Elevation with Steven Furtick - Win Before You Begin (Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr.)

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

Winning starts long before the battle does. When your thoughts are grounded in God’s truth, fear loses its hold and peace takes its place. You walk in victory when you let God’s Word shape how you see your situation.If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfrScripture References:Deuteronomy 20, verses 1-8See 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 is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. It is to be in God's house today. Anybody thankful to be in the Lord's house on this Sunday morning? Clap your hands. I want to welcome you to church right here. I'm at the Ballanton Camp. campus, but all of our friends on the eFAM and really all over the world, all of our locations, we're so grateful that you're tuning in. And I'm just thinking about the psalmist as he says,

oh, I want to magnify the Lord. Let us exalt his holy name. How many of you know that whatever you magnify in your life gets bigger? And there's something about as we begin to worship God, we start making the name of God bigger and bigger in our situation. You might have some problems, but come on, your God is bigger than every problem you have. on and give him praise. Today, I think it's powerful that you're in church. The Psalm says, let us, let us exalt his holy name. You know that faith is not just individual. Faith is communal, that we need each other. And today, as we've gathered in God's house, I believe he's right here with us, and he's going to minister, he's going to speak to us. Can we thank God

for just the best worship team ever? Shout out to Leland in the house, my friend Leland. Leland sings like he's in heaven. I don't know someone. those notes that he hits, but I'm like, dear Jesus, dear Jesus. My name is Rich, if we've never met before. I hail from Miami, Florida. I lead a church called Voo Church. And what an honor. Thank you so much. What an honor it is to be with you today. And if you got a Bible, quickly turned to the book of Deuteronomy. We're going to read God's word from a standing position this morning. Deuteronomy chapter 20, I want to give you one verse. And then we're going to look at about eight verses today. And as you're turning there, it is always

such a great privilege and such a great honor to stand behind this pulpit. I thank God for this house and I thank God for the ministry, the life and the leadership of Pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdick. It is Pastor Appreciation Month. And your pastor is not just your pastor, but really he pastors so many people all around the world. Can we thank God for his life and can we thank God for his ministry? Can we clap our hands and make some noise today? It's always funny preaching at elevation because there's very few pulpits in the world that when you walk up to it, there's almost like a gasp, like, oh, someone drove in today from Omaha, and they were hoping to your pastor Stephen and you got rich. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But I do believe that God's going to minister to us.

And I was thinking about your pastor walking in because for me, as I come here year after year, I get excited to share the word, but equally, I get excited to take a moment just to put honor where honor is due. I remember some years ago when the Miami Heat, when they were good, pray for them. They were in the Eastern Conference finals and my dad, he scored some tickets and my dad's balling on a budget and so he got us nosebleed tickets. In fact, we weren't just, we weren't sitting up high. In fact, the seats you had to stand up in the arena, okay? But we were just happy to be in the room. But I remember watching the game from a distance. It was almost like watching the game on delay. You're so far away from the court. There was a couple times. There was a couple times.

I was like, I bet I could hang with these guys. That's from a distance. Since that time, I've had a couple opportunities to sit on the court. And how many of you all know, sitting on the court, sitting on the wood is a totally different game. You can see guys sweat drop. You can hear what they're saying. One time I was like, foul! And the guy looked at me, I just sat down and never spoke again.

Okay? I was like, here's what I want you here. Same game, different perspective. Proximity brings perspective. And let me just say as a friend of this house, I've been up close and personal with your pastor. He is a man of faith. He's a man of integrity. He is a man of courage.

And I'm so grateful for what God has done in his life. For me, he's one of my heroes. He's someone that I look up to. And I just always want to say to Elevation Church, you better take care of that man. Pray for him. Stand with him. We love you. Pastor Steve and Pastor Ali.

Come on, can we make some noise if we're grateful for the life and the leadership. of Pastor Stephen and Holyford. We love you guys. We got you back today. Let me give you one verse today and I'm going to preach it like I feel it and I feel it today. Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse 1 it says this, when you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them. Because the Lord your God, ooh, I like this. because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. Yeah, you should just clap your hands. It's that good. It's that good. I want to speak for a few moments today from this subject. When before you begin? When before you begin? Would you pray to me, Lord, we thank you for your word. God, we believe it's sharper than any double-edged sword. Speak to us now. Lord,

As we read it, we invite it to read us. May we leave here different from how we came. Speak to us. We love you, we praise you. And all of God's people said? All of God's people said? If you love Jesus, make a little bit of noise today. All right, high five a couple people and say, you're going to win.

