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. Glory to God, Glory to God.
Speaker 2: What an amazing atmosphere, What an amazing room of beautiful people,
Speaker 2: What a tapestry of transformed lives. You are the temple
Speaker 2: of the Living God. Make sure today that the temple
Speaker 2: is filled with praise. All right, open your mouth and
Speaker 2: praise Him right now.
Speaker 3: Come on all over the world, old many are now
Speaker 3: and turn wherever you are.
Speaker 1: Into a sanctuary. Do it right now.
Speaker 2: Take a responsibility for your space right now and fill
Speaker 2: it with praise.
Speaker 1: Glory to God. Wow.
Speaker 2: Grab hands with the person next to you. We're gonna
Speaker 2: pray for each other. Repeat after me, Father, bless them
Speaker 2: real good in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 2: Now hug seven people and tell them you're in the
Speaker 2: right place today. Don't sit out when you finished hugging,
Speaker 2: stay standing.
Speaker 1: I agreet you online. Please let me know in the
Speaker 1: comments where you're joining us.
Speaker 2: From everyone everywhere all around the world. We welcome you everyone.
Speaker 2: We're so glad you're here. Put it in the comments,
Speaker 2: say I'm glad to be here. Say it out loud,
Speaker 2: by faith, I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 2: Also, y'all, we just announced Elevation Nights our tour that
Speaker 2: is coming to the West Coast later this year.
Speaker 1: Go to Elevation Nights for details.
Speaker 2: Looks like we'll be going to Seattle, Vancouver, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Boise, Idaho,
Speaker 2: Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver, Colorado. Make plans for Tuesday,
Speaker 2: September twenty fourth through Thursday October. It will be awesome
Speaker 2: Elevation Nights dot com. Also today, the Lord said a
Speaker 2: special word for somebody, and I can't wait to find
Speaker 2: out who it is that he sent it for. I
Speaker 2: thanked him before I came out because he gave it
Speaker 2: to me, and I thanked him that I get to
Speaker 2: now partner with him in delivering what the father wants
Speaker 2: to say to his children. I'm going to be sharing
Speaker 2: the next installment on my series called ghost Writer, and
Speaker 2: I'm using as a metaphor you know how somebody needs
Speaker 2: to write a book but they're not a good rite.
Speaker 1: They hire somebody because they have.
Speaker 2: A great story, but that doesn't make them a good writer.
Speaker 2: So you can hire somebody called a ghost writer to
Speaker 2: help you. I'm just using that to represent how the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit in our lives will help us with the
Speaker 2: story that we're telling. Our lives are meant to tell
Speaker 2: the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were
Speaker 2: singing it earlier. I was dead and gone and you
Speaker 2: raised me. I was lost in sin and you found me. Hallelujah,
Speaker 2: you saved my soul.
Speaker 1: But just like some of us have.
Speaker 2: Trouble singing on pitch, and I'm one of you, but
Speaker 2: we have trouble sometimes telling.
Speaker 1: That story on cue.
Speaker 2: And so the Holy Spirit will help us not only
Speaker 2: tell the story to others, but how many know you're
Speaker 2: telling yourself a story every second of every day.
Speaker 1: And that's where I really need his help.
Speaker 2: And as you look through the Book of Acts, not
Speaker 2: acts like a thing you cut down a tree with,
Speaker 2: but acts like action. It's the things that the Holy
Speaker 2: Spirit did through the early Church, and we are continuing
Speaker 2: just two thousand years later in that same stream of
Speaker 2: the Spirit's activity. So the subtitle of the series is
Speaker 2: making sense of your story through the lens of the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Now, if everything in your life makes sense.
Speaker 2: Then you can go ahead and leave now and beat
Speaker 2: everybody to the restaurant, go ahead and get some brunch logo,
Speaker 2: on over to something else more interesting online. But if
Speaker 2: there are some things in your life that don't make
Speaker 2: sense right now, from a natural perspective, I believe that
Speaker 2: today God wants to give you a lens through his word,
Speaker 2: and as we worship him, he does that.
Speaker 1: And now as you receive.
Speaker 2: This word from him, He's going to give you a
Speaker 2: way to see your situations. I'm going to Acts Chapter three, JJ,
Speaker 2: do you want this? I don't need it today. I
Speaker 2: told him I don't need that little screen today. No,
Speaker 2: I'm preaching like a wild man in a revival today.
Speaker 2: I'm not circling nothing, highlighting nothing, writing nothing. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: just holler for about forty minutes. Y'all act right today,
Speaker 2: don't act crazy. I can't take it. Acts Chapter three.
Speaker 1: I love this story. This is my favorite Bible story today.
Speaker 1: I have another one next week. Listen to this one.
Speaker 3: Though.
Speaker 2: One day, Peter and John were going up to the
Speaker 2: temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.
Speaker 2: Now now a man who was lame from birth was
Speaker 2: being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he
Speaker 2: was put every day to beg from those going into
Speaker 2: the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about
Speaker 2: to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight
Speaker 2: at him, as did John. Then Peter said, look at us.
Speaker 2: So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get
Speaker 2: something from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold I
Speaker 2: do not have. But what I do have, I give
Speaker 2: you in the name of Jesus. In the name of
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that's a place walk. Taking him
Speaker 2: by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly
Speaker 2: the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to
Speaker 2: his feet and began to walk. Then he went with
Speaker 2: them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and doing
Speaker 2: all kinds of stuff he couldn't do before he came
Speaker 2: that day and praising God. When all the people saw
Speaker 2: him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the
Speaker 2: same man who used to sit begging at the temple
Speaker 2: gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and
Speaker 2: amazement at what had happened to him.
Speaker 1: The final verse we'll read for now is verse eleven.
Speaker 2: While the man held on to Peter and John, all
Speaker 2: the people were astonished and came running to them in
Speaker 2: the place called Solomon's Colonnade. Now, today, I want to
Speaker 2: use for my sermon title something that you normally hear
Speaker 2: in the theater or on a movie set when they're
Speaker 2: getting ready to shoot the scene, and you'll hear a
Speaker 2: stage manager or a director say these words.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to use them today in church.
Speaker 2: Okay, the title of this sermon is places everyone.
Speaker 1: Places everyone. Help me with this. Say it in your
Speaker 1: own voice. Places. Everyone.
Speaker 2: Look at your neighbor in case they're not paying attention
Speaker 2: to me, say places everyone.
Speaker 1: We're about to have some action in here, lights.
Speaker 2: Camera, Places everyone. That's why I'm glad you came today.
Speaker 2: You almost didn't come, but I'm glad you came today
Speaker 2: because the Holy Spirit said, Places, everyone.
Speaker 1: Something's about to happen. Place us everyone. Something important is
Speaker 1: about to go down. Place us everyone. A story is
Speaker 1: about to unfold. Places everyone.
Speaker 2: Say it.
Speaker 1: Places everyone in glory to God and now be seated. Everyone.
Speaker 1: Places everyone.
Speaker 2: The most beautiful opening illustration emerged from my kitchen table.
Speaker 2: Just yesterday, Elijah brought several friends home from college to visit.
Speaker 2: A few of them have never been to Charlotte. They
Speaker 2: were debating what to do with their day. The subject
Speaker 2: of Carowins came up. Carowins is an amusement park in
Speaker 2: the Greater Charlotte area. It's technically in South Carolina, but
Speaker 2: that's complicated to explain.
Speaker 1: It's just a place with roller coasters.
Speaker 2: I was laughing because I haven't been to Carowins once
Speaker 2: since I've lived in Sharply.
Speaker 1: I may Holley take the kids when they were little.
Speaker 1: I don't like it.
