The Sticking Point

honor you, respect you, admire you, and adore you. But really we want you to know that we need you. We know that for the things that we encounter as human beings that we cannot understand on the level of our existence, we need divinity. Would you direct the paths of each of the precious people that you assemble together today. See.

I know that we think we decided to come to church, but really you brought us to this place something that you want to remind us of, something that you want to show us, something that you want to reveal, and whatever it is, clear out the debris of disappointment that has accumulated in our souls this week a place for your glory and your presence to dwell. We are your temple, and we reverence you, and we worship you, and we praise you in Jesus' name, and the whole church set together. Amen. Amen,

come on, let's show the Lord that he's important to us. Well, look at the person next to you and tell them I love you so much. Tell them I love you. Come on, tell them I love you like Homer loves donuts on the Simpsons. Come on, tell them I love you like Kanye loves Kanye. Tell them you're my number one with the lemonade. Tell them right now, see if they're saved. How many of you are saved delivered on your way to heaven? Glad about it? God is so faithful.

We want to welcome all of our campuses. Let's do that right now, Valentine. Let's welcome all of our locations all over the Charlotte area Asheville, North Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, Toronto, Canada, Melbourne, Florida. Come on, let's thank God for Raleigh more a man. Should we see who's watching on our epam our extended family around the world. There's always many different cities in states and nations watching somebody pull it up for me.

Go ahead and pull it up on the Elevation Church YouTube. Make sure you go on the Elevation Church one because it'll have the most viewers. You go over to Elevation Worship, it's not as popular. So good, are you all gonna get that new song? You never lost a battle? Are you gonna get that on Friday? Make sure you get that stream that that's gonna be so good. You can just get it stuck in your head all the time. Now how many you'll have that song stuck in your head?

We didn't sing it today, but which seems like a strategic misfire that we're releasing it Friday and we didn't sing it today. But anyway, it's a good song to get stuck in your head. But I promise you your wife would rather hear Tiffany and Chris sing it than you. You can't sing, So download it, stream it and play it. Let the professionals do it. You can sing along. Tell me where you're watching from on the comments of YouTube. Oakland, California, Wisconsin, Seattle, Nigeria, Rockwell,

North Carolina. You have been to Rockwell? Have you heard of it? I had neither. Uh Indiana Charlotte supposed to be at church. You better have the flu and measles, the mumps, the shingles or something. Uganda, Atlanta, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Brazil, Baltimore. It's so fast, it's scrolling so fast. Guatemala, Dominican, Indonesia. Ask somebody, where did you come from? And what are you cooking for lunch? Cannot come over? Ask them that real Quie way, hey man, welcome our Epham around the world.

Let's give out. Let's give out seventeen hunks on our way down to our seat? Can we do that? Are you ready for the Word of God? Come on list? Thank God for the worship team. It's the reason I said that I don't know how else to transition them off the stage, and I want to have to awkwardly you can be seen. I want to talk to you

about something today that came up. In a creative team meeting, I was asked the question about songwriting and sermon writing, which one do I enjoy more, to which I responded, it depends on what part of the process you catch me during, because there are certain times where a sermon idea will come to me and I will feel enlightened and spiritual and confident, can't wait to preach it, Get me a new nine volte battery in my microphone, and gather the people. I have something to say from heaven.

Then five minutes later, I look at the same idea and it just seems so ridiculous and simple and basic. And I basically tell y'all everything I know every week. I'm just waiting on you to actually do it one time. Just kidding. You're great, You're growing. I know you're disciple. But it's like the process of creativity. It has certain points in it. When I was talking about it, I called it the sticking points, and as I talked to about that creatively, I want to speak about it today.

