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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

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Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope

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Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to

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Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what it's been like for you in

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Speaker 1: the last year, as we've all been like renegotiating our lives,

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Speaker 1: not negotiating with God, but just trying to figure out

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Speaker 1: where our life is pointed and just bring it down

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Speaker 1: just a moment. There may be a lot of you

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Speaker 1: who are going through something that's very disorienting and that

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Speaker 1: may be very negative. There may be some of you

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Speaker 1: that are going through something and it's actually been a

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Speaker 1: positive change for you. And one thing that I know

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Speaker 1: for all of us is that we don't always get

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Speaker 1: the chance to brace for impact when changes come in

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Speaker 1: our life, positive or negative, and that's what makes it

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Speaker 1: really challenging. So I want everybody in this room to stand,

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Speaker 1: and if you're able right where you are, I want

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Speaker 1: you to stand, and I want to read my scripture

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Speaker 1: for today because I'm so excited what God gave me

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Speaker 1: for us to study together for our Bible lesson the

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Speaker 1: scripture is Acts chapter three, verses one through sixteen. And

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Speaker 1: I'll give you a moment to find that and just

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Speaker 1: be open. Just be open and be attentive and be respectful.

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Speaker 1: God doesn't waste words, so you know, really value what

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Speaker 1: he gives you today. He might say one thing that

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Speaker 1: changes everything. I'm just telling you I've had that experience before,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes it wasn't even when I was looking for

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Speaker 1: some dramatic thing from God and just whack thud copal

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Speaker 1: like the comic book to Say, Acts chapter three, verse one.

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Speaker 1: One day, Peter and John were going up to the

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Speaker 1: temple at the time of prayer three in the afternoon.

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Speaker 1: Now a man who was lame from birth was being

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Speaker 1: carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was

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Speaker 1: put every day to beg from those going into the

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Speaker 1: temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter,

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Speaker 1: he asked him for money. Peter looked straight at him,

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Speaker 1: as did John. Then Peter said, look at us. So

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Speaker 1: the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something

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Speaker 1: from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold I do

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Speaker 1: not have, but what I do have I give you

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Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk And

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Speaker 1: verse seven says that Peter took him by the right hand,

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Speaker 1: helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles

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Speaker 1: became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk.

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Speaker 1: Then he went with him into the temple courts, walking

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Speaker 1: and jumping and praising God. All the people saw him

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Speaker 1: walking praising God. They recognized him as the same man

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Speaker 1: who used to sit begging at the temple gate, called beautiful,

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Speaker 1: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what

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Speaker 1: had happened to him. While the man held on to

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Speaker 1: Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came

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Speaker 1: running to the place called Solomon's colonnade. Came running to

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Speaker 1: them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. And when Peter

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Speaker 1: saw this, he said to them, fellow Israelites, why does

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Speaker 1: this surprise you? Why you stare at us as if

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Speaker 1: by our own power or godliness we had made this

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Speaker 1: man walk. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the

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Speaker 1: God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You

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Speaker 1: handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him

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Speaker 1: before Pilot, though he had decided to let him go.

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Speaker 1: You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that

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Speaker 1: a murderer be released to you. You killed the author

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Speaker 1: of life, but God raised him from the dead. We

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Speaker 1: are witnesses of this by faith in the name of Jesus.

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Speaker 1: This man, whom you see and know, was made strong.

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Speaker 1: It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him.

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Speaker 1: Thank you Lord that has completely healed him. As you

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Speaker 1: can all see, I'm going to tell you my title.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be a controversial one, but I want

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Speaker 1: you to shout it at the top of your lungs.

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Speaker 1: It's only a one word title. Look at somebody next

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Speaker 1: to you and say, surprise, be seated, surprise. I was

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Speaker 1: watching your reaction to that. I wish I could see you.

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Speaker 1: You like surprises, Raise your hand in the chat. If

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Speaker 1: you like surprises, raise your hand in the room. If

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Speaker 1: you like surprise. See I like surprises that I like?

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Speaker 1: Is that fair enough? I like surprises that I like.

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Speaker 1: If you like surprises, raise your hand in the chat. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: don't like to be surprised. Just shoot your hand up

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Speaker 1: real quick, just real quick, y'all. Raised it slow because

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Speaker 1: you don't like anything surprising. Even the raising of your

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Speaker 1: own hand is like your brain was managing the speed

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Speaker 1: of your hand. You're like, we're going to go up now.

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Speaker 1: In response to the preacher's question, or remember, one of

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Speaker 1: my best friends is named Craig Grochelle. He pastors a

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Speaker 1: church in Oklahoma. Of course you know him. He's been

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Speaker 1: here a million times. I look up to him so much.

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Speaker 1: But a few years ago I thought he was too

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Speaker 1: stressed out. So I went to go see him. But

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Speaker 1: I want to surprise him. The reason I wanted to

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Speaker 1: surprise him is because he is such a control freak.

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Speaker 1: And I asked his permission to share this illustration. I'll

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Speaker 1: ask forgiveness afterwards, because I knew if I said can

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Speaker 1: I come, he'd go, ah, I got this, I got that,

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Speaker 1: I got the other blah blah blah. And I got

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Speaker 1: to preach for seventy five million people out there in Russia,

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Speaker 1: things like this that he does. And so I said, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I got to drink a protein shake, I

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Speaker 1: got a bench fresh seven hundred pounds. He's just so efficient,

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Speaker 1: and so I was like, I'll just go. So Jessica

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Speaker 1: Mitchell on our staff. She reached out to the assistant

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Speaker 1: that worked in his office and just showed that we

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Speaker 1: were coming, but don't tell him. So I go on

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Speaker 1: the airplane. It's something that we used to do for

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Speaker 1: those of you that are watching this into your twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one. And then when I got there, the gentleman

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Speaker 1: that picked me up from the airport that was on

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Speaker 1: his staff, I said, where are you gonna sneak me in?

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Speaker 1: He goes, h, well, he kind of knows you're coming.

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Speaker 1: I said, well, how does he know I'm coming? They said, well,

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Speaker 1: we told him because he didn't like surprises. And this

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Speaker 1: is what I said in my head, all right, and

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Speaker 1: this is the transcript that didn't make it voice to

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Speaker 1: speech thing. It was just a text in my head.

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Speaker 1: I thought, well, dummy, you're not his friend. I'm his friend.

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Speaker 1: I didn't come out here because he liked surprises. I

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Speaker 1: came out here because he needed one. Dummy didn't say

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Speaker 1: that much too. I'm a man of God and I

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Speaker 1: don't say things like this. I have a filter of

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Speaker 1: things like this. But it was funny to me how

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Speaker 1: they thought that just because he didn't like surprises meant

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Speaker 1: he didn't never need surprises, you know. And I knew

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Speaker 1: if I told him I was coming, it would stress

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Speaker 1: him out. So I knew that the way to really

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Speaker 1: support my friend in a stressful season was to show

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Speaker 1: up and give him no choice about what what's he

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Speaker 1: gonna do? Kick me out when I show up at

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Speaker 1: the door. So when I saw him, I was angry.

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Speaker 1: I said, surprise, you know what I'm saying. The next

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Speaker 1: time I went out, I didn't tell anybody I was coming.

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Speaker 1: I got on the airplane, send him a picture of

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Speaker 1: the board and passed and I said, uber, are you

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Speaker 1: picking me up at the airport? I didn't ask because

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Speaker 1: I know just because he doesn't like surprises doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: he never needs surprises. So when we get to Acts

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Speaker 1: chapter three, and when I say turning your Bible to

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Speaker 1: Acts three, like I just did a minute ago, our

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Speaker 1: scripture is Acts chapter three. There are many people who

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Speaker 1: listen to me preach who are like, okay, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

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Speaker 1: numbers due to run me, Joshua Judges, WHOA I'm not

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Speaker 1: seeing an axe acts as axe? This is going to

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Speaker 1: be a good one. Is this about like a battle axe?

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Speaker 1: Are going to be? You know? They never heard this

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Speaker 1: story before, so they're probably going to get the most

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Speaker 1: out of it. The people that will have a hard

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Speaker 1: time hearing this with their heart are the people who

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Speaker 1: know it in their head. So shot again, surprise. Well,

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Speaker 1: we have an ongoing argument in my house because my

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Speaker 1: wife is very jumpy again. She only has two flaws.

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Speaker 1: This is this only other flaw she has other than

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Speaker 1: the one I told you about last week. She only

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Speaker 1: has two flaws. She's so skittish and it angers me

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Speaker 1: to no end because I have to walk around my

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Speaker 1: house like some sort of secret ninja, you know, like

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Speaker 1: have to sneak around my house so as not to

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Speaker 1: scare her. And I tell her when when I walk

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Speaker 1: in a room and she jumps up, I go, I

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Speaker 1: live here? Am I allowed to live here? It's so uncomfortable,

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Speaker 1: like having to sneak around like the burglar in the

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Speaker 1: house that I bought. Love you, Hollyanna, but it's just weird.

