but I never realized it was about her identity. The Bible says that she set her intention, and she took action. And in verse In 28, it says that she was healed, first of all, because she thought. I know you've already watched the sermon five times since last weekend because you loved the Word of God, and you memorized Philippians too. But just for those who hadn't had the time, it said she was healed because she thought. And I always thought that she was healed because she touched and she was. When she touched him, it represented faith.

But there's two parts of faith. The flip side of works on faith starts with a thought. And they say that every action, let me see if I get the quote right, every action is the ancestor of a thought? No, every thought is a, it's something about how thoughts, I should have looked that up. It's something about, I thought I had it, but I didn't. I should have looked at it. The thought is always, you know, people will say follow your feelings. That would be a bad idea for 98 percent of us.

a really bad idea for 98 percent of us. It would lead to violence, poverty, weirdness, and other stuff we can't talk about in church, but we'll talk about it sometime. So follow your feelings, but I want to say that a little differently. If you follow your feeling back to the thought that created it, if you follow your feelings backwards, a lot of times you can find that it starts with how you think about God, how you think about you, how you think about your season, and how you define a blessing. She thought she got what she came for. But Jesus was working off of a different blueprint. Because after the issue that she came for, you know, we come to God for many different reasons, but a lot of times the reason that we come to God isn't the reason he

called us. He said, my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways aren't your ways, so God thinks higher. And a lot of the things in my life start with the phrase, I never would have thought. And I don't know if she knew it, but Joanna was preaching today because she helps us on our staff and she said, I never would have thought we'd be in an auditorium with just the staff preaching the church. Well, I never thought it either. This is the year of I never would have thought. Go back through your phone. Fifty percent of your text are things that you never would have thought that you'd be sending. You never thought, you never would have thought. You'd be buying the kid a new computer, not so they could play games on it, but so it could be a classroom.

You never would have thought that. And the woman never would have thought that on the way, this is the woman we call the woman with the issue of blood, she never would have thought that on the way to heal Jiris' daughter, the important synagogue official, official, the person who we would think was the priority, that Jesus would call her daughter. She never thought of herself as a daughter. Now, the way that you think of yourself determines what you will do and what you won't do, the way that you think of yourself. And if you think of yourself, remember this is kind of a review from last week, if you think

of yourself primarily in terms of your position, that's limiting. Right? I didn't get to tell you this last week, but I told the campus pastors, I said, when I was at the ball field a couple years ago, when I'm at the ball field, I'm a different, I'm not different person. I don't have multiple personalities or anything like that. I'm a very nice person in most situations. But at the ball field, it's just people can call it wearing different hats or different roles.

one you, but there's many roles, many manifestations of you at any moment, right? Like, just before I came out to preach to you, I was being dad, and I enjoyed that. And so when I would go out to the ball field, I mean, the ump would make a bad call, and I, you know, I got a good loud voice God gave me to preach and to help people, you know. And one of my kids got called out and he wasn't out, and I had it on video. This was several years ago back on when we played. at Mint Hill. I came out with the phone and I showed the umpire. I know you're not supposed to do this. But I said, hey, Mr. I wouldn't mean. I was very polite. I said, I got it on video.

The call was bad. You need to reverse the call. This is an instant replay booth. Let's come on. Just watch this real quick. I got it. I'll put it in slow motion for you. I didn't yell at him or anything like that. But one of the other dads, he thought it was cute when I came back over because the ump didn't reverse the call told me to get off the field. And then when I came back over, the guy said, careful Ferdick, you're supposed to be a pastor. And you know what I said back. Right now I'm a dad. And wouldn't it be great if every single one of your roles work together perfectly to compliment one another? And so people say, well, just be you. Which one? The one that has to bite their tongue or the one who's allowed to be honest? Which one? The one who keeps it real?

Well, keeping it real will maybe keep you unemployed and single if you're burst in every thought bubble saying everything you think, just being everything you are, because you have to know what's appropriate to the role and the situation. But there comes a time where something in your life will drive you to a point where you will come outside of the confines of what you thought you were, and you will embrace something that you never knew you needed, like the woman with the issue who became the only person that Jesus ever called daughter. I'm a daughter.

I'm a son. If I did it for myself, I'm a dad, I'm a pastor, I'm a songwriter, I'm an author. Some of these things I don't even like to say like that because it misses the point. I'm not a songwriter, I write songs. I'm not an author. I sometimes write books. Sometimes. Every 10 years. I write a book. I'm not you're supposed to be a pastor. I'm also supposed to be a parent. Right? And sometimes it's difficult because I find myself in roles and I promise you I'm going to read the Bible verses in a minute, but I am preaching already.

