SPEAKER_00: This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: For more information, visit Access.tv.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's get to work, everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Today we are in part three of a series that I've really loved.
SPEAKER_00: A series called Make Room.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing I said week one.
SPEAKER_00: You have room for the stuff in your life that matters.
SPEAKER_00: You just do.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you care about health, you will make room for exercise or eating a different kind of way.
SPEAKER_00: If you care about doing vacations, you will make room in your budget to save money to go do the thing.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: I love New Year's resolutions.
SPEAKER_00: Do them, make them, keep them, change your life, change everything around you.
SPEAKER_00: But there is only one thing that can actually change your life for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I challenge you with.
SPEAKER_00: I said, what if in 2026 we made our resolution to make room for God's presence?
SPEAKER_00: So as a church, we're literally doing everything we can to help you with this.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reason that last week we kicked off three weeks of intentional prayer called 21 Days of Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new or we have some college students back today, go to Access.tv slash 21.
SPEAKER_00: Access.tv slash 21.
SPEAKER_00: We literally have a devotional that our staff wrote for you every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Our staff recorded those devotionals as podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: I had a lady after the second service run me down to tell me that she loves the podcast.
SPEAKER_00: She said we all have a voice for podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: And then she also told me, it's like you're all in my living room.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, everything was cool, and that part felt creepy.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, everything else was good.
SPEAKER_00: But we want to help you start your day right.
SPEAKER_00: And then on the Wednesdays during this, we're gathering at all of our locations from 12 to 1.
SPEAKER_00: If you're able to come for even 20 minutes, just come for any part of that hour you can and let's seek the face of God.
SPEAKER_00: We all make room for the stuff that matters to us.
SPEAKER_00: Week one, I challenged you with this thought.
SPEAKER_00: The people of Israel, God's people, but messed up a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_00: But the way they messed up most was by having a relationship with God that kept God at arm's length.
SPEAKER_00: I challenge you to never allow your relationship with God to be filtered through the experience of another person.
SPEAKER_00: Secondhand faith never leads to firsthand miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Like you need to understand this.
SPEAKER_00: Second week, last week I talked about the power and the person of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a big deal to me.
SPEAKER_00: He's not an it, he's not a force, he is the third person in the Holy Trinity, the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason it matters is that if the Holy Spirit was an object or a force, you can't have a relationship with that.
SPEAKER_00: But he longs to be your best friend.
SPEAKER_00: He's a person.
SPEAKER_00: If you missed last week, I hope to bring some clarity to the topic of one of the most understood topics in the Bible, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Today, let me just jump ahead and tell you what I'm believing for.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you to make room in your life for a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: To make room in your life to see God do what only God can do.
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in Ephesians chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes a letter to a church in what would be modern-day Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what scholars call the crown jewel of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 3 20.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Now, glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us, say this, is able.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if I were to shorten and summarize the sentence, I would say, God is able.
SPEAKER_00: And what's he able to do?
SPEAKER_00: Far more than we would ever dare ask or dream of.
SPEAKER_00: Infinitely more and infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of Christians believe that God is able to do more than we could ever imagine, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like he's able to do it.
SPEAKER_00: The question that I think some of us wrestle with is it's not is he able, it's is he willing?
SPEAKER_00: Today I want to show you that God is willing.
SPEAKER_00: To get us started today, uh several years ago, my my middle brother Mike, he was turning 26.
SPEAKER_00: It was his golden birthday.
SPEAKER_00: He was turning 26 on February 26th.
SPEAKER_00: And so for fun, he came up with this idea called 26 and 26.
SPEAKER_00: For the 26 days leading up to his 26th birthday, he came up with a list of 26 things that he had never done that he wanted to do.
SPEAKER_00: So some days were fun, like an eating challenge or going to a place he had never been.
SPEAKER_00: He learned how to ride a motorcycle during this.
SPEAKER_00: But he called me one day and he's like, bro, I want join me on this.
SPEAKER_00: For my 26th birthday, I want to go skydiving.
SPEAKER_00: Will you jump out of a plane with me?
SPEAKER_00: And I said yes, and then I remembered that I'm married, so I said, maybe, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And um I said, let me run this by Liz real quick.
