Remember Lot's Wife (Christine Caine)

in the last decade. And of course those of you who have been around here a long time, you know that she founded A twenty one, an anti human trafficking organization not just limited to that work, but most known

for that work. We've been partners with Chris and her husband, Nick and A twenty one for years and years and years, and today, actually Chris and Nick I didn't tell you this yet, but on behalf of the generous people of Elevation Church, as we get ready for our year end giving season that we're coming up on soon, we want to give A twenty one a gift of one hundred thousand dollars to stand with you for the amazing things you're doing in the world. That's because of these amazing people,

that's because of your church. So thank you, thank you for all you do. Thank you, Chris for all you do. Thank you for being here today. Get on your feet. I think you're on your feet right now, but you know, jump up even higher, stand on your tiptoes and help me. Welcome Christine Kane as she brings the word. We love you, Chris.

Let's go. What an honor to be here. Thank you, Pas to Stephen and Holly and all of our etham on behalf of Nick and I because I do have the single most ravishing piece of masculine flesh right here at the front row and the whole crew. We've got our eight twenty one Charlotte team here. We want to thank your church for your generosity and partnership in the gospel. You know the money you have been partnering with us almost from the outset, and such a key partner. Pass

to Stephen and Holly and the whole church. So generous. And I want you to know that during this season we have seen an unbelievable amount of rescues and convictions of traffickers. And just in the last couple of weeks, an entire container load of people were rescued in Cambodia, an entire container load. Wrap your head around that. So I want you to know that your giving is going to good soil and we so appreciate it. People are being reached, people are being rescued, people are being restored,

Traffickers are going to jail. I want to say thank you Elevation, thank you to our EPAM. And I am so that new song, y'all. I'm about to do laps around this building. I go like, if you've got a pulse that would raise the dead? That song, that's all I'm saying. I cannot wait for that too. Chandler, I don't know where you are and the team probably behind me somewhere, but it was it is just like unbelievable.

We need to get that out in the atmosphere. I want to thank you, Nick, and I so love your passes. I am part of e fam. It's nice to be on this side because I am literally on the other side every week. Because the good thing is I live on the West Coast, so pasta Stephens preaching at nine thirty and it's only six thirty am, and I'm not in a pulpit till ten am, so I've got enough time to get a sermon down and then preach it.

So it's fantastic to do that, but I do. Actually every single week, I feel like I'm I'm part of our e fam. I'm your Craig cray Ossy aunt. How many know you need a cray cray Ossy? Aren't everyone needs one? And so and Pastor Holly. I mean, I'm texting her. I've just done like fourteen countries in the last fifteen or sixteen weeks. I think we've just done a lap of the globe and I'm texting her from

every place, going give me a book. You know, your pastor she's an obsessive reader, like next level reader and so, but I give her a run for her money because I read faster than her. So you can all tell her that. And so she recommends all the best books in the world to be So, I just want you to know that we really are family. I believe I've got a word from the lawd today. How many are ready to hear God's work? I am you can be seated. Thank you to the worship team for taking us into

the presence of God. I have missed you all, and I have missed you. I can't even explain how much I feel so home away from home here we're going to go to Luke chapter seventeen, to the Gospel of Luke. I've been so excited to be with you all, I almost can't contain myself. Luke seventeen, verse twenty. Scripture says, being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, the Kingdom of God is

not coming with something observable. No one will say see here or there, For you see, the Kingdom of God is in your midst. Then he told the disciples, the days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Sun of Man. But you won't see it. They will say to you, see there or see here. Don't follow or run after them as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky. So the Son of Man will be in his day. But first, everyone say but first. I love

that just sounds so American. But first, first, for our Epham, I want you to say first, mate, First, everyone say first, nay in learning how to speak like a NAUSI it's fantastic. But first, it is necessary that he suffered many things and be rejected by this generation, just as it was in the days of Noah. So it will be. In the days of the Son of Man, people went on eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage until the day Noah borded the

ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in the days of Lots. People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. I bet you are so glad you came to church today. I bet everyone's like that, Where are we going? We have got Noah, We've got a flood. We're now into Sodom and Gomorah.

Where is she going? On this Sunday? It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, a man on the housetop whose belongings are in the house must not come down and get them. Likewise, the man who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot's wife, whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night, two will be in

one bed. One will be taken, the other will be left and I tell Nick often, I am not going to be the one that's going to be left behind. Just putting it out there, just putting it out there. Two women will be grinding, grained together. One will be taken and the other left. Where Lord, they asked him, He said to them where the corpse is? They're also the vultures will be gathered. This is the word of the Lord. And I bet you are so pumped up.

