Handle It
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Get IPVanish now for 70% off a yearly plan with this exclusive offer at IPVanish.com slash audio. Hey, this is Stephen Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. So I thought we would call on Moses if we're talking about faith. He certainly deserves to be heard.

As to how he did what he did and I chose the selection in Exodus 4:1 through 5 and I want to read it to you now Let's go over and see Moses on the far side of the desert in Midian the voice of God has summoned him from the crackling of a bush that will not burn but is on fire and I think that's a picture of a life that is set on fire by faith is that it burns up, but it doesn't burn out and

And now he's negotiating with God. And he says in Exodus 4:1, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say the Lord did not appear to you?" And then the Lord said to him, "What's that in your hand?" "A staff," he answered. And the Lord said, "Throw it down on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground. It became a snake, and he ran from it. Somebody say, "Smart guy."

Then the Lord said to him reach out your hand and take it by the tail So Moses reached out took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand This said the Lord is so that they may believe the Lord the God of their fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. I really want to lift verse 4

The Lord said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out, took hold of the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. I need your help for one moment before you take your seat, and I need you to announce my message title to your neighbor. So put your hand on their shoulder. Get their attention. And when you give them my title in a moment, I want you to holler at them.

When you give them my title, I don't want you to whisper it, mumble it, suggest it. I want you to command it, okay? Tell your neighbor, say, "Neighbor, I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what you're dealing with, but God told me to tell you, "Handle it!" Find your other neighbor. Say, "Neighbor, other neighbor, you were my second choice. Don't be offended, but just know

that God wanted me to tell you. Handle it! Amen. Clap your hands. You may be seated. Thank you, worship team. Don't we have fun together? Don't we have a good time? Amen. Look at this, because if you can have a flashback with me from when Tom Hanks was on that island alone and he had to make friends with a volleyball player.

Now, those of you who are participating in this portion of the sermon are old. I know only five of y'all would remember this reference, but in the movie Castaway where Tom Hanks had been alone so long that his only companion was a volleyball, and he called the volleyball what? Wilson. They did a good job with that movie that they bonded you enough with the volleyball that you remember it as a character.

You know, you can become so attached to something inanimate that it becomes lifelike to you. Exhibit A, right? I remember when I first asked Chris Brown, I was like, "You think I should get an iPhone?" I don't know. I don't think I would use it very much. Yeah, right. I just didn't know what it was capable of. Moses has a staff in his hand in Exodus chapter 4. And by the time God gets through showing Moses what that staff can do,

I wonder if he got so attached to the staff that he ever gave it a name. Do you think he called it… What do you think he called it? I think he called it Rod. I feel a connection to my microphone, this particular microphone. When I go preach other places and they give me another mic, it takes me like five minutes to get it right in my hands, because this one… I mean, I know this microphone. I know how to handle it. And I like having this microphone. I can control certain things about it, so I like the handheld microphone.

I really like it when I want to preach like I'm Drake. I can grab it up here. It's not the professional way to hold it. My sound guys hate that when I do that, but they put a special thing on it because they know I do it so it doesn't make all this feedback. Anyway, it's my mic. See, you can tell I have a close relationship because I gave it a name. I call it Mike. That's how close we are. Okay, I'll stop now. But in Exodus chapter 4, Moses is getting acquainted with his staff. He's...

Getting to know God and he's getting to know all in the same scene and I like it because well I know something Moses doesn't know about what that thing is capable of and when I'm watching Moses deal with this Staff that will become in many ways so much of a part of his life that I wondered did he feel like it was a part of him I know I know what this staff is gonna do at the Red Sea and

I know that when the Egyptians are chasing Moses and the Hebrew people, two and a half million strong, out of Egypt, that Moses is going to stretch that staff over that sea, and the right side of the sea is going to tell the left side of the sea, "I'll see you in a little while."

