God's Got Your Back

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. God

is really moving through this minister. So thanks to all of you who give and pray and serve and believe and show up and invite and invest and do all the stuff that makes it possible. God has using you in a great way. And to that end, I believe He's given me a word today that will empower your spirit, encourage your faith, and strengthen your heart. Who's ready for the word of God. I want to call your attention

to Isaiah chapter thirty, verse nineteen through twenty one. In this prophecy, there is a promise from God that he spoke to me on a personal level a few months ago. And sometimes I have to hold onto something personally before I can preach it prophetically into your life. But I believe today He's called me to do just that. Let he who has an ear to hear hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. Isaiah thirty, verse nineteen. Listen to this awe some exceeding, great and precious promise

from the Word of God. People of Zion who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. Eugene Peterson said, your time for tears is over. How gracious He will be when you cry for help. As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity in the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more. With your own eyes, you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left. Your ears will hear a voice behind

you saying this is the way walk in it. Wow. The Lord put me up behind this pulpit today to remind you something very simple, very strong. He wanted me to tell you God's got your back. God's God your back, and on your way to your seat. Just tell three people. I can't reach them. You can't say God's got your back. He's absolutely committed. And connect it to whatever is concerning you. God's got your back. Say it, God's got my back. Amen, you receive it. God's got my back. I need thirteen

people to put it in the chat. God's gotten my back. God's got my back. Amen. And I'm learning, at least in this season or stage of my life, how important it is for me to stay in constant communication with the Lord, because I forget that. I can't be one of these pray five minutes in the morning and see God again tomorrow morning Christians, because that's too long for me to get in trouble. You give me twenty three hours and fifty five minutes between prayer times. I'm a mess.

I mean imagine this, that we would just talk to God in the morning, run off, see you back here tomorrow. You might not make it back tomorrow. If you don't say something to God between that morning and the next morning, how many know I'm right? And has it gotten more that way for you? I used to be a little cockier. I think I used to be cockier when I was younger or something like that. But now just little aches and pains in your body will even remind you to

talk to the Lord. I don't know if I could pick up my fork unless He helps me do it. I'm not trying to say I'm old in decrepit or anything like that, but just every once in a while, God'll give you a little signal like you can't do this with without meaning. I promise you the whole thing will end up in the junkyard and you better talk to me along the way. And that's how I that's how I keep my heart with God, just to talk to him in constant conversation. Now, I don't mean I'm

walking around out loud talking to God. I do that too. One trick I learned is put your AirPod in and that will help you talk to God and people won't lock you up in the middle institution while you're doing it. That's a little trick I use. I like that. Just put that AirPod in. I just talk to God sometimes, even if I'm driving down the road, I put the AirPod in in case anybody looks over my window and sees me talking and there's nobody in the passenger seat.

There is somebody in the passenger seat. In fact, there's somebody in the driver's seat. And if he stops driving my life, I'm headed off this road so quick. I'm telling you, I need constant course correction. So I was telling my son this, how your attitude is like that. You know, you don't just get in the car and touch the wheel once unless pay extra for your car to do that. You have to sit there and bring it back all the time. Well, our minds are like that,

our hearts are like that. At least mine is like the infomercial used to say, set it in forget it. I don't know if y'all ever saw that infomercial. Well, my heart is not a set it and forget it kind of heart. My heart is a set it and reset it and reset it and reset it and reset it. And seems like, no matter how many things God does for me, it's almost like he's too good at his job.

God is so good at his job. I almost forget he's doing it, so then I ask God to help me, and then I take off and like I discovered in my body the other day, I was talking about aches and pains. My shoulder had been hurting me for a while. It finally got bad enough where I called doctor Gullason. I said, can you help me? He came over and helped me with my shoulder, but he asked me how

long has it been hurting? I said four months. Because I'm a man, I'm not going to say anything about it till I you know, I'm only sleeping two hours a night because I'm waking up every ten minutes. And he was angry with me about that. He said, why didn't you say something sooner? Why didn't you call me over here after four days? I would have been happy to help you if you had said something sooner. Or I'll tell Holly, I've had a headache all day. That

woman has a pharmacy in her purse. It comes out like an accordion file when she opens it, unbelievable. And she has all kinds of stuff with caffeine, without caffeine, just all kinds of different things in her purse. And I'll tell her my head's been hurting all day, and she'll say, why didn't you say something sooner? And so that seems to be it with God. You know, why didn't you say something sooner? Why did you run around

