Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3: Oh my God, Well.
Speaker 1: Well I'm praising you because hey, how big is your
Speaker 1: Because let me hear it right now.
Speaker 4: If you've got a.
Speaker 5: Reason, don't put the pentiton Pentecostal courts in there on there.
Speaker 1: I tell you what.
Speaker 2: Somebody's praising him today because they woke up today.
Speaker 4: That's a good start.
Speaker 1: Now, listen.
Speaker 2: Some people don't praise God because they woke up to
Speaker 2: see another day. But if you ever thought you wouldn't
Speaker 2: see another day and you did, then you have a
Speaker 2: reason to praise him. Everything that has breadth and is thankful,
Speaker 2: praise the Lord. Somebody's praising him because they had something
Speaker 2: to eat today.
Speaker 1: Now listen, I'm.
Speaker 2: Not saying it was healthy, that was your decision. I'm
Speaker 2: not saying that you aren't still hungry. But somebody's praising
Speaker 2: him today because he fed me. Somebody's praising him today
Speaker 2: because I had somewhere to sleep last night that was
Speaker 2: soft and comfortable. Somebody's praising him because this week you
Speaker 2: ailed again, and it's been a long time since that
Speaker 2: smile was on your face and you felt a trickle
Speaker 2: of joy, and you're about to see an avalanche of
Speaker 2: God's blessing come against your depression.
Speaker 1: Somebody's phrasing him today.
Speaker 2: Because somebody's in church with you that you thought would
Speaker 2: never be back in church, but they came today. Somebody's
Speaker 2: phrasing him because although the medical diagnosis doesn't look good
Speaker 2: right now, you know that Jehovah Rapha is your healer
Speaker 2: and that he is the resurrection and he is the life.
Speaker 6: Somebody's phrasing him today because although I'm not where I
Speaker 6: want to be, I look back in my past and
Speaker 6: I thank him that I'm not who I used to be.
Speaker 6: I'm praising him because now you fill in the blank.
Speaker 7: I'm praising him because he's faithful. I'm praising him because
Speaker 7: he's King of kings. I'm praising him because he's my
Speaker 7: I'm praising him because he's my shepherd.
Speaker 4: I'm praising him because.
Speaker 1: I should my thought.
Speaker 2: I'm praising him because he fit me in the valley.
Speaker 5: I'm praising him for every mountain he brought me off from.
Speaker 8: A personal praise right now, say put in there. I'm
Speaker 8: praising it in cons Oh no, got Brad praising.
Speaker 9: Beyond because he's good. I go what he don't pray?
Speaker 4: I pray he'll love me.
Speaker 9: Baby, got me going for me?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm praising.
Speaker 9: He'll be gol, dude, leave me not. I praid he'll
Speaker 9: be good. Leave never and go. Man, you shore just
Speaker 9: y me you jes back.
Speaker 6: To me?
Speaker 10: Shut.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, he's good to me.
Speaker 8: He's been good to me. I want seven people say
Speaker 8: he's been good to me. Yeah he's really not good.
Speaker 8: Yeah he's really.
Speaker 4: Worthy of it.
Speaker 9: You don't really love him.
Speaker 8: I don't really appreciate him, you don't really know him.
Speaker 8: Yeah he really did it.
Speaker 1: Jesus is real to me. Y'all want to keep singing that?
Speaker 2: All?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Downloaded on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon Music, Go get
Speaker 2: a cassette. Sure been good. The new song is out now.
Speaker 2: But I have a feeling for some of you that's
Speaker 2: not a new song. For some of you, that has
Speaker 2: been the song of your heart through every season of
Speaker 2: your life. That life hasn't always been good. And people
Speaker 2: haven't always treated you good, but He's always been good
Speaker 2: through it all.
Speaker 1: For we know that in all things, God works all
Speaker 1: things together for good. They're not all good, He's all good.
Speaker 1: How many know what was all God in my life?
Speaker 1: That I made it this far? I still want to.
Speaker 2: See in the comments, Hey, Epham, I want in the
Speaker 2: comments every because you can think of while you're praising him.
Speaker 2: I'm praising him because and just fill in the blank.
Speaker 2: We're praising him today because you're here with us. Elevation Valentine.
Speaker 2: Let's welcome our Epham around the world.
Speaker 1: Welcome. We're glad you're.
Speaker 2: Here for the final installment of our series, Ghostwriter.
Speaker 4: This is it, y'all.
Speaker 1: We gotta make it count, all right.
Speaker 2: Well, it's at least the series or the season finale,
Speaker 2: and then we might do a season two sometimes.
Speaker 1: Because we only got to acts ten. The birthday girl herself,
Speaker 1: Holly Ferdick left us last week in Acts chapter nine.
Speaker 2: I'm going to pick up where Holly dropped you off
Speaker 2: in Acts chapter ten, and I want to say not
Speaker 2: only happy birthday to you, Holly, and all the things
Speaker 2: that I wrote in that letter that I wrote you
Speaker 2: at four thirty am. So if there were typos, please
Speaker 2: forgive them. And if I got a little mushy at
Speaker 2: the end or a little inappropriate with some of the
Speaker 2: things that I said at the end, you'll forgive me.
Speaker 2: But thank you for the way that you nourish our family,
Speaker 2: our dreams, for the ways that you fight against our fears,
Speaker 2: and insecure with the loveliness of your poise and the
Speaker 2: precision of your words and encouragement. When I call you
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit, I'm kidding kind of. The Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: is the greatest guide that I was ever given in
Speaker 2: my life, and the Holy Spirit is the second greatest.
Speaker 2: And you know what's crazy, There's so many times where
Speaker 2: the first guide, the Holy Spirit, used the Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: in a way to steer me because sometimes I won't
Speaker 2: listen to him, but I will listen to you. Thank
Speaker 2: you for seeing the best in us, and thank you
Speaker 2: for bringing the best of you. You're amazing. Is it
Speaker 2: a coincidence that today is Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after
Speaker 2: the Resurrection, where the Church celebrates the birth of the
Speaker 2: Church and the giving of the Holy Spirit, and May
Speaker 2: nineteenth happens to be this year a Sunday.
Speaker 1: The birthday, not a church, but of my Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: I told you, listen, I told her, I said, this
Speaker 1: week where your birthday falls, I would take the weekend
Speaker 1: off and go through it.
Speaker 2: She said, well, would you just preach a special birthday
Speaker 2: sermon for me? I said, deal, because we wanted to
Speaker 2: close this series where we've been talking about the Holy
Speaker 2: Spirit and how many are grateful by the way for
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit and for what he's teaching you in
Speaker 2: your life. That he is so much more than a
Speaker 2: goosebump or a good feeling. He can give you a goosebump.
Speaker 2: He can give you a good feeling. If God has
Speaker 2: given out goosebumps, I'll take him.
Speaker 1: How about you?
Speaker 2: People say that faith is not feelings, Well, I need
Speaker 2: sometimes to feel God's presence because I feel a lot
Speaker 2: of other things too. But the Book of Acts has
Speaker 2: also spoken of the Holy Spirit in so many ways,
Speaker 2: as being the promise of God, the gift of God,
Speaker 2: the fountain of God, the outpouring, the baptism of the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit is mentioned, the fullness, the power, the witness,
Speaker 2: and the guidance of the Holy And I believe that
Speaker 2: the Lord led me to this special passage today, not only,
Speaker 2: of course, for Holly, but for all of us as
Speaker 2: we are listening now for what the Spirit says. For
Speaker 2: those of you who are here for the first time,
Speaker 2: we don't stand for the whole sermon. We stand for
Speaker 2: the scripture. Then we sit, and then standing as discretionary
Speaker 2: from that point forward. But I asked that you stand
Speaker 2: wherever you are for the reading of God's word, Acts
Speaker 2: chapter ten, verse nine. Maybe you're going to have a
Speaker 2: birthday too. Maybe God is going to burst something in
Speaker 2: your life that you weren't even prepared for today. The
Speaker 2: Bible says in Acts chapter ten, verse nine, about noon
Speaker 2: the following day, as they were on their journey and
Speaker 2: approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
Speaker 1: He became hungry and wanted something to eat.