Just because it didn't come up on the screen yet doesn't mean I'm not preaching it. You categorize stuff too weird in your mind. You're like, he's not preaching. I am totally preaching the Word of God. Jairus was a campus pastor at elevation, I mean a synagogue ruler, but he was also a dad. And he had a daughter. And he's no longer a campus pastor preaching a sermon or making phone calls or a worship leader or a piano player drummer. He's a dad in this moment. And he said, heal my daughter.

I need you. I need you. Desperation will drive you to see yourself differently to lift the limits. And I want to look at this one more time because the woman thought, if I touch him, I will be healed. And she was. And he called her back and he gave her the miracle of a restored identity. That's not so catchy, right? But that's what it was.

The miracle of remembering who you were before your issue consumed you. You go through things and you forget who you are. You think you're what you have accomplished. But what if God wants to reveal something that goes beyond your resume? And the ability to navigate all of the different names that I'm called by comes from knowing who I really am beneath all the layers. I don't know I've ever preached a more anointed introduction than right now. Now, let's see. Do y'all want to go deeper? I don't want to bring out, if you're full on the rolls, the yeast rolls, y'all remember Quincy's?

I don't want to bring out any steak. So she thought, she touched, and then she heard from Jesus' daughter. What an amazing thing. And yet the text begs to be picked up at verse 35, right? Because Jairus, who asked Jesus to heal his daughter, at the same moment that the woman was delivered from her issue, he was devastated. As she was being restored as a daughter, his own daughter died. And I want to pick up right there in Mark chapter 5, verse 35.

The Bible says, while Jesus was still speaking to the woman telling her who she really was, daughter. Look at it. In verse 34, daughter. He called her daughter. Sorry, Eddie Vedder, but he did. He called her daughter. Come on, I got to have fun up here, man.

It's lonely up here. But as he's calling her daughter and reminding her of who she was, Jiris, the synagogue, official, the man who had often been identified by his position, who was supposed to be a pastor, but right now he's a parent. Her deliverance led to his disappointment. Sometimes those two go together. Sometimes to deliver you, God has to do it through a disappointment. And he will allow people to let you down to bring you things that you didn't know to pray for. You know how we quote Ephesians 320, now and Emma was able to do immeasurably more than we ask Imagine? Why do we always think that more is going to be bigger? Sometimes more is deeper.

So while he's calling her daughter, daughter, he said, go in peace. See, she left with healing, but he wanted her to leave with peace. Peace only comes from knowing who you are. Peace can't come from possessions. Peace can't come from positions. Peace can only come from knowing who I am. Purpose. That's where peace comes from. What God put me here for. And while he was still speaking, while she was being delivered from her issue, Jairus was devastated. The Bible says in verse 35, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader.

What's it called when you put something in between the commas that you could take out of the sentence? I'm not good at grammar. Huh? A positive? Well, this one's not positive. It's negative. Oh, a positive is the synagogue leader. It's called and a positive. Put it in the chat because me and Holly are having a marital fight right now. We need to be delivering. So just connect these two. Everything's connected, right? She's receiving something positive and he's losing something priceless. And yet he's still being identified by his position, the synagogue ruler. Jiris, the synagogue ruler. But today he's not a CEO. Today he's a dad with a broken heart.

Let's just talk for just me and you for a minute. Let's pretend to be friends. I'm sure we would be. I'm sure you would love me if you knew me and I would love you too. I know you're amazing. But let me get out of preacher mode for a moment and just talk to you like a dad or like a brother or like a friend or something like that. Like, what is the thing that you thought God was going to do?

And the opposite happened. The opposite. I don't mean about a parking space. I'm trying to go a little bit beneath the surface. This whole year. How many of you predicted this year going exactly? Yeah. How many of you, everything that was on your resolution list is right on schedule?

Because I want to meet you and I want you to lay hands on me and I want you to transfer that anointing to me. So his position, the synagogue ruler, the woman is restored to her rightful identity. His position is irrelevant because it really doesn't matter what title that you have in moments like this, does it? It really doesn't matter what title you have in moments like these. And so he thought Jesus was going to heal her. What else would he have thought? Jesus was on the way.

The crowd is around. I'm thinking he thought he was going to get his daughter healed. But Jesus stopped for another forgotten daughter, and in the process of restoring that daughter, he lost his daughter. You see it? He lost his 12-year-old daughter to a woman who for 12 years had been consumed by an issue. So there's a trade-off. She got her miracle.