all day long feeling like a loser? And I've talked to me so I could remind you who I am. And I know why we don't talk to God because it is easier to turn to something that we can see for immediate relief than it is to trust in a father that we can't see, so that he builds our faith. And that's the thing. You can't just talk to God when you come here on Sunday. You really can't just listen to a sermon a week or God forbid you just listen to clips. I mean some people

won't even do the full sermon, just a clip. Okay, that's not going to cut it when you really start facing the challenges of life. Clips won't cut it. Cliches won't cut it. Little you know, little little thank you Lord help me as I go today and bless me along my way. And you know, little prayer over dinner is not going to cut it. I'm not saying God will not love you, but you're just not going to

feel his love. You're not going to know it's there, and you're going to turn to things that will work for you for a little while, but they will not sustain you. I just want to talk to you about this before we get into the direct passage that we read, because I have to constantly talk with God, and the Lord was telling me pretty clearly before I came out today.

You don't talk to him enough. You don't talk to him enough, and when you stop talking with God, the enemy starts working on you when you stop coming to him. I mean, in just that moment by moment way, It's great to come to church. Trust me, I have a lot invested in this. But you know, imagine if we were Imagine if we were sitting together in the morning and you saw me going and you let it go for a little while, but finally you get up the courage to ask what are you doing? And I'm like, oh,

I'm getting my breathing in. It's because average human takes twenty thousand breaths a day. So I really want to be bothered with breathing later in today because I'm real busy. Later today, I'm gonna just get all twenty thousand in right now. I don't think it works like that, but we think worship works like that. Three songs, three days later, you're going to be defeated. And I love the language of Isaiah because listen, he's talking to a king, a

good king, good king, Hazekiah. He's a good king. And Israel had a lot of bad kings. Hazekiah was not one of them. He had a great heart. The Bible says that his heart was turned to the Lord. It was committed to the Lord. But just because you're a good king doesn't mean that you don't do dumb things. Just because you're a good parent, a good spouse, good person, doesn't mean you don't do dumb things. Hazekaiah did something

really dumb. I'll tell you what he did. He made an alliance with the king of Egypt because he was being attacked by the Assyrians. Now, the Assyrians were fears so much so that when they went to attack the Northern Kingdom of Israel, they wiped them out, laid siege on the city, and Hasekiah, after seeing that, decides I need some help, so I'll go to Pharaoh. Pharaoh rings a bell for a lot of us who come to church, because we remember hundreds of years earlier, when Pharaoh was

in charge of Egypt. That wasn't his name, that was his title. Pharaoh was the one who fed the children of Israel for a little while, and then something happened where they became enslaved in the system that they had escaped to. You remember that now this is a different pharaoh, This is several centuries later. But there is something in this moment of attack that causes Hezekiah to make an unwise alliance. Lean in. When you're under attack, you make

unwise alliances. And when you feel tired, when you feel tested, when you feel like you're in trouble, what do you turn to? Just think about that for a moment. What do you turn to? What do you turn to when you're tired, when you're tested, when you're in trouble? What do you turn to? Now see a lot of people that'll go through something in life and it'll get so bad, so out of control, so unmanned that at the end of asking every other person that they can think of,

what should I do? How should I do it? Can you help me? After going through everybody on their phone so many times that they start getting blocked. After all of that, they'll say, well, all we can do now is pray in that backwards like in the beginning, was the word, The Word was with God, and the Word was God. The scripture says in Hebrews eleven three that by faith we understand that everything which was visible was made by something that was invisible, the Word of God.

That the Word of God created the world and framed the world. So that everything you step into in your life is something that God spoke before you got to it. So everything I'm stepping into in this season of my life is something that God has already spoken. If he doesn't speak it, I can't step into it. If he didn't speak it, there would not be ground beneath my feet. If he didn't speak it, there wouldn't be a next step for me to take. If he didn't speak it,

it wouldn't be here. So everything I'm stepping into God has already spoken. Why would I speak to others about something that God spoke into existence before I spoke to the one who knows where my path leads. And in the text, Isaiah says something very powerful. He says that that that that you will weep no more and watch this. I love I love the time frame reference here because this really gives me hope because sometimes I need God quick.