You're like Chris, we haven't seen you for a little while. What do they put in the water over there in the California. I am so fired up. I'm going to be in San Diego with elevation nights on Wednesday night. I mean, you are just packing stadiums and arenas around the country, putting praise and worship into the atmosphere. Stop getting me sidetracked. But I cannot wait, That's all I'm saying. And so I hope anyone that's on the West coast is going to join us this week. It's going to

be powerful. We're going to be San Diego and La. But anyway, I'm getting back to the text right now. So Hugh Jesus, he's having a discussion about the end times I mean, this is this is a big word eschatological discourse. I had to practice that, say that three times you'll be speaking in tongues even if you're a cessationist right there, and so he is having a time a discussion about the end times, and I mean it's pretty intense. He's talking about the Kingdom of God being

realized in the fact that Jesus is here. Jesus came, the Kingdom of God came, but it's not fully realized yet, which of course we're aware of. There's war and there's famine, and there's crime, and there's violence, and there's pain and there's loss, and there's death, and there's grief and there's suffering and there's heartache, and there is so much going on. So we know that the kingdom is not fully realized. It will be one day when that sky splits and

Jesus comes back. And this text is reminding us that when that sky splits and Jesus return, nobody is going to be sitting around wondering going, oh did he come. Here's what people are going to go. Are we gonna know? I'm like, sweete, you'll know. And so it's the sky is gonna light up. It's all going to happen. And I mean he's talking about the already and not yet, that's what it would be called they already the kingdom's realized in Christ, but not yet fully until it comes

to gain. And I mean it gets intense. He's talking and he about Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah and the end times. And here I'm just going to give you a disclaimer upfront. I basically don't overclue what he's talking about. And anybody that will tell you that they do is lying. Some of you are freaking out because I'm about to save you a lot of hours down rabbit trails on Facebook. I'm about to set you free right now, because right now one would be thinking, is this text written for today?

We've had a since I've seen you last, a few things have happened on the earth. There has been quite a few things that have gone on. We've gone through a global pandemic together except for you're in Florida or Dallas, but all the rest of the e fam around the world, the rest of us actually we've had a global pandemic, and we've had so much pain and political instability and social instability and moral instability in the whole world. Have

you noticed has lost its mind? It's gone, Craig grab a lot's happened since I was here last, And you could think, wow, Christine's now turned up if she could to pull out like some charts. Like you know, when I got saved in the late eighties, it was all about we had charts and we you know, were talking about the end times and it seemed like it was the end. And it's kind of like, but listen, this is what Jesus says. This is exactly what he says

about it all. Ultimately, he says, nobody knows the day or the hour. I just got you back four hours in your day of rabbit traus, because everyone's trying to predict everything. And Jesus said, look, peace out, it's all right. Nobody knows. Live like it's gonna happen tomorrow, and live and prepare like it's not gonna happen for generations. And you can do both things simultaneously. It's not that hard.

But you would think, do you remember, like during during the pandemic life, there was that season that was like natural disasters, and then there was locusts and then I'm like, are we in the ten Plagues of Egypt? Like, what is going on? So it would be easy, but I'm

not here to talk about that. What I'm here to talk about is in the midst of this discourse about the end times, in the midst of talking about Sodom and Gomorrah and Noah and all the end and Jesus returning, and it sounds so much like twenty twenty two, You're like, what is going on? Everything's going great? Great Jesus drops three random, apparently random words in the middle of this discourse. I mean, it's just right there he looks seventeen thirty two.

As Jesus is talking about all of this great end time stuff, he just drops in like remember Lot's Wife. I'm like, okay, okay, remember Lots The second shortest verse in the entire scripture. Do you know what the shortest verse is? You are such a well taught church and you Pastor Stephen takes you deep into the Hebrew and the Greek and the Arabaic. The second shortest verse in the scripture. You're gonna get that on Bible trivia now,

is remember Lot's Wife? What a random thing to throw in the midst of a discourse about the end times to throw in the midst of a discourse about the already but not yet nature of the Kingdom of God, which most of us have awakened to at a whole new level over the last three or four years, he says, remember Lot's wife. And I'm like, okay, I've been doing chicks ministry for like one hundred I've been doing chicks ministry for you know, thirty years. I've had a lot

of men, but sermons on chicks. I don't remember ever hearing one about Lot's wife. I mean, there's one hundred and seventy women mentioned in some way in scripture, one hundred and seventy, and yet there is only one woman in the Gospels that Jesus Christ ever tells us to remember. Only one. There's not a lot of real estate in

the red letters of Jesus. So three words that he gives over to that remember Lot's wife in the midst of an eschatological discourse, in the midst of talking about the already but not yet nature of the Kingdom of God, he drops in three words, remember Lot's wife. I would wonder whether in twenty twenty two it would be a good time to remember the one woman that Jesus told us to remember. Out of one hundred and seventy women,

remember Lot's wife. If I was one of the other one hundred and seventy cheeks, I'd be a little bit annoyed. I mean literally, if I was like Eve, I'd be going, what do you mean? Remember that's wife? I was first I came out of a rib, and I've been blamed for all of humanity's problems ever since. I mean, if I was imagine, if I was Sarah, I'd be like I popped out a kid at ninety without an epy jewel.

