Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you.
Speaker 1: Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective
Speaker 1: to see Gods moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Well,
Speaker 1: if you don't know me, I'm Holly Ferdick, and I'm
Speaker 1: so glad to be worshiping with you here this morning. Welcome,
Speaker 1: Welcome at all of our locations. Lisa Harper is here.
Speaker 1: How many of you would agree that we've had some
Speaker 1: really great preachers this weekend bringing the Word of God
Speaker 1: speaking to us. I'm so thankful that we come to
Speaker 1: our church where every week we know that we can
Speaker 1: show up if we could just get here, God's going
Speaker 1: to speak and today is no exception. Lisa Harper is
Speaker 1: back to the Elevation stage for a second time, first
Speaker 1: time as a guest. Second time is family. So we're
Speaker 1: excited to have our family back with us here this weekend.
Speaker 1: Her daughter is here, Missy. They have come all the
Speaker 1: way from the country of Tennessee and Lisa is She's
Speaker 1: going to bring an incredible message. I already heard it
Speaker 1: one time last night, and I'm excited for you to
Speaker 1: hear it. She is an incredibly gifted Bible teacher, preacher, author,
Speaker 1: and she's also one of the funniest people I know,
Speaker 1: So you're in for a real treat. She travels the world,
Speaker 1: and I'm so excited to have her here with us
Speaker 1: today on the elevation stage. Will you help me welcome
Speaker 1: Lisa Harper. Thank you, Alick. I really, oh, please to them, please,
Speaker 1: to them, thank you. I cannot overstay. What an honor
Speaker 1: it is to be here. This is my second time,
Speaker 1: and Holly graciously invited me to be with some of
Speaker 1: the women in the two years ago. And every time
Speaker 1: I get to be at Elevation, I just weep during worship.
Speaker 1: And it's not just that I'm in Apausal and my
Speaker 1: emotions are kicked up. It's that the presence of God
Speaker 1: is so pangule in this place, and I'm just undone
Speaker 1: to get to be here, very undeserving of the platform,
Speaker 1: but so grateful to get to be here, and then
Speaker 1: to get to be here on Baptism Sunday that just
Speaker 1: slaved me, just slayed me. I love that you do
Speaker 1: it in the house. I love that it's a family
Speaker 1: meeting instead of formal and removed. I got to baptize
Speaker 1: my little girl in the Jordan River. Two months ago.
Speaker 1: We were going to Israel and Missy told me she
Speaker 1: wants to be baptized. She's nine, and I said, baby,
Speaker 1: that'd be great. And what I hadn't taken into consideration
Speaker 1: is we came to Israel from Australia, and so we
Speaker 1: got there a day and a half after the group
Speaker 1: we were with, and we missed the normal baptismal site,
Speaker 1: which some of you have been to Israel. It's on
Speaker 1: the northern shore of the Sea of Galley and it's
Speaker 1: beautiful and you've got the white robes and the water's clear,
Speaker 1: and it's real picturesque. It's a really great and so
Speaker 1: worthy moment. And we missed that baptism site. When we
Speaker 1: got there, it was the southern part of the Jordan,
Speaker 1: and that's where there's a lot of agricultural runoff and
Speaker 1: just a teensy bit of sewage and the water's really brown.
Speaker 1: That historically is where John baptized Jesus. That's historically where
Speaker 1: the Israelites went into Canaan, and that's historically where Elijah
Speaker 1: went up to be with Jesus. So it's a really
Speaker 1: cool biblical site, but it's really trashy as far as
Speaker 1: the water. But I was like, we're in Israel, and
Speaker 1: she said the Jordan, and this is the Jordan, and
Speaker 1: miss he was like, no, ma'am, And I was like, oh, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1: And so I kind of had to shover a little
Speaker 1: bit and I'll show the next group make sure because
Speaker 1: it's just comical. I think there will be therapy in
Speaker 1: light of this baptism. But I told her, maybe this
Speaker 1: is like one of the most amazing points in your life,
Speaker 1: because it's when you recognize that you go down as
Speaker 1: an old person, you come up alive to a whole
Speaker 1: new troop. I said outwardly, it's just a sign of
Speaker 1: this inward miracle. It's incredible. So to get to be
Speaker 1: here and see that if I had half a brain,
Speaker 1: I just pray and we'd be done and we don't
Speaker 1: go to Denny's. But I've never been accused of having
Speaker 1: half a brain. And so we are going to dive
Speaker 1: into a story in the Book of Acts this morning
Speaker 1: because I've watched a lot of the pastors you've had
Speaker 1: come in this summer. It was just undone by Pastor
Speaker 1: Stevens message on when the battle chooses you, And then
Speaker 1: I watch Roberts and I watched Pastor Daniels, and I
Speaker 1: feel like there's this theme God has been weaving through Elevation, Epham,
Speaker 1: all the other locations of spiritual maturity in the summer
Speaker 1: of be all in for the sake of the Gospel.
Speaker 1: So I want to stay in that theme. But in
Speaker 1: order for me to stay there, I need y'all to
Speaker 1: help me. So reach out and touch somebody. Gentlemen, if
Speaker 1: you feel weird holding hands with a guy you don't know,
Speaker 1: you can just awkwardly piky grip. But we're just gonna
Speaker 1: and y'all don't have to be that pentecostal. Y'all have
Speaker 1: to reach across the aisles. That's too hard this early
Speaker 1: in the morning. But let's pray to that end. Let's
Speaker 1: pray that God will have his way in this place,
Speaker 1: that He will actually illuminate our hearts and minds that
Speaker 1: will become more fully alive to the Gospel, to the
Speaker 1: call He has in our lives. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Speaker 1: Jesus King Jesus. This Jesus the Lamb who was slain,
Speaker 1: the author and the prefector of our faith, A Lilia,
Speaker 1: the valley, the Alpha and the Omega, wonderful counselor Almighty God.
