Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 1: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message. Thank you, Lord, came today to praise you.
Speaker 1: We live to praise you. We breathe to praise you.
Speaker 1: We exists to glorify and enjoy you forever. And your
Speaker 1: presence is the fullness of joy at your right hand
Speaker 1: or pleasures forevermore. We praise you, Lord. Thank you for
Speaker 1: the privilege today to breathe in your grace, to breathe
Speaker 1: out your praise. And now, Lord, I asked that you
Speaker 1: would do something so spectacular as you speak through your word,
Speaker 1: that we would have no other hope than to say
Speaker 1: it was God. For it could not have been a
Speaker 1: motivational speech or an inspirational song that touched me like that.
Speaker 1: It was God. And that will be our testimony when
Speaker 1: we leave. We thank you in advance in Jesus' name. Amen,
Speaker 1: put your hands together and say it had to be God,
Speaker 1: It had to be God. So thankful that you're here today.
Speaker 1: Welcome God bless each and every one of you, whether
Speaker 1: you're physically with us or whether you're part of our etham. Hey,
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that those of you who
Speaker 1: are in within reach, within range of our Elevation Nights
Speaker 1: coming up. How many of you that are here, by
Speaker 1: the way at Valentine's today traveled in from over fifty
Speaker 1: miles away for the primary purpose, I'm not done qualifying.
Speaker 1: There's more stipulations for the prime merry purpose of coming
Speaker 1: to church today. Wave at means celebrate you. Why, that's
Speaker 1: quite a few. Good to have you good? How many
Speaker 1: of you you only traveled five or ten miles, but
Speaker 1: your kids fought all the way and it made it
Speaker 1: feel like you were driving all the way to the
Speaker 1: other side of the country. However you got here. Look
Speaker 1: at your neighbors, say, however, you made it. I'm glad
Speaker 1: that you did, and you will be glad because God's
Speaker 1: got something for you. Put it in the comments. God's
Speaker 1: got something for you, and I want you to remain standing.
Speaker 1: Go to Elevation Nights dot com. If you've always wanted
Speaker 1: to come to elevation but you haven't had the opportunity
Speaker 1: we are going to bring. Would it be unbiblical to
Speaker 1: say it's like Sunday Morning on steroids? Spiritual steroids, Holy
Speaker 1: spirit steroids. It's really fun. I'm gonna be preaching Holly
Speaker 1: Shearers that the worship team does forty seven songs. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: And I can't find my sheet. Okay, here's the sheet
Speaker 1: with the list. We're gonna be in Seattle, Washington, Vancouver, BC, Sacramento, CAA,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, Anaheim. I've never been to Boise, Idaho, but
Speaker 1: I won't be able to say that after this fall.
Speaker 1: We're coming to Boise, Idaho, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver, Colorado,
Speaker 1: that September twenty fourth through October third. Go to Elevation
Speaker 1: Nights dot com for more information. I can tell when
Speaker 1: you're excited for me to quit doing announcements and preach,
Speaker 1: because y'all start clapping to seed me along. That's cold.
Speaker 1: We'll work together. Happy sixteenth anniversary to our elevation Uptown location.
Speaker 1: Sixteen years is a big deal. Thank God for faithful people.
Speaker 1: Remember we used to drive over there and we go
Speaker 1: from matt Used to Butler to Providence to mcglow in
Speaker 1: theater and Officer Van Allman would break the speed limit,
Speaker 1: but it's all right because he's a cop, and we
Speaker 1: would get there just as they were finishing the last
Speaker 1: song to preach. And also, I hope you joined an
Speaker 1: EE group today, all right, if you hadn't joined one yet,
Speaker 1: there's many opportunities for you to do that. And I
Speaker 1: think that's all the announcements. Are you ready for the word?
Speaker 1: Put your hands together, I have them. I have a
Speaker 1: text today from Acts chapter twelve. And be mindful not
Speaker 1: only of what God wants to do in your life,
Speaker 1: but maybe somebody around you today, because I think that's important.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a good habit for us to
Speaker 1: just come to church to tune into the station w
Speaker 1: I FM. What's in it for me? And know the
Speaker 1: person sit in around you. That's why don't leave till
Speaker 1: we were finished, because it might be at that moment
Speaker 1: somebody today gives their life to Christ. And don't close
Speaker 1: off the stream before it's over. Because God has a
Speaker 1: word for you today and I want you to see
Speaker 1: it through until the very end. Acts chapter twelve, verse
Speaker 1: five through seventeen. So quite a bit of scripture. But
Speaker 1: the Lord told me. You haven't read your Bible enough
Speaker 1: this week, and we need to catch up to him.
Speaker 1: Acts Chapter twelve, verse five. So Peter was kept in prison,
Speaker 1: but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Speaker 1: The night before Herod was to bring him to trial,
Speaker 1: Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do yellow favor and skip my dad
Speaker 1: joke with the Atlanta wrapper reference. There, bound with two chains,
Speaker 1: and centuries stood guard at the entrance, and suddenly pay attention.
Speaker 1: Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light
Speaker 1: shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side
Speaker 1: and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said, and
Speaker 1: the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said
Speaker 1: to him, put on your clothes and sandals. Why where
Speaker 1: are we going? And I'm telling you all that just
Speaker 1: get dressed. Sometimes, by the way, you have to get
Speaker 1: dressed before you know the destination. Is that not a
Speaker 1: whole word right there? That is a whole turkey right there?
Speaker 1: The angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandals,
Speaker 1: and Peter did so, wrap your cloak around you and
Speaker 1: follow me, the angel told him. Peter followed him out
Speaker 1: of the prison, but he had no idea that what
Speaker 1: the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he
Speaker 1: was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second
Speaker 1: guards and came to the iron gate leading to the
Speaker 1: It opened for them by itself, and they went through it.
Speaker 1: When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly
Speaker 1: the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said,
Speaker 1: now I know without a doubt. Look kind of sketchy
Speaker 1: for a second, but now I know without a doubt
Speaker 1: that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me
Speaker 1: from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were
Speaker 1: hoping would happen. When this had dawned on him, he
Speaker 1: went to the e group of Mary, the mother of
Speaker 1: John also called Mark, where many people had gathered and
Speaker 1: were praying, and Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and
Speaker 1: a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When
Speaker 1: she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran
Speaker 1: back without opening the door and exclaimed, hey, y'all, Peter
Speaker 1: is at the door, or you're out of your mind.
Speaker 1: They told her, we gotta pray, Lord save Peter. But
Speaker 1: he's here. Can't be Lord help Peter. And I love
Speaker 1: the insistence here of Rhoda and Peter because the Bible says,
Speaker 1: when they said you're crazy, look at verse fifteen, she
Speaker 1: kept insisting that it was so, and they said it
Speaker 1: must be his angel. But Peter talk about insistent persistence.
Speaker 1: Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door
Speaker 1: and saw him, they were astonished. Now I read you
Speaker 1: all that so I could read you this verse seventeen.
Speaker 1: Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet
Speaker 1: and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison.
Speaker 1: He described how the Lord had brought him out of prison.
