(upbeat music)
- Couple of things real fast here
before we continue to move forward in what God has for us.
Midweek gatherings are going to begin this Thursday night,
this Thursday night, six o'clock.
We're doing a series on Galatians
and Pastor Justin is gonna be bringing the word
this Thursday and you don't wanna miss it.
So August is usually a reset for a lot of folks.
And so if you have the capacity,
I would invite you to make six o'clock Thursday night
a part of your regular routine.
If you do have a teenager,
youth group also will meet at six o'clock
and at seven thirty, six and seven, six and seven.
And then the kids ministry meets at six o'clock
for junior Bible quiz.
So we have programming for everybody across the board,
but if you have the capacity to make this a part
of your weekly schedule, please do that.
Also next week we will be relaunching, restarting
our Sunday school class, okay?
So at nine o'clock, this is our 10 30 gathering.
At nine o'clock, there will be a Sunday school class
called the 12 and they're gonna be pairing along with us
in the book of Acts, taking some different perspectives.
And I wanna invite you guys,
if you can get up just a little earlier
and come to church and get a second dose.
You know what I find is the people who go
into the Sunday school and learn and they come in here
already filled, ready to go, man, there's something
about already being filled before you come
into the corporate gathering.
And so I encourage you in the fellowship hall,
nine o'clock next Sunday, also make that a part
of your weekly schedule if you're able to swing that
and if that's in your capacity, okay?
Last thing I wanna do very quickly,
if you are a teacher, an educator, a principal,
or a student going to school, if you will quickly
come make your way here.
We have school starting back and we wanna cover
all of you peoples who are involved in school.
So I'm gonna count to five and you're gonna be here.
One, two, three,
four,
and four and a half, as I say with my kids,
four and three quarters.
Would you all stand and stretch your hands here please?
Father, we've been given the great privilege
of education in this country and I thank you, Lord,
for every one of the people that are sounding my voice
who will be entering school buildings across the county
or at home, Lord, learning over the next year.
I pray a hedge of protection over each one.
I ask, Lord, that they would be a conduit of your grace
and your light and your joy every place that they go.
I pray, Lord, that the enemy's voice would be silenced
in their mind and the Holy Spirit, Lord,
your Holy Spirit would lead each one.
Lord, I pray, Lord, that the educational process
would not just be about math, spelling, science,
reading, all of those things, but there would be a maturity
that would happen in you this year,
that there would be growth that would happen in you.
So Lord, would you protect those?
I pray for all educators in the county, Lord,
as they're getting ready to mount up this year.
God, I pray, Lord, especially though,
for those in this congregation, Lord,
that you would use them, help them be diligent
in what they're tasked with ahead of them.
And Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would protect them
and guide them in Jesus' name.
And everybody said, amen, amen, you may be seated.
Let's have a great school year.
Guys, we're continuing our series, His Church,
and we are actually getting into the book of Acts today.
And I do challenge you to be in the book of Acts
if you want to follow along with us.
I believe we're in Acts chapter four today.
Welcome, Pastor Justin.
- Good morning.
Good morning.
I will mention this to you guys.
I mentioned it in the early gathering.
If you're new here, if it's your first time,
or if you're just not familiar,
we do actually have our midweek gatherings
on Thursday by design.
Okay, Wednesday is typically that day
that everybody is either in church or it's blocked off.
For some reason, other sports don't usually schedule things
on Wednesdays, and so that is an intentional day
that you have margin, and so we encourage you
to spend time with your family.
We encourage you to connect with other people.
That'd be a great night to plan dinners
or do anything like that throughout the fall
'cause it's already blocked off.
Just like when you open a book,
the words don't go all the way to the edge of the page.
That's by design, so there's built-in margin,
but we also recognize the importance of getting together,
and so we do our midweeks here on Thursday, okay?
Thursday nights.
It's a great segue, right?
Okay.