Speaker 1: This Jesus the Christ, our Messiah, Jesus. Thank you that
Speaker 1: when you ascend it into heaven to sit at the
Speaker 1: right hand of God Almighty, you didn't leave us as orphans.
Speaker 1: Thank you that you left us your spirit and this
Speaker 1: love letter called the Bible. Would we pray that you
Speaker 1: would just have your way through your spirit in this
Speaker 1: place and all the locations, and all the family rooms
Speaker 1: and the coffee shops and the places where Ephams are
Speaker 1: meeting all over the globe. Lord Jesus, have your way
Speaker 1: in your spirit, that we would see you more clearly,
Speaker 1: that we would be undone by the Gospel, That just
Speaker 1: like these friends of ours that got baptized, that there
Speaker 1: would be a washing this morning some of the things
Speaker 1: that have been buried or numb in our hearts, that
Speaker 1: we would feel brand new and just be alive to
Speaker 1: the Gospel. So, Jesus, we can't accomplish this on our own.
Speaker 1: We recognize we're desperate for your spirit. We pray for
Speaker 1: your spirit. We pray you would accomplish this by your
Speaker 1: power and authority and for your purposes. Lord Jesus, we
Speaker 1: asked this, and all of God's sons and daughters said Amen.
Speaker 1: Before we dive into the text, I want to tell
Speaker 1: you a story that happened recently to illuminate where we're headed.
Speaker 1: And it has to do with motorcycles. So I should
Speaker 1: probably qualify this because I know a lot of church
Speaker 1: people don't like motorcycles. But I grew up half Baptist.
Speaker 1: Mom was Baptist, dad was Pentecostal, and so the prodigal
Speaker 1: in me has always wanted a reason to wear black
Speaker 1: leather pants. And I grew up riding motorcycles, dirt bikes.
Speaker 1: My dad had a ranch, and then when I turned forty,
Speaker 1: I made this little patch. I am still single, never
Speaker 1: been married. My husband won't stop to ask for directions.
Speaker 1: But at forty I had a plan, and I decided
Speaker 1: if I didn't get a husband that year, because it's
Speaker 1: a pivotal year, you know, forty, and you start to
Speaker 1: lose your metabolism, so I needed something positive. I decided
Speaker 1: if I didn't get a husband. I was going to
Speaker 1: get a Harley Davidson, and so that was my first
Speaker 1: big bike and I've been riding ever since and wearing
Speaker 1: leather pants, even though it often sounds like ducks are
Speaker 1: being killed when I wear leather pants. But when I
Speaker 1: brought Missy, my daughter home from Haiti through the miracle
Speaker 1: of adoption, I thought, you know what, I don't feel
Speaker 1: good about putting Missy on the back of two wheels
Speaker 1: just because of other drivers and distractions. I just there's
Speaker 1: inherent risk in motorcycles. So I thought, I don't feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ride anymore with her on a bike.
Speaker 1: But it really bummed her out because motorcycles are the
Speaker 1: main form of transportation in Haiti, and so she would
Speaker 1: see the bike every time we walk through the garage
Speaker 1: and she'd go, Moto Moto, Mama moto. And I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't feel comfortable putting on her on
Speaker 1: a hog but maybe I could get a bike that
Speaker 1: is a little safer, and so I found online through Craigslist.
Speaker 1: Always scares me that I'm going to meet a murderer,
Speaker 1: but I actually met a really nice guy in Chicago
Speaker 1: who was selling a Honda gold Wing with a Dauntless
Speaker 1: side car, and so for you motorcycle people actually have
Speaker 1: a PreO. Yeah, so I bought that because you know,
Speaker 1: it's three wheels, you can see us come in. It's
Speaker 1: obviously safer than two wheels. And we had a blast
Speaker 1: on this bike. I did the whole weird thing. I
Speaker 1: don't do all the you know, matching mommy and me
Speaker 1: outfits because I'm just too old and that's too sad
Speaker 1: for Missy. But we did do matching leathers, and I mean,
Speaker 1: we just we had so much fun with it until
Speaker 1: one day we were riding the bike. I live in
Speaker 1: the Boonies, about twenty miles south of Nashville, Tennessee, and
Speaker 1: this blue Ford truck flying a rebel flag in the
Speaker 1: back drove up beside us and threw coke cans at
Speaker 1: us and yelled expletives. Because where I live in Nashville, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: some people do not think straight headed mamas should have
Speaker 1: curly headed kids. And I prepared for that when I
Speaker 1: was bringing Missy home from Haiti as well as I
Speaker 1: could spent a lot of shoe money on therapists. His
Speaker 1: specialized in transracial adoption. I got the Chris Rock Hair
Speaker 1: Special and actually didn't just rent it. I have the DVD.
Speaker 1: I mean, I did everything I knew to prepare for this.
Speaker 1: There's a good Win, isn't it Autumn? That's like one
Speaker 1: of the best movies ever. I mean, don't rent it
Speaker 1: and send Hollymen emails because there's a few little exciting
Speaker 1: words that aren't in the Bible and that DVD. But anyway,
Speaker 1: it's great about kind of this whole microcosm of hair.
