But Now Be Strong

end offering. Why is that exciting? Because it builds our faith, it shows our love for God. And we're inviting everybody all over the world that's a part of this ministry to be a part of this year end offering. Now, the official date of the offering is December twelve. How do y'all know it better than the pastor they already talked about it, But we do it every year. It's an opportunity for those who have been blessed by this ministry, who God has used this ministry to change your life

to be a blessing. And so for thousands we'll begin the process of tithing and putting God first in the area of your finances with that first ten percent that belongs to him anyway, the whole hundred is his. You know that right, So for all of you who already trust the Lord in that way, thank you for making the ministry possible. For those of you who are praying about it. We always do an above and beyond offering every year, Holly and I have been doing that every

year for over fifteen years now. It's a privilege to do it. It's a privilege to do it. It's an honor to do it. When I look around and see what God has done and what He's building. Nobody has begged me to give. I invest in this ministry because I believe in this ministry and I believe God's promise. How about you? Do you believe? Do you take God at his word? Well, this is an excellent time and they'll share all the details about how to do it, but I just wanted to mention it. I always pick

a word at it's been getting later and later. I used to pick a word that we could focus on, and I would pick it in the summer and then they would make all these graphics and videos around that word. Lately, I've been picking it just so late that I don't even tell Hollywood it is until I tell the whole church. And last week I was preaching the passage, the same passage that I'm going to preach here today. I'm going to continue what God started last week. God dropped something

amazing last week. And there was a scripture in Hagi two nine that said that the glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house. And we'll unpack it a little week by week. I'm not going to preach about giving today. Okay, So if you're like exit strategy, texting your church partner or something like that, you don't need to do that. But our theme, our one word that we're going to come around, is

a simple word better. Doesn't that feel good to believe that whatever, whatever you've seen before, tell somebody you haven't seen anything yet. Oh oh oh, you want to say it? Okay, say it in the King James, you ain't seen nothing yet. God is always bringing us into something better. So for our year end offering, I wanted to mention that I also want to celebrate the eleventh year anniversary of elevation

and Blakeney, let's give God praise for Elevation Blakeney. Oh yeah, that's where I preached live for about five years before we moved over here to Valentine, and I might go back if you'll ever stop acting righting. I love it over there. A lot of great stories in that place, not the building, but the people saw God do amazing things there. So Father, I thank you for your presence today. Your presence is real, it's not abstract. We thank you that your presence is more than just like energy. Your

presence is more than just feelings. Your presence is the bedrock where I can come back to every time and just know that you are with me in every moment. I thank you for the promise that I have concerning your presence, that in your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand, pleasure Forevermore so, Lord, we want

to enjoy your presence today. We're taking a moment just to put everything out of our mind that's causing confusion, everything that's got us tied up in knots, everything that's got us just like poppin' alka Seltzer with heartburn because we're worried about it. Everything that's got us angry, frustrated, offended, we're putting all that that doesn't get to play on the movie screen right now, Lauren. But we want to see your goodness, your love, your glory. We want to

see it revealed. We want to see Jesus. We want to see the one who is and was and is to come. We want to see him as he really is. Reveal Jesus to us today through your word. It's in his name. We pray. Amen. Everybody say amen. Act achieving. All right, be seated. We're going back to Hagai chapter two. So it's like, my mom cooks so much food. You're like, Mom, what were you thinking that the whole football team was coming over here? She over prepares. And I felt a

little bit like that last week. Honestly, when I look back over my outline, I had four points and we got to one. So I just put it in the fridge and I figured, all right, well we'll we'll get this out this week. And then God, God was speaking to me in such a unique way. I'm excited about it. I'm excited about it. Y'all sound excited too. I'm gonna be honest, it feels exciting in here. It's amazing. Wow, y'all quiet down now this church. Let me read you

this scripture. See if this will put a spark plug in your spirit real quick. In the second year of King Darius, on the twenty first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Hagi. The word of the Lord came through the prophet Hagi. All right, so we got we gotta talk about that for a minute. God is going to give you a word for your weakness. The more you work the word that He gives you, the more strength you will discover

