God is really moving through this ministry, so thanks to all of you who give and pray and
serve and believe and show up and invite and invest and do all the stuff that makes it
possible. God is using you in a great way. To that end, I believe he has given me a
word today that will empower your spirit, encourage your faith, and strengthen your
heart. Who's ready for the Word of God? I want to call your attention to Isaiah 30:19-21. In this prophecy there is a promise from God
that he spoke to me on a personal level a few months ago. Sometimes I have to hold on to
something personally before I can preach it prophetically into your life, but I believe
today he has called me to do just that. Let he who has an ear to hear hear what the
Spirit is saying to the church. Isaiah 30:19. Listen to this awesome, exceedingly
great and precious promise from the Word of God. "People of Zion, who live
in Jerusalem, you will weep no more." Eugene Peterson said, "Your
time for tears is over." "How gracious he will be when you cry for
help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity
and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you
will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind
you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" The Lord put me up behind this pulpit today to remind
you of something very simple but very strong. He wanted me to tell you…God's
Got Your Back. He's absolutely committed and connected to whatever is concerning
you. God's got your back. Say it. "God's got my back." Receive it. "God's got my back." I need 13
people to put it in the chat. "God's got my back." I'm learning, at least in this season
or stage of my life, how important it is for me to stay in constant communication
with the Lord, because I forget that. I can't be one of these "Pray five minutes in
the morning and see God again tomorrow morning" Christians, because that's too long for me to get
in trouble. You give me 23 hours and 55 minutes between prayer times, I'm a mess. I mean, imagine
this, that we would just talk to God in the morning and run off. "See you back here tomorrow."
You might not make it back tomorrow if you don't say something to God between that morning and
the next morning. How many know I'm right? Has it gotten more that way for you? I used to
be a little cockier. I think I used to be cockier when I was younger, or something like that, but
now just little aches and pains in your body will even remind you to talk to the Lord. I don't know
if I can pick up my fork unless he helps me do it. I'm not trying to say I'm old and decrepit
or anything like that, but just every once in a while, God will give you a little signal, like,
"You can't do this without me. I promise you the whole thing will end up in the junkyard,
and you'd better talk to me along the way." That's how I keep my heart with God: just to talk
to him, in constant conversation. I don't mean I'm walking around talking to God out loud. I do that
too. One trick I learned is put your AirPod in, and that will help you talk to
God, and people won't lock you up in a mental institution while you're doing it. That's a little trick I use. I like that. Just
put that AirPod in. I just talk to God sometimes. Even if I'm driving down the road, I'll
put the AirPod in in case anybody looks over in my window and sees me talking
and there's nobody in the passenger seat. There is somebody in the passenger seat. In
fact, there's somebody in the driver's seat, and if he stops driving my life, I'm headed
off this road so quickly. I'm telling you, I need constant course correction. I was telling
my son how your attitude is like that. You don't just get in the car and touch the wheel once
(unless you pay extra for your car to do that). You have to sit there and bring it back all
the time. Well, our minds are like that. Our hearts are like that. At least mine is. Like the
infomercial used to say, "Set it and forget it." I don't know if y'all ever saw that
infomercial. Well, my heart is not a "Set it and forget it" kind of heart. My
heart is a "Set it and reset it and reset it and reset it and reset it." It seems like
no matter how many things God does for me… It's almost like he's too good at his job. God is
so good at his job I almost forget he's doing it. So then I ask God to help me, and then I take off
and… Like I discovered in my body the other day. I was talking about aches and pains. My shoulder
had been hurting me for a while. It finally got bad enough where I called Dr. Gullickson.
I said, "Can you help me?" He came over and helped me with my shoulder. But he asked me, "How
long has it been hurting?" I said, "Four months." Because I'm a man. I'm not going to say anything
about it until I am only sleeping two hours a night because I'm waking up every 10 minutes.
He was angry with me about that. He said, "Why didn't you say something sooner? Why
didn't you call me over here after four days? I would have been happy to help you
if you had said something sooner." Or I'll tell Holly, "I've had a headache all
day." That woman has a pharmacy in her purse. It comes out like an accordion file
when she opens it. Unbelievable. She has all kinds of stuff…with caffeine, without
caffeine…just all kinds of different things in her purse. I'll tell her my head has been hurting all
day, and she'll say, "Why didn't you say something sooner?" That seems to be it with God.
