Surprise!

0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.559 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:17.520 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.119 I don't know what it's been like for you in 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:25.680 the last year, as we've all been like renegotiating our lives, 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.639 not negotiating with God, but just trying to figure out 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.720 where our life is pointed and just bring it down 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:34.640 just a moment. There may be a lot of you 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:38.440 who are going through something that's very disorienting and that 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:41.239 may be very negative. There may be some of you 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:43.600 that are going through something and it's actually been a 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:46.960 positive change for you. And one thing that I know 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.520 for all of us is that we don't always get 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:54.360 the chance to brace for impact when changes come in 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.120 our life, positive or negative, and that's what makes it 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.200 really challenging. So I want everybody in this room to stand, 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:03.920 and if you're able right where you are, I want 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.959 you to stand, and I want to read my scripture 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.560 for today because I'm so excited what God gave me 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:16.000 for us to study together for our Bible lesson the 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:21.080 scripture is Acts chapter three, verses one through sixteen. And 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:26.840 I'll give you a moment to find that and just 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:34.720 be open. Just be open and be attentive and be respectful. 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:40.039 God doesn't waste words, so you know, really value what 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.560 he gives you today. He might say one thing that 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:48.960 changes everything. I'm just telling you I've had that experience before, 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.600 and sometimes it wasn't even when I was looking for 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:58.880 some dramatic thing from God and just whack thud copal 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:04.600 like the comic book to Say, Acts chapter three, verse one. 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:06.760 One day, Peter and John were going up to the 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.320 temple at the time of prayer three in the afternoon. 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.839 Now a man who was lame from birth was being 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.000 carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.280 put every day to beg from those going into the 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.320 temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.400 he asked him for money. Peter looked straight at him, 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.520 as did John. Then Peter said, look at us. So 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.240 the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.720 from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold I do 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:39.799 not have, but what I do have I give you 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:45.040 in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk And 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.639 verse seven says that Peter took him by the right hand, 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.480 helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:54.919 became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:57.880 Then he went with him into the temple courts, walking 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.000 and jumping and praising God. All the people saw him 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:05.560 walking praising God. They recognized him as the same man 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.280 who used to sit begging at the temple gate, called beautiful, 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.880 and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.280 had happened to him. While the man held on to 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.160 Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:24.680 running to the place called Solomon's colonnade. Came running to 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.120 them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. And when Peter 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:33.799 saw this, he said to them, fellow Israelites, why does 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:39.600 this surprise you? Why you stare at us as if 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:41.960 by our own power or godliness we had made this 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:46.640 man walk. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:51.160 God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:54.720 handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.360 before Pilot, though he had decided to let him go. 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.680 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.160 a murderer be released to you. You killed the author 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:09.560 of life, but God raised him from the dead. We 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.440 are witnesses of this by faith in the name of Jesus. 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:19.279 This man, whom you see and know, was made strong. 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:25.240 It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him. 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:30.719 Thank you Lord that has completely healed him. As you 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.599 can all see, I'm going to tell you my title. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.520 It's going to be a controversial one, but I want 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.080 you to shout it at the top of your lungs. 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.920 It's only a one word title. Look at somebody next 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:50.000 to you and say, surprise, be seated, surprise. I was 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:54.279 watching your reaction to that. I wish I could see you. 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.760 You like surprises, Raise your hand in the chat. If 0:04:57.800 --> 0:04:59.480 you like surprises, raise your hand in the room. If 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:05.080 you like surprise. See I like surprises that I like? 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.320 Is that fair enough? I like surprises that I like. 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:16.400 If you like surprises, raise your hand in the chat. Yeah, 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.560 don't like to be surprised. Just shoot your hand up 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:24.960 real quick, just real quick, y'all. Raised it slow because 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:27.240 you don't like anything surprising. Even the raising of your 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.279 own hand is like your brain was managing the speed 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:31.840 of your hand. You're like, we're going to go up now. 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:37.039 In response to the preacher's question, or remember, one of 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.159 my best friends is named Craig Grochelle. He pastors a 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.200 church in Oklahoma. Of course you know him. He's been 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:48.200 here a million times. I look up to him so much. 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:52.039 But a few years ago I thought he was too 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.680 stressed out. So I went to go see him. But 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.479 I want to surprise him. The reason I wanted to 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.000 surprise him is because he is such a control freak. 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:03.800 And I asked his permission to share this illustration. I'll 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:09.800 ask forgiveness afterwards, because I knew if I said can 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.000 I come, he'd go, ah, I got this, I got that, 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.920 I got the other blah blah blah. And I got 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.400 to preach for seventy five million people out there in Russia, 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:23.160 things like this that he does. And so I said, uh, 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:24.880 you know, I got to drink a protein shake, I 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.359 got a bench fresh seven hundred pounds. He's just so efficient, 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:33.240 and so I was like, I'll just go. So Jessica 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.160 Mitchell on our staff. She reached out to the assistant 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.240 that worked in his office and just showed that we 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.720 were coming, but don't tell him. So I go on 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.120 the airplane. It's something that we used to do for 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:46.880 those of you that are watching this into your twenty 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:52.680 twenty one. And then when I got there, the gentleman 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:54.080 that picked me up from the airport that was on 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:57.080 his staff, I said, where are you gonna sneak me in? 