that was there all alone. The word of the Lord came through Hagi. And I love how God speaks through people in seasons when we need it, don't you. And this is what the Lord said to Hagi. Speak to Zarabebel, son of Shialtl, governor of Judah, to Joshua's son of Josephac the high Priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, so this is crazy, because God speaks. How many need God to speak to you today? Put a hand in the chat. Put a hand in the chat, Put a hand in the chat. Put your hand in

the ear. I need God to speak to me. But here's what's crazy. God doesn't speak with an answer. He speaks with a question. Sometimes you will ask God for an answer and he will answer with a question. One day, I'm going to preach a sermon called the Blessing of a better question. So a better question would be like, instead of God, why did I have to go through all that? It would be God, what do you want to do now through the things that I went through? And why is the devil so intimidated of me that

he brought all that against me? What is it in me? That's a better question, because a bad question it would be like, God, why did they reject me? Well, you can never know that. Maybe they rejected you because they they are stupid. Maybe they didn't see the value of you. A better question is God, what were you using rejection

to protect me from? That's a better question. And so we rejection proof our spirit by asking three questions, or God, are you redirecting me through this rejection telling me that this is not the one? God? Are you protecting me from something that I can't see? And there was a third one, but I forgot it. All right, Let's go on, And he said, ask them, ask the people who of you is left? Who saw this? House. Everybody say this house good, good, good, good good, this house in its

former glory. How does it look to you? Now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong? But now I feel you're anointing God. Be strong, But now be strong. That's my title for this message today. But now be strong. Say it, but now be strong. Last night you were a little weak, But now be strong. Three years ago you just gave into the temptation. But now you're resisting the devil a little bit more. But

now be strong, Zorabebel, declares the Lord. Be strong. Joshua was son of Joseph Aak be strong, brit be strong, Might be strong, Holly, be strong, Elijah, be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord, and work for I am with you, declares the Lord Almighty. This is what I covened with you. I didn't say nobody would be against you. I just said that I would be with you. God never promised the absence of problems. He promised his presence right in the thick of it.

He said. I was with you in Egypt, and I'm with you to this day, declares the Lord. My spirit remains among you. Do not fear. This is what the Lord Almighty says. In a little while, I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come. And I will fill which house, this house, this house, with glory, says the Lord Almighty. The silver is mine and the

gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty. And the glory of this present house will be greater, better, greater than the glory of the former house. Now it's not going to have as much gold as the old house, because Solomon's temple had a lot of gold, but it's going to have more glory. Oh Jesus, the glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the Lord Almighty. And in this place

I will grant peace, declares the Lord Almighty. There's a book called Making Peace with Your Past, and you may have read it. There's a course or program that goes along with the book, and millions of people had probably benefited from it. I don't know. I never did the course. I've always remember the title Making Peace with Your Past.

It's about dealing with the trauma that happens to you, so that your trauma watch this doesn't become your template, so that what you went through doesn't become the ceiling of what you think can be possible in your life. Like we discussed last week a little bit, you know, not only are they building a temple, but they are reinventing their template. They're getting a new blueprint for how God is going to bless them now, and they need one because they've been in Babylon for over fifty years.

And while they were in Babylon as exiles, almost an entire generation died that had seen the former temple. So now when we get to Haggai chapter two, the prophet is encouraging the people because they have become two things that you have become distracted and discouraged. Distracted and discouraged, distracted in that they have lost their sense of priorities.

