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Hey, this is Steven Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and.
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This is our podcast.
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I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you, hope it builds your faith, hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.
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Enjoy the message. Is there anybody that came to lift up the name of Jesus on Palm Sunday? I'm trying to see where God's been moving, has been moving in your life over here. What about right here? Has he been moving in your life? He's been showing up this week. What about on this side? Has God shown up in your life this week? My God. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. If we haven't met before, my name is Ted. I'm the pastor at our University City campus and I. I'm so honored to be able to preach on Palm Sunday to our church. I want to take this moment and welcome all of our campus and our EAM all around the world. I want to give a special shout out to Elevation Winston Salem just celebrated their eight year anniversary. But I want to, I want to pray for us. And I believe that God has a word that he wants to speak to you today. Can you open up your hands like this, a posture, just ready to receive whatever it is. God wants to speak to you. Jesus, we come to you saying thank you. Thank you for being a good God, a faithful God. God, we trust you. We pray right now in the mighty name of Jesus that you would have your way today, you would do what you want to do. And God let us leave this place changed because of your love, changed because of your grace. God, let our life be evidence that we had an encounter with you. We love you, Jesus. We thank you. And it's in the mighty, mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, there's two quick things that I need to do before we open up God's word. If you can remain standing, first thing is next Sunday is Easter Sunday and I want to make sure that you have the details. On Good Friday we're actually going to be taking communion together as a church church. And so Friday at 6:30 we have it online and at our campuses as well as on Sunday we have Easter happening across our campuses and online. Go to easter@enovalation.com to be able to see all of the details. The second thing that I have to do is make sure we take a moment and thank God for our pastors, Pastor Steven and Holly. Can we thank God for the gifts now? Now if I give you a good gift and you Go crazy about. Makes me want to give you more. So how good of a gift do we have it with the pastors that God has given to us? Pastor Steven and Holly. As I was preparing to preach today, I remember the first time that pastor asked me to preach to our church. And he came up to me and he could tell that I was overwhelmed, nervous, and could not understand why he would trust me to be able to stand on this stage. And he looked at me and he said, chad, I want you to know I could have anybody come and preach. You know, anybody would love to come and have a moment to be a part of this move of God. But I chose you and I believe in you. I'm grateful for to have a pastor that believes in me. And so if my pastor called me and gave me this opportunity, he believes in me and I know God gave me a word. I'm ready to preach now. Are you ready to hear the word? Okay, we're going to be in John chapter 20. Starting at verse one, you'll see the scriptures on the screens. Here's what it says. John, chapter 20, verse one. It says, early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, just to notate. John is writing this about himself. Okay? And this is what she says. She says, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have put him. So Peter and the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved, they started running for the tomb. Watch this. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter. So not only is John saying, I'm the one that Jesus loves, he wanting you to know that I'm faster than Peter. Peter reached the tomb. Both were running. And the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the tomb, the strips of linen lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as a cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus head. The cloth was still lying in its place separate from the linen. Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside. He saw and believed. The title of my message today is follow the evidence. Follow the evidence. On your way to your seat, introduce yourself to your neighbor and tell him, hello, my name. And then say, I'm the one that Jesus loves. Oh, he loves you. Too. Somebody's like, oh, he loves you, too. To start my message, I have a little illustration just to be able to set the direction for this message, you know. You know, you have John, you know, making these. These claims, I'm the one that Jesus loves, and then he says, I'm faster than Peter. And back then, we didn't have cell phones. Oh, there's my mic. Go ahead. And I need some help. Here we go. Thank you. Give God praise for our teams. You can go and take it off. Go ahead and take it off. You're good. So you have these. Let me give him a second. Let me give him a second. Give God praise for them. Give God praise for him. Okay, so you have these outlandish claims that people make sometimes, and you're like, again, there's no video, you know, for us to go back and see that John actually beat Peter in a race. And so he's not here to defend himself. And so you have these moments where you're like, hey, show me the evidence. Well, this week, I got inspired by the Masters. That's been on any golfers in the room or that's been keeping up. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Where. You're gonna like this. You're gonna like this setup. Here is a video of me making a putt on hole 18, four par. And, you know, we were playing best ball, so it was a big, big, big deal. Go ahead and put it up on the screen just really quick. We're gonna have to show it probably twice so you can see it. Go ahead, put it up, put it up. Now, the golfers, you can see, you're paying attention, that it was a little slant. I had to curve it a little bit. Play it one more time. Just play it one more time. One more time, One more time, One more time. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Y'all didn't know I could preach the gospel and play golf. You didn't. You didn't. You didn't know. Let me. Let me. Let me. Let me be honest with you. This was actually the first and last time that I've ever played golf. The clothes that I had on all were purchased 48 hours before tea time. The hat, the polo, the pants, and the golf shoes. The only thing that we know for sure is that I came home smelling like I had been outside, like I. The grass was permeating our house. The clubs that I use were borrowed. There's something else we read about in the text that was borrowed. Who knows that Jesus was put into a borrowed tomb. You see, that's evidence that he was going to be raised from the dead because he made the decision to borrow the tomb because he wasn't going to stay there very long. Is anybody came to have church on a Sunday morning. And so you started to look at this video, and some of you were like, oh, I can see he could play golf. But that was compelling evidence of my golfing ability. But it wasn't conclusive. There's a difference. When I say follow the evidence, all of us are following something. You know, you can scroll on social media. You got a lot of people and things that you're following. But today, God told me to tell you that you need to make sure you're not just following compelling evidence, but you're following conclusive evidence. You know, all you know is I went out and played. That was one of two good hits, the whole 18. They were so excited because I finally did something good. And y'all are here ready to sign me up for the Masters. I wonder, in your life, what compelling evidence is leading you to tell a story that's just not true. I have some examples for you. I was thinking that, you know, many of us battle and struggle with comparison, that we'll watch others and we'll scroll on social media. And God gave me a quick, I'm gonna give you something to write down very fast. Comparison is when you collect evidence of someone else's life to tell a story about your own life. I'm going to say it one more time. Comparison is when you collect evidence about someone else's life to tell a story about your own life. And so you'll do things like this. You just got a job. You've been working it for six months, and you love it. You get up every morning, you go, you thank God for this. You were praying for this job. And then all of a sudden, somebody on your team gets an opportunity or gets promoted, and all of a sudden, you start, did they see me? The organization must not value me any more. You don't know the details. It might have even been a lateral move. You don't see their paycheck, but you have gathered collected evidence from someone else's life to tell a story about your own. There's a wife that just this week, you were scrolling on social media and you saw someone else's husband sent their wife some flowers, and they posted about it. Look at what my boo got me. You and your husband, y'all been having a good time, been going on dates, husband's working hard. Everything's Been good. But one story got you mad. Husband comes home and he's like, hey, what's up, baby? You rolling your eyes? What's going on? I thought everything was okay. Well, he bought his wife some flowers. Why don't we buy me some flowers? You don't even like flowers. I just want to thank God for my wife. My wife don't like flowers. She says chocolate is her love language. Bring me a double fudge chocolate cake. The flowers will die. Bring me something that will satisfy my sweet tooth. Show up with some Reese's and some Kit Kats. I'm telling my wife, thank you, baby. But you, you mad because you allowed yourself to collect evidence from someone else's life to tell a story about your own. Even when we start to look at Palm Sunday, we look at Palm Sunday and you have Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. And you see all of these people applauding. You see, they were there because they just heard about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. So they started to follow him and