The Danger of Self-Declared Destiny

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
One of the greatest privileges of our life is to minister to you each and every week.
[00:00:04] You know, whether you watch every week, whether you're a part of our church locally, or whether you're a part of our EFAM all over the world, we pray that as this year ends and a new year begins, you would be in a place of faith.
[00:00:16] And we want to invite you to join us in our year-end offering.
[00:00:20] It's called our Trust in God offering.
[00:00:23] Thousands of people that call Elevation Church home.
[00:00:26] Thousands of people who have been blessed through this ministry take this opportunity to give back generously, sacrificially.
[00:00:33] Many begin to tithe for the first time and many give above the tithe.
[00:00:37] and an offering to the Lord.
[00:00:39] This is our opportunity to make a difference, to continue to preach the gospel of Jesus.
[00:00:44] And I wanted to make sure before we take you into the message that you knew this is your opportunity to give.

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Yeah, so let's partner together to get the news of Jesus Christ out to as many people as we can.
[00:00:56] And we just want to thank you for your generosity.
[00:00:59] Thank you for your faith.
[00:01:00] Thank you for trusting in God and helping us reach more people than ever.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Right now you can click the link and give.
[00:01:08] We're praying for you.
[00:01:09] We're believing that God is going to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you could ask or imagine.
[00:01:15] Now, let's get into the Word of God.
[00:01:17] The Bible says sometime later Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
[00:01:23] Now there is in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, a pool which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
[00:01:32] Five is the number of grace symbolically in the Bible a lot of times when you see it.
[00:01:37] And the word Bethesda means house of mercy.
[00:01:40] So they're going to a place to get mercy, to get a miracle.
[00:01:44] And the Bible says in verse 3, Here a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
[00:01:53] And you know, when we read that list, it's easy for us sometimes to think that the physical conditions are the ones that need the greatest healing.
[00:02:03] But you know, you might be in here tonight, and what you're dealing with is crippling anxiety.
[00:02:08] Maybe in here tonight, and maybe you're dealing with a condition that we can't see outwardly, but the Lord still wants to touch that area of your life.
[00:02:16] But notice in verse 5, this is the important word to me, it says, One.
[00:02:20] One.
[00:02:23] Who was there?
[00:02:24] That's how personal God is.
[00:02:26] One who was there.
[00:02:29] Had been an invalid for 38 years.
[00:02:32] When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, Do you want to get well?
[00:02:42] Uh-oh.
[00:02:43] The way you answer this question is going to mark your life from this moment forward.
[00:02:49] I dare somebody to shout, I want it, Lord.
[00:02:53] Yeah, I want it, Lord.
[00:02:55] I want to get better.
[00:02:56] I want to grow out of this.
[00:02:59] I want these chains to break.
[00:03:01] I want to be set free.
[00:03:03] I want to move forward.
[00:03:04] I want this bitterness gone.
[00:03:10] But the invalid replied, verse 7, Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.
[00:03:19] While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.
[00:03:23] In other words, he's got excuses.
[00:03:26] But verse 8 is really the power of the passage.
[00:03:31] Then Jesus said to him, Get up.
[00:03:37] Pick up your mat.
[00:03:40] and Walk.
[00:03:44] At once the man was cured.
[00:03:46] He picked up his mat and walked.
[00:03:49] Let's clap our hands one more time for the Word of God.
[00:03:52] Now before you take your seat, I need you to look at your neighbor.
[00:03:57] Look at either one of them you want to, whichever one you like the best.
[00:04:01] Look at your neighbor and give them my sermon title.
[00:04:03] Say, Neighbor, I've got to get up.
[00:04:10] High five three people.
[00:04:11] Tell them, I've got to get up.
[00:04:13] I've got to get up.
[00:04:17] I've got to get up.
[00:04:21] Gotta do it.
[00:04:23] I've got to get up.
[00:04:25] You may be seated.
[00:04:33] I've got to get up.
[00:04:35] I haven't preached it like this any of the other nights.
[00:04:38] I just felt like somebody in Miami needed to declare that.
[00:04:41] I've got to get up.
[00:04:43] I've got to get up.
[00:04:47] Stories like this in the Bible remind me that when God gets ready to do something, nothing can stop Him.
[00:04:56] When God gets ready to move in your life, nothing can stop Him.
[00:05:00] Don't worry about the people who don't like you.
[00:05:02] God will make the right people like you, and he'll remove the wrong people from your life.
[00:05:09] When God gets ready to move, nothing can stop him.
[00:05:26] Nobody can stop him.
[00:05:28] I found that much to be true.