Say you're going to win. In the chat, say you're going to win. You're going to win. You're going to win. Win before you. begin. I love the fact that all throughout the scripture, God invites us and tells us that we're going to win. But notice, he never says that we won't have to fight. In fact, the longer I walk with Jesus, the more and more I recognize that the Christian life is not a dance,

it's a battle. And the first battle that we must always fight is not an external one, it's always an internal one. It's always the battle in your mind. mind, that you have to fight the war on the inside. I think many times we go, I want to change my life. Listen, you don't change your life by changing your life. You change your life by changing your mind. How many out there you could just use some more peace. Anyone just, you could use a little more peace in 20, right? Like, not me, pastor, I'm good. I think most people I talk to could use more peace in 2025. It seems like everyone I talked to is dealing with this mild grade of anxiety, this this little level of just a restless soul. In fact, you can just see it as you talk to people.

Like, you ever ask someone, how you doing? How you doing? Busy. Oh, moms are busy. You know, dads are busy. Everyone I talk to, how you doing? How you doing? Busy. I talked to a student in our youth ministry today, 16 years of age. I said, how you doing? Bro, goes, busy. I was like, bro, you're 16. You ain't got no job. You ain't got no wife. You ain't got no kids. You aren't busy, you know? But I think he speaks to a culture that's moving so fast. that what comes up and spills out of his life is a restlessness of going, I could use some more peace. Anybody thankful for a God that says you can be warring on the outside, but you can still have peace that passes all understanding on the inside? My Bible says that his peace transcends understanding.

Let me make that modern day. You might be in a battle today that doesn't make any sense. You might be up against a challenge today. It is illogical. but praise God for Jesus. We can be right there in the midst of something that is illogical, but right smack in the middle, he can give you a peace that doesn't make any sense. I need you to clap your hands, stir your faith a little bit today. God wants you to win on the inside before you ever see a win on the outside.

Deuteronomy chapter 20 is powerful because if you know anything about the book of Deuteronomy, it is the book of instruction that God is giving his law, he's giving his commands. And here in Deuteronomy 20, what we're discovering is that Moses is giving a battle briefing before they go into war, which I like that. It's like before they actually step into a fight, he's giving them instruction. He's teaching them how to win before they begin. And what's really interesting as he begins to teach, long before he actually puts weapons in their hands, he's wanting them to win the war in their head. before he puts weapons in their hands, he wants to deal with the worry in their heart. I think as we teach in this day and age, I think we all need a framework from wherever we're

operating from that we're not fighting for victory, we're fighting from victory. And the only way you're going to fight from victory is when you actually believe that God is for you. I know that kind of sounds. maybe cliche to some people, but many people don't live with that revelation. God is for you. Recently, I had a little battle briefing of my own in my house. Not with soldiers, but with my children. I've got four kids, Wyatt, Wild, Wayland, and Wolfgang. And our last name was Wilkerson. Those were preachers kids right there. Everything's got a rhyme or be in alliteration. And I had to grab the three bigs. I had to do a briefing with them. I had gotten,

information from the babysitter that particularly my daughter, Waylon, had been pretty difficult all day long. And so in my house, I am the general, if you know what I'm talking about. And so I lined them up and I said, Waylon Wesley Wilkerson, I said, were you being bad today? Is this really true that you were throwing tantrums like this? And all of a sudden she just turned instantly into these beautiful princess tears. Daddy, I don't remember. Any other parents out there, your kids got short-term amnesia? You don't remember? So I looked at her older brother, his name is Wild, and trust me, he lives up to the name Wild.

I say, Yo, Wild! Was your sister bad today? He looked at me, said, oh, Dad, it's been such a long day. Homie, it's 2.15 in the afternoon. I love my son Wilde, because I love my son Wilde, because. what's interesting is that Wild can fight all day long with his sister. But the moment he senses that there is judgment or someone potentially coming after his sister, he says not on my watch. Let me tell you something. Brothers protect, but fathers fight. And I need some people in this room to understand that when the enemy comes after your life, whatever battle is coming your way,

you need to settle once and for all. There is a God who says, I will. be with you. I will get into that fight and I will fight on your behalf. So before the enemy attacks, before the temptation comes, why not settle it in your heart? God is for me. And if God is for me, come on, who can be against me? Clap your hands. Give God some praise in this house today. When, before you begin. I want to make a couple of observations today. I want you to take some notes, but the scripture begins here in verse one, and Moses comes out, and the instruction is when you go to war. Not if, but when. Because you need to understand that battles in life are not optional.

