Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Help
Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God has moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 3: Enjoy the message I'm going to be preaching from Acts
Speaker 3: chapter nine, starting in verse thirty two. If you don't
Speaker 3: have a Bible, we'll have it right here on the
Speaker 3: screens for you.
Speaker 4: It says this.
Speaker 3: As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit
Speaker 3: the Lord's people who lived in Lida. There he found
Speaker 3: a man named Annius who was paralyzed and had been
Speaker 3: bedridden for eight years.
Speaker 4: Annius, Peter said to him, Jesus Christ heals you.
Speaker 3: Get up, roll up your mat, and immediately Annius got up,
Speaker 3: and all those who lived in Lida and Sharon saw
Speaker 3: him and turned to the Lord. In Jappa, there was
Speaker 3: a disciple named Tabitha. In her name in Greek, her
Speaker 3: name is Dorcas. She was always doing good and helping
Speaker 3: the poor. About that time she became sick and died,
Speaker 3: and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.
Speaker 4: Lida was near Joppa.
Speaker 3: So when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lida,
Speaker 3: they sent two men to him and urged him please
Speaker 3: come at once. Peter went with them, and when he
Speaker 3: arrived he was taken upstairs to the room.
Speaker 4: All the widows stood.
Speaker 3: Around him, crying and showing him the robes and other
Speaker 3: clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
Speaker 3: Peter sent them all out of the room, and then
Speaker 3: he got down on his knees and prayed, and turning
Speaker 3: toward the dead woman, he said, Tabitha, get up, and
Speaker 3: she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
Speaker 3: He took her by the hand and helped her to
Speaker 3: her feet. Then he called the believers, especially the widows,
Speaker 3: and presented her to them alive. This became known all
Speaker 3: over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
Speaker 4: Let me pray for us.
Speaker 3: Lord, thank you for this beautiful day that is before us.
Speaker 3: We thank you for all of the women in our
Speaker 3: lives who have touched us in some way, every woman
Speaker 3: who is nurtured and comfort and encouraged and believed in us.
Speaker 3: And I pray for every person on Mother's Day who's hurting. Lord,
Speaker 3: I know under the sound of my voice, that there
Speaker 3: are some who are longing to be a mother today,
Speaker 3: that there's someone who is missing their mom today, or maybe.
Speaker 4: A mom who is praying for their child.
Speaker 3: Lord, may they know you today as the God of
Speaker 3: all comfort.
Speaker 4: God. We've gathered here today to hear from you. That's
Speaker 4: why we came. We're ready to receive what you have
Speaker 4: to say. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, Well, it's
Speaker 4: Mother's Day.
Speaker 3: Case you forgot, and I would like to take the
Speaker 3: opportunity to pick on my own children for a minute.
Speaker 4: You see, all three of my kids now each have
Speaker 4: their own phone.
Speaker 3: I know that's kind of a debate about how old
Speaker 3: the kids should be when they get a phone. Blah
Speaker 3: blah blahlaf just eighteen Graandm's sixteen Abvius thirteen. And as
Speaker 3: a mom, it is really comforting to be able to
Speaker 3: communicate with and track my children at any moment of
Speaker 3: the day.
Speaker 4: Amn moms.
Speaker 3: Okay, but I am realizing that this also works both ways,
Speaker 3: because if I can communicate with them and track them
Speaker 3: at any moment of the day, then that means that
Speaker 3: they also can communicate with me. Only there's three of them,
Speaker 3: so you see the problem with this is that they
Speaker 3: do not understand that every time I see their name
Speaker 3: pop up on my phone, I feel a lot of things.
Speaker 3: I feel happy, I feel scared, I feel excited, and
Speaker 3: I feel annoyed all at once. My mind starts to
Speaker 3: race are they okay?
Speaker 4: Are they in trouble? Did they forget something? Do they
Speaker 4: need me? And some days it feels like that is
Speaker 4: my full time job.
Speaker 3: It's just fielding questions that are an emergency to them.
Speaker 4: But not necessarily to me. Here are a few things.
Speaker 3: That I went back and saw that my kids have
Speaker 3: texted me. Can you sign me out of school early?
