Elevation with Steven Furtick - Timing Your Testimony

Episode Date: April 26, 2021

Will you trust God’s timing? In “Timing Your Testimony,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church reveals that God’s faithfulness is always at work in our lives (but that His timing may not be what we expected).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 faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God as moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Y'all be seated. I want to tell you a story today. From the Bible, from 2nd King's Chapter 8. And you might not have heard this one before. That's really good. It's really good. In 2nd Kings chapter 8, there's a little story.

Like you said that already, I'm just stalling while I find my scripture. The scripture records this. Now, Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, go away with your family and stay for a while. Put that in the chat. Stay for a while. I feel God on the first verse of the passage, and we've got five more to go, Pastor Keenan. Stay for a while. But here's the bad part. Stay for a while wherever you can, not necessarily where you want, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years. The woman proceeded to do, as the man of God said, she and her family went away and stayed

in the land of the Philistines seven years. At the end of the seven years, she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and land. The king was talking to Gahezi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, tell me all about the great things Elisha has done. Just as Gahezi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life, came to appeal to the king for her house and land. Gahezi said, this is the woman, my lord the king.

And that's her son, whom Elisha said, whom Elisha said, this is the woman. are restored to life. The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then, you're ready for this? He assigned an official to her case and said to him, give back everything that belonged to her. I need to know who's with me today, because it feels like a funeral in the room, but it's really a great opportunity for you to shout, say, give back everything in the chat. Give back everything. This is not a time for lowercase. This is a time for all caps. Give back everything. Say it again. Give back everything that belonged to her. Including the income from her land, from the day she left, the country until now. So this is your sermon. You're the one that I fought the devil to get this

message for? Well, good, because the Lord told me to talk to you today about timing your testimony. Do you know what I mean when I say testimony? Put the word testimony in the chat. For some of you, this will bring up a courtroom image, depending on the path that your life has taken, or what you're watching, or whatever you're aware of. For others, it will put us back in a church during the scariest time of the church service. How many know what I'm talking about when I say a testimony service in a church? Because it's totally ad-lived, and there are no gutters in case the balls go right off. You never know if it's going to hit any pins or if somebody's going to stand up and monopolize the time. Pastor Mickey used to do the testimony service, and he used to have people

come up and say stuff. When I started this church, I had people share their testimonies, but I always had a rule. This was my rule, and I think it's a pretty good rule. They could share their testimony, but I always had to hold the mic. Is that true? And I trained our campus pastors. Is this true campus pastors? I said, when you bring somebody up on stage that you can't trust.

And let me tell you who to trust the least, the one who is the most excited to come up and share when you offer the opportunity. So that's our rule. You hold the mic. And I'll tell you why. Just because there's one story that stands out of my mind. I've seen some testimony services go really bad, and maybe you have to. One that I heard about, I didn't see this with my own eyes, but my friend Carl, he had this incident where he was playing piano behind the pastor. And during testimony service, there was a man who stood up and said, I called him to morning to confirm this was true. Do you remember this story? He was playing piano, and a man stood up and said, I just need to confess to the Lord that I've been having some really

bad thoughts about people. And yes, I mean you, big boy. And he turns in points to my friend Carl's dad. And so Carl's dad, do you know this story? And Carl's dad stood up right. I barely remembered it too. But he said, and I mean you, big boy. I'm talking about you big boy, in testimony service. And Carl's dad stood up, comes to the front of the church. This is a little church, there's no security. Comes to the front of the church with his chest out and says, well, how about we move this to the parking lot?

You're talking about me? So what's my number one rule for testimony service? You hold the mic, because I can't trust you yet. And trust takes time. And there are certain things that you need to hold on to until you've had enough to. relational time to develop trust. That's not being paranoid. That's just the wisdom of experience. So another thing that I would teach is kind of like a countdown timer. Like after 60 seconds, take it back. Take the mic back after about 60 seconds. That's all it takes. If they start with

my great-grandmother, get the mic, start pulling it back. Pull it back slowly so it doesn't happen all at once. Just kind of slowly. And the truth of the matter is, you never really get to share the true story of what God is doing in your life as it is. You don't really have time to tell everything, and you really don't have trust to tell everything. What I called it in a recent sermon was a time-lapse testimony, where you edit out the scenes that you don't want other people to see.

