Elevation with Steven Furtick - Too Grown To Give Up

Episode Date: May 17, 2021

You’ve made it too far to quit now. In “Too Grown To Give Up,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church challenges us not to quit our callings, but to shift our perspective as we move forward.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart 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 is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Also want to mention a few things that are going on in the church. Let's see. Our EFAM reunion tour. Our teams have been visiting cities across the United States this year. And I wonder if they're coming to you next. Now put it in the chat where you want our eFAM reunion tour to come next. Put it in the chat and why they should come.

Give us a good reason. Do you have good barbecue? Is there a mighty spirit of revival brewing in your city? Is there a really cool bowling alley? I don't know. But some reason that we should come. So far, we've been to Tampa, Houston, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Over 600 volunteers have showed up afterward to serve.

over 1,000 hours with our outreach partners. 135 people have been baptized at our pop-up watch parties. Next week they're headed to Phoenix, but we don't know where next. So you'll have to help us decide. Just put it in the chat. Where should we show up next? But I know that whether they show up or not, God is right there with you right now.

So we're not waiting for next week. Somebody say, I need a word from God right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now. I'm excited to share with you today from the scripture that God has given us in Hebrews chapter 11. Of all of the scriptures that God could have picked for us to study, I believe he picked this one for us today. in Hebrews 11, 23 through 29. You ready? By faith, Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born because they saw he was no ordinary child

and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mischews. treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy. Check out this curious construction of words. The fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value of higher worth than the

treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his. reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger. He persevered. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith, the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drown. Now let me lift these two verses so we can get into our topic for today. This is a word from the Lord today. It says in verse 24 by faith Moses when he had grown up and then it says in verse 27 moved down, he persevered. And so the message God gave for today, I don't know if you

like it or not. This is a broccoli kind of Bible passage today. This is not briars. This is broccoli. But if you're mature enough to receive this word and you've got all your molars and you can chew it, the Lord told me to talk about too grown to give up. Too grown to give up. We need your help with this message, Lord. So give them the faith that they need. The faith comes from you. The faith comes from you.

Even the faith comes from you. Not just the grace. Even the faith must come from you. impart it right now to every believer in Jesus' name. Amen. Be seated. Pretty legendary story in our family. I think it was about seven years ago. Me and Graham were watching some music on TV, and I told him, if you name that song that that man is singing right now, I'll give you $1,000.

And I was bluffing because it was in the middle. It was a Jimmy Hendrick song, and he was already playing the guitar solo. and it wasn't on the screen the name of the song. So I thought it was safe. And he goes, fire? And that was correct. It's creating an interesting dilemma. My integrity as a dad or my money.

And then I thought, well, maybe there's an option C. And I was shocked he got it. I was shocked he got it. I was like, how did you know that the song was called fire? He said, I just guessed. I still don't know to this day how he knew. It's a mystery. But what happened next is the stuff of

legends. I said, what if I buy you a Clemson jersey instead? And he said yes. And I bought him a jersey, and I came out about $960 ahead. It wasn't a real jersey. He was only six. From time to time, he will still say, just out of nowhere, ugh. It's 13 now. Ugh. I can't believe I took the jersey. I could have had ten jerseys. And I don't know exactly what stirs it up in him, this deep sense of regret, this bitterness toward me, but he'll sometimes put it in my face as an accusation, some kind of like a parental judgment of how could you take advantage of a six-year-old like that, but it's

pretty common. He'll bring it up. He'll bring it up all the time, because then he'll say, I was too young to know what I doing and you took advantage of me." And I'm like, no, I was just teaching you. It was a lesson it was actually teaching you to value something. The problem is sometimes you don't really know what's valuable. You know, the old son that said, don't know what you got until it's gone.

I would say you don't know what you've got until you're grown, you know. You don't. In the passage that I read you, what got me thinking about it is that it mentions Moses as a baby. And the reason this scripture is so significant in Hebrews chapter 11, this particular book of the Bible, is because the author is writing to an audience of believers who are in many ways babies in their faith. And so now he uses the example of baby Moses. I don't know if you saw that in verse 23. Let's look at it again.