Speaker 2: The last time I went to Carowins, I was about
Speaker 2: Abbey's age truth And so after I said that, Elijah said, yeah,
Speaker 2: Carowins was so much better like five years ago. His friend,
Speaker 2: without missing a beat, said, it wasn't better you were younger.
Speaker 2: I thought that was kind of profound. I mean, Carowins
Speaker 2: hasn't changed that much. They had a few different rides
Speaker 2: and everything. I guess protocols, I don't know, but it's
Speaker 2: just the way you experience Carowin's has changed since you
Speaker 2: were a kid. To now that you're in college. It
Speaker 2: didn't get worse or it wasn't better. You were just younger.
Speaker 2: You just got older. That happened to me one time.
Speaker 2: I wanted to take all the family to this barbecue
Speaker 2: restaurant we used to go to a lot as a kid.
Speaker 1: It was on our rotation. It would be Ryan's one
Speaker 1: Friday night.
Speaker 2: You'll know about Ryan's Quincy's, Ryan's Quincy's Chinese.
Speaker 1: And then this.
Speaker 2: Barbecue place in Ridgeville, South Carolina called Duke's Barbecue. And
Speaker 2: I was explaining to them how we would go on
Speaker 2: Friday nights off into Duke's Barbecue. And I said, and
Speaker 2: the trash cans what I remember about it. The trash
Speaker 2: cans were the biggest trash cans that you've ever seen
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: I mean, they were so tall you'd have to jump up.
Speaker 2: I remember trying to slam dunk the plate in the
Speaker 2: trash can after I ate my hash and rice and barbecue.
Speaker 2: And I was telling them all this, and we walk
Speaker 2: in and this is how stupid I am. I walk
Speaker 2: in and I realize, oh, the trash cans are smaller.
Speaker 1: No, they didn't change out the trash cans.
Speaker 2: I was frozen in five year old Stephen Ferdick's memory
Speaker 2: of the trash cans. And in my mind, you have
Speaker 2: to jump up the trash cans are so high.
Speaker 1: But I didn't have to jump up.
Speaker 2: I just had to grow up, and the trash cans
Speaker 2: didn't have to get smaller.
Speaker 1: I just had to get bigger.
Speaker 2: Some of the things in your life that you're asking
Speaker 2: God to change, don't be surprised when He changes you
Speaker 2: instead of changing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I have several points today, and I'll give you the
Speaker 2: first one. Now you might find this worth writing down.
Speaker 2: Number one. When the person changes, so does the place.
Speaker 2: When the person changes, so does the place. So that
Speaker 2: the caroins of your childhood will not be the.
Speaker 1: Caroins of your college age.
Speaker 2: It will still be the same basic con stept of
Speaker 2: paying money to want to throw up and stand in
Speaker 2: lines for two hours, which makes total sense, same basic concept,
Speaker 2: but different point of view. Graham actually said to me
Speaker 2: one time corn dogs fell off.
Speaker 1: What happened to corn dogs?
Speaker 2: Is it just me?
Speaker 1: Or did corn dogs fall off? Corn dogs didn't fall off.
Speaker 2: You grew up, and sometimes you change so much, not
Speaker 2: realizing it until you go back to the same place
Speaker 2: that you came from and go, huh, these trash cans
Speaker 2: aren't so big. You know what I love about the
Speaker 2: story that we just read in the scripture. Peter and John,
Speaker 2: who we mentioned kind of as the main characters, They're
Speaker 2: going to a place called the Temple. The Temple is
Speaker 2: a place where they've been going their whole lives because
Speaker 2: they're Jewish.
Speaker 1: Community would require it.
Speaker 2: They would go there not only just once a week,
Speaker 2: but most observant Jews would have gone at least twice
Speaker 2: a day for the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice,
Speaker 2: where the high Priest would stand and then offer up
Speaker 2: a sacrifice for the people, and prayers would be prayed,
Speaker 2: and scriptures would be read, and community would gather together
Speaker 2: and worship would be offered to God. Now Peter and
Speaker 2: John have had a radical transformation in their life.
Speaker 1: Not only did they spend.
Speaker 2: Three and a half years with this radical rabbi from
Speaker 2: Nazareth named Jesus Christ, who did things heretofore unseen, unexperienced,
Speaker 2: and unprecedented, but they have been filled everybody shat filled
Speaker 2: with the Holy Spirit, and they are running over with
Speaker 2: a new consciousness of who God is because now they
Speaker 2: are no longer experiencing God.
Speaker 1: Externally, but internally, Jesus is no longer there in the flesh.
Speaker 1: But Jesus said, I got something better for you.
Speaker 2: I'll send my spirit to live inside of you, so
Speaker 2: that even when I'm asleep, he'll be awake, so that
Speaker 2: even when you're in a place that's far away in distance,
Speaker 2: you will never be far away from my presence. Adjusting
Speaker 2: to this new reality must have been difficult because the
Speaker 2: place that they've gone all their life, which represented tradition
Speaker 2: and training. And when you think about those two words,
Speaker 2: tradition and training, tradition and training. Now suddenly they are
Speaker 2: transitioning from the tradition.
Speaker 1: That they've known their whole life, which represented how God
Speaker 1: was to be worshiped, and.
Speaker 2: They are transitioning into a new and living way that
Speaker 2: was made through the body of Jesus Christ, which was
Speaker 2: broken on the cross, the blood of his co which
Speaker 2: was poured out for your sin.
Speaker 1: So they're going to the temple, right think about this.
Speaker 2: They're going to the temple, but the temple that they're
Speaker 2: going to does not represent the template that they have
Speaker 2: been given for how to relate to God in the future.
Speaker 1: They're changing, They're changing.
Speaker 2: And they're going to a place that they're used to
Speaker 2: going to, but they're not the same people that they
Speaker 2: used to be. And corn dogs are falling off, and
Speaker 2: Caroins was better as a kid, and the trash cans
Speaker 2: were taller when I was five, And I'm going back
Speaker 2: to the same place. But I'm a changed man. I'm
Speaker 2: a changed woman. I believe that as the person changes,
Speaker 2: the place changes. I'll prove it to you with the
Speaker 2: practical thing. This is not about me, This is not
Speaker 2: about you know the first century AD. This is about you.
Speaker 2: Some of you used to drive by this church and
Speaker 2: kind of silently think that place gets on my nerves.
Speaker 2: The traffic that they make when I'm trying to leave
Speaker 2: on Sunday and they just get in my way, and
Speaker 2: they have those stickers on their cars and riding around town.
Speaker 2: And isn't it interesting that one day you came and
Speaker 2: at some point it changed. It didn't change, you changed,
Speaker 2: you change. Look at your neighbors say you changed, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: So sometimes we think that it changed or it needs
Speaker 2: to change. But maybe I can't say this. You tell
Speaker 2: your neighbor, maybe you need to change.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 2: Maybe Maybe they don't need to make the trash cans shorter.
Speaker 2: Maybe you just need to get up higher. You don't
Speaker 2: get it. Maybe some of the stuff that you're dealing
Speaker 2: with in your life doesn't need to be shrunk down.
Speaker 2: Maybe you just need to be raised up to a
Speaker 2: place where you can walk in to a trash situation
Speaker 2: that used to trash you, But when you've been transformed,
Speaker 2: the trash doesn't have the power.
Speaker 1: That it used to have. Because I'm changing, I'm changing.
Speaker 2: Notify your neighbors say I'm changing. Don't get used to
Speaker 2: me like this. I'm changing. I'm changing. I'm changing. So
Speaker 2: that's what happens. I hope when you come to church,
Speaker 2: you change. I hope you came to change today. Why'd
Speaker 2: you come today? I came to sing okay, good, but
Speaker 2: I got professional singers that can do that. Why'd you
Speaker 2: come today? I came today to hear a sermon good.
