Giving God The Glory (Dewey Smith)

these nights. Don't want to miss So if you're in Glendale, Arizona, Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San Diego and La or anywhere near those areas, we want to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it. Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot com. Let's see you there. Let's go to the message. We'll praise the Lord. Everybody here. This is the day the Lord had made, and let us treat joints and glad

in it. Holleylujah, God, we honor you, and we bless you. We thank you afresh. Would you move in this place by your mike, by your power, spirit of believing God fall fresh on us even now, and we give you glory, We give you honor, and we give you praise. Amen. Come on, Shot, Hollylujah to his name, Praise the Lord. What a blessing is to be here with you today,

and we thank God for Jesus. Of course, as you can see, I am not Pastor Stephen Ferdick, and so I apologize for those who've driven afar to be here. But God is here. We're gonna worship God together, and we're going to praise the Lord together. Won't you join me in saluting one of the most incredible leaders, communicators, proclaimers, songwriters, my brother, Pastor Stephen Ferdick. Come on, Praise God for him. And while you're clapping for him, praise God for Pastor

Holly as well. To God be the glory. What a pleasure is to be here. I want you to do my favorite right quick. Just look your right hand up, right quick, move it down, right hand up, move it down. Okay good, I feel better now. That way, nobody can leave her saying that the preacher didn't move me. So we give God praise, but I want you to get your Bible. Say we're going to jump quick into the word of God. I want to look at the Book of Romans, chapter twelve, a very familiar passage of scripture

that I want to share with you. Don't thank the Praise team for just just my God, the Music Ministry for confirming the message a very familiar passage Romans twelve one. You find these words. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptably unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world.

But be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye make prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Then in Roman's eleven thirty six is our key verse. It reads, for of him and through Him, and to him are all things to whom be glory forever man. For of Him, through him, and to him are all things to whom be glory forever man. I want you to consider this thought this morning, very simply giving God the glory. Let's give God the glory.

You may be seeing the Prince of the Lord. Let's give God the glory. My elevation family, and I shall never forget one of my most recent birthdays. It is nostalgic for me even now, because this was the last birthday that all my siblings and I spent together prior to the death of my baby brothers some years ago and my sister a few years ago. My two older sisters and my two younger brothers and I were gathered at my old this sister's home in honor of my birthday.

And when I arrived at my oldest sister's home, I was met by my older sister at the front door, and she met me with some intriguing words. She said, Brother, I said yes. She said, I did not get you a gift this year for your birthday. And I got to admit I was a little taken aback, particularly because I had just purchased her a gift for her birthday, you know, and so brother wanted some sense of reciprocity. And so I began to inquire as to why she decided to not get me a gift, and she said

something that intrigued me. She said, I didn't get you a gift this year. I said why. She said, because I was struggling with something. It's okay, Well what were you struggling with? She said, I was struggling with this, what do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? And I knew she wasn't struggling, she was just being trifling. So I responded with my own sense of fasiciousists, what

do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? You give them some more of what you think they seemingly have. Pretty good answer, would you say? And it was right there in that context that God sent me a fact straight from the Holy Ghost facts machine of Heaven. And I thought about another relationship that I have, but more specifically, the relationship that we all share with the God who

is sovereign. Because in light of my sister's questions slash statement, what do you give to somebody who seemingly has everything? I hear Paul say to us this morning that you and I ought to give God the glory, that we ought to give God the glory. But right there, my sister's question statement comes to bear, because how can we, as fallible and finite creatures, give God anything that God does not already possess? I mean, can we give God glory? When the Psalmist calls him the King of glory? Paul

refers to Christ as the Hope of glory. Another epistel writer refers to God as the God of all glory. So how can we really give God glory if God is already king of glory. Christ is the Hope of glory, and God is the God of all What can we give to God who does not seemingly own everything, but who actually already owns everything? And I thought about God in creation, because God in creation knew that at times he would have periodic needs. So what did God do?