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.200 He goes, h, well, he kind of knows you're coming. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.480 I said, well, how does he know I'm coming? They said, well, 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:17.040 we told him because he didn't like surprises. And this 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:18.440 is what I said in my head, all right, and 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:20.560 this is the transcript that didn't make it voice to 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.200 speech thing. It was just a text in my head. 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:29.800 I thought, well, dummy, you're not his friend. I'm his friend. 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.800 I didn't come out here because he liked surprises. I 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:42.080 came out here because he needed one. Dummy didn't say 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.080 that much too. I'm a man of God and I 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.960 don't say things like this. I have a filter of 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.800 things like this. But it was funny to me how 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:58.200 they thought that just because he didn't like surprises meant 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:02.840 he didn't never need surprises, you know. And I knew 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.000 if I told him I was coming, it would stress 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.280 him out. So I knew that the way to really 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.280 support my friend in a stressful season was to show 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:13.760 up and give him no choice about what what's he 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:15.680 gonna do? Kick me out when I show up at 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:19.280 the door. So when I saw him, I was angry. 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.800 I said, surprise, you know what I'm saying. The next 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.560 time I went out, I didn't tell anybody I was coming. 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:28.520 I got on the airplane, send him a picture of 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:29.920 the board and passed and I said, uber, are you 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.160 picking me up at the airport? I didn't ask because 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:37.880 I know just because he doesn't like surprises doesn't mean 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:44.680 he never needs surprises. So when we get to Acts 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.199 chapter three, and when I say turning your Bible to 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:50.320 Acts three, like I just did a minute ago, our 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:53.800 scripture is Acts chapter three. There are many people who 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:59.079 listen to me preach who are like, okay, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:03.160 numbers due to run me, Joshua Judges, WHOA I'm not 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:07.120 seeing an axe acts as axe? This is going to 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.479 be a good one. Is this about like a battle axe? 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:14.000 Are going to be? You know? They never heard this 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.320 story before, so they're probably going to get the most 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:22.320 out of it. The people that will have a hard 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.520 time hearing this with their heart are the people who 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:34.880 know it in their head. So shot again, surprise. Well, 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.439 we have an ongoing argument in my house because my 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.840 wife is very jumpy again. She only has two flaws. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.240 This is this only other flaw she has other than 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.320 the one I told you about last week. She only 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:50.839 has two flaws. She's so skittish and it angers me 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.719 to no end because I have to walk around my 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:59.719 house like some sort of secret ninja, you know, like 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:03.079 have to sneak around my house so as not to 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.280 scare her. And I tell her when when I walk 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.520 in a room and she jumps up, I go, I 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.800 live here? Am I allowed to live here? It's so uncomfortable, 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.360 like having to sneak around like the burglar in the 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:23.559 house that I bought. Love you, Hollyanna, but it's just weird. 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:29.319 I live here, I live here. I live here, and 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:31.640 I can't just move around and do what I want 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:38.040 to do. So of course, the parallel is that a 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:43.400 lot of times in church, when God actually shows up, 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:49.920 we kind of act like we didn't expect it to 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:52.199 begin with, and I'll show you this in the text 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.760 from the Teachers of the Law and the Saddresses and 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.760 the Temple Guard, because when Peter did a miracle, they 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:01.040 threw him in prison. That's what happens in this text. 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:03.839 But before we get to that, let me back all 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.080 the way up to the beginning, because there are several 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:11.000 surprises in this passage that may not be apparent to 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:15.040 the naked eye. First of all, you might be surprised 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.040 to see Peter and John hanging out together. To begin with. 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:23.880 You might be surprised that they would get along because 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:31.160 they are completely different. They are completely different. And our 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.680 expectation is that God is going to bring people into 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:40.400 our life that are similar to us. That's called a mirror. 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.199 You can buy that at lows. You don't need people 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.480 in your life that always just reflect back at you 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:54.280 your same exact preferences and prejudices, reinforcing your biases. God 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.520 will bring people into your life that He will use, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:03.240 and it will sometimes surprise you who he uses. So 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:10.360 Peter and John are somewhat surprising to see together because 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:17.720 Peter is boisterous and John is I have a hard 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:21.400 time with people like John when I was reading the passage, 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:26.520 you might not have noticed he didn't do anything. I 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:28.440 won't take time to read the whole thing again because 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.959 I'm gonna I'm gonna clock budget here today with you. 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.880 But but I promise you read the whole thing. Well, 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.199 he did one thing. Okay, I don't want to overstate it. 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.120 He did one thing. John did one thing. Verse four. 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:47.240 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. This guy, 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:52.600 this guy. The only the only part that he had 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.840 in the passage that I can see is to look 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:01.000 at the man who's asking for the money. He didn't say, oh, Peter, 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:02.719 don't worry about you left your wallet back at the 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.040 day I got my wallet here. No, he didn't grab 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.400 the left hand while Peter grabbed the right hand. No, 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:10.000 he didn't look at Peter and say you can do it, Peter. 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.480 It's just like you said, Jesus do with the blind eyes. 