WEBVTT - There’s A Hole In Your Story 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.439 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:06.920 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.280 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:12.360 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.040 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.560 So thankful that you're here today, and I am going 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:23.680 to go ahead. I normally have you stand to read 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:28.040 the scripture. It's nineteen versus today, so go ahead and 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:30.520 sit down and we'll take us slow. God bless you. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:36.320 My scripture from today's point of view is Acts chapter eleven. 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:43.839 This sermon will probably take two weeks to preach. We 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:48.040 did it last night. The Lord showed up. I thought 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.560 he did till nobody said that was here last night. Yeah, 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:58.400 to me, he showed up. And so we probably won't 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:03.680 get to the entire message today. But in Acts chapter eleven, 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:09.520 it's a very unique and pivotal story as the Gospel 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.640 is going forward through the ministry of the Early Church, 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.920 where it says in verse one, the apostles and the 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:20.160 believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:24.200 the Word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem. 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:30.119 The circumcised believers criticized him and said, you went into 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:36.880 the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them. Starting 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.440 from the beginning verse four, Peter told them the whole story. 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.240 Here it is. I was in the city of Japa praying, 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.360 and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.080 something like a large sheet being let down from heaven 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.520 by its four corners, and it came down to where 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:55.080 I was. I looked into it. Oh, I'll touch somebody 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.480 and say look into it. Yeah. I looked into it 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:03.160 and saw four footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.440 and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me get up, Peter, 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.080 kill and eat. I replied, surely not, Lord. How are 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.320 you gonna say no and call him Lord in the 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:19.919 same sentence, that's crazy. Nothing impure or unclean has ever 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.320 entered my mouth. And the voice spoke from heaven a 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:29.040 second time. Oh, thank God for second chances, third chances, 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.000 fourth chances. Can I get a fifth chance? Six chance, 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:38.840 seven chances, eight chance? Do not call anything impure that 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.120 God has made clean. This happened three times, and then 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.760 it was all pulled up to heaven again. Right then 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.040 three men who had been sent to me from cesarea, 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:48.160 stopped at the house where I was staying, and the 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.760 Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:54.480 These six brothers also went with me, and we entered 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:56.480 the man's house, and he told us how he had 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.800 seen an angel appear in the house and say, send 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.359 a joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He will 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.560 bring you a message through which you and all your 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.360 households will be saved. Now I began to speak, the 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.840 Holy Spirit came on them, and he had come on 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:10.880 us to begin in the same way. Then I remembered 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.320 what the Lord turned a page has said, John baptized 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.640 with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.840 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us, 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.000 who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:34.359 to think that I could stand in God's way if 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:36.640 you would nudge your neighbor gently and say get out 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:42.880 of God's way. When they heard this, they had no 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:47.560 further objections your honor and praised God, saying so then, 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:53.240 even to gentiles, God has granted repentance that leads to life. 0:03:53.320 --> 0:04:00.640 So we've gone from in verse one. We've gone from 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:02.080 What did I write down? I wrote it in my 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.560 nose because I was seeing it before I came out. Oh, 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:10.200 we went from protest to praise, from protests to praise. 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.480 But that's not the title of my message. The title 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:17.599 of my message hinges on verse four. Starting from the beginning, 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:23.560 Peter told them the whole story. Starting from the beginning, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.640 Peter told them the whole story. Now, look at your 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:29.680 neighbor and give them my title. Say I'm not calling 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:35.760 you a liar. I promise I'm not. But there's a 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:40.640 hole in your story. Come on, say it like you're 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:44.040 on CSI and they've been in the interrogation room all 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.920 night and the coffee is cold. Look at them again 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.680 and say there's a hole in your story. Look at 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:55.120 your other neighbors, Say there's a hole in your story. 