From Ordinary to Extraordinary | Pastor Darren Palmer | Faith Church

If you go with me in your scriptures to Acts

Acts 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 this morning, Acts chapter 15, we're

Acts 15 · chapter mention

going to read a story here that has been speaking

to me, that has been impacting my life. I was

camping with my daughters and my grandson, Edmund.

It was his first trip. He's back there running

the cameras. this morning. Happy to have him.

And the fourth night, the first three nights

were awesome. The fourth night, we got, we were

planning on staying at a lake and every campsite

was full. So when that happens, guess what you

got to do? You got to go to the next lake. And

I am thinking that nobody has ever been to that

lake. It was called Skin Dance Lake. Skin Dance

Lake. And, I mean, it was so overgrown, we couldn't

even find the campsites. But the girls finally

found the campsite. And we found out why it was

called Skin Dance Lake. Because there were so

many mosquitoes in that place. I mean, we had

bugs, but not that bad. And they were, it was

mind -boggling how many mosquitoes that we had

on that lake. Especially, you know, when the

sun goes down, the mosquitoes usually come out

for about 40 minutes and then they settle down

and leave. Well, they did not settle down and

leave all night. They swarmed and swarmed and

swarmed and swarmed. And my grandson Edmund said,

Papa, I have been to the gates of hell. We named

that website, or that website, that campsite,

the gates of hell. So many mosquitoes, it made

your skin dance. See, that was the, that's how

we're going to remember that lake forever. Skin

dance lake. And then the last campsite, the Lord

rewarded us for us enduring. Jesus is building

his church at the gates of hell. I just want

to remind you about that. It's not always the

nicest places that Jesus is building his church.

Isn't that right? And the Lord rewarded us, though,

with the last campsite is normally the first

one taken on the lake, and we got there late

during the day, and we got the best campsite

on Segal Lake, and it was... phenomenal. It had

its own swimming pool. It had its own precipices

where we could climb and see every part of the

lake. It had blueberry patches that were totally

ripe. We picked blueberries. We even found some

raspberries that were ripe, and we picked them

and picked them, and we called that the gates

of heaven. Amen. And so why did I tell you that?

Oh, because when we were at that site and I was

setting up the tent, I just felt the Lord speak

to me and drop in my heart something that He's

going to do, that He's going to send the moving

of His Spirit. That he is going to breathe on

our city and in this region fresh life. That

he is going to move in power. And I was setting

up the tent there. And I just, the presence of

the Lord. And you know, it was all good. It wasn't

like... It was a great time with my family. It

wasn't a prayer retreat for me this week at all.

But in that moment, the presence of God came

upon me. And I knew God's going to bring revival.

He is going to bring the moving of His Spirit.

That may or may not... mean anything to you.

You might be sitting there saying, well, what

do you mean by the moving of God's Spirit? What

do you mean by God's going to bring revival?

What do you mean by that? And what I mean by

that is that there have been different times

and seasons throughout history that God just

sovereignly moves by His Spirit. Sometimes it's

in response to people calling out to him, which

is why we need to increase prayer, which is why

we're having summer nights of prayer on Wednesdays.

And so sometimes it's in response to a hungry

heart seeking after God. But sometimes it's simply

a sovereign move of His Spirit. God just chooses

this moment in this time, and He begins to do

things that only He can do. And the New Testament

church is really... in the last hundred years,

really since Azusa Street and a little bit before

that, the church began to realize that we can

experience what the New Testament church experienced.

We can have the same encounters that the New

Testament church had. And then as that grew,

as that grew in the hearts of men, they begin

to say, not only can we, but we don't want to

settle for anything less than that. That's what

we're believing for. That's what we're praying

for. And you have moments of history that God

broke in and did great things. Now, there are

some times where you catch, you know, on a trip

like ours, that I've had taken in the last couple,

in the last month I've had two trips up there,

you know, and I don't catch fish in nets up there.

I catch them with a line one at a time. And there

are times where God catches people one at a time.

Here and there. Catch this one. Catch that one.

But I believe And I'm thankful for that. Some

of you got saved all by yourself. You came to

Christ all by yourself. You were the only one.

