Speaker 1: Holly, and I wanted to say a special hello to
Speaker 1: our Etham, our extended family around the world. Hey, before
Speaker 1: we get into the message, let me tell you about available.
Speaker 1: This is a special season for our church. It's a
Speaker 1: tradition for the people of Elevation. Every year we gather,
Speaker 1: we appreciate and anticipate, and we also give. This is
Speaker 1: our yearly time for everybody who receives from this ministry
Speaker 1: to give so that the ministry can go forth, and
Speaker 1: this year we've themed it around the word available. Available.
Speaker 1: That's all God has ever wanted is for us to
Speaker 1: say here I am, send me, use me. And you
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to do that. So if you've been
Speaker 1: blessed through the ministry, it's good to receive. It's even
Speaker 1: better to give. If you want to make a donation,
Speaker 1: a one time gift or a recurring gift, just be
Speaker 1: a part of what God is doing here. We so
Speaker 1: appreciate it. You can get all the details at Elevation
Speaker 1: Church dot org. I'm gonna sat Elevation Worship dot Com.
Speaker 1: I guess you could go there too, but the giving
Speaker 1: is at Elevation Church. What you just did, you have
Speaker 1: Elevation Worship on your sweatshirt. Hey, Elevationchurch dot org and
Speaker 1: you can select available. And we use all of these
Speaker 1: resources to continue to preach the gospel, not only in
Speaker 1: physical locations like this one, but through the amazing opportunity
Speaker 1: God has given us to impact the world through technology.
Speaker 1: And we want to thank all of you who are apart.
Speaker 1: We couldn't do it without you. Thank you for being
Speaker 1: a part of our family. Thank you for being a
Speaker 1: part of this move of God. Go to Elevationchurch dot
Speaker 1: org dot com if you're not already there and be
Speaker 1: a part. This is going to be an amazing, amazing season,
Speaker 1: and Holly and I are believing that your best is ahead.
Speaker 1: We bring you greetings from the greater Charlotte area where
Speaker 1: we broadcast this message. Welcome to this very special weekend
Speaker 1: worship experience at Elevation Church, where today thousands of us
Speaker 1: will not only give God our worship with our mouths
Speaker 1: and with the breadth that He put in our lungs,
Speaker 1: but there are many of us who came today to
Speaker 1: give God an offering from what He has blessed us with.
Speaker 1: And excuse us, but we're excited about it. I know
Speaker 1: it feels funny but we are excited to give back
Speaker 1: to God because of all that He's done for us.
Speaker 1: And just look at the person next to you and
Speaker 1: tell him, I know I'm good looking, but that's not
Speaker 1: why I'm so blessed. It's because of God's grace and mercy.
Speaker 1: And that's the only way I made it through the year.
Speaker 1: That's the only way I made it through the day.
Speaker 1: That's the only way I got up out of the bed.
Speaker 1: Come on, let everything that has spread praise the Lord.
Speaker 1: Welcome Columbia, Melbourne, Florida, Uptown Greensboro, Concord, you see Greenville,
Speaker 1: South Carolina, our EPHAM around the world. Go ahead right now.
Speaker 1: If you're watching on Facebook Live or YouTube live or
Speaker 1: the Elevation app or Elevation Church dot org or Church
Speaker 1: sermons dot com. However you found this just stumbling around
Speaker 1: looking for something on eBay and here we are by accident,
Speaker 1: Go ahead and put where you're watching from and why
Speaker 1: you're believing God for today. Because this is a series
Speaker 1: called Available, and this is the last week. And God
Speaker 1: has made his grace, his love, his mercy, his peace,
Speaker 1: his joy available to each and every one of us.
Speaker 1: And as we make more of ourselves available to him.
Speaker 1: We receive all that he is and we're so excited.
Speaker 1: We're so excited. Here's what we're going to do. Remain
Speaker 1: standing for one moment. I'm going to read you a scripture.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why I'm reading this scripture. At the
Speaker 1: end of this short er message, we'll worship a little more.
Speaker 1: It'll be really beautiful. Nobody's leaving until the end. Many
Speaker 1: people are here today who flew in just to bring
Speaker 1: their offering because they connect with this ministry all around
Speaker 1: the world. And you don't even have to be in
Speaker 1: the building. There's no distance when it comes to worship, connection,
Speaker 1: prayer community. Thank God for that. So where you're watching
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, I just make up places randomly, but somebody's
Speaker 1: watching from Minnesota. It's the law of averages. I promise you,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be in Minnesota this December. How
Speaker 1: many just thank God if you don't think of anything
Speaker 1: else that you're not in Minnesota this December. Some of
Speaker 1: y'all are sitting there. You didn't clap the whole time
Speaker 1: till just now. Well, I'll praise him for that. That
Speaker 1: is praiseworthy, Brother Steve. And when we say that, people
Speaker 1: are online all around the world. You will participate as well.
