Spirit in the Sky - Week 2 (Mother's Day 2024)

Amen. Amen, Amen, And as uh as the ushers continue and finish

up, I wanna let you know that we're gonna be continuing in our series

today Spirit in the Sky. I'm going to continue to talk about the person

of the Holy Spirit this morning. Listen. Last week, I think maybe

I challenged you on the ways that you thought some and I want you to

know that the Holy Spirit is a very present help and he's here for you

today. So lean into him. Lean into him for guide. It's an

instruction and comfort and wisdom, and he will certainly meet you at your point

of need. If you've got a Bible, go to Acts chapter three.

Acts Chapter three. And I do want you to know that as we read

this that I am going to be uh, I'm gonna be referencing moms to

but this applies to every single person in this room. It doesn't matter what

age you are, doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, a

boy or a girl. This applies. So just because I'm saying moms,

don't think that this won't apply to your life. Amen, Acts chapter three,

starting in verse one. If you're there, say amen. If you're

not there, say oh my all right, y'all read along with Us Acts

Chapter three, verse one. Now Peter and John went up together to the

temple at the hour of prayer the ninth hour, and a certain man,

laying from his mother's wound, was carried, whom they laid daily at the

gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms from those

who entered the temple, who, seeing Peter and John about to go into

the temple, ask for alms, and fixing his eyes on him with John,

Peter said, look at us. So he gave them his attention,

expecting to read to recive something from them. Then Peter said, silver and

gold have I not, But what I do have I give you in the

name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. And he took

him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and

ankle bones receive strength. Let's pray, Father, we thank you for your

word. Now I pray that your anointing would be so strong on your word

today that it would destroy every lie, every attempt to discourage of the enemy,

that it would bring peace and wisdom and joy and comfort. Lord,

we love you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen,

and amen, let me mention one thing before I dig into the message.

On your way out, don't forget We've got a little station set up

for you to get your family pictures made over on the outside of the church,

over on the right hand side of the doors, So please avail yourself

of that and get your picture made before you leave. I was supposed to

announce that and forgot, so now I'm announcing it. Amen. This story

doesn't seem like a particular strong Mother's Day story. But as I read this

passage of scripture, the Lord just kind of which he doesn't do very often

for me, but he just kind of rolled back reality and I kind of

saw just an image and it was a well, what I perceived to be

a mom, just a silhouette of a mom setting in front of a beautiful

family scene, and I could tell that she was just weeping and broken.

And when those things happen, I pay special attention because I know that in

those moments, when the Lord speaks to me in ways that he doesn't normally

speak to me, that usually means that he's going to speak direct to someone.

And I want you to know today that I probably did not come to

preach to everybody. I just came to preach to somebody, and if just

somebody receives it, I'm okay with that. Amen. This this story of

this man, this lame man, that's what we still call him, right,

We still call him the lame man at the gate Beautiful, even though

we just read that he was healed, But we still want to hold him

in who he used to be, even though he's not that anymore. We

call him by his old label. But he's the healed man that was dancing

through the gate beautiful, And this man was struggling every single day he was

brought and he was laid at this gate called beautiful, the beautiful gate that

everyone else could notice, its splendor, that everyone else, as they passed

through, could take in the the marvelous columns and the architecture built around this

gate. It was different than the other city gates. This one was a

little more adorned and spectacular than the rest, and as people would pass by,

they would see and be taken by its beauty. But this man,

who was brought and laid there every single day, had become conditioned past its

beauty. He had come to not see it for what it was an architectural

marvel. He came to see it as a place where he would go to

just simply survive. And he wasn't suffering from a big problem. It wasn't

a huge problem, was a small problem. This man's only problem was in

his ankle. And if you look at the human body, out of the

entire height of the human body, the ankle is about two and a half

to three inches tall, So out of a man, let's just say he

was I don't know, let's just pull a number out of the air.

One that's easy for me to do math on. Let's say that he was

that he was six feet tall, seventy two inches tall. This small problem

of three inches rendered a seventy two inch tall man powerless. But here's the

reality. It was his problem, and others may not have solved the significance

of his problem. They may not have readily recognized the significance of his problem.

A matter of fact, if people didn't notice or know that he was

there every single day, that he was the man there begging arms every single

day, they may walk by him and just simply think that he was sitting

there taking a break because he looked like everybody else. From the ankles up.

