April 28, 2024 • 70 mins
Stand there and see what God can do.
In “Places Everyone!,” Pastor Steven shows us that God meets us on our path so we can receive restoration in unexpected places.
Ghost Writer is a brand-new series about making sense of your story through the lens of the Holy Spirit.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
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 (00:11):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Enjoy the message. Glory to God, Glory to God.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What an amazing atmosphere, What an amazing room of beautiful people,
What a tapestry of transformed lives. You are the temple
of the Living God. Make sure today that the temple
is filled with praise. All right, open your mouth and
praise Him right now.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Come on all over the world, old many are now
and turn wherever you are.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Into a sanctuary. Do it right now.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Take a responsibility for your space right now and fill
it with praise.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Glory to God. Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Grab hands with the person next to you. We're gonna
pray for each other. Repeat after me, Father, bless them
real good in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Now hug seven people and tell them you're in the
right place today. Don't sit out when you finished hugging,
stay standing.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I agreet you online. Please let me know in the
comments where you're joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
From everyone everywhere all around the world. We welcome you everyone.
We're so glad you're here. Put it in the comments,
say I'm glad to be here. Say it out loud,
by faith, I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Also, y'all, we just announced Elevation Nights our tour that
is coming to the West Coast later this year.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Go to Elevation Nights for details.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Looks like we'll be going to Seattle, Vancouver, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Boise, Idaho,
Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver, Colorado. Make plans for Tuesday,
September twenty fourth through Thursday October. It will be awesome
Elevation Nights dot com. Also today, the Lord said a
(02:27):
special word for somebody, and I can't wait to find
out who it is that he sent it for. I
thanked him before I came out because he gave it
to me, and I thanked him that I get to
now partner with him in delivering what the father wants
to say to his children. I'm going to be sharing
(02:50):
the next installment on my series called ghost Writer, and
I'm using as a metaphor you know how somebody needs
to write a book but they're not a good rite.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
They hire somebody because they have.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
A great story, but that doesn't make them a good writer.
So you can hire somebody called a ghost writer to
help you. I'm just using that to represent how the
Holy Spirit in our lives will help us with the
story that we're telling. Our lives are meant to tell
the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were
singing it earlier. I was dead and gone and you
(03:24):
raised me. I was lost in sin and you found me. Hallelujah,
you saved my soul.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
But just like some of us have.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Trouble singing on pitch, and I'm one of you, but
we have trouble sometimes telling.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
That story on cue.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
And so the Holy Spirit will help us not only
tell the story to others, but how many know you're
telling yourself a story every second of every day.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
And that's where I really need his help.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And as you look through the Book of Acts, not
acts like a thing you cut down a tree with,
but acts like action. It's the things that the Holy
Spirit did through the early Church, and we are continuing
just two thousand years later in that same stream of
the Spirit's activity. So the subtitle of the series is
making sense of your story through the lens of the
(04:17):
Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Now, if everything in your life makes sense.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Then you can go ahead and leave now and beat
everybody to the restaurant, go ahead and get some brunch logo,
on over to something else more interesting online. But if
there are some things in your life that don't make
sense right now, from a natural perspective, I believe that
today God wants to give you a lens through his word,
and as we worship him, he does that.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
And now as you receive.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
This word from him, He's going to give you a
way to see your situations. I'm going to Acts Chapter three, JJ,
do you want this? I don't need it today. I
told him I don't need that little screen today. No,
I'm preaching like a wild man in a revival today.
I'm not circling nothing, highlighting nothing, writing nothing. I'm gonna
(05:04):
just holler for about forty minutes. Y'all act right today,
don't act crazy. I can't take it. Acts Chapter three.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I love this story. This is my favorite Bible story today.
I have another one next week. Listen to this one.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Though.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
One day, Peter and John were going up to the
temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.
Now now a man who was lame from birth was
being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he
was put every day to beg from those going into
the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about
(05:49):
to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight
at him, as did John. Then Peter said, look at us.
So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get
something from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold I
do not have. But what I do have, I give
(06:10):
you in the name of Jesus. In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that's a place walk. Taking him
by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly
the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to
his feet and began to walk. Then he went with
(06:32):
them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and doing
all kinds of stuff he couldn't do before he came
that day and praising God. When all the people saw
him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the
same man who used to sit begging at the temple
(06:53):
gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and
amazement at what had happened to him.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
The final verse we'll read for now is verse eleven.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
While the man held on to Peter and John, all
the people were astonished and came running to them in
the place called Solomon's Colonnade. Now, today, I want to
use for my sermon title something that you normally hear
in the theater or on a movie set when they're
(07:24):
getting ready to shoot the scene, and you'll hear a
stage manager or a director say these words.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But I'm going to use them today in church.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Okay, the title of this sermon is places everyone.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Places everyone. Help me with this. Say it in your
own voice. Places. Everyone.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Look at your neighbor in case they're not paying attention
to me, say places everyone.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
We're about to have some action in here, lights.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Camera, Places everyone. That's why I'm glad you came today.
You almost didn't come, but I'm glad you came today
because the Holy Spirit said, Places, everyone.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Something's about to happen. Place us everyone. Something important is
about to go down. Place us everyone. A story is
about to unfold. Places everyone.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Say it.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Places everyone in glory to God and now be seated. Everyone.
Places everyone.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
The most beautiful opening illustration emerged from my kitchen table.
Just yesterday, Elijah brought several friends home from college to visit.
A few of them have never been to Charlotte. They
were debating what to do with their day. The subject
of Carowins came up. Carowins is an amusement park in
the Greater Charlotte area. It's technically in South Carolina, but
(08:57):
that's complicated to explain.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
It's just a place with roller coasters.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I was laughing because I haven't been to Carowins once
since I've lived in Sharply.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I may Holley take the kids when they were little.
I don't like it.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
The last time I went to Carowins, I was about
Abbey's age truth And so after I said that, Elijah said, yeah,
Carowins was so much better like five years ago. His friend,
without missing a beat, said, it wasn't better you were younger.
(09:32):
I thought that was kind of profound. I mean, Carowins
hasn't changed that much. They had a few different rides
and everything. I guess protocols, I don't know, but it's
just the way you experience Carowin's has changed since you
were a kid. To now that you're in college. It
(09:52):
didn't get worse or it wasn't better. You were just younger.
You just got older. That happened to me one time.
I wanted to take all the family to this barbecue
restaurant we used to go to a lot as a kid.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
It was on our rotation. It would be Ryan's one
Friday night.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You'll know about Ryan's Quincy's, Ryan's Quincy's Chinese.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And then this.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Barbecue place in Ridgeville, South Carolina called Duke's Barbecue. And
I was explaining to them how we would go on
Friday nights off into Duke's Barbecue. And I said, and
the trash cans what I remember about it. The trash
cans were the biggest trash cans that you've ever seen
in your life.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I mean, they were so tall you'd have to jump up.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I remember trying to slam dunk the plate in the
trash can after I ate my hash and rice and barbecue.
And I was telling them all this, and we walk
in and this is how stupid I am. I walk
in and I realize, oh, the trash cans are smaller.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
No, they didn't change out the trash cans.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I was frozen in five year old Stephen Ferdick's memory
of the trash cans. And in my mind, you have
to jump up the trash cans are so high.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But I didn't have to jump up.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I just had to grow up, and the trash cans
didn't have to get smaller.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I just had to get bigger.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Some of the things in your life that you're asking
God to change, don't be surprised when He changes you
instead of changing it.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I have several points today, and I'll give you the
first one. Now you might find this worth writing down.
Number one. When the person changes, so does the place.
When the person changes, so does the place. So that
the caroins of your childhood will not be the.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Caroins of your college age.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
It will still be the same basic con stept of
paying money to want to throw up and stand in
lines for two hours, which makes total sense, same basic concept,
but different point of view. Graham actually said to me
one time corn dogs fell off.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
What happened to corn dogs?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Is it just me?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Or did corn dogs fall off? Corn dogs didn't fall off.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
You grew up, and sometimes you change so much, not
realizing it until you go back to the same place
that you came from and go, huh, these trash cans
aren't so big. You know what I love about the
story that we just read in the scripture. Peter and John,
(12:48):
who we mentioned kind of as the main characters, They're
going to a place called the Temple. The Temple is
a place where they've been going their whole lives because
they're Jewish.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Community would require it.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
They would go there not only just once a week,
but most observant Jews would have gone at least twice
a day for the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice,
where the high Priest would stand and then offer up
a sacrifice for the people, and prayers would be prayed,
and scriptures would be read, and community would gather together
(13:22):
and worship would be offered to God. Now Peter and
John have had a radical transformation in their life.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Not only did they spend.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Three and a half years with this radical rabbi from
Nazareth named Jesus Christ, who did things heretofore unseen, unexperienced,
and unprecedented, but they have been filled everybody shat filled
with the Holy Spirit, and they are running over with
(13:53):
a new consciousness of who God is because now they
are no longer experiencing God.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Externally, but internally, Jesus is no longer there in the flesh.
But Jesus said, I got something better for you.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I'll send my spirit to live inside of you, so
that even when I'm asleep, he'll be awake, so that
even when you're in a place that's far away in distance,
you will never be far away from my presence. Adjusting
to this new reality must have been difficult because the
(14:31):
place that they've gone all their life, which represented tradition
and training. And when you think about those two words,
tradition and training, tradition and training. Now suddenly they are
transitioning from the tradition.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
That they've known their whole life, which represented how God
was to be worshiped, and.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
They are transitioning into a new and living way that
was made through the body of Jesus Christ, which was
broken on the cross, the blood of his co which
was poured out for your sin.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
So they're going to the temple, right think about this.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
They're going to the temple, but the temple that they're
going to does not represent the template that they have
been given for how to relate to God in the future.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
They're changing, They're changing.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And they're going to a place that they're used to
going to, but they're not the same people that they
used to be. And corn dogs are falling off, and
Caroins was better as a kid, and the trash cans
were taller when I was five, And I'm going back
to the same place. But I'm a changed man. I'm
(15:41):
a changed woman. I believe that as the person changes,
the place changes. I'll prove it to you with the
practical thing. This is not about me, This is not
about you know the first century AD. This is about you.
Some of you used to drive by this church and
(16:01):
kind of silently think that place gets on my nerves.
The traffic that they make when I'm trying to leave
on Sunday and they just get in my way, and
they have those stickers on their cars and riding around town.
And isn't it interesting that one day you came and
(16:25):
at some point it changed. It didn't change, you changed,
you change. Look at your neighbors say you changed, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So sometimes we think that it changed or it needs
(16:47):
to change. But maybe I can't say this. You tell
your neighbor, maybe you need to change.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Maybe there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Maybe Maybe they don't need to make the trash cans shorter.
Maybe you just need to get up higher. You don't
get it. Maybe some of the stuff that you're dealing
with in your life doesn't need to be shrunk down.
Maybe you just need to be raised up to a
(17:20):
place where you can walk in to a trash situation
that used to trash you, But when you've been transformed,
the trash doesn't have the power.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
That it used to have. Because I'm changing, I'm changing.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Notify your neighbors say I'm changing. Don't get used to
me like this. I'm changing. I'm changing. I'm changing. So
that's what happens. I hope when you come to church,
you change. I hope you came to change today. Why'd
you come today? I came to sing okay, good, but
I got professional singers that can do that. Why'd you
(18:01):
come today? I came today to hear a sermon good.