Speaker 3: Can you give me more Snapchat time? What's for dinner?
Speaker 3: Can we go to Starbucks? Where are you? Where are
Speaker 3: my car keys? Can I go to Can my friend
Speaker 3: come over?
Speaker 4: Now? Here is one code that I have cracked. If
Speaker 4: they say how's your day going?
Speaker 3: It is almost always followed up by can I have
Speaker 3: some money?
Speaker 4: But the worst one, the one that I just cannot.
Speaker 3: Decipher no matter how hard I try, The one that
Speaker 3: makes my heart drop is when they text me one
Speaker 3: word in all caps M Now. If I texted my
Speaker 3: husband his name in all caps st V E in
Speaker 3: that is code for B A D. But to teenagers
Speaker 3: everything is an emergency. So when I see my name
Speaker 3: in all cops my mind, you know, are they okay?
Speaker 3: Are they in troublesomeone hurt? But in reality, mom can
Speaker 3: be followed up by Sephoras having a big sale.
Speaker 4: Can we go?
Speaker 3: Or Mom, I just backed into our neighbor's mailbox?
Speaker 4: Or where's the hot sauce?
Speaker 3: Or Mom, the TV fell off the console and it's cracked.
Speaker 4: Real life examples.
Speaker 3: So after a full day of this, God blessed the
Speaker 3: child who texts me next, because if I see Elijah
Speaker 3: Graham or Abby's name come up on my phone, I
Speaker 3: am going to automatically reply with now what All right?
Speaker 4: If you're taking notes, the title.
Speaker 3: Of my message today is now what. Life can often seem.
Speaker 4: Like a series of now what.
Speaker 3: We've been in the most incredible series called ghost Writer.
Speaker 4: Have you been loving this? Stephen?
Speaker 3: Stephen has been taking us through some of the stories
Speaker 3: in the Book of Acts to show us that we
Speaker 3: have a divine director called the Holy Spirit, and he
Speaker 3: is writing our story and we can trust the one
Speaker 3: who has final cut over our lives. Babe, you have
Speaker 3: been on fire.
Speaker 4: You had me from the very first sermon.
Speaker 3: Which was called Page Turner. I've been so into this
Speaker 3: series because I live for stories. I love to hear stories,
Speaker 3: I love to read stories, I love to watch stories.
Speaker 4: I love to talk about stories. So I even started
Speaker 4: my own book club. If you like to read, go
Speaker 4: to Hollyfordick dot com. We love for you to join us.
Speaker 3: But I think that my favorite kind of story is
Speaker 3: the one where the main character is face with a
Speaker 3: seemingly insurmountable situation, yet somehow they overcome it.
Speaker 4: Do you like those kind of stories?
Speaker 3: In my book club, we read a book called The
Speaker 3: Choice by Holocaust survivor named doctor Edith Eager, and I
Speaker 3: got to interview her thanks to Ashley Tucker, who went
Speaker 3: absolute private eye into the depths of social media. Turns
Speaker 3: out doctor Eager's granddaughter in law happened to.
Speaker 4: Be Ashley's sorority sister.
Speaker 3: I still cannot believe I got to interview this woman.
Speaker 4: She is a real life hero.
Speaker 3: Here's a picture of us chatting on Instagram Live. So
Speaker 3: doctor Edith survived the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, and she
Speaker 3: eventually immigrated to the United States, and in her book
Speaker 3: she chronicles not just her journey to survive Auschwitz but
Speaker 3: to find life afterwards, and the book brilliantly talks about
Speaker 3: dealing with PTSD and trauma.
Speaker 4: And one of my.
Speaker 3: Favorite quotes from her book is this She says, survivors
Speaker 3: don't have time to ask why me. For survivors, she says,
Speaker 3: the only relevant question.
Speaker 4: Is what now?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 4: Now what?
Speaker 3: And I feel like many of us are sitting in
Speaker 3: a now what moment today, just like Peter was when
Speaker 3: he was asked to raise a.
Speaker 4: Woman from the dead.