they're celebrating him. They're like, hosanna. They're waving these palm branches. But where were those people when they began to yell, crucify him, where did they go? It led me to believe that maybe, maybe, maybe people's praise and celebration isn't conclusive evidence of their heart and how good of a friend they will be. I want to know if you gonna show up when all hell breaks loose in my life, I want to know if you're going to show up when I'm struggling, when I lost the job and I can't sleep and it's keeping me up all night. I want to know that's more conclusive of the type of friend you want in your life. You see Palm Sunday, them celebrating Jesus, it wasn't conclusive evidence about their hearts. What it was was Jesus fulfilling a prophecy. That's what it was. For many of you have come today and the prayer that was on your heart was, I need some proof. I need some proof that God is real. I need some proof that he hadn't forgot about me. I need some proof. I need some evidence today. And you've been scrolling on social media and some people have started to build a TikTok and Instagram theology about the church, about the Bride of Christ. But have you shown up to one of our campuses? Have you showed up to a pop up? Have you showed up and seen people give hugs to people that desperately needed to be encouraged? Have you showed up and checked your kids into ekids and had them Teach you about Jesus. Can we take a moment and thank God for the Bride of Christ? I love my church. I'm not saying we're perfect, but my church is praying for some people. My church is serving in some people's lives. My church shows up when disaster strikes. Don't let what Instagram told you fool you. The church is alive. God is moving. He's faithful. Thank you, Lord. So let's get back to the text. What drew my attention was, is that you see Mary share this story. She says to the disciples, she says, they took my Savior and I don't know where he is. They took my Savior and we don't know where he is. We wouldn't be here today if that was true. We didn't come to worship a dead God. We came to lift up a risen Savior. So I was like, why would she go and tell this story without gathering evidence to corroborate her story? And there was two mistakes. There's two mistakes. Two mistakes that we see Mary makes in this text. Go to verse. Verse 1. Verse 1. Verse 1. Watch this. It says, early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, that spoke to me. Write this down. Beware of the evidence you find in the dark. You see, it wasn't just dark because the sun hadn't came up yet. It wasn't just dark outside. It was dark inside. Remember, they just lost their friend. They just saw Jesus brutally beaten and hung up on a cross. They're grieving. God gave me this point for somebody who walked in today and the sun still hadn't came up yet. I don't know what you're walking through today, but God told me to tell you, beware of the evidence you find in the dark. You can't see well when the lights aren't turned on. There's some evidence that will start to misconstrue the story that God is trying to bring together. Just about six weeks ago, my oldest son, I have twin boys. When I say oldest, he's oldest by six, six minutes. He wants everybody to know I'm the oldest. I'm the oldest. I'm the oldest. I can corroborate his story. If he tells you he's the oldest. He's the oldest twin. He was in gym playing and got pushed too hard playing around, and he fell into his shoulder and broke his collarbone. And my sons, they play basketball. They're athletes. And a couple days in, I started to look at my son's eyes, and I could tell that the enemy was trying to use this to dim his light. He was trying to use this. He was trying to use this to make him think that maybe I'm going to fall behind and I'm not going to be good enough to be able to play again. Or the pain of what he was feeling, that it was becoming so much. There's things that he wants to do he can't do. We went on a spring break trip, and he can't get out into the ocean. And you see what I'm saying, It was starting to get dark. And I'm trying my best to encourage him. Like, hey, son, son, it's okay for you to be mad. It's okay for you to be frustrated. Hey, hey. But. But. But I want you to know that God's hand is on your life, that God could use this, too. There's still hope. There's still hope. There's still hope. Let's not listen to that voice that's telling you that it's over. Let's not listen to that voice that's telling you I'm using my son as an example for God to speak to you about yours. How about this? Don't let what's broken blind you. I don't know what it is in your life, but don't let what's broken blind you. We went to the doctor, and our doctor that's taking care of my son, he comes to the church and he's encouraging my son. And when we're getting done, he looks at my son and he starts to tell him. He said, God can use this, too. He was trying to let him know. He said. He told my son this. He said, most athletes that actually make it to the college level, they've gained the mental toughness to be able to do what they do because they made it through that obstacle. They came over an injury. And at the end of his speech, he put his hand on my son. He said, would you mind if I prayed for you? See, he's ministering to my son. But he didn't know that he was ministering to me in that moment because I was praying. I don't know anything about broken bones. I don't know. I'm like, God, I need you to do something. And it was a moment for God to just start to turn the lights on. Now here's the next thing that Mary did wrong. It says, verse 2, verse 2. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple I know, the one that Jesus loves. Come on, John. Did you catch it? She didn't go in Beware of the evidence you find in the dark, and beware of the evidence you find at a distance. She didn't even go into the tomb. She saw that the stone was rolled away, immediately ran back and told the disciples, they've taken Jesus and we don't know where they put him. And she didn't even go in. You see, when my son broke his collarbone, you know, he was hurting at the school. And the nurse calls and she says, hey, listen, he's in pain. We tried to give it a few minutes, but I think you're going to need to take him into the doctor to be able to see what actually is going on, what has been misdiagnosed in your life, because the evidence that you gathered, you gathered at a distance. You didn't get close enough to see exactly what was going on. You're calling things that God has blessed, you're calling them broken. This might be somebody you just now are going through a breakup, and you walked in heartbroken today. God told me to tell you, stop for a moment. Just to tell you that's a blessing. He wasn't the one. You just dodged a bullet. I don't know who that is for. That's not in my notes. But then there's somebody else in here that's like, hey, you've had your eye on a girl since you came in, and you've been watching her, and here's the story you're telling. You're at a distance and you're like, there's no way. There's no way she talked to someone like me. There's no way. There's no way. There's no way. And she's sitting. She's sitting. She's beautiful, but she's sitting. She's like, there's no way then anybody will love me. Hey, hey, hey, hey, young man, you'll never know if you don't go on in and have a conversation. You'll never know. You'll never know if you'll get the job. You called yourself. You're standing at a distance. I'm not qualified for that job. Put the application in. Put the application in. I wonder how much pain my son would have been in if we wouldn't have gone into the doctor to actually get an accurate diagnosis of what's going on. Beware of the evidence you find in the dark. Beware of the evidence you find at a distance. I thank God. I thank God that Peter and John, that they. They didn't just stare at the tomb that was rolled away. The stone that was rolled away, but they actually got closer to investigate. And so here's what I want to do. Here's what I'm do. I need somebody that has a Bible. Somebody has a Bible. There you go. Okay. John, chapter 20. John, chapter 20. What's the title of this section? When you go to John, chapter 20, what's the title? It says the Empty Tomb. Says the Empty Tomb. Right. Now, our pastor has taught us that a lot of times we don't realize that these titles and things, they were put on after the scriptures were written. And as I was reading, God blessed me because I realized that that just wasn't true. Jesus did rise from the dead, but that tomb wasn't empty. The tomb wasn't empty. It was full of evidence. So what I want to do is I want to preach for the rest of my time to be able to show you what was left in that tomb that we can follow. I believe it'll be compelling. I believe that you'll get to the point where you have conclusive evidence that God hadn't forgotten about you, that you're not alone in this, that God has been with you. And so let's get into it. So let's go to verse. Let's go to verse three. So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, and John was faster. Okay, we got it. John, verse five. John gets there. He doesn't go in, but he bends over and he looks in and he sees the strips of linen lying there. And then at verse six, Simon Peter came along behind him. He went straight into the tomb, and he saw the strips of linen, and he sees this cloth. Okay, so Mary didn't go in, but what she sees is that the stone had been rolled away. So here I want to give you exhibit A. Exhibit A put up on the screen. This is the stone. This would have been what a Jewish tomb would have looked like, where Jesus would have been buried. They have. On the side of a mountain, they've carved out this hole. And they would place bodies in there after they've been wrapped. This stone that's rolled away, it weighs over a ton. It would have taken about four to five men to be able to roll this stone in and out of place. And so I put my, you know, my detective jacket on today, and I said, if I was there and I had the question, who did it? Who rolled the stone away? You know what I did, I would've started dusting for fingerprints. I'd just start dusting for fingerprints. Who did it? Who rolled this stone away, I'd been dusting it, and I just saw some of the men that rolled it in and out of place. I saw these men, and then I would have started to uncover some fingerprints that looked