They have gotten comfortably settled now they've come back to their homeland, but in the process of building the Lord's Temple where God's presence would dwell at that time, they got distracted by building their own houses. Never happens to you, happens to me sometimes Sometimes I go to read my Bible. Then I see a text. The text makes me think of something else that I need to text. Before I know it, I'm on Wikipedia searching about giraffes. How did I get here? But it does put a question in

your mind? Are you distracted? And are you discouraged? Now? I love how Guy's method because, as I mentioned, he asks a question, who of you is left That's what we talked about last week. The remnant remnant it means whatever is left over. Now get this picture. They're looking at a city that is still for the largest part in Ruin. When the Babylonians came to take the people out, they actually destroyed everything that they left behind. Now at

this point they haven't seen Neemiah yet. You've heard of him, right. He rebuilt the walls of the city, which was the protection of the city. But he did that later. The walls are still down. The infrastructure of the city was completely shut down, or at the very least, it was about as organized as the DMV. It was about like the airport's security right about. Now, it's just it's a mess. But in the middle of all of that mess, God sends a messenger to ask a question, who of you

is left. You have to learn how to focus on what is left, not what is lost. Sometimes the distraction is you thinking about something that you had in the past that you don't have right now. Sometimes you are missing things that God is bringing because you are missing people that God removed. I'm not saying that everybody that leaves your life is because God took them out because they couldn't handle you on the next level. That's not my message. But there was a word in there where

he said, speak to the remnant. There are only sixty thousand Jews that came back. Talk to those, Speak to the ones who are still here. Work with the strength that you still have, Muster the energy that is left in your body. Take the opportunity that you have seriously. And that's the first r that we mention. But the second one, I think, I think it's really important because his second rhetorical question, he says, who of you verse three is left that saw this house in its former glory?

And then the second question, it's also a rhetorical question, how does it look to you? Now? What a question? This is not just rhetorical, this is historical because there's a few of these, a few of these returning exiles who saw Solomon's temple firsthand, and they remember what they think it was like. Oh, by the way, the future and the past have one thing in common. They're both fiction.

The future you imagine for you, you you know, thirty pounds lighter or or thirty million richer or whatever it is. You know what I'm saying. Like that future, that future is no more imaginary than the story you tell yourself about how the past was. Because watch this, the future is filtered through your ignorance. You don't know what's gonna happen at one thirty today. You didn't even know cam was coming back, did you. Nobody told you that, nobody

called you, nobody approved that with you. You You didn't see that coming, And you really think you can predict what it's gonna be, Like, I love people. You need to make a ten year plan, Honey, I need a ten minute plan. It's twenty twenty one. I need a ten second plan. I need a way right now, in this moment. Not to freak out. Now, no certificates you so far out there in the future and see yourself married, or see yourself divorced, or see yourself whatever condition you are

praying about. That's opposite of the condition that you prayed yourself into. Right now, that's a fantasy, but so is what we tell ourselves about our best. You know, nobody ever really believed in me. I wish I could ask all of your middle school teachers how much they had to put up with out of you just not to kick you out of school, because the truth is you

should have been expelled. The fact that they believed in you is the fact that they graduated you and gave you a C just to get you out of their class. You know, I'm having fun with it, but it's real.

It's really it's really kind of a deep thing to consider that sometimes what holds you hostage is a story that you have told yourself that never really happened, like you memorized it in your heart, and then with time you look back and say, oh, well, maybe actually I was part of the reason to blame for that, huh, Because now I've seen the same exact pattern play out in eight straight relationships. Maybe it wasn't eight dysfunctional devils that I was dating. Maybe the smell is coming from

inside the car. I'm gonna give y'all twenty seconds to wake up hear the word of the Lord. I think it's something under the floor mats, I don't think. I don't think it's And so the people who were there to see it firsthand. You gotta imagine this amazing moment right back from Babylon. Future is in front of us. Man, maybe we can be a nation again, Maybe the glory

of God will visit us again. And at the moment of great possibility comes the memory of the past, the past as it never really was the past, as you imagine that it was the past, as you remembered that it was. I keep a list of stuff that I did for my kids, So when they go to therapy one day as adults, I'm gonna make sure their therapist gets that list before they start. Here's what they're not telling you. Here's all the vacations that they don't remember. Here's all of the times that I was nice to

