Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: I want to hit you with a scripture from Acts
Speaker 1: chapter three for a moment. And who knows where we'll
Speaker 1: go from there, but Acts chapter three would definitely be
Speaker 1: our starting place. It's exciting to think about the potential
Speaker 1: that exists in a moment like this, where the God
Speaker 1: who knows you by name and knows not only the
Speaker 1: struggles that you have right now, but whatever you're going
Speaker 1: to face this week, could give you the instruction to
Speaker 1: comfort and the serenity that you need for whatever is
Speaker 1: going on in your life, and to prepare you for
Speaker 1: opportunities and oppositional lie just from one word, one word
Speaker 1: that he could speak, and I want to share with
Speaker 1: you from Acts chapter three eleven. While he clung to
Speaker 1: Peter and John, all the people ran together to them
Speaker 1: in the portico called Solomon's astounded, And when Peter saw it,
Speaker 1: he addressed the people men of Israel. Why do you
Speaker 1: wonder at this or why do you stare at us,
Speaker 1: as though by our own power or piety we have
Speaker 1: made him walk. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
Speaker 1: and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers,
Speaker 1: glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied
Speaker 1: in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to
Speaker 1: release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One
Speaker 1: and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
Speaker 1: and you killed the author of life, whom God raised
Speaker 1: from the dead. To this we are witnesses and his name,
Speaker 1: by faith in his name has made this man strong,
Speaker 1: whom you see and know. And the faith that is
Speaker 1: through Jesus has given the man this perfect health. In
Speaker 1: the presence of you all, I want to speak to
Speaker 1: you today for a few moments on this subject. Trapped
Speaker 1: in transition, trapped in transition, and I want to pray
Speaker 1: before we get into it one more time. Let's pray. Father.
Speaker 1: Now I call on you to do the thing that
Speaker 1: only you can do. I can study, I can prepare,
Speaker 1: but I can only preach to a certain level unless
Speaker 1: you inhabit this holy moment, Holy Spirit, there is a design,
Speaker 1: custom tailored message that each person needs. I ask now
Speaker 1: that you would measure that out to each heart. Help
Speaker 1: us to get past all of the distractions that would
Speaker 1: keep us from understanding the things that you desire to say.
Speaker 1: And we give you all the glory in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: Somebody shout, a man on your way to your seat.
Speaker 1: Touch somebody and say I am in transition. I was
Speaker 1: standing up and now I'm sitting down. You know, it's
Speaker 1: really interesting when we travel. Holly likes to do stuff.
Speaker 1: That's where we're different. I like to get in and
Speaker 1: get out. If I'm preaching somewhere, I don't need to
Speaker 1: see the sites. Just show me the stage where I
Speaker 1: need to do my job. Get me back home where
Speaker 1: my refrigerator is stocked with diet Coke. I'm not very adventurous.
Speaker 1: She's the opposite. She wants to go and see all
Speaker 1: the touristy stuff. And God helped that woman in a
Speaker 1: gift shop. I'm serious. When we go through the gift shop,
Speaker 1: I just know every time that it's going to be
Speaker 1: a piece of my kid's college education fund that's going
Speaker 1: to be left. Is this a true story. Those of
Speaker 1: you who have traveled, Holly Fredick is a good forty
Speaker 1: five minutes in any gift shop, and I understood it
Speaker 1: till we went to Alcatraz. I couldn't understand why you
Speaker 1: want to buy something. You know, the prison. It's not
Speaker 1: a prison anymore. Now it's a national park, but until
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two was a prison, and I honestly enjoyed
Speaker 1: that one. Now she's taken me to some really boring places.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie to you. One time we learned
Speaker 1: about Australian military history and I just don't need to
Speaker 1: know it, do you know what I mean? I appreciate
Speaker 1: their continent, but it is not a part of my
Speaker 1: history or my destiny. So I usually last about thirty minutes,
Speaker 1: and then I start feeling trapped. I mean I really do.
Speaker 1: I start feeling like I would do anything to get
Speaker 1: out of this situation. But she's taken me all over
Speaker 1: and at Alcatraz it was different because not only was
Speaker 1: my wife not only was my wife interested to visit Alcatraz,
Speaker 1: but she was interested for me to hear the stories
Speaker 1: on the headset that they gave you for the guided
Speaker 1: tour and I don't know it because I love seaw
Speaker 1: Shank Redemption and it's my favorite movie. But something about
Speaker 1: that just it connected with me. Okay, maybe it's all
Speaker 1: the prison stories in the Bible. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: but at Alcatraz it was different, and I wasn't born.
Speaker 1: I was actually really fascinated, especially at this one part.