Speaker 1: I believe there's somebody here today, and you're going to
Speaker 1: be describing how the Lord brought you out not many
Speaker 1: days from now. Matter of fact, Grab the hand of
Speaker 1: the person on either side of you. We're gonna connect physically,
Speaker 1: and we're just gonna believe that whatever is on the
Speaker 1: other side, for your neighbor, they're going to see it,
Speaker 1: they're going to walk into it. And for the neighbor
Speaker 1: on either side of you, tell them, I don't know
Speaker 1: what you need God to bring you out of, but
Speaker 1: He can do it for you. If you need him
Speaker 1: to bring you out of an addiction, he can do
Speaker 1: it for you. If you need him to bring you
Speaker 1: out of depression, he can do it for you. Somebody
Speaker 1: in here needs God to bring them out of debt.
Speaker 1: God can do that for you. God can bring you
Speaker 1: out of your own bad decision. Ask Jonah. He can
Speaker 1: spit you up where you were supposed to be in
Speaker 1: the first place. Ask Jonah. God can bring you out.
Speaker 1: And we're going to pray to that in right now.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is that my brother or my sister needs
Speaker 1: on either side of me for you to bring them
Speaker 1: out of We read about Peter, and Peter wasn't perfect,
Speaker 1: not by a long shot. He denied you, he cursed,
Speaker 1: he cut off a man's ear with a sword. He
Speaker 1: didn't do everything right. But you brought him out. And
Speaker 1: I believe you can do that for the person on
Speaker 1: my right and the person on my left. I believe
Speaker 1: you can do that for every single person watching online today.
Speaker 1: I believe you can do it because I've seen you
Speaker 1: do it. So now, God, I declare that we will
Speaker 1: have testimonies from this service today of how the Lord
Speaker 1: brought me out right there where you're still standing Just
Speaker 1: squeeze your neighbor's hand real quick, just one good squeeze,
Speaker 1: and now look at him and tell him my title.
Speaker 1: Tell him this is what a miracle feels like. This,
Speaker 1: this put it in a promise. This. Give me my
Speaker 1: camera so I can look at him, say this, it's
Speaker 1: what a miracle feels like. High five. Three people say
Speaker 1: it's a miracle. You may be seated. Go ahead and
Speaker 1: bring me my screen. Please, this is what a miracle
Speaker 1: feels like. We're gonna break this all the way down today,
Speaker 1: so don't pay attention while they bring out the screen.
Speaker 1: I want to show you some stuff today. I want
Speaker 1: to show you some things, some things that struck me
Speaker 1: from this text that are very significant for our lives.
Speaker 1: Just out of nowhere. Yesterday me and Graham were coming
Speaker 1: back from doing leg Day. Walked in the kitchen, looks
Speaker 1: at me and says, I feel like I can trust
Speaker 1: you as a man to be faithful to mom. Out
Speaker 1: of nowhere in the kitchen after leg Day, felt proud
Speaker 1: about that, feel like I can trust you as a
Speaker 1: man to be faithful to Mom. Because any man who
Speaker 1: can walk by a bag of chocolate covered pretzels and
Speaker 1: not eat one is a man who can be trusted,
Speaker 1: and they start eating chocolate covered pretzels. Sixteen. He can
Speaker 1: eat chocolate covered pretzels and still have an eight pack,
Speaker 1: and I hate him for it. But in the moment
Speaker 1: I realized, boy, I've come a long way. That my
Speaker 1: son sees me. No, you don't understand I've come a
Speaker 1: long way when food. I saw a lady email the
Speaker 1: church and said, you talk so much about food in
Speaker 1: your sermons. Every sermon you have a food reference. That's
Speaker 1: because we tend to preach our way through the devil
Speaker 1: that we're always having to fight against. And if you
Speaker 1: knew how many food issues exist, not just in my life,
Speaker 1: but life of my parents and just generation things like that,
Speaker 1: that's kind of a big deal for Graham to look
Speaker 1: at me and say to admire my discipline as he
Speaker 1: eats chocolate covered pretzels Once a year. I have a
Speaker 1: little commemorative thing where I eat so much food just
Speaker 1: to show my family what would be possible. I start
Speaker 1: early and I in late, just to show them that
Speaker 1: if I ever took the bumpers off at the bowling alley,
Speaker 1: what kind of gutter we would be in. As it
Speaker 1: concerns my nutrition and it's a thing to behold. I mean,
Speaker 1: I could sell tickets to this all the food I
Speaker 1: eat in that day, and I do it once twice,
Speaker 1: three or four times a year, as often as they
Speaker 1: need to be reminded. You know, my father was a
Speaker 1: wandering army and you know, like whatever as an old testament, Joe.
Speaker 1: But the thing about it in the moment was it
Speaker 1: took me back to when I made a decision to
Speaker 1: be disciplined with eating, and it took me back to
Speaker 1: all of the people who gave me advice when I
Speaker 1: was trying to choose a diet to go on, and
Speaker 1: I was busy trying to show Holly how much I
Speaker 1: appreciated her cooking. We were newly wets and I was
Speaker 1: showing her that by gaining forty pounds of fat, and
Speaker 1: I just wanted her to see how effective her meals were.
Speaker 1: And one day I walked by mirror and it just
Speaker 1: freaked me out. And I didn't feel like I was
Speaker 1: getting fatter, but apparently I was, because what I saw
Speaker 1: I didn't recognize, and it just it's just kind of
Speaker 1: like like all of a sudden, you know. That's that's
Speaker 1: how that happens, and so I came. I came to her,
Speaker 1: and I said, I think I'm gonna go on Atkins diet.
Speaker 1: I've watched my parents do it. It looks fun. You
Speaker 1: can eat hot dogs with no buns and bacon and
Speaker 1: lose weight. And I think I'm gonna try that one.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't want to do a portion control.
Speaker 1: And so I went around to different people and I said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do Atkins and I can. I can eat
Speaker 1: a lot but not not have to worry about how
Speaker 1: much I eat. I can just eat certain things. And
Speaker 1: this woman said to me, I know she meant, well,
Speaker 1: very health conscious woman. She goes, no, no, you don't
Speaker 1: need to eliminate carbohydrates from your diet. You just need
Speaker 1: to eat all the food groups and you can eat anything.
