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Speaker 2: I want to hit you with a scripture from Acts
Speaker 2: chapter three for a moment, and who knows where we'll
Speaker 2: go from there, but Acts chapter three would definitely be
Speaker 2: our starting place. It's exciting to think about the potential
Speaker 2: that exists in a moment like this, where the God
Speaker 2: who knows you by name and knows not only the
Speaker 2: struggles that you have right now, but whatever you're going
Speaker 2: to face this week, could give you the instruction to
Speaker 2: comfort and the serenity that you need for whatever is
Speaker 2: going on in your life, and to prepare you for
Speaker 2: opportunities and opposition. Elie just from one word, one word
Speaker 2: that he could speak, and I want to share with
Speaker 2: you from X chapter three eleven, while he clung to
Speaker 2: Peter and John all the people ran together to them
Speaker 2: in the portico called Solomon's astounded, and when Peter saw it,
Speaker 2: he addressed the people men of Israel, why do you
Speaker 2: wonder at this or why do you stare at us?
Speaker 2: As though by our own power or piety we have
Speaker 2: made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
Speaker 2: and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers,
Speaker 2: glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied
Speaker 2: in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to
Speaker 2: release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One
Speaker 2: and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.
Speaker 2: And you killed the author of life, whom God raised
Speaker 2: from the dead. To this we are witnesses and his name,
Speaker 2: by faith in his name has made this man strong,
Speaker 2: whom you see and know, and the faith that is
Speaker 2: through Jesus has given the man this perfect health. In
Speaker 2: the presence of you all, I want to speak to
Speaker 2: you today for a few moments on this subject. Trapped
Speaker 2: in transition, Trapped in transition, and I want to pray
Speaker 2: before we get into it one more time.
Speaker 3: Let's pray. Father.
Speaker 2: Now I call on you to do the thing that
Speaker 2: only you can do. I can study, I can prepare,
Speaker 2: but I can only preach to a certain level unless
Speaker 2: you inhabit this holy moment, Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3: There is a.
Speaker 2: Design, custom tailored message that each person needs. I ask
Speaker 2: now that you would measure that out to each heart.
Speaker 2: Help us to get past all of the distractions that
Speaker 2: would keep us from understanding the things that you desire
Speaker 2: to say. And we give you all the glory in Jesus' name.
Speaker 2: Somebody shout Amen on your way to your seat. Touch
Speaker 2: somebody and say I am in transition. I was standing
Speaker 2: up and now I'm sitting down. You know, it's really
Speaker 2: interesting when we travel. Holly likes to do stuff. That's
Speaker 2: where we're different. I like to get in and get out.
Speaker 2: If I'm preaching somewhere, I don't need to see the sites.
Speaker 2: Just show me the stage where I need to do
Speaker 2: my job. Get me back home where my refrigerator is
Speaker 2: stocked with diet Coke.
Speaker 3: I'm not very adventurous. She's the opposite.
Speaker 2: She wants to go and see all the touristy stuff.
Speaker 2: And God helped that woman in a gift shop. I'm serious.
Speaker 2: When we go through the gift shop, I just know
Speaker 2: every time that it's going to be a piece of
Speaker 2: my kid. It's college education find that's going to be left.
Speaker 2: Is this a true story? Those of you who have traveled,
Speaker 2: Holly Fredick is a good forty five minutes in any
Speaker 2: gift shop, and I understood it until we went to Alcatraz.
Speaker 2: I couldn't understand why you want to buy something.
Speaker 3: You know, the prison. It's not a prison anymore.
Speaker 2: Now it's a national park, but until nineteen sixty two
Speaker 2: is a prison, and I honestly enjoyed that one. Now
Speaker 2: she's taken me to some really boring places. I'm not
Speaker 2: going to lie to you. One time we learned about
Speaker 2: Australian military history and I just don't need to know it,
Speaker 2: do you.
Speaker 3: Know what I mean? I appreciate their continent, but it
Speaker 3: is not a part of my history or my destiny.
Speaker 2: So I usually last about thirty minutes, and then I
Speaker 2: start feeling trapped.
Speaker 3: I mean I really do.
Speaker 2: I start feeling like I would do anything to get
Speaker 2: out of this situation. But she's taken me all over
Speaker 2: and at Alcatraz it was different because not only was
Speaker 2: my wife, not only was my wife interested to visit Alcatraz,
Speaker 2: but she was interested for me to hear the stories
Speaker 2: on the headset that they gave you for the guided tour.
Speaker 2: And I don't know it's because I love seaw Shank
Speaker 2: Redemption and it's my favorite movie. But something about that
Speaker 2: just it connected with me. Okay, maybe it's all the
Speaker 2: prison stories in the Bible. I don't know why, but
Speaker 2: at Alcatraz it was different, and I wasn't born. I
Speaker 2: was actually really fascinated, especially at this one part. I
Speaker 2: brought you a picture from when I visited prison as
Speaker 2: a tourist. This is me and Chunk standing at the
Speaker 2: part of the tour where they would show you how
Speaker 2: the prison Alcatraz. Because it's an island, it was directly
Speaker 2: positioned where you could see one and one quarter miles
Speaker 2: across the ocean.
Speaker 3: You could see San Francisco.