That's the title of my message, is called the sticking point. Because everything that you love in life is going to have a part of the process that you don't like and a part that is going to tempt you to quit. And it doesn't mean you don't love it. I don't know when we started thinking that we have to love everything or like everything all the time. You know, I quit my job because I wasn't feeling it. Well, were

you feeling indoor plumbing? Go back to work and pay your bills, and I have to love everything all the time, you know, because everything that you love is going to have a part. I called it the sticking point. It's going to have a part or parts that you don't prefer. Okay, I can't tell if you're with me yet. Let me take this a level deeper. Every person that you love, look straight ahead, is going to have some parts that

you don't prefer. I'm gonna say it that way. It's gentler than saying that you don't like or that you want to change. Not me. I love everything about him you're dating. It's been two weeks. I can tell because every person. And there's a parable about this. Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who found a treasure and was excited, and so he liked the treasure so much that he sold everything and bought the field that the treasure was in. So if you

want the treasure, you've got to buy the field. This isn't going good. We want the treasure, not the dirt that comes around it. We want the treasure or the blessings, or sometimes we want those thosefo moments. But even if you love your marriage, there will be sometimes where you just want to control the TV without any voting. You know, even if you love your kids, there will be times where you will secretly google adoption agencies to see I've

never actually done that. For the record, I'm getting hate mail. But everything you love. Even preaching, there's times when when I'm preaching that I feel the spirit. And then there's times where I look at the wrong person in the room and I feel another spirit, the spirit of stress, the spirit of Aland even people will walk out sometimes while you're preaching, and I called it when I was talking to them, the sticking point. It's the moment where you start to doubt what you were so secure in.

It's the moment where your mood doesn't match your mission, but you've got to push through anyway because you've got something important to do. It's the moment where, oh, I didn't know that about you. When I said I'd do well, you did, and now you do. The sticking point. For a scriptural example, I thought of no better passage than the classic Exodus, where God led his people out of Egypt through the Red Sea. Did you notice what I said? Am I set up through the Red Sea, not over

it on a boat? But through it on foot. You are going through something right now, you are at a sticking point. I don't know if it is a state of mind, because sometimes we are stuck not in our situation, but in our state of mind. Even recently, Holly pulled up a picture from a few years ago when we were flying home from Seattle and we got stuck in Chicago overnight on a layover. We were laughing because we were in such a bad mood. We were just remembering

how late it was. It was probably ten o'clock at night, but let's make it two in the morning, just for dramatic effect on the story, creative license. But it was late, and our bags were checked and we had no clean underwear, and we checked into this horrible hotel that American Airlines had put on and we were stuck in Chicago, and we were laughing about that. We weren't laughing when it happened. We were laughing looking at when it happened, you know,

two or three years ago. And remember that when we got stuck in Chicago. Well, why were we stuck in Chicago? Technically American Airlines. But if you take it apart a little bit more, the city of Chicago is a city that we like. We had visited there by choice before when I preached for Steve Munsey and Jmatt. We stayed over two extra days just so we could shop and watch the Cobs. We we had a good time too. We ate deep dish pizza. This was in my early thirties when I could do it and just plank a

little bit and it will fall right off. But we did some. We had marital enrichment in the hotel room on that trip. That was a good trip. So there's nothing wrong with Chicago. It wasn't. It wasn't Chicago. It wasn't like it was Des Moines. I loved Yll so much. You're so triggered my hands from there. When's the last time you went to see her? Huh huh. It wasn't. It wasn't the situation that we were stuck in. The reason we called it stuck is because it wasn't on

our schedule. You better get to the text. Verdict Exodus, chapter fourteen, verse ten. The Israelites are leaving Egypt right God heard their cry. They were stuck as slaves for four centuries serving Pharaoh, who had taken away their building materials. Increasing their requirements while reducing their resources. So they're stuck, and God hears them, and God breaks through, and God uses Moses to lead them out, because there comes a period where God sees you stuck and realizes that you

cannot get yourself out of the situation. So he said, I've heard the cries of my people, and I have come down to visit them. And when he chose Moses to do it, he knew all about Moses's brokenness, and he knew all about Moses' reluctance. And he led them out, and he compelled Pharaoh to let them go, not the first time, not the second time, but after ten plagues of negotiation. You know, sticking point is a negotiation term.

They talk about it in business. Well, we almost had the deal done, but then the asking price was a sticking point because they wouldn't let me finance it over five years. They wanted me to pay it off in three or or they wanted me to leave the septic tank, and I wanted to dig it out and take it with me. We hit a sticking point. You know, you hit a sticking point in your faith, you hit a sticking point in a relationship, You hit a sticking point in your life, and you've come as far as you

can come. And then God comes down and he sees you struggling, and he does for you what you cannot do for you. And then don't shout. You come to something that wasn't on your schedule. Exitus fourteen, verse ten, when Pharaoh drew near. Wait, what's Pharaoh doing in the picture? I thought we were done with him? No, okay? Can I preach on half of a verse? Y'all got anything to do after this? Or should we just? Okay? Complete the sentence? If you grew up in church, complete the sentence.