What do you mean? Remember Lot's wife? If I was like Miriam, I'd be like the first chick worship leader ever. She comes out of Egypt, I mean, out of slavery, out of bondage, the Red Sea parts. She's like, hang on a minute, hold the Red Sea. I gotta grab a tambourine. Who grabs a tambourine when you're coming out of slavery knowing you're gonna have a dance party on the other side of the Red Sea. But Miriam be like, what do you mean? If I was Deborah be like,

what do you mean Lot's wife? Hi, Deborah ruse I was the first female judge in all of Israel. Of course we know it's because no man stood to the I won't go there, but anyway, so we know Deborah Rose or Mary Mary be like I popped you out in a manger. I mean, he didn't even say to remember his mother. A lot of people would be very

annoyed with it. He said, remember Lot's wife. So of course that then sent me on a little a little exposition on Okay, what is it that we know about this woman that appears on the pages of scripture just quick enough to disappear a woman that we don't even know her name? I mean Lot's wife. How politically incorrect in twenty twenty two, like you are going to get

up very Lot's wife. So we know in Genesis thirteen, you remember when Abraham and Lots separated because they just had you know, there was too many animals and the herds were too big. So in the midst of all that, we know in Genesis thirteen that they separated. In Genesis thirteen twelve to thirteen, Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now, the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. So

we know that Abram and Lot separated. Lot set up camp right on the edge there in Sodom. And then because of the iniquity, the Lord decides by chapter Genesis eighteen that you know what he's going to deal with it. He's done with Sodom and Gomora. Now, a lot of us, especially in the if you've been around the church world, and then even if you've been just out in the world, you kind of go Sodom and Gomorrah, and instantly you start thinking, Man, the sexually moral sins, that's why God,

you know, destroyed it all. And of course the sexually moral sin that you think is the worst is the one that you're not committing. But anyway, for everybody else, we just choose the one that we're doing is okay with God, but for everybody else's one, and so we get so caught up in that. But that is true. And also there is an aspect of the sin of Sodom that most of us in the church have forgotten,

but is very important to God. And you'll see in right there in Genesis chapter Sorry, I'm gonna go to ezek you're sixteen forty nine to fifty. I want you to see this now. This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom. This is from the scripture. She and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, comfortable security, but didn't support the poor and the needy. In the next verse, we'll get to the immorality, but I do want you to see what the scripture says. In the prophet Ezekie

says this was the sin. I wonder with the reckoning that's been happening over the last couple of years, and we've seen God clean inside the house and outside the house, there's a reckoning happening. Whether in some places the church just got a little bit too prideful, a little bit too comfortable, a little bit too plenty. This is why

I love this house. I mean, your pastors barely introduced me and said, before Christine even comes, we're giving to the work of the poor and the needy, and the marginalized, and those that are enslaved and those that are dispossessed. And you do this in love week, and you do that with your end of you giving every single time, because it matters to God. It matters to God. Do you wonder, if we don't wonder too long, why there's

such the blessing of God on this house. Why the Lord's taking you around the world and you're worship to a whole other level. And of course your pastor is preaching probably in the world while people listen to him, because you have a holistic faith that honors Jesus, honors the word, reaches the world, cares about the poor and the need. He doesn't just get so comfortable. Understands we are blessed to be a blessing, understands that we are called to be soul and light in the midst of

a broken world. But the sin of Sodom was that they had forgotten that. And then of course it goes on and says they were haughty and did detestable acts before me, and so I removed them when I saw this. So then in Genesis nineteen, the Lord sends the Angel of the Lord to come and rescue Lot and his wife and their two daughters. And so literally an angel comes and takes them by the hand, you know the story.

I mean, they were literally touched by an angel. And so the angel comes and takes them by the hand and leads them out. And this is the only instruction that the Lord gives in verse seventeen. And as they brought them out, escape for your life. One said, escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escaped to the hills, lest you be slept swept away. And this is the only thing we

see specifically about Lot's wife in scripture. Remember in the New Testament, Jesus said, one woman out of one hundred and seventy, there's only one. I want you to remember when the world is burning, when everything seems to be going cret Cray aka twenty twenty two, when it all seems like everything is crazy, I need you to remember Lot's wife. So we go, Jesus, What is it about

