"God Is Preparing You for What's Next" | Pastor Bobby Chandler | I Don't Feel Ready

I do want to say thank you to everybody that's watching online as well. We have people that watch from all over the world and even come visit here, which is amazing. And so we want to say thank you guys for watching. Make sure to drop a comment down below to let us know where you're watching from and click the link if you're new online. And if you're new in the house of the Lord today, I want to say thank you guys for joining us and I hope you feel like part of the family and just keep coming back. Listen, look around real quick. Second service, another full service. Our family is growing, like it's growing a lot. And I've already warned the staff, I've warned you guys that pretty soon we're going to move back to three services. My staff is like, dear Lord, please just give us some time. I got to be honest with you, they're still praying over that. God, just give us a little bit of time to prepare for that. The reason we have to prepare for it is because we have so many new people coming into the church now and a lot of new faces, which means we also need more help. Okay. And so if God has placed it on your heart to join our crew, our crew team is a little crazy, by the way. We like to have fun. Crew, make some noise in this room real quick. They're everywhere. You just don't know it, but, but we also like to eat, right? We like to break bread together. Hallelujah. It's biblical. It's something that we're supposed to do, but we could use your help. So make sure to visit a tent before you leave today to join the crew, enjoying what God is doing. And also I'm saying this too, because we've been talking about tribes. Listen, as the church grows, I never want you to feel isolated. Okay? Because that can happen really quickly, right? When a lot of people are coming into the house of the Lord, it starts to grow because I hear it all the time. Pastor, I'm just afraid for the church to get too big. Listen, our vision is to reach millions and billions for the kingdom of God. We will never be a country club. Let me make that very clear. We will never be a small country club because we want to reach as many people possible for the gospel. But the way you feel like family here is to dive into a tribe, to actually serve, to be part of the miracles. And that way, when you're struggling with something, you have a group of men or women that are praying over you. Hallelujah. Amen. Come on. A lot of incredible people here with a lot of testimonies too that you need to hear about that may encourage you with what you're going through. But if you haven't been here over the last few weeks, we've been in this series titled Unstoppable. And the vision behind this series is to teach you that the Holy Spirit is still moving today, that nothing can stop the church. Isn't that amazing? Like, no matter how much persecution we see in the world today or how much persecution they saw in biblical times, the church will not stop. God's message will continue out and move throughout the entire world. And no matter how many times the enemy tries to hold us back, but we see this vision in the book of Acts. These actions are moving by faith and even God changing people that others believe could never be changed. So last week, if you were here, we talked about this dangerous man named Saul. And on the road to Damascus, God challenges him and changes his life, right? He was the worst enemy of the church. And then Jesus transforms him into one of the greatest missionaries of the New Testament, proving to us that, listen, your past is just a chapter of your book, a chapter of your story. It doesn't have to be the ending. So many of us today are living like the past is still the final ending of the book. And it can be if you want it to be, if you're always declaring it over yourself. But if you start declaring, no, you know what? I'm a new creation in Jesus. God has transformed me. I used to be blind, right? Saul thought he was doing the right thing for the Lord, but he was persecuting believers. He was going the wrong direction. God made him blind so that he could see. God may do that with you, and you got to trust the process, but he loves you. No matter what your past is, you have been redeemed and restored by Jesus Christ today. But today our story is going to shift from Saul back to Simon Peter, because Peter has been living this Christian life that many of us could only dream of. Let me also make this clear. It's still attainable. It is still attainable today. The same God that Peter served is the same God that we serve. The same Holy Spirit that was moving through Peter's life is the same Holy Spirit that lives inside of us today. And so here's some of the things that he was doing. In Acts chapter nine, he meets this man and heals this man that has been paralyzed. Listen to this. Been paralyzed for eight years. Can you imagine? Acts chapter nine, verse 34, Peter said to him, and Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your sleeping mat. Now, does that require faith? Imagine that. That's faith talk right there. He has seen Jesus do it, and now he's moving by faith, but it takes a lot of strength and a lot of boldness to say to a paralyzed man who's been paralyzed for eight years, get up. What if it doesn't work? What if God doesn't do it? I believe that the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter and confirmed it to Peter to be able to do this and to move by faith. But listen, there is a difference in faith talk and doubt talk. Doubt sounds a lot like this, maybe, hopefully, we'll see what happens. Maybe God spoke this. No, he said, get up. Get up. Listen, God can do whatever he wants to do, and for some of you today, maybe the Lord is telling you to speak bolder. Speak bolder by faith. Get up. I know that I couldn't walk for eight years, but get up. I know that you haven't been healed or seen a regular life in a long time, but get up. Roll up your sleeping mat. And he was healed, what? He was healed instantly. Can you imagine for this man though? Like seriously, eight years not being able to walk, eight years not being able to work, eight years not being able to live a