October 12, 2025 • 41 mins
Ever feel like you’ve let God in, but still hold certain things back? He won’t force His way in, but when you open the door, He can heal what’s been hidden. Going all in isn’t about perfection; it’s about letting Jesus have access to every part of you.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
Matthew 8, verses 14-16, 18-23
Revelation 3, verse 20
Luke 5, verses 1-5
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God as moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. Man, you picked a great day to
be in church. You picked a great day to log
in online. Why because this is the day the Lord
has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Hey,
you might not know this, but we're celebrating twenty years
(00:34):
of ministry this year at Elevation Church. My wife and
I had the privilege of being one of the original
core families with Eric and Nicole over here. And when
we look back over twenty years, people last like, how
do you explain all that God did? Well? God is
that good, He's that gracious, He's that kind, he's that loving.
But also I think our pastors are that anointed and
(00:55):
that gifted and that talented. I would be remiss if
we didn't take a second to celebrate the secret sauce
of Elevation Church, all the volunteers that make this place happen.
If you're at one of our physical locations. If you're
one of our volunteers, raise your hand, Valentine. If you're
one of those volunteers, hey help me celebrate all those heroes,
(01:18):
all of our online volunteers. We're not limited by location.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Man.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
When we started the ministry twenty years ago, we didn't
know if anybody would want to jump on board and
be a park. But they did. And I remember everybody
early on it's like, I'll do whatever you need. I'm
all in, And then it'd ask them to do something
and maybe not they're quite so all in. But I
had this couple twenty years ago, John and Rondi Mullen
show up. They were just trying to find a church
for their daughter. But when they walked in, they looked
(01:48):
at each other. I think we found a church for us.
And I had a team I started back in the
early days. It was called the First Impressions Team. They
would get at Providence High School at six am to
clean the bathrooms because it smelled like high school. And
so anytime someone would ask like, I'll do whatever you need,
I'm all in, I'd say, well, would you be a
part of my First Impressions Team. Now many people would say, well,
(02:11):
like I feel as though my gifts could be used
somewhere else. But when I presented the opportunity to John
and Rondee, they said we would be honored. Thank you
for the privilege. They showed up that next Sunday at
six am and they cleaned those bathrooms and they've been
serving faithfully for twenty years. Thank you John, Thank you RONDI.
(02:31):
Thank you for all the volunteers faithfully serving. Hey, and
you might not know this, but also October's Pastor Appreciation Month.
Help me appreciate our pastors. Pastor Steven, Pastor Holly Man.
We love you, We honor you. I've got an album
on my phone that whenever I get a message, a
(02:53):
text or voice memo from Pastor Steven, I dump it
in there. And I got messages that are in great
seasons of celebration. But I also have moments of great
seasons of sorrow. And I'm so grateful that our pastors
walk with me through the seasons of celebration and the
seasons of sorrow. I honor you, Pastor Stephen, Pastor Holly,
(03:13):
thank you for faithfully standing in this pulpit twenty years
preaching the word of God. All right, let me give
you our scripture for today. Let me give you the scripture.
I'm so excited, all of you saints open up to Matthew.
Chapter eight, verses fourteen to sixteen is where we'll begin.
If you're not a note taker, maybe today would be
the day that you begin writing something down. I want
(03:34):
God to do a new thing, he says, Well, bring
me a new rhythm. If you start a new rhythm
rather than standing in with your arms crossed, maybe I
would bless you. Maybe you'd write down one thing God
wants to speak to you today. Out of Matthew chapter eight,
starting in verse fourteen, it says when Jesus came into
Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother in law lying in
bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the
(03:56):
fever left her. She got up and began to wait
on him. When evening came, many who were demon possessed
were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits
with a word, and healed all the sick. Here's the
title for today's messages that I want to give. You
want to say it to your favorite person in the room.
You only get to pick one and I want you
(04:17):
to say it with the two of them, with some
gush Docem's foot sinya say this, say all in now
look at your second favorite choice and tell them all in. Hey,
thank you worship team for leading us today. You can
give somebody a high five on the way to your seat. Etham,
drop in the comments. All in. This story that Matthew's
(04:38):
going to bring to us comes in in three scenes,
and we're gonna start in this opening scene that Matthew
wants to weave together three scenes to tell a story
of Jesus. And in this opening scene, we've got these
two characters. We've got a woman that we know that
she's got a fever and she's Peter's mother in law.
Now Jesus is gonna come into the house and says
(05:00):
that Jesus came, Jesus saw and Jesus touched who. I
think God's going to do that in our hearts today.
I think God came into this room. I think he
sees you, and I think He's gonna touch you. How
many of you need a touch from God today? How
many have you got a space in your life that
God I needs you to touch it? See healing happens
with a touch. Now I have no idea if this woman,
(05:22):
let's give her a name. Whenever I read the Bible
and have an unnamed character, I like to give him
a name, because once you give him a name, it
just it hits a little more personal, doesn't it. Let's
call her Rachel. Everybody say Rachel. So Rachel is laying
in bed with a fever. She might have been a
woman of faith, or this might have been her last thoughts,
because sometimes Jesus is a first option. Some of you
(05:44):
faith filled people, something happens, you take it to Jesus first.
But other people, like me, often Jesus is more of
a last resort. I don't know. Maybe you're in church
today and this is a first option. Let's get to
the Lord. Let's get to the House of God and
others of you. We've tried to do all that we can.
All the King's horses and all the King's men can't
put her marriage back together again. So let's try church.
(06:06):
I don't care if it's your first option or your
last resort. Thank you for logging in. I'm glad you're
in the room today. I'm just glad you're here, and
Peter was Peter's house. It might have been a first option.
He might have been pulling in favor, saying, Yo, Jesus,
since I have access to you, could you heal my
mother in law? Could have been first option, could have
been last resort. Listen, we had to move this woman
(06:27):
in six months ago. Jesus, you better healerr because I
need her out of the house. Sometimes it's faith and
sometimes it's frustration. I'm just glad you're here today. And
when I see the story of this woman Rachel, and
I look at the at the cadence of the text,
it says she was laying in bed with a fever.
And when I look at those words at other places
in the New Testament, it suggests someone on their deathbed.
(06:52):
It's not a simple little symptom where she's got a
little bit of a fever. No, it suggests that we
are at the end of her life issues some of
a sitting in this room today, watching online today, you've
got a space in your life that you know it's
about to die. You got a space in your life.
You might have a new outfit, but it's an old
problem that's been making you limp for thirty two years,
(07:13):
and sometimes it so becomes so debilitating. It just doesn't
make you sit down in it. It makes you lay
down in it. Picture the woman, she's just laying down
and I got nothing. And some of you, that perfectly
describes the posture of your life today. And I want
you to see the sermon. This woman is gonna preach
with her posture. Because some of you, like Jesus touched me,
(07:33):
but you're still sitting down. I want you to consider
the texts and would you adopt the mentality of Rachel
because Jesus when he comes into the room, he touches
her and she's healeding what she do. She gets up
and she illustrates the sermon. She begins to serve him. Whoo.
So if you come up to me and say, Jesus
touched me, I'm gonna say, and where are you serving
(07:54):
him at? I'm all in Jesus to go back to
my car, to go back to my dysfunction or that
trains the direction of my life because my posture change.
Rather than sitting under it, I'm gonna stand up over
it and I'm gonna bring it to Jesus. I'm gonna
serve Jesus with it. I'm all in. I have no
(08:14):
idea what the issue was in her life, but I'm
so glad that Peter decided to open up his home
to let this woman in. It's really awesome. And when
you think about your home, when you invite guests to
your house, do you let them see all the rooms
in your house? No? You only let them see the
ones that are presentable, the ones you've cleaned up, the
(08:38):
ones that are socially acceptable. You don't let them see
the dysfunction behind the door. You've got the closets where
you've kicked stuff in it and you're shoving stuff in it.
You're like, no, you can't go upstairs. But the reality
is the owner determines the access. Who owns your home?
You are God. I wonder what rooms you've not let
(09:00):
Jesus into, Because, if I consider our story, if Jesus
can't the only way that Jesus can touch it is
if he's invited into it. Jesus cannot touch something he's
not been invited into. I wonder what rooms in your
life you have not let Jesus into. I wonder if
it's your finances, I wonder it's the room of your relationships.
(09:21):
I wonder if it's an unforgiveness issue for a father
in this room. I wonder if it's a friendship. I
wonder if it's a marriage. I wonder if you've got
what doors you have closed? And I remember when my
kids were little, like six, they would put like make
these signs and put it on the door no one allowed.
