WEBVTT - Then They Gathered 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.760 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:07.240 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.600 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:12.639 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:15.360 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:18.599 Come in the kitchen with me and let me show 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:24.320 you something that God is speaking to me about. Lick 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:29.120 the bowl and taste and see that the Lord is good. 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.800 I love y'all so much. Acts Chapter one, verse four. 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.360 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, see 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:39.680 us in the Bible. Come in the kitchen, lick the ball. 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.280 He was eating with them, he gave them this command, 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:47.199 do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.640 father promise which you have heard me speak about. For 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.840 John baptized with water, but in a few days you 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.520 will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered 0:00:57.560 --> 0:00:59.520 around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:04.240 time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:05.840 to them, it is not for you to know the 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.920 times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.440 But you will received power when the Holy Spirit comes 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.880 on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:19.000 and in all Judea and Samaria, into the ends of 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.119 the earth. After he said this, he was taken up 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.800 before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.760 their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.080 as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.720 white stood beside them, men of Galilee. They said, why 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.320 do you stand here looking into the sky? This same 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.880 Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:48.680 come back wow in the same way you have seen 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:53.040 him go into heaven verse twelve. And I'll stop. Then 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.280 the Apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.279 Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day walk from the city. 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:02.200 I lied, I need verse thirteen two to tell you 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:04.760 what I'm supposed to say. When they arrived, they went 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:09.320 upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:14.520 were Peter, John James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas Bartholomew 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.200 and Matthew James, son of Alpheus, and Simon the Zealot, 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.160 and Judas, son of James. They all joined together, I 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.399 promise this last verse. They all joined together constantly in prayer, 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.600 along with the women. I can't leave that out and 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.960 marry the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. Now, y'all, 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.960 I stared at this text so long. I didn't want 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:39.760 the familiarity of this text to eclipse its significance for 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:45.480 this moment. So the first thing that I kept seeing 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:48.600 was the word that y'all all shouted in this section 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:53.840 right here in Acts one, a power. You will receive power. 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.320 And for the longest I thought that was the message 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.160 God had for us, that when we re leaves our pride, 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:06.240 we receive God's power. The Lord said, that is true, 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:09.760 and you can preach it sometime, but not this time. 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.560 That's not the message. So I said, well, what else 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.000 could it be? And there's all kinds of things that 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:19.240 that you see in this passage that are amazing, like 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.359 when they said this same Jesus will return like he 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:29.480 doesn't change. His nature, doesn't change, his character, doesn't change, 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.919 his purpose, doesn't change, not controlled by some political power. 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.720 What Jesus looks like. He's not made in our image. 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:41.119 We're made in his. So he doesn't change. We change 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.960 as we behold him. The Lord said, that's not the 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.400 message for Elevation leader either, And I thought, well, we're 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.840 running out of stuff here. Lord, that's the best stuff 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.760 in the passage. You know, what does it do not 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.880 leave Jerusalem? Does it do not leave? Am I supposed 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.200 to tell him don't run off and join another church, 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.960 you know, don't don't sign the divorce papers or whatever. 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.880 Is that the message do not leave? The Lord said no, no, 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:10.880 it's not there. And so what the Lord told me 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.720 to focus on today is in verse six, and this 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:24.200 is my message. Then they gathered. I want to preach 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:31.080 to you today on those three words. Then they gathered. 