WEBVTT - Make Room For The New 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.480 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:06.960 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.320 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:12.360 it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:20.320 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Wow, 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.319 don't stop at the comma. And boy was preaching on 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.760 a punctuation mark? How about it? I was. I had 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.840 a first time thing. I was stomping the devil's head 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.160 on the stage last week. It was at the nine thirty. 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.519 I was icing my heel between the nine thirty and 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.040 the eleven thirty. I stomped him too hard and he 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:46.080 bit me or something. My heel is bruised all week. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.720 Somebody said, welcome to your forties. You're gonna start getting 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:52.600 all kinds of stupid injuries. What a way to get injured, huh, 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:56.760 stomping the devil's head for the glory of God. Come on, 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:01.800 I've got hurt a lot stupider ways than that. It's hilarious. 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.280 It's hilarious to me. It was funny to me. I 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.200 used to get hurt punching walls and stuff out of anger. 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:15.640 I'd rather get hurt annoyed anyway. The Bible said that 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.240 he will bruise your heel, but you will crush his head. 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:26.080 That's a scripture verse. Y'all aren't ready for this. I 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.120 want to tell you something that happened to me last summer. 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.360 I have a friend who lives in another country, kin Costa. 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.479 He's originally from South Africa. He resides now in London, England. 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.320 He travels the world. He comes to see me once 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.120 a year. Just turned seventy. It's a good man. He 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.800 has a book out called Joseph of Arimathea. Free Plug 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:49.960 for my friend, because he gave me the scripture that 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.280 I want to use to frame our message. Not necessarily 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.120 to preach the scripture, but to frame the message. And 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.360 I figured I owed him a book plug, So check 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.320 it out on Amazon, Kin Costa, Joseph of Arimathea. Now 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.880 that that's out the way, when he comes to see me, 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:10.440 he will usually bring three or four scriptures and we'll 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.600 read the scriptures together. He jot them down. This is 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.880 the paper that he brought me in July when he 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.520 came to see me after my break family break this summer, 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.480 and he brought me these scriptures. We sat on the 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:26.440 porch and we looked at the scriptures and the first 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.639 one was Exitus fourteen fourteen, and we read it together 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:33.200 and he said, that's the wrong one, and so we 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.440 moved on. He gave me Joshua three four, Isaiah forty 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:42.360 two sixteen, and then Leviticus twenty six ten. I probably 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:46.440 should admit this, but I normally skip Leviticus on the 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.760 Bible reading plans. It's not my go to book to 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:57.360 fight discouragement. But we looked at it and we read 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:01.079 it together. Put that one on the screen. Leviticus twenty 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.040 The Lord says you will still be eating last year's 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.320 harvest when you will have to move it out to 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:14.720 make room for the new. And we read that together 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.800 and I said, well, what does it mean? He said, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.160 I don't know. I put it in my Bible, and 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:26.880 a few weeks ago it fell out of my Bible. 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.600 On a Friday night, I started looking at it again 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:32.920 and I texted it over to Bishop td Jakes. I said, 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.160 what does it mean? He said, oh, that's a good one, 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:44.000 and he preached about it and that was good. Well, 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.200 the phrase that I want to use and put it 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.600 up there again is where it says, make room for 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.760 the new. And the Lord told me to tell you today, 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.720 make room for the new. This is a word from 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:04.080 the Lord for somebody who is in this room or 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.080 at one of our campuses. Come on, let's thank God 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:10.040 for all of our locations. From Lake Norman all the 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:17.520 all the way to Matthews. We are spanning South Charlotte 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.800 with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and beyond Melbourne, Florida 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:26.240 University City. You wouldn't believe it. Raleigh, North Carolina is 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:33.080 even joining us. I gotta admit I didn't see that coming. 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:39.560 So y'all drove in for make room for the new. 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.080 This is a word for you, make room for the new. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.000 You know I'm getting into old stuff now. I've got 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:52.000 about eighty records upstairs in my office at my house 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:56.000 in a turntable vinyl. Something about getting up and having 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.120 to only listen to three songs at a time is 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.159 preferable to having ever song in the history of the 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.480 universe on my phone at my fingertips. For some reason, 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.400 I would rather listen through a scratchy analog representation of 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.000 the music than a digital recreation of the music that 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:14.279 fits in my pocket. I think there's something comforting about 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:20.800 something that you used to touch and hold old. You know, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.599 I used to like something and be attracted to it 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.360 if it was new, But now I like old stuff. 