Speaker 1: As you can tell, I am not Pastor Stephen. I'm
Speaker 1: a little taller. If we haven't had the privilege of meeting,
Speaker 1: my name is Tim Summers, and I get the honor
Speaker 1: and privilege of being the youth pastor here at elevation.
Speaker 1: I love saying that chunks because you can see like
Speaker 1: thirty percent of the room timid like, Oh, here's this guy,
Speaker 1: the youth pastor. Look at that blonde hair. Is he
Speaker 1: forcing it? No, I've had it for years. Okay, but
Speaker 1: I would be remiss if I didn't honor this house
Speaker 1: and honor our pastors. How many of you have ever
Speaker 1: heard the parable of the sewer? Anyone ever heard this? Right?
Speaker 1: When the farmer throws the seed, he throws it on
Speaker 1: like four different areas. Right, You've got the rocky place,
Speaker 1: the thorny place, the shallow place. But then there's that
Speaker 1: good soil where that sea takes root and then it
Speaker 1: multiplies one hundredfold. How many you know that you've got
Speaker 1: a good soil church and a good soil pastor. Hey,
Speaker 1: you can find a leader anywhere. You can find a
Speaker 1: leader anywhere. There's millions of leaders. But you know what's
Speaker 1: incredible about our pastors? Is they are incredible stewards. Incredible stewards,
Speaker 1: and so can we give it up for our pastors,
Speaker 1: Pastor Steven, Pastor Holly, the entire family, Grandma life Abby,
Speaker 1: we love you. I believe that this is the greatest
Speaker 1: move of God in our generation. I wholeheartedly believe that.
Speaker 1: I say that without a doubt. Okay, so look at
Speaker 1: your neighbor and say I believe that too. Even if
Speaker 1: you don't, you're gonna say it. Even if you don't,
Speaker 1: you're gonna say it. You could take a seat. I
Speaker 1: wanted to show you my family real quick because I
Speaker 1: know a lot of you haven't been backed since COVID,
Speaker 1: so you don't even know who I am. And so
Speaker 1: that's totally fine. I want you to put my beautiful
Speaker 1: family out there real quick. Okay, let's look at this.
Speaker 1: You see the big the big man, No, not me,
Speaker 1: the other one. That's my fifteen year old son. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking. Wow, he has a fifteen
Speaker 1: year old son. He does not look that old, thank you.
Speaker 1: That's Brodie. And he is bigger than me. Like he's
Speaker 1: not as tall as me, but he's got more muscle
Speaker 1: mass than me. And so pray for me because my
Speaker 1: ego has been shot for two years. And then you
Speaker 1: see the one with the smoke face. That's Genesis, our
Speaker 1: five year old. And imagine everyone's energy combined in this room.
Speaker 1: He has more than that and he's not saved. I'm serious,
Speaker 1: like Journey, I'm for real. Thank you God for you kids, volunteers.
Speaker 1: I'm just praying one day to get that text. And
Speaker 1: then my littlest one, Laney Dior Klein. I tell you
Speaker 1: his full name because it means small golden servant and
Speaker 1: he's the only one with blonde hair. I didn't even
Speaker 1: know it. I didn't even know that's what it meant,
Speaker 1: but that's exactly what it means, small gold And so
Speaker 1: that's my that's my little guy. And then my beautiful wife, Rebecca,
Speaker 1: and she really is so beautiful, and she she's our
Speaker 1: online campus pastor. She she works here as well, so
Speaker 1: we carry that mantle together. But you know what's really amazing.
Speaker 1: You know, she does a lot of cool stuff. She
Speaker 1: really does. She's she's brilliant, she's bright, she's phenomenal. She
Speaker 1: does she goes above and beyond. But just put that
Speaker 1: picture up there real quick. Nice, there goes the most
Speaker 1: incredible thing is how she has brought to life those
Speaker 1: three boys right there, and she said, let's do it again.
Speaker 1: And so we're having our first girl in September. Are
Speaker 1: you seriousss? I gotta go. I don't know how, but
Speaker 1: it worked. I was like, Oh my goodness, it's just
Speaker 1: gonna be boys. Just a bunch of deodorant and that's it.
Speaker 1: That's all we need. We got our first girl, and
Speaker 1: she's due September fifteenth. And so people keep asking me,
Speaker 1: are you done? And I keep saying, we'll pray about it.
Speaker 1: So praying about it, we'll see what happens. We'll see
Speaker 1: what happens. How many of you ready for the word?
Speaker 1: All right, you're ready for the word. Good, You're ready,
Speaker 1: You're ready. I'm ready for the word. Really believe that
Speaker 1: God wants to speak to you today, Acts twelve, Acts twelve.
Speaker 1: And if you brought your bibles, make sure you open
Speaker 1: it up. If not, we were thinking about you all week.
Speaker 1: We were praying for you. We love you. We got
Speaker 1: it prepared ready for you on the screens. Acts twelve,
Speaker 1: Verse one. This is what it says. It says it
Speaker 1: was about this time the King Herod arrested some who
Speaker 1: belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James,
Speaker 1: the brother of John, put to death with the sword,
Speaker 1: and when he saw that this met with approval among
Speaker 1: the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter. Also, they reminds
Speaker 1: you something real quick, everyone. Most times the need of
Speaker 1: approval for men proceeds bad intentions. We only two verses
Speaker 1: in homies and we learning something. Okay. This happened during
Speaker 1: the Festival of unlevin Brannon. After arresting it, he put
Speaker 1: him in prison, handing him over to the garden by
Speaker 1: four squads of four soldiers. If you know how to
Speaker 1: do math four times four, it is And Herod intended
Speaker 1: to bring him out for public trial after the passover.
