Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God as moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message. Man, you picked a great day to
Speaker 1: be in church. You picked a great day to log
Speaker 1: in online. Why because this is the day the Lord
Speaker 1: has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Hey,
Speaker 1: you might not know this, but we're celebrating twenty years
Speaker 1: of ministry this year at Elevation Church. My wife and
Speaker 1: I had the privilege of being one of the original
Speaker 1: core families with Eric and Nicole over here. And when
Speaker 1: we look back over twenty years, people last like, how
Speaker 1: do you explain all that God did? Well? God is
Speaker 1: that good, He's that gracious, He's that kind, he's that loving.
Speaker 1: But also I think our pastors are that anointed and
Speaker 1: that gifted and that talented. I would be remiss if
Speaker 1: we didn't take a second to celebrate the secret sauce
Speaker 1: of Elevation Church, all the volunteers that make this place happen.
Speaker 1: If you're at one of our physical locations. If you're
Speaker 1: one of our volunteers, raise your hand, Valentine. If you're
Speaker 1: one of those volunteers, hey help me celebrate all those heroes,
Speaker 1: all of our online volunteers. We're not limited by location.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: When we started the ministry twenty years ago, we didn't
Speaker 1: know if anybody would want to jump on board and
Speaker 1: be a park. But they did. And I remember everybody
Speaker 1: early on it's like, I'll do whatever you need. I'm
Speaker 1: all in, And then it'd ask them to do something
Speaker 1: and maybe not they're quite so all in. But I
Speaker 1: had this couple twenty years ago, John and Rondi Mullen
Speaker 1: show up. They were just trying to find a church
Speaker 1: for their daughter. But when they walked in, they looked
Speaker 1: at each other. I think we found a church for us.
Speaker 1: And I had a team I started back in the
Speaker 1: early days. It was called the First Impressions Team. They
Speaker 1: would get at Providence High School at six am to
Speaker 1: clean the bathrooms because it smelled like high school. And
Speaker 1: so anytime someone would ask like, I'll do whatever you need,
Speaker 1: I'm all in, I'd say, well, would you be a
Speaker 1: part of my First Impressions Team. Now many people would say, well,
Speaker 1: like I feel as though my gifts could be used
Speaker 1: somewhere else. But when I presented the opportunity to John
Speaker 1: and Rondee, they said we would be honored. Thank you
Speaker 1: for the privilege. They showed up that next Sunday at
Speaker 1: six am and they cleaned those bathrooms and they've been
Speaker 1: serving faithfully for twenty years. Thank you John, Thank you RONDI.
Speaker 1: Thank you for all the volunteers faithfully serving. Hey, and
Speaker 1: you might not know this, but also October's Pastor Appreciation Month.
Speaker 1: Help me appreciate our pastors. Pastor Steven, Pastor Holly Man.
Speaker 1: We love you, We honor you. I've got an album
Speaker 1: on my phone that whenever I get a message, a
Speaker 1: text or voice memo from Pastor Steven, I dump it
Speaker 1: in there. And I got messages that are in great
Speaker 1: seasons of celebration. But I also have moments of great
Speaker 1: seasons of sorrow. And I'm so grateful that our pastors
Speaker 1: walk with me through the seasons of celebration and the
Speaker 1: seasons of sorrow. I honor you, Pastor Stephen, Pastor Holly,
Speaker 1: thank you for faithfully standing in this pulpit twenty years
Speaker 1: preaching the word of God. All right, let me give
Speaker 1: you our scripture for today. Let me give you the scripture.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited, all of you saints open up to Matthew.
Speaker 1: Chapter eight, verses fourteen to sixteen is where we'll begin.
Speaker 1: If you're not a note taker, maybe today would be
Speaker 1: the day that you begin writing something down. I want
Speaker 1: God to do a new thing, he says, Well, bring
Speaker 1: me a new rhythm. If you start a new rhythm
Speaker 1: rather than standing in with your arms crossed, maybe I
Speaker 1: would bless you. Maybe you'd write down one thing God
Speaker 1: wants to speak to you today. Out of Matthew chapter eight,
Speaker 1: starting in verse fourteen, it says when Jesus came into
Speaker 1: Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother in law lying in
Speaker 1: bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the
Speaker 1: fever left her. She got up and began to wait
Speaker 1: on him. When evening came, many who were demon possessed
Speaker 1: were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits
Speaker 1: with a word, and healed all the sick. Here's the
Speaker 1: title for today's messages that I want to give. You
Speaker 1: want to say it to your favorite person in the room.
Speaker 1: You only get to pick one and I want you
Speaker 1: to say it with the two of them, with some
Speaker 1: gush Docem's foot sinya say this, say all in now
Speaker 1: look at your second favorite choice and tell them all in. Hey,
Speaker 1: thank you worship team for leading us today. You can
Speaker 1: give somebody a high five on the way to your seat. Etham,
Speaker 1: drop in the comments. All in. This story that Matthew's
Speaker 1: going to bring to us comes in in three scenes,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna start in this opening scene that Matthew
Speaker 1: wants to weave together three scenes to tell a story
Speaker 1: of Jesus. And in this opening scene, we've got these
Speaker 1: two characters. We've got a woman that we know that
Speaker 1: she's got a fever and she's Peter's mother in law.
Speaker 1: Now Jesus is gonna come into the house and says
Speaker 1: that Jesus came, Jesus saw and Jesus touched who. I
Speaker 1: think God's going to do that in our hearts today.
