Are you managing your miracle? | Gamechanger | Pastor Steven Furtick

hey don't start clicking off I promise we're gonna get to the preaching in just a moment but I'm excited about this this is a very special tradition at Elevation and we want to speak to all of you who call our church home especially our extended family our eFam around the world because once a year we have a special series it's really more than a collection of teachings it's a faith experience for all of the people who are part of our ministry at Elevation and this year our theme is Gamechanger I think one of the most exciting things that God is doing in our ministry is to open the doors of our ministry beyond our walls what I mean by that is we are amazed at the thousands and thousands and thousands of you who are letting us know that you're impacted by this ministry in another zip code in another state in another country maybe eventually on another planet but what I wanted to mention to you is that you can be a part of this beyond just consuming many of you have been blessed by God to be a blessing and I wanted to ask today would you be willing during this special time of year to make a one-time donation to the ministry or maybe partner with us on a monthly basis through recurring giving I believe God could use your gift to enable this ministry to continue to reach to continue to break paradigms to continue to lift up Jesus and I wanted to ask you personally to go to elevationchurch.org and you can see the ways to give there but most importantly know that we feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to minister the Word of God not only to you but to challenge you to partner with us in reaching people for the gospel I believe your gift today could be a game-changer so don't put it off right now elevationchurch.org you can find all of the details I hope you enjoy this message and thank you for being a part of the family I want to share with you from a scripture that really demonstrates something that I think is difficult to do in our lives but will be so helpful to us we're in a season called Gamechanger it's our year end series we're taking a moment to pause reflect and respond to God's goodness in our lives and so from the scriptural foundation today I want to help you see something that I think will help you to carry forward with you into the next season of your life momentum for what God has already done is something significant and what he wants to do is even greater and I believe that I believe that with all of my heart for myself and my family and for you and your family and for our church and so with that spirit of faith today let's go to the Word of God Joshua chapter 4 verses 1 through 9 and as I read this story to you over the next few moments I want you to pay attention to the details of it okay because on the surface this story is really very simple the people of Israel are crossing into the Promised Land they haven't fought any battles yet but it's already theirs because God has promised to give it to them so they're coming to realize what God has already revealed and he showed it to them for many generations but now they're coming into that moment where they're having to actually believe that what God spoke in their lives and what God spoke that they haven't seen come to pass yet is about to happen and so I think this is an appropriate scripture for for where we are as a church and maybe for where you are as well and I pray that God will help me deliver it today are you excited I'll be honest it's not very convincing but I am I'm excited enough for all of us so we'll do it anyway Joshua chapter 4 verse 1 when the whole nation to finish crossing the Jordan the Lord said to Joshua choose 12 men from among the people one from each tribe and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests are standing and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight so Joshua called the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites one from each tribe and said to them go over before the Ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder according to the number of tribes of the Israelites to serve as a sign among you in the future when your children ask you what do these stones mean tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it crossed the Jordan the waters of the Jordan were cut off these stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever so the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them they took 12 stones in the middle of the Jordan according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites as the Lord had told Joshua and they carried them over with them to the camp where they put them down Joshua was set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who had carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood and they are there to this day would you look at the person next to you and give them my sermon title tell them it's mine to manage look at your other neighbor I know they were your second choice but they're important to the Lord as well and tell them it's mine to manage it's mine to manage how many of you have children how many of you have children who have a phone or an electronic device with a data plan it's a big debate around my house when will our children be old enough to be entrusted with data real First World problems I get it but you know parenting is challenging it's a great privilege but I find it to be challenging and I find it to be exhilarating and I find it to be exhausting and one woman wrote me on YouTube and said I think you had kids too soon you're always complaining