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Speaker 1: I live here, I live here. I live here, and

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Speaker 1: I can't just move around and do what I want

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Speaker 1: to do. So of course, the parallel is that a

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Speaker 1: lot of times in church, when God actually shows up,

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Speaker 1: we kind of act like we didn't expect it to

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Speaker 1: begin with, and I'll show you this in the text

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Speaker 1: from the Teachers of the Law and the Saddresses and

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Speaker 1: the Temple Guard, because when Peter did a miracle, they

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Speaker 1: threw him in prison. That's what happens in this text.

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Speaker 1: But before we get to that, let me back all

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Speaker 1: the way up to the beginning, because there are several

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Speaker 1: surprises in this passage that may not be apparent to

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Speaker 1: the naked eye. First of all, you might be surprised

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Speaker 1: to see Peter and John hanging out together. To begin with.

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Speaker 1: You might be surprised that they would get along because

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Speaker 1: they are completely different. They are completely different. And our

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Speaker 1: expectation is that God is going to bring people into

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Speaker 1: our life that are similar to us. That's called a mirror.

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Speaker 1: You can buy that at lows. You don't need people

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Speaker 1: in your life that always just reflect back at you

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Speaker 1: your same exact preferences and prejudices, reinforcing your biases. God

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Speaker 1: will bring people into your life that He will use,

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Speaker 1: and it will sometimes surprise you who he uses. So

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Speaker 1: Peter and John are somewhat surprising to see together because

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Speaker 1: Peter is boisterous and John is I have a hard

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Speaker 1: time with people like John when I was reading the passage,

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Speaker 1: you might not have noticed he didn't do anything. I

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Speaker 1: won't take time to read the whole thing again because

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna clock budget here today with you.

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Speaker 1: But but I promise you read the whole thing. Well,

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Speaker 1: he did one thing. Okay, I don't want to overstate it.

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Speaker 1: He did one thing. John did one thing. Verse four.

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Speaker 1: Peter looked straight at him, as did John. This guy,

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Speaker 1: this guy. The only the only part that he had

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Speaker 1: in the passage that I can see is to look

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Speaker 1: at the man who's asking for the money. He didn't say, oh, Peter,

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Speaker 1: don't worry about you left your wallet back at the

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Speaker 1: day I got my wallet here. No, he didn't grab

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Speaker 1: the left hand while Peter grabbed the right hand. No,

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Speaker 1: he didn't look at Peter and say you can do it, Peter.

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Speaker 1: It's just like you said, Jesus do with the blind eyes.

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Speaker 1: And when we went the issue of blood, no encouragement, no, nothing,

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Speaker 1: just looked at the man that Peter looked at. But

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Speaker 1: I I wonder if it was John's perspective that Peter

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Speaker 1: needed that was different than his, that enabled him to

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Speaker 1: be in position to experience God's power. So you might

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Speaker 1: be surprised. Somebody say it out loud, you might be

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Speaker 1: surprised who God uses in your life. God has done

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Speaker 1: some of the biggest things in my life through people

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Speaker 1: I didn't like. No, I won't give you a list.

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to name names. But some of the

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Speaker 1: biggest things God did in my life he did through

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Speaker 1: people I didn't even really enjoy hanging out with. And

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Speaker 1: the problem with us is, you know, God wants to

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Speaker 1: bring somebody into our life, but if they don't exactly

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Speaker 1: match the specifications of the friends that we think we

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Speaker 1: want or of the people that we think usually the

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Speaker 1: people that we think we need, God to send her

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Speaker 1: to the people who already think what we think. So

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Speaker 1: why would God send something that we already have plenty

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Speaker 1: of Peter and John. I was surprised they were still

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Speaker 1: hanging out because they were so competitive. They have a history,

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Speaker 1: you know, Peter and John, they were partners in a

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Speaker 1: fishing business and they became fishers of men and Jesus,

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Speaker 1: and they had some adventures together. They had history together.

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Speaker 1: Peter and John not only ran to the tomb together.

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Speaker 1: And check this out. How different opectives are and how

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Speaker 1: God can give you a person that has a different

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Speaker 1: perspective than you in order to help you see something

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Speaker 1: that you would have been tempted maybe to, just like

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Speaker 1: you would have completely missed it. When they got to

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Speaker 1: the tomb and it was empty, they were surprised. Why

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Speaker 1: were they surprised? He spent Jesus spent. Well, I guess

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Speaker 1: a dead man rising from the grave is surprising, but

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Speaker 1: after all they've seen him do I know is kind

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Speaker 1: of obvious, but this is exactly what he said he

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Speaker 1: would do. So when the stone was rolled away when

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Speaker 1: they got there on Sunday, they were shocked by it.

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Speaker 1: When the women came back, because the women had the

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Speaker 1: ability to believe something that the men couldn't believe. And

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Speaker 1: I don't know if that says anything about how God

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Speaker 1: uses sometimes, you know, people or whatever whatever whatever. The

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Speaker 1: men were like the official disciples, but the women were

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Speaker 1: the ones who went to the tomb. All right, now,

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Speaker 1: y'all are a little too loud on this point. When

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Speaker 1: John got there, he got there first, but he didn't

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Speaker 1: go in. When Peter got there, Peter went in, but

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Speaker 1: he didn't believe. So God used John, who stood outside

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Speaker 1: the tomb at a distance, to believe Peter was wired

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Speaker 1: to believe it when he sees it. John stood out, John,

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Speaker 1: I got to give you an idea of the differences.

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Speaker 1: Why is so surprising? John at the Last Supper, when

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Speaker 1: Jesus was saying, one of you is going to betray me,

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Speaker 1: leaned back on Jesus's chest and said nothing. Peter said,

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Speaker 1: not me. Even if you die, I'm gonna be right here.

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Speaker 1: If the wheels fall off, all right with you. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter, Jesus. I'll cut off an ear, I'll cut

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Speaker 1: off a head, I'll do anything but let the cock

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Speaker 1: crow three times, and Peter's denying him like he never

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Speaker 1: knew him. Is surprising that God would use two people

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Speaker 1: who were so different and use them to do something

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Speaker 1: so amazing as perform the first miracle since the birth

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Speaker 1: of the Church that we witness in the Book of Acts,

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Speaker 1: Peter and John together. If you are more like John

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Speaker 1: than Peter, that's okay. It will shock you some of

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Speaker 1: the things that God will use about your personality that

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Speaker 1: you think mean that he can't use you. And I

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Speaker 1: don't want to stay there long because it really not

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Speaker 1: my message. But that surprised me that it was Peter

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Speaker 1: and John together because they seem like polar opposite. So question,

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Speaker 1: are you open to who God wants to use in

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Speaker 1: your life or do you have a wish list that

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Speaker 1: looks more like something that you should handt a Santa

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Speaker 1: than something that you should pray to Jesus. And if

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Speaker 1: they don't match the exact specifications of who you thought

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Speaker 1: God would use, can you be open to a surprise?

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Speaker 1: A surprise? Some of the best work I ever did

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Speaker 1: in my life was with people that I didn't see

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Speaker 1: it on the surface, but see, here's what they're doing.

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Speaker 1: They're going up to the temple at the time of

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Speaker 1: prayer three in the afternoon. You got your nine am prayer,

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Speaker 1: you got your twelve noon prayer, you got your three

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Speaker 1: pm prayer, and they're going to the temple. That surprised

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Speaker 1: me because the temple was the old system. So now

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Speaker 1: they're preaching the gospel Jesus has ascended to heaven. The

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Speaker 1: context of this is that the day of Pentecost has

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Speaker 1: already come. Peter preaches this amazing confrontational sermon. It wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have been like a YouTube popular sermon. It wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: got a lot of clicks or views or comments or anything.

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Speaker 1: Like that. But it was very effective because when he

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Speaker 1: preached that, the Holy Spirit demonstrated with power. Everybody say power.

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Speaker 1: Don't say it real timid, say power. That's better. That's better.

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Speaker 1: When you say power, say it from your diaphragm, say power.

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Speaker 1: And now, all of a sudden, the Spirit's power was

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Speaker 1: a demonstration of what Peter preached, and God did an

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Speaker 1: amazing work. Three thousand came into their number that day.

