The Cost of Elevation

Welcome to the official podcast of Rock Hill Baptist Church 2

where we are focused on glorifying God, spreading the

gospel, and making disciples of Jesus Christ right here in the

heart of Greenville, SC. Each week we bring you a life

changing word from our Senior Pastor, Pastor Matthew D Long

Junior, or one of our anointed guest speakers.

We pray this message strengthens your faith, deepens your

understanding, and empowers you to elevate in every area of your

life. Let's join the service already

in progress. Matthew chapter 27 and just a

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

few verses for your hearing. Matthew Chapter 27 verse #45

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

Thank you to our choir for singing and thank you for our

church. I'm telling it's better when we

do it together. I'm telling you thank you, thank

you, thank you. Matthew chapter 27.

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

Now I'm going to be very transparent with you.

If you help me, I think I can do this in just about time.

I feel like I can do this. No, I can't take my time today.

I can't take it today. You right now, 'cause you 'cause

you got to come back today at 4:00 and you got to bring a

friend, cousin, and somebody. I'll bring them with you at

4:00. You got to be back here four

o'clock 4:00. That's what I'm talking about.

Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27.

Matthew 27 · chapter mention Matthew 27 · chapter mention

And we want to lift, Let's see, 3 verses for your hearing.

Verse #45 says now from the 6th hour, Matthew chapter 27, verse

Matthew 27:45

45. Now from the 6th hour there was

darkness over all the land until the 9th hour.

And about the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying,

Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabbathan, that is to say, my God, my God, thou

hast thou forsaken me. One more verse and I'll be done.

Some of them that stood there when they heard that said, this

man, call it for Elijah, the word of God, for the people of

God, thanks be unto God, you can have your seat in the Prince of

the Lord. If you don't mind, help me out.

Turn to your neighbor and say, hey, neighbor, are you OK?

I'm right. I'm right.

I'm right. Turn to the other neighbor real

quick and say, hey, neighbor, are you OK?

OK, make sure everybody all right, I'm right.

I'm trying to hit this as fast I can.

But Greg, I'm Greg. Greg, Greg, praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. If you don't mind, help me.

Shout to your neighbor, my subject for today, and say,

neighbor, the cost of elevation, the cost of elevation, the cost

of elevation. But my dear brothers and

sisters, we love to celebrate elevation.

I guess you don't because you didn't say anything.

My dear brothers and sisters, I find myself sometimes

celebrating elevation. Y'all didn't talk to me, so I

guess you didn't. You know, it was me and me all

by myself. Everyone be honest.

Sometimes we testify about it. But John, can you turn #1 just a

slide down for me because I don't want it to get too, too

hot when I when I lift it up. Oh, somebody got it on the

reverb. Come on here, I hear you.

Hey. Oh, praise him, my dear brothers

and sisters, we love to celebrate elevation.

I mean, we, we testify about it, we post about it, we we pray for

it, we even sow into it and we say things like God is taking me

to another level. You might even hear somebody say

it. It's my season of increase.

Others might say, you know, I'm just simply walking in my

promotion and and this and there's absolutely nothing wrong

with believing for more. But but but thank you.

Praise the Lord. I know there's that cliffhanger

like huh, but, but, but here is the caveat that we don't always

talk about Deacon House. We don't like to talk about the

price tag, huh? Because elevation, real

elevation is not free. Thank you.

I appreciate it. The truth of the matter is God

may open the door, but you still have to pay for the hallway and

sometimes it really is not in dollars and CENTS, cents, but it

is then discomfort, decisions and in discipline.

And if I can be transparent with you, sometimes it's even in deep

pain because we find ourselves wanting the crown but not the

cross, the platform but not the pressure, the oil but not the

crushing. And the truth of the matter is,

you don't get elevated without loss.

You don't get elevated without tension.

You don't get elevated without being stretched in places you

thought you were settled. You don't get elevated without

letting go of who you were so God can show you who you really

are. I remember talking with someone

who had just received a major promotion at work one time and

they had the title change. They found themselves with more

money, praises and glory. Hallelujah.