Speaker 1: I brought you a picture from when I visited prison
Speaker 1: as a tourist. This is me and Chunk standing at
Speaker 1: the part of the tour where they would show you
Speaker 1: how the prison Alcatraz. Because it's an island, it was
Speaker 1: directly positioned where you could see one and one quarter
Speaker 1: miles across the ocean. You could see San Francisco. And
Speaker 1: what they said on the headphones and I didn't forget
Speaker 1: this is that what made it so agonizing for a
Speaker 1: prisoner was that you could see just a little over
Speaker 1: a mile everything that you wanted in life, but you
Speaker 1: couldn't get to it. When I heard that, I paused
Speaker 1: my headphones, and then I started making a sermon illustration
Speaker 1: about how many people, how many people today can see
Speaker 1: in your mind's eye the person that you could be,
Speaker 1: if you could ever be free from an addiction. A habit,
Speaker 1: depression or panic. The ability to see it but I
Speaker 1: can't swim to it. The ability to see it, visualize it,
Speaker 1: and maybe even taste it, but not experience it. It
Speaker 1: is a certain type of torture that is only known
Speaker 1: in transition. When we read the scriptures, we would do
Speaker 1: well to pay attention to the transitions. And this is
Speaker 1: for Jason and Tim and Brad and Chad and all
Speaker 1: of my campus pastors who preach from time to time.
Speaker 1: It'll make you a better preacher if you pay attention
Speaker 1: to the transitions. Just when you're reading the Bible, look
Speaker 1: out for the transitional phrases and even words like therefore
Speaker 1: and wherefore, and whither and hither, and the transitional words
Speaker 1: that take you from place to place. Pay attention to
Speaker 1: the transition. As a matter of fact, it's not only
Speaker 1: good for preaching in life. You will be so much
Speaker 1: more effective if you learn to pay attention to the transitions.
Speaker 1: And the scripture that I read to you today is
Speaker 1: a transitional miracle in the Book of Acts. I call
Speaker 1: it a transitional miracle because it gives us a picture
Speaker 1: of what the author Luke is our explaining as he
Speaker 1: chronicles the birth of the Church. Not only is the
Speaker 1: Church in a transitional period, going from being considered a
Speaker 1: cult with very little political capital to going into influential
Speaker 1: spaces and beginning to turn the world upside down. For
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ the carpenter who was crucified. But the Position
Speaker 1: of Acts chapter three is transitional in that it is
Speaker 1: the first miracle that is recorded other than the Pentecostal
Speaker 1: miracle of those being filled with the spirit. It is
Speaker 1: the first miracle of healing that is recorded in the
Speaker 1: Book of Acts. It will not be the last. It
Speaker 1: is the first. And that's why I call it a
Speaker 1: transitional miracle, because it is giving us a picture of
Speaker 1: what Jesus meant when he said to his followers, don't
Speaker 1: leave Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city of peace. Don't leave this
Speaker 1: place of peace, but wait until you have received the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. It is difficult to sit still in transition
Speaker 1: while you are threatened by opposition from the outside. And
Speaker 1: they didn't like Jesus, and that's why they killed him.
Speaker 1: But Jesus told him to do something very difficult. To
Speaker 1: sit still in transition and wait for him to do
Speaker 1: it his way. It's the hardest thing in the world.
Speaker 1: And yet every time Holly goes through the gift shop.
Speaker 1: They get her every time because they position that gift
Speaker 1: shop after she's seen all the history. I mean, I
Speaker 1: understand a mug, but this woman, she'll buy a journal,
Speaker 1: a mug, a memoir, a baseball cap, a beanie, a sticker.
Speaker 1: This woman, she's a sucker. They get her every time. No,
Speaker 1: I want you all to pray for the woman of
Speaker 1: God that leads us church because she doesn't get it.
Speaker 1: You are so vulnerable on your way out. She doesn't
Speaker 1: get it. One time, I was doing an assessment with
Speaker 1: someone who was looking at our security in the church,
Speaker 1: and they said, the most important place to make sure
Speaker 1: that there's plenty of security is anywhere there is transition,
Speaker 1: because where there is transition, there is distraction, and where
Speaker 1: there is distraction, there is opportunity for someone who means
Speaker 1: harm to capitalize on the lap of focus and create instability.
Speaker 1: That's what I've been thinking about in regards to Acts
Speaker 1: chapter three this week, how that the enemy will often
Speaker 1: set up a gift shop to take your stuff at
Speaker 1: points of transition, on the way out, on the way in.
Speaker 1: That's the only two times it costs me money. When
Speaker 1: she takes me to a museum, they charge me for
Speaker 1: a ticket to get in, and then my wife empties
Speaker 1: our retirement fund on the way out. But it is
Speaker 1: at those points of transition I'm preaching today to somebody
Speaker 1: who is in a transition in your life that is significant,
Speaker 1: and it is the most significant place of opportunity, and
Speaker 1: it is the most vulnerable place of insecurity at those
Speaker 1: points of transition. And maybe I should show you in
Speaker 1: the text. Yeah, maybe before Holly gets mad at me
Speaker 1: for this illustration, I should show you in the text.
Speaker 1: Go all the way back up to Acts, chapter three,
Speaker 1: Verse one. Y'all feel like studying the Bible a little
Speaker 1: bit today. Let's look at it now. Peter and John,
Speaker 1: We're going up to the temple at the hour of prayer,
Speaker 1: the ninth hour, and a man who was laying from
Speaker 1: birth was being cared, whom they laid daily at the
Speaker 1: gate of the temple, called beautiful to ask alms from
Speaker 1: those entering the temple. Everything I just said is transitional.
