Sermon

Exceedingly Abundantly More in 2024

Elation Church

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  1. Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

  2. Elation Church. For over four weeks now, every

  3. day, this Bible verse has just popped up in my

  4. head. Who has ever memorized Ephesians 3 .20?

  5. A lot of us. It says this, now to him, everybody

  6. say God. Not to him who is able to do exceedingly

  7. abundantly above all that we ask or think, according

  8. to the power that works within us. I've known

  9. this Bible verse for a long time. I might have

  10. mentioned it before, but it's never been the

  11. foundation verse for a message that I preached

  12. until God began laying it on my heart. And I

  13. know... When I keep thinking about a Bible verse

  14. over and over, I mean, we were preaching through

  15. the incarnation and having those services and

  16. preparing those services, but during the whole

  17. time, over four weeks, like I said, almost every

  18. day, the Holy Spirit kept bringing that up, bringing

  19. that up, and I'm like, well, how am I going to

  20. preach that one verse? So I believe God's given

  21. me some new kind of insight through His Word.

  22. And today, just to keep you engaged, we're going

  23. to find the connection. Everybody say connection.

  24. Between Legos, Legos, and Ephesians 3. There's

  25. a connection. Is anyone interested yet? Okay.

  26. Here we go. So I've entitled this message, Exceedingly

  27. Abundantly More in 2024. So hopefully that will

  28. be burnt in your mind and you'll think about

  29. this all year, not just this week. See, most

  30. of the time we get excited about what we're thinking

  31. about right now and then we forget it. Get excited

  32. about the Word of God that's present in our lives

  33. and then we don't remember what God just did

  34. and what God just revealed to us. But I believe

  35. this can stay with us all year because of that

  36. funny little rhyme, exceedingly abundantly more

  37. in 2024. Now, I didn't get this from anybody

  38. else. Jeffrey said, who'd you hear say that?

  39. Where'd you get that at? Well, I'll tell you

  40. where I got it at. Back in the 90s, when we first

  41. went on the road in evangelism, I was preaching

  42. at Commission Road Baptist Church just outside

  43. of Gulfport, Mississippi. And they had a gravel

  44. parking lot at the church. How many of you know

  45. if you wear dress shoes on gravel, it's rough

  46. on leather heels and shoes? Or, you know, girls

  47. wearing spike heels. I mean, it's almost impossible

  48. to walk on gravel, right? So their theme for

  49. 1994 was gravel no more. In 94. That's the closest

  50. I've come to giving anybody credit for this message

  51. today. Exceedingly abundantly more in 2024. Like

  52. I said, that verse, Ephesians 3 .20. Now to Him,

  53. God, who is able? Everybody say, God is able.

  54. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above

  55. all that you can ask or think. How many of you

  56. can ask a lot? How many of you can think about

  57. asking a lot? Well, God is able to do exceedingly

  58. abundantly more than that according to His power

  59. that is working in you. Everybody say, God is

  60. able. Romans 16, 25. Now to Him, God, who is

  61. able to establish you according to the gospel

  62. and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Everybody

  63. say, God is able. 2 Corinthians 9 .8 And God

  64. is able to make all grace abound toward you,

  65. that you, always having all sufficiency in all

  66. things, may have an abundance for every good

  67. work. And this is talking about our finances.

  68. And as we give, and the same measure we give

  69. will be measured back to us. And it's saying

  70. God is able to make all grace abound toward you.

  71. What does that word grace mean? Has anybody figured

  72. that out yet? My definition for grace. I mean,

  73. most people just quickly say unmerited favor.

  74. Grace is unmerited favor. Mercy is not getting

  75. what I deserve. Grace is unmerited favor. But

  76. to expand that a little bit, grace is God's acts,

  77. His activity, His actions of kindness and favor

  78. towards you and towards me. I had to have an

  79. amen right there. Okay? God's acts of kindness

  80. and favor towards you and towards me. Not because

  81. we've earned it or deserve it or worked for it,

  82. but because He's God. And He's good. And He's

  83. able. Everybody say, God is able. Now to Him,

  84. Jude 1 .24, Now to Him who is able, there you

  85. go, God's able again, to keep you from stumbling

  86. and to present you faultless before the presence

  87. of His glory. with exceeding joy. Amen. I'll

  88. start amening myself. Everybody say, God is able.