them and didn't take their phone. Here's the time I could have thrown them out a window, but I didn't because I'm a good, good father, and I got a list to prevent. It's been it's been traumatic. It's been traumatic. No, it's really been traumatic for these people. This is not like they the economy was shut down for months. Their nation was completely destroyed. No, no, no, I don't mean like the economy was destroyed and the stock market was fluctuating. I mean they had to they had to develop a

completely new template in Babylon. So now you've got two things happening simultaneously, and you always do. You've got the new generation who didn't see Solomon's temple. You've got the older generation, specifically the priests, the Leevites, and the leaders who saw the old one. And Ezra tells us what happened that made Haggi's encouragement necessary. Go to Ezra chapter three. Please right there on the y'all aren't flipping your bibles.

You got it on your phone. See, this is one of those things where as a preacher, I want to fuss. I remember when people used to bring their Bibles to church. But you know what, I don't think that's necessarily better than having it right there on your phone. Because if it's right there on my phone, I can just have it any time that the devil hits me. I could just look at it. Nobody even knows that I'm reading my Bible. I'm acting like I'm paying attention. To this meeting.

Let me check my notes real quick. But I'm really over here in Obadiah. So notice the temptation. Oh it was better when people used to bring their Bibles to church. Oh it was better before they didn't read them during the week back then. So now watch this. This is on the screen. Put it up on the screen. Ezra chapter three, when the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord, I'm a preacher ready for this.

They lay the foundation, and the priests, the sons of Asaf, with their vestments and trumpets, and the Levites, the Sons of Asaf with symbols, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David, King of Israel. Next verse, please with praise and thanksgiving. They sang to the Lord. He is good, good, his love toward Israel endures forever. So they were singing, I am good, you are loved, I am good, you are loved. And all the people you'll get ready to act out the text gave a great shout.

That's a medium shout. Wasn't a bad shout, but it wasn't a great shout. All the people gave a great shout. I want to see which campus can shout the loudest. Make a video of your campus and send it to me real quick. Ah, the people take a great shout, a great shut I'm coming a baby shout. No, no, no, that's a great shout, a great shout. Look at the foundation. This is amazing. We're gonna have a temple again. We're gonna have a temple again. We're gonna have a temple again.

Touch three people and tell them we're gonna have a temple again. Touch twelve people. Tell them we're gonna have a temple again. That's twenty four people till we're gonna have a temple again. Oh, I heard about the temple. Always wish I could have a temple. My grandad would

tell me about temple. You talk about the instances. He tell me about the bulls, tek about the prayer, time about the Holy of Holies, talking about sacrifice, about you told me talking about the mercy, talking about the press, time about the glory, tell me about the interesting, talking about the better. We have a temple. We have a temple. We're getting a temple. We're getting a temple. So they they start blowing trumpets, they start playing at at OHA's.

They start having a party and praising God over the progress. You have to learn to prace God over progress, not just product. You have to learn that's what gives you momentum. That's what gives you momentum. You have to praise God for ten yards, not just touchdowns. You have to praise God for every trimester. You have to praise God. You have to do it, or you'll get distracted and discouraged like the Levites. Because while one generation is praising God, Oh,

we're gonna have a temple, y'all. It's gonna be amazing. I can't wait to get in this temple and praise God. Oh, this is gonna be incredible. And here come the people who should be leading the praise party. And while the young people are blowing trump is you got trumpet sound or anything like that, get one ready, and we just do it real quick. It says verse twelve. Many of the older priests and Levites and family hads who had seen the former temple wept aloud when they saw the

foundation of this temple being laid, while many others. But here's the problem. Thirteen. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping because it all just started sounding like noise. Has it been noisy in your heart lately? You can't tell the difference of whose voice is this? Is this God or is this the devil? Or is it just my Twitter feed? Is this God? Is this the devil? Or is it

just me? Is this fate or is this foolishness? How could a group of people from the same nation be standing at the same foundation and one of them pulling out trumpets, and one of them in tears, trumpets and tears, trumpets and tears, both at the same time, trumpets and tears. She shouting, come on now, he's sleeping in the same surname.

