Elevation with Steven Furtick - Work It Out (Daniel Floyd)

Episode Date: July 1, 2019

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This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to the Elevation Church podcast. Today we have the privilege of welcoming Pastor Daniel Floyd from LifePoint Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This is Pastor Floyd's first time preaching at Elevation, and we're excited for you to hear what he shared with our church. We hope you enjoy this message. What's up, Elevation? Come on, give Jesus your very best.

Come on, great is the Lord. greatly to be praised. And it's an honor. It's an honor to be with you today. I want to welcome all of our locations. We're actually broadcasting back to Virginia as well, to all of our campuses this weekend. And I tell you, it feels like home here. I've been here so many times. I was text Pastor Stephen yesterday and said, I was thinking about 2007, I was trying to plan a church. We didn't know what we were doing. Really didn't know anything about it. anything, just knew we love people and love Jesus and wanted to make a difference. And so somebody said, you got to go to Charlotte. There's something happening in Charlotte. And I was like, all right,

I'll go visit. I need to learn some things. And walked in to Providence High School and blew my mind. And somehow I ended up meeting Pastor Stephen. And I knew then in that moment, I was like, my life needs to be aligned with this man. Because how many of you know that alignment comes before assignment. And I was saying I never knew how much that moment would impact my life in this text to him yesterday. I can turn back to almost every major turning point in our ministry. And it was some phone conversation we had. It was some message he preached, like, this is the dream or take your seat at the gate. It was some environment he created where God gave me a revelation I needed for this season ahead for us. And here's what I know about environments like this.

is that when you're in them every week, they can become common to you. And if you don't know, common is the opposite of honor. And you don't intentionally dishonor something. It just becomes common. And so can I just encourage you? Never let this environment become common. But more important, more important, never let your leaders, Pastor Stephen and Holly,

become common in your life. How you perceive someone is how you will receive them. And so I hope you'll always perceive them as the gift that they are. Ephesians 4 said he gives gifts to the body. One of those is pastors. God must love you because he gave you one of the best gifts you could ever get in your leaders. Come on, can we thank God for Pastor Stephen and Holly? Man, we love them.

Thank God for them. We're not going to stand the whole time. I mean, I'll see you in a moment, but, you know, if the message is good, at points. If you feel like it, you can stand if you want. I don't care. But we are from Virginia. My wife Tammy is with me. She is, we pastor the church together. My little girl Faith is with us. She's 10. And she's 10 going on 21. We have four kids, though, and it's, we call it the greatest show. We don't want to call it a circus. That's not very life-giving. We call it the greatest show. But we have a 12-year-old son named Owen. Faith is 10. We have a two-year-old named Abigail, which in Hebrew means Father's Joy. And if you ever meet her, she just lights up every room. She

comes into. And she wasn't a surprise. We did that on purpose. Don't ask us why. We don't know why we started over again. And then we just adopted, and we have a seventh month old little boy named Jonas. And yeah, he's sweet. And you say awe, but he's not sleeping, y'all. And so pray for that. Pray a spirit of sleep and slumber comes over him. If not, Benadryl may come over him. I'm joking. I'm joking. Don't call anybody on me. Don't call social services or anything. I'm joking. Have you ready to get into the Word today?

I know this is a house that loves the Word of God. Let me read one verse to you, give you the title, the message, and we're going to jump into it. James Chapter 2 will be on the screen for you, beginning of verse 25. I'm going to read verse 25 and 26. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous. That's the way you want to start your first time at elevation. reading about a prostitute. Considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction.

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Some trains listen say so faith without works is dead. Faith without activity. Faith without action. Faith without works is dead. If you need a message title today, it's this, work it out. Work it out. Look at your neighbor and say, work it out.

On your way to your seat, look at your other neighbor and say, work it out. Work it out. I came from a family of five. I have two older sisters. I'm the baby. I'm the baby boy. I'm the only boy. I'm the favorite.