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.520 It's just I like I like old. I like old, 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:38.719 I like old songs, I like smashing pumpkins. I don't 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:42.200 need any of this new stuff. I don't need any 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.320 of the I like the old stuff. The hymns that 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.240 I used to yawn through in church are the ones 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.839 that I now write songs around as as a grown man. 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.279 And so a lot of things come full circle in 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.440 your life that you don't appreciate at the time. But 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:02.320 the the the challenge now to hold on to the 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:08.080 old to the exclusion of receiving the new. When I 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.200 shared with you last week, we were given a picture 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.960 of Peter who was having to fight against the traditions 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:19.279 and the customs of the well meaning circumcised believers. And 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.599 one thing that it is difficult for us to appreciate 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:26.679 about this community is that they were receiving from God 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.719 an entirely new system by which to relate to him. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.039 Imagine that at one point you had to atone for 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.960 your sins with the blood of bulls and goats, and 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.279 now instead of shedding the blood of an animal, you 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.360 were trusting in the blood of Christ. That's a very 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:47.080 difficult thing to apprehend when you had something tactile, something 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.320 you could touch, and now you have to believe something 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:55.680 by faith. The paradigm of justification. We call it justification 0:06:55.920 --> 0:07:00.920 by faith, but it's actually justification by grace through faith. See, 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.320 it's not how much faith you have that saves you, 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.800 it's how much grace God has that saves you. Because 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.600 if it was about how much faith I had, I 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.600 would be going to heaven one five minute period, and 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.080 I would be bound for the same hell as a 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:18.080 serial killer in the next five I don't always have 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.720 that much faith, sometimes high, sometimes low. And depending on 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.200 whether you catch me at nine am and I've had 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.640 my coffee, or whether you catch me after one of 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.680 my kids said something disrespectful, I might have a lot 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:32.760 of faith or a little bit of faith. The point 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:34.680 is not how much faith that I have, it's who 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.480 I have my faith in. Y'all ain't gonna help me 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:41.440 preach a bit today. This Bible says that it is 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.760 by grace you have been saved through faith and this 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.560 not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:50.360 of works. So that no one can boast and think 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.520 about this. God's people had always related to God through 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:59.320 a covenant that was based on works, that was based 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.680 on keeping the law. And now all of a sudden, 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.800 in the passage I shared last week, not only are 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.680 they learning to relate to God by faith, which is 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.120 the hardest thing in the world, to just take it 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.480 by faith. We talk a good game when it comes 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:20.120 to faith. We say we're trusting in the Lord with 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:24.080 all of our heart and leaning not to our own understanding. 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.560 But it still creates a tension, which is how much 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:31.840 should I trust God? And how much should I try myself? 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:37.120 This tension is written into the very script. The nascent 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.319 days of the church were filled with this kind of tension. 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:45.400 So the community God's people, they are now learning to 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.480 relate to God in a brand new way. Touch somebody say, 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.520 make room for the new. And just about the time 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:57.160 they're getting used to this paradigm of grace, here come 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.600 the gentiles, who are the ones they were supposed to 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:05.280 stay away from. And the point guard of the New 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:10.480 Testament all star team, Peter is going in eating with 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:15.880 these people who are contagious. I use that word for reason, 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.000 because when I told you that they wouldn't associate with gentiles, 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.640 you're like, well, that's wrong. You know, it's easy to 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.160 recognize a truth when you're not living in the tension 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:36.240 of it. It's easy for us to look back on 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:41.280 certain issues of racial segregation now and say why in 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:44.000 the world. But when you're living in the tension of it. 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.959 When you're living in the tension, you can lose sight 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:53.040 of the truth. And in the tension of the New 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:57.760 Testament Church, there's not only grace versus works, but there's 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.080 this exclusive idea that God is blessing a select group 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.600 of people. And then now get this tension with me. 