The Power Of Precision

Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message.

The scripture I want to use for this series as a window into the principles that I believe God wants to teach us is in Second King's thirteen. I don't know if you've ever heard this Bible story. It's a little bit obscure, but sometimes it's in the stuff that you skip over in the Bible that God can speak to you in a fresh way because you don't think that you know it already. And this would be a little story that I bet a lot of us have.

Never really studied.

And it's going to give us, as I said, a window into the way God works in our lives over the next few weeks.

And I'm excited about it.

I preached this passage in the year twenty thirteen around the world.

I never preached it in our church.

I'm glad I didn't, because when I was preaching it in other places, I was skimming the surface. But as I've been studying it, I've been seeing some things that are very significant and relevant to our lives and the season that we're in and the opportunities that God is calling us to seize. So I want to share the

There it is there, it is there, It is amen. Now.

Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jeho Ash, King of Israel, went down to see him. He went down to see him because he wouldn't be around much longer.

The window was closing.

Elisha was the seer for the nation of Israel, and it was his sight, his insight, his divine insight, that gave.

Them their victories.

And he's dying, and the king, who has just newly been crowned, wants to see the prophet, to see the seer one more time before the window of opportunity closes. How many knowe all opportunities are not created equal, and every opportunity has an expiration day. And he wants to hear the word of the Lord from Elisha one time before the window closes. And so we went down to see him, which was uncommon for kings to do, but

To God for guidance. And we haven't heard.

From Elijah the Prophet in a couple of decades. But the window is closing, and he's weeping over the loss of this.

Great prophetic figure, and.

He cries out, my father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel.

What are we going to do without you? He seems to.

Be saying, it wasn't our troops that won the battles, It was the word of God threw you that brought us the victory.

And we don't know what we'll do without you. But Elijah said, get a bow and some arrows.

God is about to teach you how to fight, how to fight battles on a spiritual level. You've been fighting on a physical level. That's why you've been losing. That's why you've been tired. But the prophet said, get a bow and some arrows. And he did so. And then he told him take that bow in your hands. And he said to the King of Israel, to take a bow and some arrows. And when he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. He gave him guidance, divine guidance from the man of God. And

Elisha declared, the arrow.

Of victory over depression, the arrow of victory over addiction, the arrow of victory over rebellion, the arrow of victory over doubt, the arrow of victory over bitterness, the arrow of victory. I see a victory in this house. You will completely destroy the Aramians at affect And I want to use for installment one of this series.

Work your window, the power of precision. On your way to.

Your seat, Touch your neighbors. Say I'm aiming at something this year. I'm aiming at something this year, the power of precision. You may be seated. I'm gonna talk to this guy. He's leaning forward, he looks interested. I feel real sorry for King Jehoash because I understand and his predicament, because I was studying what would bring him to Elisha in such a desperate state.

And to really.

Understand his plight, you have to understand the patterns that he inherited all the kings that had gone before him. The examples that he had seen set in his lifetime were negative examples of half hearted kings who tried to fulfill their God given role their own way, and when you're stuck in a pattern. When you're stuck in a predictable pattern, the feet becomes automatic, and victory is a strange sight. Now, so much oppression has besieged God's.

People that not only is.

Jeho Ash, the king that I mentioned in tewod King's thirteen, trying to deal with this transitional responsibility shift. Now he's wearing a crown that's a little big for his head. Have you ever had the step into a situation that you.

Didn't feel quite prepared for?

If you are a father or a mother, you ought to raise your hand. You were so cocky when you were reading baby books. And not only is he transitioning into a new role, but he's going to have to do it without Elisha because the window is closing. And before the window closes, he goes to the prophet and he receives some final instructions. He wants to know what to do next. He's weeping, probably because of Elisha's lost, but also because of the pressure he was under. And

The east and the west.

And if you never felt that kind of pressure, you won't relate to joho Ash's predicament. But he feels it closing in from every side, and it seems like he's being attacked over here and attacked over there, and he's having a hard time at work, and then he goes home, and he is hard at home. And sometimes it'd be easier to be at work than it would be to

No wonder he's weeping.

No wonder he's made the trek as uncommon as it would be for a king to condescend to a dying profit. No wonder he showed up to kneel down at his bedside and cry, my father, my father, What do I do. I'm attacked on the right, I'm attacked on the left. I'm attacked in my finances, I'm attacked in my family. I'm under attack internally externally. Seems like I can't get any relief.