God knew at times that he would need a word, presented a word, and so God created and urch angel whose name was Gabriel. Gabriel was the word angel. Whenever God wanted to bring a word to his people, often he would use Gabriel. In the Book of Luke, chapter one, verse twenty six, when he wanted to announce the birth of Jesus and Bethlehem of Judea, he sent Gabriel to Mary to make that heavenly annunciation. Because whenever God wanted

a word, he would use Gabriel. The Book of First Thessalonians tells us that when chapter four and Christ comes back in the Rapture, Paul says, for the Lord himself shall destin from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel. Scholars believe that voice would be the voice of Gabriel, signifying the return of the Lord Jesus, because whenever God wanted a word, he would use Gabriel. But then God also knew at times that he would need warfare. Warfare, so God created an archangel whose name

was Michael. Can the church say Michael and Michael is the warfare Angel. The Book of Jude chapter one tells us that when Moses died, there was a battle for the physical remains of Moses. That battle was between the devil and his angels and Michael and the warfare angels from heaven. Michael and his angels won that battle, took the body of mo Jes and buried the body in a place where only God is aware of why, because whenever God wanted a word, he used Gabriel. When God

wanted warfare, he used Michael. In the Book of Daniel, chapter ten, it tells us that Daniel prayed to God for instructions and for direction, and for twenty one days, for three weeks Daniel was waiting to hear from God. And three weeks After this prayer, Gabriel showed up, and Gabriel says, Daniel, from the first time you prayed Daniel

ten fourteen. From the first time you prayed, God heard your prayer and God dispatched me, Gabriel from heaven to bring you your answer, he says, But I was withstood from some demonic forces around the region of Persia, and I couldn't bring you answer because Satan's chief demons in the Persian region had me held and bound. So God sent Michael, the warfare angel from heaven to engage in

combat to release me to bring you your answer. Here's why, because whenever God wanted a word, often God would use Gabriel, and when God wanted warfare, God would use Michael. But then God also knew at times that he would need worship, and so God created the archangel whose name was Lucifer, and Lucifer was over the praise, worship, and music departments of heaven. But then Lucifer wanted to be like God, and instead of glorifying God, Lucifer wanted to be worshiped,

and God had to evict Lucifer from the heaveness. Luke says that he felled as lightning from heaven. And when Lucifer got kicked out of heaven, God never replaced him with one individual who'd be responsible for worship. Because of that, John chapter four says that the Father is seeking worship shippers who would worship God in spirit and in truth. And here's the reality. Gabriel is still bringing forth the word. Michael is still involved in warfare, but no single person

is responsible for worship. And since the Father is seeking worshipers, this is the primary reason why the enemy hates you and I whenever we praise God, because whenever we worship God, we literally remind the devil of the job that he got fired from. And I wish I had somebody around the Elevation Church who just take a moment and help me make the devil mad for me. I mean, every time you clap your hands, you make the devil mad. Every time you shock Holleylujah, you're making the devil mad.

Come on, say t get night enough. We will bless the Lord at all times, and his south continually be in our mouths. Listen and see here's the reality. Paul says. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory, that work glory. Then the Greek is the word docsa. It means a place of pre eminence. It means reverential adoration. It means to

make God an audience of one. Because up in the heaven is do the cherboms and serophims bow twenty four hours a day in perpetual obeisance to our God, who sits on the throne. And the only time when God is most comfortable in the earth is when we create, when we create environments that remind God of what he's accustomed to in the heavenless. That's why the scriptures teach us that God in habits the praises of his people.

And so Paul says, for off him and through him, into him are all things to whom be glory forever are man. Literally this passage in the Greek manuscripts that were no chapters. It was one continuous flow. And so what Paul says is God deserves to be worshiped. And since God deserves to be worshiped, I beseech you. Therefore,

my beloved brethren, that word beseech. That in the Greek is the word parah clayo para, meaning alongside the verb calayo, meaning to call it is a military summons para Calayoh beseech. In the first century world, whenever those generals were preparing for battle, they would issue a para calao for every

soldier to come and to engage in combat. Here, Paul uses a military term to call those of us whose soldiers of the Lord Jesus to engage and worship to our God God a warfare that is not Colonel and God says to Paul that if God is going to be glorified, because sometimes I think we've created different identities for what really brings glory, and unfortunately, sometimes I believe that the things that we think glorify God may not

actually bring glory to God. So Paul says, if you and I want to give God athenic glory is right here. I beseech you. Therefore, my beloved brethren, by the mercies of God, it is that you present your bodies, your soul, maya essence all of who you are unto God. And so the first thing that glorifies God, get this, It is the upward presentation. Can somebody say the upward presentation?