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.439 And when we went the issue of blood, no encouragement, no, nothing, 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.839 just looked at the man that Peter looked at. But 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:23.240 I I wonder if it was John's perspective that Peter 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:31.000 needed that was different than his, that enabled him to 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:37.800 be in position to experience God's power. So you might 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.760 be surprised. Somebody say it out loud, you might be 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:50.920 surprised who God uses in your life. God has done 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.880 some of the biggest things in my life through people 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.640 I didn't like. No, I won't give you a list. 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.199 I'm not going to name names. But some of the 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.600 biggest things God did in my life he did through 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:08.400 people I didn't even really enjoy hanging out with. And 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.079 the problem with us is, you know, God wants to 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:16.160 bring somebody into our life, but if they don't exactly 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:21.360 match the specifications of the friends that we think we 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.800 want or of the people that we think usually the 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:26.160 people that we think we need, God to send her 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:27.520 to the people who already think what we think. So 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.440 why would God send something that we already have plenty 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:41.120 of Peter and John. I was surprised they were still 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:45.800 hanging out because they were so competitive. They have a history, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.320 you know, Peter and John, they were partners in a 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:50.960 fishing business and they became fishers of men and Jesus, 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:54.440 and they had some adventures together. They had history together. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.720 Peter and John not only ran to the tomb together. 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:00.920 And check this out. How different opectives are and how 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.000 God can give you a person that has a different 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.800 perspective than you in order to help you see something 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.560 that you would have been tempted maybe to, just like 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.880 you would have completely missed it. When they got to 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:17.840 the tomb and it was empty, they were surprised. Why 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:23.120 were they surprised? He spent Jesus spent. Well, I guess 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.600 a dead man rising from the grave is surprising, but 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:27.520 after all they've seen him do I know is kind 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.200 of obvious, but this is exactly what he said he 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.960 would do. So when the stone was rolled away when 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.400 they got there on Sunday, they were shocked by it. 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.720 When the women came back, because the women had the 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.600 ability to believe something that the men couldn't believe. And 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.000 I don't know if that says anything about how God 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.240 uses sometimes, you know, people or whatever whatever whatever. The 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.560 men were like the official disciples, but the women were 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:56.520 the ones who went to the tomb. All right, now, 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:03.200 y'all are a little too loud on this point. When 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.960 John got there, he got there first, but he didn't 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.000 go in. When Peter got there, Peter went in, but 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:15.200 he didn't believe. So God used John, who stood outside 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:21.400 the tomb at a distance, to believe Peter was wired 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:25.000 to believe it when he sees it. John stood out, John, 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:27.120 I got to give you an idea of the differences. 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.280 Why is so surprising? John at the Last Supper, when 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:32.280 Jesus was saying, one of you is going to betray me, 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.520 leaned back on Jesus's chest and said nothing. Peter said, 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:39.760 not me. Even if you die, I'm gonna be right here. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:41.920 If the wheels fall off, all right with you. It 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.560 doesn't matter, Jesus. I'll cut off an ear, I'll cut 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:46.600 off a head, I'll do anything but let the cock 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.000 crow three times, and Peter's denying him like he never 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:55.920 knew him. Is surprising that God would use two people 0:16:55.960 --> 0:17:01.200 who were so different and use them to do something 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:06.560 so amazing as perform the first miracle since the birth 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.520 of the Church that we witness in the Book of Acts, 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:21.400 Peter and John together. If you are more like John 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:27.040 than Peter, that's okay. It will shock you some of 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.680 the things that God will use about your personality that 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:32.399 you think mean that he can't use you. And I 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:33.639 don't want to stay there long because it really not 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.960 my message. But that surprised me that it was Peter 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:43.840 and John together because they seem like polar opposite. So question, 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.080 are you open to who God wants to use in 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:51.280 your life or do you have a wish list that 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.560 looks more like something that you should handt a Santa 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.959 than something that you should pray to Jesus. And if 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.440 they don't match the exact specifications of who you thought 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.920 God would use, can you be open to a surprise? 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.119 A surprise? Some of the best work I ever did 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:13.120 in my life was with people that I didn't see 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.400 it on the surface, but see, here's what they're doing. 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.040 They're going up to the temple at the time of 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:23.280 prayer three in the afternoon. You got your nine am prayer, 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.920 you got your twelve noon prayer, you got your three 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:31.400 pm prayer, and they're going to the temple. That surprised 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:40.200 me because the temple was the old system. So now 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:44.159 they're preaching the gospel Jesus has ascended to heaven. The 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:46.840 context of this is that the day of Pentecost has 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:51.919 already come. Peter preaches this amazing confrontational sermon. It wouldn't 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:54.680 have been like a YouTube popular sermon. It wouldn't have 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:57.040 got a lot of clicks or views or comments or anything. 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.879 Like that. But it was very effective because when he 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.680 preached that, the Holy Spirit demonstrated with power. Everybody say power. 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.160 Don't say it real timid, say power. That's better. That's better. 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:11.679 When you say power, say it from your diaphragm, say power. 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:14.879 And now, all of a sudden, the Spirit's power was 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.800 a demonstration of what Peter preached, and God did an 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:23.600 amazing work. Three thousand came into their number that day. 