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Speaker 1: Now in Acts chapter three, as the church is growing,

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Speaker 1: this this sect that was considered like almost like a

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Speaker 1: cult of Judaism. These two leaders, two of the appointed

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Speaker 1: designated leaders from the twelve Disciples. They're going up to

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Speaker 1: the temple, which is where they used to worship. But

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Speaker 1: they have a new understanding that Jesus, God's Messiah, who

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Speaker 1: wasn't a new religion. It was the fulfillment of what

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Speaker 1: God already started. Stay with me, there's going to be

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Speaker 1: a payoff to all this back I'm giving you. When

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Speaker 1: they go up to the temple at the time of prayer,

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Speaker 1: they are doing what they always did. And at this

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Speaker 1: point in the text we get a picture of sometimes

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Speaker 1: how we are in between two things in our life.

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Speaker 1: We are in between two things in our life. There

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Speaker 1: is the old thing that we used to do. There

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Speaker 1: is the old thing, the familiar thing, the nostalgic thing,

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Speaker 1: the comforting thing, and then there is the new thing,

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Speaker 1: which is true. But in between the two sometimes you

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Speaker 1: have to have a new belief in the same temple,

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Speaker 1: a new belief in the same system. So they're going

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Speaker 1: to temple like they always did. They're going not only

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Speaker 1: to temple like they did once a week. They did

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Speaker 1: this every day. In the Jewish culture. It would not

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Speaker 1: be unusual to hit all three prayer services. You might

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Speaker 1: have been there at nine, and twelve and three. So

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Speaker 1: they are doing something that is very familiar to them.

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Speaker 1: When God, when God gives them what we would call

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Speaker 1: an interruption in their schedule. Now, let's watch this verse two.

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Speaker 1: A man who was laying from birth was being carried

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Speaker 1: to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put

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Speaker 1: every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

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Speaker 1: Now let's kind of get in the middle of this situation.

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Speaker 1: He's moving toward his spot by the gate. They're moving

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Speaker 1: toward their spot in the temple. And what's amazing about

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Speaker 1: what happens next is that in order for the miracle

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Speaker 1: to happen, both parties had to be open to a

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Speaker 1: divine surprise. Are you open to divine surprises? Some of

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Speaker 1: us aren't. In fact, I was imagining this modern day.

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Speaker 1: You know, I've preached this text a few times, so

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Speaker 1: I was imagining, like, how would it look in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one? And as I played it out, nobody got

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Speaker 1: healed in the passage because everybody was looking at their

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Speaker 1: phones on the way into church. The whole miracle had

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Speaker 1: just stopped right at verse three. It was Peter and

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Speaker 1: John going in and the man was going to a spot,

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Speaker 1: and nobody got anything because nobody was looking for anything

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Speaker 1: except something that was inside, something that wasn't even real.

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Speaker 1: And what we like about this, while I can do

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Speaker 1: my weekly rent against the phones that I'm addicted to

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Speaker 1: as well, while we do this, what we like about

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Speaker 1: it is it's predictable. It's predictably miserable, but it gives

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Speaker 1: us something to go to where we can know exactly

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Speaker 1: this is available to me. So now now, if I

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Speaker 1: live my real life, I might be surprised. I don't

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Speaker 1: like to be some unless I like the surprise. Ordered

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Speaker 1: the prize, Customize the surprise so this is the God.

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Speaker 1: We want this to Jesus. We want God, let me

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Speaker 1: customize the surprises that I want you to send into

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Speaker 1: my life today. And when I realized about the Temple

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Speaker 1: of Us, all of the people who were leading in

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Speaker 1: the temple were surprised when God actually did something. But

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Speaker 1: it was his house. Now walk around into Holly, this

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Speaker 1: is my house too. Can I move from room to room?

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Speaker 1: And you're not freak out when something actually happened in

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Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. They were surprised that God had

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Speaker 1: the audacity to move in his own house. Can God

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Speaker 1: move in his own house? Can the pother tell the

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Speaker 1: clay what to be? Can God switch things around a

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Speaker 1: little bit? Can God give you a blue wind instead

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Speaker 1: of a red wind? I mean, can we start small?

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Speaker 1: Some of us just don't like any surprises, so we

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Speaker 1: structure God right out of our prayer life. Peter probably,

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Speaker 1: Peter probably wouldn't have stopped to see the man if

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Speaker 1: it hadn't been for quiet John, and the man probably

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Speaker 1: would not have received this healing. Now, he definitely wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have received it if he insisted on getting what he

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Speaker 1: asked for in the first place. Now here's why This

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Speaker 1: matters to you because right now you are in the

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Speaker 1: process of, if I can put it this way, you

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Speaker 1: are trying to decide whether to embrace what life has

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Speaker 1: surprised you with or fight it. Just like this man.

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Speaker 1: He was paralyzed from birth. Side note, you are not

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Speaker 1: stuck with what you are born ass right, right, Jesus

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Speaker 1: is bigger than your genetics. Side note, the man in

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Speaker 1: this passage was forty years old. So now what we're

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Speaker 1: about to see happen is God is going to give

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Speaker 1: this man something that he gave up on a long

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Speaker 1: time ago. And I know what that feels like, because

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Speaker 1: the longer that you live, the less surprisable you become. Right,

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Speaker 1: you start out when you're like, I don't know. I

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Speaker 1: was twenty five years old as a pastor, and I

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Speaker 1: would see something, I'd be like, they would never betray me.

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Speaker 1: I hadn't said that in a while, right, Or I say,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to make it all negative. I would

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Speaker 1: say something like, well, I could never change this habit,

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Speaker 1: and then I did. I did. You won't believe this.

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Speaker 1: I do two leg days a week now in the gym.

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Speaker 1: Y'all give it up. That's a big deal, now, I

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Speaker 1: like this man. I am forty one years old and

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Speaker 1: I have lived to see some things that I never

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Speaker 1: thought would happen, good and bad. I told Buck when

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Speaker 1: he started training me when I was twenty eight. I said,

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Speaker 1: I don't do legs. Just like my mom has this thing.

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Speaker 1: Ah don't merge, Ah don't merge. Ah don't merge. She

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Speaker 1: does this whole bit about it. You can ask her

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Speaker 1: sometimes she has this traffic thing. Ah don't merge. She

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Speaker 1: will drive seventeen hours to get to Walmart so she

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to merge on forty five. But it's a blessing, Okay,

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Speaker 1: a small town. So, but the longer you go in life,

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Speaker 1: you get things like, oh, that happens people do that.

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Speaker 1: I missed an opportunity, y'all, and I kicked myself about it.

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Speaker 1: I should have wrote my parenting book before my kids

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Speaker 1: were born. I could have written such a good book.

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Speaker 1: Could have been seven hundred and thirty three pages about

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Speaker 1: what to never do with the child, and what to

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Speaker 1: always do and what kind of kids grow up God's

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Speaker 1: way to flourish in the courts of our God. Should

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Speaker 1: have wrote it before I found out. You know that

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Speaker 1: life will surprise you man, life will surprise you. People

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Speaker 1: will sure enough surprise you, and you get traumatized. It's

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Speaker 1: weird because like certain people on my phone, they gave

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Speaker 1: me bad news once, so I'm scared to see their

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Speaker 1: name at all anymore. Oh, no, can you relate to

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Speaker 1: this at all? This is a term in for the

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Speaker 1: people over age ten. And then you become less surprisable,

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Speaker 1: You become more cynical, you become more jaded. You call

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Speaker 1: it discerning, but that doesn't change what it is. Right.

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Speaker 1: You can put a briar's label on a can of spinach,

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Speaker 1: but it's still okay, it's still spinach. So in this

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Speaker 1: passage you got to give a lot of credit to

429
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 1: how much Peter has grown by this point in his ministry.

430
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 1: And really the credit goes to the Holy Spirit, because

431
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 1: in Peter's own mind, he was probably the least surprised

432
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,880
Speaker 1: the disciples. He was surprising because he would do the

433
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 1: stupidest thing that you could imagine and think that he

434
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 1: was doing something good for Jesus. But did you know

435
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: that Peter was actually shocked when Jesus went to the cross.

436
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 1: Not only was he shocked when he rose from the dead,

437
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 1: he was shocked when he died. What did you think

438
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:29,280
Speaker 1: he came for? He told you this over and over

439
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 1: and over again. One thing I was reading this week,

440
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:33,480
Speaker 1: I was just studying all about Peter. I just went

441
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 1: on this Peter binge this week, and I was looking

442
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 1: at all the different things that Peter said and did,

443
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 1: and he talked a lot, and sometimes when he would

444
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:42,720
Speaker 1: say something. One time, Jesus took them up on the

445
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 1: Mount of Transfiguration, and you can look this up later.