Come on somebody. Mamas, their baby boys are their favorites. They won't say it. They won't speak it, but I know it right here in my heart. I'm the favorite. But how many of you know that when you've got siblings, there is conflict? Come on, somebody. There's conflict, and so there would often be conflict in the Floyd household.

And we would go to mom, right? Because mom's supposed to take sides and solve it, and she would say this too. You guys need to go learn to work it out. Oh, you had that mom, too, right? Come on, somebody. Yeah, you've got to learn to work it out, right? And so something would happen at school. And my mom was not one of those moms that would run to the school and fix everything for me.

She would go, Daniel, you need to go. back to school tomorrow, and you need to learn to work it out, right? And now that I have kids, I have four, and now they come to me with arguments, and I go, you two need to go work it out. We just got back from vacation. We were away for two weeks, and by the end of the week, I was like, one, get away from me. And I love my kids, but like, we've been in two close quarters for too long. Come on somebody. And I'm like, any argument you guys need to work it out. Why? Because what we're trying to teach them, what my mom is trying to teach me is this, is that There's a skill set gained, and there is a strength gained, an ability gain, when you have to figure something out on your own.

And what my mom knew is that one day she wanted me to move out of the house as much as she loved me and as much as I love my four. In 18 years, the last one will be out of the house, theoretically, parenthetically, they'll move out. And I want them to have the ability to be able to last in the real world, hello, on their own. I want them to have the skills to deal with conflict. I want them to have the skills to how to resolve a situation. I don't want them to have to run. I don't want them to spend their life going, well, it was their fault I didn't succeed. It was their fault that it didn't come through.

It was their fault. No, I want them to take personal responsibility. I want them to learn to work it out. Somebody shall work it out. And so what some of us think we should do is shelter our kids from that, but rather there are some situations we should send them back into. And how many of you know that there are some things in life as you grow up that you've got to learn to work out? That there comes some challenging situations in life.

There comes some difficult things that we all face. No matter whether you're here at one of our locations and you believe in Jesus, don't believe in Jesus, we all experience life. And I found that life can be difficult. And I found that life can throw some things at you that are hard. And I found that it happens from two different angles. One is sometimes we do it to ourselves. Hello. Let's be honest. Sometimes we just make some dumb choices and we do it to ourself. And some things happen to us we had no control over. The phone call that came and we had no control over it,

the person that walked out of our life and we had no control over it. There's some things that happened because we had no control, but there's some things that happened because we had control and we just caused it. But in either situation, if we assume that just because God is good, which he is, that he will shelter us from everything, we are going to be sorely disappointed. Because God, instead of sheltering us, will often leverage that situation to develop something in us. See, I found that whenever we face challenging and hard times in life,

there's usually three responses we have. One, we try to fix it ourselves, right? I can do this. I can pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I can try harder. I'm going to do better. It's what we do in January, right? You all remember that diet plan you had?

I'm giving you a moment to think about it. Remember that workout? I'm going to do keto. That's it. I'm going to get, I'm going to hit the gym. Right? Some of you're like, oh, yeah, that's still automatically the drawing from my account. I haven't been in three months. Come on. And so you, but I can do this myself, right? And here's the thing is that you'll find is that there's some things in life that no matter how much effort you put into them, it will not resolve it. Some of us, the next step as we go, we go to find a solution from everybody else around us. And so we crowdsource counseling on social media. Please stop that, by the way. We go to every person.

And the Bible does say that in a multitude of counselors, there is wisdom. But maybe that shouldn't be step one. I found that some of us, if we don't go to ourselves or we don't go to other people, we end up just saying, well, this is my lot in life. That I'm just going to live stuck. That I've just got to live. I've got to deal with this. I think for some of us, we somehow have twisted in our mind.

that maybe the life I'm living now and the difficulties I'm facing now, I'm paying penance to God for some life that I lived previously whenever I before Jesus. And so now I've just kind of deal with this. And I love this about this house and I love this about Pastor Stephen. He is bent on letting you know you don't have to live stuck in life, that God does have a good plan for your life. Come on. That he does have a good purpose for your life.