"Why didn't you say something sooner? Why did you run around all day long feeling like a
loser and not talk to me so I could remind you who I am?" I know why we don't talk to God. Because
it is easier to turn to something we can see for immediate relief than it is to trust in
a Father we can't see so that he builds our faith. That's the thing. You can't just
talk to God when you come here on Sunday. You really can't just listen to a sermon a
week, or God forbid you just listen to clips. I mean, some people won't even do the full
sermon, just a clip. That's not going to cut it. When you really start facing the
challenges of life, clips won't cut it. Cliches won't cut it. Little "Thank you, Lord.
Help me as I go today, and bless me along my way…" You know, a little prayer over dinner
is not going to cut it. I'm not saying God will not love you, but you're
just not going to feel his love. You're not going to know it's there, and you're
going to turn to things that will work for you for a little while, but they will not sustain
you. I just want to talk to you about this before we get into the direct passage that we read,
because I have to constantly talk with God. The Lord was telling me pretty
clearly before I came out today you don't talk to him enough. When you stop
talking with God, the Enemy starts working on you. When you stop coming to him, I mean,
in just that moment-by-moment way… It's great to come to church. Trust
me. I have a lot invested in this. Imagine if we were sitting together in the
morning, and you saw me breathing fast and hard. You let it go for a little while, but finally you
get up the courage to ask, "What are you doing?" and I'm like, "Oh, I'm getting my breathing in. The average human takes 20,000 breaths a
day. I don't really want to be bothered with breathing later in the day,
because I'm really busy later today. I'm going to just get all 20,000 in right now." I don't think it works like that,
but we think worship works like that. Three songs. Three days later, you're going to
be defeated. I love the language of Isaiah. He's talking to a king, a good king, Hezekiah. He's a
good king. Israel had a lot of bad kings. Hezekiah was not one of them. He had a great heart. The
Bible says his heart was turned to the Lord. It was committed to the Lord. But just because you're a good king
doesn't mean you don't do dumb things. Just because you're a good parent, a good
spouse, a good person doesn't mean you don't do dumb things. Hezekiah did something
really dumb. I'll tell you what he did. He made an alliance with the king of Egypt
because he was being attacked by the Assyrians. Now, the Assyrians were fierce. So much so that
when they went to attack the northern kingdom of Israel, they wiped them out. They laid siege on
the city. Hezekiah, after seeing that, decides, "I need some help, so I'll go to Pharaoh." Pharaoh
rings a bell for a lot of us who come to church because we remember hundreds of years earlier
when Pharaoh was in charge of Egypt. That wasn't his name; that was his title. Pharaoh was the one
who fed the children of Israel for a little while. Then something happened where they became
enslaved in the system they had escaped to. Do you remember that? This is a different
Pharaoh. This is several centuries later, but there is something in this moment of attack
that causes Hezekiah to make an unwise alliance. Lean in. When you're under
attack, you make unwise alliances. When you feel tired, when you feel tested,
when you feel like you're in trouble, what do you turn to? Just think about
that for a moment. What do you turn to? What do you turn to when you're tired, when you're tested, when you're in trouble? What
do you turn to? I'll see a lot of people who will go through something in life, and it'll get
so bad, so out of control, so unmanageable… At the end of asking every other person
they can think of, "What should I do? How should I do it? Can you help me?" After
going through everybody on their phone, so many times that they start getting blocked… After all of that, they'll say, "Well, all
we can do now is pray." Isn't that backward? "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with
God, and the Word was God." The Scripture says in Hebrews 11:3 that by faith we understand that
everything which was visible was made by something that was invisible, the Word of God. The Word
of God created the world and framed the world so that everything you step into in your life
is something God spoke before you got to it. So, everything I'm stepping into in this season
of my life is something God has already spoken. If he doesn't speak it, I can't step into it. If he
didn't speak it, there would not be ground beneath my feet. If he didn't speak it, there wouldn't be
a next step for me to take. If he didn't speak it, it wouldn't be here, so everything I'm
stepping into, God has already spoken. Why would I speak to others about something God
spoke into existence before I spoke to the one who knows where my path leads? In the text, Isaiah says something very powerful.