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:39.480 Then they gathered, say it one time before you take 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:53.400 your seat. Then they gathered, be seated. One of our 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.120 volunteers is kids play sports with our kids. And he 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.560 asked me right at the beginning, when he sew me 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.600 up here sweating on the stage. But Chris and John 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:06.400 sal and Jennohn Stools preaching back in February of twenty 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.000 he said, is that weird? I said what he said, 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:14.080 learning to preach in an empty room? And I said, 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:22.400 it's not learning to preach in an empty room, it's remembering. Huh. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.279 I found out a long time ago. A lot of 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:30.440 spiritual growth isn't about learning anything. It's about remembering, remember 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:38.400 who you are the Book of First Simba. No, it 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.680 wasn't weird at all. It just took me to remember. 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:47.960 Like how David said, this is an unusual circumstance with 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:52.040 a nine foot giant whose helmet outweighs me. I really 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.520 didn't come here to fight, but I do remember how 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.479 to because I've done that before. I never thought this before, 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.200 but I have fought. And so the key in the 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.000 David and Goliath passage just to realize that the God 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:06.800 who delivered me from the Paul the line and Beryl 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.120 delivered from some circumcised philistine, that the enemy's changed, but 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:13.559 the power that you're fighting in doesn't. So every time 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.320 that you shift from one stage of your life to another, 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.400 or one mode of leadership to another, or when you 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.479 shift in the role that you're playing, you know, like 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:27.279 our campus pastors when everything shut down, and I'm not 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.039 trying to take us so far back because i know 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.320 we just got good news that everything is gonna and 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.720 I'm really hesitant to trust it. So I'm kind of 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:37.159 just like dipping my toe in feeling happy about that, 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.360 you know, But just to go back to that time, 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.279 a lot of them that were used to hugging people, 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:49.599 praying for people, and being with people basically did the 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:51.640 job as if they were hired at a call center. 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.920 And instead of, to quote the great lin Manuelmoranda, the 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:00.840 room where it happened, it was all of a sudden, 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:06.200 the zoom where it happened, and the adaptation of this 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.200 church in that time was one of the greatest proofs 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.160 that I've ever seen in my life of the grace 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:18.440 of God upon this ministry. There is a grace for adaptation. 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:25.720 There is a grape for adaptation. Just ask Moses, who 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.680 needed a sign that God was with him, and all 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.920 of a sudden, the shepherd's staff that he had carried 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:33.760 in the wilderness of his decision to kill an Egyptian 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:36.720 became the instrument as he threw it on the ground 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.000 and it turned into a snake to prove to him 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.960 that God can change anything. There is a grace for adaptation, 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.400 just as the disciples who were also in a desert 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.600 place trying to feed some hungry crowds. You know, crowds 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:54.200 become mobs real quick. I'll talk about that momentarily. So 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.160 on the verge of that turn, when you realize that 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:02.120 a crowd is not a church. A crowd is not 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.560 a church. Would you please write that down so you 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.600 can come back to it. A crowd is not a church. 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:13.160 That you understand. When the disciples came to Jesus and 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.880 placed the meager resource, you know, the feeding of the 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.880 five thousand into his hand, it became enough as he 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.960 touched it, as they brought it. There is a grace 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:27.360 for adaptation in your life. Right now. I want you 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:32.400 to know there is a grace for adaptation. There is 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.600 a grace for you by the supernatural power of the 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.160 Holy Spirit. In God taught words what Paul teaches and 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:42.400 Corinthians for us to express in our lives, realities that 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.040 we have no experience of. But God gives it to 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.920 us as we need it. That's the grace of adaptation. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.280 And in Acts Chapter one, particularly, the Holy Spirit of 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:58.360 God is coming to these disciples who we listed a 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:04.840 moment ago, Peter, James and John, the famous ones, Philip 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:12.160 and Thomas, who make some cameo appearances. Bartholomew shout out, 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:17.240 Bartholomew I ever preached about him before. The women marry 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:22.319 the mother of Jesus and his brothers, they're all standing 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.400 at a moment where it's very different than it is 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:32.000 for us, because everything is changing in their world. It 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.240 was different to be a disciple of Jesus back then 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:36.840 because back then there was a lot of political unrest. 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:44.000 It was different. Everybody say, back then, you're so quick. 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:48.560 It was different back then because back in those times 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:53.199 there were many arguments about gender equality. And back then, 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.080 to be a disciple of Jesus was hard, you know. 0:09:56.520 --> 0:10:00.920 Back then it was complicated because as the Jewish believers 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.360 were becoming Christians, many within the religious communities saw their 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:09.880 conversion to Christ as traitorous to their identity nationally. It 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.400 was different than people used to divide themselves by things 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.319 like skin color or custom, and so it was really 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.400 different then. And the challenge becomes for me to bring 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:22.199 you out of this irrelevant context in which the Bible 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:28.600 was written. But there is grace for adaptation. And even 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.319 when you think about this, the way they would experience 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.839 the presence of God was changing as they stood on 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:39.360 the mount of Olives, which is itself a place of transition. Remember, 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.960 the olives only become oil as they are crushed, and 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:49.600 that's exactly what has happened to the disciples as their 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:54.960 tears are barely dried from watching Jesus die. It's only 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.800 been forty days, and now he's leaving them for good. 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:05.000 You felt like God left you a few times last year. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.640 You felt like God left you, like maybe you did 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.960 something wrong and he took his hand off you. You 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.280 didn't tell your volunteer team that. I hope you didn't. 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.440 And that's too heavy for your volunteer team to know about. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:25.720 If you're a leader, we carry things as leaders, don't we. 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:29.600 I'm not just talking about as a pastor. I mean 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:31.840 even if you're a leader in your home, or if 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:35.440 you're a leader in your business, or if you're leading 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:41.679 a volunteer team. Had a had a Gideon opportunity over 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.679 the last year, do you know what that is? Gideon 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:46.719 started with thirty six thousand and got down to three 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:49.199 hundred before God gave him the victory. How many of 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.120 y'all's volunteer teams is coming out of a Gideon season? 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.880 You still don't look like you're good with it. That's 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.400 I wanted to preach to you today about then they gathered. 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:13.720 Then they gathered. Back then, when they gathered, there was 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:18.600 no multi psych technology back then, when they gathered. There 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:24.280 was no nonprofit exemption for charitable giving. Back then, when 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.520 they gathered, there was no guarantee that they could worship 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:33.280 in safety. And I'm not talking about masks back then, 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:40.640 and they gathered, which is a miracle in itself that 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.640 they're together again. If you remember at the Cross, it 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:48.920 says that all of Jesus disciples, the one we just listed, 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:56.480 they all scattered when he died. So I was happy 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:04.080 to see in Acts chapter one, then they gathered that 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.400 although the disappointment and disfiguration of their picture of the 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.920 way the Kingdom of God would look when it came 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:14.920 in power had been completely devastating to their faith and 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.680 even caused them to fail, that God brought them back 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:24.679 to this moment to give them a divine, supernatural empowerment 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.760 for the task of taking the Gospel to the world. 