about them and I prayed for her in tongues but you know the the more of a privilege you see something to be the more of a responsibility you feel toward it so complaining isn't always a sign that you don't care you're not grateful you have an attitude of gratitude gratitude is not an attitude gratitude is an action and then the action of being grateful leads to a feeling of gratitude but God would not command you to be grateful if gratitude was a feeling because you can't command a feeling doesn't work that way God instead instructs you to praise Him one psalmist said it this way he said this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it oh this is the day this is the day that the Lord has made hey this is the day this is the day that the Lord has made now who made it who made it now I will rejoice I will rejoice and be glad in it so God made it but I get to manage it touch somebody say it's mine to manage and what I do with this day is up to me so when I when I gave my oldest kid his phone I said I wrapped it it was his birthday and I wrapped it and I said this phone has data and this phone is is yours not really for your birthday I am giving you my phone to use which means that this phone the contents thereof and the communications that shall be initiated thereby are under my jurisdiction one good parent clapped when I said that and I dare you to put a passcode on that phone that I don't know I dare you to put a passcode on that phone you change your passcode and I will change your destiny but it was a principle in the modern age of stewardship that is it's really the same principle you know that God has been trying to teach us all along that it's His to give and it's ours to manage and the moment you begin to understand that about your life your your money y'all don't like this sermon already this is the motivational part takes take some of the pressure off to realize that it's His to give it's mine to manage say it out loud it's His to give mine to manage so I didn't make the day but I will rejoice in it so He gave me the day and now it's mine to manage that's a really powerful distinction to know that there are certain things that God has given you under your jurisdiction one of those things is your joy I will rejoice and be glad in it and so this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it regardless of if the traffic is congested I don't manage the traffic but I am I am hahaha I like it this way my joy is my job no matter what happens when I get to my job no one can steal my joy because my joy is not under anyone elses jurisdiction see what I'm saying it's mine to manage and one time I made the mistake of saying that somebody stole my joy and the sphere of the Lord really corrected me on that like they stole your joy there your joy is not their job and if they sol it you should have done a better job locking the door so they couldn't get to it you need a better security system if someone else can steal your joy then you've got your joy hiding out there in the open where anybody can see it and snatch it and so this principle emerges in the book of Joshua can I tell you a little bit about this historic incident I'm so thankful for the gift of your attention today I find it a great privilege that you would lean in to the Word of God and allow these words to be spoken I think it's amazing I want to make it worth your while I want to tell you a bit about this passage of Scripture it's really amazing what God is doing for his people here because the nation of Israel is under new management under new management and this this this promise that God began making generations ago is now about to come to pass this this land that they're going to possess is is going to become theirs but it's really God's but it's theirs it's theirs to possess but it's gods to give so it's God's and it's theirs and Joshua is the person God is using to bring it to pass now Moses was the leader that brought the people out of Egypt where they spent several centuries enslaved to the systems of that nation and now they're no longer just wandering around in the wilderness like they did under Moses for over 40 years but they're coming into their own land they're coming into their own spacious place they're coming into their own homes and they're coming into their their own community that God has been in the process of forming it's gonna require a different mindset because up until this point in their life they have existed on the miracles that God provided like God gave them manna when they were in the wilderness because they didn't have quail like they had in Egypt that their masters would give them to feed them but now they're coming into their own and the manna that used to fall from the sky it was miraculous how it came down they would just walk out their front door and there it would be Amazon Prime on the doorstep that the the drone would drop it off and they would have enough for the day but the thing that's about to happen to them in just a moment is that they're gonna cross over into this land where the manna is going to stop coming and they are going to have to learn to manage in a different way so they're going to have to mature in their mindset and I guess one way that you could say it is they are they're having to learn how to manage their miracle and this is something you don't hear taught enough in settings like these because we often tell you to expect a miracle and to believe for a miracle and to receive for a miracle but how many know that you are responsible to manage your miracles I'll prove it to you from the text cuz you're acting kind of