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.560 Now in Acts chapter three, as the church is growing, 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:31.879 this this sect that was considered like almost like a 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:36.720 cult of Judaism. These two leaders, two of the appointed 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:41.800 designated leaders from the twelve Disciples. They're going up to 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:46.440 the temple, which is where they used to worship. But 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:51.920 they have a new understanding that Jesus, God's Messiah, who 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:55.200 wasn't a new religion. It was the fulfillment of what 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.639 God already started. Stay with me, there's going to be 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:02.359 a payoff to all this back I'm giving you. When 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.840 they go up to the temple at the time of prayer, 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:09.879 they are doing what they always did. And at this 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.760 point in the text we get a picture of sometimes 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.480 how we are in between two things in our life. 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:19.879 We are in between two things in our life. There 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.399 is the old thing that we used to do. There 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.959 is the old thing, the familiar thing, the nostalgic thing, 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.360 the comforting thing, and then there is the new thing, 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:34.760 which is true. But in between the two sometimes you 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:38.280 have to have a new belief in the same temple, 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:43.960 a new belief in the same system. So they're going 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.400 to temple like they always did. They're going not only 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:50.320 to temple like they did once a week. They did 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:53.960 this every day. In the Jewish culture. It would not 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:57.560 be unusual to hit all three prayer services. You might 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:01.000 have been there at nine, and twelve and three. So 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:04.120 they are doing something that is very familiar to them. 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.200 When God, when God gives them what we would call 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.560 an interruption in their schedule. Now, let's watch this verse two. 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:16.760 A man who was laying from birth was being carried 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.720 to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:25.000 every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:29.120 Now let's kind of get in the middle of this situation. 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:34.120 He's moving toward his spot by the gate. They're moving 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:40.760 toward their spot in the temple. And what's amazing about 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:44.920 what happens next is that in order for the miracle 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:50.520 to happen, both parties had to be open to a 0:21:51.840 --> 0:22:02.399 divine surprise. Are you open to divine surprises? Some of 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:06.400 us aren't. In fact, I was imagining this modern day. 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:08.280 You know, I've preached this text a few times, so 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:10.960 I was imagining, like, how would it look in twenty 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.880 twenty one? And as I played it out, nobody got 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.080 healed in the passage because everybody was looking at their 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:20.600 phones on the way into church. The whole miracle had 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:23.280 just stopped right at verse three. It was Peter and 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:25.960 John going in and the man was going to a spot, 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:29.159 and nobody got anything because nobody was looking for anything 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:31.560 except something that was inside, something that wasn't even real. 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:36.480 And what we like about this, while I can do 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:39.840 my weekly rent against the phones that I'm addicted to 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:44.440 as well, while we do this, what we like about 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:50.760 it is it's predictable. It's predictably miserable, but it gives 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:53.440 us something to go to where we can know exactly 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:56.280 this is available to me. So now now, if I 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:59.280 live my real life, I might be surprised. I don't 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:02.280 like to be some unless I like the surprise. Ordered 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:05.320 the prize, Customize the surprise so this is the God. 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:07.680 We want this to Jesus. We want God, let me 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:10.600 customize the surprises that I want you to send into 0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:15.560 my life today. And when I realized about the Temple 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:17.960 of Us, all of the people who were leading in 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:22.119 the temple were surprised when God actually did something. But 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:28.000 it was his house. Now walk around into Holly, this 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:30.920 is my house too. Can I move from room to room? 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.960 And you're not freak out when something actually happened in 0:23:35.000 --> 0:23:37.879 the name of Jesus. They were surprised that God had 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:42.120 the audacity to move in his own house. Can God 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:47.240 move in his own house? Can the pother tell the 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:51.040 clay what to be? Can God switch things around a 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:54.520 little bit? Can God give you a blue wind instead 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:56.240 of a red wind? I mean, can we start small? 0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:59.119 Some of us just don't like any surprises, so we 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:09.119 structure God right out of our prayer life. Peter probably, 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:14.600 Peter probably wouldn't have stopped to see the man if 0:24:14.640 --> 0:24:22.960 it hadn't been for quiet John, and the man probably 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.320 would not have received this healing. Now, he definitely wouldn't 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:29.560 have received it if he insisted on getting what he 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:32.760 asked for in the first place. Now here's why This 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:38.040 matters to you because right now you are in the 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:41.639 process of, if I can put it this way, you 0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:45.479 are trying to decide whether to embrace what life has 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:54.480 surprised you with or fight it. Just like this man. 0:24:55.680 --> 0:24:59.040 He was paralyzed from birth. Side note, you are not 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:09.159 stuck with what you are born ass right, right, Jesus 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:15.000 is bigger than your genetics. Side note, the man in 0:25:15.119 --> 0:25:20.520 this passage was forty years old. So now what we're 0:25:20.600 --> 0:25:23.680 about to see happen is God is going to give 0:25:23.920 --> 0:25:26.480 this man something that he gave up on a long 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:30.800 time ago. And I know what that feels like, because 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:38.000 the longer that you live, the less surprisable you become. Right, 0:25:39.200 --> 0:25:41.119 you start out when you're like, I don't know. I 0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:43.280 was twenty five years old as a pastor, and I 0:25:43.320 --> 0:25:48.440 would see something, I'd be like, they would never betray me. 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:54.320 I hadn't said that in a while, right, Or I say, 0:25:54.600 --> 0:25:56.120 I don't want to make it all negative. I would 0:25:56.160 --> 0:25:59.800 say something like, well, I could never change this habit, 0:26:01.280 --> 0:26:07.200 and then I did. I did. You won't believe this. 0:26:07.880 --> 0:26:12.680 I do two leg days a week now in the gym. 0:26:13.400 --> 0:26:18.159 Y'all give it up. That's a big deal, now, I 0:26:18.440 --> 0:26:23.520 like this man. I am forty one years old and 0:26:23.680 --> 0:26:26.920 I have lived to see some things that I never 0:26:27.080 --> 0:26:31.679 thought would happen, good and bad. I told Buck when 0:26:31.720 --> 0:26:35.760 he started training me when I was twenty eight. I said, 0:26:36.000 --> 0:26:39.520 I don't do legs. Just like my mom has this thing. 