Speaker 1: This will be the weekend that many will go from
Speaker 1: consumer to a contributor where it's like, oh man, I
Speaker 1: just watched this sermons. Love the worship. It's like, then
Speaker 1: you give God worship and it makes all of the
Speaker 1: goodness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ become flesh in
Speaker 1: your life. And we'll have time to do that. Everybody
Speaker 1: who prepared and offering, as well as even those who
Speaker 1: aren't giving. If you never give, you're welcome here. I
Speaker 1: never heard a country club say that. I never heard
Speaker 1: a restaurant say that. Starbucks will kick you out in
Speaker 1: thirty minutes just for the Wi Fi. But this will
Speaker 1: always be a place you could come. But thousands of
Speaker 1: people we love it. We love it, We love what
Speaker 1: God is doing. This is a move of God. It's
Speaker 1: a miracle and we want to get involved. So I
Speaker 1: know many of you have your offering prepared, many of
Speaker 1: you will prepare it, you'll give it online. We'll explain
Speaker 1: all of that. Also, we're going to give everybody the
Speaker 1: opportunity to choose a word that represents what you are
Speaker 1: believing God for in the coming year. And this is
Speaker 1: a little unique because we're setting off a new decade.
Speaker 1: We're setting off a new decade, and we'll have our
Speaker 1: Christmas message next weekend, and then a Christmas program the
Speaker 1: following weekend, and then our New Year's praise party. And
Speaker 1: I've already heard from God concerning the series that I'm
Speaker 1: going to be teaching. I came invide and I don't
Speaker 1: know who else was in there. Tim Summers i think
Speaker 1: was in there. I told him this is what God
Speaker 1: has given me, and I'll be sharing that with you
Speaker 1: next weekend what I'm going to preach in the new year,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited about it. But today I was selecting God,
Speaker 1: what if there was one thing to say. We've talked
Speaker 1: about saying yes to God. We've talked about how I'm
Speaker 1: trying to remember all of them now. Oh, last time
Speaker 1: I was up here, I talked about having the right why,
Speaker 1: and I shared with you how I look at a
Speaker 1: picture of my kids when I think about the church
Speaker 1: that I want them to grow up in and the
Speaker 1: God that I want them to know, and that helps
Speaker 1: me as i'm given I'm like, well, I invest in
Speaker 1: them playing baseball. None of them are going pro I
Speaker 1: just figured that out early. But if I can get
Speaker 1: them ready to live this life with the assurance of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, to know their identity and him, that's something.
Speaker 1: And so we talked about that. I have a hard
Speaker 1: time often choosing between different messages. I'll usually prepare three
Speaker 1: and then pick one on Saturday. That's how I do it.
Speaker 1: It's probably the dumbest way in the world to do it,
Speaker 1: but that's what I do. I had one on Mary
Speaker 1: because I thought, well, she made herself available and God
Speaker 1: didn't even ask her permission, just showed up, like, you're pregnant,
Speaker 1: congratulations and how She said, how will this be? Since
Speaker 1: I'm a virgin and we often get stuck on how.
Speaker 1: But God didn't tell her how. He said who, the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit will overpower you. And I thought we could
Speaker 1: talk about the Who, which is awesome, and I'll preach
Speaker 1: it one day. But then I moved on. I was
Speaker 1: flipping through I been feeling that one, and I said,
Speaker 1: all right, well, how about this one with the woman
Speaker 1: that had the jars and she needed God to provide
Speaker 1: for her. And she kept saying, next vessel, next vessel.
Speaker 1: You know, we're vessels of the Holy Spirit, And she
Speaker 1: kept saying, next vessel, next vessel, And when there wasn't
Speaker 1: another vessel, the oil stopped flowing. More oil was available,
Speaker 1: but the vessels ran out, and I thought we could
Speaker 1: talk about that, are you the next vessel that God
Speaker 1: wants to fill? But then I had this one other
Speaker 1: message that was just kind of I was thinking about
Speaker 1: it and never precied this passage before, and I was
Speaker 1: praying God, I have three which one? This has never
Speaker 1: happened before. Sometimes you'll hear someone say I was reading
Speaker 1: the Bible and the scripture just jumped off the page
Speaker 1: at me. That didn't happen, But something even crazier happened.
Speaker 1: This has never happened. I'm for since I was sixteen
Speaker 1: years old. Instead of the scripture jumping off the page,
Speaker 1: the page came out of the Bible. This Bible has
Speaker 1: been put to good use. And this is the first
Speaker 1: page that ever fell out. And look what the scripture was,
Speaker 1: Acts ten Because I'm praying which one? Which one? Look
Speaker 1: at Acts ten twenty one is said I'm the one
Speaker 1: you're looking for. I was like, okay, so this one
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about. Look at somebody and say
Speaker 1: I'm the one. I'm the one. I'm the one. You
Speaker 1: may be seated, God bless you. I'm the one. More specifically,
Speaker 1: verse twenty one, Peter went down and said to the men,
Speaker 1: I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?
Speaker 1: Peter went down and said to the men, I'm the
Speaker 1: one you're looking for. Why have you come? And if
Speaker 1: funny how you can have such confidence and uncertainty at
Speaker 1: the same time, I'm the one you're looking for? Why
Speaker 1: have you come? See? The scripture has a lot to
Speaker 1: say about the power of one. I used to hear
Speaker 1: preachers say if we had this whole church and it
Speaker 1: was just for one person to know Christ, it would
Speaker 1: have been worth it. And I do believe that. But
Speaker 1: we probably wouldn't like build this big of a building
Speaker 1: if it was just the one. We could probably meet
Speaker 1: up some a little bit more logically suited to the
Speaker 1: one on one relationship. This is a place where thousands
Speaker 1: get touched, but God is still about the one. I
Speaker 1: can even tell us sometimes when I'm preaching, I can
Speaker 1: look around and go, God probably gave you this part
Speaker 1: of the message for them, and it's weird. Don't be
Speaker 1: freaked out about it. I promise you. I don't have
Speaker 1: some kind of spooky powers or anything. You can just
Speaker 1: tell sometimes like that's what they needed. Somebody say, I'm
Speaker 1: the one. I'm the one. And Peter, of course, Jesus
Speaker 1: had twelve disciples, eleven after Judas was kind of moved
Speaker 1: on but transitioned, you know, was transferred. But Peter was
Speaker 1: that one. There's always the one. Peter was the one.