What do I do?

He needs some comfort, but Elisha does and give him any comfort.

He gives him an instruction.

Because God is a god of action, touch somebody.

And say work your window, work your window.

He doesn't tell him everything's going to be all right, or sing him the fourth Stanza of amazing Grace when we've been there ten thousand years. Instead, he gives him a simple instruction. Get a bow, get an arrow. You are not going to experience victory weeping over what is dying. You are not going to see victory in this season if you are stuck in a memory of the last one. Who am I preaching to today? Get your bow, Get your bow and your arrows, because everything you need for

So that's why you got to go to piano lessons. I know you hate it.

But you will thank your mom one day because your fingers will memorize it better with your brain right now than they will later. So seize this opportunity. Learn stuff in school so you won't be stupid later on googling stuff that you could have found out in fifth grade. You got a window. You got a window. That's why I don't understand any of y'all that are texting while I'm preaching. Can't you give God fifty solid minutes to speak to you out of a whole twenty four seven,

The course for I want this series to go.

I pray to the Lord of Heaven and Earth that you will give me more than one week to preach this word to you, because as it unfolds, it's going to become very practical. But before we get to the practicality, I want to show you the power in it. There's three things. It's a very simple parable inaction.

That we see here.

It is highly symbolic, and see in Eastern literature you'll see this often. We as Western minds, we like lists.

But God is a god of action.

So often when the prophets would prophesy, they would work the word rather than just speaking the word. And so it's not a surprise to me that Elijah says, get a bow, get some arrows, stop crying, take action. Push your neighbors say, take action.

Take action.

You are not blessed according to the word of God that you hear, but according to the word of God that you apply and act upon.

Take action.

God doesn't give a biology lesson about healing.

He heals. He's not just a god of instruction.

He is a god of implementation and execution is everything. So instead of instructing him about what to do, he shows.

Him how to do it. That's what my mom used to say. She would say, I can show you better than I can tell you. And that's what God is saying.

He's saying, get your bow, get your arrow, let's get to work. I want to work on this word for the next six weeks. And the first thing I want to encourage you to do in accordance with this little perihope.

That's a seminary word. You got to bust out that education every once in a while.

Just a fancy word that means story. This little story is highly symbolic, but is highly instructive. And the first thing God told me to tell you is view the victory. He told him to open the window. Open the window. You've been staring at your walls long enough. Open the window. You've been looking at your limitations long enough.

Open the window.

And after he had opened the window, he told him to do something strange. He told him to shoot an arrow in the direction of aarm. Aarm was a loose federation of nations that would only assemble together to fight a common enemy. You might know it better as Syria. You probably never heard of King jase L, but he would be.

Similar to Hitler.

The way he had oppressed God's people, the way he had decimated the fighting forces of Israel.

He seemed unbeatable.

And the man of God tells the newly minted king, open the window, the one that faces your enemy and gets your bow and gets your arrow, and shoot your arrow over Aram. This is important because the battle hasn't even begun yet.

But the prophet wants the king to see.

The victory before the fight starts. This is why I love being a Christian, because I don't fight for victory.

I fight from victory.

I need you to see this year the arrow a victory over Aram before you fight the battle. And I certain I certainly as a.

Pastor, want to encourage.

You to review your victories as regularly as possible. I told Grahama on Monday night, I said, you watch all the highlights you can of this Clemson National championship because they might not be Bama like this again, this might be once in a lifetime. The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity. In fact, my son Graham has no frame of reference. Last year the Clemson Tigers and the Carolina Panthers were in the championship and I had to explain to him this is

Amen.

I'm gonna tell you I have to do this. Occasionally, something good will happen to me, and if I'm not quick to celebrate it, I'll forget it. We released a song this week on iTunes, Quick Little plug.

I wanna.

Take a moment and tell you about There is a Cloud released in March seventeen, twenty seventeen. You could download it on iTunes or wherever music and sold.

Sorry about that. We're my window, my plug in.

And we released a single this week, There is a Cloud. We released a single and I logged onto iTunes and I saw it was number one on the Christian charts.

And I'll tell you what I did. I got my phone.