They are inevitable. Like, you don't get to choose the fight. All you get to choose is how you'll show up to the fight. How are you going to show up to this fight? And notice what it is that he says. He says, when you go to war against your enemies and you see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, please write this down today. Don't let what you see shake what you know.

Don't let what you see shake what you know. When you see the chariots and when you see an army greater than yours, how many all know that fear begins with your sight? What you see. it starts in your eyes and then it moves to your mind. Is there anybody out there like me that all of a sudden you can see something? And as you see it, you can make it far worse. Your imagination can run in the wrong direction. You can take one little thing that you see and turn it into an entire Netflix series.

Just me? You see a text left on red and you're like, that's it. Relationships over. I'm going to be living with my parents forever. You see one unexpected bill. That's it. I'm done. I'm never going to make it. Dave Ramsey was right about me.

You see one uncomfortable conversation that works like, that's it. They're going to fire me. They're probably clearing out my desk right now. Why is it? It's because it's not just what we see. We don't just see things. We script things. We have a tendency that something begins with our sight,

but then all of a sudden it's not the site that's the problem. It's the story we attach to the site. And here it is, God's saying, if you want to win before you begin, do not let what you see shake what you know. You're going to have to understand that faith doesn't deny what you see. It's just confidence in what you already know. Yes, I see chariots, but I know my God. Yes, I see problems in front of me, but I know his promises.

Yes, I see the odds are stacked up against me, but I know the one who has already overcome. Is there anybody in this house who says, I want to have an unshakable kind of faith? Listen to the command. He says, do not be afraid. Do you know that this is the most common command in all of Scripture? Some 365 times the Bible says, do not be afraid. Why? Because the Bible wants to remind you every day of the year not to be afraid. Because if fear doesn't take a day off, faith shouldn't take one either. And it's not just what you see, it's what you say. And you ought to start getting good at saying God's word over every situation of your life. I will not fear.

The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Oh, come on, I'm going to preach myself happy. I will not fear. Anybody out there today in a valley? You could be in a valley. And right there from the valley declare, I will not be afraid. I know who my God is. Not just what you're. See, it's what you say. But fear shakes us, faith stands. Do you ever play that game, Jenga? I can't play it anymore.

It increases my anxiety. When that thing starts wobble, I'm like, oh no, it's like, Rich, it's not a real tower man. Chill out. But what I've learned about the game is as you pull out bricks, the top can be wobbling, but watch this, if the foundation is sturdy, it doesn't fall. I want to encourage you today that faith does not deny what you see. Faith doesn't even stop the shaking. What faith does is it gives you sturdy and stable ground to stand on.

I want you to see the sturdy ground that Moses gave. Moses said it this way. He says, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt will be with you. you. See, this is the thing with faith. Faith firmly looks at a situation and it can be shaking, but it makes a decision that I'm building my life on the word of God, on the rock of God. And so I don't always know what it is that God is doing. I can't even always see what God is doing, but I do know what he's done. And here comes Moses. He's like, I know you can't see the battle in front of us.

about how God's going to do it, but you do know what he has done. So you might not be able to see God's plan, but you do know his power. And you might not be able to see your future right now, but come on, you can remember your freedom? And you might not be exactly where you want to be, but can anybody testify? You know you are not where you used to be. What a miracle! He came and found me! I want to encourage you to operate in full. faith today because you don't have to see what he's doing, but you know what he's done. You know enough about God to understand. He's going to get you through this thing. If he brought you up out of Egypt, he'll bring you through whatever circumstance you're in now. If he parted the Red Sea,

he can part your situation. If he was faithful back then, he'll be faithful right now. If he didn't then, anybody believe he could do it again. Don't let what you see shake what you know. But watch what Moses does here as he continues to speak. Let's look at verse two. I haven't read this to you yet. Verse two says this, when you're about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army.

He shall say, Here Israel, today you are going into battle against the enemies. Do not be faint-hearted or afraid. Do not panic or be terrified by them. Write this down. This is important. Don't let your worry be louder than God's word. This is unique. They're about to go to battle. They don't send out a general. They don't send out a colonel. There's no sergeant that comes out. Moses sends out the priest. Can you imagine if you're in that army like, well, what's up here? What's going on here? You're sending out priests? Yeah. It's because every warrior needs a preacher. Before the war, the word. That's what I love about Sundays. I'm so proud of you for being in church today. I'm so proud that that's the habit of your life. Because it's a

we gather here today, we're not just merely putting on a church service. This is the briefing before the battle. This is the strategy. And God's strategy is his spirit. I don't think I'm speaking to spectators. I think I'm speaking to soldiers. Anybody fighting for something today? Anybody fighting for purpose? Fighting for your calling. Fighting for peace. Fighting for joy. Anyone fighting for their marriage? Fighting for their family. Are there some dads out there that are fighting for their kids? Come on. If you're a fighter in this house, clap your hands. We're fighting. It's funny. Sometimes on Instagram, people will comment at me, why are you always yelling? Calm down, bro. And I'm like, I'm yelling.