Speaker 1: But the keat is just eat until you feel full
Speaker 1: and then stop, which may be good advice if full
Speaker 1: is a feeling that you're familiar with, But this feeling
Speaker 1: I didn't tell her. I just listened polightly. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: that sounds great. I'm so happy for you about that
Speaker 1: feeling full thing. But apparently my full feeler didn't get
Speaker 1: installed in the factory because even if I eat till
Speaker 1: I feel full, it'll be five minutes and I won't
Speaker 1: feel full. And I can feel full on salty but
Speaker 1: still want sweet. So there's like five different types of
Speaker 1: full that I need to feel. And so since I
Speaker 1: realized I can't trust this feeling called full because I've
Speaker 1: been waiting to feel full, and that put these forty
Speaker 1: pounds on me, because whole time I've been eating these
Speaker 1: forty pounds, I've been trying to feel full, and I
Speaker 1: haven't felt full. And I realized feelings can be deceiving
Speaker 1: and they can be delayed. And so I wonder today,
Speaker 1: just as an illustration, as we look at this text
Speaker 1: and consider this lesson, is it possible that, just like
Speaker 1: sometimes you're full, maybe not you, but people like me
Speaker 1: we're full and we don't feel full, is it possible
Speaker 1: sometimes that as difficult as it is for me to
Speaker 1: feel full, it's all so difficult to feel faith. And
Speaker 1: I mentioned that because if you don't know what faith
Speaker 1: feels like, sometimes you will be acting as if you
Speaker 1: don't have it, when in fact you do. And that
Speaker 1: it is possible for you to have faith and not
Speaker 1: feel faith, just as it is possible for me to
Speaker 1: be full and not feel full. I'm already preaching better
Speaker 1: than you're responding, but I don't mind, because the fact
Speaker 1: of the matter is, even in a sermon, when you're
Speaker 1: hearing the word of God preached, you may not necessarily
Speaker 1: feel good while you're hearing the message, but it might
Speaker 1: make you better after you go home. The feeling can
Speaker 1: be delayed. I said last week that feelings come, but
Speaker 1: they don't come first. You heard it. Wow, that was
Speaker 1: revolutionary for me to know that feelings have their place
Speaker 1: in my life, but not first place. That emotions are
Speaker 1: welcome to come. And so when I feel amazing grace,
Speaker 1: I sing amazing grace. But when I don't feel amazing grace,
Speaker 1: check this out, I still got amazing grace. Because feelings come,
Speaker 1: but they don't come first. The word comes first. Somebody
Speaker 1: say the word comes first, and what God speaks over
Speaker 1: me is the first word, the last word, the alpha,
Speaker 1: the omega, and the omnikron in the middle of the
Speaker 1: Greek alphabet. Because feelings come, but they don't come first.
Speaker 1: A very important lesson today. Now. The reason I selected
Speaker 1: this story for our lesson today is because we are
Speaker 1: seeing a miracle. But it probably doesn't feel like a
Speaker 1: miracle to the people experiencing it. And it is my
Speaker 1: theory that most of the Bible stories that we love
Speaker 1: to read we would have hated to live. Think about this.
Speaker 1: Our Bible club is reading Daniel right now. I like
Speaker 1: hearing about the lions that he slept with. I don't
Speaker 1: want one for a pillow. I love singing about shadrackne
Speaker 1: Shack of ed Nigo, but I don't want to be
Speaker 1: neither of the three. I don't wanna. I don't wanna.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be in that story. I want
Speaker 1: to read that story kind of like Peter, I don't
Speaker 1: want to. I don't want to be in a prison
Speaker 1: for preaching the gospel. I hope I never have to
Speaker 1: do that, go to prison for preaching the gospel. I
Speaker 1: don't really want anything to confine me. He is not
Speaker 1: a physical prison, you know. So I'm reading about this
Speaker 1: and I'm like, why do I I like this story
Speaker 1: so much? Because we love dramatic deliverance stories in church.
Speaker 1: Read see Anyone, the Fall of Goliath, anyone, Jericho Walls, anyone, traffic, anyone,
Speaker 1: no red c not traffic. And my task a lot
Speaker 1: of times in bringing the scripture is to kind of
Speaker 1: bring it down to a level where we can see
Speaker 1: that although we are not Peter in a prison, and
Speaker 1: although we are not the church that was persecuted by Herod,
Speaker 1: it was going around and kind of taking all the
Speaker 1: Christians and throwing them in jail to try to keep
Speaker 1: the people under his jurisdiction happy. Because you know, political
Speaker 1: purposes that have had their origin and human agendas that
Speaker 1: are used under God's sign sovereign rule are nothing new
Speaker 1: to the God of the Bible. And so we see
Speaker 1: in Acts chapter twelve how Herod is going around and
Speaker 1: persecuting the Christians. And I wanted to slow down and
Speaker 1: show you some things that struck me this week from
Speaker 1: this message. Look at your neighbor and say, this is
Speaker 1: what a miracle feels like. Now when I say it
Speaker 1: feels like, let me point something out to you, is
Speaker 1: that the book that I just quoted to you from
Speaker 1: is called the Book of Acts. And it's called the
Speaker 1: Book of Acts because it is the acts, the actions,
Speaker 1: the acts of the apostles who Jesus left to take
Speaker 1: the Gospel into all the world. And they did that,
Speaker 1: They did that against all odds, they did that. They
Speaker 1: did that starting on the day of Pentecost, when the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit came and God gave the utterance so that
Speaker 1: everyone heard the gospel in their own language. They preached repentance.
Speaker 1: They did that. They healed the lame, they did that.
Speaker 1: Fleet have already suffered a lot of persecution. They did
Speaker 1: all of that, and much of it is included in
Speaker 1: the Book of Apps. Noticed that I did not tell you, though,
Speaker 1: when I started today to turn in your Bible to
Speaker 1: the twelfth chapter of the Book of Feelings, I told
Speaker 1: you to turn to the twelfth chapter of the Book
Speaker 1: of the Book of feelings might be a different book,
Speaker 1: the book of what they felt as they did it.
Speaker 1: I feel God so strong on this message because you
Speaker 1: keep thinking that the feeling not being there means there's
Speaker 1: something wrong with you. Maybe maybe not, because feelings come,
Speaker 1: but they don't come first. You keep thinking, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: struggle with this if I really believed that Maybe maybe not,
Speaker 1: because feelings come, but they don't come first. And the
Speaker 1: amazing thing about a miracle is that you can be
Speaker 1: in one and not feel one while you're in it,
Speaker 1: just like I can be full technically, because let's be honest,
Speaker 1: nobody really needs the whole bag. But I have a
Speaker 1: I have a whole bag brain. So so when I
Speaker 1: when I feel full, that's that's a that's a brain thing,
Speaker 1: not a body thing. And so something can actually be
Speaker 1: happening in your body that's not happening in your brain.
Speaker 1: By extension, something can actually be happening in your life
Speaker 1: in reality that has not yet happened in your emotions.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it takes a little while for us to
Speaker 1: catch up with what God was already doing, so that
Speaker 1: while we are going through the experience, we really can't
Speaker 1: understand the experience. And the temptation in these moments is
Speaker 1: to think, if I can't describe it while I'm going
Speaker 1: through it, then God must not be in it. So
Speaker 1: then we say things like this makes no sense, and God,
Speaker 1: get me out of this. But it is often not
Speaker 1: until we get out of this that we can even
Speaker 1: understand why God put us in this and be able
Speaker 1: to tell the testimony, Yeah there were lions, they didn't
Speaker 1: bite me. Yeah there was fire. It didn't send me.
Speaker 1: I don't smell like it, do I? But I slept there.
Speaker 1: So In Acts chapter twelve, Peter gets out of prison
Speaker 1: and we read about that, and it's a really humorous story.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one of those great stories to show
Speaker 1: people people who say the Bible's boring, send them over
Speaker 1: to Acts, chapter twelve and show them the comedy of
Speaker 1: the fact that the church is praying for Peter and
Speaker 1: he comes to the door and the girl says, hey,
Speaker 1: the thing you're praying for it just showed up, And
Speaker 1: they say, no way, it must be his angel. No,
Speaker 1: it's a miracle. No, it can't be. The people who
Speaker 1: are praying for it to happen can't even believe it
Speaker 1: could possibly be true. This message just for everybody who
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like a good parent right now. You might
Speaker 1: be a real good parent, and the proof of your
Speaker 1: good parenting might be your prison. The proof that Peter
Speaker 1: was making a difference was the fact that the political
Speaker 1: agenda had to suppress him. So the proof sometimes that
Speaker 1: you're doing what you're supposed to do is that a
Speaker 1: resistance comes to contain you from continuing to do it.