Speaker 1: I think God came into this room. I think he
Speaker 1: sees you, and I think He's gonna touch you. How
Speaker 1: many of you need a touch from God today? How
Speaker 1: many have you got a space in your life that
Speaker 1: God I needs you to touch it? See healing happens
Speaker 1: with a touch. Now I have no idea if this woman,
Speaker 1: let's give her a name. Whenever I read the Bible
Speaker 1: and have an unnamed character, I like to give him
Speaker 1: a name, because once you give him a name, it
Speaker 1: just it hits a little more personal, doesn't it. Let's
Speaker 1: call her Rachel. Everybody say Rachel. So Rachel is laying
Speaker 1: in bed with a fever. She might have been a
Speaker 1: woman of faith, or this might have been her last thoughts,
Speaker 1: because sometimes Jesus is a first option. Some of you
Speaker 1: faith filled people, something happens, you take it to Jesus first.
Speaker 1: But other people, like me, often Jesus is more of
Speaker 1: a last resort. I don't know. Maybe you're in church
Speaker 1: today and this is a first option. Let's get to
Speaker 1: the Lord. Let's get to the House of God and
Speaker 1: others of you. We've tried to do all that we can.
Speaker 1: All the King's horses and all the King's men can't
Speaker 1: put her marriage back together again. So let's try church.
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's your first option or your
Speaker 1: last resort. Thank you for logging in. I'm glad you're
Speaker 1: in the room today. I'm just glad you're here, and
Speaker 1: Peter was Peter's house. It might have been a first option.
Speaker 1: He might have been pulling in favor, saying, Yo, Jesus,
Speaker 1: since I have access to you, could you heal my
Speaker 1: mother in law? Could have been first option, could have
Speaker 1: been last resort. Listen, we had to move this woman
Speaker 1: in six months ago. Jesus, you better healerr because I
Speaker 1: need her out of the house. Sometimes it's faith and
Speaker 1: sometimes it's frustration. I'm just glad you're here today. And
Speaker 1: when I see the story of this woman Rachel, and
Speaker 1: I look at the at the cadence of the text,
Speaker 1: it says she was laying in bed with a fever.
Speaker 1: And when I look at those words at other places
Speaker 1: in the New Testament, it suggests someone on their deathbed.
Speaker 1: It's not a simple little symptom where she's got a
Speaker 1: little bit of a fever. No, it suggests that we
Speaker 1: are at the end of her life issues some of
Speaker 1: a sitting in this room today, watching online today, you've
Speaker 1: got a space in your life that you know it's
Speaker 1: about to die. You got a space in your life.
Speaker 1: You might have a new outfit, but it's an old
Speaker 1: problem that's been making you limp for thirty two years,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it so becomes so debilitating. It just doesn't
Speaker 1: make you sit down in it. It makes you lay
Speaker 1: down in it. Picture the woman, she's just laying down
Speaker 1: and I got nothing. And some of you, that perfectly
Speaker 1: describes the posture of your life today. And I want
Speaker 1: you to see the sermon. This woman is gonna preach
Speaker 1: with her posture. Because some of you, like Jesus touched me,
Speaker 1: but you're still sitting down. I want you to consider
Speaker 1: the texts and would you adopt the mentality of Rachel
Speaker 1: because Jesus when he comes into the room, he touches
Speaker 1: her and she's healeding what she do. She gets up
Speaker 1: and she illustrates the sermon. She begins to serve him. Whoo.
Speaker 1: So if you come up to me and say, Jesus
Speaker 1: touched me, I'm gonna say, and where are you serving
Speaker 1: him at? I'm all in Jesus to go back to
Speaker 1: my car, to go back to my dysfunction or that
Speaker 1: trains the direction of my life because my posture change.
Speaker 1: Rather than sitting under it, I'm gonna stand up over
Speaker 1: it and I'm gonna bring it to Jesus. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: serve Jesus with it. I'm all in. I have no
Speaker 1: idea what the issue was in her life, but I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that Peter decided to open up his home
Speaker 1: to let this woman in. It's really awesome. And when
Speaker 1: you think about your home, when you invite guests to
Speaker 1: your house, do you let them see all the rooms
Speaker 1: in your house? No? You only let them see the
Speaker 1: ones that are presentable, the ones you've cleaned up, the
Speaker 1: ones that are socially acceptable. You don't let them see
Speaker 1: the dysfunction behind the door. You've got the closets where
Speaker 1: you've kicked stuff in it and you're shoving stuff in it.
Speaker 1: You're like, no, you can't go upstairs. But the reality
Speaker 1: is the owner determines the access. Who owns your home?
Speaker 1: You are God. I wonder what rooms you've not let
Speaker 1: Jesus into, Because, if I consider our story, if Jesus
Speaker 1: can't the only way that Jesus can touch it is
Speaker 1: if he's invited into it. Jesus cannot touch something he's
Speaker 1: not been invited into. I wonder what rooms in your
Speaker 1: life you have not let Jesus into. I wonder if
Speaker 1: it's your finances, I wonder it's the room of your relationships.
Speaker 1: I wonder if it's an unforgiveness issue for a father
Speaker 1: in this room. I wonder if it's a friendship. I
Speaker 1: wonder if it's a marriage. I wonder if you've got
Speaker 1: what doors you have closed? And I remember when my
Speaker 1: kids were little, like six, they would put like make
Speaker 1: these signs and put it on the door no one allowed.
Speaker 1: And when they get really mad at Dad, especially Dad's
Speaker 1: I wonder what rooms you've got to sign on it
Speaker 1: that said Jesus, you can't come into it. And you
Speaker 1: show up Jesus, and Jesus, I want you to heal it.
Speaker 1: He says, I can't heal it because I'm not being
Speaker 1: invited into it. Because then tell them invited into it,
Speaker 1: I cannot Healing only comes with a touch. And what
Speaker 1: I realized is some of the times I'm telling Jesus,
Speaker 1: like Jesus, would you heal this thing? And I think
Speaker 1: I've opened the door, but I'm standing in the way,
Speaker 1: like Jesus, when are you gonna do something about this?