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:01.240 A story within a story, acts Chapter eleven. It's really 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.359 about the purpose of God, but it's told through the 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:09.160 perspective of Peter, through the writing of Luke. For Theophilus 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.600 to describe simultaneously both the ministry of Peter and the 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:17.479 purpose of God. Did you know that your story is 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:22.479 a story within a story. There's always a story within 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.400 the story. There's the surface story, and then there is 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.200 the story that is beneath the surface, and then there 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:33.960 is the story that is overarching. And sometimes we don't 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:38.080 even realize how how many missing pieces there are of 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:43.600 the stories that we tell ourselves. Even worse, we don't 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:48.919 even really understand the missing I would call it a 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.440 plot hole. You've been watching a show and they just 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:53.760 there's just a plot hole in the in the in 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.599 the story. We were watching this Christian movie called Friday 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:01.760 Night Lights with Saint Tim Riggins and and they had 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:03.920 a plot hole in it. We were talking about this 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.000 and Lilah Garrity drove her car into Buddy Garritty's car 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.680 dealership through the window. In the next episode, everything was 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.159 fine and she had her car back. And even in 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.120 our family we adopted that we call it. Can I 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.200 get a garrity? When you do something stupid in our 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.000 family and you want total immunity and forgiveness and never 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:23.520 bring it up again. As far as the east is 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:25.080 from the west, can you cast us in the sea? 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.479 You have to ask for a garrity? How many of 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:33.279 you have ever needed God to give you a garrity? Yeah? 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.320 I can preach on anything and the truth of the 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.760 matter is in Acts chapter eleven. You know, it's a 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.039 microcosm for what we experienced so many times in our lives, 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:49.240 where when there is space, a story fills it. And 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.080 then the space between what you know and what you 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.360 think you know sometimes is the story that you tell 0:06:55.400 --> 0:07:00.440 yourself that keeps you stuck. Are y'all too sleepy for me? Preacher? 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.920 Can I do this like I want to? When the 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:08.240 church was first starting and I was an inexperienced pastor, 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.520 just a whipper snapper and a monarchy T shirt with 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:16.840 some antique denim jeans and some Martin Mason boots, I 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:21.480 was oblivious about certain things, and I invited this man 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:23.920 to come share his story with our church. The church 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.440 was only about two years old, and I had him 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.360 share with the whole church his story. The next week, 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.640 somebody called our church office and requested to have a 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.600 phone appointment with me. And the person who called was 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:40.960 a man of God. He had a radio ministry and 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.160 I had heard his voice on the radio so many times, 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.400 so when we finally talked on the phone, it was 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.360 surreal to hear his voice because I'd heard him on 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.880 the radio and never talked to him for didn't even 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.320 know that he knew who I was. So I felt 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.080 kind of important when they said so and so wants 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.440 to talk to you and set up a phone appointment. Ooh, 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.800 phone appointment. And so when the day came to have 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:11.760 the call, he said, hello, pastor. It's beautiful, rich baritone voice. 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:17.040 Very soon, Hello Pastor. I said, hey, it's so good 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:20.440 to talk to you, and he said, you might want 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.960 to hear what I have to say before you say that. Now. 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.880 What he said next was an education. He gave me 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.280 a seminary education and a five minute phone call. He said, 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.120 I watched your interview with so and so, the person 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.000 I had brought up. Let me do it in his voice. 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:42.559 I watched your interview and it was very entertaining, but 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:47.240 it wasn't very accurate. I said, well, all I did 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:51.439 was let him share his story. And he said, well, 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.480 there's a few holes in that story. Then I'd like 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.480 to fill in. See the man I was talking to, 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.680 he was playing this victim role, and when he told 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.679 his story, it was everybody who didn't help him, everybody 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.120 who didn't care about him, everybody who mistreated him. He 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:12.760 didn't mention the people who gave him rent payments. He 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:17.119 didn't mention the people who gave him second chances, third chances, 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.080 fourth chances. He left a lot of that out. But 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.280 I never forgot what the older, more experienced pastor said 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.720 because I've been trying to apply it to my life. 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:30.040 There's a few holes in your story. Now. I don't 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.280 mean to get all up in your macaroni at this 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.760 time of the day, because I know it's early, but 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.520 are there a few holes in the story that you've 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:46.080 been telling yourself about yourself, about others, about your parents, 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:52.800 about your kids, about God? Are there some holes in 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.800 your story? I want to take this text for a 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.880 moment and interrogate it. I want to see what Peter 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:04.439 said in verse four that took us from what did 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:09.320 I say again, from protests to praise. It started with 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:11.800 this whole group. It started with a rumor. Now, back 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:16.440 in the Bible days they spread rumors. Things have changed, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:21.559 we have evolved societally. In the Bible, they spread rumors 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.440 and they weren't always accurate. So in verse one, if 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.920 you revisit it with me for a moment, they're talking 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:32.440 about Peter going to eat with the gentiles. Did you 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.840 hear what Peter did. Already, he was down there eating 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:41.160 bacon and sausage and poor grimes with those gentiles. I 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:45.120 already was down there playing poker. Already, he was drinking 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:49.160 beer and watching cinemax and h f you know stuff. 