SPEAKER_00: So I called, I called Liz and I was like, hey, good news, you know, Mike's turning 26 and he wants to go skydiving.
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, how do those two match?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I don't know, I just want to go.
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Well, look, I don't think that's wise.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, but it would be fun.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, we have two young kids at home.
SPEAKER_00: Like they need a father.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I know, but I'll be safe.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, how can you control that?
SPEAKER_00: I said, I don't know, but I've got a multi-million dollar life insurance policy.
SPEAKER_00: She said, have a good time.
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, it was fun.
SPEAKER_00: A little too willing.
SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, and so it's it's the day of, and Mike and I go to the like the most amazing place, uh, this happening city called Lake Wales.
SPEAKER_00: You ever been to Lake Wales?
SPEAKER_00: There's like a Wendy's there, and apparently skydiving.
SPEAKER_00: And so here is us.
SPEAKER_00: This is me, uh, a few pounds and a lot of facial hair ago, and um, and so we we're there and like we're strapped in, and it's this incredible, incredible day.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so excited, I'm honestly a little bit nervous, but who was really nervous was not me, it was my bride.
SPEAKER_00: So all day she was texting me.
SPEAKER_00: She's like, please keep in touch, please keep in touch.
SPEAKER_00: So we're texting, she's like, How are you?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: She's like, How are you?
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm good, how are you?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, see last three responses, still good.
SPEAKER_00: Like, she was just checking in, checking in, checking in.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Do you know when you'll go?
SPEAKER_00: Not sure.
SPEAKER_00: It was just question after question after question.
SPEAKER_00: I could tell, I could tell she was nervous.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I I also was nervous.
SPEAKER_00: Here is a picture of my flight instructor.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see him.
SPEAKER_00: And um, this dude was interesting.
SPEAKER_00: I I put this picture up and I'm like, he might come to our church.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but I'll never forget how nervous I felt.
SPEAKER_00: And this man who strapped to me, he had this distinct smell of granola and marijuana at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: Couldn't explain that.
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, we we get strapped in together, we get in the plane, and he goes, Are you nervous?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yeah, and he goes, Me too.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, cool.
SPEAKER_00: And then I say to him, I said, uh, he said, he said, is this your first time?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, me too.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I will punch you in the throat, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Nervous.
SPEAKER_00: So we're back on the ground before we leave, and we're strapped in, and I'm texting with my wife, texting with her, and I'm like, it's gonna be soon.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know when it'll be, but I'm excited, I'm excited, I'm excited.
SPEAKER_00: And a few minutes later, the the pilot came in and he goes, guys, phones down, get on the plane, let's go, time to go.
SPEAKER_00: So I just threw my phone down, didn't send Liz a text, and I got on the plane.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what was more dangerous jumping out of a plane or not texting my wife.
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, I jump out of the plane.
SPEAKER_00: If you're like a warrior and you don't connect dots on stories very well, I'm fine.
SPEAKER_00: I made it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And the the jump is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Little quick lesson.
SPEAKER_00: If you ever do it, don't open your mouth.
SPEAKER_00: Instant dry mouth when you do that.
SPEAKER_00: Super weird.
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, I land safely on the ground and I come back to my phone.
SPEAKER_00: I am buzzing at this moment.
SPEAKER_00: I come back to my phone and I've got roughly 1.7 billion missed text messages from Liz.
SPEAKER_00: They started normal.
SPEAKER_00: How's it going?
SPEAKER_00: Question mark.
SPEAKER_00: When do you think you'll go?
SPEAKER_00: Two question marks.
SPEAKER_00: Hello, five question marks.
SPEAKER_00: Babe, 12 question marks.
SPEAKER_00: Then a whole text that was like this long, just question marks.
SPEAKER_00: And then very quickly it went from like, how are you, what's going on, to increasingly dark.
SPEAKER_00: Like very quickly, it was like, You're dead.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I'm a single mother.
SPEAKER_00: What is wrong with you?
SPEAKER_00: You have left me with our two sons.
SPEAKER_00: Our sons will be fatherless.
SPEAKER_00: What is wrong with you?
SPEAKER_00: She's sending like the emoji of the skull and crossbones, like, what is wrong with you?