Maybe you were all alone. And I'm thankful for

that, and I don't want to diminish the ones and

the twos and how God works here a little, there

a little, because it is God that does it just

the same. Amen? But the time for needing the

nets, is coming where you don't catch one or

two for dinner here or there, where you throw

the nets out and the nets get full of fish and

you bring in the fish, not in the ones and the

twos, but in the dozens and the dozens and the

dozens and the dozens. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

And this is what begins to happen in what we

would call a move of God in the land is that

many people begin to come under conviction all

at the same time. There comes in the life of

a group of people, families, cities, all groups

of people, a desire to get right with God and

walk in repentance. Praise the Lord. And the

New Testament church, they walked in that. They

saw it. They saw multitudes come to Christ. Multitudes.

And I want to read this story. This might seem

like an odd story to read, but it's been speaking

to my heart because we need to make it easy for

people to come to Christ. not more difficult.

And certain men came down from Judea and taught

the brethren, this is the Gentile brethren, unless

you are circumcised according to the custom of

Moses, you cannot be saved. Therefore, when Paul

and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute

with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas

and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem

to the apostles and elders about this question.

So circumcision was the sign of the Jews and

it was a portion of following the law. Well,

the law was what Jesus came to fulfill. Jesus

fulfilled it. And the law teaches us what sin

is. So they sent Paul and Barnabas on their way

by the church. They passed through Phoenicia

and Samaria, describing the conversion of the

Gentiles. And they caused great joy to all the

brethren. And when they had come to Jerusalem,

they were received by the church and the apostles

and the elders. And they reported all the things

that God had done with them. But some of the

sect of the Pharisees who believed in Christ

rose up saying, it is necessary to circumcise

them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

And can I tell you that this teaching still persists

today? That if you want to follow Jesus correctly,

you've got to follow the law. If you want to

do it rightly, you've got to be circumcised.

And all 600 and some laws of the Old Testament,

you've got to keep them all. And so these Pharisees

had come to Christ and they trusted in Christ,

but they said, we've also, as we trust Christ,

got to follow the law. Now the apostles, now

this is an important question. You see, seven

to ten years before, was when Peter had the vision

to go to Cornelius' house. He had a vision of

unclean animals. He was on his rooftop praying,

and he had this vision of unclean animals, and

this vision came to Peter, and the voice that

he heard was, rise, Peter, kill, and eat. And

he was appalled, disgusted by this vision. He

was like, Lord, nothing unclean has ever touched

my mouth. You want me to eat these unclean animals?

And the vision happened three times. And what

God was really showing Peter was that Peter,

you thought that salvation was only for the Jews,

but salvation is for the Gentiles as well. Now

that encounter that Peter had happened seven

to ten years before. And so the church had, through

the leadership of Peter, this Jewish church had

opened up its heart to see that the salvation

that Jesus brings is not just for the Jews, but

it's also for the Gentiles. So the church had

come to the place where they understood that

salvation was not just for Jewish people, but

that it was for whosoever will. But that created,

although everybody rejoiced as they watched God

move among the Gentiles, and now through Paul's

ministry, they all rejoiced about it, but it

also created tension. And it created problems.

Because the Jewish people who grew up in their

Jewishness, who had all of these traditions and

different things that they celebrated and different

ways that they lived because of the law of Moses,

when they trusted Christ, they did not just immediately

abandon all of those things. They continued to

keep those things as part of their tradition.

And do you know what? The Holy Spirit never convicted

them about it or told them to stop. It was okay

for the Jewish people to maintain some of those

Jewish traditions in the midst of following Christ.

And in fact, Jesus is the fulfillment of all

of those traditions. The Jewish traditions are

fascinating. The revelation of Jesus is in those

traditions. And it's awesome. But now these Gentiles,

who did not grow up with any of that Jewishness,

are coming to Christ. And guess what they're

not doing? They are not following the laws of

Moses. They are not. intertwining with any of

those things. They didn't grow up with it. It

was not a part of who they are. You know what

they're just doing in their Gentileness? They're

just trying to follow Jesus as best as they can.

And that's probably where most of us are at.

Gentile people. Not grown up in any kind of religion.

But here they are. turning to Christ. And it

bothered some of the Pharisaical believers. And

they came and preached. Okay, yes, you've got

to follow Jesus, but now you've got to do this,

you've got to do that. And they started preaching

the law of Moses to these beautiful Gentile believers.

And it angered Paul and Barnabas. And they broke

out and they were protecting these Gentiles.

Let them follow Christ. Let them follow Christ.