Because every week when people come into church, I want to make sure that my voice is louder than whatever they've been up against all week long. I want you to know there is a God who is for you. There's a God who's fighting for you. You don't have to be afraid. He's going to get you through this thing. because we live in a noisy world. And all week long you're going to leave here and you're going to tune off from the link today. And all week long you're going to be dealing with algorithms and people at work and all of the voices you're going to hear

is going to be the voice of worry. Even some of you right now listening to me today, it's your own inner critic that speaks to you and it's the voice of worry all day long. That word worry comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, to strangle. How many of us, we're just, we're being strangled by worry. We're being strangled by the pressures of this life. I wonder, what's louder in your life? God's word or your worry. Write this down. This is important. What you repeat in peace will become your reflex under pressure.

Let me say it one more time. Put it in the chat. What you repeat in peace will become your reflex under pressure. This is really important because when life hits you, what's going to come out of you? We could look at the life of Jesus, right? Jesus in the wilderness. Remember that? After Matthew 3, he's baptized and the father speaks over him. And immediately he goes into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Notice, whenever Satan comes to attack you, he always attacks your identity. So the last thing that Jesus heard the father say is, this is my son, whom I love and I'm well pleased. The first thing out of the enemy's mouth is, if you are the son of the son of God? Gets you to question, what's this the word of God? And what you'll see there in the wilderness,

Jesus was tempted for 40 days. And what Jesus is actually doing is he's illustrating for us how to win. Because remember the Israelites, they went into a wilderness for 40 years. And they had been given the book of Deuteronomy, the book of instruction, but they never obeyed it. They never used it. They never applied it. And they found themselves delayed forever, never getting out an entire generation. But here comes Jesus. And he doesn't take 40 years. All he needs is 40 days. And every time the enemy comes and tempts him, all Jesus does is he says, it is written. Why? Because it is written before it is one. The word of God must come first. And what's really fascinating is that as you study that entire dialogue back and forth between Jesus and the devil in Matthew 4,

what you find out is that every scripture that Jesus quotes is from the book of Deuteronomy. As if to say, you always had the answer. The same word I gave you back there, in the wilderness is the same word that I'll use to defeat Satan. See, Jesus understood that the word is a weapon. You do get that, right? This is a weapon. And if you don't train in the word, you won't triumph in the wilderness. Let me just go a little bit further. Satan, when he comes to attack Jesus, uses the word. Meaning you can't just read the word. You've got to learn the word. We've got a lot of immature believers in 2025. God bless everybody, but sometimes we're just like, you ever need a word from God, God, God, God, God, God, you know, where are you? You, you, you

you, you ever do flip and read? Elevation way too mature today. Never, flip and read. Flipping read. Flip and read goes like this, you know, it's like, oh God, I need a word, I need a word. And you just flip and then you just hopefully you get a good word from God. But that's like Russian roulette, man. God, I need a word, I need a word. Flip and read. And Judas hanged himself. No, I need another word. I need Okay. Go and do likewise. What? No, friends, it's not enough to read it. You got to learn it. It's a weapon. And as you train in it, come on. You become lethal that when the enemy attacks you, you have a word to fight back. Come on. When pressure hit Jesus's life, the word came out of him. pressure doesn't remove what's inside of you, it reveals what's inside of you. What happens if you squeeze an apple? You get what?

Apple juice. Look at this. This is an amazing audience today. What happens when you squeeze an orange? You get what? Orange, my good, give him a big round of applause today. Wow. What happens when you squeeze a Christian?

Complaining, fear, trouble. No, friend. When you squeeze a believer, you ought to get believer juice. Believer juice, believer juice, believer juice. You ought to get believer juice because believers ought to have fruit. Yeah, if you're a believer, you ought to have fruit of the spirit. Which means when attacks hit my life, when people lie about my name, when they accuse me, when life squeeze me, I want love to be the result. When all of a sudden I'm dealing with the sorrows of life and the pressures of life, I pray that joy,

would be squeezed out of me. Believer juice. I pray that when anxiety wants to hit my life, I pray that all of a sudden when I'm feeling strangled by worry, I pray that peace would begin to erupt. It's believer juice. But how much more for kindness and goodness and gentleness and faithfulness, self-control? Come on. All the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because last time I checked, the fruit of the Spirit still grows under pressure. Come on and clap your hands. I want to make sure that fruit shows up. And so God has the priests go forward. Can you imagine being in that army?

