Love Hard Even When It Is Hard (Lisa Harper)

0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:04.560 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:06.800 Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:09.720 thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:12.320 Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:17.759 to see Gods moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Well, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.360 if you don't know me, I'm Holly Ferdick, and I'm 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.000 so glad to be worshiping with you here this morning. Welcome, 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:29.120 Welcome at all of our locations. Lisa Harper is here. 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:35.880 How many of you would agree that we've had some 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.560 really great preachers this weekend bringing the Word of God 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.320 speaking to us. I'm so thankful that we come to 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.199 our church where every week we know that we can 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.000 show up if we could just get here, God's going 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.360 to speak and today is no exception. Lisa Harper is 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.200 back to the Elevation stage for a second time, first 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.040 time as a guest. Second time is family. So we're 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.600 excited to have our family back with us here this weekend. 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:04.560 Her daughter is here, Missy. They have come all the 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:10.960 way from the country of Tennessee and Lisa is She's 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:12.760 going to bring an incredible message. I already heard it 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.560 one time last night, and I'm excited for you to 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:20.920 hear it. She is an incredibly gifted Bible teacher, preacher, author, 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:23.959 and she's also one of the funniest people I know, 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:26.759 So you're in for a real treat. She travels the world, 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:29.800 and I'm so excited to have her here with us 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:32.160 today on the elevation stage. Will you help me welcome 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:47.240 Lisa Harper. Thank you, Alick. I really, oh, please to them, please, 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.600 to them, thank you. I cannot overstay. What an honor 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.240 it is to be here. This is my second time, 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.760 and Holly graciously invited me to be with some of 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:02.760 the women in the two years ago. And every time 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:07.120 I get to be at Elevation, I just weep during worship. 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.840 And it's not just that I'm in Apausal and my 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.520 emotions are kicked up. It's that the presence of God 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.120 is so pangule in this place, and I'm just undone 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.519 to get to be here, very undeserving of the platform, 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.760 but so grateful to get to be here, and then 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.960 to get to be here on Baptism Sunday that just 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:34.320 slaved me, just slayed me. I love that you do 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.359 it in the house. I love that it's a family 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:41.639 meeting instead of formal and removed. I got to baptize 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.840 my little girl in the Jordan River. Two months ago. 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:47.560 We were going to Israel and Missy told me she 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.919 wants to be baptized. She's nine, and I said, baby, 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.200 that'd be great. And what I hadn't taken into consideration 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.800 is we came to Israel from Australia, and so we 0:02:57.840 --> 0:02:59.960 got there a day and a half after the group 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.400 we were with, and we missed the normal baptismal site, 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:05.720 which some of you have been to Israel. It's on 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.000 the northern shore of the Sea of Galley and it's 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.200 beautiful and you've got the white robes and the water's clear, 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.080 and it's real picturesque. It's a really great and so 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:18.400 worthy moment. And we missed that baptism site. When we 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.160 got there, it was the southern part of the Jordan, 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.160 and that's where there's a lot of agricultural runoff and 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:29.160 just a teensy bit of sewage and the water's really brown. 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:34.280 That historically is where John baptized Jesus. That's historically where 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.800 the Israelites went into Canaan, and that's historically where Elijah 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:39.960 went up to be with Jesus. So it's a really 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.160 cool biblical site, but it's really trashy as far as 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.960 the water. But I was like, we're in Israel, and 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:48.480 she said the Jordan, and this is the Jordan, and 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.560 miss he was like, no, ma'am, And I was like, oh, yes, ma'am. 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.560 And so I kind of had to shover a little 0:03:55.600 --> 0:04:00.560 bit and I'll show the next group make sure because 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.040 it's just comical. I think there will be therapy in 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.000 light of this baptism. But I told her, maybe this 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:08.840 is like one of the most amazing points in your life, 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:12.960 because it's when you recognize that you go down as 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.520 an old person, you come up alive to a whole 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:19.120 new troop. I said outwardly, it's just a sign of 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.800 this inward miracle. It's incredible. So to get to be 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:24.799 here and see that if I had half a brain, 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:26.720 I just pray and we'd be done and we don't 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:30.159 go to Denny's. But I've never been accused of having 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:32.560 half a brain. And so we are going to dive 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.680 into a story in the Book of Acts this morning 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:39.960 because I've watched a lot of the pastors you've had 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.240 come in this summer. It was just undone by Pastor 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.680 Stevens message on when the battle chooses you, And then 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:51.000 I watch Roberts and I watched Pastor Daniels, and I 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:55.880 feel like there's this theme God has been weaving through Elevation, Epham, 0:04:56.000 --> 0:05:00.760 all the other locations of spiritual maturity in the summer 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.360 of be all in for the sake of the Gospel. 