They had that that parking spot. But you know, the little sign

had the bigger office. From the outside, Sister Cheryl,

it looked like a blessing. But.

But in two months, in two months, they were miserable.

They were exhausted. They even found themselves

isolated and full of anxiety, carrying everybody's

expectations. And nobody seemed to understand.

They said to me, I didn't know this promotion would cost me so

much peace. And I thought to myself, that's

the part people don't, don't really, they don't really post

on Facebook about that. That's the part that does not

hit the Instagram Reel, the TikTok video or even the YouTube

short. That's, that's, that's, that's

what's happening when the platform comes really before the

preparation. That's really what happens when

the calling arrives. But the cost catches you off

guard. If I can just be transparent,

I'm going to get out my introduction.

But elevation will excite you until it starts to expense you

because God really doesn't promote talent.

He promotes endurance through faithfulness.

And if I can be honest, just a little bit more because I got 3

movements and I got a little time, I need to get back to you

that going higher sounds good, Sister Sherry, until you

realize, Mother Gordine, that going higher means thinner air,

fewer people, greater visibility, and more weight.

So today I'm not just here to talk about rising up, elevating,

moving up. I'm really here to show you that

you might be like me, in between the black and white pages of the

book before you, or the electronic device that which you

may be reading from with a moment that you have become all

too comfortable with, and that is Jesus on the cross.

My dear brothers and sisters, I know it is very typical of me,

to be honest, to preach Jesus on the cross around Easter because

it's seasonal. But as I was in my devotional

period and I was studying and looking and being, I found that

in Matthew chapter 27 we find 3 movements that are worth

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

exploring that really highlight the cost of elevation.

You got your Bible open right? Matthew chapter 27 verse 45

Matthew 27:45

reads as such. Now from the 6th hour there was

darkness over all the land until the 9th hour.

Not your brothers and sisters. The very first thing this text

teaches us about the cost of elevation is you have to deal

with the shadows. You have to deal with the

shadows. But please understand that

before the cry, before the earthquake, before the veil was

ripped and torn, there was a shadow.

Glory to God. Three hours, 3 hours of

complete, utter, total darkness. If if I can take it out of the

the Roman time and put it into a more understandable moment for

you that it was from 12 noon to about 3:00 PM the the brightest,

the hottest part of the day. God pulled the shade and the sun

stood still. The sky went silent and the land

was left in unnatural, undeniable and uncomfortable

darkness. Braylon, this wasn't night time.

It was a divine interruption. TT two.

Yeah, I thank you for reaching out to me this morning.

This this wasn't the weather. It was a prophetic commentary

from heaven. And for those who may just be a

little extra online, the light didn't simply burn out.

God blew it out. You do understand that shadows

are created when something stands between the light and the

object. It means light is still present,

but it's being blocked. It means something is in the

way. It means something has come

between the source come here and the surface.

So when the text says darkness fell over the land, it's not

just pretty language for us to gloss and glaze over as we read

our Bibles and sip on our coffee with our cream cheese Danish

here. Here the text really is showing

something that's quite prophetic.

That the Lamb of God was standing between the light of

heaven, the sins of man, and what it produced was a shadow

that stretched across all of time.

That the shadow of elevation is when your assignment gets in the

way of your comfort, when you find yourself now in the

discomfort of darkness. Are you in the room?

Talk back to me. Have you ever, have you ever

tried to move in the dark? Come on, I'm like, for real, you

know, walk. Maybe even you was, you know,

you, you was real bold. You try to run, come, come here

because because you might have been like me, you might have

tried to walk or run and then even try and reach for something

without knowing where things really were.

So if, if you had those experiences similar to mine, you

might know what it's like to move in the dark.

You you then recalibrate yourself.