He says, "You will weep no more." Watch this. I love the time frame reference here, because
this really gives me hope. Sometimes I need God quickly. How many of you came here to church
today, and you need God to do something quick in your life? You don't always have time. I know;
wait on the Lord. I know; be of good courage. I know; he will strengthen your heart, but
some things in your life you need God to do for you quickly. Well, this is your
verse. Get ready to shout. If you need God to do it and do it quickly, watch
this. This is verse 19. "How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As
soon as [you get your act together]…" As soon as you clean up your act. As soon as you
learn these seven principles from the Word of God. As soon as you memorize Isaiah 30. As soon
as you go back and repair every relationship you screwed up. As soon as we get through this
recession. As soon as you get married. As soon as you get kids. No, it said, "As soon as he
hears, he will help you." Come quickly, Lord! You have to have those "Come quickly" prayers.
"Come quickly, Lord. Come quickly, Holy Spirit. Come quickly before I slip. Come quickly before
I fall. Come quickly before I lose my mind. Come quickly before I lose my testimony. Come
quickly before I relapse. Come quickly before I backslide. Come quickly before I go off.
Come quickly, Lord! I need you quick!" Why did he go to Egypt for help when he knew
the God of Elijah? It's because we reach for what's immediate, not always what's
helpful. One of the attendants of the Assyrian army came out and said, "You went to
the king of Egypt?" This is in 2 Kings, around chapter 19. He said, "You went to that splintered
staff? Everyone who leans on him gets pierced. This isn't going to work. This
isn't going to work at all." Where do you turn when you're tired?
Where do you turn when you're in trouble, and why don't you do it sooner? Why didn't
I go to God…? I know it's easier for us to go with what we can see. This is the challenge:
to depend on an invisible God who you can't see when you're facing challenges that
are so big they are all you can see. Come here, Ty. This is the one I told the
story about a few months ago, but I need you to visualize it. Since he's here today, we're going
to take our opportunity. He does so many things well. He's so gifted. He's so talented. Y'all
see my fade every week? That's "Fly Ty" Jacobs, the one and only. I always tell him in my chair
everything I'm going to preach before I preach it, and then I preach none of it, because God
always changes it between Saturday and Sunday. He was going to give somebody a haircut recently.
You know this is, like, crazy sponsorship right here what I'm doing for you. Right? Oh man. I'm
telling you. You owe me seven free haircuts off of this. There are a lot of people who watch.
But this will be worth it for the illustration. He said, "I went to cut somebody's hair the other
day, and when I was going in, I got intimidated because their house was crazy. I started thinking,
first of all, about 'Why do they get this house and I don't get it?'" Because he's petty, so y'all
pray for him. Secondly, he said, "It started to get in my head. I got distracted by how nice
the house was. I started getting intimidated." He said, "But when I went in and started
doing what I do, what God gifted me to do…" He said, "It was amazing, because when I
left, I got a text from everybody who was in the house that said, 'Man! It changed
our lives having you in our house today.'" Did you make that up or is that true?
He said this is a true story. I only have his word to go off of. He is
an exaggerator, but I believe him. I looked at him and said, "It sounds like you
got so distracted by what you were walking into that you forgot what you
were walking in with." Won't that preach? Isn't that like the children of
Israel going into Canaan to spy out the land, carrying the promise of a covenant-keeping God,
talking about "The giants are big"? What happened? They got so distracted by what they were walking
into they forgot the promise they were walking in with. I just wanted to use that illustration,
because I saw him there and it came to my heart. I think it might be for somebody. When you
are not in constant communication with God, and I mean just throughout the day… "God,
there I go. I get offtrack. God, there I go. I get offtrack. God, there I go. I get offtrack." You will be all the way
through the whole bag of Fritos before you realize, "Oh, I need the Holy
Spirit to fill me. These Fritos are filling me, but it doesn't feel very good now that they've
filled me. I'm not less stressed. I just got three more pounds to carry when I get off this
couch. Now I don't feel like doing anything, and now I'm going to take a nap, and now I'm going
to miss my job, and now I'm going to get fired, and then my wife is going to leave me.
Everything fell apart because I ate Fritos." What I'm saying is…say something sooner. Catch yourself quicker.