And I think that's wise. I don't think you should just trust anybody talking about the things that God has done in your life. What I wonder is, have you even told yourself your true testimony? When I read the scripture in 2nd Kings chapter 8, it kind of came alive in me to realize that, I guess depending on how you look at it, God either has really terrible timing or really impeccable timing. You could make the case from certain scriptures that God has terrible timing. And I know that makes me sound like a heretic, and they could probably clip this

and put it on YouTube or something like that and say all my false teachings. But four days after Lazarus dies is bad timing to show up and help. Or the fourth watch of the night just before dawn is a terrible time to step in and stop the storm. In this scripture, though, it brought to my memory all the times that God was waiting for the exact right moment in my life where he could achieve the most glory out of my situation to step in. Some sermons that I preach are like a lesson. This one to me and my spirit feels more like a lifeline that God gave me to give to somebody as you were waiting for the restoration of something that you lost.

And if we can look at this scripture for a moment today, I think we can see some things to help us, especially in verse one. It says that Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored. Everybody say the word restored. I love that word. I think we need to use it more in church. Restored. Restored to life.

And he told that woman, go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can. can because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years. Now, here's what will get you about the story. In verse two, the woman proceeded to do, as the man of God said, and then when she came back seven years later, she lost what she had. So I can understand characters like Jonah, who God says, go to Nineveh, but you want to go to Tarshish, and because you want to go to Tarshish, and because you want to go to Tarshish, You end up on the seaweed Mediterranean diet.

You end up having to spend the night in a fish. That's understandable. This scripture suggests that you can do exactly what God tells you, that you can go exactly where he sends you, that you can act on God's word and not see the results that you imagine. You can do everything right. And see, this is where we get in trouble, because sometimes we become convinced that the famine is our fault.

Notice in the passage, the Lord decreed the famine and the Lord told the woman to leave. But when she left in the process of going where God sent her to survive, she lost something that she had before she left. And the famine wasn't her fault. And there's no disobedience. I mean, this woman, you don't know much about her maybe, but she's absolutely amazing. because she had a very generous heart. We kind of know this woman. We know a lot about this woman.

And to me, she's familiar because I've preached a lot about her story. But, see, things have changed for her. You know, one day you can stand up and share where you're at in your life and is so amazing and you're so blessed. One of the reasons that I don't teach parenting sermons is because mine still live with me. And I don't want to tempt God. Do you understand what I mean to get up and preach seven ways?

to raise an amazing kid, and then God sends seven demons in my kid so that I can see that sometimes you can do all the right things as a parent. It'll keep you from getting judgmental to realize that this is the same woman. When the prophet asked her, what do you want? Because she had done a great thing for Elisha. And when the prophet said, what do you want? She said something interesting. I don't need anything. I've got a home among my own people. And the woman who needed nothing in 2nd Kings chapter 4 now has nothing in 2nd Kings chapter 8. What is the point of that for me to bring it up? Don't be arrogant.

In seasons of blessings, don't be arrogant. And by the same token, in seasons of struggle, don't despair. Emmy would love to convince you that it's all your fault. Even the things that people did to you, that there was something wrong with you that made them do it. But the famine wasn't her fault. The famine wasn't her fault. Now, I hesitate to preach this because we live in a time where people kind of don't want

to take responsibility for anything. So by saying this, the famine isn't their fault. I'm afraid that my sermon will be misapplied. The famine wasn't her fault. she still had a responsibility. So she walks back into the presence of the king to ask him to give back what she lost when she left. What you lost when you left. What you lost when you left. Okay. I'm going to share something with you. This is kind of personal, but about two and a half years ago, I realized there were some things in my life that God wanted to give me and that indeed he had

promised me that I had given up on. I'll tell you exactly what it was. It's not some deep dark secret. I just never really thought to share it with you until I read this passage. Pretty much I had made up my mind that I was some kind of machine that God wanted to use to do ministry. I thought that my greatest value to God was what he could use me to do. I don't think I would have said it like that.

I certainly preach the opposite of that. You're a child of God, you're the righteousness of God, you're not a human doing, you're a human being, but you can say all kinds of stuff with your mouth and not believe it in your heart. I promise you. You can all day long have the right answers and then deep down in your heart have some really dark questions. And for me, I was starting to wonder like, do I matter apart from what I do?