Trumpets and tears. Celebration, devastation, expectation, disappointment looking at the same thing, one voice of saying this is a amazing one voice of saying in length, oh, oh, one went better. I mean we had solomon Temple and Solomon's temple it was so good, and it was so much gold, and Solomon's Temple, Solomon's Temple was visiting gonna be like it was,

and I used to have so much more. And at some point the disappointment starts drowning out the faith has that been happening in your temple, in your temple where there's something to celebrate. Oh, by the way, the second art that I want to talk about, because I did rhymnet last week and apparently I'm only going to do one this week is reference. There is a point of reference that you could come to today in your temple. And I remember, your body is the temple of the

Holy Spirit. So when we talk about temples and Solomon's temple, this temple, by the way, it is eventually, everybody say, eventually put it in the chat if you know how to spell it. Eventually it is eventually going to be between two and three times bigger than the one that they're weeping over. But right now it seems like nothing. You have to be strong in seasons where it seems like nothing, or it will always be what it is right now. And I don't know who needs this medicine.

But wishing won't get the temple built. Wanting won't get the temple built. Waiting won't get the temple built. Well, the Bible says wait on the Lord. I know I wrote a song about it. I believe that Bible verse two. But when waiting on what God is going to do or wishing for what God used to do, replaces working with what God gave you. Right now, I mean right now, be strong, right now, Man up right now, square up with your enemies and say it's not gonna be what

it was, It's gonna be better. Here o preaching, I feel like preaching. So the builders lay the foundation, and there's trumpets, and the builders the foundation, and there's tears. And it's not two different foundations. It's how you see it. It's how you see it. Three months ago, he was praising God because he could breathe, because he had COVID so bad he wondered, am I ever gonna breathe normal again?

Made him almost cry with joy when he would breathe, talking about my buddy Chunk started the church with me. But you know, let a little time go by. He's Olympic level breathing again. Just auto breath, mister, auto breath. When you have been somewhere so low, you appreciate moments of joy. Look, look, look, look, look, look how am I saying this because I've been depressed. I've been depressed. I'm not glad I was depressed. I'm not glad. If

you're going through depression. But one thing it did for me is it made me know how valuable choy is. It made me know how valuable happy is. That's the thing about the bottom. That's what shows you where to build from. But the problem is when you stop at the bottom, when you stop at the bottom and go, oh, well, this is the worst thing that ever happened to me, or this is what I never saw coming, and then you stop building. Do you know? That's what the people

did for sixteen years after Ezra chapter three. So the first scripture I read you was actually the second scripture. The second scripture I read you was the first script sure chronologically. So what happened was they started building the people under twenty five. Really, they would have had to be really old to see Solomon's temple. They would have had to be like seventy and stuff. I'm not saying that's really old, but that's really old. That's a lot

of experience. And watch this. Their experience became the enemy of their expectation. So people will tell you, oh, the benefits of experience, there are some benefits to inexperience. Why do you think Jesus didn't pick Bible scholars to be His disciples. There is a benefit of ignorance. There's a benefit to somebody who's just coming to the church for the first time today that you won't have if you've been here too. Now, there are benefits of being here

a long time. I really appreciate people been here a long time. That's why I really celebrate. I used to go to to church to be like, let's welcome all the first time. Guess I'm like, why are you clapping for them? They didn't do anything yet, they're the first time. Guess, let's hear it for the fourteen year veterans. Let's hear it for everybody who's stuck with it. So I get that, But there is sometimes a benefit of not knowing that this temple is not really that great compared to the

last one. When they came over to the worship night mom in Jacksonville, I said, I'm sorry, y'all, this was the lowest night we had because it was the eighth night of the tour. They said, the lowest night. It was awesome. They hadn't been to the otherwise. There is a benefit when you haven't been there yet, never had a temple. So they got the trumpets out while those