I need God quick. How many of you came here to church today and you need God to do something quick in your life, something quick in your life because you don't always have time. I know, wait on the Lord. I know be a good cur I know he will strengthen your heart. But some things in your life you need God to do for you quickly. Well, this is your verse all right, get ready to shout. If you need God to do it, and do it quick. Watch this how gracious He will be when you cry for help.

This is verse nineteen. As soon as you get your act together, as soon as you clean up your act, as soon as you learn these seven principles from the Word of God, as soon as you memorize Isaiah thirty. As soon as you go back and repair every relationship you screwed up, as soon as we get through this recession, as soon as you get married, as soon as you get kids. As soon now, he said, as soon as he hears he will help you. As soon. Come quickly, Lord,

you gotta have those come quick prayers. Come quickly, Lord, Come quickly, Holy Spirit. Come quickly before I slip. Come quickly before I fall. Come quickly before I lose my mind. Come quickly before I lose my testimony. Come quickly before I relapse. Come quickly before our backslide. Come quickly before I go off. Come quick, Lord, I need you quick. Why did he go to Egypt for help when he knew the God of Elijah. It's because we reach for

what's immediate, not always was helpful. One of the attendants of the Assyrian army came out and said, you went to the king of Egypt. This is in Second Kings, around chapter nineteen. He said, you went to that splintered staff. Everyone who leans on him gets pierced. This ain't gonna work. This isn't gonna work at all. Where do you turn when you're tired? Where do you turn when you're in trouble? And why don't you do it sooner? Why didn't I go to God? I know it's easier for us to

go with what we can see. This is the challenge to depend on an invisible God that you can't see when you're facing challenges that are so big that they are all that you can't see. Come here, time, Come on, come on, come and come here. This is the one I told the story about a few months ago, but I need you to visualize it. And since he's here today, we're going to take our opportunity. He does so many things. Well, he's so gifted, he's so talented, y'all see my fate.

Every week that's fly tie to Jacobs, the one and only, the one and only. I always tell him in my chair everything I'm going to preach for Orre, I preach it, and then I preach none of it because God always changes it between Saturday and Sunday. But come here, because he was going to give somebody a haircut recently. You know, this is like crazy sponsorship life right here. What I'm doing for you right oh man, I'm telling you you owe me like seven free haircut something of this. There's

a lot of people that watch. But this will be worth it you, This will be worth it for the illustration. He said. I went to cut somebody's here the other day, and when I was going in, you know what I'm gonna tell them. When I was going in, I got intimidated because their house was crazy and I started thinking, first of all, about why they get this house, and I don't get it because he's petty, so y'all pray for money. Secondly, he said, it started to get in my head. It started to get in my head. I

got distracted by how nice the house was. I started getting intimidated. And he said, but when I went in and I started doing what I do, what God gives didn't need to do, He said, it was amazing because when I left, I got a text from everybody that was in the house that said, man, it changed our lives having you in our house today. Yeah. Yeah, did you make that up? Or is that true? True? You have a good he said, this is a true story, all right. I only have his word to go off of.

He is an exaggerator, but I believe it. And I looked at him and I said, it sounds like you got so distracted by what you were walking into, Yeah, that you forgot what you were walking in with. Yes, won't that breach Tom? And that like the children of Israel going into Canaan to spy out the land carrying the promise of a covenant keeping God talking about the giants are big. What happened They got so distracted by what they were walking into that they forgot the promise

they were walking in with. That's so good. So when you remember, I'm done with you. So when you remembered, I just wanted to use that illustration because I saw him there and it came to my heart, and I think it might be for somebody, because when you are not in constant communication with God, and I mean just throughout the day, God is there. I go. I get off track. God, there I go. I get off track. God, there I go, I get off track. You will be all the way through the whole bag of fridos before

you realize. Oh, I need the Holy Spirit to fill me, because these freedoms are filling me. But it doesn't feel very good now that they fill me. I'm not less stressed. I just got three more pounds to carry when I get off this couch and now don't feel like doing anything. And now I'm gonna take a nap and I'm gonna miss my job, and now I'm gonna get fired, and then my wife's gonna leave me, and everything fell apart because I ate FreeDOS. But what I'm saying is what

