Make Room For The New

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.480 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:06.960 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.320 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:12.360 it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:20.320 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Wow, 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.319 don't stop at the comma. And boy was preaching on 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.760 a punctuation mark? How about it? I was. I had 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.840 a first time thing. I was stomping the devil's head 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.160 on the stage last week. It was at the nine thirty. 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.519 I was icing my heel between the nine thirty and 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.040 the eleven thirty. I stomped him too hard and he 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:46.080 bit me or something. My heel is bruised all week. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.720 Somebody said, welcome to your forties. You're gonna start getting 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:52.600 all kinds of stupid injuries. What a way to get injured, huh, 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:56.760 stomping the devil's head for the glory of God. Come on, 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:01.800 I've got hurt a lot stupider ways than that. It's hilarious. 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.280 It's hilarious to me. It was funny to me. I 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.200 used to get hurt punching walls and stuff out of anger. 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:15.640 I'd rather get hurt annoyed anyway. The Bible said that 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.240 he will bruise your heel, but you will crush his head. 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:26.080 That's a scripture verse. Y'all aren't ready for this. I 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.120 want to tell you something that happened to me last summer. 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.360 I have a friend who lives in another country, kin Costa. 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.479 He's originally from South Africa. He resides now in London, England. 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.320 He travels the world. He comes to see me once 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.120 a year. Just turned seventy. It's a good man. He 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.800 has a book out called Joseph of Arimathea. Free Plug 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:49.960 for my friend, because he gave me the scripture that 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.280 I want to use to frame our message. Not necessarily 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.120 to preach the scripture, but to frame the message. And 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.360 I figured I owed him a book plug, So check 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.320 it out on Amazon, Kin Costa, Joseph of Arimathea. Now 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.880 that that's out the way, when he comes to see me, 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:10.440 he will usually bring three or four scriptures and we'll 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.600 read the scriptures together. He jot them down. This is 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.880 the paper that he brought me in July when he 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.520 came to see me after my break family break this summer, 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.480 and he brought me these scriptures. We sat on the 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:26.440 porch and we looked at the scriptures and the first 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.639 one was Exitus fourteen fourteen, and we read it together 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:33.200 and he said, that's the wrong one, and so we 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.440 moved on. He gave me Joshua three four, Isaiah forty 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:42.360 two sixteen, and then Leviticus twenty six ten. I probably 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:46.440 should admit this, but I normally skip Leviticus on the 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.760 Bible reading plans. It's not my go to book to 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:57.360 fight discouragement. But we looked at it and we read 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:01.079 it together. Put that one on the screen. Leviticus twenty 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.040 The Lord says you will still be eating last year's 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.320 harvest when you will have to move it out to 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:14.720 make room for the new. And we read that together 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.800 and I said, well, what does it mean? He said, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.160 I don't know. I put it in my Bible, and 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:26.880 a few weeks ago it fell out of my Bible. 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.600 On a Friday night, I started looking at it again 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:32.920 and I texted it over to Bishop td Jakes. I said, 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.160 what does it mean? He said, oh, that's a good one, 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:44.000 and he preached about it and that was good. Well, 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.200 the phrase that I want to use and put it 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.600 up there again is where it says, make room for 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.760 the new. And the Lord told me to tell you today, 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.720 make room for the new. This is a word from 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:04.080 the Lord for somebody who is in this room or 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.080 at one of our campuses. Come on, let's thank God 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:10.040 for all of our locations. From Lake Norman all the 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:17.520 all the way to Matthews. We are spanning South Charlotte 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.800 with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and beyond Melbourne, Florida 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:26.240 University City. You wouldn't believe it. Raleigh, North Carolina is 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:33.080 even joining us. I gotta admit I didn't see that coming. 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:39.560 So y'all drove in for make room for the new. 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.080 This is a word for you, make room for the new. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.000 You know I'm getting into old stuff now. I've got 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:52.000 about eighty records upstairs in my office at my house 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:56.000 in a turntable vinyl. Something about getting up and having 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.120 to only listen to three songs at a time is 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.159 preferable to having ever song in the history of the 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.480 universe on my phone at my fingertips. For some reason, 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.400 I would rather listen through a scratchy analog representation of 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.000 the music than a digital recreation of the music that 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:14.279 fits in my pocket. I think there's something comforting about 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:20.800 something that you used to touch and hold old. You know, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.599 I used to like something and be attracted to it 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.360 if it was new, But now I like old stuff. 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.520 It's just I like I like old. I like old, 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:38.719 I like old songs, I like smashing pumpkins. I don't 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:42.200 need any of this new stuff. I don't need any 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.320 of the I like the old stuff. The hymns that 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.240 I used to yawn through in church are the ones 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.839 that I now write songs around as as a grown man. 