  89. He's able to keep you from stumbling and to present

  90. you faultless. You might look at yourself. So

  91. many times we look at ourselves and we want to

  92. beat ourselves up and we're like, but I've messed

  93. up. I'm not faultless. How many of you would

  94. say, I'm not faultless? Well, because of the

  95. cross, Jesus is able to present you to the Father

  96. as faultless. Isn't that freeing? I mean, doesn't

  97. that give you some freedom? 2 Timothy 1 .12.

  98. I know whom I have believed in, and I'm persuaded

  99. that He is able. Everybody say, God is able.

  100. God is able to keep what I've committed to Him

  101. until that day. Everybody say, God is able. Acts

    Acts 20:32

  102. 20, verse 32. So now, brethren, I commend you

  103. to God and to the word of His grace, which is

  104. able to build you up and give you an inheritance

  105. among all those who are sanctified. Well, He

  106. sanctified us, right? So He's able to build us

  107. up. He's able to give us... An inheritance. We

  108. are joint heirs with Jesus. Joint heirs with

  109. Christ. That's what the Bible says. Everybody

  110. say God is able. See, y 'all need to smile when

  111. you say God is able. Do you believe that He's

  112. able? Well, that should put a smile on your face.

  113. Hebrews 7 .25 Therefore He is also able if you

  114. didn't think He was able enough He's also able

  115. to save To the uttermost, those who come to God

  116. through him. That word save in the Greek is save,

  117. deliver, protect. And he does it entirely. Full

  118. ended, all the way through. Okay? He's able to

  119. save to the uttermost. And then back to Ephesians

  120. 3 .20. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly

  121. abundantly above all that we ask your thing,

  122. according to the power. that works in us. Who

  123. would like to see God's promises and God's blessings

  124. and who God is? Who would like to see that in

  125. a greater measure in 2024 than you've ever seen

  126. in your life? Who wants to? Now I've got a question.

  127. Is there anything that can limit what God is

  128. able to do for us? Think about it. We're going

  129. to look at the Word, okay? I'm not just coming

  130. up with an answer that's not based on what God's

  131. Word says. But is there anything that can limit

  132. us, can limit what God can do for us, what He's

  133. able to do for us? Is there anything that can

  134. make us not experience? exceedingly abundantly

  135. more in this upcoming year. Turn your attention

  136. to Mark chapter 6, verses 1 through 6. And yeah,

    Mark 6:1–6

  137. we've read this before maybe a time or two in

  138. the last three years. Mark 6, starting with verse

  139. 1. Then he, Jesus, everybody say Jesus, went

  140. out from there and came to his own country. And

  141. his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath

  142. had come, he began to teach in the synagogue.

  143. And many hearing him were astonished, saying,

  144. Now, this word saying, the Greek word saying,

  145. is lego. Everybody say lego. Lego. Lego. That's

  146. not where Lego came from. Because it's not Greek

  147. origins in the word of Lego. But this particular

  148. word is Lego. So the people who heard Jesus in

  149. his own hometown teaching in the synagogue, they

  150. were astonished, but then they began saying something.

  151. What were they saying? Where did this man get

  152. these things? And what wisdom. is this which

  153. is given to him, that such mighty works are performed

  154. by his hands. Is this not the carpenter, the

  155. son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph,

  156. Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here

  157. with us? So they were offended at him. Do you

  158. get the picture? Jesus came back to his own hometown.

  159. He came back to the synagogue. And he stood up

  160. and he read the scriptures in the synagogue and

  161. talked about that a little bit. And the people

  162. there said, now wait a minute. We know this guy.

  163. He's just a carpenter. All of his brothers and

  164. sisters, we know him. We're familiar with him.

  165. And they're basically saying, Why does he think

  166. that he's such big stuff? Okay? I mean, he's

  167. just like the rest of us. They were offended

  168. at who Jesus was. And Jesus responded in verse

  169. 4. It says, but Jesus said to them, a prophet

  170. is not without honor except in his own country.

  171. among his own relatives, and in his own house.

  172. Even his brothers tried to pull him back and

  173. say, you know, you're just our brother. They

  174. tried to pull him back. James, his brother, who

  175. became the pastor of the church in Jerusalem,

  176. didn't believe until after the resurrection.