Speaker 1: Don't assume that just because it's tense in your home
Speaker 1: right now, that that necessarily means you're doing it wrong.
Speaker 1: You may need to adjust your strategy, you may need
Speaker 1: to do it a little differently. Going forward, you may
Speaker 1: need to take a queue that something needs to change.
Speaker 1: But please understand that is not in prison for something
Speaker 1: he did disobedient. He's in prison for fulfilling his very purpose,
Speaker 1: and the church is praying for God to bring him out.
Speaker 1: I mean, if this was called the Book of Feelings,
Speaker 1: what would acts chapter twelve be. It would be a
Speaker 1: church that was praying but not really believing that what
Speaker 1: they were praying was possible. I slipped this in for
Speaker 1: everybody who has ever come into a worship service and
Speaker 1: we sang something like I trust in God, and you
Speaker 1: lifted your hands and felt like a hypocrite because you
Speaker 1: were not trusting God in that moment you put your
Speaker 1: hands up. But the act of worship was obedience, even
Speaker 1: if the feeling of worship did not prompt it. The
Speaker 1: act of kindness is obedience, even if you can't stand
Speaker 1: the person the act. Oh, I'm preaching good today, I'm
Speaker 1: preaching so good. The church is going quiet, and Peter
Speaker 1: is in prison precisely because he is in the center
Speaker 1: of his purpose. And I would suggest to you that
Speaker 1: sometimes the prison proves your progress. Sometimes the difficulty proves
Speaker 1: the challenge proves the struggle proves that you are growing
Speaker 1: stronger and making a difference for God. If you go
Speaker 1: to a Panthers game this year, nobody will come up
Speaker 1: and tackle you unless you got the ball. But when
Speaker 1: you got the ball, they hit you over what you carry.
Speaker 1: When you've got the ball, they hit you over what
Speaker 1: you have the potential to do. When you got the ball,
Speaker 1: they hit you because if they let you get too open,
Speaker 1: you might make something happen, and you might make the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and you might put six on the ball, high five
Speaker 1: somebody and say, I know what I got. So this
Speaker 1: is what a miracle feels like. It shows up at
Speaker 1: the door and you can't even open the door because
Speaker 1: they're so afraid. Sometimes it's at the door and you
Speaker 1: are so disappointed. I mean, let's get the church credit.
Speaker 1: They were praying. It's a miracle. They were still praying.
Speaker 1: Under the persecution they were under. It's a miracle. They
Speaker 1: were still praying. One of their main leaders has just
Speaker 1: been beheaded just days ago. His name was James. When
Speaker 1: you read the Gospels, you read about Peter and James
Speaker 1: and John that James. They took him out, cut his
Speaker 1: head off, and Peter was next and on the night
Speaker 1: that they were deciding his fate, the church will praying
Speaker 1: Peter got out. But notice something here, because I never
Speaker 1: noticed it before. I preached this passage about every two
Speaker 1: or three years. It's something that I really love, and
Speaker 1: maybe it's a lot of things that I need God
Speaker 1: to bring me out of too, and so it gives
Speaker 1: me hope and energy for that. But I've got of
Speaker 1: restruct me before where it said Peter kept knocking, and
Speaker 1: I always thought that was cool. And they opened the
Speaker 1: door and saw him, they were astonished. I never noticed
Speaker 1: what Peter did next. And this is what I want
Speaker 1: us to think about for a moment today, How Peter
Speaker 1: is standing there and he's on the run and nobody
Speaker 1: knows he's gone because God snuck him out of his cell.
Speaker 1: Sometimes God doesn't do it in a dramatic way. Sometimes
Speaker 1: he sneaks you out. Sometimes he sneaks you out so
Speaker 1: good you don't even know you're gone yet. And you
Speaker 1: wake up one day and say, oh, I don't even
Speaker 1: want to call him back. Oh I don't even want
Speaker 1: to go over. Oh I don't even want to say so,
Speaker 1: I don't even like to face. That tastes nasty. And
Speaker 1: he's sneaking out and he gets to the place where
Speaker 1: he knew some people might be praying, which you would
Speaker 1: think that he was going there for safety. The only
Speaker 1: problem with that, And all of you who are listening
Speaker 1: on a podcast, I am circling words on the screen,
Speaker 1: and I wish you could see it, because my handwriting
Speaker 1: is amazing and my artistic ability is on parallel. I'm
Speaker 1: doing some calligraphy up here. But it said. He motioned
Speaker 1: with his hand for them to be quiet, and described
Speaker 1: how the Lord had brought him out of prison. Tell
Speaker 1: James and the other brothers and sisters about this is
Speaker 1: a different James, not the one this dead. Tell James
Speaker 1: and the other brothers and sisters about this, he said.
Speaker 1: And then he left for another place, and we don't
Speaker 1: know where he goes. But before he left for another
Speaker 1: place because he's got a hurry. Now he snuck out
Speaker 1: of prison, doesn't have much time. This is what a
Speaker 1: miracle feels like. You're out, but you're still running. You're
Speaker 1: out of that thing, but you're headed to another place.
Speaker 1: Did you see that He left for another place. But
Speaker 1: along the way he goes just to show the praying
Speaker 1: church at John Mark's mother's house that he was still here.
Speaker 1: But the Bible says he also before he left to
Speaker 1: go to another place, which I'm sure God had a
Speaker 1: lot more for Peter to do. He went on to
Speaker 1: do amazing things. He went on to be one of
Speaker 1: the most significant figures in the New Testament church. But
Speaker 1: before he left, he told him be quiet. They're freaking out.
Speaker 1: He's liked, they're trying to kill me. He the Lord
Speaker 1: snucked me out. What do you mean they let you go? No, not,
Speaker 1: bab he did. They didn't let me go. He did.
Speaker 1: He hit me out. Now shut up. And then the
Speaker 1: Bible says, because he's a wanted man, right, So what
Speaker 1: is he doing standing here at their door, out in
Speaker 1: the open. He's not going inside. He sees he has
Speaker 1: this whole conversation at the door. He never even goes in.
Speaker 1: But the Bible says, not only did he show them
Speaker 1: that God had kept him, but he watched this described
Speaker 1: how the Lord had brought him out of prison. Now
Speaker 1: that's different because when they saw him, they could have
Speaker 1: assumed that he was released by Herod. But he had
Speaker 1: to clarify it wasn't Herod that let me out. Because
Speaker 1: sometimes people don't change. But the God who never changes,
Speaker 1: can take you in the same situation and nothing change
Speaker 1: about the situation, but everything changed for you. And he
Speaker 1: began to describe, Oh, I love it. He began to
Speaker 1: describe how the Lord had brought him out of prison.
