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- [00:00]
Lisa Harper
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Steven Furtick
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- [00:37]
Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador
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- [01:29]
Lisa Harper
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- [02:01]
Steven Furtick
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 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. Enjoy the message.
- [02:18]
Lisa Harper
Goodness gracious, if I had any estrogen left and my body would have shot straight out. At that point, I'd like to take just a moment, a moment of silence for those of you who are grieving the fact that Pastor Holly and Pastor Steven are not preaching this morning. When I was here last summer, I got to go out. Some people were being baptized and so I was meeting people and I met a single who had driven 30 hours. It wasn't a Volkswagen bus, but it could have been driven 30 hours because their whole family just wanted to come Here Holly or Steve and Preach. And I was just like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. You have an old white woman from Nashville, Tennessee, who just. I don't know what it is about elevation, but I always feel inclined to wear leather here. So there will be a lot of perspiration and squeaking going on in the next few moments, but I. They could have anybody. Y' all could have. Anybody from across the world would be honored to get to be in this house. And I'm not sure why, other than your friendship and your grace chunks that I get to come every year, but this is the highlight of my daughters and I year. We love. We claim you as cousins, even though some of you might think differently in a few moments. So we need to start with prayer. Reach out and touch that saint next to you. That's not rhetorical. Touch them. Touch them appropriately. Men, if you're sitting next to a woman, I've heard it said, that's tea. Is that right? If she's cool. If she's hot, just be very, very careful. This is a Leviticus kind of prayer. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Thank you. I was so reminded last night of what a gift it is that we still exist under the common grace of free worship in this country. So, Lord, I pray that for all of us, the things that have become just rote to us, getting to drive to church on Saturday or Sunday and not worried about hiding, not worried about being arrested. Oh, Lord, what a glorious gift it is that you allow us to come together to your house to bring you the first fruits of our attention and our affection freely. Lord, forgive us when we are quick to complain and slow to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for 250 years of freedom of worship. We are so grateful. We are so grateful. We are so grateful. And, Lord, sometimes we are so dumb and so preoccupied. And so, Lord, for those of us who've come into this house of faith and our minds are distracted or tired and our hearts are numb or just barely put one foot in front of the other. Lord, we pray through your spirit that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts that would be pliant to understand at an even deeper level what it means to be your beloved sons and daughters. Lord, we pray that you would re amaze us this morning, just as Holly said. Pastor Steven is being re amazed as he has time to just marinate in the truth of who you are, who you called us to be. Lord, would you quicken us to Would you quicken us this morning, Lord? Would we leave this building just more than ever convinced of who you are as a perfect, holy, transcendent God who chooses to be close to us and more than ever secure in the fact that on our worst day, you said you. You matter to me. You're beautiful to me. I still can't quite conceive of the fact that I was the joy set before you as you walked to the cross. So, Lord, I need your spirit to pierce the places in my heart that I agree with that man in Mark's gospel, I believe. But, oh, King Jesus, help me in my unbelief. Do that for all of us this morning, Jesus, and we'll be careful to give you, and you alone, all the honor and all the glory and all the praise for what you do in this living room this morning. We love you, Jesus. We need you, Jesus. We ask these things by the perfect authority of your name. Amen. And amen. I thought with last night being so historic, I would start with a historic tale of my own. Something that's very rare. And so. So I'm not going back. 250 years. It wasn't quite that long ago. But I'm gonna tell you about my last good date. And it was quite some time ago. I came to Nashville, Tennessee from Florida to work for an athletic ministry called the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Graham, you know, fca. And so I ended up being set up with a lot of athletes because I had some friends who were the guys played in the NFL. Didn't have any World cup guys friends back then. Cause they have cute leg. But anyway, sorry, that was ungodly. Y' all can strike that from the record. Although it is kind of Song of Solomon esque, right? We can leave it. We can leave it. It's in the Bible. So anyway, one of my friends who worked for the NFL said, lisa, I have got the perfect guy for you. He loves all the old dead theologians you love. He reads C.S. lewis. He's a really good guy, really serious about his faith. He plays on the line. And when he said he plays on the line for an NFL team, he just had me at plays on the line because I'm not a small girl and I really want to date or possibly marry. If you know someone between 55, I'll go younger. I'm 62 in death. Somebody who's bigger than me, you know, I just. Sometimes I get set up with really tiny men and I'm like, hi, I'm Lisa from the Large Planet. So I was like, he plays in the line. That means he's a biggin. So I was real excited. And so I'm not gonna tell you his name. Cause you can Google him. And spoiler alert, he married someone else. But it was a good thing. Just stay with me on the date. Are you still with me on the date? Okay, so we start talking. The phone. No Zoom, no FaceTime. All I had seen is him from the distance on espn. And I knew he was a big un. And I won't tell you the team he played for, but it's north of here. We started talking. He had a great voice. You know how voices are just. You go. I can just kind of sense a little bit of their heart. Cause their voice is connected to their heart. And then after two of courting, he called and said, hey, Lisa. Our team rhymed with Hilly is north of here. He said, our team. We're playing the Falcons. And I know Nashville's about four hours from Atlanta, but if you would be willing to drive to Atlanta, we could meet face to face. I'd love to meet you face to face. And I was like, well, that would be great. And so our meeting was a week away, so I went on a fast. And. And then I bought, like, a really cute new outfit. Are any of y'.