And when they get really mad at Dad, especially Dad's
(09:44):
I wonder what rooms you've got to sign on it
that said Jesus, you can't come into it. And you
show up Jesus, and Jesus, I want you to heal it.
He says, I can't heal it because I'm not being
invited into it. Because then tell them invited into it,
I cannot Healing only comes with a touch. And what
(10:05):
I realized is some of the times I'm telling Jesus,
like Jesus, would you heal this thing? And I think
I've opened the door, but I'm standing in the way,
like Jesus, when are you gonna do something about this?
And he says, as soon as you get out of
the way, because I can't get into the room because
you are in the way. What rooms does Jesus want
to have access to you in your house right now.
(10:27):
Sometimes the reality is disappointment becomes a nail gun, and
the reality is some of the doors I close in
my life not because I hate God. I just kind
of despise myself, and rather than be disappointed, I would
rather nail the door shut, so I'm no longer disappointed.
It happens with careers, it happens in relationships. And there
is somebody here today that you've been wanting a child
(10:48):
for such a long time, and you've opened the door,
and you've opened the door, but you're so tired of
opening the door. And the only thing harder than opening
the door is keeping the door open. And as I
was praying for our church yesterday, there's a man that
you had an affair in the past. I don't know
(11:09):
who you are. God wanted me to tell you it's
time to open that door because you're living in this
place of a hard heart. And rather than bring that
into the light, I'll just close the door and I'll
nail it shut. I wonder what rooms that Jesus wants
to access to say this with me, Say Holy Spirit,
(11:33):
show me the rooms I've not let you in. Say
it again, say Holy spirit show me the rooms. I've
not let you in because Jesus is a gentleman, and
I love the fact that he is not gonna kick
down the door. But Revelation three twenty tells us about
the kind of savior that we serve. It says this.
(11:53):
It says, here, I am, I stand at the door
in I knock, and I said, if you let me in,
I will eat with you, and I'll fellowship with you.
God is standing at the door of your life. I
know that you can't open it because of disappointment. But
Jesus is not looking at you with disdain. He loves you.
He's longing for you. He's showing up at that door
again and again and again. He said, I want to
(12:14):
heal it, but I can't heal it if I can't
touch it. And I'm so glad that Peter is the
kind of man that will let people into his house.
Because this is kind of crazy. Some theologians believe that
the reason that Peter denied Jesus is because Jesus healed
his mother in law. That's an old preacher joke, you know,
(12:34):
that's a preacher joy.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
But the story in the first verse there it says
that she gets healed, and then in verse sixteen, it
says when evening came, many who were demon possessed were
brought to him. So the healing happens sometimes during the day.
Now all the people that are in the house are
overwhelmed with joy, and they say, Jesus, we are all in.
And Peter says, yep, I'm all in too. So all
(13:00):
the people that had been in the house, what did
they do? They go out to the streets. They go
out to the highways and the byways, and the overlook,
the marginalized, the ones that nobody sees. They go and
find it, and they drag him back to Peter's house.
And now it's a good old demon party. Look at
the story and picture Peter out in front of his
home as he sees and he hears all of these
(13:21):
demons being brought to his home. Could you ever imagine
something like happening in your house? Or is your house
only available for what you want? Jesus, I'm all in. Really,
would you let that person in your car or you
worried about how it would smell? I'm all in, Jesus,
because the reality is in our fate journey we will
all come to these places that every step we take
(13:41):
in following Jesus, it will test are all in. Yes,
it is a one time. When you place your faith
in Jesus, you get eternity. But to trust him to
follow him as a day by day must deny myself daily,
pick up my cross and follow him. I'm all in
for the next twenty minutes, Jesus. But you see Peter.
He's opening up his home and all the demon possessed
(14:02):
people are flooding, and He's like, no, no, open up
the living room, open up that second living room, whatever
we call that thing. Open up the kitchen, the closets, oh,
second floor. Let's fill it all in. Let's get everybody
all in. Say all in, Jesus. I'm all in as
much as I know. But what do I do when
I come to the place. I'm like, I don't know
if I'm all in for that. It's like when you
get married. I do, that's easy, but I will that's harder.
(14:29):
But what would compel Peter to live such an extravagant
life that he would be all in? Because the demon?
I mean, can you picture the sound in his home,
all the shrieks and the shrills and the celebration all
a mixture together, a praise to God as he's healing people.
Most of those people would be the ones we would
have driven around. But those are the ones that the
(14:49):
disciples are driven towards. And they brought them into the house.
They who brought them, the people that had been touched
by Jesus. I'm all in, and they respond by bri
somebody back in. Are there any single ladies? Raise your hand.
You might have a single guy around you who might
be looking. I don't know. Let me give a little
(15:10):
bit of dating advice. Don't date boys. That's good advice.
Don't date boys. See boys want to get something, men
want to bring something. That's good preaching LB tell him,
(15:33):
tell them for the people in the back. Don't date boys.
And some of you are brand new to the faith.
Just keep showing up. Just keep showing up. Just keep
showing up. Just keep showing up. Others of you. God
is blessed way more than what you're bringing to him.
Are you the bride of Christ? Are you coming to
get something? Are you coming to bring something? When's the
(15:55):
last time you brought a broken praise? When's the last
time you brought an offering. When's the last time you
brought your service? When is the last time you brought
a guest to experience a miracle standing next to you?
Because if I'm only showing up to get my word,
what am I saying about the bride of Christ? I
am glad that you can get a word of God here.
But to mature, to get in the deep end of
the faith pool requires us to be a follower that
says I'm all in, which means you have access to everything,
(16:16):
and I'll bring it all into your per I wonder
what doors you said, Jesus. You cannot get behind that one.
I'm all in, Jesus. But what would compel Peter to
live such an extravagant life? And it's I want to
go back to the origin story of Peter real quickly.
This is out of Luke chapter five, because I think
today is somebody's origin story. I love the fact that
(16:36):
today is the day that someone are gonna see Jesus
in a brand new way, and it's going to be
the origin story that will ignite something in your life
to be a person of faith that you desire to be.
It says this one day Jesus was walking by the
lake of Gannessaret. The people were crowding around him and
listening to the word of God. He saw by the
water's edge two boats left there by fishermen who were fishing,
(16:57):
who were washing their nets. Then he got into one
of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked
him to put out a little from the shore. This
is early on in jesus ministry. He's about to begin
his recruiting trip to recruit his disciples, his initial followers.
And you realize that the word disciple isn't just defining
the twelve people that followed him. Those were the apostles,
(17:18):
and in fact they were disciples. But there were seventy
disciples that Jesus sent out on a ministry trip, and
then when Jesus returns, there were one hundred and twenty
disciples in the upper room. Disciple is anybody who says
I want to be a follower of Jesus. And if
you're a follower of Jesus, guess what, you're a disciple too.
And this origin story is where Jesus is going to
show up. He's going to preach to thousands, but he's
(17:40):
got an audience of one it's Peter, because this is
a story about his selection of Peter. And I love
the fact that God is preaching to thousands at the
same time, but he's preaching to you. He sees you,
he calls you, and he is preaching a sermons just
for you because he wants to get your attention. He
wants to show you something. And now he says, there's
(18:00):
two boats by the edge of the water, and he
gets into the one belonging to Simon. Wait, I thought
his name was Peter. Wait. Yeah, it's a little complicated
because Peter, you know, that's his one name. But then Simon,
that's his BC, that's before Christ. That's Simon. Is the
part of you that on Saturday night you're raising the
red Solo Cup, Like, hey, hey, Peter, that's the hand
(18:24):
raised in worship on Sunday morning. Hallelujah, Hey, hallelujah. You
got a little Simon in you, and you got a
little Peter in you. You played the game when you
were a kid. Simon says, act like a fool. That's Simon.
You still got a little Simon in you. And he
shows up and he's fully Simon in this point, and
there's two boats sitting there, and Jesus just goes and
(18:46):
sits in his boat. Try this after church, Just go
sit in somebody's random car in the parking lot and
he just sits down. Okay. And I love the fact
that Jesus is coming to him, but he's only going
to come so far. And Jesus is coming to you
and the boat that you don't want to get into.
(19:09):
He's not intimidated by that door, that room of your
life that you wouldn't want anybody to see. He already
sees it. And he says, I'm not uncomfortable in that place.
I know you are. And he sits right down in it.
Why because he loves you. He sits down in Peter's
boat and he says, hey, Peter, well Simon, let's get
his name right, Simon, push out a little from the shore,
(19:31):
Just say a little, come better, participation, palatine, say a little.