What's going on here, man? They're sending out the preachers? Yeah, we're going to battle. Okay. We need a strategy. No, I'm going to give you a sermon. A sermon. But what is God trying to do?

God is trying to get his external world into their internal world. God is trying to get his external word inside to shape their internal world. I got to get the word in you. Because as the word takes root in you, something's going to grow. Faith is going to grow. I have a friend who's a performance coach, and I love him so much. And he said to me something the other day that really struck me. He said, Rich, have you ever noticed that people tend to shape and design their

external environment to mirror their internal one. Now, all of the gospel, just we understand, is about inside out change. I have to have my heart change. And Jesus does that. But that shouldn't stop us that once we've had that moment of salvation take place. Maturity would say, let me set up an external world that impacts and influences my internal world. But so many people, if you just look at it, it's like their whole life is in chaos. Watch, their environment around them will be in chaos. So many people, they start going through worry and so what do they do they feed into that worry many people they feel lonely so what do they isolate so their external environment begins to mirror what's happening on the inside you know this to be

true that's why when you're having a bad it's like Alexa play my depressed playlist come on don't and some of y'all got crazy Alexa play I want to cry in the shower playlist they ever heard that term misery loves company is true that what we're feeling we want our outside world to live look like that so often. And so all of a sudden, I'm feeling fear, so I put on the news to feed my fear. I'm upset, so now I go to TikTok and I scroll and I scroll, just so I get angrier and angrier and angrier. But maturity, somebody who wants to win before they begin, they say, all right, I don't feel this, but I got to play faith. I don't want to worship, but I'm going to play worship. I want

to set up an external world that changes my internal world. I think sometimes we can overthink this because sometimes we can start thinking to ourselves, all right, that's it, I've got to change my environment, I've got to move cities, I've got to move churches. And sometimes those things are required, but more often not, it's smaller things. It's just creating small little habits to say, let me just do things that all of a sudden I can create an external world that begins to change. Let his word on the outside get in and shape my heart on the inside. One of the most practical things I think we can do, my friend here, Adrian's got his phone, is we can start with this thing right here. This little devil in our pocket.

I just go for the next 15 minutes about how bad the iPhone is. No, that's not the point. But this right here is one of the leading causes of our anxiety, of our restlessness. This little thing that we carry with this all the time. Just little people, you know, just all day long. Let me just tell you, when it comes to this thing, like, here's just a base thing. I had a friend tell me, you've got to parent your phone, Rich. Wow. Wow. I said, what does that mean? He said, well, your kids go to bed before you, don't they? I said, yes. He said, you wake up before your kids, don't you? I said, yeah, I do.

He said, why don't you do that with your phone? For some of us, it's like, just quit sleeping with your phone. Some of you got your phone on your pillow at night. I don't know why I'm anxious. You don't? Can you imagine if you're an alcoholic? It's like, man, I'm really struggling, but I, but I sleep with Jack Daniels every night. You can't defeat the enemy if you're sleeping with the enemy. You've got to put it to bed at night. And maybe it shouldn't even sleep in your room. Maybe you should tuck it in another room. Unplug it and say, good night, little phone. I'll see you in the morning. Just little things. Just change your environment. Instead of putting your phone on your nightstand at night, why not swap that out and put this on your night stand at night?

Why not just make a decision even right here today? I want to win before I begin. I'm going to go biblical before I go digital. Meaning, why don't you just put your Bible on your nightstand? Even if you don't read it, even if you don't get to it, let it be a trigger on the external side of you that before I go to bed at night, it's the last thing I see. And when I wake up in the morning, it's the first thing that I see. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. I might not feel it on the inside, but I want to put it on the outside to try to try. trigger my environment to say, I want God's word to get on the inside of me. Come on. Clap your hands. Make a little bit of noise. Sometimes it's just a little cue. Sometimes it's

just a little thing that the priests would come out before them. They might not have wanted a sermon, but they needed a sermon. In fact, the more and more I grow in my life when I'm feeling lonely, when I'm feeling depressed, I don't want to say, Alexa, play my depressed playlist. I want to say, Alexa, play my faith-filled elevation. worship playlist. Jesus be the name. Wham I, that you keep me on your mind. God, I'm just grateful for you. They say gratitude is the right attitude. When I hear that song, I want to run through a brick wall. Why? Because faith has a sound. Peace has a sound. And what you play starts to shape your environment.