Lot's wife the way to remember? So we go then, And the only thing we see in scripture in Genesis nineteen about Lot's wife, it says in verse twenty six, but Lot's wife behind him looked back and became a pillar of salt. That's all we know. Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. She became a pillar of salt because she was torn between where God was taking her and what she was leaving. She was

prioritizing her past over her future. She had lost sight of the fact that the promise of God, the provision of God, the purpose of God was ahead, and so she got stuck in a place she was only meant to be passing through. She was being pulled back by what she was leaving more than she was pressing on to where God was taking her. And she got stuck, calcified, turned into a pillar of salt. And you and I

called to be the salt of the earth. And right now on the earth, the Church of Jesus Christ, in many places is stuck, stuck, and the purpose of God is ahead, the provision of God is ahead, the promise of God is ahead, but we are stuck looking back instead of fixing our eyes on Jesus ahead, to move into the promise and the purpose and the provision of God. It's time for us to remember us wife, and to stop looking back. Because for many people, our attachment to

the past outweighs our commitment to the future. And a generation is at stake. And it is amazing as I travel and I've just done fourteen nations, and I hear so many people talking about Christine. You know, if we could just go back, if we could just go back, I could talk to pastors and leaders and individuals and businesses and people in relationships, and many things could just go back to normal. If we could just go back to pre pandemic. I'm like, why are we talking about

twenty nineteen. Why are you giving me numbers from twenty nineteen. This is not twenty nineteen. This is twenty twenty two. And Jesus is in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five. At twenty twenty six, the purpose of God is ahead of us. All the promises of God are in Christ. Jesus, Yes and amen, his promise is still ahead. And the same Jesus that brought us here is the same Jesus that's going to take us there. But we've got to stop

looking back. There are people in this room, there's a family online, and we're stuck, absolutely stuck going. Man, I just just want things to go back to normal. Listen, I am not denying, I am not dismissing. I am in no way minimizing the pain, the trauma, the loss, the grief, or the suffering over the last few years in every realm personally, economically, relationally, politically, environmentally, sociologically, morally, there is not one sector of society spiritually that has

not been impacted. But if you and I are going to do what God has put us on this earth to do, then we've got to stop looking back and we've got to start looking forward and start pressing into the purpose and the promise of God. You know, people

are stuck. People are stuck in disappointment, stuck in discouragement, stuck in a fence, stuck in bitterness, stuck in unforgiveness, stuck in disillusionment, stuck fixated on what went wrong on the past, fixated on what we lost in the past, fixated on who betrayed us, who disappointed us, who hurt us, what didn't happen, Fixated on something we're supposed to face and move on from. And you fixate instead of face,

you get stuck. And so many of us in this hour, the herd of the Lord would be you need to start remembering Lot's wife because she got stuck. And it's little wonder. I mean, her life was back there, she had other family back there, she had her friends back there. I mean who, I don't know. Did she just renovate her kitchen? I don't know, so would there? I mean, imagine just one day, an Angel of the Lord comes and out we go. And that's literally what happened to

most of us. Overnight. Overnight things shut down, Overnight things changed, Overnight, things blew up, and the Angel of the Lord, the presence of God, Jesus said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. His presence was with us. And the issue is did we let go of the hand of Jesus so that we could keep facing back and fixate on

what was back there? And we're in twenty twenty two, but everything about us is still back, and we are stuck in a place that we were only supposed to be moving through because God's presence is still with us. I sometimes wonder how Jesus feels during all of this, because he's like, I didn't go anywhere. You know what I've become during this is this last two or three years, I've become like what I call a Hallmark pinterest Christian. See.

I used to like roll my eyes at those plithy little statements, you know, with nice little flowers and colors. And I used to kind of want something deep in the Hebrew and something deep in the you know. Nowadays I'm like, when I just see, you know, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, forever, I'm like, thank you God, because nothing else is the same. I'm so glad Jesus is the same. Or yeah, I will never leave you nor forsake. I'm like, thank you God, because everybody else

is bailed. And those little plithy statements suddenly become life and suddenly go, that's the stuff that actually really matters, that's the stuff that sustains you. That that's the stuff that keeps you going. And I wonder so many people, Chris, you know, I just I didn't sign up for this. I'm like, what did you sign up for? Last night checked Jesus died for me. I didn't die for him. Last I checked that I was supposed to deny myself, take up my crust, and follow him. I decided that

I will follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back, the crust before me, the well behind me, no turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus. You see, I'm old school, because I'm so old that when I got saved, I was mentored and schooled by Christian martyrs and missionaries, not celebrities. So when I gave my life to Jesus, I thought I was laying down my life. So just the last few years has caused us to waiver. I don't know where we've been, because yes, we've had a bit of

a tribulation, but it's not the great tribulation. What are we going to do when the great tribulation comes? If that's all it took for us to lose hope, so many of us are like you know in Luke chapter twenty four, where the two disciples are going back to Emmaus back because Jesus. They saw him crucified and buried, but they didn't know that he rose again, and they thought that he was the Messiah, and they were so disappointed.

They were so discouraged. They were so disillusioned. And then Jesus came and was physically walking with them, God incarnate walking with them. But they were so obsessed, and they were so downcast and so overwhelmed by their disappointment, and the disillusionment that the God of the universe was walking with them and they didn't even recognize him, and they said, we had hoped he was the one, and so many of us we had hoped that business was going to succeed. Man.