He didn't. And what happens next? This is where I want to start my sermon. This is where I want to start my sermon. The Bible says that some people came from the house. of Jairus, the synagogue leader, that's a positive. Your daughter is dead, they said. Why bother the teacher anymore? I bet if I could see your thought bubble, a lot of it would say, why bother?

Or a less G-rated version of that, right? Why even bother? Like, what's the point? Why even put anything on the calendar these days? Like, why even try right now? Why bother? What's the point? I got to show you something. You ready? I'm rolling my sleeves. I'm ready to preach now. I'm back full in preacher mode now.

I'm a preacher right now. I'm a preacher right now. I'm a preacher right now. I'm a preacher right now. Why bother the teacher anymore? That was what was in their bubble, right? And they said it out line. I think about Jesus is he can read your thoughts.

So he can see not only what you say, but he can pop your thought bubble and know what's really in your heart. I want to talk about thought bubbles today. So Jesus overheard what they said. right and told Jairus don't be afraid just believe depends on how you hear that whether you hear it as being something that he said as a cliche or whether you hear it as something that he said to keep Jairus's faith alive in the moment I was about to die because there's a crowd around and everybody's telling him he's hearing all these voices why bother why bother and so are you so are you conspiracy theories some of

I'll eat conspiracy theories for breakfast. I'm telling you, it's a terrible time to try to listen to the crowd. Now, this is amazing. When I saw it in the text, I got so excited because not only did Jesus do the first contact tracing, when he said, who touched me, when he felt a contact with the woman of the issue of blood. But Jesus, watch this, verse 37, did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John, the brother of James.

Long before the NBA had a bubble. My dumb self, you know how dumb I am? When they said they're putting the NBA in a bubble, I thought of SpongeBob. What's the thing called on SpongeBob? Sophie's Sandy. I saw the bubble. That's how dumb I am. For five seconds, I thought they were put.

Did you think that too? You won't admit it. I bet if I could see your thought bubbles. You didn't know either. Well, Jesus, us knew something very important, that sometimes there is a benefit to a bubble. Not everything belongs outside the bubble. Ask Joseph, he told his brothers, hey man, God showed you something.

His brothers busted his bubble so quick. They threw him in a pit. Some things are best left in the bubble. Some things don't need to be posted right now. Some things need to be prayed about. Some things need to go through wise counsel. Some things are best left in the bubble. I wish you'd put it in the chat.

Keep it in the bubble. Keep it in the bubble. My God, I just kept you from sending an email that was going to take you five years to repair. Keep it in the bubble. Save it as a draft. Pray on it. Type it out.

Pray on it. edit it, revise it. Some things have to be, belief has to be incubated sometimes in a bubble. Don't be afraid. Just believe. And what's the first thing he did after he told him that? Now, y'all back off. Because this man needs to believe something right now. This woman needs to believe something right now. She was healed because she thought she didn't ask anybody's permission. She acted on it. I mean, there are some things, when God calls me to do them, I don't tell anybody. I don't even like to tell my team that puts my sermon title on the screen what it is before

I preach it. How are they going to put it on the screen if I don't tell them what it is? But I'm weird about it. I don't want to always talk about stuff that God is doing in me. We put something down this week. I said, Chris, just hold it for a little while. We just got to live with it. I don't keep it in the bubble.

Keep it in the bubble. Keep it in the bubble. Keep it in the bubble. Some thoughts you have to hold on to, some thoughts you have to release. Some thoughts you have to let go of because that's not really what God said. That's not who you are that didn't come from him. Remember, my thoughts are not your thoughts. I'm not what I thought.

Some of that you've got to let it float off. But when you get a God thought, keep it in the bubble. Like when Jesus told the crowd, he thins out the crowd, right? The first thing that he has to do is get Gyrus in a bubble. So Jesus says, don't be afraid, just believe. Here's what's crazy. Jiris does not say a single thing that indicates that he has faith. He didn't say, I believe, Lord.

He didn't make declarations of faith. I believe in God, the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth. Jesus Christ, only Son, our Lord. He didn't do any of that. Sometimes belief is best shown, not told. Sometimes faith is best if I touch the hem of his garment. She didn't tell anybody. She just touched.

I don't mean sneak around and do weird stuff. Join seven different dating websites and don't tell anybody. I'm not talking about that. But Jesus said, don't be afraid, just believe. And the next thing he did, watch this. Jesus is so relevant, right? He's so relevant to what we're going through right now. He put Jiris in a bubble.