I present, we present everything, we are, everything we have as a vertical act of reference to God who sits on the throne, and Paul else says, here's why we should do this. God deserves the upwut presentation. It is because we are responding to God's mercies. It is an amazing passage. He says, I beseech you. Therefore, my beloved brethren, it is by the mercies of God. I'm urging you, I'm compelling you, I am imploring you to give God an upward gift and upwut presentation. Why, he says, you're

responding to the mercies of God. Now, this is what blew my mind because all my life I thought it was I thought it was mercy. So we see things like Lord have mercy. Paul says, no, it's really not mercy. Mercy is really plural. The Greek word there connotes plurality. That's why it says mercies of God, not just one. But it is plural mercies of God. Paul says. It is not singular mercy because God is too inexhaustible to

be relegated by singular abride. It is not mercy. It is mercies, meaning anything that God has deliberately withheld from each of us. That we rightly deserved. It is a type of mercy. It is one of God's mercies. Anything that God has deliberately and intentionally withheld from us that we deserved is one of his mercies. Can let me

come this way? Perhaps there are some of you who are in town for the football game yesterday, the HPCU Classic, And maybe some of you remember back in your college days twenty five or thirty years ago at North Carolina Central A and t or Duke, or at Davison, or at North Carolina State or at the University of North Carolina. Some of you remember some of your college days before you be in church at nine thirty on the sun the morning before you had given your life to God.

Some of us football season, we have gone out on Saturday and all day long watching the game, and some of us would have imbibed on some beverages that were not necessarily kool aid, iced tea or communion. Come on, talk to me, somebody, somebody remembers back in your BC

days before Christ Days. Perhaps you consume some things that you should not have consumed, and if you're not careful, you could have consumed too much of what you should not have been consuming in your college days, and even in your inebriation and in your intoxication when you got behind a wheel of an automobile. Somehow, some way, in spite of our irresponsibility, God allows you to get back to your dorm room or your apartment safely. You didn't get a hicclahomicide or a DUI. Can I tell you

what it was. It was not because you are a coherent driver. It's not because of the dictrity of your senses. The only reason you made it back safely, in your inebriation and your irresponsibility, is because God gave you a drunk mercy. Am I talking to somebody who can look back over your life and testify I've been done that, But I'm thankful for as mercy. Okay, all right, maybe you've never had alcohol before, but maybe in nineteen eighty five when you were in love with Charlie or june Bug.

You remember him. He had the crew cut or the Jerry curl and were the members only jacket and the Jordash jeans, and you fell in love with Charlie or june Bug. But he left your heart when he married Melissa or famee Quisha and you thought your life was over.

You thought the sun rose and sat on them. But you went back to your thirty fifth class reunion and the first person you saw was Charlie or June Bug and they had that same crew cut Jerry Curle members only jacket, short ash jean with three teeth in their mouths, and one of them was gold. And you look your hands right in the class for you, and it said, Lord, I thank you for a breakup mercy. I thank you

for the things that you have provided and prevented. And am I talking to somebody who can look back over your life and see stuff God that's kept you from you? All give God the offput presentation and give God glory holeymia. And so Paul says here that this offput presentation, that you're responding to his mercies. And then Paul says, it is a reasonable mandate. I beseech you, therefore, my beloved brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body

as a living sacrifice, A living sacrifice. That is interesting. I need to dig that for a moment. That word living is the word zio in Greek, where you get the word zoology from through Sayah living za o through Sayah living sacrifice. Now this is very very interesting because they brought in the first century an Old Testament with the Greeks would have called to God the pak fistko

through Sayah, which is a dead sacrifice. Some of you remember in the Book of Genesis, chapter twenty two, God told Abraham, Abraham, take your son Isaac up on Mount Mariah to offer him as a sacrifice under God. Abraham gets his son Isaac. They go up on Mount Mariah. He builds the altar, he has a knife, he has a wood, he has the dagger. He gets ready to kill his son to offer him as the pok fist

go through Saleh under Jehovah. And right before he gets ready to kill his son to offer him as a dead sacrifice, God speaks to him and say, if Abraham lay no hand on the lad, look in the thicket, there's a ram there. Release your son and get the ram, the lamb to offer the lamb the ram as a sacrifice. Because in the Old Testament God only accepted dead sacrifices. In the Book of Exodus, God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh to let the people go.