He was completely normal, and he fit the picture. But he was

struggling with a hidden condition that no one could see, a small condition that

probably made him feel inferior and insignificant in every way, because everyone else was

able to do the things that they desired to do except for him, and

he was paralyzed by this problem that nobody else saw. And as a result,

he lived in the guilt and the worry of what other people thought,

even though they didn't recognize anything about him. He was distracted from his destiny,

distracted from who he was by a problem that nobody else recognized. Sometimes

the enemy's method of destruction in your life is distraction. Destruction by distraction is

the thing that I see and so many of us, because the busier we

stay, the more engaged we stay in other things, the more destructive the

enemy works in our lives because He's equipped us. God's equipped us. He's

given us the Holy Spirit as our comforter. He's our paraclet, the one

who comes along the side. He's a very present help in time of need.

He's he's that friend that sticks closer than a brother. But if I

can just stay overwhelmed by the things of life, then the enemy can tell

lies and speak to us and and call doubt into our destiny. This man

was there, and he must have said, now, listen, moms,

gonna ask you a question. I want you to be honest, even if

your kids are sitting right here with you, because the truth will set you

for But how many of you you've looked around completely worn out diapers everywhere,

dishes in the sink, clothes that need to be folded. You let the

last load of laundry mild you a little bit because you couldn't find the time

to get it from the washing machine to the dryer. Come on, somebody,

and you look around and you think to yourself, and there must be

more than this. There must be more than this. This can't be.

This can't be it diapers and clothes and vacuum cleaners and tide and bubble baths,

and God, you spoke some great things in a my heart. There

was a destiny that was there. I heard the promises, and now I

just feel like I'm so insignificant, and everybody else looks and I'm just waiting

for somebody just to say, how are you feeling? But nobody ever asks

because you've got a problem. That's your problem, that looks small to everybody

else, but it's paralyzing to you. And we keep waiting for our destiny

that seems like it's been sidetracked, even hijacked. We keep waiting for God

to do something. But I need you to realize that your destiny is still

alive and it's still real. You're just living in a different season of life.

You know. Scripture talks about that there's a there's a season for everything.

Ecclesiastes does a beautiful job, and I would read it, but I'm

not going to go to Ecclesiastes and just read until you find it. It'll

do you good. Moms when the kids are driving you nuts, go to

Ecclesiastes and see if you can find it. Telling Pastor Steve told me to

read about you because it's a season for somebody to die. If I don't

find some come on, somebody. There's a season for everything. The reality

is that we all go through seasons of life. We deal with it here

in the church. We see those life seasons. You know, when when

young people are in the church. When young people are in the church,

they got all the energy and all the time, but no wisdom. And

then those those middle aged people, when we start having kids, we start

having to go to travel ball and ball games and little League. Come on,

now, listen, I do more counseling. Never mind, stop stop

worshiping your kids and start worshiping Jesus and you'll get a lot less stress.

Moms are just throwing that out there for just a second. I just I

know the kids don't want to hear that. Y'all all recoorder like that scene

when the you know, you throw the water on the witch and the wizard

rivers Melty. But you know, when you reach those those middle aged years,

you know you've you've still got some energy and you've gained some wisdom,

but you got no time. And then when we reach those elder years,

those years I'm stepping into man, I can't wisdom and I got time.

I got no energy. And it takes all of those people groups in the

different seasons of life coming together to build a ministry that can revolutionize a community.

And Mom, you need to realize that in the season of your life,

you need to onboard some other people so that you can continue to do

what you're called to do. Because this is a season that you're going through

that is still ordained by God, but it looks different than the season before,

and it will look different than the season after. But this is not

the end of your destiny. It's just positioned to look a little different.

You see. I don't care if y'all clap or not, so I'll just

keep going. If y'all want to clap, clap, Okay, I'm not

going to do those pauses today, dramatic pause because I know y'all want to

go eat lunch. See, the reality that we live in is that the

family unit doesn't look like it used to look. For generations, it seemed

like the occupations and the vocations of the parents were the guiding force of the

vocations of the children that followed after that people would follow in those footsteps.