a little different, that stood out. They were different than anything else that I'd seen before. And then, you know, John doesn't show us who rolled the stone away. But when you go to Matthew, you see who does. Go to Matthew? Chapter 28, verse 2. Here's what it says. It says there were a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. What I'm trying to show you is as I begin to dust for fingerprints, I start to see that there's some fingerprints that don't look human. I start to see that this stone could have only been rolled away by someone's hand that came down from heaven. What I'm slowing down to say is sometimes you gotta dust for fingerprints in your life and see God's hand was on this. Is there anybody here today that has stones that had been rolled away that you could say it was no way that that could have happened if it wasn't for the hand of God. Hey, I'm about to get happy. Can you have church with me for a second? As I look back over my life, I see times that I went to the doctor and he told me one thing, I came back, they said something different. It was the hand of God that was on my life. Some of you, when you go to your car and you were wondering how you were gonna get transportation, dust it for fingerprints, God opened up the door for you to get that. When you walk into your house and you start dusting around, you ever see somebody praising God like this? God told me to tell you, when you start doing like this, I'm just dusting for fingerprints. Over my life, I'm just dusting for fingerprints. Maybe they're shouting at University City, maybe they're excited at University City because God showed up for you. You didn't do it by yourself. You weren't smart enough to make that happen. Some of you, next week, this is. You'll see David dusting for fingerprints to see that God showed up. Not only do we see the stone that's moved, but then we walk in and we see that there's strips of linen lying there. It would have looked something like this. These were Jesus grave clothes. These strips of linen was what was wrapped around Jesus body. Can you imagine leaning and looking and seeing the Dried blood stains. What was crimson red has now turned brown. As you look at these strips of linen that were wrapped around my savior's body, that was broken and bruised, you see the stone, it tells a story of God's power. The strips of linen, they tell a story of God's pain. The pain that Jesus went through for you. The pain that Jesus went through for. For you. You needed evidence. Look at the strips of linen you might have walked in today and the evidence you needed. You're like, I'm not valuable. You maybe had even considered taking your own life. The strips of linen, it shows me God's pain, but it reveals my purpose. It lets me know that I have value. It lets me know no matter what compelling evidence the world tries to throw in my face, that Jesus loved me so much he died for me. Why would I walk around being shackled and chains when Jesus paid for my freedom? Why would I be walking around in desperate need of hope, in desperate need of peace? He died for you. He died for you. He took on the pain so you didn't have to. When I see the strips of linen, it reminds me the pain that he went through lets me know that my life has purpose. So you have the stone that's rolled away, shows us evidence of God's power, tells a story. You see the strips of linen lying there with the dried blood stains, reminding us of Jesus dying for us. But then it says that there's this cloth. It'll look something like this. And it was. When you read it, it gives detail. It shows that it was separate from the linen. And when you start to look at the. The way that it was written, it actually was folded. So less of a closet really was like a napkin folded, left there for them to find. And I began to study. I said, God, what is the story that the napkin tells? And this blessed me. I hope it blesses you. You see, in Jewish culture, if they were having a banquet and the master's sitting at the table, everybody's joyful, they're having a good time, and he's eating. When he's done, he'll ball up his napkin and he'll place it on his plate and he'll excuse himself for the table. When the napkin's balled up, it'll let the servants know that the master's done. But if the master takes time to fold the napkin, he's letting you know I'm coming back. He's letting you know I'm not done. He's letting you know I'm not finished. I don't know what problem you face, but my God has a plan. He's coming back to save you. He's coming back to heal you. He's coming back to provide for you. The folded napkin lets me know that my God has a plan. I know we're trying to figure some things out, but my God has a plan. I know we're watching the stock market, like, what are we going to do? My God has a plan. My God. Tap your neighbor. Tell him, God has a plan. My God has a plan. The napkin was folded. The napkin was folded. My king is coming back. He's not done. He's not done. He's not done. Thank you, Jesus. But as I continued to read, I thought I was done. I was like, I got three points. Let's shut it down. Let's go home. But God gave me one more piece of evidence left in this tomb that tells a story. So remember, Mary doesn't