Page Turner

0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.400 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.920 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.640 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.040 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:19.720 Enjoy the message. Oh man, what a what an amazing 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:20.799 day of celebration. 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:31.280 And everybody say and make it melodic like that, say and. 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:30.520 And put it in the comments. Say and. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:38.800 I'm beginning a brand new series today. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:41.120 You know I'm gonna spoil y'all. 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.720 I just finished a series. I'm starting a series. You 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.000 are gonna get used to this, and you're gonna expect 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.519 me to be organized and systematic from. 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:50.600 Here on out. 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.040 But the Lord really spoke to me, and I'm excited 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:55.400 to share what he spoke. We are going to be 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.280 spending the next several weeks. See how I left that 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.320 open ended, the next several weeks as long as the 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:08.120 Lord leads me to studying about the Holy Spirit in 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.399 the Book of Acts. Many of you know that I 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.600 have a Bible club with my family for about a 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:16.679 year and a half. In chapter A Day keeps the 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.040 Devil Away. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:24.440 And we have somebody's going to make me a T 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.520 shirt that says that now, I'm sure of it. Probably 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:28.360 already is one. 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.640 But we came upon the Book of Acts recently and 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:32.760 we kind of move around. 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:33.920 We're not going straight through. 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.360 We have been in Jeremiah and it gets really, really dark, 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:39.280 and so I was like, let's do the Book of 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:43.039 Acts because that's a real page turner and it's exciting. 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:44.920 So that's what we got into. 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.039 And I asked the family if I could invite you 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:49.960 into our series, and we're going to do this together 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.880 now as a global church family, from the Book of Acts, 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.800 not the whole book, just you know where God leads us. 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:02.040 And I even made like an official graphic for this series. 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:05.960 You know, it's getting serious. Normally I just figure out 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:08.040 it's a series after the fact, but right now I'm 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.320 ready for you. And we're going to talk about the 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:17.360 subject of making sense of your story through the lens 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:19.560 of God's Spirit. 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:25.160 And the title of the series is Ghostwriter. Yeah, put 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:25.920 it up there for me. 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:32.000 Ghost Writer, not like the comic book ghost writer the guy. 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:36.880 This is ghost writer making sense of your story through 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:40.240 the lens of the Holy Spirit. This is going to 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.880 be so powerful in your life, I can hardly wait 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:43.600 to share it with you. 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.399 Today. We're going to begin with Acts, Chapter one. 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.720 I'll read you my scripture, and then I'll seet you 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:54.040 and we'll begin to learn together how many need the 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:55.959 Lord to make sense of some things that are going 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:56.519 on in your. 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:01.680 Life right now? Oh good, good, good, good good. 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:06.799 Then we're talking about the right thing here, ghostwriter. 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:09.400 Acts Chapter one, verses one. 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:11.200 And two, and then we'll go to verses twelve through 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:13.480 twenty two for the sake of time today. In my 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:17.680 former book Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.520 to do and to teach until the day he was 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:25.080 taken up to heaven after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit, 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:30.320 through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.040 So you'll see the Holy Spirit in the book of 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:37.240 Acts mentioned fifty five times. Safe to assume he's the 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.040 important character in this story of the early Church spreading. 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.120 Now Jesus has taken up from the disciples. 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:45.680 They go back to wait for the Holy Spirit, and 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.600 we pick up in verse twelve. Then the apostles returned 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:53.000 to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives. 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.080 Sabbath day's walk from the city. 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.280 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:04.240 they were staying. Present were Peter, John James, and Andrew Philip, 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:10.840 and Thomas Bartholomew, and Matthew James, son of Alpheus, and 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.840 Simon the Zealot, and Judas, son of James. This is 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.239 not the same Judas as the one who betrayed Jesus, 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.800 as Judas is Scariot. And this guy has a very 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:24.680 unfortunate name for this time. I think if my name 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.120 was Judas forty days after Jesus was crucified, I just 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:29.440 go by Jay or something like that. 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.040 But they're all there Verse fourteen. 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.080 And they all joined together constantly in prayer, along with 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.280 the women, and marry the mother of Jesus, and with 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:39.000 his brothers. 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.560 Now pay attention. In those days, Peter stood. 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.919 Up among the believers, a group numbering about one hundred 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:50.560 and twenty, and said, brothers and sisters, the scripture had 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:55.440 to be fulfilled, in which the Holy Spirit spoke long 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.479 ago through David concerning Judas, who served as a guide 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.760 for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:07.120 number and shared in our ministry. Parenthetical insert with the 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:08.960 payment he received for his wickedness. 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:10.400 Judas bought a field. 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.880 There he fell head long, his body burst open, and 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:17.040 all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:21.279 so they called that field in their language a keeldema, 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:22.599 that is field of blood. 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:23.799 For said Peter. 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.640 It is written in the book of Psalms. May his 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.119 place be deserted, let there be no one to dwell 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:37.440 in it, And everybody say, and may another take his 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.680 place of leadership. Therefore, it is necessary to choose one 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.719 of the men who have been with us the whole 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.719 time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.640 John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:56.159 from us. For one of these must become a witness 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:01.400 with us of his resurrection. Let's thank the Lord for 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.640 the witness that he has given us of his resurrection. 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:08.800 Clap your hands, everybody today. 