Speaker 1: So Peter was kept in prison. But the church, everyone say,
Speaker 1: but the church, remember when Pastor preached on but God.
Speaker 1: I'll tell your neighbors, say, you gotta roll to play
Speaker 1: in this too. You gotta roll to play in this too.
Speaker 1: But the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Speaker 1: And the night before Herod was to bring in the trial,
Speaker 1: Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains,
Speaker 1: and centuries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly, the Angel
Speaker 1: of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.
Speaker 1: He struck Peter on the side and woke him up,
Speaker 1: and he said, quick, get up. Look at that. A light,
Speaker 1: an alarm clock, and a swift kick to the kidneys.
Speaker 1: That's how you wake up a teenager. The Bible's got everything. Okay,
Speaker 1: I saw it in the Bible, sweetheart, this is what
Speaker 1: you're supposed to do. He said, quick, get up, and
Speaker 1: the chains fell off of Peter's wrist. Then the angel
Speaker 1: said to him, put on your clothing sandals, and Peter
Speaker 1: did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,
Speaker 1: the angel told him, and Peter followed him out of
Speaker 1: the prison. But he had no idea that what the
Speaker 1: angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was
Speaker 1: seeing a vision. Let me stop right there, because sometimes
Speaker 1: you are free before you even know it. He was freed.
Speaker 1: He went through a prep season. He went through the journey.
Speaker 1: And some of you might be looking at the situation
Speaker 1: that you're in right now and you're thinking, ah, God's
Speaker 1: got me in a prep season. I'm here to remind
Speaker 1: you he's also got you in a free season. You're
Speaker 1: in a free season. So they passed the first of
Speaker 1: second guards and came to the iron gate leading to
Speaker 1: the city had opened for them by hisself, and they
Speaker 1: went through it. And when they had walked the length
Speaker 1: of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter
Speaker 1: came to himself and said, now I know without a
Speaker 1: doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued
Speaker 1: me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people
Speaker 1: were hoping would happen verse twelve. When this had dawned
Speaker 1: on him, he went to the house of Mary, the
Speaker 1: mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had
Speaker 1: gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance,
Speaker 1: and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door,
Speaker 1: and when she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed
Speaker 1: she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, Peter is
Speaker 1: at the door last two verses. You're out of your mind,
Speaker 1: they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so,
Speaker 1: they said it must be his angel. But Peter kept
Speaker 1: on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him,
Speaker 1: they were astonished. I've heard so many preachers preach on
Speaker 1: that verse right there. Verse sixteen, and I'm not going
Speaker 1: to do that today. I want to focus on verse eleven.
Speaker 1: This is what it says in verse eleven, Then Peter
Speaker 1: came to himself. I love the New Living translation. It says,
Speaker 1: then Peter came to his senses. He came to his senses.
Speaker 1: If I were to title this, I would title it
Speaker 1: come to your senses, Come to your senses, Come to
Speaker 1: your senses. I was showing you my family earlier because
Speaker 1: I really wanted to kind of set up this story here,
Speaker 1: and I wanted you to be able to see the
Speaker 1: difference between my fifteen year old and my five year old.
Speaker 1: It's kind of self explanatory, but he is bigger than
Speaker 1: most fifteen year olds. And here's the deal. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you have boys, how many parents we have
Speaker 1: in the house today. Okay, fantastic, you're going to relate
Speaker 1: to this. If you have always you understand that wrestling
Speaker 1: is an event in our in our home. Okay, it
Speaker 1: always happens, but it has to be an event. It
Speaker 1: has to be a big deal. So we move the
Speaker 1: ottomans out of the way, we put pillows on everything,
Speaker 1: we lay down four blankets. I mean, it's a whole
Speaker 1: ordeal even in fact, uh, Genesis had learned has learned
Speaker 1: about Alexa, and he's like, Alexa play rock music and
Speaker 1: literally it's like the rock music, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like it's just like his theme song to come out
Speaker 1: to wrestle. Now, here's the deal about Genesis. Genesis thinks
Speaker 1: that he can be brody every single time. No, I'm serious,
Speaker 1: every time he thinks he can be brody. He's got
Speaker 1: more confidence than Lebron. I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think about that beforehand. But he he's got
Speaker 1: a lot of confidence. Okay, he's very arrogant, but it's
Speaker 1: cute right now. You know, like when does that grow?
Speaker 1: When you grow out of that? I don't know, but
Speaker 1: he's cute. And here's they He's got a lot of
Speaker 1: comments and he thinks he could be brody every single time.
Speaker 1: And we have a rule in the house that if
Speaker 1: you hurt Genesis, you then have to wrestle Dad. That's
Speaker 1: just a rule. It's just a rule. Okay, just a rule.
Speaker 1: But they wrestle all the time. Well after every time
Speaker 1: they wrestle, tell me if I'm lying. After every time
Speaker 1: and the wrestle Brody never lets him win ever. I mean,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. He will always take the win. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's okay. He's fifteen, right, he's going through his you know,
Speaker 1: hormones and egos and all that kind of stuff. He's
Speaker 1: learning about pride. It's fine, but he would never let
Speaker 1: him win. He ain't gonna let him get a win whatsoever.