- [09:39]
Steven Furtick
All.
- [09:39]
Lisa Harper
I'm 62. Any women over 50? Okay. Do y' all remember when, like, giant shoulder pads were in? So anyway, I bought this pink dress for feminine with, like, football player shoulder pads because it was so in back then. And I drive from Nashville to Atlanta, and we didn't have any buc EE's back then. I had to stop at a rest area to fruff my hair. And I get to the stadium, and he said, one of the other wives, an NFL player's wife, she'll meet you at will call to bring you up to the wives section. I was sitting in the wives section. Do y' all know any NFL wives? They are tiny. Just tiny, tiny little women. They're beautiful, but so petite. And so this tiny girl came and met me, and she takes me up to the wives section. So we're up. I don't know, we're, like, on the 50 yard line just for. And I come up, and all the other teeny girls were very kind to me. And I was the only brunette. And so I'm meeting all the tiny blondes. And then I look out on the field. The game hadn't started yet. I look out on the field, and there he is, my date. And he has his Back to me. And I don't know how to say this in church, but those pants are awesome. And I never until that point liked football pants. And suddenly I just love those little pants on a big man. And so he turned around and, you know, I'm like, from here to where y' all are in the theater seats, I'm about that far away. He turned around, but y', all, it was like a love story. It's like, ta da. Our eyes met and I was like, I love him. And the game started, and he did really, really well. He made a couple of key blocks. And the team that rhymes with hilly beat the Atlanta Falcons. Sorry, if you're a Falcons fan. And then one of the teeny girls said, hey, we'll just call him Bill. That's not his name. She said, hey, Bill would like to see you before they fly back to Hilly. And so if you'll go with us, the team that was. I don't know if they still do this, but that was back in the day when all the players would shower and change into suits. Not pajama pants, actual suits. And then they'd get on a charter bus, and then they'd go to the airport and get on a charter flight and go back to whatever town they were from. And so she said, he actually wants to see you. Cause now we've still been 50 yards separated. She said, he wants to meet you face to face before he flies home. And I was like, okay. So I traipsed down with all the teeny tribe down to. It's like in the belly of the arena. And all of a sudden, all the players start coming out. They're just big guys and they all smell like Pol. And they all start boarding the bus. And then here comes Bill. And he comes right, and I can't use you, chunks. You're not a good pride. He comes right up to me, Amy. I mean, like, right up to me. And he goes, hey. And then he picks me up. He picked me off my feet. And I was like, this is like, this is glory. This is just glory. I expected Jesus to come through. And the white horse and this. I mean, it was amazing. Look to the east. He picked me up. And then. I don't remember what he said. Cause I was in a coma. And then we talked for like three or four more minutes. And then they made the announcement. The bus is about to leave. Guys, you gotta get on the bus. We're going to the plane. And he goes just like this. He goes, wait right here. As if I was going to leave. I'm like, I'll be here three months from now, just standing right here. It's all downhill from now for me. It was just. I was like, okay. And he goes, wait right here. He turns around, and the bus is right here. And an NFL coach, and y' all would know this NFL coach, he's dead now, but he was a big deal. And so this NFL coach, he's standing on the stairs. Bill's right where you are, chunks. And Bill starts talking to the coach. Bill has his back to me, and the coach is facing me from the stairs. And he keeps kind of looking around Bill's shoulders. He'd be like. So I knew they were talking about me. They talked for, like, I don't know, three minutes. And then the doors of the bus shut, and Bill comes like this. I know, I know. And the bus is driving away, and guys are hanging out the windows, just ragging him, saying things like, she's already got you rap tighter than you can hang on to the bar, bruh. I mean, they're just ragging him. He is completely oblivious to the teasing. Only has eyes for me. Comes up to me. I'll never forget what he said. He said, lisa, I hope it's okay if you let me ride with you back to Nashville. I just told Coach that I really wanted to spend this time driving back to Nashville to you, because that would give us four hours face to face to get to know each other, and I'll get a hotel in Nashville. Then I'll take a commercial flight in the morning to go back home to Hilly. Because I told coach, you're worth the fine. You're worth the fine. Has anybody ever said that to you? Oh, yes, he did. Oh, yes, he did. We've just been singing about it. Oh, yes, he did. The God who breathed this universe into existence looks at us on our worst day when we're not singing Elevation songs, when you're saying something that's not in the Bible in traffic, he looks at