Speaker 2: And what they said on the headphones and I didn't
Speaker 2: forget this is that what made it so agonizing for
Speaker 2: a prisoner was that you could see just a little
Speaker 2: over a mile everything that you wanted in life.
Speaker 3: But you couldn't get to it.
Speaker 2: When I heard that, I paused my headphones and then
Speaker 2: I started making a sermon illustration about how many people,
Speaker 2: how many people today, can see in your mind's eye
Speaker 2: the person that you could be if you could ever
Speaker 2: be free from an addiction, a habit, depression.
Speaker 3: Or panic.
Speaker 2: The ability to see it, but I can't swim to it.
Speaker 2: The ability to see it, visualize it, and maybe even
Speaker 2: taste it, but not experience it. It is a certain
Speaker 2: type of torture that is only known in transition. When
Speaker 2: we read the scriptures, we would do well to pay
Speaker 2: attention to the transitions.
Speaker 3: And this is for.
Speaker 2: Jason and Tim and Brad and Chad and all of
Speaker 2: my campus pastors who preach from time to time. It'll
Speaker 2: make you a better preacher if you pay attention to
Speaker 2: the transitions. Just when you're reading the Bible, look out
Speaker 2: for the transitional phrases and even words like therefore and wherefore,
Speaker 2: and whither and hither, and the transitional words that take
Speaker 2: you from place to place. Pay attention to the transition.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, it's not only good for
Speaker 2: preaching in life. You will be so much more effective
Speaker 2: if you learn to pay attention to the transitions. And
Speaker 2: the scripture that I read to you today is a
Speaker 2: transitional miracle. In the Book of Acts, I call it
Speaker 2: a transitional miracle because it gives us a picture of
Speaker 2: what the author Luke is already explaining as he chronicles
Speaker 2: the birth of the Church. Not only is the Church
Speaker 2: in a transitional period, going from being considered a cult
Speaker 2: with very little political capital to going into influential spaces
Speaker 2: and beginning to turn.
Speaker 3: The world upside down.
Speaker 2: For Jesus Christ the carpenter who was crucified. But the
Speaker 2: Position of Acts chapter three is transitional in that.
Speaker 3: It is the first miracle that is recorded.
Speaker 2: Other than the Pentecostal miracle of those being filled with
Speaker 2: the spirit. It is the first miracle of healing that
Speaker 2: is recorded in the Book of Acts.
Speaker 3: It will not be the last. It is the first.
Speaker 2: And that's why I call it a transitional miracle, because
Speaker 2: it is giving us a picture of what Jesus meant
Speaker 2: when he said to his followers, don't leave your Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
Speaker 2: the city of peace. Don't leave this place of peace,
Speaker 2: but wait until you.
Speaker 3: Have received the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: It is difficult to sit still in transition while you
Speaker 2: are threatened by opposition from the outside. And they didn't
Speaker 2: like Jesus, and that's why they killed him. But Jesus
Speaker 2: told him to do something very difficult, to sit still
Speaker 2: in transition and wait for him to do it his way.
Speaker 3: It's the hardest thing in the world.
Speaker 2: And yet every time Holly goes through the gift shop,
Speaker 2: they get her every time because they position that gift
Speaker 2: shop after she's seen all the history. I mean, I
Speaker 2: understand a mug, but this woman, she'll buy a journal,
Speaker 2: a mug, a memoir, a baseball cap, a beanie, a sticker.
Speaker 3: This woman, she's a sucker. They get her every time.
Speaker 2: No, I want you all to pray for the woman
Speaker 2: of God that leads this church because she doesn't get it.
Speaker 2: You are so vulnerable on your way out.
Speaker 3: She doesn't get it.
Speaker 2: One time, I was doing an assessment with someone who
Speaker 2: was looking at our security in the church, and they said,
Speaker 2: the most important place to make sure that there's plenty
Speaker 2: of security is anywhere there is transition, because where there
Speaker 2: is transition, there is distraction, and where there is distraction,
Speaker 2: there is opportunity for someone who means harm to capitalize
Speaker 2: on the lap of focus and create instability.
Speaker 3: That's what I've been thinking.
Speaker 2: About in regards to Acts Chapter three this week, how
Speaker 2: that the enemy will often set up a gift shop
Speaker 2: to take your stuff at points of transition on the
Speaker 2: way out, on the way in, that's the only two
Speaker 2: times it costs me money.
Speaker 3: When she takes me to a museum.
Speaker 2: They charge me for a ticket to get in, and
Speaker 2: then my wife empties our retirement fund.
Speaker 3: On the way out. But it is at those points
Speaker 3: of transition.
Speaker 2: I'm preaching today to somebody who is in a transition
Speaker 2: in your life that is significant, and it is the
Speaker 2: most significant place of opportunity, and it is the most
Speaker 2: vulnerable place of insecurity at those points of transition.
Speaker 3: And maybe I should show you in the text.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe, before Holly gets mad at me for this illustration,
Speaker 2: I should show you in the text. Go all the
Speaker 2: way back up to Acts, chapter three, verse one. Y'all
Speaker 2: feel like studying the Bible a little bit today. Let's
Speaker 2: look at it now, Peter and John, We're going up
Speaker 2: to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour,
Speaker 2: and a man who was laying from birth was being
Speaker 2: carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the
Speaker 2: temple called Beautiful to ask alms from those entering the temple.
