Sermon

Why Peculiar People Make a Difference

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  1. Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.

  2. We hope today's message is encouraging to you.

  3. This summer we're starting a series called The Seven Habits

  4. of Jesus People. Not joking.

  5. This entire summer we are going to spend learning what it means

  6. to be a Jesus person. I say Jesus, you say people.

  7. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus people. Jesus people are empowered by

  8. God to transform the world and all that live in it.

  9. Everyone around them, everything around them can be transformed

  10. by a Jesus person. When there's lost and broken

  11. people, it is Jesus people that bring them from death to life.

  12. When outcomes look impossible, it's a Jesus person that shows

  13. up and brings forward what's possible, what all hope seems

  14. lost. It's Jesus people that come in

  15. and with their faith and with their prayer, their belief and

  16. their activity in the things of the Kingdom, they turn the world

  17. upside down. When Jesus excuse me, when

  18. people are in need, when people are homeless, when people are

  19. widowed, orphaned, imprisoned, you name it, it's Jesus people

  20. that show up and make a lasting difference.

  21. Jesus people carry the same power that raised Jesus from the

  22. grave in their bosom. So wherever a Jesus person goes,

  23. they bring the hope of God with them into every situation, into

  24. every relationship, The power of God present through a Jesus

  25. person. So this summer, let's be Jesus

  26. people. And you say how the seven habits

  27. of Jesus people, you ever had a Jesus person in your life?

  28. Anyone. If my hand's up, and your answer

  29. is yes, your hand should go up too.

  30. Do you ever have a Jesus person in your life?

  31. How about you online? Somebody who lifted you before

  32. the Father, Somebody who gathered you to the Father.

  33. Somebody who corrected you, rebuked you, prayed for you,

  34. helped you, served you. When everyone else left, they're

  35. still there, like you're still here.

  36. Jesus people bless people. I married a Jesus person.

  37. I got many Jesus people. Many not multiples.

  38. Well, three is multiple Jesus people that live in my house

  39. with me, my kids. I work with Jesus people.

  40. Can I get an Amen? I live my neighbors to my left,

  41. my neighbors to my my right, my neighbors over there just a few

  42. strand my neighbors over there and I can see them in my I live

  43. near and do life with Jesus people and I say that to say

  44. help us. And by the way, I when I read

  45. the scriptures, I meet lots and lots of Jesus people.

  46. My best friends I find in the Bible are Jesus people.

  47. I say all that to say, I know what Jesus people look like.

  48. I know what they smell like. I know how they operate.

  49. And when I get around them, I feel my life buoyed, abundant,

  50. different than when I'm just banging around, bumping into the

  51. world and it's empty promises and it's frustrations and it's

  52. joylessness. But when I'm around a Jesus

  53. person, it's it's different. So I say to you again, let's

  54. learn how to be Jesus people. And you say how I'm glad you

  55. asked the seven habits of Jesus people that we're going to be

  56. looking at this summer. The first message in this series

  57. is called peculiar people. Everyone say peculiar dads.

  58. Today I want to invite you to be a peculiar dad.

  59. What does that mean? Let's talk about it.

  60. The main idea of this message can be summed up in one verse

  61. we're going to find in the book of Acts.

  62. If you want to open your Bible, some of you got them on your

  63. laps. We're going to be in Acts

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  64. chapter 2. If you need a Bible, raise your

  65. hand and one of the ushers will bring one to you.

  66. Acts chapter 2. The book of Acts is really the

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  67. story of the beginning of the church, the launch of the

  68. church, the birth of that which we are still in today.

  69. And Jesus did this. You'll never believe how he

  70. birthed the church through Jesus people.

  71. Peter, the rest of the disciples, Paul, Lydia,

  72. Barnabas, Priscilla, Timothy, Tabitha, all of these people in

  73. the book of Acts are Jesus people.

  74. And watch this 2000 years later we are swimming in the current

  75. of what God started in the headwaters of the original Jesus

  76. people. The movement still goes forward

  77. because of Jesus, people. And if it's true then, it's true

  78. now because God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

  79. Would you believe with me that He can do now in our day and age

  80. what He did 2000 years ago? Say yes, you better believe it.