Speaker 1: And and and one day my Genesis came up to me.
Speaker 1: He's like, Dad, Prunin never lets you win. He not
Speaker 1: relaxing you. And I can never get a win Dad.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I'm like teaching my son. I'm like,
Speaker 1: look he's got long hair pull it. I'm like, look
Speaker 1: he's so proud of his leg. Hair pull it. You
Speaker 1: do whatever you gotta do to win. I'm not kidding
Speaker 1: you do I do this, baby, I swear I do.
Speaker 1: I'm like, on this guy's side, I just want him
Speaker 1: to win, you know. But I like when they wrestle
Speaker 1: because it toughens him up. Okay, it toughens him up.
Speaker 1: It's it's fine, uh to me. And and and in
Speaker 1: one day Genesis comes down his dad Brody hurt my elbow,
Speaker 1: and I went, well, we know we have a rule
Speaker 1: for that. Don't we. He goes, yeah, what's the rule
Speaker 1: Dad that I guess it's time for me to wrestle Brody.
Speaker 1: He's like, Browdy, you gotta wrestle Dad. Brody comes down,
Speaker 1: you know, like he's like, all right, let's do this.
Speaker 1: You know, he's like, I've been waiting for this. I'm like, yo, okay.
Speaker 1: Twenty seconds later had him tapping out. Now I'm not
Speaker 1: here to boast about any of that. I'm thirty two,
Speaker 1: he's fifteen. You know. It's not like he's bigger than
Speaker 1: me or anything like that. We'll move on past that.
Speaker 1: But it was funny because afterwards it kind of hit
Speaker 1: his pride a little bit. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: like hit his pride. He like, I look tall, but
Speaker 1: I'm look scrawny. Okay, I know I'm lanky, all right.
Speaker 1: I know I'm like KD okay, And I get it.
Speaker 1: I get it, and it's and it's fine. But you see,
Speaker 1: Brody underestimates this thing. And I like to call it
Speaker 1: the sixth sense. It's that dad's strength, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, when you become a dad, it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: nothing can stop me. Like watch boy, Well, I don't care.
Speaker 1: Twenty seconds, I have your boom. How do you like that?
Speaker 1: He's like, Dad, I got it. Okay, okay, I'm tapping.
Speaker 1: I'm tapping. I said, no, you're not. You're talking. You
Speaker 1: ain't tapping. Tapping down, I tapping. And I looked at
Speaker 1: him and and something that Brody always says to Genesis.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, Bud, you can't win them all. So man,
Speaker 1: I was ready. You thought that getting him the top
Speaker 1: out was a big deal for me. I was like, no, hey, Brody.
Speaker 1: He's like what Dad. He wasn't crying, but he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: was up. I said, hey, you can't win them all,
Speaker 1: big dog. I thought that was a great moment. And
Speaker 1: then Genesis comes up. He's like, hey, Brody, I guess
Speaker 1: you just gotta roll with the punches. I was like,
Speaker 1: what row with the Like? I thought to myself, man,
Speaker 1: that's so true. You never know what life's gonna hand you, right,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you just got to learn how to roll
Speaker 1: with the punches. Have you ever heard this phrase before?
Speaker 1: Your parents? Ever tell you this? But like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: didn't make the team, Like, yeah, man, I know, just
Speaker 1: gotta roll with the punches, right, You just gotta roll
Speaker 1: with the punches. Have you ever been in a season, Well,
Speaker 1: you feel like all you're doing is rolling with the punches.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm done getting punched. I'm not floyme Weather,
Speaker 1: i ain't illt for this, you know what I'm saying? Right,
Speaker 1: Or maybe you feel like you're in the season that
Speaker 1: you just can never get a win at all. You
Speaker 1: feel like Genesis, I just can't get a win? Can
Speaker 1: I just get a win today? I feel for my
Speaker 1: guy Peter in this passage, in fact, in every passage
Speaker 1: when I read about Peter, Peter is I mean he
Speaker 1: is learning something every single time. Like literally the passages
Speaker 1: are littered with teaching moments. Right, You've got him learning
Speaker 1: how to walk on water from the place of drowning. Right,
Speaker 1: he denies Christ not once, not twice, but three times. Right,
Speaker 1: and now in this passage you see him seized, you
Speaker 1: see him arrested, You see his friend James die, you
Speaker 1: see him put it be put into prison, you see
Speaker 1: him guarded by sixteen soldiers, and now you see him
Speaker 1: about to be put on trial. This is a big
Speaker 1: This is a this is a big deal. And you're saying,
Speaker 1: how does this relate to me, Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're going through your second divorce. Maybe for you,
Speaker 1: you're dealing with this addiction for the last ten years
Speaker 1: that you thought you would never still be dealing with.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're walking in every Friday and you'll have been
Speaker 1: paycheck to paycheck to paycheck to paycheck, and you thought, man,
Speaker 1: I thought this was gonna be over. When when are
Speaker 1: we When are we gonna get to the other side?
Speaker 1: When is it gonna get better? Have you ever been
Speaker 1: there before? Have you ever asked questions like this, like, God,
Speaker 1: what's happening? I feel like I can't win at all?
Speaker 1: And I'm just rolling with the punches and I'm looking
Speaker 1: at Peter and I'm like, man, there's some things that
Speaker 1: we can learn from Peter. Because Peter had a lot
Speaker 1: of teaching moments. He went through a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: But you know what, you know how good this man
Speaker 1: was at rolling with the punches. This is a this
Speaker 1: is a this is a big deal. Because Peter's got doubts,
Speaker 1: he's got questions, he's got confusion. Have you ever had doubts?