Speaker 1: Touch your neighbors, say, you wouldn't believe me if I
Speaker 1: told you, if I told you how God brought me out,
Speaker 1: if I told you how I kept my mind, if
Speaker 1: I told you how he up me, saying, if I
Speaker 1: told you how I paid this bill while that bill
Speaker 1: was talking to that bill, and my bills had baby bills,
Speaker 1: and the baby bills all ganged up and started eating
Speaker 1: me like monsters like piranhas. If I told you how
Speaker 1: we did it, you wouldn't believe me. You wouldn't believe
Speaker 1: how God brought me out. But he stops to tell
Speaker 1: them how he described how the Lord had brought him
Speaker 1: out of prison. So let's run it back. Let's have
Speaker 1: a conversation. Peter is standing at the door with us today,
Speaker 1: and God brought him out of a prison. And you
Speaker 1: need God to bring you out of a prison. It
Speaker 1: may be the prison of your own pride, it may
Speaker 1: be the prison of the pain that you feel because
Speaker 1: just like the church was, we are all dealing with
Speaker 1: a loss that we experienced while reaching toward a future
Speaker 1: that we hope for. You know how heart it is
Speaker 1: to pray for Peter, you just lost James. You know
Speaker 1: how hard it is to believe that my life is
Speaker 1: going to be better and I'm going to be happy
Speaker 1: again one day when you thought that six months ago.
Speaker 1: How hard it is to trust somebody that's new when
Speaker 1: the people that you knew you could trust proved that
Speaker 1: you were wrong. Thus is the situation. And yet now
Speaker 1: we've got a church that was praying, not really even
Speaker 1: believing that it was possible, but still praying. And Peter,
Speaker 1: did you notice who goes the whole journey not even
Speaker 1: knowing that what was happening was really happening. And they're
Speaker 1: standing here at the door because this is what a
Speaker 1: miracle feels like. This. I don't know if that's exciting,
Speaker 1: but it's true. It's the difference between the baby pictures
Speaker 1: that they put on Instagram and the three AM feedings
Speaker 1: of what being a mom feels like. See the first
Speaker 1: one is what being a mom is filtered like. The
Speaker 1: second one is what being a mom feels like and
Speaker 1: when you are in a miracle, you may feel like
Speaker 1: the church praying in John March's mother's home. God do it,
Speaker 1: even though I'm not sure you can. God, we're praying,
Speaker 1: even though we're still in pain. We're praying through these tears.
Speaker 1: We're believing, but kind of not. And so Peter was
Speaker 1: kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying. I
Speaker 1: was praying, and Peter said, I got to tell you
Speaker 1: how the Lord brought me out. You won't believe it.
Speaker 1: The night before Herod was coming to bring me to trial,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know the outcome. Y'all, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: believe this. Keep your voices down, but I need to
Speaker 1: tell you what I was doing in the prison cell.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna believe it, because if you would have
Speaker 1: told me I was going to be thrown in prison.
Speaker 1: This is Peter speaking, Okay, This is as if like
Speaker 1: Peter was describing how the Lord brought him out. I
Speaker 1: would have thought that I would have had an ulcer.
Speaker 1: I would have thought that I would have been pacing
Speaker 1: all around the cell. I would have thought that I
Speaker 1: would have been freaking out. But it was the most
Speaker 1: amazing thing that while I was waiting to see if
Speaker 1: I was going to live or die, I was sleeping, sleeping.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Peter, speak up. Did you say you were
Speaker 1: you were singing like Paul and Silas. No, that's Act sixteen.
Speaker 1: This is Act twelve that hasn't happened yet. Paul's all
Speaker 1: boisterous about it. He's singing in prison. Peter said, I
Speaker 1: don't know how. I can't explain it, but somehow, while
Speaker 1: I was waiting, not even knowing the outcome, I was sleeping. Peter,
Speaker 1: say it one more time. What were you doing while
Speaker 1: you were waiting to see if you were gonna have
Speaker 1: your head cut off? I can't explain it. I know
Speaker 1: it makes no sense. I was sleeping because sometimes this
Speaker 1: is what a miracle looks like. Sometimes you do it
Speaker 1: with a lower thread count. Sometimes they don't even fluff
Speaker 1: your pillow or put a mint on it. Definitely let
Speaker 1: one of those cruise ship wash costs that they roll
Speaker 1: up to look like a duck. None of that, no comfort,
Speaker 1: no certainty. But I slept. Tell somebody, I know you
Speaker 1: won't believe me, but I was sleeping. I couldn't explain it,
Speaker 1: but God gave me watch this a supernatural piece. How
Speaker 1: many have that testimony? And I know if I try
Speaker 1: to explain it to you, it won't make sense because
Speaker 1: I should have been just freaking out. I should have
Speaker 1: been going crazy. I should have been shaking the part.
Speaker 1: This isn't right. I at least should have been praying.
Speaker 1: But oh, wait a minute, Wait a minute, Peter, you
Speaker 1: were sleeping. That makes total sense because we were so
Speaker 1: so so that's amazing, right, because we were praying, but
Speaker 1: we didn't have any proof that it was working. But
Speaker 1: now you're standing at the door to tell us that
Speaker 1: you were able to do this because we were willing
Speaker 1: to do this. Now I feel I preach that God
Speaker 1: set is working. God said, is working? Why you sleep
Speaker 1: or just like the human body recovers during rest. God said,
Speaker 1: I am building your case right now. Why you're rest.
Speaker 1: I got somebody praying for you that you have me
Speaker 1: even talk to in twenty four months. I got somebody
Speaker 1: praying for you that you don't even like. I got
Speaker 1: somebody praying for you. I'm here because Peter said, really, yo,
Speaker 1: we're praying. What time y'all start praying? I bet it
Speaker 1: was around the same time I bet the moment they
Speaker 1: started praying, Peer passed out. I bet he was on
Speaker 1: the verge of a nervous breakdown. God said, he brought
Speaker 1: you the church this morning, and when you go home tonight,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a same problem, same prison, but a
Speaker 1: different sleep because God's gonna close your eyes and make
Speaker 1: you lie down in green pastures. Because this, it's a
Speaker 1: pillow your head in a prison makes no sense. It's
Speaker 1: a miracle. Peter, did you fall asleep cause you knew
Speaker 1: God was gonna bring you out? No? I fell asleep
Speaker 1: because there was nothing I could do about it, and
Speaker 1: it had to be God. So when you've done all
Speaker 1: you can do, sleep on it like a baby freshly
Speaker 1: fed with the milk of the word of God. I'm
Speaker 1: going to sleep on this thing because when he brings
Speaker 1: you out, you're gonna need your rest for what's next. Well,
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm doing therapy for somebody today. Somebody
Speaker 1: in here is too cheap to hire a professional therapist,
Speaker 1: So you get me. I was sleeping. Tell somebody I
Speaker 1: was sleeping. Look, I don't even really know. It's like
Speaker 1: God knocked me out for the surgery. It was like
Speaker 1: I came to a point. I can't even tell you
Speaker 1: exactly when it happened, but I was sleeping. He described
Speaker 1: how the Lord brought him out, and I was sleeping
Speaker 1: between two guards. You ever had to sleep between two things.