And that's what he's asking you to do today. And
here's the story. Let me illustrate it for you. What
would compel Peter to live a life who's all in?
Say all in? It began with a little step. He
gets in his boat. It is anchored up on the shore,
(19:52):
so Peter's got to push this thing out. He's like,
I've been out all night fishing, I haven't slept, I stink,
and like, are you kidding me? Okay, So he pushes
his shoulder into the boat and he pushes it out
of it, and he starts walking the boat out into
the water, and each step he takes, the water is
getting a little bit higher on him, and he pushes
(20:12):
out a little say a little there you go, Thank you, Valentine.
And now he's holding the boat about waist deep. He's
in proximity to Jesus, but he's not in relationship yet
with Jesus. Don't confuse proximity with intimacy. Just because I'm
sitting in a seat doesn't mean him in the boat
with him. And I love the fact that Jesus is
(20:36):
preaching to the thousands, but he's looking at one the
whole time. And I wonder if Peter's like, oh my gosh,
what am I doing? What a waste of time? Who
is this guy? Preacher? Boy?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, yeah, And maybe he would hear every third word
or every fifth word, or maybe that would be kind
of cool. But love the fact that Jesus kept preaching,
but yet he still knew his audience's audience of one.
And now the relationship is about to go to a
different level. They're about to change the Facebook status because
when he finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out
(21:07):
into the deep and let down the nets for a catch.
Say the deep. Jesus is calling you from the little
to the deep. Simon answered, Master, We've worked hard all night.
I haven't got anything. But because you say so, I
will b y ssiw be why because you say so? Ssiw.
(21:28):
Because you say so, I will be why ssiw. Some
of you, that's your next tattoo. Put it right here
on your wrist. And then when you're driven by Simon, Hey, Simon, no, no, no,
because you say so. Not Simon says, because Jesus said,
I'll do that. Because you say so. I will now
picture the rest of this story of what Peter has
(21:50):
to do, what Simon has to do to be obedient
to the commands of Christ. Okay, I got the water.
It waste deep, but let's go out into the deep.
I mean, I'm comfortable right here because I can hold
on to this and I can put my feet firmly
on what I know, what I trust, what's reliable to me.
But every step I take, the water's gonna get a
little bit deeper. It's gonna make me a little bit
more uncomfortable. Oh my gosh, what's about to happen. What's
(22:13):
gonna happen on the other side of this thing? And
every step I take the waters But and he's hanging
on to the side of the boat. But he's not all.
He had to come to this point in his relationship
with Jesus that I cannot place my faith in what
I know, what I touch, what's familiar to me. I
gotta get all in with Jesus. And that's where he
(22:35):
wants you to come today. The place that you would
get all in in the boat he's not intimidated by.
But you won't get into it. What keeps you from
getting in the boat? What keeps you from getting in
the boat? That's a key question, because some of you
you haven't done that, And I want to ask you,
and I want to the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
What is the reason that you aren't getting in that boat.
(22:59):
So if we go back to our story of the
demon party, remember that demon party, that was the first scene.
Now we're going to come to the middle scene. This
is going to be. In verse eighteen, it says, when
Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to
cross to the other side of the lake. Then the
teacher of the law came to him, as a teacher,
I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied. Foxes
(23:20):
have dens and birds have nests, but the son of
man is no place to lie his head. Another disciples
said to him, first, let me go bury my father.
Jesus told him, follow me and let the dad bury
their own dead savage Jesus here. Then he got into
the boat and his disciples followed him. It says when
(23:40):
Jesus saw the crowd around him. Some theologians believe that
crowd would have been up to five thousand people. The
crowd is filled with lots of people, and Jesus is
very loving, but he's also very divisive. Jesus will have
these moments that he says in John chapter six. He says,
unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood,
you'll have no part of me. And John six sixty six,
(24:02):
it's as many disciples departed him and followed him no more.
Why because they followed as far as their understanding would go.
I'm all in to the end of my understanding, and
when it doesn't make sense, then I'm not going to
continue on the journey, because that doesn't make sense Jesus.
And Jesus is always separating the crowd from the committed.
(24:23):
And I love the fact that all are loved. Everybody
on that shore is loved, but not everybody will discover purpose.
See you're healed with a touch, but you only find
purpose when you get in the vote. And he's now
going to divide the crowd, say, guys, we've got to
get to the other side of the lake. Let's go
to the other side of the lake. We gotta go.
(24:43):
I wonder what's so important on the other side of
the lake. He says, we got to get there. We
got to get there. But he's going to divide the crowd,
and there's one group. The first group is this in
verse nineteen, it says, then a teacher of the law
came and said, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
He's a teacher of the law. He's saying it loud
for everyone, and back to hear I will follow you.
(25:03):
Jesus because he wanted everybody to be impressed with his language,
but he didn't have the lifestyle. He's all talk. He's
all talk. I remember my high school football coach. His
name was Harvey Krable. He looked like a walrus, and
when he would talk, his jowls would jiggle. It was amazing.
And we went and played in this rich town. They
(25:24):
had new white shoes and white gloves. I got stuff
that's duct taped together. I've never had anything new in
my life. And my coach, all walrus of him, six
foot five, gets off the bus waddling and he's like, hey, boys,
they got all the gear, but they got no game.
I describes a lot of Christians. He got the T
shirt and the blinkity bling you're all talk. Teacher'll follow
(25:49):
you wherever you go. And she's like, Snowflake, there are
no five star B and B where we're going. You
didn't even know what you say. Holy Spirit, victis when
we're all talk. We got, we got, we got the language,
but not the lifestyle of being a follower of Jesus.
Show me, don't tell me. You see Rachel. She got
(26:12):
up and she served. She showed Jesus the healing, showed
Jesus her faith. Sometimes Christianity turns into one of those
dollars you pull the string and out pops one of
five Christian phrases, blessed and highly favored. He's all talk.
But then in verse twenty one, another disciple came said, Lord,
(26:35):
let me first go bury my father. Now, this second group,
if you're taking notes, you could title it this all excuse,
all excuse. Now here's the reality that could have been
a legitimate excuse. It could have been his father could
have just literally died. But Jesus says, this assignment is
for living people that's already been taken care of. There's
(26:57):
somebody on the other side of the link that's alive,
and we gotta go. And then on the boat, I
wonder what excuses are so familiar you don't even recognize
they're coming out of your mouth. Here's one of the
greatest excuses Christianity that we carry as Christians. Let me
pray about it. You know you're not gonna pray about it.
You're blaming God for your disobedience because you've come so
(27:20):
familiar with the excuse you don't even know it's leaking
out Holy Spirit and make these excuses bitter that we
would have a visceral response when they come out of
our mouth. Are you aware of where the excuses are
that are keeping you from getting in the boat? What
keeps you from getting in the boat? Jesus is looking
at the crowd. It's a mixture of people, people that
have been healed the night before that still smell like
(27:42):
demon whatever that smells like. But you have people that
have been following him for a season, and everybody gets
the same invitation to get in the boat. You don't
need the religious elite, you don't need to memorize the
Book of Philippians. He just says, will you follow me?
Will you get in the boat. It's some of the
people that are most resistant to get in the boat,
critical Christians, who are so familiar with the text. We
(28:02):
already assume what God says. And he's saying, I got
to get to the other side of the lake, and
I need the committed I need those that really want
to follow me to jump in and be all in. Oh,
all talk. What phrases are keeping you? What excuses are
keeping you? I'm stupid. I never had a chance. This
(28:25):
happened to me when I was six that's real and
that was horrible, but that does not define your future
because there's a series of three scenes strung together that
tell a story. Matthew is very particular about stringing these
three scenes together. What I prayed for some of you,
some of you are stuck in a scene and you
think it's the whole story. Yes, there was the demon possession,
(28:48):
Yes there was the thing, Yes there was the thing
that happened to you, there was the thing you did.
Yes that was a scene in your story, but it's
not the whole story. And if you back up a
little bit, you will see that Jesus is giving you
an opportunity. But what keeps you from getting in the boat.
I think some of you, the reason you don't get
in the boat is not because you don't love God.
It's you despise yourself. And I think what Jesus is
(29:09):
saying that very thing you despise about yourself is the
very thing I want in the boat. Now, there's three
groups in this story. We talked through two of them.
The first one it's kind of hard to see because
if we just read it, we skip right over it
because it says this, it's just when Jesus saw the crowd,
he gave orders. In verse eighteen, he gave orders to
cross to the other side of the lake. Now this
(29:30):
is the third group. This is the all in, say
all in, because what they heard is, hey, let's get
to the other side of the lake. What did these
people do? They ran and they got a boat and
they brought the boat back. Because if God gives an order,
I respond with obedience. You see the crowd, the order
(29:50):
becomes optional. But to the committed, it's a command, and
they walk in obedience. Are the orders of God optional?
