# It Still Works

An episode of [Elevation with Steven Furtick](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/216015753), 19 Apr 2026, 51 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/cbb40a38-726f-4243-a86e-b0ed01477640/7be21c42-9cfd-440f-a806-b431013dd8a2/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=ff9164b2-aa64-410d-9ee1-b0ed0147765c

Faith often looks like taking action even while you feel full of doubt. But Pastor Steven teaches us that when God gives us something to do, He puts something in our hands to do it. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr Scripture References: Exodus 4, verses 1-5, 17, 19-20 Exodus 14, verses 13-16 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:04] Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
[0:06] Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
[0:09] Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
[0:11] Speaker 2: new sermons every week.
[0:13] Speaker 1: I hope you're blessed today. How many are ready for
[0:21] Speaker 1: the Word of God today?
[0:24] Speaker 3: Hey? Hey, we got two thousand people in Houston, Texas.
[0:27] Speaker 1: Let's love of them.
[0:28] Speaker 3: How many in housday are ready for the Word of
[0:32] Speaker 3: God today? Yes, Lord, it's gonna be a good day.
[0:39] Speaker 3: And you know how you can know that. Look who
[0:40] Speaker 3: you're sitting next to. Why would God sit you next
[0:43] Speaker 3: to somebody that good looking if it wasn't gonna.
[0:45] Speaker 1: Be a good day. Praise the Lord.
[0:51] Speaker 3: I am going to be sharing today from Exodus chapter four.
[0:55] Speaker 3: Please remain standing for the word of God. The grass withers,
[0:58] Speaker 3: the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.
[1:02] Speaker 3: Y'all need to learn the Bible better so you can
[1:04] Speaker 3: quote it when I quote it. The grass withers, the
[1:06] Speaker 3: flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.
[1:11] Speaker 1: Amen. The word of the Lord in Exodus chapter.
[1:14] Speaker 4: Four may be a familiar scripture, but there is one
[1:17] Speaker 4: thing I want.
[1:17] Speaker 1: To highlight for your life today. By the way.
[1:20] Speaker 3: If you're watching online, just put in the comments I'm here,
[1:23] Speaker 3: let us know that you're joining too. And if you're
[1:27] Speaker 3: here in person, just go ahead and shout it at
[1:28] Speaker 3: me to say I'm here.
[1:30] Speaker 4: I'm awake, I had my coffee, and I want to
[1:35] Speaker 4: break through.
[1:37] Speaker 1: All right.
[1:44] Speaker 3: When we see this meeting in Exodus chapter four, we
[1:49] Speaker 3: are walking in to the middle.
[1:53] Speaker 1: Of a mess. That's where God likes to.
[1:57] Speaker 4: Work the most.
[2:00] Speaker 1: Chapter four, Verse.
[2:01] Speaker 3: One, Moses answered, what if they do not believe me
[2:05] Speaker 3: or listen to me and say the Lord did not
[2:07] Speaker 3: appear to you.
[2:09] Speaker 1: Then the Lord said to him.
[2:11] Speaker 4: What is that in your hand?
[2:14] Speaker 5: A staff, he replied. The Lord said, throw it on
[2:18] Speaker 5: the ground. I feel like he probably hollered at him
[2:21] Speaker 5: because pretty pretty weird thing he's asking him to do here.
[2:26] Speaker 5: So the Lord said it with confidence, throw it on
[2:30] Speaker 5: the ground.
[2:32] Speaker 3: Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake.
[2:35] Speaker 1: Oh, this is getting worse, not better.
[2:37] Speaker 3: When your staff becomes a snake, it looks like you're
[2:40] Speaker 3: going backwards when you need God to comfort you.
[2:43] Speaker 1: A staff, he replied, And.
[2:45] Speaker 4: The Lord said, throw it on the ground.
[2:47] Speaker 3: And Moses threw it on the ground and it became
[2:50] Speaker 3: a snake, and he ran from it.
[2:53] Speaker 1: Well, that makes sense, I would do that too.
[2:56] Speaker 3: But then the Lord said, reach out your hand and
[3:00] Speaker 3: take it by the tail. So Moses reached out and
[3:03] Speaker 3: took hold of the snake, and it turned back into
[3:06] Speaker 3: a staff in his hand. This said the Lord, is
[3:10] Speaker 3: so that they may believe that the Lord, the God
[3:15] Speaker 3: of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
[3:20] Speaker 3: and the God of Jacob. Is so that they may
[3:23] Speaker 3: believe that that God has appeared to you. Now drop down,
[3:27] Speaker 3: please to verse number seventeen. Because God gives him two
[3:31] Speaker 3: more signs to show him that he's with him, that
[3:33] Speaker 3: he's to perform in the palace before Pharaoh and in
[3:37] Speaker 3: the desert before the Israelites. But Moses argues with God.
[3:41] Speaker 3: He even tries to say, I'm not a very good speaker.
[3:44] Speaker 4: How can I.
[3:45] Speaker 3: Tell Pharaoh to let your people go when I'm not
[3:47] Speaker 3: even eloquent? Well, the Lord said, I'm not asking you
[3:51] Speaker 3: to take a speech clash.
[3:53] Speaker 1: I'm asking you to take a faith step.
[3:56] Speaker 3: Because I don't need your ability, I need your availability.
[4:00] Speaker 1: Who is that for today? Right? Right? Right, right?
[4:05] Speaker 3: But let me show you one more thing. When God
[4:07] Speaker 3: tells Moses, well, I'm gonna give your brother Aaron. He's
[4:09] Speaker 3: gonna help you. Since you can do it alone.
[4:11] Speaker 4: I've already got your partner lined up.
[4:13] Speaker 1: But watch this.
[4:14] Speaker 3: In verse seventeen, he says, but take this staff in
[4:17] Speaker 3: your hand so you can perform the signs with it.
[4:21] Speaker 3: So you can perform the signs with it, and then
[4:25] Speaker 3: go to verse nineteen. Now the Lord had said to
[4:28] Speaker 3: Moses and Midian, and go back to Egypt, for all
[4:30] Speaker 3: those who wanted.
[4:30] Speaker 4: To kill you are dead.
[4:32] Speaker 3: So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on
[4:36] Speaker 3: a donkey, and started back to Egypt, and he took
[4:42] Speaker 3: the staff of God in his hand.
[4:47] Speaker 1: I love that.
[4:48] Speaker 4: Today.
[4:48] Speaker 3: The Lord told me to give you a word, and
[4:51] Speaker 3: the word is this. It still works. It's still worse. Hallelujah.
[4:59] Speaker 1: God woke me up this morning at four in the morning.
[5:02] Speaker 3: And said, just get ready to tell somebody it still works.
[5:08] Speaker 1: So I got good news for you today.
[5:11] Speaker 3: In spite of what it is that has been reverberating
[5:14] Speaker 3: in your ear causing you to fear, the Lord said,
[5:17] Speaker 3: it still works.
[5:20] Speaker 1: Touch all seven people you can reach and say it
[5:22] Speaker 1: still works. It still works. It still works, and you
[5:30] Speaker 1: may be seated on your way to your seat. Shout
[5:34] Speaker 1: it still works, It still works. Let's talk about this
[5:40] Speaker 1: for a moment. What a job? What a job?
[5:46] Speaker 3: Right? We understand Moses's hesitation because we understand that.
[5:51] Speaker 1: He's over his head.
[5:53] Speaker 3: You mean you want me to go to the most
[5:56] Speaker 3: powerful man in the world and tell him to let
[5:59] Speaker 3: your people go, who have been in Egypt for four
[6:01] Speaker 3: hundred and thirty years.