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.560 They have to try to figure out how to protect 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.719 what they've been entrusted with at the same time that 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:14.480 they don't hold it too tightly. Every parent can relate 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:18.920 to this. How do I protect my kids while not 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:23.240 putting my kids in some sort of bubble where they 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.720 won't be prepared for the real world. How do I 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.440 I'm thinking this about Abby right now. She's probably going 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:33.240 to be pretty. She's already pretty nine year old, probably 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.480 going to be a pretty thirteen year old. Then there's 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:37.360 probably going to be some thirteen year old boy that 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.320 wants to come up and talk to her about something. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.520 And how am I supposed to let her out of 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.360 her room and trust a thirteen year old boy when 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:49.520 I've been one? How will I do that? I don't know. 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.800 But what I do know is this. You ready. This 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.040 is the first thing I've said that you probably will 0:10:56.040 --> 0:11:00.120 want to write down today, but hopefully not the last. Okay. 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:11.440 Your tolerance for tension determines your potential for growth. Your 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:21.960 tolerance for tension determines what I say, your potential for growth. 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.480 And we don't like tension when it comes to Christianity. 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:35.640 God said it. I believe it. That settles it. Let 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:37.760 me tell you right now, brother, it doesn't matter if 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:39.760 you believe it or not. God said it. That settles it. 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:41.480 You can just take the middle of it right there out. 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:43.640 God said it. That settles it. But wait a minute, 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.280 Wait a minute, wait minute, wait a minute, to sit 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:53.160 with the tension of what God actually said as opposed 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:57.960 to the tradition of what we heard God said through 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:04.160 the filter of personal preference and prejudice. It's the gift 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:08.400 of tension. If you hire a trainer at what's the 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.480 name of a gym, Planet fitness. If you hire a trainer, 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:12.679 I don't even know if you can do that at 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.640 Planet Fitness. But if you hire a trainer at the gym, 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.040 they are going to at some point teach you about 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:23.559 the gift of tension for the building of muscle. If 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:27.000 you hire a trainer and they do not employ tension 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:31.680 in the training regimen, you should fire the trainer because 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:36.640 time under tension is the formula for growth. And yet 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.800 when it comes to our movies, we love tension. When 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:47.240 it comes to our television entertainment Netflix binging content, we 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:49.880 love tension. I don't want to watch a show about 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.320 somebody who had a good day. I want to watch 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.480 a show about somebody who ended up on drugs and 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.640 had to fight a whole gang single handedly and almost 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.720 died in the process, and got a divorce and went bankrupt. 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.520 But what makes for a good TV show is the 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.440 kind of stuff we try to pray away from our lives. 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:14.319 So I started the year praying something really weird. I said, God, 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:24.520 increased the quality of my problems. Lord, I want higher 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:29.800 quality problems in twenty twenty. The reason I prayed that 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:34.120 is because I tried asking him in previous years take 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:39.480 my problems away. That was an ineffective prayer. He did 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.240 not seem too interested in answering that prayer to take 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:46.959 my problems away. In fact, it seems as if some 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.480 of the things that came into my life in one 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:53.440 season as a problem, some of the things that came 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:57.600 into my life as opposition, were the things that God 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.800 used to create opportunities for me to know him and 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:11.600 make him known. So what's crazy? What's crazy? Everybody say 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:17.480 it's crazy. What's crazy about Leviticus twenty six ten is 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:26.880 it can be interpreted as either a blessing or an inconvenience, 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.920 because the scripture said that if you live in alignment 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.920 with God in an agreement with his covenant. This is 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.640 the old covenant, which was by works. Remember they had 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:45.400 to conditionally receive the favor of God through certain behaviors 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:49.320 in community. And so as Moses is giving them all 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.240 of this law, they've been out of Egypt only for 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.960 a very short time. They've constructed a tabernacle, which is 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.360 a space where they can meet with God. And he 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.280 says in verse nine, just get a running start at it. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.080 I will look on favor with you and make you 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.800 fruitful and increase your numbers. And I will keep my 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:14.440 covenant with you old covenant, the covenant that was established 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.880 through obedience and works. It was still grace, but it 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.280 was grace measured out through behavior. Can I teach the 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:27.200 Bible on this particular worship service? So then when he 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.640 gets to verse ten, he says, if you will keep 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:34.120 your end of the covenant, then you will still be 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:35.960 eating last year's harvest when we have to move it 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:40.520 out to make room for the new. I'm so glad 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:47.200 that I am not under that contract anymore. I really am. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.480 I don't want God to give me what I deserve. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.080 I don't want God to be fair to me. I 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.760 don't want God to relate to me on the basis 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.520 of how much I prayed last week. I really don't. 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:03.720 I don't want him to I don't want him to 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.280 treat me according to what my lifestyle would merit. And 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.440 so we understand now. I think most of us in 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.480 this church understand that this is the old Covenant, but 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.400 it's the same community. They have progressed from a point 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.280 where they were wandering in the wilderness until we get 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:21.800 to acts chapter eleven, and now they are becoming a church. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:25.280 Now in that setup, I want to go back into 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.000 Acts chapter ten, and I want to read the story 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.880 to you again, or as we said last week, the 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:35.200 whole story. You never really know the whole story. That's 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.840 why you got to keep living. That's why you got 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:40.760 to keep praying. That's why you got to keep believing. 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.360 That's why you got to keep trusting. That's why you 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.280 got to keep swinging. Because you don't know the whole story. 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:52.200 That's why you can't kill your kids. It might grow 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.480 up and pay for your retirement or something like that. 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.080 Because you don't know the whole story. That's why you 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.720 can't judge anything too soon. And you're going to see 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.960 this in the scripture right here, is that in the 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:09.080 midst of great tension, a great truth was shown make 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:14.639 room for the new Verse one says the apostles and 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:19.359 the believers throughout Judea heard that the gentiles had also 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:24.640 received the Word of God. The gospel is spreading, it's spreading. 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:30.080 I guess you could say, grace is going viral. It's 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.240 just out of control, can't stop it. It's just all 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.359 over the place. And they didn't like that because they 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.560 are in the tension of trying to protect the old, 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:45.920 and when you are protecting the old, what's new looks 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:52.520 like a threat. When I asked my dad one time, 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.880 are you threatening me? He said something, I'm sure you've 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.640 heard this before. He said, it's not a threat, it's 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:03.920 a prom. I was like, oh, he was six two. 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.800 I was like, got it, I'm good, No further questions. 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.080 It's not it's not a threat, it's a promise. He 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:18.200 said that it's not a threat, it's a blessing. They 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:23.160 were threatened by the blessing because they did not recognize 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.480 it and it did not remind them of what they 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:32.200 were used to in their religious routine. Are you threatened 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:38.560 by your very own blessings? Come on, Raleigh. They get 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:40.680 used to it. I know y'all love the Word of 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:47.280 God and Raleigh, and so they are. They are being blessed. 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.800 The church is growing. That's exactly what they want. And 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.840 sometimes God can be giving you exactly what you want, 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.120 but the tension that it takes to produce the growth 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:03.400 is super uncomfortable. We don't like tension in our Christianity. 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:09.959 Rapture me Jesus and get me out of here. In 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.879 the meantime, you need to pay your taxes and change 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:14.880 your oil and do all this stuff just in case 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.879 he doesn't get you out of it. You need to 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:27.320 learn how to bring God into it. And so as 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:29.800 the message is going to the gentiles, they're not the 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.520 Jewish people. They're the gentiles, all of us who do 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:38.520 not have a Jewish ancestry like these people. And they 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.680 didn't want to let him in the church. So next 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.000 time you don't want to let somebody in church because 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.280 something about them offends you, just to remember that by 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:57.639 that standard, you wouldn't be here either. So the circumcised 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:03.200 believers criticized him. Is a criticism that is birth out 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.240 of ignorance. And they said, you went into the house 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.880 of uncircumcisedment and ate with them, And starting from the beginning, 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.320 Peter told them the whole story. He said, I was 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:17.080 in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:21.159 I saw a vision. I saw something like a large 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:25.720 sheep being let down from heaven by its four corners, 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:30.400 and it came down to where I was. I saw 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.600 something being let down from heaven and it came down 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.840 to where I was. When I read that the Lord 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.600 said to me, I'm going to bring it to you 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:50.240 when you are positioning yourself according to the peace and 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.760 the purpose of God, and when you are present in 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.680 the situation where He has placed you. God said all 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.760 the other things that people run after, I'm gonna bring 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:05.520 it to you. If you want in on this word, shout, 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:09.480 God's gonna bring it to me. Come on, Tell the 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:11.359 person next to you. I don't have to chase it, 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.199 stress about it, cheat to get it, violate my morality 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:20.199 or my ethics. God's gonna bring it to me. This 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:24.240 is the Covenant of grace. Watch this. I tried to 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:28.080 get to God, I couldn't. So he ripped open Heaven 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.760 step down to come inside of me so that the 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:36.560 righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us. No, 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:40.439 I cannot achieve his holiness. But God's gonna bring it 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:44.359 to me. Heaven's gonna come to my house, Heaven's gonna 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:47.720 come to my mind, Peace is gonna come to my marriage. 