You could have read that in a book somewhere. I
believe God brought you here for a different reason than
you might have come on the surface, because I believe
in my spirit you might have come to check out
are there two girls at elevation?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You might have come to find out.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Can I made some new friends, but I believe really
beneath the surface, you came to change.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
You came to change.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And what's brilliant about the strategy of the spirit of God.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Can I preach this like I feel it?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Or do I need to be quiet on the set?
Speaker 1 (18:43):
I want to be loud on the set.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Places everybody, places, everybody, get ready.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
God's about to do something amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I believe God put you in this place today, even
if it's at a campus, even if it's in an overflow,
even if it's an extension, even if it's watching online
and you wish you could be here in person. I
believe God put everyone in their place today to change something.
And here's how it works. This is the strategy of
the Holy Spirit. So you come to church, you hear
(19:11):
a word.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I don't change you. He changes you.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I know it's him, not mean, because sometimes I'll have
my message how I want it and God will change it.
So it's definitely not me that's changing lives. It's God
that changes lives.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
And then you change. Maybe you don't change.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
All at first, maybe you don't change in the moment,
maybe your gray hairs don't turn back to black in
the moment. Maybe your knee pain doesn't reverse itself in
the moment. Maybe everything doesn't go away in the moment,
but you change a little bit. Now here's what happens.
Let's say that you're a student and you're in high
school and you go back on Monday to the same school.
Everybody say, same place, but you changed a little bit
(19:51):
because of the word that you heard while you were
in the presence of.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
God on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So now you're going back to the same school, but
it's a changed you.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Going to the same school.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So it'll be the same temptations when you get there,
but it will be a transformed person that shows up
to deal with the temptation when you do. As the
person changes, so does the place. So it's the same school.
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It's the same crap kids have been doing for years.
It's the same stuff going on on break, it's the
same foolishness they're talking in the dorm. It's the same
stuff that's going through your mind. It's the same school,
but it's a changed you. Now, when you change and
you go back to the same place that you came from, changed,
(20:51):
So I'm going back to the same place, but I'm changed.
When changed you goes back to the same school, same
school becomes changed school because changed you whoa came to
the same school and something changed in me because I
(21:12):
heard a word this week that said I didn't have
to give into it anymore.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I heard a word this week.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
That said I can get up on my feet and
walk in the name of Jesus. I heard a word
this week that said, the world and its empty praise
can never fill me, but God can feel me completely
and make every crooked thing straight. So we change in
the presence of God. And as the person changes, so
(21:40):
does the place. And you can even show up to
a place that you used to hate. Some of you
hate going home. Look straight ahead right now, I promise you.
If you're with your family, the best strategy is keep
your eyes on me. Holly has a great teaching on
(22:02):
marriage that she does and it simply goes like this.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
In marriage, when I change me, I change we.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I don't know why my outline keeps falling to the
ground and God doesn't want me to preach, but this
one first point or something like that, I only got
seventy three more to go.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm just kidding. Is it possible.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
That you keep changing places, keep running around, like, yeah,
well I was in that relationship, but you know they
were kind of.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
But you said that same thing about the last thirteen relationships.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Now I'm kind of suspicious about what you're running from.
Is it the relationship that you're running from or is
it really something that's inside of you?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And I had a guy say it so brilliantly.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
We were at the mountains and I ran into a
guy at a gym at the hotel, and I said,
where do you live? And he said the name of
a really nice beach. And then after he said the
name of the nice beach, how many of you loved
to go to the beach? I do too, And he said,
I live at the beach, but sometimes I just got
to come here to get away. And I thought, where
(23:32):
I'm always trying to get to. He's trying to get
away from. Everybody's running from something. Everybody's running from something.
And the saddest thing of your life would be to
run from something that you have said is outside and
(23:56):
refuse to deal with what is inside.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
And now we see how powerful this one verse of
scripture is.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
In Acts, Chapter three, Verse one, one day, Peter and
John were going up to the temple at the time
of prayer at three in the afternoon. Is it crazy
that they would be going to the temple where they
have spent their entire lives in training, where they have
spent their entire lives in tradition. But this time, this
(24:27):
is what's different this time. And I want you to
catch this for your own situation, because you might hate
to go home, not because home is so bad, but
because you're not showing up.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Fully and completely.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
You might ruin something by running that God could have
restored if you would have received what He had for you.
And I don't want that for you. So let me
tell you the difference. All their life, they went to
the temple. They went to pray, They went to get
sacrifices made. But Jesus is their sacrifice. Now they don't
(24:58):
need that sacrifice anymore. But they went to the temple.
But it's different this time. Somebody say it's different this time.
Before they went to the temple, this time they were
sent to the temple.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
And that is a shift that if you get it, it.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Will change every place you set your foot. That's what
God told Joshua. Every place you set your foot, I
will give you. And what that means to me is
that God is not just allowing my life to be random.
God is not just allowing you to live in Fort
Mill until you can get a job transferred back to Miami,
(25:39):
where you really want to be.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
God did not.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Just allow you to pass through this season because you know,
he didn't have any connecting flights available and the angels
couldn't carry you. None of that is true. It's not
really random. It's for a reason that you're here. It's
for a reason. Help me, Holy Ghost, because the reality
(26:03):
of the fact is that there was a mission on
God's agenda that day that was not on Peter's calendar.
How many know that sometimes God doesn't synchronize his agenda
with your awareness.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I should let that set in that sentence right there,
That is a bar.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Let me say again, he doesn't synchronize his agenda with
your awareness.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
That means he's up to stuff he doesn't let you
in on. But the Holy Spirit will bridge the gap.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
When you're in a season where you go like and
I was thinking about it, you know, like different ways
people express it. It's like I hate this place. I'm
just doing this for now.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Man.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I heard somebody say this the other day, there is
a great one. How am I supposed to be everywhere
at once?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You're not? Wait minute, let me check, let me check,
are you jesez, No, you're not. That's his job.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
And even last week I was talking about God will
only support you for what you're supposed to do, and
that a lot of our stress comes from trying to
do stuff that we weren't called to do.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
But here's the flip side of that. Okay, just like
a lot of.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Your stress comes from doing stuff that you're not supposed
to do, a lot of your blessings are in things
that you don't even see coming, that aren't even on
your schedule. Now, this story proves it, but I could
prove it from one hundred stories of things that Jesus
did in his ministry.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
On the way, on the way, everybody say on the way.
Put it in the comment, say on the way.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
We were singing one of our favorite new songs, Miracle
after miracle, open door after open door. Here it comes,
so get ready for another one. Another one is on
the way, which means it's coming right, but it also
means that sometimes it's on the way to where you
think you're going that God is going to do the
(28:11):
most amazing things in your life.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Clap your hands by faith and receive that what I
just told you. Come on, we don't ever want to
get so goal.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Focused that we become God oblivious. Sir, I cannot preach
this sermon in one setting. I will have to do
this in about seven parts. All right, It's a good
thing I'm in this series because here's how the text
(28:46):
says it. You have to really get the nuance to
appreciate how intentional the Holy Spirit is. Every word of
Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. So you can
really find a lot in these little places, just stuff
that you would say. Verse one says one day Peter
and John were going up to the temple at the
time of prayer. Okay, so if they were going up,
(29:06):
what does that mean they weren't there yet? They were
going up. In scripture, it always says up to the temple.
Part of that is geographical, it's literally up, but part
of it is reverential because they were going up out
of the everyday affairs of life.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Do you go up? Do you go up?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And then the fact that it says that it was
in motion is only complimented and made more powerful by
this fact. As they are going up, and I love
how verse two starts.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It says, now.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
At the same time that they're going up to do
their thing in the temple, and the temple is no
longer the same place to them that it was anymore.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
But they've still got to go there. See.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Sometimes sometimes even though you're not going to stay there forever,
you need to do everything that.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
God has called you to do in that place while
you are there.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
And as they're going up to the temple at the
time of prayer three in the afternoon, it says, now
a man who was laying from birth was being carried
to the temple gate called beautiful, where he was put
every day to beg from those going to the temple courts.
Imagine the contrast. This gate is not just silver and
(30:23):
gold plated. This is a bronze gate that looks so good.
They call it beautiful. They call the gate beautiful. Every
day he was placed there to ask for money. Now
they are going to the temple out of their tradition.
He is going there out of his trauma. They are
(30:44):
going to the temple out of their routine.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
He's going to the.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Gate out of his restriction, and he can't go where
they can go, and he can't do what they can do.
But every day he would take his place at the
gate and ask for change.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Change.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Now about the time that the temple guard is changing
over from the morning sacrifice to the evening sacrifice, the
Bible says that Peter and John see a man, and
always fresh that they saw a man at the gate.
Read it again verse two. A man who was lame
(31:28):
from birth was being carried. He hadn't even made it
to the gate yet. They hadn't even made it to
the temple stairs yet. So what I'm trying to say is,
on the way to wherever you're going, have a goal,
have a vision, have a target, have a thing. But
(31:50):
just on your way up to whatever you think God
is calling you to do, or whatever you would like
to become in His name, or whatever He is placed
in your heart, go up.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I'll help you out here for you. I even name
my church.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Elevation because I want you to go up, and God
wants you to go up, and you are seated in
heavenly places with Jesus. But just make sure that on
your way to where you're going, stay open to what
God is doing on the way.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Preach that back to your neighbor, tell.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Them on the way to where you're going, stay open
to what God is doing.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Because see, they thought.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
We got to get to the temple, we gotta pray,
We got to watch the high priest offer this sacrifice,
even though we know Jesus is our high priest. But
this is our community, this is where we go, this
is what we do.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
And so they're doing it. They're doing it.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
And as they are stopped midstep, so is this man
being carried.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
He is being carried. They are going up.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Neither one is where they want to be yet, but
God is right there on the way. Now. I want
to preach to everybody who's not where you want to
be yet.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Now.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I want to preach to everybody who hasn't mastered what
you want to master yet and you still feel kind
of yanked.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Around by some stuff right now.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I want to preach to everybody who doesn't have the
stability in your life that you want to have right
now and you are in between here and there, to
let you know that God is on the way. I
don't mean he's coming, I mean he's on the way.
(33:41):
He's OUTFA, he's Omega, and he's every letter in between.
He's everything in between. He's God.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Got five.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Your neighbors say, stay open, Stay open, because on the
way to where you think you're going, God might do
something greater.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Are you open to that on the way to where
you're going?
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Mike?
Speaker 2 (34:09):
I've had this happen so many times, so many times,
but I was reminded of one this week.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
There was a There was a Sunday seven years ago.
I was washing.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
My hands in the bathroom coming out to preach. D
Somebody's out here talking. Okay, I'm gonna get out to
my seat, and all of a sudden, this melody came
into my head while I'm washing my hands.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Worthy is your name.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
Jeezesus, you deserve the praise?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Worthy is your name?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And I stopped and thought, I kind of like that. Well,
I'll have time for it right now. I gotta preach.
I gotta get out there, and God say, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
You do. You gotta get out there. But why don't
you get out there and get something.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Here where you go out there? Because what if I
want to give you something on the way to where
you're going? You know what's crazy? I can't remember to
save my life. Listen to me. I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
To save my life what I preached that day.
Speaker 6 (35:17):
But watch this where this is your.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Now?
