Speaker 1: And I want to turn that around before we get
Speaker 1: into the sermon, and I want to say how thankful
Speaker 1: I am for you, and you are an answer to
Speaker 1: prayer is what you don't realize. We started praying for
Speaker 1: you before we ever had our first church service, that
Speaker 1: the Lord would send us people who first of all,
Speaker 1: that he would send people that needed Jesus. And do
Speaker 1: you qualify it? I'm like, God, send people who need
Speaker 1: you in their life as much as I do. And
Speaker 1: then we prayed that he would send us people. You
Speaker 1: remember the scripture where Jesus said the harvest is plentiful,
Speaker 1: but the laborers are few. And so we asked the
Speaker 1: Lord to send people who would not just want to
Speaker 1: pull up to the all you can eat crab like
Speaker 1: buffet and and just and just consume, but would really
Speaker 1: want to bring to God an offering. And that's prayer,
Speaker 1: that's giving, that service, that's worship. But you know who
Speaker 1: you are, the thousands of you that actually make it happen,
Speaker 1: that don't just come and go. I wonder if Best
Speaker 1: or Steven's preaching today or is it one of them guests.
Speaker 1: Some of them are pretty good. I don't luck all
Speaker 1: of them, but they're all right, but some people just
Speaker 1: show up in their life. It doesn't matter who's preaching,
Speaker 1: because I know and you know that it's not about
Speaker 1: a preacher a personality. It's about the purpose that God
Speaker 1: has given us to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Speaker 1: into all the world. So all right, get it out
Speaker 1: of your system. Twenty one seconds, I mean twenty two,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, twenty two seconds. I'm ray, praisey woke.
Speaker 1: It's our proc full out the cander. I a list
Speaker 1: the Scripture of the Lord gave us for today. Stay
Speaker 1: standing is from Acts chapter twelve, one of the coolest
Speaker 1: Bible stories that you ever will read. Now. They're all inspired,
Speaker 1: but some of them are more intriguing than others, at
Speaker 1: least to me. This passage I preached to you back
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen. The only reason I know that because
Speaker 1: I forget. You know, I don't always hunt to the
Speaker 1: next sermon, because someday happens every seven days. But I
Speaker 1: do write down when I preached certain things. The sermon
Speaker 1: I've preached in July twenty nineteen was from this passage
Speaker 1: called Knock Knock. All right, well, this is sort of
Speaker 1: like a sequel, But I see it differently now in
Speaker 1: the context of just what we're celebrating today and kind
Speaker 1: of the redefinition that the Church is going through in
Speaker 1: the world is going through. So I hope that you'll
Speaker 1: find an admonistion. I think I believe by faith, you
Speaker 1: will find an encouragement for yourself through this today. Verse one.
Speaker 1: It was about this time that King Herod arrested some
Speaker 1: who belonged to the Church, intending to persecute them. He
Speaker 1: had James, the brother of John, put to death with
Speaker 1: the sword. When he saw that this met with approval
Speaker 1: among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter. Also. This
Speaker 1: happened during the festival of unleavened Bread. After arresting him,
Speaker 1: he put him in prison, handing him over to be
Speaker 1: guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. He must
Speaker 1: be powerful to be under this much attack. You must
Speaker 1: be powerful to be up under this much attack. Wow.
Speaker 1: Verse five. Ah. So Peter was kept in prison. But
Speaker 1: the church, but the church, But the church, But the church.
Speaker 1: But the Church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Speaker 1: The night before Herod was to bring him to trial,
Speaker 1: Peter was sleeping between two soldiers down with two chains,
Speaker 1: and Sentry stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel
Speaker 1: of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell.
Speaker 1: It's the last minute, down to the wire, sudden death, overtime,
Speaker 1: and here comes the angel. He struck Peter on the side.
Speaker 1: What kind of angel hits you while you're asleep, blond side,
Speaker 1: and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said, and
Speaker 1: the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said
Speaker 1: to him, put on your clothes and sandals. You can't
Speaker 1: leave naked. Cover up. I got somewhere for you to
Speaker 1: go touch somebody, say, get dressed for what's next. Get
Speaker 1: dressed for what's next. Get dressed for what's next, and
Speaker 1: Peter did, so, wrap your cloak around you and follow me,
Speaker 1: the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison,
Speaker 1: but he had no idea that what the angel was
Speaker 1: doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision.
Speaker 1: They passed the first and second guards, came to the
Speaker 1: iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them
Speaker 1: by itself, and then they win through it. They went
Speaker 1: through it. That could be about you. How many of
Speaker 1: you went through it? You don't even have to tell
Speaker 1: me what it was, but you went through it. Irongate
Speaker 1: opened by itself, and they went through it, and when
Speaker 1: they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the
Speaker 1: angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said,
Speaker 1: now I know, now I know without a doubt that
Speaker 1: the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from
Speaker 1: Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping
Speaker 1: would happen, everything my enemies thought would happen, but it
Speaker 1: didn't work. That's what Peter said, How many of you
Speaker 1: have the same testimony that no weapon that was formed
Speaker 1: against you? And when this had dawned on him, he
Speaker 1: went to the house of Mary, the mother of John
Speaker 1: also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were
Speaker 1: praying just a few more verses, stay with me. Peter
Speaker 1: knocked at the outer entrance. A servant named Rhoda came
Speaker 1: to answer the door, and when she recognized Peter's voice,
Speaker 1: she was so overjoyed and excited she ran back without
Speaker 1: opening it and exclaimed, Peter's at the door. Peter's at
Speaker 1: the door, y'all, Peter's at the door. Shut up. Rhoda
Speaker 1: were praying for Peter. But Peter's at the door. You're
Speaker 1: out of your mind, they told her, and she kept insisting.