We've got to split up for a minute. I'll meet you back when the Egyptians hit the water, because we're going to drown them, but we've got a part for God's people. How many know that God will direct the elements on your behalf when you're walking in faith? I've found that to be true in my life, but that was the…

That was the staff that Moses stretched. That was the sea he stretched it over. He doesn't know this yet. We do. So I'm really interested because I feel like I know the staff because I see it so many different times in the Scripture. I saw it one time when Pharaoh wouldn't let the people go, and God told Moses, "Take your staff and stretch it out and strike the Nile River," the river in Egypt. And when you strike that river, it's going to turn from water to blood.

And that'll compel Pharaoh to give a second thought to keeping you enslaved. And he did that and the water turned to blood. That staff, it's the same staff.

That's in chapter 4. It's the same staff in chapter 7. When he does, he strikes the Nile, turns to blood. Then he strikes the bloody Nile, and then some frogs start coming out of the Nile and cover the land of Egypt. It was that same staff where he struck the Nile, same staff that turned into a snake in chapter 4, same staff in chapter 7. He struck the Nile, turned to blood, struck the Nile again. Frogs came out. Then he struck the ground. He struck the dust.

and then the gnats came out of the dust. And so all this is happening with Moses and this staff. He doesn't know the staff is capable of all this. We do. And so I'm intrigued to know how did it start. And I'm intrigued to know that it started with a staff. I'm intrigued by that. It started with something as simple as a staff.

Because that same staff, when the people of God were thirsty one time and were complaining about it, God told Moses, I hate when my people complain, but I still love them enough to make sure they don't die. Aren't you grateful for God's patience with you?

Well, he took the staff and he struck a rock with it and the water flowed out of the rock and the staff had this power that Moses couldn't have known that he had, the potential that he couldn't have known that it had. But when he used it in the right way, it did something. It was cool. And water came out of the rock and they all drank from the water in the rock, that staff. And so I want to learn everything I can about this staff. I almost feel like it's a person to me.

I saw Moses fight against the Amalekites. Well, he didn't fight against them. Joshua fought against them. Moses had a job. He had to raise the staff.

And while Moses was raising the staff and Aaron and Herb got under his arms because he got tired holding it up, and when they supported him and he raised his staff, the Israelites were victorious on the battlefield. Often it's the support system that you don't see that produces the results that you're most concerned with. So while he's doing it and his hands are up, the Israelites win. His hands drop, they start losing, but it was the staff in his hands. It was the staff in his hands. Tell somebody next to you, "There's a staff in your hands."

And what's cool about it is that there are many lessons that we can learn, and we don't even have to be Moses delivering people out of 430 years of slavery to learn them. We can just learn them for our everyday lives. And the first thing that I think the staff is saying to us in this message today is that everything you need is within reach. I heard a motivational speaker say that once. It rang true with me, that everything you need…

Within reach Moses in response to God's calling I feel the Spirit of God on me today to preach this message by the way So you ought to be excited about what you're gonna receive. He Continues the conversation with God after God shows him who he is With the phrase that I preached a whole series around one time and the phrase is what if verse 1 Moses answer What if do you know how many dreams have died beneath the weight of that phrase? What if?

"What if" is a phrase I like to refer to as fear's greatest hit. What if? What if? I mean, how many things in your life did you not do because "what if"? How many things in your life did you do that you shouldn't have done because "what if"? How many nights could you have slept but "what if" kept you awake? How many mornings did you wake up anxious because "what if" was your alarm clock? What if?

Not just "What if?" Moses wants to know, "What if…" Pay attention to the next word. "What if they…" I'll say it a third time, because I won't come on the screen, and I think third time is going to be the charm. "What if…" It's in verse 1. "What if they…" "What if…" The Scripture doesn't come up, and I keep preaching anyway. But it's a good question, "What if?" It's where many of us…

wonder and wander our whole lives. What if they laugh at me? What if they don't accept me? Now, on one hand, Moses is in a hypothetical situation because he hasn't even done anything yet, but he's just playing out the possible after

After effects of his obedience what if they but on the other hand it's not hypothetical at all It's historical because Moses is afraid of the same rejection that he experienced 40 years earlier Recurring force 40 years earlier that Moses had killed an Egyptian in defense of his people

And because he did the right thing the wrong way, he ended up on the run. And there's something about when you've tried to do the right thing and put your heart in something, but you did it the wrong way that you don't even want to try again.