Speaker 2: You could have read that in a book somewhere. I
Speaker 2: believe God brought you here for a different reason than
Speaker 2: you might have come on the surface, because I believe
Speaker 2: in my spirit you might have come to check out
Speaker 2: are there two girls at elevation?
Speaker 1: You might have come to find out.
Speaker 2: Can I made some new friends, but I believe really
Speaker 2: beneath the surface, you came to change.
Speaker 1: You came to change.
Speaker 2: And what's brilliant about the strategy of the spirit of God.
Speaker 1: Can I preach this like I feel it?
Speaker 2: Or do I need to be quiet on the set?
Speaker 1: I want to be loud on the set.
Speaker 2: Places everybody, places, everybody, get ready.
Speaker 1: God's about to do something amazing.
Speaker 2: I believe God put you in this place today, even
Speaker 2: if it's at a campus, even if it's in an overflow,
Speaker 2: even if it's an extension, even if it's watching online
Speaker 2: and you wish you could be here in person. I
Speaker 2: believe God put everyone in their place today to change something.
Speaker 2: And here's how it works. This is the strategy of
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit. So you come to church, you hear
Speaker 2: a word.
Speaker 1: I don't change you. He changes you.
Speaker 2: I know it's him, not mean, because sometimes I'll have
Speaker 2: my message how I want it and God will change it.
Speaker 2: So it's definitely not me that's changing lives. It's God
Speaker 2: that changes lives.
Speaker 1: And then you change. Maybe you don't change.
Speaker 2: All at first, maybe you don't change in the moment,
Speaker 2: maybe your gray hairs don't turn back to black in
Speaker 2: the moment. Maybe your knee pain doesn't reverse itself in
Speaker 2: the moment. Maybe everything doesn't go away in the moment,
Speaker 2: but you change a little bit. Now here's what happens.
Speaker 2: Let's say that you're a student and you're in high
Speaker 2: school and you go back on Monday to the same school.
Speaker 2: Everybody say, same place, but you changed a little bit
Speaker 2: because of the word that you heard while you were
Speaker 2: in the presence of.
Speaker 1: God on Sunday.
Speaker 2: So now you're going back to the same school, but
Speaker 2: it's a changed you.
Speaker 1: Going to the same school.
Speaker 2: So it'll be the same temptations when you get there,
Speaker 2: but it will be a transformed person that shows up
Speaker 2: to deal with the temptation when you do. As the
Speaker 2: person changes, so does the place. So it's the same school.
Speaker 2: It's the same crap kids have been doing for years.
Speaker 2: It's the same stuff going on on break, it's the
Speaker 2: same foolishness they're talking in the dorm. It's the same
Speaker 2: stuff that's going through your mind. It's the same school,
Speaker 2: but it's a changed you. Now, when you change and
Speaker 2: you go back to the same place that you came from, changed,
Speaker 2: So I'm going back to the same place, but I'm changed.
Speaker 2: When changed you goes back to the same school, same
Speaker 2: school becomes changed school because changed you whoa came to
Speaker 2: the same school and something changed in me because I
Speaker 2: heard a word this week that said I didn't have
Speaker 2: to give into it anymore.
Speaker 1: I heard a word this week.
Speaker 2: That said I can get up on my feet and
Speaker 2: walk in the name of Jesus. I heard a word
Speaker 2: this week that said, the world and its empty praise
Speaker 2: can never fill me, but God can feel me completely
Speaker 2: and make every crooked thing straight. So we change in
Speaker 2: the presence of God. And as the person changes, so
Speaker 2: does the place. And you can even show up to
Speaker 2: a place that you used to hate. Some of you
Speaker 2: hate going home. Look straight ahead right now, I promise you.
Speaker 2: If you're with your family, the best strategy is keep
Speaker 2: your eyes on me. Holly has a great teaching on
Speaker 2: marriage that she does and it simply goes like this.
Speaker 1: In marriage, when I change me, I change we.
Speaker 2: I don't know why my outline keeps falling to the
Speaker 2: ground and God doesn't want me to preach, but this
Speaker 2: one first point or something like that, I only got
Speaker 2: seventy three more to go.
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. Is it possible.
Speaker 2: That you keep changing places, keep running around, like, yeah,
Speaker 2: well I was in that relationship, but you know they
Speaker 2: were kind of.
Speaker 1: But you said that same thing about the last thirteen relationships.
Speaker 2: Now I'm kind of suspicious about what you're running from.
Speaker 2: Is it the relationship that you're running from or is
Speaker 2: it really something that's inside of you?
Speaker 1: And I had a guy say it so brilliantly.
Speaker 2: We were at the mountains and I ran into a
Speaker 2: guy at a gym at the hotel, and I said,
Speaker 2: where do you live? And he said the name of
Speaker 2: a really nice beach. And then after he said the
Speaker 2: name of the nice beach, how many of you loved
Speaker 2: to go to the beach? I do too, And he said,
Speaker 2: I live at the beach, but sometimes I just got
Speaker 2: to come here to get away. And I thought, where
Speaker 2: I'm always trying to get to. He's trying to get
Speaker 2: away from. Everybody's running from something. Everybody's running from something.
Speaker 2: And the saddest thing of your life would be to
Speaker 2: run from something that you have said is outside and
Speaker 2: refuse to deal with what is inside.
Speaker 1: And now we see how powerful this one verse of
Speaker 1: scripture is.
Speaker 2: In Acts, Chapter three, Verse one, one day, Peter and
Speaker 2: John were going up to the temple at the time
Speaker 2: of prayer at three in the afternoon. Is it crazy
Speaker 2: that they would be going to the temple where they
Speaker 2: have spent their entire lives in training, where they have
Speaker 2: spent their entire lives in tradition. But this time, this
Speaker 2: is what's different this time. And I want you to
Speaker 2: catch this for your own situation, because you might hate
Speaker 2: to go home, not because home is so bad, but
Speaker 2: because you're not showing up.
Speaker 1: Fully and completely.
Speaker 2: You might ruin something by running that God could have
Speaker 2: restored if you would have received what He had for you.
Speaker 2: And I don't want that for you. So let me
Speaker 2: tell you the difference. All their life, they went to
Speaker 2: the temple. They went to pray, They went to get
Speaker 2: sacrifices made. But Jesus is their sacrifice. Now they don't
Speaker 2: need that sacrifice anymore. But they went to the temple.
Speaker 2: But it's different this time. Somebody say it's different this time.
Speaker 2: Before they went to the temple, this time they were
Speaker 2: sent to the temple.
Speaker 1: And that is a shift that if you get it, it.
Speaker 2: Will change every place you set your foot. That's what
Speaker 2: God told Joshua. Every place you set your foot, I
Speaker 2: will give you. And what that means to me is
Speaker 2: that God is not just allowing my life to be random.
Speaker 2: God is not just allowing you to live in Fort
Speaker 2: Mill until you can get a job transferred back to Miami,
Speaker 2: where you really want to be.
Speaker 1: God did not.
Speaker 2: Just allow you to pass through this season because you know,
Speaker 2: he didn't have any connecting flights available and the angels
Speaker 2: couldn't carry you. None of that is true. It's not
Speaker 2: really random. It's for a reason that you're here. It's
Speaker 2: for a reason. Help me, Holy Ghost, because the reality
Speaker 2: of the fact is that there was a mission on
Speaker 2: God's agenda that day that was not on Peter's calendar.
Speaker 2: How many know that sometimes God doesn't synchronize his agenda
Speaker 2: with your awareness.