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.279 And so a lot of things come full circle in 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.440 your life that you don't appreciate at the time. But 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:02.320 the the the challenge now to hold on to the 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:08.080 old to the exclusion of receiving the new. When I 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.200 shared with you last week, we were given a picture 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.960 of Peter who was having to fight against the traditions 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:19.279 and the customs of the well meaning circumcised believers. And 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.599 one thing that it is difficult for us to appreciate 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:26.679 about this community is that they were receiving from God 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.719 an entirely new system by which to relate to him. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.039 Imagine that at one point you had to atone for 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.960 your sins with the blood of bulls and goats, and 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.279 now instead of shedding the blood of an animal, you 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.360 were trusting in the blood of Christ. That's a very 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:47.080 difficult thing to apprehend when you had something tactile, something 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.320 you could touch, and now you have to believe something 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:55.680 by faith. The paradigm of justification. We call it justification 0:06:55.920 --> 0:07:00.920 by faith, but it's actually justification by grace through faith. See, 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.320 it's not how much faith you have that saves you, 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.800 it's how much grace God has that saves you. Because 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.600 if it was about how much faith I had, I 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.600 would be going to heaven one five minute period, and 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.080 I would be bound for the same hell as a 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:18.080 serial killer in the next five I don't always have 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.720 that much faith, sometimes high, sometimes low. And depending on 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.200 whether you catch me at nine am and I've had 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.640 my coffee, or whether you catch me after one of 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.680 my kids said something disrespectful, I might have a lot 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:32.760 of faith or a little bit of faith. The point 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:34.680 is not how much faith that I have, it's who 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.480 I have my faith in. Y'all ain't gonna help me 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:41.440 preach a bit today. This Bible says that it is 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.760 by grace you have been saved through faith and this 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.560 not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:50.360 of works. So that no one can boast and think 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.520 about this. God's people had always related to God through 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:59.320 a covenant that was based on works, that was based 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.680 on keeping the law. And now all of a sudden, 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.800 in the passage I shared last week, not only are 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.680 they learning to relate to God by faith, which is 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.120 the hardest thing in the world, to just take it 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.480 by faith. We talk a good game when it comes 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:20.120 to faith. We say we're trusting in the Lord with 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:24.080 all of our heart and leaning not to our own understanding. 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.560 But it still creates a tension, which is how much 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:31.840 should I trust God? And how much should I try myself? 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:37.120 This tension is written into the very script. The nascent 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.319 days of the church were filled with this kind of tension. 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:45.400 So the community God's people, they are now learning to 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.480 relate to God in a brand new way. Touch somebody say, 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.520 make room for the new. And just about the time 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:57.160 they're getting used to this paradigm of grace, here come 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.600 the gentiles, who are the ones they were supposed to 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:05.280 stay away from. And the point guard of the New 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:10.480 Testament all star team, Peter is going in eating with 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:15.880 these people who are contagious. I use that word for reason, 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.000 because when I told you that they wouldn't associate with gentiles, 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.640 you're like, well, that's wrong. You know, it's easy to 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.160 recognize a truth when you're not living in the tension 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:36.240 of it. It's easy for us to look back on 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:41.280 certain issues of racial segregation now and say why in 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:44.000 the world. But when you're living in the tension of it. 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.959 When you're living in the tension, you can lose sight 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:53.040 of the truth. And in the tension of the New 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:57.760 Testament Church, there's not only grace versus works, but there's 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.080 this exclusive idea that God is blessing a select group 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.600 of people. And then now get this tension with me. 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.560 They have to try to figure out how to protect 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.719 what they've been entrusted with at the same time that 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:14.480 they don't hold it too tightly. Every parent can relate 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:18.920 to this. How do I protect my kids while not 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:23.240 putting my kids in some sort of bubble where they 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.720 won't be prepared for the real world. How do I 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.440 I'm thinking this about Abby right now. She's probably going 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:33.240 to be pretty. She's already pretty nine year old, probably 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.480 going to be a pretty thirteen year old. Then there's 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:37.360 probably going to be some thirteen year old boy that 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.320 wants to come up and talk to her about something. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.520 And how am I supposed to let her out of 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.360 her room and trust a thirteen year old boy when 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:49.520 I've been one? How will I do that? I don't know. 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.800 But what I do know is this. You ready. This 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.040 is the first thing I've said that you probably will 0:10:56.040 --> 0:11:00.120 want to write down today, but hopefully not the last. Okay. 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:11.440 Your tolerance for tension determines your potential for growth. Your 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:21.960 tolerance for tension determines what I say, your potential for growth. 