Now, that's a tender thing to say. you because some of it I'm still undoing. Let me take a little bit of my testimony. I started preaching when I was 16. So for me, that was really early for me to become acquainted with the fact that when you stand up and talk, you're representing God. I'm thankful that God called me at that stage of my life. I really wouldn't change any of it, you know.

But what it did in me, it started to kind of conflate my identity. with my contribution. Or I could say it another way, it kind of started to confuse my identity with my gift. That happens to a lot of pastors. And about two and a half years ago, I found myself in the position of this woman. Now, here's how I relate to her. Not that I'm a widow. She's a woman.

I'm a man. This woman, as a matter of fact, has seen a physical resurrection of her child. What I can relate to her in this way is that God wanted to give her something that she didn't even know to ask for. And then in the process of surviving a famine, she had lost something. I think in the process, in chunks I never talked to you about this, but in the process of building this church, which I believe God called me to do, as a leader, as a preacher, I think there are some things that while I was doing what it required to do that, I kind of

left myself out of it. Y'all are like, God, what drug was he on? It wasn't like all that, because it doesn't always have to be like all of that. All I know is I would find myself many times wondering, if I couldn't do what I did, would I have any right to be here? And basically, I thought that the only way for me to belong was to think. bring something external to myself for others. There came a point because sometimes you have to go low enough.

I experienced several moments that God gave me. I really see it now as a gift. I didn't see it as a gift at the time, but God let me get low enough that I had to make a decision, and I did, that if this is what it cost to succeed in ministry, I would rather fail in people eyes, but have joy inside myself, then achieve everything that the world offers and feel empty. The reason that I'm telling you this is because I think this happens to all of us from time to time, that we have to do certain things in certain seasons, right?

Like being a mom, if you've ever been a mom or you're considering being a mom, you should know or testify to the fact. If you've experienced it, you can say amen to this. If you haven't experienced it, you can consider it in the contract of becoming a mom, that you become a hostage to another human in the process. And it's not just for moms. Like sometimes as a man, to build your career, sometimes you find yourself in the process of making a living. You lose a sense of yourself in what's important. So the prophet said, you've got to get out of here. And she did what the prophet said. She wasn't running from God.

She wasn't disobeying God. She was doing what she had to do to survive. Can you own the fact that some of the things that you did in your life, you were doing what you had to do? And the devil just beats you up with it at night. How could you do that? That was the best I could do in that season. I was doing the best I could. I was balancing so much.

much. It was all I could do to stand up straight. And then the enemy will come along and subtract all of those factors of survival. She didn't run from God. The prophet told her to go away, and she lost what was hers in the process of being obedient to God. Because I kind of felt like a hypocrite when I was struggling emotionally. And here's how it would be. You come out to preach, the worship team is going into something very powerful and intimate. And sometimes it was a song I wrote. And I wouldn't feel the lyrics to the song I wrote. And I'd be coming out here, but I have a job to do, and I want to be responsible.

I mean, good God, if I'm a plumber, I don't get to feel, you know, putting a wrench on a pipe. You've got to just fix something. So I've got a job to do. So I'll come up here and inspire faith. Not every time, but a lot of times. And I would feel guilty. What it took out of me to build the ministry, put me in a place where I could not receive ministry myself. And it scared me.

It scared me that I could become a shell. And I had to have a moment that reminds me of this woman boldly going to the king and saying, I want it back. I want it back. I don't want to just build something or survive something. I want it back. You're scared to say that because we are taught that if God wants us to have it, he'll just give it. And he will.

But the other day, we were driving in this rainstorm and we were coming home. from the mountains, and it was raining so hard. There was a flash flood warning on all of our phones, and I was just driving. I could barely see out of the windshield. I was just driving. And Graham is the kid in our family who will say the most with the least words. And he said, is no one else scared about this other than me? Am I the only one that's concerned about this? And I said, I was just playing around, but I said, son, God's hand is on our vehicle, and God will see us through this storm. and the boy says, there's only so much God can do. Maybe we should pull over.

How does he get this at 13, and we don't at 30? At the risk of running you out of this church, let me say something theologically deep. There is only so much God can do. No, no, no. God can do anything. He can make the stars. He can make the sun. We can move the mountains, but you've got to speak the word.