normal life, but then this man comes in who dares to believe God for the impossible, and he prays a dangerous prayer. You know what it makes me think? It makes me think, I wonder how many miracles could happen today if we start believing that God can still do it and pray some dangerous prayers, because I'm telling you, there's some things in your life you're saying to God, God, it's not going to happen for me. It's not going to take place. The healing can't come. Listen, then start praying some dangerous prayers and let's see. Let's see what God does. God's ways are higher than our ways. He may bring something impossible into your situation, but what I love about this too is that it actually gets better. Like we see Peter even do more. In the next few verses, Peter also finds out that this woman named Tabitha, who was a disciple, she had passed away. And so everybody is reaching out to Peter and Peter, again, believes God for the impossible. Acts chapter nine, verse 40, he goes in there and Peter asked him, he goes, can y'all leave the room? Some of the miracles that are going to happen in your life need to be between you and God. For some of you, you need to ask the distractions or even other people to leave the room for a second so that you can hear God more clearly. But I want you to underline that as well because I'm going to get back to that in a second. He asked the people to leave the room and then he did what? He knelt down and he prayed, turning to the body, he said, and I love this, again, it's not saying please, hopefully, he said, get up, get up, Tabitha. And she did what? She opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up. Who did Peter learn this from? This whole technique, the system that he's doing here, right? He learned this faith from Jesus Christ. Jesus would say, get up. And he's actually doing exactly what Jesus did in Mark chapter five. But there's one difference. Peter did something that Jesus didn't do. It's the very thing I told you to underline. Peter prayed. Before he told Tabitha to get up, Peter prayed, why? Because Peter knew that he wasn't the source. Peter understood that he didn't have the strength, he wasn't superhuman to raise Tabitha up from the dead. No, he knew that he needed the power of God to be moving through him, right? In order to say in the name of Jesus, Tabitha, get up. And he saw the miracle take place. Some of y'all are putting so much pressure on yourself. It's not up to you. I got anxiety over this. It's not up to you. You can actually give your anxiety over to Jesus. But I'm stressing about this and it's really attacking me. Listen, give it over to Jesus. The only thing you can do is be obedient and move by faith. Let God handle the rest. And that takes the pressure off of you. Because you know what Jesus said? Now, this is powerful, right? This is the words, these are the words of Jesus, John chapter 14, verse 12, you ready for this? I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do what? Will do what? Let's talk a little louder. Do the same works that I have done. Now notice that Jesus is not just talking to the apostles. He didn't say just the apostles who believe in me will be able to do these things. No, no, he says what? He says, anyone who believes in me, anyone who follows me will be able to do the same works that I have done. And listen to this right here, because this can confuse us for a second, and even greater works because I am going to be with the father. Now don't get it twisted. Jesus is not saying we're going to outdo him, right? Because not a single one of us in this room could die and raise ourself from the dead to die for the sins of the world. Only Jesus Christ could do that. But Jesus is saying, no, no, no, as he goes to be at the right hand of the father, he's going to multiply his workers to scatter all over the world to share the gospel. Because Jesus's ministry was mostly contained for the nation of Israel. But through the converts and those believing in Jesus, guess what? Now they scatter, now they move, now they multiply, and everybody's finding out about Jesus. The reason you were created is not only to know God, but to talk about God, to share about Jesus. Can I ask you a personal question? This past week, did you tell anybody about Jesus? Did you have one conversation about God? Did you pray over anybody? Was there somebody that you got to just experience some healing with? This is the Christian walk that God wants us to live daily. This is what God wants us to breathe out with every breath that I have, let me talk about Jesus, because my Jesus changed everything about me. Right? And the stories that we hear in this place, it's a miracle, right? I'm going to point you out for a second. I'm so sorry, Candy. But hearing your testimony, did y'all know that she learned English by watching this church so far away? So far away. And then when she moved here, she moved here, you guys had no idea the church was actually located here. You had no idea. I'm not making this up. Like, they had no idea that your church was located here. She learned English and, and learned more about the gospel by watching this church so far away and then moved here. You can't make this stuff up, right? Don't tell me God can't do it. I've seen some incredible things in my life over and over again. Here's the good thing though. God's got more surprises. He's got more surprises, all right? And so after these great miracles too, I want you to see this with, when it comes to Peter in Acts chapter nine, verse 42, it states that the news spread the whole town and many believed in the Lord. I guess news would spread, right? If you raise somebody from the dead, if a paralyzed man was now healed. And because of that, Peter stayed a long time in Joppa. Why did he stay a long time? Because he knew that there was influence, there was impact. He wanted to stay longer because the ministry was now growing. And so we lived with a man named Simon who was a tanner of hides. Now this teaches us something important we need to talk about today, all right? Here's the thing that we need to learn. Great impact will often create great influence. Our mission should always be within ministry to make