And there's some of that in us. We look at people

and we say their lives aren't perfect yet. We

see that their lives are not perfect yet. And

we want them to do this and do that and all of

these things. But I'm telling you that if they've

got the real thing, if they've given their life

for real to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is leading

them, guess what's going to happen? They're going

to start walking in line with Christ. The Holy

Spirit is very good at his job. Somebody say

amen to that. So the apostles... we're considering

this question. What is the place of circumcision?

What is the place of all of this in the lives

of the Gentiles? Is everybody with me so far?

And when there had been much dispute, verse 7,

Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren,

you know that a good while ago God chose among

us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear

the word of the gospel and believe. He's referring

to Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. You can read

Acts 10 · chapter mention

that on your own time. So God, who knows the

heart, everybody say knows the heart, acknowledged

them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he

did to us. and made no distinction between us

and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Isn't

this a good story? This is Peter now, the cornerstone

apostle talking about to this meeting. Now therefore,

Why do you test God? By putting a yoke on the

neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers

nor we were able to bear. But we believe that

through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we

shall be saved in the same manner as they. Oh,

this is a good moment. This is a good moment

because the Pharisaical believers who were preaching

the wrong message, trying to put a yoke on all

the other believers, got rebuked by Peter and

said, no, we're not going to have any of that.

It is not by works that we are saved. We are

saved by grace through faith. Hallelujah. In

his name. And Peter wanted to make sure the Gentiles

are saved by grace through faith, and we are

also saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

when you try to add to it, when you try to put

rules on people, when you try to conform people

into your image, you are not discipling them

unto Christ. You are trying to conform them to

what you think that they should be like. And

that is not the role of the church. And Peter

was saying, leave them alone. I love this story.

Then all the multitude kept silent. They listened

to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles

and wonders God had worked through them among

the Gentiles. When I read that, I say, God, may

that be the story of Faith Church. May we be

able to go around and tell of all the wonders

and the miracles that God is doing in Lincoln,

Illinois. Hallelujah. Somebody on the Lincoln,

one of the Lincoln website or the Facebook groups

said, hey, can somebody open up restaurants on

Sunday morning so that tourists will come to

Sunday morning. Did anybody else see that post

about 10 days ago? Jamie, you saw that post.

I read that. I read that. And the Lord spoke

to me and said, tourists are going to come to

Lincoln, Illinois to see the good things that

they've heard that God is doing. I want to say

that again. tourists are going to come to Lincoln,

Illinois to hear, to see with their own eyes,

is it true what I've heard about that God is

doing in the city? Hallelujah. I believe that

with my whole heart. And they told of all the

wonders that had happened among the Gentiles.

And after they had become silent, James, this

is the half -brother of Jesus, Now an apostle

and a leader in the church answered and said,

men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared,

that's Peter, has declared how God at the first

visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people

for his name. And with this, the words of the

prophets agree. Hallelujah. Just as it is written,

now this is from Amos chapter 9. James is quoting

Amos 9 · chapter mention

from Amos chapter 9. After this, I will return

Amos 9 · chapter mention

and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which

has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and

I will set it up so that the rest of mankind

may seek the Lord. Even all the Gentiles who

are called by my name, says the Lord who does

all these things. Hallelujah. And known to God

from eternity are all his works. Therefore, I

judge that we should not trouble those from among

the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that

we write to them to abstain from things polluted

by idols, from sexual immorality, from things

strangled, and from blood. For Moses has throughout

many generations those who preach him in every

city being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.

So we'll come back to that in a moment. Then

it pleased the apostles and the elders with the

whole church to send chosen men of their own

company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely

Judas, who was also named Barsabbas, and Silas,

leading men among the brethren. They wrote this

letter by them. The apostles, the elders, and

the brethren, to the brethren who are of the

Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, greetings.

Since we have heard that some who went out from

us have troubled you with words, unsettling your

souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep

the law. to whom we gave no such commandment,

it seemed good to us, being assembled with one

accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved

Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their

lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will

also report the same things by word of mouth,

for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to

us to lay upon you no greater burden than these

necessary things, that you abstain from things

offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled,

and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves

from these, you do well. Farewell. So when they

were sent off, they came to Antioch, and when

they had gathered the multitude together, they

delivered the letter. When they had read it,

they rejoiced over its encouragement. Now Judas

and Silas themselves, being prophets also, exhorted

and strengthened the brethren with many words.

And I see them prophesying over the people there.