I'm saying is listen to me. Say something sooner, Say something sooner. Catch yourself quicker. Instead of running to pills, say something to God instead of running to porn, Say something to God, instead of running to pessimism. Say something to God instead of watch this crying out for help. Because everybody has a different way they yell for help. Some people yell for help through anger. They're really not mad, they're scared, so they get angry. It's a way of saying,

help me. I'm afraid, but I don't know how to ask for help. So I get angry because I'm yelling for help because I never learned how to ask for help. So if you would say something sooner, maybe it wouldn't get to this point. Maybe it wouldn't get this ridiculous. Maybe it wouldn't come to the point where you blow up. Maybe it wouldn't get to the point where it crushes you. Maybe it wouldn't get to the point where you're carrying it so long and the load weighs so much that

you don't see any other way out. Why didn't you say something sooner? When your God has medicines of all descriptions, When your God says has healing for everything, that hurts you. When your God says, I'll answer you as soon as I hear you, not as soon as you hurt, but as soon as you pray about it. You can hurt a long time and not get help, because hurting does not attract help, fake does. Prayer does praise us. Eh. When you are prayerless, you are paralyzed. A lot of

the paralysis in our lives. Oh I don't know what to do. Oh I don't know how to handle it. Oh I can't go forward. It's because prayerlessness leads to paralysis, keeps you focused on what you're walking into. How many are walking into a season right now that you just don't see any way it's going to turn out? Okay, and it may be five or maybe five hundred or maybe fifty thousand, but raise your hand right now, I'm

walking into something. Okay, that isn't enough. Let me try another way in how many of y'all are going back to school this week? Okay? Stand up, look at me, a God's got your back. Look at me, look at me, look at me, stand up straight. God's got your back. God's got your back. Everybody say it out loud, God's got my back. I need you to go back to school knowing that God is behind you in your y'all want to sit down? Stand up one more second? Stand up? On more said, I sent it one more second. You

can't afford to go back to school alone. You're not ready to go back to school just because you got new shoes for it. We all get new shoes to go back to school. I got my Rebod pumps, but my Rebod pumps weren't enough. If God doesn't have my back, I can't make it through the temptation. If God doesn't have my back. But if God be for meoo can be against me? Come on, slap yourself on the chest, say God's got my back. And I'm telling you say no, no no, I'm telling you you can call on God. Now.

Don't call on God when you didn't study for the test and ask him to help you pass it. Lord don't really work like that. You gotta pray for God when you feel like playing video games instead of studying, and involve Him at that point. If you involve him sooner, maybe you won't get to the test sweating and having

to wonder if I gonna make it. If you will come to God sooner, anybody wish they would have started living for God when they were in the eighth grade, learned how to talk to God sooner run around trying to fulfill all these desires you to understand in sexual ways and in social ways, trying to climb the ladder of status, to only realize that there's no substance in status if you don't know who you are in the spirit.

God's got your back. We get so distracted by what we're walking into and what other people have and what they look like. Come on, man, they didn't even buy that Gucci bag with cash. They put it on a credit card that's matched out and it's the fourth one, and now you feel insecure because you don't have what they have. I'm just talking from my heart, y'all. I told the Lord after last week's sermon, I said, I will never I will never after how God convicted me

about David taking the census. I will go by how many views a sermon gets to verify and validate whether or not it was the word of God. I will never do it again. That's when I get up here to preach. I only need to know one thing. Did God say it? Is it true? Because if he did. That means what he begins, he backs what God begins, He backs. The Bible says that before you were born in your mother's womb, God fashioned you. That's right before you got here. God spoke it. You stepped into this world.

But God spoke you before you stepped into it. So at the moments you feel too weak to walk on, you got to remember this truth that the preacher gave you on this Sunday morning, on this Tuesday night, on this Wednesday afternoon. Whenever you're listening to it, God is speaking it. But he is going to speak it now, for when you step into it later, that you remember that He backs what he begins. He finishes what he starts. He does not progress today. He's right on time. He's

not running behind. He didn't forget about you. He said that soon as I hear you, AH help you. That's soon. That's your call. I answer you. In the day I'm trouble, I'm reach down and do it. Good quick, law good quick, and help me stop quick and do it. Cup quick with the red seam miracle. Duck quick, move a mountain, Doug quick, make me strong, God quick, break these chains.