Speaker 3: When we read the Bible, I feel like we really
Speaker 3: need to slow down because we read this verse Peter
Speaker 3: sent them all out of the room.
Speaker 4: This is verse forty.
Speaker 3: Peter sent them all out of the room. Then he
Speaker 3: got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the
Speaker 3: dead woman, he said, Tabitha, get up. She opened her
Speaker 3: eyes and seeing.
Speaker 4: Peter, she sat up.
Speaker 3: Can we stop and just say knowledge that that's not normal?
Speaker 4: I mean, sure it happened in the Bible, but really
Speaker 4: not that much.
Speaker 3: It.
Speaker 4: Actually, there's several times that it happened.
Speaker 3: Elijah did it once, Elisha did it twice, Jesus did
Speaker 3: it three times. But this is new to Peter, he's
Speaker 3: never raised a dead person to life. Now, if you
Speaker 3: missed the sermon last week, you missed a really important
Speaker 3: message because it's centered around this idea that the Holy
Speaker 3: Spirit is the director of our story and he has
Speaker 3: the final cut in the story of our lives.
Speaker 4: And therefore we can believe and cling to that nothing
Speaker 4: can happen to us that does not first pass through
Speaker 4: the hands of our sovereign God.
Speaker 3: And that is what you brilliantly taught us last week.
Speaker 4: This week, I want to show you.
Speaker 3: That the story is pretty much always the same. The
Speaker 3: character faces a problem, the outcome of the story is
Speaker 3: determined by how you the character respond to your problem.
Speaker 4: Is it okay?
Speaker 3: If I go seventh grade language arts teacher on you
Speaker 3: for a second, you might not know this about me.
Speaker 4: I taught middle school for two very long years.
Speaker 3: And just in case you are not paying attention in
Speaker 3: seventh grade English, I want to remind you today that
Speaker 3: every good story, every book, every movie, TV show, they
Speaker 3: always follow pretty much the same sequence.
Speaker 4: Now, Babe, as you can see, I borrowed your screen.
Speaker 3: We flipped it, but I promise I'm going to put
Speaker 3: it back the way that I found it.
Speaker 4: For whenever you want to use it next.
Speaker 3: So every starts out with an introduction. This is where
Speaker 3: you meet the main characters and maybe establish the setting.
Speaker 3: Then we have what's called watch this is going to
Speaker 3: do something cool, the inciting incident. This is where the
Speaker 3: main character is faced with a problem. This is the
Speaker 3: now what moment. Then we have the rising action. That's
Speaker 3: all the things that the character has to learn, or
Speaker 3: the relationships that he has to form, or the training
Speaker 3: that he has to do in order to overcome the situation.
Speaker 3: Then we get to the climax, the moment that everything
Speaker 3: has been building toward. The good guy beats the bad guy,
Speaker 3: they discover the solution.
Speaker 4: Then we have the falling action, and then the resolution.
Speaker 3: The story is the constant part. That's the part that
Speaker 3: doesn't change. That's also the part that is mostly outside.
Speaker 4: Of your control.
Speaker 3: Sure you have some choice in the cast of characters
Speaker 3: in the setting.
Speaker 4: But not always.
Speaker 3: I mean, you don't get to pick the family that
Speaker 3: you're born into or the town that you're raised, and
Speaker 3: you certainly don't get to pick the problems that you face.
Speaker 4: This right here is called life.
Speaker 3: And if you think that following Jesus means that you
Speaker 3: get to be exempt from this, You're gonna be really disappointed.
Speaker 4: This is life, this is human.
Speaker 3: Following Jesus means that you never have to walk through
Speaker 3: this alone.
Speaker 4: But this guy, this is the variable.
Speaker 3: This is the part that can take the story in
Speaker 3: any direction. How will she or he respond to the problem?
Speaker 4: Now, what will they do?
Speaker 3: And in this series, we're in the first Book of
Speaker 3: Acts and we're watching the story of the Church unfold
Speaker 3: through perhaps one of the most epic characters in the
Speaker 3: Bible named Peter.
Speaker 4: And Peter has had his fair share of now what moments.
Speaker 4: Last week Peter not Peter. Last week Pastor Stephen said that.