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:37.880 They gathered everybody shall gather. We went through a season 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:44.360 where the way that we gathered changed so much. But 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:48.000 I found a verse that I want to show you 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.840 that all of you good Baptists. Are there any Baptist 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:57.680 in the house, Are there any recovering Baptists in the house. 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.560 I went to a Baptist school and before that I 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.520 spent a lot of time in Baptist Church before you know, 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.439 I grew up Methodists. But they always quoted this verse 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.200 in prayer meeting because nobody really came to prayer meeting. 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.640 I'm telling you the truth. There would be nobody at 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.880 prayer meeting because Brother Wilson would pray for fifty five 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.360 minutes and I'm hungry. So nobody came to prayer meeting, 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.920 not because they didn't love God, but brother Wilson didn't 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.120 know when to shut up, so it be a very 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.400 few people there, and it could feel kind of discouraging. 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:30.720 So somebody would quote at the beginning of the prayer 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:34.480 meeting Matthew eighteen nineteen. Again, I tell you truly that 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:35.920 if two of you on earth agree about anything to 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:37.960 ask for by the puck no Heaven, watch us verse 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.080 twenty for where two or three gather in my name, 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.040 there I am with them. I only ever heard that 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.280 verse as an excuse for bad attendance. You know, well, 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.000 the word says, if it's only two or three, Lord, 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.960 you're here with us, and we know sister Mary has 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.840 a cold, But Lord, is me and Wilson show up? Lord? 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.040 But I started quoting that verse with renewed fervor and 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:06.000 a revived vigor. Last year, I'd be looking out to 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.960 preach back in March, and the cameras were on, and 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.480 nobody was really in the room but Chunks over there 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.240 underneath the camera. And you know, Chunks loves the Lord, 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.680 but his face doesn't know he loves the Lord yet 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.400 when I'm preaching and he's my guy, he's my guy. Well, 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:21.320 I look over at Chunks and I'd be like, Lord, 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.520 you said two or three. I look at Holly. I 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.080 got Holly. I got Chunks. We can do this. Have 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:33.920 you ever had to gather something that was but what 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:38.320 I love about our church that I saw last year, 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:47.800 what's that We didn't stop gathering. We had to adapt, 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:54.800 but we gathered and we stood on the promise of 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:59.040 Matthew eighteen that was spoken by Jesus. If it's just 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.520 two or three, God, I have to count the cat 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:04.040 right now because I'm a part of Epham and I 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.360 didn't plan to be. But hold hands with me, little kiddie, 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:11.320 because the biple said, if two or three, I'll be two, 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.480 you'll be three. And let's phrase the Lord together. I'll 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:19.000 be Paul, you'll be silas, we gotta get out of 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:27.760 this prison. You'll stop. They gathered. Now watch this, not 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:36.960 the crowd. The crowd was long gone. And we talked 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:48.280 about gathered. Let's talk about they. They blind, Bartimaeus didn't gather. 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:54.240 The woman with the issue of blood who was healed 0:16:54.240 --> 0:17:02.680 by Jesus is not reporting as having gathered. We're where's Lazarus? 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:18.080 Isn't it crazy how certain seasons will thin out? Who 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:24.320 is your perception of they? And before we give the 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:29.000 disciples too much credit, they didn't stay till the end either. 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:40.960 Just John and the women. Just go to the narrative. 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.400 Go to your favorite Easter story. Look at the cross. 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:48.160 You're not gonna find loudmouth Peter. You're not gonna find 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.440 honest Thomas. Y'all remember we renamed him. None of them 0:17:51.440 --> 0:18:05.040 are there? Just John and Jesus Mama. Then they Yeah. 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:09.639 The the reason I was excited to come preach today 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:22.080 is I wanted to talk today. I still happy, you know. 