  177. Didn't believe it. I mean, it was always his

  178. fault. It was never Jesus' fault. Hello? How

  179. would you like to grow up with somebody who is

  180. actually perfect and never sinned? Would you

  181. be upset at them? All right? You never do anything

  182. wrong. I always get in trouble, right? So, listen

  183. to verse 5. It says, now he could do no mighty

  184. work there. Everybody say, what? I mean, he's

  185. Jesus. He's God. He's God and man. I mean, he's

  186. the God man. He's doing all these miracles. I

  187. mean, changing water into wine and healing people

  188. and delivering people and all those things. But

  189. it says he couldn't do it in his own hometown,

  190. except that he laid hands on a few sick people.

  191. And healed them. And Jesus marveled. He went,

  192. wow. Everybody go, wow. Say it backwards. He

  193. marveled because of their unbelief. He marveled

  194. because of their unbelief. How many of you believe

  195. Jesus wanted to do more in his own hometown than

  196. he was able to do? Right? So, something limited

  197. him from being able to do what he wanted to do.

  198. He wanted them to experience all the miracles

  199. that he was going to share with the rest of the

  200. region. He wanted them to experience it too.

  201. He wanted that to happen in his own hometown.

  202. But it could not happen. It says he could not

  203. do mighty work there. He wanted to. But he couldn't.

  204. Because of two things. Everybody say two things.

  205. Unbelief. Everybody say unbelief. And Lego. Everybody

  206. say Lego. He couldn't do it. And just like their

  207. unbelief and their Lego, what they were saying,

  208. just like that, limited what Jesus could do in

  209. his own hometown, those same two things can limit

  210. you and me from seeing God's ability and what

  211. God wants to do. Hello? How many of you believe

  212. God probably wanted to do more in 2023 than he

  213. was able to do in your life? How many of you

  214. believe He wants to do more? Exceedingly abundantly

  215. more than you can ask or think. I mean, is it

  216. in the Bible or not? Are you with me? Don't get

  217. offended like they did because I'm sharing the

  218. truth with you. Because I know this rubs all

  219. up against what some of us have been taught.

  220. I mean, it rubs hard. Can anybody agree with

  221. me? But unbelief and words can limit what God

  222. can do in your life. I'm going to look at two

  223. words that are translated say in our English

  224. Bibles. The first one is epo. Everybody say epo.

  225. That means to speak or say. That means you've

  226. got to get it out. You can't just think it. And

  227. this is something that I deal with every day

  228. in my walk of faith. Because I think it a lot.

  229. And I think Bible verses. And I think all these

  230. things. But I never get it out of my mouth. It's

  231. important to say it. Look to the person beside

  232. you and tell them it's important to say it. It's

  233. important to speak it. Epo. To speak or say.

  234. Not just think it. But say it. Okay, the other

  235. word is lego. Everybody say lego. Lego is different

  236. even though it's translated say or saying in

  237. our English language. And it means to lay forth

  238. in words. But it also carries this with it. Words

  239. of systematic or set discourse. Systematic or

  240. set discourse. Instead of just speaking it out,

  241. it means that there's a systematic or set discourse.

  242. We're building something. We're establishing

  243. something with our words. Are you with me? Don't

  244. look like a calf looking at a new gate, even

  245. though this is a new gate. Okay? Lego, to lay

  246. forth in words of systematic or set discourse.

  247. We're building and establishing something with

  248. our words. We're not just saying it one time.

  249. I mean, it's what we say on a regular basis,

  250. on a repeated basis, is showing what we believe,

  251. actually. So when these people saw Jesus come

  252. back to their hometown, they began to build or

  253. establish that Jesus is not all that. He's just

  254. one of us. His brothers are here. His sisters

  255. are here. He's just a carpenter's son. Who does

  256. he think he is? So they established that with

  257. their words. And because of their words, Jesus

  258. said, well, wow. I wanted to do so much more,

  259. but I can't because of their unbelief. That's

  260. what Jesus said. Because of what they had established

  261. or built with their words. Are you with me? Are

  262. you with me? Say amen or oh me or something.