Speaker 1: So I did everything I could to prepare, but I
Speaker 1: was not prepared for some of the vitriol that has
Speaker 1: come our way, and so I was really stunned when
Speaker 1: these guys threw coke cans and yelled explotives. It went
Speaker 1: right over Missy's head. She didn't even realize it was
Speaker 1: directed at the fact that I have straight hair and
Speaker 1: she has curly hair. But then a couple of weeks later,
Speaker 1: we were back on the bike in the same area
Speaker 1: on this country road, Carter's Creek Pike south of Nashville,
Speaker 1: and I saw my rearview mirror the same truck, and
Speaker 1: so I kind of tensed up because I thought, uh, oh,
Speaker 1: we're out here on this country road. It's just Missy
Speaker 1: and me in this motorcycle. We're totally exposed. And sure enough,
Speaker 1: these guys in the blue truck up the ante and
Speaker 1: they pulled up right next to us. I had slowed
Speaker 1: down considerably, and they began yelling really unkind things, including
Speaker 1: the inward and then the driver edged the truck into
Speaker 1: my lane and forced me off the road. And it
Speaker 1: was scary. We were fine, we weren't hurt, but it
Speaker 1: was really alarming. And I thought, you know what, I've
Speaker 1: got to explain this to Missy now, because it didn't
Speaker 1: go over her head this time. So I went straight
Speaker 1: home and sat her down and I said, hey, baby,
Speaker 1: I want to explain to you what just happened when
Speaker 1: those guys yelled such ugly things to us and forced
Speaker 1: us off the road. And she was like, Mama, why
Speaker 1: did they do that? And I said, well, maybe some
Speaker 1: people have really little lives, and they choose to surround
Speaker 1: themselves with people who are just like them and look
Speaker 1: like them, and talk like them and think like them.
Speaker 1: And I said, sometimes their lives are so small that
Speaker 1: their hearts get small because their hearts don't have room
Speaker 1: to grow. And I said sometimes people with really little
Speaker 1: hearts are really dangerous. And I said, so, baby, I
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about what we do when
Speaker 1: we're around people who have really little hearts, like those
Speaker 1: guys in the truck. I said, you know what we
Speaker 1: need to do. And where I was going to go
Speaker 1: is I was going to talk about being alert. I
Speaker 1: was going to talk about just always kind of having
Speaker 1: your antenna up when you're in a place where you
Speaker 1: don't see a whole lot of faces that may look
Speaker 1: like your face, how you just have to be aware,
Speaker 1: not to be bitter or resentful, but just to be aware.
Speaker 1: And so I said, do you know what we need
Speaker 1: to do, baby, and she goes, oh, yes, ma'am. We
Speaker 1: need to help them have bigger hearts. And I was
Speaker 1: just because that wasn't where I was going. But once again,
Speaker 1: it's like the Holy Spirit used my kid to go,
Speaker 1: let me teach you something here, Lisa, and what he's
Speaker 1: been teaching me through the last few years through the
Speaker 1: conduit of my child are two truths that I think
Speaker 1: are where God has elevation. Because y'all are growing up,
Speaker 1: you know, Valentine is three years. A lot of y'all
Speaker 1: have been together for fifteen years. You've got people who've
Speaker 1: been running hard towards Jesus for a long time, and
Speaker 1: I feel like y'all are about to go into fifth gear.
Speaker 1: You're maturing spiritually. And here's the two truths that God
Speaker 1: is teaching me through Missy that I feel like are
Speaker 1: pertinent to all of us, especially in light of where
Speaker 1: y'all have been this summer. The first one is that
Speaker 1: being light is not a prerequisite for being loving. Being light,
Speaker 1: being popular, being accepted, has nothing to do with sharing
Speaker 1: the love of Christ. The second thing I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm learning is as apostles of Christ, as Ambassador's new covenant,
Speaker 1: as men and women who have been undone by His mercy,
Speaker 1: it's incumbent upon us to love hard, even when it's
Speaker 1: to love hard, even when it's hard, that we don't
Speaker 1: demand reciprocity from culture. There's this misnomer I feel like
Speaker 1: in American evangelical circles nowadays, that we have to have
Speaker 1: power and acceptance in order to really express the Gospel.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, that's not biblically defensible. Know where in
Speaker 1: Bible do you in the Bible do you see that
Speaker 1: Christianity that our faith in Christ is dependent upon political
Speaker 1: power or being accepted. Actually, usually it's contrary to that.
Speaker 1: Usually the gospel, the people who share the gospel in
Speaker 1: scripture our ancestors. Usually they were oppressed, and it was
Speaker 1: that oppression, that opposite and opposition that actually stirred their
Speaker 1: spiritual fervor. They actually kind of rot to the occasion
Speaker 1: when culture oppressed them. That's part of spiritual maturity. It's
Speaker 1: loving hard when it's hard. Doesn't matter if your preferred
Speaker 1: political candidate is in office. It doesn't matter if people
Speaker 1: like your Twitter feed. It doesn't matter if people at
Speaker 1: your work think that you're really all that. None of
Speaker 1: that matters. What matters is while we were still sinners,
Speaker 1: he lavish mercy and affection on us. And we should
Speaker 1: be so undone by what sent us under the water
Speaker 1: that we can't help but share the Gospel with people
Speaker 1: around us. I was on a plane recently, and I've
Speaker 1: got where I hate flying and I do it all
Speaker 1: the time, and I was excited because it was a
Speaker 1: short flight, so I knew that I wouldn't have to
Speaker 1: suffer for long. And they had just announced the boarding
Speaker 1: door was closing, and the only empty seat on the
Speaker 1: whole plane was between me and the guy next to
Speaker 1: me reading the Wall Street Journal, and I was like, yes,
Speaker 1: because I can't see it, but I'm convinced there's a
Speaker 1: tattoo on my forehead that says, if you are a
Speaker 1: very very large man with very very poor hygiene, please
Speaker 1: sit next to me, and please take my arm rest
Speaker 1: as your own. Because that happens every time. And so
Speaker 1: it's like score, Finally I have a flight where I
Speaker 1: have a little room and I can stretch out. Right.