Speaker 3: Everything I just said is transitional.
Speaker 2: Every single component of the verses I just read has
Speaker 2: a transitional element.
Speaker 3: And when I saw that.
Speaker 2: In the text, I was like, this is perfect for
Speaker 2: what we're trying to understand in our lives, because our
Speaker 2: lives are constantly changing, and they're changing so fast that
Speaker 2: by the time we recognize the change, we don't have
Speaker 2: time to make the adjustment.
Speaker 3: By the time we know how to be a.
Speaker 2: Good parent, they are fifty three years old. By the
Speaker 2: time we know what we should have saved money for
Speaker 2: is too late, and the bill is already overdue.
Speaker 3: By the time we get.
Speaker 2: The wisdom, we don't have to sprink to implement it
Speaker 2: because we're tired from all of our dumb mistakes.
Speaker 3: So when I read it and I realized everything.
Speaker 2: Is transitional, put it up again, Acts three, verse one.
Speaker 2: Now it's a transitional word. Peter and John were going
Speaker 2: up to the temple. They were on the way somewhere
Speaker 2: at the hour of prayer. It was a transitional time.
Speaker 2: So they're going about their day and now it's time
Speaker 2: to pray, ding ding ding, everybody to the temple. Peter
Speaker 2: and John are transitioning to the temple. They are transitioning
Speaker 2: in their ministry because up until this point They've always
Speaker 2: had Jesus in human form to supervise their miracle working
Speaker 2: attempts and efforts, and sometimes they didn't get it right,
Speaker 2: and he was there to correct them. But he's not
Speaker 2: here in human form anymore. And they are in transition,
Speaker 2: and so now.
Speaker 3: Here they're going to church at three in the afternoon.
Speaker 3: That's what the ninth hour means. It's a transitional period
Speaker 3: where all good Jewish.
Speaker 2: Men and women would go to the synagogue for prayer.
Speaker 2: Peter and johnnre are moving toward the temple, transitional period
Speaker 2: for the church, transitional moment in their day in between
Speaker 2: two activities. Then it says that verse two there was
Speaker 2: a man who was being carried whom they laid daily
Speaker 2: at the gate of the temple that is called the
Speaker 2: Beautiful Gate. So now the Church as a whole is
Speaker 2: in transition, as the Spirit of God is beginning to
Speaker 2: manifest himself through signs, miracles, and wonders through the hands
Speaker 2: of the apostles. Peter and John are in transition on
Speaker 2: their way to the Temple, which is their daily routine,
Speaker 2: and there's a man who the Bible says is being carried.
Speaker 3: I don't know how I missed this. For so many years.
Speaker 2: I always pictured this miracle with the man already laying
Speaker 2: beside the gate.
Speaker 3: But he wasn't at the gate yet. The Bible says he.
Speaker 2: Was in.
Speaker 3: Transition. He wasn't even in the spot yet.
Speaker 2: Because see, like if you were gonna make it and
Speaker 2: you couldn't walk, you had to have a racket. And
Speaker 2: so the best place you could go pick a spot
Speaker 2: while people are going to church, and they would do
Speaker 2: it different. They wouldn't get you on the way out
Speaker 2: because you already gave an offering in church, so they
Speaker 2: would get you on the way in, right, And if
Speaker 2: you can catch them on the way in, maybe they'll
Speaker 2: drop you some change, and maybe they'll you know, it
Speaker 2: was considered piety to give alms, and so they're catching
Speaker 2: people with a gift shop at the gate by the temple.
Speaker 2: He wouldn't have been the only one. This was a
Speaker 2: very commonplace to set up. But I was blessed by this,
Speaker 2: and I thought you maybe too. He wasn't even in
Speaker 2: his spot yet when God decided to give him a miracle.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of times that if I could
Speaker 2: get here, or if I could, if I could, if
Speaker 2: I could lie there, or if I could accomplish this,
Speaker 2: or if I could do that, or if I could
Speaker 2: fix it, or if I could establish it, or.
Speaker 3: If I could move through it. But I want you
Speaker 3: to notice.
Speaker 2: This is a transitional miracle. It means that Church hasn't
Speaker 2: even started yet, but God is already on the scene.
Speaker 2: It means that God does not need for your life
Speaker 2: to be at a certain point where people say it
Speaker 2: should be in order to bless you. So this is
Speaker 2: for everybody who is in transition. And I don't know
Speaker 2: if you're switching jobs.
Speaker 3: I don't know if.
Speaker 2: You're switching girlfriends. I don't know if you're switching schools.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you're switching ways of living. I
Speaker 2: don't know if you're switching from You used to get
Speaker 2: high on a substance, but now you're trying to connect
Speaker 2: to Christ.
Speaker 3: I don't know what the switch is.
Speaker 2: But I love the fact that God was waiting to
Speaker 2: bless the person before he even got to the spot.
Speaker 2: It is a transitional miracle. And here's what I wanted
Speaker 2: to say. God is gonna bless you on the way.
Speaker 2: God is gonna bless you. He's gonna meet you and
Speaker 2: cut you off on your way to your spot and
Speaker 2: bless you anyway, how many no God can cut you
Speaker 2: off and bless you. So he was about to go
Speaker 2: into the gate. And what is a gate. It's a
Speaker 2: symbol of transition. Everything in the text is pointing me
Speaker 2: to the fact that God is most active in moments
Speaker 2: of what I perceive to be instability and transition.
