Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Come in the kitchen with me and let me show
Speaker 1: you something that God is speaking to me about. Lick
Speaker 1: the bowl and taste and see that the Lord is good.
Speaker 1: I love y'all so much. Acts Chapter one, verse four.
Speaker 1: On one occasion, while he was eating with them, see
Speaker 1: us in the Bible. Come in the kitchen, lick the ball.
Speaker 1: He was eating with them, he gave them this command,
Speaker 1: do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my
Speaker 1: father promise which you have heard me speak about. For
Speaker 1: John baptized with water, but in a few days you
Speaker 1: will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered
Speaker 1: around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this
Speaker 1: time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said
Speaker 1: to them, it is not for you to know the
Speaker 1: times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
Speaker 1: But you will received power when the Holy Spirit comes
Speaker 1: on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem
Speaker 1: and in all Judea and Samaria, into the ends of
Speaker 1: the earth. After he said this, he was taken up
Speaker 1: before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from
Speaker 1: their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky
Speaker 1: as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in
Speaker 1: white stood beside them, men of Galilee. They said, why
Speaker 1: do you stand here looking into the sky? This same
Speaker 1: Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will
Speaker 1: come back wow in the same way you have seen
Speaker 1: him go into heaven verse twelve. And I'll stop. Then
Speaker 1: the Apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the
Speaker 1: Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day walk from the city.
Speaker 1: I lied, I need verse thirteen two to tell you
Speaker 1: what I'm supposed to say. When they arrived, they went
Speaker 1: upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present
Speaker 1: were Peter, John James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas Bartholomew
Speaker 1: and Matthew James, son of Alpheus, and Simon the Zealot,
Speaker 1: and Judas, son of James. They all joined together, I
Speaker 1: promise this last verse. They all joined together constantly in prayer,
Speaker 1: along with the women. I can't leave that out and
Speaker 1: marry the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. Now, y'all,
Speaker 1: I stared at this text so long. I didn't want
Speaker 1: the familiarity of this text to eclipse its significance for
Speaker 1: this moment. So the first thing that I kept seeing
Speaker 1: was the word that y'all all shouted in this section
Speaker 1: right here in Acts one, a power. You will receive power.
Speaker 1: And for the longest I thought that was the message
Speaker 1: God had for us, that when we re leaves our pride,
Speaker 1: we receive God's power. The Lord said, that is true,
Speaker 1: and you can preach it sometime, but not this time.
Speaker 1: That's not the message. So I said, well, what else
Speaker 1: could it be? And there's all kinds of things that
Speaker 1: that you see in this passage that are amazing, like
Speaker 1: when they said this same Jesus will return like he
Speaker 1: doesn't change. His nature, doesn't change, his character, doesn't change,
Speaker 1: his purpose, doesn't change, not controlled by some political power.
Speaker 1: What Jesus looks like. He's not made in our image.
Speaker 1: We're made in his. So he doesn't change. We change
Speaker 1: as we behold him. The Lord said, that's not the
Speaker 1: message for Elevation leader either, And I thought, well, we're
Speaker 1: running out of stuff here. Lord, that's the best stuff
Speaker 1: in the passage. You know, what does it do not
Speaker 1: leave Jerusalem? Does it do not leave? Am I supposed
Speaker 1: to tell him don't run off and join another church,
Speaker 1: you know, don't don't sign the divorce papers or whatever.
Speaker 1: Is that the message do not leave? The Lord said no, no,
Speaker 1: it's not there. And so what the Lord told me
Speaker 1: to focus on today is in verse six, and this
Speaker 1: is my message. Then they gathered. I want to preach
Speaker 1: to you today on those three words. Then they gathered.
Speaker 1: Then they gathered, say it one time before you take
Speaker 1: your seat. Then they gathered, be seated. One of our
Speaker 1: volunteers is kids play sports with our kids. And he
Speaker 1: asked me right at the beginning, when he sew me
Speaker 1: up here sweating on the stage. But Chris and John
Speaker 1: sal and Jennohn Stools preaching back in February of twenty
Speaker 1: he said, is that weird? I said what he said,
Speaker 1: learning to preach in an empty room? And I said,
Speaker 1: it's not learning to preach in an empty room, it's remembering. Huh.
Speaker 1: I found out a long time ago. A lot of
Speaker 1: spiritual growth isn't about learning anything. It's about remembering, remember
Speaker 1: who you are the Book of First Simba. No, it
Speaker 1: wasn't weird at all. It just took me to remember.
Speaker 1: Like how David said, this is an unusual circumstance with
Speaker 1: a nine foot giant whose helmet outweighs me. I really
Speaker 1: didn't come here to fight, but I do remember how
Speaker 1: to because I've done that before. I never thought this before,
Speaker 1: but I have fought. And so the key in the
Speaker 1: David and Goliath passage just to realize that the God
Speaker 1: who delivered me from the Paul the line and Beryl
Speaker 1: delivered from some circumcised philistine, that the enemy's changed, but
Speaker 1: the power that you're fighting in doesn't. So every time
Speaker 1: that you shift from one stage of your life to another,
Speaker 1: or one mode of leadership to another, or when you
Speaker 1: shift in the role that you're playing, you know, like
Speaker 1: our campus pastors when everything shut down, and I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to take us so far back because i know
Speaker 1: we just got good news that everything is gonna and
Speaker 1: I'm really hesitant to trust it. So I'm kind of
Speaker 1: just like dipping my toe in feeling happy about that,
Speaker 1: you know, But just to go back to that time,
Speaker 1: a lot of them that were used to hugging people,
Speaker 1: praying for people, and being with people basically did the
Speaker 1: job as if they were hired at a call center.