I was gonna have you keep standing,
but Pastor Kevin told you to sit down,
so would you stand with me?
What were you, where does that put
all this stuff back together?
Okay, here we go.
All right, we're gonna be reading Acts chapter four.
We're gonna read verses 13 and 14,
and then we're gonna read 18 through 20,
so if you're following along at home,
you can flip to your Bible there.
Are we ready?
Here we go.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John
and perceived that they were uneducated, common men,
they were astonished, and they recognized
that they had been with Jesus,
but seeing the man who was healed standing beside them,
they had nothing to say in opposition.
And verse 18.
So they called them and charged them not to speak
or teach at all in the name of Jesus,
but Peter and John answered them,
whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you
rather than to God, you must judge,
for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
Father, we thank you for this day that you have given us.
We thank you for waking us up this morning,
keeping us in our right minds.
God, we don't invite your presence here.
We acknowledge that your presence is already here.
We acknowledge that your spirit is already here,
and so we ask that our hearts instead would be open
to an encounter with you,
that our eyes and ears would be open to see you,
to hear you, that through the power of the Holy Ghost,
that you would anoint me to speak and convey your message
clearly to your people,
that we will be transformed more
into the image of your son Jesus,
and that it would bring you glory here in our lives,
here on earth, the same way as it is in heaven.
So Father, we love you.
We thank you today.
Be with us now in Christ's name, amen, amen.
You can be seated finally.
Have you ever had moments or seasons
where everything is going great,
everything is fine, nothing is on fire,
everything's good, you're doing the right thing,
your kids are not in trouble,
none of them are on probation,
everything's fine at work, right?
And then all of a sudden, bam,
here comes adversity and opposition,
and the winds of adversity blow all your lawn furniture
over the backyard.
You ever had that happen?
You're doing the right thing, you're walking it out,
everything's fine, and all of a sudden,
you face opposition.
This is what we see very early in the book of Acts.
The disciples are doing their thing,
and all of a sudden, they face opposition.
What do we do when we run into adversity?
How do we respond?
How should we respond when there's adversity
or opposition in our lives?
Before I get started, I wanna give you guys
a little bit of cautionary warning, okay?
I am a lifelong Tennessee Volunteers fan, okay?
Anybody else in the house?
Okay.
I didn't say any of those opposing,
I didn't say no roll tide, none of that, okay?
I said, are you a Vols fan in the house, right?
Anybody?
Okay.
So because of that, I suffer from what is called BVS,
battered vol syndrome, okay?
And if you're unfamiliar with BVS,
this means that I have seen Tennessee snatch defeat
from the jaws of victory more times than I can count, okay?
There is no lead in football, baseball, basketball
that is ever safe, okay?
I have guys over at the house, and they'll be like,
relax, stop chewing your finger.
James will tell you, it'll be the fourth quarter,
up by three scores, and I'm over, and my wife says,
stop chewing your nails, stop chewing your nails.
I'm like, I can't.
They're gonna find a way.
They're gonna find a way to lose this game.
I just know it.
That is BVS, and it takes a long time
to uncondition yourself from that type of thinking.
Here's what I want you to see, okay?
Just because we will face opposition and adversity
does not mean we need to always be on the lookout for us.
This can create a cynical view and rob us of our peace.
We can be robbed of peace if we're constantly like,
what now, what's gonna happen now?
I get, you know, things are going way too good.
I better get my hands up because it's all gonna fall off.
Well, maybe, and yes, you will have trouble,
but that doesn't need to create a cynical worldview in us
because it will steal and rob you of your peace, okay?
So I just wanted to get that out there before we start.
Just because you will face adversity and opposition
does not mean that needs to be where your focus is at.
Amen?
Okay.
So now what's going on?
What's going on in Acts chapter four?
Word, how did we get here?
So since we're starting here,
I wanna give you guys a little bit of a recap
of how we got here.
So in order to understand what's happening,
we need to look back on what has just taken place.