I took my phone, and as quick as I could, I took a screenshot.

Of that chart position.

Because I might not be number one for long, but I was number one for a minute. Come on, somebody, Every once in a while, you gotta take a screenshot and say, I don't know what I have to fight next, but right now I'm happy.

Got that screen shot. I don't know, Hillsong might knock us off the top, but I got a screen shot.

Touch your neighbors, say I got a screenshot. Yeah, you gotta take a screenshot because your next battle might be tough. So you gotta get your victories really embedded in your spirit to give you the strength and the courage to fight. But Elisha was not telling the king to look back on a battle.

He was telling him to look.

Forward to a battle as if it had already been won. View your victory. You gotta see it before you can seize it. You gotta see it before you can seize it. And to see it before you can seize it, you got to see it before you see it.

That sounded kind of confusing, didn't it? All right?

He Bruce eleven says that faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen. So close your eyes real quick. Will you do this. I promise nobody's gonna take your purse. This is a safe place. We've got great security. Close your eyes. And I know that this concept has been abused and people use it.

For all kinds of purposes.

But I want you to visualize, visualize your victory this year. I want you to see yourself according to what God has spoken over your life. I want you to see yourself healed, see your hearthole, See yourself passionate, See yourself fulfilling your purpose. See yourself powerful and mighty in God. See yourself pulling down strongholds. See yourself free from pornography, free from drugs, free from alcohol, See your self loving, See your self kind, see your marriage in a different light.

On a cross.

Sometimes you gotta see liberty while you're still in bondage. Sometimes you gotta see joy while you're still weeping over the dying body of Elisha. My faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

I see an aerrow flying over an arrow.

I am more than a conqueror for a hand O love me wats it takes seventeen seconds, and give God a pre praise for every victory it's gonna break to pass.

In your life this year by a swear. This is called a preview praise.

This is when you see yourself in the future stronger than you've ever been, why ser than you've ever.

Been, and you rejoice in it. Dance I guess already done. I gotta pray you I win.

I see an arrow flying over aarrow. Everybody's got an rob everybody's.

Got something oppressing you.

State of mind, situation in life, emotional dysfunction. I could spend three minutes with you and guess your erum. I've been pastoring people a long time. I know I look twenty three, but I got experience. I met crazy people, rich crazy people, skinny crazy people, poor crazy people, fat crazy people, black crazy people, like crazy people Latino crazy people.

I know crazy when I see it, and I'm.

Looking at twenty seven thousand crazies in the church today.

Everybody has an AERM. Why are you cheering about that? It's awkward.

Cheering because you're crazy.

It's that thing.

Watch this view of the victory, but focus the fight. He told him which window to open, which signified.

Which battle he needed to fight. A lot of us aren't.

Winning anywhere because we're trying to win everywhere.

Y'all don't remember the scene.

But Rocky told Polly, he said, I three, I see I see three of them out there.

He was fighting.

Drago in Russia on Christmas Day. You need to know your history, and Polly told him, Ray, I think I think it's a word for somebody. He said, hit the one in the middle. I got it coming from the north and the south and the east and the west, and I don't I don't know where to fight first. Any IT department will tell you that you can't do any work if you've got too many windows open.

I'm gonna help you this year. Open one window at a time.

View your victory, but clarify the conflict. God, here's a prayer to pray, pray this prayer, God, show me where to shoot. See because action without aim leads to exhaustion. And a lot of people go into a new year not with a sense of apathy, but with a sense of activity that is aimless, and they are out of arrows before February starts. Seventeen resolutions. Can't keep one too many windows. Oh, I could preach on the power of priority. It's not just that the prophet showed him the victory.

Are you more focused on your aram or your arrow?

A lot of us get so focused on the aram that we're facing that we lose sight of the arrow of victory. We become discouraged in the fight because we have no focus. Watch the arrow, because if you look at arim, you'll always be intimidated. If you look at how big the enemy is, you will always loose strength, heart and courage.

But if you'll watch the arrow.

If you'll look for the activity of God, he will show you where to shoot. He will show you what to work on. And you can't win everywhere at once. I've had to learn this the hard way because I can be a very arrogant person. I can think I can handle stuff I can't handle, and do more than I can do until I collapse.

And it was in a.

Ministerial meltdown that Pastor Craig taught me the most valuable lesson he ever taught me, and he's taught me a lot.