suspicious and I don't blame you it sounds weird because a miracle is something that God does it's something that God gives but the the cooperation between heaven and humanity has always been this it's God's to give but it's mine to manage it's my Father's to give but it's mine to manage and so God is bringing his people through the the Jordan River how many of you have something God has brought you through this year did God bring you through it I'm gonna give you 12 seconds to praise him for something that he brought you through we all have a Jordan that we came through and the interesting thing about the Jordan River is it's mentioned a lot in Scripture but not because it's a big body of water it's only like 15 yards wide at its widest points and it's not the deepest body of water that's not what makes it significant what it symbolizes gives it its biblical significance in that the people of God saw the Jordan River as representing transitions and new beginnings you see it a lot in the prophetic record like Elisha got Elijah's mantle in the Old Testament and he crossed the Jordan River it's not a big river but it's symbolic it's significant not because of it's size not because of it's scope physically and not because of its geographical implications but because of what God did there now they're standing at this place this body of water and God does something amazing He does it in a very particular way he tells the priest to stand in the middle of the Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant that's where they kept the Ten Commandments they represented the presence of God and when the priests put their foot in the water the water stopped flowing to provide passageway for the people to cross through God did not carry His people across the Jordan He enabled His people to cross over this is how a lot of us live our lives waiting for God to carry us over something when He is waiting for us to cross you see me Def Leppard it is true my kids one time when they were real little we were in a public restroom and they were washing their hands and they had their hands out like this and nothing was happening because I realized they were used to the faucet being automatic and it wasn't an automatic faucet and I watched and I stood back to see how long they would stand there with their hands under the faucet waiting for something to happen without turning the faucet on and finally in compassion I told I told my oldest child I said this is not an automatic faucet I know that you're used to the water just coming on like this see when you've had manna falling out of the sky for so many years you're used to just something falling down out of it just because you put your hand there but it's going to require an action it's gonna require so the water didn't stop flowing until the people start walking and when they start walking the water stopped flowing and people pass through and the priest stood in the middle of the Jordan which must have taken faith for them to stand in the middle of the Jordan not knowing if it was gonna continue to pile up in a heap or if it was gonna flood over them but the leaders had the faith to stand in the middle of the Jordan isn't that significant that it said it was in the middle of the Jordan isn't that the hardest thing in life to do is to manage the middle because I understand that God has made me promises and that He knows the end from the beginning but I don't I don't know the end from the beginning I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future well I'm glad that God knows the plans He had for me but I don't know the plans He has for me and so the challenge isn't believing that He knows how this is going to end my challenge is standing in the middle and believing that what He spoke is indeed significant it's different when you're in the middle it's a lot different it it was it was weird a few a few weeks ago they had a baptism testimony on the on the screens and I love the baptism stories do you love those stories that they tell if it was your child you might love it you know what I'm saying like if it was somebody that you knew and loved I I try to always picture like I always picture if that was my brother or if that was my sister and when I hear somebody share a testimony I always listen for the details and one thing that I noticed that they normally share in their story they'll share a sermon that where God spoke to them and a few weeks ago the young lady sharing the sermon that she shared shared a sermon that I remember preaching and thinking that it was the worst sermon that I ever preached because it's different when you're doing it now it was a year later and she was talking about that story that sermon and in her story she referenced that sermon as a turning point in her relationship with God and here's what I remember I remember how I felt while I was doing it and I realized that even though I felt nothing while I was preaching it she was sitting somewhere in that room maybe not even in the room where I was preaching it and she was she was having a completely different experience hearing it than I was preaching it but it's different when you're in the middle of it huh it's different when you're raising your kids believing that they're receiving the values that you're trying to impart to them because when you are teaching your kids responsibility they do not thank you and recognize you for being a voice of wisdom and an encouraging force of good in their lives it's different when you're in the middle of it and see the reason that we can sometimes look at the biblical miracles and experience them and celebrate