  263. I mean, because you probably know where I'm going.

  264. Let's take a look at another example that's different.

  265. Mark chapter 5, start over verse 25, says this.

    Mark 5 chapter mention

  266. Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for 12

  267. years and had suffered many things. from many

  268. physicians. She had spent all that she had, everybody

  269. say broke, busted, disgusted. She had spent all

  270. that she had, and was no better, but was worse.

  271. 12 years. When she heard about Jesus. Does anybody

  272. remember that verse? Faith comes by hearing,

  273. and hearing by the word of God. So she heard

  274. something. She heard that there was a man named

  275. Jesus. She heard that he was helping people and

  276. delivering people and healing people and doing

  277. all these great things for all these people.

  278. She heard about Jesus. It says, when she heard

  279. about Jesus, she came behind him in the crowd

  280. and touched his garment. For she said, everybody

  281. say Lego. She said, if only I may touch his clothes,

  282. I shall be made well. I've got a question. Did

  283. she say that one time? I think if she said it

  284. one time, we'd have the word epo here instead

  285. of lego. The word lego tells us. That as soon

  286. as she heard about Jesus, she began establishing

  287. and building with her words. And she said, I've

  288. heard about Jesus. If I can get to him and if

  289. I can touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made

  290. well. I'll be healed if I can get to Jesus. I

  291. bet she said that all the time. That became her

  292. set. She's building that. She heard about Jesus.

  293. He's not in town yet. But she's like, oh, if

  294. I can touch his clothes. And you know why she

  295. said, if I can touch the hem of his garment,

  296. right? Because the Bible said when the Messiah

  297. comes, he will have healing in his wings. And

  298. that word wings is also translated the hem. So

  299. she believed in Jesus. She believed that he was

  300. the Messiah. She believed. that he had healing

  301. even in the hems of his garment. And she began

  302. to say, everybody say believe. Everybody say

  303. say. Now, I'm going to tell you what she didn't

  304. say. I don't know if this will work or not. I

  305. doubt it. I've had this for 12 years. I'm going

  306. to give Jesus a chance. I'm going to try. I'm

  307. just going to try. I don't know if it will work

  308. or not. But I'm going to try it because, you

  309. know, the guy at church last Sunday down at the

  310. synagogue, he said, you know, well, if you say

  311. it and believe it, then I'm going to try it.

  312. I'm just going to give it a shot. Probably won't

  313. work because I've been dealing with this for

  314. 12 years. It's really who I am. You know, everybody

  315. in town knows who I am. Everybody knows I got

  316. this condition. Everybody knows I have this trouble.

  317. You know what? It probably won't work, but I'll

  318. give it a shot. She did not say that. Come on.

  319. Her systematic discourse. She's building a case.

  320. And over and over and over again. Not wavering,

  321. not doubting, she's saying, if only I may touch

  322. his clothes, I shall be made well. If I touch

  323. the hem of his garment, I'm going to be healed.

  324. It's going to happen. This is what's going to

  325. happen to me. I'm going to touch the hem of his

  326. garment, and I'm going to be made well. It was

  327. her Lego. Immediately. The fountain of her blood

  328. was dried up. She felt in her body that she was

  329. healed of the affliction. And Jesus immediately,

  330. knowing in himself that power had gone out of

  331. him, turned around in the crowd and said, Who

  332. touched me? Who was it? Who touched me? But his

  333. disciples said to him, Jesus. There's people

  334. all over the place. Everybody's bumping into

  335. everybody because everybody wants to be close

  336. to you. And you see the multitude thronging and

  337. you're going to ask who touched you? 20 people

  338. have touched you in the last 30 seconds. What

  339. do you mean who touched you? Jesus was talking

  340. about a different touch. A bunch of people touched

  341. him. But only one reached out and touched him

  342. in faith. He looked around to see. And you know

  343. what? I believe Jesus could see it on her face.

  344. He looked around to see her who had done this

  345. thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling,

  346. knowing what had happened to her, came and fell

  347. down before him and told him the whole truth.

  348. What was the truth? I heard about you, Jesus.

  349. And I knew if I could touch your clothes, I'd

  350. be made whole. I knew it. That was the whole

  351. truth. And he said to her, whoo, I felt that

  352. power come out of me. Can't nobody do you like

  353. Jesus. Y 'all heard that song? Is that what he

  354. said? Y 'all ain't never heard that song? Can't

  355. nobody do me like Jesus. Nobody's heard that

  356. one? All right. That's not what he said. Power.