  81. He is doing it. The verse that summarizes series

  82. has found the very day that the church is said to have begun.

  83. It's called the Day of Pentecost.

  84. It wasn't named Pentecost because the church began.

  85. It was already Pentecost and then this happened on Pentecost.

  86. Pentecost, also known as Shavout.

  87. SHAVOUT is one of the festivals that the Hebrew people are

  88. commanded by God to celebrate. This one happens to be

  89. celebrating the end of the harvest. 50 days Penta. 50 days

  90. after Passover, there's to celebrate this feast.

  91. It's one of the three pilgrimage feasts found in the Bible, which

  92. means all of the Jews and all of the converts to Judaism would

  93. gather together in Jerusalem to celebrate as a command from the

  94. Lord. We still celebrate Pentecost in

  95. the Christian Church. It's 50 days after Easter.

  96. It was last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday.

  97. As we read you're going to hear about of them and them are they

  98. is this group of disciples of followers of Jesus who have

  99. gathered together as God has commanded them, waiting for the

  100. power of the Holy Spirit to arrive.

  101. And in Acts chapter 2, the grand moment happens verse one when

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  102. the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place.

  103. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came

  104. from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

  105. I know hurricanes are kind of they're scary, they're daunting.

  106. When you hear one's coming, everyone kind of clinches up,

  107. runs to the store, we start whatever.

  108. And then the night comes and the storm passes and you hear that

  109. wind. I know in Florida, maybe more

  110. than anywhere else, we know what a loud, violent wind sounds

  111. like. Amen.

  112. They're hearing this wind. They saw what seemed to be

  113. tongues of fire. Look, it's all together and then

  114. it separates. So one Spirit separates and

  115. comes to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the

  116. Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit

  117. enabled them. Now they were staying in

  118. Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

  119. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in the

  120. bewilderment because each one heard their own language being

  121. spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked,

  122. aren't all these who are speaking Galileans, meaning

  123. obviously they shouldn't be able to speak our language?

  124. Like I can't speak Portuguese or Spanish.

  125. I wish I could better, but these Galileans shouldn't be speaking

  126. all these languages. Then how is it, verse 8, that

  127. each of us hears them in our native language?

  128. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea,

  129. Cappadocious, Pontus, Asia, Persia and Pamphila, Egypt and

  130. the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews

  131. and commerce to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs and Oklahomans and

  132. Texans, all of them we hear them declaring, declaring the wonders

  133. of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, asked one

  134. another, What does this mean? Some, however, made fun of them

  135. and said they have had too much wine.

  136. They drunk. And verse 13 is the one I want

  137. to point out to you to begin there it is.

  138. Something is so odd about the behavior of these Jesus people

  139. that they categorize them into a group and then they begin to

  140. make fun of them. They're so peculiar, so

  141. different, and they say they are out of their minds.

  142. I mean, they say they've had too much wine, which means they're

  143. drunk, which when somebody's drunk, they're out of their

  144. mind. They've lost control of their

  145. faculties. They're out of their mind.

  146. They're so odd, so peculiar, out of your mind.

  147. You're drunk too much wine this morning.

  148. I want to ask you if you've ever been accused of the same.

  149. Yes. Has anyone looked at your life

  150. and thought how odd, How peculiar is it that you pray

  151. like you do? That's different.

  152. How peculiar it is that you on every Sunday morning, instead of

  153. going to the beach, going to Disney, going to the ball fields

  154. on some sports tournament, they're there.

  155. You decide to go to church. That's odd.

  156. Remember when Owen was playing travel baseball?

  157. We told him we're not playing on Sunday mornings and he wouldn't

  158. show up and like, well, that's weird.

  159. You drunk? Are you out of your mind?

  160. Your account? Never look at you.

  161. You're like account, I don't got account.

  162. I am the accountant. Do you ever look at you and say,

  163. wow, it's really odd that we give this much money to the

  164. church because we could do XYZ. It's odd.