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.400 So I want to stay in that theme. But in 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:09.359 order for me to stay there, I need y'all to 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.440 help me. So reach out and touch somebody. Gentlemen, if 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:14.800 you feel weird holding hands with a guy you don't know, 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:20.120 you can just awkwardly piky grip. But we're just gonna 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:21.920 and y'all don't have to be that pentecostal. Y'all have 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:23.840 to reach across the aisles. That's too hard this early 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:27.559 in the morning. But let's pray to that end. Let's 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.880 pray that God will have his way in this place, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.320 that He will actually illuminate our hearts and minds that 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.640 will become more fully alive to the Gospel, to the 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:42.480 call He has in our lives. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:47.760 Jesus King Jesus. This Jesus the Lamb who was slain, 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.760 the author and the prefector of our faith, A Lilia, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:56.200 the valley, the Alpha and the Omega, wonderful counselor Almighty God. 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:01.440 This Jesus the Christ, our Messiah, Jesus. Thank you that 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.320 when you ascend it into heaven to sit at the 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.960 right hand of God Almighty, you didn't leave us as orphans. 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.880 Thank you that you left us your spirit and this 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.159 love letter called the Bible. Would we pray that you 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.800 would just have your way through your spirit in this 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.839 place and all the locations, and all the family rooms 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:25.120 and the coffee shops and the places where Ephams are 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:29.240 meeting all over the globe. Lord Jesus, have your way 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.000 in your spirit, that we would see you more clearly, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.159 that we would be undone by the Gospel, That just 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.480 like these friends of ours that got baptized, that there 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.159 would be a washing this morning some of the things 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.720 that have been buried or numb in our hearts, that 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:47.800 we would feel brand new and just be alive to 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.920 the Gospel. So, Jesus, we can't accomplish this on our own. 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.919 We recognize we're desperate for your spirit. We pray for 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:56.720 your spirit. We pray you would accomplish this by your 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:00.599 power and authority and for your purposes. Lord Jesus, we 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.799 asked this, and all of God's sons and daughters said Amen. 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:06.880 Before we dive into the text, I want to tell 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.920 you a story that happened recently to illuminate where we're headed. 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.240 And it has to do with motorcycles. So I should 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.040 probably qualify this because I know a lot of church 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:20.600 people don't like motorcycles. But I grew up half Baptist. 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.600 Mom was Baptist, dad was Pentecostal, and so the prodigal 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.360 in me has always wanted a reason to wear black 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:33.760 leather pants. And I grew up riding motorcycles, dirt bikes. 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.400 My dad had a ranch, and then when I turned forty, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.560 I made this little patch. I am still single, never 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.280 been married. My husband won't stop to ask for directions. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:47.120 But at forty I had a plan, and I decided 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.400 if I didn't get a husband that year, because it's 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.880 a pivotal year, you know, forty, and you start to 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.920 lose your metabolism, so I needed something positive. I decided 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:57.920 if I didn't get a husband. I was going to 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.840 get a Harley Davidson, and so that was my first 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:05.280 big bike and I've been riding ever since and wearing 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.240 leather pants, even though it often sounds like ducks are 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:12.240 being killed when I wear leather pants. But when I 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.360 brought Missy, my daughter home from Haiti through the miracle 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:17.640 of adoption, I thought, you know what, I don't feel 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:19.920 good about putting Missy on the back of two wheels 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.920 just because of other drivers and distractions. I just there's 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.400 inherent risk in motorcycles. So I thought, I don't feel comfortable. 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.520 I'm not going to ride anymore with her on a bike. 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.280 But it really bummed her out because motorcycles are the 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.200 main form of transportation in Haiti, and so she would 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.000 see the bike every time we walk through the garage 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.200 and she'd go, Moto Moto, Mama moto. And I thought, 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.480 you know, I don't feel comfortable putting on her on 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.480 a hog but maybe I could get a bike that 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:48.880 is a little safer, and so I found online through Craigslist. 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:50.720 Always scares me that I'm going to meet a murderer, 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.960 but I actually met a really nice guy in Chicago 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.160 who was selling a Honda gold Wing with a Dauntless 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:00.400 side car, and so for you motorcycle people actually have 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:04.120 a PreO. Yeah, so I bought that because you know, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.640 it's three wheels, you can see us come in. It's 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:11.000 obviously safer than two wheels. And we had a blast 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:14.520 on this bike. I did the whole weird thing. I 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.360 don't do all the you know, matching mommy and me 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:19.880 outfits because I'm just too old and that's too sad 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.840 for Missy. But we did do matching leathers, and I mean, 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.120 we just we had so much fun with it until 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.840 one day we were riding the bike. I live in 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.199 the Boonies, about twenty miles south of Nashville, Tennessee, and 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.400 this blue Ford truck flying a rebel flag in the 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:40.079 back drove up beside us and threw coke cans at 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:44.440 us and yelled expletives. Because where I live in Nashville, Tennessee, 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.040 some people do not think straight headed mamas should have 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.360 curly headed kids. And I prepared for that when I 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.200 was bringing Missy home from Haiti as well as I 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.640 could spent a lot of shoe money on therapists. His 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:02.200 specialized in transracial adoption. I got the Chris Rock Hair 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:06.079 Special and actually didn't just rent it. I have the DVD. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:10.240 I mean, I did everything I knew to prepare for this. 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.080 There's a good Win, isn't it Autumn? That's like one 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.240 of the best movies ever. I mean, don't rent it 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:19.840 and send Hollymen emails because there's a few little exciting 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.040 words that aren't in the Bible and that DVD. But anyway, 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.160 it's great about kind of this whole microcosm of hair. 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:27.920 So I did everything I could to prepare, but I 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.959 was not prepared for some of the vitriol that has 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.880 come our way, and so I was really stunned when 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.840 these guys threw coke cans and yelled explotives. It went 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.080 right over Missy's head. She didn't even realize it was 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:43.920 directed at the fact that I have straight hair and 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.040 she has curly hair. But then a couple of weeks later, 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:49.200 we were back on the bike in the same area 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:53.199 on this country road, Carter's Creek Pike south of Nashville, 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:56.640 and I saw my rearview mirror the same truck, and 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.559 so I kind of tensed up because I thought, uh, oh, 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.160 we're out here on this country road. It's just Missy 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:06.120 and me in this motorcycle. We're totally exposed. And sure enough, 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.160 these guys in the blue truck up the ante and 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.040 they pulled up right next to us. I had slowed 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:18.360 down considerably, and they began yelling really unkind things, including 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:23.240 the inward and then the driver edged the truck into 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:27.079 my lane and forced me off the road. And it 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.240 was scary. We were fine, we weren't hurt, but it 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.160 was really alarming. And I thought, you know what, I've 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.480 got to explain this to Missy now, because it didn't 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.920 go over her head this time. So I went straight 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.319 home and sat her down and I said, hey, baby, 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.520 I want to explain to you what just happened when 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.280 those guys yelled such ugly things to us and forced 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.520 us off the road. And she was like, Mama, why 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:53.679 did they do that? And I said, well, maybe some 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:59.160 people have really little lives, and they choose to surround 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.920 themselves with people who are just like them and look 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.240 like them, and talk like them and think like them. 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:08.040 And I said, sometimes their lives are so small that 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:12.040 their hearts get small because their hearts don't have room 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.600 to grow. And I said sometimes people with really little 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.600 hearts are really dangerous. And I said, so, baby, I 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.160 want to talk to you about what we do when 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.800 we're around people who have really little hearts, like those 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:28.560 guys in the truck. I said, you know what we 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:30.959 need to do. And where I was going to go 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.040 is I was going to talk about being alert. I 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.360 was going to talk about just always kind of having 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.680 your antenna up when you're in a place where you 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:39.680 don't see a whole lot of faces that may look 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:41.679 like your face, how you just have to be aware, 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.559 not to be bitter or resentful, but just to be aware. 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:47.520 And so I said, do you know what we need 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:51.000 to do, baby, and she goes, oh, yes, ma'am. We 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.360 need to help them have bigger hearts. And I was 0:12:54.440 --> 0:13:01.320 just because that wasn't where I was going. But once again, 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.160 it's like the Holy Spirit used my kid to go, 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.719 let me teach you something here, Lisa, and what he's 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.360 been teaching me through the last few years through the 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.200 conduit of my child are two truths that I think 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:19.319 are where God has elevation. Because y'all are growing up, 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:23.080 you know, Valentine is three years. A lot of y'all 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.040 have been together for fifteen years. You've got people who've 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.920 been running hard towards Jesus for a long time, and 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.120 I feel like y'all are about to go into fifth gear. 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:35.680 You're maturing spiritually. And here's the two truths that God 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:37.880 is teaching me through Missy that I feel like are 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.640 pertinent to all of us, especially in light of where 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.480 y'all have been this summer. The first one is that 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:51.440 being light is not a prerequisite for being loving. Being light, 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:57.840 being popular, being accepted, has nothing to do with sharing 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.959 the love of Christ. The second thing I feel like 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:05.480 I'm learning is as apostles of Christ, as Ambassador's new covenant, 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.840 as men and women who have been undone by His mercy, 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.520 it's incumbent upon us to love hard, even when it's 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.840 to love hard, even when it's hard, that we don't 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:23.680 demand reciprocity from culture. There's this misnomer I feel like 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.560 in American evangelical circles nowadays, that we have to have 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:31.720 power and acceptance in order to really express the Gospel. 