It starts turning things around. You've got to get God's word louder than your worry. Let me hear the sound of faith. Let me hear the sound of peace. Let me hear the sound of joy in this house. I play it when I don't feel it. Who am I? That you keep me on your mind. God, I'm just grateful for you. What a miracle. What a miracle. How did you do you do? this and me and yeah I got some battles in front of me but Lord what I've seen you do time and time again is I know what you brought me out of I don't know what you're doing but I know what you have done and if you were faithful back then you'll be faithful again I need you to praise God in faith today when before you begin grab a seat grab a seat let me give you this last one look at verse 5 with me we're just walking through the text today just a Bible study on a Sunday pastor will be back soon please come back to church Look at verse 5. This is very interesting me. The officers shall say to the army,

Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home or he may die in battle and someone else marry her. This is a very fascinating part because this is before the battle has begun, and here is the strategy of winning. I believe this last thought. I want you to get this deep in your heart. It's simply this. Don't let your anxiety overthrow your order. When you study the word of God and you see when it says, do not be anxious, it can be translated. Do not be torn apart. Because that's what anxiety does. It makes us feel

sin and it separates us. But if you really want to win, in life, you really don't win until you become whole. Everything about our gospel is about an integrated life, mind, body, spirit, and soul coming together on all cylinders. And what's taking place here is that they give these instructions to the people and they say, hey, has anyone like built a new house and you haven't gotten to living yet? Leave. Has anyone about to get married and you haven't gotten to be with your field, leave. If anyone's planted a new vineyard and you haven't enjoyed it, leave. What's happening here? What I want you to see in the text is that God is not just interested merely in raising up fighters. He also is raising up families. And when we talk about

things like contending and fighting back, it's not merely always in life about enduring. It's also about enjoying. That's what I love about Elevation Church. You don't just have to come to church. You get to come to church here. We're not just suffering through it. No, we enjoy the presence of God. God is into your enjoyment. In fact, all the pleasures of life, every good gift came from above. What's meant to happen in the life of a Christian is every good thing that he's given you, relationships, family, jobs, blessing. It is supposed to roll back up into praise and adoration of him that I would give glory unto God. I'm blessed to be a blessing. But just see this category here. You've got a house You've got a spouse and you've got a vineyard.

By the way, if you've got a house and a spouse, all you're missing is a vineyard. But your house speaks about your home life, your spouse speaks of your relationships, and your vineyard speaks around your work. And what God has said, he said, I care about all those things. Listen to me. One of the most spiritual things you will ever do in your entire life is go back home and get your house in order. If your home life is in chaos, your peace will always be in confusion. And many of us, sometimes we think it's the really big, massive thing, but often it's the small thing.

God is a God of order. I don't have enough time today, but I want you to hear this. Order is the antidote to anxiety. Order. We don't serve a God of disorder, but a God of peace. Meaning that when I get my life in order, peace will be the result. And I see so many people today, and they're wondering why I feel so afraid, why I feel like I'm up against so many challenges. is. And it's because they're missing that piece on the inside. But if you want to win before

you begin, you better get your priorities. Everything about God and his book is about priorities. Seek first the kingdom of God. And all these things shall be added unto you. We have a whole generation that's chasing after the added things. But God says, if you'll put me first, I'll handle all of the additions. It's tithing. It's about putting God first. What is Sabbath? It's about going, God, I'm a cease one day of the week, and I'm going to trust you, like Chick-fil-A, that as I work for six days and I take one day off, you're the God who can show up. You're the God who can do exceedingly, immeasurably more than we can ever ask for thing. It's about order.

And even for me, it's just good. Like, the order of my life. Number one, God. I told this to my church today. Number two, my spouse. Number three, my children. I got four of them. Wyatt, Wild, Whalen, and Wolfgang.

Number four, my family and friends. Watch this. Number five, my church. Number six, the community. There's a lot of preachers today that if they're not careful, they will prefer God's bride over their own bride. It's not noble, it's dangerous. I can't take care of God's children if I don't first take care of my children.