them is because we know how they end but it's different when you're in the middle of it it's it's different when you're in the middle of it when you're having to stand in the middle of something and say no my God I know that you're faithful and I know that you're good but I don't feel that you're faithful and I don't feel that you're good right now that's called a sacrifice of praise that's where you have to dig somewhere deeper than your feelings or your knowledge or your certainty or your circumstance or your bank account God show me how to manage the middle I have a hard time with that I don't have a hard time being excited about the beginning and I don't have a hard time celebrating the end but this middle teach me how to manage the middle oh one of my best friends pastors a big church and they had three years where they didn't grow in fact they they went backward I said what was the problem in those three years when you didn't grow he said middle management we got so large the organization got so big that there was a layer of people in the middle who started to block the values that were a part of the organization in the early days and it was middle management it wasn't the people that were executing the job it wasn't the the the vision had changed it was what happened in the middle that almost cost us the momentum of what God was doing I wonder is that how it happens in our lives I wonder if sometimes the reason that joy stops flowing the reason that faith stops growing the reason that sometimes we lose our sense of perspective about who God is is it's not the end it's not the beginning it's middle management we don't know how to manage the middle we don't know how to deal with Monday so we shout good on Sunday but I need a sermon I need a M.M.A. sermon I need some Monday Morning Application I need something to help me manage this middle because I'm not fighting the devil on Sunday morning I'm fighting him on Tuesday at 3:37 so the key to this Joshua says take 12 stones 12 stones January February March April May June July August September October November December 12 months twelve stones twelve tribes twelve disciples twelve everybody say twelve take twelve pile them up and in the future when your children ask you what's up with these stones or like my kids ask me what's up with these cassette tapes I still got some when your children ask you tell them what the Lord did tell them tell them take them to show them the stones and tell them we didn't know if we were gonna make it through but God did something only he could do and we made it somebody shot I made it tell the person next to you you have no idea what I've been through look at them right in the eye and say and God brought me over and look at them one more time and say how about you ask them have you been through anything imagine this imagine this they come through the Jordan let's play the story out for a moment they come through the Jordan God brings them through they set up the stones God does a great miracle they go on to fight battles but they sent up the stones to remember what God did in that moment it's very beautiful and then they go forward into the land and they they fight they fight many battles and God gives them many victories but every once in a while maybe they come back with their kids and they show him the stones because they let the stones in Gilgal and then they moved on to conquer Canaan and you know how it is when when somebody is reflecting on something and they get nostalgic and maybe maybe the parents start telling the children we didn't know if we were gonna make it Joshua was our new leader and we had never we'd never been this way before and he told us he told us that if the priest would stand in the middle the waters would stand at attention until the people passed through so we hurried through as fast as we could we ran through the Bible says in Joshua chapter 4 verse 21 they hurried through they didn't have a whole lot of faith just enough to get through it they were worse they were dancing through the middle they were running through the middle let me tell you something when you got the devil chasing you sometimes all you can do is get through it you don't look flashy you're not shooting you're not flossing you're not doing nothing but running for your life so they got through it but they said God got us through it that's amazing amazing cuz we didn't know it was amazing and the ark was there and it represented the presence of God oh I wish you could have been there son it was just so amazing and we didn't know if we were gonna be able to do it but we did God did it it wasn't us okay God did it okay and they and they say that and then so so maybe a few years go by maybe they go back to the place again and they look at the stones but you know maybe maybe the stone are they're still there they haven't gone anywhere but the story starts to get lost a little bit and maybe a few years later they they're telling their children they're like oh yeah it's pretty cool I mean we got through it I mean God did it but we were the ones who had to walk because if you know like God didn't God didn't carry us through but what we got through it and then a few more years passed and maybe they're telling their kids again making another trip and they're telling ya those stones they're cool Joshua made us get him out the middle of the Jordan it was it was weird we were ready to move on but Joshua let me tell you how I know that the story stopped being told because when you get to the end of Joshua's life you read in Judges chapter 2 verse 10 just this verse just this verse I want to