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:15.839 The series is Ghostwriter and the sermon is called page Turner. 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:18.480 Yeah, page turner. 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:20.720 On your way to your seat, Tell your neighbor it's 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:21.920 going to be a page turner. 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:24.640 It's going to be a page turner. 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:29.359 Amen, Big readers in the room, any big readers in 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:35.160 the room, Big readers make some noise, not like you're 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.880 in the library. You know, reading something makes make some noise. 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.359 You love a good story, and I need you to 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:46.080 know when you read an autobiography, usually it's based. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:47.039 On a true story. 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.520 And one statistic that I read said, well, over seventy 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.400 five percent of memoirs that we read, if it's a 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:56.919 famous person, or someone who won a gold medal in 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:00.640 the Olympics, or somebody who was a former president, they 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.520 will have had help from a ghost writer. And I 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.680 know you know the term, but just so we get 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.400 on the same page, working. 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.440 In my different elmeson my service. 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.360 The ghost writer is someone that the person will bring 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.240 in if they have a story but they need help 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.520 telling it. And so the ghost writer might come along 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:25.320 and spend twenty hours, forty hours, in some cases even 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:29.040 a year with the person saying, tell me your story, 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:30.560 tell me what. 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:30.960 It was like. 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.600 When you want American Idol, and you know, just because 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.120 you're a good singer and you want American Idol, doesn't 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:38.560 know and even you know how to tell the story. 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:39.920 You have a gift to sing, but you may not 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:41.200 have a gift to right. So you bring in some 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.280 help and you have a story, but you need some help. 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.280 You know, you might have done something really incredible, like 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.120 you you hiked a huge mountain. But just because you're 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.320 good at hiking doesn't mean you're good at grammar. So 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:56.920 you bring somebody in. You're like, I want to tell 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:58.840 this story how we almost died, and then I want 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.360 to tell them how I almost eat my brother and 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.440 because we ran out of food. But I'm good at surviving, 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.360 and I'm good at I'm good at I'm good at climbing. 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:12.720 But I'm not really a storyteller. I need some help. 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.240 I've got a story to tell, but I need some 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.360 help telling him. And that's where a ghost writer comes in. 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:27.080 And that's where the holy ghost comes in in my 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.040 life and the life of the Disciples that I just. 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:30.720 Read to you about. 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.480 Because I have a story to tell, but I need 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:39.160 help telling it. Say amen, somebody, if you've got a 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.120 story to tell, if you got a story to tell 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:44.000 of how. 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:45.400 God made a way for you. 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.520 Of how God saved you, of how God kept you, 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.800 of how God blessed you, of how God raised you, 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:58.400 I have a story to tell and I need some help. Now, 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:02.199 imagine for a moment that you were one of these disciples. 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.520 Let's say you're not even a main character. You're just Bartholomew, 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:11.960 and you've just seen Jesus taken from you. The one 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:18.080 that you were guiding by is gone, the one who 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.240 broke it down and made sense of it for you 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.040 every step along the way. Now Here's why I'm talking 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.360 to this woman by the will. Now Here's why I'm 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.120 feeding people that you want to send away. Now Here's 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.080 why I sent you into the storm so that I 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.360 could show you that I'm lord of the storm. Now 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:34.600 Here's why I said that in this parable, and this 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.400 is what I meant. All of a sudden, what they 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.920 have been guiding by is gone in their sight. He 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.040 was taken up hidden in a cloud. And they are 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:49.120 told to be witnesses watch this of the story of 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:56.719 his sinless life, his unjust death, and his supernatural resurrection and. 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.200 His eventual coming again. 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.440 They were entrusted to to be stewards of the gospel story. 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:08.200 My brothers and sisters, we are stewards of this same story. 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.839 Do you not know that the same spirit that lived 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.040 in them lives in me? Because I believe in Jesus, 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.000 I have a story to tell. I wasn't there to 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:22.920 see it firsthand. When he opened Bartimaeus's eyes, I didn't 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.440 see them. Lower the man on the mat through the roof, 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.280 and Jesus said, your sins are forgiven, and oh, by 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.720 the way, get up and walk to Bonus. Scene deleted 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.600 content just because I'm Jesus like that. I wasn't there 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:39.000 to see it. But I have the same spirit that 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:44.120 witnesses to me. He said, you will be witnesses in Jerusalem. 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.600 That's where they are Judea Samaria. That's the next circle 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.000 or the circumference of influence, and to the ends of 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:56.280 the earth. Imagine your Bartholomew. What you have guided by 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:02.240 is gone, and God has commanded you to go. It 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:09.640 makes no sense. It makes no sense for many of us. 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:14.480 Even to praise God today from a sensual perspective made 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:18.600 no sense because you've been under depression. For you to 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:22.280 begin to sing from your spirit today and declare that 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.480 God didn't leave me where I was, it made no 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:30.760 sense because in some ways you're still there. But we 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:34.120 didn't come to church to make sense of our situation. 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:38.400 I came to church because I need the Holy Spirit. 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:44.000 I need the third person of the Godhead. I need 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:45.920 the one that Jesus said he would send. 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.360 He actually said this, he said, I'm leaving, and you've 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:50.600 got to go and do this. 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:52.240 Impossible task now. 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.880 For you, even raising an eleven year old might seem 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.520 like an impossible task. I certainly felt that way at 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.840 each stage of our children's development. Makes no sense that 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:02.760 I would be a parent while I still kind of, 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:03.959 in a way feel like a kid. 