It talks about how when he was little, and the Pharaoh had issued an edict to kill all the firstborn of Israel, because while they were living in Egypt, they became very powerful. And he knew that if they became too powerful, they would no longer serve his purpose. Therefore, he set up a system by which the midwives, when they were delivering these Hebrew babies, would kill all the firstborn children. Moses' parents had the faith to see the purpose of their child or the potential of their child when he was still just a baby. And that's a beautiful thing.

If you've ever had someone see potential in you before you saw it in yourself, that's a beautiful thing. How many of you've ever had somebody that you just borrowed some of their belief in you? Yeah, it's an awesome thing. People like Aunt Jackie who told me, God has a very special plan for you. He has a really special plan for you. And at the time when she was saying that to me, right, because that's something that sounds really good. It's something that maybe, you know, if you hear that in your own right, you could fill that with your own preferences of what that plan is. But she said it to me, but the beauty of it was that she saw it in its baby form.

She saw it in its baby form. She believed in what was in me in baby form. and see, Moses' parents had the faith to see the significance in what was hidden. So I want to spend just a moment right now. This is not the whole message, but it will set up the context. I want to talk about hidden significance, hidden significance, and how some of the things that are most significant are hidden for the very reason that they are significant. In Moses' case, he was hidden until he was three months old so that he could stay alive.

And God often hides the most significant things in order to protect the potential of that thing until the time is right. Now, we know Moses as the Red Sea parter. We know Moses as the prophet who commanded plagues. We know Moses as the one who brought water out of the rock. We know Moses as the man who saw God face to face. But his parents saw it, his destiny, when he was in diapers, and they had the good sense to hide what was significant so that it wouldn't be killed before it had the chance to develop into what it was destined to be. One of the things that I teach my son about creativity is don't show people things that you're working on too early while you're working on them. Don't post everything that you are creating out of a need for instant validation because it will short-circuit your creativity to see what it could be.

I have this rule about sermons. I never tell anybody what I'm preaching about, ever. The reason is because if I show it to them, before I really know it for myself, the look on their face, you know, there's this look that people get when you're trying to tell them, you know. I was going to talk about Hebrews 11 and you got to grow up and all this stuff and Moses and the Pharaoh and all that. And they look at you kind of like with this polite kind of confusion. It's a very specific look they get in their eyes. Like, I'm sure you'll do something with this.

It's like a look that you give to something. It's like a house that's just like dilapidated and it's like, I'm sure somebody could fix it up. I'm sure the bones are good, you know, and they look at you that way. I taught my son, I said, never show your embryos. When God is doing something significant in your life, it is good for it to remain hidden for a time. How many would agree Moses was a significant figure in the history of God's people? Yeah, a pretty big deal. Maybe the most significant figure in the history of Israel? Maybe. Maybe, I mean, Hebrews 11 mentions a lot of them, mentions Abraham, it mentions Jacob, it mentions how you got Enoch who didn't even die.

God took him up because he was pleasing to God. It says, without faith, it is impossible to please God because he who comes to God must believe that he is. It's like, yeah. But do you really? and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. That's an amazing scripture. And the author of Hebrews, you have to understand, he's giving us a picture of those who did not quit on what God called them to do. And to give us a picture of those who didn't quit, he shows us someone who was almost killed before he even,

had an opportunity to be called. The thing that I want you to know is that everything significant that I ever did in life, I was tempted to quit. I am preaching this message to somebody today who is tempted to quit on something God called you to do. And I understand how people love to take a sermon and put their initials on it for whatever they want it to mean. Trust me, I've seen it happen over and over and over again. So you haven't smoked in three weeks, but then I preached on Don't Quit, and you go get a pack right after I preach because the pastor said, don't quit. I know how y'all are.