And you don't have to live stuck in your current situation. life does not have to be a merry-go-round where you feel like you're dealing with the same thing over and over and over and over. The name's changed, the situation's changed, but I just can't seem to get out of that. That is not God's plan for you. And so if it's not, I'll fix it myself, and it's not other people can fix it for me, and it's not that I'm just supposed to live a less-than life than what is it? Then these challenging situations, what are their purpose? Why would say this, that they can be leveraged for God to increase the one thing that pleases him, and that is faith?

The Bible says that without faith, it's impossible to please God. So the one thing that pleases God, not your performance doesn't please God, not your best day, not trying harder, not I'll do better, not God look at me, God, I did the right thing, God, I didn't lay into that person, I didn't tell my coworker what I really thought. God, didn't I do a great job today? Hello, somebody. I know you're all so spiritual. Y'all don't do that. We were on vacation, and I had my little two-year-old,

and she was a little swimming diaper, right? And there was this individual, we'll call it that, by the pool at the resort. And evidently, in the condos we were staying in, evidently, there's a rule you can't wear swimming diapers in this certain pool. And this one lady made sure. sure the people in charge knew that, so they would come to us and tell us to get her out of the pool. So I deemed her the pool Nazi. And I knew that I was not walking in the spirit

enough to go over and have a conversation with her, so I asked my wife to. I was like, go get her, babe. And Tammy's got like that Southern sweet thing. Hey, how are you? What's your name? Like introduced yourself. I went over there and been like, what's your problem? Are you trying to kill my joy, kill my vacation? Are you all with me? I know y'all don't face any days like that. But maybe in those moments, God's trying to develop something in me, and I heard the Holy Spirit go, the fruit of me is self-control. It's like, all right, let's, I may need a day or two to work on this, Jesus. Because if she's at the pool tomorrow, I may not have self-control.

But in that moment, God was like, I'm trying to do something in you. I'm not trying to do something to you. Just so you know the end of the story, I took her swimming diaper off. I was like, whatever she does, she does. Get in the pool, baby. She ain't potty train yet. And so I just want you to know that those challenging moments, it's not that God is doing something to you. Sometimes we can go, God, what are you doing to me?

And God's going, now I'm not trying to do something to you. I'm trying to do something in you so that I can do something through you. But I've got to do something in you first before I can do the thing through you. I'm trying to elevate your faith. And here's what I've found is that faith does not grow in comfort. That if you want a comfortable life, then you may never have faith that is grown or else. elevated to another level. It requires discomfort for faith to grow. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. So that means God will allow some uncomfortable situations in your life so that he can

elevate your faith to take you to another level. So faith, the Bible says, is evidence or faith is substance. Are you with me? Say amen. Faith is evidence. Faith is not a feeling. It's not the emotion that you get when elevation worship, who has thankfully written the anthem of a generation now. I mean, amazing, but that's not faith, that feeling you get. That's wonderful, but that's not faith. It's not when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and the goosebumps. That's not faith. The Bible says faith is evidence. Now, I'm no attorney, but I understand that evidence is what is required whenever you go into a courtroom. that you have to produce evidence to back up your case for what you are saying is true. So faith is evidence, meaning faith is seen, it's tangible, it's observable, in something of my behavior or in my speech.

So I cannot say that I have faith if my behavior doesn't follow up what I'm saying I believe in. It is the evidence. Are you following me? So faith without, let's say it this way works, or faith without evidence is dead or isn't really faith at all. And so God will give me the opportunity to produce evidence in my life that I have faith so that I can please him. So the challenging situations in my life are not God doing something to me, they're God doing something in me and it is strengthening my faith. and the muscle of faith does not grow in comfort. So if you're in the middle of discomfort right now, you should rejoice. Because God is growing something in you, meaning God is about to do something through you.