He said, Peter, James, John, y'all come. everybody else stay. Bubble. Because if you let too much fear in right now, if you let too much content in right now, you are going to go crazy. You're going to go crazy. If you start imagining what your kids are going to be like at their graduation of high school and they're in second grade, you're going to go crazy. Keep it in a bubble. Like, let me give you a Bible verse, sufficient is the day for its own trouble. You've got enough trouble in today's bubble. Trouble bubbles. That's part three. I'm going to do part three. Will you help me preach part three? But Jesus, it gets crazier than that. When he got to the house, give me the

next verse, please. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, now we've got his home where the issue is and his position, and he comes into the home and watch what's going on. Jesus sees a commotion. People crying, wailing loudly. Everybody's tweeting and blogging and streaming and talking and pontificating and a million opinions and Jesus went in and said to them, why all this commotion and wailing? This child is not dead but asleep. And they, verse 40, laughed at him. So watch what he did. You say you want to be like Jesus? You want to be like Jesus? When did the miracle happen? After he put them all? After he put them all. After he He put them all out.

I feel a delete party happening in your contact section while I preach the Word of God. Now, don't delete everybody. He took the disciples with him. You don't put everybody out. You don't put every thought out. But sometimes you have to believe in a bubble, right? Sometimes you can't ask everybody. Sometimes, I mean, you've got to ask your boss, you got to ask your wife.

I've got to ask the important people. You've got to have a few. But it's too much right. It's too much right now. God sent me with a word to get you in a bubble. He said, everybody leave. Because sometimes breakthrough only happens in the bubble. In the bubble.

Thank you, Lord. He's showing me things. He's giving me things right now as I speak to you. And then while I'm getting those things, there's other things being like, oh, that's that's dumb or what, wow, that's really stupid. But I'm in the bubble. I got to keep it in the bubble. I got to remember while I'm preaching that I'm not preaching for somebody who's going to

criticize what I say or think it's weird or think it's crazy. So if you think I'm out of my mind, that's the goal. That's the goal. My mind has made me miserable for most of my life. They laughed at Jesus. and Jesus, not because he was weird, but because he was focused, and he knew enough to know. The original, did you ever see this in the text chunks? I bet you did.

You probably preached this before. But Jesus had the original NBA bubble, not the National Basketball Association. No buts allowed. Come on, let's have some fun together for five minutes. I don't want to say it like this, but I'm going to. We could probably edit it for the archive. Get your butt out the bubble. Does the Bible say, but in verse 40?

Does the Bible say but? But they laughed at him. Get out. Get out. Get out. You can do it, but it's put out. Why about it? Get out.

Get out. Get out. Yes. Some breakthroughs can only happen in the bubble, where you've got a few friends, where you've got a few objectives, where you've got a few priorities, not trying to be everything all the time. No, I'm going to do this and this and this, and I know who I am. I'm not trying to prove to anybody that I'm something else, and I'm not trying to play

a different role. Come on, just because we have to wear physical masks doesn't mean we have to wear emotional ones. I thought it was so weird when they said masks are, it's weird to see people in masks. I said, not for me as a pastor. I've been looking at people in masks. So Jesus knew that sometimes it takes a bubble to maintain belief. After we get done with this, you'll put in the chat or in the comments this week what the bubble means for you.

It can mean like, I need to have like five minutes when I start my day to remind myself where my help comes from. I did it today because once I come here, there's too many stimulus. I'm going to be like, oh, the room's too hot, the room's too cold. Why is that person not here? Why is this person there? Why don't you know, James? I'm saying, can I get to the thing? Did I do the thing?

I said, be too much. I sit there and breathe in the bubble for a minute, right? And it really helped me. I don't always do it, but when I do it helps me. Out loud, I started saying, I popped the thought bubble and I actually prayed. I said, God, thank you today, that you have given me something that will help and heal I thank you for it, Lord. And I thank you today that as I preach, I stand in your authority, not my own.

I thank you that you've given me what I need for the role I'm in. And maybe you want to start your day that way. Maybe you want to clarify your priorities again. You know what? I've been so busy over here. Then, of course, after he made the bubble, he showed him what a breakthrough looks like. I don't even want to read it because I'll be tempted to preach it. The Bible said when he went in where the child was, verse 41, he did the impossible.

He did the impossible. He did the impossible. One daughter thought she was a woman with an issue, but another daughter that they thought was dead when he took her hand. Wow. What would it feel like for something that you thought was dead? Maybe not a person. Joy, clarity, took it by the hand.

This was not how Jairus thought it would happen. This was not what he believed for. It was better. It was better. It was even better. What if God wants to burst your bubble to give you something better? Thank you, Lord. I receive it.