We had hoped that person wasn't going to die. We had hoped that marriage was going to make it. We had hoped that kid was going to start following the Lord. We had hoped that that promotion was going to come. We'd hope that that opportunity, And because our hopes didn't come to pass, we're sitting here in twenty twenty two going,

I'm just so disappointed, I'm just so offended. Now we won't add the last bit, but if we were honest and not fake Christians, we'd say disappointed with God that he didn't do what I wanted, Disappointed and offended with God because he didn't come through, and Jesus is standing right with us, going I'm right here we had hoped. I wonder if the last couple of years has actually served to make us, because it hasn't shocked God, God's God. I wonder if it has helped us to realize where

perhaps we had some misplaced hopes in our life. I wonder whether if we're stuck in disappointment and stuck in unforgiveness, and stuck in offense, and stuck in disillusionment, and stuck in discouragement, and stuck in comfort, and stuck in apathy and stuck in indifference, and stuck in this place, is it because we have a misplaced hope? Because hebrew Sick says that Jesus is this hope we have as an

anchor for our soul, both firm and secure. Yes. Are we living in a world with war and with trauma, and with pandemics, and with pain and political instability and suffering. Yes, but my hope was never meant to be in that Jesus is this hope we have as an anchor for our soul, both firm and secure. And then the writer to the Hebrews says, do not throw away your confidence in this hope, for it has great rewards. Let us not lose the confession of our hope. Let us hold

on to it in fact without wavering. I wonder how much wavering there's been over the last couple of years, Because the minute we lost the thing that we thought we needed, we just tapped out. It's just too hard. We had hoped, man, we had hoped and got stuck. You know, if Jesus is this anchor and all that we've seen in this season, is Jesus truly the anchor of your life, because then your hope doesn't waver, even when everything in the world wavers and everything in the

world is wavering, everything in the world is wavering. But if you're anchored, you know. I remember my husband loves boating, and one of the first times we went out. You know, I believe the purpose of boats is for sun baking. It's the will of God in Christ Jesus for us to sun bake. And so I was out there and Nick was disturbing my sun baking because he parked the boat in the anchorage and he's like, Chris, can you throw the anchor out? And I'm like, how just this

is bugging me? Okay? And so I go down, yes, yes, yes, honey, And so I I threw the anchor out and then I went back to sun baking. And then about thirty minutes later, we kind of hit this other boat in the anchorage and Nick's like freaking out. Christine. Christine, I told you to throw the anchor out. I go, I did, He says, yes, But did you make sure we were anchored? Are we? You didn't tell me that, he said, throw

it out? And I think what some of us have realized over these last couple of years is that our anchor, because our anchor isn't going to fail, our anchor doesn't actually go down to the seabit. Our anchor goes into the other side of eternity and is secure up there in eternity. But some of us have wavered and started drifting and gotten stuck. And you know, an anchor, when it's attached to a boat, it's got little links in

a chain. Some of us have discovered that maybe some of those links are a bit rusty, or maybe we've been disconnected. Because the anchor will, But are we holding the anchor? And if you and I are going to go forward and not turn into a pillar of salt and be the salt and light on the earth that we have been called to live because God chooses in the Book of Acts, says the times and the seasons and the places that he puts us in. So he knew exactly what would be happening in the world in

twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. And you know what, You and I are not his Plan B, where his Plan A. We are a product of eternity, not a product of time. God has plucked us out of eternity. He has positioned us in time. He's given us gifts and talents for the purpose of serving our generation. This is not a time for the church to get stuck. This is a time to remember Lot's wife and to move on and to press on into the purpose and the promise and the provision of God in the future.

But you've got to stay connected to the anchor that will keep us stabilized in a very unstable world. Jesus is this hope we have. So how do you know? You know, in the Writer to the Hebrews, he wrote this to the Jewish Christians, that we're facing such persecution, like real persecution, not like the kind of persecution we think, you know, we call here in the Western inconvenience of persecution.

But that's another sermon. And so they were like really losing their lives and losing their jobs and their families and their assets everything for being Jesus followers. So they were like, you know what, it would just be easier to go back to Judaism, be much easier because we'll be accepted by culture, we'll have opportunities again. It would just be a lot easier because it's just really, really hard.