Speaker 3: Now feel the Holy Spirit just all up in your.
Speaker 2: Stuff because there's something you're trying to get through. But
Speaker 2: you don't have to wait to get through it. You
Speaker 2: can believe God right smack dab in the of it.
Speaker 3: It sounds good, preach is good, doesn't feel good. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's so weird how we.
Speaker 2: Ask God to change our lives and when he really does.
Speaker 2: Because now he changed your life. Now it's going to
Speaker 2: change your friends. Now he changed your life. Now it's
Speaker 2: gonna affect how you spend your time. Now he changed
Speaker 2: your life, and now it's gonna it's gonna destabilize everything
Speaker 2: that you've come to depend on. It's a transitional text.
Speaker 2: It's a transitional moment for the author Luke as he's
Speaker 2: compiling a history of the church. He's going from an
Speaker 2: explanation to a demonstration. That's when it gets good, when
Speaker 2: you go from theoretically believing something to pray acting it
Speaker 2: out in your life. The miracle is in the transition.
Speaker 2: That's how we walk, right, I transition the weight of
Speaker 2: my body. And until I transition the weight, I cannot move.
Speaker 2: The center of gravity must change in the same way.
Speaker 2: Every time God is moving you forward in your life,
Speaker 2: there will be a period of transitional instability. In this passage,
Speaker 2: the man has never walked before in his life.
Speaker 3: He's being carried to the gate.
Speaker 2: Peter and John are going to church, and in transition
Speaker 2: God sets up a moment for transformation. And when it
Speaker 2: happens is so shocking, not only to the onlookers and
Speaker 2: not only to Peter and John who are just trying
Speaker 2: to get to Sunday school. Now this is important too.
Speaker 2: Can I throw this in? This is for free. I
Speaker 2: won't say it in the next service. I will just
Speaker 2: say it for you, all right, the trough, you know,
Speaker 2: the early bird, in the worm and all that. It
Speaker 2: all applies right now, now look at me. The first
Speaker 2: miracle that is recorded in the Book of Acts was
Speaker 2: waiting in something that everybody else was stepping over to
Speaker 2: get to something they deemed more important. That's just for y'all.
Speaker 2: Now let's look at it. And Peter. Now they saw
Speaker 2: Peter and John.
Speaker 3: This man is.
Speaker 2: On his way to a spot. Peter and John are
Speaker 2: on the way to church. Study in the Bible. How
Speaker 2: many things that happen on the way. How active God.
Speaker 3: Is in the journey in transition.
Speaker 2: How many things that God uses to change our life
Speaker 2: happen in between two fixed points that we deem important.
Speaker 2: Just all the little places Jesus would stop and do
Speaker 2: a miracle, because you know that the feeding of the
Speaker 2: five thousand was not on jesus itinerary. He was just
Speaker 2: trying to get somewhere else, and there happened to be
Speaker 2: twenty thousand people that wanted to hear him teach. Some
Speaker 2: of the greatest stuff that God will do in your
Speaker 2: day will not be on your calendar.
Speaker 3: Some of the greatest stuff that God will do in
Speaker 3: your life will not be in your five year plan.
Speaker 2: Come on, some of the greatest stuff that God will
Speaker 2: reveal in your life will not be on your dream board.
Speaker 2: And they're just trying to get the church, and the
Speaker 2: man is just trying to get something to eat. And
Speaker 2: they meet in transition, and God is in position, and
Speaker 2: the man is in transition, and Peter and John are
Speaker 2: in transition, and God is positioning all of it, just
Speaker 2: like he is in your life today, just like he
Speaker 2: is in your family, just like he is in your situation,
Speaker 2: just like he is in our church.
Speaker 3: And he's arranging a meeting.
Speaker 2: And the man sees Peter and John and he asked
Speaker 2: to receive alms. Verse four directed his gaze at him,
Speaker 2: as did John, and said, look at us. And he
Speaker 2: fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
Speaker 2: I always like to say that he was expecting the
Speaker 2: wrong kind of change. He wanted to know, do you
Speaker 2: have a few quarters? Do you have a few dimes?
Speaker 2: And Jesus like the one thing I've learned about him
Speaker 2: is sometimes he doesn't meet your expectation because he wants
Speaker 2: to exceed it. Don't be too disappointed if God didn't
Speaker 2: give you what you wanted. This man, in this moment
Speaker 2: is about to receive a change that he didn't even
Speaker 2: have the faith to ask for. And God sets up
Speaker 2: at his spot, you know, the spot where he was
Speaker 2: just going to beg and get through another day and
Speaker 2: some change, some spare change, and Peter's like, oh, I
Speaker 2: got change for you.
Speaker 3: See, this is a transitional moment.
Speaker 2: Remember that Jesus said that if you ask anything in
Speaker 2: my name, I'll give it to you. His name represents
Speaker 2: his authority and his power, and so when Peter said
Speaker 2: what he said next in the next verse, I have
Speaker 2: no silver in gold, but what I do have I
Speaker 2: give to you. At first, this man is thinking, oh,
Speaker 2: another one of those Christians.