[00:05:30] When we started our church in Charlotte, I told a lot of people I wanted our church to be multicultural.
[00:05:35] In other words, just because I'm a white pastor, that doesn't mean I just want to pastor all white people.
[00:05:40] Just because I grew up in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, doesn't mean I only want to reach people from South Carolina.
[00:05:45] I want to reach everybody God's called me to reach.
[00:05:48] One guy I told this to was an expert in starting churches.
[00:05:52] He said, that won't work in Charlotte.
[00:05:54] You can't unify people in Charlotte.
[00:05:57] Racism is too ingrained in the culture of Charlotte to have a multicultural church.
[00:06:02] Every time I look around our church on Sunday morning and I see white people and black people and I see people that maybe don't even share the same background, they don't even share the same religious background, worshiping side by side, I am so glad that God did not consult that guy to see if he could have a multicultural church in Charlotte.
[00:06:23] And that's the beautiful thing about God in our lives.
[00:06:26] The last time I was in Miami to preach to you, I shared this story.
[00:06:30] I'd like to share a little bit of it again about my dad.
[00:06:33] You know, when I gave my life to Jesus, I was 16 years old.
[00:06:37] And I mentioned the name of the town I grew up in.
[00:06:39] It's called Moncks Corner, South Carolina.
[00:06:42] Now, my wife was growing up in Miami and I was growing up in Moncks Corner.
[00:06:46] They're very different.
[00:06:48] The town I grew up in had 6,000 people in it.
[00:06:51] And so this room tonight, if you cut it in half, was the town I grew up in.
[00:06:55] It's just crazy that I'm here.
[00:06:57] But when God gets ready to do something, nothing can stop Him.
[00:07:02] To be honest, when I first gave my life to Christ, I was so passionate that I was a little obnoxious.
[00:07:08] And when I would share the gospel with people, I would always be very judgmental and condemning.
[00:07:14] So basically means I would run around telling everybody they were going to hell for everything all the time.
[00:07:19] Not just I was telling them Jesus loved them.
[00:07:21] I'm like, you are going to hell.
[00:07:23] You're going to hell for smoking weed.
[00:07:25] You're going to hell for drinking beer.
[00:07:26] You're going to hell for watching R-rated movies.
[00:07:28] You might go to hell for watching a PG-13 one movie.
[00:07:31] I just don't know what scenes are in it yet.
[00:07:33] You're going to hell for listening to secular music.
[00:07:35] Just everybody's going to hell.
[00:07:37] But I meant well, you know.
[00:07:39] I'm still passionate, but I've adjusted my technique a little bit.
[00:07:43] The first significant person that I was really praying for was my dad.
[00:07:47] Now my dad is in heaven.
[00:07:48] My dad went to be with the Lord in 2013.
[00:07:51] And when I gave my life to Jesus, he was not following Christ.
[00:07:57] And he was dealing with several addictions in his life.
[00:08:00] He had a very traumatic childhood.
[00:08:02] He lost his own father at a very young age.
[00:08:06] And a lot of the things about his life I would not even learn until much later.
[00:08:09] But at age 16, I remember telling my dad one morning, I was getting ready to go to church and he wasn't going.
[00:08:16] I looked at him on the way out the door, because I had to borrow his tie and stuff like that, but he wasn't using it to go to church.
[00:08:24] I'm putting on his tie out of his closet, and I said, "'Dad, before long, you're going to be dressing up to go to church, too.
[00:08:29] God's about to get ahold of your life.
[00:08:30] You need to get ready, because it's going to be amazing, because I'm praying for you.
[00:08:32] It's going to be awesome, so just get ready.'
[00:08:34] I walked out the door."
[00:08:35] I know how you want this story to go.
[00:08:38] You want him to jump in the car and follow me that day, but that didn't happen.
[00:08:41] About two years later, I was on a traveling ministry team from Our Little Baptist College, which is actually how I got Holly to be my girlfriend.
[00:08:51] I put her on my ministry team, which is game.
[00:08:55] You have to admit that is godly game.
[00:08:59] Hey, girl, do you want to be on my summer ministry team?
[00:09:02] I knew if I could expose her to my anointing for a whole summer, she would find it irresistible.
[00:09:10] The last stop of the summer where we were going to all these little churches was at my home church.
[00:09:16] And again, it's been a couple of years since that conversation with my dad.
[00:09:20] And I preached the sermon that morning.
[00:09:22] And in the Baptist church, you would preach and then give an invitation for people to come forward and give their life to Christ.
[00:09:30] And I remember that particular morning feeling like I had failed in my sermon.
[00:09:34] You know, there's a sense you get as a preacher, like, I just wasn't clear.
