C (16:15)

hand

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about who you are. Gideon, I am the least in my tribe. This is an Old Testament story that illustrates it. I am the smallest. My tribe is the smallest. I'm the smallest in the tribe. I want to ask you what God asked Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Who told you that? Who told you that story? Sometimes it's even well meaning people. These were not pagans. These were observant Jewish Christians who just wanted to get it right. But what happened in their day happens in ours. When God originally blessed his people, he wanted them to take it beyond just these borders. But over time, tradition gets in the way of truth. Then you start thinking that your tradition is the truth. If you've ever had a family member say something to you like, oh, well, you're getting kind of big for your britches. Is that just a moncks corner thing? You make a move forward, oh, well, you're getting too big for your britches. It's a way of trying to keep you stuck in a tradition of what our family has accomplished and what we do. It's so subconscious for most of us. It's a story that runs in the background and we never even know it. But it is a story someone else told themselves. And then they passed it on to us and we took it as our own. And we stay stuck in a story for 80 years of our life that we could have broken out of if we would have believed the voice of God. I hear my preaching mentor saying, slow down, furtick. So let me do that for a moment. What stories are you holding onto that are old, that are keeping you from what's new and what's now and what's true and what's real? Secondhand stories. It's a Dangerous thing. If you ever played the game where you pass a thing down the row, I could start and say, milk is on sale by the time it gets to Christie. By the time it passes all the way down this row, you know, it would turn into, Donald Trump is the pastor of Elevation Church. By the time it got down that row and. And it's never been worse than it is right now in our world that we don't read the whole story, just the headlines. Then it becomes, oh, well, you're not this and you're only that and you can't this and all white people and all black people and all men and all women and this community and that community. It is a generic way of keeping us from peeling back the labels because labels always limit. And when you label yourself, you limit yourself. So all that to say there might be a few holes in your story. Some things you have told yourself that aren't necessarily. He said it was very entertaining, but it wasn't very accurate. Sometimes you tell yourself a story to survive, just to make it. What's sad to me about it is somebody might have rejected you at one point in your life because of how they felt about themselves and then you took it as an indication of your value. Oh, well, they walked out of my life. There must have been something wrong with me. That's their story, not yours. That's their story, not yours. That's their story, not yours. You don't have to own it. I love Peter because he is so reckless. The reckless reverend comes in, but he has himself under control and he just told them the whole story. Don't you want God to show you the whole story of your life? When he starts the story, he starts with everybody's favorite main character in the story. Look at verse five. Are you ready for this? This is how every story starts. Watch this. I, number two, Beware of self centered stories. Oh, man. When you put yourself at the center of every story, you're going to be stressed out. There's not enough Pepto Bismol in the world for you to keep your stomach calm. If you put yourself at the center of every story, this is for all of us who are easily offended. Did you see how they looked at me? They don't like me. They like you fine. They're sleepy. They don't like their husband. It's not you. Oh, look at somebody and set them free.

C (21:15)

Say, it's not you.

A (21:18)