Speaker 3: We grow through what we go through with God.
Speaker 4: And Peter has come a long way.
Speaker 3: We've seen him go through from moments of sitting by
Speaker 3: the fire and denying Jesus to standing up and preaching
Speaker 3: on Pentecost on the day of Pentecost. And we've seen
Speaker 3: him go from cutting off the man's ear in the
Speaker 3: garden to healing the lame man at the temple. And
Speaker 3: he's been arrested, and he's been thrown into jail, and
Speaker 3: he's been flogged, and the Bible says that he considered
Speaker 3: himself worthy of suffering for Jesus. And we've watched Peter
Speaker 3: make some mistakes, and we've watched Peter do some things right,
Speaker 3: and he's continued.
Speaker 4: To preach the gospel real quick.
Speaker 3: Today, I want to give you four things to consider
Speaker 3: when you find yourself in a now what moment.
Speaker 4: And the first thing, if you're taking notes you can
Speaker 4: write this down.
Speaker 3: Is accept the push. Why was Peter in Lyda? Let
Speaker 3: me show you This is Acts one eighth, and it
Speaker 3: says a great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping
Speaker 3: over the church in Jerusalem, and all the blame except
Speaker 3: the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.
Speaker 3: At this point in the Bible, just one chapter ahead,
Speaker 3: Stephen has been stoned for his faith, and Saul is
Speaker 3: going around dragging people out of their homes and throwing
Speaker 3: them in jail.
Speaker 4: And the heading in my Bible for.
Speaker 3: Chapter eight says, persecution.
Speaker 4: Scatters the believers.
Speaker 3: If the gospel was going to spread throughout the world,
Speaker 3: the disciples had to get out of Jerusalem. Remember, Jesus
Speaker 3: had told them to take the Gospel to the ends
Speaker 3: of the earth. And sometimes I believe that God allows
Speaker 3: something to happen in my life so that he can
Speaker 3: get me to move.
Speaker 4: It's the push of God.
Speaker 3: And oftentimes it feels like abandonment, and it looks like disappointment,
Speaker 3: and it seems like failure, and it feels like God
Speaker 3: is against me.
Speaker 4: But really he knows.
Speaker 3: That my fear are dug in and the only way
Speaker 3: that he can get me to move is to allow
Speaker 3: something that I don't understand.
Speaker 4: Now, you don't have to take this literally.
Speaker 3: The push of God does not necessarily mean that God
Speaker 3: wants you to move towns or neighborhoods or jobs. Sometimes,
Speaker 3: but sometimes he allows a relationship to end because that
Speaker 3: person is holding you back from your purpose, so he's
Speaker 3: got to push you away from that person. Sometimes he
Speaker 3: allows you to face a struggle so that you will
Speaker 3: turn to him for help. I'm not saying that God
Speaker 3: causes bad things to happen to us. Remember, bad things
Speaker 3: are part of breathing. But if you decide that you
Speaker 3: are going to accept it and let this hard thing
Speaker 3: draw you closer to God and to his purpose for
Speaker 3: your life, then you're going to experience the fullness of God.
Speaker 4: If not, you're just going to stay stuck. Stuck in
Speaker 4: a way that you are stuck in.
Speaker 3: The habits that you'll never break, suck in the unforgiveness
Speaker 3: that you feel that's now starting to rot into bitterness,
Speaker 3: and nobody wants to be around you. But I want
Speaker 3: to tell you today, you don't have to stay stuck.
Speaker 4: My favorite preacher put it this way. You might know
Speaker 4: this line. He said, I'm not stuck unless I stop.
Speaker 1: You gotta move.
Speaker 3: You gotta let God push you into an unknown territory
Speaker 3: so that you can grow. Sometimes God is trying to
Speaker 3: push you to a resource. He's trying to push you
Speaker 3: to something better, but.
Speaker 4: You can't receive it what he has for you if
Speaker 4: you don't move.
Speaker 3: I don't know why this happened, but I'm gonna accept
Speaker 3: that God is using it for the next thing in
Speaker 3: my life, the next thing that I am supposed to do.