impact. But guess what happens because of impact? When you're bringing people to Jesus, especially seeing miracles, guess what? There's an influence that takes place. And some of y'all are thinking, but pastor, I don't like attention. Like I don't want people to know about me or anything about me. I just, I just love God and I want to do the right thing. Yes. And God knows that. It's not about you, but if God is going to use you, guess what? Somebody's talking. Somebody's saying, oh man, do you hear that testimony? Wow. That really touched me today. Or did you hear about that healing? Like she went to the doctor and she said, that's crazy. Like we are called to do this. We are called to reach people and with impact comes influence. And I'm saying this today too, because in our culture today, we hear a lot, a lot, a lot about platforms, right? Everybody's talking about platforms, whether within the church or on social media or all these things. And here's my mindset on this. Okay. A platform, everything good comes from where? From the Lord. And so God, if God is doing supernatural influence in your life, he may give you a platform, even though you don't want to be seen. You know what? I'm a very introverted person. Some of y'all, that's, I know that's hard for you to believe. I really am. I could be by myself and be good for a very long time. I could stay home all week. Right? My wife is agreeing to this. I could be by myself and be perfectly fine. In fact, I'll be honest with you. It makes me happy. But God didn't tell me to sit around and not spread the gospel and not talk to people. And I got to get out of my comfort zone to tell people about how good my Jesus is now. So if God gives you a platform, just make sure you influence people towards Jesus, not yourself. Okay. Yes, there are some platforms out there that grew and went the wrong way, but there are still platforms today that God is using to reach the entire world. We got to influence them to Jesus. One quick story before I get back into the scripture. When I went to Israel, I went to Israel with a guy named Nate Buzz. How many of y'all came to AwakendConference two years ago? Okay. So Nate Buzz is a really good friend of mine. He is an actor that is mostly known for being on Vampire Diaries. How many of y'all have seen that? Raise your hand. All right. We're going to be praying for you. The setup. Okay. And then over some time, like on being on the show, he started coming to the Lord and really, really diving into his relationship with Jesus. I'll tell you something crazy. He told me, he said he's never seen the show. So that's, that's pretty insane to me. He's never seen the show, but he invited me out to Israel and we're in Jerusalem and I've never seen anything like this because he is very well known out there. We would be on the streets of Jerusalem. Jerusalem's not that big. And crowds of people would start just flocking to us because they wanted to take pictures with Nate Buzz. And so I'm watching Nate and he's doing this. He's taking pictures with them and he's like, you know Jesus? You know Jesus? You know Yeshua? And he's talking to them. And until finally the tour guides who are very kind and very nice said to us, oh, y'all got to stop. Really? What do you mean? He said, and I believe, I looked it up. It's, I believe it's illegal to talk about Jesus to a minor in Israel without the parents permission. Okay. To try to convert somebody over to Christianity, if they're a minor, it is illegal without parental consent. And they're saying to us, you might go to jail for this. I'm like, we might go to jail in Jerusalem for sharing the gospel. This is amazing. Let's do it. And we kept sharing the gospel. It was so cool. Like, I'm hoping to go to jail. I'm hoping to call Christie. Like, I'm in jail. I don't know how I'm getting home, but this is awesome. But the Lord protected us. Everything was good. But, but God is going to give you influence. Just use it for his glory. And it also means you got to risk some things, right? We talked about favor. Favor, you know, is fair in your life as well. Okay. But, but here's what I'm thinking. All right. Peter gets to this point and I'm wondering if he thinks, all right, I got this. I got this now. Like, I know how this works. My faith raised somebody from the dead. I know what God's going to be doing in my life. And I believe sometimes the greatest temptation that can come into your life is believing that you know what's going to happen next, that you got it all figured out. And the truth is, let me tell you today, you will never be able to figure out God completely. You will never be, when you think you have God figured out, he's going to say, surprise. You didn't see that coming, right? You can't catch up. You can't even calculate all that God has planned for you, and that's what makes him God. All right. So God asked Peter to do something next that was not on his radar. So if you have your Bibles, turn to Acts chapter 10, verses nine, we're going to go through a few verses. I think nine through 18, and then we'll keep continuing. But verse nine, Peter states this, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. Now it was about noon. So Peter was very hungry, but while a meal was being prepared, Peter fell into a trance. And then it states that he saw the sky open and something like a large sheet was let down by his four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, get up, Peter, and eat them, kill and eat them. Now Peter may be thinking, oh man, I must be really hungry to go into this trance and see this vision right now. Because Peter replies back to the Lord, and maybe he's thinking this is a test, no, Lord, Peter declared, no, Lord, how many times have you told God no, by the way? God's going to teach you something when you say no. He said, no, Lord, I've never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean. But the voice spoke, again, I want you to hear this right here. Do not call something unclean that I have made clean. Don't miss that. God says, do not call something unclean that I have made clean. And the same vision was repeated three times. Will you underline three times? Three times. God uses the number