Speaker 1: And he says, as soon as you get out of
Speaker 1: the way, because I can't get into the room because
Speaker 1: you are in the way. What rooms does Jesus want
Speaker 1: to have access to you in your house right now.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the reality is disappointment becomes a nail gun, and
Speaker 1: the reality is some of the doors I close in
Speaker 1: my life not because I hate God. I just kind
Speaker 1: of despise myself, and rather than be disappointed, I would
Speaker 1: rather nail the door shut, so I'm no longer disappointed.
Speaker 1: It happens with careers, it happens in relationships. And there
Speaker 1: is somebody here today that you've been wanting a child
Speaker 1: for such a long time, and you've opened the door,
Speaker 1: and you've opened the door, but you're so tired of
Speaker 1: opening the door. And the only thing harder than opening
Speaker 1: the door is keeping the door open. And as I
Speaker 1: was praying for our church yesterday, there's a man that
Speaker 1: you had an affair in the past. I don't know
Speaker 1: who you are. God wanted me to tell you it's
Speaker 1: time to open that door because you're living in this
Speaker 1: place of a hard heart. And rather than bring that
Speaker 1: into the light, I'll just close the door and I'll
Speaker 1: nail it shut. I wonder what rooms that Jesus wants
Speaker 1: to access to say this with me, Say Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: show me the rooms I've not let you in. Say
Speaker 1: it again, say Holy spirit show me the rooms. I've
Speaker 1: not let you in because Jesus is a gentleman, and
Speaker 1: I love the fact that he is not gonna kick
Speaker 1: down the door. But Revelation three twenty tells us about
Speaker 1: the kind of savior that we serve. It says this.
Speaker 1: It says, here, I am, I stand at the door
Speaker 1: in I knock, and I said, if you let me in,
Speaker 1: I will eat with you, and I'll fellowship with you.
Speaker 1: God is standing at the door of your life. I
Speaker 1: know that you can't open it because of disappointment. But
Speaker 1: Jesus is not looking at you with disdain. He loves you.
Speaker 1: He's longing for you. He's showing up at that door
Speaker 1: again and again and again. He said, I want to
Speaker 1: heal it, but I can't heal it if I can't
Speaker 1: touch it. And I'm so glad that Peter is the
Speaker 1: kind of man that will let people into his house.
Speaker 1: Because this is kind of crazy. Some theologians believe that
Speaker 1: the reason that Peter denied Jesus is because Jesus healed
Speaker 1: his mother in law. That's an old preacher joke, you know,
Speaker 1: that's a preacher joy.
Speaker 3: That's good.
Speaker 1: But the story in the first verse there it says
Speaker 1: that she gets healed, and then in verse sixteen, it
Speaker 1: says when evening came, many who were demon possessed were
Speaker 1: brought to him. So the healing happens sometimes during the day.
Speaker 1: Now all the people that are in the house are
Speaker 1: overwhelmed with joy, and they say, Jesus, we are all in.
Speaker 1: And Peter says, yep, I'm all in too. So all
Speaker 1: the people that had been in the house, what did
Speaker 1: they do? They go out to the streets. They go
Speaker 1: out to the highways and the byways, and the overlook,
Speaker 1: the marginalized, the ones that nobody sees. They go and
Speaker 1: find it, and they drag him back to Peter's house.
Speaker 1: And now it's a good old demon party. Look at
Speaker 1: the story and picture Peter out in front of his
Speaker 1: home as he sees and he hears all of these
Speaker 1: demons being brought to his home. Could you ever imagine
Speaker 1: something like happening in your house? Or is your house
Speaker 1: only available for what you want? Jesus, I'm all in. Really,
Speaker 1: would you let that person in your car or you
Speaker 1: worried about how it would smell? I'm all in, Jesus,
Speaker 1: because the reality is in our fate journey we will
Speaker 1: all come to these places that every step we take
Speaker 1: in following Jesus, it will test are all in. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is a one time. When you place your faith
Speaker 1: in Jesus, you get eternity. But to trust him to
Speaker 1: follow him as a day by day must deny myself daily,
Speaker 1: pick up my cross and follow him. I'm all in
Speaker 1: for the next twenty minutes, Jesus. But you see Peter.
Speaker 1: He's opening up his home and all the demon possessed
Speaker 1: people are flooding, and He's like, no, no, open up
Speaker 1: the living room, open up that second living room, whatever
Speaker 1: we call that thing. Open up the kitchen, the closets, oh,
Speaker 1: second floor. Let's fill it all in. Let's get everybody
Speaker 1: all in. Say all in, Jesus. I'm all in as
Speaker 1: much as I know. But what do I do when
Speaker 1: I come to the place. I'm like, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm all in for that. It's like when you
Speaker 1: get married. I do, that's easy, but I will that's harder.
Speaker 1: But what would compel Peter to live such an extravagant
Speaker 1: life that he would be all in? Because the demon?
Speaker 1: I mean, can you picture the sound in his home,
Speaker 1: all the shrieks and the shrills and the celebration all
Speaker 1: a mixture together, a praise to God as he's healing people.
Speaker 1: Most of those people would be the ones we would
Speaker 1: have driven around. But those are the ones that the
Speaker 1: disciples are driven towards. And they brought them into the house.
Speaker 1: They who brought them, the people that had been touched
Speaker 1: by Jesus. I'm all in, and they respond by bri
Speaker 1: somebody back in. Are there any single ladies? Raise your hand.