Speaker 4: So the moment that you realize.
Speaker 3: That you're being pushed into uncomfortable, unknown territory, the next
Speaker 3: thing you gotta do is find a person.
Speaker 4: That's the second point.
Speaker 3: Find a person who has been here before, or find
Speaker 3: a person who's here right now. It's called support for
Speaker 3: a reason because there are special people. I believe handpicked
Speaker 3: by God, that are out there that want to help
Speaker 3: you walk through this uncharted territory. Now, up until this
Speaker 3: point in the Book of Acts, we have seen the
Speaker 3: church go from come to life from.
Speaker 4: A really big scale. Right several times.
Speaker 3: Luke, who's the writer of the Book of Acts, he
Speaker 3: tells us thousands were added to their number daily.
Speaker 4: He says it like three different times.
Speaker 3: But then we get to chapter nine and he zooms down.
Speaker 4: In to show us this one little baby church.
Speaker 3: It's a small group of believers who are gathering in
Speaker 3: the town of Joppa, and one of their members, Tabitha,
Speaker 3: has died. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us much about Tabitha.
Speaker 3: The scripture says that she was always doing good and
Speaker 3: helping the poor, and then it says she became sick
Speaker 3: and died.
Speaker 4: But there's so much more to this woman.
Speaker 3: Because her death caused such a hole in her community
Speaker 3: that the people in her life had to go and
Speaker 3: get Peter and bring him in to their situation. Last week,
Speaker 3: my husband said something so profound, but I feel like
Speaker 3: he said it a week too early, because I feel
Speaker 3: like it was a word.
Speaker 4: For all the moms.
Speaker 3: He said, the devil will make you think you have
Speaker 3: nothing to give. He wants to keep you stuck in selfishness.
Speaker 3: He wants you to think that the mundane things that
Speaker 3: you do for people, for the people that you love,
Speaker 3: that go unseen and that go unfaked, and that because
Speaker 3: they go in an unthink that they don't matter.
Speaker 4: So why bother Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Speaker 4: And we have this woman who would never.
Speaker 3: Preach to thousands, but she was a pillar for her church.
Speaker 4: She was a rock for the women in her group.
Speaker 4: She saw in need and she filled it.
Speaker 3: And although Tabitha would never stand before thousands of people
Speaker 3: like Peter and preach the gospel, she's preaching to us today,
Speaker 3: thousands of years later. And among other things, I feel
Speaker 3: like she's saying God loves fashion.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you caught it.
Speaker 3: I'm kind of kidding, But what I'm trying to say
Speaker 3: is God loves anything that you use to help his people.
Speaker 4: You see, God has.
Speaker 3: Given you an important gift, and if you're not careful,
Speaker 3: you'll miss your next step because instead.
Speaker 4: Of asking now, what you got stuck on why?
Speaker 3: The Bible doesn't say this exact but I think that
Speaker 3: Tabitha was a widow herself, because one of the most
Speaker 3: effective places to minister is from the place of your
Speaker 3: own pain, and sometimes in your now what moment, you
Speaker 3: have to realize that you are not the only person
Speaker 3: who has ever been through this before.
Speaker 4: I know your situation is unique, but remembered.
Speaker 3: There are really no new stories, only new characters in
Speaker 3: the stories, and how you respond.
Speaker 4: Is your choice. And if you believe the lie.
Speaker 3: They are all alone in your situation, then you are
Speaker 3: going to be trudging up this hill, making it take
Speaker 3: ten times longer than it should find a person. I
Speaker 3: was talking to a friend of mine who was going
Speaker 3: through a really bad divorce, and she told me that
Speaker 3: God brought two women into her life who were walking
Speaker 3: the same road, and she said that those two women,
Speaker 3: for about two years, were just a lifeline to her.
Speaker 3: I love these women so much because they have been
Speaker 3: so greatly impacted by Tabitha that they decide that they're
Speaker 3: going to go find someone to help them. And they're
Speaker 3: showing us something really really important here. They're showing us
Speaker 3: that while bad things do happen to good people, God's
Speaker 3: people know where to take their bad things. Peter just
Speaker 3: happens to be nearby in Lydda.