Speaker 1: As they were closing the door, this woman gets on
Speaker 1: the plane and so I look at her with kind
Speaker 1: of a Christian dirty look. So it's really, come on.
Speaker 1: I mean, I thought I was going to have the
Speaker 1: seat empty. I don't have the gift of mercy like Holly.
Speaker 1: But this woman comes on and she's just kind of smiling.
Speaker 1: You can tell she's a talker from fifty feet and
Speaker 1: I don't talk on planes. I mean, I don't want
Speaker 1: to share the four Spiritual Laws. I want to read
Speaker 1: a deep theological journal like People magazine or the Pottery
Speaker 1: Barn Catalog, and I just want to have my space.
Speaker 1: And so this woman gets into my space and she's
Speaker 1: real perky and I thought, honey, I'm a lot older
Speaker 1: than you, and I am not going to make eye
Speaker 1: contact because I've learned and if you make eye contact
Speaker 1: on planes and that's just please, let's have a conversation.
Speaker 1: So I'm nope, not doing it. I'm older than you,
Speaker 1: and so I kind of nodded, like an almost Christian
Speaker 1: wood and then I turned my attention back to Brad
Speaker 1: and Angelina. And then the flight attendant came through and
Speaker 1: started taking our drink orders, and both of us at
Speaker 1: the same time ordered ginger Ale. I'm like ginger Ale,
Speaker 1: but for whatever reason, I always ordered ginger Ale on
Speaker 1: planes because she's a Bible teacher. You can't get them Margerita,
Speaker 1: so I have to get Gendrell. Anyway, this girl and
Speaker 1: I both get ginger Ale. And when we said ginger Al,
Speaker 1: she went and I went, and I was like, oh God,
Speaker 1: got broke mine rule. We just bonded over ginger Ale.
Speaker 1: And the minute we made eye contact, she went, Hey,
Speaker 1: my name's Heather, and I was like, of course it is,
Speaker 1: and so we started to talk. Mostly she talked, and
Speaker 1: I just kind of nodded, and I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: my quiet alone with the Lord and people is ruined.
Speaker 1: And then they made the announced because it was a
Speaker 1: short flight, we were about to land in Atlanta. She
Speaker 1: got real serious when they said we were going to
Speaker 1: be landing in a few minutes. And she turned to
Speaker 1: me and she said, Lisa, may I ask you a
Speaker 1: personal question? And I said, well, sure, I don't mean
Speaker 1: you can absolutely ask me a personal questions. She went,
Speaker 1: do you know Jesus? And I said I do, I
Speaker 1: actually do know Jesus. And y'all, the look of disappointment
Speaker 1: that crossed her face was just so precious that I
Speaker 1: real quickly went but not very well, not very well.
Speaker 1: And so she's spent the whole rest of the flight
Speaker 1: witnessing to me and just encouraging me and the importance
Speaker 1: of getting a small group and prayer and you know,
Speaker 1: spending time in God's word. And I was just like,
Speaker 1: that sounds awesome. And so we land in Atlanta and
Speaker 1: she said, you know, before we separate, would you mind
Speaker 1: if I lay on you and pray? And I was like, no,
Speaker 1: that'd be awesome. And so we get off the plane
Speaker 1: and she stands in the gate area, lays hands on
Speaker 1: me and prays a prayer that I really needed, and
Speaker 1: she walked away, never knowing that I was actually going
Speaker 1: to teach at a conference and was a Bible teacher,
Speaker 1: and I thought, you know, she just couldn't help it.
Speaker 1: She couldn't not share the hope that lies within her. Y'all,
Speaker 1: if our lossness, if our lossness would inform our love,
Speaker 1: if we would remember what He's saved us from, we'd
Speaker 1: all be a little bit more like Heather, would be
Speaker 1: compelled to share the hope that lies within us, even
Speaker 1: when it's hard, even when it's awkward. And that's what
Speaker 1: we see in Acts. And y'all know this story, this
Speaker 1: story happens immediately after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ.
Speaker 1: Y'all know that after he was resurrected, he spent forty
Speaker 1: days in his redeemed restored shouldn't say redeemed, He didn't
Speaker 1: need to be redeemed, but his restored body, and here
Speaker 1: on earth before he ascended into heaven is the right
Speaker 1: hand of God, the Father. And in those forty days
Speaker 1: he had one hundred corroborated encounters with people, and the
Speaker 1: very last encounter he has before he goes to mediate
Speaker 1: for us in glory is right here in Acts, chapter
Speaker 1: one verse eight, It says, so when they had come together,
Speaker 1: these are this motley crew of Christians at this point
Speaker 1: their number people theologians differ, but it's somewhere around one
Speaker 1: hundred and ten, very very small group. At this point,
Speaker 1: when they had come together, they asked him, They asked, Jesus, Lord,
Speaker 1: will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
Speaker 1: And he said to him, and it is not for
Speaker 1: you to know the time or the seasons the Father
Speaker 1: has fixed by his own authority. Interesting, they're saying, will
Speaker 1: it get easier, is what they're saying. They're saying, will
Speaker 1: you assume an earthly throne so we don't have to
Speaker 1: be oppressed anymore? Because at this point we're sticking out
Speaker 1: like hot dog vendors at a vegan festival. I mean,
Speaker 1: everybody hates us. Our kids are being beaten up on
Speaker 1: the way home from school, we're being murdered, we're being marginalized.