Speaker 1: I should let that set in that sentence right there,
Speaker 1: That is a bar.
Speaker 2: Let me say again, he doesn't synchronize his agenda with
Speaker 2: your awareness.
Speaker 1: That means he's up to stuff he doesn't let you
Speaker 1: in on. But the Holy Spirit will bridge the gap.
Speaker 2: When you're in a season where you go like and
Speaker 2: I was thinking about it, you know, like different ways
Speaker 2: people express it. It's like I hate this place. I'm
Speaker 2: just doing this for now.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I heard somebody say this the other day, there is
Speaker 2: a great one. How am I supposed to be everywhere
Speaker 2: at once?
Speaker 1: You're not? Wait minute, let me check, let me check,
Speaker 1: are you jesez, No, you're not. That's his job.
Speaker 2: And even last week I was talking about God will
Speaker 2: only support you for what you're supposed to do, and
Speaker 2: that a lot of our stress comes from trying to
Speaker 2: do stuff that we weren't called to do.
Speaker 1: But here's the flip side of that. Okay, just like
Speaker 1: a lot of.
Speaker 2: Your stress comes from doing stuff that you're not supposed
Speaker 2: to do, a lot of your blessings are in things
Speaker 2: that you don't even see coming, that aren't even on
Speaker 2: your schedule. Now, this story proves it, but I could
Speaker 2: prove it from one hundred stories of things that Jesus
Speaker 2: did in his ministry.
Speaker 1: On the way, on the way, everybody say on the way.
Speaker 1: Put it in the comment, say on the way.
Speaker 2: We were singing one of our favorite new songs, Miracle
Speaker 2: after miracle, open door after open door. Here it comes,
Speaker 2: so get ready for another one. Another one is on
Speaker 2: the way, which means it's coming right, but it also
Speaker 2: means that sometimes it's on the way to where you
Speaker 2: think you're going that God is going to do the
Speaker 2: most amazing things in your life.
Speaker 1: Clap your hands by faith and receive that what I
Speaker 1: just told you. Come on, we don't ever want to
Speaker 1: get so goal.
Speaker 2: Focused that we become God oblivious. Sir, I cannot preach
Speaker 2: this sermon in one setting. I will have to do
Speaker 2: this in about seven parts. All right, It's a good
Speaker 2: thing I'm in this series because here's how the text
Speaker 2: says it. You have to really get the nuance to
Speaker 2: appreciate how intentional the Holy Spirit is. Every word of
Speaker 2: Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. So you can
Speaker 2: really find a lot in these little places, just stuff
Speaker 2: that you would say. Verse one says one day Peter
Speaker 2: and John were going up to the temple at the
Speaker 2: time of prayer. Okay, so if they were going up,
Speaker 2: what does that mean they weren't there yet? They were
Speaker 2: going up. In scripture, it always says up to the temple.
Speaker 2: Part of that is geographical, it's literally up, but part
Speaker 2: of it is reverential because they were going up out
Speaker 2: of the everyday affairs of life.
Speaker 1: Do you go up? Do you go up?
Speaker 2: And then the fact that it says that it was
Speaker 2: in motion is only complimented and made more powerful by
Speaker 2: this fact. As they are going up, and I love
Speaker 2: how verse two starts.
Speaker 1: It says, now.
Speaker 2: At the same time that they're going up to do
Speaker 2: their thing in the temple, and the temple is no
Speaker 2: longer the same place to them that it was anymore.
Speaker 1: But they've still got to go there. See.
Speaker 2: Sometimes sometimes even though you're not going to stay there forever,
Speaker 2: you need to do everything that.
Speaker 1: God has called you to do in that place while
Speaker 1: you are there.
Speaker 2: And as they're going up to the temple at the
Speaker 2: time of prayer three in the afternoon, it says, now
Speaker 2: a man who was laying from birth was being carried
Speaker 2: to the temple gate called beautiful, where he was put
Speaker 2: every day to beg from those going to the temple courts.
Speaker 2: Imagine the contrast. This gate is not just silver and
Speaker 2: gold plated. This is a bronze gate that looks so good.
Speaker 2: They call it beautiful. They call the gate beautiful. Every
Speaker 2: day he was placed there to ask for money. Now
Speaker 2: they are going to the temple out of their tradition.
Speaker 2: He is going there out of his trauma. They are
Speaker 2: going to the temple out of their routine.
Speaker 1: He's going to the.
Speaker 2: Gate out of his restriction, and he can't go where
Speaker 2: they can go, and he can't do what they can do.
Speaker 2: But every day he would take his place at the
Speaker 2: gate and ask for change.
Speaker 1: Change.
Speaker 2: Now about the time that the temple guard is changing
Speaker 2: over from the morning sacrifice to the evening sacrifice, the
Speaker 2: Bible says that Peter and John see a man, and
Speaker 2: always fresh that they saw a man at the gate.
Speaker 2: Read it again verse two. A man who was lame
Speaker 2: from birth was being carried. He hadn't even made it
Speaker 2: to the gate yet. They hadn't even made it to
Speaker 2: the temple stairs yet. So what I'm trying to say is,
Speaker 2: on the way to wherever you're going, have a goal,
Speaker 2: have a vision, have a target, have a thing. But
Speaker 2: just on your way up to whatever you think God
Speaker 2: is calling you to do, or whatever you would like
Speaker 2: to become in His name, or whatever He is placed
Speaker 2: in your heart, go up.
Speaker 1: I'll help you out here for you. I even name
Speaker 1: my church.
Speaker 2: Elevation because I want you to go up, and God
Speaker 2: wants you to go up, and you are seated in
Speaker 2: heavenly places with Jesus. But just make sure that on
Speaker 2: your way to where you're going, stay open to what
Speaker 2: God is doing on the way.
Speaker 1: Preach that back to your neighbor, tell.
Speaker 2: Them on the way to where you're going, stay open
Speaker 2: to what God is doing.
Speaker 1: Because see, they thought.
Speaker 2: We got to get to the temple, we gotta pray,
Speaker 2: We got to watch the high priest offer this sacrifice,
Speaker 2: even though we know Jesus is our high priest. But
Speaker 2: this is our community, this is where we go, this
Speaker 2: is what we do.
Speaker 1: And so they're doing it. They're doing it.
Speaker 2: And as they are stopped midstep, so is this man
Speaker 2: being carried.
Speaker 1: He is being carried. They are going up.
Speaker 2: Neither one is where they want to be yet, but
Speaker 2: God is right there on the way. Now. I want
Speaker 2: to preach to everybody who's not where you want to
Speaker 2: be yet.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I want to preach to everybody who hasn't mastered what
Speaker 2: you want to master yet and you still feel kind
Speaker 2: of yanked.
Speaker 1: Around by some stuff right now.
Speaker 2: I want to preach to everybody who doesn't have the
Speaker 2: stability in your life that you want to have right
Speaker 2: now and you are in between here and there, to
Speaker 2: let you know that God is on the way. I
Speaker 2: don't mean he's coming, I mean he's on the way.
Speaker 2: He's OUTFA, he's Omega, and he's every letter in between.
Speaker 2: He's everything in between. He's God.
Speaker 1: Got five.
Speaker 2: Your neighbors say, stay open, Stay open, because on the
Speaker 2: way to where you think you're going, God might do
Speaker 2: something greater.
Speaker 1: Are you open to that on the way to where
Speaker 1: you're going?
Speaker 4: Mike?
Speaker 2: I've had this happen so many times, so many times,
Speaker 2: but I was reminded of one this week.
Speaker 1: There was a There was a Sunday seven years ago.
Speaker 1: I was washing.