Speaker 3: That leaves you a track and doesn't leave you a
Speaker 3: tip at the restaurant. That'll send you straight to hell.
Speaker 2: By the way, if you don't tip your server twenty percent,
Speaker 2: don't come to elevation church twenty percent, if they spit
Speaker 2: in your drink twenty percent. But Peter is saying, now, look,
Speaker 2: let's get past what you expected. Let's get past this
Speaker 2: temporary change that you desire. I have no silver and gold,
Speaker 2: but what I do have I have a name. It's
Speaker 2: not my name because in my name you get nothing.
Speaker 2: In my ability, there is limited strength, power and resource.
Speaker 2: But I know a name, and the one who has
Speaker 2: this name gave it to me. So I'm not operating in.
Speaker 3: My own authority. But watch, this is the transition of power.
Speaker 2: Jesus said, if you wait for my spirit, you can
Speaker 2: receive my power. So if you don't get out and
Speaker 2: move the way that you think you ought to move,
Speaker 2: but wait for me to direct your path. If you
Speaker 2: will be in position, you can receive my power. Who
Speaker 2: in the name of g Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise
Speaker 2: up and walk?
Speaker 3: And he took him by the right hand. Why the
Speaker 3: right hand. That's the hand of authority.
Speaker 2: Why the right hand, because all power and authority was
Speaker 2: given to Jesus. Come on, get happy with me. I
Speaker 2: don't care if it's fifty of y'all. But God said,
Speaker 2: I'm standing over your situation, presiding and prevailing. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I forgot something, said macdon. In psychology, they make a
Speaker 2: distinction between change and transition. Okay, the two are not
Speaker 2: the same, and we'll see it in this man's life
Speaker 2: because in this transitional miracle, what.
Speaker 3: Is often unstated.
Speaker 2: Is that just because the man received a miracle, it
Speaker 2: didn't immediately fix his mindset. Okay, And I want to
Speaker 2: spend a moment here because I believe many people are
Speaker 2: frustrated in their inability to change, and I think in
Speaker 2: the text is a clue as to why but we're
Speaker 2: going to have to pay attention to the transitions in
Speaker 2: this text. And if you will lean into this text
Speaker 2: for just a moment, it's going to show you something
Speaker 2: about why some of.
Speaker 3: The changes in your life don't stick.
Speaker 2: Why some of the changes in your life as soon
Speaker 2: as they are introduced. It seems like, you know, everybody
Speaker 2: wants change in a certain area. And it's often been
Speaker 2: said that change is the only constant in life, and
Speaker 2: I agree with that.
Speaker 3: But change is traumatic, even if it's positive.
Speaker 2: Right, So there's desirable changes, there's undesirable changes. And while
Speaker 2: we're running around thinking that we control our lives, you know,
Speaker 2: the thing that really changes everything is the text message that.
Speaker 3: You never expected.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, I I used to think that our
Speaker 2: church could avoid criticism, right because I would think, well,
Speaker 2: if we do this right, and we do that right,
Speaker 2: and we have integrity over here, It's never going to
Speaker 2: be the things that you expect that people are going
Speaker 2: to attack you about. It's going to be something that
Speaker 2: you never even thought possible. It's just going to be
Speaker 2: something that you didn't you didn't have the foreknowledge to expect.
Speaker 2: Like this man, Okay, he never knew that he was
Speaker 2: about to get healed. But healing creates a new set
Speaker 2: of problems that if you don't understand this dimension, and
Speaker 2: it is a distinction. Change and trend position are two
Speaker 2: different things. So the man says, I want some change.
Speaker 2: Peter's like, cool, I'm about to change your life. He's like, ah, man,
Speaker 2: three dollars is fine. I mean, I'm just looking for
Speaker 2: a burger right now. But Peter's like, no, no, I
Speaker 2: don't want to give you. I don't want you to
Speaker 2: buy a whopper. I want you to walk. Take my hand.
Speaker 2: This authority boom and like a current, it shoots through
Speaker 2: his body.
Speaker 3: And what's what happens to him?
Speaker 2: This is a beautiful thing when God blesses you in
Speaker 2: a moment. And immediately he took him by the right
Speaker 2: hand verse seven and raised him up. And immediately there
Speaker 2: is no duration, there is no progression. Immediately the man's
Speaker 2: feet and ankles were made strong, and leaping up, he
Speaker 2: stood and began to walk. Before you shout about that verse,
Speaker 2: pay attention to the transitional words because it says that
Speaker 2: he began to walk, and all he knew how to.
Speaker 3: Do was beg because he was born unable to walk.
Speaker 2: This is part two of last week when I told
Speaker 2: you that sometimes better feels backwards. And it's wonderful that
Speaker 2: he could walk, But where's he gonna go? Every day?
Speaker 2: He was carried to this spot?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: What cool man? You? You didn't want to buy me
Speaker 2: a sandwich? I would have took pop Eyes or Chick
Speaker 2: fil A.
Speaker 3: But now.
Speaker 2: Now I'm standing here and I'm leaping, and I'm happy
Speaker 2: and I'm changed.
Speaker 3: But it represents a transition. Now change.