Speaker 1: He speak up, you know, he'd be like, you are
Speaker 1: the Christ, the son of the living God. He was
Speaker 1: the one who made the first confession of who Christ was.
Speaker 1: He was the one. He was also the one who,
Speaker 1: just a few verses later was telling Jesus, you don't
Speaker 1: need to go to the cross, that's bad for your clout.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. Same one,
Speaker 1: but depending on when you caught him, he was either
Speaker 1: wildly obstinate or obedient, and we just happened to catch
Speaker 1: him at a good time in Acts chapter twelve, because
Speaker 1: he has learned the value of obedience. Have you have
Speaker 1: you learned the value of doing what God says even
Speaker 1: when you don't fully understand it. I think that's really important.
Speaker 1: As we give today, many of us are giving, and
Speaker 1: you start doing the math, and you're like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: I could buy this, or I could buy that or
Speaker 1: And that's probably not God telling you not to give
Speaker 1: to help people. But it's weird because you have to
Speaker 1: you have to learn how to discern. Now, now, in
Speaker 1: this particular passag I'm gonna tell you litt bit about it,
Speaker 1: Peter went down and said to the men, I'm the
Speaker 1: one you're looking for. Why have you come? I'm the one.
Speaker 1: Why have you come? Who are the men? And why
Speaker 1: have they come? Which takes us back to what Pastor
Speaker 1: Levi Lusco was sharing last weekend. He talked about Dorcas.
Speaker 1: That baby name is available, and when he was preaching
Speaker 1: on Dorcas and he left us in Acts chapter ten,
Speaker 1: I realized this is the one. This is what I
Speaker 1: need to preach about when we bring our offerings in
Speaker 1: just a few moments, because the scripture says an X
Speaker 1: chapter ten, verse one at cesarea. Now that's not where
Speaker 1: Peter is. Peter is in Jappa because he just raised
Speaker 1: somebody from the dead. You thought you had a good week,
Speaker 1: and Peter had been praying, but so had somebody else.
Speaker 1: And see what God is always doing. He's trying to
Speaker 1: align opportunity with obedience, and there are opportunities that God
Speaker 1: will give to someone who has learned to be obedient.
Speaker 1: Now Peter has learned obedience the hard way, but he's
Speaker 1: come to the point where he says, I'm the one.
Speaker 1: Now what are we doing? God? You fill in the blank.
Speaker 1: I'm the one where we're going? Because he knew this
Speaker 1: was God, but he didn't know the details. I need
Speaker 1: you to write this down. Obedience is letting God set
Speaker 1: the direction even if he doesn't give you the details.
Speaker 1: Can I preach like I'm from Monk's Corner, South Carolina.
Speaker 1: Monk's Corner has like four stoplights. When I came to Charlotte,
Speaker 1: I was lost all the time. I got a tom
Speaker 1: Tom GPS for my dash. You don't know about the
Speaker 1: tom Tom. This was a prehistoric device, but now they
Speaker 1: have Google maps and maps and ways. But it always
Speaker 1: tells me turn by turn, and then it says, beneath
Speaker 1: that details, if you want to see all of the urns, well,
Speaker 1: I never click on the details because I can't handle
Speaker 1: the details. Look at somebody and say you can't handle
Speaker 1: the details. I promise you can't. So walking with God
Speaker 1: and listening to a Holy Spirit. I've just had to
Speaker 1: learn to let him take me turn by turn. And
Speaker 1: some of us will put a location in our GPS
Speaker 1: and trust it on our dash more than we will
Speaker 1: trust our Father in Heaven. Come on, y'all shot me
Speaker 1: down before we give in a minute. It's so important
Speaker 1: that we learn that obedience is walking in a direction
Speaker 1: that God has called you to walk, even when you
Speaker 1: don't understand the details. So there's this man right. What
Speaker 1: had happened was while Peter was praying in Joppa, there
Speaker 1: was this other man who was not a Jew, he
Speaker 1: was not a Christian. He was what is known as
Speaker 1: a God fearer. And he was also a commander of
Speaker 1: a hundred soldiers that's called a centurion. He was posted
Speaker 1: in Cesarea, which is a place that the Jews hated.
Speaker 1: Oh they hated Cesarea. It represented Roman oppression to them,
Speaker 1: and there was a lot of racism back then. And
Speaker 1: what God is doing in Acts chapter ten, and I
Speaker 1: believe what God is doing in this day is breaking barriers.
Speaker 1: Breaking barriers. God, if you need a church to stand
Speaker 1: up and show the world what it looks like when
Speaker 1: we come together from different backgrounds, different battles, look up
Speaker 1: and down your row. I promise you you will see
Speaker 1: somebody that does not look like you. And I'm glad
Speaker 1: about that because what God is doing in this day
Speaker 1: is killing our categories. So we can't be a black
Speaker 1: church or a white church, or a Hispanic church or
Speaker 1: a Latino church. Is it Baptist? Is it Methodist? Isn't Pentecostal?