Speaker 2: My hands in the bathroom coming out to preach. D
Speaker 2: Somebody's out here talking. Okay, I'm gonna get out to
Speaker 2: my seat, and all of a sudden, this melody came
Speaker 2: into my head while I'm washing my hands.
Speaker 1: Worthy is your name.
Speaker 5: Jeezesus, you deserve the praise?
Speaker 1: Worthy is your name?
Speaker 2: And I stopped and thought, I kind of like that. Well,
Speaker 2: I'll have time for it right now. I gotta preach.
Speaker 2: I gotta get out there, and God say, yeah.
Speaker 1: You do. You gotta get out there. But why don't
Speaker 1: you get out there and get something.
Speaker 4: Here where you go out there? Because what if I
Speaker 4: want to give you something on the way to where
Speaker 4: you're going? You know what's crazy? I can't remember to
Speaker 4: save my life. Listen to me. I can't remember.
Speaker 1: To save my life what I preached that day.
Speaker 6: But watch this where this is your.
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: How is it.
Speaker 2: That what I thought wasn't even worth stopping for?
Speaker 1: We're still singing seven years later because God gave it
Speaker 1: to us.
Speaker 2: On the way, and I'd pronounce, Place this.
Speaker 1: Everyone, John is on the way. Place this, everyone, in
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. Rise up, mind up, take my.
Speaker 6: Hand and rins up.
Speaker 1: Take my hand and ride up.
Speaker 7: Rise up.
Speaker 1: It's on the way. It's on the way. It's on
Speaker 1: the way. Cry if you gotta cry, but.
Speaker 3: Through your tears testify this's on the way.
Speaker 2: We trample on God's purpose sometimes trying to get to
Speaker 2: our plan. John, my sid Peter, you can't help this man.
Speaker 2: You're gonna make me late to temple. Peter knew something.
Speaker 2: Wait a minute. Jesus said he was coming to send
Speaker 2: his spirit to live in us.
Speaker 1: So what we're trying to get to is right here. Wait,
Speaker 1: this man is a temple waiting to be restored.
Speaker 2: The thing that's right in front of you is as
Speaker 2: beautiful as the gate.
Speaker 1: You're walking through. If you can stop and see.
Speaker 8: It, Holly Loujah, Hall Loujah.
Speaker 1: So stay open. That's what gates do, right, they open.
Speaker 1: Stay open.
Speaker 2: I know you pray that your child would marry a
Speaker 2: missionary and serve God. They might not marry a missionary,
Speaker 2: they might not get married at all.
Speaker 1: Stay open, and God doesn't have to ask you what.
Speaker 2: Age there's a to be married by, because you didn't
Speaker 2: get married when your parents wanted you to get married either.
Speaker 2: And now we sit here like gatekeepers of what God
Speaker 2: can do and when God could do it.
Speaker 1: But stay open. Now, now I preach a little more.
Speaker 1: Felt like I was closing, didn't it. But that was
Speaker 1: just the gate opening, the opening of the gate. Yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: oh oh, I'm going to need some help today.
Speaker 2: Turn to your neighbors, say place this everyone, almost like
Speaker 2: God called Gabriel that morning. Now, the disciples have been
Speaker 2: seeing God do amazing things, right, but this is the
Speaker 2: first healing miracle that they did without Jesus. And you
Speaker 2: know how you could tell because Peter.
Speaker 1: Was doing so much. I read several times in the Bible.
Speaker 1: I thought it was kind of funny Jesus would heal.
Speaker 2: People that couldn't walk like this man couldn't walk. But
Speaker 2: how Peter did. It was so dramatic. Jesus here you say,
Speaker 2: get up, take up your mat, and walk. And his
Speaker 2: word was so powerful because he's the perfect, spotless, living
Speaker 2: embodiment of the Word of God. I can tell Peter's
Speaker 2: not so sure about this because look at it's so funny.
Speaker 2: Peter said, verse six, over, go out, I do not
Speaker 2: have what I have a get you name just Christ
Speaker 2: Nazareth walk and then verse seven give me verse seven
Speaker 2: on the screen, yanking him up by the right hand.
Speaker 2: Almost feel like Peter's like, you're not gonna make me
Speaker 2: look stupid.
Speaker 1: You did not one to wear this, and that's all right.
Speaker 2: Because you progress and mature into it, you grow into it.
Speaker 2: But it's an amazing thing here because you know, this
Speaker 2: man isn't even looking at them when they first walk.
Speaker 1: By, not even looking.
Speaker 2: But we understand that because how many people have walked
Speaker 2: by and despised him, how many people have walked by
Speaker 2: and muttered under their breath about him?
Speaker 1: How many people did he ask? Can I have some change?
Speaker 1: Can I have some change? Can I have some change?
Speaker 2: And they said no, no, no, And so Peter actually
Speaker 2: has to start with the men's expectation.
Speaker 1: The first thing God is going to have to heal for.
Speaker 2: Some of us is our expectation, because we just have
Speaker 2: learned to live in a place of disappointment as our
Speaker 2: emotional home. So if anything would come along and violate
Speaker 2: your expectation of disappointment, you would sabotage it and send
Speaker 2: it away unless God healed your expectation. Look at us,
Speaker 2: Peter said, look me in the eye, and then I
Speaker 2: can give you something.
Speaker 1: Change your focus.
Speaker 2: If you keep looking at everybody who has walked by
Speaker 2: and told you know, everybody who has not recognized you,
Speaker 2: everybody who has.
Speaker 1: Not helped you, everybody who has left you.
Speaker 2: If you look at that even mentally, you will not
Speaker 2: get what God has for you. You cannot receive a present
Speaker 2: blessing living mentally in a past experience.
Speaker 1: Places everyone. This is the day that the Lord has made.
Speaker 1: So you got to get what God has for you
Speaker 1: in this day. And now.
Speaker 2: The Bible says that the man is looking at Peter
Speaker 2: and John and he goes, so you got some change.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I got some change for you. I got
Speaker 2: some change for you that you will not I got
Speaker 2: some change for you that is so great that you
Speaker 2: won't be back at this gate tomorrow unless it's by choice.
Speaker 1: To walk through it.
Speaker 2: God said, I'm gonna give you your autonomy back. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna stop having you beg at places just for the
Speaker 2: crumbs of somebody else's approval, because you're.
Speaker 1: Going to know in this season that I have a
Speaker 1: purpose from God. So I'm not sitting here at this
Speaker 1: gate tomorrow.
Speaker 2: When I come to this gate tomorrow, it will be
Speaker 2: my choice to walk through it. That's what makes addiction
Speaker 2: such a sin, y'all. It's not the thing you're doing.
Speaker 2: It's the fact that you have to. It has become
Speaker 2: your God. It has become the thing that you have
Speaker 2: to do. And God doesn't want you to owe anything
Speaker 2: to anyone but Him except love.
Speaker 9: I'ma break something off somebody today. I'm gonna break something off.
Speaker 9: So I'm getting somebody up today. I'm getting somebody up
Speaker 9: today with the help of the Holy Spirit. Even if
Speaker 9: I got to yank you up. I've had to yank
Speaker 9: some people up before preaching. You know, yeah, just start
Speaker 9: start yanking people up. Because I think about it is,
Speaker 9: when you've been rejected that long, the possibility of a
Speaker 9: different direction is almost unthinkable. The possibility that they could
Speaker 9: really like you for you when the last person used you.
Speaker 1: Is so unusual. The fact that God could use you, He's.
Speaker 2: Just unfathomable because look at all the reasons that you
Speaker 2: think he shouldn't.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't be wonderful if you didn't know you. Then when
Speaker 1: I say God could.
Speaker 2: Use you, you go all right, and you wouldn't have all
Speaker 2: of the reasons I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: Rejection.