Speaker 1: And so at this point, are you going to occupy
Speaker 1: a literal throne so the going gets a little bit
Speaker 1: easier for us? And he says, no, it's not going
Speaker 1: to get easier for you. He says, but you will
Speaker 1: receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
Speaker 1: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and an
Speaker 1: all Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Speaker 1: And when he had said these things, as they were
Speaker 1: looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took
Speaker 1: him out of their sight. Luke who wrote the Acts
Speaker 1: of the Apostles. As a matter of fact, he wrote
Speaker 1: the Gospel of Luke and Acts together, so they're like
Speaker 1: star wars and the Empire strikes back. So if you
Speaker 1: are one of those saints who's in the habit of
Speaker 1: reading through the Bible in a year, when you get
Speaker 1: to the end of Luke's Gospel, vault over John, come
Speaker 1: back for John later, but goes straight to the Acts
Speaker 1: of the Apostles because the literary symmetry there is just amazing.
Speaker 1: He's a great storyteller. But what he tells is now
Speaker 1: is there is this indicative statement from Jesus to his
Speaker 1: followers that they will receive power and there's no qualification here,
Speaker 1: and the power comes from the speaker. It is this
Speaker 1: really strong in the Greek imperative. It actually means in
Speaker 1: the original phraseology phraseology to grasp or to seize. And
Speaker 1: again the initiative lies with a speaker, not with a Here.
Speaker 1: What I'm trying to say is this is an irrevocable call.
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter if you're a healthy eight or a wobbly
Speaker 1: three with a carbon addicted wing. Like me. When you
Speaker 1: said Pastor Steven didn't eat buns, I was like, I
Speaker 1: got his buns right here. I mean, God, Lee, that
Speaker 1: sounded terrible. I mean, I will eat the bread he
Speaker 1: doesn't eat. Lord have mercy, Holly. That was awful as
Speaker 1: not what I meant. Obviously, this is not scripted. I
Speaker 1: hope you did not pay much for your ticket this morning. Anyway.
Speaker 1: I don't think Jesus would have called himself the bread
Speaker 1: of life if we were supposed to be all paleo
Speaker 1: and stuff. That's what I was trying to say. But
Speaker 1: this call he gives his followers. You will receive power,
Speaker 1: you will be my witnesses. It wasn't dependent on personality type,
Speaker 1: didn't depend on what you were on Enneagram, whether you're
Speaker 1: an extrovert or an introvert. It didn't depend on your past.
Speaker 1: We'll get into more of that in a minute. It's
Speaker 1: irrevocable if you've put your hope in Jesus, whether your
Speaker 1: parents were Pentecostal and your comfortable jumping keys, or this
Speaker 1: is your first time in a gathering of faith, or
Speaker 1: you're in an epham in a bar because you're just
Speaker 1: not so sure about these crazy Christians. If you've put
Speaker 1: your hope in Jesus, you will receive power, and you
Speaker 1: will share the hope that lies within you. It's an
Speaker 1: irrevocable Paul. Of course, we mature in boldness in the
Speaker 1: way we share the Gospel. But if you put your
Speaker 1: hope in Jesus at some point there's a little heather
Speaker 1: in you. At some point, you can't not share the
Speaker 1: hope that's within you. What we see in the Book
Speaker 1: of IXes, they share it even when it's hard. They're
Speaker 1: not just on a plane next to a grumpy frequent
Speaker 1: flyer who isn't very friendly initially. They're actually being murdered
Speaker 1: and martyred for their audacious claim that Jesus actually connects
Speaker 1: them with Jehovah, that it's not based on keeping six
Speaker 1: hundred and thirteen Torah laws, that it's actually based on
Speaker 1: recognizing your neediness, that you can't keep the law, that
Speaker 1: you can't make it by yourself, that you are desperate
Speaker 1: for a savior, and for preaching that they're getting killed.
Speaker 1: Flip over to AX eight because one of the most
Speaker 1: gruesome martyrdoms that's actually out in the Book of Acts
Speaker 1: is Stephen's death. I don't know if Stephen's parents named
Speaker 1: him after this Stephen, but if they did, it would
Speaker 1: have been a good naming. Stephen was stoned to death
Speaker 1: for telling his Jewish friends, y'all, it's about Jesus. It's
Speaker 1: not about the law. He loves you so much that
Speaker 1: he came and he laid his life down for you.
Speaker 1: And for that sermon, a mob rallied around Stephen with
Speaker 1: stones and they literally, not figuratively, literally stoned him to
Speaker 1: death and from a front of his friends and family,
Speaker 1: big rocks, landscape kind of rocks, and they threw them
Speaker 1: at Stephen until he died of physical death, I mean,
Speaker 1: gruesome kind of death. And the guy who supervised this
Speaker 1: murder is the guy who goes on to after he
Speaker 1: encounters Christ to write two thirds of the New Testament.
Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons I tell you your past
Speaker 1: does not dictate your future. Your past doesn't even limit
Speaker 1: how God is going to use you. Because at the
Speaker 1: very beginning of VACS. Pete is the one who preached
Speaker 1: the first two evangelical sermons wherein eight thousand people got saved.