  165. You're out of your mind. You're peculiar.

  166. The way that you speak is peculiar too, because the rest

  167. of us use all sorts of language. You don't, or the rest of us

  168. never talk about God, and you do.

  169. How odd, how peculiar. Has anyone ever accused you of

  170. such? If not, you're in the right

  171. place. Don't take any condemnation.

  172. Take invitation from the Lord. He's calling you higher.

  173. Take me to the rock that is higher.

  174. He's elevating you. He's growing you from glory to

  175. glory. He's maturing you and inviting

  176. you to be a part of the series, to become a peculiar person in

  177. your schools, in your workplaces, all over the place.

  178. But if you are already considered as odd, then let this

  179. be affirmation and a recommitment from you to shine

  180. like stars in the darkness so the world may see His glory.

  181. What I want to show you here is what happens to you if you will

  182. follow these 7 habits of Jesus people.

  183. The outcome of it. And I'm going to put some puzzle

  184. pieces together so they may seem not connected at first, but

  185. follow along. Put your big brain on and follow

  186. me. Are you ready to say yes?

  187. You big brain on? Say yes.

  188. I'm speaking that over you. There's a man named Jim.

  189. Ron ROHN. Jim Rohn.

  190. Somebody helped me in the first service and told me the right

  191. way to pronounce it. And I've already forgotten.

  192. It's either Ron or Rohn. It's ROHN.

  193. Anybody know Ron? Ron.

  194. I see not Jim Rome, that's a sports guy, Jim ROHN.

  195. He's considered the godfather of personal development.

  196. And to that I say they forgot about another guy named Jesus,

  197. who is the father of all development of any human, but

  198. he's considered he was, he's in the early 1900s alive.

  199. He died in the 1900s, late 1900s, but he's considered this

  200. godfather of personal development.

  201. There's another man named Tony Robbins.

  202. You might have heard of him. He was mentored by Jim Rome.

  203. He learned what he learned from Jim Rome.

  204. Jim Rome would speak in front of groups of five, then 10s, then

  205. hundreds and thousands. He wrote so many books.

  206. He he also inspired and mentored another guy named Jack Canfield.

  207. Anyone remember this name? This guy was the guy who started

  208. the empire known as Chicken Soup for the Soul.

  209. Yeah, yeah, that guy, if, if you never heard of him, that means

  210. you're just younger. This guy wrote or his team wrote

  211. thousands and thousands of scenes of books and little tiny

  212. parables and teachings, all called Chicken soup for the Soul

  213. or Chicken soup for the mom, Chicken soup for the Dad,

  214. Chicken soup for Teachers. You name it, they wrote it and

  215. they sold them like hotcakes. All inspired by Jim Rohn.

  216. I tell you all this to say, Jim Rohn has vast experience,

  217. multiple layers of leading and teaching in the in the business

  218. world and personal development. And he basically has this one

  219. quote that summarizes almost all of his teaching.

  220. If he could teach you one thing, this is be what he would teach

  221. you. And you may have heard this

  222. quote before. I had before.

  223. I didn't know whoever it came from, but I did the research

  224. clearly. Here's the quote.

  225. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time

  226. with. Anybody ever heard that before?

  227. Yeah, he goes on to say there's no bigger life hack in the

  228. history of the world from getting where you are today to

  229. where you want to be than the people you choose to put in your

  230. corner. So choose wisely.

  231. The people around you most change everything.

  232. It's a proven fact. But it's also biblical.

  233. Biblical First Corinthians chapter 1533 says do not be

  234. misled. Bad company corrupts good

  235. character. We've turned this into the same

  236. one. Bad apple ruins the bunch.

  237. Anyone heard that before? Have you heard that before?

  238. Right. If you put all this together,

  239. what I'm trying to say is that what we can learn is in your

  240. circle, that may be somebody in your circle who's bringing the

  241. entire circles average down. And if you're part of that

  242. circle, then your whole circle is going down and so are you.

  243. A person is dragging you down. OK, this series, the reason I

  244. believe God put it on my heart is to train up a church that

  245. you're the kind of people that no matter what situation, no

  246. matter what circle that you enter personally, you are the

  247. kind of person that brings the average up.