Speaker 2: I know it isn't explicitly mentioned, but come on, he's
Speaker 2: put there every day. How many people walk past that
Speaker 2: man and told him no? But here's what I love
Speaker 2: about the Lord. God can send one person to bless
Speaker 2: you in such an amazing way that it will make
Speaker 2: every rejection that came before it irrelevant in comparison. Say
Speaker 2: that again, Pastor Stephen it Say it for the one
Speaker 2: who was told no. Say it for the one who
Speaker 2: knocked on the closed door till their knuckles bled. Say
Speaker 2: it one more time. God can send one person, one person.
Speaker 2: It didn't take everybody in the temple to get the
Speaker 2: man up. It took one person. It took one name,
Speaker 2: and it wasn't Peter, it was Jesus. God can send
Speaker 2: one person to bless you in such an amazing way
Speaker 2: that it will make every rejection that came before it
Speaker 2: seem irrelevant. In comparison, God can send you one mentor
Speaker 2: in your life to teach you everything that your dad
Speaker 2: didn't teach you because he was too busy.
Speaker 1: God can send one experience in your.
Speaker 2: Life that will give you a lifetime education, all in
Speaker 2: three days. God can send you one idea, and that
Speaker 2: one idea, if you incubate it, and if you.
Speaker 1: Set it before him.
Speaker 2: And you trust him in it, that one idea can
Speaker 2: make up for fifteen failures, five hundred failures. Every rejection
Speaker 2: can be made irrelevant, and all of a sudden, it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter who told this man no, because one person,
Speaker 2: one change, one hand, one moment, get your expectation back.
Speaker 2: It doesn't take everybody. It doesn't take everything going right.
Speaker 1: It doesn't take.
Speaker 2: A stadium fall, It doesn't take ten thousand followers.
Speaker 1: It doesn't even take long. The Bible said, Instantly, he
Speaker 1: got off, what blessing, what blessing?
Speaker 2: One blessing, one word, one divot, one new.
Speaker 1: Path, one new song, one new thing.
Speaker 2: Places everyone, places everyone, you know. The only way you
Speaker 2: don't get it if you're not there. Places everyone. God
Speaker 2: turns to Gabriel. He says, today's today. Really, we're gonna
Speaker 2: do it today. Yeah, we're gonna do it today. Today's today.
Speaker 2: They've been preaching, they've been testifying, the church has been growing,
Speaker 2: and today I'm gonna show old Peter what's in his
Speaker 2: right hand. Because Peter's been using his mouth, but now
Speaker 2: I want him to see what's in his hand. So
Speaker 2: get down there, places, everyone, God is saying over the
Speaker 2: church in acts places everyone. Everybody, get ready. Okay, is
Speaker 2: that man ready?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's ready. They're carrying him right now. Okay, they
Speaker 1: don't have him to the gate yet.
Speaker 2: Okay, perfect, that's where I want it, right there, before
Speaker 2: he gets to the gate. Okay, Peter and John are coming,
Speaker 2: but they're not quite at the temple yet.
Speaker 1: Okay. Perfect.
Speaker 2: And God says places, everyone, And the place that God
Speaker 2: chose to do it was the place between the places
Speaker 2: that they planned.
Speaker 1: I need three people.
Speaker 2: To shout about the place between the places, because that's
Speaker 2: where I am right now. Ain't it good to know
Speaker 2: the Lord, to know that he's on the way, To
Speaker 2: know that with one blessing from his hand, it can
Speaker 2: make up for every hand that was ever against me.
Speaker 2: To know that with one blessing from his hand, he
Speaker 2: can make every rejection irrelevant. And the part that I
Speaker 2: wish I didn't need to preach is the part I
Speaker 2: saved for last. They say save the best for last.
Speaker 2: I saved the worst for last. I did it exactly backwards,
Speaker 2: just trying to be faithful to the text, because the
Speaker 2: Bible says in verse eleven, and this would be a
Speaker 2: great place for the text to end in my mind.
Speaker 2: When all the people heard about the man that was
Speaker 2: walking and he's holding on to them, they were astonished
Speaker 2: look at verse eleven and came running to the him
Speaker 2: in the place.
Speaker 1: Called Solomon's Colonnade.
Speaker 2: Now a colonnade is a porch with columns that support
Speaker 2: a roof. So there's this big temple length column row
Speaker 2: of columns called Solomon's Colonnade on the eastern side of
Speaker 2: the temple, and they would meet there. Jesus walked through
Speaker 2: there once in John chapter ten. So in Peter smart
Speaker 2: he went back to teaching the place where he saw
Speaker 2: Jesus do it, because the best thing you can do
Speaker 2: when you don't know what to do is do the
Speaker 2: last thing you saw Jesus do.
Speaker 1: So they moved the meeting. They moved the meeting.
Speaker 2: He's like, all right, I don't even know if they
Speaker 2: got to do the full temple service or not, because
Speaker 2: it was a commotion.
Speaker 1: There's thousands of people. This is not a small church service.
Speaker 1: And so Peter said, everybody go to the colonnade. Now,
Speaker 1: a colonnade is what a covered place?
Speaker 2: And notice in verse eleven it says the man was
Speaker 2: with them, right, so he can walk now, but he
Speaker 2: chose to stay with them, and.
Speaker 1: He's standing there holding on to Peter and John.
Speaker 2: But he's no longer being carried now he's being covered.
Speaker 1: Places.
Speaker 2: Everyone places everyone for everyone who is refusing to walk
Speaker 2: in your own strength. You need to come out of
Speaker 2: the season where you're using other people to do for
Speaker 2: you what God wants to strengthen you to do for yourself.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't mean you're going to be doing it
Speaker 2: in your own strength. Because even when he wasn't carried,
Speaker 2: he was holding on to Peter and John.
Speaker 1: So I'm not carried, but I'm covered.
Speaker 2: I love that because that means I'm gonna have to
Speaker 2: do this, but I'm not doing this by myself. That
Speaker 2: means I'm gonna have to take some risks, but I'm
Speaker 2: covered either way.
Speaker 1: It goes.
Speaker 2: That means that in this season of my life, I
Speaker 2: can trust God to put me where he needs me
Speaker 2: to be. Now, the danger in this is that we
Speaker 2: think if we're in the right place. Okay, I took
Speaker 2: the job, Okay, I said yes the thing, Okay, I
Speaker 2: volunteered at the church, I did the thing on where
Speaker 2: I'm supposed to be. We think everything's gonna go better
Speaker 2: if we're in the right place. So now, at this
Speaker 2: point in the party, you're expecting Peter gives a sermon,
Speaker 2: and he does. Boy, he preaches too, and he lets
Speaker 2: him have it, talking about you disowned the holy unrighteous one.
Speaker 2: Jesus was handed over to you, but God raised him
Speaker 2: from the dead.
Speaker 1: You missed it.
Speaker 2: You didn't recognize him for who he was, and you
Speaker 2: all need to repent, and many of them did.
Speaker 1: In fact, two thousand did one dude.
Speaker 2: Having a changed life led to two thousand salvations.
Speaker 1: In one day. God math, God Math. And he's standing there,
Speaker 1: dare I say it.
Speaker 2: He's standing there in a place with pillars, and he's
Speaker 2: turning into a pillar himself. He's standing in what he's becoming.
Speaker 2: He's standing under what he's becoming. And he's standing there
Speaker 2: and Peter preaches, and it's a good response.
Speaker 1: And look what happened when Peter preached so.
Speaker 2: Good that it turned the city inside out.
Speaker 1: Chapter four, verse three. Please on the screen.
Speaker 2: They seize Peter and John, and because it was evening,
Speaker 2: they put him in jail. Wait, Jesus, but I served you, Jesus,
Speaker 2: but I did the right thing.