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.480 And we don't like tension when it comes to Christianity. 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:35.640 God said it. I believe it. That settles it. Let 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:37.760 me tell you right now, brother, it doesn't matter if 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:39.760 you believe it or not. God said it. That settles it. 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:41.480 You can just take the middle of it right there out. 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:43.640 God said it. That settles it. But wait a minute, 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.280 Wait a minute, wait minute, wait a minute, to sit 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:53.160 with the tension of what God actually said as opposed 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:57.960 to the tradition of what we heard God said through 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:04.160 the filter of personal preference and prejudice. It's the gift 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:08.400 of tension. If you hire a trainer at what's the 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.480 name of a gym, Planet fitness. If you hire a trainer, 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:12.679 I don't even know if you can do that at 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.640 Planet Fitness. But if you hire a trainer at the gym, 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.040 they are going to at some point teach you about 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:23.559 the gift of tension for the building of muscle. If 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:27.000 you hire a trainer and they do not employ tension 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:31.680 in the training regimen, you should fire the trainer because 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:36.640 time under tension is the formula for growth. And yet 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.800 when it comes to our movies, we love tension. When 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:47.240 it comes to our television entertainment Netflix binging content, we 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:49.880 love tension. I don't want to watch a show about 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.320 somebody who had a good day. I want to watch 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.480 a show about somebody who ended up on drugs and 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.640 had to fight a whole gang single handedly and almost 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.720 died in the process, and got a divorce and went bankrupt. 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.520 But what makes for a good TV show is the 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.440 kind of stuff we try to pray away from our lives. 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:14.319 So I started the year praying something really weird. I said, God, 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:24.520 increased the quality of my problems. Lord, I want higher 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:29.800 quality problems in twenty twenty. The reason I prayed that 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:34.120 is because I tried asking him in previous years take 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:39.480 my problems away. That was an ineffective prayer. He did 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.240 not seem too interested in answering that prayer to take 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:46.959 my problems away. In fact, it seems as if some 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.480 of the things that came into my life in one 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:53.440 season as a problem, some of the things that came 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:57.600 into my life as opposition, were the things that God 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.800 used to create opportunities for me to know him and 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:11.600 make him known. So what's crazy? What's crazy? Everybody say 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:17.480 it's crazy. What's crazy about Leviticus twenty six ten is 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:26.880 it can be interpreted as either a blessing or an inconvenience, 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.920 because the scripture said that if you live in alignment 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.920 with God in an agreement with his covenant. This is 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.640 the old covenant, which was by works. Remember they had 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:45.400 to conditionally receive the favor of God through certain behaviors 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:49.320 in community. And so as Moses is giving them all 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.240 of this law, they've been out of Egypt only for 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.960 a very short time. They've constructed a tabernacle, which is 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.360 a space where they can meet with God. And he 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.280 says in verse nine, just get a running start at it. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.080 I will look on favor with you and make you 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.800 fruitful and increase your numbers. And I will keep my 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:14.440 covenant with you old covenant, the covenant that was established 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.880 through obedience and works. It was still grace, but it 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.280 was grace measured out through behavior. Can I teach the 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:27.200 Bible on this particular worship service? So then when he 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.640 gets to verse ten, he says, if you will keep 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:34.120 your end of the covenant, then you will still be 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:35.960 eating last year's harvest when we have to move it 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:40.520 out to make room for the new. I'm so glad 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:47.200 that I am not under that contract anymore. I really am. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.480 I don't want God to give me what I deserve. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.080 I don't want God to be fair to me. I 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.760 don't want God to relate to me on the basis 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.520 of how much I prayed last week. I really don't. 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:03.720 I don't want him to I don't want him to 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.280 treat me according to what my lifestyle would merit. And 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.440 so we understand now. I think most of us in 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.480 this church understand that this is the old Covenant, but 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.400 it's the same community. They have progressed from a point 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.280 where they were wandering in the wilderness until we get 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:21.800 to acts chapter eleven, and now they are becoming a church. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:25.280 Now in that setup, I want to go back into 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.000 Acts chapter ten, and I want to read the story 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.880 to you again, or as we said last week, the 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:35.200 whole story. You never really know the whole story. That's 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.840 why you got to keep living. That's why you got 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:40.760 to keep praying. That's why you got to keep believing. 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.360 That's why you got to keep trusting. That's why you 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.280 got to keep swinging. Because you don't know the whole story. 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:52.200 That's why you can't kill your kids. It might grow 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.480 up and pay for your retirement or something like that. 