Speaker 1: Every single component of the verses I just read has
Speaker 1: a transitional element. And when I saw that in the text,
Speaker 1: I was like, this is perfect for what we're trying
Speaker 1: to understand in our lives, because our lives are constantly changing,
Speaker 1: and they're changing so fast that by the time we
Speaker 1: recognize the change, we don't have time to make the adjustment.
Speaker 1: By the time we know how to be a good parent,
Speaker 1: they are fifty three years old. By the time we
Speaker 1: know what we should have saved money for is too late,
Speaker 1: and the bill is already overdue. By the time we
Speaker 1: get the wisdom, we don't have to strength to implement
Speaker 1: it because we're tired from all of our dumb mistakes.
Speaker 1: So when I read it and I realized everything is transitional,
Speaker 1: put it up again, Acts three, verse one. Now it's
Speaker 1: a transitional word. Peter and John, we're going up to
Speaker 1: the temple. They were on the way somewhere at the
Speaker 1: hour of prayer. It was a transitional time. So they're
Speaker 1: going about their day and now it's time to pray.
Speaker 1: Ding ding, ding, everybody to the temple. Peter and John
Speaker 1: are transitioning to the temple. They are transitioning in their
Speaker 1: ministry because up until this point they've always had Jesus
Speaker 1: in human form to supervise their miracle working attempts and efforts,
Speaker 1: and sometimes they didn't get it right. And he was
Speaker 1: there to correct them, but he's not here in human
Speaker 1: form anymore. And they are in transition, and so now
Speaker 1: here they're going to church at three in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: That's what the ninth hour means. It's a transitional period
Speaker 1: where all good Jewish men and women would go to
Speaker 1: the synagogue for prayer. Peter and John are are moving
Speaker 1: toward the temple, transitional period for the church, transitional moment
Speaker 1: in their day in between two activities. Then it says
Speaker 1: that verse two, there was a man who was being carried,
Speaker 1: whom they laid daily at the gate of the Temple
Speaker 1: that is called the Beautiful Gate. So now the Church
Speaker 1: as a whole is in transition, as the Spirit of
Speaker 1: God is beginning to manifest himself through signs, miracles, and
Speaker 1: wonders through the hands of the apostles. Peter and John
Speaker 1: are in transition, on their way to the Temple, which
Speaker 1: is their daily routine, and there's a man who the
Speaker 1: Bible says is being carried. I don't know how I
Speaker 1: missed this. For so many years, I always pictured this
Speaker 1: miracle with the man already laying beside the gate, but
Speaker 1: he wasn't at the gate yet. The Bible says he
Speaker 1: was in transition. He wasn't even in the spot yet,
Speaker 1: because see, like if you were gonna make it and
Speaker 1: you can and walk, you had to have a racket.
Speaker 1: And so the best place you could go pick a
Speaker 1: spot while people are going to church, and they would
Speaker 1: do it different. They wouldn't get you on the way
Speaker 1: out because you already gave an offering in church, so
Speaker 1: they would get you on the way in, right, And
Speaker 1: if you can catch them on the way in, maybe
Speaker 1: they'll drop you some change and maybe they'll you know,
Speaker 1: it was considered piety to give alms, and so they're
Speaker 1: catching people with a gift shop at the gate by
Speaker 1: the temple. He wouldn't have been the only one. This
Speaker 1: was a very commonplace to set up. But I was
Speaker 1: blessed by this, and I thought you maybe too. He
Speaker 1: wasn't even in his spot yet when God decided to
Speaker 1: give him a miracle. I think a lot of times
Speaker 1: that if I could get here, or if I could
Speaker 1: if I could if I could arrive there, or if
Speaker 1: I could accomplish this, or if I could do that,
Speaker 1: or if I could fix it, or if I could
Speaker 1: establish it, or if I could move through it, but
Speaker 1: I want you to notice this is a transitional miracle.
Speaker 1: It means that Church hasn't even started yet, but God
Speaker 1: is already on the scene. It means that God does
Speaker 1: not need for your life to be at a certain
Speaker 1: point where people say it should be in order to
Speaker 1: bless you. So this is for everybody who is in transition.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you're switching jobs. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you're switching girlfriends. I don't know if you're
Speaker 1: switching schools. I don't know if you're switching ways of living.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're switching from You used to
Speaker 1: get high on a substance, but now you're trying to
Speaker 1: connect to Christ. I don't know what the switch is.
Speaker 1: But I love the fact that God was waiting to
Speaker 1: bless the person before he even got to the spot.
Speaker 1: It is a transitional miracle. And here's what I wanted
Speaker 1: to say. God is gonna bless you on the way.