You you tell yourself, slow down, boy, and you shuffle you,

you, you hesitate. You start guessing because

everything in the dark now is uncertain, that there there's a

fear of Deacon Hauser stubbing your toe for some, there's a

fear of, of hitting your shin or even Braylon knocking something

over. That there's, there's, there's,

there's discomfort in darkness that there's, there's that fear

in the darkness. And I think some of us, some of

us know about that fear because the moment you move and it

doesn't go the way you want it to move, you might just have to

pay for one. Some of us still remember being

a child calling out Mama because the room was too dark.

Some of us remember sleeping with a little night light on.

And a few of us still do, praise the Lord, because we we had

associated darkness with danger. So now imagine in Matthew

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

chapter 27, Jesus, he's not just hanging in pain, He's hanging in

pitch black darkness. That this is not just a physical

shadow, it's a spiritual shift. The Father God who had always

been close, now I feel so far, far away that the visibility,

the presence, the sense of of God's nearness gone, the word

that became flesh is now wrapped in a silence that doesn't even

make sense. And your Bible says for three

hours he can't see his way out. For three hours, he doesn't even

feel the father. For three hours, he just hangs

in the dark. If I can give you a quick

homological highlight for your notes, whether you're taking

notes in person or you don't go back to the YouTube or the

TikTok, the Instagram or the even the podcast and listen to

this again. I want to let you know the

evolution. I'm sorry.

Elevation won't always give you clarity.

It may actually find yourself or find you placed at a point

filled with confusion. I know, I know.

That was not a pretty one. That's not one that just rings

on your ears. That's one you got to think

about because you can be in purpose and still feel like

you're in peril. And can I show you something

else before I give you a good shout?

Thank you, Shay. I think everybody got lost in

the dark. The the revelation of this text

is that God was in the dark. John I, I, I would toss you the

mic because I really want to run right here.

I got it. I got to stay on this time

because the revelation is that in Exodus chapter 20 verse 21,

Exodus 20:21

Moses was drawn near to God. But where was God?

He was in the thickness of what seemed to be dark.

It it was a it was a burning fire that caught his attention,

but God was in the fire. But he was really in the

darkness of a king. First Kings 8 and 12, the text

says the Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

Psalm 1811 says he made darkness his secret place.

And my dear brothers and sisters, I'm going to let you

know that you, you heard it, you heard it, you heard it said that

God is light. But I also want to remind you

that God also knows how to hide in the shadows.

I think I got some witnesses that says, I know what it's like

for God to hide in icy rooms. I know what it's like for God to

hide in those ICU rooms that turn into journal rooms.

I know what it's like for God to hide in grief sessions and

therapy sessions. I know what it's like for God to

hide in moments where you just absolutely feel like giving up.

I know what it's like for God to hide in the silence and even to

hide in the waiting. And Jesus here in your text,

Matthew chapter 27, it's still on the cross, but he's no longer

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

in the light. And the Father God is still

working, but he's working, Brother Poseley, in the shadows.

I think I better give you a quick little piece of wisdom,

pastoral wisdom that that that you might not need to write this

down. You might need to etch this one

on, on the memory break of your memory Bank of your mind that it

may not be rise to curse the dark because God might be closer

than he's ever been. He might be closer than he's

ever been, because the danger of the dark is not what's around

you, it's what's beginning to rise within you.

In the dark. In the dark, you have to deal

with the unknown, and the unknown sometimes bubbles up as

fear, as doubt, as anxiety, as confusion, as isolation.

But you can't move too fast because you're in the dark.

I'm going to let you know that the dark, the dark, the shadows

is not punishment, it's process. And if you're if you're in the

dark right now, the lights have gone out on what used to make

sense. If you're fumbling through a

season, you used to flow in, you're not dying, you're being

developed, you're not being punished, you're being

positioned. You're not in the tomb, you're

in transition. The shadow of elevation means

God is covering you while He completes you.

Here we find ourselves now having to deal with the second

movement of the text. Matthew chapter 27 verse 46

Matthew 27:46

says. And about the 9th hour Jesus

cried with a loud voice saying ela ela lama sabatha, that is

that what your Bible says? That is to say, my God, my God,

why has thou forsaken me as I sip on this water?