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.080 Because you don't know the whole story. That's why you 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.720 can't judge anything too soon. And you're going to see 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.960 this in the scripture right here, is that in the 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:09.080 midst of great tension, a great truth was shown make 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:14.639 room for the new Verse one says the apostles and 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:19.359 the believers throughout Judea heard that the gentiles had also 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:24.640 received the Word of God. The gospel is spreading, it's spreading. 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:30.080 I guess you could say, grace is going viral. It's 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.240 just out of control, can't stop it. It's just all 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.359 over the place. And they didn't like that because they 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.560 are in the tension of trying to protect the old, 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:45.920 and when you are protecting the old, what's new looks 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:52.520 like a threat. When I asked my dad one time, 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.880 are you threatening me? He said something, I'm sure you've 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.640 heard this before. He said, it's not a threat, it's 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:03.920 a prom. I was like, oh, he was six two. 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.800 I was like, got it, I'm good, No further questions. 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.080 It's not it's not a threat, it's a promise. He 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:18.200 said that it's not a threat, it's a blessing. They 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:23.160 were threatened by the blessing because they did not recognize 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.480 it and it did not remind them of what they 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:32.200 were used to in their religious routine. Are you threatened 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:38.560 by your very own blessings? Come on, Raleigh. They get 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:40.680 used to it. I know y'all love the Word of 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:47.280 God and Raleigh, and so they are. They are being blessed. 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.800 The church is growing. That's exactly what they want. And 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.840 sometimes God can be giving you exactly what you want, 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.120 but the tension that it takes to produce the growth 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:03.400 is super uncomfortable. We don't like tension in our Christianity. 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:09.959 Rapture me Jesus and get me out of here. In 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.879 the meantime, you need to pay your taxes and change 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:14.880 your oil and do all this stuff just in case 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.879 he doesn't get you out of it. You need to 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:27.320 learn how to bring God into it. And so as 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:29.800 the message is going to the gentiles, they're not the 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.520 Jewish people. They're the gentiles, all of us who do 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:38.520 not have a Jewish ancestry like these people. And they 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.680 didn't want to let him in the church. So next 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.000 time you don't want to let somebody in church because 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.280 something about them offends you, just to remember that by 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:57.639 that standard, you wouldn't be here either. So the circumcised 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:03.200 believers criticized him. Is a criticism that is birth out 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.240 of ignorance. And they said, you went into the house 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.880 of uncircumcisedment and ate with them, And starting from the beginning, 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.320 Peter told them the whole story. He said, I was 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:17.080 in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:21.159 I saw a vision. I saw something like a large 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:25.720 sheep being let down from heaven by its four corners, 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:30.400 and it came down to where I was. I saw 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.600 something being let down from heaven and it came down 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.840 to where I was. When I read that the Lord 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.600 said to me, I'm going to bring it to you 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:50.240 when you are positioning yourself according to the peace and 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.760 the purpose of God, and when you are present in 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.680 the situation where He has placed you. God said all 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.760 the other things that people run after, I'm gonna bring 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:05.520 it to you. If you want in on this word, shout, 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:09.480 God's gonna bring it to me. Come on, Tell the 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:11.359 person next to you. I don't have to chase it, 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.199 stress about it, cheat to get it, violate my morality 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:20.199 or my ethics. God's gonna bring it to me. This 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:24.240 is the Covenant of grace. Watch this. I tried to 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:28.080 get to God, I couldn't. So he ripped open Heaven 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.760 step down to come inside of me so that the 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:36.560 righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us. No, 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:40.439 I cannot achieve his holiness. But God's gonna bring it 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:44.359 to me. Heaven's gonna come to my house, Heaven's gonna 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:47.720 come to my mind, Peace is gonna come to my marriage. 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:53.800 God's gonna bring it to me. I wanna shut the 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.520 whole sermon down for a minute and give God praise 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:02.440 by faith that He's gonna bring it to me. What's 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.840 your need? He's got it. God's gonna bring it to me. 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.800 God's gonna bring it to me. When I praise him, 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.679 blessings come down. God's gonna bring it to me. I 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:28.320 don't have to begging. God's gonna bring it. Peter wasn't 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.000 looking for a vision for his life. God brought it 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:37.640 to him. All he did was go to Joppa. Can 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:43.000 we talk about Joppa for a minute. Joppa, everybody say Joppa. 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:48.240 I thought about calling this message the Opportunity of a Lifetime, 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:53.680 but that was corny. Yeah, I'll scratched that one out 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:57.680 real quick. You can have it. That's not a good 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:01.320 title for a message. But it got me that he 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:11.520 was in Joppa because I was like, Joppa, Joppa, Jappa, Jappa, Jappa, Choppa, Joppa, 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:14.000 support city. I know that they put the timber there. 