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.720 And I'm like, that's not biblically defensible. Know where in 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:36.560 Bible do you in the Bible do you see that 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:41.280 Christianity that our faith in Christ is dependent upon political 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:45.520 power or being accepted. Actually, usually it's contrary to that. 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.680 Usually the gospel, the people who share the gospel in 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:53.120 scripture our ancestors. Usually they were oppressed, and it was 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.120 that oppression, that opposite and opposition that actually stirred their 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:01.119 spiritual fervor. They actually kind of rot to the occasion 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.560 when culture oppressed them. That's part of spiritual maturity. It's 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:10.480 loving hard when it's hard. Doesn't matter if your preferred 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.760 political candidate is in office. It doesn't matter if people 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.640 like your Twitter feed. It doesn't matter if people at 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.440 your work think that you're really all that. None of 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:25.480 that matters. What matters is while we were still sinners, 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:29.720 he lavish mercy and affection on us. And we should 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:34.680 be so undone by what sent us under the water 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.840 that we can't help but share the Gospel with people 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.600 around us. I was on a plane recently, and I've 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:42.680 got where I hate flying and I do it all 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.680 the time, and I was excited because it was a 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:47.960 short flight, so I knew that I wouldn't have to 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.120 suffer for long. And they had just announced the boarding 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.520 door was closing, and the only empty seat on the 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.880 whole plane was between me and the guy next to 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.560 me reading the Wall Street Journal, and I was like, yes, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.280 because I can't see it, but I'm convinced there's a 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.200 tattoo on my forehead that says, if you are a 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.600 very very large man with very very poor hygiene, please 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:12.680 sit next to me, and please take my arm rest 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:15.600 as your own. Because that happens every time. And so 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.080 it's like score, Finally I have a flight where I 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.480 have a little room and I can stretch out. Right. 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.800 As they were closing the door, this woman gets on 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.240 the plane and so I look at her with kind 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.560 of a Christian dirty look. So it's really, come on. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.000 I mean, I thought I was going to have the 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.600 seat empty. I don't have the gift of mercy like Holly. 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:35.920 But this woman comes on and she's just kind of smiling. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.200 You can tell she's a talker from fifty feet and 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.040 I don't talk on planes. I mean, I don't want 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.320 to share the four Spiritual Laws. I want to read 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.600 a deep theological journal like People magazine or the Pottery 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:50.040 Barn Catalog, and I just want to have my space. 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:53.040 And so this woman gets into my space and she's 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:55.520 real perky and I thought, honey, I'm a lot older 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.200 than you, and I am not going to make eye 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.320 contact because I've learned and if you make eye contact 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:04.160 on planes and that's just please, let's have a conversation. 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:06.520 So I'm nope, not doing it. I'm older than you, 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.840 and so I kind of nodded, like an almost Christian 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.080 wood and then I turned my attention back to Brad 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:17.080 and Angelina. And then the flight attendant came through and 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.600 started taking our drink orders, and both of us at 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:24.280 the same time ordered ginger Ale. I'm like ginger Ale, 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.359 but for whatever reason, I always ordered ginger Ale on 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:28.959 planes because she's a Bible teacher. You can't get them Margerita, 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.959 so I have to get Gendrell. Anyway, this girl and 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:36.320 I both get ginger Ale. And when we said ginger Al, 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.560 she went and I went, and I was like, oh God, 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.960 got broke mine rule. We just bonded over ginger Ale. 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:49.320 And the minute we made eye contact, she went, Hey, 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.640 my name's Heather, and I was like, of course it is, 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.240 and so we started to talk. Mostly she talked, and 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.280 I just kind of nodded, and I thought, you know, 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.640 my quiet alone with the Lord and people is ruined. 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.840 And then they made the announced because it was a 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.879 short flight, we were about to land in Atlanta. She 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.399 got real serious when they said we were going to 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:13.920 be landing in a few minutes. And she turned to 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.439 me and she said, Lisa, may I ask you a 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.959 personal question? And I said, well, sure, I don't mean 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:22.040 you can absolutely ask me a personal questions. She went, 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:27.800 do you know Jesus? And I said I do, I 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.800 actually do know Jesus. And y'all, the look of disappointment 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:37.439 that crossed her face was just so precious that I 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.520 real quickly went but not very well, not very well. 