The second movement of this text is the strain of elevation, the

strain of elevation. If the first cause of elevation

was the shadow, the second is the strain.

Because vow. Jesus is hanging in the dark.

Jesus does something that should stop you, your cousin, your mom

and him and the brother in the track, sister.

Rather Jesus in the dark come in, your Bible says cries out.

Deacon Meadows, you've been in this thing for a long time.

You, you, you, you, you. You may be able to help me

preach this a little better than I can.

That the text here teaches us that Jesus crying out is not a

whisper. Jesus crying out is is not a

breathless mumble. Jesus crying out is not a secret

text message. Jesus crying out is not just a

casual conversation, Sister Jackie, but Jesus crying out is

a loud, agonizing, almost general scream coming from a man

that is suffocating to death. Now you got to understand that

that old rugged cross. We like to sing about the old

rugged cross. We we say it's the emblem of

suffering and shame that that that rugged cross was a Roman

cross. Deacon Davis and and the cross

or crucifixion was design not just to kill, but it was

designed to make you suffer slowly.

The crucifixion crucifixion causes the arms of 1 to stretch

out at full span almost went back to the gym in my mind you

know when every time I stretch out a little bit more a little

bit more ain't gotten them a little bit more that the cross

caused Jesus to stretch completely out a full span,

causing his lungs to collapse and to prevent natural breath.

So for him Jesus to even inhale or to breathe, he would have to

push himself up using his feet that have been pierced around

the ankles bone with 9 inch nails while using his back that

has been shredded from rips. Not just the belt that you had I

had growing up. I'm talking about rips that

were, that were filled with rocking with shards of glass.

Rips that that had literally pulled the top and second layer

of his skin until it exposed the veins here on the cross.

That natural flesh of Jesus scraping against raw tree wood.

Untreated wood finds himself speaking.

He has to pull himself up every time just to breathe.

Just a little push to get a little more air, pressing

against pain while pushing through, suffocation of his lung

being collapsed, potentially feeling with blood.

He has to lift his weight while his nerves feel like they are

burning and on fire. And your Bible, my Bible says

through all of this, Jesus cries with a loud voice.

But the pain should have silenced him.

He still had something to say. Many brothers and sisters.

This was not just effort. This was expensive because every

word Jesus utters on this cross literally cost him come here,

blood, oxygen and even agony. So if it was me, I would really

ask Jesus why say. Anything at all.

Why use your strength to say this?

Let me get prophetic insight from Psalm 22 and one that says

my God, my God that has thou forsaken me.

Notice that Jesus wasn't just screaming in agony.

He was quoting the scripture he was hanging from, from a cross.

But he's preaching the Psalms. He's he's suffocating in pain.

I can't hear you. Did y'all go to sleep?

But he's still fulfilling purpose and prophecy even in

suffering. Jesus didn't lose the word.

The reality is He was the word. We'll let you know that this cry

wasn't just about pain, glory to God, but this cry, Mother

Gordine, was about presence. This was the first time in all

of time, eternity, Braylon, where Jesus, the Son who had

always been with the Father, now feels separation.

He doesn't say Father and the text Deacon housing verse 46, he

says, my God, I'm I'm nearing the corner.

I think there's a there's an opening in the sky coming

because in this moment, he's not just suffering physically, but

he's suffering spiritually. He's not just carrying a cross.

He's carrying every sin we've ever committed, every lie, every

death, every betrayal, every addiction, every womb, every

shameful secret, every generational curse.

He's carrying all of this. I'm the one who knew no sin has

become the embodiment of sin itself, and we know that sin

separates. The second Corinthians chapter 5

2 Corinthians 5:21

verse 21 says he who know no sin became sin for us that we might

become the righteousness of God. This cry here, this strain was

Jesus saying, God, I don't feel you anymore as Jesus saying I

can't trace you. I can't hear you, sister

Shirley, I can't see you as Jesus saying I can't sense you

and it's breaking me. But but here's here's here's

where it really begins to turn into text because even in Jesus

deepest pain, even while he's suffocating, even while he's

feeling forsaken. You ready?