So it starts with me being honest about the fact that in the process of surviving a famine that I didn't cause, like some of you were doing the best you could. You didn't have an example for it. You were doing the best you could. You didn't have a frame of reference for it. You were doing the best you could. You had never been this way before. And the Lord's centered to the land of the Philistines.

What do you know about the Philistines in the Bible? Good guys or bad guys. Good place to be or bad place to be. She had to go into an enemy-occupied place to survive a famine. And so have some of us. Some of us, that's where our addictions came from. In order to keep ourselves on the planet, we had to do something to numb the pain. I love this sermon, because it takes the shame out of where I've been. It helps me to understand. that there comes a time where you have to appreciate where God fed you during the famine, but be willing to leave and go back to the place where you really belong. You know how I said this was like a lifeline?

You've convinced yourself that you can never have it. You've convinced yourself that you can never be happy. And you quote Bible verses. God wants you to be holy, not happy. That's in the first version of you. That's not a Bible verse. That's the book of your dumb cousin's opinion. You ever read that?

Now, in case this seems like a stretch to compare us to this woman, let me tell you a little bit more about her story. She wasn't really looking to get something from God. She was looking to give something to God. She had a, well, you can go watch the sermon online. I preached it to Holly called Just a... two of us. I preached it in the whole empty room. It was just her on the front row and a few people that snuck in the back, but it was just the two of us. I used it to talk about

this woman and her husband. Did you all hear this sermon yet? It was the most awkward sermon I ever preached because it was just two of us in the room. Very big room. This woman was just determined to use what she had for God, really expecting nothing in return. Now, when I say timing your testimony, and I use these examples about taking the mic away and all of this, what I really mean by timing your testimony is about trusting God to obey him before he has shown you exactly why he's calling you to do it. It's really easy to say after the fact that God connected this and that and the other. But the trick of it is that she made a room for the prophet to come and see.

stay before she knew what God was going to do through her act of obedience. Isn't that the hardest thing? Like the author said, to believe in advance what will only make sense in reverse? That's the hardest thing in the world. To let down the nets for the catch before you have any clue that this carpenter knows where they are. That's the hard part. After she did that, the prophet said, you've gone to all this trouble for us.

Now what can we do for you? She had something in her heart that she wanted God to do, like you have something in your heart that you want God to do, a freedom that you want to experience, a gift that you want to see God develop, a greater state of meaning than just survival. She had it in her heart, but she had learned how to hide it. And when the Prophet said, what can I do for you? The woman said, I have a home. among my own people.

Because she did then. What she didn't have was a son. And the Bible tells us her husband was old. I told you, God has terrible timing. He waits till this man is shriveled up. Can I say it like that? And he brought her what she had stopped asking for. It was so painful for her to consider the potential that it could be any different that

she said, stop messing with me. Do not mislead your servant, man of God. And she pushed away the promise of God. She pushed away the promise of God. She pushed away the possibility of something different. She pushed away. That's what you've been doing to everything that God has been sending into your life, to mature you and restore you.

She is pushing away the very thing that came from the mouth of the one that she made a room for. She is pushing away the promise that God has sent her. But God did it anyway. The prophet looked at her and said, about this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms. And she did. And she did. There is no record that she believed it. There is no record that she had faith for it.

There is no record that she all of a sudden came into a script. or quotation phase of her study, did a Bible, Beth, more Bible study on Pillars of Faith. There is no record of that, but she held a son. And one day, unexpected to her, that son died unexpectedly. So let's recap. I didn't ask you for a son. You gave it to me anyway, and then you let it die. She takes the boy, can I tell you the story? This is such a great story. Brings the boy puts it on the bed of the prophet, she went to IKEA and picked this bed out herself. Put it together herself. And she said, I'm going to put this back on the place that you were laying when you told me God would give it to me.

And Elijah restored the boy to life. That boy is the boy that's standing in the king's court at least seven years later in Second King's the boy that she didn't ask God to give her, the boy that died even after God gave the boy to her and came back to life. And what got me about this text was realizing that the thing that died in one season of her life was the thing that stood beside her in the moment of her greatest knee. So you've got to imagine it. Ghezai is the servant of Elisha.

