You Can't Control Your Way Out of This - April 26, 2026

My name is Dave. I'm one of the pastors here.

Resurrection. Let me ask you, thank you.

Have you ever been in a room where something happened that

nobody planned, not a good plan that worked out, a strategy that

paid off something that just happened and nobody could

actually take credit for what just occurred?

It kind of reminds me of right before when my son Kevin came

into my life. By this time we had three

daughters, but we knew, my wife and I knew that God had a plan

for a son to be in our lives. We just didn't know how.

And we started fostering. One day we got a phone call.

They said would you like a son? OK.

They didn't say like that, but that's what it was.

We knew this felt different. This is this is something.

So what did we tell them? No.

We told no. No.

With all our heart. We wanted to tell them yes.

But every bed in our house was full.

We had a foster child already. But we knew this felt different.

So I started thinking, while I'm on the phone telling these

people, no, we can't do it, I'm texting my sister.

You met her last week. Could you temporarily take a

child? I'm frantically texting, she

said. Thank the Lord Kevin goes to my

sister's house in a little over a week.

Week and a half, we get news. Kevin's being moved, he's going

closer to home, He's going out of town, out of reach of our

lives. And we're thinking, OK, God,

what does that actually mean? I guess this was not the boy for

us. The next day, another phone call

happens. It says, would you be interested

in Kevin coming to your house now?

I remember just standing there not knowing what to think.

Like, what are you talking about?

We'd know he left. He's gone.

He's not even in Bakersfield anymore.

We said, of course, yes, we have a bed now.

They said, great, he's on his way.

He'll be at your house in 30 minutes.

I didn't plan that. Who can plan something like

that? We just kept saying yes to phone

calls. In the middle of chaos. 30

minutes later, there's a knock on the door and Kevin is

delivered to us. I remember thinking this is this

is not possible. In fact, to this very day, no

child has ever been brought to our door.

I did not do that. God did that.

And this is where we find ourselves in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

A God could only do this moment. We're three weeks into this one

a day one series, week 1. Pastor Daniel gave us a

statement that I think we're still wrestling with.

You don't need the plan, you need the power.

Last week in the message, the power showed up.

The Holy Spirit fell on the upper room.

The doors blew open. Outside the crowd, they thought

they were watching a circus, drunk people, chaos, noise.

Nobody knew what they were looking at.

Then Peter stood up and understand this, before Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, this is the beginning of the church.

The church had been existing for about 15 minutes.

There's no building. There's no baking team, thank

you baking team. There's no budget.

There's no worship team. Wasn't worship amazing today

just a room full of people who got set on fire by the Holy

Spirit and the first thing the church ever does, the first

public act of the people of God was to open their mouth and to

proclaim the word of God, not organize, not plan, not create a

committee, just speak. Last week, Pastor Daniel talked

about the Tower of Babel. Humanity crawling their way to

God, building a tower, making a way to God, trying to reach

heaven their way, and God saying, no, I have none of this.

I'm going to scatter you all. I'm going to put a stop to this.

But right here, this is the reversal.

God doesn't wait for us to reach him anymore.

He comes down to us. He wants in our lives and what?

Peter stands up, He opens his mouth.

The things that got messed with in battle God starts putting

back together. Let's read Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention

starting in verse 14. It says but Peter standing with

the 11th lifted up his voice and address them.

Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this thing be

known to you and give ear to my words.

For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only

the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered

through the prophet Joel right here.

The crowd thinks it's chaos. They think something went

sideways. They're confused, maybe a little

bit spooked. Peter's first move is not to

calm them down. It's not to explain, to be

logical. He reshapes the whole scene.

The prophecy has come 700 years earlier.

God told Joel, I'm going to pour out my spirit and all the people

your sons and daughters will prophecy.

I'm going to do something you have never seen before.

And Peter looks at the crowd and says what you think is disorder,

What you think is going horribly wrong.

God said this is coming and now the time has come.

This isn't chaos. This is a promise being kept

because some of you walked in today carrying something that

feels like disorder, something in your life feels like it went

sideways, maybe something in the church that feels like loss.

And you've been asking the question, what went wrong?

Peter is standing up in the middle of the mess saying that's

the wrong question. The right question is what is

God keeping His word about right now?

Because here we've witnessed and I've witnessed in my own life,

God does not get surprised. He doesn't scramble.

He's not looking down and saying, oh, I don't know what's

happening. I didn't see that coming.

Let me adjust my plan. What looks like disorder was God

keeping his word. That's not a bumper sticker.

That's Acts chapter 2, verse 22 says this.

Acts 2:22

Men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man

attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and

signs that God did through him in your midst.

As you yourselves know, this is Jesus delivered up according to

the different plan and the foreknowledge of God.

You crucified him. You crucified and killed by the

hands of lawless men. God raised him up, losing the

pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held

by it. We have to feel the weight of

this moment. Pentecost brings every nation to

Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of people

come to the city. God didn't craft this moment

silently. He had 50 days to bring the

Spirit to the people. He could have done it any of

those days. But he waited until Pentecost,

until hundreds of thousands of people, people were in the city.