He said, I'll do it. God is strengthening me. Watch verse twenty, gotta throw verse twenty in he said, sometimes you get the bread of affliction and the water of adversity, or one or the other. I don't remember which one came first, adversity or affliction. But he he calls a fight food. Isaiah at thirty twenty isaid, thirty twenty, I'm stolen. So then get on the screen the bread of adversity, the water of affliction, adversity, affliction. That's the fight, God said,

that's the food. That's how I'm building you. I'm bringing you through things right now, and even the things that are coming against you are going to work for you, because God's God. My bad. You don't need the king of Egypt for this fight. When Hezekiah got serious and prayed to God, look it up. God sent angels into the tents of the enemy and slew one hundred and eighty five thousand of them. And all you get when you lean on Pharaoh's staff is a splinter. So why

didn't you say something sooner? Why don't you say something? Watch this, not after they ruined your day. Stop letting people ruin your five minutes. Say something to God. Okay, I'm off track. Now you see how they looked at me. Lord, Now I will do it to an extreme, and you may not need this extreme, but maybe God sent you an extreme preacher because you are extremely dysfunctional. I don't know.

I tell you how I do it. I got to drop on my knees sometimes, just right in the middle of stuff, just sneak off and get on my knees. And I think that's better than to fall flat on my face because I didn't get on my knees. Now, you have to get a style that works for you. But God said, you're not talking to them enough, and that's why the enemy is busy. That's what worry is. It's the substitute for the prayers you didn't pray. That's how the enemy fills the space with the things that

you won't pray about. He gets your faith in reverse, so it starts working against you, starts tearing your part. Got you now, got you now? But the Lord said, as soon as you cry, I hear you, and I help you. You can't make that stuff happen. You know what, that was an illustration. We didn't work that out. But God got my back. God said, you need an illustration. I'll make a baby cry at that moment. I'll set it up, I'll make it work, I'll bring it together.

I cannect it, I'll hold it on. And just like that, you can trust and the knowledge and the wisdom of God. I can quit right here, we can keep going. It's up to you. That was the set up. Because we did at who what? When? Where? Right? We did who? The Lord said, I want to help you. We did a a What will he do? He said that he will hear you. Yeah, we did a win. As soon as you cry. As soon as you cry, the Lord

will quickly deliver you. But then he will also direct you. Now, this is what I had to meditate on because verse twenty one upended a lot of my understanding. It messed with me because in twenty one he says, whether you turn to the right or to the left, did you hear a voice behind you saying this the way? Walk in it? So it sounds like that wherever you go, whatever you do, God will be with you to tell

you when to turn. If you're not stubborn. If you're stubborn and you won't pray and you just stuff it all down all the time, and you won't join any group. It's called a call back. Then the Lord can't direct you. So you know. I'm look, I'm not a bad driver as long as I don't have to find where to turn right. Holly's much better. She is much better, And usually I listen to her other thight. I didn't. We're coming home from my mom's I'm going in traffic circle,

she said. Now I'm not this one. The third one, the third one, the third one, the third one, the third one, the third one. Now watch what she didn't do. She didn't grab the wheel, she didn't yell at me, she didn't reprimand me. She just said very softly, which is usually not Holly's normal gear for talking. But she said, not this, not this. And I was like, you know, woman, you how many times I came back from my mom's house. It's the second one. It's the second one. She said, Okay,

this is not the same circle. This is the one they put in since the last six months, since we've been going the other way to go to your mom's house on Wednesday night to eat dinner and watch Wheel of Fortune. This is the new We do that every Wednesday night. I love it. From the highlights of my week. She cooks so good, so nostalgic. Stay with me, Stay with me, She said, this is the new circle. This is not the same circle. This the new circle. This

is not the same circle. Your challenge is going to be in your life that you are going to try to memorize the miracles that God does for you and the ways that He takes you. Not to realize that things are always changing, and the way that you raise your kids or approach your life in one season may not produce success in the next season, because this is not the same circle. And if you don't have the voice of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit, either one will do to tell you where to turn, you

miss it. But sometimes even when the Lord tells you. My friend the other day said I had a really bad marriage, but God tried to tell me so many times not to marry that person. It was crazy. I said, what kind of little signs did he give? You? Said, not little signs. She cocked a gun and pointed it at me. I still married her. That was the first time. So that might be God saying, you know, there's other fish in the sea. Even if there's not another fish in the sea, go kill a deer, eat that get