Y'all are real shifty sometimes with these scriptures, real slippery sometimes with these scriptures, real manipulative sometimes with these scriptures. But please let us reason together at the mercy seat. I'm talking about quitting on what God called you to do. And the picture is of a man that God called to deliver a nation, but he was almost killed before he even had the opportunity to be called. And this helps me understand why some of the people who have the most significant purpose to accomplish for the kingdom of God go to.

through the heaviest attacks at the formative stages of their life. So his parents had the, oh man, the faith. It says they had faith. Everybody shout, faith. Now, I'm concerned in the church that we have confused childlike faith, which is what Jesus told us to have, with childish faith. And these Hebrew believers, remember, they were just babies. they were still being weaned off the sacrificial system that Moses instituted.

See, in Moses' sacrificial system, you may know a little bit about this. I'm not going to go into great depth about it, but their sin was atoned for by the blood of bulls and goats. Their sin was atoned for by the offering that was made by the high priest who had to do it every year. And so the theme of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ, is superior to the Mosaic covenant, to the Mosaic commandments, to the Mosaic customs. So we're looking at a group of believers who are learning a brand new way to do things. And in their embrace of Jesus Christ, you know, in order to walk in this new way of life that Christ offers, it involves a letting go of what they have known.

Now that they have a new identity, see, they're transitioning their identity from being justified by the law, which doesn't work. It doesn't work. You can't even keep the speed limit. Please don't look at me like you can keep the law, be holy as he is holy. So the law was just designed to bring us to the place where we would know our need for grace and receive it. Right? So that you would quit trying to keep the commandments in your own strength. so that you could receive the grace of God through the person of Jesus Christ.

And this is the gospel, and it still works today. And you can be forgiven of your sin without a bull, without a goat, without a turtle dove. I don't need another high priest. I don't need somebody to change their mind about me. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. You can be forgiven right now, not seven steps, not three classes, not 10 years of sobriety, But right now he can save you. Right now.

And yet, they are being tempted as God is birthing the church into the world to return to the thing that they were set free from. Okay. We talked about hidden significance. Let's talk about conflicted identities. It's when you're not used to the new way of doing things enough. So you return to what you know. new, K-N-E-W. Because what is new in that moment is costing you.

The example of Moses is a perfect illustration of maturing enough. Can I preach about maturity? It seems like every sermon people want to click on these days is mirror. But what about maturity? What about maturity to know what to do with a miracle when God gives it to you so you don't mismanage it? And in Hebrews 11, there is a picture of a prophet. Moses was a prophet. He's not your typical prophet. In fact, I thought the writer of Hebrews was pretty nice to Moses when he explained this story. And I want to show you that now, because there's a lesson even in this. You know, all I'm deciding to do is figure out what not to tell you today, because there's so much good. stuff in his. So let me give you a contrast. This will be good. In verse 27, by faith Moses, when he had grown up, I read you this, but I'm reading it again for a reason. He refused

to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. I can't stop there, 26. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. Okay, this is a description or a picture of maturity. In Acts chapter 7, it tells us that Moses was 40 years old when he made the decision to be identified with God's children, not the Egyptians that were oppressing them. Now, there's a lot of great stuff in the backstory that won't make time to get into the message

today about how his parents floated him down the Nile River in a basket. The same Nile River he would turn into blood 80 years later. He floated on to survive when he was a baby. And I thought about preaching faith to float because sometimes you feel like you're floating between two things, waiting to see what it's going to be. And I thought about preaching that, but I have discipline. And I'm only going to preach one message today. And this message is about how one day, Moses makes a decision to be identified not with the Egyptian who raised him but with the parents that birthed them. This is not primarily a racial text. This is not primarily a nationalistic text. Conclusions could be drawn in those directions. But what's really happening here is about Moses choosing what he will be defined by.

And I want you to realize in your life today that you have a decision about what you will be defined by. Even though his early life was defined by an assassination attempt, even through the trauma of floating through a basket, some of us end up in therapy because our pampers were slightly too tight. This man was floating down a river in a basket coated with tar. And even though his life began with trauma, he made a decision in this moment that I will not be defined by something that I have become bigger than. And this is where the significance of the text is in the detail. It says, when he grew up, when he grew up. I wonder are there some things that God is waiting for us to outgrow that we are praying for him to remove?