Speaker 4: And they don't know if he can do anything.
Speaker 3: They're not sure, but if anyone can, he can, so
Speaker 3: they send two men for him. I think they sent
Speaker 3: two men because they figured the men would leave out
Speaker 3: the des Remember, Peter has never raised someone from the
Speaker 3: dead before.
Speaker 4: So the less details they give him, the.
Speaker 3: Better chances it is that he's gonna come.
Speaker 4: They just need to get him to Joppa.
Speaker 3: They don't need to say we need you, Peter. Look
Speaker 3: at what verse thirty eight says. It says little was
Speaker 3: near Joppa. So the disciples heard that Peter was in Lida,
Speaker 3: and they sent two men and urged him please come
Speaker 3: at once forwards. And Peter responds to the poll. That's
Speaker 3: the third point. Respond to the pull, all right, now,
Speaker 3: If the push of God feels jolting, the.
Speaker 4: Poll of God is gentle. And if you're not careful,
Speaker 4: you'll miss it. If you're too busy, you'll miss it.
Speaker 3: If you're too absorbed in your own situation, you might
Speaker 3: miss it. And in my experience, the pull of God
Speaker 3: often looks like an interruption to my day.
Speaker 4: Maybe a conversation that I didn't have time for. But
Speaker 4: Peter had walked with Jesus.
Speaker 3: Long enough to know that miracles are often disguised as interruptions.
Speaker 3: Miracles are often disguised in seemingly normal Monday moments and conversations.
Speaker 3: Have you ever been talking with someone about your situation
Speaker 3: and what started off as just an ordinary conversation led
Speaker 3: you to some kind of answer. Earlier this week, one
Speaker 3: of my close friends was at a dead end with
Speaker 3: one of her kids. Her daughter was really struggling, and
Speaker 3: my friend's mom gout was telling her that they needed
Speaker 3: to make a change, but every solution that she chased
Speaker 3: down just was a dead end. So we were texting,
Speaker 3: and I felt so bad for her because it was
Speaker 3: one of those moments where I knew that she didn't
Speaker 3: need advice. She just needed me to listen and hear
Speaker 3: all the different things that she had tried, and she
Speaker 3: really just.
Speaker 4: Needed me to say, like that sucks.
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry, And I felt really bad for her,
Speaker 3: and I actually typed out with God, there's always a way,
Speaker 3: and by faith, I know you will find it.
Speaker 4: But it felt too preachy, you.
Speaker 3: Know, like sometimes you don't need to preach to your friends,
Speaker 3: you just need to listen.
Speaker 4: So I erased it.
Speaker 3: I didn't send it, and I just prayed for her,
Speaker 3: and I just wanted to sit there with her and
Speaker 3: listen to her.
Speaker 4: And sometimes you just have to be that friend.
Speaker 3: And our conversation ended, and forty five minutes later she
Speaker 3: texted me randomly, she said, can you send me Caroline's number?
Speaker 4: I just I don't know.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm supposed to talk to her, So
Speaker 3: I sent it to her. The next day, she called
Speaker 3: me on the phone and she told me that she
Speaker 3: had a really long conversation with the woman and she
Speaker 3: felt like she finally had some next and she felt
Speaker 3: like she had clear direction for her daughter, and the
Speaker 3: thing that she had been worrying about and praying about
Speaker 3: for months, she had clarity on in a flash. Because
Speaker 3: the pull of the Holy Spirit is gentle. It happens
Speaker 3: as you're going about your day, as you're having conversations.
Speaker 3: It's so gentle that we don't even realize that it
Speaker 3: was him sometimes until we look.
Speaker 4: Back at the full story.
Speaker 3: And I don't want you to miss it, because you
Speaker 3: were moving so fast through your day that you dismissed it.
Speaker 3: Peter felt the tug when these men came to him.
Speaker 3: I don't know why he went with them. He just
Speaker 3: he just felt like he should, So he goes with them,
Speaker 3: and he arrives in Jappa and Peter walks into this
Speaker 3: room full of one version calls them wailing widows, and
Speaker 3: they begin to show Peter the impact that Tabitha had
Speaker 3: on them, and the love and the detail and the
Speaker 3: care that she put into the garments that she had
Speaker 3: made for them with her own time and her own money.