And after they had stayed there for a time, they

were sent back with greetings from the brethren

to the apostles. However, it seemed good to Silas

to remain there. Paul and Barnabas also remained

in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of

the Lord with many others also. The move of God.

The move of God. Moving from city to city, from

people group. people group. Quickly, why those

four things? Those four things for three reasons.

One, because they needed to come out of their

idolatry to follow Christ. These Gentiles, many

of them were steeped in idolatry. and they needed

to come out of their idolatry to follow Christ.

You cannot serve two masters, and the message

of the gospel is repent and turn to God. Well,

if you're going to repent, you're going to turn

to God, but you're also going to turn away from

something. And so that message to give up your

idolatry to follow Jesus is clear. And if you're

going to follow Jesus, friends, it's going to

be because you turn your back on some things

in your life. The stuff that's dominated you

can dominate you no longer. You have a new master.

His name is Jesus. Come out from among them.

The second thing, that they were cautious of,

is that they wanted to build a bridge to the

Jews in their cities. And if they're eating strangled

animals and blood and calling themselves Christians

and preaching to the Jewish people to come to

Christ, What do you think will happen? Will any

of the Jews come to Jesus? No, they won't. And

so part of this message is, we want you to remove

the stumbling block that can exist so that others

will come to Jesus easily. And you know what

that is, friends? That's called love. I am not

going to live in such a way that is going to

keep others from Christ. If you get nothing else

from this message this morning, I want you to

hear that. I am not going to live in such a way

that will keep others from coming to Christ.

I want to live in such a way that I am not a

stumbling block. Yeah, but pastor, aren't I free?

Don't use your freedom to do things that will

cause others to stumble. But use your freedom

to create the opportunity for others to come

to Christ. It's called love. We build bridges

to people. We build bridges to people. And thirdly,

the command, these four commands, especially

the call to come out from sexual immorality.

This is a major call to our nation. Because sexual

immorality causes so much harm in a person's

life. Paul said in nearly every one of his letters,

warning against sexual immorality of all different

kinds. He who sins sexually sins against his

own body. You cannot live in sexual immorality

and walk in the blessing of God. The two do not

exist. The two do not exist. And they wrote this

to... provide the protection on these new believers

to keep them from the schemes of the enemy. America,

I have watched over the last 20 years and 10

years and five years, America go off the rails

with sexual immorality of types that were rare

even in the wild days of the 60s and the 70s.

Before I was born, some of you remember those

days. The free love days. But it is that immorality

that harms each individual. When you sin sexually,

you're sinning against your own life. And so

they wrote this in there to be a protection of

that new faith that they had in Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah. And so our message of purity is not

one of condemnation. to the nation or to people

groups or to individuals who are digging their

heels and saying, I want my freedom. We are not

condemning people. We are calling people out

of the stuff that keeps them in bondage and keeps

them in captivity and in to the blessing of the

Lord. Hallelujah. And so you'll read it in the

New Testament over and over and over and over.

Keep yourself sexually pure. Hallelujah. Praise

God. If I preach this as much as Paul did, you

might get tired of me talking about it. But this

is a point of prayer for our nation. It is way,

way, way, way more common. For people to live

together now than to get married. But they are

sinning against their own body and condemning

their own souls when they're trying to live for

God at the same time and it cannot work. And

so they told them these three things. Come out

from your former way of life. Build a bridge

and love the people around you. Don't live in

such a way as to be a stumbling block. And keep

your heart, your body, your vessel pure sexually.

And if you'll do those three things in four commands,

you will do well. You will find favor with God.

And I love how Peter just boiled 700 commandments

of the law down to four. He said, we don't expect

you to follow 700 of them. But will you follow

four? And they all said, yeah. They rejoiced

at the encouragement. of the letter. These people,

they came and they were teaching us all this

stuff, and it unsettled us, and we didn't feel,

we don't know what to think. And that letter

set them free, and they said, yes, we can follow

God. Friends, I believe that God is about to

make a highway. I'm going to preach another message

about the passage from Amos. That James quoted.

The tabernacle of David. God reestablishing the

tabernacle of David. He's going to do it again.

He's doing it now. He's going to do it again.

And people are going to stream. People are going

to stream to the presence of God. Hallelujah.

From every tribe, tongue, and nation. We're going

to see it. We're going to see the move of God.