Come on, somebody. So how do I work out my faith then? How do I work it out? That sounds all good and that's great. But how do I work it out? What does it look like when God is working out? my faith so that I can grow this faith muscle to believe for greater things. And here's, I want to put this caveat if I could insert this caveat into the message so that you

understand this clearly, that I'm not talking about working out faith for salvation. She need to make that clear for you. You are saved by faith alone through grace alone. Are you following me? It is not of your work so that you don't get the credit. It's the gift of God so none of us can boast in that. I'm talking about the faith to believe God for greater things in your life. Are you with me?

All right. So I want us to look at the story in the Old Testament. Second Samuel, chapter one, the story of Hannah. And I see a couple things in Hannah's life that helps us see how God works out faith. I'm sorry, First Samuel, Chapter 1. First Samuel, Chapter 1. What you need to know real quick, cliff notes about Hannah, is that she is married to a guy. He also has another wife.

That's a whole other day. Pastor Stephen will clear up all that. And she is unable to have children, and she very much desires to have children. So 1 Samuel, chapter 1. We're going to start reading in verse 3, verse 3. It'll be on the screen. It says this, that year after year, this man, being Hannah's husband, he went up from the town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hoffney and Phineas, not Phineas and Furb. Hello, I have little children. The two sons of Eli were the priest of the Lord. And whenever the day came for Alcana to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife, Panina,

and all of her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he gave a double portion because he loved her. And the Lord had closed her womb. And because the Lord had closed her womb, listen to this. The other wife, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. And whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her until she went.

and she could not eat. So she wept and she could not eat. I wonder if you've ever been in a place in life where you so desired something, but it seemed impossible to obtain it. You know, some of life's challenges aren't just challenging, they're impossible. They look like, how could this ever happen?

How could this ever come through? How could I ever find the solution to this? And I would say today at all of our locations that there's some of you that feel like you're in the middle of impossible situations. It's where Hannah was. Her womb was closed. She could not have a child. She could not control that outcome. You know, life is a lot easier when you can control the outcome. She could not control the outcome. And not only that, but she had an antagonist in the story that constantly was antagonizing her and provoking her.

Hey, Hannah, you can't have kids. Hey, Hannah, how does it feel? Hey, Hannah, look at, do you mind to babysit my kids while I go out? constantly antagonizing and provoking her. And so Hannah was living daily. Every day she woke up, she lived in the reality of the deficit that was in her life, the deficit, the gap between where she was and where she wanted to be between what she currently had and what she was desperately wanting from God. And there was nothing she could do to change it. And I want you to notice this, that as we would learn to work out our faiths, we learned to work out our faith. If you're a not-taker, write this down. Number one is this, is that the deficit is faith's opportunity.

The deficit is faith's opportunity. Many of us look at the deficits in our life and look at it as the obstacle, but it is not the obstacle. It is the opportunity for our faith to grow. It's opportunity for the muscle of faith to get stronger so that we can carry the weightier thing that God wants to do in our life in the seasons ahead.

Without the deficit, our faith would not grow. The deficit is required for our faith to grow. I remember whenever my daughter, Faith, Tammy was pregnant with her, we went for, you know, you go for all the ultrasounds around 20 weeks. And so we were going for that. We're going to find out boy or girl. We were all excited about that. My first one was a son and everybody thought it was a girl.

And I told Tammy, I was like, I make men, at least for the first one. And so it's going to be a boy. First one's going to be a boy. And the second one, I was like, I want a little girl. There's nothing like daddy and his little girls, you know. And so I was like, I want a girl. So we went in. We're all excited.

Everything. All the visits up to this, we're all healthy. I know everything's great. So they do this, and then they call us back, and they say, we need to go for a more intense ultrasound. And so we were like, all right, that doesn't sound good. We haven't done this before. And so we went for that more intense thing. And they got done with that and set us down in that room.

And they were like, hey, we found a couple of abnormalities, a couple spots on the brain. You know in those moments where you get that kind of news, how it just, there's like a rush that goes from your head to your feet. It's like a mixture of weight and heat and anxiety. And then your mind begins to race, doesn't it? All right, the brain is pretty important. And so in my mind, as a dad, I went from zero to will I ever be able to walk her down the aisle like that. From zero to will she be able to walk? like that.