  248. Look at your neighbors say up, it's time to go.

  249. Listen to me. Peculiar teachers bring their

  250. classrooms up. Peculiar neighbors bring their

  251. entire neighborhood. Yeah, peculiar employees or

  252. employers bring their workplaces to kill.

  253. Your dad's bring their whole families up.

  254. Oddball drunk on Jesus Dads bring their families up.

  255. So ask yourself this question at the beginning of the series, a

  256. little bit of introspection. Again, this is not for

  257. condemnation. This is just to check where you

  258. are so the Lord can invite you deeper.

  259. Are you the kind of person that when you enter a room, you bring

  260. the average down or do you bring the average up And if you're not

  261. sure, ask somebody and tell them don't lie to me when I enter the

  262. room is people like or people like, man, I'm so glad that you

  263. showed up right and guarantee you eventually may not happen at

  264. the beginning of it. People will be happy that Jesus

  265. people show up at first, they may resist the first thing they

  266. make fun of you say you're too drunk, you're on wine, you're

  267. crazy, you're weird. But eventually it'd be like, I'm

  268. so glad you're in my corner. What I want to show you today,

  269. just briefly, is three ways and you could probably list hundreds

  270. that peculiar people behave to give you a taste of what it's

  271. going to look like at the end of Seven habits of Jesus.

  272. People, how will we're different from the world when we follow

  273. Jesus the way that Jesus people do?

  274. Instead of degrading a relationship or a situation in

  275. the chaos, you will enter the space and bring order as you

  276. follow Jehovah Shalom, which means God of order.

  277. We say God of peace, but it really means God of order,

  278. everything as it should be. I want to share with you three

  279. things and they come in the form of couplets.

  280. The beginning of the couplet is what's normal, regular for

  281. regular people in the world to do.

  282. And the second-half of the couplet is the distinction that

  283. peculiar people bring. Jesus, people bring.

  284. Do you understand? Say yes.

  285. And the mezzanine. Are we good?

  286. Say hello. For instance, here's the first

  287. one. The world will say this word.

  288. I hope they say it. I forgive you.

  289. We in the church, we say I forgive you.

  290. That's fine. But what about the rest of it?

  291. I forgive you and I won't hold this against you.

  292. That's the distinction for a peculiar person.

  293. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 31. Get rid of all bitterness, rage,

    Ephesians 4:31

  294. anger, brawling, slander, along with every form of malice.

  295. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other

  296. just as in Christ God forgave you.

  297. Paul saying there's a way that the world and humans give

  298. forgiveness but don't forgive that way and there's a way that

  299. our Father forgave us in Christ Jesus.

  300. Forgive that way. Do it the way of heaven.

  301. Humans, we say we forgive you, but later I'm going to rub your

  302. nose in this when it's convenient for me to rub your

  303. nose in this, God says I ain't got nothing to rub your nose in

  304. because I have willfully forgotten it.

  305. Psalm 113 as far as the East is from the West.

  306. He's throwing our sin away from us.

  307. Romans chapter, not Romans. Hebrews chapter 8 says that I

    Hebrews 8 chapter mention

  308. remember your sin no more. God's never going to sneak up in

  309. you and say I know what you did last summer.

  310. He's not making a list and checking it twice.

  311. He has no list. It's erased when I do weddings,

  312. of course, I speak about First Corinthians chapter 13, which is

    1 Corinthians 13 chapter mention

  313. the chapter of love, and it says love is patient and love is

  314. kind. Except I take out the word love

  315. and put in the name of God because God is love.

  316. So anywhere you see love in the Bible, you can put the name of

  317. God. So God is patient, God is kind.

  318. I did your wedding and we did this at your wedding because I

  319. want the couple to know that this is what God's bringing to

  320. the relationship. If you call him to be a part of

  321. your marriage, the covenant marriage, this is who God is.

  322. And then we get to the part of the this verse that says, and

  323. God keeps no record of wrongs. It's either true or not true.

  324. And it's true. You've remembered more of your

  325. sin than God has ever forgotten. You keep reminding God of things

  326. he's forgotten. You keep stewing in the things

  327. of the past. And God says, I've forgiven you.