Listen, this is one of the things I love about your pastor is that he's got his priorities set. He doesn't bend. to culture. He doesn't bend to naysayers and critics. He understands the assignment of God. And with it, he's a leader worth following because you don't want an anxious priest. You don't want a disintegrated preacher. You want someone who's integrated in whole because you teach what you know, but you reproduce who you are. And so God says, I want you to go home because I want to make sure that you are whole before you fight. Let me show you this.

verse, it's verse, I think it's verse number, is it verse number eight? Can you bring that one up? Yeah, verse eight. Is anyone afraid or faint-hearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened to. I just want to remind some people today at Elevation Church and those watching online, fear is contagious. And so he says, yo, if there's anybody in the camp who's afraid, leave now. Because I can't let the rest of the company. That's who, you are, a group of soldiers, not a crowd, a company. I can't let you catch that. About two weeks ago, I woke up with a sore throat, couldn't believe it, went to the doctors, they said, Rich, you have strep throat. I said, I'm 41 years of age. I didn't know you could get strep throat at 41 years

of age. So like, we might have to take your tonsils. I said, you, the devil is a liar. You should have come from me when I was eight. There is no way you're having my tonsils, bro. Well, it just so happened that about seven days prior, my son Wyatt, my oldest, he had strep throat. It wasn't random. I caught it from Wyatt. I wonder today, some of the things that you're carrying, you didn't start with that. You caught that along the way. You caught fear. You've been examining something outside of God's word that's feeding your fear. A coworker gave you that. A fearful friend gave you that. An absentee father gave you that. The betrayal of a man or a woman. Something else. else gave you that because my Bible says that you are not given a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and sound mind. Come on and clap your hands if you believe our God has the antidote. He says, get your life in order. I just feel like telling some people, there's some folks in your life right now. You've got to let them go. Check your circle. Fear is like secondhand smoke.

It might not have started with you, but it doesn't mean that it won't affect you. And some of us are inhaling something from a far and all of a sudden it's getting down into our heart and it's leaving us in a restless place. I think many times we find ourselves going, God, just take away the battles. But that's not the point of this message. It is one battle after the next. You're in the fight. It's a battle. But what you have to learn is that God wants to mature you in the battle. He wants to strengthen you in the battle. He wants to give you peace and joy and love right there in the middle. All the water in the ocean can't sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. I love how Pastor Stephen's been preaching about same lies, new loops.

Because here's what's funny. I went to the doctor for my strep throat. And at this point, I'm just like, I want immediate results. I'm like, give me the shot, bro. He's like, we're so sorry. We're on back order with shots. We've got to give you antibiotics. I'm like, okay.

Two pills a day for 10 days. Well, five days in, I felt good. I went to elevation nights, had the spirit of God. I forgot that I had ever been sick. And then last week, the virus came back. Today, as I stand on this stage, I'm back on antibiotics. See, Rich, why are you telling me this? I'm telling this that sometimes we have to face the same fight again.

We have to keep coming back to it because if you don't confront it, you can't change it. And if you keep denying it, you'll never, ever be delivered from it. I want to say to some people right now that are running from some stuff, listen to me, when you numb the pain, you also numb the blessing. When you try to escape the trial, you're also going to escape the teaching and the lesson in it. They go hand in hand. In some fights, you just got to keep fighting. Some things you got to keep coming back to. Some things you got to keep going, God, I got to apply your word again. I was laying in bed with my son about two weeks ago, my oldest son, Wyatt and we were recounting his really first trip to Disney World. It took him when he was

four years of age. And I really traumatized him. I apologize for that. That four years of age, I took him on Space Mountain. I said, you're going to love it. He came off. You ever cry so hard you convince yourself you have asthma? He's in therapy, so that's going good. He said, Dad, I hate that right. I'm so sorry. Every year we would talk about it. And I'm always like, Wyatt, you got to go on it again. You'll love it, you'll love it. He's like, no, Dad, I don't want to go on Sprague. I go, you'll love it, you'll love it. Well, we just went back literally maybe six weeks ago, and at seven years of age,

I had to bribe him a little bit. I said, I'll get you two toys, one from Star Wars, one from Marvel. Don't come at me in the comments. I'm just trying my best out of these streets. He's like, you promise. He's like crying. I'm like, you're going to love it, you know? But he went on Space Mountain, of course, as we came off the ride. he's got his hands up laughing. He looks at me. He goes, Dad, again, again, again. And I was like, son, I want to go again. But the way my budget set up, I only got one lightning pass. And so that's it, bro, just next year, you know. I tell you that because the night I was laying in bed with him just two weeks ago, we were talking about Disney World. I said, Wyatt, what's your favorite ride at Disney World? He said, Space Mountain.