us, even in that moment and says, you are worth the fine. That is the gospel. That is the gospel. When that man who barely knew me as she worth to me, he said, you are worth the merciless teasing of my teammates. You are worth the lack of physical rest that I will experience driving with you through the night back to Nashville. You are worth a hefty monetary fine from my team in the NFL. You are worth. It cost him to subscribe. Worth. I have a definition for the word worth. You probably know this. Worth tells us the value, the importance and or the usefulness of something. However, when worth is used in a predicative, used as a predictive adjective, I didn't pay much for my doctorate. When it's used as a predicative adjective, as in your word, worth the fine, it is entirely subjective. That means worth, as it is proclaimed, is based on whoever is proclaiming its value. In the context of that football player, he decided I was worth the fine. In the oh so biased perspective of our Creator Redeemer, he has ascribed worth to us, and he says our worth is predetermined. Turn to Psalm 139. You'll know this. Many of you, I hope, memorized this when you were kids. It's one of my favorite of the songs. All of the 150 Psalms Psalms were originally written as songs. S O N G S so this is like God's Spotify list, these 150 songs in the middle of the Bible. And this is how David starts this song. You have searched me, oh Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, O Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It blows my hard drive. It is too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from youm spirit? Where can I flee from youm presence? If I go up to the heavens yous're there if I make my bed in the depths yous are there if I rise in the wings of the dawn, if I settle in the on the far side of the sea. Even there your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast if I say Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me. Even the darkness will not be dark to you. The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Listen to this. For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mama's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, and your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. In other words, our worth precedes any accomplishment or merit on our behalf Long before your daddy had a wink in his eye, our Creator Redeemer predetermined that he would subscribe to priceless value to you. There's nothing we earn. We just sang that. But I think for most of us, we can sing it, we can say it. But to grasp in a world that says you're only as valuable as your last performance, in a world where we are entirely judged by how we perform and how much we produce, it is really hard for us to wrap our dinky human minds around the concept that this perfect holy Trinitarian God ascribed invaluable worth to us. Before anybody would have said we were worth anything, we hadn't done anything yet to be considered worthy. And yet David makes it clear. Before any of us breathed our first breath, our Heavenly Father said, worth. I'm ascribing worth to you. Flip forward to the book of Isaiah. I love Isaiah's prophecy. And Isaiah underscores this idea of predetermined worth and priceless value that God ascribes to us. Isaiah 40:3. But now this is what the Lord says. He who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel, do not fear, for I've redeemed you, I've summoned you by name. You are redeemed. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead, since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I give people in exchange for you nations in exchange for your life nations. So that's God's scales. We just got back from two weeks in Europe. And while we were there, we were at the Tower of London, where the jewels of London are kept. And then we went to where the jewels are kept, the crown jewels in Scotland, in Edinburgh. And of course you've got the guards with the fuzzy Q tip black hats. We kept trying to make them laugh and they wouldn't. They're guarding those jewels, the crown jewels of the uk. Those are priceless. Estimated by historians to be priceless. But that's just the jewels of the country. That's not the land. That's not the gross national product. That's not everything that Scotland or England or Ireland. That's not everything. And God said the entire nation, not just the jewels. I'm not Just exchanging you for a Tiffany bracelet. You are more valuable to me than entire nations with all their wealth. Right before I came out here, because I'm always a hot mess just looking for blooper reel to begin. I was in the restroom trying to make my hair look. Not look like roadkill on this humid day. And I thought, oh, I need some lotion. And I squirted the lotion in the bathroom and just shot straight all over me. Just gobs of white on my pants, on my shirt, on this, on my arm and my watch. And I was like, you just can't take me anywhere. I mean, you just can't. I'm just a walking yahoo. And yet the God, the only true God, the God of the universe, transcendent, holy, trinitarian, perfect, perfect in and of Himself. He didn't even need relationship