even go all the way in, but she sees the stone was rolled away. You got John, who gets to the edge of the tomb, looks in, he sees the strips of linen. Then you got Peter. He goes all the way in, and he sees the cloth lying there. Now, remember, the reason why there was a crowd when Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on the donkey was because he had just healed Lazarus or raised Lazarus from the dead. That's why they showed up. They were blown away by this miracle. And I went back and I just began to study his resurrection. And there was one thing that stood out to me. Let's go to John. John, chapter 11, verse 39. This is when Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead. Pay attention to this. It says, take away the stone. He said, that's Jesus talking. But then listen to what Martha says to him. But Lord said, martha, the sister of the dead man, this is Lazarus, sister. By this time, there is a bad odor. For he's been in there three days. His body had had to start decaying. Get ready, because when we roll this stone away, there's going to be a smell that comes out from a rotting and decaying body. I went to Matthew, and I read about the resurrection of Jesus. I went to Mark, and I read about the resurrection of Jesus. I went to Luke and I read about the resurrection of Jesus, and I got to John. Not in any one of the four gospels does anybody talk about a smell coming from my Savior's tomb. You ever had somebody say to you, hey, I went through the fire, but I don't smell like smoke. Jesus went to the tomb and didn't come out smelling like death. What I'm trying to tell you is, is that the smell tells a story. Even the smell is evidence. You know what it tells me? It tells me a story of God's protection, that what you are going through, what you have been through, doesn't have to define you. I come to declare today that for some of you, as I was preaching about God moving stones, the enemy was whispering a year. But he didn't move that one for you. I lost my job. And I'm still trying to pick up the pieces. I'm still waiting on God to. I can't find the fingerprints on this one. The smell lets me know that what you're going through, what you've been through, that it won't define you. That your life won't be defined by bitterness, shame, anger. My Bible tells me that not only does God go with me, he's gone before me. He's gone before me. I mentioned earlier that the only conclusive evidence about my golfing ability is that you can smell. I had been on the golf course. You ever been around somebody and you know they were trying to mask with cologne or perfume that they had been partaking? The smell is evidence. A normal thief would try to conceal the evidence of the crime that they committed. But can y'all help me close My God went and robbed the grave and left evidence to let you know I did was me. I rose with all power and authority. I rose with all power in my hand. It was me. Yes, I did that. I did that. I left evidence for you to know what I did for you. Everybody stand on your feet. One of the things we do every Sunday. If you don't have to leave, please don't. I'm about to give an invitation for someone to make a decision to put their faith in Jesus. Don't let you walking past them become evidence of their insignificance. That's what the enemy's been trying to tell them all week. Bow your head. Close your eyes. Somebody walked in today and he said I needed proof. I needed proof that God wasn't done with me, that his hand was on my life, that my life matters. He needed proof. I pray to the best of my ability that the evidence left in that tomb tells a story of how loved you are. So we're going to say a prayer. This is a prayer of salvation, a prayer of surrender for the benefit of those that are coming to Jesus. Or maybe you're here today and you used to walk with God. You used to talk with God. But you walked away from the faith. Maybe this is your moment to come back home. We're going to say this prayer together as a church family for the benefit of those that are coming to Jesus. Everyone, heads bowed, eyes closed. Repeat after me. Say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he died on a cross and rose from the grave to forgive me of my sins. So I give you my sins. I give you my shame. And from this day forward, I'll follow you. This is my new beginning. I am a child of God with all heads bowed and all eyes closed. If you just said that prayer, you meant it. Making a decision to put your faith in Jesus or you're coming back to him. I'm gonna count to three, and when I get to three, I want you to shoot your hand up boldly so we can celebrate this moment with you. Here we go. 1, 2, 3. Shoot your hand up if you're making a decision to put your faith in Jesus. God bless you, you. God bless you. God bless you. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Give God the biggest shout of praise in this place.
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Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to Give now or visit elevationchurch.orgpodcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the Share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us LevationChurch. Thanks again for listening. God bless.