And the king calls Gahezi and says, tell me some stories about Elijah. And Gahezy has many. Well, there was one time, one time he took his cloak and he struck the Jordan with it and the waters parted. And the people were waiting to see, is he really a man of God? And the waters parted. And then one time there was a spring in the town and the water was poisonous. But Elijah put some salt in the water and he purified it. And he said, your water will never be cursed again and you can drink from it.

And then, well, one time there were these boys who called him baldy and he called some bears out of the water. woods tomorrow. But let's skip that one. You know, you're such selective stories. One time there was this Confederation of Kings, and they were in the middle of a drought, and Elijah came out to him. He said, I don't even want to talk to you because you follow the wicked gods of your ancestors. And if I didn't have respect for Jahashvah, I wouldn't even speak to you. But now bring me a minstrel, and the minstrel started playing, and Elisha started prophesying in the dry valley. And he told him, dig your own ditches and prepare for the rain that you can't see. And the rain came from a direction that it wasn't expected. It didn't come from the sky like normal rain does.

It came from somewhere else. It's just the way Elisha was. And you can picture Gehazot. He's getting fired up telling these stories. You know, he's remembering. He's rehearsing the things that God did in a previous season. He's rehearsing the things that God did in a previous season. Because one time we went to this widow's house and she had a little bit of oil and she thought she had no oil.

But Elisha told her, go back and check the thing that you called nothing again. Because what you call nothing is exactly what God needs to do something that you. So he's telling the story. stories, right? And there's one that he skipped with Naaman. Because Naiman was a leper who came to be healed. And when Elisha pronounced healing over by dipping seven times in the Jordan, which is a ridiculous thing to do because the Jordan is a little dirty body of water, and Naaman

was a great commander. And he could have bathed in the waters of Abna and Farfar, but he had to come all the way to the prophet and dip in the Jordan seven times for his flesh to be restored like a young boy. He was so excited by his miracle that he tried to give some gifts to Elisha, and Elisha said, I don't want your gifts. I didn't do it for that. And Gaheza chased down Naaman and said, hey, my master changed his mind. So whatever you have, I'll take it back to him.

And he kept it for himself. And Elisha, the man of God knew about it. And he called him out, and Gaheza had leprosy. So what's he doing in the court of the king? A leper can't be in the court of the king. looks like the little boy isn't the only one that God restored. I have to put this in because if I don't, you'll think that only if you're like the woman and you do what God told you to do, that you can ask God to restore what you lost.

But Gehazai is standing in the presence of the king. Watch this, to let you know that even if you did it, even if it was your fault, even if it was Even if it was your selfishness, even if you were the one who let go, even if it was your irresponsibility, you can stand in the presence of God under the blood of Jesus. Jesus, I want back a drip from me and stole from me and took from me. So he's telling her the stories. He's telling the king the stories. And he gets to the one about the woman, and she built us a room, and she put a bed in it,

And she didn't have a son. And Elisha said, you're going to have a son. And she's like, I don't even want a son. I've given up on it. And Elisha prophesied the son. And she shows up pregnant. And then the kid dies. And he's in the field.

And he starts screaming about his head. And then they put him on the bed. And I was going to go try to heal him with my staff. But Elisha said, no, this is a job for me. And he came in. And I don't know what he did in that room because it was just him and the boy in there. But they both came out. As he is talking, the woman walks.

in the room. Do you understand the statistical improbability? That at the exact moment, there are so many stories to be told about Elisha. I didn't even give you half of them, but God knew the exact moment that Gahezi would be talking about that woman. I don't know if she hit traffic on the so that she was late or whether she caught every green light so that she got there right on time. But I have learned something about God. You can trust his timing. You can give him the mic. You can let him speak what he wants to speak over your life.

And in the appointed time, it will come to pass. I've seen it in my own life. I've seen it in my own life that God knows exactly what, who, where, when. Oh, this is the best scripture. Do you all want the best scripture in the Bible? Here's the best scripture in the Bible. Psalm 139. Now, this is the best scripture today.

I'll have a different one tomorrow. But this is the best scripture I've ever read in my life right now. Because God will give you a certain word at a certain time. Here's what he gave me. Here's what he gave me, boy. You ready? Psalm 139, 125. I know that 125 doesn't sound like a verse number, but it is.