Speaker 1: You might have a single guy around you who might
Speaker 1: be looking. I don't know. Let me give a little
Speaker 1: bit of dating advice. Don't date boys. That's good advice.
Speaker 1: Don't date boys. See boys want to get something, men
Speaker 1: want to bring something. That's good preaching LB tell him,
Speaker 1: tell them for the people in the back. Don't date boys.
Speaker 1: And some of you are brand new to the faith.
Speaker 1: Just keep showing up. Just keep showing up. Just keep
Speaker 1: showing up. Just keep showing up. Others of you. God
Speaker 1: is blessed way more than what you're bringing to him.
Speaker 1: Are you the bride of Christ? Are you coming to
Speaker 1: get something? Are you coming to bring something? When's the
Speaker 1: last time you brought a broken praise? When's the last
Speaker 1: time you brought an offering. When's the last time you
Speaker 1: brought your service? When is the last time you brought
Speaker 1: a guest to experience a miracle standing next to you?
Speaker 1: Because if I'm only showing up to get my word,
Speaker 1: what am I saying about the bride of Christ? I
Speaker 1: am glad that you can get a word of God here.
Speaker 1: But to mature, to get in the deep end of
Speaker 1: the faith pool requires us to be a follower that
Speaker 1: says I'm all in, which means you have access to everything,
Speaker 1: and I'll bring it all into your per I wonder
Speaker 1: what doors you said, Jesus. You cannot get behind that one.
Speaker 1: I'm all in, Jesus. But what would compel Peter to
Speaker 1: live such an extravagant life? And it's I want to
Speaker 1: go back to the origin story of Peter real quickly.
Speaker 1: This is out of Luke chapter five, because I think
Speaker 1: today is somebody's origin story. I love the fact that
Speaker 1: today is the day that someone are gonna see Jesus
Speaker 1: in a brand new way, and it's going to be
Speaker 1: the origin story that will ignite something in your life
Speaker 1: to be a person of faith that you desire to be.
Speaker 1: It says this one day Jesus was walking by the
Speaker 1: lake of Gannessaret. The people were crowding around him and
Speaker 1: listening to the word of God. He saw by the
Speaker 1: water's edge two boats left there by fishermen who were fishing,
Speaker 1: who were washing their nets. Then he got into one
Speaker 1: of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked
Speaker 1: him to put out a little from the shore. This
Speaker 1: is early on in jesus ministry. He's about to begin
Speaker 1: his recruiting trip to recruit his disciples, his initial followers.
Speaker 1: And you realize that the word disciple isn't just defining
Speaker 1: the twelve people that followed him. Those were the apostles,
Speaker 1: and in fact they were disciples. But there were seventy
Speaker 1: disciples that Jesus sent out on a ministry trip, and
Speaker 1: then when Jesus returns, there were one hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: disciples in the upper room. Disciple is anybody who says
Speaker 1: I want to be a follower of Jesus. And if
Speaker 1: you're a follower of Jesus, guess what, you're a disciple too.
Speaker 1: And this origin story is where Jesus is going to
Speaker 1: show up. He's going to preach to thousands, but he's
Speaker 1: got an audience of one it's Peter, because this is
Speaker 1: a story about his selection of Peter. And I love
Speaker 1: the fact that God is preaching to thousands at the
Speaker 1: same time, but he's preaching to you. He sees you,
Speaker 1: he calls you, and he is preaching a sermons just
Speaker 1: for you because he wants to get your attention. He
Speaker 1: wants to show you something. And now he says, there's
Speaker 1: two boats by the edge of the water, and he
Speaker 1: gets into the one belonging to Simon. Wait, I thought
Speaker 1: his name was Peter. Wait. Yeah, it's a little complicated
Speaker 1: because Peter, you know, that's his one name. But then Simon,
Speaker 1: that's his BC, that's before Christ. That's Simon. Is the
Speaker 1: part of you that on Saturday night you're raising the
Speaker 1: red Solo Cup, Like, hey, hey, Peter, that's the hand
Speaker 1: raised in worship on Sunday morning. Hallelujah, Hey, hallelujah. You
Speaker 1: got a little Simon in you, and you got a
Speaker 1: little Peter in you. You played the game when you
Speaker 1: were a kid. Simon says, act like a fool. That's Simon.
Speaker 1: You still got a little Simon in you. And he
Speaker 1: shows up and he's fully Simon in this point, and
Speaker 1: there's two boats sitting there, and Jesus just goes and
Speaker 1: sits in his boat. Try this after church, Just go
Speaker 1: sit in somebody's random car in the parking lot and
Speaker 1: he just sits down. Okay. And I love the fact
Speaker 1: that Jesus is coming to him, but he's only going
Speaker 1: to come so far. And Jesus is coming to you
Speaker 1: and the boat that you don't want to get into.
Speaker 1: He's not intimidated by that door, that room of your
Speaker 1: life that you wouldn't want anybody to see. He already
Speaker 1: sees it. And he says, I'm not uncomfortable in that place.
Speaker 1: I know you are. And he sits right down in it.
Speaker 1: Why because he loves you. He sits down in Peter's
Speaker 1: boat and he says, hey, Peter, well Simon, let's get
Speaker 1: his name right, Simon, push out a little from the shore,
Speaker 1: Just say a little, come better, participation, palatine, say a little.
Speaker 1: And that's what he's asking you to do today. And
Speaker 1: here's the story. Let me illustrate it for you. What
Speaker 1: would compel Peter to live a life who's all in?