Speaker 1: God is gonna bless you. He's gonna meet you and
Speaker 1: cut you off on your way to your spot and
Speaker 1: bless you anyway how many No God can cut you
Speaker 1: off and bless you. So he was about to go
Speaker 1: into the gate and what is a gate. It's a
Speaker 1: symbol of transition. Everything in the text is pointing me
Speaker 1: to the fact that God is most active in moments
Speaker 1: of what I perceive to be instability and transition. Now
Speaker 1: feel the Holy Spirit just all up in your stuff
Speaker 1: because there's something you're trying to get through. But you
Speaker 1: don't have to wait to get through it. You can
Speaker 1: believe God right smack dab in the middle of it.
Speaker 1: It sounds good, preaches good, doesn't feel good. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's so weird how we ask God to change our
Speaker 1: lives and when he really does. Because now he changed
Speaker 1: your life. Now it's going to change your friends. Now
Speaker 1: he changed your life. Now it's gonna affect how you
Speaker 1: spend your time. Now he changed your life, and now
Speaker 1: it's gonna destabilize everything that you've come to depend on.
Speaker 1: It's a transitional text. It's a transitional moment for the
Speaker 1: author Luke, as he's compiling a history of the church.
Speaker 1: He's going from an explanation to a demonstration. That's when
Speaker 1: it gets good, when you go from theoretically believing something
Speaker 1: to practically acting it out in your life. The miracle
Speaker 1: is in the transition. That's how we walk right, I
Speaker 1: transition the weight of my body. And until I transition
Speaker 1: the weight, I cannot move. The center of gravity must
Speaker 1: change in the same way. Every time God is moving
Speaker 1: you forward in your life, there will be a period
Speaker 1: of transitional instability. In this passage, the man has never
Speaker 1: walked before in his life. He's being carried to the gate.
Speaker 1: Peter and John are going to church, and in transition
Speaker 1: God sets up a moment for transformation. And when it
Speaker 1: happens is so shocking, not only to the onlookers and
Speaker 1: not only to Peter and John who are just trying
Speaker 1: to get to Sunday school. Now this is important too.
Speaker 1: Can I throw this in? This is for free. I
Speaker 1: won't say it in the next service. I will just
Speaker 1: say it for you, all right, Yellow first to the trough,
Speaker 1: you know, the early bird in the worm and all that.
Speaker 1: Right now, now look at me. The first miracle that
Speaker 1: is recorded in the Book of Acts was waiting in
Speaker 1: something that everybody else was stepping over to get to
Speaker 1: something they deemed more important. That's just for y'all. Now
Speaker 1: let's look at it. And Peter. Now they saw Peter
Speaker 1: and John. This man is on his way to his spot.
Speaker 1: Peter and John are on the way to church. Study
Speaker 1: in the Bible. How many things that happen on the way,
Speaker 1: How active God is in the journey in transition. How
Speaker 1: many things that God uses to change our life happen
Speaker 1: in between two fixed points that we deem important. Just
Speaker 1: all the little places Jesus would stop and do a miracle,
Speaker 1: because you know that the feeding of the five thousand
Speaker 1: was not on jesus itinerary. He was just trying to
Speaker 1: get somewhere else, and there happened to be twenty thousand
Speaker 1: people that wanted to hear him teak. Some of the
Speaker 1: greatest stuff that God will do in your day will
Speaker 1: not be on your calendar. Some of the greatest stuff
Speaker 1: that God will do in your life will not be
Speaker 1: in your five year plan. Come on, some of the
Speaker 1: greatest stuff that God will reveal in your life will
Speaker 1: not be on your dream board. And they're just trying
Speaker 1: to get to church, and the man is just trying
Speaker 1: to get something to eat, and they meet in transition,
Speaker 1: and God is in position, and the man is in transition,
Speaker 1: and Peter and John are in transition, and God is
Speaker 1: positioning all of it, just like He is in your
Speaker 1: life today. Just like he is in your family, just
Speaker 1: like he is in your situation, just like he is
Speaker 1: in our church. And he's arranging a meeting. And the
Speaker 1: man sees Peter and John and he asked to receive alms,
Speaker 1: and Peter verse four directed his gaze at him, as
Speaker 1: did John, and said, look at us. And he fixed
Speaker 1: his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
Speaker 1: I always like to say that he was expecting the
Speaker 1: wrong kind of change. He wanted to know, do you
Speaker 1: have a few quarters? Do you have a few dimes?
Speaker 1: And Jesus like, the one thing I've learned about him
Speaker 1: is sometimes he doesn't meet your expectation because he wants
Speaker 1: to exceed it. Don't be too disappointed if God didn't
Speaker 1: give you what you wanted. This man, in this moment
Speaker 1: is about to receive a change that he didn't even
Speaker 1: have the faith to ask for. And God sets up
Speaker 1: at his spot, you know, the spot where he was
Speaker 1: just going to beg and get through another day and
Speaker 1: some change, some spare change. And Peter's like, oh I
Speaker 1: got changed for you. See this is a transitional moment.