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:53.800 God's gonna bring it to me. I wanna shut the 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.520 whole sermon down for a minute and give God praise 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:02.440 by faith that He's gonna bring it to me. What's 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.840 your need? He's got it. God's gonna bring it to me. 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.800 God's gonna bring it to me. When I praise him, 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.679 blessings come down. God's gonna bring it to me. I 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:28.320 don't have to begging. God's gonna bring it. Peter wasn't 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.000 looking for a vision for his life. God brought it 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:37.640 to him. All he did was go to Joppa. Can 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:43.000 we talk about Joppa for a minute. Joppa, everybody say Joppa. 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:48.240 I thought about calling this message the Opportunity of a Lifetime, 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:53.680 but that was corny. Yeah, I'll scratched that one out 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:57.680 real quick. You can have it. That's not a good 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:01.320 title for a message. But it got me that he 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:11.520 was in Joppa because I was like, Joppa, Joppa, Jappa, Jappa, Jappa, Choppa, Joppa, 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:14.000 support city. I know that they put the timber there. 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:17.199 They take the timber, and the timber came there when 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:19.240 they built Solomon's temple. I think I think they brought 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:22.119 the timber from Lebanon to Jappa because it's on the 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:24.600 Mediterranean coast. They brought a timber there and then they 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:26.800 sent it to build the temple. Oh, maybe Japa is 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:34.280 something where God takes the raw materials. Joppa. No that's 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:39.000 not it. Chop A Jappa, Joppa, Joppa. Why does it 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:40.760 say over and over again he was in Joppa. Go 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:43.080 to acts ten, verse one. It says it a couple 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:47.640 of times, because remember Peter got in trouble. He didn't 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:53.919 have to go looking for trouble. Trouble came looking for him. Well, 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:59.320 y'all were shouting a minute ago, we just we just 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:02.840 killed the vibe. I think we killed the vibe. Peter 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.040 wasn't looking for controversy, wasn't looking for conflict, wasn't looking 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:12.879 for problems. He was in Joppa because there was a 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:16.720 woman in the church at Joppa who was very important 0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:19.959 to the believers there. And he was in Lida raising 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:23.040 people from the dead, you know, just the stuff you do. 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:30.360 And when he was in the middle of this crazy 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:34.840 revival in Lida, which wasn't too far from Joppa, this 0:24:34.960 --> 0:24:43.119 amazing e kids volunteer died. Her name was Dorcas, her 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:47.760 Greek name was Dorcas. Her name was also Tabitha. And 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:51.959 they asked Peter if he would come to comfort them. 0:24:52.240 --> 0:24:54.439 And he got there and he saw how important she 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:59.720 was to all of them in Joppa, and he started 0:24:59.760 --> 0:25:02.840 looking at all the clothes that she sewed for widows, 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:05.280 and she had a ministry to the poor. She cared 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:08.920 about people she served on the parking team, she cared 0:25:08.920 --> 0:25:14.240 about people she worked on production at Raleigh Durham. She 0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:25.720 was They hated to lose Dorcas. And Peter got kind 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:27.200 of bored. You know, he was a man of action. 0:25:27.359 --> 0:25:29.600 So he's like, this is cool, like taking a tour 0:25:29.640 --> 0:25:33.120 of everything she did. But y'all leave the room. Check 0:25:33.119 --> 0:25:35.080 out this scripture real quick. I know I said Axe ten, 0:25:35.160 --> 0:25:36.800 but I want to go back to Ax nine real quick. 0:25:36.800 --> 0:25:39.960 I want to give you the whole story because we 0:25:39.960 --> 0:25:41.439 know what happened when he got to Joppa. How did 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:45.040 he get there? It's important. He went to jop A 0:25:45.080 --> 0:25:49.600 to visit Dorcas. Give me nine forty. Peter sent them 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:52.879 all out of the room. She's been washed and placed 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:55.600 for burial in the upper room, and as they're memorializing her, 0:25:55.760 --> 0:25:58.840 he got down on his knees and prayed, and turning 0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:05.040 toward the dead woman, he said, Tabitha, get up. Peter's like, 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:07.160 we can have a funeral or we could have a resurrection. 0:26:11.280 --> 0:26:17.040 Peter was Peter was bold. He tried it like Jesus 0:26:17.040 --> 0:26:19.879 one time Jesus did the same exact thing, but it 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:24.000 was with the little girl. This little girl was dead. 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:28.320 And Jesus sent everybody out of the room because he 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:32.600 knew that if they stayed in the room that their 0:26:32.760 --> 0:26:37.720 doubt might make it impossible for faith to really do 0:26:37.800 --> 0:26:40.399 what faith can do when it is unencumbered by doubt. 0:26:42.840 --> 0:26:46.480 What's the title of this message, make room for the 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:50.080 new And when Jesus sent them all out, he said 0:26:50.119 --> 0:26:54.040 something in Aramaic, Talitha kom It means little girl, get up, 0:26:54.960 --> 0:26:57.399 Little girl, get up? Now watch Peter, imitating his master. 0:26:57.720 --> 0:27:00.000 He sent them all out of the room and turned 0:27:00.000 --> 0:27:03.800 towards the woman and said, Tabitha, get up. It's almost 0:27:03.840 --> 0:27:09.080 like Talita is just one letter different. And he thought something, 0:27:09.320 --> 0:27:13.400 if he did it, if Jesus did it, and if 0:27:13.400 --> 0:27:18.640