Some of you don't know your place yet in the

kingdom, in the church. You're here for a reason

right now. You are foundational. You are foundational

to this house. Tell that to the person you're

sitting next to. You're important. You matter.

You might not believe it, but I'm telling you

to believe it. You are a part. And God is going

to use you. I want to close with a passage in

Genesis chapter 4 that has touched my heart my

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

whole life. In Genesis chapter 4, the whole event

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

with Cain and Abel, the family of Cain, All of

this. And then the very last sentence, the very

last sentence does not fit in, seemingly, with

the chapter before it or after it. The very last

sentence was this. Then men began to call on

the name of the Lord. The last sentence of Genesis

4. Then men began to call on the name of the

Lord. This was a sovereign move of God at that

moment in time. People just started getting right

with God. It just happened. How many of you have

prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed

and prayed and prayed and prayed for revival?

You prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and

prayed and prayed for a move of God. And you've

seen a few things happen, but your soul has not

been satisfied yet. And here, along this sentence,

just described this time period about the people

in that entire region. Then men begin to call

on the name of the Lord. It suddenly began to

happen. People started praying. People started

getting interested in the things of the Holy

Spirit. People started caring about their relationship

with God. Up until that point, they blew it off.

They didn't think about it. They lived however

they wanted. They did things for themselves.

But at this time in history, men began to call

on the name of the Lord. And I believe we're

about to enter into such a time. I believe we're

about to step into a moment like this where people,

not because of this church or that church or

anything that they've done right or wrong or

any of that, but God begins to move on a city

and God begins to touch hearts and lives and

people begin to waken in their heart and something

moves inside of them that wasn't there before

and they begin to say, I gotta know this God,

that God is real. I didn't think he was. I didn't.

think he was paying attention, but he is paying

attention. I've got to turn my life to him. I've

got to begin to pray. I've got to begin to seek.

Hallelujah. And God is going to cause people

to sovereignly move on his heart. Some of you

have family members that you've twisted and twisted

and twisted and twisted and tried to get them

to step into their calling and get to church,

get to church, get to church, get to church,

get to church, get to church, get to church.

And you've said it so many times that you quit

saying it because you just gave up. But then

all of the sudden, God is going to move in their

heart and life and they are going to begin to

call on the name of the Lord and it is going

to happen in Jesus' name. Thank you, Lord. Do

you feel hope this morning? Do you feel hope

in life? Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father.

And so, Lord, we see you moving in Acts chapter

Acts 15 · chapter mention

15. You made a way. God, if they would have made

the wrong decision in that moment, if they in

this moment would have said, oh, they have to

follow the whole law. If in this moment they

would have said that, they would have put an

end to the move of God. Lord, I pray that you

would convict your church when they make it harder

than it really is to come to Christ. When they

say you've got to get all your ducks in a row

before you come to Jesus. You can't just come

as you are. You've got to change everything first.

Lord, I pray that you would forgive your church

for having that kind of a mentality. God, you

said, whosoever will call on the name of the

Lord shall be saved. And I ask God that the way

would be made easy for people to come to Jesus

in this last hour in the name of the Lord. I

pray that it would just be very easy for people

to turn to God. These Gentiles turning to God.

Turning to God. I pray that it would be said

of Lincoln, Illinois. that it turned to God.

In every neighborhood, in every street, God,

in every corner of this city, in Jesus' name,

then people begin to call on the name of the

Lord. God, we are expectant. God, we believe.

We're looking to you to move by your spirit.

Thank you, Father. The grace of God shed abroad

in this city to turn hearts in high places and

low places, in every social class. Oh, God. Oh,

God, we feel your promise. We hear your calling.

We ask, God, that you would move and have your

way. Have your way. You're going to bring revival.

You're going to do it, God, by your Spirit. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Just take just

a moment here and just, in your own words, just

ask God to move by His Spirit. God, we've made

it so hard for people. God, I ask that it would

just be very easy for people to come to Christ.

Oh, Lord Jesus, have your way. Oh, Lord Jesus,

move. Oh, Lord Jesus, move. Thank you, Father.

The people that feel like they are last, you

are making them first. God, you are calling the

people in the hedges and the highways and the

byways, the people in the obscure positions and

places of life to see that the Father's house

is full. To see that the Father's house is full.

Oh God, oh God, oh God. Fill up your house, we

pray. Fill up your house, we pray. Oh Jesus.

Oh Jesus. Jesus, move.