Speaker 1: And instead of, to quote the great lin Manuelmoranda, the
Speaker 1: room where it happened, it was all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the zoom where it happened, and the adaptation of this
Speaker 1: church in that time was one of the greatest proofs
Speaker 1: that I've ever seen in my life of the grace
Speaker 1: of God upon this ministry. There is a grace for adaptation.
Speaker 1: There is a grape for adaptation. Just ask Moses, who
Speaker 1: needed a sign that God was with him, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the shepherd's staff that he had carried
Speaker 1: in the wilderness of his decision to kill an Egyptian
Speaker 1: became the instrument as he threw it on the ground
Speaker 1: and it turned into a snake to prove to him
Speaker 1: that God can change anything. There is a grace for adaptation,
Speaker 1: just as the disciples who were also in a desert
Speaker 1: place trying to feed some hungry crowds. You know, crowds
Speaker 1: become mobs real quick. I'll talk about that momentarily. So
Speaker 1: on the verge of that turn, when you realize that
Speaker 1: a crowd is not a church. A crowd is not
Speaker 1: a church. Would you please write that down so you
Speaker 1: can come back to it. A crowd is not a church.
Speaker 1: That you understand. When the disciples came to Jesus and
Speaker 1: placed the meager resource, you know, the feeding of the
Speaker 1: five thousand into his hand, it became enough as he
Speaker 1: touched it, as they brought it. There is a grace
Speaker 1: for adaptation in your life. Right now. I want you
Speaker 1: to know there is a grace for adaptation. There is
Speaker 1: a grace for you by the supernatural power of the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. In God taught words what Paul teaches and
Speaker 1: Corinthians for us to express in our lives, realities that
Speaker 1: we have no experience of. But God gives it to
Speaker 1: us as we need it. That's the grace of adaptation.
Speaker 1: And in Acts Chapter one, particularly, the Holy Spirit of
Speaker 1: God is coming to these disciples who we listed a
Speaker 1: moment ago, Peter, James and John, the famous ones, Philip
Speaker 1: and Thomas, who make some cameo appearances. Bartholomew shout out,
Speaker 1: Bartholomew I ever preached about him before. The women marry
Speaker 1: the mother of Jesus and his brothers, they're all standing
Speaker 1: at a moment where it's very different than it is
Speaker 1: for us, because everything is changing in their world. It
Speaker 1: was different to be a disciple of Jesus back then
Speaker 1: because back then there was a lot of political unrest.
Speaker 1: It was different. Everybody say, back then, you're so quick.
Speaker 1: It was different back then because back in those times
Speaker 1: there were many arguments about gender equality. And back then,
Speaker 1: to be a disciple of Jesus was hard, you know.
Speaker 1: Back then it was complicated because as the Jewish believers
Speaker 1: were becoming Christians, many within the religious communities saw their
Speaker 1: conversion to Christ as traitorous to their identity nationally. It
Speaker 1: was different than people used to divide themselves by things
Speaker 1: like skin color or custom, and so it was really
Speaker 1: different then. And the challenge becomes for me to bring
Speaker 1: you out of this irrelevant context in which the Bible
Speaker 1: was written. But there is grace for adaptation. And even
Speaker 1: when you think about this, the way they would experience
Speaker 1: the presence of God was changing as they stood on
Speaker 1: the mount of Olives, which is itself a place of transition. Remember,
Speaker 1: the olives only become oil as they are crushed, and
Speaker 1: that's exactly what has happened to the disciples as their
Speaker 1: tears are barely dried from watching Jesus die. It's only
Speaker 1: been forty days, and now he's leaving them for good.
Speaker 1: You felt like God left you a few times last year.
Speaker 1: You felt like God left you, like maybe you did
Speaker 1: something wrong and he took his hand off you. You
Speaker 1: didn't tell your volunteer team that. I hope you didn't.
Speaker 1: And that's too heavy for your volunteer team to know about.
Speaker 1: If you're a leader, we carry things as leaders, don't we.
Speaker 1: I'm not just talking about as a pastor. I mean
Speaker 1: even if you're a leader in your home, or if
Speaker 1: you're a leader in your business, or if you're leading
Speaker 1: a volunteer team. Had a had a Gideon opportunity over
Speaker 1: the last year, do you know what that is? Gideon
Speaker 1: started with thirty six thousand and got down to three
Speaker 1: hundred before God gave him the victory. How many of
Speaker 1: y'all's volunteer teams is coming out of a Gideon season?
Speaker 1: You still don't look like you're good with it. That's
Speaker 1: I wanted to preach to you today about then they gathered.
Speaker 1: Then they gathered. Back then, when they gathered, there was
Speaker 1: no multi psych technology back then, when they gathered. There
Speaker 1: was no nonprofit exemption for charitable giving. Back then, when
Speaker 1: they gathered, there was no guarantee that they could worship
Speaker 1: in safety. And I'm not talking about masks back then,
Speaker 1: and they gathered, which is a miracle in itself that
Speaker 1: they're together again. If you remember at the Cross, it
Speaker 1: says that all of Jesus disciples, the one we just listed,
Speaker 1: they all scattered when he died. So I was happy
Speaker 1: to see in Acts chapter one, then they gathered that
Speaker 1: although the disappointment and disfiguration of their picture of the
Speaker 1: way the Kingdom of God would look when it came
Speaker 1: in power had been completely devastating to their faith and
Speaker 1: even caused them to fail, that God brought them back
Speaker 1: to this moment to give them a divine, supernatural empowerment
Speaker 1: for the task of taking the Gospel to the world.
Speaker 1: They gathered everybody shall gather. We went through a season
Speaker 1: where the way that we gathered changed so much. But
Speaker 1: I found a verse that I want to show you
Speaker 1: that all of you good Baptists. Are there any Baptist
Speaker 1: in the house, Are there any recovering Baptists in the house.