God sends ten plagues. And then God speaks to them and say, tell the people in Egypt that they should get a lamb, kill the lamb, and put the blood of the lamb on the door post, because this night in Egypt, the Death Angel is coming through Egypt, and if the blood of the lamb has not been applied to the door post, the death Angel will go into

that home to kill the first born. Because in the Old Testament they had to bring unto God pigeons, turtles, you lambs for the priests to kill to apply the blood to offer as an ocpacracist go through sale a dead sacrifice under God. In the Old Testament they had to bring dead sacrifices. But Paul says in this text that since we no longer live by a legalistic millie, that since we no longer live under the law, that God doesn't deserve a dead sacrifice. And our pop fisto

through sail. Paul says, God wants a si through sayl, a living sacrifice. And I don't know about you, but when God rode by this morning in his golden chariot, chauffeured by the invisible winds, and dispatch his darling angels to touch our bodies with the finger of love in our eyes. I think it came open to greet the vergin light of a brand new day. We rest under the canopy of God's benevolence, favor, and grace. And since you and I are alive today, how dare us enter

into this beautiful place? Or watch online and give God a dead sacrifice? God deserves a life, worship and a life praise and live glory to God lives giving live service, life praise. The Bible says, let every thing that hath breath, which means you alive, praise ye the Lord, and do me a favor. When you come to worship, get here in time enough to make sure you're seated by the right people. And here's how you know if you're seated by the right people. Just get on your role and

hollow at your role. And if you holler at your role and nobody hollers back, that's the wrong road to sit on. No, when you come to worship, you ought to look at somebody and say halle If they don't say Lujah, find somebody else to sit by, because you want to be besides somebody who has some life and has some energy and some praise. Is there anybody in this place who came to give God a live worship? I'm living sacrifice, nothing dead. But I'm letting sacrifice and

so and so. The upward the upward presentation, it's you're responding to His mercies. Is the least that you and I. It's a reasonable service, a reasonable worship. Then, Paul says, listen, once we give God the upward presentation. Secondly, in order to glorify God, listen, he says. Go backwards from conformation. Say backwards from conformation, not confirmation, conformation. Listen what he

says in verse two, and be not conformed. He says, don't assimilate, don't fashion yourselves into the Ion, which is the spirit of the world. Very powerful passes because at the time of the first Entry, Rome was considered to be the citadel of the Caesars. Rome was the darling of the human race. When Paul wrote in the first century, Rome was at home of Claudius and Caligula, of Nero Antiberius. It was a place where barbarity was celebrated. It was

the darling of the whole world. And Paul's ultimate desire was to get Trome because it was the citadel, it was the Darling, it was the Empire. But there were some believers who had moved into Rome. But Rome had historically been paganistic and pantheistic and polytheistic, and the message of Christ. Paul wanted that to be paramount in Rome.

But the challenge was this, when believers had begun to develop and grow in Rome, the spirit of the age was so intense that you couldn't demarcate between the saints in Rome versus the Ans in Rome. Paul was saying that many of the believers had been affected by this Roman spirit that did not prioritize Christ. It was about

the empire and power and greed and selfishness. And Paul says, in order to glorify God, don't conform to what's happening in the world, all the craziness that you see around you. Don't ever allow those things to become your reality. And let me share with you. I believe this passage is incredibly relevant because even now, there is a spirit in this age that has troubled my spirit. It's kept me up at night, a spirit of the age that's destroying

relationships and causing people to fall out. It is a spirit of political divisiveness and ideology, and the spirit of separation and the spirit of division. You can't even watch the news now with out ended up being nauseous and having a headache. So much hatred in the world Christians believers black and white, and a Church of God versus Baptists, and it seems that we can't get along because the spirit of this age has made so many prioritized politics

over the Kingdom of God. Let me share with your brothers and sisters. We should vote our political perspectives. We should vote our convictions. We should vote and promote our beliefs. We should be civically engaged. But we should never believe that the hope of our world is based upon whether you're part of a party that's represented by an elephant or a dunkey. The hope of our world is not an elephant or a dunkey, but a lamb, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The hope of our faith is in Sesus Christ, hallelujah. And my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and is righteous. Says I damn not trust the sweetest fraying, but Holy Lean on Jesus' name, on Christ, the Son of the Rocks. I stand all of the ground. Our kingdom is not of this world. We're going to a place where we won't need politics again. We have a God who's going to bring us together, of every kindred,

every tribe. And that's why I love Pastor Stephen Hollifredic That's why I love the Elevation Church, because you have made God and Christ. Listen, look around. This is what happened is supposed to look like, not about division and separation, but about believers of the every kindred, ever tribe climbing together to glorify our great God, give him praise and give them glory. You know the spirit of this age. It's the spirit that if you're not careful, it can