three to do the impossible and to help you see things you never thought you could see. For example, last week we talked about Saul. How many days was Saul blind? Three days, right? Saul was blind for three days so that he could finally see what God is doing. In this case, Peter is given a vision three times so he could see what he had been missing. Here's the point. God has to change what you see in order to change what you do. You hear me on that? And God has to change how you see things, how you perceive things in order to change your actions and how you live your life. For example, you have to see your marriage differently. You have to see your marriage differently. Instead of fighting each other, you need to start fighting for each other. Instead of bickering and arguing all the time, start praying for each other. When you're mad at each other, you know what? Let's hold hands. I don't want to hold your hand. Hold my hand anyway. Some of y'all just got to do it. And let's pray. Because I guarantee the heart posture starts to change when you're asking Jesus to do the impossible within your marriage, right? But if you're waking up because the battle was where? Where's the battle? It's in your mind. If the enemy can get inside of your mind and make you wake up thinking, oh, I can't stand this person. I don't want to talk to them today. They never believe in me. They never love me. They never are there for me. Then you're already prepared to fight. You understand that? You're already prepared to fight. So you have to see the marriage differently. We have become one flesh. We're going to use this to honor God. It's going to be a testimony of God's love, right? Other things too. How you see money. Oh, I'm telling you. How you see money. It used to be something you just wanted to consume, but now you're realizing, no, no, no. It's something you steward. Because if you can steward well what's little in your hands, guess what God's going to do? He's going to give you more. So many of us are complaining about the little things. I've done it. Many times. God, why have you only given me this? Well, I want to see what you do with it before I give you more. Because if you mess up with the little things, guess what you'll do with the big things. But if you handle well and steward well the little things, I know that I can trust you to steward the big things that I'll place in your hands. Let me also share this with you. Let's see forgiveness differently. Instead of saying, oh, you know what? They just want to win. They want to win this battle. I'm ready for the fight. Instead of that, no, no, no. I see this and it's taking control of my heart and something darkness is growing or dark is growing on the inside. And I need to change. I need to be set free, right? We got to see things differently in order to change what we do. Now listen to what happened next in the story. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven. Peter was very perplexed. What could this vision mean? He didn't have the answer right away. Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house standing outside the gate. They asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there. Meanwhile, here's what I love. Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, let me state it like this. As Peter was confused over what God said, the Holy Spirit spoke. Did you hear that? You can be confused about what God just showed you. And even though you don't have the answers, you can still hear the Holy Spirit speak to you and tell you what to do. So he hears the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit says something like this, hey, three men have come looking for you. You need to get up and go downstairs and go with them without hesitation. Don't worry. I have sent them. It's just kind of comical. Like I think a lot of times we read these stories and we're like, yeah, he just went down there. Easy peasy. No, no. Think about it if it was you. The Holy Spirit just said three strangers, three strangers are coming to your house. Don't hesitate. Just go with them. Would you second guess that? It says that Peter was perplexed. He was confused. Peter didn't feel ready. The title of today's message is I don't feel ready. I don't feel ready. Look to somebody next to you and say, I don't feel ready. To be honest with you, a lot of times we don't feel ready. Can I share something with you? I've been preaching now for, and she'll correct me if I'm wrong, about 16 years. Give or take. Okay. 16 years. No matter how much time I spend in the word of God and how much time I spend in prayer and writing this message and going over this message over and over again, when I step on stage, I never feel ready. I'm just being honest with you. I never feel ready. No matter what, I will always feel nervous. God, can you do it again today? Can you do it again today? Can you do it again this week? Can you do it again this Sunday? God, I don't feel ready. And I have learned it's not about how you feel. It's about what you believe God can do. It's about you moving by faith, even though your feelings are telling you, no, no, no. Don't do this. And allowing God to take control. It's not about how you feel. It's about what you believe God can do. And so the first point is this, of today's message. You may not feel ready, but God is already preparing what is next. Hallelujah. Like you may not feel ready. You don't have the answers. Peter didn't have the answers. The Holy Spirit spoke. God showed him a vision, but he didn't know what was going on. God just said, go downstairs, follow these three men to their house. So I'll tell you what. Let's back up in the story now to find out more. Let's start in verse one. We need to learn more about Cornelius. So Acts chapter 10, verses one through nine states this. In Caesarea, there lived a Roman officer, an army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian regiment. He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. But I also want to point out, he is not a Jew, and he is not yet a Christian. So he must know about Yahweh, but he doesn't personally know Yahweh. And so we can see here that he's trying to do good things. Maybe he's even trying to earn his salvation, but his heart is in the right place. And so God is seeing his heart, and he'll be told too that God sees his heart. But he gave generously to the poor, and he prayed regularly to God. Now one afternoon, about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. Cornelius, the angel said. Cornelius stared at him in terror. What is it, sir? He asked the angel, and the angel replied, now listen to this, your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering. Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying with Simon, a tanner, who lives near the seashore. As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants, a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants, and he told them what had happened, then sent them to Joppa. So as they're on their way to Joppa, and again, this is all he's got too. This is all Cornelius knows. Send your man, your best man out to find this man named Simon Peter, bring him into your home. The next day, as Cornelius and messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was the next day. Peter is on the roof praying to God. God, show me something. What do I need to do next? He has no idea that just the day before, God spoke to a man named Cornelius and told him to go get Simon Peter. I love this. Cornelius needs answers, and he's praying to God for answers. Peter is ready to be used. I want you to see how God is pairing both of their prayers here. Last week, again, let's go back to Saul for a second. As Saul was blind, the Lord spoke to this man named Ananias, and the Lord said, I hear Saul praying, and I've given him a vision of you, Ananias. God is saying that he's speaking to Saul the same time that he's speaking to Ananias. As Saul is praying for an answer, God is also speaking to Ananias through prayer to go answer his question. God is pairing people at times, meaning you can be in the presence of God, praying, God, use me, help me to do your will. And you have no idea who prayed the day before. You have no idea who prayed the day before. God, I need some help. I need to understand. I'm going to send some people out. You're praying, God, to God, asking questions. And the answer could be at the gate. The answer could be at the door. If you're willing, if you're willing. Let me say it again. If you're willing to move by faith and trust the Lord. And here's the good news. When you are confused, again, the Holy Spirit will tell you what to do. Look at verse 19. Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, three men have come looking for you. Go downstairs without hesitation. Now notice what the Lord said here. Don't worry. I've sent them. You know, last week we talked about asking God hard questions. He's not afraid or intimidated by your hard questions. Sometimes the answer he's going to give you is just don't worry. And for some of you, that's not good enough. Like God, no, no, no. What about this relationship? Is it going to be okay? Don't worry. Well, what about these bills that need to be paid? I'm working overtime, but I still can't make enough. Don't worry. Sometimes the answer is just don't worry. Peter does not have the answers he wants, but he chooses to go downstairs. God may tell you to move before he tells you the how. God may tell you to move before you know how the bills are going to be paid. God may tell you to move before you know how the door is going to be opened. God may tell you to move before you know how it all works out. God may tell you to move and go downstairs. How many of you are fighting with the Lord on going downstairs? God, I don't want to. It doesn't make sense to me. I don't know where we started thinking that everything God does has to make sense to us. Because you're not God and I'm not God. And if his ways are higher than our ways, and what he has planned for you is better than what you have planned for yourself, then why would everything make sense to you? How can he blow you away with a miracle if it all made sense and was in your control? So when God speaks a vision, it has to be out of your control. And that's when we spiral. That's when we start to stress. It's not in my control. It was never in your control. Trust the Lord. But let's answer some questions here. Who is Cornelius? He is a Roman army officer. A centurion, actually, is what his title. That's his Roman title. Meaning he commanded around 100 Roman soldiers. This man represented the Roman Empire. Now, did the Jews love the Roman Empire? No, they didn't enjoy them at all. They were oppressed for the Roman Empire. Not only that, but they put heavy taxes on them. And then they were pagans. They worshipped idols. They worshipped false gods. And they could also be very brutal. They're the ones that invented the crucifixion. The Romans invented the crucifixion. But what I love about this story is that God is using people you never would expect to be used. And here's what I wanna tell you today. Some of the greatest people that I know right now, loving husbands and loving fathers and wives and good parents and people that are always pointing their success over to God and giving God all the glory. You would be surprised how many of these people grew up in abusive households. Because I hear the stories. You'd be surprised how many of them suffered with an addiction way back in the past. But you would never know that today because he looks like a great father and a great family man. Or she looks like a great wife and a great mother. You would never know that back in the day they suffered with an addiction or they even did some jail time. Because I'm not playing when I say that God can actually change your story. It is true. It is biblical. My God can change your story right now. And you may never look like who people expect God to use. But God has never been limited by people's expectations, hallelujah. Their opinions don't matter. Their agenda doesn't matter. God can use anybody. And he's using this man, this Roman army officer. The second thing is this though, you need to understand this. Cornelius is a Gentile, okay. Anybody who is not a Jew is a Gentile. We are all Gentiles. We know according to the Old Testament out of the book of Genesis, the Jews were