Speaker 1: I went to a Baptist school and before that I
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time in Baptist Church before you know,
Speaker 1: I grew up Methodists. But they always quoted this verse
Speaker 1: in prayer meeting because nobody really came to prayer meeting.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you the truth. There would be nobody at
Speaker 1: prayer meeting because Brother Wilson would pray for fifty five
Speaker 1: minutes and I'm hungry. So nobody came to prayer meeting,
Speaker 1: not because they didn't love God, but brother Wilson didn't
Speaker 1: know when to shut up, so it be a very
Speaker 1: few people there, and it could feel kind of discouraging.
Speaker 1: So somebody would quote at the beginning of the prayer
Speaker 1: meeting Matthew eighteen nineteen. Again, I tell you truly that
Speaker 1: if two of you on earth agree about anything to
Speaker 1: ask for by the puck no Heaven, watch us verse
Speaker 1: twenty for where two or three gather in my name,
Speaker 1: there I am with them. I only ever heard that
Speaker 1: verse as an excuse for bad attendance. You know, well,
Speaker 1: the word says, if it's only two or three, Lord,
Speaker 1: you're here with us, and we know sister Mary has
Speaker 1: a cold, But Lord, is me and Wilson show up? Lord?
Speaker 1: But I started quoting that verse with renewed fervor and
Speaker 1: a revived vigor. Last year, I'd be looking out to
Speaker 1: preach back in March, and the cameras were on, and
Speaker 1: nobody was really in the room but Chunks over there
Speaker 1: underneath the camera. And you know, Chunks loves the Lord,
Speaker 1: but his face doesn't know he loves the Lord yet
Speaker 1: when I'm preaching and he's my guy, he's my guy. Well,
Speaker 1: I look over at Chunks and I'd be like, Lord,
Speaker 1: you said two or three. I look at Holly. I
Speaker 1: got Holly. I got Chunks. We can do this. Have
Speaker 1: you ever had to gather something that was but what
Speaker 1: I love about our church that I saw last year,
Speaker 1: what's that We didn't stop gathering. We had to adapt,
Speaker 1: but we gathered and we stood on the promise of
Speaker 1: Matthew eighteen that was spoken by Jesus. If it's just
Speaker 1: two or three, God, I have to count the cat
Speaker 1: right now because I'm a part of Epham and I
Speaker 1: didn't plan to be. But hold hands with me, little kiddie,
Speaker 1: because the biple said, if two or three, I'll be two,
Speaker 1: you'll be three. And let's phrase the Lord together. I'll
Speaker 1: be Paul, you'll be silas, we gotta get out of
Speaker 1: this prison. You'll stop. They gathered. Now watch this, not
Speaker 1: the crowd. The crowd was long gone. And we talked
Speaker 1: about gathered. Let's talk about they. They blind, Bartimaeus didn't gather.
Speaker 1: The woman with the issue of blood who was healed
Speaker 1: by Jesus is not reporting as having gathered. We're where's Lazarus?
Speaker 1: Isn't it crazy how certain seasons will thin out? Who
Speaker 1: is your perception of they? And before we give the
Speaker 1: disciples too much credit, they didn't stay till the end either.
Speaker 1: Just John and the women. Just go to the narrative.
Speaker 1: Go to your favorite Easter story. Look at the cross.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna find loudmouth Peter. You're not gonna find
Speaker 1: honest Thomas. Y'all remember we renamed him. None of them
Speaker 1: are there? Just John and Jesus Mama. Then they Yeah.
Speaker 1: The the reason I was excited to come preach today
Speaker 1: is I wanted to talk today. I still happy, you know.
Speaker 1: Did you see Holly tear up? She teared up because
Speaker 1: it's a difference between them and they. Yeah. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't think you're perfect or anything like that. I would
Speaker 1: have ever put that pressure on you. I don't think
Speaker 1: there's people in this room, you know who haven't who
Speaker 1: haven't struggled. I don't think you know there's there's thousands
Speaker 1: of people right, so I'm not I would say, by
Speaker 1: the law of averages that there are leaders in this
Speaker 1: room who got high in the last day or two
Speaker 1: and are still trying to press forward and still do
Speaker 1: what God called you to do. I have to be
Speaker 1: real about that, because if we think that the day
Speaker 1: that God uses are the ones who never cussed anybody
Speaker 1: out in target trying to get some toilet paper, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to update that reference never cussed anybody out
Speaker 1: at a gas pump and beat you over the head
Speaker 1: with this gas pump. Look, that's not an excuse for
Speaker 1: us to not grow up in the wisdom and maturity
Speaker 1: of God. But it is a permission for us to
Speaker 1: realize that there is grace for adaptation and you are
Speaker 1: not yet all that you will be, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: stop you from being. They shout, they they. I think
Speaker 1: who you include in that day in your life is
Speaker 1: maybe the biggest determining factor in where your life ends up.
Speaker 1: In some days, you don't get to choose. Some of
Speaker 1: that is determined by circumstances outside of your control. But
Speaker 1: for me, this is my day, this is what God
Speaker 1: called me to give my life to. They gather even
Speaker 1: though Peter cut off Malcus's ear in the garden. He
Speaker 1: gathered on the mount of Olives, even though he couldn't
Speaker 1: stay away. While Jesus was sweating like drops of great
Speaker 1: blood as the capillaries were bursting as he was preparing
Speaker 1: to go to the cross, Peter, James and John were sleeping.
Speaker 1: They gathered. What I'm trying to say, don't beat yourself
Speaker 1: up too much where you can't receive the grace that
Speaker 1: God gave you to change who needs this. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: don't feel like they honestly, Sometimes, as I observe myself
Speaker 1: in contrast to the standard of Jesus Christ, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of unworthiness that can get in. And
Speaker 1: what the enemy would love to do is to use
Speaker 1: just to believe in the devil more than ever. Pastor Fernick,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you right now, sleeps in the room next door.