Speaker 1: I don't know what tomorrow holds, and I can't change
Speaker 1: what yesterday did. But somehow I was sleeping. Somehow I
Speaker 1: was sleeping. God told me about one of my kids
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. I was so worried. He said,
Speaker 1: I got them stay out of it. Well that was
Speaker 1: hard for me to hear, but I already did all
Speaker 1: I could do. If I could do something else, I
Speaker 1: did something else because I got him stay out of it.
Speaker 1: And when he said that to me and I slept
Speaker 1: on it, I woke up to find he really really
Speaker 1: good at doing stuff while I sleep. Now, Santa Claus
Speaker 1: has nothing on God. You ought to see what he
Speaker 1: can bring while you're sleeping. I feel like preaching, but
Speaker 1: I got two more points. Say preach on past, sir,
Speaker 1: preach on pastor preach preach. Tell everybody falls asleep and
Speaker 1: wakes back up and preach it again. Tell your neighbor
Speaker 1: don't sleep right now. It's very rude. Now, he said,
Speaker 1: I was sleeping, and I like to imagine it, Okay,
Speaker 1: not for dramatic purposes, not because I'm trying to be
Speaker 1: some great storyteller, but I'd just like to imagine he's
Speaker 1: standing at the door. He's been there, banging on the door.
Speaker 1: Is bet this me me? Don't you believe I can
Speaker 1: do it? No? Don't. We're really confused. I'm confused to
Speaker 1: where we are. This is my miracle. Feels like I
Speaker 1: was sleeping and right about when I hit my rim cycle,
Speaker 1: verse seven, suddenly, the first one, if you want to
Speaker 1: take notes, I was sleeping, Peter said. Then Peter said, God, God,
Speaker 1: let me sleep. He gave me peace. He supernaturally rocked
Speaker 1: me to bed with the revelation that he was with me.
Speaker 1: And suddenly an angel of the Lord of Pere this
Speaker 1: is great, And a light shone in the cell, and
Speaker 1: he struck Peter on the side and woke him up.
Speaker 1: So Peter said, let me tell you what had happened.
Speaker 1: I was sleeping. Then I was struck. I was struck.
Speaker 1: Y'all kind of slow today. Let me come down there
Speaker 1: and show you what a miracle feels like. Because we
Speaker 1: all have our ideas, right, Okay, you're reading this and
Speaker 1: you're thinking, Okay, here comes the angel. This is great
Speaker 1: for Peter. Peter's our god angel shows up verse seven,
Speaker 1: We're all worried. In verse six, he's probably gonna die
Speaker 1: like James died. There's no hope for Peter. Oh, this
Speaker 1: is horrible. Suddenly, great Bible word. Suddenly an angel showed up.
Speaker 1: Here comes the light and here comes the angel. And
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you don't like the picture. The
Speaker 1: angel like protecting me and covering me with his wings.
Speaker 1: But apparently this angel had wings that he used for
Speaker 1: whacking you. Feel if I use you for this? Because
Speaker 1: sometimes a miracle feels like can y'all see on the
Speaker 1: camera what I'm doing? Can you see this online? Has
Speaker 1: life done wan to these? To you lately? What kind
Speaker 1: of angel is this? Jj run around striking people, the
Speaker 1: same one that put him to sleep, because God knows
Speaker 1: when it's time for you to get up. And sometimes
Speaker 1: you praise him because you were sleeping. But you got
Speaker 1: to learn to praise him when he strikes you too.
Speaker 1: Not all discomfort is a curse. What kind of angel
Speaker 1: has this been in your life lately? I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: hit women. I gotta draw a line somewhere. Wouldn't they
Speaker 1: clip me on YouTube? If I ran around hidden, They're
Speaker 1: probably gonna clip it anyway and put it on there. Well,
Speaker 1: that's all right. I've been clipped before. I've been struck before.
Speaker 1: Sometimes God used a critic I did it, but real soft.
Speaker 1: Sometimes God used something that felt like this, but touch
Speaker 1: your neighbors, say that's your wake up call. See there's
Speaker 1: a sleepy time angel that God will send, and then
Speaker 1: there's a wake up angel that God will send some
Speaker 1: of the things that have been happening in your life lately.
Speaker 1: That's not the enemy. That's an angel. Some of it
Speaker 1: is an angel. I used to think raising teenagers, Oh God,
Speaker 1: they're possessed by the devil. Nope. I read a book
Speaker 1: by Peterson, who wrote the Message Bible. He's in Heaven now.
Speaker 1: He said that adolescence is the gift to the middle
Speaker 1: aged men to keep us from stagnating, because when we
Speaker 1: are forced to confront what we never grew through in
Speaker 1: our children, it keeps us from lying down and dying
Speaker 1: in the state that we're in. So I realized my
Speaker 1: teenagers weren't the devil. They were my angel, saying wake
Speaker 1: up mate, Tap your neighbor, real soft. I don't want
Speaker 1: to start a fight on the third row, but say
Speaker 1: wake up, ask them, are you my angel? And I
Speaker 1: think this would be very good for us to learn
Speaker 1: the next time something happens. We don't like how it
Speaker 1: feels the next time something happens, because we were all
Speaker 1: so comforted that the angel put me to But Peter says,
Speaker 1: I was sleeping when I needed to sleep, and I
Speaker 1: was struck when I needed to get up, And the
Speaker 1: same God that puts me to sleep, just do it
Speaker 1: for me. High five to three people and say get
Speaker 1: up right now. This is your angel saying, this is
Speaker 1: your angel, saying, this is your angel, saying, this is
Speaker 1: your angel saying that person that gets up on your
Speaker 1: nerves when they walk in the office Monday, I want
Speaker 1: you to see them with wings. Here comes my angel,
Speaker 1: trying to keep me fresh, because how else would you
Speaker 1: love your enemies if you didn't have any. So all
Speaker 1: they're doing is giving me an opportunity to be obedient.
Speaker 1: Here it comes, Here, it comes. Shove your neighbor a
Speaker 1: little bit. Say this is what a miracle feels like.
Speaker 1: And I thought it was God punishing me. No, he's
Speaker 1: not punishing me, He's pushing me because he's got something.
Speaker 1: This this boy, this, this is what it feels like sleeping.
Speaker 1: I was sleeping and I was struck. But but that's
Speaker 1: my second favorite point. Here comes my favorite point. Say,
Speaker 1: I was sleeping and I was struck, and I was
Speaker 1: struck by something that was meant to help me, not
Speaker 1: to kill me. I was struck by something that was
Speaker 1: meant to move me forward. I was struck by something
Speaker 1: that was sent to notify me that God is active
Speaker 1: in this situation. So thank you Lord for the wing
Speaker 1: that covered me and let me sleep under the heat
Speaker 1: of my trial. But thank you for the same wing
Speaker 1: that smacked me and got me up out of that
Speaker 1: tin and told me You're better than this. Thank you
Speaker 1: Jesus Ah. So I was sleeping till your neighbor. I
Speaker 1: was sleeping. I can't stay long. I gotta go. I
Speaker 1: can't stay here at this door forever. I gotta go.