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:05.760 It made no sense I would. 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.040 Pastor a church that was several times the size of 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:09.360 the town that I grew up in. 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:11.640 None of this makes sense. My story. I'm telling you 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.400 my story. My story what God has allowed me to 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:19.160 see and do makes no sense without the Holy Spirit. 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:25.040 I'm like that frog sitting on a fence post. I 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:29.560 didn't get here by myself. That's my story. 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.280 And I'm sticking to it. 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:35.120 Is that it's not by Mike, it's not by power. 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.160 It's by the Spirit of the Lord. Oh. I'm excited 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:43.880 about the Spirit of God because I believe when you 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:45.800 sit with the Holy Spirit, He's going to help you 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:50.840 tell a better story. Like what is it like to 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.000 have the Spirit of God as your ghostwriter? 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:56.840 Bring out my teaching screen. 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:58.920 I'm ready to break this down, y'all give it up 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:06.199 for the screen as it comes. Thirty percent of y'all 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.679 did that when I said it? You nonconformist. Aren't you 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:15.040 just so strong willed you didn't clap? Okay, thank you, fellas. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:18.480 Let's see if we can make sense of this line 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.200 by line, verse by verse. 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.320 I think there is an amazing story being told in 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.719 this scripture, how the Gospel will eventually go all the 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.920 way into the Roman Empire, and yet it is starting 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:30.959 in such a strange place. 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:32.400 I'd like you to write this phrase down. 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:38.079 The best stories are born in the messiest moments. 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.120 Isn't that true? 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:45.920 How'd you get here? Let's go back to your birthday. 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:52.600 Was it messy? If it wasn't messy, you didn't make it. 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.600 The only way you made it here is through a mess. 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.560 And so it goes again and again. And I'll show 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.199 you this in scripture because you know, I don't know 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:05.160 if you're really listening or not. There is a pen somewhere. 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:10.720 I believe it by faith. Well they're all on this side. Yeah, yeah, 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:15.920 Professor Verdick in the house, I love it. 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.000 I want to show you this scripture. 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.520 In a way where you can see what it must 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:29.240 have felt like for doctor Luke is writing this book. 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.840 And notice the first thing he says, follow with me. 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.800 He says, in my former book Theophilis, he's writing to 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:39.560 a patron who is enabling him to tell the story 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.480 of Jesus. Now you may recognize Luke, who wrote the 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:51.120 Book of Acts, from such blockbuster presentations as Luke. The 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:55.000 gospel story that he recorded Matthew Mark Luke and John 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.640 Luke was his, and he didn't name it. 0:14:57.640 --> 0:14:59.360 Luke, but we call it Luke because he wrote it. 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.160 Now he's saying, in my former book Theophlis, I wrote 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.680 about all that Jesus and I love this word and 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:07.440 I hope I can make you love it too, all 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:09.480 that Jesus began. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:15.200 To do and to teach. So what does that mean? Okay? 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:19.280 If Jesus came and lived a sindless life, died a 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:25.040 criminal's death, rose from a borrowed grave, and then ascended 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.360 to heaven to send the Holy Spirit. And when Luke 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.640 starts writing this book, he says, I wrote a book 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:36.760 about all that Jesus began to do. It makes me 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:41.360 think that he's just getting started and there will be 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:45.080 a sequel that is not only true of the Book 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.960 of Luke in the Book of Acts. That is true 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:52.840 for you, that Jesus is just getting started in your life. 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.480 And even if you were only to live a few 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:59.760 more days, you have no idea the ripple effect of 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.840 what your life will mean to a generation not yet born. 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.800 Because you are a steward of the Gospel story, you 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.760 have a story to tell. It's not just Luke that's 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.440 telling the story. It's not just the writers of the 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.480 Bible that tell the story. The Bible says you are 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.800 a living epistle, not an apostle. That's the people that 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.440 followed Jesus. And an epistle is not the wife of 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:26.800 an apostle. An epistle is a letter. The Bible is 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:32.280 basically saying that you are a story that God is 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:37.880 telling of his gospel power. That means that when people 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:43.360 meet you, they have an opportunity to meet Jesus, the 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:47.160 same Jesus who met you in the mess you were in. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.000 All of the angels can sit this part of the 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.720 sermon out, But everybody who was in a mess and 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.360 met a savior, who was in a mess and made 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:59.520 a mess and met a savior. 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:02.640 I want you to understand your life is. 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.800 A story, and here's the really good news, he said. 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:09.639 Jesus began to do it and teach it until the 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:13.080 day he was taken up. This seemed like a loss. 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.720 He was taken up. It was a complete change for 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.639 all of the apostles. He was taken up to heaven 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:23.000 after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.720 he had chosen, and every word of those two verses 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.880 would preach. But for now, maybe I could just talk 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.680 about the fact that the Holy Spirit is going to 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:39.040 help you tell this story. I see that they're not 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:40.639 going on a verse here on the screen. I got 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:44.720 to get over here. The Holy Spirit is going to 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:45.200 help you. 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.200 Tell your story. 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:54.800 Because you've been telling yourself some really bad stories. And 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.040 I know it because I do it. And if we 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.240 don't have the Holy Spirit, we will try to make 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:06.000 sense of our life through our senses, and we will 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:10.240 keep solving the wrong problems, creating more pain. 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:12.960 We will keep. 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:17.280 Solving problems at the level at which they appear and 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:23.480 never understand the level from which they originate. But the 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:28.800 Holy Spirit, when he comes, he will help you tell 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:33.040 the story so that you stop telling yourself Satan's story 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:37.840 about why you failed so that you stopped telling yourself 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.840 Satan's story about why you blew it. You keep telling 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:43.800 yourself the story I failed because I'm a failure. 