out of the sea. But the passage was so powerful to me. It said, whether you turn to the right or to the left, whether you go to Elon or Chapel Hill. Let's think of a college. Right now. You are so stressed about did you make the right decision to go to school? Here it's the freshman year and you're thinking, is this the right school? It really doesn't matter right now. What you got to do is find the right people. We can get paralyzed in decision making

about things that don't matter as much. I was telling them one time in church, how in the town I grew up and there weren't so many schools to choose from where to put your kids. I mean, there weren't so many schools like that. So you just did it, and you got along with it, and you made peace with it. Sometimes our options are the enemy of our peace. Oh I should have done this, Oh I should have done that. Oh I could have done that. The Lord said, whether you turn to the right or to the left.

The important thing isn't necessarily the road that you take. The important thing isn't necessarily I'll be honest with you, I don't think you have to come to church here for God to bless you. You can go to another church and God will speak to you there. You can go to another church and God will have a word for you there. That's fine, But the important thing is not necessarily about that initial decision. Is itant thing is not necessarily which way you go, but how you walk

on that path. The important thing isn't necessarily which church you go to. Y'all, I think this is an amazing church. As a matter of fact. This is my favorite church in the world. As a matter of fact, if y'all run me out of this church, I don't think I'll will go find another one to preach in, because what could I ever do after pastoring Elevation Church that would live up? It would be such, it would be so all I spent my whole time doing was comparing it

to this. I don't even think. I mean, if God told me too, I have to do it, but I wouldn't want to. I would do with a bad attitude. If the Lord make me pastor another church, well, I'm saying, And yet the important thing isn't what church you go to, Because you could sit in the back of this church and never get involved and never get helped, and never get hooked up, and never get connected, and never be successful, and never be set free. And it's a great church.

You came to the right church. You turn to the right. Okay, good job, But how are you walking on that path whether you turn to the right or the left? Give me Verse twenty one is so annoying. It is so annoying. The Lord said, you will hear a voice. God will speak to you there. God will speak to you in your rebellion. Even when you turn your back on him, He'll still speak. Even when you walk away from him, He'll still speak. He is always speaking. He's still speaking,

He's still talking, He's still directing. God didn't stop talking when you graduated. God didn't stop talking when you got the job. God didn't stop talking when you got saved. He's still talking. Are you still stepping? Are you still growing? Are you still going? Are you still maturing? Are you still changing? Are you going around in the same circle, the same circle? Missing your turn? Because there's something God is speaking, but you can't see it. As the Bible said,

something crazy. You will hear a voice behind you saying this is the way. Walk in there. We found a video of Graham's some of Graham's first steps the other day. I show it to you. It's only thirty seconds. It was too cute. Watch it, me and Graham watching it together. Can you stand up and walk? No? No, stand up? Please? Graham? Stand up? There you go. Good job. Come on, come on? Oh do it again? Do it again? Come on? Stand up? Kee y come, come, come come in. Look what all

he just did? And she went and clapping. I mean, that was a much more complicated journey than the one that was on that video. No, yay, Graham. He just did that. That even involved steps. It even involved steps. He didn't even trip like you did on the video. Now he's just doing it. Now, he's just doing it. And y'all were just as bad, none of y'all platform. He came all the way up here. I wish I could have told him that. I wish I could have told him that that is about as much encouragement as

you're ever gonna get for doing so little. From this point forward in your life. You got to do crazy stuff to get that level of applause. You've got to win, like at least a state championship before your mom is ever going to be that proud of you again for that. And see that's where it shifts, because remember in the picture where was she couldn't you couldn't see her. You couldn't see Holly in that picture, could you. You couldn't

see her in that video. But she was right there in front of him saying, you know, yay, Graham, please don't crawl, please, please don't crawl. She's begging him to do something that he just did. And she was barely even aware he did. I watched her. She was so bored while he walked up here, and he just did it. And and early in your in your walk, it'll be like God, it'll be like yay, okay, okay, okay. If

you get baptized at elevation, we'll cheer for you. We'll cheer for you in that wonderful in that awesome and I want some of you to get baptized. I'd be great. We'll be there to cheer for you, and they'll be around that tank going yay Graham, that's amazing that you gave your life to Christ. That it's amazing that you did that. That's so great that you put your faith in Christ. And that's about as good as it's ever

gonna get. If you raise your hand in a minute, when I give the invitation, who wants to give their life to Christ, Who wants to turn their life over to Jesus, who wants to receive the gift of his salvation, the forgiveness of sins, the remission of sins by the shedding of His blood. When your hand goes up, everybody start clapping, and the angels in heaven will start rejoicing, and it'll be amazing. And it's our way of saying, yeah, come on, w walk do it. Do it. It's amazing.