Speaker 1: She kept insisting, there's a pattern in this past I'm
Speaker 1: about to show you. When she kept insisting that it
Speaker 1: was so, they said it must be his angel because
Speaker 1: he's already dead by now. Wow, more faith to believe
Speaker 1: that his angel came to the door than that God
Speaker 1: actually answered their prayers for him. But this is the
Speaker 1: verse I'll stop on. Peter kept on knocking, y'all like that.
Speaker 1: I love that Peter kept on knocking. And when they
Speaker 1: opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. So
Speaker 1: I'll give you three titles for this message, depending on
Speaker 1: what kind of sauce level you want. If you want
Speaker 1: the mild message, title is called waiting for an Answer.
Speaker 1: That's if you're a first time guest and you need
Speaker 1: something kind of appropriate to right now. If you want
Speaker 1: something a little bit more, just a little bit more
Speaker 1: attitude on it, it could be called God's Gonna shock You. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sound like y'all want to the tongue torch. Sweet sixteen
Speaker 1: anniversary tied on? All right? Hear this? Never stop knocking? Never.
Speaker 1: If there's one thing I've learned. If there's one thing
Speaker 1: it taught me getting up here in this pulpit to
Speaker 1: preach Jesus Christ, crucify, buried, risen from the dead and
Speaker 1: soon to come again and present in this moment is
Speaker 1: never stop knocking. So put it in the chat. Never
Speaker 1: stop knock it. Put some knuckles in the chat. I
Speaker 1: will never stop knocking, you said Lord, asking it will
Speaker 1: be given seeking we will find knocking. The door will
Speaker 1: be open. We're asking in this moment that you would speak, infuse,
Speaker 1: and impart faith and courage like only you can. We
Speaker 1: thank you that we're standing in front of an open
Speaker 1: door this day. We bless you for it. In Jesus' name. Amen,
Speaker 1: you may be seated. I made y'all stand a long time,
Speaker 1: didn't I That's all right? Love you. Christian good Man.
Speaker 1: He's been with me almost all sixteen. I met him.
Speaker 1: Listen to this when I was sixteen. I've known him
Speaker 1: that long. A isn't that crazy? Asked him to start
Speaker 1: a church with me. He said, nope, he did. We
Speaker 1: were actually not the start. We were kind of already started.
Speaker 1: I said, Chris, come out here and be my worship leader.
Speaker 1: When the church started. I'm gonna tell you a few
Speaker 1: old men today, just once a year. But I was
Speaker 1: the worship leader, singing songs like these are the days
Speaker 1: of Elijah declaring the word of the Lord, and these
Speaker 1: are the days of somebody else in the Bible. It
Speaker 1: was too much, though, like trying to lead worship. Plus
Speaker 1: I knew that God would send people. I asked Chris.
Speaker 1: He said, nope, I'm going to Nashville. I told him,
Speaker 1: why don't should come here, build a church and make
Speaker 1: Nashville come to us. That's true, isn't it. They're looking
Speaker 1: at me like I'm some kind of liar up here.
Speaker 1: You didn't say that I did. I say, you can
Speaker 1: go to Nashville and maybe you make it, or maybe
Speaker 1: you're a roofer in three years, and come here and
Speaker 1: build a church, write songs for people that they can
Speaker 1: sing that will make them. And the first songs that
Speaker 1: we wrote here sucked, but they've gotten better and better
Speaker 1: and better. Never stop knock him because he told me no.
Speaker 1: But I just you know, I have techniques that here
Speaker 1: we are now that dude's been nominated for multiple Grammys.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, He said, Can I change
Speaker 1: my answer? I said, yeah, I'm desperate. I'll still take you.
Speaker 1: I have no pride. Everybody I started, well, it's kind
Speaker 1: of a contrast. We're skinner. Yeah. I had him on standby,
Speaker 1: come here, because I was like, I told him to
Speaker 1: be on standby. I told him be ready to preach today.
Speaker 1: But I'm using to preach. But he's not. He's not
Speaker 1: gonna have to say anything. I asked him. I said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to start a church. And here's the kicker.
Speaker 1: I don't know where, and it is what he said.
Speaker 1: I'm going with with, not not I'm going with you
Speaker 1: just some Minnesota grammar. I guess that's how they talk
Speaker 1: in Minnesota. Bad grammar, great faith. I'm going with Now,
Speaker 1: this guy chunks, come here. Can you make it up
Speaker 1: the stairs? Y'all? He's only like forty five, but he's
Speaker 1: got so many injuries. This is like my this is
Speaker 1: like my euro man. I love him so much. He's
Speaker 1: like my guy. If he ever told me he would
Speaker 1: stop doing it, I would tie him up and not
Speaker 1: let him leave. I'll put him in the trunk. But
Speaker 1: he was different. I said, I want you to start
Speaker 1: the church with me, and he was, I'll pray about it.
Speaker 1: You remember that list. You pulled me in the Sunday
Speaker 1: school room and you had a list. Now, now, how
Speaker 1: about this? And how about that? How about that? He
Speaker 1: wanted answers, Right, I need some answers. What about this?