Speaker 1: Say all in? It began with a little step. He
Speaker 1: gets in his boat. It is anchored up on the shore,
Speaker 1: so Peter's got to push this thing out. He's like,
Speaker 1: I've been out all night fishing, I haven't slept, I stink,
Speaker 1: and like, are you kidding me? Okay, So he pushes
Speaker 1: his shoulder into the boat and he pushes it out
Speaker 1: of it, and he starts walking the boat out into
Speaker 1: the water, and each step he takes, the water is
Speaker 1: getting a little bit higher on him, and he pushes
Speaker 1: out a little say a little there you go, Thank you, Valentine.
Speaker 1: And now he's holding the boat about waist deep. He's
Speaker 1: in proximity to Jesus, but he's not in relationship yet
Speaker 1: with Jesus. Don't confuse proximity with intimacy. Just because I'm
Speaker 1: sitting in a seat doesn't mean him in the boat
Speaker 1: with him. And I love the fact that Jesus is
Speaker 1: preaching to the thousands, but he's looking at one the
Speaker 1: whole time. And I wonder if Peter's like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: what am I doing? What a waste of time? Who
Speaker 1: is this guy? Preacher? Boy?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And maybe he would hear every third word
Speaker 1: or every fifth word, or maybe that would be kind
Speaker 1: of cool. But love the fact that Jesus kept preaching,
Speaker 1: but yet he still knew his audience's audience of one.
Speaker 1: And now the relationship is about to go to a
Speaker 1: different level. They're about to change the Facebook status because
Speaker 1: when he finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out
Speaker 1: into the deep and let down the nets for a catch.
Speaker 1: Say the deep. Jesus is calling you from the little
Speaker 1: to the deep. Simon answered, Master, We've worked hard all night.
Speaker 1: I haven't got anything. But because you say so, I
Speaker 1: will b y ssiw be why because you say so? Ssiw.
Speaker 1: Because you say so, I will be why ssiw. Some
Speaker 1: of you, that's your next tattoo. Put it right here
Speaker 1: on your wrist. And then when you're driven by Simon, Hey, Simon, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: because you say so. Not Simon says, because Jesus said,
Speaker 1: I'll do that. Because you say so. I will now
Speaker 1: picture the rest of this story of what Peter has
Speaker 1: to do, what Simon has to do to be obedient
Speaker 1: to the commands of Christ. Okay, I got the water.
Speaker 1: It waste deep, but let's go out into the deep.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm comfortable right here because I can hold
Speaker 1: on to this and I can put my feet firmly
Speaker 1: on what I know, what I trust, what's reliable to me.
Speaker 1: But every step I take, the water's gonna get a
Speaker 1: little bit deeper. It's gonna make me a little bit
Speaker 1: more uncomfortable. Oh my gosh, what's about to happen. What's
Speaker 1: gonna happen on the other side of this thing? And
Speaker 1: every step I take the waters But and he's hanging
Speaker 1: on to the side of the boat. But he's not all.
Speaker 1: He had to come to this point in his relationship
Speaker 1: with Jesus that I cannot place my faith in what
Speaker 1: I know, what I touch, what's familiar to me. I
Speaker 1: gotta get all in with Jesus. And that's where he
Speaker 1: wants you to come today. The place that you would
Speaker 1: get all in in the boat he's not intimidated by.
Speaker 1: But you won't get into it. What keeps you from
Speaker 1: getting in the boat? What keeps you from getting in
Speaker 1: the boat? That's a key question, because some of you
Speaker 1: you haven't done that, And I want to ask you,
Speaker 1: and I want to the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
Speaker 1: What is the reason that you aren't getting in that boat.
Speaker 1: So if we go back to our story of the
Speaker 1: demon party, remember that demon party, that was the first scene.
Speaker 1: Now we're going to come to the middle scene. This
Speaker 1: is going to be. In verse eighteen, it says, when
Speaker 1: Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to
Speaker 1: cross to the other side of the lake. Then the
Speaker 1: teacher of the law came to him, as a teacher,
Speaker 1: I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied. Foxes
Speaker 1: have dens and birds have nests, but the son of
Speaker 1: man is no place to lie his head. Another disciples
Speaker 1: said to him, first, let me go bury my father.
Speaker 1: Jesus told him, follow me and let the dad bury
Speaker 1: their own dead savage Jesus here. Then he got into
Speaker 1: the boat and his disciples followed him. It says when
Speaker 1: Jesus saw the crowd around him. Some theologians believe that
Speaker 1: crowd would have been up to five thousand people. The
Speaker 1: crowd is filled with lots of people, and Jesus is
Speaker 1: very loving, but he's also very divisive. Jesus will have
Speaker 1: these moments that he says in John chapter six. He says,
Speaker 1: unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood,
Speaker 1: you'll have no part of me. And John six sixty six,
Speaker 1: it's as many disciples departed him and followed him no more.
Speaker 1: Why because they followed as far as their understanding would go.
Speaker 1: I'm all in to the end of my understanding, and
Speaker 1: when it doesn't make sense, then I'm not going to
Speaker 1: continue on the journey, because that doesn't make sense Jesus.
Speaker 1: And Jesus is always separating the crowd from the committed.
Speaker 1: And I love the fact that all are loved. Everybody
Speaker 1: on that shore is loved, but not everybody will discover purpose.
Speaker 1: See you're healed with a touch, but you only find
Speaker 1: purpose when you get in the vote. And he's now
Speaker 1: going to divide the crowd, say, guys, we've got to
Speaker 1: get to the other side of the lake. Let's go
Speaker 1: to the other side of the lake. We gotta go.
Speaker 1: I wonder what's so important on the other side of
Speaker 1: the lake. He says, we got to get there. We
Speaker 1: got to get there. But he's going to divide the crowd,
Speaker 1: and there's one group. The first group is this in
Speaker 1: verse nineteen, it says, then a teacher of the law
Speaker 1: came and said, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
Speaker 1: He's a teacher of the law. He's saying it loud
Speaker 1: for everyone, and back to hear I will follow you.
Speaker 1: Jesus because he wanted everybody to be impressed with his language,
Speaker 1: but he didn't have the lifestyle. He's all talk. He's
Speaker 1: all talk. I remember my high school football coach. His
Speaker 1: name was Harvey Krable. He looked like a walrus, and
Speaker 1: when he would talk, his jowls would jiggle. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: And we went and played in this rich town. They
Speaker 1: had new white shoes and white gloves. I got stuff
Speaker 1: that's duct taped together. I've never had anything new in
Speaker 1: my life. And my coach, all walrus of him, six
Speaker 1: foot five, gets off the bus waddling and he's like, hey, boys,
Speaker 1: they got all the gear, but they got no game.
Speaker 1: I describes a lot of Christians. He got the T
Speaker 1: shirt and the blinkity bling you're all talk. Teacher'll follow
Speaker 1: you wherever you go. And she's like, Snowflake, there are
Speaker 1: no five star B and B where we're going. You
Speaker 1: didn't even know what you say. Holy Spirit, victis when
Speaker 1: we're all talk. We got, we got, we got the language,
Speaker 1: but not the lifestyle of being a follower of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Show me, don't tell me. You see Rachel. She got
Speaker 1: up and she served. She showed Jesus the healing, showed
Speaker 1: Jesus her faith. Sometimes Christianity turns into one of those
Speaker 1: dollars you pull the string and out pops one of
Speaker 1: five Christian phrases, blessed and highly favored. He's all talk.
Speaker 1: But then in verse twenty one, another disciple came said, Lord,
Speaker 1: let me first go bury my father. Now, this second group,
Speaker 1: if you're taking notes, you could title it this all excuse,
Speaker 1: all excuse. Now here's the reality that could have been
Speaker 1: a legitimate excuse. It could have been his father could
Speaker 1: have just literally died. But Jesus says, this assignment is
Speaker 1: for living people that's already been taken care of. There's
Speaker 1: somebody on the other side of the link that's alive,
Speaker 1: and we gotta go. And then on the boat, I
Speaker 1: wonder what excuses are so familiar you don't even recognize
Speaker 1: they're coming out of your mouth. Here's one of the
Speaker 1: greatest excuses Christianity that we carry as Christians. Let me
Speaker 1: pray about it. You know you're not gonna pray about it.
Speaker 1: You're blaming God for your disobedience because you've come so
Speaker 1: familiar with the excuse you don't even know it's leaking
Speaker 1: out Holy Spirit and make these excuses bitter that we
Speaker 1: would have a visceral response when they come out of
Speaker 1: our mouth. Are you aware of where the excuses are
Speaker 1: that are keeping you from getting in the boat? What
Speaker 1: keeps you from getting in the boat? Jesus is looking
Speaker 1: at the crowd. It's a mixture of people, people that
Speaker 1: have been healed the night before that still smell like
Speaker 1: demon whatever that smells like. But you have people that
Speaker 1: have been following him for a season, and everybody gets
Speaker 1: the same invitation to get in the boat. You don't
Speaker 1: need the religious elite, you don't need to memorize the
Speaker 1: Book of Philippians. He just says, will you follow me?
Speaker 1: Will you get in the boat. It's some of the
Speaker 1: people that are most resistant to get in the boat,
Speaker 1: critical Christians, who are so familiar with the text. We
Speaker 1: already assume what God says. And he's saying, I got
Speaker 1: to get to the other side of the lake, and
Speaker 1: I need the committed I need those that really want
Speaker 1: to follow me to jump in and be all in. Oh,
Speaker 1: all talk. What phrases are keeping you? What excuses are
Speaker 1: keeping you? I'm stupid. I never had a chance. This
Speaker 1: happened to me when I was six that's real and
Speaker 1: that was horrible, but that does not define your future
Speaker 1: because there's a series of three scenes strung together that
Speaker 1: tell a story. Matthew is very particular about stringing these
Speaker 1: three scenes together. What I prayed for some of you,
Speaker 1: some of you are stuck in a scene and you
Speaker 1: think it's the whole story. Yes, there was the demon possession,
Speaker 1: Yes there was the thing, Yes there was the thing
Speaker 1: that happened to you, there was the thing you did.
Speaker 1: Yes that was a scene in your story, but it's
Speaker 1: not the whole story. And if you back up a
Speaker 1: little bit, you will see that Jesus is giving you
Speaker 1: an opportunity. But what keeps you from getting in the boat.
Speaker 1: I think some of you, the reason you don't get
Speaker 1: in the boat is not because you don't love God.
Speaker 1: It's you despise yourself. And I think what Jesus is
Speaker 1: saying that very thing you despise about yourself is the
Speaker 1: very thing I want in the boat. Now, there's three
Speaker 1: groups in this story. We talked through two of them.
Speaker 1: The first one it's kind of hard to see because
Speaker 1: if we just read it, we skip right over it
Speaker 1: because it says this, it's just when Jesus saw the crowd,
Speaker 1: he gave orders. In verse eighteen, he gave orders to
Speaker 1: cross to the other side of the lake. Now this
Speaker 1: is the third group. This is the all in, say
Speaker 1: all in, because what they heard is, hey, let's get
Speaker 1: to the other side of the lake. What did these
Speaker 1: people do? They ran and they got a boat and
Speaker 1: they brought the boat back. Because if God gives an order,
Speaker 1: I respond with obedience. You see the crowd, the order
Speaker 1: becomes optional. But to the committed, it's a command, and
Speaker 1: they walk in obedience. Are the orders of God optional?