SPEAKER_00: And how do you respond to that?
SPEAKER_00: I just responded, hi.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you say?
SPEAKER_00: What do you say?
SPEAKER_00: Well, this idea really got in my head.
SPEAKER_00: Like, this idea of like, you know, I'm pretty responsible.
SPEAKER_00: I'm responsible to my wife and to my kids.
SPEAKER_00: I have a church full of people who I'm responsible for.
SPEAKER_00: I have a staff of dozens and dozens of people that I'm responsible for.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm pretty responsible.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I shouldn't do dumb stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should play it safe.
SPEAKER_00: And this this is good advice sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: Like this is good advice.
SPEAKER_00: There's some places you should play it safe.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you the one area you should never play it safe?
SPEAKER_00: Faith.
SPEAKER_00: And I think somewhere along the way, a lot of Christians buy into the idea that if God doesn't answer my prayer exactly the way that I want or hope that he will, it's easier to lower my expectation of God than it is to have faith.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Bible talks a lot about faith.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Hebrews, the author of Hebrews chapter 11, says, without faith, so without it, it's impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to have it in order to please God.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Romans, Paul says it like this He says, For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.
SPEAKER_00: A righteousness which is like a right standing with God, that is by faith.
SPEAKER_00: You don't do something to earn it, you you get it by faith from first to last, just as it's written, the righteous will live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I need you to know.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we have to have faith to please God, and we we can't get into right standing with God without it.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the question: what is it?
SPEAKER_00: My guess is if I were to poll our whole audience today, I would get hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of different answers.
SPEAKER_00: Many of them would be good.
SPEAKER_00: It's taking a step when I don't know what the step is, it's trusting, it's believing, it's putting my whole weight in Him with confidence.
SPEAKER_00: Lots of good answers.
SPEAKER_00: But today I'd like to give us a working definition of faith that I believe might change some stuff for you.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is about seeing, but it's seeing from God's point of view.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to explain it to you like this, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Um, I have a friend who will never allow his children to say that their day was good or bad.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, why?
SPEAKER_00: But because when you live in the middle of a day, it's impossible to actually know if in the grand scheme of your whole life, if this day was good or bad.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have good days and it ends up bad.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have bad days and it ends up good.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, anybody ever run into someone that used to have a crush on and they told you no, but then you saw them like 10 years later and you're like, thank you, God, that they said no.
SPEAKER_00: Like that bad day, actually good.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: You with me?
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll I'll make it a little bit more personal.
SPEAKER_00: Six months into marriage, my wife found cancer in her body.
SPEAKER_00: That was a bad day.
SPEAKER_00: That was a bad season from my perspective.
SPEAKER_00: From God's point of view, that was the season required to attune our hearts to his will to do what became the genesis or the beginning of our church.
SPEAKER_00: Like I look at it from this point of view now, and I'm like, God, I would never wish that on my worst enemy.
SPEAKER_00: But thank you that you allowed us to go through that because you carved out of us this different kind of capacity to know you, love you, and to trust you.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's difficult for us to put our diagnosis on days good, bad, right, wrong.
SPEAKER_00: God sees from an entirely different perspective.
SPEAKER_00: God sees the beginning from the end.
SPEAKER_00: That diagnosis that you got, it is a word from the doctor, but listen to me, it's not the final word.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like you, you need to hear that we see from a perspective, God sees from a different perspective.
SPEAKER_00: So faith is aligning my sight to what God sees.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you what faith is not.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is not desire.
SPEAKER_00: You can't like want it enough.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is not pretending that something is true.
SPEAKER_00: It's like you get a diagnosis, that is true, but it's just a word, it's not the final word.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is not a feeling, nothing wrong with feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Have your feelings, just get your feelings in the rightful seat.
SPEAKER_00: They're not the driver, they're an indicator, but they're not always truth tellers.
SPEAKER_00: One last thing, faith is not bargaining with God.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not let's make a deal.
SPEAKER_00: If you could force God to do what you want by offering him the right thing, then you actually become God.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of us have done this?
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, if you'll just come through, I'll start tithing.
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, if you just do a miracle, I'll never miss church again.
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, I'll pray every day.