Speaker 1: Jesus, but I helped that man. Jesus.
Speaker 2: Shouldn't you be giving me a bonus check? Jesus should
Speaker 2: not be getting commission on this. Jesus, didn't you see
Speaker 2: what we just did? No?
Speaker 1: They put them in.
Speaker 2: Jail till the next day, and then the Bible.
Speaker 1: Says a versus more, but many who heard the message believe.
Speaker 2: So it goes to show just because you're not there
Speaker 2: to see it, doesn't mean God didn't do it.
Speaker 1: Because why everybody was getting their changed life. They where
Speaker 1: in the jail cell.
Speaker 2: And sometimes you've got to get determined in your spirit
Speaker 2: that I will not let the place I'm in make me.
Speaker 1: Doubt the purpose that I carry. I'm in this jail, but.
Speaker 2: Jesus is working. I'm in this situation. But Jesus is working.
Speaker 2: I'm in this state, but Jesus is working. And while
Speaker 2: they're in jail, all the rulers are trying to decide
Speaker 2: what are we.
Speaker 1: Going to do about this. It's not what they did
Speaker 1: for the man, it's.
Speaker 2: What they were preaching about Jesus that got them thrown
Speaker 2: in jail. We can't let them run around preaching that
Speaker 2: Jesus is resurrected. They'll completely re jacked our power if
Speaker 2: they find out that Jesus has all power.
Speaker 1: What do we do? Put them in jail and we'll decide.
Speaker 2: So you have to imagine that the man who was
Speaker 2: at the gate feels pretty bad about all this. Hey,
Speaker 2: where's Peter and John? I want to thank him real quick. Actually,
Speaker 2: Peter and John had to go to jail because what
Speaker 2: was free for you cost them something.
Speaker 1: Dang.
Speaker 2: I didn't mean for them to have to. I wasn't
Speaker 2: trying to cause any trouble. Man.
Speaker 1: I was doing the best I could, and he told
Speaker 1: me yake me up. I didn't even ask him to
Speaker 1: be healed. I just wanted some lunch money.
Speaker 2: I feel bad about this. Hey, can I do anything
Speaker 2: to help? I know I'm not much at anybody, But
Speaker 2: is there anything I can do to help? And in
Speaker 2: my imagination, I like to think, and I know you're like,
Speaker 2: just read the Bible, don't use your imagination.
Speaker 1: That's your problem. No, that's your problem.
Speaker 2: You read the Bible like long ago in a galaxy
Speaker 2: far far away.
Speaker 1: But this ain't star wars.
Speaker 2: This is a scripture and we are supposed to come
Speaker 2: to this Bible with our senses and submit them to
Speaker 2: the spirit, so that when we find ourselves like, Okay.
Speaker 1: I feel like that. Sometimes I feel like I'm just
Speaker 1: doing my job and I.
Speaker 2: Feel like not in jail physically, but I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm in prison for something and I don't really see
Speaker 2: what God is doing.
Speaker 1: And so we read this and imagine, maybe.
Speaker 2: Matthew one of the disciples. Let's use Matthew. He goes, actually,
Speaker 2: there is something you can do. Tomorrow, Peter and John
Speaker 2: are going to have to give a defense before the
Speaker 2: Sanhedrin and they're going to be called into question for
Speaker 2: what they did. So when they are preaching, why don't
Speaker 2: you just be there? Okay, cool, Yeah, no, I told
Speaker 2: do that sounds great. If there's one thing I know
Speaker 2: how to do, it's be there. Because that's all I've
Speaker 2: been able to do. See this man, because he was paralyzed,
Speaker 2: he's been practicing being a pillar his whole life. He
Speaker 2: knows how to be there. So they say, yeah, just
Speaker 2: be there, and Peter's gonna preach. And then the man
Speaker 2: maybe says, and you want me to share a little something. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: don't say anything. We don't even know if you're saved yet.
Speaker 2: Don't say nothing. Just stand there. Look at your neighbors. Say,
Speaker 2: don't say nothing. Just stand there. So they called Peter
Speaker 2: and John. They say, all right, why did you do it?
Speaker 2: Peter says, if we are being called to account for
Speaker 2: an act of kindness to this man, let it be
Speaker 2: know that it was not us, but the God of
Speaker 2: our fathers, raise this man for the sake of his
Speaker 2: Holy servant Jesus. Now, the Bible says, after Peter preached,
Speaker 2: the people were not very impressed, but they were amazed.
Speaker 1: And I'll show you how I know they weren't impressed.
Speaker 2: Look at verse thirteen four verse thirteen when they saw
Speaker 2: the courage of Peter and John and realized that they
Speaker 2: were unschooled, ordinary men. That is not a compliment. That's
Speaker 2: like the guy who told me after church two weeks ago,
Speaker 2: that was actually pretty insightful. I'm like, it's to actually
Speaker 2: that bothers me about that sentence you just said.
Speaker 1: And realized they were unschooled ordinary men.
Speaker 2: Place says everyone, You don't have to be spectacular.
Speaker 1: You just got to show up. You don't have to understand.
Speaker 1: You just have to stand. That's all you got to do.
Speaker 1: They saw their courage.
Speaker 2: You know how I confuses the devil when he sees
Speaker 2: you still standing there after he launched a thousand missiles
Speaker 2: at your mind to try to get you.
Speaker 1: To go crazy and curse God and die. And you say, oh,
Speaker 1: he's slay me yet, will I trust him? I'm standing here?
Speaker 3: Ah ooh.
Speaker 2: And when they saw the courage of Peter and John
Speaker 2: and realize that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were
Speaker 2: astonished and watched this. They took note that these men
Speaker 2: had been with Jesus. Now see every experience they had
Speaker 2: with Jesus collapses into this moment. Every time they saw
Speaker 2: him feed somebody, every time they heard a teaching, every
Speaker 2: time you show up, it is compounding your experience and
Speaker 2: it will pay dividends in your future. Places, everyone, every
Speaker 2: sermon you log in your spirit. Every note you write
Speaker 2: down and put it up that week on the mirror,
Speaker 2: every song that you learn, so you can sing a.
Speaker 1: New song to the Lord.
Speaker 2: It's compounding in your life for the glory of Christ.
Speaker 2: And it says when they heard Peter, they took note.
Speaker 2: But verse fourteen, that's my favorite. But since they could
Speaker 2: see the man who had been healed standing there with them,
Speaker 2: there was nothing they could say. It goes like this, children,
Speaker 2: when Peter preached, they took note. But when the man
Speaker 2: stood there, they shut up. You want to shut up
Speaker 2: the enemy.
Speaker 1: Stand there. You want to silence the enemy. Stand there.
Speaker 1: You want to back.
Speaker 2: Down the feeling of depression and replace it with the
Speaker 2: joy of the Lord.
Speaker 1: I got two words for you, baby, Stand there.
Speaker 7: Stand there when they talk about you.
Speaker 1: Stand there when it.
Speaker 8: Feels like there's no point, stand there.
Speaker 2: Every place you set your foot, I'll give you.
Speaker 1: But you gotta stand there. Don't walk away. You are
Speaker 1: the one.
Speaker 8: For the job.
Speaker 2: All you gotta do is stand there, somebody.
Speaker 1: Stand to your feet right now and do.
Speaker 8: What you hadn't done yet, and praise him.
Speaker 1: Look got know my place. I'm seeing that, see this,
Speaker 1: see that, see it.
Speaker 10: Stand there, stand there, Stand there, discouraged, Stand there while
Speaker 10: you're healing. Stand there with your legs wobbling. Stand there
Speaker 10: while they point out.