Speaker 1: This was less than two months after Pete threw Jesus
Speaker 1: under the bus and vehemently and vulgarly denied that he
Speaker 1: even knew the Christ. Y'all may know him as Peter,
Speaker 1: but I like to call him Pete because I know
Speaker 1: him Peter, who, by all human accounts had completely completely
Speaker 1: sabotaged his own future as a spiritual leader. Pete is
Speaker 1: the one that Jesus said, and now I'm going to
Speaker 1: call you a rock, and I'm going to place the
Speaker 1: New Testament Church on your frail shoulders. Paul, who right
Speaker 1: here is approving the execution of Stephen, because this is
Speaker 1: before God blinds him on the road to Costco, it says,
Speaker 1: and Saul, because that was his BC name. And Saul
Speaker 1: approved of his execution Acts Chapter eight, verse one. And
Speaker 1: there arose on that day a great persecution against the
Speaker 1: Church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the
Speaker 1: regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Develop Men
Speaker 1: buried Steve, and it made a great lamentation over him.
Speaker 1: But Saul was ravaging. Original word there in the Greek,
Speaker 1: which is what the New Testament was written in initially
Speaker 1: Greek and Aramaic, that word ravaging means to destroy with
Speaker 1: an intent to kill. So again, this wasn't They're not
Speaker 1: dismissing him on Twitter. I mean, this isn't. Well, they
Speaker 1: were mean to me and they blocked my call. That's
Speaker 1: not what this is. This is they are intent to
Speaker 1: destroy me and my family. That's what's happening in first
Speaker 1: century Judea, that area in Israel. But Paul was ravaging,
Speaker 1: trying to kill the church and entering house after house
Speaker 1: he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now,
Speaker 1: humanly speaking, what even therapists would probably tell us would
Speaker 1: be wise at this point to do is to kind
Speaker 1: of tone it down a notch. You know, when when
Speaker 1: they turned the heat up, it's best to just kind
Speaker 1: of kind of back up a step or two, Like,
Speaker 1: don't be so vocal, don't be so loud, just kind
Speaker 1: of go on the download a little while, you know,
Speaker 1: don't keep any receipts or anything, but just be real careful.
Speaker 1: I did that for all of you under forty. I'm
Speaker 1: real proud I know the word receipt. Obviously it went
Speaker 1: over like the two guys in rapper gear. But anyway,
Speaker 1: humanly speaking, it would have made sense for these early
Speaker 1: Christians who are being marginalized and murdered, to just back
Speaker 1: the bus up until the environment was a little more
Speaker 1: open to evangelism. And y'all, that is the exact opposite
Speaker 1: of what they did. They didn't meet the miracle. They
Speaker 1: couldn't not share the hope of the gospel, and they
Speaker 1: shared it in really tough places. Because after Steven is murdered, Philip,
Speaker 1: one of his best friends, goes to Samaria. He doesn't
Speaker 1: go to an easy place. He doesn't go to you know,
Speaker 1: outskirts of Charlotte and stay in a really nice hotel
Speaker 1: and get a massage and have a stake before he
Speaker 1: shares the gospel. He goes to enemy territory and shares
Speaker 1: the gospel. It says the gospel. They're so undone by
Speaker 1: this story that God loves us so much that he
Speaker 1: sin has only begotten son that it says many gods saved,
Speaker 1: and it says there was much joy in that city.
Speaker 1: Verse eight. Now, if I was Philip and I had
Speaker 1: been that faithful, I would feel like I have earned
Speaker 1: myself a frappuccino, and you know, spa visit Manny Petty.
Speaker 1: I've earned something because I was really faithful. When the
Speaker 1: going got tough, he doesn't stop there. He actually turns
Speaker 1: up the heat of his own testimony because he goes
Speaker 1: from sharing in Samaria. What he does next, y'all, is
Speaker 1: just shocking. If you understand the context of this second
Speaker 1: half of the first century culture. It says in verse
Speaker 1: twenty six of chapter eight, Now an angel Lord said
Speaker 1: to phil rise and go towards the south on the
Speaker 1: road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaiza. This is
Speaker 1: a desert place. And he rose and when and there
Speaker 1: was an Ethiopi and a eunuch, a court official of Candice,
Speaker 1: Queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all
Speaker 1: her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and
Speaker 1: was returning seated in his chariot, and he was reading
Speaker 1: the prophet Isaiah. And the spirit Epiriclet said to Philip,
Speaker 1: go over and join this chariot. Now, if you read
Speaker 1: between the lines of those verses, the angel tells Philip,
Speaker 1: I want you to go in the middle of the day.
Speaker 1: Phraseology there at the beginning of verse twenty six is
Speaker 1: I want you to go in the heat of the day.
Speaker 1: I want you to go at the most uncomfortable time
Speaker 1: of day. I told you all we were just in Israel.
Speaker 1: If you've ever been to the Middle East in the
Speaker 1: middle of the day, that's like when your spanks stick
Speaker 1: to your body. Gentlemen, you don't need to know what
Speaker 1: spanks are. What you do need to know is when
Speaker 1: we take them off. It's dangerous because it's like putting
Speaker 1: a butter knife to a biscuit candy. So y'all need
Speaker 1: to be careful. Wife's wearing spaint. She needed to give
Speaker 1: her some privacy. He sees healing those puppies off. But anyway,
Speaker 1: it's a super uncomfortable time of day, and he says,
Speaker 1: I want you to go at the most uncomfortable time
Speaker 1: of day. Then I want you to take the route
Speaker 1: that goes from Jerusalem to Gaiz. Though we just did
Speaker 1: this on the tour bus. It's like not even a
Speaker 1: secondary route, it's a tertiary route. In our culture, it
Speaker 1: would be a dirt road, kind of tumbleweed strown kind
Speaker 1: of place. Weird place to scatter divine seed. So he says,
Speaker 1: I want you to go on the heat of the day.