Speaker 1: But I need you to know how the Lord brought
Speaker 1: me up. I was sleeping and just when I got comfortable, Oh,
Speaker 1: thank you, Lord, you're letting me good night sleep before
Speaker 1: I die. I was struck because God was like, I'm
Speaker 1: not done with you yet. Some of you laid down
Speaker 1: to die. But you're going to another place, another dimension.
Speaker 1: You hadn't even matured yet. You hadn't even done your
Speaker 1: best work yet. You hadn't even made your greatest contribution
Speaker 1: or deposit yet. Because the Bible says that Peter was
Speaker 1: sleeping and that Peter was struck, so tell him I
Speaker 1: was sleeping. Put it in the comments. I was sleeping.
Speaker 1: I was struck. And then the Angel said to him,
Speaker 1: put on your clothes and sandals. So I guess, Peter
Speaker 1: say I was stripped. I'm not going to preach that one.
Speaker 1: I had to get out of my pajamas because what
Speaker 1: I was dressed for wasn't appropriate for what God was
Speaker 1: bringing me into. I was wearing my prison pjs. So
Speaker 1: I get dressed and I did it, and the Lord said,
Speaker 1: wrap your cloak around you and follow me. Everybody say
Speaker 1: follow me. Put it in the comments. Follow me. The
Speaker 1: Angel told him, did not give him a GPS coordinate,
Speaker 1: gave him an instruction, gave him a path. And my
Speaker 1: favorite thing about Peter in this passage, because he slowed
Speaker 1: down to share how the Lord brought him out. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you go back through the things in your life
Speaker 1: that God has brought you out of, you can learn
Speaker 1: a lot for where he's bringing you through right now,
Speaker 1: So Peter said, before I go to the next place,
Speaker 1: before I go to the next week, before I go
Speaker 1: through another birthday, before I go into another season of
Speaker 1: my life, before I go into another school year, whatever
Speaker 1: the case may be. Before I go into another E
Speaker 1: group and leaves because they were weird. They are the
Speaker 1: thirteenth weird group you've been in. They're the weird ones
Speaker 1: every time. Let's evaluate this for a minute. He said,
Speaker 1: follow me. It isn't it? Follow me? The angel told him,
Speaker 1: and Peter said, I followed him. He followed him. He
Speaker 1: followed him. I'm circling the word in verse nine. Followed.
Speaker 1: He followed him out of the prison. But he had
Speaker 1: no idea that what the Angel is doing is really happening.
Speaker 1: He didn't know what God was doing till he was
Speaker 1: all the way out. So I was sleeping, I was struck,
Speaker 1: got up, Jane fell off, and then I started following
Speaker 1: the angel. But honestly, I didn't know what was going on.
Speaker 1: So I was sleeping, I was struck, and then I
Speaker 1: was stumbling. I was stumbling. To be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I'm only here at the door right now because I
Speaker 1: stumbled to something that I didn't know was even there.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was still so sleepy. You have to understand.
Speaker 1: The angel woke me up quick, hit me hard, knocked
Speaker 1: the breath out of me. I wasn't expecting that to
Speaker 1: be the wake up call. I was just settled in.
Speaker 1: I was just starting to dream. It was a good dream.
Speaker 1: And he woke me up and said get dressed, and
Speaker 1: we got it going before I could even say where.
Speaker 1: We were out and it was dark, and I followed him,
Speaker 1: but I didn't know where I was going. I was stumbling.
Speaker 1: I told my oldest son recently, anything you've ever seen
Speaker 1: me do well as a dad, I did it by
Speaker 1: accident because I was stumbling to figure out how to
Speaker 1: be your dad. Every double dip chocolate covered pretzel bag
Speaker 1: you ever saw me walk past and not eat one,
Speaker 1: I wanted one. Oh, I wanted one. Anything I've brought
Speaker 1: into subjection in my life, I stumbled to surrender it, y'all,
Speaker 1: don't hear me. I stumbled to this stage this morning.
Speaker 1: I didn't get up on the stage today thinking I'm
Speaker 1: God's gift to the world to share a message. I
Speaker 1: stumbled up the steps today, saying, God, if somebody needs
Speaker 1: to be brought out, if somebody needs a miracle, if
Speaker 1: you can use anything, Lord, you can use me. So
Speaker 1: I will make my way to the stage, stumbling up coming,
Speaker 1: if it's stumbling up, stepping, if it's stumbling up point higher.
Speaker 1: I was stumbling. I followed the angel. I didn't even
Speaker 1: know it was real. This is what a miracle feels like.
Speaker 1: You're doing the good stuff and you don't know it.
Speaker 1: You are sewing in tears so you can reap in joy.
Speaker 1: You are stumbling stumbling. Can we point out the fact
Speaker 1: that the miracle happened and the light broke through? Everybody
Speaker 1: say light, But the light came through and Peter had
Speaker 1: to walk, So everybody say legs. God said, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be his light and your legs. But sometimes after leg day,
Speaker 1: you'd be walking past some prencils covered in chocolate and
Speaker 1: really want them and really wabble, And Peter said, I stumbled,
Speaker 1: but I went straight to first eleven. Put it on
Speaker 1: the screen. Please, Is that finally when the angel left,
Speaker 1: because that would be the scary part. The angel left
Speaker 1: and Peter what came to himself and he realized everything
Speaker 1: that had just happened, that really happened. God brought me out.
Speaker 1: God brought me out. I don't need to have survivor's guilt.
Speaker 1: God brought me out. I don't have to live in
Speaker 1: constant rehearsal of how they victimized me. God brought me out.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna heal from this now and move into a
Speaker 1: new season of healing others because God brought me out.
Speaker 1: I was sleeping, I was struck. I was stumbling, but
Speaker 1: I'm still here just one moment. I like to think
Speaker 1: that Peter, in this moment not only came to himself
Speaker 1: and realized what God had done for him. And those
Speaker 1: moments are precious when you realize what God did for you,
Speaker 1: and you never really feel that God is doing it
Speaker 1: for you, and you don't even know if it's real
Speaker 1: until you get through it. You say, oh, I was sleeping.
Speaker 1: I was sleeping. He was a luck at my shackles
Speaker 1: while I was sleeping. It was already loose when he
Speaker 1: struck me, and I stumbled to this place. And I
Speaker 1: don't know what God has for me in this next
Speaker 1: season of my life. But I stumbled here by the
Speaker 1: grace of God, and I followed, and I stumbled. Let
Speaker 1: me open my eyes so I don't trip off the
Speaker 1: stage trying to do an illustration. Is what it feels
Speaker 1: like to be on a miracle. I'm not really sure
Speaker 1: is this the end? But I'm standing here on shaky legs.
Speaker 1: I'm stumbling. And I like to think and imagine that
Speaker 1: in that moment what held Peter come to himself and
Speaker 1: realized that I slept and I was struck and I stumbled.
Speaker 1: I like to think that he came to himself because
Speaker 1: he remembered someone else who slept and was struck and stumble.