with us. He chose for us to be his treasure. He's perfectly sustained by fellowship with each other. Augustine, one of my favorite old dead guys. I have a crush on him too. Augustine said, only the Christian God is a perfect community unto Himself. Perfectly sustained, perfectly satisfied. And yet he chose for us to be his treasure. And he said, you're worth so much to me, I'll give entire nations in exchange for you. So our worth is. Our worth is predetermined. It's not. There's no earning on our behalf. Our worth is priceless. We are invaluable from God's estimation. And then if you'll head to the right to Ephesians, one of my favorite passages in all of the New Testament, our worth is permanent. Ephesians 1, beginning with verse 3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for He chose us in him before the creation of the world. And to be holy and blameless in his sight in love. He predestined for us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure. Some translations say good pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. Where it reads pleasure or good pleasure in your Bible, that comes from the Greek word eudocia. Eu involves good and Dokia is thinking so. In other words, when God set His affection on us, he didn't do it out of pity. Our salvation is mercy. Our adoption is affection. So the King of all kings didn't look at us and go, oh, she's such a yahoo. She's old as dirt. She lost a little weight with the Help of Manjaro. And now she's all crepey. She ain't got no man. That poor girl. Let's just. Let's love on her a little extra. Cause she probably doesn't think she's worth it. That is not the disposition of our Creator Redeemer. He looks at me when I've got lotion all over my leather pants and he says, isn't she beautiful? It was my good thinking to adopt her. Y', all. Even the word adoption in first century context, it's crazy that Paul uses it in our relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Because in this era, no parents would adopt an infant. There's too much risk in that. Parents in Greco Roman culture only adopted an older adolescent or an adult. Why is that? Y' all can talk back. I'm not a pastor. Why? Why do you think they would only adopt somebody who was older? Exactly. Because you had. You had proven potential. They could see their gpa. They could see how hard they worked at chick fil a after school. They could see, this kid has promise. And by the way, girls are never adopted in this era of biblical history, girls are not adopted because girls had no financial value other than producing an heir. And so baby girls are rejected. But there's a possibility, if you are a young man who has promise that a couple will adopt you and say, we'll give him our name. We'll make him an heir. The most famous older adoptee from this era is Octavian. And I know most of y' all like me, just examine your eyelids in high school history. But you remember, he's the very first Roman emperor. Do you remember who preceded Octavian? I know y' all did. Julius Caesar. So Julius Caesar was not the first emperor of Rome. He was a military hero. He was a dictator. He adopted his nephew. He adopted this kid named Octavian at the. It was actually his great nephew at the age of 18, because Octavian, he showed promise. And so Julius Caesar adopted Octavian and said, I will give you my name. And so after Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Octavian fought and became the very first emperor. He changed Rome from a republic to an empire. He became the very first Roman emperor. The Senate. That's kind of much like our Senate. This Senate, Maybe not as much polarization, but anyway, their Senate said, we're gonna name you Augustine. Augustus means one who is revered. And he said, I'm gonna take my adopted dad's last name as my first because I wanna be attached to Julius Caesar's renown. So his name went from Octavian to Caesar Augustus, first emperor of Rome, that we all think Caesar is a title. It originated as a surname. And then he went a step further because the Roman Senate, because Julius Caesar was such a great leader, they named him Dewi. We would say D, V in Latin, but their V's are pronounced as W's if you're a redneck American. Dewi Filius, son of God. So Octavian, because they had named Julius Caesar a God. That's what Octavian called himself. I am Caesar Augustus. I am Dewi Filius. I am a son of God. Little bit arrogant, right? Do y' all remember the Crucifixion account? There's a Roman centurion and all he did was watch Jesus die. Wasn't in a Bible study, wasn't in a home group follow Jesus wasn't Jewish, but he was there at the crucifixion. Y' all remember this story in Mark's Gospel. I think it's in chapter 15. He watches Jesus die. That's all he sees. He doesn't see him raise Lazarus from death back to life. He doesn't see him walk on water, doesn't see him turn water into wine. All he watches is Jesus suffer. And when Jesus dies and says it is finished, that Roman centurion says, surely, surely he is Dewifilius. He is the son of God. Do you know the coins in his pocket at the time were inscribed to promote the Roman Caesar as the son of God, y'.