He said, you've spent.

Your whole life trying to figure out how to win. Now you need to decide where to win. Where does God want you to win? I'm asking you where Concord, Where?

Lake Norman? Where Blakeney?

Where does God want you to win? Because you can't win every battle at once. Aaron wasn't the only enemy, it was the next one. I can't win everywhere at once. And I'm gonna tell you something else. I can't please everybody.

I've got to let some people down.

In order to aim my life in the direction of my destiny. I can't please everybody. Can you imagine what kind of pastor I would be if I tried to please everybody.

Huh, how many times would.

I have to change clothes during one sermon if I wanted to please everybody. Can't please everybody. I'm not aiming to. If I please God and Holly, I'm good. Did you notice a footnote? I'm aiming at something. I'm aiming at something. I'm aiming at something. I'm not just shooting every direction this year. I'm aiming at something That means I have to be realistic, not only about where I want to win, but where I might.

Have to lose.

I don't want to hurt your feelings. But you might not get around to all of it this year. Okay, you might lose some this year. You might not get to eat organic and get out of debt this year. You might have to save a little bit so you can afford to shop at whole foods. So get the money, then get the apples.

You follow me. You might not get to take.

The promotion while your kids are young and be at the house like you want to. You might need to make a little less because the window of more money will be there in ten years, but the window of childhood is closing.

You might have to make some decisions to win.

To aim, you might not get to take Tina.

To every dance competition. You might have to teach her that we go to church on the weekend. I'm closing. No, I mean.

He said, shoot out the east window. God show me the right direction to aid my arrows this year.

I don't want to waste my time. I don't want to waste my money. I don't want to waste my thoughts. I want to waste my pain.

I want to apply myself in.

The direction of my destiny.

And I believe God's going to show us some stuff in this series. He's going to show you how to point your life in the direction of your purpose.

Oh that's going to be a good week when we get to that. People, Please, this is just an introduction.

I got some stuff to show you from the word of God. I hope you're going to be here every week of this series.

Make it your.

Aim, make it your aim, you show up to other stuff consistently. I don't feel angry when I'm saying this. I just feel accurate. I just feel like this is exactly what you need to hear. Take the bow, open the window, shoot let's go through the passage one more time, he said verse fifteen, get a bow, take the bow, open the window, and when he shot the arrow out the window, he promised him victory. The progression of the

That's important.

My second point was focus the fight, because you can't win everywhere at once, and you've got to decide what God has called you to do. You don't have to raise your kids like they raise their kids. You raise your kids the way God shows you to raise your kids. Amen, And you got to focus the fight for your fight, for your battle, for your calling. It might not look

His biggest fight was not.

Out the east window, and your biggest fight is never out there. After the prophet told him to open the window and get a victory in view, shoot the arrow in the direction of his next battle, focus his attention, focus his energy, focus his effort.

The next thing he tells him to do is what you must do if you're going to move past intention into implementation.

And go from seeing it to seizing it. Then he said, next instruction verse eighteen. Take the arrows, the same ones that were just flying. Now take them. And the king took them.

Elizha told him strike the.

Ground, and he struck it three times and stopped three times and stopped. I heard the prophet say get, I heard the prophet say take, I heard him say open, I heard him say shoot, and I heard him say strike, but I didn't hear him say stop. And I hear God saying to someone someone who has taken the arrow in your hand, and you've kind of half heartedly done it and kind of met around with it and kind of try it at it and stopped short.

See this is what I used to preach.

I had this sermon, and when I would get to this point, I would take my microphone.

I preached this all over the world.

I didn't I ap preached it in Australia, in London, England and South America. And I'll get to this point and I would demonstrate. I'd take the microphone, I start.

Pounding it on my Bible. I pound that microphone.

I was the most feared preacher for every sound technician.

In the world. And I'm not going to do.

That illustration here because this microphone is expensive and I pay for it.

But but he.

Stopped short, and he stopped striking, and the prophet watched this. The Man of God Verse nineteen was angry with him and said, you should have struck the ground five or six times. In other words, I didn't say stop. You're good at starting stuff, but the moment your hands get tired and the ground gets hard, you stop.

You should have.

What a terrible place to end your year. You should have kept striking. Then you would have defeated Aerin and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times. Look at verse twenty Elisha died and was buried.