Instead of running to pills, say something to God. Instead of running to porn, say something
to God. Instead of running to pessimism, say something to God. Instead of crying out for help…
Everybody has a different way they yell for help. Some people yell for help through anger. They're
really not mad. They're scared. So they get angry. It's a way of saying, "Help me. I'm afraid, but
I don't know how to ask for help, so I get angry, because I'm yelling for help, because I
never learned how to ask for help." If you would say something sooner, maybe it wouldn't
get to this point. Maybe it wouldn't get this ridiculous. Maybe it wouldn't come to the
point where you blow up. Maybe it wouldn't get to the point where it crushes you. Maybe
it wouldn't get to the point where you're carrying it so long and the load weighs
so much you don't see any other way out. Why didn't you say something sooner, when your
God has medicines of all descriptions, when your God has healing for everything that hurts you,
when your God says, "I'll answer you as soon as I hear you"? Not as soon as you hurt, but as soon
as you pray about it. You can hurt a long time and not get help, because hurting does not attract
help. Faith does. Prayer does. Praise does. When you are prayerless, you are paralyzed. A lot
of the paralysis in our lives… "Oh, I don't know what to do. Oh, I don't know how to handle it. Oh,
I can't go forward." It's because prayerlessness leads to paralysis. It keeps you focused
on what you're walking into. How many are walking into a season right now that you just
don't see any way it's going to turn out okay? It may be 5 or it may be 500 or it may
be 50,000, but raise your hand right now. "I'm walking into something." Okay. That
isn't enough. Let me try another way in. How many of y'all are going back to
school this week? Okay. Stand up. Look at me. God's got your back. Look at me. Stand up straight. God's got your back. Everybody say
it out loud. "God's got my back." I need you to go back to school
knowing that God is behind you. You can't afford to go back to school alone.
You're not ready to go back to school just because you got new shoes for it. We all get new
shoes to go back to school. I got my Reebok Pumps, but my Reebok Pumps weren't enough. If God
doesn't have my back, I can't make it through the temptation. If God doesn't have my back…
But if God be for me, who can be against me? Come on. Slap yourself on the
chest and say, "God's got my back." I'm telling you, you can call on God.
Now don't call on God when you didn't study for the test and ask him to help you
pass it. The Lord doesn't really work like that. You have to pray for God when you feel
like playing video games instead of studying and involve him at that point. If you involve
him sooner, maybe you won't get to the test sweating and having to wonder, "Am I going
to make it?" If you will come to God sooner… Anybody wish they would have started living
for God when they were in the eighth grade, learned how to talk to God sooner? Running around trying to fulfill all of these
desires you didn't understand in sexual ways and in social ways; trying to climb the
ladder of status to only realize there's no substance in status if you don't know who
you are in the Spirit. God's got your back. We get so distracted by what we're walking into and what other people have
and what they look like. Come on, man. They didn't even buy that Gucci bag
with cash. They put it on a credit card that's maxed out, and it's the fourth one. Now you feel
insecure because you don't have what they have. I'm just talking from my heart, y'all. I
told the Lord after last week's sermon, "I will never…" After how God convicted
me about David taking the census. I will never go by how many views a sermon gets to verify and validate whether or not it was
the word of God. I will never do it again. When I get up here to preach, I only
need to know one thing. Did God say it? Is it true? If he did, that means what he
begins he backs. What God begins he backs. The Bible says that before you
were born in your mother's womb, God fashioned you. That's right. Before you got
here, God spoke it. You stepped into this world, but God spoke you before you stepped into it.
So, at the moments you feel too weak to walk on, you have to remember this truth that the
preacher gave you on this Sunday morning, on this Tuesday night, on
this Wednesday afternoon. Whenever you are listening to it, God is
speaking it, but he is going to speak it now for when you step into it later, that you
remember he backs what he begins. He finishes what he starts. He does not procrastinate.
He's right on time. He's not running behind. He didn't forget about you. He said, "As soon as
I hear you, I'll help you. As soon as you call, I'll answer you. In the day of
trouble, I'll reach down and do it." "Come quickly, Lord! Come quick
and help me. Come quick and do it. Come quick with a Red Sea miracle.