Speaker 1: And what about that? Bo was amazing because even though
Speaker 1: I couldn't answer give him any of his answers that
Speaker 1: he wanted. In the absence of answers, he chose faith
Speaker 1: at the last minute, like in the passage where the
Speaker 1: angel showed up on the night. Couldn't you have showed
Speaker 1: up three nights before I was about to get my
Speaker 1: head cut off. Angel? But sometimes at the last minute,
Speaker 1: and I had already given up on you. And Holly said,
Speaker 1: wait for him. He's worth waiting for. He's worth waiting for.
Speaker 1: He's supposed to be your guy's worth waiting for. I said,
Speaker 1: I need an answer. How many of you have been
Speaker 1: in a position lately where you say I need an answer.
Speaker 1: I need an answer from God. I need an answer
Speaker 1: from someone, he said. He said, I'm praying about it.
Speaker 1: I said, I need an answer by noon on Thursday.
Speaker 1: I gotta have an answer because I got to move
Speaker 1: on because God has called me to do this. And
Speaker 1: if you want to do it with me. I really
Speaker 1: want you to do with me, but you don't do
Speaker 1: it with me. I gotta find somebody else, and the
Speaker 1: w me my second choice. But I gotta do it
Speaker 1: because God told me to do it. You got to
Speaker 1: noon Thursday, eleven fifty seven am on that Thursday, my
Speaker 1: motorola ring. This is this is an anniversary. So we're
Speaker 1: just telling old stories. And I said, I said, hey,
Speaker 1: he said I'm in. We're in, and he and Amy
Speaker 1: have been with us ever since. That's cool, y'all give
Speaker 1: them a little bigger hand than that. For all the
Speaker 1: faith that it puts. People go on pretend like y'all
Speaker 1: are those two guards that Peter was chained to. All right,
Speaker 1: for a moment, just go with me here and think
Speaker 1: about what kind of faith it took for Peter in
Speaker 1: the passage to sleep while they were deciding whether or
Speaker 1: not he would live. And think about who Peter was
Speaker 1: and the kind of personality that he had in other
Speaker 1: passages of scripture, and realize what a miracle it is
Speaker 1: for the same disciple who ran down into the stern
Speaker 1: of the ship one time in a storm and said, Jesus,
Speaker 1: why are you sleeping? We're about to die and you
Speaker 1: don't care. Think about the transformation that has happened in
Speaker 1: these years and the spirit that has empowered Peter to
Speaker 1: be able to sleep between two guards. Actually it was
Speaker 1: sixteen guards, wasn't it that I read that right? It was?
Speaker 1: It wasn't a sweet sixteen It was four squads of
Speaker 1: four soldiers that sixteen guards, sixteen people for one Peter.
Speaker 1: What kind of power was in Peter? What kind of
Speaker 1: power is in you? Because you've been through some things
Speaker 1: and you've been asking God for answers. Faith is the
Speaker 1: ability sometimes to lay down and sleep and let Faith
Speaker 1: answer the questions. I'm picturing Peter's sleeping, and I'm realizing
Speaker 1: in scripture that this is not the first time that
Speaker 1: we've seen Peter asleep in the Bible. In the garden
Speaker 1: of Gathsemone, y'all remember it. Raise your hand if you
Speaker 1: remember the garden of Gethsemone, that place before Jesus went
Speaker 1: to the cross where he gave his father an unqualified yes. Now, remember,
Speaker 1: he asked God, if it's possible take this cup away
Speaker 1: from me as he went to pay the price for
Speaker 1: your sin, my sin. As he went to take on
Speaker 1: the punishment that we rightly deserved. As he went to
Speaker 1: be the sacrifice to atone for our sin, not trying
Speaker 1: to use a bunch of fancy words, just to let
Speaker 1: you know that, he canceled the debt that was stood
Speaker 1: against us. But it cost him. It cost him, And
Speaker 1: as he considered encountered that cost, he prayed, and he
Speaker 1: asked God, if there's any other way take this cup
Speaker 1: from me. God did not answer by removing the cup
Speaker 1: of suffering. He answered by filling Jesus with the strength
Speaker 1: to endure what he had to do. And so for
Speaker 1: the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising
Speaker 1: its shame, and then sat down at the right hand
Speaker 1: of God. So if Jesus is seated, I can sleep Helvy,
Speaker 1: my goodness, I feel like preaching to this, Oh, I
Speaker 1: can sleep through anything. When I know that he's seated,
Speaker 1: I can sleep through anything. I can rest through anything.
Speaker 1: You know. In the garden of gethsemone, while Jesus prayed,
Speaker 1: Peter slept, and he said, wake up. My soul is
Speaker 1: in anguish. He's sweating like drops of blood, and Peter's sleeping.
Speaker 1: He said that the spirit is willing, but the flesh
Speaker 1: is weak. Peter was sleeping out of weakness in the garden,
Speaker 1: but he's not I'm sleeping out of weakness in Acts
Speaker 1: chapter twelve. He's sleeping from a place of knowing that
Speaker 1: I am seated in heavenly places with Jesus. And if
Speaker 1: I'm seated with him, it doesn't matter what Herod has planned.
Speaker 1: It matters what God has purpose for my life. That's
Speaker 1: how he slept, all right. I need to sit y'all
Speaker 1: down before LB tackles me on this stage. I'm good
Speaker 1: with y'all. I might call you back. I might not.
Speaker 1: I hadn't decided yet. But no matter what, we come
Speaker 1: to this text in Acts chapter twelve looking for we
Speaker 1: certainly find an incredible picture of persistence. Persistence. On one hand,
Speaker 1: the passage is about peace. That Peter has peace to
Speaker 1: sleep on the worst night of his life. And y'all,
Speaker 1: they didn't have lu nesta in Acts chapter twelve. Isn't
Speaker 1: that the sleep medicine. Peter didn't even have a white
Speaker 1: noise on his iPhone to put on the white noise
Speaker 1: that I'm thinking that this is a passage about peace
Speaker 1: and persistent. Can remember that the church was earnestly praying.