[6:03] Speaker 4: Wow, we understand his hesitation.
[6:07] Speaker 3: We have grace for Moses's need for clarification when he says,
[6:12] Speaker 3: what if they don't believe in me?
[6:14] Speaker 4: I mean, of.
[6:15] Speaker 3: Course you would wonder that if they had rejected you
[6:18] Speaker 3: forty years earlier. Do you remember how the story of
[6:22] Speaker 3: Moses begins. He's put in a basket and he is
[6:27] Speaker 3: discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, But he is raised as an Egyptian,
[6:34] Speaker 3: So he is Egyptian by background, but he's Hebrew by birth.
[6:38] Speaker 3: And this presents a conflict because to be an Egyptian
[6:42] Speaker 3: is one thing, to be a Hebrew is another.
[6:44] Speaker 4: But Moses is both.
[6:46] Speaker 3: And because Moses is both, he is uniquely positioned to
[6:50] Speaker 3: do this job. But Moses, like many of us, has
[6:55] Speaker 3: been spending years of his life paying the price of
[6:59] Speaker 3: regret for a misias that he made earlier with the
[7:02] Speaker 3: passion that he did not know how to manage, because
[7:05] Speaker 3: God had put it in his heart for a long
[7:07] Speaker 3: time to help his people. But one day, when he
[7:09] Speaker 3: saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, he killed the
[7:13] Speaker 3: Egyptian hit him in the sand. The next day, two
[7:16] Speaker 3: Hebrews were fighting, and he said, why are y'all fighting?
[7:19] Speaker 4: Y'all are supposed to be on the same side.
[7:22] Speaker 3: I wish we could preach some of that in politics today,
[7:24] Speaker 3: like I wish we could preach some of that in
[7:27] Speaker 3: the church today. We're supposed to be on the same side. Really,
[7:31] Speaker 3: y'all are fighting. And one of them turned to him
[7:33] Speaker 3: with an attitude and said, you're going to kill me
[7:35] Speaker 3: like you did the Egyptian. And Moses random Midian because
[7:39] Speaker 3: he said what I did must have become known.
[7:42] Speaker 4: And he ran and he ran, and he ran and
[7:43] Speaker 4: he ran.
[7:44] Speaker 1: Until a well appeared.
[7:45] Speaker 3: And Moses's name means drawn out of water. And isn't
[7:48] Speaker 3: it interesting that he met his wife drawing water for
[7:52] Speaker 3: her from a well. He finds out that her father's
[7:56] Speaker 3: name is Jethro, and he settles in tending.
[7:59] Speaker 1: Sheep for Jethro. But now God has a job for.
[8:02] Speaker 3: Moses that is bigger than Jethro. And God says, I
[8:06] Speaker 3: need you to go, And Moses.
[8:08] Speaker 1: Said, I don't know if they'll believe this.
[8:13] Speaker 3: First of all, who am I to go to Pharaoh?
[8:16] Speaker 3: And secondly, who are you? What do I tell them
[8:19] Speaker 3: about all of this? So as we settle into the text,
[8:22] Speaker 3: we understand that it's a mess because Moses is a
[8:26] Speaker 3: murderer who's being turned into a messenger. And that's always
[8:31] Speaker 3: messy when God gives you an assignment that contradicts your
[8:34] Speaker 3: current understanding of your identity, because whenever God gives you
[8:38] Speaker 3: something to do, you will try to overlay who you
[8:41] Speaker 3: think you are onto what he's called you to do.
[8:45] Speaker 3: But Moses is about to find out that God works
[8:48] Speaker 3: in crazy ways. Now, as much as I respect Moses's
[8:53] Speaker 3: decision to do what God called him to do, we
[8:56] Speaker 3: need to be direct about the fact that he doubted God.
[9:00] Speaker 3: He doubted God so much that God became angry with him.
[9:03] Speaker 4: But God's anger did not cancel the assignment.
[9:07] Speaker 3: God simply sent him forward in power as he leaned
[9:11] Speaker 3: on his staff. I'm going to talk about the staff
[9:15] Speaker 3: in a moment, But I want to make this personal.
[9:16] Speaker 3: First of all. A few years ago, I had something
[9:21] Speaker 3: that God had called me to do, and I became
[9:23] Speaker 3: very intimidated about it, and I had a bad attitude
[9:26] Speaker 3: about it, but I did it anyway. After I did it,
[9:31] Speaker 3: I was driving home and God had so handled all
[9:34] Speaker 3: the things that I was worried about.
[9:36] Speaker 4: That I didn't even have to deal with them when
[9:38] Speaker 4: I got there.
[9:39] Speaker 3: So I felt grateful, but I also felt guilty because I.
[9:43] Speaker 4: Had made it to be this huge thing in my mind.
[9:45] Speaker 4: I mean, how many of you have done this before?
[9:47] Speaker 3: I made it to be this huge thing in my mind, like, oh,
[9:50] Speaker 3: I got to call my coach and tell him I'm
[9:51] Speaker 3: not coming back next year, and my coach is going
[9:53] Speaker 3: to kill me.
[9:54] Speaker 4: Your coaches ain't going.
[9:54] Speaker 1: To kill you. Your coach is just.
[9:56] Speaker 4: Going to say thank you. But you make it out
[9:57] Speaker 4: to be this.
[9:58] Speaker 3: Huge thing in your mind. You make it out to
[10:02] Speaker 3: be something so much bigger than it is. And then
[10:04] Speaker 3: a lot of times God just deals with Jezebela and
[10:07] Speaker 3: you never even have to.
[10:10] Speaker 4: And it almost made.
[10:11] Speaker 3: Me feel so guilty about my attitude that I couldn't
[10:16] Speaker 3: even enjoy the achievement of doing the thing God had
[10:19] Speaker 3: called me to do. It's like when you take your
[10:21] Speaker 3: kids on a vacation, but now you're going to have
[10:23] Speaker 3: to send them to therapy.
[10:26] Speaker 1: To deal with the way that you acted on vacation.
[10:29] Speaker 1: Come on, talk to me, Talk to me, or I'll prophesie.
[10:35] Speaker 1: It's the feeling of like, God, I'm so sorry. So
[10:38] Speaker 1: I was coming home in.
[10:39] Speaker 3: My car and it just went so beautifully, but I
[10:42] Speaker 3: had been so burdened about it, and I just felt
[10:44] Speaker 3: bad about it, and I couldn't even enjoy how good
[10:46] Speaker 3: it went because I felt so guilty. I was like,
[10:48] Speaker 3: I had such a bad attitude.
[10:50] Speaker 1: And the Lord showed me something.
[10:52] Speaker 3: Sometimes great faith is taking the right action with a
[10:56] Speaker 3: bad attitude. I'm gonna say it again for the note takers.
[11:03] Speaker 3: Sometimes great faith is taking the right action with a
[11:08] Speaker 3: bad attitude. And as I was praying to the Lord,
[11:12] Speaker 3: I was like, I'm so sorry I had such a
[11:14] Speaker 3: bad attitude.
[11:15] Speaker 1: You took care of it.