- [29:42]
Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador
All.
- [29:42]
Lisa Harper
The context in our Bibles drives me nuts when people says the Bible's boring. I'm like, no, you're a lazy reader. This is so much better than Yellowstone. This is like, epic. So it makes sense that Caesar Augustus Octavian was adopted because he had promise, he had potential. That makes sense. That was very uncommon. What was more common was this practice that they still practice. They just don't call it this. In my little girl's village in Haiti, it's expositio. Exposure comes from the Latin root exponer, meaning to expose. What was most common in the era Paul was writing is expositio, which meant if you had a little girl and you already had one, so you didn't need a spare, or if you had a son who was born deformed with something as minor as a cleft palate, you could take them to the edge of town and leave them so that they would die in the elements. They still do that in my baby girl's village in Haiti. That's Why you rarely. Rarely. In a developing nation that struggles with poverty, it's interesting. You usually won't see a child with cerebral palsy or an extreme deformity because it's too hard for them to feed their healthy kids. And so they still practice taking unwanted or deformed or medically challenged children, infants, to the edge of town and leaving them there. Do you know what Christians became known for at the latter part of the first and second century? Christians became known for, and actually vilified for this. That we would go and rummage through trash dumps to find discarded infants and we would adopt them as our sons and our daughters. We became known for that. Do you know the first brick and mortar churches in that era, small, informal affairs, always had a basin outside the front door of the church so people could go by and drop off an infant. Because even as early Christians, we understood this isn't okay. It's not okay to take an innocent, beautiful, worthy, valuable baby and put them in a trash dump. The Christians would race the slave traders to try to get little girls so they wouldn't be put into prostitution. Do you know, we were in Italy two summers ago doing a trips of Paul Tour, and I saw this. I think it's called Ruato de tratteria. Suddenly I have this craving for pasta. Let me see what it's called. It's called. Does anybody speak Italian? Ruato DEI travatelli. Trovatelli a Ruato DEI travatelli. Y' all are wanting Italian now too, aren't you? We'll go to North Italia after lunch. I have a picture of a ruat. This is all throughout Italian architecture. Okay, see bottom left? See that little box? That actually is a concrete cubby, and it's on a cylinder. It rotates so you can come at night to the outside. That was an ancient church. You could come to the outside. And that little Ruata DEI Travatelli will be open, and you can put your baby in there anonymously, knowing that somebody on the other side of that wall, probably a nun, will take care of your baby. So even early Christians understanding that, oh, people have value, it impacted architecture. Ruato DEI travatelli. Here's the deal for Paul to speak to this audience of young Christians in Ephesus and say, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit thinks you are so worth it that he didn't just save you, he has actually adopted you as firstborns, as coheirs. And you won't sit at the kiddie table or on the porch. You will sit to the right of Jesus the Son, in a position of honor, y'.
- [34:19]
Steven Furtick
All.
- [34:19]
Lisa Harper
That was so countercultural in their understanding. That would be like a UNC grad rooting for Duke or Drake and Kendrick Lamar writing a song together, or Travis and Tay having a tiny wedding. I mean, I just. That's. That's not gonna happen. That doesn't happen. We read Ephesians, and most of us are like, oh, that's good. That's not. I kind of like that. I like when Pastor Steven preached on that. We don't get the gravitas of the God of the universe saying, you are mine. I didn't just save you. You're my kid. Y' all can diss me on social media. It hurts my feelings a little bit. But you dis my baby girl, I'll come find you and cut you in ribbons. And I know Holly and Pastor Steven feel the same way about Elijah and Graham and Abby. I mean, these are my kids. For God to say, we aren't just people he had to save because we're train wrecks who couldn't save ourselves. For God to say, they're so much more than worth the find. To me, I'm actually adopting them into my family. And, you know, according to rabbinical law, you can disinherit a biological child, but you can't disinherit an adopted child. So he's saying it's permanent. He's saying, I have ascribed this value you haven't earned to you. I've named you as priceless. And it's permanent, honey. It is absolutely permanent. I used to spend a lot of my free time volunteering at an organization in Nashville, a couple of organizations, actually, who help women who are in recovery, addiction recovery. And I don't do it as much now because of Missy, and I just don't have as much time as a single mom. But if you would set me up and I could get to the baby daddy, I'd have more free time. Just saying the onus is on, y'. All. But I used to spend a lot of time volunteering. I still get to do it a little bit, but I love, love, love, love, love getting to spend time with image bearers who are coming out of any type of addiction because the gratitude is palpable. You know, there's just something about being incarcerated that strips your pretense. You don't have to have some loud preacher say that God loves you, even though you haven't earned it. They're like, I get it. I mean, I know I didn't do anything to deserve this unconditional love he has lavished on me. And anyway, those of y' all who are. I know we've got some elevation campuses, and y' all don't have quite as much physical freedom as we do. Some of y' all are still incarcerated, and you didn't know that. This whole team here, they talk about y' all like y' all are in the room. You are family. You fit here. We love you. This is not pity. We honor you. We can't wait to actually be face to face with you to pray and to worship. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We love y'.