0:26:39.800 --> 0:26:45.119 Ah don't merge, Ah don't merge. Ah don't merge. She 0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:47.080 does this whole bit about it. You can ask her 0:26:47.119 --> 0:26:49.560 sometimes she has this traffic thing. Ah don't merge. She 0:26:49.600 --> 0:26:52.760 will drive seventeen hours to get to Walmart so she 0:26:52.840 --> 0:26:55.359 doesn't have to merge on forty five. But it's a blessing, Okay, 0:26:55.640 --> 0:26:58.240 a small town. So, but the longer you go in life, 0:26:58.280 --> 0:27:03.720 you get things like, oh, that happens people do that. 0:27:06.320 --> 0:27:09.359 I missed an opportunity, y'all, and I kicked myself about it. 0:27:09.560 --> 0:27:12.160 I should have wrote my parenting book before my kids 0:27:12.200 --> 0:27:18.080 were born. I could have written such a good book. 0:27:18.119 --> 0:27:21.040 Could have been seven hundred and thirty three pages about 0:27:21.080 --> 0:27:23.280 what to never do with the child, and what to 0:27:23.359 --> 0:27:26.359 always do and what kind of kids grow up God's 0:27:26.440 --> 0:27:30.920 way to flourish in the courts of our God. Should 0:27:30.960 --> 0:27:35.720 have wrote it before I found out. You know that 0:27:37.359 --> 0:27:45.280 life will surprise you man, life will surprise you. People 0:27:45.320 --> 0:27:53.400 will sure enough surprise you, and you get traumatized. It's 0:27:53.440 --> 0:27:56.960 weird because like certain people on my phone, they gave 0:27:57.040 --> 0:27:58.919 me bad news once, so I'm scared to see their 0:27:58.960 --> 0:28:03.520 name at all anymore. Oh, no, can you relate to 0:28:03.560 --> 0:28:06.800 this at all? This is a term in for the 0:28:06.880 --> 0:28:15.359 people over age ten. And then you become less surprisable, 0:28:17.280 --> 0:28:28.359 You become more cynical, you become more jaded. You call 0:28:28.440 --> 0:28:33.680 it discerning, but that doesn't change what it is. Right. 0:28:33.880 --> 0:28:36.680 You can put a briar's label on a can of spinach, 0:28:36.800 --> 0:28:45.480 but it's still okay, it's still spinach. So in this 0:28:45.640 --> 0:28:48.480 passage you got to give a lot of credit to 0:28:48.640 --> 0:28:52.800 how much Peter has grown by this point in his ministry. 0:28:53.600 --> 0:28:55.960 And really the credit goes to the Holy Spirit, because 0:28:56.800 --> 0:28:59.920 in Peter's own mind, he was probably the least surprised 0:29:00.360 --> 0:29:03.880 the disciples. He was surprising because he would do the 0:29:04.000 --> 0:29:06.920 stupidest thing that you could imagine and think that he 0:29:07.040 --> 0:29:10.040 was doing something good for Jesus. But did you know 0:29:10.120 --> 0:29:15.960 that Peter was actually shocked when Jesus went to the cross. 0:29:17.080 --> 0:29:18.960 Not only was he shocked when he rose from the dead, 0:29:20.240 --> 0:29:24.800 he was shocked when he died. What did you think 0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:29.280 he came for? He told you this over and over 0:29:29.560 --> 0:29:31.560 and over again. One thing I was reading this week, 0:29:31.600 --> 0:29:33.480 I was just studying all about Peter. I just went 0:29:33.520 --> 0:29:35.560 on this Peter binge this week, and I was looking 0:29:35.600 --> 0:29:37.560 at all the different things that Peter said and did, 0:29:37.800 --> 0:29:40.520 and he talked a lot, and sometimes when he would 0:29:40.520 --> 0:29:42.720 say something. One time, Jesus took them up on the 0:29:42.800 --> 0:29:45.600 Mount of Transfiguration, and you can look this up later. 0:29:45.640 --> 0:29:48.400 It's really cool. He went up there and Jesus was 0:29:48.520 --> 0:29:52.200 talking to Moses and Elijah about his departure, because he 0:29:52.280 --> 0:29:54.200 was getting ready to go to Jerusalem, where he would 0:29:54.200 --> 0:29:56.640 pay the price for our sin as the sacrificial lamb 0:29:56.640 --> 0:29:58.520 of God that was slain before the foundation of the earth, 0:29:58.640 --> 0:30:00.120 the very purpose for which he came to say, save 0:30:00.160 --> 0:30:02.120 his people from their sins. And he's going to do that. 0:30:02.560 --> 0:30:07.080 And Peter is sleepy, so he doesn't really listen. But 0:30:07.160 --> 0:30:09.680 as soon as he wakes up, he starts talking, and 0:30:09.800 --> 0:30:11.800 it says something so weird. In the Bible, it says 0:30:11.880 --> 0:30:14.840 that Peter started saying, let's build a shelter up here 0:30:14.960 --> 0:30:18.440 for you, a shelter for Moses, A shelter for Elijah? 0:30:19.240 --> 0:30:22.400 What was he trying to do keep Jesus from coming 0:30:22.480 --> 0:30:25.200 down that mountain and going to the cross. And in 0:30:25.320 --> 0:30:28.880 a parenthetical insert, the author says he did not know 0:30:29.280 --> 0:30:32.520 what he was saying. In other words, he didn't know 0:30:33.080 --> 0:30:37.200 what he was talking about. For everybody who is arrogant 0:30:37.360 --> 0:30:41.760 enough to speak about what other people should do in 0:30:42.000 --> 0:30:46.840 challenges that you have never faced, I just want to 0:30:46.880 --> 0:30:51.440 warn you with this, life will surprise you. Okay, So 0:30:51.640 --> 0:30:54.120 if you're a new pastor and you're saying, well, my 0:30:54.360 --> 0:30:58.760 church will never you don't know what you're talking about. 0:31:00.520 --> 0:31:04.000 If you're a new uh, a new husband or a 0:31:04.080 --> 0:31:07.719 new wife in my marriage, we will never write your 0:31:07.800 --> 0:31:10.920 marriage book while you are still engaged. Better yet, write 0:31:10.920 --> 0:31:13.680 it on the first because life will surprise you and 0:31:13.800 --> 0:31:16.680 it will take away all of your answers and you 0:31:16.800 --> 0:31:23.840 won't be able to write your book. And the real 0:31:24.040 --> 0:31:26.440 challenge of faith. Watch this. This is the part that 0:31:26.520 --> 0:31:29.320 freaked me out. The real challenge of faith is not 0:31:29.520 --> 0:31:36.760 to be more certain. It is to stay surprisable. And 0:31:37.080 --> 0:31:41.800 yes that is a word in Miriam Webster. You can 0:31:41.960 --> 0:31:47.360 cross check me while I preach from the text stay surprisable. 0:31:47.760 --> 0:31:49.840 See the thing about the man in the passage. I'll 0:31:49.840 --> 0:31:51.640 sit down. I gotta teach the thing about the man 0:31:51.720 --> 0:31:54.880 in the passage. He wasn't expecting to get healed. In fact, 0:31:54.960 --> 0:31:57.480 this is a unique miracle that God chose to launch 0:31:57.560 --> 0:32:00.760 the church because usually when Jesus I see people they 0:32:00.840 --> 0:32:07.960 asked to be hell. Peter is so obnoxiously proactive he 0:32:08.200 --> 0:32:10.360 doesn't even ask the man, are you looking for a 0:32:10.400 --> 0:32:12.440 life change? Because the moment he gets up and walks, 0:32:12.440 --> 0:32:21.320 he can't beg anymore. We don't think about this stuff 0:32:21.560 --> 0:32:25.120 in the Bible, like the man jumps up and walks. Now, 0:32:25.200 --> 0:32:29.520 what if he's gonna do this miracle in a consider 0:32:29.600 --> 0:32:32.040 it way for all interested parties. He's just say something 0:32:32.160 --> 0:32:36.280 like this, Hey man, about this time next week, I'm 0:32:36.280 --> 0:32:39.280 gonna come by. I got something for you. I got 0:32:39.320 --> 0:32:41.520 the name of Jesus I served under. Yeah you heard 0:32:41.520 --> 0:32:43.280 abou him? Yeah, yeah, rose from dead. What he's gonna 0:32:43.320 --> 0:32:44.560 do just like he got up out of the grave, 0:32:44.560 --> 0:32:45.880 You're gonna get up out of here, But you wanna 0:32:45.920 --> 0:32:47.600 line some stuff up for a comeback, because like who 0:32:47.720 --> 0:32:49.280 dropped you off to day? Your friends will You're not 0:32:49.280 --> 0:32:54.560 gonna be able to take you home. No, no, no, 0:32:56.000 --> 0:32:59.160 Peter has spent three years. You gonna remember this. He 0:32:59.240 --> 0:33:09.520 spent three years apprenticing under the Savior who specializes in surprises. 0:33:11.600 --> 0:33:14.320 Oh you didn't know that. No, Jesus Christ is the 0:33:14.360 --> 0:33:20.200 same yesterday, today, and forever. He's stable. That's right. You 0:33:20.280 --> 0:33:22.040 can count on him. He won't change, he won't leave you. 0:33:23.880 --> 0:33:29.320 But he's surprising. And there's nothing in the text that 0:33:29.400 --> 0:33:33.440 indicates that the disciples liked it, but they must have 0:33:33.560 --> 0:33:37.920 needed it because he would put them in exact situations. 0:33:38.600 --> 0:33:41.600 I wonder who's there right now. He put them in 0:33:41.680 --> 0:33:46.160 exact situations where he could have given them some notice, 0:33:47.520 --> 0:33:50.840 like watch this. He's God, he knows. When we get 0:33:50.880 --> 0:33:53.239 to the other side, there's gonna be five thousand men 0:33:53.560 --> 0:33:57.000 with all their wives, with all their children, and they're 0:33:57.000 --> 0:33:59.480 gonna they're gonna be hungry, not only for healing, but 0:33:59.520 --> 0:34:03.040 they're gonna need some food. Some boys call the catering service. 0:34:03.360 --> 0:34:06.040 Let's pack some barbecue. Well, I'm going over to Jewish place. Okay, 0:34:06.040 --> 0:34:09.640 we're gonna we're gonna do some sandwiches, some whatever. You 0:34:09.719 --> 0:34:12.000 know the point. But Jess didn't do any of that. 0:34:12.239 --> 0:34:18.920 Why Why did he surprise them? With a knee. I 0:34:19.000 --> 0:34:21.680 got a better one. I was praying earlier. This won't 0:34:21.680 --> 0:34:23.279 be on the sermons, so if you're watching it later. 0:34:23.320 --> 0:34:25.440 It was during the worship I talked about the woman 0:34:25.960 --> 0:34:29.080 at the well in Samaria and the reason that that 0:34:29.239 --> 0:34:31.880 was on my mind. Give them John chapter four. I 0:34:32.000 --> 0:34:35.920 sent them to this last minute. It said that Jesus 0:34:36.600 --> 0:34:39.279 was talking to a woman and his disciples went out 0:34:39.320 --> 0:34:44.560 to get food, and they were surprised to see him 0:34:44.600 --> 0:34:48.279 talking with a woman, but no one asked what do 0:34:48.320 --> 0:34:52.960 you want or why are you talking to her? I 0:34:53.120 --> 0:34:57.759 learned this, what you are surprised by tells me a 0:34:57.840 --> 0:35:06.320 lot about what you have assumed. Wow, what surprises you 0:35:07.640 --> 0:35:13.880 tells me what you assumed. I had a series of experiences. 