[11:16] Speaker 3: You handled it. I didn't even have to worry about it. God,
[11:18] Speaker 3: I was so worried, I was so stressed. I complained
[11:20] Speaker 3: so much, and then you just did it. And I'm
[11:22] Speaker 3: so sorry God that I doubted you. And it was
[11:25] Speaker 3: like the Lord spoke to me. He said, you're embarrassed
[11:29] Speaker 3: because you doubted. I'm proud because you did it. I
[11:39] Speaker 3: don't know who is for, but the heart of the
[11:40] Speaker 3: Father wanted to say that to you today, that you
[11:43] Speaker 3: have been beating yourself up so much about your doubts
[11:48] Speaker 3: that you are not even celebrating how much you have
[11:51] Speaker 3: done and how far you have come and how many
[11:54] Speaker 3: ways you have changed, because all you keep focusing on
[11:58] Speaker 3: is God. I'm so sorry that I had such a
[12:00] Speaker 3: bad attitude God. I'm so sorry that I blew up
[12:03] Speaker 3: at the kids like that. Well, at least you didn't
[12:05] Speaker 3: kill them. I mean, at least they're still here. And
[12:07] Speaker 3: the Bible says if you train up a child and
[12:09] Speaker 3: the way that they should go when they're old, they
[12:10] Speaker 3: won't depart from it. That means all you got to
[12:13] Speaker 3: do is not kill them, and God will fix it.
[12:15] Speaker 3: In the meantime. Just let them live. Somebody shall let
[12:19] Speaker 3: them live. And some days that's all you can do
[12:23] Speaker 3: is just to say, hey, I didn't do that perfectly,
[12:27] Speaker 3: but I did it. The first point of my message
[12:29] Speaker 3: is sometimes you've got to do it doubting. Sometimes you've
[12:35] Speaker 3: got to do it. Doubting notice in the text that
[12:38] Speaker 3: Moses's first response to the assignment is not gratitude. Moses's
[12:43] Speaker 3: first response to the assignment is not to receive it,
[12:47] Speaker 3: but to run. And just in case, you're dealing with
[12:49] Speaker 3: something in your life right now and you're looking at
[12:52] Speaker 3: it like a snake on the ground that God has
[12:54] Speaker 3: told you to grab by the.
[12:55] Speaker 1: Tail, that's okay. It is natural to.
[12:58] Speaker 3: Run from something that you have never seen in this
[13:01] Speaker 3: form before. And I am concerned that you are beating
[13:05] Speaker 3: yourself so much up about your fear that you have
[13:09] Speaker 3: not properly contextualized the magnitude of the.
[13:12] Speaker 1: Faith that it took for you to be where you are.
[13:19] Speaker 4: I don't to tell me one time.
[13:20] Speaker 3: I don't like when I go to church when the
[13:21] Speaker 3: preacher just tells me I'm doing good. It makes me
[13:24] Speaker 3: feel good. I just need the preacher to step on
[13:26] Speaker 3: my toes, you know. Man, just slap me in the face. Man,
[13:29] Speaker 3: just spank me a little bit. I'm like, dude, I
[13:32] Speaker 3: don't that's not my gig. I don't know what you
[13:35] Speaker 3: need to call somebody else for all that you just mentioned.
[13:39] Speaker 3: And Mae, may maybe it's because everything I ever did
[13:44] Speaker 3: for God.
[13:45] Speaker 1: I did it doubting. Every sermon I ever preached to you.
[13:52] Speaker 4: My hands were shaken while I held my pen. And
[13:56] Speaker 4: I'll show you my handwriting and you'll believe me.
[13:58] Speaker 3: Then you'll say, Pastor Stephen would have been a serial
[14:02] Speaker 3: killer in another life. Look at that handwriting. You'd be
[14:04] Speaker 3: psychoanalyzing me. No, it's because I had to do it doubting. Yeah,
[14:10] Speaker 3: you know, Graham, I think Exodus for to one is
[14:13] Speaker 3: my whole preaching life verse, because this is the verse
[14:16] Speaker 3: that I felt the most preaching up here.
[14:18] Speaker 4: What if they don't believe me or listen to me?
[14:23] Speaker 3: I wish my biggest preaching verse was Isaiah six, Ay
[14:27] Speaker 3: here am I send me? But really my preaching verse
[14:30] Speaker 3: how I feel is what if they don't believe me
[14:33] Speaker 3: or listen to me?
[14:34] Speaker 4: Now?
[14:34] Speaker 3: I want to start this sermon this way because I'm
[14:36] Speaker 3: going to encourage you in a moment about the things
[14:39] Speaker 3: in your life that look impossible to you right now.
[14:42] Speaker 3: Let me be less vague than that, the current thing
[14:46] Speaker 3: in your life that you are doubting about. I don't
[14:50] Speaker 3: even necessarily mean you're doubting God. You might just be
[14:53] Speaker 3: doubting you. I don't even mean that you doubt that
[14:58] Speaker 3: God is good. I just mean that you feel like
[15:01] Speaker 3: you are not good enough. And everything that I have
[15:04] Speaker 3: ever done for God, I have never.
[15:06] Speaker 1: Felt good enough to do. So do with that way.
[15:09] Speaker 1: You will judge me if you.
[15:11] Speaker 3: Want to make fun of me, if you want tell
[15:14] Speaker 3: me that I should have more confidence in Christ, if
[15:17] Speaker 3: you must.
[15:18] Speaker 1: But everything I ever.
[15:20] Speaker 4: Did for God, I did it doubting.
[15:22] Speaker 3: Every song I ever wrote from the Lord I did
[15:24] Speaker 3: feeling like a bad singer. Every chord I ever strummed
[15:28] Speaker 3: to write a hymn for our church to sing, I
[15:31] Speaker 3: did it wishing that I knew more music theory. You
[15:33] Speaker 3: don't understand what I'm saying. Everything I ever did for God.
[15:37] Speaker 3: Every time I ever played back one of my preaching
[15:39] Speaker 3: clips and listen to it, I had to cringe to
[15:41] Speaker 3: find the clip because I didn't even like the way
[15:43] Speaker 3: I sounded.
[15:45] Speaker 1: Everything I ever did for God, I did it doubting,
[15:49] Speaker 1: but I did it. But I did it.
[15:53] Speaker 3: And sometimes great faith is not eliminating doubt. It is
[15:57] Speaker 3: looking at doubt right in them face and telling doubt.
[16:02] Speaker 1: You can sit in the passenger.
[16:04] Speaker 3: Seat, but you can't drive because we're doing this high five.
[16:09] Speaker 3: Somebody say, I'm doing this. There's a whole word in
[16:12] Speaker 3: this right now. Do it doubting, but do it. Do
[16:16] Speaker 3: it afraid, but do it. Do it with suicidal thoughts,
[16:19] Speaker 3: but do it.
[16:20] Speaker 1: Live another day, thinking you don't deserve to be on
[16:23] Speaker 1: the earth. But live another day. Take another breath. Feeling anxious,
[16:27] Speaker 1: but take another breath.
[16:28] Speaker 3: Give God a praise, not feeling a goose moump. But
[16:31] Speaker 3: lift your hands. Lift your hands with your shoulder hurting,
[16:34] Speaker 3: but lift your hands. Lift your hands with a back back,
[16:37] Speaker 3: but lift your hands. Do it. And I'll tell you something.
[16:43] Speaker 3: Worship will work whether you feel it or not. I said,
[16:48] Speaker 3: worship will work, whether you feel it or not. Tell
[16:54] Speaker 3: somebody it'll work. It'll work. Worship still works. Worship still
[16:59] Speaker 3: works when it's the middle of the night and there's
[17:02] Speaker 3: nobody around to listen to you cry, and you cry
[17:05] Speaker 3: out to God saying, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead
[17:09] Speaker 3: me to the rock that is higher than I It'll work.
[17:13] Speaker 3: It'll work, yeah, And I know it will work because
[17:19] Speaker 3: the people of God in Exodus chapter four had been
[17:22] Speaker 3: enslaved for four centuries, and Moses has been in exile
[17:26] Speaker 3: for four decades. But this text pops up into the
[17:32] Speaker 3: transitional moment to remind us that it still works.