Speaker 1: I think the word earnestly is important because we let's
Speaker 1: be honest, and I know there's like five prayer warriors
Speaker 1: in this room, but for the other thousands of us,
Speaker 1: we passively pray. Okay, I'm gonna say it stronger because
Speaker 1: y'all are real fake right now, we worry out loud
Speaker 1: and call it prayer too strong. I'm backing off, backing
Speaker 1: off a dance celebration. We we give God our grocery list,
Speaker 1: like he's in Stacart. Holly said last week or whatever
Speaker 1: week she preached, she said that was such a good thing,
Speaker 1: she said, she said, telling God what to do is
Speaker 1: not praying. I was like, who are you? I like
Speaker 1: what you just said, and you are right, and I
Speaker 1: had done that and it's exactly right. And you know,
Speaker 1: the church is praying for Peter, but it doesn't say
Speaker 1: what they were praying about for Peter. And remember, although
Speaker 1: the passage gets kind of funny, it doesn't start funny.
Speaker 1: It It not only takes place in the time of famine.
Speaker 1: There was there was a feminine xt chapter eleven you
Speaker 1: can read about. But if this is chronologically, If if
Speaker 1: this is chronological, the next thing in sequence than at
Speaker 1: the same time that the church in Jerusalem is recovering
Speaker 1: from famine, Herod is persecuting the church, and he has
Speaker 1: just killed James. Do you think the church prayed for James?
Speaker 1: So understand when it says they are earnestly praying for Peter.
Speaker 1: That takes more faith when you've just lost James. Have
Speaker 1: you ever had to pray and ask God and believe
Speaker 1: God and trust God when he didn't answer the last
Speaker 1: thing that you prayed for. That's hard, whether we will
Speaker 1: admit it or not. Our faith deteriorates when our expectations
Speaker 1: are not met. I wrote a book called Sunstand Still
Speaker 1: early in the church. Y'all didn't even read that one.
Speaker 1: Go get that book and you will hear. You will
Speaker 1: hear my version of faith before I lost my dad
Speaker 1: to als. I don't take it back. I believe God
Speaker 1: can do anything. I haven't changed what I believe about God.
Speaker 1: It's just that on the other side of some unanswered prayers.
Speaker 1: Because you don't think I asked God to heal my dad.
Speaker 1: You don't think I asked him for a miracle and
Speaker 1: sat by his bed and watched him breathe his last breath. Anyway,
Speaker 1: and then it becomes a challenge. The next time you're
Speaker 1: faced with something that seems impossible, you are tasked with
Speaker 1: having to believe God on the other side of your
Speaker 1: last unanswered prayer. I think what really draws me into
Speaker 1: this text for our anniversary on this day because I
Speaker 1: prayed a lot about it. I mean, I think I've
Speaker 1: got sermons for the next year, just that I went
Speaker 1: through looking for this one for today because I wanted
Speaker 1: to see God, what do you want me to say
Speaker 1: to our church? What do you want me to say
Speaker 1: to them as individuals? What do you want me to
Speaker 1: say about the moment that we're in kind of on
Speaker 1: the other side, maybe of a pandemic. Maybe my favorite
Speaker 1: word of twenty twenty and twenty twenty one and twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two is maybe now I got that, maybe faith
Speaker 1: that in maybe this or maybe that. And the problem
Speaker 1: is as a leader, people want answers, and we don't
Speaker 1: have any right now. In the absence of answers, what
Speaker 1: grows could be either one for you could be cynicism.
Speaker 1: Some of you have gotten really really mean the last
Speaker 1: two years because in the absence of answers, you have
Speaker 1: allowed anger to grow. I'm mad that I can't control it.
Speaker 1: I'm mad that nobody will tell me what to do.
Speaker 1: I'm mad that I'm wearing a mask and they're not,
Speaker 1: or they're wearing a mask and I'm not. I'm mad
Speaker 1: that I don't know whether to wear a mask. I'm
Speaker 1: mad that you're looking at me because I'm wearing a mask.
Speaker 1: I'm mad that you're looking at me because I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm mad because I can't figure out with somebody tell
Speaker 1: me what to do. I need answers. When's the church
Speaker 1: going to open back up? I heard that for a year.
Speaker 1: I was like, it's still open. It's still open. I
Speaker 1: said that all through the pandemic. What you mean when
Speaker 1: is oh, oh oh, We've never been through anything like
Speaker 1: this before. Herod was cutting off heads in the church
Speaker 1: for vail. We are we are so silly, we are
Speaker 1: so silly. We think it's the first time that there
Speaker 1: has ever been unanswered questions in the history of the
Speaker 1: Christian faith. That's one reason I like this passage is
Speaker 1: because they're still praying in the face of a prayer
Speaker 1: that God just didn't answer. The miscarriage, the end of
Speaker 1: the relationship, the addiction that they went back to the
Speaker 1: relapse give us a little different shade of meaning, doesn't
Speaker 1: it When I said the church is earnestly praying to
Speaker 1: know that James just had his head cut off and
Speaker 1: there's no expectation that anything different will happen to Peter.