Speaker 1: Is it non denominational? Yes to all, we are the one.
Speaker 1: We are the Church. We are the living expression of
Speaker 1: the Body of Christ. We are the Hope, we are
Speaker 1: the light, we are the salt, we are the preservative.
Speaker 1: So at Sasarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a
Speaker 1: centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He
Speaker 1: and his family were devout and god fary. It means
Speaker 1: that they they were attracted to the Jewish ethic and
Speaker 1: even embraced some of the practices like giving alms and
Speaker 1: praying it at nine am or actually at sunrise and
Speaker 1: then at three pm and then at sunset. But they
Speaker 1: weren't Jews genetically, and so it gives us that background
Speaker 1: to let us know that they were devout, God fearing.
Speaker 1: He gave generously to those in need and prayed to
Speaker 1: God occasionally. He showed up for E Kids every week,
Speaker 1: and the color of the E Kids shirt didn't even
Speaker 1: look good with his skin complexion. He showed up to
Speaker 1: serve every week, even when the temperature hit under forty five.
Speaker 1: He showed up and served every week in a chat
Speaker 1: room online, had to wake up in a different time zone.
Speaker 1: He was devout, and he was regular, and he was routine.
Speaker 1: You could say he was like the Tithers who get
Speaker 1: at this church, who just do it now one day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was a regular, good, good good who said that
Speaker 1: he was a regular? Touch somebody say, I'm a regular.
Speaker 1: I come to church on the good weeks and the
Speaker 1: bad weeks. I bless him when I forgot the joy,
Speaker 1: and I bless him when I need some more. I'm
Speaker 1: a regular. Ask somebody, are you a regular? So when
Speaker 1: you show up regularly like that one day and you
Speaker 1: never know when this is going to be skinner? One day,
Speaker 1: at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision.
Speaker 1: He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to
Speaker 1: him and said Cornelius, and Cornelius stared at him in fear,
Speaker 1: and so would you. When God speaks, usually your first
Speaker 1: response is going to be fear not me. I walk
Speaker 1: by faith, perfect glove, cast out fear. Well, you never
Speaker 1: really heard God tell you to do anything. When He
Speaker 1: shows you something to do and it's really him, it'll
Speaker 1: be so big. You will be praying a prayer of
Speaker 1: acid reflux and indigestion. I always say that I love
Speaker 1: this giving series, and I do when it's over. But
Speaker 1: when I'm doing it, I'm sitting down and I'm going,
Speaker 1: all right, God, what should we give now? Elijah. We've
Speaker 1: been given in this offering since you were a baby,
Speaker 1: and in some years God has really stretched us to
Speaker 1: give in ways that were sacrificial. And then you come
Speaker 1: to another year and you're like, well, I did that already.
Speaker 1: It's time for somebody else to do it. You're the
Speaker 1: one this time. I was the one back in twenty eleven.
Speaker 1: But then you keep on wanting to say, Okay, God,
Speaker 1: I'm available. You can use me, you can use me,
Speaker 1: And you come to this point and you feel fear.
Speaker 1: But the Angel answered your prayers and gifts to the
Speaker 1: poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
Speaker 1: This is sacrificial terminology like the Jewish cult system would
Speaker 1: have had it rises before the Lord, and the Angel
Speaker 1: answered your prayers and gifts to the poor has come
Speaker 1: up as a memorial offering before God. All right, now,
Speaker 1: you know how I said. God doesn't give the details,
Speaker 1: He just sets the direction. Listen how little Cornelius knew.
Speaker 1: And this will make you feel good. If you don't
Speaker 1: know how to raise your kids, you don't know how
Speaker 1: to be a good husband, You don't know what you're
Speaker 1: going to do next in your business, your career, your life,
Speaker 1: your college, anything like that. All he said was this, Now,
Speaker 1: send men to Joppa to bring back a man named
Speaker 1: Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon,
Speaker 1: the Tanner, whose house is by the sea. This is
Speaker 1: so confusing. Don't even get me started. It's a man
Speaker 1: called imagine this conversation. Go get a man named Simon,
Speaker 1: but they call him Peter. He's staying with Simon. Simon's
Speaker 1: a Tanner. I know that Jews normally don't stay with
Speaker 1: tanner's because they touch dead things and it is considered
Speaker 1: ceremonially unclean and tanners and kept on the outskirts of town.
Speaker 1: So he's going to be out of the way. But
Speaker 1: go get him in the out of the way. Place
Speaker 1: because he's staying at the house of Simon the Tanner. Okay, see,
Speaker 1: you want me to go get Simon the Tanner. Don't
Speaker 1: want you to go get Simon Peter. You're gonna get
Speaker 1: Simon near you get Peter. It's the same guy, but
Speaker 1: he had this thing or Jesus told him. You are Simon,
Speaker 1: but I call you Peter because you're the rock im Bill.
Speaker 1: They're on Church On. You're gonna be the one. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna use you even though you've had some shakiness. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna use you, even though you've had some trumple. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna use you, even though you got it wrong. Sometimes
Speaker 1: somebody shout I'm the one. I'm the one, So he
Speaker 1: tells him who to go get, but he doesn't tell
Speaker 1: him why. The only way you find out why is
Speaker 1: to respond. God doesn't show you the until you respond,
Speaker 1: and then you understand in reverse why God did what
Speaker 1: he did. And then you get to help somebody out
Speaker 1: of your own pain and you realize maybe that was why.