Speaker 2: Let me read this to you so I don't mess
Speaker 2: it up. This is outside of my realm. I do
Speaker 2: the the psychology part. I want to read it and
Speaker 2: make sure I get it right. I don't want to
Speaker 2: get sued for malpractice up here. Change is external is
Speaker 2: something that happens to you. Okay, the man didn't do
Speaker 2: physical therapy and learn to walk. It was an unexpected change,
Speaker 2: good or bad. Change is external. Change could be traffic.
Speaker 2: Change can be weather. Change can be something that happens
Speaker 2: in your body. Change can be something that happens globally.
Speaker 2: Change happens externally, and it is a situation that is
Speaker 2: imposed by outside circumstances or unforeseen conditions.
Speaker 3: That's change. Follow me.
Speaker 2: Transition is always an internal or a psychological event. You
Speaker 2: see the contrast. He jumped up immediately. That's changed. He
Speaker 2: began to walk. That's transition. Some of us are frustrated
Speaker 2: by change because we are unwilling to endure the process
Speaker 2: of transition. I need God's help to preach this now.
Speaker 2: So we jump up, and we jump up happy. You
Speaker 2: know how you get happy when God does something awesome
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 3: That's a change.
Speaker 2: But transition is where transformation happens, not by something external,
Speaker 2: but by something internal. I'll prove it to you, David said,
Speaker 2: create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew
Speaker 2: a right spirit in me.
Speaker 3: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: David wasn't praying about his situation. He was praying about
Speaker 2: his spirit because he understood that if God changes your
Speaker 2: situation but the spiritual process is left underdeveloped, it will
Speaker 2: cause an implosion. Now the change happened, it was not illegitimate.
Speaker 2: He jumped up, he walked. His feet and ankles could
Speaker 2: do it. But it wasn't his feet at this park
Speaker 2: point that was the problem. Just because your feet are strong,
Speaker 2: and just because your legs were and just because you
Speaker 2: now have the strength to stand, doesn't mean you have
Speaker 2: the understanding to walk, and you're in transition, and it
Speaker 2: doesn't make much sense to you when you're in transition,
Speaker 2: and it's unstable when you're in transition. In fact, when
Speaker 2: you're in transition, you can feel trapped. Here's why I
Speaker 2: left Egypt.
Speaker 3: I'm not in Canaan. I'm trapped in transition.
Speaker 2: Saved enough not to go to Hell, but I'm not
Speaker 2: saved enough to not want to go to the club.
Speaker 3: I'm trying. We got the Angel choir over here in
Speaker 3: this section. The reality of it is this.
Speaker 2: Transition takes time, and change happens suddenly, and to be
Speaker 2: trapped in transition is to be waiting for your mind
Speaker 2: to catch up with the transformation that has already happened
Speaker 2: in your life. So I was praying about it, and
Speaker 2: I was asking God to give me a picture of
Speaker 2: what this looks like. I went back over to Hebrews
Speaker 2: chapter five, and I looked for background on that particular
Speaker 2: situation where you see a Christian community struggling to come into.
Speaker 3: The fullness of what God has for them.
Speaker 2: And in one of the most middle school teacher passages
Speaker 2: of Scripture of all time, because he's really really frustrated
Speaker 2: with his pupils. This anonymous author begins to rant in
Speaker 2: Hebrews chapter five.
Speaker 3: Verse eleven, because he's trying to get something out.
Speaker 2: And it's frustrating when you have something valuable but you
Speaker 2: have nowhere to put it. Is frustrating when you feel
Speaker 2: like you have something to give but nobody to receive it,
Speaker 2: especially in a relationship, when you want to give more,
Speaker 2: but when you look to give what you have in you,
Speaker 2: you don't find anywhere to pour it into.
Speaker 3: That's frustrating. And as he's building up and building up.
Speaker 2: And he's describing maturity, he's describing not just the miraculous
Speaker 2: salvation event, but the maturity of following Christ into deeper
Speaker 2: things and better motivations and new ways of doing things
Speaker 2: that rely on grace rather than legalism or the law.
Speaker 3: As as he teaches them to switch, he becomes.
Speaker 2: Frustrated, and somewhere in his letter he senses that he's
Speaker 2: losing their attention.
Speaker 3: So he goes about this, we have much to say eleven.
Speaker 2: And it is hard to explain since you have become
Speaker 2: dull of hearing I love this. This means it's your
Speaker 2: fault for not getting it. It's not the preacher's fault
Speaker 2: for not saying it right. I'm gonna put this verse
Speaker 2: on my pulpit. You have become dull of hearing. It's
Speaker 2: not that I'm confusing, it's just that you're slow.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Verse twelve for though by this time, that's what he said,
Speaker 2: for though, by this time.
Speaker 3: You ought to be teachers.
Speaker 2: You hear, you ought to be teaching somebody, but you
Speaker 2: didn't transition.
Speaker 3: You didn't transition.
Speaker 2: You got up and learned to walk, but you didn't
Speaker 2: reach back your hand to anybody else. You've been a
Speaker 2: Christian for fourteen years and you're still not asking any
Speaker 2: better questions of life.
Speaker 3: You're still simplifying it.
Speaker 2: You've been walking with God this long and you should
Speaker 2: be further.
Speaker 3: But I'm frustrated because you're not farther along.
Speaker 2: And as he's I don't know, he's frustrated. As a
Speaker 2: halftime talk to you know, he's in the locker room.
Speaker 2: We're better than this team. We're better than this, Yeah,
Speaker 2: cried tone. You're better than this, that's what he's saying.