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:17.199 They take the timber, and the timber came there when 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:19.240 they built Solomon's temple. I think I think they brought 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:22.119 the timber from Lebanon to Jappa because it's on the 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:24.600 Mediterranean coast. They brought a timber there and then they 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:26.800 sent it to build the temple. Oh, maybe Japa is 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:34.280 something where God takes the raw materials. Joppa. No that's 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:39.000 not it. Chop A Jappa, Joppa, Joppa. Why does it 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:40.760 say over and over again he was in Joppa. Go 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:43.080 to acts ten, verse one. It says it a couple 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:47.640 of times, because remember Peter got in trouble. He didn't 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:53.919 have to go looking for trouble. Trouble came looking for him. Well, 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:59.320 y'all were shouting a minute ago, we just we just 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:02.840 killed the vibe. I think we killed the vibe. Peter 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.040 wasn't looking for controversy, wasn't looking for conflict, wasn't looking 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:12.879 for problems. He was in Joppa because there was a 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:16.720 woman in the church at Joppa who was very important 0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:19.959 to the believers there. And he was in Lida raising 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:23.040 people from the dead, you know, just the stuff you do. 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:30.360 And when he was in the middle of this crazy 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:34.840 revival in Lida, which wasn't too far from Joppa, this 0:24:34.960 --> 0:24:43.119 amazing e kids volunteer died. Her name was Dorcas, her 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:47.760 Greek name was Dorcas. Her name was also Tabitha. And 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:51.959 they asked Peter if he would come to comfort them. 0:24:52.240 --> 0:24:54.439 And he got there and he saw how important she 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:59.720 was to all of them in Joppa, and he started 0:24:59.760 --> 0:25:02.840 looking at all the clothes that she sewed for widows, 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:05.280 and she had a ministry to the poor. She cared 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:08.920 about people she served on the parking team, she cared 0:25:08.920 --> 0:25:14.240 about people she worked on production at Raleigh Durham. She 0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:25.720 was They hated to lose Dorcas. And Peter got kind 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:27.200 of bored. You know, he was a man of action. 0:25:27.359 --> 0:25:29.600 So he's like, this is cool, like taking a tour 0:25:29.640 --> 0:25:33.120 of everything she did. But y'all leave the room. Check 0:25:33.119 --> 0:25:35.080 out this scripture real quick. I know I said Axe ten, 0:25:35.160 --> 0:25:36.800 but I want to go back to Ax nine real quick. 0:25:36.800 --> 0:25:39.960 I want to give you the whole story because we 0:25:39.960 --> 0:25:41.439 know what happened when he got to Joppa. How did 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:45.040 he get there? It's important. He went to jop A 0:25:45.080 --> 0:25:49.600 to visit Dorcas. Give me nine forty. Peter sent them 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:52.879 all out of the room. She's been washed and placed 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:55.600 for burial in the upper room, and as they're memorializing her, 0:25:55.760 --> 0:25:58.840 he got down on his knees and prayed, and turning 0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:05.040 toward the dead woman, he said, Tabitha, get up. Peter's like, 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:07.160 we can have a funeral or we could have a resurrection. 0:26:11.280 --> 0:26:17.040 Peter was Peter was bold. He tried it like Jesus 0:26:17.040 --> 0:26:19.879 one time Jesus did the same exact thing, but it 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:24.000 was with the little girl. This little girl was dead. 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:28.320 And Jesus sent everybody out of the room because he 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:32.600 knew that if they stayed in the room that their 0:26:32.760 --> 0:26:37.720 doubt might make it impossible for faith to really do 0:26:37.800 --> 0:26:40.399 what faith can do when it is unencumbered by doubt. 0:26:42.840 --> 0:26:46.480 What's the title of this message, make room for the 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:50.080 new And when Jesus sent them all out, he said 0:26:50.119 --> 0:26:54.040 something in Aramaic, Talitha kom It means little girl, get up, 0:26:54.960 --> 0:26:57.399 Little girl, get up? Now watch Peter, imitating his master. 0:26:57.720 --> 0:27:00.000 He sent them all out of the room and turned 0:27:00.000 --> 0:27:03.800 towards the woman and said, Tabitha, get up. It's almost 0:27:03.840 --> 0:27:09.080 like Talita is just one letter different. And he thought something, 0:27:09.320 --> 0:27:13.400 if he did it, if Jesus did it, and if 0:27:13.400 --> 0:27:18.640 his spirit lives in me, I came with a message 0:27:18.640 --> 0:27:22.480 for somebody, Make room for resurrection, make room for things 0:27:22.520 --> 0:27:26.119 in your life that you were just about ready to 0:27:26.359 --> 0:27:34.680 bury to Breathe again, Tabitha, get up, and she did. 0:27:35.000 --> 0:27:37.200 She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. Well, 0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:41.320 I guess, so she sat up. And he stayed in 0:27:41.400 --> 0:27:45.600 Japa a little while, and they liked him. He was 0:27:45.680 --> 0:27:49.639 very popular in Joppa. Peter could have run for mayor 0:27:49.760 --> 0:27:59.320 of Joppa because he demonstrated great power in Joppa. Joppa Jappa. 0:27:59.359 --> 0:28:01.960 It's a place where where it's a place where you 0:28:02.040 --> 0:28:05.119 don't expect anything great to happen, but something does. Jopa 0:28:06.680 --> 0:28:14.960 Joppa is like your job Jaba Joppa. He was just 0:28:15.040 --> 0:28:16.760 doing his job, just going to see it in a 0:28:16.800 --> 0:28:18.960 miracle happened. He was just going to see it in 0:28:19.000 --> 0:28:20.639 a miracle happened. He was just going to see it 0:28:20.800 --> 0:28:22.840 and going to comfort them and going to do what 0:28:22.920 --> 0:28:26.880 he did in a miracle happened. Joppa, Joppa place where 0:28:26.960 --> 0:28:33.439 God puts stuff together Joppa. While he was in Joppa Joppa, 0:28:34.440 --> 0:28:38.680 it's kind of familiar. Who else went to Joppa in 0:28:38.760 --> 0:28:44.360 the Bible? I was trying to remember. I was talking 0:28:44.400 --> 0:28:46.560 to the interns this week, and I put him on 0:28:46.640 --> 0:28:48.360 the spot. We had such a good time then with 0:28:49.120 --> 0:28:51.360 I said, who else went to Japa? They went through 0:28:51.440 --> 0:28:59.360 every character in the Bible, guessing zach Kiyas, Bartimaeus, Luke, Matthew, 0:29:00.000 --> 0:29:01.400 And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no no, 0:29:02.520 --> 0:29:04.720 it's somebody in the Bible. I'm gonna give you a hand. 0:29:07.080 --> 0:29:23.040 It involves a fish rhymes with corona. Jonah went to Joppa. 0:29:24.760 --> 0:29:28.600 But watch what he did in Japa. You ready? Jonah won? 0:29:28.800 --> 0:29:33.080 Three says Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed 0:29:33.120 --> 0:29:37.680 to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found 0:29:37.760 --> 0:29:42.160 a ship bound for that port. God called him to Ninevah, 0:29:42.760 --> 0:29:47.560 but he resisted it. He resisted going to Ninevah because 0:29:47.640 --> 0:29:50.360 those were not the people he expected God to bless. 0:29:51.400 --> 0:29:55.480 He resisted what he did not understand. He resisted what 0:29:55.640 --> 0:29:59.120 he could not conceptualize. He resisted what he had no 0:29:59.280 --> 0:30:03.200 frame of reference. Four, He went down to Joppa and 0:30:03.400 --> 0:30:06.959 boarded a ship heading away from the Lord. So now 0:30:07.040 --> 0:30:09.720 I've got a contrast, and I want to ask, what 0:30:09.960 --> 0:30:13.040 will you do in Joppa? Will you be like Peter 0:30:14.040 --> 0:30:17.400 who when he got to Joppa and God send him 0:30:17.440 --> 0:30:20.600 an opportunity to say, Peter, I want you to make 0:30:20.800 --> 0:30:23.960 room for something new. I want you to believe that 0:30:24.080 --> 0:30:27.120 I can break a barrier in your life. I want 0:30:27.160 --> 0:30:29.680 you to believe that I'm about to do something that 0:30:29.840 --> 0:30:33.520 your mind has not conceived. Will you be like Peter 0:30:34.560 --> 0:30:37.360 who went with it? Or are you going to be 0:30:37.520 --> 0:30:45.160 like Jonah who ran from it? Peter went to Joppa. 