  328. I don't even remember it. I've forgotten it and Paul's

  329. telling us in Ephesians forgive like that.

  330. I don't have AI wrote it this way.

  331. Peculiar people don't hold grudges.

  332. Your friends are going to think you're drunk man.

  333. He owes you because of this, this this this.

  334. Remember that he did that wrong and that wrong and that wrong.

  335. Or maybe you're looking yourself in the mirror like you did that

  336. wrong and that wrong and that wrong.

  337. You're a disqualified for anything ever in your life and

  338. guys like I don't know what you are talking about.

  339. I have plum forgotten on purpose and will not hold this against

  340. you. That's what peculiar people do.

  341. I forgive you and besides talking about this to learn and

  342. how we can get better. I'm not going to mention it

  343. again. I'm not going to bring it back

  344. up later in a fight. It's forgotten #2 I'm sorry,

  345. says the world. I hope you say I'm sorry, but

  346. peculiar people say, And here's the change that I'm making.

  347. And notice it says making not here's the change I'm going to

  348. make somewhere in the future and some Lottie doll time months

  349. from now. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll

  350. change. But right now, here's the change

  351. I'm making. 2nd Corinthians Chapter 7 says godly sorrow

  352. brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.

  353. But worldly sorrow brings death. Worldly sorrow is man.

  354. I'm sorry I got caught, got to pay the consequences.

  355. Verse 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you.

  356. What earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what

  357. indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what

  358. readiness to see justice done. At every point, you have proved

  359. yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

  360. When somebody's apologizing to me, I don't really want them to

  361. feel sorry. Suffer, wallow and grovel,

  362. right? It's it's kind of pointless to

  363. me. What I really want when

  364. somebody's apologizing to me is that they make the change so

  365. that this don't happen again. Like let's not circle this

  366. mountain again and be right back here next time.

  367. And I'm a human. How much more, Heavenly Father?

  368. I don't think the purpose is the pain.

  369. Would you agree? The purpose is the

  370. transformation. I'm not just going to say I'm

  371. sorry. I'm going to do something so

  372. that I don't return this evil upon you again.

  373. Peculiar people repent until change.

  374. They're going to think you're drunk when you actually change.

  375. Well, that's weird. I thought you were set in stone

  376. and all I was going to get is you the way that you are for the

  377. rest of our lives. But here you are being

  378. transformed in the likeness of Jesus Christ and it's beautiful

  379. to see. Hey dads, it's one of the

  380. greatest things you can do is apologize to your kids.

  381. Say hey kids, I'm I messed up. Take ownership.

  382. I'm not perfect. I spoke out of turn.

  383. Haven't spent enough time with you.

  384. I've been too focused on XYZ. It's one thing and an important

  385. thing to go say Kell, I'm sorry. But more importantly is to make

  386. a change. And the next time you're angry

  387. at your kids and they're ready for the belt to come off and the

  388. yelling to happen or whatever, instead they get a man sitting

  389. before the children say, listen, there's some corrections we're

  390. going to make in your life because I love you.

  391. So let's talk about them. We're not going to fly off the

  392. hand and be shouting at you. Bit really dads, all parents, we

  393. get angry and start yelling because we're afraid and feel

  394. out of control. And then we like maybe just me.

  395. You're perfect. I'm not good.

  396. I got it. Or if you say, hey, I'm sorry,

  397. we haven't been spending any time together 2 years from now,

  398. we're going to take a trip. No, you got me by the handset.

  399. We're going out right now. Yes, we're going to spend time

  400. together right now, just you and me.

  401. I'm going to put my cell phone in the bottom of the ocean and

  402. pay attention to you. You're kind of giggling because

  403. you're uncomfortable. Here's the last one.

  404. I'm going to pray for you, says the world.

  405. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families.

  406. Have you heard that before? Peculiar people say I'm going to

  407. pray for you and I'm going to do whatever God says to help you.