God's covenant people through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And they were called to be holy. You know what the definition of holy is? It means to be set apart, to be different, not to look like everybody else. That's what it means to be holy. Leviticus chapter 20, verse 26, you must be holy. Why? Because the Lord is holy. He's perfect. He's set apart. There's no one like our God. He said, I've set you apart from all other people to be my very own. And so they look different in the way that they live. They live by these Mosaic laws. There were certain things they could eat and certain things they couldn't eat. They couldn't eat just like the rest of the world. And it's pretty interesting to me because there's all kinds of different theories of why they had to eat certain things. And even if you studied the health benefits as they're wandering in the wilderness, they had to make sure that they were healthy to make it into the promised land. So many times God would make sure that they were eating very clean foods to be healthy enough to win war and to step into the promise. I just pray for them because they weren't allowed to eat bacon, but it's okay. It's okay. They also would worship differently from the rest of the world. And there were ceremonial laws as well. Why would the Jews look different from the world? They had to look different to be a testimony of who God is. Let me also say this to the church. I need you to hear me on this. Okay. Even though Jesus came to fulfill the law, we are still called as the church as the body of Christ to look different from the ways of the world, right? Amen. Let me show you this right here. Romans chapter 12, verse two. Don't copy the behavior. Do you hear me on that? Don't copy the things that you see in this world and the customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person. Again, where's the battle? By changing the way that you think. If you change the way you think, you change the way you live. That's why the battle was inside of your mind, over your thoughts, because if the devil can convince you that you're nobody and you believe these lies, and again, he is the father of all lies. If you believe those lies, you'll go nowhere, but you can declare it a day. No, I know who God is. I know that he met me. I know that he redeemed me. And every time I hear that liar, I will go to the truth of God's word and what God says about me. Change the way you think. You change the way you live. But let me also be brutally honest here, and this is out of love. Too many of us look just like the world and we're wondering why our heart are broken. We're wondering why we're not happy. We're wondering why we're always desperate for the next chase or the next dopamine spike or something to happen in our life. Too many believers' relationships today look just like the rest of the world. And so many believers today are sleeping around, living together, casual hookups, doing everything that the world is doing and wondering why, why is my heart broken again? How come I can't figure this out? And I'll ask people all the time, like, where did you meet this man? Well, we were in the bar. Maybe you shouldn't be in the bar to find love. So you gotta change the things that you see, gotta change the way you live, right? To think differently. And by the way, repentance, the definition of repentance means to change the way you think. The Bible says you need to guard your heart because it determines the rest of your life. And some of y'all are going out, giving your hearts to anybody, intoxicated under the influence, all these things. And you're wondering, you're wondering why you feel so shattered. Please, and I'm saying this out of love here. Our actions should not look the same. So many times too, we're like, you know what? You hurt me, I'll hurt you, right? You betrayed me, I'll betray you. You wanna gossip about me? You wanna talk about me? I will talk about you. You don't know who you just messed with. What testimony is that? When people say, I thought you changed. Why are you talking like that again? Our language should sound different. The way we forgive should sound different. The way we handle money should sound different. The way we guard our hearts should look different completely. Why? Because Jesus said it like this. He said, you will know a tree by its... Okay, y'all know the Bible a little bit. Here we go. Matthew chapter seven, verse 16. You could identify this, the words of Jesus here, by their fruit. That is by the way that they act. Verse 20. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, you can also identify people by their actions. And I believe this needs to be said because I hear it all too much. Just because somebody said that they love Jesus doesn't necessarily mean they love Jesus. Do not fall in love with somebody that just says, I love Jesus and goes to church, but it's producing rotten fruit in their life. Because let me tell you right now, let me tell you right now, you can be in church praising the Lord, but if you leave this room, cussing out the person that you said that you love, it does not sit well with God. It does not sit well when you condemn and put down somebody after you were just in here, praise Jesus. And then you say all kinds of things that we can never say in this place because you're afraid to say it in the presence of God. But let me tell you right now, the presence of God is wherever you go. People used to come up to me and they used to say, man, I can't say that because the pastor's here. I'm like, don't worry, God's always there. He hears the things I can't hear. Man, the fruit will always expose your root and either the root is Jesus or the root is yourself. I think one day I'm gonna do a series titled, what is the root? Would y'all like that? Come on, come on. I think that'll be good for later. I got a little bit of time left, so let's keep going. Here's the tension because we can make this mistake too. The Jewish culture began to confuse being set apart with being better than others. Okay, so I hear that in the church as well. Actually, I had a conversation just recently with somebody who said that I was in the church and I was ready to give