So I'm gonna give you guys a quick little recap
of the book of Acts so far.
So Jesus has ascended to the Father.
He has ascended and he said,
go wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit, okay?
And there's about 120 apostles and disciples
that are gathered together
and they're waiting on the promise of the Holy Spirit, okay?
Then Pentecost happens and the Holy Spirit comes to earth
and they're all filled with the Holy Ghost
and then Peter starts preaching
and 3,000 people get saved.
So now we're a little bit over 3,100 people
plus the other ones that are a part of the church now, okay?
Then Peter and John, after this,
they're going to the temple to pray
and they encounter a guy who is lame
and he is laying at the gate
and he doesn't even ask them to heal him.
He's like, you guys got a couple of dollars I could borrow?
And Peter says, I don't have any money,
but what I got for you is not silver and gold.
Instead, in the name of Jesus, rise, take up your bed
and walk and the guy gets up and walks and he's healed, okay?
And he's leaping and he's praising.
Is that how you leap these days?
I don't know.
That was a terrible leap, James.
Don't let me leap like that in front of all these people.
So he's healed, he's laying at the beautiful gate
that God gets up, he's healed,
and then everybody sees that
and then Peter starts preaching again.
Peter's just, he'll go with any moment.
Give Peter a half a second
and he'll just start preaching the gospel.
And then 5,000 people got saved.
So we've got 5,000, 3,000 plus the 120.
We got almost 10,000 people added to the church right now
in this first little four chapters, okay?
But then what happens is they both got arrested
for preaching the resurrection
and they were placed in jail overnight
until they could appear in court the next day.
The way this works is the Sanhedrin will meet during the day.
Okay, court is during the day.
So if you get arrested at night,
you gotta go to jail that night, okay?
I don't know if it's like up here in jail
where they throw you all in a room
and there's a drunk guy over there.
I don't know, I've only heard stories about it
of what happens up there in jail.
I don't know.
What are y'all laughing like that for?
Some of y'all are so judgy.
Man, look.
I'm talking about I know you.
Don't be telling all these visitors.
I'm not the lead pastor.
This is their first time, right?
So they get arrested.
Now, here's why this was such a big deal.
They didn't get arrested for preaching.
They got arrested
because they were preaching the resurrection.
That's, the resurrection is the linchpin.
The resurrection is everything our faith hinges on.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what we believe
that separates us from every other religion in the world.
It's that Jesus died and he rose,
the Holy Ghost raised him from the dead.
And then he ascended to the right hand of the father.
Most of the synhedron was comprised of Sadducees,
which did not believe in the resurrection.
You're not resurrected, he's not resurrected.
So they were going against their belief,
their long held belief.
Most opposition we will face is a result of a direct threat
to the power or control of a person or a group of persons.
Let me say that again.
It challenges the idea that they are not right
and they don't believe or agree with it,
or it causes them to have to come to the terms
with the idea that they may be wrong
or have missing information.
For so many years of my life,
I held my belief of God like this.
This is what I believe by God.
This is, you can't tell me anything.
How many people realize that you don't know everything
you're supposed to know at 21?
But you don't realize that at 21,
you realize that at 40, right?
You're like, God, how did I make it?
And you start looking back, like songs hit different now.
You're like, that's what they meant.
You'll watch a show and you'll be like,
man, that makes so much sense.
Or you'll think about what your dad said
or you'll read Bible stories and you'll be like,
amen, I understand it now.
I get it now, right?
Because it's challenged the way that you think.
But if you hold your belief,
if you hold your belief and everything you understand
or you think you understand about God like this,
then the Lord can't take out things that are not right.
I mean, he can, 'cause he's God, but he's not going to
'cause you've got such a death grip on it.
This is what I believe and that's it.
And guess what?
He can't add anything to that because guess what?
I've already got what I believe.
This is what I believe.
And God, you can't show me anything
or I can't unlearn anything.