Speaker 1: I see the NFL. I'll introduce you to him. I'll
Speaker 1: show you a picture. But what the enemy loves to
Speaker 1: do is to use the condemnation to keep you from
Speaker 1: receiving the grace that would enable you to change, to
Speaker 1: get you to think that you are not they. But
Speaker 1: it said then they gathered the same ones that scattered
Speaker 1: at the cross gathered at the ascension, and there weren't
Speaker 1: many left. There weren't many left at the upper room.
Speaker 1: One hundred and twenty, to be exact, one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty young people we had when we start our church.
Speaker 1: The first Sunday we ever gathered one hundred and twenty one.
Speaker 1: I wish it was exactly one twenty, but I got
Speaker 1: to tell the truth that was one twenty one. But
Speaker 1: let's pretend the one was Judas one hundred and twenty. Guy,
Speaker 1: we got to make this an illustration work. It's only
Speaker 1: what I got. And I'm telling you something about this
Speaker 1: last season, y'all. Is there an acoustic guitar? Just bring
Speaker 1: me a guitar? Something about this season of church and ministry.
Speaker 1: I thought I should share this with you today. It
Speaker 1: brought me back to realizing that God didn't just give
Speaker 1: us a crowd called Elevation Church that buys tickets at
Speaker 1: tour stops and listens to songs on Pandora and watch
Speaker 1: us sermons on YouTube once every five weeks. God gave
Speaker 1: us a core of committed disciples, imperfect disciples, and we
Speaker 1: wanted to remind you is it coming. We wanted to
Speaker 1: remind you, I'm gonna do like the disciples and wait
Speaker 1: for the gift in the upper I'm waiting for it.
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for it. I came to remind you that
Speaker 1: you're still they. God gave us Holly a they when
Speaker 1: we were praying back in Dellwood Drive, three point thirty
Speaker 1: Delwood Drive, back in Shelby, our first home that we
Speaker 1: bought for ninety two thousand, five hundred dollars in Shelby,
Speaker 1: North Carolina, when we were there praying, and back then,
Speaker 1: back then, back then, back then, when we were praying
Speaker 1: back then, these are they? Does that blow your mind? Now?
Speaker 1: They're dysfunctional, just like us, and they got bad tempers sometimes,
Speaker 1: just like us. And they don't read their Bibles every
Speaker 1: morning like they should, just like us. Oh, you're a pastor.
Speaker 1: I'm a person too. When I'm there, Peter preached on
Speaker 1: the day of Pentecost after cussing to the girl at
Speaker 1: the campfire. All the days makes some noise, Yeah, when
Speaker 1: they see us like Elevation Church out in the community
Speaker 1: doing good and giving cars to single moms and giving
Speaker 1: education and supplying. I want them to say, there they
Speaker 1: go again, there they go again, acting like they really
Speaker 1: believe that it's more blessed to give than they received.
Speaker 1: But see, you know, there's there's there's a great value
Speaker 1: for me in realizing back back in the day, how
Speaker 1: when it was just one. We have these cool worship
Speaker 1: songs like graves into Guard the blessing, but we we
Speaker 1: would just sing like the old songs like Robin Mark
Speaker 1: songs like these are the days of Elijah declaring the
Speaker 1: word of the Lord, and these are the days of
Speaker 1: your servant Moses, righteousness being restored. And though these are
Speaker 1: days of great trial, of famine and darknesses, now pull up.
Speaker 1: I was the worship leader because I could afford me.
Speaker 1: I couldn't afford Carrie Job and Chris Brown, and I
Speaker 1: couldn't afford all of that. So it was just me saying, oh,
Speaker 1: he come ride in on the clouds, he dine in
Speaker 1: like the sun at the trumpet, call your scar of
Speaker 1: jubilee out of science, Sili this god like jehul Now
Speaker 1: what was the blessing for me of the last fourteen months,
Speaker 1: as our church has had to reinvent from the inside out,
Speaker 1: has been to realize, just like the disciples received the
Speaker 1: greatest gift of God's presence in between what they had
Speaker 1: already known and what they couldn't possibly predict, that God
Speaker 1: was creating for our church a space for what we
Speaker 1: didn't even know to pray for yet. And in January
Speaker 1: we got together with Elevation Worship in Maverick City and
Speaker 1: recorded this album called Old Church Basement. And even though
Speaker 1: the campuses are open and some people aren't going back,
Speaker 1: I mean, God love them. They'll go everywhere else but church,
Speaker 1: but God when it comes to church. All right, now,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell y'all that story. I wasn't gona tell you.
Speaker 1: I was at an establishment recently, and normally the people
Speaker 1: that are so nice that say we love your church,
Speaker 1: thank you for all that y'all do in the community.
Speaker 1: And usually they say y'all, which makes me feel good
Speaker 1: because this church is not me, it's they all right.
Speaker 1: So anyway, this woman was not saying any of that.
Speaker 1: She said. This woman said, what are y'all doing having
Speaker 1: church right now? I said, oh, man, well you know,
Speaker 1: there's multiple things. We have our online ministry for people
Speaker 1: who aren't able to come, and we do all that
Speaker 1: and it's amazing. And God positioned us for that because
Speaker 1: we look really smart when this pandemic hit, like we
Speaker 1: had foreseen the strategic global pandemic and we'd set up
Speaker 1: our online ministry so that we could have a dispersion
Speaker 1: of no no, no, no no no. That was just God
Speaker 1: setting us up. That was just the grace of God
Speaker 1: that he knew we needed for the transition. We given
Speaker 1: the glory for that. So I said, our teams are
Speaker 1: amazing and they can watch and we put all of
Speaker 1: that out. And I said, but I said, but the
Speaker 1: people who want to come, we open it up. It's safe.
Speaker 1: Our teams are doing a great job. Our volunteers are
Speaker 1: doing a great job. And she goes, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I believe you. That's a lot of people. I said,
Speaker 1: it is a lot of people. And what I'm telling
Speaker 1: you is you don't have to come. Is online nine thirty.