And so now Moses is asking something that's hypothetical, but it's based out of what is historical, and he's projecting his past into his potential, and it's his limiting factor, but God wants him to know that that's staff in your hand. Now to us, a staff is a shepherding instrument, and Moses was using it to tend his father-in-law's sheep.

But to Moses, the staff represented a whole lot more than his vocation. It represented his mistakes. If he had never killed the Egyptian and ended up a fugitive on the run from Egypt where he was born into or adopted into royalty, he never would have had the staff in his hand. So when God tells him, "What's in your hand?"

It causes Moses to have to reckon with the mistakes he has made that have landed him in the position he's in, because when God speaks to you about your potential, he will cause you to confront your past. Touch somebody and say, "Handle it."

So he says, "What's that in your hand?" To Moses it's a staff, but to Moses it's also his past. To Moses it's also his instrument, the thing he has to do what he's doing. There's a whole lot happening in this staff, yet God says, "What you have is what you need." God wanted to say that to a single mom today, that what you have is what you need. He put enough in you to raise that child.

He foresaw that you would be in the situation, and he compensated for what others didn't give you by putting a resolve and a determination in you that's more than enough. Everything you need is within reach. So leave your list of what you don't have alone today. What is that in your hand? The wisdom you need is probably in a book that's on your shelf that you haven't read.

I was talking to a guy who pastored a church one time that was bigger than mine. I said, "I need some advice." And he said, "I gave you a book." I said, "You mean that book three years ago?" He said, "Yeah, that book three years ago. Did you read it?" I said, "No, I didn't get around to it." He said, "I knew that you were going to be at this place because I've been there, so I gave you what I knew you would need. You missed it." He said, "Call me back when you read the book."

At least read a couple chapters and we'll talk. What are we even going to talk about? You know sometimes when you pray and ask God to download information about a decision, "God, how should I handle it?" He's like, "Did you even read the book that I…book?"

We've never lived in a time where the information that is in the Word of God has been more accessible to us. My God, they'll send you alarms. They'll break it down for you. They'll give you a Bible reading in a year plan, Bible reading in the book of Psalms plan.

Bible reading in southern dialect plan to give you a Bible reading, how to read the Bible with your dog in 32 days every morning on your walk with your dog, an audio Bible, a Bible in Braille. Touch somebody and say, grab it.

Grab it grab it. You got to grab it. You got to go joy is there You got to grab it wisdom is there you got to grab it It's there the information that you need for the transformation of your life is waiting to be seized by those Who will open their eyes to what they've been given am I preaching? Okay, so everything that you need is in your reach It was something that he had already in his hand that produced what he needed to move forward into the future and to accomplish God's purpose in the earth

I'm moved by that because I get caught up in what I don't have. I know you don't. I didn't say you did. I said I do. I get caught up in what I don't have. But here's the thing the Lord is teaching me. It's less about what you have, and it's more about how you handle what you have. I'll prove it to you. Do you have Netflix? All right. Go on Netflix. Put it on—I think they have this on Netflix—30 for $30.

It's a documentary series from ESPN. Put it on broke. Put it on the one called broke. It will show you athletes that made millions of dollars, and by the time their careers were over, they were in debt. Because it's not what you, it's how you, what you have. Say it again. Come on with me. It's not what you, it's how you, what you have. That's true with money.

I've met rich people who are further behind than poor people. I've met poor people who are greedier than rich people. It's not what you have. It's how you handle what you have. That's what God wants to know. How are you handling it?