[00:09:37] I just didn't get the job done.
[00:09:38] I don't think they got it.
[00:09:40] And I went and sat down on the front row and I bowed my head, which would have looked like I was praying, but I was really embarrassed.
[00:09:47] I didn't want to look and see that nobody was going to come to the altar after that terrible message.
[00:09:53] But Pastor Mickey, my pastor, he tapped me on the shoulder and he pointed to the altar and there was one person at the altar and it was my dad.
[00:10:03] And he's just crying like a baby.
[00:10:05] I mean, he's a big dude, too, like 6'2", 280 pounds.
[00:10:10] There's only three times that I ever saw him cry in my life, and this was one of them.
[00:10:15] And he gave his life to Christ that day after the worst sermon I ever preached.
[00:10:20] Because when God gets ready to do something,
[00:10:23] Nothing can stop him.
[00:10:25] Not even a bad sermon.
[00:10:27] Not even a bad necktie.
[00:10:29] Nothing can stop God when he gets ready to do something.
[00:10:33] I had a conversation with my dad about that.
[00:10:37] A little bit later, after God started working in his life and stuff, I asked him, Do you remember that day when I looked at you and said, God's about to change your life?
[00:10:47] Get ready.
[00:10:48] It's going to be amazing.
[00:10:50] He goes, Yeah, I remember.
[00:10:51] I thought you were crazy.
[00:10:53] I felt sorry for you.
[00:10:56] I knew you were about to be disappointed because you had no idea how far gone I really was.
[00:11:04] I knew that you had no idea what was really going on in my life, and if you knew what I was really dealing with, you wouldn't have that kind of faith like that.
[00:11:13] But when God gets ready to do something in somebody's life,
[00:11:18] I don't care if you're 6'2".
[00:11:20] I don't care if you bench press 405 pounds.
[00:11:23] I don't care what kind of creatine, protein, steroids you take.
[00:11:27] When God gets ready to do something, all of the brute force in the world can't withstand him.
[00:11:32] That's why some of you big dudes were crying during worship tonight and you were trying to dry it before she saw it.
[00:11:39] But let it fall, man, because we all need Jesus.
[00:11:42] We all need God.
[00:11:44] We all need grace.
[00:11:45] Am I right about it?
[00:11:47] That's why we were lifting our hands.
[00:11:49] Because we've got some Goliaths that we're fighting.
[00:11:52] We've got some giants that we're facing.
[00:11:55] And we need God to bring them down.
[00:11:57] And all the power in the world can't do it.
[00:12:00] But one touch from God, one word from God, one moment in...
[00:12:05] I feel like preaching.
[00:12:06] I need to get back behind this pulpit and settle down.
[00:12:10] It's too early.
[00:12:11] But touch somebody and say, nothing can stop God.
[00:12:15] Nothing can stop God.
[00:12:16] Not a diagnosis, not a bad report, not a rejection.
[00:12:21] Nothing can stop God.
[00:12:23] Not an IQ deficiency.
[00:12:25] God likes to use people who aren't that smart.
[00:12:27] That way he gets all the glory when he shows you what to do.
[00:12:31] All the not-too-smart-but-trust-in-God people shout.
[00:12:42] And so in this passage we have a man who is too far gone.
[00:12:45] He's been in this condition 38 years.
[00:12:50] He's been unable to move.
[00:12:51] 38 years he has been unable to do what other people do effortlessly.
[00:12:58] 38 years.
[00:13:01] Until one day, one man speaks one word over his life.
[00:13:11] And when Jesus showed up, the man didn't even get a chance to refuse.
[00:13:18] Jesus just told him, you've got to get up.
[00:13:24] Tell your neighbor you've got to get up.
[00:13:31] That's crazy, isn't it?
[00:13:33] Because Jesus wanted to use this man.
[00:13:35] He wanted his mat where he used to lay to become his testimony.
[00:13:40] Yeah, God will use the thing that you're struggling with.
[00:13:43] He will use the thing that you're asking him to take away to teach you grace.
[00:13:48] He will use the thing that you struggle with so that when he sets you free from it, you can go back to other people who struggle and say, let me tell you what God did for me.
[00:13:57] If he did it for me, he can do it for you.
[00:14:00] That's why you've got to get up.
[00:14:06] But you don't have to do it by yourself because the hero of this story is not the man.
[00:14:10] I don't even like the man in this story.
[00:14:12] He's full of excuses.
[00:14:13] We find out later in verse 14 that he lived a sinful life.
[00:14:17] He didn't ask to get healed.
[00:14:18] He didn't tell Jesus thank you.