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:28.080 Did you see Holly tear up? She teared up because 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:38.000 it's a difference between them and they. Yeah. Yeah, I 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.880 don't think you're perfect or anything like that. I would 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.800 have ever put that pressure on you. I don't think 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.880 there's people in this room, you know who haven't who 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:51.440 haven't struggled. I don't think you know there's there's thousands 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.840 of people right, so I'm not I would say, by 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.480 the law of averages that there are leaders in this 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.560 room who got high in the last day or two 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:05.119 and are still trying to press forward and still do 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.399 what God called you to do. I have to be 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:12.080 real about that, because if we think that the day 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:25.240 that God uses are the ones who never cussed anybody 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:32.320 out in target trying to get some toilet paper, I'm 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:35.720 gonna have to update that reference never cussed anybody out 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:39.320 at a gas pump and beat you over the head 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:43.600 with this gas pump. Look, that's not an excuse for 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:45.560 us to not grow up in the wisdom and maturity 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:49.760 of God. But it is a permission for us to 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:54.520 realize that there is grace for adaptation and you are 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:59.199 not yet all that you will be, but that doesn't 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:11.080 stop you from being. They shout, they they. I think 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:17.239 who you include in that day in your life is 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:22.600 maybe the biggest determining factor in where your life ends up. 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.919 In some days, you don't get to choose. Some of 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:38.320 that is determined by circumstances outside of your control. But 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:43.680 for me, this is my day, this is what God 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:51.480 called me to give my life to. They gather even 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:55.560 though Peter cut off Malcus's ear in the garden. He 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:59.080 gathered on the mount of Olives, even though he couldn't 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:03.480 stay away. While Jesus was sweating like drops of great 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:07.000 blood as the capillaries were bursting as he was preparing 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:11.440 to go to the cross, Peter, James and John were sleeping. 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:18.240 They gathered. What I'm trying to say, don't beat yourself 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.320 up too much where you can't receive the grace that 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:29.879 God gave you to change who needs this. Sometimes I 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:38.200 don't feel like they honestly, Sometimes, as I observe myself 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:43.399 in contrast to the standard of Jesus Christ, you know, 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:45.960 there's a lot of unworthiness that can get in. And 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:48.160 what the enemy would love to do is to use 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:52.719 just to believe in the devil more than ever. Pastor Fernick, 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:56.520 I'll tell you right now, sleeps in the room next door. 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:59.800 I see the NFL. I'll introduce you to him. I'll 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:05.959 show you a picture. But what the enemy loves to 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:12.480 do is to use the condemnation to keep you from 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:18.399 receiving the grace that would enable you to change, to 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:22.359 get you to think that you are not they. But 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:27.800 it said then they gathered the same ones that scattered 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:36.080 at the cross gathered at the ascension, and there weren't 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:39.880 many left. There weren't many left at the upper room. 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:43.639 One hundred and twenty, to be exact, one hundred and 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:47.200 twenty young people we had when we start our church. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:55.199 The first Sunday we ever gathered one hundred and twenty one. 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:57.640 I wish it was exactly one twenty, but I got 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:01.280 to tell the truth that was one twenty one. But 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:04.000 let's pretend the one was Judas one hundred and twenty. Guy, 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:08.480 we got to make this an illustration work. It's only 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:13.600 what I got. And I'm telling you something about this 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:18.240 last season, y'all. Is there an acoustic guitar? Just bring 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:22.080 me a guitar? Something about this season of church and ministry. 