Speaker 1: What is the thing that God is asking you to do?
Speaker 1: The door he wants into that you're not letting him in.
Speaker 1: Because when the general gives the soldiers a command, they
Speaker 1: fall in military formation. But the civilians, they're like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go back to what's important to me,
Speaker 1: and Jesus, ain't get in the boat. We got to
Speaker 1: get to the other side of the lake. What keeps
Speaker 1: you from getting in the boat? Well, Jesus, is there
Speaker 1: gonna be any food on the boat. Some of us
Speaker 1: are like, I want a word from God. No, you don't.
Speaker 1: You want an itinerary and your obedience is proportionate to
Speaker 1: a itinerary that's comfortable for you. And rather than getting
Speaker 1: on a battleship, you're looking for a cruise ship. I'm sorry, Hello, Valentine,
Speaker 1: is in by here with me? This microphone might have
Speaker 1: been dead. I don't I'm all in Jesus until I
Speaker 1: get to like, Oh, but I was expecting you know,
Speaker 1: my ties on the lido deck. But and Jesus, get
Speaker 1: on the boat. But what about what's going to happen
Speaker 1: when we get there? Get on the boat. Get on
Speaker 1: the boat, Get on the boat. Just get on the boat.
Speaker 1: Because what I come to realize about us is if
Speaker 1: the boundaries of your obedience is determined by your understanding,
Speaker 1: you'll never live in the land of faith. I don't understand.
Speaker 1: If you make it plain to me, then I'll get
Speaker 1: on the boat an if then conditional faith with Jesus.
Speaker 1: If you give me the itinerary, then I'll follow on
Speaker 1: And says faith does not work like that. It is
Speaker 1: being sure of what you hope for, are certain of
Speaker 1: what you do not see. There is something on the
Speaker 1: other side of the lake that we've got to get to,
Speaker 1: and I need you to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: I can't give you all the details. But I will
Speaker 1: give you a command, and I will give you the option.
Speaker 1: Will you get on the boat. All of you are loved,
Speaker 1: but not everybody will find the same purpose because the
Speaker 1: reality is that thing that you think disqualifies you from
Speaker 1: getting on the boat is the very thing he needs
Speaker 1: on the boat. And if we stop the story there,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't see the fullness of it, because it goes
Speaker 1: on in Matthew twenty eight, just the next part of
Speaker 1: this story, when he arrived on the other side in
Speaker 1: the region of the Garadines to demon possess men, wait
Speaker 1: coming from the tombes, Maddam, wait no to demon And
Speaker 1: I've read this story so many times before, and it
Speaker 1: never made sense to me because I was reading each scene.
Speaker 1: But picture the demon possessed person, take whatever door that
Speaker 1: you don't want anybody to see behind that, and you're
Speaker 1: looking at the boat saying, those are for the people
Speaker 1: that really love you Jesus, and I still smell like
Speaker 1: last night, the demon possessed people. But they get on
Speaker 1: the boat, and as they're making their way to the
Speaker 1: other side, they first hear it in a distance, the
Speaker 1: cries of these demon possessed men, and it's the closer
Speaker 1: they get, they can see the contorted faces of these
Speaker 1: men under demon possession, and the faith filled people who
Speaker 1: have never struggled with demon possession standing at the front
Speaker 1: of the boat, at the bow of the boat like yeah,
Speaker 1: Jesus are start like yo, Jesus, and they start retreating
Speaker 1: to the back. But those that know what has lacked
Speaker 1: to struggle with demon possession, They're like, wait, now, you
Speaker 1: mean they have empathy for somebody on the other side
Speaker 1: of the lake. The thing that they didn't want to
Speaker 1: bring on the boat is the very thing Jesus wanted
Speaker 1: to use on the other side of the lake. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm telling you. Healing comes with a touch, but
Speaker 1: purpose is found through trust. And healing isn't the absence
Speaker 1: of pain, it's the presence of purpose. The only way
Speaker 1: you discover purposes by being all and by letting Jesus
Speaker 1: be all. And let me give a modern day example
Speaker 1: of this. Let me give you a hypothetical story. Let's
Speaker 1: say there's a fourteen year old girl named Rachel who
Speaker 1: just moved to Valentine area of Charlotte, North Carolina six
Speaker 1: months ago because mom and dad got divorced and she
Speaker 1: had to move back with Mom to move in with Grandma.
Speaker 1: And she's lived here for six months and she has
Speaker 1: zero friends, and she's lonely, and she's filled with anxiety,
Speaker 1: and she wonders, God, where are you now? And some
Speaker 1: little boy invited her to a party. And normally she
Speaker 1: wouldn't go to this party, but Rachel, she just wants friends.
Speaker 1: And she says, Okay, I'll go to the party. But
Speaker 1: she says, I promise I won't. I won't drink. Then
Speaker 1: at the party, the attention is feeding something in her
Speaker 1: that God wants to feed. That just not that way.
Speaker 1: And she says, I'll just hold the cup, I'll just
Speaker 1: have one. I'll just have two. And by the end
Speaker 1: of the night, that little boy gets her to compromise
Speaker 1: something she said she'd keep sacred till marriage. And when
Speaker 1: she's walking home to her apartment that night with Grandma,
Speaker 1: her dad gave her a promise ring when she was eight.
Speaker 1: She takes it off and she throws it in the
Speaker 1: woods because she feels like she's forfeited any future based
Speaker 1: upon that past mistake, and she lays her head in
Speaker 1: the pillow. That night, she cries herself to sleep. She's
Speaker 1: soaking the pillow with her tears. Can you hear her
Speaker 1: cries that that's the sound of the demons across the lake.