Speaker 2: And for some of you, that's your new life verse
Speaker 2: I want something to eat, Lord, I claim Acts ten
Speaker 2: ten over my life. I want something to eat. And
Speaker 2: while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
Speaker 2: He saw heaven opened in something like a large sheet
Speaker 2: being let down to earth by its four corners. It
Speaker 2: contained all kinds of four footed animals, as well as
Speaker 2: reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, get up, Peter,
Speaker 2: kill and eat surely not, Lord. Peter replied, I have
Speaker 2: never eaten anything impure or unclean. There's reptiles and birds
Speaker 2: on this sheet. I can't eat that. That is not
Speaker 2: on my diet. That is forbidden in Leviticus eleven. And
Speaker 2: I am a good observant Jewish boy. I can't do it. Lord,
Speaker 2: I never have, and I'm not going to start now
Speaker 2: Verse fifteen. Then the voice spoke to him a second time.
Speaker 2: This is the persistence of God. Do not call anything
Speaker 2: impure that God has made clean. This happened three times.
Speaker 2: Peter's kind of hard headed, and immediately the sheet was
Speaker 2: taken back to heaven. While Peter was wondering about the
Speaker 2: meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found
Speaker 2: out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate.
Speaker 1: They called.
Speaker 2: They called out, asking if Simon, who was known as Peter,
Speaker 2: was staying there. I'm going to make a whole sandwich
Speaker 2: out of that verse, so we'll come back.
Speaker 1: To it verse nineteen. While Peter was still thinking about
Speaker 1: the vision, the spirit said to him, Simon, I hate
Speaker 1: to interrupt your deep thoughts, but three men are looking
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to
Speaker 2: go with them, for I have sent them. Peter went
Speaker 2: down and said to the men, I'm the one you're
Speaker 2: looking for.
Speaker 1: Why have you come?
Speaker 2: And replied, we've come from Cornelius to Centurion. He's a
Speaker 2: righteous and god fearing man who is respected by all
Speaker 2: the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask
Speaker 2: you to come to his house so that he could
Speaker 2: hear what you have to say.
Speaker 1: Then Peter invited the men into the house to be
Speaker 1: his guest.
Speaker 2: The next day, Peter started out with them, and some
Speaker 2: of the believers from Japa went along. The following day,
Speaker 2: last verse he arrived in cessarea. Cornelius was expecting them.
Speaker 2: Say amen, for the word of the Lord. Say it
Speaker 2: again a little louder, please, And then now go back
Speaker 2: to this verse. This is the verse I want to
Speaker 2: dedicate to Holly and to all of you. On Pentecost Sunday,
Speaker 2: Holly's birth day. Verse ten, he became hungry and wanted
Speaker 2: something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared.
Speaker 2: Now look at your neighbor. Tell them this, God is
Speaker 2: preparing something amazing for you. Tell them again, God is
Speaker 2: preparing something amazing for you and put that in the
Speaker 2: comments to say, God is preparing something amazing for you.
Speaker 2: Now flip it a little bit. Turn to your other neighbor,
Speaker 2: your second choice. Say say this, say and God is
Speaker 2: preparing you for something amazing. Okay, So Peter's hungry. Somebody's
Speaker 2: been hungry. Somebody needs something from the Lord today. You
Speaker 2: need bread from heaven, you need water from the rock
Speaker 2: in the wilderness of your despair. Here it comes. God
Speaker 2: is preparing something. But today I want to tell you
Speaker 2: a little secret. It's going to be off menu. Off menu.
Speaker 1: The title and.
Speaker 2: Assigned and of my final installment of our series, Ghostwriter
Speaker 2: is off menu. Speak Lord, we're listening in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen,
Speaker 2: you may be seated. There's something special about to happen
Speaker 2: in our lives today. Of all of the wonderful things
Speaker 2: that I would miss about Holly if she ever was
Speaker 2: raptured and I was left here, I would not miss
Speaker 2: the moments before we order our food in a restaurant together.
Speaker 2: Our favorite thing to do together. Our second favorite thing
Speaker 2: to do together is to go out to eat, and
Speaker 2: first favorite is pray and recite Philippians. We're just different.
Speaker 2: Our taste and food is different. But the only thing
Speaker 2: that well, First of all, she likes to order appetizers,
Speaker 2: and I have thing that appetizers.
Speaker 1: Make the meal take thirty five more minutes, and I
Speaker 1: don't like it. The second thing is pretty much.
Speaker 2: Walk in the restaurant knowing what I'm going to eat,
Speaker 2: whether I've been there or not. There's three items that
Speaker 2: are pretty common to every menu, protein based, and saw
Speaker 2: order one of those. My wife, on the other hand,
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you something about her, because you know,
Speaker 2: you see her up here on the stage and she
Speaker 2: looks wonderful, and she's even more wonderful the more you
Speaker 2: get to know her. She mentioned how her favorite kinds
Speaker 2: of stories to read are stories where the character goes
Speaker 2: through something and it's really difficult.
Speaker 1: She talked about that last week. Did you hear that message?
Speaker 9: Now?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: What a word? Because aren't we all wondering that?
Speaker 2: Now what? God, I prayed for this baby, you gave
Speaker 2: me this baby. Now what God, I got them out
Speaker 2: of the car seat, Now they want.
Speaker 1: The car keys?
Speaker 6: What?
Speaker 2: What's such a good word? And in the process of
Speaker 2: her speaking to you, she left something out. She said
Speaker 2: her favorite thing to read was a story with the
Speaker 2: character goes through.
Speaker 1: That's not true.
Speaker 2: My wife, Hollyford, her favorite thing to read in the
Speaker 2: entire world is a menu. I've seen this woman study
Speaker 2: a menu at a restaurant that we have gone to
Speaker 2: every Thursday night for eighteen months.
Speaker 1: We're not very adventurous. We go to the same restaurants.
Speaker 2: It's the same menu, and she studies it like it
Speaker 2: was the Declaration of Independence and she's in an.
Speaker 1: Eighth grade history class.
Speaker 2: She studies it like it is a contract for an
Speaker 2: entire condominium that she is. She studies it like it
Speaker 2: is a Nicholas Sparks notebook letter that she was left
Speaker 2: by her the love of She studies it like it
Speaker 2: is this eight capitals and she is about to go
Speaker 2: to geography. She studies and I have seen her late
Speaker 2: at night before scrolling on her phone. Looks kind of
Speaker 2: suspicious because she looks so happy scrolling on the phone,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, what are you looking at, Candy Crush?
Speaker 2: Did you beat a new level? What's what's happening over there?
Speaker 2: And she will be reading a menu for a restaurant
Speaker 2: in a city that we are going to in two
Speaker 2: and a half months. The woman loves a menu. Am
Speaker 2: I appreciating the truth Abbey Abigail Faith, and I'm picking
Speaker 2: on her, but I love.
Speaker 1: It because you know, I'm the one who leans over
Speaker 1: to her. What would I like here.
Speaker 2: After all of that that I just said, It's really
Speaker 2: nice to have somebody who studies the menu. But what
Speaker 2: I can't understand elevation Church. And forgive me because this
Speaker 2: is the last week my series. My wife's birthday is
Speaker 2: Pentecost on separate and the Holy.
Speaker 1: Spirit and all that. I'm excited about it.
Speaker 2: Why would you read the whole menu? Study it in advance?
Speaker 2: And I mean she will grill the server. If you
Speaker 2: are a server and you get us at the restaurant,
Speaker 2: we will tip big. But you will earn it because
Speaker 2: you will be answering a quiz. It will be a quiz.
Speaker 2: There will be a quiz.
Speaker 1: So the what you're doing?
Speaker 2: So many times the broccoli chicken with the UH with
Speaker 2: the lemon cream sauce. Tell me about the lemon cream sauce.
Speaker 2: And the server is always so nice because she's so nice. Well, ma'am,
Speaker 2: it's a UH. It's a sauce that consists them lemon
Speaker 2: and then there's cream and the level of nuance well, well,
Speaker 2: is it like lemony lemony or is it more creamy
Speaker 2: lemony cream cream more cream than lemon or more you
Speaker 2: know what the to me about the honey sacha, to
Speaker 2: me about the well, ma, it's it's honey siracha, and uhh.
Speaker 1: I've come to admire it in a way. Just what
Speaker 1: I want to know is I have to hold that.
Speaker 2: When the services now, thank you for dining with us tonight.
Speaker 2: We have a few specials that are not on the menu.
Speaker 2: Would you like to hear about the hosts?
Speaker 4: I'm taking, like, no way she.
Speaker 1: Prepared for this, like it was the bar exam.
Speaker 2: We're not just going to take a flyer on something
Speaker 2: that the chef whipped up because he was tired of
Speaker 2: what he has to.
Speaker 1: Make every night. And she'll lean in and go, yes,
Speaker 1: tell me about the specials and leave nothing out.
Speaker 4: And I'm going, oh.
Speaker 2: God, just bring me a steak or a burger patty
Speaker 2: and some a one. I can make it work. Do
Speaker 2: you have some peanuts?
Speaker 1: I asked her recently, Why do you want to hear
Speaker 1: about the specials? She said, well, what is this something fresh?
Speaker 1: What if there's something new?
Speaker 2: And I guess what she's doing is since I'm so
Speaker 2: boring and I take her to the same three restaurants
Speaker 2: over and over again, She's creating a new experience in
Speaker 2: the same place.
Speaker 1: And I want to be a little bit more like you,
Speaker 1: because as I get off of.
Speaker 2: This way too long opening illustration that I indulged in,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for allowing me to indulge, I
Speaker 2: was thinking about how in Acts chapter ten you were
Speaker 2: probably wondering why I was reading that story to you, Like,
Speaker 2: are you what you're reading to me about somebody who
Speaker 2: went up on a roof and prayed and went in
Speaker 2: a trance and went downstairs?
Speaker 1: What does that have to do with this divorce I'm
Speaker 1: going through?
Speaker 2: What does that have to do with this situation with
Speaker 2: my kid who probably needs to go to rehab but
Speaker 2: I can't make them go, and I can't force them,
Speaker 2: and now they're not even under my jurisdiction anymore. What
Speaker 2: does this that happen two thousand years ago have to
Speaker 2: do with what I'm going through today? So your story
Speaker 2: is not really that different from Peter's, other than the
Speaker 2: fact that you have air conditioning so you don't have
Speaker 2: to go up on a roof to pray to catch
Speaker 2: the breeze that's coming in from the port city called Joppa,
Speaker 2: and probably you have a little different diet than Peter.
Speaker 2: You know, the Bible talks about how this sheet came
Speaker 2: down from heaven while he was praying, and let's take
Speaker 2: note of that.
Speaker 1: In verse nine before we move any further.
Speaker 2: It says about noon the following day, as they were
Speaker 2: on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up
Speaker 2: on the roof to pray. I think there are some
Speaker 2: situations that you have to pray your way through because
Speaker 2: you can't figure them out. Now, anytime life gives you
Speaker 2: a situation where you can't figure it out, that's an
Speaker 2: opportunity for you to learn to pray your way through
Speaker 2: what you can't figure out. And that does not mean
Speaker 2: that you will have to spend every waking minute of
Speaker 2: your life reciting prayers and reading scriptures. But it does
Speaker 2: mean that you will have to learn how to prepare
Speaker 2: yourself for what God has prepared for you. I see
Speaker 2: Peter here praying on the roof, and my question is
Speaker 2: what is he praying about? And he has a lot
Speaker 2: to pray about. There's a lot of pressure on Peter.
Speaker 2: Anybody got a lot of pressure on you. You're embarrassed
Speaker 2: to say yes to that because you're like, when I
Speaker 2: compared to Peter, he's like taking the Gospel to the world. Well,
Speaker 2: I mean, you're taking the Gospel to somebody you're responsible for, somebody.
Speaker 2: You're fighting through something that doesn't seem to want to
Speaker 2: let you go. If nothing else, you have the pressure
Speaker 2: of struggling against that old nature in you that keeps
Speaker 2: making you want to act like you don't know God
Speaker 2: even though you do. If nothing else, you have the
Speaker 2: pressure of waking up another day and feeling like you
Speaker 2: have more agenda than you have energy.
Speaker 1: And so we pray our way through pressure, or.
Speaker 2: The pressure pushes us, pushes us over the edge, and
Speaker 2: pushes us into places of hiding that are dangerous. I
Speaker 2: don't want to get sidetracked by this, because honestly, I'm
Speaker 2: not just so interested that Peter was praying, or that
Speaker 2: he was praying at noon, which by the way, was
Speaker 2: not even a required time to pray. This was like
Speaker 2: a bonus prayer for Peter. Let's take a moment into church,
Speaker 2: because we beat up on Peter a lot. How he
Speaker 2: went the walk on water and he slipped and fell,
Speaker 2: How he cut off somebody's ear in the garden when
Speaker 2: they were coming to get Jesus. How he was cussing
Speaker 2: and denying Christ when he went to the cross. Let's
Speaker 2: get Peter like five seconds of atta boy handclapping ovation
Speaker 2: that he's up there praying when he doesn't have to
Speaker 2: be praying.
Speaker 1: I think we should do that. I think we need
Speaker 1: to humanize these Bible characters.
Speaker 2: I think you ought to keep those hands going because
Speaker 2: you're in church right now and you don't have to be.
Speaker 2: And just like you clapped for Peter, I want you
Speaker 2: to clap for yourself for a minute. I want you
Speaker 2: to clap for yourself for a minute that you made
Speaker 2: it to church today. I know you're not praising yourself,
Speaker 2: but Prace God that he got you here today.
Speaker 1: Grace God that he brought you back to church another day.
Speaker 1: I didn't say you prayed an hour before you came,
Speaker 1: but you came.
Speaker 4: I thank God you're here.
Speaker 1: Wonder what he was praying about, don't you.
Speaker 2: I mean, like Pastor Holly shared last week, he just
Speaker 2: raised somebody.
Speaker 1: From the dead and he never did that before.
Speaker 2: Now he's staying in the city, and certainly the paparazzi
Speaker 2: are looking for him, trying to find and Peter in Joppa,
Speaker 2: and so now in order to get.
Speaker 1: A little bit of perspective, he has to go up
Speaker 1: on the roof to pray.
Speaker 2: Maybe if you're a new mom, you have to go
Speaker 2: in the bathroom sometimes and pray. Maybe your prayer closet
Speaker 2: is your bathroom for a little while, but they will
Speaker 2: find you in that bathroom. There is no safe place
Speaker 2: for you to go and pray. And I think it's
Speaker 2: interesting that he went up on a roof because I
Speaker 2: think that's a high place. And I think sometimes while
Speaker 2: we're just around all the stuff of our life and
Speaker 2: just around the surroundings and just around the demands.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think anytime.
Speaker 2: You can get to church physically, get the church physically,
Speaker 2: especially if the church is called elevation, because we try
Speaker 2: to get you.
Speaker 1: Higher for a few minutes.
Speaker 2: And he's up there praying, And as he's praying, we
Speaker 2: don't know what he's praying.
Speaker 1: I imagine he is praying about his purpose.
Speaker 2: God, how do you want me, little old me Simon
Speaker 2: Peter the disciple who cursed while the rooster was crowing, How.
Speaker 4: Do you want me to keep this going?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's amazing how you used me to heal
Speaker 2: that man at the gate called beautiful. It's amazing how
Speaker 2: you used me to preach and convert all these people.
Speaker 2: It's amazing how you were there with me in the prison.
Speaker 2: It's amazing how you used me to get Anius off
Speaker 2: of his mat. It's amazing how you used me to
Speaker 2: get Tabitha up, that woman who had made all of
Speaker 2: those things for all of these people.
Speaker 1: But now I'm in Japa.
Speaker 2: Now he's still in Japa, but he doesn't really know
Speaker 2: what he's doing in Jopa. But he's in Joppa and
Speaker 2: he's stopping somewhere and he doesn't know where he's going,
Speaker 2: but he has stopped somewhere that he is praying.
Speaker 1: About where God has him and where God is taking him.
Speaker 2: And he's praying, and then he gets sleepy while he's praying,
Speaker 2: and he sees something in his vision that completely freaks
Speaker 2: him out.
Speaker 1: A blanket comes down from heaven.
Speaker 2: And this is where everybody who really thinks while I
Speaker 2: read the Bible is like, so, Pastor, when you say
Speaker 2: that Peter got high, are you.
Speaker 1: Just talking about the roof he went up on?
Speaker 2: Did they have mushrooms back then, pastor, what's going on
Speaker 2: that he would see this blanket?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 2: You just see blankets with birds and stuff on them
Speaker 2: every day, the stuff that happens in the Bible.
Speaker 1: That's the way we like it. Though. We like the Bible.
Speaker 2: Stuff can be weird, supernatural, freaky crazy.
Speaker 1: But we're just trying to pay our bills. And what
Speaker 1: I am suggesting to you.
Speaker 2: Is that the God who showed Peter this wants to
Speaker 2: show you something too. Somebody shout, God, show me something,
Speaker 2: be more specific, Holy Spirit, show me something.
Speaker 1: That's been my biggest prayer of the last year. You
Speaker 1: can rip it off in you. I just pray, God,
Speaker 1: show me something. What did I not see about that
Speaker 1: conversation that I should have seen?
Speaker 4: God?
Speaker 2: What did I miss while I went through my day
Speaker 2: that you want me to incorporate into my tomorrow?
Speaker 4: God?
Speaker 1: What was the thing that I missed today that if I.
Speaker 2: Don't pick up on it and adjust it, I will
Speaker 2: multiply the mistakes of today and too tomorrow.
Speaker 4: God.
Speaker 2: What is the thing that I have thought I was
Speaker 2: right about all my life that I'm really wrong about
Speaker 2: right now? What are the answers that I knew yesterday
Speaker 2: that have become irrelevant in this season of my life
Speaker 2: that I am still clinging to that.
Speaker 1: Are keeping me from being who I need to be.
Speaker 2: Peter was praying, I wonder, was he praying for an
Speaker 2: opportunity to take the gospel to the Gentiles.
Speaker 1: Now, the Gentiles, just to catch.
Speaker 2: You up a little bit, they were not bad people,
Speaker 2: but they were not God's covenant people. God's covenant people
Speaker 2: were the Jews. And God always had a plan to
Speaker 2: bless the Gentiles through the Jews. He told Abraham, I
Speaker 2: will bless you, and you will be a blessing, and
Speaker 2: all of the peoples of the earth will be blessed
Speaker 2: through you. And so now Peter is standing in the
Speaker 2: continuation of something that God spoke centuries before he was
Speaker 2: ever born.
Speaker 1: This thing did not start with you. It's bigger than you.
Speaker 1: Everything you're going through is connected to something bigger than you.
Speaker 2: One of the greatest gifts the Holy Spirit can give
Speaker 2: us is a wide lens on our life to realize
Speaker 2: that there will come somebody after you that is dependent
Speaker 2: on your example, that there has come somebody before you
Speaker 2: who has given you an example to follow, and that
Speaker 2: those who came before you might have had chains on
Speaker 2: them that you have the power to break because God
Speaker 2: called you and assigned you to break them. That's a
Speaker 2: wide lens. When you worship, it gives you a wide life.
Speaker 2: When you worry, it narrows the scope of what you're
Speaker 2: going through. When you don't pray, you feel nothing but pressure.
Speaker 2: But I came to tell you, if you will pray
Speaker 2: your way through this pressure doesn't have to be a
Speaker 2: long prayer, doesn't even have to be a focused prayer.
Speaker 2: Peter was half a sleep and God spoke to him.
Speaker 2: So as long as you will set your heart in
Speaker 2: the direction of God, he wants to speak to you
Speaker 2: more than you want to hear him. He wants to
Speaker 2: show you more than you want.
Speaker 1: To see it. Stop talking to God like you have
Speaker 1: to negotiate a hostage out of the situation. He wants
Speaker 1: to give you wisdom, wants to give you opportunity, wants
Speaker 1: to show you open doors. Wants to tell you who
Speaker 1: to call, wants to tell you who to talk to,
Speaker 1: wants to bring people in your path. He just wants
Speaker 1: to know. Will you be prepared? Prepared?
Speaker 2: Peter was preparing because I don't know what's next, but
Speaker 2: I gotta get ready for it. So I gotta pray
Speaker 2: my way through this thing. I gotta pray my way
Speaker 2: so I can prepare. I almost brought my screen out
Speaker 2: today because I wanted to show you something. I wanted
Speaker 2: to write the word prepare on the screen and spell
Speaker 2: it the way that you would think was wrong, but
Speaker 2: the way that would actually be right. I was just
Speaker 2: going to write, God is preparing you, but I was
Speaker 2: going to spell it p R E p A I
Speaker 2: R prepare, and I was going to let it sit
Speaker 2: there for about fifteen minutes till all of the OCD
Speaker 2: Grammar police started throwing stones at me at the stage.
Speaker 2: You're like Stephen in Acts chapter seven, just appear taking
Speaker 2: the stones, and just before I died and went unconscious,
Speaker 2: throwing your elevation pins at me and stuff.
Speaker 1: Spelled it wrong.
Speaker 2: I was going to say, no, no, no, God is
Speaker 2: preparing you for what He has prepair you.
Speaker 1: Four.
Speaker 2: I believe, while Holly was growing up in Miami, Florida,
Speaker 2: and I was growing up in Monk's Corner, South Carolina,
Speaker 2: that the experiences and gifts that God was given me
Speaker 2: in Monk's Corner and the experiences and gifts that God
Speaker 2: was giving her in Miami were two ingredients that were
Speaker 2: meant to go together to make the ministry that God
Speaker 2: has privileged us to serve within today.
Speaker 1: So I believe that we were pre paired. You still
Speaker 1: don't get it.
Speaker 2: My second illustration is this, Before I preach, I always
Speaker 2: take out of my pocket this thing. It just seems
Speaker 2: unnecessary weight to be up here preaching, so I'd always
Speaker 2: take it out of my pocket.
Speaker 1: I went to take it out. Do you know what
Speaker 1: this is? I'm not going to do a product endorsement,
Speaker 1: but this is the thing. Yeah, okay, the.
Speaker 2: Thing that drives you crazy when you see somebody walking
Speaker 2: around like they are such a baller that they can't
Speaker 2: take that out their air for five minutes to check
Speaker 2: out in the grocery store line.
Speaker 1: And I do it too, but I'm usually just listening
Speaker 1: to something.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking to anybody, And sometimes if I want
Speaker 2: to get somewhere quick, I'll put it in and pretend
Speaker 2: like I'm talking to somebody, just like I walk through it.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we'll get back to you on that. That'll
Speaker 1: be great.
Speaker 2: Funny because I can't hear your phone through this Bluetooth AirPod,
Speaker 2: but I can hear mine.
Speaker 1: Because my phone is paired, so you don't know.
Speaker 2: I might be listening to Fred Hammond or Drake up
Speaker 2: here right now, but it's my phone, and I wouldn't
Speaker 2: have to.
Speaker 1: Make this work with this.
Speaker 2: Because I'm not waiting until I get up here to
Speaker 2: pair it. It's prepared, prepared, prepared, and so the voice
Speaker 2: that I would hear in my ear would be relative
Speaker 2: to the device that this instrument was pared to. The
Speaker 2: Bible says walk in the spirit, and you will not
Speaker 2: fulfill the lust of the flesh. Is the problem with
Speaker 2: the voices that are going through your mind, that are
Speaker 2: sabotaging your strength, sucking you dry of your joy, and
Speaker 2: causing you to lose your confidence in what you know
Speaker 2: good and well.
Speaker 1: God called you to do.
Speaker 2: Is it possible that you have been prepared to the
Speaker 2: wrong device. Is there something that's going on in your
Speaker 2: mind today? I'm just asking because when I read the passage,
Speaker 2: you were like, this is a weird one, Pastor is
Speaker 2: it really?
Speaker 4: Or is it a picture that Peter even though.
Speaker 2: He wasn't prepared to raise a dead girl, He wasn't
Speaker 2: prepared to go to Cornelius's house. He wasn't prepared to
Speaker 2: speak to a centurion and that's chapter ten that he
Speaker 2: was prepared. I think I think it's possible. I think
Speaker 2: it's possible. I think it's possible that although you don't
Speaker 2: feel ready for this season of your life, that although
Speaker 2: you feel alone in this season of your life, that
Speaker 2: although you feel you don't have the skills that it
Speaker 2: takes for this step of faith that God has given you.
Speaker 4: That although you feel like you're the wrong one for
Speaker 4: the job, I think.
Speaker 2: It's possible that God has been preparing you for the
Speaker 2: exact assignment that you are designed to accomplish. I will
Speaker 2: fulfill it. Say it out loud, I will fulfill it.
Speaker 2: If it's for me, it will be. And that's why
Speaker 2: I want you to disconnect from every device that is
Speaker 2: not a part of your destiny. Every voice, every website,
Speaker 2: every social media app, everything you play on your head
Speaker 2: in a loop and you call it your truth. It's
Speaker 2: not your truth. You are in a trance, baby, You
Speaker 2: are in a trance, so thinking, this is the way
Speaker 2: I have to be. This is who I've always been,
Speaker 2: this is how the world is, this is how every
Speaker 2: teenager is.
Speaker 1: Not every teenager. Baby, you hadn't met me yet.
Speaker 4: I'm full of the Holy.
Speaker 2: Ghost and fire, and I'm baptized, and I'm bored, and
Speaker 2: I'm born again, and I'm fired up.
Speaker 1: And I'm prepared.
Speaker 8: All right, I'll do it.
Speaker 2: The Lord said, I gotta tell you about David. He
Speaker 2: saw Goliath. What could prepare you for Goliath?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: I killed the lion. Oh I kill the bear. Oh
Speaker 2: I got a slingshot. Now, when I hook up this
Speaker 2: instrument to.
Speaker 1: This device, when I hook up this experience with this challenge,
Speaker 1: sometimes you forget what you've got.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And sometimes you remember where you've been, And sometimes
Speaker 2: that's a good thing. But sometimes you have memorized a
Speaker 2: menu that is no longer available to you. Can I
Speaker 2: preach this thing, y'all? I gotta get you ready for
Speaker 2: the summer. Yeah, I gotta get you ready for the summer.
Speaker 2: Everybody's trying to get a beach body. I'm trying to
Speaker 2: get you a beach spirit. Biceps won't help you. Whenever
Speaker 2: you all hell breaks loose in your family.
Speaker 1: None of that going to matter a bit.
Speaker 2: But what matters because we're talking about we're talking about food, but.
Speaker 1: God is using the food.
Speaker 2: If you thought this passage was actually about food, you
Speaker 2: need to read it again through the lens of the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit, Peter did.
Speaker 1: He's up there hungry. And you know, whenever you're hungry,
Speaker 1: everything looks good. And that's the truth.
Speaker 2: Ask Esaul, how good a bowl of beans will look
Speaker 2: when you're hungry? And that's why some people date the
Speaker 2: wrong people? Okay, verse ten. He became hungry eating stuff
Speaker 2: you never would have ate. Well, he became hungry and
Speaker 2: he wanted some to eat. And while the meat okay
Speaker 2: verse the in this is so good? Y see this,
Speaker 2: yes sEH first ten. And while the meal was being prepared,
Speaker 2: what was being prepared? Put it in the comments what
Speaker 2: was being prepared? The meal wasn't the only thing being prepared.
Speaker 2: Peter was being prepared and part of that preparation process
Speaker 2: was in unpairing and unpairing with this past. The Spirit
Speaker 2: of God confirmed to me so many times through our
Speaker 2: worship experience today when we were singing, and I'm sorry
Speaker 2: for all of you didn't get to hear all the songs.
Speaker 2: Everything we sang today was a confirmation of what He
Speaker 2: gave me to preach. It was like it was pared together.
Speaker 2: And one of the things that you may not have
Speaker 2: seen on the surface was there was a video for
Speaker 2: my wife's birthday, and people were saying, thank you, Pastor Holly,
Speaker 2: thank you, Pastor Holly, thank you, Pastor Holly for the
Speaker 2: words you've spoken. And I thought it was a appropriate
Speaker 2: And although we do not praise men, we praise God,
Speaker 2: who gives us men and women as gifts.
Speaker 1: And so it was right that they celebrated you. But
Speaker 1: it wasn't that they celebrated you that touch me.
Speaker 2: It was what they called you, Pastor Holly, because it
Speaker 2: took me back to the memory of the time that
Speaker 2: you said.
Speaker 1: I will never marry a pastor. She said that now
Speaker 1: he is one.
Speaker 2: Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
Speaker 2: Simon would have never seen himself as a shepherd, but
Speaker 2: Jesus called him Peter and said, feed my sheep. God
Speaker 2: was prepairing, prepairing Jews and Gentiles prepared, and God needed
Speaker 2: somebody who was an official apostle to knock down that
Speaker 2: barrier officially and get the gospel to the gentiles. And
Speaker 2: I'm glad he did because I am a gentile, and
Speaker 2: I'm glad that the gospel didn't stop with what Peter
Speaker 2: thought about it.
Speaker 1: He's preparing me, He's not just preparing a meal. He's
Speaker 1: preparing me.
Speaker 2: Are you so focused on the meal that you don't
Speaker 2: even see the mission? Are you so focused on this
Speaker 2: day's needs, this day's inconvenience, this season's hunger, this season's annoyance,
Speaker 2: Like it is so typical for me to get so
Speaker 2: irritated so that I will miss something that could have
Speaker 2: been a miracle because of something as small as an irritation.
Speaker 1: And I thought it's significant. On our last week of
Speaker 1: the Ghostwriter series.
Speaker 2: Talk about how sometimes the greatest things that God brings
Speaker 2: into our life are off menu.
Speaker 1: They are not things.
Speaker 2: When I say menu, I'm talking about how you expected
Speaker 2: him to use you. I'll never be a pastor's wife. Cool,
Speaker 2: I'll just make you a pastor and then you'll have
Speaker 2: to be a pastor's wife. I'll never be free, you say, well,
Speaker 2: God says good. I just give you the blood of Jesus,
Speaker 2: and I'll declare you righteous, and I'll set you free,
Speaker 2: and if.
Speaker 4: The sun sets you free, you'll be free. Indeed, I'll
Speaker 4: just do what I want to do.
Speaker 2: You can't call unclean what God has called clean. That's
Speaker 2: what he told Peter. Because we look at the passage
Speaker 2: and we see a bunch of characters. Right, there's this
Speaker 2: guy and I didn't get to say about him, but
Speaker 2: this guy, Cornelias, he's amazing, it's amazing. He's over one
Speaker 2: hundred soldiers. He is very, very faithful. He's not aver,
Speaker 2: he's not a Jew, he's not circumcised, he's not definitely
Speaker 2: not a Christian yet. But God wants to give him
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit. So one day he's praying at three pm.
Speaker 2: And this is amazing because while he's praying at three
Speaker 2: pm one day, God is already preparing him with somebody
Speaker 2: who's going to be praying.
Speaker 1: At noon the next day. But that's beside the point.
Speaker 2: Because while you are praying about stuff, God is preparing stuff.
Speaker 2: And don't worry if you don't see what he's preparing,
Speaker 2: because he was praying thirty miles away. Don't stop praying
Speaker 2: just because you don't see proof. The proof might be
Speaker 2: on the way while you're praying. So Cornelia sees an angel.
Speaker 2: Now Peter didn't see an angel. Peter heard a voice
Speaker 2: and saw a sheet. Now I think one of the
Speaker 2: reasons for that is that he had had three years
Speaker 2: with Jesus and when he called him Lord and said
Speaker 2: I can't do this.
Speaker 1: He knew the voice because he was prepared because one thing.
Speaker 2: And I'll leave this illustration alone after this, even if
Speaker 2: it was paired, if I left it back there, it
Speaker 2: would be too distant to pick it up.
Speaker 1: That's why you got to stay close to God in
Speaker 1: your heart throughout the dad for it to connect.
Speaker 2: It must be close. God didn't leave you, You left
Speaker 2: him in your heart. Do not leave Jesus in this
Speaker 2: church today. When you leave, you have the Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: He goes with you. This is a moving menu. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this is like a faith food truck. It's gonna show
Speaker 2: up wherever you need it this week. It's gonna show
Speaker 2: up wherever you need it this week. Boy, I needed
Speaker 2: it yesterday. I was about the road rage real bad
Speaker 2: on somebody. And that relationship with Jesus has Peter so
Speaker 2: familiar that even and though he does not recognize what
Speaker 2: God is showing him because he sees a sheet with
Speaker 2: animals and he's not supposed to eat him.
Speaker 1: And I don't know. And isn't that how most of
Speaker 1: our life feels? Honestly, it's not so clear always. If
Speaker 1: the Bible had a verse, should I let my aging parent.
Speaker 4: Move in with me?
Speaker 1: Or should I provide them with the nursing home.
Speaker 2: And if I provide them with the nursing home, how
Speaker 2: will I pay for because I don't have any money?
Speaker 1: Ayway, if the Bible give you an.
Speaker 2: Exact verse about that, but it says my God will
Speaker 2: supply all your needs, it does not go into that
Speaker 2: level of detail.
Speaker 1: The detail in this passage is fascinating.
Speaker 2: How Peter sees this sheet and the Lord tells him
Speaker 2: something about food, but he is using the food check
Speaker 2: this out to show Peter his future. And what he
Speaker 2: is saying to Peter, he's saying to you and I
Speaker 2: God is saying just because it's not on your menu
Speaker 2: doesn't mean it's not on mine.
Speaker 1: Just because us.
Speaker 2: You don't think I can do it doesn't mean it's
Speaker 2: not already happening. Just because you don't see a way
Speaker 2: that it would turn around at this stage doesn't mean that.
Speaker 1: It's not already halfway turned.
Speaker 2: For Notice what the Bible says about noon the following day,
Speaker 2: verse nine. As they were on their journey and approaching
Speaker 2: the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray
Speaker 2: y'all missed it.
Speaker 1: Dropped down to verse seventeen.
Speaker 2: While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision,
Speaker 2: The men sent by Cornelius.
Speaker 1: Found out where Simon's house was. Now, when the angel
Speaker 1: came to Cornelis, he said, go find.
Speaker 2: A guy named Simon the Tanner, And when you get
Speaker 2: there in Joppa, you're gonna ask for a man who
Speaker 2: used to be called Simon, but he goes by the
Speaker 2: name Peter. So the men get there when verse seventeen,
Speaker 2: while Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision.
Speaker 2: And in my prayer this morning I saw somebody who
Speaker 2: is wondering what does this mean?
Speaker 1: Here? I am single again? What does this mean? Here?
Speaker 2: I am going back through this cycle again? Thought I
Speaker 2: was through with it? What does this mean? My kids
Speaker 2: aren't speaking to me. What does this mean? I cannot
Speaker 2: get through this door because of my employment record?
Speaker 1: What does this mean?
Speaker 4: Here?
Speaker 2: I am in a situation where I feel rejected.
Speaker 1: Should I fall back now? Or is that a sign
Speaker 1: to try harder?
Speaker 2: Is the fact that it hasn't happened yet a sign
Speaker 2: that I'm doing the wrong thing and I should try
Speaker 2: something else. Is the fact that I'm struggling the way
Speaker 2: that I'm getting stronger?
Speaker 1: Or is it a sign that God is redirecting me.
Speaker 2: Now, Wild Peter is praying about all of this, like
Speaker 2: You've been thinking about this and wondering, what does this
Speaker 2: mean that I'm going through this? What does this mean
Speaker 2: that I'm anxious? What does it mean that I'm so afraid?
Speaker 2: What does it mean that I feel like I'm out
Speaker 2: of options?
Speaker 4: What does this mean?
Speaker 2: Wild Peter was still wondering about the meaning of the vision.
Speaker 1: Verse seventeen.
Speaker 2: The men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house and stopped
Speaker 2: at the gate. So God said to tell you, while
Speaker 2: you're wondering about your next step, the answer is already
Speaker 2: at the gate waiting for you. I'll declare it again.
Speaker 2: While Peter was praying, the men were already there. I
Speaker 2: am so slow, Church, forgive me. I am so slow.
Speaker 2: I read verse nine about fifteen times, and I didn't
Speaker 2: get it. About noon the following day, as they were
Speaker 2: on their wage're approaching the city, Peter went up on
Speaker 2: the roof to pray.
Speaker 1: So I pictured it like this. Wild Peter and the.
Speaker 2: Other disciples that he had met there in Jappa were
Speaker 2: going back to the city. They probably been out all
Speaker 2: morning doing some ministry, preaching, some crusades, and as they.
Speaker 1: Got to the city.
Speaker 2: They stopped at the house, and Peter's like, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: go up there and pray. But that is not the
Speaker 2: they that is referenced in verse nine. Put it up
Speaker 2: again about noon the following day. This is good as
Speaker 2: they were on their journey and approaching the city.
Speaker 1: They is not Peter and his voice.
Speaker 2: They is the three men that Cornelia sent out of
Speaker 2: the prayer that he prayed a day earlier. They are
Speaker 2: already on the way. I don't know whose word that is.
Speaker 2: I know what day you need in your life. I
Speaker 2: don't know if the day that you need are people
Speaker 2: to partner with you, mentors to help you. I don't
Speaker 2: know if the day that you need in your life
Speaker 2: are emotional areas of healing where you need.
Speaker 1: The balm of Almighty God.
Speaker 2: But God said to tell you on this final week
Speaker 2: of my series on the Holy Spirit, they are already.
Speaker 1: On the way.
Speaker 4: And get ready because when.
Speaker 5: You get down there, it's gonna be somebody you hadn't
Speaker 5: even met yet.
Speaker 2: Get ready because what God's gonna bless you with.
Speaker 4: Is it even gonna be on the menu? By thought,
Speaker 4: somebody say it's off menu, it's off menu. What good
Speaker 4: has on his mind for you.
Speaker 1: Is off the menu.
Speaker 5: What Good has on his heart to do through you
Speaker 5: is off the menu. It's not in your mind, it's
Speaker 5: not in your senses, it's not.
Speaker 2: In your past, it's not in your tradition.
Speaker 4: But it's coming. It is coming, is coming. It's coming.
Speaker 4: It is coming, is coming, It's coming, is coming, It's coming.
Speaker 4: It's already at the gate.
Speaker 8: It's already at the gate.
Speaker 4: It's already at the gate. While you're praying.
Speaker 9: It's waiting. It's waiting, it's waiting.
Speaker 2: I find people say it's waiting at the gate. It's
Speaker 2: waiting at the gate. It's waiting at the gate. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so you got a decision to make honey Pie. You
Speaker 2: got a decision to make baby Boom. You got a
Speaker 2: decision to make Saint. You got a decision to make Simon.
Speaker 2: You got a decision to make Peter. Because it goes
Speaker 2: like this, there's three men at the gate, and there's
Speaker 2: two men on the roof.
Speaker 1: What you mean, pastor Steve? Who else up there? You're
Speaker 1: talking about the Lord Peter and the Lord. No no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no no no. I read you the verse.
Speaker 2: I told you we were gonna come back to it.
Speaker 2: I told you I was gonna make a sandwich. I
Speaker 2: put it in a ziplock back. I prepared for this
Speaker 2: field trip.
Speaker 1: I packed this.
Speaker 2: Lunch because I want you to get it. I want
Speaker 2: you to get it, even if it's not on the menu.
Speaker 2: I want you to get it. Even if your mom
Speaker 2: didn't give it to you. I want you to get it,
Speaker 2: even if your dad didn't give it to you.
Speaker 1: I want you to get it. Even if your kids
Speaker 1: aren't saying thank you.
Speaker 2: I want you to get it, even if nobody recognizes
Speaker 2: the value of your life.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that they went to the house of Simon.
Speaker 2: The Tanner watched this looking for a man, and when
Speaker 2: they got there, they called out verse eighteen, asking if Simon,
Speaker 2: who was known as Peter, was there.
Speaker 1: There's two people on the roof and three people at
Speaker 1: the gate. There's Simon on the roof.
Speaker 2: Everything Peter had been before he met Jesus, and there's
Speaker 2: Peter on the roof. Simon is looking at the blanket, saying,
Speaker 2: I never did that before. I can't do that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. We say when God shows us what he
Speaker 2: wants us to do. Because this blanket, it's God showing him.
Speaker 2: I want to cover the earth with the Gospel. Worried
Speaker 2: about a meal, I'm worried about a mission. Stop getting
Speaker 2: tripped up on the wrong stupid stuff. They hurt your feelings.
Speaker 2: Don't let a hurt feeling keep you from your future.
Speaker 2: My God, you need to have a birthday every week
Speaker 2: so I can preach this good Holly. I knew the
Speaker 2: Holy Ghost was going to show up on Pentecosts Sunday
Speaker 2: because I knew there were some things that he needed
Speaker 2: to talk to you about, Simon.
Speaker 1: There are some things that he needs to say to you, Simon.
Speaker 1: Did you notice that. I want you to notice this.
Speaker 2: When the Lord starts talking to Simon Peter, Simon Peter,
Speaker 2: both of them are up there. You know, Simon is
Speaker 2: you know, at least he represents the part of us
Speaker 2: that is stuck in our tradition and stuck in our
Speaker 2: limited experience, and stuck in the way that we perceive things,
Speaker 2: and stuck in the way that we think certain people
Speaker 2: are and the way that we think certain genders, and
Speaker 2: the way that we think that certain.
Speaker 1: Women can do this and men can do that, and
Speaker 1: you know, people can do this, and people can do that.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget people telling me when did you decide
Speaker 2: to become a multicultural church?
Speaker 1: There's never a decision. And then Kirk Franklin asked me
Speaker 1: one time, were you are you? Were you surprised? Are
Speaker 1: you ever surprised how much black people like you? And
Speaker 1: and and I said, absolutely not. That doesn't surprise me
Speaker 1: at all. It's mutual. We're prepared, prepared, they're not mismatched.
Speaker 2: My uh, my friend the other day he said, what
Speaker 2: a lot of people don't know is you you know
Speaker 2: more gospel music than any white man alive. I said,
Speaker 2: because I was singing in gospel choir since I was sixteen,
Speaker 2: So this wasn't a surprise to me.
Speaker 1: Not to me. Now.
Speaker 2: The reason I bring these traditions up is because those
Speaker 2: are all pretty cute. What if it's not so mentionable
Speaker 2: what you're attached to. What if yours is something that's
Speaker 2: sexual that makes you feel filthy? What if you are
Speaker 2: paired to and connected to a cycle of condemnation or
Speaker 2: compulsion that causes you to keep giving away everything valuable
Speaker 2: for the next meal. What if within you it is
Speaker 2: a severe and chronic emotional condition that people tell you
Speaker 2: to just rejoice over top of but it keeps getting
Speaker 2: down on the inside. What I want you to understand
Speaker 2: about this precious Holy Spirit that you have been given, baptized,
Speaker 2: empowered by, filled with called by, chosen by a witness to,
Speaker 2: and guided by in your life. The Holy Spirit, who
Speaker 2: one writer said, is the wind and the fire, who
Speaker 2: is the ship and the sea, who.
Speaker 1: Is the horse and the road. This Holy Spirit, this
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. Look what he did for Peter. While Peter
Speaker 1: verse seventeen, was wondering about the meaning of the vision,
Speaker 1: the men stopped at the gate.
Speaker 2: They called out, asking if Simon, who was known as Peter,
Speaker 2: was staying there, and this is what must happen in
Speaker 2: your life daily verse nineteen. While Peter was still thinking
Speaker 2: about the vision, the spirit said to him, Simon, catch it,
Speaker 2: catch it, catch it. While Peter was thinking, why I
Speaker 2: do about this?
Speaker 1: I can't do this? What does this mean?
Speaker 2: I don't know, the Spirit said Simon. See because all
Speaker 2: his life he's been playing. Simon says, thinking like Simon,
Speaker 2: eating like Simon, moving like Simon.
Speaker 1: But how many no new minds make new moves with God?
Speaker 1: Who is this four other than Holly? I mean, this
Speaker 1: thing is cooking inside of me right now.
Speaker 2: And while Peter was thinking about it, the spirit said, Simon,
Speaker 2: I want to spend less time playing Simon says with myself,
Speaker 2: because my Simon will tell me some stuff that I
Speaker 2: know is not going to move me for just me.
Speaker 2: My Simon will tell me, you know I mentioned road rage. Hey,
Speaker 2: drive up around this medium medium, go cut them off.
Speaker 2: Turn the car sideways, be there waiting for them.
Speaker 1: Get out, Stand up on top of the jeep with
Speaker 1: your shirt off. That's my Simon. So it is imperative
Speaker 1: for me. It is imperative with your polo shirt tied
Speaker 1: around your head like a.
Speaker 2: Bandana on top of the jeep on the way home
Speaker 2: from church today and let them know that's not right
Speaker 2: how they cut you off. And then so I need
Speaker 2: watch this. I need the Spirit to speak to my
Speaker 2: Simon so when I go downstairs I can be Peter.
Speaker 1: I need the Spirit to speak to my Simon and
Speaker 1: tell me that's crazy. That's your ego talking.
Speaker 2: That's just you trying to be somebody important and you're
Speaker 2: not even thinking about what really matters. I need the
Speaker 2: Spirit to talk to my Simon because the Spirit can
Speaker 2: show me the me that is new, show me, the
Speaker 2: me that is new. Ooh me, new me, new men you.
Speaker 2: It kind of works if you put it together.
Speaker 9: Menu.
Speaker 1: So, God says, you've been dealing with situations a certain way.
Speaker 1: You always hide when it gets scary. You've been dealing
Speaker 1: with situations a certain way. You always numb when it
Speaker 1: gets uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: You've been dealing with situations a certain way.
Speaker 1: You always withdraw. The moment that it gets too intimate,
Speaker 1: you get squeamish.
Speaker 4: And you move out.
Speaker 2: But God says, you've got a new menu. You've got
Speaker 2: a new menu, and on this menu is a new
Speaker 2: set of fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
Speaker 2: self control. This is the fruit of the spirit. And
Speaker 2: it's amazing because the Spirit started speaking to Simon. When
Speaker 2: the Spirit spoke to Simon, he said, don't hesitate, don't try.
Speaker 1: To figure it out in your head.
Speaker 2: I don't know who this is for, but stop judging
Speaker 2: God's capacity by your calculator. Holy Spirit spoke to me
Speaker 2: four days ago and said, you keep imagining scenarios like
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be there with you when you
Speaker 2: go through them.
Speaker 1: Stop it.
Speaker 2: Simon says, you might not make it. The Spirit says,
Speaker 2: I am in you and with you, and I will
Speaker 2: show you the deep things of God. I has not seen,
Speaker 2: ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the
Speaker 2: heart of a man, the things that God has prepared
Speaker 2: for those who love him. But God, Oh that's first
Speaker 2: Corinthians two ten.
Speaker 1: Y'all want to see it.
Speaker 2: I has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has
Speaker 2: it entered into the heart of a Simon what God
Speaker 2: has prepared, prepared, prepared, But God has revealed them through his.
Speaker 1: Spirit. And this is the point I wanted to preach
Speaker 1: you to today.
Speaker 2: And I know you're hungry, but don't go into a
Speaker 2: trance on me right now, because the Bible said that.
Speaker 1: You got to let His spirit speak to.
Speaker 2: Your Simon, so this can happen Verse twenty Get up,
Speaker 2: go downstairs, do not hesitate, for I have sent them.
Speaker 1: Verse twenty one. Peter went down. And it's a good thing.
Speaker 1: It's a good thing.
Speaker 2: Because if Simon went down, the Gentiles never would have
Speaker 2: got the gospel. Okay, let me resay that God would
Speaker 2: have had to pick somebody else. You know, God's gonna
Speaker 2: do it what he's gonna do, how He's gonna do it.
Speaker 2: Peter would have missed it. Stop sending Simon down into
Speaker 2: Peter situations.
Speaker 1: Stop showing up.
Speaker 2: Like a baby Christian when you've been knowing God for
Speaker 2: forty nine years. Because God said, I got something I'm
Speaker 2: preparing for you, but I gotta prepare you for what
Speaker 2: I have prepared. If Simon goes down, he tells these men,
Speaker 2: I can't eat with you. Your gentiles go away. But
Speaker 2: when Peter went down, he said, I'm the one. I
Speaker 2: don't feel like the one. I don't get it, I
Speaker 2: don't understand it, but I'm the one. Now, let's go
Speaker 2: to Cessarea, and let's take the Gospel and the Holy
Speaker 2: Spirit with us. And you know when they got there,
Speaker 2: that says Cornelius was expecting him. He had a whole
Speaker 2: crowd there.
Speaker 1: Peter starts preaching, and the Lord did something that he
Speaker 1: did a lot with Peter. He interrupted him. He's just like,
Speaker 1: he's like, shut up already.
Speaker 2: And the Holy Spirit came and they all began to
Speaker 2: speak with other tongues, and they were all filled with
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit, and the Gospel started rippling through generations
Speaker 2: to the point that today we are in church as gentiles.
Speaker 2: Because Peter came down those stays.
Speaker 4: I'm so grateful.
Speaker 2: That even.
Speaker 1: We weren't on the menu, we were on God's mind.
Speaker 2: When the Lord sends something into your life this week,
Speaker 2: in your rooftop moments, When the Lord sends something into
Speaker 2: your life this week, in your confused moments, and.
Speaker 1: You're wondering what it means, check the gate and send
Speaker 1: Peter down and say I'm the one.
Speaker 8: No, no, no no.
Speaker 2: People wouldn't have picked you. You weren't on their menu.
Speaker 2: But we have an off menu. God he takes people.
Speaker 1: Who say I'll never marry a pastor and he goes,
Speaker 1: ha ha.
Speaker 2: Ha ha, Holly, Haha, Pastor, Holly, get ready for God
Speaker 2: to do something in your life this week that wasn't
Speaker 2: even on your menu. Get ready for God to change
Speaker 2: a situations that you.
Speaker 9: Gave up on.
Speaker 10: Get ready for God to do it in a way
Speaker 10: that's your eyes have not seen, and your ears I
Speaker 10: have not heard. Hot five fifteen people say I'm ready,
Speaker 10: I'm ready.
Speaker 4: I'm on the rooftop.
Speaker 9: Then i'm ready.
Speaker 5: I've got a relationship with God.
Speaker 9: Then i'm ready.
Speaker 8: I'm the righteousness of God, and I'm ready.
Speaker 1: Off menu, off menu. Weren't even expecting it, were you.
Speaker 1: That's good.
Speaker 2: God likes to throw surprise parties, So your pity party
Speaker 2: is going to be interrupted this week by a surprise
Speaker 2: party for God to show you.
Speaker 1: That the thing you thought made you kittleful.
Speaker 4: Actually makes you powerful. Give Peter down the stairs, let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's have a Thurday party.
Speaker 5: Let's have a birthday party.
Speaker 4: My snon that Renard.
Speaker 5: Give it twenty five seconds, afray.
Speaker 4: Praising, You'll be gone.
Speaker 9: You didn't.
Speaker 8: Give them away by cleaner head pray.
Speaker 9: You did not come head Percy. He'll be kind.
Speaker 4: Hana, prazy you because.
Speaker 9: A bend pray.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
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Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you