Where God guides, he provides. True, let me add to it. Where God doesn't guide, he still provides because He's so good. Have you ever had God bless you when you were going backwards and doing the wrong stuff? There's angels in this section over here? Have you ever Elijah in the Bible, he was running from Jezebel in the wrong direction from his assignment. He lay down and wanted to die, even though he had seen God do great things, and the Angel made him a cake. He was going away from

his assignment, and God fed him with an angel food cake. Now, don't look at me like the reason that you always it's because you were always good. Some of you know that you didn't deserve it. You didn't earn it, you didn't pray enough to get it. You didn't quote Philipians, you didn't always take the right turn or follow the north star. But God tracked you down under a broom

tree and bless you anyway. I need some people who are blessed anyway to shout, just ten seconds, just shout, because He fed you even as you fled from him. So where God guides, he provides. But even where God doesn't God he'll still take care of you because you're his. And then I wanted to add one more. See if you could put this on Pinterest. Okay, because they're leaving Egypt, here comes Pharaoh, their enemy behind them. They hear clickety clack,

clickety clack, clickety clack. That's Pharaoh's Lamborghini's. These are fast cheeriots because they're here Pharaoh's best and they're being chased down on their way out. And so they turn around and see something that they can't go back to, look forward and see something that they can't get over. Now they got to go through it because where God guides. Now, not that one, this one where God guides Pharaoh follows. Wow, And so in negotiation terms, they've reached a sticking point.

Because here's a little business tactic. Okay, I'm gonna do a seminar on negotiating right now. I'm not gonna charge you. It's not forty nine dollars. You could just listen. If someone is holding on to something in a negotiation, that means it's valuable. If they don't let it go easy, that means it has great worth. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but the devil hasn't been letting you go easy. You've been trying to shake this for a

long time. And the reason, maybe the reason, if the devil is real, and if destiny is a fact and not just a concept or a fantasy, maybe the reason that it's been so difficult for it to let you go is because what you carry is of such great value. I believe this in my core. Some of you are at a sticking point right now, and Pharaoh won't let you go easy because once you get through this, there

is great glory after this. If you're ever, if you're ever in them stating with someone and they're like, oh, yeah, I'll throw it in. It's nothing. Hey, you can have that too, it's nothing. But if they ever pull it back, you know, every time you try to get out of depression and addiction and you try to stop with the pills, and you try to stop with the porn, and you try to stop with the complaint, this is a sticking

point for some of you. You've been flushing it, but then you buy it again, and then you've been deleting it, but then you put it back, and then you've been walking away from it, but then you feel drunk to it. And I wanted to tell you that when you get stuck, that means you're on the verge of something significant. God has his hand on your line. That's the first half of the first verse. And Pharaoh drew near where God guides Pharaoh follows the proof of God activity in your

life will often be the increase of resistance. And behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they fear greatly. Yeah, I bet they did. This is not stuck in Chicago. This is not this is not We're going to have to catch the six thirty five am flight out Central Standard Time. This is pulse's pounding panic triggered by the trauma of a lifetime of bondage. And so they're standing there, and this is one thing that happens. They start arguing

with Moses. Look at says verse eleven. They said to Moses, because they're no graves in Egypt, that you've taken us to die in the wilderness. What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? So now they're fighting the one who's helping them. Parents. Don't worry about it. They'll thank you one day, maybe if you don't kill them. Mm hmm. Is this not what we said to you in Egypt? Verse twelve. Leave us alone that we may

serve the Egyptians. I never heard them say that. All they were doing before they got out was praying to get out. Well that's all, admit. Okay, when you get stuck, you get stupid. I'm not saying you are stupid, But for me, some of the dumbest decisions I made was because I got sick of being stuck. So I'm gonna just do something. Ah, sick of this? You know when you hit send? Oh no, unsend nonsense. Understand understand. I might have been the unsend button. But when you get stuck.