It's not the woman you married. It's how you handle the woman you married that determines whether you get the marriage you want. The selection process is important. You can cook better with good ingredients, but I'm saying that somebody might be able to take your same ingredients and make something delicious. It's not what you have; it's what you have.

determines what you do. I found out that teenagers think they're busy. They do. They'll tell you, "I'm busy." "How you doing, man?" "Oh, God, I'm busy." You're busy, and they're 12 now. They're 13 years old. I follow up with a question. Do you have a baby? Because if you don't have a baby, you don't know busy. Preach with me. In fact,

Want all you busy 13 year olds you so busy. I want you to find a 25 year old Woman in the lobby one that's got a little car seat that she's trying to carry on the way out the door from church and walk up to her and tell her how busy you are and watch her look back at you and take about the next five minutes to show you that it's not how much stress you have is how you handle the stress that you have that determines how

I'm saying you could do a lot more if you handled it differently. You could accomplish a lot more if you handled it differently. It's all in how you handle it. It's usually not the things you think are stressing you out that are stressing you out. It's the things you are mishandling in other areas of your life that make you hate your job.

Or it's the things you are mishandling in your job that make you hate your life at home. So now you come home and you take out your frustration from there on them because you didn't handle it here. Now it's showing up over there. Touch your neighbor, say, handle it. You've got to learn to handle it, whether it's weights in a weight room or whether it's life. See, because you keep asking God to take some of the weight off of your life, but faith doesn't take the weight off of my life.

It shows me how to handle it. How many of you have a situation in your life today, and you want God to show you how to handle it? Just wave your hand if that's you. Come on, just wave your hand if that's you. Well, see, God is good and God is strong. God is great and God is good. So God told Moses, "I heard my people crying out, and their cry reached me, and I've come down to rescue them." That's what he told Moses.

Exodus chapter 3 he said I've seen my people in cruel oppression. I saw how Pharaoh was treating them I see what you're going through. I see what it's like I see that you're trying and God said I came I came down and I'm gonna handle it I'm gonna handle this I'm gonna handle it now before you get really excited about it. God has his own way of handling things and

So you'll be like asking God to send all the people away so they can get some food, and he'll tell you to steal a little boy's lunch and bring it to him. That's how he handles it. You'll be looking at Jericho, and you'll see some big walls, and you'll be like, God, we need to knock these down. Will you handle it? And God won't give you a wrecking ball. He'll give you a trumpet, because God has his own way of handling it.

You'll tell him, "I don't have anything to pay my debts off of." He'll tell you, "What do you have in your house?" You'll say, "A little bit of oil." He'll tell you to go to your neighbors and borrow jars. You'll say, "No, that's the problem. I'm in debt. I don't need to borrow anything else." He'll say, "But go to these people and borrow it in the right way." When you borrow it in the right way, now you're going to get something you didn't have, because God has a strange way of handling things.

Or you'll be praying that he would send the Messiah and you'll be thinking that Thor is going to come down out of the sky and save the world. And God will show up and speak to a virgin girl and say, "I know that even though you haven't been active with a man yet, your husband is going to want to divorce you. What's in you is conceived of the Holy Spirit and it's going to come forth and it's going to be the salvation of the world, but it's going to start in a manger." Because God is going to handle it in a strange way. I'm speaking to somebody. You're in a situation right now and God is handling it and you don't even know it because he's handling it in a cradle.

and if the cradle isn't enough proof he proves it on the cross when he defeats death with the very instrument that symbolizes its most violent nature he doesn't defeat death with a tank he doesn't defeat death with the sword he defeats death with the cross because god has a strange way of handling your situation and so he's handling it and you don't even know he's handling it because you've never seen it handled like that before he tells you to turn the other cheek

And usually you're the one turning someone's cheek when they offend you. And God said, "No, I got another way to handle it." To handle it. Can you handle it? Can you handle it? And see, what started as the thing that Moses feared, a snake, became the very thing that Moses needed, a staff. Let me work on that.