There was a deficit that I could not control. I can't fix a brain. So we went away from that appointment, and I'm not saying that I'm super spiritual, and this always happens because it doesn't always happen, and I'm not saying I got there that day. It took me a few days. But I just begin every night to put my hand on Tammy's stomach, and I just begin to pray and declare healing and believe God to touch this little girl's mind.

I begin to prophesy destiny over her. and purpose over her and calling over her and that God would use this and that he would perform a miracle in our life. And I just begin to pray and pray and pray and pray and weep and cry and pray. And sometimes Tammy would be asleep and I'd wake up in the middle of the night and I would put my hand on her stomach and I would just begin to pray that God, you're going to touch this. This is my inheritance. This is not going to go down this way. I just begin to decree and declare and pray over this over and over and over. But here's the deal. If I had not had the deficit, I would not have prayed that way.

The deficit is what brought a new level of prayer up on the inside of me. The deficit brought a new level of faith up on the inside of me. The deficit in my life brought a new level of healing up on the inside of me. It caused me to speak as those things that were not were in my life. It became the evidence. My prayer became the evidence that I believed that my God was a healer, that I believed that he would make a way where there was no way. that he could open doors that no man could open.

Though the doctor may declare one thing, I believe my God would declare another thing. That prayer was the evidence, because faith without works is dead. You've got to work it out. And now she sits on the front row, completely fine, completely her mind okay, but the deficit I needed in my life.

See, I'm trying to flip your perspective today to help you see that the deficit isn't God doing something too, you. That the deficit isn't God trying to get you. No, God, it can leverage it in your life if you will allow him to grow a new muscle of faith on the inside of you. See, I think sometimes we pray counterproductive prayers in our life. God use me. God grow me. God, I want everything that you have for me. Some other good church things we say, God, I want to fulfill my purpose. God, I want to fulfill my destiny in this life. And God's like, okay, at your current stage of faith, because we've all been given a measure of faith,

and it's our responsibility in response to God to grow that faith, all right, at the certain measure of faith you have, you cannot handle the weight of the thing that I want to do in your life. So I need to strengthen you in your spirit, man, to prepare you for the thing that I have for you, so then all sudden trouble will come your way. I'm not trying to depress you on this first time with you. But the Bible says in this world you will have trouble.

David said this in the Psalm 119. He said, I was glad that I was afflicted because I know you in a way I would not have known you otherwise. I believe you in a way I would not have believed you otherwise. I walk with an intimacy with you. I would not have had otherwise. But we begin to pray God use me so trouble comes our way. And then we begin to pray God removed the trouble

I rebuke it in the name of Jesus I declare this is not my day not today devil and God's like hold up time out I thought you wanted to be used I thought you wanted destiny I thought you wanted purpose I found that purpose comes through the conduit of pain

because it is in the middle of pain and discomfort is where my faith grows My faith doesn't grow on the mountaintop. My faith celebrates on the mountain top, but my faith grows best in the valley moments of my life where I learned that he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me that I'm his own. I've learned that in the valley moments of my life,

I develop an intimacy with the father that I've never had before so that I have the strength to stand whenever he puts me on the mountain. So the deficit is not the obstacle in your life. The deficit is faith's opportunity in your life to grow to another level. If you're going to go to another level, you've got to grow your faith to another level. Because you don't want to get to a place where you can't handle the weightiness of what God wants to put on you. Hannah had a deficit. She was desperate for a child. She had no control. So the Bible tells us

that she would go and pray and she'd call out to the Lord. We see it in 1 Samuel. Chapter 1, verse 12, says this. She said, as she kept on praying. Notice she didn't pray one time. Sometimes we're like, God, I prayed about that. Prayed one time. And it says as she kept on praying. Eli observed her mouth. And Hannah was praying in her heart and her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard.