0:30:46.280 --> 0:30:49.960 While he was in Japa praying, he saw something amazing 0:30:50.040 --> 0:30:53.160 that he didn't expect. And he looked and he saw 0:30:53.160 --> 0:30:57.520 a sheep from the four corners four corners representing the 0:30:57.560 --> 0:30:59.560 four corners of the earth. God's like, I'm about to 0:30:59.600 --> 0:31:02.480 break off all of your barriers. I'm about to break 0:31:02.520 --> 0:31:05.280 through your unbelief. See, we talk about making room for 0:31:05.320 --> 0:31:06.800 the new. You want to go have a yard sale 0:31:06.840 --> 0:31:10.480 or something like that, or put everything on It's not 0:31:10.600 --> 0:31:17.040 about closet space. It's not about it's not about clearing 0:31:17.080 --> 0:31:22.520 out your closet. It's about the transformation of your mind. 0:31:26.720 --> 0:31:30.880 Do you have room for the new in your mind? 0:31:31.040 --> 0:31:35.640 Because they didn't. Peter didn't when God showed Peter what 0:31:35.760 --> 0:31:37.520 he was about to do, Like, this is the way 0:31:37.560 --> 0:31:40.479 it always is. When God shows us something, we compare 0:31:40.520 --> 0:31:44.560 it to our previous point of reference and then we 0:31:44.640 --> 0:31:47.960 start consulting our resources. And God wants to bring us 0:31:48.240 --> 0:31:51.920 new relationships. But watch this, if you're not ready for 0:31:52.120 --> 0:31:55.040 new people in your life, you will bring the same 0:31:55.160 --> 0:31:58.760 patterns to the new relationships that you brought to the 0:31:58.840 --> 0:32:03.840 old relationships. And we literally keep people out of our 0:32:03.880 --> 0:32:06.680 lives that God wants to send because we are holding 0:32:06.760 --> 0:32:08.960 on to the hurts from the one who have already left. 0:32:15.720 --> 0:32:18.200 I feel the spirit of God breaking barriers as I 0:32:18.280 --> 0:32:22.320 preach right now, because you're like, what is this message 0:32:22.360 --> 0:32:23.560 you have to do to me? I'm not getting on 0:32:23.600 --> 0:32:26.240 an airplane and going to preach to somebody in cessareea 0:32:26.360 --> 0:32:29.160 like Peter did. You don't have to. All you have 0:32:29.280 --> 0:32:33.360 to do is dare to believe that God is making 0:32:33.520 --> 0:32:38.160 room for the new in your life right now. And 0:32:38.360 --> 0:32:42.560 even sometimes when it was painful for me and I 0:32:42.640 --> 0:32:46.320 thought I was losing things in my life, I wasn't 0:32:46.480 --> 0:32:52.840 losing it. God was moving it. Who is this for? 0:32:54.520 --> 0:32:57.640 I just need to know, probably about twenty people, you 0:32:57.800 --> 0:33:03.720 didn't lose it God, he said, you will still be 0:33:04.040 --> 0:33:08.480 eating last year's harvest. When you have to move it out, 0:33:09.400 --> 0:33:13.560 somebody shall move it out. God. Anything that is in 0:33:13.720 --> 0:33:16.040 the way of me being who I need to be 0:33:16.560 --> 0:33:19.360 in this season, get it out of my heart, get 0:33:19.400 --> 0:33:21.960 it out of my mind, get it out of my habits. 0:33:22.280 --> 0:33:24.800 You can have it, God, I don't want it. I 0:33:25.040 --> 0:33:32.680 want what you've got. So you can't receive new miracles 0:33:32.840 --> 0:33:42.200 with old mindsets. Make room for the new. It looks 0:33:42.280 --> 0:33:48.200 like this, emptying yourself, humbling yourself and asking God, what 0:33:48.440 --> 0:33:53.720 do you want to do in my job? Or you 0:33:53.800 --> 0:33:58.400 can run from it and resist it, and you can 0:33:58.520 --> 0:34:03.200 keep remembering when the kids were so cute. They are 0:34:03.360 --> 0:34:06.720 forty three now they stop being cute. Quite a while 0:34:06.800 --> 0:34:13.000 ago and the church was trying to figure out how 0:34:13.040 --> 0:34:18.840 do we protect what we loved while we embrace what 0:34:19.040 --> 0:34:21.600 is new. And I don't know, I think there are 0:34:21.719 --> 0:34:24.760 at least three lessons in this text. Y'all got a minute, 0:34:26.200 --> 0:34:28.440 make room for the new number one. God says this, 0:34:29.719 --> 0:34:40.080 don't limit yourself by labels. The first thing God told Peter, 0:34:41.400 --> 0:34:44.120 he said, you've got your nice little neat categories. Because 0:34:44.160 --> 0:34:47.080 when the sheet came down, Peter saw all kinds of animals, 0:34:47.360 --> 0:34:50.800 and y'all need to know. In this culture, they respected visions. 0:34:51.800 --> 0:34:54.279 This was not like Peter's hallucination or you know how 0:34:54.320 --> 0:34:56.160 some people now are so weird and they're like, well, 0:34:56.200 --> 0:34:58.239 the Lord showed me a vision of us walking on 0:34:58.320 --> 0:35:00.400 the beach. It's like, bro, you need to ask her 0:35:00.440 --> 0:35:03.280 out and stop trying to embed it in this weird spirituality. 0:35:07.000 --> 0:35:10.880 So Peter actually saw something. But remember there's sometimes a 0:35:11.000 --> 0:35:15.200 tension between what you thought. God showed you it's at tension, 0:35:15.719 --> 0:35:17.560 and that tension is a real gift because that's where 0:35:17.600 --> 0:35:21.839 growth happens, where it's like God, I thought. I thought 0:35:21.880 --> 0:35:23.680 I was going to be married to her the rest 0:35:23.719 --> 0:35:26.600 of my life, but I'm not. I'm not married now, 0:35:27.640 --> 0:35:30.920 and that's painful. But what you do with it becomes 0:35:30.920 --> 0:35:35.600 your japa, which determines do you run from God's purpose 0:35:35.800 --> 0:35:38.440 for your future or do you run toward it. That's jappa. 0:35:39.960 --> 0:35:42.680 And the word God gave me was don't limit it 0:35:42.760 --> 0:35:45.759 with the label. Because the first thing he told Peter, 0:35:46.440 --> 0:35:48.600 he said. Peter said, in verse six, acts eleven, I 0:35:48.719 --> 0:35:51.560 looked into it and saw four footed animals of the earth, 0:35:51.640 --> 0:35:54.839 wild beasts, reptiles, and birds. And then after he saw 0:35:54.880 --> 0:35:58.480 the pigs in a blanket, he said, I try to 0:35:58.520 --> 0:36:00.800 keep y'all awake. Then I heard of voice telling me 0:36:01.120 --> 0:36:03.279 get up, Peter, kill and eat. Now when I read that, 0:36:03.400 --> 0:36:06.400 I said, God was trying to get Peter to go hunting. No, 0:36:07.160 --> 0:36:11.200 it wasn't about the animals. He was about to sind Cornelius, 0:36:11.239 --> 0:36:14.600 whom Peter saw as an unclean gentile, so he was 0:36:14.840 --> 0:36:19.080 using this. It wasn't about bacon. It was about barriers, 0:36:19.880 --> 0:36:23.600 mental barriers. So when he said get up, Peter, kill 0:36:23.680 --> 0:36:26.160 and eat, it wasn't that God wanted Peter to kill 0:36:26.160 --> 0:36:30.120 a pig. It was that he was trying to kill 0:36:30.200 --> 0:36:36.160 Peter's categories. In this season of your life, God is 0:36:36.200 --> 0:36:40.680 trying to kill your categories. He's going to use people 0:36:40.840 --> 0:36:45.480 you did not even like to grow you up and 0:36:45.600 --> 0:36:49.160 mature you. There was one person the other day that 0:36:49.280 --> 0:36:51.160 shared a Bible Verse with one of my kids, and 0:36:51.239 --> 0:36:54.360 they left our church years ago. They didn't even like 0:36:54.480 --> 0:36:56.960 me when they left. But when they gave a Bible 0:36:57.080 --> 0:36:58.960 Verse to my kids, I said, God, I don't care 0:36:59.000 --> 0:37:02.560 who hands them the script. I'll take a cold cup 0:37:02.640 --> 0:37:04.600 of water in the pit of hell from anybody. I 0:37:04.640 --> 0:37:06.640 don't care who hands it to him. Use who you 0:37:06.760 --> 0:37:08.960 want to use. God, do what you want to do, 0:37:09.280 --> 0:37:11.840 kill my categories. As a matter of fact, when we 0:37:11.960 --> 0:37:14.960 say all things work together for the good, what we 0:37:15.160 --> 0:37:17.360 mean when we quote Romans eight twenty eight out of 0:37:17.440 --> 0:37:20.760 context because Romans eight twenty eight is connected and conjoined 0:37:20.800 --> 0:37:23.920 incidentally to Romans eight twenty nine, which says according to 0:37:24.040 --> 0:37:26.680 his purpose, So what it means by good is this 0:37:26.800 --> 0:37:30.400 going to fulfill his purpose, not my preference. Y'all can 0:37:30.560 --> 0:37:36.320 shout right now. What it means is, I can't categorize. 0:37:36.480 --> 0:37:39.879 That's God's job. It is God's job to know what's 0:37:40.000 --> 0:37:42.600 best for me. It is God's job to know what 0:37:42.800 --> 0:37:45.480 needs to happen. It is God's job to know what 0:37:45.719 --> 0:37:50.040 experiences I need to get. So God says, stop limiting 0:37:50.120 --> 0:37:57.520 it by labels. Labels. Labels can apply to a group 0:37:57.560 --> 0:38:00.440 of people. He said, look what the Lord said when 0:38:00.480 --> 0:38:03.560 he said, arise, Peter killing it. Peter says, surely not, Lord, 0:38:03.760 --> 0:38:06.600 Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth. Now 0:38:06.640 --> 0:38:09.400 watch what God said in verse nine. Those are your categories, 0:38:09.480 --> 0:38:14.759 not mine. The voice spoke from heaven a second time, saying, 0:38:14.840 --> 0:38:17.520 do not call anything impure that God has made clean. 