[17:37] Speaker 1: Because God said to Moses, watched this. The cries of
[17:41] Speaker 1: my people have reached heaven. Was He's saying, I heard.
[17:45] Speaker 1: I heard.
[17:47] Speaker 3: And even as the burdens of the people grew heavier,
[17:50] Speaker 3: God says, I heard. See you think when it doesn't happen.
[17:54] Speaker 1: God didn't hear.
[17:57] Speaker 3: So for all of those years that Moses tended sheep,
[18:00] Speaker 3: been thought it's over, I blew it. For all those
[18:02] Speaker 3: years that you thought, if I could just go back
[18:04] Speaker 3: and do it different, I would.
[18:05] Speaker 1: For all those years that you have thought it was over.
[18:08] Speaker 3: For all those years that they prayed, the people pray,
[18:12] Speaker 3: God send us a deliverer. God send us asign. God
[18:16] Speaker 3: set us free. God came down to Moses to say
[18:21] Speaker 3: it worked. So I want to remind you today that
[18:25] Speaker 3: your prayers aren't pointless, even if you don't have proof
[18:29] Speaker 3: that they're heard. Please write that down and put it
[18:33] Speaker 3: somewhere you can see it when the enemy tries to
[18:35] Speaker 3: tell you it's not working this week. My prayers are
[18:38] Speaker 3: not pointless, even if I have no proof they have
[18:41] Speaker 3: been heard.
[18:43] Speaker 4: God might be multitasking some things in your life right now.
[18:47] Speaker 1: God might be setting some things.
[18:48] Speaker 3: Up for a generation from now that you don't know about.
[18:52] Speaker 4: God might need you to help somebody in the.
[18:53] Speaker 3: Future, So you gotta go through hell right now so
[18:55] Speaker 3: you can help them later.
[18:56] Speaker 1: God heards you. Oh, I feel annoying today, and I'm not.
[19:00] Speaker 3: I'm not even saying I'm not even saying.
[19:02] Speaker 1: I'm annoying for everybody in the room.
[19:04] Speaker 3: Maybe just for three people, maybe for three hundred, maybe
[19:07] Speaker 3: for somebody in the back, maybe for somebody in overflow.
[19:10] Speaker 3: But the Lord said, it's not pointless. My prayers are
[19:14] Speaker 3: not pointless because my God has a plan. Keep praying
[19:21] Speaker 3: for your babies, Keep praying about what's going on that
[19:25] Speaker 3: the doctors can't figure out. Keep praying about it. It's
[19:28] Speaker 3: not pointless. This is what Exodus for teaches me is
[19:33] Speaker 3: that God's lack of activity does not mean God's absence.
[19:40] Speaker 3: And just because He is not active in the way
[19:42] Speaker 3: that I have prescribed for him to be.
[19:44] Speaker 4: Does not mean his purpose isn't working. It still works.
[19:50] Speaker 4: Say it again.
[19:50] Speaker 1: It still works.
[19:52] Speaker 4: This sermon has three points, but it's really only one point.
[19:55] Speaker 4: It still works. And even if you do it doubting,
[19:59] Speaker 4: it works.
[20:00] Speaker 3: Isn't it just amazing that if you go in the
[20:02] Speaker 3: weight room and lift weights, and you lift them hard enough,
[20:05] Speaker 3: you'll get stronger whether you wanted to go in the
[20:06] Speaker 3: weight room or not, because it still works if you
[20:10] Speaker 3: didn't want to.
[20:13] Speaker 4: Isn't that the case? Is that true?
[20:17] Speaker 3: If I put my body under the right amount of stress,
[20:19] Speaker 3: with the right form, for the right amount of time
[20:20] Speaker 3: under tension, my body will respond to that, whether or
[20:22] Speaker 3: not I had the feeling and the motivation that I
[20:24] Speaker 3: wanted to do it.
[20:27] Speaker 4: Bodily exercised, profited little.
[20:30] Speaker 3: But godliness has great value and it means that it
[20:35] Speaker 3: still works. Come to church, listen, go, I didn't get
[20:38] Speaker 3: anything out of that. Well, first of all, that's your
[20:40] Speaker 3: fault because I study.
[20:44] Speaker 1: But secondly, you don't even know that yet. What if
[20:48] Speaker 1: it worked?
[20:48] Speaker 4: What if it went in like.
[20:49] Speaker 3: A seed and it's going to come up like an
[20:51] Speaker 3: oak at a later season in your life?
[20:55] Speaker 1: It still works. It still works.
[20:58] Speaker 3: Now you may go through er, but every winter yields
[21:02] Speaker 3: to spring.
[21:02] Speaker 4: It still works.
[21:05] Speaker 3: I can't hardly get off a point number one, and
[21:07] Speaker 3: I don't know why. There must be somebody in here
[21:09] Speaker 3: who needed to be reminded that you can do it
[21:12] Speaker 3: doubting that you can pray with chains still on your feet,
[21:20] Speaker 3: you can praise with shackles still on your hands. Ask
[21:25] Speaker 3: Paul and Silas, I said, Ask Paul and Silas. They
[21:30] Speaker 3: were fastened in the inner cell. That's the hardest place
[21:33] Speaker 3: to get out of. But ask Paul and Silas. If
[21:36] Speaker 3: you sing it midnight, even when you don't see anything happening,
[21:40] Speaker 3: even when you have no proof that the chains are
[21:42] Speaker 3: starting to weaken, if you will worship in this situation, and.
[21:46] Speaker 1: I'm saying in this moment right now.
[21:48] Speaker 3: I double dog dare you to throw up your hands
[21:52] Speaker 3: and open.
[21:52] Speaker 1: Your mouth and say, do it. God. I praise you God,
[21:56] Speaker 1: because you're good God, and you're worthy God, and you're mighty.
[21:59] Speaker 3: God, and your Holy God had it works if you
[22:03] Speaker 3: worked it. So sometimes you have to do it doubting.
[22:14] Speaker 3: And number two, sometimes you have to do it delayed.
[22:19] Speaker 1: Delayed. Do you know what I mean by delayed?
[22:22] Speaker 3: God asks you to do something on this Tuesday that
[22:26] Speaker 3: is only going to make sense in two years. Or
[22:30] Speaker 3: maybe I could say, like this, God tells you to
[22:33] Speaker 3: pick up a snake.
[22:36] Speaker 1: By the tail.
[22:38] Speaker 3: That is the exact wrong way, not that I've ever
[22:42] Speaker 3: picked up snakes, although there is probably some account that
[22:46] Speaker 3: says we do it every Sunday in our church along
[22:48] Speaker 3: with our baptism water slide that we have that I've
[22:50] Speaker 3: never seen before except photoshop. But I never did it.
[22:57] Speaker 3: But I know if I did it, I wouldn't do
[22:58] Speaker 3: it like that. I wouldn't do it like that. But see,
[23:02] Speaker 3: this is the pattern. Let me appreciate. This is what
[23:04] Speaker 3: God is trying to show Moses. Is that like I
[23:08] Speaker 3: grab you the way I want to, I grab you
[23:13] Speaker 3: in a way that doesn't make sense. I use things
[23:15] Speaker 3: that don't make sense to get your attention. Please write
[23:19] Speaker 3: this down. God's sovereign plan does not always make practical sense.
[23:26] Speaker 1: God's sovereign plan.