my life over to the Lord, but the people didn't treat me well and they started mocking my relationship because she was a divorced woman or a single mom and she felt judged by the church completely because of her past. And she said, I can never go back. Listen, listen, God wants you here right now. God wants you here right now because so many times, yes, some of us look like we have it all together, but listen, pride is just as bad as all the other sins. In fact, someone would even argue that it's worse because what caused Satan to fall from the kingdom of heaven, it was pride. Pride goes before a fall. And so don't get it twisted. Listen, you can get your life right with the Lord, but don't allow legalistic ideas to get inside of your heart and think, all right, now I'm better than everybody else because you were meant to be a testimony to share to them about the Jesus that met you and changed you. We're not better than them. We just need to show them the love of God so that they can also be transformed. So instead of influencing, they were withdrew. Instead of reaching people, they avoided people and they allowed man-made traditions to come into the way that keep people away from God. And so I'm telling you all this because in this time, it was unthinkable for a Jew to enter into a Gentile's house. Unthinkable. This was not God's heart. Let me prove it to you. Jesus out of the New Testament healed the servant of a Roman officer already. Jesus went out of his way to talk to a Samaritan woman. No Jew would talk to a Samaritan, especially a woman, but Jesus went out of his way to change her life. Jesus crossed the Gentile territory to deliver a man of demon possession. Jesus praised the faith of a Canaanite woman who was begging for help from him. Go back to the Old Testament too. God sent Jonah to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. These were pagans. And Jonah said what? Jonah didn't say okay right away. He said, no. Guess what? He was swallowed by a great fish for how many days? Three. It takes three sometimes to change your mind, change the way you see things, right? God healed Naaman, Assyrian commander, and God promises through Abraham that all families, Genesis chapter three, or chapter 12, verse three, that all families of the world will be blessed by him. Listen to me, church. The cross was never built for one race. The cross was never for one culture or for one language for all of those who would believe in Jesus Christ and repent. That's what the cross was for. I don't care what color Jesus was. All I care about is that he died for my sin and rose from the grave. I care that he brought me salvation. That's what I care about. He doesn't care about the background, the culture, the skin color. None of those things matter. He sees a child of God. He sees somebody that he died for. And so Israel was never called to keep God to themselves. They were called to introduce the whole world to the Jewish Messiah, in Jesus Christ. Isaiah 49, verse six. Listen to this. You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. For I will make you a light to the Gentiles and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. Do you see how God works? Before Peter understood. Okay, can I show you something real quick? Before Peter understood, God said, do not call unclean what I have made clean. What is the purpose of a cup? To be poured into and to what? To drink. But I'm going to show you that the position matters because if the position of the cup is upside down, then if I try to pour into this cup, what's going to happen? It's going to get everywhere, right? You can get all over the stage and then somebody's going to yell at me later as we try to get it cleaned up. Why? The cup is here. It's ready to be used, but it's positioned incorrectly. So what do I need to do with the cup? I need to position it correctly and face it up so that when I pour into it, it's not only ready to be poured into, I can use it. At first, Peter is wondering, why are you giving me a vision of food? It's more than food. It's about repositioning his heart to remove any past ideas, any traditions that would get in the way of sharing the gospel with the Gentiles. Any prejudice that needs to be removed from the heart. God is saying, listen, as you're waiting on a meal to be prepared, I'm preparing you, positioning your heart. By the way, the answer is at the door. Go with them immediately. Follow them. Peter would soon realize that this had more to do with just food. Here's what he said in Acts chapter 10, verse 28. Peter told them, you know, it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter into a Gentile's home. Listen to that right there. He's confirming this. It is against our law to enter into a Gentile's home like this or associate with you. But God has shown me, I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. God repositioned his heart, poured into him, showed him something that he didn't understand. But because he walked by obedience, these Gentiles started coming to Jesus Christ. Guess what? Because these men were willing to take the gospel to the entire earth, we as Gentiles now have a relationship with the Jewish Messiah that set us free. Like what if Peter said no? Like we do so many times. You know why we say no? Because we think it's only about us. Let's be honest. We say no to God because we don't understand it and we think it's just about us and I don't wanna do this and this makes me uncomfortable. It's bigger than you. And it always will be. Jesus also made it clear in Matthew chapter 15, verse 11, it's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you. You're defiled by your words. The words that overflow from your mouth because what comes out of the mouth reveals what is inside of your heart. And so Peter had to just blindly trust the Lord. And I wonder if he got to their house and was like, oh God, I can't. This is breaking tradition. I don't understand this. You want me to go in there to talk to a Roman? The Romans crucified you on the cross. It's pretty incredible to know the love of God, right? That he would desire even those that put him on the cross, he would desire that they could be saved. By the way, let