446
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: It's really cool. He went up there and Jesus was

447
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 1: talking to Moses and Elijah about his departure, because he

448
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 1: was getting ready to go to Jerusalem, where he would

449
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,640
Speaker 1: pay the price for our sin as the sacrificial lamb

450
00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 1: of God that was slain before the foundation of the earth,

451
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:00,120
Speaker 1: the very purpose for which he came to say, save

452
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,120
Speaker 1: his people from their sins. And he's going to do that.

453
00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: And Peter is sleepy, so he doesn't really listen. But

454
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,680
Speaker 1: as soon as he wakes up, he starts talking, and

455
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 1: it says something so weird. In the Bible, it says

456
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 1: that Peter started saying, let's build a shelter up here

457
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 1: for you, a shelter for Moses, A shelter for Elijah?

458
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: What was he trying to do keep Jesus from coming

459
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 1: down that mountain and going to the cross. And in

460
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 1: a parenthetical insert, the author says he did not know

461
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,520
Speaker 1: what he was saying. In other words, he didn't know

462
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 1: what he was talking about. For everybody who is arrogant

463
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: enough to speak about what other people should do in

464
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 1: challenges that you have never faced, I just want to

465
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:51,440
Speaker 1: warn you with this, life will surprise you. Okay, So

466
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 1: if you're a new pastor and you're saying, well, my

467
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 1: church will never you don't know what you're talking about.

468
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:04,000
Speaker 1: If you're a new uh, a new husband or a

469
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,719
Speaker 1: new wife in my marriage, we will never write your

470
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 1: marriage book while you are still engaged. Better yet, write

471
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,680
Speaker 1: it on the first because life will surprise you and

472
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,680
Speaker 1: it will take away all of your answers and you

473
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 1: won't be able to write your book. And the real

474
00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: challenge of faith. Watch this. This is the part that

475
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: freaked me out. The real challenge of faith is not

476
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 1: to be more certain. It is to stay surprisable. And

477
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 1: yes that is a word in Miriam Webster. You can

478
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 1: cross check me while I preach from the text stay surprisable.

479
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 1: See the thing about the man in the passage. I'll

480
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 1: sit down. I gotta teach the thing about the man

481
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,880
Speaker 1: in the passage. He wasn't expecting to get healed. In fact,

482
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: this is a unique miracle that God chose to launch

483
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,760
Speaker 1: the church because usually when Jesus I see people they

484
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 1: asked to be hell. Peter is so obnoxiously proactive he

485
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 1: doesn't even ask the man, are you looking for a

486
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,440
Speaker 1: life change? Because the moment he gets up and walks,

487
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:21,320
Speaker 1: he can't beg anymore. We don't think about this stuff

488
00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 1: in the Bible, like the man jumps up and walks. Now,

489
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:29,520
Speaker 1: what if he's gonna do this miracle in a consider

490
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,040
Speaker 1: it way for all interested parties. He's just say something

491
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 1: like this, Hey man, about this time next week, I'm

492
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,280
Speaker 1: gonna come by. I got something for you. I got

493
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus I served under. Yeah you heard

494
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,280
Speaker 1: abou him? Yeah, yeah, rose from dead. What he's gonna

495
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 1: do just like he got up out of the grave,

496
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:45,880
Speaker 1: You're gonna get up out of here, But you wanna

497
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 1: line some stuff up for a comeback, because like who

498
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: dropped you off to day? Your friends will You're not

499
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:54,560
Speaker 1: gonna be able to take you home. No, no, no,

500
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 1: Peter has spent three years. You gonna remember this. He

501
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:09,520
Speaker 1: spent three years apprenticing under the Savior who specializes in surprises.

502
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 1: Oh you didn't know that. No, Jesus Christ is the

503
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: same yesterday, today, and forever. He's stable. That's right. You

504
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 1: can count on him. He won't change, he won't leave you.

505
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:29,320
Speaker 1: But he's surprising. And there's nothing in the text that

506
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:33,440
Speaker 1: indicates that the disciples liked it, but they must have

507
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 1: needed it because he would put them in exact situations.

508
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,600
Speaker 1: I wonder who's there right now. He put them in

509
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:46,160
Speaker 1: exact situations where he could have given them some notice,

510
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 1: like watch this. He's God, he knows. When we get

511
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,239
Speaker 1: to the other side, there's gonna be five thousand men

512
00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 1: with all their wives, with all their children, and they're

513
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,480
Speaker 1: gonna they're gonna be hungry, not only for healing, but

514
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,040
Speaker 1: they're gonna need some food. Some boys call the catering service.

515
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,040
Speaker 1: Let's pack some barbecue. Well, I'm going over to Jewish place. Okay,

516
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna do some sandwiches, some whatever. You

517
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 1: know the point. But Jess didn't do any of that.

518
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 1: Why Why did he surprise them? With a knee. I

519
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 1: got a better one. I was praying earlier. This won't

520
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:23,279
Speaker 1: be on the sermons, so if you're watching it later.

521
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:25,440
Speaker 1: It was during the worship I talked about the woman

522
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 1: at the well in Samaria and the reason that that

523
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,880
Speaker 1: was on my mind. Give them John chapter four. I

524
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,920
Speaker 1: sent them to this last minute. It said that Jesus

525
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,279
Speaker 1: was talking to a woman and his disciples went out

526
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:44,560
Speaker 1: to get food, and they were surprised to see him

527
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:48,279
Speaker 1: talking with a woman, but no one asked what do

528
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:52,960
Speaker 1: you want or why are you talking to her? I

529
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:57,759
Speaker 1: learned this, what you are surprised by tells me a

530
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:06,320
Speaker 1: lot about what you have assumed. Wow, what surprises you

531
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:13,880
Speaker 1: tells me what you assumed. I had a series of experiences.

532
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:15,560
Speaker 1: I wanted to tell you about this. The other day,

533
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 1: I was writing music with somebody and they said something

534
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 1: that at first I thought was a compliment. And I

535
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:24,239
Speaker 1: thought after I thought about I was like, I don't

536
00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:27,360
Speaker 1: think that was a compliment. They said, I'm so surprised

537
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: you're so creative, and I mean, I've got an ego

538
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 1: just like everybody else. I didn't like the way when

539
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:37,879
Speaker 1: I thought about it later. First of all I heard

540
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,120
Speaker 1: was you're so creative. But then when I thought about

541
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,440
Speaker 1: I'm so surprised. I wanted to go back and ask them,

542
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: but I didn't see him again. I don't know how

543
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 1: to ask him. Maybe i'll see him again, ask him.

544
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 1: Why were you surprised? What about me made you think

545
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 1: I wasn't creative? I've done stuff, do stuff. I don't

546
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:03,239
Speaker 1: know why they were surprised by that? What did you

547
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:05,200
Speaker 1: think about me? What did you think of what? I mean?

548
00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: Why would that surprise you? I don't know. It was

549
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 1: weird to me. This other guy, this is what we

550
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,520
Speaker 1: were talking about. And it was the word actually that

551
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:23,439
Speaker 1: got me. He said, you're actually a nice guy. I said,

552
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:33,439
Speaker 1: just pray for people, you know. It was the word

553
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:40,040
Speaker 1: actually that got me. As like, against all odds, I

554
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 1: expected the exact opposite. He expected to get something from them,

555
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 1: but his assumption was that what they had to offer

556
00:36:53,440 --> 00:37:00,439
Speaker 1: was money. They went to church expecting to pray. Neither

557
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:05,560
Speaker 1: party was expecting a miracle. Can God surprise you or

558
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:12,719
Speaker 1: do you assume so much about him? Like sometimes we're

559
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:18,800
Speaker 1: surprised that God is actually a good God because we

560
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:25,560
Speaker 1: assumed that what we heard about him growing up, Like

561
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,640
Speaker 1: in some churches. I'm just being honest. In some pulpits

562
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:31,640
Speaker 1: God turns out to be the pettiest character in the

563
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: whole story. So then to actually find out that he

564
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:36,160
Speaker 1: is who we said. He is, the God of Abraham,

565
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:37,680
Speaker 1: the God of Isaac, God to Jacob, the God of

566
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,200
Speaker 1: his Covenant, abounding in love to a thousand generations. We

567
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,759
Speaker 1: can't imagine that we're actually surprised to see the face

568
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,719
Speaker 1: of Christ, that he would talk with a woman that

569
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:53,400
Speaker 1: others would ostracize because we assumed that we knew what

570
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:56,759
Speaker 1: he was. You know, what you're surprised by tells me

571
00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:03,040
Speaker 1: a lot of what you've assumed to begin with. I

572
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:10,040
Speaker 1: wonder what you've assumed about you, because by the time

573
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,000
Speaker 1: you're forty, you pretty much got it figured out what

574
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:16,000
Speaker 1: your limitations are. This is my spot, this is my gig,

575
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,800
Speaker 1: this is my deal. This is what I do. This

576
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:20,400
Speaker 1: is what I have to do to feel good. This

577
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 1: is what I have to do to get what I want.