Speaker 1: You know, I just forgive me, Lord, I am day
Speaker 1: and and so. And I should have walked out. I
Speaker 1: should have walked out what I did. And she kept going,
Speaker 1: I mean, just going and going, and then it hit me,
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, she's arguing with me about having church,
Speaker 1: and she's standing right here with no mask on, one
Speaker 1: of those one of those saints of God, one of
Speaker 1: those that has nothing to do with my point. But
Speaker 1: what I'm saying was it was a gift for me.
Speaker 1: It was a gift for me. In the last year,
Speaker 1: I wasn't happy about people who lost their jobs. I
Speaker 1: wasn't happy about nurses working eighteen twenty hour shifts. I
Speaker 1: wasn't happy about kids not being able to go to school.
Speaker 1: I wasn't happy about people that were sick, obviously, people
Speaker 1: whose lives were hanging in the balance, and even those
Speaker 1: who lost loved ones. But what I became thankful for
Speaker 1: through the process of navigating ministry in the time of
Speaker 1: such isolation, was that the space that God left us
Speaker 1: was the room for something new that he wanted to do.
Speaker 1: And I never forget. I don't think I've told anybody this,
Speaker 1: maybe not even Holly, But we were writing this song.
Speaker 1: It was one of the last songs we finished for
Speaker 1: the album Old Church Basement, and the song was called
Speaker 1: Come Again. And Holly put in an air sermon last
Speaker 1: week and it talks about I'm open and so get
Speaker 1: this at a time where we have all of these
Speaker 1: empty seats in this church. We came in. It was
Speaker 1: a two night recording and everybody was tested before they
Speaker 1: came in and everything, and we did everything right, okay,
Speaker 1: And but then we came in here and we turned
Speaker 1: this whole church like right there where you're sitting, sir, yeah,
Speaker 1: right there with the hood right there. Yeah, well you two,
Speaker 1: but like right yeah, yeah, that's what I was talking too,
Speaker 1: right there, and the whole room was empty. And I
Speaker 1: asked Chandler and Brandon to meet me and finish the
Speaker 1: song because it needed to be finished. And it said,
Speaker 1: it's not a building you want to fill, it's my
Speaker 1: heart and that's all it said. And I didn't know
Speaker 1: what would come next, and we had to record it
Speaker 1: that night. We had written songs for six months and
Speaker 1: we just needed one more line. A building you want
Speaker 1: to feel. It's not hot, feel it up, God, feel
Speaker 1: it up, feel it up, feel it up, just trying
Speaker 1: stuff like an hour. I sat right there, I sat
Speaker 1: right there where you are, and the Chandler is on
Speaker 1: a piano and Brendan's on a microphone, and then a
Speaker 1: prayer came to me and I sang it, and I'm
Speaker 1: not the best singer, but I can get the job
Speaker 1: done when I need to. And I said, it's not
Speaker 1: a building you want a film, it's my heart. And
Speaker 1: I looked up at all the seats in this room,
Speaker 1: this room, Valentine. I know everybody's in different rooms, but
Speaker 1: this room that I'm in right now, and I said,
Speaker 1: this empty space, it's what you want it all along.
Speaker 1: And I'm looking at the empty seats and a part
Speaker 1: of me wants to cry because these seats are so expensive.
Speaker 1: This building costs so much money, like Ladon Norman and Riverwalk,
Speaker 1: and all these empty buildings give me an ulcer as
Speaker 1: a leader and a CEO, but as a pastor. What
Speaker 1: if this empty space is what God wanted to where
Speaker 1: When Jesus left the disciples in bodily form, he sent
Speaker 1: the spirit to live within. And when the spirit came,
Speaker 1: he said, greater works will you do in my name
Speaker 1: than I did in my body. But for the spirit
Speaker 1: to be received, the body had to be released before
Speaker 1: we shout about you will receive power. In X one eight,
Speaker 1: we have to talk about releasing our need to control
Speaker 1: or understand everything that God does, And isn't that the
Speaker 1: hardest thing in the world? After all we've been through together,
Speaker 1: y'all won't be honest with me. Isn't it the hardest
Speaker 1: thing in the world to release your death grip on
Speaker 1: your plans for God? Because you know what Jeremih twenty
Speaker 1: nine to eleven says, God says for I know the
Speaker 1: plans you have for me. Oh, it doesn't say that
Speaker 1: I know the plans I have for you. But the
Speaker 1: first step for those plans to be activated in a
Speaker 1: community or in an individual life is that you have
Speaker 1: to release the plans that were in the place where
Speaker 1: God wanted to do something that you didn't even know
Speaker 1: to pray for him to do. So the more I
Speaker 1: sang it, the more I understood it. This empty space
Speaker 1: is not that God isn't going to rebuild our church
Speaker 1: or our churches are gonna be full against. These buildings
Speaker 1: are gonna be full against, These buildings are gonna be
Speaker 1: full again. These buildings are gonna be full again. These
Speaker 1: buildings are gonna be full again. These seats are gonna
Speaker 1: be full again. That orange seat, that gray seat, It's
Speaker 1: gonna be full again. Shout is gonna be full again.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be Don't get used to having all that
Speaker 1: elbow room, baby, because I promise it's gonna be packed
Speaker 1: out again real soon soon, and very soon, somebody's coming
Speaker 1: to take your seat. We're not doing empty rows for
Speaker 1: the next three years. No, We're about to build this
Speaker 1: thing up for the glory of God. How prophesie of you,
Speaker 1: empty row, Here comes a sinner, Here comes a sinner.