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.200 You edited out ninety nine times. 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.600 You didn't fail that God gave you a victory. You 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.919 took the one that you failed at. You magnified that 0:18:54.720 --> 0:19:00.120 you got stuck in a scene and called it a story. 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.760 But I have help, because the Holy Spirit will help 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:09.560 me zoom out and see that failure is always an event. 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.160 It is never an identity. 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:18.600 Telling yourself stories, You've been telling yourself stories about where 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.159 you ought to be by now in your life. I 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:23.480 should be farther along by now. How do you know that? 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.840 You don't even know how long you have left? How 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:29.600 do you know you're not as far along as all 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:30.119 your friends? 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:30.400 Has? 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.240 Somebody asked me the other day, all of my friends 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:33.680 are doing great things and I'm not. Do you have 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:35.119 anything to say to me? And all I want to 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:36.719 say back is you don't know what your friends are 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:38.560 going through. You just see your friends through their filter. 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.960 You just see them through the filter. You don't know 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:46.320 what they're dealing with. You don't know what they are 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:48.600 farther along. They might portrayed places with you in a 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.480 skinny minute, in a New York minute. 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:53.320 It's a New York minute. I don't know. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:57.520 But the fact of the matter is, even the way 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:58.879 we measure time is kind. 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:00.800 Of crazy, you know, has a lot of a She said, 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.560 in a few days, you're going to receive the Holy Spirit. 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:10.040 Why didn't one of the fellas, Bartholomew, go excuse me, Jesus. 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:15.439 One clarifying question when you say a few days, what 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:20.119 is a few to you? Because it's like basketball, right, like, 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.520 hang on, honey, I'll be there. There's only five minutes 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:29.240 left in the game. That could be three hours in basketball. 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:31.600 Time depends if they start fouling. 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:31.880 Right. 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:35.200 We tell you about our life sometimes, and many of 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.840 you know that, against my will, I was basically manipulated 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:40.840 into buying my family a dog, a Boston Terrier, and 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:42.720 we've enjoyed his presence in our home for the last 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:44.720 two years. I'm gonna tell you more about this in 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:47.040 a coming week, so just come back and I'll tell 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:48.919 you the rest. But we realize the other day that 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.600 bo first of all, he is very anxiety ridden dog. 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:54.480 Something happened on the fourth of July with some fireworks. 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:56.679 I'm not exactly sure what didn't mean to do this 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.760 to him, but he is traumatized by loud sounds, particularly storms, 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:02.720 So when there are storms we have to give him 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:06.600 some medicine and uh, and it's really sad and he 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.400 shakes and my Benadrill Bill is through the roof. Ever 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:11.080 since I got this dog, I didn't put that in 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:12.639 a little line on him, but I didn't know I 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.719 was getting such an anxious dog. And then the second 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:19.440 thing that we just realized he's really triggered by his suitcases. 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:23.840 But makes sense. 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.080 Because he doesn't know we've been gone for like two 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.800 weeks before going out on elevation nights and you know, 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:32.760 and he doesn't know. 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:35.119 It's not like he's smart. 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:39.199 He's not looking at the size of the suitcase. Oh, 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:41.600 it's just an overnight trip. They'll be back in no time. 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:47.879 And he try to make sense of it, like are 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.160 you gone for a day? Are you gone? Is this? It? 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:50.359 Is this? 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:51.560 Goodbye? 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:52.280 Now? 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:55.080 God, imagine watch this that. 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:57.879 Since we know the story, we know that Jesus was 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:02.320 resurrected three days after he died. He was taken from 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:07.200 them forty days after he was resurrected. Then there were 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:12.639 ten days, ten days while they were waiting for the 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:14.040 spirit that. 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:15.800 He spoke about, and. 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.280 Not only are they going through a storm of uncertainty, 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:24.480 but they don't know what this suitcase means. Jesus, you're 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:27.960 leaving and you're sending the spirit to live in us, 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.800 and we trust you. But it's kind of hard in 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:34.800 this ten day period to know what to do next. 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:38.600 And these are the moments, my friend, when you need 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:43.200 the Holy Spirit, because you can do something so stupid 0:22:44.080 --> 0:22:48.199 while you are waiting ten days that it'll spend you 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:50.119 ten years trying to undo it. 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:53.320 You will tell yourself a story. 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:55.240 Have you ever have you ever texted somebody that didn't 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:57.679 text you back quick enough? And the bubbles came, and 0:22:57.680 --> 0:22:59.560 the bubbles went, and the bubbles came, and the bubbles went, 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:01.560 and every time the bubbles came in went, you told 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:04.280 yourself a story about why. 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:05.160 They weren't texting you back. 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:07.720 Oh God, they were texting while driving, and they drove 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:09.160 off the road and the bubbles went away. 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:11.480 Oh God. And really it was nothing more than. 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:13.000 The fact that they got distracted and you weren't that 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:14.919 important to them to text you back right away, But 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:15.720 you had them dead. 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:18.040 In your mind because you told yourself a story. 0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:21.399 Now do you see why we need help not only 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:25.280 telling the gospel story, not only that our lives would 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:28.520 be a testimony to the Savior who shed his blood. 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:32.200 For us, but so that we tell ourselves the. 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:37.359 Right story in the spaces of ten days. I wonder, 0:23:37.440 --> 0:23:39.440 is somebody in a ten days space. 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:41.960 Between what you. 