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.119 And so she's spent the whole rest of the flight 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.400 witnessing to me and just encouraging me and the importance 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.040 of getting a small group and prayer and you know, 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.080 spending time in God's word. And I was just like, 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.679 that sounds awesome. And so we land in Atlanta and 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.280 she said, you know, before we separate, would you mind 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.399 if I lay on you and pray? And I was like, no, 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.000 that'd be awesome. And so we get off the plane 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:06.199 and she stands in the gate area, lays hands on 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:10.000 me and prays a prayer that I really needed, and 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:12.560 she walked away, never knowing that I was actually going 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.719 to teach at a conference and was a Bible teacher, 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:17.520 and I thought, you know, she just couldn't help it. 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:22.920 She couldn't not share the hope that lies within her. Y'all, 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:28.720 if our lossness, if our lossness would inform our love, 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:32.040 if we would remember what He's saved us from, we'd 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:34.240 all be a little bit more like Heather, would be 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:37.680 compelled to share the hope that lies within us, even 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.600 when it's hard, even when it's awkward. And that's what 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.560 we see in Acts. And y'all know this story, this 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:48.359 story happens immediately after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.000 Y'all know that after he was resurrected, he spent forty 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.480 days in his redeemed restored shouldn't say redeemed, He didn't 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.359 need to be redeemed, but his restored body, and here 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.920 on earth before he ascended into heaven is the right 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.280 hand of God, the Father. And in those forty days 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.920 he had one hundred corroborated encounters with people, and the 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:14.560 very last encounter he has before he goes to mediate 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.080 for us in glory is right here in Acts, chapter 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.719 one verse eight, It says, so when they had come together, 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:24.639 these are this motley crew of Christians at this point 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:28.320 their number people theologians differ, but it's somewhere around one 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:31.560 hundred and ten, very very small group. At this point, 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.000 when they had come together, they asked him, They asked, Jesus, Lord, 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:38.800 will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:40.159 And he said to him, and it is not for 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:42.399 you to know the time or the seasons the Father 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.320 has fixed by his own authority. Interesting, they're saying, will 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.400 it get easier, is what they're saying. They're saying, will 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.359 you assume an earthly throne so we don't have to 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:57.280 be oppressed anymore? Because at this point we're sticking out 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:00.440 like hot dog vendors at a vegan festival. I mean, 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:03.480 everybody hates us. Our kids are being beaten up on 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:07.240 the way home from school, we're being murdered, we're being marginalized. 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.360 And so at this point, are you going to occupy 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.360 a literal throne so the going gets a little bit 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.600 easier for us? And he says, no, it's not going 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.919 to get easier for you. He says, but you will 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:24.879 receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.200 and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and an 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:30.920 all Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:32.560 And when he had said these things, as they were 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:35.400 looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:38.240 him out of their sight. Luke who wrote the Acts 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:39.600 of the Apostles. As a matter of fact, he wrote 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:42.399 the Gospel of Luke and Acts together, so they're like 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.199 star wars and the Empire strikes back. So if you 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:47.280 are one of those saints who's in the habit of 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:49.359 reading through the Bible in a year, when you get 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:52.720 to the end of Luke's Gospel, vault over John, come 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.560 back for John later, but goes straight to the Acts 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:58.800 of the Apostles because the literary symmetry there is just amazing. 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:02.320 He's a great storyteller. But what he tells is now 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:08.199 is there is this indicative statement from Jesus to his 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:14.840 followers that they will receive power and there's no qualification here, 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:18.719 and the power comes from the speaker. It is this 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:23.639 really strong in the Greek imperative. It actually means in 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:28.760 the original phraseology phraseology to grasp or to seize. And 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.080 again the initiative lies with a speaker, not with a Here. 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:35.640 What I'm trying to say is this is an irrevocable call. 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:39.400 Doesn't matter if you're a healthy eight or a wobbly 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:42.760 three with a carbon addicted wing. Like me. When you 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:45.639 said Pastor Steven didn't eat buns, I was like, I 0:22:45.640 --> 0:22:49.639 got his buns right here. I mean, God, Lee, that 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:55.800 sounded terrible. I mean, I will eat the bread he 0:22:55.880 --> 0:23:03.280 doesn't eat. Lord have mercy, Holly. That was awful as 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:06.520 not what I meant. Obviously, this is not scripted. I 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:10.680 hope you did not pay much for your ticket this morning. Anyway. 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:12.560 I don't think Jesus would have called himself the bread 0:23:12.560 --> 0:23:14.320 of life if we were supposed to be all paleo 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:17.480 and stuff. That's what I was trying to say. But 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:22.560 this call he gives his followers. You will receive power, 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:27.560 you will be my witnesses. It wasn't dependent on personality type, 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:30.640 didn't depend on what you were on Enneagram, whether you're 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:33.520 an extrovert or an introvert. It didn't depend on your past. 