578
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: That hadn't happened by now, it'll never happen. Notice a

579
00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:37,400
Speaker 1: word in the text instantly verse seven, Acts three. Instantly

580
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:43,640
Speaker 1: the man's feet and ankles rus straw. You mean to

581
00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:46,839
Speaker 1: tell me that what was four decades in the making

582
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: that had crippled the man and limited him was undone instantly.

583
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,359
Speaker 1: Don't misunderstand what I'm about to tell you because I'll

584
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,440
Speaker 1: balance it too. But hear this, it can change like that.

585
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 1: I know you're scared to shout because like see, we

586
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:10,360
Speaker 1: heard stuff like that before and then we were surprised

587
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 1: that we still struggled with it later, especially if you

588
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:18,359
Speaker 1: came into a relationship with God that was kind of transactional.

589
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,479
Speaker 1: Pray this prayer, get Jesus to forgive you. You won't

590
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:23,080
Speaker 1: have to fry and burn with Hitler. You can go

591
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:27,760
Speaker 1: to heaven when you die. Oh, y'all are so shocked.

592
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 1: They're so churchy, so surprising. Oh that's what we heard.

593
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 1: That's what we heard. We were surprised by struggle. So

594
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:46,759
Speaker 1: you know your sins to the cross, Like I went

595
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:48,440
Speaker 1: to this youth camp one time. We actually wrote out

596
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:52,600
Speaker 1: our sins, which for a teenager you're doing really embarrassing stuff,

597
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:54,480
Speaker 1: so you have to use code for a teenage boy.

598
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 1: The most specific you can get is lust. That's like

599
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 1: level two and specificity. So you just put that down.

600
00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:07,800
Speaker 1: Come over here to the guys. I feel judged over here. Okay,

601
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,279
Speaker 1: but but you nail it to the cross, and you're like, oh,

602
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:14,800
Speaker 1: I nailed my sin to the cross, and then the

603
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:21,320
Speaker 1: Lord forgave me. And you get home. Surprise, here's lust

604
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:23,360
Speaker 1: right where you left it. But I nailed it to

605
00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:27,680
Speaker 1: the cross. Surprise. He got in the car. He came

606
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:39,640
Speaker 1: right out with you. He's in your blood, boy, expecting

607
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 1: to get something from him. And Peter said, watch this.

608
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:45,080
Speaker 1: Silver and gold I don't have, but what I have

609
00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:46,960
Speaker 1: I give you. The Lord told me to tell you

610
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:57,160
Speaker 1: you don't know your own strength. You don't know your

611
00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:04,759
Speaker 1: own strength because you always stop at your weakness. You

612
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:09,480
Speaker 1: don't know your own strength. I saw Graham try to

613
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,319
Speaker 1: wrestle Holly the other day. She says, stop, you don't

614
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:15,439
Speaker 1: know your own strength. You're gonna hurt me. You don't

615
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,320
Speaker 1: know how strong you are. You're gonna hurt me. And

616
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:19,640
Speaker 1: I walked in and I said, boy, you want to

617
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:26,879
Speaker 1: wrest somebody, let's wrestle. Yeah. I thought about myself. I thought,

618
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:29,359
Speaker 1: if I'm Peter and the guy asked me for money

619
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:30,879
Speaker 1: and I don't have it, I'm probably just gonna say

620
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:32,759
Speaker 1: silver and gold have I none? I'm going to church

621
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:39,719
Speaker 1: right it was what he said next. It was what

622
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 1: he said next that demonstrated the power of the Gospel.

623
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 1: It was what he said next, like he was surprised

624
00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 1: that this guy cut him off at the temple gate.

625
00:41:53,200 --> 00:42:00,319
Speaker 1: He didn't expect to see this man. God wasn't I mean,

626
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:04,080
Speaker 1: how strategic is God of all the people going to

627
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:07,040
Speaker 1: church at three pm that day? First of all, maybe

628
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:09,719
Speaker 1: Peter missed the twelve pm so he'd be at the

629
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:13,000
Speaker 1: three pm. You ever think about how God works things

630
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:14,600
Speaker 1: out in your life, Like you don't see these things,

631
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 1: they seem coincidental, but they're really connected. And so this

632
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:24,320
Speaker 1: man's being carried at the time that they are carrying something.

633
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,680
Speaker 1: What they are carrying is going to keep him from

634
00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:35,759
Speaker 1: ever having to be carried again. At the same time, coincidence.

635
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:54,840
Speaker 1: God is most strategic when you are most surprised. They

636
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:56,480
Speaker 1: could have gone to church and prayed. That would have

637
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:59,719
Speaker 1: been exactly what they expected. They could have made it

638
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:04,000
Speaker 1: to the three pm service just like they expected. And

639
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:06,640
Speaker 1: I don't think it would have made acts three Let's

640
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 1: try it out. Peter and John were going to the

641
00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:11,880
Speaker 1: temple courts at the time of the Praier three in

642
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:18,360
Speaker 1: the afternoon and they had a good prayer. It's just

643
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:20,360
Speaker 1: for me that doesn't hold the same interest as the

644
00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:26,520
Speaker 1: story that I read you. And yet, like, is God

645
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:32,279
Speaker 1: doing in your life right now this intersection where you're

646
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 1: completely caught off guard, But he's not. He's If he

647
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:41,640
Speaker 1: had told Peter there was going to be a man

648
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:44,920
Speaker 1: at the gate, Peter would have grabbed his wallet. Then

649
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have gotten healed. Then Peter couldn't have used

650
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 1: him to preach and say Jesus did this. Then two

651
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:54,799
Speaker 1: thousand new converts wouldn't have been added to the church.

652
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:57,799
Speaker 1: Then Peter wouldn't have got thrown in prison with John

653
00:43:57,840 --> 00:43:59,600
Speaker 1: because the authorities didn't know what to do with him,

654
00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:01,719
Speaker 1: because they were surprised that God actually moved in his

655
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,040
Speaker 1: own house. Then they wouldn't have had the faith in

656
00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:06,520
Speaker 1: the boldness to pray together and bond together as the church.

657
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:09,239
Speaker 1: Then they wouldn't have gone into the persecution with the

658
00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:14,680
Speaker 1: strength of knowing that God can do anything. God, at

659
00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:18,279
Speaker 1: least in my life, and what I understand about the

660
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:24,759
Speaker 1: spirit of God is most strategic. That this man is

661
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:28,800
Speaker 1: coming up to his spot at this time. All of

662
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:30,319
Speaker 1: the things that had to happen to get them there

663
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,560
Speaker 1: at the same time. The man thought he was going

664
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:40,720
Speaker 1: to get some change, and he did just not dimes

665
00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:45,880
Speaker 1: and quarters and nickels. Right. I hadn't studied this, But

666
00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 1: do they still have a change shortage? When the pandemic started,

667
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:51,919
Speaker 1: you couldn't get change in a restaurant or in a store.

668
00:44:53,360 --> 00:45:02,040
Speaker 1: Church has had the same problem for years. It was weird.

669
00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 1: I went to Target and I was like, waiting for

670
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:06,840
Speaker 1: my change. They're like, oh, we don't do change anymore.

671
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:16,440
Speaker 1: A lot of churches. I mean, the man comes there

672
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:22,360
Speaker 1: every day and nothing ever happens, and you hear sermons

673
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:27,400
Speaker 1: and Bible studies and all that, and no change, no change,

674
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:32,480
Speaker 1: no change, because because we don't like to be surprised,

675
00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:40,799
Speaker 1: so we want God to change stuff without changing us.

676
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:49,440
Speaker 1: And that's not how he does it. Are you surprisable?

677
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:52,239
Speaker 1: I was praying God, What do I tell him? He said,

678
00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:57,640
Speaker 1: tell him, stay surprisable, Stay surprisable. Keep some room in

679
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:00,640
Speaker 1: what you plan for your life, your kids, and for

680
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,399
Speaker 1: all the trajectory where if God wants to do something

681
00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:06,320
Speaker 1: a little different. This is the lesson Peter learned. So

682
00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 1: by the time he's gotten to this point in his ministry,

683
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:11,759
Speaker 1: he's full of the Holy Spirit. He's seen the empty tomb,

684
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:14,200
Speaker 1: he's been restored when he left Jesus at the cross.

685
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:16,960
Speaker 1: He's no longer surprised at his own weakness, but he's

686
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:21,040
Speaker 1: confident in God's strength. He's no longer surprised by his

687
00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:24,920
Speaker 1: own weakness, but he is con confident in God's strength.