[00:14:20] He didn't even know Jesus' name after the healing.
[00:14:22] He just took the free gift and was trying to sneak out of there before the man changed his mind.
[00:14:27] I don't even find this guy particularly charismatic or worthy of a miracle.
[00:14:31] But when God gets ready to do something, nothing can stop him.
[00:14:37] So I want to show you briefly three things that Jesus did.
[00:14:40] I told you I'm from a Baptist background.
[00:14:42] I got to have three points or I won't feel like I did my job tonight.
[00:14:46] There are three things that Jesus does in this passage that I believe he wants to do with you and for you tonight.
[00:14:53] And I want you to repeat them after me.
[00:14:55] Number one, Jesus stops.
[00:14:58] Say it, Jesus stops.
[00:15:00] Number two, Jesus sees.
[00:15:03] Say it, Jesus sees.
[00:15:06] And number three, this is my favorite, Jesus says.
[00:15:10] Say it, Jesus says.
[00:15:12] Jesus stops.
[00:15:14] Jesus sees, Jesus says.
[00:15:17] Jesus stops.
[00:15:19] Imagine being one of his disciples.
[00:15:22] You're an apprentice to the most important man in human history.
[00:15:25] And remember, y'all, Jesus doesn't have long.
[00:15:29] He only has three years of public ministry before he goes to the cross.
[00:15:34] And so one day, as he's headed up for this important Jewish festival,
[00:15:39] He turns to Peter, Andrew, or one of those boys and says, hey, I've got a stop I need to make before we get to the temple.
[00:15:45] And it's like, okay, well, if we're stopping, you know, Jesus is a healer and a savior and a redeemer and he's got all these important things.
[00:15:53] We must be stopping for somebody very important.
[00:15:57] So you follow him, just imagine you're following Jesus and Jesus says, I have a stop I need to make.
[00:16:02] And you pull up to this pool
[00:16:05] where people are lying around waiting for the water to be stirred because they are that desperate for a miracle.
[00:16:12] And the Bible says that they were blind and lame and paralyzed.
[00:16:19] Now notice, none of them are mentioned by their name.
[00:16:23] They are all mentioned by their condition.
[00:16:26] And the reason I point that out to you is because sometimes you can go through something so long that you forget who you are.
[00:16:36] Sometimes you can go through a season of depression that is so deep that you no longer say, I'm dealing with depression.
[00:16:43] You say, I am depressed.
[00:16:48] You start saying, well, I can't do that because I have anxiety.
[00:16:52] That's fine for you to have anxiety.
[00:16:54] We all get afraid, right?
[00:16:56] I get nervous before I preach to you.
[00:16:59] I'm over on the side of the stage going, oh God, my God, I need you now.
[00:17:04] How I need you now.
[00:17:07] Oh rock, oh rock of ages, there's 12,000 people in Miami that came for a word from you, and I'm not good enough to do it, so God, would you help me tonight?
[00:17:17] Because they need you for their situation.
[00:17:21] But wouldn't it be terrible if I let the fear of letting you down stop me from preaching to you?
[00:17:28] Wouldn't it be terrible if I let the people who criticize me for my style of preaching stop me from preaching the way God called me to preach?
[00:17:37] God didn't call me to reach perfect people.
[00:17:40] I don't need to preach to perfect people.
[00:17:42] If I'm preaching to perfect people, that means I'm dead and I'm in heaven.
[00:17:45] That's the only place we're preaching to perfect people.
[00:17:48] I want to preach to some messed up, imperfect, I need God and I'm not ashamed to say it people.
[00:17:55] Are there any people like that in the house tonight?
[00:18:03] So it's all right that you struggle with it, but the problem becomes when you begin to forget your true nature in Christ because you are so consumed by the thing that won't let you go.
[00:18:15] It could be an addiction.
[00:18:19] For some of you it is.
[00:18:20] It could be the doubt that you feel.
[00:18:22] Sometimes you wonder, is God even real?
[00:18:24] Sometimes even in an environment like this, it can be tricky because it seems like everybody else has got their lives so much more together than you.
[00:18:33] Because you just look at them and they are like, I trust in God.
[00:18:38] And you're like, man, that must be awesome to just trust in God like that, like you do.
[00:18:43] But I'm going to tell you a little secret.
[00:18:47] Those of us that are lifting our hands so high, we're not lifting our hands that high because we're so holy.
[00:18:52] It's because he is so holy.
[00:18:57] We're not lifting our hands so high because we've got it all together.
[00:19:01] We're lifting our hands so high because we need him to hold us together because without him we'd fall apart.