What is the thing that God is asking you to do?
The door he wants into that you're not letting him in.
Because when the general gives the soldiers a command, they
(30:11):
fall in military formation. But the civilians, they're like, you know,
I'm going to go back to what's important to me,
and Jesus, ain't get in the boat. We got to
get to the other side of the lake. What keeps
you from getting in the boat? Well, Jesus, is there
gonna be any food on the boat. Some of us
are like, I want a word from God. No, you don't.
You want an itinerary and your obedience is proportionate to
(30:34):
a itinerary that's comfortable for you. And rather than getting
on a battleship, you're looking for a cruise ship. I'm sorry, Hello, Valentine,
is in by here with me? This microphone might have
been dead. I don't I'm all in Jesus until I
get to like, Oh, but I was expecting you know,
my ties on the lido deck. But and Jesus, get
(30:58):
on the boat. But what about what's going to happen
when we get there? Get on the boat. Get on
the boat, Get on the boat. Just get on the boat.
Because what I come to realize about us is if
the boundaries of your obedience is determined by your understanding,
you'll never live in the land of faith. I don't understand.
If you make it plain to me, then I'll get
on the boat an if then conditional faith with Jesus.
(31:20):
If you give me the itinerary, then I'll follow on
And says faith does not work like that. It is
being sure of what you hope for, are certain of
what you do not see. There is something on the
other side of the lake that we've got to get to,
and I need you to be a part of it.
I can't give you all the details. But I will
give you a command, and I will give you the option.
Will you get on the boat. All of you are loved,
(31:41):
but not everybody will find the same purpose because the
reality is that thing that you think disqualifies you from
getting on the boat is the very thing he needs
on the boat. And if we stop the story there,
we wouldn't see the fullness of it, because it goes
on in Matthew twenty eight, just the next part of
(32:03):
this story, when he arrived on the other side in
the region of the Garadines to demon possess men, wait
coming from the tombes, Maddam, wait no to demon And
I've read this story so many times before, and it
never made sense to me because I was reading each scene.
(32:23):
But picture the demon possessed person, take whatever door that
you don't want anybody to see behind that, and you're
looking at the boat saying, those are for the people
that really love you Jesus, and I still smell like
last night, the demon possessed people. But they get on
(32:44):
the boat, and as they're making their way to the
other side, they first hear it in a distance, the
cries of these demon possessed men, and it's the closer
they get, they can see the contorted faces of these
men under demon possession, and the faith filled people who
have never struggled with demon possession standing at the front
of the boat, at the bow of the boat like yeah,
Jesus are start like yo, Jesus, and they start retreating
(33:06):
to the back. But those that know what has lacked
to struggle with demon possession, They're like, wait, now, you
mean they have empathy for somebody on the other side
of the lake. The thing that they didn't want to
bring on the boat is the very thing Jesus wanted
(33:27):
to use on the other side of the lake. That's
what I'm telling you. Healing comes with a touch, but
purpose is found through trust. And healing isn't the absence
of pain, it's the presence of purpose. The only way
you discover purposes by being all and by letting Jesus
(33:51):
be all. And let me give a modern day example
of this. Let me give you a hypothetical story. Let's
say there's a fourteen year old girl named Rachel who
just moved to Valentine area of Charlotte, North Carolina six
months ago because mom and dad got divorced and she
had to move back with Mom to move in with Grandma.
(34:12):
And she's lived here for six months and she has
zero friends, and she's lonely, and she's filled with anxiety,
and she wonders, God, where are you now? And some
little boy invited her to a party. And normally she
wouldn't go to this party, but Rachel, she just wants friends.
And she says, Okay, I'll go to the party. But
(34:35):
she says, I promise I won't. I won't drink. Then
at the party, the attention is feeding something in her
that God wants to feed. That just not that way.
And she says, I'll just hold the cup, I'll just
have one. I'll just have two. And by the end
of the night, that little boy gets her to compromise
something she said she'd keep sacred till marriage. And when
(34:57):
she's walking home to her apartment that night with Grandma,
her dad gave her a promise ring when she was eight.
She takes it off and she throws it in the
woods because she feels like she's forfeited any future based
upon that past mistake, and she lays her head in
the pillow. That night, she cries herself to sleep. She's
soaking the pillow with her tears. Can you hear her
(35:17):
cries that that's the sound of the demons across the lake.
And when she wakes up in the morning, she's praying
it was just a nightmare. Bet it wasn't, because that
little boy took photos and he already circulated him. And
she's called every name you could ever imagine. And before
her feet even hit the floor, she wants to kill
herself because she feels like the only way out is that,
(35:39):
but she realizes there was one other friend at school.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
She invited me to this place called Elevation Valentine and
as somebody who normally sits in our student section, and
that little girl walks up to this building, who better
than you to welcome that little girl?
Speaker 1 (35:58):
And the reality is that story is so familiar to
so many in this room, and that part of you
that you want to hide, that you never ever want
to share, is the very thing that Jesus needs in
the boat. And if you don't let Jesus into that room,
all it will ever be is pain. But when you
put it in the boat, now you find purpose. Who
(36:32):
better than you to be outfront welcoming that little girl.
That thing that you said I got to take a
step back. I got nothing to offer is the very
thing Jesus wants to put out front. Who better than
you to lead a youth girl's e group to comfort
others with the comfort that you have received. Say, Holy Spirit,
(36:55):
show me the rooms I've not let you in. An
invitation starts with that admission, what are the rooms that
you're not letting Jesus in? What are the spaces that
you've not let Jesus into? An unnamed enemy will never
be defeated? And what do we do with an enemy?
(37:19):
What do we do with a friend? We cover them.
What do we do with an enemy? We expose them.
The admission is to say, I've got this room, but
somebody in this room is forty five, and you're like,
I can't tell anybody. What are they going to think
of me? You will help them go like, oh, that's
why he's acted like that for twenty two years. You'll
(37:39):
give some understanding. Stand your feet at all of our
locations without anybody moving. This is a holy moment, and
I'm going to give two opportunities to respond to this
sermon today. The first one is for those that you've
(38:00):
got a room, I've got rooms. I've got houses, But
what's one room that you know that you need to
let Jesus into. Maybe today would be the day that
you'd let Jesus. You'd hear him knocking. I've been knocking
for years. I've been knocking on the door of your life.
Let me into that marriage, let me into that relationship,
(38:21):
let me into that thing. He'll come in and he'll
touch you. It doesn't mean the pain goes away, but
it doesn't mean you can find purpose in it. And
then the second invitation is for those of you that
have not placed your faith in Jesus. You know that
you're separated from God. You've been playing religious activity, You've
been checking boxes of going to church, go to the bank,
(38:41):
go to the grocery store. But you've never confessed with
your mouth that Jesus Lord and believe it in your
heart that he was raised from the dead. And if
you need to begin that relationship with Jesus, I'm going
to give you that opportunity as well. But by your
head's close your eyes, put your hands in front of
you like you're holding a gift. Make some room for
GeSe Jesus in your hands. Is that room a space
(39:06):
that you need to let Jesus into You've covered it,
not because you don't love God, you just kind of
despise yourself and he wants to come into that. Father,
I thank you for your sons and daughters right now
that are walking in boldness fear. But I thank you
that you're a loving God that you will gently come in.
(39:31):
You're not going to kick down a door. You're knocking
on it. Why could you want to come in a
fellowship with them? And I thank you for the confession,
the admission. There's a space in our life that we
need you to touch. I pray that they would move
beyond just this moment and they would invite another person
into it today, somebody in this room or somebody online.
(39:52):
May they share that room so they don't have to
fight in isolation or being alone any longer. Now, for
those of you that need to begin a relationship with
Jesus Christ, I'm going to lead us all into prayer
for people to begin that relationship. To confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart
that he was raised from the dead. If you say
these words and you believe it in your heart, you
(40:14):
will be saved. Pray this with me, Church family. I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who
died on the cross and rose from the grave to
forgive me of my sin. I give you my life,
I give you my sin, I give you my shame.
Forgive me, and I'll spend my life following you with
(40:39):
your head still bowed in your eyes still closed. If
you just place your faith in Jesus or your coming
back to him, I am going to count to three,
and without hesitation, once I get there, boldly shoot your
hand into the air. One, two, three, shoot your hand
up high across this auditory. Come on, get all of
our location, all of our location. Come on, get it high.