[23:29] Speaker 3: The plan that he has marked out before time began. Remember,
[23:33] Speaker 3: God was working this deliverance narrative in his people's life
[23:38] Speaker 3: to foreshadow the work that Jesus Christ would do on
[23:41] Speaker 3: the cross, so that when Jesus would show up, he
[23:45] Speaker 3: would lead not only through the cross that he died on,
[23:50] Speaker 3: but through the life that he lived. He would lead
[23:52] Speaker 3: us to freedom as our true Moses. Knowing that we
[23:56] Speaker 3: understand that God is working things out in a way
[24:00] Speaker 3: seem weird to us, and I'm at the point in
[24:05] Speaker 3: my life where I'm willing to be weird if it works.
[24:16] Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
[24:19] Speaker 3: Now, in order to grab this snake by the tail,
[24:23] Speaker 3: Because just imagine this, Moses is like.
[24:26] Speaker 4: All right, you want me to do what?
[24:28] Speaker 1: Okay?
[24:29] Speaker 4: No, and he runs and.
[24:31] Speaker 1: He resists for a little while.
[24:33] Speaker 3: But remember great faith sometimes is doing it delayed.
[24:39] Speaker 1: Okay.
[24:40] Speaker 3: So he wastes some time not only running from the snake,
[24:44] Speaker 3: but he's been forty years running from his assignment forty years.
[24:49] Speaker 3: And God shows up to say, I'm gonna do it
[24:52] Speaker 3: through you anyway. I break the spirit of activation over
[24:56] Speaker 3: your life that has told you it's too late. I
[24:59] Speaker 3: break the spirit of actization over your life that says
[25:01] Speaker 3: you can't get it back. I break the spirit of
[25:04] Speaker 3: condemnation over your life that says that you cannot become.
[25:07] Speaker 1: What God has called you to be.
[25:08] Speaker 3: I break the spirit of condemnation that tries to stamp
[25:12] Speaker 3: you with your worst mistake. Because the life of Moses
[25:15] Speaker 3: tells me that my past mistake is not.
[25:19] Speaker 1: My permanent verdict. That's what it shows me.
[25:24] Speaker 3: And when I say past mistake, I mean it could
[25:27] Speaker 3: be five years ago, it could be five minutes ago,
[25:30] Speaker 3: but that will not define me because God has a
[25:33] Speaker 3: plan for me. God has a plan for the things
[25:36] Speaker 3: I did right. God has a plan for the things
[25:39] Speaker 3: I did wrong. God has a plan for my doubts,
[25:42] Speaker 3: just as much as God has a plan for my
[25:44] Speaker 3: bold declarations of faith. And Moses picks up the snake
[25:48] Speaker 3: by the tail, but.
[25:49] Speaker 1: Not at first.
[25:52] Speaker 3: And Moses is used as a messenger, but before he's
[25:55] Speaker 3: a messenger.
[25:56] Speaker 1: He's a murderer.
[25:57] Speaker 3: And I just want to remind you that God makes
[26:00] Speaker 3: all things beautiful in his time, and sometimes you've got
[26:06] Speaker 3: to do it on a delay and just pray stuff
[26:10] Speaker 3: like God, I pray that you would make up for
[26:12] Speaker 3: the time that I wasted. God, I pray that you
[26:15] Speaker 3: would put me on an accelerated course. God, I pray
[26:19] Speaker 3: that you will put me in summer school so I
[26:20] Speaker 3: can graduate with all my friends.
[26:22] Speaker 1: God, I pray that you will just give me the
[26:24] Speaker 1: grace God. And God says, okay.
[26:27] Speaker 3: Because once Moses got on the same page with God,
[26:30] Speaker 3: it only took ten plagues for God to do what
[26:33] Speaker 3: he was going to do. It's not going to take
[26:36] Speaker 3: as long as you think it's going to take. It's
[26:39] Speaker 3: not going to take everything you think is going to take,
[26:42] Speaker 3: because sometimes God does it on a delay, and that
[26:46] Speaker 3: means you've got to praise him in advance in case
[26:48] Speaker 3: he does it on.
[26:49] Speaker 1: Delay, because you don't know, you don't know.
[26:55] Speaker 3: The Lord annointed me to preach today that sometimes do
[27:00] Speaker 3: it on a delay.
[27:03] Speaker 1: Do it on a delay. I mean, we all get
[27:07] Speaker 1: stuck in the past.
[27:08] Speaker 4: Sometimes I've been stuck in the past.
[27:11] Speaker 3: A lot lately, just in a fun way. Actually, I've
[27:16] Speaker 3: been going around buying records, records, albums, LPs, vinyl.
[27:27] Speaker 1: I probably bought.
[27:28] Speaker 4: About three hundred in the last year.
[27:32] Speaker 1: Is getting ridiculous.
[27:34] Speaker 3: Now, I'm gonna tell you why it's getting ridiculous because
[27:36] Speaker 3: I already had all that stuff on my phone and
[27:40] Speaker 3: now I'm spending money on what I already subscribed to.
[27:43] Speaker 4: Spotify to hear.
[27:45] Speaker 3: But it's something comforting about it. So you know, I've
[27:49] Speaker 3: been buying records. Now, I want you to think I'm
[27:51] Speaker 3: older than I am. When I grew up, records were
[27:54] Speaker 3: on the way out. We had to set tapes and
[27:57] Speaker 3: then get ready to shout. Every boomer in the house,
[28:03] Speaker 3: just shout right now, jen X, just shout right now.
[28:07] Speaker 1: Everybody makes annoyed because your hands up. If you knowable
[28:12] Speaker 1: a hands a.
[28:13] Speaker 3: Now you may say to me, like the Lord said
[28:15] Speaker 3: to Moses, what is that in your hand?
[28:20] Speaker 4: Come here, Graham, come here, Come, come, come and cover?
[28:22] Speaker 1: All right, this is a boom box. And not only that,
[28:30] Speaker 1: but this is a signo boom box with a cassette deck.
[28:38] Speaker 3: And everybody say, and because Moses was a Hebrew and
[28:44] Speaker 3: an Egyptian, this is a cassette and CD player. This
[28:52] Speaker 3: is the first CD player that I ever own. But
[28:57] Speaker 3: this is not the original because I got rid of
[29:00] Speaker 3: mine because I thought it was obsolete. Sometimes you need
[29:04] Speaker 3: to hang around with your old stuff, and sometimes you
[29:09] Speaker 3: need to be careful not selling something that you might
[29:12] Speaker 3: want to buy back later.
[29:14] Speaker 1: Because I went on.
[29:15] Speaker 3: eBay and I found this exact model of the boom box,
[29:21] Speaker 3: and I plugged it in and the lights came on,
[29:25] Speaker 3: and I got excited, and I put.
[29:27] Speaker 4: The CD in because I've been buying those two.
[29:30] Speaker 3: I only bought about one hundred of those in the
[29:31] Speaker 3: last year, but I've been buying those two. I don't
[29:34] Speaker 3: know if midlife is just stressing me out to the
[29:36] Speaker 3: point that I just need ever escape about Hey, there
[29:38] Speaker 3: are worse midlife crisises than CDs and wreckers.
[29:42] Speaker 1: So if I keep it the vinyl, I'm doing very good.
[29:46] Speaker 1: I'm doing Tell somebody he's doing very good. I'm doing
[29:51] Speaker 1: really good.
[29:53] Speaker 3: And I turned it on and I put the CD
[29:56] Speaker 3: in and it didn't work. It didn't work, But I mean,
[30:04] Speaker 3: what else would you expect. It's been around since nineteen
[30:08] Speaker 3: ninety four. Who knows what kind of devil music has
[30:11] Speaker 3: been played in this machine?
[30:13] Speaker 1: The Lord shut it down. It didn't work.
[30:19] Speaker 3: And just as I was about to put it up
[30:21] Speaker 3: because it was no refunds, the seller told me that upfront.
[30:26] Speaker 1: Forty bucks is gone.