Thank you. I think I'm just going to preach

to you since you want to talk to me even through all of this.

Check this out. He still talks to God, but I can

shout right now. He, he, he says, my God, my God,

He doesn't curse him. He doesn't blame him.

He doesn't abandoned him. Come here, he calls him.

And that's the cry of every believer who's ever found

himself in a spiritual strength. When it hurts, but you keep

praying. When it's dark but you keep

worshiping. When you feel forsaken but you

find yourself still saying, My God, my God, because your pain

doesn't cancel your position. You're still God's child, and

the cry wasn't proof that God left, but it was simply proof

that the Son still trusted God. I've got to get out of here now.

I got one more point to give you here, my clothes.

But I'm reminded of a story that there was a father.

Who had took? His daughter to the hospital.

The daughter found herself needing some surgery, so when

they rolled her into the room. And the anesthesia begin to kick

in. She begin to.

Panic. And she begin to cry out.

Daddy. Don't let them take me.

She begin to say Daddy. Don't leave.

Me and the father had. Tears in his eyes, but he was

right there, even when she couldn't feel him anymore.

She thought he was gone, but he was just outside.

Of the room watching and weeping, waiting for his

daughter to come through so he let her feel forsaken so she can

receive her healing. And when she woke up, she was

thin home. But if the the cry that reminded

him, she, the daughter still believed that he was close.

Because the cry does not mean he's absent but the crime it

means that you still believe that you're God is listening.

I better move on now to my Third Point here because the Bible

says in Matthew chapter 27 verse #46 hand about the 9th hour

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

Jesus cries on now cries. Wise with a loud voice, and as

he cries with a loud voice, the Bible says he's heard.

Saying Eli, Eli Lama subophany, that is my God, My God, why hast

thou? Forsaken Me verse 47 is where I

want to hang my. Hat.

Because the Bible says. Some have them that stood there

when they heard him said this man called for Elijah. 3rd

movement worth exploring the cost of elevation is the

scrutiny of elevation. Jesus is hanging up.

Jesus is straightening. Jesus is suffering, and now

after giving his all and now after pushing through the pain,

now giving all he's got on the cross.

Your Bible says he's being scrutinized and here on the.

Text. We see Jesus crying for God, but

the people thinking he's calling for Elijah, they mishear him,

they misread him and they mocked the moment the Saint Jesus

mother Gordine who raised the damn, the same Jesus that healed

healed the sick, the same Jesus that feather hungry now has to

deal with people misinterpreting his words.

He's misheard and miss judged, and what he said was sacred, for

what they heard was sarcasm. What he said was prophecy, but

what they assumed was delusion. What he spoke was in power, but

they dismissed him in panic. And here's the truth for every

elevated person to understand the name is that the price of

elevation includes being misquoted by people who were

never called them to carry what you carry.

I got to get out of here now, but help me wake your neighbor

up and say, oh, I'm neighbor. No, I said say, oh, I'm

neighbor. I want to remind you, this is

your hip, the elevator. I want to remind you that God's

not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he

should take it back or repent. If he's had it, it's if he's

spoken, it's it's a done deal and I want.

I'm sorry preaching fell on me, I want you to know.

That your Savior and my Savior shows us that being elevated is

going to cost you the whole of John.

I want them to hear this part that sometimes God would elevate

you and God would allow you to believe did high, but God will

be sure that your crowd it's filled the distinctive person.

Come on here. I gotta go for real.

But look, in the crown, there's three types of people at the

foot of the cross. Your Bible shows us that.

There's hecklers at the cross. There's people who's going to

mock you. Nothing.

But look at this now. Your Bible shows us that at the

foot of the cross. There's also adversaries.

There's going to be people who plan against, show progress.

He's on the cross. But look at Jesus trying to save

the world. Look at God descending from his

celestial throne now on a tree he created with his own mind,

giving over the people he loves with all his heart.