So the Writer to the Hebrews is writing to Jewish Christians that are just drifting, that are wavering, that are just going back, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaeus. They were going back because you know what, when you start wavering, when you get stuck, when you lose sight of your hope, you'll go back to the thing that you came from. And you're wondering why so many people are going back to Amaus, Because if you're not moving forward with Jesus, you will go back to

what you came from. You just go back. It's just the way that it is. So the Writer to the Hebrews is writing to the Jewish Christians in Hebrews chapter two, and he says, for this reason, he's just talked about the supremacy of Christ. He's just talked about the sufficiency of Christ. He's reminding them Jesus is better than the law. Jesus is better than the prophets. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is better than the angels. He's reminding them of

the greatness of Jesus. And I've come to elevation to remind you of the greatness of you, because he is better than anything that you left. Because he is better than anything else there you can see, touch, tastes, smell, or feel on this earth, because he is supreme over the angels, over the Law, over the Prophets, over Moses. He is supreme and says, therefore, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so we

will not drift away. We must pay extra attention. In the Greek that phrases betty sought at us proso hiin. And why do I know, because I know a little Greek. I'm little and Greek, and so it says. But my mother used to say that to me when we came to a big freeway that was busy, hustinner. Betty's sought in us proso kiin, be extra careful, And I would say, the Holy Spirit is saying to his church right now, Hey, Betty's sought a us proso kiin extra careful, be careful

lest we also drift. My dad would take us to this beach that had this big undertow in Australia, and he'd always put a big beach umbrella on one side and towels on the other side of the sand. And he'd say, kids, when you go out there swimming, I need you to check those markers really often, because you're going to be having so much fun out there and you're not going to realize the undertoe is going to

take you out, So regularly check your markers. And he would always say, because kids, never forget, the only thing you have to do to drift is nothing. And while many of us right now have got so many misplaced types, we're just like doing nothing. It's too much hard work to pray, too much hard work to read my Bible, too much hard work to come to church. It's very quiet in this Presbyterian church right now, you're you're all

in the room. It's too much hard work. But I'm here to remind you all you have to do to drift is not commit some great sin. Just do nothing. Just do nothing. And all of a sudden you go, why am I stuck? Why is it twenty twenty two and I don't feel anything fresh in my relationship? With Jesus. Why am I stuck? And I don't feel like I've gone anywhere and I'm just on a treadmill? Why am I stuck? Because inadvertently you're drifting because you're doing nothing.

And we got good at doing nothing, didn't we. I mean, it's hard work putting on hard pants. Nowadays we just like our sweats. Twenty twenty changed our fashion for life. It's like, oh, who wants to get up and do something? What do you mean? Do something for the Lord? What do you mean fulfill the mission of God? What do

you mean? Move forward? And we're stuck. We're stuck spiritually, we're stuck emotionally, were stuck physically, was stuck relationally because we do not How do you know, well, what might be some signs in this day that you might be drifting? I don't know. You go like, how do I know if I'm stuck, if I'm drifting, if I've lost sight of my hope Jesus? Well, well, maybe he's just a few things. Pretend we're connected to an anchor and we're

checking the links in the chain. Maybe you know that you're drifting if a blue check mark matters more to you than a heart checker. Oh, it's so we're obsessed. Man, If I could just be verified by man, it doesn't matter that God validated me two thousand years ago at Calvary. Oh, oh, if I'm just verified. If it's more important for you to be known than to make Jesus known, if it's more important for you to have likes than to become like Jesus, if you care more about how many are

following you than how many are not following Jesus. Just maybe you've drifted, just maybe and lost our source of hope when my will becomes more important than God's will, when I just am so encouraged in the whole world's like you, you wonder why we're stuck. We're stuck because we're seeking our own will, because we just and then we just have all of these misplaced hopes because we think God, you didn't come through for me. And He's like,

I never really promised you that I said. All the promises of God are in Christ, Jesus, Yes, and in Christ Jesus amen. Not all of everything that you want, not your selfish ambition, But the promises of God are in Christ. Jesus, Yes, and in Christ Jesus. Amen. In Look twenty two, remember Jesus when he was in G seventy. Even God himself had a moment where he said, I don't want to do this, but nevertheless, is there any

other way? Would you take this cup from me? When was the last time that you thought, Oh, everything in me wants to jump into bed with that person that's not my spouse. But nevertheless, everything in me wants to watch that. But nevertheless, and then we wonder why we're stuck. It's so amazing to me where we've lost sight of our source of hope. It was never in other things, It was always in Jesus, and he hasn't gone anywhere. I know we've had a pandemic, but Jesus is still here.

I know we've had political instability, but Jesus is still here. I know we've got inflation, but Jesus is still on the throne. God is still on the throne. All the promises of God are in Christ. Jesus. Yes, and amen, Maybe you've drifted when you know you care a whole lot more about everyone else's business than you do about

the father's business. We've got a whole industry on that we're wondering why people are stuck because everyone knows everything about everyone else's business and has an opinion about it. It is amazing. Did you remember that in Luke where Mary lost God for a few days? Do you remember that when Jesus was a boy and she lost him for three days? For every mother on Ephan watching this, every mother in the room, that just sets us all free, because we've all forgotten our kid sometime at school, in

the supermarket somewhere. But Mary lost God for three days. I mean, that's awesome. And then when she comes to the temple and finds him. Now, I tell my kids never do what Jesus did in this instance. You're to follow Jesus in every way, but not this, because he says to it, woman, I'm like, do not try this at home? He says, why were you looking for me?