0:35:14.080 --> 0:35:15.560 I wanted to tell you about this. The other day, 0:35:16.560 --> 0:35:21.200 I was writing music with somebody and they said something 0:35:21.239 --> 0:35:22.960 that at first I thought was a compliment. And I 0:35:23.000 --> 0:35:24.239 thought after I thought about I was like, I don't 0:35:24.239 --> 0:35:27.360 think that was a compliment. They said, I'm so surprised 0:35:27.400 --> 0:35:34.040 you're so creative, and I mean, I've got an ego 0:35:34.280 --> 0:35:36.200 just like everybody else. I didn't like the way when 0:35:36.200 --> 0:35:37.879 I thought about it later. First of all I heard 0:35:38.000 --> 0:35:40.120 was you're so creative. But then when I thought about 0:35:40.280 --> 0:35:44.440 I'm so surprised. I wanted to go back and ask them, 0:35:44.480 --> 0:35:46.080 but I didn't see him again. I don't know how 0:35:46.120 --> 0:35:48.480 to ask him. Maybe i'll see him again, ask him. 0:35:48.480 --> 0:35:52.120 Why were you surprised? What about me made you think 0:35:52.120 --> 0:35:59.120 I wasn't creative? I've done stuff, do stuff. I don't 0:35:59.160 --> 0:36:03.239 know why they were surprised by that? What did you 0:36:03.320 --> 0:36:05.200 think about me? What did you think of what? I mean? 0:36:05.800 --> 0:36:09.200 Why would that surprise you? I don't know. It was 0:36:09.280 --> 0:36:12.680 weird to me. This other guy, this is what we 0:36:12.760 --> 0:36:15.520 were talking about. And it was the word actually that 0:36:15.640 --> 0:36:23.439 got me. He said, you're actually a nice guy. I said, 0:36:29.680 --> 0:36:33.439 just pray for people, you know. It was the word 0:36:33.560 --> 0:36:40.040 actually that got me. As like, against all odds, I 0:36:40.200 --> 0:36:49.560 expected the exact opposite. He expected to get something from them, 0:36:49.840 --> 0:36:53.200 but his assumption was that what they had to offer 0:36:53.440 --> 0:37:00.439 was money. They went to church expecting to pray. Neither 0:37:00.920 --> 0:37:05.560 party was expecting a miracle. Can God surprise you or 0:37:05.680 --> 0:37:12.719 do you assume so much about him? Like sometimes we're 0:37:12.800 --> 0:37:18.800 surprised that God is actually a good God because we 0:37:19.000 --> 0:37:25.560 assumed that what we heard about him growing up, Like 0:37:25.920 --> 0:37:28.640 in some churches. I'm just being honest. In some pulpits 0:37:29.200 --> 0:37:31.640 God turns out to be the pettiest character in the 0:37:31.680 --> 0:37:34.680 whole story. So then to actually find out that he 0:37:34.760 --> 0:37:36.160 is who we said. He is, the God of Abraham, 0:37:36.200 --> 0:37:37.680 the God of Isaac, God to Jacob, the God of 0:37:37.880 --> 0:37:40.200 his Covenant, abounding in love to a thousand generations. We 0:37:40.280 --> 0:37:44.759 can't imagine that we're actually surprised to see the face 0:37:44.840 --> 0:37:47.719 of Christ, that he would talk with a woman that 0:37:47.840 --> 0:37:53.400 others would ostracize because we assumed that we knew what 0:37:53.520 --> 0:37:56.759 he was. You know, what you're surprised by tells me 0:37:56.840 --> 0:38:03.040 a lot of what you've assumed to begin with. I 0:38:03.120 --> 0:38:10.040 wonder what you've assumed about you, because by the time 0:38:10.120 --> 0:38:12.000 you're forty, you pretty much got it figured out what 0:38:12.080 --> 0:38:16.000 your limitations are. This is my spot, this is my gig, 0:38:16.120 --> 0:38:18.800 this is my deal. This is what I do. This 0:38:19.000 --> 0:38:20.400 is what I have to do to feel good. This 0:38:20.520 --> 0:38:22.000 is what I have to do to get what I want. 0:38:22.680 --> 0:38:26.640 That hadn't happened by now, it'll never happen. Notice a 0:38:26.719 --> 0:38:37.400 word in the text instantly verse seven, Acts three. Instantly 0:38:39.239 --> 0:38:43.640 the man's feet and ankles rus straw. You mean to 0:38:43.719 --> 0:38:46.839 tell me that what was four decades in the making 0:38:46.880 --> 0:38:50.560 that had crippled the man and limited him was undone instantly. 0:38:53.200 --> 0:38:55.359 Don't misunderstand what I'm about to tell you because I'll 0:38:55.400 --> 0:38:58.440 balance it too. But hear this, it can change like that. 0:39:02.080 --> 0:39:06.600 I know you're scared to shout because like see, we 0:39:06.719 --> 0:39:10.360 heard stuff like that before and then we were surprised 0:39:10.400 --> 0:39:14.520 that we still struggled with it later, especially if you 0:39:14.600 --> 0:39:18.359 came into a relationship with God that was kind of transactional. 0:39:19.040 --> 0:39:21.479 Pray this prayer, get Jesus to forgive you. You won't 0:39:21.520 --> 0:39:23.080 have to fry and burn with Hitler. You can go 0:39:23.160 --> 0:39:27.760 to heaven when you die. Oh, y'all are so shocked. 0:39:27.800 --> 0:39:33.799 They're so churchy, so surprising. Oh that's what we heard. 0:39:34.880 --> 0:39:45.040 That's what we heard. We were surprised by struggle. So 0:39:45.280 --> 0:39:46.759 you know your sins to the cross, Like I went 0:39:46.840 --> 0:39:48.440 to this youth camp one time. We actually wrote out 0:39:48.440 --> 0:39:52.600 our sins, which for a teenager you're doing really embarrassing stuff, 0:39:52.640 --> 0:39:54.480 so you have to use code for a teenage boy. 0:39:56.280 --> 0:39:59.040 The most specific you can get is lust. That's like 0:39:59.520 --> 0:40:02.520 level two and specificity. So you just put that down. 0:40:03.880 --> 0:40:07.800 Come over here to the guys. I feel judged over here. Okay, 0:40:08.200 --> 0:40:12.279 but but you nail it to the cross, and you're like, oh, 0:40:12.360 --> 0:40:14.800 I nailed my sin to the cross, and then the 0:40:14.880 --> 0:40:21.320 Lord forgave me. And you get home. Surprise, here's lust 0:40:21.480 --> 0:40:23.360 right where you left it. But I nailed it to 0:40:23.440 --> 0:40:27.680 the cross. Surprise. He got in the car. He came 0:40:27.800 --> 0:40:39.640 right out with you. He's in your blood, boy, expecting 0:40:39.840 --> 0:40:42.640 to get something from him. And Peter said, watch this. 0:40:42.840 --> 0:40:45.080 Silver and gold I don't have, but what I have 0:40:45.239 --> 0:40:46.960 I give you. The Lord told me to tell you 0:40:47.320 --> 0:40:57.160 you don't know your own strength. You don't know your 0:40:57.280 --> 0:41:04.759 own strength because you always stop at your weakness. You 0:41:05.400 --> 0:41:09.480 don't know your own strength. I saw Graham try to 0:41:09.480 --> 0:41:12.319 wrestle Holly the other day. She says, stop, you don't 0:41:12.400 --> 0:41:15.439 know your own strength. You're gonna hurt me. You don't 0:41:15.440 --> 0:41:18.320 know how strong you are. You're gonna hurt me. And 0:41:18.360 --> 0:41:19.640 I walked in and I said, boy, you want to 0:41:19.920 --> 0:41:26.879 wrest somebody, let's wrestle. Yeah. I thought about myself. I thought, 0:41:27.360 --> 0:41:29.359 if I'm Peter and the guy asked me for money 0:41:29.360 --> 0:41:30.879 and I don't have it, I'm probably just gonna say 0:41:31.000 --> 0:41:32.759 silver and gold have I none? I'm going to church 0:41:34.320 --> 0:41:39.719 right it was what he said next. It was what 0:41:39.880 --> 0:41:43.560 he said next that demonstrated the power of the Gospel. 0:41:44.840 --> 0:41:49.040 It was what he said next, like he was surprised 0:41:49.080 --> 0:41:52.120 that this guy cut him off at the temple gate. 0:41:53.200 --> 0:42:00.319 He didn't expect to see this man. God wasn't I mean, 0:42:00.360 --> 0:42:04.080 how strategic is God of all the people going to 0:42:04.160 --> 0:42:07.040 church at three pm that day? First of all, maybe 0:42:07.120 --> 0:42:09.719 Peter missed the twelve pm so he'd be at the 0:42:09.800 --> 0:42:13.000 three pm. You ever think about how God works things 0:42:13.000 --> 0:42:14.600 out in your life, Like you don't see these things, 0:42:14.640 --> 0:42:20.640 they seem coincidental, but they're really connected. And so this 0:42:20.840 --> 0:42:24.320 man's being carried at the time that they are carrying something. 0:42:26.840 --> 0:42:29.680 What they are carrying is going to keep him from 0:42:29.719 --> 0:42:35.759 ever having to be carried again. At the same time, coincidence. 0:42:41.880 --> 0:42:54.840 God is most strategic when you are most surprised. They 0:42:54.880 --> 0:42:56.480 could have gone to church and prayed. That would have 0:42:56.480 --> 0:42:59.719 been exactly what they expected. They could have made it 0:42:59.760 --> 0:43:04.000 to the three pm service just like they expected. And 0:43:04.080 --> 0:43:06.640 I don't think it would have made acts three Let's 0:43:06.680 --> 0:43:09.880 try it out. Peter and John were going to the 0:43:09.920 --> 0:43:11.880 temple courts at the time of the Praier three in 0:43:11.920 --> 0:43:18.360 the afternoon and they had a good prayer. It's just 0:43:18.440 --> 0:43:20.360 for me that doesn't hold the same interest as the 0:43:20.440 --> 0:43:26.520 story that I read you. And yet, like, is God 0:43:27.120 --> 0:43:32.279 doing in your life right now this intersection where you're 0:43:32.400 --> 0:43:40.000 completely caught off guard, But he's not. He's If he 0:43:40.080 --> 0:43:41.640 had told Peter there was going to be a man 0:43:41.680 --> 0:43:44.920 at the gate, Peter would have grabbed his wallet. Then 0:43:44.960 --> 0:43:49.279 he wouldn't have gotten healed. Then Peter couldn't have used 0:43:49.320 --> 0:43:52.440 him to preach and say Jesus did this. Then two 0:43:52.520 --> 0:43:54.799 thousand new converts wouldn't have been added to the church. 0:43:55.760 --> 0:43:57.799 Then Peter wouldn't have got thrown in prison with John 0:43:57.840 --> 0:43:59.600 because the authorities didn't know what to do with him, 0:43:59.600 --> 0:44:01.719 because they were surprised that God actually moved in his 0:44:01.800 --> 0:44:04.040 own house. Then they wouldn't have had the faith in 0:44:04.080 --> 0:44:06.520 the boldness to pray together and bond together as the church. 0:44:07.239 --> 0:44:09.239 Then they wouldn't have gone into the persecution with the 0:44:09.239 --> 0:44:14.680 strength of knowing that God can do anything. God, at 0:44:14.760 --> 0:44:18.279 least in my life, and what I understand about the 0:44:18.360 --> 0:44:24.759 spirit of God is most strategic. That this man is 0:44:24.880 --> 0:44:28.800 coming up to his spot at this time. All of 0:44:28.880 --> 0:44:30.319 the things that had to happen to get them there 0:44:30.320 --> 0:44:33.560 at the same time. The man thought he was going 0:44:33.640 --> 0:44:40.720 to get some change, and he did just not dimes 0:44:40.760 --> 0:44:45.880 and quarters and nickels. Right. I hadn't studied this, But 0:44:46.200 --> 0:44:49.080 do they still have a change shortage? When the pandemic started, 0:44:49.080 --> 0:44:51.919 you couldn't get change in a restaurant or in a store. 0:44:53.360 --> 0:45:02.040 Church has had the same problem for years. It was weird. 0:45:02.480 --> 0:45:04.520 I went to Target and I was like, waiting for 0:45:04.640 --> 0:45:06.840 my change. They're like, oh, we don't do change anymore. 0:45:11.040 --> 0:45:16.440 A lot of churches. I mean, the man comes there 0:45:16.520 --> 0:45:22.360 every day and nothing ever happens, and you hear sermons 0:45:22.440 --> 0:45:27.400 and Bible studies and all that, and no change, no change, 0:45:28.880 --> 0:45:32.480 no change, because because we don't like to be surprised, 0:45:34.239 --> 0:45:40.799 so we want God to change stuff without changing us. 0:45:42.120 --> 0:45:49.440 And that's not how he does it. Are you surprisable? 0:45:49.960 --> 0:45:52.239 I was praying God, What do I tell him? He said, 0:45:52.400 --> 0:45:57.640 tell him, stay surprisable, Stay surprisable. Keep some room in 0:45:57.719 --> 0:46:00.640 what you plan for your life, your kids, and for 0:46:00.760 --> 0:46:03.399 all the trajectory where if God wants to do something 0:46:03.440 --> 0:46:06.320 a little different. This is the lesson Peter learned. So 0:46:07.080 --> 0:46:09.200 by the time he's gotten to this point in his ministry, 0:46:09.200 --> 0:46:11.759 he's full of the Holy Spirit. He's seen the empty tomb, 0:46:11.920 --> 0:46:14.200 he's been restored when he left Jesus at the cross. 