Elijah came in our room the other night, this was Friday night, and we were both to sleep. We were off duty on parenting for the night and our office hours are you know, seven am to five pm, and it's off duty. And he comes in the room laughing, and we were both asleep, and he's like, you're not gonna believe this. He's laughing, and he had Jim Shorts, Mesh Elevation youth champion, Jim Shorts, hanging from this bracist.

He said, get it off, get it off. And I was going to write, but I said, first, let me get a video real quick, let me show this. Listen. He stuck on d you from a whole bras out Jess, look broh, because I wish you would look at your neighbor and tell them when you get stuck, you get stupid. Maybe don't date anybody for six months until you heal from the last heartbreak. Because when you get I'm in Exodus fourteen, when you get stuck, you reach for stuff.

You reach for the stuff that you flushed. When you get stuck, when you get lonely, when you get hungry, when you get tired. When you gets stuck, Ah now I got the whole thing hanging out my mouth. Ah Now I got a rainbow vacuum cleaner. Ah Now I got a timeshare. When you get stuck, I didn't do it because I didn't love God. I didn't because I was stuck. And when you hit the sticking point, everybody's like, come on, rejoice, I can. I'm stuck. I'm stuck in

a memory. You're miss stuck in a memory. I'm stuck in a pattern. I'm stuck in a generational thing that started before I ever came to the planet. I'm stuck. I get stuck preparing these sermons. It's horrible. I'm not playing now. I know I've been showing you, you know, like illegal footage of my children and everything in church. Orthodontist is gonna kick me Monday. He's a great orthodontist too, doctor doctor hull yoshall look him up. He's great. He's

got to fix that. Tomorrow. I'm gonna have we're gonna have some business for him. But when I get to prepare these sermons, I get stuck. And it's horrible because the sticking point it makes me want to just like give up on everything I've worked on. Please don't think that I'm preaching to you about preaching. That's too meta. I'm preaching to you about preaching because that's where I get stuck, and I figured you might get stuck sometimes too.

I mean, when I go to prepare, it'll just be moments where none of it makes sense for everybody that's like forty and older, Like when you had antennas on the TV and you you could see the station, but not fully because you're watching your neighbors A before you guys say before b C. It's under the blood now. But it'll scramble and I won't even know where to start.

I'll be like, I don't know what to say. I'm preaching about Moses coming through the Red Sea, and I already preached about that before, and it was just mea sing. You know, they already know they got through the Red Sea, so this Swiller alert won't be interesting. So maybe I should started with Abraham, because it is Abraham, Isaac Jacob. And then Joseph went to Egypt, and you never meant to get trapped in Egypt. You went there to get food.

But sometimes you get trapped where you went to get food. And sometimes place where you go to Survior's place where you get stuck, maybe start there. But I already preached that a couple weeks ago, and to remember that they come every week. They don't ever miss. That's about burning bush because he went to the the burning bush and he was butcher was burning up, but it wasn't burn up.

It would just burn it burn up. And maybe that's like us inside, because when your presence comes and our passion stays alive, even though we go through stuff and we burn what we don't burn up. And the proof of your presence is the fact that we're on fire, but we stay on fire even though we go through all kinds of hell. He has to do that. I'll come up the bricks and the straw, because you know, he hasn't really good to be talking about. Holly year.

Sometimes you have all the mud, but you don't have the straw, and so you got to go get your own straw. And you didn't have a dad. So you try to be a dad and you don't have what you need to be what you're trying to be, and the devil use that as condemnation, try to keep you stuck in a slave as we are. And then after that, man, I'm like, oh my god, I need a nap. And I would just feel like, I don't know where to preach this sermon on Sunday and I'm stuck, and I

get so stuck. I don't want to say anything. How y'all doing praise the Lord? And I figure you get stuck too, even if you don't preach sermons. I figure you go, you're not gonna have this meeting at the kids school, and I want to go down there and talk to Principle because I don't think principal is being fair to my kid. But I I don't teach my kids sometimes that people in fair life sometimes you got them go through things. Maybe the need to learn that.