Speaker 1 (35:31):
How is it.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
That what I thought wasn't even worth stopping for?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
We're still singing seven years later because God gave it
to us.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
On the way, and I'd pronounce, Place this.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Everyone, John is on the way. Place this, everyone, in
the name of Jesus. Rise up, mind up, take my.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Hand and rins up.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Take my hand and ride up.
Speaker 7 (36:12):
Rise up.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
It's on the way. It's on the way. It's on
the way. Cry if you gotta cry, but.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Through your tears testify this's on the way.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
We trample on God's purpose sometimes trying to get to
our plan. John, my sid Peter, you can't help this man.
You're gonna make me late to temple. Peter knew something.
Wait a minute. Jesus said he was coming to send
(37:03):
his spirit to live in us.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
So what we're trying to get to is right here. Wait,
this man is a temple waiting to be restored.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
The thing that's right in front of you is as
beautiful as the gate.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
You're walking through. If you can stop and see.
Speaker 8 (37:28):
It, Holly Loujah, Hall Loujah.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
So stay open. That's what gates do, right, they open.
Stay open.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I know you pray that your child would marry a
missionary and serve God. They might not marry a missionary,
they might not get married at all.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Stay open, and God doesn't have to ask you what.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Age there's a to be married by, because you didn't
get married when your parents wanted you to get married either.
And now we sit here like gatekeepers of what God
can do and when God could do it.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
But stay open. Now, now I preach a little more.
Felt like I was closing, didn't it. But that was
just the gate opening, the opening of the gate. Yeah yeah, yeah,
oh oh, I'm going to need some help today.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Turn to your neighbors, say place this everyone, almost like
God called Gabriel that morning. Now, the disciples have been
seeing God do amazing things, right, but this is the
first healing miracle that they did without Jesus. And you
know how you could tell because Peter.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Was doing so much. I read several times in the Bible.
I thought it was kind of funny Jesus would heal.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
People that couldn't walk like this man couldn't walk. But
how Peter did. It was so dramatic. Jesus here you say,
get up, take up your mat, and walk. And his
word was so powerful because he's the perfect, spotless, living
embodiment of the Word of God. I can tell Peter's
not so sure about this because look at it's so funny.
(39:13):
Peter said, verse six, over, go out, I do not
have what I have a get you name just Christ
Nazareth walk and then verse seven give me verse seven
on the screen, yanking him up by the right hand.
Almost feel like Peter's like, you're not gonna make me
look stupid.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
You did not one to wear this, and that's all right.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Because you progress and mature into it, you grow into it.
But it's an amazing thing here because you know, this
man isn't even looking at them when they first walk.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
By, not even looking.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
But we understand that because how many people have walked
by and despised him, how many people have walked by
and muttered under their breath about him?
Speaker 1 (40:02):
How many people did he ask? Can I have some change?
Can I have some change? Can I have some change?
Speaker 2 (40:07):
And they said no, no, no, And so Peter actually
has to start with the men's expectation.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
The first thing God is going to have to heal for.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Some of us is our expectation, because we just have
learned to live in a place of disappointment as our
emotional home. So if anything would come along and violate
your expectation of disappointment, you would sabotage it and send
it away unless God healed your expectation. Look at us,
(40:40):
Peter said, look me in the eye, and then I
can give you something.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
Change your focus.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
If you keep looking at everybody who has walked by
and told you know, everybody who has not recognized you,
everybody who has.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Not helped you, everybody who has left you.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
If you look at that even mentally, you will not
get what God has for you. You cannot receive a present
blessing living mentally in a past experience.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Places everyone. This is the day that the Lord has made.
So you got to get what God has for you
in this day. And now.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
The Bible says that the man is looking at Peter
and John and he goes, so you got some change.
Oh yeah, I got some change for you. I got
some change for you that you will not I got
some change for you that is so great that you
won't be back at this gate tomorrow unless it's by choice.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
To walk through it.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
God said, I'm gonna give you your autonomy back. I'm
gonna stop having you beg at places just for the
crumbs of somebody else's approval, because you're.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Going to know in this season that I have a
purpose from God. So I'm not sitting here at this
gate tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
When I come to this gate tomorrow, it will be
my choice to walk through it. That's what makes addiction
such a sin, y'all. It's not the thing you're doing.
It's the fact that you have to. It has become
your God. It has become the thing that you have
to do. And God doesn't want you to owe anything
to anyone but Him except love.
Speaker 9 (42:25):
I'ma break something off somebody today. I'm gonna break something off.
So I'm getting somebody up today. I'm getting somebody up
today with the help of the Holy Spirit. Even if
I got to yank you up. I've had to yank
some people up before preaching. You know, yeah, just start
start yanking people up. Because I think about it is,
(42:49):
when you've been rejected that long, the possibility of a
different direction is almost unthinkable. The possibility that they could
really like you for you when the last person used you.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Is so unusual. The fact that God could use you, He's.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Just unfathomable because look at all the reasons that you
think he shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
Wouldn't be wonderful if you didn't know you. Then when
I say God could.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Use you, you go all right, and you wouldn't have all
of the reasons I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Rejection.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
I know it isn't explicitly mentioned, but come on, he's
put there every day. How many people walk past that
man and told him no? But here's what I love
about the Lord. God can send one person to bless
you in such an amazing way that it will make
(43:48):
every rejection that came before it irrelevant in comparison. Say
that again, Pastor Stephen it Say it for the one
who was told no. Say it for the one who
knocked on the closed door till their knuckles bled. Say
(44:08):
it one more time. God can send one person, one person.
It didn't take everybody in the temple to get the
man up. It took one person. It took one name,
and it wasn't Peter, it was Jesus. God can send
one person to bless you in such an amazing way
(44:31):
that it will make every rejection that came before it
seem irrelevant. In comparison, God can send you one mentor
in your life to teach you everything that your dad
didn't teach you because he was too busy.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
God can send one experience in your.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Life that will give you a lifetime education, all in
three days. God can send you one idea, and that
one idea, if you incubate it, and if you.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Set it before him.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
And you trust him in it, that one idea can
make up for fifteen failures, five hundred failures. Every rejection
can be made irrelevant, and all of a sudden, it
doesn't matter who told this man no, because one person,
one change, one hand, one moment, get your expectation back.
(45:27):
It doesn't take everybody. It doesn't take everything going right.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
It doesn't take.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
A stadium fall, It doesn't take ten thousand followers.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
It doesn't even take long. The Bible said, Instantly, he
got off, what blessing, what blessing?
Speaker 2 (45:46):
One blessing, one word, one divot, one new.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Path, one new song, one new thing.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Places everyone, places everyone, you know. The only way you
don't get it if you're not there. Places everyone. God
turns to Gabriel. He says, today's today. Really, we're gonna
do it today. Yeah, we're gonna do it today. Today's today.
They've been preaching, they've been testifying, the church has been growing,
and today I'm gonna show old Peter what's in his
(46:17):
right hand. Because Peter's been using his mouth, but now
I want him to see what's in his hand. So
get down there, places, everyone, God is saying over the
church in acts places everyone. Everybody, get ready. Okay, is
that man ready?
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Yeah, he's ready. They're carrying him right now. Okay, they
don't have him to the gate yet.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Okay, perfect, that's where I want it, right there, before
he gets to the gate. Okay, Peter and John are coming,
but they're not quite at the temple yet.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Okay. Perfect.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
And God says places, everyone, And the place that God
chose to do it was the place between the places
that they planned.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
I need three people.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
To shout about the place between the places, because that's
where I am right now. Ain't it good to know
the Lord, to know that he's on the way, To
know that with one blessing from his hand, it can
(47:21):
make up for every hand that was ever against me.
To know that with one blessing from his hand, he
can make every rejection irrelevant. And the part that I
wish I didn't need to preach is the part I
saved for last. They say save the best for last.
I saved the worst for last. I did it exactly backwards,
(47:45):
just trying to be faithful to the text, because the
Bible says in verse eleven, and this would be a
great place for the text to end in my mind.
When all the people heard about the man that was
walking and he's holding on to them, they were astonished
look at verse eleven and came running to the him
in the place.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Called Solomon's Colonnade.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
Now a colonnade is a porch with columns that support
a roof. So there's this big temple length column row
of columns called Solomon's Colonnade on the eastern side of
the temple, and they would meet there. Jesus walked through
there once in John chapter ten. So in Peter smart
he went back to teaching the place where he saw
(48:22):
Jesus do it, because the best thing you can do
when you don't know what to do is do the
last thing you saw Jesus do.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
So they moved the meeting. They moved the meeting.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
He's like, all right, I don't even know if they
got to do the full temple service or not, because
it was a commotion.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
There's thousands of people. This is not a small church service.
And so Peter said, everybody go to the colonnade. Now,
a colonnade is what a covered place?
Speaker 2 (48:47):
And notice in verse eleven it says the man was
with them, right, so he can walk now, but he
chose to stay with them, and.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
He's standing there holding on to Peter and John.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
But he's no longer being carried now he's being covered.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Places.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Everyone places everyone for everyone who is refusing to walk
in your own strength. You need to come out of
the season where you're using other people to do for
you what God wants to strengthen you to do for yourself.
And it doesn't mean you're going to be doing it
in your own strength. Because even when he wasn't carried,
(49:29):
he was holding on to Peter and John.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
So I'm not carried, but I'm covered.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
I love that because that means I'm gonna have to
do this, but I'm not doing this by myself. That
means I'm gonna have to take some risks, but I'm
covered either way.
Speaker 1 (49:44):
It goes.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
That means that in this season of my life, I
can trust God to put me where he needs me
to be. Now, the danger in this is that we
think if we're in the right place. Okay, I took
the job, Okay, I said yes the thing, Okay, I
volunteered at the church, I did the thing on where
I'm supposed to be. We think everything's gonna go better
(50:07):
if we're in the right place. So now, at this
point in the party, you're expecting Peter gives a sermon,
and he does. Boy, he preaches too, and he lets
him have it, talking about you disowned the holy unrighteous one.
Jesus was handed over to you, but God raised him
from the dead.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
You missed it.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
You didn't recognize him for who he was, and you
all need to repent, and many of them did.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
In fact, two thousand did one dude.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Having a changed life led to two thousand salvations.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
In one day. God math, God Math. And he's standing there,
dare I say it.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
He's standing there in a place with pillars, and he's
turning into a pillar himself. He's standing in what he's becoming.
He's standing under what he's becoming. And he's standing there
and Peter preaches, and it's a good response.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
And look what happened when Peter preached so.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Good that it turned the city inside out.
Speaker 1 (51:24):
Chapter four, verse three. Please on the screen.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
They seize Peter and John, and because it was evening,
they put him in jail. Wait, Jesus, but I served you, Jesus,
but I did the right thing.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
Jesus, but I helped that man. Jesus.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
Shouldn't you be giving me a bonus check? Jesus should
not be getting commission on this. Jesus, didn't you see
what we just did? No?
Speaker 1 (51:55):
They put them in.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
Jail till the next day, and then the Bible.
Speaker 1 (52:02):
Says a versus more, but many who heard the message believe.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
So it goes to show just because you're not there
to see it, doesn't mean God didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (52:18):
Because why everybody was getting their changed life. They where
in the jail cell.
Speaker 2 (52:23):
And sometimes you've got to get determined in your spirit
that I will not let the place I'm in make me.