Speaker 2: He said, you have need of someone to teach you
Speaker 2: again the basic principles of the oracles of God.
Speaker 3: You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives
Speaker 3: on milk is unskilled in the Word of righteousness since
Speaker 3: he is a child. But solid food is for the mature,
Speaker 3: for those who have their powers of discernment trained.
Speaker 2: Oh, it is a skill. Transition is a skill. Change
Speaker 2: is a gift. Transition is a skill. And he said
Speaker 2: this skill requires use and practice to distinguish good from evil.
Speaker 2: The only way to know the difference between God's will
Speaker 2: for your life and your will for your life is you've.
Speaker 3: Got to go to gainst Semone. You've got to go to.
Speaker 2: The place that Jesus went to where he learned the
Speaker 2: separation between what I want based on comfort and convenience
Speaker 2: and human preference and feelings, and what God wants based
Speaker 2: on the position that He has put me in.
Speaker 3: Now understand this. When Jesus finally.
Speaker 2: Got to the cross, he had no trouble giving up
Speaker 2: his life. It was only in gatht Semite transition where
Speaker 2: he had to pray God if there's any other way.
Speaker 2: The greatest test is in transition, So get ready for this.
Speaker 2: If you are being tested, you are in transition. And
Speaker 2: what that means is the greatest oil of anointing comes
Speaker 2: in the place of greatest transition. So God is growing
Speaker 2: you up. That's what he's doing. He's growing you up.
Speaker 2: He's teaching you to stand.
Speaker 3: Therefore, to stand when it's uncertain, to stand when it
Speaker 3: doesn't feel good, to stand when it's controversial, to stand
Speaker 3: when it doesn't seem to be happening, to stand on
Speaker 3: what you know when you can't trust what you see
Speaker 3: or what you feel.
Speaker 2: And you're in transition, and transition takes a little time.
Speaker 2: And now the decision is this, do I hold on
Speaker 2: to the old or do I lean into the new?
Speaker 2: That's what the man had to decide, and so do you,
Speaker 2: and so do I. Because I had my spot, I
Speaker 2: had my system, I had my support. But now I'm
Speaker 2: in transition and I can't do what I used to
Speaker 2: do anymore. So I had this I had this cup
Speaker 2: where people would come by and they would drop change
Speaker 2: in my cup, and I had to drop my cup
Speaker 2: to grab hold of Peter's hand.
Speaker 3: So I could stand up and begin to walk.
Speaker 2: But that's not the part of the text that got
Speaker 2: my attention, because after the man stands up, everybody is
Speaker 2: shocked to see this man who they were used to ignoring,
Speaker 2: who used to be kept on the outfie.
Speaker 3: And they were like, that's Joe. I gave him a
Speaker 3: name because the scripture didn't.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't seem right that I would spend fifty
Speaker 2: minutes talking about him and not even.
Speaker 3: Give him the courtesy of a name. That's Joe. No,
Speaker 3: it can't be dudes walk in, jump in, dancing.
Speaker 2: No, it's time telling you that's him. How you know
Speaker 2: it's him? Cause I know I walked by him every day.
Speaker 2: I used to walk by him every day. I walked
Speaker 2: by him every day. I walked by I walked by
Speaker 2: him every day, and he'd come in and we would
Speaker 2: transition past each other every day, and.
Speaker 3: Then we would say and see when he started to change.
Speaker 3: They couldn't understand it and they didn't like it. Transition
Speaker 3: is traumatic, you know.
Speaker 2: And the way I know it's traumatic is because he dances,
Speaker 2: he walks, He goes past the gate and goes into
Speaker 2: Solomon's portico.
Speaker 3: This was a big, long porch, man.
Speaker 2: It would take that whole side of the temple was
Speaker 2: one big porch.
Speaker 3: And I never.
Speaker 2: Forgot this verse when I read it, because it said
Speaker 2: that in verse eleven that the man clung to Peter
Speaker 2: and John.
Speaker 3: I never forgot that. That just gripped me when I read.
Speaker 2: It, because I realized that it matters in these moments
Speaker 2: of transition what you cling to. And I hear the
Speaker 2: Spirit saying to somebody today that you are going to
Speaker 2: have to choose to cling to something that is new
Speaker 2: and uncomfortable to you to move forward in this transitional
Speaker 2: season of your life. For many of us, this means
Speaker 2: that we are having to let go of something old
Speaker 2: that exists in the paradigm of our mind in order
Speaker 2: to embrace something new.
Speaker 3: I mean, just.
Speaker 2: Because the man can walk doesn't mean.
Speaker 3: That he can stand by himself.
Speaker 2: So now when we met him in the text, he's
Speaker 2: being carried, and when we say goodbye to him in
Speaker 2: the text, he's clinging. What makes that significant for our
Speaker 2: lives is you cannot take hold of what's new while
Speaker 2: you have a death grip on what's old, and God
Speaker 2: is saying you have gone as far as you can
Speaker 2: go holding on to what you used to be. This
Speaker 2: requires that the excuses that have become so embedded in
Speaker 2: your life have to be left behind at the spot
Speaker 2: of your transformation. Because you're in transition now, God is
Speaker 2: giving birth to a new thing.
Speaker 3: In your life.