Come quick move a mountain. Come quick make me strong. Come quick break
these chains." He said, "I'll do it." God is strengthening me. Watch verse 20. He said sometimes you get the bread of
adversity and the water of affliction. He calls a fight food. Isaiah 30:20: the bread
of adversity and the water of affliction. Adversity, affliction… That's the
fight. God said, "That's the food. That's how I'm building you. I'm
bringing you through things right now, and even the things that are coming against
you are going to work for you." Because God's got my back. You don't need the king of Egypt
for this fight. When Hezekiah got serious and prayed to God (look it up), God sent angels into
the tents of the enemy and slew 185,000 of them. All you get when you lean on
Pharaoh's staff is a splinter. So why didn't you say something sooner? Why don't
you say something, not after they ruined your day. Stop letting people ruin your five minutes. Say something to God. "Okay. I'm off track
now. Do you see how they looked at me, Lord?" I will do it to an extreme. You may not need
this extreme, but maybe God sent you an extreme preacher because you are extremely dysfunctional.
I don't know. I can tell you how I do it. I have to drop on my knees sometimes just right
in the middle of stuff, just sneak off and get on my knees. I think that's better than to fall
flat on my face because I didn't get on my knees. You have to get a style that works for you,
but God said you're not talking to him enough. That's why the Enemy is busy… That's what worry is. It's the substitute
for the prayers you didn't pray. That's how the Enemy fills the space
with the things you won't pray about. He gets your faith in reverse so it starts working
against you, starts tearing you apart. He's got you now. But the Lord said, "As soon as you cry…"
[Baby crying] "…I hear you, and I'll help you." You can't make that stuff happen. You know what?
That was an illustration. We didn't work that out, but God's got my back. God said, "You need an
illustration? I'll make a baby cry at that moment. I'll set it up. I'll make it work. I'll bring
it together. I'll connect it. I'll hook it up." Just like that, you can trust in
the knowledge and the wisdom of God. I can quit right here or we
can keep going. It's up to you. That was the setup. We did a little who,
what, when, where. Right? We did who. The Lord said, "I want to help you." We did
a what will he do. He said he will hear you. We did a when: as soon as
you cry. As soon as you cry, the Lord will quickly deliver you,
but then he will also direct you. Now this is what I had to meditate on, because
verse 21 upended a lot of my understanding. It messed with me. In verse 21, he says,
"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you,
saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" It sounds like wherever you go, whatever you do,
God will be with you to tell you when to turn, if you're not stubborn. If you're stubborn
and you won't pray and you just stuff it all down all the time and you won't join
an eGroup (that's called a callback), then the Lord can't direct
you. Look. I'm not a bad driver as long as I don't have to find where to turn. Holly is much better, and usually I listen to her,
but the other night I didn't. We were coming home from my mom's. I'm going in a traffic circle.
She said, "Nuh-uh. Not this one. The third one, the third one, the third one." Watch what
she didn't do. She didn't grab the wheel. She didn't yell at me. She didn't reprimand me. She just said very softly, which is usually
not Holly's normal gear for talking… She said, "Not this one, not
this one, not this one. The third one, the third one, the third one." I
was like, "Woman, do you know how many times I've come back from my mom's house?
It's the second one. It's the second one." She said, "Okay. This is not the same circle. This is the one they put in since the last six
months, since we've been going the other way to go to your mom's house on Wednesday night
to eat dinner and watch Wheel of Fortune." (We do that every Wednesday night. I love it. It's
one of the highlights of my week. She cooks so good. It's so nostalgic.) She said, "This is
the new circle. This is not the same circle." Your challenge in your life is going to
be that you are going to try to memorize the miracles God does for you and
the ways he takes you, not to realize that things are always changing, and the way
you raise your kids or approach your life in one season may not produce success in the next
season because this is not the same circle. If you don't have the voice of the Holly
spirit or the Holy Spirit (either one will do) to tell you where to turn, you miss it. Sometimes
even when the Lord tells you… My friend the other day said, "I had a really bad marriage, but God
tried to tell me so many times not to marry that person, it was crazy." I said, "What kind of
little signs did he give you?" He said, "Not little signs. She cocked a gun and pointed it at
me. I still married her. That was the first sign." So, that might be God saying,
"There are other fish in the sea." Even if there are not other fish in the sea,
go kill a deer. Eat that. Get out of the sea. But the passage was so powerful to me. It said
whether you turn to the right or to the left, whether you go to Elon or Chapel Hill… I was
thinking of a college student right now. You are so stressed about if you made the right decision
to go to school here. It's your freshman year, and you're thinking, "Is this the right
school?" It really doesn't matter right now. What you have to do is find the right people. We can get paralyzed in decision-making
about things that don't matter as much. I was telling them one time in church how in
the town I grew up in, there weren't so many schools to choose from where to put your kids.