And the challenge of Moses' life is in order to become what he really was, he had to outgrow everything that he had ever known. You see it in the text he was raised as an Egyptian. but he was born as a Hebrew, and yet there came a moment of decision. I will not be defined by my environment. I will not be limited by my experience. I will not be affiliated with the events that brought me to this point. There is something that God is calling you to outgrow in this moment. And I wonder what it is.

See, because until you grow past the point of needing God to change things, until you grow past the point, some of us have to outgrow the need for everybody to like us or validate us in order to see what God has really put in us. He chose to be mistreated. He chose to be lonely. He chose to be a weirdo. He chose the uncomfortable space of growth. You know what? Growth is chosen.

Not change. Change will slap you right in the back of your head. Change will kick you right. You know how, anyway, change will kick you in the shin. I'm editing as I go. I'm editing the sermon for consumption for the mass market. But growth is chosen. Growth is chosen.

And in the moment he has a decision to make, and so do you. And so did the Hebrew Christians. Do we outgrow what we've known so we can become who we really are? And Moses didn't even do it the right way. In fact, in Acts chapter 7, it tells us that one day when he was 40 years old, this is Stephen giving us this information. He decided to visit his own people, the Israelites, and he saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian. So he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Well, that's one way to do it. You know, he feels something on the inside. He knows that

he's not what he's around. He understands that there's something different in him than the people, the culture he's surrounded in. So he does something out of his impulse that is really an indication of his destiny, and he kills an Egyptian. And verse 25 really got my attention. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn't. So now we understand what it means to say that Moses chose to be misunderstood rather than to give up who he was. Grow up. Grow up. Why are we still in seventh grade? And we are 53 years old. and we still filter the majority of our decisions through what will other people think about this. We spend money with that filter.

We say things with that filter. We don't say things with that filter. Now, I think it's important to consider what others will think about things. I do. I think that's why you brush your teeth. That's why you make sure when you go out in the morning like there's a smile on your face. That's a good thing to think how your life is affecting others. but I don't think you should be controlled by it.

Not as grown as you are. Are you really so grown in your body, but so small in your spirit that one person's opinion can move you off your purpose? You are much too grown at this stage in your life to be taking your cues from a culture that doesn't even know Christ. And our growth has been so stunning, and I'm going to tell you why. because mostly what we have been taught is sin suppression. We have not been taught transformative thinking.

We have been taught push it down. And don't do that where anybody can see you. And don't tell anyone how it really is. So we push things down. We never deal with them. We never really know how to bring it to Jesus. And we've heard a lot about forgiveness of sin. But what about freedom from sin?

What good is it for God to forgive me of sin? if I'm going to live running back to the same thing that he brought me out of. So now I want to get into a section of the message. This is going to go on my YouTube channel as I stand alone. This is a little mini message within the message. I've been promising this for a long time, and I'm going to preach it right now. I want to talk to you about sins with benefits. Sit down and listen to this.

In verse 25, it says, he chose the reproach of God's people. Or we could say he chose the inconvenience of purpose over the purpose. over the pleasure of sin. Anybody who says sin doesn't feel good, didn't do it right, amen. Everybody quotes this verse to talk about how sin runs out. But here's the thing I've learned about, we could call it Egypt, we could call it the place where we go to have our needs met. If you do not appreciate and acknowledge the need that a sin is meeting,

you won't know how to get that need met in God. and you will come right back to it. Now, I know how that sounds. Appreciate my sin. My sin killed Jesus. How can I appreciate my sin? I'm not talking about appreciating the consequence of it. I'm not talking about willfully rebelling against God.

Even the Apostle said, where sin increased, did grace that much more increase, but shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, how should we die to sin live any longer to it? But is the message that we're preaching in churches really helping people get free? Quit sinning. Put it on the church sign. Quit sinning. Quit cussing. You know what?

I would rather you keep cussing and not quit growing than thinking that the whole point of the Christian faith is behavior modification. I'd rather you Now, this may separate some of us Because some of us may be so addicted To the gospel message of quit sinning Quit sinning, quit, quit, quit, quit, quit. But today I want to talk to you about the sin

Of quitting. The sin of quitting. Did you know that quitting is a sin? I'm not telling you not to put your resume out. Maybe you do need another job. I'm not telling you saying an abusive relationship. That's foolish. I want you to be safe.