show you and I want you to think about the space between when Joshua led the people through the Jordan and when the next generation arose it says that after that whole generation Joshua's generation had been gathered to their ancestors another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel Joshua's generation set up the stones the next generation didn't even know the story what happened somewhere along the way between Joshua chapter 4 and Judges chapter 2 they stop telling the story something changed about the story somewhere in that space and God if I'm just preaching this for one person help me to do it now because they have been telling themselves the wrong story and now their faith is feeling feeble and now their worship has been weakened and they are in a cycle of the dependence on false gods because they stopped telling the story the story of salvation is this I was lost and dead in my sin I had no hope in myself I could not save myself I could not help myself I could not lift myself I would not have made it if He had not reached out and with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm He died for me He came into my life He intersected me at the point of my sin and while I was still a sinner Christ died for me why are you screaming because I've got a story that didn't start with me it started with the mercy of God and the enemy doesn't want you to tell this story see he wants he wants you to lose your testimony they kept the stones the stones are still there to this day but they stop telling the story you know you can have all of the the monuments of religion but loose your relationship with God you can have all the stones in the world you can come to church you can you can still live a life that's between the lines but if the truth were told today some of us have stopped telling the story we've lost our our testimony you have a testimony there are things that God has done for you that only He could do and nobody else can tell it for you and nobody else can tell it like you it can happen it can happen in your own heart it can happen in a generation it can happen within a lifetime it could happen within three years you can actually have God do something amazing for you and have the stones to prove it some of you are sitting next to the woman that you asked God to give you but now you want out of your marriage the problem isn't your marriage it's your management I'll go back here this I'm not scared to say this stuff we need to manage our miracles God has been good to us God has been more than enough He is a provider He is Jehovah-jireh He did bring you through He did bless you He did make a way He is more than enough He is El Shaddai He is a great king He is a good father touch somebody say manage your miracle it's God's to give but it's yours to manage I told Elijah if you crack the screen I'm not replacing it it's yours to manage if you crack the screen or if you here's here's what happens to me let me tell you something sit sit down let's talk I sometimes I I stop telling myself the testimony because to me sometimes it seems it seems small you know something happened between when they cross the Jordan I don't know exactly what it is I think there's evidence to support this hypothesis they fought a lot of battles between Joshua chapter 4 and Judges chapter 2 and I wonder if the battles became bigger in their minds than the blessings and I wonder if they started telling themselves the stories that centered around their struggles rather than God's sovereign hand that saw them through the struggles I wonder if they got in survival mode to the point that they stopped telling the story and I wonder if when they saw God do all these other things I wonder I wonder if they just didn't go back to the stones they were they were placed on the bank of the Jordan back where they started and sometimes when you don't go back where you started and remember what God did where you started you lose perspective when you get where you're going oh man I I feel so guilty for chin this point it's so easy for me to get caught up and consumed in my own convenience and my own drama my own insecurities my own dysfunction and a lot of times I'll be honest with you I don't share what God is doing in my life because it doesn't seem big cuz I can compare it to something else and it seems small it seems small like these stones you know at one point in your life you're really grateful for it but then at some point it can lose the significance I was asking somebody the other day if I could hear their testimony and it's a church word right testimony people don't really talk like that except in courts in church you know what I mean like it's just a real churchy thing to say and they were like well when I was 12 and they were 53 I was like not that testimony you can't fight today's devils if you don't have today's testimony there needs to be a current work that God is doing in your life yep yes He saved me and I want to talk about that but what is He doing in my life today another generation that knew not the Lord nor what He had done for Israel this is this is your testimony you know it can be a tiny testimony it doesn't have to be a big rock you can fight the devil with a little rock ask David you can fight a big giant with a little rock if you know how to throw it I said you can fight depression with a little rock if you know how to throw it you can fight discouragement with a little tiny little tiny testimony well I don't have a big testimony I've pretty much all my life I've been serving the Lord I never have never was on drugs and women and running round I pretty much