688
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:29,479
Speaker 1: Now that's a whole Turkey word for somebody. Stop being

689
00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:33,719
Speaker 1: so surprised by your weakness. It's there, it's always going

690
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:37,080
Speaker 1: to be there. You are but dust. The King James says,

691
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:39,720
Speaker 1: you are nothing more than a breadth and a vapor.

692
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:42,120
Speaker 1: But God's word is eternal, and he lives in you.

693
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:45,200
Speaker 1: That's why Peter said, why are you looking at us?

694
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:51,080
Speaker 1: We didn't do it. We just accessed the power of

695
00:46:51,160 --> 00:47:03,680
Speaker 1: one who could stay surprisable some of y'all do. Y'all

696
00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 1: want the marriage seminar part. Stop thinking you completely know

697
00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:10,160
Speaker 1: what your wife would and wouldn't want to do. You're

698
00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:19,440
Speaker 1: so boring, You're so boring. You're no longer like I'm

699
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:23,200
Speaker 1: telling you man, like I've been married a lot of

700
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:27,160
Speaker 1: years now, how many it's coming up on? Twenty? Yeah,

701
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 1: nineteen years? Well, yell or like ya, you're in trouble.

702
00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:31,879
Speaker 1: You didn't remember how many years you've been married. I'm

703
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:33,520
Speaker 1: up here saying a lot of stuff. She doesn't care.

704
00:47:36,239 --> 00:47:41,799
Speaker 1: But when I tell you I've never loved being married

705
00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:44,520
Speaker 1: to her more, I'm so glad I didn't confine her

706
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:47,480
Speaker 1: to the first version of what I thought. I knew

707
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:54,000
Speaker 1: my wife was wine. The first thing she told me

708
00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:56,480
Speaker 1: at the North Greenville cafeteria that I remember is I

709
00:47:56,520 --> 00:48:04,279
Speaker 1: would never want to marry a preacher. Surprise. Well, I

710
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:07,359
Speaker 1: never I'll never do I'll never preach. I mean, I'll

711
00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:21,160
Speaker 1: support you. She's good, right, she's good. Right. She surprises herself.

712
00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 1: She I saw. I called her watching herself back preaching

713
00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:29,600
Speaker 1: the other day. She said, Oh that's good. Have you

714
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:34,799
Speaker 1: surprised yourself lately? You've got to surprise yourself, not only

715
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:37,480
Speaker 1: surprise your spouse, like oh, I gave you six flowers

716
00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 1: instead of four this year. Not only that stuff. Something

717
00:48:42,200 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 1: you need to surprise yourself. Just do something that, even

718
00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:51,160
Speaker 1: if it's small, that you didn't think you could do.

719
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:58,759
Speaker 1: I'm a night person, go to bed, I'm a I'm

720
00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:02,920
Speaker 1: not I'm a I'm a morning person. You know what

721
00:49:02,960 --> 00:49:06,440
Speaker 1: I mean? Just like ah, wild and crazy, I'm sucking.

722
00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:10,080
Speaker 1: I normally get it grilled. I'm gonna get it fried. Ah,

723
00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:16,640
Speaker 1: I'm full of surprising. I'm crazy, right. I like to

724
00:49:16,680 --> 00:49:19,080
Speaker 1: preach different ways. I like to write different songs. Somebody

725
00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:21,279
Speaker 1: told me one time I wrote a song that had

726
00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:22,960
Speaker 1: some rock in it, and they were like, oh, well,

727
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:25,400
Speaker 1: black people wouldn't like that. The person who told me

728
00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:27,800
Speaker 1: was white. How do you know what black people would like?

729
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:31,880
Speaker 1: And not like like there's one person, Stop telling me

730
00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:35,839
Speaker 1: what somebody else would not want, or like like you've

731
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:45,000
Speaker 1: figured out people. I told a man one time, I said,

732
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:48,080
Speaker 1: we couldn't have video campuses, and the only way my

733
00:49:48,160 --> 00:49:50,040
Speaker 1: preaching works is if people are in a room with

734
00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:57,800
Speaker 1: me while I'm preaching. Surprise. One day I walked in

735
00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:00,719
Speaker 1: and nobody was allowed to come to church, and and

736
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:02,800
Speaker 1: all I had was the thing I didn't think I

737
00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:15,360
Speaker 1: could do. Surprise it worked. You might be surprised. But

738
00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:19,640
Speaker 1: now that sounds real cool. When Peter's saying it in

739
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:22,680
Speaker 1: verse twelve to the leaders, this man gets up and

740
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 1: walked and he's like, why are you surprised? Why does

741
00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:29,759
Speaker 1: this surprise you? Will? Come on, Peter, when you first

742
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:32,680
Speaker 1: met Jesus and you caught fish, it freaked you out

743
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:34,839
Speaker 1: so bad you fell at his feet and said, go away, Lord,

744
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:38,320
Speaker 1: I'm a sinful man. When he said I'm going to

745
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:40,200
Speaker 1: the cross, he said never, Lord, don't happen to you.

746
00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:43,279
Speaker 1: When they actually arrested him, you were so surprised you

747
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 1: went and coward to a servant girl who said you

748
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:50,799
Speaker 1: were one of them. This is something that takes us

749
00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:56,799
Speaker 1: a little time. And what happens like you get conditioned

750
00:50:56,840 --> 00:51:03,239
Speaker 1: to certain things, and if you have enough of the

751
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:09,719
Speaker 1: negative or the dysfunctional things, you'll be surprised by the good. Now.

752
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:14,320
Speaker 1: I think that's helpful sometimes, right like I think sometimes

753
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:23,480
Speaker 1: we ought to be more surprised and less entitled. When

754
00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:26,520
Speaker 1: Rick Bowling first gave me a bonus check, he said,

755
00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:29,080
Speaker 1: you're getting a Christmas bonus the first church I worked at,

756
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,680
Speaker 1: I hugged him a bear, hugged him. The amount of

757
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:36,000
Speaker 1: money today it was so small compared to what things

758
00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:39,400
Speaker 1: are today. It wouldn't register like that. I wouldn't hug him.

759
00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:48,320
Speaker 1: I'd be like, thanks man. And what got me into text?

760
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:51,880
Speaker 1: I just was reading this again. And when you come

761
00:51:51,960 --> 00:51:55,640
Speaker 1: to the Bible with fresh eyes, it's amazing. God is

762
00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:59,160
Speaker 1: wanting to surprise you in your Bible, in your life,

763
00:51:59,280 --> 00:52:02,560
Speaker 1: in your relations and ships. He's the god of surprises.

764
00:52:02,680 --> 00:52:05,399
Speaker 1: He's he's talking to a woman at the well. He's he's,

765
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:09,880
Speaker 1: he's he's doing amazing things. For feeding, feeding multitudes with

766
00:52:10,160 --> 00:52:14,520
Speaker 1: with little meager fish. Captain Bee's uh supplies long John

767
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:21,240
Speaker 1: Silver's supplies. He's surprising, But sometimes we're not surprisable. Because

768
00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:23,600
Speaker 1: it said that the man, once he was able to walk,

769
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:30,080
Speaker 1: he went with them in the temple Courts verse eight, walking,

770
00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:37,759
Speaker 1: jumping and praising God. Say that walking, jumping, praising God.

771
00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:46,719
Speaker 1: It caused such a commotion that everybody was was amazed

772
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:49,680
Speaker 1: that this man that they used to see sitting was

773
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:59,480
Speaker 1: now doing what walking jumping, praising God because he wasn't

774
00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:05,520
Speaker 1: expecting to walk. There's a praise that comes out of

775
00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:15,280
Speaker 1: somebody who hasn't learned yet to take God's gifts for granted.

776
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:22,000
Speaker 1: How many people went to the temple that day, why

777
00:53:22,080 --> 00:53:28,839
Speaker 1: weren't they jumping? Because when you've always been able to walk,

778
00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:37,680
Speaker 1: when you've always had provision, when you've always had a

779
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:40,000
Speaker 1: roof over your head, when you've always been well fed,

780
00:53:40,160 --> 00:53:44,640
Speaker 1: when you've always been taken care of, you stop being

781
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:47,840
Speaker 1: surprised by it. One of my friends said that you

782
00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:54,040
Speaker 1: exchange appreciation for expectation. You start expecting people to do

783
00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:55,520
Speaker 1: for you what they don't have to do for you,

784
00:53:57,640 --> 00:54:01,760
Speaker 1: and that is very dangerous. So every time I preach,

785
00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:04,920
Speaker 1: I'm kind of surprised that God actually uses me, and

786
00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:07,719
Speaker 1: I think that's good. I don't ever want to get

787
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:09,160
Speaker 1: to the point where I'm like, well, I mean, I

788
00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:11,680
Speaker 1: know my Bible, of course God used me. I mean what,

789
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:17,239
Speaker 1: I'm anointed, I'm appointed. No, I want to stay surprised.