But to quit on what God gave you to do. And the deposit that he called you to guard is the greatest sin of all. And sometimes I've had to keep crying while refusing to quit. Sometimes I've had to keep wrestling. We have an epidemic. In our world today, it is the epidemic of quitters, quick quitters. There is no value in what is lasting. The priority is what is seen, so we will quit something to appear knowledgeable rather than

staying and becoming wise. It's an epidemic. We quit everything so quick. If it doesn't get 10 likes in 10 minutes, we delete it. I'm too grown to give up that easy. The Bible said Moses was grown enough to know, this is not who I am, this is not all I am. And yes, it's nice. Like, he wasn't given up a life of poverty and failure.

He was known as the grandson of Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world. And he said, I would rather give that up for what God has for me. I would rather give that up. because he was grown enough to discern what's really worth it. That's what Graham is saying, you tricked me out of my money before I was grown enough to do a cost-benefit analysis. So there's a contrast. Let's study this for a moment.

The Lord's been dealing with me to teach a little deeper lately, so I'm going to try to do that. Is it 25? Give me 25. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's it. He chose. He didn't choose who he was born to. He didn't choose what he went through. Chose his response. And he focused on his reward because he knew that the pleasures of sin were fleeting. Next verse. Disgrace for the sake of Christ was of greater value than the treasures of Egypt. We really believe that. The treasures of Egypt. The way that the world defined. your worth. You know all about it. Is status-oriented? It's all the visible stuff. It's all the external stuff. He chose something that he couldn't see because he saw something that others

didn't. It said he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. So his values didn't come from something that was visible. Now, the more tempted that you are to quit, the greater the significance, nothing I ever did in my life of significance that I wasn't tempted to quit. Now, when I am tempted to quit on something that God gave me to steward, I realize that the temptation to quit is an indication of the significance. See, a lot of us are addicted to quitting. You can talk about addicted to pills, addicted to porn, addicted to the bottle, addicted

to this, addicted to that. What about the addiction that we have to quitting? I'll tell you what that looks like. In my 20s, I was reflecting on this with Holly the other day. I had this almost like mafia mentality with people in my life. The way I operated was, and this will sound really weird to some of the people who I've been friends with for almost all my life because I am a loyal person. But I went through a stage where, in my immaturity, at the first sign of conflict, I would quit a friendship. That was a protective

mechanism. I believe it was something that I saw modeled many times. I believe that some of that has to do with just, you know, like how my dad grew up and you see things. And I do believe that's part of it. I also believe that I was immature, and I believe that I was insecure. And so the moment that a friendship, I'm using this as an example, the moment that a friendship would have conflict associated with it, it was easier for me to quit or to flee from the friendship than to face what I needed to face. Many of us, the moment that a relationship starts getting really intimate, we quit getting closer. And we will even design drama in order to be a defense mechanism from us really having to push past the surface and really let someone see us.

I was too insecure and too immature to know that the richness of intimacy is worth the willingness to push past the insecurity. And God is changing me now because I'm growing. I'm growing. And you know, the funniest thing about us is we celebrate so much when someone, quote unquote, steps out in faith to do something new. But I was thinking the other day, sometimes the reason that we're always stepping out to something new

is because we don't want to stay and really change. And I know this sounds weird because the passage is about Moses leaving Egypt, but it is written to Hebrew Christians who have to stay in their faith. He is using the example of someone who left something that was not really true to them in order to encourage us to stay with what's really worthwhile. And when you're tempted to quit, here's what happens. You only see the benefit of quitting. because the devil knows how to hide the price tag. That's how temptation operates. And we're not mature.

We're not grown up. Look at this in Hebrews chapter 5. I've got to show this. Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Because you can't quit. You can't quit. You can't quit.