And that's an unhealthy way to live.
And we actually do that in more ways than we realize.
Man, it creates these,
we create these little tribes and groups
and we don't want to be around anybody
that challenges the way that we think.
That's why we get around people that think like us
and act like us instead of being around people
that are gonna challenge you and challenge your belief.
Not that you have to always cause doubt in someone,
but they were, these Sadducees were challenged
because they see something happening,
but they can't make sense of it in their head.
They can't make sense of it.
And most of the time when you face opposition in the church
or when somebody says something, you're like,
that's in the scripture?
I never saw that.
And it challenges your worldview
that can seem like opposition or adversity.
It typically happens when we have differences of opinion
concerning our theology.
So let's look at some ways that we,
me and sometimes you,
typically handle adversity and opposition.
So we're talking about Peter and John here, correct?
That's who we're talking about.
So it wasn't but a few days, weeks and months ago
that these guys were faced with opposition and adversity
and they handled it in a completely different way.
So let's think back to,
because the gospels flow right into the book of Acts, okay?
So let's think back to the Garden of Gethsemane.
This is the last night that the disciples are all together.
They've had the last supper.
Then they go to the Garden of Gethsemane
on the Mount of Olives and they're praying with Jesus
and Jesus is pouring out his soul.
He's in anguish.
They come to arrest him.
Is everybody familiar with the story that I'm talking about?
They come and they arrest Jesus.
Then they take him off to be crucified.
This happened before then.
The first way that we typically handle opposition
or adversity is we run from it.
We flee from it or we bail from it.
Some of us will avoid potential conflict at all costs
or when it happens, we get the heck out of Dodge.
I'm gonna tell you guys one of my toxic traits right now.
I will argue for as long as you want to argue
if we start arguing right now.
Swear.
Right now, you catch me outside in the hallway
and start arguing.
I'll argue as long as you want to argue.
But if you say I want to talk to you tomorrow,
I'll throw up.
I can't.
I can't handle that stress.
I got to know right now.
Pastor Kevin used to do this on purpose.
I know he did.
He'd be like, "Hey, bud, can we meet Thursday?
"It's Monday."
I'm like, "Absolutely not.
"I need to know right now."
And the whole rest of the week,
I'm texting him trying to figure out insights and clues.
Be like, "Hey, man, what'd you think
"about that sermon on Sunday?"
Trying to make sure I didn't go too far off the rails.
Or I'm like, "Hey, man, what do you think?
"When you were saying this at the gym the other day."
I'm trying to figure it out,
'cause in my mind, I've played out all the scenarios.
And I'm answering for Kevin too.
I'm like, "Hey, bud, when you did this."
"Well, you don't know my heart behind that."
"Well, I'm trying to get you in line,
"and you don't want to tell me instructions."
And sometimes I walk through the house,
and Jesse's like, "Who are you talking to?"
I'm like.
Right?
My kids are there.
I'll be in the truck doing it.
And they'll be like, "Who are you talking to?"
I'm like, "I was playing out scenarios in my head."
(congregation laughing)
Because there's an adversity coming,
and I know it, and I don't like conflict and opposition.
But if conflict happens right now, let's go.
I'm serious.
It's weird.
I don't know why.
And a lot of us will do that though.
If we know there's opposition coming,
or when opposition shows up, we'll run.
We'll run from it, we'll flee from it,
we'll bail in any kind of way.
That's what the disciples did.
Look at Mark 14, 50, it says,
"The disciples, and they all left him and fled."
Opposition came, they were all there in the garden together,
and what did they do?
They all ran.
One guy stuck around for a little bit, and then ran,
but they all fled.
The second way that we usually handle opposition
and adversity is we fight in our flesh or we lash out.
Let's look at Peter again in the garden.
This story is recorded in all four gospels,
so it must have been a big deal.
Now, before anybody says anything, this is just my opinion
of how I think the situation went down.