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:44.359 Know God promised you and the help that you believe 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:47.600 that he'll send you, and you need the Holy Spirit 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:51.920 to make sense of him. So they go back to Jerusalem. 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:55.720 They start praying, which I think is very important. They 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:58.240 start praying with their prayer partners, which I think is 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:02.879 even more important. And then something very cool happens. Luke 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:05.399 gives us a cast of characters. Since we're going to 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:08.480 be in the Book of Acts, let's see the opening 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:13.879 credits for the Church. Now, remember the church is being born, 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:16.840 and it's a messy moment. And here's what's messy about it. 0:24:17.160 --> 0:24:21.320 The apostles returned to Jerusalem. All they see is a suitcase. 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:23.600 Jesus is gone. They don't know how long it's going 0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:26.080 to take. He said a few days. Did anybody hear 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:27.560 him say? Did he say two days? 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:27.639 No? 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:30.240 He said, a few days is a few, twenty is 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:32.840 a few, twelve is a few a year. I mean, 0:24:32.920 --> 0:24:35.160 Jesus to the Lord, to day is a thousand years. 0:24:35.160 --> 0:24:37.480 Thousand years is a day. Holly said something very profound 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:39.840 the other day. She said, I could go through trials 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:45.480 easier if God would give me a time clock on them, 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:50.960 if I only knew it's just ten days. And so 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:54.640 the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called Mount 0:24:54.680 --> 0:24:58.960 of Olives, Sabbath days walk from the city. When they arrived, 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:02.399 they went upstairs to the where they were staying. Those 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:03.400 present were. 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:05.200 Peter. 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:07.640 We won't read every name again, I already read them once. 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:14.560 But notice who's not there Jesus. The last time they 0:25:14.600 --> 0:25:19.199 were in this room, maybe Jesus was with them, he's not. 0:25:19.320 --> 0:25:25.480 Now what they have guided by is gone. And you're like, well, 0:25:25.560 --> 0:25:29.520 Jesus is always with me. I can see somebody clipping 0:25:29.520 --> 0:25:32.640 this right now and saying, Stephen Verdick said that Jesus 0:25:32.720 --> 0:25:37.520 was not with the disciples. I don't see his name 0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:41.040 on the list. He doesn't have a physical body at 0:25:41.080 --> 0:25:44.679 this moment on the earth. They can't hear his audible voice. 0:25:44.720 --> 0:25:47.880 That's what they're used to and all of a sudden 0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:51.680 they're joining together constantly in prayer, along with the women 0:25:51.760 --> 0:25:53.399 marry mother of Jesus's brothers. 0:25:53.440 --> 0:25:55.160 There there, it's about one hundred and twenty of them. 0:25:56.119 --> 0:25:59.560 And we have two elements that are in every great story, okay. 0:26:00.240 --> 0:26:06.000 One is that everything is messy that makes a great story. 0:26:06.600 --> 0:26:12.520 The second is something is missing, something is missing, and 0:26:12.600 --> 0:26:14.920 whenever you see a great story. One of my favorite 0:26:14.920 --> 0:26:17.480 shows that ever came on Netflix or I don't remember 0:26:17.480 --> 0:26:21.440 the original network, but the opening scene of the series, 0:26:21.640 --> 0:26:24.080 you see a pair of khaki pants fly through the air, 0:26:24.560 --> 0:26:26.639 and then the next scene you see a guy in 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:29.720 his whitey tidies behind the wheel of an RV with 0:26:29.840 --> 0:26:32.760 a gas mask on. And I got to know, how 0:26:32.800 --> 0:26:35.280 did he end up in his whitey tidies, How did 0:26:35.359 --> 0:26:38.639 his khaki pants fly through the air? Who's pants are these? 0:26:38.880 --> 0:26:41.479 Why is there a gas mask? What's going on on 0:26:41.520 --> 0:26:44.120 this show right now? And I gotta watch because it's 0:26:44.119 --> 0:26:46.760 messy and there's something missing. 0:26:49.040 --> 0:26:50.359 Is it possible. 0:26:51.359 --> 0:26:55.320 That the messiness in your life right now, and the 0:26:55.400 --> 0:26:59.080 missing thing in your life right now is the birthplace 0:27:00.080 --> 0:27:04.280 of a story that is just about ready to unfold 0:27:04.760 --> 0:27:09.480 for God's glory in your life. I think so, because 0:27:09.520 --> 0:27:15.800 the Bible says, in those days Peter. In those days, 0:27:16.320 --> 0:27:23.439 Peter stood up among the believers. Now, let's take just 0:27:23.480 --> 0:27:27.400 a moment to appreciate the beauty of the moment that 0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:31.359 Peter is standing among the believers. And maybe you wouldn't 0:27:31.359 --> 0:27:34.000 appreciate the beauty of this moment if you didn't read 0:27:34.080 --> 0:27:38.920 Luke's other book. In Luke's other book, we see Peter 0:27:39.520 --> 0:27:42.960 when Jesus was going to the cross to be accused. 0:27:42.440 --> 0:27:46.560 And condemned and hung and mocked and whipped. 0:27:47.280 --> 0:27:53.040 And as Peter is watching Jesus go to the cross, 0:27:53.840 --> 0:27:55.720 I want to show you this in Luke's other book, 0:27:57.000 --> 0:28:03.840 A Gospel of Luke, Chapter twenty two, verse number Way 0:28:03.880 --> 0:28:09.080 down here, there's a long chapter Luke. There's a long 0:28:09.200 --> 0:28:14.760 chapter Luke where he lets us know that when some there, 0:28:15.280 --> 0:28:17.760 as Jesus is going into the court of Caiaphas to 0:28:17.800 --> 0:28:22.679 be tried, when some there had kindled a fire in 0:28:22.720 --> 0:28:26.880 the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, 0:28:27.760 --> 0:28:34.560 Peter sat down with them. So, now do you understand 0:28:36.040 --> 0:28:40.440 why it's so amazing that by the time Luke writes 0:28:41.240 --> 0:28:44.560 his sequel, tell somebody next to you wait till you 0:28:44.600 --> 0:28:48.600 see the sequel, because by the time we get to. 0:28:48.520 --> 0:28:51.440 The sequel, the same Peter, I love it too. 0:28:51.480 --> 0:28:54.120 This gives me hope because there's been times in my 0:28:54.160 --> 0:28:57.120 life where I sat down by the fire. There's been 0:28:57.160 --> 0:28:58.440 times in my life where I. 0:28:58.440 --> 0:28:59.960 Compromised my convictions. 0:29:00.640 --> 0:29:03.200 There's been times in my life where I denied Christ 0:29:03.320 --> 0:29:05.840 with my actions, even though my lips said that I 0:29:05.880 --> 0:29:09.320 loved him. But in Endy, good to see Peter, who 0:29:09.360 --> 0:29:12.360 in Luke twenty two point fifty five was sitting by 0:29:12.440 --> 0:29:17.880 the fire. And the Bible says, the Bible says, the 0:29:18.000 --> 0:29:21.320 Bible says, I don't care what your past says. 0:29:21.640 --> 0:29:23.080 The Bible says. 0:29:23.480 --> 0:29:25.760 I don't care what Bartholomew thinks about it. 0:29:26.000 --> 0:29:27.480 The Bible says. 0:29:27.760 --> 0:29:30.320 I don't care what the accuser of the brethren says. 0:29:30.680 --> 0:29:36.120 The Bible says, in those days, Peter stood up among 0:29:36.200 --> 0:29:37.000 the believers. 0:29:37.000 --> 0:29:37.760 So watch this. 0:29:38.280 --> 0:29:41.320 Now we've got the one who was sitting by the fire, 0:29:41.760 --> 0:29:46.320 and now he's standing with the fire on the inside, declaring. 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:48.280 The word of the Lord. I'll speak a. 0:29:48.160 --> 0:29:51.720 New sequel over your life. I'll speak a new season 0:29:51.800 --> 0:29:55.600 over your life. I speak character development. 0:29:55.040 --> 0:29:56.240 Over your life. 0:29:56.440 --> 0:30:00.880 I'll see someone who was sitting down last night, sitting. 0:30:00.560 --> 0:30:03.840 Down in front of a computer watching porn. But God 0:30:03.920 --> 0:30:06.800 brought you to stand, you up on your feet, to. 0:30:06.920 --> 0:30:08.120 Brace God today. 0:30:09.720 --> 0:30:10.719 That's a story. 0:30:12.320 --> 0:30:21.480 Whyah my story. My story doesn't end with me sitting 0:30:21.560 --> 0:30:24.880 by this fire. My story doesn't end with me sitting 0:30:24.920 --> 0:30:28.320 in this failure. My story doesn't end with me crying 0:30:28.400 --> 0:30:31.520 over who left. My story doesn't end with my weak 0:30:31.640 --> 0:30:35.520 moment causing me to relapse. My story doesn't end with 0:30:35.640 --> 0:30:37.280 the fear telling me to stay out. 0:30:37.920 --> 0:30:46.680 My story has a sequel. Tell if you got a sequel. Bro, Oh, 0:30:46.800 --> 0:30:49.960 this is the sequel. I fought your neighbors. 0:30:49.640 --> 0:30:53.720 Say it's a sequel, Baby, this is a sequel. 0:30:55.720 --> 0:30:59.360 I was sitting in the last scene. But wait till 0:30:59.400 --> 0:31:03.120 you see my sequel. Wait till you see this sequel. 0:31:03.920 --> 0:31:10.440 Because the best stories are born in the messiest moments. 0:31:11.720 --> 0:31:14.280 Give him a messy Hallelujah. 0:31:14.680 --> 0:31:19.680 Give him a hard thought, Hallelujah. Give him a heart 0:31:19.760 --> 0:31:22.080 felt Hallelujah. 0:31:22.280 --> 0:31:23.360 Give him a been through. 0:31:23.480 --> 0:31:27.120 Helen came out on fire, Hallelujah. 0:31:27.200 --> 0:31:27.680 I am. 0:31:33.080 --> 0:31:37.360 I feel the Holy ghost because my mind said it 0:31:37.440 --> 0:31:41.120 was over. But I got a ghostwriter. My mind said 0:31:41.160 --> 0:31:44.320 it was over. But I got a ghostwrider, and when 0:31:44.360 --> 0:31:50.480 the Holy Ghost comes upon you, you will be my witness. 0:31:50.840 --> 0:31:57.000 Stand up. If you're a witness, stand out, Peter, sit down, signing, 0:31:58.200 --> 0:32:04.680 stand up, Peter, stand up, stand up. 0:32:04.760 --> 0:32:08.360 If you got a story, stand up. If you've been through. 0:32:08.160 --> 0:32:13.040 The waters, stand up, and me watched you clean stand up? 0:32:17.560 --> 0:32:20.280 How did he stand up out of that failure? He 0:32:20.400 --> 0:32:25.040 had help. Somebody holler, I got help. Put it in 0:32:25.120 --> 0:32:25.680 the comments. 