[00:19:08] Clap your hands if I'm right about it from the front to the back.
[00:19:16] And doesn't it touch your heart to know that we have a Savior who stops for one man who can't do anything in return?
[00:19:24] A man who has been stuck in the same place for 38 years.
[00:19:29] A man who everybody else just walks right over.
[00:19:33] Jesus says, you, do you want to get well?
[00:19:38] For one man.
[00:19:40] Thank God that he stops.
[00:19:42] I don't know how to explain this to you, but when I'm preaching, I'm able to picture as if Jesus was walking up and down these aisles in this arena tonight looking for one.
[00:19:54] Looking for one, one who has been praying, one who will be honest, one who will open up their heart, just one.
[00:20:01] And see, I have a visual for this that Jesus would stop for one, because as much as I love this and love you and wanna preach tonight, if one little girl in this room named Abby Furtick screamed in pain tonight, I would stop the whole sermon for her.
[00:20:19] And somebody else, Rich Wilkerson, would have to come up here and pick up my second and third point.
[00:20:25] which might not be a bad idea anyway but somebody else would have to finish because if one of my children now if it was Graham my 18 year old boy I might just let him tough it out I'm kidding I would stop for him too but I'm trying to get you to see that Jesus stops for one he's a wonderful savior he's a merciful God
[00:20:50] And not only does he stop for one man, but he stops the disease that has robbed this man of his life.
[00:20:58] And Jesus tonight can say stop to a situation and it has to obey because he has all power and all authority.
[00:21:07] Jesus, the King of Kings.
[00:21:10] Jesus, the Lord of Lords.
[00:21:12] Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
[00:21:15] Jesus, the Lily of the Valley.
[00:21:17] Jesus, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the earth.
[00:21:22] Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
[00:21:26] Jesus, the Alpha and Omega.
[00:21:30] Jesus, the First and the Last.
[00:21:33] Jesus, the Bright and Morning Star.
[00:21:36] Jesus, who was and is and is to come.
[00:21:39] Jesus, the Man on the Middle Cross.

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Jesus the stone roller Jesus the resurrection and the life Jesus the good shepherd Jesus the true vine Jesus the need meter Jesus the way maker Jesus the chain breaker Jesus who has the name that is above every name
[00:22:03] that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus... Jesus stops for a man whose name we don't even know.

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
He's that good.
[00:22:31] He's that powerful.
[00:22:33] He's that personal.
[00:22:34] He's that purposeful.
[00:22:36] He has aligned your life in such a way that there is nothing you're going through that surprises Him.
[00:22:42] There is nothing you're going through that makes Him ashamed of you.
[00:22:46] There is nothing you can bring Him that is insignificant.
[00:22:48] You're His child.
[00:22:49] There's nothing you can bring Him that's intimidating.
[00:22:52] He is God.
[00:22:53] There is nothing in your life
[00:22:55] that you can't come to him about.
[00:22:57] He stops.
[00:22:58] One time the disciples were in a terrible storm in Mark, chapter 4, and Jesus was sleeping in the stern of the ship.
[00:23:06] Peter thought he didn't care, and he said, Wake up, Jesus.
[00:23:09] Do something.
[00:23:10] We're about to die.
[00:23:11] Jesus was like, I was just letting you go through the storm for a little while.
[00:23:15] Then he got up and he
[00:23:16] Stopped it, because Jesus can stop a storm.
[00:23:19] Touch tree people say, Jesus can stop it.
[00:23:22] He can stop it.
[00:23:23] He can stop a storm.
[00:23:24] He can stop a storm in your life.
[00:23:26] The next time the panic attack comes, just start calling on the name of Jesus.
[00:23:30] Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, you're enough.
[00:23:32] Jesus, Jesus, still this storm in my life.
[00:23:36] He can stop a storm.
[00:23:38] One time in Luke, chapter 7, they were having a funeral for a little boy.
[00:23:41] They were going through the streets of a town called Nain and a widow was about to bury her only son.
[00:23:47] He was going through the streets dead but Jesus had compassion on the woman and he reached out his hand and he touched the little boy and the boy sat up straight because Jesus can stop a funeral.
[00:23:59] Don't bury your hope.
[00:24:02] Don't bury your faith.
[00:24:04] Don't bury your joy.
[00:24:06] Jesus can stop it.
[00:24:07] One touch from him and all of a sudden the funeral was canceled.
[00:24:11] Jesus can stop it.
[00:24:13] One time in John, chapter 8, they were about to stone a woman to death.