Speaker 1: And when she wakes up in the morning, she's praying
Speaker 1: it was just a nightmare. Bet it wasn't, because that
Speaker 1: little boy took photos and he already circulated him. And
Speaker 1: she's called every name you could ever imagine. And before
Speaker 1: her feet even hit the floor, she wants to kill
Speaker 1: herself because she feels like the only way out is that,
Speaker 1: but she realizes there was one other friend at school.
Speaker 3: She invited me to this place called Elevation Valentine and
Speaker 3: as somebody who normally sits in our student section, and
Speaker 3: that little girl walks up to this building, who better
Speaker 3: than you to welcome that little girl?
Speaker 1: And the reality is that story is so familiar to
Speaker 1: so many in this room, and that part of you
Speaker 1: that you want to hide, that you never ever want
Speaker 1: to share, is the very thing that Jesus needs in
Speaker 1: the boat. And if you don't let Jesus into that room,
Speaker 1: all it will ever be is pain. But when you
Speaker 1: put it in the boat, now you find purpose. Who
Speaker 1: better than you to be outfront welcoming that little girl.
Speaker 1: That thing that you said I got to take a
Speaker 1: step back. I got nothing to offer is the very
Speaker 1: thing Jesus wants to put out front. Who better than
Speaker 1: you to lead a youth girl's e group to comfort
Speaker 1: others with the comfort that you have received. Say, Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: show me the rooms I've not let you in. An
Speaker 1: invitation starts with that admission, what are the rooms that
Speaker 1: you're not letting Jesus in? What are the spaces that
Speaker 1: you've not let Jesus into? An unnamed enemy will never
Speaker 1: be defeated? And what do we do with an enemy?
Speaker 1: What do we do with a friend? We cover them.
Speaker 1: What do we do with an enemy? We expose them.
Speaker 1: The admission is to say, I've got this room, but
Speaker 1: somebody in this room is forty five, and you're like,
Speaker 1: I can't tell anybody. What are they going to think
Speaker 1: of me? You will help them go like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: why he's acted like that for twenty two years. You'll
Speaker 1: give some understanding. Stand your feet at all of our
Speaker 1: locations without anybody moving. This is a holy moment, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to give two opportunities to respond to this
Speaker 1: sermon today. The first one is for those that you've
Speaker 1: got a room, I've got rooms. I've got houses, But
Speaker 1: what's one room that you know that you need to
Speaker 1: let Jesus into. Maybe today would be the day that
Speaker 1: you'd let Jesus. You'd hear him knocking. I've been knocking
Speaker 1: for years. I've been knocking on the door of your life.
Speaker 1: Let me into that marriage, let me into that relationship,
Speaker 1: let me into that thing. He'll come in and he'll
Speaker 1: touch you. It doesn't mean the pain goes away, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean you can find purpose in it. And
Speaker 1: then the second invitation is for those of you that
Speaker 1: have not placed your faith in Jesus. You know that
Speaker 1: you're separated from God. You've been playing religious activity, You've
Speaker 1: been checking boxes of going to church, go to the bank,
Speaker 1: go to the grocery store. But you've never confessed with
Speaker 1: your mouth that Jesus Lord and believe it in your
Speaker 1: heart that he was raised from the dead. And if
Speaker 1: you need to begin that relationship with Jesus, I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you that opportunity as well. But by your
Speaker 1: head's close your eyes, put your hands in front of
Speaker 1: you like you're holding a gift. Make some room for
Speaker 1: GeSe Jesus in your hands. Is that room a space
Speaker 1: that you need to let Jesus into You've covered it,
Speaker 1: not because you don't love God, you just kind of
Speaker 1: despise yourself and he wants to come into that. Father,
Speaker 1: I thank you for your sons and daughters right now
Speaker 1: that are walking in boldness fear. But I thank you
Speaker 1: that you're a loving God that you will gently come in.
Speaker 1: You're not going to kick down a door. You're knocking
Speaker 1: on it. Why could you want to come in a
Speaker 1: fellowship with them? And I thank you for the confession,
Speaker 1: the admission. There's a space in our life that we
Speaker 1: need you to touch. I pray that they would move
Speaker 1: beyond just this moment and they would invite another person
Speaker 1: into it today, somebody in this room or somebody online.
Speaker 1: May they share that room so they don't have to
Speaker 1: fight in isolation or being alone any longer. Now, for
Speaker 1: those of you that need to begin a relationship with
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, I'm going to lead us all into prayer
Speaker 1: for people to begin that relationship. To confess with your
Speaker 1: mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart
Speaker 1: that he was raised from the dead. If you say
Speaker 1: these words and you believe it in your heart, you
Speaker 1: will be saved. Pray this with me, Church family. I
Speaker 1: believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who
Speaker 1: died on the cross and rose from the grave to
Speaker 1: forgive me of my sin. I give you my life,
Speaker 1: I give you my sin, I give you my shame.
Speaker 1: Forgive me, and I'll spend my life following you with
Speaker 1: your head still bowed in your eyes still closed. If
Speaker 1: you just place your faith in Jesus or your coming
Speaker 1: back to him, I am going to count to three,
Speaker 1: and without hesitation, once I get there, boldly shoot your
Speaker 1: hand into the air. One, two, three, shoot your hand
Speaker 1: up high across this auditory. Come on, get all of
Speaker 1: our location, all of our location. Come on, get it high.
Speaker 1: One of our team want to get to you. Put
Speaker 1: a new Bible in your hands, signifying your a new creation. Hey,
Speaker 1: church family, let's celebrate that.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 2: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 2: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 2: link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch
Speaker 2: dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
Speaker 2: enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
Speaker 2: with your friends you can click the share button, take
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Speaker 2: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
Speaker 2: bless you.