depress you. Oh goodness. A few months ago, I went and fill up. My family loves utility vehicles, and I have boys and their mom my wife is a teen mother, and so we always carrying a lot of kids, you know, for basketball games. And I went to fill up the utility vehicle and as I was at the pump, and it hit ninety and then it hit one hundred, and the one hundred ten, one hundred twenty, one hundred and thirty. I was confused. I didn't know whether to pray or

cuss or to kick the pumping. I was just I was just restaurant. I was having a moment, and right now the Holy Spirit convicted me. Instead, instead of you complaining, be thankful that you have one hundred and thirty dollars on a debit card. That other time this machine would have eaten your card. And here's what I want you

to know. No matter what happens in the economyment, no matter what happens with inflation, no matter what happens with gash prices or food prices, I want you to know something. Don't let the spirit of anxiety and depression overwhelm you. You know why because we're not gonna conform to anxiety and depression. You know why because the scriptures teach us. I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed

begging bread. God is gonna take care of you, regardless claud who's in the White House, because anybody will leave. We have a God who takes care of us. Do you believe we have a God who supplies our needs? God, go there and give God praise and give them glory hallelujah. So we have to give God the upward presentation. Then we go backwards from conformation. Don't let the spirit of the age overwhelm you. But then after the upward presentation

and backwards from conformation. Thirdly, Paul says, in order to glorify God, that needs to be the inward transformation. I say the inward say, inward transformation is right here, and be not conformed to this world, but listen, but be transformed. That word in Greek is the word we getting metamorphosis from the word renewing. Is where we get the word renovation from. It's in the present perfect imperative in Greek,

which means it's a continuous action. What he literally says is every day your mind and my mind must be in a constant state of renovation and metamorphosis. It's a beautiful picture. It's really a picture of a house. When a house gets old, it's subject to dilapidation, termites, asbestos, other issues. Periodically. What cause us to have to renovate house has to go through metamorphosis. Paul says, the mind

is analogous to an old house. There are treacherous termites, adver Sarah asbestos that can get into your mind, and if you're not careful, it can strimp your mind of everything that's powerful, of everything that's stable. So the mind has to be renovated. Reminds me of Solomon and Proverbs twenty three seven. Very interesting. Solomon says this, for as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he now? In Hebrew. Paul is trying to show how Solemnon is trying to show how the head and heart are one

singular entity. So etymologically, he's saying, head and heart want entity. As a person thinks in their hearts, head and heart are together in the Hebrew language is one. But in the English or in the biological that's an impossibility. What do you mean, as a person thinks in their hearts, that's biologically impossible? Why? Because the heart doesn't think? How can you think in your heart? The purpose of the heart scientifically is to pump blood. Scientifically, biologically, our hearts

don't think. All thinking is in the cerebrum, the cerebral cortex, the thalamus, the hype of thing, animals, the paneo glen, the mbdoolah, I'll bloom godda. Scientifically, all thought starts here. So what really is Solomon saying in Proverbs twenty three seven? Here's what he's saying very important. As a person thinks psychologically in their hearts cardiologically, so is he or she anthropologically. As a person thinks, that's your psychology. That's where it

begins in your heart. Cardiologically, that's how we behave. So is he anthropologically, that's what we become. As a person thinks, that's where it begins in their hearts. That's how we behave. So is he or she That's what we become. So we become inevitably what has existed in our minds. That's why dey carn't put it this way, cogito ergo soon, I think therefore I am, and so the battle for us is not for your finances or your family. It's for your mind. Because if the enemy can hit your mind,

he's got you. If you have mess constantly on your mind, eventually you and I will become messy. Okay, all right, okay, okay, that's got me. Come this way, all right. Second Corinthians ten to four, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but Mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and bringing it to captivity every thought. Paul says, you better put some handcuffs on your thoughts. Every child of God needs to keep some

handcuffs constantly on them. And that's not for you married people. That's time I'm talking about get your mind out to go to I'm talking about handcuffs to put them on your thoughts, because if your thoughts run loose, you have to handcuff and arrest your thoughts and say you will not run through my mind and drive me in same I'm gonna put handcuffs on my thought. This is what he said in Philippians chapter four. He says, for what