  408. James Chapter 2 Suppose a brother or a sister is without

    James 2 chapter mention

  409. clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, go

  410. in peace, keep warm and well fed, I hope you get some food.

  411. But does nothing about their physical needs.

  412. What good is it? What goodwill we do?

  413. I don't. Yeah, maybe I've been there.

  414. You've probably been there too. You're in a rough spot.

  415. You're going through something. You pour your heart out with

  416. somebody and you're like, I'm going to pray for you.

  417. You're like, all right, now listen to me.

  418. I don't want to minimize prayer. The power of prayer, absolutely

  419. pray for God alone is able and we need to invoke his name and

  420. his power in every situation that we have in our lives.

  421. Yes, pray, but also act without asking.

  422. Here's what I mean. If somebody's going through

  423. grief, struggling in something and you say them, I'm going to

  424. pray for you. And then we say this all the

  425. time and let me know if there's anything you need.

  426. Anyone ever said that? Come on, it's OK to confess.

  427. Let me know if there's anything you need while you're going

  428. through the worst part of your hot the entire life and your

  429. suffering. Make sure that you are putting

  430. the onus on you, the responsibility on you to do more

  431. stuff in the midst of your suffering to call me with your

  432. list so that I can do something for you.

  433. You're welcome. And then you go to your house

  434. and like, I hope they don't call me and ask me for anything.

  435. I was just kind of saying that to placate them, but I really

  436. don't want to do anything because I got golf to watch.

  437. If we pray to the Father who knows their needs before they

  438. even ask them, don't you think he'd be able to tell us what

  439. their needs are and I can do them without even asking them?

  440. I'm just going to show up with the food.

  441. I'm just going to show up and fix the thing.

  442. I'm just going to show up and pay for the I'm just going to

  443. show up. I know you didn't ask for me to

  444. be here, but I'm here even if I'm in the waiting room for six,

  445. 7-8 hours. If that's what the Holy Spirit

  446. when you pray says the do, then just do it.

  447. Don't ask their permission. Put in a sentence to kill your

  448. people. Don't do pleasantries.

  449. They do. Acts of kindness.

  450. Had a miracle happen this week. First service did not respond as

  451. as I thought they might, so I'm giving you all a heads up.

  452. I'm expecting Thursday, June 12th.

  453. Little Peter James Molina was born at 2 lbs seven oz 11 weeks

  454. early. Here he is.

  455. It's a miracle because baby and Mama might not have lived

  456. without the miracle of medicine and God leading them to the

  457. right people at the right time and the right answer.

  458. And here's a picture of Mama and Baby next.

  459. He's hanging out in the incubator there.

  460. Zara. They had to take the baby 11

  461. weeks early because of preeclampsia and all those

  462. things. Some of, you know, very familiar

  463. with all of that. And there was concern for mom,

  464. there's concern for baby. And now both are healthy and

  465. recovering and got to grow. Baby's got to stay in the

  466. hospital. Peter James is his name until

  467. he's viable on his own. Yep.

  468. Here's the thing, Manny and Zara didn't know anybody when they

  469. came to this church. And this week, Manny and Zara,

  470. this is years ago. This week, Manny and Zara are

  471. surrounded by people in this church who didn't ask, how can

  472. we help you? What do you need?

  473. They just showed up. They just food, presents,

  474. prayers, all of it, taking care of the kids, whatever, whatever.

  475. Not like, hey, is there anything we can do for you?

  476. We just, they just did it. That's what peculiar people do.

  477. That's what you oddballs who follow Jesus can and should do.

  478. That first day the church began and Jesus people were arriving

  479. on the earth. They're not arriving on the

  480. earth, but they're becoming Jesus people.

  481. An interesting thing happened first day.

  482. They had a church service and they were preaching and no

  483. matter what language they were preaching in, the language of

  484. the hearer was being heard. So I could be speaking English

  485. here and those of you that are Brazilian would be here in

  486. Portuguese, Felice Gia dos Pais, that means Happy Father's Day in

  487. Portuguese. I practiced for hours to mess it

  488. up that bad. Thank you, Pastor.