0:46:14.480 --> 0:46:16.960 He's no longer surprised at his own weakness, but he's 0:46:17.000 --> 0:46:21.040 confident in God's strength. He's no longer surprised by his 0:46:21.200 --> 0:46:24.920 own weakness, but he is con confident in God's strength. 0:46:25.239 --> 0:46:29.479 Now that's a whole Turkey word for somebody. Stop being 0:46:29.640 --> 0:46:33.719 so surprised by your weakness. It's there, it's always going 0:46:33.800 --> 0:46:37.080 to be there. You are but dust. The King James says, 0:46:37.520 --> 0:46:39.720 you are nothing more than a breadth and a vapor. 0:46:40.000 --> 0:46:42.120 But God's word is eternal, and he lives in you. 0:46:42.600 --> 0:46:45.200 That's why Peter said, why are you looking at us? 0:46:47.400 --> 0:46:51.080 We didn't do it. We just accessed the power of 0:46:51.160 --> 0:47:03.680 one who could stay surprisable some of y'all do. Y'all 0:47:03.680 --> 0:47:08.239 want the marriage seminar part. Stop thinking you completely know 0:47:08.400 --> 0:47:10.160 what your wife would and wouldn't want to do. You're 0:47:10.280 --> 0:47:19.440 so boring, You're so boring. You're no longer like I'm 0:47:19.480 --> 0:47:23.200 telling you man, like I've been married a lot of 0:47:23.320 --> 0:47:27.160 years now, how many it's coming up on? Twenty? Yeah, 0:47:27.280 --> 0:47:30.080 nineteen years? Well, yell or like ya, you're in trouble. 0:47:30.120 --> 0:47:31.879 You didn't remember how many years you've been married. I'm 0:47:31.960 --> 0:47:33.520 up here saying a lot of stuff. She doesn't care. 0:47:36.239 --> 0:47:41.799 But when I tell you I've never loved being married 0:47:41.840 --> 0:47:44.520 to her more, I'm so glad I didn't confine her 0:47:44.600 --> 0:47:47.480 to the first version of what I thought. I knew 0:47:47.480 --> 0:47:54.000 my wife was wine. The first thing she told me 0:47:54.239 --> 0:47:56.480 at the North Greenville cafeteria that I remember is I 0:47:56.520 --> 0:48:04.279 would never want to marry a preacher. Surprise. Well, I 0:48:04.440 --> 0:48:07.359 never I'll never do I'll never preach. I mean, I'll 0:48:07.360 --> 0:48:21.160 support you. She's good, right, she's good. Right. She surprises herself. 0:48:23.040 --> 0:48:25.200 She I saw. I called her watching herself back preaching 0:48:25.200 --> 0:48:29.600 the other day. She said, Oh that's good. Have you 0:48:29.719 --> 0:48:34.799 surprised yourself lately? You've got to surprise yourself, not only 0:48:34.840 --> 0:48:37.480 surprise your spouse, like oh, I gave you six flowers 0:48:37.520 --> 0:48:42.160 instead of four this year. Not only that stuff. Something 0:48:42.200 --> 0:48:49.560 you need to surprise yourself. Just do something that, even 0:48:49.600 --> 0:48:51.160 if it's small, that you didn't think you could do. 0:48:52.239 --> 0:48:58.759 I'm a night person, go to bed, I'm a I'm 0:48:58.840 --> 0:49:02.920 not I'm a I'm a morning person. You know what 0:49:02.960 --> 0:49:06.440 I mean? Just like ah, wild and crazy, I'm sucking. 0:49:06.840 --> 0:49:10.080 I normally get it grilled. I'm gonna get it fried. Ah, 0:49:10.200 --> 0:49:16.640 I'm full of surprising. I'm crazy, right. I like to 0:49:16.680 --> 0:49:19.080 preach different ways. I like to write different songs. Somebody 0:49:19.120 --> 0:49:21.279 told me one time I wrote a song that had 0:49:21.320 --> 0:49:22.960 some rock in it, and they were like, oh, well, 0:49:23.000 --> 0:49:25.400 black people wouldn't like that. The person who told me 0:49:25.560 --> 0:49:27.800 was white. How do you know what black people would like? 0:49:27.880 --> 0:49:31.880 And not like like there's one person, Stop telling me 0:49:32.400 --> 0:49:35.839 what somebody else would not want, or like like you've 0:49:35.920 --> 0:49:45.000 figured out people. I told a man one time, I said, 0:49:45.000 --> 0:49:48.080 we couldn't have video campuses, and the only way my 0:49:48.160 --> 0:49:50.040 preaching works is if people are in a room with 0:49:50.120 --> 0:49:57.800 me while I'm preaching. Surprise. One day I walked in 0:49:57.920 --> 0:50:00.719 and nobody was allowed to come to church, and and 0:50:00.880 --> 0:50:02.800 all I had was the thing I didn't think I 0:50:02.880 --> 0:50:15.360 could do. Surprise it worked. You might be surprised. But 0:50:15.520 --> 0:50:19.640 now that sounds real cool. When Peter's saying it in 0:50:20.080 --> 0:50:22.680 verse twelve to the leaders, this man gets up and 0:50:22.760 --> 0:50:27.120 walked and he's like, why are you surprised? Why does 0:50:27.160 --> 0:50:29.759 this surprise you? Will? Come on, Peter, when you first 0:50:29.880 --> 0:50:32.680 met Jesus and you caught fish, it freaked you out 0:50:32.760 --> 0:50:34.839 so bad you fell at his feet and said, go away, Lord, 0:50:34.880 --> 0:50:38.320 I'm a sinful man. When he said I'm going to 0:50:38.360 --> 0:50:40.200 the cross, he said never, Lord, don't happen to you. 0:50:41.200 --> 0:50:43.279 When they actually arrested him, you were so surprised you 0:50:43.360 --> 0:50:45.239 went and coward to a servant girl who said you 0:50:45.320 --> 0:50:50.799 were one of them. This is something that takes us 0:50:50.840 --> 0:50:56.799 a little time. And what happens like you get conditioned 0:50:56.840 --> 0:51:03.239 to certain things, and if you have enough of the 0:51:03.360 --> 0:51:09.719 negative or the dysfunctional things, you'll be surprised by the good. Now. 0:51:10.200 --> 0:51:14.320 I think that's helpful sometimes, right like I think sometimes 0:51:14.800 --> 0:51:23.480 we ought to be more surprised and less entitled. When 0:51:23.600 --> 0:51:26.520 Rick Bowling first gave me a bonus check, he said, 0:51:26.560 --> 0:51:29.080 you're getting a Christmas bonus the first church I worked at, 0:51:29.280 --> 0:51:32.680 I hugged him a bear, hugged him. The amount of 0:51:32.760 --> 0:51:36.000 money today it was so small compared to what things 0:51:36.040 --> 0:51:39.400 are today. It wouldn't register like that. I wouldn't hug him. 0:51:39.400 --> 0:51:48.320 I'd be like, thanks man. And what got me into text? 0:51:49.239 --> 0:51:51.880 I just was reading this again. And when you come 0:51:51.960 --> 0:51:55.640 to the Bible with fresh eyes, it's amazing. God is 0:51:55.719 --> 0:51:59.160 wanting to surprise you in your Bible, in your life, 0:51:59.280 --> 0:52:02.560 in your relations and ships. He's the god of surprises. 0:52:02.680 --> 0:52:05.399 He's he's talking to a woman at the well. He's he's, 0:52:05.760 --> 0:52:09.880 he's he's doing amazing things. For feeding, feeding multitudes with 0:52:10.160 --> 0:52:14.520 with little meager fish. Captain Bee's uh supplies long John 0:52:14.560 --> 0:52:21.240 Silver's supplies. He's surprising, But sometimes we're not surprisable. Because 0:52:21.239 --> 0:52:23.600 it said that the man, once he was able to walk, 0:52:25.200 --> 0:52:30.080 he went with them in the temple Courts verse eight, walking, 0:52:31.600 --> 0:52:37.759 jumping and praising God. Say that walking, jumping, praising God. 0:52:40.120 --> 0:52:46.719 It caused such a commotion that everybody was was amazed 0:52:47.880 --> 0:52:49.680 that this man that they used to see sitting was 0:52:49.760 --> 0:52:59.480 now doing what walking jumping, praising God because he wasn't 0:52:59.520 --> 0:53:05.520 expecting to walk. There's a praise that comes out of 0:53:05.560 --> 0:53:15.280 somebody who hasn't learned yet to take God's gifts for granted. 0:53:18.400 --> 0:53:22.000 How many people went to the temple that day, why 0:53:22.080 --> 0:53:28.839 weren't they jumping? Because when you've always been able to walk, 0:53:34.960 --> 0:53:37.680 when you've always had provision, when you've always had a 0:53:37.760 --> 0:53:40.000 roof over your head, when you've always been well fed, 0:53:40.160 --> 0:53:44.640 when you've always been taken care of, you stop being 0:53:44.760 --> 0:53:47.840 surprised by it. One of my friends said that you 0:53:48.840 --> 0:53:54.040 exchange appreciation for expectation. You start expecting people to do 0:53:54.160 --> 0:53:55.520 for you what they don't have to do for you, 0:53:57.640 --> 0:54:01.760 and that is very dangerous. So every time I preach, 0:54:01.840 --> 0:54:04.920 I'm kind of surprised that God actually uses me, and 0:54:05.040 --> 0:54:07.719 I think that's good. I don't ever want to get 0:54:07.760 --> 0:54:09.160 to the point where I'm like, well, I mean, I 0:54:09.320 --> 0:54:11.680 know my Bible, of course God used me. I mean what, 0:54:11.760 --> 0:54:17.239 I'm anointed, I'm appointed. No, I want to stay surprised. 0:54:20.120 --> 0:54:23.480 I want to stay surprised, like every once in a while, 0:54:23.520 --> 0:54:26.120 I just want to take a deep breath and be like, oh, 0:54:26.360 --> 0:54:28.839 that was like a premium breath. I know, you can't 0:54:28.880 --> 0:54:31.560 walk around all the time just praising God for every 0:54:31.680 --> 0:54:35.399 breath and being, you know, skipping through Walmart and things 0:54:35.480 --> 0:54:43.360 like this. I'm not talking about being weird, right, But 0:54:43.560 --> 0:54:46.600 there is a lesson in the fact that of everybody 0:54:46.640 --> 0:54:49.839 who walked into the temple that day, the one who 0:54:49.920 --> 0:54:56.640 had never walked before, his feet barely touched the ground. 0:54:58.200 --> 0:55:02.000 When you first got certain blessings from God, when you 0:55:02.280 --> 0:55:06.520 first started being used by God, when you first got 0:55:06.600 --> 0:55:14.719 on elevation staff, your feet barely touched the ground. So 0:55:14.920 --> 0:55:18.319 once in a while you got to remember that it's 0:55:18.400 --> 0:55:21.440 a blessing just to be able to walk. I mean, 0:55:21.520 --> 0:55:24.640 it's a blessing just to see another day. It's a 0:55:24.719 --> 0:55:30.759 blessing just to survive. See, you will really understand this. 0:55:30.920 --> 0:55:33.480 You will really understand this. If you ever went through 0:55:33.480 --> 0:55:35.840 a season where you thought you wouldn't make it, And 0:55:35.920 --> 0:55:39.000 if you haven't had that season, you won't understand. But 0:55:39.120 --> 0:55:41.839 if you had a season where you were living off 0:55:41.920 --> 0:55:45.440 of alms, where you were begging for something to make 0:55:45.480 --> 0:55:49.120 it to the next day, but he got you off, 0:55:49.719 --> 0:55:53.759 snatch you up his mighty hand, his right hand, his 0:55:54.000 --> 0:55:58.040 hand of authority. Hit the name of Jesus came to 0:55:58.239 --> 0:56:01.759 you in your begging place. You know what it means 0:56:01.840 --> 0:56:05.000 to jump. You know why we call the church's elevation. 