(40:59):
One of our team want to get to you. Put
a new Bible in your hands, signifying your a new creation. Hey,
church family, let's celebrate that.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch
dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
with your friends you can click the share button, take
(41:31):
a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God as moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. Man, you picked a great day to
be in church. You picked a great day to log
in online. Why because this is the day the Lord
has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Hey,
you might not know this, but we're celebrating twenty years
(00:34):
of ministry this year at Elevation Church. My wife and
I had the privilege of being one of the original
core families with Eric and Nicole over here. And when
we look back over twenty years, people last like, how
do you explain all that God did? Well? God is
that good, He's that gracious, He's that kind, he's that loving.
But also I think our pastors are that anointed and
(00:55):
that gifted and that talented. I would be remiss if
we didn't take a second to celebrate the secret sauce
of Elevation Church, all the volunteers that make this place happen.
If you're at one of our physical locations. If you're
one of our volunteers, raise your hand, Valentine. If you're
one of those volunteers, hey help me celebrate all those heroes,
(01:18):
all of our online volunteers. We're not limited by location.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Man.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
When we started the ministry twenty years ago, we didn't
know if anybody would want to jump on board and
be a park. But they did. And I remember everybody
early on it's like, I'll do whatever you need. I'm
all in, And then it'd ask them to do something
and maybe not they're quite so all in. But I
had this couple twenty years ago, John and Rondi Mullen
show up. They were just trying to find a church
for their daughter. But when they walked in, they looked
(01:48):
at each other. I think we found a church for us.
And I had a team I started back in the
early days. It was called the First Impressions Team. They
would get at Providence High School at six am to
clean the bathrooms because it smelled like high school. And
so anytime someone would ask like, I'll do whatever you need,
I'm all in, I'd say, well, would you be a
part of my First Impressions Team. Now many people would say, well,
(02:11):
like I feel as though my gifts could be used
somewhere else. But when I presented the opportunity to John
and Rondee, they said we would be honored. Thank you
for the privilege. They showed up that next Sunday at
six am and they cleaned those bathrooms and they've been
serving faithfully for twenty years. Thank you John, Thank you RONDI.
(02:31):
Thank you for all the volunteers faithfully serving. Hey, and
you might not know this, but also October's Pastor Appreciation Month.
Help me appreciate our pastors. Pastor Steven, Pastor Holly Man.
We love you, We honor you. I've got an album
on my phone that whenever I get a message, a
(02:53):
text or voice memo from Pastor Steven, I dump it
in there. And I got messages that are in great
seasons of celebration. But I also have moments of great
seasons of sorrow. And I'm so grateful that our pastors
walk with me through the seasons of celebration and the
seasons of sorrow. I honor you, Pastor Stephen, Pastor Holly,
(03:13):
thank you for faithfully standing in this pulpit twenty years
preaching the word of God. All right, let me give
you our scripture for today. Let me give you the scripture.
I'm so excited, all of you saints open up to Matthew.
Chapter eight, verses fourteen to sixteen is where we'll begin.
If you're not a note taker, maybe today would be
the day that you begin writing something down. I want
(03:34):
God to do a new thing, he says, Well, bring
me a new rhythm. If you start a new rhythm
rather than standing in with your arms crossed, maybe I
would bless you. Maybe you'd write down one thing God
wants to speak to you today. Out of Matthew chapter eight,
starting in verse fourteen, it says when Jesus came into
Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother in law lying in
bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the
(03:56):
fever left her. She got up and began to wait
on him. When evening came, many who were demon possessed
were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits
with a word, and healed all the sick. Here's the
title for today's messages that I want to give. You
want to say it to your favorite person in the room.
You only get to pick one and I want you
(04:17):
to say it with the two of them, with some
gush Docem's foot sinya say this, say all in now
look at your second favorite choice and tell them all in. Hey,
thank you worship team for leading us today. You can
give somebody a high five on the way to your seat. Etham,
drop in the comments. All in. This story that Matthew's
(04:38):
going to bring to us comes in in three scenes,
and we're gonna start in this opening scene that Matthew
wants to weave together three scenes to tell a story
of Jesus. And in this opening scene, we've got these
two characters. We've got a woman that we know that
she's got a fever and she's Peter's mother in law.
Now Jesus is gonna come into the house and says
(05:00):
that Jesus came, Jesus saw and Jesus touched who. I
think God's going to do that in our hearts today.
I think God came into this room. I think he
sees you, and I think He's gonna touch you. How
many of you need a touch from God today? How
many have you got a space in your life that
God I needs you to touch it? See healing happens
with a touch. Now I have no idea if this woman,
(05:22):
let's give her a name. Whenever I read the Bible
and have an unnamed character, I like to give him
a name, because once you give him a name, it
just it hits a little more personal, doesn't it. Let's
call her Rachel. Everybody say Rachel. So Rachel is laying
in bed with a fever. She might have been a
woman of faith, or this might have been her last thoughts,
because sometimes Jesus is a first option. Some of you
(05:44):
faith filled people, something happens, you take it to Jesus first.
But other people, like me, often Jesus is more of
a last resort. I don't know. Maybe you're in church
today and this is a first option. Let's get to
the Lord. Let's get to the House of God and
others of you. We've tried to do all that we can.
All the King's horses and all the King's men can't
put her marriage back together again. So let's try church.
(06:06):
I don't care if it's your first option or your
last resort. Thank you for logging in. I'm glad you're
in the room today. I'm just glad you're here, and
Peter was Peter's house. It might have been a first option.
He might have been pulling in favor, saying, Yo, Jesus,
since I have access to you, could you heal my
mother in law? Could have been first option, could have
been last resort. Listen, we had to move this woman
(06:27):
in six months ago. Jesus, you better healerr because I
need her out of the house. Sometimes it's faith and
sometimes it's frustration. I'm just glad you're here today. And
when I see the story of this woman Rachel, and
I look at the at the cadence of the text,
it says she was laying in bed with a fever.
And when I look at those words at other places
in the New Testament, it suggests someone on their deathbed.
(06:52):
It's not a simple little symptom where she's got a
little bit of a fever. No, it suggests that we
are at the end of her life issues some of
a sitting in this room today, watching online today, you've
got a space in your life that you know it's
about to die. You got a space in your life.
You might have a new outfit, but it's an old
problem that's been making you limp for thirty two years,
(07:13):
and sometimes it so becomes so debilitating. It just doesn't
make you sit down in it. It makes you lay
down in it. Picture the woman, she's just laying down
and I got nothing. And some of you, that perfectly
describes the posture of your life today. And I want
you to see the sermon. This woman is gonna preach
with her posture. Because some of you, like Jesus touched me,
(07:33):
but you're still sitting down. I want you to consider
the texts and would you adopt the mentality of Rachel
because Jesus when he comes into the room, he touches
her and she's healeding what she do. She gets up
and she illustrates the sermon. She begins to serve him. Whoo.
So if you come up to me and say, Jesus
touched me, I'm gonna say, and where are you serving
(07:54):
him at? I'm all in Jesus to go back to
my car, to go back to my dysfunction or that
trains the direction of my life because my posture change.
Rather than sitting under it, I'm gonna stand up over
it and I'm gonna bring it to Jesus. I'm gonna
serve Jesus with it. I'm all in. I have no
(08:14):
idea what the issue was in her life, but I'm
so glad that Peter decided to open up his home
to let this woman in. It's really awesome. And when
you think about your home, when you invite guests to
your house, do you let them see all the rooms
in your house? No? You only let them see the
ones that are presentable, the ones you've cleaned up, the
(08:38):
ones that are socially acceptable. You don't let them see
the dysfunction behind the door. You've got the closets where
you've kicked stuff in it and you're shoving stuff in it.
You're like, no, you can't go upstairs. But the reality
is the owner determines the access. Who owns your home?
You are God. I wonder what rooms you've not let
(09:00):
Jesus into, Because, if I consider our story, if Jesus
can't the only way that Jesus can touch it is
if he's invited into it. Jesus cannot touch something he's
not been invited into. I wonder what rooms in your
life you have not let Jesus into. I wonder if
it's your finances, I wonder it's the room of your relationships.
(09:21):
I wonder if it's an unforgiveness issue for a father
in this room. I wonder if it's a friendship. I
wonder if it's a marriage. I wonder if you've got
what doors you have closed? And I remember when my
kids were little, like six, they would put like make
these signs and put it on the door no one allowed.
And when they get really mad at Dad, especially Dad's
(09:44):
I wonder what rooms you've got to sign on it
that said Jesus, you can't come into it. And you
show up Jesus, and Jesus, I want you to heal it.