There's a hundred and twenty-five in this verse. And I'm glad I took time to find it because it said something really powerful to me. I am thy servant, give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies. Here's the part to hit me. Hold on before I read it. Who is this for? It is time for the Lord to work. Not for me, for thee. And I want you to come into the presence of the king, not the king of Israel. I want you to come into the presence of the king. The Lord told me to tell you, it's time for him to work. You've done everything you can do about it. You have manipulated it. You have manipulated it.

it so much that you've messed it up even worse. There comes a time where Holly tells us, get out of the kitchen. You are not helping. And I heard the Lord saying to somebody, get out of the kitchen and let me work. It is time for thee, oh Lord, to work. For they have made void thy law. It is time for thee to do something about what they did. This woman left a homeowner, and while she was gone, surviving the famine, somebody else took her home. The king said, go back to Second Kings chapter 8, this is so anointed. I can barely get it out of my mouth. There's so much jumping up in my spirit while I preach to you because the Lord said, this

is a lifeline for somebody. It is time for thee, O Lord, to work. She comes into the presence of the king to ask back for what she lost. when she left. At the exact moment that she walks in, Gaheza was telling the king, her story. Does God not have the craziest timing? And Gahazai said, that's that woman, the one who put the table and the lamp in the bed in the room, the one who gave us a place to stay. That's her, the one whose son, Elijah, restored to life, and there's the boy. Now, you have got to drag what God did in your past into the room and show the thing that you are facing today

what God did for you yesterday. That's what you got to do. It is time for you to work, Lord. So just like you gave me this back, I need that back. Just like you restored this that I thought was gone forever. And God did that for me. There are some things that I know that I know that I don't have to prove it to you, you don't have to agree with it. God did that for me. Nobody else. It wasn't a human. God might have used somebody, but only God could bring the dead back to life. So the God who did this, I need him to do that. And verse 6 says something very interesting. This is the last verse I want to give you, because the king asked the woman about it, and she told him. And then, read it again, she told

him what God had done for her, and then he assigned an official to her case. So she only got back what she needed when she told the story of what God had done. You follow the sequence? She could have told herself any story. Life isn't fair. This isn't right. I tried to obey God and now look at me. But she told the story of what God had done. And so God wants to know, why have you stopped telling the story to others to yourself? Why have you stopped telling the story of what I did for you and replaced it with a story of fear of what might happen next? So while you are telling yourself these hypothetical stories of what might happen or these shes, shameful stories of what did happen. You are standing next to a story, a living, breathing,

walking, talking, miracle, a product of nothing but the grace of God. That's why April Carter told me, she said, God did this for me, and I said, well, why didn't he do that? And she said, in all fairness, it's not your story. See, she never stopped telling herself the story. You stop telling yourself the story of God's faithfulness, and you start telling yourself the story of fear. She told him what God had done. And then, everybody say then in the chat. I'm telling you right now, that one word, or let me give you another word, yet. I don't have it yet.

I haven't found a way to get set free from this. yet. I don't see how it's going to work out yet. See, timing your testimony. Don't tell it too early, because you don't know what God is going to do in Chapter 8. See, it's like the timing of God is so amazing. And every time you tell yourself a story about the things that God did then, and you bring it into the presence of what you need him to do now. He said, give her back what belongs to her. Say it out loud, peace belongs to me. I am a child of God.

Joy belongs to me. I am a child of God. Freedom is my inheritance. I am a child of God. I belong because I believe. I am a child of God. Tell yourself that story. Preach the gospel to yourself.

If Ghezai can rehearse the great things that God has done, who was a leper and a scoundrel, can't you? And can you trust God's timing enough to give him the mic and believe what he speaks? That though the vision, Terry, wait for it, for it has an appointed time. taking me a while to understand that God's timing is created to increase my trust in him. Whether that's the fourth watch of the night or whether that's the fourth day after I have lost something that I love. And God gives you these little gifts.

What are yours? Have you told anybody that part of your story or are you so consumed with your present struggle that you have stopped? rehearsing your past victories. I know I've told you this before. Can I tell you one thing that happened to me? Stand up. It'll pressure me to close.