I mean, there weren't so many schools like that, so you just did it, and you got along
with it, and you made peace with it. Sometimes our options are the enemy of our peace. "Oh, I should have done this. Oh, I
should have done that. Oh, I could have done that." The Lord said, "Whether
you turn to the right or to the left…" The important thing isn't necessarily the road
you take. The important thing isn't necessarily… I'll be honest with you. I don't think you have
to come to church here for God to bless you. You can go to another church,
and God will speak to you there. You can go to another church, and God will
have a word for you there. That's fine. The important thing is not necessarily
about that initial decision, is it? The important thing is not necessarily which
way you go but how you walk on that path. The important thing isn't necessarily which
church you go to. Y'all, I think this is an amazing church. As a matter of fact,
this is my favorite church in the world. As a matter of fact, if y'all run me out
of this church, I don't think I will go find another one to preach in, because what
could I ever do after pastoring Elevation Church that would live up? All I'd spend my
whole time doing was comparing it to this. I mean, if God told me to, I'd have to do it,
but I wouldn't want to. I would do it with a bad attitude if the Lord made me pastor another
church. Yet the important thing isn't what church you go to. You could sit in the back of this
church and never get involved and never get helped and never get hooked up and never get connected
and never be successful and never be set free, and it's a great church. You came to the
right church. You turned to the right. Okay. Good job. But how are
you walking on that path? Whether you turn to the right or the left… Give
me verse 21. It's so anointed. The Lord said, "You will hear a voice." God will speak to you there.
God will speak to you in your rebellion. Even when you turn your back on him, he'll still speak. Even
when you walk away from him, he'll still speak. He is always speaking. He's still speaking.
He's still talking. He's still directing. God didn't stop talking when you
graduated. God didn't stop talking when you got the job. God didn't
stop talking when you got saved. He's still talking. Are you still stepping? Are
you still growing? Are you still going? Are you still maturing? Are you still changing? Or
are you going around in the same circle, missing your turn, because there's something
God is speaking, but you can't see it? The Bible said something crazy. "You will hear
a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" We found a video of some of Graham's
first steps the other day. I'll show it to you. It was only 30 seconds. It was too cute. Watch
it. Graham and I were watching it together. [Video] Look what all he just did,
and she wasn't clapping. I mean, that was a much more complicated
journey than the one that was on that video. No "Yay, Graham!" He just did that. That even involved steps. He didn't even trip like
he did on the video. Now he's just doing it. Y'all were just as bad. None of y'all
clapped for him. He came all the way up here. I wish I could have told him, "That is about as much encouragement as you're
ever going to get for doing so little. From this point forward in your life, you have
to do crazy stuff to get that level of applause. You have to win, like, at least
a state championship before your mom is ever going to be that
proud of you again for that." See, that's where it shifts. In the picture, you
couldn't see her. You couldn't see Holly in that video, but she was right there in front of him,
saying, "Yay, Graham! Please don't crawl." Please? She's begging him to do something he
just did, and she was barely even aware he did it. I watched her. She was so bored
while he walked up here. He just did it. Early in your walk, it'll be
like God will be like, "Yay!" Okay. If you get baptized at Elevation, we'll
cheer for you. "Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that awesome?" I want some of you to get baptized.
That would be great. We'll be there to cheer for you. They'll be around that tank going, "Yay,
Graham! That's amazing that you gave your life to Christ. That's amazing that you did that. That's
so great that you put your faith in Christ." That's about as good as it's ever going to
get. If you raise your hand in a minute when I give the invitation… "Who wants
to give their life to Christ? Who wants to turn their life over to Jesus? Who
wants to receive the gift of his salvation, the forgiveness of sins, the remission
of sins by the shedding of his blood?" When your hand goes up, everybody will start
clapping, and the angels in heaven will start rejoicing. It'll be amazing, and it's our
way of saying, "Come on. Walk. Walk. Do it. Do it." It's amazing, but watch Isaiah 30:21
for the revelation. "Then you will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" This is the way; walk in it. This is the
way; walk in it. This is the way; walk in it. Do you trust me? This is the way; walk in it.