Speaker 1: That's a dangerous place because in that place, if the
Speaker 1: devil knocks in that place and tries to tell you
Speaker 1: this is how it will always be, you can't really
Speaker 1: believe all that stuff that you were singing about mountains
Speaker 1: moving and chains breaking. God doesn't really do that stuff,
Speaker 1: or he does it for other people or not for you.
Speaker 1: It can deteriorate your faith. I am impressed by how
Speaker 1: this church in Acts twelve and this global body of
Speaker 1: believers that I'm speaking to around the world never stop
Speaker 1: knocking in the midst of a global pandemic. That's amazing
Speaker 1: to me. It might not be amazing to you. But
Speaker 1: I have other friends who pastor churches, and they're not
Speaker 1: pastors anymore because while they were pastoring in the pandemic,
Speaker 1: their church wasn't supporting them. I don't have that deestimony.
Speaker 1: That's why I can cry if I think about it,
Speaker 1: Because y'all kept knocking that blesses my heart. Do you
Speaker 1: know what that means to me? To know we'll go online,
Speaker 1: we'll go in the building, we'll do whatever we have
Speaker 1: to do, We'll do whatever needs to be done. And so,
Speaker 1: what can the devil do with the church that won't
Speaker 1: stop knocking even if James Head gets caught off? Question?
Speaker 1: What can the devil do with a believer that won't
Speaker 1: stop believing even when the worst case scenario is on
Speaker 1: your doorstep? What can the devil do with the faith
Speaker 1: that can't sleep but to a sixty soldiers, never stop,
Speaker 1: Never stop, because sometimes you've got to knock and say, God,
Speaker 1: it's me again. Remember me. Sometimes you gotta get on
Speaker 1: God's nerves. Sometimes you gotta call God until you think
Speaker 1: he's about to block your number. Sometimes you gotta stalk
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. Ah, don't take your joy from me. Ah,
Speaker 1: I will not. I'll prove it to you with the Bible.
Speaker 1: Jacob said, I will not let go unless you bless me.
Speaker 1: If I wrestle all night, if it cost me my popularity,
Speaker 1: if I have to let go of some things, I
Speaker 1: want to see God's Kingdom come in my life. Never
Speaker 1: stop knocking, Never stop knocking, Never stop believing that it
Speaker 1: can still happen. I said, still, that means you have
Speaker 1: a reason to believe it can't. Now, Jesus said, asking
Speaker 1: it will be given to you. Seek and you will
Speaker 1: find knock and the door be open. Here's problem, Matthews.
Speaker 1: Have to seven verse seven. You read that like it's
Speaker 1: a one time thing. You read that like you said, tap,
Speaker 1: I didn't come to preach about a soft knock. This
Speaker 1: is a message for the hard knocks, when you have
Speaker 1: had the crap beat out of you, when you have
Speaker 1: had the mess beat up, when you have had your
Speaker 1: faith tried, just trying to bring everybody together. I don't
Speaker 1: want to beat devised when you have been through it.
Speaker 1: Don't try to get God to explain it. What blew
Speaker 1: my mind about this text. Sit down, JJ, he's excited
Speaker 1: is if Peter had been me, I don't think he
Speaker 1: would have gotten out of prison. And if Peter had
Speaker 1: been some of us, he would have stood at the
Speaker 1: door for three days. The sixteen soldiers would attracted him
Speaker 1: down and cut off his head, even though God set
Speaker 1: him free. But it said Peter kept on knocking. When
Speaker 1: it really matters to you, you knock even through the
Speaker 1: no when it matters. Peter had been with Jesus, he'd
Speaker 1: been filled with spirit. He preached on Day of Pentecost.
Speaker 1: He's come too far to just no three tons bupah booh, book.
Speaker 1: Peter's knocking his yell. I know he was yelling too,
Speaker 1: because it said that she recognized his voice. Let me in.
Speaker 1: God is waiting to hear your voice. He's waiting for
Speaker 1: you to call on him. Mother's prayers can only take
Speaker 1: you so far. God wants to hear your voice quits.
Speaker 1: May twenty twenty two be the year that you stop
Speaker 1: standing there during worship thinking it's a concert. I don't
Speaker 1: care who's up here singing. God wants to hear your
Speaker 1: voice off key one note, you are enough one note,
Speaker 1: one note? How many one note knockers do I have?
Speaker 1: Somebody said doe, because God is not looking for my melody.
Speaker 1: God wants to see me move move, So let me
Speaker 1: pretend like I'm the angel for a minute. Okay, they
Speaker 1: were the guards. I was Peter. Now I'm the angel.
Speaker 1: This is the only time in the whole week that
Speaker 1: I would compare myself to an angel. Trust me about that.
Speaker 1: But get up. That's what the angel did you know?
Speaker 1: That picture of the angel that you have up in
Speaker 1: your house, that little precious angel. This angel, this angel
Speaker 1: had this This angel looks like a UFC fighter. All right,
Speaker 1: get up, get dressed. I want to show you this
Speaker 1: verse because I want to show you why most of
Speaker 1: us stay in prison. We stay in prison to ourselves.
Speaker 1: We stay in prison to our we stay in prison
Speaker 1: to our past, we stay in prison to our preference. Says,
Speaker 1: we stay in prison to our pain. Am I preaching?
Speaker 1: Is it just that anniversary anointing? Because I read through
Speaker 1: what the angel told Peter, and I noticed something about
Speaker 1: the interaction that's different than how I relate to God.
Speaker 1: This angel, by the way, I want to be serious
Speaker 1: about the angel. For a moment, it represents an appearance
Speaker 1: of God. But Peter doesn't know that yet, and that's
Speaker 1: important to point out. You won't always know that it's God.