Did you not know? I must be about the father's business. Oh, we are so distracted and stuck in everybody else's business, forgotten to be about the Father's business on this earth and to do what God has called us to do. You know, maybe you've stuck and drifting when you talk about it to everyone else more than you pray about it to God, when you post more than you pray, your source of hope is no longer Jesus, because man,

I just hope someone hears my something. And I am trying to get from people what I can only get from God. And I wonder why I'm stuck. So I could go on and on, but we're stuck in so many different ways. We're stuck in our attitudes. We're stuck in where we're looking for affirmation, where we're looking for significance, where we're looking for security, where we're looking for this sense of value, where we're looking for this self actualization.

I mean, they're going to build some dig up a time capsule sometime in the future and go what was the most common phrase in twenty twenty two, And it'll have this thing like you do you boo, And they're going to need the interpretation of tongues. And then they're going to need to go no, don't do you boo. I feel like running around going no, no, no, no no, don't do you boo? Do Jesus boo. It doesn't go well. Do you remember in the Book of Judges, when everyone

did what was right in their own eyes? It never goes well. We get stuck. Stuck, remember us, wife, stuck because we lose sight of our source of hope. He hasn't gone anywhere. So what do we need to do as we move forward? Church? Because see, you have to know your source of hope if you and I are going to keep moving forward and fulfill the will and the purpose of God. We were not finished elevation Church. Our greatest days are ahead of us and not behind us.

There are more people to reach. There are more people to be saved, more people to be delivered, more people to be healed, More marriage is to be restored, more have seen relationships to be reconciled. We cannot stop, we cannot look back. We've got to press on and lay a hold of all of that for which Christ Jesus has laid a hold of us. But that is entirely cultural in this moment, because everyone wants you to stay stuck in your offense, stuck in bitterness, stuck in unforgiveness.

And what's at stake is a generation in the future, That's what's at stake. Stay stuck in your mistakes and stuck in your figures. As if you can't move on and into the promises of God. The whole narrative of this generation is to stay stuck, and yet everything about the Kingdom is moving forward towards God's grand tell us, so we can't get stuck. Jesus is in the middle when the world is burning down and the bank can come up. While the world's burning, Jesus is like, could

you remember Lot's wife? Don't look back, don't even look back at your great success days. We glance back at the God for them. By some of you were still talking about your trophy from high school football. That was forty years ago, and you've been stuck ever since. We don't want to become that as a church. We don't want to be talking about what God did, what we used to, seeing what we're used to. No, no no, no, no, have greatest days right hand. We can't look back. We've

got to press on. We've got to move forward. And the only way we're going to do that going into this season is that you and I, as followers of Jesus Christ, all our epham around the world, we've got to remember what our source of hope is so that when trials come, because they will, Jesus said, when trials do come, you will have in this world trials. Peter says, do not be surprised by the Fiery Travel Trial. I feel like, to all half the Christians, why were you surprised?

Don't you read the Bible? Obviously not. I think James was considered it pure joy. I'm like, consider a joy. But anyway, that's whatever is that we have to know where our source of hope is because that hope is limitless in a world that is hopeless, in a world that is gripped with fear, in a world that is gripped with animosity, with divisiveness, with chaos. We Christians have to have this sense of hope. But it only comes in christ That's what we've learned. It's not going to

come in money, position, title, accolades. No, no, no, we've seen all of that the last few years. Full anywhere we had misplaced hope. Jesus is like, how about a hope realignment? Because I'm about the only one that you could be sure of. And so the very first staff meeting we had on Zoom. So we're in March twenty twenty three and twenty twenty. I'm already prophetically into next year, and so we're in March twenty twenty and no one knew. It was like week one of the pandemic, so nobody knew.

So we would meet like everybody else. We've got at a twenty one nineteen offices in fifteen countries, so we had everyone on zoom. And for the last two years, I've been calling it the upper Zoom Room, and so we've been meeting in the upper Zoom Room, and all of us were on lockdown. I live in California, so again, unless you were in you know, Texas or Florida, the rest of all of our country offices were on lockdown. And so I said to them, we're prisoners of sorts

right now. But we can't we can't change that. We can't change that. We're all prisoners. We're all on lockdown around the world. I said, But although we can't choose the fact of whether we're prisoners or not, we can choose the kind of prisoners that we're going to be. And in Zachariah chapter nine, verse twelve, the prophet says,

return to a stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Today I have declared that I will restore to you double And what happened was the children of Israel were in bondage, and they were in captivity in Babylon for seventy years. And they came back and they thought Jerusalem and the Temple, they were coming back, Man, things are going to be back to normal. Except it wasn't. The city was decimated, the temple was in ruins, the city walls were in ruins,