Speaker 1: Remember that Jesus said that if you ask anything in
Speaker 1: my name, I'll give it to you. His name represents
Speaker 1: his authority and his power. And so when Peter said
Speaker 1: what he said next in the next verse, I have
Speaker 1: no silver in gold, but what I do have I
Speaker 1: give to you. At first, this man is thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: another one of those Christians that leaves you a track
Speaker 1: and doesn't leave you a tip at the restaurant. That'll
Speaker 1: send you straight to hell. By the way, if you
Speaker 1: don't tip your server twenty percent, don't come to Elevation
Speaker 1: church twenty percent, if they spit in your drink twenty percent.
Speaker 1: But Peter is saying, now, look, let's get past what
Speaker 1: you expected. Let's get past this temporary change that you desire.
Speaker 1: I have no silver and gold, but what I do
Speaker 1: have I have a name. It's not my name, because
Speaker 1: in my name you get nothing. In my ability, there
Speaker 1: is limited strength, power and resource. But I know a name,
Speaker 1: and the one who has this name gave it to me.
Speaker 1: So I'm not operating in my own authority. But watch,
Speaker 1: this is the transition of power. Jesus said, if you
Speaker 1: wait for my spirit, you can receive my power. So
Speaker 1: if you don't get out and move the way that
Speaker 1: you think you ought to move, but wait for me
Speaker 1: to direct your path. If you will be in position,
Speaker 1: you can receive my power. Who in the name of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk? And he
Speaker 1: took him by the right hand, right hand. That's the
Speaker 1: hand of authority. Why the right hand, because all power
Speaker 1: and authority was given to Jesus. Come on, get happy
Speaker 1: with me. I don't care if it's fifty of y'all.
Speaker 1: But God said, I'm standing over your situation, presiding and prevailing.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I forgot some sit back now. In psychology,
Speaker 1: they make a distinction between change and transition. Okay, the
Speaker 1: two are not the same, and we'll see it in
Speaker 1: this man's life because in this transitional miracle, what is
Speaker 1: often unstated is that just because the man received a miracle,
Speaker 1: it didn't immediately fix his mindset. Okay, And I want
Speaker 1: to spend a moment here because I believe many people
Speaker 1: are frustrated in their inability to change, and I think
Speaker 1: in the text is a clue as to why. But
Speaker 1: we're going to have to pay attention to the transitions
Speaker 1: in this text. And if you will lean into this
Speaker 1: text for just a moment, it's going to show you
Speaker 1: something about why some of the changes in your life
Speaker 1: don't stick. Why some of the changes in your life
Speaker 1: as soon as they are introduced. It seems like, you know,
Speaker 1: everybody wants change in a certain area. And it's often
Speaker 1: been said that change is the only constant in life,
Speaker 1: and I agree with that. But change is traumatic, even
Speaker 1: if it's positive. Right, So there's desirable changes, there's undesirable changes.
Speaker 1: And while we're running around thinking that we control our lives,
Speaker 1: you know, the thing that really changes everything is the
Speaker 1: text message that you never expected. I'm telling you, I
Speaker 1: I used to think that our church could avoid criticism,
Speaker 1: right because I would think, well, if we do this right,
Speaker 1: and we do that right, and we have integrity over here,
Speaker 1: it's never going to be the things that you expect
Speaker 1: that people are going to attack you about. It's going
Speaker 1: to be something that you never even thought possible. It's
Speaker 1: just going to be something that you didn't you didn't
Speaker 1: have the foreknowledge to expect. Like this man. Okay, he
Speaker 1: never knew that he was about to get healed. But
Speaker 1: healing creates a new set of problems that if you
Speaker 1: don't understand this dimension, and it is a distinction. Change
Speaker 1: and transition are two different things. So the man says,
Speaker 1: I want some change. Peter's like, cool, I'm about to
Speaker 1: change your life. He's like, nah, man, three dollars is fine.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just looking for a burger right now.
Speaker 1: But Peter's like, no, no, I don't want to give you.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to buy a whopper. I want
Speaker 1: you to walk. Take my hand. This authority boom and
Speaker 1: like a current, it shoots through his body. And what's
Speaker 1: what happens to him? This is a beautiful thing when
Speaker 1: God blesses you in a moment. And immediately he took
Speaker 1: him by the right hand verse seven and raised him up.
Speaker 1: And immediately there is no duration, there is no progression.
Speaker 1: Immediately the man's feet and ankles were made strong, and
Speaker 1: leaping up, he stood and began to walk. Before you
Speaker 1: shout about that verse, pay attention to the transitional words,
Speaker 1: because it says that he began to walk, and all
Speaker 1: he knew how to do beg because he was born
Speaker 1: unable to walk. This is part two of last week
Speaker 1: when I told you that sometimes better feels backwards. And
Speaker 1: it's wonderful that he could walk, But where's he gonna go?
Speaker 1: Every day? He was carried to this spot Now what
Speaker 1: cool man, you you didn't want to buy me a sandwich?
Speaker 1: I would have took pop Eyes or Chick fil A.
Speaker 1: But now now I'm standing here and I'm leaping, and
Speaker 1: I'm happy, and I'm changed. But it represents a transition.
Speaker 1: Now change. Let me read this to you so I
Speaker 1: don't mess it up. This is outside of my realm.