The first time I did ministry was in a church called Santee Circle Community Church. Now, my first church was in the Methodist Church in Moncks Corner, where I grew up. Pastor Mickey made me his youth minister, and he would put me in this little room in the Woodman of the World building. This is on the outskirts of Moncks Corner, South Carolina. On the outskirts of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, in the Woodman of the World building. I was reliving this with

Some of our team this week, we have an apprenticeship program at the church called 2K2, and it's for...

All of those who wanted this is actually like a product placement. Let me do this real quick Elevation to k2 calm have you ever felt called into ministry? But didn't know what your next steps might be join us at 2k to a 22 week immersive ministry experience designed to propel you into your potential join us at elevation to k2 calm so I was doing a teaching forum Thank you. I was doing a teaching forum on

This past week and they said you are good at connecting with different types of people black people white people old people young people Religious people not religious people. How do you do that? I said you got to go back to the Woodman of the world building to understand that in the Woodman of the world building I had these these kids 50 about 15 kids they would bring in most of them on vans and me and Ann Johnson and Miss Delilah and

That was the lady's name, Delilah, Miss Delilah. We'd get the kids over on the vans, and many of them came from really low-income part of town, and so they would come in, and white kids, black kids, but most of them only came for food. And so they came over and just wanted something to do, and that's who I started preaching to. So you think it intimidates me if you sit with your arms crossed? I started with much worse than you.

I started in a room full of snakes. I can deal with it. I can handle it. So I said, but I had a balance because if I wasn't interesting, a fight would break out. So I had to keep it moving. I mean, if they got bored, they got violent. And so I'm over here working on my Bible text. I'd only been reading my Bible for a couple of months, so I didn't know a lot about the Bible yet. So I was just making stuff up out of the Bible the best I could. I was 16, y'all.

So there was one kid in the group called Matthew Johnson, and he was 13, but he had been in Bible school all his life. The kid, this Bible nerd, his mom had taken him to every vacation Bible school in the Charleston metro area.

All of his life. He had like nine weeks of Bible school every summer under his belt, vacation Bible school. So if I got something wrong, Matthew would stand up and correct me in the middle of the Wednesday night class. One night I came in preaching about the woman with the issue of blood, and I hadn't studied it, but I thought I knew what it meant, and I said, this woman came to Jesus, and she was bleeding. Her face was just covered in blood. Somebody must have beat her up.

I don't know who got a hold of her, but she's bleeding. Matthew stood up and said, "It was an internal issue of blood, Stephen." Thirteen-year-old. But then on the other end of the spectrum, if I was accurate but not interesting, those kids didn't care. One night a fight broke out in the middle of my teaching, and I just walked out the building.

Shut the door on that little $25 a week they were paying me to teach that class, and I sat under a tree, and I was like Jonah if you ever heard of Jonah in the Bible He sat under a tree and prayed that he might die so he wouldn't have to preach to the Ninevites And I was like Lord you got a kid I'd rather you kill me then go back in there with these kids because I'm gonna kill them and I'd rather be dead than in prison so I'm gonna sit out here till you show me what to do and

After about 10 minutes of this, Ryan, who was the biggest kid in the group who came in on the van, came over. Ryan really liked me. Ryan came over to the tree, and he said, "Yo, Steve, I want you to know something. As long as you need to stay out here and get yourself together, it's cool, because I just had a talk with everybody in this room. I want you to know when you come back in, it's handled." I don't know what he said to those kids. I don't even want to know, but when I went back in that room,

It was like an Episcopalian church on a Sunday morning. It was like a Catholic mass. Those kids were leaning forward in their chair. Why? Because he handled it.

even know how, but he handled it. Have you ever had a situation in your life where you were throwing a pity party and didn't want to go back in and didn't want to try again and had taken off from Egypt and didn't even want to face your future because of the pain of your past?