I don't think Peter was that skillful with a rapier
to just nick that guy's ear off.
Peter is not Assassin's Creed, this guy's a fisherman,
and you can say what you want.
He was with Jesus for three and a half years
and was strapped the whole time.
Was he not?
Why did he have a knife in the garden?
So they come up to arrest Jesus,
I think he tried to cut the guy's head off.
He's not that skilled.
He swung and he's, "Oh, hey,"
and Jesus is like, "Peter, calm down."
(congregation laughing)
Read the story, read the story, read the story.
The guards come up, Peter pulls his sword,
he's swinging, right, and the guys, "Whoa, whoa,"
gets his ear, Jesus says, "Chill out, bro,"
and picks his ear up and he's like,
"I gotta fix all your mess ups," right?
And he puts the guy's ear on
and he says something to Malchus.
He's like, "My bad, he got a little wild back there.
I'll get him under control, I'll take care of him."
I think Peter tried to kill the guy.
I think he tried to cut his head off.
He's not that skilled.
He's not that, he didn't just nick his ear off.
He swung for the head and somehow the guy lost his ear.
Here's what is important.
I'm just postulating, but this is what I think.
And then Peter ran just like the rest of them
and then even denied him.
Peter allowed his response to opposition
to be dictated by his emotions.
Peter allowed his response to opposition
to be dictated by his emotions.
Some of us don't wanna move unless we feel like it.
Pastor Kevin gave an admonition this morning
to step out in faith and go pray or say a word.
And some of you didn't feel like coming up and doing it.
If we're moved by how we feel,
then we're saved when we feel like it.
Technically, we never been saved, we merely tried it.
And no wonder we're never sold out
'cause we return it after we buy it, okay?
It's not about our feelings.
Peter responded out of his feelings.
Feelings are fair, but you can't stay there.
You can't respond to opposition and adversity
based on your emotions.
That's why a lot of times, a lot of us have to apologize
for something we said or we did
because we lashed out in anger.
Anybody besides Justin apologize for something they said?
I've had to come up here and tell you guys,
I'm sorry, I hurt somebody's feelings.
I don't even know who it is.
But some of you would tell me after service
that I was the guy you hurt my feelings.
Sorry, you should have told me we were gonna argue.
Don't just come up arguing, now you know.
If you wanna argue with me, don't catch me.
You better tell me we're gonna argue.
Then I'll be the one that's offended by it.
Here's the thing, guys.
You know they talk about that fight or flight response,
that fight or flight emotion.
You don't really know it until something happens
and you have to either fight or flight.
You don't know what's inside of you until you're squeezed.
You won't know what's inside of you until you're squeezed.
But it's when your cup gets bumped,
what's in the cup comes out of the cup.
And you can tell me all day
that the fruit of the Spirit is inside
until you get squeezed and something else comes out.
You can say it all you want until you get squeezed.
And then there's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
faithfulness, goodness, gentleness and self-control come out
or you're trying to cut somebody's head off,
or ran and left all your boys behind.
Left him there by himself to get arrested.
Peter and John were squeezed
and what came out was fear and anger.
Peter and John were squeezed
and what came out was fear and anger.
It's interesting the place in which this squeezing
took place, it took place in Gethsemane.
And Gethsemane was a garden that was located
on the Mount of Olives, it was across from the temple.
And in Hebrew, the garden of Gethsemane means Gethshamim.
And it means oil press.
There was a literal oil press, an olive press
located in the garden of Gethsemane.
And they would take olives and put them in this press
and they would crush them and press them and squeeze them
in order to extract the oil.
And the oil that came out first
was the extra virgin olive oil.
It was the purest oil and they used that oil
to anoint priests and kings
and to light the menorah in the temple.
Do you think it's any coincidence that the place
where Jesus is being crushed and squeezed and pressed
and anguished till blood is coming out of his pores,
he's being crushed and tortured.