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:35.800 We'll get into more of that in a minute. It's 0:23:35.920 --> 0:23:39.480 irrevocable if you've put your hope in Jesus, whether your 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:42.640 parents were Pentecostal and your comfortable jumping keys, or this 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:46.280 is your first time in a gathering of faith, or 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:48.359 you're in an epham in a bar because you're just 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:51.600 not so sure about these crazy Christians. If you've put 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:57.720 your hope in Jesus, you will receive power, and you 0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:02.160 will share the hope that lies within you. It's an 0:24:02.200 --> 0:24:06.960 irrevocable Paul. Of course, we mature in boldness in the 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:09.880 way we share the Gospel. But if you put your 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:12.680 hope in Jesus at some point there's a little heather 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:16.800 in you. At some point, you can't not share the 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:19.200 hope that's within you. What we see in the Book 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:22.880 of IXes, they share it even when it's hard. They're 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:26.240 not just on a plane next to a grumpy frequent 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:31.200 flyer who isn't very friendly initially. They're actually being murdered 0:24:31.280 --> 0:24:36.680 and martyred for their audacious claim that Jesus actually connects 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:40.720 them with Jehovah, that it's not based on keeping six 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:44.199 hundred and thirteen Torah laws, that it's actually based on 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:46.879 recognizing your neediness, that you can't keep the law, that 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:49.000 you can't make it by yourself, that you are desperate 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:53.359 for a savior, and for preaching that they're getting killed. 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:56.720 Flip over to AX eight because one of the most 0:24:56.800 --> 0:25:01.520 gruesome martyrdoms that's actually out in the Book of Acts 0:25:01.800 --> 0:25:05.920 is Stephen's death. I don't know if Stephen's parents named 0:25:06.000 --> 0:25:08.040 him after this Stephen, but if they did, it would 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:11.280 have been a good naming. Stephen was stoned to death 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:18.000 for telling his Jewish friends, y'all, it's about Jesus. It's 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:22.320 not about the law. He loves you so much that 0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:24.400 he came and he laid his life down for you. 0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:29.800 And for that sermon, a mob rallied around Stephen with 0:25:30.280 --> 0:25:34.840 stones and they literally, not figuratively, literally stoned him to 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:37.800 death and from a front of his friends and family, 0:25:38.320 --> 0:25:42.640 big rocks, landscape kind of rocks, and they threw them 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:46.600 at Stephen until he died of physical death, I mean, 0:25:47.119 --> 0:25:51.680 gruesome kind of death. And the guy who supervised this 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:55.080 murder is the guy who goes on to after he 0:25:55.200 --> 0:25:58.280 encounters Christ to write two thirds of the New Testament. 0:25:58.560 --> 0:26:00.719 It's one of the reasons I tell you your past 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:05.520 does not dictate your future. Your past doesn't even limit 0:26:06.040 --> 0:26:07.960 how God is going to use you. Because at the 0:26:08.040 --> 0:26:11.320 very beginning of VACS. Pete is the one who preached 0:26:11.359 --> 0:26:15.480 the first two evangelical sermons wherein eight thousand people got saved. 0:26:15.760 --> 0:26:18.240 This was less than two months after Pete threw Jesus 0:26:18.359 --> 0:26:21.600 under the bus and vehemently and vulgarly denied that he 0:26:21.640 --> 0:26:24.359 even knew the Christ. Y'all may know him as Peter, 0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:26.080 but I like to call him Pete because I know 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:35.520 him Peter, who, by all human accounts had completely completely 0:26:35.840 --> 0:26:40.280 sabotaged his own future as a spiritual leader. Pete is 0:26:40.280 --> 0:26:42.480 the one that Jesus said, and now I'm going to 0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:44.439 call you a rock, and I'm going to place the 0:26:44.440 --> 0:26:47.760 New Testament Church on your frail shoulders. Paul, who right 0:26:47.840 --> 0:26:51.399 here is approving the execution of Stephen, because this is 0:26:51.440 --> 0:26:54.640 before God blinds him on the road to Costco, it says, 0:26:54.760 --> 0:26:58.159 and Saul, because that was his BC name. And Saul 0:26:58.200 --> 0:27:01.800 approved of his execution Acts Chapter eight, verse one. And 0:27:01.840 --> 0:27:04.679 there arose on that day a great persecution against the 0:27:04.760 --> 0:27:07.080 Church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the 0:27:07.080 --> 0:27:11.239 regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Develop Men 0:27:11.440 --> 0:27:14.080 buried Steve, and it made a great lamentation over him. 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:18.040 But Saul was ravaging. Original word there in the Greek, 0:27:18.080 --> 0:27:20.840 which is what the New Testament was written in initially 0:27:20.960 --> 0:27:24.960 Greek and Aramaic, that word ravaging means to destroy with 0:27:25.000 --> 0:27:27.879 an intent to kill. So again, this wasn't They're not 0:27:27.920 --> 0:27:30.800 dismissing him on Twitter. I mean, this isn't. Well, they 0:27:30.800 --> 0:27:33.560 were mean to me and they blocked my call. That's 0:27:33.680 --> 0:27:36.960 not what this is. This is they are intent to 0:27:37.000 --> 0:27:41.280 destroy me and my family. That's what's happening in first 0:27:41.280 --> 0:27:46.640 century Judea, that area in Israel. But Paul was ravaging, 0:27:46.800 --> 0:27:49.480 trying to kill the church and entering house after house 0:27:49.840 --> 0:27:53.720 he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now, 0:27:53.800 --> 0:27:58.640 humanly speaking, what even therapists would probably tell us would 0:27:58.640 --> 0:28:01.000 be wise at this point to do is to kind 0:28:01.000 --> 0:28:03.919 of tone it down a notch. You know, when when 0:28:03.960 --> 0:28:06.200 they turned the heat up, it's best to just kind 0:28:06.240 --> 0:28:08.440 of kind of back up a step or two, Like, 0:28:08.560 --> 0:28:11.880 don't be so vocal, don't be so loud, just kind 0:28:11.920 --> 0:28:14.239 of go on the download a little while, you know, 0:28:14.400 --> 0:28:17.960 don't keep any receipts or anything, but just be real careful. 0:28:18.000 --> 0:28:19.600 I did that for all of you under forty. I'm 0:28:19.600 --> 0:28:23.959 real proud I know the word receipt. Obviously it went 0:28:24.000 --> 0:28:28.000 over like the two guys in rapper gear. But anyway, 0:28:28.960 --> 0:28:31.520 humanly speaking, it would have made sense for these early 0:28:31.600 --> 0:28:35.560 Christians who are being marginalized and murdered, to just back 0:28:35.680 --> 0:28:39.440 the bus up until the environment was a little more 0:28:39.520 --> 0:28:42.920 open to evangelism. And y'all, that is the exact opposite 0:28:43.000 --> 0:28:47.200 of what they did. They didn't meet the miracle. They 0:28:47.280 --> 0:28:51.960 couldn't not share the hope of the gospel, and they 0:28:52.000 --> 0:28:56.400 shared it in really tough places. Because after Steven is murdered, Philip, 0:28:56.480 --> 0:28:59.880 one of his best friends, goes to Samaria. He doesn't 0:28:59.920 --> 0:29:03.160 go to an easy place. He doesn't go to you know, 0:29:03.400 --> 0:29:05.920 outskirts of Charlotte and stay in a really nice hotel 0:29:05.920 --> 0:29:07.600 and get a massage and have a stake before he 0:29:07.640 --> 0:29:12.040 shares the gospel. He goes to enemy territory and shares 0:29:12.040 --> 0:29:15.600 the gospel. It says the gospel. They're so undone by 0:29:15.640 --> 0:29:19.360 this story that God loves us so much that he 0:29:19.400 --> 0:29:22.040 sin has only begotten son that it says many gods saved, 0:29:22.080 --> 0:29:24.560 and it says there was much joy in that city. 0:29:24.920 --> 0:29:28.400 Verse eight. Now, if I was Philip and I had 0:29:28.440 --> 0:29:31.440 been that faithful, I would feel like I have earned 0:29:31.480 --> 0:29:36.120 myself a frappuccino, and you know, spa visit Manny Petty. 