Speaker 1: I like to think that in this moment, Peter thought
Speaker 1: of Mark chapter four. Put it on the screen please
Speaker 1: around about verse thirty seven, and Peter said, let me
Speaker 1: tell you, I remembered somebody else who slept. See a
Speaker 1: furious squall, that's a storm came over the boat we
Speaker 1: were in, and we were looking for Jesus in the
Speaker 1: waves over the boat, and we were crying for Jesus,
Speaker 1: and we were worried. Is it's the end? And it
Speaker 1: was nearly swamped and it was almost over, and I
Speaker 1: didn't know and we went looking for Jesus, and verse
Speaker 1: thirty eight. When we went in, Jesus was in the
Speaker 1: stern sleeping, sleeping on a cushion, and we walked him
Speaker 1: up and said, don't you care. No, I care, but
Speaker 1: I'm in control. So I'm sleeping to show you what
Speaker 1: to do when you're not in control. Help me preach
Speaker 1: this holy spirit. I like to think in that moment,
Speaker 1: as he's standing there thinking I was sleeping, and I
Speaker 1: was struck, that maybe he remembered Isaia fifty three, which
Speaker 1: he knew since he was a boy, where the prophet
Speaker 1: Isaiah propheside of Jesus and said verse four, surely he
Speaker 1: had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we
Speaker 1: did esteem him stricken, slidden of God, and afflicted. But
Speaker 1: after the striking, he was wounded for our transgressions. He
Speaker 1: was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
Speaker 1: was upon him, and with his strikes we are healed.
Speaker 1: I know somebody else who was struck. They struck him
Speaker 1: on the mouth, but he was still a great high priest.
Speaker 1: They struck him like a sleep, but he stood strong,
Speaker 1: like a shepherd. He was sleeping in the storm. He
Speaker 1: was struck and he carried across and I watched him,
Speaker 1: Peters thinking, I watched him carry across the vertical beam
Speaker 1: loan that he carried weight one hundred pounds, and with
Speaker 1: the weight of one hundred pounds on his back, like
Speaker 1: the weight of the responsibility that you feel on your back,
Speaker 1: like the weight of your past on your back, like
Speaker 1: the weight of their expectations that you don't know how
Speaker 1: to meet on your back, like the weight of a
Speaker 1: prison sentence that you're waiting to hear the outcome of
Speaker 1: on your back. He was walking down the street in
Speaker 1: Luke twenty three, and Peter says, I remember it because
Speaker 1: I should have been by his side at that moment,
Speaker 1: but I stumbled and I watched him carry the heavy cross,
Speaker 1: and I didn't help him. But put Luke twenty three
Speaker 1: on the screen, please, because the Bible records that as
Speaker 1: the soldiers led Jesus away, they see Simon of Siren,
Speaker 1: who was an African man, standing nearby, and he was
Speaker 1: on his way from the country, and they put the
Speaker 1: cross off of Jesus and onto him. Because as Jesus
Speaker 1: carried the cross, he walked straight, but he still stumbled.
Speaker 1: And the word of the Lord today for somebody is
Speaker 1: you can walk straight even as you stumble. You can
Speaker 1: walk straight even though you stumble. And the message today
Speaker 1: is not for those who never stumble. It is not
Speaker 1: for those who were never stricken. It is not for
Speaker 1: those who always slept in peace. Do you not realize
Speaker 1: all three of these things Peter did wrong? Earlier in
Speaker 1: his life. He slept in the garden of Gethsemane while
Speaker 1: Jesus prayed. He struck the servant's ear and cut it
Speaker 1: off in the garden because he wanted to do it
Speaker 1: his way. He stumbled and denied he never knew Jesus,
Speaker 1: ever knew Jesus. But I'm stumbling now on a straight
Speaker 1: path because I'm not stumbling by myself anymore. I know
Speaker 1: someone else. And this, yes, is what a miracle feels like.
Speaker 1: To be standing at a door that you don't even
Speaker 1: know where it leads. Is that you today, come on,
Speaker 1: You know good and well, you don't know what your
Speaker 1: twenties are going to be like, But you're standing at
Speaker 1: a door. Oh God, the last ten minutes I just
Speaker 1: gave you was a gospel message that says greater is
Speaker 1: he that is in you than he that's in the world.
Speaker 1: And notice what Peter didn't do at anytime. He slept.
Speaker 1: He was struck and he stumbled, but he didn't stop.
Speaker 1: He stood there and knocked at that door. I just
Speaker 1: see a picture of somebody today who persistently like Peter,
Speaker 1: needed to know that. I know the situation didn't fixed yet,
Speaker 1: but you are going to sleep on the stuff that
Speaker 1: you can't control and trust God because when he strikes,
Speaker 1: it is for salvation. It's for salvation. Listen to that
Speaker 1: he was stricken by God. I didn't think God strokes, No,
Speaker 1: he strikes, but he strikes for salvation. The enemy strikes
Speaker 1: to devastate. God strikes to say. Now I know angels
Speaker 1: wings can cover me and correct me. Now I know
Speaker 1: angel wings can whack, and I know that he can
Speaker 1: lead me even when I'm not really sure where are
Speaker 1: we going. So for everybody today who's stumbling somewhere, I
Speaker 1: want you to know that you're stumbling with someone. And
Speaker 1: it's not Simon of Syreen that carries your cross when
Speaker 1: it gets too heavy. Is Jesus of Nazareth himself. Stand
Speaker 1: to your feet because I'm closing, But join hands with
Speaker 1: your neighbor one more time, and I want you to
Speaker 1: squeeze their hand one more time and say, this is
Speaker 1: what a miracle feels like. See it like Peter saw it.
Speaker 1: I slept, I was struck. I stumbled, and so did
Speaker 1: my savior. So I'm sleeping because he's in the stern
Speaker 1: of my ship. I'm sleeping because he's the captain of
Speaker 1: my soul. I'm sleeping because he's the anchor through the waves.
Speaker 1: I'm sleeping and I'm struck, not because he hates me,
Speaker 1: but because he loves me too much to leave me
Speaker 1: in these chains. I see you getting up today. I
Speaker 1: know someone else who got up, I said, I know
Speaker 1: someone else who got up. I know someone else who
Speaker 1: was struck but didn't stay. And I'm stumbling.
Speaker 3: Be patient with me, because this is what a miracle
Speaker 3: feels like. Not sure, Okay, another day, Okay, Okay, another month, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm sober for another hour.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, this is what. Squeeze their hand again. This
Speaker 1: is what a miracle feels like. I'm trying to get
Speaker 1: you to squeeze their hands so they can remember I'm
Speaker 1: still here, I'm still strong, I still got blood in
Speaker 1: my veins. I've still got days in my future. I've
Speaker 1: still got smiles this. Oh how great the love of
Speaker 1: the Father, Oh how great? The gifts of the sun,
Speaker 1: Oh how great? The power? Jeez, sleeping Savior, striking favor,
Speaker 1: stumbling Savior. Oh how great? Oh how great? Now will
Speaker 1: you lift your hands to your Savior who carried his
Speaker 1: cross in your suit? Oh how? This is an anointed word.
Speaker 1: This is a chain breaking word, if you'll let it power. Geez,
Speaker 1: let's stand there for a minute and start testify. I
Speaker 1: was lost, I was a skin who you are right out?
Speaker 1: You say sorry, I can let me sell your host.
Speaker 4: You listen?
Speaker 1: What a list?
Speaker 4: What a work? Hours saying?
Speaker 1: So I.
Speaker 4: Hold me? What excuse you say? My son? Place out?
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
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening, God bless you.