me make it very clear. Who put Jesus on the cross? Jesus did. The Romans didn't have that type of authority. The Jewish Pharisees didn't have that type of authority. Jesus chose to put himself on the cross but my last point is this. You don't have to feel ready because the Holy Spirit is. When you're perplexed, when you're confused, God's got the answer at the door. When you don't know what to do next, the Holy Spirit will reveal with each step you take. Peter wasn't ready for all this but he preached anyway. Acts chapter 10 verse 44, Peter was saying these things. Now listen to this. Here's what I love. Here's what I love about the story. We just talked about at the beginning of the service. As Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out on the Gentiles too. And the Holy Spirit interrupts the service to take over and amaze and wow everybody. My God is living. My God is breathing. My God is moving. Not just for the Jews but for the Gentiles, for those that have a past, for those that didn't have the upbringing they wish they had, for those that are still suffering, for those that stumble into this room every Sunday hoping to be set free. And the most dangerous thing you can do is say, I'm just waiting on when it feels right. Can I be honest with you? You're going to be waiting forever then. It never just feels. Right. It doesn't just feel, all right, all right. Feels right today to forgive today. It just feels right. No, it's still hurt there until you release it. Right? Waiting to feel like it's a good time to serve. It may never feel like it's a good time to serve. Why? Because life is always busy. And I've realized it just keeps getting busier. Have some kids. That makes it even crazier. The most dangerous thing is to say, I'm just waiting to feel like it's okay to surrender. So God take us. God take us and change us. Even the ones that don't feel it. Because I know, I know somebody in this room is ready to go. I know somebody in this room is ready to go eat. But you know, Peter was ready to eat. Peter was hungry. But you showed him something else. And you told him that the meal can wait because I'm preparing your heart to believe God for the impossible. And I just, I just wonder what would happen if we dared to believe. If we reposition our heart right now. If we dared to believe and pray an impossible prayer. Holy Spirit, will you just interrupt this service right now? Holy Spirit, will you just do what only you can do right now? I'm tired of being led by my feelings. It's not about feelings. Yes, God created you to feel for a reason. But that way you can give your fear over to the Lord. You can give your anxiety over to the Lord. You can give your stress over to the Lord. You can give all those things over to the Lord. And you can walk by obedience. And the Holy Spirit will give you strength. But you need the Holy Spirit leading you because your flesh will always take you down. Authentic Family, thanks for watching today. And before you go, I want to thank you for your faithful giving. It is through your generosity and obedience that we're able to impact the world every single day. It's through your gifts that we're able to touch lives in need and get the hope of Jesus to those that need it the most. If you would like to partner with us, you can do so by going online to AuthenticChurch.com backslash give. There you can become a partner with this ministry and to push out to the kingdom of God the love of Jesus. Maybe this is your first time giving. Or maybe you've been a partner for a long time. We want to thank you for that partnership. And we want to thank you for your obedience to what God is calling you to do. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness, the inhabitants thereof. If you have been bought by the precious blood of Christ, you are now doubly God's. You're first is because you bear his image. You're now his because you've been bought by his blood. How dare the enemy try to convince you otherwise. Your best moment before you met Jesus still was never better than your worst moment since you met Jesus. So with this in mind, Awaken Conference, is it too much for Jesus to want all of you? Some of y'all keep asking God to get you out. And God says, I'm not going to get you out. I'm going to come in. I'm going to step into that situation. I'm coming into that diagnosis. I'm coming into that brokenness. I'm coming into that pain. I'm going to show up late in the midnight hour and I will turn things around. Yeah, it's hard. However, God is with me. You cannot become all that God has created you to become if you are out here on your own. It is only when you make the decision to keep yourself connected to the head and the bride so that we can display together in harmony and in unity the power and the glory of Jesus Christ expressed through the church. I still love the church. Jesus said, ask for the spirit and then ask more and then ask again and then seek and then knock and then ask and then seek and then knock and then ask and then seek and then knock. Like just think about it for a moment. Like for real, like what would your life look like? How might it be different? Your love, your joy, your peace, your patience, your kindness, your goodness, your gentleness, your self-control. How might it look different if you woke up out of bed every morning and your posture was, holy spirit, I need you. I know what my day looks like. I know what's going on with my kids. I know how I'm at my marriage. I know what's going on at work. I got meetings. I cannot get through this day without you. Fall upon me. I believe that right now the church is moving by the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe right now that there can be fire again. I believe right now, just like we see in the upper room, there can be this mighty rushing wind that everybody's gonna hear about and everybody's gonna see. And I believe there can be thousands upon thousands of thousands upon thousands that will be saved in the name of Jesus Christ. And I believe that we're only seeing the beginning of what God is doing in this nation. And I believe that God has you here for a reason. The reason, wake up, wake up. You've been asleep too long.