Speaker 1: Or you're stronger and you find out that you have
Speaker 1: character you didn't even know until the storm shook away
Speaker 1: all that shaky stuff, and now you know why I
Speaker 1: had to go through it so I could see that
Speaker 1: my foundation was on the rock. But you do not
Speaker 1: know why God does not give reasons to people who
Speaker 1: do not respond. So when the angel who had spoke
Speaker 1: to him had gone verse seven, Notice it is not
Speaker 1: what God says to you that sets the direction for
Speaker 1: your life. It is what you do with what God
Speaker 1: says to you. After the angel who spoke to him
Speaker 1: had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and an
Speaker 1: avout soldier who was one of his attendants, and he
Speaker 1: told them everything that had happened. I saw an angel,
Speaker 1: I promise, y'all, I know why I didn't smoke nothing.
Speaker 1: I saw an angel. I'm a good god fear and
Speaker 1: I saw an angel, and he said to go to Joppa. Now,
Speaker 1: at the time that the men got there to Joppa,
Speaker 1: Peter was praying when opportunity meets obedience. Remember, up until
Speaker 1: this point, the Gospel has only been for the people
Speaker 1: who are within the Jewish community, But that was never
Speaker 1: God's full intention. When God called Abraham, he said, go
Speaker 1: to the land. I will show you. I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you the direction, not the details, and I'm gonna bless you.
Speaker 1: But the reason I'm gonna bless you is so you
Speaker 1: can be a blessing. That's why God gave you your gifts,
Speaker 1: your intellect, your capacity, so you could be a blessing.
Speaker 1: That's the real reason. That's the why. But it takes
Speaker 1: time to realize why. At first you think it's for you,
Speaker 1: and then you realize that God really just made you
Speaker 1: a vessel for what he wants to bring into the world.
Speaker 1: But Peter, look at this how God aligns things. As
Speaker 1: the men are coming to Joppa verse nine, about noon
Speaker 1: the following day, that's not even a schedule time of prayer.
Speaker 1: His sun rise three pm and then sunset. Peter's getting
Speaker 1: in a little extra prayer. He wants to get in
Speaker 1: a little extra prayer. And he's preying on the roof
Speaker 1: so he can catch the breeze. It's a good place
Speaker 1: to pray, so he can get altitude. He goes up
Speaker 1: to Simon the Tanner's roof in Joppa, and they were
Speaker 1: on their journey, and he went up on the roof
Speaker 1: to pray, and he became hungry and wanted something to eat.
Speaker 1: And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into
Speaker 1: a trance, and he saw heaven open and something like
Speaker 1: a large sheet being let down to earth by its
Speaker 1: four corners. It contained all kinds of four footed animals,
Speaker 1: as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of
Speaker 1: the air. Then a voice told him when he was
Speaker 1: in the position to pray was when he was set apart,
Speaker 1: when he was above just you know, the everyday affairs
Speaker 1: of life and just seeking God, like like we came
Speaker 1: to see God today. And he was up there and
Speaker 1: he saw something and it looked crazy to him, didn't
Speaker 1: make sense to him because it had reptiles, birds, pigs.
Speaker 1: Peter's a good jew and he's not eating pork chops
Speaker 1: for lunch because he's not supposed to. But he hears
Speaker 1: the voice from heaven say something in verse thirteen. Get up, Peter,
Speaker 1: kill and eat. And then Peter's still kind of stubborn.
Speaker 1: You know, surely not, Lord, Peter replied, how are you
Speaker 1: going to tell him no and call him lord? I'm
Speaker 1: no Lord. No to your will and to your ways.
Speaker 1: That's the remix. That's the Peter remix. No, Lord, I
Speaker 1: know better what I'm supposed to do than you do.
Speaker 1: Never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him,
Speaker 1: a second time. How many are grateful? God will give
Speaker 1: you a second chance? Yeah, third chance? Any fourth chance? People,
Speaker 1: fifth chance, sixth chance. Do I have a seventh chance?
Speaker 1: Go ahead and praise him if he gave you an
Speaker 1: everlasting chance. And every time you need to me speaks,
Speaker 1: and every time you needed me, he comes. He said,
Speaker 1: do not call anything impure that God has made clean.
Speaker 1: Stop thinking you know better than God. Stop trying to
Speaker 1: live your life by reason, and receive the revelation because
Speaker 1: God's trying to show him. I'm a barrier breaker. I
Speaker 1: want to break the barriers of what you thought was possible.
Speaker 1: This is a barrier breaking weekend, so that everything that
Speaker 1: God is can get into your house and your life
Speaker 1: and our community. The literal translation here is stop considering
Speaker 1: it common. Peter thought certain animals were clean, certain were unclean,
Speaker 1: certain people were common. The Jewish people were uncommon. God said,
Speaker 1: I want to bless the whole earth through you. I
Speaker 1: want to do something bigger then your little mind can comprehend.
Speaker 1: This happened three times verse sixteen, and immediately the sheep
Speaker 1: was taken back to heaven. While Peter was wondering about
Speaker 1: the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius
Speaker 1: found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate.