And what comes out of him is the oil of the anointed king
who would become the light of the world.
Do you think it's any coincidence that that's the place
in which that happened?
So while Jesus is being squeezed and pressed and crushed
for our benefit, the disciples were being squeezed
and what came out of them was fear and anger.
What comes out of us when we were squeezed?
What comes out of us when we're squeezed?
Let's look back at the story.
Now let's get back into the story.
Peter and John are before the council, including Caiaphas.
Yeah, that same guy.
And they boldly proclaimed the gospel as their defense.
They proclaimed the gospel was their defense, okay?
Let me remind you guys of something.
Right will defend itself.
If you're in the wrong, you don't have no defense anyways.
You don't have a defense.
And if you're right, you don't have to defend yourself
because right will defend itself.
So Peter and John are before the council.
And then let's pick up in verse eight.
Let's read this what it says.
It says, "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit,
said to them, 'Rulers of the people and elders,
if we're being examined today concerning a good deed
done to a crippled man,
by what means this man has been healed,
let it be known to all of you
and all of the people of Israel
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
by him this man is standing before you well.
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you,
the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
And there is salvation in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.'"
Whew.
Are these the same two guys
that was trying to cut people's heads off and ran?
These are the same two guys?
It can't be the same guys.
Can't be the same guys, but instead it is the same guys.
And what changed?
What changed in that amount of time?
Verse eight, verse eight,
"Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit."
Why are we coming down here talking about,
do you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
This is why.
This created a boldness in these two guys.
Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit.
He's on trial.
He's in court, okay?
And he is actually presenting the judge with the gospel.
He's inviting them to get saved.
He was like, "Hey guys, remember that guy?
Y'all killed?
Got raised in front of the dead, by the way.
Also want you to know you rejected him
and now he's the cornerstone of our faith.
Do you guys wanna get saved and be with us?"
Right?
And they didn't have no idea what to do with it.
Look, look at verse 13.
They had no idea what to do.
It says, "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John
and perceived they were uneducated common men,
they were astonished."
These were regular dudes.
And they went in there with some kind of swagger, right?
They just tried to kill somebody a month ago
and the other guy ran off without his t-shirt, okay?
I don't know if it was an actual t-shirt.
Go read the Bible.
That's just something happened.
He did not go.
But like this, he left the garden
without some of the clothes he started in the garden with.
Okay?
So how that flesh is out, don't know
'cause they don't know what they wore.
Okay?
Now I could study that out for you
and come back with an answer,
but we ain't got time for that.
Not today anyway.
Midweek gatherings for Sunday morning, we'll find that out.
Boldness.
It said that they saw the boldness of Peter and John.
Why is this word important?
In the Greek, this is parasia,
and it's a very important word in Acts,
which depicts spirit, inspired, courage,
and confidence to speak in spite of any danger or threat.
I'm gonna say this again.
Boldness that they had was spirit inspired courage
and confidence to speak in spite of any danger or threat.
This reveals to us the third way
that we should handle opposition.
And this is to stand firm in your position
with a confident humility that is only possible
through the Holy Ghost.
Jesus exuded this confident humility.
He knew that he was capable of calling down legions of angels
and so did the enemy.
He knew he was capable of that,
but instead he subjected himself to the cross.
Jesus knew who he was and chose the cross anyway.
He knew who you were and chose the cross anyway.
He knew who I was and chose the cross anyway.
That's what changed in them.
What changed in them was that they were now filled
with the Holy Ghost.
When they were not filled with the Holy Ghost,
they were acting out of their flesh,
and they had a good teacher.
They walked with Jesus for three and a half years.
So you can be around the word.
You can know the word.
Are you hearing me?
You can come to church for three and a half years
and be around church folks.
And then when you get squeezed, something else comes out.
Why?
'Cause we have to be filled with the Spirit.
We have to be filled with the Spirit.