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.920 And so by the time one author said, a lie 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:58.840 can make it around the world, by the time the 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:04.000 truth gets his shoes left stuff. And here's what's crazy. 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.400 The story about what Peter did got back to Jerusalem 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:13.840 before Peter did. The story beat Peter back to Jerusalem, 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:19.120 and he's seventy miles away sharing the gospel. The gospel 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.920 of Jesus Christ has just gone beyond the borders of 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.680 one people group, the Jews, to the Gentiles, which was 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:31.400 God's original intention. When he called Abraham, he said, I'm 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.080 gonna bless you, but I'm not just gonna bless you 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.240 to bless you. I'm gonna bless you to be a blessing, 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.400 and through you all the nations of the earth will 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.960 be blessed. That's always what he wanted to do, and 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.200 now he's doing it. But sometimes we get so lost 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:51.440 in the story, the story that was handed to us, 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:54.200 that we missed the bigger story that God is telling. 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:57.679 And the keyword to me in verse one was it 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:03.240 said the apostles and the believer throughout Judea heard the 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:08.280 word was heard. They heard something. Do you hear about? What? 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.440 Do you hear what they did? Do you hear what 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:15.360 they did? Did you read the article? No, I've just 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:22.760 read the headline. You go to evolution. What's it called elevation? 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.199 Elevation of church? I heard they don't have a cross 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.720 on the building, or I heard they don't have I 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.559 heard that they have a trampoline on the stage for 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.160 leap year. I heard, I heard, I heard, I heard, 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:38.480 I heard. You know how much trouble there is when 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:42.720 when you take the heart what you heard without checking 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:44.520 it out. So the first thing I want to say, 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.200 I want to do a sermon around this. I want 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.719 to warn you about four types of stories that will 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.640 ruin your life if you let them. Four types of 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.360 stories with some hold in. And the first one I 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:03.640 want to show you is beware of second hand stories. Yeah, 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:08.559 beware of what you believe that you have not seen. 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:13.160 For yourself and for everybody over the age of twelve, 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:16.319 raise your hand. If you're over the age of twelve, 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.920 raise your hand. And wave it at me real good, Like, 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.280 just let me know that you got all your circulation left. Yeah, 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.000 wave it at me. If we are grown ups, can 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:29.440 we please make a quality decision to stop letting our 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.360 opinions of others be determined through the filter of the 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:44.319 opinions of others. The contrast is severe. In verse one, 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:48.760 it says the apostles and believers they heard about what 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:53.040 Peter was doing, and they criticized him out of their ignorance. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.880 But verse five says that they heard what Peter did, 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.720 but watch what Peter has. Peter has a first person 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.079 percon so he's not going off of what he heard. 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.360 He's going off of what he experienced. That's why it 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.680 doesn't It doesn't affect me what you think God is. Like. 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.680 You can tell me God is judgmental and hateful, but 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.120 I don't believe that because I have experienced his law, 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.000 I have seen his goodness, I have felt his touch, 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:24.360 I have experienced his embrace. And so when you hear 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.000 something secondhand and take it as truth, it can be 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.840 worse than secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke can destroy your lungs. 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:38.680 Secondhand stories can destroy your life. Secondhand stories can keep 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.160 you from getting to know people that you would actually 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:43.800 like if you didn't just meet them through a screen. 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:49.680 Secondhand stories can keep you from stereotyping genders and races 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.240 and other denominations. I was riding around with a pastor 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.320 one time and we drove by a church and the 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.280 parking lot was full. The parking lot was so full 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.360 that people were parked on the side of the road 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:02.920 to go to that church. And we were driving past 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.160 it to go to his church. And I was speaking 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.080 for him, and we were going on the way to 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.280 his church, and he pointed at the church with the 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:14.160 full parking lot and said, that's a weird church. I 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:22.320 sat under my breath and it's full too. And see, 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.400 when something else makes you feel insecure, you shield yourself 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:32.320 by calling it weird. So this is what I want 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.120 you to get out of it. Some of you are 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.680 holding on to stories that are not even true about you, 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:44.160 that were given to you second hand about who you are. Gideon, 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.160 you know, I am the least in my tribe. This 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.880 is an Old Testament story that illustrates it. I am 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:51.960 the smallest, My tribe is the smallest. I'm the smallest 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.040 in the tribe, and I want to ask you what 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.960 God asked Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:05.560 Who told you that? Who told you that story? Sometimes 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.640 it's even well meaning people. I mean, these were not pagans. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:13.280 These were observant Jewish Christians who just wanted to get 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:18.320 it right. But what happened in their day happens in ours. 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:22.240 Where you know, when God originally blessed his people, he 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.240 wanted them to take it beyond just these borders. But 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.880 over time, you know, tradition gets in the way of truth, 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.520 so then you start thinking that your tradition is the truth. 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.480 And if you've ever had a family member say something 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.120 to you like, oh, well, you're getting kind of big 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.840 for your briches. Is that just a monkst corner thing, 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:51.960 you know, you make a move forward, Oh well, you're 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.640 getting too big for your briches. It's a way of 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:56.760 trying to keep you stuck in the tradition of what 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.640 our family has accomplished and what we do. And so 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.640 I'm so subconscious. For most of us, it's a story 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.160 that runs in the background and we never even know it, 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.040 but it is a story that someone else told themselves 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:10.040 and then they passed it on to us, and we 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:11.560 took it as our own, and we stay stuck in 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.879 a story for eighty years of our life that we 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:15.720 could have broken out of if we would have believed 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:25.800 the voice of God. I hear my preaching mentors saying, 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.600 slow down, verdict, So let me do that for a moment. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:35.560 What stories are you holding onto that are old, that 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:41.639 are keeping you from what's new and what's now and 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:49.560 what's true and what's real. Secondhand stories, it's a dangerous thing. 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.359 If you ever played the game where you pass a 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.040 thing down the road, I could start and say milk 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.600 is on sale, and by the time it gets to Christy, 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.280 by the time it passes all the way down this road, 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.639 you know, it would turn into you know, Donald Trump 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.200 is the pastor of Elevation Church by the time it 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.880 got down that row. And it's never been worse than 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.440 it is right now in our world that we don't 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:17.399 read the whole story, just the headlines. So then it 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.560 becomes oh, well, you're not this, and you're only that, 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.680 and you can't this, and all white people and all 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.760 black people and all men and all women and this 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.920 community and that community, and it is a generic way 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.280 of keeping us from peeling back the labels, because labels 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:36.320 always limit, and when you label yourself, you limit yourself. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:43.320 So all that to say, there might be a few 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.760 holes in your story, some things that you have told 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:51.000 yourself that aren't necessarily he said, it was very entertaining, 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.960 but it wasn't very accurate. And sometimes you tell yourself 0:18:55.960 --> 0:19:02.440 a story to survive, just to make it. And what's 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.440 sad to me about it is somebody might have rejected 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.159 you at one point in your life because of how 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:13.199 they felt about themselves, and then you took it as 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:16.919 an indication of your value. Oh well, they walked out 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:18.639 of my life. There must have been something wrong with me. 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:24.240 That's their story, not yours. That's their story, not yours. 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.239 That's their story, not yours, and you don't have to 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:33.119 own it. And I love Peter because he is so reckless. 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:36.800 And so the reckless Reverend comes in, but he's got 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.280 himself under control, and he just told them the whole story. 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.359 Don't you want God to show you the whole story 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:47.879 of your life? And when he starts the story, he 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:52.480 starts with everybody's favorite main character in the story. Look 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.640 at verse five. You ready for this? This is how 0:19:54.680 --> 0:20:03.800 every story starts watches I Number two, beware of self 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:09.680 centered stories. Oh man, when you put yourself at the 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:14.320 center of every story, you're gonna be stressed out. There's 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.200 not enough peptobysmal in the world for you to keep 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:21.119 your stomach calm if you put yourself at the center 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:23.280 of every story. And this is for all of us 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.879 who are easily offended. All right, did you see how 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:30.560 they looked at me? They don't like me. They like you, fine, 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:38.359 they're sleepy, they don't like their husband. It's not you. Oh, 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:40.120 look at somebody and set them for you say it's 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:44.600 not you, it's not you. They weren't mad at Peter. 