This is the way; walk in it. Turn to the left. This is the way; walk in it. This is the way.
Do it again. Turn to the left. This is the way; walk in it. Y'all, he could have walked right
off the edge, and it wouldn't have been my fault. This is the way. Notice that God's word comes
as you walk. This is the way; walk in it. This is the way; walk in it. This is the way; walk in
it. Now, we've come a long way from "Yay, Graham! Yay!" It wasn't that awesome what
he did on that video. It was basic. But then God calls you to
walk by faith, not by sight. God has got my back. This is
the way; walk in it. This is the way…go slow…walk in it. This is the
way; walk in it. This is the way; walk in it. This is the way; walk in it. This
is the way; walk in it. This is the way; walk in it. And he doesn't even have to touch
me to turn me. This is the way; walk in it. Turn left. This is the way; walk in it. This is the
way. It assumes that I will stay close enough. If you get too far ahead, maybe you can't hear
him anymore. If you get too far in the future… Somebody asked me the other day, "Do you plan
on pastoring Elevation Church when you're 80?" If I even start thinking about having
to have a new sermon 38 years from now, y'all will watch me have a panic attack
on YouTube in front of the world. I can't think that far out. All I
know is today he told me to tell you, "God's got your back." God's got your back.
This is the way. Yeah, that's good. This is the way. You can't see me, but you believe me.
This is the way; walk in it. We walk by faith, not by sight. I'm not looking at what I'm
walking into. I know what I'm walking in with. I got a word from almighty God over my shoulder
to fight every devil and to tell every Jezebel, "I am that prophet. I will stand up on the
mountain of the Lord. I will proclaim. I will declare the works of the Lord. This giant
will go down." This is the way; walk in it. One word from God is all you
need to walk into this day. "This is the way; walk in it. This is the way;
walk in it. When you get to the next day, I'll give you the next word. When you get to the next
turn, I'll give you the next word. When you get to the next decision, I'll give you the next word.
When you get to the next challenge, I'll give you the next word, because I've got your back,
see. Because I'm right back here, see. Because I'm fighting stuff behind you that you don't
even know about. That's why I've got your back. That's why you can't see me: because I'm dealing with every Pharaoh in the Red Sea behind you,
so you don't go back. I've got your back." God's got your back! Let Pharaoh know, "I
don't need you anymore! God's got my back!" "I'm not just going back to
school; I'm going backed. God's got my back. I don't care if you like me.
God loves me. I don't care if you notice me. God knows me. I don't care if you recognize me.
What God has revealed… He's got my back, and I can trust him, because when I was in the ninth
grade, he went into ninth grade." Ninth grade. Trying to be taller than me in the ninth
grade. I'm still stronger than him, at least psychologically. (Don't
look back here. I'm talking to them.) I'll tell you something, man. You don't know how
good you have it. At the school Uncle Eric and I went to, when you were a freshman, they'd
throw you in the trash can as an initiation. It was a lot of rednecks,
so they'd be spitting dip in the trash can, and they'd
throw you in there headfirst. He goes to a bougie school. They don't
throw you in the trash can at his school. But now his brother is a senior, and the
funny thing is it reminds me of the exact age gap between my brother and me. I was
a senior; he was a freshman. By that time… I don't mean to brag, but I was
the man at Berkeley High School. Why are you laughing? Watch this. My
brother was a freshman; I was a senior. I said, "Oh, on the first day of school,
when they go to throw you in that trash can, come find me, because I
won't let them." And he did. I was standing out there in the courtyard
talking to Eric, and he was running. He was running. He said, "Tell them they can't
do it." I said, "All right. Y'all can't do it." And they didn't do it. He never went in
the trash can, because I had his back. There comes a point where you've done
all you can do and it's bigger than you. But my confidence isn't because I'm big;
my confidence is because I'm backed. You have an elder brother named Jesus. You have a big brother, and you
can't see him. He's invisible, so it's hard to depend on him, but I just
need you to get this picture before you go into whatever you're going into this week that
God has got your back. I want us to confess it. I want you to confess it like you have a big
brother who can keep you out of the trash can. See, they can't throw you away because
God's got you back. You'll hear a word behind you. You won't see him. I'm not
looking for proof. That's how you stood up at your mom's funeral. Buck preached. He
did a thing at his mom's funeral. It was so beautiful. He did such a beautiful tribute to
his mom at the end of a long battle with ALS. It was incredible. I was in tears. I told
him afterward, "That was so beautiful, Buck." Because he doesn't preach. He's not
a preacher. He's had my back for 17 years, but I didn't know he could preach like
that. I said, "You should have never showed me you could preach like that.