Speaker 1 (52:29):
Doubt the purpose that I carry. I'm in this jail, but.
Speaker 2 (52:36):
Jesus is working. I'm in this situation. But Jesus is working.
I'm in this state, but Jesus is working. And while
they're in jail, all the rulers are trying to decide
what are we.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
Going to do about this. It's not what they did
for the man, it's.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
What they were preaching about Jesus that got them thrown
in jail. We can't let them run around preaching that
Jesus is resurrected. They'll completely re jacked our power if
they find out that Jesus has all power.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
What do we do? Put them in jail and we'll decide.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
So you have to imagine that the man who was
at the gate feels pretty bad about all this. Hey,
where's Peter and John? I want to thank him real quick. Actually,
Peter and John had to go to jail because what
was free for you cost them something.
Speaker 1 (53:30):
Dang.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
I didn't mean for them to have to. I wasn't
trying to cause any trouble. Man.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
I was doing the best I could, and he told
me yake me up. I didn't even ask him to
be healed. I just wanted some lunch money.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
I feel bad about this. Hey, can I do anything
to help? I know I'm not much at anybody, But
is there anything I can do to help? And in
my imagination, I like to think, and I know you're like,
just read the Bible, don't use your imagination.
Speaker 1 (54:01):
That's your problem. No, that's your problem.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
You read the Bible like long ago in a galaxy
far far away.
Speaker 1 (54:08):
But this ain't star wars.
Speaker 2 (54:09):
This is a scripture and we are supposed to come
to this Bible with our senses and submit them to
the spirit, so that when we find ourselves like, Okay.
Speaker 1 (54:19):
I feel like that. Sometimes I feel like I'm just
doing my job and I.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
Feel like not in jail physically, but I feel like
I'm in prison for something and I don't really see
what God is doing.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
And so we read this and imagine, maybe.
Speaker 2 (54:33):
Matthew one of the disciples. Let's use Matthew. He goes, actually,
there is something you can do. Tomorrow, Peter and John
are going to have to give a defense before the
Sanhedrin and they're going to be called into question for
what they did. So when they are preaching, why don't
(54:55):
you just be there? Okay, cool, Yeah, no, I told
do that sounds great. If there's one thing I know
how to do, it's be there. Because that's all I've
been able to do. See this man, because he was paralyzed,
he's been practicing being a pillar his whole life. He
knows how to be there. So they say, yeah, just
(55:17):
be there, and Peter's gonna preach. And then the man
maybe says, and you want me to share a little something. No, no, no,
don't say anything. We don't even know if you're saved yet.
Don't say nothing. Just stand there. Look at your neighbors. Say,
don't say nothing. Just stand there. So they called Peter
(55:41):
and John. They say, all right, why did you do it?
Peter says, if we are being called to account for
an act of kindness to this man, let it be
know that it was not us, but the God of
our fathers, raise this man for the sake of his
Holy servant Jesus. Now, the Bible says, after Peter preached,
(56:03):
the people were not very impressed, but they were amazed.
Speaker 1 (56:06):
And I'll show you how I know they weren't impressed.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
Look at verse thirteen four verse thirteen when they saw
the courage of Peter and John and realized that they
were unschooled, ordinary men. That is not a compliment. That's
like the guy who told me after church two weeks ago,
that was actually pretty insightful. I'm like, it's to actually
(56:30):
that bothers me about that sentence you just said.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
And realized they were unschooled ordinary men.
Speaker 2 (56:42):
Place says everyone, You don't have to be spectacular.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
You just got to show up. You don't have to understand.
You just have to stand. That's all you got to do.
They saw their courage.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
You know how I confuses the devil when he sees
you still standing there after he launched a thousand missiles
at your mind to try to get you.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
To go crazy and curse God and die. And you say, oh,
he's slay me yet, will I trust him? I'm standing here?
Speaker 3 (57:15):
Ah ooh.
Speaker 2 (57:23):
And when they saw the courage of Peter and John
and realize that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were
astonished and watched this. They took note that these men
had been with Jesus. Now see every experience they had
with Jesus collapses into this moment. Every time they saw
(57:43):
him feed somebody, every time they heard a teaching, every
time you show up, it is compounding your experience and
it will pay dividends in your future. Places, everyone, every
sermon you log in your spirit. Every note you write
down and put it up that week on the mirror,
every song that you learn, so you can sing a.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
New song to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (58:05):
It's compounding in your life for the glory of Christ.
And it says when they heard Peter, they took note.
But verse fourteen, that's my favorite. But since they could
see the man who had been healed standing there with them,
(58:25):
there was nothing they could say. It goes like this, children,
when Peter preached, they took note. But when the man
stood there, they shut up. You want to shut up
the enemy.
Speaker 1 (58:41):
Stand there. You want to silence the enemy. Stand there.
You want to back.
Speaker 2 (58:47):
Down the feeling of depression and replace it with the
joy of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (58:52):
I got two words for you, baby, Stand there.
Speaker 7 (58:57):
Stand there when they talk about you.
Speaker 1 (59:01):
Stand there when it.
Speaker 8 (59:03):
Feels like there's no point, stand there.
Speaker 2 (59:07):
Every place you set your foot, I'll give you.
Speaker 1 (59:10):
But you gotta stand there. Don't walk away. You are
the one.
Speaker 8 (59:15):
For the job.
Speaker 2 (59:16):
All you gotta do is stand there, somebody.
Speaker 1 (59:20):
Stand to your feet right now and do.
Speaker 8 (59:23):
What you hadn't done yet, and praise him.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
Look got know my place. I'm seeing that, see this,
see that, see it.
Speaker 10 (59:42):
Stand there, stand there, Stand there, discouraged, Stand there while
you're healing. Stand there with your legs wobbling. Stand there
while they point out.
Speaker 1 (59:54):
You and say I didn't see the one that used to. Yeah,
I used to, But look at me doing well? I
couldn't you to do?
Speaker 8 (01:00:00):
Just stand there, don't argue, don't quit, don't commit suicide,
don't take another pill. Stay there, don't call fifteen people
that don't know any better than you.
Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
You are not going back to the gate. Places.
Speaker 5 (01:00:23):
Everyone stand there, jeeus, keep me.
Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
Me the cross. Stand there there, Publa sit on.
Speaker 5 (01:00:44):
Say freely street.
Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
Flows from car freeze places everyone, This is where it happens.
Ye the cry, yes, stand there, center.
Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
He the crow.
Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Speed mine.
Speaker 5 (01:01:22):
Over see mine right?
Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
So then so.
Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Shelf standing here, rest be.
Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Erryver places everyone places, everyone places, everyone places everyone. When
the person changes soul us the place for the cross
that you are singing about as an emblem was an
instrument of torture. But when the man Jesus Christ died,
(01:02:03):
when the person of Jesus Christ died, the place changed,
and that cross of his suffering is now the forgiveness
of your sins.
Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Stand there.
Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
And see the precious lamb of God. See from his head,
his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Stand there and let the blood be applied.
Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Stand there and let the mercy of God make you new.
Stand there.
Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
That's all that man did. I can't sing, but I
can stand there. I didn't even plan to be walking today,
but I can stand here. You need me to stand there,
I'll stand there. You need me to show up, I'll
show up. You need me to be an example God.
Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
Watch this. Watch this.
Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
This man looked like an extra in the movie, but
he was actually exhibit a of the witnessing power of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
And I'm telling you that's you too. If you stand there,
pal ludin head's bowed, eyes closed. This is not a joke.
This is a place.
Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
That you might look back on and say that day I.
Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Went through that gate.
Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
And I was changed. You can change. The trash won't
be so big when you get taller. You can change.
The pleasures of sin won't seem so powerful. You can change.
In the name of Jesus, I offer you my hand
places every get up and walk. What are the chances
(01:03:48):
you would be here to hear this sermon today?
Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
What are the chances this.
Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Day, God must have something happening right now that is
bigger than you. Don't be so selfish you think it's
just about what you can get. Maybe God's about to
use you to help somebody else up and you need to.
Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Get strong for us. Stand there, Stand there. I offer
an invitation for all of you today who need.
Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
To come to the cross, and I believe there are
thousands who are hearing this message as I offer you
this prayer.
Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
This prayer is a place. It is a place of faith,
not a physical location. God doesn't live in one building.
God wants to come and live in your heart, so
invite him.
Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
In the Bible says that if you confess with your
mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God
raised Him.
Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
From the day, you will be saved. Today you will.
So I'm going to offer a prayer. We're praying it
out loud together as a church.
Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Family for the benefit of those who are coming to
God or back to God. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father,
today is my day of salvation. I am a sinner
in need of a savior, and I believe Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and the savior of the world.
Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life.
Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
rose again to give me life. I receive this new life.
This is my new beginning. Raise your hand on the
count of three, one, two three. If you prayed that prayer.
Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
Raise your hand, raise your hand. God bless you. God
bless you. God bless you. Get up and walk. God
bless you. Get up and walk. God bless you. Get
up and walk. God bless you. Hear the name of Jesus,
in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
We have the big sorry we have, we have a victor.
Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
I'm gonna be the last man standing to let the
Lord know I appreciate his grace.
Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
I'm not standing on my own. I'm standing by his spirit.
Speaker 8 (01:06:17):
Paul says, stand therefore, stand therefore.
Speaker 5 (01:06:21):
Put on the whole honor of God and stand.
Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
Hot boy, did people say, stand there, everybody that received
a word from the Lord, clap your hands and praise him,
not me, praise him.
Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
Give it to him, give him the glory. That's all
you got.
Speaker 7 (01:06:47):
That man's started walking and trumping and praising God, that's
all you've got.
Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Every time you get a change, give praise.
Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
That way, you won't get prideful and think you're on
your own. I thank God for what he just gave us.
I feel that the Holy Spirit flowed to somebody today.
And it wasn't that you were crippled in your feet.
You were crippled in your faith, and God is getting
you up.
Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Stand there, stand there, stand there, stand there.
Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
The devil's going to be so surprised. I thought I
convinced you to quit.
Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
Uh uh.
Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
I found out all I have to do is stand
there and let God fight my battles.
Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
I'm gonna do this.
Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
I fight.
Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Somebody say I got changed today, I changed my mind.
I changed my perspective. Hallelujah. Well we gotta go now.
Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
You can't stand there because somebody else wants to sit there.
Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
Campus masters, you take it your mind. If I close here.
Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
At Valentine mind, if I close, mom sermon, glory to God.
All right, take your hand, put it on the shoulder
of the person on either side of you. Online, we
also connect with you in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth.
Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Rise up and walk and stand there.
Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
I see you going back to places this week that
you used to be afraid of and saying, this trash
can isn't so big. I see you going back to
places this week that used to be fun for you,
saying this roller coaster fell off.
Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
I see you heating up corn dogs this week, saying
this doesn't taste.
Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Good anymore because I grew up.
Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
Places. Everyone, God's got an assignment for you. Place this, school.
Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
Teachers, God's got an assignment for you. Place this, police officers, detectives.
God's got an assignment for you places. Stay at home moms,
God's got an assignment. Place this, babysitters. God's got an
assignment for you. Place this while you're waiting on your
next employment, places, while you're pastoring your church.
Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
Places. Everyone, something is about to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
And now, unto him who is able to do immeasurably
more than you ask or imagine, to him, be glory
through Christ Jesus in the charks now and forever.
Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
Give him a sound of praise.
Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
If you'll receive this leorm, I'll see you next week,
same place, same time, Place.
Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
This, everyone, places. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
You can click the link in the description to give
now or.
Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
Visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information
and if you enjoyed the podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
You can click the share button, take 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 (00:03):
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 (00:11):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Enjoy the message. Glory to God, Glory to God.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What an amazing atmosphere, What an amazing room of beautiful people,
What a tapestry of transformed lives. You are the temple
of the Living God. Make sure today that the temple
is filled with praise. All right, open your mouth and
praise Him right now.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Come on all over the world, old many are now
and turn wherever you are.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Into a sanctuary. Do it right now.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Take a responsibility for your space right now and fill
it with praise.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Glory to God. Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Grab hands with the person next to you. We're gonna
pray for each other. Repeat after me, Father, bless them
real good in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Now hug seven people and tell them you're in the
right place today. Don't sit out when you finished hugging,
stay standing.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I agreet you online. Please let me know in the
comments where you're joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
From everyone everywhere all around the world. We welcome you everyone.
We're so glad you're here. Put it in the comments,
say I'm glad to be here. Say it out loud,
by faith, I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Also, y'all, we just announced Elevation Nights our tour that
is coming to the West Coast later this year.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Go to Elevation Nights for details.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Looks like we'll be going to Seattle, Vancouver, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Boise, Idaho,
Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver, Colorado. Make plans for Tuesday,
September twenty fourth through Thursday October. It will be awesome
Elevation Nights dot com. Also today, the Lord said a
(02:27):
special word for somebody, and I can't wait to find
out who it is that he sent it for. I
thanked him before I came out because he gave it
to me, and I thanked him that I get to
now partner with him in delivering what the father wants
to say to his children. I'm going to be sharing
(02:50):
the next installment on my series called ghost Writer, and
I'm using as a metaphor you know how somebody needs
to write a book but they're not a good rite.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
They hire somebody because they have.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
A great story, but that doesn't make them a good writer.
So you can hire somebody called a ghost writer to
help you. I'm just using that to represent how the
Holy Spirit in our lives will help us with the
story that we're telling. Our lives are meant to tell
the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were
singing it earlier. I was dead and gone and you
(03:24):
raised me. I was lost in sin and you found me. Hallelujah,
you saved my soul.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
But just like some of us have.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Trouble singing on pitch, and I'm one of you, but
we have trouble sometimes telling.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
That story on cue.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
And so the Holy Spirit will help us not only
tell the story to others, but how many know you're
telling yourself a story every second of every day.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
And that's where I really need his help.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And as you look through the Book of Acts, not
acts like a thing you cut down a tree with,
but acts like action. It's the things that the Holy
Spirit did through the early Church, and we are continuing
just two thousand years later in that same stream of
the Spirit's activity. So the subtitle of the series is
making sense of your story through the lens of the
(04:17):
Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Now, if everything in your life makes sense.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Then you can go ahead and leave now and beat
everybody to the restaurant, go ahead and get some brunch logo,
on over to something else more interesting online. But if
there are some things in your life that don't make
sense right now, from a natural perspective, I believe that
today God wants to give you a lens through his word,
and as we worship him, he does that.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
And now as you receive.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
This word from him, He's going to give you a
way to see your situations. I'm going to Acts Chapter three, JJ,
do you want this? I don't need it today. I
told him I don't need that little screen today. No,
I'm preaching like a wild man in a revival today.
I'm not circling nothing, highlighting nothing, writing nothing. I'm gonna
(05:04):
just holler for about forty minutes. Y'all act right today,
don't act crazy. I can't take it. Acts Chapter three.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I love this story. This is my favorite Bible story today.
I have another one next week. Listen to this one.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Though.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
One day, Peter and John were going up to the
temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.
Now now a man who was lame from birth was
being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he
was put every day to beg from those going into
the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about
(05:49):
to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight
at him, as did John. Then Peter said, look at us.
So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get
something from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold I
do not have. But what I do have, I give
(06:10):
you in the name of Jesus. In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that's a place walk. Taking him
by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly
the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to
his feet and began to walk. Then he went with
(06:32):
them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and doing
all kinds of stuff he couldn't do before he came
that day and praising God. When all the people saw
him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the
same man who used to sit begging at the temple
(06:53):
gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and
amazement at what had happened to him.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
The final verse we'll read for now is verse eleven.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
While the man held on to Peter and John, all
the people were astonished and came running to them in
the place called Solomon's Colonnade. Now, today, I want to
use for my sermon title something that you normally hear
in the theater or on a movie set when they're
(07:24):
getting ready to shoot the scene, and you'll hear a
stage manager or a director say these words.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But I'm going to use them today in church.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Okay, the title of this sermon is places everyone.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Places everyone. Help me with this. Say it in your
own voice. Places. Everyone.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Look at your neighbor in case they're not paying attention
to me, say places everyone.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
We're about to have some action in here, lights.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Camera, Places everyone. That's why I'm glad you came today.
You almost didn't come, but I'm glad you came today
because the Holy Spirit said, Places, everyone.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Something's about to happen. Place us everyone. Something important is
about to go down. Place us everyone. A story is
about to unfold. Places everyone.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Say it.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Places everyone in glory to God and now be seated. Everyone.
Places everyone.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
The most beautiful opening illustration emerged from my kitchen table.
Just yesterday, Elijah brought several friends home from college to visit.
A few of them have never been to Charlotte. They
were debating what to do with their day. The subject
of Carowins came up. Carowins is an amusement park in
the Greater Charlotte area. It's technically in South Carolina, but
(08:57):
that's complicated to explain.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
It's just a place with roller coasters.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I was laughing because I haven't been to Carowins once
since I've lived in Sharply.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I may Holley take the kids when they were little.
I don't like it.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
The last time I went to Carowins, I was about
Abbey's age truth And so after I said that, Elijah said, yeah,
Carowins was so much better like five years ago. His friend,
without missing a beat, said, it wasn't better you were younger.
(09:32):
I thought that was kind of profound. I mean, Carowins
hasn't changed that much. They had a few different rides
and everything. I guess protocols, I don't know, but it's
just the way you experience Carowin's has changed since you
were a kid. To now that you're in college. It
(09:52):
didn't get worse or it wasn't better. You were just younger.
You just got older. That happened to me one time.
I wanted to take all the family to this barbecue
restaurant we used to go to a lot as a kid.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
It was on our rotation. It would be Ryan's one
Friday night.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You'll know about Ryan's Quincy's, Ryan's Quincy's Chinese.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And then this.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Barbecue place in Ridgeville, South Carolina called Duke's Barbecue. And
I was explaining to them how we would go on
Friday nights off into Duke's Barbecue. And I said, and
the trash cans what I remember about it. The trash
cans were the biggest trash cans that you've ever seen
in your life.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I mean, they were so tall you'd have to jump up.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I remember trying to slam dunk the plate in the
trash can after I ate my hash and rice and barbecue.
And I was telling them all this, and we walk
in and this is how stupid I am. I walk
in and I realize, oh, the trash cans are smaller.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
No, they didn't change out the trash cans.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I was frozen in five year old Stephen Ferdick's memory
of the trash cans. And in my mind, you have
to jump up the trash cans are so high.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But I didn't have to jump up.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I just had to grow up, and the trash cans
didn't have to get smaller.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I just had to get bigger.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Some of the things in your life that you're asking
God to change, don't be surprised when He changes you
instead of changing it.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I have several points today, and I'll give you the
first one. Now you might find this worth writing down.
Number one. When the person changes, so does the place.
When the person changes, so does the place. So that
the caroins of your childhood will not be the.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Caroins of your college age.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
It will still be the same basic con stept of
paying money to want to throw up and stand in
lines for two hours, which makes total sense, same basic concept,
but different point of view. Graham actually said to me
one time corn dogs fell off.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
What happened to corn dogs?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Is it just me?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Or did corn dogs fall off? Corn dogs didn't fall off.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
You grew up, and sometimes you change so much, not
realizing it until you go back to the same place
that you came from and go, huh, these trash cans
aren't so big. You know what I love about the
story that we just read in the scripture. Peter and John,
(12:48):
who we mentioned kind of as the main characters, They're
going to a place called the Temple. The Temple is
a place where they've been going their whole lives because
they're Jewish.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Community would require it.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
They would go there not only just once a week,
but most observant Jews would have gone at least twice
a day for the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice,
where the high Priest would stand and then offer up
a sacrifice for the people, and prayers would be prayed,
and scriptures would be read, and community would gather together
(13:22):
and worship would be offered to God. Now Peter and
John have had a radical transformation in their life.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Not only did they spend.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Three and a half years with this radical rabbi from
Nazareth named Jesus Christ, who did things heretofore unseen, unexperienced,
and unprecedented, but they have been filled everybody shat filled
with the Holy Spirit, and they are running over with
(13:53):
a new consciousness of who God is because now they
are no longer experiencing God.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Externally, but internally, Jesus is no longer there in the flesh.
But Jesus said, I got something better for you.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I'll send my spirit to live inside of you, so
that even when I'm asleep, he'll be awake, so that
even when you're in a place that's far away in distance,
you will never be far away from my presence. Adjusting
to this new reality must have been difficult because the
(14:31):
place that they've gone all their life, which represented tradition
and training. And when you think about those two words,
tradition and training, tradition and training. Now suddenly they are
transitioning from the tradition.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
That they've known their whole life, which represented how God
was to be worshiped, and.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
They are transitioning into a new and living way that
was made through the body of Jesus Christ, which was
broken on the cross, the blood of his co which
was poured out for your sin.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
So they're going to the temple, right think about this.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
They're going to the temple, but the temple that they're
going to does not represent the template that they have
been given for how to relate to God in the future.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
They're changing, They're changing.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And they're going to a place that they're used to
going to, but they're not the same people that they
used to be. And corn dogs are falling off, and
Caroins was better as a kid, and the trash cans
were taller when I was five, And I'm going back
to the same place. But I'm a changed man. I'm
(15:41):
a changed woman. I believe that as the person changes,
the place changes. I'll prove it to you with the
practical thing. This is not about me, This is not
about you know the first century AD. This is about you.
Some of you used to drive by this church and
(16:01):
kind of silently think that place gets on my nerves.
The traffic that they make when I'm trying to leave
on Sunday and they just get in my way, and
they have those stickers on their cars and riding around town.
And isn't it interesting that one day you came and
(16:25):
at some point it changed. It didn't change, you changed,
you change. Look at your neighbors say you changed, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So sometimes we think that it changed or it needs
(16:47):
to change. But maybe I can't say this. You tell
your neighbor, maybe you need to change.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Maybe there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Maybe Maybe they don't need to make the trash cans shorter.
Maybe you just need to get up higher. You don't
get it. Maybe some of the stuff that you're dealing
with in your life doesn't need to be shrunk down.
Maybe you just need to be raised up to a
(17:20):
place where you can walk in to a trash situation
that used to trash you, But when you've been transformed,
the trash doesn't have the power.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
That it used to have. Because I'm changing, I'm changing.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Notify your neighbors say I'm changing. Don't get used to
me like this. I'm changing. I'm changing. I'm changing. So
that's what happens. I hope when you come to church,
you change. I hope you came to change today. Why'd
you come today? I came to sing okay, good, but
I got professional singers that can do that. Why'd you
(18:01):
come today? I came today to hear a sermon good.