  489. Valdemar Obrigado. Does that mean thank you?

  490. I am Brazilian. Thank you, Pastor.

  491. I'm telling you, this is not a knock on Americans, but

  492. Brazilians are the nicest, happiest people.

  493. I don't know what it is so nice. Maybe I just know the Arnezi's

  494. and that's enough. Where was I?

  495. Oh so they had their first church service and they did an

  496. altar call. If you read later in Acts

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  497. chapter 2 you remember what happens.

  498. The first altar call in the church's history and 3000 people

  499. get saved. 3000 lives changed from the damnation of hell to

  500. the glory of heaven because of Jesus people.

  501. That's the power of what Jesus people have done, are doing, and

  502. can do. But I want you to know the

  503. habits won't do that by themselves.

  504. You personally can't forgive, you can't repent, you can't

  505. serve others just through the habits.

  506. There is one essential ingredient, ingredient that

  507. makes all the difference. That's the beginning and the end

  508. and the middle and all spaces of what it means to be a Jesus

  509. person. It's the Holy Spirit, it's the

  510. Holy Spirit. Jesus people are Jesus people

  511. because of the Holy Spirit. Jesus people without the Holy

  512. Spirit are just a bunch of people going to church.

  513. And we don't want to be that kind of church where all we do

  514. is show up for ourselves, show up to personally get something

  515. from it, be educated, be rescued.

  516. These are decent and good things.

  517. But Jesus people take on the gift of the Holy Spirit that's

  518. been given to us by God himself and are empowered by that Holy

  519. Spirit. And everywhere they go, people's

  520. lives are being changed from death to life.

  521. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the mute speak,

  522. The hungry get food. The lonely are placed in

  523. families and the lepers are welcomed and not turned away.

  524. Let's be a Jesus people full of the Holy Spirit kind of church.

  525. Amen. Pastor Drew, you back there?

  526. This is kind of a surprise in the first service, but it's not

  527. a surprise now. In the first service.

  528. He didn't know I was going to do this.

  529. Now you do. I want you to meet a strange

  530. guy. What an odd ball.

  531. What a what a what a peculiar man Pastor Drew is.

  532. Something's different and and you may just think he's weird.

  533. I'll tell you the secret. It's not because he went to

  534. Bible college, been a minister all these years, not because

  535. he's a pastor. It's not because he's got a

  536. fantastic family. It's because he's friends with

  537. the Holy Spirit. And when you're a friend of the

  538. Holy Spirit, you're going to start looking weird, talking

  539. weird. Do you ever notice when Pastor

  540. Drew speaks, he speaks passionately.

  541. You ever notice that? You wonder why that is?

  542. He's peculiar. He's drunk on spirit and because

  543. of it, you're a fantastic husband.

  544. But on Father's Day, I want to say you are in a very peculiar.

  545. Can't get the words out. You are a very peculiar father.

  546. Thank you. I see it in Tristan down there.

  547. Look at this kid. He's beaming.

  548. Liam Jackson. Is that for him or for me?

  549. That's for him. Can I get one too?

  550. It's a blessing. Can I say more?

  551. Paul says follow me as I follow Christ.

  552. And the way you can read is like, be weird, like I'm weird.

  553. Be weird like he's weird. Amen.

  554. I got more to say, but you can stay here.

  555. You going to go? What do you want to do?

  556. You going? He's OK.

  557. That whole exchange was peculiar.

  558. See you in a minute. Yeah, If you're the average of

  559. the five people you hang out with, then let one of them be a

  560. Holy Spirit. Because when you hang out with

  561. Holy Spirit, your average is going to spike.

  562. And as you're going up, reach out your hand and bring others

  563. along. You may hear the scriptures that

  564. says do not be misled, bad company corrupts good character.

  565. And think to yourself, well, I need to cut everyone out of my

  566. life. That's bad character.

  567. Well, then who's going to help them right now?

  568. Be smart, be wise, be careful. If someone's abusing you

  569. mentally, physically, emotionally, there may need to

  570. be some separation. But if you just got a guy that

  571. kind of bothers you or a woman in your life, really, this is

  572. not license for you to say God said cut you back because I

  573. don't want my average to go down.