[00:24:17] because she had done something very sinful and they caught her and maybe you're dealing with shame and condemnation in this place tonight and I want you to know what Jesus did for the woman I believe he'll do for you he got down in the dirt because not only is he a savior who stops he's a savior who stoops
[00:24:35] and he got down in the dirt of the woman's situation and he began to write something in the dirt and when the people had their stones ready to throw at her which represents the condemnation of the enemy against your life tonight that you've been feeling so ashamed and you've been feeling like maybe I don't have a future and maybe it's over for me and Jesus said let he who is without sin cast the first stone and here's what he knew the only one without sin was him
[00:25:04] and he was down in the dirt and the only one who can pronounce over your life what your life can be is the one who created you and fashioned you and Jesus stopped the stoning and I came to declare over Miami tonight we have a savior who can stop it so I love that Jesus stops
[00:25:34] I love every time that little hissing sound comes out of the scoreboard because I feel like it's the devil having a panic attack while we're praising God in here tonight.
[00:25:42] The devil is sighing because he knows that this is the last night that you're going to believe the lies he's been telling you.
[00:25:50] I know he's been lying to you.
[00:25:54] Some of you, he's had you up at 2 and 3 in the morning worrying about situations that may never even happen.
[00:26:00] He's stealing all your strength and all your joy.
[00:26:03] Even in this service tonight, it's so important that when we say amen, that you don't stop singing.
[00:26:12] It's so important that when we say amen, you don't stop praising.
[00:26:18] You've got to really carry this night with you, because the giants you're facing aren't going to be any different when you get home, but you are.
[00:26:35] He stops, and then verse 6.
[00:26:38] I love it.
[00:26:39] It's so poetic to me.
[00:26:40] Do y'all just love the Bible like I do?
[00:26:42] Man, it's fresh to me.
[00:26:43] I've been preaching it since I was 16 years old, and it's still fresh to me, because look what verse 6 says.
[00:26:49] It's coming up on the screen, please.
[00:26:51] When Jesus saw him lying there.
[00:26:54] Now, what's so significant about that, Pastor Steven?
[00:26:57] Why are you stopping to tell me that?
[00:26:59] Because think.
[00:27:00] This man was lying on a mat.
[00:27:02] Most people only identified him with his mat.
[00:27:07] They only saw what he couldn't do.
[00:27:09] They only saw what he couldn't be.
[00:27:12] But Jesus didn't see the mat.
[00:27:15] First he saw the man.
[00:27:20] He sees me.
[00:27:22] Say it out loud.
[00:27:23] He sees me.
[00:27:25] He sees me in my storm.
[00:27:27] He sees me in my disappointment.
[00:27:29] He even sees the parts of me that I want to hide from everybody else.
[00:27:34] He sees the parts of me that I won't even admit to myself.
[00:27:38] And one of the most amazing things to realize about Jesus, and I want to say this just right, okay?
[00:27:44] So bear with me for a moment.
[00:27:46] When I realized that the one who knows me the best, loves me the most, it set me free.
[00:27:55] Because if he knows me totally and loves me completely, what can others do to me?
[00:28:03] Jesus saw the man lying there and he learned that his condition was so bad that it looked hopeless.
[00:28:10] Like my dad who said, you had no idea how far gone I was.
[00:28:14] And then Jesus is probably thinking, but you have no idea how good I am.
[00:28:19] you have no idea hey you have no idea how good i am at my job see jesus is the word of god he doesn't speak the word of god he is the word of god so when jesus sees the man he doesn't see him where he is he sees who he really is and sometimes you get confused about who you really are because all you see is your mat all you see is your mat all you see is the thing you struggle with one of the things that
[00:28:48] Really makes me laugh about my wife.
[00:28:51] I need y'all to pray for her about this, because this is the only issue she has.
[00:28:54] Other than this, she is truly the perfect woman.
[00:28:59] She's a great gift-giver, but one thing she does that's so confusing… You know how at Christmas, when you give your gifts, you kind of stagger them, where you start with the smallest one and then you go to the biggest one if you're getting multiple gifts for somebody?
[00:29:10] Holly always gets great gifts, but she does this weird thing with boxes.
[00:29:16] because she's got all these really nice boxes and she doesn't want them to go to waste.
[00:29:21] So what she'll do, and y'all pray for her about this.
[00:29:23] The Lord can deliver her.
[00:29:24] I have faith that he can.
[00:29:26] When she gives you the cheapest gift, a lot of times it will be in the nicest box, which is so disappointing.
[00:29:34] When you open the paper and the box says Nordstrom and then you open the box and the gift, the box says Nordstrom and the gift says Dollar Tree.
[00:29:46] And you will open the box like, what is this?
[00:29:50] This doesn't match that.