I receive it. God, I don't want to live my life trapped in my bubble. You know, Jesus took this girl by the hand. Jaira said, well, you put your hands on her and she'll live. Remember that? That's how he scripted it. That was his blueprint. That was his blueprint. But Jesus didn't bless him according to his blueprint.

He took her by the hand and said, Talita Kuhn, little girl, get up. And when she got up, Gyrus didn't even ask for this. Looked to verse 42. Immediately the girl stood up, began to walk around. She was 12 years old at this. They were completely astonished. Next verse, he gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this. Keep it in the bubble.

Keep it in the bubble. Keep it in the bubble. Some things are for you. And told them to give her something to eat. He threw lunch in for free. When I say that God's got something better, God said, I'm going to put fries in the bag that you didn't even ask for. I'm going to feed you something that your faith didn't even know to reach for.

I'll call you back and make you a daughter. I'll fix you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'm a provider. Speaking of extra, can I give you another scripture? Now, I promise you, I have preached you enough. where I can close the Bible in good conscience, and we can go on and watch something else. Or you can stay with me while I traverse centuries of history and introduce Gyrus, the man whose bubble saved his faith, the man who believed even when his daughter was dead, the man

who kept moving forward even through the worst pain of his life, like Levi Lusco, like fly Ty, my barber, the man who pressed through unimaginable pain to experience restoration. I want to show Jairus about a man he never met because he lived hundreds of years before him. His name was Naiman, and Naiman had a bubble too. See, Naiman was a great man. That's what the Bible says. He's a great man. He was good at fighting.

I want to introduce Naiman to Jairus because they're very similar. They're very similar. I think they would be good friends if they met. I think they'd be good friends if they met. I think they'd be good friends. So Jiris was a synagogue leader. Well, they probably wouldn't have been great friends because Jiris was Jewish and Naman was over Aram, modern day Syria, and Israel and Syria didn't like each other.

So they would have a lot to get past. Sometimes the people God wants to bless you through, sometimes the people God wants to use in your life are going to be people from totally different backgrounds, aka God wants to burst your bubble. I thought about having a prop up here blowing the bubble, you know, sound effects or whatever, but I was like, no, this isn't a cute message, it's a powerful message. Just because I'm saying it as a bubble, it's so much bigger than that. I was like, you know, I never knew Monk's Corner was going to marry Miami.

Holly was from Miami, Florida. And I always thought I would marry a Southern girl. Let me tell you how not Southern she is. She thinks boiled peanuts taste like dirt. At least she did. I showed her boiled peanuts. Some of y'all in other places of the world, you're like, what is he? Is he speaking in tongues?

He said something about a peanut being boiled. But see, I grew up in the Monk's Corner bubble where boiled peanuts were a delicacy. I didn't crack no crab legs. I'm cracking the boiled peanuts. And from the gas station. The homemade ones were a treat, but I ought to do it at a gas station if we need to. You never had a boiled peanut in your life before you came to Charlotte. That woman tasted boiled peanuts in my mom's kitchen.

I was so excited. I was like, I had my dad fry. I was trying to impress her. I had my dad fry some shrimp, and I had some boiled peanuts. My mom, it was a whole family effort. We were just dating. And she tasted them, and I watched her to see what she would think. She tastes like dirt.

I laid my hands on her until every Miami demon came out of that woman. And this day, I stand to give God glory. She cooks me boiled peanuts once every two weeks, and she eats them too. Let's praise God for the miracle. Come on, I got a testimony from death to life, from Miami to Monks Corner. A man told me I couldn't stand to what you preached because you were white, but God used you. A man told me I couldn't stand to what you preached because you were young. But God used you.

A teenager told me I used to not like to listen to you because I thought you were boring. I think God used you. God might not use who you thought he would use. Neiman was a great man. Oh my God. Many victories. That was his position. Look at it in verse one.

He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded. That means in the public places. In the public places, it was great. But the Bible says, you see it in verse 1? Is it up there or did I make it up? The Lord gave him victory. God's given you victory. God's given you some things.

But he had leprosy. Nobody would have known that under his armor. The woman was bleeding on the inside. Naiman has something that is eating away at him, even as God is working through him. And both can happen at the same time. So, Neiman, he kind of demonstrates what I was telling you about that. Often God will send you an answer through an unexpected person that you didn't even ask the question to.