I said, Wyatt, that makes me laugh because you told me that you were so afraid. that you hated it. He said, I know, Dad, but I think they changed the ride. I said, no, son, the ride didn't change. You changed. You changed. It didn't get easier. You got stronger. And the battles won't get lighter. You'll just get wiser. And circumstances won't change, but you will. You will grow from the inside out. You will win from your mind. And even before you get in the battle even before it begins. You're walking in with a winning mindset. I know who my God is, and if my God is for me, well, he's brought me through in the past, he'll bring me through again. I know there's a mountain in front of me, but all I got to do is agree with the

word of God, and even this mountain has got to move. Anybody feel like moving to mountain today? Clap your hands. Give God some pray. Just stand to your feet all over this place. I did not read and let me speak it over you as we come to a close. Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse 4. The Lord your God goes with you to fight for you, to give you victory. May you step into this week knowing that you have a God who will fight for you and with you and he will give you victory. I know it feels like it's been battle after battle, but I think a faith-filled person looks back

on their story and it says, actually it's been victory after victory, after victory, after victory. I'm getting stronger. I'm getting stronger. And if you'll face it, listen to me, if you'll face it, God will fight with you. He didn't give you armor on the backside. You go back and read Ephesion 6. There is no back plate because he never meant for you to turn from this thing. He meant you to face it. And God says if you'll face it, I'm a fight for you. I'm a fight for you. I'm a fight for you. I'm a fight for you. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with professional wrestling. Don't you tell me it's fake. It's real. It's real. I used to love the tag team, Legion of Doom, Road Warriors. I'll keep going, but I'll stop. There would always be this moment in a tag team match where the guy's down, he's down, he's down, he's tired, he's weary.

but his partner is outside reaching, reaching, kind of looks like the cross. But while I was stuck in my sin, Christ died for me. What a miracle. When I couldn't get to him, he came to me, and he reached out. And all you got to do is tag God in. Because when that partner gets in the ring, whoo-hoo! Momentum is about.

to shift. A miracle is on the way. I came all the way to Charlotte, North Carolina to tell some people, tag God in. Jesus is here, and if you tag them in, victory is on the way. Lift your hands. Lift your voice. Come on and worship God. Hey, one of them. You know I'm going to say you're listening and you saved my soul. Jesus, with your head bow to your eyes closed at all of our locations and online. Thank God for Jesus. For peace is not a concept. It's a person. He is the prince of peace. And the cross was God saying you can tag Jesus in. If you'll face it, he'll fight with you. Victory is in front of you. I don't know what battles you're stepping into this week, but you can win before you begin.

It's a battle briefing. You're getting battle ready. It's a battle plan. It's a battle plan. God, we thank you for your presence. God, anything's possible when your people show up and your presence shows up. It's an atmosphere of possibility. So, Lord, I pray for people today that are fighting, people that are dealing with anxiety, people dealing with fear. Lord, I pray that your word would begin to get into their heart and begin to shape and reshape their internal world even now. Peace that transcends. peace that passes.

What a miracle. Who am I that you'd love me? Holy Spirit, I just sent you at work today. People facing so many things. Would you meet them here? Right here, right now. Today with your head bowed and your eyes closed before we dismiss and before we get out of you,

I just want to give people an opportunity. The Bible says, believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, and you shall be saved. You can't achieve salvation. You receive it. It's by grace through faith. so that no man can boast. For God so loved the world that he gave is one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. That's the message and the anthem

of Elevation Church. And that's what we bring week in and week out. If you're online or right here in the room and that's you today, you say, I want to surrender my life over to Jesus. On the count of three, I want to give you an opportunity just to lift your hand up high enough and long enough just to say, I want to put my trust, my faith in Jesus. It happens in a moment. It's called tagging God in. getting stronger today by faith. On the count of three, if that's you today, say, Rich, would you pray with me? I want to receive grace. I want to receive Jesus. On the count of three. Ready one, the Bible says today is that day. Two, don't look at your neighbor. It's not about your neighbor. It's between you

and Jesus. Ready, one, two, three, if that's you lift up. That's me. That's me. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. Online right there. Come on elevation, lift your hands towards heaven. We're going to pray this prayer. We're going to sing this chorus. Say, dear Jesus, today, I give you my life. I turn from my ways and I receive your word. I believe and confess. You are who you said that you are. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. Today, I ask that you would give me the grace to follow you. Thank you for your peace. Thank you for your joy. Thank you for your word. What a miracle. in Jesus' name. Come on, everybody. Give God praise. Thank you for joining us.

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