[30:28] Speaker 3: I remember that just because one thing doesn't work, hold it.
[30:33] Speaker 4: Up doesn't mean it's worthless. So I went and found
[30:39] Speaker 4: a cassette.
[30:40] Speaker 1: I've been collecting those too lately.
[30:43] Speaker 3: Huh.
[30:44] Speaker 1: Sometimes you got to reach back to where God brought
[30:48] Speaker 1: you from. And I found a cassette.
[30:51] Speaker 3: Tape from Jackson Memorial Baptist Church eight nine son, my
[31:01] Speaker 3: eyes are messing up.
[31:02] Speaker 4: Read that for me.
[31:02] Speaker 3: Three eight nine three one Highway eleven, Campa Bello, South Carolina,
[31:09] Speaker 3: two nine three two two, And it says Stephen October
[31:14] Speaker 3: twenty ninth, the year two thousand I'll tell you about
[31:18] Speaker 3: y two k later, we almost lost everything.
[31:23] Speaker 1: You think the Red Sea was a miracle, the wait
[31:25] Speaker 1: until I tell you about why two k?
[31:27] Speaker 3: Boy, when I tell you what the Lord did for
[31:31] Speaker 3: us in y two K and I put it in
[31:36] Speaker 3: and at first I started to cringe because listen, listen
[31:39] Speaker 3: to me preaching in the year two thousand in Campa Beello,
[31:42] Speaker 3: South Carolina. You've heard me preaching California, but you never
[31:46] Speaker 3: heard my annoying work in Campabello. But I want you
[31:49] Speaker 3: to understand that the same anointing that works in California
[31:54] Speaker 3: was work, was work, Oh, was working in Campabello.
[31:58] Speaker 1: Listen to this with mine.
[32:01] Speaker 3: I'm just seeing.
[32:04] Speaker 4: Can y'all hear that about?
[32:05] Speaker 1: I mean, it's good.
[32:06] Speaker 2: Enough, That's that's my mentality nowadays.
[32:09] Speaker 1: It's good enough. Hey, it might not be the way
[32:11] Speaker 1: I like you.
[32:12] Speaker 3: It might not be my personal preference, the preacher might
[32:14] Speaker 3: not be making a fit.
[32:15] Speaker 1: Of sense to be, but it's good enough. And I'm
[32:17] Speaker 1: gonna take some notes and.
[32:18] Speaker 3: I'm gonna learn what I can from it.
[32:19] Speaker 1: Because praise is a privilege. It's a privilege to be
[32:22] Speaker 1: a church. Yes, it is a privilege.
[32:25] Speaker 2: To be in this church.
[32:26] Speaker 4: With you guys this morning.
[32:27] Speaker 1: Yeah, now the single amen. But I was preaching.
[32:34] Speaker 3: About fifteen people in the church, but I was preaching.
[32:39] Speaker 3: I didn't know anything I was talking about, but I
[32:43] Speaker 3: was preaching. We were all stucking up on bottled water
[32:47] Speaker 3: and Ramen noodles for the apocalypse to come. But I
[32:52] Speaker 3: was preaching, and I wonder, did the Lord want to
[32:55] Speaker 3: give us a message today from this cassette tape from
[33:00] Speaker 3: a boombox? That didn't work, But it did work with
[33:04] Speaker 3: a word that I have been preaching because I realized
[33:07] Speaker 3: listen to myself preaching with a country accent in Campobello,
[33:12] Speaker 3: South Carolina, in twenty twenty six, that I have been
[33:15] Speaker 3: preaching the same book for thirty years, and I preached
[33:20] Speaker 3: it with twang, and I've preached it in small spaces,
[33:24] Speaker 3: and I preached it on tapes, and I preached it
[33:26] Speaker 3: on CDs, and I preached it on podcasts, and i
[33:30] Speaker 3: preached it on YouTube, and I've preached it on Roku,
[33:33] Speaker 3: and I've preached it on Apple TV. And I've been
[33:36] Speaker 3: preaching one book and.
[33:38] Speaker 1: Believe in one book for thirty years. And I came
[33:41] Speaker 1: to an ounce.
[33:42] Speaker 3: It's still worse. I said it still worse. I said,
[33:48] Speaker 3: it still worse. Fakes still worse. Fake still works, Grace
[33:54] Speaker 3: still works, Gratitude still works, Hallylujas still worse. Thank you
[34:02] Speaker 3: Jesus still works. It still works. If you know what
[34:08] Speaker 3: I'm talking about, wave your hand and say it works
[34:12] Speaker 3: for me. It's been working for me a long time, and.
[34:18] Speaker 1: It's still worse. Is still worse.
[34:22] Speaker 3: I got some doubts I didn't have then, but it
[34:25] Speaker 3: still works. I got some unanswered questions, but.
[34:28] Speaker 1: It still worse. My faith is not having the answer.
[34:32] Speaker 3: My faith is putting my hand in the hand of
[34:35] Speaker 3: a man who does is still worse.
[34:41] Speaker 1: Y'all, don't get it.
[34:43] Speaker 3: I'm trying to say that the method has changed, but
[34:47] Speaker 3: the message is the same, is still worse. And I'm
[34:55] Speaker 3: trying to say, don't let what doesn't work in your
[34:58] Speaker 3: life keep you from using what does. And I'm trying
[35:05] Speaker 3: to say that what God gave you then is good
[35:11] Speaker 3: enough to get you through.
[35:14] Speaker 1: Where's my bad? What's that going through now?
[35:18] Speaker 3: So tell somebody it'll work, It'll work, It'll work, it'll work.
[35:30] Speaker 3: Won't it work?
[35:34] Speaker 1: I said, won't it work? Not if you don't work it.
[35:41] Speaker 1: If you're like this is weird.
[35:45] Speaker 4: Thank you. Sit down and take the boom box with you.
[35:49] Speaker 3: Take that staff with you, so when you get to Egypt,
[35:53] Speaker 3: you can throw it on the ground and watch what
[35:56] Speaker 3: it'll become. Throw it on the ground. See, now, give
[35:59] Speaker 3: me the kick set tape back. I want to show
[36:01] Speaker 3: this all the way. I heard a testimony the other day,
[36:05] Speaker 3: and we always say, we always say God, helthous Jesus.
[36:16] Speaker 1: I never said I was a good dad.
[36:18] Speaker 4: I never said I taught my kids important things. You
[36:21] Speaker 4: can't open the cassette tape.
[36:24] Speaker 1: How you gonna run a revival? How you gonna be
[36:26] Speaker 1: anointed by God? And you can't play a tape? Love
[36:31] Speaker 1: that boy?
[36:34] Speaker 3: I bleached my hair too. My hair ain't black anymore.
[36:40] Speaker 3: But my annoying still works. Okay, I'm gonna tell you
[36:47] Speaker 3: this and I'll start thinking about finishing my sermon. Tell
[36:51] Speaker 3: somebody it still works. I was amazed at the moon
[36:54] Speaker 3: box still worked. I was amazed that there was part
[36:58] Speaker 3: of it that did work and part of it that
[36:59] Speaker 3: didn't working, choosing to say, I'm gonna use what. I
[37:02] Speaker 3: was amazed when I put the tape in and I
[37:04] Speaker 3: was like, yo, listen to that kid.
[37:06] Speaker 4: Twenty years old hollering at.
[37:09] Speaker 1: Those people, tell them it's the privilege to be here
[37:13] Speaker 1: the church, privilege to price God. Amen.
[37:17] Speaker 4: I need to bring some of that back.
[37:19] Speaker 3: I need to bring some of that country preaching back
[37:21] Speaker 3: in this church.
[37:22] Speaker 1: It still works.