They weren't mad at Peter. They were stuck in a structure and a system and a way of thought. When I make Myself, the center of the story. I take on unnecessary stress sometimes when I'm preaching. I think I'm not doing good if everybody is not saying amen or something like that. But what if you were up until 3:30 in the morning and you didn't get your sleep? I'm going to take that as a reflection of my preaching. I don't think so. The devil is a liar. This is good preaching no matter whether you nod at it or not. You know what? I need to get better about that in my life because I really struggle thinking. Every story starts with me, how they treated me. I say God has a reason for everything. What I mean by that is this is my dirty little secret. What I mean is God has a reason for this that I am going to like, agree with and understand. That's just not the way it is. How many know that's just not the way it is? A self centered story in parenting when I make it about myself. Remember these are circumcised believers. That is an external sign of a covenant. It's something you can see. You wouldn't necessarily always see it, but you could see it. I'm going to leave that right there in case your kid didn't go to the kids ministry today. You can do that Bible study at home, but you couldn't necessarily see it, but you could see it. Here's the temptation. When we try to go off of what we can see and tell ourselves a story. And then we start filling in the space. Remember, Peter is 70 miles away from Jerusalem and they start telling the story. Space creates stories. Physical space creates stories. Sometimes you don't need to text certain things. You need to pick up the phone and call. Sometimes text doesn't get the tone across. And you're going to spend six months fixing a relational mess because you used your thumbs rather than your feet to walk over and have a real conversation. When you have space, you create a story. Even the space of time creates stories. A lot of time goes by and you're like, you start remembering things differently, don't you? It's hard for me right now raising kids to remember what it's like to be a kid. If one of my kids acts up, my immediate thing is to make it about me. They are disrespecting me. I am the man of God. One day the Lord really. Have you ever had one of those God bombs go off inside of you where you just knew what you were thinking was wrong? I was thinking about one of my kids. They are so selfish. They were Making certain decisions. I thought, this is so selfish. The Lord said they're not selfish, they're scared. Think about what it's like when you start getting flooded with all of those hormones. Think about what it's like when the rules change on you all of a sudden. Y' all don't have big kids yet. But you will remember certain times in your life where you were acting selfish. The reason you were acting selfish is because you were scared. When you get scared, you start acting selfish because you are in protection mode. So what am I doing? I'm going from there. So selfish. And God is showing me the whole story. See, there's a hole in your story. There's a whole story and then there's a hole in your story. Sometimes we tell ourselves stories about others without realizing that they are going through things too. Y' all don't want to say amen to this because it means we have to have compassion on people. Kind of like God has compassion on us. Kind of like we want God to forgive us. Kind of like we want God to excuse our gaps. We're going to have to sometimes say, God help me to stop making it about me. God forgive me for making this about me. I forgive you. Feel the Holy Ghost and fire in my bones right now. It's bigger than you. It's bigger than you. How could Peter have known that what he was being criticized for in this moment would lead to the Gospel penetrating the Roman Empire? You have no idea what God is doing through this conflict this season in your life. There is a bigger story being told and there is a hole in your story. There's a hole in your story. Dear Holly, Dear Holly. There's a hole in. Did you know this song? There's a hole not in your bucket. There's a hole in your story There's a hole in your story and we can't stand not to know how things are going to turn out. So what we do, we make up a story. Look, Sid, now I have to tell you about selective stories. Selective stories. This is when you don't know what's going to happen next in your life. Think about the uncertainty the early church was facing under great persecution and yet great purpose at the same time of great persecution. They're both happening simultaneously. But what story are you going to choose? Selective stories. You are always choosing your story. Some of us, for some God forsaken reason, keep choosing horror stories. We fill in the unknown parts of our future. You know what? Some of us could give Stephen King a run for his money. If we put down to paper the scary stories we write about what might happen in our lives, I mean, if Stephen King has nothing on you, you create boogeymen. You create scenarios out of the small. Have you noticed how the smallest thing can put a story? If you're a new parent, raise your hand. They're not sleeping through the night. How many of you have a baby who's not sleeping through the night right now? How many times have you thought, what if this is a sign of things to come? And now you have them in rehab, and now you have them on drugs, strung out on. They have a needle in their arm and they're just colicky. Flat tire. Oh, God. It's just going to be one of those days. That's a story. It's just going to be one of those days. Flat tire. Now that same person might have gotten a flat tire and said, well, God must have been keeping me from a wreck that was going to happen two miles up the street. That's just a story. Are you ready for this? You don't get to choose every situation, but you get to choose the story. Oh, the power of God is in that truth. You choose the story. You tell yourself. If something is hard, you can be like, oh, man, this is hard. I thought God told me to do it, but I guess the Lord isn't in this. This is hard. It must not be God. What if Jesus would have thought about the cross that way? Oh, this is hard. This must not be the will of God. I must not have heard God on this one. Boy, this is hard. That's a story. Here's another story. This is so hard. It must be God.

C (29:32)

The devil must have got a memo that I'm onto something good. I'm on the edge of Canaan. That's what these giants are here to signify.