grew up in that come on man you don't have to have a meth lab in your garage to have a testimony you don't have to be fresh off death row to have a testimony you don't have to have 14 children by 14 women to have a testimony a testimony it can be the smallest thing like a few weeks ago I was getting ready to come out and preach and I want to tell you this cuz cuz Joshua said tell them tell them what God did for you tell them tell them about it preach it teach it you overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony there is power in your personal testimony so a few weeks ago I was getting ready to preach I didn't feel like preaching oh I love the Lord I believe His Word and I believe He's coming again I just didn't feel like preaching on that Saturday night weather was nasty I didn't feel like preaching so I was having a little pity party I hate to tell you this but I was I was being so childish and but then I had this moment I was like FaceTime one of your friends and get them to pray for you because the service was about to start and so the staff was out doing staff stuff so they couldn't come pray for me so I was going to FaceTime one of my friends who didn't have a Saturday night service and he didn't answer apparently Judah Smith had better things to do than pray for his friend pray that the Carolina Panthers will wreak havoc upon the Seattle Seahawks today to punish him for not being there in my time of FaceTime need you don't want to FaceTime Furtick I hope you go down today royally then I call Craig Groeschel that's my pastor that's my guy and he didn't answer and he always answers he didn't answer and I was running out of time cuz I needed to get out there and preach so I said this little pitiful prayer you know not the kind I pray in front of people I was like oh Lord since nobody wants to pray for me I'm always praying for everybody else I guess I'll go on preach I pray for myself and I start praying you know this real mumbly grumbly grumpy prayer a little bad attitude prayer a little like kids going to make up the bed fine that kind of prayer have you ever had that level of faith where it's like fine faith fine God fine I'll pray for myself so I start praying Father in the name of Jesus out loud I say that when I said Father in the name of Jesus the moment I got it out of my mouth Father in the name of Jesus my phone rang my phone hardly ever rings my phone I mostly communicate by text I don't do a lot talking on the phone and my phone rings and it hardly ever rings it never rings at that time of day and it said No Caller ID but I'm not making this up I say I should answer this I say hello this deep voice comes on the phone what are you doing the voice of none other it could only be Bishop TD Jakes that's like my favorite preacher since I'm like this big since I started wanting to be a preacher this was my favorite preacher and here he is calling me what are you doing and I was like hey Bishop JakesI was just going out to preach for the Saturday night service he said oh well since this is a bad time let me just pray for you before you go out there and preach real quick Father in the name of Jesus anoint him with your spirit and fill him with your wisdom give him words to say from Heaven I'm telling you I'm telling you I'm not waiting until something to me I need to fight the devil sometimes with a phone call there are little things that God has done for me moments where I called His name and there was nobody there to answer and then all of a sudden something from heaven with no caller ID and God reached out and God dried my tears and God strengthened me and God upheld me with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm you need to tell these stories you need to tell these stories stop telling yourself the story that nobody cares about you and that you're alone and that it doesn't matter another generation who didn't know what the Lord had done for Israel because they stopped telling the story and when you stopped preaching the gospel to yourself and reminding yourself that the Son of God accepted and chose you and brought you out of Egypt and brought you out of sin and brought you through the Red Sea and brought you through the Jordan and brought down the Jericho walls and brought you out of bondage and brought you out of fear please hear me when you stop telling that story you lose your strength the children of Israel went through 15 cycles of disobedience to God and not only did they go through 15 cycles of disobedience to God through 15 different judges but they went through 420 years of dependence on gods that could not save them because they stopped telling the story what story have you been telling yourself what story have you been telling your children what story you know what I was thinking what story is our church telling in this day because you know God has done amazing things for us but sometimes it really rips my heart out when I see a campus pastor giving an invitation in our church and people get up and start leaving so they can beat traffic out the parking lot while somebody's soul is on the line that really hurts my heart because when we started the church we weren't starting the church to have a Christian entertainment center where we could give people a little anecdote and a little song and a little goose bump and they could get to lunch is that the story we're telling that we gathered together when it's convenient and we consume spiritual food but we never contribute this is why I think it's important that we have traditions like our our year end offering because God is inviting a new generation to tell