Speaker 1: They called out, asking if Simon, who was known as Peter,
Speaker 1: was staying there. Simon there, Yeah, this is his house. No,
Speaker 1: not that one, the one they called Peter. Oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's on the roof. They don't know. He's on the
Speaker 1: verge of hallucination. He is somewhere between losing his mind
Speaker 1: and hearing from God, and he doesn't know which one yet.
Speaker 1: While Peter verse nineteen, was still thinking about the vision,
Speaker 1: the spirit said to him, Simon, three men are looking
Speaker 1: for you, so get up, go downstairs. Do not hesitate
Speaker 1: to go with them, for I have sent them. Verse
Speaker 1: twenty one This one that came out my Bible, so
Speaker 1: I can preach it to you. Peter went down and
Speaker 1: said to the man, I'm the one you're looking for.
Speaker 1: Why have you come? Well, he's about to find out why,
Speaker 1: because he's going to go back with these men to
Speaker 1: Cornelius's house. Cornelius has a watch party gathered in cesarea,
Speaker 1: and when Peter gets there, Cornelius has enough faith to
Speaker 1: be like, say whatever you want. Peter did not know
Speaker 1: that until he went and here's what I want you
Speaker 1: to know the gospel went to the gentiles. How many
Speaker 1: gentiles we got in the house. The gospel came to
Speaker 1: you because Peter obeyed the voice from God. But you
Speaker 1: don't know why. Until you respond, you don't know why.
Speaker 1: And knowing that God has chosen you is difficult because
Speaker 1: you have to know that you're chosen even when you're uncertain.
Speaker 1: You have to know that you're chosen, even when you
Speaker 1: feel incompetent. You got to know that you're chosen even
Speaker 1: when you don't like how God has u said you.
Speaker 1: Never Lord, I will never eat unclean animals. It's not
Speaker 1: about the animal's dummy. It's about the gospel. It's not
Speaker 1: about the bacon. It's about the barriers that God wants
Speaker 1: to break. Can I tell you something about the offering.
Speaker 1: It's not about the money. It's about your heart. It's
Speaker 1: about what God wants to do through you. That's why
Speaker 1: y'all come on up here. We got to do this quick.
Speaker 1: But clap your hands. These are these are five? Uh,
Speaker 1: there's five. I think I like how much I'll trust me.
Speaker 1: I'll just clap for people before you even know they
Speaker 1: are There's there's five. I set this up earlier this week,
Speaker 1: I said, I want before we give our offering, I
Speaker 1: want five whys, uh five people or families to say,
Speaker 1: here's my why. When you find the why, the what
Speaker 1: is no problem. When you find the why, you can
Speaker 1: trust God with the how and the where and the when.
Speaker 1: When you find the why. And I held up that
Speaker 1: little picture frame a couple of weeks ago and I
Speaker 1: shared with you a little bit about my why. But
Speaker 1: there are thousands of people, including these behind me, that
Speaker 1: represent so many of you in the room, who give
Speaker 1: like this regularly, weekly, monthly, yearly, in this offering, and
Speaker 1: I just want them to take a moment and share
Speaker 1: one minute each. It's going to be a showtime at
Speaker 1: the Apollo hook bring you off the stage if you
Speaker 1: go over a minute, hector. But this is just in
Speaker 1: one minute why I give. And I think your faith
Speaker 1: will be built as you find your why and think
Speaker 1: about your act of worship today. I know you can't
Speaker 1: tell all of it, but just give one minute of
Speaker 1: your why. In twenty thirteen, we were living in California
Speaker 1: and came across Elevation online and we were instantly drawn
Speaker 1: to the ministry and the impact it was having on
Speaker 1: people all over. A couple of years later, we came
Speaker 1: to a crossroads in our marriage and we were both
Speaker 1: sure our marriage was over, but we both agreed if
Speaker 1: our marriage had a chance to survive, we knew we
Speaker 1: needed to get to Charlotte. We both grew up as pKas,
Speaker 1: but that didn't make us immune to the struggles we
Speaker 1: faced in our marriage. Once we arrived in Charlotte with
Speaker 1: our four kids, we immediately felt God prompting us to
Speaker 1: not just tithe like we've done in the past, but
Speaker 1: to give above and beyond to God in this new season.
Speaker 1: If we wanted to experience something new in our lives
Speaker 1: and in our marriage, God stretched us financially and personally.
Speaker 1: It wasn't easy. There were times our finances were down
Speaker 1: and we questioned if we would move past the difficult days,
Speaker 1: but God challenged us to keep the sacrifice high. We
Speaker 1: learned that the more obedient we were, the more we
Speaker 1: saw God blessing us. God has blessed my career finances,
Speaker 1: but above that, we have seen God's blessings by renewing
Speaker 1: our marriage, seeing seeing our kids experience God in the
Speaker 1: new and more personal way, and watching lives transformed right
Speaker 1: in front of us every week. This past April, we
Speaker 1: celebrated twenty years of marriage. Oh you're done. I wanted
Speaker 1: you to keep going, he said. We moved to Charlotte
Speaker 1: to be a part You know, that's just amazing. People
Speaker 1: will move to a city for a job, moved to
Speaker 1: a city for a climate, but to really prioritize God
Speaker 1: in that way, and now not just people moving anyway.