  357. You know, aren't you glad I was here today? With

  358. all my power. That's not what he said. Jesus

  359. said to her, daughter, your faith, has made you

  360. well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.

  361. So, in this story, we see a combination of two

  362. things, right? Hello? Is anybody with me? Do

  363. you see a combination of two things? Actually,

  364. a combination of three things. We have her words.

  365. We have her faith. We know she had faith because

  366. she acted on what she believed. And we have the

  367. ability and the power of God. We have all three

  368. of those things, right? Are you with me? Come

  369. on, somebody. I know you're trying to figure

  370. it out. But that's what we have. See, here's

  371. the deal. It was not all up to Jesus whether

  372. she got healed or not. It wasn't. But it wasn't

  373. all up to her either. It wasn't all up to Jesus.

  374. Some people live their whole life, and I can't

  375. tell you how many years I lived my life saying,

  376. you know, it's just up to God whether good or

  377. bad is going to happen to me. It's all coming

  378. from God. It's tragedy and it's stuff and it's

  379. loss and all this. I mean, it's just all coming

  380. from God because God's in control and it's all

  381. Him. I'm just a little puppet living through

  382. this life and it's all up to God. If God wants

  383. to heal me, He can heal me. If He don't, He won't.

  384. If God wants to provide for me, He'll provide

  385. for me. But if He don't, He won't. It's just

  386. all up to God. Has anybody lived a day of their

  387. life thinking that? It's just all up to God.

  388. I tell you, if you'll take hold of this truth

  389. today, it'll change your life. It wasn't all

  390. up to God. But that doesn't mean that it's all

  391. up to me and it's all up to you, right? It's

  392. not up to us either. It's not all up to us. But

  393. we play a part in it. We play a part. Mark 11,

  394. 22 says, So Jesus answered and said to them,

  395. Have faith in God. And I know I've talked about

  396. this story before, but it just all came together

  397. in these words, all working out together. I had

  398. no idea until I began to study. These words are

  399. connected through these stories. Because I never

  400. looked it up. So Jesus answered and said to them.

  401. Now he had just went to get figs off of a fig

  402. tree. And when he got there, no figs. The tree

  403. was advertising. Everybody say advertising. The

  404. tree was advertising that it had figs. By the

  405. look of it, by the leaves, all this stuff. I

  406. mean, Jesus thought there would be figs on this

  407. tree. And when he got there, he found out that

  408. the tree was false advertising. There were no

  409. figs on the tree. So he said, you know what?

  410. Because of your false advertising, nobody will

  411. ever eat a fig off you again. You're done as

  412. a fig tree. And then the next morning, Jesus

  413. and his disciples were walking by. They saw the

  414. fig tree. They said, what? The leaves are falling

  415. off of it and wrinkled and dying. I mean, isn't

  416. this the tree that you talked to last night?

  417. And they were going, wow. Wow. His words are

  418. powerful. His words are powerful. As a matter

  419. of fact, when you look at Jesus, we don't see

  420. that people said, oh, he was handsome or had,

  421. you know, just penetrating eyes or anything like

  422. that. I mean, it doesn't say he had the best

  423. robe or the best sandals. People don't talk about

  424. his Gucci robe or his whatever kind of shoes

  425. are very expensive. People said, when he talks,

  426. something's different about the way he talks

  427. than anybody else I've ever seen before. There's

  428. authority in what he says. They were asking Jesus

  429. all the time, Jesus, we see your faith in action.

  430. We need faith. We need more faith. How does this

  431. work, Jesus? And Jesus said, have faith in God.

  432. Everybody say, have faith in God. See, it's not

  433. all up to you, and it's not all up to God. We're

  434. to have faith in God. Then he said this, for

  435. surely I say, Lego. Everybody say Lego. Because

  436. Jesus is establishing something. He's building

  437. something. And this probably isn't the first

  438. time he's ever said anything like this. But this

  439. is his systematic discourse. He says, here it

  440. is. I'm going to build something for you about

  441. faith. I'm building this. I'm establishing this

  442. about faith for you. And then he says, whoever

  443. says epo, that means you got to say it with your

  444. mouth, right? Not just thinking it in your head.