Speaker 1: Here comes a sinner. Here comes a sinner, Here comes
Speaker 1: a sinner. Somebody shout here they come here, they come, here,
Speaker 1: they come, here, they come the line, the lane, here
Speaker 1: they come to hurry the broken. Here they come here,
Speaker 1: they come. Here they come, and the glory on the
Speaker 1: lower house shouting greater. Whoa, I'm feeling annointing on this
Speaker 1: empty row that represents everything that is exceedingly abundantly My Papa,
Speaker 1: that you ask for a matt, He's able to do it.
Speaker 1: Here they come boot, Oh God, then they gather. God said,
Speaker 1: I had to make some space for they space for
Speaker 1: the Huh. Make room, you remember, make room, make room.
Speaker 1: Stretch your tent curtains wide, Do not hold back, do
Speaker 1: not bear. You will not be ashamed. You will not
Speaker 1: be disgrace. That's the prophet I say. I'm preaching to us.
Speaker 1: I'll pour you out of blessing that you will not
Speaker 1: have room enough to receive it. Question, is that a
Speaker 1: promise or a problem? So I wonder is this what
Speaker 1: God wanted all along? Not the virus or any of that.
Speaker 1: Please don't misinterpret, y'all know me better than that, right,
Speaker 1: Come on, there's no trolls in here today. Are they
Speaker 1: trying to taste? Okay, okay, I'm just saying, then they gathered,
Speaker 1: then it would be one thing to say then they
Speaker 1: gathered after they had received the Holy Spirit. But the
Speaker 1: profundity of it is that they gathered while they were waiting.
Speaker 1: That's why I love y'all, because these are they that
Speaker 1: didn't wait, that didn't wait for restrictions to be lifted,
Speaker 1: that didn't wait to have more answers. You know what,
Speaker 1: the best thing Jesus said in Acts one was for
Speaker 1: those of us who are control freaks and have a
Speaker 1: hard time releasing the way it used to be. It
Speaker 1: is not for you to know. Did y'all skip over
Speaker 1: that part? I know you did. You wanted to get
Speaker 1: to the part you shall receive power but in the unknown,
Speaker 1: that's the space. I don't like not knowing. I don't
Speaker 1: like not knowing. I don't even like not knowing. In
Speaker 1: it funny, God gave me a sermon that he changed
Speaker 1: at the last minute while I was telling you that
Speaker 1: it's okay not to know. The Lord is funny, got
Speaker 1: jokes for it. But I wonder did God put this
Speaker 1: on the calendar because he knew the moment that we
Speaker 1: would be in as a as a global ministry. Then
Speaker 1: they gathered when after they scattered. So this is something
Speaker 1: God gave me too. He said, tell the church, tell
Speaker 1: the ministry across every location. This is not anymore. There's
Speaker 1: the local church and then there's the global church. It's
Speaker 1: one family. Now this is they, this is they, And
Speaker 1: the last year is forced us to be more creative.
Speaker 1: We had to figure out. Thank God for the teams
Speaker 1: that God gave us just to keep the gospel going
Speaker 1: out no matter what. That's amazing. And I'm talking about you.
Speaker 1: But the Lord said you were scathered to gather together.
Speaker 1: Let me say it again without messing up the point
Speaker 1: by mispronouncing the word. You were scattered to gather. What
Speaker 1: else is scattered together? Let's think about it. Someone twenty six,
Speaker 1: sit down. I have a little more teaching to do.
Speaker 1: This is a psalm of a scent, so means they
Speaker 1: would sing this song going up to church, going up
Speaker 1: to the House of the Lord, they would sing this.
Speaker 1: This one's a little different because it was written after exile,
Speaker 1: so it was a song about what God had done
Speaker 1: for them after they had spent a long time in
Speaker 1: another place. And that's what I thought was significant about this.
Speaker 1: And we have our songs of a scent, right, we
Speaker 1: have our songs that we sing in church as people
Speaker 1: are coming in. And sometimes that's the ones where those
Speaker 1: people who really like don't have a lot of rhythm.
Speaker 1: They just stand there and kind of watch and they
Speaker 1: wait for them. They're just waiting for the worship song.
Speaker 1: I just love the glory in the present. I don't
Speaker 1: want to walk how you walk on weather. I don't
Speaker 1: want to do any of that. It's fine, it's fine,
Speaker 1: it's fine, you don't have to do it. But the
Speaker 1: Lord gave his people a song for when they were
Speaker 1: going to the House of the Lord. And listen what
Speaker 1: he said. I want to read you the whole song.
Speaker 1: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion. We were
Speaker 1: like those who dreamed. We couldn't even believe that it happened.
Speaker 1: We could not even get our mind. We were like
Speaker 1: those who dreamed. It seemed so crazy, it seemed like
Speaker 1: a dream. Our mouths were filled for laughter. Now this
Speaker 1: is five eighty six p. See, they've been in exile.
Speaker 1: The people are coming back. This is the song. God
Speaker 1: gave them. Our tongues with songs of joy. Then everybody shout.
Speaker 1: Then then then it was said among the nations, the
Speaker 1: Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has
Speaker 1: done great things for them. Then it was said among
Speaker 1: the nations. Then verse three, when we came back, when
Speaker 1: we saw what God brought us through, then it was
Speaker 1: said among the nations, this is then this is then
Speaker 1: if you have ears to hear today God is saying
Speaker 1: this is. Then then they gathered. Then the nations will say,
Speaker 1: and it is a trick for you to always think.
Speaker 1: Then is somewhere out there when I get my teams
Speaker 1: back up, they ain't all coming back. Judas is dead. Okay,
Speaker 1: we gotta pick Matthias and build another thing. Right, we
Speaker 1: gotta cast some lots and get another disciple. I'm not
Speaker 1: calling that sweet lady who couldn't come back and be
Speaker 1: a greeter Judas, I'm just using an analogy. Then it
Speaker 1: was said, after we spend a time in a foreign place,
Speaker 1: but trusted in God to get us through it, that's
Speaker 1: what you've done, That's what you've not perfectly. Then it
Speaker 1: will be said. Then they gathered then, and the Lord
Speaker 1: is saying, this is then, this now or never. The
Speaker 1: Church either has a message or we don't have a message.
