Much like the Christian life, the Golden Plover is created to do something that, apart from God, could never be accomplished. God designed this humble little bird to fly 2,500 miles non-stop from Alaska to Hawaii every year. But, biologically, mathematically, and aeronautically this feat is not just improbable—it’s impossible. As believers, like the Golden Plover, we were created for the impossible. The question is, are we, like the Plover ready to head out over the stormy ocean waters and watch what God will do when we trust Him to lead us to the Promised Land. 

In the CrossFit world of athletic fitness, a WOD is a “Workout of the Day.” A "Hero WOD" is an amped up version of a WOD. It’s a commemorative workout that honors a fallen hero. Performing a “Hero WOD” is a wonderful way to the describe the daily Christian life. It’s intense, it’s difficult, it’s sweat-inducing, and it is all done to honor the Ultimate Hero, Jesus Christ. This message emphasizes the athletic dimensionality of the Christian experience—pointing to the exercise of prayer as one of the chief ways the Christian can honor “The Fallen and Resurrected Hero” and change the world while they are doing it.  

This is a message about seeing the impossible happen—where two completely opposite things like bitter and sweet stop their bickering and backbiting and finally join forces to form something neither on their own ever could. That’s the make-up of a Latte. And, supposedly—for those that like lattes—this unique blend of contrasting flavors is kind of a special thing. Reconciliation is like that. It is a ministry that God has entrusted His Church in order to see two opposing factions drop their differences and, instead, embrace their similarities. Reconciliation is a miracle every time it happens. It’s about time we, as the Church, begin utilizing this amazing Reconciliation ministry that we have been entrusted to serve up a few more short fat tall skinny lattes. 

The Kingdom of Heaven appears upside down to us here on Earth. For instance, to be great, you must become small. To go high, you must first go low. To get strong, you must embrace weakness. This is not how we naturally think and reason, which is why many of us struggle with adapting to the Kingdom Life of small, low, and weak equating to great, high and strong. On this Resurrection Sunday, Eric reminds us of how God Himself demonstrated this phenomenon in and through the life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son. 

Procrastination is not a friend of functional Christianity. Rather, it’s a sworn enemy. Everything that makes Christianity work is based on “doing” and “action”. God goes out of his way to explain to us in the Scriptures that we can’t be tares, we must be wheat. We can’t be virgins without oil, we must be virgins with oil. And we mustn’t be goats that doddle, but sheep that do. Christianity was never meant to be a mere mental game where we sit around and muse and conjecture about theology. It was intended to be actually vigorously applied and lived out. And for that to happen, procrastination can no longer be invited into the storyline of our lives. 

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» Take these messages deeper and be discipled in person by Eric, Leslie, Nathan, and the team at Ellerslie in one of our upcoming discipleship programs – learn more at: https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/

» Receive our free “Five Keys to Walking Through Difficulty” PDF by going to: https://ellerslie.com/subscribe/

» If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

» Discover more resources, books, and sermons from Eric Ludy by going to: https://ellerslie.com/about-eric-ludy/ 

This is a message at the very heart of our Ellerslie Training. The Five Fingers is an illustration that is often used in our teaching to explain the most central, salient, and foundational Truths that make up the Christian life. These are the five points that we as believers unite on and separate over. This is what Christianity is all about. Hint: It all has to do with Jesus. 

There are things in life that are naturally attractive to us as humans (ie. flowers, sunsets, and poetry). Tribulation is definitely not on that list. In fact, we will go to great lengths to avoid it. But, as believers in Christ, it is essential that we recalibrate our thinking regarding this very important thing known as tribulation. Because according to God’s Word, tribulation is the Holy Spirit’s primary tool used to fashion the saints of God into Christ-showcasing men and women.

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» Take these messages deeper and be discipled in person by Eric, Leslie, Nathan, and the team at Ellerslie in one of our upcoming discipleship programs – learn more at: https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/

» Receive our free “Five Keys to Walking Through Difficulty” PDF by going to: https://ellerslie.com/subscribe/

» If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

» Discover more resources, books, and sermons from Eric Ludy by going to: https://ellerslie.com/about-eric-ludy/ 

The average human when given a choice between becoming a small or a great person, without hesitation, would select great. Why not? Isn’t it the goal of life on this earth to become someone special? But, when you contrast that native instinct for the “great” life against the Christ model—there is a stark difference seen. Christ, when He came to this earth, chose the small life, the small things, and the small people to pour Himself into and out for—and in so doing, made the greatest impact any life has ever made. It appears that God's recipe for accomplishing great things on this earth is through the surrendered embrace of the small. 

Potato farming demands faith. The potato farmer needs to trust that the potato is actually growing though he can’t see it growing underneath all the dirt. Most of us steer clear of this sort of faith. We prefer things we can see, smell, hear, and touch. But, God is in the business of potato farming faith. And it is this sort of faith that Eric is charging the Church of Jesus Christ to return to full force. We’ve been twiddling our thumbs long enough in the land of mediocrity. It’s time to venture into the land of the impossible—believing that our God intends to do amazing, miraculous things on this earth. He’s simply waiting for His Church to start thinking and living like He is indeed the Almighty Sovereign King of Kings. // NOTE: This message is an amalgamation of quite a few Ludy sermons from the past on the theme of revival. Because of this, it's possible that some of the attributions were lost in translation. So, it's only appropriate to give special thanks to the classic books on revival that were potentially paraphrased and unwittingly partially quoted without attribution. Where would we be without all the examples of heroic faith that have gone before us?

The Christian life is impossible to live. But that doesn’t mean we aren't intended by God to live it. The secret is in gaining the supernatural help to pull it off. Baked into the design of the strong Christian life is something that Eric refers to as “leveling up.” It’s when God calls the Christian to a higher degree of difficulty in their walk and supplies them heavenly grace in order to pull off the greater challenge. Most of us kind of wish that there wasn’t a need for leveling up. But without it, there isn’t growth.