[00:29:53] She will put the worst gift in the best box.
[00:29:58] But God will do just the opposite.
[00:30:04] God will package some of his best gifts in some of the ugliest boxes.
[00:30:12] Have any of you been dealing with an ugly box in your life lately?
[00:30:17] Come on, don't leave me up here by myself like I'm the only one that Amazon dropped off a box that had been beaten and torn and rained on and weathered.
[00:30:27] But if you open the box and if you trust God and not the box, you might find that the season you're going through right now, you're going to look back at it a year from now and go, Thank you, Lord, for that ugly box, because in that ugly box was a great gift.
[00:30:46] And I just came to declare right now, you cannot give up on this season of your life because you don't like the box.
[00:30:54] God does not live inside of your box.
[00:30:57] God sees things you can't see.
[00:31:00] God knows things you can't know.
[00:31:02] God does not see the man on the mat.
[00:31:05] He sees the mat on the man.
[00:31:08] In other words, God sees you coming out of this.
[00:31:12] I declare tonight you are not going to die in this low state.
[00:31:17] This is not going to be the end of your story.
[00:31:21] This is just a chapter in your life.
[00:31:24] You've got to get up.
[00:31:25] Your future children are depending on it.
[00:31:28] Some of you in this room are to be the one in your generation that breaks the curse that has been over your family.
[00:31:35] Oh God, I felt chills all up and down my spine when I said that.
[00:31:40] I don't know who it is, but there are some of you in this room, and if it hit you when I said it, jump up and give God praise that I'm the one.
[00:31:50] God is going to use me.
[00:31:52] I'm going to have a testimony.
[00:31:55] I'm not dying down here.
[00:31:57] He stops and he sees.
[00:32:04] Somebody say, Jesus stops.
[00:32:08] Say, Jesus sees.
[00:32:11] And my favorite part of the verse, y'all, is Jesus says.
[00:32:16] Because you've got two voices going on.
[00:32:18] You've got one voice saying, Stay down.
[00:32:21] You can't.
[00:32:22] Stay down.
[00:32:22] You've tried before.
[00:32:24] Stay down.
[00:32:25] It's no use.
[00:32:26] This is not real.
[00:32:27] That dude up there with the microphone, he is just hyping you up.
[00:32:31] This is just emotionalism.
[00:32:32] It is not.
[00:32:33] Not emotionalism that I am preaching to you tonight.
[00:32:36] It's called faith.
[00:32:38] It's called the power of God.
[00:32:40] It's the presence of God.
[00:32:41] It's the name of Jesus.
[00:32:43] This is not hype.
[00:32:45] This is hope.
[00:32:46] It's been too long that you've been down there.
[00:32:49] With one word from Jesus, verse 8, then Jesus said to him, You've got to get up.
[00:33:00] Somebody say, I've got to get up.
[00:33:05] and it worked.
[00:33:08] He got up and he took up his mat just because he did what the man said.
[00:33:17] I wonder what would happen tonight if you would just do what the man said.
[00:33:23] This guy got healed and he didn't even know Jesus' name.
[00:33:27] You know a name.
[00:33:31] You know a name that can silence roaring waves.
[00:33:34] You know a name that can empty out a grave.
[00:33:37] You know a name that when it resounds, chains have to break.
[00:33:43] And the man got up and began to walk.
[00:33:47] And when he did, verse 9, the Bible says it was a Sabbath day.
[00:33:54] Which was not the day that they thought he was supposed to be healed.
[00:33:59] But it was the day that God decided to heal him.
[00:34:02] Because when God gets ready to do something, nothing can stop him.
[00:34:07] Didn't I say that at the beginning of my sermon?
[00:34:10] So watch this.
[00:34:11] This is crazy Miami.
[00:34:12] Get ready for this.
[00:34:14] In verse 10, the Jewish leader said to him, the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath.
[00:34:20] The law forbids you from carrying your mat.
[00:34:23] In other words, you can't do that.
[00:34:26] Now, I want you to see the coldest verse in the entire New Testament is verse 11, because they're saying, you can't do that.
[00:34:35] You can't carry your mat.
[00:34:37] There will always be a voice telling you you can't do what God told you to do.
[00:34:41] but his voice is the voice that matters because it is the voice that spoke the world into being out of nothing it is the voice that heals it is the voice that saves so you've got one voice saying you can't do that and in verse 11 the man does something this is so powerful to me he replied the man who made me well said to me because Jesus stops
[00:35:10] Jesus sees, Jesus says.