- [37:41]
Steven Furtick
All.
- [37:41]
Lisa Harper
Y' all are not outside campuses. You are in the house campuses. Thank you so much for listening today. The good pastors will be back next week, so stay tuned. But I used to spend a lot of time with those girls. And one Thanksgiving, they said, Ms. Lisa, would you spend Thanksgiving with us? And I was so honored they asked me to spend Thanksgiving with them. I was like, oh, I'd be delighted to. And they said, we actually have so much extra. Do you know, the best job that my friends could get out of when they stepped out of the halfway house into more freedom was at Chipotle. I ate at Chipotle all the time because Chipotle will hire women who have federal offenses on their records who've come out. So that was the best job they could get. Oftentimes it was cleaning hotel rooms. So for them to say we have so much extra was countercultural. And they said, we wanna take our extra and we wanna just put together a Thanksgiving feast. And then so many of our friends are still home, insecure. They don't have a place to live tonight that we wanna go all over Nashville and find our friends who don't have homes and serve them meals. And I was like, yeah, I'd love to be part of that. And so I helped to make this feast. Somebody had donated 150of those, you know, the Styrofoam takeout trays. We actually had 175, but our goal was 150. And we had turkeys, we had stuff from all over. And so we were just humming. We're in this kitchen. 800 square feet is the size of their government subsidized apartment. And there were like 13 of us in there putting together these meals. We are singing, we are dancing. I have no rhythm, but I have a lot of enthusiasm. We're singing, dancing, getting these meals together. When it was all. All said and done, when we ran out of meat, they said, let's count it. We had 172. So I was like, that is epic. So I said, let's pray and thank God for the extra, and then we'll go distribute these. So we had this major Pentecostal prayer. And I was like, don't call me pastor in front of anybody else in Nashville. I'll get eviscerated. But they all call me pastor and so. But don't call me pastor. That P is woo. That's polarizing. So anyway, we prayed and then we said amen. I was like, okay, what's the plan? And they're like, well, we hadn't planned any further. And I was like, will y'? All? And they were like, well, none of us have our license. Our license haven't been reinstated yet, so we don't have cars. I'm like, will y'? All? And they were like, will you help us? I was like, well, yes. So I've got an suv. Cause prophetically, I thought God would give me a man and I would fill it with kids. And so we piled my car with like 130. There's one other car. We had just boxes of food all throughout my car. One of the girls got in my car, another girl was in the back. And we started driving around kind of sketchy parts of downtown Nashville looking for people who might be hungry. And our goal was not just to give somebody a meal, but was to look in their eyes and have a conversation, hopefully sit with them while they ate. And the most memorable of those 130 or so meals we gave away was the first and the last. The first was a train wreck because I chose them. And we're driving down by Vandy and there's just this kid dressed in rags. And so I assume he was housing insecure. And so I humped my car up on the curb and I was like, hey, baby. Probably Graham your age. And we're just punking. And I was like, hey, baby, we've got some extra food. He was so offended. And then I saw the Prada shoes, but it was rags. The rest of me was rags. So I thought he was homeless. And so he was really offended. So that was memorable. We got an earful from him cause he wasn't hungry. And then we had all kinds of meals in the middle. But the very last guy was my favorite. We had talked with a fellow who was living behind this building, and he said, well, run up the road. And when you see a little half concrete wall, the guy who lives in a cubby behind that. His name is Cricket. He's a friend of mine. Go see if he. You can find Cricket. And sure enough, we found this man named Cricket. Precious, precious, precious 20 something year old man. And we had. As the sun was setting on Thanksgiving, I mean, it was communion. It was one of the best meals I've ever shared with other Christ followers. And then, you know, we said goodbye and I didn't think I'd ever see him again. And two weeks later I was back in that same area because I'd gotten lost and I was trying to figure out how to get back to the interstate. And I recognized the street sign and I thought, oh my goodness, this is where we were two weeks ago at Thanksgiving when I got to meet Cricket. And I thought, I wonder if he's still here. So I pretended like I was a UPS truck, humped my car back up on the hurt curb again, started walking around and ran into this young man who looked like he had been living outside. And I said, sir, excuse me, my name is Lisa, and