Speaker 1: I do theology, the psychology part. I want to read
Speaker 1: it and make sure I get it right. I don't
Speaker 1: want to get sued from malpractice up here. Change is
Speaker 1: external is something that happens to you. Okay, the man
Speaker 1: didn't do physical therapy and learn to walk. It was
Speaker 1: an unexpected change, good or bad. Change is external. Change
Speaker 1: could be traffic. Change can be weather. Change can be
Speaker 1: something that happens in your body. Change can be something
Speaker 1: that happens globally. Change happens externally, and it is a
Speaker 1: situation that is imposed by outside circumstances or unforeseen conditions.
Speaker 1: That's change. Follow me. Transition is always an internal or
Speaker 1: a psychological event. You see the contrast. He jumped up immediately,
Speaker 1: that's change. He began to walk, that's transition. Some of
Speaker 1: us are fronted by change because we are unwilling to
Speaker 1: endure the process of transition. I need God's help to
Speaker 1: preach this now. So we jump up, and we jump
Speaker 1: up happy. You know how you get happy when God
Speaker 1: does something awesome in your life. That's a change. But
Speaker 1: transition is where transformation happens, not by something external, but
Speaker 1: by something internal. I'll prove it to you, David said,
Speaker 1: create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew
Speaker 1: a right spirit in me. What does that mean? David
Speaker 1: wasn't praying about his situation. He was praying about his
Speaker 1: spirit because he understood that if God changes your situation
Speaker 1: but the spiritual process is left underdeveloped, it will cause
Speaker 1: an implosion. Now the change happened, it was not illegitimate.
Speaker 1: He jumped up, he walked His feet and ankles could
Speaker 1: do it. But it wasn't his feet at this park
Speaker 1: point that was the problem. Just because your feet are strong,
Speaker 1: and just because your legs were and just because you
Speaker 1: now have the strength to stand, doesn't mean you have
Speaker 1: the understanding to walk. And you're in transition, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't make much sense to you when you're in transition,
Speaker 1: and it's unstable when you're in transition. In fact, when
Speaker 1: you're in transition. You can feel trapped. Here's why I
Speaker 1: left Egypt. I'm not in Canaan. I'm trapped in transition.
Speaker 1: I'm saved enough not to go to Hell, but I'm
Speaker 1: not saved enough to not want to go to the club.
Speaker 1: I'm trying. We got the Angel choir over here in
Speaker 1: this section. The reality of it is, this transition takes time,
Speaker 1: and change happens suddenly, and to be trapped in transition
Speaker 1: is to be waiting for your mind to catch up
Speaker 1: with the transformation that has already happened in your life.
Speaker 1: So I was praying about it, and I was asking
Speaker 1: God to give me a picture of what this looks like.
Speaker 1: I went back over to Hebrews chapter five, and I
Speaker 1: looked for background on that particular situation where you see
Speaker 1: a Christian community struggling to come into the fullness of
Speaker 1: what God has for them. And in one of the
Speaker 1: most middle school teacher pass just a scripture of all time,
Speaker 1: because he's really really frustrated with his pupils. This anonymous
Speaker 1: author begins to rant in Hebrews chapter five, verse eleven
Speaker 1: because he's trying to get something out, and it's frustrating
Speaker 1: when you have something valuable, but you have nowhere to
Speaker 1: put it. Is frustrating when you feel like you have
Speaker 1: something to give but nobody to receive it, especially in
Speaker 1: a relationship when you want to give more, but when
Speaker 1: you look to give what you have in you, you
Speaker 1: don't find anywhere to pour it into. That's frustrating. And
Speaker 1: as he's building up and building up and he's describing maturity,
Speaker 1: he's describing not just the miraculous salvation event, but the
Speaker 1: maturity of following Christ into deeper things and better motivations
Speaker 1: and new ways of doing things that rely on grace
Speaker 1: rather than legalism or the law. As he teaches them
Speaker 1: this switch, he becomes frustrated, and somewhere in his letter
Speaker 1: he senses that he's losing their attention. So he goes
Speaker 1: about this, We have much to say, eleven. And it
Speaker 1: is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.
Speaker 1: I love this. This means it's your fault for not
Speaker 1: getting it. It's not the preacher's fault for not saying
Speaker 1: it right. I'm gonna put this verse on my pulpit.
Speaker 1: You have become dull of hearing. It's not that I'm confusing,
Speaker 1: it's just that you're slow, okay Verse twelve. For though
Speaker 1: by this time, that's what he said, for though, by
Speaker 1: this time, you ought to be teachers. You hear, you
Speaker 1: ought to be teaching somebody, but you didn't transition. You
Speaker 1: didn't transition. You got up and learned to walk, but
Speaker 1: you didn't reach back your hand to anybody else. You've
Speaker 1: been a Christian for fourteen years and you're still not
Speaker 1: asking any better questions of life. You're still simplifying it.
Speaker 1: You've been you've been walking with God this long, and
Speaker 1: you should be further. But I'm frustrated because you're not
Speaker 1: farther along. And as he's I don't know, he's frustrated.