Speaker 1: We either are the bride of Christ or we're just
Speaker 1: playing around, just dating Jesus, just conveniently hooking up with
Speaker 1: God when we need something. This is then, and this
Speaker 1: is they. He said, when the Lord brought us back,
Speaker 1: we could not believe. When the Lord restored the God,
Speaker 1: would you restore the fortune of Zion? Would you visit
Speaker 1: your people again with an outpouring of wisdom, with a
Speaker 1: message of reconciliation God, with peace flooding our veins, so
Speaker 1: that we walk in the earth as Christ was, so
Speaker 1: that we stand in the stead of the Living God,
Speaker 1: urging men be reconciled to God. Turn the times of
Speaker 1: refreshing may come from the Lord. I declare that these
Speaker 1: are the days of Elijah These are the days of Esekiel,
Speaker 1: the dry bones becoming as flesh. This is then you
Speaker 1: are vain. We have gathered in the name of him
Speaker 1: who became sin, who knew no sin, that we might
Speaker 1: become the righteousness of God. And you are a chosen people,
Speaker 1: a royal priest, a holy nation. The Lord Word has
Speaker 1: done great things for them. The Lord has done verse
Speaker 1: three great things for us. We are filled with joy.
Speaker 1: Restore our fortune flory like streams in the Negath, like
Speaker 1: streams in the Negath. That's a dry place than Agath.
Speaker 1: Oh God, it barely reigns in the Negath. But when
Speaker 1: it does, it rips through so suddenly that if you're
Speaker 1: not ready for it, it'll wash you out. And in in
Speaker 1: a dry place so long. But this is then God,
Speaker 1: When when God releases his spirit, when God floods your heart,
Speaker 1: when God does what he said he would do, you
Speaker 1: have to be prepared beforehand, because it happens so suddenly.
Speaker 1: If you're not ready, you won't have room to receive them.
Speaker 1: Restore our Fortune's Lord, restore Goddess. In a season of
Speaker 1: restoring the years that the canker worm and the palmer
Speaker 1: worm and the coronavirus have eaten. But this is the
Speaker 1: verse that I thought I would leave you with, where
Speaker 1: he said, those who is so with tears, for everybody
Speaker 1: who has been mourning a disappointment in your life, for
Speaker 1: everyone who has been crying like the disciples cried at
Speaker 1: the cross, and your life has been scattered. The promise
Speaker 1: is that those who sow with tears will reap with
Speaker 1: songs of joy. And those wait, let me ask a question.
Speaker 1: Who are those that God is speaking to today? If this,
Speaker 1: you lift your hands to heaven. If this you lift
Speaker 1: your hands to heaven, you don't have to be in
Speaker 1: this room. You know that by now those who go
Speaker 1: out weeping carrying seed to sew, Because even though you've
Speaker 1: been weeping, you never stop sewing. That's the thing about it.
Speaker 1: Even though you've had you've had depression that's been in
Speaker 1: your own life, but you kept, you kept doing what
Speaker 1: God called you to do. You kept your eyes on
Speaker 1: the joy set before you. You kept sewing. So the
Speaker 1: promises that those who go out weeping carrying seed to sow,
Speaker 1: these are they that sowed anyway. These are those that
Speaker 1: gave anyway, These are those that prayed anyway. These are
Speaker 1: those that quoted Matthew eighteen over your two person e
Speaker 1: group on a zoom call in April. These are they
Speaker 1: that sewed anyway. So you're ready for this, Here comes
Speaker 1: the promise. Get ready. It's a gully washing promise, like
Speaker 1: a stream in a dry place, will return with songs
Speaker 1: of joy, carrying sheets with them. So for a season
Speaker 1: they weeked, but then they gathered. For a season they
Speaker 1: had to weep. But God said, it's reebig time for
Speaker 1: indue season. You're sorry if you faith not. If you
Speaker 1: faith not, these are they that did not faith. These
Speaker 1: are they that waited. Lift your hands up, stay that way,
Speaker 1: abo the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount
Speaker 1: up on wings like eagles, so running acrow wary they
Speaker 1: shall walk, eh not faith, These are they that waited.
Speaker 1: And now God, now that we have made room, not
Speaker 1: for our old period of church, now for our limited
Speaker 1: confides of what ministry looks like that was limited to
Speaker 1: physical buildings. But I believe that you scattered us for
Speaker 1: a season to gather a harvest for an eternal purpose.
Speaker 1: I can't say that again. He scattered you for a
Speaker 1: season to gather for an eternal purpose harvest unto himself.
Speaker 1: These are the days of the greatest ministry that we
Speaker 1: have ever seen. But it's been scattered, it's been all
Speaker 1: over the place God knows it has. Does that feel
Speaker 1: like your life, your mind, even your priorities? I felt scattered,
Speaker 1: really disoriented at times. Who cannot trust who's with me?
Speaker 1: What's going on? What will it be like on the
Speaker 1: other side. Then they gather from my heart. Thank you
Speaker 1: for sowing in the season when you were personally struggling,
Speaker 1: even if you scattered for a little while. Welcome back.
Speaker 1: There's room for you in the heart of God. There's
Speaker 1: room for you in the plan of God. There's room
Speaker 1: for you in the story that He's telling. And now
Speaker 1: we have all this room to receive from God whatever
Speaker 1: he wants to do next in our ministry. I thought
Speaker 1: I would end my portion of this time by turning
Speaker 1: our our auditoriums and living rooms and cafes where people
Speaker 1: are meeting. They got through that in cafes. I just
Speaker 1: imagine someone's in a cafe somewhere. But maybe we can
Speaker 1: make it in upper room for a moment. Maybe we
Speaker 1: can be one twenty. Maybe we can offer God our
Speaker 1: lives as a foundation on which to build whatever he
Speaker 1: wants to build next. But I don't want you to
Speaker 1: miss it, because I slipped this end. At the very end.