who had the old template were in tears. Wow, one of the knights on tour, I had a real encounter with God, Okay, and it was one of those where sometimes God will comfort you, sometimes he will correct you. Sometimes he will comfort you, correct you, and then comfort you again like a little rebuke sandwich. You ever had

the Lord do that? Be very tactful. So I'm out there in the particular night, all I could see because we had just done this elevation night worship thing, and I've still been processing it because I don't know how to talk to you about it. Because there was so much God showed me about our ministry and our future. There were times over the past two years where I wondered, have we seen our best days? Because you know, not everybody's gonna come back, and so you're really scared. You're

really scared. But I kept going in these arenas night after night, man, and it was powerful because thousands of people be singing the songs we sing here, just singing them out, every single song like it's their favorite. Just amazing, and every song that they were singing was like a scene in my life from when I remember either when we wrote it or when our church sang it or a season it got us through. So it was crazy because there's a soundtrack like a song like do It Again.

I've seen You Move the Mountains and they're watching one movie of how their nephew had cancer and got healed in and I'm watching another movie how when they came for me so hard, I was so discos i was like, well, maybe I'll just give up the church, you know what I mean, like just being kind of a whimp about the whole thing. But I'm remembering how God strengthened and sustained me. Brings us all to the same soundtrack with

so many different movies, same foundation, totally different response. You know, I'm listening to a song like Rattle, remembering when I was writing the lyrics on the window of the room in my house where I work out, and I'd send a new lyric over to Chris and he had a mic set up in his living room because we couldn't be together because of the thing, so he would record the new line and send it to me, and we did that what about thirty times. So when we're rocking

to Rattle, I'm not just partying. I'm praising God because it went from the window to the worship service. God said, I will open up the window. So I'm out there. Yeah, they're screaming it back, but we're all all scream and live for a different reason. Something we didn't think we would survive. But look at you right now, Look at you, right now, Look at you, bisto. It's your frame of reference. And this is what I had, this heart to heart with God, you know, like not out loud, just in

my heart. The night that I told you about where we didn't sell as many tickets, still more people in the room that night than the town. I grew up in sad frame of reference, frame of reference. I'm looking up there and I'm like, look at all those empty rows up there. The Lord said this, he may as well said it in Hebrew and Greek. And because I'm telling you it was just like a sentence. He said, for almost a year you preached in an empty room. Now you want to complain about empty rows. You see,

that's the devil. That's the devil. I went from being like all I need is Jesus and a camera, reach them for the gospel. But watch how entitled how quick, Watch how the devil can shift your frame of reference to where you used to feel like, Oh, my god, if we could ever just get back together again. But then we're back together again, and I'm going, oh, there's some empty seats up there. Maybe we didn't do it

too good. Maybe we didn't. And it's almost like the Lord said, stop crying, dry your tears, and blow your trumpet, because if you really take a good panoramic look at the situation, you don't even deserve the stuff that God gave you. On the foundation, I mean, really, really, really, the mercy that i'm walking in, the favor that i'm walking in, the grace that I perceive, the breath I breathed in the day that i'm standing in, the strength to stand here that came from God. He said, the

silver is mind and the gold is mind. And I want you to get grateful about what I gave you again. I want you to dance on the foundation. I want you to dance on the dirt floor. I want you to dance in an unemployment. I want you to dance in a season of heartbreak. Blowyard trump it, lift your voice and give you God great sound, a break sound, A great gray gray gray? Is that great? How great is your God? How pray is your prey. I'm gonna get fifty people a little space to try your tears

and blow your trumpet. Lord law God damn hold me. I got roll. Whoa huh, Because y'all, I didn't know if we'd ever be back in the building a south again. I gotta blow this trumpet. I am free, sane, whoa. Because I've had the enemy try to get me so discouraged that I would just give him back up everythink God gave me I have. I've had seasons where I'm like, all right, God, these kids are yours. I'm so glad. But now but now, but now, but now, but now,