0:38:19.320 --> 0:38:30.319 Stop limiting God with your labels. Most people that live 0:38:30.360 --> 0:38:33.640 in Charlotte weren't born in Charlotte. So you come here 0:38:33.719 --> 0:38:37.600 and it's like, I don't really like Southerners. Well, you 0:38:37.719 --> 0:38:42.279 stuck with us for this season, So do not overgeneralize 0:38:42.320 --> 0:38:45.239 the people that you have to live with. Now, the 0:38:45.320 --> 0:38:47.319 same thing can be said of any group of people, 0:38:47.440 --> 0:38:50.319 a northern or southern, or anything. We want to mention, 0:38:50.480 --> 0:38:53.080 this is the problem. We are all so prejudiced. We 0:38:53.160 --> 0:38:55.480 stopped realizing it a long time ago. You're like, I'm 0:38:55.520 --> 0:38:58.359 not prejudiced. I'm not prejudiced. Prejudge. You do it all 0:38:58.400 --> 0:39:03.000 the time. I do it all the time. We think 0:39:03.040 --> 0:39:04.640 we know what is and what isn't going to be 0:39:04.719 --> 0:39:08.000 good all the time. We even think we know who 0:39:08.120 --> 0:39:10.279 is holy and who is not holy by what they wear. 0:39:12.880 --> 0:39:15.040 You know, even with people, we think we know who 0:39:15.160 --> 0:39:17.320 is important and who is not. You have no idea. 0:39:18.960 --> 0:39:22.280 You have no idea. And then we size up opportunities 0:39:22.360 --> 0:39:25.120 by how public they are to see how significant they are. 0:39:26.239 --> 0:39:29.200 But Peter was in Joppa doing something that was off 0:39:29.320 --> 0:39:33.440 the radar when God led him to Cornelius's house to 0:39:33.480 --> 0:39:37.080 take the Gospel to the gentiles, and I just wanted 0:39:37.120 --> 0:39:41.000 to say, don't limit your life by labels. Don't limit 0:39:41.080 --> 0:39:45.120 what God can do through you through labels. Somebody say 0:39:45.480 --> 0:39:48.919 you single, Say, well, first of all, i'm saved, sanctified, 0:39:51.239 --> 0:39:54.759 and then i'm single, But don't put that as my 0:39:54.840 --> 0:39:57.640 first label. There's a whole lot more to me than 0:39:57.680 --> 0:39:59.960 what's going on on one finger on my left hand, 0:40:00.440 --> 0:40:06.560 So please do not limit me. Preach Pastor Stephen Ferdeck, 0:40:07.040 --> 0:40:13.800 I am one guy said to me. He was like, 0:40:14.000 --> 0:40:18.719 you're preaching has gotten more Pentecostal these days. All he 0:40:18.880 --> 0:40:22.560 meant was I yell more. And the only reason I 0:40:22.760 --> 0:40:25.279 yell more now than I used to is because when 0:40:25.320 --> 0:40:27.520 the church was small, I needed people and I was 0:40:27.840 --> 0:40:31.520 didn't want to scare them off. Now we got enough. 0:40:31.840 --> 0:40:33.920 If we scare a few off, a few more will 0:40:33.960 --> 0:40:36.600 come and I can holler like I want to, I 0:40:36.719 --> 0:40:42.680 can break It's like I feel it, not theological stylistic. 0:40:44.840 --> 0:40:51.279 So don't be limited by labels. I'm white, but I'm 0:40:51.320 --> 0:40:55.520 not only white. I'm black, but I'm not only black. 0:40:56.960 --> 0:41:00.640 Please do not prejudge me based on something I had 0:41:00.719 --> 0:41:03.400 no control over. I want you to get to know 0:41:03.560 --> 0:41:06.200 my character. I want you to get to see the 0:41:06.400 --> 0:41:13.600 God in me rather than labeling me. So don't judge 0:41:13.640 --> 0:41:18.520 me by mine. Ask little nas X ask him about labels. 0:41:18.640 --> 0:41:21.320 Is it country? Is it wrap? I'll tell you what 0:41:21.440 --> 0:41:24.920 it is. It's a billion streams, it's a Grammy, and 0:41:25.040 --> 0:41:27.360 it's multimillion dollars. You could take me, write out this 0:41:27.600 --> 0:41:30.560 box and drive me to the bank. And God wants 0:41:30.600 --> 0:41:32.840 to do something bigger, but you will limit yourself with 0:41:32.920 --> 0:41:36.960 the label, and you limit others the label. Who you 0:41:37.040 --> 0:41:39.000 can and can't receive from, who God can and can't 0:41:39.080 --> 0:41:41.200 use in your life, What God can and can't use 0:41:41.239 --> 0:41:44.160 in your life. Oh well, they're insulting me, are they? 0:41:44.400 --> 0:41:48.560 Or is God using them to instruct you? I don't 0:41:48.640 --> 0:41:54.160 like it, doesn't feel good, So don't limit yourself with labels. 0:41:55.880 --> 0:42:06.160 And number two, don't be loyal to a lie. I 0:42:06.239 --> 0:42:08.279 don't have time to show you. But the passage and 0:42:08.400 --> 0:42:15.360 acts ends with Peter and the counsel there the deacon 0:42:15.440 --> 0:42:20.200 board that called him in as a Baptist flashback I 0:42:20.320 --> 0:42:26.879 was having right there when they called him in. By 0:42:26.960 --> 0:42:28.920 the end of it, I said this on Sunday. I 0:42:28.960 --> 0:42:31.440 didn't say it on Saturday last week. It said that 0:42:31.880 --> 0:42:35.960 it started with protest and ended in praise. When they 0:42:36.040 --> 0:42:38.040 brought him in, they were protesting like we always do 0:42:38.080 --> 0:42:40.000 when God is doing something new in our lives. God, 0:42:40.000 --> 0:42:41.359 I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't 0:42:41.440 --> 0:42:44.600 like it. Now everybody that hears new will hear something 0:42:44.680 --> 0:42:48.000 different when I preach. People will quit their jobs over 0:42:48.080 --> 0:42:51.560 this marriage. People are over this message. People will put 0:42:51.600 --> 0:42:54.560 their marriage over this message. Some will quit their job 0:42:54.680 --> 0:42:58.040 and their marriage over this message, and they're missing the point, 0:42:59.640 --> 0:43:01.680 because what I mean is make room for the new 0:43:01.920 --> 0:43:07.399 in you, so you don't have to find out after 0:43:07.520 --> 0:43:12.360 you move to five different cities running from yourself, that 0:43:12.520 --> 0:43:20.520 sometimes the environment is not the issue. And what we 0:43:20.600 --> 0:43:22.319 will do a lot of times is we will hold 0:43:22.360 --> 0:43:27.120 on so tightly to a lie because it's familiar, that 0:43:27.239 --> 0:43:29.319 we will miss what God is bringing to us by 0:43:29.400 --> 0:43:34.160 faith because we don't like how it feels. Don't be 0:43:34.320 --> 0:43:39.120 loyal to a lie. And my third one is don't 0:43:39.160 --> 0:43:46.719 be late. Don't be late. One thing the Spirit told 0:43:46.760 --> 0:43:50.719 Peter that I wanted to say to you through the 0:43:50.800 --> 0:43:53.320 power of the Holy Spirit today. Yeah, you got it. 0:43:53.440 --> 0:43:55.959 They're so good in the back they anticipated my verse 0:43:56.400 --> 0:43:59.520 I love them Acts eleven twelve says that the Spirit 0:43:59.600 --> 0:44:02.520 told me to have no hesitation about going with them. 0:44:03.840 --> 0:44:09.359 Don't be late, because if you hold on to what's old, 0:44:10.160 --> 0:44:12.440 the way you thought and what you wanted and how 0:44:12.520 --> 0:44:19.279 it was, you might miss today's miracle trying to hold 0:44:19.320 --> 0:44:26.200 onto yesterday's blessing. What am I holding that's old? It's 0:44:26.280 --> 0:44:30.239 keeping me from receiving what's new, what's now, what's your 0:44:30.640 --> 0:44:33.280 I don't mean that we don't value tradition and experience 0:44:33.360 --> 0:44:37.919 and continuity. That's not my message, but the scripture said 0:44:37.920 --> 0:44:41.200 in Leviticus twenty six ' ten you will still be 0:44:41.360 --> 0:44:45.839 eating last year's harvest, that's the old, when you will 0:44:45.880 --> 0:44:48.759 have to move it out to make room for the new. 0:44:50.239 --> 0:44:53.960 It's not that the old was bad, It's just that 0:44:54.120 --> 0:44:59.520 the new is here, a new covenant, a new day, 0:44:59.600 --> 0:45:05.200 a new season. Some of you are really destabilized right now. 0:45:05.239 --> 0:45:09.919 In life, we all go through these seasons of instability 0:45:09.960 --> 0:45:13.160 that really test our faith. And God gives us this 0:45:13.360 --> 0:45:15.480 tension in these moments to see what will we do 0:45:15.680 --> 0:45:22.719 in Joppa? Run from God or run toward God? And 0:45:22.800 --> 0:45:25.920 if that's where you are today in Joppa, I mean 0:45:25.960 --> 0:45:29.080 in a psychological sense, obviously, not a geographical sense or 0:45:29.120 --> 0:45:33.680 a spiritual sense, an emotional sense, trying to figure out, God, 0:45:33.719 --> 0:45:35.200 what are you doing in my life. I've never seen 0:45:35.239 --> 0:45:38.879 this before, I've never felt this before. I've never been 0:45:39.440 --> 0:45:44.920 in my forties before. I wonder what you will do 0:45:45.160 --> 0:45:50.480 in Joppa. The thing about God's blessing is it rarely 0:45:50.600 --> 0:45:52.560 checks your schedule to see if this would be a 0:45:52.640 --> 0:45:58.759 convenient time. In fact, Leviticus said as they were giving 0:45:58.800 --> 0:46:01.799 all the instructions for worship and the covenant to set 0:46:01.920 --> 0:46:04.600 up the community, and how to deal with diseases and poverty, 0:46:04.680 --> 0:46:07.680 and how to deal with indebtedness and how to be 0:46:07.800 --> 0:46:10.160 a people, And as they were adjusting and acclimating to 0:46:10.200 --> 0:46:12.920 be out of Egyptian slavery and coming into a new place, 0:46:13.920 --> 0:46:15.880 before God made them the promise, he said, you need 0:46:15.960 --> 0:46:17.959 to know that you're still going to be eating last 0:46:18.040 --> 0:46:21.520 year's harvest when you have to move it out to 0:46:21.640 --> 0:46:24.160 make room for the new. This is how it works. 0:46:26.239 --> 0:46:28.960 You're not even used to it yet, and here comes 0:46:29.000 --> 0:46:33.520 something new, and you have to learn to multitask your miracles. 