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:26.120 I thought I should share this with you today. It 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:31.480 brought me back to realizing that God didn't just give 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:34.720 us a crowd called Elevation Church that buys tickets at 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:39.520 tour stops and listens to songs on Pandora and watch 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:44.360 us sermons on YouTube once every five weeks. God gave 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:54.280 us a core of committed disciples, imperfect disciples, and we 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:57.119 wanted to remind you is it coming. We wanted to 0:23:57.160 --> 0:23:59.040 remind you, I'm gonna do like the disciples and wait 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:01.199 for the gift in the upper I'm waiting for it. 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:05.239 I'm waiting for it. I came to remind you that 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:14.880 you're still they. God gave us Holly a they when 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:19.439 we were praying back in Dellwood Drive, three point thirty 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:23.560 Delwood Drive, back in Shelby, our first home that we 0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:27.600 bought for ninety two thousand, five hundred dollars in Shelby, 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:30.760 North Carolina, when we were there praying, and back then, 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:33.399 back then, back then, back then, when we were praying 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:42.520 back then, these are they? Does that blow your mind? Now? 0:24:42.520 --> 0:24:50.560 They're dysfunctional, just like us, and they got bad tempers sometimes, 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:54.560 just like us. And they don't read their Bibles every 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:58.920 morning like they should, just like us. Oh, you're a pastor. 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:08.720 I'm a person too. When I'm there, Peter preached on 0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:14.040 the day of Pentecost after cussing to the girl at 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:24.960 the campfire. All the days makes some noise, Yeah, when 0:25:25.320 --> 0:25:28.800 they see us like Elevation Church out in the community 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:32.480 doing good and giving cars to single moms and giving 0:25:32.640 --> 0:25:35.360 education and supplying. I want them to say, there they 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:40.560 go again, there they go again, acting like they really 0:25:40.600 --> 0:25:43.479 believe that it's more blessed to give than they received. 0:25:43.600 --> 0:25:47.080 But see, you know, there's there's there's a great value 0:25:47.119 --> 0:25:53.000 for me in realizing back back in the day, how 0:25:53.040 --> 0:25:58.240 when it was just one. We have these cool worship 0:25:58.320 --> 0:26:06.199 songs like graves into Guard the blessing, but we we 0:26:06.280 --> 0:26:12.639 would just sing like the old songs like Robin Mark 0:26:12.800 --> 0:26:20.359 songs like these are the days of Elijah declaring the 0:26:20.400 --> 0:26:23.760 word of the Lord, and these are the days of 0:26:23.800 --> 0:26:29.679 your servant Moses, righteousness being restored. And though these are 0:26:29.800 --> 0:26:36.400 days of great trial, of famine and darknesses, now pull up. 0:26:38.960 --> 0:26:41.840 I was the worship leader because I could afford me. 0:26:44.119 --> 0:26:48.399 I couldn't afford Carrie Job and Chris Brown, and I 0:26:48.440 --> 0:26:51.600 couldn't afford all of that. So it was just me saying, oh, 0:26:51.920 --> 0:26:56.400 he come ride in on the clouds, he dine in 0:26:56.480 --> 0:27:03.159 like the sun at the trumpet, call your scar of 0:27:03.359 --> 0:27:14.200 jubilee out of science, Sili this god like jehul Now 0:27:15.320 --> 0:27:24.040 what was the blessing for me of the last fourteen months, 0:27:24.480 --> 0:27:29.520 as our church has had to reinvent from the inside out, 0:27:30.080 --> 0:27:35.760 has been to realize, just like the disciples received the 0:27:35.760 --> 0:27:40.080 greatest gift of God's presence in between what they had 0:27:40.240 --> 0:27:46.240 already known and what they couldn't possibly predict, that God 0:27:46.400 --> 0:27:52.119 was creating for our church a space for what we 0:27:52.240 --> 0:27:59.840 didn't even know to pray for yet. And in January 0:28:00.880 --> 0:28:04.479 we got together with Elevation Worship in Maverick City and 0:28:04.560 --> 0:28:12.440 recorded this album called Old Church Basement. And even though 0:28:12.480 --> 0:28:15.480 the campuses are open and some people aren't going back, 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:19.000 I mean, God love them. They'll go everywhere else but church, 0:28:19.160 --> 0:28:22.159 but God when it comes to church. All right, now, 0:28:22.200 --> 0:28:24.119 I'm gonna tell y'all that story. I wasn't gona tell you. 0:28:31.320 --> 0:28:36.920 I was at an establishment recently, and normally the people 0:28:37.280 --> 0:28:40.680 that are so nice that say we love your church, 0:28:41.040 --> 0:28:43.600 thank you for all that y'all do in the community. 0:28:43.880 --> 0:28:47.280 And usually they say y'all, which makes me feel good 0:28:47.600 --> 0:28:52.760 because this church is not me, it's they all right. 0:28:53.320 --> 0:28:56.320 So anyway, this woman was not saying any of that. 0:28:58.520 --> 0:29:05.040 She said. This woman said, what are y'all doing having 0:29:05.680 --> 0:29:08.520 church right now? I said, oh, man, well you know, 0:29:08.560 --> 0:29:11.680 there's multiple things. We have our online ministry for people 0:29:11.680 --> 0:29:13.640 who aren't able to come, and we do all that 0:29:13.840 --> 0:29:16.240 and it's amazing. And God positioned us for that because 0:29:16.640 --> 0:29:20.640 we look really smart when this pandemic hit, like we 0:29:20.760 --> 0:29:25.920 had foreseen the strategic global pandemic and we'd set up 0:29:25.920 --> 0:29:27.960 our online ministry so that we could have a dispersion 0:29:28.000 --> 0:29:30.200 of no no, no, no no no. That was just God 0:29:30.240 --> 0:29:31.960 setting us up. That was just the grace of God 0:29:31.960 --> 0:29:33.800 that he knew we needed for the transition. We given 0:29:33.840 --> 0:29:35.680 the glory for that. So I said, our teams are 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:38.040 amazing and they can watch and we put all of 0:29:38.080 --> 0:29:40.440 that out. And I said, but I said, but the 0:29:40.440 --> 0:29:43.080 people who want to come, we open it up. It's safe. 0:29:43.240 --> 0:29:45.440 Our teams are doing a great job. Our volunteers are 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:47.880 doing a great job. And she goes, I don't know 0:29:47.920 --> 0:29:52.080 if I believe you. That's a lot of people. I said, 0:29:52.120 --> 0:29:54.160 it is a lot of people. And what I'm telling 0:29:54.200 --> 0:29:58.880