Because when God moves, he moves so people don't miss it.

And Peter doesn't soften it. He doesn't ease into God's plan.

He looks at the crowd. It's the same crowd that was

there when Jesus was crucified. And he says you did this.

In fact, God knew you were going to do this and he sent Jesus

anyways. That's the Gospel in two

sentences. Now you're basically good people

and God is proud of you. No, you did the worst thing

imaginable and God used it to do the best thing possible.

Verse 36 Let all the House of Israel therefore know for

certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus

whom you crucified. Now when they heard this, they

were cut to the heart. And Peter said, and the rest of

the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

Cut to the heart, not inspired, not motivated, not challenged,

Cut, pierced. There's a difference.

Inspiration is a spark, motivation is a flame.

But the cut of conviction is like a burning fire that won't

let you stay where you are. There are things in my life that

have become convictions. Not opinions, not preferences.

Oh, conviction isn't something you have to talk yourself into,

it's something you've been trying to talk yourself out of.

There are times when I have said I believe, but my calendar is

full of everything except time with God.

Or I will give everything God but tithing?

That's an afterthought when I'm comfortable with it.

And the people who hurt me, man, they never know I follow a God

that says forgive them. Convictions like the person that

keeps coming into your mind. You keep reminded I should tell

them about Jesus or having a prayer life in theory or

convictions that are slowly becoming calloused less and less

week by week because he tried to deal with it, but you aren't

willing to radically change your life or your lifestyle to make a

change. Peter didn't produce that

conviction. He wasn't in a nice church.

He didn't have lights and a fog machine.

Shoot, he didn't even know he's going to wake up and preach that

day. He just opened his mouth, spoke

and the Spirit did the surgical work.

That's how it still works today. Verse 38 Peter goes on, he says

and Peter said to them repent, meaning regret the sinful things

that are happening that you're doing in your life and most

importantly run, run from those things.

He continues and be baptized everyone of you in the name of

Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is for

you and for your children and for all who are far off every

everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself all all who are

far off our community groups that spent the last six weeks

learning learning how to reach people who are far from God.

Six weeks talking about how to open the door, how to invite

somebody in, and Peter uses these exact words.

We didn't stumble upon this in Acts 2.

This spirit brought us here. He's been planning it this

entire time. And if you're skeptical about

all of this, can I say somebody invited you or you felt the need

to show up and you're hearing this right now.

That's not chance, That's not luck.

That's the same Spirit working in your life.

Verse 40 and with many other things, he bore witness and

continue to exhort them saying save yourself from this crooked

generation. Sounds familiar.

So those who receive His word were baptized.

They were added that day about 3000 souls, 3000 from 120 people

in the upper room. No venue, no bands, no

marketing, 1 sermon, 1 moment, 1 Spirit filled afternoon, and

3000 people gave their life to Christ.

Nobody planned that. Nobody strategized and stood up.

Peter just stepped into it, spoke, and the Spirit did what

the Spirit does. Pastor Daniel told us three

weeks ago, you don't need the plan, you need the power.

This is what the power actually looks like, what it actually

does in our lives. This is what happens when

ordinary people like you and me stop managing God and start

following Him. One spirit moment can produce

what years of careful planning never could.

Some of us think that was That was 1000 years ago, that was

Pentecost, that was the early church.

We don't get that anymore. I reject that.

Don't you dare shrink the Holy Spirit down to a history lesson.

The same spirit that set that upper room on fire lives in the

believer. Now let me tell you what that

looks like for me. On a Wednesday a while back, one

of our students brought a friend.

Somebody I've never met just showed up to youth group.

I introduced myself and immediately the spirit tells me

this person is hurting. They tell me their name and I

don't know why I asked this. I don't know other than spirit

speaking through me. I say, who left your house?

Was it your mom or was it your dad?

No background, no warning signs. I don't know what I'm walking

into. I'm not qualified for this type

of thing. I'm just there and this kid, no

hesitation, opens up, starts talking about his home life,

everything he's caring. Probably hasn't said these words

out loud to anybody that actually cared before.

I didn't plan that. I didn't train for that.

I just asked a question that the spirit put in my mouth, because

the spirit knew exactly what that child needed.

And how do you to use an unqualified person like me?

That same spirit lives in you, believer in the Old Testament.

The Spirit would rest on a person for a specific reason for

a specific season, and then it would lift.

Kings lost it. Prophets wondered if it would

stay David. Literally pray, don't take your

Spirit from me. That's not what this is and acts

to. The Spirit is not clocking in on

Sunday and then clocking out in the parking lot.

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in

you. The Spirit of the living God

lives in every believer permanently.

You are walking around with the same power that produced 3000

believers in one afternoon. The question is, the question

isn't whether the Spirit is available.

The question is, are we willing to move when He moves?