Speaker 1: As a halftime talk to you know, he's in the
Speaker 1: locker room. We're better than this team. We're better than this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: cried Tom. You're better than this. That's what he's saying.
Speaker 1: He said, you have need of someone to teach you again,
Speaker 1: the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk,
Speaker 1: not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is
Speaker 1: unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
Speaker 1: But solid food is for the mature, for those who
Speaker 1: have their powers of discernment trained, Oh is a skill.
Speaker 1: Transition is a skill. Change is a gift. Transition is
Speaker 1: a skill. And he said this skill requires use and
Speaker 1: practice to distinguish good from evil. The only way to
Speaker 1: know the difference between God's will for your life and
Speaker 1: your will for your life is you've got to go
Speaker 1: to gainst semone. You've got to go to the place
Speaker 1: that Jesus went to where he learned the separation between
Speaker 1: what I want based on comfort and convenience and human
Speaker 1: preference and feelings, and what God wants based on the
Speaker 1: position that He has put me in. Now understand this.
Speaker 1: When Jesus finally got to the cross, he had no
Speaker 1: trouble giving up his life. It was only in gathtseemine
Speaker 1: transition where he had to pray God if there's any
Speaker 1: other way. The greatest test is in transition, So get
Speaker 1: ready for this. If you are being tested, you are
Speaker 1: in transition. And what that means is the greatest oil
Speaker 1: of anointing comes in the place of greatest transition. So
Speaker 1: God is growing you up. That's what he's doing. He's
Speaker 1: growing you up. He's teaching you to stand. Therefore, to
Speaker 1: stand when it's uncertain to stand when it doesn't feel good,
Speaker 1: to stand when it's controversial, to stand when it doesn't
Speaker 1: seem to be happening, To stand on what you know
Speaker 1: when you can't trust what you see or what you feel.
Speaker 1: And you're in transition, and transition takes a little time.
Speaker 1: And now the decision is this, Do I hold on
Speaker 1: to the old or do I lean into the new?
Speaker 1: That's what the man had to decide, and so do you,
Speaker 1: and so do I. Because I had my spot, I
Speaker 1: had my system, I had my support. But now I'm
Speaker 1: in transition and I can't do what I used to
Speaker 1: do anymore. So I had this I had this cup
Speaker 1: where people would come by and they would drop change
Speaker 1: in my cup, and I had to drop my cup
Speaker 1: to grab hold of Peter's hand so I could stand
Speaker 1: up and begin to walk. But that's not the part
Speaker 1: of the text that got my attention, because after the
Speaker 1: man stands up, everybody is shocked to see this man
Speaker 1: who they were used to ignoring, who used to be
Speaker 1: kept on the outside. And they were like, that's Joe.
Speaker 1: I gave him a name, but as a scripture didn't
Speaker 1: And it doesn't seem right that I would spend fifty
Speaker 1: minutes talking about him and not even give him the
Speaker 1: courtesy of a name. That's Joe. No, it can't be
Speaker 1: dudes walk in, jump in, dancing. No, it's time telling
Speaker 1: you that's him. How you know it's him? Cause I
Speaker 1: know I walked by him every day. I used to
Speaker 1: walk by him every day. I walked by him every day.
Speaker 1: I walked by I walked by him every day, and
Speaker 1: he'd come in and we would transition past each other
Speaker 1: every day, and then we would say and see when
Speaker 1: he started to change. They couldn't understand it, and they
Speaker 1: didn't like it. Transition is traumatic, you know. And the
Speaker 1: way I know it's traumatic is because he dances, he walks,
Speaker 1: He goes past the gate and goes into Solomon's portico.
Speaker 1: This was a big, long porch, man. It would take
Speaker 1: the whole that whole side of the temple was one
Speaker 1: big porch. And I never forgot this verse when I
Speaker 1: read it, because it said that in verse eleven that
Speaker 1: the man clung to Peter and John. I never forgot that.
Speaker 1: That just gripped me when I read it, because I
Speaker 1: realized that it matters in these moments of transition what
Speaker 1: you cling to. And I hear the Spirit saying to
Speaker 1: somebody today that you are going to have to choose
Speaker 1: to cling to something that is new and uncomfortable to
Speaker 1: you to move forward in this transitional season of your life.
Speaker 1: For many of us, this means that we are having
Speaker 1: to let go of something old that exists in the
Speaker 1: paradigm of our mind in order to embrace something new.
Speaker 1: I mean, just because the man can walk doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that he can stand by himself. So now when we
Speaker 1: met him in the text, he's being carried, and when
Speaker 1: we say goodbye to him in the text, he's clinging.
Speaker 1: What makes that significant for our lives is you cannot
Speaker 1: take hold of what's new while you have a death
Speaker 1: grip on what's old, and God is saying you have
Speaker 1: gone as far as you can go holding on to
Speaker 1: what you used to be. This requires that the excuses
Speaker 1: that have become so embedded in your life have to
Speaker 1: be left behind at the spot of your transformation. Because
Speaker 1: you're in transition now, God is giving birth to a
Speaker 1: new thing in your life. It is going to require
Speaker 1: letting go of old habits. Look, man, if you are
Speaker 1: a husband now, you can't be single in your mindset anymore.