I figure you get stuck sometimes. I figure you get stuck too. Sometimes is a stuckond point. And this is not the first time that you've been stuck. And this is not the first time Moses was stuck. And that's the good thing about it. If he did it before. I just want to keep you breathing today because I know you've been stuck if he did it before. See, we get stuck, not always at the external circumstance. Sometimes we get stuck in ourselves, sometimes stuck as a state

of mind. Chicago is a nice city, but you weren't supposed to be in Chicago. Sometimes we get stuck not in where we are, but where we were supposed to be, in our plan for our life. And so I'm stuck, not necessarily in what it is, but in what I thought it was going to be. I get stuck in supposed to. You have been stuck in supposed to. My kid for supposed to be Valedictorians. I was supposed to be married still I was supposed to. It can be

very painful. I was supposed to by now. My retirement went out, and oh wait, I was supposed to be ready to quit working by now. I was supposed to be married. My roommate got married, and she's crazy, and I'm good person and I'm a Christian girl, and I sing in the choir and elevation Valentine, and I'm supposed to be married. Some of us are stuck in what we think we were supposed to be and get stuck.

Didn't get stuck in the season. Every time in fall, I start to feel a little drained from the ministry of the year, and then depression can come in because it's the same same, same, same, same same. And then everybody else in the church is feeling the same way. And then I got to preach to y'all. So, like, you know, I grew up in the Low Country or South Carolina. You don't know where I'm going with this yet,

hang on. They used to take their trucks out on Friday night and get stuck on purpose, called it muddon. But I found out something now. You don't get stuck in anything shallow. If you feel stuck, that means you're in the deep stuff. Maybe God is doing something deep in your life when you feel stuck. Maybe when you feel stuck, you're building strength. I mean that's the only way you really build strength, right, is to get to that sticking point, to get to that point where you

can't push through. I know you lift weights all the time, pe, how about you bench press five thirty five? All right, five thirty five. I'm making this up. I didn't hear what he really said, but he's big, and you know he's in there. I used to have this spotter in high school. I didn't bench press five thirty five, but he would stand over me and the moment I started to struggle, he would just lift the whole weight off of me. I thought, well, man, that's not a good spotter.

That's not a good God to never let you have any weight. That's not a good God to never let you have any challenge. How would he grow your faith? No, see a good spotter. You're on Rep. Eleven right, five thirty five Rep eleven Ah, And I'm just a little stuck. And God is standing over your life. I need you to know this. And he sees where you're stuck, that sticking point, and he says, I'm not gonna take it off of you. I'm gonna give you a lift. Have

you ever had God be your stutter? I declare, the God of angel armies is standing over your life, and if you feel stuck, he will do what you cannot do. He is your strength. He knows how to get me past the point where I'm stuck. But now watch this. You may not like this. The first sticking point that Moses encountered was not Pharaoh. The first sticking point that Moses encountered, and maybe the greatest one, is that he

tried to negotiate with God and he got stuck. He got stuck at the Burning Bush before he got stuck at the Red Sea. God's like, I chose you. Now he's already stuck sheep for his father in law, Jethro. He's been doing that forty years because he got mad at somebody and killed him. Because when you get stuck, you get stupid. And so now he's doing some things, doing something that's the consequence of his decision. And then

the Lord speaks to him. He's like, I chose you go to Pharaoh and tell him let my people go with the hand motions. You go to Bible school, Pharah Pharaoh, okay, And so Moses is stuck. He's like, give me chapter four, verse one, Exibus four, verse one, and he showed this because you might be stuck in yourself. He said. But behold, they will not believe me. But you hadn't even talked to them yet, or listen to my voice, for they will say. They will say the Lord did not appear

to you. Know, there's two things about this that are wrong. One is on other people, and two it's about a future event you can't control either. So he's stuck, and he's stuck for good reason. It's because he knows himself. He knows Moses, you know you, and to negotiate with God is usually like nah, I better not try that. So I'm stuck in myself and he's already. Isn't this crazy? He's telling himself a story of what's gonna happen. You've been stuck in a story of what's going to happen?