Speaker 1: Have you ever had questions? Have you ever been confused?
Speaker 1: But Peter's so good at rolling with the punches. So
Speaker 1: how do I begin to roll with the punches? Do
Speaker 1: I have what it takes? Can I go through this? Again?
Speaker 1: Is what I need? Actually inside me? Here's what I
Speaker 1: believe that Verse five. Everyone'll say five. Verse five is
Speaker 1: a great starting point and it would be considered my
Speaker 1: first point. Okay, if you want to be able to
Speaker 1: roll with the punches, you have to remember the church.
Speaker 1: Remember the church. Verse five. So Peter was kept in prison,
Speaker 1: but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Speaker 1: This is important because he's he's intensely seeking after God's
Speaker 1: the last time that you intensely sought after God? Was
Speaker 1: it two minutes ago? Or did you miss it? When's
Speaker 1: the last time that you intensely sought after God? This
Speaker 1: is why I got into youth ministry, and this is
Speaker 1: why I love youth ministry because we are teaching teenagers
Speaker 1: how to earnestly seek after God at a young age, right,
Speaker 1: so that when life goes and punches, they can go
Speaker 1: back to the positive influences, the positive experiences that have
Speaker 1: happened in their life and go, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: prepared for this. I'm ready for this. So we're creating
Speaker 1: those moments and shameless plug right here for real, Like,
Speaker 1: if your kid is not going to youth X, what
Speaker 1: are you doing? Right? Like youth X this is our
Speaker 1: summer camp. If you don't know anything about a July
Speaker 1: thirteenth through the fifteenth, it's two hundred dollars. But we
Speaker 1: got financial aid available and literally this entire room we
Speaker 1: will have two thousand teenagers earnestly seeking after God. So
Speaker 1: go to youth X twenty two our common register. But
Speaker 1: here's the deal. For real, I will I will have
Speaker 1: parents come up to me and they're like, well, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna let my kid decide if they want to go.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, okay, would you let your kid walk
Speaker 1: in the highway with the blindfold on? No? So why
Speaker 1: do we keep our kids till eighteen but we stop
Speaker 1: parenting them at fifteen? Why do we do this? Now? Look? Look, look,
Speaker 1: I'm fairly new at the parenting thing, so so I
Speaker 1: want you to understand, like I'm learning even right now
Speaker 1: on how to help them make their decisions right. But
Speaker 1: here's what I'm gonna let you know. I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: it easy for you. Just say it's my fault, Just
Speaker 1: say it's my fault. Well, youth pastor Tim told me
Speaker 1: to sign you up for camp. He's your youth pastor,
Speaker 1: he's my youth pastor, So I gotta do it. Just
Speaker 1: do it. We're on the same team. Let's rocket take
Speaker 1: them over, tag team. We know how to do this.
Speaker 1: We make it so hard, right, I think it's I
Speaker 1: think it's a maz A couple thousand teenagers will earnestly
Speaker 1: seek God and we'll be able to watch it right
Speaker 1: there in July, and and and and and you know
Speaker 1: what's wild? Why do we do it because it's important?
Speaker 1: Why Why do we do it because it's vital? Why
Speaker 1: do we do it? Because the church is the bride
Speaker 1: of Christ. And if you say you love Jesus, you
Speaker 1: can't hate the church. The church is the community. Everyone
Speaker 1: say we are the church. Ultimately, my shameless pup plug
Speaker 1: is reminding you that you have to remember the church.
Speaker 1: The truth of the matter is we will forget the
Speaker 1: importance of the church and try to use it like
Speaker 1: jewelry and not like oxygen, only just to enhance our life,
Speaker 1: when the reality is that the Church was meant to
Speaker 1: be life. It was meant to be life. Man can
Speaker 1: I be honest with you. For some of you, church
Speaker 1: used to be a lifestyle and then the punch of
Speaker 1: COVID can and you've ventured your way out of serving,
Speaker 1: You've walked your way out of groups, and you roll
Speaker 1: yourself out of bed maybe one time a month instead
Speaker 1: of four times in a month. Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: If we forget the power of the church, woo. You
Speaker 1: think we in trouble now, oh we're gonna be a
Speaker 1: big trouble. Then this is this is important because we
Speaker 1: gotta be careful. That's the opposite of earnestly seeking after God.
Speaker 1: And you can't get upset with me because this is
Speaker 1: what I believe. You know what I mean, like like
Speaker 1: look like like like if you're not vocal about it
Speaker 1: and it ain't visible, then it ain't a value. Then
Speaker 1: it ain't a value. You're saying our kids, Yeah, church
Speaker 1: is a value. Well, mam, why we only go once
Speaker 1: every six weeks? I'm just saying, right, And here's the deal.