And you would usually have one that would would step out and do something a

little different, and their kids would follow in that path, and those kids

would follow in the same path. And part of the issue now is that

we don't onboard kids into our lives as parents that we try to survive through

it, and we don't realize that bringing our kids along for the ride is

a healthy thing that listen. You don't have to sit. You don't have

to sit in a model that somebody else built that says, I've got to

do this, and I got to hold them for eight hours and I got

to feed them every twenty seven minutes, because that's what the book says.

If I go and pursue what my destiny is, if I have children and

I don't pursue my destiny, what are people going to think? I don't

care. I don't care what people think. Show your children what destiny looks

like. Show them what chasing after God looks like. Show them that listen,

that you're more than just someone who can help them survive from day to

day. Show them that you are accomplishing great things for God, and invite

them and bring them along in the process so that they see God in you

and through you. Wow. What a revolutionary idea to get your kids actually

involved into the plan of God, what he has for your family and allow

them to see you thrive in His will. This man sat at the the

gate called Beautiful, and every day he begged to get just enough to carry

on, just enough to live one more day. And I think, if

we're true to ourselves in this building as parents. Sometimes that's what our lives

have devolved into. We just want to survive one more day. We just

want to get through. We just want to get through one more set of

tantrums. I just want to I just want to get If I can just

get two more meals made today and make it till sleep time, we're counting

it victory if I can, If I can just get them to watch TV,

will be okay. But there's more than that. This man sat there

at this gate called beautiful. I want you to think about that. Is

it really beautiful? Is it a beautiful place that allows someone to stay in

that condition? Is it a beautiful place that he would have to beg for

enough attention? Who I just felt that touch somebody right here, that he

had to beg for enough attention just to get a little change in a basket

surrounded by beauty. He was lost in despair. And Mom, I want

you to know that the things that the enemy has told you, the things

that the enemy has convinced you, are full of pressure, and there's some

bar you have to meet the expectations of people, and that you're trying to

live up to some imaginary image that you've created that you put your family against.

Let me tell you something. How many of you you ever been to

somebody's house and you walk in their house and it's spotless. They got kids

the same age as you, but their house is spotless, and you walk

in and you're like, whoa, this is what I want my house to

be. Like, let me tell you something. Go look under the bed

and open some closet doors because they knew you were coming, and they took

all the mess that was at your house and they threw it in their closets

and under their bed to make it look like something out of a magazine.

But their life is just as busy and dysfunctional, messed up is yours,

because kids are messy people. They're tiny little instruments of destruction. Cookies in

well, you don't have a VCR anymore, but we had that milk everywhere,

Coca Cola, just sticking to everything. Stop measuring your place by everybody

else's. Stop measuring your family against everybody else's. Because the God's plan for

your family is not the same as his plan for their family. They're different

plans for different people to reach different people. Be free to allow the Holy

Spirit to guide you into a thriving destiny during this season of your life.

If it looks different than everybody else, is good because He created you special

and unique and different. So go be who God created you to be.

You can be. Listen to me. You can be a full time parent

and still accomplish great things because it's not about the quantity of time you spend

with your children. It's about the quality of time you spend with your children.

You can be with your children twenty four hours a day and never present

for one moment. If your mind is always thinking about what could have been

and what should have been, and you're always thinking about what you've given up,

you're not present. But if you will allow the Holy Spirit to guide

your steps through the journey of parenting, through the journey of raising children,

and allow them to see how you find His presence and how you navigate the

challenges of life, how you're able to overcome things because of the Holy Spirit

speaking into your life, into your heart about your destiny, they will grow

up doing the same thing. They will grow up pursuing the will of God

for their lives. And what else could we ask than to raise children that

will pursue the will of God for their lives. Listen, I got two

kids, night and Day. That's what we should have named them. That's

how different they are. And my oldest daughter just turned twenty five years old.

She graduated from high school, and she moved as far away as she

could and stay in the continent on the United States. She moved to the

West coast, and listen, it broke my heart that she was leaving.

As a dad, I wanted her to stay right here so I could protect

her. And I still want her to come home. Say amen, just

in case she tunes in. I still want her to come home. But

we went and visited colleges out there. We went to this chapel service on

this college campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Had a tin up and a gentle

breeze blowing through. The band began to play during the worship, said and

students came running in under the tent as they got out of class, and

they lifted their hands and they began to worship. And I looked down and

saw Madison sitting there in tears were running down her face, and I said,

uh, oh, this is God's will for her life. We had

never modeled that to her, but what we did model is what God speaks.