And if the crown, the third group of people be finding the

text are silent advocates, those who believe but say nothing when

it counts. And Jesus wasn't just pierced in

his hands, mother, but Jesus was pierced by their opinions.

In that same voice that once lifted up Hosanna, is the same

voice that says, let's see if Elijah's going to save him.

I'm going to remind you, in this world today, find yourself

having some spectators who have no revelation.

They may stand right there. They may listen right there,

they may be present right there, but they'll be absent from the

revelation. I'm so sorry, but the text

teaches us that somebody can even be near the cross and still

not know Christ. So don't get mad.

Men define people in your crowd. Who may not go along with you.

Don't get mad when you look in your cry and you find some

people plotting your demise. But be like she's And whatever

you do, stop. Come out the elevator plane.

Stand in the safe house, 'cause he, that's really, that's him,

the secret place, Him, the darkness, him, the strain him,

the struggle, he that hides him, the name of the Lord shall be

saved. I got to get out of here now,

but I'm reminded of a group of people that was in the theater

one time, and the whole time they saw some others scrolling

on the phone while the movies being displayed.

They laughed at the wrong part. They found themselves talking

through the tension. And at the end of the movie, the

group of people said to themselves, I didn't get the

movie. And I'm going to let you know

that there's always going to be some people who won't be with

you who will simply miss it. But whatever you do, don't come

down. Whatever you do, don't give up.

Because the cost of elevation may be a shadow, but the cow.

Is going to. Produce, the cost is the Jackie

will give you a harvest, the cost Braylon will give you fruit

and the shadow yields revelation.

But also you must know you may have to pay the cost, the cost

of strain, but the cost of strain is going to give you

identification. You may even find yourself

dealing with scrutiny. But I got to remember, I got to

remind you that scrutiny is going to yield vindication

because Jesus is on the cross. Jesus, it's paying the cost, and

as he's paying the cross, the cost of elevation, It seemed as

if it all was for not. It seemed as if this was just

for nothing. It seemed as if this was just

another man. It seemed it was another streak.

It seemed as is it was just another man, just another

person, just another pies time, just another thing, just another

one. But I'm so glad that Jesus

didn't just die, but Jesus was delivered.

Yes, God, I hear you. He was delivered from an

elevated place because the higher you got to go up, you'll

find yourself going down deeper. And the Bible says he that I've

said attended the question is where did he go?

Because it seemed not sins Earth was already hell, but he had

found himself found himself in hell for real.

And there he found captives, cactus by sin, cactus by

tradition, cactus by religion. And it's the blood Jesus pain on

that all round across the cars held to get nervous.

And Friday night seemed like another party.

Saturday was just another casual brunch.

But something happened. Something happened in the

breaking up day. The jails of hell, they give

them the ride on something happened between the breaking of

day what seemed like was just for not on early Sunday morning.

Jesus, it's vindicated 'cause he comes out of a borrowed.

Place. Comes out of a borrowed

location. Comes out.

Comes out, comes out or just a stop on his journey.

He comes down or what's only temporary, so he can now deliver

Freedom, deliver liberty, deliver salvation to you and I.

I've got to go now. I ain't never had to preach my

anniversary, but I came to let you know, as the Lord was

ministering to me this week while I was in Charlotte, that

God hath not forgot his word concerning you.

That God hath not from God what he said to you.

That God has not been God, how he thinks about you.

That God has not changed, changed His mind about you.

And I came to give you a message straight from heaven that you

gonna have to pay the cost of elevation.

But don't be discouraged. Don't be dismayed.

Just know that God won't fail you.

God won't fail you. God won't fail you.

So get out of your feelings. Get in faith because God, he's

with you. And even if you have to go from

the light to the dark, God is still with you.

God is still holding you. God is still sustaining you.

God, it's still providing for you.

You might slow down, but just no, God won't fail you.

God, God, God, God, God. He won't let you fall.

He won't let you fall. He won't let you fall, God.

God got too much invested in you for you to quit now, for you to

let go now, for you to run out of gas now.