0:32:25.760 --> 0:32:28.840 I got help. Let me tell you about the helper 0:32:28.880 --> 0:32:31.600 called the Holy Ghost. He's a ghost writer, and the 0:32:31.640 --> 0:32:34.880 Bible says he's a comforter. So if you are without comfort, 0:32:34.880 --> 0:32:37.920 you are not without comfort. Five seconds from now here 0:32:38.000 --> 0:32:38.800 comes to comfort. 0:32:38.880 --> 0:32:39.760 Or somebody say, I. 0:32:39.720 --> 0:32:43.560 Have Helphi give me clarity, because the Bible says that 0:32:43.600 --> 0:32:44.440 he is my God. 0:32:44.560 --> 0:32:47.800 I got a guide. Somebody shot, I got a guide. 0:32:48.160 --> 0:32:50.640 Even though the physical presence of Jesus wasn't there with him, 0:32:50.640 --> 0:32:52.360 and he is not here with us today, we have 0:32:52.480 --> 0:32:55.280 something on the inside that's letting us know he's more 0:32:55.320 --> 0:33:00.560 real than what I can see. 0:33:01.280 --> 0:33:02.800 Yeah, he's a baptizer. 0:33:03.560 --> 0:33:09.520 Anybody been baptized by the Holy Spirit, anybody been immersed 0:33:09.520 --> 0:33:10.400 in his mercy? 0:33:11.320 --> 0:33:12.880 To let you know it's not over. 0:33:14.720 --> 0:33:18.920 He's a he's a baptizer. Oh, I got so much 0:33:18.920 --> 0:33:23.240 to say about the Holy Spirit. He's an advocate. Yeah, 0:33:23.280 --> 0:33:26.240 he's an interpreter. Help you make sense out of your life. 0:33:26.800 --> 0:33:28.840 Help you sit down with stuff and say, God, show 0:33:28.880 --> 0:33:33.240 me my childhood from your perspective, Show me why I 0:33:33.280 --> 0:33:36.720 went through it from your perspective. I know what people 0:33:36.760 --> 0:33:38.719 would say about it. What do you say about it? 0:33:39.640 --> 0:33:44.360 I got a ghostwriter. It's not your story. It's not 0:33:44.480 --> 0:33:46.520 your story. Tell your neighbor. I'm sorry, but it's not 0:33:46.600 --> 0:33:50.040 your story. Now point up and clarify. I say it's 0:33:50.040 --> 0:33:54.280 his story, and he's gonna help me tell it. And 0:33:54.360 --> 0:33:58.239 wait till you see my sequel. Now look at him 0:33:58.280 --> 0:34:02.120 and say, I'm a page turner. Clap your hands. If 0:34:02.120 --> 0:34:07.560 you're a page turning out, blow it a. 0:34:07.560 --> 0:34:14.359 Down in the highest All right, y'all sit down. 0:34:14.400 --> 0:34:18.640 Peter stood up. What did he say? What did he say? 0:34:19.560 --> 0:34:23.440 Peter stood up in front of the whole group. I 0:34:23.480 --> 0:34:26.719 gotta show you this. Oh, this is gonna help you 0:34:27.360 --> 0:34:32.319 because I see somebody today it's like God is doing 0:34:32.360 --> 0:34:37.800 this because he's getting ready to do this. If you 0:34:37.840 --> 0:34:38.760 don't think it's too gross. 0:34:38.800 --> 0:34:39.479 Just do it real quick. 0:34:42.800 --> 0:34:45.400 That put that finger lick emoji thing on the chat 0:34:45.440 --> 0:34:46.120 on YouTube. 0:34:46.320 --> 0:34:50.719 I got one of those, and just just prophetically what 0:34:50.800 --> 0:34:51.719 God is about to do. 0:34:52.239 --> 0:34:53.160 Now watch this, watch this. 0:34:53.560 --> 0:34:56.040 If we did to Peter what the enemy does to us, 0:34:56.400 --> 0:35:04.200 we'd be doing this. But you ain't gonna find God 0:35:04.880 --> 0:35:07.799 back there because he is not here. 0:35:08.760 --> 0:35:13.640 He has risen. You get it, You get it? 0:35:14.320 --> 0:35:17.759 Shall I belabor the point? Don't look at me in 0:35:17.840 --> 0:35:20.880 Luke twenty two. I'm not in Luke twenty two anymore. 0:35:21.160 --> 0:35:27.280 This is the sequel. And I love the Lord because 0:35:27.880 --> 0:35:30.319 he has been preparing Peter for this moment. I mean, 0:35:30.360 --> 0:35:33.920 even Peter's failure was an opportunity for him to receive 0:35:33.960 --> 0:35:35.839 grace so that he could strengthen his brothers. And I'm 0:35:35.880 --> 0:35:38.080 about to show you something that was so powerful. When 0:35:38.080 --> 0:35:42.360 I saw it, I argued with God, Should I preach it? Now? 0:35:42.560 --> 0:35:45.040 A really good word from God will shut you up 0:35:45.080 --> 0:35:48.600 sometimes sometimes make it shout, and sometimes be like, I 0:35:48.640 --> 0:35:49.640 gotta think about that. 0:35:52.160 --> 0:35:55.359 Hmm. Let me see, I don't know about that. Man. 0:35:55.360 --> 0:35:57.480 You're telling me, You're telling me that I can be 0:35:57.560 --> 0:35:59.839 free from this. You tell me, I got to think 0:35:59.840 --> 0:36:00.479 of about that. 0:36:01.560 --> 0:36:03.640 You're telling me that I have the same Holy Spirit 0:36:03.719 --> 0:36:05.880 that the apostles I got. It I got because I 0:36:05.920 --> 0:36:07.719 sure don't feel like much of an apostle. 0:36:09.680 --> 0:36:11.319 And then you got. 0:36:11.360 --> 0:36:16.759 Peter stood up, said, brothers and sisters, now this is 0:36:16.800 --> 0:36:22.360 going to make you mad. He said, the scripture had 0:36:22.480 --> 0:36:27.879 to be fulfilled. That doesn't make you mad. This will 0:36:28.960 --> 0:36:34.480 which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas. 0:36:36.760 --> 0:36:39.040 It's bad enough that we don't have Jesus with us, 0:36:40.480 --> 0:36:43.640 and we got to talk about Judas. And Peter's like, yeah, 0:36:43.719 --> 0:36:48.200 let's talk about Judas. We've got to do something about 0:36:48.200 --> 0:36:52.799 the void that Judas left in this ministry. So Peter 0:36:52.880 --> 0:36:56.280 points back to a scripture and he begins to explain 0:36:56.280 --> 0:36:59.200 something about Judas. How Judas served as a guide for 0:36:59.239 --> 0:37:04.640 those who arrested Jesus. He served as a guide for 0:37:04.719 --> 0:37:08.160 those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number 0:37:08.160 --> 0:37:09.360 and shared in our ministry. 0:37:09.360 --> 0:37:13.080 We don't like to claim him because he betrayed our Lord. 0:37:14.239 --> 0:37:19.440 At this point, there is a period and Luke inserts 0:37:19.480 --> 0:37:22.840 a parenthesis to let us know an important detail. With 0:37:22.960 --> 0:37:25.400 the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field. 0:37:25.600 --> 0:37:26.759 There he fell headlong. 0:37:27.800 --> 0:37:32.040 His body burst open, and all his intestines spilled out. 0:37:32.400 --> 0:37:33.839 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about it. 0:37:33.920 --> 0:37:36.200 They called that field in their language a caldom of 0:37:36.239 --> 0:37:38.799 that is field of blood. Why did he put this 0:37:39.360 --> 0:37:47.360 part in Because all the best stories are born in 0:37:47.440 --> 0:37:52.160 the messiest moments. And as the Church, the body of Christ, 0:37:52.239 --> 0:37:57.120 is being born, we see the body of Judas that 0:37:57.239 --> 0:38:01.600 burst open. Nowt out to you, because don't you think 0:38:02.200 --> 0:38:04.720 if you had one book to tell the whole story 0:38:04.760 --> 0:38:07.440 of the spread of Christianity all through the Roman Empire, 0:38:08.600 --> 0:38:12.800 you only put in what's important and something he wanted 0:38:12.880 --> 0:38:15.040 us to know. By the way, Luke is a medical doctor, 0:38:16.080 --> 0:38:17.840 so he's into intestines and stuff. 0:38:17.880 --> 0:38:19.920 Apparently he's like, oh yeah, just one, a little thing. 0:38:20.000 --> 0:38:22.399 His intestines burst open and spelled out. 0:38:23.600 --> 0:38:26.000 Because I want you to know that as something is 0:38:26.440 --> 0:38:30.440 being born in your life, something else will be bursting 0:38:30.480 --> 0:38:32.400 out and it will be messy. 0:38:32.480 --> 0:38:36.200 But watch this. This is the word. It's a necessary mess. 0:38:38.920 --> 0:38:40.400 It's a necessary mess. 0:38:41.320 --> 0:38:44.160 Two types of messes in our house, the one Holly 0:38:44.200 --> 0:38:48.000 makes while she's cooking and the one the kids make 0:38:48.120 --> 0:38:49.840 after we go to bed, and we find in the 0:38:49.880 --> 0:38:52.280 morning and find them ten dollars. We have a system 0:38:52.320 --> 0:38:57.680 for this because her mess is feeding us, and their 0:38:57.840 --> 0:39:04.320 mess is completely unnecess Come on, and there's a difference 0:39:04.400 --> 0:39:07.360 between the one who is cooking something and makes a 0:39:07.440 --> 0:39:10.760 mess and the one who doesn't know how to clean anything. 0:39:11.320 --> 0:39:13.400 I'm gonna get off this real quick because my kids 0:39:13.400 --> 0:39:14.920 don't want that side of me to come out in 0:39:14.920 --> 0:39:18.279 the pulpit, and neither do you. Because there are some 0:39:18.400 --> 0:39:21.479 messes that are unnecessary. But the Lord said I would 0:39:21.520 --> 0:39:24.640 be speaking to somebody today. The Holy Spirit showed me 0:39:24.680 --> 0:39:27.640 that we would be speaking in this series about some 0:39:27.880 --> 0:39:30.120 necessary messes in your life. 0:39:30.800 --> 0:39:33.400 That it's a mess right now. But it is not 0:39:33.560 --> 0:39:36.200 because God forgot where to put things. 0:39:36.640 --> 0:39:39.520 It is not because God has left you. It's messy 0:39:39.640 --> 0:39:43.400 right now. Something's missing right now. It doesn't make sense 0:39:43.520 --> 0:39:47.239 right now, but it is a necessary mess for the 0:39:47.280 --> 0:39:48.680 Holy Spirit to come. 0:39:49.320 --> 0:39:52.399 Judas had to go. I will prove it to you. 0:39:53.000 --> 0:39:57.280 Peter says that it was written in Psalms when David 0:39:57.360 --> 0:40:01.920 wrote about Judas, and he mentions how Judas see the 0:40:02.000 --> 0:40:07.880 language served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus. 0:40:08.480 --> 0:40:14.080 Now in our story, the fact that Judas led Jesus 0:40:14.160 --> 0:40:17.600 to be arrested makes him. 0:40:17.920 --> 0:40:18.520 Let's write it. 0:40:19.360 --> 0:40:29.680 Judas is the the villain. Right, you sell Jesus for 0:40:29.760 --> 0:40:32.440 thirty pieces of silver. They take him to the cross, 0:40:32.520 --> 0:40:35.120 just when he's at the height of his ministry. Judas 0:40:35.239 --> 0:40:37.160 is the villain. And by the way, I thank God 0:40:37.200 --> 0:40:39.880 for the Holy Spirit because I was practicing this sermon 0:40:39.920 --> 0:40:42.400 this morning and I was spelling villain wrong, and the 0:40:42.400 --> 0:40:44.960 Holy Ghost told me go get your dictionary app and 0:40:45.000 --> 0:40:47.360 I realized that the a comes before the eye and 0:40:47.440 --> 0:40:49.640 I didn't have to learn it on YouTube. Let's thank 0:40:49.680 --> 0:40:54.560 the Holy Spirit for the ghost writer. I'll tell you 0:40:54.600 --> 0:40:57.120 I wrote it fifteen times. I was practicing this sermon 0:40:57.400 --> 0:40:58.759 and it was like, that doesn't look right. 