God will answer your prayers in places that you didn't even think that. ask. When that thing happened with school last year, I did not know that you were going to be my workout partner. But that's some of the best times of every day for me. I'm talking to my son, Elijah. Sometimes when I'm down there, I don't know whether to be a dad or to be a trainer, you know, because I want to yell at him. And then I also want to be a good dad and comfort him. It's okay. You don't have to get one more rap. I don't know which one to be. And God used something we were both frustrated about with school to get us down there in that pound. You never thought you'd be throwing around those big weights either.

At first we wouldn't work out together because his weights were too small. I didn't feel like rewracking that much, you know. I'm a big guy, you know. But now we live together. He's getting strong. I never thought my son will be my workout partner in this season. I know it's a silly analogy, but sometimes got to use something to bond you with your child. I mean, it's just amazing.

We talk about everything. I'm going to write a book about the things we talk about in that workout room. I already wrote the introductory chapter. I'm going to wait until he's 50 years old to publish it in case he doesn't listen to any of it, but maybe I'll just give it to him. Maybe I will never write the book. I don't know. See, I'm getting to this point in my life where I would stop trusting so much in what I thought.

Bust the bubble. Bust the bubble. Stop thinking that there's only one style of ministry that God can bless you. through. Stop thinking that ravens can't bring you food. Stop thinking that sticks can't part red seas. Stop thinking that only the first one in gets healed. Stop thinking that the Savior is going to look like Superman.

He might look like a baby. He busted their bubble. That's why they could not receive Jesus. He was not what they thought the Messiah would be, and he didn't do what the Messiah thought would do, and we're right there now. So, Neiman. I was told my Naiman, wasn't I? I was to my name. Naman was a great man, but he had a horrible issue. And that's true of everybody I'm speaking to. If you said, no, I don't, to the second part of that, that means you struggle with pride. If you said, no, I don't, to the first part of that,

you struggle with insecurity, which is an inverted form of pride. You're a great person with some nasty issues. So was Naiman. But here's the thing I wanted to show you about Naaman, and I wanted to show Jairus, is that there was a little girl living in Naaman's house who was from Israel, and she saw her master's condition. Verse two. Everybody else saw his position. She saw, I'm not saying this to be cute, she saw under the armor. She saw under the armor. She saw that there was something happening on his skin that if it's left unattended long enough, that issue would consume him, even his accomplishments.

So then, she said to her mistress, go to verse two again, she served. Naiman's wife. Go to verse three. She said, she served, she said. She served, she said. God spoke through a servant. One time in the Bible, God spoke through a donkey. That's how I know he can use me too.

I'm a servant. And God can speak to you. Some of you will listen to me preach, but you won't listen to your wife. I can't speak to the things that I don't see. Sometimes we will not listen to the things that God is speaking because we have so carefully constructed when he speaks. So you think the only time God speaks is when you listen to a preacher, or you think the only time God moves is when you're in a church phone.

Can I tell you this? I had God in such a bubble. I thought God could only grow our church if we had buildings. I stood up here on this stage and said, we're going to reach 100,000 people every week. And in my mind I saw, what, 20 more buildings. I did not know, could not have known. still don't understand that we are reaching way more than 100,000 people, but not the way I thought.

It's not what I thought. Get your fingers on that organ and get your hands on these sticks. It is Ephesians 320 exceeding abundantly above all U.S. or imagine. With prize in the bag. Seconds, you got it. 30 seconds, you got it. I'm praising by faith. By faith, by faith, by faith.

If I preach this like I feel it, your bubble might burst. You might start realizing that it's not about what comes from you. It's about what comes through you. He's doing a great... This is for you, big boy. This is for you, Naman. This is for you. little girl. This is for you, daughter. This is for you, commander. This is for your leprosy.

This is for your hidden place. This is for your issue. This is for your identity. This little girl said, if only, if only my master would see the prophet who was in Samaria, the place he would have never thought to go, the thing he would have never thought to do. If you are the commander of the army of Aram, the last thing you think of is going to see the enemy that you attack all the time. The last thing he thought of, maybe I could say it like this. His plan Z was God's plan A. Please receive this ministry. God might have hidden your help.

But see, if you stay in your bubble, those of us who need to plan everything, We're going to miss his presence. That's why they say, why don't you preach with notes? Because I figure some of the greatest stuff God might say might flow from something I didn't know to write down. What if he gives it to me in the moment? Am I open? What if he gives it to you through a time in your life that's the scariest time of all? Are you open?

Don't be afraid. That's hard to do, man. My daughter's died. No, no, no. Keep it in the bubble. Just believe. Just believe. Just believe. Thought bubbles. Something so simple just to say, what are the thought bubbles? The things that I thought that God was going to do, the things I've limited to. Just like a thought can link you to the power of God, a thought can limit you. Thought can limit you. Just like a thought can limit you. The woman experienced a point of connection by faith. She acted on a thought and she was healed.