You can't make the wind blow. You can't make the spirit move.

But we can raise our sails. We can be there when He calls us

to be. We can open our mouth and speak

when He needs us to. That's our application for this

week. Not a program, not a checklist.

One conversation. One moment this week where Jesus

is the most relevant thing you could possibly say to someone

else. Instead of going quiet, instead

of not talking, we spent six weeks learning how to reach

people far from God. The Spirit has been in your

living rooms week after week. You don't need to have it all

figured out, Peter didn't. You just need to raise your sail

and open your mouth and speak as the Lord leads you.

The Spirit will do the rest. That's walking into Monday

morning with an open mind, not with a plan locked down.

I know what I'm going to do this week.

That's asking God. Where are you already moving God

and how can I get in on that? Because 3000 people, it didn't

happen because Peter had a great strategy.

It'd be it happened because the Spirit showed up and they were

willing to step into it. So how do we get this meaningful

conversation this week? 3 different ways.

Number one, pray for somebody by name, not a group, one person,

somebody that's on your mind, somebody that you know that's

far from God, somebody you know that's hurting.

Pray for them every day this week.

Ask the Spirit to soften their hearts.

Ask Him to give you the courage and to be bold and to be present

when the moment comes #2 find that moment and ask them a real

question not the drive by questions.

How are you doing? An eye contact, a sit down maybe

ask them how are you actually doing.

I want the real version not the American answer.

You will be amazed what people tell you when you actually care

about them #3 let them talk, let them talk.

That's the hardest thing for me. Let them talk.

Let the Spirit lead your discussion.

Be praying in that moment. You don't need your speech

ready. You don't need your theology

figured out. You don't have to have an answer

for every question. In fact, if you tell them, I

don't know they're going to respect you more.

But you care for them enough to be present, to be genuine.

The Spirit knows what this person needs.

Your job is to show up and be there.

Peter didn't have this figured out.

He just stepped into it and the Spirit did what the Spirit does.

Maybe this feels overwhelming to you.

Maybe the last season has felt more like loss than harvest.

Maybe something feels like disorder that's been just

weighing in on You hear this, Peter preached to a a crowd

standing in the middle of chaos, thousands of people not

understanding what's going on. I tell you, God is not done with

your story. He's not scrambling.

He's not adjusting his plan. What looks like disorder God

already knew was going to happen in your life.

But maybe, maybe you don't have the power I'm talking about.

There's a reason for that. You can't buy this power.

You can't earn it. You can't manufacture it.

No matter how hard you try. It's a gift. 2000 years ago a

man came to Earth and he earned the right to give this power

away for free. Jesus lived a perfect life, a

sinless life that you and I could never live, so that we,

you and I who are broken, messy, sinful people, could receive the

free gift that he paid for with his life.

That's the good news of Jesus. That's why 3000 people gave

their lives to following Jesus that afternoon.

Every single person started in the same place.

Cut to the heart, sitting with a burning conviction.

A conviction you can't explain, asking the same question.

What do I do with this? Peter gave them.

The same answer he's giving you right now.

Repent from your sins. Run from them.

Commit to following Jesus. Receive what he.

Already paid for. He paid for.

By dying for you and gives you forgiveness it.

Gives you salvation. Romans 10/9 says if you confess

with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Or with the heart one. Believes and.

Is saved and. Is justified and with a mouth.

One confess confesses and is saved.

In the spirit of. God lives within you and.

It looks so. Different when you have the

spirit, people are going to ask why are.

You different, they won't understand.

It you have patience, that doesn't make sense.

Peace that has. No business being there.

Joy in the middle. Of hard, hard things.

The same spirit. That moved in Acts 2 is in.

This room, right? Now.

He's still producing. Thousands from 120.

He's not. Done yet?

There's somebody in. This room that needs a chance to

tell God you believe you surrender to Him.

That chances right? Now.

Let's bow our. Heads in prayer.

If you're ready. To surrender your life to Jesus

today you. Can do that.

Right now. Just talk to him.

You don't need perfect words, He already knows your heart.

Pray something. Like this or similar.

Jesus, I. Know.

I can't save myself. I repent from.

My sins, I'm done running from you, and now I'm running to you.

Today I receive. Your forgiveness.

I receive. Your spirit.

I receive the. Promises never leaving me be, my

Lord Jesus. If you pray.

That for the very first time, would you be brave for me to see

by raising your hand? I see your hand.

Anybody else you may. Put.

Your hand in. In Jesus name.

Everybody says Amen if. You just prayed.

That prayer for the very first time.

Welcome to the family of God. In a moment, we're all.

Going to stand, we're going to sing one song.

Our prayer team is going to come forward and I encourage you to

pray with them about anything, and I mean anything.

There's tables in the back between now and.

Before you leave, please stop by the I raised my hand table.

We have. A book for you we want to

celebrate with you we want to take the first steps of you

accepting God with you Prayer team come forward may the.

Spirit. Who lives in you?

Now move. Move you and you follow him.