0:40:58.760 --> 0:40:59.440 I don't know about that. 0:40:59.719 --> 0:41:01.680 Thank you, Holy Spirit, keep me from making a fool 0:41:01.680 --> 0:41:06.880 out of myself. And so he's the villain. But Peter said, 0:41:07.520 --> 0:41:13.200 Peter said something very interesting. He said he served as 0:41:13.239 --> 0:41:19.719 a guide for those who arrested Jesus. Because it's been 0:41:19.760 --> 0:41:25.920 forty five days now as the story is unfolding, Judas 0:41:26.000 --> 0:41:30.719 is the villain. He is the one betraying Jesus. But 0:41:30.800 --> 0:41:35.120 it's been forty five days and Jesus has given instructions 0:41:35.160 --> 0:41:40.319 now and they have spent time with the ghostwriter. Now 0:41:40.360 --> 0:41:44.759 Peter sees it a little differently. He says, it had 0:41:44.800 --> 0:41:50.600 to be it had to be fulfilled. We thought Judas 0:41:50.640 --> 0:41:54.840 was the villain, and from one standpoint, he is. But 0:41:54.960 --> 0:41:58.000 it had to be fulfilled because he was the guide 0:41:58.880 --> 0:42:03.320 that got Jesus arrests, and Jesus had to be arrested 0:42:04.960 --> 0:42:08.560 in order to be accused, and he had to be 0:42:08.640 --> 0:42:13.759 accused in order to be sentenced, and he had to 0:42:13.800 --> 0:42:18.759 be sentenced in order to be sacrificed. And he had 0:42:18.840 --> 0:42:22.920 to be sacrificed in order to be buried, and he 0:42:23.120 --> 0:42:27.239 had to be buried in order to be raised, and 0:42:27.320 --> 0:42:30.600 he had to be raised in order that you could 0:42:30.600 --> 0:42:34.239 be saved. So now what I see? Get ready to 0:42:34.239 --> 0:42:37.560 shout about this? You want to shout about something. Judas 0:42:37.760 --> 0:42:45.120 wasn't the villain. Judas was the vessel. And God says, 0:42:45.880 --> 0:42:49.239 I'm ready now, lorded that what you've been calling the 0:42:49.360 --> 0:42:53.040 villain of your story, the thing that you think came. 0:42:52.920 --> 0:42:53.520 To kill you. 0:42:53.960 --> 0:42:57.840 Oh no, God said, I sit down as a vessel 0:42:58.680 --> 0:43:00.080 to deliver my grain. 0:43:00.320 --> 0:43:04.239 In your life. There is something in your life. Are 0:43:04.280 --> 0:43:05.040 you ready for this? 0:43:05.600 --> 0:43:08.600 Not everybody can handle this level of preaching because we 0:43:08.680 --> 0:43:11.560 need Judas to be the villain. We think everything that 0:43:11.680 --> 0:43:14.759 hurts comes from hell, but some of the stuff that 0:43:14.920 --> 0:43:19.360 hurt me didn't come from hell. David said, it was 0:43:19.480 --> 0:43:22.279 good for me that I was afflicted. Some of the 0:43:22.320 --> 0:43:26.240 stuff that hurt me humbled me. It humbled me because 0:43:26.360 --> 0:43:30.120 God said, if you'll be humble in my sight, at 0:43:30.200 --> 0:43:37.040 due time, I will lift you. So now let me preach. 0:43:38.560 --> 0:43:43.640 It's not a movie. It's an episode. It's an episode. 0:43:44.520 --> 0:43:47.600 You think this is the end of your story, but 0:43:47.760 --> 0:43:51.960 you forgot something. This is a page turner. This is 0:43:52.040 --> 0:43:55.879 a page turner. Get ready for this because in your 0:43:55.920 --> 0:43:59.600 life right now, there is somebody who is waiting to 0:43:59.680 --> 0:44:02.759 see if you're gonna keep going. After you've been through 0:44:02.760 --> 0:44:06.960 what you've been through, there's somebody you know what. Your 0:44:07.040 --> 0:44:10.720 life is a page turner. Your grand babies are waiting 0:44:10.760 --> 0:44:14.360 to see how this turns out. Will you go back 0:44:15.160 --> 0:44:18.399 or will you go forward? Will you stay in Luke 0:44:18.440 --> 0:44:22.120 twenty two or will you stand up by the spirit 0:44:22.160 --> 0:44:30.440 of the God who's saved you. Don't tell me this 0:44:30.520 --> 0:44:32.680 is a fairy tale. 0:44:32.880 --> 0:44:36.000 It's real. In my life, I've. 0:44:35.880 --> 0:44:39.360 Watched people die and praise God with their last breath, 0:44:40.040 --> 0:44:44.560 and the story still wasn't over. I'll tell you about 0:44:44.560 --> 0:44:47.560 an encounter I had in a bookstore with a lady 0:44:47.600 --> 0:44:51.840 named Bianca. She wandered into the bookstore and had prayed 0:44:51.880 --> 0:44:55.279 that morning, I need a sign God, I need a 0:44:55.480 --> 0:44:58.960 sign God. She was leaving her house for the first 0:44:58.960 --> 0:45:02.759 time in weeks. She saw me and I was over 0:45:02.800 --> 0:45:05.600 there in the Christian living section, checking did they have 0:45:05.680 --> 0:45:09.319 my book on the shelf. I wish I could say 0:45:09.360 --> 0:45:11.960 I went to pray for people or learn something, but 0:45:12.080 --> 0:45:13.280 I was on a different mission. 0:45:15.280 --> 0:45:17.280 She walks over and says Pastor. 0:45:18.480 --> 0:45:21.480 I said yes. She said, I don't mean to bother you. 0:45:21.560 --> 0:45:23.640 I said, it's not a bother. She said, I'm Bianca. 0:45:23.719 --> 0:45:26.360 I said, Hi, Bianca. She said, I just kind of 0:45:26.400 --> 0:45:30.919 can't believe what I'm seeing right now because I've had 0:45:31.680 --> 0:45:34.960 I've had a really hard time the last few years, 0:45:35.800 --> 0:45:37.600 and I have all but quit on God. 0:45:38.760 --> 0:45:39.920 And the worst part. 0:45:39.760 --> 0:45:42.960 Is I moved to Charlotte to go to Elevation Church 0:45:43.360 --> 0:45:47.759 and I haven't been since quarantine. 0:45:47.960 --> 0:45:51.120 But today I said, I'm going to get out of 0:45:51.160 --> 0:45:53.120 the house and I'm going to make. 0:45:53.080 --> 0:45:57.800 An appointment to have a facial and I'm going to 0:45:57.880 --> 0:45:59.480 go to the bookstore and I'm going to do one 0:45:59.480 --> 0:46:04.319 thing physical, one thing spiritual. And I said, God, if 0:46:04.360 --> 0:46:07.120 I go out today and I don't get a sign 0:46:07.200 --> 0:46:10.160 that you're still with me, I don't know if I 0:46:10.200 --> 0:46:10.799 can make it. 0:46:12.360 --> 0:46:14.240 Two miscarriages in three years. 0:46:14.840 --> 0:46:18.400 I don't know if I can make it marriage, barely 0:46:18.440 --> 0:46:20.960 hanging on because of how low I am at the 0:46:20.960 --> 0:46:22.640 bottom of these feelings. 0:46:22.880 --> 0:46:24.000 Don't know if I can make it. 0:46:24.960 --> 0:46:27.560 But if God, you will give me a sign today, 0:46:28.040 --> 0:46:31.479 I said, Bianca, what about the sign that you moved 0:46:31.520 --> 0:46:32.600 to Charlotte. 0:46:32.200 --> 0:46:33.160 To come to Elevation. 0:46:35.680 --> 0:46:38.440 And God brought somebody else who moved to Charlotte to 0:46:38.440 --> 0:46:43.279 go to Elevation to this bookstore. I don't want to 0:46:43.280 --> 0:46:45.040 give them by name because they're not sponsoring me, and 0:46:45.040 --> 0:46:57.279 they didn't have my book to this bookstore. And she said, well, 0:46:57.320 --> 0:47:00.480 I came over here to buy a book. Can you 0:47:00.560 --> 0:47:06.000 recommend a good one for me? I said absolutely, I'll 0:47:06.040 --> 0:47:09.720 buy you two. If the first one doesn't work, surely 0:47:09.800 --> 0:47:10.799 the second one will. 0:47:11.640 --> 0:47:12.959 And if neither of them are. 0:47:12.880 --> 0:47:15.880 Good, I paid for him, so you can't complain, Bianca, 0:47:16.280 --> 0:47:19.560 this is your sign, This is your side. This is 0:47:19.600 --> 0:47:25.200 your side, This is your side. I thought it was 0:47:25.239 --> 0:47:27.440 real funny because I bought her a Joyce Meyer. 0:47:27.200 --> 0:47:28.720 Book and signed at Stephen Verdick. 0:47:32.400 --> 0:47:35.879 And then she turned to me before we left and said, 0:47:35.920 --> 0:47:37.880 one more thing. You've done so much, and I don't 0:47:37.920 --> 0:47:40.760 mean to ask for more, but do you have anything 0:47:40.800 --> 0:47:44.880 to say to me that might help me to believe 0:47:44.920 --> 0:47:47.319 that God has not done with me? And I had 0:47:47.360 --> 0:47:49.640 no idea what to say to her, because what do 0:47:49.800 --> 0:47:54.120 you say? You don't say a cookie cutter Christianese raised 0:47:54.120 --> 0:47:56.640 that rhymes and sounds like hickory dickory dot. 0:47:56.800 --> 0:48:04.280 It takes all you got. What do you say? 0:48:05.000 --> 0:48:09.360 I'm thankful that I had help in that moment. You know, 0:48:09.440 --> 0:48:11.399 the Holy Spirit will help you know what to say, 0:48:12.280 --> 0:48:14.280 to say to your kid, to say to your wife, 0:48:14.280 --> 0:48:17.000 to say to yourself, the say to your accuser, to 0:48:17.000 --> 0:48:18.160 say to your shame. 0:48:18.960 --> 0:48:21.160 To say to your mountain. I'll tell you what to 0:48:21.200 --> 0:48:21.960 say to your mountain. 0:48:22.400 --> 0:48:24.799 Move. I don't feel like climbing the day and I 0:48:24.840 --> 0:48:25.960 don't I'm hiking shoes. 0:48:26.280 --> 0:48:31.440 Get it out of my way. Move somebody shall move. 0:48:32.680 --> 0:48:33.799 God's not through with you. 0:48:34.960 --> 0:48:37.360 I reached and grabbed one more book off the shelf, 0:48:38.239 --> 0:48:40.279 and the Holy Spirit gave me something to share. 0:48:40.320 --> 0:48:42.200 I shared it last year, but y'all forgot it. 0:48:44.120 --> 0:48:47.319 I reached and got a book and I just held it, 0:48:48.040 --> 0:48:50.520 and where I held it was about right in the middle. 0:48:51.760 --> 0:48:53.480 And I looked at her and said, Bianca, I'm so 0:48:53.600 --> 0:48:56.920 sorry what you suffered. I'm so sorry how it's hurt you. 0:48:57.480 --> 0:48:59.279 I have no words to say that can make the 0:48:59.320 --> 0:49:01.920 miscarriages go away. I have no words to say that 0:49:02.000 --> 0:49:05.000 can guarantee the next result. I have no prophetic word 0:49:05.000 --> 0:49:08.200 from the Lord. But I feel like the Lord. 0:49:07.960 --> 0:49:11.400 Wants you to know that your life is a story 0:49:11.440 --> 0:49:14.480 he's telling, and you're. 0:49:14.400 --> 0:49:28.520 Only this far in, your only, this far in your 0:49:29.520 --> 0:49:35.200 only tell your neighbor this far in y'all, I preached 0:49:35.239 --> 0:49:43.360 all this and it's just acts chapter one, Your only. 0:49:43.719 --> 0:49:47.200 The devil wants you to think that this scene is this, 0:49:48.520 --> 0:49:53.360 and it's not this. God is just getting started. In 0:49:53.480 --> 0:49:58.759 my former book, Theofholos, come on tap your neighbors say, 0:49:58.760 --> 0:50:02.560 can I call you Theophilis. In my last book, I 0:50:02.640 --> 0:50:05.279 wrote about all that Jesus began to do. 0:50:06.280 --> 0:50:13.400 But he's just getting started. He's just getting started. 0:50:13.800 --> 0:50:16.759 Because when the Holy Ghost comes upon you you will 0:50:16.800 --> 0:50:20.120 have power. When the Holy Ghost comes. He will guide 0:50:20.120 --> 0:50:23.200 you into all truth. When the Holy Ghost comes, you 0:50:23.239 --> 0:50:26.280 will stand up straight where you used to sit in shame. 0:50:26.600 --> 0:50:33.160 When the Holy Ghost comes upon you, He's a baptizer. 