Speaker 1: I get it. I understand. Like if I said, Joe,
Speaker 1: you know you are on staff, I'm like, yeah. But
Speaker 1: there's sometimes where Epham just feels like, yes, this is
Speaker 1: what I want to be today, right, And I lived
Speaker 1: ten minutes away, and I'm like, well, maybe right. I'm
Speaker 1: not here to shame you. I'm here to let you
Speaker 1: know that. Look, I'm very new at this trying to
Speaker 1: make decisions where he's trying to make help your teenagers
Speaker 1: make decisions for them. But what you've got to understand
Speaker 1: is you cannot forget the power of the church. That's
Speaker 1: why it says remember the church. Because when you look
Speaker 1: at verse twelve, after Peter gets out of prison, but
Speaker 1: where's the first place that he goes? He goes to
Speaker 1: Mary's house. It is said that the church was meeting
Speaker 1: at Mary's house and it was midnight. That means it
Speaker 1: was like eagre time or summer camp. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't know if any he grews meet at midnight, I'd
Speaker 1: be weird. Right, Like he remembered, he knew the church
Speaker 1: was praying for me. And the first thing that he
Speaker 1: does goes to the church. He had remembered the church,
Speaker 1: which leads me to my second point. If you want
Speaker 1: to roll with the punches, you got to remember the church.
Speaker 1: And number two, you got to remember your humanity. So
Speaker 1: if we all need the first point the church, we
Speaker 1: all have the second point, our humanity, right, our humanity,
Speaker 1: It says in verse seven, Suddenly an angel of the
Speaker 1: Lord appeared in a light shone in the cell, and
Speaker 1: he struck Peter on the side and woke him up, quick,
Speaker 1: get up, and the chains fell off of his wrist.
Speaker 1: What would you be thinking in that moment? That's wild? Right?
Speaker 1: Then the angel said to him, put on your clothing sandals,
Speaker 1: and Peter did so, wrap your cloak around you and
Speaker 1: follow me. And Peter followed him out of the prison.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, right, I'd have some questions. But he had
Speaker 1: no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. See,
Speaker 1: he's confused. Then it goes on to say he thought
Speaker 1: he was seeing a vision. Nope, wasn't a vision. He's confused,
Speaker 1: he's got some doubt. They passed the first and second
Speaker 1: guards and came to the iron gate leading to the
Speaker 1: city open for them by itself myself. He's confused, he's wondering,
Speaker 1: how is this all happening? And when they had walked
Speaker 1: the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Right,
Speaker 1: do you have some questions at this point if you
Speaker 1: are Peter in this story, right, like the amount of questions,
Speaker 1: the amount of anxiety, the amount of doubt, the amount
Speaker 1: of worry, and maybe even the amount of pause had
Speaker 1: to feel make Peter feel that he was out of control.
Speaker 1: And I look at this passage and I'm like, why
Speaker 1: can't I get a step by step playbook on life?
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I'm like, what the heck?
Speaker 1: It's like Pastor Holly talked about last week, but the
Speaker 1: whole you know, heaven out, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Why can't I get a step by step playbook on what?
Speaker 1: This looks like? I can't get out of a parking violation,
Speaker 1: but this homie's getting a first class ride out of prison.
Speaker 1: You know, like, this is wild to me, right, But
Speaker 1: he's got questions, He's got questions. You know what's interesting
Speaker 1: is that angels will do things for people that people
Speaker 1: can't do for themselves. Okay, you don't believe me based
Speaker 1: off of that clap, all right? The angel made Peter's
Speaker 1: chains fall off, but he told Peter to put his
Speaker 1: clothes and sandals on all by himself. The angel led
Speaker 1: Peter through the locked doors, past the vigil and guards,
Speaker 1: and through an iron gate, but he still expected Peter
Speaker 1: to walk on his own two feet. The angel took
Speaker 1: Peter down one street only and then let them alone
Speaker 1: to use his own wits. Don't expect angels to do
Speaker 1: for you what you can do for yourself. You can't, right,
Speaker 1: Jesus raised Lazarus for only he could do that, and
Speaker 1: then he said, all you other people, you got loose
Speaker 1: him and let him go. Jesus gave life to Gyrus's daughter,
Speaker 1: and then he said, now give her something to eat. Right,
Speaker 1: this is very very important for us to understand this passage.
Speaker 1: And I want you to see yourself in Peter. He
Speaker 1: had all the same questions, all the same doubts, all
Speaker 1: the same worries, all the same confusion. And Peter got
Speaker 1: it wrong. He got it wrong, he got it wrong.
Speaker 1: If the Bible was written now, it might be saying
Speaker 1: that Peter failed, he got it wrong. This is interesting
Speaker 1: to me because in the Christian life, a lot of
Speaker 1: times we think we can't fail, we can't get it wrong. Well,
Speaker 1: when I read about Peter, homie got it wrong. He
Speaker 1: thought he was seeing a vision. No, it's a miracle, right,
Speaker 1: it's a miracle. And then verse eleven comes around and says,
Speaker 1: then Peter came to himself and said, now I know
Speaker 1: without a doubt. And we'll say without a doubt. Can
Speaker 1: you think of a time when you experience without a doubt?
Speaker 1: Think about it without a doubt? Right, that's a different
Speaker 1: kind of statement. And this is what you have to remember.
Speaker 1: Reflection discovers more of Heaven and of God and the
Speaker 1: great moments of our lives than what was visible to
Speaker 1: us while we were actually living through them. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it again. Reflection discovers more of Heaven and of
Speaker 1: God and the great moments of our lives than what
Speaker 1: was visible to us while we were actually living through them.