You can't quit. You can't quit. You can't quit because of this. Look what he says in verse 11. We have much to say about this, but it's hard to make it clear to you. because you no longer try to understand. You quit trying to understand. The moment it doesn't make sense,

sometimes if we hear a sermon and it doesn't rhyme and they don't tell us exactly what to write down, we don't even listen anymore. It's frustrated about it. I'm not, but the writer of Hebrews was. You stop trying to understand. In fact, though, by this time, you ought to be teachers. You need someone else to teach you

the elementary truths of God's word all over again. He said it, I didn't. You need milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk still being an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, watch this, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Constant use. You can't quit every time it doesn't make sense. And for the love of Paul McCartney, you can't quit every time you don't understand something.

I don't know why I said Paul McCartney. His name popped in my mind. That was a deep connection. I didn't follow it. I didn't either. But listen to me. He's talking about Moses, the infant, that God protected and how God protected certain things in your life in an infant stage because he saw potential for this moment. Don't quit before. You get to see it. He persevered. Moses did. Because he saw something that was not apparent to the naked eye, the treasures of Egypt, the benefits of sin. I know it sounds bad, but certain sins meet certain needs. Don't you love to judge people?

I love it. I'm just being honest with you. I love judging others. It is the greatest escape from having to... reflect on myself. It is amazing. I do not recommend it because it's got a surcharge. The surcharge is shame. It's the hidden expense. Now watch what the devil will do. He'll try to get you, he'll tempt you with something, right? I'm not just talking about tempting you with something that you heard about in youth group. I'm talking about the temptation to quit, the temptation to stop short of all that Christ has for you. And in that moment, we're going to, when you're tempted to quit, he highlights the benefit and hides the expense. Because if you quit showing up, if you quit trying, here's what you can expect to experience. Relief, but relief is not freedom. We don't know the difference. We don't know the difference. So we run around quitting everything

that would change us, running from everything that would revolutionize us, and resisting everything that God sends to grow us. It feels like freedom, but it's really just temporary relief. Sexual immorality is temporary relief with the price tag of permanent bondage. Gossip. Oh, that was a quiet one right there. Did you hear all of the dryness in the atmosphere, the flowing of the amen's just really ceased up? The immediate vacation from having to be.

having to deal with yourself. What Moses did, he had the ability, even though he didn't do it perfectly. Y'all, he murdered a man. And God called it faith. God does not frame our mistakes like we frame our mistakes. And the process of maturity is learning to get from your father what you used to get from Pharaoh. That every need that sin is meeting in your life, God can meet it in a better way. That every need that manipulation is meeting in your life, God can meet it in a better way. When we manipulate things, do it in our own strength, do it without praying about it, it, do it without caring about others, do it without considering the consequence, do it without being true to the integrity of who we are. When we manipulate something, we are trying to meet a need,

the need is for us to be certain. Faith can meet that same need. Faith can be certain that no matter what the outcome is, all things are working together for my good. So I don't have to control anything. I can trust God in everything. And Moses chose, and you have a decision to make, will I be identified with what I've known?

Will I be known as where I came from? or will I in this moment of my life in this seat he was 40 when he got there but you don't have to be 40 you can do it when you're 14 you might be 80 you can do it if you make the decision in this moment I will not be defined by my environment I will not be defined by the events that happened to me he persevered because he saw he saw what others couldn't see therefore looking unto jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith who despised the shame of the cross, but endured it for the joy set before him. And I believe God is calling us into a season of greater faith than needing to see the reason. I believe God is calling us to deeper faith than giving up the first time it doesn't work out. I believe God is calling somebody that you cannot give up on yourself because he has not given up on you yet. Because even when he had to track down Moses in the wilderness, 40 years later, and bring him back to Egypt to deliver the people before Moses chose God, God chose Moses.

So I don't think you get to quit. You don't get to quit. It's not an option. The blood bought you. The grace of God called you. There's a hand of God on your life. His grip is stronger than yours. Too grown to give up.

I've seen God do too much to give up. I've been too developed. He should have killed me when I was a little kid because I know too much about God to walk away now. You know how many times I've had to fight to get to this pulpit to say something to you? And it would have felt better not to. You know how many times?