So go, go on through with it because God's still with you.

Help me out. Telling somebody, Say go with

it, go through it because God's still with you.

Oh no, no, no, no, no. I said go tell somebody God is

still with you. I said tell somebody God is

still with you. That's the wrong person.

They didn't hear you. That's the wrong.

Go find somebody else and say God is still with you.

God is still with you. God is still with you.

God is still with you. God, God, God is still with you.

I'm sorry, it's my anniversary. I'm sorry he's still with you.

So cry if you have to, but God's still with you.

Screaming if you have to, but God is still with you.

Rolling the floor if you have to, but God is still with you.

A hero let you die, I said. Hero, the one who made the stars

in the sky won't let you die. May not feel good.

But. Hero let you die.

Body may fail me, but God won't let me die.

I got to stop. Hero, Hero, hero.

I got to stop. I got to stop.

He won't let you down. Sometimes we just read Jesus on

the cross. He don't realize the layering of

pain that is more than just snails in his eyes, heels in his

feet, a crown of thorns and a spear in his side.

Yeah, that's it. And it's also the people he was

sent to love that is in the dark with him.

And in the dark. In the dark, they start talking

stupid. In the dark we already nervous.

They're supposed to be light. Life's not supposed to be like

this. At this moment.

I'm in this moment, this season, this air, this epoch.

It's dark. And Jesus is in.

He's in agony that others see come here and he's got some

internal wounds that no one can even understand.

Some of us too found ourselves in a year where God gave us a

prophetic word and said elevate. But here we are and he's saying,

you know there is a cost to this.

I've received the word and I forgot the scripture.

Jesus says any builder before he builds anything first counts up

the cost and sometimes we get so focused on what that is supposed

to be. I don't know what your that is

that we we don't factor in the different degrees of surrenders

God requires of us. If Jesus would have given in to

his environment, if Jesus would have given in to the pressures

that he was under, if Jesus would have said I'm done with

it. You and I will have no advocacy

to God. We couldn't even talk to him.

I can't talk about your righteousness, but I know my

righteousness has a filthy rags. Then even on the day that I

think I got everything right, God reminds me, no, some of your

thoughts weren't right either. Even when I, when I, I've

revised and proof read how I was going to say it, but I was going

to say that he goes back and says, but your heart isn't right

and your heart is talking through it all.

I'm going to let you know because I hear the Lord right

here, that there's some in here that have found their hearts

grown cold. And it's not cold towards

people, it's cold towards God because God gave me a cost and

I'm paying for something. I'm trying to figure out Lord.

I. Ain't got nothing else to pay

with. I ain't got nothing else.

But it keeps saying I want your yes, I want your Hallelujah,

yeah, I want your money. Because you'll mess around and

and be silly and find yourself with but only one shirt and

start making that one shirt your got.

I want that too. I'm telling you that as we are

sitting here and I know I'm at my time on the Hebraic calendar,

this time of year, I believe you're in the month of elude.

The month of elude is a time of introspection.

It is a time of looking into oneself.

As you go to the fourth quarter, the the fourth quarter is always

the first quarter on God's calendar, September.

You're technically being a new Hebraic year.

I don't want to get super deep on you, but I want to let you

know that the timing of God brings us to this moment where

God is saying, how will you finish?

Will you finish strong or will you abandon even being in the

race? The brothers and sisters, I feel

like every week I'm either in a funeral, hearing about a

funeral, sending greetings for a funeral.

We are in a moment, God, I feel my gift kicking in that you're

going to have to get serious about God.

I'm for real that we, we got to be serious, not about

personalities and we got to be serious about God.

There is an enemy unleashed and he's roaring like a lion.

He's not a lion, but the enemy is roaming our streets, roaming

our workplaces, roaming in our houses, seeking whom he may

devour. We're in the moment that we've

got to be anchored in the Lord, not on the Lord, but in the

Lord. Then I'm not going to be shaken.

Lies and fallacies, untruths, half truths, but I'm going to be

like Jesus that even on the cross all he has is Bible.