0:46:36.520 --> 0:46:40.600 You have to learn to multitask your miracles. You have 0:46:40.719 --> 0:46:43.080 to learn to move between things and to trust God 0:46:44.280 --> 0:46:49.120 and keep giving, keep going, keep trusting, and keep believing 0:46:49.239 --> 0:46:53.840 by faith, or else you're going to find yourself missing 0:46:53.920 --> 0:46:58.520 today's opportunity because you are too attached to yesterday's blessing. 0:47:01.440 --> 0:47:04.160 I wonder what new mindset God is creating in me 0:47:04.920 --> 0:47:07.880 in this season. I want to know. I wonder what 0:47:08.000 --> 0:47:10.359 barriers He's going to break through your life. I want 0:47:10.400 --> 0:47:13.520 to know. He said, you will still be eating last 0:47:13.600 --> 0:47:15.799 year's harvest when you will have to move it out 0:47:17.080 --> 0:47:22.000 to make room for the new. That's what repentance is. 0:47:23.040 --> 0:47:27.719 It's a change of mind. It makes room for the new, 0:47:28.560 --> 0:47:31.319 new way of thinking. You're doing it the old way. 0:47:32.200 --> 0:47:34.640 You keep manipulating, keep forcing, and keep getting angry. That's 0:47:34.680 --> 0:47:36.840 the old way. That's not how you do it anymore. 0:47:37.800 --> 0:47:40.400 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 0:47:40.600 --> 0:47:43.960 The old has gone, the new has come. There's a 0:47:44.080 --> 0:47:47.640 new way to do this, a new way to live, 0:47:48.920 --> 0:47:51.160 a new way to love, a new way to serve, 0:47:51.239 --> 0:47:53.839 a way that seems upside down but is actually right 0:47:53.960 --> 0:47:56.960 side up. And God said, if you'll make room for 0:47:57.080 --> 0:48:00.600 the new, you will still be eating last year's harvest 0:48:01.560 --> 0:48:04.640 when you will have to move it out. Father, I 0:48:04.760 --> 0:48:07.640 thank you for your word today, the power of it, 0:48:07.760 --> 0:48:12.840 the precision of it. You are so on time. I 0:48:13.000 --> 0:48:17.200 trust you. I trust you that it will not return void. 0:48:18.560 --> 0:48:21.680 What you spoke in this place today is not just 0:48:21.800 --> 0:48:26.440 about Peter. This is not a history lesson or an 0:48:26.520 --> 0:48:32.000 agricultural lesson. This is a word from Heaven for someone's life. 0:48:32.640 --> 0:48:37.239 Make room for the new. I pray for your people, Lord, 0:48:38.920 --> 0:48:42.239 whatever they're holding on to that is old, that needs 0:48:42.320 --> 0:48:45.000 to be moved out to make room for the new. 0:48:45.080 --> 0:48:49.200 Maybe all their life they thought they had to earn acceptance, 0:48:50.440 --> 0:48:52.680 so they're stuck in performance and they think you are 0:48:52.800 --> 0:48:56.319 like that too. I pray that today that grace would 0:48:57.640 --> 0:49:03.680 clear the way to make boom for the new. I 0:49:03.760 --> 0:49:07.640 thank you today that strongholds in our minds are being 0:49:07.800 --> 0:49:12.160 broken by the power of the Spirit of God. We 0:49:12.280 --> 0:49:14.640 thought we had to We thought we had to run 0:49:14.719 --> 0:49:17.759 to something else to get our needs met. That's the 0:49:17.880 --> 0:49:19.879 old way of thinking, that's the old way of living, 0:49:20.160 --> 0:49:23.279 that's the old way of coping. But we came into 0:49:23.360 --> 0:49:28.640 your presence today to make room for the new. We 0:49:28.760 --> 0:49:31.040 thank you that you're doing something in our life right now. 0:49:32.880 --> 0:49:35.719 We never truly know the power of this moment until 0:49:35.760 --> 0:49:40.960 it's over. We never fully understand the reason for this 0:49:41.120 --> 0:49:44.879 season until we're in the next one. But I asked 0:49:44.880 --> 0:49:47.080 that you would grant unto us the gift of faith, 0:49:47.880 --> 0:49:52.120 so we can trust you for what's next. Everyone's standing, 0:49:52.239 --> 0:49:56.480 no one moving. If God brought you here today and 0:49:56.560 --> 0:49:59.759 you've been holding on to something old, maybe it's an 0:49:59.760 --> 0:50:05.920 a fe or regret, could be a pattern of habits, 0:50:06.120 --> 0:50:09.359 or just a way that you get your own way. 0:50:11.320 --> 0:50:15.160 God knows I have plenty, and you want to release that. 0:50:15.400 --> 0:50:18.800 Right now, in the presence of the Lord, I invite 0:50:18.800 --> 0:50:20.440 you to just lift your hands to Heaven like you're 0:50:20.520 --> 0:50:24.000 letting something go, and just keep your hands up, Just 0:50:24.120 --> 0:50:29.480 keep them up, because I don't want to miss it. God, 0:50:31.520 --> 0:50:33.080 I don't want to miss what you have for me. 0:50:34.280 --> 0:50:35.799 We don't want to miss what you have for us 0:50:35.880 --> 0:50:41.160 because we were afraid, because we thought we were smarter 0:50:41.280 --> 0:50:45.560 than you. You are the potter, we are the clay. 0:50:47.640 --> 0:50:49.759 We ask you to mold us and fill us and 0:50:49.880 --> 0:50:57.439 make us. Oh Lord, touch each heart, each mind, lift 0:50:57.480 --> 0:51:00.880 the burden, break the barrier. Whatever they think you can't do, 0:51:01.719 --> 0:51:04.520 do it. Show them what kind of God you are. 0:51:05.480 --> 0:51:09.040 Show them how you can raise the dead. Show them 0:51:09.080 --> 0:51:12.520 how you kill categories and make ways, and do stuff 0:51:12.560 --> 0:51:15.680 that human minds cannot innovate or imagine. Do it in 0:51:15.760 --> 0:51:18.400 our lives. God, do it through our children. Do it 0:51:18.480 --> 0:51:20.480 in our generation, do it in our world, Do it 0:51:20.560 --> 0:51:23.239 in our church. Do it in this movement. Create in 0:51:23.360 --> 0:51:26.520 us a clean heart, make room for the new. We're 0:51:26.560 --> 0:51:29.040 letting go of what it was. We're letting go of 0:51:29.120 --> 0:51:32.640 what we thought. We are embracing your ways, for your 0:51:32.760 --> 0:51:36.560 ways are higher than our ways, and your thoughts are 0:51:36.719 --> 0:51:41.760 higher than our thoughts. And we came in this place 0:51:41.840 --> 0:51:45.920 today as your tabernacle to make room in our hearts 0:51:46.040 --> 0:51:52.239 for you. Lord. If there's someone here today who needs 0:51:52.280 --> 0:51:56.919 a new beginning, who needs to be saved, who needs 0:51:56.960 --> 0:52:01.279 to be brought into the family of God, right now, 0:52:01.360 --> 0:52:05.960 in this moment, would you touch their heart and bring 0:52:06.080 --> 0:52:09.239 them to faith in Jesus Christ so that they can 0:52:09.360 --> 0:52:15.239 be saved and forgiven and set free. Right now, at 0:52:15.280 --> 0:52:17.240 all of our locations, I'm going to give an invitation 0:52:18.840 --> 0:52:22.120 for someone who wants to receive the grace of Jesus 0:52:22.239 --> 0:52:26.879 Christ for your life, who wants to say, God, I'm 0:52:26.920 --> 0:52:30.640 giving up my life to you and I'm embracing your 0:52:30.680 --> 0:52:34.080 life and your plan for me. The Bible says that 0:52:34.200 --> 0:52:37.360 it is by grace you are saved, not of works. 0:52:38.480 --> 0:52:41.480 No one can boast about it. It is the gift 0:52:41.560 --> 0:52:44.600 of God. So for everyone who wants to receive this gift. 0:52:45.160 --> 0:52:47.280 The scripture says that we were dead in our sins, 0:52:47.320 --> 0:52:50.920 and Christ died for us. He didn't just die for 0:52:51.080 --> 0:52:53.840 us to be good people. He died to give us life. 0:52:54.400 --> 0:52:57.120 He died to give us a new beginning. He died 0:52:57.200 --> 0:52:59.440 to make us brand new. So right now, if this 0:52:59.560 --> 0:53:01.920 is your day, and you have felt God speaking to 0:53:02.000 --> 0:53:04.200 you while I've been preaching, and you have felt God 0:53:04.320 --> 0:53:06.759 calling you home, and you are ready to make room 0:53:06.880 --> 0:53:08.640 for the new in your life, I want you to 0:53:08.719 --> 0:53:11.480 repeat this prayer after me. We pray together as a 0:53:11.560 --> 0:53:16.239 church family. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, today is my day. 0:53:17.560 --> 0:53:21.959 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God 0:53:22.719 --> 0:53:26.719 and the Savior of the world. And today I make 0:53:26.840 --> 0:53:30.680 Jesus the lord of my life. I believe he died 0:53:31.680 --> 0:53:35.399 that I would be forgiven and rose again to give 0:53:35.480 --> 0:53:41.040 me life. I receive this new life. This is my 0:53:41.239 --> 0:53:45.480 new beginning. I am a child of God. On the 0:53:45.560 --> 0:53:47.560 count of three, shoots your hand up. If you prayed 0:53:47.600 --> 0:53:51.000 that one, two, three, shoot him up, Shoot him up. God, 0:53:51.080 --> 0:53:56.280 Bless you, God, bless you. Come on. Let's celebrate new life. 0:53:57.480 --> 0:54:02.839 Let's celebrate new beginnings. Let's celebrate new stories. Come on, Church. 0:54:04.120 --> 0:54:06.640 Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of 0:54:06.719 --> 0:54:09.680 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 0:54:09.760 --> 0:54:12.640 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 0:54:12.719 --> 0:54:16.400 link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch 0:54:16.600 --> 0:54:19.840 dot org. Slash podcast for more information and if you 0:54:19.960 --> 0:54:23.160 enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it 0:54:23.200 --> 0:54:25.520 with your friends. You can click the share button, take 0:54:25.520 --> 0:54:27.840 a screenshot and share it on your social stories and 0:54:27.920 --> 0:54:30.799 tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God 0:54:30.840 --> 0:54:31.160 bless you.