SPEAKER_00: And we try to bargain with God and we miss it altogether.
SPEAKER_00: The author of Hebrews wrote Hebrews chapter 11, which we call the hall of faith.
SPEAKER_00: And it starts with this verse.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Now faith is confidence.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this word.
SPEAKER_00: It keeps popping up in my life.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's not cockiness, it's not self-assuredness, it's a holy, rightful confidence, not rooted in me, but in God.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
SPEAKER_00: So another way to say it about faith is faith is a way of seeing.
SPEAKER_00: It's a way to see stuff that you can't always see.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way that the human eye can see the certain prism of colors, there are colors that exist outside of what the human eye can see.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that there is a way for you to see outside of your normal purview and to see from God's point of view on your circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: To get us going today, one of the most famous stories in the Bible, Christians and non-Christians alike know the story.
SPEAKER_00: It's a story about David versus Goliath.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know this story?
SPEAKER_00: If you grew up going to church, going to Sunday school, you possibly heard it.
SPEAKER_00: Chances are, even if you had never been to church before today, you've heard it.
SPEAKER_00: And they use it as a sports analogy.
SPEAKER_00: This team versus this team, one is the massive favor, and the other one is the underdog.
SPEAKER_00: It's the David versus Goliath.
SPEAKER_00: If you know the story, David is a teenage shepherd boy.
SPEAKER_00: He's out watching his father's sheep, and he does have to fend off a few animals with his bare hands, but it's really what he was.
SPEAKER_00: And one day David was going to the battlefield in this place called the Valley of Elon.
SPEAKER_00: I've stood in this valley.
SPEAKER_00: It's really cool.
SPEAKER_00: You need to go to Israel someday.
SPEAKER_00: And I've stood in this valley, and David rolls up with a cart full of like an ancient version of a charcuterie board.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's got some meats and some cheese and some bread.
SPEAKER_00: And when he pulls up, he hears the voice of this gigantic person screaming at the people of Israel to send a warrior out to fight him.
SPEAKER_00: It was common in those days for these kind of battles to be 1v1, winner take all.
SPEAKER_00: So they had this, on the other side, the Philistines had this man named Goliath.
SPEAKER_00: He was huge and overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: And David says to his brothers, all right, who's gonna fight this guy?
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Have you seen him?
SPEAKER_00: Like what they saw with their natural eyes was overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: And David says, Why wouldn't if you fight him?
SPEAKER_00: They're like, he's massive, he's huge, we can't do it.
SPEAKER_00: And David says, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: David gathers up his courage and he goes to King Saul.
SPEAKER_00: And he says this to the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This, don't worry about this, Philistine, David told Saul.
SPEAKER_00: I got this.
SPEAKER_00: I'll go fight him.
SPEAKER_00: And try to put yourself in Saul's shoes for just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Your trained warriors are scared to fight this guy, and a teenage boy who brought meat and cheese wants to fight him.
SPEAKER_00: What would your response be if you were king?
SPEAKER_00: King says exactly what I would say, which is don't be ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: That is audacious.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on and he says, There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win.
SPEAKER_00: You're only a boy, and he's been a man of war since his youth.
SPEAKER_00: Saul saw that moment in the natural.
SPEAKER_00: In the natural, it makes no sense for a boy to go fight a gigantic warrior.
SPEAKER_00: But David saw a little bit different.
SPEAKER_00: It raises this question because Saul says about David, don't be ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you when it comes to the things of faith for you, am I reasonable or ridiculous?
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of us, somewhere along the line, we settle for a reasonable kind of faith, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: I've got this sickness in my body.
SPEAKER_00: God, I know you can heal, but would you just give me the strength to endure?
SPEAKER_00: Is that a real prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: But the healing power of Jesus is available to you.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Isaiah, some 600, 700 years before Jesus was born, says that when Jesus was beaten and nailed to the cross, healing was purchased for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's prepaid.
SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is just like receive it.
SPEAKER_00: So why would you settle for a reasonable kind of faith when God seems to use and bless those who have a ridiculous kind of faith?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, last week we we were talking about the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about Acts chapter 1, Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit falls.