Speaker 1: I gotta shut up, All right, Let's move on to
Speaker 1: Jason and Susan elevision. Church felt so big back in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight when we visited Providence for the
Speaker 1: first time, but we loved it. We soon found ourselves
Speaker 1: there every weekend. Initially thought it was so big that
Speaker 1: our little contributions would make a difference. Then one Sunday
Speaker 1: and December, a group of people came out on stage
Speaker 1: holding cards. One side had a word representing a struggle
Speaker 1: or pain they had gone through, the other word representing
Speaker 1: how God had overcome that battle. When I remember, in particular,
Speaker 1: is a woman that had written infertility and then the
Speaker 1: name of her child. That one moment impacted me so
Speaker 1: much because I had miscarried the previous December and was
Speaker 1: struggling with infertility. That year. As a result of that moment,
Speaker 1: we then realized how God is changing people's lives at
Speaker 1: our church, and we wanted to give. We believe God
Speaker 1: was just getting started and have been tithing ever since. However,
Speaker 1: the same time, we still had a private pain of
Speaker 1: infertility after our miscarriage and many failed infertility treatments. We
Speaker 1: still had faith in God, but when I turned forty three,
Speaker 1: we then started to lose hope. After trying for six years,
Speaker 1: we had finally stopped believing we'd ever have a child
Speaker 1: of our own and had started trying to accept this.
Speaker 1: It was then at reflect that same time here in
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, that God broke me down to start believing
Speaker 1: for our family again. Then, in December, a game changer.
Speaker 1: We both felt we should write the word miracle. On
Speaker 1: January first, for no real reason, I took a pregnancy
Speaker 1: test and was shocked it was positive. So Savannah Faith
Speaker 1: was born September fourth, twenty nineteen. We are forever grateful
Speaker 1: to God for our game changer miracle, which we call
Speaker 1: her game changer miracle. We give to God an elevation
Speaker 1: because we know God is changing lives at our church
Speaker 1: and does perform miracles unbelievable. You got to give flow
Speaker 1: of the mic. Now, y'all know flow I give because
Speaker 1: two years ago I lost my husband due to a
Speaker 1: heart attack, and my church was there for me. The
Speaker 1: news that my husband was gone was paralyzing, and all
Speaker 1: I could remember is just sitting in the hospital parking
Speaker 1: lot and I didn't know how to drive back home
Speaker 1: to a place where I would never see him again.
Speaker 1: It was in that moment that guy used our very
Speaker 1: own pastor Stephen his sermon about GPS to give me
Speaker 1: enough strength to put the car in drive. He said,
Speaker 1: wherever you go, God has gone before you. And every
Speaker 1: day since I've experienced that truth, and He has done
Speaker 1: so much of it through my UC family. You see,
Speaker 1: the support I received was overwhelming. They not only showed
Speaker 1: up emotionally and spiritually, but financially as well. Probably the
Speaker 1: area where God has shown up the most has been
Speaker 1: in my son, Little Omar. The summer after my husband's passing,
Speaker 1: I sent Little to Youth X, thinking that being with
Speaker 1: his friends would help him to process the loss of
Speaker 1: his father. But God did so much more than that,
Speaker 1: because he came home with an orange Bible after giving
Speaker 1: his life to Christ and even more than that. He
Speaker 1: made a decision to get baptized in September. So I
Speaker 1: give to my church so that we can continue to
Speaker 1: give hopes to families who are going through the same
Speaker 1: unbearable pain. Amazing, she said the Orange Bible. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you know this. We just crossed over for
Speaker 1: people who have raised their hands to give their life
Speaker 1: to Christ, just in our physical locations. Over one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand of those Bibles that we've given out in the
Speaker 1: lifetime of the ministry. Amazing. You better keep living for
Speaker 1: Jesus Omar. I'm gonna come chop you down and taller
Speaker 1: than me, but I can binge press you, man of God.
Speaker 1: They got one person on Skype from the United Kingdom.
Speaker 1: I have no idea how to pronounce her name. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna let her do that. But I thought you needed
Speaker 1: to see. It's just beyond the walls of what God
Speaker 1: is doing. But go ahead and introduce yourself in Share
Speaker 1: and Share. Why no, not the United Kings. Everybody my
Speaker 1: name is in a bouquet the United Kingdom. But from Ghana.
Speaker 1: Oh that's so confusing. I must tell you ya. Stretch
Speaker 1: your hand towards the sky. My name is I think
Speaker 1: I'm on, Now You're on? Okay, my name is Dubuquet.
Speaker 1: I've struggled in my life to feel like I had
Speaker 1: a real connection to God. It was a constant searching
Speaker 1: for someone who in theory I knew was real, but
Speaker 1: couldn't feel in a lot of the spaces I was in.
Speaker 1: More So, I longed for a community to share it with.
Speaker 1: So when a friend shared a sermon link with me
Speaker 1: in college, I didn't know it would be one of
Speaker 1: the most important cliques of my life. The sermons were
Speaker 1: amazing and the worship had me in tears, but it
Speaker 1: was the online community that kept me coming back each week.