Wake up in the middle of the night sometimes just like, Ah, I'm in a king's eze bed. Everything's good, got the beautiful woman in the world sleeping next to me. Ah, I'm screaming. I'm stuck in a story of what might happen tomorrow or what has happened before. You ever been stuck in a story? Have you ever been stuck in yourself? Have you ever been stuck in a story about yourself? I mean, rejection is painful, but Moses takes it to a new level. This is not rejection. He rejects himself

before anybody else has the chance to. This is like advanced level. This is prejection. Huh, Well, I'm not even gonna try. It's a story of my life. Everything always goes wrong. I mean, I see this. I don't want to do a dating seminary. We already did a negotiation seminar when you ask her out on a date like, I know you've got don't mine too. I mean you gotta have some confidence to it. Man walk up to her like, hey, I didn't know if you wanted to

go Tuesday or Wednesday. Come on, I'm helping you. Name your kid Larry, that's my legal first name. But Moses is like, I can't do this. I know me, I don't have it. I can't do it. He's stuck in a story about himself. Now, the bigger story does not revolve around you. Remember that. When we get stuck in ourselves, we miss the whole point that God is doing something that is bigger than you. It's bigger than what's wrong

with you. It's bigger than what you didn't do. It's bigger than the time you waste it, and is certainly bigger than the opinions of others. So God makes this kind of like pep talk. He's like, what is that in your hand? What is that in your hand? Which this wouldn't make me feel any better if I've got to lead a whole nation until the most powerful man in the world let my people go uh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. It's like, what is that in your hand?

And Moses says, give me the verse a staff. The ESV calls it a staff, but technically it's a stick for every sticking point in your life. God has given you a stick, and you've got one right now. In order for Moses to see what that instrument could be, he had to release it and throw it down on the ground. When he released it on the ground, it became a snake. Until you surrender it, you will never see what it could be. I'm gonna bridge this thing. I'm going home in a minute. But let me tell

you something right now. If you will release it, if you will put it before God, if you will say, here's my intellect, here's my will, here's my understanding, here's my ability, you will watch it transform. It will transform. It became a snake to become a sign because Moses needed to know this is really God, because he was stuck in himself. And when you need to get out of yourself, you have to release what God has given you so he can show you what it can become.

But then he had to do something crazy. He had to do something that I would never do. He had to do something that you only do if you really love nature. He had to pick up the snake because when he first released it and it became a snake, he ran from it because he was smart, not because he didn't have faith, but because he had intelligence. But then God called him to reach for what he had been running from. I promise you, I feel the Holy Spirit so strong right now. And when he did it,

it turned back into a stick. A stick is something small, but it would be that same stick. I need you to know this because you've never been through this challenge before. You've never been twenty four before. You've never been sixty one before. You never been a wife before, you never been a mom before. I never been a dad before. This is my first rodeo. You've never been through this before. This wasn't on my schedule. And I don't feel like I'm what I'm supposed to be for what I'm up against.

Can I tell you what God told Moses by the power of the Holy Spirit, that when you stand in front of those red seas in your life, God took him back and showed him the same stick, the same stick that God had changed into a snake and back into a stick that same stick, and he told him an Exodus fourteen, verse sixteen, I want you to take your stick and point it at what you're going through. I want you to take your stick, and I want you to point it at what you can't get over.

I want you to take your stick. Keep the verse up, because this is right from the Bible, and raise your staff. I know as small, it always feels small. I know that some of you are visited by the perpetuable spirit of a never enough. But it becomes enough. When you stretch it. It becomes enough. When you use it, it becomes enough. This is the miracle of faith. Why because God, God changes things. Say it. God changes things. That's what he does. God changes things. He turns mourning to dancing.

He changes things. He gives beauty for ashes. He changes things. He turns shame into glory. He turns crosses into empty tombs, he turns graves into gardens, He turns phones into armies, he turns sees into highways. And if you will stretch what He gave you over what's your going through, You're gonna get through that. I declare it, I decree it. God said it. That sells it back up Pharaoh. I've come it through. Oh, I know it feels small, and I know for many of your energy has been diminished

by what you've gone through. And I know some of you feel too young, and some feel too old, and some feel too in between, and some feel too Shut up and trust your stuff. Don't do something stupid like give up and quit just because you feel tired. I felt tired from the nine thirty and I came out and preached this one, and I had to get in a freezing cold shower to wake up. Because you need this word. So I grabbed my stick and preached it because I can't stop doing what I'm called to do

just because I'm tired. But you will have to trust that it is enough, not that God is enough, but that what He gave you is enough for where he put you. This is a sticking point, and if you sit there and try to negotiate with God, you will miss it. Saddest thing in the world is that Moses never even went into the Promised Land. He got stuck. He hit a rock with his staff, the same staff that he raised over the sea, and the water's parted

and they got through. He took that staff because he was tired of the people, and he struck the rock twice, and God said, now you can't go in because you don't trust me enough. Everything you love will have a part of the process that you will not like, including following Jesus. Did Jesus love the Father? Then why did he ask in the Garden of Gothsemone if there's any other way? I don't want to do it, because everything that you love will have a part that you don't like.