SPEAKER_00: There's this incredible moment in an upper room, and it the Holy Spirit fills 120 believers, and that now they're filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And then the story shifts to Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Peter was a guy who was kind of all over the map, but at one point in Peter's life, just days before, he was scared to even acknowledge his relationship with Jesus to a little girl.
SPEAKER_00: Peter gets so full of the Holy Spirit that the next day he goes out and preaches, and thousands of people are saved and baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Well then there's this other story.
SPEAKER_00: This is Acts chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: It's literally the next chapter after the Holy Spirit falls.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Peter and John, two of Jesus' disciples, they went to the temple one afternoon to take part in the three o'clock prayer service.
SPEAKER_00: So we do ours at noon during 21 days of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: They did three o'clock, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And it says, as they approached the temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in.
SPEAKER_00: Just pause here for just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Acts, chapter 4, literally the next chapter, tells us one detail that this man had been lame, unambulatory, like unable to walk, and he was over 40 years old.
SPEAKER_00: And that they're bringing this man to the temple, and here's the reason.
SPEAKER_00: The only way he could survive was to sit outside of the temple gate and beg for money.
SPEAKER_00: His whole existence, getting food and meals and maybe money for a place to stay, depended on the generosity of those who were going to the temple.
SPEAKER_00: In ancient Jewish practice, it was common for Jews to think it was either wrong or sinful to pass a person who was in need and not give something to show help.
SPEAKER_00: So this man, he gets his friends to bring him out right in front of the temple.
SPEAKER_00: So now people probably feel morally obligated to help him.
SPEAKER_00: And every day he would sit there, and every day he would beg for the reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: It goes on, it says, when Peter, uh, when Peter saw, when he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Now that's kind of interesting, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it a little weird to you?
SPEAKER_00: Like it's weird to me because he's there at this place.
SPEAKER_00: I think I skipped a verse.
SPEAKER_00: Let me go back one, if you would, for me.
SPEAKER_00: It says each day he was put beside the temple gate, the one called the beautiful gate.
SPEAKER_00: So he could beg from the people going into the temple.
SPEAKER_00: There's this interesting detail about this temple that the temple had this door system, this gate called the temple beautiful, the gate beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Now, a detail about it that's fascinating to me is this.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have pictures, obviously, from the Old Testament and the New Testament, but what's interesting to me is this extra biblical writers write about this temple.
SPEAKER_00: It was so ornate and gorgeous.
SPEAKER_00: The gate or the doors were made of a Corinthian copper.
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't have pictures, so I went to ChatGPT and I said, like, draw for me the most realistic version of what the temple and the gate beautiful might have looked like.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what it came up with, and I think it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: The doors were made of a Corinthian copper, they were very, very tall.
SPEAKER_00: And people would come just to admire the doors of the temple.
SPEAKER_00: And I even like how Chat GPT put this guy in it.
SPEAKER_00: And he's sitting just a few feet away, and he's he's begging, asking for a handout.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it interesting?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's sitting on the outside of the temple asking for the reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: But what's interesting is that he could be carried in 15 more feet to the other side of the doors.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture says the presence of God so indwelt this place that the healing power of God was there to do a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's go a little farther.
SPEAKER_00: He's settling for the reasonable when the ridiculous is 15 feet away from him.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it means: it means for you and for me that our expectation determines our experience.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna show it to you.
SPEAKER_00: Expectation determines experience.
SPEAKER_00: For this man, my guess is that he had prayed, my guess is he had cried out to God, Oh God, would you heal me?
SPEAKER_00: My friends are moving around, they're able to walk, my friends are getting married, I can't.
SPEAKER_00: Would you do a miracle and would you heal me?
SPEAKER_00: And it just never seemed to happen the way he wanted.
SPEAKER_00: And so instead of putting himself in an environment where the ridiculous might happen, he settled for the reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the point.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's easier to exist than to expect.
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of us get stuck there.
SPEAKER_00: We're good with just existing, we're good settling for the crumbs of this life.
SPEAKER_00: Story goes on.
SPEAKER_00: Peter and John go walking by and they see the man, and Peter looked straight at him as did John.
SPEAKER_00: Then Peter said, Look at us.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the captain now.
SPEAKER_00: Look at us.
SPEAKER_00: So the man gave them his attention, expecting.