Speaker 1: In fact, sometimes you'll think the opposite. If somebody hits me,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's an angel. Isn't that crazy? God
Speaker 1: shows up in the first thing he does bah and
Speaker 1: some of us have been through the BAB Have you
Speaker 1: been through the BAP? What if that's not the devil?
Speaker 1: What if that's the angel. What if that slap across
Speaker 1: the face lovingly is from your good, good love a father.
Speaker 1: What if he loves you enough that he would rather
Speaker 1: strike you than allow the enemy to slay you. Now,
Speaker 1: don't try this at home. But this is an aggressive angel.
Speaker 1: It's an aggressive attempt to get Peter free. And the
Speaker 1: angel doesn't have time to explain to Peter. So Peter
Speaker 1: just has to move forward by faith without explanations. Say
Speaker 1: all three of us move forward by faith without explanations.
Speaker 1: And here's what it says. He struck Peter seven part
Speaker 1: by on the side, woke him up. Quick get up,
Speaker 1: he said, and the chains fell off Peter's dress, and
Speaker 1: just had to put on your clothes and sandals, Peter did,
Speaker 1: So wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the
Speaker 1: angel told her. So I wrote some notes about that.
Speaker 1: Here's what I would have said to each of those commands.
Speaker 1: There are three. Quick get up, I would have said,
Speaker 1: how I'm chained to these guards? How do you expect
Speaker 1: me to get up when I'm chained to something bigger
Speaker 1: than me? Have you ever felt like that? How you
Speaker 1: expect me to get up when I'm chained to something
Speaker 1: bigger than me? So I would have said, how notice this,
Speaker 1: Peter got up and then the chains fell off, not
Speaker 1: the other way around. You know how I wanted to work.
Speaker 1: The chains fall off, then I'll get up. God just
Speaker 1: give me the desire and I'll obate. No, No, you obey,
Speaker 1: and you develop the desire as you obey. That's why
Speaker 1: you can't say things like I'm just not one of
Speaker 1: those kind of people and limit yourself to your current
Speaker 1: state of progress, because the freedom comes through obedience. How
Speaker 1: many of you have been delivered from something in your
Speaker 1: life that one time you thought is stronger than me.
Speaker 1: I'll never be free of this, And now, by the
Speaker 1: grace of God, you're free. You didn't get free by
Speaker 1: asking more questions. You got free by taking action. True,
Speaker 1: so you reached out to somebody, you went to God
Speaker 1: with it. You prayed, you not, but you did more
Speaker 1: than that. There was something that you did, and there
Speaker 1: is something that God is giving you to do right now,
Speaker 1: not something not not an explanation. Because Peter could have said,
Speaker 1: how's this, how am I supposed to get up? I'm
Speaker 1: happy sleep, the guards are here. No, he got up
Speaker 1: and the chains fell. He didn't get an answer. He
Speaker 1: just took an action. How good is that? How good
Speaker 1: is that? Because he could he could have waited for
Speaker 1: an answer until his head was rolling on the floor
Speaker 1: next to James, but he acted. I don't know what
Speaker 1: that means to you, but I know that I never
Speaker 1: get anywhere by waiting for God to explain everything. Never. Oh,
Speaker 1: I do actually get somewhere. It's a nice little town
Speaker 1: called Depression, USA, Anxiety, North America. That's where I end up.
Speaker 1: That's the only place that ever takes me. Then then
Speaker 1: the angel says something else makes no sense. He said,
Speaker 1: put on your clothes and sandals. Now I'm going to
Speaker 1: ask why for what? So I can look good for
Speaker 1: my execution. So then we ask why. Now, what's the
Speaker 1: point why? Well, Peter has learned a lot because he
Speaker 1: used to be that why guy. He used to be
Speaker 1: the one always questioning, confronting Jesus. This passage is so
Speaker 1: much richer if you know Peter's natural personality, because it
Speaker 1: gives you hope that anybody can change. He was the
Speaker 1: craziest one of all of all of these disciples. He
Speaker 1: was the one that he is the dumbest one too.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he was telling Jesus stuff like you can't go
Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. They're going to kill you, and Jesus is
Speaker 1: like new Sledge. I told you three times I have
Speaker 1: to die. That's why I came, because you're a sinner
Speaker 1: and I got to save you. If I don't bleed,
Speaker 1: you don't get a breakthrough. So you better let me go. Now.
Speaker 1: He's just doing what God's telling him to in the
Speaker 1: absence of answers. The Angel didn't say good news, we're
Speaker 1: getting out of jail. He just said get up, then
Speaker 1: show you everything all at once. One guy asked me
Speaker 1: the other day, this is funny, So what's the ten
Speaker 1: year plan for elevation Church. I wanted to say back,
Speaker 1: I'm looking for it ten minute plan for elevation Church,
Speaker 1: because that's crazy right now, and none of us really
Speaker 1: know all of the outcomes of how things are going
Speaker 1: to be. And it takes faith to stand up here
Speaker 1: and preach to you people every week because you want answers,
Speaker 1: and all I have to give you is commands from
Speaker 1: God's word, not from my mouth. But the promises of
Speaker 1: God are not automatic either, So he acts on the
Speaker 1: first one, he acts on the second one. I think
Speaker 1: that's a beautiful scripture put on your clothes and sandals
Speaker 1: verse eight. And Peter did so, I would have said
Speaker 1: why he just did? So? This is how we can
Speaker 1: take as a model for our unanswered questions. Could be
Speaker 1: anything God, when am I going to have somebody? Or God,
Speaker 1: when is this going to turn around? Are God? When's
Speaker 1: it gonna happen? But you'll get your head cut off
Speaker 1: if you stay stuck in how And if you stay
Speaker 1: stuck in why. This is the third thing, This might
Speaker 1: be the biggest, the hardest one of all. Y'all wrap
Speaker 1: your cloak around you verse eight and follow me. Now,
Speaker 1: what would you have asked? Where he said I'm going with?