You could have read that in a book somewhere. I
believe God brought you here for a different reason than
you might have come on the surface, because I believe
in my spirit you might have come to check out
are there two girls at elevation?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You might have come to find out.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Can I made some new friends, but I believe really
beneath the surface, you came to change.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
You came to change.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And what's brilliant about the strategy of the spirit of God.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Can I preach this like I feel it?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Or do I need to be quiet on the set?
Speaker 1 (18:43):
I want to be loud on the set.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Places everybody, places, everybody, get ready.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
God's about to do something amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I believe God put you in this place today, even
if it's at a campus, even if it's in an overflow,
even if it's an extension, even if it's watching online
and you wish you could be here in person. I
believe God put everyone in their place today to change something.
And here's how it works. This is the strategy of
the Holy Spirit. So you come to church, you hear
(19:11):
a word.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I don't change you. He changes you.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I know it's him, not mean, because sometimes I'll have
my message how I want it and God will change it.
So it's definitely not me that's changing lives. It's God
that changes lives.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
And then you change. Maybe you don't change.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
All at first, maybe you don't change in the moment,
maybe your gray hairs don't turn back to black in
the moment. Maybe your knee pain doesn't reverse itself in
the moment. Maybe everything doesn't go away in the moment,
but you change a little bit. Now here's what happens.
Let's say that you're a student and you're in high
school and you go back on Monday to the same school.
Everybody say, same place, but you changed a little bit
(19:51):
because of the word that you heard while you were
in the presence of.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
God on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So now you're going back to the same school, but
it's a changed you.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Going to the same school.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So it'll be the same temptations when you get there,
but it will be a transformed person that shows up
to deal with the temptation when you do. As the
person changes, so does the place. So it's the same school.
(20:28):
It's the same crap kids have been doing for years.
It's the same stuff going on on break, it's the
same foolishness they're talking in the dorm. It's the same
stuff that's going through your mind. It's the same school,
but it's a changed you. Now, when you change and
you go back to the same place that you came from, changed,
(20:51):
So I'm going back to the same place, but I'm changed.
When changed you goes back to the same school, same
school becomes changed school because changed you whoa came to
the same school and something changed in me because I
(21:12):
heard a word this week that said I didn't have
to give into it anymore.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I heard a word this week.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
That said I can get up on my feet and
walk in the name of Jesus. I heard a word
this week that said, the world and its empty praise
can never fill me, but God can feel me completely
and make every crooked thing straight. So we change in
the presence of God. And as the person changes, so
(21:40):
does the place. And you can even show up to
a place that you used to hate. Some of you
hate going home. Look straight ahead right now, I promise you.
If you're with your family, the best strategy is keep
your eyes on me. Holly has a great teaching on
(22:02):
marriage that she does and it simply goes like this.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
In marriage, when I change me, I change we.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I don't know why my outline keeps falling to the
ground and God doesn't want me to preach, but this
one first point or something like that, I only got
seventy three more to go.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm just kidding. Is it possible.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
That you keep changing places, keep running around, like, yeah,
well I was in that relationship, but you know they
were kind of.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
But you said that same thing about the last thirteen relationships.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Now I'm kind of suspicious about what you're running from.
Is it the relationship that you're running from or is
it really something that's inside of you?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And I had a guy say it so brilliantly.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
We were at the mountains and I ran into a
guy at a gym at the hotel, and I said,
where do you live? And he said the name of
a really nice beach. And then after he said the
name of the nice beach, how many of you loved
to go to the beach? I do too, And he said,
I live at the beach, but sometimes I just got
to come here to get away. And I thought, where
(23:32):
I'm always trying to get to. He's trying to get
away from. Everybody's running from something. Everybody's running from something.
And the saddest thing of your life would be to
run from something that you have said is outside and
(23:56):
refuse to deal with what is inside.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
And now we see how powerful this one verse of
scripture is.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
In Acts, Chapter three, Verse one, one day, Peter and
John were going up to the temple at the time
of prayer at three in the afternoon. Is it crazy
that they would be going to the temple where they
have spent their entire lives in training, where they have
spent their entire lives in tradition. But this time, this
(24:27):
is what's different this time. And I want you to
catch this for your own situation, because you might hate
to go home, not because home is so bad, but
because you're not showing up.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Fully and completely.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
You might ruin something by running that God could have
restored if you would have received what He had for you.
And I don't want that for you. So let me
tell you the difference. All their life, they went to
the temple. They went to pray, They went to get
sacrifices made. But Jesus is their sacrifice. Now they don't
(24:58):
need that sacrifice anymore. But they went to the temple.
But it's different this time. Somebody say it's different this time.
Before they went to the temple, this time they were
sent to the temple.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
And that is a shift that if you get it, it.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Will change every place you set your foot. That's what
God told Joshua. Every place you set your foot, I
will give you. And what that means to me is
that God is not just allowing my life to be random.
God is not just allowing you to live in Fort
Mill until you can get a job transferred back to Miami,
(25:39):
where you really want to be.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
God did not.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Just allow you to pass through this season because you know,
he didn't have any connecting flights available and the angels
couldn't carry you. None of that is true. It's not
really random. It's for a reason that you're here. It's
for a reason. Help me, Holy Ghost, because the reality
(26:03):
of the fact is that there was a mission on
God's agenda that day that was not on Peter's calendar.
How many know that sometimes God doesn't synchronize his agenda
with your awareness.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I should let that set in that sentence right there,
That is a bar.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Let me say again, he doesn't synchronize his agenda with
your awareness.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
That means he's up to stuff he doesn't let you
in on. But the Holy Spirit will bridge the gap.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
When you're in a season where you go like and
I was thinking about it, you know, like different ways
people express it. It's like I hate this place. I'm
just doing this for now.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Man.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I heard somebody say this the other day, there is
a great one. How am I supposed to be everywhere
at once?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You're not? Wait minute, let me check, let me check,
are you jesez, No, you're not. That's his job.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
And even last week I was talking about God will
only support you for what you're supposed to do, and
that a lot of our stress comes from trying to
do stuff that we weren't called to do.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
But here's the flip side of that. Okay, just like
a lot of.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Your stress comes from doing stuff that you're not supposed
to do, a lot of your blessings are in things
that you don't even see coming, that aren't even on
your schedule. Now, this story proves it, but I could
prove it from one hundred stories of things that Jesus
did in his ministry.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
On the way, on the way, everybody say on the way.
Put it in the comment, say on the way.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
We were singing one of our favorite new songs, Miracle
after miracle, open door after open door. Here it comes,
so get ready for another one. Another one is on
the way, which means it's coming right, but it also
means that sometimes it's on the way to where you
think you're going that God is going to do the
(28:11):
most amazing things in your life.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Clap your hands by faith and receive that what I
just told you. Come on, we don't ever want to
get so goal.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Focused that we become God oblivious. Sir, I cannot preach
this sermon in one setting. I will have to do
this in about seven parts. All right, It's a good
thing I'm in this series because here's how the text
(28:46):
says it. You have to really get the nuance to
appreciate how intentional the Holy Spirit is. Every word of
Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. So you can
really find a lot in these little places, just stuff
that you would say. Verse one says one day Peter
and John were going up to the temple at the
time of prayer. Okay, so if they were going up,
(29:06):
what does that mean they weren't there yet? They were
going up. In scripture, it always says up to the temple.
Part of that is geographical, it's literally up, but part
of it is reverential because they were going up out
of the everyday affairs of life.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Do you go up? Do you go up?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And then the fact that it says that it was
in motion is only complimented and made more powerful by
this fact. As they are going up, and I love
how verse two starts.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It says, now.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
At the same time that they're going up to do
their thing in the temple, and the temple is no
longer the same place to them that it was anymore.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
But they've still got to go there. See.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Sometimes sometimes even though you're not going to stay there forever,
you need to do everything that.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
God has called you to do in that place while
you are there.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
And as they're going up to the temple at the
time of prayer three in the afternoon, it says, now
a man who was laying from birth was being carried
to the temple gate called beautiful, where he was put
every day to beg from those going to the temple courts.
Imagine the contrast. This gate is not just silver and
(30:23):
gold plated. This is a bronze gate that looks so good.
They call it beautiful. They call the gate beautiful. Every
day he was placed there to ask for money. Now
they are going to the temple out of their tradition.
He is going there out of his trauma. They are
(30:44):
going to the temple out of their routine.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
He's going to the.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Gate out of his restriction, and he can't go where
they can go, and he can't do what they can do.
But every day he would take his place at the
gate and ask for change.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Change.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Now about the time that the temple guard is changing
over from the morning sacrifice to the evening sacrifice, the
Bible says that Peter and John see a man, and
always fresh that they saw a man at the gate.
Read it again verse two. A man who was lame
(31:28):
from birth was being carried. He hadn't even made it
to the gate yet. They hadn't even made it to
the temple stairs yet. So what I'm trying to say is,
on the way to wherever you're going, have a goal,
have a vision, have a target, have a thing. But
(31:50):
just on your way up to whatever you think God
is calling you to do, or whatever you would like
to become in His name, or whatever He is placed
in your heart, go up.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I'll help you out here for you. I even name
my church.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Elevation because I want you to go up, and God
wants you to go up, and you are seated in
heavenly places with Jesus. But just make sure that on
your way to where you're going, stay open to what
God is doing on the way.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Preach that back to your neighbor, tell.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Them on the way to where you're going, stay open
to what God is doing.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Because see, they thought.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
We got to get to the temple, we gotta pray,
We got to watch the high priest offer this sacrifice,
even though we know Jesus is our high priest. But
this is our community, this is where we go, this
is what we do.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
And so they're doing it. They're doing it.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
And as they are stopped midstep, so is this man
being carried.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
He is being carried. They are going up.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Neither one is where they want to be yet, but
God is right there on the way. Now. I want
to preach to everybody who's not where you want to
be yet.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Now.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I want to preach to everybody who hasn't mastered what
you want to master yet and you still feel kind
of yanked.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Around by some stuff right now.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I want to preach to everybody who doesn't have the
stability in your life that you want to have right
now and you are in between here and there, to
let you know that God is on the way. I
don't mean he's coming, I mean he's on the way.
(33:41):
He's OUTFA, he's Omega, and he's every letter in between.
He's everything in between. He's God.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Got five.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Your neighbors say, stay open, Stay open, because on the
way to where you think you're going, God might do
something greater.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Are you open to that on the way to where
you're going?
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Mike?
Speaker 2 (34:09):
I've had this happen so many times, so many times,
but I was reminded of one this week.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
There was a There was a Sunday seven years ago.
I was washing.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
My hands in the bathroom coming out to preach. D
Somebody's out here talking. Okay, I'm gonna get out to
my seat, and all of a sudden, this melody came
into my head while I'm washing my hands.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Worthy is your name.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
Jeezesus, you deserve the praise?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Worthy is your name?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And I stopped and thought, I kind of like that. Well,
I'll have time for it right now. I gotta preach.
I gotta get out there, and God say, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
You do. You gotta get out there. But why don't
you get out there and get something.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Here where you go out there? Because what if I
want to give you something on the way to where
you're going? You know what's crazy? I can't remember to
save my life. Listen to me. I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
To save my life what I preached that day.
Speaker 6 (35:17):
But watch this where this is your.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Now?