I'm so sick of my generation thinking that we always have to feel happy to move forward. Sometimes we can do it because we love God enough, and we love people enough, and we're called and because we have a style. I gotta stick I gotta stick it out, I gotta persevere. I have a purpose, I have a reason, I have a calling. And no, you can't have me back, Pharaoh. No,

come too far to get stuck here. Some of you came from broken homes and broken families and busted situations, and God would not bring you out here to drown you. He's dealing with your enemies. Stretch your stick and trust your stuff and go forward and stand there. It's a small thing. And if you trust him enough to stretch the small thing over the bigger thing. I don't know

what that is for you. I'm going slow because I need you to imagine and I need you to see yourself on the other side of this, what it's going to be like when you're helping somebody else and all the hell that you went through isn't wasted, but it's invested. It's the dumbest thing. But I just saw a picture like Popeye or something of you just getting strong in your spirit because you're pushing past the sticking point. Now you got a spot her and God is not gonna

let it fall on you. But you got to imagine. Okay, Okay, I will rejoice again, I will sing again. Okay, Okay, my children are gonna be free because I fought for this. Okay, Okay, I'm gonna do it. But but you will have to commit. You will have to You will have to walk through it, and that means you'll have to walk through something that feels like it could collapse on you at any time. The story goes that he stretched the staff, he trusted God, and God made a Don't you love this? An interstate

highway through the sea. Who else can do that? Who else can turn a sea into a highway, a stick into a sake, a great only God can do it. So the ability to walk through something that God is holding up for you. You can't stick your right foot in and your right foot out. You can't hokey pokey through the red sea. It's going to mean saying that God, I'm going to see this through. Must stay in this uncomfortable place. I would rather stay stuck and have you

deal with what you need to deal with. I would rather stay stuck and see your purpose for my life fulfilled. Because when you're standing in front of something you've never seen before, hold on to what you know. You got to stick. You got to stick. And when it happens this week, when you hit the sticking point, if it's a mood, or if it's a I don't want to say this, but if it's a mother in law, or or if it's something real, deep and dark that we can't talk about out loud, when you hit it, use

your stick. Small, Trust, imagine, commit and know that spells stick. Small.

Trust God. It doesn't feel like much, but it's enough. Trust, Imagine, commit and know, Father, as your word has gone forth today I have experienced such a joy of seeing these people receive this personal word, and on the other side of the camera, watching through a screen somewhere as someone who needed this message, and sitting in this room is someone who is at a sticking point, and what they do next will determine so much about whether they stay

stuck or move forward. Everyone's standing at all of our locations, no one leaving. Thank you, Lord, Glory to your name, Thank you Jesus, Blessed be your name. Holy is your name? Worthy is your name? Worthy is your name? Worthy is your name? When they got through to the other side, y'all, they started singing. But sometimes you got to sing on the wrong side. Worthy is your name. Sometimes you've got to sing when you feel pain, and you've got to

offer God the sacrifice of praise. And I wish there were about one thousand people in Elevation Valentine, and a few hundred at Blakeney, and a few hundred of Gaston that would just lift your hands and begin to worship gods. Begin to thank him that he turns seas into highways, you servles. Begin to thank him that he turns mourning to dancing. Your season, to thank him that he steals wins and ways only and the things that only he

can do. Shooter mort It's a dance and the glory, and only he deserves you give beauty for his name is gret. His one is your shame. Easy and it will come to new kid. Shoot cercasy in weodser all ho mercy coming to believe that come. I'll say it like you bim in long pay so youo Turisey shoot tr balls it too, Dorcy Jody, 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 Elevation Church 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, Leshm