  574. This is for you to walk with spirit, be LED of spirit and

  575. bring everybody's average up. The Marines say best leave no

  576. man behind. Is it just the Marines?

  577. Is that a bunch of people? Army, Air Force, everybody?

  578. Yeah. Dads, if there's any gift as a

  579. church that we could give you today, it's the knowledge that

  580. you could father with the power of the Holy Spirit, which means

  581. you have a chance to do it over. Maybe you've been fathering in

  582. your flesh and you need to go to your children, whether they're

  583. 10 or 60, and say to them, will you give me another chance To

  584. father being led by the Holy Spirit to discipline you under

  585. the counsel of the Word, to discipline you with speaking the

  586. truth in love, not speaking the truth at a volume that separates

  587. your eyebrows. I guess they're already

  588. separated. So whatever.

  589. Let me father you in a way that I can express to you the love of

  590. my Father, my heavenly Father to you.

  591. And that just isn't for dads. That's for anybody here in the

  592. room today to be led by the power of the Holy Spirit so that

  593. the world will look at you and say you are out of your mind,

  594. you are peculiar, you are drunk. And you say back to them.

  595. Absolutely nailed it. And then finished with this one

  596. last question. Want some?

  597. You want to drink, Come on in, Let's pray.

  598. Lord, we bless you. We thank you for your word.

  599. You are Father, and you are good, and all you do is good,

  600. and we honor you today. Father, I pray now that you

  601. would speak to every person in the room what it is that You

  602. want them to do in this moment. For you have not brought us here

  603. just to hear a flapping of words, but to be moved by Your

  604. word unto action. If you're here today, Church,

  605. listen as you're praying, just with your heads bowed, your eyes

  606. closed, and you've never received Jesus.

  607. It means you've also never received Holy Spirit.

  608. And so this power is a gift waiting to be received by you,

  609. if you would receive the invitation of Jesus to allow him

  610. to be your Savior, to save you from your sins for the

  611. forgiveness, the wiping away. I remember them no more.

  612. I hold your sins not against you, no record of wrongs and to

  613. be saved unto eternity in the presence of Almighty God.

  614. If you want to be saved today, then pray this prayer out loud

  615. with me. In fact, church, the whole

  616. church, would you pray it with me, every voice out loud saying

  617. Jesus, I recognize that I am a Sinner in need of a Savior.

  618. And I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that Jesus

  619. is Lord and Savior. I receive you today as my

  620. Savior. Come and take over my life and

  621. help me to live according to your purposes.

  622. Just take a moment. Let that sink in.

  623. Speak your own words to the Father receiving salvation.

  624. If you've done that today for the first time, I'm going to ask

  625. you to do 1 important bold thing.

  626. I'm going to count to 3. And if you prayed that prayer to

  627. receive Jesus as Savior, I'm just going to have you slip your

  628. hand up as high as it can go at the count of 3123.

  629. Anyone here today? Come on.

  630. Whole family's raising their hand right here as well.

  631. Anyone else right here in the middle?

  632. I see you, my, my brother, we're coming to you.

  633. Just keep your hand up back here in the back.

  634. I see you right back here. Any others, just keep your hand

  635. up till we get to you. We're going to bring you a card

  636. that's very important. And Pastor Drew, in just a few

  637. moments, we'll give you some instruction.

  638. You've made the best decision you could ever make in your life

  639. right here in the middle as well.

  640. We're coming to you. Everyone else, if you just put

  641. your hands on your lap, open in front of you, just repeat this

  642. prayer after me. Father, I thank you for the gift

  643. of Holy Spirit that you gave me the day I put my faith in Jesus.

  644. Today I open this gift and employ the power and the person

  645. of Holy Spirit. Guide me, prompt me, lead me to

  646. be a Jesus people in Jesus name. Thanks for joining us today.

  647. We hope God is speaking to your heart through this message.

  648. If you'd like to connect with us, you can text connect to

  649. 407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate dot church.

  650. Have a great week.