Speaker 1 (35:31):
How is it.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
That what I thought wasn't even worth stopping for?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
We're still singing seven years later because God gave it
to us.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
On the way, and I'd pronounce, Place this.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Everyone, John is on the way. Place this, everyone, in
the name of Jesus. Rise up, mind up, take my.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Hand and rins up.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Take my hand and ride up.
Speaker 7 (36:12):
Rise up.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
It's on the way. It's on the way. It's on
the way. Cry if you gotta cry, but.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Through your tears testify this's on the way.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
We trample on God's purpose sometimes trying to get to
our plan. John, my sid Peter, you can't help this man.
You're gonna make me late to temple. Peter knew something.
Wait a minute. Jesus said he was coming to send
(37:03):
his spirit to live in us.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
So what we're trying to get to is right here. Wait,
this man is a temple waiting to be restored.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
The thing that's right in front of you is as
beautiful as the gate.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
You're walking through. If you can stop and see.
Speaker 8 (37:28):
It, Holly Loujah, Hall Loujah.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
So stay open. That's what gates do, right, they open.
Stay open.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I know you pray that your child would marry a
missionary and serve God. They might not marry a missionary,
they might not get married at all.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Stay open, and God doesn't have to ask you what.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Age there's a to be married by, because you didn't
get married when your parents wanted you to get married either.
And now we sit here like gatekeepers of what God
can do and when God could do it.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
But stay open. Now, now I preach a little more.
Felt like I was closing, didn't it. But that was
just the gate opening, the opening of the gate. Yeah yeah, yeah,
oh oh, I'm going to need some help today.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Turn to your neighbors, say place this everyone, almost like
God called Gabriel that morning. Now, the disciples have been
seeing God do amazing things, right, but this is the
first healing miracle that they did without Jesus. And you
know how you could tell because Peter.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Was doing so much. I read several times in the Bible.
I thought it was kind of funny Jesus would heal.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
People that couldn't walk like this man couldn't walk. But
how Peter did. It was so dramatic. Jesus here you say,
get up, take up your mat, and walk. And his
word was so powerful because he's the perfect, spotless, living
embodiment of the Word of God. I can tell Peter's
not so sure about this because look at it's so funny.
(39:13):
Peter said, verse six, over, go out, I do not
have what I have a get you name just Christ
Nazareth walk and then verse seven give me verse seven
on the screen, yanking him up by the right hand.
Almost feel like Peter's like, you're not gonna make me
look stupid.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
You did not one to wear this, and that's all right.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Because you progress and mature into it, you grow into it.
But it's an amazing thing here because you know, this
man isn't even looking at them when they first walk.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
By, not even looking.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
But we understand that because how many people have walked
by and despised him, how many people have walked by
and muttered under their breath about him?
Speaker 1 (40:02):
How many people did he ask? Can I have some change?
Can I have some change? Can I have some change?
Speaker 2 (40:07):
And they said no, no, no, And so Peter actually
has to start with the men's expectation.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
The first thing God is going to have to heal for.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Some of us is our expectation, because we just have
learned to live in a place of disappointment as our
emotional home. So if anything would come along and violate
your expectation of disappointment, you would sabotage it and send
it away unless God healed your expectation. Look at us,
(40:40):
Peter said, look me in the eye, and then I
can give you something.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
Change your focus.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
If you keep looking at everybody who has walked by
and told you know, everybody who has not recognized you,
everybody who has.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Not helped you, everybody who has left you.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
If you look at that even mentally, you will not
get what God has for you. You cannot receive a present
blessing living mentally in a past experience.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Places everyone. This is the day that the Lord has made.
So you got to get what God has for you
in this day. And now.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
The Bible says that the man is looking at Peter
and John and he goes, so you got some change.
Oh yeah, I got some change for you. I got
some change for you that you will not I got
some change for you that is so great that you
won't be back at this gate tomorrow unless it's by choice.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
To walk through it.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
God said, I'm gonna give you your autonomy back. I'm
gonna stop having you beg at places just for the
crumbs of somebody else's approval, because you're.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Going to know in this season that I have a
purpose from God. So I'm not sitting here at this
gate tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
When I come to this gate tomorrow, it will be
my choice to walk through it. That's what makes addiction
such a sin, y'all. It's not the thing you're doing.
It's the fact that you have to. It has become
your God. It has become the thing that you have
to do. And God doesn't want you to owe anything
to anyone but Him except love.
Speaker 9 (42:25):
I'ma break something off somebody today. I'm gonna break something off.
So I'm getting somebody up today. I'm getting somebody up
today with the help of the Holy Spirit. Even if
I got to yank you up. I've had to yank
some people up before preaching. You know, yeah, just start
start yanking people up. Because I think about it is,
(42:49):
when you've been rejected that long, the possibility of a
different direction is almost unthinkable. The possibility that they could
really like you for you when the last person used you.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Is so unusual. The fact that God could use you, He's.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Just unfathomable because look at all the reasons that you
think he shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
Wouldn't be wonderful if you didn't know you. Then when
I say God could.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Use you, you go all right, and you wouldn't have all
of the reasons I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Rejection.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
I know it isn't explicitly mentioned, but come on, he's
put there every day. How many people walk past that
man and told him no? But here's what I love
about the Lord. God can send one person to bless
you in such an amazing way that it will make
(43:48):
every rejection that came before it irrelevant in comparison. Say
that again, Pastor Stephen it Say it for the one
who was told no. Say it for the one who
knocked on the closed door till their knuckles bled. Say
(44:08):
it one more time. God can send one person, one person.
It didn't take everybody in the temple to get the
man up. It took one person. It took one name,
and it wasn't Peter, it was Jesus. God can send
one person to bless you in such an amazing way
(44:31):
that it will make every rejection that came before it
seem irrelevant. In comparison, God can send you one mentor
in your life to teach you everything that your dad
didn't teach you because he was too busy.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
God can send one experience in your.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Life that will give you a lifetime education, all in
three days. God can send you one idea, and that
one idea, if you incubate it, and if you.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Set it before him.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
And you trust him in it, that one idea can
make up for fifteen failures, five hundred failures. Every rejection
can be made irrelevant, and all of a sudden, it
doesn't matter who told this man no, because one person,
one change, one hand, one moment, get your expectation back.
(45:27):
It doesn't take everybody. It doesn't take everything going right.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
It doesn't take.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
A stadium fall, It doesn't take ten thousand followers.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
It doesn't even take long. The Bible said, Instantly, he
got off, what blessing, what blessing?
Speaker 2 (45:46):
One blessing, one word, one divot, one new.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Path, one new song, one new thing.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Places everyone, places everyone, you know. The only way you
don't get it if you're not there. Places everyone. God
turns to Gabriel. He says, today's today. Really, we're gonna
do it today. Yeah, we're gonna do it today. Today's today.
They've been preaching, they've been testifying, the church has been growing,
and today I'm gonna show old Peter what's in his
(46:17):
right hand. Because Peter's been using his mouth, but now
I want him to see what's in his hand. So
get down there, places, everyone, God is saying over the
church in acts places everyone. Everybody, get ready. Okay, is
that man ready?
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Yeah, he's ready. They're carrying him right now. Okay, they
don't have him to the gate yet.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Okay, perfect, that's where I want it, right there, before
he gets to the gate. Okay, Peter and John are coming,
but they're not quite at the temple yet.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Okay. Perfect.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
And God says places, everyone, And the place that God
chose to do it was the place between the places
that they planned.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
I need three people.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
To shout about the place between the places, because that's
where I am right now. Ain't it good to know
the Lord, to know that he's on the way, To
know that with one blessing from his hand, it can
(47:21):
make up for every hand that was ever against me.
To know that with one blessing from his hand, he
can make every rejection irrelevant. And the part that I
wish I didn't need to preach is the part I
saved for last. They say save the best for last.
I saved the worst for last. I did it exactly backwards,
(47:45):
just trying to be faithful to the text, because the
Bible says in verse eleven, and this would be a
great place for the text to end in my mind.
When all the people heard about the man that was
walking and he's holding on to them, they were astonished
look at verse eleven and came running to the him
in the place.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Called Solomon's Colonnade.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
Now a colonnade is a porch with columns that support
a roof. So there's this big temple length column row
of columns called Solomon's Colonnade on the eastern side of
the temple, and they would meet there. Jesus walked through
there once in John chapter ten. So in Peter smart
he went back to teaching the place where he saw
(48:22):
Jesus do it, because the best thing you can do
when you don't know what to do is do the
last thing you saw Jesus do.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
So they moved the meeting. They moved the meeting.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
He's like, all right, I don't even know if they
got to do the full temple service or not, because
it was a commotion.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
There's thousands of people. This is not a small church service.
And so Peter said, everybody go to the colonnade. Now,
a colonnade is what a covered place?
Speaker 2 (48:47):
And notice in verse eleven it says the man was
with them, right, so he can walk now, but he
chose to stay with them, and.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
He's standing there holding on to Peter and John.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
But he's no longer being carried now he's being covered.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Places.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Everyone places everyone for everyone who is refusing to walk
in your own strength. You need to come out of
the season where you're using other people to do for
you what God wants to strengthen you to do for yourself.
And it doesn't mean you're going to be doing it
in your own strength. Because even when he wasn't carried,
(49:29):
he was holding on to Peter and John.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
So I'm not carried, but I'm covered.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
I love that because that means I'm gonna have to
do this, but I'm not doing this by myself. That
means I'm gonna have to take some risks, but I'm
covered either way.
Speaker 1 (49:44):
It goes.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
That means that in this season of my life, I
can trust God to put me where he needs me
to be. Now, the danger in this is that we
think if we're in the right place. Okay, I took
the job, Okay, I said yes the thing, Okay, I
volunteered at the church, I did the thing on where
I'm supposed to be. We think everything's gonna go better
(50:07):
if we're in the right place. So now, at this
point in the party, you're expecting Peter gives a sermon,
and he does. Boy, he preaches too, and he lets
him have it, talking about you disowned the holy unrighteous one.
Jesus was handed over to you, but God raised him
from the dead.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
You missed it.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
You didn't recognize him for who he was, and you
all need to repent, and many of them did.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
In fact, two thousand did one dude.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Having a changed life led to two thousand salvations.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
In one day. God math, God Math. And he's standing there,
dare I say it.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
He's standing there in a place with pillars, and he's
turning into a pillar himself. He's standing in what he's becoming.
He's standing under what he's becoming. And he's standing there
and Peter preaches, and it's a good response.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
And look what happened when Peter preached so.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Good that it turned the city inside out.
Speaker 1 (51:24):
Chapter four, verse three. Please on the screen.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
They seize Peter and John, and because it was evening,
they put him in jail. Wait, Jesus, but I served you, Jesus,
but I did the right thing.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
Jesus, but I helped that man. Jesus.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
Shouldn't you be giving me a bonus check? Jesus should
not be getting commission on this. Jesus, didn't you see
what we just did? No?
Speaker 1 (51:55):
They put them in.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
Jail till the next day, and then the Bible.
Speaker 1 (52:02):
Says a versus more, but many who heard the message believe.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
So it goes to show just because you're not there
to see it, doesn't mean God didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (52:18):
Because why everybody was getting their changed life. They where
in the jail cell.
Speaker 2 (52:23):
And sometimes you've got to get determined in your spirit
that I will not let the place I'm in make me.
Speaker 1 (52:29):
Doubt the purpose that I carry. I'm in this jail, but.
Speaker 2 (52:36):
Jesus is working. I'm in this situation. But Jesus is working.