And the window closed, and you should have you should have.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to look back on any more seasons of my life thinking about what I should have and what could have. This year, I will work my window this year, and let me tell you. Let me tell you how I know I have determined the decision in advance. Quitting is not an option. It's not an option. It's not an option for me to stop short. It's not optional. I have determined the decision. I don't wait until I get tired to decide if

Not stop until it comes to past.

Somebody give us seventy seconds of praise.

I'm aiming at it. Take aame, Take action, take ame. Come on, the arrow is flying. Take aame.

Take action, take aame, take action. Tell your neghver take aim, take action, take aim, take action.

My God is fighting for me. I cannot be defeated. Stand to your feet.

It is not what happened in the air that determined the outcome of the battle. It's what happened on the ground. The arrow flew over aaron. The victory was his. But because he stopped.

He lost over the next Uh, what do you think we should do? Four weeks, five weeks, six weeks.

We can't stuck on six shibo is seven weeks.

I'm gonna tell you what.

I'm approached this until your window is open. If I have to bust it open with a rock, how many of y'all thought I might throw that microphone?

I said, we're going to get this thing open this year.

We're going to get your focus off of your wishes and put the word to work in your life. Many of us already know enough to do it. If we would do what we knew. Tell your neighbor, if you would do what you knew, you could win the battle. It wasn't what you don't know. He told him the window, and he told him what to do. But when the prophet took his old hands. Some think that Elishah could have been one hundred and ten.

Years old at this point.

And when he took his hands, his old, tired hands, his callous hands that had worked miracles. Remember, Elisha was an action man. He's the one who told the kings to dig the ditches in the valley where they saw no rain.

Because if you will do it. If you will do what you can do, God will do what you can't.

Listen to me, I never felt so strong and so clear in my spirit about what to say. I never have. God said, it's his arrow, but it's your effort.

It's his victory. But it starts with your vision. And so we're gonna drive it down.

He said, you should strike five or six times. That's what we're gonna do over the next several weeks. And every week you come, it's gonna be a principle.

I'm gonna call them my six power windows. None of this come on.

Somebody, roll it down, Roll it down, Roll it down, roll it down.

Six power windows.

And I want you to come, and I want you to tune in online. And I want some of you to make a trip and come be with.

Us, live, make a road trip out of it, make a weekend out of it, because this is our open season.

Precision, Take aim, God, what is it you want me to focus on this year?

We're gonna sort that out. Take action? What do you want me to do?

Do it like it's already done. Do it like it's already done. Mom, Is it true? I used to walk around with my walkman all around the neighborhood listening to cassette tapes of Pentecostal preachers.

I went to a Baptist church, so I had to pull out my cassette tapes to get some real preacher. I'm just kidding. That was a joke. I went to a Baptist school.

Leave me alone, and I would envision the day I could preach to people. They found a tweet from Deshaun Watson. I'm sorry to keep talking about Clemson, but I had to work my window. We're four years ago as a high school junior. Google this, I promise.

You is the truth.

Google will verify what I'm saying to you. He tweeted as a junior in high school, me in a national championship game, waiting for that chance, and Graham is reviewing the victory because he previewed the victory.

And he didn't just wait for it, he worked on it. We're going to get to work this year. Hans lifted all over this place. The spirit of God is here. Pray it out loud.

Lord, show me where to shoot, show me where to focus.

Now let's make some declarations.

I declare the victory of God over every weakness in my life. I declare the arrow of victory over aerim over fear, over anxiety, over my past.

Come on, I declare, so come to pass. This is my ear. Come on high by somebody.

That'll take the shock.

Take the shot.

You'll see, don't it if you'll take it, doll me, You'll make it if you'll take it.

What the enemies of Jesus didn't know as he was hanging on the cross is that the cross was always pointing toward the empty tomb. Every crucifixion points to resurrection, every defeat points toward victory.

Come on, lift your hands one more time.

Why don't you point your praise in the direction.

Of your promise.

Come on, point at it, point at call it out, call it out, call your shot.

This year, This year I will, This year I win. I'm declaring in advance.

I am a victor, I am an overcomer.

I am ill. Thank you for joining us.

Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

You can share it with your friends.

You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church.

Thanks again for listening. God bless you.