Jesus wanted to call a legion of angels to deliver him from the cross, and it would have felt better not to. Moses didn't make it all the way to the promised land. So the author of Hebrews wanted you to know when you're tempted to quit. And I want to minister in this moment. Have you been tempted to quit? Not necessarily quit like how people see quit, but usually you quit inside and you quit in increments.

I took Greek for two weeks in college. after two weeks, I realized God did not call me to speak Greek, and I went to the registrar, and I got a drop slip, and I walked to Half Freeman's office, and the moment he saw me walk in the door, he goes, verdict, and he laughed, this diabolical laugh. He said, that didn't take long. He saw the drop slip, and he tried to convince me to keep taking Greek, but I quit. I had to take it again in college, I mean in a seminary, seminary, three times. Three times. I finally finished.

He said, that didn't take long, because I wouldn't ever really committed to it. And I think it's shocking. One time Paul told the Galatian Church, I'm shocked how quickly you turn away to another gospel. I'm shocked how quickly you'll stop believing what I've spoken over you because of somebody else saying something different. You feel something different because it doesn't happen overnight. It took Moses 40 years to grow to the point and then 40 more before you. He saw it come to pass.

But you're too grown to give up. You need faith and patience. Faith without patience is childish faith. God sent me to tell somebody you can't quit. There's too much connected to you to quit. I know it would be momentary relief. But can you see past the expense to see the benefit? The psalmist said, praise the Lord of my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives

all your sins, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with love and compassion. And I would rather go through a season of temporary uncertainty and compromise the truth of my identity. You're making a decision right now, and you've been really tempted to quit. stand. You know what it shows me that you've been tempted to quit? It's significant what God gave you to do. The stronger the temptation to quit, the greater the significance. You know how many times Moses wanted to quit once he started leading God's people out of Egypt? You know how many times he wanted to

one time I think he was ready to ask God to kill him, to kill them or kill him. But we can't, I can't keep up with this anymore. One time he got so burdened and overwhelmed. Because he was trying to do everything himself. He was trying to do more than he was made to do. A pastor came to visit me three years ago, and he came to tell me that he was quitting the ministry. I thought that he had had sex with somebody that wasn't his wife, but that wasn't the case.

I thought he had maybe had a financial impropriety, but that wasn't the case. But the temptation to quit was from the strain and the burden. of maintaining what he had built. And I think everybody can relate to that. I really do. So I said, why did you come tell me that you wanted to quit? He said, because I wanted to see if you could convince me not to. So he said, how have you done it 15 years?

Or at the time, I guess it was 12, he said, and you didn't quit. And I wish I could have told him, because the joy of the Lord is my strength, and it is a blessing and a privilege to serve the mightiness of his splendor for his grace, and I just look unto him, who is the author and finisher of my faith. But I had to be honest. I said every time that I was tempted to quit, not only did, I realized after the fact that it was an indication that there was something significant, there is something significant,

there is something significant. They wanted to kill those Hebrew babies because of the significance and the strength that they represented. So after realizing that, every time I wanted to quit, I really wanted to quit, I really wanted to realized it was time to shift and that to keep doing what God had called me to do, I needed to shift how I was doing it. And he didn't quit. Not all stories have a happy ending, but the dude still went back and did it because he didn't quit. He shifted. I don't know what you want to quit today. Maybe you just want to quit trying but keep your body present. Maybe you want to quit really

trying to love people and just become this bitter, cynical person that never tries again because people suck. Could you tell that was coming from a deep place inside of me when I said I felt possessed for a minute? God said, don't quit. Shift. When Moses was overwhelmed later in his life, this was not the last time that he would have to make the decision. When he was overwhelmed, because there were too many people, and he was running on empty, and they were asking him for everything and his father-in-law Jethro came to see him with his two daughters and he said, I see what you're doing and you're spread too thin and it's not going to work. You've got to shift how you're doing this. You don't have to quit what God has called you to. You have to shift how

you're doing it. And I sat there with that pastor and we listed everything that he was doing that somebody else could do or everything that he was doing. Remember maturity is first and foremost the ability to discern what is worth it. And I bet we found seven or eight things that were worthless on his list that he needed to be weaned from so that he could have the strength to continue in what God has called him to do. Don't quit shift. Shift into a new way of doing it. And this is the challenge to choose to go through a season of struggle. Instead of embracing the relief, he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. Do you always need results? Do you always need compliments? Do you always need a quick hit? Or can you get