Can you imagine being so distraught over something that when you pray, you can't get your voice to engage, only your lips. can move and your heart hurts so. This is where she is. And Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, how long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine. Not so, my Lord, Hannah replied, I'm a woman who's deeply troubled. I've not been drinking wine or beer. She's covering it all. I'm not classy. I ain't country. I ain't done all that all. I grew up in East Tennessee where straight solo cups. That's it. I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Verse 16. She says, do not take your servant for a wicked woman. I've been praying here out of great anguish and grief.

Nelai answered, go in peace. And may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him. Listen to this. This verse is fascinating. She said, may your servant find favor in your eyes. And then she went her way and ate something. And her face was no longer downcast. She is distraught.

She's weeping. She's praying to a point where, her voice isn't even engaging, but her lips are moving. Eli says one sentence to her, the man of God, and it says her countenance changes, and she's hungry. If the deficit is faith's opportunity, the word is faith's foundation. If the deficit is face opportunity, then the word is faith's foundation. The only change in her circumstance from weeping and praying to eating and her countenance changing was a word. That's it.

Now, whenever you hear that, a word, maybe you're not used to church and you're like, well, what do you mean a word? Like an article V or A or like, what do you mean she got a word? Well, there's the word, God's word, the scripture, God will speak to you through that. That's why it's important that you read it. You don't want to just eat on Sundays, although you get served some good meals here. You got probably the greatest preacher of this generation, serving up like filet mignon, hello, every week. But then there's another way. There is a word called a rama word or an in-season word.

That is a word. Let me say it like this. I know you've been to church here and you're like, did Pastor Stephen bug my house? Like, was he following me around this week? Did he have people? Because everything he's saying is everything I dealt with that week. That is a word. that is in season for you.

That's how God takes the word and gives you a word. Are you following me? The difference in the two. Are you with me? And so Hannah got a word in season. May God grant you a request. And that word changed everything for her.

Here's what I want you to notice. She didn't get a child. She got a word. And the word was enough to change her countenance and to make her want to go eat. if you're waiting on God to give you the answer to your prayer before you start walking out in faith, evidence that you believe His Word,

then you may never get the answer to the prayer. God is waiting for you to respond in faith to believe him at His Word before he gives you the answer to the prayer. Are you following me? She didn't get a child, she got a word. I think about Peter. Peter's one of my favorite disciples,

because I just think you can build a great church with Peter. He's like half-hood, half-saved, and he carries a knife, cutting people's ear off. Kind of bold. I just like him. He's like, I'd rather rain somebody back than have to beat a donkey. I'd rather rain back a stagion. Are you with me? Peter's like that. You've got to rain him in a little bit, but you kind of want to let him go a little bit, see what it'll do. Right? And so Acts chapter three, I think it's first chapter three, verse one. Peter is going up to the temple at the time of worship, and it says there's a lame man. That's how he's identified. We don't know his name. His identity is

found in his sickness. And so there's a lame man at the city gate called Beautiful. And he He says to him, can I have some money because that was his expectation. All everybody ever gave him was money. No one that could ever give him anything more. So he asked for money. Peter said, look at me. And the Bible says this, fascinating. It says the man looked at him expecting to receive something.

Can I tell you, your level of expectation will determine what you receive? Can I tell you something? I hear people say, man, that service was so good today. I'm like, it's good every week. Your level of expectation was better this week. Are y'all following me? What you expect, come in and expecting is what you will receive. So he said, expecting to receive some.

Peter said, look at me. He said, expecting to receive something to him, Peter replied to him, silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have, in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. Now, now I think about this. That man had been lame from birth, but at a word from the man of God, He decided to put evidence to his faith and put his feet underneath him.