but now, but now but now. I remember, you ever get an attitude and you don't even know where it came from, and it's kind of like faith, it's kind of like anger, and you don't know which one it is. I put you a little bit too far. This dude, one time, I never told you this story to be this guy. One time in Nashville. He was talking down to me right before we start church. He's talking down

to me. He said, now, listen, you need to give me all your publishing and this and that and the other and you're not getting none of it, but you ought to thank me for it because you're a nobody. And he was. He was right in the sense of my illustrious, non existent career. I got on that verse I couldn't get out. Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong? That's what Hag Guy said. That's what Hag Guy said. I want, I want to I want to be Hag guy for you today it

seems like nothing. It's a foundation. But now I don't even know where it came from. But I told the guy on the phone over there Sycamore Comments, he's getting my Q Dobi Bowle in that where it is Sycamore Comments just moved to Charlotte. Nobody in the church hadn't even gone to Sunday morning. I interrupted him. I say, hey, appreciate it what you're saying. I'm out here starting at church. God called me to start it, and I know it's nothing right now, But one day I don't even know,

because God knows I have my doubts. But in this moment something took me over. It was like I heard my voice, but I w wasn't making it talk. And I'm telling the guy like I had good sense one day this church that God is building. Now, the key about it was I didn't argue with him about who I was, see because I know what John says that without him I can do nothing. But see, I'm not without him. So I'm just an instrument. And without the breath,

the trumpet sits there looking stupid. But if God breaths in that trumpet, if God breathes all that business, if God breathes on that marriage, if God breathes on that idea, if God breathes on a ministry, what's it? Go wants it? So I said one day, somebody shout one day, one day, it's gonna be a church and we're gonna write songs and sing up all over the world. I didn't scream at him like that, but I said that that's not the challenge to shout about it now. The challenge is

to shout about nothing. Can I talk to you like I talked to my kids. Your comparisons are killing you. I said it last week, I'm gonna say it this week, and if you come back, I'll say it again the next week too. You keep comparing your foundation with other people's finishes, and so you are distracted and you are discouraged. But if you change your frame of reference, I mean really really change your frame of reference. Remember how Dad used to talk about heads of hair because he was

a barber. We'd be going out to Ryan's Jaba, go to nice restaurants or where they had the yeast rolls. What was that one, the big fat, big fat yeast roll Quincy's, Quincy's. How not forget Quincy's, Oh Jerusalem, if I forget you. But when we would be eating, he would be doing calculation how many heads of hair he'd have to cut the pay for the meal heads of hair? And you know, and then today, you know, God will do a little something for you. I'll bless you a

little bit and all of that. And I guess, like compared to some people, I don't have a lot, but I guess compared to some people, I have so much. And yet either one is a death trap sea if I think about my dad, who had to drop out of school when he was still in middle school to help with the family expenses, and I look at what God did through me are for me? Really it wasn't even me the foundation that he laid. I can get so grateful, so quick and stuff stops being such a

big deal. I reframe. That's the word reframe. It's your frame of reference that makes you praise God. It's your frame of reference that makes you have a pity party. Same foundation, different frame. And honestly, some people probably if they had all the things that God gave me, they'd probably do much better with it, you know what I'm saying. And some people that you look at and you're jealous of the stuff that they are hiding from you, the

expense of what you envy. The people you think you want to trade lives with, some of them would give anything to have what you think for granted, Graham asked me the other day, would you trade this and that to be Kanye? Oh, I'll be Kanye, I said, so. I get his creative brilliance and all that, but I don't get to be your dad. No bad trade deals off devil. I'm gonna be me. I'm gonna be me. I'm gonna dance over this foundation that God gave me, and I'm gonna work on it, and I'm gonna get

better at it. And I'm gonna read the Seven Habits of highly Effective People and proverbs and Philippians. And I'm gonna do it, but I'm not gonna wish I was you, because wishing won't work, and neither were worrying. You've been so disappointed that you become distracted, discouraged, comparing the empty rose in the arena. What in the world has the devil got you focused on that is so bad that you can't just simply like look around for a moment. So I'm I'm working on it. You know it's hard