Speaker 1: You know what without a doubt can mean with faith,
Speaker 1: with faith, or with full assurance of faith if you
Speaker 1: don't believe me Hebrews eleven one. Faith is the confidence
Speaker 1: in what we hope for and the assurance of things unseen,
Speaker 1: aka without a doubt, Because doubt deals with you. That's
Speaker 1: why the letter used in the middle of it. Faith
Speaker 1: deals with the great I am right. This is interesting
Speaker 1: because the question isn't can you live without a doubt? No,
Speaker 1: we already know that because Peter said so. He said,
Speaker 1: now I know without a doubt. So you can live
Speaker 1: like that now, I know without a doubt. The question
Speaker 1: is do you know how to identify without a doubt? Huh?
Speaker 1: Do you not identify it without a doubt? Okay, let's
Speaker 1: try this. If everyone in the room, everyone watching online,
Speaker 1: if you can and if it's safe, and if you're
Speaker 1: capable and you're comfortable, can can you just stand up?
Speaker 1: It's crazy how long it takes y'all to do that. Like,
Speaker 1: it's fine. I'm not just getting crazy, Like wow, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: you ready? Are you ready? Okay? Take a seat? Did
Speaker 1: you feel it? Did you? Did you? Did you feel it?
Speaker 1: Did you? Did you? Did you see it? Not for
Speaker 1: one second? Did you think that that chair wasn't going
Speaker 1: to hold you up? Not for one second? Did you
Speaker 1: think I don't know if I should sit here? Uh?
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's gonna hold me up here?
Speaker 1: Now you're like, take a seat. What is this youth
Speaker 1: pastor doing? And you took a seat. Not for one
Speaker 1: second did you worry about it? If that chair is
Speaker 1: gonna hold you and you believe that without a doubt
Speaker 1: and with full assurance of faith, yep, this chair gonna
Speaker 1: howe me? Well, then why don't we look at the
Speaker 1: creator of the universe in the middle of our dark times,
Speaker 1: in the middle of our valley, and we start questioning him,
Speaker 1: like God, why am I here? Why did you choose me?
Speaker 1: Why did I have to go through this? What the
Speaker 1: how is this gonna happen? Look, it's not about strong
Speaker 1: faith or weak faith. It's not about which one's better
Speaker 1: than the other. You all have faith, you just might
Speaker 1: be putting it in the wrong things. Because the reality
Speaker 1: chunks is that look at me without a doubt only
Speaker 1: happens in hindsight. No, that's good, that's from the Lord,
Speaker 1: not me without a doubt only happens in hindsight. Look
Speaker 1: at the passage. Look at the passage. Right. This is
Speaker 1: interesting because it says in verse twelve, he goes to
Speaker 1: the house of Mary. And this only happens because he
Speaker 1: came to himself, because he came to his senses, right,
Speaker 1: because he had looked back at all the things that
Speaker 1: had happened. Right, he looked at the moment that had
Speaker 1: already passed, all the doubt in the confusion, and all
Speaker 1: that because he then him looking back, he knew now
Speaker 1: without a doubt, after all the confusion, right, Like Hindsight's
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. I'm sorry, I scared all its twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: Don't worry, It's okay. Woh, whiplast just happened. He's like,
Speaker 1: twenty tony, what do you say? What? I don't want
Speaker 1: to go back. I don't want to go back. God,
Speaker 1: why can I get away? Right? But when you look
Speaker 1: back at COVID, there's so many things that you can
Speaker 1: look back and go. Man, if God can get me
Speaker 1: out of that, he gonna take care of me no
Speaker 1: matter what happens. Now, Hindsight is twenty twenty. I title
Speaker 1: this message come to your senses, and I want you
Speaker 1: to put that title real quick, and I want you to.
Speaker 1: I want to let you know that I didn't they
Speaker 1: got they got it. They misspelled it. Do you see
Speaker 1: the misspelling? Do you see it? Do you see what
Speaker 1: I see? No? No, okay, it's supposed to be come
Speaker 1: to your senses. There it is. Since the angel came
Speaker 1: to prison, Peter knew, since the chains fell off my wrists,
Speaker 1: Peter Peter knew, since everyone say, since since he brought
Speaker 1: me out of prison. Now God can do. Since God
Speaker 1: healed my sickness, Since God resurrected my marriage. Since God
Speaker 1: protected me during COVID, since God healed me, since God
Speaker 1: graced me for this, I know that no matter what
Speaker 1: comes my way, God pass me under his hand. Wooh,
Speaker 1: you gotta come to your senses. You gotta look back. Woo,
Speaker 1: you gotta come to your senses. I want to remind
Speaker 1: you your doubts are not a disqualification of your faith.
Speaker 1: They're not. Verse sixteen. It says, but Peter kept on knocking,
Speaker 1: and when they opened the door and saw him, they
Speaker 1: were astonished. I'll end with this and the band can
Speaker 1: start to come out. This leads me to my final point.
Speaker 1: If you want to learn how to roll with the
Speaker 1: punches like Peter did, you got to remember the church.
Speaker 1: You got to remember your humanity, and the final one
Speaker 1: you have to remember to keep going. It says, but
Speaker 1: Peter kept on knocking, Right, Peter kept on knocking on
Speaker 1: the door even after Rhoda had answered and then left him.
Speaker 1: Loki dipped on this dude, Right, He kept on knocking
Speaker 1: when she was getting told she was out of her mind.