I'm going to have you do a series." It was so beautiful. Man, I'm telling
you the truth. He got up there. He said, "If my mom could see all of you
here today, she would say what she always said when she was surprised.
'Really? For me?'" His mom was Taiwanese, and he showed when she would get really
surprised, she would say, "Really? For me?" He went on and told about her hard life but her
faith in God. Every time he was talking about it, it was a situation where "Wow! It doesn't
really look like God was with her in that. Wow! It didn't look like God lifted a finger
to help her during the abuse. Wow! It didn't look like God provided for her while
she was working three jobs and still having to stretch." But it's not about what
you can see. It's about what you can hear. God has your back. Say it. "God's got my
back." I'm not pointing to something I can prove it with. No, I'm not showing the Devil my
bank balance right now. No, I'm not showing the Devil the medical report right now, because if
I look at that, I'm going to get more focused on what I'm walking into than who I'm walking
in with. I have a big brother named Jesus. Walk in it! Walk in the confidence of God. Walk in the
favor of the Lord. Walk in the strength he gives. When Buck finished talking about
that amazing life she lived, he said, "I know my mom is
watching right now, and I know she's singing in the choir in heaven loudly,
even though she's not the best singer. I know that she saw her mansion, and
I know what she said when she saw it. 'Really? For me?'" I lost it,
sitting right there in the pew, because I knew what it meant. He told me, "I
almost didn't even get up and do it because I thought it was trash," but God had your back.
That's how you did it. That's how he did it. That's how you're going to make it, son: because
God has your back. Don't get too far out ahead of him, and never stop walking toward what he called
you to be. Don't get paralyzed. You talk to him. You walk with him. You get in the rhythm with him.
You let him lead you. He'll get you back on track. God will say, "Oh, no, turn around, dummy."
The Lord will talk to you like that sometimes. But if we don't let there be this distance… The next time you hear from God can't be next
Sunday when we get together. That's too far apart. God has your back. Now walk right off that
stage and go take your seat. Everybody stand up. Come on, let's give the Lord a praise that he has
my back. God has my back. He'll tell Hezekiah, "I'll send an angel into the tent of your
enemy. I've got your kids. I've got your future. I've got your finances. I've got it in
my hands, but you've got to walk in this word." Now, Father, you said in your Word that if you began a good work in us,
you'd be faithful to complete it. Here we are today again, heavenly
Father, asking you for your help to hear your voice, saying,
"This is the way; walk in it." I want you to lift your hands. We're going
to sing, "This Is How I Fight My Battles." We're just going to remember that God can
do more. He can do more sneaking into the tent of your enemy than you can relying on the
splintered staff of Pharaoh. I want you to lift those hands so high, because it has been
too long since you asked God for his help. He said, "As quickly as you can say it, I can do
it. It may take some time for you to walk it out, but I'll help you so quick.
I'll hold you so quick. I'll grab you as quickly as any parent would
grab a child going out into the street." Today, if you hear his
voice, harden not your heart. Don't wander around in the wilderness
because you won't ask for help. Ask him. Say it out loud. "I need your help, Lord. I have
some hard things up ahead. I'm carrying some heavy things in my heart. I have some history I'm
not proud of. Lord, I need your help with that. I've made some decisions, like Hezekiah,
that were really dumb, some unwise alliances, but when I see that you're behind me and
remember that you've gone before me…" Now, remember, our faith is not in what we
see ahead of us or how clear that path is. Our faith is in how great our God
is who fights our battles behind us. I know I said, "Lift your hands," but I want you
to clap them now. Begin to celebrate the victory. thank you for watching the Elevation Church
YouTube channel don't stop here join the eFam our online extended family and join us
live every Sunday subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a single video or live
stream and share this with a friend you can also support the ministry by clicking the
give Now button to help us continue to reach people around the world for Jesus Christ
thank you again for watching God bless you
"Greater is He than who is in the world"