A (29:46)

It is dangerous when you select a certain story. Nobody cares about me. Give me your phone. I will show you people who care about you, who checked on you this week. But you let that devil in your editing room and gave him your typewriter. I'm an old school preacher. You gave him the same seat in the chair to edit your story. You get to choose your story. I didn't always believe this. I thought, well, you know, certain people have certain stories. No, no, those are situations. Life will give you a lot of suffering. You don't get to choose it. But if you're going to have to suffer enough because of the situations life brings, why would you choose to suffer with a story? I don't know. Who this is for, it's probably not somebody in this room. You've suffered enough. What you're going through is hard enough. What you're dealing with is heavy enough without telling yourself a story about it that reinforces the thought that God is not with you. I'm still in Acts 11. Peter told them the whole story. He saw what God did. They heard it. He saw it. They heard it. He saw it. They heard it. He showed up and said, I heard what y' all have been saying about me, but there's a hole in your story. You're telling me what you heard. Let me tell you what I saw. I saw the vision of the whole earth being reached by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I saw it. I experienced it. I know God is for me. How do you know? Well, I was there. I was there when he picked me up. I was there when nobody else could give me the comfort and the balm and the medicine. But God helped me through that night. I was there when I was in the middle of an emotional strength storm that I saw no way through. But look at me on the other side. Dancing on the shore. I was there. You can't tell me God is not real. You can't tell me he didn't choose me. You can't tell me grace doesn't work.

C (32:02)

You can't tell me it's over. You can't tell me the best is behind me. You can't make me doubt him. I know too much. I saw it. You tell me what you heard.

A (32:14)

I'll tell you what I saw. Saw.

C (32:21)

I feel the spirit of the Lord. You choose the story.

A (32:29)

If this is the most difficult season of your life right now, you still get to choose the story. Did you clap because you're going through hell? You get to choose what you tell yourself the story of this season. Watch this. One person says, I'm going through the valley of the shadow of death. Somebody else says, there's a table for me in the presence of my enemies. It's the same situation, but it's a different story. Y' all forgot how to shout while I was gone last week? Shout if you know that the devil

C (33:09)

might take your money. He might rob you of a few years. But you can't have my story, my joy, my anointing, my authority. Get under my feet, Snake.

A (33:30)

Now, one of my best friends is going through the most horrible season of their life right now. Now, he and his wife lost everything last year. I don't mean that like we say it. Your video game progress got lost I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about stripped. I'm talking about. I felt like I was watching the Book of Job. I thought they would lose their faith. I really did. What would make me mad, every time I would call to encourage them, they would start encouraging me. I was like, stop it. This is your encouraging phone call. Have you ever been trying to unlock the door and somebody else is unlocking it at the same time? Stop it. Stop it. She said something. The wife, they lost their ministry, had to move to the other side of the country. Much of it was his decision. It wasn't her decision. Then as a consequence of his decision, she ends up having to leave everything she has known, the town they grew up in. The ministry, all of it. Left it gone, gone, other side of the country. Then she gets diagnosed with cancer. So I'm like, you feel real right now. Her. I saw her after all her hair was gone from chemo and after she was 33% smaller than she was. When I saw her, all of the stuff was in full effect. She started talking about, thank God for the insurance. No, I don't want you to clap yet. Because think about this. She said, even though we lost everything, if we hadn't moved across the country, we wouldn't have gotten put on different insurance and our old insurance wouldn't have covered this. Hold on, don't clap yet. I'm thinking, I've got an attitude about it. Well, if God can get you to the other side of the country for better insurance, he should stop the cancer. That's how I think. I know y' all are halos just glowing right now. Y' all trust the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Sometimes I lean on my own understanding. I'm like, this is ridiculous. I didn't say it out loud, but I'm sitting over there thinking it, thinking, well, did God really have to make you lose everything, get you across the country, give you insurance if he's a healer? I'm thinking that I called them yesterday. I was like, I keep thinking about this insurance thing y' all keep saying. It's bugging me. It doesn't make any logical tactical sense. The great I am who can part the Red Sea, can't stop you from getting cancer. He just gets you on a better insurance policy. I said, I don't get it. She said, it's not your story. Y' all better help me shout or we're never going to get to the 11:30. I want you to look at the devil and Say it's not your story. She said, if I believed that this was the end for me, I wouldn't survive.