It's amazing. But watch Isaiah thirty twenty one for the revelation. Then you will hear a voice behind you saying, watch this. This is the way walk in. Yeah, this is the way walk in it. This is the way walk in it. This is the way walk in. Trust me. This is the way walking in. This is the way walk in it. Turn to the left. This is the way walk away. This is the way. Do it again, turn to the left. This is the way walk in it. Y'all. He could have walked right off the edge and it wouldn't have

been my fault. This is the way this is the way. Notice that God's word comes as you walk. This is the way walk in it. This is the way walk in it. This is the way walk in it. Now we've come a long way from yay Graham, yay that It wasn't that awesome what he did on that video. It was basic. But then God calls you to walk by faith, not by sight. God pass God my back. This is the way walk in it. This is the way go slow walk in it. This is the way walk in it. This is the way walk in it.

This is the way walk in it. This is the way walk in it. This is the way walk in it. And he doesn't even have to touch me to turn me. This is the way walk in it. Turn left. This is the way walk in it. This is the way. It assumes that I will stay close enough. If you get too far ahead, maybe you can't hear him anymore if you get too far in the future. Somebody asked me the other day, do you plan on pastoring Elevation

Church when you're eighty? If I even start thinking about having to have a new sermon thirty eight years from now, y'all will watch me have a panic attack on YouTube in front of the world. I can't think that far out. All I know is today he told me to tell you God's got your back. God s got your back. God s got your back. God Scott, You're back. This is the way. This is the way. Yeah, that's good. This is the way. You can't see me, but you believe me. This is the way. Walk in it. We

walk by faith, not by sight. I'm not looking at what I'm wanting into. I know what I'm walking in with. I got a word from Almighty God over my shoulder to fight every devil and to tell every Jezebel. I am no prophet. I will stand up on the mountain of the Lord. I will proclaim illustration and progress. I will declare the works of the Lord. This diet will go down. This is the way walk in in and one word from God is all you need to walk into this day. This is the way. Walk in it.

This is the way. Walk in it. When you get to the next day, I'll give you the next word. When you get to the next turn, I'll give you the next word. When you get to the next decision, I'll give you the next word. When you get to the next challenge, I'll give you the next word, because I got your back, see, because I'm right back here. See because I'm fighting stuff behind you that you don't

even know about. That's why I got your back. That's why you can't see me, because I'm dealing with every bar ol Hey therec see hey ho you So you don't sack God, you're bad. God's got your back. Let baral No. I don't need you anymore. God's gotten my back. So I'm not just going back to school. I'm going back. I'm going back. God's got my back. I don't care if you like me. God loves me. I don't care if you notice me. God knows me. I don't care

if you recognize me. What God is revealed is this guy my bad and I can trust him because when I was in the ninth grade, you went in ninth grade, ninth grade, trying to be taller than me and he last crowd. I still I'm still stronger than him, at least psychologically. Don't look back at I'm talking to them. But take something. Man, you're not good. You have it

at the school, me and Uncle Irquin too. When you were freshmen, they throw you in the trash can as an initiation, and there was a lot of rednecks, so they'd be spitting, dip in the trash can and throw you in their head. First, it goes to a bougie school. They don't throw you in the trash can at his school. But now his brother is a senior. And the funny thing is it reminds me of the exact age gap between my brother and me. I was a senior, he

was a freshman by that time. I don't mean the brag, but I was the man at Berkeley High School weight leave me and watch this. Watch this. My brother was a freshman, I was a senior. I said, oh, on the first day of school, when they go to throw you in that trash can, come find me because I won't let him. And he did. I was standing out there in the courtyard talking to Eric and he was running. He was running, and he said, tell him, they can't do it. And I said, all right, y'all can't do it.