sever things are lovely, what sever things are honest? If that being a virtue, if that be any praise, Think on these things, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your He says peace. Then if your thoughts are right, peace becomes a military guard and stands in front of your mind to prevent anything that's diabolic from getting into your mind. Isaiah twenty six three says, for if we keep our minds stayed on him, He'll keep us in peri peace. When I grew up in Georgia,

the old people would sing a song. I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus. You got to declare to the ternet, you will not have my mind. I will focus my mind and my thoughts and my affections. Let me share something very personal with you. Five years ago, I went through the most Six years ago, I went through the most traumatic season of my life. Here's what happened. One week my godmother died. I was expecting them. The next week, my mother died and didn't tell when she

was leaving. Three days after my mother died, my best friend from college died literally one hour after he helped me plan my mother's funeral. He had a massive heart attack. Three weeks after my mother died, my sister died. So I want you just imagine planning four funerals, picking out four caskets, and having to deliver four eulogies for the closest people in my life in less than thirty days.

Five days after bearing my sister, my brother had a massive stroke and the doctor said it's because there's something that's called broken heart syndrome. I never knew broken heart syndrome. Here I am the man of faith. Here I am the preacher demand of God. Here I'm the one who's always comedic, always a clown, always joking. Here I'm the one who always is hopeful, and yet there's no hope. I couldn't even read the word of God. I couldn't

even I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to hear people tell me your mother's in a better place. I want I want it to literally go tayekwondo on anybody who told me she's in a better place. Don't cry. I know she's in a better place. I'm not hurt the cause of where she is. I'm hurting me because of where she's not. Please miss me with that before I chop you right in your throat. I was so discouraged. I was so depressed. I was so stressed. I couldn't

go to the bed. I shut my calendar down. They said passing, when you come back to preach, I said, never rear. I didn't know if I'd ever preach again. I was just so broken. I was so broken to this very day, my family. I still have my mother's messages on my phone. I will never delete them. I just every now and they just want to hear a voice, and I just it's an old message. I just will play it just to hear a voice. And I had

to eventually go and get therapy. It took me about eighteen months to kind of find some sense of balance, and I'm still not where I want to be now. Mother's Day I cry all day. My mother's birthday, I'm sick. I know she's in heaven. Holidays don't quite feel the same. And now I understand that grief is the price that I pay for love. But I was so broken, so disheveled, discombobulated, and didn't know what I was gonna do. And the enemy kept telling me, you pray for so many other people.

You seen God perform miracles for others, Why didn't he do it for you? Will people believe in faith in you? I was so hurt, And do men favor? Do mel favor before you criticize me for my vulnerability. Don't you ever criticize some person's steps if you haven't walked in their shoes. I was just I was just broken. I really was. I'd never been that broken in my entire life. But you know what I've begun to get back out

and push the word of God. Stop traveling because I just didn't feel the six that the enemy had me to believe that it is that any efficacy in your preaching. But you know why I'm here because when I got this Charlotte, when I came to Charlotte today my goodness and got the elevation in church today, I understand this. I am thankful that in my worst season of my life, God kept my mind. Oh yes, God, and has transformed

and it's transforming my mind. Am I talking to anybody who's gone through something that's been so traumatic that you thought you would put your shoes on your hands and your socks on your head. But somehow today you in worship today giving God the glory because in the worst moments of your life, we serve a God who can renew and who can keep your mind. Y'all got to excuse me. I feel the Holy Ghost right here. Can I tell you something some of you shot over money, calls, cash, clothes,

and creature comforts. This morning, I want to thank God. I'll have five reasons to thank God. Can I give my quick five reasons why I want to thank God? Number one, he kept my mind. Number two, he kept my mind. Number three, he kept my mind. Number four, He kept my mind number five, He kept my mind. Is it keeping your mind? If you kept your mind, come on and get out from y'all praise and gold litten word and so let him transform, Let him transform

your mind, let him make your mind new. And Jesus listen. So I got one more thing to tell Please take you sees one more thing to tell you, hallelujah. If you're gonna glify God upward presentation backwards from conformation? In what transformation? Well full find Finally, if we're gonna growify God,

that must be the outward demonstration. I'm done. Somebody say outward demonstration first too, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That word that's prove Is it interesting because it's translated from two perspectives. I want you to prove that's verb verb the verb form. Prove to do it actively, pursue it to ascertain the will

of God. E groups, you've proven the will, Bible study proven the will, worship, we actively prove the will. But many commentators suggest that the best understanding of this is not in the verb form of prove, but the noun form what what do you mean? Verb you go and do it? Verb you go and prove it. Now you become proof of it. So once we have proven the will, now we become proof of what his will is. Okay, let me let me close by. Get this story. That's

a man in California. His name is Michael Needaw in Edow. He is an attorney, a physician, and also a minister in some a former minister in some group. Well. Now he's an atheist and he filed litigation against the ninth District in California because, as an atheist, he felt that his daughter, who's in public school, was subjected to the clause one Nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance. He sued the local knife districts in California and he won.