But here comes Jesus walking up to you on the second row today, on the fourth row at the Gaston campus, walking up to you on an iPhone screen, wants to let you know whenever you get ready to come back in and do what I've called you to do, come on back in. It's Handel. Somebody shout his handle. Shout his handle. It's Handel.

God told Moses, "You can go back to Egypt because everybody who wanted to kill you is dead." While you were out here in Egypt, I was dealing with your issues and his handle. Touch three people and say, "His handle."

It's handled. God wants you to know shame can't keep you at bay anymore. What Jesus was doing on that cross when they thought he was dying… He wasn't dying. He was delivering you from the power of sin and death.

held against me was nailed to his cross and I'm standing here today with my hands stretched high with my head held high with my shoulders thrown back boldly approaching the throne with confidence in the time of my need because it's handled it's handled I feel the spirit of Olivia Pope coming on me somebody shout his hand it's handled

That's what Ryan said. He said, "It's handled." When you get ready to come back in, you need to know it's handled. When you get ready to go into your future, you need to know it's handled. Somebody shout, "It's handled." It's handled. I love that Bible verse in Philippians 4:13 where Paul is talking about, "I know what to do in any situation. If I have a little, if I have a lot,

I can handle it." This is a famous Bible verse. Have you heard this before? He said, "Christ can do all things through me." Did I mess it up? It must be because I'm tired from the race. I must have got a little of that champagne absorbed in my body at the race. Let me try again. Christ can do it because he's going to handle it. Right? Christ can do all things through me. God is going to handle it. Oh, he wants to help you handle it.

Here's how God showed me. He said, "I will handle what you can't, but I will not handle what you won't." See, I handle your sin. You can't handle that. I handle your past. You can't handle that. But he told Moses… Let me show you one more thing. He told Moses… Somebody shout, "Handle." He told Moses, he said, "Pick it up." Now, it's not a staff anymore in this moment. It's a snake. So what does Moses do?

He does what you do with your fears, and he runs. Did you see it in the text? It said, what verse was it? Was it three? Where he ran? Was it three? Yeah. And he ran from it. That's the same thing that he did when he killed the man in Egypt. He's learned to run. He's learned to run. And God won't handle what you run from. So he runs. Can y'all hear me okay? In the back? Okay.

I know what I should do because this thing only works in my hand. This is a good sermon for your life, for your marriage, for your soul, for any situation. God tells him to reach for the thing he's been running from. As he reaches, the staff changes back into a staff. As he

Next verse.

When he was confronting Pharaoh, he said, "Go out and confront him on the bank of the Nile and take the staff that was changed into a snake." When they were standing in front of the Red Sea, he said, "Raise your staff and stretch out your…

That's when they were going out, and he was going out ahead of the people. He said, "Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile." Here's the interesting thing. This is what the Lord wanted you to know. His situation was changing, but the same staff that got him through the last one worked in the next one when he had it in his hand.

The only time Moses got in trouble with his staff was when he struck the rock God told him to speak to, and he didn't enter the Promised Land because he didn't know how to handle what was in his hand. You get in trouble when you try to handle it your way. You get in trouble when you try to resolve it your way. You get in trouble when you try to take the snake by the head.

See, that was interesting to me. We just moved out into the country two years ago, and everybody was giving me advice, Greg, on being in the country. I think they were worried about me, that I wouldn't know what to do and how to survive in the country, and they were right. So I welcomed their advice, and everybody was telling me, now you're going to have snakes for the first time, so here's what you need to do with the snake. You know what nobody told me? Nobody told me that

to handle a snake the way God told Moses to handle a snake. Nobody, go back to verse 4. He said, reach out your, and what? Nobody told me to take the snake by the tail, because that's not the way you handle a snake naturally. Take it by the, y'all look confused. I'm not doing my job, am I? I got to get this right. He said, take it by the, see, the way we try to grab situations in our life is we want to control it.

That's not the right way to hold it. He said, "Take it by the…" Now, to take a snake by the tail… I will remind you that the snake didn't change back into a staff until it was in Moses'. Your issue is not going to change until you handle it.