And they didn't do it. And he never went in in trash can because I had it's back. There comes a point where you've done all that you can do and it's bigger than you. But my confidence isn't because us I'm big. My confidence is because I'm backed. I'm back, and you have an elder brother named Jesus. See, you got a big brother and you can't see him. He

is invisible, so it's hard to depend on. But I just need you to get this picture before you go into whatever you're going into this week, that God has got your back, and I want us to confess it. I want us to confess it like you got a big brother that can keep you out of the trash, can see if they can't throw you away, because God's got my back. You hear a word behind you, you won't see it. I'm not looking for proof. That's how you stood up at your mom's funeral. Buck preached. He

did a thing at his mom's funeral. It was so beautiful. He did such a beautiful tribute to his mom at the end of a long battle with als. He did such a beautiful trip to his mom. It was incredible. I was in tears. I told him afterwards, that was so beautiful, Buck, because he doesn't preach. He's not a preacher. He's had my back for what now, seventeen years. He's had my back, But I didn't know he could preach like that. I said, you should have never showed me

you could preach like that. I'm gonna have you do a series. It was so beautiful, man, I'm telling you the truth. He got up there. He said, if my mom could see all of you here today, she would say what she always said when she was surprised, really for me. His mom was Taiwanese, and he showed when she would get really surprised, she would say, really for me. And he went on and he told about her hard life but her faith in God. And every time he was talking about it, it was a situation where, Wow,

it doesn't really look like God was with her in that. Wow, it didn't look like God lifted a finger to help her during the abuse. Wow, it didn't look like God provided for a while she was working three jobs and still having to stretch. But it's not about what you can see, it's about what you can hear. God has your back. Say it, God's God mind back. I'm not pointing to something I can prove it with. No, I'm

not showing the devil my bank balance right now. No, I'm not showing the devil to medical report right now, because if I look at that, I'm gonna get more focused on what I'm walking into than who I'm walking in with. I got a big brother name Jesus. Walk in it, walk in it. Walk in the confidence of God, Walk in the favor of the Lord, walk in the

strength he gives. When Buck finished talking about that amazing life well live, he said, I know my mom is watching right now, and I know she's singing in the choir in Heaven Love, even though she's not the best singer. And I know that she saw her mansion, and I know what she said when she saw it. Really, for me, I lost it sitting right there in the pew because I knew what it meant, because he told me. I almost didn't even get up and do it because I

thought it was trash. But God had your back. That's how you did it. That's how you did That's how you're gonna make it, son, because God has your back. Don't get too far out ahead of him, and never stop walking toward what he called you to be. Don't get paralyzed. You talk to him, you walk with him, You get in the rhythm with him. You let him lead. You can't get you back on track. God to say, oh no, turn around, dummy and the Lord to talk to you like that sometimes. But if we don't, let

there be this distance. Hey, the next time that you hear from God can't be next Sunday when we get together. That's too far apart. God has your bat and I walk right off that stage and go take your seat. Everybody stand up from a list of the Lord of praise that he has my back, that he has my back, that he has my back. God has my back. Tell Hazekiah, I'll send an angel in the tent of your enemy. I got your kids, I got your future, I got your finances. I got it in my hands. But you

got to walk in this word now. Father, you said in your word that if you begin a good work in us, you'd be faithful to complete it. And here we are today again, Heavenly Father, asking you for your help to hear your voice saying this is the way, walk in it. I want you to lift your hands. We're going to sing this is how I fight my battles. And we're just gonna remember that God can do more.

He can do more sneaking in the tent of your enemy than you can relying on the splintered staff of Pharaoh, and I want you to lift those hands so high, because it's been too long since you ask God for his help. And he said, as quick as you can say it, I can do it. It may take some time for you to walk it out, but I'll help you so quick. I'll hold you so quick, I'll grab you as quickly as any parent would grab a child going out into the street. But today, if you hear

his voice, harden not your heart. Don't wander around in the wilderness because you won't ask for help, ask him. Say it out loud. I need your help, Lord. I got some hard things up ahead. I'm carrying some heavy things in my heart. I got some history that I'm not proud of. Lord, I need your help with that. I've made some decisions like Azekiah that were really dumb, some unwise alliances. But when I see that you're behind me, and remember that you've gone before me. Now, remember, our

faith isn't what we see ahead of us. Our faith is not in what we see ahead of us, or how clear that path is. Our faith is in how great our God is, who fights our battles behind us. I know I said lift your hands, but I want you to clap them now and begin to celebrate the victory. Well, if you enjoyed 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.