Namon, I wanted to introduce him to Jairus because Naman almost missed it. The Lord said, I'm preaching to somebody today who's in danger of missing it. The thing that he's doing in your life, see, Naiman got ready to go see the prophet. He burst his bubble. He said, I'll go to Samaria. How many know when it gets bad enough? You'll try stuff. You'll try stuff that you didn't think about trying.

You'll start eating broccoli and stuff. You'll start fasting and stuff. You'll become a vegan and stuff. You start praying and stuff, worshiping and stuff. You become one of those Christians, one of those radical Christians. So he went to his master, verse four. Follow me quick on the scriptures. I'm closing.

And he told him what the girl from Israel had said. By all means go, the king of Aaron replied, I'll send the letter to the king. the things that the king thought would help Naiman. And Naiman left, and he took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, 10 sets of clothing, all the things he thought he would need. All the things that he thought were required for his life to be restored. When he got there with the letter that the king sent with Naiman so that you may cure him of his leprosy.

The Bible says that when the King of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes. Don't lock into a song, just minister. I just want you to let your gift flow. He tore his robes and said, am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his love? You see I was trying to pick a quarrel with me? But watch the prophet, the prophet Elisha, the man of God heard that the King of Israel had torn

his robes. Have you torn your robes? Have you forgotten who you are? Have you gone so deep into mourning that it's no longer just a necessary grief? But it has become normal for you? Have you medicated yourself with misery? No, Elijah said, don't tear your robes. Have him come to me and he'll know there's a prophet in Israel.

So, Amen went with what? His horses, his chariots. He stopped at the door of Elijah's house. God said you're at the door today. At the door, and he's waiting on Elijah, he's waiting on a miracle. How many of you are waiting for something in your life right now, some kind of breakthrough? Please raise your hand if you're breathing. If you're breathing, that means there's more breakthroughs that God wants you to experience.

He don't want you to just stay stagnant, just stay at one level. We're going from glory to glory. Come on, I'm going to keep preaching faith. I'm creating a bubble. Elevation Church is going to be a bubble for you over these next few months. This is going to be a bubble where you're going to get. pure, honest, raw faith. There is a word from the Lord.

Elisha sent a messenger to him, huh? I told him, go wash yourself seven times, and the Jordan and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed. But Naman. But, Naman, but Naman. For all of you who are hung up on that part that says, but you missed the real message. He went away angry and said,

The woman received a miracle because she thought, Namon almost missed his. Just like a thought can bring healing, a thought can stop it. I thought that he would surely stop trying to be so certain, be confident. Certainty and confidence are two totally different things, child of God. Certainty is faith in what you thought he would do. is faith in who's going to do it. This is the word. I thought he was going to come out here and stand and call on the name of the Lord His God

and wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. I thought he was going to do one of these little things. God had to burst Naiman's bubble, set him free from what he thought. I believe there's a miracle happening in your heart. right now. God is bursting the bubble of what you thought, what you thought you needed, what you thought you could be, what you thought you couldn't survive without. You're going to discover new capabilities in this season that you didn't even know you had. But Neiman almost went off because I thought. How many things have I missed? Because I thought, how many things has God wanted to do in my life?

But I didn't participate because it didn't match what I'm going to bless you. You're not like you thought. God set me free from what I thought. What a prayer. Set me free, watch this, from my blueprint. That's not what I thought. And then he took me all the way back to Isaiah, who said, my ways are higher than your ways. And my thoughts are not your thoughts.

So the Lord wants to do a thought transplant for you today. You got approved on the donor list. He sent his son to die for you. He said he wants to give you a thought transplant. I said, what does that look like? God? He said, well, it's going to have a rejection period. My dad had a liver transplant, so I know all this stuff.

It's going to have a rejection period. But tell them to begin to think. Tell them to spend some time in the bubble with me. my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. Thank God that Naman had a good friend. Thank God that Naman had a voice. Because he almost missed what God wanted to give him because it's not what he thought. Just about the time that the man was going off like you've been going off. Just about the time he was about to just get cynical and bitter and mean and nasty. Just about the time he was saying, why bother? Namon servants.

came to him and said, can you imagine the conversation? I'm not telling them. I'm not telling them. But one of them said it. From a thought bubble to a dialogue box. You know, he spoke it. He said, my father, respect. Mr. Damon, my father.