Speaker 1: You've got to consider a new responsibility. What happens a
Speaker 1: lot of times is we go into new situations holding
Speaker 1: on to old habits. You can't have a husband situation
Speaker 1: and have bachelor habits. Before long, it will tear you
Speaker 1: apart trying to hold on to two things. So I
Speaker 1: hear God saying, today, let it go. It is not
Speaker 1: serving you in this season anymore. Why would you hold
Speaker 1: on to something that taught you how to beg that
Speaker 1: taught you how to blame. It can't heal you anymore.
Speaker 1: Something greater is here. There is a name that is
Speaker 1: greater than any other name, higher than any other name,
Speaker 1: stronger than any other name. But you got to cling
Speaker 1: to it. And cling doesn't mean that you kind of
Speaker 1: swat at it. Cling means that you grab for Jesus
Speaker 1: with all you've got, because you know, like Jacob, that
Speaker 1: if he doesn't bless you, you won't be blessed. Said
Speaker 1: he clung to Peter and John. And what you cling
Speaker 1: to in this season of transition in your life will
Speaker 1: determine whether you go forward or stay at the gate.
Speaker 1: You know what the first thing that Peter did when
Speaker 1: he saw the man grabbing onto him, was he used
Speaker 1: him for a sermon illustration. God wants to use you.
Speaker 1: God wants to use you. God set it up so
Speaker 1: that he could use you. God set it up just
Speaker 1: so he could use you for his purpose and his glory.
Speaker 1: But you're in transition right now, and by holding on
Speaker 1: to the old, you forfeit the future. I came to say,
Speaker 1: let go of that thing that keeps you paralyzed, let
Speaker 1: go of that thing that keeps you fearful, and let
Speaker 1: go of that thing that keeps you stuck. This is
Speaker 1: a metamorphosis, and to be stuck at one stage of
Speaker 1: your spiritual growth when opportunity, power, and authority is standing
Speaker 1: in front of you is a terrible thing. With everyone
Speaker 1: standing at every location, I would like to pray for
Speaker 1: you concerning this transitional moment in your life. It would
Speaker 1: be awesome if I knew all the details, but I
Speaker 1: don't have to. God does. And you've been on the
Speaker 1: way somewhere and frustrated because change is taking longer than
Speaker 1: you thought it would. Now, what I'm speaking to right
Speaker 1: now is not you waited three days on something. I
Speaker 1: mean when you have been frustrated that you are not changing. Now,
Speaker 1: here's what God is saying what do you need to
Speaker 1: let go of? And what do you need to take
Speaker 1: hold of? The word that he uses that they translate
Speaker 1: cling is also used to mean put under arrest. In't
Speaker 1: that cool? This man was like, Oh no, y'all, ain't
Speaker 1: leaving me here. He grabbed Peter and John and refused
Speaker 1: to let go. I think that's what it takes to
Speaker 1: see change in our life, to grab hold of it
Speaker 1: and say, oh no, no, no no, no no, You're not
Speaker 1: going to leave me like you found me. No no,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no no no. I'm not gonna try this
Speaker 1: once and then go back to misery. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to suffocate in despair when hope is in front of
Speaker 1: me in the form of the spirit of God. No. So, Lord,
Speaker 1: I ask you now, because I know that somebody has
Speaker 1: been trapped in between old and new, trapped in between
Speaker 1: a past and a future. I ask you right now
Speaker 1: to give them the grace not only to stand up,
Speaker 1: but give them the direction to walk. I pray right
Speaker 1: now in Jesus' name that nobody would leave this place
Speaker 1: holding on to something that is keeping them stuck. In
Speaker 1: the name of the Lord, I command you to rise
Speaker 1: up and walk, not just to jump up and shout,
Speaker 1: but to walk in a new direction, to walk toward
Speaker 1: what God has called you, to walk toward what He
Speaker 1: sees in you, to walk toward what He created you
Speaker 1: to be spirit of the Living God in this moment
Speaker 1: of transition. Whether it's circumstantial or whether it's motional, doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: I pray that you, being the constant God who never changes,
Speaker 1: the constant God who does not move, who is not
Speaker 1: bound by time, that you would touch every situation by
Speaker 1: your grace and glory today and enable feet that we're
Speaker 1: never able to stand before, to jump upright and to
Speaker 1: walk in a new direction. Home, Lord, you know what
Speaker 1: they're dealing with, and you know what is beneath what
Speaker 1: they're dealing with on the surface. I pray for patience.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it takes that. I pray for new partnerships. Give
Speaker 1: every person in this room a Peter and John that
Speaker 1: they can walk with on the way to where you're
Speaker 1: leading them. It is so uncertain. We don't know what
Speaker 1: one moment to the next holds. We just know that
Speaker 1: change is inevitable, but we choose transformation through every change
Speaker 1: in our life, good or bad. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 1: this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 1: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You
Speaker 1: can share it with your friends. You can click the
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Speaker 1: social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again
Speaker 1: for listening. God bless you.