I'm looking for a man who used to live in Syria named Cricket. And he said, lisa, I'm Cricket. And living outside for a couple of weeks can change your appearance. And I said, cricket, I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you. I said, I don't know if you remember two weeks ago. And he goes, I remember it was Thanksgiving. And I said, well, I found myself back in this neighborhood and I just felt this strong inclination to stop by and see you and to tell you that God sees you and he thinks you're worth it. And I don't know why I said that. Sometimes I'll say things because of prayer and holy Spirit. And sometimes it's insecurity or it's Celsius. You know, sometimes you go, I think that was the Lord, and it might be and it might not be. But I said, I think, I think it was the Holy Spirit who impressed me to say, you're worth it. And as soon as I said that, he just bent over and began to sob like a baby. And he kind of pitched himself in my arms. And even though I'm not as petite as Holly, he was a tall guy. It was hard for me to hold him up. I mean, he just put the whole weight of his body in my arms and I mean, he was just sobbing. And the only thing I could think to do was pray. And when I'm nervous, oftentimes I'll pray scripture. I'll pray the word of God. This Love story we call the Bible. And so I just begin to pray. Psalm 139. Oh, Lord, you have searched Me, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar. Every word you know before it proceeds from my mouth, you hem me in behind, and before youe have laid your hand upon me. Where can I go from youm Spirit? Where can I flee from youm presence? Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from youm Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you're there. If I make my bed in the depths, you're there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your right hand will hold me. If I say, surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you. For. David goes on to say, for I am wonderfully and fearfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame wasn't hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before even one of them came to be. Long before you met Britt, long before y' all had a baby, long before you entered ministry, he said, this is my worthy son. He's so amazing. And that's all I could think to pray over Cricket when I got to verse 18. Cause after that, David gets mad, and that's when he says, do I not hate those who hate you? And it gets a little grumpy. And so I finished the prayer at verse 18. And when I did, it's like it gave Cricket just enough wherewithal to stand back up. And he looked me in the eyes, and he had no alcohol in his breath. His eyes weren't bloodshot just completely. I just think he was. He was just in one of those thin seasons. And he looked me straight in the eyes, and he goes, lisa, you have no idea how much I needed to be reminded that I have worth. And I said, yes, sir, I needed that reminder today as well. And we hugged and I drove away a daughter and a son from completely different stations in life, different ethnicities. And I stopped at a 7:11 at the end of the street because I couldn't drive anymore, because I was crying so hard. And I just pulled my car over and I said, God, forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me that because of my station in life, sometimes I forget what an extraordinary miracle it is to be your daughter, to be adopted into your family. You didn't just. You didn't just rescue me from the trash heap of my decisions. You didn't just leave me in a concrete cubby to become someone else's responsibility. You said, she's my daughter and she's worth everything to me, even the sacrifice of my only son. The worth. The worth you and I carry. If we could walk in just the minutest understanding of the miracle that that is, y', all, it would change the trajectory of our lives. Quite possibly, it would change the lives of the people we get to rub shoulders with. These precious, precious image bearers around us. So many of them who think I'm not worth anything because that's what I've been told my whole life. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? We're going to close this family meeting with a prayer. And I know I haven't earned the right. I'm so grateful Steven and Holly allow me to come. I haven't earned the right to ask you a question, but I'm going to anyway. I'm gonna ask all of you to raise your right hands. I promise. I'm not signing you up for a coffee club or anything. Just raise your right hands. The reason I do that is so you won't hear a hand go up next to you. Sometimes we can be a little nosy in church. And for those of you who maybe have been wounded in church, I want to assure you that you're safe at elevation. You're serious? Serious about the love of God here, But you are not gonna be judged. So everybody write hands up. And would you just open those beautiful palms that God designed? Just spread that hand wide open.