790
00:54:20,120 --> 00:54:23,480
Speaker 1: I want to stay surprised, like every once in a while,

791
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:26,120
Speaker 1: I just want to take a deep breath and be like, oh,

792
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:28,839
Speaker 1: that was like a premium breath. I know, you can't

793
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,560
Speaker 1: walk around all the time just praising God for every

794
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:35,399
Speaker 1: breath and being, you know, skipping through Walmart and things

795
00:54:35,480 --> 00:54:43,360
Speaker 1: like this. I'm not talking about being weird, right, But

796
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:46,600
Speaker 1: there is a lesson in the fact that of everybody

797
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:49,839
Speaker 1: who walked into the temple that day, the one who

798
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:56,640
Speaker 1: had never walked before, his feet barely touched the ground.

799
00:54:58,200 --> 00:55:02,000
Speaker 1: When you first got certain blessings from God, when you

800
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:06,520
Speaker 1: first started being used by God, when you first got

801
00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:14,719
Speaker 1: on elevation staff, your feet barely touched the ground. So

802
00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:18,319
Speaker 1: once in a while you got to remember that it's

803
00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:21,440
Speaker 1: a blessing just to be able to walk. I mean,

804
00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:24,640
Speaker 1: it's a blessing just to see another day. It's a

805
00:55:24,719 --> 00:55:30,759
Speaker 1: blessing just to survive. See, you will really understand this.

806
00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:33,480
Speaker 1: You will really understand this. If you ever went through

807
00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:35,840
Speaker 1: a season where you thought you wouldn't make it, And

808
00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:39,000
Speaker 1: if you haven't had that season, you won't understand. But

809
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:41,839
Speaker 1: if you had a season where you were living off

810
00:55:41,920 --> 00:55:45,440
Speaker 1: of alms, where you were begging for something to make

811
00:55:45,480 --> 00:55:49,120
Speaker 1: it to the next day, but he got you off,

812
00:55:49,719 --> 00:55:53,759
Speaker 1: snatch you up his mighty hand, his right hand, his

813
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:58,040
Speaker 1: hand of authority. Hit the name of Jesus came to

814
00:55:58,239 --> 00:56:01,759
Speaker 1: you in your begging place. You know what it means

815
00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:05,000
Speaker 1: to jump. You know why we call the church's elevation.

816
00:56:05,800 --> 00:56:08,840
Speaker 1: You know why we praise him. You know why we

817
00:56:09,040 --> 00:56:14,040
Speaker 1: smile with all of our teeth closed in our right mind.

818
00:56:15,560 --> 00:56:23,560
Speaker 1: Blessed to be in the number one more day, Stay amazed,

819
00:56:24,680 --> 00:56:29,279
Speaker 1: stay surprised. Jump every once in a while. Every once

820
00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:31,560
Speaker 1: in a while, you have to jump everywhere, But every

821
00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:34,520
Speaker 1: once in a while, just jump, Just jump, Just jump

822
00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:37,520
Speaker 1: for joy. Every once in a while, just appreciate the

823
00:56:37,719 --> 00:56:42,000
Speaker 1: fact that the lane will leap like a deer, and

824
00:56:42,080 --> 00:56:46,000
Speaker 1: that God did that for me, and you've always been

825
00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:50,360
Speaker 1: able to walk. You can't really appreciate it because you

826
00:56:50,400 --> 00:57:00,440
Speaker 1: stop being surprised. God wants to surprise you. Does this

827
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:09,480
Speaker 1: in strategic ways, and God is never more strategic than

828
00:57:09,520 --> 00:57:15,800
Speaker 1: when you are most surprised. Peter had no plan to

829
00:57:15,920 --> 00:57:19,760
Speaker 1: preach that day, and he preached a sermon so powerful

830
00:57:21,200 --> 00:57:34,920
Speaker 1: because God planted somebody at the gate. Surprise, surprise. Now,

831
00:57:35,120 --> 00:57:37,120
Speaker 1: later in his life he gives us a perspective in

832
00:57:37,240 --> 00:57:42,280
Speaker 1: One Peter four. He says that just like God surprises

833
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:46,600
Speaker 1: you with great gifts and opportunities, right, he said, dear friends,

834
00:57:46,880 --> 00:57:52,800
Speaker 1: don't be surprised at the fiery trial. This is first Peter,

835
00:57:52,960 --> 00:57:56,120
Speaker 1: this is the same guy. He kind of has this thing.

836
00:57:56,200 --> 00:57:58,480
Speaker 1: He's like, why are you surprised that God is healing

837
00:57:58,560 --> 00:58:00,720
Speaker 1: this man? This is what Jesus came to do. You

838
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:04,280
Speaker 1: should know it more than anyone. You recognize the man,

839
00:58:04,360 --> 00:58:08,400
Speaker 1: but you didn't recognize the Messiah. So you are surprised

840
00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:12,040
Speaker 1: when God actually shows up because it does not look

841
00:58:12,160 --> 00:58:16,600
Speaker 1: like what you put on your list. Are you there

842
00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:20,600
Speaker 1: right now in your life? He said, don't be surprised

843
00:58:20,640 --> 00:58:26,560
Speaker 1: by the favor. Don't be surprised by the fire. Don't

844
00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:29,240
Speaker 1: be surprised when God strengthens you. That's what he's there for.

845
00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:33,200
Speaker 1: He gave you his spirit. Don't be surprised when you struggle.

846
00:58:33,240 --> 00:58:37,160
Speaker 1: And above all else, don't let your struggle keep you

847
00:58:37,240 --> 00:58:45,920
Speaker 1: from accessing your strength. Silver and gold I don't have,

848
00:58:47,040 --> 00:58:49,760
Speaker 1: or what I have I give you. And his feet

849
00:58:49,800 --> 00:58:56,960
Speaker 1: and ankles became strong because Peter said the same Jesus,

850
00:58:57,040 --> 00:59:02,480
Speaker 1: that you killed the author of life, God raised from

851
00:59:02,520 --> 00:59:06,960
Speaker 1: the dead. I like to imagine sometimes that the devil

852
00:59:07,040 --> 00:59:11,760
Speaker 1: through a big party after Jesus died and the sky

853
00:59:11,840 --> 00:59:13,760
Speaker 1: grew black, to tell us die it has finished. He

854
00:59:13,800 --> 00:59:18,120
Speaker 1: thought that Jesus gave up. I like to imagine what

855
00:59:18,240 --> 00:59:29,080
Speaker 1: it was like Sunday morning when he was standing there

856
00:59:29,160 --> 00:59:37,240
Speaker 1: with the keys of death, hell and the grave. Surprise, surprise.

857
00:59:39,120 --> 00:59:40,720
Speaker 1: I want you to stand up right where you are,

858
00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:43,680
Speaker 1: and I want you to throw your arms out just

859
00:59:43,800 --> 00:59:50,080
Speaker 1: like this and tell the devil's surprise. You hit me

860
00:59:50,160 --> 00:59:54,400
Speaker 1: with your best shot. You formed every weapon against me.

861
00:59:55,760 --> 00:59:59,280
Speaker 1: You thought you killed my confidence by having people reject me.

862
00:59:59,360 --> 01:00:04,880
Speaker 1: But surprise, you thought I would die in the Valley

863
01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:06,480
Speaker 1: of the shadow of death. You thought I would curse

864
01:00:06,560 --> 01:00:11,600
Speaker 1: God and die. But surprise. You thought it was going

865
01:00:11,680 --> 01:00:13,439
Speaker 1: to be the end of me. You thought you'd picked

866
01:00:13,480 --> 01:00:16,320
Speaker 1: my marriage apart. You thought you snatched my kid. You

867
01:00:16,440 --> 01:00:18,400
Speaker 1: thought getting them on drugs would get me to stop

868
01:00:18,440 --> 01:00:24,320
Speaker 1: praying for them. But surprise, because it's about the backfire.

869
01:00:25,480 --> 01:00:28,440
Speaker 1: Because the same man that sat there begging, what's the

870
01:00:28,560 --> 01:00:39,800
Speaker 1: one that started a revival in Jerusalem? Surprise, Surprise, you're

871
01:00:39,920 --> 01:00:45,240
Speaker 1: stronger than you thought. You weren't. Surprise didn't kill you,

872
01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:50,040
Speaker 1: made you better. Surprise you weren't ready for it. But

873
01:00:50,160 --> 01:00:55,880
Speaker 1: it's here, Surprise, and into the hands of the God

874
01:00:55,960 --> 01:01:01,200
Speaker 1: of surprises. You have the opportunity now to place all

875
01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:06,720
Speaker 1: of your uncertainty and all of your insecurity. God said,

876
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:11,400
Speaker 1: I want to surprise you. Every once in a while,

877
01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:17,120
Speaker 1: when I get overwhelmed by too many choices, I'll tell Holly,

878
01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:19,560
Speaker 1: Or if it's a leadership thing, I'll tell one of

879
01:01:19,600 --> 01:01:24,880
Speaker 1: my staff. Just surprise me. I don't even want to choose.