I can't tell you all of these things, but do you all remember me telling you in 2016 how I was on vacation with the family near Charleston? Went over to the farmer's market. You know this story. All right, well, I'm going to tell it for somebody else. It's too good not to tell you. I'm at the farmer's market. You want the whole story? I'm at the farmer's market with Holly because she dragged me there.

I don't go to farmers markets of my own volition. I wanted a farmer's market. But I went, not knowing why. But I got there, and you were there. Whole family was there. This girl comes walking over to us from, she had a, what do you call it, confess? perfection, cupcakes and stuff. A bakery stand at the farmer's market.

She was so nice. Her name was Adi May. She came up and said, I want to give your family some sugar. It's hyper. But she said, I love your podcasts. Can I get a picture? I was more than happy to do that. But at the same time, I looked like a bum.

I was just worried that I wouldn't look too good in the selfie. She said something that I thought was kind of weird. She said, my pastor is going to be so jealous. And I said, for me that we met? She said, yeah. He loves you. I said, tell your pastor. I said, hi.

What's his name? She said, that's great. Tell him. I said, hi. She said, I'm going to go tell him right now. I'm going to go call him. And she called him. She came back over with the cupcakes because we were about to leave.

She said, my pastor said that we actually invited you to preach at our church this week about a year ago. And your office declined because they said that you were on family vacation. And so I was like, well, they weren't lying. I'm right here on family vacation. And she said, but all the same, you should come over to our holy convocation this week. I said, no, I said, vacation, not convocation. This is a holy vacation.

It's a whole different, let me tell you, it's a whole different rhythm. But just to be polite or whatever, I took the dates. She wrote it out on the car, the church, and all this stuff. I'm telling you a story for a reason. I promise I am. The Lord told me to tell you this story. And sometimes I have to do this just to remember, because I have moments where I wonder, Is God really ordering my steps?

Or is this random? So I have to tell myself these stories of times where God made at the right moment. Can you remember one where God brought at the right moment? Raise your hand if you can remember one, just even one. That's a testimony. And we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb. That's what Jesus has done and the word of our testimony. Now remember what Graham said.

is only so much God can do. Yes, he can do anything, but he will not tell your testimony for you. That is your story. That is your testimony. That is your choice to believe. So she writes down the name of the church and she says, on this night so and so speaking, on that night so and so speaking, and this night so and so speaking. The last one that she put on my card, I think on the Friday night, she said, this guy's speaking, and I have had always wanted to hear him preach. So all of a sudden, I'm like, well, maybe I will go over there, you know, and I'm kind of glad I met her. And I had somebody in my office call over to the church and see if that pastor was coming on that night, and he was. And the pastor

said he wanted to, wanted us to meet and hang out. Whatever, that's not the point. Okay, so let me get to the point. So the day of the, I'm going to go over to the church comes, and I get a text from, my assistant says, the pastor who was going to come, he can't come. He had a back injury. I'm telling you, the voice of God is much louder than a shout. Because a shout, you can put some AirPods and noise cancel. But when God speaks to you, you can't do anything with it. Either obey it or be miserable. So in that moment, I knew you need to call that pastor that Adi May gave you the card and offer to go over there and preach tonight.

And so I'm going through my mind. It's been two or three weeks that since I've been in my own pulpit, I'm like, I don't know that I remember any Bible verses, because I don't always read the Bible every day on vacation. And so I'm like, well, I'll call. And, you know, it'll be like I'll just put out a fleece like Gideon, Lord. And in fact, the first thing I said, I'll get my assistant. to call. And the Lord was like, no, you do it. So I'm like, oh, I don't know the number of the church. I just know the name. And the Lord said, Google. I call the church. The pastor doesn't answer.

Nobody answers. I leave some message. And I'm like, okay, Lord. So I offered Isaac on the altar and you didn't want him. Going back to the beach. I leave this weird message on the phone. I say, hey, this is Stephen Ferdick, the pastor of Elevation Church. I'm out here on vacation. I met a girl named Adi May, and I heard your speaker canceled tonight, and I was just calling to see if you needed a preacher or whatever. But I'm sure you don't, so have a nice day and God bless and Ephesians 320. So I hang up.

About the time I can get my beach attire back on, I'm headed out to the beach. Phone rings, and it's the pastor. He said, this is Stephen Ferdick? I said, yes, sir. He said, his name in. He said, you really will come preach for us tonight? Yeah, I guess. I said, but I would tell you, I have no convocation clothes.