Holy Spirit, I need you to fill me
'cause I need you to guide me
'cause the last time I got squeezed,
I tried to cuss my head off.
And then I had to run.
And then I had to wait on you to come restore me.
You know Peter, Peter went back to what he knew.
He went back to what was familiar.
Some of us when we run,
we just run back to what's familiar.
Where did Jesus find him?
Fishing.
Where did he find him when he started?
Fishing.
He went back to what he knew.
He went back to what was familiar.
But when the Holy Ghost got ahold of him,
when the Holy Ghost filled his life,
when Pentecost happened,
and he was accessible to all believers
to live inside of you and dwell in you
and to help you and to remind you
of all the truth that Jesus said,
that's what Jesus said he would do.
He would remind you and instruct you
in the way you should go.
And when Peter leaned into that,
he's like, "Hey guys, this guy just got healed.
Let me tell you the gospel.
Hey guys, we're in jail.
Let me tell you the gospel.
Hey guys, I don't know if it's right
if you tell us to shut up,
but I'm gonna tell you the gospel."
And the crowd was stunned
because they're like, "These are regular guys."
These are regular dudes.
And a lot of us are afraid to speak up
because what do I know?
I'm just a regular old,
I'm not up there on stage.
We need less people on stage
and we need more people out here
just being examples saying a word.
'Cause you don't want this judgment
that I gotta endure according to the word.
I heard Francis Chan say something the other day.
He said, "Everybody wants to be a mouthpiece.
Everybody wants to speak.
Everybody wants to say something.
We need less people saying and more people doing.
We need more people just being examples of the kingdom
instead of just telling us
what we should be doing in the kingdom."
And how do you do that?
By being filled with the Holy Ghost,
walking it out day by day.
So let's do this last part.
This is the verse seven, second, he says,
"But in order that it may spread no further among the people
let us warn them not to speak anymore in this name."
So they called them and charged them not to speak
or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John answered them,
"Whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you
rather than to God, you must judge
for we cannot but speak of what we have seen
and what we heard."
And then they threatened them some more.
And when they had further threatened them,
they let them go finding no way to punish them
because of the people for all were praising God
for what had happened.
For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed
was more than 40 years old.
He was more than 40 years old.
There's a bonus story of opposition
that's laced in this bigger story of opposition.
I love the way that God does that.
Do you think there's any coincidence
the Holy Ghost put in there?
Hey, I just want you to know this guy was over 40
when this happened to him.
Why would he say that?
Why?
Why would that be a detail that I need to know
reading this story?
(gentle music)
Because God wants me to see how long did that guy lay there
at that gate?
Laying, waiting.
How many times did you think that he wished
that he could get up and go inside the temple
with the rest of them that were going?
How many times do you think that he may have said,
"I don't even wanna go in there
'cause I've got to lay here day after day begging for money."
Year after year after year, he faces adversity
and opposition, shame and guilt and ridicule.
And he's not even asking to be healed
when Peter and John show up.
But Peter and John are different now
'cause they're filled with the Holy Ghost.
So when they walk in this situation,
they're looking at something different.
And the guy says, "Man, you guys got any money?"
And he said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, look at me.
Look at me, give me that camera, look at me.
Silver and gold I have none, but what I do have,
rise, take up your bed in the name of Jesus."
And while he came, he was laying there wanting money
and got healed.
Some of you came in here this morning
for something completely different.
And God said, "No, I wanna heal you from that.
You've been carrying it for a long time.
Pastor Kevin invited you down here.
You've been praying for somebody for a long time.
You've been hurting for a long time.
And do you think God forgot about you?"
He was over 40 years old.
I think the Holy Ghost put that in there to show us,
"You're not, I ain't forgot about you.
You might feel like, man, I should be here by now.
It's getting later in life.
I feel like I'm so far behind."
How do you think that man felt
when he just got healed at 40?
He wasn't looking at all the time he missed and wasted.