Speaker 1: He kept on knocking when they insisted he was dead
Speaker 1: and had it had to have been an angel, right,
Speaker 1: This was easy compared to everything else that Peter had
Speaker 1: been going through. What was a little more knocking at
Speaker 1: midnight and praying and hoping that there was church people
Speaker 1: in that one house you just so happened to go
Speaker 1: to side. Note everything starts aligning with the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: when you operate in full assurance and without a doubt,
Speaker 1: it starts to make a lo more sense. I didn't
Speaker 1: think it was going to happen this way exactly. Let's
Speaker 1: call without a doubt. That's called with full assurance of faith.
Speaker 1: Let me give you a disclaimer here. Several times the
Speaker 1: Bible says that belief is an essential step in receiving
Speaker 1: a positive answer to prayer. It says in Matthew twenty
Speaker 1: one to twenty two Jesus told the disciples, and whatever
Speaker 1: you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. Now,
Speaker 1: this doesn't mean that we can receive anything we want
Speaker 1: if we were only to have enough faith, because first
Speaker 1: John five point fourteen also says we also must pray
Speaker 1: according to God's will. So in this case, in this passage,
Speaker 1: Peter's release is in God's plan. That new Tesla might
Speaker 1: not be in your new plan. Private school might not
Speaker 1: be the new plan. It might not be in God's
Speaker 1: plan for your life. That promotion might not be. It
Speaker 1: might not be for you. But I think it's interesting
Speaker 1: because even the church who was in Mary's house had
Speaker 1: doubts until they kept going to the gate. Remember to
Speaker 1: keep going, just like Peter kept knocking. The church had
Speaker 1: to keep going while they were praying in Mary's house
Speaker 1: to the gate. This wasn't like the front door, it
Speaker 1: says the outer entrance. So they walking outside in Camel's stuff.
Speaker 1: That's do do Cam? Well? Do? Okay, it's nasty, right.
Speaker 1: They had to keep going. Look at your neighbor and say,
Speaker 1: keep going, keep going, because your doubts ensure that God
Speaker 1: gets the credit and glory in the end. Isn't it
Speaker 1: crazy that the church thought it was Peter's angel that
Speaker 1: was knocking on the door. They thought he had died
Speaker 1: and thought it was Peter's angel that was knocking on
Speaker 1: the door. If we're not careful, we'll believe stuffdn't even
Speaker 1: crazier just to not give God the glory? Do what
Speaker 1: I find A lot of people do. I do it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my goodness, this has happened. My wife's like, no,
Speaker 1: that's that's not right, that's not it. I'm so grateful
Speaker 1: for my wife because six years ago we were living
Speaker 1: in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and we had just been married
Speaker 1: for four months, and we loved the church that we
Speaker 1: were at. We loved the pastors there, loved the city,
Speaker 1: loved the people. We thought we'd be there for a
Speaker 1: whole decade, no joke, seriously. And then Elevation Church opened
Speaker 1: up their doors for their very first time, and the
Speaker 1: thing called inside Elevation and this is the first time
Speaker 1: that as like ministry, you could like go there and
Speaker 1: like learn about all the amazingness of Elevation Church, right,
Speaker 1: And I remember, I'm getting eight tickets. Little did I
Speaker 1: know that eight means new beginnings. But I got eight tickets.
Speaker 1: I don't even know why. We didn't have a team
Speaker 1: like eight tickets, don't get them. And we get the
Speaker 1: eight tickets. We drive up. The moment we stepped foot
Speaker 1: on the Lake Norman campus, I knew, oh gosh, this
Speaker 1: is where we're supposed to plan our family. This is
Speaker 1: where we're supposed to be. And I might never do
Speaker 1: full time ministry again. If I work at Lows, I'll
Speaker 1: be a manager, not like lower level. I'll be a manager.
Speaker 1: I'll be I'll be a manager. And I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1: I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. I don't
Speaker 1: know what mo wife thinks, you know, like, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: We drive home. I get We get home, and it's
Speaker 1: a twenty six hour drive by the way for a
Speaker 1: twenty four hour event. And I'm not saying it was smart.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying senior airline prices. Oh my god. I
Speaker 1: remember getting I remember getting home and I said, Babe,
Speaker 1: I got to tell you something, but don't say anything
Speaker 1: until I'm done. For the next ninety minutes. I began
Speaker 1: to download everything that God had downloaded to me. After
Speaker 1: the ninety minutes was done, it's dark in our room,
Speaker 1: you know, We're just laying in the bed, and she goes,
Speaker 1: I said, woman, I'm sorry, let me start over. Babe.
Speaker 1: Why are you giggling? Why are you giggling? I just
Speaker 1: shared my whole heart. She goes, That's exactly what God
Speaker 1: told me, is it really? She's like, yeah, So we
Speaker 1: started just continue to pray. We start telling people about it,
Speaker 1: just like our close friends and family, and I remember,
Speaker 1: I think this is very interesting. I remember that, without
Speaker 1: a doubt, we knew this is where we were supposed
Speaker 1: to be. Without a doubt. And after telling some family
Speaker 1: members and some friends, I had one other person in
Speaker 1: my life that said this was a good idea. Everyone
Speaker 1: else told me I was stupid. Everyone else told me
Speaker 1: I was crazy. Every single person except one outside of
Speaker 1: my wife, looked at me and said, you're obliterating the
Speaker 1: ministry you're building. Now. I remember looking at my wife
Speaker 1: and said, well, I'm glad I'm not trying to build
Speaker 1: my own ministry. I want to do what God wants
Speaker 1: to do in my life. I tell you this because
Speaker 1: the day we're about to resign, I wake up that morning,
Speaker 1: I'm alay a little nervous about to resign. It's two
Speaker 1: weeks after that moment. I reacted immediately. Okay, some of y'all,
Speaker 1: wait in two years, two weeks boom, something of y'all
Speaker 1: do with two days. Y'all need to pray a little longer.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you should do that. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: day we were resigning, my wife comes to me right
Speaker 1: before we leave, and she goes, Babe, I need to
Speaker 1: tell you something. We're pregnant. And I did, what the
Speaker 1: worst thing that you could ever do with your life
Speaker 1: When your wife tells you that you're pregnant. I lean
Speaker 1: back on the on the tell me online, I lean
Speaker 1: back on the wall. I fell to the ground, hands
Speaker 1: on my face, and I said this, So does that
Speaker 1: mean we're not going to North Carolina. That's why I
Speaker 1: keep having so many babies so I can make up
Speaker 1: for that. I remember telling our pastors. Two weeks later,
Speaker 1: we picked up. We moved. No job, no place to stay,
Speaker 1: no nothing, no friends, no family. We had forty three
Speaker 1: dollars in the account. I remember getting a tweet from LB.