C (36:45)

But if I believe, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. She said, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Let the devil know, come hell or

A (37:01)

high water, I get to choose the story I tell. I feel empowerment in this word. I get to choose the story I tell. I get to choose. Be careful about selective stories. Be careful about self centered stories. Be careful about secondhand stories, and be careful about short stories. Y' all sitting down like you want me to finish now? Be careful of short stories. This point is not for Hollywood. She has never in her life. I might have to pay for this when we get home, but it's going to be worth it to get the point across. My wife, when she was growing up, her dad used to say, because there were three women in the house, well, three daughters and a wife. So it was him versus the estrogen. And the estrogen was just so powerful. So when they would start telling a story, he'd go, how long is this story going to be? I just need to know, should I get comfortable in my chair? Should I fluff my pillow? Should I get an mre? How long are we going to be here in the story? I thought that was so rude that he would say that. But I'm kind of like, now I know what he was saying because it's not. I don't want to hear it. I just want to pace myself with my attention span, make sure I take some notes so I can refer back to point number 3A. But it's always so eloquent. I don't mind. Anyway, she says something all the time to people. I've never said to anyone. She'll say, somebody be telling a story. This happened last week. True story. Okay, I said this last night. She knows what I'm going to say. She said last week to somebody, they were starting to tell a story. I'm yawning. I look interested, but I have an inner yawn. I'm like, I'm thinking, the more I nod, the faster they'll do this. She goes, oh, this is a great story. Please tell me everything and don't leave out any details. Shut up. When it said Peter told the whole story, I thought about Holly. I thought about the whole story, all the details. Sometimes you let doubt cut you off in the middle of a sentence. God is speaking in your life, so be careful about the short story. Be careful when people Try to summarize your life into a neat little category. Be careful when you tell yourself a story like, that's all there is. That's not all there is. There's more to the story. There's a hole in your story right now, and I wonder what you're going to fill it with. When Peter went down to preach to Cornelius, he went down to tell him the good news about Jesus Christ. When he recounted it to the circumcised believers in Jerusalem, he left one part out. Let me show you what he left out of his story. He left out the sermon he preached while he was there. I want to show you just one thing before I sit down and put this mic up and send you home happy. I want to show you why some of you are stuck in a part of your story that was never intended to be the end. When Peter got up to preach to Cornelius in Acts 10:39, he said something about Jesus, that we are all witnesses. I saw it. I know what you heard. I saw it. I was there. I saw him save me. I saw him pay the price for my sins. I saw him shed his blood. I saw him with the lashes on his black back. I saw him as a sheep before the shearer. And he didn't say a word. I saw it for myself. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And they killed him. They hung him on a cross. They hung him on a cross. They hung him on a cross. The word of the Lord for you today, my brother, my sister. Don't stop at the comma. Don't stop at the comma. The next verse says, but God, I love those two words like I love the breath in my lungs. But God, we were trespassers. We had broken his law. We did not deserve mercy. Somebody shout, but God. See, if you stop at the comma. You never get to see the. But God was raising him from the dead by the time the story started to spread. Resurrection is possible when you realize he didn't stay on the cross. When they nailed him on the tree,

C (42:53)

they put a nail in his hands. But early one Sunday, he showed Thomas something. Put your finger where the nails were. There's a hole in your story. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There's a hole in your story. Follow me down to the garden tomb where they laid his body in a cave. His body is not there. He is risen. There's a hole in your story. And the best is yet to come. And he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. If you believe it, give him a shout right now. Give him a out shout out.

A (43:42)

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 stream stories and tag us LevationChurch. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

B (44:14)

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A (44:47)

Guaranteed Human.