He says, I can't heal it because I'm not being
invited into it. Because then tell them invited into it,
I cannot Healing only comes with a touch. And what
(10:05):
I realized is some of the times I'm telling Jesus,
like Jesus, would you heal this thing? And I think
I've opened the door, but I'm standing in the way,
like Jesus, when are you gonna do something about this?
And he says, as soon as you get out of
the way, because I can't get into the room because
you are in the way. What rooms does Jesus want
to have access to you in your house right now.
(10:27):
Sometimes the reality is disappointment becomes a nail gun, and
the reality is some of the doors I close in
my life not because I hate God. I just kind
of despise myself, and rather than be disappointed, I would
rather nail the door shut, so I'm no longer disappointed.
It happens with careers, it happens in relationships. And there
is somebody here today that you've been wanting a child
(10:48):
for such a long time, and you've opened the door,
and you've opened the door, but you're so tired of
opening the door. And the only thing harder than opening
the door is keeping the door open. And as I
was praying for our church yesterday, there's a man that
you had an affair in the past. I don't know
(11:09):
who you are. God wanted me to tell you it's
time to open that door because you're living in this
place of a hard heart. And rather than bring that
into the light, I'll just close the door and I'll
nail it shut. I wonder what rooms that Jesus wants
to access to say this with me, Say Holy Spirit,
(11:33):
show me the rooms I've not let you in. Say
it again, say Holy spirit show me the rooms. I've
not let you in because Jesus is a gentleman, and
I love the fact that he is not gonna kick
down the door. But Revelation three twenty tells us about
the kind of savior that we serve. It says this.
(11:53):
It says, here, I am, I stand at the door
in I knock, and I said, if you let me in,
I will eat with you, and I'll fellowship with you.
God is standing at the door of your life. I
know that you can't open it because of disappointment. But
Jesus is not looking at you with disdain. He loves you.
He's longing for you. He's showing up at that door
again and again and again. He said, I want to
(12:14):
heal it, but I can't heal it if I can't
touch it. And I'm so glad that Peter is the
kind of man that will let people into his house.
Because this is kind of crazy. Some theologians believe that
the reason that Peter denied Jesus is because Jesus healed
his mother in law. That's an old preacher joke, you know,
(12:34):
that's a preacher joy.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
But the story in the first verse there it says
that she gets healed, and then in verse sixteen, it
says when evening came, many who were demon possessed were
brought to him. So the healing happens sometimes during the day.
Now all the people that are in the house are
overwhelmed with joy, and they say, Jesus, we are all in.
And Peter says, yep, I'm all in too. So all
(13:00):
the people that had been in the house, what did
they do? They go out to the streets. They go
out to the highways and the byways, and the overlook,
the marginalized, the ones that nobody sees. They go and
find it, and they drag him back to Peter's house.
And now it's a good old demon party. Look at
the story and picture Peter out in front of his
home as he sees and he hears all of these
(13:21):
demons being brought to his home. Could you ever imagine
something like happening in your house? Or is your house
only available for what you want? Jesus, I'm all in. Really,
would you let that person in your car or you
worried about how it would smell? I'm all in, Jesus,
because the reality is in our fate journey we will
all come to these places that every step we take
(13:41):
in following Jesus, it will test are all in. Yes,
it is a one time. When you place your faith
in Jesus, you get eternity. But to trust him to
follow him as a day by day must deny myself daily,
pick up my cross and follow him. I'm all in
for the next twenty minutes, Jesus. But you see Peter.
He's opening up his home and all the demon possessed
(14:02):
people are flooding, and He's like, no, no, open up
the living room, open up that second living room, whatever
we call that thing. Open up the kitchen, the closets, oh,
second floor. Let's fill it all in. Let's get everybody
all in. Say all in, Jesus. I'm all in as
much as I know. But what do I do when
I come to the place. I'm like, I don't know
if I'm all in for that. It's like when you
get married. I do, that's easy, but I will that's harder.
(14:29):
But what would compel Peter to live such an extravagant
life that he would be all in? Because the demon?
I mean, can you picture the sound in his home,
all the shrieks and the shrills and the celebration all
a mixture together, a praise to God as he's healing people.
Most of those people would be the ones we would
have driven around. But those are the ones that the
(14:49):
disciples are driven towards. And they brought them into the house.
They who brought them, the people that had been touched
by Jesus. I'm all in, and they respond by bri
somebody back in. Are there any single ladies? Raise your hand.
You might have a single guy around you who might
be looking. I don't know. Let me give a little
(15:10):
bit of dating advice. Don't date boys. That's good advice.
Don't date boys. See boys want to get something, men
want to bring something. That's good preaching LB tell him,
(15:33):
tell them for the people in the back. Don't date boys.
And some of you are brand new to the faith.
Just keep showing up. Just keep showing up. Just keep
showing up. Just keep showing up. Others of you. God
is blessed way more than what you're bringing to him.
Are you the bride of Christ? Are you coming to
get something? Are you coming to bring something? When's the
(15:55):
last time you brought a broken praise? When's the last
time you brought an offering. When's the last time you
brought your service? When is the last time you brought
a guest to experience a miracle standing next to you?
Because if I'm only showing up to get my word,
what am I saying about the bride of Christ? I
am glad that you can get a word of God here.
But to mature, to get in the deep end of
the faith pool requires us to be a follower that
says I'm all in, which means you have access to everything,
(16:16):
and I'll bring it all into your per I wonder
what doors you said, Jesus. You cannot get behind that one.
I'm all in, Jesus. But what would compel Peter to
live such an extravagant life? And it's I want to
go back to the origin story of Peter real quickly.
This is out of Luke chapter five, because I think
today is somebody's origin story. I love the fact that
(16:36):
today is the day that someone are gonna see Jesus
in a brand new way, and it's going to be
the origin story that will ignite something in your life
to be a person of faith that you desire to be.
It says this one day Jesus was walking by the
lake of Gannessaret. The people were crowding around him and
listening to the word of God. He saw by the
water's edge two boats left there by fishermen who were fishing,
(16:57):
who were washing their nets. Then he got into one
of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked
him to put out a little from the shore. This
is early on in jesus ministry. He's about to begin
his recruiting trip to recruit his disciples, his initial followers.
And you realize that the word disciple isn't just defining
the twelve people that followed him. Those were the apostles,
(17:18):
and in fact they were disciples. But there were seventy
disciples that Jesus sent out on a ministry trip, and
then when Jesus returns, there were one hundred and twenty
disciples in the upper room. Disciple is anybody who says
I want to be a follower of Jesus. And if
you're a follower of Jesus, guess what, you're a disciple too.
And this origin story is where Jesus is going to
show up. He's going to preach to thousands, but he's
(17:40):
got an audience of one it's Peter, because this is
a story about his selection of Peter. And I love
the fact that God is preaching to thousands at the
same time, but he's preaching to you. He sees you,
he calls you, and he is preaching a sermons just
for you because he wants to get your attention. He
wants to show you something. And now he says, there's
(18:00):
two boats by the edge of the water, and he
gets into the one belonging to Simon. Wait, I thought
his name was Peter. Wait. Yeah, it's a little complicated
because Peter, you know, that's his one name. But then Simon,
that's his BC, that's before Christ. That's Simon. Is the
part of you that on Saturday night you're raising the
red Solo Cup, Like, hey, hey, Peter, that's the hand
(18:24):
raised in worship on Sunday morning. Hallelujah, Hey, hallelujah. You
got a little Simon in you, and you got a
little Peter in you. You played the game when you
were a kid. Simon says, act like a fool. That's Simon.
You still got a little Simon in you. And he
shows up and he's fully Simon in this point, and
there's two boats sitting there, and Jesus just goes and
(18:46):
sits in his boat. Try this after church, Just go
sit in somebody's random car in the parking lot and
he just sits down. Okay. And I love the fact
that Jesus is coming to him, but he's only going
to come so far. And Jesus is coming to you
and the boat that you don't want to get into.
(19:09):
He's not intimidated by that door, that room of your
life that you wouldn't want anybody to see. He already
sees it. And he says, I'm not uncomfortable in that place.
I know you are. And he sits right down in it.
Why because he loves you. He sits down in Peter's
boat and he says, hey, Peter, well Simon, let's get
his name right, Simon, push out a little from the shore,
(19:31):
Just say a little, come better, participation, palatine, say a little.
And that's what he's asking you to do today. And
here's the story. Let me illustrate it for you. What
would compel Peter to live a life who's all in?