880
01:01:25,800 --> 01:01:28,520
Speaker 1: I don't know what to choose. It's just too many options.

881
01:01:29,080 --> 01:01:31,480
Speaker 1: Just surprise me, Holly. You'll say you want this to

882
01:01:31,560 --> 01:01:33,120
Speaker 1: eat or that to eat, or the other to eat.

883
01:01:33,120 --> 01:01:37,800
Speaker 1: I'll be like, just surprise me. I thought, what a

884
01:01:37,920 --> 01:01:40,320
Speaker 1: great prayer to pray to God for all of us

885
01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:52,360
Speaker 1: who have been surprised by life. If Peter and John,

886
01:01:52,480 --> 01:01:56,080
Speaker 1: the most unlikely Kobe and Shack combination and Gospel history,

887
01:01:58,920 --> 01:02:01,720
Speaker 1: can be interrupted on their way to prayer by a

888
01:02:01,800 --> 01:02:05,400
Speaker 1: paralytic man who asked for money, but God healing to

889
01:02:05,600 --> 01:02:10,400
Speaker 1: the point, remember this, Remember this in verse eleven. After

890
01:02:10,600 --> 01:02:15,240
Speaker 1: he jumped up and was healed, the Bible says that

891
01:02:15,400 --> 01:02:20,520
Speaker 1: the man held on to Peter and John. And you're wondering,

892
01:02:21,200 --> 01:02:23,720
Speaker 1: what's the point of holding on to them if your

893
01:02:23,760 --> 01:02:26,920
Speaker 1: feet and ankles are strong enough to hold yourself up.

894
01:02:28,320 --> 01:02:33,680
Speaker 1: It's because he wasn't ready for this. You weren't either,

895
01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:38,840
Speaker 1: and God knows that. So when you get to that place,

896
01:02:39,080 --> 01:02:42,320
Speaker 1: you know where you say, this is something I never

897
01:02:42,400 --> 01:02:44,840
Speaker 1: saw myself doing. This is something I never saw myself

898
01:02:44,920 --> 01:02:48,360
Speaker 1: dealing with. Just turn your palms to your father like

899
01:02:48,400 --> 01:02:54,960
Speaker 1: this and say, surprise me God. No, I want you

900
01:02:55,040 --> 01:02:58,600
Speaker 1: to walk into confidence this week like Peter learned to

901
01:02:58,680 --> 01:03:00,919
Speaker 1: walk in He didn't get it at first. We don't

902
01:03:00,960 --> 01:03:04,720
Speaker 1: get it at first. But to know that when I'm

903
01:03:04,920 --> 01:03:10,480
Speaker 1: most surprised, God is most strategic. Let's get this in

904
01:03:10,560 --> 01:03:13,160
Speaker 1: our spirits. God said, you need to have a surprisable spirit.

905
01:03:14,400 --> 01:03:16,880
Speaker 1: You need to not get so cynical about things that

906
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:20,000
Speaker 1: you just write everything off and push everything away. And

907
01:03:20,160 --> 01:03:22,160
Speaker 1: just in the name of being guarded, you miss God.

908
01:03:24,960 --> 01:03:29,360
Speaker 1: So say this. God is most strategic when I am

909
01:03:29,440 --> 01:03:33,360
Speaker 1: most surprised. So Lord, I'm praying today for those who

910
01:03:33,400 --> 01:03:37,720
Speaker 1: are in a surprise me season, not that they would

911
01:03:37,880 --> 01:03:43,120
Speaker 1: like it. Maybe we need it. Maybe we need it.

912
01:03:44,760 --> 01:03:46,880
Speaker 1: I'm not asking for something bad to happen to me

913
01:03:47,000 --> 01:03:49,600
Speaker 1: or anybody else. I like the good surprises God, and

914
01:03:50,320 --> 01:03:53,720
Speaker 1: I want all of those, but even for the thing

915
01:03:53,840 --> 01:03:57,680
Speaker 1: that I didn't ask you to do. Like the man

916
01:03:57,760 --> 01:04:03,440
Speaker 1: in this passage, help me to reach out and take

917
01:04:03,520 --> 01:04:10,320
Speaker 1: hold of what you brought me. Surprise me, God, surprise

918
01:04:10,400 --> 01:04:12,280
Speaker 1: me with the facet of your goodness and provision. I

919
01:04:12,320 --> 01:04:16,240
Speaker 1: didn't see this week. Surprise me because I'm too overwhelmed.

920
01:04:16,280 --> 01:04:18,520
Speaker 1: I don't know this way, that way, I don't know.

921
01:04:18,720 --> 01:04:23,880
Speaker 1: We don't know anymore. The menus to be the world's

922
01:04:23,880 --> 01:04:27,000
Speaker 1: too complicated, the inputs are too great, the noise is

923
01:04:27,040 --> 01:04:34,760
Speaker 1: too loud. So surprise us. May we be filled with

924
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:40,840
Speaker 1: wonder and amazement. May people barely recognize us this time

925
01:04:40,960 --> 01:04:48,240
Speaker 1: next year, Maybe leap for joy when we think about

926
01:04:48,280 --> 01:04:52,400
Speaker 1: all of the things that you've done for us. God,

927
01:04:52,480 --> 01:04:54,360
Speaker 1: some of us have been sitting at a gate so long,

928
01:04:55,400 --> 01:04:57,200
Speaker 1: but you are trying to make us a gate for

929
01:04:57,320 --> 01:05:06,000
Speaker 1: something that you want to release. Surprise us, Use us, God,

930
01:05:06,040 --> 01:05:09,600
Speaker 1: would you use us to surprise somebody else, somebody who

931
01:05:09,680 --> 01:05:12,560
Speaker 1: wasn't expecting their day to be made? We just we

932
01:05:12,720 --> 01:05:16,280
Speaker 1: come around this idea of why are you surprised by this?

933
01:05:20,440 --> 01:05:23,640
Speaker 1: We're not surprised by suffering, but we are expecting of glory.

934
01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:29,360
Speaker 1: We are resurrection people. We give you praise in this

935
01:05:29,560 --> 01:05:39,800
Speaker 1: moment in Jesus' name. I just want to take a

936
01:05:39,880 --> 01:05:41,960
Speaker 1: moment and tell you one more thing. I know I've

937
01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:44,080
Speaker 1: preached a long time, but just send me one more minute.

938
01:05:44,960 --> 01:05:48,760
Speaker 1: God did the greatest thing in Act chapter three, at

939
01:05:48,840 --> 01:05:52,640
Speaker 1: the gate, not in the church service. I don't want

940
01:05:52,680 --> 01:05:55,360
Speaker 1: you to limit your experience of God's presence just to

941
01:05:55,640 --> 01:05:58,360
Speaker 1: sitting and listening to a message. You know, I want

942
01:05:58,440 --> 01:06:02,040
Speaker 1: you to expect God to surprise this week. Expect God

943
01:06:02,120 --> 01:06:05,360
Speaker 1: to surprise you with opportunities. Expect God to surprise you

944
01:06:05,440 --> 01:06:08,520
Speaker 1: with maybe some challenges that He gives you to make

945
01:06:08,600 --> 01:06:12,600
Speaker 1: you stronger, expecting to surprise you with some blessings, some

946
01:06:12,760 --> 01:06:16,560
Speaker 1: people to be good to you, just strengthen joy and

947
01:06:16,640 --> 01:06:18,600
Speaker 1: peace that you didn't even know where it comes from,

948
01:06:19,120 --> 01:06:21,480
Speaker 1: but you know who it comes from. I'm praying for

949
01:06:21,560 --> 01:06:24,280
Speaker 1: you for God to surprise you this week. I'm very,

950
01:06:24,640 --> 01:06:27,440
Speaker 1: very grateful. I don't count it lightly. The privileged to

951
01:06:27,520 --> 01:06:32,560
Speaker 1: minister God's worked to you and stay surprisable. God has

952
01:06:32,760 --> 01:06:36,360
Speaker 1: amazing things in store for you. Thank you for subscribing

953
01:06:36,560 --> 01:06:39,360
Speaker 1: and we appreciate you and love you so much. Until

954
01:06:39,400 --> 01:06:39,800
Speaker 1: next time.