the story and it's is so vital in this moment that you realize that the gospel is God's story but it's ours to manage we are stewards of the story that God is telling in the world today what a privilege it is come on can we praise Him for the privilege do you know the hymn this is my story this is my song praising my Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my Savior all the day long stand to your feet I want to pray with you now you're in the middle of a story right now that God is telling through your life you're in the middle of it the priest stood in the middle the stones came from the middle everything good that God does in our life comes from our ability to recognize it in the middle and sometimes what happens I know you feel like you've come to the end you feel like um is this for you you feel like you get to the end of something you get to the end of your own strength you get to the end and sometimes the season shifts in your life and and something is always ending as something else is beginning the Jordan is both it's it's their exodus from the wilderness and it's their entrance into Canaan it's happening all at the same time right and so you think you're at the end of something your ability to manage that that emotion in the middle of it determines what happens next in your life remember this Moses died on Mount Nebo looking at the promised land Joshua led the people into the land that God had promised Moses the difference wasn't what God had promised God promised Moses and Joshua the same result the difference wasn't the promise the difference was how they managed the miracle in the middle of it God gave Moses a miracle He parted the Red Sea but Moses stayed stuck in what other people said Moses managed according to his fear not his faith God gave Joshua the same promise and Joshua said even in spite of our fear even in spite of our failures even in spite of the fact that there are more out there than there are in here we're going forward in the name of the Lord with His presence as our banner and we are standing in the middle and we will stand in the middle until everything that God has spoken comes to pass I wonder is there anybody who's willing to get in the middle of it and take your stand and declare I will see the goodness of the Lord in my generation in my life that's what I want to pray for you about and if you lift your hands right now I'll do it because the Lord is in this moment the Lord is very present even in your pain and I believe that God is even present in some of the mistakes that you've made Lord right now would you visit the heart of each of your sons and daughters with a reminder maybe like those 12 rocks that the people piled up give us a rock of remembrance today that we can build on the firm foundation of your faithfulness the victory is yours to give but it's mine to manage God remind me of the responsibility that You have given me and teach me to lean on Your grace as I do give me the faith to stay standing in the middle with the waters all around me and to worship you in this moment with our heads bowed and our eyes closed I wonder is there somebody here today who needs to receive the grace of God for the salvation of your soul the forgiveness of your sin I wonder is there someone here today who needs to begin a relationship with God or maybe you want to reconnect in that relationship with God you've been feeling for a long time like you're far from Him but it's not true He's near and if you call on His name He is in this moment and He longs to come and live inside of you He longs to allow you to follow Him even when you don't know what's next it's very it's very simple what the Bible says about salvation it is by grace that you are saved through faith it's the gift of God it's not of works so that no one can boast that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you will be saved that's the promise of God doesn't require good works you can't stack enough stones to climb your way to heaven it doesn't work like that God's not watching your behavior to see whether or not He'll relate to you He's already done through the person of His son Jesus all that needs to be done for you to have a right relationship with Him and right now in this moment I want to pray with you and every location we're gonna pray out loud as a church family for the benefit of those who are coming to God or coming back to God but we'll all pray out loud together repeat after me Heavenly Father I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and today I make Jesus the Lord of my life I believe He died to forgive my sin and rose again to give me life I receive this new life this is my new beginning on the count of three if you just prayed that prayer shoot your hand up I want to celebrate with you one two three come on as a testimony shoot your hand up that's a lot of hands that's a lot of hands let's praise God for it come on let's praise God for it I said let's praise God for it salvation let's praise God for it hey thanks for watching the Elevation Church YouTube channel if you enjoyed this message take a minute click the subscribe button on your screen that way you won't miss a single video and if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to partner with us to continue to reach others you can click the link in the description below to give now thanks again for watching and don't forget to subscribe

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 353,373

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Id: m604pfXupmQ

Length: 50min 41sec (3041 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 26 2018