SPEAKER_00: What was he expecting?
SPEAKER_00: He was just expecting some money.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't expecting a healing.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't expecting a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: He was expecting the lowest possible reasonable response.
SPEAKER_00: Then Peter said this, I like this.
SPEAKER_00: Silver or gold, I do not have.
SPEAKER_00: Pause.
SPEAKER_00: Any ever um anybody ever have a friend that every time you go out with them, they're like, oh, forgot my wallet.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody have that friend?
SPEAKER_00: I have that brother.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, um, it's funny.
SPEAKER_00: Like Peter and John go walking by and they say, Silver and gold, I don't got it.
SPEAKER_00: I ain't got no money.
SPEAKER_00: Comma.
SPEAKER_00: And this is important for me to say to you a lot of us, when it comes to faith, we settle for reasonable and we say, I don't have what I need, period.
SPEAKER_00: Peter and John say, Silver and gold, I don't got it.
SPEAKER_00: Comma.
SPEAKER_00: Massive conjunction.
SPEAKER_00: But I don't have what you want, but good news, I do have what you need.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna come back to that.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.
SPEAKER_00: And then it goes on.
SPEAKER_00: He says, taking him.
SPEAKER_00: He reaches down, pulls him up, taking him by the right hand, he helped him up.
SPEAKER_00: And instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
SPEAKER_00: This is written by Luke, who's a doctor, and Luke gives some kind of other detail in the original writing that makes it seem like the bones lined up, that the muscles strengthened, the tissues and all the connecting ligaments all came back into order.
SPEAKER_00: And he jumped to his feet and began to walk.
SPEAKER_00: And then he went uh next, then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping in and praising God.
SPEAKER_00: Now everybody knew who this guy was, and so when it says, when all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the point there's a man who comes expecting the reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: But he got a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what you need.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the ridiculous that we find the miraculous.
SPEAKER_00: And let me say this to somebody God never called you to settle from reasonable, low-level faith.
SPEAKER_00: He called you to believe him, trust him for the miraculous.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what I'd like to do in just our last couple minutes together.
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask a couple questions about this story.
SPEAKER_00: Question number one is this whose faith healed this man?
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a really important question for you to answer.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to understand, it wasn't the man unable to walk in faith that healed him.
SPEAKER_00: He was expecting nothing.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't his faith.
SPEAKER_00: It was the faith of Peter and John.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a really big deal to me because very often in the Bible there's moments where it's the faith of someone else that is used to see a miracle happen.
SPEAKER_00: Think about Mark chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is teaching back in his hometown of Capernaum.
SPEAKER_00: It's on the north side of the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: And some friends grab their buddy who was paralyzed for over 30 years.
SPEAKER_00: They grab him by the mat that he's lying on.
SPEAKER_00: They go to Jesus, but the house is so full that they climb onto his roof, rip a hole in the roof, and lower the man in front of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus heals him.
SPEAKER_00: It's a miracle, beautiful moment.
SPEAKER_00: Whose faith got him healed?
SPEAKER_00: The faith of the friend.
SPEAKER_00: So here's a personal beef that I have with American Christians today.
SPEAKER_00: Not you, other people.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: We go to church when it's convenient for us.
SPEAKER_00: We go to church if we like the message series we're in.
SPEAKER_00: We go to church if we hear that our favorite speaker is speaking.
SPEAKER_00: We go to church if it's like sunny and and like not too perfect, but if it's like like a little too hot for Disney, like then we then we go to church.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're saying is, I go when there's something in it for me.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, I pray every time you roll up into this place, I pray the presence of God gets a hold of you and changes you.
SPEAKER_00: But can I tell you something?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you need to show up and it's not for you.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you need to show up because someone else needs your faith, someone else needs your strength, someone else needs you to stand up for them.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, you ever you ever showed up to church and someone gave you a hug and you just needed that moment of ministry?
SPEAKER_00: You ever had someone stick around and pray for you in the lobby?
SPEAKER_00: Like you need that.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say when you blitz out of here the moment the service is over, or when you only come if it's convenient for you, you're settling for reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: You aren't called to that.