Speaker 1: They scattered seed in the dry season. Gather the harvest.
Speaker 1: You've got so much to look forward to. Please don't
Speaker 1: give up on God. Please don't give up on yourself.
Speaker 1: Please don't diminish your gifts. We've got so much to
Speaker 1: look for with you. And there's grace. There's grace for adaptation,
Speaker 1: there's grace for mistakes. But we've got to gather. We've
Speaker 1: got to gather. Then they gathered, They sowed in tears.
Speaker 1: They brought home a harvest. They sowed in tears, and
Speaker 1: they reaped enjoy. So Lord, we're going up there with
Speaker 1: Bartholomew and Philip and Peter, James and John, the sons
Speaker 1: of Thunder. They were so messed up they asked which
Speaker 1: one of them could sid at their right hand, your
Speaker 1: right hand and left hand, and you still let them come.
Speaker 1: So we're good coming up here with the women Mary
Speaker 1: Magdalen married, the mother of Jesus, and the brother. We're
Speaker 1: coming up like the one twenty, and we realize that
Speaker 1: you're reinventing us even in this moment, because we'll look
Speaker 1: back on this day where we gathered and felt so good,
Speaker 1: and then you send us out, and you scatter us
Speaker 1: that you might gather us again. Lord, I thank you
Speaker 1: for everybody in this room, beyond what they do in
Speaker 1: our church. God knows they're more than an usher. God
Speaker 1: knows they're more than not that these things are little,
Speaker 1: But God, they're walking in multiple roles. And I thank
Speaker 1: you that you scatter your people everywhere in the world.
Speaker 1: You put some to be dentists, and some to be doctors,
Speaker 1: and some to be lawyers, and some to be teachers.
Speaker 1: You've got your people everywhere. That's how your kingdom advances.
Speaker 1: As you scatter us so that you might gather unto yourself,
Speaker 1: a renewed people. Then they gathered whatever happens next Lord,
Speaker 1: in our local communities, whatever limitations are, unforeseen, turns or
Speaker 1: twists it takes. We're not leaving Jerusalem. We're waiting for
Speaker 1: the gift. So in this upper room right now, come
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, Come breathe into these slang that they may live.
Speaker 1: I want to pray for somebody who's been out of
Speaker 1: church and they miss you and you miss them. Bring
Speaker 1: them back. Rejoice Signore we've got room for them. I
Speaker 1: want to pray for those who kept coming to church.
Speaker 1: But because we didn't really know, we just got so
Speaker 1: turned around and confused. But then they gathered without knowing
Speaker 1: the answers, they gathered in faith, and you moved. And
Speaker 1: now this same Jesus who was taken up, this this
Speaker 1: same power that raised him from the dead, it lives
Speaker 1: in us. Your church. Restore the fortunes of Zion. Lord,
Speaker 1: and the glory of the latter house will be greater
Speaker 1: than the glory of the former house. This is then,
Speaker 1: This is then, not when we were back in quadruple
Speaker 1: overflow at Valentine. No, no, no, this is then. Then
Speaker 1: they gathered. Then they gathered, Then they gathered. I thank
Speaker 1: you Lord for our gatherings. Tomorrow they'll be like some
Speaker 1: of them will be one ninth full. Then they gathered. Yeah. God, Yeah, God, Yeah,
Speaker 1: God redeemed the empty space, give us a new norm.
Speaker 1: We thank you that this ministry never stopped reaching. We
Speaker 1: reached more people in this last season than we ever reached.
Speaker 1: You did a greater work than our linds could company.
Speaker 1: So I release your people in the power of your spirit. Now, God,
Speaker 1: these ministry gifts that you've placed, their intelligence, their brilliance,
Speaker 1: their love, their compassion, their consistency, Be multiplied into the earth,
Speaker 1: Be multiplied into our cities, Be multiplied into your kingdom,
Speaker 1: Your kingdom. Come. You will be done on earth as
Speaker 1: it is in heaven. Then they gathered in Jesus' name. Amen,
Speaker 1: we love you, Thank you, scattered together. I hope you
Speaker 1: receive that word today. I hope it was just what
Speaker 1: you needed. I'm telling you, I felt like our whole
Speaker 1: church was supposed to experience it. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you heard what I said at the beginning, but I
Speaker 1: wasn't planning on showing that message to our whole church.
Speaker 1: But God gave me something and said, I want you
Speaker 1: to release it to everybody. And I believe it's what
Speaker 1: he's saying to us right now. It's what he's saying
Speaker 1: to me right now. And I prayed that this week
Speaker 1: God would just surround you with his favor. I know
Speaker 1: I've already prayed. I know I've already declared this over
Speaker 1: your life. But I pray that God would restore the
Speaker 1: fortunes of Zion, restore your joy, your peace. I prayed
Speaker 1: that he would restore your health, anything that you've been lacking.
Speaker 1: We agree with you in prayer that God is a
Speaker 1: restoer and a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you to the thousands of you, tens
Speaker 1: of thousands of you who are a part of this ministry.
Speaker 1: Thank you forgiving financially. Maybe God would lead you to
Speaker 1: begin doing that right now. You know you're they right.
Speaker 1: You're the one that God is going to use. And
Speaker 1: I thank you so much for sharing these messages with others.
Speaker 1: That's how we spread the gospel. You'll always pick on
Speaker 1: me because it comes so close on these videos. Just
Speaker 1: like to get right up in your face, invade your
Speaker 1: personal space and let you know that it is an
Speaker 1: absolute privilege to minister the word of God to you.
Speaker 1: Bless you.