Speaker 1: I would have been like, as long as the temperature
Speaker 1: is good and the job market is solid and the
Speaker 1: cost of living is love. But I love LB because
Speaker 1: he just said I'm going with. And that's what reminded
Speaker 1: me of Peter Lbe. You remind me of Peter because
Speaker 1: you do dumb stuff sometimes. This man, this man almost
Speaker 1: drove through the gate of a storage unit to get
Speaker 1: a prop that I needed one Sunday because he couldn't
Speaker 1: get the code in. He was backing up the truck
Speaker 1: to run into the gate. So you're kind of dumb,
Speaker 1: but I like you because you will do it. You
Speaker 1: will do it, you will do it. He said, I'm
Speaker 1: going with where with Peter is going. Peter is going
Speaker 1: with the Angel, So you gotta let God know I'm
Speaker 1: going with I'm going with Even if Psalm twenty three
Speaker 1: becomes a reality, Yay, though I walk through the valley
Speaker 1: of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil.
Speaker 1: Why because you are with me. Say it out loud.
Speaker 1: God is with me, and that's my confidence. And that's
Speaker 1: what I know, and that's how I hold on in
Speaker 1: this season, and that's why I'm not gonna let my
Speaker 1: head hang low. That's why I'm not gonna have a
Speaker 1: panic attack about this. That's why I'm not going to
Speaker 1: control the situation by human means and flesh. That's why
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna send in Abraham to sleep with Hagar
Speaker 1: and try to produce a promise from God in human strength,
Speaker 1: because God is with me and the Angel took him
Speaker 1: out of the gate. Let's don't even stop and preach
Speaker 1: about the gate open by itself, how it was motion activated.
Speaker 1: I wonder if some of the things I'm not going
Speaker 1: to preach this point, but I could that You're standing
Speaker 1: there waiting for an answer, and God is waiting for
Speaker 1: an action, and it's like the church is praying knocking.
Speaker 1: That's how prayers described to Matthew seven. Ask to begin
Speaker 1: and seek you' find knock the door be open. They're praying,
Speaker 1: which is a kind of knocking. While they are knocking
Speaker 1: on God's door. God is knocking on theirs. Right now.
Speaker 1: Peter's at the door and he knocks, and there's no answer.
Speaker 1: They have no idea that what they're praying for actually happen.
Speaker 1: So I'll tell you why. I really was crying when
Speaker 1: I came up here for the little opening song. And
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about it, but I will,
Speaker 1: because I'm standing in an answered prayer. Not only this
Speaker 1: church that the Lord Jesus allows us to pastor, but
Speaker 1: all the times that I stood in this church with
Speaker 1: you and I needed God to Preachers have prisons. Peter's
Speaker 1: not the only one. You're not the only one. I
Speaker 1: stood and had to sing songs of lyrics that I
Speaker 1: wrote while I was laughing at the reality that they
Speaker 1: could even be true. It's almost laughable that they're praying
Speaker 1: for the one who's standing at the door and they
Speaker 1: don't want to interrupt their prayer meeting to praise God
Speaker 1: for the answer. And the Lord said to me today,
Speaker 1: because you know, hey, man, I got a sermon to preach,
Speaker 1: and I got another one to preach after that, and
Speaker 1: another one to preach. He said, pause for a moment
Speaker 1: in between knocks about what's next, and take a moment
Speaker 1: to notice what I've already done. In other words, open
Speaker 1: the door. I prayed for Holly while she was going
Speaker 1: through things, and I was standing next to her holding
Speaker 1: her hand today while we were singing do it again,
Speaker 1: And we sang that song all different times. We sang
Speaker 1: it when the media was saying that we were a
Speaker 1: cult and that we were putting liquor in the communion
Speaker 1: cups or whatever the people said about us through the years,
Speaker 1: putting water slides in the church, all kinds of crap
Speaker 1: people said. And really, y'all, really, really really really really,
Speaker 1: if they can through that, surely we can make it
Speaker 1: through anything together if we don't stop knocking it. Some
Speaker 1: things you need to sleep through. Other things you need
Speaker 1: to act on. Some things you need to pray about,
Speaker 1: other things you need to act on. Now, what if
Speaker 1: the Lord, this is my final question. I really could
Speaker 1: preach all day because I get excited. I didn't hear
Speaker 1: much enthusiasm about that wrap it up pastor heard there's
Speaker 1: pizza out there, some weird And yet maybe when I
Speaker 1: finished preaching today, you could take a moment in between
Speaker 1: all the knocking that you've been doing, all the changes
Speaker 1: that you need God to make, all the things that
Speaker 1: you're asking God, and you know, maybe you're not even
Speaker 1: asked God for I personally think that the church wasn't
Speaker 1: even asking God to keep Peter alive. I think they
Speaker 1: were asking that He would give Peter peace, and that's
Speaker 1: why Peter was sleeping. So my favorite verse, y'all, has
Speaker 1: been for years. This is the one that I put
Speaker 1: in Remember JJ, when I signed your book, Ephesians three twenty,
Speaker 1: is that what I put in your book. He stood
Speaker 1: in the back. He's the campus pastor at Valentine. He
Speaker 1: stood in the back of a book line at Liberty
Speaker 1: University where I was speaking because he wanted to say
Speaker 1: thank you for the ministry of Elevation Church. He stood
Speaker 1: there for I don't know how long, till everybody was gone,
Speaker 1: and I put Ephesians three twenty and he said he
Speaker 1: was from Toronto, GTA, and I took that as greater
Speaker 1: things ahead, GTA, because I'm corny. I'm corny, and I
Speaker 1: put GTA greater things ahead Ephesians three twenty. Now, unto
Speaker 1: him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask.