Your pain is not going to become your purpose until you handle it. But if you handle it your way, you're going to be depressed about it. But if you handle God's way, God's work God's way, God's will God's way, God's Word God's way, you've done it long enough your way. It's time for you to do it God's way, and it's time for you to take it by force.

God told me to tell you. You feel it, don't you? God said that mistakes happen, but when they happen, take them by the tail and trust me to turn your mistake into a miracle when you take it by the tail. When pain and rejection happen in your life,

Your rejection in one season can lead to your destiny in the next when you take it by the tail. I came to say that what they said about you isn't going to destroy you. It's only going to develop you to make you stronger, to give you a steadfastness. When you take it by the tail, you know what you're going to do with that doctor's report.

Take it by the tail. You know what you're going to do with that loneliness. Take it by the tail. You know what you're going to do with everything that's been keeping you up at night, worried, wringing your head. This isn't my problem. This isn't my issue. The battle is the Lord's. He'll handle Pharaoh. I got this thing by the tail. I trust you, Lord. Does anybody trust him in your situation? So I trust God enough to take it by the tail.

And it only changes when you handle it. As long as you stand there looking at it, it's a snake. As long as you stand there praying about it, it's a snake. You can't pray and make the snake go away. Pray about it, pick it up, and make it work.

Come on, come on, come on. Make it, come on. Make it work in your favor. I'm saying handle it. I'm saying there's nothing life can throw at you that you can't handle by the Spirit of God. Somebody shout, I can handle it. Somebody encourage five people in your area. Tell them you can handle it. You can handle it. You can handle it. Yes, you can.

You've got to handle it. You were made to handle it. You were built to handle it. God is going to help you handle it. He's going to show you how to handle it. He has you in the palm of his hand. He's going to help you raise those children. He's going to help you get through this season. He's going to help you make the decision. Lift your hands like his handle. Come on, lift your voice like his handle.

And shout unto God with a voice of triumph.

I have to tell you this. My time is over. Touch somebody and say, "It's handled. It's handled." The thought just hit me, and it scared me. It would haunt me if I didn't say it to you. What if Moses had kept running? He never would have seen what the staff could do. He never would have seen the transformation that would take place. Think about it. It was a decision in a moment. What if I never would have picked a mic up and started preaching into cameras to screens? How many people could we not have touched together?

and I didn't think I could do it. I was real scared about it. I didn't know if I could forgive my dad, because he really hurt me right before he died. I almost ran from it. I almost didn't go over to his house on Father's Day and stop by for 15 minutes. But I'm so glad I took it by the tail with my hands shaking. I wanted to run, and still pretty much every week before I preach there's a part of me that wants to run,

I got a friend here today who's a good preacher, really good preacher, great preacher. He told me he's coming to visit, and I almost asked him, do you just want to preach? Because I think I got a sermon, but right now it looks like a snake. I told the apprentices the other day, I said, when I know a sermon is going to be good on Sunday is when I'm scared of it on Thursday. That's how it works for me. I got to go. I'm out of time, but let me show you this. If you stand there and look at it long enough,

and you stand there and analyze the snake long enough, and you get down here and wait for it to change, and God, if they say, "I'm sorry," then I'll forgive them. "God, if you give me more money, then I'll tithe." And you're waiting for it to change on the ground, but it's only going to change when you trust God enough to take it by the tail.

Come on, lift your hands. I want to pray for you. God, give them courage. You know they're going to need it. You know Pharaoh has them running. You know Pharaoh is that snake. You know Pharaoh is that thing. You know Pharaoh is that addiction. You know Pharaoh is that insecurity. You know Pharaoh is that taskmaster who tries to convince them they're never enough.

But we came today to say that the head of the serpent has already been crushed. Hallelujah! We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for his stretched arms. We thank you for his cross. We thank you for his power. We declare over our lives today whatever it is that stands against your children in Jesus' name, it is endowed.

Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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