Speaker 1: I want you to take an uncomfortable route, and I
Speaker 1: want you to go to a unit. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: know how many of you have been studying Deuteron me
Speaker 1: twenty three much in your quiet times. But in Deuteronomy
Speaker 1: twenty three, in the ceremonial law, Jews were taught that
Speaker 1: a eunuch a man who was born without all of
Speaker 1: his equipment, that unix were not allowed to fully participate
Speaker 1: in worship. Now, what was common in this culture is
Speaker 1: that little boys from poor families would actually be castrated,
Speaker 1: and wealthy families would then hire these little boys because
Speaker 1: they assumed if a male was made a unich by
Speaker 1: surgical options, that it would make them more submissive. That's
Speaker 1: what we do nowadays, sometimes to cows with two horses.
Speaker 1: It makes them a little easier to tame. It's I
Speaker 1: won't get into that for peta, but anyway, I can't
Speaker 1: imagine as a little boy having that happen to you.
Speaker 1: And that's likely what happened to this unit. And because
Speaker 1: of what had been done to this man, he's not
Speaker 1: allowed to come to church, not allowed to worship according
Speaker 1: to the ceremonial law. So Philip, who's seen his best
Speaker 1: friend gets stoned, goes to the Samarians, the arch enemies
Speaker 1: of God, and pulls a heather shares the hope that
Speaker 1: lies within him, and then he gets saved. And he
Speaker 1: doesn't stop there. He goes at a really uncomfortable time,
Speaker 1: down a really uncomfortable road to a man that everybody
Speaker 1: else has marginalized and ostracized and ignored. And you know
Speaker 1: how he goes The slaves me. Spirit of God says,
Speaker 1: will you go? And he's like, good night God. I
Speaker 1: mean I've been really faithful already, and this is really hard,
Speaker 1: Like I need to go back to my E group
Speaker 1: and I need to like have some margins because I
Speaker 1: am three and I work too hard. That's not how
Speaker 1: he responds. Instead, when the spirit of God says I
Speaker 1: want you to go at a really uncomfortable time, down
Speaker 1: a really difficult road to a man nobody else will
Speaker 1: even acknowledge exists, you know how he responds. He runs
Speaker 1: and he ran and he ran. Just want you to
Speaker 1: think about your own life and just look over this summer.
Speaker 1: So let's just say from memorial day to now? When
Speaker 1: have you figuratively run towards somebody in your life to
Speaker 1: share the gospel? And I mean anybody could be somebody
Speaker 1: you like, could be somebody you really enjoy being around.
Speaker 1: When's the last time that your heart was so excited
Speaker 1: about sharing the hope that lies within you that you
Speaker 1: ran to someone to share Jesus, to talk about Jesus,
Speaker 1: to say I just can't not tell you about the
Speaker 1: way He saved me. Now, let's take it a step further.
Speaker 1: When's the last time you ran to someone nobody else
Speaker 1: was running to. When's the last time you ran to
Speaker 1: somebody whose marginalized, stigmatize, somebody who does not at all
Speaker 1: agree with you politically. I'm in seminary in Denver, and
Speaker 1: I'm the dumbest person in the doctoral program. But there's
Speaker 1: a few things I'm able to hang on to. And
Speaker 1: one of them is what one of my professors said recently.
Speaker 1: I told Holly last night. It has just flayed me
Speaker 1: this season. He says thing I can't understand. Brilliant man.
Speaker 1: He's on the translatory team for the NIV, fluent in
Speaker 1: Greek and Hebrew, but he dumbs things down enough to
Speaker 1: where I can get it. And he said this, if
Speaker 1: it doesn't preach in Sudan, it shouldn't preach in America.
Speaker 1: And I just went, it doesn't preach in Sudan, it
Speaker 1: shouldn't preach in Charlotte. If it doesn't preach in the
Speaker 1: neighborhood you're not comfortable to, it shouldn't preach in yours.
Speaker 1: When's the last time you ran to somebody who doesn't
Speaker 1: think like you, doesn't look like you, maybe doesn't even
Speaker 1: like you. Philip ran, Yeah, if we're growing in maturity,
Speaker 1: growing in our awareness of what a miracle is, that
Speaker 1: God who breathed the universe into existence actually delights in
Speaker 1: a song of Solomon four nine says with one glance,
Speaker 1: one glance of your eyes, you captured my heart. You
Speaker 1: know I didn't believe that for years. I grew up
Speaker 1: really really broken, broken family, a lot of abuse. When
Speaker 1: I was a baby, I used to rock myself so
Speaker 1: hard back and forth in the crib that my crib
Speaker 1: would jump out of the casters and they were dense
Speaker 1: in the drywall on either side of the little room
Speaker 1: I was kept in. A therapist told me years later, Lisa,
Speaker 1: you know that wasn't just because you were a wiggly kid.
Speaker 1: It's because you were self nurturing. With all the chaos.
Speaker 1: After my dad left us, there was a lot of
Speaker 1: sexual abuse. After that, there was more sexual abuse. I
Speaker 1: was so stinking broken in my twenties and thirties. I
Speaker 1: knew Jesus. I'd come to Jesus in a church much
Speaker 1: like Elevation. I knew Jesus. But here's what I thought.
Speaker 1: I thought Jesus delivered me because he felt sorry for me.
Speaker 1: I didn't think he delighted it. I thought there is
Speaker 1: no stinking way a god like that could actually delight
Speaker 1: and a damaged girl like me. As God has lifted
Speaker 1: the layers of shame off me and become more and
Speaker 1: more understanding of my own lostness before I encountered the Christ,
Speaker 1: I can't help fit sheer luck to other people. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if they like me or not. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if they're a Republican or a Democrat, or black
Speaker 1: or yellow or purple or spotted, or Southern or Northern,
Speaker 1: or African or Haitian. They're my family. They're my brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters in my goo yet in my gooday. Every
Speaker 1: single person we relate with there's the image of God.