Say all in? It began with a little step. He
gets in his boat. It is anchored up on the shore,
(19:52):
so Peter's got to push this thing out. He's like,
I've been out all night fishing, I haven't slept, I stink,
and like, are you kidding me? Okay, So he pushes
his shoulder into the boat and he pushes it out
of it, and he starts walking the boat out into
the water, and each step he takes, the water is
getting a little bit higher on him, and he pushes
(20:12):
out a little say a little there you go, Thank you, Valentine.
And now he's holding the boat about waist deep. He's
in proximity to Jesus, but he's not in relationship yet
with Jesus. Don't confuse proximity with intimacy. Just because I'm
sitting in a seat doesn't mean him in the boat
with him. And I love the fact that Jesus is
(20:36):
preaching to the thousands, but he's looking at one the
whole time. And I wonder if Peter's like, oh my gosh,
what am I doing? What a waste of time? Who
is this guy? Preacher? Boy?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, yeah, And maybe he would hear every third word
or every fifth word, or maybe that would be kind
of cool. But love the fact that Jesus kept preaching,
but yet he still knew his audience's audience of one.
And now the relationship is about to go to a
different level. They're about to change the Facebook status because
when he finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out
(21:07):
into the deep and let down the nets for a catch.
Say the deep. Jesus is calling you from the little
to the deep. Simon answered, Master, We've worked hard all night.
I haven't got anything. But because you say so, I
will b y ssiw be why because you say so? Ssiw.
(21:28):
Because you say so, I will be why ssiw. Some
of you, that's your next tattoo. Put it right here
on your wrist. And then when you're driven by Simon, Hey, Simon, no, no, no,
because you say so. Not Simon says, because Jesus said,
I'll do that. Because you say so. I will now
picture the rest of this story of what Peter has
(21:50):
to do, what Simon has to do to be obedient
to the commands of Christ. Okay, I got the water.
It waste deep, but let's go out into the deep.
I mean, I'm comfortable right here because I can hold
on to this and I can put my feet firmly
on what I know, what I trust, what's reliable to me.
But every step I take, the water's gonna get a
little bit deeper. It's gonna make me a little bit
more uncomfortable. Oh my gosh, what's about to happen. What's
(22:13):
gonna happen on the other side of this thing? And
every step I take the waters But and he's hanging
on to the side of the boat. But he's not all.
He had to come to this point in his relationship
with Jesus that I cannot place my faith in what
I know, what I touch, what's familiar to me. I
gotta get all in with Jesus. And that's where he
(22:35):
wants you to come today. The place that you would
get all in in the boat he's not intimidated by.
But you won't get into it. What keeps you from
getting in the boat? What keeps you from getting in
the boat? That's a key question, because some of you
you haven't done that, And I want to ask you,
and I want to the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
What is the reason that you aren't getting in that boat.
(22:59):
So if we go back to our story of the
demon party, remember that demon party, that was the first scene.
Now we're going to come to the middle scene. This
is going to be. In verse eighteen, it says, when
Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to
cross to the other side of the lake. Then the
teacher of the law came to him, as a teacher,
I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied. Foxes
(23:20):
have dens and birds have nests, but the son of
man is no place to lie his head. Another disciples
said to him, first, let me go bury my father.
Jesus told him, follow me and let the dad bury
their own dead savage Jesus here. Then he got into
the boat and his disciples followed him. It says when
(23:40):
Jesus saw the crowd around him. Some theologians believe that
crowd would have been up to five thousand people. The
crowd is filled with lots of people, and Jesus is
very loving, but he's also very divisive. Jesus will have
these moments that he says in John chapter six. He says,
unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood,
you'll have no part of me. And John six sixty six,
(24:02):
it's as many disciples departed him and followed him no more.
Why because they followed as far as their understanding would go.
I'm all in to the end of my understanding, and
when it doesn't make sense, then I'm not going to
continue on the journey, because that doesn't make sense Jesus.
And Jesus is always separating the crowd from the committed.
(24:23):
And I love the fact that all are loved. Everybody
on that shore is loved, but not everybody will discover purpose.
See you're healed with a touch, but you only find
purpose when you get in the vote. And he's now
going to divide the crowd, say, guys, we've got to
get to the other side of the lake. Let's go
to the other side of the lake. We gotta go.
(24:43):
I wonder what's so important on the other side of
the lake. He says, we got to get there. We
got to get there. But he's going to divide the crowd,
and there's one group. The first group is this in
verse nineteen, it says, then a teacher of the law
came and said, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
He's a teacher of the law. He's saying it loud
for everyone, and back to hear I will follow you.
(25:03):
Jesus because he wanted everybody to be impressed with his language,
but he didn't have the lifestyle. He's all talk. He's
all talk. I remember my high school football coach. His
name was Harvey Krable. He looked like a walrus, and
when he would talk, his jowls would jiggle. It was amazing.
And we went and played in this rich town. They
(25:24):
had new white shoes and white gloves. I got stuff
that's duct taped together. I've never had anything new in
my life. And my coach, all walrus of him, six
foot five, gets off the bus waddling and he's like, hey, boys,
they got all the gear, but they got no game.
I describes a lot of Christians. He got the T
shirt and the blinkity bling you're all talk. Teacher'll follow
(25:49):
you wherever you go. And she's like, Snowflake, there are
no five star B and B where we're going. You
didn't even know what you say. Holy Spirit, victis when
we're all talk. We got, we got, we got the language,
but not the lifestyle of being a follower of Jesus.
Show me, don't tell me. You see Rachel. She got
(26:12):
up and she served. She showed Jesus the healing, showed
Jesus her faith. Sometimes Christianity turns into one of those
dollars you pull the string and out pops one of
five Christian phrases, blessed and highly favored. He's all talk.
But then in verse twenty one, another disciple came said, Lord,
(26:35):
let me first go bury my father. Now, this second group,
if you're taking notes, you could title it this all excuse,
all excuse. Now here's the reality that could have been
a legitimate excuse. It could have been his father could
have just literally died. But Jesus says, this assignment is
for living people that's already been taken care of. There's
(26:57):
somebody on the other side of the link that's alive,
and we gotta go. And then on the boat, I
wonder what excuses are so familiar you don't even recognize
they're coming out of your mouth. Here's one of the
greatest excuses Christianity that we carry as Christians. Let me
pray about it. You know you're not gonna pray about it.
You're blaming God for your disobedience because you've come so
(27:20):
familiar with the excuse you don't even know it's leaking
out Holy Spirit and make these excuses bitter that we
would have a visceral response when they come out of
our mouth. Are you aware of where the excuses are
that are keeping you from getting in the boat? What
keeps you from getting in the boat? Jesus is looking
at the crowd. It's a mixture of people, people that
have been healed the night before that still smell like
(27:42):
demon whatever that smells like. But you have people that
have been following him for a season, and everybody gets
the same invitation to get in the boat. You don't
need the religious elite, you don't need to memorize the
Book of Philippians. He just says, will you follow me?
Will you get in the boat. It's some of the
people that are most resistant to get in the boat,
critical Christians, who are so familiar with the text. We
(28:02):
already assume what God says. And he's saying, I got
to get to the other side of the lake, and
I need the committed I need those that really want
to follow me to jump in and be all in. Oh,
all talk. What phrases are keeping you? What excuses are
keeping you? I'm stupid. I never had a chance. This
(28:25):
happened to me when I was six that's real and
that was horrible, but that does not define your future
because there's a series of three scenes strung together that
tell a story. Matthew is very particular about stringing these
three scenes together. What I prayed for some of you,
some of you are stuck in a scene and you
think it's the whole story. Yes, there was the demon possession,
(28:48):
Yes there was the thing, Yes there was the thing
that happened to you, there was the thing you did.
Yes that was a scene in your story, but it's
not the whole story. And if you back up a
little bit, you will see that Jesus is giving you
an opportunity. But what keeps you from getting in the boat.
I think some of you, the reason you don't get
in the boat is not because you don't love God.
It's you despise yourself. And I think what Jesus is
(29:09):
saying that very thing you despise about yourself is the
very thing I want in the boat. Now, there's three
groups in this story. We talked through two of them.
The first one it's kind of hard to see because
if we just read it, we skip right over it
because it says this, it's just when Jesus saw the crowd,
he gave orders. In verse eighteen, he gave orders to
cross to the other side of the lake. Now this
(29:30):
is the third group. This is the all in, say
all in, because what they heard is, hey, let's get
to the other side of the lake. What did these
people do? They ran and they got a boat and
they brought the boat back. Because if God gives an order,
I respond with obedience. You see the crowd, the order
(29:50):
becomes optional. But to the committed, it's a command, and
they walk in obedience. Are the orders of God optional?