0:29:36.720 --> 0:29:39.400 I've earned something because I was really faithful. When the 0:29:39.480 --> 0:29:43.000 going got tough, he doesn't stop there. He actually turns 0:29:43.080 --> 0:29:45.800 up the heat of his own testimony because he goes 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:48.880 from sharing in Samaria. What he does next, y'all, is 0:29:48.960 --> 0:29:52.840 just shocking. If you understand the context of this second 0:29:52.840 --> 0:29:55.800 half of the first century culture. It says in verse 0:29:55.840 --> 0:29:59.640 twenty six of chapter eight, Now an angel Lord said 0:29:59.640 --> 0:30:01.960 to phil rise and go towards the south on the 0:30:02.040 --> 0:30:05.000 road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaiza. This is 0:30:05.040 --> 0:30:07.280 a desert place. And he rose and when and there 0:30:07.320 --> 0:30:10.760 was an Ethiopi and a eunuch, a court official of Candice, 0:30:11.080 --> 0:30:13.600 Queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all 0:30:13.760 --> 0:30:16.479 her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and 0:30:16.560 --> 0:30:20.360 was returning seated in his chariot, and he was reading 0:30:20.400 --> 0:30:24.560 the prophet Isaiah. And the spirit Epiriclet said to Philip, 0:30:24.960 --> 0:30:27.600 go over and join this chariot. Now, if you read 0:30:27.640 --> 0:30:32.680 between the lines of those verses, the angel tells Philip, 0:30:32.920 --> 0:30:34.760 I want you to go in the middle of the day. 0:30:35.160 --> 0:30:37.760 Phraseology there at the beginning of verse twenty six is 0:30:37.920 --> 0:30:39.560 I want you to go in the heat of the day. 0:30:40.040 --> 0:30:43.080 I want you to go at the most uncomfortable time 0:30:43.120 --> 0:30:45.120 of day. I told you all we were just in Israel. 0:30:45.440 --> 0:30:47.640 If you've ever been to the Middle East in the 0:30:47.680 --> 0:30:50.920 middle of the day, that's like when your spanks stick 0:30:51.120 --> 0:30:54.920 to your body. Gentlemen, you don't need to know what 0:30:55.000 --> 0:30:57.640 spanks are. What you do need to know is when 0:30:57.640 --> 0:31:00.520 we take them off. It's dangerous because it's like putting 0:31:01.600 --> 0:31:05.160 a butter knife to a biscuit candy. So y'all need 0:31:05.200 --> 0:31:09.480 to be careful. Wife's wearing spaint. She needed to give 0:31:09.480 --> 0:31:14.040 her some privacy. He sees healing those puppies off. But anyway, 0:31:14.120 --> 0:31:18.560 it's a super uncomfortable time of day, and he says, 0:31:18.600 --> 0:31:21.040 I want you to go at the most uncomfortable time 0:31:21.080 --> 0:31:23.120 of day. Then I want you to take the route 0:31:23.160 --> 0:31:25.360 that goes from Jerusalem to Gaiz. Though we just did 0:31:25.360 --> 0:31:28.040 this on the tour bus. It's like not even a 0:31:28.080 --> 0:31:31.520 secondary route, it's a tertiary route. In our culture, it 0:31:31.560 --> 0:31:35.480 would be a dirt road, kind of tumbleweed strown kind 0:31:35.480 --> 0:31:39.360 of place. Weird place to scatter divine seed. So he says, 0:31:39.360 --> 0:31:40.720 I want you to go on the heat of the day. 0:31:41.120 --> 0:31:44.480 I want you to take an uncomfortable route, and I 0:31:44.520 --> 0:31:47.120 want you to go to a unit. Now, I don't 0:31:47.120 --> 0:31:49.040 know how many of you have been studying Deuteron me 0:31:49.120 --> 0:31:52.120 twenty three much in your quiet times. But in Deuteronomy 0:31:52.160 --> 0:31:56.400 twenty three, in the ceremonial law, Jews were taught that 0:31:56.520 --> 0:32:00.280 a eunuch a man who was born without all of 0:32:00.280 --> 0:32:05.800 his equipment, that unix were not allowed to fully participate 0:32:06.200 --> 0:32:10.920 in worship. Now, what was common in this culture is 0:32:11.000 --> 0:32:15.960 that little boys from poor families would actually be castrated, 0:32:16.480 --> 0:32:20.280 and wealthy families would then hire these little boys because 0:32:20.320 --> 0:32:23.400 they assumed if a male was made a unich by 0:32:23.480 --> 0:32:28.160 surgical options, that it would make them more submissive. That's 0:32:28.200 --> 0:32:32.480 what we do nowadays, sometimes to cows with two horses. 0:32:32.800 --> 0:32:36.280 It makes them a little easier to tame. It's I 0:32:36.320 --> 0:32:38.920 won't get into that for peta, but anyway, I can't 0:32:38.960 --> 0:32:43.400 imagine as a little boy having that happen to you. 0:32:43.560 --> 0:32:47.000 And that's likely what happened to this unit. And because 0:32:47.040 --> 0:32:49.880 of what had been done to this man, he's not 0:32:49.960 --> 0:32:53.080 allowed to come to church, not allowed to worship according 0:32:53.080 --> 0:32:56.440 to the ceremonial law. So Philip, who's seen his best 0:32:56.480 --> 0:33:01.200 friend gets stoned, goes to the Samarians, the arch enemies 0:33:01.240 --> 0:33:03.840 of God, and pulls a heather shares the hope that 0:33:03.880 --> 0:33:06.000 lies within him, and then he gets saved. And he 0:33:06.040 --> 0:33:10.440 doesn't stop there. He goes at a really uncomfortable time, 0:33:10.560 --> 0:33:14.000 down a really uncomfortable road to a man that everybody 0:33:14.000 --> 0:33:18.960 else has marginalized and ostracized and ignored. And you know 0:33:19.040 --> 0:33:22.720 how he goes The slaves me. Spirit of God says, 0:33:22.760 --> 0:33:26.000 will you go? And he's like, good night God. I 0:33:26.040 --> 0:33:29.400 mean I've been really faithful already, and this is really hard, 0:33:30.160 --> 0:33:32.000 Like I need to go back to my E group 0:33:32.200 --> 0:33:35.920 and I need to like have some margins because I 0:33:35.960 --> 0:33:39.360 am three and I work too hard. That's not how 0:33:39.400 --> 0:33:43.160 he responds. Instead, when the spirit of God says I 0:33:43.200 --> 0:33:46.760 want you to go at a really uncomfortable time, down 0:33:46.800 --> 0:33:50.440 a really difficult road to a man nobody else will 0:33:50.440 --> 0:33:53.880 even acknowledge exists, you know how he responds. He runs 0:33:54.080 --> 0:33:58.520 and he ran and he ran. Just want you to 0:33:58.600 --> 0:34:02.160 think about your own life and just look over this summer. 0:34:02.360 --> 0:34:05.240 So let's just say from memorial day to now? When 0:34:05.400 --> 0:34:09.640 have you figuratively run towards somebody in your life to 0:34:09.680 --> 0:34:12.400 share the gospel? And I mean anybody could be somebody 0:34:12.440 --> 0:34:15.200 you like, could be somebody you really enjoy being around. 0:34:15.239 --> 0:34:18.680 When's the last time that your heart was so excited 0:34:18.719 --> 0:34:21.279 about sharing the hope that lies within you that you 0:34:21.680 --> 0:34:25.760 ran to someone to share Jesus, to talk about Jesus, 0:34:25.760 --> 0:34:28.880 to say I just can't not tell you about the 0:34:28.880 --> 0:34:31.480 way He saved me. Now, let's take it a step further. 0:34:31.520 --> 0:34:34.800 When's the last time you ran to someone nobody else 0:34:34.920 --> 0:34:38.319 was running to. When's the last time you ran to 0:34:38.400 --> 0:34:42.240 somebody whose marginalized, stigmatize, somebody who does not at all 0:34:42.280 --> 0:34:47.799 agree with you politically. I'm in seminary in Denver, and 0:34:47.880 --> 0:34:50.520 I'm the dumbest person in the doctoral program. But there's 0:34:50.560 --> 0:34:52.960 a few things I'm able to hang on to. And 0:34:53.000 --> 0:34:55.400 one of them is what one of my professors said recently. 0:34:55.440 --> 0:34:57.719 I told Holly last night. It has just flayed me 0:34:57.840 --> 0:35:02.920 this season. He says thing I can't understand. Brilliant man. 0:35:02.960 --> 0:35:06.120 He's on the translatory team for the NIV, fluent in 0:35:06.200 --> 0:35:09.320 Greek and Hebrew, but he dumbs things down enough to 0:35:09.320 --> 0:35:12.640 where I can get it. And he said this, if 0:35:12.640 --> 0:35:15.520 it doesn't preach in Sudan, it shouldn't preach in America. 0:35:16.719 --> 0:35:22.440 And I just went, it doesn't preach in Sudan, it 0:35:22.440 --> 0:35:27.200 shouldn't preach in Charlotte. If it doesn't preach in the 0:35:27.200 --> 0:35:30.280 neighborhood you're not comfortable to, it shouldn't preach in yours. 0:35:30.320 --> 0:35:33.319 When's the last time you ran to somebody who doesn't 0:35:33.360 --> 0:35:36.160 think like you, doesn't look like you, maybe doesn't even 0:35:36.520 --> 0:35:42.960 like you. Philip ran, Yeah, if we're growing in maturity, 0:35:43.880 --> 0:35:46.680 growing in our awareness of what a miracle is, that 0:35:46.840 --> 0:35:50.360 God who breathed the universe into existence actually delights in 0:35:50.440 --> 0:35:53.280 a song of Solomon four nine says with one glance, 0:35:53.760 --> 0:35:57.440 one glance of your eyes, you captured my heart. You 0:35:57.440 --> 0:36:00.200 know I didn't believe that for years. I grew up 0:36:00.280 --> 0:36:03.600 really really broken, broken family, a lot of abuse. When 0:36:03.640 --> 0:36:06.160 I was a baby, I used to rock myself so 0:36:06.280 --> 0:36:09.560 hard back and forth in the crib that my crib 0:36:09.560 --> 0:36:12.080 would jump out of the casters and they were dense 0:36:12.120 --> 0:36:15.000 in the drywall on either side of the little room 0:36:15.080 --> 0:36:17.760 I was kept in. A therapist told me years later, Lisa, 0:36:17.840 --> 0:36:20.680 you know that wasn't just because you were a wiggly kid. 0:36:21.040 --> 0:36:23.920 It's because you were self nurturing. With all the chaos. 