[00:35:14] It's as if he's saying, I appreciate your opinion that you're telling me I can't pick up my mat and walk, but y'all have walked by me every day for 38 years, and not one of you had the power to get me up.
[00:35:30] But that man over there… Come on, help me preach, Miami.
[00:35:35] That man over there…
[00:35:38] The man who made me well said to me, Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.
[00:35:47] I believe this man was so happy that he was able to walk I believe he started singing Goodbye yesterday I'm living in the light of a new day I won't waste another minute on the colonnades Praise the Lord I'll not walk again I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in I'm dancing on the grave
[00:36:14] Hold on.
[00:36:15] Maybe he couldn't dance yet because he's never walked before, but maybe he just starts simple.
[00:36:20] Maybe he just says, I'm carrying the mat that I once laid on.
[00:36:25] I'm carrying the mat that I once laid on.
[00:36:31] I'm making this up, y'all.
[00:36:34] Y'all got to help me with this.
[00:36:36] Then the religious leaders are like, you can't do that.

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
No, you're doing it wrong.
[00:36:42] and he's like i'm carrying the mat that i once compared to me i'm carrying the mat that i once laid i'm carrying the mat where i used to you can't do that on the sabbath day and then he points
[00:37:02] The man over there has the final say The man over there has the final say The man over there has the final say Are there 3,000 people in Miami who are ready to leave this place different than your cave?

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Well, if that's you, when I say three,
[00:37:56] You alright?
[00:38:07] I'm okay.

[00:38:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
I'm carrying the mat that I once laid on.

[00:38:13] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I'm carrying the mat where I used to lay.

[00:38:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
The man of death has a final say.
[00:38:15] The man has a final say.
[00:38:15] Now if you believe Jesus has the final say,

[00:38:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Praise the Lord, I've been born again.

[00:38:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
And I love feedback.
[00:38:42] Goodbye yesterday.
[00:38:44] Come on, I'm being different.

[00:38:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Because I've got to get up.
[00:38:52] because he's calling me because he's done too much for me and the God who never gave up on you even though you were there on that map for 38 years he saw every season of your life and he never lets you go don't you see it that's why you're here that's why you're breathing you've got to get up
[00:39:22] He brought you here to get you up.
[00:39:26] You're not getting up by yourself.
[00:39:29] Jesus stops.
[00:39:31] Jesus sees.
[00:39:33] Jesus says.
[00:39:34] And if I could give you a fourth point, it would be Jesus saves.
[00:39:49] I want you to bow your head and close your eyes.
[00:39:50] Nobody moving in this moment.
[00:39:52] This is an important, precious, sacred moment because I want to invite everyone in this room who needs to give your life to Christ tonight.
[00:40:01] Really give your life to Jesus.
[00:40:04] Really make him the Lord of your life.
[00:40:08] I want to give you that opportunity.
[00:40:09] I believe that Jesus will stop this whole service for one person, this whole event for one person.
[00:40:16] He loves you that much.
[00:40:18] He sees you.
[00:40:20] and he can save you and he says to you tonight that his grace is sufficient for you the bible says 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 you will he'll raise you up the same god that raised jesus from the grave will raise you up tonight it is by grace you are saved through faith it's the gift of god not of works so that no one can boast
[00:40:49] Right now with heads bowed in this beautiful moment that God has brought us together for, I'm going to pray a prayer.
[00:40:54] This prayer is not magical, but if you mean it from your heart tonight, God will hear you from heaven and he will heal you and forgive you of your sin and cleanse you from your unrighteousness and this will be your new beginning.
[00:41:07] We're gonna pray this together Miami for the benefit of those who are coming to Jesus tonight and I want us all to pray it out loud in faith for those people if you mean it in your heart and you say Jesus here's my life I turn from my sin I turn to you I want your forgiveness and I want a new beginning and I trust you as my Savior then right now repeat these words after me Heavenly Father as a church family let's say it out loud Heavenly Father
[00:41:38] I am a sinner in need of a Savior.
[00:41:43] I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.
[00:41:53] Tonight, I make Jesus the Lord of my life.
[00:41:58] I believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose again to give me life.
[00:42:07] I receive this new life.
[00:42:11] This is my new beginning.
[00:42:14] I am a child of God.
[00:42:18] If you just prayed that to give your life to Jesus, when I say three, shoot your hand in the air.
[00:42:22] One, two, three.
[00:42:25] We celebrate new beginnings tonight.
[00:42:28] Come on, let's give the Lord praise for every new beginning.
[00:42:33] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:42:36] Hey, thank you for watching The Elevation Church YouTube.
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[00:42:58] Thanks again.
[00:42:59] I'll see you next time.