He was thanking God and praising God and said,
"You know what, from this moment forward,
I'm gonna tell everybody what happened."
And God said, "I ain't forgot about you.
I didn't forget about you.
This man was over 40 years old.
He faced so much opposition, faced so much adversity.
Some of us had been waiting for healing for so long.
And God said, "I ain't forgot.
I haven't forgot."
Imagine how behind you'd feel just starting.
And a beautiful thing is he never even asked to be healed.
He still wanted to be.
And so we love to tell you what you have
'cause you ain't asking.
Some of you don't even need to ask.
You just need to show up around people
where the spirit's moving.
Sometimes you just need to get around people
where the spirit is moving.
And Peter and John were different.
So this time when they got squeezed,
something else came out.
Some of us are trying to run from opposition.
Some of us are facing adversity
and we don't want nothing to do with it,
so we're just gonna run from it.
And then some of us, we're trying to fight
every way we can in our flesh.
We're angry, "Why is this happening to me?
I'm doing everything right.
I'm filled with the Holy Spirit now.
I'm going to church to pray.
Why is this happening to me?"
That's what happened to them.
Jesus didn't, he warned them.
He said, "In this world, you will have trouble,
but take heart for I have overcome the world."
He didn't tell them you're not gonna face adversity.
He didn't say you're not gonna face opposition.
What he said instead was, "Go wait for the promise
and I'm gonna give you the power to overcome it.
I'm gonna send my, go wait and I'm gonna send my spirit
and he's gonna help you through it and overcome it."
And then when you are faced with opposition,
when you are faced with adversity,
you can face it head on and say,
"Look, I don't know if it's right for me to listen to you
or to listen to God, but I'm just gonna keep following God.
I'm just gonna keep standing here.
I'm just gonna keep showing up.
I'm just gonna keep praying for people.
I'm just gonna keep asking God to heal me.
I don't know if I feel, I ain't even gotta feel healed.
I just trust that I am.
And if I never get it on this side of the Jordan,
so be it, amen."
Right?
It's easy to get here and say that
until the winds of adversity are blowing
and you're actually facing opposition.
It's easy to get in and say that
when you're in a good season.
I'm in a good season right now,
but I refuse to say, "What's coming down the pike?"
No.
You just keep walking.
You didn't know they were going to jail that day.
That's most of the jail situation.
I didn't know I was going to jail those days, okay?
Newsflash, I did go to jail, okay?
There, truth's out.
Transparency here at the church.
You don't usually know you're gonna face
the things that you're gonna face.
David didn't know he was gonna face a giant
the day he faced a giant.
He was just walking out of his life,
his ordinary, everyday life.
Romans 12 one says, "Take your ordinary, everyday life
and lay it before God's offering."
Embracing what God does for you
is the best thing you can do for him.
Why?
Because he's filled us with his Holy Spirit
and empowered us to walk it out.
And we make it so difficult.
You're gonna face trials.
You're gonna face adversity.
Some of you are in it this morning.
And if you're in it, or you feel like God has forgotten you,
then we're gonna open the altar
and we're gonna pray for you.
We're gonna sing this song.
Some of us are gonna sing through it.
And some of us that are in a good season,
we're not gonna freak out.
We're gonna pray for those that are in that season.
We're gonna pray for those that have been laying at the gate
waiting on their healing, feeling like it's never coming.
Regardless if you feel like it or not.
Because God has filled us with his Spirit
to walk and face any trouble or trial that we face.
So those that are gonna pray, I ask for you to come down
and we're gonna worship, we're gonna praise,
and we're gonna thank God for the victory.
We're gonna thank God for the ability to overcome.
We're gonna thank him for sending his Holy Spirit.
Imagine if he never sent him.
We'd still be out here trying to cut people's heads off
and running from everything.
But instead, they have a confident humility to say,
you know what, I can face this head on
'cause I know who's in me now.
I'm different now.
And God's got it.
Let's pray.