He'd never done this. Never done this. But he had to put action. If he had laid there and said, thank you, Peter, for saying that. That's awesome. Guys, carry me back home. Here's what I'm concerned is there's too many Christians still laying at the city gate, not living out their inheritance, because they've been.

won't act on, they won't work out the word that God is given them. God has given you so much in Jesus and all you have to do is begin to work it out. We're still laying by the gate going, I know healing is mine, I know deliverance is mine, I know freedom is mine, but I'd rather lay by the gate begging for a little bit of change whenever my daddy owns the cattle on a thousand hills and I could have everything that heaven has to offer, but we're still laying by the gate. So here's the deal. I don't wait to praise him until the baby is born Hannah gets up

and changes her she physiologically has changes because of the word this is why it's so important you're in the house every week to get yourself in an atmosphere where you can receive a word that is on time that is in season for what you're going through

because that word could save your life that word could change your situation So I didn't wait to praise him until faith was born and the doctor says everything is okay. I had to go in on the weekend going, God, I thank you that she's healed. I thank you that everything is okay. I worship you right now. I don't think God is impressed when we can worship him when everything is going okay. I think he's impressed when I limp into church going I'm hurting.

I'm not sure about how it's going to turn out, but he's good anyways and he's gracious anyways. And his mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. At every location, why don't you give him praise just because he's good? Praise just because he's God. Just because he's faithful. Just because the grass may wither and the flower fades. But the word of our God will last forever.

So the word is faith's foundation. So you may know the story Samuel was born. Hannah stayed with him for two years. can you imagine two years of holding on to the baby. Then it says this, that she went back to the same place where she prayed for him. She went to the Eli, the prophet who had gave her the word. That's what she said.

And she said to him, as surely as you live, my Lord, I'm the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child. Some of you have been praying for some things. And the Lord has granted me what I ask of him. so now I give him to the Lord for his whole life he will be given over to the Lord and he worshipped the Lord there the deficit is faith's opportunity and the word is faith's foundation then the sacrifice is faith's test listen to me the test was not could Hannah believe God for Samuel the test was once Samuel was in her

arms could she give him back to God. The test is not whether or not you can believe God can put you something in your hand. God can do anything. The test is once he puts it in your hand, can you still live with an open one? Can you still say the Lord gives and the Lord takes away? Bless be the name of the Lord forever. Because see, I have found that it is often the last blessing of God that is keeping you from receiving the next. Because whatever is in your hand, God put it there. And too many times we get our grip on it. And God is going, no, if you'll release what I gave you before, I will give again. If you will give, I can give press down, shaking together, and running over.

I can put it into your hand. And so the test isn't, can I believe God? The test is once God gives it to me, can I say, God, everything I have is from you and returns back to you? Can I sacrifice it? The sacrifices face test. Because see, God isn't moving me to just a place of one blessing. The Bible tells me he's moving me from victory to victory, glory to glory. So the last thing that God did in my life is not the last thing God wants to do in my life.

Is it a series of events of things God wants to bless in my life? See, God wasn't doing something to Hannah. It was God doing something through Hannah. because it was Samuel that would annoy it Saul, it was Samuel that would anoint David. It is through David Jesus would come. Can I take it a little deeper? The whole thing wasn't even about Samuel.

Wasn't about Samuel. The thing you're going through right now isn't about that thing. It wasn't about Samuel. It was about God opening her womb because she wouldn't just have Samuel, she'd have five more. The thing you're going through right now isn't even about the thing you're going through right now.

It is about what God wants to do beyond the thing you're going through right now. Are you following me? The thing you're going through right now is the test to see if you can handle the blessing that is on the other side of the thing that you're going through right now. See, I came to declare over you today that the struggle you're facing right now, if you will work it out, if you will leave with an open hand, that God isn't just going to give you a blessing. God is going to open your womb where multiple, multiplied blessings will flow in and through your life.

God is not the God of just one blessing. He is the God of exceedingly, abundantly, and above all that you can ask or imagine. And if you can live with an open hand, if you can say, God, whatever you put into my hand, I can release it back to you, God will open up your womb and send multiplied blessing after blessing after blessing after blessing, after blessing. Somebody shout, work it out. Work it out. 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. again for listening. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.