0:36:24.480 --> 0:36:26.279 After my dad left us, there was a lot of 0:36:26.320 --> 0:36:31.799 sexual abuse. After that, there was more sexual abuse. I 0:36:31.960 --> 0:36:35.279 was so stinking broken in my twenties and thirties. I 0:36:35.320 --> 0:36:38.279 knew Jesus. I'd come to Jesus in a church much 0:36:38.400 --> 0:36:41.520 like Elevation. I knew Jesus. But here's what I thought. 0:36:42.440 --> 0:36:45.200 I thought Jesus delivered me because he felt sorry for me. 0:36:45.239 --> 0:36:48.080 I didn't think he delighted it. I thought there is 0:36:48.200 --> 0:36:52.560 no stinking way a god like that could actually delight 0:36:53.160 --> 0:36:57.040 and a damaged girl like me. As God has lifted 0:36:57.040 --> 0:37:01.000 the layers of shame off me and become more and 0:37:01.239 --> 0:37:07.360 more understanding of my own lostness before I encountered the Christ, 0:37:07.960 --> 0:37:11.480 I can't help fit sheer luck to other people. It 0:37:11.480 --> 0:37:14.560 doesn't matter if they like me or not. It doesn't 0:37:14.600 --> 0:37:18.680 matter if they're a Republican or a Democrat, or black 0:37:19.000 --> 0:37:23.160 or yellow or purple or spotted, or Southern or Northern, 0:37:23.480 --> 0:37:29.000 or African or Haitian. They're my family. They're my brothers 0:37:29.160 --> 0:37:34.880 and sisters in my goo yet in my gooday. Every 0:37:34.960 --> 0:37:38.440 single person we relate with there's the image of God. 0:37:38.600 --> 0:37:41.240 Missy and I had the privilege of going to South 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:45.799 Africa two months ago, and when we went, we were 0:37:45.800 --> 0:37:48.360 going with Hillsong Church I love very much. I know 0:37:48.440 --> 0:37:51.640 y'all love Hillsong And we were going to a conference 0:37:51.680 --> 0:37:53.840 in Cape Town and I asked the people I was 0:37:53.840 --> 0:37:56.520 with if I could go to Google left To and 0:37:56.640 --> 0:38:00.200 Google left To is a township that is on the 0:38:00.239 --> 0:38:05.359 outskirts of Cape Town. It actually was formed by South 0:38:05.400 --> 0:38:08.520 Africans who are from rural tribes who came to work 0:38:08.960 --> 0:38:11.799 in Cape Town and they wouldn't let them live in 0:38:11.880 --> 0:38:15.240 Cape Town because of their skin colors, so they ostracized 0:38:15.280 --> 0:38:18.600 them to this little two and a half square mile 0:38:18.800 --> 0:38:22.760 area that became a township of goog left To and 0:38:22.960 --> 0:38:25.680 a lot, a lot, a lot of violence happened there 0:38:25.920 --> 0:38:29.880 during the regime of apartheid when they segregated people based 0:38:30.000 --> 0:38:33.040 on how much melanin they have in their skin. And 0:38:33.120 --> 0:38:36.480 I love the ministry of Nelson Mandela, and I'd read 0:38:36.480 --> 0:38:39.480 a lot about the history of South Africa. I'd read 0:38:39.520 --> 0:38:43.759 about how in nineteen eighty six, seven young men from 0:38:43.760 --> 0:38:47.600 goog left To who are anti apartheid activists, were murdered 0:38:47.680 --> 0:38:51.960 by Cape Town police, ambushed and murdered. And then not 0:38:52.160 --> 0:38:57.160 long after that, right in all the turmoil after apartheid 0:38:57.280 --> 0:39:02.480 was defeated, a young white woman, Amy Beale, from Stanford, 0:39:02.640 --> 0:39:06.960 American woman, was in google at Too, and she was 0:39:07.040 --> 0:39:11.439 murdered and white slurs were uttered by the mob when 0:39:11.560 --> 0:39:18.319 four boys murdered her. They they pardoned the policemen who 0:39:18.440 --> 0:39:22.680 killed those seven precious boys in googlet to, which we 0:39:22.719 --> 0:39:25.600 still see things like that happening now, and so you 0:39:25.640 --> 0:39:28.520 don't want amy Beal's family chose to do to the 0:39:28.640 --> 0:39:32.319 Four Easts and Google Too, who had killed their daughter. 0:39:33.200 --> 0:39:37.279 They pardoned them, and now two of those they had 0:39:37.360 --> 0:39:40.680 been boys, now their men. They worked for the nonprofit 0:39:41.239 --> 0:39:45.320 that amy Beal's parents started in her memory. And so 0:39:45.440 --> 0:39:47.440 I said, I just want to go there. I want 0:39:47.480 --> 0:39:49.839 to go be in a place where there's been such 0:39:50.080 --> 0:39:54.799 violence but yet the whope of restoration. And they were like, please, sorry, 0:39:54.800 --> 0:39:56.520 are you sure? And I said no, no, no, I 0:39:56.560 --> 0:39:58.399 want I want to go to Googs. I really want 0:39:58.440 --> 0:40:00.880 to go to Googs. And so we got to worship 0:40:01.160 --> 0:40:05.120 at Hillsong Has, a church they planted in google Attoo. 0:40:05.160 --> 0:40:10.120 It's ninety eight point six percent Black African and considered 0:40:10.160 --> 0:40:14.680 the fifteenth most violent place in the world. Really wonderful, 0:40:14.960 --> 0:40:19.160 very exciting place. And I went with Missy and I 0:40:19.239 --> 0:40:21.480 had the privilege of sharing the gospel and church that 0:40:21.600 --> 0:40:23.480 morning a boy one hundred, one hundred and fifty people, 0:40:24.120 --> 0:40:26.160 and there was one woman I could tell the entire 0:40:26.280 --> 0:40:30.279 service who was not pleased with me, and I thought, 0:40:30.320 --> 0:40:32.040 I'm not sure what I've said. It may just be 0:40:32.160 --> 0:40:34.800 the virtue the fact that I don't have enough melan 0:40:35.040 --> 0:40:36.799 in my skin. But I thought, I'm going to talk 0:40:36.840 --> 0:40:40.040 to her after service, and I'm just going to try 0:40:40.120 --> 0:40:42.640 to get to know her. So after service, I went 0:40:42.760 --> 0:40:45.520 and sat next to this beautiful woman and I said, Hi, 0:40:45.560 --> 0:40:48.800 my name's Lisa, and she said, yes, I know. And 0:40:48.960 --> 0:40:54.000 I said, your countenance reflects that I've either done something 0:40:54.040 --> 0:40:57.600 that offended you or there is animosity between you and me. 0:40:58.400 --> 0:41:01.879 And she said, I just can't figure out why you're here, 0:41:03.280 --> 0:41:07.640 just can't figure out why you would come here. And 0:41:07.800 --> 0:41:12.160 I said, well, that's my daughter right there. I said. 0:41:12.200 --> 0:41:16.520 She's Haitian, which means her DNA is from West Africa. 0:41:17.719 --> 0:41:21.040 So the way I figure it is your family to me. 0:41:21.920 --> 0:41:24.560 And then I said Hey, Missy, come here baby. Now, 0:41:24.600 --> 0:41:28.600 if y'all exploit my kid, I'll cut you. But I 0:41:28.800 --> 0:41:31.759 can exploit her on behalf of the gospel. And so 0:41:31.960 --> 0:41:35.440 I said, come here, baby, and I said, Missy, this 0:41:35.640 --> 0:41:40.480 is your auntie. And Missy goes okay, and she hugs 0:41:40.560 --> 0:41:42.759 this woman and then immediately said do you have gum 0:41:42.800 --> 0:41:47.759 in your purse? Auntie? And as my child ran away, 0:41:47.880 --> 0:41:50.600 this woman just began to weep, and she said, I've 0:41:50.680 --> 0:41:55.120 never had somebody like you embrace somebody like me. How 0:41:55.280 --> 0:41:58.680 isn't it time we change the way Christians are perceived? 0:42:00.160 --> 0:42:06.919 Isn't it time you love hard even meets hard. Isn't 0:42:06.920 --> 0:42:12.240 it time we run to the unlikely and the margin lines. 0:42:13.600 --> 0:42:17.480 Aren't you ready to rest a little more? Because we 0:42:17.800 --> 0:42:22.640 just can't not share the hope that lies within us? 0:42:22.760 --> 0:42:26.719 Would you put your hand as JJ comes up? Would 0:42:26.760 --> 0:42:29.719 you just put your hand on that beautiful image bar 0:42:29.880 --> 0:42:33.000 next to you, that man, that woman, that kid, And 0:42:33.120 --> 0:42:36.319 as JJ comes up to close us, would you pray 0:42:36.520 --> 0:42:39.120 for them? If you aren't comfortable praying out loud, that's 0:42:39.200 --> 0:42:42.520 totally cool, But would you just briefly pray Lord quicken 0:42:42.800 --> 0:42:46.880 their heart, give them the grace it takes to love hard, 0:42:47.440 --> 0:42:50.560 even when it is hard to remember their own lostness, 0:42:51.000 --> 0:42:54.120 to remember the love you lavished on them while they 0:42:54.160 --> 0:42:57.440 were still sinners. Oh Lord, let there be an awakening 0:42:57.560 --> 0:43:00.960 in this place, a quickening in this place, a revival 0:43:01.080 --> 0:43:04.560 that starts with all of us, because we run to 0:43:04.680 --> 0:43:07.399 the people that God has placed around us to share 0:43:07.400 --> 0:43:11.719 the hope that lies within us. Thank you for joining us. 0:43:12.080 --> 0:43:14.520 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:43:14.640 --> 0:43:18.080 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:43:18.560 --> 0:43:21.000 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:43:21.640 --> 0:43:25.480 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 0:43:26.040 --> 0:43:29.160 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You 0:43:29.239 --> 0:43:31.239 can share it with your friends. You can click the 0:43:31.280 --> 0:43:33.560 share button, take a screenshot and share it on your 0:43:33.600 --> 0:43:36.560 social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again 0:43:36.600 --> 0:43:37.719 for listening. God bless you.