an ugly dub every once in a while? I told Elijah, not every win is going to be pretty. Sometimes it's an ugly dub. Moses didn't do it just right, but he didn't. Quit, and neither will you. God didn't bring you here to hear this so you could just quit in increments, you know, slowly withdrawing your from your own life until there's really nothing of you left. Slowly withdrawing from your relationships until there's no real intimacy, just the illusion of it. Slowly withdrawing your expectation from the gates of heaven until you no longer pray expecting anything to really happen because you don't believe that he is or that he rewards those who diligently seek him. We grow in increments, we quit in increments. And today the Lord said to tell you,

you're too grown to give up. I want to pray for you. you now, stand up all over, all over the auditorium, all over Lake Norman, all over Matthews, all over Riverwalk, all over Winston-Salem, all over right there in your home. Why don't you stand right now? I want the enemy to see you standing. I want him to know that you're still going to be standing tomorrow in the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day. I don't know, I just hear the Lord saying, you're too grown and I've done too much,

and I've entrusted too much, and you've survived too much. to give up over this. Father, right now, by faith like Moses, we want to see him who is invisible. What a paradox. To see what we can't see, to believe what we can understand. Lord, your ways are higher than ours. I bring before you all of your children one by one, the ones you have called by name, the ones you have chosen, the ones that you have protected from their birth until this moment. And you saw their worth from the moment of their birth. You did not see it when the world conferred it upon them. It is not contingent on any behavior or performance. But their worth is great in your eyes. And yet they are quitting on themselves, giving up on themselves. We choose in this

moment the riches of Christ over the treasures of Egypt. We choose in this moment the uncomfortable growth in our lives over the convenience and the relief of sin. I thank you, Lord, today, that you have given us this message of freedom. We bring it all before you now, because we're standing between two identities, too. And we need your help in these moments, God, that we would not hide, that we would not run, that we would not take discomfort as a sign that it's time for us to leave. But, God, that we would stand in this place. You have need of perseverance. You have need of faith. So, God, we're not asking you to take away all of our problems because I don't think that's the prayer you'd answer. It'd be nice, but it's not going to happen. Instead, increase our faith. We want to outgrow our insecurities until greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. We want to outgrow what we've worried about as we worship you. No created thing, no created thing is, no created thing has control over you or your will. And so, God, right now, we just, we declare in the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name, the one. The one.

whom we are identified with, the one who is seated in heaven. We declare that our identity is in him. It is in you, and it is by you, and it is for you. We thank you for this word. Right now, I want to give an invitation for somebody to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life. Right now, you've never trusted him for your salvation. You've never trusted him for the forgiveness of your sin. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You will be saved. You will be set free. You will be made new. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. And I believe this is a defining moment in your life. You've been running from God. You've been running from truth. You've been running

from yourself. But God brought you to this moment. The situations and circumstances of your life have all aligned to bring you to this moment, to place your faith in Jesus Christ, not by a pledge to better, but by an open heart that receives the grace of God. So right now, if that's you, right where you are, I want you to repeat this prayer after me out loud, and God will hear from heaven, and He will forgive your sin, and He will cleanse you of all unrighteousness. Now repeat after me all across the church, everybody praying out loud for the benefit of those who are coming to God.

Heavenly Father, I am a sinner in need of a Savior, and I believe that Jesus Christ, is the Son of God and the Savior of the world and today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe Jesus died that I could be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. On the count of three, raise your hand if you just prayed that prayer. One, two, three. In the chat, say, I receive Jesus.

I receive Jesus. I believe that I receive the grace of God. And I'm walking in a new beginning. I said, I'm walking in a new beginning. Know who my father is. My sins are forgiven. And we decree and declare over your life. The old has gone.

The new has come. Let's give God a great shout of praise. For all the souls, come and hope. to the Father's arms. God bless you. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry

is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories

and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.