  445. You got to say it with your mouth. To this mountain.

  446. Now, wait a minute. Can mountains hear? Can things

  447. that look really big in your life that are keeping

  448. you from God's promises or what God wants for

  449. you and has for you, can mountains hear? Some

  450. people are shaking their head no. Yes. What Jesus

  451. said to say to the mountain. Now, if Jesus tells

  452. you to say to the mountain, then mountains can

  453. hear. Can storms hear the storms of life that

  454. you face? Can storms hear? Well, Jesus was out

  455. on the sea one night and a bad storm came up.

  456. And He spoke. The Bible doesn't say He waved

  457. His hand or anything like that. He just said,

  458. Peace, be still. So storms can hear. Can plants

  459. hear? They say if you talk real sweet to your

  460. plants in your house, they'll grow better. I've

  461. done research on this. You've got multiple plants.

  462. You scream at one plant. You talk nice to the

  463. other plant. The plants that you talk nice to

  464. will grow better. Scientific studies. If you

  465. don't believe it, do it at your own house. Okay?

  466. So plants here. Can fevers here? Well, Jesus

  467. spoke to a fever, the Bible says, and the fever

  468. went away. So we may feel foolish or crazy speaking

  469. to inanimate things or to situations. See, this

  470. always gets me. Sometimes I think about what

  471. God's Word says, I think about His promise, and

  472. then all of a sudden I'll have to tell myself,

  473. Don't just think it, say it. I've done that this

  474. week. I mean, I'm up here preaching this today,

  475. but I've done that this week where I've said,

  476. no, I don't need to just think it, I need to

  477. say it. Y 'all are looking at me way too intense.

  478. We gotta say it. Whoever says to this mountain,

  479. be removed and cast into the sea. Why didn't

  480. Jesus just say, move over just a little bit,

  481. just get out of my way so that I can get to what

  482. God has for me? Why didn't he say, move over,

  483. instead of moved and be cast into the sea? Here's

  484. a thought. The sea is the only thing big enough

  485. to take a mountain and to make it look like it

  486. never existed. Hello? You put a mountain in the

  487. sea, it just dissolves all in there, and there's

  488. no trace that it ever existed. How many of you

  489. have some mountains in your life? Not like dirt

  490. mountains, but things that are in your life that

  491. look like it's impossible to scale in front of

  492. you, and it's keeping you from what you feel

  493. like God wants as your future. And how many of

  494. you would say, I sure would have liked that moved

  495. out of the way. Have you spoke to it? Because

  496. I believe that it can be removed and cast into

  497. the sea and there will be no evidence that it

  498. ever existed in your life. Jesus said that. And

  499. he says, and does not doubt in his heart. Everybody

  500. say waver. Waver. Has anybody ever wavered a

  501. little bit? I mean, you know, we're here at church,

  502. man. It's time to start speaking to those mountains.

  503. We're going to speak to them all the way. And

  504. then tomorrow morning, we're going to say, well,

  505. yesterday I was living by faith, but today I'm

  506. going to live by sight, and the mountain's still

  507. there. And I don't know if any, I don't know,

  508. you know, this don't work. This ain't going to

  509. work. That's wavering. The Bible says when we

  510. waver like that, when we're back and forth on

  511. what God said and on our feelings or on our sight,

  512. if we just move back and forth and back and forth

  513. and back and forth and we waver, it's like we're

  514. tossed by the waves of the sea, the Bible says.

  515. And it says, don't let that person think that

  516. they're going to receive anything from God. I

  517. didn't say it. I mean, if it's up to me, I'd

  518. say, you know, if you get it right 60 % of the

  519. time. But God said, if we just waver back and

  520. forth, don't expect to receive anything. Listen,

  521. does not doubt in his heart, but believes that

  522. those things he says, everybody say Lego, we

  523. just talked about Epo, now we're talking about

  524. Lego again. the systematic discourse of your

  525. words that you are laying forth, if you believe

  526. that those things you say will be done, Jesus

  527. said he will have whatsoever or whatever he says.

  528. He will have whatever he says. That's epo again.

  529. Whatever he says out of his mouth, if he says

  530. it, hey, if I touch the hem of his garment, I'm

  531. going to be whole. If I touch Jesus' clothes,

  532. I'm going to be healed. I've heard that Jesus

  533. is healing people. I know He's not a respecter

  534. of persons. I believe He's the Messiah. And I

  535. believe if I touch Him, I'm going to be healed.