Speaker 4: And I can just imagine one woman holding up.
Speaker 3: A wedding dress and she said, this is the dress
Speaker 3: that Tapatha made from me when my daughter was getting
Speaker 3: married and we couldn't afford one where somebody else did.
Speaker 3: This is the coat that she made the winner that
Speaker 3: was so cold. This is the quilt that lays on
Speaker 3: my bed. And Peter is so moved that he sends
Speaker 3: them all out, because sometimes you do have to find
Speaker 3: a person, but other times you gotta get in his presence.
Speaker 3: And Peter is face with a now what moment. He's
Speaker 3: never done this before, so he gets on his knees.
Speaker 3: I don't know how long he prayed or what he
Speaker 3: was praying. Luke doesn't tell us. I wonder if he
Speaker 3: said three symbol words, Now what?
Speaker 2: Lord?
Speaker 4: All of a sudden, Oh, he has.
Speaker 3: A flashback to a time when he was in the
Speaker 3: presence of Jesus and they were pushing through a crowd
Speaker 3: to get to the house of a very important synagogue
Speaker 3: leader named Jyris, whose twelve year old daughter had died.
Speaker 4: Do you remember this story?
Speaker 3: And for some reason, the Bible tells us that only Peter,
Speaker 3: James and John got to go with Jesus. And when
Speaker 3: they arrived at the house, there's a crowd of people
Speaker 3: there in there crying and they're mourning this little girl.
Speaker 3: And I got to show you what happens next. This
Speaker 3: is Mark five, verse forty. The crowd laughed at him Jesus,
Speaker 3: but he made them all leave, and he took the
Speaker 3: girl's father and mother and his three disciples into the
Speaker 3: room where the girl was lying, holding her hand. He
Speaker 3: said to her toalifacomb, which means little girl, get up.
Speaker 3: And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood
Speaker 3: up and walked around, and they were overwhelmed and totally amazed.
Speaker 3: Peter was one of only five people who were present
Speaker 3: when Jesus performed this miracle.
Speaker 4: He was in the room. And when you get in
Speaker 4: the room with Jesus. It marks you. It's something you
Speaker 4: never forget.
Speaker 3: The presence of Jesus is not magical, but it is powerful.
Speaker 3: When Peter asked now what, the answer wasn't a complicated
Speaker 3: series of steps or things that he needed to do.
Speaker 4: The answer wasn't even something new.
Speaker 3: Sometimes we want God to something new, something complicated, something big, something.
Speaker 4: You know that we've never seen before. I don't think
Speaker 4: that's how God loves to work. Most of the time
Speaker 4: in my life.
Speaker 3: It comes in a flash, and he knew what to
Speaker 3: do in that moment.
Speaker 4: Now look at verse forty. Back to Peter. What did
Speaker 4: he do?
Speaker 3: Turning toward the dead woman, he said, Tabitha, get up.
Speaker 4: She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. Now,
Speaker 4: I don't know if you caught this.
Speaker 3: Peter changed one letter, Jesus said to Lisa Coom.
Speaker 4: She means the little girl. Get up, Peter said, Tabitha.
Speaker 4: Get up. Tabitha, your situation it might not it. Your
Speaker 4: situation might.
Speaker 3: Be new to you, and it might feel horrible and uncomfortable.
Speaker 4: But I promise you your situation is not new to God.
Speaker 3: And when you get in the presence of Jesus and
Speaker 3: you lay out your dead end to God.
Speaker 4: He will show you the next step. He will he does,
Speaker 4: I promise you.
Speaker 3: He might bring to mind a person that you need
Speaker 3: to reach out to or a place that you need
Speaker 3: to visit.
Speaker 4: But it also it.
Speaker 3: Might not be exactly what you're expecting to hear, so
Speaker 3: you have to listen really good. It might seem small,
Speaker 3: it might be so small what God tells you to
Speaker 3: do that it's hard.
Speaker 4: Personally.