SPEAKER_00: Second question What power was used?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice Peter and John walk by and they didn't lay their hands on him and say, In the name of Peter and John, two of Jesus' boys, rise and walk.
SPEAKER_00: No, they did.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see this.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: The next chapter is interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because some religious leaders who are part of a group called the Sanhedrin get together and they say, We got to bring these guys in.
SPEAKER_00: So the the Sanhedrin was like this religious court system.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 4, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: They, the Sanhedrin, brought in the two disciples and demanded, by what power, or let me rephrase it, or in whose name have you done this?
SPEAKER_00: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Look at those words, filled with God's power, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said to them, rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we've done a good deed for a crippled man?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to know how he was healed?
SPEAKER_00: And they're all on the edge of their seat.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Let me clearly state this to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene.
SPEAKER_00: He's the man you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And all these religious leaders are their minds are blown.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on and says, For Jesus is the one referred to in the scriptures where it says, The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.
SPEAKER_00: There is salvation in no one else.
SPEAKER_00: God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Why does it matter?
SPEAKER_00: Ready?
SPEAKER_00: Because names carry authority and power.
SPEAKER_00: I'll prove it to you.
SPEAKER_00: If you have kids at home, you ever have kids fighting with each other, and one of them comes back to you and says, Dad, they did this, and you say, Tell them, Dad said.
SPEAKER_00: And the fight ends.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because names carry authority.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I need you to understand: there is only one name from the beginning of time till the end.
SPEAKER_00: In the heavens and the earth, there is only one name to which every other knee must bow.
SPEAKER_00: Why can you have ridiculous faith?
SPEAKER_00: Because you can pray in Jesus, powerful, mighty, strong name.
SPEAKER_00: Last one.
SPEAKER_00: The miracle happens.
SPEAKER_00: This man is healed.
SPEAKER_00: Last question: What is the man's response?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, it says he's healed, he stands up, his bones and ligaments get into alignment.
SPEAKER_00: And then it says that he went running and leaping and praising God in front of all of the people.
SPEAKER_00: His response is gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you dare let a miracle become something you hang your hat on as if you did it on your own.
SPEAKER_00: It is in the name of Jesus, in God's power and in God's strength.
SPEAKER_00: Stand up with me, church, all across this place.
SPEAKER_00: Stand up with me at all of our locations.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand with me?
SPEAKER_00: God is in the miracle working business.
SPEAKER_00: This is a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask you to bow your head and close your eyes at all of our locations right now.
SPEAKER_00: I want to show you one of his greatest miracles.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today and you don't know if you're right with God, he has the power to save your life.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this means you've never made a decision to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this means you've walked away from your decision to follow him, but today you want to surrender the control of your life to him, to let him be the Lord and Savior of your life.
SPEAKER_00: If this is you at any of our locations, would you have three seconds of courage and raise your hand right now if you need to follow Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, thank you, thank you, thank you, yes, thank you, thanks, buddy, thank you, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: If this is you, I'm gonna ask you to pray this out loud.
SPEAKER_00: Pray it like you, mean it with all of your heart and good news.
SPEAKER_00: Our whole church will stand behind you and pray it out loud with you because nobody here stands alone.
SPEAKER_00: Pray this with me out loud.
SPEAKER_00: Say, Jesus, I give you my life, save me, change me, make my life new.
SPEAKER_00: I believe you came into this world for me.
SPEAKER_00: I believe you died in my place, and because of your sacrifice, my life can be made new.
SPEAKER_00: So, Jesus, today, forgive me, save me, make me new.
SPEAKER_00: I give you my life for the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Keep your head bowed and eyes closed for just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: If you've settled for anything other than ridiculous faith, I want to challenge you right now to lean back into the ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: Is there any part of your life where you've settled for the reasonable when you were called to the ridiculous?
SPEAKER_00: So, God, in this place, we believe that you are able and willing to do more than we could ever wrap our minds around.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you are powerful, that you are good, and you are in control.
SPEAKER_00: Today we set our faith in alignment with you, which means we see from your perspective.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you that you are the one who is the author and the finisher of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: Would you do in us the miracles that we're believing you for?
SPEAKER_00: And God, just like the man healed, we'll be careful to praise you, to be grateful, to give you all the glory for it.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Come on if you believe it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.