Speaker 2: It is going to require letting go of old habits.
Speaker 3: Look, man, if you are a.
Speaker 2: Husband now, you can't be single in your mindset anymore.
Speaker 2: We got to consider a new responsibility. What happens a
Speaker 2: lot of times is we go into new situations holding
Speaker 2: on to old habits. You can't have a husband situation
Speaker 2: and have bachelor habits before long. It will tear you
Speaker 2: apart trying to hold on to two things. So I
Speaker 2: hear God saying today, let it go. It is not
Speaker 2: serving you in this season anymore. Why would you hold
Speaker 2: on to something that taught you how to beg that
Speaker 2: taught you how to blame.
Speaker 3: It can't heal you anymore. Something greater is here.
Speaker 2: There is a name that is greater than any other name,
Speaker 2: higher than any other name, stronger than any other name.
Speaker 3: But you got to cling to it.
Speaker 2: And cling doesn't mean that you kind of swat at it.
Speaker 2: Cling means that you grab for Jesus with all you've got,
Speaker 2: because you know life, Jacob that if he doesn't bless you,
Speaker 2: you won't be blessed. Said he clung to Peter and John.
Speaker 2: And what you cling to in this season of transition
Speaker 2: in your life will determine whether you go forward or
Speaker 2: stay at the gate. You know what, the first thing
Speaker 2: that Peter did when he saw the man grabbing on
Speaker 2: to him was he used him for a sermon illustration.
Speaker 2: God wants to use you. God wants to use you.
Speaker 2: God set it up so that he could use you.
Speaker 3: God set it up just so he could use you
Speaker 3: for his purpose and his glory. But you're in transition
Speaker 3: right now, and by holding on to the old, you
Speaker 3: forfeit the future.
Speaker 2: I came to say, let go of that thing that
Speaker 2: keeps you paralyzed, let go of that thing that keeps
Speaker 2: you fearful, and let go of.
Speaker 3: That thing that keeps you stuck. This is a.
Speaker 2: Metamorphosis, and to be stuck at one stage of your
Speaker 2: spiritual growth when opportunity, power, and authority is standing in
Speaker 2: front of you is a terrible thing. With everyone standing
Speaker 2: at every location, I would like to pray for you
Speaker 2: concerning this transitional moment in your life. It would be
Speaker 2: awesome if I knew all the details, but I don't
Speaker 2: have to.
Speaker 3: God does.
Speaker 2: And you've been on the way somewhere and frustrated because
Speaker 2: change is taking longer than you thought it would. Now
Speaker 2: what I'm speaking to right now. Is not you waited
Speaker 2: three days on something. I mean when you have been
Speaker 2: frustrated that you are not changing. Now, here's what God
Speaker 2: is saying. What do you need to let go of
Speaker 2: and what do you need to take hold of the
Speaker 2: word that he uses that they translate cling is also
Speaker 2: used to mean put under arrest. In that cool this
Speaker 2: man was like, oh no, y'all, ain't leaving me here.
Speaker 2: He grabbed Peter and John and refused.
Speaker 3: To let go.
Speaker 2: I think that's what it takes to see change in
Speaker 2: our life, to grab hold of it and say, oh no, no, no,
Speaker 2: no no, You're not going to leave me like you
Speaker 2: found me.
Speaker 3: No no no, no, no no no. I'm not gonna try
Speaker 3: this once and then go back to misery.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to suffocate in despair when hope is
Speaker 2: in front of me in the form of the spirit
Speaker 2: of God.
Speaker 3: No, it's the Lord.
Speaker 2: I ask you now because I know that somebody has
Speaker 2: been trapped in between.
Speaker 3: Old and new, trapped in between a past and a future.
Speaker 2: I ask you right now to give them the grace
Speaker 2: not only to stand up, but give them the direction
Speaker 2: to walk. I pray right now in Jesus' name, that
Speaker 2: nobody would leave this place holding on to something that
Speaker 2: is keeping them stuck. In the name of the Lord,
Speaker 2: I command you to rise up and walk, not just
Speaker 2: to jump up and shout, but to walk in a
Speaker 2: new direction, To walk toward what God has called you,
Speaker 2: To walk toward what He sees in you, to walk
Speaker 2: toward what He created you to be spirit of the
Speaker 2: Living God in this moment of transition. Whether it's circumstantial
Speaker 2: or whether it's emotional, doesn't matter. I pray that you,
Speaker 2: being the constant God who never changes, the constant God
Speaker 2: who does not move, who is not bound by time,
Speaker 2: that you would touch every situation by your grace and
Speaker 2: glory today and enable feet that we're never able to
Speaker 2: stand before, to jump upright and to walk in a
Speaker 2: new direction. Home, Lord, you know what they're dealing with,
Speaker 2: and you know what is beneath what they're dealing with
Speaker 2: on the surface. I pray for patience. Sometimes it takes that.
Speaker 2: I pray for new partnerships. Give every person in this
Speaker 2: room a Peter and John that they can walk with
Speaker 2: on the way to where you're leading them.
Speaker 3: It is so uncertain.
Speaker 2: We don't know what one to the next holds We
Speaker 2: just know that change is inevitable, but we choose transformation
Speaker 2: through every change in our life, good or bad.
Speaker 3: 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.
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Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
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Speaker 3: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.