Speaker 1: To think I could be a part of elevation from
Speaker 1: the UK was crazy, but it was actually happening. I
Speaker 1: started tithing and decided to lead an e group, and
Speaker 1: that's when it really flipped. God showed me that the
Speaker 1: thing I longed for, community, I'd actually create for myself
Speaker 1: by being that for someone else. I give because this
Speaker 1: is my family and I want people around the world
Speaker 1: to find their home just like I did. No book
Speaker 1: Now Bookayo Bouquet scale one to ten? How did I
Speaker 1: do a terrible one? Let's get it right. New book,
Speaker 1: new bouquet, yes, k new book, new boo kay, now, okay,
Speaker 1: come on, let's give her how far he fail? We
Speaker 1: love you. I'll see you in a couple of hours
Speaker 1: when we do this again. All right, Jim and Olivia
Speaker 1: have been with me forever. What do you give? Having
Speaker 1: moved over twenty times with Jim's career since being married,
Speaker 1: we knew all along it was God's hand guiding our
Speaker 1: steps in each place He let us. We placed ourselves
Speaker 1: in the local church where we could be fed and
Speaker 1: also serve. Although I always felt inclined in my heart
Speaker 1: towards living generously, I didn't grow up with a biblical
Speaker 1: understanding of the tithe But everything we have belongs to
Speaker 1: God already, and that we are called to get back
Speaker 1: to Him through the church. Early on in our marriage
Speaker 1: we made the decision that we would give in whatever
Speaker 1: way God enabled us, to the church that we were
Speaker 1: a part of. We've been so blessed to be a
Speaker 1: part of many churches around the world, each of which
Speaker 1: God has used in our lives. When we retired, and
Speaker 1: I like to say, Jim says that words not in
Speaker 1: the Bible, we moved to Charlotte. We had no idea
Speaker 1: that we would end up in a church like Elevation. Elevation, though,
Speaker 1: has been our church home since twenty ten, and it's
Speaker 1: been a privilege for us to continue to give towards
Speaker 1: the work that God is doing here. We never grow
Speaker 1: tired of seeing people fall in love with Jesus and
Speaker 1: being a part of helping them grow in their faith.
Speaker 1: So I don if you remember telling me this, Livy
Speaker 1: one time she told me, if you ever see me
Speaker 1: in my in your sermon and I look like I'm
Speaker 1: not paying attention, I'm praying for you, she says. Sometimes
Speaker 1: I just pray for you. Do you remember telling me that?
Speaker 1: She is like, just want to make sure you don't
Speaker 1: think I'm bored sleeping. I'm praying for you, that God
Speaker 1: would use you as a vessel. And yet, the crazy
Speaker 1: thing about it is it's not lectures or music that
Speaker 1: God uses to touch lives. It is the faithfulness of
Speaker 1: thousands of people who now believe that I'm the one.
Speaker 1: I'm the one God. If you want to use me,
Speaker 1: you can use me. I'm the one, and each of
Speaker 1: you shared beautifully why you give from your perspective, But
Speaker 1: I want to give you one more perspective, real quick
Speaker 1: of why you give something that you can't fit in
Speaker 1: a picture frame. If you either came to faith in
Speaker 1: Christ through this ministry or reconnected your faith in Christ
Speaker 1: through this ministry, at every location, I want you to
Speaker 1: stand for a moment. So I want you to see
Speaker 1: why you see that Omar, Stay standing, Stay standing. If
Speaker 1: somebody in your family or somebody that you love came
Speaker 1: to Christ or came back to Christ through this ministry,
Speaker 1: joined them on your feet. That's why if you were
Speaker 1: ever going through a season of depression that was dark
Speaker 1: in your life and God used the ministry of this
Speaker 1: church to get you through that season like oxygen for
Speaker 1: your soul, stand up on your feet. And that's why
Speaker 1: it's not for some building. We build buildings. But that's
Speaker 1: why that's why I think that's everybody in the whole
Speaker 1: church standing. But if if you want to be the
Speaker 1: one that God is looking for, somebody shot I'm the one.
Speaker 1: Shout back at these people who gave to this ministry,
Speaker 1: Say I'm the one you were given for. Say I'm
Speaker 1: the one. I'm the one. And now, in a beautiful
Speaker 1: turn of events, God allows you to be the one
Speaker 1: who gets to give to invest into His kingdom. I'm
Speaker 1: the one. Now. As a church family, we get to
Speaker 1: be a part of what God is doing right here
Speaker 1: through our expansion offering. The very first thing we would
Speaker 1: love for you to do is share the word that
Speaker 1: God's put on your heart with us. We would love
Speaker 1: to be able to come alongside you and pray and
Speaker 1: believe with you for what God's laid on your heart.
Speaker 1: Head to myword dot Elevation Church dot com. Write your
Speaker 1: word on that side there and download a background that
Speaker 1: you can put on your phone or your computer to
Speaker 1: serve as a reminder to you to keep in front
Speaker 1: of you every single day what it is that you're believing,
Speaker 1: maybe personally for or as a family for the next
Speaker 1: thing is as we'd love for you to give and
Speaker 1: participate in the offering itself. Head to Elevationchurch dot org
Speaker 1: and then on that page you can give at the
Speaker 1: top of the page and find the options available to
Speaker 1: be a part of this offering. Make sure you select
Speaker 1: your campus. If you do attend a physical location, select
Speaker 1: that campus, and for all of our efam our extended
Speaker 1: family online, select online as your campus. You can write
Speaker 1: in the amount that you'd like to give to participate
Speaker 1: in this year and offering, and make sure you designate
Speaker 1: available year end expansion offering as the type of offering
Speaker 1: whether you're bringing your very first hive or you're giving
Speaker 1: an offering above and beyond. We can't wait to see
Speaker 1: what God does through you as we join together with
Speaker 1: locations and family all around the world to continue pushing
Speaker 1: forward the message of Jesus. Thank you for being a
Speaker 1: part of Elevation Church, and we believe the best is ahead.