Speaker 1: Missy and I had the privilege of going to South
Speaker 1: Africa two months ago, and when we went, we were
Speaker 1: going with Hillsong Church I love very much. I know
Speaker 1: y'all love Hillsong And we were going to a conference
Speaker 1: in Cape Town and I asked the people I was
Speaker 1: with if I could go to Google left To and
Speaker 1: Google left To is a township that is on the
Speaker 1: outskirts of Cape Town. It actually was formed by South
Speaker 1: Africans who are from rural tribes who came to work
Speaker 1: in Cape Town and they wouldn't let them live in
Speaker 1: Cape Town because of their skin colors, so they ostracized
Speaker 1: them to this little two and a half square mile
Speaker 1: area that became a township of goog left To and
Speaker 1: a lot, a lot, a lot of violence happened there
Speaker 1: during the regime of apartheid when they segregated people based
Speaker 1: on how much melanin they have in their skin. And
Speaker 1: I love the ministry of Nelson Mandela, and I'd read
Speaker 1: a lot about the history of South Africa. I'd read
Speaker 1: about how in nineteen eighty six, seven young men from
Speaker 1: goog left To who are anti apartheid activists, were murdered
Speaker 1: by Cape Town police, ambushed and murdered. And then not
Speaker 1: long after that, right in all the turmoil after apartheid
Speaker 1: was defeated, a young white woman, Amy Beale, from Stanford,
Speaker 1: American woman, was in google at Too, and she was
Speaker 1: murdered and white slurs were uttered by the mob when
Speaker 1: four boys murdered her. They they pardoned the policemen who
Speaker 1: killed those seven precious boys in googlet to, which we
Speaker 1: still see things like that happening now, and so you
Speaker 1: don't want amy Beal's family chose to do to the
Speaker 1: Four Easts and Google Too, who had killed their daughter.
Speaker 1: They pardoned them, and now two of those they had
Speaker 1: been boys, now their men. They worked for the nonprofit
Speaker 1: that amy Beal's parents started in her memory. And so
Speaker 1: I said, I just want to go there. I want
Speaker 1: to go be in a place where there's been such
Speaker 1: violence but yet the whope of restoration. And they were like, please, sorry,
Speaker 1: are you sure? And I said no, no, no, I
Speaker 1: want I want to go to Googs. I really want
Speaker 1: to go to Googs. And so we got to worship
Speaker 1: at Hillsong Has, a church they planted in google Attoo.
Speaker 1: It's ninety eight point six percent Black African and considered
Speaker 1: the fifteenth most violent place in the world. Really wonderful,
Speaker 1: very exciting place. And I went with Missy and I
Speaker 1: had the privilege of sharing the gospel and church that
Speaker 1: morning a boy one hundred, one hundred and fifty people,
Speaker 1: and there was one woman I could tell the entire
Speaker 1: service who was not pleased with me, and I thought,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what I've said. It may just be
Speaker 1: the virtue the fact that I don't have enough melan
Speaker 1: in my skin. But I thought, I'm going to talk
Speaker 1: to her after service, and I'm just going to try
Speaker 1: to get to know her. So after service, I went
Speaker 1: and sat next to this beautiful woman and I said, Hi,
Speaker 1: my name's Lisa, and she said, yes, I know. And
Speaker 1: I said, your countenance reflects that I've either done something
Speaker 1: that offended you or there is animosity between you and me.
Speaker 1: And she said, I just can't figure out why you're here,
Speaker 1: just can't figure out why you would come here. And
Speaker 1: I said, well, that's my daughter right there. I said.
Speaker 1: She's Haitian, which means her DNA is from West Africa.
Speaker 1: So the way I figure it is your family to me.
Speaker 1: And then I said Hey, Missy, come here baby. Now,
Speaker 1: if y'all exploit my kid, I'll cut you. But I
Speaker 1: can exploit her on behalf of the gospel. And so
Speaker 1: I said, come here, baby, and I said, Missy, this
Speaker 1: is your auntie. And Missy goes okay, and she hugs
Speaker 1: this woman and then immediately said do you have gum
Speaker 1: in your purse? Auntie? And as my child ran away,
Speaker 1: this woman just began to weep, and she said, I've
Speaker 1: never had somebody like you embrace somebody like me. How
Speaker 1: isn't it time we change the way Christians are perceived?
Speaker 1: Isn't it time you love hard even meets hard. Isn't
Speaker 1: it time we run to the unlikely and the margin lines.
Speaker 1: Aren't you ready to rest a little more? Because we
Speaker 1: just can't not share the hope that lies within us?
Speaker 1: Would you put your hand as JJ comes up? Would
Speaker 1: you just put your hand on that beautiful image bar
Speaker 1: next to you, that man, that woman, that kid, And
Speaker 1: as JJ comes up to close us, would you pray
Speaker 1: for them? If you aren't comfortable praying out loud, that's
Speaker 1: totally cool, But would you just briefly pray Lord quicken
Speaker 1: their heart, give them the grace it takes to love hard,
Speaker 1: even when it is hard to remember their own lostness,
Speaker 1: to remember the love you lavished on them while they
Speaker 1: were still sinners. Oh Lord, let there be an awakening
Speaker 1: in this place, a quickening in this place, a revival
Speaker 1: that starts with all of us, because we run to
Speaker 1: the people that God has placed around us to share
Speaker 1: the hope that lies within us. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 1: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 1: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You
Speaker 1: can share it with your friends. You can click the
Speaker 1: share button, take a screenshot and share it on your
Speaker 1: social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again
Speaker 1: for listening. God bless you.