You're instantly obedient. She went into that chapel service with many, many

questions. She came out of that chapel service and she said, this is

what God has for me. Let's go sign the papers. And we went

right then and signed the papers. Listen, we didn't even know at that

moment how much it was gonna cost. And I'm looking around and it's a

school on the ocean, you sitting in math class watching people surf. And

the closer we got, I thought, oh, what have I agreed to?

Oh? I just turned my ankle fell off my boot. What have

I agreed to? Get it? We sit down with the financial people.

Listen, moms, listen, dads. We sit down with the financial people

and they pull this screen up. You know, it's the magic screen.

They pulled this screen up. She said mm hmm mm hm oh m.

And I don't know if theach are good. I mean, you know,

maybe She sized us up and said, yeah, they ain't coming here.

She said, this is the best financial package I've seen of anybody come through

here this year. She's got this scholarship and this golarship, she got this

grant and this grant and this and that and the other, and wow,

you're only gonna be out of pot well, you're not gonna be out of

pocket anything. And I'm thinking, oh my goodness, God, I I

love you Lord. Now I appreciate for this miracle you're doing right now,

but you could have done it closer. My said. Lucas said, see,

because somewhere along the line she had seen modeled that we just do what

God says, no matter where he says go, no matter what he says

do. He provides away, He makes a way, he opens the doors,

he gives favor, he does those things. My youngest daughter, different

story. She wants to stay right here. So listen. She had her

eyes on a school. Baby, listen, trust the Lord. Trust the

Lord. Listen to the Lord. Listen to the Lord. The Lord will

guide you. She applied to school. She thought, I'm only going to

get into the one that I'm supposed to go to. Got into every school

she applied to, so she she had a school in mind. And I

sat down and I said, listen, baby, you know, here's here's

some things about this school, and it's it's it's a school that I attended.

And I said, you know there's this is happening there, and this

is happening there. She said, yeah, But I said, is that

where the Lord told you to go? She said, I think so,

And I said, well, then let's do it. And she came back

a couple of weeks later she said, that's not that. I don't think

that's where I was supposed to go. Let me tell you why she did

that, because we've modeled her that we think the Lord is speaking, so

we're gonna start going in that direction. But if we start in that direction

and realize we've missed the Lord, we're gonna not be ashamed and we're not

gonna be afraid, and we're gonna turn around and start over until we find

what God wants for us. One thing I'll promise you if you attend this

church, everything we do is an experiment. Everything we do we're just trying

it. We don't marry anything. We just try it, and if it

don't work, we'll do something else. Amen, and listen, When we

win, we're gonna celebrate big. And when we mess up, we're gonna

mess up big, because we going big no matter what we do here.

She said, this where I wanted to do so let's guess what. We

go, and we toured the campus and we sit down in the financial office,

they say, hmm, oh hmm, it's not gonna cost us a

penny out of pocket for her to go to school. The thing we've modeled

time after time after time after time has just somehow dropped into our kids' hearts.

Because I'm not gonna worry about money. It's just something I'm not gonna

worry about. It drives Kathy and Connie took crazy. But I'm not gonna

worry about money. That's God's that's God's responsibility. God is my provider.

Amen. I'm not gonna worry about me talking to somebody and then thinking like

I'm a dummy, because that's the Lord's job to draw their hearts. It's

just my job to speak the ridiculous truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

that he loves humanity enough to die for people that crucified him. I'll tell

the truth he'll draw. Listen. If you will live your life guided by

the Holy Spirit and chase after your destiny that place that is called the Beautiful

Gate that has been a prison to you, one day you're gonna wake up,

and you're gonna turn around and you're gonna begin to notice some different details

in the architecture around you. Those things that used to drive you crazy,

that your kids do, you're gonna laugh about and you're gonna enjoy again because

now you're pursuing His destiny and you're not trying to pigeonhole yourself into what somebody

else has for you, but you're trying to grow into everything that God has

for you. I'm giving you permission as your pastor today to chase your destiny,

to engage God fully, to dream and to believe and to see something,

because if you can see something clearly, you can possess it fully.