Speaker 1: All right, let he who has ears, she who has
Speaker 1: ears to hear, hear what I'm about to say next.
Speaker 1: Exceedingly more is at the door right now. Let he
Speaker 1: that has an ear to hear hear what the spirit
Speaker 1: is saying to the church, because they're praying on this level.
Speaker 1: God help Peter before he dies to feel your presence.
Speaker 1: And God's like, Nah, I'm gonna one up you on that.
Speaker 1: Watch this. I'm gonna give you what you didn't even
Speaker 1: think to ask me for because you didn't think it
Speaker 1: was possible. If you don't stop knocking, watch this. If
Speaker 1: you will be like in this season of your life,
Speaker 1: you can't be like one of these little weak Christians
Speaker 1: that the first time something happens that you have to
Speaker 1: park at the back of the parking lot in Target,
Speaker 1: you say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Speaker 1: This is my God, simony. Nevertheless, not my will, but
Speaker 1: yours be done. You can't go out of this church.
Speaker 1: And the first time you feel a bad feeling, or
Speaker 1: think of bad thought, or get a temptation, you'll just
Speaker 1: give into it. You gotta be one of those who
Speaker 1: won't stop knocking. By the grace of God, something more
Speaker 1: is at the door. I will live and not die.
Speaker 1: I will live and not die. And the gates of
Speaker 1: hell will not free them. Come on, let's give him
Speaker 1: sixty seconds. Afraid. Come on, worship teams, get out there,
Speaker 1: get out here. Come on, come on, come on, come up,
Speaker 1: Come on, come on, give them a great price. Let's
Speaker 1: knock on the door of heaven. Let's knock on the
Speaker 1: door of heaven. Come on, get your fist in the air.
Speaker 1: Like this, God said, never stop nothing, never stop nothing,
Speaker 1: never stop knocking. Hey, road out after the door. Peter
Speaker 1: is alive. And I declare, by the grace of God
Speaker 1: that upon this rock God will build his church. And
Speaker 1: guess who Jesus said back to Peter every time Peter
Speaker 1: knocked on that door, And let the devil know. God
Speaker 1: is still building now. I'm preaching to people today who
Speaker 1: are not perfect, but are persistent. And that's how I
Speaker 1: feel about this church. Maybe we can make a T
Speaker 1: shirt that says this not perfect but persistent. Actually don't
Speaker 1: make the listen. That sounded better in my head, but
Speaker 1: it's good for a sermon. And Peter kept knocking. God
Speaker 1: might shock you some of the things that you thought
Speaker 1: were as good as dead. I know sometimes you have
Speaker 1: to let it go. James did lose his head. God
Speaker 1: wanted to give us a side by side example that
Speaker 1: whether it ends the way you didn't want it to,
Speaker 1: or whether you have unanswered questions and you don't know
Speaker 1: what's going to happen tomorrow morning, never stop knocking, no
Speaker 1: matter what you feel through mental illness, never stop knocking.
Speaker 1: Get a doctor, get new friends, get a new pattern.
Speaker 1: Take some time, but don't stop praying just because you've
Speaker 1: been through pain. And in the absence of answers, sometimes
Speaker 1: the greatest faith grows. I want to sing build your
Speaker 1: Church one time on our anniversary again, across all of
Speaker 1: our locations. I want us to sing it in defiance
Speaker 1: of everything the devil did to try to take you out,
Speaker 1: but to let him know we're still knocking. We're still knocking. Well, Lord,
Speaker 1: you bless me today. I don't know who else the
Speaker 1: word was for, but I receive it. Lift your hands
Speaker 1: if you receive it. Father, I thank you for moms
Speaker 1: and dads and sons and daughters who, although like Peter,
Speaker 1: might be sleeping between some situations that make them really
Speaker 1: scared right now and make them really sad right now,
Speaker 1: that between that place where the church was praying in
Speaker 1: the place where Peter was in prison, your grace made
Speaker 1: the difference. I just declare your grace over every home,
Speaker 1: over every person who's joining right now online. I speak
Speaker 1: your peace into their home. God, I speak your power
Speaker 1: in our soul that would be strengthen in our inner man.
Speaker 1: I thank you Lord, that strength is rising up by
Speaker 1: faith through the preached word of God today. And we're
Speaker 1: gonna say it like Peter said to the angel. We're
Speaker 1: gonna say it like LB said it to me. We're
Speaker 1: going with. We're going with. We thank you that there
Speaker 1: are angels all around us right now. We thank you
Speaker 1: that your spirit is inside of us. We declare what
Speaker 1: Jesus said, Lift those hands, hide, say aloud, the gates
Speaker 1: of hell will not prevail upon this rock. You build
Speaker 1: your church. Let's sing at one time like it's our birthday.
Speaker 1: Come on church, Lift a mighty shot of praise. Well,
Speaker 1: if you enjoy today's podcast, there are a couple things
Speaker 1: I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevation Church dot org, slash
Speaker 1: give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.