I'm out here on vacation with my family. I look like Tom Hanks on Day 81 with Wilson out here. So it's just going to have to be. I said, I only have, the dressiest thing I have is Yeezys. And he said, I'll wear my Yeezies too. If you'll come. I said, I'll come. I don't know what I'll preach, but I'll come."

When I got there that night and showed up to preach, I got to see Addie Mae, and then I got to see the pastor. When I saw him, he had tears his eyes. He said, after so many years in the ministry, several decades, he said, I never had the Lord answer a prayer as directly as he did. He said, you were our first choice to come preach tonight. I've done three funerals this week. When you called, the reason nobody answered the phone was because we were in a prayer meeting

asking for God to send us a preacher to you. And I preached. And I don't know if it was any good. It didn't matter. The point was obedience. Oh, not my obedience. Think about God. At just the time the ferdicts are getting to the farmer's market, 30 more minutes, she would

have packed up those cupcakes. He said, the pastor said, you were my ram in the bush. Talking about Genesis with Abraham and Isaac. I like to tell that story to remind myself that God is going to bring things together in the right time. And I can trust him in that. I can trust them in that. I want to tell you something that I never told my church before.

About two years ago, I sent Chris Brown out to do some music with this amazing worship team called Maverick City Music. I said, you've got to go out there. And when he came back, I wanted to know everything because there's such a great anointing on this ministry. I said, what is God doing? I said, it feels punk rock to me. Is it punk rock?

He said, it's so punk rock for the Lord. He said, but do you know about Chandler? Is Chandler back there? He said, do you know about Chandler? I said, yeah, that's the guy. He's amazing. What about him? He said, that was his dad's church.

His dad was that you went and preached for in 2016 when Adi May have died. God gives you these moments. God gives you these moments or something that seems so small to you in one season. Then I find myself last year sitting in a room with Chandler and Naomi and Chris and writing a song called Jira, a song that we weren't even trying to write. He was sitting at the piano and he just sang, Jira. Say Jira. I said, if you ever said that in a song before, I said, we're going to I say it in this one. Jira means we'll see to it.

Jehovah, Jira. That's what Abraham called the place where the Lord gave him a ram so he wouldn't have to sacrifice his son. And sometimes I need to remember and tell these stories to myself. For when I'm wondering if God's going to come through for me, If you've been feeling that lately, just lift your hands because sometimes I need to remember that the same God who brought me to the farmer's market to meet Adi May so I could preach in my yeasies at a holy convocation for a pastor I didn't know whose son was a songwriter

that I would later collaborate with to release a song that God would send into the hearts of millions of people that God can be trusted. And at the right time, if you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God in due time, he will lift you up. Addie Mae's not here anymore. On the earth, she was Chandler's nanny, and he lost her, but she brought us together. So she's right here. Some of the things that you've lost in your life, I feel God's presence.

Give me one moment. Some of the things that you've lost in your life, God is not going to bring them back in the exact same way. He is going to restore them to you in a greater way than you have ever seen them before. And your only job in this is to look for the ram in the bush. Father, we've come into your presence today. Not entitled. No, not at all.

Not thinking that we've been so good or so worthy or so perfect that we just deserve the blessings that you've given us. But we come to you on the merit of your grace toward us and our position in your heart as your children. I thank you, Lord, that our times are in your hands. Now it's time for thee to work. It is time for thee. It is time for thee to work.

We were in the land of the Philistines for seven years, but we are coming back into your presence, the presence of the king of kings. and the Lord of Lords to receive back that which you have spoken over our lives with interest. Lord, I thank you that even in this moment you are restoring the hopes and the dreams and the sanity and the peace and the right mind of your children, restoring the years that the locust have eaten, restoring the years that we wasted. We thank you, Lord, that you are bringing it all back and that little by little day by day we will see the goodness of the Lord in the it's time for thee to work oh Lord we've done all we can we've done all we know it is time for

thee your glory back we want your joy back purpose back we want our focus back our presence of a God Who will freely give Jesus? It's been seven years. Bring every expectation into his presence. And now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than you ask or imagine. According to his power that works mightily in you, to him be glory. Through Christ Jesus in the church. forever. Come on, give God a great shout of praise.

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