  536. As we build with our words. Here's a question.

  537. What is your Lego? What is your systematic discourse

  538. of words? Over your life. What are you saying?

  539. What are you saying over yourself? Over your

  540. business? Over your family? What are you saying?

  541. What are you building? I've heard these sayings

  542. a lot. Seems like every time I get a step ahead,

  543. I take two steps backwards. Has anybody ever

  544. heard that? Has anybody ever said that? Has anybody

  545. ever said, I always make the wrong decision?

  546. You know? When it comes to getting in line to

  547. check out, I'm thinking I'm getting in the right

  548. line, but I always get in the slowest line in

  549. the store. I always make the wrong decision.

  550. Is that what you want? Every time you get a step

  551. ahead, do you take two steps backwards? Is that

  552. what you want? Come on, somebody. Is that what

  553. you want? Well, by your systematic discourse,

  554. that's what you're building. Anybody used to

  555. watch Hee Haw? Come on. Only a few. You've seen

  556. reruns of it. I used to watch Hee Haw, Lawrence

  557. Welk. I mean, all those. But there was a song

  558. on Hee Haw. Every week they would sing it. If

  559. it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at

  560. all. Doom, despair, and agony on me. That was

  561. their song. Has anybody ever thought, if it wasn't

  562. for bad luck, I wouldn't even have any luck?

  563. I mean, it just seems like nothing turns out

  564. right. Nothing ever works out for me. And this

  565. time of year, I hear people say it all the time,

  566. if anyone's going to catch a flu, it's going

  567. to be me. You know, I get the flu about every

  568. time this year. If anybody's going to catch it,

  569. I'm going to catch it. Is that your systematic

  570. discourse? Are you laying a foundation for what

  571. you want? Everybody say Lego. Lego. Now when

  572. Jeffrey was little, and when I was little, I

  573. got Legos, right? And they just came in a box.

  574. Just a bunch of different colored bright Legos.

  575. You know? I can't tell you how many little just

  576. towers I built. I didn't have any instructions.

  577. So I just went with my own imagination and I

  578. would build a tower and I'd try to build a little

  579. house. And you know what? It always looked terrible.

  580. Is anybody with me? Because Jeffrey did it. I

  581. did it. I mean, you know, just a bunch of blocks

  582. in a box. So you just, ooh, let's see how high

  583. I can build it and it'll stand up. It was always

  584. ugly. It wasn't. I didn't create anything that

  585. I was proud of. But I never got one of these.

  586. I never got a box from the person who made the

  587. Legos, from the people who made Legos. I think

  588. I'm too old. I'm not sure that there were even

  589. boxes when we were young, Mark. I don't know.

  590. It was just a container of Legos. Now we got

  591. stores and theme parks and all kind of stuff

  592. that are all just about Legos. And now you can

  593. go to the store and you can say, wow, that's

  594. nice. A Fast and Furious car. Now when you open

  595. it up, it just has some little plastic bags in

  596. there that are filled with different colored

  597. Legos and different sizes and different things.

  598. But here's the cool thing. In the box, The people

  599. who made the Legos give you step -by -step, systematic,

  600. everybody say systematic, they give you systematic

  601. instructions to find certain pieces and begin

  602. putting those pieces together. And if you follow

  603. the people who made the Legos, if you follow...

  604. What they tell you in your systematic building

  605. of Legos, you'll come out with something really

  606. nice. A person who made you has given you promises,

  607. and relationship information in order for your

  608. life to be something beautiful in the eyes of

  609. God and in the eyes of everyone else. But for

  610. most of us, all of our lives, we just opened

  611. up the big bucket full of Legos and just been

  612. going after it in our systematic discourse of

  613. what we've been saying. And then we're just hit

  614. or miss. We're just hit or miss. But God shows

  615. us how to use our words and our faith to combine

  616. with his ability and his power so their lives

  617. can be... A lot better than they've been before

  618. now. There are promises in the Word of God pertaining

  619. to every aspect of your life. Everything that

  620. you deal with on a day -to -day basis, there

  621. are promises and blessings and provisions in

  622. the Word of God for everything you face. You

  623. might say, no, there's not. Well, you got to

  624. dig it out. And listen. I try to spoon feed as

  625. much as I can, but me just spoon feeding it isn't

  626. going to help you. You're going to have to be

  627. desperate and dig it out for yourself. You got

  628. to dig it out. Because I don't know what you're

  629. facing and what you're dealing with and how,

  630. I mean, I can help you if you want me to help

  631. you. I can do some research and try to help you,

  632. but you're not going to get it the easy way.