[37:28] Speaker 4: Well.
[37:28] Speaker 3: I got testimony that confirmed this message because I'm always
[37:31] Speaker 3: trying to make sure that I have the word that
[37:32] Speaker 3: the Lord wants me to deliver.
[37:34] Speaker 4: Now, back in.
[37:35] Speaker 3: The day, you had to wait six weeks before you
[37:37] Speaker 3: could get a sermon. They had to mail it to
[37:38] Speaker 3: you on tape. Now people can just watch online and
[37:41] Speaker 3: sometimes it still takes a.
[37:42] Speaker 1: Delay before I know how God uses a word.
[37:45] Speaker 3: There was a word that I preached from Exodus chapter
[37:47] Speaker 3: four ten years ago called handle it.
[37:52] Speaker 4: Real tight, skinny jeans, running around.
[37:55] Speaker 3: The stage, preaching on pick up the snake by the tail,
[37:58] Speaker 3: because that's weird. And I was trying to say, is
[38:00] Speaker 3: only weird till it works? You know, trust in God.
[38:03] Speaker 3: Hold now you're a virgin. That's weird. No, it works
[38:07] Speaker 3: because I'm protecting myself because I know the value that
[38:09] Speaker 3: God has.
[38:10] Speaker 1: Put on my life. So it works.
[38:13] Speaker 3: Look, some of the things that work in God's Kingdom
[38:17] Speaker 3: look completely weird to the world, but forgiveness still works.
[38:23] Speaker 3: Even if it doesn't fix them, it will free you.
[38:30] Speaker 1: You see what I mean. That's weird, but it works.
[38:34] Speaker 4: It's weird to grab a snake by the tail, but
[38:37] Speaker 4: it works.
[38:39] Speaker 1: It is weird. I was thinking about another one.
[38:43] Speaker 3: It's weird for us to give to God so that
[38:47] Speaker 3: our church can do outreaches, so that our church can
[38:49] Speaker 3: reach the world, so that.
[38:50] Speaker 4: Our church can preach the gospel.
[38:52] Speaker 3: That is weird, but you find out that God doesn't
[38:56] Speaker 3: need what you have. You need what he has when
[38:58] Speaker 3: you give, and it allows you to access your faith.
[39:03] Speaker 4: So people are like, you give your money to that church. No,
[39:06] Speaker 4: I give it to God through a church. You understand.
[39:10] Speaker 4: I'm giving this to God, and that.
[39:12] Speaker 3: Works for me because it keeps me free from being
[39:14] Speaker 3: mastered by money.
[39:16] Speaker 1: So that's weird, but it works.
[39:19] Speaker 3: I honestly always thought it was weird to put our
[39:21] Speaker 3: sermons online. When we first started doing that, I thought
[39:25] Speaker 3: that was weird and I thought it wouldn't work.
[39:27] Speaker 4: I even made that argument. I told a.
[39:30] Speaker 3: Brother one time, I don't have that gift to look
[39:32] Speaker 3: into a camera and preach. You know, man, I came
[39:36] Speaker 3: from Campobello only reason I remembered I listened to the tape.
[39:39] Speaker 4: The only reason I preached to.
[39:40] Speaker 3: Campabella because the maintenance man at the college I was
[39:42] Speaker 3: attending at the time had fixed my shower for me,
[39:44] Speaker 3: and he said, now that I fixed your shower, you
[39:45] Speaker 3: gotta come preaching my church.
[39:46] Speaker 4: I said, deal.
[39:51] Speaker 3: So when you come from Campobello preaching, you know like that,
[39:55] Speaker 3: it's hard to get our mind around the fact that
[39:57] Speaker 3: so many people are logged on right now, and I
[39:59] Speaker 3: want you to put where You're wife on YouTube right now,
[40:02] Speaker 3: and I want to do this illustration because see, the
[40:06] Speaker 3: methods have changed, but the methods have I messed that up,
[40:09] Speaker 3: didn't not. The methods have changed, the message has not, amen.
[40:16] Speaker 4: And if you go on right now, people are watching.
[40:21] Speaker 1: From I mean all over the world.
[40:26] Speaker 3: But sometimes I get a testimony from Alabama, from Michigan,
[40:30] Speaker 3: from Denver, from San Diego.
[40:32] Speaker 4: From Utah, for Missouri, that's wild Man, Orlando, Connecticut, Texas.
[40:39] Speaker 4: Y'all think I'm talking about me and preaching.
[40:42] Speaker 1: I'm not.
[40:43] Speaker 3: I'm talking about you and the challenge of your life
[40:47] Speaker 3: right now that you feel insufficient for. And I'm trying
[40:49] Speaker 3: to tell you I've always doubted what I could do,
[40:53] Speaker 3: and there have been times in my life I preached
[40:55] Speaker 3: and felt nothing worked. Do you understand me? I went
[40:59] Speaker 3: back and I prayed, God, what even was that?
[41:01] Speaker 1: Well?
[41:03] Speaker 3: Ten years ago I was preaching the same passage, and
[41:09] Speaker 3: a couple of years after that, there was a man
[41:14] Speaker 3: in Greenville, South Carolina, who related his story to me
[41:19] Speaker 3: that he was in the middle of a horrible divorce,
[41:27] Speaker 3: that he had a nine millimeter on his coffee table
[41:31] Speaker 3: and he was in his apartment alone and he didn't
[41:39] Speaker 3: know what to do. And he said, I had this
[41:42] Speaker 3: weird feeling. Something told me to plug up the Apple
[41:49] Speaker 3: TV that my mom had brought over to my house
[41:52] Speaker 3: a few days earlier, and so I did, and it
[41:56] Speaker 3: felt weird. And then he said, after I plugged it in,
[42:02] Speaker 3: trying to figure out do I.
[42:03] Speaker 4: Even want to be here?
[42:06] Speaker 3: Something came up as I logged in on the screen,
[42:08] Speaker 3: and it was a purple icon that said podcast, and
[42:10] Speaker 3: I had never listened to a podcast, and something said
[42:14] Speaker 3: click it, and I clicked it. And then I clicked
[42:19] Speaker 3: that purple icon that said podcast, and an orange icon
[42:22] Speaker 3: came up that said elevation.
[42:26] Speaker 4: And something said click it.
[42:28] Speaker 3: Listen to me, he says, something said click it, and
[42:32] Speaker 3: he clicked it, and he.
[42:35] Speaker 4: Said it was a sermon of a preacher I had
[42:36] Speaker 4: never heard of before. Say and handle it.
[42:40] Speaker 1: Handle it.
[42:41] Speaker 4: And halfway through your sermon, you said, You're sitting on
[42:44] Speaker 4: the couch and you're wondering do I even want to
[42:48] Speaker 4: be here? And God wanted you to know it's handled.
[42:52] Speaker 3: Get up off the couch, he said. I got up
[42:55] Speaker 3: and started walking around my apartment. And I can't explain
[42:58] Speaker 3: exactly what happened that day, and I know it sounds weird,
[43:03] Speaker 3: but guess started working in my life. And it felt
[43:07] Speaker 3: weird to plug up an Apple TV with the gun
[43:10] Speaker 3: on the coffee table, but I plugged it up. And
[43:13] Speaker 3: it felt weird to reach down and grab a snake
[43:16] Speaker 3: by the tail.
[43:17] Speaker 1: And it feels weird for me.
[43:18] Speaker 3: To keep showing up even though nobody appreciates me.
[43:21] Speaker 4: And it feels weird for me to even be in church.
[43:24] Speaker 3: Today because honestly, I'm still struggling so much with my past.
[43:28] Speaker 3: I can't even really focus on what you're saying right now.