and they were surrounded by enemies. And the prophet said to them, you were once prisoners in Babylon. Now you've gone back, and there's a big rebuilding project that has to happen in Jerusalem. But you need to become prisoners of hope. So he says, return to your stronghold, Jesus, you prisoners of hope. And I said, oh, we're making a decision in this ministry. We're not going to be prisoners of despair, or prisoners of fear, or prisoners of doubt,

or prisoners of negativity, or prisoners of unbelief. But we are going to be prisoners of hope. Why Because Jesus is this hope we have as an anchor for our soul, both firm and secure. And he hasn't gone anywhere. He said he'll never leave us, not for say, he said, all of the promises of God are in Him, in Christ Jesus, Yes, and I am amen. Yes we've got a pandemic, Yes we've got political instability. Yes we've got

a lot of problems morally and sociologically and environmentally. But Jesus, is this hope I have as an anchor for my soul, both firm and secure. And then I made them all right down, and I said to them, the prophet said, and I will restore to you double nay. Listen. During a pandemic and during there's a war, we had to evacuate our Ukraine office and move them to Warsaw. Of course, just the women and children. Some of those kids haven't seen their dad for a year. They're still over in Kiev.

And we had to evacuate that office. And in the midst of it all we said to them, I said, I need you to get a pen and paper. Of course, they were millennials, all my staff, so they didn't know what that one was. So I had to show them. This is a pen and paper, and I said, I want you to write on that piece of paper the word double. I said, I don't know how this is

going to happen, I said, but in a sense. I'm glad this has happened, because you guys are about to realize how much you've been writing in the slipstream of mine and Nick's faith. I said, you think, I said, You're about to learn that it's not a blue check mark or a cute Instagram post with a nice filter that's got the anointing on it. See, I said, before before there was ever any Internet, or before there was ever any you know, social media, or before there was

any marketing plan, I said, I don't know. I see. I know what it is to be marked by God, and I know what it's like to go into the prayer closet and to lay a hold of God and the promises of God and the purposes of God and the provision of God. I said. For some of you, you think, but you know, marketing does all of this. I said, You're about to discover that being marked by God is much better than being marketed by man. That

all the promises are in God. I said, So you're going to go into your rooms and you're going to learn how to pray, and you're going to learn how to see God breakthrough. And I said, and when we

come out of this lockdown, period. I'm believing God that during our lockdown, when it would seem in possible to see people, women and children and men rescued, when it would seem impossible to see traffic as prosecuted and sentenced and in prison, I said, I'm believing God that we're going to see double This is in March twenty twenty. I said, because the same God's with us now that he's with us when we're not in a lockdown. So I'm believing for double the rescues. I'm believing for double

the convictions. I'm believing for double the partners. And as I live and breathe by the grace of God, I'm here in October twenty twenty two, by the grace of God, during some of the most catastrophic unstable times on the planet. We have never had more victims rescued in the history of A twenty one, never seen more people away or reaching more people in the same way that this ministry has exploded. You can be seated, and I'm going to wrap up because we're prisoners of hope, not because we're

also but because God's awesome. Because when you know your source, and you know what your source of hope is when all your circumstances don't align, you don't crumble, and you don't drift, because Jesus is this hope we have. So let me read this over you. Elevation Philippians three thirteen. It's time, elevation, to start forgetting, to start straining, and

to start pressing. It's time, brothers. I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do for rights, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the price of the upward call in Christ Jesus. So what we need to do is to be a church that says, you know what, I'm not staying stuck. Whatever has happened in my life. Yes, I know there

have been challenges. Yes I know there's been trauma. Yes I know there has been bitterness, and there's been unforgiveness. And yes I know there's been offenses. I'm being disappointed and I've been discouraged, and I've been disillusioned. I understand, but it's time that I forget. That doesn't mean that I pretend it didn't happen. I'm not diminishing that at all. The blood of Jesus doesn't give you amnesia, but it

does give you a life beyond your past. It gives you a life you know, and your history does not need to define your destiny. You say, I'm forgetting those things don't lie behind both the good and the bad. And I'm straining. Oh. I haven't strained for a while because I've been needing my cheerios in my fed. But I'm gonna start to get a little bit uncomfortable now and I'm gonna start to strain. I'm gonna start to exert a force, and I'm gonna press We're gonna press

on to what it is that God has. I'm gonna exert a steady force against empathy, against indifference, against comfort, against defense or bitterness or disappointment or disillusionment. And I determined that I am gonna lay a hold of all of that for which Christ Jesus letty a hold of me. I might be small, but my Goddess bid I might be limited, but my God iss littless. I might be finite,

but my God he's in for that. And I am able to do exceedingly abundantly about and beyond anything that we don't ask hypel thing according to that power that works in our Elevation Church. Remember Lot's what don't look back, press on forward in Jesus' name. Amen. 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 gift and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.