He won because they said the word God in a public, publicly funded institution is a violation of his his constitutional rights. He won. The only reason that it did not change was because it has federal implications. Because public schools received federal dollars. They went to the Supreme Court about this, and Supreme Court agreed some years ago with his claim. The only reason they didn't make changes at that time, they said, was because he didn't have legal custom of

his daughter. But what he says now, he's going back to get some more atheists like him. They're going back to Supreme Court to delete one nation under God from the pleasure of allegiance. Then once he does that, he says he's going after currency, after money. Your dollar bill has on the back of it in God we trust. So why would the government produce something that has God? Is that a separation between God and government? And somebody interviewed this clown, I mean interviewed this food, I mean

interview this man. Excuse me, and they ask him why is he so adamant about getting rid of God? Here's what he said. He said, I am upset with the faith community because if God is who they say he is, here's my problem. Where's the proof. You can't even periodically observe him. You can't put him onder a crucible of experimentation and investigation, can't observe them with the five senses. He says, if anybody who's a believer can offer me

proof that this God is who you say is. Then maybe I'll stop, but I will not stop until I get proof. I thought about something this morning. Maybe I'll go to East Atlanta and get some of my saves, cousins who still got some hood in them, and you guys go drop Mecklenburg County and those of you who can be hood and holy simultaneously, and we all dress up in some black garments with black bandanas around our heads.

And when that court case convenes, we bust up in that Supreme Court court room say hey, sir, we heard that you were looking for some proof that God is who God says God is, Sir, if you need some proof, you know what I got an idea when I was in undergrad. I was in pre law, and in pre law, we would have prop mock trials to prepare us for courtroom. Thank you hold the spirit I want today. I want us to have a mock trial to prepare for with

him that court case is gonna convene. I want you to imagine with me as I close, that God is on trial. The Charubles are the justices. The twelve tribes of Israel are the jurors. God is the defendant. Mister Needhole is the plaintiff. I was trying to get somebody to come with me today and represent God, but nobody was available. So if you allow me, I'm gonna represent God. I'm gonna be God's defense attorney. Just imagine this with men,

and today we're in the courtroom. We're not an elevation in the courtroom in DC, and we're going that courtroom. And they have accused my client God of being a fictitious, abstract metal physical ambiguity. They have accused my God of not being real. I'm gonna defend it, but I can't defend him without any evidence, any proof. So in a moment when they call for me, I'm gonna offer into evidence five exhibits. And if these exhibits fits you, I want you to stand, remain standing and shout as loud

as you can. I'm proof. I'm evidence. So you already all right? Cord And says Hue, I am E Dewey Smith, and I brought some evidence with me from Charlotte, North Carolina. Your honors, let me off into evidence exhibits A through E they will authenticate that my client is guilty of being God. Your honest let me off into evidence. Exhibit A. Yes, Exhibit A. These are the people who've had ailments before, they've been sick in their bodies. But my client was

Jehovah Rophi. My client was Jehovah Rathaka and healed their bodies. I need exhibit A to stand. Just exhibit A. Just stand and shout it. I'm proof, keep standing, I'm evidence Exhibit B, your honor. These are the people who've been broke before. They didn't have any money, but my client push Jehovah zirah. How did an exhibit be the standing shot? I'm proof exhibit see. These are the people who should have been crazy by now, but my client caretul in

that right mind. How did the exhibit see the shot? I'm proof exhibitdeed. These are the people who've been depressed. They go through divorce, death and devastation where they can testify. There ain't nobody do me like Jesus. Exhibit E. You're on a deed of the ones who had Internet shop. But they can testify. If God be for you, who

can be? I gets you? Now? Do me one favored Look at a neighbor, saying neighbor, Just in case you want to see somebody there who is a proof and who wants to jerk Dard Glory look norf look at me time aletty task about it? Say that, you say that? Say say well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of 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 GiB and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.