for me. For me, I'm more of a tears than a trumpet person. I'm more of a what's wrong than what's right person? Glass half empty? Didn't I tell you last week? I'm not a glass half empty or a glass half full. I'm a hoospilled the water so I could put you. But I'm working on it. I'm working on what God gave me, what God gave me, And in't it crazy? Faris? Their enemies opposed the rebuilding to the temple, but they couldn't stop them. Yet what their

enemies couldn't do, they could do to themselves. Sixteen years, the foundation sat there until the word of the Lord came through Hagod and said that what God is going to do next will be better than what he did before. Better will not be found in going backward. Tewod Corinthians three seventeen and eighteen says, now there's that word again. Now so they wrote the book making Peace with your Past.

I wonder does somebody need to write a book called making peace with your present, with how it is, with how it really is the idolatry of tomorrow and the lie of yesterday. Now the Lord is the spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord was wrong? Answer Ferdick, Where the spirit of the Lord will be? Pay attention class, Pay attention class. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But now be strong. But now be strong.

And we all who with unveiled faces. That's the old veil that they had to wear to look at the glory because Moses would come down wearing a veil, and so they couldn't see his face. But they don't need that anymore. Now we contemplate not the old glory, not the former glory, the Lord's glory. We are being transformed into his image. The hard part is God gives you an image of himself, that's who you're becoming. But the enemy gives you a different image. Worst case scenarios, past mistakes,

other people's life. The Bible says, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. It is the freedom to become the version of me that God sees. It is the freedom to build the life with the resources he gave me that he called me to build. We are being transformed into His image. So when I say our word is we in the year is better, I'm not saying that because you're going to get a better spouse or a better house. I'm saying that He is

transforming you the better image with ever increasing glory. And watch where it comes from. It comes from the Lord. It comes from the Lord, who is the spirit. The trumpet. Did you get a trumpet? I don't know. L J. Doesn't sound too much like a trumpet. Yeah, mh, LJ. This is about to put me in tears. Right now, you've a job. Oh you know what? You know what?

We don't need it. They got one. If you believe the word that came through hag I. I want you to give God sixty seconds of chlor But now be strong. Yesterday's over, but now be strong. Lit your hands to come on. Open it up, Open it up, Open it up. River walk open eath, mam, open, open, open, open, Oh, oh, bit open, come on, open your mouth. Guess long, but now be strong say it. But now be strong. Not one day in the future when you get stable, but now be strong. Does it not look like nothing, But

now be strong. The spirit of the Lord is here, But now be strong. I will grant peace in this place. When Joshuva got ready to fight the battle, he was looking at walls. God told him something very strange. He said, before the walls fall, blow a trumpet. That's the exact of logic. But when you have faith, when you have holy ghosts, have a increasing glory. The spirit of the Lord is here. Faith. When you got that hack ey word of the Lord, the glorious coming, the glorious coming.

When you got that kind of faith, you announced to the enemy, I am strong in the Lord. He's strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. Get back to work. Sixteen years you're going to stand there and cry over something that's never coming back. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. We give you glory. Lord. Some people will look at this sermon and they'll laugh at it. Oh, they look so stupid, shouting like that. Well, God, I'd rather look

stupid shouting than be depressed cry. So I give you my shout, my Hollylujah, I give you glory, GLORI. We're not shouting over the finished product. We're shouting over the foundation. The deeper you dig, the higher you build. God, So thank you for everything you've dug out. Thank you for everything you've cleared away. Thank you even for the tears,

because the tears taught us how to praise you. I pray for every man and woman, boy and girl who heard this word today, not just that the word would come through the microphone, but that it would get into their temple. And the glory of this present house, the one I'm looking at right now, the job you gave me right now, the place you put me right now, the challenge you gave me right now, the season you gave me right now, will be greater above anything I

could ask, beyond anything I could imagine. We received this word right now in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, if you enjoy today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast