WEBVTT - When Never Meets Now 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.800 So I want to thank you, Lord. I don't know 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.040 if they've been to the gym this year a lot yet, 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:07.680 but I thank you that you brought them to church 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:15.600 today and online and on YouTube and Facebook, and I 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:20.160 thank you that someone's on a podcast right now hearing 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:28.120 this word, and they are getting stronger. So, Lord, just 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:32.080 like Dustin Stradley's biceps were so so much bigger than 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.360 the last time I saw him, I want somebody to 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:37.440 look at us and say, boy, your faith is bigger, 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:43.680 your love is bigger. You're more expectant, your wisdom is growing. 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.560 We came today to grow, and we thank you Lord 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.519 for meeting us in this place. You're an excellent trainer. 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:56.240 Have your way. Oh I just felt a series coming on. Sorry, 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:06.399 y'all wait, training a sermon or a series? All right, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:08.800 but we're gonna talk about that a little bit today. 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.760 Are you excited about the word? Oh, this is awesome. 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.480 This doesn't even feel like a normal Sunday. This feels 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:23.679 like a fut orange revived. The let's like a revival. 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.760 You know what. I want to read my scripture. I 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.360 want to get right to it. Any announcements that need 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.920 to be made, somebody else make them I want. It's 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:43.520 a preach stay standing, Stay standing, and you'll holler to 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:47.560 the people online say stand up, tell them stand up 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:56.480 for the word of God, show some respect. I had 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:02.240 so many texts about last week's message about and all 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.960 y'all remembered was the trash bags. I'm like, well, if 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.399 I knew you were that easy, I would stop studying 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:13.720 and just get a wheelbarrow next week or something. But 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.680 I think it impacted us to talk about are you 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:24.240 holding on to something that is hurting you? And we 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:26.360 might revisit a little bit of that in a moment. 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:31.040 But there's a passage, a story that I want to 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.239 share with you from Acts chapter ten. Did you study 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.120 it last night? Jason? Okay, I told a few of 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:40.480 my guys this is where I'm gonna be if you 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.480 want to get a head start. But you will never 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.399 guess where God took me with this one. I don't 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.040 care how many times you read it, because it just 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:54.280 it's powerful. I gotta read twenty verses, so y'all listen 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.760 fast Acts chapter ten, Verse one. At Cessarea, there was 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.720 a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.840 as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.480 devout and God fearing. He gave generously to those in 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:11.639 need and prayed to God regularly. One day, at about 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.440 three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:18.360 saw an angel of God who came to him okay, 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:23.919 and said Cornelius. Cornelius stared at him in fear. What 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:28.840 is it, Lord, he asked. The angel answered, your prayers 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.800 and gifts to the poor have come up as a 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:40.480 memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:45.320 bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. Y'all, 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.360 remember Jesus changed his names, right. You know he can 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:53.280 change your name too. What you've called yourself all your life. 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.280 You get one good encounter with God and he'll show 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:02.680 you a side of you you've never seen before. Go 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.520 to Joppa, get Peter. Now send men to Jappa to 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.400 bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.440 He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.160 by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:19.000 had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.400 devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:28.160 them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. Now, 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:32.479 while all of that is happening in cesarea, listen what's 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.680 happening in Joppa, and watch how God will hook stuff 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.640 up that you didn't even know you needed to pray about. 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.880 About noon the following day, as they were on their 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:51.559 journey going to get Peter and approaching the city, Peter 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:56.640 went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.440 and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:03.479 being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw Heaven opened. 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:11.080 He saw Heaven open, woh wow, and something like a 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:15.000 large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.160 It contained all kinds of four footed animals, as well 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:23.239 as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him get up, Peter, 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:33.000 kill and e all the carnivores. Say amen for the vegans. 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:38.679 Surely not, Lord, Okay, surely not. Lord. I have never 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:43.440 eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:49.359 a second time. Do not call anything impure that God 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:56.120 has made clean. This happened three times because Peter was 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:01.599 hard headed, and immediately the sheet taken back to Heaven. 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.920 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:11.000 the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:16.640 was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.120 if Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there. 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.320 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.280 said to him, Okay, you got what Peter was thinking 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.320 and what the spirit was saying, and they were not 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.320 the same. What was going on in his mind was 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:37.680 not what was going on in God's thoughts, So that 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:44.159 could be true of you two, just saying. While he 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.440 was still thinking, the Spirit said, Simon, three men are 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:53.680 looking for you. Okay, so get up and go downstairs. 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.680 Do not hesitate to go with them. Do not hesitate 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:03.080 to go with them, for I have sent them. Okay, 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.760 let's focus on two verses. Let's look at verse fourteen. 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:15.400 Surely not, Lord, I have never. Everybody say I have never. 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.000 And then go to verse twenty where he said, do 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:27.760 not hesitate, I have never, and the spirit said, do 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:37.320 not hesitate. So this is the message. When never meets now, 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:45.880 when never everybody say never needs now in your presence, Lord, 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.640 is the fullness of joy, right hand, pleasures forevermore. Release 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.080 the resource of heaven to your people through me. Today, 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.760 I pray, I avail myself to you in Jesus' name. Amen, 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:04.320 you may be seated. I'm so glad there was snow 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:09.120 in the forecast. I didn't know. I don't want to 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.440 say I never watched the news, but I could almost 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.440 say I never watched the news. And I'm not going 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:19.720 to say never, because you know, never saying ever, and 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:21.520 since that's what I'm preaching on. I thought of all 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:26.520 of the little cliches never say never now or never 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:30.880 thought of all of them, never never, land, studying a 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:37.720 lot of different sources. But I'm glad I didn't know 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:39.800 that it was supposed to snow. Now those in the 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.079 other parts of the world, you wouldn't really call it 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:46.480 snow if you're in Michigan. But this is the South, 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:52.840 more specifically the Southeastern United States, and we never relatively 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.800 really get snow, so we don't know what to do 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.480 with it when it might come. I mean, we are 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:04.240 more scared of an inch of snow than a gallon 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:09.120 of anthrax. It's a weird thing to watch Southerner's response 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.280 to the snow. And Holly grew up in Miami where 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:16.360 she really never saw snow. Anyway, I'm glad it snowed 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:21.360 because I had this message on Monday and I didn't 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.920 know how I'm awake to preach it on Sunday. And 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.840 so when they said it might snow I was like, well, okay, 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:37.959 I could call the real Christians, the sanctified. So I'm 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.840 here a little early, like I'm here little early just 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.800 in case. We got generators, we got milk in the 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:47.319 grocery store, but just in case. I said, let's go 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.520 ahead and preach it, because we can do that now. Now. 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.680 I'm glad about that for two reasons. One is the 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:58.840 people who come who just are so hungry that they 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:05.559 skip runch and and I'm I'm skipping brunts for a breakthrough. 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:11.480 Ah see what I'm saying. The people online are like, oh, 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.120 it's so much more of the people are so excited today. 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.080 It's the ones we filtered. It's not any of the 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.800 ones that we don't want it. This is like the 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:25.719 the premium Chris Unz. Anyway, no offense if you're not here. 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.200 I'm just playing around. But I was excited because I 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.160 was already ready, and I was like I kind of 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:31.720 wanted to preach it when God gave it to me. 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.240 I was like can I preach it now? But you 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.760 gotta wait, you gotta wait, and so that's when you wait, 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.640 it gets hard to wait. And so you're sitting there wanting, 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:40.800 wanting to wait. But it's like a it's like a 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.440 weight w e ighd. It's like, as I have your message, 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.160 and how can I hold this till I get there? 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:47.880 So they were like a song. I was like, let's 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:49.720 do it early, Let's do it early. Let's do it 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.400 like Bill O'Reilly said one time, We'll do it live. 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.920 Don't look that up on you, But all right. So 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.959 the second reason, though, it's give me the perfect illustration 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:06.880 for this idea of we never meets now. When we 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.760 started this church, I stood up on the first snow 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:13.720 day that we ever had, and I said, I was 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:18.240 twenty six. I was wearing some probably some true religion 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:23.319 jeans or something like that. Huh, probably some antique denims 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:29.440 with some studs on them. And one day I walked 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.200 in and this guy was like, I've never seen a 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:36.040 preacher with stuff like that on his pockets. Why am 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.920 I telling you this? Okay? I stood up and I said, hey, 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.360 a lot of people were asking me, are we going 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.080 to cancel church? And I just want you to know, 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.920 as long as I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, I'm 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.559 twenty six talking like I'm sixty two. I said, as 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.480 long as I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, we will never. 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.480 I've went into all these I don't care if it's 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.760 eight inches of snow, I don't care if it And 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:11.120 God's laughing. God's laughing, because what kind of fool would 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:15.760 I be if now all the technology that has advanced 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.680 for us to reach more people. I was still standing 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.800 up in here with some Savorski crystals on my back 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:29.880 pockets or something, talking about we will never never. You know, 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:36.880 you said never about some things in the scripture when 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:41.520 Peter said never, I have never. I went back and 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:47.280 noticed that every time Peter said never, it closed him 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:51.200 off from what God was trying to do. This isn't 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.400 the first time. Remember when Jesus said, I've got to 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.760 go to Jerusalem. There I will be killed handed over, 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:00.680 But on the third day, I'll write, which was the 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.120 whole reason he came to pay the price, the whole 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.920 reason he came to redeem the world, the whole reason 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:12.080 that he came. And Peter said, never, Lord, this will 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:17.920 never happen to you. Everybody say never. Put it in 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:22.160 a chat like in all caps, and think about what 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:28.720 you said. Never about that? Now if we put your never, 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:35.520 and you're now how it started, how it's going. Like 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:39.440 I heard when guy say, I'll tell you what, I 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:43.200 never fight with my kids. You know what I thought? 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.280 This is what I thought, because I've got kids now, sixteen, fourteen, ten. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:53.600 I thought, then you never tell them no. You never 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.280 tell them no, if you never fight with them, you 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:58.520 never tell them no. That's the only thing that tells me, Oh, 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:03.880 I never yell at my kids, and you're never around them. 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.760 The only parents this is true. The only parents that 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:10.480 don't complain about their kids are the ones who stay 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:12.760 late at work so they don't have to deal with it, 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:18.839 you know, you skip that time. So I thought, well, 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.280 if you never fight with your kids, if there's never 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:23.960 any conflict, that means there's never any confrontation and there's 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.640 never any correction. And if there's never any confrontation in 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.240 correction with your kids at any point in their natural life. 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:30.960 I'm not saying you have to say no all the time, 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:32.880 but once in a while you're gonna have to not 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:41.240 beat their friend beat their father. Hear this, Graham. Graham 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.800 doesn't like this part of the sermon. He's totally out. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.520 He looks so Presbyterian right now on the front road. 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.360 But it's true because if I never tell you no, 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.800 if I never tell you no, you will never learn discipline. 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:58.760 If you never learned discipline, you can never get a job. 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.280 You never get a job, you can never leave my house. 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.960 And I need you to lead. So I gotta tell 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:10.280 you no. Some God's once in a while, Okay, parenting 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:20.600 seminar over. I'll never cancel church for snow, I'll never 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:25.040 I mean, how many of you were like at one point, say, oh, 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.680 I never go to a church like Elevation. I'd never 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.760 go to a big church. Okay, how many said that 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:36.240 I never go. Then you're not going to heaven. It's 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:43.120 every troth, every tongue, every nation. So there's only one 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.760 other option that a big church. In the end. In 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.800 the end, nothing against small churches. I'm just saying. Then, 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.120 then what happened God spoke to you, or God spoke 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.480 to your kid, or you hit a place you never 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:05.160 first I thought you'd hit. You hit a need that 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:16.240 made you rethink you're never, Whenever meets Now. As easy 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.400 as it would be to pick on Peter, I've got 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:24.960 to take a moment and defend this great disciple. Peter 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:30.000 wasn't holding on to his preferences out of personal selfishness. 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.720 If you want to understand Acts chapter ten, you have 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:37.760 to understand a little bit about Acts chapter one through seven, 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:42.160 where the gospel was following the course of Jesus promise 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:46.160 in Acts one eight you will be my witnesses in 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:52.320 Jerusalem where he died, Judea, the surrounding area Samaria, past 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.600 the borders of where they felt comfortable going, and to 0:16:55.760 --> 0:17:03.000 the ends of the earth. Somebody say, no boundaries, no boundaries. 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:09.680 Acts chapter ten is a spearhead moment for this mission 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:14.560 to go forth beyond the confines of the Jewish world. 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.320 But to really understand Acts chapter ten and why Peter 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.000 was in a Tanner's house in the first place, you 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.760 know that's a no. No Tanners work with dead animals. 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.040 Even being close to some of these animals would have 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:32.640 made him unclean. Now you understand how God has been 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:37.320 moving Peter into progression, so he wouldn't be snobby about 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.720 which certain people God could blessing us. Oh, This will 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:42.720 not make the sermon, but let's just put it in 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.439 the side note. You can tell you're making progress in 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:51.240 your walk with God when you have less prejudice toward people. 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.080 That's one of the first size. How do you know 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.320 if you're growing spiritually if you memorize more scripture? The 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.680 Pharisees had a lot of those scriptures memorized, and they 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.479 wanted to kill Jesus. How do you know if you're 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.760 getting closer to Jesus if you spend more time praying 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.680 in the morning. If you listen to Christian radio, listen, 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:15.439 I'll be honest with you. I don't even keep my 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:17.880 radio on Christian radio. I want to rock when I'm 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.800 in the car. I don't think God might. What good 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.920 is it listening to Christian radio If I'm cussing everybody 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:32.040 out in traffic, that's cutting me off. So the real 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.560 proof of progress in my walk with God, this Peter's 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.640 to finding out, is that as the Gospel is going forth, 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.520 and I follow this, as the Gospel is going Jerusalem, Judica, Sumaria, 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.600 ends of the Earth, It's going to require not only 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:50.280 a geographical but a psychological transformation. Geographical God, I want 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:52.240 you to do more in my life. God, I want 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.360 to buy a bigger house. God, I want to move 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.880 to another city. God, I want to get past this stage. God, 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:04.760 I want that's geographical. The psychological is Peter, who's a Jew. 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:09.920 Not the most observant Jew, but observant. Y'all know, Peter 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:17.560 was a little rough yet as he's praying and God 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:21.280 shows him something. Remember how it said I won't have 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.040 time to read the whole text again, you can read 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:26.479 it later this week, Please do that. Something like a 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:31.960 blanket came down from heaven as he was praying. Now, 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:39.280 had he been scrolling or posting at this moment, he 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:42.679 would have missed the chance to see what God would do. 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:48.560 That's free. He was on the roof of the House 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.080 of Simon the Tanner after raising, by the way, a 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:55.280 woman from the dead in Joppa. That's what he was 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:57.680 doing in Joppa, and he decided to stay a little 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.880 while because I guess raising people from the dead takes 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:03.239 a little bit out of you. And he's hungry, and 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:07.280 he's on the roof and he's praying, and a blanket, 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.880 something like a blanket comes down with animals on it, 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:15.960 and some of the animals on the blanket were animals 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:20.800 that he wasn't supposed to eat or touch. According to 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:25.200 Leviticus eleven, if you want to understand Acts chapter ten, 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:30.640 where Peter said never, you have to understand Leviticus eleven. 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.480 Leviticus eleven is the dietary restrictions that God gave his 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.720 people so that he could distinguish them from all the 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.000 other people on the earth. It was never really about 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:45.720 the diet. How many of you received that word. It's 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:47.280 not about the diet. It's not about the diet. It's 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:49.400 not about the diet. Come on, lift both hands, lift 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:56.080 both hands. I impart the miracle of calorie cancelation, carbohydrate cancelation, 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.760 fat burning, cell reduction, all of it. Okay, But it 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:05.280 wasn't It wasn't about his food. It was about his 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:10.080 faith and his frame of reference. That's what God was 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:14.040 showing him because there was stuff on the sheet or 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:17.800 on the blanket that he was not supposed to eat. 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.720 There was stuff on the blanket that he was not 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:25.479 supposed to eat. And if you really want to study, 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:29.400 read Leviticus eleven this week. It will make the CDC 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:35.320 guidelines look like a children's book. When you read the 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.400 land Animals that the Jewish people couldn't eat. I mean, 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:40.880 if you wanted to eat a land animal, it had 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.520 to have hoofs and chew the cut. Both couldn't have 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:46.840 split hoofs and not chew the cut, couldn't chew the 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:48.960 cut and not. It had to be a specific way. 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:53.160 If you wanted to eat sea animals, Leviticus eleven says this, 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:58.879 it has to have scales and fins. No shrimp. I 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:06.400 don't want to live in a world fried shrimp, boiled shrimp. 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:08.440 How many of y'all can't hear shrimp without here and 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.840 bubbah God, Okay, y'all are old. That's an old reference. 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:18.720 And most of the Holly, the most restrictions were on 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:24.400 the birds. The most protected were the birds, and then 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.400 most of the flying insects that couldn't eat, welln't want 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:32.320 to anyway. All that was on the blanket that came 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:36.399 from heaven. How can something that I have been taught 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:46.520 is not of God come from heaven? Never I had 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:50.119 never eaten any of these things. Well, Holly never ate 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:56.320 boiled peanuts till she met me. That's right. I converted her, 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:02.840 corrupted her. Whatever she thought that tasted like dirt, She 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:05.399 made them for me Monday night though, and she was 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:09.399 eating them too. She said, never, I would never eat this, 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:13.399 you know what I mean? And what if it's not 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.760 about the diet. What if it's not about the food. 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:20.040 What the way we look at our life and the 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:22.320 things that happen to us and the things that God allows, 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:25.280 even the things that we're praying about, is on the 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:28.920 completely wrong level. Because what if we think that the 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:31.440 person we don't get along with is about that person 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:36.080 and don't realize that that person is something that God 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:43.280 is using in his project called you. When they annoy you, 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:54.879 they become sandpaper. I'll keep going. It's taking you a 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:58.800 while to warm up to the idea that Wait a minute, 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:03.320 this doesn't have whoop. Wait a minute, this doesn't have fins. 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:07.760 Wait a minute, this didn't chew the cud. Wait a minute, 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:14.600 this can't be of God. And I call bs, y'all 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:22.320 were't here last week. Belief system, belief system. Your belief 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:25.080 system is formed by your personal experiences. And then, like 0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:31.399 I said last week, you call that truth. Oh, all women, 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:38.680 all men, all millennials, all boomers, all gen Z, all churches, 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:45.119 all Baptists, all black people, all white people all all all, 0:24:45.720 --> 0:24:50.640 and I call BS on all of it. I call 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:55.800 you know. BS also could stand for watch this you're ready. 0:24:56.440 --> 0:25:08.320 Blanket statements like Peter made, I don't never eat anything 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:16.840 like that. Never, Lord, never, well ie never. That's how 0:25:16.880 --> 0:25:19.760 you'd say it, that you were prim and proper well 0:25:19.920 --> 0:25:24.920 lie never. But what do you do when, like Peter 0:25:26.720 --> 0:25:33.959 never meets now and you realize that the way you 0:25:34.040 --> 0:25:39.520 saw God when you were eighteen was shaped by your experience, 0:25:40.240 --> 0:25:47.080 not his word or his spirit. What did you do 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:50.400 when you find out that the Lord is my shepherd 0:25:50.680 --> 0:25:54.159 doesn't mean that he keeps everything bad from happening, but 0:25:54.240 --> 0:25:59.720 that he walks through the valley with you. So when 0:25:59.720 --> 0:26:03.080 we may blanket statements, I mean I remember hearing somebody 0:26:03.119 --> 0:26:09.440 say one time, I never doubt God's word. And incidentally, 0:26:09.560 --> 0:26:11.240 this was a preacher and he was out of the 0:26:11.240 --> 0:26:16.120 ministry three years later for an affair, And I wondered, 0:26:16.320 --> 0:26:18.840 is the reason you never doubt? Because you never did 0:26:18.880 --> 0:26:22.440 self inventory to see what was really in you? So 0:26:22.440 --> 0:26:25.400 it's easy to make a blanket statement. Right watches those 0:26:25.400 --> 0:26:27.040 of you who are here for the first time, watch 0:26:27.040 --> 0:26:31.320 how good they do with this? God is good and 0:26:31.400 --> 0:26:34.760 all the time. See, I love that. I'm not knocking 0:26:34.800 --> 0:26:37.679 that that's true. I believe that all things work together 0:26:37.760 --> 0:26:39.760 for the good. That doesn't mean all things are good. 0:26:42.600 --> 0:26:47.160 That doesn't mean it's all good. That's not what we mean. 0:26:47.359 --> 0:26:54.040 We say God is good. Do not call that evil 0:26:54.480 --> 0:26:58.000 which I have called good? Do not call that good 0:26:58.080 --> 0:27:01.360 which I have called evil. I need to calm down, y'all, 0:27:01.400 --> 0:27:07.720 because this blessed my life. Do you realize how many 0:27:07.800 --> 0:27:10.879 of the things that you are sitting in right now 0:27:11.600 --> 0:27:19.040 somebody said never about at one time. How many of 0:27:19.080 --> 0:27:21.399 you are sitting in a now that used to be 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:25.280 a never in your life. How many of you never 0:27:25.359 --> 0:27:30.159 thought you would finish's let's start eighth grade. I was 0:27:30.200 --> 0:27:31.720 going to go to college, but I was like, we 0:27:31.760 --> 0:27:33.600 shall work our way up. How many of you never 0:27:33.680 --> 0:27:36.880 thought How many of you never thought you finished high school? 0:27:37.080 --> 0:27:39.680 How many you never thought you'd finish college? You went 0:27:39.720 --> 0:27:43.399 to college, y'all. I still have dreams sometimes that I 0:27:43.440 --> 0:27:48.399 didn't finish college. To this day. I finished college like 0:27:48.520 --> 0:27:53.359 seventy years ago, and I'm still dreaming about it. Like 0:27:53.680 --> 0:27:55.000 there were moments when you're in the middle of it. 0:27:55.119 --> 0:27:56.879 When I wrote my first book, my editor he'd been 0:27:56.960 --> 0:27:59.720 editing books. He edited the Prayer of Jabez, remember that. 0:28:00.480 --> 0:28:02.760 So he brought me a book on our first meeting 0:28:02.840 --> 0:28:04.880 and I was like, what's this. I didn't even really 0:28:04.880 --> 0:28:06.520 want the book. I didn't even really know who the 0:28:06.520 --> 0:28:10.120 author was, So what's this? He said, you just need 0:28:10.160 --> 0:28:13.320 this so that you can have a reminder that books 0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:18.639 do get finished. We hadn't started yet. He knew that 0:28:18.800 --> 0:28:22.760 I would hit points in the process where I would 0:28:22.760 --> 0:28:28.680 feel like I'm never going to finish this, so he said, 0:28:29.240 --> 0:28:33.840 put this up somewhere so you can see that books 0:28:33.880 --> 0:28:37.960 do get finished. And I think the Lord put me 0:28:38.040 --> 0:28:41.920 up here this week and Peter, to let you know 0:28:45.160 --> 0:28:52.560 that it does get better, that it does get better, 0:28:56.920 --> 0:29:02.000 that it does get better. I said it three times 0:29:02.040 --> 0:29:09.320