If he told you to do a great thing, would you not have done it? How much more than when he tells you wash and be cleansed and thank God that he went down? Isn't it crazy how God's thoughts are above our thoughts? But sometimes he calls us to come down and to do something that seems so dumb. Naiman said, I could have washed in the rivers of Damascus. They were better than this. Your bubble is what you think would be better. God wants to burst that bubble too.

It's not better to be somebody else. God wants to set you free from your bubble of what you think would be better. Enjoy where he has you. I know I want it to get better too. There's a lot of things I want to get better. But God invites Neiman into a process, and I believe he's calling you too to go down, just stop worshiping what you thought, realize that his ways are higher, embrace his purpose in this season, and he dipped himself into Jordan seven times.

You know what that spoke to me? Repetition. You don't think differently because you have. heard a sermon. You don't think differently because you don't grow pecks by doing it once every four weeks. God said another rep. God said another rep. Until you think like I think. And the man of God told him to do it seven times, and he did it seven times, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. He became who he was all along, before the leprosy, before the heartbreak, before the addiction.

God is restoring you. God is restoring you. God is restoring you. The Spirit of the Lord is restoring you. Dip by dip, thought by thought, dip by dip. Thought by thought. He's burst in your bubble. You don't need your camels.

You don't need your spices. You don't need your clothes. You don't need any of that. It's not going to take what you thought. God said, my ways are higher. So, Lord, We've covered so much ground today. And then it all comes down to something so simple.

It comes down to something so simple that we could miss it. It comes down to us realizing that beneath all the layers of what life has put on us and struggle has put on us. Naiman had to become a son, a boy, the woman had to become a daughter. God bring us back to who we really are. Thank you that we are not our thoughts, our decisions. our mistakes, our accomplishments. We stand here right now because we have a name that has been given to us that is above every name. Whatever people can call us, categorize us by, I'm something different. Something different than what I did. I'm something different than what I

think. Who am I God? Show me who I really am. Show me who you really are. I'll dip in the Jordan if I I have to. I'll apologize. I want to rethink my life from your level. I want to spend some time in the bubble. God, I want you to pull down every stronghold, every thought that didn't come from you. Cast it out right now. Hallelujah.

We worship you, Lord. Lift your hands. God said, as you think on his goodness, I hear the Lord say, what are your thoughts? Not as a question, not what are your thoughts. are your thoughts. I hear the Lord saying, water your thoughts with worship. Open up your mouth right now. If you get serious enough, you won't care what everybody thinks about it around you. You'll do it right there in your living room and begin to worship him. I am a child of God. Even something that's simple. Come on. Let's have a breakthrough right there in the bubble, right there in your home. Let's have God show up right in that place, right in that broken.

Come on, Chris, begin the minister. Out of the bubble, out of the plan. Come on, do it with spot laity. Thank you for a new thought. I thank you for the things I didn't even think of. I thank you for the provision I didn't even know that. Worship, worship. To be kind of a tradition, me talking to you after the message right here at my desk,

just coming off stage. It took me a few minutes to collect myself. I really felt the Lord's message. I really felt the Lord speaking through me. And I believe it was for you. I think God gives a preacher a word for a certain person. And if that was you today, I pray that you receive it, that you had received a thought transplant. And that whatever God is speaking to you about who you are in him or what he's called you to do or what he hasn't called you to do or be, I just pray you'll spend some time reflecting on it.

Or as I said there, water your thoughts. water the word of God that has been planted. So much more to share, but I got to stop for now. I want to pray for you. Lord, thank you so much for each person who heard this message. I want to pray for them like we were just sitting together. I pray that whatever it is that has been tormenting them, telling them that they're not enough, telling them that they won't make it, that it would be shut out of the room, that only Peter, James, and John would be allowed in. In this moment, Holy Spirit, come and give them a thought that can take them from where they have been, to where you're calling them to. But at the same time, Lord, we know that you are in this moment.

So I thank you for your peace, your joy. I pray that it would flow in abundance and that this week we would see your glory in places we never thought to look. We thank you, Lord, that your ways are higher than ours, and we trust you. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, I love you. I pray that you'll continue to hear the word and respond. to it. And thank you to all of you who respond, those of you who give. That's how the ministry happens, man. It's because of you. You're the reason we're touching so many lives and shining the light of Christ. May the Lord multiply it back to you a hundredfold. And for sharing, subscribing, all of it. It all matters. Oh, man, let's just stay connected in this time.

There's so much God wants to do. It's the power of connection that makes it happen. I love you. I'll see you next time. This is an IHeart podcast. human.