And I believe that God has something for you, things that will revolutionize the

way people raise their children, the way people do things. God has that

kind of purpose for you, and the Holy Spirit is resident on the inside

of you. And it's time we start tearing down some walls that have been

built around families and telling people that you can do things differently than everybody else,

and you can be successful and not struggle because God has more for you.

Man laying at the gate beautiful, and these two guys came along They've

been described many different ways. I find comfort in the way that the Sanhedrin

described them. It says that they looked upon them and realize that they were

unlearned men. Means they weren't very smart. God uses us unlearned men.

But I want to tell you today, band, come and get ready real

quick. I miss my you to bring y'all on the stage, So come

quick. God sent me by the beautiful gait. See. It's easy for

me to see the beauty in your life because I'm not the one paralyzed with

that three inch problem. It's easy for me to recognize the beauty you're surrounded

by. It's easy for me to see that because they don't keep me awake

at night. I don't have to clean up after them. I don't have

to do those things, so I can recognize the beauty. But I came

by today to tell you that as exhausted as you are, and as war

out as you are, and as stressed out as you are, and these

fits of anxiety that grip you for no reason, and all these the miraculous

way you jumble a budget to be able to put everything together that absolutely exhausts

you. I'm here to tell you today that God has speaking to you you

to rise up and walk, that you don't have to lay in that place

anymore, that you can enter through that gate and experience the reality of worship

on the inside of the gate instead of laying on the outside of the gate

and waiting for something to happen. Today is your day. Silver and gold.

Have I none but such as I have, I give unto you.

If you're here today and you would say, hey, now listen, here's

the here's the temptation. Let me go ahead and tell you what's what's about

to go through your mind? I love you, I love you. It's

about to go through your mind. Said. If I respond to this altar

call, everybody's gonna think I'm a terrible parent. I'm admitting that I that

my kids drive me crazy. We already know they do. We know your

kids. We know they don't have wings. You don't have to try to

convince everybody there angels. They're kids. Let them run, let them be

loud, let them eat too many cookies from the coffee bar. We don't

care. We love kids. Our promise to you here is that we're gonna

keep them safe. Make sure you can pick them up at the end of

service and take them back home with you. The reason we do that is

because we don't want them to stay. But you have a choice. Just

like that man laying by that gate, that is the apostle reached down and

pulled him up and strength entered his ankles. He didn't have to stand up.

He could have sat in his condition, but he chose not to.

He said, there's got to be more than this. And today I want

you to know there's more than this, not just for you, moms,

but for everybody here. Listen that addiction that has you bound, there's more

than that, that cacophony of lies that have surrounded your life, and you

don't even know what's the truth anymore. You've lied to so many people about

so many things. There is more than that the financial debacle that has become

your bank account. There is more than that. Rise up and walk into

your destiny. Rise up and walk into your healing, Rise up and walk

into purpose, Rise up and walk into whatever's next. Today is your day

for your miracle from your God. And if you're here and you've never asked

him to forgive you of your sins, you've never asked him to be the

lord of your life. But you want to trust him today. You want

to turn your life over to him today and say here, I am Lord.

I want you to come to the altar to I want our alcer team

to come. Unless you're planning on responding to the altar call, but I

want the altar team to come right now. If you're going to respond to

the altar call, don't come. Stay where you are. You can come

later. Everybody standing with me all over the building. So if you're here

today, you're ready to walk out of that condition. You want to hear

the Holy Spirit speak and draw your foward. You want to see the beauty

in the beautiful gate. When I count to three, I want you to

get out of your seat and come just like that. Don't play today,

don't drag your feet today. The day is to day. Everything can change

on the count three one two three, Step out and move right now.

Come on, There's gotta be more. There's gotta be more. There's gotta

be more. There's gotta be more. I'm more out, I'm stressed out,

I'm anxious out, I'm all the outs. Come on, there's gotta

be more. There's got to be more. There's gotta be more. There's

got to be more. Step out and move. Come on, come on,

come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,

come on, come on, come on. Wait on, three or

four more people come on. Move, move, move, move, move

move move. Don't let this. Don't miss this opportunity. Don't miss this

opportunity to get free. Thank you lord, thank you lord, Thank you

lord, Thank you Lord, thank you. Let's go past your plane.