  633. Because it's going to have to be you. See, you

  634. can't say, hey, Dean, here's about 40 things,

  635. here's about 40 Bible verses that I want you

  636. to speak over me and over my family and over

  637. my business. I want you to do that every day.

  638. And I'll give you 20 bucks a day if you say these

  639. 40 things every day for me. You know what's going

  640. to happen? I'm going to have you 20 bucks every

  641. day and I'm going to have all those promises

  642. or blessings because I'm the one who said them.

  643. Most people want to go to the gym starting January

  644. 1st. I mean, it's the same thing if you say,

  645. hey Dean, I'll give you $20 a day to go to the

  646. gym and work out for me. Who's going to benefit?

  647. I would benefit. You can't pass it off on someone

  648. else. There are promises in the Word of God pertaining

  649. to every aspect of your life. Instead of saying

  650. those other things, I just picked out a couple

  651. of Bible verses and put them as me using Lego

  652. to build a foundation in my life. I have favor

  653. with man and God. I have favor. The Bible says

  654. we have favor with man and God, or God and man.

  655. Have you ever said that? Have you ever, when

  656. you went to a meeting or went to talk to someone,

  657. I have favor. The Bible says everything I put

  658. my hand to prospers. Look it up. Google it. Find

  659. the verse. Everything I put my hand to prospers.

  660. Then you've memorized this one. I can do all

  661. things through Christ, and it's actually in Christ

  662. when you look it up. I can do all things in Christ

  663. because he empowers me to do all things. Do you

  664. ever say that? Is that your systematic discourse

  665. over your life? Listen, it needs to be. If somebody

  666. in your family begins to say something and it's

  667. like, I know that's not what God says about you,

  668. I want you to tell them this. I want you to say,

  669. is that what you want? Is that what you want?

  670. Is that your systematic discourse? Is that what

  671. you want? What you just said, is that what you

  672. want? Through our faith, in our words our systematic

  673. discourse I believe we will see more promises

  674. more of God's promises manifest in our life in

  675. 2024 than we've ever had before and just like

  676. you agreed with me when I said do you think Jesus

  677. wanted to do more for those people in his own

  678. hometown and almost everybody said yeah I believe

  679. he did by what he said I believe God wanted to

  680. do more in your life Than you experienced last

  681. year. Because just like me. Through our words.

  682. And our faith. We limited. What he could do.

  683. Now to him who is able. To do exceedingly abundantly

  684. above all that we ask or think. According. to

  685. the power that works in us. By adding your faith

  686. and your systematic discourse words to God's

  687. ability and to God's promises. I'm going to be

  688. careful what I say over our church. I'm going

  689. to be careful what I say over everybody who comes.

  690. Because I want to add my faith and my words based

  691. on what God's promises are. I want to add my

  692. faith and my words to his ability and his promises

  693. so that I can experience exceedingly abundantly

  694. more in 2024. I know this is heavy. Because we

  695. just want it all to be up to God and we don't

  696. want to take any personal responsibility. It's

  697. always got to be somebody else's fault. Is anybody

  698. with me? We live in a world where it's got to

  699. be somebody else's fault. We've got to take responsibility.

  700. Get our words in agreement with what God says

  701. and not waver. Not live by what we see. by what

  702. we think, by what we feel, but live by the truth.

  703. Let's pray together. God, I thank you. Thank

  704. you for your word. I pray that it'll be planted

  705. in our hearts. I pray that it'll find good soil

  706. in every single person's heart. Not just one

  707. or two, but everybody. Pray that your word would

  708. find good soil and that it will grow and it will

  709. produce a harvest as we act on your truth. In

  710. Jesus' name I pray, amen. This online worship

  711. experience was brought to you by the friends

  712. and partners of Elation Church.