That's all he had to save his Bible.

This ain't your season to go back and forth, but people

almost said wrong word ain't going back over.

This ain't your season for that. Because it take too much to be

in darkness and straining the straining to speak that if

you're going to say something make it count, but make sure it

ain't your words because your words are my words.

They fall to the ground, but the Bible says the word of God shall

not return back to him void but it real accomplished that which

even set forth to do that's that scripture.

That's the word that's the word. So it don't matter what you see

or what you face right now you got to be steadfast unmovable.

Come here. You know the scripture and the

ring always abounding and the word of the Lord that your

laborers may not be in vain. I'm going to let you know, don't

lose at the end. I feel that so strong in this

room. Don't lose in the end.

Some of us been saved too long to go to hell because of some

last minute decisions, huh? Clean your mouth out.

I hear the Lord saying clean your mouth out.

I'm telling you, the Bible says that hell enlarges.

Its tense, huh? It enlarges because there are

Saints that mess up at the end who should go to heaven.

We go to the funeral and we preach them into heaven.

But you know what we don't know? We don't because don't nobody

know, but God, you going to look for them and then go see them

because you know what? These moments where God is

sending a word, you're not hearing a word because you're

looking at a person. Good God, I hear you, Lord, just

like Jesus on the cross. They said he called it for

Elijah. He must call it for God.

This message, I don't want you to take this as me ranting,

giving you some some holy dispensation.

No, this ain't fervor you need to take to your family.

I can't get to your home like you can get to your home.

You going to need to call some meetings.

You can that text thread and we got to talk because I'm telling

you there is something coming. I told you earlier the top of

year, start growing your food. I gave you these words.

Go back and look to YouTube. These prophetic moments I've

had. I said, I see gold in 2025.

There's gold everywhere. Those are, I said watch what you

invest in. I gave you the word, I'm giving

you another word from heaven. Call your family and tell them

God is elevating us, but there's a cost that we're going to have

to pay and that pay us some of that silliness.

We got to let go, huh? Some of that we got to let go.

We got to secure our family and anchor it in the Lord.

We got to go back. Does everybody know how to pray?

Come on, let's practice praying. Come on.

I know it sounds mundane. It sounds simple, but we got to

go back and say you. You not to.

You not to say your prayers when you get up in the morning.

You not to say your prayers when you at work.

You not to say your prayers when you go to sleep.

You not to say your prayers over your food.

Come on, let's do it. Let's.

It sounds silly, but it is the simple things that get us, get

us messed up by the enemy. He ain't number a little guarded

snake, that's all. Just a little guarded snake and

he's Slytherin. And you, you getting all jacked

up because it's dark outside, it's dark in your life.

And he's thinking it's, it's a liar.

It's a snake, little Caterpillar just going around.

But that's what the enemy's doing in our lives for real.

And we get we get caught up in fear and we lose reverence of

God because we're like God, how you ain't keep me from this.

And he said, no, I already told you I'll never leave you.

He already, he said, I already told you, I always be there.

Believe it. If I'm in the dark, listen, you

may not know Jesus and the free partner of your sin.

I'm going to pray this short prayer to me say, Lord Jesus,

come into my heart, save me. I want to be saved.

Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for me.

Lord Jesus, thank you for rising out of the grave for me.

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming again for me in Jesus name,

Amen. Come and put those hands

together, believe by faith, and so just receive Jesus into their

life. Thank you for tuning in to the

Rock Hill Baptist Church 2 Podcast.

We pray today's message planted something in your spirit and

gave you the strength to keep growing here at the Rock Hill

Baptist Church 2. We're a growing church, and

growth starts with one step. If you're ready to go deeper,

visit us online at www.myrockhill2.org and click

Next Steps to get connected, join a ministry, or give your

life to Christ. Be sure to follow the podcast so

you never miss a message and share this episode with someone

you know is ready to grow too. And remember, no matter what

comes your way, you were built to elevate.

Until next time, walk in purpose, live in power, and grow

in grace.