- [48:48]
Steven Furtick
Wide open.
- [48:51]
Lisa Harper
Now, if you're in a place in your life, a season in your life, where this may be the story of your whole life, where the idea of being. Having value, intrinsic value, the idea of being loved unconditionally by God, the idea that the God who breathed our universe into existence looks at you and says, I am so proud of this one. This is my son. This is my daughter. They're worth the fine to me. If that's hard for you to wrap your mind around, hard for you to hang onto, maybe you would be so honest as to say, I don't really believe that. Would you close that beautiful hand into a fist? Yeah. Yep, yep. Yep. Hey, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your honesty. Can I Ask you for just a moment more to keep your hands raised. Don't look around out of respect for the saints around you. But there are hundreds with fists in the air. Beautiful, not defiant. Beautiful. Tired. Fist in the air. Kind of reminds me of the Statue of Liberty. Give me your tired. Give me your tired. Give me your. Give me your hopeless. Give me your hurt. Give me your wounded. Give me your abandoned. Give me your. No one ever looked at you and said, you are worth the fine. I would walk across cut glass to get to you. You are precious to me. I'll exchange nations for you. Those of you with your fists raised, we're gonna pray. And I'm gonna ask you, if Holy Spirit prompts, would you pray this prayer of salvation? Pray this prayer of maybe for the first time or for the first time in a long time, just leaning into the wide open arms of the God who has ascribed value to you, you're not a disappointment to him. You're not an interruption. He didn't save you because it's in his job description. He saved you because it was his eudocia, his good thinking to set his favor on you. You're not an afterthought. You were the first thought. One glance of your eyes, you captured his heart. Pastor, would you come and pray for these image bearers, some of whom have yet to believe their worth?
- [51:32]
Steven Furtick
Father, we thank you for the word that was spoken over us today, God, to know that we were the joy that was set before you. We thank you for the spirit of wisdom and revelation resting in this place today. Lord, would you open up our eyes to see ourselves the way you see us, God, for those with their hands up in a fist right now, God, Lord, we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would just continue to minister as your word becomes alive in their hearts. God, oh, what an incredible manner of love that you have lavished on us, that we would be called children of God. For someone in the room today, you've never made a decision to receive the gift of God's grace. I want to give you that information invitation right now. You can put your hands down for just a moment. If you've never made a decision to place your faith in Christ, when I count to three, I want to give you the opportunity to throw your hand up in the air. The last one was private, but this one's public because we want to celebrate what God has done in your heart. If you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he died on the cross and rose again so that you could be forgiven and have new life. If you want to receive the gift of his salvation. Today, we When I count the three, slide your hand up in the air and do it boldly. Want to celebrate your new beginning? On three. One, two, three. Shoot your hand up. Hold it up high. Come on. I see you there. God bless you. God bless you. Our ushers are coming around with the Bible. 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 you.
- [53:27]
Lisa Harper
Here's something good on Women's health and longevity is brought to you by Seneca and our partner LifeMDash. LifeMD believes every woman should have access to affordable prescription medication and personalized care that understands the whole woman. Through virtual care and insurance supported options, LifeMD is making expert women's healthcare more accessible and affordable.
- [53:50]
Steven Furtick
250 years ago, America made a promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- [53:57]
Lisa Harper
Since 1903, Harley Davidson has been living
- [54:00]
Steven Furtick
it out on the open road at
- [54:02]
Lisa Harper
the next exit ramp with old friends, new ones, and the next generation of riders. Because the best part of any promise is keeping it.
- [54:11]
Steven Furtick
Harley Davidson motorcycles ride.
- [54:19]
Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador
When Kohler, global design leader and luxurious kitchen and bath products, asked me to be their ambassador for timeless, elegant, durable cast iron, I said, I'm in. Soon after, I was in their Kohler Wisconsin foundry watching molten iron, poured, enamel applied by hand, and the beautiful finished pieces ready to ship. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron has been crafted by incredible artisans and seeing it firsthand gave me a whole new appreciation for their craftsmanship. Now I'm proud to lend my stamp of approval to my favorite Kohler cast iron products for their durability, beauty and enduring style. Shop my curated pics at kohler. Com. As the Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador, I say long live cast iron.
- [55:11]
Lisa Harper
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.