0:50:34.440 --> 0:50:37.920 The Holy Ghost is a corrector. The Holy Ghost is 0:50:37.920 --> 0:50:41.839 a comforter, and the Holy Ghost is. 0:50:41.800 --> 0:50:51.799 A page turner. And if your life. 0:50:53.560 --> 0:50:58.719 Is a story God is telling, like Peter's life is 0:50:58.760 --> 0:51:02.239 a story that God was telling, like the Gospel is 0:51:02.280 --> 0:51:06.040 the story that God is always telling, that dead things rise, 0:51:07.320 --> 0:51:11.600 that sins can be forgiven, that new beginnings are possible. 0:51:13.320 --> 0:51:16.279 You look at your life from your point of view. 0:51:17.800 --> 0:51:22.560 You called Judas the villain, heartbreak the villain. You are 0:51:22.600 --> 0:51:27.560 tempted in this moment to close the book and go back. 0:51:31.400 --> 0:51:34.600 But the Holy Ghost, the Spirit. 0:51:34.320 --> 0:51:38.799 Of God, is a page turner who does not leave 0:51:38.840 --> 0:51:44.760 me in Luke twenty two, but brings me to Acts 0:51:45.320 --> 0:51:48.480 chapter one. 0:51:52.000 --> 0:51:53.120 So welcome. 0:51:55.600 --> 0:52:02.719 To the next chapter, Bianca, Welcome to the sequel, Theophilus. 0:52:04.239 --> 0:52:06.400 Welcome Peter, y'all. Peter. 0:52:07.400 --> 0:52:09.920 What touched me so much reading this was to realize 0:52:10.840 --> 0:52:14.520 Peter could have been dead right there alongside Judas. They 0:52:14.560 --> 0:52:19.719 both failed Jesus. The difference between Peter and Judas. Wasn't 0:52:19.760 --> 0:52:23.040 what they did or didn't do. They both messed up. 0:52:24.239 --> 0:52:31.759 It's that Peter was a page turner. Okay God, okay God. 0:52:31.880 --> 0:52:35.160 That happened. That happened. That happened. 0:52:35.160 --> 0:52:39.919 Now, Holy Spirit, I ask you, I I adjure you, 0:52:40.000 --> 0:52:42.759 I commission you, by the grace of God that has 0:52:42.800 --> 0:52:45.920 given to me, sit with the Holy Spirit this week. 0:52:46.800 --> 0:52:49.240 How do I do that? Pastor, I've never done that before. 0:52:49.400 --> 0:52:52.040 It is as simple as you sitting down with the 0:52:52.040 --> 0:52:55.280 page of the scripture. Sit down with the same scripture 0:52:55.360 --> 0:53:00.000 I read today. Take your Bible, open it to acts 0:53:00.880 --> 0:53:06.319 and say, Lord, Holy Spirit, speak to me, show me, 0:53:07.920 --> 0:53:12.920 show me your lens on my life, because I'm looking 0:53:12.920 --> 0:53:16.480 through my lens and it doesn't make sense. I'm looking 0:53:16.520 --> 0:53:18.600 through my lens and I'm a single mom and I'm 0:53:18.600 --> 0:53:20.400 not going to be able to give this child what 0:53:20.440 --> 0:53:23.120 they need to grow up with a strong family presence. 0:53:23.120 --> 0:53:25.200 I'm looking through my lens and I don't have. 0:53:25.320 --> 0:53:27.879 Enough to do this, and yet you gave me the opportunity. 0:53:28.040 --> 0:53:31.880 And why did you call God, God, give me your lens, 0:53:33.520 --> 0:53:36.080 the lens of your spirit. 0:53:38.000 --> 0:53:44.520 Peter, who was sitting by a fire, stood up among 0:53:44.560 --> 0:53:45.960 the disciples. 0:53:47.120 --> 0:53:48.239 In those days. 0:53:49.880 --> 0:53:55.120 In between the space of Jesus the Savior rising from 0:53:55.120 --> 0:53:56.760 the grave and the Spirit of God. 0:53:56.600 --> 0:54:01.520 Come in, not knowing how long they would wait. He 0:54:01.560 --> 0:54:05.960 acknowledged the mess and the uncertainty, and he says some 0:54:06.200 --> 0:54:14.440 very powerful words. For it is written that is what 0:54:14.560 --> 0:54:17.040 is going to tell you what to do next. 0:54:18.080 --> 0:54:25.160 It is written in the book of Psalm, may his 0:54:25.320 --> 0:54:28.960 place be deserted, let there be no one to dwell 0:54:28.960 --> 0:54:29.239 in it. 0:54:29.400 --> 0:54:31.240 That is a direct quote. 0:54:30.920 --> 0:54:37.920 From Psalm sixty nine, verse twenty five. And everybody say, 0:54:38.040 --> 0:54:43.600 and may another take his place of leadership? Wow, So 0:54:43.680 --> 0:54:46.200 he said it was written in Psalm sixty nine to 0:54:46.280 --> 0:54:49.440 twenty five that Judas was going to leave. That's what 0:54:49.480 --> 0:54:52.759 God was talking about all those years ago, and is 0:54:52.800 --> 0:54:57.000 happening in our situation. And see if you stop there, 0:54:57.120 --> 0:54:59.040 May his place be deserted. Let there be no one 0:54:59.040 --> 0:55:02.040 to dwell in it. Hopeless, we don't have what we need. 0:55:02.080 --> 0:55:04.000 We can't move forward. Jesus is gone. 0:55:04.160 --> 0:55:06.480 We don't know. It is the power of this. 0:55:06.719 --> 0:55:13.479 And because Peter said in Psalm sixty nine twenty five 0:55:13.560 --> 0:55:16.319 that says, may his place be deserted, let there be 0:55:16.400 --> 0:55:20.359 no one to dwell in it. But in Psalm one 0:55:20.480 --> 0:55:25.120 oh nine, verse eight, it says, may another take his. 0:55:25.160 --> 0:55:26.520 Place of leadership. 0:55:26.680 --> 0:55:31.880 I prophesy another over your life today, another chapter, another victory, 0:55:32.120 --> 0:55:38.840 another testimony, another one, another, one another, one another one. 0:55:39.600 --> 0:55:44.880 And you don't get this kind of wisdom. 0:55:43.320 --> 0:55:44.760 Unless you're a page turner. 0:55:46.440 --> 0:55:48.839 You got to get in here and start to see 0:55:48.880 --> 0:55:52.560 what God says about you about your life and ask him, 0:55:52.680 --> 0:55:55.080 Holy Spirit, speak to me. That's what I write at 0:55:55.120 --> 0:55:57.760 the top of my notes every time I read the Bible. 0:55:57.920 --> 0:56:00.000 Holy Spirit, speak to me from this scripture. 0:56:01.280 --> 0:56:03.160 Because if I don't, I think Judas was the villain 0:56:03.200 --> 0:56:07.280 when really he's the vessel. I'll think that the rejection 0:56:07.520 --> 0:56:09.480 was a curse, when really it was a blessing to 0:56:09.520 --> 0:56:11.920 make more space in my life for what God has next. 0:56:15.520 --> 0:56:18.600 I'll think that the problem is permanent and the faith 0:56:18.680 --> 0:56:20.680 is temporary, and I will not know that the faith 0:56:20.800 --> 0:56:23.440 was meant to remain and the problem came to pass. 0:56:25.080 --> 0:56:27.840 I'm telling you that God can speak over your situation, 0:56:28.200 --> 0:56:32.120 but you need the ghost writer. So you stop telling 0:56:32.160 --> 0:56:36.640 yourself there's a period where there's a comma, So you 0:56:36.680 --> 0:56:39.399 stop telling yourself that because you're messy, God can't give 0:56:39.440 --> 0:56:42.200 you a ministry, the devil is a liar, and the 0:56:42.239 --> 0:56:45.040 Holy Ghost is true. 0:56:46.200 --> 0:56:47.840 Somebody say I'm a page turner. 0:56:49.440 --> 0:56:51.640 I'm not saying I never sat by the fire. I'm 0:56:51.640 --> 0:56:53.600 not saying I never made a mess. I'm not saying 0:56:53.600 --> 0:56:59.360 I never messed it up. I'm just saying the devil 0:56:59.400 --> 0:57:00.520 starts lying you this week. 0:57:00.640 --> 0:57:00.880 Just go. 0:57:02.760 --> 0:57:04.279 You could do it suddenly. You could do it in 0:57:04.280 --> 0:57:05.680 the conference room. Nobody will even know. 0:57:05.800 --> 0:57:15.960 Just go, because this story is just getting started. 0:57:16.200 --> 0:57:21.280 You're only this far in. Next week, I'm gonna pick 0:57:21.280 --> 0:57:24.640 it up right here. Will you be back. We're only 0:57:24.760 --> 0:57:25.360 this far in. 0:57:28.760 --> 0:57:32.320 But before we close, I want you to stand in 0:57:32.440 --> 0:57:36.360 your sanctified feet, and I want you to plant your 0:57:36.400 --> 0:57:40.320 heels right there on the ground wherever you are and 0:57:40.360 --> 0:57:44.080 put it in the comment say I'm a page turner. Wait, 0:57:44.120 --> 0:57:46.000 I thought God was the page turner. 0:57:46.120 --> 0:57:46.560 Yeah. 0:57:46.640 --> 0:57:48.840 God is the one who makes it possible. But you 0:57:48.920 --> 0:57:51.280 are the one that makes it happen. By the decision 0:57:51.320 --> 0:57:53.600 to move forward in His presence, with His power in 0:57:53.640 --> 0:57:55.840 your life, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. 0:57:56.160 --> 0:57:59.600 We will see the gospelill go out in this book. 0:58:00.360 --> 0:58:04.760 But it starts with your decision to know. I'm only 0:58:04.840 --> 0:58:08.840 this far in, and we never would see Peter preach 0:58:08.880 --> 0:58:11.880 on the day of Pentecost if he didn't turn the page. 0:58:13.080 --> 0:58:14.680 And we never would see the man at the gate 0:58:14.720 --> 0:58:16.800 called beautiful jump up on his feet with his ankle 0:58:16.840 --> 0:58:22.800 strong if we didn't turn the page. Your children's children 0:58:23.360 --> 0:58:28.040 are waiting to see how your story goes next. Let's 0:58:28.040 --> 0:58:33.440 show him a good one, so you could tell them 0:58:34.200 --> 0:58:37.360 that defeat didn't have the last word in your life, 0:58:37.640 --> 0:58:41.200 that addiction didn't have the last word in your life. 0:58:41.400 --> 0:58:44.960 I stood up like Peter. I had a story to tell, 0:58:46.040 --> 0:58:48.840 and I had help lift your hands. 0:58:49.240 --> 0:58:52.120 I've come a long way. 0:58:52.920 --> 0:58:54.680 I've seen how you work. 0:58:56.480 --> 0:59:04.400 There's so much goodness and grace, much more than I. 0:59:03.400 --> 0:59:09.840 See, sir, because I know who I am. 0:59:09.880 --> 0:59:16.800 But I can't stay where I'm at. You've come this 0:59:17.160 --> 0:59:18.680 far by say. 0:59:20.800 --> 0:59:26.320 And I just can't turn back because he's not done 0:59:26.400 --> 0:59:26.760 with you. 0:59:27.360 --> 0:59:31.680 Yeah, he's not done with you. 0:59:31.800 --> 0:59:36.680 To lud, Yeah, there's a mass. 0:59:38.400 --> 0:59:43.960 Sorry, he's not done with She wouldn't I'm say, he's 0:59:44.040 --> 0:59:48.000 not going with me, is not dumb with me, He's 0:59:48.160 --> 0:59:56.360 not done, he's not duming me. Yeah, there's a master 0:59:57.200 --> 1:00:01.880 to this story. Come, he's so may stop. 1:00:04.760 --> 1:00:08.760 You're not talking, gets as asshole. 1:00:09.640 --> 1:00:10.400 He's have t. 1:00:12.840 --> 1:00:15.760 Start up, tear the hands off. 1:00:20.000 --> 1:00:21.600 You're not Henry. 1:00:21.680 --> 1:00:27.280 Haven't lifted, Henry head lifted, not talk it be chapter. 1:00:27.960 --> 1:00:33.440 You're not sick, You're having sat Here gives the next steppisode. 1:00:34.520 --> 1:00:45.880 There's as this sure dot to thank you for joining us. 1:00:46.160 --> 1:00:48.640 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:00:48.720 --> 1:00:52.200 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:00:52.640 --> 1:00:54.840 You can click the link in the description to give 1:00:54.920 --> 1:00:58.840 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 1:00:58.920 --> 1:01:02.760 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:01:03.160 --> 1:01:04.520 You can share it with your friends. 1:01:04.800 --> 1:01:07.080 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:01:07.120 --> 1:01:09.240 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:01:09.240 --> 1:01:10.120 Elevation Church. 1:01:10.160 --> 1:01:16.880 Thanks again for listening. God bless you