Speaker 3: When I have prayed now what Lord, God has said
Speaker 3: to me things that I didn't want to hear, like
Speaker 3: stop talking about it, or let it go, or stand firm.
Speaker 3: Sometimes the hardest one that God says to me.
Speaker 1: Wait.
Speaker 4: One time I was praying about one of my.
Speaker 3: Kids and God said to me, so clearly, stop comparing
Speaker 3: yourself to other moms because I kept, you know, thinking like, well,
Speaker 3: their kids don't and her kids are, and maybe it's me.
Speaker 3: And God clearly whispered to me, Holly, I gave you
Speaker 3: this child because you have what they need. I'm still
Speaker 3: working on accepting this one, but I can tell you
Speaker 3: right now, if you don't get in the presence of God,
Speaker 3: if you don't take your now what to the feet
Speaker 3: of Jesus, you will feel like you will never get
Speaker 3: up this hill. And by the way, I got to
Speaker 3: draw one more thing. This part of the story, the
Speaker 3: rising action, it's.
Speaker 4: More like this.
Speaker 3: There will be so many now what moments along the way,
Speaker 3: But you just got to get in the presence of Jesus,
Speaker 3: because you know what his word. His direction is a
Speaker 3: lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
Speaker 3: He only gives you a little bit at a time
Speaker 3: because He's right there with you every step.
Speaker 4: Of the way. And when you get here, when.
Speaker 3: You get to the climax, you will have had so
Speaker 3: many many miracles and I so many many miracles along.
Speaker 4: The way that you realize that this part is all
Speaker 4: about God, it's not even about me. Verse forty one.
Speaker 4: Then he called for.
Speaker 3: The believers, especially the widows, and he presented.
Speaker 4: Her to them alive. It's the next verse.
Speaker 3: This became known all over Jappa, and many people believed
Speaker 3: in the Lord. The goal is when you get here
Speaker 3: that people see God, not you. They might say to you,
Speaker 3: I don't know how you made it through that You
Speaker 3: are a strong person. You're so much stronger than me.
Speaker 4: And you'll know that some days. It was moment by
Speaker 4: moment that you prayed, now, what Lord? Now? What Lord?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 4: What Lord? And every time he was right there with you.
Speaker 4: I like to close by singing a song, because the.
Speaker 3: Songs that God continues to bring forth through our pastor
Speaker 3: and through this worship memory, this worship ministry right now,
Speaker 3: they're the words and they're the anthems that I don't
Speaker 3: know if you feel this way, but I so often
Speaker 3: feel like I didn't even know. This is what I
Speaker 3: needed to say to God, that what I want, what
Speaker 3: my heart was wanting to say to God. And p
Speaker 3: when he was put in front of Dorcas this astronomical
Speaker 3: ask that the people were.
Speaker 4: Asking him, he had a flashback faith moment. And I
Speaker 4: want to tell you today, so can you.
Speaker 3: And as we sing this song that says, oh my God,
Speaker 3: You've sure been good to me, my prayer is that
Speaker 3: you will have a flashback faith moment, a moment when
Speaker 3: you were in the presence of Jesus, and that your
Speaker 3: faith would be stirred to know that you are not
Speaker 3: alone in what you were going through today, and one
Speaker 3: day you'll look back on this moment too, and you'll
Speaker 3: be able to proclaim the goodness of God in your life.
Speaker 4: Amen.
Speaker 3: The Lord, you've worshiped you today. Thank you that you
Speaker 3: have everything we need for this journey, and that you
Speaker 3: promise to never leave us alone as.
Speaker 4: We walk this out. We cling to that now.
Speaker 3: Lord.
Speaker 5: Thank you for the push, even though it feels uncomfortable.
Speaker 5: Thank you for the people you have brought in our path.
Speaker 5: Thank you for the pull.
Speaker 3: God.
Speaker 4: We're going to listen for the whispers this week.
Speaker 5: And right now, Lord, we just want to come into
Speaker 5: your presence and worship you.
Speaker 4: Say Jesus the name we.
Speaker 1: Pray Amen, Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry.
Speaker 1: Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevation dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God, bless you