I'm in this state, but Jesus is working. And while
they're in jail, all the rulers are trying to decide
what are we.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
Going to do about this. It's not what they did
for the man, it's.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
What they were preaching about Jesus that got them thrown
in jail. We can't let them run around preaching that
Jesus is resurrected. They'll completely re jacked our power if
they find out that Jesus has all power.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
What do we do? Put them in jail and we'll decide.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
So you have to imagine that the man who was
at the gate feels pretty bad about all this. Hey,
where's Peter and John? I want to thank him real quick. Actually,
Peter and John had to go to jail because what
was free for you cost them something.
Speaker 1 (53:30):
Dang.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
I didn't mean for them to have to. I wasn't
trying to cause any trouble. Man.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
I was doing the best I could, and he told
me yake me up. I didn't even ask him to
be healed. I just wanted some lunch money.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
I feel bad about this. Hey, can I do anything
to help? I know I'm not much at anybody, But
is there anything I can do to help? And in
my imagination, I like to think, and I know you're like,
just read the Bible, don't use your imagination.
Speaker 1 (54:01):
That's your problem. No, that's your problem.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
You read the Bible like long ago in a galaxy
far far away.
Speaker 1 (54:08):
But this ain't star wars.
Speaker 2 (54:09):
This is a scripture and we are supposed to come
to this Bible with our senses and submit them to
the spirit, so that when we find ourselves like, Okay.
Speaker 1 (54:19):
I feel like that. Sometimes I feel like I'm just
doing my job and I.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
Feel like not in jail physically, but I feel like
I'm in prison for something and I don't really see
what God is doing.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
And so we read this and imagine, maybe.
Speaker 2 (54:33):
Matthew one of the disciples. Let's use Matthew. He goes, actually,
there is something you can do. Tomorrow, Peter and John
are going to have to give a defense before the
Sanhedrin and they're going to be called into question for
what they did. So when they are preaching, why don't
(54:55):
you just be there? Okay, cool, Yeah, no, I told
do that sounds great. If there's one thing I know
how to do, it's be there. Because that's all I've
been able to do. See this man, because he was paralyzed,
he's been practicing being a pillar his whole life. He
knows how to be there. So they say, yeah, just
(55:17):
be there, and Peter's gonna preach. And then the man
maybe says, and you want me to share a little something. No, no, no,
don't say anything. We don't even know if you're saved yet.
Don't say nothing. Just stand there. Look at your neighbors. Say,
don't say nothing. Just stand there. So they called Peter
(55:41):
and John. They say, all right, why did you do it?
Peter says, if we are being called to account for
an act of kindness to this man, let it be
know that it was not us, but the God of
our fathers, raise this man for the sake of his
Holy servant Jesus. Now, the Bible says, after Peter preached,
(56:03):
the people were not very impressed, but they were amazed.
Speaker 1 (56:06):
And I'll show you how I know they weren't impressed.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
Look at verse thirteen four verse thirteen when they saw
the courage of Peter and John and realized that they
were unschooled, ordinary men. That is not a compliment. That's
like the guy who told me after church two weeks ago,
that was actually pretty insightful. I'm like, it's to actually
(56:30):
that bothers me about that sentence you just said.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
And realized they were unschooled ordinary men.
Speaker 2 (56:42):
Place says everyone, You don't have to be spectacular.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
You just got to show up. You don't have to understand.
You just have to stand. That's all you got to do.
They saw their courage.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
You know how I confuses the devil when he sees
you still standing there after he launched a thousand missiles
at your mind to try to get you.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
To go crazy and curse God and die. And you say, oh,
he's slay me yet, will I trust him? I'm standing here?
Speaker 3 (57:15):
Ah ooh.
Speaker 2 (57:23):
And when they saw the courage of Peter and John
and realize that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were
astonished and watched this. They took note that these men
had been with Jesus. Now see every experience they had
with Jesus collapses into this moment. Every time they saw
(57:43):
him feed somebody, every time they heard a teaching, every
time you show up, it is compounding your experience and
it will pay dividends in your future. Places, everyone, every
sermon you log in your spirit. Every note you write
down and put it up that week on the mirror,
every song that you learn, so you can sing a.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
New song to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (58:05):
It's compounding in your life for the glory of Christ.
And it says when they heard Peter, they took note.
But verse fourteen, that's my favorite. But since they could
see the man who had been healed standing there with them,
(58:25):
there was nothing they could say. It goes like this, children,
when Peter preached, they took note. But when the man
stood there, they shut up. You want to shut up
the enemy.
Speaker 1 (58:41):
Stand there. You want to silence the enemy. Stand there.
You want to back.
Speaker 2 (58:47):
Down the feeling of depression and replace it with the
joy of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (58:52):
I got two words for you, baby, Stand there.
Speaker 7 (58:57):
Stand there when they talk about you.
Speaker 1 (59:01):
Stand there when it.
Speaker 8 (59:03):
Feels like there's no point, stand there.
Speaker 2 (59:07):
Every place you set your foot, I'll give you.
Speaker 1 (59:10):
But you gotta stand there. Don't walk away. You are
the one.
Speaker 8 (59:15):
For the job.
Speaker 2 (59:16):
All you gotta do is stand there, somebody.
Speaker 1 (59:20):
Stand to your feet right now and do.
Speaker 8 (59:23):
What you hadn't done yet, and praise him.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
Look got know my place. I'm seeing that, see this,
see that, see it.
Speaker 10 (59:42):
Stand there, stand there, Stand there, discouraged, Stand there while
you're healing. Stand there with your legs wobbling. Stand there
while they point out.
Speaker 1 (59:54):
You and say I didn't see the one that used to. Yeah,
I used to, But look at me doing well? I
couldn't you to do?
Speaker 8 (01:00:00):
Just stand there, don't argue, don't quit, don't commit suicide,
don't take another pill. Stay there, don't call fifteen people
that don't know any better than you.
Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
You are not going back to the gate. Places.
Speaker 5 (01:00:23):
Everyone stand there, jeeus, keep me.
Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
Me the cross. Stand there there, Publa sit on.
Speaker 5 (01:00:44):
Say freely street.
Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
Flows from car freeze places everyone, This is where it happens.
Ye the cry, yes, stand there, center.
Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
He the crow.
Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Speed mine.
Speaker 5 (01:01:22):
Over see mine right?
Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
So then so.
Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Shelf standing here, rest be.
Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Erryver places everyone places, everyone places, everyone places everyone. When
the person changes soul us the place for the cross
that you are singing about as an emblem was an
instrument of torture. But when the man Jesus Christ died,
(01:02:03):
when the person of Jesus Christ died, the place changed,
and that cross of his suffering is now the forgiveness
of your sins.
Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Stand there.
Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
And see the precious lamb of God. See from his head,
his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Stand there and let the blood be applied.
Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Stand there and let the mercy of God make you new.
Stand there.
Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
That's all that man did. I can't sing, but I
can stand there. I didn't even plan to be walking today,
but I can stand here. You need me to stand there,
I'll stand there. You need me to show up, I'll
show up. You need me to be an example God.
Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
Watch this. Watch this.
Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
This man looked like an extra in the movie, but
he was actually exhibit a of the witnessing power of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
And I'm telling you that's you too. If you stand there,
pal ludin head's bowed, eyes closed. This is not a joke.
This is a place.
Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
That you might look back on and say that day I.
Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Went through that gate.
Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
And I was changed. You can change. The trash won't
be so big when you get taller. You can change.
The pleasures of sin won't seem so powerful. You can change.
In the name of Jesus, I offer you my hand
places every get up and walk. What are the chances
(01:03:48):
you would be here to hear this sermon today?
Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
What are the chances this.
Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Day, God must have something happening right now that is
bigger than you. Don't be so selfish you think it's
just about what you can get. Maybe God's about to
use you to help somebody else up and you need to.
Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Get strong for us. Stand there, Stand there. I offer
an invitation for all of you today who need.
Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
To come to the cross, and I believe there are
thousands who are hearing this message as I offer you
this prayer.
Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
This prayer is a place. It is a place of faith,
not a physical location. God doesn't live in one building.
God wants to come and live in your heart, so
invite him.
Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
In the Bible says that if you confess with your
mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God
raised Him.
Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
From the day, you will be saved. Today you will.
So I'm going to offer a prayer. We're praying it
out loud together as a church.
Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Family for the benefit of those who are coming to
God or back to God. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father,
today is my day of salvation. I am a sinner
in need of a savior, and I believe Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and the savior of the world.
Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life.
Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
rose again to give me life. I receive this new life.
This is my new beginning. Raise your hand on the
count of three, one, two three. If you prayed that prayer.
Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
Raise your hand, raise your hand. God bless you. God
bless you. God bless you. Get up and walk. God
bless you. Get up and walk. God bless you. Get
up and walk. God bless you. Hear the name of Jesus,
in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
We have the big sorry we have, we have a victor.
Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
I'm gonna be the last man standing to let the
Lord know I appreciate his grace.
Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
I'm not standing on my own. I'm standing by his spirit.
Speaker 8 (01:06:17):
Paul says, stand therefore, stand therefore.
Speaker 5 (01:06:21):
Put on the whole honor of God and stand.
Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
Hot boy, did people say, stand there, everybody that received
a word from the Lord, clap your hands and praise him,
not me, praise him.
Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
Give it to him, give him the glory. That's all
you got.
Speaker 7 (01:06:47):
That man's started walking and trumping and praising God, that's
all you've got.
Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Every time you get a change, give praise.
Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
That way, you won't get prideful and think you're on
your own. I thank God for what he just gave us.
I feel that the Holy Spirit flowed to somebody today.
And it wasn't that you were crippled in your feet.
You were crippled in your faith, and God is getting
you up.
Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Stand there, stand there, stand there, stand there.
Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
The devil's going to be so surprised. I thought I
convinced you to quit.
Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
Uh uh.
Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
I found out all I have to do is stand
there and let God fight my battles.
Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
I'm gonna do this.
Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
I fight.
Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Somebody say I got changed today, I changed my mind.
I changed my perspective. Hallelujah. Well we gotta go now.
Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
You can't stand there because somebody else wants to sit there.
Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
Campus masters, you take it your mind. If I close here.
Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
At Valentine mind, if I close, mom sermon, glory to God.
All right, take your hand, put it on the shoulder
of the person on either side of you. Online, we
also connect with you in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth.
Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Rise up and walk and stand there.
Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
I see you going back to places this week that
you used to be afraid of and saying, this trash
can isn't so big. I see you going back to
places this week that used to be fun for you,
saying this roller coaster fell off.
Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
I see you heating up corn dogs this week, saying
this doesn't taste.
Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Good anymore because I grew up.
Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
Places. Everyone, God's got an assignment for you. Place this, school.
Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
Teachers, God's got an assignment for you. Place this, police officers, detectives.
God's got an assignment for you places. Stay at home moms,
God's got an assignment. Place this, babysitters. God's got an
assignment for you. Place this while you're waiting on your
next employment, places, while you're pastoring your church.
Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
Places. Everyone, something is about to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
And now, unto him who is able to do immeasurably
more than you ask or imagine, to him, be glory
through Christ Jesus in the charks now and forever.
Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
Give him a sound of praise.
Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
If you'll receive this leorm, I'll see you next week,
same place, same time, Place.
Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
This, everyone, places. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
You can click the link in the description to give
now or.
Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
Visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information
and if you enjoyed the podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
You can click the share button, take 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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