[43:31] Speaker 3: And it feels weird for me to believe that God
[43:32] Speaker 3: could use me, he said.
[43:34] Speaker 1: But I started walking.
[43:35] Speaker 3: Around, and all I can tell you is that that day,
[43:38] Speaker 3: that when I plugged in that TV and God hit
[43:40] Speaker 3: me with that podcast. And it was a word that
[43:43] Speaker 3: was preached ten years ago from the exact scripture that
[43:47] Speaker 3: I am preaching.
[43:48] Speaker 1: To you today.
[43:49] Speaker 3: All I can tell you is it still works. With
[43:54] Speaker 3: a gun on his coffee table, the word of God
[43:58] Speaker 3: was powerful enough to say, see you, I got you,
[44:01] Speaker 3: I got something for you. And the best part of
[44:04] Speaker 3: his testimony is that he told me today he is
[44:08] Speaker 3: a worship leader in a local church.
[44:14] Speaker 1: Because egg still worse. It works. Shot somebody say it works.
[44:26] Speaker 1: It's always worked, and it still works.
[44:32] Speaker 3: Come on, clap those hands and praise God like you know,
[44:37] Speaker 3: shut the kingel glory. It's working in ways you can't see.
[44:43] Speaker 3: You shall live and not die.
[44:47] Speaker 1: And still worse.
[44:52] Speaker 3: It's still worse in my darkest hour. It works in
[44:57] Speaker 3: my lowest moment. It works in my most hopeless situation.
[45:05] Speaker 4: He worked, and.
[45:07] Speaker 3: Moses took that staff, I'm almost done, and he picked
[45:11] Speaker 3: it up and it became a staff.
[45:12] Speaker 1: And when he got in front of Pharaoh, he and
[45:14] Speaker 1: Aaron said watch this boom. And it still worked.
[45:18] Speaker 3: It not only worked in private, it worked in public.
[45:21] Speaker 1: It still worked.
[45:23] Speaker 3: And when Pharaoh said, I'm not letting your people go.
[45:26] Speaker 1: Moses said, all right.
[45:28] Speaker 3: And he stuck up the staff, and hail started falling
[45:31] Speaker 3: out of the sky, because no matter how much resistance
[45:34] Speaker 3: you face, it's still worse. And when he still wouldn't
[45:38] Speaker 3: let the people go, Moses pointed it, and frogs covered
[45:41] Speaker 3: the land. And when he still wouldn't let the people go,
[45:44] Speaker 3: he pointed it.
[45:45] Speaker 4: In the nile became blood.
[45:47] Speaker 3: But there came a moment for Moses that is like
[45:51] Speaker 3: the moment that most of us are in today.
[45:55] Speaker 4: And it goes like this, You know it. The people
[45:59] Speaker 4: of God have out of Egypt. They are moving into
[46:02] Speaker 4: their freedom of sons and daughters, but they are.
[46:04] Speaker 1: Not yet free.
[46:07] Speaker 3: They have to cross a body of water known as
[46:10] Speaker 3: the Red Sea or the Sea of Reeds. And as
[46:12] Speaker 3: they stand at that body of water, they hear the
[46:15] Speaker 3: sound of four hundred chosen chariot Sapharaoh, the hit men,
[46:18] Speaker 3: coming to bring them back. There would be no hope
[46:22] Speaker 3: in this situation, even for the most well suited army,
[46:26] Speaker 3: much less millions of slaves and runaways on foot. What
[46:30] Speaker 3: is the sound we hear behind us? We cried to
[46:32] Speaker 3: the Lord to bring us out of Egypt, and here
[46:35] Speaker 3: we are looking at a red sea Moses in an
[46:38] Speaker 3: effort to do crowd control, because this is getting out
[46:41] Speaker 3: of hand quickly as they begin to.
[46:43] Speaker 4: Say, why didn't you leave us in Egypt? Why didn't
[46:46] Speaker 4: you leave us.
[46:46] Speaker 1: Where we were?
[46:47] Speaker 3: This is worse than where we came from. And sometimes
[46:50] Speaker 3: you get there, man with God, You're like, I'm trying
[46:52] Speaker 3: to do what God called me to do, but it
[46:54] Speaker 3: actually feels more difficult to do it God's way. And
[46:57] Speaker 3: at that very moment gives speech Exodus fourteen.
[47:02] Speaker 4: Do not be afraid.
[47:05] Speaker 3: Stand firm, and you will see the deliverance the Lord
[47:08] Speaker 3: will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you
[47:13] Speaker 3: will never see again. The Lord will fight for you.
[47:29] Speaker 1: You need only to be still.
[47:35] Speaker 3: Then, the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying
[47:40] Speaker 3: out to me?
[47:43] Speaker 4: You know what to do. Tell the Israelites.
[47:47] Speaker 1: To plug in the apple TV.
[47:50] Speaker 3: Tell the Israelites to go back to quoting the word
[47:53] Speaker 3: of God.
[47:54] Speaker 1: Tell the Israelites to wash their face and move on.
[48:02] Speaker 3: Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the
[48:11] Speaker 3: sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can
[48:15] Speaker 3: go through the sea on dry ground. And what I
[48:20] Speaker 3: wanted to show you today from the Bible leave the
[48:22] Speaker 3: verse is that the same staff that was on the
[48:29] Speaker 3: ground was the staff that was going to work in
[48:34] Speaker 3: the water. And the reason I wanted you to see
[48:38] Speaker 3: that today is because the children of Israel had no
[48:41] Speaker 3: point of reference for this red sea, had no way
[48:45] Speaker 3: of knowing how God was going to do it.
[48:47] Speaker 4: And maybe you don't either.
[48:49] Speaker 1: And you're standing there saying, God, I feel like I've
[48:51] Speaker 1: lost it. God, I feel like this is too much. God.
[48:54] Speaker 1: I've never been this way before, and I don't know
[48:57] Speaker 1: what to do.
[48:57] Speaker 3: And God says, you still got that staff, you still
[49:02] Speaker 3: got that word, you still got that praise, you still
[49:06] Speaker 3: got that gift.
[49:08] Speaker 1: Then stand up.
[49:09] Speaker 3: On your feet and lift your hands and praise your God.
[49:15] Speaker 3: Because the same faith that you've got it.
[49:19] Speaker 1: The parting bush.
[49:21] Speaker 3: It's gonna get you through this, God said, it'll get
[49:25] Speaker 3: you through this.
[49:27] Speaker 1: It'll get you through it. It'll get you.
[49:30] Speaker 3: Through the dry season, It'll get you through the panic attack.
[49:34] Speaker 1: It'll get you through it.
[49:39] Speaker 3: Because it still works. It worked on the ground, it'll
[49:44] Speaker 3: work in the water. It worked when you were young,
[49:47] Speaker 3: it'll work when you're old. Somebody shall I've never seen
[49:52] Speaker 3: the righteous forsaken.
[49:55] Speaker 1: It'll work. It'll work in this season.
[49:57] Speaker 3: It'll work when they like you, it'll work when they
[50:00] Speaker 3: hate you, it'll work when they lie about you, it'll
[50:03] Speaker 3: work when they leave you. I'm a living testimony that
[50:06] Speaker 3: the Word of God.
[50:11] Speaker 1: Still works.
[50:13] Speaker 2: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
[50:17] Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
[50:19] Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
[50:22] Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
[50:25] Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
[50:27] Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
[50:31] Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
[50:33] Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if
[50:36] Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part
[50:39] Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link in the description.
[50:42] Speaker 4: Thanks again for listening.
[50:43] Speaker 2: Make sure to leave a review, share the message, and subscribe.
[50:47] Speaker 1: God bless you.

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