Speaker 1: He said, hey, I heard your moving to Charlotte. Loved
Speaker 1: to take out for lunch. I said, free lunch, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm in Loew's hasn't accepted. Don't know why, but Low's
Speaker 1: hasn't accepted. He started to tell me everything about the church.
Speaker 1: She's like, I think you might be interested in doing
Speaker 1: this thing. And anyways, it gets to the place where
Speaker 1: I can interview and be a part of Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: And now the rest is history. I've been a part
Speaker 1: of this staff for six years and I plan to
Speaker 1: be here for the rest of my life. I tell
Speaker 1: you that story to let you know that even though
Speaker 1: without a doubt, we knew we were supposed to be
Speaker 1: there everything afterwards, I was like, did God really say,
Speaker 1: because Walmart says I can't live off of forty three dollars?
Speaker 1: Did God really say? She just kept me back to
Speaker 1: that ninety minutes where I just downloaded everything, and she says, hey,
Speaker 1: since he told you this, we know he's going to
Speaker 1: take care of this. And since he did this, we
Speaker 1: know he's going to take care of this. With everybody
Speaker 1: standing for these last few moments, I want you to
Speaker 1: know that some of you might be in a situation
Speaker 1: that seems bleak. It seems like you're never going to
Speaker 1: be able to get out of it. You feel like
Speaker 1: it's one hit after another. Others of you need to
Speaker 1: be like the church and go to the gate and
Speaker 1: look because something's been knocking and they're just waiting for
Speaker 1: you to open the door, so you can be astonished,
Speaker 1: so that you can be amazed, so that you can
Speaker 1: know without a doubt that God is with you. My
Speaker 1: favorite statement of all time the pastors ever said, while
Speaker 1: I've been here for the last six years and being
Speaker 1: under his leadership, is the only way to truly fail
Speaker 1: is to quit. That's the story of Peter. He never failed.
Speaker 1: He never quit. Every single one of you in this room, congratulations.
Speaker 1: You're still here, in the midst of a doubt, in
Speaker 1: the midst of a confusion, the questions, the worry, the pause,
Speaker 1: you are still here. What does that mean that? Since
Speaker 1: God took care of everything before, even while in the
Speaker 1: middle of it it didn't feel like it, He's going
Speaker 1: to continue to hold you up now with every head
Speaker 1: bow and every eye clothes. I want to give people
Speaker 1: the opportunity to come into a right relationship with you Christ.
Speaker 1: You are saying in this moment that without a doubt,
Speaker 1: now I know God is with me, and I want
Speaker 1: to make him the center of my life, not just
Speaker 1: a priority, but the center of my life. We're going
Speaker 1: to ask you to pray this prayer because I believe
Speaker 1: that there are people all over the world watching online
Speaker 1: right now and in this room that are saying, you
Speaker 1: know what, I've questioned, I've worried, I've doubted, But today
Speaker 1: I remember the Church. Today I remember my humanity. I
Speaker 1: am not God, I am just human, and today I'm
Speaker 1: going to remember to keep going. I want you to
Speaker 1: pray this prayer along with me. Say, dear Jesus, I
Speaker 1: thank you for who you are. Come into my life,
Speaker 1: make me a new creation, and I will follow you
Speaker 1: all the days of my life. I believe that you
Speaker 1: died on the cross, you rose from the grave, defeating
Speaker 1: all sin, feeding all shame, and defeating all doubt in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: If you just pray that prayer for the very first time,
Speaker 1: or now you're saying, you know what, Nope, I'm coming
Speaker 1: back to the gate. I'm remembering right now why I
Speaker 1: gave my life to Christ years ago, and you're saying,
Speaker 1: I'm rededicating my life. On the count of three. We
Speaker 1: want you to raise your hand and we're gonna celebrate
Speaker 1: with you. We believe it's the best decision that you
Speaker 1: could ever make with your life. One, two, three, hands
Speaker 1: going up all over the place. Come on, can you shout?
Speaker 1: Can you get excited? Come on, keep your hand up.
Speaker 1: If you just gave your life to Christ, you're saying,
Speaker 1: I make it in the sense of everything that I do. Hey, man,
Speaker 1: come on, church, let's earnestly begin to praise God who
Speaker 1: he is. Well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are
Speaker 1: a couple of things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast so
Speaker 1: to help us reach others by investing today at Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining us
Speaker 1: on the Elevation Podcast