Speaker 1: You and say I didn't see the one that used to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I used to, But look at me doing well? I
Speaker 1: couldn't you to do?
Speaker 8: Just stand there, don't argue, don't quit, don't commit suicide,
Speaker 8: don't take another pill. Stay there, don't call fifteen people
Speaker 8: that don't know any better than you.
Speaker 1: You are not going back to the gate. Places.
Speaker 5: Everyone stand there, jeeus, keep me.
Speaker 1: Me the cross. Stand there there, Publa sit on.
Speaker 5: Say freely street.
Speaker 1: Flows from car freeze places everyone, This is where it happens.
Speaker 1: Ye the cry, yes, stand there, center.
Speaker 2: He the crow.
Speaker 1: Speed mine.
Speaker 5: Over see mine right?
Speaker 2: So then so.
Speaker 1: Shelf standing here, rest be.
Speaker 2: Erryver places everyone places, everyone places, everyone places everyone. When
Speaker 2: the person changes soul us the place for the cross
Speaker 2: that you are singing about as an emblem was an
Speaker 2: instrument of torture. But when the man Jesus Christ died,
Speaker 2: when the person of Jesus Christ died, the place changed,
Speaker 2: and that cross of his suffering is now the forgiveness
Speaker 2: of your sins.
Speaker 1: Stand there.
Speaker 2: And see the precious lamb of God. See from his head,
Speaker 2: his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Speaker 2: Stand there and let the blood be applied.
Speaker 1: Stand there and let the mercy of God make you new.
Speaker 1: Stand there.
Speaker 2: That's all that man did. I can't sing, but I
Speaker 2: can stand there. I didn't even plan to be walking today,
Speaker 2: but I can stand here. You need me to stand there,
Speaker 2: I'll stand there. You need me to show up, I'll
Speaker 2: show up. You need me to be an example God.
Speaker 1: Watch this. Watch this.
Speaker 2: This man looked like an extra in the movie, but
Speaker 2: he was actually exhibit a of the witnessing power of
Speaker 2: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you that's you too. If you stand there,
Speaker 1: pal ludin head's bowed, eyes closed. This is not a joke.
Speaker 1: This is a place.
Speaker 2: That you might look back on and say that day I.
Speaker 1: Went through that gate.
Speaker 2: And I was changed. You can change. The trash won't
Speaker 2: be so big when you get taller. You can change.
Speaker 2: The pleasures of sin won't seem so powerful. You can change.
Speaker 2: In the name of Jesus, I offer you my hand
Speaker 2: places every get up and walk. What are the chances
Speaker 2: you would be here to hear this sermon today?
Speaker 1: What are the chances this.
Speaker 2: Day, God must have something happening right now that is
Speaker 2: bigger than you. Don't be so selfish you think it's
Speaker 2: just about what you can get. Maybe God's about to
Speaker 2: use you to help somebody else up and you need to.
Speaker 1: Get strong for us. Stand there, Stand there. I offer
Speaker 1: an invitation for all of you today who need.
Speaker 2: To come to the cross, and I believe there are
Speaker 2: thousands who are hearing this message as I offer you
Speaker 2: this prayer.
Speaker 1: This prayer is a place. It is a place of faith,
Speaker 1: not a physical location. God doesn't live in one building.
Speaker 1: God wants to come and live in your heart, so
Speaker 1: invite him.
Speaker 2: In the Bible says that if you confess with your
Speaker 2: mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God
Speaker 2: raised Him.
Speaker 1: From the day, you will be saved. Today you will.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to offer a prayer. We're praying it
Speaker 1: out loud together as a church.
Speaker 2: Family for the benefit of those who are coming to
Speaker 2: God or back to God. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father,
Speaker 2: today is my day of salvation. I am a sinner
Speaker 2: in need of a savior, and I believe Jesus Christ
Speaker 2: is the Son of God and the savior of the world.
Speaker 1: And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life.
Speaker 2: I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
Speaker 2: rose again to give me life. I receive this new life.
Speaker 2: This is my new beginning. Raise your hand on the
Speaker 2: count of three, one, two three. If you prayed that prayer.
Speaker 1: Raise your hand, raise your hand. God bless you. God
Speaker 1: bless you. God bless you. Get up and walk. God
Speaker 1: bless you. Get up and walk. God bless you. Get
Speaker 1: up and walk. God bless you. Hear the name of Jesus,
Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 5: In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: We have the big sorry we have, we have a victor.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be the last man standing to let the
Speaker 2: Lord know I appreciate his grace.
Speaker 1: I'm not standing on my own. I'm standing by his spirit.
Speaker 8: Paul says, stand therefore, stand therefore.
Speaker 5: Put on the whole honor of God and stand.
Speaker 2: Hot boy, did people say, stand there, everybody that received
Speaker 2: a word from the Lord, clap your hands and praise him,
Speaker 2: not me, praise him.
Speaker 1: Give it to him, give him the glory. That's all
Speaker 1: you got.
Speaker 7: That man's started walking and trumping and praising God, that's
Speaker 7: all you've got.
Speaker 1: Every time you get a change, give praise.
Speaker 2: That way, you won't get prideful and think you're on
Speaker 2: your own. I thank God for what he just gave us.
Speaker 2: I feel that the Holy Spirit flowed to somebody today.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't that you were crippled in your feet.
Speaker 2: You were crippled in your faith, and God is getting
Speaker 2: you up.
Speaker 1: Stand there, stand there, stand there, stand there.
Speaker 2: The devil's going to be so surprised. I thought I
Speaker 2: convinced you to quit.
Speaker 1: Uh uh.
Speaker 2: I found out all I have to do is stand
Speaker 2: there and let God fight my battles.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do this.
Speaker 2: I fight.
Speaker 1: Somebody say I got changed today, I changed my mind.
Speaker 1: I changed my perspective. Hallelujah. Well we gotta go now.
Speaker 2: You can't stand there because somebody else wants to sit there.
Speaker 1: Campus masters, you take it your mind. If I close here.
Speaker 2: At Valentine mind, if I close, mom sermon, glory to God.
Speaker 2: All right, take your hand, put it on the shoulder
Speaker 2: of the person on either side of you. Online, we
Speaker 2: also connect with you in the name of Jesus Christ
Speaker 2: of Nazareth.
Speaker 1: Rise up and walk and stand there.
Speaker 2: I see you going back to places this week that
Speaker 2: you used to be afraid of and saying, this trash
Speaker 2: can isn't so big. I see you going back to
Speaker 2: places this week that used to be fun for you,
Speaker 2: saying this roller coaster fell off.
Speaker 1: I see you heating up corn dogs this week, saying
Speaker 1: this doesn't taste.
Speaker 2: Good anymore because I grew up.
Speaker 1: Places. Everyone, God's got an assignment for you. Place this, school.
Speaker 2: Teachers, God's got an assignment for you. Place this, police officers, detectives.
Speaker 2: God's got an assignment for you places. Stay at home moms,
Speaker 2: God's got an assignment. Place this, babysitters. God's got an
Speaker 2: assignment for you. Place this while you're waiting on your
Speaker 2: next employment, places, while you're pastoring your church.
Speaker 1: Places. Everyone, something is about to happen.
Speaker 2: And now, unto him who is able to do immeasurably
Speaker 2: more than you ask or imagine, to him, be glory
Speaker 2: through Christ Jesus in the charks now and forever.
Speaker 1: Give him a sound of praise.
Speaker 2: If you'll receive this leorm, I'll see you next week,
Speaker 2: same place, same time, Place.
Speaker 1: This, everyone, places. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 1: now or.
Speaker 2: Visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast.
Speaker 1: You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 2: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.