What is the thing that God is asking you to do?
The door he wants into that you're not letting him in.
Because when the general gives the soldiers a command, they
(30:11):
fall in military formation. But the civilians, they're like, you know,
I'm going to go back to what's important to me,
and Jesus, ain't get in the boat. We got to
get to the other side of the lake. What keeps
you from getting in the boat? Well, Jesus, is there
gonna be any food on the boat. Some of us
are like, I want a word from God. No, you don't.
You want an itinerary and your obedience is proportionate to
(30:34):
a itinerary that's comfortable for you. And rather than getting
on a battleship, you're looking for a cruise ship. I'm sorry, Hello, Valentine,
is in by here with me? This microphone might have
been dead. I don't I'm all in Jesus until I
get to like, Oh, but I was expecting you know,
my ties on the lido deck. But and Jesus, get
(30:58):
on the boat. But what about what's going to happen
when we get there? Get on the boat. Get on
the boat, Get on the boat. Just get on the boat.
Because what I come to realize about us is if
the boundaries of your obedience is determined by your understanding,
you'll never live in the land of faith. I don't understand.
If you make it plain to me, then I'll get
on the boat an if then conditional faith with Jesus.
(31:20):
If you give me the itinerary, then I'll follow on
And says faith does not work like that. It is
being sure of what you hope for, are certain of
what you do not see. There is something on the
other side of the lake that we've got to get to,
and I need you to be a part of it.
I can't give you all the details. But I will
give you a command, and I will give you the option.
Will you get on the boat. All of you are loved,
(31:41):
but not everybody will find the same purpose because the
reality is that thing that you think disqualifies you from
getting on the boat is the very thing he needs
on the boat. And if we stop the story there,
we wouldn't see the fullness of it, because it goes
on in Matthew twenty eight, just the next part of
(32:03):
this story, when he arrived on the other side in
the region of the Garadines to demon possess men, wait
coming from the tombes, Maddam, wait no to demon And
I've read this story so many times before, and it
never made sense to me because I was reading each scene.
(32:23):
But picture the demon possessed person, take whatever door that
you don't want anybody to see behind that, and you're
looking at the boat saying, those are for the people
that really love you Jesus, and I still smell like
last night, the demon possessed people. But they get on
(32:44):
the boat, and as they're making their way to the
other side, they first hear it in a distance, the
cries of these demon possessed men, and it's the closer
they get, they can see the contorted faces of these
men under demon possession, and the faith filled people who
have never struggled with demon possession standing at the front
of the boat, at the bow of the boat like yeah,
Jesus are start like yo, Jesus, and they start retreating
(33:06):
to the back. But those that know what has lacked
to struggle with demon possession, They're like, wait, now, you
mean they have empathy for somebody on the other side
of the lake. The thing that they didn't want to
bring on the boat is the very thing Jesus wanted
(33:27):
to use on the other side of the lake. That's
what I'm telling you. Healing comes with a touch, but
purpose is found through trust. And healing isn't the absence
of pain, it's the presence of purpose. The only way
you discover purposes by being all and by letting Jesus
(33:51):
be all. And let me give a modern day example
of this. Let me give you a hypothetical story. Let's
say there's a fourteen year old girl named Rachel who
just moved to Valentine area of Charlotte, North Carolina six
months ago because mom and dad got divorced and she
had to move back with Mom to move in with Grandma.
(34:12):
And she's lived here for six months and she has
zero friends, and she's lonely, and she's filled with anxiety,
and she wonders, God, where are you now? And some
little boy invited her to a party. And normally she
wouldn't go to this party, but Rachel, she just wants friends.
And she says, Okay, I'll go to the party. But
(34:35):
she says, I promise I won't. I won't drink. Then
at the party, the attention is feeding something in her
that God wants to feed. That just not that way.
And she says, I'll just hold the cup, I'll just
have one. I'll just have two. And by the end
of the night, that little boy gets her to compromise
something she said she'd keep sacred till marriage. And when
(34:57):
she's walking home to her apartment that night with Grandma,
her dad gave her a promise ring when she was eight.
She takes it off and she throws it in the
woods because she feels like she's forfeited any future based
upon that past mistake, and she lays her head in
the pillow. That night, she cries herself to sleep. She's
soaking the pillow with her tears. Can you hear her
(35:17):
cries that that's the sound of the demons across the lake.
And when she wakes up in the morning, she's praying
it was just a nightmare. Bet it wasn't, because that
little boy took photos and he already circulated him. And
she's called every name you could ever imagine. And before
her feet even hit the floor, she wants to kill
herself because she feels like the only way out is that,
(35:39):
but she realizes there was one other friend at school.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
She invited me to this place called Elevation Valentine and
as somebody who normally sits in our student section, and
that little girl walks up to this building, who better
than you to welcome that little girl?
Speaker 1 (35:58):
And the reality is that story is so familiar to
so many in this room, and that part of you
that you want to hide, that you never ever want
to share, is the very thing that Jesus needs in
the boat. And if you don't let Jesus into that room,
all it will ever be is pain. But when you
put it in the boat, now you find purpose. Who
(36:32):
better than you to be outfront welcoming that little girl.
That thing that you said I got to take a
step back. I got nothing to offer is the very
thing Jesus wants to put out front. Who better than
you to lead a youth girl's e group to comfort
others with the comfort that you have received. Say, Holy Spirit,
(36:55):
show me the rooms I've not let you in. An
invitation starts with that admission, what are the rooms that
you're not letting Jesus in? What are the spaces that
you've not let Jesus into? An unnamed enemy will never
be defeated? And what do we do with an enemy?
(37:19):
What do we do with a friend? We cover them.
What do we do with an enemy? We expose them.
The admission is to say, I've got this room, but
somebody in this room is forty five, and you're like,
I can't tell anybody. What are they going to think
of me? You will help them go like, oh, that's
why he's acted like that for twenty two years. You'll
(37:39):
give some understanding. Stand your feet at all of our
locations without anybody moving. This is a holy moment, and
I'm going to give two opportunities to respond to this
sermon today. The first one is for those that you've
(38:00):
got a room, I've got rooms. I've got houses, But
what's one room that you know that you need to
let Jesus into. Maybe today would be the day that
you'd let Jesus. You'd hear him knocking. I've been knocking
for years. I've been knocking on the door of your life.
Let me into that marriage, let me into that relationship,
(38:21):
let me into that thing. He'll come in and he'll
touch you. It doesn't mean the pain goes away, but
it doesn't mean you can find purpose in it. And
then the second invitation is for those of you that
have not placed your faith in Jesus. You know that
you're separated from God. You've been playing religious activity, You've
been checking boxes of going to church, go to the bank,
(38:41):
go to the grocery store. But you've never confessed with
your mouth that Jesus Lord and believe it in your
heart that he was raised from the dead. And if
you need to begin that relationship with Jesus, I'm going
to give you that opportunity as well. But by your
head's close your eyes, put your hands in front of
you like you're holding a gift. Make some room for
GeSe Jesus in your hands. Is that room a space
(39:06):
that you need to let Jesus into You've covered it,
not because you don't love God, you just kind of
despise yourself and he wants to come into that. Father,
I thank you for your sons and daughters right now
that are walking in boldness fear. But I thank you
that you're a loving God that you will gently come in.
(39:31):
You're not going to kick down a door. You're knocking
on it. Why could you want to come in a
fellowship with them? And I thank you for the confession,
the admission. There's a space in our life that we
need you to touch. I pray that they would move
beyond just this moment and they would invite another person
into it today, somebody in this room or somebody online.
(39:52):
May they share that room so they don't have to
fight in isolation or being alone any longer. Now, for
those of you that need to begin a relationship with
Jesus Christ, I'm going to lead us all into prayer
for people to begin that relationship. To confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart
that he was raised from the dead. If you say
these words and you believe it in your heart, you
(40:14):
will be saved. Pray this with me, Church family. I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who
died on the cross and rose from the grave to
forgive me of my sin. I give you my life,
I give you my sin, I give you my shame.
Forgive me, and I'll spend my life following you with
(40:39):
your head still bowed in your eyes still closed. If
you just place your faith in Jesus or your coming
back to him, I am going to count to three,
and without hesitation, once I get there, boldly shoot your
hand into the air. One, two, three, shoot your hand
up high across this auditory. Come on, get all of
our location, all of our location. Come on, get it high.
(40:59):
One of our team want to get to you. Put
a new Bible in your hands, signifying your a new creation. Hey,
church family, let's celebrate that.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch
dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
with your friends you can click the share button, take
(41:31):
a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
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