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:47.919 They were stuck in a structure and a system and 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.240 a way of thought. When I make myself the center 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:56.480 of the story, I take on unnecessary stress. Sometimes when 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.600 I'm preaching, I think I'm not doing good if everybody's 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.960 not you know, saying amen are something like that. But 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:03.520 what if you were up till three thirty in the 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:05.480 morning and you didn't get your sleep. I'm gonna take 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:07.199 that as a reflection of my preaching. I don't think so. 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:08.680 The devil is a liar. This is good preaching, no 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:10.760 matter whether you're not at it or not. And you 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.320 know what, I need to get better about that in 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:17.399 my life because I really struggle thinking that every story 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:23.280 starts with me how they treated me. And so I say, like, 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.879 you know that God has a reason for everything. And 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.199 what I mean by that is, okay, this is my 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.439 dirty little secret. What I mean is God has a 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:34.520 reason for this that I am going to like agree 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:37.919 with and understand. And that's just not the way it is. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:40.840 How many know, that's just not the way it is 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:46.320 a self centered story in parenting when I make it 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:51.040 about myself. Remember these are circumcised believers. That is an 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:55.600 external sign of a covenant. It's something that you can see. 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.320 You wouldn't necessarily always see it, but you could see it. 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:03.120 I'm gonna leave that right there in case your kid 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:06.000 didn't go to the kids ministry today and you can 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.239 do that Bible study home. But you couldn't necessarily see it, 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:12.520 but you could see it. And here's the temptation when 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:14.679 we try to go off of what we can see 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:18.000 and tell ourselves a story and then we start filling 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:22.800 in the space. Remember Peter is seventy miles away from Jerusalem, 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:28.639 and they start telling the story. Space creates stories. Physical 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:34.320 space creates stories. Sometimes you don't need to text certain things. 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.919 You need to pick up the phone and call. Sometimes 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:41.240 text doesn't get the tone across, and you're gonna spend 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:45.359 six months fixing a relational mess because you used your 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:48.159 thumbs rather than your feet to walk over and have 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:57.159 a real conversation. And so when you have space, you 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:01.200 create a story. Even the space of time creates stories. 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:02.720 You know, a lot of time goes by and you're like, 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:12.080 you start, you start remembering things differently, don't you. Yeah, 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:15.840 it's hard for me right now raising kids to remember 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:19.680 what it's like to be a kid. So if one 0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:21.960 of my kids acts up, my immediate thing is to 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:26.480 make it about me. They are disrespecting me. I am 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:34.280 the man of God. And uh, one day, the Lord, 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:36.920 the Lord really this was. This was like, have you 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:39.200 ever had one of those god bombs just go off 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:41.439 inside of you where you just knew that what you 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:43.880 were thinking was wrong. I was. I was thinking about 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:47.400 one of my kids. They are so selfish. They were 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:51.200 making certain certain decisions. I thought, this is so selfish. 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:57.000 The Lord said, They're not selfish, they're scared. Think about 0:23:57.040 --> 0:23:59.760 what it's like when you start getting flooded with all 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:02.560 of those hormones. Think about what it's like when the 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:04.880 rules change on you all of a sudden. And y'all 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:08.359 don't have big kids yet, but you will remember. You 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:10.840 will remember certain times in your life where you were 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:14.760 acting selfish. The reason you were acting selfish is because 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:18.440 you were scared. And when you get scared, you start 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:22.960 acting selfish because you are in protection mode. So what 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.400 am I doing? I'm going from God. They're so selfish, 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:29.639 and God is showing me that the whole story. See, 0:24:29.760 --> 0:24:33.880 there's a whole in your story. There's a whole story, 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:37.920 and then there's a whole in your story. And sometimes 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:42.840 we tell ourselves stories about others without realizing that they 0:24:42.880 --> 0:24:46.920 are going through things too. Y'all don't want to say 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:49.280 amen to this, because it means we have to have 0:24:49.600 --> 0:24:53.600 compassion on people, kind of like God has compassion on us. 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.560 Like we want God to forgive us, like we want 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:03.080 God to excuse our gaps. We're gonna have to sometimes say, God, 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:09.080 help me to stop making it about me. God forgive 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:12.560 me for making this about me. I feel the Holy 0:25:12.720 --> 0:25:16.719 ghost and fire in my bones right now. It's bigger 0:25:16.760 --> 0:25:20.159 than you. It's bigger than you. How could Peter have 0:25:20.320 --> 0:25:23.480 known that what he was being criticized for in this 0:25:23.600 --> 0:25:28.080 moment would lead to the Gospel penetrating the Roman Empire. 0:25:28.480 --> 0:25:32.680 You have no idea what God is doing through this conflict, 0:25:33.040 --> 0:25:37.040 this season in your life. There is a bigger story 0:25:37.119 --> 0:25:43.880 being told. And there is a hole in your story. 0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:56.600