0:56:05.800 --> 0:56:08.840 You know why we praise him. You know why we 0:56:09.040 --> 0:56:14.040 smile with all of our teeth closed in our right mind. 0:56:15.560 --> 0:56:23.560 Blessed to be in the number one more day, Stay amazed, 0:56:24.680 --> 0:56:29.279 stay surprised. Jump every once in a while. Every once 0:56:29.320 --> 0:56:31.560 in a while, you have to jump everywhere, But every 0:56:31.600 --> 0:56:34.520 once in a while, just jump, Just jump, Just jump 0:56:34.600 --> 0:56:37.520 for joy. Every once in a while, just appreciate the 0:56:37.719 --> 0:56:42.000 fact that the lane will leap like a deer, and 0:56:42.080 --> 0:56:46.000 that God did that for me, and you've always been 0:56:46.040 --> 0:56:50.360 able to walk. You can't really appreciate it because you 0:56:50.400 --> 0:57:00.440 stop being surprised. God wants to surprise you. Does this 0:57:01.960 --> 0:57:09.480 in strategic ways, and God is never more strategic than 0:57:09.520 --> 0:57:15.800 when you are most surprised. Peter had no plan to 0:57:15.920 --> 0:57:19.760 preach that day, and he preached a sermon so powerful 0:57:21.200 --> 0:57:34.920 because God planted somebody at the gate. Surprise, surprise. Now, 0:57:35.120 --> 0:57:37.120 later in his life he gives us a perspective in 0:57:37.240 --> 0:57:42.280 One Peter four. He says that just like God surprises 0:57:42.360 --> 0:57:46.600 you with great gifts and opportunities, right, he said, dear friends, 0:57:46.880 --> 0:57:52.800 don't be surprised at the fiery trial. This is first Peter, 0:57:52.960 --> 0:57:56.120 this is the same guy. He kind of has this thing. 0:57:56.200 --> 0:57:58.480 He's like, why are you surprised that God is healing 0:57:58.560 --> 0:58:00.720 this man? This is what Jesus came to do. You 0:58:00.800 --> 0:58:04.280 should know it more than anyone. You recognize the man, 0:58:04.360 --> 0:58:08.400 but you didn't recognize the Messiah. So you are surprised 0:58:08.440 --> 0:58:12.040 when God actually shows up because it does not look 0:58:12.160 --> 0:58:16.600 like what you put on your list. Are you there 0:58:16.680 --> 0:58:20.600 right now in your life? He said, don't be surprised 0:58:20.640 --> 0:58:26.560 by the favor. Don't be surprised by the fire. Don't 0:58:26.600 --> 0:58:29.240 be surprised when God strengthens you. That's what he's there for. 0:58:29.400 --> 0:58:33.200 He gave you his spirit. Don't be surprised when you struggle. 0:58:33.240 --> 0:58:37.160 And above all else, don't let your struggle keep you 0:58:37.240 --> 0:58:45.920 from accessing your strength. Silver and gold I don't have, 0:58:47.040 --> 0:58:49.760 or what I have I give you. And his feet 0:58:49.800 --> 0:58:56.960 and ankles became strong because Peter said the same Jesus, 0:58:57.040 --> 0:59:02.480 that you killed the author of life, God raised from 0:59:02.520 --> 0:59:06.960 the dead. I like to imagine sometimes that the devil 0:59:07.040 --> 0:59:11.760 through a big party after Jesus died and the sky 0:59:11.840 --> 0:59:13.760 grew black, to tell us die it has finished. He 0:59:13.800 --> 0:59:18.120 thought that Jesus gave up. I like to imagine what 0:59:18.240 --> 0:59:29.080 it was like Sunday morning when he was standing there 0:59:29.160 --> 0:59:37.240 with the keys of death, hell and the grave. Surprise, surprise. 0:59:39.120 --> 0:59:40.720 I want you to stand up right where you are, 0:59:42.080 --> 0:59:43.680 and I want you to throw your arms out just 0:59:43.800 --> 0:59:50.080 like this and tell the devil's surprise. You hit me 0:59:50.160 --> 0:59:54.400 with your best shot. You formed every weapon against me. 0:59:55.760 --> 0:59:59.280 You thought you killed my confidence by having people reject me. 0:59:59.360 --> 1:00:04.880 But surprise, you thought I would die in the Valley 1:00:04.920 --> 1:00:06.480 of the shadow of death. You thought I would curse 1:00:06.560 --> 1:00:11.600 God and die. But surprise. You thought it was going 1:00:11.680 --> 1:00:13.439 to be the end of me. You thought you'd picked 1:00:13.480 --> 1:00:16.320 my marriage apart. You thought you snatched my kid. You 1:00:16.440 --> 1:00:18.400 thought getting them on drugs would get me to stop 1:00:18.440 --> 1:00:24.320 praying for them. But surprise, because it's about the backfire. 1:00:25.480 --> 1:00:28.440 Because the same man that sat there begging, what's the 1:00:28.560 --> 1:00:39.800 one that started a revival in Jerusalem? Surprise, Surprise, you're 1:00:39.920 --> 1:00:45.240 stronger than you thought. You weren't. Surprise didn't kill you, 1:00:46.280 --> 1:00:50.040 made you better. Surprise you weren't ready for it. But 1:00:50.160 --> 1:00:55.880 it's here, Surprise, and into the hands of the God 1:00:55.960 --> 1:01:01.200 of surprises. You have the opportunity now to place all 1:01:01.280 --> 1:01:06.720 of your uncertainty and all of your insecurity. God said, 1:01:06.760 --> 1:01:11.400 I want to surprise you. Every once in a while, 1:01:12.400 --> 1:01:17.120 when I get overwhelmed by too many choices, I'll tell Holly, 1:01:17.280 --> 1:01:19.560 Or if it's a leadership thing, I'll tell one of 1:01:19.600 --> 1:01:24.880 my staff. Just surprise me. I don't even want to choose. 1:01:25.800 --> 1:01:28.520 I don't know what to choose. It's just too many options. 1:01:29.080 --> 1:01:31.480 Just surprise me, Holly. You'll say you want this to 1:01:31.560 --> 1:01:33.120 eat or that to eat, or the other to eat. 1:01:33.120 --> 1:01:37.800 I'll be like, just surprise me. I thought, what a 1:01:37.920 --> 1:01:40.320 great prayer to pray to God for all of us 1:01:48.120 --> 1:01:52.360 who have been surprised by life. If Peter and John, 1:01:52.480 --> 1:01:56.080 the most unlikely Kobe and Shack combination and Gospel history, 1:01:58.920 --> 1:02:01.720 can be interrupted on their way to prayer by a 1:02:01.800 --> 1:02:05.400 paralytic man who asked for money, but God healing to 1:02:05.600 --> 1:02:10.400 the point, remember this, Remember this in verse eleven. After 1:02:10.600 --> 1:02:15.240 he jumped up and was healed, the Bible says that 1:02:15.400 --> 1:02:20.520 the man held on to Peter and John. And you're wondering, 1:02:21.200 --> 1:02:23.720 what's the point of holding on to them if your 1:02:23.760 --> 1:02:26.920 feet and ankles are strong enough to hold yourself up. 1:02:28.320 --> 1:02:33.680 It's because he wasn't ready for this. You weren't either, 1:02:35.000 --> 1:02:38.840 and God knows that. So when you get to that place, 1:02:39.080 --> 1:02:42.320 you know where you say, this is something I never 1:02:42.400 --> 1:02:44.840 saw myself doing. This is something I never saw myself 1:02:44.920 --> 1:02:48.360 dealing with. Just turn your palms to your father like 1:02:48.400 --> 1:02:54.960 this and say, surprise me God. No, I want you 1:02:55.040 --> 1:02:58.600 to walk into confidence this week like Peter learned to 1:02:58.680 --> 1:03:00.919 walk in He didn't get it at first. We don't 1:03:00.960 --> 1:03:04.720 get it at first. But to know that when I'm 1:03:04.920 --> 1:03:10.480 most surprised, God is most strategic. Let's get this in 1:03:10.560 --> 1:03:13.160 our spirits. God said, you need to have a surprisable spirit. 1:03:14.400 --> 1:03:16.880 You need to not get so cynical about things that 1:03:17.000 --> 1:03:20.000 you just write everything off and push everything away. And 1:03:20.160 --> 1:03:22.160 just in the name of being guarded, you miss God. 1:03:24.960 --> 1:03:29.360 So say this. God is most strategic when I am 1:03:29.440 --> 1:03:33.360 most surprised. So Lord, I'm praying today for those who 1:03:33.400 --> 1:03:37.720 are in a surprise me season, not that they would 1:03:37.880 --> 1:03:43.120 like it. Maybe we need it. Maybe we need it. 1:03:44.760 --> 1:03:46.880 I'm not asking for something bad to happen to me 1:03:47.000 --> 1:03:49.600 or anybody else. I like the good surprises God, and 1:03:50.320 --> 1:03:53.720 I want all of those, but even for the thing 1:03:53.840 --> 1:03:57.680 that I didn't ask you to do. Like the man 1:03:57.760 --> 1:04:03.440 in this passage, help me to reach out and take 1:04:03.520 --> 1:04:10.320 hold of what you brought me. Surprise me, God, surprise 1:04:10.400 --> 1:04:12.280 me with the facet of your goodness and provision. I 1:04:12.320 --> 1:04:16.240 didn't see this week. Surprise me because I'm too overwhelmed. 1:04:16.280 --> 1:04:18.520 I don't know this way, that way, I don't know. 1:04:18.720 --> 1:04:23.880 We don't know anymore. The menus to be the world's 1:04:23.880 --> 1:04:27.000 too complicated, the inputs are too great, the noise is 1:04:27.040 --> 1:04:34.760 too loud. So surprise us. May we be filled with 1:04:35.000 --> 1:04:40.840 wonder and amazement. May people barely recognize us this time 1:04:40.960 --> 1:04:48.240 next year, Maybe leap for joy when we think about 1:04:48.280 --> 1:04:52.400 all of the things that you've done for us. God, 1:04:52.480 --> 1:04:54.360 some of us have been sitting at a gate so long, 1:04:55.400 --> 1:04:57.200 but you are trying to make us a gate for 1:04:57.320 --> 1:05:06.000 something that you want to release. Surprise us, Use us, God, 1:05:06.040 --> 1:05:09.600 would you use us to surprise somebody else, somebody who 1:05:09.680 --> 1:05:12.560 wasn't expecting their day to be made? We just we 1:05:12.720 --> 1:05:16.280 come around this idea of why are you surprised by this? 1:05:20.440 --> 1:05:23.640 We're not surprised by suffering, but we are expecting of glory. 1:05:25.200 --> 1:05:29.360 We are resurrection people. We give you praise in this 1:05:29.560 --> 1:05:39.800 moment in Jesus' name. I just want to take a 1:05:39.880 --> 1:05:41.960 moment and tell you one more thing. I know I've 1:05:42.000 --> 1:05:44.080 preached a long time, but just send me one more minute. 1:05:44.960 --> 1:05:48.760 God did the greatest thing in Act chapter three, at 1:05:48.840 --> 1:05:52.640 the gate, not in the church service. I don't want 1:05:52.680 --> 1:05:55.360 you to limit your experience of God's presence just to 1:05:55.640 --> 1:05:58.360 sitting and listening to a message. You know, I want 1:05:58.440 --> 1:06:02.040 you to expect God to surprise this week. Expect God 1:06:02.120 --> 1:06:05.360 to surprise you with opportunities. Expect God to surprise you 1:06:05.440 --> 1:06:08.520 with maybe some challenges that He gives you to make 1:06:08.600 --> 1:06:12.600 you stronger, expecting to surprise you with some blessings, some 1:06:12.760 --> 1:06:16.560 people to be good to you, just strengthen joy and 1:06:16.640 --> 1:06:18.600 peace that you didn't even know where it comes from, 1:06:19.120 --> 1:06:21.480 but you know who it comes from. I'm praying for 1:06:21.560 --> 1:06:24.280 you for God to surprise you this week. I'm very, 1:06:24.640 --> 1:06:27.440 very grateful. I don't count it lightly. The privileged to 1:06:27.520 --> 1:06:32.560 minister God's worked to you and stay surprisable. God has 1:06:32.760 --> 1:06:36.360 amazing things in store for you. Thank you for subscribing 1:06:36.560 --> 1:06:39.360 and we appreciate you and love you so much. Until 1:06:39.400 --> 1:06:39.800 next time.